Module II Individual

Behavior
Individual Differences
Personality And Theories
Of Personality
 PERSONALITY
• It refers to the set of traits & behaviors that characterize an
individual.

• An individual’s personality is both inherited as well as

shaped by the environment.

• Our personality is partly inherited genetically from our

parents.

• However, these genetic personality characteristics are

altered somewhat by life’s experiences.
 DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

• Heredity
• Environment
• Family
• Situational
• Social
Heredity
• The attributes of personality like physique, eye
color, hair color, height, temperament, energy
level, intelligence etc. depend on the parents of
an individual.
• The heredity approach suggests that an
individual’s personality depends on the
molecular structure of the genes, present in the
chromosomes.
Environment
• Environment includes culture which influences
norms, attitudes, & values that are passed
along from one generation to the next.
• Most cultures expect different behaviours from
males & females.
• These factors determine an individual’s views
about life, both positive and negative.
Family
• An individual’s personality is largely dependent
on his family.
• Family greatly affects an individual’s behavior
especially in the early stages of life.
• The type of influence depends on social and
economic status of the family, family size,
religion, parent’s education and geographic
location.
Situational
• Factors related to situation also play a very important
role in determining the personality of an individual.
• Every person has different experiences in his/her life.
• Some of these experiences play an important role in
determining an individual’s personality.
• For example – a deep shock faced by an individual in
childhood may change his/her personality.
Social
• Groups & organisations exercise their due role in
personality development.
• This is commonly called the socialisation process.
• Socialisation starts with the initial contact between a
mother & her infant.
• After infancy, other members of the immediate family
(father, brothers, sisters & close relatives) followed by
the social groups (school friends, & members of the
working group) play influential roles.
INTUITION, JUGEMENT, PERCEPTION
& SENSATION (MBTI)
 INTRODUCTION
• During the 1920’s, the Swiss psychologist Carl
Jung proposed a personality theory that identifies
the way people prefer to perceive their environment.
• Twenty years later, the mother & daughter team of
Katherine Briggs & Isable Briggs – Myers
developed the Myers – Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI).
• Mainly used in the employee hiring process.
• Also used in team building
 DIMENSIONS
• Extroversion/Introversion

• Sensing/Intuition

• Thinking/Feeling

• Judging/Perception
 Extroversion/Introversion

• People who prefer extroversion tend to act,

then reflect, then act further.

• If they are inactive, their motivation tends to

decline.
• To rebuild their energy, extroverts need breaks
from time ,spent in reflection.
• Those who prefer introversion prefer to reflect,
then act, then reflect again.
• To rebuild their energy, introverts need quiet
time alone, away from activity.
• Extroverts are "action" oriented, while introverts are
"thought" oriented.

• Extroverts often prefer more "frequent" interaction,

while introverts prefer more "substantial" interaction.

• Extroverts recharge and get their energy from

spending time with people, while introverts recharge
and get their energy from spending time alone.
 Sensing/Intuition

• Sensing types use an organised structure to

acquire factual & preferably quantitative
details.
• In contrast, intuitive people, collect information
non- systematically.
• They rely more on their intuition & even
inspiration.
• Sensors are capable of synthesising large
volumes of data & draw quick conclusions.
 Thinking / feeling
• Thinking types rely on the cause – effect
logic to make decisions.

• They weigh the evidence unemotionally.

• Feeling types, instead consider how their

choices affect others.
• The realities of organisational life often evoke
emotions that play a dominant role in a
manager’s behavior.

• Fear of failure, fear of the laws, excitement

about a product, anger at another person, are
examples of emotional forces that appear in
the day-to-day life of a firm.
 Judging/ perceiving
• Some people prefer order & structure in their
relationship with their outer world.

• These judging types enjoy the control of decision

making & want to resolve problems quickly.

• In contrast, perceiving types are more flexible.

• They like to adapt spontaneously to events as they

unfold & want to keep their options open.
• To be effective as a manager, one needs to
operate at times in perceiving mode & at times
in a judging mode.

• The tensions that develop between Perceivers

& Judges can be sources of conflict in
organisations.
 OTHER PERSONALITY TRAITS
• Authoritarianism
• Locus of Control – Internal (individual’s belief that events are
within one’s control) & External (determined by forces beyond one’s
control, less satisfied with their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates)

• Machiavellianism - Individual’s propensity to manipulate people,

prone to participate in organisational politics

• Introversion Extroversion

• Achievement orientation – Employees with a high need to achieve

continually strive to do things better.
• Self esteem
• Risk taking
• Self monitoring
• Type A & Type B personalities – self study
ACTIVITY
 BIG5 Factors

• The Big Five personality traits are five broad

domains or dimensions of personality that are
used to describe human personality.

• They are -
openness ,conscientiousness,
extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.
 Extroversion
• Extroversion reflects a person’s comfort level with
relationships.
• Extroverts are sociable, talkative, assertive & open to
establishing new relationships.
• Introverts are less sociable, less talkative, less
assertive & more reluctant to begin relationships.
 Agreeableness
• Agreeableness refers to a person’s ability to
get along with others.
• Highly agreeable people value harmony more
than they value their say or their way.
• They are cooperative.
• People who score low on agreeableness, focus
more on their own needs than the needs of
others.
 Conscientiousness

• It refers to the number of goals that a person

focuses on.
• A highly conscientious person focuses on
relatively few goals at one time.
• He or she is likely to be organised, systematic,
careful, thorough, responsible, self –
disciplined & achievement oriented.
• A person with a low conscientious nature tends
to focus on a higher number of goals at one
time.

• Consequently, the individual is more

disorganised, careless & irresponsible
 Emotional stability
• It focuses on an individual’s ability to cope
with stress.
• The individual with positive emotional
stability tends to be calm, enthusiastic &
secure.
• A person with low emotional stability tends to
be nervous, depressed & insecure.
 OPENNESS
• It addresses one’s range of interests.
• Extremely open people are fascinated by novelty
(something new) & innovation.
• They are willing to listen to new ideas & to change their
own ideas, beliefs & attitudes in response to new
information.
• On the other hand, people with low levels of openness
tend to be less receptive to new ideas & less willing to
change their minds.
• They also tend to have fewer & narrow interests & be less
curious & creative.
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
• Type
• Trait
• Psychoanalytic
• Social Learning
• Humanistic
 TYPE
William Sheldon, 1940’s
• William Sheldon classified personality according to body type.
He called this a person’s somatotype.

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Somatotypes
• In 1940s, Sheldon proposed a theory about how some body
types are associated with some personality characteristics.
• William Sheldon (1898-1977) was an American Psychologist
who observed the variety of human bodies and temperaments.
• According to him there are three somatotypes: endomorphy,
mesomorphy, and ectomorphy.
Endomorphy
• Focus on the digestive system, particularly the stomach
(endoderm). Has the tendency towards plumpness (fatness),
corresponds to, love of comfort and luxury

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Mesomorphy
• Focuses on musculature and circulatory system
(mesoderm), has the tendency towards muscularity,
courageous, energetic, active, dynamic, assertive,
aggressive, risk later.
Ectomorphy
• Ectomorphy focused on the nervous system and the
brain (ectoderm) – the tendency towards slightness,
artistic, sensitive, apprehensive, introvert.

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a) Endomorphic Body Type:
• Round shaped
• Over-developed digestive system
Associated personality traits:
• Love for food
• Tolerant
• Love for comfort
• Sociable
• Good humored
• Relaxed
• Need for affection

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b) Mesomorphic Body Type
• muscular body
• Overly mature appearance
• Upright posture
Associated personality traits
• Adventurous
• Desire for power and dominance
• Courageous
• Bold
• Zest for physical activity
• Competitive
• Love of risk

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c) Ectomorphic Body Type
• Thin
• Delicate build
• Young appearance
• Tall
• Lightly muscled

Associated personality traits

• Self-conscious
• Preference for privacy
• Introverted
• Inhibited(Shy)
• Socially anxious
• Artistic
• Mentally intense
• Reserved

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 TRAIT THEORY
• A personality trait is understood as being an
enduring attribute of a person that appears
consistently in a variety of situations.
• A trait of an individual is abstracted from his
behavior, & serves an useful ‘unit of analysis’
to understand personality.
• It is important to remember that traits are
reactions, not something a person ‘possesses’.
• One doesnot possess shyness, he feels & acts
shy under certain circumstances.
• Actually, he may behave in a different manner
in some other circumstances or at some other
time.
• What is important is what he does typically.
• Psychologists working in the area of trait
theory are concerned with:
a) Determining the basic traits that provide a
meaningful description of personality.
b) Finding some way to measure them.
• There are two ways of assessing personality
traits:
a) The person describes himself by answering
questions about his attitudes, feelings &
behaviours.
b) Someone else evaluates the person’s traits
either from what he knows about the
individual or from direct observations of
behaviour.
• With the first method, a personality inventory
is most often used, whereas the second
usually involves using a rating scale.
• A personality inventory is essentially a
questionnaire in which the person reports
reactions or feelings in certain situations.
• A personality inventory asks the same
questions of each person, & the answers are
usually given in a form that can be easily
rated.
• A personality inventory may be designed to
measure a single dimension of personality
(such as introversion, extroversion) or it may
measure several personality traits
simultaneously.
• A rating scale is a device for recording
judgement about a trait.
• The rating scale is filled up by someone else
by what he or she knows about the individual
or by studying his or her behaviour in certain
situations.
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
 Freud’s Psychoanalytic
Theory
Sigmund Freud, M.D.,a Viennese physician who
thought his patients’ problems were more emotional
than physical.

More than 100 years later, his work is still influential

• Freud linked the mind to an iceberg – only a
small segment of which protruded above the
surface of the water.
• This small portion of the mind represents
conscious experience, while the much larger
mass below water level represents the
unconscious - a storehouse of impulses,
passions & instincts that affect our thoughts &
behaviour.
• It was this unconscious portion of the mind
that Freud sought to explore, & he did so by
the method of free association.
• The method requires that the person talks
about everything that comes into the conscious
mind, no matter how ridiculous or trivial (of
little value or importance) it might seem.
• By analysing free association, Freud sought to
identify the basic determinants of personality.
The Id, Ego, and Superego
Id: Innate (natural) biological instincts and urges.
• Works on Pleasure Principle: Wishes to have its desires
(pleasurable) satisfied NOW, without waiting and regardless
of the consequences

Ego: Executive; directs id energies

• Works on Reality Principle: Delays action until it is practical
and/or appropriate
 The Id, Ego, and Superego,
continued

Superego: Representation of the values & morals of

society as taught to the child by parents & others.
•Two parts
- Conscience: Reflects actions for which a person has
been punished (e.g., what we shouldn’t do or be)
- Ego Ideal: Second part of the superego; reflects
behavior one’s parents approved of or rewarded (e.g.,
what we should do or be)
 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
• Social learning theorists believe that since an
individual can make use of complex symbolic
processes to code & store his observations in
memory, he can learn by observing the actions
of others & by noting the consequences of
those actions.
• A person’s action in a given situation depends
upon the specific characteristics of a situation,
the individual’s understanding of the situation
& past behaviour in similar situations (or
observations of others in similar situations)
• Some of the personal variables that
determine what an individual will do in a
particular situation include the following:
a) Competencies: Intelligence ability, social
skills, & other abilities.
b) Cognitive Strategies: Habitual ways of
selectively attending to information &
organising it into meaningful units.
• Outcome expectations: Expectations about the
consequences of different behaviours & the
meaning of certain stimuli.
• Subjective value outcome: Even if individuals have
similar expectancies, they may choose to behave
differently because of differences in the subjective
values of the outcomes they expect. Two students
may expect that a certain behaviour will please the
professor, but for one this outcome is important,
while for the other it is not.
• Self regulatory systems & plans: Individual
differences in self imposed goals, rules guiding
behaviour, self imposed rewards for success or
punishment for failure, & ability to plan &
execute steps leading to a goal will lead to
differences in behaviour.
 THE HUMANISTIC
APPROACH
• Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow are credited
with the humanistic theory of personality.
 Maslow’s Theory
• Abraham Maslow is considered father of the
humanistic movement.
• Hierarchy of needs: the motivational
component of Maslow’s theory, in which our
innate needs, which motivate our actions, are
hierarchically arranged.
• Self-actualization: the fullest realization of a
person’s potential
Graphic: Hierarchy of Needs
 Characteristics of
Self-Actualized People
• Efficient perceptions of reality
• Comfortable acceptance of self, others, and nature
• Spontaneity
• Profound interpersonal relationships
• Comfort with solitude (the state or situation of being
alone)
• Peak experiences
Carl Roger’s Self Theory
Carl Rogers: American psychologist; believed that personality
formed as a result of our strivings to reach our full human
potential.
Fully Functioning Person: Lives in harmony with his/her
deepest feelings and impulses
Self-Image: Total subjective perception of your body and
personality
Conditions of Worth: behaviors and attitudes for which other
people, starting with our parents, will give us positive regard.
Positive Self-Regard: Thinking of oneself as a good, lovable,
worthwhile person
SHAPING OF PERSONALITY
Personality Development

According to Freud, personality develops in stages; everyone

goes through same stages in same order. Majority of
personality is formed before age 6
Erogenous Zone: Area on body capable of producing
pleasure
Fixation: Unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up caused by
overindulgence or frustration
 Stages of
Personality Development
Oral Stage: Ages 0-1. Most of infant’s pleasure comes from stimulation
of the mouth. If a child is overfed or frustrated, oral traits will develop.
• Oral Dependent Personality: Gullible (easily persuaded to believe
something) and need lots of attention.
• Erogenous zone: mouth (oral)
Anal Stage: Ages 1-3. Attention turns to process of elimination. Child
can gain approval or express aggression by letting go or holding on.
Harsh or lenient toilet training can make a child either:
• Anal Retentive
• Anal Aggressive
 Stages of Personality
Development, continued
Phallic Stage: Ages 3-6. Child now notices and is physically attracted
to opposite sex parent. Can lead to:
• Oedipus Complex: This is a reflection of Freud’s belief that a child
both loves & hates his parents, with these feelings being strongest
towards the parent of the same sex as the child.
• If the oedipus complex is not successfully resolved, severe anxiety &
guilt feelings may affect normal personality development.
 Stages of Personality
Development, continued
Latency: Ages 6 or seven (the elementary school age) is very
important for the social development of the child for acquiring the
knowledge & skills needed to get along in today’s world. Child loses
interest in sexual matters.

Genital Stage: Puberty-on. Realization of full adult sexuality occurs

here; sexual urges re-awaken.
 Erikson’s Stages
• Infancy
• Early Childhood
• Play Age
• School Age
• Puberty & Adolescence
• Young Adulthood
• Middle Adulthood
• Late Adulthood
 John Piaget Stages – Self
study
• Sensorimotor
• Preoperational
• Concrete Operational
• Formal Operational
 Chris Argyris
• Immaturity to maturity
 PERCEPTION
• It is the process of receiving information about
& making sense of the world around us.
• It involves deciding which information to
notice, how to categorise this information, &
how to interpret it within the framework of our
existing knowledge.
 FEATURES OF PERCEPTION
 Sensory Experience: Perception is our sensory experience of
the world around us and involves both the recognition of
environment stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli.

 Subjective: Perception is a subjective process because

different people may look at the same event from different
angles and interpret the same in multifarious ways.

 Filter: Perception serves like a filter through which

information passes before it has an effect on people.
 Unique Interpretation: Perception is a unique
interpretation of the situation.

 Basis of Human Behavior: There can be no behavior

without perception and perception lies at the base of
every individual behavior.
 PERCEPTUAL PROCESS

Observation Selection Organization

(ext/int. factors)

Interpretation
I. PERCEPTUAL SELECTION

It is a tendency to filter out information

that is discomforting, that seems irrelevant,
or that contradicts one’s values and beliefs.
ATTENTION FACTORS IN
SELECTION
1. EXTERNAL FACTORS
2. INTERNAL FACTORS

EXTERNAL FACTORS

1. SIZE
2. INTENSITY
3. CONTRAST
4. REPETITION
5. MOTION
6. NOVELTY AND
FAMIIARITY
 SIZE
Larger the Object Higher is the Probability of Getting Noticed.

Ex: Full Page Advertisement in a Newspaper, A Very Tall Person

In Crowd etc.

INTENSITY
The more intense the external
Stimuli the more likely it is to
Be perceived.

Ex: A Loud Noise, Bright

Light etc
 CONTRAST
The external stimuli which stands out against
the background will receive more attention
 REPETITION
A repeated stimuli is more attention drawing
than a single one
Ex: Same advertisement or different advertisement
but for the same product shown again & again.

MOTION
An animated sign attracts more attention than a
billboard
NOVELTY AND FAMILIARITY

A new and unique stimulus will often

be perceived more readily than those
Observed on a regular basis.

Ex: an elephant walking along a city street is

noticed instantly.
INTERNAL FACTORS

1. PERSONALITY
2. EXPERIENCE
3. VALUES AND BELIEFS
4. EXPECTATIONS
5. LEARNING
 PERSONALITY

Personality also affects what is to be perceived

Ex: a person with positive self concept is likely

to notice positive attributes in another person.

The person who believes they

can do something
is probably right....
And who believes they can’t
do they can't.
 EXPERIENCE
Successful experience enhance and boost the
perceptive abilities and lead to accuracy in
perception of a person where failure comes
in the way of self confidence.

It creates an expectancy which makes him see

What he wants to see
 VALUES AND BELEIFS
 Information is remembered which is consistent with
our values and attitudes and rest is ignored which is
inconsistent with them.

 Ex: “In spite of all their mistakes, our employees are

doing the best they can”.
 EXPECTATIONS
 Expectations can influence perceptions in what we
will see what we expect to see.

Ex: If we imagine that our boss is unhappy with our

performance, we feel threatened by termination
notice.
[Link] ORGANISING
Perceptual organization is the process by
which people categorize according to their
frame of reference, based on their past
learning and experiences.

Following principles are kept in mind while

organising the information into a meaningful
one. These are:

 Figure ground
 Perceptual grouping
Figure-Ground Differentiation

The tendency to distinguish

and focus on a stimulus that
is classified as figure as
opposed to background.
 Perceptual Constancy
• The perception of elements like size, shape,
color, brightness and location of an object
remains constant & does not change from
people to people.

• For instance, even though the picture of an apple

is printed in black and white, we still perceive
the color of the fruit as red.
 Perceptual Context

Context provides meaning and value to

objects, events, situation and other people.

Different contexts convey different

meanings to people.
PERCEPTUAL INTERPRETATION

• After selecting and organising the stimuli has to

be interpreted in order to make a sensible
meaning.

• Perceiver cant draw any meaning without

interpretation.

• Perceiver uses his assumption of people, things,

object and situation
 PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS
Errors in Perceptual Judgement

Following are Barriers To Perceptual Accuracy:

Barriers to Perceptual Accuracy

• Stereotyping Halo effect
• Projection Expectancy Effect
• Primacy Effect:First impressions Recency Effect
• Perceptual Defense Attribution
Stereotyping
“Generalizing characteristics on Basis of
Category or Class to which Person Belongs”

Halo Effect
“Drawing a General Impression About an
Individual on the Basis of a Single
Characteristic”
Projection
“ Attribute One’s Own Characteristics to
Other People”

Expectancy Effect
Primacy Effects: First Impressions
• The common adage (short statement) that first
impressions count is technically known as the primacy
effect.
• Generally, the first impression lasts longer unless greatly
contradicted by information received later.

Recency Effect
A generally Accepted fact that if there is a
time lag between the first piece of
information and the last, then the last piece
of information carries more weight. This is
called Recency Effect.
Perceptual Defense
• “Against those stimuli which clash with their
beliefs, values or culture.”

• “People attempt to avoid registering those

stimulus that conflict, threaten or are
unacceptable to them”
 ATTRIBUTION THEORY
• “ Assigning to a cause or source”
• The way in which people explain the cause for
their own or others behavior

Behaviour

Internally OR Externally
Caused Caused

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 Factors for Determining Attribution

1. Distinctiveness: Shows different behaviors in

different situations
2. Consensus: Response is the same as others to
same situation
3. Consistency: Responds in the same way across
time
Role
Role of
of Perception
Perception in
in Decision
Decision
Making
Making Process
Process

 The perception of a situation is central to the decision

making process.

 To make effective decisions a manager must not only

perceive but understand other people.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION

Perception in Decision-making is based on a

person’s internal understanding of reality rather
than reality itself.
LEARNING : INTRODUCTION
• Learning is powerful incentive for many
employees to stick to certain organisations.
• It is not uncommon to listen employees
speaking : “ We stay here not very much for
pay cheques, but we keep learning.”
• Learning has significant impact on individual
behaviour as it influences abilities &
motivation.
• Along with its role in individual behaviour, learning is
essential for knowledge management.

• Knowledge management enhances an organisation’s

capacity to acquire, share & utilise knowledge in
ways that improve its survival & success.

• In today’s fast – changing world, employee who works

is periodically required to learn new knowledge & skills.
 LEARNING: MEANING &
DEFINITION
• Learning is understood as the modification of
behaviour through practice, training or
experience.

• This simple meaning needs to be

supplemented with important components of
learning.
1) Learning involves change

The Change may not be evident until a

situation arises in which the new behaviour can
occur.
2) Learning is reflected in behaviour.

3) The Change in behaviour should occur as a

result of experience or training.
 EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
• This knowledge is organised & can be
communicated from one person to another.

• The information a student receives in a

classroom is mainly an explicit knowledge
because the professor transfers it to the
students.
• Explicit knowledge can be written down &
given to others.

• However, explicit knowledge is only a small

portion of the total knowledge.
 TACIT KNOWLEDGE
• Majority of the people have tacit or implied
knowledge.

• Tacit knowledge is acquired through

observation & direct experience.
• Organisations acquire tacit knowledge when
employees experiment with new technologies
or work on unique problems for clients.

• Most knowledge in organisations is Tacit.

 PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING
• Motivation
• Reinforcement
• Whole Versus Part Learning
• Learning Curves
• Meaningfulness of Material
• Learning Styles
MOTIVAT
ION
REINFORCEMENT,
PUNISHMENT & EXTINCTION
 REINFORCEMENT
• It is the attempt to develop or strengthen
desirable behaviour.
• There are two types-
a) Positive Reinforcement
b) Negative Reinforcement
 POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

• It strengthens & enhances behaviour by the

presentation of positive reinforcers.
• There are -
a) Primary Reinforcers - Satisfy basic
biological needs & include food ,water.
b) Secondary Reinforcers – Most behaviours in
organisations are influenced by secondary
reinforcers.
• These include money, status, appreciation
• An event that functions as a positive
reinforcer at one time or in one context may
have a different effect at another time or in
another place.
• For eg – food may serve as a positive
reinforcer for a person who is hungry, but not
when the person has already had a large meal.
 NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
• An unpleasant event that precedes a
behaviour is removed when the desired
behaviour occurs.

• Supervisors apply negative reinforcement

when they stop criticising employees whose
poor performance has improved.
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

• Fixed Interval (Pay Cheque at the end of each

month)
• Variable Interval (Boss passes by employees
desks at different times on different days)
• Fixed Ratio Schedule – self study
• Variable Ratio Schedule– self study
 EXTINCTION

• If rewards are withdrawn for behaviour that

were previously reinforced, the behaviours
probably will become less frequent & die out.
 WHOLE VERSUS PART LEARNING

• A great deal of work has been done in

psychology of learning to decide whether
learning a whole job is superior to breaking
the job into parts & learning the parts.
• In part learning, the individual is not only
required to learn each individual part but must
be able to combine the separate parts

• No overall conclusion, however, has been

reached in this field.
 LEARNING CURVES
• It is a presentation of the amount learned in
relation to time.

• It represents a generalised learning curve,

which shows the extent to which the rate of
learning increases or decreases with practice.
MEANINGFULNESS OF MATERIAL

• A definite relationship has been established

between learning & meaningfulness of the
subject learnt.

• The more meaningful the material, the better

does learning proceed.
 LEARNING STYLES
• It is the ability of an individual to learn.
• There are 4 styles –
a) Accomodation
b) Divergence
c) Assimilation
d) Convergence
• The four styles are based on two dimensions:
Feeling Versus Thinking & Doing Versus
Observing.
 ACCOMODATOR
• He or she tends to act on gut feeling rather
than on logical analysis.

• He tends to rely more heavily on people for

information while making decisions.
 DIVERGER
• He has the ability to view concrete situations
from different angles.
• When solving problems, diverger enjoys
brainstorming.
• He takes time & analyses many alternatives.
• He is imaginative & sensitive to the needs of
the other people.
 A converger learns He seeks practical
by doing & use for
thinking. information.

CONVERGER
He tends to prefer
When presented
dealing with
with problems &
technical tasks &
making decisions,
problems rather
the converger
than social &
tends to focus on
interpersonal
solutions.
issues.
 ASSIMILATOR

The assimilator is effective

at understanding a wide
An assimilator learns by
range of information &
observing & thinking.
putting into concise &
logical form.
 THEORIES OF LEARNING
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Social Learning
• Cognitive Learning
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Classical conditioning became the subject of
careful study in the early 20th century, when
Ivan Pavlov, a Nobel Prize winning
psychologist from Russia, identified it as an
important behavioural process.
• Pavlov conducted an experiment on a dog &
tried to relate the dog’s salivation & the
ringing of a bell.
• A simple surgical procedure allowed him to
measure accurately the amount of saliva
secreted by the dog.
• When Pavlov presented the dog with a piece
of meat, the dog exhibited a noticeable
increase in salivation.
• When he withheld the presentation of meat &
merely rang a bell, the dog has no salivation.
• Then Pavlov proceeded to link the meat & the
ringing of the bell.
• After repeatedly hearing the bell before
getting the food, the dog began to salivate as
soon as the bell rang.
• After a while, the dog would salivate merely
at the sound of the bell, even if no food was
offered.
• In effect, the dog has learnt to respond
(salivate) to the bell.
• In an organisational setting, we can see
classical conditioning operating.
• For eg – At one Manufacturing plant, every
time the top executives from the head office
would make a visit, the plant management
would clean up the administrative offices, &
wash the windows.
• This went on for years.
• Eventually employees, would turn on their
best behaviour & look prim & proper
whenever the windows were cleaned even in
those occasions when the cleaning was not
paired with the visit from the top executives.
• People had learnt to associate the cleaning
of the windows with the visit from the head
office.
 OPERANT CONDITIONING
• Also called instrumental conditioning, refers
to the process that our behaviour produces
certain consequences & how we behave in the
future will depend on what those
consequences are.

• If our actions, have pleasant effects, then we

will be more likely to repeat them in the
future.
• If however, our actions have unpleasant
effects, we are less likely to repeat them in the
future.
• Operant conditioning emphasises voluntary
behaviours.
• Researchers call them “ operant behaviour”
because they operate on the environment
(hence the term operant) – they make the
environment respond in ways that we want.
• For eg – You insert a coin in a coffee vending
machine & press a certain button so that the
machine will give a cup of coffee.

• You learnt from past experience how to cause

the environment (the machine)to deliver a cup
of coffee.
COGNITIVE THEORY OF LEARNING

Cognitive process assumes that people are

conscious, active participants in how they
learn.
• First, people draw on their experiences & use
past learning as a basis for present behaviour.
• For eg – an employee faced with a choice of
job assignment will use previous experiences,
in deciding which one to accept.
• Second, people make choices about their
behaviour.
• The employee recognises his or her two
alternatives & chooses one.
• Third, people recognise the consequences of
their choices.
• Thus, when the employee finds the job
assignments rewarding & fulfilling, he or she
will recognise that the choice was a good one
& will understand why.
• Faced with the same job choices next year, the
employee very likely will choose the same
one.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
• Also called observational learning, social
learning theory emphasizes the ability of an
individual to learn by observing others.

• The important models may include parents,

teachers, peers, TV artists, bosses & others.
• An individual acquires new knowledge by
observing what happens to his or her model.

• This is popularly known as Vicarious learning.

 RELEVANCE IN OB
• A great deal of what is learned about how to
behave in organisations can be explained as
the result of the process of observational
learning.

• A new hire acquires job skills by observing

what an experienced employee does.
• Observational learning also occurs in a very
informal manner.
• For instance, people who experience the
norms & traditions of their organisations &
who subsequently incorporate these into their
own behaviour may be recognised as having
learnt through observation.
• Social learning enhances the self efficacy of
the learner.

• Self efficacy refers to a person’s belief that he

or she has the ability, motivation, & situational
contingencies (a future event or circumstance
which is possible but cannot be predicted with
certainty) to complete a task successfully.
• People strong in self efficacy have a ‘can do’
attitude towards a specific task & more
generally with other challenges in life.
• Social learning increases self efficacy because
people gain self confidence after observing
some one else do it than they are simply told
what to do.
• This is particularly true when observers
identify with the model, such as someone who
is similar in age, experience, gender & related
features.
• Another benefit from observational learning is
that it enables employees to shape behaviours
that benefit the organisation.
• Shaping is based on the principle that a little
can eventually go a long way.

• Subjects receive a reward for each small step

towards a final goal – the target response
rather than only for final response.
• Initially actions, even remotedly resembling
the target behaviour termed successive
approximations are followed by a reward.
• Gradually, closer & closer approximations of
the final target behaviour are required before
the reward is given.
• Shaping, helps organisms acquire or construct
new & more complex forms of behaviour from
simple behaviour.

• Managers can shape employee behaviour by

systematically reinforcing each successive
steps that moves the individual closer to the
desired response.
• If an employee, for example, who has been
chronically a half hour late for work comes in
only twenty minutes late , the boss can
reinforce that improvement.
• Reinforcement would increase as responses
more closely approximate the desired
behaviour.
BEHAVIOR
REINFORCEMENT
 • Respect
• Responsibility
• Integrity (the quality of being
honest)
• Resilience (the capacity to
withstand or to recover quickly
Values from difficulties)
• Care
• Harmony (the state of being in
agreement )
 Nurturing Good values

By conducting
Providing children
sessions where
with animated
achievers come Giving them
stories of
and share their inspiring novels.
renowned
experiences with
leaders.
the children
 As a parent…

• Be a role model
• Talk about your values and why they are important to
you.
• Appreciate your child when he/she expresses good
values
• Involve the child in social work
• Volunteer for community service projects as a family
• [Link]
rmer-chhayarani-sahu-distributes-free-vegeta
bles-appeals-on-social-media-to-help-needy/
TYPES OF MIS-BEHAVIORS
• Misbehavior that benefit self: This is a
misbehavior that is usually intended to victimize
the organization, it is mostly internal to the
organization. It can be in three major groups
a) the work itself (example- data manipulation)
b) misuse of the organization’s property and
resources (example- theft or resale of product
secrets)
c) harassment of staff members.
• Misbehavior that tends to benefit
members of the employing organization: This
could be actions taken by the employees that
benefits themselves as employees and the
organization as a whole, but are targeted at
external victims. This may include customers

• Example is giving bribe to speed up

approvals
• Misbehavior that inflicts damage or
destructive: This misbehavior is destructive,
inflicts damage, also violates the well being
and survival of the organization. It usually
involves members of the organization who
deliberately set out to cause damage or
destruction.
• Intrapersonal (example- workplace problem
drinking, drug abuse, workaholic behavior)
• Interpersonal (example- sexual harassment,
aggressive behavior and bullying)
• Political (misuse of power, favoritism)
MANAGEMENT
INTERVENTION
THEORIES OF EMOTIONS
EVOLUTION THEORY OF
EMOTIONS - DISCUSSION
 James-Lange Theory

• Generally it is believed that the physiological

changes associated with emotion follow the
conscious experience of the individual.
• Accordingly, we cry because we are sad, we
run because we are afraid, we fight because
we are angry.
• Thus, emotion produces necessary
physiological changes.

• But American psychologist William James

and Danish physiologist Carl Lange proposed
that the physiological changes give rise to
corresponding emotional experiences.
• This theory proposes that we perceive the
situation, we react and then we notice our
emotions.

• However, many objections are raised against

this theory
 Cannon-Bard Theory
• Walter B Cannon and Philip Bard proposed a new
theory, on the basis of their findings by conducting
operations on various parts of brain, including
hypothalamus and cerebral cortex.
• According to this theory, the felt emotion and bodily
reactions in emotion are triggered simultaneously.
• These theorists propose that, the cerebral cortex
receives the sensory input from the environment,
processes it and then passes the results to the
thalamus.
• Then the thalamic activity produces the
emotional experience
• Impulses are sent simultaneously to the
cerebral cortex and peripheral nervous
system.
• Thus, the stimulus and the response to the
stimulus are experienced at the same time
 Cognitive Theory

• Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer

proposed this theory in 1962.
• This is also known as ‘cognitive appraisal
theory’, because the intensity of emotion
depends upon the cognitive appraisal of the
situation.
• These theorists state that generalized
physiological excitation is the characteristic of
emotional state.

• Thus, people experience internal arousal,

seek an explanation for it, identify an external
cue and finally label the cue.
• For example, a person labels and understands his
feelings as anger, fear, joy in terms of the nature
of the event that trigger the emotion, and his
understanding or interpretation of that event.
• If the situation involves the presence of a snake,
he interprets the arousal of fear, whereas if it
involves someone using his camera for recording,
he would interpret as anger.
Watson’s theory of emotion
• Watson's belief was that children have only
three human emotions: love, rage ( anger),
and fear.

• His objective was to prove that he could

artificially condition these emotions into the
child, which proved somewhat successful
 Emergency theory of
emotions
• The theory that allows us to fight or flight
during an emergency.
• Also called emergency theory.
• "The emergency theory of emotions uses
emotions and changes to prepare for fight or
flight."
HOMEOSTASIS THEORY OF
EMOTIONS – SELF STUDY
EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE – THEORIES
 DEFINITION
• Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as
emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to
understand, use, and manage your own
emotions in positive ways to relieve stress,
communicate effectively, empathize with
others, overcome challenges and defuse
conflict.
 Goleman’s EI Performance Model (Faltas,
2017)

• According to Goleman, EI is a cluster of skills and

competencies, which are focused on capabilities: self-
awareness, relationship management and social
awareness. Goleman argues that these capabilities
form the basis of 12 ‘subscales’ of EI.
• He suggests that these subscales are:
• emotional self-awareness
• emotional self-control
• adaptability
• achievement orientation
• positive outlook
• influence
• coaching and mentoring
• empathy
• conflict management
• teamwork
• organizational awareness
• inspirational leadership
Bar-On’s EI Competencies Model (Faltas, 2017)

• Bar-On put forward the suggestion that EI is a

system of interconnected behavior that arises
from emotional and social competencies. He
argues that these competencies have an
influence on performance and behavior.
• Bar-On’s model of EI consists of various scales:
self-perception, self-expression, interpersonal,
decision-making, and stress management.
• Bar-On also proposed 15 subscales of the EI concept:
• self-regard
• self-actualization
• emotional self-awareness
• emotional expression
• assertiveness
• independence
• interpersonal relationships
• empathy
• social responsibility
• problem-solving
• reality testing
• impulse control
• flexibility
• stress tolerance and
• optimism
• According to Bar-On, these competencies, as
components of EI, drive human behavior and
relationships.
 Mayer, Salovey and Caruso’s EI Ability Model
(Faltas, 2017) – Self Study

• This model suggests that information from the perceived

understanding of emotions and managing emotions is used to
facilitate thinking and guide our decision making. This EI
framework emphasizes the four-branch model of EI.
• The four-branch model
• Mayer and colleagues (2004) developed the four-branch ability model
of EI.
• They suggest that the abilities and skills of EI can be divided into 4
areas – the ability to:
• Perceive emotion (1)
• Use emotion to facilitate thought (2)
• Understand emotions (3), and
• Manage emotion (4).
• Let’s examine each branch:
• This branch involves the perception of emotion,
including being able to identify emotions in the
facial and postural expressions of others. It
reflects non-verbal perception and emotional
expression to communicate via the face and
voice (Mayer et al., 2004).
• Branch 2 includes the ability to use emotions in
order to aid thinking.
• This branch, emotional self-management,
includes an individual’s personality with goals,
self-knowledge and social awareness shaping
the way in which emotions are managed
• According to Mayer, Caruso, and Salovey (2016), these
skills are what define EI.
• In 2016, based on the developments in EI research, Mayer,
Caruso, and Salovey updated the four-branch model. They
included more instances of problem-solving and claimed
that the mental abilities involved in EI do, in fact, remain
to be determined (Mayer et al., 2016).
• Mayer and colleagues suggested that EI is a broad, ‘hot’
intelligence (2008). They include practical, social and
emotional intelligence in their understanding of ‘hot’
intelligences.
• So-called ‘hot’ intelligences are those in which people
engage with subject matter about people (Mayer et al.,
2016). Mayer et al. (2016) invite comparison of EI with
the personal and social intelligences and they contend
that EI can be positioned among these other ‘hot
intelligences’.
• It was argued that the specific abilities that EI consists of
are specific forms of problem-solving (Mayer et al., 2016).
• The four-branch model can be measured using the Mayer-
Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT).