Foundation Course - 10

LEADERSHIP EDUCATION
Syllabus, forall Degree Programmes.
W.e.f. 2015-16 (Revised in April, 2016)
Semester – IV (Total 30 Hrs.)

1. Organisation – Management – Leadership –Meaning and Significance –Different theories

– Trait Theory, Blake &Mouton Theory – Other functions of Management.

2. Behavioral Concepts – Individual Behaviour – Perception – Learning –Attitude Formation

and Change – Motivation – Theories of Motivation –Personality Development.

3. Interpersonal Behaviour – Communication – Leadership – Influencing Relations –

Transactional Analysis.

4. Group Dynamics – Roles – Morale – Conflict – Groups – Inter-Group Behaviour – Inter-

Group Collaboration and Conflict Management.

5. Team Building and Management – Developing team resources –Designing team –

Participation and Repercussion – Team buildingactivities.

Reference Books:
1. Fred Luthans, “Organizational Behaviour”, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co., New Delhi.
2. Robins, Stephen P, “OrganisationalBehaviour”, 9th Edition, Prentice Hall of India, New
Delhi.
3. Koontz and O “Donnell”, Essentials of Management,Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co.,
New Delhi, 2000.
4. Keith Davis, “Human Behaviour at Work”, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Co., New Delhi.
5. Aswathappa,”OrgnizationalBehaviour”, Himalaya Publishing House, Mumbai
6. Stoner Freeman, “Management”, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi.

UNIT--1
Leadership: Definitions, Features and Importance of Leadership:

Leadership is another important element of directing. It plays a very important role in the
success of an organisation. Leadership can be defined as a process of influencing the
behaviour of the people to voluntarily act for attainment of organisational objectives. It is
concerned with maintaining personal relations with followers and motivates them to
contribute for achieving goals of the organisation.

Definitions of Leadership:

“Leadership is both a process and property. The process of leadership is the use of non-
coercive influence to direct and coordinate the activities of the members of an organised
group towards the accomplishment of group objectivities. As a property, leadership is the set
of qualities or characteristics attributed to those who are perceived to successfully employ
such influence.” -- Gay and Strake
“Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives.” -----
-George Terry

“Leadership is the art of or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and
enthusiastically towards the achievement of group goals.”-- Harold Koontz and Heinz
Weihrich

“Leadership is a set of interpersonal behaviours designed to influence employees to cooperate

in the achievement of objectives.” -- Glueck

Features of Leadership:

(i) Leadership is a process of influencing people.

(ii) It aims at bringing changes in behaviour of people.

(iii) It is a never ending or a continuous process.

(iv) Leadership is practiced to achieve organisational goals.

(v) It explains the relations between leaders and followers.

Importance of Leadership:

Leadership is an important factor in the success of an organisation. A leader not only

provides information about organisational goals but also pools the required resources, guides
and motivates his followers for achieving the organisational goals.

(i) Influences the Behaviour of People: Leadership involves influencing the behaviour of
the people and making them contribute their full efforts for the good of an organisation.

(ii) Handles Conflicts: A good leader helps in solving the conflicts among his followers and
also removes their negative feelings.

(iii) Maintains Coordination: A leader always maintains personal relations with his
followers and provides them the required confidence, support and encouragement. This helps
in creating healthy working environment.

(iv) Introduces Changes: A good leader helps in solving the problem of resistance to
changes by inspiring and persuading them to accept the changes without any discontentment.

(v) Provides Training: A leader also makes arrangement for the training of his subordinates.

ORGANIZATION
Meaning:
An entrepreneur organizes various factors of production like land, labour, capital, machinery,

etc. for channelizing them into productive activities. The product finally reaches consumers
through various agencies. Business activities are divided into various functions, these
functions are assigned to different individuals.

Various individual efforts must lead to the achievement of common business

goals. Organization is the structural framework of duties and responsibilities required of

personnel in performing various functions with a view to achieve business goals through

organization. Management tries to combine various business activities to accomplish

predetermined goals.

Present business system is very complex. The unit must be run efficiently to stay in the

competitive world of business. Various jobs are to be performed by persons most suitable for
them. First of all various activities should be grouped into different functions. The authority

and responsibility is fixed at various levels. All efforts should be made to co-ordinate

different activities for running the units efficiently so that cost of production may be reduced
and profitability of the unit may be increased.

Definitions:
Louis Allen, “Organization is the process of identifying and grouping work to be performed,

defining and delegating responsibility and authority and establishing relationships for the

purpose of enabling people to work most effectively together in accomplishing objectives.”

In the words of Allen, organization is an instrument for achieving organizational goals. The

work of each and every person is defined and authority and responsibility is fixed for
accomplishing the same.

Wheeler, “Internal organization is the structural framework of duties and responsibilities

required of personnel in performing various functions within the company………… It is

essentially a blue print for action resulting in a mechanism for carrying out function to

achieve the goals set up by company management”. In Wheeler’s view, organization is a

process of fixing duties and responsibilities of persons in an enterprise so that business goals
are achieved.
Koontz and O’Donnell, ‘The establishment of authority relationships with provision for co-

ordination between them, both vertically and horizontally in the enterprise structure.” These
authors view organization as a coordinating point among various persons in the business.

George Terry, “Organising is the establishing of effective authority relationships among

selected work, persons, and work places in order for the group to work together efficiently”.

According to Terry organisation is the creation of relationship among persons and work so
that it may be carried on in a better and efficient way.

L.H. Haney, “Organisation is a harmonious adjustment of specialised parts for

accomplishment of some common purpose or purposes”. Organisation is the adjustment of

various activities for the attainment of common goals.

Characteristics of Organisation:
Different authors look at the word ‘organisation’ from their own angle. One thing which is

common in all the viewpoints is that organisation is the establishment of authority

relationship among persons so that it helps in the achievement of organisational objectives.

Some of the characteristics of organisation are studied as follows:

1. Division of Work:
Organisation deals with the whole task of business. The total work of the enterprise is divided

into activities and functions. Various activities are assigned to different persons for their

efficient accomplishment. This brings in division of labour. It is not that one person cannot

carry out many functions but specialisation in different activities is necessary to improve

one’s efficiency. Organisation helps in dividing the work into related activities so that they
are assigned to different individuals.

2. Co-Ordination:
Co-ordination of various activities is as essential as their division. It helps in integrating and
harmonising various activities. Co-ordination also avoids duplications and delays. In fact,
various functions in an organisation depend upon one another and the performance of one
influences the other. Unless all of them are properly coordinated, the performance of all
segments is adversely affected.

3. Common Objectives:
All organisational structure is a means towards the achievement of enterprise goals. The goals

of various segments lead to the achievement of major business goals. The organisational

structure should build around common and clear cut objectives. This will help in their proper
accomplishment.

4. Co-operative Relationship:
An organisation creates co-operative relationship among various members of the group. An

organisation cannot be constituted by one person. It requires at least two or more persons.
Organisation is a system which helps in creating meaningful relationship among persons. The

relationship should be both vertical and horizontal among members of various departments.

The structure should be designed that it motivates people to perform their part of work
together.

5. Well-Defined Authority-Responsibility Relationships:

An organisation consists of various positions arranged in a hierarchy with well-defined

authority and responsibility. There is always a central authority from which a chain of

authority relationship stretches throughout the organisation. The hierarchy of positions

defines the lines of communication and pattern of relationships.

Management

Management is a universal phenomenon. It is a very popular and widely used term. All
organizations - business, political, cultural or social are involved in management because it is
the management which helps and directs the various efforts towards a definite purpose.

According to Harold Koontz, “Management is an art of getting things done through and
with the people in formally organized groups. It is an art of creating an environment in which
people can perform and individuals and can co-operate towards attainment of group goals”.

According to F.W. Taylor, “Management is an art of knowing what to do, when to do and
see that it is done in the best and cheapest way”.
Management is a purposive activity. It is something that directs group efforts towards the
attainment of certain pre - determined goals. It is the process of working with and through
others to effectively achieve the goals of the organization, by efficiently using limited
resources in the changing world. Of course, these goals may vary from one enterprise to
another. E.g.: For one enterprise it may be launching of new products by conducting market
surveys and for other it may be profit maximization by minimizing cost.

Management involves creating an internal environment: - It is the management which puts

into use the various factors of production. Therefore, it is the responsibility of management to
create such conditions which are conducive to maximum efforts so that people are able to
perform their task efficiently and effectively. It includes ensuring availability of raw
materials, determination of wages and salaries, formulation of rules & regulations etc.

Therefore, we can say that good management includes both being effective and efficient.
Being effective means doing the appropriate task i.e, fitting the square pegs in square holes
and round pegs in round holes. Being efficient means doing the task correctly, at least
possible cost with minimum wastage of resources.

Management can be defined in detail in following categories:

1. Management as a Process
2. Management as an Activity
3. Management as a Discipline
4. Management as a Group
5. Management as a Science
6. Management as an Art
7. Management as a Profession

Levels of Management
The term “Levels of Management’ refers to a line of demarcation between various
managerial positions in an organization. The number of levels in management increases when
the size of the business and work force increases and vice versa. The level of management
determines a chain of command, the amount of authority & status enjoyed by any managerial
position. The levels of management can be classified in three broad categories:

1. Top level / Administrative level

2. Middle level / Executory
3. Low level / Supervisory / Operative / First-line managers

Managers at all these levels perform different functions. The role of managers at all the three
levels is discussed below:
1. Top Level of Management

It consists of board of directors, chief executive or managing director. The top

management is the ultimate source of authority and it manages goals and policies for
an enterprise. It devotes more time on planning and coordinating functions.

The role of the top management can be summarized as follows -

a. Top management lays down the objectives and broad policies of the
enterprise.
b. It issues necessary instructions for preparation of department budgets,
procedures, schedules etc.
c. It prepares strategic plans & policies for the enterprise.
d. It appoints the executive for middle level i.e. departmental managers.
e. It controls & coordinates the activities of all the departments.
f. It is also responsible for maintaining a contact with the outside world.
g. It provides guidance and direction.

h. The top management is also responsible towards the shareholders for the
performance of the enterprise.

2. Middle Level of Management

The branch managers and departmental managers constitute middle level. They are
responsible to the top management for the functioning of their department. They
devote more time to organizational and directional functions. In small organization,
there is only one layer of middle level of management but in big enterprises, there
may be senior and junior middle level management. Their role can be emphasized as -

a. They execute the plans of the organization in accordance with the policies and
directives of the top management.
b. They make plans for the sub-units of the organization.
c. They participate in employment & training of lower level management.
d. They interpret and explain policies from top level management to lower level.
e. They are responsible for coordinating the activities within the division or
department.
f. It also sends important reports and other important data to top level
management.
g. They evaluate performance of junior managers.
 h. They are also responsible for inspiring lower level managers towards better
performance.
3. Lower Level of Management

Lower level is also known as supervisory / operative level of management. It consists

of supervisors, foreman, section officers, superintendent etc. According to R.C. Davis,
“Supervisory management refers to those executives whose work has to be largely
with personal oversight and direction of operative employees”. In other words, they
are concerned with direction and controlling function of management. Their activities
include -

a. Assigning of jobs and tasks to various workers.

b. They guide and instruct workers for day to day activities.
c. They are responsible for the quality as well as quantity of production.
d. They are also entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining good relation in
the organization.
e. They communicate workers problems, suggestions, and recommendatory
appeals etc to the higher level and higher level goals and objectives to the
workers.
f. They help to solve the grievances of the workers.
g. They supervise & guide the sub-ordinates.
h. They are responsible for providing training to the workers.
i. They arrange necessary materials, machines, tools etc for getting the things
done.
j. They prepare periodical reports about the performance of the workers.
k. They ensure discipline in the enterprise.
l. They motivate workers.
m. They are the image builders of the enterprise because they are in direct contact
with the workers.

Importance of Management
1. It helps in Achieving Group Goals - It arranges the factors of production, assembles
and organizes the resources, integrates the resources in effective manner to achieve
goals. It directs group efforts towards achievement of pre-determined goals. By
defining objective of organization clearly there would be no wastage of time, money
and effort. Management converts disorganized resources of men, machines, money
etc. into useful enterprise. These resources are coordinated, directed and controlled in
such a manner that enterprise work towards attainment of goals.
2. Optimum Utilization of Resources - Management utilizes all the physical & human
resources productively. This leads to efficacy in management. Management provides
maximum utilization of scarce resources by selecting its best possible alternate use in
industry from out of various uses. It makes use of experts, professional and these
services leads to use of their skills, knowledge, and proper utilization and avoids
wastage. If employees and machines are producing its maximum there is no under
employment of any resources.
3. Reduces Costs - It gets maximum results through minimum input by proper planning
and by using minimum input & getting maximum output. Management uses physical,
human and financial resources in such a manner which results in best combination.
This helps in cost reduction.
 4. Establishes Sound Organization - No overlapping of efforts (smooth and
coordinated functions). To establish sound organizational structure is one of the
objective of management which is in tune with objective of organization and for
fulfilment of this, it establishes effective authority & responsibility relationship i.e.
who is accountable to whom, who can give instructions to whom, who are superiors &
who are subordinates. Management fills up various positions with right persons,
having right skills, training and qualification. All jobs should be cleared to everyone.
5. Establishes Equilibrium - It enables the organization to survive in changing
environment. It keeps in touch with the changing environment. With the change is
external environment, the initial co-ordination of organization must be changed. So it
adapts organization to changing demand of market / changing needs of societies. It is
responsible for growth and survival of organization.
6. Essentials for Prosperity of Society - Efficient management leads to better
economical production which helps in turn to increase the welfare of people. Good
management makes a difficult task easier by avoiding wastage of scarce resource. It
improves standard of living. It increases the profit which is beneficial to business and
society will get maximum output at minimum cost by creating employment
opportunities which generate income in hands. Organization comes with new products
and researches beneficial for society.

Functions of Management

There are basically five primary functions of management. These are:

1.Planning
2.Organizing
3.Staffing
4.Directing
5. Controlling

The controlling function comprises co-ordination, reporting and budgeting, and

hence the controlling function can be broken into these three separate functions. Based upon
these seven functions, Luther Guelick coined the word POSDCORB, which generally
represents the initials of these seven functions i.e. P stands for Planning, O for Organizing, S
for Staffing, D for Directing, Co for Co-ordination, R for reporting & B for Budgeting.
Planning

Planning is future oriented and determines an organization’s direction. It is a

rational and systematic way of making decisions today that will affect the future of the
company. It is a kind of organized foresight as well as corrective hindsight. It involves the
predicting of the future as well as attempting to control the events. It involves the ability to
foresee the effects of current actions in the long run in the future.

Peter Drucker has defined planning as follows:

“Planning is the continuous process of making present entrepreneurial decisions

systematically and with best possible knowledge of their futurity, organizing systematically
the efforts needed to carry out these decisions and measuring the results of these decisions
against the expectations through organized and systematic feedback”.

An effective planning program incorporates the effect of both external as well as

internal factors. The external factors are shortages of resources; both capital and material,
general economic trend as far as interest rates and inflation are concerned, dynamic
technological advancements, increased governmental regulation regarding community
interests, unstable international political environments, etc.

The internal factors that affect planning are limited growth opportunities due to saturation
requiring diversification, changing patterns of work force, more complex organizational
structures, decentralization etc

Organizing

Organizing requires a formal structure of authority and the direction and flow of such
authority through which work subdivisions are defined, arranged and co-ordinated so that
each part relates to the other part in a united and coherent manner so as to attain the
prescribed objectives.

According to Henry Fayol, “To organize a business is to provide it with everything useful
or its functioning i.e. raw material, tools, capital and personnel’s”.

Thus the function of organizing involves the determination of activities that need to be done
in order to reach the company goals, assigning these activities to the proper personnel, and
delegating the necessary authority to carry out these activities in a co-ordinated and cohesive
manner. It follows, therefore, that the function of organizing is concerned with:

1. Identifying the tasks that must be performed and grouping them whenever
necessary
 2. Assigning these tasks to the personnel while defining their authority and
responsibility.
3. Delegating this authority to these employees
4. Establishing a relationship between authority and responsibility
5. Coordinating these activities

Staffing

Staffing is the function of hiring and retaining a suitable work-force for the enterprise both at
managerial as well as non-managerial levels. It involves the process of recruiting, training,
developing, compensating and evaluating employees, and maintaining this workforce with
proper incentives and motivations. Since the human element is the most vital factor in the
process of management, it is important to recruit the right personnel.

According to Kootz & O’Donell, “Managerial function of staffing involves manning the
organization structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal & development of
personnel to fill the roles designed in the structure”.

This function is even more critically important since people differ in their intelligence,
knowledge, skills, experience, physical condition, age and attitudes, and this complicates the
function. Hence, management must understand, in addition to the technical and operational
competence, the sociological and psychological structure of the workforce.

Directing

The directing function is concerned with leadership, communication, motivation and

supervision so that the employees perform their activities in the most efficient manner
possible, in order to achieve the desired goals.

The leadership element involves issuing of instructions and guiding the subordinates about
procedures and methods.

The communication must be open both ways so that the information can be passed on to the
subordinates and the feedback received from them.

Motivation is very important, since highly motivated people show excellent performance
with less direction from superiors.

Supervising subordinates would lead to continuous progress reports as well as assure the
superiors that the directions are being properly carried out.
Controlling

The function of control consists of those activities that are undertaken to ensure that the
events do not deviate from the per-arranged plans. The activities consist of establishing
standards for work performance, measuring performance and comparing it to these set
standards and taking corrective actions as and when needed, to correct any deviations.

According to Koontz & O’Donell, “Controlling is the measurement & correction of

performance activities of subordinates in order to make sure that the enterprise objectives
and plans desired to obtain them as being accomplished”.

The controlling function involves:

a. Establishment of standard performance.

b. Measurement of actual performance.

c. Measuring actual performance with the pre-determined standard and finding out the
deviations.

d. Taking corrective action.

All these five functions of management are closely interrelated. However,
these functions are highly indistinguishable and virtually unrecognizable on the job. It is
necessary, though, to put each function separately into focus and deal with it.

Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

The treatment of task orientation and people orientation as two independent dimensions was a
major step in leadership studies. Many of the leadership studies conducted in the 1950s at the
University of Michigan and the Ohio State University focused on these two dimensions.

Building on the work of the researchers at these Universities, Robert Blake and Jane Mouton
(1960s) proposed a graphic portrayal of leadership styles through a managerial
grid (sometimes called leadership grid). The grid depicted two dimensions of leader
behavior, concern for people (accommodating people’s needs and giving them priority) on
y-axis and concern for production (keeping tight schedules) on x-axis, with each dimension
ranging from low (1) to high (9), thus creating 81 different positions in which the leader’s
style may fall. (See figure 1).
The five resulting leadership styles are as follows:

1. Impoverished Management (1, 1): Managers with this approach are low on both the
dimensions and exercise minimum effort to get the work done from subordinates. The
leader has low concern for employee satisfaction and work deadlines and as a result
disharmony and disorganization prevail within the organization. The leaders are
termed ineffective wherein their action is merely aimed at preserving job and
seniority.
2. Task management (9, 1): Also called dictatorial or perish style. Here leaders are
more concerned about production and have less concern for people. The style is based
on theory X of McGregor. The employees’ needs are not taken care of and they are
simply a means to an end. The leader believes that efficiency can result only through
proper organization of work systems and through elimination of people wherever
possible. Such a style can definitely increase the output of organization in short run
but due to the strict policies and procedures, high labour turnover is inevitable.
3. Middle-of-the-Road (5, 5): This is basically a compromising style wherein the leader
tries to maintain a balance between goals of company and the needs of people. The
leader does not push the boundaries of achievement resulting in average performance
for organization. Here neither employee nor production needs are fully met.
4. Country Club (1, 9): This is a collegial style characterized by low task and high
people orientation where the leader gives thoughtful attention to the needs of people
thus providing them with a friendly and comfortable environment. The leader feels
that such a treatment with employees will lead to self-motivation and will find people
working hard on their own. However, a low focus on tasks can hamper production and
lead to questionable results.
5. Team Management (9, 9): Characterized by high people and task focus, the style is
based on the theory Y of McGregor and has been termed as most effective style
according to Blake and Mouton. The leader feels that empowerment, commitment,
trust, and respect are the key elements in creating a team atmosphere which will
automatically result in high employee satisfaction and production.

Advantages of Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

The Managerial or Leadership Grid is used to help managers analyse their own leadership
styles through a technique known as grid training. This is done by administering a
questionnaire that helps managers identify how they stand with respect to their concern for
production and people. The training is aimed at basically helping leaders reach to the ideal
state of 9, 9.

Limitations of Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

The model ignores the importance of internal and external limits, matter and scenario. Also,
there are some more aspects of leadership that can be covered but are not.

Trait Theory of Leadership

The trait model of leadership is based on the characteristics of many leaders - both successful
and unsuccessful - and is used to predict leadership effectiveness. The resulting lists of traits
are then compared to those of potential leaders to assess their likelihood of success or failure.

Scholars taking the trait approach attempted to identify physiological (appearance, height,
and weight), demographic (age, education and socioeconomic background), personality, self-
confidence, and aggressiveness), intellective (intelligence, decisiveness, judgment, and
knowledge), task-related (achievement drive, initiative, and persistence), and social
characteristics (sociability and cooperativeness) with leader emergence and leader
effectiveness.

Successful leaders definitely have interests, abilities, and personality traits that are
different from those of the less effective leaders. Through many researches conducted in
the last three decades of the 20th century, a set of core traits of successful leaders have been
identified. These traits are not responsible solely to identify whether a person will be a
successful leader or not, but they are essentially seen as preconditions that endow people with
leadership potential.

Among the core traits identified are:

 Achievement drive: High level of effort, high levels of ambition, energy and
initiative.
 Leadership motivation: an intense desire to lead others to reach shared goals.
 Honesty and integrity: trustworthy, reliable, and open.
 Self-confidence: Belief in one’s self, ideas, and ability.
 Cognitive ability: Capable of exercising good judgment, strong analytical abilities,
and conceptually skilled
 Knowledge of business: Knowledge of industry and other technical matters.
 Emotional Maturity: well adjusted, does not suffer from severe psychological
disorders.
 Others: charisma, creativity and flexibility.

Strengths/Advantages of Trait Theory

 It is naturally pleasing theory.

 It is valid as lot of research has validated the foundation and basis of the theory.
 It serves as a yardstick against which the leadership traits of an individual can be
assessed.
 It gives a detailed knowledge and understanding of the leader element in the
leadership process.
Limitations of the Trait Theory

 There is bound to be some subjective judgment in determining who is regarded as a

‘good’ or ‘successful’ leader
 The list of possible traits tends to be very long. More than 100 different traits of
successful leaders in various leadership positions have been identified. These
descriptions are simply generalities.
 There is also a disagreement over which traits are the most important for an effective
leader
 The model attempts to relate physical traits such as, height and weight, to effective
leadership. Most of these factors relate to situational factors. For example, a minimum
weight and height might be necessary to perform the tasks efficiently in a military
leadership position. In business organizations, these are not the requirements to be an
effective leader.
 The theory is very complex

Implications of Trait Theory

The trait theory gives constructive information about leadership. It can be applied by people
at all levels in all types of organizations. Managers can utilize the information from the
theory to evaluate their position in the organization and to assess how their position can be
made stronger in the organization. They can get an in-depth understanding of their identity
and the way they will affect others in the organization. This theory makes the manager aware
of their strengths and weaknesses and thus they get an understanding of how they can
develop their leadership qualities.

UNIT--2

Individual behaviour
an organization is basically the association of human beings and major problem of
today’s organization is how to get maximum possible efforts and contribution of the human
beings determining these efforts and contribution, those responsible for managing the
organization must understand the way human being behave.it is to be noted that the world of
human work consists of individual performing in some setting usually in some organization.

The fact that there are tremendous differences among individuals and among jobs is the basis
of the frequently expressed notion of matching people and jobs and of the expression round
pegs in square holes when the match is not a good one. Mismatches can catch occur in any
setting.

“Individual behaviour can be defined as how an individual behaves at work”

Learning can be defined as the activity or process of acquiring knowledge or skill by
studying, practicing, being taught, or experiencing something.

. A person’s behaviour is influenced by the following factors −

 Attitude
 Perception
 Personality
 Stress
 Belief
 Norms or other psychological matters
The factors influencing individual behaviour are −

 Perception − It is the result of various senses like feeling, seeing, hearing etc.

 Attitude − we can either have a positive attitude or negative attitude, like i like my
job is expressing a positive attitude towards my work.

 Personality − For example, some people seem to be very friendly, while there are
some who take time to open up.

 Values − It influences perception of problem and marks individual’s decision making

process.

 Emotions − There are happy moments we cherish and the sad moments like anger,
frustration, etc. that we try to forget.

Change through Learning

The more we learn the more we change, as learning is a continuous process. Now let us see
that how learning affects individual behaviour. There is a change in the attitude of a person
due to learning which can take place due to the following factors
  Role of parenting − as we all know that parents are the first tutors of a child. They
teach a child how to walk, talk, eat, etc. A child tries to imitate the behaviour of
parents. So, it plays a vital role in grooming an individual’s personality.

 Education − the very second place of learning is the school and college where an
individual chooses to pursue his/her education. It is the place where an individual’s
personality is further polished with respect to the parenting values.

 Job training − an individual is prepared to be presentable in the company and learns

organizational traits.

 Manipulation of rewards

The above seen points are the key elements that are responsible for the change in a person’s
behaviour.

Individual behaviour can be defined as a mix of responses to external and internal stimuli. It
is the way a person reacts in different situations and the way someone expresses different
emotions like anger, happiness, love, etc.

To get a brief idea about the individual behaviour let us learn about the individual behaviour
framework and other key elements related to it.

Individual Behaviour Framework

On the basis of these elements, psychologist Kurt Lewin stated the Field theory and outlined
the behaviour framework. This psychological theory studies the patterns of interaction
between an individual and the environment. The theory is expressed using the formula

B = F(P,E)

Where, B – Behaviour, F - Behaviour Function, P – Person, and E - Environment around the

person.

Say for example, a well-played person who loses his job in recession may behave differently
when unemployed.
Causes of Individual Behaviour
Certain individual characteristics are responsible for the way a person behaves in daily life
situations as well as reacts to any emergency situations.

These characteristics are categorized as

 Inherited characteristics
 Learned characteristics
Inherited Characteristics
The features individuals acquire from their parents or from our forefathers are the inherited
characteristics. In other words, the gifted feature an individual possesses by birth is
considered as inherited characteristics.

Following features are considered as inherited characteristics

 Colour 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 our educational institutions. The characteristics an individual acquires by observing,
practicing and learning from others and the surroundings is known as learned characteristics.

It consists of 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

The way an individual addresses a situation single-handedly or say in a group is influenced

by many factors.

The key factors influencing an individual’s attitude in personal as well as social life are

 Abilities
 Gender
 Race and culture
  Attribution
 Perception
 Attitude
Let’s take a quick look over these major elements that imprint a person’s behaviour inside
and outside of the organization.

Abilities
Abilities are the traits a person learns from the environment around as well as the traits a
person is gifted with by birth. These traits are broadly classified as −

 Intellectual abilities
 Physical abilities
 Self-awareness abilities
In order to understand how these affect a person’s behaviour, we need to know what these
abilities are.

 Intellectual abilities − It personifies a person’s intelligence, verbal and analytical

reasoning abilities, memory as well as verbal comprehension.

 Physical abilities − It personifies a person’s physical strength, stamina, body

coordination as well as motor skills.

 Self-awareness abilities − It symbolizes how a person feels about the task, while a
manager’s perception of his abilities decides the kind of work that needs to be
allotted to an individual.

Thus the psychological, physical, self-assurance traits owned by a person defines the
behaviour of a person in social and personal life. For ex: Ram has a high IQ level, whereas
Rahul can lift a bike and is a strong guy.

Gender
Research proves that men and women both stand equal in terms of job performance and
mental abilities; however, society still emphasizes differences between the two genders.
Absenteeism is one area in an organization where differences are found as women are
considered to be the primary caregiver for children. A factor that might influence work
allocation and evaluation in an organization is the manager’s perception and personal values.

For example − an organization encourages both genders to work efficiently towards the
company’s goal and no special promotion or demotion is given or tolerated for any specific
gender.
Race & Culture
Race is a group of people sharing similar physical features. It is used to define types of
persons according to perceived traits. For example − Indian, African. On the other hand,
culture can be defined as the traits, ideas, customs and traditions one follows either as a
person or in a group. For example − Celebrating a festival.

Race & culture have always exerted an important influence both at the workplace as well as
in the society. The common mistakes such as attributing behaviour and stereotyping
according to individual’s race & culture basically influences an individual’s behaviour.

In today’s diverse work culture, the management as well as staff should learn and accept
different cultures, values, and common protocols to create more comfortable corporate
culture.

For example − A company invites candidates for a job post and hires one on the basis of
eligibility criteria and not on the basis of the country a person belongs to or the customs one
follows.

Perception
Perception is an intellectual process of transforming sensory stimuli into 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 namely −

 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 detect flavour of substances by tasting it through sensory organs
known as taste buds.

 Other senses − other senses include 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.

For 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. However, Priya’s perception about the restaurant remains good.
Attribution
Attribution is the course of observing behaviour followed by determining its cause based on
individual’s personality or situation.

Attribution framework uses the following three criteria −

 Consensus − the extent to which people in the same situation might react similarly.

 Distinctiveness − the extent to which a person’s behaviour can be associated to

situations or personality.

 Consistency − the frequency measurement of the observed behaviour, that is, how
often does this behaviour occur.

The framework mentioned says it is all about how an individual behaves in different
situations.

For example − Rohit invites Anisha and two more friends for a movie and they agree to
bunk and watch the movie, this is consensus. Bunking of class says that they are not
interested in their lectures, this is distinctiveness. A little change in the situation, like if
Rohit frequently starts bunking the class then his friends may or may not support him. The
frequency of their support and their rejection decides consistency.

Attitude
Attitude is the abstract learnt reaction or say response of a person’s entire cognitive process
over a time span.

For example − A person who has worked with different companies might develop an
attitude of indifference towards organizational citizenship.

Now we have a clear idea about what are the factors responsible for the way we behave. We
never think about these elements and how they affect our daily life but we can’t ignore the
fact that they are responsible for the way we walk, talk, eat, socialize, etc.
Perception
Definitions:

“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.”
According to Joseph Reitz, “Perception includes all those processes by which an individual

receives information about his environment—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.

The study of these perpetual processes shows that their functioning is affected by three

classes of variables—the objects or events being perceived, the environment in which

perception occurs and the individual doing the perceiving.”

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.

Factors affecting Perception

The factors which affect the perception are shown in the figure below:
Process of Perception
 Reception: In this process, a person receives the information through stimuli.
 Selection: This is governed by two types of factors:
 External factors: These are size, intensity, proximity, motion and novelty.
 Internal factors: These are attitude, motives, experiences, interests and expectations.
 Organization: It is the process by which we sort stimuli into a meaningful pattern. It
involves the following:
 Grouping: Assembling of stimuli on the grounds of similarity.
 Proximity: This is the closeness of stimuli to one another that affects perception.
 Closure: It is the ability to organize stimuli so that together they form a whole pattern.
 Interpretation: It is the formation of an idea about the information that is sensed, selected
and organized. It involves the following phenomena: primacy effect, selective perception,
stereotyping, halo effect, projection and expectancy effect. They are the types of
perceptual errors.
 Primacy/ Regency Effect: The first impression is given the most important which is
known as the primacy effect. Regency effect, on the other hand, is that human beings
remember latest events more than the less recent ones.
 Stereotyping: It is the effect caused by forming a certain belief about a category of
stimuli and generalizing that notion to encounters with each member of that category.
In reality, there is a difference between the perceived notion of each category and the
actual traits of the members. It may affect the interview process in an organization.
 Halo effect: It is the process of generalizing from a comprehensive analysis to a single
attribute or trait. A negative halo effect is known as the reverse halo effect. It affects
the performance appraisal of employees in a company.
 Projection: It is a psychological defence mechanism which makes a person compare
his negative traits with other people and conclude that they are better off than
others. Perceptual checking minimizes the negative effects of projection.
  Selective Perception: This means a person sees, feels or hears what he wants to and
skips other information which is inconsistent to his view.
 Expectancy effect: It is the tendency of an individual to interpret any person or object
based on how he expects the person or object to be in the first place. It is also called as
Pygmalion effect.

Perception is an intellectual, psychological process which is subjective as individuals

perceive similar incident differently.

Factors Influencing Perception

Factors in the perceiver

Attitudes
Motives
Interests
Experience
Expectations

Factors in the situation

Time
Work setting
Social setting

Factors in the target

Novelty
Motion
Sounds
Size
Background
Proximity
Similarity
Learning

Definitions:

“A change in human disposition or capability that persists over a period of time and is not
simply ascribable to processes of growth.”
— From the Conditions of Learning by Robert Gagne

Learning is the process of acquiring new, or modifying

existing, knowledge, behaviours, 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 some 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, and it is hard to
distinguish learned material that seems to be "lost" from that which cannot be retrieved.

Factors affecting learning

External factors
Heredity: A classroom instructor can neither change nor increase heredity, but the student
can use and develop it. Some learners are rich in hereditary endowment while others are poor.
Each student is unique and has different abilities. The native intelligence is different in
individuals. Heredity governs or conditions our ability to learn and the rate of learning. The
intelligent learners can establish and see relationship very easily and more quickly.

1. Status of students: Physical and home conditions also matter: Certain problems like
malnutrition i.e.; inadequate supply of nutrients to the body, fatigue i.e.; tiredness,
bodily weakness, and bad health are great obstructers in learning. These are some of
the physical conditions by which a student can get affected. Home is a place where a
family lives. If the home conditions are not proper, the student is affected seriously.
Some of the home conditions are bad ventilation, unhygienic living, bad light, etc.
These affect the student and his or her rate of learning.
2. Physical environment: The design, quality, and setting of a learning space, such as a
school or classroom, can each be critical to the success of a learning environment.
Size, configuration, comfort—fresh air, temperature, light, acoustics, furniture—can
all affect a student's learning. The tools used by both instructors and students directly
affect how information is conveyed, from display and writing surfaces (blackboards,
marker boards, tack surfaces) to digital technologies. For example, if a room is too
crowded, stress levels rise, student attention is reduced, and furniture arrangement is
restricted. If furniture is incorrectly arranged, sight lines to the instructor or
instructional material are limited and the ability to suit the learning or lesson style is
restricted. Aesthetics can also play a role, for if student morale suffers, so does
motivation to attend school.
Internal factors
There are several internal factors that affect learning. They are

1. Goals or purposes: Each and everyone has a goal. A goal should be set to each pupil
according to the standard expected to him. A goal is an aim or desired result. There
 are 2 types of goals called immediate and distant goals. A goal that occurs or is done
at once is called an immediate goal, and distant goals are those that take time to
achieve. Immediate goals should be set before the young learner and distant goals for
older learners. Goals should be specific and clear, so that learners understand.
2. Motivational behaviour: Motivation means to provide with a motive. Motivation
learners should be motivated so that they stimulate themselves with interest. This
behaviour arouses and regulates the student's internal energies.
3. Interest: This is a quality that arouses a feeling. It encourages a student to move over
tasks further. During teaching, the instructor must raise interests among students for
the best learning. Interest is an apparent (clearly seen or understood) behaviour.
4. Attention: Attention means consideration. It is concentration or focusing of
consciousness upon one object or an idea. If effective learning should take place
attention is essential. Instructors must secure the attention of the student.
5. Drill or practice: This method includes repeating the tasks "n" number of times like
needs, phrases, principles, etc. This makes learning more effective.
6. Fatigue: Generally there are three types of fatigue, i.e., muscular, sensory, and
mental. Muscular and sensory fatigues are bodily fatigue. Mental fatigue is in the
central nervous system. The remedy is to change teaching methods, e.g., use audio-
visual aids, etc.
7. Aptitude: Aptitude is natural ability. It is a condition in which an individuals ability
to acquire certain skills, knowledge through training.
8. Attitude: It is a way of thinking. The attitude of the student must be tested to find out
how much inclination he or she has for learning a subject or topic.
9. Emotional conditions: Emotions are physiological states of being. Students who
answer a question properly or give good results should be praised. This
encouragement increases their ability and helps them produce better results. Certain
attitudes, such as always finding fault in a student's answer or provoking or
embarrassing the student in front of a class are counterproductive.
10. Speed, Accuracy and retention: Speed is the rapidity of movement. Retention is the
act of retaining. These 3 elements depend upon aptitude, attitude, interest, attention
and motivation of the students.
11. Learning activities: Learning depends upon the activities and experiences provided
by the teacher, his concept of discipline, methods of teaching and above all his
overall personality.
12. Testing: Various tests measure individual learner differences at the heart of effective
learning. Testing helps eliminate subjective elements of measuring pupil differences
and performances.
13. Guidance: Everyone needs guidance in some part or some time in life. Some need it
constantly and some very rarely depending on the student’s conditions. Small
learners need more guidance. Guidance is an advice to solve a problem. Guidance
involves the art of helping boys and girls in various aspects of academics, improving
vocational aspects like choosing careers and recreational aspects like choosing
hobbies. Guidance covers the whole gamut of learner’s problems- learning as well as
non- learning.
Stages of learning:

STAGE1: Unconscious Incompetence

This is the stage of blissful ignorance .We do not know what in the stage

- Our confidence exceeds our ability

- We have little experience or skill
- We are unaware of a deficiency in the subject/skill

We must become conscious of our incompetence before learning can begin and the new skill
development.

STAGE2: Conscious Incompetence

As our awareness evolves into this stage, we begin to realize how little you know in this stage

- Confidence drops as we realize our ability is limited

- We feel uncomfortable.
- We became aware of the existence and relevance of the skill ,as well as our
deficiency in this area
- We begin to realize how much we don’t know
- Practicing the skill takes all our concentration
- Much learning occurs

We realize that by improving our skill or ability in this area our effectiveness will improve
.We must make a commitment to learn and practice the new skill, and to move to the
conscious competence stage.

STAGE3: Conscious Competence

We achieve conscious competence in a skill when we perform it consistence at will. We can

perform the skill, but it takes attention and concentration. In this stage:

- Our confidence increases with our ability

- We need to concentrate and think in order to perform this skill

 - We can perform the skill without assistance
- We realize how much they have learned

This is a stage where many choose to remain. However, true mastery is not attained until the
fourth stage of learning.

STAGE4: Unconscious Competence

In the final stage, the skill becomes so practiced that it enters the unconscious parts of the
brain and it becomes “second nature”. This is where we can do something effortlessly and
without thinking about it.

In this stage:

- Our confidence and ability have peaked

- We no longer have to concentrate on what we know /do
- We can do ,but don’t necessarily know how we do
- We blend the skills together and they become habits
- We can then do then while our minds is on other things

This stage when the skill becomes almost a habit, we are able to be successful without
concentration and our conscious mind is free to take on other things.

Significance or importance of learning

Learning has strategic importance in every organization as it directly related to their survival
and prosperity. It is not only important to organization, but equally important to individual
as it also serves personal growth. For people, learning changes the behavioural orientations
such as knowledge, skills, values, personality and competency. In organizational setting,
importance of learning can be justified with the following reasons:

1. Helps to understand and predict human behaviour at work

Different roles, skills, and knowledge in the organization are acquired through learning.
Managerial skills such as technical, human and conceptual are, however, learned and these
skills are paramount for understanding and predicting behaviours of subordinates. Learning
is essential to understand how other people behave in organization. This is equally
important to middle level and operating level employees.

2. Helps to manage diversity

Diversity in human resources in terms of their gender, socio-economic background, social

and national culture, physical abilities, level of skills and knowledge, etc. The issue of
diversity has emerged in political as well as legal concern. Such diversities in people at work
place create differences in their needs, attitudes, level of motivation and workplace
behaviours. Such diversities are most essential to manage to increase productivity or
organization and morale of employee. For this, learning is initiated to the managers and
workers through training.

3. Helps to adapt changing technology

Frequently changing technology has not only changed the processing of converting input into
output but also has affected the patterns of industrial relations. This is being one of the vital
sources for resistivity to change. To work with a new technology, we need to learn new skills.
Similarly, it is necessary to redefine workplace relations along with decentralization in work
system, telecommuting, and virtual teams. Learning is important to manage knowledge
workers, computer programmers, computer scientists and other processional workers in
organizational settings. Learning boosts up the level of confidence of employees to adapt
change. Thus, to initiate change, learning is essential.

4. Helps to maintain TQM

The objective of TQM can be achieved only by involving people concerned with quality
management which is possible through adapting new knowledge continuously. In the process
of implementing TQM, the role of leader is dominant to involve employees and enhance their
sense of ownership and commitment at work. Moreover, in the process of implementing
TQM and work processes successfully, behavioral dimensions such as leadership behavior,
workplace decentralization, group dynamics, empowerment, communication and
interpersonal relations are to be properly implemented. All these things are possible through
learning.

5. Facilities organizational change and development

Learning facilitates organizational change and development. Some of these forces for
organizational change and development are globalization, technology and demographics.
Such change compels managers to reconfigure organizations processes. Technological
changes in transportation and telecommunication have change job responsibilities and
authority. Learning and understanding of such forces will help managers to enhance
commitment. Learning is also important for managing planned changes (organizational
development) in the organization.

Learning Process
Learning is a process of acquiring skills, knowledge, attitude and behavior. It takes following
four stages.

1. Stimulus: In learning process, there should be stimulus to the learner. Stimulus is the
source of motivation or incentives. Learner should be clear about stimulus. There will be no
learning takes place if there is no stimulus or learner has not understood the stimulus. Such
stimulus can be -

 expansion of knowledge, skills and abilities,

 improving quality of work life,
  productivity and profitability,
 effectiveness,
 career advancement,
 Financial and non-financial rewards.

2. Response: Response is the reaction of learner towards the stimulus. This means, response
in learning process is the outcome of first step. To take place the learning, learner should
have positive response. Only if learner is convinced for positive changes in behaviour, s/he
responds positive otherwise negative response. Thus, organization management must
encourage employees for learning with ensuring the rewards. Employees should be allowed
and encouraged to practice the performance response.

3. Motivation: Motivation is the drive to encourage individual to learn. Without drive or

motivation, learning cannot take place. This provides interest and attitude to learn. Whatever
learning and understanding ability of the person, without motivation, none of the person can
learn.

4. Rewards: Rewards are incentives satisfying the motive. There should be proper reward
system in learning process. It should be transparent and predictive. Employees should know
what will be their return or rewards when they learn at different levels. For examples, praise
is the incentive which satisfies the motive of social approval. Salary increment is the
incentive which satisfies the motive of financial security. Rewards can be financial as well as
non-financial.

Components of Learning
Learning becomes complete if it comprises following components:

1. Change in behaviour: Learning should change the behaviour of people. Such change can
be positive or negative, good or bad but organization always seeks positive changes in
behaviour in employees. Negative behaviour like high absenteeism, bad habits, prejudice,
stereotype, misbehave to other employees as well as customers, etc. are expected to change
by positive behaviour. Whatever may be positive or negative, fast or slow, more permanent
or relatively permanent, there should be change in learning.

2. Relatively permanent: To be learning, the behavioural change should be relatively

permanent. Temporary change (reflexive) cannot be supposed to be learning.

3. Experience: To occur learning, some form of experience is necessary. Understanding and

familiarity in know-how or concept of work areas are necessary in learning. For example,
ability of work based on maturation cannot be considered as learning.

4. Reinforcement: In order to have permanent learning, there should be reinforcement in

practice. Learning activities i.e. practices in activities must be regular or at least repeated at
minimum possible time. If there is no reinforcement in practice or learning, changes in
behaviour gradually disappear and the original state may not be seen.
ATTITUDE
Behaviour is the observable component of what we do; while attitude is the non-observable
component of why we do. Attitude is the psychological characteristics that define who we
are.

ATTITUDE DEFIND

Attitude is
A state of mind or feeling with regard to some matter
A mental position with regard to factor or situation
A feeling or emotion towards a fact or situation
The way we react or respond to people, objects and institutions on issues, facts, or
stores.
 “Attitude is a mirror of mind”
Cognitive component: the opinion or belief segment of an attitude

The cognitive component is an evaluation of the entity that constitutes an individual's opinion
(belief/disbelief) about the object.

Affective component: the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude

The affective component is the emotional response (liking/disliking) towards an attitude

object.

Behavioural component: an intension to behave in certain way towards someone or

something

The behavioural component of attitudes refers to past experiences regarding an attitude

object .

Environment, Experience, Education

Experiences& Education

Experiences: our behaviour changes according to our experiences with various people.

Education: education broadens our horizon and influences our thinking,action,behaviours

and attitude.

Based on these factors,we can either develop a positive attitude or a negative attitude
People with a positive attitude are usually People with a positive attitude are usually
Optimistic
unhappy
Confident
Unpleasant
Caring Defensive
assertive Argumentative
patient Confrontational
humble disruptive
Patient pessimistic
humble

Benifites of a postive attitude Effects of a negative attitude

Increases confidence self doubt

Reduces stress poor self esteem

Career success increases stress

High productivity bitterness

Improves interpersonal relations resentment

Is energizing poor health

Four Possible Reactions to Attitude Objects

Ambivalence (“mixed beliefs”). An example would be when a person believes that a certain
individual is intelligent (positive belief) but also not very reliable (negative belief).

Attitude Formation

Four distinct ways in which attitudes can form towards some issue, event, person or thing.

In order of increasing psychological complexity:

-Mere exposure,

-Associative learning,

-Self-perception, and

-Functional reasons.

These four ways in which attitudes can be formed apply mostly when there is no prior or
existing attitude or knowledge about the attitude object.

Mere Exposure

The mere exposure effect is the tendency to develop more positive feelings towards objects
and individuals; the more we are exposed to them. The mere-exposure effect is a
psychological phenomenon by which people tend to develop a preference for things merely

Because they are familiar with them. The effect has been demonstrated with many kinds of
things, paintings, and pictures of faces, geometric figures, and sounds.

Mere Exposure Effect-begin to like just by being constantly exposed to something or

someone.

Associative Learning

There are two ways in which we can learn by association, either implicitly through classical
conditioning, or explicitly through operant conditioning.

-Implicit attitudes are unconscious but still have an effect on our

Beliefs and behaviours.

-Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of and

That clearly influences our behaviours and beliefs

Self-Perception
According to self-perception theory, when people are unsure of their own attitudes, one way
to infer them is by looking at their behaviors.The idea behind self-perception theory is that
we form attitudes not due to exposure or associative learning, but from observations of our
own behaviour.

Most people would agree, for example, that a person who perceives himself or
herself as interested in road biking may, as a result of that interest, buy bicycling equipment
and go on long cycling rides. That is, the person’s attitudes influence his or her behaviour
.Daryl Bem, however, reversed this relation by suggesting that it is also possible that people
understand their attitudes and interests because they have made inferences based on their
behaviour. Thus, this person could infer that he or she is interested in road biking on the basis
of frequent cycling trips and lavish spending on a nice bike.

Functional approach

The three ways in which attitudes can form discussed so far – exposure, learning and self-
perception – all operate apparently outside of people’s awareness. Typically people are not
aware of mere exposure effects, or conditioning, or the fact that their behaviours can
sometimes influence their attitudes. All of these theories argue that attitude formation is a
passive process.

According to the functional approach attitudes are sometimes formed based on the degree to
which they satisfy different psychological needs, so this is an active rather than passive
attitude theory.

Psychological Needs for Attitude Formation (Functions of Attitude).

There are four basic psychological needs that manipulate our Attitude:

-Utilitarian (Adaptive/Instrumental),

-Knowledge,

-Ego-defensive and

-Value-expression.
Adjustment/Utilitarian Function:

. The adjustment function directs people toward pleasurable or rewarding objects and away
from unpleasant, undesirable ones. It serves the utilitarian concept of maximizing reward and
minimizing punishment. We develop favourable attitudes towards things that aid or reward
us.

We develop favourable political parties that aid economic lot-if we are in business, we favour
the party that will keep our taxes low, if unemployed we favour that one will increase social
welfare benefits.

.we is more likely to change our attitudes if doing so allows us to fulfil our goals or avoided
undesirable consequences.

Knowledge function

Some attitudes are useful because they help to make the world more understanding. Humans
have a need for a structured and orderly world, and therefore they seek consistency, stability
and understanding. Out of this need develops attitudes toward acquiring knowledge.

The ego-defensive function refers to holding attitudes that protect our self-esteem or justifies
actions that make us feel guilty.

A Defence Mechanism is an unconscious psychological mechanism that reduces anxiety

arising from unacceptable or potentially harmful stimuli.
Mechanisms include:
-Denial
-Repression
-Projection
-Rationalization
Repression: Repression is an unconscious mechanism employed by the ego to keep
disturbing or threatening thoughts from becoming conscious. Thoughts that are often
repressed are those that would result in feelings of guilt from the superego.

Denial: If some situation is just too much to handle, the person just refuses to experience it.
For example, smokers may refuse to admit to themselves that smoking is bad for their health.

Rationalization: Rationalization is the cognitive distortion of "the facts" to make an event or

an impulse less threatening. We do it often enough on a fairly conscious level when we
provide ourselves with excuses.

Projection: You might hate someone, but your super-ego tells you that such hatred is
unacceptable. You can solve the problem, by believing that they hate you.

Attitude Formation

Factors which Influence Attitude

Psychological
The attitude of a person is determined by psychological factors like ideas, values, beliefs,
perception, etc. All these have a complex role in determining a person's attitude.

Economic
A person's attitude also depends on issues such as his salary, status, work, etc.
Experience
Attitudes form directly as a result of experience. They may emerge due to direct personal
experience, or they may result from observation.

Social Factors
Social roles and social norms can have a strong influence on attitudes. Social roles relate to
how people are expected to behave in a particular role or context. Social norms involve
Society’s rules for what behaviours are considered appropriate.

Family
Family plays a significant role in the primary stage of attitudes held by individuals. Initially,
a person develops certain attitudes from his parents, brothers, sister, and elders in the family.

Society
Societies play an important role in formatting the attitudes of an individual. The culture, the
tradition, the language, etc., influence a person's attitudes. Society, tradition, and the culture
teach individuals what is and what is not acceptable.

ATTITUDE CHANGE

Attitude changes can take place by following methods:

-Self-perception.
-Learning theory.
-Cognitive Dissonance.
-Persuasion

Self-perception theory argues that when we have no (or a very weak) prior
existing attitude on a particular issue we can infer our attitudes from observing our own
behaviors.If we return a lost wallet, we infer that we are honest. Often, our behaviour is
shaped by subtle pressures around us, but we fail to recognize those pressures. As a result, we
mistakenly believe that our behaviour emanated from some inner disposition. Perhaps we
aren't particularly trustworthy and instead returned the wallet in order to impress the people
around us. But, failing to realize that, we infer that we are clean honest. By believing in our
behaviour, we infer that we are honest and that really makes a change in our previous un-
trust-worthy attitude.
Self-perception theory provides the most accepted explanation of the Foot-in-the-Door
effect. Compliance to the initial request is posited to lead us to infer that we like to be
‘helpful’. That makes a real change to be ‘helpful’ in our attitude. Now, newly formed
attitude resulting from the initial compliance make us more receptive to the second, larger
request. This technique is commonly used by the salespeople, and it is also employed to
increase compliance with requests made by charitable organizations, like Red Cross. More
generally, the ‘foot-in-the-door ‘effect suggests that each small commitment people make to a
Personal, organizational or career goal will lead to a larger commitment to that goal.

Cognitive dissonance theory argues that behaving in a way that contradicts existing attitudes
creates a feeling of discomfort. For example, an animal lover may feel upset if he
accidentally runs over a cat.
So that, people will be motivated to try to resolve this dissonance. People will look for ways
to try to explain it and, if none are apparent, they will resort to resolve the discrepancy: they
will change their attitude so that it matches the behaviour they have performed.

Persuasion
While cognitive dissonance is attitude change via an internal discrepancy, persuasion refers
to attitude change via an external message. How do people think about and incorporate
information they receive in TV that is counter to their current point of view?

This theory of persuasion suggests that people can alter their attitudes in two ways. First,
they can be motivated to listen and think about the message, thus leading to an attitude shift.
Or, they might be influenced by characteristics of the speaker, leading to a temporary or
surface shift in attitude. Messages that are thought-provoking and that appeal to logic are
more likely to lead to permanent changes in attitudes.

Central Route: Message interpretation is characterized by thoughtful consideration of the

content of the message.
Peripheral Route: Message interpretation is characterized by consideration of source and
related general information rather than of the message itself (How the message is provided).
MOTIVATION AND THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Motivation is the word derived from the word ’motive’ which means needs, desires, wants or
drives within the individuals. It is the process of stimulating people to actions to accomplish
the goals. In the work goal context the psychological factors stimulating the people’s
behaviour can be -

 desire for money

 success
 recognition
 job-satisfaction
 team work, etc

One of the most important functions of management is to create willingness amongst the
employees to perform in the best of their abilities. Therefore the role of a leader is to arouse
interest in performance of employees in their jobs.

The process of motivation consists of three stages:-

1. A felt need or drive

2. A stimulus in which needs have to be aroused
3. When needs are satisfied, the satisfaction or accomplishment of goals.

Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory:

Human behavior is goal-directed. Motivation cause goal-directed behaviour. It is through

motivation that needs can be handled and tackled purposely. This can be understood by
understanding the hierarchy of needs by manager. The needs of individual serves as a driving
force in human behaviour. Therefore, a manager must understand the “hierarchy of needs”.
Maslow has proposed “The Need Hierarchy Model”.

Self-
actualization
Needs

Esteem
Needs

Social
Needs
Security
Needs
Physiological Needs
 FIGURE - Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Model

The needs have been classified into the following in order:

1. Physiological needs- These are the basic needs of an individual which includes food,
clothing, shelter, air, water, etc. These needs relate to the survival and maintenance of
human life.
2. Safety needs- These needs are also important for human beings. Everybody wants job
security, protection against danger, safety of property, etc.
3. Social needs- These needs emerge from society. Man is a social animal. These needs
become important. For example- love, affection, belongingness, friendship,
conversation, etc.
4. Esteem needs- These needs relate to desire for self-respect, recognition and respect
from others.
5. Self-actualization needs- These are the needs of the highest order and these needs are
found in those person whose previous four needs are satisfied. This will include need
for social service, meditation.

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation

In 1959, Frederick Herzberg, a behavioural scientist proposed a two-factor theory or the
motivator-hygiene theory. According to Herzberg, there are some job factors that result in
satisfaction while there are other job factors that prevent dissatisfaction. According to
Herzberg, the opposite of “Satisfaction” is “No satisfaction” and the opposite of
“Dissatisfaction” is “No Dissatisfaction”.

FIGURE: Herzberg’s view of satisfaction and dissatisfaction

Herzberg classified these job factors into two categories-

a. 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 / if these factors are non-existent at
workplace, then they lead to dissatisfaction. In other words, hygiene factors are those
factors which when adequate/reasonable in a job, pacify the employees and do not
make them dissatisfied. These factors are extrinsic to work. Hygiene factors are also
called as dissatisfies or maintenance factors as they are required to avoid
dissatisfaction. These factors describe the job environment/scenario. The hygiene
factors symbolized the physiological needs which the individuals wanted and
expected to be fulfilled.
 b. Hygiene factors include: Pay, Company Policies and administrative policies, Fringe
benefits, Status, Interpersonal relations, Job Security ete..

Motivational factors- According to Herzberg, the hygiene factors cannot be regarded as

motivators. The motivational factors yield positive satisfaction. These factors are inherent to
work. These factors motivate the employees for a superior performance. These factors are
called satisfiers. These are factors involved in performing the job. Employees find these
factors intrinsically rewarding. The motivators symbolized the psychological needs that were
perceived as an additional benefit.

Motivational factors include:

Recognition - The employees should be praised and recognized for their

accomplishments by the managers.
Sense of achievement - The employees must have a sense of achievement. This
depends on the job. There must be a fruit of some sort in the job.
Growth and promotional opportunities - There must be growth and advancement
opportunities in an organization to motivate the employees to perform well.
Responsibility - The employees must hold themselves responsible for the work. The
managers should give them ownership of the work. They should minimize control
but retain accountability.
Meaningfulness of the work - The work itself should be meaningful, interesting
and challenging for the employee to perform and to get motivated.

Limitations of Two-Factor Theory

The two factor theory is not free from limitations:

1. The two-factor theory overlooks situational variables.

2. Herzberg assumed a correlation between satisfaction and productivity. But the

research conducted by Herzberg stressed upon satisfaction and ignored productivity.

3. The theory’s reliability is uncertain. Analysis has to be made by the raters. The raters
may spoil the findings by analyzing same response in different manner.

4. No comprehensive measure of satisfaction was used. An employee may find his job
acceptable despite the fact that he may hate/object part of his job.

5. The two factor theory is not free from bias as it is based on the natural reaction of
employees when they are enquired the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction at
work. They will blame dissatisfaction on the external factors such as salary structure,
company policies and peer relationship. Also, the employees will give credit to
themselves for the satisfaction factor at work.

6. The theory ignores blue-collar workers. Despite these limitations, Herzberg’s Two-
Factor theory is acceptable broadly.

Implications of Two-Factor Theory

 The Two-Factor theory implies that the managers must stress upon guaranteeing the
adequacy of the hygiene factors to avoid employee dissatisfaction. Also, the managers
must make sure that the work is stimulating and rewarding so that the employees are
motivated to work and perform harder and better. This theory emphasize upon job-
enrichment so as to motivate the employees. The job must utilize the employee’s skills
and competencies to the maximum. Focusing on the motivational factors can improve
work-quality.

Theory X and Theory Y

In 1960, Douglas McGregor formulated Theory X and Theory Y suggesting two aspects of
human behaviour at work, or in other words, two different views of individuals (employees):
one of which is negative, called as Theory X and the other is positive, so called as Theory Y.
According to McGregor, the perception of managers on the nature of individuals is based on
various assumptions.

Assumptions of Theory X

 An average employee intrinsically does not like work and tries to escape it whenever
possible.
 Since the employee does not want to work, he must be persuaded, compelled, or
warned with punishment so as to achieve organizational goals. A close supervision is
required on part of managers. The managers adopt a more dictatorial style.
 Many employees rank job security on top, and they have little or no aspiration/
ambition.
 Employees generally dislike responsibilities.
 Employees resist change.
 An average employee needs formal direction.

Assumptions of Theory Y

 Employees can perceive their job as relaxing and normal. They exercise their physical
and mental efforts in an inherent manner in their jobs.
 Employees may not require only threat, external control and coercion to work, but
they can use self-direction and self-control if they are dedicated and sincere to achieve
the organizational objectives.
 If the job is rewarding and satisfying, then it will result in employees’ loyalty and
commitment to organization.
 An average employee can learn to admit and recognize the responsibility. In fact, he
can even learn to obtain responsibility.
 The employees have skills and capabilities. Their logical capabilities should be fully
utilized. In other words, the creativity, resourcefulness and innovative potentiality of
the employees can be utilized to solve organizational problems.

Thus, we can say that Theory X presents a pessimistic view of employees’ nature and
behaviour at work, while Theory Y presents an optimistic view of the employees’ nature and
behaviour at work. If correlate it with Maslow’s theory, we can say that Theory X is based on
the assumption that the employees emphasize on the physiological needs and the safety
needs; while Theory X is based on the assumption that the social needs, esteem needs and the
self-actualization needs dominate the employees.

McGregor views Theory Y to be more valid and reasonable than Theory X. Thus, he
encouraged cordial team relations, responsible and stimulating jobs, and participation of all in
decision-making process.

Implications of Theory X and Theory Y

Quite a few organizations use Theory X today. Theory X encourages use of tight control
and supervision. It implies that employees are reluctant to organizational changes. Thus, it
does not encourage innovation.

Many organizations are using Theory Y techniques. Theory Y implies that the managers
should create and encourage a work environment which provides opportunities to
employees to take initiative and self-direction. Employees should be given opportunities
to contribute to organizational well-being. Theory Y encourages decentralization of
authority, teamwork and participative decision making in an organization. Theory Y
searches and discovers the ways in which an employee can make significant contributions
in an organization. It harmonizes and matches employees’ needs and aspirations with
organizational needs and aspirations.

ERG Theory of Motivation

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

 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.
The significance of the three classes of needs may vary for each individual.

Difference between Maslow Need Hierarchy Theory and Alderfer’s ERG Theory

ERG Theory states that at a given point of time, more than one need may be
operational.

ERG Theory also shows that if the fulfillment of a higher-level need is subdued, there
is an increase in desire for satisfying a lower-level need.

According to Maslow, an individual remains at a particular need level until that need
is satisfied. While according to ERG theory, if a higher- level need aggravates, an
individual may revert to increase the satisfaction of a lower- level need. This is called
frustration- regression aspect of ERG theory. For instance- when growth need
aggravates, then an individual might be motivated to accomplish the relatedness need
and if there are issues in accomplishing relatedness needs, then he might be
motivated by the existence needs. Thus, frustration/aggravation can result in
regression to a lower-level need.

While Maslow’s need hierarchy theory is rigid as it assumes that the needs follow a
specific and orderly hierarchy and unless a lower-level need is satisfied, an individual
cannot proceed to the higher-level need; ERG Theory of motivation is very flexible
as he perceived the needs as a range/variety rather than perceiving them as a
hierarchy. According to Alderfer, an individual can work on growth needs even if his
existence or relatedness needs remain unsatisfied. Thus, he gives explanation to the
issue of “starving artist” who can struggle for growth even if he is hungry.

Implications of the ERG Theory

Managers must understand that an employee has various needs that must be satisfied at
the same time. According to the ERG theory, if the manager concentrates solely on one
need at a time, this will not effectively motivate the employee. Also, the frustration-
regression aspect of ERG Theory has an added effect on workplace motivation. For
instance- if an employee is not provided with growth and advancement opportunities in an
organization, he might revert to the relatedness need such as socializing needs and to meet
those socializing needs, if the environment or circumstances do not permit, he might
revert to the need for money to fulfill those socializing needs. The sooner the manager
realizes and discovers this, the more immediate steps they will take to fulfill those needs
which are frustrated until such time that the employee can again pursue growth.

Personality Development
Personality and Personality Development - An Overview
What is Personality Development?

Personality development is defined as a process of developing and enhancing

one’s personality. Personality development helps an individual to gain confidence and
high self-esteem. Personality development also is said to have a positive impact on one’s
communication skills and the way he sees the world. Individuals tend to develop a
positive attitude as a result of personality development.

Every individual has his own characteristic way of behaving, responding to emotions,
perceiving things and looking at the world. No two individuals are similar.

You might like going out for parties but your friend might prefer staying back at home
reading his/her favourite book. It is really not necessary that if you like partying around,
your friend will also like the same. Here comes the role of personality.

What an individual sees in his childhood days and most importantly his/her growing days
form his personality. How an individual is raised plays an important role in shaping
his/her personality.

Personality is nothing but the aggregate conglomeration of memories and incidents

in an individual’s entire life span. Environmental factors, family background, financial
conditions, genetic factors, situations and circumstances also contribute to an individual’s
personality.

In a layman’s language, how we behave in our day to day lives reflects our personality.
How an individual behaves depends on his family background, upbringing, and social
status and so on. An individual with a troubled childhood would not open up easily.
He/she would always hesitate to open his heart in front of others. Some kind of fear would
always be there within him. An individual who never had any major problems in life
would be an extrovert and would never have issues interacting and socializing with
others. You really can’t blame an individual for not being an extrovert. It is essential
to check his/her background or past life. It is quite possible that as a child, he was not
allowed to go out of his home, play and freak out with friends. These individuals start
believing that their home is their only world and they are not safe outside. Such a mind-
set soon becomes their personality.

Personality also influences what we think, our beliefs, values and expectations. What
we think about others depends on our personality.

In a layman’s language personality is defined as the personal qualities and characteristics

of an individual. Personality is how we interact with others. Personality is a sum of
characteristics of an individual which makes him different from the others. It is our
personality which makes us unique and helps us stand apart from the crowd.

Determinants of Personality
Following are the factors which help in shaping one’s personality:

1. Heredity - Heredity refers to factors that are determined once an individual is

born. An individual’s physique, attractiveness, body type, complexion, body
weight depend on his/her parents biological makeup.

2. Environment - The environment to which an individual is subjected to during his

growing years plays an important role in determining his/her personality. The
 varied cultures in which we are brought up and our family backgrounds have a
crucial role in shaping our personalities.

3. Situation - An individual’s personality also changes with current circumstances

and situations. An individual would behave in a different way when he has enough
savings with him and his behavior would automatically change when he is
bankrupt.

An individual’s appearance, character, intelligence, attractiveness, efficiency, style

determine his/her personality.

Importance of Personality Development

An individual’s personality refers to his/her appearance, characteristics, attitude, mind-set
and behavior with others.

Let us go through the importance of personality development.

Personality development grooms an individual and helps him make a mark of

his/her own. Individuals need to have a style of their own for others to follow them. Do
not blindly copy others. You need to set an example for people around. Personality
development not only makes you look good and presentable but also helps you face the
world with a smile.

Personality development goes a long way in reducing stress and conflicts. It

encourages individuals to look at the brighter sides of life. Face even the worst situations
with a smile. Trust me, flashing your trillion dollar smile will not only melt half of your
problems but also evaporate your stress and worries. There is no point cribbing over
minor issues and problems.

Personality development helps you develop a positive attitude in life. An individual

with a negative attitude finds a problem in every situation. Rather than cribbing and
criticizing people around, analyse the whole situation and try to find an appropriate
solution for the same. Remember, if there is a problem, there has to be a solution as well.
Never lose your cool. It would make the situation worse.

It is essential for individuals to behave well with people around. Being polite with others
will not only make you popular among other people but also earn you respect and pride.
You can’t demand respect by being rude with people around. Personality development
plays an important role in developing not only your outer but also inner self. Human being
is a social animal. One needs people around. An individual needs to have that magnetic
power which attracts people towards him. You need to have that charisma of yours.
Personality development helps you gain recognition and acceptance from the society as
well as people around.

Personality development plays an essential role not only in an individual’s professional

but also personal lives. It makes an individual disciplined, punctual and an asset for
his/her organization. An in-disciplined individual finds it difficult to survive in the long
run. Personality development teaches you to respect not only your Boss and fellow
workers but also family members, friends, neighbours, relatives and so on. Never make
fun of anyone at the workplace. Avoid criticizing and making fun of your fellow workers.

One should never carry his/her attitude or personal grudges to work. Office is not a place
where you can be rude to others just because you had a fight with your friend last night.
Personality development sessions help you differentiate between your personal as well as
professional life.

Personality development helps an individual to inculcate positive qualities like

punctuality, flexible attitude, willingness to learn, friendly nature, eagerness to help
others and so on.

Never hesitate to share information with others. Always reach office on time.
Some people have a tendency to work till late. Late sittings not only increase your stress
levels but also spoil your personal life. Sitting till late at the office indicates that an
individual is extremely poor in time management skills.

Personality development helps you develop an impressive personality and makes you
stand apart from the rest. Personality development also plays an essential role in
improving one’s communication skills. Individuals ought to master the art of expressing
their thoughts and feelings in the most desired way. Personality development makes you a
confident individual who is appreciated and respected wherever he goes.

Personality Development Tips

 Smile a lot- Nothing works better than a big smile when it comes to interacting
with people around. Do not forget to flash your trillion dollar smile quite often.
Believe me, it works! As they say “a smile is a curve that sets everything
straight”. A smiling face wins even the toughest soul. Wear your smile while
interacting with others. Smile not only helps in enhancing an individual’s
personality but also winning other’s heart.

 Think positive- It is really essential to think positive. Remember there is light at

the end of every dark tunnel. Do not always think negative as it not only acts as a
demotivating factor but also makes an individual dull and frustrated. Don’t get
upset over minor things. Be a little flexible and always look at the broader
perspectives of life.

 Dress Sensibly- Dressing sensibly and smartly go a long way in honing one’s
personality. One needs to dress according to the occasion. How would a female
look if she wears a sari to a discotheque? Obviously ridiculous! No matter how
expensive your sari is, you can’t wear it to a night club or a pub where everyone is
dressed in smart casuals. Price has nothing to do with smart dressing. An
individual who is well dressed is respected and liked by all. No one would take
you seriously if you do not wear suitable clothes fitting with occasions. Do take
care of the fit of the dress as well. An individual should wear clothes as per his/her
body type, height, physique and so on. Someone who is bulky would not look very
impressive in body hugging clothes. It is not necessary that something which looks
good on your friend would also look good on you. Wear the right make up. You
do not have to apply loud make up to look good and attractive. Even minimal
make up, if applied sensibly can really make you stand apart from the rest.
  Be soft-spoken- Do not always find faults in others. Fighting and quarrelling lead
to no solution. Be polite with others. Be very careful of what you speak. Avoid
being rude and short tempered.

 Leave your ego behind- An individual needs to hide his ego everywhere he goes.
Be it office or workplace you need to leave your ego behind if you wish to win
appreciation from others. An individual who is good from within is loved by all.

 Avoid Backbiting- Backstabbing and criticizing people are negative traits

which work against an individual’s personality. Learn to appreciate others. If
someone has done some extraordinary task, do not forget to give a pat on his/her
back. Believe me; the other person will speak high of you even when you are not
around. Do not spread unnecessary rumours about someone. An individual should
not try to interfere too much in someone’s personal life. Dishonesty, cheating, lies
tarnish your image and people start avoiding you in the long run. If your friend is
seeing someone, you have absolutely no rights to make his/her affair national
news.

 Help others- Do not always think of harming others. Share whatever you know.
Remember no one can steal your knowledge. Always help others.

 Confidence- Confidence is the key to a positive personality. Exude confidence

and positive aura wherever you go.

 A Patient listener- Be a patient listener. Never interrupt when others are

speaking. Try to imbibe good qualities of others.

Personality Types - Different Types of Personality

1. The Duty Fulfiller - Such individuals take their roles and responsibilities
seriously and perform whatever tasks are assigned to them. Duty fulfillers are
serious individuals and believe in honesty and a peaceful living. They never do
anything which is not good for themselves, their job, families or for the society.
Such individuals are actually good and responsible citizens who abide by the legal
system and can’t even dream of breaking the law. People with such a personality
type are extremely hard working and often find it difficult to say NO to others,
eventually becoming overburdened at the end of the day. Such individuals adopt
an organized approach towards work and are extremely loyal and faithful. They
also show a strong inclination towards creativity and aesthetics.

2. The Mechanic - As the name suggests such individuals are inclined towards
machinery like aeroplane, motorcycling, cars, races and so on. They are
interested to know why and how certain things function. Theories do not interest
them. You would not be able to convince them unless and until they see the
practical application themselves. Such individuals are extremely adventurous and
have a strong power of logical reasoning.

3. The Nurturer - Nurturers are individuals with a large heart. For them, the
happiness of others is more important than their own interests. Such individuals
actually live for others. They do not look at the darker sides of life and believe in
 extracting the best out of people around. They have a positive approach in life and
want to believe only the best of people.

4. The Artist - Artists have an eye for natural beauty and creativity. Rather than
worrying about future, they believe in living for the moment. Such individuals are
extremely cool headed and do not get into unnecessary fights and troubles. They
do not blindly copy others and aspire to create a style of their own.

5. The Protector - You would find such a personality type in very few people,
making it a very rare personality type. Protectors are systematic individuals who
want the best system to get things done. They often think irrationally. They are
pessimists who find a problem in every situation. Such individuals do not trust
others and only believe in themselves.

6. The Idealist - Such people have strong set of values and ethics. They find
happiness in helping others. They consider themselves lucky if they get an
opportunity to help others.

7. The Scientist - Such individuals believe in careful and strategic planning. They
are good observers who believe in constantly gathering information and upgrade
their existing knowledge. Scientists are extremely intelligent people who have a
very sharp analytical mind.

8. The Doer - Individuals with such a personality type are the ones who believe in
quick actions and immediate results. They enjoy taking risks in life and fulfil tasks
assigned to them in the shortest span possible.

9. The Guardian - Such individuals are perfectionists who ensure that everything
everywhere is going on smoothly. They are mature individuals who have a clear
set of standards.

10. The Performer - Performers strive hard to grab attention of others and love being
the centre of attention. They are fun loving individuals who enjoy fun and
excitement in life.

11. The Inspirer - Inspirers are talented individuals and often act as a role model for
others. They have great people skills.

12. The Giver - Individuals with “The Giver” personality type enjoy the company of
others and do not prefer staying alone.

13. The Executive - Such individuals are born to lead and make very good
leaders. They love taking charge and are good decision makers.

Personality Traits - Meaning and Different Types of Traits

An individual’s behavior towards others, attitude, characteristics, mind-set 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.
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 inner feelings. Such individuals are generally open to new
learning’s, 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

Carl Jung popularized both the terms - “Extraversion” and “Introversion”.

a. Extraversion: Extraversion 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 centre 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.
b. 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 crib and 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.

UNIT--3

Interpersonal Behavior:

IPB is the study of one’s own perception, knowledge, attitude & motivation and how these
affect one’s behavior to the self &with others.

• It is characterized mainly by 3 factors…

– Communication skill:

» Knowledge / literacy /intelligence

» Listening skill

» Verbal skill

» Active listening/feedback

– Emotional intelligence:

» Self awareness

» Emotional maturity

– Social skill:

» Good eye contact

» Body language

» Empathy/understanding &assimilating ability

JOHARI WINDOW {JW}

JW is a psychological too created by Joseph Luft & Harry Ingham in 1955 in u.s.
It helps people to understand their better interpersonal relations & communication.

o For a more familiar face, (b)…

o For a stranger, (a)…

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 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.

EGO STATES {ES} &TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS {TA}…

People during interaction with others Operate from different ego states…
• Parent {exteropsychic} ES
• Adult {neopsychic} ES
• Child {archaeopsychic} ES
• Also, the transaction may occur in 2 ways..
• Parallel / complementary / reciprocal
• Cross
Effective communication occurs in parallel transaction only.
TA model {e.g..}
According to TA, we have three sides or 'ego-states' to our personality – the Parent, Adult
and Child ego states.

An ego state is a way of us experiencing the world. It is an entire system of thoughts,

feelings, and behaviours from which we interact with one another (and even with ourselves in
our internal conversations). Our thinking, feeling and behaviour when we are in each ego
state is consistent.

The Parent Ego State

This is a set of feelings, thinking and behaviour that we have copied from our parents and
significant others.

As we grow up we take in ideas, beliefs, feelings and behaviours from our parents and
caretakers. (If we live in an extended family then there are more people to be influenced by
and learn from). When we do this, it is called interjecting and it is just as if we take in the
whole of the care giver. For example, we may notice that we are saying things just as our
father, mother, grandmother may have done, even though, consciously, we don't want to. We
do this because we have lived with this person for so long that we automatically reproduce
certain things that were said to us, or treat others as we might have been treated by them. It’s
as if someone has pressed 'play' on a recording and we play back what we saw and heard
without question. The Parent ego state is rooted in the past.

There are two types of parent we can play:

The Nurturing Parent– This Parent type is caring and concerned and may often appear as a
mother-figure (though men can play it too). They seek to keep the child contented, offering a
safe haven and unconditional love to calm the Child's troubles.

The Controlling (or Critical) Parent – This Parent type tries to make the Child do as the
Parent wants them to do, perhaps transferring values or beliefs or helping the Child to
understand and live in society. They may also have negative intent, using the Child as a
scapegoat.

The Adult Ego State

The Adult ego state is the 'grown up' rational person who talks reasonably and assertively,
neither trying to control nor reacting aggressively towards others. The Adult is comfortable
with him/her and is, for many of us, our 'ideal self'.

The Adult ego state deals with the here and now reality. It is the processing centre and
important because it is the only ego state that is not connected to the past. The Adult ego state
is able to deal with current things in ways that are not unhealthily influenced by our past. If
you were asked how to make a paper airplane you would probably reply from your Adult ego
state.
The Adult ego state is about being spontaneous and aware, with a capacity for intimacy. The
Adult is able to see people as they are, rather than what we project onto them. The Adult asks
for information, rather than staying scared or making assumptions.

In the structural model, the Adult ego state circle is placed in the middle of the Parent and
Child ego states to show how it needs to orchestrate between these two. For example, the
Parent may criticise the Child, saying "You are no good, look at what you did wrong again,
you are useless". The Child may then respond with "I am no good, look how useless I am, I
never get anything right". (Most people don’t hear their internal dialogue as it goes on so
much they just believe life is this way). An effective Adult can intervene by stating that this
kind of parenting is not helpful and asking if it is prepared to learn another way.
Alternatively, the Adult can just stop any negative dialogue and decide to develop another
positive Parent ego state perhaps taken in from other people they have met over the years.

The Child Ego State

The Child ego state is rooted in the past and plays back thoughts, feelings and behaviours that
we experienced as a child. For example, if the boss calls us into his or her office, we may
immediately get a churning in our stomach and wonder what we have done wrong. If we
explored the reason for this automatic thinking, we might remember the time the head teacher
called us in to tell us off. In the same way, we might go into someone's house and smell a
lovely smell and remember our grandmother's house when we were little, and all the same
warm feelings we had as a six-year old may come flooding back.
There are three types of Child we can play:

The Natural Child – This child type is largely un-self-aware and is characterized by the non-
speech noises they make (yippee, whoo-hoo etc.). They like playing and are open and
vulnerable.

The Little Professor – This child type is the curious and exploring Child who is always
trying out new stuff (often much to their Controlling Parent's annoyance). Together with the
Natural Child they make up the Free Child.

The Adaptive Child – This child type reacts to the world around them, either changing
themselves to fit in and so being very good, or rebelling against the forces they feel and so
being naughty.

Both the Parent and Child ego states are constantly being updated. For example, we may
meet someone who gives us the permission we needed (but did not get) as a child, to be fun
and joyous. We then use that person in our imagination "I wonder what X would say now?"
to counteract our old ways of thinking and give us new permissions. So instead of thinking
that we must work longer and longer hours to keep up with everything, we relax and take
some time out. Subsequently, rather than beating ourselves up for what we did or did not do,
what tends to happen is we automatically start to give ourselves new permissions and take
care of ourselves.
It is interesting to note that TA psychotherapy involves much work to update the Adult ego
state with new information, and challenge the Child or Parent ego state ideas.

The diagram below shows the three ego states:

Part of TA therapy also involves encouraging the client to grow their less developed ego
states so that the three ego states are more in balance.

To assess how well developed each of your ego states is, complete the "My Personal Ego
States Chart" which you can find on my website under "Posters and Worksheets". This will
enable you to see at a glance your ego state development.

IMPROVING IPS….

 Communication Skills: Communion demands that we listen as well as speak.

 Assertiveness Skills: Expressing yourself and your rights without violating the rights
of others.
 Conflict Resolution: Conflict is natural and inevitable. Conflict Resolution helps you
resolve differences so that you may continue with the relationship in an effective way.
 Anger Management: Knowing how to recognize and express anger appropriately can
help us to reach goals, handle emergencies, solve problems and even protect our
health.
Life positions
Communication
Communication is neither the transmission of a message nor the message itself. It is
the mutual exchange of understanding, originating with the receiver. Communication needs
to be effective in business. Communication is the essence of management. The basic
functions of management (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling) cannot
be performed well without effective communication.

Business communication involves constant flow of information. Feedback is integral

part of business communication. Organizations these days are very large and involve large
number of people. There are various levels of hierarchy in an organization. Greater the
number of levels, the more difficult is the job of managing the organization. Communication
here plays a very important role in process of directing and controlling the people in the
oragnization. Immediate feedback can be obtained and misunderstandings if any can be
avoided. There should be effective communication between superiors and subordinated in an
organization, between organization and society at large (for example between management
and trade unions). It is essential for success and growth of an organization. Communication
gaps should not occur in any organization.

Business Communication is goal oriented. The rules, regulations and policies of a company
have to be communicated to people within and outside the organization. Business
Communication is regulated by certain rules and norms. In early times, business
communication was limited to paper-work, telephone calls etc. But now with advent of
technology, we have cell phones, video conferencing, emails, satellite communication to
support business communication. Effective business communication helps in building
goodwill of an organization.

Business Communication can be of two types:

1. Oral Communication - An oral communication can be formal or informal. Generally

business communication is a formal means of communication, like : meetings,
interviews, group discussion, speeches etc. An example of Informal business
communication would be - Grapevine.
2. Written Communication - Written means of business communication includes -
agenda, reports, manuals etc.

Components of Communication Process

Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and non-verbal messages. It is a
continuous process. Pre-requisite of communication is a message. This message must be
conveyed through some medium to the recipient. It is essential that this message must be
understood by the recipient in same terms as intended by the sender. He must respond within
a time frame. Thus, communication is a two way process and is incomplete without a
feedback from the recipient to the sender on how well the message is understood by him.

The main components of communication process are as follows:

1. Context - Communication is affected by the context in which it takes place. This

context may be physical, social, chronological or cultural. Every communication
proceeds with context. The sender chooses the message to communicate within a
context.

2. Sender / Encoder - Sender / Encoder is a person who sends the message. A sender
makes use of symbols (words or graphic or visual aids) to convey the message and
produce the required response. For instance - a training manager conducting training
for new batch of employees. Sender may be an individual or a group or an
organization. The views, background, approach, skills, competencies, and knowledge
of the sender have a great impact on the message. The verbal and non verbal symbols
chosen are essential in ascertaining interpretation of the message by the recipient in
the same terms as intended by the sender.
 3. Message - Message is a key idea that the sender wants to communicate. It is a sign
that elicits the response of recipient. Communication process begins with deciding
about the message to be conveyed. It must be ensured that the main objective of the
message is clear.

4. Medium - Medium is a means used to exchange / transmit the message. The sender
must choose an appropriate medium for transmitting the message else the message
might not be conveyed to the desired recipients. The choice of appropriate medium of
communication is essential for making the message effective and correctly interpreted
by the recipient. This choice of communication medium varies depending upon the
features of communication. For instance - Written medium is chosen when a message
has to be conveyed to a small group of people, while an oral medium is chosen when
spontaneous feedback is required from the recipient as misunderstandings are cleared
then and there.

5. Recipient / Decoder - Recipient / Decoder is a person for whom the message is

intended / aimed / targeted. The degree to which the decoder understands the message
is dependent upon various factors such as knowledge of recipient, their
responsiveness to the message, and the reliance of encoder on decoder.

6. Feedback - Feedback is the main component of communication process as it permits

the sender to analyze the efficacy of the message. It helps the sender in confirming the
correct interpretation of message by the decoder. Feedback may be verbal (through
words) or non-verbal (in form of smiles, sighs, etc.). It may take written form also in
form of memos, reports, etc.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION

The importance of communication in an organization can be summarized as follows:

1. Communication promotes motivation by informing and clarifying the employees

about the task to be done, the manner they are performing the task, and how to
improve their performance if it is not up to the mark.
2. Communication is a source of information to the organizational members for
decision-making process as it helps identifying and assessing alternative course of
actions.
3. Communication also plays a crucial role in altering individual’s attitudes, i.e., a
well-informed individual will have better attitude than a less-informed individual.
Organizational magazines, journals, meetings and various other forms of oral and
written communication help in moulding employee’s attitudes.
4. Communication also helps in socializing. In today’s life the only presence of another
individual fosters communication. It is also said that one cannot survive without
communication.
5. As discussed earlier, communication also assists in controlling process. It helps
controlling organizational member’s behaviour in various ways. There are various
levels of hierarchy and certain principles and guidelines that employees must follow
in an organization. They must comply with organizational policies, perform their job
role efficiently and communicate any work problem and grievance to their superiors.
Thus, communication helps in controlling function of management.
Communication Flows in an Organization
In an organization, communication flows in 5 main directions-

1. Downward
2. Upward
3. Lateral
4. Diagonal
5. External

1. Downward Flow of Communication: Communication that flows from a higher level in an

organization to a lower level is a downward communication. In other words,
communication from superiors to subordinates in a chain of command is a downward
communication. This communication flow is used by the managers to transmit work-
related information to the employees at lower levels. Employees require this
information for performing their jobs and for meeting the expectations of their
managers. Downward communication is used by the managers for the following
purposes –
2. Upward Flow of Communication: Communication that flows to a higher level in an
organization is called upward communication. It provides feedback on how well the
organization is functioning. The subordinates use upward communication to convey
their problems and performances to their superiors.

The subordinates also use upward communication to tell how well they have
understood the downward communication. It can also be used by the employees to
share their views and ideas and to participate in the decision-making process.

Upward communication leads to a more committed and loyal workforce in an

organization because the employees are given a chance to raise and speak
dissatisfaction issues to the higher levels. The managers get to know about the
employees feelings towards their jobs, peers, supervisor and organization in general.
Managers can thus accordingly take actions for improving things.

Grievance Redressal System, Complaint and Suggestion Box, Job Satisfaction

surveys etc all help in improving upward communication. Other examples of Upward
Communication are -performance reports made by low level management for
reviewing by higher level management, employee attitude surveys, letters from
employees, employee-manager discussions etc.

3. Lateral / Horizontal Communication: Communication that takes place at same

levels of hierarchy in an organization is called lateral communication, i.e.,
communication between peers, between managers at same levels or between any
horizontally equivalent organizational member. The advantages of horizontal
communication are as follows:

It is time saving.

It facilitates co-ordination of the task.

It facilitates co-operation among team members.

 It provides emotional and social assistance to the organizational members.

It helps in solving various organizational problems.

It is a means of information sharing

It can also be used for resolving conflicts of a department with other department or
conflicts within a department.

4. Diagonal Communication: Communication that takes place between a manager and

employees of other workgroups is called diagonal communication. It generally does
not appear on organizational chart. For instance - To design a training module a
training manager interacts with Operations personnel to enquire about the way they
perform their task.
5. External Communication: Communication that takes place between a manager and
external groups such as - suppliers, vendors, banks, financial institutes etc. For
instance - To raise capital the Managing director would interact with the Bank
Manager.

Oral Communication - Meaning, Advantages and Limitations

Oral communication implies communication through mouth. It includes individuals
conversing with each other, be it direct conversation or telephonic conversation. Speeches,
presentations, discussions are all forms of oral communication. Oral communication is
generally recommended when the communication matter is of temporary kind or where a
direct interaction is required. Face to face communication (meetings, lectures, conferences,
interviews, etc.) is significant so as to build a rapport and trust.

Advantages of Oral Communication

 There is high level of understanding and transparency in oral communication as it is

interpersonal.
 There is no element of rigidity in oral communication. There is flexibility for allowing
changes in the decisions previously taken.
 The feedback is spontaneous in case of oral communication. Thus, decisions can be
made quickly without any delay.
 Oral communication is not only time saving, but it also saves upon money and efforts.
 Oral communication is best in case of problem resolution. The conflicts, disputes and
many issues/differences can be put to an end by talking them over.
 Oral communication is an essential for teamwork and group energy.
 Oral communication promotes a receptive and encouraging morale among
organizational employees.
 Oral communication can be best used to transfer private and confidential
information/matter.
Disadvantages/Limitations of Oral Communication

 Relying only on oral communication may not be sufficient as business

communication is formal and very organized.
 Oral communication is less authentic than written communication as they are informal
and not as organized as written communication.
 Oral communication is time-saving as far as daily interactions are concerned, but in
case of meetings, long speeches consume lot of time and are unproductive at times.
 Oral communications are not easy to maintain and thus they are unsteady.
 There may be misunderstandings as the information is not complete and may lack
essentials.
 It requires attentiveness and great receptivity on part of the receivers/audience.
 Oral communication (such as speeches) is not frequently used as legal records except
in investigation work.

Written Communication - Meaning, Advantages and Disadvantages

Written communication has great significance in today’s business world. It is an innovative
activity of the mind. Effective written communication is essential for preparing worthy
promotional materials for business development. Speech came before writing. But writing is
more unique and formal than speech. Effective writing involves careful choice of words, their
organization in correct order in sentences formation as well as cohesive composition of
sentences. Also, writing is more valid and reliable than speech. But while speech is
spontaneous, writing causes delay and takes time as feedback is not immediate.
Disadvantages of Written Communication

Written communication does not save upon the costs. It costs huge in terms of stationery
and the manpower employed in writing/typing and delivering letters.

Also, if the receivers of the written message are separated by distance and if they need to
clear their doubts, the response is not spontaneous.

Written communication is time-consuming as the feedback is not immediate. The

encoding and sending of message takes time.

Effective written communication requires great skills and competencies in language and
vocabulary use. Poor writing skills and quality have a negative impact on organization’s
reputation.

Too much paper work and e-mails burden is involved.

Non Verbal Communication - Actions Speak Louder than Words

What is Non Verbal Communication?
It is communication of feelings, emotions, attitudes, and thoughts through body
movements / gestures / eye contact, etc.

The components of Non Verbal Communication are:

 Kinesics: It is the study of facial expressions, postures & gestures. Did you know
that while in Argentina to raise a fist in the air with knuckles pointing outwards
expresses victory, in Lebanon, raising a closed fist is considered rude?

 Oculesics: It is the study of the role of eye contact in nonverbal communication.

Did you know that in the first 90 sec - 4 min you decide that you are interested in
someone or not. Studies reveal that 50% of this first impression comes from non-
verbal communication which includes oculesics. Only 7% of comes from words -
that we actually say.

 Haptics: It is the study of touching. Did you know that acceptable level of
touching vary from one culture to another? In Thailand, touching someone's head
may be considered as rude.

 Proxemics: It is the study of measurable distance between people as they interact.

Did you know that the amount of personal space when having an informal
conversation should vary between 18 inches - 4 feet while, the personal distance
needed when speaking to a crowd of people should be around 10-12 feet?

 Chronemics: It is the study of use of time in nonverbal communication. Have you

ever observed that while AN employee will not worry about running a few
minutes late to meet a colleague, a manager who has a meeting with the CEO, a
late arrival will be considered as a nonverbal cue that he / she does not give
adequate respect to his superior?

 Paralinguistics: It is the study of variations in pitch, speed, volume, and pauses to

convey meaning. Interestingly, when the speaker is making a presentation and is
looking for a response, he will pause. However, when no response is desired, he
will talk faster with minimal pause.

 Physical Appearance: Your physical appearance always contributes towards how

people perceive you. Neatly combed hair, ironed clothes and a lively smile will
always carry more weight than words.

Communication Barriers - Reasons for Communication Breakdown

Perceptual and Language Differences: Perception is generally how each individual
interprets the world around him. All generally want to receive messages which are
significant to them. But any message which is against their values is not accepted. A same
event may be taken differently by different individuals. For example: A person is on leave
for a month due to personal reasons (family member being critical). The HR Manager
might be in confusion whether to retain that employee or not, the immediate manager
might think of replacement because his team’s productivity is being hampered, the family
members might take him as an emotional support.
The linguistic differences also lead to communication breakdown. Same word may mean
different to different individuals. For example: consider a word “value”.
What is the value of this Laptop?
I value our relation?
What is the value of learning technical skills?
Communication Barriers
“Value” means different in different sentences. Communication breakdown occurs if there
is wrong perception by the receiver.
Information Overload: Managers are surrounded with a pool of information. It is essential
to control this information flow else the information is likely to be misinterpreted or
forgotten or overlooked. As a result communication is less effective.
Inattention: At times we just not listen, but only hear. For example a traveller may pay
attention to one “NO PARKING” sign, but if such sign is put all over the city, he no
longer listens to it. Thus, repetitive messages should be ignored for effective
communication. Similarly if a superior is engrossed in his paper work and his subordinate
explains him his problem, the superior may not get what he is saying and it leads to
disappointment of subordinate.
Time Pressures: Often in organization the targets have to be achieved within a specified
time period, the failure of which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines,
the formal channels of communication are shortened, or messages are partially given, i.e.,
not completely transferred. Thus sufficient time should be given for effective
communication.
Distraction/Noise: Communication is also affected a lot by noise to distractions. Physical
distractions are also there such as, poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room
also affects communication in a meeting. Similarly use of loud speakers interferes with
communication.
Emotions: Emotional state at a particular point of time also affects communication. If the
receiver feels that communicator is angry he interprets that the information being sent is
very bad. While he takes it differently if the communicator is happy and jovial (in that
case the message is interpreted to be good and interesting).
Complexity in Organizational Structure: Greater the hierarchy in an organization (i.e.
more the number of managerial levels), more is the chances of communication getting
destroyed. Only the people at the top level can see the overall picture while the people at
low level just have knowledge about their own area and a little knowledge about other
areas.
Poor retention: Human memory cannot function beyond a limit. One can’t always retain
what is being told specially if he is not interested or not attentive. This leads to
communication breakdown.
 UNIT---4

Group Dynamics – Roles – Morale – Conflict

What is a GROUP: 2 or more individuals interacting with each other in order to

accomplish tasks? Group dynamics deals with the attitudes and behavioural patterns of a
group. Group dynamics concern how groups are formed, what is their structure and which
processes are followed in their functioning. Thus, it is concerned with the interactions and
forces operating between groups.

What is A Group?
Every organization is a group unto itself. A group refers to two or more people who share

a common meaning and evaluation of themselves and come together to achieve common

goals. In other words, a group is a collection of people who interact with one another;
accept rights and obligations as members and who share a common identity.

Characteristics of a Group:

Regardless of the size or the purpose, every group has similar characteristics:
(a) 2 or more persons (if it is one person, it is not a group)

(b) Formal social structure (the rules of the game are defined)

(c) Common fate (they will swim together)

(d) Common goals (the destiny is the same and emotionally connected)

(e) Face-to-face interaction (they will talk with each other)

(f) Interdependence (each one is complimentary to the other)

(g) Self-definition as group members (what one is who belongs to the group)

(h) Recognition by others (yes, you belong to the group).

Process/Stages of Group Development/Evolution:

Group Development is a dynamic process. How do groups evolve? There is a process of
five stages through which groups pass through. The process includes the five stages:
forming, storming, forming, performing, and adjourning.

Forming:
The first stage in the life of a group is concerned with forming a group. This stage is

characterized by members seeking either a work assignment (in a formal group) or other

benefit, like status, affiliation, power, etc. (in an informal group). Members at this stage
either engage in busy type of activity or show apathy.

Storming:
The next stage in this group is marked by the formation of dyads and triads. Members

seek out familiar or similar individuals and begin a deeper sharing of self. Continued
attention to the subgroup creates a differentiation in the group and tensions across the

dyads / triads may appear. Pairing is a common phenomenon. There will be conflict about
controlling the group.

Norming:
The third stage of group development is marked by a more serious concern about task

performance. The dyads/triads begin to open up and seek out other members in the group.
Efforts are made to establish various norms for task performance.

Members begin to take greater responsibility for their own group and relationship while

the authority figure becomes relaxed. Once this stage is complete, a clear picture will

emerge about hierarchy of leadership. The norming stage is over with the solidification of
the group structure and a sense of group identity and camaraderie.

Performing:
This is a stage of a fully functional group where members see themselves as a group and

get involved in the task. Each person makes a contribution and the authority figure is also
seen as a part of the group. Group norms are followed and collective pressure is exerted to
ensure the Process of Group effectiveness of the group.
The group may redefine its goals Development in the light of information from the

outside environment and show an autonomous will to pursue those goals. The long-term

viability of the group is established and nurtured

Adjourning:
In the case of temporary groups, like project team, task force, or any other such group,
which have a limited task at hand, also have a fifth stage, This is known as adjourning.

GROUP DYNAMICS

Group dynamics deals with the attitudes and behavioral patterns of a group. Group
dynamics is concerned how groups are formed, what is their structure and which
processes are followed in their functioning. Thus, it is concerned with the interactions and
forces operating between groups.

To understand group dynamics we must firstly know what a group is, so A group refers to
two or more people who share a common meaning and evaluation of themselves and
come together to achieve common goals.

Principles of group dynamics

The members of the group must have a strong sense of belonging to the group.

The more attraction a group member is to its members, the greater influence it would
exercise on its members.

The successful efforts to change individuals sub parts of the group would result in
making them confirm to the norms of the group.

Information relating to the need for change, plans for change and the consequences of
the changes must be shared by the members of the group.
 The changes in one pact of the groups may produce stress in the other parts, which can
be reduced only by eliminating the change or by bringing about readjustments in the
Related parts.

The groups arise and function owing to common motives.

The intergroup relations, group organization, member participation is essential for

effectiveness of a group.

Confidentiality is a major requirement which is achieved by mutual respect for one

another.

Features of group dynamics

Group Dynamics refers to the study of forces operating within a group. Following are
some of its salient features :
Group orientation: Group Dynamics is concerned with group .Wherever a group
exists the individuals interact and members are continuously changing and adjusting
relationship with respect to each other.

Various changes: Changes go on occurring like introduction of the new members,

changes in leadership, presence of old and new members and the rate of change – fast or
slow . The groups may dissolve if the members are not enthusiastic about the goals.

Dynamic Nature: There may be rigidity or flexibility that influences a group dynamics
.If the members get along well there is smooth sailing for the group and if there is conflict
it leads to problems.
Group Activities: The group organization is essential. It leads to greater group
effectiveness, participation, cooperation and a constructive morale.

Adjustments: Dynamic groups are always in continuous process of restructuring,

adjusting and readjusting members to one another for the purpose of reducing the
tensions, eliminating the conflicts and solving the problems which its members have in
Common.

Various roles and action

TASK RELATED ACTIONS

Showing initiative and activity: making suggestions, expressing ideas, tackling an
existing problem anew, restructuring material
.
Looking for information: asking questions to specify suggestions, asking for
additional information.

Learning others' opinions: trying to find out other people's feeling in regard to
suggestions that have been made, etc.

Providing information: introducing others to the facts, sharing in experiences.

 Delving into the issue at hand: giving example, trying to imagine the consequences of
specific suggestions.

Coordinating: organizing relationships and ideas, combining the activities of various

smaller groups.

Summarizing.

Process related actions

Encouraging: being friendly, considerate, ready to respond to others, praising
Others and their ideas, agreeing to what others have said.
Staying within boundaries: helping others express themselves (e.g. "We still
haven't heard John's opinion"), limiting the length of one's turns so that everyone
Has time to express them.
Agreeing to rules: setting rules for the group that regulate content, processes, and
Decision making.
Following along: complying with the group's decisions, carefully listening to others
And accepting their ideas, being an active listener in group discussions.
Expressing the emotions of the group: defining the emotions generated by the
Group, sharing observations about group members.
Analyzing: checking whether the group's decisions comply with the rules.
Diagnosing: defining sources of problems, determining next steps, analysing the
Main obstacles to further activity.
Analyzing the stage of the group's development: finding out the members'
Opinions, evaluating whether the group is nearing a collective solution.
Being an intermediary: harmonizing, smoothing out differing opinions, offering
Compromises.
Lessening tension: using humour to avert negative emotions, calming the
Situation by looking at the bigger picture.

Negative action

Aggressive action: determining one's status by criticizing others or doing them in; hostile
actions towards the group or individuals in the group; always trying to dominate.
 Blocking: sabotaging the further development of the group by focusing on insignificant
problems or talking about one's own experiences that is not associated with the problem at
hand; a prejudiced rejection of others' ideas.

Fishing for sympathy: using the group as an audience for expressing one's own
feelings or opinions (that are not associated with the goals of the group); trying to get on
the good side of group members by telling them about one's problems and failures;
explaining things in a very complicated way.

Dominating: arguing with others about the best ideas; talking non-stop; trying to be the
most important person; taking over leadership.

Being a clown: playing the fool, telling jokes, imitating others; interrupting the group's
work.

Looking for attention: attracting the attention of others, for example, by talking loudly
or at length; expressing extreme ideas; acting strangely.

Stepping back: acting in a passive or inappropriate way, for example, daydreaming,

whispering, and avoiding the topic.

Techniques for managing group dynamics:

Equalizing Participation The facilitator is responsible for the fair distribution of attention
during meetings.
Listing for the discussion to be smooth, those who want to speak can silently signal the
facilitator, who would add the person's name to a list and call them in that order.
Stacking If many people want to speak at the same time, it is useful to ask all those who
would like to speak to raise their hands. Have them count off, and then have them speak
in that order.
Pacing The pace or flow of the meeting is the responsibility of the facilitator.If the
atmosphere starts to become tense, choose techniques which encourage balance and
cooperation.
Checking the Process If the flow of the meeting is breaking down or if one person or
small group seems to be dominating, anyone can call into question the technique being
used and suggest an alternative.
Silence it is appropriate for anyone to suggest a moment of silence to calm and refocus
energy.
Taking a Break In the heat of discussion, people are usually resistant to interrupting
The flow to take a break, but a wise facilitator knows when to take refreshing breaks.
Call for Consensus The facilitator, or any member recognized to speak by the facilitator
Asks if there are any unresolved concerns, which remain unaddressed.
 Summarizing The facilitator might choose to focus what has been said by summarizing.

Reformulating the Proposal After a long discussion, it sometimes happens that the
proposal becomes modified without any formal decision. The facilitator needs to
reformulate the proposal with the new information, modifications, or deletions.

Fishbowl The fishbowl is a special form of small group discussion. Several members
representing differing points of view meet in an inner circle to discuss the issue.

Active Listening Listen to the speaker, then acknowledge back what was heard.

Brainstorming process for generating creative ideas and solutions through intensive

And freewheeling group discussion.

Go-rounds This is a simple technique that encourages participation. The facilitator

states a question and then goes around the room inviting everyone to answer briefly. This
isn’t like an open discussion.

Identification It is good to address each other by name. When people speak, it is useful
for them to identify themselves so all can gradually learn each other’s names.

Causes of poor dynamics

Weak leadership: when a team lacks a strong leader, it leads to a lack of direction,
infighting, or a focus on the wrong priorities.

Excessive deference to authority: this can happen when people want to be seen to
agree with a leader, and therefore hold back from expressing their own opinions.

Blocking: this happens when team members behave in a way that disrupts the flow of
information in the group. People can adopt blocking roles such as:

i) the aggressor,

ii) the negotiator,

iii) the withdrawer,

iv) the recognition seeker, and

v) The joker.

Group Think: this happens when people place a desire for consensus above their desire
to reach the right decision. This prevents people from fully exploring alternative solutions.

Free riding: here, some group members take it easy, and leave their colleagues to do all
the work. Free riders may work hard on their own, but limit their contributions in group
situations; this is known as "social loafing. “ Evaluation apprehension: team members'
perceptions can also create a negative group dynamic. Evaluation apprehension happens
when people feel that they are being judged excessively harshly by other group members,
and they hold back their opinions as a result.
GROUPS:

Types of Groups:

One way to classify the groups is by way of formality – formal and informal. While

formal groups are established by an organization to achieve its goals, informal groups

merge spontaneously. Formal groups may take the form of command groups, task groups,
and functional groups.

1. Command Groups:
Command groups are specified by the organizational chart and often consist of a

supervisor and the subordinates that report to that supervisor. An example of a command
group is a market research firm CEO and the research associates under him.

Task Groups:
Task groups consist of people who work together to achieve a common task. Members are

brought together to accomplish a narrow range of goals within a specified time period.

Task groups are also commonly referred to as task forces. The organization appoints
members and assigns the goals and tasks to be accomplished.

Examples of assigned tasks are the development of a new product, the improvement of a
production process, or designing the syllabus under semester system.

Other common task groups are ad hoc committees, project groups, and standing

committees. Ad hoc committees are temporary groups created to resolve a specific

complaint or develop a process are normally disbanded after the group completes the
assigned task.

3. Functional Groups:
A functional group is created by the organization to accomplish specific goals within an

unspecified time frame. Functional groups remain in existence after achievement of

current goals and objectives. Examples of functional groups would be a marketing
department, a customer service department, or an accounting department.

In contrast to formal groups, informal groups are formed naturally and in response to the

common interests and shared values of individuals. They are created for purposes other

than the accomplishment of organizational goals and do not have a specified time frame.

Informal groups are not appointed by the organization and members can invite others to
join from time to time.

Informal groups can have a strong influence in organizations that can either be positive or

negative. For example, employees who form an informal group can either discuss how to

improve a production process or how to create shortcuts that jeopardize quality. Informal
groups can take the form of interest groups, friendship groups, or reference groups.

i. Interest Group:
Interest groups usually continue over time and may last longer than general informal

groups. Members of interest groups may not be part of the same organizational
department but they are bound together by some other common interest.

The goals and objectives of group interests are specific to each group and may not be

related to organizational goals and objectives. An example of an interest group would be

students who come together to form a study group for a specific class.

ii. Friendship Groups:

Friendship groups are formed by members who enjoy similar social activities, political

beliefs, religious values, or other common bonds. Members enjoy each other’s company

and often meet after work to participate in these activities. For example, a group of

employees who form a friendship group may have a yoga group, a Rajasthani association
in Delhi, or a kitty party lunch once a month.

iii. Reference Groups:

A reference group is a type of group that people use to evaluate themselves. The main
objectives of reference groups are to seek social validation and social comparison. Social

validation allows individuals to justify their attitudes and values while social comparison

helps individuals evaluate their own actions by comparing themselves to others.

Reference groups have a strong influence on members’ behavior. Such groups are formed

voluntarily. Family, friends, and religious affiliations are strong reference groups for most
individuals.

Factors Affecting Group Behaviour:

The success or failure of a group depends upon so many factors. Group member

resources, structure (group size, group roles, group norms, and group cohesiveness),

group processes (the communication, group decision making processes, power dynamics,
conflicting interactions, etc.) and group tasks (complexity and interdependence).

1. Group Member Resources:

The members’ knowledge, abilities, skills; and personality characteristics (sociability,

self- reliance, and independence) are the resources the group members bring in with them.
The success depends upon these resources as useful to the task.

2. Group Structure:

Group Size:
Group size can vary from 2 people to a very large number of people. Small groups of two

to ten are thought to be more effective because each member has ample opportunity to

take part and engage actively in the group. Large groups may waste time by deciding on
processes and trying to decide who should participate next.
Evidence supports the notion that as the size of the group increases, satisfaction increases

up to a certain point. Increasing the size of a group beyond 10-12 members’ results in

decreased satisfaction. It is increasingly difficult for members of large groups to identify

with one another and experience cohesion.

Group Roles:

In formal groups, roles are always predetermined and assigned to members. Each role

shall have specific responsibilities and duties. There are, however, emergent roles that
develop naturally to meet the needs of the groups.

These emergent roles will often substitute the assigned roles as individuals begin to
express themselves and become more assertive. Group roles can then be classified into
work roles, maintenance roles, and blocking roles.

Work roles are task-oriented activities that involve accomplishing the group’s goals. They

involve a variety of specific roles such as initiator, informer, clarifier, summarizer, and
reality tester.

Maintenance roles are social-emotional activities that help members maintain their

involvement in the group and raise their personal commitment to the group. The

maintenance roles are harmonizer, gatekeeper, consensus tester, encourager, and

compromiser.
Turning Groups into Effective Teams:
All teams are groups but not all groups are teams. Teams often are difficult to form

because it takes time for members to learn how to work together. People in every

workplace talk about building the team, working as a team, and my team, but few

understand how to create the experience of team work or how to develop an effective

team. Belonging to a team, in the broadest sense, is a result of feeling part of something

larger than oneself. It has a lot to do with your understanding of the mission or objectives
of your organization.

In a team-oriented environment, one contributes to the overall success of the organization.

One works with fellow members of the organization to produce these results. Even though
you have a specific job function and you belong to a specific department, you are unified

with other organization members to accomplish the overall objectives. The bigger picture
drives your actions; your function exists to serve the bigger picture.

It is on record that teams are better than groups, because they are more flexible and

responsive to dynamic environment. A work group has no opportunity to involve in

collective works.

It is the work team whose members ‘work intensely on a specific, common goal using
their positive synergy, individual and mutual accountability, and complementary skills’.
Team-building helps to increase intra-group and inter-group effectiveness to bring

members together, make them share their perception of each other and understand each
other’s point of view.

Thus, resolve problems and work together in a cooperative and collaborative mode.

Teams can be of four types – problem-solving teams (only making suggestion), self-

managed, teams (operate without a manager), cross-functional teams (a group of experts

from different specialities), and virtual team (members collaborate online). In terms of

size, teams may be institutional (comprising of hundreds of members) and operational (a

small, cooperative group, in regular contact and contributes responsibly to achieve task at
hand).

FOUR REQUIREMENTS FOR A GROUP

1. Purpose – common GOALS are what motivate the group

2. Leadership – structured so that responsibilities are shared

3. Communication – connects members and provides for exchange of ideas

4. Acceptance – members must not discriminate within the group

What is Group Dynamics: The term “group dynamics” refers to the complex forces that
are acting upon every group and causes it to behave the way it does.

 Some things don’t change (static) – name, constitution, and purpose

 Groups themselves are changing due to the various forces that are acting upon them

Intrapersonal Forces

 The forces within a person:

1. Self-concept

2. Personality characteristics

3. Basic needs: food, water, shelter

4. Physical and emotional conditions

5. The need to feel as though they are contributing

6. Objectives or plans that have nothing to do with the group (h Interpersonal Forces
hidden agenda)

 The forces acting among the group members.

1. Degree to which members know each other, like or dislike each other, understand each
other

2. Status of individuals – real or assumed

3. Assumptions regarding others, ideas, or attitudes

4. Communication among members

5. Behavior patterns of individuals

Environmental Forces

 The external forces surrounding the group.

1. Total environment: the physical setting and arrangement of a meeting place, including
noise, temperature, comfort, time, conditions, etc…

2. Forces generated by the way other members act: voice, mannerisms, attitudes, speech,
patterns, vocabulary, etc

Conflict Resolution What is conflict: A problematic situation where the concerns or

interests of two or more parties appear incompatible.

Why does conflict exist in organizations: Because group members see the needs of the
organization differently due to different values, goals and/or prior experiences

When conflict is ignored, or approached on a win/lose basis:

 Communication breaks down

 Animosities develop

 The ability of the group to function is impaired Conflict can be healthy if it is handled
and resolved amicably.

How can conflict be a positive force in an organization: Can enhance a group or

organization by exploring differences that are created by the conflict? If it is dealt with
openly, people can be stimulated to creativity, alternatives are considered, better ideas are
generated, a better course of action results, and more positive relationships develop. Most
problems are caused by the way people choose to handle conflict.
Ways of Dealing with Organizational Conflict

 Competition – “I win. You lose.” I get all my needs met; you get nothing

 Accommodation – “I lose. You Win.” I give in; you get everything.

 Avoidance – “I lose. You lose.” Neither of us gets anything.

 Compromise – “We both win. We both lose.” Each of us gets a little and gives a little.

 Collaboration – “No wins – no lose.” We redefine the problem and find a creative
solution that satisfies both of our needs.

Conflict Intervention and Prevention

 Behavior Management – You are responsible for your own behavior. Your behavior
and the behavior of the other members greatly influence the effectiveness of each session.

 Showing you Care –Be welcoming, greet members by name and with a smile, be
interested in them, laugh with others but not at them or their mistakes, be aware of
accomplishments and take time to compliment them on their involvement and efforts

 Using the Right Words – Ask “What do you understand?” vs. “What don’t you
understand?” People don’t like to admit when they are confused. Use encouragement to
motivate, give praise and recognition when needed.

 Gaining and Maintaining Control – As a leader, you might be tested as group

members may see how far they can push the rules. Three keys that will work with control:
be firm – establish limits of behavior, be fairpeople accept rules that are fairly set and
applied, be consistent, difficult to follow a rule that keeps changing or is sporadically
applied.

Types of Behavior

 Passive Behavior – allow others to choose for you, lose in win-lose situations. Others
achieve their goals at your expense.

 Aggressive Behavior – choose for others, win-lose situations you must win.
Selfenhancing, direct,

 Assertive Behavior – choose for self, convert win-lose situations into win-win,
appropriately honest, self-respecting, direct, straight forward

Constructive Criticism

 “I” vs. “You” Statements:

 You take control over your feelings and thoughts, instead of trying to take power from
others.  Ex: “I don’t like the way you treat people” VS “You shouldn’t say that”

 Problem vs. Person:

 Focus on the problem you wish to resolve, not the person involved in the problem

 Specific vs. Vague:

 Know exactly what problem you are addressing. Vagueness will not pinpoint the
problem but may in fact hinder the resolution of that problem

 Timely vs. Untimely:  Give your feedback as soon as a problem arises. You do not
want to dredge up the past. Focus on what is going on here and now. Constructive
Criticism Cont’d

 Brief vs. Lengthy:

 Avoid drowning the receiver in criticism. Make it short and to the point. 
Sometimes/Often vs. Always Never:  Use “sometimes” or “often.” Very few situations
in this world “always” or “never” happen, although we are tempted to say they do.

 Effect vs. Cause:  Explain the effect of the problem rather than the cause. By
examining the effect, the basis for criticism is clear. Identifying the cause once again
places blame.

 Changeable vs. Non-changeable:  Be critical of problems that can be changed.

Effective, constructive criticism forces on changeable matters. Non-changeable situations
can only be hindered by criticism.

 The Final Statement:

 Always try to finish the conversation on a positive note. Pick out something that will
encourage the person to improve and motivate them.

Successful team building, that creates effective, focused work teams, requires

attention to each of the following:

1. Clear Expectations:
The managers must clearly tell the team members of the expected performance and the

team members must understand the reason for its creation. For it the organization must
support the team with resources of people, time and money.

2. Commitment:
Team members must participate in the team, feel that the team mission is important, and
show commitment to accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes.

Commitment will come if team members perceive their service as valuable to the
organization and to their own careers.

3. Competence:
Team members must have the knowledge, skill and capabilities, the resources, strategies

and support needed to accomplish its mission to address the issues for which the team was
formed.

4. Control:
The team must have not only enough freedom and empowerment to feel the ownership

necessary to accomplish its charter, but also the accountability. There has to be a defined
review process.

5. Collaboration:
The team should understand group processes and work effectively and cooperatively with

other members of the team. For it they have to understand the roles and responsibilities of
team members, team leaders, and team recorders.

6. Communication:
To make team members clear about the priority of their tasks, and receive regular

feedback, team members must clearly and honestly with each other. Diverse opinions be
welcome and conflicts be taken up positively.

7. Creativity:
The team should value creative thinking, unique solutions, and new ideas; and reward
members who take reasonable risks to make improvements. If necessary, it should provide
the training, education, access to books and films, and field trips to stimulate new
thinking.

The creative development of new products, new technologies, new services, or new

organizational structures is possible because teams may have variety of skills needed for
successful innovation.

Team members can uncover each other’s flaws and balance each other’s strengths and

weaknesses. Managers should empower the team and make it accountable for the
innovation process.

8. Coordination:
Teams should understand the concept of internal customer to whom they provide a

product or a service. Team efforts need to be coordinated by a central leadership team that
assists the groups to obtain what they need for success.

The cross- functional and multi-department teams must work together effectively. The

organization should develop a customer-focused and process-focused orientation and

move away from traditional departmental thinking.

Spend time and attention on each of these eight tips to ensure your work teams contribute

most effectively to your business success. Your team members would love you, your

business will see new heights, and empowered people will “own” and be responsible to
their work processes

Informal Group:
In every organisation along with formal groups there exists informal groups which emerge

naturally due to the response and common interests of the members who can easily
identify with the goals or independent activities of the informal groups.

Sometimes the efforts may be driven by a common goal that may compliment or work
against the goals of the formal group. An informal group can be defined as a group that
evolves spontaneously, not shown in the organization’s structure, with the objective of
fulfilling personal and social need of its members.

Informal Group Vs Informal Organisation:

An informal group is a voluntary group of people casually acquainted with each other for

their own personal fulfillment because they have some common and shared backgrounds,
characteristics and concerns (values / interests / hobbies / friendship).

Whilst it is easy to differentiate between a formal group and a formal organisation, the

differences between informal group and informal organisation tend to be difficult. The

difference between informal organization and informal group is that informal organisation
is a larger entity consisting of all informal groups in an organization.

Informal Organisation= Sigma Informal Groups:

An informal group is the nucleus of informal organization. When an informal group

adopts a formally defined structure and group processes, it no longer remains an informal
group.

Informal Group vs. Formal Group:

The two are different in very many ways.
Characteristics of Informal Groups:

1. Creation:
It is not created by the organisation but springs up spontaneously.

2. Satisfaction of Needs:
The needs which cannot be satisfied within the framework of formal organisation, like
social and psychological needs of people, such people create informal groups.

3. Voluntary Membership:
Nobody is compelled to join an informal organization.

4. Multi-Group Membership:
A member of an informal group can be a member of more than one informal group to
pursue different interests.

5. Systems and Processes:

Members of such groups follow their own norms, leadership, communication, etc. to

remain cohesive. The communication channels are referred to as ‘Grapevine’. Grapevine

i.e., informal channel runs very fast to spread the information across the organization.

6. Leadership:
Every informal group has a leader, selected by the group, and who is capable of helping to

realize their goals. The moment it is realized that the leader is incapable, (s) he is replaced
with a new leader.

Reasons for the Emergence of Informal Groups:

1. People working together may come together.

2. People with similar values, beliefs, attitudes, and interests often feel attraction to come
together.
3. Need satisfaction – to belong, to associate, etc.

4. Removal of monotony of routine tasks – to get rid of monotony and psychological

fatigue, job-related boredom and frustration provides an opportunity to behave in a natural

and relaxed manner.

5. Promotion of other interests and pursuit of goals – People join Rotary or Lions Club to
expand their contacts which may help them to satisfy their personal goals.

Benefits of Informal Groups:

The benefits of an informal group are as follows:

1. Blending with formal group allows people to work for the formal organisation.

2. Informal work group lightens the workload for the formal manager.

3. Brings satisfaction and stability to the organisation as a whole.

4. Provides a useful channel of communication.

5. Encourages managers to plan and act more carefully.

Limitations of Informal Groups:

The limitations are as follows:

1. Resistance to Change because they do not want to deviate from existing norms and
learn new ways.

2. Informal group provides most fertile ground for Rumour Mongering because of

maliciousness, lack of proper communication systems and processes and ambiguous

circumstances.

3. Since a member of an informal group is also a member of a formal group, at times it

creates role conflict.
4. Creativity of group member (s) is restricted because of strong pressure for conformity
applied by the group.

What Causes Poor Group Dynamics?

Group leaders and team members can contribute to a negative group dynamic. Let's look at
some of the most common problems that can occur:

Weak leadership: when a team lacks a strong leader, a more dominant member of the group
can often take charge. This can lead to a lack of direction, infighting, or a focus on the wrong
priorities.

Excessive deference to authority: this can happen when people want to be seen to agree
with a leader, and therefore hold back from expressing their own opinions.

Blocking: this happens when team members behave in a way that disrupts the flow of
information in the group. People can adopt blocking roles such as:

The aggressor: this person often disagrees with others, or is inappropriately outspoken.

The negator: this group member is often critical of others' ideas.

The withdrawer: this person doesn't participate in the discussion.

The recognition seeker: this group member is boastful, or dominates the session.

The joker: this person introduces humour at inappropriate times.

Groupthink : this happens when people place a desire for consensus above their desire to reach
the right decision. This prevents people from fully exploring alternative solutions.

Free riding: here, some group members take it easy, and leave their colleagues to do all the
work. Free riders may work hard on their own, but limit their contributions in group situations;
this is known as "social loafing."

Evaluation apprehension: team members' perceptions can also create a negative group
dynamic. Evaluation apprehension happens when people feel that they are being judged
excessively harshly by other group members, and they hold back their opinions as a result.

Strategies for Improving Team Dynamics

Use these approaches to improve group dynamics:

Know Your Team

As a leader, you need to guide the development of your group. So, start by learning about
the phases that a group goes through as it develops. When you understand these, you'll be able
to preempt problems that could arise, including issues with poor group dynamics.
Next, use Benne and Sheats' Group Roles to identify positive and negative group roles, and to
understand how they could affect the group as a whole. This will also help you plan how to deal
with potential problems.

Tackle Problems Quickly

If you notice that one member of your team has adopted a behavior that's affecting the group
unhelpfully, act quickly to challenge it.

Provide feedback that shows your team member the impact of her actions, and encourage her
to reflect on how she can change her behavior.

Define Roles and Responsibilities

Teams that lack focus or direction can quickly develop poor dynamics, as people struggle to
understand their role in the group.

Inter-Group Behaviour

Introduction to Inter-Group Behaviour :

The organisation consists of many groups created formally or informally. The existence of
groups leads to intergroup competition.

The whole phenomenon may be studied under two heads:

(i) What happens within the groups? And (ii) What happens between competing groups?

What Happens Within the Groups?

(1) Each group becomes a closely knit organisation by burying their internal bickering’s
and differences.

(2) The group climate changes, it switches over from being informal, casual and playful to
task oriented. It shifts from members’ psychological needs to taste accomplishment.

(3) Leadership changes, the group is not prepared to tolerate even the autocratic
leadership.

(4) Group becomes structured and organised.

(5) Group expects more loyalty and conformity from members in order to present a solid
What Happens Between Competing Groups?
Each group looks to other as a competitor rather than interdependent part of the same
organisation.

Each group develops distributions of perceptions because of dominating competitiveness.

It concentrates only on its good points and refuses to perceive its weaknesses. Similarly, it

perceives only the bad points or the shortcomings of other groups, this feeling is so
dominating that it is not prepared to consider the good of its competitors.

Intergroup hostility increases which leads to reducing intergroup interaction and

communication. This leads to distortion in per When groups are forced into interaction
they will only listen to their own representatives rather than of the other. Each will try to
find faults of others.

Approaches to Inter-Group Relationship:

Inter-Group relationship may be presented in two ways:

(i) as portrayed by Rensis Likert and

(ii) As stated by J. Thompson.

(i) Likert’s Approach:

According to Likert an organisation encompasses a series of overlapping groups. Each

group is linked with the rest of the organisation by persons who hold membership in more
than one group. These people are called ‘linking pins’ as they forge link between different

groups. Though the success of decision making depends upon group process and
interaction, occurring at different levels, yet everything revolves around the ‘linking pins’.

Apart from the linking pins, the Success of Organisation depends on:
(a) Good group process of decision making and

(b) Supervision
Both these elements duly insulated by linking pins will generate intergroup confidence
and trust; it will enhance the problem solving ability of the group which will result in
better productivity level.

(ii) Thompson’s Approach:

Though Likert theory is very well accepted but it is based on the assumption that there

exists equal interdependence among different groups. Thompson suggests that there are
three different kinds of interdependence among groups.

These are:
(a) Pooled

(b) Sequential and

(c) Reciprocal

(a) Pooled Interdependence:

Pooled Interdependence occurs when groups rely on each other only because they belong

to the same parent organisation. For example, the employees of Bata Shoe Company,

Working at Ludhiana have no Interaction with their counterparts in Jammu, but both are
interdependent because they are part and parcel of the Bata Organisation.

Success or failure of one may be reflected in another through the medium of the total

organisation system. Pooled interdependence, does not need any interaction between

groups, hence conflict does not arise. Co-ordination may, however, be forged through
standardization and the rules formulated by the parent office.

(b) Sequential Interdependence:

It means that the work of one group depends on the performance of another. For instance,

the finished Job i.e., output of one group becomes the input of another group. However,

both groups are sustained by the organisation. The interdependence is both pooled and
sequential. This type of interdependence may be regulated by proper planning and
controlling the chances is that conflicts between the groups are higher than pooled interdp.
(c) Reciprocal Interdependence:
Reciprocal interdependence means that each group is dependent on each other. The

operations of each group precede and act as pre-requisite to the functioning of other. For

example, management and union relationship, where both depend on each other. Because

each group relies on other to perform its job effectively, any problems between them may

result in reduced productivity or decreased satisfaction. Reciprocal interdependence ought

to be coordinated by mutual adjustment between the groups. It requires greater

communication and understanding to avoid possible conflict.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Definition of conflict: conflict is an inevitable and unavoidable part of our everyday

professional and personal lives.

REALITY OF CONFLICT & EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

conflict between people is a fact of life

Conflicts occur at all levels of interaction.
Thus, conflict is a critical event in the course of a relationship.
Whether a relationship is healthy or unhealthy depends not so much on the number
of conflicts between participants, but on how the conflicts are resolved.
Causes of conflict
 Misunderstanding
 Personality clashes
 Competition for resources
 Authority issues
 Lack of cooperation
 Differences over methods or style
 Low performance
 Value or goal differences
CONFLICT: CONSTRUCTIVE VS DESTRUCTIVE

The Value of Conflict

Conflict is destructive when it:

 Diverts energy from more important issues and tasks.

 Deepens differences in values.
 Polarizes groups so that cooperation is reduced.
 Destroys the morale of people or reinforces poor self concepts.

The Value of Conflict

Conflict is constructive when it:

 Opens up issues of importance, resulting in issue clarification.

 Helps build cohesiveness as people learn more about each other.
 Causes reassessment by allowing for examination of procedures or actions.
 Increases individual involvement.
Conflict Management
 Conflict management is defined as “the opportunity to improve situations and
strengthen relationships” (BCS, 2004).–proactive conflict management –
collaborative conflict management

Toward Conflict Management

Blake and Mouton (1970) proposed a grid that shows various conflict approaches.
The 1,1 style is the hands-off approach, also called avoidance.
The 1,9 position, also called accommodation, is excessively person-oriented.
The 5,5 position represents a willingness to compromise.
The 9,1 is the bullheaded approach, also called competing.
The optimum style for reducing conflict is the 9,9 approach, also called collaboration

Reducing Conflict

Lose-lose methods: parties to the conflict episode do not get what they want
Win-lose methods: one party a clear winner; other party a clear loser

Win-win methods: each party to the conflict episode gets what he or she wants

Lose-lose methods

Avoidance

Withdraw, stay away

does not permanently reduce conflict

Compromise
 Bargain, negotiate

Each loses something valued

Smoothing: find similarities

Win-lose methods

Dominance

Overwhelm other party

overwhelms an avoidance orientation

Authoritative command: decision by person in authority

Majority rule: voting

Win-win methods

Problem solving: find root causes

Integration: meet interests and desires of all parties

Superordinate goal: desired by all but not reachable alone

Lose-lose methods: compromise
Win-lose methods: dominance

Win-win methods: problem solving

Some Tips for Managing Workplace Conflict

Managing conflict means you need to develop several styles and decide which is valuable at
any given point of conflict.
Some Tips for Managing Workplace Conflict

Build good relationships before conflict occurs

Do not let small problems escalate; deal with them as they arise

Respect differences

Listen to others’ perspectives on the conflict situation

Acknowledge feelings before focussing on facts

Focus on solving problems, not changing people

If you can’t resolve the problem, turn to someone who can help

Remember to adapt your style to the situation and persons involved

Steps for Positive Resolution

When the following conditions are in place, the likelihood of a positive resolution increases:

Commitment to find a resolution that is mutually beneficial.

Trust.

Frame of mind that there is more than one way to look at the issues.

Belief that a solution exists.

Commitment to stay in the communication process.

UNIT—5
Team Building and Management
What is a team?

A team is a group of individuals, all working together for a common purpose. The
individuals comprising a team ideally should have common goals, common objectives
and more or less think on the same lines. Individuals who are not compatible with each
other can never form a team. They should have similar if not the same interests, thought
processes, attitude, perception and likings.

Difference between Group and Team

A group is not necessarily a team. A group can have individuals with varied interests,
attitude as well as thought processes. It is not necessary that the group members would
have a common objective or a common goal to achieve.

What happens in a political rally? The political leader appeals to the individuals to cast the
votes in his favour only. Do you think all of them would cast the votes in favour of the leader
? There would always be some individuals who would support his opponent. This is example
of a group. All individuals gathered on a common platform but had dissimilar interests and
likings. Some were in favour of the leader while some against.

Team building

Team Building is the use of different types of interventions used to enhance social relations
and clarifying team members their roles. Team building was originally a group process
intervention aimed at improving inter-personal relations and social interactions.

A team must have individuals with a common objective to achieve. They should all work
together and strive towards the achievement of a common goal.

What happens in a cricket team?

All the players have a common focus and a common objective. Everyone, the captain, the
wicketkeeper, the bowlers, the fielders all work together to achieve a common target i.e. win
the game. No one ever thinks of losing the game.

It is not only the individuals who form a team; even animals can constitute a team. Go to any
hill station and one can spot many horses all working for a common goal i.e. Carry people to
the hill top and bring them back.

Team members

The team members must complement each other. All team members should help each other
and work in unison. Personal interests must take a back seat and all of them must deliver their
level best to achieve the team objective. Team members must not argue among themselves or
underestimate the other member.

Organizations have a sales team, administration team, human resources team operation team
and so on. All the members of the sales team would work together to achieve the sales target
and generate revenues for the organization.

Team Size

The team size depends on the complexity of the task to be accomplished. Ideally a team
should consist of 7-10 members. Too many members also lead to confusions and
misunderstandings.

It is not always that we require a team. Teams should be formed when the task is a little
complicated. A single brain can sometimes not take all critical decisions alone, thus a team is
formed where the team members contribute equally making the task easy. A team can
actually create wonders if all the team members work in unison.

Team Development
The four stages of team development are:

Stage 1: Forming

During this stage, group members may be anxious and adopt wait-and-see attitude. They will
be formal towards each other. There would be no clear idea of goals or expectations. Besides,
they may not be sure why they are there.
This is the stage where the team needs to write its own charter or mission statement as well as
clarify goals. The most important thing here is that goals must have a personal buy-in.

By doing this the team will be able to establish boundaries as well as determine what is
expected. Team members will get to know each other doing non-conflict laden task. This
builds the commitment towards one larger goal.

Thus, during the forming stage, the team members are in process of knowing each other and
getting at ease with them.

Stage 2: Storming

During this stage, team members are eager to get going. Conflict can arise as people tend to
bring different ideas of how to accomplish goals. At this time, they notice differences rather
than similarities. This leads to some members dropping out mentally or physically.

At this stage, communication is important. Tensions will increase. So recognizing and

publicly acknowledging accomplishments also become important. It becomes important to
participate in meetings and diversity needs to be valued.

Thus, during the storming stage, the team members begin showing their actual styles. They
start getting impatient. They try to probe into each other’s area, leading to irritation and
frustration. Control becomes the key concern during this stage.

Stage 3: Norming

This stage is when people begin to recognize ways in which they are alike. They realize that
they are in this together. Hence, they tend to get more social and may forget their focus in
favour of having a good time. This is the time to help with training if applicable. It becomes
important to encourage them in order to feel comfortable with each other and with systems.
Also, the group needs to stay focused on goal.

Thus, during the norming stage, there is conflict resolution. There is greater involvement of
team members. There is a greater “we” feeling rather than “I” feeling.

Stage 4: Performing

This stage is when team members are trained, competent, as well as able to do their own
problem-solving. At this time, ways need to be looked at in order to challenge them as well as
develop them. The team is mature now. The members understand their roles and
responsibilities. They would require more input in processes. The members would be self-
motivated as well as self-trained. Thus, their efforts need to be recognised. Growth has to be
encouraged. This is done by giving new challenges to the team.

Thus, teams at the stage of performing are self-controlling, practical, loyal as well as
productive. Focus is there on both performance as well as production.
Forming an Effective Team

This is the general approach to forming a successful work team. But not all will take the same
steps as discussed above. Success is usually hinged on taking all of the steps just discussed.
We have a tendency to want to surround ourselves with people who are just like us. In case
you get to choose a team, instead of organizing a pre-formed team, then you’ll look for a
team of people with a variety of strengths. In case of a team that is already in place,
organizing can be more subtle. Like, all the workgroups can be called together in order to
discuss what goals you want to accomplish and how everybody can help.

You will also find that imposing goals on people doesn’t work nearly as well as having them
tell you as to what goals they will strive for. But setting goals is not easy work. Too often
they end up in being too unrealistic, too vague, impossible to measure, or just stretching into
eternity without any deadline.

Work Team Work Group

The leader acts as a facilitator. The leader dominates and controls the group.

The members have active participation the leader is apparent and will conduct the Meeting
In the discussions and eventual
Outcome.

The team members decide on the the leader

Disbursements of work assignments.

Benefits of team building

 Improved Communication: Team building is useful for breaking down barriers

between individuals through group participation in activities. People who are not used
to working together get a chance to participate and work as a team.
 Develop Team Roles: Team building allows each member of the team to develop and
focus on what they are best at, and allow the team members to find their niche within the
team so that everyone can best contribute as an individual while still performing together.

Time to Develop Skills: Team-building activities can allow each member of the team a
chance to take charge and develop leadership skills, as well as skills in other areas of the
business.

Long-Term Benefits: giving everyone a greater sense of involvement and belonging; and
empowering teams to become more mission focused and to achieve more with less direction,
saving time and money.

Better Relationships: team building provides a chance for the team to participate together in
an experience where everyone starts with an equal level of knowledge about the given task.

Productivity Improvement: Learning to work together can produce more effective goal
achievement and improved output.

Motivation: Team building activities can drive your employees to succeed by building
their confidence and showing them that the business wants to invest in their success as an
employee

Problem Solving and Creativity: working together helps increase creative skills that are
developed during team building activities can be transferred back into the workplace for
improved success.

Team building activities

 Designing Successful Business Teams
The success of your business is based on teamwork by the parties involved. By working
together, you can often accomplish more than when you work as individuals. So it is
important that you use teams to accomplish business tasks.

To have a successful team, you must properly structure the team, and then you must select the
right type of team to accomplish the task.

Elements of Successful Teams

To have a successful team, certain elements must be present. Examine the elements listed
below to see if they are present in your business teams. These elements increase your odds of
having a successful team outcome.

 Team Goals - Team goals must be clearly specified. This provides the focus around which
team activities are organized. For example, the goals of a team maybe designed to investigate
the market potential of a new product. If team goals are not specified and agreed upon by all
team members, the team will tend to wander without direction.
 Commitment - All team members must be committed to achieving the goals of the team.
Team members who don’t take responsibility for team activities will undermine the
commitment of other team members. Also, a team will be weakened if its members bring
their personal agendas into team activities.
 Shared Rewards - To get commitment, team members must be involved in identifying team
goals and sharing the rewards of the team. If members do not share in team rewards, they
have no reason to participate in team activities.
 Defined Roles - To successfully carry out the activities of the team, the role of each team
member must be defined. Without clearly defined roles, members will become frustrated
because they won’t know what activities they are responsible for. As a result, many team
activities will not be carried out.
 Trust - Successful teams are made up of members who trust each other. Lack of trust among
team members will shift the member’s focus away from team goals to protecting their
individual positions.
 Mutual Respect - For trust to exist among team members, they must have respect for each
other. This includes respect for the views and activities of other team members. But it also
includes respect for the goals of the team itself and the responsibility to work towards these
goals.
 Communications - Without communications, little teamwork will occur. Good
communications among team members is important to successfully implement the elements
discussion above.

Types of Teams

Not all teams are alike. The type of team you choose will influence how effectively you
achieve your goals. Depending on the circumstances, choose the type of team that best fits
the task you want to accomplish.

Functional Team

With this team, the players play on a team, but they do not play as a team. An analogy for this
type of team is baseball. In baseball each player has a fixed position. Each player carries out
certain functions by themselves. There is an old baseball saying that “If you are up to bat, you
are totally alone.”

This type of teamwork is the model on which mass production and assembly lines were built.
With a functional team, the results produced by the team are the sum of the results produced
by each individual team member.

Functional teams are simple and easy to establish. So there is a tendency to establish teams
around this model. Each person’s performance is easy to evaluate. It works well when the
tasks are repetitive and the rules are well known. Traditional supervisor/employee
relationships are often organized as a functional team.

Teams organized around the functions of the business work well with this structure. For
example, situations where one person is responsible for accounting, another for operations,
and another for financial management are best handled with a functional team.

Hierarchy Team

With a hierarchy team, the team members work in unison. The team requires someone to lead
and direct them. An example is an orchestra or a football team. The team requires someone
to lead them like a conductor or a quarterback. Also, the team requires a score or a set of
plays to be successful, and may require rehearsal to function properly.

As with the functional team, each player has a fixed position. The tuba player does not take
over for the clarinet player. However, they play as a team. Each coordinates his or her part
with the rest of the team. The success of one player depends on the actions of the others.

Activities that need coordination of several people to accomplish a task in an efficient manner
during a short time period are often recognized in this fashion. Every team member works
independently but is tightly coordinated with other team members. One person acts as leader
to organize and direct the team.

A hierarchy team has great flexibility if used properly. It can move very fast and is very good
in situations where a task must be accomplished in a short period of time.

Organic Team
This team is similar to a doubles tennis team or a basketball team. Each person has a
preferred rather than a fixed position. The teammates cover for each other. They adjust their
play to accommodate the strengths and weakness of each other. Often the most valuable
person on an organic team is the person who can play any position.

A well-functioning organic team is the strongest type of team. It displays synergy - the results
produced by the team are greater than the sum produced by each individual team member.
Synergy occurs because the team uses the strengths of each member while minimizing the
weaknesses of each. However, to be successful, this type of team requires substantial self-
discipline. It also requires the team members to make their egos subservient to the welfare of
the team.

The organic team is often used in situations where all of the team members know how to
carry out the responsibilities of each of the team members. This type of team involves an
intimate knowledge of the other team members. Team members who have worked together
for a long time often function as an organic team. However, if one person persists in being in
charge, or if teammates will not support each other, an organic team will not function
properly.