II UNIT

COGNATIVE PROCESS II

PERSONALITY
Introduction:
Personality can be defined as those inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a
person think and act in an environment.
The inner characteristics of personality are specific qualities, attributes, traits, factors, and mannerism that
distinguish one individual from other individuals. Personalities are likely to influence the individual’s product and
store choices. They also affect the way consumer responds to a firm’s communication efforts.

Meaning:
The term personality has been derived from the Latin word 'persona', which means 'to speak through'. Personality
comes from within us and defines us who we are. Personality is the result of the social interaction of an individual
in the group. It refers to the differences of individuals in the context of their way of thinking, feeling, behaving,
responding, and interacting with other individuals.

Definitions:
• "Personality is the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine
his unique adjustments to his environment." - Gordon Allport
• "Personality means how a person affects other and how he understands and views himself as well as the
patterns of inner and outer measurable traits and the person situation interaction."
- Fred Luthans

Nature of Personality:

1. Unique:
Personality is a unique amalgamation of traits that differentiates the individual from others. The unique style in
which people laugh or smile, weep, or cry, talk or lecture, greet or salute becomes the symbol of their
personality.
2. Reflects Individual Differences: No two individuals can be considered the same because they collect unique
traits. However, an individual may be like another in the context of a single Personality trait. For example, some
people are "high" in sociability (means they are very social), while some are termed as "low" in sociability.
3. Learned or Acquired:
Personality can be learned from our family members by being around them. It can also be acquired by being in
social situations as people communicate and observe other people
4. Integration of Various Traits:
The elements which are eventually identified as a part of the individual's personality get incorporated rather
than just being a collection of traits. Thus, the combination of different traits leads to the formation of
personality.
5. Social:
Personality is totally social. Personality has its life only in response to its external world. An integrated and
balanced personality makes pleasant modifications to the environment, mainly the social environment. Hence,
the relationship of an individual with the environment, his feelings, attitudes are essential for understanding
the concept of personality.

Characteristics of Personality:
• Individuals are different not only among themselves but also within themselves
• Personality consists of feelings, thoughts, cognitions, and visible behaviour
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 • When individuals act or react, they do so as total individuals and not as part of their selves
• The visible behaviour of an individual shows a consistency that spreads over different situations, with
different people and at different times
• Personality has a biological base, but is shaped by the environment
• Behaviour is also a characteristic of personality

Major Personality Attributes that Govern Organizational Behaviour:

1. Locus of Control:
It may be defined as the degree to which people believe that they are the master of their own fate. In simple
term, it can be described as the extent to which he believes that he knows everything.

There are two types of Locus of control:

• Internal locus of control - which implies that the degree to which an individual controls himself without
other’s assistance. In this case individual believes that he controls his destinies. Here the individual believe
that his behavior determines many of the events in his life.
For example – individual with moderately strong internal locus of control is successful in his job career
and lives. He performs his job better, copes better in stressful situation and is satisfied with challenging
job and performance-based rewards.
• External locus of control- may be defined as the degree to which an individual is controlled by the help
of other people. In this case individual believes that his life is controlled by outside forces. Here he believes
that his behavior determines chance, luck, and fate. What happens to him is due to his luck or fate.
For example – the individual with moderately strong external locus of control may not be successful in his
jobs, career, and lives.
Out of these two, internal locus of control is preferred more.

2. Self Esteem:
It signifies the degree of liking or disliking towards a particular object. In simple term, the extent to which an
individual likes or dislikes himself, it defers from individual to individual. Some individuals may have high self-
esteem, and some have low self-esteem.
The individual with high self-esteem believes the challenging job. But on the other hand, the individual with /ore
self-esteem depends on the receipt of positive evaluation from other. He is less likely to take unpopular stands.
Out of the two, high esteem individual is more satisfied with his job.

3. Self-Monitoring:
It connotes that the ability of an individual to adjust his behavior with respect to external situation. In simple
sense it is the sensitivity of an individual to adopt to the situational demand.
A high self-monitoring individual changes his behavior easily based on the situational requirements than low self-
monitoring individual. In this case, the behavior of the individual plays a vital role from the organizational point
of view.

4. Risk Taking:
It refers to the propensity to take risk. It is an integral part of decision taking in organization.
An individual with high risk-taking makes more rapid decision and use less information in making his choice than
the low risk-taking individual.

5. Type – A Personality and Type-B Personality:

This indicates that the aggressive involvement in the organizational process to achieve more and more
objectives. That means the type-A personality is based on active participation towards the organizational
system. This type of personality is treated as positive personality.

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The behaviors of type-A personality are:

• Always moving, walking rapidly, talking, and eating rapidly.

• Impatient.
• Does two things at the same time
• Cannot cope up with leisure time.
• Measures success with quantity
• Aggressive and competitive
• Always under time pressure
• High competitiveness.

Type-B personality indicates the individual who is relaxed & incompetent. He is not serious about the objective
of organization to a great extent. This type of personality is rarely participating in an endless growing series of
event in a decreasing amount of time.

The behavior of Type-B personalities is:

• Not concerned about time
• Plays for fun not to win.
• Relaxes without guilt
• Has no pressing deadlines
• Can reach higher position and promotion.

6. Achievement Orientation:
This is also another personality attribute which influences OB. This is the type it individual who is highly needed
to achieve and continuously strive to do things better. This type of individual may be high achiever or low
achiever.
The high achiever individual looks for challenges having 50-50 chance of success.
To sum up, the above attributes are essential for building up healthy environment in the organization provided
due attention is given.

The "Big-Five" Personality Trait:

The Big-Five Model in recent years, a body of researchers have identified five basic personality dimensions. These
traits are discussed as follows,
Extroversion: This personality trait reflects a person's comfort level with relationships. Extroverts tend to be
sociable, lively, assertive, outgoing, and talkative. The opposite of extrovert is introvert who refers to those who
are quiet, reserved and less assertive
1. Emotional Stability: This trait captures a person's ability withstand stress. People with high
emotional stability tend to be calm, confident, and secure. A person with low emotional stability,
on the other hand tends to be nervous, depressed anxious and insecure
2. Agreeableness: Agreeableness refers to a person's ability to get along with others, highly
agreeable people are cooperative, emphatic, and caring. However, people who score low on this
trait are cold, uncooperative, and self-concerned.
3. Conscientiousness: This personality trait is a measure of reliability. It refers to people who are
dependable, responsible, organised, and systematic. People with low conscientiousness tend to
be unreliable, irresponsible, careless, and disorganized.
4. Openness: The personality trait reflects a person's interests and creativity. Extremely open
people are creative and innovative. They are willing to listen to new ideas and to change their
own idea. They are flexible and curious. However, those who score low on this trait are less
receptive to new ideas, more fixed in their ways and conventional

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 JOHARI WINDOW
Definition:

The Johari Window is the psychological model developed by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham, that talks about
the relationship and mutual understanding between the group members. In other words, a psychological tool
that helps an individual to understand his relationship with himself and with other group members is called as a
Johari Window.
The objective behind the creation of a Johari window is to enable an individual to develop trust with others by
disclosing information about himself and to know what others feels about himself through feedback. The Johari
Window model is made up of four quadrants that explain the overall relationship of an individual with himself
and with other group members. These are as follows:

1. Open Self:
This quadrant shows the behaviour, motives, attitudes, and knowledge skills of an individual that he is aware of
and is willing to share it with others. The open self is characterized as a state wherein the individual is open and
straight forward to himself and others about what he is doing, how is he doing and what his intentions are.
2. Blind Self:
The blind self-shows the state of an individual known to others but not known to him. It usually happens, when
an individual or a subject copy the behaviour of some significant personalities unconsciously since his childhood.
3. Hidden Self:
This quadrant of the Johari window shows the state of an individual known to him but not known to the others.
This is generally seen in the individuals who are introvert and do not like to share their private lives with anyone.
The individual keeps his feelings, ideas, or thoughts to himself and do not disclose it in front of the others.
4. Unknown Self:
The unknown self is the mysterious state of an individual neither known to him, nor others know about it. Often
the feelings, thoughts or ideas go so deep down the individual that it becomes difficult for the individual as well
for the other people to understand it.
The ultimate need is to enlarge the open self-quadrant with the intent to establish a fruitful relationship with the
self as well with others such that the work can be performed efficiently when working as a team.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS

It was introduced by Eric Berne. Transactional analysis is a technique used to help people better understand their
own and other's behaviour, especially in interpersonal relationships. It is a good method for understanding
interpersonal behaviour. It offers a model of personality and the dynamics of self and its relationship to others
that makes possible, a clear and meaningful discussion of behaviour.

Transactional analysis is primarily concerned with following:

1. Analysis of self-awareness
2. Analysis of ego states
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 3. Analysis of transactions
4. Script analysis
5. Games analysis
6. Analysis of life positions
7. Stroking

1. Analysis of self-awareness:
The interpersonal relationships are composed of inter self. Self is the core of personality pattern which provides
integration. Self-awareness is an important concept, it describes the self in terms of image, both conscious and
unconscious.
2. Analysis of ego states:
The ego plays an important role in human behaviour. People interact with each other in terms of psychological
positions or behavioural patterns known as ego states.
Ego states are person's way of thinking, feeling, and behaving at any time.
There are 3 important ego states.
Ego states: child, adult, and parent. A person of any age has these ego states in varying degree. A healthy person
can move from one ego state another.
i.Parent Ego:
The parent ego refers to the behavior and attitude of an emotionally significant individual who acted with quite
a maturity when he was a child. He possesses the parental traits of being overprotective, dogmatic, distant,
indispensable, and upright and behaves very judiciously at any time.
There are two types of a parent ego: critical and nurturing. The critical parent ego is one when an individual shows
the critical and evaluative behavior while interacting with the others. Whereas the nurturing parent ego is one,
when individual shows the kind and nurturing behavior, not only towards children but towards all with whom he
interacts.
ii.Adult Ego:
The adult ego shows the logical thinking and reasoning ability of an individual. The person behaving or interacting
with adult ego seeks all the information properly, validate it using his reasoning skills and then provide it to the
other people. The person possessing the adult ego can be judged through his discussions and the way he thinks
about a situation before arriving at the conclusion.
As the individual grows, he updates his parent data to identify what is valid or not valid, similarly the child data is
also updated to determine which feeling should be expressed and which should be left unspoken. In this way, the
adult ego helps an individual to control his emotional expressions appropriately.
iii.Child Ego:
The child ego refers to the state of an individual when he behaves illogically and takes quick actions to satisfy the
immediate needs without thinking much about its consequences. The creativity, depression, conformity,
dependence, hate, fear, etc. are some of the main characteristics of this ego state. The child ego represents the
childhood state when an individual has not become social and is in its initial stage of development.
The child ego can be natural, adaptive, and rebellious. The natural child is sensuous, impulsive, and affectionate
and does things that come naturally. Whereas the adaptive child is one, who is trained and instructed by parents
to behave in a manner taught by them. The rebellious child is one who is not allowed to open and experiences
anger, fear and frustration.

3. Analysis Of Transactions
A transaction is a basic unit of social interaction. The heart of transactional analysis is the study and diagramming
of the exchanges between two persons. Thus, where a verbal or nonverbal stimulus from one person is being
responded by another person a transaction occurs.
Transactional analysis can help us to determine which ego state is most heavily influencing our behaviour and the
behaviour of the other people with whom we interact.

Depending on the ego states of the persons involved in transactions, there may be three types of transactions:
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i.Complementary transactions:
Both people are operating from the same ego state. There can be nine complementary transactions. They are
given below:
• Adult-Adult transactions
• Adult-Parent transactions
• Adult-Child transactions
• Parent-Parent transactions
• Parent-Adult transactions
• Parent-Child transactions
• Child-Parent transactions
• Child-Adult transactions
• Child-Child transactions

Adult-Adult Transaction: The manager acts with the adult ego state, who tries to clarify and inform employees
about the issues and has a concern for the human needs and facts and figures. I am O.K. you are O.K is his life
position. This is an ideal transaction

Adult-Parent Transaction: Here, the manager tries to implement the information being processed by him, but
rather the employees with the parent ego stick to the clichés and the rules of the past. The employee tries to
control the manager with his parent ego but is temporary.

Adult-Child Transaction: Here the employee possesses the child ego state, and this can be effective only if the
manager knows about it and let his employees to be in this state to be creative.

Parent-Parent Transaction: Here the manager is in the parent ego, and his life position is I am O.K. you are not
O.K. Reprimand, reward, criticism, rules, praise, etc. will be the sources used by him. This transaction is effective
only if the employee supports him and join forces with him.

Parent-Adult Transaction: Here, both manager and employee might be frustrated. The manager may feel
devastated if the employee does not perform as directed while, the employee may feel irritated because the
manager is not acting with the adult ego.
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 Parent-Child Transaction: This is the ideal situation if the manager acts with adult ego while the employee is in
child ego. The employee may find this transaction advantageous as it eliminates the responsibility and pressure
on them

Child-Parent Transaction: The manager in the child ego might not contribute efficiently towards the effectiveness
of management. Although the child ego is characterized by creativity, it does not suffice the role of a manager.
Here, the employee controls the manager.

Child-Adult Transaction: There is a lack of rationality when a manager acts with a child ego. Here, the employee
in the adult ego gets discouraged as he wants to make logical and realistic decisions, but the manager may land
up to the unrealistic decisions made based on whims, fancies, and emotions.

Child-Child Transaction: The manager acting with child-child ego is inefficient to lead his employees successfully
and hence turn out to be the liability to the firm

ii.Crossed transactions:
A crossed transaction is one in which the sender sends message a behaviour based on his ego state, but this
message is reacted to by an unexpected ego state on the part of the receiver. Crossed communication should be
avoided as far as possible. Whenever such transactions occur, communication tends to block, and a satisfactory
transaction is not accomplished.
iii.Ulterior transactions:
This is the most complex transaction because the communication has the double meaning. Such as, on the surface
the communication may have a clear adult message, but it may carry some hidden message on the psychological
level and gets misinterpreted.

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4. Script Analysis
In a layman's view, a script is the text of play, motion picture, or a radio or TV programmed. In transactional
analysis a person's life is compared to a play and the script is the text of the play.

According to Eric Berne, a script is an ongoing programmed, developed in early childhood under parental
influence which directs the individual behaviour in the most important aspects of his life.
A script is a complete plan of living, offering prescriptions permissions and structure which makes one winner or
loss in life.

5. Analysis Of Life Positions

In the process of growing up people make basic assumptions about their own self-worth as well as about the
worth of significant people in their environment.
The combination of assumptions about self and the other person called as life position. Transactional analysis
constructs the following classifications of the four possible life positions or psychological positions:
• I am OK, you are OK
It appears to be an ideal life position. People with this type of life position have confidence in themselves as well
as trust and confidence in others.
• I am OK, you are not OK
This is a distrustful psychological position. This is the attitude of those people, who think that whatever they do
is correct.
• I am not OK, you are OK
This is a common position for those people who feel powerless when they compare themselves to others.
• I am not OK, you are not OK
People in this position tend to feel bad about themselves and e the whole world as miserable. They do not trust
others and have no confidence in themselves.

6. Stroking
Stroking is an important aspect of the transactional analysis. The term stroke refers to "giving some kind of
recognition to others." People need strokes for their sense of survival and wellbeing on the job. Lack of stroking
can have negative consequences both on physiological and psychological wellbeing of a person.
There are three types of strokes:
• Positive strokes: The stroke one feel good, is a positive stroke. Recognition, approval is some of the examples.
• Negative strokes: a stroke one feel bad or not good is a negative stroke. Negative strokes hurt physically
psychologically.
• Mixed strokes: A stroke may be of a mixed type also.

7. Games Analysis
When people fail to get enough strokes at work, they try a variety of things. One of the most important things is
that they play psychological games.
A psychological game is a set of transaction with three characteristics:
• The transaction tends to be repeated.
• They make sense on superficial or social level.
• One or more transactions is ulterior.
Types of games:
A first-degree game is one which is socially acceptable in the agent's circle.
A second-degree game is one which more intimate end up with bad feelings.
A third-degree game is one which usually involve physical injury.

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 NATURE AND DIMENSION OF ATTITUDES

In simple words, an “attitude” is an individual’s way of looking or an individual’s point of view at something.
To be more specific, an “attitude” may be defined as the mental state of an individual, which prepares him to
react or make him behave in a particular pre-determined way. It is actually an acquired feeling.
Definition
Attitudes are evaluation statements either favourable or unfavourable or unfavourable concerning objects,
people or events. They reflect how one feels about something.
Robbins
Nature of Attitude
• Attitude are a complex combination of things we tend to call personality, beliefs, values, behaviours, and
motivations.
• An attitude exists in every person’s mind. It helps to define our identity, guide our actions, and influence
how we judge people.
• Although the feeling and belief components of attitude are internal to a person, we can view a person’s
attitude from his or her resulting behaviour.
• Attitude helps us define how we see situations, as well as define how we behave toward the situation or
object.
• Attitude provides us with internal cognitions or beliefs and thoughts about people and objects.
• Attitude cause us to behave in a particular way toward an object or person.

Dimensions of Attitudes
Researchers study three dimensions of attitude: strength, accessibility, and ambivalence.
• Attitude Strength: Strong attitudes are those that are firmly held and that highly influence behavior.
Attitudes that are important to a person tend to be strong. Attitudes that people have a vested interest in
also tend to be strong. Furthermore, people tend to have stronger attitudes about things, events, ideas, or
people they have considerable knowledge and information about.
• Attitude Accessibility: The accessibility of an attitude refers to the ease with which it comes to mind. In
general, highly accessible attitudes tend to be stronger.
• Attitude Ambivalence: Ambivalence of an attitude refers to the ratio of positive and negative evaluations
that make up that attitude. The ambivalence of an attitude increases as the positive and negative evaluations
get more and more equal.

Components of Attitudes:
Attitudes comprise of three basic components: emotional, informational and Behavioural.

1. Informational or Cognitive Component:

The informational component consists of beliefs, values, ideas and other information a person has about the
object. It makes no difference whether or not this information is empirically correct or real. For example, a person
seeking a job may learn from his own sources and other employees working in the company that in a particular
company the promotion chances are very favorable.

In reality, it may or may not be correct. Yet the information that person is using is the key to his attitude about
that job and about that company.

2. Emotional or Affective Component:

The informational component sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitude, its affective component. The
emotional components involve the person’s feeling or affect-positive, neutral or negative-about an object. This
component can be explained by this statement.” I like this job because the future prospects in this company are
very good”.
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3. Behavioural Component:
The Behavioural component consists of the tendency of a person to behave in a particular manner towards an
object. For example, the concerned individual in the above case may decide to take up the job because of good
future prospects. Out of the three components of attitudes, only the Behavioural component can be directly
observed. One cannot see another person’s beliefs (the informational component) and his feelings (the emotional
component). These two components can only be inferred. But still understanding these two components is
essential in the study of organisational behaviour or the Behavioural component of attitudes.

ABC Model of Attitude:

All the three components of attitude explained above constitute, what is OF called the ABC model. Here, in the
ABC model, the alphabet A stands for Affective component, B for Behavioural and C for the cognitive component.
The importance of this model is that to have a proper and thorough understanding of the concept of attitude, all
the three components mentioned above must be properly assessed. It is only the Behavioural component which
can be directly observed, the other two components: affective and cognitive can however only be inferred.

JOB SATISFACTION

Introduction:

Job satisfaction is the feeling and perception of a worker regarding his/her work and how he or she feels in an
organization. It indicates the extent of employees’ positive or negative feelings towards their jobs and
organizational behaviour tries to improve it.
In Organizational Behavior, job satisfaction is one of the most researched variables in workplace psychology and
has been associated with numerous psychosocial issues, the changing world of work, organizational factors
ranging from leadership to job design.
It is the level of contentment a person feels regarding his or her job. This feeling is mainly based on an individual’s
perception of satisfaction.
It can be influenced by a person’s ability to complete the required tasks, the level of communication in an
organization, and the way management treats employees. There are different levels of job satisfaction.

Meaning of Job Satisfaction:

Job satisfaction refers to a person's feeling of satisfaction on the job, which acts as a motivation to work. It is not
the self-satisfaction, happiness or self-contentment but the satisfaction on the job.
Satisfaction does mean the simple feeling-state accompanying the attainment of any goal; the end-state is feeling
accompanying the attainment by an impulse of its objective. Job dissatisfaction does mean absence of motivation
at work.

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 Definition of Job Satisfaction:

• “The pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the
achievement of one’s job values”- E. A. Locke
• “Job satisfaction is the extent to which people like or dislike their jobs”. - P. E. Spector

Job Satisfaction Factors:

Job satisfaction is related to the psychology of an employee. A happy & content employee at a job is always
motivated to contribute more. On the other hand, a dissatisfied employee is lethargic, makes mistakes & becomes
a burden to the company. The elements & factors which contribute to job satisfaction are:
1. Compensation & Working conditions:
One of the biggest factors of job satisfaction are the compensation and benefits given to an employee. An
employee with a good salary, incentives, bonuses, healthcare options etc. is happier with their job as
compared to someone who doesn’t have the same. A healthy workplace environment also adds value to an
employee.
2. Work life balance
Every individual wants to have a good workplace which allows them time to spend with their family & friends.
Job satisfaction for employees is often due a good work life balance policy, which ensures that an employee
spends quality time with their family along with doing their work. This improves the employee's quality of
work life.
3. Respect & Recognition
Any individual appreciates and feels motivated if they are respected at their workplace. Also, if they are
awarded for their hard work, it further motivates employees. Hence recognition is one of the job satisfaction
factors.
4. Job security
If an employee is assured that the company would retain them even if the market is turbulent, it gives them
immense confidence. Job security is one of the main reasons for job satisfaction for employees.
5. Challenges
Monotonous work activities can lead to dissatisfied employees. Hence, things like job rotation, job
enrichment etc. can help in job satisfaction of employees as well.
6. Career Growth
Employees always keep their career growth part as a high priority in their life. Hence, if a company helps
groom employees and gives them newer job roles, it enhances the job satisfaction as they know they would
get a boost in their career.

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 Outcomes of job satisfaction in the workplace:

Management practitioners have analysed the outcomes of job satisfaction by studying the relationships between
job satisfaction and various other factors. These relationships are:
I.Satisfaction and productivity:
Researchers have shown that job satisfaction does not necessarily lead to productivity. However, while it may
not bring about considerable improvement in individual performance, it does have an overall positive impact on
the performance of organization.
II.Satisfaction and turnover:
High job satisfaction only helps in reducing employee turnover, it does not eliminate il. Employees who are
dissatisfied with their jobs immediately leave the organization when they get a better opportunity. However,
employees who have job satisfaction might consider various aspects before taking a decision to quit the
organization. Apart from job satisfaction, job tenure, individual commitment to organization, and the economic
scenario in the country also influence employee turnover in an organization.
III.Satisfaction and absenteeism:
Studies have revealed that job satisfaction and absenteeism share an inversely proportionate relationship. Thus,
employees who are highly satisfied with their jobs might show low absenteeism. Similarly, those who are not
satisfied with their jobs might show high absenteeism. However, other factors such as the importance people
assign to their jobs, etc also determine the level of absenteeism.
IV.Other effects of job satisfaction:
Employees who are satisfied with their jobs have low stress levels, fewer on-the job accidents,
Fewer grievances, etc. It has also been observed that highly satisfied employees are enthusiastic
About learning job-related tasks, have high employee morale, help co-workers and customers, etc.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT:
Organizational commitment refers to the level of engagement and dedication employees have toward their
individual jobs and the organization. It also describes the different reasons professionals remain with an employer
rather than seek opportunities elsewhere. Businesses value organizational commitment because it can lead to
consistent work performance, constructive relationships, and healthy work cultures.
Importance of Organizational commitment:

• Employee productivity
When an employee is committed to their organization, they believe in the company’s shared goals, vision,
and mission, which in turn leads to them being more motivated and therefore more productive. They make
a greater effort to be autonomous, set more ambitious goals, and get more done.
Organizational commitment boosts productivity. What’s more, committed employees have a knock-on
effect on the colleagues’ and team members’ productivity. They want everyone to be putting their all in to
achieve shared goals.
• Improved organizational performance
When an employee is heavily invested in an organization, they are increasingly likely to be cooperative,
immerse themselves in collaboration and working within teams. Once again, this boosts the team’s morale
and productivity
• Lower absenteeism
When an employee is committed, they are much less likely to call in sick than their co-workers. This is
because they are more likely to enjoy coming to work, completing tasks, achieving goals, and being a valued
team member.

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 • Decreased turnover
When an employee reaches the stage where they identify with the organization’s goals and values, they are
far less likely to consider leaving their job, even when they experience inevitable periods of job
dissatisfaction.

Types of organizational commitment:

Employees can have distinct motivations for their commitment, but they usually fall under one of the three
following categories:
1. Affective commitment:
Affective commitment refers to the psychological connection that an individual has with an organization. It
describes team members who want to further their involvement with their company and play an active role in its
development because they enjoy their work. Employees in this scenario often have high job satisfaction, passion
for their role and dedication to the company. Signs of affective commitment include:

• Willingness to achieve organizational goals

• Desire to contribute to company progress
• Motivation to perform effectively
• Participation in team meetings and discussions

2. Continuance commitment:

Continuance commitment results from employees analyzing their current situation and deciding that remaining
in a job is their best option. Often, they conclude they should stay with a company because their benefits or
future opportunities depend on their current employment. For instance, an employee might stay with a company
long term to receive retirement benefits.

3. Normative commitment:
Normative commitment is when an individual continues at a job because they feel that they have a duty or
responsibility to their organization. This type of commitment can make employees feel indebted to their
employer and motivate them to stay as repayment for the company's investment in their development.
Employees influenced by normative commitments might stay at a job because:

• Leaving would affect company operations.

• The company has trained them and supported their professional growth.
• The organization rewards their efforts adequately.
• The company has treated them positively and respectfully.

Key benefits and advantages of organizational commitment:

Since organizational commitment determines how long employees will stay with your organization, committed
employees are any and every organization’s asset. Some of the key benefits and advantages of organizational
commitment are as follows:
1. High employee productivity:
Committed employees are highly productive. They believe in the organization, its goals, vision, mission, and the
leadership team. These employees not only demonstrate high levels of productivity, but they also ensure their
colleagues and team members too display the same.
2. Reduced absenteeism:
A committed and motivated staff will report much lesser absenteeism than their peers. Committed employees
look forward to going to work, completing their work, helping out projects, and contributing toward
organizational goals.

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3. Excellent team players:
Since dedicated employees are heavily invested in the organization, and it’s success, they are great at
collaborating with, and working in teams. They contribute significantly to boosting the team’s productivity.
4. Strong advocates:
Dedicated and committed employees believe in their organization, and hence, are effective and positive
advocates of their employers. They are strong believers and supporters of their employer’s products, services,
and policies.

MOTIVATION:

Motivation refers to the psychological processes that initiate, direct, and sustain goal-oriented behavior. It
involves the internal and external factors that stimulate the desire and energy to pursue and accomplish goals.
Motivation is what drives individuals to act in certain ways and to persist in their efforts despite obstacles or
challenges.

The nature of motivation encompasses several key aspects:

1. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Motivation can arise from internal factors (intrinsic) such as
personal interest, enjoyment, or satisfaction derived from the activity itself. It can also come from
external factors (extrinsic) such as rewards, recognition, or punishments.
2. Types of Motivation: Motivation can be broadly categorized into different types including
achievement motivation, affiliation motivation, power motivation, and intrinsic motivation. These
types of motivation can vary depending on individual needs, values, and goals.
3. Goal-Oriented: Motivation is often directed towards specific goals or outcomes. Individuals are
motivated to pursue goals that are meaningful and relevant to them, whether they are short-term or
long-term objectives.
4. Dynamic and Fluid: Motivation is not a static trait but rather a dynamic process that can change over
time and in different situations. It can fluctuate based on factors such as external circumstances,
personal experiences, and individual beliefs.
5. Cognitive and Emotional: Motivation involves both cognitive processes (such as goal-setting,
planning, and decision-making) and emotional experiences (such as excitement, enthusiasm, or fear)
that influence behavior.
6. Individual Differences: Motivation varies from person to person based on individual differences in
personality, needs, values, and experiences. What motivates one person may not necessarily motivate
another.
7. Cultural and Social Influences: Cultural norms, societal expectations, and social interactions can
significantly impact motivational processes. What is considered motivating or desirable can vary
across different cultural contexts.

Understanding the nature of motivation is crucial for individuals, educators, managers, and organizations as
it helps in fostering engagement, productivity, and goal attainment. By recognizing the diverse factors that
influence motivation, individuals can effectively harness their own motivation and support others in achieving
their goals.

Motivation Need and Process:

Motivation is based on need which is a feeling of lacking something. a feeling of need or unsatisfied need creates
tension that stimulates drives within individual. This drive generates search behaviour to find ways to satisfy the
needs. It will try to achieve the goals satisfied needs to reduce the tension and provide satisfaction. Need is a
feeling of deficiency.
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An unsatisfied need creates tension that stimulates drives within the individual. These drives generate a search
behavior to achieve goals that will satisfy the need and lead to a reduction of tension.
The action taken by the individual will lead to the reward/goal which satisfies the need and reduces tension. No
matter which theory of motivation the manager is following, the process is always similar.

5 Steps of Motivation Process

The motivation process involves a series of steps that individuals go through to initiate, direct, and sustain their
behavior towards achieving specific goals or fulfilling certain needs. While different models may outline slightly
varied steps, a commonly accepted framework includes the following stages:

• Need or Desire Identification: Motivation typically starts with the recognition of a need or desire
within an individual. This could be a basic physiological need like hunger or thirst, or it could be
a higher-level need such as the desire for achievement or social connection.
• Setting Goals: Once a need or desire is identified, individuals often set goals that they believe will
help satisfy that need or desire. Goals provide direction and purpose, giving individuals
something concrete to work towards.
• Evaluation of Alternatives: After setting goals, individuals may consider various options or
courses of action to achieve those goals. They evaluate the potential outcomes and
consequences of different actions, weighing the costs and benefits associated with each option.
• Selection of a Course of Action: Based on the evaluation of alternatives, individuals choose a
specific course of action that they believe will best help them achieve their goals. This decision
may be influenced by factors such as personal preferences, beliefs, values, and available
resources.
• Execution and Effort: Once a course of action is selected, individuals must exert effort and
engage in behaviors aimed at pursuing their goals. This often involves overcoming obstacles,
persevering in the face of challenges, and staying focused on the desired outcomes.
• Feedback and Adjustment: Throughout the motivation process, individuals receive feedback on
their progress and performance. This feedback can come from internal sources (e.g., feelings of
satisfaction or frustration) as well as external sources (e.g., performance evaluations, reactions
from others). Based on this feedback, individuals may adjust their goals, strategies, or level of
effort as needed to stay on track.
• Achievement or Outcome: The motivation process culminates in the achievement of the desired
goals or outcomes. When individuals successfully satisfy their needs or accomplish their
objectives, they often experience a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and motivation to set new
goals and continue striving for personal growth and development.

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 These steps in the motivation process are not always linear and may overlap or occur simultaneously.
Additionally, individual differences in personality, motivation, and situational factors can influence how
people navigate through each stage of the process.

WORK MOTIVATION THEORY / APPROACHES

There is no shortage of models, strategies and tactics for motivating employees as a result, firms constantly
experiment with new motivational programmes and practices. For discussion purposes, it is useful to divide
classify motivational theories into three general categories. Content theories, process theories and other theories.
Motivational Approaches
• Motivation theories can be classified broadly into two different perspectives: Content and Process
theories.
• Content Theories deal with "what" motivates people and it is concerned with individual needs and goals.
• Process Theories deal with the "process of motivation and is concerned with "how" motivation occurs.

A. MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF HUMAN NEEDS:

This is also a motivation theory which is embarked upon the behavioural pattern of human beings.
A.H Maslow, A famous social scientist, has given a framework that helps to explain the strength of certain needs.
According to him. There is hierarchy for need, which is presented in the following way.

• Physiological needs: are basic needs for survival such as air, sleep, food, water, clothing, sex, and
shelter.
• Safety needs: Protection from threats, deprivation, and other dangers (e.g., health, secure
employment, and property)
• Social (belongingness and love) needs: The need for association, affiliation, friendship, and so
on.
• Self-esteem needs: The need for respect and recognition.
• Self-actualization needs: The opportunity for personal development, learning, and
fun/creative/challenging work. Self-actualization is the highest-level need to which a human
being can aspire.

B. HERZBERG’S TWO - FACTOR THEORY OF MOTIVATION

Frederick Herzberg’s
Frederick has tried to modify Maslow’s need hierarchy theory. His theory is also known as two- factor theory or
hygiene theory.
He stated that there are certain satisfiers and de satisfiers for employees at work. Intrinsic factors are related to
job satisfaction, while extrinsic factors are associated with dissatisfaction.
He diverse his theory on the question “What do people want from their job?”
He asked people to describe in detail, such situations when they felt exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. From
the responses that he received, he concluded that opposite of satisfaction is not dissatisfaction. Removing this
satisfying characteristic from the job does not necessarily make
The job satisfying. He states that the presence of certain factors in the organization is natural and the presence of
some does not lead to motivation.
However, there non- presents lead to the demotivation. In similar manner there are certain factors, the absence
of which causes no dissatisfaction, but their presents have motivational impact.
Hygiene Factors:

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According to Hertzberg, the hygiene factors are the company policy and administration, interpersonal
management relationship with supervisors, peers and subordinates, technical supervision, salary, job security,
personal life, working conditions and status.
Motivational Factors:
The motivational factors can have a positive effect on job satisfaction. The factors such as achievement,
recognition, advancement, work itself, possibility of growth and all other factors are related to work. An increase
in these factors will satisfy the employees, once the employees are satisfied then they can be encouraged and
motivated to achieve higher outputs.
McClelland’s Needs Theory.
C. Mc CLELLAND’S NEEDS THEORY

McClelland’s Needs Theory was proposed by a psychologist David McClelland. He identified three basic
motivating needs, Viz. Need for Power, Need for Affiliation and Need for Achievement and, along with his
associates performed a considerable research work on these basic needs.

McClelland affirms that we all have three motivating drivers, which do not depend on our gender or age. One of
these drives will be dominant in our behaviour. The dominant drive depends on our life experiences.

The three motivators are:

• Achievement: a need to accomplish and demonstrate own competence. People with a high need for
achievement prefer tasks that provide for personal responsibility and results based on their own efforts.
They also prefer quick acknowledgment of their progress.
• Affiliation: a need for love, belonging and social acceptance. People with a high need for affiliation are
motivated by being liked and accepted by others. They tend to participate in social gatherings and may
be uncomfortable with conflict.
• Power: a need for controlling own work or the work of others. People with a high need for power desire
situations in which they exercise power and influence over others. They aspire for positions with status
and authority and tend to be more concerned about their level of influence than about effective work
performance.

D. ERG THEORY OF MOTIVATION

To bring Maslow’s need hierarchy theory of motivation in synchronization with empirical research, Clayton
Alderfer redefined it in his own terms. His rework is called as ERG theory of motivation. He categorized Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs into three simpler and broader classes of needs:

• Existence needs- These include need for basic material necessities. In short, it includes an individual’s
physiological and physical safety needs.
• Relatedness needs- These include the aspiration individuals have for maintaining significant
interpersonal relationships (be it with family, peers or superiors), getting public fame and recognition.
Maslow’s social needs and external component of esteem needs fall under this class of need.

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 • Growth needs- These include need for self-development and personal growth and advancement.
Maslow’s self-actualization needs and intrinsic component of esteem needs fall under this category
of need.

E. VROOM’S VALANCE X EXPECTANCY THEORY

Victor Vroom:
The most widely accepted explanation of motivation has been propounded by victor vroom. His theory is
commonly known as Expectancy theory. The theory argues that the strength of a tendency to act in a specific way
depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the
attractiveness of the outcome to the individual to make this simple. Expectancy Theory says that an employee can
be motivated to perform better when there is believed that the better performance will lead to the good
performance appraisal and that this shall result into realisation of personal goal in a form of some reward. There
for an example is

Motivation = Valance X Expectancy.

The theory focuses on three things:

• Efforts and performance relationship
• Performance and reward relationship
• Reward and personal goal relationship
This leads to a conclusion that

Valence X Expectation

F. GOAL SETTING THEORY OF MOTIVATION

In 1960’s, Edwin Locke put forward the Goal-setting theory of motivation. This theory states that goal setting is
essentially linked to task performance. It states that specific and challenging goals along with appropriate
feedback contribute to higher and better task performance.

The important features of goal-setting theory are as follows:

• The willingness to work towards attainment of goal is main source of job motivation. Clear, particular and
difficult goals are greater motivating factors than easy, general and vague goals.
• Specific and clear goals lead to greater output and better performance. Unambiguous, measurable and clear
goals accompanied by a deadline for completion avoids misunderstanding.
• Goals should be realistic and challenging. This gives an individual a feeling of pride and triumph when he
attains them, and sets him up for attainment of next goal. The more challenging the goal, the greater is the
reward generally and the more is the passion for achieving it.
• Better and appropriate feedback of results directs the employee behaviour and contributes to higher
performance than absence of feedback. Feedback is a means of gaining reputation, making clarifications and
regulating goal difficulties. It helps employees to work with more involvement and leads to greater job
satisfaction.

Goal setting theory has certain eventualities such as:

• Self-efficiency- Self-efficiency is the individual’s self-confidence and faith that he has potential of
performing the task. Higher the level of self-efficiency, greater will be the efforts put in by the

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 individual when they face challenging tasks. While, lower the level of self-efficiency, less will be the
efforts put in by the individual or he might even quit while meeting challenges.
• Goal commitment- Goal setting theory assumes that the individual is committed to the goal and will
not leave the goal. The goal commitment is dependent on the following factors:
• Goals are made open, known and broadcasted.
• Goals should be set-self by individual rather than designated.
• Individual’s set goals should be consistent with the organizational goals and vision.

G. MC GREGOR’S THEORY X AND THEORY Y

In 1960, Douglas McGregor formulated Theory X and Theory Y suggesting two aspects of human behavior at
work, or in other words, two different views of individuals (employees):

1. one of which is negative, called as Theory X and

2. the other is positive, so called as Theory Y

According to McGregor, the perception of managers on the nature of individuals is based on various
assumptions.

Assumptions of Theory X

• An average employee intrinsically does not like work and tries to escape it whenever possible.
• Since the employee does not want to work, he must be persuaded, compelled, or warned with
punishment so as to achieve organizational goals. A close supervision is required on part of
managers. The managers adopt a more dictatorial style.
• Many employees rank job security on top, and they have little or no aspiration/ ambition.
• Employees generally dislike responsibilities.
• Employees resist change.
• An average employee needs formal direction.

Assumptions of Theory Y

• Employees can perceive their job as relaxing and normal. They exercise their physical and
mental efforts in an inherent manner in their jobs.
• Employees may not require only threat, external control and coercion to work, but they can
use self-direction and self-control if they are dedicated and sincere to achieve the
organizational objectives.
• If the job is rewarding and satisfying, then it will result in employees’ loyalty and commitment
to organization.
• An average employee can learn to admit and recognize the responsibility. In fact, he can even
learn to obtain responsibility.
• The employees have skills and capabilities. Their logical capabilities should be fully utilized.
In other words, the creativity, resourcefulness and innovative potentiality of the employees can be
utilized to solve organizational problems.
Thus, we can say that Theory X presents a pessimistic view of employees’ nature and behaviour at
work, while Theory Y presents an optimistic view of the employees’ nature and behaviour at work.
If we correlate it with Maslow’s theory, we can say that Theory X is based on the assumption that the
employees emphasize on the physiological needs and the safety needs; while Theory X is based on the
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 assumption that the social needs, esteem needs and the self-actualization needs dominate the
employees.
McGregor views Theory Y to be more valid and reasonable than Theory X. Thus, he encouraged cordial
team relations, responsible and stimulating jobs, and participation of all in decision-making process.
Implications of Theory X and Theory Y

Quite a few organizations use Theory X today. Theory X encourages use of tight control and
supervision. It implies that employees are reluctant to organizational changes. Thus, it does not
encourage innovation.
Many organizations are using Theory Y techniques. Theory Y implies that the managers should create
and encourage a work environment which provides opportunities to employees to take initiative and
self-direction. Employees should be given opportunities to contribute to organizational well-being.
Theory Y encourages decentralization of authority, teamwork and participative decision making in an
organization. Theory Y searches and discovers the ways in which an employee can make significant
contributions in an organization. It harmonizes and matches employees’ needs and aspirations with
organizational needs and aspirations.

H. THEORY Z
Theory Z is used in organizations for development of organizational communication, manage organizational
behavior and for human resource management, and the theory focuses on team work & group decision making.
This theory has been named and developed by scientists – Dr. William Ouchi, Abraham H. Maslow and W.J. Reddin
in their own ways. The most used among these is Dr William Ouchi’s Z theory. This theory also focuses upon
increasing productivity as Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y but in a quite different way.
Features of Theory Z:
• Developing mutual trust: Development of mutual trust creates a feeling of belongingness among
the employees. They align their individual goals to the goals of the company. Achieving
company’s objective becomes a mutual efforts work.
• Participative Management: This practice works for the empowerment of employees as well as it
brings out more creative solutions on the table by involving employees in decision making.
However, the managers have to keep their ego aside and have to be open to all kind of solutions
by eradicating the fear of being ridiculed among the employees.
• Self-Directed Work Team (SDWT): These are teams of employees with diverse talent who work
towards a common goal without being supervised by a manager. The goal provides direction and
mobilize behaviour of the team members. Feedback about goal attainment sustains behaviour.
• Goal Commitment: To attain the company’s goals it is necessary that the employees have
commitment towards the goals.

9. Motivation across Different Cultures

Motivating anyone to change or try harder can be a tall order, even when you’re working with people of similar
backgrounds. But it’s much more difficult when dealing with employees whose values and backgrounds are
different from your own.
Motivation across different cultures requires extra skill and care. Managers need to accurately interpret the
situation and design a strategy that fits an individual’s values and needs.
The three steps listed below will help you design motivation strategies that are culturally aware and, therefore,
useful in your efforts to maintain a harmonious and productive multicultural workplace.

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1. Interpret Current Behaviour
Effective behaviour change begins with accurately interpreting why an individual is involved in undesired or
subpar behaviour. Understanding why a person behaves in a particular way makes it easier to modify that
behaviour.

For example, it is common for managers to misinterpret an employee speaking a foreign language in the
workplace as a sign of disrespect. In fact, most often, using another language is an effort to communicate a job-
related message accurately, a sign of extreme stress or fatigue, or an effort to speed up the communication
process.

2. Communicate Expectations
Explain your expectations in a way that can be understood by someone who was not raised in your same culture.
You would be surprised how often employers and managers fail to explain what they
want and why they want it. But it’s important when you’re focusing on motivation across different cultures.
Explaining what we want from others is not easy. Often, the most familiar procedures, policies, and expectations
are the most difficult to articulate. One example is the need for team members to voice their problems and
complaints so that you’re aware of issues that you should address.
Many people from other cultures have a great deal of respect for their managers and are less likely to complain,
exhibited in many factories and companies in China. Your employees will never know what is expected of them
until you take the time to explain that you need to know about problems in order to do your job well and make
changes that could help others and improve productivity.
Whatever the issue is, it’s difficult for any employee to be motivated to reach your goals if they’re unaware of
your expectations.

3. Emphasize Positive Reinforcement

Reinforce desired behaviour. Most of the time, this is simple. Notice that workers are performing well and praise
them for it. However, as Erin Meyer notes in her book, The Cultural Map: Breaking through the Invisible
Boundaries of Global Business, when it comes to motivation across different cultures, this step becomes a bit
tricky.

Furthermore, behaviours such as expressing problems or admitting a lack of understanding can be difficult to
reinforce because there is the temptation to shoot the messenger. It is understandably difficult for managers to
praise the worker who arrives bearing news of a missed deadline or a broken piece of equipment. But still, try to
distance yourself from the problem long enough to praise the staff member for keeping you informed, and
encourage them to continue to do so.

A Word on Communicating
For all three steps above, effective communication is critical. But it’s important to remember that what’s effective
in one culture may not work well in another. If you’re finding your way of expressing ideas and feedback is not
having the desired, motivational effect, do your homework — read up on the cultures involved and adjust your
approach.
Using Motivation across Different Cultures in Your Workplace
It can be a challenge to motivate people from different backgrounds, but when you do, you can unlock the great
benefits of diversity in your workplace.

10. POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Positive Organizational Behavior (POB) is defined as "the study and application of positively oriented human
resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed
for performance improvement in today’s workplace"
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 For a positive psychological capacity to qualify for inclusion in POB, it must be positive and must have extensive
theory and research foundations and valid measures. In addition, it must be state like, which would make it
open to development and manageable for performance improvement. Finally, positive states that meet the
POB definitional criteria are primarily researched, measured, developed, and managed at the individual, micro
level.
OPTIMISM
Optimism is considered as a key component of the modern positive psychology. The positive influence of
optimism on psychological and physical health, motivation and achievement in athletic, academic,
occupational and political success have been well documented.
Optimism also has certain dysfunctions, drawbacks and costs. For example, an individual who tends to be
optimistic about his future health can neglect needed physical and nutritional maintenance or an optimistic
manager may neglect making the needed action plans to attain organizational goals. So optimism has been
largely neglected as an important concept and its influence on employee performance was underrated in
Organisational Behavioural studies.
Optimism is defined as ‘power of positive thinking’ in general. Psychologists define optimism ‘cognitive
characteristic in terms of generalized positive outcome 62 expectancy or/ and a positive causal attribution.’ It
is also used in relation to other positive concepts such as hope and Emotional Intelligence (EI).
Dimensions of Optimism:
• Optimism as human nature:
Early psychologists and philosophers considered optimism as a negative aspect and they claimed optimism as
an illusion. Only in 1960’s to 1970’s did psychologists realised that many people had a positive bias to
themselves than the actual reality. This positive bias was further considered by neuropsychologists,
evolutionary psychologists and anthropologists as a basic part of human nature.
• Optimism as an individual difference:
Modern psychology treats optimism as an individual difference as people have varying degrees of optimism.
Treating optimism as an individual difference focuses on cognitively determined expectations and casual
attributions. Seligman has identified causal attributions that optimists and pessimists tend to use to interpret
bad events. He proposed that pessimists make internal, stable and global attributions (internal -their own
faults, stable - will last long time, global -will undermine everything they do) while optimists make external,
unstable and specific attributions (external – not their fault, unstable – temporary setback and specific-
problem only in this situation)
OPTIMISM IN WORKPLACE
Optimism is both motivated and motivating, has the desirable characteristics of achievement, health and
perseverance, makes external, unstable and specific attributions of personal bad events and is linked with
positive outcomes such as occupational success, so optimism is a very positive force in workplace. Though
optimism has been proven as a positive power at workplace, only realistic optimism leads to effective
leadership. It should not be misinterpreted with false optimism. Some jobs and careers where optimism is
valuable are advertising, social services, health, customer service, product design, public relations and sales.
There are also jobs in which are not suited for highly optimistic people and a level of mild pessimism would be
beneficial. Some of such jobs can be accounting, financial control, technical jobs related to safety etc.
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
behaviours and impact people either positively or negatively.

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 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.
Emotional Intelligence Definition

"Emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for
motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in our self and in our relationships"
Daniel Goleman

Importance of Emotional Intelligence:

• 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
• Creating a collaborative environment
• Managing your emotions when feeling stressed or overwhelmed
• Improving relationships with others

Types of Emotions

Positive Primary Emotions: Other Descriptors

Love/affection Acceptance, adoration, longing, devotion, infatuation

Happiness/joy Cheerfulness, contentment, bliss, delight, amusement,

Enjoyment, enthrallment, thrill, euphoria, zest

Surprise Amazement, wonder, astonishment, shock

Negative Primary Emotions: Other Descriptors

Fear Anxiety, alarm, apprehension, concern, Qualm, dread, fright,
And terror
Sadness Grief, disappointment, sorrow, gloom, despair, Suffering, dejection
Anger Outrage, exasperation, wrath, indignation, hostility, and irritability
Disgust Contempt, disdain, abhorrence, revulsion, distaste
Shame Guilt, remorse, regret, embarrassment, humiliation

Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence:

Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman defines the five key elements of EI as:
Self-Aware
If you’re self-aware, you understand your emotions and their triggers. You also know how your emotions and
actions affect those around you.
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.
Motivation
Motivation is the desire to do something. It relates to emotional intelligence because your desires can promote
different feelings toward something.
Empathy
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 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.
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 emotional Intelligence:

3. Practice Awareness:
Take time to pay special attention to interactions around you. Listen to what others are telling you through
their words, body language and facial expressions. Observing the way people use and react to emotion can
help you fine-tune your ability to empathize.
4. 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.

5. Respect 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.
6. 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.
Building relationships through empathy, communication and active listening can help you be a highly
valued team member at an organization.
Displaying examples of ways that you have connected with others using emotional intelligence in your cover
letter and during interviews can also help you be a competitive candidate.

Examples of EI at Work Place:

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-timed.

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 goodnight’s sleep
because their mother-in-law is ill.

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 Self-efficacy
Self-efficacy is an interesting concept. It means the belief a person has in their ability to attain results, to meet
the challenges ahead of them, and to influence events that effect their own lives. 4 sources of self-efficacy are
Performance Accomplishments, Vicarious Experience, Social Persuasion, and Physiological and Emotional
States.

Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s effectiveness in performing specific tasks. Albert Bandura’s theory of self-
efficacy has important implications for motivation.
According to staples et al. (1998), the self-efficacy theory suggests that there are four major sources of
information used by individuals when forming self-efficacy judgments.
Sources of Self-Efficacy Beliefs
4 sources of self-efficacy are;
1. Performance Accomplishments.
2. Vicarious Experience.
3. Social Persuasion.
4. Physiological and Emotional States.

Performance Accomplishments
Personal assessment information that is based on an individual’s accomplishments. Previous successes raise
mastery expectations, while repeated failures lower them.

Vicarious Experience
Gained by observing others perform activities successfully.
This is often referred to as modeling, and it can generate expectations in observers that they can improve their
performance by learning from what they have observed.

Social Persuasion
Activities where people are led, through suggestion, into believing that they can cope successfully with specific
tasks. Coaching and giving evaluative feedback on performance are common types of social persuasion.

Physiological and Emotional States

The individual’s physiological or emotional states influence self-efficacy judgments concerning specific tasks.
Emotional reactions to such tasks (e.g., anxiety) can lead to negative judgments of one’s ability to complete the
tasks.

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