1. Answer the following questions and justify your answer

1.Do Extroverts or Introverts perform well at workplace?

2.Is a person's behaviour a result of his own personality or the situational factors?

3.Is personality formed mostly from heredity or from social and situational factors?

2.Read the following case study and answer the questions

Case Study - ABC Civil Engineering (an engineering firm)

Ted Waltz - Managing Director of ABC Engineering

Elaine Tillman - Civil Engineer

Elaine Tillman looked at her watch - it was 7:30 pm. Just then she knew she has to attend to her son's final high school basketball game. She was under stress because of the deadline of the project she was working on. The project proposal was not ready and the deadline was the 9:00 am the following day. The project was the largest opportunity that ABC Civil Engineering Company had a chance to bid on in 6 months

Normally in this situation, Elaine would have collaborated with a proposal team putting together such a big proposal but, since the economic down turn hit, ABC has had to make significant reduction in its staff. It started with administrative staff - first, two administrative assistants, then a junior engineer, then two tenured project managers were cut from the job. This year alone the ABC Civil Engineering cut 35% of its staff.

Of course, that only meant the workload on the remaining team members would have to increase. Sure, there were fewer new projects but there was no shortage of work to do - projects, change orders, marketing strategy plans and providing existing customers with better service. Everyone was asked to perform tasks they normally didn't do or enjoy. Needless to say the climate at ABC Engineering was not good. Annual raises and bonuses of staff were postponed and an indefinite hold was put on attending professional development conferences, replacing computers and updating software. Then the climate went from poor to very worse.

All of this weighed on Ted Waltz, the managing director of ABC. He was the one who had to make the staff reduction, have the termination discussions and try to keep the business profitable. Ted was struggling with the challenges both professionally and personally. Ted started with ABC 25 years ago as a surveyor just out of school. He's been involved in some best projects and he took over the managing director position 3 years ago. While he always enjoyed developing the company, recently he has found himself spending more time on administrative tasks and less on encouraging the growth of younger engineers. With all of the ups and downs that any professional services firm faces during its lifespan, none have competed this one. With the reduction of staff, the firm has had to abandon a strategic new market they had been developing for the past year and Ted hasn't even had time to explain it to the other members of the firm. For the first time in his career, Ted no longer feels that he is in control of his work. He dreams of retirement when he can get up and start a day without having any stress, relieve form uncooperative staff member or call a vendor to ask for new terms.

Questions

(a) How would you describe the gap between Ted's expectations and his reality and what is the impact on his stress level?

(b) What actions can ABC Engineering take to reduce workplace stress?

(c) List personal actions either Elaine or Ted can take to reduce their personal stress.