Organizational Behavior – Introduction

Unit 1
Organizational Behavior (OB) can be defined as the understanding, prediction and
management of human behavior both individually or in a group that occur within
an organization.
Internal and external perspectives are the two theories of how organizational
behavior can be viewed from an organization’s point of view. In this tutorial, we
will be learning in detail about both the theories.
Importance of OB \ need to understand human behaviour
While working in an organization, it is very important to understand others
behavior as well as make others understand ours. In order to maintain a healthy
working environment, we need to adapt to the environment and understand the
goals we need to achieve. This can be done easily if we understand the
importance of OB.
Following points bring out the importance of OB −
 It helps in explaining the interpersonal relationships employees share with
each other as well as with their higher and lower subordinates.
 The prediction of individual behavior can be explained.
 It balances the cordial relationship in an enterprise by maintaining effective
communication.
 It assists in marketing.
 It helps managers to encourage their sub-ordinates.
 Any change within the organization can be made easier.
 It helps in predicting human behavior & their application to achieve
organizational goals.
 It helps in making the organization more effective.
Thus studying organizational behavior helps in recognizing the patterns of human
behavior and in turn throw light on how these patterns profoundly influence the
performance of an organization.

Organizational Behavior – Concepts

The concept of OB is based on two key elements namely −

 Nature of people
 Nature of the organization
Nature of People
In simple words, nature of people is the basic qualities of a person, or the
character that personifies an individual they can be similar or unique. Talking at
the organizational level, some major factors affecting the nature of people have
been highlighted. They are −
 Individual Difference − It is the managerial approach towards each
employee individually, that is one-on-one approach and not the statistical
approach, that is, avoidance of single rule. Example− Manager should not
be biased towards any particular employee rather should treat them
equally and try not to judge anyone on any other factor apart from their
work.
 Perception − It is a unique ability to observe, listen and conclude
something. It is believing in our senses. In short, the way we interpret
things and have our point of view is our perception. Example − Aman thinks
late night parties spoil youth while Anamika thinks late night parties are a
way of making new friends. Here we see both Aman and Anamika have
different perception about the same thing.
 A whole person − As we all know that a person’s skill or brain cannot be
employed we have to employee a whole person. Skill comes from
background and knowledge. Our personal life cannot be totally separated
from our work life, just like emotional conditions are not separable from
 physical conditions. So, people function is the functioning of a total human
being not a specific feature of human being.
 Motivated behavior − It is the behavior implanted or caused by some
motivation from some person, group or even a situation. In an organization,
we can see two different types of motivated employees −
o Positive motivation − Encouraging others to change their behavior or
say complete a task by luring them with promotions or any other
profits. Example − “If you complete this, you will gain this.”
o Negative motivation − Forcing or warning others to change their
behavior else there can be serious consequences. Example − “If you
don’t complete this, you will be deprived from the office.”
 Value of person − Employees want to be valued and appreciated for their
skills and abilities followed by opportunities which help them develop
themselves.
Nature of Organization
Nature of organization states the motive of the firm. It is the opportunities it
provides in the global market. It also defines the employees’ standard; in short, it
defines the character of the company by acting as a mirror reflection of the
company. We can understand the nature of any firm with its social system, the
mutual interest it shares and the work ethics.
Let us take a quick look at all these factors −
 Social system − Every organization socializes with other firms, their
customers, or simply the outer world, and all of its employees - their own
social roles and status. Their behavior is mainly influenced by their group as
well as individual drives. Social system are of two types namely −
o Formal − Groups formed by people working together in a firm or
people that belong to the same club is considered as formal social
system. Example − A success party after getting a project.
o Informal − A group of friends, people socializing with others freely,
enjoying, partying or chilling. Example − Birthday party.
  Mutual interest − Every organization needs people and people need
organizations to survive and prosper. Basically it’s a mutual understanding
between the organization and the employees that helps both reach their
respective objectives. Example − We deposit our money in the bank, in
return the bank gives us loan, interest, etc.
 Ethics − They are the moral principles of an individual, group, and
organization. In order to attract and keep valuable employees, ethical
treatment is necessary and some moral standards need to be set. In fact,
companies are now establishing code of ethics training reward for notable
ethical behavior.

Contributing disciplines to the Organisational Behaviour field

Organizational behaviour is an applied behavioural science that is built upon
contributions from a number of behavioural disciplines. The predominant areas
are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science

Psychology
– Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes
change the behaviour of humans and other animals.
– To use psychological and organizational theory and research to improve
organizational effectiveness and the work life of all individuals.
– psychologists concern themselves with studying and attempting to
understand individual behaviour
– learning, perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership
effectiveness, needs and motivational forces, job satisfaction, decision-making
process, performance appraisals, attitude measurement, employee selection
techniques, work design and job stress
Sociology
– Sociologists study the social system in which individuals fill their roles
– Sociology studies people in relation to their fellow human beings to
improve organizational performance.
– Study of group behaviour in organisations, group dynamics, design of work
teams, organisational culture, formal organisational theory and structure,
organisational technology, communications, power and conflict

Social psychology
– An area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology and
sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.
– Major area: change – how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its
acceptance
– Study areas: measuring, understanding and changing attitudes,
communication patters, building trust, the ways in which group activities can
satisfy individual needs, group decision-making processes

Anthropology
– The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
– Study on culture and environment has helped us understand differences in
fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviour between people in different
countries and within different organisations

Political science
– The study of the behaviour of individuals and groups within a political
environment
– Study areas: structuring of conflicts, allocations of power, how people
manipulate power for individual self-interest
Organizational Behavior - Models

Organizational behavior reflects the behavior of the people and management all
together, it is considered as field study not just a discipline. A discipline is an
accepted science that is based upon theoretical foundation, whereas OB is an
inter-disciplinary approach where knowledge from different disciplines like
psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. are included. It is used to solve
organizational problems, especially those related to human beings.

There are four different types of models in OB. We will throw some light on each
of these four models.
Autocratic Model
The root level of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority.
The employees in this model are oriented towards obedience and discipline. They
are dependent on their boss. The employee requirement that is met is
subsistence. The performance result is less.

The major drawbacks of this model are people are easily frustrated, insecurity,
dependency on the superiors, minimum performance because of minimum wage.

Custodial Model
The root level of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation
of money. The employees in this model are oriented towards security and benefits
provided to them. They are dependent on the organization. The employee
requirement that is met is security.

This model is adapted by firms having high resources as the name suggest. It is
dependent on economic resources. This approach directs to depend on firm
rather than on manager or boss. They give passive cooperation as they are
satisfied but not strongly encouraged.

Supportive Model
The root level of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support.
The employees in this model are oriented towards their job performance and
participation. The employee requirement that is met is status and recognition. The
performance result is awakened drives.

This model is dependent on leadership strive. It gives a climate to help employees

grow and accomplish the job in the interest of the organization. Management job
is to assist the employee’s job performance. Employees feel a sense of
participation.

Collegial Model
The root level of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of
teamwork. The employees in this model are oriented towards responsible
behavior and self-discipline. The employee requirement that is met is self-
actualization. The performance result is moderate zeal.

This is an extension of supportive model. The team work approach is adapted for
this model. Self-discipline is maintained. Workers feel an obligation to uphold
quality standard for the better image of the company. A sense of “accept” and
“respect” is seen.
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES OF ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR
The challenges and opportunities of organisational behaviour could be
understood through the following areas:
1. Understanding Global Organisational Behaviour: Globalisation reflects
abusiness orientation based on the belief that the world is becoming more
 homogeneous and that distinctions between national markets are not only
fading, but, for some products will eventually disappear. International firms
have found it necessary to institute formal global strategic planning to
provide a means for top management to identify opportunities and threats
from all over the world, formulate strategies to handle them and stipulate
how to finance the strategies of these implementation. Keeping these
changes in mind the challenges are to understand global organisational
behaviour.
The issues include:
o The creation of a global village
o Work force diversity
o Improving quality and productivity to match global standards
o Improving people skills
o Moving towards employee empowerment
o Improving ethical behaviour
o Multiculturalism and diversity.
2. Working with people from different cultures: To work effectively with people
from different cultures, you need to understand how their culture and
religion have shaped them and how they will respond to particular styles in
management. What motivates people from one culture may not be
appealing for people form another culture and this makes the work of a
manager more challenging.
3. Movement of jobs to countries with low cost labour: In a global economy,
jobs tend to flow to places where lower costs of labour provide business
firms with a comparative advantage. Jobs are moving from U.S.A and U.K
and other developed countries to developing countries like India and China.
This is a threat to managers from developed counties while it is an
opportunity for developing countries especially like India for we have a
talented people with good knowledge of the English language.
 4. Workforce Diversity: While globalisation focuses on differences between
people form different countries, workforce diversity addresses differences
among people within a given country. Workforce diversity means that
organisations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, age
race etc.
And rest from book lm Prasad pg 19

Unit 2

Organizational Behavior - Learning

Learning can be defined as the permanent change in behavior due to direct and
indirect experience. It means change in behavior, attitude due to education and
training, practice and experience. It is completed by acquisition of knowledge and
skills, which are relatively permanent.
Nature of Learning
Nature of learning means the characteristic features of learning. Learning involves
change; it may or may not guarantee improvement. It should be permanent in
nature, that is learning is for lifelong.
The change in behavior is the result of experience, practice and training. Learning
is reflected through behavior.
Factors Affecting Learning
Learning is based upon some key factors that decide what changes will be caused
by this experience. The key elements or the major factors that affect learning are
motivation, practice, environment, and mental group.
Coming back to these factors let us have a look on these factors −
 Motivation − The encouragement, the support one gets to complete a task,
to achieve a goal is known as motivation. It is a very important aspect of
 learning as it acts gives us a positive energy to complete a task. Example −
The coach motivated the players to win the match.
 Practice − We all know that ”Practice makes us perfect”. In order to be a
perfectionist or at least complete the task, it is very important to practice
what we have learnt. Example − We can be a programmer only when we
execute the codes we have written.
 Environment − We learn from our surroundings, we learn from the people
around us. They are of two types of environment – internal and
external. Example − A child when at home learns from the family which is
an internal environment, but when sent to school it is an external
environment.
 Mental group − It describes our thinking by the group of people we chose
to hang out with. In simple words, we make a group of those people with
whom we connect. It can be for a social cause where people with the same
mentality work in the same direction. Example− A group of readers,
travelers, etc.
These are the main factors that influence what a person learns, these are the root
level for our behavior and everything we do is connected to what we learn.
How Learning Occurs?
Learning can be understood clearly with the help of some theories that will
explain our behavior. Some of the remarkable theories are −
 Classical Conditioning Theory
 Operant Conditioning Theory
 Social Learning Theory
 Cognitive Learning Theory
Classical Conditioning Theory
The classical conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus is coupled with an
unconditioned stimulus. Usually, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is an impartial
stimulus like the sound of a tuning fork, the unconditioned stimulus (US) is
biologically effective like the taste of food and the unconditioned response (UR) to
the unconditioned stimulus is an unlearned reflex response like salivation or
sweating.
After this coupling process is repeated (for example, some learning may already
occur after a single coupling), an individual shows a conditioned response (CR) to
the conditioned stimulus, when the conditioned stimulus is presented alone. The
conditioned response is mostly similar to the unconditioned response, but unlike
the unconditioned response, it must be acquired through experience and is nearly
impermanent.

Operant Conditioning Theory

Operant conditioning theory is also known as instrumental conditioning. This
theory is a learning process in which behavior is sensitive to, or controlled by its
outcomes.
Let’s take an example of a child. A child may learn to open a box to get the candy
inside, or learn to avoid touching a hot stove. In comparison, the classical
conditioning develops a relationship between a stimulus and a behavior. The
example can be further elaborated as the child may learn to salivate at the sight of
candy, or to tremble at the sight of an angry parent.
In the 20th century, the study of animal learning was commanded by the analysis
of these two sorts of learning, and they are still at the core of behavior analysis.
Social Learning Theory
The key assumptions of social learning theory are as follows −
 Learning is not exactly behavioral, instead it is a cognitive process that takes
place in a social context.
 Learning can occur by observing a behavior and by observing the outcomes
of the behavior (known as vicarious reinforcement).
 Learning includes observation, extraction of information from those
observations, and making decisions regarding the performance of the
behavior (known as observational learning or modeling). Thus, learning can
occur beyond an observable change in behavior.
 Reinforcement plays an important role in learning but is not completely
responsible for learning.
 The learner is not a passive receiver of information. Understanding,
environment, and behavior all mutually influence each other.
Cognitive Learning Theory
Cognition defines a person’s ideas, thoughts, knowledge, interpretation,
understanding about himself and environment.
This theory considers learning as the outcome of deliberate thinking on a problem
or situation based upon known facts and responding in an objective and more
oriented manner. It perceives that a person learns the meaning of various objects
and events and also learns the response depending upon the meaning assigned to
the stimuli.
This theory debates that the learner forms a cognitive structure in memory which
stores organized information about the various events that occurs.
Learning & Organizational Behavior
An individual’s behavior in an organization is directly or indirectly affected by
learning.
Example − Employee skill, manager’s attitude are all learned.
Behavior can be improved by following the listed tips −
 Reducing absenteeism by rewarding employees for their fair attendance.
  Improving employee discipline by dealing with employee’s undesirable
behavior, drinking at workplace, stealing, coming late, etc. by taking
appropriate actions like oral reprimands, written warnings and suspension.
 Developing training programs more often so as to grab the trainees’
attention, provide required motivational properties etc.

Concept of Reinforcement in Organizational Behavior

Reinforcement is the attempt to develop or strengthen desirable behavior. There

are two types of reinforcement in organizational behavior: positive and negative.
Positive reinforcement strengthens and enhances behavior by the presentation of
positive reinforcers. There are primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers.
Primary reinforcers satisfy basic biological needs and include food and water.
However, primary reinforcers don not always reinforce. For instance, food may not
be a reinforcer to someone who has just completed a five course meal.
Most behaviors in organizations are influenced by secondary reinforcers. These
include such benefits as money, status, grades, trophies and praise from others.
These include such benefits as money, status, grades, trophies and praise from
others. These become positive reinforcers because of their associations with the
primary reinforcers and hence are often called conditioned reinforcers.

It should be noted that an event that functions as a positive reinforce at one time
or in one context may have a different effect at another time or in another place.
For example, food may serve as a positive reinforcer for a person who is hungry,
but not when the person, as stated above, has already a large meal. Clearly, a
stimulus that functions as a positive reinforcer for one person may fail to operate
in a similar manner for another person.
Within itself, positive reinforcement has several principles.
 The principle of contingent reinforcement states that the reinforcer must
be administered only if the desired behavior has occurred. A reinforcer
 administered when the desired behavior has not been performed becomes
ineffective.
 The principle of immediate reinforcement states that the reinforcer will be
most effective if administered immediately after the desired behavior has
occurred. The more time that elapses after the behavior occurs, the less
effective the reinforcer will be.
 The principle of reinforcement size stated that the larger the amount of
reinforcement delivered after the desired behavior, the more effect the
reinforcer will have on the frequency of the desired behavior. The amount
or size of reinforcer is relative. A reinforcer that may be insignificant to one
person may be significant to another person. Thus, the size of the reinforcer
must be determined in relation both to the behavior and the individual.
 The principle of reinforcement deprivation states that the more a person is
deprived of the reinforcer, the greater effect it will have on the future
occurrence of the desired behavior. However, if an individual recently has
had enough of a reinforcer and is satisfied the reinforcer will have less
effect.
In negative reinforcement, an unpleasant event that precedes a behavior is
removed when the desired behavior occurs. This procedure increases the
likelihood that the desired behavior will occur. Just as there are positive
reinforcers, there are the stimuli that strengthen responses that permit an
organism to avoid or escape from their presence. Thus, when we perform an
action that allows us to escape from a negative reinforcer that is already present
or to avoid the threatened application of one, our tendency to perform this action
in the future increases. Some negative reinforcers such as intense heat, extreme
cold, or electric shock, exert their effects the first time they are encountered,
whereas others acquire their impact through repeated association.
We see negative reinforcement in organizations and in personal life. Supervisors
apply negative reinforcement when they stop criticizing employees whose poor
performance has improved. By withholding the criticism, employees are more
likely to repeat behaviors that enhance their performance. Negative
reinforcement also occurs when parents give in to their children’s tantrums-
especially in public places, such as restaurants and shopping malls. Over time, the
parent’s tendency to give in may increase, because doing so stops screaming.
Thus, both positive and negative reinforcement are procedures that strengthen or
increase behavior. Positive reinforcement strengthens and increase behavior by
the presentation of desirable consequences. Negative reinforcement strengthens
and increases behavior by the threat of and the use of an undesirable
consequence or the termination or withdrawal of an undesirable consequence.
Negative reinforcement is sometimes confused with punishment, because both
use unpleasant stimuli to influence behavior. However, negative reinforcement is
used to increase the frequency of a desired behavior, where as punishment is
used to decrease the frequency of an undesired behavior.
Schedules of Reinforcement
Reinforcement, positive or negative, needs to be properly scheduled. Schedules of
reinforcement determine when reinforcers are applied. Psychologists have
identified several different schedules of reinforcement. When reinforcement is
administered uninterruptedly, it is called continuous reinforcement. Instead, in
organizations, reinforcers are administered following partial reinforcement
schedules. Four varieties of partial reinforcement schedules have great relevance
to organizations. They are
 Fixed interval schedule: It means providing reinforcement on a
predetermined, constant schedule. The first desired behavior to occur after
the interval has elapsed is reinforced. Eg: monthly pay cheque.
 Variable interval schedule: It also uses time as the basis for applying
reinforcement, but it varies the intervals between reinforcements.
 Fixed ratio schedule: Reinforcement is administered after the desired
behaviors occur a specified number of times. Eg: Piece rating.
 Variable ratio schedule: In this a certain number of desired behaviors must
occur before the reinforcer is delivered, but the number of behaviors varies
around some average. This type of reinforcement schedule provokes most
interest and is preferred by employees for some tasks. It tends to be the
most powerful of all the reinforcement schedules. Slot machines and a
 number of gambling devices operate on a variable ratio schedule. Most of
the time when people put a coin into the slot they lose. But, after some
unknown number of plays, the machine will payoff.

ATTITUDES ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR

Importance of Attitude in Organisational Behaviour

Let us understand the importance and nature of attitude. Learn and understand
the difference between the attitude, opinion, value etc. and many more in this
segment.
Nature of Attitude
An attitude may be defined as a tendency to react positively or negatively in
regard to an object. For example, a person who has a positive attitude towards the
religion is likely to enjoy going to worship services, believe that the religious
institutions fosters morality, and may, therefore, contribute to its financial
support.
An attitude is always directed toward some object, such as the temple, school etc.
The object may be of general social significance, such as labour-management
relations, or it may be purely personal, such as a feeling about playing cricket or
football. Moreover, the object of an attitude may be as abstract as the philosophy
of re-birth or as concrete as a car. An attitude is a tendency to react in a certain
way. That is, a person who has an attitude has a readiness or a disposition to react
favorably or unfavorably to anyone of a large variety of related situations. Until
some situation arouses it, however, the attitude is latent. For example, a man who
has a patriotic attitude toward his country is not continuously aroused about it.
But his patriotic attitude arouses his country is threatened from an external
aggression or if the National Anthem is sung, and so on.
Attitudes are for or against things. We tend to have favorable attitudes toward
sources of gratification and unfavorable attitudes toward sources of punishment
and frustration. It is possible, of course, that our attitudes toward an object may
not be uniformly favorable or unfavorable. For example, we may admire and
respect American technical accomplishments and yet resent other aspects of its
system.
Attitudes and Values
Value is defined as a “concept of the desirable, an internalised criterion or
standard of evaluation a person possesses.” Such concepts and standards are
relatively few and determine our guide an individual’s evaluations of the many
objects encountered in everyday life. Values are tinged with moral flavour,
involving an individual’s judgment of what is right, good or desirable. Thus values
–
1. provide standards of competence and morality,
2. are fewer in number than attitudes,
3. transcend specific objects, situations or persons,
4. are relatively permanent and resistant to change, and
5. are most central to the core of a person.
There are differences between values and attitudes. Attitudes essentially
represent predisposition to respond. Values focus on the judgment of what ought
to be. This judgment can represent the specific manifestation of a determining
tendency below the surface of the behaviour. Attitudes represent several beliefs
focussed on a specific object or situation.Value,on the other hand, represents a
single belief that transcendentally guides actions and judgments across objects
and situations. Finally, a value stands in relation to some social or cultural
standards or norms while attitudes are mostly personal experiences. There are
similarities between values and attitudes. Both are powerful instruments
influencing cognitive process and behaviour of people. Both are learned and
acquired from the same source – experiences with people and objects. Values and
attitudes are relatively permanent and resistant to change. Finally, values and
attitudes influence each, other and are, more often than not, used
interchangeable.
Attitude Formation
The question often arises “Where do attitudes come from?” Attitudes are basically
learned. People are not born with specific attitudes; rather they acquire them
through the “process of sources of attitudes are learning”. Attitudes reflect a
person’s previous reinforcement history. The sources of a person’s attitude are a
mixture of –
1. Personal experiences
2. Association
3. Family
4. Peer groups and society
5. Models and
6. Institutional factors.
1. Personal Experiences: People form attitudes by coming in direct contact
with an attitude object. By the time a person goes for work in a specified
Organisation, he holds many attitudes toward the type of the job that is
acceptable to him, the expected pay, working conditions and supervision.
Through job experiences they develop attitudes about such factors as
salary, performance reviews, job design, work group, affiliation and
managerial capabilities etc. Previous work experience can account for the
individual differences in attitudes such as loyalty, commitments,
performance etc. Many mangers in work organisations frequently notice
these differences in attitudes.

2. Association: People are highly influenced by the major groups or

associations to which they belong. Geographic region, religion, educational
background, race, sex, age and income- class–all strongly influence
attitudes. The nearer the group the stronger is the group influence on the
attitudes of the individual.
3. Family: Family is the primary group that an individual belongs to. Family
exerts influence on the initial core of attitudes held by an individual.
Individuals develop certain attitudes from family members–parents,
brothers, sisters etc. The family characteristics influence the individual’s
early attitude patterns. Researchers have found a high degree of
relationship between parents and children in attitudes than they found
between children and their peers. They also empirically observed low
correlation between attitudes of the children and their teachers.

4. Peer Groups: As people approach their adulthood, they increasingly rely on

their peer groups for approval /attitude. How others judge an individual
largely determine his selfimage and approval-seeking behaviour. Social class
and religious affiliation also play vital role in forming attitudes of an
individual. The culture, language, and the structure of society, all provide an
individual with the boundaries of his initial attitudes. At the very early age
an individual is taught that certain attitudes are acceptable and certain
others are non- acceptable in the society. What seem to be appropriate in
one individual’s culture and society may be totally unacceptable in another
culture.

5. Models:Some of the attitudes are developed through imitation of models.

The process is something like this: In a particular situation, we see how
another person behaves. We correctly or incorrectly interpret his behaviour
as representing certain attitudes and beliefs. If we identify with him and
respect his judgment, we tend to accept his way of perceiving and feeling
about the situation. Children are often quite observant about how their
parents react to different people and situations.They learn by watching
whom their parent’s respect, which they treat with condescension, whom
they regard as friends, and whom they dislike. Such evaluations maybe
acquired without the child’s directly interacting with such people. Instead of
using a simple model, children (and adults) may seek to emulate different
 characteristics of different people. In this way their values, attitudes, and
beliefs may be derived from many other people. Those that are functional
for them tend to be retained.

6. Institutional Factors: Many institutional factors function as sources and

support of our attitudes and beliefs. For example, when people come into
this temple, they bow down to pray, sit with heads bowed.Their clothes are
clean and freshly washed. The entire process is devoted to ritual. From this
we can get an idea as to the general character of the religious attitudes and
beliefs. There is implicit attitude of reverence, an orientation toward a deity,
a ritualized rather than spontaneous expression of feeling, a sharp
differentiation between Pujari and devotees and so on. The different parts
of the institution – the architecture, furnishings, people’s clothing, and
behaviour–have a meaning which fits in with certain beliefs and attitudes.
There are many other institutions in our society – schools, military
organisations, and the like – which also function as sources and supports of
attitudes and beliefs.
Rest from the book lm Prasad

Personality
The word personality is derived from a Greek word “persona” which means “to
speak through.” Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that
forms a person’s unique identity. It signifies the role which a person plays in
public. Every individual has a unique, personal and major determinant of his
behavior that defines his/her personality.
Personality trait is basically influenced by two major features −
 Inherited characteristics
 Learned characteristics
Inherited Characteristics
The features an individual acquires from their parents or forefathers, in other
words the gifted features an individual possesses by birth is considered as
inherited characteristics. It consists of the following features −
 Color of a person’s eye
 Religion/Race of a person
 Shape of the nose
 Shape of earlobes
Learned Characteristics
Nobody learns everything by birth. First, our school is our home, then our society,
followed by educational institutes. The characteristics an individual acquires by
observing, practicing, and learning from others and the surroundings is known as
learned characteristics.
Learned characteristics includes the following features −
 Perception − Result of different senses like feeling, hearing etc.
 Values − Influences perception of a situation, decision making process.
 Personality − Patterns of thinking, feeling, understanding and behaving.
 Attitude − Positive or negative attitude like expressing one’s thought.
Traits of Personality
Personality traits are the enduring features that define an individual’s behavior. A
personality trait is a unique feature in an individual. Psychologists resolved that
there are five major personality traits and every individual can be categorized into
at least one of them. These five personality traits are −
 Extrovert
 Neurotic
 Open
 Agreeable
 Conscientious
Determinants of Personality
The major determinants of personality of an individual can be studied under four
broad headings
a. Biological
b. Cultural
c. Familial
d. Situation.
Biological Factors
Biological factors may be studied under three heads –
 The heredity
 The brain
 Physical features
Heredity
The relative effects of heredity comprise an extremely old argument in personality
theory. Certain characteristics, primarily physical in nature, are inherited from
one’s parents, transmitted by genes in the chromosomes contributed by each
parent.
Research on animals has showed that physical and psychological characteristics
can be transmitted through heredity. But research on human beings is inadequate
to support this viewpoint. However, psychologists and geneticists have accepted
the fact that heredity plays an important role in one’s personality. The importance
of heredity varies from one personality trait to another. For instance, heredity is
generally more important in determining a person’s temperament than values and
ideals.
Brain
Another biological factor that influences personality is the role of the brain of an
individual. The psychologists are unable to prove empirically the contribution of
human brain in influencing personality. Preliminary results from the electrical
stimulation of the brain (ESB) research gives indication that better understanding
of human personality and behaviour might come from the study of the brain.
Physical features
Perhaps the most outstanding factor that contributes to personality is the physical
stature of an individual. An individual’s external appearance is proved to be having
a tremendous effect on his personality. For instance the fact that a person is short
or tall, fat or skinny, handsome or ugly, black or whitish will undoubtedly influence
the person’s effect on others and in turn, will affect the self-concept. A person’s
physical characteristics may be related to his approach to the social environment,
to the expectancies of others, and to their reactions, to him. These in turn may
have impacts on personality development. Psychologists contend that the
different rates of maturation will also influence an individual’s personality.
Cultural Factors
Culture is traditionally considered as the major determinant of an individual’s
personality. The culture largely determines what a person is and what a person
will learn. The culture within which a person is brought up is very important
determinant of behaviour of a person. The personality of an individual, to a
marked extent, is determined by the culture in which he is brought up. According
to Mussen “...each culture expects, and trains, its members to behave in the ways
that are acceptable to the group.” In spite of the importance of the culture on
personality, researchers are unable to establish correlation between these two
concepts of personality and culture.
Family and Social Factors
In order to understand the effects of a family on individual’s personality, we have
to understand the socialisation process and identification process.
1. Socialisation Process
The contribution of family and social group in combination with the culture is
known as socialisation. In the words of Mussen “socialisation is the process by
which an individual infant acquires, from the enormously wide range of
behavioural, potentials that are open to him at birth, those behavioural patterns
that are customary and acceptable according to the standards of his family and
social group.” Socialization initially starts with the contact with mother and later
on the other members of the family (father, sisters, close-relatives) and the social
group play influential role in shaping an individual’s personality.
2. Identification process
Identification starts when a person begins to identify himself with some other
members of the family. Normally a child tries to emulate certain actions of his
parents. Identification process can be examined from three angles: (a) it can be
viewed as the similarity of behaviour between child and the model, and (b) it can
be looked as the child’s motives or desires to be like the model and (c) it can be
viewed as the process through which the child actually takes on the attributes of
the model.

Personality traits from book lm Prasad

Organizational Behavior – Perception

Perception is an intellectual process of transforming sensory stimuli to meaningful

information. It is the process of interpreting something that we see or hear in our
mind and use it later to judge and give a verdict on a situation, person, group etc.
It can be divided into six types −
 Of sound − The ability to receive sound by identifying vibrations.
 Of speech − The competence of interpreting and understanding the sounds
of language heard.
 Touch − Identifying objects through patterns of its surface by touching it.
 Taste − The ability to receive flavor of substances by tasting it through
sensory organs known as taste buds.
  Other senses − They approve perception through body, like balance,
acceleration, pain, time, sensation felt in throat and lungs etc.
 Of the social world − It permits people to understand other individuals and
groups of their social world. Example − Priya goes to a restaurant and likes
their customer service, so she will perceive that it is a good place to hang
out and will recommend it to her friends, who may or may not like it. Priya’s
perception about the restaurant is good.
Perceptual Process
Perceptual process are the different stages of perception we go through. The
different stages are −
 Receiving
 Selecting
 Organizing
 Interpreting
Receiving
Receiving is the first and most important stage in the process of perception. It is
the initial stage in which a person collects all information and receives the
information through the sense organs.
Selecting
Selecting is the second stage in the process. Here a person doesn’t receive the
data randomly but selectively. A person selects some information out of all in
accordance with his interest or needs. The selection of data is dominated by
various external and internal factors.
 External factors − The factors that influence the perception of an individual
externally are intensity, size, contrast, movement, repetition, familiarity, and
novelty.
 Internal factors − The factors that influence the perception of an individual
internally are psychological requirements, learning, background,
experience, self-acceptance, and interest.
Organizing
Keeping things in order or say in a synchronized way is organizing. In order to
make sense of the data received, it is important to organize them.
We can organize the data by −
 Grouping them on the basis of their similarity, proximity, closure, continuity.
 Establishing a figure ground is the basic process in perception. Here by
figure we mean what is kept as main focus and by ground we mean
background stimuli, which are not given attention.
 Perceptual constancy that is the tendency to stabilize perception so that
contextual changes don’t affect them.
Interpreting
Finally, we have the process of interpreting which means forming an idea about a
particular object depending upon the need or interest. Interpretation means that
the information we have sensed and organized, is finally given a meaning by
turning it into something that can be categorized. It includes stereotyping, halo
effect etc.
Importance of Perception in OB
We need to understand what the role of perception in an organization is. It is very
important in establishing different role of perceptions like −
 Understanding the tasks to be performed.
 Understanding associated importance of tasks allotted.
 Understanding preferred behavior to complete respective tasks.
 Clarifying role perceptions.
For example, every member in a group has to be clear regarding the role allotted
to them. Programmer writes the code, tester checks it, etc.
Understanding Interpersonal Behavior in Organisation

A few definitions of transactional analysis are as given below:

“Transactional analysis (TA) is a technique used to help people better understands
their own and other’s behaviour, especially in interpersonal relationships.”
“TA refers to a method of analyzing and understanding interpersonal behaviour.
TA offers a model of personality and the dynamics of self and its relationship to
others that makes possible a clear and meaningful discussion of behaviour.”
After Eric Berne, this concept was made popular by Thomas A. Harris, Munel
James and Dorothy Jongeward and Abe Wagner. In later years Jongeward and
Wagner have shown how the concepts of TA can be applied to organisations for
analyzing interpersonal communication and related to the work of other theories
such as Douglas McGregor and Rensis Likert.
TA is primarily concerned with the following:
(i) Analysis of Self Awareness
(ii) Analysis of Ego states
(iii) Analysis of Transactions
(iv) Script analysis
(v) Games analysis
(vi) Analysis of life positions
(vii) Stroking
Analysis of Self Awareness:
The interpersonal relationships are composed of inter-self. Self is the core of
personality pattern which provides integration. This relationship can be studied
properly if a person can perceive his own behavioural style and at the same time
how it is perceived by others. Self awareness is a cognitive concept; it describes
the self in terms of image, both conscious and unconscious. Joseph Luft and
Harrington Ingham have developed a diagram to look at one’s personality
including behaviours and attitudes that can be known and unknown to self and
known and unknown to others. They named this diagram the Johari window.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
This Johari window comprising of four quadrants is shown in the following
diagram.
1. The Open Self:
The open quadrant refers to the behaviours, feelings and motivations of an
individual which are known to self and also known to others in any specific
organisational setting. Some individuals are straight forward, open and sharing. He
himself is very clear about what he is doing, what he is feeling and what his
motivations are. Similarly others are also very clear about his actions, feelings and
motivations. In such type of interpersonal relationship, chances of conflict, if any,
will be very little.

2. The Blind Self:

The blind self quadrant is unknown to self but known to others. Other people
know what is happening to a person, but he himself is unaware of it. Very often
such blind behaviour is copied by individuals from certain significant people
unconsciously right since the childhood.
Since such a behaviour is copied unconsciously, people may not be aware of it.
Another reason for this unawareness is that other people are not willing to be
open and do not give relevant feed back to the person concerned. Even if there is
a verbal or non-verbal response in the system, the individual may not be in a
position to perceive it. There are chances of interpersonal conflict in this situation.
Jongeward and Seyer observes that, “Subtle bars to our personal effectiveness are
often our blind quadrant. We may speak in a certain way with a tone of voice, a
look on our face-a gesture-that we are blind to, but other people are acutely
aware of it. In fact, our manner can affect how they perceive us and they believe
they can interact with us.”
3. The Hidden Self:
The hidden self is the quadrant which is known to self but not known to others.
This is a very private and personal window because only the person concerned
knows what is happening. The individual is aware about the hidden self but does
not want to share it with others. People learn to hide their feeling and ideas right
from the childhood. Other people in the system are unable to perceive the verbal
and non-verbal behaviour of the person in quadrant. Like blind self, chances of
interpersonal conflict are there is this situation.
4. The Unknown Self:
This quadrant is unknown to self and unknown to others. The unknown self is
mysterious in nature. Sometimes feelings and motivation go so deep that no one
including the person concerned knows about them. In Freudian Psychology, this
would be called the subconscious or unconscious. Many times only a small portion
of motivation is clearly visible or conscious to oneself. People experience
unknown parts of life in dreams or deep rooted fears or compulsions. In such
situations, misunderstanding and interpersonal conflict is almost sure to result.

Analysis of EGO States:

The ego plays an important role in human behaviour. “An ego state is a pattern of
behaviour that a person develops as he or she grows, based on his or her
accumulated network of feelings and experiences.” People interact with each
other in terms of psychological positions or behavioural patterns known as ego
states. Ego states are person’s way of thinking, feeling and behaving at anytime.
Sigmund Freud was the first to believe that there are three sources within human
personality that stimulate, monitor and control behaviour. TA uses Freudian
psychoanalytic theory as background for identifying three important ego states;
child, adult and parent. These three ego states have nothing to do with the
chronological age of the persons; they are related only with psychological age. A
person of any age can have these ego states in varying degrees.
BERNE states that “although we cannot directly observe these ego states, we can
observe behaviour and from this infer which of the three ego states are operating
at that moment.”
A healthy person is able to move from one ego state to another. Further, these
three ego states are not like Freud’s Id, ego and super ego. They are based on real
world behaviour.
These three ego states are shown in the following figure:

1. Parent Ego:
The parent ego state means that the values, attitudes and behaviours of parents
become an integral part of the personality of an individual. By parents, we do not
mean the natural parents but all those emotionally significant people like elder
brothers, and sisters, school teachers, elder relatives or friends, who served as
parent figure when an individual was a child. The attitudes, behaviours, values and
habits of these people are recorded in the mind of the individual and these
become the basis of this personality.
The characteristics of a person with parent ego are:
(i) Judgmental
(ii) Value laden
(iii) Rule maker
(iv) Moralizing
(v) Over protective
(vi) Distant
(vii) Dogmatic
(viii)Indispensable
(ix) Upright
Parent ego is expressed by giving advice, admonitions, do’s and don’ts, showing
displeasure, reliance on the ways which were successful in the past etc. These
people tend to talk down to people and treat others like children.
There are two types of parent ego states:
(i) Nurturing Parent Ego:
Nurturing parent ego state reflects sympathetic, protective and nurturing
behaviour not only towards children but also to other people in interaction.
(ii) Critical Parent Ego:
Critical parent ego state shows critical and evaluative behaviour in interaction with
others. This ego state attacks people’s personalities as well as their behaviour.
They are always ready to respond with a should or ought to almost anything
people tell them. Each individual has his unequal parent ego state which is likely
to be a mixture of helpfulness (Nurturing state ego) and hurtfulness (Critical ego
state). People with parent ego “state have more choice over their actions.
2. Adult Ego:
The adult ego state is authentic, direct, reality based, rational, fact seeking and
problem solving. People interacting with adult ego; do not act impulsively or in a
domineering style. They assume human beings as equal, worthy and responsible.
The process of adult ego state formation goes through one’s own experiences and
continuously updating parental prejudices or attitudes left over from childhood.
Though certain values which are formed in the childhood are rarely erased, an
individual at the later stage of the life may block his child and parent ego states
and use his adult ego only based on his experiences. He updates the parent data
to determine what is valid and what is not. Similarly, he updates the child data to
determine which feelings should be expressed.
Thus, people, with adult ego state, gather relevant information, carefully analyze
it, generate alternatives and make logical choices. This ego state can be identified
by verbal and physical signs which include thoughtful concentration and factual
discussion.
3. Child Ego:
The child ego state is the inner world of feelings, experiences and adaptations. In
each case, the child ego is characterised by very immature behaviour.
The characteristics of child ego state are:
(i) Creativity
(ii) Conformity
(iii) Anxiety
(iv) Depression
(v) Dependence
(vi) Fear
(vii) Joy
(viii) Emotional Sentimental
(ix) Submissive
(x) Insubordinate and rebellious
Physical and verbal clues that a person is acting in the child ego are silent
compliance, attention seeking, temper tantrums, giggling and coyness. Child ego
state reflects early childhood conditions and experiences perceived by individuals
in their early years of life that is up to the age of 5 years.
There are several forms of the child ego states are:
(i) Natural Child:
The natural child is affectionate, impulsive, sensuous, uncensored and curious.
Nevertheless, he is also fearful, self indulgent, self centred, rebellious and
aggressive and may emerge in many unpleasant roles.
(ii) The Little Professor:
The little professor is intuitive, creative and manipulative. He responds to non-
verbal messages and play hunches. He can figure things out and believes in magic.
People who express their creativity purposefully use their little professor in
conjunction with their adult ego state.
(iii) The Adaptive Child:
The adaptive child is the trained one and he is likely to do what parents insist on
and sometimes learn to feel non O.K. The adapted child when overtly inhibited,
often becomes the troubled part of the personality.
Each person may respond to specific situations in quite distinct ways from each
ego state. ABE WAGNER is of the opinion that a healthy person has a personality
that maintains a balance among all three. However, practically speaking, it would
be difficult. If not impossible to maintain a balance among all the three ego states.
An ego state from which a person behaves would depend upon, to an extent
situation in which an individual operates at that particular moment. Sometimes,
these ego states harmonise whereas sometimes they are in conflict. Some people
respond with one ego state more than they do with other ego states.
Analysis of Transactions:
A transaction is a basic unit of social interaction. The heart of transactional
analysis is the study and diagramming of the exchanges between two persons.
Thus, where a verbal or non verbal stimulus from one person is being responded
by another person, a transaction occurs. T.A. can help us to determine which ego
state is most heavily influencing our behaviour and the behaviour of the other
people with whom we interact.
Types of transactions
Depending on the ego states of the persons involved in transactions, there may
be three types of transactions:
(i) Complementary transactions
(ii) Crossed transaction
(iii) Ulterior transactions.
(I) Complementary Transactions:
Complementary transactions are those where the ego states of the sender and
the receiver in the opening transaction are simply reversed in the response. In
these transactions stimulus and response patterns from one ego state to another
are parallel. The message by one person gets the predicted response from the
other person. There can be nine complementary transactions:
1. Adult-Adult Transactions:
In these transactions, the manager and his subordinate interact with each other
from adult-adult ego. This is an ideal transaction. Complementary transactions in
these ego states are psychologically mature and effective because both the boss
and the subordinate are acting in a rational manner. Both are attempting to
concentrate on problems, developing alternatives and trying to choose the best
possible alternative to solve the problem.
Adult-Adult transaction is presented in the following figure:

However, there are some inherent problems in this transaction. At times, these
transactions may prevent reaching any decisions because of rational data
processing procedure and a deadline may emerge. Moreover, the absence of child
ego state may make the transactions dull due to the lack of stimulation a child can
provide. In such situations, the boss may move to the parent ego state to take a
decision to solve the problems. In-spite of these problems, this type of transaction
is generally considered best from the organisational point of view.
2. Adult-Parent Transaction:
In adult parent transaction, the manager has the adult ego and he attempts to use
the information he himself has processed. On the other hand, the subordinate has
the parent ego and he prefers to use the clicks and rules of the past. The
employee’s parent ego tries to control and dominate the boss. This type of
transaction can be effective only on a temporary basis and it can help a new
manager in understanding the rules and guidelines under which his subordinate
operates.
The following figure presents the Adult-parent transaction:

There can be a lot of problems in this type of transactions. In the long run the
employee with the parent ego may have hostile feelings towards the managers
with adult ego. Such problems can be further aggravated if the other employees
working in the organisation have child ego and they are under the influence of the
employee with the parent ego. As he may be having better interaction with the
employees with child ego, the employee with the parent ego can come into direct
conflict with the manager with adult ego.
3. Adult-Child Transaction:
An adult child transaction occurs when the manager has an adult ego but the
subordinate has a child ego as shown in the following figure:

Such a transaction can be effective only if the manager is aware of the child ego
state of the employee. Further, he must be aware that what type of child ego state
the employees is in. If the subordinate has the little professor style child ego, the
manager can allow the employee to be creative. But the problems in this
interaction may arise if the employee behaves irrationally because of his child ego.
Another problem may arise if the manager assumes the employee to be in adult
ego, whereas he is in child ego. This may create frustration both for the manager
and his subordinate.
4. Parent-Parent Transaction:
If the manager has got a parent ego, he will be characterised by admonitions,
rewards, rules criticisms and praise depending upon whether he has a nurturing
or a critical parent ego. As, on the other hand, the subordinate has also got a
parent ego, this transaction can be effective only if the subordinate joins hands
with the manager and supports him.
Such a transaction can lead to some problems also. There will be unnecessary
competition between manager and the subordinate. The manager will want to
enforce his own ideas, whereas the employee will like to promote his own ideas
rather than that of the manager.
5. Parent -Adult Transaction:
In such type of transaction, the boss has got a parent ego whereas the
subordinate has got an adult ego as shown in the following figure:
Such a relationship may not last for a long period because they will be frustration
on both the sides. The manager will feel frustrated because the employee will not
act as directed. The employer will feel frustrated because of the manager’s failure
to act as an adult.

6. Parent-Child Transactions:
The parent-child transaction is considered the ideal situation. The manager will be
satisfied because he can dictate his own terms. The employee will be satisfied
because he will escape from responsibility and pressure. The child ego in the
subordinate presents much conflict and there will be chances of smooth working
in the organisation.
In the long run, this transaction will not be advantageous. The manager will start
having the feeling that the employee is not capable of doing anything on his own.
The employee will start becoming frustrated because he may feel that his
personality is not developed and this interaction has made him surrender his adult
ego.
7. Child-Parent Transaction:
This is not a very effective style of transaction. The manager with the child ego
may be creative, but the role of the manager goes beyond creativity. In the child-
parent transaction, there is a reversal of roles and the employee controls the
manager. As the parent ego is strong and overbearing, the manager will yield to
the employee. The manager will always perceive the employee as a threat
because in his mind there will always be a fear of ridicule, loss of popularity and
even of demotion.

8. Child-Adult Transaction:
When the manager has a child ego and the employee has an adult ego, the adult
employee will control the child manager.
The child ego in the manager will discourage the employees, particularly, when
decisions are made by the manager on the basis of his whims, fancies and
emotions. This will pose problems for the adult employees who want to interact
on the basis of their rationality. The organisation may lose many good employees
particularly those who want to act on the basis of their rationality but their
managers have got a child ego.
9. Child-Child Transaction:
When the manager has got a child ego and the employees have also got a child
ego, the transaction will not be long lasting. The manager in such a transaction
will not be able to lead the employees successfully and will prove to be a liability
to the organisation. Because of their child egos, both the employees and the
manager will act on their whims and fancies. It will jeopardies the performance of
the organisation. Whenever there is a review of the situation by the management,
steps will be taken to change this situation.

From the above discussion it is clear that all the complementary transactions are
not ideal for the organisation or for the people concerned. Adult-Adult
transactions are good from the organisational and people’s point of view. In some
circumstances, parent-child complementary transactions may also prove to be
good.
(II) Crossed Transactions:
A crossed or non-complementary transaction is one in which the sender sends a
message or exhibits a behaviour on the basis of his ego state, but this message or
behaviour is reacted to by an un-compatible and unexpected ego state on the part
of the receiver. Such transactions occur when the stimulus and response are not
parallel.
The following figure depicts one cross transaction, which may occur in an
organisational system:

In this case, the manager tries to deal with the employee on adult to adult basis,
but the employee responds on child to parent basis and the communication is
blocked. Crossed transactions should be avoided as far as possible. Whenever
such transactions occur, communication tends to be blocked and a satisfactory
transaction is not accomplished. Conflicts often follow soon afterwards. The
conflicts may cause hurt feelings and frustration on the part of the parties
involved and possible dysfunctional accomplishments for the organisation.
(III) Ulterior Transaction:
Ulterior transactions are the most complex because unlike complementary and
crossed transactions, they always involve more than two ego states and the
communication has double meaning. An ulterior transaction occurs when a
person appears to be sending one type of message but is secretly sending another
message. Thus, the real message is often disguised in a socially acceptable way.
On the surface level, the communication has a clear adult language, whereas on
the psychological level it carries a hidden message. Just like crossed transactions,
ulterior transactions are also undesirable.
Analysis of Life Positions:
In the process of growing up, people make basic assumptions about their own self
worth as well as about the worth of significant people in their environment. These
assumptions tend to remain with the person for life, unless major experiences
occur to change them. Harris called the combination of assumptions about self
and the other person, a LIFE POSITION.
Transactional analysis constructs the following classifications of the four
possible life positions or psychological positions:
(i) I am OK, you are OK
(ii) I am OK, you are not OK
(iii) I am not OK, you are OK
(iv) I am not OK, you are not OK.
These life positions can be shown with the help of the following figure also.

1. I am OK-You are OK:

This is a rationally chosen and mentally healthy position. It appears to be an ideal
life position. People with this type of life position have confidence in themselves
as well as trust and confidence in others. They accept the significance of other
people and feel that life is worth living. The people who have this position behave
from adult, nurturing parent and happy child ego state.
When managers have this type of position, they have complete confidence and
trust in their subordinates. They display a very high level of mutual give and take.
They delegate authority throughout the organisation. These managers encourage
free flow of communication not only up and down the hierarchy but among the
peers also. In short, people with these feelings have positive outlooks on life. They
seem to be happy-active people who succeed in whatever they do.
2. I am OK-You are not OK:
This is a distrustful psychological position. This position is taken by people who
feel victimized or prosecuted. They blame others for their miseries. This is the
attitude of those people, who think that whatever they do is correct. Such
behaviour is the outcome of a situation in which the child was seriously neglected
and ignored by his parents in his childhood. Criminals often have this position,
based on rebellious child ego, which in extreme cases may lead to homicide also.
In his life position, people operate from critical Parent Ego.
Managers operating with this position will always be negative and will give critical
and oppressive remarks. They tend to point out the flaws, the bad things, rarely
giving any positive feelings. They feel that workers are lazy, irresponsible and
untruthful; therefore, they need to be closely controlled and often coerced to
achieve organisational objectives. They do not delegate any authority and feel
that decentralization is a threat.
3. I am not OK-You are OK:
This is a common position for those people who feel powerless when they
compare themselves to others. People with this position always feel themselves at
the mercy of others and grumble for one thing or the other. They have a tendency
to withdraw, experience depression and in extreme cases become suicidal. People
who have this position operate from child ego state.
Managers operating from this position, tend to give and receive bad feelings. They
use these had feelings as an excuse to act against others. But when the whole
thing comes out, they feel guilty for their acts and turn their bad feelings against
themselves. These people are often, unpredictable and erratic.
4. I am not OK-You are not OK:
People in this position tend to feel bad about themselves and see the whole world
as miserable. These people tend to give up. They do not trust others and have no
confidence in themselves. This is a desperate life position. In extreme cases these
people commit suicide or homicide. This is the case of individuals who were
seriously neglected by their parents in their childhood and were brought up by
servants. At times, persons with this life position begin to use intoxicated drugs.
Managers who operate from this position are not competent, energetic, efficient
and effective. They are indecisive, confused and make stupid mistakes. They
provoke others to give them negative strokes in order to relieve themselves for
stresses and strains.
One of the above four life positions dominates each person’s life. The desirable
position and the one that involves the greatest likelihood of adult to adult
transaction is “I am OK-you are OK”. It shows healthy acceptance of self and
others. The other three life positions are less mature and less effective. However,
regardless of one’s present life position, the “I am OK-you are OK” position can be
learnt. If all the people in the society operate from this life position, there will be
hope for improved interpersonal transactions.