UNIT II INDIVIDUAL PROCESSES

Personality – types – Factors influencing personality– Theories. Emotions - Theories – Emotional

Intelligence- Learning – Types of learners – The learning process – Learning theories.
Perceptions – Importance – Factors influencing perception- Attitudes – Nature of Attitudes
Components of Attitudes Formation of Attitude Benefits of Positive Attitude Functions of
Attitudes– Measurement-Motivation – Importance – Types – Theories.

PERSONALITY
The term personality has been derived from Latin word “personnare” which means to
speak through. Personality is traditionally refers to how people influence others through their
external appearances. Gorden Allport defines ―Personality is the dynamic organization within
an individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his
environment‖.
• MEANING AND DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY
The word personality is derived from Latin word called “persona” means a “mask” or
“personare” means “to speak through”. Personality is the characteristics, qualities, skills,
competencies and outward appearances of individuals. In other words, personality is a way to
respond people, situations, and things that are consistent (more or less). In short, Personality is the
psychological factor that influences individual behavior.
Many people view the term personality in the following ways:- According to Gordon
Allport – “personality is the set of traits and behaviors that characterize an individual”.
According to Stephen Robbins – “Personality is a dynamic and organized set of
characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations,
and behavior in various situations”.
According to Lawrence Ervin – “Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological
attributes that distinguish one person from another”.
According to R B Cattel – “Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do
in a given situation”.
According to Munn – “Personality as the most characteristic integration of an individual’s
structure, modes of behavior, interest, attitude, capacities, abilities, and aptitudes”.

Personality is a complex, multi-dimensional construct and there is no simple definition of

what personality is. 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". From the above definition we can infer that all individuals have some universally
common characteristics.

People tend to have a general notion that personality refers to a personal appearance with
charming smile, or outlook. But psychologists view the concept as dynamic in nature concerned
with growth and development of a person‟s whole psychological system.

Personality can be defined as the consistent psychological patterns within an individual that
affect the way they interact with others and the situations they encounter. Personality is defined as
relatively stable and enduring characteristics that determine our thoughts, feelings and behavior.
Personality is a complex phenomenon and there are various perspectives of personality construct.

Personality―Relatively stable pattern of behaviours and consistent internal states that explain
a person's behavioural tendencies The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and
interacts with others.
Mean how people affect others and how they understand and view themselves, as well as
their pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and Person-situation interaction.
TYPES OF PERSONALITY
Since the days of Ancient Greece it was confirmed that there are four different types of
personality :-
 Sanguine type This type of personality characterized by spontaneity, optimism, enthusiasm,
high energy, mental flexibility and curiosity. These people often have very express”, “fun”,
“active”, “travel” and similar.
 Phlegmatic type These people are mainly defined by their social skills, such as their ability
to express themselves and read other people face expressions and body language. They are
nurturing, sympathetic, agreeable and emotionally expressive.
 Choleric type These people are direct, focused, tough, analytical, logical and strategic. They
have a great deal of courage and like to complete.
 Melancholic type Melancholic tend to be calm, loyal and orderly, just as their personality
name sounds. They are cautious and conventional. Their favorite words are “family”,
“loyal”, “respect”, “caring”, “values” and “moral”.
Personality traits
Personality traits are very important in organizational behavior. In particular, five personality
traits especially related to job performance have recently emerged from research which is called as
BIG FIVE MODEL

Characteristics of these traits can be summarized as follows:

 Extroversion: Sociable, talkative and assertive.

 Agreeableness: Good-natured, cooperative and trusting.
 Conscientiousness: Responsible, dependable, persistent and achievement-oriented.
 Emotional Stability: Viewed from a negative standpoint such as tense, insecure and
nervous.
 Openness to Experience: Imaginative, artistically sensitive and intellectual.

Extroversion
Refers to the tendency to be sociable, friendly, and expressive. Extraversion, or positive
affectivity, is one of the Big Five personality traits, and describes the predisposition of individuals
to experience positive emotional states and feel good about themselves and the world. Extroverts
are more sociable, affectionate, and friendly than introverts and experience higher levels of job
satisfaction.

Emotional Stability
Refers to the tendency to experience positive emotional states. Another Big Five trait, neuroticism,
ornegative affectivity, refers to people‘s dispositions to experience negative emotional states, feel
distressed, and view the world around them negatively. They may play devil‘s advocate in an
organization, pointing out problems with a proposed course of action. Individuals high on
neuroticism often experience negative moods,feel stressed, and have a negative orientation at
work. They are more critical of their own performance, atendency that drives them to make
improvements and excel in critical thinking and evaluation. In group decision making, these
individuals exert a sobering influence by pointing out the negative aspects of a decision.

Psychoanalytic Theory
The Psychoanalytic theory of personality has held the interest of psychologists and psychiatrists
for a long time. Sigmund Freud, its formulator, was quite an influence. It attends to emphasizes
three main issues i.e. the id, the ego and the superego.
Components of Psychoanalytic Theory
Id
The id is the only part of the personality that is present at birth. It is inherited, primitive,
inaccessible and completely unconscious.
The id operates according to the pleasure principle, that is, to seek pleasure, avoid pain and gain
immediate gratification of its wishes.
The id contains:
(a) The life instincts, which are sexual instincts and biological urges such as hunger and thirst.
(b) The death instinct, which accounts for our aggressive and destructive impulses.
Ego
The ego is the logical, rational, realistic part of the personality. The ego evolves from the id and
draws its energy from the id.
One of the functions of the ego is to satisfy the id’s urges. But the ego, which is mostly conscious,
acts according to the reality principle. It must consider the constraints of the real world in
determining appropriate times, places, and object for gratification of the id’s wishes.
Superego
When the child is age 5 or 6 the superego – the moral component of the personality – is formed.
The superego has two parts:
(a) The “conscience“, consisting of all the behaviours for which we have been punished and
about which we feel guilty.
(b) The “ego ideal“, containing the behaviours for which we have been praised and rewarded
and about which we feel pride and satisfaction.
In its quest for moral perfection, the superego, a moral guide, sets up signposts that define and
limit the flexibility of ego.

Type Theories
The type theories represent an attempt to put some degree of order into the chaos of personality
theory.
The type theory represents an attempt to scientifically describe personality by classifying
individuals into convenient categories.
Two categories of type theories of personality are explained below:
 Sheldon Physiognomy Theory
William Sheldon has presented a unique body-type temperamental model that represents a link
between certain anatomical features and psychological traits with distinguishing characteristics of
an individual and his behaviour.
Sheldon identifies three body types:
 Endomorph: He is bulky and beloved. Sheldon’s endomorph to be rather fat, thick in
proportion to his height.
 His personality temperament is viscerotonic (the person seeks comfort, loves fine food, eats too
much, is jovial, affectionate and liked by all).
 Mesomorph: He is basically strong, athletic and tough. All appreciate his physique. In fact, it is
this personality all other “morphs” wish for.
According to Sheldon, he will tend to be somatotonic (he is fond of muscular activity; he tends
to be highly aggressive, and self-assertive).
 Ectomorph: These people are thin, long and poorly developed physically.

Though physically weak, he leads the league in the intelligent department.

Carl Jung Extrovert Introvert Theory
The way to type personality is in terms of behaviour or psychological factors. Jung’s
introvert and extrovert types are an example.
However, as Carl Jung himself pointed out, the introvert-extrovert typology turns out to be more
in the nature of a continuum than discrete, separate types. Carl Jung proposed his own two-
part theory of personality.
Carl Jung two types are:
1. Extrovert: They are optimistic, outgoing, gregarious and sociable. Extroverts are basically
objective, reality-oriented individuals who are more doers than thinkers.

2. Introverts: By contrast, introverts are more inward-directed people. They are less sociable,
withdrawn and absorbed in inner life. They tend to be guided by their own ideas and
philosophy.
Few people are complete introverts or extroverts, but the mixture of these two ingredients
determines the kind of overall personality of an individual.

Trait Theories
Some early personality researchers believed that to understand individuals, we must break down
behaviour patterns into a series of observable traits.

According to trait theory, a personality trait can be defined as an “enduring attribute of a person
that appears consistently in a variety of situations”. In combination, such traits distinguish one
personality from another.
A trait is a personal characteristic that is used to describe and explain personality. It is a list of
relatively stable and consistent personal characteristics.
Gordon Allport Personality Traits
Gordon Allport claims that personality traits are real entities, physically located somewhere in the
brain. We each inherit our own unique set of raw material for given traits, which are then shaped
by our experiences.
Traits describe the particular way we respond to the environment and the consistency of that
response. If we are shy, we respond to strangers differently than if we are friendly; if we are self-
confident,

Gordon identified two main categories of traits:

1. Common Traits: Common traits are those we share or hold in common with most others in our
own culture.
2. Individual Traits: According to Allport, there are three individual traits: cardinal, central and
secondary traits.
 Cardinal Traits: A cardinal trait is “so pervasive and outstanding in a life that almost every act
seems traceable to its influence”.
 Central Traits: According to Allport, are those that we would “mention in writing a careful
letter of recommendation”.
 Secondary Traits: The secondary traits are less obvious, less consistent and not as critical in
defining our personality as the cardinal and central traits. Examples of secondary traits are food
and music preferences.
Raymond Cattell 16 Personality Factors
Raymond Cattell considered personality to be a pattern of traits providing the key to
understanding and predicting a person’s behaviour.
Cattell identified two types:
1. Surface Traits: Observable qualities of a person like honest, helpful, kind, generous etc., Cattell
called these “surface traits”.
2. Source Traits: Make up the most basic personality structure and, according to Cattell, actually
cause behaviour. Intelligence is a source trait, and every person has a certain amount of it but,
obviously not exactly the same amount or the same kind.
Self theory
The psychoanalytic, type and trait theories represent the more traditional approach to explaining
the complex human personality.
Self theory rejects both psychoanalytic and behaviouristic conceptions of human nature as too
mechanistic, portraying people as creatures helplessly buffeted about by internal instincts or
external stimuli.
Carl Rogers is most closely associated with his approach of self-theory.
Rogers and his associates have developed this personality theory that places emphasis on the
individual as an initiating, creating, influential determinant of behaviour within the environmental
framework.

According to Rogers basic ingredients of personality:

Self Actualization
Carl Rogers believed that humans have one basic motive that is the tendency to self-actualize – i.e.
to fulfill one’s potential and achieve the highest level of ‘human-beingness’ we can.
Self concept
Self-concept is defined as “the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself”.

The self-concept includes three components:

 Self worth
What we think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early
childhood and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father.

 Self-image
How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological health. Self-image
includes the influence of our body image on inner personality.

 Ideal self
This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals and ambitions in life,
and is dynamic – i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in our
teens or late twenties etc. Being courteous, forgiving, tolerant, trusting, and self-hearted.

Agreeableness is a Big Five trait capturing the distinction between individuals who get along well
with others and those who do not. Individuals high in agreeableness are caring, affectionate, and
likable, whereas individuals low in this dimension are antagonistic, mistrustful, unsympathetic,
and uncooperative. Agreeableness is likely to contribute to being a team player and is helpful in
fostering good working relationships.

Conscientiousness
Is exhibited by those who are described as dependable, organized, and responsible. The Big Five
trait of conscientiousness refers to the extent to which an individual is careful, scrupulous, and
persevering. Individuals high on this dimension are organized and self- disciplined, whereas
individuals low in conscientiousness may lack direction and self-discipline. Conscientiousness has
been found to be a good predictor of performance in many jobs in a wide variety of organizations.
Openness to Experience
Reflects the extent to which an individual has broad interests and is willing to be a risk-taker.
Openness to experience is a trait that refers to the extent to which an individual is original, is open
to a wide variety of stimuli, has broad interests, and is willing to take risks, rather than being
narrow-minded or cautious. For openness to experience to be translated into creative and
innovative behavior in organizations, the organization must remove obstacles to innovation.

FACTORS INFLUENCING PERSONALITY

Determinants of Personality
Peoples are very complex. They have different ability and interest. Personality is influenced by
four major factors as:

Cultural factors
Culture largely determines what a person is and what a person will learn. Culture is the
complex of the believes, values and techniques for dealing with the environment which are shared
with the contemporaries and transmitted by one generation to the next. Norms, attitude, moral
values, introducing and accepting changes etc will influence the personality.
Family
Family is an important factor in shaping personality of an individual. The impact of these
factors on the personality can be understood identification process. Identification starts when a
person begins to identify himself with some other members of the family. Normally child tries to
behave like father or mother. Home environment, family background, social class, parent
education level, race, family relationship, geographical location, birth order, number of members
in family etc will determine the personality development of an individual
Situational factors
Situation extends an important press on individual. Every individual goes through different
types of experience and events in his life. Some will influence his behaviour and some will change
and modify his behaviour. Example: A trauma suffered by a person, especially sex assault, affects
his later life also. Timid/shy person performs his heroic acts in certain life saving situation,
without caring for his own safety.
Social factors
Socialization is a process by which an infant acquires from the enormously wide range
ofbehavioral potentialities that are open to him at birth or customarily acceptable to the family and
social groups. The contribution of family and social group in combination with the culture is
known as socialization. It initially starts with the contact with the mother and later on the other
members of the family, schoolmates, friends, and then colleagues at workspace and so on. An
individual hasto accept the norms of the society in which he exists.

Personality Determinants

There are several factors that determine the formation or shaping of our personality. Among them
the three major factors are: Heredity, Environment and Situation.

Heredity

The genetic components inherited from our parents at the time of conception determine strongly
the personality characteristics of an individual. The color, height, physical statutory, facial
attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition, inheritable diseases etcare considered to
be inherited from our parents.

Research studies conducted on identical twins that were reared in different places, temperament of
young children, longitudinal studies on the job satisfaction of employees over long period of time
and across different situation reveal that the heredity plays a substantial role in determining the
behavior of individuals. If all personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity,
they would be fixed at birth and no amounts of experience could alter them.

Environment

The culture in which people are brought up in their lives and they type of socialization process
such as family‟s child rearing practices, socio economic status of the family, number of children in
a family, birth order, education of the parents, friends and peer group pressures, religious
practices, the type of schooling and recreational activities, pastime behavior etc play a critical role
in shaping our personalities.
For example, our parents mould the character of all children, almost from birth by expressing and
expecting their children to conform to their own values through role modeling and through
various reinforcement strategies such as rewards and punishments. Research studies reveal that
the birth order – the difference between first born children and later born children determine
certain key personality characteristics, that is, first born tend to exhibit more ambitious, and hard
working, more cooperative, more prone to guilt and anxiety and less openly aggressive.

Situation

The type of specific situation which a person encounters also equally shapes the type of
personality characteristics. For example, an individual‟s exposure to a job interview and the type
of experiences encountered during that time will shape certain personality characteristics.
Similarly, going for a picnic with friends and encountering the type of experiences whether
pleasant and unpleasant will shape the personality characteristics of individuals.

Personality Traits Relevant to Work Behavior

Locus of Control
Internal Locus of Control :Locus of control is the degree to which an individual believes that his
or her behavior has direct
impact on the consequences of that behavior. Some people, for example, believe that if they work
hard they will certainly succeed. They, strongly believe that each individual is in control of his or
her life. They are said to have an internal locus of control.
External Locus of Control :By contrast, some people think that what happens to them is a result of
fate, chance, luck or the behavior of other people, rather than the lack of skills or poor performance
on their part. Because- these individuals think that forces beyond their control dictate the
happenings around them, they are said to have an external locus of control.
Risk Propensity
Risk-propensity is the decree to which an individual is willing to take chances and make
riskydecisions. A manager with a high-risk propensity might be expected to experiment with new
ideasand to lead the organization in new directions. In contrast, a manager with low risk
propensitymight lead to a stagnant and overly conservative organization.

Authoritarianism and Dogmatism

 Authoritarianism is the extent to which an individual believes that power and status
differences areimportant within' hierarchical social systems like organizations. For example,
an employee who ishighly authoritarian may accept directives or orders from his superior
without much questioning. Aperson who is not highly authoritarian might agree to carry
out appropriate and reasonabledirectives from his boss. But he may also raise questions,
express disagreement and even refuse tocarry out requests if they arc for some reason
 objectionable.
 Dogmatism is the rigidity of a person's beliefs and his or her openness to other
viewpoints.The popular terms 'close-minded' and 'open-minded' describe people who are
more and less.dogmatic in their beliefs respectively. For example, a manager may be
unwilling to listen to a new idea related to doing something more efficiently.

THEORIES OF PERSONALITY

Since personality variables reflect consistent and enduring patterns of behaviour, these patterns
can be classified into certain categories. so that the behaviour can be Predictable once we identify
the pattern of behaviour as belonging to a given category.

The theories of personality have been grouped as:

1. Psychoanalytic Theory
2. Type Theories
3. Trait Theories
4. Self Theory

1. Psychoanalytic Theory
The Psychoanalytic theory of personality has held the interest of psychologists and psychiatrists
for a long time. Sigmund Freud, its formulator, was quite an influence. It attends to emphasizes
three main issues i.e. the id, the ego and the superego.
Components of Psychoanalytic Theory
 Id
The id is the only part of the personality that is present at birth. It is inherited, primitive,
inaccessible and completely unconscious.
The id operates according to the pleasure principle, that is, to seek pleasure, avoid pain and gain
immediate gratification of its wishes.
The id contains:
(a) The life instincts, which are sexual instincts and biological urges such as hunger and thirst

(b) The death instinct, which accounts for our aggressive and destructive impulses.
 Ego
The ego is the logical, rational, realistic part of the personality. The ego evolves from the id and
draws its energy from the id.
One of the functions of the ego is to satisfy the id’s urges. But the ego, which is mostly conscious,
acts according to the reality principle. It must consider the constraints of the real world in
determining appropriate times, places, and object for gratification of the id’s wishes.
 Superego
When the child is age 5 or 6 the superego – the moral component of the personality – is formed.
The superego has two parts:
(a) The “conscience“, consisting of all the behaviours for which we have been punished and about
which we feel guilty.

(b) The “ego ideal“, containing the behaviours for which we have been praised and rewarded and
 about which we feel pride and satisfaction. In its quest for moral perfection, the superego, a moral
guide, sets up signposts that define and limit the flexibility of ego.
2. Type Theories
The type theories represent an attempt to put some degree of order into the chaos of personality
theory.
The type theory represents an attempt to scientifically describe personality by classifying
individuals into convenient categories.
Two categories of type theories of personality are explained below:
Sheldon Physiognomy Theory
William Sheldon has presented a unique body-type temperamental model that represents a link
between certain anatomical features and psychological traits with distinguishing characteristics of
an individual and his behaviour.
Sheldon identifies three body types:
 Endomorph: He is bulky and beloved. Sheldon’s endomorph to be rather fat, thick in
proportion to his height. His personality temperament is viscerotonic (the person seeks comfort,
loves fine food, eats too much, is jovial, affectionate and liked by all).
Mesomorph: He is basically strong, athletic and tough. All appreciate his physique. In fact, it is
this personality all other “morphs” wish for.According to Sheldon, he will tend to be
somatotonic (he is fond of muscular activity; he tends to be highly aggressive, and self-
assertive).
 Ectomorph: These people are thin, long and poorly developed physically.
Though physically weak, he leads the league in the intelligent department.
Carl Jung Extrovert Introvert Theory
The way to type personality is in terms of behaviour or psychological factors. Jung’s
introvert and extrovert types are an example.
However, as Carl Jung himself pointed out, the introvert-extrovert typology turns out to be more
in the nature of a continuum than discrete, separate types. Carl Jung proposed his own two-
part theory of personality.
Carl Jung two types are:
1. Extrovert: They are optimistic, outgoing, gregarious and sociable. Extroverts are basically
objective, reality-oriented individuals who are more doers than thinkers.

2. Introverts: By contrast, introverts are more inward-directed people. They are less sociable,
withdrawn and absorbed in inner life. They tend to be guided by their own ideas and
philosophy.
Few people are complete introverts or extroverts, but the mixture of these two ingredients
determines the kind of overall personality of an individual.

3. Trait Theories
Some early personality researchers believed that to understand individuals, we must break down
behaviour patterns into a series of observable traits. According to trait theory, a personality trait
can be defined as an “enduring attribute of a person that appears consistently in a variety of
situations”. In combination, such traits distinguish one personality from another.
 A trait is a personal characteristic that is used to describe and explain personality. It is a list of
relatively stable and consistent personal characteristics.

Gordon Allport Personality Traits

Gordon Allport claims that personality traits are real entities, physically located somewhere in the
brain. We each inherit our own unique set of raw material for given traits, which are then shaped
by our experiences.
Traits describe the particular way we respond to the environment and the consistency of that
response. If we are shy, we respond to strangers differently than if we are friendly; if we are self-
confident,

Gordon identified two main categories of traits:

1. Common Traits: Common traits are those we share or hold in common with most others in our
own culture.
2. Individual Traits: According to Allport, there are three individual traits: cardinal, central and
secondary traits.
 Cardinal Traits: A cardinal trait is “so pervasive and outstanding in a life that almost every act
seems traceable to its influence”.
 Central Traits: According to Allport, are those that we would “mention in writing a careful
letter of recommendation”.
 Secondary Traits: The secondary traits are less obvious, less consistent and not as critical in
defining our personality as the cardinal and central traits. Examples of secondary traits are food
and music preferences.
Raymond Cattell 16 Personality Factors
Raymond Cattell considered personality to be a pattern of traits providing the key to
understanding and predicting a person’s behaviour.
Cattell identified two types:
 Surface Traits: Observable qualities of a person like honest, helpful, kind, generous etc.,
Cattell called these “surface traits”.
 Source Traits: Make up the most basic personality structure and, according to Cattell, actually
cause behaviour. Intelligence is a source trait, and every person has a certain amount of it but,
obviously not exactly the same amount or the same kind.
4. Self theory : The psychoanalytic, type and trait theories represent the more traditional
approach to explaining the complex human personality. Self theory rejects both psychoanalytic
and behaviouristic conceptions of human nature as too mechanistic, portraying people as creatures
helplessly buffeted about by internal instincts or external stimuli.
Carl Rogers is most closely associated with his approach of self-theory. Rogers and his
associates have developed this personality theory that places emphasis on the individual as an
initiating, creating, influential determinant of behaviour within the environmental framework.

According to Rogers basic ingredients of personality:

Self Actualization
Carl Rogers believed that humans have one basic motive that is the tendency to self-actualize – i.e.
to fulfill one’s potential and achieve the highest level of ‘human-beingness’ we can.
Self concept
Self-concept is defined as “the organized, consistent set of perceptions and beliefs about oneself”.
The self-concept includes three components:
Self worth
what we think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth developed in early
childhood and were formed from the interaction of the child with the mother and father.

Self-image
How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological health. Self-image includes the
influence of our body image on inner personality.

Ideal self
This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals and ambitions in life, and is
dynamic – i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late
twenties etc.

EMOTIONS

Emotions - Introduction
Emotions exert an incredibly powerful force on human behavior. Strong emotions can cause
you to take actions you might not normally perform or to avoid situations you enjoy. Why exactly
do we have emotions? What causes them? Researchers, philosophers, and psychologists have
proposed various theories of emotion to explain the how and why behind our feelings.
What Is Emotion?
In psychology, emotion is often defined as a complex state of feeling that results in physical
and psychological changes that influence thought and behavior. Emotionality is associated with a
range of psychological phenomena, including temperament, personality, mood, and motivation.
According to author David G. Myers, human emotion involves "...physiological arousal,
expressive behaviors, and conscious experience.

THEORIES OF EMOTION
The major theories of emotion can be grouped into three main categories:
1. Physiological theories suggest that responses within the body are responsible for emotions.
2. Neurological theories propose that activity within the brain leads to emotional responses.
3. Cognitive theories argue that thoughts and other mental activity play an essential role in
forming emotions.
Evolutionary Theory of Emotion
Naturalist Charles Darwin proposed that emotions evolved because they were adaptive and
allowed humans and animals to survive and reproduce. Feelings of love and affection lead people
to seek mates and reproduce. Feelings of fear compel people to fight or flee the source of danger.
According to the evolutionary theory of emotion, our emotions exist because they serve an
adaptive role. Emotions motivate people to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment, which
helps improve the chances of success and survival.
Understanding the emotions of other people and animals also plays a crucial role in safety
and survival. If you encounter a hissing, spitting, and clawing animal, chances are you will quickly
realize that the animal is frightened or defensive and leave it alone. Being able to interpret
correctly the emotional displays of other people and animals allows you to respond correctly and
avoid danger.
The James-Lange Theory of Emotion
The James-Lange theory is one of the best-known examples of a physiological theory of
emotion. Independently proposed by psychologist William James and physiologist Carl Lange, the
James-Lange theory of emotion suggests that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions
to events.
According to the James-Lange theory of emotion, an external stimulus leads to a
physiological reaction. Your emotional reaction depends upon how you interpret those physical
reactions.
For example, suppose you are walking in the woods and see a grizzly bear. You begin to
tremble, and your heart begins to race. The James-Lange theory proposes that you will conclude
that you are frightened ("I am trembling. Therefore, I am afraid"). According to this theory of
emotion, you are not trembling because you are frightened. Instead, you feel frightened because
you are trembling.
The Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion
Another well-known physiological theory is the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion. Walter
Cannon disagreed with the James-Lange theory of emotion on several different grounds. First, he
suggested, people can experience physiological reactions linked to emotions without actually
feeling those emotions. For example, your heart might race because you have been exercising, not
because you are afraid.
Cannon also suggested that emotional responses occur much too quickly to be simply
products of physical states. When you encounter a danger in the environment, you will often feel
afraid before you start to experience the physical symptoms associated with fear, such as shaking
hands, rapid breathing, and a racing heart.
According to the Cannon-Bard theory of emotion, we feel emotions and experience
physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling, and muscle tension simultaneously.
Cannon first proposed his theory in the 1920s, and his work was later expanded on by physiologist
Philip Bard during the 1930s.
More specifically, the theory proposes that emotions result when the thalamus sends a
message to the brain in response to a stimulus, resulting in a physiological reaction. At the same
time, the brain also receives signals triggering the emotional experience. Cannon and Bard’s theory
suggests that the physical and psychological experience of emotion happen at the same time and
that one does not cause the other.
Schachter-Singer Theory
Also known as the two-factor theory of emotion, the Schachter-Singer theory is an example
of a cognitive theory of emotion. This theory suggests that the physiological arousal occurs first,
and then the individual must identify the reason for this arousal to experience and label it as an
emotion. A stimulus leads to a physiological response that is then cognitively interpreted and
labeled, resulting in an emotion.
Schachter and Singer’s theory draws on both the James-Lange theory and the Cannon-Bard
theory. Like the James-Lange theory, the Schachter-Singer theory proposes that people infer
emotions based on physiological responses. The critical factor is the situation and the cognitive
interpretation that people use to label that emotion.
The Schachter-Singer theory is a cognitive theory of emotion that suggests our thoughts are
responsible for emotions.
Like the Cannon-Bard theory, the Schachter-Singer theory also suggests that similar
physiological responses can produce varying emotions. For example, if you experience a racing
heart and sweating palms during an important exam, you will probably identify the emotion as
anxiety. If you experience the same physical responses on a date, you might interpret those
responses as love, affection, or arousal.
Cognitive Appraisal Theory
According to appraisal theories of emotion, thinking must occur first before experiencing
emotion. Richard Lazarus was a pioneer in this area of emotion, and this theory is often referred to
as the Lazarus theory of emotion.
The cognitive appraisal theory asserts that your brain first appraises a situation, and the
resulting response is an emotion. According to this theory, the sequence of events first involves a
stimulus, followed by thought, which then leads to the simultaneous experience of a physiological
response and the emotion. For example, if you encounter a bear in the woods, you might
immediately begin to think that you are in great danger. This then leads to the emotional
experience of fear and the physical reactions associated with the fight-or-flight response.
Facial-Feedback Theory of Emotion
The facial-feedback theory of emotions suggests that facial expressions are connected to
experiencing emotions. Charles Darwin and William James both noted early on that, sometimes,
physiological responses often have a direct impact on emotion, rather than simply being a
consequence of the emotion.
The facial-feedback theory suggests that emotions are directly tied to changes in facial
muscles. For example, people who are forced to smile pleasantly at a social function will have a
better time at the event than they would if they had frowned or carried a more neutral facial
expression.
A Word From Verywell
Despite the fact that emotions impact every decision we make and the way we see the
world, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding why we have emotions. Theories of emotion
continue to evolve, exploring what causes feelings and how these feelings affect us.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Emotional intelligence, or EI, helps you identify and understand human emotions. Having high
emotional intelligence can help you build relationships in the workplace, accomplish tasks and
achieve goals. 
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage your own
emotions as well as being able to understand and influence the emotions of others. It involves
being aware that emotions drive behaviors and impact people either positively or negatively.
While emotional intelligence can seem like a vague or complex concept, there are specific
ways you can develop this skill. Taking time to hone and build on these skills can help you
become better at building relationships and accomplishing shared tasks.
EI can be helpful when you are:

 Giving or receiving feedback

 Navigating change
 Meeting tight deadlines
 Working through setbacks and failure
 Dealing with challenging relationships

How emotional intelligence is measured

Several assessments have been developed to measure levels of emotional intelligence. Such
assessments are frequently used to identify potential leaders within an organization. The most
common types are:
Self-report test: Relies on the respondent’s answers or statements to rate their own behaviors. 
Ability test: Respondents perform tests to assess their abilities to perceive, identify, understand
and manage situations.
Why is emotional intelligence important?

Emotions can lead you to act without thinking. Having emotional intelligence can help you avoid
those situations when you might act on impulse rather than fact. Understanding and managing
your emotions and those of others can help you be more successful in your personal and
professional life.
Emotional intelligence can play a large role when you are:
 Having difficult conversations without hurting others’ feelings
 Managing your emotions when feeling stressed or overwhelmed
 Improving relationships with others
 Resolving conflict
 Coaching and motivating others
Characteristics of emotional intelligence
Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman defines the five key elements of EI as:
1. Self-awareness
If you’re self-aware, you understand your emotions and their triggers. You also know how your
emotions and actions affect those around you.
2. Self-regulation
Self-regulation is the ability to control and adjust your emotions to create a more positive effect.
Being in control of your feelings is essential in any situation because your emotions have a strong
effect on other people.
3. Motivation
Motivation is the desire to do something. It relates to emotional intelligence because your desires
can promote different feelings toward something.
4. Empathy
Empathy allows you to identify and understand the feelings of others, which may help you to
handle workplace situations more effectively. For instance, when a coworker is visibly stressed,
you can react with empathy.
5. Social skills
Social skills are tools you use to communicate and interact with others. Having strong social skills
allows you to listen, speak and resolve conflicts more effectively. Social skills can be used in the
workplace to develop your career and are essential tools for leaders.
How to improve your emotional intelligence
While it can take time and practice, emotional intelligence can be improved. Try these tips:
Practice awareness
Take time to pay special attention to interactions around you. Listen to what others are
telling you through their words and non-verbal cues. Observing the way people use and react to
emotion can help you fine-tune your ability to empathize.
Look inward
While observing others and their interactions can be helpful, monitoring your own
emotions and responses can also increase your emotional awareness. Consider how your emotions
influence your decisions and behaviors. 
For example, you might notice that when you feel overwhelmed, you tend to be short-
tempered with others. Or when you’re feeling sad or disappointed, you might notice your
shoulders slouch or your head points downward.
React and respond to others
Practice addressing and working with others based on the way you observe what they’re
feeling. When deciding how you should react, consider how you’d like to be treated under the
same circumstances. 
For example, while you might enjoy talking about your emotions with others when you feel
anxious or stressed, others might prefer to process their emotions alone. If you’re unsure, ask
others about their preference in that moment.
Learn from your mistakes
If you find that you misinterpreted a certain emotion or the way you handled someone’s
feelings didn’t work well, learn from your mistakes and treat the situation differently the next
time.
Implications of Emotional Intelligence 
Emotional intelligence has several implications in organizations, both business and non-
business. Emotional intelligence can be applied in the following areas:
Some of the implications of Emotional Intelligence are as follows:
 Filling Organisational Positions
 Credibility of Managers
 Effective Communication
 Stress Management
 Work Life
 Leadership Effectiveness
 Handling Frustration
 Conflict Resolution
Examples of EI in the workplace
Here are specific ways you might use emotional intelligence at work:
During a phone call
During a phone call with a client regarding the performance of a campaign, your contact expresses
anger about their unhappiness with your partnership. You also know that their organization is
going through layoffs and your client is responsible for selecting members of their team to let go.
Because of this knowledge, you understand that simply listening to their complaints with a calm,
empathetic demeanor is the best response. You schedule another call for a better time.
During a meeting
During a meeting, you notice your employee is being quieter than usual and not contributing to
the discussion. While it may seem that they’re not paying attention, you decide to have a casual
conversation with them to ensure everything is OK. During this talk, you learn they didn’t get a
good night’s sleep because their mother-in-law is ill.
During project review
During a review of your recent completed project, you receive professional criticism about ways it
can be improved. After the meeting, you’re feeling deflated and anxious. After processing your
emotions, you realize you were focusing on the negative because of all the time and effort you put
into the project. Pivoting from being disappointed, you opt to become motivated to make your
next project better.

LEARNING

What is Learning in Organisational Behaviour?

Meaning of Learning in Organisational Behaviour: – Learning is a process by which new
behaviors are acquired. It is generally agreed that learning involves changes in behavior,
practicing new behaviors and establishing permanency in the change. Learning is any permanent
change in behavior of a person that occurs as result of experience. Learning has taken place if an
individual behaves, reacts, respondents as a result of experience in a manner different from the
way he formerly behaved. Since learning changes the behaviour of person, it comes to have a
great importance in organisational behaviour.
 If we compare the simple, crude ways of feeling and behaving in a child to the complex
ways of behaving in an adult, his skills, habits, thoughts, feelings and so on- we will know what
difference learning has made in the individual.

Learning can be defined as a permanent change in behaviour due to direct and indirect experience.
It means change in behaviour, attitude, practice and experience due to education and training.
This is accomplished by the acquisition of knowledge and skills, which are relatively permanent.

There are two primary elements to the meaning of learning in Organisational Behaviour: –
1. The change must be relatively permanent: this means that our behaviour after “learning” must
be better or worse than our behaviour before this learning experience. This comes after some
kind of experience and practise. For example, you learn to drive a car or use a computer.
2. This learning is caused by biological maturation. For example, we do not learn to eat or drink, it
is a natural biological phenomenon.
Nature of Learning in Organisational Behaviour
The nature of learning in Organisational Behaviour means the distinctive features of learning.
Learning involves change; tt may or may not guarantee improvement. It should be permanent in
nature, i.e., learning is lifelong. Learning involves a change in behavior, though this change is not
necessarily an improvement over previous behavior. It has the connotation of improved, but bad
habits, prejudices, stereotypes and work restrictions are also learned. 
The behavioral change must be based on some form of practice or experience. Thus, any
behavioral change because of physical maturation is not learning. The practice or experience must
be reinforced in order for learning to occur. If reinforcement does not accompany the practice or
experience, the behavior will disappear.

Change in behaviour is the result of experience, practice and training. Learning is reflected
through behaviour.

Definitions of Learning by Different Authors

1. Stephen P. Robbins: – Learning is any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as
a result of experience.
2. Munn N.L.: – Learning is the process of having one’s behaviour modified, more or less
permanently, by what he does and the consequences of his action, or by what he observes.
3. Steers and Porter: – Learning can be defined as relatively permanent change in behaviour
potentially that results from reinforced practice or experience.
What are the factors affecting learning in organisational behaviour?
Learning is based on a few key factors that decide what changes will happen due to this
experience. The major elements or major factors influencing learning are motivation, practice,
environment and mental group.
Coming back to these factors, let us have a look at these factors: –
1. Motivation: – The encouragement, support that is given to complete a task, is known as
motivation to achieve the goal. This is a very important aspect of learning as it gives us positive
energy to complete the task. Example – The coach motivates the players to win the match.
2. Practice: – We all know that “practice makes us perfect”. To be a perfectionist or at least
complete the task, it is very important to practice what we have learned. Example – We can
become a programmer only if we execute the codes we have written.
3. Environment: – We learn from our surroundings; we learn from the people around us. They are
of two types of environments – Internal and External. Example – A child when at home learns
from the family which is an internal environment, but when he is sent to school it is an external
environment.
4. Mental Group: – This describes our thinking by the group of people we have chosen to hang
out with. In simple words, we make a group of people with whom we connect. This may be for
a social cause where people with similar mindsets work in the same direction. Example – group
of readers, travellers etc.

TYPES OF LEARNERS
What are the types of learning?
Learning is of the following types: –
1. Skill Learning: – The child acquires skills from birth. His body parts learn to handle things. He
moves his legs and starts crawling. In the source of time, he learns other motor skills, such as
walking, speaking, drawing, writing, reading, playing music, cycling and swimming, etc.
2. Perceptual Learning: – The child receives sensation through his senses, and he gives meaning to
each sensation. The initial sensations of the baby do not differentiate to such an extent that he is
unable to distinguish between one object and another. Over time, he recognizes specific objects,
and perceives them separately.
3. Conceptual Learning: – Just as concrete thinking leads to abstract thinking; conceptual learning
is followed by conceptual learning. A concept is a general idea, universal in character. A child
sees a particular cow, and forms some idea of a cow with certain characteristics. The idea here is
based on a particular cow. This is a special notion but when the child sees a number of cows
with some common characteristics, he discovers some common qualities in all the cows, and on
the basis of these he forms the concept of ‘cow’. It is based on the assumption that has been
generalised.
4. Associative learning: – Associative learning helps conceptual learning to gather a wealth of
knowledge. New concepts are tagged as knowledge through association with previous concepts
and as such.
5. Appreciation Learning: – Whereas conceptual learning is on the affective side. A child, from the
very beginning, makes use of his innate quality of aesthetic sensitivity, and acquires chromatic
concepts from appreciation.
6. Attitudinal Learning: – Attitudes are generalized dispositions to certain concepts, things,
persons, or activities. A child develops a sense of affection towards his mother, a sense of
respect for the teacher and an attitude of belonging towards the family. His attitude towards the
game is the most favourable. All this he gradually learns and adopts.
Other types of Learnings
1. Motor Learning: – Most of our activities in our daily life refer to motor activities. One has to
learn them to maintain their regular life, for example walking, running, skating, driving,
climbing etc. All of these activities involve muscular coordination.
2. Oral Learning: – This type of learning involves the language we speak, the communication tools
we use. Signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sounds etc. are the tools used in such activities.
We use words for communication.
3. Concept learning: – It is a form of learning that requires higher order mental processes like
thinking, reasoning, intelligence etc. We learn different concepts from childhood. For example,
when we look at a dog and attach the word ‘dog’, we learn that the word dog refers to a
particular animal. Concept learning involves two processes, viz. Abstraction and Generalization.
This learning is very useful in recognizing, identifying things.
4. Discrimination Learning: – Learning to differentiate between stimuli and showing appropriate
responses to these stimuli is called discrimination learning. For example, sound horns of various
vehicles like buses, cars, ambulances, etc.
5. Learning of Principles: – Individuals learn certain principles related to science, maths,
grammar, etc. to manage their work effectively. These principles always reflect the relationship
between two or more concepts. Example: formula, law, union, correlation, etc.
6. Problem Solving: – It is a higher order learning process. This learning requires the use of
cognitive abilities – such as thinking, reasoning, observation, imagination, generalization, etc. It
is very useful to overcome the difficult problems faced by the people.
7. Learning Attitude: – Attitude is a tendency that determines and guides our behaviour. We
develop different perspectives about people, things and everything we know right from our
childhood. Our behaviour can be positive or negative depending on our attitude. Example:
Attitude of nurse towards her profession, patients etc.

LEARNING PROCESS

The learning process has the following steps:

1. Stimuli
2. Attention
3. Recognition
4. Translation
5. Reinforcement
6. Behavior
7. Reward
8. Habits
9. Motives
10. Efforts
Stimuli
Stimuli are any objects and language which draw the attention of people. Employees get stimuli
from the actions of their superiors. Superiors tell and advice employees who pay attention to these
stimuli. All the stimuli may not be fully attended to.
Attention
The degree of attention depends upon the nature of stimuli. All stimuli are not paid attention to.
Technical and interesting stimuli are highly attended. Career-oriented stimuli are generally
accepted by employees. The personality levels of employees influence their desires to learn,
motives for need fulfilment and tension reduction.
 Recognition
Attention-paid stimuli are recognised as acceptable factors of improvement and new life styles.
Employees paying attention to stimuli are recognising the stimuli for learning purposes. The levels
of recognition depend upon the levels of values, preferences, needs and desires of the employees.
Translation
The translation and evaluation process is a crucial point for implementing the stimuli in behaviour
through reinforcement. Employees behave properly through attitude changes, objectivity, mental
and physical development. It is observed in better performances.
Reinforcement
Reinforced perception is learning. The perception process includes stimuli, attention, recognition,
translation and behaviour. Perception leads to learning, but perception itself is not learning unless
it is reinforced.
Repeated action is reinforcement. Reinforcement may be positive, negative, punishment and
extinction. Learners learn as per their perception levels. Generally positive reinforcement is more
effective for making permanent changes in behaviour.

Behavior
Learning changes behaviour through reinforcement of perceived knowledge. It makes permanent
changes in behaviour. A temporary change in behaviour is not learning. Positive behaviour gives
rewards to employees.
Reward
Employees expect rewards for learning. If the translated behaviour provides a reward, it is
accepted, otherwise it is not accepted. Employees develop their behaviour into habits. Rewards
may be monetary or non-monetary.
Habits
A permanent change in behaviour becomes a habit which helps continuous improvement in
behaviour and performance. Employees develop the habit of selfappraisal and development. It
helps to instil creativity and confidence in employees who are encouraged to behave properly
again and again.
Motives
Motives depend on the level of satisfaction. Employees getting more satisfaction through learning
develop high motives. Less satisfied learners have low motives. Learning is complete only when
motives are fully realised and translated into efforts.
Efforts
Habits help achieve good efforts and performance. This is a continuous process. Efforts are the
automatic outcome of good habits which are acquired through the learning process. Self-
development is possible through self-effort. Employees willing to develop themselves are self-
motivated and effort-oriented.

The components of learning process are: drive, cue stimuli, response, reinforcement and

retention.

 Drive:  Learning frequently occurs in the presence of drive – any strong stimulus that impels
action. Drives are basically of two types -primary (or physiological); and secondary (or
 psychological). These two categories of drives often interact with each other. Individuals operate
under many drives at the same time. To predict a behavior, it is necessary to establish which
drives are stimulating the most.

1. Cue Stimuli:  Cue stimuli are those factors that exist in the environment as perceived by the
individual. The idea is to discover the conditions under which stimulus will increase the
probability of eliciting a specific response. There may be two types of stimuli with respect to their
results in terms of response concerned: stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination.
2. Generalization occurs when a response is elicited by a similar but new stimulus. If two stimuli
are exactly alike, they will have the same probability of evoking a specified response. The principle
of generalization has important implications for human learning. Because of generalization, a
person does not have to completely relearn each of the new tasks. It allows the members to adapt
to overall changing conditions and specific new assignments. The individual can borrow from past
learning experiences to adjust more smoothly to new learning situations.

 Discrimination is a procedure in which an organization learns to emit a response to a stimulus but

avoids making the same response to a similar but somewhat different stimulus. Discrimination has
wide applications in organizational behavior. For example, a supervisor can discriminate between
two equally high producing workers, one with low quality and other with high quality.
 Responses:  The stimulus results in responses. Responses may be in the physical form or may be
in terms of attitudes, familiarity, perception or other complex phenomena. In the above example,
the supervisor discriminates between the worker producing low quality products and the worker
producing high quality products, and positively responds only to the quality conscious worker.
 Reinforcement:  Reinforcement is a fundamental condition of learning. Without reinforcement, no
measurable modification of behavior takes place. Reinforcement may be defined as the
environmental event’s affecting the probability of occurrence of responses with which they are
associated.
 Retention:  The stability of learned behavior over time is defined as retention and its contrary is
known as forgetting. Some of the learning is retained over a period of time while others may be
forgotten.

LEARNING THEORIES IN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 

Learning can be understood clearly with the help of certain principles which will explain our
behaviour. Some notable theories are: –

1.
Classical Conditioning
Theory: – Classical
conditioning is a type of
conditioning in which a
person reacts to certain
stimuli that would not
normally produce a
response. Classical conditioning is acquiring a new response (the conditioned response) to a
previously neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) that reliably signals the arrival of an
unconditioned stimulus. It is a learning process to add a particular thing to our environment to
predict what will happen next. Classical conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus is
combined with an unconditioned stimulus.
Typically, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is an unbiased stimulus like the sound of a tuning
fork, the unconditioned stimulus (US) is biologically dominant like the taste of food and the
unconditioned response (UR) to an unconditioned stimulus is an unintentional one, it is a reflex
reaction such as salivation or sweating. After this pairing process is repeated (for example,
learning may have already occurred after a pairing), 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 almost temporary.
2. Operant Conditioning Theory: – Operant conditioning theory is also known as instrumental
conditioning. This principle is a learning process in which behaviour is sensitive to or
controlled by its consequences.
The second type of conditioning is called operant conditioning. Here, we learn that a
particular behavior usually has a reward or punishment. What Pavlov did for classical
conditioning, Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner did it for operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning argues that one’s behavior will depend on a variety of situations.
People will repeatedly behave in a specific way from which they will benefit. On the other
hand, they will try to avoid behavior where they will get nothing. Skinner argued that creating
pleasant consequences for specific forms of behavior would increase the frequency of that
particular behavior.
Let’s take the example of a child. A child can learn to open a box to get candy inside, or
learn to avoid touching a hot stove. In comparison, classical conditioning develops a
relationship between a stimulus and a behaviour.
The example can be further elaborated as the child may learn to tremble by looking at
candy or seeing an angry parent. In the 20th century, the study of animal learning was ordered
to analyse these two types of learning, and they are still at the core of behavioural analysis.

3. Social Learning Theory: – Social Learning theory is also called observational learning theory.
This theory emphasizes on learning through observation of other’s. The main assumptions of
social learning theory are as follows: –
A. Learning is not actually behavioural, rather it is a cognitive process that takes place in a
social context.
B. Learning can occur by observing a behaviour and observing the consequences of the
behaviour (known as vicarious reinforcement).
C. Learning involves observation, extracting information from those observations, and making
decisions about behaviour performance (known as observational learning or modelling).
Thus, learning may go beyond an observable change in behaviour.
D. Reinforcement plays an important role in learning but is not solely responsible for learning.
 E. The learner is not a passive recipient of information. Understanding, environment and
behaviour all mutually influence each other.
4. Cognitive Learning Theory: – Cognition defines a person’s thoughts, ideas, knowledge,
interpretation, understanding about himself and about the environment. This theory expresses
the belief that learning involves gaining knowledge and understanding it by absorbing
information in the form of principles, concepts and facts and then internalizing it.
It assumes that a person learns the meaning of various objects and events and also learns to
respond based on the meaning given to stimuli. The knowledge and understanding of learners
can be enriched and internalized by exposing them to learning materials e.g. Case studies ,
projects, problem solving activities can also be used for this purpose.
Self – directed learning, personal development, planning activities and discovery learning
process with the help of facilitator and mentors are underpinned by cognitive learning theory.
Cognitive theory has been used to explain mental processes as they are influenced by both
internal and external factors, which ultimately bring about learning in an individual. Cognitive
learning theory implies that the various processes related to learning are first explained by
analyzing the mental processes. It envisions that with effective cognitive processes, it is easier to
learn new information stored in memory over the long term. On the other hand, ineffective
cognitive processes result in learning difficulties that one can trace back.

Improving Individual’s Behaviour

An individual’s behaviour in an organization is directly or indirectly affected by learning.
Example – Employee skills, manager’s attitude is all learned.

Behaviour can be improved by following the listed tips: –

 Minimizing absenteeism by rewarding employees for their proper attendance.
 To improve employee discipline by taking appropriate action like verbal reprimand, written
warning and suspension to deal with undesirable behaviour of employee, drinking at
workplace, theft, being late etc.
 To develop training programs more frequently so as to attract the attention of the trainees,
impart necessary motivational qualities etc.
PERCEPTION

What is Perception?
Perception in Organisational Behavior: – Perception in Organisational Behavior is defined as the
process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a meaningful
and coherent picture of the world. Perception is an intellectual process of transforming sensory
stimuli to meaningful information. It involves both recognizing environmental stimuli and actions
in response to these stimuli. It is a cognitive process by which people attend to incoming stimuli,
organise and interpret such stimuli into behaviour.
Stimulus is any unit of input to any of the senses; examples of stimuli (i.e. Sensory inputs)
include products, packages, brand names; advertisement and commercials. Sensory receptors are
the human organs (the eyes, ears, nose, mouth and skin) that receive sensory inputs. These sensory
functions are to see, hear, smell, taste and feel respective.
The study of perception is largely the study of what we subconsciously add to or subtract from
raw sensory inputs to produce a private picture of the world.

Sensation is the immediate and direct response of the sensory organs to simple stimuli and
advertisement, a package, a brand name. Human sensitivity refers to the experiences of sensation.
Different individuals have different thinking styles, beliefs, feelings and motives etc. and almost
every person behaves accordingly.

Definitions by Different Authors

1. Stephen P. Robbins: – “Perception may be defined as a process by which individuals organise
and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.”
2. Joseph Reitz: – “Perception includes all those processes by which an individual receives
information about his environment—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.”
3. Fred Luthans: – “Perception is an important meditative cognitive process through which
persons make interpretations of the stimuli or situation they are faced with”
Perception in Organisational Behaviour
Perception is simply defined as how a person perceives the world around them and interprets that
information. It is a subconscious thing that the mind does and is dependent on your ability to pay
attention to your surroundings and your existing knowledge.

In organizational behaviour and business, perception often helps shape an individual’s personality

and how they act in certain situations. These can affect how they react to certain things such as
their performance in stressful situations—tasks, and even their creativity.
In order to deal with the subordinates effectively, the managers must understand their perceptions
properly. Perception can be important because it offers more than objective output; it ingests an
observation and manufactures an altered reality enriched with previous experiences.
For management, paying attention to personality traits in employees can help them determine an
individual’s work ethic and strengths. i.e., if the manager’s perception is not disrupted in some
way. Simply because people’s behaviour is based not on reality, but on their perception of what
reality is. The world as it is perceived is the world that is practically important.

For example, in evaluating performance, managers use their assumptions about an employee’s
behaviour as the basis for evaluation. One work position that highlights the importance of
perception is the selection interview. Perception is also culturally determined. Depending on our
cultural background, we see things in certain ways.

IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION
Perception is a key process which enables organism in detecting as well as interpreting
information from external world via means of sensory receptors. It is through this; we are able to
understand the elements and properties of environment which are important for our survival. Not
only we are able to create experience of world surrounding us, but also act within our
environment due to perception process. 

The importance of perception can be more clearly understood from points given below:
Understanding Human Behavior

Perception is a key tool available in order to understand the human behaviour adequately. This is
because each and every person perceives world and approaches life problems in different manner.
It is not always necessary that whatever is felt or seen by us is exactly the same what it is in reality.
When anything is purchased by us is not due to its best quality, but because of the fact that we
took it to be best. Therefore, it is due to perception that it can be easily pointed out why one person
is satisfied with job and another one is dissatisfied with same job. 

Prediction Of Behavior
It is quite easy to predict the people’s behaviour via understanding their perception. Generally,
peoples behave on the basis of perception, so under such scenarios, we can predict behaviour via
their present perception of environment. The same facts may be seen in distinct ways by two
persons.   
Determination Of People Needs
The determination of people’s needs is possible with the help of perception. It is because needs of
people get influenced by their way of perception. Like, for instance, at amusement park, there are
mirrors which distort world in relation to their tensions. 

Assist Manager In Avoiding Errors

Perception is of utmost importance for managers willing to be error free while dealing with
peoples and events in their working life. The situation gets more problematic as well as
complicated because of the fact that same situation is perceived in distinct way by people.
Therefore, managers for dealing effectively with their subordinates should understand their
perception in proper manner.
 Gaining New Perspective
Perception helps in gaining new perspective about things. If we want to see things from other’s
point of view or simply want to walk in their shoes for while then perception serve the purpose
here. When we see things from other’s perception then we gain new insight which helps a lot in
understanding others and helping them more appropriately.

Builds Character
The perception builds character, be it good or bad which defines the distinct roles in which an
individual falls into. These are the clown, the victim, the self-righteous, the hypocrite etc.

Hence, perception is of great importance if we want to understand human behaviour like how
they perceive under distinct situations. The behavior of peoples is dependent upon their
perception of what reality is, not a reality itself.

FACTORS INFLUENCING PERCEPTION

The factors influencing perception in organisational behaviour are as follows: –

1. Factors that shape (and can distort perception)
A. Characteristics of the Perceiver;
B. Characteristics of the Perceived or Target; and
C. Characteristic of the Situation.
2. When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees, that
interpretation is heavily influenced by personal characteristics of the individual perceiver.
3. The more relevant personal characteristics affecting perception of the perceiver are attitudes,
motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations.
4. Characteristics of the target can also affect what is being perceived. This would include
attractiveness, gregariousness, and our tendency to group similar things together. For example,
members of a group with clearly distinguishable features or color are often perceived as alike in
other, unrelated characteristics as well.
5. The context in which we see objects or events also influences our attention. This could include
time, heat, light, or other situational factors.
Explanation: –
1. Characteristics of the Perceiver: – Many characteristics of the perceiver can affect perception.
When a person looks at a goal and attempts to interpret what it stands for, that interpretation is
heavily influenced by the individual characteristics of the individual thinker. The
major characteristics of the perceiver influencing perception are: –
A. Needs & Motives: – The perception of individuals is basically determined by their internal
needs and motives. They approach things differently according to their different needs and
objectives. Different needs result in different stimuli, in the same way that people choose
different objects to satisfy their needs. According to Freud, “Wishful thinking is the means by
which the ID, a part of the personality, attempts to reduce stress.” In such cases, people will
only understand things that fit their wishful thinking.
B. Self-Concept: – How a person actually views others or the rest of the world will clearly
determine how he thinks of himself, or his self-concept. It is largely based on the complex
psychological makeup of individuals. Self-understanding helps to understand others. An
individual with a positive self-concept tends to notice positive attributes in another person.
In contrast, a negative self-concept can lead a perceiver to pick out negative traits in another
person.
C. Belief: – A person’s belief has a direct impact on his perception. It is very difficult for a
person to think beyond their personal beliefs because most people go by their beliefs and
they feel that way. According to Daniel Katz: –
i. A person self-censors his intake of communication so that his beliefs and practices are
protected from attack.
ii. A person seeks communication that supports his beliefs and practices.
iii. The latter is especially true when the beliefs and practices in question have come under
attack.
D. Past Experience: – People’s perception is greatly influenced by their past experiences. A
person having good experience in the past will perceive accordingly and vice versa. The
experience of employees results in different levels of perception. A young employee takes
time to understand the object and situation. Experienced employees generally understand
objects quickly and correctly. However, in contradictory situations, it is difficult to correct
aged persons, whereas the young are easily moulded towards achieving the objectives of the
organization.
E. Current Psychological Status: – The current psychological or emotional state of people plays
an important role in perception. The current state of the person defines how the person will
perceive something. As such, a person in a good mood will perceive it in a different way than
a person who is not in a good mood.
F. Expectations: – Again, expectations are a major player in deciding how a person will feel.
Expectations are related to the state of anticipation of a particular behaviour from an
individual. E.g., If a person thinks that Mr. X will never do him any good, then even if Mr. X
is right, that person will always be under the impression that Mr. X is wrong. The employees
may expect more pay and so they perceive the management from that angle. The real stimuli
are not properly perceived if expectations exist there on. The management has to evolve
expectations for proper perception.
G. Attitude: – The attitude and aptitude of employees influence perception formation. If they
have positive attitudes towards the management, they directly perceive the stimuli given by
management. In the case of negative attitudes, the employees suspect the management’s
 approach. Employees of high aptitude have a desire and attitude for growth. They behave
positively toward the management of an organization.
2. Characteristics of the Perceived or Target: – Characteristics in the target that is being observed
can affect what is perceived. Physical appearance plays a big role in our perception of others.
Extremely attractive or unattractive individuals are more likely to be noticed in a group than
ordinary looking individuals.
A. Physical Appearance or Size: – The larger the size of the perceived stimulus, the more likely
it is to be perceived and vice versa. Physical appearance plays a big role in our perception of
others. The perceiver will notice the target’s physical features like height, weight, estimated
age, race and gender. Perceivers tend to notice physical appearance characteristics that
contrast with the norm, that are intense, or that are new or unusual. People understand
things better when it is explained clearly and they understand accordingly.
B. Intensity: – The more intense the external stimulus, the more likely it is to be perceived. A
loud sound, bright colours, etc. are more likely to attract attention than a softer sound or a
relatively dull colour.
C. Frequency: – The higher the frequency of repetition of things, the higher the perceptual
selectivity. This is also in accordance with the repetition principle of learning.
D. Status: – Perception is also affected by the position of the thinker. High status people can
have a greater influence on employee perception than low status people.
E. Contrast: – The stimulus which is opposite to the surrounding environment attracts more
attention than the stimuli found in it.
3. Characteristic of the Situation: – Change in situation leads to incorrect perception about a
person. Time, place and situation play an important role in the perception of communication.
Such situational factors can be further classified as: –
A. Physical Setting: – It includes place, location, lighting, heat, ventilation, infrastructure etc. If
all these things are reasonable then people can perceive positively and vice versa.
B. Social Setting: – This includes human resources, i.e., people around you or affected parties or
people concerned about you or people you are concerned about or people you work with.
The strength of the situational cues also affects social perception. Some situations provide
strong cues as to appropriate behaviour. In these situations, we assume that the individual’s
behaviour can be accounted for by the situation and that it may not reflect the individual’s
disposition.
C. Organizational Setting: – It includes hierarchy, organizational setup, structure, etc. in the
organization. All these affect perceptions.

ATTITUDE

It is defined as individuals‟ feelings like likes and dislikes, pros and cons, favorable or
unfavorable, positive or negative towards various other people, objects, events or activities. These
are the evaluative statements – either favorable or unfavorable towards object or people. I like
coke. I do not like rock music. These are expression of attitudes towards products.
In organizations, attitudes are important because they affect job behaviors. If employees
believe that supervisors, auditors, bosses , engineers are all in a conspiracy to make the employee
 work harder for the same or less money, then it makes sense to try understand how attitudes were
formed, their relationship to actual job behavior and how they can be made more favorable.

Meaning and Concept of Attitudes

Attitudes may be defined in two ways conceptual and operational. Even there is a quite
difference in the conceptual definition of the term attitude. The term attitude first entered in the
field of social phenomenon, it was natural to conceive of attitude as a tendency, set, or readiness to
respond to some social objects.

Some authors define attitude as a mental and neural state of readiness, organised through
experience, exerting directive or dynamic influence upon the individual‘s response to all objects
and situations with which it is related. From this point of view, attitude implies a heightened
responsiveness to certain stimuli. Many researchers have defined attitude in terms of effect and
evaluation. For example, Krech and Crutchfield define attitude as an enduring organisation of
motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of the
individual's world. Thus, attitudes are beliefs imbued with emotional and motivational properties
and are expressed in a person's favorability towards an object.
NATURE OF ATTITUDE
Characteristics of Attitude
Characteristics of attitude are discussed below:
1. Attitude are predispositions
2. Attitude are different from values
3. Attitude are evaluative statement
4. Attitude influence human behavior
5. Attitude have intensity
6. Attitude are learnt
Attitude are predispositions
Attitude are predispositions of purpose, interest or opinion of the person to assess some objects in
a favourable or an unfavourable manner.
Attitude are different from values
Attitude are different from values: Values are the ideals, whereas attitudes are narrow, they are
our feelings.
Attitude are evaluative statement
Attitude are evaluative statements: either favourable or unfavourable concerning the objects,
people or events.
Attitude influence human behavior
A positive attitude towards a thing will influence human behavior towards the thing favorably
and vice-versa.
Attitude have intensity
It refers to the strength of the effective component. For example, we may dislike an individual but
the extent of our disliking would determine the intensity of our attitude towards the person.

Attitude are learnt

Attitude is not inborn phenomenon. Attitude are learnt through social interaction and experience.

COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE

Attitude has three components, which are as follows:

 Affective component
 Cognitive component
 Intentional component
The affective component of an attitude reflects 'feelings and emotions' that an individual has
towards a situation. The cognitive component of an attitude is derived from 'knowledge' that an
individual has about a situation. Finally, the intentional component of an attitude reflects how an
individual 'expects to behave' towards or in the situation. For example, the different components
ofan attitude held towards a firm, which supplies inferior products and that too irregularly could
be described as follows:
 "I don't like that company"—Affective component.
 "They are the worst supply firm I have ever dealt with"—Cognitive component.
 "I will never do business with them again"'—Intentional component.
People try to maintain consistency among the three components of their attitudes. However,
conflicting circumstances often arise. The conflict that individuals may experience among their
own attitudes is called 'cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive component
Beliefs are the cognitive components of consumer attitude. Cognitive component of attitude is
associated with the value statement. It consists of values, belief, ideas and other information that a
person may have faith in.
Positive brand associations enhance brand equity and are achieved through a number of
positioning strategies. Through brand associations, marketers establish and influence favorable
beliefs about a brand and unfavorable beliefs about competitors.

Example: Quality of sincere hard is a faith or value statement that a manager may have.
Affective component
Affective is the emotive component of consumer attitude. Affective component of attitude is
associated with individual feelings about another person, which may be positive, neutral or
negative.
Three research models describe the determinants of affective response.
 Functional theory of attitude explains that consumers buy as a result of one of four
psychological functions: adjustment, ego defense, value expression, and application of prior
knowledge.
 Fishbein model relates consumer beliefs and evaluations to affective response: if beliefs are
strong and desirable, affective responses are positive.
 Belief importance model analyses affective responses across competing brands.
Example: I don’t like Sam because he is not honest, or I like Sam because he is sincere. It is an
expression of feelings about a person, object or a situation.
Behavioral component
Intention is the behavioral component of consumer attitude. Behavioral component of attitude is
associated with the impact of various condition or situations that lead to person behavior based
on cognitive and affective components.
Two research models demonstrate the relationship between intention to purchase and actual
purchase and consumption.

 The theories of reasoned action explain purchasing behavior as a direct result of intention,
influenced by attitude toward purchase and by subjective norms.

 The theory of trying to consume explains actual consumption behavior of purchasers. It

provides insight into the establishment and maintenance of long-term relationship with
consumers.
Example: I don’t like Sam because he is not honest is an affective component, I, therefore, would
like to disassociate myself with him, is a behavioural component and therefore I would avoid Sam.
Cognitive and affective components are bases for such behaviour. Former two components
cannot be seen, only the behaviour component can be seen. Former is important because it is a
base for the formation of attitude.

ATTITUDE FORMATION
The question often arises, ‘how are the attitudes and subsequent behaviors formed?’ While
attitudes are basically learned over the years, some inherited characteristics do affect such
attitudes
Some of the learned characteristics responsible for attitude formation are:
1. Experiences
2. Perceptual biases
3. Observation of other person attitude
4. Association
5. Personality
Experiences
Our personal experiences with people and situations develop our attitude towards such persons
and situations.Through job experience, people develop attitudes towards working conditions,
salaries, supervision, group dynamics and so on.
Perceptual biases
Perception is the result of a complex interaction of various senses such as feelings, seeing, hearing
and so on and plays an important part in our attitude and behavioural formation.

For example, if a manager perceives a subordinate’s ability as limited, he will give him limited
responsibility. Similarly, we lose many good friends due to our changed perception about them.

Observation of other person attitude

When we like someone, we try to emulate that person’s attitude.For example, when we are
impressed by someone keeping calm under stressful circumstances and we appreciate such
calmness, we might try to do the same.

Association
Our association with the group we belong to strongly influences our attitude. Our close
association with a group would encourage us to be consistent with the attitude of the group.

Personality
Personality is a set of traits and characteristics, habit patterns and conditioned responses to certain
stimuli that formulate the impression that a person makes upon others and this impression is a
function of a person’s attitude.

Consumer Attitude Formation

Attitudes are learned though there are different approaches on how learning works as is acquired
by individuals. Following factors lead to consumer attitude formation:

1. Economic Factors
2. Family Factors
3. Social Factors
4. Political Factors
5. Psychological Factors
6. Personality Factors
7. Reference Group Factors

BENEFITS OF POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Everyone has bad days at work. Unfortunately, when you launch your own business, you might
have weeks when the bad days seem to outnumber the good ones. However, you cannot let
negative forces discourage you, as this may slow down your company's progress. In order to
overcome the challenges you face, you must strive to maintain a positive attitude.

Here are seven benefits of accentuating the positive while growing your business:

1. Creating a more positive workplace environment

If you have experience working for a grumpy boss, you know the feeling of coming to work every
day only to be swallowed by negativity. This type of attitude hangs over the workplace, affecting
everyone. Before you unload your troubles on employees and partners, imagine how the news will
affect them. In an effort to increase employee engagement and create a more positive environment,
you should try to keep your negative thoughts and comments at bay.

2. Encouraging your employees to engage in problem-solving

Small business owners who focus on the negative send a bad message out to their employees.
After all, anyone who complains about misfortune all the time appears to be hopeless in the face of
adversity. On the other hand, when you think of ways to improve a bad situation, your positive
approach can encourage your employees to take action. Soon enough, your staff members will
begin thinking of ways to solve a problem rather than wallowing in their troubles. As a business
owner, you can set the right tone in these scenarios.

3. Reassuring your employees and clients that your business is stable

Consider how your employees and clients feel when you express negativity in your
communications. If you constantly focus on the negative, those around you may begin to suspect
that your business is having problems. By emphasizing what is working, you can reassure
employees about their job security and clients about their investment.

4. Keeping your best staff

Boring, depressing jobs are definitely not the rage these days. Employers learned long ago that
creating a pleasant workplace attracts positive employees and improves the business overall. In
turn, employees' positive energy makes offices more upbeat and enjoyable. If you think about it,
people spend about half of their waking hours in the workplace. In order to recruit and retain
valuable, hard-working employees, you must create a pleasant office atmosphere.

5. Establishing a faster pace

As a small business owner, it can be difficult to keep your employees motivated. You might try
sales contests, flexible work hours, or delegating more tasks to improve engagement. Whatever
you decide to try, negativity is definitely not the answer. People who hear constant criticism from
their bosses tend to shut down and take things personally. In this case, you would achieve the
opposite of your goal of improving performance. In order to establish a faster pace at your office,
you must recognize accomplishments and emphasize what your employees are doing right.

6. Learning from mistakes

There are times when negativity is warranted. If a client abandons a deal without explanation, you
have the right to be angry. Should an employee ignore duties on the job, you ought to be
concerned about his or her future with the company. Small business owners make mistakes, too. In
every scenario, there is the chance for a learning experience. Let your anger go as quickly as
possible and figure out how to do things better the next time around.

7. Increasing your bottom line

Perhaps most importantly, maintaining a positive attitude helps to improve your company's
bottom line. You might not realize it at first, but your employees, clients, and partners cast a wide
web across their various networks. When they speak about your company in glowing terms to
their friends and family members, your business earns a better reputation. This reputation impacts
sales, reviews, and the types of employees you can hire in the future.

As a small business owner, it is crucial that you do your best to focus on the positive, even in the
most challenging situations. By doing so, you can create a better work environment for your whole
team.

FUNCTIONS OF ATTITUDE
Four important functions of attitude which are crucial in organizational behavior viewpoint are:
1. Adjustment Function
2. Ego-Defensive Function
3. Value-Expressive Function
4. Knowledge Function
Adjustment Function
Attitudes often help individuals to adjust to their work environment.

Consumers hold certain brand attitudes partly because of the brand utility. If a product has helped
us in the past even in a small way, our attitude towards it tends to be favorable. One way of
changing attitude in favor of a product is by showing people that it can solve utilitarian goals.
They may not have considered some advertisement which stresses the utilitarian benefits of a
product.

Example: Well-treated employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their management
or job.
Ego-Defensive Function
Consumers want to protect their self concept from inner feelings of doubt. Cosmetic and personal
hygiene products, by acknowledging this need, increase their relevance to the consumer and have
the possibility of a favorable attitude by offering reassurance to the consumers self concept.

Example: Older faculty might feel somewhat threatened by a young and new faculty member who
is full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm
Value-Expressive Function
Attitudes are one expression of general values, lifestyles, and outlook. If a consumer segment
generally holds a positive attitude towards being in a fashion segment, consumer may treat high
fashion clothing and accessories as symbols of that lifestyle.

Example, a manager who values honest and sincere work will be more vocal against an employee
who is having a very casual approach towards work.
Knowledge Function
Attitudes provide frames of reference or standard that allow individuals to understand and
perceive the world around him. Individuals have a strong need to know and understand the
people and things with whom they come in contact, especially if they think they might influence
their behavior.
Example, If a student has a strong negative attitude towards the college, whatever the college
does, the student will be perceived as something ‘bad’ and as actually against them.
ATTITUDE MEASUREMENT

Job Satisfaction:

The term job satisfaction refers to an individual‟s general attitudes towards their job. The
likingness or dislikingness differ from individual to individual with respect to job contextual
factors or job content factors. Some people give much importance to job contextual factors like
salary, security, supervision, supportive colleagues, company policy, working conditions,
perquisites, promotions, equitable rewards etc. Whereas others may show much interest in job
content factors such as advancement, challenging assignments, career progress, appreciation and
recognition, work itself.

Research results revealed that the job satisfaction had a tremendous impact on improving
productivity, enhancing quality requirements, reduced absenteeism rate and employee turnover.
The employees expressed their dissatisfaction through so many ways such as leaving the
organization, raising their voice to demand to improve the working conditions, be patient by
passively waiting for the conditions to improve and neglecting everything in work.

A person with a positive attitude is likely to have more job satisfaction, while a person with
negative attitude is likely to have job dissatisfaction towards his or her job. Job satisfaction is one
of the major determinants of an employee‟s organizational citizenship behavior. Satisfied
employee would seem more likely to take positively about the organization, help others and go
beyond the normal expectation in their job. Moreover, satisfied employees normally are more
prone to go beyond the call of duty because they were to reciprocate their positive experiences.

The following are some of the major determinants of job satisfaction–mentally challenging
work, equitable rewards, supportive working conditions, supportive fellow employees,
personality-job fit, company policies and programs.

Job Involvement:

This refers to the extent to which a person identifies psychologically with her or his job. The
person feels that the job is more meaningful and it utilizes one‟s talent and skills to the fullest
extent. There is a perfect harmony between the types of skills a person possesses and the work
content. The individual experiences as if the whole work is being carried out by him having full
control over everything related to the work. Due to this perception, performance level will be
increasing significantly and enhance the overall self worth. Employees with a high level of job
involvement strongly identify with and really care about the kind of work they do in their job.
Job involvement measures the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with her or his
job and considers her or his perceived performance level important to her or his self- worth.
Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and really care about the
kind of work they do in their job. There is high level of relationship between job involvement and
fewer absences and lower resignation rates of an individual.

Organizational Commitment:

It is refers to the extent to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its
goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. The person shows much of
association and loyalty to their organization. Organizational commitment has gained a great deal
of interest in recent years because of the changing nature of the

workplace. People, who feel a perfect congruence between his values, beliefs, attitudes, and the
organizational policies, practices, programs and its overall work culture, are likely to have more
commitment than those who have incongruence. In order to elicit a high level of commitment
from the employees, a due care must be taken at every stages right from the recruitment to
retirement. Administering suitable screening tests such as aptitude tests, personality tests,
interest‟s tests etc will help significantly placing a right person to do a right type of job.

With fewer workers, managers want workers who identify with the organization‟s purpose and
will work hard to achieve its goals.

Organizational commitment can also be enhanced through organizational communication

process, team briefing, supportive leadership etc. A good fit between the personality and the job,
an internal locus of control, positive realistic expectations, opportunities for career advancement
etc are the good predictors of organizational commitment.
Attitude Change

There is often a paradox of attitudes in that people need them to provide stability to social world
yet world is a changing one and people must change their attitudes appropriate to the situation.
The attitude change appropriate to organizational requirement is more important because
attitudes affect behaviour and only certain behaviour is desirable from organisation point of view.
Organizations adopt a number of techniques for changing attitudes of their members so that their
behaviour corresponds with the organizational requirement. However, whatever the techniques
for attitudes change are adopted, they can be effective only if basic characteristics of attitudes and
their nature are kept inconsideration. Though various theories of attitude formation and change
have been presented earlier which help in understanding attitudes and the techniques through
which they can be changed, the change techniques can be more effective, if three basic factors (as
discussed below) are considered adequately:

Characteristics of Attitudes: In understanding attitude change, the analysis of attitude

characteristics is an important element. Theories attitudes suggest numerous types of their
characteristics. Such characteristics may be (i) extremeness of the attitude (ii) multiplexity,
(iii) consistency, (iv) interconnectedness, (v) consonance of the attitude cluster .of which the focal
attitude is a part, (vi) the number and strength of the needs which are served by the attitude, and
(vii) centrality of related values. Taking these characteristics .of attitudes, there may be two types
of attitude change: congruent and incongruent. The congruent change involves an increase in the
strength of an existing attitude, either to make a positive attitude even mare favourable or to make
a negative attitude mare strongly negative.
An incongruent change is .one in which the direction of change is opposite to the originally
held attitude. Congruent change is easier to produce than incongruent one-specially when the
attitude held is extreme, central in the attitude system, and interconnected with supporting
attitudes. Another characteristic involved in changeability of attitudes is their simplicity. The
number off acts involved in the cognition and the number of facts to which it is related makes the
attitude simple or complex.
Personality of Attitude Holder: The personality factors of attitude holder are also important in
attitude change in the sense that some persons are mare pursuable as compared to others. This is
so because of personality differences. Such differences change the natural of attitudes because
attitudes are subjective qualities. Persuability is the tendency of a person to accept a persuasive
communication. It commonly refers to a response to a direct influence attempt. Several personality
factors suggest different types of persuability. First is level of self esteem of the person.
The mare inadequate a person feels and the mare social inhibitions he has, the mare likely
is he to be perusable. People with a great deal of confidence in their own intellectual ability are not
only mare resistant to change but mere willing to expose themselves to discrepant information.
Related to the personality factors, there is a style of thinking referred to as close minded or
dogmatism. Dogmatism is a farm of authoritarianism where there is admiration of those in
authority and hatred far those opposed to authority. There is a strong belief in the cause and a
decreasing tendency to admit that other causes might be valid.
Dogmatism is a relatively closed system in which the beliefs and disbeliefs are isolated
from one another. It tends to be organised around some central authority theme, which must be
protected at all costs. In dogmatism, there is high degree of rejection of opposing beliefs, a
relatively low level of interconnection among belief systems, and complex cognitions about
positively valued objects as against cognitions about negatively valued objects. In such cases
attitude change is often resisted. However, personality factors should not be over emphasized in
attitude change because the change makes much more sense in the context of total change attempt
situation.
Group Affiliation: Individuals often express-their attitudes in terms of group. This is more so in
the case of less extreme attitudes. This is so because membership in the group prevents existing
attitudes from being disturbed by filtering the information. As will be discussed later, one of the
powerful bonds which, hold the group together is the fact that members think alike. Information
likely to cause dissonance or inconsistency is either omitted or perceived according to group
norms with some modification or is rejected or considered irrelevant.
Though people are not always exposed to information in the concept or groups and
information, which may change their attitudes impinges upon them from many sources, even
outside the group, their membership still influences the way the new information is perceived.
This is particularly true of primary groups, such as family, friendship group, etc.

Methods of Attitude Change

Various methods have been adopted for attitude change. Cohen has classified them into four
categories: Communication of additional information approval and disapproval of a
particular attitude, group influence, and inducing engagement in discrepant behaviour. However,
in some way or the other, all these methods involve introducing discrepancies among the elements
making up the individual's attitude in the hope that elements win be rebalanced through changing
the affective component of the attitude.
Thus, in practice, the central variable in attitude change is the feeling comment associated
with the attitude object. Thus from organization‘s point of view, a manager may take the following
actions in bringing out change the attitudes of organizational members. Such a course of action
may be in the form of group action, persuasion through leadership, persuasion through
communication, and the influence of total situation. These factors have been taken for detailed
analysis in later chapters.
 MOTIVATION
The word Motivation derives from the   Latin word “Movere”. The Latin word
“Movere” means “To move”, “To drive” or “To drive forward” etc.  Motivation can be
defined as stimulating, inspiring and inducing the employees to perform to their best
capacity. Motivation is a psychological term which means it cannot be forced on
employees. It comes automatically from inside the employees as it is the willingness to
do the work.
Joe Kelly  defined Motivation as “Motivation is a process where by needs
instigate behavior directed towards the goals that can satisfy those needs.”
According to W. G. Scot, “Motivation means a process of stimulating people to action to
accomplish the desired goals.”

Process of Motivation

1. Unsatisfied need. Motivation process begins when there is an unsatisfied need in a

human being.
2. Tension. The presence of unsatisfied need gives him tension.
3. Drive. This tension creates an urge of drive in the human being an he starts looking for
various alternatives to satisfy the drive.
4. Search Behavior. After searching for alternatives the human being starts behaving
according to chosen option.
5. Satisfied need. After behaving in a particular manner for a long time then he evaluates
that whether the need is satisfied or not.
6. Reduction of tension. After fulfilling the need the human being gets satisfied and his
tension gets reduced.

For example, if an employee develops a need to earn more, this need will make him
restless and he will start thinking how to satisfy his need. To satisfy his need he may
think of working hard in organization and get promotion so he will start working hard.
After sometime he will get incentives or increments or promotion which will satisfy his
need.

What is the importance of motivation theory?

A manager guides the people in a desired manner to achieve organizational objectives.
Two important things are necessary for any work to be done; People should have the
ability and willingness to work. Unwillingness to work is of no use. Therefore,
motivation theory is needed to create a desire to work in the minds of workers.

1. Optimum Use of the Means of Production: – Workers work honestly with the
motivation. It creates the possibility of optimum utilization of the factors of
production such as labour and capital.
 2. Desire to Work: – Motivation affects people’s willingness to work. A man is
technically, mentally and physically fit to work but he may not be ready to work.
Motivation creates a desire on the part of the workers to do the job better.
3. Reduction in Absenteeism: – Financial incentive schemes force workers to work
more. The financial incentive plan is designed in such a way that monetary benefits
are given based on the number of hours worked. It reduces absenteeism.
4. Low Labour Turnover: – Motivation has both financial and non-financial incentive
schemes. It helps in retaining the existing laborers. The enterprise can plan its
activities on long term basis with the help of low labour turnover.
5. Availability of Right Personnel: – Financial and non-financial incentives not only
retain existing employees but also attract employees from outside the enterprise. In
other words, the right people are attracted from outside to work for the enterprise.
6. Building Good Labour Relations: – Motivation helps in solving labour problems of
absenteeism, labour turnover, indiscipline and grievances. This ensures the creation
of good labour relations.
7. Increase in Efficiency and Production: – Both the workers and the management have
benefited from the motivational schemes. On the one hand, the wages of workers
increase commensurate with the increase in production and efficiency. On the other
hand, the concerted efforts of motivated people increase the productivity of the
organization and its profits.
8. Sense of Belonging: – A proper motivation plan fosters a close relationship between
the enterprise and the workers. Workers begin to feel that the enterprise belongs to
them and regard their interests as theirs. Thus, there is no difference between
workers and enterprise.
9. Basis of Cooperation: – Cooperation increases efficiency and production.
Cooperation cannot be achieved without motivation, so motivation is the basis of
cooperation.
10. Motivation Improves the Performance of the Employees and the Organization :
– Through motivational techniques a manager fulfils the needs of the employees. A
satisfied and motivated employee is able to make better use of his energy and
potential thereby leading to higher levels of performance. The better performance of
individual employees contributes to the performance of the organisation.
11. Motivation Develops Positive Attitude: – Motivational techniques like rewards,
praise, recognition etc. instil in the employees the desire to perform to the best of
their potential. In the absence of motivation, employees may be indifferent to
organizational goals and perform at a minimum level. Motivation eliminates this
negative attitude and develops positive attitude towards work which leads to
effective achievement of organizational goals.

12. Motivation Helps to Bring About Change Easily : – A motivated employee is open-
minded and able to understand that adapting to environmental changes is vital for the
future success and growth of the business. They can easily accept the change as they can
see the additional rewards that they get as a result of the change.

Types of Motivation
1. Achievement Motivation:  It is the drive to pursue and attain goals. An individual with
achievement motivation wishes to achieve objectives and advance up on the ladder of
success. Here, accomplishment is important for its own shake and not for the rewards
that accompany it. It is similar to ‘Kaizen’ approach of Japanese Management.
2. Affiliation Motivation: It is a drive to relate to people on a social basis. Persons with
affiliation motivation perform work better when they are complimented for their
favorable attitudes and co-operation.
3. Competence Motivation: It is the drive to be good at something, allowing the
individual to perform high quality work. Competence motivated people seek job
mastery, take pride in developing and using their problem-solving skills and strive to
be creative when confronted with obstacles. They learn from their experience.
4. Power Motivation: It is the drive to influence people and change situations. Power
motivated people wish to create an impact on their organization and are willing to take
risks to do so.
5. Attitude Motivation: Attitude motivation is how people think and feel. It is their self
confidence, their belief in themselves, their attitude to life. It is how they feel about the
future and how they react to the past.
6. Incentive Motivation: It is where a person or a team reaps a reward from an activity. It
is “You do this and you get that”, attitude. It is the types of awards and prizes that
drive people to work a little harder.
7. Fear Motivation:  Fear motivation coercion’s a person to act against will. It is
instantaneous and gets the job done quickly. It is helpful in the short run.

Features of Motivation

1. Motivation is a psychological phenomenon. Motivation is an internal feeling which

means it cannot be forced on employees. The internal feelings such as need, desire,
aspirations etc. influence human behavior to behave in a particular manner. For
example, desire to have a new house, respect and recognition etc.
2. Motivation produces goal directed behavior. Motivation induces people to behave in
such a manner so that they can achieve their goal. Motivated person need no
supervision or direction. He will always work in desired manner. For example of a
person has a motive to get promotion so he will work efficiently to get promotion.
3. Motivators can be positive as well as negative. To motivate employees managers use
various motivators. Some motivators are positive and some are negative few examples
of positive motivators are promotion, increment, bonus, respect, recognition etc. if
employee does not improve his performance with positive motivators then manager
uses negative motivators such as warning, issue o memo, demotion, stopping
increments etc. sometimes fear of negative motivators also induces person to behave in
a desired manner.
4. Motivation is a complex process. Motivation is a complex and difficult task. In order to
motivate people a manager must understand various types of human need. Human
needs are mental feelings which can be measured accurately. If manager measures them
accurately then also every person uses different approaches to satisfy his need. Some
get satisfied with monetary incentives, some with non-monetary, some with positive
 and some with negative motivators. So it is not possible to make generalization in
motivation.
5. Motivation is a dynamic and continuous process. Human beings are ever-changing.
Human needs are unlimited and go on changing continuously. Satisfaction of one need
gives rise to another so managers have to continuously perform the function of
motivation.

Motivation Theory in Organizational Behaviour

Motivation Theory in Organizational Behaviour and see how different motivators affect
our performance in the workplace: –
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: – Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist,
proposed a hierarchy of needs in his paper, A Theory of Human Motivation. Maslow
said that people are motivated when their needs are met. Once our basic needs and
wants are met, we are motivated to do more. For example, if you are someone who
values a good work-life balance and your organization offers you a part-time
opportunity, you will happily accept the offer and fulfil your responsibilities to the
best of your abilities.
A. Physiological Needs: – Physiological needs are considered as the most basic needs
of human beings. These are the needs that are very important for our existence.
Examples of physiological needs are food, shelter, warmth, health, homeostasis
and water.
B. Security Needs: – Once the basic needs of food, shelter, water etc. are met, there is
an innate desire to move to the next level. The next level is known as security
requirements. The primary concern of the individual here is related to safety.
Safety and security can be in relation to many things such as a stable source of
income which provides financial security, personal protection from any kind of
unnatural events, animal attacks and emotional security and physical security
which is security for health.  E.g. freedom, protection and no pain.
C. Social Needs (also called love and related needs) : – This is the third level in the
need hierarchy theory. This is the stage where a person seeks acceptance from
others in the form of love, belongingness after fulfilling his physical needs as well
as security needs. At this stage human behaviour is driven by emotions and there
is a strong need to make emotional connections. E.g. love, friendship and
involvement in social activities.
D. Esteem Needs: – It is considered as the fourth level of hierarchy of needs theory. It
deals with the need of the individual to be recognized in the society. It is related to
getting recognition, self-respect in the society. The need for recognition and
acceptance arises when a person has satisfied the need for love and belonging. E.g.
self-confidence, recognition and appreciation.
E. Self-Actualized Needs: – This is the last level of the theory of hierarchy of needs
proposed by Maslow. This is the highest level of needs and is known as the need
for self-actualization. It is concerned with the need of an individual to achieve or
realize the full potential of one’s own potential. At this stage, all individuals strive
to be the best version of themselves. In other words, self-realization is a journey of
personal growth and development. E.g. becoming the very best you can be.
2. Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory: – Frederick Herzberg, an American psychologist
who became an influential figure in business management, introduced the two-factor
theory, also known as the motivational-hygiene theory. This theory consists of two
parts- the hygiene factor and the motivation factor. Hygiene factors such as working
conditions, pay and job security ensure that employees are satisfied. Motivational
factors, such as recognition, responsibility and opportunities for growth, ensure that
people are encouraged to improve their performance. Herzberg believed that
organizations must strive to maintain a healthy balance between the two in order to
be successful.

3. McClelland’s Theory of Needs: – David Clarence McClelland, an American

psychologist, proposed three motivational drivers that influence our life experiences.
The first achievement is required. He said that people with a high need for
achievement pursue objectives that hold them accountable. They want immediate
acknowledgment of their efforts. People with the second type of motivation need are
motivated by the need for affiliation, the social relationships they form, and the
positive interactions between them. They thrive in social situations and make best use
 of interpersonal skills. The third type of people – those in need of power – want roles
that give them authority and exercise their influence over others.
A. Need For Achievement: – As the name suggests there is an urge to achieve
something in what you do. If you are a lawyer then the case needs to be won and
recognized, if you are a painter then you want your painting to be famous. It is
this need which drives a person to work and even struggle for the purpose which
he wants to achieve.
B. Need For Power: – The need for power is the desire within a person to have
control and authority over another person and to influence and change their
decisions according to their needs or desires. The need to increase their self-esteem
and prestige drives these people and they want their thoughts and ideas to be
accepted and applied to the thoughts and ideas of others.
C. Need for Affiliation: – The need for affiliation is an individual’s urge to have
interpersonal and social connections with others or a particular group of people.
They want to work in groups by forming friendly and lasting relationships and
aspire to be liked by others. They prefer to cooperate with others to compete with
them and usually avoid high-risk situations and uncertainty.

Advantages of Motivation

Advantages to Management or Organization:

 Increase in the efficiency and productivity of employees. Motivation ensures a high

level performance of employees.
 Better co-operation from employees and cordial labor-management relations.
 Reduction in the rate of labor absenteeism and turnover.
 Reduction in the wastage’s and industrial accidents.
 Improvement in the morale of employees.
 Quick achievement of business/corporate objectives and favorable corporate image.
 Advantages to Employees or Workers:

 Employees get various monetary and non-monetary facilities/benefits which provide

better life and welfare to them.
 Security of employment and other benefits due to cordial relations with the
management.
 Job attraction and job satisfaction.
 Higher status and opportunities of participation in management.
 Positive approach and outlook of employees towards company, management and
superiors.
 Reduction in the rate of labour turnover which is harmful to employees and
management.
 Better scope for improvement in knowledge and skills of employees.

Ways to Improve Motivation of Workers

Motivation is the desire that pushes an individual to work well. It is an influence that
causes people to behave in a particular way. Organisations can motivate its production
line workers through financial rewards such as an increase in wage rates or profit
sharing, and through non — financial rewards such as job enlargement and delegation
along with the use of motivational theories such as McGregor’s Theory X and
Y and Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Effect.