UTS21440 Chap.3 Character Strengths, Virtues and the VIA Classification
Character Strengths, Virtues and the VIA Classification
Week 3 of 21440 Management Skills at University of Technology Sydney introduces the classification that the 40% Individual Report is built on.
The framework has two levels that must not be collapsed: six virtue classes proposed as emerging consistently from historical surveys across traditions, and twenty four measurable character strengths beneath them, defined as the psychological ingredients that constitute the virtues.
The chapter covers the inclusion criteria, the instrument and what a ranked profile does and does not mean, the practitioner and academic claims made for strengths at work, and the downside principle, then models the critique the report explicitly requires.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Two levels: six virtue classes and twenty four character strengths
- 02
The operational definition of a character strength
- 03
What each of the six classes is said to be for
- 04
Seven inclusion criteria, and where the universality claim can be questioned
- 05
The instrument, and how to read a ranked profile rather than a score
- 06
Head strengths and heart strengths as a second cut through the same twenty four
- 07
Practitioner benefit claims against academic findings
- 08
The downside principle: every strength has a downside
- 09
Virtues mapped to leadership functions, and a study of gratitude and humility
Writing the critique of character strengths that the Individual Report requires
- +1State what the framework claims, precisely: six virtue classes proposed as universal on the basis of historical survey, twenty four strengths beneath them treated as measurable and developable, and an instrument that returns a rank order rather than a type.
- +1Locate the weakest joint. The universality claim rests on convergence in texts across traditions, while the measurement rests on an instrument with particular wording and a particular validation history. Convergence at the level of moral vocabulary does not establish that a translated item measures the same construct everywhere.
- +1Give the counter evidence its due. The instrument is reported to have reasonable reliability and a very large multi country sample, so the objection concerns construct equivalence rather than carelessness.
- +1Close on the practical consequence. If equivalence is uncertain, a manager should treat a profile as a conversation opener about how someone works rather than as a selection instrument or a fixed description, which is also what the downside principle implies.
Key terms
- Virtue
- One of the six broad categories the classification proposes as emerging consistently from historical surveys of moral thought: wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance and transcendence. The inclusion criteria specify that virtues must be present above threshold values for someone to be considered of good character.
- Character strength
- One of the twenty four measurable routes through which a virtue is expressed, defined in the source as the psychological ingredient, process or mechanism that constitutes the virtue. Strengths are treated as measurable and developable, and as a matter of degree rather than all or none.
- Signature strengths
- The small group at the top of a person's ranked profile, reported as being about five of the twenty four on average. They are what the literature treats as most characteristic of a person, rather than a score of ability.
- Inclusion criteria
- The seven tests a trait had to pass to enter the classification, including that it manifests across thought, feeling and behaviour, contributes to the good life, is valued in its own right, does not diminish others, is supported by social institutions, has recognised paragons and is universal.
- Head strengths
- The more analytical, logic based and thinking focused strengths, with judgement, prudence, fairness, love of learning and perspective named as examples. The reading qualifies the split by noting that each strength has elements of both head and heart.
- Heart strengths
- The strengths centred on feelings, intuitions and emotional relationships, with kindness, love, humour, gratitude and spirituality named as examples. They are reported as more reliably associated with feelings of wellbeing and satisfaction.
- Downside principle
- The stated rule that every strength has a downside when it is excessive or unaccompanied by other strengths, and that people, teams and whole organisations are more likely to flourish when virtues and strengths play off each other instead of standing alone.
- Plasticity of strengths
- The academic claim that some strengths are more changeable than others but that all are developable to some extent, which is why the literature treats strengths as a development tool rather than a selection instrument.
- Strengths based intervention
- An organisational practice that creates conditions for people to use their strengths, helps them discover them and matches work to them, listed among four ways organisations can act on strengths alongside selecting for positive traits.
- Positive energiser
- A person who creates and supports vitality and energy in others. The leadership task named is both to become one and to recognise and enable the people who already are.
Character Strengths, Virtues and the VIA Classification FAQ
What exactly is the difference between a virtue and a character strength?
A virtue is one of the six broad categories the historical survey converged on, and it is the level at which the framework claims universality. A character strength is one of the twenty four measurable routes by which a virtue gets expressed.
The distinction matters in practice because two people can hold the same virtue through different strengths: one expresses justice through fairness and another through teamwork, and a manager who recognises only the first will conclude the second does not care about fairness.
Does a low ranked strength mean I am weak at it?
No. The survey ranks your strengths against each other, not against other people, so a strength at position twenty is the twentieth most characteristic way you do things rather than a deficiency. The source also states that strengths are a matter of degree rather than all or none, and that all are developable to some extent, so treating the bottom of the list as a development plan misreads the instrument.
Can a manager use the survey to allocate roles?
Not safely on a single top strength. The downside principle states that a strength becomes a liability when it is excessive or unaccompanied by others, so allocating on one reading maximises exactly the condition the source warns about. The instrument also ranks within a person rather than between people, which makes a comparison across a team a use the instrument does not support.
How do I critique the theory without simply dismissing it?
Attack a specific joint rather than the whole structure. State the claim accurately, identify where the evidence is thinnest, which is the gap between convergence in historical texts and equivalent measurement across languages and cultures, concede what the evidence does support, and then say what follows for practice. A critique built under the framework's own rules scores far above one that calls it too positive.
What must my report include about my own strengths?
The assessment page requires you to refer to one or more of your actual character strengths and states that not doing so loses marks. An answer that explains the classification accurately and never names a strength of your own has written the wrong assignment, so quote the strength together with its class and then give a concrete moment when it operated.
Assessment move
Learn the two levels and the six class descriptions before anything else, because most of the marks lost in this week come from calling a strength a virtue or from using an everyday definition instead of the classification's own.
Read the class description alongside every strength you plan to write about, since leadership under justice means organising group activity rather than seniority, and prudence means avoiding what you will later regret rather than being risk averse.
Then prepare the critique in advance: write the four move structure once during Strengths Week, while the activities are giving you concrete evidence, rather than in the week the report is due.
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