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SESSION – 1
ETHICS AND INTEGRITY
What is Ethics?

Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending
concepts of right and wrong conduct.

These are the moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.

It comprises of the basic concepts and fundamental principles of decent human conduct.

It also means the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation

Importance of Ethics in life:

Advantages of Ethical Behavior in the workplace

• Builds Customer Loyalty
• Retains Good Employees
• Creates a Positive Work Environment
• Gets easier to Avoid Legal Problems
• Makes profit in the Long run

CASE STUDY

Rajat Gupta and Insider Trading

The Players

Rajat Gupta is an Indian American businessman who was the managing director of management consultancy
McKinsey & Company and a business leader in India and the United States. Rajat Gupta also served as corporate
chairman, board director or strategic advisor to Goldman Sachs, Procter and Gamble and American Airlines, and
non-profits organizations, The Gates Foundation, The Global Fund and the International Chamber of Commerce.

Rajat Gupta was convicted in June 2012 on insider trading charges. He was sentenced in October 2012 to two years in
prison, an additional year on supervised release and ordered to pay $5 million in fines. His trial began on May 22,
2012. On June 15, 2012, Gupta was found guilty on three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

The primary parties are affected are Rajat Gupta, McKinsley & Company, Goldman Sachs, Raj Rajaratnam, Galleon
Group, Warren Buffet, and the U.S. equity markets. Other parties indirectly affected are family and friends of Rajat
Gupta, employees at McKinsley & Company and Galleon Group, investors in Goldman Sachs and its creditors, and
government and officials involved with the case.

The Transactions

In September 2008 Warren Buffet agrees to pay $5 billion to Goldman Sachs in exchange for preferred shares in the
company. This news is likely to raise the share price of Goldman Sachs. The news is not supposed to be announced
and made public until the end of day. Less than a minute after the board approved the Buffet purchase, Rajat Gupta
calls his long time friend Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund manager and billionaire founder of Galleon Group. Once
Rajaratnam gets this information, he immediately buys shares of Goldman Sachs. Next day when the stock market
opens, Raj Rajaratnam makes nearly $1.2 million in profits as Goldman Sachs shares rose. The SEC estimates the tip
leaked by Rajat Gupta generates profits and avoids losses of more than $23 million.

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Ethical Analysis

Would a virtuous person have leaked the information to Raj Rajaratnam? Rajat Gupta showed a failure of character:

Integrity: Integrity is honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of a person’s action. Rajat Gupta does not show integrity to
his company Goldman Sachs, where he was a Board of Director. Instead gives away insider information for personal
benefits.

Trust: Rajat Gupta broke the trust to other Directors on Goldman’s board and to of other people with whom he has
done business. His actions affect the relationship with McKinsley & Company.

Fairness: Rajat Gupta’s actions are not fair for two reasons. First, other investors who do not have the information on
Buffett’s deal are at a disadvantage. Second, he uses the information entrusted to him to benefit himself and
Rajaratnam.

Honesty: He was not honest with Goldman Sachs and his fellow board members to whom he implicitly promised not
to share inside information.

Self-Control: If Rajat Gupta had self-control he would not have leaked inside information to Rajaratnam for personal
gain.

Gupta was commended by people who knew him as a person who helped others. He was very active in providing
medical and humanitarian relief to the developing countries. Born to humble circumstances, he became a pillar of the
consulting community and a trusted advisor to the world’s leading companies and organizations. A word that was
used repeatedly in media coverage for Rajat Gupta during his trial was “respected.” In the past, much less so now, we
assume people in leadership positions are virtuous. However, instances like the Rajat Gupta insider trading case and
other financial scandals remind us that the assumption is not well-founded

As a true professional, the good manager strives to achieve a moral excellence that includes honesty, fairness,
prudence, and courage. Various mechanisms are suggested to develop moral character amongst practitioners and
avoid ethical lapses as in the Rajat Gupta case. Suggestions include tighter government regulations, better systems and
processes in financial institutions, enhanced corporate governance, and increasing the awareness of customers. Yet, a
root of the problem is not addressed: not teaching financial ethics in business schools, where moral decision making
should be the core lesson. If business schools provide future financial managers with a proper ethical education, there
is a chance that situations like “Rajat Gupta and Insider Trading” may occur less frequently.

Components or Qualities of Ethics

 Honesty - The definition of honest is someone or something that is truthful, trustworthy or genuine. An
example of honesty is a student admitting they cheated on a test.

 Transparency – Transparency is the practice of openly and honestly disclosing information to stakeholders in
an organization

 Accountability - The definition of accountability is taking or being assigned responsibility for something that
you have done or something you are supposed to do. An example of accountability is when an employee admits
an error she made on a project.

 Confidentiality – Confidentiality is the protection of personal information. Confidentiality means keeping a

client's information between you and the client, and not telling others including co-workers, friends, family, etc.
Examples of maintaining confidentiality include: individual files are locked and secured.

 Objectivity –information must be based on research and facts, not merely a preparer's opinion.
 Respectfulness – Politeness. Respect is shown in many languages such as:

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- An honorific is a word or expression.

- An anti-honorific forms.
- A Style is a legal, official, or recognized.
 Obedience to the Law - Law is the set of enforced rules under which a society is governed. Law is one of the
most basic social institutions-and one of the most necessary.

The law thus establishes the rules that define a person's rights and obligations. The law also sets penalties for people
who violate these rules. Any individual should comply with the law.

SESSION – 2
INTUITIONISM
It is a doctrine that objects of perception are intuitively known to be real

It is a doctrine that there are basic truths intuitively known

 Where does intuition come from?

 It's a subconscious reflex, something free of conscious decision-making, so that leads many philosophers to assume
that there is something inherently truthful about it. Intuitionism is the philosophical theory that basic truths are
known intuitively. Basically, your intuition knows something because it is true. Universally, objectively, true. When
you're a philosopher, looking for the fundamental sources of morality, that's a pretty major claim to make.

 But, intuition is not supposed to guide our every action. According to intuitionism, our intuition helps us
discover fundamental morals, but we still have to decide how to put those into action on a daily basis and make
the best choice for any given situation.

 Now, there are many branches of intuitionism, but in its simplest form, this theory rests on three beliefs. First,
objective moral truths do exist. There is such a thing as right and wrong, and your personality, society, or
culture does not change those.

 Second, fundamental truths cannot be broken down into simpler components. This idea, first majorly
articulated by the philosopher G. E. Moore in 1902, states that a basic moral truth is like any basic truth. Moore
famously said that yellow can only be described as yellow - you can't attempt to break it down any further
because yellow is a primary color and things that are yellow are simply yellow. By that same logic, things that
are objectively and fundamentally good are good. You can't define good by happiness or pleasure or benefit to
society, you can only define it as good.

 And the third belief of intuitionism is that human beings are able to know these truths through intuition. Now,
this theory admits that we can twist and misinterpret basic truths because we are emotional beings, but the fact
remains, intuitively, we know if something is right or wrong.

Intuitionism

Intuitionism teaches three main things:

 There are real objective moral truths that are independent of human beings.

 These are fundamental truths that can't be broken down into parts or defined by reference to anything except
other moral truths.

 Human beings can discover these truths by using their minds in a particular, intuitive way.

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Intuitionism does not mean that all moral decisions are reached by relying on intuition. Intuition enables the
discovery of the basic moral truths, and everyday moral decision-making then involves thinking about the choices
available and making moral judgements in an ordinary sort of way.

Jonathan Haidt has identified four categories of ethical intuitions:

1. Harm/care: Not wanting to harm others, caring for others, compassion. The prohibitions against killing and
stealing enter in this category.

2. Fairness/reciprocity: Wanting an equal share, fair trades, just outcomes, and so on. This is the origin of
egalitarian commitments.

3. In-group loyalty: Following the obligations of in-group membership so that the group can benefit, such as self-
sacrifice and ferreting out freeloaders and traitors.

4. Respect for authority: Following one’s proper place and role in social hierarchies, obeying orders, respecting
one’s superiors.

CONSEQUENTIALISM

It is the doctrine that the morality of an action is to be judged solely by its consequences.

Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the
ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.

An action is the right thing to do in certain circumstances if, of all the actions available in those circumstances, it
would produce the best outcome.

A consequentialist theory of value judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based on the consequences that
action has. The most familiar example would be utilitarianism--``that action is best that produces the greatest good for
the greatest number'' (Jeremy Bentham).

A non-consequentialist theory of value judges the rightness or wrongness of an action based on properties intrinsic to
the action, not on its consequences.

Example

Mr. Ravi bought ice cream for his daughter to surprise her; unfortunately she caught cold and sore throat.

Though Ravi’s intention and action were good, the consequence was bad, so, according to the consequentialism
concept, his action is considered bad.

Virtue Ethics

Virtue Ethics (or Virtue Theory) is an approach to Ethics that emphasizes an individual's character as the key
element of ethical thinking, rather than rules about the acts themselves (Deontology) or their consequences
(Consequentialism).

Example

Mr. Suresh was driving a Motor Cycle, parallel to him was a motorist whose shawl was about to get caught on the mud
guard, he didn’t warn her of the impending danger. Luckily, she didn’t meet with an accident.

But still, his act of negligence is ethically bad according to virtue ethics, though there is no hard and fast rule to inform
her, nor was there any bad consequence.

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Situation Ethics

Situational ethics, or situation ethics, takes into account the particular context of an act when evaluating it ethically,
rather than judging it according to absolute moral standards. In situation ethics, within each context, it is not a
universal law that is to be followed, but the law of love.

Example

A drunkard was walking by the street, suddenly he slipped. Will you help him?

It is not a mandatory thing (no rule) to help the drunkard, because he is seen as a bad influence by the society. Yet, one
chooses to help him out of compassion and love. This is an example of situation ethics.

Integrity –listen to conscience

Integrity is the qualification of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. It is generally a
personal choice to hold oneself to consistent moral and ethical standards.

It is the moral quality which is chosen and exhibited strongly by an individual despite any kind of situation.

Integrity means following your moral or ethical convictions and doing the right thing in all circumstances, even if no
one is watching you. Having integrity means you are true to yourself and would do nothing that demeans or
dishonours you.

The definition of conscience is a personal awareness of right and wrong that you use to guide your actions to do right.
An example of conscience is the personal ethics that keep you from cheating on an exam.

Example

Mr. Mahesh, a College Student went out along with his friends. He is a non-smoker. His parents have brought him up in
a conservative manner. But, his friends forced him to smoke, convincing him that it is for fun and just a one-time trial.
In spite of compulsion from friends, Mahesh did not yield to smoking he had strong conscience that the act was wrong.
Thus, he held his integrity despite the circumstances forced him to.

Stand up to what is right:

Whistleblowing

A government employee who exposes corruption practices within his department is a whistle blower. So is an
employee of a private organization, who raises his voice against misconduct, within the company.

The misconduct can be classified in several ways, such as:

 Violation of Indian laws.

 Posing direct threat to public interest(Fraud, corruption)
 Violation of health or safety norms.
 Deceptive practices.

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SESSION – 3
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Activity: Survival game

You and your companions have just survived the crash of a small plane. Both the pilot and co-pilot were killed in the
crash. It is mid-January and you are in Northern Canada. The daily temperature is 25 below zero, and the night time
temperature is 40 below zero. There is snow on the ground, and the countryside is wooded with several creeks criss-
crossing the area. The nearest town is 20 miles away. You are all dressed in city clothes appropriate for a business
meeting. Your group of survivors managed to salvage the following items:
A ball of steel wool
A small axe
A loaded.45-caliber pistol
Can of vegetable oil
Newspapers (one per person)
Cigarette lighter (without fluid)
Extra shirt and pants for each survivor
20 x 20 ft. piece of heavy-duty canvas
A sectional air map made of plastic
One quart of 100-proof whiskey
A compass
Family-size chocolate bars (one per person)

Your task as a group is to list the above 12 items in order of importance for your survival. List the uses for each. You
MUST come to an agreement as a group.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

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7 important tips to cope up with change:

1. Simply notice that you are in the midst of change and that change is a part of you.

2. Face your feelings about the change, especially when the change is imposed and beyond your control.

3. Figure out when to accept and when to reject the change.

4. Adopt an attitude of anticipation, and be grateful. Welcome change as an opportunity. Find the benefit
somewhere in the change. There is always a benefit and an opportunity.

5. Choose your thoughts and attitudes about each change. Negative thoughts block your creativity and
problem-solving abilities. Positive thoughts build bridges to possibilities and opportunities.

6. Learn to relax (more). Deep breathing works for many people. Exercise helps most of us to relax. Choose the
way that works best for you. Relaxation allows you to deal well with change.

7. Set smart goals so you can consciously guide the change. Smart goal setting helps you decide how to make the
change happen and to recognize your successes.

SESSION – 4
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
What is change management?

Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with change, both from the perspective of an organization
and on the individual level

WHO MOVED MY CHEESE – THE LESSON LEARNT (Summary)

The Big Idea

Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life – whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money, or
spiritual peace of mind. Cheese is what we think will make us happy, and when circumstances take it away, different
people deal with change in different ways. Four characters in this delightful parable represent parts of ourselves
whenever we are confronted with change. Discover how you can let change work to your advantage and let it lead you
to success!

The Maze

Four characters live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy. The maze is where you
spend time looking for what you want. It may be the organization you work in, the relationships you have in your life,
or the community you live in.

Parts of All of Us

Two of the characters named Sniff and Scurry are mice. They represent parts of us that are simple and instinctive.
Hem and Haw are the little people, representing those complex parts of us as human beings. Sometimes we are like
Sniff, who anticipates change early by sniffing it out, or Scurry, who quickly scurries into action and adapts. Maybe we
are more like Hem, who denies change and resists it out of fear, or Haw, who learns to adapt in time when he sees
something better. Whatever part of us we choose, we all share the common need to find our way in the maze of life
and succeed in changing times.

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Wisdom in a Nutshell from Who Moved My Cheese?

• Anticipate change.

• Adapt quickly.

• Enjoy change.

• Be ready to change quickly, again and again.

• Having Cheese makes you happy.

• The more important your Cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it.

• If you do not change, you can become extinct.

• Ask yourself “What would I do if I weren’t afraid?”

• Smell the Cheese often so you know when it is getting old.

• Movement in a new direction helps you find New Cheese.

• When you move beyond your fear, you feel free.

• Imagining myself enjoying New Cheese, even before I find it, leads me to it.

• The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find New Cheese.

• It is safer to search in the maze than remain in a cheeseless situation.

• Old beliefs do not lead you to New Cheese.

• When you see that you can find and enjoy New Cheese, you change course.

• Noticing small changes early helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are to come.

• Read the Handwriting on the Wall

• Change happens. They keep moving the Cheese.

• Move with the Cheese and enjoy it!

Who Moved My Cheese?

Everyday Hem, Haw, Sniff, and Scurry went about their business collecting and eating cheese. Every morning, the mice
and little men put on their jogging suits and running shoes, left their homes, and raced around the maze looking for
their favorite Cheese.

They each found their own kind of cheese one day at the end of one of the corridors in Cheese Station C. Every
morning the mice and men headed over to Cheese Station C and soon they established their own routines.

Sniff and Scurry woke up early everyday, always following the same route. The mice would arrive at the station, tie
their running shoes together, and hang them around their necks so they could get to them quickly whenever they
needed to.

Hem and Haw followed the same routine for a while, but later on, they awoke a little later each day, dressed slower,
and walked to Station C, always assuming there would be Cheese waiting for them. In fact, the little people put away
their running shoes, and grew very comfortable in Station C. Later, this over-confidence turned into arrogance.

The mice, on the other hand, always inspected the area, and noticed the Cheese supply was getting smaller every day.

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One morning they discovered there was no more cheese. The mice did not overanalyze things, they knew it was
coming, so they simply untied their running shoes from their necks and put them on. The mice wasted no time and
immediately ventured into the maze in search of New Cheese.

Hem and Haw arrived later, and having taken their Cheese for granted, they were surprised to find there was no more
cheese. Hem yelled, “Who moved my Cheese?”

Because the Cheese was so important to them, the two little people spent too much time deciding what to do. They
couldn’t believe the Cheese was gone.

After much whining, Haw suggested,

MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST STOP ANALYZING THE SITUATION SO MUCH

AND JUST GET GOING AND FIND SOME NEW CHEESE.

While Hem and Haw were wasting time fretting over their situation, Sniff and Scurry had already found a great supply
of New Cheese at Cheese Station N.

Haw began to imagine himself tasting and enjoying New Cheese. Hem refused to leave Cheese Station C. Haw also
began to realize his fear was keeping him from leaving Hem and going back into the maze. He painted a picture in his
mind of himself venturing out into the maze and eventually finding New Cheese.

Haw was in the habit of writing thoughts on the wall for Hem to read. Before leaving he wrote, “If you do not change,
you become extinct.” Haw would write thoughts like these every now and then as he went about the maze, hoping
Hem would venture out of Station C and read the handwriting on the wall.

Haw found a little cheese here and there. As he moved through the maze, he learned several things for himself:

* He needed to let go of his fears.

* He realized what lies out there could be a lot better, not worse.

* He should be alert in order to anticipate change, and next time, periodically smell the cheese to check if it is
getting old.

And to learn these important lessons he had to tell himself:

GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

He found a cheese station but it was empty. He realized that if he had moved sooner, he would have very likely found a
good deal of New Cheese here. So he wrote on the wall:

• The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find New Cheese.

Haw went back to the cheeseless station to offer Hem some bits of Cheese he had picked up along the way. Hem
turned it down because he wanted the cheese he was used to. Haw went back into the maze.

Haw soon came to realize:

• The fear you let build up in your mind is worse than the situation that actually exists.

WHAT YOU ARE AFRAID OF IS NEVER AS BAD AS WHAT YOU IMAGINE.

• When you change what you believe, you change what you do.

Haw soon found New Cheese at Station N, and met up with his old friends Sniff and Scurry who looked like they had
been there for quite some time because they had grown fat.

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Haw reflected as he enjoyed his New Cheese. He realized many more things:

* He had been holding onto the illusion of Old Cheese that was no longer there.

* He had started to change as soon as he learned to laugh at his own mistakes, then he was able to let go and move on.

* Sniff and Scurry kept life simple. They didn’t overanalyze or overcomplicate things. They simply moved with
the Cheese.

* The mistakes he made in the past can be used to plan for the future.

* Notice the little changes so you are better prepared for the big change that might be coming.

* The biggest inhibitor of change lies within your self. Nothing gets better until You change.

THERE IS ALWAYS NEW CHEESE OUT THERE.

While Haw still had a supply of cheese, he often went out and explored new areas in order to stay in touch with what
was happening around him. He knew it was safer to be aware of his real choices than to isolate himself in his comfort
zone.

ACTIVITY:

Understand the GAPS in the Attitude, Skills and Knowledge and chalk out plans for bridging those gaps.

Identify 3 changes that you will start working on immediately

1.____________________________________________________________________

2._____________________________________________________________________

3._____________________________________________________________________

SESSION – 5
HOW TO PICK UP SKILLS FASTER

What is knowledge?
• According to Webster's Dictionary, knowledge is "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity
gained through experience or association". It is the information, facts, principles, skills and understanding, etc.
that is acquired through education and experience.
• In practice, though, there are many possible, equally plausible definitions of knowledge, a frequently used
definition of knowledge is "the ideas or understandings which an entity possesses that are used to take
effective action to achieve the entity's goal(s).

What is skill?
• An ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and
adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions involving ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical
skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills).

• A skill set is a particular category of skills or abilities necessary to perform a job.

Knowledge vs. Skill

• Knowledge is information acquired through sensory input:

(a) Reading (b) watching (c) listening (d) touching

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• The concept of knowledge refers to familiarity with factual information and theoretical concepts.
• Knowledge can be transferred from one person to another or it can be self -acquired through observation
and study.
• Skills, however, refer to the ability to apply knowledge to specific situations.
• Skills are developed through practice, through a combination of sensory input and output.
• As an example, social skills are developed through interaction with people by observing, listening, and speaking
with them.
• Trial and error is probably the best way to achieve skills mastery.
• To make it simple,
 Knowledge is theoretical
 Skills are practical.
Knowledge is “what to do?”

Skill is “how to do?”

Can you explain the picture???

Knowledge vs. Skill

• If recipe is the knowledge, then cooking is the skill.

• To prepare any dish the ingredients and the procedure is essential, but, knowing what to do will won’t bring
the results but, the doing i.e., the cooking will bring the results.

Similarly, if Rules and Procedures would be the Knowledge, Driving would be the Skill

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SKILL INTROSPECTION

What is introspection?
 It is our ability to look at ourselves from a detached view point so that we are
able to see the flaws in our thinking, acting and learning.
 This is what human beings call as sixth sense or in other words gut instinct.
 Our gut instinct is always active and acts as a compass against which we compare
our actions.
 However, we sometimes fail to take that meek ‘inner voice’ into consideration.
Therefore we need to look within from time to time to rectify the flaws in our
inner system.

Different types of skills

What’s skill?
A skill is the ability to carry out a task with pre-determined results often within a given amount of time, energy, or both.
 Labour skills
 Life skills
 Soft skills
 Hard skills
Three Types of Skills Classification

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LABOUR SKILLS

LIFE SKILLS

SOFT SKILLS

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HARD SKILLS

Hard skills are any skills relating to a specific task or situation. These skills are easily quantifiable unlike soft skills
which are related to one's personality. Usually these include technical experience and qualifications.

HARD SKILLS VS SOFT SKILLS:

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When I Introspect myself?

You should identify your skills by analysing yourselves and fill the bubble with your skills under each category
through self-analysis.

SESSION – 6
SKILL ACQUISITION

Skill Acquisition is the science that underpins movement learning and execution and is more commonly
termed motor learning and control (Williams & Ford, 2009).

Various stages for learning

STAGE 1-UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE:

It is the stage where an individual doesn’t even know what he doesn’t

know. It means he is not aware of its mere existence.

STAGE 2- CONSCIOUS INCOMPTENCE:

It’s the next stage where an individual knew that he doesn’t know
something, which means he needs to learn something.

STAGE 3- CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE:

He knows how to do and what to do and he does something consciously. It’s like being in the beginner mode of a
process.

STAGE 4- UNCONSCIOUS COMPETENCE:

It’s the final stage where one does something effortlessly. It’s like being an expert in a process, still has some space to
improve further.

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ILLUSTRATION:

Let’s take an example of playing a pc game which requires a combination of keyboard and mouse controls. We will see
how the skill required to play this particular game is acquired through all the above phases.

STAGE 1: An individual is unaware of the game’s existence

STAGE 2: An individual is aware of the game but he doesn’t know to play. And he learns to play.

STAGE 3: He plays consciously with much effort to gain control over both the keyboard and the mouse.

STAGE 4: Finally he plays without much effort as he has gained control over the keys and mouse.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SKILL ACQUISITION

• Self-employment-A skilled man can be a self-employed man.

• Diverse job opportunities-Those who have many skills stand the chance of gaining job from many
establishments.
• Employment generation-There will be a lot of jobs generated for the citizens of every country if the citizens
are well equipped with skills.
• Effective function-Organizations that employ skilful workers to assist in their organizational duties lose
nothing at all because there will be always effective functions performed by the employee.
• This is because the employee has acquired necessary skills needed for him to perform the work as desired by
the organization.
• Crime reduction- skill acquisition reduces the crime rate in many nations.
People begin to think on many illegal or unsocial activities they will do to make money when they do not have
anything to call job of their own.
But, an individual with acquired skill works and makes money from his skill set.

A skilful man speaks with confidence while the non-skilful is filled with fear.

10,000 hours rule:

 We are very well aware of this saying. But do we know the number of times we need to practise a skill in order
to get it perfect?
 Well, a crazy attempt was made to figure out that mystery number and a psychologist named Malcolm Gladwell
came with up with an interesting theory called ’10,000 hours’ rule.

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What does it say?

 Malcolm states that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at any competition, from violin
to basketball to Halo.
 It was a powerful idea, based on several studies, and put some evidence behind the "practice makes perfect"
argument for any skill.
 Here, the goal is not to work continuously, to finish the 10k hour quota, but to stick on to a systematic practice
with an objective of improving performance every time.
 It isn’t just about 10,000 hours of doing the activity; it’s 10,000 hours of what Ericsson calls “deliberate practice.”
 According to the paper, “deliberate practice is a highly structured activity, the explicit goal of which is to
improve performance.”
 Deliberate practice consists of specific training activities, drills, and exercises designed to stretch the
individual’s skills and thereby provide growth.

THE CONVERSE:

 Though Malcolm supported his ideas with numerous experiments, it was never enough for some critics, one
important critic being David Epstein.
 David Epstein in his new book ‘The Sports Gene’, thoroughly disproved the theory.
 Practice is important, of course, but when it concerns physical activities, some people hold unfair advantage
compared to others owing to their better physique, inherited in their genes.
 For example, Jamaicans dominate sprinting, Kenyans excel at long distance track, and tall people are much
more likely to make it to the NBA, according to the book.
 Epstein also notes that the world's best in high jump, darts, and track don't need nearly 10,000 hours of
practice. It's in the genes, he argues.

TO PRACTISE OR NOT TO PRACTISE?

 Gladwell came with the defence for his theory, where he states, "Epstein has written a wonderful book. But I
wonder if, in his zeal to stake out a provocative claim on this one matter, he has built himself a straw man."
 Because, Gladwell only applied the 10,000-hour rule to cognitively demanding activities that needed significant
thought, unlike those runners and dart-throwers.
 Gladwell has defended the 10,000-hour rule, arguing that the rule applies to cognitively demanding tasks
such as playing chess or the violin and not to domains that rely on mostly physical attributes, such as the
runners and long-jumpers cited by most critics.

SESSION – 7
HABIT FORMATION

What is a habit?

A habit is
• A regularly repeated behavior pattern
• An action or pattern of behavior that is repeated so often that it becomes typical, although the person may be
unaware of it.

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Good/Bad Habits
• All of us acquire different habits. They are the part of our life.
• Habits may be good or bad.
• Good habits: hard working, reading, meditation
• Bad habits: deceiving, procrastination
HOW IS A HABIT FORMED?
• Habit formation is the process by which new behaviours become automatic.
• E.g.: if you feel inclined to lace up your running shoes and hit the streets as soon as
you get home, you've acquired a habit.
• Old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form. That's because the
behavioural patterns we repeat most often are literally etched into our neural
pathways.
• The good news is that, through repetition, it's possible to form—and maintain—new habit

Activity…

This experiment by Harry Harlow and his associates at the Primate Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin gives
profound insight to the human condition through the use of monkeys.

There have been multiple explanations published claiming that the study explains the condition of hampering free
speech, as well as the regulation and social conditioning of the masses.

Activity: Students have to go through the experiment under the topic “Human Condition” through the use of monkeys.
You will be given 5 minutes to read it and you will be asked to explain what you understood from the experiment.
How you can relate this to Habit creation?

The Experiment

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Explanation as to how a habit is formed

• Simply put, by repeating a task an average of 21 times. The actual number depends on how complicated the
task is, how interested or engaged we are with it and what the benefit of getting good or familiar at it is.

• Each time you do something a pathway in the brain is written. Repeating the task the same way over and over
(around 21 times) strengthens that pathway. Habits are formed over time, usually without our conscious intent
allowing them to become ingrained.

• Habits are formed when the brain links specific behaviors with rewards. The more immediate the reward, the
stronger the link. Repeating the reward will reinforce the habit.

• Once a habit is formed the task feels like second nature. You might find yourself doing something automatically.
Habits include how you make your tea or coffee, drive, work or how you think and feel

Example…

Think about learning to drive. At first each distinct action – every clutch press, mirror check, acceleration, gear change
probably felt clunky or clumsy. You probably had to concentrate very hard on each task at first.

Now that you drive regularly, you do it without thinking. So, we have a well defined good habit, what happens in our
brains? Now that we don’t need to concentrate on that task, we can unconsciously perform it. Our subconscious minds
have it “nailed”.

We can think of other things as well as the task we are performing. So it is our subconscious mind that is performing
the task as programmed in the brain & conscious minds can either listen to music or think of something else.

Know Your Habits

• Every one of us carries with us habits that have formed from our beliefs because a belief is a thought that we
have over and over again until we know it’s true.

• Habit formation is closely intertwined with goal pursuit.

Scientific Approach

• Honesty – Reporting your results, whether good or bad.

• Openness – Willing to listen to others’ ideas.

• Curiosity – Asking questions, seeking answers

• Scepticisms – Not believing everything you are told; looking for evidence to support.

• Creativity – Finding new ways of solving problems

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Know Your Habits: Psychological Approach

• Habit, in psychology, any regularly repeated behaviour that requires little or no thought and is learned rather
than innate.
• A habit—which can be part of any activity, ranging from eating and sleeping to thinking and reacting—is
developed through reinforcement and repetition.
• Reinforcement encourages the repetition of a behaviour, or response, each time the stimulus that provoked the
behaviour recurs.
• The behaviour becomes more automatic with each repetition. Some habits, however, may form on the basis of a
single experience, particularly when emotions are involved.
Habits and Professional Success
• We all know that habits can either help or hurt your success in life.
• Bad habits can fester and grow into a lifestyle that takes you away from the things you want to do—and good
habits can help you create a life that’s full of action and accomplishment.
• If you were to look at someone you respect, someone who’s successful, you would see that they spend each day
doing the things that help them accomplish their biggest goals.
• Successful people plan out their day the night before.
• Successful people read books to get inspired.
• Successful people make their health a priority.
• Successful people don’t get distracted by what other people
are doing.
• Successful people live each day as if it were the last.

The Habit Loop

• The Habit Loop is a neurological loop that governs any habit.

• Every habit you have — good or bad — follows the same 3–step loop.

• The habit loop consists of three elements:

○ a cue (reminder),
○ a routine,
○ and a reward.

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What a Habit Looks Like When Broken Down

• Before we get into each step, let’s use the 3 R's to break down a typical habit. For example, answering a phone
call…

• Your phone rings (reminder). This is the reminder that initiates the behavior. The ring acts as a trigger or cue
to tell you to answer the phone. It is the prompt that starts the behavior.
• You answer your phone (routine). This is the actual behavior. When your phone rings, you answer the phone.

• You find out who is calling (reward). This is the reward (or punishment, depending on who is calling). The
reward is the benefit gained from doing the behavior. You wanted to find out why the person on the other end
was calling you and discovering that piece of information is the reward for completing the habit.
• If the reward is positive, then you'll want to repeat the routine again the next time the reminder happens.
Repeat the same action enough times and it becomes a habit. Every habit follows this basic 3–step structure.

Cues (Reminder)

• The cue for a habit can be anything that triggers the habit.
• Cues most generally fall under the following categories: a location, a time of day, other people, an emotional
state, or an immediately preceding action.
• For example, every day at 2:30 p.m., someone could crave chocolate from the vending machine in the other
building, or the smell from the coffee house downstairs compels someone to get a latte

Routine

• A habit's routine is the most obvious element:

• It's the behavior you wish to change (e.g. smoking a cigarette or biting your nails) or reinforce (e.g. taking the
stairs instead of the elevator, or drinking water instead of snacking).

Reward

• The reward is the reason the brain decides the previous steps are worth remembering for the future.
• The reward provides positive reinforcement for the desired behavior, making it more likely that you will
produce that behavior again in the future.
• The reward can be anything, from something tangible (e.g. chocolate), something intangible (e.g. a half hour of
television) to something with no inherent value but what it is given (e.g. tokens).

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SESSION – 8
HABIT FORMATION

Isolate the Cues

Habitual cues generally fall into one of the five aforementioned categories;
• Where are you?
• What time is it?
• What's your emotional state?
• Who else is around?
• What action immediately preceded the urge?

Identify the Routine

• Most habits have a routine that's pretty easy to identify: it's the behavior you wish to change.
• Habit of going to the cafeteria in the afternoon and getting a chocolate chip cookie then sitting down with
friends to chat

Experiment with Rewards

• Experimenting with rewards is the time-consuming part of hacking your habits.

• Each time you feel the urge to repeat your routine, try changing the routine, the reward, or both.
• Keep track of your changes, and test different theories on what drives your routine.

Domino Effect

• A domino effect or chain reaction is the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar
events.

• The Domino Effect states that when you make a change to one behavior it will activate a chain reaction and
cause a shift in related behaviors as well

• As a personal example, if I stick with my habit of going to the gym, then I naturally find myself more focused at
work and sleeping more soundly at night even though I never made a plan to specifically improve either
behavior.

• The Domino Effect holds for negative habits as well.

You may find that the habit of checking your phone
leads to the habit of clicking social media notifications
which leads to the habit of browsing social media
mindlessly which leads to another 20 minutes of
procrastination.

• A simple example for domino effect in workspace environment.

Unlearning a Bad Habit

• Habits like smoking, drinking excessively or spending too much time on the Internet.
• You might consider these routines to be nothing more than small hindrances, but some can have a long-term,
debilitating impact on your life.

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• Since you’re reading this book, I’ll assume you want to break a specific bad habit. Odds are, you’ve tried in the
past and maybe you were successful for a few days.
• Then something unexpected came up where you slipped for a day or two. One mistake snowballs into a series
of setbacks.
• Eventually you give up on the idea of making a habit change simply because it’s too difficult to do
The 3 R’s of Habit Change
Every habit you have — good or bad — follows the same 3–step pattern.
• Reminder (the trigger that initiates the behavior)
• Routine (the behavior itself; the action you take)
• Reward (the benefit you gain from doing the behavior)
21 Day rule:
• Most people believe that habits are formed by completing a task for 21 days in a row.
• Twenty-one days of task completion, then voila, a habit is formed.
The 3 Phases of Habit Formation
Phase 1: The Honeymoon
• This phase of habit formation is characterized by the feeling of “this is easy.
• For example, a person attends a highly motivational conference, and for the first few days after the conference
the individual is making positive changes in his or her life.
Phase 2: The Fight Thru
• Inspiration fades and reality sets in
• The key to moving to the third phase of habit formation is to win 2 or 3 “fight thru’s.”
• To win the fight thru, use the following techniques:
○ RECOGNIZE:
○ ASK 2 QUESTIONS:
• “How will I feel if I do this?”
• “How will I feel if I don’t do this?”
• Bring EMOTION into the equation.
• LIFE PROJECTION: If the above 2 techniques haven’t moved you to action, then imagine in great detail how your
life will be in 5 years if you do not begin making changes.
Phase 3: Second Nature
• Described by feelings of “getting in the groove.”
• the following are 3 common interruptions that will send a person back to the fight thru
○ THE DISCOURAGEMENT MONSTER: “This isn’t working, and there is nothing I can do.”
○ DISRUPTIONS: An individual experiences significant change to his or her current pattern (e.g., vacations,
holidays, illness, weekends).
○ SEDUCTION OF SUCCESS: “I’m the special one. I have finally figured out how to have great results with not so
great process.”

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Make the commitment to make it past the fight thru, no matter how many times you go back to it, to reach new levels
of success.

Common Bad Academic Habits

• Procrastination
• Not enough study time
• Insufficient Reading of the Text
• Poor note taking
• Relies on memorization when studying
• Ineffective or unrealistic goal setting

Forming Good Habits

There are seven steps to form a good habit – they are as follows:
• Tell the truth about your bad habits
• Commit to a New Behavior
• Visualize Your New Habit
• Make a small change.
• Create a Support System
• Practice, practice, practice
• Stay motivated in keeping the new habits

Tell the truth about your bad habits

Do you believe that your biggest academic problem is procrastination. It is not that you do not have enough time to
complete the assignments or study for the test, but when it comes down to completing your work, you’d rather watch
television, go on facebook, sleep etc.

When you procrastinate, your “reward” may be that you get to take part in something that you enjoy in the present
moment, rather than studying or reading. You can continue to watch your television show, hang out with friends or go
on facebook. You would like to replace the habit of procrastination with the habit of being proactive…doing your work
in a timely fashion!

Commit to a New Behavior

Make a specific plan committed to the new change you would like to see.

• There are a lot of academic habits that you would like to change but you know that you should focus on only
one habit at a time. You decide to combat procrastination. Using your planner, you plan six days of specific
study time.

How will this new habit feel? How will the feeling be different than the bad habit?

• You believe that you will feel more relaxed, confident and calm. This new found confidence will allow you to
further achieve greater goals in college! You will no longer expend too much energy on worry, anxiety and
pulling all-nighters.

Visualize Your New Habit

• You should see yourself performing this new habit. Where will you be? What time of day? How will it feel? You
need to make a mental path for this new habit! Habits are automatic responses so clear the mental path for a
new response.

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• You should visualize the new actions. Note the difference between the two actions.

• You need to imagine spending a Sunday afternoon without feeling rushed, guilty and anxious. Imagine enjoying
your Sunday night dinners along with your family and TV time again because you have completed your
assignment in a timely fashion!
Make a small change
Change the habit by disturbing the pattern.
Example: You receive an assignment that is due in 10 days. Typically, you would start the project one or two days
beforehand. Instead of returning home to check Facebook right after class, you decide to open your laptop and begin
the project after class. You have disturbed the pattern and begun the project!
You make a plan to complete this assignment. Instead of waiting until the day before to complete the assignment, you
allot five days consisting of one hour of study time to complete the assignment.
How will this new habit feel? How will the feeling be different than the bad habit?
Previously, you have been waiting until the day before to complete the assignment, resulting in feeling guilty, rushed
and anxious. Instead, you notice that you feel calmer and more confident in this assignment, thus avoiding the
negative feelings.
A New Award? Your new reward is getting A’s while avoiding unnecessary anxiety!
And continue the process to change the habit.
Create a Support System
Find a friend who will support you in this new habit; someone who will hold you accountable!
You know that your friend is also stressing out about completing work on time. Your friend wants to complete an
assignment but believes procrastination may keep him from achieving his goals. You both make the commitment to
assist each other in completing your anti-procrastination plan. You can also seek support from your people at home.
Use charts, diagrams, journals and notes to monitor your own process.
Every time you complete a part of your plan, you cross it off with a red pen. You see satisfaction in knowing you have
crossed off all items and can submit quality work.
Practice, practice, practice
Now that you have fully prepared, put your plan into action. Hold yourself accountable but don’t be rigid! Change is
fluid and so should be your plans!
Anti Procrastination Plan + Forming a New Habit = Success
Conclusion: Stay motivated in keeping the new habits
Staying motivated may not be an easy task. It is possible for one’s level of determination to slide down as days pass by.
However, there are endless ways of giving yourself a pat on the back as you progress. One day at a time, as they say. In
order to stay motivated, you can envision yourself enjoying the fruits of your efforts. Be optimistic. Obtain positive
reinforcements from your peers and family members. They are a very powerful tool to boost someone, both mentally
and emotionally.
We have all heard it time and again: You cannot teach an old dog new trick. However, with incessant research about
the brain and its restructuring capabilities, it has been proven that there is no limit to what the brain can do,
regardless of a person’s age and gender. Even someone who has been critically ill still has the chance of recovering, so
if you are determined to use your brain to create new habits. There definitely are no excuses for something that can
be possibly done, let alone creating new habits. It is all up to you– and your brain and willpower.

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SESSION – 9 ACTIVITY

SESSION – 10

ANALYTIC AND RESEARCH SKILLS

Focused and Targeted Information Seeking

Introduction

The present era is called the “Information era.” Information has become the most important element for progress in
society. To thrive in this modern era, one needs a variety of information, no matter how well versed one is in a field or
profession. Information plays a significant role in our professional and personal lives.

People need information to work properly in their fields. Information availability does not mean information
accessibility and nor does it mean information utilization. The inequality among information availability, accessibility
and utilization prevails in some situations. A major cause of this inequality comes from the information systems and
information provisions that do not meet the information users’ needs.
Information seeking
Information seeking is the process or activity of attempting to obtain information in both human and technological
contexts. Information seeking is related to, but different from, information retrieval (IR)
A conscious effort to acquire information in response to a need or gap in your knowledge.
While an information need is a recognition that your knowledge is inadequate to satisfy a goal that you have.

What is Information Seeking

1. Searching and locating the information by using sources of information whether printed or online.
Information seeking can be done for different purposes, in the educational setting information seeking is
done basically by students for school/university projects.
2. The habits and patterns that humans undertake in locating answers to questions, satisfying needs, and fulfilling
desires for learning and entertainment.
3. All purposeful information activity by the user.
4. A type of human behavior of obtaining information to satisfy information need.
5. Human behaviors that are related to information searching via such information sources as search engines.
6. Involves seeking and using information for learning or other purposes, here information is not restricted to
digital form but may include a range of formats such as print material, oral information, etc. Nevertheless,
digital information are of central interest for the research and practices of information seeking.
7. A process, which people undertake to collect information that will assist them to make sense of the world, or
to solve specific problems; it may be purposive or incidental.

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Information Seeking & Information Retrieval

Information seeking includes observing, browsing, using formal as well as informal information sources like reading
searching information resources and subscribing to mass media, while information retrieval is mainly used for
searching electronic databases, although it may also be used about searching other systems of organized knowledge.

Information search process (ISP)

An holistic framework based initially on research into high school students, but extended over time to include a
diverse range of people, including those in the workplace. It examined the role of emotions, specifically uncertainty, in
the information seeking process, concluding that many searches are abandoned due to an overwhelmingly high level
of uncertainty.

ISP is a 6-stage process, with each stage each encompassing 4 aspects;

• Cognitive (thoughts) – what is to be accomplished
• Affective (feelings) – what the searcher was feeling
• Actions (physical) – what the searcher did
• Strategies (physical) – what the searcher was trying to achieve

Analytical & Research Skills

Your ability to assess a situation, seek multiple perspectives, gather more information if necessary, and identify key
issues that need to be addressed are critically important.

How to use these skills to your advantage?

Every potential employer, regardless of the profession, is seeking employees who can help them to solve problems.
Here is a suggestion of how you can communicate this on your resume:

As you progress in the application process it will be important for you to showcase your ability to devise solutions to
complex problems

How to increase your analytical & research Skills

Work on math problems. It may sound elementary, but solving math problems (without a calculator) is a good way to
kick-start that analytical side of your brain.

Read something difficult. For example, find a how to book at the library that is focused on something you know little
or nothing about.

Maybe the subject has something to do with horticulture. The subject matter is irrelevant, what is relevant is that you
are using your brain to learn something new.

You are researching a subject and using your analytical side of your brain to figure out complex problems.

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ANALYTICAL THINKING
ANALYTICAL THINKING is the ability to think logically, break things down and recognise cause and effect

This characteristic enables you to think through issues and to focus on priorities for action to create an achievable
agenda for change.

It supports problem-solving, judgement and decision-making, and ensures action is followed through.

Analytical thinking will help give importance to a rigorous, logical and reflective approach to situations and issues.

How Analytical Skills are beneficial

Enable a person to use clear, logical steps and excellent judgment to understand an issue from all angles before
executing an action.

Solutions can be reached by clear-cut, methodical approaches or more creative and lateral angles, depending on the
objective.

Analytical skills might sound technical, but we use these skills in everyday life through detecting patterns,
brainstorming, observation, interpreting data, integrating new information, theorizing, and making decisions based
on multiple factors and options available.

Analytical Skills include

• Communication

• Creativity

• Critical Thinking

• Data Analysis

• Research

Google

Ever wondered how many websites are there in the world right now? A total of 21.4 million websites were created
last year alone. Logically speaking, our search for websites should get exponentially tedious and difficult along with
the years, especially at a time when access to information is more valuable than ever.

Surprisingly, we are still able to find the information we need most of the time, thanks to the effective and reliable
search engine, Google. Nevertheless, with that much wealth of information out there online, it’s easy to lose ourselves
and not get the optimal results we could have.

There are fortunately methods of searching to ensure that we are digging in the right holes. Learn them and get
what you really want from the Google while not wasting your time flipping the result page!

5 essential steps that include tips & tricks to help you refine your search

1. 5 – 7 Keywords

Keyword searching is most often the first step to your online search. A common mistake made is that people
often key in less than five keywords. Given that the Internet has millions of sites out there, the search results
become diluted if you only input a few words.

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2. Using Truncation

Not sure of what keywords to use? You might consider using the simple * to expand on your search. What it
does is that if you place that in the query, then you’ll get results for the word combination you’ve keyed in, with
* as variant. For example, if you type in cartoon * tutorials, you will get sites with the phrase “Cartoon Character
Illustration Tutorials”, “Cartoon Coloring Tutorial”, “Cartoon Animation Tutorial”, etc.

3. Exact Phrases

Sometimes, you can narrow down your search by simply telling the Google to search websites with the exact
order of the words. For instance, if you want to find out who quoted “The unexamined life is not worth living”,
then it is preferable that you type the whole line rather than putting in keywords like “unexamined” or “living“.

4. The “OR” and “-”

OR operator already exists in Google. When you type in any keywords, websites that contains any of the
keywords will be displayed in the results. The difference with the OR operator is that you can define keywords
or phrases with quotation marks rather than have the search engine search for all the words you typed in.
This means to say that if you put “social media” OR “business”, you will get sites that consists of either “social
media” or “business”, and not any of the three words per se.

The minus sign,–, is useful if you wish to exclude a particular word or phrase in your search. This is valuable
when you are searching for exception to what search results would typically produce.

5. Search Within A Site

There comes a time when you know there is only one site which you need to search for something you want,
but chances are the site has either a broken search function or a confusing search result. The worst case: the
site has no search function at all. In these cases, Google prove to be very handy as it allows you to search within
certain site, as long as the site is indexed by the Google.

To search within a site using the Google, all you need to do is input the search query into the Google with the
domain name, such as photoshop tutorial site:hongkiat.com. Google will then return the results only from
the site you mentioned, such as photoshop tutorials only from the Hongkiat.com.

It’s All About Refining Your Search

The above five tips are great by itself, but if you want a really customized and precise search, you should link a few
of these steps together in a single search. This will ensure that those results you do not want will be sieved out,
thereby enhancing your findings.

To further refine your search with these slightly complicated tips, you have to really know about what you want to
search. You need to identify your keywords and consider what kind of phrase, word order, or special feature
you need to use.

Be sure to try out every tip and feature covered above before you apply them in your daily search, so you know
what are the best for certain conditions, and remember to keep the search query as simple as possible!

Using Google for academic research

Google is (almost) everyone’s favourite search engine. It is a quick and easy way to search the vast amounts of free
information on the Internet. This includes government sites, many organization and interest groups sites, open access
journals, specialist blogs and much more. The Internet is a vital source of up-to-date information and it is worth a little
bit of your time to look at how you might improve your use of Google:

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What is Google Scholar, and what does it search?

Google Scholar (scholar.google.co.in) is a search engine for ‘scholarly information’. It searches for: e-books and e-
journal articles selected reports from governments and other organisations references to printed books and journal
articles both free content and paid-for content.

It is interesting to note
that there are over 1
billion (1,028,932,208)
websites on the world
wide web today.
Google Scholar Vs. Library Search

• Google Scholar is fast and easy to use, so you may find it easier to get started.

• Google Scholar searches a wide range of journals and books, but it may not search some key journals such as
Nature.

• Google Scholar is good for a simple keyword search, but its Advanced Search is limited and may not work well.

• Library Search will identify more up-to-date information than Google Scholar, and under E-Resources you will
find a greater range of specialist information including statistics, financial information, films, images, maps and
more

• Library Search can search a wide range of journals, including key journals such as Nature, and the Quick Search
in Articles & more searches our collections to find ALL full text results.

• Library Search is good for simple searches and you can use E-Resources to search databases with their own
more sophisticated search options

• Remember that no one search will find everything. For thorough searching you should use both Google Scholar
and Library Search.

• https://www.google.com/googlebooks/library/index.html

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