Leadership Assignment: Passive, Assertive, and Aggressive Behaviors

Honor Code Level 2

Scenario:

You work for a large company, in an office with over 60 people. You have been assigned as a project leader responsible for creating a sales presentation to one of the company’s biggest customers. The presentation will be in four days, and your team must work well together to meet this deadline.

Three of the six people that have been placed on your team are people you have never worked with before. Even though you are responsible for this project, the other team members have the same job title as you, (they are your peers- you are not their boss).

Write a paragraph and/or a list of ideas explaining how you would deal with each of the following ‘challenging’ personalities on your team.Identify at LEAST FIVE specific and realistic ways that you would deal with these personalities. You will turn in one copy of this writing per group. The personalities are:

PASSIVE:Does not participate in discussions; goes along with whatever is happening; adds nothing new to the group; is bossed around by other group members, even if this doesn’t help the group.

ASSERTIVE:Frequently expresses opinion; insists that his/her way is the best or smartest way of going about things; takes over leadership of group by making suggestions about how things should be done.

AGGRESSIVE:Repeatedly interrupts the group; cuts people off mid-sentence; gives orders as if he/she was the boss; puts down other group members and their ideas when he/she disagrees with them.

Things to consider when dealing with the ‘challenging’ personality assigned from the list above:

This is a co-worker that you have not worked with before.
You are not this person’s boss.
You may have to work on their team sometime soon.
This person might be jealous that you were picked as leader.
This person might have been hired before you.
You have lots to do and only four days to get it done.
You are responsible for how well the final presentation goes.
Where and when will you deal with this person?
Have you thought about how they will respond to you?
How will you respond to a personal attack, or denial?

Discussion Questions: We will discuss these questions as a group once you have finished your work.

What similarities and differences do you see between this scenario and those that take place at school?
Are there actions or behaviors that you have witnessed that tend to make working with these ‘challenging personalities’ even less effective?
Do you recognize any of these personality traits in yourself? How might they be helping or hindering your ability to work successfully with a group?
Can you think of any other “things to consider” as you deal with people of all personality types in group situations?
Any other thoughts or situations that this raises for you?