PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS

AND ATTITUDE
Unit-3
 What is Personal effectiveness?
Personal Effectiveness is the capacity to transfer ideas
and information clearly in order to create a positive and
energetic impact. It helps in gaining a clearer
understanding of self-awareness which also helps in
forming relationships with others and reduce personal
stress.
Personal effectiveness means getting the best out of
yourself. It's an approach to success that involves utilizing
all of your energy, skill and motivation to develop and
reach the goals you set for yourself.
Understanding personal effectiveness and making a plan to
implement it in your life is a brilliant way to pursue both
personal and professional growth.
It’s an approach to success that involves utilizing all of
your energy, skill and motivation to develop and reach the
goals you set for yourself. Individuals with good personal
effectiveness tend to constantly strive to achieve more,
advance their careers and grow in both a personal and
professional sense.

Determination is an important ingredient.

Personally effective people are highly determined. This
allows them to focus on achieving their specific goals
without being distracted by spontaneous desires or other
less important things. This can be achieved by developing
self-discipline.
 Why is Personal Effectiveness Important?

 Personal effectiveness is a trait that is often linked to positive

wellbeing and is an important part of leading a successful and
fulfilling life. In a professional sense, it’s an important skill that
means you will be more productive, motivated and consistently meet
goals and make progress, no matter what your role is.
 In order to demonstrate personal effectiveness, you first need to
understand what your highest level of performance is. Then you can
identify what personal effectiveness looks like for you and figure out
the ways that you are going to achieve this.
 Implementing personal effectiveness into your life is important
because it helps you feel more satisfied and accomplished, which is
good for positive mental health. People who understand themselves
and their abilities deal better with unexpected situations, lead more
fulfilling lives and have more faith and confidence in themselves,
which is an essential part of success and satisfaction.
Focusing on developing personal effectiveness is also
important because it allows you to sit down and really think
about what it is that you want to achieve in life, at work and
from your relationships. People who make detailed plans and
have an idea of where they are going tend to be more likely
to meet their goals and they're also more likely to consistently
make progress.
Finally, personal effectiveness is an important quality to have
if you want to stand out in the workplace and impress the
people that you work with. People who have good personal
effectiveness skills are better to work with because they are
motivated, engaged, organized, and consistently deliver what
they have promised. If you want to succeed at work, having
personal effectiveness skills will make a big difference.
 What are Personal Effectiveness Skills?
1. Determination
 First and foremost, determination is one of the best personal
effectiveness skills you can have. People who are determined are more
likely to motivate themselves to achieve their goals and are also less
likely to be set back by any issues that they come across along the way.
 If you want to improve your determination, figure out what it is that
you really want from a situation. No matter what you are aiming for,
knowing exactly what you are going to get out of a situation will keep
you motivated even if things get difficult.
2. Confidence
 People with personal effectiveness competency tend to be more
confident because they have a better understanding of themselves and
their abilities. If you have a clear idea of what your very best work
looks like, you are going to have a lot more confidence in your
abilities and will also be more confident talking about where your
talents lie.
3. Understanding Strengths and Limits
 In the same vein of having an excellent understanding of
yourself, people who demonstrate good personal effectiveness
know their own strengths and limitations. They can identify what
they are good at, which of their skills are the most valuable, and
what situations they work best in, all of which lead to greater
success in a variety of contexts.
 Having good personal effectiveness skills also means that you
understand where your abilities are limited and where you may
need additional help or support. This also involves having a good
idea of what kind of situations you struggle to work well in,
whether that’s the environment, certain types of projects or with
certain groups of people.
 Knowing where your strengths and weaknesses lie will help you
make effective plans that avoid any potential setbacks and utilise
your skills to ensure success.
4. Optimism
 People who demonstrate personal effectiveness tend to have the drive to
bring about change in the world, or at least want to reach their own goals
and get what they want out of life. Optimism is a key part of believing that
these changes can occur, and contributes to the determination that is
required in order to keep pushing yourself to achieve and always giving
your all to a task.

5. Stress Management
 Almost everyone is affected by stress, whether that’s at work or in
their personal life. But if you want to improve your personal effectiveness,
managing stress is an essential skill.
 Being able to acknowledge that you are feeling stressed and making a plan
for how you are going to deal with that is a key part of making progress
and working effectively. This skill ties into all the aspects of personal
effectiveness that require understanding yourself, as knowing what makes
you stressed and how best to combat this will help you to avoid or reduce
stressful situations and work more efficiently.
6. Persistence
Persistence is a skill with similar importance to determination,
but involves more resilience when you come up against
problems. People with personal effectiveness skills are
persistent and resilient in their drive to achieve, and don’t let
problems get in the way of their success. Instead, they come up
with solutions to the problems and focus on their overall goal
to find the motivation to keep going.
7. Problem-Solving
A key aspect of personal effectiveness competency is being
able to solve any problems that come your way. If you are
motivated to do your best then you will also be motivated to
work through anything that gets in your way, and having good
problem solving skills will make this easier.
8. Reflection
At the start of your personal effectiveness journey, you will
need to spend some time reflecting on what personal
effectiveness looks like to you. This will allow you to
identify where your skills lie, what peak performance is for
you, and what goals you are aiming for at work or in your
personal life that you can work towards.
Reflection is also an essential skill throughout your journey
towards personal effectiveness, as it means you can
continuously analyze and assess how you are doing and
make any necessary changes to your plans.
9. Time Management
 A key part of personal effectiveness is the ability to accurately
plan and carry out tasks, whether this is as part of a team, project
or just to work towards your own goals. Excellent time
management skills are a vital part of good planning, as they help
you make more specific and realistic plans and ensure that you
meet deadlines.
10. Organisation
 Organisation is one of the most important personal effectiveness
skills. If you’re going to consistently work to the best of your
abilities and push yourself to develop, you need to be able to do
all of the planning and background work necessary to make this
happen.
 Excellent organisational skills are vital if you want to be efficient
and resourceful, along with being a common trait in successful
individuals.
11. Building Habits
People with excellent personal effectiveness deeply
understand themselves, the way that they work best and the
skills they have at their disposal. To utilise all of these
attributes effectively, building habits allows you to make
the most of this understanding and put it into practice.
When you’re trying to make a difference or work towards
something new, implementing habits that drive progress is
the best way to ensure you succeed. Habits mean that you
don’t have to consciously remind yourself to do something
and have become so familiar with a task that it gets done
quickly and effectively every time, making you more
reliable and efficient.
12. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence feeds into the aspect of personal
effectiveness that is all about having an excellent
understanding of yourself. Being able to identify, understand
and manage the emotions that you are feeling makes you a
more reliable worker, helps you to realistically plan what you
can get done, and also makes it easier to deal with sudden
changes in any plans or issues that crop up.
13. Self-Motivation
Finally, if you’re wondering how to improve personal
effectiveness then one of the key skills you should work on is
self-motivation. Whilst some workplace scenarios mean that
you have someone else checking up on your progress and
offering support, in most cases you will need to motivate
yourself to keep driving progress and success.
 FAQ
 What is personal effectiveness in the workplace?
 In the workplace, personal effectiveness is all about performing to
the best of your abilities. If you are using personal effectiveness in
the workplace, you will be managing your time well, staying on task,
meeting deadlines and making sure that all of your work is done to
the best of your abilities.
 What is the relationship between motivation and personal
effectiveness?
 Motivation refers to the willingness to work towards achieving
something, whereas personal effectiveness is the ability to work to
the best of your abilities. The relationship between the two of them is
that in order to utilize good personal effectiveness skills, you need to
be very motivated and able to keep yourself focused and striving
towards success.
ATTITUDE
 What is Attitude ?

 Attitude are evaluative statements—either favorable or

unfavorable—about objects, people, or events. They reflect how we
feel about something.
 When I say “I like my job,” I am expressing my attitude about work.
 Attitude is a state of mind of an individual towards something.
 Attitude are understood as the beliefs, feelings & action tendencies of
an individual or group of individuals towards object, ideas & people.
 An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's
degree of like or dislike for an item.
 Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place,
thing, or event this is often referred to as the attitude object.
 In simple words, an “attitude” is an individual’s way of looking or
an individual’s point of view at something.
 Attitude Definition
Attitudes are evaluation statements either favorable or
unfavorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people or
events. They reflect how one feels about something.
----Robbins
Attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness organized
through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic
influence upon individual’s response to all objects and
situations with which it is related.
---G.W. Allport
Attitude as an enduring organization of motivational,
emotional, perceptual and cognitive processes with respect
to some aspect of the individual’s world. ---
Krech and Crutchfield
 Attitude are predispositions
Attitude are predispositions of purpose, interest or opinion of the person to assess
some objects in a favourable or an unfavourable manner.
 Attitude are different from values
Attitude are different from values: Values are the ideals, whereas attitudes are
narrow, they are our feelings.
 Attitude are evaluative statement
Attitude are evaluative statements: either favourable or unfavourable concerning
the objects, people or events.
 Attitude influence human behavior
A positive attitude towards a thing will influence human behavior towards the
thing favorably and vice-versa.
 Attitude have intensity
It refers to the strength of the effective component. For example, we may dislike
an individual but the extent of our disliking would determine the intensity of
our attitude towards the person.
 Attitude are learnt
Attitude is not inborn phenomenon. Attitude are learnt through social interaction
and experience.
 Major Job Attitude

There are broadly three types of attitude in term

of organisational behavior
Job satisfaction
Job involvement
Organizational commitment
Psychological Empowerment
Employee Engagement
Job satisfaction
 A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that an individual
holds toward his or her job.
 A person will hold a positive attitude if had a high level of
satisfaction, while dissatisfied people will generally display a
negative attitude towards life.
 A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive attitudes
about the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with his or her job
holds negative attitude about the job.
 A person having negative attitude is inclined to experience
nervousness, tension, upset, distress etc. whereas those with a
positive attitude will feel happy themselves, others and their work.

When we talk about attitude, we generally speak about job

satisfaction because they are inter-related in organizational behaviour.
Job involvement
Job involvement refers to the degree to which a person identifies
himself (psychologically) with his job, actively participates and
considers his perceived performance level important to self-
worth. (Robbins)
Workers with higher Job involvement find work meaningful and
challenging, work at complex tasks, employing a variety of skills
and see complete units of work through to their completion.
Higher job satisfaction leads to low absenteeism & employee
turnover and indicates that the individual cares for his job.

However, it seems to more consistently predict turnover than

absenteeism.
Organizational commitment

 Organizational commitment refers to a degree to which an employee

identifies himself with the organizational goals and wishes to
maintain membership in the organization.
 Resigning from the job or absenting versus job satisfaction is a
predictor of organizational commitment. Organizational
commitment depends upon the degree of autonomy & freedom job
and job enrichment factor.
 It is defined as a state in which an employee identifies with a
particular organization and, its goals, and wishes to maintain
membership in the organization.

 Basically, turnover and absenteeism are low when employees have

organizational commitment.
Psychological Empowerment

It is another close related concept.

Employee’s belief in the degree to which they affect their
work environment, their competence , the
meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived
autonomy in their work.
E.g: A good leader empower their employees by
involving them in decision making, making them feel
their work is important and giving them discretion to “do
their own thing”.
High level promotes organisational citizenship and job
performance
Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the

right conditions for all members of an organisation to give of
their best each day, committed to their organisation’s goals and
values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with
an enhanced sense of their own well-being.
David MacLeod: “This is about how we create the conditions
in which employees offer more of their capability and
potential”.
Employee engagement is based on trust, integrity, two way
commitment and communication between an organisation and
its members. It is an approach that increases the chances of
business success, contributing to organisational and individual
performance, productivity and well-being.
 Attitude Formation
The question often arises, ‘how are the attitudes and
subsequent behaviors formed?’ While attitudes are
basically learned over the years, some inherited
characteristics do affect such attitudes
Some of the learned characteristics responsible
for attitude formation are:
Experiences
Perceptual biases
Observation of other person attitude
Association
Personality
 Experiences
 Our personal experiences with people and situations develop our attitude
towards such persons and situations.

Through job experience, people develop attitudes towards working

conditions, salaries, supervision, group dynamics and so on.

 Perceptual biases
 Perception is the result of a complex interaction of various senses such as
feelings, seeing, hearing and so on and plays an important part in our
attitude and behavioural formation.

For example, if a manager perceives a subordinate’s ability as limited, he

will give him limited responsibility. Similarly, we lose many good friends
due to our changed perception about them.
 Observation of other person attitude
 When we like someone, we try to emulate that person’s attitude.

For example, when we are impressed by someone keeping calm

under stressful circumstances and we appreciate such calmness, we
might try to do the same.
 Association
 Our association with the group we belong to strongly influences
our attitude. Our close association with a group would encourage us
to be consistent with the attitude of the group.

 Personality
 Personality is a set of traits and characteristics, habit patterns and
conditioned responses to certain stimuli that formulate the
impression that a person makes upon others and this impression is a
function of a person’s attitude.
 Balance Theory
 Heider’s Balance Theory, developed by the social psychologist
Fritz Heider, is based on the balance that must exist between
interpersonal relationships, or for something specific between two
people or more so that a harmony exists between
thoughts, emotions and social relationships so that the ideas shared
by both subjects coexist without any tension and complication.
 This is how this theory of psychology of motivation explains the
balance of cognitive consistency as a scale that the human being
develops. Heider explains that likes and dislikes are related to
balance and imbalance.
 The search for coherence between attitudes and relations with
others makes the balance neutral, however, when the human being
is in disagreement and perceives the imbalance he tends to seek
modifications to reach an agreement and thus again to have
cognitive harmony of the situation.
Balance Theory is concerned with consistency in the judgment
of people and or issues that are linked by some form of
relationship.
There are three elements:
1. Person
2. Other person
3. Impersonal entity
There are two types of relationship to connect these three
types of elements
The linking relations or sentiments
The unit relation
Both linking and unit relations are positive or negative towards
any object or person or stimuli etc. or these three types of
elements.
Fritz Heider originated Balance Theory to show how people
develop their relationships with other people and with
things in their environment.
Balance theory claims that unbalanced structures are
associated with an uncomfortable feeling of negative affect,
and that this negative feeling leads people to strive for
balanced structures and to avoid imbalanced structures
Balance theory is also useful in examining how
celebrity endorsement affects consumers' attitudes toward
products. If a person likes a celebrity and perceives (due to
the endorsement) that said celebrity likes a product, said
person will tend to like the product more, in order to
achieve psychological balance.
However, if the person already had a dislike for the
product being endorsed by the celebrity, they may begin
disliking the celebrity, again to achieve psychological
balance.
Heider's balance theory can explain why holding the same
negative attitudes of others promotes closeness
Balance (+) Imbalance (-) according to Heider
Social perception is important in order to be able to link
balance, harmony, the positive and the negative. This social
perception according to Heider plays an important role in
determining the balance of unity relationships according to
that perception. Relationships can be positive (like-
approve) and negative (dislike- disapprove). These
relationships are about belonging, positive feelings (close,
belonging, similar) or negative feelings (not belonging, not
similar, not close).
Fritz Heider developed the P-O-X triangle to examine
relationships. Each corner of the triangle represents a
different element: P, O, or X. P is the person, which is Pam
in our example. O is the other, let's say this is oliver. That
leaves skiing(recreational activity) as the X, or the third
element in the triangle.
 Congruity Theory
Congruity theory is similar to balance theory. The
focus of the theory is on changes in evolution of a
source and a concept that are linked by an associative
or dissociative assertion.
Congruity exists when a source and concept positively
associated have exactly the same evaluation, and when
a source and concept that are negatively associated
have exactly the opposite evaluation attached to him.
 Affective Cognitive Consistency Theory
The theory is also called structural because it is concerned
with what happens within the individual when an attitude
changes.
It is concerned with the consistency between a person’s
overall attitude towards an object or issue and its his beliefs
about the relationship.
Cognitive structure means end relationship between the
object or issue and the achievement of desired undesired
values of goals.
 Cognitive Dissonance Theory
 It is little-bit similar to affective cognitive theory. The difference between
these two is that the stimuli arise from environment in the first one.
 Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s proposed the theory of cognitive
dissonance.
 Dissonance means an inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any
incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of
his attitudes or between his behaviour and attitudes.
 Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that
individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance and hence the
discomfort.
 Therefore, individuals will seek a stable state where there is a minimum of
dissonance, because an individual cannot completely avoid dissonance.
1) Dissonance will be resolved in one of three basic
ways:

Change beliefs
 Perhaps the simplest way to resolve dissonance between actions and
beliefs is simply to change your beliefs.
 You could, of course, just decide that cheating is o.k.
 This would take care of any dissonance.
 Moreover, our basic beliefs and attitudes are pretty stable, and people
don’t just go around changing basic beliefs/attitudes/opinions all the
time, since we rely a lot on our world view in predicting events and
organizing our thoughts.
 Therefore, though this is the simplest option for resolving dissonance
it’s probably not the most common.
Change actions

 A second option would be to make sure that you never do this action
again.
 Guilt and anxiety can be motivators for changing behavior. So, you may
say to yourself that you will never cheat on a test again, and this may aid
in resolving the dissonance.
 However, aversive conditioning (i.e., guilt/anxiety) can often be a pretty
poor way of learning, especially if you can train yourself not to feel
these things. Plus, you may really benefit in some way from the action
that’s inconsistent with your beliefs.
 So, the trick would be to get rid of this feeling without changing your
beliefs or your actions, and this leads us to the third, and probably most
common, method of resolution.
Change perception of action

 A third and more complex method of resolution is to change the way

you view/remember/perceive your action.
 In more colloquial terms, you would "rationalize" your actions. For
example, you might decide that the test you cheated on was for a
dumb class that you didn’t need anyway.
 Or you may say to yourself that everyone cheats so why not you? In
other words, you think about your action in a different manner or
context so that it no longer appears to be inconsistent with your
beliefs.
 Attitude formation

Many different factors can influence how and why attitudes

form. These are-
Social Factors.
Direct Instruction.
Family.
Prejudices.
Personal Experience.
Media.
Educational and Religious Institutions.
Physical Factors.
Economic Status and Occupations.
Daniel Katz outlines 4 functions of attitude areas:

Adjustment Function.
Ego-Defensive Function.
Value-Expressive Function.
Knowledge Function.
 Barriers to Change Attitudes
Employees’ attitudes can be changed, and sometimes it is
in the best interests of management to try to do so.
For example, if employees believe that their employer does
not look after their welfare, the management should try to
change employees’ attitudes and develop a more positive
attitude towards them.
However, the process of changing the attitude is not always
easy.
Actually, the barriers are the limits that prevent the
organization from achieving its predetermined goals.
Barriers to Change Attitudes are;

Prior Commitment.
Insufficient Information.
Balance and Consistency.
Lack of Resources.
Improper Reward System.
Resistance to Change.
Prior Commitment
When people feel a commitment towards a particular
course of action that has already been agreed upon, it
becomes difficult for them to change or accept the new
ways of functioning.
Insufficient Information
It also acts as a major barrier to change attitudes.
Sometimes people do not see why they should change
their attitude due to the unavailability of adequate
information.
Sometimes people do not see why they should change
their attitude due to the unavailability of adequate
information.
Balance and Consistency
Another obstacle to a change of attitude is the attitude
theory of balance and consistency.
Human beings prefer their attitudes about people and
things to be in line with their behaviors towards each
other and objects.
Lack of Resources
If plans become excessively ambitious, they can
sometimes be obstructed by the lack of resources on a
company or organization. So, in this case, if the
organization wants to change the employees’ attitude
towards the new plan, sometimes it becomes impossible
for the lack of resources to achieve this.
Improper Reward System
 Sometimes, an improper reward system acts as a barrier to change
attitude.
 If an organization places too much emphasis on short-term performance
and results, managers may ignore longer-term issues as they set goals
and formulate plans to achieve higher profits in the short term.
 If this reward system is introduced in the organization, employees are
not motivated to change their attitude.

Resistance to Change
 Another barrier is resistance to change.
 Basically, change is a continuous process within and outside the
organization to achieve the set goal.
 When the authority changes a plan of the organization, the employees
have to change themselves.
 But some of them do not like this. If their attitude regarding the change
of plan cannot be changed, the organization will not be successful.
 How to Change Attitudes

 Attitude can be changed if we differentiate a negative attitude from a

positive attitude.
 A positive attitude can bring positive change in life; it is difficult to
change attitudes, but with some effort, it can be done.
 The individual from a culturally deprived environment who holds an
array of hostile attitudes may change often; he is given education
opportunities.
 A person from a privileged subculture, who has always held to a
democratic attitude, may become negative towards some group
because of one unfortunate experience.
 Well established attitudes tend to be resistant to change, but others
may be more amenable to change.
 Attitudes can be changed b a variety of ways.
 Ways of Changing Attitude
 New information will help to change attitudes.
 Negative attitudes are mainly formed owing to insufficient information.
 Attitudes may change through direct experience.
 Another way in which attitudes can be changed is by resolving
discrepancies between attitudes and behavior.
 Change of attitude can come through the persuasion of friends or peers.
 Attitudes may change through legislation.
 Since a person’s attitudes are anchored in his membership group and
reference groups, one way to change the attitude is to modify one or the
other.
 Fear can change their attitude. If low levels of fear are used, people
often ignore them.
 Changing the attitude differs regarding the situation also.
Changing Attitudes of Employees
Give feedback
 Provide positive conditions
Positive Role model
Providing new information
Use of fear
Influence of friends or press
The co-opting approach
Group Membership
 Rewards.
Set an example. The tone of the manager or company owner
often sets the tone of the entire office. If you are a negative
person, or are chronically upset and in a bad mood, this will
rub off on your employees. If you want your employees to
be positive, be the first one to set a good example.
Find motivators (monetary or non-monitory) for your
employees. Every person is a unique individual, and he will
have unique motivators that help create a positive attitude.
Remove troublemakers. One employee with a bad attitude
can ruin the whole atmosphere of your business and
demolish morale.
Create the right atmosphere. A clean, well-maintained and
well-lit work environment goes a long way toward
improving morale.
Praise, encourage and acknowledge good attitudes. No one
wants to feel as though she is not appreciated. Establish a
reward system for your employees, and frequently
encourage and praise their successes.
Offer support for employees going through difficult
periods. Sometimes, employees who are normally positive
people may exhibit negative behavior. If this behavior is
sustained, it may be a sign that something is going wrong
in some part of their lives. Establish an open-door policy
under which employees are free to discuss their problems
with you.
Changing Attitudes of Self
Be aware of one’s attitudes
Think for self
Realize that there are few, if any, benefits from harboring
negative attitudes
Keep an open mind.
Get into continuous education program
Build a positive self-esteem
Stay away from negative influences
 Class Discussion
Q. Attitude theory: What do you think? Do you
think that Heider’s Balance Theory is important for
interpersonal relationships? Have you put Heider’s
triangle into practice by putting in order the feelings of
like or dislike you present in any situation? Is Heider’s
Balance Theory relevant to control psychological
relationships in the workplace?
Do you have anything else to add or any suggestions?