Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this project was to assess the effect on success in organizational management of a person's birth order. The major areas of concern when studying this problem were the perceptions of individuals in relation to their personal characteristics that are associated with their performance as organizational managers, and their perceptions of the factors that contributed to the development of these personal characteristics.
The problem studied in this project was the effect that a person's birth order may have on that person's success as an organizational manager. The ability to analyze and take control of a situation is critical to success in organizational management (Rodriques, 1993). The personal characteristics of an individual, such as self confidence, contribute to the development by that person of the abilities required to function as a leader and manager (Bass, 1990). Ornstein (1994) reported that birth order can affect personalities. Harrigan and Finch (1992), as an example, reported that while all seven Mercury astronaughts were first-born children, most comedians were the last-born children in their families. The extension of such findings leads to contentions by some people that birth order can affect achievement in later life (Kessler, 1991). The effects that birth order may have on achievement in later life, however, are a matter of both dispute and interpretation (Ghosh, 1989). This conflict opinion reflected in the literature supported the further investigation of this problem through the conduct of this project.
Based on the project purpose and problem statement, three hypotheses were formulated and tested. These hypotheses were as follows:
H1: Within an organization, individuals who are successful in leadership and management positions will be those persons who are able to take
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