International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 4, Issue 2, February 2014 1 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org A Review of Personality Types and Locus of Control as Moderators of Stress and Conflict Management R.K.N.D.Darshani Lecturer (Prob.), Department of Human Resources, Faculty of Commerce & Management Studies, University of Kelaniya,Kelaniya 11600, Sri Lanka Abstract- Abstract Today managing conflicts and stresses in organizations became a prudent factor for gearing the journey of organizational success. Due to the fact of inevitability of conflicts and stresses (Gultekin et al.2011) it is vitalto study the factors which affect the level of conflicts and stresses since root cause of the conflicts and stresses are incompatible goals of the individuals (Galtun, 1973).Numerous studies examined the role of personality and its interaction with situational demands to the perceived stress and ways of coping with stress (Costa, Somerfield, & McCrae, 1996). Meanwhile, the studies on work- family conflicts (Greenhaus & Beutell ,1985) elaborated three dimensions; time-based, strain- based, and behavior-based conflicts. Locus of Control is a strong positive correlate of mental strain. Externals tend to report more negative moods when faced with stressful events. Internals tend to perceive less stress, and have better coping skills (Arsenault, Dolan, & Ameringen, 1991). Pilisuk and Montgomery (1993) found that an external Locus of control was related to a greater number of stress-related somatic symptoms than an internal Locus of controller. There, the study examines and develop a model to elicit how A and B Personality types introduced by Friedman and Rosenman (1974) and locus of control moderate stresses and conflicts rendering different theories and models and the impact of coping strategies with the particular personality type. Index Terms- A/B Personality Type, Conflict, Coping, Locus of Control Stress I. INTRODUCTION he words stresses and conflicts (SaC) are most common in today’s’ world. With the overloaded work and craves SaC have been internalized and already harbored. Every human in the world runs a journey which seemingly endless. There SaC are envisaged since they cannot kept as secluded apart from the man. Many numbers of researchers have been researched on types of stresses and conflicts. And found that incompatible goals are the root cause of SaC (Galtun, 1973). According to Robbins (2000) “personality” is a state of psychology which leads to human emotions and behavior. Lazarus (1993) stated that stresses are psychological rather than physiological. Yet, there is very little attention has paid on personality t ypes and its’ influence on conflicts.Only lately researchers have considered the role of individual difference variables in the work-family link ( Carlson, 1999; Noor, 2003; Stova, Chiu, & Greenhaus, 2002).The psychological stress is considered as a part of a larger topic, the emotions. Through many numbers of theoretical aspects it entails that stress is an emotion which impacts ones psychology. It is important to note this study discusses on psychological stress and not on physiological. Stress defines an unfavorable person- environmental relationship; its essence is process and change rather than structure or stasis (Lazarus, 1993) and traditional approaches to coping had emphasized traits or styles--that is, stable properties of personality.(Lazarus 1966, 1981; Lazarus & Folkman 1984; Lazarus &Launier 1978).Further, Lazarus stated in his study (1993) that the personality variables and those that characterize the environment come together in the appraisal of relational meaning. An emotion is aroused not just by an environmental demand, constraint, or resource but by their juxtaposition with a person’s motives and beliefs. Hence, this study focuses on how the A and B personality types introduced by Friedman and Rosenman (1974) clinging to the locus of control moderate stresses and conflicts. The early research on locus of control beliefs conceptualized it as a bipolar, Funi- dimensional construct (Lefcourt, 1976). External locus of control was conceptualized as a generalized belief that outcomes are determined by external factors, whereas an internal locus of control was conceptualized as the belief that outcomes are contingent on one's own responses (Kim L.S et al ,1996). Fogas and colleagues (1992) found evidence that locus of control was a partial mediator of the relations between stressful events and anxiety and depression problems. These researchers show the relationship between stress and locus of control and how the locus of control influence on stresses that will be discussed with the early theoretical findings. Fogas found that an external locus of control orientation was significantly related to higher stress and lower achievement orientation. Higher achievement orientation was positively related to the use of active coping styles. The review by Cohen and Edwards (1989) concluded that locus of control is the personality characteristic that provides the most consistent and the strongest evidence of stress-moderation. According to the study of Keinan and Tal (2004) type A behavior is a coping response to the threat of control loss. The study revealed that Type As are more inclined to stress than Type Bs and this study was able to comply with Friedman and Rosenmans’ study on similar. However, these studies examined the attributional style of the two types A and B personalities; internal-external. There, it is apparent the relationship among stress levels, A and B personality types and the locus of control. This study further renders the relationship among these factors and in between conflicts and personality. T