MGMT1003 Chap.6 Situational Strength, Fit and Dark Traits
Situational Strength, Fit and Dark Traits
When personality matters
Situational strength theory explains why personality shows in some jobs and not others: clarity, consistency, constraints and consequences make a situation strong and different people behave alike.
Fit comes in two kinds with different outcomes, and job crafting lets you reshape a role from inside it.
Traits that shape power and responsibility
Locus of control, authoritarianism and Machiavellianism, with narcissism and psychopathy in the Dark Triad, affect how people use power.
The manager's tool is structure and measured behaviour rather than personality labels.
How this chapter is examined
Expect items that ask whether a role is a strong or weak situation and what that means for selection, and items on locus of control or Machiavellianism in a described employee.
In applied answers, start with the setting before the person: if the situation is strong, recommend training and procedures; if it is weak, a stated trait and structure around dark traits become more important.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Weak and strong situations
- 02
Clarity, consistency, constraints and consequences
- 03
Person-job fit and person-organisation fit
- 04
Task, relationship and cognitive job crafting
- 05
Internal and external locus of control
- 06
Authoritarianism and Machiavellianism
- 07
The Dark Triad and counterproductive work behaviour
Worked example · free
Place two jobs on the situational strength scale
- 1Dispensing under protocols has high clarity, consistency, constraints and consequences, so it is a strong situation where personality shows less.
- 1Business development has ambiguous cues and wide discretion, a weak situation where people fall back on disposition.
- 1Personality tests earn their keep in loose, unscripted roles, so testing adds more for business developers; for pharmacists, training and standard procedures matter more.
Key terms
- Situational Strength
- The degree to which cues, constraints and consequences in a setting override personality in shaping behaviour.
- Person-Organisation Fit
- Compatibility between a person's values and an organisation's culture, linked to commitment and intention to stay.
- Job Crafting
- Proactively redesigning one's own tasks, relationships or perceptions of a job to fit one's strengths.
- Locus of Control
- Where a person places responsibility for outcomes, internally in effort and talent or externally in luck and others.
- Machiavellianism
- The tendency to seek power and manipulate others for personal gain, strongest in loosely structured situations.
- Dark Triad
- Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy: correlated but distinct subclinical traits linked to counterproductive behaviour.
- Authoritarianism
- The belief that an organisation should have clear differences in power and status, which shapes how people use and respond to authority.
Situational Strength, Fit and Dark Traits FAQ
What makes a work situation strong?
Four components: clear cues about duties, cues that are consistent with each other, constraints on individual freedom to decide, and important, clearly understood consequences. When all four are high, employees act on the organisation's rules rather than their personality, as airline pilots do with checklists and standard procedures.
What is the difference between person-job fit and person-organisation fit?
Person-job fit is the match between your abilities and needs and what the role demands and supplies; it relates more to satisfaction and performance. Person-organisation fit is the match between your values and the culture; it relates more to commitment and intention to stay, according to a meta-analysis of 172 studies.
How should a manager deal with Dark Triad traits?
By adding structure rather than trying to change the person. Open decision rules, records anyone can check and credit that is shared leave these traits little room to work, and managers should measure counterproductive behaviour, which they can observe and act on, rather than personality.
How should a manager treat employees with an external locus of control?
People who see outcomes as driven by luck or others tend to be less involved and quicker to blame, but they are also easier to direct. The recommended mechanism is explicit goals and frequent feedback, whereas internals respond better to autonomy and ownership. Adjust the system to the person rather than trying to change their outlook.
Exam move
Memorise the four components of situational strength and practise placing five jobs on the scale. Learn the two kinds of fit with the outcome each predicts, the three types of job crafting with one example each, and the manager's counter-move for externals, internals and dark traits.
Last, pick a job you would like after graduating and plan one task, one relationship and one mindset change you could craft if the fit turned out to be poor.
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