INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR
- 2. • Organizations are composed of individuals & the behavior of each individual is influenced by several factors. • Each individual has particular motives, ambitions, perceptions and abilities. • To understand the human behavior in organization better, a careful study of all the factors which affect the individual behavior is a must.
- 3. • Personality • Perception • Attitude • Values • Learning Personal Factors Psychological Factors • Political Factors • Economic Factors • Socio-Cultural Factors • Technological Factors Environmental Factors • Physical Facilities • Organization structure and design • Leadership • Reward System Organizational Factors • Physical Chr. • Age • Gender • Education • Marital Status • Experience • Intelligence • Ability
- 4. BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES AFFECTING INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR • Personality • Perception • Learning • Motivation • Attention
- 5. PERSONALITY The word ‘Personality’ is derived from the Latin word ‘persona’ which means ‘to speak through’ Personality can be defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual interacts with people and react to situations. The unique combination of emotional, thought and behavioral patterns that affect how a person reacts and interacts with others. It can also be defined as the traits or abilities exhibited by a person during social interactions.
- 6. Determinants of Personality • Heridity • Environment• Heridity Culture SituationalSocialFamily
- 7. Determinants of Personality A) Heredity According to heredity approach to personality, an individual’s personality is determined by the type of genes he inherits from his parents. Some of the characteristics that an individual wholly or partially inherit from his parents are physical stature, facial features, skin and hair colour, temperament (character), muscle composition etc. B) Environment According to environment approach, the factors in the environment to which an individual is exposed to plays a major role in shaping his personality. Environmental factors include culture, norms set by family, friends and social groups and situational factors.
- 8. 1. Culture • Culture establishes norms, attitudes & values that are passed along from generation to generation and create consistencies over time. Every culture expects & trains its members to behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group. • Persons belonging to different cultural groups generally have different attitudes towards independence, aggression, competetion, cooperation etc. 2. Family • Families influence the behaviour of a person especially in the early stages. The nature of such influence will depend upon the following factors: Socio-Economic level of the family, Family Size, Birth Order, Religion, Parent’s education level, Geographical location.
- 9. 3. Social • The persons, groups, & organizations exercises their due role in personality development. This is commonly called the socialisation process. • It is especially relevant to Organisational Behaviour because the process is not confined to early childhood, but takes place throughout one’s life. 4. Situation According to situation approach, the demands of different situations in which an individual is , also influences his personality. On the basis of Migram’s research study, he states that : “ In certain circumstances, it is not the kind of person a man is, but it is the kind of situation in which he is placed that determines his actions.”
- 10. The ‘Big Five’ Personality Model Extroversion Extroversion Introversion Agreeableness High Agreeableness Low Agreeableness Conscientiousness High Conscientiousness Low Conscientiousness Emotional Stability Positive Emotional Stability Negative Emotional Stability Openness to experience More Openness Less Openness
- 11. Extroversion :- It refers to the extend to which a person is sociable with other people. Extroverts are sociable, talkative and friendly. People who are less sociable and have a shy nature are called introverts. Introverts are reluctant to interact with other people and avoid developing new relationships. Agreeableness :- It refers to a person’s ability to get along with others or it is the extend to which a person compromises his interests for the sake of others. Agreeable people are good-natured, co-operative and trust others. People who score low on agreeableness focus more on their own needs than the needs of the others.
- 12. Conscientiousness :- It refers to the extend to which a person is responsible and achievement oriented. High conscientious people are organized, systematic, careful, responsible, self-disciplined and focuses on few goals at one time. Low conscientious people are disorganized, careless, irresponsible and set too many goals for themselves and often fail to achieve any of them. Emotional Stability :- It refers to an individual’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability feel emotionally secure, seems very calm, are capable of withstanding tensions and are enthusiastic about their work. People who have negative emotional stability are emotionally insecure, experience feeling of anxiety, nervousness, depression and are unable to withstand job pressures.
- 13. Openness to experience :- It refers to an individual’s willingness to accept new ideas. An individual with a high level of openness has a wide range of interests, innovative and are willing to change their own ideas, beliefs and attitudes in response to new information. Individuals with low level of openness have narrow interests, rigid mindsets and are less willing to accept new ideas.
- 14. Major Personality Traits influencing OB. 1) Locus of Control: It refers to an individual’s belief that events are within one’s control(Internal locus of control) or are determined by forces beyond one’s control(External locus of control). Individuals with internal locus of control, referred to as internals believe that it is their own behaviour and actions which determine many of the events in their life. external locus of control, referred to as externals believe that events are determined or controlled by external or outside forces such as luck or chance.
- 15. 2) Machiavellianism. The term is derived from the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli. It refers to an individual’s propensity/tendency to manipulate people. An individual in high Machiavellianism is good at manipulating others, is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance and try to win by any means. They do not need to be persuaded, but are able to successfully persuade others. They perform well in situations that involve face-to-face meetings and are especially productive in jobs that require the use of bargaining skills and in jobs that offer substantial rewards for the achievement of goals.
- 16. 3) Self- Esteem. It is the degree to which people like or dislike themselves. People with high self-esteem are generally confident that they possess the abilities required for succeeding at work and prefer to take challenging jobs. They also do not care about pleasing others and are not afraid of taking unpopular stands. People with low self-esteem are more susceptible to external influence, are dependant on positive evaluations from others and are more confirmed to the beliefs and behaviours of those they respect. They are more concerned with pleasing others and are less likely to take unpopular stands.
- 17. 4) Self- Monitoring It refers to an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behaviour to external, situational factors. High self-monitors are capable of presenting striking contradictions between their public persona and their private self. They are capable of changing their behaviour according to the situation, can play multiple roles and are capable of putting on different ‘faces’ for different audiences. They make successful managers and are promoted faster than others. Low self-monitors find it difficult to disguise their true feelings, emotions and reactions and cannot adapt quickly to situations. They do not advance in their careers as high self-monitors.
- 18. 5) Risk Taking. It refers to the extend to which an individual is willing to take risks. High risk takers make decisions quickly without searching for much information. Risk averse people do not make decisions in a hurry and gather a lot of information, before making any decision. 6) Type A personality. He is aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more in less and less time. Type A’s They try to be fast in everything they do, find always moving, walking and eating rapidly. They feel impatient at the rate at which most events take place. They try to be involved in two or more things at a time. They are always busy and cannot cope with leisure time. They emphasize numbers and quantity and measure their success in quantitative terms.
- 19. 6) Type B personality. Type B’s They do not experience a sense of urgency when carrying out tasks and do not get upset or impatient, if the tasks are not accomplished in time. They try to make the best use of their leisure time and relax without any feeling of guilt. Comparison between Type A and Type B Type A individuals are hardworking by nature and are suitable jobs that requires continuous hard work – sales persons, business development executives etc. They are poor decision makers as their emphasis on speed prevents them from spending too much time on any problem. Type B individuals are suitable for top management positions, since they tend to be wise, tactful and creative in making decisions.
- 20. Theories of Personality Theories adopting trait approach. Allport’s trait theory. Theories adopting Psycho-analytical approach. Freud’s psycho- analytical theory. Theories adopting humanistic approach. Roger’s self theory. Theories adopting Learning approach. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory.
- 21. 1. Trait Approach. The trait approach views personality as a combination of various traits. Traits may be defined as relatively permanent and consistent general behavioural patterns that an individual exhibits in most situations. Trait theorists believe that the personality of an individual is a combination or sum total of these personality or behavioural traits that can be discovered through the continuous observation of his behaviour.
- 22. Allport’s Trait theory Gordon.W.Allport was the first theorist who adopted the trait approach for the description of individual personalities. According to him, personality vary due to difference in traits. Allport identified three types of traits namely: Cardinal traits These are primary traits that dominate a person’s life. They are limited in number and only a few people possess these traits. Eg: Social justice – Mahatma Gandhi. Central traits These are primary traits that influence and organize much of our behavior. These traits are ordinarily used to describe a person, such as honesty, kindness, submissiveness etc. Secondary traits These traits are not as dominant as cardinal or central. They appear only in selective situations and are not considered as strong enough to describe an individual’s personality.
- 23. II. Psycho-analytical Approach. This approach uses psychoanalysis –analysis of the psyche or mind, as the method or understanding behaviour and personality. Psychoanalytic theory It was first created and advocated by Sigmund Freud. According to him, human mind has three main divisions namely - conscious mind, semi-conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The theory states that, these three levels of human mind continuously clash and compromise to give birth to one or the other type of behavioural characteristics resulting in a specific type of personality.
- 24. i. Conscious mind. That portion of the mind, of which one is presently aware. ii. Semi-Conscious mind/sub-conscious mind. That portion of the mind containing memories that are not presently conscious but can be easily brought into consciousness. It is the vast storehouse of easily accessible memories, the contents of which were once conscious and can be returned to consciousness when needed. iii. Unconscious mind. That portion of the mind which is below the surface of awareness, containing information that are normally not accessible to consciousness. They can rarely be made fully conscious and only with great difficulty. It is a storehouse of primitive memories and emotions that are threatening to the conscious mind and that have been repressed. Repression refers to the process of pushing the unpleasant information into the unconscious mind without being aware of it.
- 25. Based on these levels of consciousness, Freud classified the personality structure into three components- id, ego and superego. Id. It is the raw, savage, immoral part of an individual’s personality that is hidden in the deep layers of his unconscious mind. Freud views it as the dark side of human mind that uses the primary process thinking to satisfy the needs and that acts according to the pleasure principle. Pleasure principle: Obtain immediate pleasure and avoid pain regardless of how harmful it might be to others. Primary process thinking: Simply forming a wish fulfilling mental image of the desired object. The primary process satisfies the motives through imagination rather than reality. Id has no values, knows no laws, follows no rules, does not recognize right or wrong and only considers the satisfaction of its needs as important. According to Freud, during infancy, we have only id. As we grow up, our interactions with our parents and other parts of the real world help us to convert a part of the id into two other parts of the mind – the ego and the superego.
- 26. Ego. It is that part of the mind that uses the reality principle to satisfy the id. The ego is formed because the id has to find realistic ways of meeting its needs and avoiding trouble caused by selfish and aggressive behaviour. It holds the id in check until a safe and realistic way has been found to satisfy its motives. The ego’s goal is to help the id fulfill its needs. It only opposes the id’s wishes until it finds a realistic way to satisfy them. Hence ego is considered as the executive of the personality, as it uses its mental abilities to manage and control id. Superego. It is the ethical or moral arm of the personality. It is the decision making entity, which decides what is good or bad to the social norms and therefore acceptable or otherwise. According to Freud, it is that part of mind, that opposes the desires of id by enforcing moral restrictions.
- 27. The superego represents society’s rules of right or wrong that often hold the id in check, not on the basis of what is realistic but on the basis of what is moral. OR As per Freud’s view most of us do not steal or murder not because we do not want to or because our egos could not find relatively safe ways to do so, but because our superego hold those desires in check. Freud put forward a dynamic concept of personality by conceptualizing the continuous conflict among id, ego and superego. While the id operates on pleasure principle, for the immediate satisfaction of bodily tension, the superego concerned with morality prohibits such gratification. Thus a war-like situation is created between the id and the superego, with the ego attempting to mediate.
- 28. Inference : The extent to which the ego is able to discharge its responsibilities, decides the personality make-up of the individual. Based on this, individual’s personality is classified into two: 1. Individuals with strong or powerful ego – have a strong or balanced personality as the ego maintains a balance between the id and the superego. 2. Individuals with weak ego – have a maladjusted personality . * Superego powerful than ego - unfulfilled wishes and impulses resulting in neurotic personality. * Id powerful than ego - engages in unlawful or immoral activities resulting in delinquent personality.
- 29. Humanistic Approach. This approach focuses on the study of individual’s subjective experiences, feelings, private concepts as well as his views of the world and the ‘self’. Self theory The most important contribution in self theory was made by Carl Rogers. ‘Self’ refers to the personality of an individual as viewed by that person himself. ‘Self concept’ refers to the efforts made by an individual to understand his or her ‘self’ or it is the subjective perception of who we are and what we are like. Rogers distinguished four factors in the self concept: 1) Self Image : This is the way one sees oneself based on the beliefs about who or what he is. 2) Ideal self : This denotes the way one would like to be, as perceived by the individual.
- 30. 3) Looking glass self : This denotes the individual’s perception that ‘this is how’ others perceive about his or her qualities and actually see him. OR It is the perception of other’s perception. 4) Real Self : This is what one really is. According to Rogers, a person perceives a situation depending upon his self concept which has a direct influence on his behaviour.
- 31. Individual Differences and Personality: Individual differences stand for “the variations or deviations among individuals in regard to a single characteristic or a number of haracteristics”. The differences among individuals that distinguish or separate them from one another and make one as unique individual, may be termed as individual differences. Types or Varieties of Individual Differences 1) Physical differences. 2) Mental differences. 3) Differences in motor ability. 4) Differences in achievement. 5) Emotional differences. 6) Differences in interests and aptitude. 7) Differences in attitudes, beliefs and opinions. 8) Learning differences. 9) Differences in social and moral development.