The Science of Personality

On April 17, 2017, Southwest flight 1380 from New York to Dallas was in serious danger. A failed fan blade had struck the plane, creating a window-sized hole on the left side of the plane. Oxygen masks were deployed and, unsurprisingly, the passengers began to panic. Captain Tammie Jo Shults remained calm, took command of the situation, adapted to the circumstances, and safely landed the plane in Philadelphia, saving hundreds of lives. Her audio call is worth a listen.

More recently, the Diamond Princess cruise ship was quarantined with more than 700 passengers testing positive for COVID-19. Captain Gennaro Arma was credited for preventing panic with his calm and reassuring leadership style. There are many examples of extraordinary leaders rising to the occasion in crisis situations. Because many organizations are currently facing the crisis caused by COVID-19, we thought it would be a good time to review what we know about organizational crisis and what makes a leader most effective during such times.

Read More »

Even during the best of times, research shows that absentee leadership is quite common and destructive to teams and organizations. What’s an absentee leader? One who displays neither actively positive leadership nor actively negative leadership; an absentee leader seems uninvolved and uncommunicative. For leaders whose teams are all working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the possibility of showing up as an absentee leader increases, even for leaders who typically are engaged with their teams in the office.

Employees whose leaders are absentee report less direction, delayed decisions, and a lack of feedback and involvement. Role ambiguity results, along with decreased job satisfaction, higher intentions to leave, and added conflicts with co-workers. Add to that the increased stress of the pandemic, and negative outcomes for organizations and employees could be exponentially increased. Read More »

Welcome back to our series on the eight most common personality types found in the Hogan suite of assessments. We have already taken an in-depth look at Rebels, Marketers, Proletarians, Congenials, Overachievers, and Networkers. This week, we continue our dive into these personality types with a close examination of the Misfits personality profile.

Misfits make up approximately 7% of the working population. Their Hogan profile is highlighted by below average scores on Hedonism and very low scores on Affiliation on the MVPI; low scores across the board on the HPI with extremely low scores on Adjustment, Ambition, and Interpersonal Sensitivity; and very high scores on the “moving away” cluster (Excitable, Skeptical, Cautious, Reserved, and Leisurely) of HDS. See Figure 1 below for the full profile. Read More »

Welcome back to our saga on the eight most common personality types found via the Hogan suite of assessments. We have already taken an in-depth look at Rebels, Marketers, Proletarians, Congenials, and Overachievers. This week, we continue our dive into these personality types by closely examining the personality profile of Networkers.

Networkers make up approximately 13% of the working population. Their Hogan profile is highlighted by slightly above average scores on Recognition, Power, Affiliation, and Aesthetics on the MVPI, but below average scores on Security; very high scores on Sociability and very low scores on Prudence on the HPI; and high scores on the Bold, Mischievous, Colorful, and Imaginative on HDS with low scores on Diligent and Dutiful. See Figure 1 below for the full profile. Read More »

*This post was authored by Krista Pederson, director of Asia Pacific business development at Hogan, and Garrett Shaffer, an account manager at Hogan.

With concern about the spread of COVID-19, more companies are choosing to allow workers to office remotely; Remote work isn’t a new concept. Over the past couple of years, with the increase in demand for a flexible workplace and the development of more advanced AI technology, many companies are choosing to offer employees the option to work virtually. VR conferencing; communication platforms such as WeChat, Slack, and Skype for Business; and apps for managing remote work and workers make remote work feasible and just as easy to manage as working in an office. Read More »

Job-related stress is a major problem faced by people worldwide. As many as 60% of workers in the major global economies reported experiencing stress at work, and in the United States, a staggering 80% of workers say they are stressed because of their jobs.

Aside from the health implications that job-related stress can have for employees, such as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, it poses potential problems for organizations too. While most working adults try to manage the impressions they make on others at work, periods of particularly intense stress or pressure can draw out what we at Hogan call dark-side personality characteristics.

Read More »