QUESTIONS : 1. Use the data in the case to formulate hypotheses about Johann’s values, type A beliefs and self ideal. Focus specially on those psychological traits that may strongly influence his career decision at this time.
Values are the behaviors and attitudes that individuals consider good. There are two types of values: espoused values and values in-use. Espoused values are those that individuals proclaim and defend publically while values-in-use are those that can be inferred through the individual’s behavior.
As Johann finishes reading his father’s email, he begins to reflect on his life in the US, his job at IP and his long-term career plan. Johann acknowledges that he does not like at all the politics of corporate life at a large company such as IP because he was competing with ‘young MBAs with sharp elbows’. This means that these individuals were so competitive that they pushed people out their way in order to get what they wanted. Given that Johann does not like this attitude at all, one can infer that Johann values solidarity.
Furthermore, Johann seemed to be more interested in starting his own business and becoming his own boss. He had done research on a TBA (tires, batteries, accessories) distributorship that was having financial troubles and he believed he could turn it around. As such, it seems that Johann values autonomy and freedom as well. Another reason to believe that Johann values autonomy and independence is that when he got into an argument with his father at age 15, he moved away from home. In this situation, Johann wanted to attend an undergraduate boarding school program and his father did not agree and wanted Johann to live at home. His father was surprised by the way that Johann defended his argument and reached a compromise. Johann accepted the compromise because the job was away from home and he thought he would be in charge of his own learning.