UNIT 8 PERSONALITY AND EMOTIONS

Structure

8.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Definition of Personality
1.3 Determinants of Personality
1.4 Personality Traits and Types
1.4.1 Personality Traits
1.4.2 Personality Types
8.5 Personality Theories
8.5.1 Psychoanalytic Theory
8.5.2 Self Theory
8.5.3 Social Learning Theory
8.6 Models of Men
8.7 Personality Attributes Influencing Organisational Behaviour
8.8 Definition of Emotion
8.9 Applications of Emotion
8.10 Let Us Sum Up
8.11 Key Words
8.12 Terminal Questions

8.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• define personality;
• explain the determinants of personality;
• identify the traits and types of personality;
• examine various theories of personality;
• describe the characteristics of various men;
• identify the attributes influencing the organisational behaviour;
• define emotions; and
• analyse the applications of emotions.

8.1 INTRODUCTION
Personality is the complex set of various factors. The general meaning of personality is the external
appearance. However, mere external appearance does not determine the personality of an individual. A host
of factors determines individuals’ personality. Interestingly personality is not developed spontaneously. It is
developed over a period of time. A man is born with certain physical and mental qualities and the
environment further shapes his or her personality. Several personality theories have been developed to
provide an understanding of the personality of an individual. In this unit, you will learn the definition and
determinants of personality, the personality traits and types, theories of personality and the nature of man. It
also explains the attributes that influence personality. You will further learn the concept and the applications
of emotions in the organisation.
2.2 DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY
Personality is an important aspect in understanding the human beings that are the most important resources
of an organisation. They provide life to other resources for the accomplishment of goals and objectives.
Human energy makes all the difference in organisations. Personality determines the human energy. It
provides an opportunity to understand the individuals, properly direct their energy and motivate them in a
proper manner. Personality is the study of the characteristic traits of an individual, the inter relations between
them and the way in which a person responds and adjust to other people and situations. Gordon Allport
defined personality as the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychophysical systems that
determine his unique adjustments to his environment. Kolasa defined personality as a broad, amorphous
designation relating to fundamental approaches of persons to others and themselves. It is the study of the
characteristic traits of an individual, relationships between these traits, and the way in which a person adjust
to other people and situations. Stephen P. Robbins has defined personality as the sum total of ways in which
an individual reacts and interacts with others.

These definitions reveal that the personality has the following characteristics.

• Personality refers to both physical and psychological qualities of an individual.

• It is unique in the sense that no two individuals are same in terms of their personality.
• Personality is the manner of adjustment of individual to the organisation, environment and the group.
• It is a qualitative aspect. Certain techniques exist to quantify it indirectly.
• Personality is dynamic. It changes with the time and situation.
• Personality is a system. It has input, processing and output mechanisms.
• Personality influences goal achievement and performance of an individual.

2.3 DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

Personality is an intangible concept. It is complex as it is related to the cognitive and psychological process.
It is believed that a man is born with certain physical and mental qualities but the environment in which he is
brought up shapes his personality. A number of factors determine the personality of individual i.e., biological
factors, family factors, environmental factors and situational factors. Let us learn them in detail.

Biological Factors: Biological factors are related to human body. Three factors: heredity, brain and physical
features are considered as relevant. They are explained below.

i) Heredity: Heredity refers to those qualities transmitted by the parents to the next generation. These
factors are determined at conception. Certain factors of personality inherited are : physical stature, facial
attractiveness, gender, colour of skin, hair and eye balls, temperament, muscle composition, sensitivity,
skills and abilities, intelligence, energy level and biological rhythms.
ii) Brain: Brain is influenced by biological factors. Structure and composition of brain plays an
important role in shaping personality. There are few empirical findings to state that the brain influences
the personality.
iii) Physical Features: The physical features and rate of maturation influence personality. The rate of maturity
is related to the physical stature. It is believed that an individual’s external appearance has a tremendous
effect on personality. For instance height, colour, facial attraction, muscle strength influences ones’ self-
concept.

Family Factors: The family factors are also important in determining personality of an individual. Three major
factors: viz., the socialisation process, identification process and birth order influence the personality.

i) Socialisation Process: Socialisation is a process of acquiring wide range of behaviour by an infant

from the enormously wide range of behavioural potentialities that are open to him at birth. Those
behaviour patterns are customary and acceptable according to the standards of his family and social
groups. Members of the family compel the infant to conform to certain acceptable behaviour.

ii) Identification Process: Shaping of personality starts from the time the identification process
commences. Identification Process occurs when a person tries to identify himself with some person
whom he feels ideal in the family. Normally a child tries to behave as his father or mother.

iii) Birth Order: Birth order is another significant variable influencing the personality of an individual.
For instance first born are likely to be more dependent, more rational, ambitious, hardworking,
cooperative, and more prone to guilt, anxiety and are less aggressive.

Environmental Factors: Environmental factors are those, which exists in and around the individual. They
are social and cultural factors. Culture determines human decision-making, attitudes, independence:
dependence, soberness: aggression, competition, co-operation and shyness. There are two vital aspects of
culture. Firstly, conformity by the individual and secondly, acceptance by the larger group. Culture
establishes norms, values and attitudes, which are enforced by different social groups. Individuals are
compelled to behave in conformity to the culture established by the society. Thus, culture and society exert
greater influence in shaping the personality of an individual.
Situational Factors: In recent years, the influence of situational factors on personality is increasingly
recognised. Generally an individual’s personality is stable and consistent, it changes in different situations.
A study conducted by Milgram suggested that actions of an individual are determined by the situation. He
states that situation exerts an important influence on the individual. It exercises constraints and may provide
push to the individual.

Thus it is clear from the above discussion that hosts of factors exert influence in shaping the personality of
an individual. Therefore, one has to understand personality as a holistic system.

8.4 PERSONALITY TRAITS AND TYPES

Identification of personality is closely associated with the identification of traits. It is based on the
proposition that personality is a culmination of whole person. Traits are combination of actions and
reactions of an individual. It can be understood as relatively distinguishable characteristics that describe
behaviour. Let us learn personality traits and types in detail.
8.4.1 Personality Traits
1) Allport’s Trait Theory: Gordon Allport has identified a number of traits to describe complex
behaviour of human personality. He classified traits into two categories. Common traits and Personal
dispositions.

While common traits are used to compare people, personal dispositions are unique and the most
pervasive attributes describing the complexity of human personality. For providing comparison, six
distinguishing trait orientations are used. They are social, political, economical, aesthetic, religious and
theoretical. For instance social traits emphasises love and affection, care and interest on others and
expression of sympathy. Political trait is related to power consciousness. While economic traits place
emphasis on practical approach and cost and benefits of situation, aesthetic trait is concerned with
creative and artistic aspects. Whereas, religious trait is related to unity and integrity. On the other hand,
theoretical trait consists of use of rationality and empirical approach. A person possessing theoretical
trait is characterised by the discoverer of critical truth.

2) Cattel’s Trait Theory: Cattels’ theory has developed on a new approach. The traits are identified
into two categories. Surface traits and Source traits. Surface traits are visible outside and appear on the
surface of personality. They are determined largely by underlying source traits. While source trait is a
cause, surface trait is effect. Surface trait is symptom of source trait. Trait theories have recognised the
continuity of personality. The theories have shown the utility of quantitative application in behavioural
sciences. They have great deal of intuitive appeal.

8.4.2 Personality Types

Personality traits provide an understanding of the personality types. Certain personality types identified are
described below :
1) The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: This is called MBTI framework. Sixteen personality types are
identified with the help of answers to 100 questions provided in the test. Some of them are Extroverted
vs. introverted, sensing vs. intuitive, thinking vs. feeling, and perceiving vs. judging etc.
Qualities of a personality type ‘introverted, intuitive, thinking and judging’ possess certain qualities. They
are:
• Possess vision,
• Thinks with original mind,
• Have original ideas,
• Have great drive,
• Skeptical, critical, independent, determined and stubborn.

2) The Big Five Personality Types : Personality dimension is identified in terms of the big five
factors. The types of personality are:
• Extraversion: Giving importance to relationships.
• Agreeableness: Thinking in a different manner.
• Conscientiousness: Possession of reliability.
• Emotional stability: Ability to withstand stress.
• Openness to experience: Interested and fascinated by novelty.
3) Physiognomy Personality Types : William Sheldon has propounded three types of personality based on
the human anatomical or physical structure of persons and psychological characteristics. Physical size of
the body influences the human behaviour and temperaments. The personality types are.

a) Endomorph: Certain characteristics of personality and behaviour associated with the body type are
friendly, concern to people, helping others in troubles, very slow reaction to stimuli. They seek
comfort, have strong inclination to delicious food, etc. The persons who posses these personality
characteristics, are liked by all.

b) Mesomorph: Persons having moderate physical characteristics are known as Mesomorph. The body
is strong and tough. Some of the personality characteristics of this type are: seeks physical
adventure, enjoys body building, feels restless, shows high aggression and self assertiveness, likes to
take risk and develops competitive spirit. The person is liked by virtue of his physique.

c) Ectomorph: Ectomorph body type is characterised by a thin and flat chest. The person is intelligent,
feels shy and avoids social contacts. However, he is typically anxious, ambitious, and dedicated to
his work. He is quick to react and hypersensitive to pain and pleasure.

4) Extrovert-Introvert Personality Types : Carl Jung is the proponent of the theory. The theory used
analytical psychology approach. According to the theory, personality is developed as a process of
creativity. It consists of four phases: thinking, feeling, sensation and intuition. Individual personality is a
mixture of these factors. The theory proposed two personality characteristics on two extreme ends. They
are extrovert and introvert type personality. While extrovert persons are more sociable, introvert persons
are more self-confident and they are guided by their own individual thinking. Extroverts are sociable
and reality oriented individuals. They are performers. On the other hand, introverts are less risk taking
and directive oriented. They require strong motivation and specific directions. While extroverts think in
terms of objective and interactive relationships, the own philosophy and ideology guide the thinking of
introverts.

This theory is very useful in the management of organisational behaviour. Job design, motivation,
leadership styles, career development, training, organisational change, organisational development and
organisational effectiveness are based on the personality characteristics. Introvert is more likely to
perform better in repetitive jobs. Extrovert performs better in dynamic and environmental centred jobs.
Similarly extrovert needs democratic style of leadership and introvert needs more directive oriented
leadership. Thus, the theory is used in developing organisational strategies to deal with individual
employees for increasing organisational effectiveness.

5) Type A and Type B Personality : Type A personality is defined by Friedman and Rosenman as
aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time,
and, if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other persons. They have
defined Type B personality as rarely harried by the desire to obtain a wildly increasing number of things
or participate in a endless growing series of events in an ever decreasing amount of time.

Check Your Progress A

1) List the major characteristics that shaped your personality.

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2) Mention the characteristics of personality and body types you have observed.
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3) Identify the personality types and their characteristic using the Big Five types.
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4) Identify the personality types and their characteristic using the introvert and extrovert types.
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8.5 PERSONALITY THEORIES

In the previous section, you have learnt about the traits and types of personality. Personality theories have
been developed to provide an understanding of the personality of an individual. They help in understanding
the elements that shape out personality. Interestingly society also plays a major role in shaping the
personality of an individual. Personality theories were developed in three streams of thought. They are
psychoanalytic theory, self-theory and social learning theory. While psychoanalytic theory considers that
certain elements in the human brain are responsible for shaping the personality, self-theory explains the
impact of environment on the individual personality. Similarly social learning theory provides that situation
determines the personality. Let us learn them in detail.

1.1.1 Psychoanalytic Theory

i) Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalytic theory. According to him human mind consists of three
elements that are responsible for shaping the personality. They are preconscious, conscious and
unconscious elements. The unconscious state of mind is influenced by hedonistic principle.
Unconscious mental activity determines behaviour. Conscious element is guided by reasoned reality
principle. Freud developed a structure of human mind in order to explain personality. It consists of
three elements known as : Id, Ego and Super ego.

Consciousness is guided by principle of reasoned reality and unconsciousness is ruled by hedonistic

principle of pleasure. According to this approach, personality determines the behavior. The personality
systems of human mental activity are : The Id, The Ego, The Super Ego, and The Libido. They are described
below:

i) The Id: Id is the totality of instincts oriented towards increasing pleasure, avoiding pains and
striving for immediate satisfaction of desires. The personality characteristics of an individual are built
on the foundation of the Id.
ii) The Ego: Ego is the executive part of the personality. It selects the features of the environment and
stores them. It is rational and logical. It is the conscious mediator between realities of world and the
id’s demands.

iii) The Super Ego: Super ego is a moralistic segment of human personality consisting of noblest
thoughts, ideals, feelings developed through absorption of cultural values and attitudes.

iv) The Libido: It is a psychic energy. It makes any system to function. It is dynamic.

According to this theory, wishes are generated by the Id. It compels immediate gratification of these desires.
Otherwise, tension is generated for their gratification. It tries to gratify them by primary process and reflex
action. For example, if an employee is negative, the superior scolds him for not performing the given task.
He is hurt by the words of the superior. Since he cannot be harsh with the superior, he tries to bear
discomfort by withstanding his emotion. He does this by grinding his tooth and bears it. If he fails to
withstand his emotion he tries to share the emotions with his close friends. This is called as primary process
of overcoming the tension. If the primary process fails, energy flows to ego, which provides perception,
thinking, judgment and memory. Then individual decides a particular action. However, while applying
secondary process super ego acts as a judge. Hence, wishes are satisfied by ego according to the values
established by super ego. If ego is able to integrate id and super ego individual gets satisfaction, otherwise it
results into frustration because super ego tries to punish the ego. To continue the example, the employee tries
to introspect himself and learns to work to avoid any discomfort in future. The theory is helpful in
understanding the personality of an individual.

8.5.2 Self Theory

Carl Rogers contributed the self-theory. It is also known as Organism theory or Field theory. The theory
emphasises individual as an initiating, creating, and influenting the determinant of behaviour within the
environmental framework.

Elements of self-theory are explained below:

a) Organism: Organism is the individual. It is the storage of all experiences. Thus forms locus of
reference. It is guided by conscious and unconscious elements. So individual behaviour is caused
by self-evaluation and by experiences.

b) Phenomenal field: Phenomenal field represents totality of all experiences gathered by environmental
interaction. According to the theory fulfilment of self-actualization need is the basic motivator. It is
controlled by environment in which individual lives.

c) Self-concept: Self-concept is an outcome, which forms basis for individual behaviour and personality.
Self is a combination of perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, values and traits. It characterises the concept
of ‘I’ and “Me”. In this context, ‘I’ indicates one’s own psychological process. Hence it is called
personal self. ‘Me’ is related to the thinking of an individual as to how he appears to others. So, it is
called social self. Thus both personal self and social self determine individual behaviour.

Self-theory provides valuable guide in understanding behaviour. The theory is organised around individual
and not around environment, which is uncontrollable.

8.5.3 Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura developed social learning theory. It states that personality is determined by the situation in
which a person interacts. The following are the assumptions of the theory.

According to the theory, a person’s behaviour is determined by the modelling and observational learning
from the environment. A person interacts with the environment. He observes and imitates the stimuli in the
environment. He experiences certain cognition. This cognition is retained. When the same conditions are
reinforced he shows actions. These actions are called behaviour. Bandura described that : It is largely
through their actions that people produce the environmental conditions that affect their behaviour in a
reciprocal fashion. The experiences generated by behaviour also partly determine what a person becomes?
In addition, what he can do? Which in turn affects subsequent behaviour?

Social learning theory provides valuable insights into understanding of personality. The theory considers
environment as determinant of behaviour, rather than an unconscious element, which is considered as
determining behaviour. Thus, it suggests that by controlling environment, behaviour can be modified
suitable to organisational process.

Check Your Progress B

1) Observe persons you know very closely and write down the characteristics of Id, Ego, and Super
Ego.
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2) Mention certain personality characteristics you have learnt from the experiences of society.

Social Experience Personality characteristics

8.6 MODELS OF MEN

Individuals are vital resources in any organisational activity. Therefore, their behaviour considerably
influences the functioning of an organisation. Assumptions made about people to larger extent help the
practicing manager to understand, predict and control the behaviour. Edgar Schein has identified four model
of man. They are: Rational Economic man model, Social man model, Self-actualising man model, and
Complex man model . William Whyte used organisation man model. Let us learn them in detail.
i) Rational Economic Man Model: Classical theories have coceptualised the rational economic man model.
It is the oldest model. It is based on the principle of maximisation of self-interest. According to this
model, an individual makes a balance between costs and benefits of his actions. He is more
concerned with calculation of value for his effort in terms of economic rewards and maximising it.
Economic rewards regulate the behaviour. Rational Economic model presumes that man is
motivated by economic rewards and his behaviour can be controlled by variation in economic
rewards. Thus, it is relevant in designing appropriate strategies of motivation and control. It is
helpful in determining reward systems. It suggests that human energy is extracted by providing more
monetary rewards. As increased economic rewards induce production, there is no conflict between
management and workers. This leads to creation of good industrial relations system. This model
considered as a realistic description of human behaviour. Even today, this model is relevant for
understanding man.

ii) Organisational Man Model: William Whyte advocated the concept of organisational man. An
organisational man sacrifices for the sake of organisations’ interest. An individual possessing a belief
that social satisfaction is powerful tool to achieve objectives instead of competitive struggle falls under
this category. Organisational man model suggests that individual behaviour is oriented towards loyalty,
belongingness, conformity and sacrifice of individual interest in the realisation of organisational goals.
So individual attitude is developed towards resolving conflicts. Organisational man model is helpful in
creation of an organisational structure to provide satisfaction to individuals. Therefore, organisational
strategies take care of people’s interest. Leadership is highly democratic. Communication is open and
controls are based on self-controls rather than fact controls. Motivation is positive and commitment is
ensured.

iii) Social Man Model: Social man model is an outgrowth of empirical behavioural research and
development of human relations movement. Elton Mayo, Kurt Lewin, McGregor have popularised and
used this model. It is based on the concept of social relationships. According to this model group
pressures, norms and sanctions direct individual actions. Individual is motivated by social rewards and
his satisfaction is measured in terms of his status among group members. Therefore, employees accept
 management orders as long as they are congruent with group norms. Social man model is helpful in
designing the organisation structure, communication techniques, motivation systems, and rewards. It
suggested an organisational structure based on employees concern and freedom oriented rather than strict
division of labour as suggested by the rational economic model. The leader should be facilitator,
supporter and creator. His attitude is supposed to be democratic or consultative in order to motivating
people. The communication should be two ways. The behaviour is analysed with reference to groups.
Hence, according to this model greater output can be achieved by showing more attention to employee’s
welfare and diverting the system to employees concern than structure.

iv) Self Actualizing Man Model: Concept used in organisation man model and social man model gave
rise to the development of self actualizing man model. Self-actualizing means to use the capacity of
becoming what an individual is capable of becoming. Therefore, it suggested that men engage in
innovations, creations, and dynamism. Individual releases his full potential energy to achieve his final
goal.

Self-actualizing model suggested that the organisation structure is to be designed based on autonomy.
The reward and incentive system is based on intrinsic factors rather than physical energy. The leadership
style practiced is democratic or participation oriented in order to use creativity of people to the utmost
possible extent.

v) Complex Man Model : Complex man model is of recent origin. It assumes that an individual is
unpredictable in his behaviour. According to the model human being is complex mixture of needs, goals,
aspirations, perceptions, attitudes, learning, values and beliefs. A host of complex and unpredictable
variables influence human behaviour. A man is complex because of lack of cause and effect relationship
in his behaviour and due to individual difference. Complex man model is relevant in the present day
context as it suggested that there is no universal way of understanding behaviour and managing the
individuals. Management is required to adopt contingency organisational design and situational
management approach. Manager should be capable of distinguishing among individuals and diagnose
their behaviour in order to adopt appropriate leadership style, motivation pattern, and communication
techniques and control strategy. Hence, organisational design and management philosophy is to be
changed to suit to situational demands.

8.7 PERSONALITY ATTRIBUTES INFLUENCING ORGANISATIONAL

BEHAVIOUR
Personality attributes of employees are used in understanding the behaviour of employees and design
suitable strategies to deal with their behaviour. Some of the traits that influence the behaviour in
organisations are described below :

1) Authoritarianism: Authoritarianism is an attribute used to describe the persons having certain

negative beliefs about the work and workers. Taking this concept, behaviour of employees in
organisation is explained by using the following traits.
• believes in the formal authority.
• compels obedience to the authority.
• adheres to the conventional values and does not give preference to the new ideas.
• conforms to the rules and regulations.
 • believes in directing the subordinates than listening to them.
• tries to be rigid and prefers structured environment.

Taking these characteristic traits, a leadership style of superiors was developed, known as authoritarian.
Employees possessing the authoritarian attributes will command respect and achieve production targets
in the short run. In the end, these people cannot maintain the level of motivation and satisfaction.

2) Locus of Control: Locus of control is the belief regarding the outcome of their actions. Certain
people believe that their skills and abilities influence the outcome of the action. Others believe that
some external factors like fate or chance influence their result. According to Robbins, individuals who
believe that they control what happens to them are called Internals and individuals who believe that what
happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance are called Externals.

Certain implications of locus of control behaviour of the individuals in organisations are described
below:

a) Absenteeism: People having internal locus of control possess a belief that the health is under their
control. They inculcate good health habits and take proper care of their health. Thus, they have
lower rate of sickness. Therefore, absenteeism is less in these people.

b) Turnover: With respect to turnover, internals tend to take action and thus might be expected to
quit the jobs more readily, but they tend to be more successful on the job and more satisfied.

c) Decision-Making: People having external locus of control are more oriented towards intuitive
decision making. On the other hand, internals consider more information before taking
decisions. They are motivated by the achievements. They would like to control the outcome of
the decisions.

d) Motivation: Internals possess achievement motivation than externals that are just satisfied with
the available rewards.

e) Job Satisfaction: People having external locus of control are more dissatisfied on the jobs. This
is because of the belief that the outcome is not under their control. In the case of internals, job
satisfaction is more due to the belief that outcomes are the results of their actions.

f) Psychological Commitment: Externals are less involved in the jobs. Internals possess
commitment that is more psychological.

g) Social interactions: People having internal locus of control are more sociable and excited to have
social relationships to keep their identification and esteem.

The locus of control influences the job selection also. People having internal locus of control are
successful in the sophisticated jobs. Jobs having professional and managerial nature require complex
information processing ability, needs quick learning, initiative and independence of actions are suitable
to the people having internal locus of control. On the other hand, people having external locus of control
are suitable to well-structured and routine jobs. They are also successful in those jobs that require
complying the directions.

3) Machiavellianism: Niccolo Machiavelli has introduced the concept. The term refers to the degree
of individual effort to gain control over organisational tasks. According to Robbins, Machiavellianism is
 the degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can
justify means. The characteristics of Machiavellianism personality attributes are:

• They are active to participate in organisational politics.

• They manipulate more, win more and persuade less.
• They are adept at interpersonal game playing, power tactics and identifying influence system in
organisations.
• They consider ethics.
4) Self-esteem: Self-esteem is a feeling of liking or disliking of one self. It is related to the individual
desire for success. A person having a greater desire for success is rated as high self-esteem person. He
believes that he possesses required abilities to succeed on the jobs. People with high esteem are risk
takers. They tend to choose risky and challenging jobs. They have internal locus of control. They give
preference to pride, recognition, flair, success, independence, and are satisfied with higher order needs
than simple monetary motivation. On the other hand, people having low self-esteem are influenced by
the external factors. They give more respect and importance to the opinions of others. They do not want
to face unpleasant situation. Thus, they try to please others.

5) Self-monitoring: Self-monitoring is the ability to adapt to the situational demands. Individuals

possessing high score on self-monitoring observe the behaviour of others from close angle in order to
adjust their behaviour. They like mobility in their career. They are more successful in discharging
contradictory roles. Simply they can wear a mask suitable to the situation. Thus, there is high degree of
behavioural inconsistency in high self-monitoring people. Therefore, self-monitoring attribute helps
managers to understand the personality and behaviour of their subordinates in order to direct,
communicate, motivate and regulate them on the jobs.

6) Risk taking Attitude: Risk taking is an attitude. Persons differ in the attitude towards assuming the
risk. The propensity to take risk influences the decision-making. High-risk takers are likely to take rapid
decisions. Risk taking is also related to the job demands. High-risk taking is found in certain caste,
religion, nationality and gender. In organisations, risk-taking behaviour is related to the ability of
employees to take up challenging tasks and possess high achievement motivation.

Therefore, a number of personality attributes influence the behaviour of person in the organisational
behaviour.

Check Your Progress C

1) If you were an economic man, what are the characteristics you would have observed in you?

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2) What are the characteristics of organisational man?

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3) What are the characteristics of authoritarianism?

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8.8 DEFINITION OF EMOTION

Emotions are related to psychology of an individual. They are related to the inner feelings expressed in a
situation. When a person experiences stimuli, he is likely to develop an inner feeling. Facial expressions,
verbal sounds and body actions are used to express the inner feelings. Emotion can be defined as an
expression of a feeling of fear, anger, joy, love, hate, grief, frustration, satisfaction or any other similar
feelings. Emotions are important in understanding employees’ behaviour in an organisation.
Stephen P. Robbins defined emotions as intense feelings that are directed at someone or something.
Understanding emotions require understandings two components. One is affect: it is a broad range of
feelings that people experience. Second are moods: they are feelings that tend to be less intense than
emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus.

8.9 APPLICATIONS OF EMOTION

Emotions are important determinants of employee behaviour in organisations. Managers use the knowledge
of emotions for directing their subordinates in an effective manner and achieve organisational objectives.
Let us learn the applications of emotions in organisations.

1) Employee Selection: Organisations generally look for the persons who possess the ability to cope up
with others. Working with the group and inter personal attraction are becoming popular in organisations.
The ability to adjust with job demands, environmental pressures and go along with other persons is an
absolute requirement for the success in any job. Emotional stability implies controlling aggression.
Employees often conceal their real emotions and display emotions suitable to the demands of the
environment. Organisations select employees who possess this quality. It is also known as emotional
intelligence. According to Robbins, Emotional Intelligence is an assortment of noncognitive skills,
capabilities, and competencies that influence a person’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental
demands and pressure. It is composed of five elements: Self-awareness, self-management, self-
motivation, empathy and social skills.

2) Decision-Making: Decision-making is an integral part of every employee in organisation. Decision-

making must be rational if it has to yield the intended results. However, while taking decisions such
emotions as fear, anxiety, frustration, doubt, excitement, angry, stress, coolness etc., dominate the
rationality. Managers overlooking the importance of negative emotions in the decision making process
are likely to overlook number of alternatives also. They also overlook information processing rather use
more intuitiveness in the decision making. Similarly, positive emotions increase the ability to solve
complex problems and deal with the complex persons. In the process of group decision-making
emotional stability is required to develop a feeling in the employee that their suggestions are considered
for arriving at a final decision. Manager who can balance between rationality, intuition and emotions is
likely to make sound decisions acceptable to subordinates. Psychological commitment is more to those
decisions, which are arrived by considering the feelings of employees.

3) Leadership: Leadership is concerned with communication of directions, motivation of subordinates

and resolving inter personal conflicts. Emotions play a vital role in all these aspects. Let us learn them.

i) Communication: Communication is the process of making others to understand the message in an

intended manner. Simply appropriate use to words, medium, language, technology and environment
do not convey the message. Appropriate use of facial expressions, body moments and tone of the
 communication conveys meaning as intended. This is related to the emotions of the sender. In fact,
leaders will be able to convey sense of efficacy, competence, optimism, and enjoyment and energise
their subordinates by their excitement, enthusiasm and communication of emotional attachment.

ii) Motivation: Motivation is the feeling of an inner drive and enthusiasm to act in a predetermined
way in the expectation of certain desired outcomes. Emotions influence the desired outcomes.
Managers use emotional content to motivate their subordinates in a proper direction.

iii) Inter personal conflicts: Misunderstanding of communication in the situations of emotion leads to
conflicts. So emotions are interwoven in conflicts. However, these emotions do not appear outside
in a situation of conflict. Manager has to address the emotional component in order to resolve the
conflict and increase harmony among the subordinates. On the other hand addressing to the task and
structural aspects of the conflict alone does not redress the conflict. A successful manager learns to
consider the emotions in the resolution of inter personal conflicts.

4) Management of Change: Change is a common phenomenon. Employees resist change due to

vagueness in the goals. Thus, emotional attachment to the goals elicits positive attitude towards change.
Managers elicit positive response to change by the evocation, framing and mobilisation of emotions.
Thus, proper linking of emotions with the change is necessary for bringing down the resistance to
change.

5) Deviant Workplace Behaviour: Emotions influence the moods and consequently employees
engage involuntary actions of deviations of norms, rules, authority and cause damage to the property of
the organisation. Ignoring the presence of the boss is also one of the ways of employee deviation.
Certain observed deviations are slow working, sabotage, politicking, recriminations, harassment,
aggressions etc. Another negative emotion that causes stress and anxiety in the individual behaviour is
enviousness. It is resentment for not possessing something, which is strongly desired. Promotion of
positive emotions controls enviousness.

Check Your Progress D

1) What is emotion ?

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10.10 LET US SUM UP

Personality is a vital aspect influencing the employee behaviour in organisational settings. Understanding of
personality arises because human beings provide life to all other resources in organisations. Proper
motivation and direction of these resources are more important for realisation of the goals of an enterprise. A
number of definitions exist to describe the personality. They advocate that the personality is unique,
qualitative and dynamic physio-psychological system in the individuals. Personality is shaped from the child
hood days. It also believed that it exists even at the time of birth. Heredity, composition of brain and
physical features determine the personality. Shaping of personality is explained by the theories of
personality. Sigmund Freud propounded psychoanalytic theory, which focuses on the Id, the Ego, the Super
Ego and the Libido. Carl Rogers explained the self-concept to explain the personality. Social learning theory
states that the personality is determined by the situational interaction.
Rational economic model, Organisational man model, Social man model, Self-actualizing man model and
Complex man model made different assumptions and propositions to understand the nature of a man.
Personality attributes of employees are important in understanding the behaviour of organisational member
and design suitable strategies to direct their effort towards attainment of organisational goals.

Emotions are related to the psychology of individuals. They are expression of inner feelings of fear, anger,
joy, love, hate or grief. Emotions are stimulated by cognition, arise a feeling in the individuals and expressed
through facial or body gestures. In organisations understanding emotions are useful in decision making,
leadership, communication, motivation, inter personal conflict, management of change and understanding
deviations in the work place behaviour.

8.11 KEY WORDS

Emotion: Expression of inner feeling of fear, anger, love, hate, grief, frustration and other similar feelings.
Emotional Stability: Ability to withstand stress.
Extraversion: Giving importance to relationships.
Extrovert: Persons who are sociable are known as extrovert.
Extrovert: Person who is optimist and sociable.
Heredity: Characteristics inherited from one generation to the other generation.
Introvert: Self confident and pessimistic are known as introvert.
Introvert: Self-confident persons are known as introvert.
Locus of Control: Belief that outcome of action are influenced by the internal strength or external factors.
Machiavellianism: The degree of individual effort to gain control over organisational tasks.
Modeling: The process of imitating and building abstraction of a reality.
Personality: Pattern of responses of an individual in a given situation.
Phenomenal Field: Totality of all experiences gathered by the interaction of the environment.
Rational Economic Man: A person who undertakes actions based on maximisation of economic benefits.
Self-actualization: Realisation of full potential for becoming what one is capable of becoming.
Self-esteem: Feeling of liking or disliking of one self.
Self-monitoring: Ability to adopt to the situational demands.
Socialisation: The process of acquiring qualities congruent to the society
Social Man: A person who undertakes actions motivated by social rewards.
Source Traits: Traits that cause the behaviour.

8.12 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

 1) Define personality. ‘Individual personality is wholistic’. A host of factors determine it’ Discuss.
2) Distinguish between rational economic man model and organisational man model.
3) What are the propositions of Trait theories? Explain Cattel’s Trait theory.
4) ‘Every individual is a social man and he possess self actualizing motive’. Explain.
5) Explain the personality traits used to determine introvert and extrovert personality.
6) ‘Personality is shaped by the physical structure of the body’. Elucidate.
7) What are emotions? Explain the applications of emotions.
8) ‘Emotions are essential determinants of behaviour. They are variedly applied in understanding
organisational behaviour’ Discuss.
9) Critically examine the psychoanalytic theory and self theory of personality.
10) How does social learning theory help in shaping of personality.
11) ‘Personality development takes place in various stages and a host of factors influence the
development’ Discuss.

Note : These questions will help you to understand the unit better. Try to write answers for them. Do
not submit your answers to the university for assessment. These are for your practice only.
UNIT 9 STRESS MANAGEMENT
Structure

9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Definition of Stress
9.3 Causes of Stress
9.3.1 Intra Organisational Factors
9.3.2 Extra Organisational Factors
9.4 Consequences of Stress
9.5 Techniques of Managing Stress
9.5.1 Individual Management
9.5.2 Organisational Management
9.6 Creating a Stress Free Environment
9.7 Let Us Sum Up
9.8 Key Words
9.9 Terminal Questions

9.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
• define stress;
• identify the causes of stress;
• analyse consequences of stress;
• develop individual strategies of coping up the stress;
• explain the organisational strategies of stress reduction; and
• suggest creation of stress free environment.

9.1 INTRODUCTION
Stress is a psychological condition and body discomfort. Stress is a common phenomenon. Every individual
experiences stress at some or other time. Employees experience stress in the process of meeting the targets
and working for long hours. When the person experiences a constraint inhibiting the accomplishment of
desire and demand for accomplishment, it leads to potential stress. Anxiety is converted into stress and
ultimately it leads to job burnout. In fact for most of the time individuals are responsible for stress.
However, organisations also create stress in the individuals. Why one should be concerned about stress? The
reason is that the stress has more negative consequences than positive. In this unit, you will learn the
definition, causes and consequences of stress. You will be exposed to the techniques of managing stress.
You will further learn the process of creating stress free environment.

9.2 DEFINITION OF STRESS

Stress is a state of discomfort experienced by an individual. Loss of emotional stability is the general
expression of stress. It is generally apparent when the individual experiences a biological disorder. Stress has
a positive association with the age, life styles, time constraints and the nature of occupation. Certain
occupations are more prone to the stress than the others. For instance, drivers of vehicles, doctors, lawyers
and managers are more likely to get stress than teacher, bankers and operating personnel. Individuals feel
stress when the needs or desires are not accomplished in the normal expected ways. This is because of the
natural constraints operated on the individuals. The more the intensity of the desire and greater is the
uncertainty associated with the achievement of the goal, the greater is the degree of stress. Employees are
working for longer hours, taking on the work once done by laid-off colleagues, meeting tighter deadlines and
cutting back on expenses are some of the causes of stress. Combined to this with the double-income family
demands of monthly mortgages, childcare issues and aging parents, and the result for many is anxiety,
sleeplessness, irritability, and physical and mental deterioration. Perhaps these are the potential reasons for
stress in the employees. Let us first learn what is stress?

In the words of Fred Luthans, stress is defined as an adaptive response to an external situation that results in
physical, psychological, and/or behavioural deviations for organisational participants. Ivancevich and
Matteson define stress as the interaction of the individual with the environment. It is an adaptive response,
mediated by individual characteristics and/or psychological processes that are consequence of any external
action, situation or event that places special physical and / or psychological demands upon a person. Schuler
defines stress as a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or
demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and
important.

The following are the features of stress.

• Stress is both psychological and physical aspect.
• It is common to both the genders.
• It results from the deviation of expectations from actual situation.
• It is symptomatic. Potential stress appears with the symptoms. If the potential stress is ignored it leads to
actual stress.
• Stress is treated to be negative. Nevertheless, it has positive consequences. This is called as eustress.
• Stress is an interactive concept. It does not spring from the internal organs of the individual. It comes
from the interaction of the human being with the environment. Thus, environment has a profound
influence on the stress.
• Stress is generic term. If it is applied to the context of organisation, it is known as work stress or job
stress.
• Stress occurs only when the human being feels mediation of the internal or external factors.
• Stress is related to the attitude of the person. Stress does not occur when the person is having an
indifferent attitude to the opportunity.
• Stress is associated with certain common biological disorders such as heart attack, stroke, diabetic, blood
pressure, neurological disorders etc.

The stress is caused when a person has needs, desires, wishes and expectations and certain forces prevent the
person from doing the desired activities.
Stress and anxiety are not similar concepts. Anxiety occurs as a result of emotions caused by the interactions
of environmental stimuli. Thus, it is confined to the psychological disturbance. On the other hand, stress is
originated by the psychological tensions and slowly leads to physical or biological breakdown. While stress
is accompanied by anxiety, the latter need not always lead to stress.
Similarly, stress and burnout are different concepts. Prolonged stress leads to burnout. It is a state of mind. It
results from a continuous feeling of emotional stress. An individual feels physical, mental and emotional
exhaustion. Job burnout is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and diminished
personal accomplishment. Burnout is also closely associated with the so-called helping professions such as
nursing, education, and social work.

9.3 CAUSES OF STRESS

Stress is a psychological state of imbalance coupled with biological disorder. Individual experiences
deviation in his biological system which is called potential stress. Potential stress moderated by individual,
organisational and environmental variable leads to actual stress. The variables that convert potential stress
into actual stress are known as stressors. Thus, stressors can be intra- organisational and extra
organisational. Intra-organisational stress arises out of individual, group, and organisational factors. Extra
organisational factors relate to environment of the organisation. The intra organisational factors causing
stress are divided into individual factors and organisational factors. Let us learn them in detail.

9.3.1 Intra Organisational Factors

Individual Factors: Individual factors, which cause stress include: personality and individual differences,
family problems, economic problems, life styles and role demands.

i) Personality and individual differences: Individual basic dispositions are the main reason for
potential stress. Introversion, extroversion, masculinity, rigidity, locus of control, personal life,
demographic differences such as age, health, education and occupation are some of the reasons causing
stress in individuals. It is found that type A personality is prone to more stress than type B personality.
Type A personality is characterised by emotion and sensitivity to organisation goals, competitive spirit
and achievement oriented behaviour. This leads to frustration even for small deviations from the
expectations, thus feeling of more stress. Type B personality is typically relaxed, carefree, patient and
less serious in achieving objectives. Thus, he never feels stress. Some propositions of personality and
individual stress are:
• Age is positively related to stress. When a person grows older, his expectations also go up. If he is
unable to find avenues for realising expectations, he feels stress.
• Sound health enables a person to cope up stress better than unsound health.
• Education and health are related positively and negatively. Better education provides an
opportunity to understand things in a better manner. Even the level of maturity increases with better
education. So better educated persons are less prone to stress. Poorly educated people in relation to
the jobs are likely to feel more stress due to the poor adaptability on the jobs.
• The nature of the occupation and stress are related. Certain occupations are inherently stressful than
the other occupations. For instance, doctors, lawyers, politicians etc. At the same time occupation
also gives enough stress tolerance ability. Politicians are found to posses more stress tolerance
ability.
• Strong urge for satisfaction of needs compel people to over work and may lead to stress.
• Greater degree of locus of control leads to stress. A person is less likely to feel stress as he believes
that he can exercise control over external factors.
 • Self-efficacy and stress are negatively related. Higher degree of self-efficacy elevates motivation
levels. Therefore people with greater self-efficacy remain calm and effectively face stressful
situation. Perception of capacity to bring changes provides greater ability to withstand stress.
• Another personal disposition related to stress is psychological hardiness. Hardiness is the ability to
withstand provocation from others. People with greater psychological hardiness are able to survive
and withstand stressful environment. For instance, people who remain calm even at the provocation
of others and ignore the esteem are less likely to feel stress.

Individual differences in perception, job experiences, social support, hostility etc., are some of the reasons
that cause stress.
• Perception helps in understanding the environment. Person possessing a positive perception
understands reality and appraises the events objectively. Thus, he feels less stress.
• Job experience and stress are negatively related. As one gains experience he develops adaptability to
various job and organisational demands. He realises the job expectations. He develops a mechanism to
deal with stress situations. Therefore more experienced people remains cool, calm, and ignore stressors
than young and inexperienced employees.
• Hostility and aggressive behaviour is positively related to stress. A person who becomes aggressive and
gets quick anger is cynical and does not trust others. He feels more stress than others who are cool and
calm.

ii) Family Problems: Family issues influence the personal life of individuals. Sound marital
relationships, marital discipline, early and healthy children may lead to happy personal life. They enjoy
the life and become positive in their attitudes. So they do not tend to greater stress. On the other hand,
poor marital relationships, nagging wife, family separations, extra marital relationships, disturbing
children, poor settlement of family members, aging parents, dual working couple, death of spouse or
other close family member are some of the reasons for greater stress in the individuals.
iii) Economic Problems: Economic difficulties are the main cause of stress. Poor management of
personal finances, heavy family expenditure, and constant demand for money, poor incoming earning
capacity and slow financial growth in the job are some of the economic reasons responsible for greater
stress. For instance, an increasing family expenditure, increased expenditure on children education and
health create heavy demand for income. This creates greater stress in the individuals.
iv) Life Styles: Life Styles of individuals can cause stress. The following situations of life style cause
stress:
• Sedentary life styles cause greater stress.
• Individuals experiencing certain unique situations may be compelled to alter their attitude,
emotions and behaviour. These are known as life trauma. Life trauma is potential reason for
stress.
• Faster career changes bring more responsibilities to the individuals. Persons occupying higher
positions in the younger age are likely to get heart attacks due to greater stress. This is because of
inability to adapt to the new carrier responsibilities.
v) Role Demands: Individuals play multiple roles in their personal life and organisations. In their
personal life, they play the roles of family head, husband, father, brother and son. In social life
they play the roles of club members, informal community group members, members of recreation
groups, religious groups and a number of other social groups. Similarly in organisations,
employees play the role of superior, subordinate, co-worker, union leader, informal group leaders
etc. Incidentally, all these roles are performed simultaneously. Thus, they cause anxiety and
 emotion. Another potential reason is role conflict. It arises because of poor role perception, role
ambiguity, role overload and role overlapping. Role ambiguity and stress are positively related.
The greater the role conflict, individual experiences more stress.

Organisational Factors: An organisation is a combination of resources, goals, strategies, and policies. In

order to make people to work, organisations create structure, process and working conditions. In modern
organisations, number of factors create an environment of stress. The changing environmental dynamics,
globalisation, organisational adjustments like mergers and acquisitions lead to stress among employees. In
addition, a number of internal organisational factors cause employee stress. Some of them are poor working
conditions, strained labour management relations, disputed resource allocations, co-employee behaviour,
organisational design and policies, unpleasant leadership styles of the boss, misunderstandings in
organisational communication, bureaucratic controls, improper motivation, job dissatisfaction, and less
attention to merit and seniority. Let us learn the organisational stressors in detail.

i) Working Conditions: Working conditions and stress are inversely related. Employees working with
poor working conditions are subject to greater stress. The factors that lead to more stress are crowded
work areas, dust, heat, noise, polluted air, strong odour due to toxic chemicals, radiation, poor
ventilation, unsafe and dangerous conditions, lack of privacy etc.

ii) Organisational Tasks: Organisational tasks are designed to meet the objectives and goals. Poorly
designed tasks lead to greater stress. Task autonomy, task inter-dependency, task demands, task
overload are some of the potential reasons for stress in organisations. For instance greater the
task interdependence, greater is the coordination required. This requires employees to adjust
themselves to coworkers, superiors, and subordinates, irrespective of their willingness. They
are expected to communicate, coordinate, exchange views, with other people irrespective of
caste, creed, gender, religion and political differences. Lack of adjustment and poor tolerance
to others lead to greater degree of stress.
iii) Administrative Policies and Strategies: Employee’s stress is related to certain administrative
strategies followed by the organisations. Down sizing, competing pressure, unfair pay
structures, rigidity in rules, job rotation and ambiguous policies are some of the reasons for
stress in organisations.

iv) Organisational Structure and Design: As pointed out earlier organisational structure is designed to
facilitate individual’s interaction in the realisation of organisational goals. Certain aspects of
design like specialisation, centralisation, line and staff relationships, span of control, and
organisational communication can severely create stress in organisations. For example, wider
span of management compels the executive to manage large number of subordinates. This may
create greater stress. Similarly, frequent line and staff conflict lead to obstacles in the work
performance. Inability to resolve the conflicts lead to stress.

v) Organisation Process and Styles: A number of organisational processes are designed for meeting
organisational goals. Communication process, control process, decision making process,
promotion process, performance appraisal process, etc. are designed for realising
organisational objectives. These processes limit the scope of functioning of employees.
Improper design of various organisational processes leads to strained relationships among the
employees. They may also cause de-motivation and job dissatisfaction. Consequently,
employee feels stress in adapting to the processes.

vi) Organisational Leaderships: Top management is responsible for creation of a sound organisation
climate and culture by appropriate managerial style. The climate provided should be free of
 tensions, fear, and anxiety. Authoritarian leadership style creates a directive environment in
which employees are pressurised to attain targets. They work under impersonal relationships
and tight controls. This creates greater work stress to employees. On the other hand, a climate
of warm and friendliness, scope for participation in decision making, non financial motivation
and flexibility are encouraged under democratic leadership style. This relieves stress in the
employees. Therefore, employees working under authoritarian leadership styles experience
stress than employees working under democratic leadership style.

vii) Organisational Life Cycle: Every organisation moves through four phases of organisational life
cycle. They are birth, growth, maturity and decline. In each of these stages the structure and
the design of organisation undergoes frequent changes. In addition, human beings are subject
to metamorphosis to adapt to the stages in the life cycle. In this process, employees are subject
to job stress. For instance in the initial stages of organisational birth, stress is caused because
of ambiguous policies and designs. In the growth stage, employees experience stress due to
failure to meet conflicting demands. At the time of decline, stress is caused due to down
sizing, retrenchment and loss of financial rewards and changing organisational systems.

viii) Group Dynamics: Groups are omni present in organisations. Groups arise out of inherent desire of
human beings and spontaneous reactions of people. In organisations both formal groups and informal
groups exist. A formal group exist in the form of committees, informal group exit among different levels
of organisation. Groups have a number of functional and dysfunctional consequences. They provide
social support and satisfaction, which is helpful in relieving stress. At the same time, they become the
source of stress also. Lack of cohesiveness, lack of social support, lack of recognition by the group and
incompatible goals cause stress.

Thus a number of organisational factors cause stress in the individuals. Now let us learn about the extra-
organisational factors.

9.3.2 Extra-Organisational Factors

Environmental Factors: Environmental factors are extra organisational. Nevertheless, they create job
stress in the individuals. These are internal and external factors. Most of the internal environmental factors
relate to the organisational goals, management systems, structure, processes and design of organisations.
They are discussed in the preceding section. External environmental factors relate to the general
environment of the organisation. They are political, economical, technological, legal, ecological,
governmental, social, cultural and ethical. Certain propositions describing the impact of environment on
stress are presented below:

i) The political party in power as per their ideology enacts legislation in the Parliament. As the new
laws and regulations are enacted by the new political party, the political changes bring uncertainty in
the environment. This compels employees to adapt to the new legal order. This creates stress.
ii) Economic environment deals with income levels, demand and supply,
inflation etc. Changes in these factors may require more work or better
strategy to cope up with the environment. This creates stress when the
employees are unable to adjust to the new situations. For instance,
increase in inflation levels creates pressures on the employee income
levels leading to stress.
iii) Technological changes bring new methods of production and new ways
of handling the organisational tasks. Employees are required to learn
new skills in order to discharge their jobs effectively. Unable to cope up
 with the new technology creates stress in the employees. For example,
bank employees felt stress when the bank management decided to
introduce computers.
iv) Legal environment consists of complex web of laws and regulation
intended to control the business operations. Organisations are required
to follow the legal provisions otherwise they are subject to prosecution.
Practical difficulties arise in the implementation of the legislative
framework. Employees who are unable to respond properly to the laws
and regulations find themselves in stressful situation.
v) The government is enacting legislation to protect the ecological
environment in the country. Organisations are compelled to adapt to the
legislative framework protecting the ecological environment. Protecting
the ecological balance becomes a cause for potential stress.
vi) Government Administration is composed of the administrative
machinery and institutions that enforce the laws, regulations, policies
and other government instructions. The bureaucratic practices of the
administrative machinery can create stress in the executives.
vii) Social, cultural and ethical environment can bring stress in the
individuals. Social factors influence the life styles of employees.
Certain social security measures such as health protection, civic
facilities and social groups reduce stress in the employees. Certain
sociological variables such as race, sex, social class, gender etc., and
cultural factors such as beliefs, customs and traditions cause potential
stress.
Certain other environmental factors that result in stress in recent times are stock market crashes, frequent
elections, down sizing, information technology and the related changes in the business. Career oriented
couples, racial and gender discriminations, health hazards due to pollution and imbalance in the natural
environment etc. are contributing to stress.

Check Your Progress A

1) Distinguiwh between stress and anxiety.

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2) List the individual stressors you have experienced recently.

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4) Give examples of organisational environmental factors of stress.

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9.4 CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS

An individual experiences stress through psychological emotions and is disseminated through physiological
breakdown or biological changes. However stress is not negative always. Stress has also positive
consequences. The positive form of stress is known as eustress. The word taken from Greek language
means good stress. Mild stress elevates body metabolic and biological rates. The increase in the metabolism
leads to secretion of juices from body glands that will increase the inner drive for achievement.
Achievement motivation comes from deep intention, mild tensions, inner urge, fire and feeling of
restlessness to achieve objectives. Stress helps in the development of people too. In its mild form it enhances
job performance, leads to excellence and provides impetus to work hard and perform better. Individuals
involved in the discharge of professional oriented jobs, jobs involving creativity, challenge, interpersonal
communications and certain managerial jobs, will be benefited by stress, which leads to positive
performances. However, jobs involving physical effort do not get benefit out of stress. As indicated above
mild levels of stress increases job performance. It stimulates body and increases reactivity. Thus,
individuals perform tasks better and in a rapid way. Inverted-U relationship illustrates this phenomenon.
Some positive consequences are: increased productivity, positive response to target, development of proper
perception in the decision making, increased motivation and performance, increased adaptability to change
and increased quality of job performance. For instance, employee experiencing a moderate stress of
repetitiveness on the job finds new ways of discharging jobs. Thus, stress promotes creativity in the
employees.
However, in the modern organisations the negative consequences of stress are creating more problems. As
pointed out by Schuler, Khan and Byosiyere, stress leads to high blood pressure, ulcer, cancer, accident
proneness and irritation. Though there is no perfect association between stress and its consequences, stress
itself demonstrates into physiological, psychological, behavioural, job and organisational consequences. The
positive and negative consequences are discussed below:

Physiological Consequences: Stress influences the biological system of the human being. Certain visible
forms of stress are increased blood pressure, proneness to heart disease, cancer, sweating, dry mouth, hot and
cold flashes, frustration, anxiety, depression, increased level of cholesterol, ulcer, arthritis etc. Physical
stress increases the body metabolic rate. This results into malfunctioning of internal gland and consequently
the body disorder. This is felt in the form of increasing heart beating, increase in breathing rate and
headache. This creates biological illness. The physical stress also creates psychological problems. In fact,
physical stress and physiological disorders are interrelated. However, physical disorders and stress always
need not associate positively. This is because of complexity of symptoms of physical stress and lack of
objective measurement of impact of stress on bodily disorders.
Psychological Consequences: Psychological consequences are interrelated to biological consequences.
They are invisible, but affect the employees’ job performance. Psychological stress creates a pressure on
human brain. This is expressed in terms of certain psychological symptoms such as anger, anxiety,
depression, nervousness, irritation, tension, boredom, aggressiveness, moodiness, hostility and poor
concentration. Tensions, anxiety, and emotions lead to procrastination. Psychological stress produces
interpersonal aggressions, misunderstanding in communication, poor interpersonal communication and low
interpersonal attraction. This is demonstrated through aggressive actions like sabotage, increased
interpersonal complaints, poor job performance, lowered self-esteem, increased resentment, low
concentration on the job and increased dissatisfaction. Psychological stress produces harshness in the
behaviour and may lead to assumption of authoritarian leadership style by the superior executive.

Behavioural Consequences: Stress has an impact on employee’s behaviour. An abnormal behaviour is

observed in those individuals who are prone to stress. A change in eating habits, sleep disorder, increased
smoking, alcoholism, fidgeting and aloofness are some of the behavioural changes observed in stressful
employees. Sometimes stress leads to anxiety, apathy, depression and emotional disorder. This leads to
impulsive and aggressive behaviour and frequent interpersonal conflicts. Under eating, overeating, drug
abuse and sleeplessness are some of the behavioural consequences. The following are some propositions
relating to stress and behaviour:

i) Perception: Stressful individuals develop tension and anxiety. As a result, their level of understanding
considerably decreases. When perceptual distortions occur in the employees, it may adversely
affect decision making process, interpersonal understanding, interpersonal communication and
capacity to work with groups. They become stress intolerable. All these lead to increased levels
of interpersonal conflicts.

ii) Attitudes: Continued stressful environment creates certain permanent negative impressions in the
mind of the employees. These permanent impressions adversely influence their work
performance. For example, an employee developing a negative attitude on work, superior,
working conditions, organisational climate and culture intentionally decreases his output. He
also becomes demoralised and the motivation level decreases.

iii) Learning : Employees in organisations continuously learn new skills and techniques. Learning new
methods and techniques to adapt themselves and discharge their jobs effectively is inevitable to
employees. Stressful employees can not learn the things quickly.

Organisational Consequences : Stress has negative impact on the performance of the job. Organisations
face the problems of poor performance and other negative consequences. Some of them are described
below:

i) Absenteeism: Employees subject to stress were found to addict to drugs and alcohol. Thus, they
abstain from the jobs frequently. This creates discontinuity in the jobs and adversely effect performance
of other employees.

ii) Turnover: Turnover and stress have shown some relationships. An employee experiencing
continued stress develops disgust and frustration. Therefore, they are likely to change their jobs.

iii) Decision-Making: Excessive stress distorts perception of managers. This adversely effects their
capacity to take decision. Thus, stressful executives become irrational in the decision making. This leads
to loss of organisational resources and reputation.
iv) Disturbed Customer Relationships: Employees experiencing excessive stress develop irritation,
looses emotional stability and emotional tolerance. Intolerance impels them to pick up conflicts easily
due to misunderstandings. Employees dealing with the customers and the public disturb relationship
due to their inpatient behaviour. For instance sales persons, bank employees, public relation
executives are required to be more emotionally stable. Otherwise, customers dealing with them will
have trouble in dealing with the company. This also creates poor impression on the corporate image of
the organisation.

The consequences of stress are multifaceted. Stress has a vicious circle. Most of the consequences of the
stress are interdependent. One has roots into the other. For instance, psychological consequences result in
physiological disorders, the later will produce behavioural consequences and ultimately the organisation
suffers from adverse effects. The ill effects of stress are more dangerous. Addiction to smoking, drinking
alcohol, narcotic drugs, perverted sex, atrocities on women and children, criminal attitude, terrorism and
indecent behaviour are some of the social consequences of stress. It is in this context that stress received
more attention of the organisations, psychologists and the medical practitioners in recent times. A number of
strategies exist to overcome stress. Most of them suggest leading a peaceful, calm and regulated life.
Interestingly people overlook their life styles and suffer from stress. However, stress is not difficult to
overcome.

Check Your Progress B

1) Identify the forms of eustress.

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2) List out the consequences of stress in any organisation with which you are familiar.

Physiological Psychological Behavioural Organisational

3) Enumerate the organisational consequences of stress.

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9.5 TECHNIQUES OF MANAGING STRESS

Stress management has assumed greater importance in the modern organisations. More than organisations,
individuals are concerned with the stress reduction. As the saying goes ‘prevention is better than cure’,
prevention of stress is better than attempting to cure stress. This is because stress once experienced has
negative consequences. Though employee possesses negative perception of stress, there is a need to induce
moderate levels of stress for better performance. The question arises what should be the acceptable levels of
stress? More over, there is a wide gap between theoretical and actual practice of stress management. For
instance, practicing yoga early in the morning and doing exercise is considered very effective way of fighting
stress. However, how many people really sacrifice morning comfortable sleep for the sake of yoga and
exercises. When a problem occurs, people resort to yoga. Otherwise, they feel that taking allopathic medicine
is easy than yoga and exercises.

Individual and organisational stimuli causes stress, and the implications are more negative at individual and
organisational levels. It needs to be managed both by adopting individual and organisational strategies. The
individual management techniques are more popular than organisational management techniques. Let us
learn the strategies of stress management in detail.

9.5.1 Individual Management

Individuals assume automatic responsibility and look for ways and means of dealing with their stress.
Individuals are more concerned about their health. There is an increasing rate of health clinics and health
consciousness observed in recent times. Following are some of the techniques which individuals can adopt
for reducing stress :

1) Time Management : Time management and stress are inversely related. Improper and poor
management of time are the root cause of a greater degree of stress. Improper and inadequate utilisation
of time cause anxiety. The following principles of time management can help in combating stress.
• Identifying and listing of daily activities in a logical order.
• Arranging the activities of the day based on importance and urgency.
• Preparing logical schedule of activities.
 • Analysing and understanding the daily cycle and nature of the job.
• Allocating time properly to various activities based on time demands.
• Delegating minor tasks to the subordinates in order to make use of the time in a better manner.
• Discouraging unwanted visitors.
• Setting unfinished tasks on the top of list for tomorrow.

2) Physical Management : Management of stress relates to understanding one’s own biological and
body conditions. Examining hereditary characteristics habits like smoking and drinking, life styles and
body conditions help in understanding one’s physiological conditions. Overcoming stress is possible
with managing physiological relaxation. Physical exercises greatly help in relieving tension and stress.
When body is conditioned with physical exercise, oxygen is inhaled properly and blood circulation
increases. This promotes healthy secretions from glands and the supply of blood to all the parts of the
body keeps every organ active. Consequently, immunity to withstand stress increases. Physical exercises
could be reactive or proactive. Non competitive physical exercises like walking, jogging, swimming,
riding, aerobics and playing games considerably increases heart capacity, provide mental diversion from
work pressures and increases heart capacity to withstand stressful situations. The chances of heart
attack, adverse blood pressure and diabetics reduce.

3) Psychological Management : Most of the stresses arise because of psychological tensions.

Therefore, it is suggested that managing psychological activities lead to effective management of stress.
The following are some of the psychological management techniques.
i) Relaxation : Relaxation of mind through meditation, hypnosis and biofeedback can effectively reduce
mental tensions. Meditation involves silently sitting on the ground taking deep inhalation and
chanting mantra. This takes the mind into deep relaxation. This technique relaxes muscles and
mind. It also brings significant changes in heart rate, blood pressure, lung capacity and other
biological organs of the body. Transcendental Meditation, Soul management, Atma yoga,
Anthahakarana, Silence sitting posture, Shavasana, Bhavathetha meditation and praying the God
are some of the relaxation techniques practiced for reducing stress.
ii) Behavioural Self-control: Stress also results from behavioural disorders. Exercising proper control
over behaviour in dealing with others can bring down the chance of stress. Self-introspection
brings self-awareness of the individual. Similarly knowing the antecedents and consequences of
own behaviour enables behavioural self-control. Stress can be relaxed by developing proper
perception, practicing good listening, maintaining calm and tension free mind empathy and
positive attitude are some of the behavioural self control techniques.
iii) Cognitive Therapy: It is a technique of clinical psychology. Cognitive therapy involves knowing
ones’ own emotions to release anxiety and tension. In this technique, people are made to
understand the reasons causing stress in them by the process of self-observation. For example, if
an employee develops a feeling that he is incompetent to handle a new job, counselling is
provided to develop a confidence of competence to handle all the new jobs. Thus, with the help
of cognitive therapy, a positive impact is created for the mental satisfaction. Cognitive therapy
enables people to exercise self- control for relaxing stress.
iv) Yogic Management : In recent times, yoga is an effective technique of relieving stress. Yoga
practice involves Asana, Pranayama, Mudra and Kriya. Practicing a number of yogasana relaxes
muscels, reduces blood pressure, controls asthma, relieves neurological problems, improves lung
capacity, enhances proper flow of blood and helps relax tensions and strains. Certain asanas which
help stress relaxation are pada hasthasana, vajra asana, sashanka asana, camel asana, lotus asana,
crocodile asana, sarvanga asana, shava asana .
4) Social Management: Developing good social networks involves grouping of people who are good
listeners and confidence builders. This increases social support to individuals. Encouraging informal
groups to share information without inhibitions, developing free exchange of ideas, views and distasteful
experiences, promoting confidence of social support decrease tensions and stress. Social clubs,
recreation clubs, friendship clubs, informal gatherings, birthday parties, and family are some of the
social networks that increase social support and reduce stress.

5) Self-awareness Management: Self-awareness is similar to self-audit or personal audit. Managers

are required to understand themselves in a free and fair manner. They should encourage open
communication and willing to listen to others especially on their deficiencies. Being aware of self is a
difficult task, as individuals are unprepared to accept their defects. Self-awareness management involves
three stages.
• Stage – I: Identify, understand and analyse one’s own skills, capacities, limitations and defects.
• Stage – II: Encourage feed back from others viz., subordinates, peers, superiors, friends, family
members and other social associations. This requires patient hearing without inhibitions.
• Stage -III: Develop self program to improve the skills, capacities to overcome the limitations in a
scientific way. Attend self-management-training programs to develop the personality for all round
development of self.

6) Inter Personal Management: One of the most successful techniques of stress management is
developing inter personal understanding. Inter- personal communication, inter personal attraction and
inter personal knowledge improve understanding of others behaviour. Most of the organisational stresses
are created due to misunderstanding, organisational politics, setting one self-aloof from others and
encouraging unreliable comments. Thus, maintaining openness of communication and valuing proper
comment enable development of inter personal understanding. Transactional Analysis, Johari Window
and Grid techniques help in the development of inter personal understanding and consequent relief from
stress.

9.5.2 Organisational Management

In modern organisations, human resources are vital resources. Most of the organisational stresses are caused
by the structure and design of the organisation, policies, programs and procedure of the administration and
due to managerial styles and strategies. Thus organisations are interested in finding out the organisational
stressors and remove them as far as possible. Organisations adapt the following techniques of stress
management.

1) Selection and Placement Policy: Stress and personality characteristics of employees are closely
related. Thus selecting the employees by a proper personality fit suitable to jobs minimise the chance of
stress in the individuals. For instance a sales person jobs requires extensive travelling rather than
experience. If a person having a poor attitude of travelling is selected, he is likely to experience more
stress in performing the job. Therefore, proper recruitment and selection policy should be followed by
the organisation to reduce stress.
2) Goal Setting: Goal ambiguity, lack of proper perception of goals, challenging goal and unattainable
goals cause stress in individuals. Therefore, organisations should follow a strategy of participation
in goal setting to provide motivation, reduce frustration and ambiguity of goals. Management by
Objectives (MBO) is an appropriate technique of goal setting which reduces stress.
3) Job Enrichment and Job Design: Job enrichment provides motivation to the employees. It enriches
job factors such as responsibility, recognition, and opportunity for advancement, growth and self-
 esteem. Routine, unstructured and poorly designed jobs cause greater stress in individuals. Job
redesign provides more responsibility, more meaningful work, more autonomy and increased feed
back. This provides greater control over work activities and reduces dependence on others.
Therefore, job enrichment and job redesign provide an effective way of reducing stress.
4) Role Clarity: Organisational stress is associated with role ambiguity, role overlap, lack of role
clarity and role conflict. Proper role definition helps employees understand their role in organisation
and appraise interpersonal roles. This reduces the chance of role conflict and increases role
compatibility. This eliminates stress in the individuals. Wherever role conflict arises, counselling and
negotiation can be used to resolve inter- personal role conflict to avoid stressful situations.
5) Communication and Counselling: Barriers in communication are potential moderators of
organisational stress. In organisations formal communication creates a number of problems of inter
personal misunderstandings. Thus redesigning the formal communication channels can improve
understanding and consequently reduce stress caused by communication bottlenecks. Counselling is
exchange of ideas and views in a free and fair manner. It is intended to share problems of employees
and cope up with the stressful situation. Counselling consists of advice, reassurance, communication,
and release of emotional tensions, clarified thinking and reorientation. The techniques of counselling are
non-directive, participative and directive.
6) Carrier Planning and Development: Employees in general are free to plan their careers. However,
organisations also aim at employee development. The employee development is aimed at the enrichment
of skills and the development of personality for undertaking future managerial jobs. Stress is caused
when employees’ expectations of their career in organisation are not fulfilled and when employees get
promotion without the development of corresponding skills. Organisations take less interest in career
planning of the employees. Designing appropriate career plans, education programs, development
programs and organisation development considerably reduce employee’s stress.
7) Democratic Leadership: Democratic leaders create confidence in the subordinates and allow
participation in the decision making process. They create an atmosphere of warmth, friendship, and
supportive climate. Under such climate employees feel satisfied, motivated and psychologically
committed to the achievement of objectives. In addition, communication is open, conflicts are avoided
and coordination improved. This enables employees to relieve stress and promote healthy work.
8) Organisation Climate: Organisation design is the basic reason for job stress. Bureaucratic,
directive and ambiguous administration and poor organisational climate leads to greater stress. A sound
organisation climate and culture characterised by sound administrative policy, good organisational
communication, participative culture and supportive climate ensure reduction of stress.
9) Wellness Programmes: Programmes that focus on employee’s physical and mental condition
organised by the management are known as wellness programmes. As part of these programmes,
workshops, seminars and counselling sessions are conducted to help the employees understand the
dangers of smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse. They promote a positive attitude for eating better stuff,
fighting obesity, doing regular physical exercise and developing positive personality. However, these
programmes are successful only when the employee himself takes personal interest in his physical and
mental health. Organisations act as only a catalyst to promote programmes that facilitate reduction of
stress.
10) Quality of Work Life: The concept has been increasingly recognised in the recent years. This
technique involves improving the working conditions and other internal and external aspects of work
life. In addition, providing good housing facilities, living conditions, social and recreational facilities,
training and development of employees for overall development of human resources in the organisation
will develop quality of work life.

Stress is a multi faceted phenomenon. The cause and effect relationship in stress is difficult to obtain
because it is a qualitative psychological phenomenon. Moreover, individuals overlook the symptoms of
stress until they experience physiological break down. Otherwise, they resort to a number of uncongenial life
habits and addict to them. Changing their attitudes and addiction is not an easy task. Moreover, in large
organisations functioning in a competitive and dynamic environment, organisational redesign, job redesign
and administrative reorientation are more theoretical than practical. Even personal strategies sound
theoretically good, but lack implementation. Hence, stress management programmes must be implemented
carefully for the reduction of stress.
9.6 CREATING A STRESS FREE ENVIRONMENT
Stress is both positive and negative. You have already learnt that mild to moderate levels of stress helps in
developing positive behaviour in the organisation and it is good for the organisational health. However
negative consequences of stress always overweigh the positive ones. Thus, it is generally agreed that stress
reduction is a serious concern to the management and individuals. The individual’s responsibility should
always be greater than organisational responsibility. This is because of the dictum that protecting ones
health is their responsibility alone. Organisations perhaps help in developing certain programmes for stress
reduction. It is not out of context to mention that theoretical management of stress should be distinguished
from practical management. Most of the individual techniques relate to the personality of the individuals.
Certain techniques require the individuals to sacrifice the self concept and comfortable levels. Thus, it is
difficult to promote the individuals to adapt the strategies of stress reduction. Nevertheless, it should be
understood that it is not an impossible task. Creating a stress free environment requires a thorough
investigation of the stressors, understanding, analysing the implications, appraising the costs and benefits
and above all bring commitment to the programmes by changing the attitude. Look at Table 9.1 which shows
various stressors and the related techniques which help us in understanding the creation of stress free
environment.
Table 9.1 Stressors and Related Techniques

Individual stressors Stress Management Organisational Stressors

Stress Management
Family troubles Family counselling Task and role demands Job redesign and role
clarification
Economic problems Increased earning potential Inconsistent organisation
structure, process and functions Redesign of organisational structure
Personality characteristics Personality Development Square peg in a round hole
Redesign recruitment and selection policy
Unable to cope up time demands Time management Goal ambiguity Goal feedback
Suffering from lowered self esteem and lack of recognition Democratic and participative
management Role ambiguity Role redesign
Aloofness and lack of social support Promote informal group membership Corporate policies Develop
sound organisational culture
Physical conditions Redesign organisational
climate
Economic problems Restructure pay and promotion
polices
Communication Transactional analysis
Career ambiguity Career planning
Check Your Progress C

1) Mention the principles of time management you observe in your daily life to reduce stress.
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4) How job enrichment and job design are used to manage the stress?
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9.7 LET US SUM UP

Stress is psychological concept leading to both biological and behavioural disorders. Stress and personality,
occupations, age, life styles and time demands are related to each other. Stress is symptomatic. Interestingly
prolonged stress leads to burnout. Stress is caused by a host of factors. Stressors are the factors that cause
stress in individuals. Stressors can be intra organsiational and extra organisational. While individual
stressors and organisational stressors are intra organisational, environmental stressors are known as extra
organisational. Individual factors include personality, individual differences, family problems, and economic
problems, life styles and role demands. A number of organisational factors cause stress in individuals. They
include: poor working conditions, poor task design, unfair administrative policies and strategies, improper
organisational structure and design, organisational process and design, organisational leadership,
organisational life cycle, and group dynamics. Environmental factors are: political, economical,
technological, legal, ecological, government and social, cultural and ethical environment.

Stress is considered as negative. Nevertheless, it is not always correct. Eustress is a positive stress. Mild
levels of stress promote good performance. However, the negative consequences are more than the positive
consequences. Physiological consequences are : increase in blood pressure, heart attack, cancer, sweating,
frustration, anxiety and depression. Psychological consequences are: anger, aggressiveness, moodiness,
hostility, poor concentration, tensions and anxiety. Abnormal behaviour is observed in stressful situations.
Poor perception, inconsistent attitudes and poor learning are some of the behavioural consequences.
Absenteeism, turnover, irrational decision making, disturbed customer relationships and consequently
negative corporate image are observed due to stress.

Stress management has assumed paramount importance in the modern organisations. Individual management
techniques are always better than organisational management techniques. Certain individual strategies are:
time management, physical management, psychological management, yogic management, social
management, self-awareness management and inter personal management. However, the role of
organisations in the management of stress cannot be undermined. Organisations play a catalystic role in the
management of stress. Organisations follow techniques such as proper selection and placement policy, goal
setting, job enrichment and job design, role clarity, communication and counselling, career planning and
development, democratic leadership, organisational climate and wellness programmes.

Creating a stress free environment requires diagnosing and analysing the stressors. It aims at changing the
attitude of the employees. However, it should be remembered that practice of stress management is not as
sound as theoretical management techniques. This is because most of the techniques require sacrifice of
personal comfort. However, stress must be managed in a proper manner.

9.8 KEY WORDS

Anxiety: A state of psychological disturbance.
Burnout : A feeling of emotional exhaustion
Eustress : Good form of stress is called as eustress.
Job enrichment : Redesigning the jobs to provide more responsibility, recognition and self-esteem.
Organisational Life Cycle : The birth, growth, maturity and decline stages in the existence of organisation.
Psychological hardiness : The ability to withstand provocation from others.
Relaxation : Meditation to take deep relaxation of human mind.
Self-efficacy : It is a perception of capacity to bring changes.
Social Networks : Informal groups that provide social support to share feelings, emotions and distasteful
experiences.
Stress : An internal experience, which creates physiological and psychological disorders.
Stressors: Factors that convert the potential stress into actual stress.

9.9 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1) ‘Stress is both physiological and psychological’. Discuss with examples.

2) ‘Stress is moderated by anxiety and burnout’. Discuss with examples
3) Examine intra organisational factors of stress. How do they influence the organisation?
4) What do you mean by the extra organisational stressors? Discuss various extra organisational factors
which create stress in the organisation.
5) ‘Stress has positive consequences and negative consequences. Negative consequences have adverse
impact on biological, psychological and behavioural systems, apart from organisational systems’
Explain.
6) Discuss individual management strategies of stress. Do you think that they can reduce stress in the
organisation? Discuss.
7) How organisations respond to bring down employee stress and make them better use in the
organisation? Elucidate.

Note : These questions will help you to understand the unit better. Try to write answers for them. Do
not submit your answers to the university for assessment. These are for your practice only.
UNIT 10 MOTIVATION
Structure

10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introduction
2.2 Concept of Motivation
2.3 Motivators
10.4 Theories of Motivation
10.4.1 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory
10.4.2 Herzberg’s Two Factors Theory
10.4.3 Similarities and Distinctions between Maslows’ Need Hierarchy and Herzberg’s Two Factors
Theories
10.4.4 Theory X, Theory Y and Theory Z
5.5.5 ERG Theory
5.5.6 McClelland Theory of Need
5.5.7 Expectancy Theory
5.5.8 Porter and Lawler Theory
10.5 Managerial Approaches to Motivating Employees
10.6 Let Us Sum Up
10.7 Key Words
8.8 Terminal Questions

10.0 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to :
• define the term motivation;
• describe the characteristics of motivation;
• identify different types of motivators;
• examine various theories of motivation;
• identify different types of needs and factors contributing to motivation;
• distinguish between Maslow and Herzberg’s theories of motivation;
• explain the motivational strategies suggested by Theory X,Y and Z;
• describe ERG theory of motivation;
• describe achievement motivation model;
• identify the components of expectancy theory of motivation;
• draw a model of motivation suggested by Porter and Lawler; and
• discuss various approaches of motivating employees in an organisation.

10.1 INTRODUCTION
Motivation is a psychic force that drives an individual towards goal realisation. It is a process of inducing the
individuals’ desires towards goals. Human beings derive satisfaction when goal is realised. Both financial
and non-financial factors motivate employees. Motivating employees and driving their energy towards
organisational goals have been a major question for managers. A number of theories of motivation have
emerged to answer this. These theories have focussed on different aspects of human motivation. In this
Unit, you will learn the concept of motivation and the motivators. You will further learn various theories of
motivation which help in understanding human nature and designing strategies for developing work culture
in the organisation. You will be familiarised with the managerial approaches to motivating employees.

10.2 CONCEPT OF MOTIVATION

It is a known fact that motivation is a psychological concept. It inspires a person to intensify his efforts for
the achievement of certain objectives. It motivates a person in action and induces him to continue in the
course of action enthusiastically. It is described in a number of qualitative ways. The Encyclopedia of
Management has defined motivation as the degree of readiness of an organism to pursue some designated
goal, and implies the determination of nature and locus of the forces including the degree of readiness. In
the words of Dalton E. Mc Farland, Motivation refers to the way in which urges, drives, desires, aspirations,
strivings, or needs, direct, control or explain the behaviour of human beings. Koontz and O’Donnell stated
that motivation is a general term applying to the entire class of drives, desires, needs, wishes, and similar
forces. Dubin referred motivation to the complex of forces starting and keeping a person at work in an
organisation. Motivation starts and maintains an activity along a prescribed line. Motivation is something
that makes the person to action and continues him in the course of action already initiated. These definitions
show that motivation has following characteristics.

• Motivation is an inner feeling and psychological aspect. However its reaction is physical.
• Motivation is a process. It is continuous and contains system orientation.
• It stimulates the human being to release his energy and the behaviour is directed to realise goals.
• Motivation can be positive or negative.
• It is complex. It is influenced by many variables at a time.

Motivation arises from the needs and desires of individuals. Human energy is directed towards realisation of
goals. Realisation of goals produces satisfaction and relief from tensions. This re-energises the individual
and leads to new goal formation. If the desired goal is not realised, individual gets dissatisfaction.
Dissatisfaction enhances tension. Interestingly this also re-energises the individual. Here goal strengthening
takes place and individual tries to realise the goal. If the goal is not realised, there are two possibilities. One
is that the goal displacement occurs, which leads to alternative goal formation. The second is that entirely
new goal formulation takes place. Thus, motive determines behaviour and behaviour leads to goal
realisation.

10.3 MOTIVATORS
Motivators are stimulants that drive individual into action. They are related to physical or psychological
aspects of human behaviour. Motivators are classified into financial or non-financial. They are described
below:

Financial Motivators: Financial motivators relate to money or any other benefits that can be converted or
expressed into monetary unit. In the present day context, money has become a means to satisfy the physical
needs. It is an instrument of obtaining social position and power. Thus, money became a basic incentive for
individuals. Wages, salaries, allowances, bonus, financial incentives, commission etc. are financial
motivators. These financial motivators motivate individuals to join the organisations. The financial package
should motivate the present and prospective employees.

However, it should be borne in mind that money is not an end but a means of an end. It can satisfy both
physical and safety needs. Interestingly some people place a little emphasis on money irrespective of their
possession. However, certain people are continuously driven by the desire to acquire more money even if
they have possessed wealth to satisfy their basic needs. This may be to satisfy their desire for status, esteem
and self-actualization. This reveals that money is an instrument by which a person can satisfy various types
of needs. Even research supports use of money in satisfying esteem and recognition needs too, as well as
basic physiological needs.

The above discussion makes it clear that money is a motivator. Its role in motivation is unquestionable.
However behavioural theories placed importance on non-monetary rewards and suggested that if money only
motivates, there could have been human machines and not human beings.

Non Financial Motivators: General hypothesis is that financial incentives motivate employees for higher
work. However, individuals have variety of needs that they want to satisfy while working in the
organisations. People attach more importance to socio-psychological needs that cannot be satisfied by money
alone at higher level of managerial hierarchy. Thus management provides non-financial incentives to
motivate people in the organisation in addition to the financial incentives. However, the emphasis of non-
financial incentives is to provide psychological and emotional satisfaction rather than financial satisfaction.
For example, receiving promotion in the organisation gives psychological satisfaction. This is because one
gets better status, more challenging job, authority etc., which are more worth than getting more pay by way
of promotion. Some important non-financial incentives include: status, promotion, responsibility,
recognition, job security, etc.

Check Your Progress A

1) Mention various forms of financial incentives

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10.4 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Motivation has been ever challenging to the managers and even to leaders who are responsible to bring
commitment of their followers towards common tasks. Motivating requires understanding human nature and
designing strategies for getting the work done. In this direction, a number of motivation theories have been
advanced. Let us learn them in detail.

10.4.1 Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory

Abraham Harold Maslow advocated the theory of motivation based on various needs. Maslow identified
five distinct categories of needs. He arranged these needs into a hierarchy, and stated that individuals wish
to satisfy particular need to a moderate extent, and then tries to satisfy the next need in the hierarchy.
Maslow identified human needs into five distinct categories. They are arranged in the order of their
importance forming a hierarchy. Look at Figure 10.1 which shows five distinct categories needs.
 Figure 10. 1 : Maslows’ Need Hierarchy

SelfActualization Needs
Self-esteem Needs
Social Needs or Belonging and love and affection needs
Security Needs
Physiological Need or Basic Needs

According to Maslow, certain concepts are relevant for understanding the needs. They are pre-potency,
deprivation, domination, gratification and activation. Pre-potency is the strength associated with the needs.
Physiological needs have greater pre-potency. Deprivation is the perception of an obstacle for satisfaction of
a need. Thus, deprived need has high pre-potency. Domination is attaching importance to a need. A
deprived need dominates the individual. In order to reduce dissonance associated with the deprivation,
individuals try to gratify by undertaking some action. Therefore, gratification is the satisfaction of the need.
Gratified need does not dominate. At the end, activation of need determine motivation. Need satisfaction
activates the needs from one level to next higher levels. Maslow believes that these repeat as a cycle until
the highest level need is satisfied. Based on the concept Maslow identified five categories of needs and their
role in motivating individuals. They are described below:

1) Physiological Needs: Basic and primary needs required for human existence are physiological
needs. They relate to biological and are required for preservation of basic human life. These needs are
identified to the human organ in the body. They are finite needs. They must be satisfied repeatedly until
human beings die. They are not associated with money alone. They are hunger, thirst, sleep, shelter,
sex, and other bodily needs. The proposition relating to the basic needs is that they are primary
motivators to any individual and once they are satisfied, they no longer motivate. The next level need
becomes important for satisfaction until the basic need is dormant. Provision of adequate monetary
rewards to satisfy these needs motivate employees in organisations.

2) Safety Needs: Individuals seek protection from natural environment, biological danger, economic
deprivation and emotional threat from other beings and animals. For this purpose, he wishes security for
himself. The protection may be in the form of seeking a shelter and forming into primary groups to
combat threat from the natural beings. The motivational proposition are that the safety needs dominate
as soon as physiological needs are satisfied, and after individual seeks to satisfy fairly the security needs
they do not motivate him. In order to motivate employees, organisations provide fringe benefits, health
and accident insurance, housing loans, etc.

3) Social Needs: Basically individual is a social being. He cannot live in isolation and silence. Thus, he
intends to establish relationship with other human beings and some times wish to rear animals. Social
needs emerge from the basic urge of individuals to associate, belong with others, make friendship, make
companionship, desire to be accepted by others and seek affection. These needs are secondary in nature.
The propositions relating to social needs are that these needs are satisfied by symbolic behaviour and
through physic and psychic contact with others in the society. They are substantially infinite and exist
until the end of human life. Organisations should provide scope for formation of informal groups,
encourage working in teams, and provide scope for interpersonal communication, interpersonal
relationships and interpersonal understanding to motivate employees.

4) Esteem Needs: Maslow believes that people seek growth. They have natural desire to be identified
and respected by others. This instinct is called as esteem. Esteem needs are associated with self-esteem
and esteem from others. The need for power, self respect, autonomy, self confidence, achievement,
recognition of competence, knowledge, desire to have freedom, status and secure attention of others,
appreciation are some of the esteem needs individual wishes to satisfy. Maslow identified them, as
 higher order needs. The nature of esteem needs is that they are dormant until basic, security and social
needs are fairly satisfied. Satisfaction of esteem needs produce a feeling of self-confidence, strength,
capability and adequacy in the individuals.

5) Self-actualization Needs: Self-actualization is transformation of perception and dream into reality.

Individuals have inner potential to do some thing different from others. Realising the full inner potential,
one wishes to become what he is capable of becoming. Attaining to the level of fulfilment of self-
actualization needs is a difficult task as individuals are not clear about their inner potentials until an
opportunity is perceived. Moreover these needs change with a change in human life. The intensity of
self-actualization changes over life cycle, vary from person to person and environment.

The following propositions are made about the motivation of individuals based on the Maslow hierarchy of
needs.
i) Five needs are classified into lower order needs and higher order needs. While physiological, safety
and security needs are lower order needs, esteem and self actualization needs are higher order needs.
ii) Lower order needs are satisfied externally and higher needs are satisfied internally.
iii) Individuals start satisfying lower order needs first and proceed to satisfy higher order needs later.
iv) No need is fully satisfied during the life period of individuals. A need substantially satisfied no
longer motivates.
v) A need when substantially satisfied produces satisfaction and it becomes dormant. Immediately the
next level need becomes active. So Individual is continuously motivated to satisfy unsatisfied needs. So,
motivation is a continuous process.
vi) Satisfaction of lower order needs does not produce contentment. In fact, they produce
discontentment to satisfy other needs.
vii) Not all individuals have the same priority to satisfy the needs. Priorities differ from country to
country and from situation to situation.
viii) Individuals are aggressive in the satisfaction of basic needs and unconsciousness demands the
satisfaction. However, they use social consciousness in the satisfaction of other needs.
Maslow’s need hierarchy theory of motivation was considered logical and simple to understand human
motivation. The theory has received attention of practicing managers as they feel that identification of needs
of employees provides an insight to motivate them. This theory suggested that giving same reward more than
individuals’ desire will have diminishing marginal utility. This has specific significance to the practicing
manager.

Check Your Progress B

1) List the motivational propositions of Maslow model.

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2) Mention the characteristics of general and organisational context of Maslow’s needs from your
experience.

Needs General context Organisational context

10.4.2 Herzberg’s Two Factors Theory

Herzberg identified two sets of distinct factors. They are known as intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors.
Intrinsic factors exist within the job. They relate to the job content. They occur at the time of performing the
job. They relate to the positive feeling about the job. Thus, they provide job satisfaction. Hence, they provide
strong motivation. They are called motivational factors. These factors are needed to keep high levels of job
satisfaction and job performance.

Extrinsic factors are external to the job. They are hygiene factors or maintenance factors. They are related to
the conditions under which job is performed. Therefore, they are environmental centred. They relate to the
job context. They occur after the work is completed. They are identified as job dissatisfiers and are
associated with the negative feeling of the employees. They do not provide any growth in the productivity of
the employee. Therefore, they provide no motivation. This is the reason that the theory is also known as two
factors or duel factor theory. It is also called as motivation-hygiene theory.

The central concept of the theory is that factors which contribute to the job satisfaction are motivators and
the factors contributing to job dissatisfaction are hygiene factors which do not provide any motivation.
Existence of hygiene factors only prevent employees being dissatisfied. Thus, managers eliminating these
factors only make the employees satisfied in the job. Therefore, it is suggested that managers should
concentrate on the motivators than the hygiene factors.

Herzberg’s theory also received considerable attention because of the identification of the factors that are
needed to motivate employees. It suggested that environment is also important factor in deciding the
motivation of employees. The theory was appreciated on the ground that it suggested to identify the factors
causing boredom and monotony in the job. It also suggested that managers should eliminate the factors of
boredom in order to motivate the employees. In addition, redesigning the jobs by providing an opportunity
for sense of achievement, advancement, growth and personal development motivate them further. The factors
identified by Herzberg are shown in Figure 10.2.

Figure 10.2 : Herzberg’s Two Factors

Hygiene Factors: The job context factors that are environmental centered. Motivational
Factors: Internal factors that relate to job content.

Company policy and administrationSupervisionRelationship with SuperiorWork

conditionsSalaryRelationship with peersPersonal lifeRelationship with subordinatesStatusSecurity
AchievementRecognitionWork itselfResponsibilityAdvancementGrowth

Presence Help in preventing dissatisfaction Leads to satisfaction and motivation

Absence Increases dissatisfaction Prevents both satisfaction and motivation

10.4.3 Similarities and Distinctions between Maslows’ Need Hierarchy and Herzberg’s Two
Factors Theories

Maslow’s theory of need hierarchy and Herzberg’s two-factors theories are similar and dissimilar in certain
respects.

Similarities: The following points of similarities are observed in both theories.

Nature of Motivation: Maslow and Herzberg’s theories have identified that motivation is a process and it
results in to performance.

Human Needs: Both the theories have considered the totality of needs. Herzberg considered certain needs
as motivators. Maslow considered the same needs as esteem and self-actualization.

Behaviour: Both theories have considered that needs determine motivation and motivation determines the
behaviour of individuals.
The similarity of needs in Maslow and Herzberg are depicted in Figure 10.3

Figure 10.3 : Similarity of Maslow & Herzberg’s Need

Self
Actualization

Esteem

Social

Security

Physiological

Look at Table 10.1 which shows distinction between Maslow and Herzberg’s theories.

Table 10.1 Distinction between Maslow’s and Hergberg’s Theories

Differences Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Herzberg’s Two Factors Theory

Nature Descriptive Prescriptive
Arrangement of Needs Sequential arrangement No sequential arrangement
Classification Higher order and Lower Order needs Hygiene and Motivators
Relationship Unsatisfied need causes behaviour and behaviour causes performance. S a t i s f i e d
need causes performance
Motivation Satisfied need is not a motivator. Higher order needs are
motivators
Financial factors Pay and financial benefits are motivators. Financial benefits are not
motivators
Applicability Macro view and applicable to general motivation. Considers micro view
and applicable to work motivation
Relevance All individuals White collar and professional workers
Both the theories of motivation provide a basic framework for understanding human motivation. The theories
are relevant in work group settings. However, the theories have not considered individual differences.
10.4.4 Theory X, Theory Y and Theory Z

Douglas McGregor is the pioneer of theory X and theory Y. He explains the pre-dispositions or attitudes
toward people in organisations. These theories explain the nature of human beings and the relevant
motivational style of the leader to put them into action for the purpose of realisation of organisational
objectives. Theory X is the conventional approach to understand motivation. It is based on traditional
assumptions about the nature of people.

The theory, explains that management is responsible for providing facilities to the members of the
organisation; direct them to get the work done with active intervention. This is because average human
beings are indolent, prefers to avoid responsibility and resists changes and he wants to be led by others.
Hence, without intervention of management, people would be passive and indifferent towards organisational
goals. This theory explains that money, fringe benefits, threats and punishment motivate people. The theory
states that traditional division of work, specialisation, strict rules and regulations, multi-layered
communication system develops the organisation structure. This results in communication blocks,
distortions and negative morale of the people.

Motivational implications of McGregor Theories

According to theory ‘x’ superior sets objectives for subordinates and there will be a little participation of the
subordinates in setting objectives and plans. Hence, there is low commitment towards the plans. The
organisation structure is developed on traditional lines of hierarchical structure, communication channels,
centralised decision making, specialisation etc., Leadership is autocratic and communication is one way
upward. There will be little feed back. The superior acts as a judge for controlling the performance. The
primary process will be to find fault and give punishments. Therefore motivation is through threats and
punishments and it is purely monetary.

This theory was criticised on the ground that it is based on faculty assumptions and misconceptions of
human nature. Accepting the critics McGregor developed theory ‘y’ based on the human relations approach
developed by Hawthorne studies.

According to theory ‘y’ subordinates are allowed to participate and explore alternatives in the development
of plans and objectives. This enables superior and subordinate to set objectives and plans jointly resulting
into high motivation and commitment to objectives and plans. Organisation structure is developed on human
relations and emphasizes human needs. Leadership is democratic, participative and communication is two-
way. So, individual feel responsibility, accountability and committed to perform well due to positive
motivation. There is high trust in appraisal of performance. People try to learn from past experience. The
system of feed forward control emphasizes problem solving. Thus, the motivation is positive and mostly non-
financial.

Theory Z

Theory Z has received considerable attention as a theory of motivation in the recent years. It has originated
from Japanese management philosophy. Japanese management is characterised by the optimum use of
human energy. Some other notable features of Japanese organisations are : increase in productivity, lower
rates of absenteeism and turnover and high degree of organisational commitment. William Ouchi and Alfred
Jaeger have propounded the theory.
William Ouchi made an integration of characteristics of American organisations ‘Type A’ and Japanese
organisations ‘Type J’. The integrated theory is known as theory Z. The characteristics of the organisations
are presented in Table 10.2.
Table 10.2 : Integration of Characteristics

Characteristics Type AOrganisations(American) Type Jorganisations(Japanese)

Theory Z
Decision Making Individual managers make decisions Group decision making Emphasis
on group participation and consensus
Responsibility Assigned on individual basis Shared collectively by the group
Assigned on an individual basis
Control Explicit and formal controls Implicit and informal control. Based on
trust and good will Attention on informal controls and existence of explicit performance measures
Performance evaluation and promotion of personnel Very fast promotions. Job hopping
Very slow promotions. Slower promotions. Emphasis on evaluation and training than promotion
Career paths Very specialised career. People stick to one area of specialisation. Very general.
Employees are allowed to learn all areas of operations. Very general. Job rotation and broad-based
training is given to feel that they are suitable in part of the organisation.
Concern for personnel Concerned with work life Concerned with whole life, business and
social Concern for workers whole life

Some specific characteristics of theory Z are as follows:

i) Selection, Compensation and Promotions: Selection of employees is considerably for a long time. The
sources of selections are schools, institutions and other organisations. People of all ages are
selected. Selections are based on job related formal education and specialised skills. Promotions are
based on the productivity performance.

ii) Organisation Structure: The organisation structure is hierarchical. It emphasizes on moderate job
specialisaton and decentralisation, job enlargement, quality circles and matrix form of organisation.
Organisations are built around groups.

iii) Decision-Making: Decision making is less centralised. Emphasis is on the informal and consensus
opinion. Verbal communication is encouraged. Written communication is used only to verify
execution of decisions.

iv) Management Systems: Management tries to harmonise individual and organisational goals to achieve a
high degree of goal congruence. Employees are considered as valuable assets. Employees show
inherent liking to work and supervision is remote. Self-controls are exercised.

v) Employee Relationships: High concern is shown to employee and his welfare. Relationships are
paternalistic type. Employment is lifetime. Joint problem solving is followed by employer and
employee.
vi) Human Resources Development: Potential skills are recognised. Job enlargement and career planning
are given due emphasis. Organisational socialisation, technical training, research and development
are given priority.

Thus theory Z advocates establishment of motivational oriented organisational cultures with special
emphasis on employee development and participative culture.

Check Your Progress C

1) List the motivational implications of theory x and theory y.

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3) Mention the characteristics relating to organisation structure, management, motivation, controls,

leadership styles, decision making and communication in the following theories of motivation.

Theory X Theory Y Theory Z

10.4.5 ERG Theory

Clayton Alderfer propounded ERG theory of motivation. The theory is an out growth of Maslow and
Herzberg’s motivation theories. ERG theory is based on the concepts of existence needs, related needs and
growth needs used in the model. The model assumes the following assumptions.
Assumptions
• Needs are classified into distinct categories.
• Basic distinction exists between lower and higher order needs.
• Needs proceed on a continuum rather than a hierarchy.
• Poorly satisfied need is more desired.
• Desire for satisfaction of higher order needs arise after lower level needs are satisfied.
• Motivation arises out of need frustration.
• More than one need motivate an individual.

The ERG theory has identified the needs into following three categories.

i) Existence Needs: Existence needs relate to the basic survival of human beings. They are similar to
the physiological and safety needs suggested by Maslow. Monetary rewards, working conditions, job
security, incentives are some of the examples of existence needs.

ii) Related Needs: individual has a natural desire to develop social relationships. He wishes to belong
with others and develop friendship and warmth relationships. He gives importance to interpersonal
belongingness. He wants to identify and get recognition for himself. These needs are related needs.
These needs are similar to social and esteem needs enunciated by Maslow.
iii) Growth Needs: Individual has an intrinsic desire to grow in organisational career and in his personal
life. He wishes to grow beyond his potential and learn new skills and capabilities. These are growth
needs. They are similar to self-actualization needs suggested by Maslow.

According to ERG theory, all the three needs may operate simultaneously. The theory propounded a new
dimension known as ‘frustration regression’. Accordingly, a person tries to satisfy a lower order need, if he
is frustrated with satisfaction of a higher order need. Therefore, unsatisfied higher order need brings back to
lower order need. Thus, The concept of need satisfaction arising out of frustration is the basic concept of
ERG theory. The theory made the following propositions:

• Individual intends to satisfy a need, when he feels deprived of satisfying it. Therefore, deprivation is
motivation.
• Needs are not satisfied in an order as suggested by Maslow. For example, an employee may have strong
desire to occupy a higher position because of his higher qualification, even before he satisfied basic
needs.
• Two relationships are important to understand motivation. One is relationship between satisfaction and
motivation and the second is the relationship between frustration and motivation. An example makes this
clear. Giving promotion motivates an employee who has been deprived of promotion. This is motivation
from frustration. Having promoted, employee will be motivated towards unsatisfied need. As such he
works hard to realise his potential to get the next promotion.

ERG theory is applicable to work motivation. The theory has been considered workable and realistic. This
approach provides a clear understanding of human behaviour by recognising individual differences. The
theory lacks adequate empirical research support. It was questioned on the universal applicability.

Check Your Progress D

1) List the assumptions and proposition of ERG theory.

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2) Mention the similarities and dissimilarities in the needs stated in the following theories.

Need Hierarchy Theory Two Factors Theory ERG Theory

10.4.6 McClelland Theory of Need

David C McClelland advocated achievement motivation theory. It is also known, as three needs theory. Let
us learn them in detail.

i) Need for Achievement: It is the desire to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards.
According to the theory, certain people have inner urge to succeed and do something different from
others. This is achievement goal. Thus, employees possessing an inner desire to achieve derive
satisfaction from achieving goals. Therefore, challenging goals become motivators. People with high
need for achievement are high achievers. The characteristics of high achievers are as follows:

• Monetary rewards do not motivate high achievers.

 • High achievers create situations in which they can attain personal responsibility for finding solutions
to problems.
• They always set moderately challenging goals in order to prevent dissatisfaction. At the same time,
they are not satisfied with easy tasks.
• High achievers do not depend on chance. They assume responsibility.
• They are willing to work independently. They wish to establish relationship between their effort and
success.
• They always wish to overcome the difficulties by themselves.

According to McClelland need for achievement does not spring from individuals internally. It can be
developed and learnt. The theory suggested certain techniques for enhancing achievement motivation.
They are described below:

Feedback: Feedback is the process of providing information to the employees. Regular comments on the
employee’s performance enable them to assess their performance and learn from their mistakes. This helps
them to set challenging goals.

Model Building: Employees who are high achievers can be shown as models.
Employees attaining challenging goals are selected and their characteristics are told to others. This allows
other employees to emulate the characteristics of the model employees. This provides an opportunity to
develop high achievement oriented goals.

Job Redesign: One way to develop achievement motivation is to redesign the tasks by adding additional
responsibility and setting challenging goals. If jobs are very easy to achieve, employees do not feel
motivated. Similarly, employees who are unable to attain difficult jobs feel frustration and de-motivation.
Therefore, jobs should be designed to provide moderately challenging goals. In addition, jobs should be
made independent. Therefore, employees feel autonomy in realisation of goals. The job should be
redesigned in such a way that the outcome of the job is measurable and employee’s contribution is
identifiable. This provides contentment to the employees.

Attitude Change Management: Since, McClelland states that achievement motivation can be taught.
Employees’ attitude should be changed to think positively, innovative and imaginative. This enhances their
achievement motivation.

Measurable Outcomes: As you know that high achievers believe in personal success. They wish that
outcomes should be measurable and identifiable to their individual performance. This provides identity to
employee’s skills and performance which leads to achievement motivation.

Therefore, the theory stated that enhancing employee’s achievement potentials could motivate them. At the
same time, McClelland stated that need for power and need for affiliation influence motivation.

ii) Need for Power: Certain people derive satisfaction by exercising control over others. They believe
that they have ability to control others. They desire that means to achieve goals should be related to the
exercise of power. The individuals with high need for power prefer competitive and status oriented
situations.

iii) Need for Affiliation: It is the desire for friendly and close interpersonal relationships. McClelland
suggested that need for affiliation is based on the concept of belongingness needs advocated by Maslow.
 Affiliation oriented individual’s exhibit high preferences towards inter-personal relationships, establish
psychological contact with others and crave for social acceptance. They always strive for friendship and
prefer cooperative situations. They desire relationships involving high degree of mutual understanding.

Therefore, the theory states that a relationship oriented climate, inter personal understanding and inter
personal communication develops motivation. Some of the propositions of the theory derived from
experimental research can be stated as follows:
• High achievers will be strongly motivated when they find the job offering personal responsibility,
feedback and moderate degree of risk in achieving goals.
• High achievement motivation leads to success in entrepreneurial careers. They are successful in
running their own business.
• Managers with high achievement needs are not successful managers in large organisations. They are
best suited to perform the jobs independently. According to McClelland, the two essential
ingredients of managerial success, especially at the higher levels in an organisation are emotional
maturity and a democratic coaching style of managers.
• Need for affiliation and need for power is closely related. Successful managers possess high need
for power and low need for affiliation.
• High power motive is a requirement for managerial success.
• As individuals climb higher in the hierarchy, their need for power increases.
• Training can stimulate achievement need in employees.
• Individuals are motivated to succeed, and this motivation stems from achievement or power needs.
Thus, it is important for an individual to believe that his effort will result in successful performance
which brings reward.

Achievement motivation theory propounded by McClelland has been considered as more practicable theory
than Maslow and Herzberg’s theories. The concept of overlapping needs has significance for organisations
in designing motivational strategies. Similarly recognising that achievement needs could be created through
training has brought new dimension in managerial motivation.

10.4.7 Expectancy Theory

Victor Vroom propounded Expectancy theory to explain motivation. It is a process theory. It explains that
motivation is a process of eliciting a positive satisfaction. The central concept of the theory is that individual
is motivated and the strength of his action depends on close association between his preference to a specific
outcome and the actual outcome. He stated that motivational force is the sum of the product of valence and
expectancy. The theory established relationship between effort, performance and rewards. They are
explained hereunder:

i) Effort-Performance Relationship: It is the probability perceived by the individual that exerting a

given amount of effort leads to performance.
ii) Performance-Reward Relationship: This is the degree to which the individual believes that
performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome.
iii) Rewards-Personal Goals Relationship: It is the degree to which organisational rewards satisfy an
individual’s personal goals or needs and the attractiveness of those potential rewards for the individuals
These three relationships are referred to valence, instrumentality and expectancy. Thus, the theory is also
known as VIE theory of motivation. The concepts used in the theory are explained below:

Valence: Valence is the strength of an individual’s preference for a particular outcome. Every individual
believes that his effort leads to certain definite outcome. This is expected utility or value. The greater the
strength or the expectation of the outcome the greater would be the level of motivation. For instance, if an
employee believes that working hard and producing better leads to payment of bonus, he will work hard to
get more bonus. Thus, valence can be positive or negative. It is positive when employee has a strong
preference to reward. It will be zero if he is indifferent. Similarly, it will be negative if employee does not
prefer to attain the outcome.

Instrumentality: Instrumentality refers to the strength of the belief about the certainty of outcome. Thus, it
is the expression of probability between performance and reward. This varies between ± 1. The
performance reward relationship is positive, in case of positive instrumentality and vice versa. Employee
tries to estimate the probability about the reward associated with performance. For example, instrumentality
is high when employee feels certainty of bonus. If he is doubtful about the payment of bonus,
instrumentality will be low.

Expectancy: Expectancy is the belief that effort will lead to outcome and performance. Therefore,
expectancy determines the strength of performance rather than the outcome. It is based on the self-efficacy.
Employee with a high level of self-efficacy are more likely to believe that exerting effort will result in
satisfactory performance. A high level of self-efficacy has high expectancy, while low level of self-efficacy
has low expectancy. Persons suffering from low level of self-efficacy exhibit a phenomenon known as
‘imposter phenomenon’. This means that individuals are capable, as they appear to be. They are afraid of
their inferiority, which may be revealed in public if they exert high effort. Imposters have low expectancy, as
they believe that they lack the necessary competence. Expectancy is evaluated as a probability. It varies
from 0 to 1. Zero is associated with complete uncertainty. As the performance is assured the expectancy
rises and it will be high if the performance is certain. It is interesting to note that both internal and external
environment influence expectancy. Other factors influencing expectancy are: personality, self-efficacy,
experience, learning and perception. Thus, motivation is also influenced by these factors.

Thus according to expectancy theory, motivation is the result of the sum of the products of valence,
instrumentality and expectancy. It can be stated in the form of the following mathematical formula.

Motivation = Σ( Valence X Instrumentality X Expectancy)

It should be observed here that all the variables are multiplicative in nature. They are not additive.
Therefore, the following propositions can be made.

• Motivation is positive only when all variables are positive.

• Motivation is negative when all or any one of the variables is negative.
• Motivation is zero even when any one of the variables is zero.
• Motivation is also low even when any one of the variables is low.

The relationship among various variables in the expectancy model and the impact on motivation can be
shown in Table 10.3.

Table 10.3 : The Level of Motivation

Valence Instrumentality Expectancy Motivation

High High High Strong motivation
Low High High Moderate motivation
High Low High Strong avoidance
Low Low High Moderate avoidance
High High Low Moderate motivation
Low High Low Weak avoidance
High Low Low Moderate avoidance
Low Low Low Strong avoidance

Expectancy theory has brought new dimensions to understand motivation. Managers can motivate
employees by manipulating any one of the factors in a positive way and avoiding negative ways. However,
expectancy theory has introduced complex and critical variables, hence its understanding is difficult.

Check Your Progress E

1) Write the four proposition of Expectancy theory.

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2) Mention the mathematical characteristics of valence, instrumentality and expectancy.

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10.4.8 Porter and Lawler Theory

Porter and Lawler have developed more comprehensive model of motivation. This theory is also known as
performance-satisfaction theory of motivation. The model of motivation emerges based on the assumptions
of content theories of motivation. The content theories have assumed that satisfaction leads to performance
and dissatisfaction limits the performance of individuals. Porter and Lawler model is an out growth of Victor
Vrooms’ model of motivation. The assumptions of Porter and Lawler model of motivation are as follows:

Assumptions
• Motivation is not equal to satisfaction or performance.
• Motivation, satisfaction and performance are independent variables but there exists some relationship.
• The relationships between motivation and satisfaction can be expressed diagrammatically rather than
mathematically.
• More than valence and expectancy, some more variables and the cognitive process play a major role in
determining the motivation.

Motivation model suggested by Porter and Lawler is a multi-variable model and explains the complex of
relationship among motivation, performance and satisfaction. According to the model, motivation is the
result of effort when abilities, traits and role perceptions accompany it. Rewards and the perception of
rewards determine satisfaction of an individual. Thus, Porter and Lawler model is concerned about the result
of performance. It suggested that performance leads to satisfaction.

The concepts of the model are described below:

Value of Rewards: Individual evaluates the reward that he is likely to receive after the performance of a task.
The value can be expressed in monetary terms or non-monetary terms.

Perceived Effort Reward Probability: Individuals place a probability of the reward for the effort. The
perception determines the effort. If individual perceives greater probability for the reward, his effort will be
greater.

Effort: It is the effort individual intended to put in relation to the rewards perceived by him.

Abilities and Traits: Individual’s effort depends on his intrinsic ability and the characteristic traits possessed
by him.

Role Perception: Role is the expected way of behaviour of an individual. The way he perceives his role in
the organisation determines his motivation.

Performance: It is related to the accomplishment of tasks or achieving the goals. Individuals who are
properly motivated show greater performance.

Intrinsic Rewards: The reward that comes within the job is called intrinsic reward. It is received when the
job is performed. Recognition, esteem, responsibility etc. are intrinsic rewards.

Extrinsic Rewards: The rewards that are received after the job is completed is known as extrinsic rewards.
For instance, salary, fringe benefits, incentives are some of the examples for extrinsic rewards.

Perceived Equitable Rewards: Individuals’ feeling that the reward is fair and equitable to the effort
determines the individuals’ willingness to put forward his effort. A positive perception about the fairness of
reward leads to greater effort and vice-versa.

Satisfaction: This is the outcome of the process. It is the degree of contentment that individual feels about
the job. Satisfaction is an intangible aspect. It can only be measured in terms of expressions and emotions.
If individual is satisfied, he will show greater performance on the job.

This model suggests that the organisation should evaluate and redesign the policies relating to the
motivation. It also suggests that the level of satisfaction and level of performance are to be related to elicit
greater performance on the job. Thus, the model is considered to have greater impact in understanding the
relationship between performance and satisfaction. The model suggests the following guidelines for
motivating the employees.
i) Job Placement: Individuals’ abilities and personality traits should be matched with the requirements of
the job. A best fit between perceived attitudes and the job provides best motivation. Thus, the principle
of right person in the right job should be followed. A misfit de-motivates the employees.

ii) Job Role Specification: Organisations should provide clear communication to clarify the roles of
employees. It should be ensured that the employees have clearly understood their jobs, responsibilities,
rewards and outcomes. The expectations of the organisation should be communicated to the employees
in a clear and unambiguous manner.

iii) Job Rewards: Employees should be made clear about the rewards they will receive from the
completion of the job. They should also value these rewards and perceive that the rewards are beneficial
to them.
Apart from these, the following suggestion would also help the managers in motivating the employees. These
suggestions are related to the relationship between motivation and performance and performance and
satisfaction. They are depticed in Table 10.4.
Table 10.4 : Relationship between Performance and Satisfaction

Relationship between motivation and satisfaction Relationship between

Performance and satisfaction
• Clarify all doubts about ability, skill or knowledge• Remove
ambiguity in the job requirement• Provide interdependence of the job with other people or
activities• Clarify physical or practical possibility of the job • Determine
the rewards that each employee values• Define the desired
performance• Make the desired performance attainable• Link valued rewards and
performance
Check Your Progress F

1) List the variables in Porter and Lawler motivation model.

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10.5 MANAGERIAL APPROACHES TO MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES

You have learnt the concept of motivation and various theories of motivation. The environmental factors and
other considerations influence the application of motivational strategies. There are variations across
organisations and individuals in the application of motivation. Even within the organisation, there are
variations at different levels in the managerial hierarchy. The commonly used approaches to motivate
employees are discussed below :

Money is a Powerful Motivator: Money is a powerful motivator even in the modern day society. It is
believed that social status, position, power, prestige, recognition etc. are associated with money. Employees
receiving higher salary can lead luxurious life and commands respect from society. Organisations use
financial incentives to motivate employees. Some of the financial approaches to motivate employees include
: variable pay packages, piece rate plans, incentives based on the performance, profit sharing plan, gain
sharing schemes, skill based incentive schemes, and knowledge based financial incentive plans and flexible
benefits.

Job Re-design: Job redesign is one of the strategies to motivate employees in organisations. Some job
redesign techniques include : job enlargement, job enrichment and job rotation. Job enlargement is adding
more tasks and job responsibilities. Thus, providing an opportunity to employees to spend more time on the
job and still feel comfortable. Job enlargement motivates employees as they are allowed to perform variety
of tasks. The work modules are made meaningful. Job redesign allows scope for utilisation of abilities and
provides feedback. Job enrichment is enriching the jobs by adding motivators such as challenging goals,
creativity and innovative process, making it more exciting and incorporating growth opportunities in the job.
This motivates employees and provides satisfaction. Job rotation is another strategy. It involves changing the
employees from one job to another job.

Involvement of Employees : Participation in management decisions have been proved as an effective way
of motivating employees. Participation allows employees to express their views. It helps in developing
greater communication among superiors and subordinates. Employees develop a feeling that their suggestion
is accepted in the process of decision making. It improves acceptance of decisions and acts as a motivating
force. Some commonly used participation schemes are allowing representative participation, quality circles
and employee ownership plans commonly known as Employee Stock Option Plan. (ESOP)

Quality of Work Life (QWL): Quality of work life is relatively new concept that received attention of the
managers today. It has different meaning to different people. As a motivation technique it includes :
provision of adequate and fair compensation and safe and healthy work environment, continuous effort of
employees development, provision of growth potentials in the job, protecting self esteem, creating a sense of
identity, up-keeping self respect, equity and dignity of employees and integration of job with family life.

Management by Objectives (MBO): Management by objectives is technique of allowing setting the goals
by participation and actively involving manager and subordinates at every level. This allows them to feel
personal responsibility and a sense of achievement.

Performance Appraisal: Performance appraisal is a technique of assessing the employee performance at

regular and continuous intervals in order to appraise their abilities. It helps in appraising the merits and
deficiencies of employees performance. This appraisal suggests feedback to employees and they are
allowed to overcome their deficiencies.

Check Your Progress G

1) Enumerate the techniques for enhancing achievement motivation.

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2) What do you mean by need for affiliation?

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3) How employee’s involvement motivates the employees.

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4) How quality of work life motivates the employees.

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10.6 LET US SUM UP

Motivation is defined as an act of stimulating someone to secure commitment towards a desired course of
action. Motivators are those inducements, which make the individual direct his energy. As motivation is a
complex process, its understanding is a difficult task. For the purpose of understanding the motivation, a
number of theories have been proposed. Maslow propounded need hierarchy theory of motivation. He has
classified needs as basic needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs.
According to him, motivation comes from unsatisfied need. Fredrick Herzberg found that two factors
determine motivation and satisfaction of employees. He has identified hygiene and motivational factors.
The company policy and administration, supervision, relationship with superior, work conditions, salary,
relationship with peers, personal life, relationship with subordinates, status and security are hygiene factors,
achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth are motivators. According to
the theory hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction and motivators alone help in motivating employees.
McGregor formulated certain assumptions about human nature and suggested theory X and theory Y. Theory
X assumes that average human being dislikes work. Hence, coercion, financial rewards, punishments
motivate him. Inculcating a sense of belongingness and self-control can motivate employees as theory Y
assumes that average human being learns to accept responsibility. William Ouchi tried to integrate the
characteristics of American and Japanese organisations and formulated Z theory. The theory identified
distinctions between American and Japanese organisations with respect to decision making, assumption of
responsibility, exercise of control, promotion opportunities, career paths and concern for personnel. The
ERG theory focuses on existence needs, relatedness needs and growth needs.

Achievement motivation theory advocated by McClelland is a break through in motivation. The theory
believed that achievement motivation can be taught and learnt. The theory also identified three needs. They
are need for achievement, need for power and need for affiliation. The theory states that achievement can be
enhanced with the help of feedback, model building, job redesign, change of attitude and determining
measurable outcomes. According to the theory managers should motivate their subordinates by manipulating
relationship between motivation and satisfaction and relationship between performance and satisfaction. The
expectancy theory advocates that the motivation is the result of the products of valence, instrumentality &
expectancy. Porter and Lawler theory explains the complex of relationships among motivation, performance
and satisfaction.

The strategies of motivating employees include : money, incentives, flexible benefits, job redesign, job
enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation, and participation, quality of work life, MBO and regular
performance appraisals.

10.7 KEY WORDS

Achievement Goal: Need to excel and attain challenging goals.
ESOP: Employee Stock Option Plan in which employees are given option to take equity stock in the
company in lieu of monetary incentive.
Esteem: Desire to be recognised by others in the group.
Existence Needs: Needs related to the basic survival of human being.
Expectancy: The belief that effort leads to outcome and performance.
Expectancy Motivation: The sum of the product of valence, instrumentality and expectancy.
Frustration Regression: Tendency to go back to satisfy lower order needs with the deprivation of satisfying
higher order needs.
Hygiene factors: Job context factors, which are environmental centred that cause satisfaction.
Instrumentality: The strength of the belief of the certainty of outcome.
Job security: Feeling that job is secured and permanent.
Motivation: A process of stimulating one’s desire to produce goal directed response.
Non-financial motivators: Stimulants that appeal to individuals’ psychological and emotional appeal.
Pre-potency: The strength associated with the needs.
QWL: Quality of Work Life is redesigning of all aspects of work and environment to upkeep the dignity of
the employee.
Self-actualization: transformation of perception into reality by realising the full potential.
Valence: Strength of an individual preference for a particular outcome.
8.8 TERMINAL QUESTIONS
1) ‘Non-financial motivators play a significant role in motivation’ . Discuss. What are the limitations
of financial motivators.
2) Critically examine the need hierarchy theory of motivation. Do you think that the assumptions
of Maslow are hypothetical?
3) Distinguish between hygiene factors and motivators. Examine the applicability of two factors
theory in Indian context.
4) Bring out the similarities and distinctions between Maslow and Herzberg’s theories of
motivation.
5) ‘Theory X and Theory Y are dialectically opposite in their assumptions about the pre-
dispositions of the individuals’. Discuss.
6) What are the characteristics of high achievers? What are the strategies of enhancing
achievement motivation.
7) Critically evaluate the need for achievement theory of motivation.

Note : These questions will help you to understand the unit better. Try to write answers for them. Do
not submit your answers to the university for assessment. These are for your practice only.
Achievement
Recognition
Work itself
Responsibility
Advancement

Inter personal relations

Company policy and administration

Working conditions
Supervision
Job security
Salary
UNIT 11 JOB DESIGN AND JOB SATISFACTION
Structure

11.0 Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Job Design
1.3 Factors of Job Design
1.4 Models of Job Design
11.5 Job Re-design
1.1.1 Job Enrichment
1.1.2 Job Enlargement
1.1.3 Job Rotation
1.1.4 Job Reengineering
1.2 Concept of Job Satisfaction
1.3 Determinants of Job Satisfaction
1.3.1 Organisational Determinants
1.3.2 Personal Determinants
1.4 Measurement of Job Satisfaction
1.5 Let Us Sum Up
1.6 Key Words
1.7 Terminal Questions

11.0OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you should be able to :
• explain the meaning of job design;
• analyse the importance of job design in modern organisations;
• identify different factors of job design ;
• describe models of job design;
• distinguish between job enrichment and job enlargement;
• describe the concept of job rotation and job reengineering;
• explain the factors of job reengineering;
• define job satisfaction;
• describe the determinants of job satisfaction;
• examine various methods of job satisfaction; and
• examine the impact of job satisfaction on organisational and individual performance.

11.1 INTRODUCTION
Modern organisations are highly complex and competitive. In order to attain the objectives, organisation
structures are created and maintained. Organisation structure consists of jobs and tasks. The design of jobs
and tasks is essential to direct the human energy in a proper manner. Job design is structuring of the jobs
suitable to the realisation of organisational objectives. It includes instructions, detailing of tasks and
clarifying the roles. A properly designed job motivates the employees. Interestingly designing the jobs is not
an easy task. A number of internal and external factors influence the process of job design. In this unit,
you will learn the meaning, importance and models of job design. You will be exposed to the concept of job
enrichment, job enlargement, job rotation and job reengineering. You will further learn the concept,
determinants and measurement of job satisfaction. You will also be familiarised with the influence of job
satisfaction on performance.

11.2 JOB DESIGN

Organisations are created for attainment of goals. For this purpose, an organisation structure is created and
jobs are designed to meet the goals. F. W. Taylor suggested that jobs should be designed based on scientific
principles to attain higher productivity. However Human Relations approach has taken a different view and
suggested that job design should provide human satisfaction. Research also revealed that employees
performing properly designed jobs showed high motivation and satisfaction levels. Conversely poor job
design kindles boredom, monotony, ambiguity, conflicts and the result is dissatisfaction. Thus, job design
helps in directing human energy for organisational effectiveness. In addition, job design has an influence on
employee’s behaviour and organisational behaviour. Moreover, job design changes with the change in
internal and external factors. Organisational objectives, environmental factors, social aspects, employee
skills, training, status, job expectations, and individual goals and objectives are some of the factors
considered in the process of job design.

According to Taylor ‘job design is complete written instructions describing in detail the task to be
accomplished. The task specifies what is to be done, how is it done and exact time allowed for doing it.’
Job design is making components and sub components of job clear, so that employee understands the goals
of the job.
The paradigm of job design has changed remarkably over years. Traditionally job design is viewed as
designing standard procedures, clarifying specific job descriptions for increasing productivity and efficiency.
The job design is viewed from the perspective of total quality management. The jobs are designed to involve
innovation, empowerment, autonomy and teamwork. Thus, job design as a quality of work life is concerned
with the product, process, tools and techniques, design, plant layout, work measurement, standard operating
procedures, human process, machine interaction and other activities related to job performance.

The major features of job design are as follows :

• Job design is structuring of job tasks and responsibilities.

• Job design and quality of work life are related.
• Job design is both technical and managerial.
• It is concerned with job, motivation and behaviour of individuals.
• It is concerned with standardisation of job functions.
• The goal of job design is to maximise human efficiency in jobs.

Importance of Job Design

Job design is essentially a strategy of human resource management. It has a number of potential benefits.
They are:

• Job design clarifies the tasks and roles. Thus, it avoids ambiguities in the performance of jobs.
• Job design removes overlapping in responsibilities. This leads to rationalisation of tasks. Conflicts
among personnel are avoided.
• Job design allows proper placement of employees. Thus, an appropriate job fit may be achieved.
• It allows operational control over work performance and results.
• Job design allows incorporation of environmental changes in the job.
• It provides flexibility. Thus, employees are prepared to accept changes
without much resistance.
• It inculcates work motivation. Job design allows managers to understand organisational behaviour.
• Proper job design leads to better quality of work life among employees.
• Job design relieves stress and improves performance and organisational effectiveness.

11.3 FACTORS OF JOB DESIGN

Job design encompasses a number of factors. Let us learn them in detail.
1) Goals: Job design aims at goal setting and communication to the employees. Goals provide
direction and help in exercising control. They also influence human behaviour, motivation and
satisfaction.

2) Task accomplishment: Task accomplishment is related to job design. Jobs are designed to
accomplish tasks. Task accomplishment is viewed in terms of productivity. Other outcomes of task
accomplishment are economy in operations, efficiency and effectiveness. While efficiency is related to
the attainment of more output with minimum input, effectiveness is related to the attainment of goals
 with utmost economy. Economy is related to the rational utilisation of physical, financial and human
resources. Thus, job design should be done to economise resources, and maximise the output.

3) Employee Response: The ultimate objective of job design is to maximise employee’s satisfaction.
Job design should encourage employees to perform well. For the purpose of good job design and
redesign employees’ opinion about the job is important. This can be obtained by feed back.

4) Task Variety: Basically tasks are different though they are dependent. They require variety of skills.
Repetitive tasks do not require variety of skills. The challenging tasks require a range of skills.
Repetitive tasks are considered monotonous and boring. Job design should provide an opportunity to
demonstrate skills of employees.

5) Task Identity: Task identity refers to the identification of individual’s contribution in the organisation.
Employees want that their contribution should be recognised and rewarded. This is possible only when
the tasks are identified. This gives them a sense of satisfaction.

6) Task Significance: Employee feels that his role in the organisation is important if his task is considered
significant by the organisation. Job design should provide adequate information to employees
concerning the importance of their contribution to the organisational goals.
7) Task Complexities: Task complexity relates to the perception of employees. If employees feel that
task is difficult, and beyond their capabilities, they get de-motivated. At the same time easy jobs also
do not provide adequate motivation. The feelings that jobs are challenging but not complex provide
achievement motivation.
8) Job Functions: Job functions are designed as part of job design. These include : specification of
authority, responsibility, work methods, co-ordination, control, feed back; etc. Job designs should
include clarity about job functions for the realisation of mutual expectations of employees and
organisation.
9) Job Relations: Most of the organisational tasks require teamwork. This demands establishing
relationship among various organisational members. Good interpersonal relationships create sound
organisational climate.
10) Job Techniques: Organisational jobs require continuous redesigning. Redesign of jobs relates to
both breadth and depth of jobs. While job breadth means provision for inclusion of different jobs, job
depth relates to giving more power, responsibility and control. Job design should include various
techniques for making job interesting and meaningful to the employees. This is achieved by redesign of
 jobs. Some of the techniques of redesign are : job enrichment, job enlargement, job rotation and job
reengineering.
Check Your Progress A

1) List out the characteristics of Job design.

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2) What are the importance of job design?

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11.4 MODELS OF JOB DESIGN

Job design is a continuous process. It aims at increasing the harmony between human effort and job. A
number of factors influence the process of job design. Several models are developed to explain the influence
of these factors. Let us learn some important models.

Task Characteristics Theory : Task Characteristics theory was the outcome of the studies conducted by
Turner and Lawrence. In these studies, an assessment was made about the effect of different kinds of jobs on
employee satisfaction and absenteeism. The task characteristics were identified and scores were given. Higher
scores on the characteristics indicate that the jobs are more complex and vice versa. The major findings of the
theory reflect that employees prefer complex and challenging tasks. The challenging jobs provide more
satisfaction. The result is lower absenteeism rate. In the process, the theory identified certain task characteristics.
They are : variety, autonomy, responsibility, knowledge and skill, social interaction and optional social interaction.
Job Characteristics Model: Based on the pioneering work of Turner and Lawrence, Hackman and Oldham
propounded job characteristics model. The model identified certain job characteristics. It also identified the
relationships between job characteristics and motivation, and performance and job satisfaction.

The model showed that core dimensions viz., skill variety, task identity and task significance determine the
meaningfulness of the work. The presence of these characteristics lead to the importance and valuability of
the Jobs. While autonomy provides a feeling of responsibility for the outcome, feed back provides them an
opportunity to evaluate their performance. According to the model, internal rewards are obtained when
employees learn that they have performed well on a task. The more of these three psychological states are
present, the greater will be employee’s motivation, performance and satisfaction and the lower their
absenteeism and turnover. It should be noted that employee’s need for growth determine psychological state
and corresponding motivation and satisfaction.

Motivating Potential Score Model: Motivating Potential Score Model was developed based on job
characteristics model. The model stated that three potential scores on the three core dimensions of job
characteristics model possess additive property. The autonomy and feed back are multiplicative in nature.
Thus, a motivating potential score is calculated. The motivating potential score is equal to the product of the
average scores of skill variety, task identity and task significance and autonomy and feed back.
Accordingly, the model proposes that people who work on jobs with high core job dimensions are generally
more motivated, satisfied and productive. Job dimensions operate through psychological states in influencing
personal and work outcome variables rather than influencing them directly. The model received appreciation
for its mathematical properties.

Social Information Processing Model: Individuals are part of the society. They have inherent desire to
associate and belong to others. Obviously, they wish to work in the groups rather than in isolation. Moreover,
individuals focus on observational learning. They develop attitudes by social learning. According to the
Model, Employees adopt attitudes and behaviour in response to the social cues provided by work and other
groups with which they associate. The groups are co-workers, superiors, subordinates, reference groups,
friendship groups, family and customers. Therefore, information provided by the group on job aspects is
more relevant than the basic job characteristics, employees’ psychological states and outcomes of the jobs.

Thus, the managerial strategy of job design is to consider information shared by the groups about the job.
They can also influence the employee’s attitude positively even to the poorly designed job by continuously
counselling them about the jobs.

Socio Technical Model: Socio-technical model emphasised on the assumption that employees are important
in organisations. They should be given a good quality of working environment. Individual’s development is
essential for organisational development. Thus, the model suggested that jobs should be designed and
redesigned to the needs of the employees. The central tenet of the model is that job design should be
developed based on the technical as well as social factors. Technical factors relate to the factors in the input,
processing and output mechanism. Social factors relate to the relationships prevailing among employees and
management. An appropriate job design makes a best balance among employees, jobs, technology and
environment. Further, the model assumes that these factors change continuously. Thus, job design should
include three important elements. They are socio-technical impacts, work teams and flexible work
schedules. The model was considered as appropriate in developing job design because it considered
technical and structural aspects along with human aspects. It was also found that labour management
conflicts reduced and quality of the product improved. The cost reduction, increased turnover, quality of
work life, innovation and creativity, product quality and positive behavioural changes are some of the
benefits of this model. However, the model was criticised for the assumption that employees are matured
enough to work as teams and adopt flexible work schedules.

Contingency Model: A contingency model of job design was developed to explain the impact of job design
on the performance and satisfaction. It considered quality of work life as a significant factor. The model
suggested that techniques and knowledge be given more emphasis in job design. The model identified that
certain factors considered in the job design lead to satisfaction. They are:

• Job scope perceived as simple or complex.

• The high or low degrees of individual need strength.
• The nature and type of overall organisational design. The two organisational designs are organic or
mechanistic.

Thus according to this model a combination of perception of job scope, the degrees of individual need
strength and the type of organisation structure determines the performance and satisfaction. Therefore, job
design should be developed considering a number of permutations and combinations of these factors. The
model has been used in developing social information processing model.
Employee Development Model: Modern organisations considered that organisational development is
possible with employee development. They considered employees as human assets. They have a need for
career growth and development. Therefore, it is not just enough to consider technical and social issues in the
job design. Accordingly, jobs are designed keeping in view the long run interest of the employees. The
central tenet of the model is that employees should be competent, responsible and satisfied. It identified
several aspects in the redesign of jobs. Some of them are scope for alcoholism treatment, non-
discrimination, encouraging discipline, creating consciousness, responsibility and providing generic
monitoring and direction.

Integrative Job Design Model: Integrative job design model considered that job design is dynamic. The
purpose of job design is to make the work interesting and employee satisfying. Thus, the model developed an
integration of all the factors such as cultural, social, technical and other situational factors in the process of job
design. Some of the factors of the job design are : core design factors; individual factors; organisational factors
and situational factors.

Overall, the model suggested that job design is developed based on the contingency of a situation. Jobs
designed ignoring situational factors do not produce effectiveness and satisfaction.

Check Your Progress B

1) Mention the propositions of Task Characteristics Theory.
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2) Mention the propositions of SIP model of job design.
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3) What are the organisations practicing the socio-technical model.

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4) Mention the variables of core design, individual, organisational and situational factors in the
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11.5 JOB RE-DESIGN

You have learnt the concept, factors and models of job design. Let us now disucss various techniques of job
re-design.

1.1.1 Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is vertical expansion of jobs. According to Hackman and Oldham, an enriched job organises
tasks to allow the worker to do a complete activity, increases the employees freedom and independence,
increases responsibility and provides feedback. Herzberg has suggested the concept of job enrichment.
Fred Luthans defined that job enrichment is concerned with designing jobs that include a greater variety of
work content; require a higher level of knowledge and skill; give workers more autonomy and responsibility
in terms of planning, directing and controlling their own performance; and provide the opportunity for
personal growth and a meaningful work experience.

The job should be designed to provide opportunity for achievement, recognition, responsibility,
advancement and growth. The following are the characteristics of an enriched job.

• Decision making power

• Relationships
• Opportunity for Learning
• Freedom
• Uniqueness
• Resource Control
• Communication
• Achievement orientation
• Responsibility
• Accountability
• Opportunity for personal growth and development
• Feedback

Job enrichment is not a single time activity. It is a process containing certain activities. They are combining
tasks, creating natural work units, establishing relationships among personnel, expanding job vertically and
providing feed back channels. The advantages of job enrichment are:
• Increase in quality and productivity
• Enhanced motivation and job satisfaction
• Development of additional skills
• Less work load on employees
• Enhanced creativity in employees
• Increase in pay and perquisites
• Decreased absenteeism and turnover
• Less number of grievances
• Optimum use of human energy
• Increased social benefits due to increase in quality and productivity.

1.1.1 Job Enlargement

Job enlargement refers to making the job with a variety of tasks. In the recent past, there has been an
increase in the number and variety of jobs performed by the employees in the organisations. When the
employee feels that the job he is currently performing is less challenging, oversimplified, lack diversity and
less meaningful, the answer is perhaps job enlargement. Thus, Job enlargement is the horizontal expansion
of jobs to include more variety of tasks within the scope of the job. For instance, a worker is assigned with
the job of counting the finished products, finds it boring and repetitive; the job can be enlarged by including
certain tasks connected to the job. They are checking the products before counting, packing and delivering
the products at the finished goods warehouse. etc. The following are the potential benefits of job
enlargement.

• Reduction in the Level of Boredom: Job enlargement provides scope of increasing the number of
tasks performed by the employee. It reduces employee’s monotony.

• Utilization of Skills: Job enlargement enhances the scope of use of employee’s skills and abilities. A
feeling of proper utilisation of employee’s skills provides greater satisfaction and consequent
motivation to the employees.

• Quality and Efficiency: Job enlargement leads to increased efficiency of employees as they receive
training to do all the newly added jobs. This results in the increase in the quality of production and
the overall effectiveness.

• Job Enjoyment: In an enlarged job, employee feels less fatigued. Employees try to enjoy the
enlarged work because of the greater variety of the job tasks.

• Feedback: Job enlargement provides for the feedback to the employee. Thus, he can know where he
stands in the performance. This enables him to develop his career and provides right motivation.

However, job enlargement has the following drawbacks.

• Job enlargement enhances the training costs.

• Job enlargement needs introduction of new systems. This may considerably reduce the
productivity of employees.
• It creates a feeling of overburden of tasks among the employees.
• Job enlargement requires retrenchment of redundant employees.

Inspite of certain drawbacks, job enlargement is one of the best techniques of job design.

3.3.3 Job Rotation

Job rotation refers to the periodical shifting of an employee from the existing job to another job at the same
level of skill requirements. It is also known as cross training. The need for job rotation arises out of
overroutinised jobs, boring jobs, non-challenging jobs and jobs with poor achievement orientation. If an
employee is performing one aspect of the job, job rotation helps him to perform all tasks in the job. The
benefits of job rotation are :

• Reduction of boredom and employee turnover.

• Better diversification and development of wide range of skills that helps building competent employees.
• Greater challenges in the job leading to variety of jobs.
• Increased flexibility of jobs providing scope for better job scheduling.
• Greater adaptability to change.
• Increased motivation and job satisfaction.

Some of the drawbacks of job rotation are :

• Increased costs of training in all related jobs.

• Cost of time overruns in performing the job increases.
• Decrease in the productivity because of rotation of the jobs.
• Greater disruptions in social contacts as frequent rotation require adjustment to social groups.
• Increased monitoring and controlling of employees require additional costs of supervision.
Inspite of certain drawbacks job rotation is considered as a motivational process and a technique for human
resource development.

4.4.4 Job Reengineering

Job reengineering is another technique of job redesign. It refers to redesigning jobs based on feed back.
Jobs are performed continuously. The reactions, level of satisfaction and contribution to the goals are
evaluated continuously. There may be discrepancies in the organisational objectives, job goals and finally
outcomes of the jobs. Thus, jobs should be reengineered to make them suitable to employees. Job
reengineering is defined as reallocation of jobs to achieve congruence of goals of individual and
organisation.

Michel Hammer defined job reengineering as the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business
processes by application of variety of tools and techniques focussing on related customer oriented core
business process to achieve dramatic improvements in critical and contemporary measures of performance
such as cost, quality, service and speed. He considered that though job reengineering can be applied to any
level of management, customer oriented designing and reengineering are more important for the survival and
growth of the company. Job reengineering involves use of new technology and changes in the process of
work. The basic objective of job reengineering is attaining corporate objectives and goals through increased
employee satisfaction. Some of the corporate goals achieved through job reengineering are customer
satisfaction, profit maximisation, growth and enhancing corporate image.

The nature of job, personality, experience of employees, job performance and satisfaction are some of the
factors which are considered in reengineering the jobs. It varies from person to person, job to job and
company to company. Thus, it depends on different levels and nature of job. Edward E Lawler advocated
that organisations must recognise the importance of treating people differently and placing them in
environments and work situations that fit their unique needs, skills and abilities. Job reengineering leads to
job enrichment.

The following are the principles of job reengineering.

i) Allocation of jobs according to employees’ interest.

ii) Employees preferring routine jobs are allowed to perform routine jobs.
iii) Low skilled employees are given jobs requiring low skills.
iv) Achievement oriented employees are given challenging jobs.
Several factors are considered in the process of job reengineering. They are : information system,
government policies, organisational policies, technology, competition, appraisal of costs and benefits and
prospective challenges.

Job reengineering is an important technique of job redesign in the modern organisations. It has a number of
potential benefits. Some of them are : improved customer service, increased growth opportunities, improved
decision making, and learning skills, easy and comfortable attainment of tasks, effective inter personal
interaction, inter personal communication and improved inter personal relationships.

Finally, it should be noted that changes brought by globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation have forced
organisation to go for job reengineering. This is because of the fact that successful redesigning of
managerial practices and orgnanisation structure adds value to the product and service of the organisation.
Moreover, reengineering dispenses with traditional methods of work process.

Check Your Progress C

1) Mention the points of distinctions of job enrichment and job enlargement you have observed in the
organisation.
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2) Enumerate the benefits of job rotation.

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3) Enumerate the principles of job engineering.

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11.6 CONCEPT OF JOB SATISFACTION
Job satisfaction is a psychological aspect. It is an expression of feeling about the job. Job satisfaction is an
attitude. It is a permanent impression formed about the job. Employees interact with people and other
resources while working with the job. In the process, they experience positive or negative feelings about the
job context and content. The concept of job satisfaction has gained importance ever since the human
relations approach has become popular.

Job satisfaction is an intangible variable. It consists of a complex number of variables, conditions, feelings
and behavioural tendencies. Roberts Dictionary of Industrial Relations defined job satisfaction as those
outward or inner manifestations which give the individual a sense of enjoyment or accomplishment in the
performance of his work. According to Locke, job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state
resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience. Andrew Brin stated Job satisfaction as the
amount of pleasure or contentment associated with a job. Further, he stated that if one likes a job intensely
he will experience high job satisfaction and if he dislikes the job intensely he will experience job
dissatisfaction.

The characteristics of job satisfaction are :

• Job satisfaction is an inner feeling. It can be inferred through the expression of behaviour.
• Job satisfaction is an attitude. It is a sub set of attitude.
• Job satisfaction influences the skill and energy of individual.
• It can be positive or negative. It is expressed in a high or low degree.
• Job satisfaction is associated with the emotional state of human mind.

Having known about the concept of job satisfaction. Let us now learn the determinants of job satisfaction.

11.7 DETERMINANTS OF JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction is intangible and it is multi-variable. A number of factors influence job satisfaction of
employees. They can be classified into two categories. They are organisational and personal variables. They
are discussed below:

11.7.1 Organisational Determinants

Employees spend most of the time in organisations. Therefore, a number of organisational factors determine
job satisfaction of the employees. Organisations can increase job satisfaction by organising and managing the
organisational factors. Let us learn the organisation determinants of job satisfaction.

i) Wages: Wage is the amount of reward worker expects from the job. It is an instrument of fulfilling
the needs. Every one expects to get a commensurate reward. The wage should be fair, reasonable and
equitable. A feeling of fair and equitable reward produces job satisfaction.
ii) Nature of Work: The nature of work has significant impact on the job satisfaction. Jobs involving
intelligence, skills, abilities, challenges and scope for greater freedom make the employee satisfied on
the job. A feeling of boredom, poor variety of tasks, frustration and failure leads to job dissatisfaction.

iii) Working Conditions: Good workings conditions are needed to motivate the employees. They
provide a feeling of safety, comfort and motivation. Poor working conditions give a feeling that health is
in danger.

iv) Job Content: Job content refers to the factors such as recognition, responsibility, advancement,
achievement etc. Jobs involving variety of tasks and less repetitive result in greater job satisfaction. A
job, having poor content produces job dissatisfaction.

v) Organisational Level: Higher level jobs are viewed as prestigious, esteemed and opportunity for
self-control. Employees working at higher level jobs express greater job satisfaction than the lower level
jobs.

vi) Opportunities for Promotion: Promotion is an achievement in the life. Promotion gives more pay,
responsibility, authority, independence and status. Therefore, opportunities for promotion determine the
degree of satisfaction to the employees.

vii) Work Group: Existence of groups in organisations is a common phenomenon. It is a natural desire
of human beings to interact with others. This characteristic results in formation of work groups at the
work place. Isolated workers dislike their jobs. The work group exerts a tremendous influence on the
satisfaction of employees. Satisfaction of an individual depends largely on the relationship with the
group members, group dynamics, group cohesiveness and his own need for affiliation.

viii) Leadership Styles: Leadership style also determines the satisfaction level on the job. Democratic
leadership style enhances job satisfaction. Democratic leaders promote friendship, respect and warmth
relationships among the employees. On the other hand, employees working under authoritarian leaders
express low level of job satisfaction.

11.7.2 Personal Determinants

Job satisfaction relates to the psychological factors. Therefore, a number of personal factors determine the
job satisfaction of the employees. They are mentioned below:

i) Personality: Individual psychological conditions determine the personality. Factors like perception,
attitudes and learning determine the psychological conditions. Therefore, these factors determine the
satisfaction of individuals.

ii) Age: Age is a significant determinant of job satisfaction. Younger age employees possessing higher
energy levels are likely to feel more satisfied. As employees grow older, aspiration levels increase. If
they are unable to find their aspiration fulfilled, they feel dissatisfied.

iii) Education: Education provides an opportunity for developing one’s personality. It enhances
individual wisdom and evaluation process. Highly educated employees possess persistence, rationality
and thinking power. Therefore, they can understand the situation and appraise it positively.

iv) Gender Differences: The gender and race of the employees determine Job satisfaction. Women are
more likely to be satisfied than their counterpart even if they are employed in small jobs.
Certain other factors that determine job satisfaction are learning, skill autonomy, job characteristics,
unbiased attitude of management, social status etc. Managers should consider all these factors in assessing
the satisfaction of the employees and increasing their level of job satisfaction.

11.8 MEASUREMENT OF JOB SATISFACTION

Job satisfaction is an intangible and psychological concept. It is a qualitative aspect. It is not understood in
strict quantitative terms. Therefore, job satisfaction should be measured through survey of employees’
attitudes. In most of the organisations, there is a practice of conducting surveys of employee’s intentions in a
regular manner. Some of the techniques employed to measure job satisfaction are discussed below:

i) Rating Scales: Rating scales are the most commonly used method of measuring the job satisfaction.
Rating scale consists of certain statements describing the attitude of the employees with respect to the
job, organisation and personal factors. For each statement, the employee is asked to express his opinion
on a scale consisting of different expressions.

ii) Personal Interviews: Another important method of measuring job satisfaction is conducting
personal interview with the employees. Experts conduct interviews with the employee in which they are
asked to express their opinion on job satisfaction. These responses are analysed to find out their levels
of job satisfaction. However, this method is likely to have personal bias of the interviewer.

iii) Tendencies: Employees are asked to describe their tendency or inclination on several aspects.
Employees tendency reveals their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

iv) Critical Incidents: Herzberg developed this approach to measure job satisfaction. In this method,
employees were asked to describe incidents on their job when they were particularly satisfied or
dissatisfied. These incidents were analysed to determine their positive and negative attitudes.

Check Your Progress D

1) Mention the organisational and personal determinants of job satisfaction.

Organisational determinants Personal determinants

2) What are the techniques of measurement of job satisfaction ?

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9.9 LET US SUM UP

Job design is a process of developing complete written instructions, task characteristics and job components.
A proper job design is needed for effective performance. Job design clarifies the roles and responsibilities,
removes overlapping of responsibilities and rationalises tasks, enables operational control over performance
and provides flexibility for adoption of environmental changes. Thus, job design is important in directing
the employees’ energy towards realisation of goals. Job design is complex and difficult process.

A number of factors influence the job design. These factors are classified into internal and external. A
number of theoretical propositions have been developed that help the process of job design. These theories
have suggested that job design should consider the task characteristics, environmental contingencies and
motivational potential. Job redesign attempts to restructure the jobs suitable to the employees and
organisational demands. Job enrichment, job enlargement, job rotation and job reengineering are some of
the job redesigns techniques. While job enrichment is vertical expansion of jobs, job enlargement is
horizontal expansion of jobs. Job rotation aims at moving employee from one job to the other. Job
reengineering is reallocation of jobs suitable to achieve objectives and at the same time enhance employee’s
satisfaction. A number of factors are considered in the process of job reengineering. They are : information
systems, government policies, organisational policies, technology, and competition, appraisal of costs and
benefits and prospective challenges.

Job satisfaction is a psychological concept. It is an impression formed about the job, working conditions,
organisation, superior and subordinates and peers. Every employee develops certain impression about the
job and organisation. A number of factors determine job satisfaction. They are organisational and personal.
Organisational determinants are : wages, nature of work, working conditions, job content, organisational
level, opportunities for promotion, work group and leadership styles. Similarly, personal determinants
include : personality, age, education and gender difference. As job satisfaction is an intangible concept, it is
measured in indirect manner. There are number of methods used in the measurement of job satisfaction.
These include : rating scales, personal interviews, observation of tendencies and critical incidents. Job
satisfaction has both negative and positive effect on the job, worker and organisation. Job satisfaction is
positively related to productivity of organisation.

10.10 KEY WORDS

Job Design: The process of structuring the job elements, duties and tasks.
Job Enrichment: Vertical expansion of jobs to include greater task variety.
Job Enlargement: Horizontal expansion of jobs to make the job with a variety of tasks.
Job Reengineering: The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of the business process.
Job Rotation: Periodical shifting of employee from the existing job to a new job at the same level of skill
requirements
Job Satisfaction: A psychological expression of contentment on the job.
MPS: The motivating potential score, which is equal to the product of average scores of skill variety, task
identity and task significance and autonomy and feed back.
Rating Scales: A measurement scale containing certain statements with specific answers.
Task Identity: Identifying individual contribution in the output.
Task Significance: Recognising the importance of task performed by the employee.

11.11 TERMINAL QUESTIONS

1) Define job design. What are the characteristics of job design?
2) ‘Job design is essentially a strategy of human resource management’ Elucidate.
3) ‘Job design encompasses a number of factors: organisational context factors, task factors, job context
and content factors, and employee factors.’ Discuss with examples.
4) Examine the task characteristic theory of job design.
5) What is MPS? Explain its mathematical properties of motivating potential score.
 6) Explain the social information-processing model.
7) ‘Socio technical impacts, work teams and flexible work schedules determine the job design’ Discuss.
8) Discuss the employee development model of job design.
9) ‘Job design is developed to integrate all the factors such as cultural, social, technical and other situational
factors’. Explain.
10) Examine various job redesign strategies. Do you think that they help in improving the organisational
efficiency. Discuss.
11) Distinguish between job enrichment and job enlargement.
12) ‘Several environmental factors are considered in the job reengineering’. Discuss.
13) Define job satisfaction. Explain its characteristics.
14) ‘Job satisfaction is an inner feeling; it is influenced by various organisational and personal variables’.
Elucidate.
15) How do you measure job satisfaction? Explain.
16) ‘Job satisfaction has both positive and negative impacts’. Explain.

Note : These questions will help you to understand the unit better. Try to write answers for them. Do
not submit your answers to the university for assessment. These are for your practice only.

SOME USEFUL BOOKS

Robbins P Stephen, Organization Behaviour, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi. (Recent Edition)

Ivancevich M. John, Human Resource Management, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Boston(Recent Edition)

Luthans Fred, Organisational Behaviour, Irwin, McGraw-Hill, Boston, (Recent Edition)

John W, Newstrom and Keith Devis, Organizational Behaviour, Tata McGraw, Hill Publishing Company Ltd,
New Delhi. (Recent Edition)

Dwivedi R. S., Human Relations and Organisational Behaviour – A Global Perspective, Macmillan, Delhi.
(Recent Edition)

Steven L. Mchane and Mary An Van Glinow, Organizational Behaviour, Tata McGraw- Hill Publishing
Company Limited, New Delhi (Recent Edition)