INTERPERSONAL ORIENTATION AND PREFERENCE FOR FUNCTIONAL AREA OF MANAGEMENT AMONG MBA STUDENTS.

Abstract

This study is an examination of differences in the interpersonal needs of first semester MBA students who prefer different functional areas of management. it was felt that the findings had relevance to occupational choice and care er development processes, even though selection ufa functional socialty is only one of many sequential preferences which an individual is likely to express over time in gravitating toward a business career. This association between interpersonal needs and preference for a functional area of managament would seem to offer empirical support to the occupational Choice theories of Roe and Bordin mentioned earlier in this study. Furthermore, the fact that the sample was first-semester MBA students indicates the relationship between needs and functional area preference is present before the student has had much direct, extended experience with a particular function area. The empirical confirmation of the Roe-Bordin frameworks indicated by the data would seem all the more compelling since the FIRO Instrument is an attempt to measure a need orientation developed from early childhood experience, an element which is central to both theories. The present data established an association between specific needs and a particular preference relevant to the occupational choice process. It is admittedly another matter to use the need data to predict future occupational role since there are many intervening variables which obscure the connection between needs and ultimate choice of occupation. Furthermore, there are many choices an individual makes over time, and the question arises as to which job is indicative of ultimate occupational role.