Individual Behaviour

1. Organizational Behaviour

2. Definition
◦ Gordon Allport defined “Personality as the dynamic organisation within the
individual of those Psycho-Physical Systems that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment”.
Personality Characteristics
◦ Agreeable: Cares about others, feels empathy, enjoys helping others
◦ Conscientiousness: High levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, goal-
directed behaviors
◦ Eager-to-please: Accommodating, passive, and conforming
◦ Extraversion: Excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high
amounts of emotional expressiveness
◦ Introversion: Quiet, reserved
◦ Neuroticism: Experiences stress and dramatic shifts in mood, feels anxious,
worries about different things, gets upset easily, struggles to bounce back after
stressful events
◦ Openness: Very creative, open to trying new things, focuses on tackling new
challenges

3. Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman (1976)
The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator identifies a
personality based on where someone is on four continuums:
introversion-extraversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling,
and judging-perceiving.
 Type A: Perfectionist, impatient, competitive, work-obsessed,
achievement-oriented, aggressive, stressed
 Type B: Low stress, even-tempered, flexible, creative, adaptable
to change, patient, tendency to procrastinate
 Type C: Highly conscientious, perfectionist, struggles to reveal
emotions (positive and negative)
 Type D: Worrying, sad, irritable, pessimistic, negative self-talk,
avoidance of social situations, lack of self-confidence, fear of
rejection, appears gloomy, hopeless

4. Other Personality Types
 ISTJ: Introverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. People
with this personality type are logical and organized; they
also tend to be judgmental.
 INFP: Introverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceiving. They
tend to be idealists and sensitive to their feelings.
 ESTJ: Extroverted, sensing, thinking, and judging. They tend
to be assertive and concerned with following the rules.
 ENFJ: Extroverted, intuitive, feeling, and judging. They are
known as "givers" for being warm and loyal; they may also
be overprotective.

5.  Biological factors:
◦ The foremost determinant of personality is the biological factor, in
which are included heredity, the brain and the physical stature.
Psychologists and geneticists argue strongly that heredity plays an
important role in one’s personality.
 Family factors:
◦ Family and social factors are also important in giving the shape to an
individual’s personality. It initially starts with contact with the
mother and later with other members of the family. Later still, the
contact with social group influences an individual’s personality.
 Situational Factors:
◦ Situational factors also influence the human personality. The effect
of environment on personality is quite strong. Knowledge skill and
language are acquired by a person and can be termed as learned
modifications of behavior.

6. This theory is based on the belief that man is encouraged more
by unforeseen forces than the conscious and logical thought.
Freud believed that most of the things in life are not present
at the conscious level but they are present at an unconscious
level.
◦ The features of Freud’s theory include three attributes:
 Id
 Ego
 Superego
 Id − It defines the innate component of personality. It is the
impulsive and unconscious part of mind that seeks immediate
satisfaction. Example − A hungry baby cries till he/she is fed.

7.  Ego − It is derived from Id and assists in dealing with
the external world. It also helps in translating the inner
needs into expressions. It deals with practical and
rational thinking process. Example − We have a fight
with our friend and expect the friend to talk first, even
though both of us want to talk.
 Superego − It is different from ego and is partially
unconscious. It includes the traditional values of
society as interpreted by our parents. It also helps in
the integral vision of punishment. Example − Ram
came late today so he is grounded for a week.

8.  This theory states that personality is groomed throughout lifetime. He
presents eight distinct stages each with two possible outcomes.
Successful completion of each stage leads to a healthy personality.
These stages are:
◦ Infancy − It is the period between 0-1 years of age. In this stage,
children learn the ability to trust others depending on their caregivers.
Unsuccessful completion in this stage results in anxiety and insecurity.
Example − Children of this age are more comfortable with those faces
they see more often and not with strangers.
◦ Early Childhood − It is the period between 1-3 years of age. In this
stage, children learn to be independent. If given support, they become
more confident else they become dependent over others. Example −
Children in this age are taught how to walk, how to talk etc.
◦ Play Age − It is the period between 3-6 years of age. In this stage,
children assert themselves frequently. The failure leads to development
of a sense of guilt among them. Example − Children in this age group,
need to be taught how to behave and should be taught to be focused.

9.  School Age − It is the period between 6 years of age till puberty. In this
stage, children become more innovative. They feel confident and want to
achieve their goals. If not encouraged they may feel inferior. Example −
Teenagers should be protected and parents need to understand them and
should handle them patiently.
 Adolescence − This stage is a transformation from childhood to adulthood.
Here children find their own identity and should be guided and supported in
order to help them choose the right direction. Example − Decision such as
which stream to choose science or commerce etc. happens during this stage.
 Young Childhood − This stage is also known as young adulthood. Here, they
begin to open up and become more intimate with others. Example − Making
close friends.
 Adulthood − In this stage, they focus on establishing career and settling down
with relationships that are important. Example − Applying for jobs.
 Mature Adulthood − In this stage, a person is old and thus in this stage the
productivity slows down. Example − Taking care of the family.

10.  This theory was proposed by William Sheldon. He presents
personalities by classifying individuals into convenient categories
based on their body shapes.
◦ Endomorphs
◦ Mesomorphs
◦ Ectomorphs
 Endomorphs
◦ In this category, the body is soft and spherical. People with this kind
of personality love comfort, eat a lot, like to be around people and
desire affection. Some common endomorph features are large
amount of fat accumulation, insatiable appetite, larger frame etc.
◦ Some endomorph personalities are John Goodman, Jack Black etc.

11.  Mesomorphs
◦ In this category, the body is hard and rectangular physique.
People with this kind of personality like to take risk, are
courageous and have power. Some common mesomorph
features are wide shoulders, small waist, low body fat.
◦ Some mesomorph personalities are Jennifer Garner, Tina
Turner etc.
 Ectomorphs
◦ In this category, the body is fragile, flat chest and delicate
body. People with this kind of personality are anxious,
ambitious and dedicated. Some common ectomorph features
are narrow frame, low body fat, etc.

12.  Learning is “a process that leads to change, which
occurs as a result of experience and increases the
potential for improved performance and future
learning”
 Types of Learners
◦ Visual learners are individuals who prefer to take in their
information visually—be that with maps, graphs, diagrams,
charts, and others.
◦ Auditory learners are individuals who learn better when they
take in information in auditory form when it is heard or
spoken.

13. ◦ Kinesthetic learners are individuals who prefer to learn by
doing. They enjoy a hands-on experience.
◦ Reading/writing learners consume information best when it’s
in words, whether that’s by writing it down or reading it. To
them, text is more powerful than any kind of visual or
auditory representation of an idea.
Learning Process
A process that people pass through to acquire new knowledge
and skills and ultimately influence their attitudes, decisions
and actions.

15. The model used to inform the self assessment survey was based on the work
of David Kolb (1984).
Kolb’s model (based on experiential learning theory) identifies four modes in the
learning cycle:
◦ Concrete Experimentation
◦ Reflection
◦ Abstract Conceptualization
◦ Active Experimentation.
 Basically, this is a fancy way of saying that we learn by:
◦ Doing something (Concrete Experimentation)
◦ Thinking about it (Reflection)
◦ Doing some research
◦ Talking with others and applying what we already know to the
situation (Abstract Conceptualization)
◦ Doing something new or doing the same thing in a more sophisticated way
based on our learning (Active Experimentation).

16.  Theories of learning have been developed as models
of learning which explain the learning process by which
employees acquire a pattern of behavior.

17.  Classical conditioning can be defined as a process in which
a formerly neutral stimulus when paired with an
unconditional stimulus, becomes a conditioned stimulus
that elicits a conditioned response. (Luthans 1995)
 Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist (Nobel Peace Prize)
developed classical conditioning theory of learning based
on his experiments to teach a dog to salivate in response to
the ringing of a bell.
 When Pavlov presented meat (unconditioned stimulus) to
the dog, he noticed a great deal of salivation (conditioned
response). But, when merely bell was rung, no salivation
was noticed in the dog.

18. o Then, when next Pavlov did was to accompany the offering
of meat to the dog along with ringing up of bell.
o He did this several times. Afterwards, he merely rang the
bell without presenting the meat. Now, the dog began to
salivate as soon as the bell rang.
o After a while, the dog would salivate merely at the sound
of the bell, even if no meat were presented. In effect, the
dog had learned to respond i.e. to salivate to the bell.
o Pavlov concluded that the dog has become classically
conditioned to salivate (response) to the sound of the bell
(stimulus). It will be seen that Classical Conditioning
learning can take place amongst animals based
on stimulus-response (SR) connections.

19.  The number of pairings of the conditioned stimulus
and the unconditional stimulus.
 The intensity of the unconditioned stimulus.
 The most important factor is how reliably the
conditioned stimulus predicts the unconditioned
stimulus.
 The temporal relationship between the conditioned
stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus.

20.  Operant Conditioning is concerned primarily
with learning as a consequence of behaviour Response-
Stimulus (R-S). In Operant Conditioning particular response
occurs as a consequence of many stimulus situations.
 Operant conditioning argues that behaviour is a function of
its consequences.
 People learn to behave to get something they want or
avoid something they don’t want.
 Operant behavior means voluntary or learned behavior.
 The tendency to repeat such behaviour is influenced by the
reinforcement or lack of reinforcement brought about by
the consequences of the behaviour.
Reinforcement therefore strengthens behaviour and
increases the likelihood it will be repeated.

21.  Magnitude of reinforcement
 Immediacy of reinforcement
 Level of motivation of the learner

22.  Central to Bundura’s social learning theory is the
notion of self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief and expectancies
about his or her ability to accomplish a specific task
effectively.
 According to Bandura, self-efficacy expectations may
be enhanced through four means as follows:
◦ Performance accomplishments (just do it)
◦ Vicarious experiences (watch someone else do it)
◦ Verbal persuasion (be convinced by someone else to do it)
◦ Emotional arousal (get excited about doing it)

23. Meaning:
 Perception is a process by which people regard,
analyze, retrieve and react to any kind of information
from the environment.
Factors affecting Perception:

24.  Reception: In this process, a person receives the information through
stimuli.
 Selection: This is governed by two types of factors:
◦ External factors: These are size, intensity, proximity, motion and
novelty.
◦ Internal factors: These are attitude, motives, experiences, interests
and expectations.
 Organization: It is the process by which we sort stimuli into a
meaningful pattern. It involves the following:
◦ Grouping: Assembling of stimuli on the grounds of similarity.
◦ Proximity: This is the closeness of stimuli to one another that affects
perception.
◦ Closure: It is the ability to organize stimuli so that together they
form a whole pattern.

25.  Interpretation: It is the formation of an idea about the
information that is sensed, selected and organized.
 It involves the following phenomena: primacy effect,
selective perception, stereotyping, halo effect,
projection and expectancy effect.
 They are the types of perceptual errors.
◦ Primacy/ Recency Effect: The first impression is given the
most important which is known as the primacy effect.
◦ Stereotyping: It is the effect caused by forming a certain
belief about a category of stimuli and generalizing that notion
to encounters with each member of that category.

26. ◦ Halo effect: It is the process of generalizing from a
comprehensive analysis to a single attribute or trait.
◦ Projection: It is a psychological defence mechanism which
makes a person compare his negative traits with other people
and conclude that they are better off than others.
◦ Selective Perception: This means a person sees, feels or hears
what he wants to and skips other information which are
inconsistent to his view.
◦ Expectancy effect: It is the tendency of an individual to
interpret any person or object based on how he expects the
person or object to be in the first place.

27. Framework

28. Attitudes are evaluation statements either favourable or
unfavourable or unfavourable concerning objects, people or
events. They reflect how one feels about something.
(Robbins)
 Attitude is the mixture of beliefs and feelings that people
have about situations, specific ideas or other people.
 Components of Attitude
◦ Cognitive component
◦ Affective component
◦ Behavioral component

29.  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.

30.  Affective component of attitude is associated
with individual feelings about another person, which
may be positive, neutral or negative.
 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.

32.  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.

33.  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.
 Attitude are learnt: Attitude is not inborn
phenomenon. Attitude are learnt through social
interaction and experience.

35.  Experiences: Our personal experiences with people and
situations develop our attitude towards such persons and
situations.
 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.
 Observation of other person attitude: When we like someone,
we try to emulate that person’s attitude.
 Association: Our association with the group we belong to
strongly influences our attitude.
 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.

37.  Thurstone (1929): ‘father’ of attitude scaling
 1. Attitude Surveys: In an attitude survey, the investigators provide a
questionnaire or ask a series of questions on the telephone. A
respondent shows his or her attitude, by answering a series of
questions.
 2. Rating Scales: in which the respondents indicate the extent, to
which they agree or disagree with a statement, by circling a number
on a scale.
◦ 2.1 Thurstone Scales: It is made up of statements about a particular
issue, and each statement has a numerical value, indicating how
favorable or unfavorable it is judged to be.
◦ 2.2 Likert Scales: which makes this process simpler by allowing the
participant to make a range of possible responses, usually in the
form of a five-point scale, ranging from strongly agree, agree,
undecided, to disagree, and strongly disagree.

38. ◦ 2.3 Guttman Scales: he placed extreme stress on the instrument,
measuring only a single trait.
◦ 2.4 Bogardus’ Social Distance Scale: as a means of measuring racial
(cultural) or ethnic prejudice(naarow minded), a prejudice being
seen as an extreme form of an attitude.
◦ 2.5 Semantic Differential Scale: Osgood et al (1957) suggested that
people evaluate attitudes along three dimensions: evaluative (good-
bad), potency (strong-weak), and activity (active-passive).
 3. Physiological Measurements: The emotional reactions are reflected
by physiological reactions (skin response, pulse rate, dilation of the
pupils etc.).
◦ 3.1 Galvanic Skin Response: The GSR measure the electrical
resistance of the skin, which changes when people are emotionally
aroused.

39.  3.2 Facial Electromyogram: The facial Electromyogram (EMG) is
an objective attitude indicator, which can be used to measure
the quality or direction of attitude (its positiveness/negativity).
 4. Behavioral Measures: These methods derive attitude measures
from the open, observable behavior patterns. In most of the
behavior observation, the subjects know that they are being
observed.
 5. Cognitive Measures: a new test has been developed to tap our
implicit(understandable) attitudes, self-concepts and other
important aspects of our cognitive system.