ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR - concept and nature of organisational behaviour  importance challenges and  opportunities 

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Organizational Behaviour:

Organisational behaviour is a subset of management activities concerned with understanding, predicting and influencing individual behaviour in organisational setting.

Characteristics of Organisational Behavior:

From The Above Definitions, The Following Features of Organisational Behaviour Emerge:

1. Behavioural Approach to Management:

Organisational behaviour is that part of whole management which represents the behavioural approach to management. Organisational behaviour has emerged as a distinct field of study because of the importance of human behaviour in organisations.

2. Cause and Effect Relationship:

Human behaviour is generally taken in terms of cause and effect relationship and not in philosophical terms. It helps in predicting the behaviour of individuals. It provides generalizations that managers can use to anticipate the effect of certain activities on human behaviour.

3. Organisational Behaviour is a Branch of Social Sciences:

Organisational behaviour is heavily influenced by several other social sciences viz. psychology, sociology and anthropology. It draws a rich array of research from these disciplines.

4. Three Levels of Analysis:

Organisational behaviour encompasses the study of three levels of analysis namely individual behaviour, inter-individual behaviour and the behaviour of organisations themselves. The field of organisational behaviour embraces all these levels as being complementary to each other.

5. A Science as well as an Art:

Organisational behaviour is a science as well as an art. The systematic knowledge about human behaviour is a science and the application of behavioural knowledge and skills is an art. Organisational behaviour is not an exact science because it cannot exactly predict the behaviour of people in organisations. At best a manager can generalize to a limited extent and in many cases, he has to act on the basis of partial information.

6. A Body of Theory, Research and Application:

Organisational behaviour consists of a body of theory, research and application which helps in understanding the human behaviour in organisation. All these techniques help the managers to solve human problems in organisations.

7. Beneficial to both Organisation and Individuals:

Organisational behaviour creates an atmosphere whereby both organisation and individuals are benefitted by each other. A reasonable climate is created so that employees may get much needed satisfaction and the organisation may attain its objectives.

8. Rational Thinking:

Organisational behaviour provides a rational thinking about people and their behaviour. The major objective of organisational behaviour is to explain and predict human behaviour in organisations, so that result yielding situations can be created.

 

 

IMPORTANCE OF OB

 

Organizational Behavior - Models

Organizational behavior reflects the behavior of the people and management all together, it is considered as field study not just a discipline. A discipline is an accepted science that is based upon theoretical foundation, whereas OB is an inter-disciplinary approach where knowledge from different disciplines like psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. are included. It is used to solve organizational problems, especially those related to human beings.

There are four different types of models in OB. We will throw some light on each of these four models.

Autocratic Model

The root level of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in this model are oriented towards obedience and discipline. They are dependent on their boss. The employee requirement that is met is subsistence. The performance result is less.

The major drawbacks of this model are people are easily frustrated, insecurity, dependency on the superiors, minimum performance because of minimum wage.

Custodial Model

The root level of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in this model are oriented towards security and benefits provided to them. They are dependent on the organization. The employee requirement that is met is security.

This model is adapted by firms having high resources as the name suggest. It is dependent on economic resources. This approach directs to depend on firm rather than on manager or boss. They give passive cooperation as they are satisfied but not strongly encouraged.

Supportive Model

The root level of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in this model are oriented towards their job performance and participation. The employee requirement that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.

This model is dependent on leadership strive. It gives a climate to help employees grow and accomplish the job in the interest of the organization. Management job is to assist the employee’s job performance. Employees feel a sense of participation.

Collegial Model

The root level of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in this model are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The employee requirement that is met is self-actualization. The performance result is moderate zeal.

This is an extension of supportive model. The team work approach is adapted for this model. Self-discipline is maintained. Workers feel an obligation to uphold quality standard for the better image of the company. A sense of “accept” and “respect” is seen.

1.Autocratic model

This model has its roots in the historical past, and definitely became a most prominent model of the industrial revolution of 1800 and 1900s.  It gives the owners and manager’s power to dictate and form decisions while making employees obey their orders.   The model asserts that employees need to be instructed and motivated to perform while managers do all the thinking.  The whole process is formalized with the managers and authority power has the right to give command to the people, “You do this or else…”, is a general dictatorship command. As Newstrom suggests, “the psychological result of the employees is dependence on their boss, whose power to “hire, fire and perspire” is almost absolute. Employers receive less wages as they are less skilled and their performance is also minimum, which they do it rather reluctantly as they have to satisfy the needs of their families and themselves.  But there are some exceptions as many employees do give higher performance because either they would like to achieve or have a close association with their boss, or either they have been promised a good reward, but overall their performance is minimum.

The theory of X assumption of McGregor states employers do not take responsibility and managers have to supervise over their work to obtain desired results. This model can also be compared to the Likert system in which use of punishment, force, fear or threats sometimes are used as means to get the results from the employees.

Now as the values are changing the model is giving place to the modernized thinking, but we cannot say that this model has been discarded.  In many organizational setups, it is still proving a useful way to get the things done, especially when the employees are being motivated to fulfill physiological needs or whenever there are any organizational crises. However with the increase in the knowledge, changing the societal values better ways to manage organizational behavior systems is emerging.  Yet another step was required and it emerged.

2.Custodial Model

Now the time came when managers began to think the security of the employees is imperative- it could be either social as well economic security.  Now managers have begun to study about their employees needs,   they found out that though in the autocratic setup employees does not talk back yet they have many things to say but incapability to speak result in frustrations, insecurity, and aggressive behavior towards their boss. Since they are not able to display their feelings, they would vent these feelings on their family and neighbors. This causes suffering to the entire community and relationships and this often results in bad performance. Newstrom gave the example of a wood processing plant where the employees were treated very cruelly even to the extent of physical abuse.  Since workers were not able to strike back directly they show their aggression by destroying the good sheets of veneer destroying the supervisor’s credibility.

Employers now had begun to think of the ways to develop better relations with the employees and to keep them satisfied and motivated.   In 1890 and 1900 many companies started the welfare programs for the employees which began later to be known as paternalism.   In the 1930s, these welfare programs evolved in many fringe benefits to provide security to the employees which resulted in the development of the Custodial model of organizational behavior.

A successful custodial approach depends on providing economic security which many companies are now offering as high pay scale, remunerations in the form of health benefits, corporate cars, financial packaging and many other forms of incentives.  These incentives increase the employees’ satisfaction level and help them to achieve competitive advantage. To avoid layoffs employers also tries to “retain employees, reduce overtime, freeze hiring, encourage both the job transfers and relocations, provide early retirement incentives, and reduce subcontracting to adjust to slowdowns especially in the information technology”.  (Newstrom, p.32)

The custodial approach induces employees now to show their dependency and loyalty towards the company and not to the boss or managers or supervisors. The employees in this environment are more psychologically contended and preoccupied with their rewards but it is not necessary they would be strongly motivated to give the performance. The studies show that though it has been the best way to make them happy employee but not productive employee, so the question still remains what should be the better way? But overall this step had been a stepping stone for the creation and development of the next step.

3.Supportive Model

Unlike the two previous approaches, the supportive model emphasis on motivated and aspiring leader. There is no space for any control or authoritative power in this model or on the incentives or reward schemes but it is simply based on motivating staff through the establishment of the manager and employee relationship and the treatment that is given to employees on daily basis.

Quite contrarily to the autocratic mode, it states that employees are self-motivated and can generate value that goes beyond their day to day role or activity.  But how the employees get self –motivated? That’s through creating a positive workplace where they are encouraged to give their ideas and there is some kind of “buy -in” in the organizational behavior setup and the direction that it takes.

One of the key aspects of the supportive model has been studies conducted at the Hawthorne Plant of Electric in the 1920s and 1930s. The study was led by Elton Mayo and F.J Roethlisberger to implore on the human behavior at work by implementing and placing keen insight on the sociological, psychological perspective in the industrial setup. They came up to a conclusion that a single organization is a social system and a worker is an important component in the system. They found that worker is not a tool that can be used in any way but has its own behavior and personality and needs to be understood. They suggested that understanding of group dynamism including the application of supportive supervision is imperative to make workers contribute and be supportive.

Through the leadership organizations give the space and climate for the employees to develop, form their own thinking and take an initiative. They would take responsibility and improve themselves.  Managers are oriented towards supporting the employees to give performances and not just support them through employee benefits as done in custodial approach.

The supportive model is being widely accepted chiefly in the developed nations where the needs of the employees are different as it fulfills many of the employees emerging needs.  This approach is less successful in the developing nations where the social and economic need of the working class is different.  In short, in the supportive model money is not which retain the satisfaction of the employees but it is a part of the organization’s life that has been put to the use and makes other people feel wanted.

4.The Collegial Model

In this scheme, the structure of an organization is developed in a way that there is no boss nor subordinates, but all are colleagues who have to work as a team.   Each one of the employees has to participate and work in coordination with each other to achieve the target rate.  No one is worried about his status or a job title.   Manager’s role is here like a coach whose function is to guide the team to perform and generate positive and motivating work environment, instead of focusing on his own personal growth.  The team requires adopting new approaches, research and development and new technologies to better their performance.

We can also say Collegial model is an extension of the supportive model. The success of the collegial model depends on the management’s ability to foster the feeling of partnership between the employees. This makes the employees feel important and needed. They also feel that managers are not just mere supervisors but are also giving their equal contribution to the team.

To make the collegial model success many organizations have abolished the use of bosses and subordinates during working, as these terms create the distance between the managers and subordinates.  While some of the organizations have abolished the system of allotting reserved space for executives. Now any employee can park their vehicle in the common parking space, which increases their convenience and makes them more comfortable.

The manager is oriented towards the team performance while each employee is responsible for his task and towards each other. They are more disciplined and work as per the standards set by the team. In this setup employees feel fulfilled as their contribution is accepted and well received.

5.The System Model

The most emerging model of the today’s corporate era is the system model. This model emerged from the rigorous research to attain the higher level of meaning at work. Today’s employees need more than salary and security from their job, they need the hours they are putting towards the organization is giving them some value and meaning.   To add to it, they need the work that is ethical, respectful, integrated with trust and integrity and gives a space to develop a community feeling among the co-workers.

In the system model, the expectations of the managers are much more than getting the work done by the employees. The managers have to show their emotional side, be more compassionate and caring towards their team and they must be sensitive towards the needs of the diverse workforce. They have to devote their attention to creating the feeling of optimism, hope, trustworthiness, courage, self-determination, and through this, they try to develop the positive work culture where the employees feel more at ease and work as if they are working for their family.  This ultimately results in the long time commitment and loyalty of the employees and the success of the company.

Managers also try to foster two main concepts; authenticity and transparency and social intelligence.   Managers always try to make the employees feel the part of the project and the organization and give them all the support so that they can increase their efficiency and output.   In turn, the employees feel more emotionally and psychologically part of the organization and become more responsible for their actions. Employees feel more inspired, motivated, important and feel that what they are doing and what they think would be good for the organization which goes beyond their personal achievements.

The models have been originated perceiving the changing employee needs with each model have been the stepping stone for the more productive and useful model. To assume that any one of the models has been the best model is wrong as no model is hundred percent perfect but have been evolving all through the years with the changes in our perception, study and social conditions that have been affecting the human behavior.   Any of the above models can be modified, applied and extended in many different ways.  As there has been advancement in the collective understanding of the human behavior, the new social condition emerged and with it there has been an evolution of the new model.

Challenges and Opportunities of Organizational Behavior

The following are some of the significant problems:

·                     Improving People Skills

·                     Improving Quality and Productivity

·                     Managing Workforce Diversity

·                     Responding to Globalization

·                     Empowering People

·                     Coping with Temporariness

·                     Stimulating Innovation and Change

·                     Emergence of the e-organization

·                     Improving Ethical Behavior

 

Improving People Skills:

Technological changes, structural changes, environmental changes are accelerated at a faster rate in business field. Unless employees and executives are equipped to possess the required skills to adapt those changes, the achievement of the targeted goals cannot be achieved in time. There two different categories of skills – managerial skills and technical skills. Some of the managerial skills include listening skills, motivating skills, planning and organizing skills, leading skills, problem solving skill, decision making skills etc.

These skills can be enhanced by organizing a series of training and development programmes, career development programmes, induction and socialization etc.

 

Implications for Managers: Designing an effective performance appraisal system with built-in training facilities will help upgrade the skills of the employees to cope up the demands of the external environment. The lower level cadre in management is required to possess more of technical skills. As they move towards upward direction, their roles will be remarkably changed and expected to have more of human relations and conceptual skills.

 

Improving Quality and Productivity:

Quality is the extent to which the customers or users believe the product or service surpasses their needs and expectations. For example, a customer who purchases an automobile has certain expectation, one of which is that the automobile engine will start when it is turned on. If the engine fails to start, the customer’s expectations will not have been met and the customer will perceive the quality of the car as poor. Deming defined quality as a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability, at low cost and suited to the market. Juran defined it as fitness for use. The key dimensions of quality as follows.

·                     Performance: Primary operating characteristics of a product such as signal coverage, audio quality, display quality etc.

·                     Features: Secondary characteristics, added features, such as calculators, and alarm clock features in hand phone

·                     Conformance: Meeting specifications or industry standards, workmanship of the degree to which a product’s design or operating characteristics match preestablished standards

·                     Reliability: The probability of a product’s failing within t a specified period of time

·                     Durability: It is a measure of product’s life having both economic and technical dimension

·                     Services: Resolution of problem and complaints, ease of repair

·                     Response: Human to human interface, such as the courtesy of the dealer

·                     Aesthetics: Sensory characteristics such exterior finish

·                     Reputations: Past performance and other intangibles, such as being ranked first.

More and more managers are confronting to meet the challenges to fulfill the specific requirements of customers. In order to improve quality and productivity, they are implementing programs like total quality management and reengineering programs that require extensive employee involvement.

 

Total Quality Management (TQM): It is a philosophy of management that is driven by the constant attainment of customer satisfaction through the continuous improvement of all organizational process. The component of TQM are (a) intense focus of the customer

(b) concern for continual improvement (c) improvement in the quality of everything the organization does (d) accurate measurement and (e) empowerment of employees.

 

Reengineering: This refers to discrete initiatives that are intended to achieve radically redesigned and improved work process in a bounded time frame. Business Process Reengineering employees a structural methodology that reduces work process to their essential composite activist and provides cost performance matrices to facilitate a business case for dramatic improvements. Both functional and cross-functional processes are evaluated through workflow analysis and activity based costing. In many cases, the application of new technology and industries best practices will enable quantum improvement in an organization’s cost and performance.

 

Implications for Managers: Today’s managers understand that any efforts to improve quality and productivity must influence their employees. These employees will not only be a major force in carrying out changes, but increasingly will participate actively in planning those changes. Managers will put maximum effort in meeting the customer’s requirements by involving everyone from all the levels and across all functions. Regular communications (both formally and informally) with all the staff at all levels is must.

Two way communications at all levels must be promoted. Identifying training needs and relating them with individual capabilities and requirements is must. Top management’s participation and commitment and a culture of continuous improvement must be established.

 

Managing Workforce Diversity:

This refers to employing different categories of employees who are heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, relation, community, physically disadvantaged, homosexuals, elderly people etc. The primary reason to employ heterogeneous category of employees is to tap the talents and potentialities, harnessing the innovativeness, obtaining synergetic effect among the divorce workforce. In general, employees wanted to retain their individual and cultural identity, values and life styles even though they are working in the same organization with common rules and regulations. The major challenge for organizations is to become more accommodating to diverse groups of people by addressing their different life styles, family needs and work styles.

 

Implications for Managers: Managers have to shift their philosophy from treating everyone alike to recognizing individual differences and responding to those differences in ways that will ensure employee retention and greater productivity while, at the same time not discriminating. If work force diversity is managed more effectively, the management is likely to acquire more benefits such as creativity and innovation as well as improving decision making skills by providing different perspectives on problems. If diversity is not managed properly and showed biases to favor only a few categories of employees, there is potential for higher turnover, more difficulty in communicating and more interpersonal conflicts.

 

Responding to Globalization:

Today’s business is mostly market driven; wherever the demands exist irrespective of distance, locations, climatic conditions, the business operations are expanded to gain their market share and to remain in the top rank etc. Business operations are no longer restricted to a particular locality or region. Company’s products or services are spreading across the nations using mass communication, internet, faster transportation etc. An Australian wine producer now sells more wine through the Internet than through outlets across the country. More than 95% of Nokia hand phones are being sold outside of their home country Finland. Japanese cars are being sold in different parts of globe. Sri Lankan tea is exported to many cities across the globe. Executives of Multinational Corporation are very mobile and move from one subsidiary to another more frequently.

 

 

Implications for Managers: Globalization affects a managerial skills in at least two ways: i) an Expatriate manager have to manage a workforce that is likely to have very different needs, aspirations and attitudes from the ones that they are used to manage in their home countries. ii) Understanding the culture of local people and how it has shaped them and accordingly learn to adapt ones management style to these differences is very critical for the success of business operations. One of the main personality traits required for expatriate managers is to have sensitivity to understand the individual differences among people and exhibit tolerance to it.

 

Empowering People

The main issue is delegating more power and responsibility to the lower level cadre of employees and assigning more freedom to make choices about their schedules, operations, procedures and the method of solving their work-related problems. Encouraging the employees to participate in work related decision will sizably enhance their commitment at work. Empowerment is defined as putting employees in charge of what they do by eliciting some sort of ownership in them. Managers are doing considerably further by allowing employees full control of their work. An increasing number of organizations are using self-managed teams, where workers operate largely without boss. Due to the implementation of empowerment concepts across all the levels, the relationship between managers and the employees is reshaped. Managers will act as coaches, advisors, sponsors, facilitators and help their subordinates to do their task with minimal guidance.

 

Implications for Manager: The executive must learn to delegate their tasks to the subordinates and make them more responsible in their work. And in so doing, managers have to learn how to give up control and employees have to learn how to take responsibility for their work and make appropriate decision. If all the employees are empowered, it drastically changes the type of leadership styles, power relationships, the way work is designed and the way organizations are structured.

 

 

 

Coping with ‘Temporariness”

In recent times, the Product life cycles are slimming, the methods of operations are improving, and fashions are changing very fast. In those days, the managers needed to introduce major change programs once or twice a decade. Today, change is an ongoing activity for most managers. The concept of continuous improvement implies constant change. In yester years, there used to be a long period of stability and occasionally interrupted by short period of change, but at present the change process is an ongoing activity due to competitiveness in developing new products and services with better features. Everyone in the organization faces today is one of permanent temporariness. The actual jobs that workers perform are in a permanent state of flux. So, workers need to continually update their knowledge and skills to perform new job requirements.

 

Implications for Manager: Managers and employees must learn to cope with temporariness. They have to learn to live with flexibility, spontaneity, and unpredictability. The knowledge of Organizational Behavior will help understand better the current state of a work world of continual change, the methods of overcoming resistance to change process, the ways of creating a better organizational culture that facilitates change process etc.

 

Stimulating Innovation and Change

Today’s successful organizations must foster innovation and be proficient in the art of change; otherwise they will become candidates for extinction in due course of time and vanished from their field of business. Victory will go to those organizations that maintain flexibility, continually improve their quality, and beat the competition to the market place with a constant stream of innovative products and services. For example, Compaq succeeded by creating more powerful personal computers for the same or less money than IBNM or Apple, and by putting their products to market quicker than the bigger competitors. Amazon.com is putting a lot of independent bookstores out of business as it proves you can successfully sell books from an Internet website.

 

Implications for Managers: Some of the basic functions of business are being displaced due to the advent of a new systems and procedures. For example – books are being sold only through internet. Internet selling an organization’s employees can be the impetus for innovation and change; otherwise they can be a major hindrance. The challenge for managers is to stimulate employee creativity and tolerance for change.

 

Emergence of E-Organization

E- Commerce: It refers to the business operations involving electronic mode of transactions. It encompasses presenting products on websites and filling order. The vast majority of articles and media attention given to using the Internet in business are directed at on-line shopping. In this process, the marketing and selling of goods and services are being carried out over the Internet. In e-commerce, the following activities are being taken place quite often - the tremendous numbers of people who are shopping on the Internet, business houses are setting up websites where they can sell goods, conducting the following transactions such as getting paid and fulfilling orders. It is a dramatic change in the way a company relates to its customers. At present e-commerce is exploding. Globally, e-commerce spending was increasing at a tremendous rate from US$ 111 billion in 1999 to US$ 1.3 trillion by 2003.

 

E-business: It refers to the full breadth of activities included in a successful Internet based enterprise. As such, e-commerce is a subset of e-business. E-business includes developing strategies for running Internet-based companies, creating integrated supply chains, collaborating with partners to electronically coordinate design and production, identifying a different kind of leader to run a ‘virtual’ business, finding skilled people to build and operate intranets and websites, and running the back room or the administrative side. E-business includes the creation of new markets and customers, but it’s also concerned with the optimum ways to combine Computers, the Web and Application Software. A sizable number of multinational corporations are selling goods and services via the Internet.

 

Growth rate of e-business: The application of Internet operations are initially covers a small part of the business. At this point, their e-commerce operations are secondary to their traditional business. An increasingly popular application of e-business is merely using the Internet to better manage an ongoing business. Later, there are millions of firms that are now selling anything over the Internet, but they are using e-business applications to improve communications with internal and external stakeholders and to better perform traditional business functions. Some companies are putting maximum effort in improving its internal efficiency and providing support to its wide-reaching dealer network and to on-line sellers by crating a shared and integrated network. The companies wanted to make creasing

 

E-Organizations: This embraces e-commerce and e-business. State and central governments, municipal corporations are using the Internet for extending all the public utility services more efficiently through internet.

 

Implications for Managers: The employees must acquire skills, knowledge, attitudes in learning new technology, overcoming any resistance

 

Improving Ethical behavior:

The complexity in business operations is forcing the workforce to face ethical dilemmas, where they are required to define right and wrong conduct in order to complete their assigned activities. For example, Should the employees of chemical company blow the whistle if they uncover the discharging its untreated effluents into the river are polluting its water resources? Do managers give an inflated performance evaluation to an employee they like, knowing that such an evaluation could save that employee’s job? The ground rules governing the constituents of good ethical behavior has not been clearly defined. Differentiating right things from wrong behavior has become more blurred. Following unethical practices have become a common practice such as successful executives who use insider information for personal financial gain, employees in competitor business participating in massive cover-ups of defective products etc.

 

Implications for Managers: Managers must evolve code of ethics to guide employees through ethical dilemmas. Organizing seminars, workshops, training programs will help improve ethical behavior of employees. Retaining consultants, lawyers, voluntary service organizations to assist the company in dealing with ethical issues will ensure positive ethical behavior. Managers need to create an ethically healthy climate for his employees where they can do their work productively and confront a minimal degree of ambiguity regarding what constitutes right and wrong behavior

 

Personality

The word personality is derived from a Greek word “persona”which means “to speak through.” Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that forms a person’s unique identity. It signifies the role which a person plays in public. Every individual has a unique, personal and major determinant of his behavior that defines his/her personality.

Personality trait is basically influenced by two major features −

• Inherited characteristics
• Learned characteristics

Inherited Characteristics

The features an individual acquires from their parents or forefathers, in other words the gifted features an individual possesses by birth is considered as inherited characteristics. It consists of the following features −

• Color of a person’s eye
• Religion/Race of a person
• Shape of the nose
• Shape of earlobes

Learned Characteristics

Nobody learns everything by birth. First, our school is our home, then our society, followed by educational institutes. The characteristics an individual acquires by observing, practicing, and learning from others and the surroundings is known as learned characteristics.

Learned characteristics includes the following features −

·        Perception − Result of different senses like feeling, hearing etc.

·        Values − Influences perception of a situation, decision making process.

·        Personality − Patterns of thinking, feeling, understanding and behaving.

·        Attitude − Positive or negative attitude like expressing one’s thought.

Traits of Personality

Personality traits are the enduring features that define an individual’s behavior. A personality trait is a unique feature in an individual. Psychologists resolved that there are five major personality traits and every individual can be categorized into at least one of them. These five personality traits are −

• Extrovert
• Neurotic
• Open
• Agreeable
• Conscientious

Major Personality Attributes

Following are the five major personality attributes that influence OB −

Locus of Control

Locus of control is the center of control of an individual’s code of conduct. People can be grouped into two categories i.e., internals and externals respectively.

People who consider themselves as the masters of their own fates are known as internals, while, those who affirm that their lives are controlled by outside forces known as externals.

Before making any decision, internals actively search for information, they are achievement driven, and want to command their environment. Thus, internals do well on jobs that craves complex information processing, taking initiative and independent action.

Externals, on the other hand, are more compliant, more willing to follow instructions, so, they do well in structured, routine jobs.

Machiavellianism

Machiavellianism is being practical, emotionally distant, and believing that ends justify means.

Machiavellians are always wanting to win and are great persuaders. Here are the significant features of a high-mach individuals −

• High-Machs prefer precise interactions rather than beating about the bush.
• High-Machs tend to improvise; they do not necessarily abide by rules and regulations all the time.
• High-Machs get distracted by emotional details that are irrelevant to the outcome of a project.

Self-esteem

It is the extent up to which people either like or dislike themselves. Self-Esteem is directly related to the expectations of success and on-the-job satisfaction.

Individuals with high self-esteem think that they have what it takes to succeed. So, they take more challenges while selecting a job.

On the other hand, individuals with low self-esteem are more susceptible to external distractions. So, they are more likely to seek the approval of others and to adapt the beliefs and behaviors of those they respect.

Self-monitoring

Self-monitoring is the capability of regulating one’s behavior according to social situations. Individuals with high self-monitoring skill easily adjust their behavior according to external, situational factors. Their impulsive talents allow them to present public personae which are completely different from their private personalities.

However, people with low self-monitoring skills cannot cover themselves. Regardless of any situation, they are always themselves. They have an attitude of, “what you see is what you get.”

Risk taking

Generally, managers are reluctant on taking risks. However, individual risk-taking inclination affects the bulk of information required by the managers and how long it takes them to make decisions.

Thus, it is very important to recognize these differences and align risk-taking propensity with precise job demands that can make sense.

Determinants of Personality:

Personality is a result of the combination of four factors, i.e., physical environment, heredity, culture, and particular experiences. Here we discuss each factor determining personality separately.

Personality and Environment:

Above we described the influence of physical environment on culture and pointed out that geographical environment sometimes determines cultural variability. That the Eskimos have a culture different from that of the Indians is due to the fact that the former have a geography different from the latter.

Man comes to form ideas and attitudes according to the physical environment he lives in.

To the extent that the physical environment determines cultural development and to the extent, that culture in turn determines personality, a relationship between personality and environment becomes clear. Some two thousand years ago, Aristotle claimed that people living in Northern Europe were owing to a cold climate, full of spirit but lacking in intelligence and skill. The natives of Asia, on the other hand, are intelligent and inventive but lack in spirit, and are, therefore, slaves.

Montesquieu, in the eighteenth century, claimed that the bravery of those blessed by a cold climate enables them to maintain their liberties. Great heat enervates courage while cold causes a certain vigour of body and mind. At high temperatures, it is said there is disinclination to work and so civilizations have grown up where the temperatures have been average near or below the optimum.

The people of mountains as well as deserts are usually bold, hard and powerful. Huntington’s discussion of the effects of physical environment on man’s attitudes and mental make-up is very exhaustive. However, as told previously, the physical conditions are more permissive and limiting factors than causative factors. They set the limits within which personality can develop.

Thus, climate and topography determine to a great extent the physical and mental traits of a people, but it cannot be said that they alone determine human behaviour. Most kinds of personality are found in every kind of culture. The fact remains that civilizations have appeared in regions of widely different climate and topography. Christianity knows no climate belts.

Peoples are monogamous in high altitudes and flat lands, under tropical temperate and arctic conditions. Men’s attitudes and ideas change even when no conceivable geographic change has occurred. Proponents of geographic determinism oversimplify the human personality and so their interpretations are to be accepted only after close scrutiny.

Heredity and Personality:

Heredity is another factor determining human personality. Some of the similarities in man’s personality are said to be due to his common heredity. Every human group inherits the same general set of biological needs and capacities. These common needs and capacities explain some of our similarities in personality. Man originates from the union of male and female germ cells into a single cell which is formed at the moment of conception.

He tends to resemble his parents in physical appearance and intelligence. The nervous system, the organic drives and the duchess glands have a great bearing upon personality. They determine whether an individual will be vigorous or feeble, energetic or lethargic, idiot of intelligent, coward or courageous.

A man with a good physical structure and health generally possess an attractive personality. A man of poor health, pigmy size and ugly physical features develops inferiority complex. The growth of his personality is checked. Rejected and hated by the society he may turn out to be a thief, dacoit, or drunkard. It is also probable that he may become a leader, or a genius like Socrates and Napoleon. Likewise the nervous system and glandular system may affect the personality of an individual.

The nervous system affects the intelligence and talent of the individual. The hormones affect the growth of personality. Too many or too less of hormones are harmful. Some men are over-patient, overzealous, overactive and overexcited while others are lazy, inactive, and weak. The reason may be secretion of more hormones in the first case and less hormones in the latter case. For a normal personality there should be a balanced secretion of hormones.

Heredity may affect personality in another way, i.e., indirectly. If boys in a society prefers slim girls as their companion, such girls will receive greater attention of the society providing them thereby more opportunities to develop their personality. According to Allport, Gordon, W. no feature of personality is devoid of hereditary influence.

However, heredity does not mould human personality alone and unaided. “For the present, we can only assume that there are -genes for normal personality traits just as there are genes for other aspects of human make-up and functioning. Where in members of the same family, in a similar environment, we can see great differences in personality, we may ascribe these in part at least to differences in gene contributions.

We can also guess that some of the family similarities in personality are genetically influenced. But we are still a long way from identifying specific ‘personality’ genes, gauging their effects or hazarding predictions as to what the personality of a given child will be on the basis of what we know about its parents.” However, according to a news report (Times of India, Jan. 3, 1996) the scientists have identified a gene which influences impulsiveness, excitability and extravagance.

In short, heredity can never be considered as charting a fixed and definite course of anyone’s personality. At the best, what anyone inherits are the potentialities for a wide range of personalities, the precise form into which a personality will “jell” being determined by circumstances. Ogburn and Nimkoff write, “It would be an error to hold, as’ endocrine enthusiasts do, that the glands determine the whole personality, include rich things, as one’s opinions, one’s habits, and one’s skills.” t is possible to over-activate or under-activate some of these kinds by injecting certain kinds of hormones and thereby affect human personality. In other words, it may be said that the available evidence does not support the dogmatic view that personality is biologically transmitted.

Of course, there are some traits which seem to be more directly affected by heredity than others. Manual skills, intelligence and sensory discriminations are some of the abilities which appear more highly developed in some family lines than others. But other traits such as one’s beliefs, loyalties, prejudices and manners are for the most part the result of training and experience.

Heredity only furnishes the materials out of which experience will mould the personality. Experience determines the way these materials will be used. An individual may be energetic because of his heredity, but whether he is active on his own belief or on behalf of others is a matter of his training.

Whether he exerts himself in making money or in scholarly activity is also dependent upon his bringing. If personality is a direct consequence of heredity tendencies or traits then all the sons and daughters of the same parents brought up in the same environment should have identical personalities or at least personalities that are very much alike.

But investigation shows that even at the tender age of three or four years they show quite distinct personalities. The new born human being is, to use the phrase of Koenig, Hopper and Gross, a “candidate for personality.” It is, therefore, clear that an individual’s heredity alone would not enable us to predict his traits and values.

Personality and Culture:

There can be little doubt that culture largely determines the types of personality that will predominate in the particular group. According to some thinkers, personality is the subjective aspect of culture. They regard personality and culture as two sides of the same coin.

Spiro has observed, ‘The development of personality and the acquisition of culture are not different processes, but one and the same learning process.” Personality is an individual aspect of culture, while culture is a collective aspect of personality.” Each culture produces its special type or types of personality.

In 1937 the anthropologist Ralph Linton and the psychoanalyst Abram Kardinar began a series of joint explorations of the relationship between culture and personality by subjecting to minute study reports of several primitive societies and one modern American village. Their studies have demonstrated that each culture tends to create and is supported by a “basic personality type.” A given cultural environment sets its participant members off from other human beings operating under different cultural environments.

According to Frank, ‘culture is a coercive influence dominating the individual and moulding his personality by virtue of the ideas, conceptions and beliefs which had brought to bear on him through communal life.” The culture provides the raw material of which the individual makes his life. The traditions, customs, mores, religion, institutions, moral and social standards of a group affect the personality of the group members. From the moment of birth, the child is treated in ways which shape his personality. Every culture exerts a series of general influences upon the individuals who grow up under it.

Ogburn as we noted above, divided culture into “material” and “non-material.” According to him, both material and non-material culture have a bearing on personality. As for the termer he provides examples of the influence of plumbing on the formation of habits and attitudes favourable to cleanliness and the relation of time-pieces to punctuality. The American Indians who have no clocks or watches in their culture have little notion of keeping appointments with any exactness.

According to him, they have no sense of time. The personality of an American Indian differs from that of a white man in the matter of punctuality and this is because of differences in their culture. Similarly, some cultures greedy value cleanliness as witnessed by the saying: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” This trait of cleanliness is greatly encouraged by the technology of plumbing and other inventions that are found with it.

The Eskimos are dirty because they have to hang a bag of snow down their backs to melt it in order to get water. A man who has just to turn on a tap of water will naturally be more clean than an Eskimo. Cleanliness, therefore, is a matter not of heredity but of the type of culture. As for the connection between the non-material culture and personality, language affords an instructive example. We know that one of the principal differences between man and animals is that he alone possesses speech.

Language can be learnt only in society. People who cannot speak exhibit warped personality. Since language is the essential medium through which the individual obtains his information and his attitudes, therefore, it is the principal vehicle for the development of personality. Moreover, speech itself becomes a trait of personality. The coarse voice of woodcutter can be readily distinguished from the hushed tones of a man.

The short, crisp, guttural speech of the German seems to be part of his personality, as does the fluid, flowing voluble speech of the Spaniard. Movements of the hands and shoulders in speech are regarded as part of the very core of the personalities of Italians and Jews. The Jews use their gestures for emphasis only, while Italians depend upon them to convey part of the meaning.

Another illustration of the influence of culture on personality is the relationship of men and women. In the earlier period when farming was the principal business, women generally had no occupations outside the home, and naturally, therefore, they were economically dependent upon their fathers or husbands. Obedience was a natural consequence of such conditions. But today hundreds of women work outside the homes and earn salaries.

They enjoy equal rights with men and are not so dependent upon them as they were in the past. Attitude of independence instead of obedience has today become a trait of women’s personality. With the growing realisation of the importance of culture for personality, sociologists have recently made attempts to identify the factors in particular cultures which give a distinctive stamp to the individuals within the group. Ruth Benedict analyzed the cultures of three primitive tribes and found that cultures may be divided into two major types—The Apollonian and the Dionysian.

The Apollonian type is characterised by restraint, even temperances, moderation and co- operativeness, whereas the Dionysian type is marked by emotionalism, excess, pursuit of prestige, individualism and competitiveness. The Zuni culture is classified as Appollonian, while the Kwakiuti and Dobuans as Dionysian.

The personality of the Hindus in India differs greatly from that of Englishmen. Why ? The answer is ‘a different Hindu culture’. The Hindu culture lays emphasis not on material and worldly things, but on things spiritual and religious. In every Hindu family there is a religious environment. The mother gets up early in the morning, takes bath and spends an hour in meditation. When the children get up, they go and touch the feet of their parents and bow before the family gods or goddesses. The Hindu child from the very birth begins to acquire a religious and philosophical personality built on the “inner life.”

From the various illustrations cited so far it is thus clear that culture greatly moulds personality. The individual ideas and behaviour are largely the results of cultural conditioning. There is a great difference of ideas between the Hindu devotee immersed in religion and the Russian Communist who thoroughly rejects it.

However, it should not be concluded that culture is a massive die that shapes all who come under it with an identical pattern. All the people of a given culture are not of one cast. Personality traits differ within any culture, some people in any culture are more aggressive than others, some are more submissive, kind and competitive. Personality is not totally determined by culture, even though no personality escapes its influence. It is only one determinant among others. Ruth Benedict writes, “No anthropologist with a background of experiences of other cultures has ever believed that individuals were automatons, mechanically carrying out the decrees of their civilizations.

No culture yet observed has been able to eradicate the difference in the temperaments of the persons who compose it. It is always a give and take affair.” Linton classified cultural influence into the universals, specialities and alternatives and came to the conclusion that culture makes for uniformity of personality only through the universals and since universals are few in number as compared with specialities and alternatives, the effect of culture is to make for variety as well as uniformity.

Personality and Family

Personality is also determined by another factor, namely, the particular and unique experiences. There are two types of experiences one, those that stem from continuous association with one’s group, second, those that arise suddenly and are not likely to recur. The type of people who meet the child daily has a major influence on his personality. The personality of parents does more to affect a child’s personality.

If the parents are kind, tolerant of boyish pranks, interested in athletics and anxious to encourage their child’s separate interests the child will have a different experience and there shall be different influence on his personality than the one when the parents are unkind, quick tempered and arbitrary. In the home is fashioned the style of personality that will by and large characterise the individual throughout his life.

Social rituals,’ ranging from table manners to getting along with others, are consciously inculcated in the child by parents. The child picks up the language of his parents. Problems of psychological and emotional adjustments arise and are solved appropriately by each child in terms of the cultural values and standards of the family. The family set up tends to bring the child into contact with his play-mates and teachers. What his play-game members are, and his school teachers are will also determine his personality development.

Group influences are relatively greater in early childhood. This is the period when the relationships of the child with his mother, father and siblings affect profoundly the organisation of his drives and emotions, the deeper and unconscious aspects of his personality.

A certain degree of maturation is needed before the child can understand the adult norms. The basic personality structure that is formed during this period is difficult to change. Whether a person becomes a leader, a coward, an imitator? whether he feels inferior or superior, whether he becomes altruistic or egoistic depends upon the kind of interaction he has with others. Group interaction moulds his personality.

Away from the group he may become insane or develop queer attitudes. As a child grows he develops wish for response and wish for recognition. To his organic needs are added what are called ‘sociogenic’ needs which are highly important motivating forces in personality. How the idea of self develops in the child is an important study. The self does not exist at birth but begins to arise as the child learns something of the world of sensation about him.

He comes to learn of what belongs to him and takes pride in his possessions. He learns that parts of his body belong to him. He becomes acquainted with his name and paternity and comes to distinguish himself from others. The praise and blame he receives from others account in large measure for his conduct. The development of self leads to the growth of conscience and ego.

Our view of self conception is usually based on the opinion of others about us. It does not. however, mean that we value all opinions about our conduct equally. We attach importance only to the opinions of those whom we consider for one reason or the other significant than others.

Our parents are usually most significant than others since they are the ones who are intimately related to us and have greatest power than others over us especially during the early years of life. In short, our early experiences are very important in the formation of our personality. It is in early life that the foundations of personality are laid.

Why are the children brought up in the same family differ from one another in their personality, even though they have had the same experiences? The point is that they have not had the same experiences. Some experiences are similar while others are different. Each child enters a different family unit.

One is the first born, he is the only child until the arrival of the second. The parents do not treat all their children exactly alike. The children enter different play groups, have different teachers and meet different incidents. They do not share all incidents and experiences. Each person’s experience is unique as no body else perfectly duplicates it. Thus, each child has unique experiences exactly duplicated by no one and, therefore, grows a different personality.

Sometimes a sudden experience leaves an abiding influence upon the personality of an individual. Thus a small child may get frightened at the view of a bloody accident, and even after the accident he may be obsessed of the horror of fear. Sometimes a girl’s experience with a rapist may condemn her to a life of sexual maladjustment.

A book may not uneaten challenge a man to renounce the world and seek God. If a man meets an accident which cripples or weakens him, he may come to entertain the feelings of inadequacy. Lord Buddha is said to have been led to renunciation by the sight of a funeral procession. In this way experiences also determine one’s personality.

However, it may be noted that one’s own personality that one has acquired at any moment will in part determine how the experiences influence his pre-acquired personality. Thus a child who is robust, outgoing, athletic would find his parents in the first case a model for behaviour, a model that would deepen the already apparent personality traits. But if the child is shy, retiring and bookish he may find such parents’ personality distasteful and intensify the opposed personality trends already apparent.

It may also be referred that personality is a matter of social situations. It has been shown by social researchers that a person may show honesty in one situation and not in another. The same is true for other personality traits also. Personality traits tend to be specific responses to particular situations rather than general behaviour patterns. It is a dynamic unity with a creative potential.

Heredity, physical environment, culture and particular experiences are thus the four factors that explain personality—its formation, development and maintenance. Beyond the joint influence of these factors, however, the relative contribution of each factor to personality varies with the characteristic or personality process involved and, perhaps, with the individual concerned.

Genetic or hereditary factors may be more critical for some personality characteristics, while environmental factors, (cultural, financial), may be more important for others. Furthermore, for any one characteristic, the relative contribution of one or another factor may vary from person to person.

The Big Five Personality Traits

Today, many researchers believe that they are five core personality traits. Evidence of this theory has been growing for many years, beginning with the research of D. W. Fiske (1949) and later expanded upon by other researchers including Norman (1967), Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa (1987).

The "big five" are broad categories of personality traits. While there is a significant body of literature supporting this five-factor model of personality, researchers don't always agree on the exact labels for each dimension.

You might find it helpful to use the acronym OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) when trying to remember the big five traits. CANOE (for concienciousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion) is another commonly used acronym.

It is important to note that each of the five personality factors represents a range between two extremes. For example, extraversion represents a continuum between extreme extraversion and extreme introversion. In the real world, most people lie somewhere in between the two polar ends of each dimension.

These five categories are usually described as follows.

1.      Openness

This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight. People who are high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of interests. They are curious about the world and other people and eager to learn new things and enjoy new experiences.

People who are high in this trait tend to be more adventurous and creative. People low in this trait are often much more traditional and may struggle with abstract thinking.

People who are high on the openness continuum are typically:

• Very creative
• Open to trying new things
• Focused on tackling new challenges
• Happy to think about abstract concepts

Those who are low on this trait:

• Dislike change
• Do not enjoy new things
• Resist new ideas
• Not very imaginative
• Dislikes abstract or theoretical concepts

2.      Conscientiousness

Standard features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-directed behaviors. Highly conscientious people tend to be organized and mindful of details. They plan ahead, think about how their behavior affects others, and are mindful of deadlines.

Those who are high on the conscientiousness continuum also tend to:

• Spend time preparing
• Finish important tasks right away
• Pay attention to details
• Enjoy having a set schedule

People who are low in this trait tend to:

• Dislike structure and schedules
• Make messes and not take care of things
• Fail to return things or put them back where they belong
• Procrastinate important tasks
• Fail to complete the things they are supposed to do

3.      Extraversion

Extraversion (or extroversion) is characterized by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. People who are high in extraversion are outgoing and tend to gain energy in social situations. Being around other people helps them feel energized and excited.

People who are low in extraversion (or introverted) tend to be more reserved and have to expend energy in social settings. Social events can feel draining and introverts often require a period of solitude and quiet in order to "recharge."

People who rate high on extraversion tend to:

• Enjoy being the center of attention
• Like to start conversations
• Enjoy meeting new people
• Have a wide social circle of friends and acquaintances
• Find it easy to make new friends
• Feel energized when they are around other people
• Say things before they think about them

People who rate low on extraversion tend to:

• Prefer solitude
• Feel exhausted when they have to socialize a lot
• Find it difficult to start conversations
• Dislike making small talk
• Carefully think things through before they speak
• Dislike being the center of attention

4.      Agreeableness

This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors. People who are high in agreeableness tend to be more cooperative while those low in this trait tend to be more competitive and sometimes even manipulative.

People who are high in the trait of agreeableness tend to:

• Have a great deal of interest in other people
• Care about others
• Feel empathy and concern for other people
• Enjoy helping and contributing to the happiness of other people
• Assist others who are in need of help

Those who are low in this trait tend to:

• Take little interest in others
• Don't care about how other people feel
• Have little interest in other people's problems
• Insult and belittle others
• Manipulate others to get what they want

5.      Neuroticism

Neuroticism is a trait characterized by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability. Individuals who are high in this trait tend to experience mood swings, anxiety, irritability and sadness. Those low in this trait tend to be more stable and emotionally resilient.

Individuals who are high in neuroticism tend to:

• Experience a lot of stress
• Worry about many different things
• Get upset easily
• Experience dramatic shifts in mood
• Feel anxious
• Struggle to bounce back after stressful events

Those who are low in this trait are typically:

• Emotionally stable
• Deal well with stress
• Rarely feel sad or depressed
• Don't worry much
• Very relaxed

Are the Big Five Traits Universal?

McCrae and his colleagues have also found that the big five traits are also remarkably universal. One study that looked at people from more than 50 different cultures found that the five dimensions could be accurately used to describe personality.

Based on this research, many psychologists now believe that the five personality dimensions are not only universal; they also have biological origins. Psychologist David Buss has proposed that an evolutionary explanation for these five core personality traits, suggesting that these personality traits represent the most important qualities that shape our social landscape.

What Factors Influence the Big Five Traits?

Research suggests that both biological and environmental influences play a role in shaping our personalities. Twin studies suggest that both nature and nurture play a role in the development of each of the five personality factors.

One study of the genetic and environmental underpinnings of the five traits looked at 123 pairs of identical twins and 127 pairs of fraternal twins. The findings suggested that the heritability of each trait was 53 percent for extraversion, 41 percent for agreeableness, 44 percent for conscientiousness, 41 percent for neuroticism, and 61 for openness. 

Longitudinal studies also suggest that these big five personality traits tend to be relatively stable over the course of adulthood. One study of working-age adults found that personality tended to be stable over a four-year period and displayed little change as a result of adverse life events.

Studies have shown that maturation may have an impact on the five traits. As people age, they tend to become less extraverted, less neurotic, and less open to experience. Agreeableness and conscientiousness, on the other hand, tend to increase as people grow older.

 

 

LEARNING

Learning can be defined as the permanent change in behavior due to direct and indirect experience. It means change in behavior, attitude due to education and training, practice and experience. It is completed by acquisition of knowledge and skills, which are relatively permanent.

Nature of Learning

Nature of learning means the characteristic features of learning.

1.      Learning involves change;

2.      it may or may not guarantee improvement.

3.      It should be permanent in nature, that is learning is for lifelong.The change in behavior is the result of experience, practice and training. Learning is reflected through behavior.

Factors Affecting Learning

Learning is based upon some key factors that decide what changes will be caused by this experience. The key elements or the major factors that affect learning are motivation, practice, environment, and mental group.

Coming back to these factors let us have a look on these factors −

·        Motivation − The encouragement, the support one gets to complete a task, to achieve a goal is known as motivation. It is a very important aspect of learning as it acts gives us a positive energy to complete a task. Example − The coach motivated the players to win the match.

·        Practice − We all know that ”Practice makes us perfect”. In order to be a perfectionist or at least complete the task, it is very important to practice what we have learnt. Example − We can be a programmer only when we execute the codes we have written.

·        Environment − We learn from our surroundings, we learn from the people around us. They are of two types of environment – internal and external. Example − A child when at home learns from the family which is an internal environment, but when sent to school it is an external environment.

·        Mental group − It describes our thinking by the group of people we chose to hang out with. In simple words, we make a group of those people with whom we connect. It can be for a social cause where people with the same mentality work in the same direction. Example − A group of readers, travelers, etc.

These are the main factors that influence what a person learns, these are the root level for our behavior and everything we do is connected to what we learn.

How Learning Occurs?

Learning can be understood clearly with the help of some theories that will explain our behavior. Some of the remarkable theories are −

• Classical Conditioning Theory
• Operant Conditioning Theory
• Social Learning Theory
• Cognitive Learning Theory

Classical Conditioning Theory

 

lassical and operant conditioning are two important concepts central to behavioral psychology. While both result in learning, the processes are quite different. To understand how each of these behavior modification techniques can be used, it is also essential to understand how classical conditioning and operant conditioning differ from one another.

Let's start by looking at some of the most basic differences.

Classical Conditioning

• First described by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist
• Involves placing a neutral signal before a reflex
• Focuses on involuntary, automatic behaviors

Operant Conditioning

• First described by B. F. Skinner, an American psychologist
• Involves applying reinforcement or punishment after a behavior
• Focuses on strengthening or weakening voluntary behaviors

1. Classical Conditioning:

Classical conditioning is the association of one event with another desired event resulting in a behaviour. The most well known experiments on classical conditioning were conducted by Ivan Pavlov, the Russian psychologist, who won the Nobel Prize for his experiments on this subject. Pavlov conducted an experiment on dogs and tried to establish a Stimulus-Response (S-R) connection. He tried to relate the dog’s salivation and the ringing of the bell. In his experiments, he put some meat in front of dogs.

The dogs responded to this stimulus by salivating. This response was instinctive or unconditioned. Pavlov next began to ring a bell at the same time as the meat was presented. Ringing the bell in itself, without the presentation of meat, was not connected to any responses. But by ringing the bell at the same time as presentation of meat, Pavlov established a relationship between the two stimuli-the bell and the meat- in the mind of the dogs. By continuing this process, the ringing of bell alone was sufficient stimulus to elicit a response of salivating, even when no meat was presented. Thus, the bell became a conditioned stimulus, resulting in conditioned or learned response.

The above diagram explains that the meat was an unconditioned stimulus. It caused the dog to react in a certain way i.e. noticeable increase in salivation. This reaction is called the unconditioned response. The bell was an artificial stimulus or conditioned stimulus. But when the bell was paired with the meat (an unconditioned stimulus), it eventually produced a response. After conditioning, the dog started salivating in response to the ringing of the bell alone. Thus, conditioned stimulus led to conditioned response.

In an organisational setting we can see classical conditioning operating. For example, at one manufacturing plant, every time the top executive from the head office would make a visit, the plant management would clean up the administrative offices and wash the windows. This went on for years.

Eventually, employees would turn on their best behaviour and look prim and proper whenever the windows were cleaned even on those occasions when the cleaning was not paired with the visit from the top brass. People had learnt to associate the cleaning of the windows with the visit from the head office.

Classical conditioning represents only a very small part of total human learning. So it has a limited value in the study of organisational behaviour. Classical conditioning plays only a passive role. We will react in a particular way only if something happens. But in reality, the behaviour of people in organisations is voluntary rather than being reflexive. Their behaviour is not elicited in response to a specific, identifiable event but it is generally emitted. The learning of complex behaviour can be better understood by looking at operant conditioning.

2. Operant Conditioning:

Operant is defined as behaviour that produces effect. Operant conditioning is based on the work of B.F. Skinnerwho advocated that individuals emit responses that are rewarded and will not emit responses that are either not rewarded or are punished. Operant conditioning argues that behaviour is a function of its consequences. Behaviour is likely to be repeated if the consequences are favourable. Behaviour is not likely to be repeated if the consequences are unfavorable. Thus the relationship between behaviour and consequences is the essence of the operant conditioning.

Based upon this direct relationship between the consequences and the behaviour, the management can study and identify this relationship and try to modify and control behaviour. Hence, certain types of consequences can be used to increase the occurrence of a desired behaviour and other types of consequences can be used to decrease the occurrence of undesired behaviour.

One can see examples of operant conditioning in the organisations. For instance, working hard and getting the promotion will probably cause the person to keep working hard in the future. On the other hand, if a boss assures his subordinate that he would be suitably compensated in the next performance appraisal, provided the employee works over time.

However, when the evaluation time comes, the boss does not fulfill his assurance to his subordinate, even though the latter had worked overtime. Next time, the subordinate coolly declines to work overtime when the boss requests him to do so. Thus, it can be concluded that the behaviour consequences that are rewarding increase the rate of response, while the aversive consequences decrease the rate of response. Operant conditioning techniques are extensively used in clinical and educational research, control of alcoholism and control of deviant children in a class room.

3. Cognitive Learning:

Edward Tolman has contributed significantly to the Cognitive Learning Theory. According to him, individuals not only responds to stimuli but also act on beliefs, thoughts, attitudes, feelings and strive towards goals.

In other words, An individual creates a cognitive map in his mind, i.e. an image of the external environment, preserves and organizes information gathered, as a result of the consequences of events encountered during the learning process. Thus, the organism learns about the event and objects on the basis of a meaning assigned to stimuli.

Tolman was the first behaviorist who challenged the conditional theory on the belief that stimulus-response theory is unacceptable, as reinforcement was not necessary for the learning to happen and asserted that behavior was mainly cognitive. He believed that the environment offers several experiences or cues which are used to develop the mental image i.e. cognitive map.

Thus, cognitive learning theory is based on the cognitive model of human behavior, i.e. it emphasizes on the free will and positive aspects of human behavior. Cognition refers to the individual’s thoughts, feelings, ideas, knowledge and understanding about himself and the environment. Thus, an organism applies this cognition in learning which results in not merely the response to a stimulus, but the application of internal image of the external environment, so as to accomplish the goal.

Tolman has conducted an experiment to elucidate the cognitive learning theory. He trained a rat to turn right in the ‘T’ maze in order to obtain food. One day, he started a rat from the opposite part of the maze, according to the operant conditioning theory, the rat should have turned right due to the past conditioning, but instead, it turned towards where the food was kept.

Thus, Tolman concluded that rat formed a cognitive map in its mind to figure out where the food has been placed, and reinforcement was not a precondition for learning to take place.

 

4. Social Learning:

Individuals can also learn by observing what happens to other people and just by being told about something, as well as by direct experiences. Much of what we have learned comes from observing and imitating models-parents, teachers, peers, superiors, film stars etc. This view that we can learn through both observation and direct experience has called social learning theory.

This theory assumes that learning is not a case of environmental determinism (classical and operant views) or of individual determinism (The cognitive view). Rather it is a blending of both. Thus, social learning theory emphasizes the interactive nature of cognitive, behavioural and environmental determinants. The influence of model is central to the social learning view point. Four processes have been found to determine the influence that a model will have on an individual.

a. Attention Process:

People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to its critical features. We tend to be most influenced by models that are attractive, repeatedly available, important to us or similar to use in our estimation.

b. Retention Processes:

A model’s influence will depend upon how well the individual remembers the model’s action after the model is not longer readily available.

c. Motor Reproduction Processes:

After a person has seen a new behaviour by observing the model, the watching must be converted to doing. This process then demonstrates that the individual can perform the modelled activities.

d. Reinforcement Processes:

Individuals will be motivated to exhibit the modeled behaviour if positive incentives or rewards are provided. Behaviours that are positively reinforced will be given more attention, learned better and performed more often.

The following diagram illustrates the effect of the social learning model on the individual:

 

 

 

 

 

Perception

“Perception is the process through which the information from outside environment is selected, received, organised and interpreted to make it meaningful to you.This input of meaningful information results in decisions and actions.”

“Perception may be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.”

Perception is an intellectual process of transforming sensory stimuli to meaningful information. It is the process of interpreting something that we see or hear in our mind and use it later to judge and give a verdict on a situation, person, group etc.

It can be divided into six types −

·        Of sound − The ability to receive sound by identifying vibrations.

·        Of speech − The competence of interpreting and understanding the sounds of language heard.

·        Touch − Identifying objects through patterns of its surface by touching it.

·        Taste − The ability to receive flavor of substances by tasting it through sensory organs known as taste buds.

·        Other senses − They approve perception through body, like balance, acceleration, pain, time, sensation felt in throat and lungs etc.

·        Of the social world − It permits people to understand other individuals and groups of their social world. Example − Priya goes to a restaurant and likes their customer service, so she will perceive that it is a good place to hang out and will recommend it to her friends, who may or may not like it. Priya’s perception about the restaurant is good.

 

Perceptual Process

I. Perceptual Inputs:

A number of stimuli are constantly confronting people in the form of information, objects, events, people etc. in the environment. These serve as the inputs of the perceptual process. A few of the stimuli affecting the senses are the noise of the air coolers, the sound of other people talking and moving, outside noises from the vehicular traffic or a street repair shop or a loud speaker playing somewhere plus the impact of the total environmental situation. Some stimuli do not affect the senses of a person consciously, a process called subliminal perception.

II. Perceptual Mechanism:

When a person receives information, he tries to process it through the following sub processes of selection, organisation and interpretation.

(A) Perceptual Selectivity:

Many things are taking place in the environment simultaneously. However, one cannot pay equal attention to all these things, thus the need of perceptual selectivity. Perceptual selectivity refers to the tendency to select certain objects from the environment for attention. The objects which are selected are those which are relevant and appropriate for an individual or those which are consistent with our existing beliefs, values and needs. For this, we need to screen or filter out most of them so that we may deal with the important or relevant ones.

 

 

The following factors govern the selection of stimuli:

(i) External Factors

(ii) Internal Factors

Various external and internal factors which affect our selection process are as explained below:

(i) External Factors:

(a) Size:

The bigger the size of the stimulus, the higher is the probability that it is perceived. Size always attracts the attention, because it establishes dominance. The size may be the height or weight of an individual, sign board of a shop, or the space devoted to an advertisement in the newspaper. A very tall person will always stand out in the crowd on the other hand; a very short person will also attract attention. A full page advertisement will always catch attention as compared to a few lines in the classified section.

(b) Intensity:

Intensity attracts to increase the selective perception. A few examples of intensity areyelling or whispering, very bright colours, very bright or very dim lights. Intensity will also include behavioural intensity. If the office order says “Report to the boss immediately,” it will be more intense and effective as compared to the office order which says “Make it convenient to meet the boss today.”

(c) Repetition:

The repetition principle states that a repeated external stimulus is more attention drawing than a single one. Because of this principle, supervisors make it a point to give the necessary directions again and again to the workers. Similarly, the same advertisement or different advertisement but for the same product shown, again and again on the TV will have more attention as compared to an advertisement which is shown once a day.

 (d) Contrast:

An object which contrasts with the surrounding environment is more likely to be noticed than the object which blends in the environment. For example, the Exit signs in the cinema halls which have red lettering on a black background are attention drawing or a warning sign in a factory, such as Danger, written in black against a red or yellow background will be easily noticeable. In a room if there are twenty men and one woman, the woman will be noticed first because of the contrast.

(f) Movement:

The principle of motion states that a moving object receives more attention than an object which is standing still. A moving car among the parked cars catches our attention faster. A flashing neon-sign is more easily noticed.

(g) Novelty and Familiarity:

This principle states that either a novel or a familiar external situation can serve as an attention getter.New objects in the familiar settings or familiar objects in new settings will draw the attention of the perceiver. A familiar face on a crowded railway platform will immediately catch attention. Because of this principle, the managers change the workers jobs from time to time, because it will increase the attention they give to their jobs.

(h) Nature:

By nature we mean, whether the object is visual or auditory and whether it involves pictures, people or animals. It is well known that pictures attract more attention than words. Video attracts more attention than still pictures. A picture with human beings attracts more attention than a picture with animals.

(ii) Internal Factors:

The internal factors relate to the perceiver. Perceiving people is very important for a manager, because behaviour occurs as a result of behaviour.

Following are the internal factors which affect perception:

1. Learning:

Although interrelated with other internal factors learning may play the single biggest role in developing perceptual set. A perceptual set is basically what a person expects from the stimuli on the basis of his learning and experience relative to same or similar stimuli. This perceptual set is also known as cognitive awareness by which the mind organizes information and forms images and compares them with previous exposures to similar stimuli. A number of illustrations have been used by psychologists to demonstrate the impact of learning on perception.

Some are as explained below:

(i) Learning creates expectancy in an individual and expectancy makes him see what he wants to see.

Take the following figure for example:

It takes a few seconds for the reader to realize that there is an extra “the” in the sentence. One tends to read the sentence, because of prior learning in the triangle as “turn off the engine.”

(ii) In this figure, the individual is caught in “Verbal Response Set.” He is likely to read the last words “Mac-Hinery” instead of machinery

(iii) Another famous illustration of cognitive awareness is the young woman-old woman experiment.

According to this experiment, if a person is first shown a clear and un-ambiguous picture of a young woman as in fig. (2) and then he is shown an ambiguous picture as in fig. (1), the person will perceive the second picture as that of a young woman. However, if the person is shown the clear picture of an old woman first and then the ambiguous picture, he will perceive the ambiguous picture as that of an old woman.

It is because of the cognitive awareness as the mind organizes information and forms images and compares them with previous exposure to Fig. (1) Ambiguous picture of young similar stimuli.

From the above illustration it is clear that our perceptions and interpretations of such illustrations would depend upon our previous exposure to such situations earlier.

2. Motivation:

Besides the learning aspects of the perceptual set, motivation also has a vital impact on perceptual selectivity. For example, a person who has a relatively high need for power, affiliation or achievement will be more attentive to the relevant situational variables. For example, when such a person walks into the lunch room, he may go to the table where several of his co-workers are sitting, rather than a table which is empty or on which just one person is sitting.

Another example is that a hungry person will be more sensitive to the smell or sight of food than a non-hungry person. In one experiment people who were kept hungry for some time were shown some pictures and were asked to describe what they saw in them. Most of the reported more food items in such perceptions.

3. Personality.

Closely related to learning and motivation is the personality of the perceiving person. For example, the older senior executives often complain about the inability of the new young manager to take tough decisions concerning terminating or reassigning people and paying attention to details and paper work. The young managers, in turn, complain about the ‘old guards’ resisting change and using paper and rules as ends in themselves. Different perceptions in young and old are due to their age differences. Further, the generation gap witnessed in recent years definitely contributes to different perceptions.

In addition to the above two problems another problem is about the woman in the work place. Women are still not reaching the top levels of organisations. At least part of this problem can be attributed to perceptual barriers such as the established managerial hierarchy is not able to see (perceive) that qualified woman should be promoted into top level positions. Of course, there are individual differences in all age categories but the above examples show that how personalities, values and even age may affect the way people perceive the world around them.

B. Perceptual Organisation:

After having selectively absorbed the data from the range of stimuli we are exposed to at any given time, we then try to organize the perceptual inputs in such a manner that would facilitate us to extract meaning out of what we perceive. Or in other words, person’s perceptual process organizes the incoming information into a meaningful whole. While selection is a subjective process, organizing is a cognitive process.

How we organize the stimuli is primarily based on the following principles:

(i) Figure and Ground:

Figure-Ground principle is generally considered to be the most basic form of perceptual organisation. This principle simply implies that the perceived object or person or event stands out distinct from its back ground and occupies the cognitive space of the individual. For example, as you read this page, you see white as the background and black as the letters or words to be read. You do not try to understand what the white spaces amidst the black letters could mean.

Likewise, in the organisational setting, some people are more noticed or stand out than others. For example, an individual in the organisation might try to focus his entire attention on his immediate supervisor, trying to be in his good books, completely ignoring his colleagues and how they feel about his behaviour. According to this principle, thus, the perceiver tends to organize only the information which stands out in the environment which seems to be significant to the individual.

(ii) Perceptual Grouping:

Grouping is the tendency to curb individual stimuli into meaningful patterns. For instance, if we perceive objects or people with similar characteristics, we tend to group them together and this organizing mechanism helps us to deal with information in an efficient way rather than getting bogged down and confused with so many details. This tendency of grouping is very basic in nature and largely seems to be inborn.

Some of the factors underlying his grouping are:

(a) Similarity:

The principle of similarity states that the greater the similarity of the stimuli, the greater the tendency to perceive them as a common group. The principle of similarity is exemplified when objects of similar shape, size or colour tend to be grouped together. For example, if all visitors to a plant are required to wear white hats while the supervisors wear blue hats, the workers can identify all the white hats as the group of visitors. Another example is our general tendency to perceive minority and women employees as a single group.

(b) Proximity:

The principle of proximity or nearness states that a group of stimuli that are close together will be perceived as a whole pattern of parts belonging together. For example, several people working on a machine will be considered as a single group so that if the productivity on that particular machine is low, then the entire group will be considered responsible even though, only some people in the group may be inefficient. The following figure demonstrates the proximity principle.

The ten squares in the figure are seen as pairs of two, three, four or five depending on their nearness to each other:

(c) Closure:

The principle of closure relates to the tendencies of the people to perceive objects as a whole, even when some parts of the object are missing. The person’s perceptual process will close the gaps that are unfilled from sensory input.

For example, in the following figure the sections of the figures are not complete, but being familiar with the shapes we tend to close the gaps and perceive it as a whole:

Speaking from the point of view of an organisation, if a manager perceives a worker, on the whole, a hard worker, sincere, honest, then even, if he behaves in a contradictory way sometimes (which is a kind of a gap), the manager will tend to ignore it, because it does not fit in with the overall impression, that he has about the worker.

(d) Continuity:

Continuity is closely related to closure. But there is a difference. Closure supplies missing stimuli, whereas the continuity principle says that a person will tend to perceive continuous lines of pattern. The continuity may lead to inflexible or non creative thinking on the part of the organisational participants. Only the obvious patterns or relationships will be perceived. Because of this type of perception, the inflexible managers may require that employers follow a set and step by step routine leaving no ground for implementation of out of line innovative ideas.

(iii) Perceptual Constancy:

Constancy is one of the more sophisticated forms of perceptual organisation. This concept gives a person a sense of stability in this changing world. This principle permits the individuals to have some constancy or stability in a tremendously variable and highly complex world. If constancy were not at work, the world would be very chaotic and dis-organised for the individual.

There are several aspects of constancy:

(a) Shape Constancy:

Whenever an object appears to maintain its shape despite marked changes in the retinal image e.g. the top of a glass bottle is seen as circular whether we view it from the side or from the top.

(b) Size Constancy:

The size constancy refers to the fact that as an object is moved farther away from us we tend to see it as more or less un-variant in size. For example, the players in cricket field on the opposite side of the field do not look smaller than those closer to you even though their images on the retina of the eye are much smaller.

(c) Colour Constancy:

Colour constancy implies that familiar objects are perceived to be of the same colour in varied conditions. The owner of a red car sees it as red in the bright sunlight as well as in dim twilight. Without perceptual constancy the size, shape and colour of objects would change as the worker moved about and it would make the job almost impossible.

(iv) Perceptual Context:

The highest and most sophisticated forms of organisation are context. It gives meaning and value to simple stimuli, objects, events, situations and other persons in the environment. The organisational structure and culture provide the primary context in which workers and managers do their perceiving. For example, a verbal order, a new policy, a pat on the back, a raised eye brow or a suggestion takes on special meaning when placed in the context of the work organisation.

(v) Perceptual Defence:

Closely related to perceptual context is the perceptual defence. A person may build a defence against stimuli or situational events in a particular context that are personally or culturally unacceptable or threatening. Accordingly, perceptual defence may play a very important role in understanding union-management and supervisor-subordinate relationship. Most studies verify the existence of a perceptual defence mechanism.

The general conclusions drawn from these studies are that people may learn to avoid certain conflicting, threatening or unacceptable aspects of the context. The various defenses may be denial of an aspect, by modification and distortion, by change in the perception, then the last but not the least is recognition but refusal to change.

C. Perceptual Interpretation:

Perceptual interpretation is an integral part of the perception process. Without interpretation, selection and organisation of information do not make any sense. After the information has been received and organised, the perceiver interprets or assigns meaning to the information. In fact, perception is said to have taken place only after the data have been interpreted. Several factors contribute towards the interpretation of data.

More important among them are perceptual set, attribution, stereotyping, halo effect, perceptual context, perceptual defence, implicit personality theory and projection. It may also be noted that in the process of interpretation, people tend to become judgmental. They may tend to distort what they see and even ignore things that they feel are unpleasant.

D. Checking:

After data have been received and interpreted, the perceiver tends to check whether his interpretations are right or wrong. One way of checking is for the person himself to indulge in introspection. He will put a series of questions to himself and the answers will confirm whether his perception about an individual or object is correct or otherwise. Another way is to check the validity of the interpretation with others.

E. Reacting:

The last stage in perception is the reaction. The perceiver shall indulge in some action in relation to the perception. The action depends on whether the perception is favourable or unfavourable. It is negative when the perception is unfavourable and the action is positive when the perception is favourable.

III. Perceptual Outputs:

Perceptual outputs encompass all that results from the throughout process. These would include such factors as one’s attitudes, opinions, feelings, values and behaviours resulting from the perceptual inputs and throughputs. Perceptual errors adversely affect the perceptual outputs. The lesser our biases in perception, the better our chances of perceiving reality as it exists or at least perceiving situations with the minimum amount of distortions.

This will help us to form the right attitudes and engage in appropriate behavioural patterns, which in turn will be beneficial for attaining the desired organisational outcomes. It is essentially important for managers who are responsible for organisational results to enhance their skills in order to develop the right attitudes and behaviours.

 

Importance of Perception:

(i) Perception is very important in understanding the human behaviour, because every person perceives the world and approaches the life problems differently- Whatever we see or feel is not necessarily the same as it really is. It is because what we hear is not what is really said, but what we perceive as being said. When we buy something, it is not because it is the best, but because we take it to be the best. Thus, it is because of perception, we can find out why one individual finds a job satisfying while another one may not be satisfied with it.

(ii) If people behave on the basis of their perception, we can predict their behaviour in the changed circumstances by understanding their present perception of the environment. One person may be viewing the facts in one way which may be different from the facts as seen by another viewer.

(iii) With the help of perception, the needs of various people can be determined, because people’s perception is influenced by their needs. Like the mirrors at an amusement park, they distort the world in relation to their tensions.

(iv) Perception is very important for the manager who wants to avoid making errors when dealing with people and events in the work setting. This problem is made more complicated by the fact that different people perceive the same situation differently. In order to deal with the subordinates effectively, the managers must understand their perceptions properly.

Thus, for understanding the human behaviour, it is very important to understand their perception, that is, how they perceive the different situations. People’s behaviour is based on their perceptions of what reality is, not on reality itself. The world as it is perceived is the world that is important for understanding the human behaviour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perpetual errors

1. Selective Perception:

As explained earlier, perceptual selectivity refers to the tendency to select certain objects from the environment. The objects which are selected are those which are relevant and appropriate for an individual or those which are consistent with his existing beliefs, values and needs. From all this, it is clear that selectivity tends to be biased by an individual’s attitudes, interests and background, than by the stimulus itself. An individual has to screen out or filter out most of the stimuli so that he may deal with the important or relevant ones.

Selectivity, thus, works as a short cut in judging other people. Selectivity enables the perceiver to screen out others, but in this there is a risk of drawing an inaccurate picture. Because we see what we want to see, we can draw unwarranted conclusions from an ambiguous situation. People, sometimes, distort meanings so that they may fit with what they want. The simplest way of avoiding hasty or wrong decisions being made due to selective perceptions is to seek other people’s perceptions of reality in the same situation in order to make a better assessment of the situation.

2. Attribution:

Attribution simply refers to how people explain the cause of another’s as their own behaviour. It is the process by which people draw conclusions about the factors that influence or make sense of one another’s behaviour. The knowledge about the causes of behaviour brings order and predictability in certain actions and events and assists us in knowing how to respond. Applied to perception, there are generally two types of attributions that people make: personal dispositions and situational attributions.

Personal dispositions relate a person’s behaviour to internal factors such as personality traits, motivation or ability and situational attributions; attribute a person’s behaviour to external factors such as equipment, accidents or social influence from others. There is a general tendency among the individuals to attribute their own behaviour to situational factors but explain the behaviour of others by personal dispositions.

When a person observes an event in the organisation, his evaluation of and reaction to other’s behaviour may be highly influenced by his perception. For example, if a supervisor believes that an error made by his subordinate, is due to reasons beyond his control that is due to external factors, such as bad equipment, his perception of his subordinate’s work will be different from that if he attributes the error to his own gross negligence.

This behaviour, based on his perceptions, would also then vary depending on the kind of attributions he makes. If the supervisor attributes the error due to external factors beyond the control of the subordinate, he might perceive the subordinate as capable and trustworthy and help him as much as he can. On the other hand, if he attributes to the personal negligence of the subordinate, he would perceive him as irresponsible and try to get rid of him.

Perceptual distortion because of attributions occurs due to two reasons:

(i) Fundamental attribution error and

(ii) Self serving bias.

When we make judgments about the behaviour of other people, we have a tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors. This is called the fundamental attribution error. There is also a tendency for individuals to attribute their success to internal factors like ability or effort while putting the blame for failure on external factors like luck. This is called self serving bias. Therefore, incorrect decisions are possibly based on erroneous attributions resulting in misconceptions.

3. Stereotyping:

Stereotyping means judging someone on the basis of one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs. This is a basic human tendency to perceive an individual as belonging to a single class or category and hence, attributing favourable or unfavorable characteristics to the individual based upon a widely held generalization about the group. Some examples of common stereo types are that Americans are materialistic, Japanese are nationalistic and Germans are industrious.

Generally, a person is likely to categories the others according to some common group characteristics such as sex, race, religion, nationality, occupation or organisational affiliation. The individual’s experiences with others in the category in which he has placed them lead him to believe that they have certain traits in common. Thus, he is ready to believe the other as possessing the same trait.

From organisational point of view, some of the established stereotypes are that managerial positions are the domain of the males. The females are traditionally placed in the categories of nurses, secretaries, airline stewardesses and the male stereo type categories are policemen, firemen, truck drivers etc. Age is another stereotype which presents problems in the organisational environment. Such capabilities as physical, psychological and intellectual are sometimes presumed on the basis of the age of a person.

Generalisation based upon stereotyping makes assimilation easier since it permits to maintain consistency. It becomes less difficult to deal with an unmanageable number of stimuli if we use stereotypes. But the danger lies in incorrect stereotyping. For example, all politicians are not self serving and all workers are not anti management. Exceptions may always be there. This fact must be considered while judging a person based on the generally accepted traits of the group to which he belongs.

4. Halo Effect:

The halo effect refers to the tendency of judging people on the basis of a single trait which may be good or bad, favourable or unfavourable. The halo effect is very similar to stereotyping, whereas in stereotyping the person is perceived according to a single category, under the halo effect the person is perceived on the basis of a single trait. Sometimes, we judge a person by one first impression about him or her. For example, if a person is kind he may also be perceived as good, able, helpful, cheerful, nice, intelligent and so on. On the other hand, if a person is abrasive, he may also be perceived as bad, awful, unkind, aggressive, harmful and wicked.

The halo effect is a very common type of error committed by the managers where evaluating the subordinates. A manager who himself is very punctual would view his subordinate who is always at work on time, more favourable than those who are not. This one trait of punctuality can influence a supervisor’s rating of the employee’s productivity and quality of his product more favourably, even if his actual performance is not up to the mark.

Halo effects, whether they are in the positive or negative direction, cloud our perceptions and act as a screen blocking us from actually perceiving the trait that is being judged. Wrong decisions can easily occur because of the halo effect in perceptions. One way of minimizing the halo effect is to have the manager judge all his subordinates on a single factor or trait before going to the next. In this manner he can consider all of the men relative to a standard as to each other on each trait. An important challenge for effective human resource management is to overcome perceptual problems such as stereotyping and the halo effect.

5. Projection:

It is easy to judge others if we assume that they are similar to us. When one’s own personal attributes are assigned to others, then projection takes place. A manager who loves challenging work may assume that all others like challenging work too. If you yourself are honest and trustworthy you take it for granted that other people are equally honest and trustworthy.

This may be particularly true regarding undesirable traits which the perceiver possesses but fails to recognize in himself. For example, a person who is dishonest may be suspicious of others and may perceive dishonest intentions in others where they do not exist. People who are afraid may interpret other’s behaviour as fearful or anxious.

When a manager engages in projection, he compromises his ability to respond to individual differences. He tends to see people as more homogeneous than they really are. In order to avoid this error in judging others, the manager should be conscious of his weakness of overlooking differences among people.

6. Perceptual Set:

A perceptual set means previously held beliefs about an object’s influence on individual perception of similar objects. For example, a manager may have developed the general belief and attitude that workers are lazy and shirkers and that they want to gain whatever is possible from the organisation without giving their best to it. His subsequent perception will be influenced by this set when he meets a group of workers. The manager tends to interpret the behaviour of the workers according to his mental set.

7. Implicit Personality Theory:

In judging and making inferences about others, an individual’s perceptions are influenced by his belief that certain human traits are associated with one another. For example, the trait honesty is associated with hard working. All hard working people are perceived to be honest.

8. Expectancy:

Expectancy is a tendency to perceive people, object events on the basis of what we expected them to be in the First place. This aspect is also known as “Self Fulfilling Prophecy”. Through this aspect, you may create certain things in the work situation that you expect to find to start expected them to be in the first For example, if you have become a member of an important committee, comprising of very high level intellectuals, you would meet the committee members with certain perceptions and would try to find out in the members what you expect to find on the basis of these perceptions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Attitude

An Attitude may be defined as a feeling or disposition to favour or to be against objects, persons and situations. An attitude is a well defined object of reference.

An attitude is a dispositional readiness to respond to certain institutions, persons or objects in a consistent manner which has been learnt and has become one’s typical mode of response.”

—Frank Freeman

“An attitude denotes the sum total of man’s inclinations and feelings, prejudice or bias, pre-conceived notions, ideas, fears, threats and other any specific topic.”

—Thurstone

“An attitude is defined as a tendency to react favourably or unfavourably towards a designated class of stimuli, such as a national or racial group, a custom or an institution.”

—Anastasi

Characteristics/Features of an Attitude:

An attitude has the following features/characteristics with it.

These are given below:

1. An attitude is a learned tendency. So it can be learnt.

2. It is a point or object of reference.

3. It includes certain aspects of personality as interests, appreciations and social conduct.

4. An attitude is adopted.

5. An attitude indicates the sum total of a man’s inclinations and feelings.

6. An attitude is a point of view, substantiated or otherwise, true or false which one holds towards an idea, object or person.

7. An attitude has aspects such as direction, intensity, generality or specificity.

8. An attitude refers one’s readiness for doing work.

Components of Attitudes:

Attitudes comprise of three basic components: emotional, informational and behavioural.

These three components are described below:

1. Informational or Cognitive Component:

The informational component consists of beliefs, values, ideas and other information a person has about the object. It makes no difference whether or not this information is empirically correct or real. For example, a person seeking a job may learn from his own sources and other employees working in the company that in a particular company the promotion chances are very favourable. In reality, it may or may not be correct. Yet the information that person is using is the key to his attitude about that job and about that company.

2. Emotional or Affective Component:

The informational component sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitude, its affective component. The emotional components involve the person’s feeling or affect-positive, neutral or negative-about an object. This component can be explained by this statement.” I like this job because the future prospects in this company are very good”.

3. Behavioural Component:

The behavioural component consists of the tendency of a person to behave in a particular manner towards an object. For example, the concerned individual in the above case may decide to take up the job because of good future prospects. Out of the three components of attitudes, only the behavioural component can be directly observed. One cannot see another person’s beliefs (the informational component) and his feelings (the emotional component). These two components can only be inferred. But still understanding these two components is essential in the study of organisational behaviour or the behavioural component of attitudes.

The components are illustrated in the following table:

ABC Model of Attitude:

All the three components of attitude explained above constitute, what is OF called the ABC model. Here, in the ABC model, the alphabet A stands for Affective component, B for Behavioural and C for the cognitive component. The importance of this model is that to have a proper and thorough understanding of the concept of attitude, all the three components mentioned above must be properly assessed. It is only the behavioural component which can be directly observed, the other two components: affective and cognitive can however only be inferred.

Formation/Sources of Attitudes:

Attitudes refer to the feelings and beliefs of “individuals or groups of individuals. But the question is how these feelings and beliefs developed? The point which has been stressed by many people are that attitudes are acquired, but not inherited. A person acquires these attitudes from several sources.

The Attitudes are acquired but not important sources of acquiring attitudes are as discussed below:

1. Direct Personal Experience:

A person’s direct experience with the attitude object determines his attitude towards it. The personal experience of an individual, whether it is favourable or unfavourable, will affect his attitude deeply. These attitudes which are based on personal experience are difficult to change.

For example, an individual joins a new job, which is recommended to him by his friend. But when he joins the job, he find his work repetitive, supervisors too tough and co-workers not so co-operative, he would develop a negative attitude towards his job, because the quality of his direct experience with the job is negative.

2. Association:

Sometimes an individual comes across a new attitude object which may be associated with an old attitude object. In such a case, the attitude towards the old attitude object may be transferred towards the new attitude object. For example, if a new worker remains most of the time in the company of a worker, who is in the good books of the supervisor, and towards whom the supervisor has a positive attitude, the supervisor is likely to develop a favourable attitude towards the new worker also. Hence the positive attitude for the old worker has been transferred towards the new worker because of the association between the old and the new worker.

3. Family and Peer Groups:

Attitudes like values are acquired from parents, teachers and peer group members. In our early years, we begin modeling our attitudes after those we admire, respect or may be even fear. We observe the way our family and friends behave and we shape our attitudes and behaviour to align with theirs. We do so even without being told to do so and even without having direct experience. Similarly, attitudes are acquired from peer groups in colleges and organisations. For example, if the right thing is to visit “Hot Millions”, or the “Domino’s”, you are likely to hold that attitude. If your parents support one political party, without being told to do so, you automatically start favouring that party.

4. Neighbourhood:

The neighbourhood in which we live has certain cultural facilities, religious groupings and ethnic differences. Further, it has people, who are neighbours. These people may be Northerners, Southerners etc. The people belonging to different cultures have different attitudes and behaviours. Some of these we accept and some of these we deny and possibly rebel. The conformity or rebellion in some respects is the evidence of the attitudes we hold.

5. Economic Status and Occupations:

The economic status and occupational position of the individual also affect his attitude formation. Our socio-economic background influences our present and future attitudes. Research findings have shown that unemployment disturbs former religious and economic values. Children of professional class tend to be conservatives. Respect for the laws of the country is associated with increased years of higher education.

6. Mass Communications:

Attitudes are generally less stable as compared to values. Advertising messages for example, attempt to alter the attitude of the people toward a certain product or service. For example, if the people at Hyundai Santro can get you to hold a favourable feeling toward their cars, that attitude may lead to a desirable behaviour (for them)-your purchase of a Santro car.

 

 

All these sources can be illustrated with the help of the following figure:

 

Theories of Attitude

1. Cognitive-Consistency Theories 2. Functional Theories 3. Social Judgment Theories!

Though there is a frequent discontinuity between various groupings because related approaches have focused on different sets of phenomena but still such classification is valid from practical point of view.

1. Cognitive Consistency Theories:

Research has generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behaviour. This means that people seek to reconcile divergent attitudes and align their attitudes and behaviour so that they appear rational and consistent. When there is an inconsistency, forces are initiated to return the individual to an equilibrium state where attitudes and behaviour are again consistent. This can be done by either altering the attitude or the behaviour or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy.

The cognitive consistency theories are concerned with inconsistencies that arise between related beliefs, bits of knowledge and evaluation about an object or an issue. Though various consistency theories differ in several respects, all of them have a common object that is reducing the inconsistency and returning the individual to the equilibrium state.

There are four important theories under this grouping:

(A) Balance Theory:

F. Heider provided the basic model of balance theory. The theory is basically concerned with the consistency in the judgment of people and/or issues that are linked by some form of relationship.

According to this theory there are three elements in attitude formation:

Between these three elements two generic types of relationships are considered to exist: Sentiment relations and unit relations.

The sentiment or linking relations include all form of sentiments or effect and the unit relations express the fact that two elements are perceived as belonging together. Both sentiment relations and the unit relations can be positive and negative.

All these elements and relations are illustrated with the help of the following figure:

In this three elements system balance exists if all three relations are positive or two relations are negative and one positive. There will be imbalance if all three relations are negative or if two relations are positive and one is negative. People tend to perceive others and objects linked to them so that the system is balanced. This theory assumes that balanced states are stable and imbalanced states are unstable. When imbalanced state occurs, the psychological tension which is created motivates the person to restore the balance cognitively by changing the relations. Thus a person’s attitude towards an object depends on his attitudes towards a source who is linked with the object.

Example:

A person consistently argued that the quality of Indian cars is not up to that of the imported cars and that he would never own anything other than an imported car. His father gifts give him a latest model Maruti car. In this situation there are three elements the person, his father and the car. To bring the balance in this situation he will either change his negative relation with the Maruti car, he can ask his father to change his attitude and give him an imported car. Thus if that person starts saying that the Maruti car is not so bad, it means he has changed his relation and brought the balance in the situation.

Criticism:

The basic model given by Heider has been criticised on the following grounds:

(i) The theory does not consider the degree of sentimental or unit relationships nor the relevance to the perceiver of the elements and relations.

(ii) As a consequence, there are no degrees of balance or imbalance and it is not possible to make quantitative predictions about the degree of attitude change.

B. Congruity Theory:

C.E. Os good and P.H. Tannenbaum have proposed the congruity theory of attitudes which is similar to the balance theory. This theory focuses on the changes in the evaluation of a source and a concept that are linked by an associative or dissociative assertion. Congruity exists when a source and concept that are positively associated have exactly the same evaluations and when a source and concept that are negatively associated have exactly the opposite evaluations attached to them.

Congruity is a stable state and incongruity is an unstable one. As a result, incongruity leads to a change of attitude. This theory states that how much change should be there in the attitudes towards the source and the concept so that incongruity is resolved.

C. Affective Cognitive Consistency Theory:

M.I. Rosenberg has suggested the affective-cognitive consistency theory which is concerned with the consistency between a person’s overall attitude or effect towards an object or issue and his beliefs about its relationship to his more general values. This theory is concerned mainly with what happens within the individual when an attitude changes. It assumes that the relationship between the affective and cognitive components of the attitude change when an attitude is altered.

The theory postulates the following points:

(i) A person’s effect towards or evaluation of the attitude object tends to be consistent- with this cognitive structural component.

(ii) When there is inconsistency beyond a certain level of tolerance, the individual is motivated to reduce the inconsistency and thereby to change one or both components to make them more consistent.

(iii) The theory, thus, suggests that changes in the affective component produce changes in the cognitive component in order to bring about consistency between the two.

(iv) The theory also suggests that persuasive communication can also be used to change the attitudes, by revaluating the goals themselves.

D. Cognitive Dissonance Theory:

Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance. Dissonance means an inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of his attitudes or between his behaviour and attitudes. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance and hence the discomfort.

Therefore, individuals will seek a stable state where there is a minimum of dissonance, because an individual cannot completely avoid dissonance.

The desire to reduce dissonance is determined by three factors:

(i) Importance of the elements creating the dissonance

(ii) The degree of influence the individual believes he has over the elements.

(iii) The rewards that may be involved in dissonance.

If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct this imbalance will be low. But if the elements are important then a person will have to correct this imbalance. He can either change his behaviour, or he can change his dissonance, or he can change his attitude. Another choice can be to find out more consonant elements to outweigh the dissonant ones.

The degree of influence the individuals believe they have over the elements will have an impact on how they will react to the dissonance. If they perceive the dissonance to be an uncontrollable result, something over which they have no choice, they are less likely to be receptive to attitude change. While dissonance exists, it can be rationalized and justified.

Rewards also influence the degree to which individuals are motivated to reduce dissonance. High rewards accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce the discomfort inherent in the dissonance because it increases the consistency side of the individual’s balance sheet.

These factors suggest that just because individual experiences dissonance, they will not necessarily move directly toward consistency, that is, toward reduction of this dissonance. This theory helps to predict the propensity of an individual to engage in attitude and behavioural change, if individuals are required.

For example, by the demands of their jobs to do or say things which contradict their personal attitude, they will tend to modify their attitude in order to make it compatible with the cognition of what they have said or done.

Further, the greater the dissonance, after it has been moderated by the above mentioned factors, the greater the pressures to reduce it.

2. Functional Theory/Social Influence Theory :

three processes of attitude formation and change:

(i) Compliance

(ii) Identification and

(iii) Internalisation.

This theory is directed towards the types of social relationships that occur in social influence situations.

Compliance occurs when an attitude is formed or changed in order to gain a favourable impression from other person or group.

Identification occurs when a person forms or changes his attitude because this adoption helps him establish or maintain a positive self defining relationship with the influencing agent.

Internalization involves adopting an attitude because it is congruent with one’s overall value systems.

This approach makes an important contribution towards an understanding of the conditions that influence the maintenance and stability of attitude change.

3. Social Judgment Theory:

The social judgment theory was originally formulated by Sherif and Hoveland. This theory attempts to explain how existing attitudes produce distortions of attitude related objects and how these judgments mediate attitude change. Thus, a person’s initial attitude towards an issue, serves as an anchor for the judgment of attitude related stimuli. The person’s initial attitude on an issue provides a point of reference against which he evaluates other opinions.

These views can be considered in terms of attitudinal continuum and can be considered as comprised of latitudes. The latitude of acceptance, which is the range of opinions the individual finds acceptable, encompasses the opinion that best characterises his own stand. The attitude of rejection, which is the range of opinions the individual finds objectionable, encompasses the opinion he finds most objectionable. The attitude of non-commitment is the range of opinions that the person finds neither acceptable nor unacceptable.

Relationship between Attitude and Formation

BASIS FOR COMPARISON	ATTITUDE	BEHAVIOR
Meaning	Attitude refers to a person's mental view, regarding the way he/she thinks or feels about someone or something.	Behavior implies the actions, moves, conduct or functions of an individual or group towards other persons.
What is it?	A person's mindset.	Outward expression of attitude.
Reflects	What you think or feel?	What you do?

Conclusion

So, with the above discussion, it is clear that whatever you say or do, conveys a message to the world about what’s going on in your mind. It is universally accepted fact that our emotions, opinions and thoughts cannot be observed, which shows our attitude. Further, our behavior is ruled by our attitude as his actions are the reflection of his thoughts.

While attitude is nothing but a person’s perception on something or someone in life. As against this behavior, is how a person reacts to various inputs and stimulus.

Johari Window

Analysis of Self Awareness:

The interpersonal relationships are composed of inter-self. Self is the core of personality pattern which provides integration. This relationship can be studied properly if a person can perceive his own behavioural style and at the same time how it is perceived by others. Self awareness is a cognitive concept; it describes the self in terms of image, both conscious and unconscious. Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham have developed a diagram to look at one’s personality including behaviours and attitudes that can be known and unknown to self and known and unknown to others. They named this diagram the Johari window.

This Johari window comprising of four quadrants is shown in the following diagram.

1. The Open Self:

The open quadrant refers to the behaviours, feelings and motivations of an individual which are known to self and also known to others in any specific organisational setting. Some individuals are straight forward, open and sharing. He himself is very clear about what he is doing, what he is feeling and what his motivations are. Similarly others are also very clear about his actions, feelings and motivations. In such type of interpersonal relationship, chances of conflict, if any, will be very little.

2. The Blind Self:

The blind self quadrant is unknown to self but known to others. Other people know what is happening to a person, but he himself is unaware of it. Very often such blind behaviour is copied by individuals from certain significant people unconsciously right since the childhood.

Since such a behaviour is copied unconsciously, people may not be aware of it. Another reason for this unawareness is that other people are not willing to be open and do not give relevant feed back to the person concerned. Even if there is a verbal or non-verbal response in the system, the individual may not be in a position to perceive it. There are chances of interpersonal conflict in this situation.

Jongeward and Seyer observes that, “Subtle bars to our personal effectiveness are often our blind quadrant. We may speak in a certain way with a tone of voice, a look on our face-a gesture-that we are blind to, but other people are acutely aware of it. In fact, our manner can affect how they perceive us and they believe they can interact with us.”

3. The Hidden Self:

The hidden self is the quadrant which is known to self but not known to others. This is a very private and personal window because only the person concerned knows what is happening. The individual is aware about the hidden self but does not want to share it with others. People learn to hide their feeling and ideas right from the childhood. Other people in the system are unable to perceive the verbal and non-verbal behaviour of the person in quadrant. Like blind self, chances of interpersonal conflict are there is this situation.

4. The Unknown Self:

This quadrant is unknown to self and unknown to others. The unknown self is mysterious in nature. Sometimes feelings and motivation go so deep that no one including the person concerned knows about them. In Freudian Psychology, this would be called the subconscious or unconscious. Many times only a small portion of motivation is clearly visible or conscious to oneself. People experience unknown parts of life in dreams or deep rooted fears or compulsions. In such situations, misunderstanding and interpersonal conflict is almost sure to result.

Principles of Change in Awareness:

The awareness about self keeps on changing continuously. As the awareness changes, the quadrant to which the psychological state is assigned also changes.

According to Jongeward, there are eleven principles of such change:

l. Any change in one quadrant will affect the other quadrants also.

2. It takes energy to hide, deny or be blind to behaviour which is involved in interaction.

3. Threat tends to decrease awareness whereas mutual trust tends to increase awareness.

4. Forced awareness is undesirable and usually ineffective.

5. Interpersonal learning means that a change has taken place so that one quadrant is larger and any one of the other quadrants has grown smaller.

6. Working with others is facilitated by a large enough area of free activity. It means more of the resources and skill of the persons involved can be applied to the task at hand.

7. The smaller the first quadrant, poorer will be the communication.

8. There is universal curiosity about the hidden area, but this is held in check by custom, social training and diverse fears.

9. Sensitivity means appreciating the covert aspects of behaviour in quadrants 2, 3 and 4 and respecting the desire of others to keep them so.

10. Learning about group processes, as they are being experienced helps to increase awareness (enlarging quadrant) for the group as a whole as well as for individual members.

11. The value system of a group and its members may be observed in the way the group deals with unknowns in the life of the group and of self.

The process that affects the shape of the Johari window is the feedback. This is the extent to which others are willing to share with the person on how he or she is coming across. It is also the extent to which the person is able to perceive the verbal and non verbal feedback in the organisational setting.

Another important factor that affects the Johari window is the disclosure. This is the extent to which the persons are willing to share with the others the data that exist in their organisational system.

 

Transactional Analysis

Analysis of EGO States:

The ego plays an important role in human behaviour. “An ego state is a pattern of behaviour that a person develops as he or she grows, based on his or her accumulated network of feelings and experiences.” People interact with each other in terms of psychological positions or behavioural patterns known as ego states. Ego states are person’s way of thinking, feeling and behaving at anytime.

Sigmund Freud was the first to believe that there are three sources within human personality that stimulate, monitor and control behaviour. TA uses Freudian psychoanalytic theory as background for identifying three important ego states; child, adult and parent. These three ego states have nothing to do with the chronological age of the persons; they are related only with psychological age. A person of any age can have these ego states in varying degrees.

BERNE states that “although we cannot directly observe these ego states, we can observe behaviour and from this infer which of the three ego states are operating at that moment.”

A healthy person is able to move from one ego state to another. Further, these three ego states are not like Freud’s Id, ego and super ego. They are based on real world behaviour.

These three ego states are shown in the following figure:

1. Parent Ego:

The parent ego state means that the values, attitudes and behaviours of parents become an integral part of the personality of an individual. By parents, we do not mean the natural parents but all those emotionally significant people like elder brothers, and sisters, school teachers, elder relatives or friends, who served as parent figure when an individual was a child. The attitudes, behaviours, values and habits of these people are recorded in the mind of the individual and these become the basis of this personality.

The characteristics of a person with parent ego are:

(i) Judgmental

(ii) Value laden

(iii) Rule maker

(iv) Moralizing

(v) Over protective

(vi) Distant

(vii) Dogmatic

(viii)Indispensable

(ix) Upright

Parent ego is expressed by giving advice, admonitions, do’s and don’ts, showing displeasure, reliance on the ways which were successful in the past etc. These people tend to talk down to people and treat others like children.

There are two types of parent ego states:

(i) Nurturing Parent Ego:

Nurturing parent ego state reflects sympathetic, protective and nurturing behaviour not only towards children but also to other people in interaction.

(ii) Critical Parent Ego:

Critical parent ego state shows critical and evaluative behaviour in interaction with others. This ego state attacks people’s personalities as well as their behaviour. They are always ready to respond with a should or ought to almost anything people tell them. Each individual has his unequal parent ego state which is likely to be a mixture of helpfulness (Nurturing state ego) and hurtfulness (Critical ego state). People with parent ego “state have more choice over their actions.

2. Adult Ego:

The adult ego state is authentic, direct, reality based, rational, fact seeking and problem solving. People interacting with adult ego; do not act impulsively or in a domineering style. They assume human beings as equal, worthy and responsible. The process of adult ego state formation goes through one’s own experiences and continuously updating parental prejudices or attitudes left over from childhood.

Though certain values which are formed in the childhood are rarely erased, an individual at the later stage of the life may block his child and parent ego states and use his adult ego only based on his experiences. He updates the parent data to determine what is valid and what is not. Similarly, he updates the child data to determine which feelings should be expressed.

Thus, people, with adult ego state, gather relevant information, carefully analyze it, generate alternatives and make logical choices. This ego state can be identified by verbal and physical signs which include thoughtful concentration and factual discussion.

3. Child Ego:

The child ego state is the inner world of feelings, experiences and adaptations. In each case, the child ego is characterised by very immature behaviour.

The characteristics of child ego state are:

(i) Creativity

(ii) Conformity

(iii) Anxiety

(iv) Depression

(v) Dependence

(vi) Fear

(vii) Joy

(viii) Emotional Sentimental

(ix) Submissive

(x) Insubordinate and rebellious

Physical and verbal clues that a person is acting in the child ego are silent compliance, attention seeking, temper tantrums, giggling and coyness. Child ego state reflects early childhood conditions and experiences perceived by individuals in their early years of life that is up to the age of 5 years.

There are several forms of the child ego states are:

(i) Natural Child:

The natural child is affectionate, impulsive, sensuous, uncensored and curious. Nevertheless, he is also fearful, self indulgent, self centred, rebellious and aggressive and may emerge in many unpleasant roles.

(ii) The Little Professor:

The little professor is intuitive, creative and manipulative. He responds to non-verbal messages and play hunches. He can figure things out and believes in magic. People who express their creativity purposefully use their little professor in conjunction with their adult ego state.

(iii) The Adaptive Child:

The adaptive child is the trained one and he is likely to do what parents insist on and sometimes learn to feel non O.K. The adapted child when overtly inhibited, often becomes the troubled part of the personality.

Each person may respond to specific situations in quite distinct ways from each ego state. ABE WAGNER is of the opinion that a healthy person has a personality that maintains a balance among all three. However, practically speaking, it would be difficult. If not impossible to maintain a balance among all the three ego states.

An ego state from which a person behaves would depend upon, to an extent situation in which an individual operates at that particular moment. Sometimes, these ego states harmonise whereas sometimes they are in conflict. Some people respond with one ego state more than they do with other ego states.

Analysis of Transactions:

A transaction is a basic unit of social interaction. The heart of transactional analysis is the study and diagramming of the exchanges between two persons. Thus, where a verbal or non verbal stimulus from one person is being responded by another person, a transaction occurs. T.A. can help us to determine which ego state is most heavily influencing our behaviour and the behaviour of the other people with whom we interact.

Depending on the ego states of the persons involved in transactions, there may be three types of transactions:

(i) Complementary transactions

(ii) Crossed transaction

(iii) Ulterior transactions.

(I) Complementary Transactions:

Complementary transactions are those where the ego states of the sender and the receiver in the opening transaction are simply reversed in the response. In these transactions stimulus and response patterns from one ego state to another are parallel. The message by one person gets the predicted response from the other person. There can be nine complementary transactions:

1. Adult-Adult Transactions:

In these transactions, the manager and his subordinate interact with each other from adult-adult ego. This is an ideal transaction. Complementary transactions in these ego states are psychologically mature and effective because both the boss and the subordinate are acting in a rational manner. Both are attempting to concentrate on problems, developing alternatives and trying to choose the best possible alternative to solve the problem.

Adult-Adult transaction is presented in the following figure:

However, there are some inherent problems in this transaction. At times, these transactions may prevent reaching any decisions because of rational data processing procedure and a deadline may emerge. Moreover, the absence of child ego state may make the transactions dull due to the lack of stimulation a child can provide. In such situations, the boss may move to the parent ego state to take a decision to solve the problems. In-spite of these problems, this type of transaction is generally considered best from the organisational point of view.

2. Adult-Parent Transaction:

In adult parent transaction, the manager has the adult ego and he attempts to use the information he himself has processed. On the other hand, the subordinate has the parent ego and he prefers to use the clicks and rules of the past. The employee’s parent ego tries to control and dominate the boss. This type of transaction can be effective only on a temporary basis and it can help a new manager in understanding the rules and guidelines under which his subordinate operates.

The following figure presents the Adult-parent transaction:

There can be a lot of problems in this type of transactions. In the long run the employee with the parent ego may have hostile feelings towards the managers with adult ego. Such problems can be further aggravated if the other employees working in the organisation have child ego and they are under the influence of the employee with the parent ego. As he may be having better interaction with the employees with child ego, the employee with the parent ego can come into direct conflict with the manager with adult ego.

3. Adult-Child Transaction:

An adult child transaction occurs when the manager has an adult ego but the subordinate has a child ego as shown in the following figure:

Such a transaction can be effective only if the manager is aware of the child ego state of the employee. Further, he must be aware that what type of child ego state the employees is in. If the subordinate has the little professor style child ego, the manager can allow the employee to be creative. But the problems in this interaction may arise if the employee behaves irrationally because of his child ego. Another problem may arise if the manager assumes the employee to be in adult ego, whereas he is in child ego. This may create frustration both for the manager and his subordinate.

4. Parent-Parent Transaction:

If the manager has got a parent ego, he will be characterised by admonitions, rewards, rules criticisms and praise depending upon whether he has a nurturing or a critical parent ego. As, on the other hand, the subordinate has also got a parent ego, this transaction can be effective only if the subordinate joins hands with the manager and supports him.

Such a transaction can lead to some problems also. There will be unnecessary competition between manager and the subordinate. The manager will want to enforce his own ideas, whereas the employee will like to promote his own ideas rather than that of the manager.

5. Parent -Adult Transaction:

In such type of transaction, the boss has got a parent ego whereas the subordinate has got an adult ego as shown in the following figure:

Such a relationship may not last for a long period because they will be frustration on both the sides. The manager will feel frustrated because the employee will not act as directed. The employer will feel frustrated because of the manager’s failure to act as an adult.

6. Parent-Child Transactions:

The parent-child transaction is considered the ideal situation. The manager will be satisfied because he can dictate his own terms. The employee will be satisfied because he will escape from responsibility and pressure. The child ego in the subordinate presents much conflict and there will be chances of smooth working in the organisation.

In the long run, this transaction will not be advantageous. The manager will start having the feeling that the employee is not capable of doing anything on his own. The employee will start becoming frustrated because he may feel that his personality is not developed and this interaction has made him surrender his adult ego.

7. Child-Parent Transaction:

This is not a very effective style of transaction. The manager with the child ego may be creative, but the role of the manager goes beyond creativity. In the child-parent transaction, there is a reversal of roles and the employee controls the manager. As the parent ego is strong and overbearing, the manager will yield to the employee. The manager will always perceive the employee as a threat because in his mind there will always be a fear of ridicule, loss of popularity and even of demotion.

8. Child-Adult Transaction:

When the manager has a child ego and the employee has an adult ego, the adult employee will control the child manager.

The child ego in the manager will discourage the employees, particularly, when decisions are made by the manager on the basis of his whims, fancies and emotions. This will pose problems for the adult employees who want to interact on the basis of their rationality. The organisation may lose many good employees particularly those who want to act on the basis of their rationality but their managers have got a child ego.

9. Child-Child Transaction:

When the manager has got a child ego and the employees have also got a child ego, the transaction will not be long lasting. The manager in such a transaction will not be able to lead the employees successfully and will prove to be a liability to the organisation. Because of their child egos, both the employees and the manager will act on their whims and fancies. It will jeopardies the performance of the organisation. Whenever there is a review of the situation by the management, steps will be taken to change this situation.

From the above discussion it is clear that all the complementary transactions are not ideal for the organisation or for the people concerned. Adult-Adult transactions are good from the organisational and people’s point of view. In some circumstances, parent-child complementary transactions may also prove to be good.

(II) Crossed Transactions:

A crossed or non-complementary transaction is one in which the sender sends a message or exhibits a behaviour on the basis of his ego state, but this message or behaviour is reacted to by an un-compatible and unexpected ego state on the part of the receiver. Such transactions occur when the stimulus and response are not parallel.

The following figure depicts one cross transaction, which may occur in an organisational system:

In this case, the manager tries to deal with the employee on adult to adult basis, but the employee responds on child to parent basis and the communication is blocked. Crossed transactions should be avoided as far as possible. Whenever such transactions occur, communication tends to be blocked and a satisfactory transaction is not accomplished. Conflicts often follow soon afterwards. The conflicts may cause hurt feelings and frustration on the part of the parties involved and possible dysfunctional accomplishments for the organisation.

(III) Ulterior Transaction:

Ulterior transactions are the most complex because unlike complementary and crossed transactions, they always involve more than two ego states and the communication has double meaning. An ulterior transaction occurs when a person appears to be sending one type of message but is secretly sending another message. Thus, the real message is often disguised in a socially acceptable way. On the surface level, the communication has a clear adult language, whereas on the psychological level it carries a hidden message. Just like crossed transactions, ulterior transactions are also undesirable.

 

3. Ulterior Transaction: 

It is a two level transaction in which beyond the obvious transaction, there is a hidden transaction between two different ego-states of the persons concerned. In such communications a non verbal message is sent along with the spoken words. Here, there are two distinct levels of transactions – the social or overt level transactions and the psychological or covert level transactions.

There are two types of ulterior transactions. They are angular transaction and duplex transactions.  

Angular Transaction:

Angular transaction involves three ego states. Salesmen are particularly adapt this kind of transaction. They convey their message in social level as Adult ego-state, but it contains a hidden psychological message intending the Child ego-state of the customer. Here, the Child ego-state of the customer is active and the intention of the sales man thus gets realized. However, as a result, at both levels the ultimate transaction is complementary since the customer's reply is accepted at face value as an Adult purchasing contract.

Example:                

 

Sales man: "This one is better, but you can't afford it" -        (Adult-Adult but Adult-Child)

House wife: "That's the one I will take". I'll show that arrogant guy I'm as good as any of his customers (Child-Adult)

 

Duplex Transaction:

This is a two level transaction in which beyond the obvious transaction, there is a hidden transaction between the two ego states of the persons concerned.  A duplex transaction involves four ego states and is commonly seen among college students. (the hidden or psychological transactions are always represented by doted arrows.)

 

For example: A boy said to his girl friend: “College is closing for study leave. I have not completed my lessons”.

Girl friend: “Don’t worry. We will go to park and have combined study”

 

 

 

 

Analysis of Life Positions:

In the process of growing up, people make basic assumptions about their own self worth as well as about the worth of significant people in their environment. These assumptions tend to remain with the person for life, unless major experiences occur to change them. Harris called the combination of assumptions about self and the other person, a LIFE POSITION.

Transactional analysis constructs the following classifications of the four possible life positions or psychological positions:

(i) I am OK, you are OK

(ii) I am OK, you are not OK

(iii) I am not OK, you are OK

(iv) I am not OK, you are not OK.

These life positions can be shown with the help of the following figure also.

1. I am OK-You are OK:

This is a rationally chosen and mentally healthy position. It appears to be an ideal life position. People with this type of life position have confidence in themselves as well as trust and confidence in others. They accept the significance of other people and feel that life is worth living. The people who have this position behave from adult, nurturing parent and happy child ego state.

When managers have this type of position, they have complete confidence and trust in their subordinates. They display a very high level of mutual give and take. They delegate authority throughout the organisation. These managers encourage free flow of communication not only up and down the hierarchy but among the peers also. In short, people with these feelings have positive outlooks on life. They seem to be happy-active people who succeed in whatever they do.

2. I am OK-You are not OK:

This is a distrustful psychological position. This position is taken by people who feel victimized or prosecuted. They blame others for their miseries. This is the attitude of those people, who think that whatever they do is correct. Such behaviour is the outcome of a situation in which the child was seriously neglected and ignored by his parents in his childhood. Criminals often have this position, based on rebellious child ego, which in extreme cases may lead to homicide also. In his life position, people operate from critical Parent Ego.

Managers operating with this position will always be negative and will give critical and oppressive remarks. They tend to point out the flaws, the bad things, rarely giving any positive feelings. They feel that workers are lazy, irresponsible and untruthful; therefore, they need to be closely controlled and often coerced to achieve organisational objectives. They do not delegate any authority and feel that decentralization is a threat.

3. I am not OK-You are OK:

This is a common position for those people who feel powerless when they compare themselves to others. People with this position always feel themselves at the mercy of others and grumble for one thing or the other. They have a tendency to withdraw, experience depression and in extreme cases become suicidal. People who have this position operate from child ego state.

Managers operating from this position, tend to give and receive bad feelings. They use these had feelings as an excuse to act against others. But when the whole thing comes out, they feel guilty for their acts and turn their bad feelings against themselves. These people are often, unpredictable and erratic.

4. I am not OK-You are not OK:

People in this position tend to feel bad about themselves and see the whole world as miserable. These people tend to give up. They do not trust others and have no confidence in themselves. This is a desperate life position. In extreme cases these people commit suicide or homicide. This is the case of individuals who were seriously neglected by their parents in their childhood and were brought up by servants. At times, persons with this life position begin to use intoxicated drugs.

Managers who operate from this position are not competent, energetic, efficient and effective. They are indecisive, confused and make stupid mistakes. They provoke others to give them negative strokes in order to relieve themselves for stresses and strains.

One of the above four life positions dominates each person’s life. The desirable position and the one that involves the greatest likelihood of adult to adult transaction is “I am OK-you are OK”. It shows healthy acceptance of self and others. The other three life positions are less mature and less effective. However, regardless of one’s present life position, the “I am OK-you are OK” position can be learnt. If all the people in the society operate from this life position, there will be hope for improved interpersonal transactions.

 

Application of TA

Utility of TA:

Transactional analysis is an approach towards understanding human behaviour. It is particularly useful in studying interpersonal relationships.

The understanding of TA can help us in the following ways:

1. Improved Interpersonal Communication:

With the help of TA people can understand their own personalities. It can help them understand why people sometimes respond as they do. With the help of TA, a manager can understand when a cross communication occurs and he can immediately take steps to convert into complementary communication. As a result there will be improvement in interpersonal communication.

2. Source of Psychic Energy:

The purpose of TA is to bring positive approach towards life and hence positive actions. A clear change can be brought from negative feelings to positive feelings. Such a change from negative attitude to positive attitude is a source of psychic energy. Thus, the application of TA can enhance the trust and credibility felt towards the organisations which are essential for good employee relations.

3. Understanding the Egostates:

With the help of TA, managers will be able to identify the ego states from which both parties are interacting. A better understanding of themselves and of other people will make them more comfortable, confident and effective. The improved interpersonal relations will make the organisation more effective. This will lead to self-development of individuals also.

4. Motivation:

TA helps in changing the managerial styles more suitable to the emergent situation. TA can be applied very successfully in motivation where it will help in satisfying human needs through complementary transactions and positive strokes. If the manager emphasises adult-adult interaction with life position “I am OK, you are OK, it will be motivating for employees and beneficial to the organisation as a whole.”

5. Organisational Development:

TA can help in organisational development process.

Jongeward has identified the role of TA in six areas of organisation development:

(i) To maintain adult transactions

(ii) To give an OK to the natural child

(iii) To identify and untangle quickly crossed transactions

(iv) To maximize encounters.

(v) To develop supportive systems, policies and work environment.

TA is used in business and industry as a way to increase the capability of the executives to cope with problems and deal more sensibly with people. Besides the major area, TA can be utilized anywhere the people come to interact.

To conclude, we can say that research on TA has to be continuous and action oriented. There are many areas in organisational behaviour which are yet to be explored. The present study and existing structure merely touches the fringe of a complex subject, which has numerous dimensions. Professional expertise, academic knowledge and scientific skills are needed to explore this subject further.