Affective Predisposition and its Relation to being Comfortable in Uncertainty

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Affective Predisposition and its Relation to
being Comfortable in Uncertainty

• Eser TorunSuraj Basnet
• Leadership Leading on Purpose from Within
• 9/8/2004

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Definition of Affective Predisposition

• Affective predisposition is a component of human
  attitude and it mainly covers emotions and
  feelings.

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Leadership Under Uncertainty

• A critical element of leadership is the capacity
  to tolerate uncertainty. (KhaleeleeWoolf, 1996)
• This Capacity...is a function of the
  individuals(Jaques, 1956)

-emotional development, -emergent patterns of
defense -Time span discretion
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Determinents of Leadership Capacity under
Uncertainty
-emotional development -emergent patterns of
defense -time-span capacity

• INCREASED TIME SPAN CAPACITY

Time-span Capacity The length of time for
which they are able to tolerate the effects of
exercising the discretion on their own account
in pursuit of living.(Jaques, 1964, p.90)
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Determinents of Leadership Capacity under
Uncertainty
-emotional development -emergent patterns of
defense -time-span capacity

• SENSITIVENESS TO THE EXTERNALITIES

Defense Mechanisms(Freud, 1926) Isolation,
Denial, Repression, Regression, Reaction
Formation, Projection, Introjection, Regression,
Turning against the self.
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Determinents of Leadership Capacity under
Uncertainty
-emotional development -emergent patterns of
defense-time-span capacity
RESILIENCE
Resilience Capacity to tolerate ambiguity and
uncertainty (KhaleeleeWoolf, 1996)
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Emotional Development

• 3 childhood transitions (Emde, Gaensbauer,
  Harmon, 1976)
• New born to 10 months
• Emotional expressions
• Basic communication learning
• Encounter situations of uncertainty
• 10 months to 36 months
• Emotional refueling
• More autonomy and more connectedness
• Empathy
• 3 to 4 years
• Alternative possibilities for future events
• Emphasis is on vocabulary
• Ability to recognize and deal with different
  situations and conflict

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• The capacity to tolerate uncertainty is based
  largely on emotional development in
  infancy.(Klein, 1946)

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Characteristics of Resilience (Coutu, 2002)

• Facing Down Reality
• Understanding and adapting to reality
• Search for Meaning
• Propensity to make meaning of uncertain times
• Values and purpose of life
• Ability to Improvise
• Do with whatever is at hand
• Creativeness

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Relationship between emotional development and
resilience

• Affective predisposition
• Early stages
• Expressions, communication, learning and
  adaptability
• Second stages
• Need for motivation, independence and curiosity
  and interconnection
• Third stages
• Alternative possibilities for future events,
  vocabulary, and different siutations

• Resilience
• Facing down reality
• Search for meaning
• Ability to improvise

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Limitations of theory

• Does not consider growth and experiences after
  early childhood
• Using this theory, many siblings should indicate
  the same behavior
• Many traits can be changed/improved through
  learning processes

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Conclusions

• Do the comments aid others in thinking about
  other options
• and new directions for thought (open up new
  understanding)?.. 4
• Groups insight into leadership concepts
  ...... 4
• Background research (other than the textbook)
  .... 4
• Balance of insight (group was able to present
  arguments, as well as counter arguments)
  . 5
• Groups handling of questions after the
  presentation .3

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Drawbacks of this approach

• As more MBA schools and corporations work with
  teams, this personal outlook has limitations
• Peoples moods change and so can their PA
• Fairly new and limited research
• Not applied in corporate frameworks
• When risks are high, the results are the same

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References

• Coutu, Diane ( May, 2002). Harvard Business
  Review. How Resilience Works.
• Williams, Zainuba and Jackson ( May, 2000).
  Journal of Managerial Psychology. Affective
  influences on risk perceptions and risk
  intention.
• Khaleelee, Olya and Woolf, Ralph(1996).
  Leadership and Organizational Development
  Journal. Personality, life experience and
  leadership capability.
• Simpson, Peter and Burnard (2000). Leadership and
  Organizational Development Journal. Leaders
  achieving focus in the place of not knowing.

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More than education, more than experience, more
than training, a persons level of resilience
will determine who succeeds and who fails.
Thats true in the cancer ward, its true in the
Olympics, and its also true in the
boardroomDiane Cortu
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Affective Predisposition II

Positive Aspects
More likely to be risk averse
How is your mood?
More likely not to take risks
Negative Aspects
--

• However, when the risks was of decisions was
  high, they were risk averse

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Affective Predisposition Theory I
Uncertainty
Gains/Loss
Framing
Personal Involvement
Affective State
Perceptions of Risk
Risky Decision
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Alternative Theories

• Nature
• Genetic
• Personal
• Charisma
• Traits
• Intuition

• Nurture
• Learning
• Critical Events
• Experience

• Richard Ransom
• Guisseppee Garibaldi

• Lee Iococca
• Bill Clinton