ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Module 2
Why Individual Differences Are Important?
It is important for managers to know the individual differences among the employees as:
Individual differences have a direct effect on behavior
People who perceive things differently behave differently
People with different attitudes respond differently to directives
People with different personalities interact differently with bosses, coworkers, subordinates, and
customers
Also, Individual differences help to explain:
Why some people embrace change and others are fearful of it
Why some employees will be productive only if they are closely supervised, while others will be
productive if they are not
Why some workers learn new tasks more effectively than others
Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Cycle-
Schneider (1987) asserted that “the people make the place” and that organizational culture, climate and
practices are determined by the people in the organization. „Attributes of people, not the nature of external
environment, or organizational technology, or organizational structure, are the fundamental determinants of
organizational behavior‟ (Schneider, 1987). The people are functions of an Attraction-Selection-Attrition cycle.
In 1995 the ASA Framework was updated. Schneider already mentioned that the person is particularly
important in the organizational context. Schneider et al (1995) now added the dimension that the people are
responsible for the structure, processes and culture of the organization
Attraction: People are differentially attracted to careers as a function of their own interests and personality
(Holland, 1985). Other signs of attraction are researched by Tom (1971) and Vroom (1966). They have stated
that people search environments that fit by their personality and that people would like to obtain their
outcomes by selecting a specific organization.
Selection: Organizations select people who they think are compatible for many kinds of jobs. In that way
organizations end up choosing people who share many common personal attributes, although they may not
share common competencies.
Attrition: The opposite side of attraction. When people do not fit an environment, they tend to leave it. When
people leave the environment a more homogenous group stays than those were initially attracted to the
organization.
Each phase of the ASA cycle is significantly influenced by the individual differences of each person. Different
people are attracted to different careers and organizations as a function of their own: abilities, interests,
personalities.
Organizations select employees based on the needs the organization has for skills and abilities and individual
attributes such as values and personality. Attrition occurs when individuals discover they do not like being part
of the organization and elect to resign, or the organization determines an individual is failing and elects to
terminate. Effective managerial practice requires that individual behavior differences be recognized, and when
feasible, taken into consideration while carrying out the job of managing organizational behavior. To
understand individual differences a manager must observe and recognize the differences and study
relationships between variables that influence behavior

Individual Differences in the Workplace or Factors Affecting Individual Behaviour

Individual differences in hereditary and diversity factors, personality, ability and skills, perception and attitude
will affect work behavior like productivity, creativity and performance.
Demographic characteristics are the background characteristics that help shape what a person becomes.
Important demographic characteristics for the workplace are gender, age, race, ethnicity etc.
1. Gender: - There is no consistent differences between men and women in problem-solving abilities,
analytical skills, competitive drive, motivation, learning ability and sociability. As compared to men,
women are more conforming, have lower expectations of success, have higher absenteeism and lower
earnings.
2. Age: - Older workers are often stereotyped as inflexible. They sometimes complain that their experience
and skills are not valued. They generally have lower turnover and lower avoidable absences
3. Racial and ethnic groups: - African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans make up an ever-
increasing percentage of the American workforce. Potential for stereotypes and discrimination can
adversely affect career opportunities. Important lessons regarding demographic characteristics are:
knowing to respect and deal with the needs and concerns of people with different demographics; avoiding
linking demographics to stereotypes and realizing that demography is not a good indicator of individual-
job fits.
4. Diversity Factors: - Primary Dimensions (stable) are age, ethnicity, gender, physical attributes, race and
sexual / affectional orientation. Secondary Dimensions (changeable) are educational background, marital
status, religious beliefs, health and work experience
Aptitude and Ability Aptitude is a person’s capability of learning something. Ability is a person’s existing
capacity to perform the various mental or physical tasks needed for a given job. It includes relevant
knowledge and skills. Intellectual Ability is the capacity to do mental activities. Intelligence contains four
subparts: cognitive, social, emotional, and cultural.
Groups of Mental abilities
• Verbal factor (V)-Comprehension of verbal relations, words and ideas.
• Spatial factor (S)-Involved in any task in which the subject manipulates an object imaginatively in
space.
• Numerical factor (N)-Ability to do numerical calculations rapidly and accurately.
• Memory factor (M)-Involves the ability to memorize quickly.
• Word fluency factor (W)-Involved whenever the subject is asked to think of isolated words at a rapid
rate.
• Inductive reasoning factor (RI)-The ability to draw inferences or conclusions based on specific
instances.
• Deductive reasoning factor (RD)- is the ability to make use of generalized results.
• Perceptual factor (P)- is the ability to perceive objects accurately.
• Problem solving ability factor (PS)-is the ability to solve problem with independent efforts.
Multiple Intelligences
1. Linguistic intelligence
2. Logical-mathematical intelligence
3. Musical intelligence
4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
5. Interpersonal intelligence
6. Naturalist intelligence
7. Intrapersonal intelligence
Physical Abilities The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.
Nine Physical Abilities are:
Strength factor
Dynamic- Ability to exert muscle force repeatedly over time.
Trunk- Ability to exert muscular strength using the trunk muscles.
Static-Ability to exert force against external objects.
Explosive-ability to expand a maximum amount of energy in one or series of explosive acts.
Flexibility factor
External-Ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far as possible.
Dynamic-Ability to make rapid, repeated flexing movements.
Other factors
Body coordination-Ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of different parts of the body.
Balance-Ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling off balance.
Stamina- Ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolonged efforts over time.
Personality
Personality is the overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person
as that person reacts and interacts with others. It combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that
reflect how a person looks, thinks, acts, and feels. It is a relatively stable set of feelings and behaviors that
have been significantly formed by genetic and environmental factors. Heredity sets the limits on the
development of personality characteristics. Environment determines development within these limits. Across
all characteristics there is about a 50-50 heredity-environment split. Key environmental factors in personality
development are cultural values and norms and situational factors.
Social Traits
Surface-level traits that reflect the way a person appears to others when interacting in various social settings.
An important social trait is problem-solving style. Problem-solving style components are information
gathering; getting and organizing data for use; evaluation and using collected information. There are
Sensation-type individuals; Intuitive-type individuals; Feeling-type individuals and Thinking-type individuals.
Problem-solving styles are Sensation-feeling (SF); Intuitive-feeling (IF); Sensation-thinking (ST) and Intuitive-
thinking (IT).
Personal Conception Traits
The way individuals tend to think about their social and physical settings as well as their major beliefs and
personal orientation. Key Traits are Locus of control; Authoritarianism/dogmatism; Machiavellianism and Self-
monitoring.
Locus of Control
The extent to which a person feels able to control his/her own life. Internal locus of control where people
believe they control their own destiny. In External locus of control people believe that much of what happens
to them is determined by environmental forces
Authoritarianism/Dogmatism
Authoritarianism is the tendency to adhere rigidly to conventional values and to obey recognized authority.
Dogmatism is the tendency to view the world as a threatening place.
Machiavellianism
Rooted in Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince evokes images of guilt, deceit, and opportunism. It is a tendency to
view and manipulate others purely for personal gain. People with a high-Mach personality approach situations
logically and thoughtfully, can lie to achieve personal goals, are rarely swayed by loyalty, friendships, past
promises, or others’ opinions, are skilled at influencing others, try to exploit loosely structured situations,
perform in a perfunctory or detached manner in highly structured situations. People with a low-Mach
personality accept direction imposed by others in loosely structured situations, work hard to do well in highly
structured situations, are strongly guided by ethical considerations and are unlikely to lie or cheat.
Self-monitoring
A person’s ability to adjust his/her behavior to external, situational factors. High self-monitors are sensitive to
external cues, behave differently in different situations. Low self-monitors are not sensitive to external cues
and are not able to disguise their behaviors.
Values.
Values are broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes. Values influence
behavior and attitudes. Sources of values are Parents, Friends, Teachers, Role models, External reference
groups.
Perception
The cognitive process that involves receiving stimuli, organizing the stimuli, and translating or interpreting the
organized stimuli to influence behavior and form attitudes. Each person selects various cues that influence
perceptions and people often misperceive.
Attitude
Attitude is a mental state of readiness learned and organized through experience. It is exerting a specific
response to people, objects, and situations with which it is related. Attitudes are influenced by values and are
acquired from the same sources as values. It is a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to
someone or something in one’s environment. Attitudes are determinates of behavior because they are linked
with perception, personality, feelings, and motivation.
Behavior Analysis at Different Levels
Behavior as an individual or in a group is always analyzed by everyone in the organization. It is analyzed at
three different levels.
• Individual Level of Analysis
• Group Level of Analysis
• Organizational Level of Analysis
Individual Level of Analysis
➢ Individual Behavior means some concrete action by a person.
➢ Human behavior is the result of interaction between individual characteristics and the characteristics of
the environment.
➢ Some of these characteristics are inherited (from birth) while others are learned over time.
➢ Behavior (B) is the function (F) of Person (P) and Environment (E)
B = F (P, E)
MARS Model of Individual Behaviour and Result
• MARS Model is useful to understand the drivers of individual behaviour and result.
• The model highlights four factors that directly influence on employee’s voluntary behaviour and
resulting performance.
• The 4 factors are Motivation, Ability, Role Perceptions and Situational Factors (MARS)
• These 4 factors have a combined effort on individual performance.
• If any factor weakens, employee performance will decrease.
• MARS model is influenced by several other individual variables like Values, Personality, Perceptions,
Emotions, Attitudes and Stress etc.
For example, passionate sales people (Motivation)
who understand their duties (Role Perception) and
have enough resources (Situational Factors) will not
perform their jobs well if they lack enough knowledge
and sales skill (Ability). Therefore, the organizations
pay attention to all four factors in the MARS model.

Motivation and Behaviour

➢ Motivation is one’s willingness to exert efforts towards the accomplishment of his/her goal.
➢ Fred Luthans defined motivation as a “process that starts with a physiological or psychological
deficiency or need that activates behavior or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive”.
➢ According to Stephen P. Robbins “motivation is the willingness to exert high levels of efforts toward
organizational goals, conditioned by the effort ability to satisfy some individual need”.
Types of Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation: - It is a type of motivation in which the motives originate from inside the human body.
It includes the following motives:
1) Biological drives: Hunger, thirst, relief from pain, sleep, temperature regulation, need for oxygen
and so on.
2) Curiosity
3) Internal fears: Fear of rejection from the job
4) Psychological needs: Need for being accepted and appreciated by others.
5) Internal desires: Desire to gain power or dominance.
Extrinsic Motivation: - It is a type of motivation in which the motives originate from outside the human body.
It includes the following motives:
1. Incentives
2. Bonuses
3. Allowances
4. Promotion and demotion
5. Rewards and punishment
6. Merit and Distinction certificates
7. Appreciation certificates and prizes
Motivation Cycle / Process
Motivation is a process or cycle aimed at accomplishing some
goals. The basic elements included in the process are motives,
goals and behavior.
THEORIES OF MOTIVATION
Theories of Motivation are broadly classified into two:
1. Content Theories: These theories are people
centered that explain ‘What’
A. Abraham Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
B. Herzberg two factor Theory
C. Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
D. Alderfer’s ERG Theory
E. David C McClelland’s Three need Theory
2. Process Theories: These theories are work centered that explain ‘How’
A. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
B. Adams Equity Theory
C. Goal Setting Theory
A. ABRAHAM MASLOW’S NEED HIERARCHY THEORY
• The most well - known theory of motivation.
• It is based on the human needs.
• He classified all human needs into a hierarchical manner from the lower to the higher order.
• He believed that once a given level of need is satisfied, it no longer serves to motivate man.
Then, the next higher level of need must be activated in order to motivate the man.
1. Physiological Needs - As per Maslow physiological need is strongest in every human being and hence it
has highest strength as compared to the other needs. Individual behaves in a particular manner to satisfy
basic bodily needs like hunger; thirst, shelter and clothing. These needs keep dominating unless they are
reasonably satisfied. Human being is therefore motivated to work in that direction.
2. Safety Needs or Security Needs - Once the physiological need of an individual is satisfied, the safety need
/security need arises and is dominant at that point of time. This need is related to the following: –
 (a) Every worker is concerned about his personal safety and wants to be free of physical danger.
(b) There are various dangerous processes in the work setting. Individual desires to be free and work
toward self-preservation.
(c) Safety need is also related to employee/employer relationship, which should be cordial and free from
any threat to job security.
(d) There should be certainty in the job and non-existence of arbitrary action on the part of
management/employer.
(e) Administration policy of any organization must cover various points that are related to safety of an
individual like pay, pension, insurance, and gratuity. Individual should be given opportunities for choice of
job so that he derives satisfaction. He must also be given adequate security against being fired, laid off or
demotion.
3. Social Needs - Once the safety need is
satisfied, third need i.e. social need arises.
People want to belong to some social group
where their emotional need of love, affection,
warmth and friendship are satisfied. Being
member of sports club, social organizations or
being the company of friends and relatives,
needs can satisfy social. In the work setting
individuals want to be member of work group
and contribute towards it so that the social
need of the individual is fulfilled.
4. Esteem Need or Ego Need - Fourth need in the
hierarchy of needs as suggested by Maslow is
Esteem need or Ego need. Individual wants self-recognition, appreciation for the work done. It is related
to self-respect, self-confidence, praise, power and control. It these needs are satisfied it gives an individual
a sense self-worth and ego satisfaction.
5. Self-actualization Need - Self-actualization is the last need in the need hierarchy. Once esteem need is
satisfied, there appears the self-actualization need of human being. It is related to an intense carving for
something supreme one wants to achieve in life. It is transcended and related to achieving the very best
that may be possible of human endeavour. People set high goals, achieve them and set a higher goal again
and to achieve the same by utilising fullest potential. It is related to development of intrinsic capabilities.
An individual seeking to satisfy self-actualization need seek situations or jobs that are challenging in nature
achievement of highest value out of the work. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to achieve freedom for India by
unique weapons of peace and non-violence. He strived hard, faced various challenges but ultimately
achieved his goal. With his innovative
B. HERZBERG TWO FACTOR THEORY
Frederick Herzberg extended the work of Maslow and proposed a new motivation theory popularly
known as Herzberg’s Motivation Hygiene (Two-Factor) Theory.
• HYGIENE FACTORS
• MOTIVATION FACTORS
HYGIENE FACTORS
• Hygiene factors are those job factors which are essential for existence of motivation at workplace.
• These do not lead to positive satisfaction for long - term. But if these factors are absent at
workplace, then they lead to dissatisfaction.
• These factors are extrinsic to work.
• Hygiene factors are also called as dissatisfiers or maintenance factors.
• These factors describe the job environment / scenario.
MOTIVATION FACTORS
• Hygiene factors are those job factors which
are essential for existence of motivation at
workplace.
• These do not lead to positive satisfaction
for long - term. But if these factors are
absent at workplace, then they lead to
dissatisfaction.
• These factors are extrinsic to work.
• Hygiene factors are also called as
dissatisfiers or maintenance factors.
• These factors describe the job environment
/ scenario.
• The motivational factors yield positive
satisfaction.
• These factors motivate the employees for a
superior performance.
• These factors are called satisfiers.
• Employees find these factors intrinsically
rewarding.
• Absents of this factor does not make any
impact but presence of this factor will give
a high amount of motivation.
C. DOUGLAS MCGREGOR’S THEORY X AND THEORY Y
Douglas McGregor formulated two distinct views of human being based on participation of workers.
The first basically negative, labeled Theory X, and the other basically positive, labeled Theory Y.

Theory X is based on the following assumptions:

1. People are by nature indolent. That is, they like to work as little as possible.
2. People lack ambition, dislike responsibility, and prefer to be directed by others.
3. People are inherently self-centered and indifferent to organizational needs and goals.
4. People are generally not very sharp and bright.

Theory Y is based on the following assumptions:

1. Employees can perceive their job as relaxing and normal.
2. Employees are dedicated and sincere to achieve the organizational objectives.
3. The employees have skills and capabilities.

D. ALDERFER’S ERG THEORY

To bring Abraham Maslow’s need hierarchy theory of motivation in synchronization with empirical
research, Clayton P Alderfer redefined it in his own terms. His rework is called as ERG theory of
motivation. He recategorized Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into three simpler and broader classes of
needs: Existence, Relatedness and Growth.

Existence needs: These include need for basic material necessities. In short, it includes an individual’s
physiological and physical safety needs.
Relatedness needs: These include the aspiration individuals have for maintaining significant
interpersonal relationships (be it with family, peers or superiors), getting public fame and recognition.
Maslow’s social needs and external component of esteem needs fall under this class of need.
Growth needs: These include need for self-development and personal growth and advancement.
Maslow’s self-actualization needs and intrinsic component of esteem needs fall under this category of
need.
 E. DAVID C MCCLELLAND’S THREE NEED THEORY
• Another well-known need-based theory of motivation, as opposed to hierarchy of needs of
satisfaction-dissatisfaction.
• McClelland’s need-theory is closely associated with learning theory, because he believed that
needs are learned or acquired by the kinds of events people experienced in their environment
and culture.
• He found that people who acquire a need behave differently from those who do not have.
i. Need for Power
ii. Need for Achievement
iii. Need for Affiliation
Every person will have any one of these main driving motivational force. These motivators are not inherent,
we develop these through our culture and life experience.

F. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

• One of the most widely accepted explanations of motivation is offered by Victor Vroom in his
Expectancy Theory.
• The theory is founded on the basic notions that people will be motivated to exert a high level
of effort when they believe there are relationships between the effort they put forth, the
performance they achieve, and the outcomes / rewards they receive.
The relationships between notions of effort, performance, and reward are depicted in Figure

1) Valence: According to Vroom, Valence means the value or strength one places on a particular
outcome or reward.
2) Expectancy: It relates efforts to performance.
3) Instrumentality: By instrumentality, Vroom means, the belief that performance is related to
rewards.
Thus, Vroom’s motivation can also be expressed in the form of an equation as follows:
Motivation = Valence x Expectancy x Instrumentality

G. ADAMS EQUITY THEORY

The theory is built-on the belief that employees become
de-motivated, both in relation to their job and their
employer, if they feel as though their inputs are greater
than the outputs. Employees can be expected to respond
to this is different ways, including de-motivation,
reduced effort, even disruptive.

• It is important to also consider the Adams' Equity

Theory factors when striving to improve an
employee's job satisfaction, motivation level, etc.
 • According to the theory, employees should be content where they perceive these to be in balance.
• Many of these points can't be quantified and perfectly compared, the theory argues that managers
should seek to find a fair balance between the inputs that an employee gives, and the outputs
received.
Inputs Include:
Effort, Loyalty, Hard work, Commitment, Skill, Ability, Adaptability, Flexibility, Acceptance of others,
Determination, Enthusiasm, Trust in superiors, Support of colleagues.
Outputs include:
Financial rewards: Salary, benefits, perks.
Intangibles: Recognition, Reputation, Responsibility, Sense of achievement, Praise, Stimulus, Sense of
advancement / growth, Job security.
H. GOAL SETTING THEORY OF MOTIVATION
• In 1960’s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting theory of motivation.
• This theory states that goal setting is essentially linked to task performance.
• It states that specific and challenging goals along with appropriate feedback contribute to
higher and better task performance.
• Goals indicate and give direction to an employee about what needs to be done and how much
efforts are required to be put in.
The willingness to work towards attainment of goal is main source of job motivation. Clear, and difficult goals
are greater motivating factors than easy, general and vague goals.
Features
• Specific and clear
• Realistic and challenging
• Employee’s participation
• Better and appropriate feedback
Motivation at Work
Job Redesign is basically a process to induce higher level of motivation among workers. It involves alteration
or ‘restructuring’ the elements of a job (like tasks, duties and responsibilities). It is usually done to the job
more interesting, exciting, encouraging and inspiring for the employees.
There are 3 ways a manager can redesign an employee's
• Job Enrichment
• Job Enlargement
• Job Rotation
JOB ENRICHMENT
• It is a management concept that involves redesigning jobs, so that they are more challenging to the
employee.
• Enrichment is a vertical expansion of the job.
• The objective of job enrichment is to make the job more interesting, creative and challenging.
• It reduces absenteeism, labor - turnover and grievances.
• It motivates the workers to give best performance.
• Example: if a teacher is asked to take same subject in different batches.
JOB ENLARGEMENT
• It is a job design technique wherein there is an increase in the number of tasks associated with a
certain job.
• It means increasing the scope of one’s duties and responsibilities in quantitative nature and not
qualitative.
• Increasing the scope at the same level (horizontal) expansion of a job.
• It is done to keep workers from getting bored.
• Example: if a teacher is asked to do clerical works and other administration works
JOB ROTATION
• It is a management approach where employees are shifted between two or more assignments or jobs
at regular intervals of time in order to expose them to all verticals of an organization
• It is a well-planned practice to reduce the boredom of doing same type of job every day and explore
the hidden potential of an employee.
• It gives an individual a chance to explore his or her own interests and gain experience in different fields
or operations.
Job Rotation Objectives
1. Reducing Monotony of the Job
2. Succession Planning
3. Creating Right - Employee Job Fit
4. Exposing Workers to All Verticals of the Company
5. Testing Employee Skills and Competencies
6. Developing a Wider Range of Work Experience
JOB PERFORMANCE
Job performance assesses whether a person performs a job well. Job performance, studied academically as
part of industrial and organizational psychology, also forms a part of HRM. Performance is an important
criterion for organizational outcomes and success. Highly satisfied employees will perform well and
dissatisfaction results stress and tension which leads to poor job performance
JOB SATISFACTION
It is a measure of worker’s satisfaction with their job. It can be defined as "a pleasurable or positive emotional
state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences"
Sources of Job Satisfaction
❖ Organizational Factors
1. Salaries and Wages
2. Promotions
3. Company Policy
❖ Work Environmental Factors
1. Working Condition
2. Work Group
3. Supervisory Style
❖ Work Itself
❖ Personal Factors
JOB DISSATISFACTION
It refers to unhappy or negative feelings about work or the work environment. The consequences of job
dissatisfaction which obviously affect both the employees and the organization. Causes of Job Dissatisfaction
may be due to Underpaid, Limited Career Growth, Lack of Interest, Poor Management, Unsupportive Boss,
Lack of Meaningful Work, Opportunities for growth or incentives for meaningful work, Work and Life Balance.
Consequences of Job Dissatisfaction
• Employee Unrest
• Absenteeism
• Tardiness
• Employee Turnover (Attrition)
• Union Activity
• Early retirement
MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES (MBO)
MBO is also known as Management by Results (MBR).
• The process of setting objectives in the organization to give a sense of direction to the employees is
called as Management by Objectives.
 • It refers to the process of setting goals for the employees so that they know what they are supposed
to do at the workplace.
• Management by Objectives defines roles and responsibilities for the employees and help them chalk
out their future course of action in the organization.
• Management by objectives guides the employees to deliver their level best and achieve the targets
within the stipulated time frame.
NEED FOR MBO
• MBO process helps the employees to understand their duties at the workplace.
• KRAs are designed for each employee as per their interest, specialization and educational
qualification.
• The employees are clear as to what is expected out of them.
• MBO process leads to satisfied employees. It avoids job mismatch and unnecessary confusions later.
• The MBO Process leads to highly motivated and committed employees.
• The MBO Process sets a benchmark for every employee. The superiors set targets for each of the
team members. Each employee is given a list of specific tasks.
• The MBO Process leads to highly motivated and committed employees.
• It leads to a positive ambience at the workplace.

STEPS
1. Determine or revise the organizational objectives.
2. Translating the organizational objectives to employees.
3. Stimulate the participation of employees in the determination of the objectives.
4. Monitoring of progress.
5. Evaluate and reward achievements.
ADVANTAGES
❖ Since MBO is a result-oriented process and focuses on setting and controlling goals, it encourages
managers to do detailed planning.
❖ Both the manager and the subordinates know what is expected of them and hence there is no role
ambiguity or confusion.
❖ The managers are required to establish measurable targets and standards of performance and
priorities for these targets.
❖ The responsibilities and authority of the personnel is clearly established.
❖ It makes individuals more aware of the company goals. With MBO, the subordinates feel proud of
being involved in the organizational goals. This improves their morale and commitment.
❖ (MBO) often highlights the area in which the employees need further training, leading to career
development.
❖ It improves communication between management and subordinates.
DISADVANTAGES
❖ MBO can only succeed if it has the complete support of the top management.
❖ There is considerable paperwork involved and it takes too much of the manager’s time.
❖ The emphasis is more on short-term goals. Since the goals are mostly quantitative in nature, it is
difficult to do long range planning because all the variables affecting the process of planning.
❖ Most managers may not be sufficiently skilled in interpersonal interaction such as coaching and
counseling, which are extensively required.
Suggestions for Improving the Effectiveness of MBO
❖ It is important to secure top management support and commitment. Without this commitment, MBO
con never really be a success.
❖ The objectives should be clearly formulated, should be realistic and achievable.
 ❖ MBO should be on overall philosophy of management and the entire organization, rather than simply
a divisional process or a performance appraisal technique.
❖ The goals must be continuously reviewed and modified
❖ All personnel involved should be given formal training in understanding the basics as well as the
contents of the program. Such education should include as to how to set goals, the methods to achieve
these goals, methods of reviews and evaluation of performance and provisions to include any
feedback that may be given.
❖ It should be totally accepted as a style of managing and should be totally synthesized with the
organizational climate.
PERCEPTION
We have five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
Everything we know about the world around us comes through
those five senses. It is easy to fall under the impression that the
mind is an open window to the world around it. In fact, the sensory
information that our minds receive undergoes a significant degree
of processing before it resembles the world as we know it.
Perception may be defined as “a process of interpretation of a
present stimulus on the basis of past experience”.
DEFINITION
Stephen P Robbins defines perception as “a process by which individuals
organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment.”
According to Haller Glimer, “Perception is a process of becoming aware
of situations of adding meaningful associations to sensations”
In short perception is a process of receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting, checking, and reacting to
sensory stimuli or data.

PERCEPTUAL PROCESS
1. Receiving stimuli: A stimulus is any unit of output of any of the senses. Sensory reception is taking place
through human organs such as eyes, ears, nose mouth and skin. Picking up all external and internal factors
is in this stage.
2. Selecting stimuli: After receiving stimuli from the environment, some are to be selected for further
processing and some are screened out. Selecting the stimuli which will be most important – This is where
the introduction of new employees is important, they need to be presented in a way where the selected
stimuli are positive.
a. Figure ground principle: Once perceived, objects stand out against their background. This can
mean, for instance, that perceptions of something as new can stand out against the background
of everything of the same type that is old. (give attention to those stimuli which are required -
Figure, eliminate those are unimportant - ground)
b. Relevancy: People will give relevance for those stimuli which are they think that it is needed in
the future.
3. Organizing stimuli: Grouping and selecting which are the perceptions to keep. The stimuli received from
the environment must be organized to assign some meaning to them. This aspect of forming bits of
information into meaningful ones is called the perceptual organisation.
a. Grouping: Grouping is when perceptions are brought together into a pattern.
b. Closure: This is the tendency to try to create wholes out of perceived parts. Sometimes this can
result in error, though, when the perceiver fills in unperceived information to complete the whole.
c. Simplification: People will tend to organize perceptions in relation to other pertinent perceptions
and create a context out of those connections.
4. Interpreting stimuli: After the data have been received and organized, the perceiver interprets or assign
meaning to the information. People will interpret data based on their assumptions of people and events
and attributions about causes of behaviour and feelings. Interpretation of stimuli is affected by
characteristics of stimuli, situations under which perception take place and the characteristics of
perceiver. Fundamental Attribution Error, stereotyping, Halo Effect and projection occurs at this stage
a. Halo effect - General impression about a person based on single characteristics. It is a type of
cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person influences how we feel and think about
his or her character. Essentially, your overall impression of a person ("He is nice!") impacts your
evaluations of that person's specific traits ("He is also smart!")
b. Attribution – Attribution theory is concerned with how ordinary people explain the causes of
behavior and events. For example, is someone angry because they are bad-tempered or because
something bad happened?
c. Stereotyping – Stereotypes are generalized beliefs about the characteristics that are associated
with the members of a social group. In simple, a person judged based on the group he belongs.
d. Personality
e. Situation
f. Perceiver
5. Response to stimuli: In this stage the response of the perceiver takes on both implicit and explicit
characteristics. Implicit or concealed response will be reflected in the attitudes, motives, and feelings of
the perceiver and explicit responses will be reflected in the actions of the individual. The perception is
then turned into attitudes, motivation, feelings and beliefs, which will change the behaviour of the
individuals.
BARRIERS TO PERCEPTION
a. Selective Perception: It means paying attention to information that supports your ideas and ignoring the
rest. For instance, if you dislike some teachers, you will tend to focus on their negative personality
characteristics and ignore any positive qualities that would be inconsistent with your opinion of them.
Another type of selective perception is perceptual defense. This is the tendency for people to protect
themselves from ideas, objects, or situations that are threatening. For instance, you may ignore a person
who has ideas that threaten your deeply held convictions.
b. Attribution: Attribution simply refers to how people explain the cause of another is 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.
c. Stereotyping: A stereotype is an oversimplified mental picture that is associated with a group (e.g.,
women are emotional, Scots are thrifty, and fat people are jolly). Stereotypes persist because people who
hold them tend to practice selective perception. For example, a foreperson who believes that young
people are lazy may notice that some of the younger workers are taking extra breaks but fail to perceive
that older workers are doing the same. Positive stereotypes can be as misleading as negative ones. For
instance, regardless of the reality, some of us tend to stereotype attractive people as warm, kind, sensitive,
and honest.
d. Halo Effect: The halo effect occurs in organizations when managers provide overly favorable evaluations
of employees based on their observations of isolated successes. A typical halo error made by managers is
to assume that a person with a good attendance record is responsible in all areas of performance. Another
is being influenced by the previous year's performance evaluations.
e. Expectancy: An expectation is the tendency to find in a situation or a person what one expects to find.
Our expectations have a big impact on how we perceive the world around us. For instance, when we ask
people how they are doing, we expect them to answer, "Fine, thank you." If their response is accompanied
by negative body language, we may choose to ignore the nonverbal information because it is not
consistent with our expectations.
f. Personality: 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.
FACTORS AFFECTING PERCEPTION / PERCEPTUAL SELECTION
Internal Factors
• Need and desires: people will select perceptions according to what they need in the moment. They will
favor selections that they think will help them with their current needs and be more likely to ignore what
is irrelevant to their needs.
• Personality: personality traits influence how a person selects perceptions. For instance, conscientious
people tend to select details and external stimuli to a greater degree.
• Experience: the patterns of occurrences or associations one has learned in the past affect current
perceptions. The person will select perceptions in a way that fits with what they found in the past.
External Factors
• Size: A larger size makes it more likely an object will be selected.
• Intensity: Greater intensity, in brightness, for example, also increases perceptual selection.
• Frequency or Repetition: Repetition increases perceptual selection.
• Contrast: When a perception stands clearly out against a background, there is a greater likelihood of
selection.
• Movement: A moving perception is more likely to be selected.
• Novelty and Familiarity: Both increase selections. When a perception is new, it stands out in a person’s
experience. When it is familiar, it is likely to be selected because of this familiarity.

LEARNING
Learning is the process of acquiring new, or modifying existing, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values,
or preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also
evidence for some kind of learning in certain plants. Some learning is immediate, induced by a single event
(e.g. being burned by a hot stove), but much skill and knowledge accumulates from repeated experiences. The
changes induced by learning often last a lifetime.
Learning is defined as “any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of practice and
experience”. This definition has three important elements.
• Learning is a change in behaviour—better or worse.
• It is a change that takes place through practice or experience but changes due to growth or maturation
are not learning.
• This change in behaviour must be relatively permanent, and it must last a long time.
Learning can be defined as “a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of prior
experience.” Learning is understood as the modification of behavior through practice, training, or experience.
IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF LEARNING
1. Learning involves change.
2. Not all changes reflect learning.
3. Learning is reflected in behavior.
4. The change in behavior should occur as a result of experience, practice or training.
5. The practice or experience must be reinforced for learning to occur.

There are 4 theories which explain how learning occurs. They are: -
1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
This method of conditioning got its name from the fact that, it is a kind of learning situation that existed in the
early classical experiments of Ivan P Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian physiologist who was awarded Nobel Prize,
in 1904 for his experiments.
Pavlov designed an apparatus to measure the quantity of saliva produced in response to food (meat power).
At the beginning of his experiment Pavlov noted that no saliva flowed when he rang the bell. He then trained
the dog by sounding the bell, and shortly afterwards presenting food.
After the sound of the bell had been paired with food a few times, he tested the effects of the training by
measuring the amount of saliva that flowed when he rang the bell and did not present food. He found that
some saliva was produced in response to the sound of the bell alone. He then resumed the training-paired
presentation of bell and food a few times and then
tested again with the bell alone.
As the training continued, the amount of saliva on
tests with the bell alone increased. Thus, after
training the dog’s mouth watered-salivated-
whenever the bell was sounded. This is what was
learned; it is the conditioned response.
This theory states that CS (bell) becomes a substitute
after pairing with UCS (food) and acquires the
capacity to elicit a response. It is because the
association (conditioning) is formed between CS and
UCS. This may be symbolically presented as follows:

2. OPERANT CONDITIONING
This method of conditioning was developed by an American psychologist BF Skinner. This theory is also known
as ‘Instrumental conditioning’, because the animals use certain operations or actions as instruments to find
solution.
Skinner conducted his famous experiment by placing a hungry rat in a box called after his name ‘Skinner box’.
This box was containing a lever and a food tray in a corner of the box. It was so arranged, that the animal was
free to move inside the box, but the pressing of the lever would get the animal a pallet of food in the tray as
reinforcement.
Arrangement was also made to record the number of pressings of the lever by a mechanical device. It was
found in the beginning that the rat pressed the lever occasionally and used to get food as reinforcement for
each pressing.
Gradually, as the animal learnt the pressing of lever would give some food, it repeated the responses very
rapidly. This rapid increase in pressing the lever is the indication of the animal conditioned to get food.
In day-to-day’s life also, much learning takes place in animals as well as in human beings by this method. The
reinforcement will be the motivating factor. It will make the organism to repeat its action.
It is based on these experiments, Skinner made his
famous statement “Rewarded behaviour is
repeated”. Instrumental conditioning involves
more activity by the learner than classical
conditioning. Skinner conducted his experiments
on different animals like pigeons, rats, etc.
Reinforcement which is the most important aspect
of this experiment is divided into two types:
positive reinforcement is used in reward training.
Negative reinforcement-like punishment is used to
stop undesired responses or behaviours. Operant
conditioning is useful in shaping undesirable
behaviour and in modification of behaviour.
This is also useful in training of mentally retarded children to learn dressing, eating and toilet training skills,
treatment of phobias, drug and alcohol addictions, and psychotherapy and to teach needed behaviour in
children. Further, these experiments have proved that intermittent reinforcement yields better results than
continuous reinforcement.
REINFORCEMENT THEORY
• Reinforcement theory was proposed by BF Skinner.
• It states that individual’s behavior is a function of its consequences.
• It is based on “law of effect”, i.e., individual’s behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated,
but individual’s behavior with negative consequences tends not to be repeated.
• Reinforcement theory overlooks the internal state of individual, i.e., the feelings and drives of individuals
are ignored by Skinner.
• This theory focuses totally on what happens to an individual when he takes some action.
• The managers use the following methods for controlling the behavior of the employees:
1. Positive Reinforcement - This implies giving a positive response when an individual shows positive
behavior. Positive reinforcement stimulates occurrence of a positive behavior.
For example - Reward is a positive reinforce.
2. Negative Reinforcement - This implies rewarding an employee by imposing negative or undesirable
consequences. Both positive and negative reinforcement can be used for increasing desirable or required
behavior.
3. Punishment - It implies removing positive consequences to lower the probability of repeating undesirable
behavior in future. In other words, punishment means applying undesirable consequence for showing
undesirable behavior. For instance - Suspending an employee for breaking the rules
4. Extinction - It implies absence of reinforcements. In other words, extinction implies lowering the
probability of undesired behavior by removing reward for that kind of behavior. For instance - if an employee
no longer receives praise and admiration for his good work, he may feel that his behavior is generating no
fruitful consequence. Extinction may unintentionally lower desirable behavior.

3. COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

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.
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.
It a broad theory that explains thinking and differing mental processes and how they are influenced by internal
and external factors in order to produce learning in individuals. When cognitive processes are working
normally then acquisition and storage of knowledge works well, but when these cognitive processes are
ineffective, learning delays and difficulties can be seen.
These cognitive processes are: observing, categorizing, and forming generalizations about our environment. A
disruption in these natural cognitive processes can cause behavioral problems in individuals and the key to
treating these problems lies in changing the disrupted process. For example, a person with an eating disorder
genuinely believes that they are extremely overweight. Some of this is due to a cognitive disruption in which
their perception of their own weight is skewed. A therapist will try to change their constant pattern of thinking
that they are overweight in order to decrease the unhealthy behaviors that are a result of it.

4. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

This theory, made famous by Albert Bandura, states that social behavior (any type of behavior that we display
socially) is learned primarily by observing and imitating the actions of others. The social behavior is also
influenced, according to this theory, by being rewarded and/or punished for these actions. For example, if a
child sees his older brother bring home a good report card and he gets a great reward for it, the child may
observe this, see the older brother get rewarded, and then learn that having a good report card will get
rewarded so he should do it too.
Not all learning is acted on (as when someone learns to pick a lock but never does, for example). Sociologists
have used social learning to explain aggression and criminal behaviour especially.
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory posits that people learn from one another, via observation, imitation, and
modeling. The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories
because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation.
LEARNING CURVE
In any environment if a person is assigned to do the same task, then after a period, there is an improvement
in his performance. If data points are collected over a period, the curve constructed on the graph will show a
decrease in effort per unit for repetitive operations.

• A highly useful learning concept which is valid for a wide range of situation is the learning curve.
• A diagrammatic presentation of the amount learned in relation to time.
• A typical learning curve will show on the Y - axis the amount learnt and the X - axis the passage of time.
• A learning curve is a graphical representation of how an increase in learning comes from greater
experience.

Types of Learning Curves

This principle of learning involves the time factor and the repeated effort in order to gradually increase the
strength of the response. This is especially true when the behaviours to be learned are comparatively complex
such as skills that are learned and improved by practice. Learning curve is a diagrammatic presentation of the
amount learned in relation to time.
There are 4 types of learning curves:

Diminishing Return Learning Curve: In this type of learning, the "rate

of increase" in the degree of skill is higher in the beginning but
decreases with time until it reaches zero and the person has obtained
the maximum skill. It indicates that initially there is a spurt in learning,
usually the graph levels at some stage indicating the maximum
performance has been achieved. This is because at the beginning of
the learning process, the learner is highly motivated to exhibit a
significant surge of effort.
Increasing Returns Learning Curve: Another type of learning curve
is the "increasing-return curve " which is just the opposite of
"diminishing-return curve" in the sense that there are certain
learning skills where the rate of increased learning is slow in the
beginning and then it increases until the maximum potential for
learning is reached. This usually occurs when a person is learning a
complex unfamiliar and new task.

Increasing-Decreasing Return Learning Curve: It is a

combination both the "diminishing-returns curve" and the
"increasing-returns curve". It is an "s-Shaped curve". If a person
is totally new to the skill that he is learning, then all learning will
probably follow an S-shaped curve. The lower portion of the
curve represent the initial stages of acquiring a skill with very
slow learning initially followed by successively greater returns,
eventually reaching the absolute limit.

Increasing -Decreasing-Return Leaning Curve (complex pattern): A rather complex pattern of skill acquisition
is shown in the following diagram:

• Slow Learning: The initial stage in the above curve is that of slow
learning because of the newness and difficulty of skill. Once the
learner has acquired some basics of his operations, he gains some
confidence, and this results in the second stage of increasing returns.
• Increasing Returns: The learner gains confidence in this stage. He has acquired the required skill. This
results in the third stage.
• Plateau: When the learner feels that he has acquired the required skills, he reaches a comparative plateau
where no further gains in skills are acquired. However, this may be a false plateau and the learner may be
developing new ideas in improving efficiency.
• Peak Proficiency: The development and application of new ideas may further improve upon his skill until
he reaches the peak inefficiency, beyond which the skill becomes a kind of habit and an integral part of
operations.
• Over Learning: When the skill becomes a kind of habit, the period is termed as over learning because the
learning becomes automatic and unforgettable.

ATTITUDE
• The term 'attitude' refers to an individual's mental state.
• Which is based on his/her beliefs or value system, emotions, and the tendency to act in a certain way.
• One's attitude reflects how one thinks, feels, and behaves in a given situation.
Definition
Attitude can be defined as our response to people, places, things, or events in life. It can be referred to as a
person’s viewpoint, mindset, beliefs, etc. Our attitude towards people, places, things, or situations determines
the choices that we make.
Attitude is composed of three components, which include,
Cognitive Component: - It is based on the information or knowledge
Affective / Emotional Component: - It is based on the feelings
Behavioral Component: - It reflects how the attitude affects the way we act or behave.
For instance, in case of a person who is fearful of an injection,
• Cognitive component might be the fact that an injection would hurt
• Affective component would be the feeling that he/she fears injection.
• Behavioral component would be that the person would completely avoid getting an injection.
So, an attitude is essentially like an evaluative statement that is either positive or negative depending on the
degree of like or dislike for the matter in question.

TYPES OF ATTITUDES
• POSITIVE ATTITUDE
Individuals who have a positive attitude will pay attention to the good, rather than bad in people, situations,
events, etc. They will not consider a mistake or failure as a hurdle, but as an opportunity. They learn from
mistakes and move forward in life.
Traits That Represent Positive Attitude Are
Confidence, Optimism, Cheerfulness / Happiness, Sincerity, Sense of responsibility, Flexibility, Determination,
Reliability, Tolerance, Willingness to adapt, Humility, Diligence etc.
• NEGATIVE ATTITUDE
People with a negative attitude ignore the good, and pay attention to the bad in people, situations, events,
etc. Also, they are likely to complain about changes, rather than adapting to the changing environment. Also,
they might blame their failure on others.
Traits That Represent Negative Attitude Are
Anger, Hatred, Pessimism, Frustration, Jealousy, Inferiority, Doubt, Dislike etc.
• NEUTRAL ATTITUDE
People with a neutral attitude don't give enough importance to situations or events. They ignore the problem,
leaving it for someone else to solve. Also, they don't feel the need to change.
Traits That Represent Neutral Attitude Are
Indifference, Detachment, feeling of being disconnected, Un-emotional etc.
ATTITUDE v/s BEHAVIOR

PERSONALITY
• The word personality comes from the Latin word persona, meaning “mask”
• Personality is the impression we make on others; the mask we present to the world.
• The unique and relatively stable ways in which people think, feel and behave.
Personality is defined as "a unique set of traits and characteristics, relatively stable over time."
Personality in Organizations
An individual’s behavior towards others, attitude, characteristics, mindset make his personality. Personality
development is defined as a process of enhancing one’s personality. Personality development sessions guide
an individual as to how he/she can develop his/her personality.
Personality Traits
Broadly there are five parameters which describe an individual’s personality. These five dimensions are also
called as “Big Five” Factors, and the model is referred to as Five Factor Model also abbreviated as FFM.
The Five Factor Model describes the relation between an individual’s personality and various behaviour.
Following are five personality traits of an individual:
1. Openness to experience: Individuals with openness to experience are generally very active, have a
tremendous inclination towards creativity and aesthetics and listen to their heart i.e. follow their feelings.
Such individuals are generally open to new learnings, skill sets and experiences. People who score high on
openness are quite broadminded and modern in their outlook as compared to individuals who score low
on the same parameter. Such individuals are conservative, reluctant to changes and have a traditional
approach in life.
2. Conscientiousness: As the name suggests, individuals with a Conscientiousness personality trait listen to
their conscience and act accordingly. Such individuals are extremely cautious and self-disciplined. They
never perform any task in haste but think twice before acting. People with this personality trait are
generally methodical and tend to become perfectionists in the long run. People who score high on
conscientiousness are proactive, goal oriented and self-disciplined. They strive hard to accomplish goals
and objectives within the stipulated time frame. Individuals who scoreless are little laid back and are not
much goal oriented.
3. Extraversion and Introversion:
Extraversion: It refers to a state where individuals show more concern towards what is happening outside.
Such individuals love interacting with people around and are generally talkative. They do not like spending
time alone but love being the center of attraction of parties and social gatherings. Such individuals love
going out, partying, meeting people and often get bored when they are all by themselves. They admire
the company of others and hate staying alone.
Introversion: Introversion, on the other hand refers to a state when an individual is concerned only with
his own life and nothing else. Such individuals do not bother about others and are seldom interested in
what is happening around. They prefer staying back at home rather than going out and spending time with
friends. Such individuals speak less and enjoy their own company. You would never find them in
 meetings, clubs, parties or social get-togethers. They generally do not have many friends and tend to rely
on few trusted ones.
4. Agreeableness: Agreeableness is a personality trait which teaches individuals to be adjusting in almost
all situations. Such individuals do not make face changes with a smile. They accommodate themselves to
all situations and are friendly and kind hearted. People who score high on agreeableness are ready to help
others and flash their trillion-dollar smile whenever a problem arises. Individuals who score low on
agreeableness on the other hand find difficulties in adjusting with others and are little unfriendly.
5. Neuroticism: Neuroticism is a trait where individuals are prone to negative thoughts such as anxiety,
anger, envy, guilt and so on. Such individuals are often in a state of depression and do not how to enjoy
life. They always look at the negative sides of life and find extremely difficult to cope up with stress.
TYPE A PERSONALITY
• Type A individuals tend to be very competitive and self-critical.
• They strive toward goals without feeling a sense of joy in their efforts or accomplishments.
• These individuals are easily ‘wound up’ and tend to overreact.
• They also tend to have high blood
pressure (hypertension).
• They experience a constant sense of
urgency
• Type A people seem to be in a
constant look at the clock.
• They quickly become impatient
• They try to do more than one thing at
a time, such as reading while eating
or watching television.
• Such individuals tend to see the
worse in others, displaying anger.
TYPE B PERSONALITY
• People with Type B personality tend
to be more tolerant of others.
• Are more relaxed than Type A
individuals.
• More reflective.
• Experience lower levels of anxiety and display a higher level of imagination and creativity.
INTERPERSONAL BEHAVIOUR (Transactional Analysis)
Transactional analysis is the study of individual in the organization when he is interacting with another
individual on social front or professional front. Eric Berne is credited to the movement for psychotherapy,
which he started in 1950s. He observed that there are several persons within one person and therefore an
individual transacts in different ways with different persons in different situations. People spend considerable
time interacting with each other. They transact in a way that may provide connecting tissues between two
individuals, which may hold them together. This type of pair relationship is called Dyadic relationship.
Transactional analysis offers a mode of expression of personality and dynamics of self and its relationship with
others. It is a method of analyzing and understanding inter personal behaviour. “Transactional analysis is a
technique used to help people better understand their own and other’s behaviour, especially in interpersonal
relationship.”

JOHARI WINDOW
Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham have developed a model to look at one’s personality that can be known
and unknown to self and known and unknown to others. The concept known as Johari Window is shown in
Figure 9.1 below. It is a technique to analyze and improve interpersonal - Transaction.
 Fig. Johari Window
The above figure indicates that there are four parts (self) in all of us that has been indicated by four quadrants.
These are explained below:
(a) Open Self: Open Self is known as Public area. This quadrant indicates information about self is known to
oneself and to others. The information relates to feelings, motivation and behaviour of an individual, which
he is willing to share with those whom he comes in contact. The individual behaves in a straight forward
manner and is sharing. In an organizational setting, because of the openness of the individual the chances of
conflict are reduced to minimum.
(b) Blind Self: This quadrant is related to information is not known to self but known to others, who interact
with you, know more about you. This is known as blind area. It is important that an individual should reduce
blind area to the minimum by interacting with people more intimately and by asking questions about self. For
example, an individual may not know he is extremely task oriented and employees do not like it. In other
words, others know and perceive the individual as a hard taskmaster and dislike him because of this. This is
blind area that a person is blind to the fact that he interacts with others in the professional manner. This
situation is likely to create an unpleasant atmosphere in the organization. Individual therefore should reduce
blind area and increase public area. This will reduce conflict situations to a great extent in interpersonal
behaviour.
(c) Hidden Self: Certain aspect of personality has formed this quadrant. Self knows information but others do
not know it. There are certain aspects, which are private. Individual therefore does not want to share it with
subordinates and wants to keep hidden. The area is also called Private Area.
(d) Unknown Self: This area is characterized by facts unknown to the self and to others. This is dark area,
which is not pregnable. There is nothing much that can be done about it. It should be an endeavor to improve
upon oneself by obtaining feedback from others about self. Individual should carry out improvement and
perceive oneself correctly so that one perceives each person in the right manner. There are certain factors to
improve Interpersonal relations. (Public Area).

MYERS- BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR (MBTI)

Myers Briggs Foundation discusses about the basics of Myers Briggs typology. Myers- Briggs Type indicator-
used to identify managerial decision styles based on Jung’s typology. The identification and description of the
16 distinctive personality types that result from the interactions among the preferences.”
Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called
Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).
Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add
meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).
Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people
and special circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).
Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open
to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).
The best reason to choose the MBTI instrument to discover your personality type is that hundreds of studies
over the past 40 years have proven the instrument to be both valid and reliable. In other words, it measures
what it says it does (validity) and produces the same results when given more than once (reliability). When
you want an accurate profile of your personality type, ask if the instrument you plan to use has been validated.
The theory of psychological type was introduced in the 1920s by Carl G. Jung. The MBTI tool was developed in
the 1940s by Isabel Briggs Myers and the original research was done in the 1940s and '50s. This research is
ongoing, providing users with updated and new information about psychological type and its applications.
Millions of people worldwide have taken the Indicator each year since its first publication in 1962.
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
"Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine
his characteristics behavior and thought"
1. PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY APPROACH
Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) developed
a psychodynamic theory of the human psyche, which
focussed on the influence of key drives on behavior that a
person would be otherwise unaware of. Freud believed that
the psyche was controlled by three competing components:
the ID, EGO and SUPER EGO.
The id follows the pleasure principle, which drives a person to
behave in a way which will maximize the potential for reward.
However, it disregards the potentially detrimental effect that
one’s behaviour may have on other people.
The id dominates behaviour in early childhood but is soon
challenged by the ego. The ego follows the reality principle,
which acknowledges that, external limitations apply to the
way in which a person can behave.
As a child grows older, the super ego develops, and is
responsible for their conscience. According to Freud, it causes
a person to recognize the consequences of their actions and
to experience guilt or shame as a result of their behaviour.
Freud believed that the competing interests of the three
aspects of the psyche governed a person’s conscious thoughts and behaviour. Whilst this psychodynamic
approach was influential amongst psychologists and psychoanalysts, its deterministic approach to personality
has been criticised. It focusses on the invisible influence of unconscious drives, and as a result, it is impossible
to either prove or falsify Freud’s theory. This model of the psyche also fails to account for free will and the
often-unpredictable nature of human behaviour.
Id: It is the unconscious, irrational part of personality. It is the primitive part immune to morality and demands
of the external world. It operates on the pleasure principle. It seeks immediate satisfaction.
Ego: It is involved with the workings of the real world. It operates on the reality principle. It is the conscious,
and rational part of personality that regulates thoughts and behaviors. It teaches the person to balance
demands of external world and needs of the person.
Super Ego: It is the internal representation of parental and societal values. It works as the voice of conscience,
that compels the ego to consider not only the real but also the ideal. It judges one’s behaviors as right or
wrong, good or bad. Failing up to moral ideals bring about the shame, guilt, inferiority and anxiety in the
person.
2. THE TRAIT THEORY
The trait theory approach is one of the most prominent areas within personality psychology. According to
these theories, personality is made up of a number of broad traits. A trait is a relatively stable characteristic
that causes an individual to behave in certain ways. It is essentially the psychological "blueprint" that informs
behavioral patterns.
According to the trait theory, personality is made up of several stable characteristics, or traits, that cause a
person to act in a certain way. These traits are the blueprint for how we behave. Examples include introversion,
sociability, aggressiveness, submissiveness, loyalty and ambition.
Perhaps the most scientific of all the trait theories, in the sense that an impressive body of research supports
it, is the five-factor model, more typically known as the Big Five. According to this theory, personality is made
up of five broad areas or factors:
• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion and Introversion:
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
According to the Big Five, we all have these traits to a greater or lesser degree, and the dimensions combine
in different ways to form an individual's unique personality.

3. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

The social cognition theory views personality through the lens of our social interactions, so instead of
developing in a black box, our personality traits interact with our environment to influence behaviour. This
gives a much clearer view of the effect that other people have on our personalities.
The pioneer of the social cognition theory is a scientist named Albert Bandura. He argued that when people
see someone gaining benefit from a certain behaviour, they copy that behaviour in order to earn a similar
reward. His famous experiment saw a child being rewarded with a doll for punching a doll. When other
children were shown the video, they acted in a similarly aggressive way to earn a reward. Thus, personality
traits (in this case aggression) may be learned.

STRESS AND BEHAVIOR

• Stress changes mental and emotional processes, which in turn influence body posture, attitude and
general behavior.
• At first, the person's focus is increased on whatever he or she is doing.
• Because of this focus, social interaction is ignored or downplayed.
• As stress becomes continued, the focus dissolves while the tension remains.
• Social interaction cannot be ignored, but due to the tension behavior becomes less caring and more
irregular.
• The person under stress loses 'the big picture' and jumps from one small thing to another.
• As the situation get worse, communication suffers.
• Because the person is unable to overcome the stress, he or she gets locked into his or her own world
of worries.
• From this attitude full of worries every thought, emotion, human will become spoiled with fear,
irrationality and confusion.
• Many times, the stress is caused by social interaction itself.
• Some people are still able to function socially in a near-breakdown state by creating and showing
masks to themselves and others.
• However, the underlying signs of tension can still be seen by anyone who cares to look.