LEARNING

LEARNING:- Learning is a process of acquiring of new inputs in term of

knowledge & understanding, some physical activity or a new behavior
(including attitudes & values). When this process is quick, learning is
effective. Learning is not a process of collection of various inputs. Learning is
characterized by the internalization of new inputs. New inputs are acquired
from the outside environment. But these become a part of individual’s
personality, lifestyle & psychological world.

CONCEPT & NATURE OF LEARNING:- Learning is one of the most important

psychological process which helps to tell about human behavior. If a manager
wants to explain & predict behavior of his employees he needs to understand
how people learn. It is based on knowledge, skills & experience. Learning
means a process which helps to respond to a situation which may occur or
may not occur. Learning is related with change in behavior which is based on
experience.
FEATURE OF LEARNING:- Following are the features of
learning:-
1. Learning helps to change the behavior, the change maybe good
or bad from an organizational point of view. For e.g., bad habits
like drinking & smoking.
2. The change should be based on practice, experience & training.
Any change in behavior due to maturity, any disease or physical
damage does not become a part of learning.
3. Practice or experience helps a lot in learning process. If practice
or experience are not part of learning then we will not be able to
judge a person’s behavior. For e.g., if a person is thinking of
taking drugs, but has not actually used them & he finds out that
a friend of his has died because of drugs he will never get
involved with drugs. This experience has changed his behavior.
 TYPES OF LEARNING

CLASSICAL OPERANT COGNITIVE SOCIAL

CONDITIONING CONDITIONING LEARNING LEARNING

TYPES OF LEARNING:- There are 4 types of learning. Namely:-

1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING:- It is a form of learning through association
or behavior. It has limited value in the study of organizational behavior.
Classical conditioning is passive. Like something happens & we react in a
particular way. For e.g., if a person sees the boss smile & hears boss’s
criticisms then he feels nervous. But after sometime if he still sees his boss
smiling then again he feels nervous.
2. OPERHANT CONDITIONING:- It is called “Behavioral Modification”. It is
based on law of effect which helps to study the behavior. It tells about the
behavior that produces effects. In an organization the behavior is dependent
on situation. For e.g., employees work hard to achieve organizational
objectives & are directly rewarded with bonuses or privileges, they will tend
to repeat their efforts when new objectives are set.
3. COGNITIVE LEARNING:- It is based upon experiments. For e.g., if a
workers expectation is to earn money & rewards. The worker would learn to
be more productive by building a healthy relationship with his supervisor &
will always obey his directions & take his advice because the supervisor will
have a lot of experience & the supervisor will always guide him to the right
path & teach him how he could achieve monetary rewards for the efforts
which he – worker has put in.
4. SOCIAL LEARNING:- People acquire new behavior by observing others.
Learning can also be gained by discipline & self control & an inner desire to
acquire knowledge or skills irrespective of external rewards. Learning by
observing others is also known as “Modeling”. For e.g., subordinates may
observe their managers in term of their efforts & attitude & may try to learn
from them. In this people acquire behavior by directly observing & imitating
others. Many patterns of behavior are learned by watching the behavior of
role models such as parents, teachers, grandparents, film stars etc.
REINFORCEMENT THEORY:- It is based on the use of operant conditioning by
the management to motivate the workers. For e.g., parents reward their
children for good behavior & punish them for bad behavior. In education
teachers give rewards to the student in form of grades for various levels of
performance.

STIMULUS BEHAVIORAL CONSEQUENCES

EVENTS RESPONSE OF BEHAVIORAL
RESPONSE

POSITIVE

NEGATIVE
NEW BEHAVIORAL
RESPONSE

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REINFORCEMENT & BEHAVIOR

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT:- Following are the 4 types of reinforcement:-
1. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT:- It is based on rewards like praise, higher
pay, timely or weekly off etc. It depends on the behavior of an individual or
person.
2. NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT:- It depends when an individual or person
learns to escape from consequences. For e.g., people learn to drive carefully to
avoid accidents.
3. EXTRINSIC & INTRINSIC REINFORCEMENT:- Positive reinforcement is
often broken into extrinsic or intrinsic rewards. An extrinsic rein forcer has
no direct relationship with the behavior. It is artificial like payment of money
to the employees for new ideas. Intrinsic rewards are natural consequences of
behavior. They create a psychologically expected relationship to the behavior
like using new skills, work performance & assuming more responsibility.
Extrinsic & intrinsic rein forcers are closely related with motivation process.
They are mostly used in learning areas like training & more complex or
difficult areas like employee attitude.
4. PRIMARY & SECONDARY REINFORCEMENT:- Positive reinforcement is
also classified as primary or unconditioned & secondary or conditioned. A
primary rein forcer is a satisfying person who directly reduces his primary
motivational needs. Such rein forcers are independent on their past
experiences. Examples of primary rein forcers are food, sex, etc. which help to
satisfy physiological needs. Whereas, secondary reinforcement depends on the
individual & his past reinforcement history. For e.g., rein forcers like praise,
recognition, advancement, etc.
 PERSONALITY
DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY:- When we describe people as quiet & passive
or loud & aggressive or ambitious we describe about their personality. Personality
is a set of traits & characteristics & habits which help to form an impression of an
individual. The concept of personality is quite complex. Personality represents
distinctive traits of an individual. It is an integrating & organizing agent between
physiological & psychological facts of an individual. It is unique in nature. It
results or tells about the action, behavior of a person. The term personality is used
in several senses. When people say, “She has a good personality”, they probably
refer to the person’s physical appearance. When someone says that X should have
a more dynamic personality, what is meant is the desired behavior of X & so on.
There is no agreement even amongst psychologists about the definition of
“personality”. For Carl Rogers personality is an organized, consistent pattern of
perception of the “I”, around which the individual interacts & has experiences.
Psychologists have attempted to describe personality in terms of standard “traits
“. Some have attempted to search for patterns to suggest “types” of personality.
Personality is used in terms of influencing others through external appearance.
Personality should include external appearance, behavior & inner awareness of
self. Personality is a set of characteristics & tendencies that determine those
commodities & differences in the behavior (thoughts, feelings & actions) of people
that have continuity in time & that may not be easily understood as the sole result
PERSONALITY THEORIES:- Personality theories are based on following 4
theories:-
1. PSYCHOANALTIC THEORY:- It is based on 3 analysis. Namely:-
• THE ID:- It tells about biological & instinctual needs. Instinct could be life
instinct & death instinct. Life instinct are hunger, thirst, sex. As an individual
matures, he learns to control the id. But, even then it remains active
throughout life & an important source of thinking & behaving.
• THE EGO:- The ego is conscious & logical part of the human personality.
While id represents the unconscious part, ego is conscious. Thus ego keeps a
check on id. Out of the functioning of the id & ego many conflicting situations
arise because id wants immediate pleasure while ego dictates denial or
postponement to a more appropriate time & place. In order to resolve the
conflict the ego gets support from the super ego.
• THE SUPER EGO:- The super ego tells about social & personal norms &
serves as an ethical constraint on behavior. The super ego provides norms to
ego to determine what is wrong or right. However, a person is not aware of
the working of the super ego & conscience is developed by absorption of
cultural values & norms of the society.
2. SOCIO – PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY:- This helps to recognize the
interdependence of the individual & society. The individual tries to meet the needs
of the society, while the society helps the individual to achieve his goals. Out of this
interaction the personality of an individual is determined.
3. TRAIT THEORY:- Trait factor theory represents a quantitative approach to
study personality. This theory helps to tell about the individual’s personality &
traits. Trait helps to distinguish or separate one individual from another. There
are some common traits which are used for comparing people are religion, social,
economic etc. Trait theory gives recognition to an individual’s personality. This
theory is based on personality research. In this research helps to find relationship
between set of personality & behavior.
4. SELF THEORY:- Self theory is also called “Organismic or Field Theory”.
There are 4 factors in self concept. Namely:-
• SELF – IMAGE:- Self – image is a way which helps one to see oneself. Every
person has certain beliefs about who or what he/she is; these beliefs are a person’s
self – image or identity. Identity is a life – long development of an individual & his
society. It is first self – recognition like a baby’s earliest exchange of smiles, there
is something of a self – realization coupled with a mutual recognition.
• IDEAL – SELF:- It means the way one would like to be. Ideal – self is different
from self – image. Self – image indicates the reality of a person as perceived by
 him, while ideal – self indicates the ideal position as perceived by him. There
can be a gap between these two characteristics.
• LOOKING GLASS – SELF:- Looking glass – self is the perception of a
person about how others are perceiving his qualities & characteristics. This is
the perception of other’s. Perception is the way one thinks people perceive
about him & not the way people actually see him. Looking glass- self is a
social product which takes place because of face – to – face interaction with
others from beginning of the life. This interaction is directed about how others
see him as an individual. Thus beliefs about self are treated as reflection of
other’s perception about the person.
• REAL – SELF:- Real – self is what one really is. The first 3 aspects of self –
concept are the functions of individual perception & they maybe same or
different as the real – self. An individual’s self – image is confirmed when
other person’s responses to him indicate their beliefs about who & what he
corresponds with. In the face of feedback from the environment , the person
re – evaluates himself & readjusts his self – image to be more consistent with
the cues he was receiving. Thus, there is a mutual recognition of his real – self
& the validity of his self – image is confirmed.
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
Personality represents a process of change & it relates to psychological
growth & development of individuals. It is necessary to study the factors
which help to change & develop personality. Managers can deal more
effectively if they understand how an individual’s personality develops.
Analysis of personality change & development is done in 4 ways. Namely:-
1. BIOLOGICAL FACTORS:- It is based on the study of 3 main categories.
Namely:-
• HEREDITY:- Heredity means the qualities that one receives from his or her
ancestors. It also means transmission of qualities from ancestors to
descendants. Heredity can be in terms of physical, mental & emotional.
Heredity plays an important role in personality. It can be physical structure,
facial attractiveness, sex, temper, muscle composition, reflexes etc are
inherited from one’s parents. However, the importance of heredity varies
from person to person. For e.g., heredity is generally more important in
determining a person’s temperament than values & ideas.
• BRAINS:- Another biological factor that influences personality is the role of
brain of an individual. Brain helps to shape & develop the personality of an
individual.
• PHYSICAL FEATURES:- Formation of physical characteristics & rate of
maturity helps in developing personality. An individual’s external appearance
plays an important part in personality development. Personality refers to
physical features of a person. A person’s physical features have influence on
his/her personality because he/she will effect influence on the others & in turn
will affect his/her self – concept.
2. FAMILY & SOCIAL FACTORS:- Family members & social groups play a
very important part in developing a person’s personality. A child likes to
behave like his/her father or mother. It is effected by 3 factors. Namely:-
• HOME ENVIRONMENT:- Home environment plays a very critical part in
developing a person’s personality. For e.g., children are bought up by their
parents in a warm & loving environment.
• FAMILY MEMBERS:- Parents & other family members have a great
influence in the personality development of the child. Parents have more
effect on the personality development as compared to the other members of
the family. Parents, brothers & sisters also contribute to personality.
• SOCIAL GROUPS:- Person’s home environment & family members are
other influences arising from the social placement of the family as the person
is exposed outside the home like school, friends & colleagues. Socio- economic
factors also affect personality development.
3. CULTURAL FACTORS:- Culture helps a human being in decision – making.
It tells about attitudes like independence, aggression, competition & co-
operation. Each culture expects & trains its members to behave in the way
that are acceptable to the group. A child’s cultural group tells about the range
of experiences & situation he is likely to encounter & the values & personality
characteristics that will be reinforced & learned. Workers are not influenced
by the same culture as managers are.
4. SITUATIONAL FACTORS:- Situation plays an important part in developing
an individual’s personality. For e.g., a worker whose personality history
suggests that he had need for power & achievement may become frustrated &
react aggressively if he is put in a bureaucratized work situation. Thus he may
appear lazy & trouble – maker though his personality history may suggest
that he is very hard working. Just because of changed situation his
personality changes. This aspect is very important for organizational behavior
because a manager has control over the organizational situation.
 BIOLOGICAL
FACTORS

FAMILY & INDIVIDUAL SITUATIONAL

GROUP PERSONALITY FACTORS
FACTORS

CULTURAL
FACTORS

DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
PERSONALITY & PERFORMANCE:- Following factors tell about
personality & performance:-
1. Measures of dependence, self – confidence & happiness were
positively associated with successful sales performance.
2. Personality variables were associated with occupational
adjustments.
3. Extrovert ness is linked with negative job satisfaction.
4. Successful executives had high frustration tolerance, understanding
of competition ability to express hostility tactfully, ability to accept
victory or defeat without too much emotions, etc.
5. Successful executives had higher scores in achievement needs &
power needs.
The high positive association between personality traits &
performance suggests that managers can take suitable actions to
make proper adjustment between personality & work so that the
workers may produce good results.
TRAITS OF PERSONALITY:- A personality trait can be
defined as “an attribute of a person that appears
constantly in a variety of situations”. The trait theory is
based on following assumptions:-
1. Traits helps to distinguish one personality from
another.
2. Individuals can be described in terms of construction of
traits such as achievements.
3. Traits can be quantifiable & do not defy measurements.
4. The amount of each trait that a person has is assumed
to be stable fairly & the differences in personality &
behavior between two individuals is assumed to be the
result of differences in the amount of each trait each
person has.
PERSONALITY TRAITS INFLUENCING ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR:- Following are the personality traits that influences
organizational behavior:-
1. AUTHORIANS:- A person with authoring personality has a strong
belief in the legitimacy of established mechanisms of formal authority,
views, obedience to authority as necessary, exhibits a negative
philosophy of people, adheres to conventional & traditional values
systems is intellectually rigid & opposes the use of subjective feelings.
2. TYPE A & TYPE B PERSONALITY:- People who are impatient,
aggressive & highly competitive come under “Type A Personality”.
Those who are easy going & non – competitive come under “Type B
Personality”. Type A people are productive as they work very hard.
Their negative side is that they are impatient, more irritable & have
poor judgments. Type B people do better on complex tasks involving
judgments & accuracy rather than speed & hard work. Type A’s work
under continuous time pressure, enjoy working against deadlines, in
fact & create deadlines for themselves. Type B’s are relaxed & enjoy
leisure.
CHARACTERISTICS OF TYPE A & TYPE B PERSONALITY
TYPE A TYPE B
1. Are impatient with the rate of 1. Never feel urgency & are patient.
work.
2. Move & eat rapidly or fast. 2. Are relaxed, eat in a leisurely fashion &
enjoy themselves.
3. Want to measure everything. 3. Do not display their achievements.
4. Do several things 4. Play fun rather than to prove themselves.
simultaneously or together.

3. INTROVERT & EXTROVERT:- Extroverts are those individuals who mix

around with everyone easily. Introverts are those individuals who are shy,
quiet & do not mix around with everyone easily. Extroverts are more suitable
for positions that require interaction with others whereas, introverts are more
inclined to excel at tasks that require thought & analytical skills. Managerial
positions are dominated by none other than extroverts.
4. SELF – CONCEPT & SELF – ESTEEM:- Self – concept is
the way individuals define themselves as to who they are &
derive their sense of identity. Self – esteem tells about the
extent to which the individuals consider themselves as
capable, successful, important & worthy individuals.
5. LOCUS OF CONTROL:- It means whether the people
believe that they are in control of events or events control
them. Those who have internal locus of control believe that
they can control & shape the course of events in their lives.
Those who have external locus of control believe that events
occur purely by chance or because of factors beyond their
own control. Former category – internal locus of control
people seek opportunities for advancement, & rely more on
their abilities & judgment at work; while latter category –
external locus of control people remain mostly inactive &
allow the events occur their own.
ORGANIZATIONAL APPLICANTIONS OF PERSONALITY:-
Following are the organizational applicants of personality:-
1. MATCHING JOBS & INDIVIDUALS:- Every job in the organizations
needs some specific characteristics of the job performer & one of the
basic characteristics is personality of the job performer. An
organization can do well if it is able to match the jobs & individuals –
the personality of the job performer matches with the requirement of
the job. Starting point in matching jobs & individuals is recruitment &
selection. It is known fact that every organization uses some sort of
personality test either in written form or through personal interview.
The basic idea behind such an exercise is to discover the personality
traits of the job seekers so that a match is established between jobs &
job seekers. Another area which helps in matching jobs & individuals
is training & development. Since people move upward in the
organization, the nature of their job changes which needs a
realignment between the job & job performer. The new personality
traits can be developed through training. The third dimension of
matching jobs & individuals is promotion where personality counts a
lot.
2. DESIGNING MOTIVATION SYSTEM:- All people cannot be
motivated by offering the same incentives because of their personality
differences. Some people maybe motivated by offering financial
incentives; some people may not react so favorably to such offers. They
may attach more importance to non – financial incentives. Thus, a
motivation system which takes into account the personality variables of
the people in the organization is likely to be more suitable.
3. DESIGNING CONTROL SYSTEM:- In order to ensure that people
contribute in the organization in desired way, a control system is
developed. Such a system maybe in the form of tight control leaving no
discretion to the people or may provide flexibility. Based on personality
variables, different people react differently to a particular type of
control system. Thus, the designing of control system must take into
account the personality variables of the people.
Examples of three companies – Reliance Industries Limited,
Hindustan Lever Limited & Infosys Technologies Limited to show how
these companies emphasize on the recruitment of different types of
people based on personality variables.
 MOTIVATION
MEANING & CONCEPT OF MOTIVATION:- Motivation as a general term
means an individual’s involvement in work. In a specific sense, it means a
particular motivation. The second concept of motivation is an explanation of
the general term “work motivation”. An individual has either high or low
motivation, or has one or another kind of motivation. Various terms like
motives, needs, wants, desires, wishes, incentives define motivation. A motive
is an inner state that activates or moves (hence motivation), & that directs
behavior towards goals.
We can differentiate between needs & wants. Needs are more comprehensive
& include desires – both physiological & psychological wants are expressed in
a narrow way & include only those desires for which a person has money &
also the desire to spend the money to satisfy the wants.
Motivation is the complex force starting & keeping a person at work in an
organization. Motivation is something that moves the person to action &
continues him in the course of action already initiated. Motivation refers to
desires, aspirations, needs direct, control or explain the behavior of human
beings.
NATURE OF MOTIVATION:- Following characteristics help to explain the
nature of motivation:-
1. BASED ON MOTIVES:- Motivation is based on individual’s motives which
are internal. These motives are in the form of feelings that the individual
lacks. In order to overcome this feeling of lack ness he tries to behave in a
manner which helps in overcoming this feeling.
2. AFFECTED BY MOTIVATION:- Motivation is affected by way the
individual is motivated. The act of motivating needs satisfaction. Besides it
can also activate the needs in the individual. The needs that are less strong &
somewhat dormant & harness them in a manner that would be functional for
the organization.
3. GOAL – DIRECTED BEHAVIOR:- Motivation leads to goal – directed
behavior. A goal – directed behavior is one which satisfies the causes for
which behavior takes place. Motivation influences human behavior; in the
organization it harnesses human energy to organizational requirements.
4. RELATED TO SATISFACTION:- Motivation is related to satisfaction.
Satisfaction refers to contentment experiences of an individual which he
derives out of need fulfillment. Thus, satisfaction is a consequence of rewards
& punishments associated with past experiences. It provides means to analyze
outcomes already experienced by the individual.
5. PERSON MOTIVATED IN TOTALITY:- A person is motivated in totality &
not in parts. Each individual in the organization is a self – contained unit &
his needs are interrelated. These affect his behavior in different ways.
Moreover, feeling of needs & their satisfaction is a continuous process. As
such, these create continuity in behavior.
TYPES OF NEEDS:- There are many needs which an individual has. Basically
there are 3 types of needs. Namely:-
1. PRIMARY NEEDS:- Primary needs are also called “Physiological, biological,
basic or unlearned needs”. Primary needs are main needs which are mainly
used for survival. These needs are common in all human beings though their
intensity may differ. Some of the needs required for survival are like food,
sex, sleep, air to breathe, satisfactory temperature, etc. These needs are
important for survival. These needs are also unconditioned by social
practices. According to an economic man these needs are the only wants of a
human being & he attempts to satisfy them only. Human behavior shows that
psychological needs are equally important for human beings.
2. SECONDARY NEEDS:- Secondary needs are not natural but are leaned by
the individual through his experience & interaction. These needs are called
“Learned or Derived Needs”. This is the reason why we find differences
among the needs of a child & of a matured individual. There different types of
3. GENERAL NEEDS:- There are many needs that lie between primary &
secondary needs are known as “General Needs”. A need must be learned but at
the same time it is not completely physiological. In fact there are certain such
needs like need for competence, curiosity, manipulation, affection, etc.
TYPES OF NEEDS

PRIMARY NEEDS SECONDARY NEEDS GENERAL

NEEDS
1. FOOD. 1. POWER. 1. COMPETENCE.
2. SEX. 2. ACHIEVEMENT. 2. CURIOSITY.
3. SLEEP. 3. STATUS. 3. MANIPULATION.
4. AIR TO BREATHE. 4. AFFILIATION. 4. AFFECTION.
5. SATISFACTORY
TEMPERATURE.

MOTIVATION & BEHAVIOR:- Motivation causes goal – directed behavior.

Need acts as a base for motivation which is a kind of mental feeling in an
individual that he needs something. This lack of something creates tension in
engaging himself in a behavior through which he satisfies his needs.
Goal – directed behavior leads to goal – fulfillment & the individual succeeds in
fulfilling his needs & overcoming his tension. Behavior ends the moment tension is
released. Satisfaction of one need leads to the feeling of another need. Goal –
directed behavior is a ongoing process.
GOAL
NEED TENSION GOAL-DIRECTED FULFILLMENT
BEHAVIOR OR NEED
SATISFACTION

FAVOURABLE
ENVIRONMENT
GOAL – DIRECTED BEHAVIOR
DEFENCE MECHANISM:- Frustration leads to defence mechanisms used in
human organism. Defence mechanism is a type of action that helps to
overcome frustration due to non – fulfillment of needs so that the individual
can protect his self – concept. Following are the 3 types of defence
mechanism:-
1. AGGRESSION:- A common reaction to frustration is aggression. It is an act
against someone or something. An employee not given due promotion may
become aggressive & berate his superior. Following are the types of aggression:-
• DISPLACEMENT:- Aggression can be due to frustration caused by superior
in an organization or anyone else. Displaced aggression maybe towards a
person. For e.g., frustrated employee if not able to abuse his superior causing
frustration may attack his wife or his children. If this is not possible then he
may kick objects like door, etc.
• NEGATIVISM:- It is an act of active or passive resistance operating
consciously or unconsciously. For e.g., the manager who has been
unsuccessful in getting out of committee assignments, takes every suggestion
that anyone makes to him in the meetings.
• FIXATION:- In fixation, frustrated individual maintains a persistent non –
adjustive reaction even though all the clues indicate that the behavior will not
cope with the problems. For e.g., following of lengthy uneconomic procedures
in doing a work or task.
2. WITHDRAWAL:- Another way of overcoming frustration is to withdraw
from the scene causing frustration, anxiety or conflict, either physically or
psychologically. Following are the types of withdrawal:-
• FANTASY:- It is an act of day – dreaming or an imaginative activity which
provides an escape from reality & imagined satisfaction.
• REGRESSION:- In regression, the individual returns to an earlier & less
mature level of adjustment in the face of frustration. For e.g., a manager having
been blocked in some administrative pursuit busies himself with activities which
are more appropriate for his subordinates.
• REPRESSION:- Repression is the act of completely excluding from
consciousness impulses, experiences & feelings which are psychologically
disturbing because they arouse a sense of guilt or anxiety. For e.g., being a
subordinate forgetting to tell his superior the circumstances of an embarrassing
situation.
• FLIGHT:- A more extreme form of withdrawal maybe to leave physically the
field causing frustration. For e.g., an employee may leave the job which is
frustrating.
3. COMPROMISE:- When the frustration cannot be reduced by aggression or
withdrawal, the individual tries to compromise with the situation a relatively
satisfactory adjustment. Following are the types of compromise:-
• IDENTIFICATION:- It is the process through which a person takes on the
attributes of the model. Individual enhances his self – esteem by patterning his
own behavior after another’s.
• PROJECTION:- Individual projects himself from awareness of his own
• RATIONALIZATION:- Individual tries to justify inconsistent or undesirable
behavior, beliefs, statements & motivations by providing acceptable
explanations for them.
• REACTION - FORMATION:- It tells about not acceptable to consciousness
are repressed & in their stead, opposite attitudes or modes of behavior are
expressed with considerable force.
MOTIVATION & PERFORMANCE:- Motivation is very important for
performance. Performance of an individual working in an organization
depends on other factors too besides his level of motivation. Performance of
an individual working in an organization is affected by:-
1. Motivation of the individual.
2. His sense of competence.
3. His abilities.
4. His role perception.
5. Organizational resources.
Reward as a result of individual’s performance affects the level of motivation.
If the reward is perceived to be of valence & equitable this energies the
individual for still better performance & this process goes on. Thus
will lead to higher performance by an individual’s:-
1. Efforts for higher performance.
2. Lower rate of absenteeism.
3. Loyalty & stability with the organization.
4. Adaptation to organizational change.
MASLOW’S NEED HIERARCHY:-One of the most popular models of
motivation is of Maslow’s. He considered several needs to explain human
behavior & proposed that these needs have a hierarchy – some needs are in
lower order needs as compared to other higher order needs. He mentioned
that unless the need at the lower level is satisfied, the higher order need will
no longer motivate the person. Maslow proposed 5 main hierarchical levels of
need. Namely:-
1. PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS:- It contains of hunger, thirst, etc., symbolized by
the need for wages & salary in the modern world are the lowest needs in the
hierarchy.
2. SAFETY NEEDS:- It comes after physiological needs. These would include
security of all kinds.
3. LOVE NEEDS:- It is the need to relate closely to others are after safety needs.
4. EGO NEEDS:- It is the need for status & recognition. It is the highest order of
needs are those of self – actualization or achieving one’s potential.
Applied to work organizations then the lowest order need would be that for a
salary. Security needs would include seniority & security in the job. Love
needs would include the need to belong to a friendly work – group. The ego
(or esteem) needs would be the needs for status & promotion. The highest is
the need for self – actualization, which is the need for achievement of things
which deals with one’s self – image. Maslow’s theory has made a very
valuable contribution in drawing attention to the lower order needs, which
maybe neglected in some organizations. Yet if these needs are not satisfied,
the higher order needs may not be operative. The limitation of this theory,
however lies in that in no organization do the higher order needs await the
satisfaction of the lower order needs. All the needs operate simultaneously.

SELF - ACTUALIZATION
EGO NEEDS
LOVE NEEDS

PHYSIOLOGICAL
NEEDS
JOB SATISFACTION & MOTIVATION:- Job satisfaction & motivation
was discovered by Herzberg whose theory of work motivation is most
widely known, used & discussed. His theory is called “Two – Factor
Theory Of Motivation”. He collected data of people’s satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with their jobs. The analysis of this data led him to
propose 2 sets of needs: one set of needs caused dissatisfaction if they
were not met; the other set provided positive satisfaction to people if
they were met. His experience in the field of health helped him to
propose his two – factor theory. He classified the various needs he
found into terms of what he called”Hygiene Factors” (factors which
may prevent dissatisfaction) & motivators (factors which may provide
satisfaction). According to Herzberg preventing or reducing
dissatisfaction in the work situation is not the same as providing
positive satisfaction. These two are qualitatively different aspects of
work motivation. According to him, motivation can be provided only if
motivators are used in the work situation in addition to hygiene
factors. Herzberg’s theory of work motivation has, however, led to
“Job Enrichment” programs, entailing redesigning of jobs. Job
enrichment attempts to build as many motivators into the job as
possible.
HERZBERG’S TWO – FACTOR MODEL OF WORK MOTIVATION

HYGIENE FACTORS MOTIVATORS

1. SALARY. 1. ADVANCEMENT.
2. WORKING CONDITIONS. 2. DEVELOPMENT.
3. COMPANY POLICY. 3. RESPONSIBILITY.
4. SUPERVISION. 4. RECOGNITION.
5. WORK – GROUP. 5. ACHIEVEMENT.
6. WORK – ITSELF.
MOTIVES IN OB:- We have 6 main needs or motives. Namely:-
1. THE ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVE:- It deals with concern for excellence, a
tendency to compete with standards of excellence set by others or by the self,
the setting of challenging goals for oneself an awareness of the hurdles in the
way of achieving one’s goals & persistence in trying out alternative paths to
one’s goal.
2. THE AFFLIATION MOTIVE:- This deals with concern for establishing &
maintaining close personal relationships, considerable value for friendship &
a tendency to express one’s emotions.
3. THE INFLUENCE MOTIVE:- It deals with concern for making an impact on
others, a desire to make people do what one thinks is right, & an urge to
change matters & develop people.
4. THE CONTROL MOTIVE:- It deals with concern for orderliness, a desire to
stay informed & an urge to monitor a situation & take correct action if
needed.
5. THE EXTENSION MOTIVE:- This deals with concern for others, an interest
in the goal & a need to be relevant & useful for larger groups, including
society as a whole.
6. THE DEPENDENCY MOTIVE:- This deals with concern for self –
development with others help, checking ideas or proposed action with
significant others (those more knowledgeable or having higher status, experts,
close associates), a need for approval & expectations of such an approval
relationship.
UNDERSTANDING NEEDS:- It is of 2 types. Namely:-
1. INTRINSIC NEEDS:- Intrinsic needs is also called “Internal Needs”. It is
derived from the internal source within an individual or task – individual’s
interest or the nature of the job.
2. EXTRINSIC NEEDS:- Extrinsic needs is also called “External Needs”,
tangible & satisfied by others like money or salary.
INCENTIVES:- Incentives is an external process that helps to activate need. It
also helps to encourage work in an organization. When a motive is present in
any person it becomes active when there is some incentive. Thus, incentive
refers to individual & his needs which he is trying to satisfy. It is of 2 types.
Namely:-
1. FINANCIAL INCENTIVE:- Financial incentive is mostly used in
organizations to motivate the employees to increase their productivity. It
includes wages, salaries, bonus, insurance, medical allowance, housing
an important role in motivation. Management mostly makes use of financial
incentives to motivate workers. However, such incentives may not always
prove to be motivating. In many cases, management may have to increase the
financial incentives to keep the workers with the organization. This can be
appreciated from the practice of making wages & salaries competitive.
Money is a real motivating factor when the psychological needs of the workers
like food, clothing & shelter are not satisfied. Money helps in satisfying the
social needs of the workers to some extent because money is often recognized
as a basis of status, respect & power. Money is also an important means of
achieving a minimum standard of living although this minimum has the
tendency to go up as people become more affluent. But it can’t be concluded
that money loses its importance after a certain stage. People in higher
positions, who get higher monetary rewards are not motivated by monetary
benefits. They maybe motivated by money only if the increase in large enough
to increase their standard of living & status in the society. But in cases of
employees at the operative levels, money plays an important role in
motivating them because their basic needs have not been completely fulfilled.
To some people, non - financial rewards are more important. They motivated
by money up to the stage they are struggling for physiological & security
needs.
2. NON – FINANCIAL INCENTIVES:- Non – financial incentives cannot be
 security, performance feedback, praise, opportunity of growth,
participative & consultative management & career
development plan.
JOB ENRICHMENT:- Job enrichment is a motivational
technique which emphasizes the need for challenging &
interesting work. In order to enrich the job, management
should take following measures:-
1. Give more freedom to workers in deciding about work
methods, pace sequence; etc.
2. Increase responsibility.
3. Encourage participation.
4. Provide feedback to the workers.
5. Make the workers understand how tasks contribute to a
finished product of the enterprise.
JOB ENLARGEMENT:- Job enlargement is a
strategy which is adopted by many managers. It
focuses on enlarging jobs by adding tasks &
responsibilities. It involves expansion scope & width of
the job by means of horizontal loading of certain
closely related operations. For e.g., a clerk in an office
who is doing typing work only may also be assigned
the tasks of drafting simple letters, sorting of incoming
mails & filing of letters. This will reduce his boredom
& make him satisfied with the job. His efficiency will
also improve. It helps to improve quality standards,
possibly, because the employee who checks his own
work responds favorably to the opportunity to do so.
Also job satisfaction is higher in large jobs.
 PERCEPTION
DEFINITION & MEANING OF PERCEPTION:- Perception is a process of
interpreting what is happening around us. It includes all those processes by
which an individual receives information about his environment – seeing,
hearing, feeling, tasting & smelling. Perception basically refers to the manner
in which a person experiences the world. It is the process by which people
organize, interpret & experience ideas & use stimulus materials in the
environment so they satisfy their needs. It can be defined as the process of
receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting, checking & reacting to sensory
stimuli or data.
IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION:- Following are the importance of
perception:-
1. People working in an organization differ from each other in terms of physical
characteristics like age, sex, background like training, education &
personality traits like introvert & extrovert.
2. Perception is an important tool for the manager who wants to avoid making
errors when dealing with other people & events in the work place.
PERCEPTION PROCESS:- Following are the steps used perception process:-
1. INPUT:- Perceived inputs are the objects, events, people that are received by
the receiver.
2. MECHANISMS:- The perceived inputs are processed through the sub –
process of selection, organization & interpretation.
3. OUTPUTS:- Through the processing mechanism, the outputs are derived.
These outputs maybe feelings, actions & attitude.
4. BEHAVIOR:- It is dependent on the perceived output. The perceiver’s
behavior in turn, generates responses from the perceived & these response
give rise to a new set of inputs.
PERCEPTUAL MECHANISM:- It takes place in the environment. It depends on
2 factors:-
1. INTERNAL FACTORS:- It contains of following:-
• NEEDS & DESIRES:- Internal factors depend on the needs & desire of an
individual.
• PERSONALITY:- Individual personality is influenced on perceived behavior
like:-
(i). Secure individuals tend to perceive others as warm, not cold.
(ii). Individuals do not expose by expressing extreme judgments of others.
(iii). Persons who accept themselves & have faith in their individuality perceive
things favorably.
(iv). Self – accepting individuals perceive themselves as liked, wanted & accepted
by others.
• EXPERIENCE:- Experience & knowledge has great influence on perception.
Successful experience & boost the perception ability & lead to accuracy in
perception of a person whereas, failures erodes self – confidence.
• LEARNING:- Learning has influence on perception. It creates expectancy in
people. People try to perceive what they want to perceive.
2. EXTERNAL FACTORS:- Following are the external factors:-
• SIZE:- Size always attracts the attention because it establishes dominance.
The size maybe the height or weight of an individual, sign board of a shop, or the
space devoted to an advertisement in the newspaper. A very tall person will
always stand out in the crowd; a very short person will also attract attention. A
advertisement in a newspaper will always catch attention as compared to a few
lines in the classified section.
• INTENSITY:- Intensity attracts to increase the selective perception. A few
examples of intensity are yelling or whispering, very bright colors, very bright or
very dim lights. Intensity will also include behavioral intensity. If the office order
says “Report to the boss immediately”, it will be more intense & effective as
compared to the office order which says, “Make it convenient to meet the boss
today”.
• FREQUENCY:- The stimulus which is repeated attracts greater attention as
compared to a stimulus that is not repeated. It is because of this that supervisors
make it a point to give the necessary directions again & again to the workers.
Similarly, an advertisement shown again & again on the TV will have more
attention as compared to an advertisement which is shown once a day.
• STATUS:- High status people can exert greater influence on the perception of
the employees than the low status people. There will always be different reactions
to the orders given by the foreman, the supervisor or the production manager.
• CONTRAST:- An object which contrasts with the surrounding environment is
more likely to be noticed than the object which blends in the environment. For
e.g., EXIT signs in the cinema halls which have red letters written on black
background are attention drawing or a warning sign in a factory, such as
DANGER written in black on red or yellow background will be easily noticed.
• MOVEMENT:- The principle of motion states that a moving object receives
more attention than an object which is standing still. A moving car among the
parked cars would catch our attention faster. A flashing neon – sign is more easily
noticed.
• NOVELTY & FAMILARITY:- The principle states that new objects in the
familiar settings or familiar objects in new settings will draw the attention of the
perceiver. A familiar face on crowded railway platform will immediately catch
attention. Due to this principle, the managers change the workers jobs from time
to time, because it will increase attention they give to their jobs.
PERCEPTUAL INTERPRETATION:- Interpretation is an important part of the
perception process. Without interpretation selection & organization of
information do make any sense. After the information or data has been received
& organized, the perceiver would interpret or assign meaning of the information.
In fact, perception takes place when the data have been interpreted. Several
factors that contribute towards the interpretation of data. More important among
them are perceptual set, attribution, stereotyping, halo effect, perceptual context,
perceptual defense & projection. It may also be noticed that in the process of
interpretation, people try to become judgmental. They may try to distort what
they see & even ignore things that hey feel are unpleasant. Following are the
1. THE PERCEPTUAL SET:- Previously held beliefs pertinent to the
perception can influence individual perception. These general options or
attitudes a person has, constitute the perception set. For e.g., a manager may
have developed a general belief that workers are lazy, shirk work & want to
get all the advantages from an organization without giving their best to it. In
such a case, he or she already has a mental or perceptual set. His or her
subsequent perceptions will be influenced by this set. When he or she meets a
group of workers, this manager will try to interpret their behavior according
to his mental set. Another manager having different beliefs, attitudes &
opinions may have a different interpretation of the same phenomenon.
2. STEREOTYPING:- When people form opinions about a particular class of
objects or persons & act according to such opinions, it is called
“Stereotyping”. The word “Stereotype” has been used to indicate a generally
favorable or unfavorable opinion a person holds for a particular group of
people. For e.g., managers perceive a manager as being more honest than a
worker, just as a worker perceives another worker as being most honest than
a manager. Stereotyping is necessary for economy of perception. But
stereotypes also lead to prejudices about various groups of people, which
influence perception & interpretation of data.
3. THE HALO EFFECT:- The halo effect is similar to stereotyping. While in
stereotyping the person forms an opinion or develops an attitude towards a
 group of people or object in the halo effected the person develops an opinion
or attitude towards a single person or object. If someone has a favorable
attitude towards a person his or her subsequent perceptions of the same
person are influenced by this attitude. For e.g., if a manager has a good
impression about a particular subordinate (a positive halo effect), mistakes
made by the latter maybe condoned or the interpretation may give the latter
the benefit of doubt. When same mistake is made by another person about
whom the manager has an unfavorable opinion (a negative halo effect), those
mistakes maybe perceptually exaggerated as irresponsible behavior. Further,
as a result of the halo effect, the manager may try to interpret even feedback
information received according to the preconceived impression. For e.g.,
irrespective of the available information, the manager may try to overrate on
person & underrate another. Our interpretation of data & partial data (about
which very few cues are available), therefore, is influenced by already held
impressions.
4. PERCEPTUAL DEFENSE:- Perceptual defense is used by the perceiver to
deal with conflicting messages & data. If the data a person receives threaten
beliefs already held, the recipient uses perceptual defense to deal with this
phenomenon. For e.g., if a manager gets data from a union on strike, showing
that it is taking positive steps in the direction of resolving conflicts or is doing
something useful for the organization, the manager may find such data in
approach.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERCEIVER:- Following are the characteristics
of the perceiver:-
1. NEEDS & MOTIVE:- A need is a feeling of discomfort or tension when one
thinks he is missing something or requires something. Therefore, unsatisfied
needs or motives stimulate individuals & may exert a strong influence on their
perception. When people are not able to satisfy their needs they are engaged
in wishful thinking which is a way to satisfy their needs not in real world but
imaginary world. In such cases, people will perceive only those items which
suit their wishful thinking. Motives also influence the perception of people.
2. SELF – CONCEPT:- Self – concept shows how we perceive ourselves. This
influences how we perceive others & the situation we are in. The more we
understand ourselves, the more we are able to perceive others accurately. For
e.g., secure people try to see others as warm & friendly. Less secure people
often find fault with others. Perceiving oneself accurately & enhancing self –
concept are the factors that enhance accurate perception.
3. PAST EXPERIENCE:- Our perceptions are often guided by our past
experiences. A person’s past experiences helps him to perceive the current
situation. If a person has been betrayed by a couple of friends in the past, he
would try to distrust any new friendship that he might be in the process of
 developing.
4. BELIEFS:- A person’s beliefs influence his perception to a great extent. Thus,
a fact is conceived not on what a person believes it to be. The individual
normally censors stimulus inputs to avoid disturbance of his existing beliefs.
5. EXPECTATIONS:- Expectations affect the perception of a person.
Expectations are related with the state of anticipation of particular behavior
from a person. For e.g., a technical manager will expect that the non –
technical people will be ignorant about technical features of the product.
6. CULTURAL UPBRINGING:- A person’s ethics, values & beliefs play an
important part in his perception about others. It is difficult to perceive the
personality of a person bought up in another culture because our judgment is
based upon our own values.
Elements in the environment surrounding an individual like time, location,
light, heat, etc influence his perception. The context in which a person sees the
objects or events is very important.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERCEIVED:- Characteristics of the person who
is being observed can affect what is perceived. Though, it may go against logic
& objectivity, but it cannot be denied that our perceptions about others are
influenced by their physical characteristics such as appearance, age, gender,
behavior.
Manner of communication, both verbal & non – verbal, affect our perception
about others. For e.g., the choice of words & precision of language can form
impressions about the education of the person. The tone of voice indicates the
mood of the person. The depth of conversation & choice of topics provides
clues of people’s intelligence. The body language or expressive behavior such
as how a person sits & the movement of his eyes or a smile can indicate
whether he is nervous or self – confident.
THE PROCESS OF CHECKING:- After data have been received &
interpreted, the perceiver takes steps to check whether his or her
interpretations are right or wrong. The process of checking maybe so fast that
the person is not even aware of it. Such checking maybe done occasionally in
order to confirm whether the interpretations or perceptions are reinforced by
new data. Alternatively, data or impressions maybe checked by asking other
people about their perceptions. This is by way of feedback about one’s own
perception. For e.g., a manager who has perceived a certain characteristic in a
subordinate on a few occasions may check with other managers who worked
with that subordinate previously to find out whether this perception is
endorsed by them. The manager may also use another method of checking
which is more useful but difficult to adopt: He or she check certain things
with the person in question directly. For e.g., if the manager finds an
 disturbed or annoyed, instead of waiting for the employee to take the initiative
in conveying his or her feelings, the manager may check with the employee
whether the latter feels disturbed, or offended, or annoyed. By encouraging
such feedback from the source of the communication itself, the perceiver may
slowly increase the accuracy of his or her perceptions.
THE PROCESS OF REACTING:- The last phase of the perceptual process is that
of acting upon what has been perceived. This is usually when people do
something in reaction to their perceptions. For e.g., a person may act on the
basis of the favorable or unfavorable perceptions he or she has formed. The
cycle of perception is not complete unless it leads to some action. The action
maybe covert or overt. Covert action implies the formation of opinions or
attitudes, & overt action is definite action in response to the perception.
One phenomenon which has attracted attention with regard to convert action
is “impression formation”. Impression formation refers to the way a perceiver
forms an impression about an object or a person on the basis of
characteristics he or she perceives or data he or she receives from various
sources. A manager has to form impressions most of the time, being required
to make quick judgments. While interviewing people, for e.g., a manager has
to form a quick opinion of the interviewees to take a decision. The more
accurate a manager is in forming a realistic impression, the more effective he
or she is likely to be.
Following are the 4 limitations in the formation of accurate impressions:-
1. SURROUNDINGS:- An impression is likely to be affected by the type of situation or
surroundings which the impression is made, rather than by the person who makes the
impression. For e.g., if someone is seen in an undesirable surrounding, the impression
formed about that person is likely to be low. Similarly, if sees another person in a posh
environment frequented exclusively by people of high status, one’s impression of that
person is likely to be more favorable, being based on the latter’s apparent affluence.
2. GENERALIZATIONS:- Although impressions maybe based on limited cues or data,
sweeping generalizations maybe made from the same. This usually happens when a
person already has some stereotypes & mental sets.
3. SITUATIONAL LIMITATIONS:- A situation may not provide adequate opportunity
for a person to show the behaviors critical to the formation of a certain impression.
For e.g., in an interview, the interviewee may not be able to show how much
commitment he or she is capable of having towards goals.
4. PRECONMCEIVED NOTIONS:- An impression maybe determined by the prejudices
or individual reactions of the perceiver. The mental set, stereotypes & halo effect, in
particular, may influence a person’s perception.
In order to increase the accuracy of impression formation, it maybe useful to be aware
of the various factors which influence interpretation of data. It may also be useful for a
person to check from time to time the impressions he or she has formed & to reflect on
the accuracy of these perceptions as well as question why accuracy maybe less than
desired.
 ANALYSING INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS
TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS:- Transactional analysis is a comprehensive
conceptual framework to gain an understanding of personality styles &
human behavior.
1. STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS:- Proposing the main structure of a personality
in terms of 3 ego states. An ego state is defined as a pattern of feeling &
experience directly related to a corresponding consistent pattern of behavior.
Three ego states are: Parent, Adult & Child.
Parent ego – state is a set of feelings, attitudes & behavior patterns which
resemble those of the parental figure. The adult ego – state is an autonomous
set of feelings, attitudes & behavior patterns which are adapted to the current
reality. And the child ego – state is a set of feelings, attitudes & behavior
patterns which are relics of the individual’s own childhood. The 3 ego states
can be understood as 3 functions. There are 2 main parental functions –
nurturing & controlling. Nurturing is done by providing support &
controlling or regulating behavior is done through prescriptions (instructions
in detail what should be done & how) & sanctions (punishing that behavior
which the parent disapproves of). We may call this “Sub – ego states or Sub –
functions”. The main focus of the parent seems to be on the values & norms.
The adult ego – state has the function of collecting & processing information
 in the present. It responds to reality the adult works like a computer, without
any values or emotions. We can call this a “Task function”. The child ego –
state has several aspects. These were named “Natural child (curious, fun –
loving), Rebellious child (revolting against authority) & Adapted child (the
ego – state under the influence of the parent)”. All these relate to emotions.
We shall take the liberty of using different terms with slightly different
meanings - creativity, confrontation & adaptation. All these 3 ego – states are
important for a person. If one of them is weak, we call it “Under developed”.
2. TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS:- A transaction is the act of communication
or interaction between 2 people. A transaction starts with a stimulus & ends
with a response to the stimulus. Since each individual involved in the
transaction has 3 ego – states., the transactions are between the various ego –
states.
When A sends a message, B receives it; B then responds & this response is
received by A. This one transaction. A person can send a prescriptive message
(from what is called the “Parent ego – state”), an information message (from
the Adult ego – state), or a feeling message (from the Child ego – state). Any
of these messages maybe sent to (and received by) one of the 3 ego – state of
the other person (parent, adult or child). If the response is by the same ego –
state as the one which received the message, it is called a “Complementary or
Parallel Transaction”. Such transactions are very satisfying.
 The response, however, may not originate from the ego – state which has received
the message. Then it is a “Crossed Transaction”.
3. LIFE POSITION ANALYSIS:- It suggests 4 positions individuals adopt in their
transaction with the outside world. Life position comprises certain deeply ingrained
convictions about the worth of the self & others. By the time a child is ready for school,
it arrives at these convictions. The child’s conviction about itself may either be “I’m
OK” or “I’m not OK”. Similarly, it may look at others & think “You’re OK” or
“You’re not OK”. Combining these, we have 4 life positions:-
• “I’m OK, you’re OK”. This is the healthy position.
• “I’m OK, you’re not OK”. This is the paranoid position.
• “I’m not OK, you’re OK”. This is the depressive position.
• “I’m not OK, you’re not OK”. This is the schizoid position or futility position.
GENERAL TRANSACTIONAL STYLES IN THE 4 LIFE POSITIONS
I’m not OK I’m OK
A B
You’re not OK AVOIDANT / ADVERSE BOSSING
D C

DIFFIDENT COMPETENT/CONFIDENT/
You’re OK
CREATIVE
 TRANSACTIONAL STYLES:- The 4 life positions are combined with the 3
ego states. All the 3 ego – states & their dimensions (sub – ego states) are
important & perform distinct functions. Their effectiveness, however,
depends to a large extent on the basic life position an individual take. Thus,
combining the 4 life positions & 6 ego state dimensions. We get the 24
different transactional styles. Four life positions – avoidant, bossing,
competent & diffident & 3 ego –states – parent, adult & child combine to
form tenets for transactional styles, which are useful for understanding
interpersonal styles.
1. A FOR AVOIDANT (OR I’m NOT OK, You’re NOT OK):- In this life
position, the person, the person has respect neither for himself or herself, nor
for others. It seems meaningless to the person to do anything worthwhile.
Following styles are:-
• TRADITIONAL (REGULATING PARENT):- The role of the regulating
parent is to establish norms & regulations of behavior, disapprove of any
deviation from the norms,& ensures that norms are followed. In the
traditional style, a manager will have faith neither in himself or herself nor in
subordinates with regard to proper behavior. The easiest way to deal with this
person, therefore, would be to follow the rules & regulations & the
procedures laid down.
•
provide such support, nor trusting others to demand such support, the general style
becomes overindulgent. A manager, a consultant or a trainer with this style may show
more consideration towards others than necessary.
• SULKING (ADAPTIVE CHILD):- The adaptive child accepts the norms of others &
enjoys approval & conformity. A manager, consultant or trainer of this style may
adapt to a situation by keeping feelings of dissatisfaction private. This is a
dysfunctional adaptation, growing out of a need for safety.
• WITHDRAWN (REACTIVE CHILD):- In this a child feels angry tends to show
anger ( or aggressiveness) by withdrawal behavior. A manager may become
disinterested & uninvolved; a consultant may break off the consulting relationship
with a client; a trainer may lose interest in his or her profession.
• HUMOROUS (CREATIVE CHILD):- Humor may help to avoid the immediate
problems, but this is different from genuine humor, which is used occasionally to
enliven difficult situations. A manager, consultant or trainer in this style may try to
show imaginativeness by using humor all the time, when then reduces the seriousness
of a situation until it seems ludicrous.
2. B IS FOR BOSSING (OR I’m OK , You’re NOT OK):- Generally a person in this
life position takes a holier – than – thou attitude. This is reflected in an attitude of
superiority. The various styles in this position are as follows:-
• PRESCRIPTIVE (REGULATING PARENT):- Such a manager has the opportunity
 are followed; a consultant indicates to clients what he or she thinks they
should do & is unhappy when they do not act according to the instructions; a
trainer regards his or her main role as one of laying down detailed rules &
regulations for learners & ensuring that these are properly followed. Such
people are also overcritical of others.
• PATRONIZING (NURTURING PARENT):- In this style nurturance &
support are provided by almost imposing oneself on others. The manager
provides support & make it obvious that he or she is doing the subordinate a
favor as the latter is not capable of taking care of himself or herself.
• TASK – OBSESSIVE (ADULT):- The manager, consultant or trainer in this
style is primarily concerned with tasks & is so obsessed with the work to be
done that he or she overlooks various other things. In task – obsessive ness,
the individual takes responsibility for completing the tasks himself or herself
& involves others in secondary roles only.
• COMPLAINING (ADAPTATIVE CHILD):- This person tries to adapt &
seeks safety, but feels that he or she does not have the situations he or
deserves. This is reflected in complaining behavior. A manager finds fault
with the organization & with other managers & employees.
• AGGRESSIVE (REACTIVE CHILD):- A person with this style is likely to
show aggressiveness through infighting, making heavy demands, fighting, or
going back to the same issues & never allowing these to be settled. The result of all
such behavior is that he or she gets alienated. People do not take such a person
seriously for long.
• BOHEMIAN (CREATIVE CHILD):- Such a person does not seem able to
sustain a single idea & is obsessed with finding new ideas all the time. He or she
overwhelms subordinates, clients or colleagues with the new ideas he or she gets.
3. C IS FOR COMPETENT (OR I’m OK, You’re OK):- People with this life
position are creative, confident of themselves & competent. They have respect for
themselves as well as for others. Following are the 6 styles:-
• NORMATIVE (REGULATING PARENT):- This manager, consultant or
trainer is concerned with setting appropriate norms but involves subordinates,
client or learners both in evolving these norms & in deciding how such norms will
be followed.
• SUPPORTIVE (NURTURING PARENT):- A person with this style provides the
necessary support needed by others with whom he or she interacts. Support is
provided only if such support is either solicited or needed.
• PROBLEM – SOLVING (ADULT):- This person’s concern is to solve the
problem by working himself or herself & involving others in it as well. This is
different from being obsessed with the task. It is ironical that excessive concern
• RESILIENT (ADAPTIVE CHILD):- This style is characterized by functional
adaptation. The person assesses the situation & adapts to suit it. This is
effective contingency behavior. A manager is quick to assess the situation &
quicker to change his or her approach if needed.
• CONFRONTING (REACTIVE CHILD):- Aggressiveness is characteristic of
this style. However, aggressiveness becomes functional when the person does
not give up but perseveres & is content only when the problem is solved. This
is confrontation of the problem. A distinction needs to be made between
pseudo – confrontation (expression of aggression to people) & real
confrontation (reflected in concern with the problem). Even when an issue has
to be explored with a person, in effective confrontation the focus remains on
the particular issue or problem & the other person is not a target.
4. D FOR DIFFIDENT (OR I’m NOT OK, You’ re OK):- The general attitude
in this style is to depreciate oneself. As the person does not have much trust in
his or her own ability, he or she may not be assertive. This may be shown in
various ways. Following are 6 styles:-
• INDIFFERENT (REGULATING PARENT):- A person with this style leaves
following the norms to the discretion of others & does not care to see how well
the norms are understood. Most of the time, such a person managers to
overlook whether the norms are being followed. A manager may ignore the
• INGRATIATING (NURTURING PARENT):- In this style the effort is to try to please
others. A manager may do certain things to keep subordinate in good humor, thinking that
this will help him or her to get work done by them.
• OVERWHELMED (ADULT):- Such a person is always concerned with the task but
remains confused & feels that he or she has too much work to do. He or she never gets out
of this task – orientation & constantly feels overworked & overburdened.
• DEPENDENT (ADAPTIVE CHILD):- The need for safety maybe reflected in over
dependence on others. A dependent manager may go blindly by what subordinates tell him
or her to do or may seek approval for all actions from the boss.
• INTROPUNITIVE (REACTIVE CHILD):- A person with this style takes aggression on
himself or herself. Such a person is angry with himself or herself for not doing certain
things & blames his or her lack of ability, skills or courage for ineffectiveness. Intropunitive
people suffer from self – pity.
• SATIRICL (CREATIVE CHILD):- This style takes a more pungent form. The person
shows his or her critical attitude, but escapes confrontation by using satire. A person may
show behaviors relating to several of the styles described above. However, he or she would
use one style more frequently than others. We may thus get a style profile of a person in an
interact ional or transactional role. We call this “The person’s transactional styles profile”.
• INNOVATIVE (CREATIVE CHILD):- A person with this style is not satisfied with the
available solutions but continuously searches for new ways of solving a problem or new
methods to be used. However, the person is also interested in stabilizing such an innovation
before going on to new ones.
 INDIVIDUAL DETERMINANTS OF OB
HUMAN BEHAVIOR:- An organization is an association of human beings.
Behavior of human beings determines these efforts & contributions those
responsible for managing the organizations must understand the way human
behave. Individuals come to work in the organization & get integrated as per
the roles they occupy in the organization. The roles require separate attention.
Individuals do not work in isolation. For most tasks people work in teams.
Enough attention needs to be given to the formation of teams, their dynamics
& ways of making them more effective. Human behavior tells about the
behavior of an individual like hard working, arrogant, etc.
TYPES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR:- Following are 2 types of human behavior:-
1. INTERNAL BEHAVIOR:- Internal behavior of a human deals with the
inside the work environment like helpful.
2. EXTERNAL BEHAVIOR:-External behavior of a human deals with outside
the organization like socializing, family oriented.
INTERNAL VS EXTERNAL DETERMINANTS OF BEHAVIOR:- Environment
plays an important role in shaping behavior & genetic endowment &
personality development is influenced by historical heritage.
PERSONALITY &ENVIRONMENT:- Both personality & situation must be
taken to explain an individual’s behavior. But focus on the environment is very
important because it helps in developing personality of an individual.
MODELS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR:- The behavior of an individual is caused by a
number of variables. To identify the major variables & to show how they relate to
each other, for this following specific models have been developed:-
• THE S – R MODEL:- This model assumes that the reasons which cause human
behavior are of 2 types:-
• INTERNAL FEELINGS.
• EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT.
Internal feelings of a person may relate to his motivational factor whereas, the external
environment, which is also called the “Stimulus” directly influences the activity of
a person. The stimulus maybe in form of heat, light, etc. The external environment
forces determine the behavior of a person at any given moment. There is a direct
relation between stimulus & response. That is why this process is called “S – R
PROCESS”.
S – R MODEL
STIMULUS ORGANISM RESPONSE

INPUT OUTPUT
2. S – O – B – C MODEL:-This model deals with human behavior which combines the S –
R situation & human being. O in this model is not passive or immobile but it is a mediating,
maintenance & adjustive function between S (stimulus) & C (consequence).
S in this model stands for “Stimulus or External Environmental Situation”. It includes
light, heat, sound, actions of supervisors or other aspects of environment to which a person
is sensitive.
O in this model stands for the “Organism or the Person”. But this O does not stand for only
the physiological being but it also includes the processes within the person for e.g., heredity,
maturity, knowledge, skills, values, perceptions, attitudes, personality & motivation.
B stands for “Behavior”. It includes body movements, talking, facial expressions, emotions,
sentiments & thinking. Behavior is anything that a person does, it is not something that is
done to a person.
C stands for “Consequences”. When behavior in turn acts on the outside world, it leads to
accomplishments may further change the stimulating conditions & thereby influence the
subsequent behavior or they may create new stimulus leading to new behavior.
S – O – B – C MODEL
STIMULUS ORGANISM BEHAVIOR CONSEQUENCES

FEEDBACK
ASSUMPTIONS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR:- Following are 4 assumptions of
human behavior:-
1. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES:- Individual differences are important for
industry as they affect the work performance of the employees. This can be
identified & measured so as to ensure that right men are placed on right jobs
in the industry & proper training can be arranged for each man.
2. THE WHOLE PERSON:- In this we think of an individual, we think of his or
her skills & brain together. It is not possible that the employer while
employing an individual for skills may exclude his or her brain because both
are inseparable. His or her skills are influenced by his or her background &
knowledge.
3. CAUSATION OF BEHAVIOR:- Human behavior is caused by his or her
needs. A need first appears as a want in the sense that an individual feels the
lack of something that causes him or her to be dissatisfied & restless. It then
becomes his or her need & he or she seeks to fulfill it through certain actions
& responses which forms his or her behavior.
4. HUMAN DIGNITY:- Man is a very sensitive social animal. He can’t be
treated like a machine. He has the mind to think & heart to feel. He has
aspirations, emotions & sentiments which have to be respected. He has to be
treated with dignity & respect & not like a log of wood which has no
sensitivity at all.
DETERMINANTS OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR:- Following factors affecting
the behavior of individuals are :-
1. BIOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS:- Following are biographical
characteristics:-
• AGE:- The employee turnover among the older employees is very low as
compared to the employees in their 20’s & 30’s. Absenteeism among the
middle aged employees is less as compared to the young & old employees.
• GENDER:- It is believed that physical differences between males & females
will affect their job performance where they are required to put hard physical
labor.
• MARITAL STATUS:- Married employees show higher consistency in th
behavior. Rates of absenteeism & labor turnover are lower among them. They
are also found to be more satisfied with their jobs.
2. LEARNED CHARACTERISTICS:- Following are learned characteristics:-
• ATTITUDES:- An attitude represents the way an individual feels about
anything – an idea, a person, place or situation.
• VALUES:- Values are at the core of one’s personality & are a powerful force
affecting behavior. Values are so embedded that they can be inferred from the
people’s behavior & their expressed attitudes. What may appear to be a strange
behavior of an employee may make sense if the manager understands the value
underlying that behavior.
•PERCEPTION:- Perception is the view point by which one interprets a situation,
for e.g., a booking clerk facing a well – dressed person perceives him to be a very
fine passenger & talks to him nicely, whereas, he may try to ignore an ill – dressed
person, or make him wait, though both the passengers may have been of similar
status.
•MOTIVATION:- Motivation refers to all the forces operating within a person to
cause him or her engage in certain kinds of behavior rather than others.
Motivation maybe internal for e.g., a person’s skill, ability & intelligence or
external incentives, training, etc. A person’s motivation is influenced by his or her
attitudes, beliefs, values & goals.
3. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS:- Environmental factors consist of such
variables as economic conditions, social & cultural norms which are outside an
individual. Political factors also affect individual behavior.
4. ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS:- Following are organizational factors:-
•PHYSICAL FACILITIES:- The physical environment at the work place affect
individual behavior are noise level, heat, light, ventilation, cleanliness, nature of
job, office furnishing, number of people working at a given place.
•LEADERSHIP:- The system of leadership is established by the management to
provide direction, advice & coaching to individuals. The behavior of individuals is
influenced to a large extent by the behavior of the supervisors or leaders.
•REWARD SYSTEM:- The behavior & performance of the individual also
influenced by the reward system established by the organization to compensate &
reward their employees.
5. TYPE OF PERSONALITY:- Personality refers to personal traits such as
dominance, aggressiveness, persistence & other qualities reflected through a
person’s behavior. An individual’s personality tells about the types of activities
that he or she is suited for & whether the person will be able to perform the task
effectively. Thus, personality factors must be taken into account in determining
the suitability of an individual for a position in the organization.
 LEADERSHIP STYLES
MEANING & DEFINITION OF LEADERSHIP:- Leadership has long interested
psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, & certainly management scientists.
There is still a growing interest in leadership, which has been defined in different
ways. Leadership can however be simply defined in defined as the act of making
an impact on others in a desired direction. In this sense leadership is a boarder
term than management. Managers can run organizations effectively, but only
leaders can build them.
Leadership, the act of making an impact on others in a desired direction, helps to
build organizations through excellence, creativity, vision, building culture,
mentoring & multiplying empowerment.
Leadership is the process of influencing the behavior of others to work willingly &
enthusiastically for achieving predetermined goals. Leadership is very essential
for a successful organization. Successful organization has one major attribute that
sets it apart from unsuccessful organization is dynamic & effective leadership.
Leadership is essentially a continuous process of influencing behavior &
supporting others to work enthusiastically towards achieving objectives.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP:- Leadership
means the process of influencing the behavior of an individual or group. It maybe
for one’s own goals or a friend’s goals & may or maybe for organization goals.
A manager has to perform all the 5 functions of management – planning,
organizing, staffing, directing & controlling. Leadership functions come under
directing through which behavior is directed to get maximum use of subordinates
ability. Subordinates are guided by rules & requirements enforced by managerial
authority. In this process, the subordinates may work about 60 – 65 percent of
their capacity, just enough to satisfy the requirements for holding their jobs. To
raise efforts towards total capability, the managers must introduce zealous
response on the part of efficient subordinates by exercising leadership. Thus,
leadership is a part of management but not all of it. This implies that a strong
leader can be a weak manager because he is weak in planning or some other
managerial duty. The reverse is also possible. A manager can be weak leader &
still be an acceptable manager, specially if he happens to be managing people who
have strong inner achievement drives.
INFORMAL & FORMAL LEADERS:- Leaders arise or take place in many
situation. Even informal social groups have leader. When a group becomes formal
the persons are elected leaders. The persons who are elected to offices are the ones
who are the natural leaders of the groups. Their views get attention from the
members even without formal election, but with elections, those natural leaders
are consciously acknowledged. A leader derives his influence from the members
feeling or intuition that he can help to satisfy their needs; consequently, they are
willing to submit, within the limits, to his guidance.
When a person is an informal leader or someone else, is appointed in a superior
capacity, the natural leadership relations change. Such change takes place in two
respects. Firstly, when a person is appointed in superior capacity, he gets
authority from the organization. This authority allows him to increase or
decrease the satisfaction of his subordinates. Secondly, because of appointment, he
has the obligation of achieving organizational objectives besides an obligation to
provide satisfaction to his subordinates. An appointed or formal leader cannot
rely upon the use of authority getting desired results from his subordinates.
Subordinates sometimes put maximum effort under pressure. Regardless of these
differences between formal & informal leaders, a leader is able to direct the
actions of his followers because they believe he can provide rewards or prevent
penalties that satisfy their needs.

IMPROTANCE OF LEADERSHIP:- Leadership is an important tool for making

any kind of organization successful. We consider a manager as a leader. Without a
good leader, an organization cannot function efficiently & effectively. An
organization helps in creation of human beings for certain specified objectives, the
activities of its members need to be directed in a certain way. Direction of
activities in the organization is effected by the leader.
Following are the importance of good leadership:-
1. MOTIVATING EMPLOYEES:- Motivation is very important for work
performance. If the motivation is higher then the performance would be
better. A good leader is a person who makes use of his leadership & motivates
the employees for higher performance. Good leadership in the organization
itself is a motivating factor for the individuals.
2. CREATING CONFIDENCE:- A good leader may create confidence in his
followers by directing them, giving them advice & getting through them good
results in the organization. Once an individual with the help of a leader puts
high efficiency, he tries to maintain it as he acquires certain level of
confidence towards his capacity. Sometimes, individual fails to recognize their
qualities & capabilities to work in the absence of good direction.
3. BUILDING MORALE:- Morale is expressed as attitudes of employees
towards organization, management & voluntary co – operation to offer their
ability to the organization. High morale leads to high productivity &
organizational stability. Through providing good leadership in the
organization, employees morale can be raised high ensuring high productivity
& stability in the organization.
Good leadership is important in all aspects of managerial functions whether it
be motivation, communication or direction. Good leadership ensures success
in the organization, & unsatisfactory human performance in any organization
can be primarily attributed to poor leadership.
LEADERSHIP THEORIES:- Following are the leadership theories:-
1. CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP THEORY:- It is also known as “GREAT
MAN THEORY”. They provide some insight of leadership. The study is based
on insights which have suggested that “a leader is born & is not made”. A
leader has some charisma which acts as influencer. Charisma is a Greek
word meaning gift. Thus, charisma is a God – gifted attribute in a person
which makes him a leader irrespective of the situations in which he works.
Charismatic leaders are those who inspire followers & have major impact on
their organizations based on their personal vision & energy. A leader is a
person who has high visibility & personal charisma which help to catch the
public consciousness.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY:- Charismatic leadership has re – emerged
due to 2 reasons. Namely:-
(i). Many companies in USA have embarked on organizational transformation
programs of extensive changes that must be accomplished in short period of
time. Such transformations, requires or needs transformational leaders.
(ii). Many feel that by concentrating on traits, behaviors & situations, leadership
theories have lost sight of the leaders. These theories discuss about
transactional leaders & not about transformational leaders. Transactional
leader tells what the subordinates need to do to achieve objectives, classifies
those requirements, & helps subordinates to become confident that they can reach
their objectives. A transformational leader inspires his followers through vision &
energy. Trait, behavioral & situational leadership theories fail to explain the
reason behind the deeds of great political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Lenin,
etc., who transformed their nations, or great industrialists like JRD Tata, GD
Birla, Dhirubhai Ambani, who created vast industrial empires because of their
vision, energy & entrepreneurship. Charismatic leaders theory does that.
2. TRAIT THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP:- Trait approach leadership studies
became popular between 1930 & 1950. The method of study was to select leaders
of eminence & their characteristics were studied. It was the hypothesis that the
persons having certain traits could become successful leaders. According to
Stogdill various trait theories have suggested these traits in a successful leader:-
(i). Physical & constitutional factors like height, weight, physique, energy, health,
appearance.
(ii). Intelligence.
(iii). Self – confidence.
(iv). Sociability.
(v). Will like initiative, persistence, ambition.
(vii). Surgency like talkative, cheerfulness, geniality, enthusiasm, expressiveness,
alertness & originality.
INNATE QUALITIES:- Innate qualities are those which are possessed by various
individuals since their birth. These qualities are natural & often known as
God – gifted. On the basis of such qualities, it is said that, “leaders are born
& not made”. These qualities cannot be acquired by individuals. Following
are major innate qualities present in a successful leader:-
1. PHYSICAL FEATURES:- Physical feature of an individual is based on
heredity factors. Heredity is the transmission of the qualities from ancestors
to descendants. Physical characteristics & rate of maturation helps to tell
about personality formation which is an important factor in determine
leadership success. To some extent height, weight, physique, health &
appearance are important for leadership.
2. INTELLIGENCE:- For leadership higher level of intelligence is needed.
Intelligence tells about mental ability. Intelligence to great extent, is a natural
quality in the individuals because it is directly related with brain.
ACQUIRABLE QUALITIES:- Acquirable qualities of leadership are those which
can be acquired & increased through various processes. In fact when a child
is born he learns behavioral patterns through socialization & identification
processes. Such behavioral patterns are developed among the child as traits
over a period of time. Many of these traits can be increased through training
Following are the main qualities present in a successful leader:-
1. EMOTIONAL STABILITY:- A leader should have high level of emotional
stability. He should be free from bias, is consistent action & anger. He is well
adjusted & has no anti – social attitudes. He is self – confident & believes that
he can meet most situations successfully.
2. HUMAN RELATIONS:- A successful leader should have knowledge of
human relations that is how he should deal with human beings. A leader’s job
is to develop people & get their voluntary co – operation for getting work
done, he should have intimate knowledge of people & their relationship with
each other. The knowledge how human beings behave & how they react to
various situations is quiet meaningful & important to a leader.
3. EMPATHY:- Empathy relates to observing the things or situations from
other’s point of view. The ability to look at things & to understand them from
other’s point of view is important for successful leadership. Empathy needs
respect for other persons, their rights, beliefs, values & feelings.
4. OBJECTIVITY:- Objectivity tells what a leader does should be based on
important facts & information. He must assess this without any bias of
prejudice. The leader must base his relationship on his objectivity. He is
objective & does not allow himself to get emotionally involved to the extent
that he finds it difficult to make an objective diagnosis & implement the
action required.
5. MOTIVATING SKILLS:- Not only a leader is self – motivated but he has
 qualities to motivate his followers. There are many external factors which
motivate a person for higher performance, there is inner drive in people also
for motivation to work. The leader can play an active role in stimulating these
inner drives of his followers. A leader must understand his people to this
extent that he can know how he can activate them.
6. TECHNICAL SKILLS:- To lead people definite principles must be
understood & followed for great success. The ability to plan, organize,
delegate, analyze, seek advice, make decision, control & to win co – operation
needs the use of important abilities which constitute technical competence of
leadership. The various technical competence of leader may help to win the
support from the followers.
7. COMMUNICATION SKILLS:- A successful leader knows how to
communicate effectively. Communication has great force in getting the
acceptance from the receivers of communication. A leader use communication
skillfully for persuasive, informative & stimulating purposes. Normally, a
successful leader is extrovert as compared to introvert.
8. SOCIAL SKILLS:- A successful leader has social skills. He understands
people & knows their strengths & weaknesses. He has the ability to work with
people & conducts himself so that he gains their confidence & loyalty, &
people co – operate willingly with him.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY:- This theory has 2 main implications. Namely:-
(i). The theory emphasizes that a leader needs some traits & qualities to be effective.
(ii). Many of these qualities maybe developed in individuals through training &
development programs.
The theory has 2 limitations. Namely:-
(a). GENERALIZATION OF TRAITS:- There are problems in identification of traits
which maybe important for a leader to be effective in all situations. For e.g., House & Batez
concluded that the various studies of traits have failed to uncover any traits that clearly &
consistently distinguish leaders & followers. Many other behavioral scientists have same
views. From this point of view, the theory suffers due to following limitations:-
There cannot be generalization of traits for a successful leader. This was evident by various
researches made on leadership traits.
No evidence has been given about the degree of various traits because people have various
traits with different degrees.
There is a problem of measuring the traits. Though there are various tests to measure the
personality traits, however, no definite conclusion can be drawn.
(b). APPLICABLITY OF TRAITS:- Another set of problems that hinders the full
application of trait theory in practice, is that leadership as a process of influence reflects in
leader’s behavior & not in his traits. There have been many persons with traits specified for
a leader, but actually they could not become effective leaders. The reason for this is because
there is no direct cause – effect relationship between a trait of a person & his behavior. The
trait maybe only one of the factors which help in shaping behavior; the other factors,
sometimes even more important, are situational variables. These situational variables are
not incorporated in the trait theory.
THE SITUATIONAL THEORY OF LEADERSHIP:- Hersey & Blanchard (1982)
combined the grid approach theories to propose their situational theory of
leadership. According to this theory, leadership is a function of the situation & an
effective leader in one who assesses the situation accurately, uses a style
appropriate to the situation, is flexible & is also able to influence & alter the
situation.
LEADERSHIP STYLES:- There are 4 leadership styles categorized on the basis
or the appropriateness of each style to effectively manage a situation on the
dynamics of the teams & the leader.
REGULATING BEHAVIOR:- In this a leader engages in one – way
communication; spells out the groups roles & tells the group members what to do,
where to do it, when to do it & how to do it; & closely supervises their
performance. Three words can be used to define regulating behavior: structure,
control & supervise.
NURTURING BEHAVIOR:-In this a leader engages in two – way
communication, listens, provides support & encouragement, facilitates interaction
& involves the group in decision making. Three words can be used to define
nurturing behavior: praise, listen & facilitate.
STYLE 1: DIRECTIVE:- High regulating & low nurturing leader behavior is
called “Directive Style”. The leader defines the roles of group members, telling
them what tasks to do & how, when & where to do them. Problem – solving &
decision – making are initiated only by the leader. Solutions & decisions are
announced, communication is largely one –way, & the leader closely supervises
implementation.
STYLE 2: SUPPORTIVE:- High regulating & high nurturing behavior is called
“Supportive Style”. In this style the leader still provides a great deal of direction
& leads with his or her ideas but the leader attempts to discover the group’s
feelings about decisions as well as eliciting their ideas & suggestions. While two –
way communication & support are increased, control over decision - making
remains with the leader.
STYLE 3: CONSULTING:- High nurturing & low regulating leader behavior is
called “Consulting Style”. In this style, the focus of control for day – to – day
decision - making & problem – solving shifts from the leader to the group
members. The leader’s role is to provide recognition & to actively listen &
facilitate problem – solving & decision – making on the part of the group.
STYLE 4: DELEGATING:- Low nurturing & low regulating leader behavior is
labeled delegating style. The leader discusses problems with his or her people until
a joint agreement is achieved on problem definition & then the decision – making
process is delegated totally to the group members. Now it is the group that has
significant control over deciding how tasks are to be accomplished.
 THE FOUR LEADERSHIP STYLES
REGULATING BEHAVIOR
N LOW HIGH
U
R LOW REGULATING HIGH REGULATING
T HIGH HIGH NURTURING HIGH NURTURING
U S3 S2
R
I CONSULTING SUPPORTIVE
N
G LOW REGULATING HIGH REGULATING
B
LOW NURTURING LOW NURTURING
E LOW
H
S4 S1
A
DELEGATING DIRECTIVE
V
I
O
R
 LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS:- Leadership effectiveness & delegation in
addition to the style of leadership are key elements of a dynamic process of
making individual members of a team more effective & competent to achieve
organizational goals. Following are the things that helps in leadership
effectiveness:-
1. RAISING COMPETENCE LEVELS:- The competence level of a group is
made up of the competence of its members. Competence includes the
understanding (based on knowledge) & skills required to perform a job.
Competence levels of individual members can be summed up & the average
gives the group’s competence level. Competence – building requires providing
information relevant to the roles, building skills to fulfill the roles effectively,
& planning a proper long – term training strategy.
2. RAISING COMMITMENT LEVELS:- Commitment or motivation refers to
the willingness of individual members to set & accept challenging goals, their
eagerness to take responsibility, their involvement in the work, & job
satisfaction. Again, the average of individual ratings or scores gives the
group’s motivational level. Commitment – building ( developing motivation)
can be facilitated by helping individual members to set realistic & challenging
goals, supporting them to achieve these, &recognizing their achievement
through feedback & rewards.
3. RAISING TEAMWORK LEVELS:- The teamwork level can be diagnosed by
assessing the level of cohesion, collaboration & confrontation in the group.
Cohesion means that the group functions as a strong team & each member
feels that his or her views & concerns are considered by others.Collaboration
indicates that some tasks are done by the members as small teams & members
feel free to volunteer, ask for, & respond to requests for help. Confrontation
implies that whenever there is a problem that concerns the group, the group
faces the problem & deals with it, generating alternative solutions & taking
decisions about a course of action. Team building can be achieved by making
teams responsible for various tasks, allocating resources to them, &
recognizing the importance of teamwork through team rewards, the high
value accorded to teamwork in performance appraisal systems, & special
programs to reduce conflict & increase collaboration.
4. RAISING DEVELOPMENT LEVELS THROUGH DELIGATION:- The
movement of a group can be accelerated through delegation. In short,
leadership is the dynamic process of making people more effective, increasing
their competence to multiply power, & achieving goals through them. There
are different styles of participating in this process. However, the ultimate goal
of a leader is to develop his or her team & people to become more effective &
competent to achieve organizational goals as well as their own objectives.
DELEGATION:- Every person has some assets (physical strength, knowledge,
interpersonal competence, ability to persuade, etc.). All these are sources of
power. We can say that every person has power. The process of empowering
is concerned with creating conditions in which this inner power can be used
effectively. For e.g., if we create an opportunity for a person with
interpersonal competence to solve conflicts, we have empowered that person.
Empowering is thus the process of expanding an individual’s choices &
helping him or her to use these alternative choices to widen the choices of
others. Power can thus be seen as expanding & multiplying.
Delegation helps senior employees to work out strategies for doing the same
with their junior colleagues. Delegation is a useful way of multiplying power
in an organization.
The purpose of delegation will fail, if it is used by a leader or a senior to ‘give’
tasks which he or she does not like or for which he or she does not have time
to a junior colleague. It will also fail if the junior colleague feels ‘overloaded’
with responsibility. Similarly, it cannot succeed in its purpose if it is
unilaterally done by the senior person. It should involve joint decision –
making. It is therefore a multi – step process.
STEPS FOR DELEGATION:- Following are the steps used for delegation:-
1. JOINTLY DEFINE ROLE BOUNDARIES:- Delegation has 2 roles, the role
of the delegator & that of the delegatee. With delegation, their roles &
responsibilities are likely to change. These changes in responsibility must be
discussed & decided upon. For e.g., the senior manager & the junior manager
reporting to her or him must sit down & discuss what responsibilities will be
taken up by the senior manager (e.g., periodic monitoring, guiding, consulting
in complex matters, reviewing progress, providing facilities to the manager,
etc) & what responsibilities will be taken up by her or his subordinate
(examining the cases, sanctioning loans, following up payment of installments,
etc.).
Delegation is not simply passing on the workload; it is the process of giving
more responsibility & challenge to the delegatee. Decisions about
responsibilities should be taken jointly. Since others also need to know about
the functions the delegatee will perform, these need to be described fully &
made known widely.
2. PROVIDE NEEDED COMPETENCE:- Most functions delegated will be new
to the delegatee & contain higher responsibilities. For e.g., before sanctioning
loans the junior manager must examine several documents, visit the site,
investigate the applicant’s profile, etc. He or she was not doing these things
 self – assessment & openly discuss what new competencies he or she should
develop in order to do justice to the new functions. The delegator should then
prepare a plan, in consultation with the delegatee, for how the latter will
develop these competencies. For e.g., the manager to whom new
responsibilities are delegated may not have much knowledge of insurance
procedures. During the discussion, this weakness maybe brought up. The
senior manager may then arrange for the subordinate’s training in insurance
procedures before he or she is delegated the new responsibility.
3. PROVIDE NEEDED RESOURCES:- The same is true of resources (financial,
material, technological & human) required for effective performance of the
new functions. These should be assessed & provision must be made to provide
such support to the delegatee. For e.g., the junior manager may find that he
would need assistant to help in analyzing various documents so that he or she
is able to sanction the loans faster. Such help may then be provided to the
delegatee.
4. MONITOR BUT DO NOT SUPERVISE CLOSELY:- Monitoring of the
performance of the delegated functions for sometime is essential. This may
provide the needed support or help. Monitoring may also indicate the
delegator’s interest & moral support. If overdone, though, this can be
counterproductive. Close supervision of the performance of delegated
functions by the delegator may indicate lack of trust in the competence of the
 delegatee. In this case, the senior manager & his or her subordinate may
decide that they will meet every month to review progress rather than
meeting every day or reviewing each case. The delegator should not breathe
down the neck of the delegatee.
5. REWARD DISCRETION & INITIATIVE:- Delegation is an evolutionary &
developmental process. It needs to be encouraged & reinforced. Delegation
involves taking initiative & using discretion in the delegated functions. If these
are rewarded, the process of delegation will be stronger & more successful.
For e.g., if there is a problem with the insurance company in a certain home
loan application, the junior manager may take the initiative in working with
the insurance company to remove the hurdle & using his or her discretionary
power, may sanction the loan. This will be taking a calculated risk but
leadership involves moderate risk – taking.
6. RESPECT ROLE BOUNDARIES:- Once a decision has been jointly taken by
the senior & junior colleagues on delegation, the redefined role boundaries
must be respected. The delegatee is likely to make mistakes. The delegator
maybe tempted to rush in to rescue him or her. This may destroy the spirit of
delegation. No decision should be taken ‘over the head’ of the delegatee in
matters delegated to the latter. If the decision is to be changed, the delegatee
should do it after discussion with the delegator & after being convinced of the
need to change the decision. For e.g., if the junior manager has made a
 mistake or delayed sanctioning a loan & the customer complains about it, it would be
improper for the senior manager to solve the problem. Instead, he or she should
discuss the matter with the manager & provide him or her any support he or she needs
to solve the problem. This problem often arises when ‘influential’ clients approach
higher authorities to get things done.
7. JOINTLY ANALYZE MISTAKES TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE:- In periodic
reviews, mistakes maybe used as experiences from which to learn to improve
delegation. The mistakes made, difficulties experienced, etc., can be analyzed in such
review meetings in order to plan how these maybe avoided in future. Such experiences
may raise many issues which could be useful for improvement of the delegatee. Some
mistakes are likely to be made by the delegatee in performing newly delegated
functions. Initiative involves risk & the possibility of mistakes. Such mistakes must be
regarded as experiences from which to learn to improve performance. The review
meetings may therefore include analysis of mistakes & problems so that the future
performance level goes up.
8. REVIEW DELEGATION DOWN THE LINE:- Often, people want delegation only up
to their own level. Delegation is a widening process of empowerment. Each senior
person involved in delegation should discuss with his or her junior colleagues how the
latter can delegate some useful functions to his or her colleagues at the next level. This
will help to multiply power through delegation. For e.g., the manager should be asked
which of his current functions he or she would like to delegate so that he or she can do
full justice to his or her new responsibilities. The manager may then start the same
process of delegation with his or her subordinate.
 GROUP DYNAMICS
DEFINITION OF GROUP:- In every organization, groups are formed by
individuals through their mutual interactions on the basis of their personal &
social relationship developed among them. Group means a cluster of 2 or more
individuals who are always interacting with each other & share certain common
values, interests & goals.
Groups exists in every organization & they affect the behavior of their members.
They not only affect the behavior of their members they have impact on the other
groups & the organization as a whole. Such groups are created by the
organization as well as by the organization members for their own satisfaction. An
organization divides its tasks into small tasks which are assigned to various sub –
units. Division of tasks & passes them down until a level is reached where several
people take a sub – goal & divide it among themselves as individuals, but no
longer create work unit. If one wants to study the organization, he or she will have
to understand groups & their functioning. Group dynamics provides
understanding of groups.
A group is a collection of 2 or more people who have a common goal & interact
with each other to accomplish their goal, are aware of one another & perceive
themselves to be a part of the group. Each person influences & is influenced by
each other. Casual gathering of people does not qualify as a group because the
 meaningful way. People sitting in a cinema hall watching a movie or waiting
at a platform for a train do not necessarily constitute or form a group.
GROUP DYNAMICS:- Group dynamics contains of 2 terms: group & dynamics.
Group is basically a collection of 2 or more persons. Dynamics comes from
Greek word meaning force. Theory of dynamics is used in physical &
engineering which explains the phenomena of universe by some immanent
energy: operation of force. Thus, group dynamics refers to the interaction of
forces between group members in a social situation. However, the term group
dynamics is defined in different ways. One view is that group dynamics
describes how a group should be organized & operated. This includes
democratic leadership, participation & co – operation. Another view takes
group dynamics as a set of techniques such as role playing, brainstorming,
leaderless group, group therapy, sensitivity training, etc. According to the
third view, group dynamics is viewed from the internal nature of the group,
their formation, structure & processes & the way they affect individual
members, other groups & the organization. This view is more prevalent &
mostly used.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GROUP:- Following are the characteristics of a
group:-
1. INTERACTION BETWEEN MEMBERS:- The members of a group must
interact with each other. Each member influences the behavior of the other &
gets influenced by others. The interaction should normally be on regular basis
 for a longer period of time depending on the type & nature of the group.
2. AWARENESS:- The people in a group must be aware of each other & must
relate to each other in some way or the other. Unless & until they feel that
they are members of a particular group meaningful interaction among them
may not take place. The relations among the members in a group maybe
based on common areas like interest, goals & activities, etc.
3. GROUP PERCEPTION:- The members of a group should perceive
themselves as a collective identity. Once a group is formed, it acquires its own
structure, process & goals & performs certain functions. The identity of a
group is separate from the identity of its members.
4. COMMON OBJECTIVES:- The formulation of a group is closely related to
some common goals or purpose. The achievement of common goals of a group
is a matter of common concern for every member & they have an obligation
to contribute to attaining the common goals.
TYPES OF GROUPS IN AN ORGANIZATON:- Following are the types of in an
organization:-
1. SMALL & LARGE GROUPS:- A small group is compact set of a few
individuals. Members of such a group have almost fact – to –face interactions,
communication, interpersonal relations & independence. While, a large group
is usually a collection of a few small groups. Small groups remain more
compact in nature because their members are well knit or united & closely
related to each other. The degree of interaction & independence of the
 members is higher as compared to large groups. Large groups consist of
greater number of members as well as many more smaller groups. So
structure of relationships, types of interactions & nature of interpersonal
relations will be different from that of small groups. Business organizations,
society, nation, etc. are good examples of large groups.
2. PRIMARY & SECONDARY GROUPS:- A primary group is characterized
by intimate, face – to - face association & co – operation. The membership of
such group is small & is based on intimate relationship. For e.g., groups
maybe family, friendship groups or neighborhood groups. A secondary group
is more formal, general & remote. The members of secondary group may
have any interest in the problems & pleasures of others. The continuous
interaction, intimacy, face – to –face interaction, co –operation & association
of primary groups may not be found in secondary groups.
3. MEMBERSHIP & REFERENCE GROUPS:- A membership group is one to
which an individual really belongs while a reference group is one with which
the individual identifies or to which he or she would like to belong. An
individual can be a member of several groups at a time but may not
participate actively in all such groups but he or she would like to participate
in that whose norms are more attractive. The reference group makes the
norms of that group more attractive to the individual who aspires to it & its
norms will therefore, become more influential in determining behavior. The
reference groups have relevance to organizational behavior.
4. COMMAND & TASK GROUPS:- A command group is made of subordinates
who report directly to a common superior. This type of group is determined
by organization chart. For e.g., a group maybe a production manager & his
subordinates in his department, a college principal & teachers. A task group
is made of employees who work together to complete a particular task or
project. A task group is formed to solve problems or perform an activity that
involves a number of organizational units.
5. IN – GROUPS & OUT – GROUPS:- In – groups represents a clustering of
individuals holding prevailing values in a society or at least, having a
dominant place in social functioning. It can be a majority numerically or it
may represent the power structure with its pattern of behavior considered
desirable. Out – group is looked up as subordinate or marginal in the society;
it is usually referred to as the minority group even though in certain
instances, it may represent a numerical majority.
6. FORMAL & INFORMAL GROUPS:- In any organization, 2 types of groups
exist: formal & informal groups. A formal group is a work unit that is
deliberately created by the management as a part of the organization
structure, to perform tasks that enhance the accomplishment of
organizational objectives. It is an ‘official’ group whose members are selected
by the management according to their talents in order to assume certain
defined roles & to undertake specific tasks. The functioning of such a group is
governed by organizational rules, procedures & policies. In a informal group,
 members cut across formal relationships of superior & subordinate & develop
personal & social relationships on the basis of common interests, needs &
values. The informal groups emerge spontaneously out of personal, social &
natural instincts among the members. They coexist along with the formal
groups. Generally, informal groups are not stable as their existence depends
upon the needs, values & goals of the members forming them.
CHARACTERISTICS OF FORMAL ORGANIZATION:- Following are the
characteristics of formal organization:-
1. Organization structure is designed by the top management to fulfill certain
requirements – performance of necessary activities thereby achieving
organizational goals.
2. Organization structure is based on the principles of division of labor &
efficiency in the operations.
3. Organization concentrates more on the performance of jobs & not on the
individuals performing the jobs.
4. The authority & responsibility assigned to each job have to be adhered to by the
job holders. Based on the concept of authority & responsibility, people are
placed in hierarchy & their status is determined accordingly.
5. Co – ordination among members & their control are well specified through
processes, procedures, rules, etc.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMAL ORGANIZATION:- Following are the
characteristics of informal organization:-
1. Informal organization is a natural outcome at the work place. It is not
designed & planned.
2. Informal organization is created on the basis of some similarity among its
members. The bases of similarity maybe age, sex, place of origin, caste,
religion, personality characteristics, likings & disliking, etc.
3.Membership in an informal organization is voluntary. A person may become a
member of several informal organizations at the same time.
4.Behavior of members of the informal organization is co – ordinate & controlled
by the group norms & not by the norms of the formal organization.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORMAL & INFORMAL GROUPS:- Following are
the difference between formal & informal groups:-
1. FORMATION:- Formal groups are deliberately designed & structured &
managed in a pre – planned manner, while informal groups emerge
spontaneously & naturally out of formal structure.
2. PURPOSE:- The main purpose of formal group is to seek achievement of pre
– determined common goals, but informal groups are aimed at satisfying
social & personal needs of members.
3. LEADERSHIP:- Leadership in a formal group is backed by formal authority
& power position held by the leader, but in an informal group, it is based on
competence, personality, abilities & acceptance by the group members.
4. RELATIONSHIPS:- Pattern of relationships in a formal group is strictly
based on rationality, legality & contract but personal, social & emotional
elements govern the pattern of relationships in informal groups.
5. SIZE:- Formal groups are invariably larger in size as against informal groups
which tend to be smaller in size.
6. COMMUNICATION:- Members in a formal group communicate through
chain of command while informal channels based on personal & social
relations are used by members in an informal group to communicate with
each other.
7. STABILITY:- Formal groups tend to be well structured & meticulously
planned in every respect but informal groups remain loosely structured &
disappear at slightest pretext. Thus, informal groups are prone to uncertainty
& instability.
CAUSES OF FORMATION OF GROUPS:- Following are the causes of
formation of groups:-
1. DESIRE FOR SOCIALIZATION:- Man is a social being. He wants to
socialize with others. Being a member of a number of informal groups allows
him or her to satisfy his or her social needs on the job. He or she can interact
with others rather than working in isolated loneliness.
2. SENSE OF IDENTIFICATION:- Many people have an urge to be identified
as members of a distinct group. So they form special groups as cricket club,
literary society, etc. This might also help in increasing their status.
1. GOAL ACHIEVEMENT:- People form groups to pool talents, knowledge &
resources to achieve common goals or interests. People doing common task
confront similar types of problems. To remove such problems they can
constitute a separate group.
2. MONTONOUS JOBS:- Workers performing standardized routine jobs often
feel bored. In order to reduce their mental fatigue at work, they may form
informal groups & have frequent interactions with each other at the work
place.
3. SECURITY:- There is strength in numbers. By joining a group, a person can
reduce the insecurity of standing alone. Groups help the members to meet
pressures effectively. Further, they feel secured against the management’s
arbitrariness.
IMPORTANCE OF INFORMAL GROUPS FOR THE ORGANIZATION:-
Following are the importance of informal groups for the organization:-
1. SUPPORT TO FORMAL STRUCTURE:- Informal groups provide support
to formal organization structure. Formal structure is mechanistic &
hierarchical. Informal groups provide a human dimension to it. They fill the
gaps in the formal structure.
2. SPEEDY COMMUNICATION:- Informal communication is very fast as it is
free from the barriers of status & position. It can be used by the management
to ensure free flow of communication.
3. SOCIAL FUNCTIONS:- Informal groups arise to satisfy social needs of
members such as security, friendship, sense of belonging, etc. Thus, informal
organization gives psychological satisfaction to its members. It provides them
a platform to express their feelings. It also satisfies the natural desire of
people to form groups.
4. SOLUTION OF WORK PROBLEMS:- An informal organization helps its
members to solve their work problems through the help of other members –
sharing of knowledge & experience.
5. NORMS OF BEHAVIOR:- Informal groups develop certain norms of
behavior which differentiate between good & bad conduct & between
legitimate & illegitimate activities. These bring discipline & order among the
employees of the organization.
6. BETTER RELATIONS:- A manager can build better relations with his
subordinates through informal contacts. He or she can consult the informal
leaders & seek their co – operation in getting the things done from the
workers.