Three interpersonal variables –

motivation, perception and

emotion – operate within the
individual and strongly
influence interpersonal
communication
Intrapersonal
Variables For
Communication Lack of Awareness of how
motivation, perception and
emotion operate in ourselves,
and others accounts for a large
percentage of breakdowns in
communication

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 1

 Managers are largely
unaware of the interpersonal
variables
Managing Managers need to try to
understand the subordinates’
Motivation to present motives rather than
Influence to change their motives
The integration of the
Interpersonal individual and the
Communication organizational objectives is
one of the primary issues
facing managers in today’s
world

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 2

 Lack of Awareness of one’s i.p.
motives leads to a confused way of
expressing them and thus to
communication breakdowns
The Effects of
People who are either unaware of or
I.P. Motivation refuse to acknowledge their i.p.
motives are acting defensively by
upon I.P. protecting their self-image
Communication
Research evidence shows that
everyone has i.p. motives and that all
communication acts attempts are
attempts to satisfy these motives

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 3

 • Schutz has suggested that there
are three basic i.p. needs which
underlie all behavior:
• They are:
1. The Need for Inclusion
2. The Need for Control
Schutz - 1967 3. The Need for Affection
Schutz suggests that our methods
of dealing with these needs
are shaped by childhood
experiences and that some
methods lead to more
“healthy” individuals than
others

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 4

 The need for inclusion is
concerned with having people to
interact with who pay attention
to you and what you to say
The Need for
Inclusion
The need is manifested each
time you enter a new group of
people

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 5

 People learn to deal with their
need for inclusion in one of three
The Need for basic ways:
1. The Undersocial Type
Inclusion 2. The Oversocial Type
3. The Adaptable Social Type

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 6

 They may deny their need for
inclusion by remaining aloof
from others.
They maintain distance
between themselves and others
and tend to be social isolates
The Create a world of their own in
which they feel secure
Undersocial In this they need not risk the
Type pain of rejection but instead
endure the pain of being lonely
This is an extreme example of
people who express their need
for inclusion in a very confused
way – they are denying their
need for inclusion altogether!

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 7

 A manager who maintains such
aloofness is likely to experience
poor interpersonal
The communication
Undersocial
Type Others are likely to interpret the
manager’s aloofness to be
snobbishness or arrogance

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 8

 ¿ This type of person learns to deal
with inclusion needs by constantly
interacting with others
¿ Attempt to focus attention on
themselves by “exhibitionist-type
behavior”
The ¿ Attempt to acquire some special
status
Oversocial ¿ Oversocial managers are likely to
Type spend so much time demanding
attention that they neglect other
things.
¿ Are over friendly
¿ Thus the need for inclusion is
expressed unclearly, resulting in low
task orientation

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 9

 ∂ This type can be a high participator
or a low participator in a group
depending on the situation
∂ Such managers are comfortable
being with people and are also
comfortable being alone
The ∂ They have resolved the need for
inclusion in a constructive way so
Adaptable- that they can maintain identity and
Social Type individuality
∂ They are not afraid of interaction
and showing their identity, as are the
undersocial managers; nor are they
compelled to submerge their identity
by constantly pleasing others, as are
the oversocial managers

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 10

 The i.p. need for control can also
be discussed in terms of 3 types
of people:
1. People who have learned to
avoid i.p. situations in which
they have control of others.
These managers do not like
The Need to to make decisions which
Control affect other people. Are
happiest when others
control them by making
decisions for them. They feel
incompetent and seek to
avoid situations in which
they must face these feelings
of incompetence

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 11

 2. People who are comfortable
only when they are
controlling others. These
managers seek to dominate
other people as a way of
The Need to proving to themselves that
they are competent
Control 3. People who are comfortable
both in situations where
they control others and in
situations where others have
control over them

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 12

 The Need for Affection

1. People who deny their need for affection. These

managers may be openly antagonistic or may remain
emotionally distant from others. They feel
unconsciously that they are not worthy of being
loved and thus are determined to avoid situations
where people may express their feelings toward
them.

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 13

 The Need for Affection

2. These people also fear that they are not worthy of

being loved. They react to this by trying to please
everyone. Unfortunately, the more they seek the
approval and love of others, the less likely they are
to receive it.
3. Ideal Type – people who are comfortable being close
to other people but who also can understand that
they are worthy persons even if some people do not
like them.
Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 14
I.P. Perception Upon Communication

When people are unaware of their motives, they interact with

others in ways which often lead to communication breakdowns
People guess from inferences about others’ motives
If these motives are expressed in a confused way, they are likely
to be misinterpreted
This is happening for the following reasons:

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 15

I.P. Perception Upon Communication

1. The same i.p. act may be motivated by one of several

different motives. The impact of the i.p. act depends on how
one perceives the motivation underlying the act.
Ex: Joe inviting Fred, his boss, to dinner
2. The way the i.p. act is perceived depends on the perceiver
as well as the act. Ex: if Fred feels uncomfortable being close
to other people, he is more likely to treat the invitation as an
attempt to influence him. We tend to interpret other
people's actions in terms of our own motives

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 16

I.P. Perception Upon Communication

3. We tend to interpret i.p. actions in terms of our image or

stereotype of the person with whom we are interacting
Perceptual errors have strong effects on the nature of subsequent
interactions.
Often people are unaware that they are forming impressions of others;
they often are unaware of how they form these impressions
The best way of increasing the accuracy of i.p. perception is by noting
what observations lead to a particular conclusion and then
checking the conclusion for accuracy

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 17

৺Lack of awareness of emotion can lead to breakdowns in
communication
৺This is because feelings influence i.p. perception and i.p. motives
৺In fact, the expression of any i.p. communication reflects the
individual’s feeling
৺If people are unaware of their feelings, they are unaware of a
significant aspect of what they are communicating

The Role of Emotions in I.P.

Communication
Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 18
The Role of Emotions in I.P.
Communication

৺Many people are aware of only their strong feelings; this does not
mean that feelings do not exist
৺The individual has repressed his feelings because of strong social
conditioning
৺When emotion is suppressed or repressed, it acts in accumulative
fashion – thus producing more intense feeling – finally the emotion
may become so strong that the person “explodes”
৺“The straw that broke the camel’s back”

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 19

The Role of Emotions in I.P.
Communication

৺Expression of feelings leads to greater self-awareness and the

possibility of more straightforward i.p. communication
৺Let's now look at specific emotions:
1. Fear
2.Anger

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 20

Fear in I.P. Communication

৺Fear is the anticipation of physical or psychological pain

৺If you are paying attention to what might happen rather than to
what is presently happening – your ability to respond to the
situation is impaired

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 21

Example of How Fear Inhibits
Performance and Development

A manager may be afraid of making presentations to committees/boards.

If the fear is great, the manager is likely to perform poorly, and
concludes that he is a poor speaker and avoids speaking in front of
groups. The avoidance of a fear-producing situation relieves the fear
and thus is rewarding. The individual forms a habit of avoiding public-
speaking and this habit becomes stronger each time he manages to
avoid the situation!
The only way of reducing the fear is by speaking to a group and
performing well.

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 22

Anger in I.P. Communication

The cultural norm is to avoid the expression of anger or control one’s anger
When a person cannot express anger directly, it is likely to be expressed indirectly
Displaced Aggression – to take it out on a innocent victim (spouse, subordinate or
even themselves)
The failure to express anger increases tension to a point where it affects
performance adversely
We must learn constructive ways of expressing anger – basically, create a positive
relationship strong enough to survive the expression of negative emotion

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 23

Key Terms &
Concepts
Inclusion

Control

Affection

Stereotypes

Interpersonal Trust

Repression of Feelings

Displaced Aggression

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 24

 Exercise: Log of
Feelings

1. For a two-day period maintain a log

of your feelings: when it occurred,
what the emotion was, how it
showed up in your body, what the
circumstances were, and how you
showed or concealed the feelings
from others
2. Pair up with two other classmates.
Discuss your logs – Are you
normally aware of your feelings?

Ashok Karri, GITAM Institute of Management 25