Social Styles of Students and Professors: Do Students’ Social Styles Influence Their Preferences for Professors?

Abstract

This article uses Merrill and Reid’s classification of social styles as drivers, analyticals, expressives, and amiables to examine differences between the personalities of different business majors and student choices of favorite professors. Significant differences were found in the social styles of different business majors. Furthermore, one’s major interacted with his or her gender to have a significant effect on the student’s social style. Students relied on cues both inside and outside the classroom to determine a professor’s social style. They were fairly accurate in guessing a professor’s level of assertiveness and responsiveness and, to a lesser extent, a professor’s specific social style. Students’ social styles and specific majors had a significant effect in preferences for specific faculty chosen as “favorites.” Recommendations are included on how marketing professors can develop a classroom persona to minimize personality conflicts in courses containing a mix of business majors.

Action research and reflection on student approaches to learning in large first year university classes

“…Students in this group also made recommendations to the tutor as to how they might undertake the final tutorial review session prior to the final exam suggesting that there had been a change in the leadership ability of students within this group, or perhaps indicating a re-focusing of the strong personalities within the group. The nature of the impact of teacher personalities, leadership ability of students and their impact upon group dynamics has already been highlighted in the education literature and deserves further investigation (Schlee, 2005) In the final evaluation of this action research project, assessing changes to learning style proved difficult. Due to the necessity for anonymity, the direct assessment of changes in individual learning styles was unable to be assessed.…”

“…This tutor had a more outgoing personality than the other tutor and had greater success in reducing the degree of external regulation in class activities. While this may have been attributed to teaching style, it may also be a function of the individual's personality as some current research suggests (for example, Schlee, 2005). The situation may also have arisen as the result of the social styles or personalities of students within the group (Clark & Trow, 1966).…”

“…This resulted in students losing out on the creativity of the tutor. Future research should investigate the role of the teaching instructors' knowledge, personality and communicative ability within the context of student social styles so as to arrive at a more holistic or systems model of teacher and student interaction (Schlee, 2005).…”

“…Large cohorts of students often make it difficult for convenors to create an environment in which students feel that their own personal needs are being met (Stork, 2003). In addition, contextual difficulties such as divergent instructor personalities and teaching styles often inhibit effective teaching results in classes characterised by students with preferences for different learning approaches (Schlee, 2005). Therefore, within this context, we ask how educators can provide an environment that accommodates individual student needs and promotes deeper approaches to learning?…”

The Psychological Work Preferences of Business Students

“…However, the latter findings are debatable. Consistent with this thinking, Schlee (2005) found that 53% of management majors prefer work that is characterized as ambitious and egotistical, yet friendly. Similarly, Gilbert et al (2008), in a sample of 975 graduating seniors, found that those who had work preferences for leading others, controlling others, and moving up the career ladder also demonstrated a high interest for working in jobs related to management.…”