JOHARI WINDOW

Interpersonal behaviour in the form of Johari Window has been developed by

Joseph Luft & Harry Ingham. Johari Window is used for analyzing the
interpersonal conflict & solving them.
It emphasizes on self & others. Self is I or me and Others is you or
they.
The interaction of I and you is studied under the Johari Window. One should
know oneself & others. Knowing oneself includes knowing yourself inorder to
know how do you interact with others, what is your attitude & behaviour towards
others.
The four components of Johari Window are
1) Open self Public arena
2) Hidden Self Private arena
3) Blind Self Blind arena
4) Undiscovered Self Unknown arena
So Johari Window is made up of 4 Quadrants which together represent the total
person in relation to others on the basis of awareness of behaviour, feelings, needs
etc.
Johari Window

Known to
self
Unknown to
self

Known to Others

Unknown to Others

Open Self or
Public

Hidden or
Private

Blind

Unknown

Open self When one knows all about himself & others. There is openness in
behaviour & attitude. Transparency is observed in behaviour. It is called Public
arena. It has less scope for interpersonal conflict.

Hidden self In this, one knows clearly about oneself, but does not understand
others. The person remains hidden because of the fear of being known by others &
being criticized. Hence, a person keeps his feelings secret & does not want to
reveal his feelings & desires to others. It is called Private arena. However, it creates
doubts & chances of interpersonal conflicts are increased.
Blind self In this, one is not fully known to oneself, but is known to others. For
eg. the leader is unknown to self but is known to others. It is unknown to the
leader because followers are unwilling to share feedback or communicate with the
leader. Unknowingly or knowingly, the leader shuts his eyes to the available data
or information. The people are unwilling to tell the truth to him. There is no
conflict at present, but it could aggravate problems & holds potential threat of
interpersonal conflicts.
Unknown arena The person does not know about himself & others. He is in the
dark about the real problem. The unknown facts can seriously influence the
situation. Doubts increase & conflicts are bound to incur because of
misunderstanding.
The Johari Window points out the interpersonal styles & possible interpersonal
conflict situations. It solves conflicts through
1) Feedback
2) Disclosure
3) Self-Perception
4) Late Strategies
1) Feedback All the four arenas should be directed through feedback. The
leader in an organisation requires verbal or non-verbal feedback from his
followers, subordinates should be encouraged to provide feedback. Public
arena i.e. known to others and unknown to self. Thus the superiors get a
feedback from the public arena, subordinates express their feelings &
perceptions. Feelings should be heard & accepted. This removes the doubts
& misunderstanding & increases mutual trust and confidence. Without
feedback, managers are always in the dark and dont realize that
subordinates should be treated as family members. Feedback reduces the
blind arena of the manager.

Known to others
Known to self

Unknown to
self

Unknown to others

Public

Private

Blind

Unknown

Feedback Process
2) Disclosure It is the extent to which a leader willingly shares his feelings
with others. The subordinates should be looked at from their viewpoints.
Only then can the manager really understand them & have them understand
his feelings.
Potential conflict is reduced by disclosing relevant information about
oneself. However, all disclosures are not useful perception should be
exercised while disclosing the data. Disclosure is effective when all the
people (managers, employees) are treated at par. This way their feelings &
attitudes are comparable. They have mutual trust & confidence in each other.
Disclosure & Feedback decreases the unknown arena, known as the black
spot.
Known to
Self

Unknown
to self

Public

Blind

Private

Unknown

Effect of feedback & Disclosure

The public arena is increased by decreasing the blind arena through feedback
& the private arena through disclosure. It increases the interpersonal
behaviour & creates a healthy atmosphere in the organisation. Hence, both

the areas of known to self & known to others should be increased to create a
congenial atmosphere in the organisation.
3) Self-Perception Self perception of the manager means that he knows
himself well as he himself enters the public & private arena. It means that
his leadership style is known to him & his subordinates.
Known to others Unknown to others
Known to
self

Public

Private

Unknown to
self

Blind

Unknown
Self Perception

The leadership style is known to the manager as well as to others, doubly

conveying the public arena. This is called as lead self. It is assumed that the
perception of self & others is equally known to them.
It self-perception is more than the perception by others, the public arena will
be smaller & the opposite is also true.