Third Semester

BBA (G)
Organizational Behaviors
Course Code: BBA (G) – 201 L: 4 T/P: Credits: 4

The course aims to provide basic concepts, theories and techniques in the field of human
behaviour at the individual, group and organizational levels.

Contents

UNIT 1: Introduction: Concept and nature of Organizational behaviour; Contributing

disciplines to the field of O.B.; O.B. Models; Need to understand human behaviour;
Challenges and Opportunities.

UNIT 2: Individual Behaviour: Self Concept; Ability; Learning – theories and reinforcement
schedules; Values and Attitudes; Personality – determinants and traits; Emotions; Perception –
Process and errors.

Interpersonal Behaviour: Johari Window; Transactional Analysis – ego states, types of

transactions, life positions, applications of T.A.

UNIT 3: Group Behaviour & Team Development: Concept of Group and Group Dynamics;
Types of Groups; Formal and Informal Groups; Theories of Group Formation; Group Norms,
Group Cohesiveness; Group Think and Group Shift. Group Decision Making; Inter Group
Behaviour; Concept of Team Vs. Group; Types of teams; Building and managing effective
teams.

UNIT 4: Organization Culture and Conflict Management: Organizational Culture; Managing

Conflict – Sources, types, process and resolution of conflict; Managing Change; Managing
across Cultures; Empowerment and Participation.
 Unit-1
Introduction
Organization: Organizations are defined as collectivities….that has been established for the
pursuit of relatively specific objectives on more or less continuous basis.

A social unit of people systematically structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue
collective goals on a continuing basis.
Function of management

Manager is that individual who achieves goals through other people. The basic functions are as
follows:

1) Planning: A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy and developing
plans to coordinate activities.
2) Organizing: Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are
to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where the decisions are to be made.
3) Leading: A function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the
most effective communication channels and resolving conflicts.
4) Controlling: Monitoring activities to ensure they are being accomplished as planned and
correcting any significant deviations.
Role of Managers
1) Interpersonal Roles
i. Figurehead: Symbolic head; required to perform a number of routine duties of a
legal or social nature.
ii. Leader: Responsible for motivation & direction of employees.
iii. Laison: Maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and
information.
2) Informational Roles
i. Monitor: Receives wide variety of information; serve as nerve centre of internal &
external information of the organization.
ii. Disseminator: Transits information received for outsiders to members of the
organization.
iii. Spokesperson: Transmits information to outsiders on organization’s plans,
policies, actions and results, serve as expert on organization’s industry.
3) Decisional Roles
i. Entrepreneur: Searches organization and its environment for opportunities and
initiatives projects to bring about change.
ii. Disturbance Handler: Responsible for corrective action when organization faces
important, unexpected disturbances.
iii. Resource allocator: Makes or approves significant organizational decisions.
 iv. Negotiator: Responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations.

Skills of Managers
1) Technical Skills: Specialized knowledge (machines, equipment, processes)
2) Human skills: Communication, motivation, understands others, delegations.
3) Conceptual Skills: Analyze and diagnose complex situation.

Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior is the study of individuals and their behavior within the context of the
organization in a workplace setting. It is an interdisciplinary field that includes sociology,
psychology, communication and management.

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people,
individuals, and groups act in organizations. It interprets people-organization relationships in
terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its
purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives,
and social objectives.

Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups
and structures have on behavior within an organization, for the purpose of applying such
knowledge towards improving an organization’s effectiveness.

Organizational Behavior is concerned with the study of behavior and attitudes of man in an
organizational settings; the organization’s effect on his perceptions, feeling and actions; and
particularly on his behavior for the achievement of the organization’s purposes.

OB seeks to emphasize the understanding of behavior in organizations so as to develop

competencies in foreseeing how people are likely to behave. This knowledge may then help in
controlling those behaviors that are not befitting the objectives of the organizations.

Features/Nature of Organizational Behaviour

1. A separate field of study - Organizational Behaviour is a separate field of study. Many
researches and analysis have been done in this field. But it is not still accepted as a science.
There is no foundation of basic concepts that may guide its development as a science. Therefore,
it will be appropriate to call it a field of study rather than discipline.

2. It is an applied science - The aim of OB it to solve problems of organizations related with

human behaviour aspect. Therefore, applied researches are concentrated, in place of fundamental
researches. Though many of the researches may be carried in laboratory, but the behaviour of an
individual cannot be analyzed in laboratory. Therefore, Organizational Behaviour is both science
as well as art.
3. Goal Oriented/Oriented towards organizational objectives - Since OB is applied science it
is oriented towards organizational goals. Sometimes there may be conflict of organizational
goals with individual goals. In that case, both the objectives are achieved simultaneously.

4. Interdisciplinary Approach - Organizational Behaviour is interdisciplinary in nature. It is

based on behavioural and social sciences that contributes to the subject. It applies from these
disciplines ideas that will improve the relationships between people and organization.

5. Focus Attention On people - OB focus the attention on people. It is based on the concept that
need and motivation of the people should be given priority. if the people are given proper
environment and working condition, they are creative, independent and capable of achieving
organizational objectives.

6. Normative Science - OB is a normative science. It just not only defines the cause and effect
relationship but also suggests how the results of various researches can be applied to get
organizational results. What acceptable by society is not defines positive science, but it is done
by normative science.

7. A Total system Approach- OB is a total systems approach wherean the living system of an
organization is viewed as an enlargement of a man. A system approach is an integrated approach
which takes into account all the variables affecting organizational functioning.
Levels of Analysis
OB focuses on three levels of analysis:

Individual level

In individual level organizational behavior involves the study of learning, perception, creativity,
motivation, personality, turnover, task performance, cooperative behavior, deviant behavior,
ethics, and cognition. At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws heavily upon
psychology. Study of behaviour of an individual working in the organization is also known as
Micro Organizational Behavior.
Group level

At the group level of analysis, organizational behavior involves the study of group dynamics,
intra- and inter group conflict and cohesion, leadership, power, norms, interpersonal
communication, networks, and roles. At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws
upon the sociological and socio-psychological sciences. Understanding of group dynamic is
essential to reduce conflicts and improve morale and productivity. This is also known as Meso
Organizational Behavior.
Organizational level

At the organization level of analysis, organizational behavior involves the study of topics such as
organizational culture, organizational structure, cultural diversity, inter-organizational
cooperation and conflict, change, technology, and external environmental forces. At this level of
analysis, organizational behavior draws upon anthropology and political science. This is also
known as Macro Organizational Behavior.

Disciplines Contributing to OB
1) Psychology: Psychology is defined as the study of human behavior which tries to
identify the characteristics of individuals and provides an understanding why an
individual behaves in a particular way. Thus psychology provides us with useful insight
into areas such as human motivation, perceptual processes or personality characteristics.
2) Sociology: Sociology is the study of social behavior, relationships among social groups
and societies, and the maintenance of social order. The main focus of attention is on the
social system. This helps us to appreciate the functioning of individuals within the
organization which is essentially a socio-technical entity.
3) Social Psychology: Social psychology is the study of human behavior in the context of
social situations. This essentially addresses the problem of understanding the typical
behavioral patterns to be expected from an individual when he takes part in a group.
4) Anthropology: Anthropology is the science of mankind and the study of human behavior
as a whole. The main focus of attention is on the cultural system, beliefs, customs, ideas
and values within a group or society and the comparison of behavior amongst different
cultures in the context of today’s organizational scenario. It is very important to
appreciate the differences that exist among people coming from different cultural
backgrounds as people are often found to work with others from the other side of the
globe.
5) Economics: Any organization to survive and sustain must be aware of the economic
viability of their effort. This applies even to the non-profit and voluntary organizations as
well.
6) Political Science: Although frequently overlooked, the contributions of political
scientists are significant to understand arrangement in organizations. It studies
individuals and groups within specific conditions concerning the power dynamics.
Important topics under here include structuring of Conflict, allocation of power and how
people manipulate power for individual self-interest etc.
Disciplines Contributing to OB
Human behavior
Human behavior refers to the range of behaviors exhibited by humans and which are influenced
by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion
and/or genetics.

The behavior of people (and other organisms or even mechanisms) falls within a range with
some behavior being common, some unusual, some acceptable, and some outside acceptable
limits. In sociology, behavior in general is considered as having no meaning, being not directed
at other people, and thus is the most basic human action. Behavior in this general sense should
not be mistaken with social behavior, which is a more advanced action, as social behavior is
behavior specifically directed at other people. The acceptability of behavior is evaluated relative
to social norms and regulated by various means of social control.

The behavior of humans is studied by the academic disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, social
work, sociology, economics, and anthropology.

Human behavior is experienced throughout an individual’s entire lifetime. It includes the way
they act based on different factors such as genetics, social norms, core faith, and attitude.

Need to understand Human Behaviour

Before we proceed to understand human behavior, it is better to know what the term behavior'
means. Behavior can be defined as a response/s which is observed directly/indirectly. Direct
observation is possible by studying the responses of people to a work environment. Indirect
observations are decision making processes and attitudes, in terms of results or how people
describe them verbally.
It is the behaviour of an individual that depicts the personality and attitude of that individual in
any place; it may be organization, social network or family... But talking about importance of
Human behavior in an organization, it is very important to maintain a good and healthy
behaviour in an organization as it’s the ones behaviour that depicts the relation of an employee
with his coworkers, subordinates, seniors or Bosses. Behaviour of an individual shows the
dedication of the employee towards his work, organization. a good and healthy behaviour can
prove fruitful in terms of promotions, job recognition, Increments or appraisals. but at the same
time bad behaviour can be opposite.

Human behavior is very much unpredictable. In behavior we cannot assume one set pattern of
behavior. Lavitt classified behavior as: (i) Caused behavior, (ii) Motivated behavior, (iii) Goal
oriented behavior. From these observations it can be understood that behavior is a dependent
factor. By understanding behavior one can predict, direct, change and control behavior of
individuals or group. There are generally four basic assumptions regarding nature of people:
individual differences, a whole person, caused behavior (motivation) and value of the person
(human dignity). With the following descriptions you will be able to understand the concept
better.
Dan's analyses the nature of people in terms of four assumptions.

1. Individual Differences
Behavior is the result of interaction between individual characteristics and the characteristics of
the environment in which the behavior occurs.
Each person has a unique combination of characteristics. Some of these characteristics are
present from birth; others develop over time. These can be called as inherited and learned
characteristics. Although there are some inherited characteristics, but these are very few, and not
so significant. Learned characteristics are very important. Individual differences can be because
of environment, personal and psychological factors. It is also due to physical and social factors.
Learned characteristics are acquired as people grow, develop and interact with their
environments.
2. A whole person
When an employee works in an organization, the organization takes care of that person by
making him effective, as a worker and as a person.
3. Caused Behavior (Motivation)
People's behavior is need based. By fulfilling these needs he is motivated positively and there
occurs effective performance. So the management in the organization has to take care of these
needs in order to have an effective performance. The management can show them how certain
actions will increase their need fulfilment and if not; how it decreases their need fulfilment.
4. Value of the Person (Human Dignity)
People have to be treated with respect and as individuals and they can not be treated like
machines as how scientific management use to treat them. By recognising them and treating
them with uniqueness the value of the person gets increased. By this we can understand how the
concept of treating human beings from machines to human capitals have evolved.
If one accepts the fact that human skill development is necessary then managers and leaders must
have necessary understanding in order to influence the behavior of other people. It was felt that
the managers acquire three levels of expertise. Firstly they have to understand the past and
current behavior, so that they are able to predict behavior and than they learn to direct change,
and control behavior.
OB provides way for understanding human behavior in all the directions in which human being
interact. Thus, behavior can be understood at

 Individual Level
 Interpersonal Level
 Group Level
 Intergroup Level
Models of OB
There are four major models or frameworks that organizations operate out of:

Autocratic - The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The
employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee
need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is minimal. There is only one way
communication.

Custodial - The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of
money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the
organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive
cooperation.

Supportive - The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The
employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need
that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives. There is a
participation and involvement in decision making. In this model, communication is two way.

Collegial - The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The
employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The employee
need that is met is self-actualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm. Employees
are self motivated.
Challenges and opportunities for OB
1. Responding to Globalization

a. Increased foreign assignments: Transferred to your employer’s operating division in

another country, Once there, you’ll have to manage workforce, aspiration from
employees, and attitudes from those you are used to back home
b. Working with People from different cultures: Working with bosses, peers and other
employees who were born and raised in different culture, to work effectively with
them you’ve to understand how their culture, geographic and religion have shaped
them
c. Coping with anti capitalism backlash: “soak the rich” means fine should be charged
with respect of income you earn. Managers at global companies have come to realize
that economic values are not universally transferable, need to modify by managers to
reflect economic values in those countries they’re working.
d. Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low- cost labour: In a global
economy, jobs tend to flow to places where lower cost provide business firms with a
comparative advantages
e. Managing people During the war on terror: An understanding of OB topics such as
emotions, motivation, communication and leadership can help managers to deal more
effectively with their employees’ fear about terrorism

2. Improving quality and productivity: By using self-directed work teams, streamlining

processes and implementing continuous improvement program must be a model of
manufacturing efficiency.
3. Managing workforce Diversity

a) Embracing diversity: The challenge for organization is to make themselves more

accommodating to diverse groups of people by addressing their different lifestyle, family
needs, and work styles.
b) Changing demographics

4. Improving customer service: OB can contribute to improving an organization’ performance

by showing that how employees’ attitude and behavior are associated with customer satisfaction
5. Stimulating innovation and changes:

 Must foster innovation and master the art of change.

 Maintain the flexibility and improve quality.
 To stimulate employees creativity and tolerance to change.
6. Working in networked organizations: Computerization, the internet, and the ability to link
computers within organizations and between organizations have created a different workforce for
many employees-a networked organization. Global working through one link i.e. INTERNET,
technology changes the people to work together and communicate at thousand miles, people can
work from their home and non office locations.

7. Creating a positive work environment: Human strength, vitality, right person appointed at
right place, effort on what good for organization.

8. Improving ethical behaviour:

 Writing and distributing codes of ethics to employees.

 Offering seminars, workshops and training programs on improving OB.
 Provide in house advisors in dealing with ethical issues.

9. Empowerment of Employees:

  Decision making is being pushed down to the operating level.

 Managers give up control, employees control their work themselves, make appropriate
 decisions.
 Using of self managed team.

10. Work Life Balance: Flexible Working hours, reporting time, creating opportunities for
employees, job security, design workplace and jobs.
UNIT-2
Biographical Characteristics
Finding and analyzing the variables that have an impact on employee productivity, absence,
turnover, and satisfaction is often complicated. Many of the concepts—motivation, or power,
politics or organizational culture—are hard to assess. Other factors are more easily definable and
readily available—data that can be obtained from an employee’s personnel file and would
include characteristics such as:

• Age
• Gender
• Marital status
• Length of service, etc.

Age
1. The relationship between age and job performance is increasing in importance.
• First, there is a widespread belief that job performance declines with increasing age.
• Second, the workforce is aging; workers over 55 are the fastest growing sector of the
workforce.
2. Employers’ perceptions are mixed.
• They see a number of positive qualities that older workers bring to their jobs, specifically
experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and commitment to quality.
• Older workers are also perceived as lacking flexibility and as being resistant to new
technology.
• Some believe that the older you get, the less likely you are to quit your job. That
conclusion is based on studies of the age-turnover relationship.

3. It is tempting to assume that age is also inversely related to absenteeism.

• Most studies do show an inverse relationship, but close examination finds that the age
absence relationship is partially a function of whether the absence is avoidable or
unavoidable.
• In general, older employees have lower rates of avoidable absence. However, they have
higher rates of unavoidable absence, probably due to their poorer health associated with
aging and longer recovery periods when injured.

4. There is a widespread belief that productivity declines with age and that individual skills
decay over time.
• Reviews of the research find that age and job performance are unrelated.
• This seems to be true for almost all types of jobs, professional and nonprofessional.
Gender
1. There are few, if any, important differences between men and women that will affect their
job performance, including the areas of:
• Problem-solving
• Analytical skills
• Competitive drive
• Motivation
• Sociability
• Learning ability

2. Women are more willing to conform to authority, and men are more aggressive and more
likely than women to have expectations of success, but those differences are minor.

3. There is no evidence indicating that an employee’s gender affects job satisfaction.

4. There is a difference between men and women in terms of preference for work schedules.
• Mothers of preschool children are more likely to prefer part-time work, flexible work
schedules, and telecommuting in order to accommodate their family responsibilities.
5. Absence and turnover rates
• Women’s quit rates are similar to men’s.
• The research on absence consistently indicates that women have higher rates of
absenteeism.
• The logical explanation: cultural expectation that has historically placed home and family
responsibilities on the woman.

Marital Status

1. There are not enough studies to draw any conclusions about the effect of marital status on
job productivity.
2. Research consistently indicates that married employees have fewer absences, undergo
fewer turnovers, and are more satisfied with their jobs than are their unmarried
coworkers.
3. More research needs to be done on the other statuses besides single or married, such as
divorce, domestic partnering, etc.

Tenure

1. The issue of the impact of job seniority on job performance has been subject to
misconceptions and speculations.
2. Extensive reviews of the seniority-productivity relationship have been conducted:
• There is a positive relationship between tenure and job productivity.
• There is a negative relationship between tenure to absence.
 • Tenure is also a potent variable in explaining turnover.
• Tenure has consistently been found to be negatively related to turnover and has been
suggested as one of the single best predictors of turnover.
• The evidence indicates that tenure and satisfaction are positively related.

ABILITY
Ability is competence to perform an observable behavior or a behavior that results in an
observable product.
It may be An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.
Ability may include:
• Ability to pay
• Intelligence
• Skill
• Expertise
• Aptitude
• Physical ability

Values
VALUES define what we accept as good, right or acceptable. We may have our own personally
thought-out and constructed values but many of the values we accept are socially or culturally
constructed. Society develops a value system or a set of values and conveys these to us through
schools, governments, churches, the media, the family etc. Nationalities often have different
values which mean communication between nations is sometimes difficult. We value the
freedom of people to have as many children as they wish while China has introduced the value of
a one child limit because the value of inhibiting population growth is more important to them.

When writing about values , remember generally, values cannot be one-word statements. To say
that the text values truth does not really identify the particular value regarding truth that the text
encourages us to accept. Also to say we have a value of being anti-war leads to a contradiction.
Values are what we consider 'valuable beliefs' therefore we can't have a negative value. If we
value the right to life then our attitude will be anti-war. If we value the innocence of childhood,
then our attitude will be against exploiting children. If we value freedom to then our attitude will
be against the idea of 'freedom from' (The Handmaid's Tale).

Values are encompassing concepts. American Management Association indicated that values are
at the core of personality, and that they are ,powerful, though silent force affecting behavior.
Values are so embedded that it can be inferred from people's behavior and their expressed
attitudes. But values are a strong force in people. What may `appear' to be strange behavior in an
employee can make sense if managers understand the values underlying that behavior.
Rokeach (1973) " values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-
state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of
conduct or end-state of existence."
Rokeach divided values into two broad categories: `Terminal values" relate to ends to be
achieved e.g. comfortable life, family security, self-respect and sense of accomplishment.
`Instrumental values' relate to means for achieving desired ends, e.g. ambition, courage, honesty
and imagination. Terminal values reflect what a person is ultimately striving to achieve, whereas
instrumental values reflect how the person get there.
Values are so embedded that it can be inferred from people's behavior and their perception,
personality and motivation. They generally influence behavior. They are relatively stable and
enduring. This is because, the way in which they are originally learned.
Allport (1951) identified six types of values.
Theoretical - Places high importance on the discovery of truth through critical and rational
approach.
Economic - Emphasises to be useful and practical.
Aesthetic - Places the highest value on form and harmony.
Social - The highest value is given to the love of people.
Political - Places emphasis on acquisition of power and influence.
Religious - Concerned with the unity of experience and understanding of the cosmos as a whole.

People in different occupations place different importance on the six value types. The knowledge
that people have different types of values has led a few of the more progressively managed
organizations to initiate efforts to improve the values - job fit in order to enhance employee
performance and satisfaction. Texas Instruments for instance, has developed a programme to
diagnose different value types and to match properly these types with appropriate work
environments within their company.
Characteristics of Values
1. Part of culture: values are elements of culture and culture is the complex of values, ideas,
attitude and other meaningful symbols to shape human behaviour.
2. Learned responses: unlike other animals human beings have to learn almost everything
about how to be human from experience. Individuals are encultured or socialized i.e. the
responses of a set of culture become his own set of response tendencies.
3. Inculcated: values are inculcated and are passed from generation to generation by specific
group and institutions.
4. Social phenomenon: values are social phenomenon i.e cultural habits are shared by
aggregates of people living in organized society. An individual’s way of thinking and
behaving is not culture rather group behavior constitutes culture.
 5. Gratifying responses: values exist to meet the biological and other needs of the
individuals in the society. Thus elements in the culture becomes extinguished when they
no longer are gratifying to members of the society.
Attitude
In simple words, an "attitude" is an individual's point of view or an individual's way of looking at
something. To be more explicit, an "attitude" may be explained as the mental state of an
individual, which prepares him to react or make him behave in a particular pre-determined way.

An attitude is defined as, "a learned pre-disposition to respond in a consistently favorable or

unfavorable manner with respect to a given object".

Attitude is the combination of beliefs and feelings that people have about specific ideas,
situations or other people. Attitude is important because it is the mechanism through which most
people express their feelings.

Attitudes are evaluative statement concerning objects, people or events. Attitude reflects how
one can feels about something. Attitude affects behaviour of an individual by putting him ready
to respond favorably or unfavorably to things in his environment. The process of learning
attitudes starts right from childhood and continues throughout the life of a person.

COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
Attitude has three components, which are as follows:
• Cognitive component
• Affective component
• Behavioral component

Cognitive Component: This involves a person’s belief / knowledge about an attitude object. For
example: “I believe spiders are dangerous”. It refers that's part of attitude which is related in
general know how of a person, for example, he says smoking is injurious to health. Such type of
idea of a person is called cognitive component of attitude.

Affective component: This involves a person’s feelings / emotions about the attitude object. For
example: “I am scared of spiders”. This part of attitude is related to the statement which affects
another person. For example, in an organization a personal report is given to the general
manager. In report he point out that the sale staff is not performing their due responsibilities.

Behavioral Component: The way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave. For
example: “I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one”. The behavioral component refers to that
part of attitude which reflects the intension of a person in short run or in long run.
For example, before the production and launching process the product. Report is prepared by the
production department which consists of their intention in near future and long run and this
report is handed over to top management for the decision.

Factors in Attitude formation

All attitudes are learned, and our attitudes vary based on our experiences and learning
environment. One way in which our attitudes are formed is through social learning, which
involves the influences of family, peers, colleagues, and institutions. Following are the factors
which affect the formation of attitude:

 Family
 Reference group
 Society
 Personality
 Situation

Relationship between attitude and behavior

Attitude and behavior are two quite different things. Attitude is a person's inner thoughts and
feelings, while behavior is usually an outward expression of attitude, but the two are not always
related. The association between attitudes and behaviors intrigues researchers. Attitude
enactment is not as simple as thinking positively to produce positive results. The degree to which
our behavior matches our attitudes has to do with relevance, personality factors, and social
context.

For instance, psychopaths are people whose attitudes are composed of low morality. However,
this does not mean that they always commit immoral acts. Psychopaths are usually intelligent, so
they know that even though there will be no moral consequences for them, there will still be
legal consequences to deal with. This knowledge, in addition to their attitude, governs their
behavior.

When a person's attitude and behavior differ, dissonance will likely result, and a change in
attitude or behavior will be the probable outcome.

Relevant attitude for organization

1. Job Satisfaction : Job satisfaction is the pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting
from the appraisal of one's job or job experience. There are several measures of job
satisfaction. One of the most widely used measures is the Job Descriptive Index. Job
satisfaction correlates with several other outcomes, including organizational citizenship
behavior – behavior that is above and beyond the call of duty.

2. Organizational Commitment: Organizational commitment is the strength of an

individual's identification with an organization. There are three kinds of organizational
commitment: affective, continuance, and normative. Affective commitment refers to an
 employee's intention to remain in an organization because of a strong desire to do so.
Organizational commitment is the individual's feeling of identification with and
attachment to an organization.

3. Job Involvement: Involvement refers to a person's willingness to be a team member and

work beyond the usual standards of the job. An employee with little involvement is
motivated by extrinsic motivational factor and an employee with strong involvement is
motivated by intrinsic motivational factors.

Theories of attitude formation

Theories of attitude formation may broadly be classified into three categories:
1. Cognitive consistency theory

2. Functional theory
3. Social judgment theory

1. Cognitive consistency theory: There are four important theories under this group:

a. Balance theory: the basic model of balance theory has been provided by Heider.
The theory is concerned with consistency in the judgment of people or issues that are
linked with some form of relationship. there are three elements in the attitude
formation-:

 the person

 other person

 impersonal entity

Two generic types of relationship are considered to exist between the elements:
linking or sentiment relations and unit relations. the linking relation encompass all
forms of sentiments of effect, while unit relationships express the fact that two
elements are perceived as belonging together. Both linking and unit relation can be
positive & negative. in a three element systems, balance exist if all three relations
are positive or if two relations are negative & one is positive. Imbalance exists if all
three relations are negative or if two relations are positive & one is negative. Balance
states are stable & imbalance states are unstable.

b. Congruity theory: Osgood & Tannenbaum have proposed the congruity theory of
attitude which is similar to the balance theory. The focus of the theory is on changes
in the evaluation of a source and a concept that are linked by an associative or
dissociative assertion. Congruity exist when a source or concept that are positively
 associated have exactly the same evaluation & when a source and concept that are
negatively associated have exactly the opposite evaluation attached to them.
Congruity is a stable state and incongruity is a unstable one.

c. Affective cognitive consistency theory: this theory propounded by Rosen berg is

concerned with the consistency between persons over all attitudes or effect towards
an object or issue and his believes about its relationship to his more general value.
He has related attitudes to one aspect of cognitive structure- means – end
relationship between the object or issue and the achievement of desired and
undesired value of goals. This theory is also called structural because it is concerned
mainly with what happens with in the individual when an attitude changes.

d. Cognitive dissonance theory: the cognitive dissonance theory proposed by

Festinge. This theory deals with relationship a person’s ideas have with one another.
it states that there are three type of relationships between all cognitions:

 Dissonance: cognitions are dissonant whenever they are incompatible or if they are
opposed to, once experience about the relationship of event.

 Consonance: cognitions are consonant when one follows from the other on the basis
of logic or experience.

 Irrelevance: cognitions are totally irrelevant when two events are not interrelated.

2. Functional theory: functional theory considers how attitudes and efforts are related to
the motivational structure of the individual. The theory focuses on the meaning of the
influence situation in terms of both the kind of motive i.e aroused and the individual’s
method of coping & achieving his goals. an understanding of the functions served by
attitudes is important for attitude change procedures since a particular method may
produce change in individuals whose attitudes serve one particular function but may
produce no change in an opposite direction in individuals for whom the attitudes serve
different function.

3. Social judgment theory: this theory formulated by Sherif & Hoveland, attempts to
explain how existing attitudes produce distortion of attitudinally related objects and how
these judgments mediate attitude change. Accordingly a person’s own stand on an issue that
is initial attitude serve as an anchor for the judgment of attitudinally related stimuli.

Personality
The term personality is derived from the Latin word persona meaning a mask. Personality
represents the overall profile or combination of stable psychological attributes that capture the
unique nature of a person. Personality is a patterned body of habits, traits, attitudes and ideas of
an individual as these are organized externally into roles and statuses and as they relate internally
to motivation, goals and various aspects of selfhood.
Maddi defines personality as, “A stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those
commonalities and differences in the psychological behavior and that may not be easily
understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment".

Personality - All our behaviour is somewhat shaped by our personalities. – a dynamic concept
describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. It is the sum
total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others. Some aggregate whole that
is greater than the sum of its parts
Personality concept
1. Behaviour involves a complex interaction of the person and the situation.
2. Personality represents personal characteristics that lead to a consistent pattern of
behaviour.
3. Personality describes people commonalities and differences.
4. Personality is stable over time.

According to Gordon Allport, “The dynamic organization within an individual of that

psychological system that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.”
Determinants of Personality
• Biological Factors
• Cultural Factors
• Family Factors
• Social Factors
• Situational Factors
Biological Factors
1. Heredity
 It refers to physical stature, facial attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle
composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms are characteristics
 that are considered to be inherent.
• It plays an important part in determining an individual's personality.
• Heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual's
personality is the molecular structures of the genes, which are located in the
chromosomes.
 Recent research studies shows that young children lend strong support to the
power of heredity and finding shows that some personality traits may be built into
the same genetic code that affects factors like height and hair color.
2. Brain
• Brain is the second biological approach to determine personality.
• It plays an important role in determining personality.
• Depending on the structure of the brain, an individual’s personality develops.
 •Electrical Stimulation of the Brain (ESB) and Split brain psychology results
indicates that a better understanding of human personality and behavior might
come from a closer study of the brain.
• The definite areas of the human brain are associated with pain and pleasure.
3. Physical Features
• It is third biological approach to determine personality.
• It is vital ingredient of the personality, it focus an individual person's external
appearance which also determined the personality.
• Physical features like tall or short, fat or skinny, black or white. These physical
features will be influenced the personal effect on others and also affect self
concept of individual.
• A child’s physical characteristics may be related to approach to the social
environment, to the expectancies of others and their reactions to him.
Cultural Factors

• Cultural factors are also major factors which influence to determine individual
personality.
• It refers to traditional practice, customs, procedure, norms and rules and
regulation followed by the society.
• It significantly influence to individual behavior compare to biological factors.
• Cultural factors determine attitudes towards independence, aggression,
competition, cooperation, positive thinking, team spirit, and a host of the human
being and discharge his/her duties towards valuable responsibilities to society.
• Western culture influence to Indian society. It is best example of the cultural
factors also determine the personality.
Family Factors
• Family factors are also major factors which influence to determine individual personality.
• Family consists of husband and wife and their children's.
• Family role is very important for nurturing and personality development of their children.
• Family will be guided, supervised, take care of all family members, cooperation,
coordination and cooperation in work and also explained the role and responsibilities
towards the family, society and real life.
• Family either directly or indirectly influence to person for development of individual
personality.
Social Factors
• Social factors are also major factors which influence to determine individual personality.
• It involves the reorganization of individual's in an organization or society.
• It refers to acquiring of wide range of personality by acquiring and absorbed by
themselves in the society or an organization.
• Socialization process is starting from home and extending to work environment in an
organization or society.
 • It focuses on good relationships, cooperation, coordination and interaction among the
members in the society or an organization or a family.
In totally, environment factors consist of cultural factors, family factors, and social
factors.

Situational Factors
• Situational factors also influence to determine of personality.
• Situational factors are very important to change the individual behavior in a different
circumstance at different situations, it also influence to personality of individual person.
• In general term, personality is stable and consistent and it does change in different
situations.
• The Interaction of Personality and Situational Factors are outlined:
Strong situational pressures : Personality may not predict behavior (Example:
enforcement of rules )
Weak Situational pressures : Personality may predict behavior (Example: Customer
sales representative )
• A strong situation can overwhelm the effects of individual personalities by providing
strong cues for appropriate behavior.

Personality Traits
From OB point of view, following classification of personality traits is relevant:
1. Big 5 Personality Traits
2. Other personality traits

Big Five Personality Traits

Extroversion: A personality dimension that describes the degree to which someone

is sociable, talkative, and assertive. They seek outward interaction. They are more
successful in sales activities, publicity department, public relations.
Agreeableness: A personality dimension that describes the degree to which
someone is good-natured, cooperative, forgiving, understanding and trusting.
Highly agreeable people are better in developing good working relationship with
coworkers, subordinates, superiors.
Conscientiousness: A personality dimension that describes the degree to which
someone is responsible, careful, disciplined, dependable, persistent, and
achievement oriented. They tend to focus on small numbers of goals at one time.
Emotional stability: A personality dimension that describes the degree to which
someone is calm, enthusiastic, and secure (positive) or tense, nervous, depressed,
and insecure (negative).
Openness to experience: A personality dimension that describes the degree to
which someone is imaginative, artistically sensitive, and intellectual.

Other Personality Traits

 1. Self Concept and Self esteem: Self concept defines themselves as to who they are and
their identity. Self-esteem denotes the extent to which individuals consistently regard
themselves as capable, successful, important and worthy individuals. Self-esteem is an
important personality factor that determines how managers perceive themselves and their
role in the organization. Individuals with a high self-esteem will try to take on more
challenging assignments and be successful. Thus, they will be enhancing their self-
concept i.e., they would tend to define themselves as highly valued individuals in the
organizational system. The higher the self-concept and self-esteem, the greater will be
their contributions to the goals of the organization, especially when the system rewards
them for their contributions.
2. Type A and B Personalities: Type A persons feel a chronic sense of time urgency, are
highly achievement-oriented, exhibit a competitive drive, and are impatient when their
work is slowed down for any reason. Type B persons are easy-going individuals who do
not feel the time urgency, and who do not experience the competitive drive. Type A
individuals are significantly more prone to heart attacks than Type B individuals.
3. Risk Propensity: Risk-propensity is the decree to which an individual is willing to take
chances and make risky decisions. A manager with a high-risk propensity might be expected
to experiment with new ideas and to lead the organization in new directions. In contrast, a
manager with low risk propensity might lead to a stagnant and overly conservative
organization.
4. Machiavellianism: It refers to manipulation of others as a primary way of achieving
one’s goals. An individual tends to be Machiavellian, if he tends to be logical in assessing
the system around, willing to twist and turn facts to influence others, and try to gain
control of people, events and situations by manipulating the system to his advantage
5. Locus of Control: Locus of control means whether people believe that they are in control
of events, or events control them.
Internal Locus of Control: Those who have internal locus of control believe that they
control and shape the course of events in their lives.
External Locus of Control: External locus of control tend to believe that events occur
purely by chance or because of factors beyond their own control.

Perception

Perception is a complex cognitive process and differs from person to person. People's behavior is
influenced by their perception of reality, rather than the actual reality.
Perceptual information is gathered from > Sight > hearing > Touch > taste > smell
“Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give meaning to their environments.”
“Perception includes all those processes by which an individual receives information about his
environment – seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling. The study of these perceptional
processes shows that their functioning is affected by three classes of variables – the objects or
events being perceived, the environment in which perception occurs, and the individuals doing
the perceiving.”
Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the world around
us. It involves deciding which information to notice how to categorize this information and how
to interpret it within the framework of existing knowledge.

Process of Perception
Inputs (Receiving information) Selection (stimuli) Organisation
Information, external factors grouping - closure
objects, events’ internal factors
continuity
People, etc. proximity

similarity

Interpretation Outputs (response)

Perceptual errors Behaviour, actions
attitudes, beliefs,
feelings, etc

1. Receiving Information: Information can receive by the sense organs (Eyes, ear, nose,
tongue, skin). Information can be of any person, event or objects.
2. Selection of Stimuli: It is the process of filtering information received by our senses. After
receiving the stimuli from the environment, some are selected for further processing while
others are screened out because it is not possible for a person to select all stimuli which he
sees in the environment. Selection can based on two factors:
a) External factors – size, intensity, contrast, motion, repetition, novelty, familiarity,
Size: The larger the size, the more likely it is to be perceived. The tallest person in the office
will invariably be noticed.
Intensity: The more intense an external factor (bright light, loud noise, high pitch sound etc.)
the more likely it is to be perceived. One may notice that the TV commercials always have
high pitch as compared to normal telecast.
Contrast: External factors that stand out against the background or things that are not which
people expect are more likely to be perceived.
Motion: A moving factor is more likely to be perceived than stationary factor. Films (motion
pictures) attract people more than a static picture.
Repetition: A repeated factor is more likely to be noticed. Marketing managers use this
principle in trying to get attention of the prospective customers.
Novelty and familiarity: Either novelty or familiarity will can attract attention. People
would quickly notice a person riding an elephant on a busy street in Delhi. On the other hand,
one is likely to spot a familiar face in a crowd or a familiar voice even if there is a lot of
noise and confusion.
b) Internal factors – personality, learning, motivation, needs, interest.
 Personality: Personality has an interesting influence on what and how people perceive. For
example, conscientious people tend to pay more attention to external environmental cues
than does a less conscientious person. Less conscientious persons are impulsive, careless, and
irresponsible. They see their environment as hectic and unstable which affects the way they
make perceptual selections. On the other hand, more conscientious people organize their
perceptions into neat categories, allowing them to retrieve data quickly and in an organized
manner. In other words, they are careful, methodical, and disciplined in making perceptual
selections.
Learning: Learning determines the development of perceptual sets. A perceptual set is an
expectation of a particular interpretation based on past experiences with the same or an
identical object. In organizational settings, past experiences of the managers and employees
influence their perceptions to a great extent.
Motivation: A person’s most urgent needs and desires at any particular time can influence
perception. People perceive things that promise to help satisfy their needs and that they have
found rewarding in the past. Also, according to Pollyanna principle, people process pleasant
event more efficiently and accurately than they do unpleasant events. For example, an
employee who receives both positive and negative feedback during the appraisal meeting
may more easily and clearly remember the positive statements than the negative ones.
3. Organisation: In this step all factors which are noticed are organized in such a form to
interpret and to make sense out of that. The various forms of organizing stimuli are figure-
background, similarity, continuity, proximity, closure.
Figure-ground: Perceived objects stand out as separable from their general background.
Closure: An individual may perceive a whole while one actually does not exists. The
person’s perceptual process closes the gaps that are unfilled by from sensory inputs.
Continuity: An individual tend to perceive continuous lines/patterns. This leads to inflexible
thinking on the part of organizational members (both managers and employees). Thus, only
the obvious, continuous patterns or relationships are perceived.
Proximity: A group of stimuli that are close together will be perceived as a whole pattern of
parts belonging together.
Similarity: The greater the similarity of stimuli, the greater is the tendency to perceive them
as a common group.
4. Interpretation: The perceptual inputs that have been organized will have to be interpreted
by the perceiver so that he can sense and extract some meaning of what is going on in the
situation. There are chances of misinterpretation. In interpreting, the perceiver may commit
mistake in perceiving because of several reasons (errors of perception).
5. Responding: These outputs may be in the form of actions like development of attitudes,
opinions, beliefs, impression about the stimuli under consideration.
Errors of Perception

Common perceptual distortions seen in my organization are:

1. Stereotypes and Prototypes

2. Halo Effects
3. Selective Perception
4. Contrast Effects
5. Projections
6. Recency effects
7. First Impression

Stereotyping

When we judge someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs
we are committing a common error of perception called stereotyping.

 Individuals are grouped on the basis of race, gender, education, region, occupation, etc.,
  Inferences are made that all members of the group have the same characteristics
 Expectations on these generalizations are made to interpret the behaviour of individual
 members of the groups
 We maintain the stereotypes by exaggerating the frequency of stereotypic behaviours the
 others show, inaccurately explaining the behaviours and separating them from our own.
 The 3 more common types of stereotype are on the basis of race, age and sex roles.
Ex: All Muslims are not terrorists.

Halo Effects

Under halo effect, a person is perceived on the basis of a single trait. It generally occurs during
performance appraisal where the supervisor rates an employee on the basis of only one trait e.g.
intelligence, punctuality, cooperativeness appearance etc.

Projection

It is the tendency of seeing one’s own traits in others. Thus, individuals project their own
feelings, personality characteristics attitudes, or motives onto others. Projection may be
especially strong for undesirable traits that the perceivers possess but fail to recognize in
themselves. People whose personality traits include stinginess, obstinacy, and disorderliness tend
to rate others higher on these traits than do people who do not have these traits.

First impression error

The tendency to form lasting opinions about an individual based on initial perceptions. People
may hold a long-term view about a person or thing based on first impression.

Contrast error

People tend to compare among the available resources and thus arrive at a conclusion that might
be far from the objective reality. It occur when an individual is compared to other people on the
same characteristics on which the others rank higher or lower.
Recency effect

When the most recent informat ion dominates perception of others. When a m anager evaluates
an employee's performance, th e most recent performance dominates so if t he last thing the
employee did was sign a big co ntract with a supplier than the manger will hav e a very positive
impression of the employee.

Selective Perception

Selective perception is the perso nal filtering of what we see and hear so as to suit our own
needs. Much of this process is psycho logical and often unconscious. Have you ever been
accused of only hearing what you want to hear. In fact, that is quite true. We simply are bo
mbarded with too much stimuli every day to pay equal attention to everything so we pick and
cho ose according to our own needs.

Factors affecting perception

EMOTIONS
The analysis of emotions has been ineffectual up till now since they are very difficult to identify,
except for a few such as fear and anger. Many years ago I began an intense psycho-analysis
(which I did on my own). It took me five years of constant awareness to finally identify the range
of emotions that I usually experience.

The peculiarity of any particular emotion is that, whilst it is just an emotion, it is nevertheless
intimately associated with specific mental attitudes and ideas that have become characteristic of
that emotion.

In general, I found that each emotion acts as a nucleus for pre-set ideas about the world. This fact
gives rise to a notable phenomenon. As one emotion fades away and the next one is generated, so
the ideas in a person’s mind automatically change: the fresh emotion brings with it its
associated ideas.

A person is always experiencing some emotion at any time, since when the present emotion
fades away so another emotion will take its place and be felt by him /her. No single emotional
response can be permanent. When any emotion, such as anger, is experienced the person can stay
angry only for some time; eventually the anger will fade away and a fresh emotion will arise.

Understanding the nature of emotions has profound implications for philosophy. In particular,
the development of self-awareness that this study produces can remove a lot of confusion from
such philosophical ideas as the nature of reality, language, morality, free will, and the pursuit of
truth.

Characteristics of Emotions
1) Caused by specific event.
2) Very brief in duration.
3) Specific and numerous in natures.
4) Usually accompanied by distinct facial expressions.
5) Action oriented in nature.
6) Emotions are never neutral.

Types of Emotions
There are 18 most commonly seen and experienced emotions. They are,
1-anger
2-contempt
3-enthusiasm
4-envy
5-fear
6-frustration
7-joy
8-pride
9-surprise
10-disappointment
11-embarrassment
12-disgust
13-happiness
14- Hate
15-jealousy
16-love
17-pride
18-sadness

Learning – theories and reinforcement schedules

“Learning is the process by which new behaviors are acquired. It is generally agreed that
learning involves changes in behaviors, practicing new behaviors, and establishing permanency
in the change.” Mitchell

Three theories have been offered to explain the process by which we acquire patterns of
behaviour. These are –

(1) Classical conditioning – Classical conditioning grew out of experiments to teach dogs to
salivate in response to the ringing of a bell, conducted in the early 1900s by Russian
Psychologist sinologist Ivan Pavlov. Four elements are always present in classical
conditioning. These are -

i. Unconditioned stimulus (US) – Like food which invariably causes to react in a certain
way i.e., salivation.

ii. Unconditioned response (UR) – Takes place whenever the US is presented, i.e.,
whenever the dog is given food (US), it salivates.

iii. Conditioned stimulus (CS) – The object that does not initially bring about the desired
response like the sound of the bell.

iv. Conditioned response (CR) – A particular behaviour that the dog learns to produce to
the CS, i.e., Salivation.
1. before conditioning
Meat (US) Salivation (UR); Bell (Neutral stimulus) No response

2. during Conditioning
 Meat (US) + Bell (CS) Salivation (UR)

3. after conditioning
Bell (CS) Salivation (CR)

(2) Cognitive Learning Theory: Cognitive theory of learning is based on the cognitive model
of human behaviour. Cognition refers to an individual’s ideas, thoughts, knowledge,
interpretations & understanding about himself & his environment.

Cognitive theorists argue that the learner forms a cognitive structure in memory, preserves
and organizes information about the various events that occur in a learning situation. For
example in his famous pace-learning experiment, Tolman trained a rat to turn right in a “T’
maze in order to obtain food. Then he started the rat from the opposite part of the maze;
according to operant conditioning theory, the rat should have turned right because of past
conditioning. But the rat, instead, turned towards where the food have been placed this
phenomenon forced Tolman to conclude that the rat formed a cognitive map to figure out
how to get the food and reinforcement was not a precondition for learning to take place thus,
in learning.

(3) Social Learning theory: Social learning theory combines and integrates both behaviouristic
and cognitive concepts and emphasizes the integrative nature of cognitive, behavioral and
environmental determinants. This theory agrees with some parts of behavioral & cognitive
theories but finds that these theories do not explain the processes and elements there in fully.
It posits that learning can also takes place via modeling.

Reinforcement
Reinforcement can be defined as anything that increases the strength of response & tends to
induce repetitions of the behaviour that preceded the reinforcement. Sometimes, reinforcement is
equated with motivation as reinforcement plays important role in motivation reinforcement is an
environmental event that follows a response. In general, motivation is an internal explanation of
behaviour whereas reinforcement is an external explanation of behaviour.

Principles of Reinforcement
a) Skinner identified two types of reinforcing events - those in which a reward is given; and
those in which something bad is removed. In either case, the point of reinforcement is to increase
the frequency or probability of a response occurring again.

i. Positive reinforcement - give an organism a pleasant stimulus when the operant

response is made. For example, a rat presses the lever (operant response) and it receives a
treat (positive reinforcement

ii. Negative reinforcement - take away an unpleasant stimulus when the operant response
is made. For example, stop shocking a rat when it presses the lever (yikes!)
b) Skinner also identified two types of rein forcers

i. Primary reinforce - stimulus that naturally strengthens any response that precedes it
(e.g., food, water, sex) without the need for any learning on the part of the organism.
These rein forcers are naturally reinforcing.

ii. secondary/conditioned reinforce - a previously neutral stimulus that acquires the ability
to strengthen responses because the stimulus has been paired with a primary reinforce.
For example, an organism may become conditioned to the sound of food dispenser,
which occurs after the operant response is made. Thus, the sound of the food dispenser
becomes reinforcing. Notice the similarity to Classical Conditioning, with the exception
that the behavior is voluntary and occurs before the presentation of a reinforce.

Schedules of Reinforcement
There are two types of reinforcement schedules - continuous, and partial/intermittent (four
subtypes of partial schedules)

a) Fixed Ratio (FR) - reinforcement given after every N th responses, where N is the size of the
ratio (i.e., a certain number of responses have to occur before getting reinforcement).

For example - many factory workers are paid according to the number of some product they
produce. A worker may get paid $10.00 for every 100 widgets he makes. This would be an
example of an FR100 schedule.

b) Variable Ratio (VR) - the variable ration schedule is the same as the FR except that the ratio
varies, and is not stable like the FR schedule. Reinforcement is given after every N th response,
but N is an average.

For example - slot machines in casinos function on VR schedules (despite what many people
believe about their "systems"). The slot machine is programmed to provide a "winner" every
average N th response, such as every 75th lever pull on average. So, the slot machine may give a
winner after 1 pull, then on the 190th pull, then on the 33rd pull, etc...just so long as it averages
out to give a winner on average, every 75th pull.

c) Fixed Interval (FI) - a designated amount of time must pass, and then a certain response must
be made in order to get reinforcement.
d) Variable Interval (VI) - same as FI but now the time interval varies.

Johari Window
The Johari Window model consists of a foursquare grid (think of taking a piece of paper and
dividing it into four parts by drawing one line down the middle of the paper from top to bottom,
and another line through the middle of the paper from side-to-side). This is shown in the diagram
below:

Using the Johari model, each person is represented by their own four-quadrant, or four-pane,
window. Each of these contains and represents personal information – feelings, motivation, etc. –
about the person, and shows whether the information is known or not known by themselves or
other people.

The four quadrants are:

Open area – “I know, you know.”

Blind Area – “I don’t know what you know.”
Hidden Area – “I know about it, you don’t know about it.”
Unknown Area – “I don’t know, you don’t know it.”

Transactional Analysis
A system of psychotherapy based on the analysis of transactions and chains of transactions
which occur during treatment sessions.

A theory of personality based on the study of specific ego states.

In simple words: Transaction analysis is a kind of psychotherapy that (among other things)
analyses our everyday communication - why do we say things we say, how do we say them and
what made us say that. It uses simple words such as child, parent and adult (these are the names
of our three ego states) to describe seemingly complicated processes in our mind.

Types of Ego States

Parent

This is our ingrained voice of authority, absorbed conditioning, learning and attitudes from when
we were young. We were conditioned by our real parents, teachers, older people, next door
neighbours, aunts and uncles, Father Christmas and Jack Frost. Our Parent is made up of a huge
number of hidden and overt recorded playbacks. Typically embodied by phrases and attitudes
starting with 'how to', 'under no circumstances', 'always' and 'never forget', 'don't lie, cheat, steal',
etc, etc. Our parent is formed by external events and influences upon us as we grow through
early childhood. We can change it, but this is easier said than done.

Child

Our internal reaction and feelings to external events form the 'Child'. This is the seeing, hearing,
feeling, and emotional body of data within each of us. When anger or despair dominates reason,
the Child is in control. Like our Parent we can change it, but it is no easier.

Adult

Our 'Adult' is our ability to think and determine action for ourselves, based on received data. The
adult in us begins to form at around ten months old, and is the means by which we keep our
Parent and Child under control. If we are to change our Parent or Child we must do so through
our adult.

In other words:

 Parent is our 'Taught' concept of life


 Adult is our 'Thought' concept of life

 Child is our 'Felt' concept of life

Life Positions
 The concept of life positions is another basic idea from transactional analysis theory. Life
positions works with the assumption that we choose very early on in our life, before age 2, a
basic stance towards ourselves and other people. It represents the fundamental stance a
 person takes about the essential value he or she perceives in him or herself and other people.
Once a child has taken up a favorite position, they're likely to construct the rest of their world
view to match that life position. One could therefore also see a life position as one of the first
script decisions a person makes.
 Another way of saying the same thing is that our life position is like a set of glasses through
which we see the world. If we end up with gray tinted glasses the whole world will look gray
to us. If they are clear, we can see ourselves and the world as things are, good and bad, but
 mostly all sorts of colors and shapes.
 The following diagram is called "The OK Corral" by Franklin Ernst (with some of my own
 adaptations). It shows the four basic life positions we can assume:

 1 "'I am ok, you are ok," which is short for "I am ok with myself and with you too."
 2 "I am ok, you are not ok," short for "I am ok, but I can't rely on or trust you. I feel there is
 something wrong with other people around me."
 3 "I am not ok, you are ok," short for "There is something fundamentally wrong with me, but
 everybody else is ok."
 4 "I am not ok, you are not ok," short for "There is something fundamentally wrong with me
 and other people are unreliable, untrustworthy, wrong in some way too."
 It's easy to see that the best place to come from is "'I am ok, you are ok!"

I am not ok, you are ok (Therefore the I am ok, you are ok (Therefore you and
best I can do is to get away from others or me can get on with being open with
hide myself) each other)

DEPRESSIVE POSITION GOOD LIFE POSITION

I am not ok, you are not ok I am ok, you are not ok
(Therefore there is no hope. I can never (Therefore I best get rid of you to be ok)
be ok nor could you give me what I need)
PARANOID POSITION
FUTILE POSITION

Applications of T.A.
Stroking – Stroking is defined as any act of recognition for another. People seek stoking in their
interaction with others. It applies to all type of recognition, such as physical, verbal and eye
contact between people. Strokes may be positive, negative, or mixed.
Positive strokes, when they are received contribute to a person's sense being OK.
Negative stokes hurt physically or emotionally and make us feel OK about ourselves. There also
is a difference between conditional and unconditional strokes. Conditional strokes are offered to
employees if they perform correctly or avoid problems. A Regional manager may promise" I will
give you a choice posting if you achieve the targets of advances, deposits and recovery and turn
around the branch". Unconditional strokes are presented without any connection to behaviour,
although they may make a person feel good (for example, "you're a good officer").

Benefits of TA – Organizations that have used TA approach were found moderately successful
training in TA can give employees fresh insights into their own personalities, and it also can help
them to understand why others sometimes respond as they do. A major benefit is improved
interpersonal communication. Employees in organization can sense when crossed
communication occurs and then take steps to restore complementary communication, preferably
in the Adult-to-Adult pattern. The result is a general improvement in interpersonal transactions.