Question

Go through the following case study and answer the question below. (20 marks)

Rakesh is a Manager at UBS, a glass manufacturing company in Delhi. After completing his graduation from IIT-BHU, he joined the company as a trainee. Rakesh is known in his team as a friendly and approachable manager. He encourages his colleagues to share their ideas openly in meetings and supports them during difficult situations.

Rakesh implemented the process of ‘Weekly one on one meetings’ with all his teammates to get a better understanding of the challenges faced by them. After patiently hearing and learning about these challenges, he sits with his employees to come up with solutions, increasing the overall effectiveness of the team. Rakesh also organises frequent outings to help his team members bond with each other.

However, in one of the meetings with the upper management, Rakesh got into an argument with a colleague which was reported as ‘a move to take credit’ for a task which was completed by the two teams together.

Examine Rakesh’s personality using the OCEAN Framework. Stick to the limited information available from the caselet. Justify. (Mention if he scored ‘high’ or ‘low’ in each trait).

Answer 1

Rakesh likely scores high on Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Agreeableness in the OCEAN framework, due to his supportive and proactive style. However, he may score lower in Neuroticism as indicated by a reported workplace argument.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the given case study, we can analyze Rakesh’s personality using the OCEAN framework which stands for Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Here is how Rakesh may score on each trait:

• Openness: Rakesh seems to have a high score here as he encourages his colleagues to share their ideas and organises frequent outings, showing he is open to experiences and creative.
• Conscientiousness: He appears to be high in conscientiousness because he is a manager who implements weekly meetings to solve problems, indicating a good work ethic and organizational skills.
• Extraversion: Rakesh's friendly and approachable nature and his initiative to have one-on-one meetings suggest he scores high on extraversion.
• Agreeableness: Despite one incident, overall Rakesh seems supportive and promotes teamwork, which implies he may score high on agreeableness.
• Neuroticism: This is the one area where we might infer he scores lower, as he generally maintains a friendly demeanour, yet the confrontation could suggest some level of emotional reactivity.

These traits collectively suggest that Rakesh generally has a positive, collaborative, and supportive management style, although there is potential for improvement in managing conflict, as the altercation with a colleague indicates.