Course Outline

Introduction to Individual Behaviour
Personality
Attitudes
Perception
Attribution
Impression Management
Theories of Motivation
Learning and Reinforcement
Inter-personal relations
Managing Stress and Aggressive Bebahiour

Suggested Readings:
Luthans, Fred: Organizational Behaviour, McGraw Hill
Robbins, Stephen P.: Organizational Behaviour (12th edition), Prentcie Hall of IndiaSlocum, John W., and Hellriegel Don: Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Thomson Learning
Relevant journals/Business Magazines and Newspapers

Individual Behaviour Handout # 1

Introduction to Individual Behaviour
What is behaviour?
Behaviour is the pattern of how a person responds to a stimulus.
Responses can be influenced by
Culture: the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.
Attitude: a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's like or dislike for an item; mental position relative to a way of thinking or being. The current popular usage of attitude implies a negative mindset, a "chip on the shoulder" behavior, and an inner anger toward the prevailing majority of thought.Emotion: a feeling that is private and subjective; a state of psychological arousal an expression or display of distinctive somatic and autonomic responses.
Values: beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something)Ethics: response based on what is right; the process of determining how one should hold the interests of various stakeholders, taking into account moral values/principles
Authority: the power or right to give orders or make decisionsCoercion: obtaining a response by use force; compelling a person to behave in an involuntary way (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats/intimidationPersuasion: obtaining a response by convincing a person; the process of guiding people toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic (though not always logical) means. It is strategy of problem-solving relying on "appeals" rather than force.
Genetics: inherited from parents; pertaining to genes or any of their effects.

Why to study Individual Behaviour?
Learn one’s own behaviour pattern
Interpret one’s own behaviour pattern
Take corrective measures to develop appropriate behaviour pattern for personal effectiveness
Develop Self Competency
Self Competency
Understanding one’s own personality
Taking responsibility for managing oneself
Assessing and establishing one’s own developmental, personal and work related goals

A Management Student should cultivate 6 basic competencies
Intellectual:
Information Collection
Problem Analysis
Creativity
Technical expertise
Judgment
Planning
Perspective
Learning Orientation
Numerical Interpretation
General Awareness
Personal:
Adaptability
Independence
Integrity
Stress Tolerance
Resilience
Detail Consciousness
Self-Management
Change-orientation
Communication:
Reading
Written Communication
Listening
Oral Expression
Oral Presentation
Interpersonal:
Impact
Persuasiveness
Sensitivity
Flexibility
Ascendancy
Negotiation
Leadership:
Organizing
Empowering
Appraising
Motivating others
Developing othersLeading
Result Orientation:

Individual Behaviour Handout # 2

Personality

What is personality?
Personal characteristics that lead to consistent patterns of behavior
Observable patterns of behaviour that last over time (Trait theory)
How the unconscious of an individual reacts to stimuli (Psychoanalytic theory)
Self-actualization and the drive to realize one’s potential (Humanistic theory)

According to Slocum and Hellriegal, 'Personality represents the overall profile or combination of stable psychological attributes that capture the unique nature of a person. It combines a set of mental and physical characteristics that reflects how a person looks, thinks, acts and feels.' Fred Luthans has defined personality as people’s external appearance and traits, their inner awareness of self, and the person-situation interaction make up their personalities. S P Robbins observes that personality is ‘sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others’.
Four Personality Attributes
Internal Locus of Control: People who believe that they can control their own destinies are said to have internal locus of control
External Locus of Control: People who believe that things happen just by accident or chance are said to have external locus of control.
Authoritarianism: Following are the traits of an authoritarian person –
Intellectually rigid
Judgmental,
Suspicious,
Resistant to change,
Respects highly placed people
Exploits subordinates
Machiavellianism: Following are the traits of Machiavellian person –
Pragmatic
Keeps an emotional distance
Believes that ends justify means
Takes decision quickly
Takes greater risks

Personality types based on temperament
The sanguine type is cheerful and optimistic, pleasant to be with, comfortable with his or her work. According to the Greeks, the sanguine type has a particularly abundant supply of blood (hence the name sanguine, from sanguis, Latin for blood) and so also is characterized by a healthful look, including rosy cheeks.
The choleric type is characterized by a quick, hot temper, often an aggressive nature. The name refers to bile (a chemical that is excreted by the gall bladder to aid in digestion). Physical features of the choleric person include a yellowish complexion and tense muscles.
Phlegmatic temperament. These people are characterized by their slowness, laziness, and dullness. The name obviously comes from the word phlegm, which is the mucus we bring up from our lungs when we have a cold or lung infection. Physically, these people are thought to be kind of cold, and shaking hands with one is like shaking hands with a fish.
Melancholy temperament. These people tend to be sad, even depressed, and take a pessimistic view of the world. The name has, of course, been adopted as a synonym for sadness, but comes from the Greek words for black bile. Now, since there is no such thing, we don’t quite know what the ancient Greeks were referring to. But the melancholy person was thought to have too much of it!

What shapes personality?
Heredity: We inherit 60-70% abilities and intelligence About 50% of our overall personality 30-40% of our religious and political beliefs (Minnesota Studies); 30-50% shyness and tendency to get upset easily (Bouchard and others). Physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy levels etc are broadly attributed to biological factors. Parents’ biological, physiological and inherent psychological make-up contribute to an individual’s personality to a great extent. According to ‘Heredity’ approach, the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.However, the critics observe that if personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity, they would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience/learning could alter them. There are evidences to prove that experience and learning can shape one’s personality to a fairly great extent although changing physical features and personal disposition is not possible.
Socialization: Socialization involves learning the following:Social customsValuesNormsAttitudesRelationshipsHierarchiesStructures
Environment plays an important role in shaping one’s personality. People are greatly influenced by culture, values, traditions, formal and informal groups etc. More importantly, an individual learns to react to situations in a particular way as a result of socialization process one is exposed to.
Person-situation interaction: An individual’s personality, although generally stable and consistent, does change in different situations. Individuals react to different situations differently. Moreover, individuals may also react differently to an identical situation. Thus, person-situation interactions keep adding to overall development of one’s personality.

Personality Traits
The Big Five Personality Traits:
There are five core personality traits that best predict performance at the workplace. Although, the five traits are largely independent factors of personality, they operate alongside other traits to provide a unique mix of personality.
Following are the five core traits of personality:
Emotional stability: degree to which a person is relaxed, secure and unworried
High emotional stability: Stable, Confident, Effective
Low emotional stability: Nervous, self-doubting moody
Agreeableness: person’s ability to get along with others
High agreeableness: Warm, tactful, considerate
Low agreeableness: independent, cold, rude
Extraversion: person’s comfort level with relationship
High on extraversion:Gregarious, energetic, self-dramatizing Low on extraversion:Shy, unassertive, withdrawn
Conscientiousness: the number of goals on which a person focuses
High Conscientiousness: Careful, neat, dependable
Low Conscientiousness:Impulsive, careless, irresponsible
Openness: person’s curiosity and range of interests
High on openness: Imaginative, curious, original
Low on openness: Dull, unimaginative

Individual Behaviour Handout # 3

Attitude
What is attitude?
Attitude is a persistent tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards some object. Broadly speaking, attitudes are general evaluations that people make about themselves, others, objects or issues that develop from past experience, guide our current behavuiour and direct our development in future. These are relatively lasting feelings, beliefs, and behavior tendencies directed toward specific people, groups, ideas, issues, or objects. Attitude can also be defined as a multiplicative function of beliefs and values.

Attitudes consist of three components
Affective = feelings
Cognitive = beliefs
Behavioural = predispositions to act

Attitudes are a complex cognitive process that has three basic features:
they persist unless changed in some way,
they range along a continuum,
they are directed towards an object about which a person has feelings/beliefs

Does attitude influence human behaviour?
Attitudes do not normally predict or cause behaviour in a simple and direct way.
Three principles relate attitudes to behavior:
–General attitudes best predict general behaviors
–Specific attitudes best predict specific behaviors
–The less time that elapses between attitude measurement and behavior, the more consistent will be the relationship between them
What are various functions of attitudes?
According to D Katz, there are four functions of attitude:
Adjustment Function Attitudes often helps individuals adjust to their work environment. When employees are well treated, they are likely to develop a positive attitude towards management and organization. When they are berated and given minimal salary increase, they develop negative attitude towards their management/organization. These attitudes help employees adjust to their environment and are basis for their future behaviour.

Ego-defensive Function Attitudes help people in defending their own image. For instance, an older manager whose decisions are continuously challenged by a younger subordinate may feel that the latter is brash, cocky, immature, and inexperienced. In reality, the younger subordinate may be right in challenging the decisions. The older manager may not be an effective leader and may constantly make poor decisions. However, the older manager may not admit this. Rather he will protect his ego by putting the blame squarely on the younger subordinate. He will develop a negative attitude towards the younger subordinate. On the other hand, even the younger subordinate will develop a negative attitude towards the older manager. He will think that the boss is not doing his job properly. Thus he will protect his own ego.

Value-Expressive Function Attitudes provide people with a basis for expressing their values. For instance, a manager who believes strongly in the work ethic will tend to voice attitudes towards specific individuals or work practices as a means of reflecting this value. A supervisor who wants a subordinate to work harder may put it this way: ‘You have got to work harder. That has been a tradition of the company since its inception.
It helped us get where we are today.’

Knowledge Function Attitudes also provide standards and frames of references that allow people to organize their worldview and express them emphatically. For instance, a trade union leader may have a negative attitude toward management. This attitude may not be based on fact but it does help the individual relate to the management.

How attitudes are formed?
Social Learning: acquiring attitudes by way of social interactions and value system
Direct Experience
Modeling: acquiring attitudes by observing others.

What are job related attitudes?

Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction describes how content an individual is with his or her job. H M Weiss has been defined Job satisfaction as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job an affective reaction to one’s job and an attitude towards one’s job. Job satisfaction can be influenced by a variety of factors, e.g. the quality of one's relationship with their supervisor, the quality of the physical environment in which they work, degree of fulfillment in their work, etc.

Mechanism of changing attitudes
Richard M Steers has suggested following methods of engineering attitude change
1. Providing new information
2. Fear arousal or reduction
3. Dissonance arousal (dissonance leads to inconsistencies in attitude and behaviour causing unpleasant feeling which results in change in attitude)
4. Position discrepancy
5. Participation in decision-making

Kelman has suggested the following processes to alter attitude:·
Compliance: applying subtle pressure on the individual to comply with a particular norm either by threat of punishment or by promise of reward·
Identification: Change agent influences the individual with his own attributes that is so powerful that people start identifying with him and following his way of looking at things.·
Internalization: new attitude is integrated with other attitude and becomes a part of individual’s personality.

Individual Behaviour Handout # 4

Perception
What is perception?
Perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. The word perception comes from the Latin perception-, percepio, , meaning "receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses.

According to Stephen P Robbins, Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. The term originated from a Latin word ‘percepio’ meaning receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses.

Fred Luthans has defned Perception as a complicated interactions of selection, organization and interpretation of stimuli. According to Luthans, the perceptual process comprises of External environment—Confrontation—Registration—Interpretation—Feedback—Behaviour—Consequence.Perceptual ProcessObjects in the environment—Observation—Perceptual Selection—Perceptual Organization—Interpretation—ResponsePerceptual SelectivityPerceptual selection is the process by which people filter out irrelevant or less significant information so that they can deal with the most important matters.Perceptual Selection is determined by
External Factors
Internal Factors
External Factors affecting perceptual selection:
Size: The larger the size, the more likely it is to be perceived. The tallest person in the office will invariably be noticed.
Intensity: The more intense an external factor (bright light, loud noise, high pitch sound etc.) the more likely it is to be perceived. One may notice that the TV commercials always have high pitch as compared to normal telecast.
Contrast: External factors that stand out against the background or things that are not which people expect are more likely to be perceived.
Motion: A moving factor is more likely to be perceived than stationary factor. Films (motion pictures) attract people more than a static picture.
Repetition: A repeated factor is more likely to be noticed. Marketing managers use this principle in trying to get attention of the prospective customers.
Novelty and familiarity: Either novelty or familiarity will can attract attention. People would quickly notice a person riding an elephant on a busy street in Delhi. On the other hand, one is likely to spot a familiar face in a crowd or a familiar voice even if there is a lot of noise and confusion.
A combination of these or similar factor may be operating at any time to affect perception. Along with the internal factors, they determine whether any particular stimulus is more or less likely to be noticed.
Internal factors affecting perceptual selection:
Personality: Personality has an interesting influence on what and how people perceive. For example, conscientious people tend to pay more attention to external environmental cues than does a less conscientious person. Less conscientious persons are impulsive, careless, and irresponsible. They see their environment as hectic and unstable which affects the way they make perceptual selections. On the other hand, more conscientious people organize their perceptions into neat categories, allowing themselves to retrieve data quickly and in an organized manner. In other words, they are careful, methodical, and disciplined in making perceptual selections.Learning: Learning determines the development of perceptual sets. A perceptual set is an expectation of a particular interpretation based on past experiences with the same or an identical object. In organizational settings, past experiences of the managers and employees influence their perceptions to a great extent.
Motivation: A person’s most urgent needs and desires at any particular time can influence perception. People perceive things that promise to help satisfy their needs and that they have found rewarding in the past. Also, according to Pollyanna principle, people process pleasant event more efficiently and accurately than they do unpleasant events. For example, an employee who receives both positive and negative feedback during the appraisal meeting may more easily and clearly remember the positive statements than the negative ones.

Perceptual Organization
Figure-ground: Perceived objects stand out as separable from their general background. In the context of organizations, a company may import a new technology in order to compete in the globalized economy. Here import of a new technology is a figure and global competitive environment is the background. The employees will immediately notice the installation of new technology whereas the global competitive environment is not visible by naked eyes.
Perceptual grouping: There is a general tendency among individuals to group several stimuli together into a recognizable pattern. There are certain underlying uniformities in grouping. When simple constellations of stimuli are presented to people, they tend to group them together by closure, continuity, proximity, and similarity.
Closure: An individual may perceive a whole while one actually does not exists. The person’s perceptual process closes the gaps that are unfilled by from sensory inputs. In a formal organization, employees may either see a ‘whole’ that does not exits or not be able to put the pieces together into a ‘whole’ that does exists. For example, head of a project team may take the view that the entire team agrees to his plan of action whereas there are differing views among the team members, which remains unarticulated in a formal manner. On the other hand, a functional team might view/perceive that their objectives are the objectives of the whole company.Continuity: An individual tend to perceive continuous lines/patterns. This leads to inflexible thinking on the part of organizational members (both managers and employees). Thus, only the obvious, continuous patterns or relationships are perceived. For example, a new design for some production process or product may be limited to obvious flows or continuous lines/patterns. New innovative ideas or designs may not be perceived.
Proximity: A group of stimuli that are close together will be perceived as a whole pattern of parts belonging together. For example, several employees in an organization may be identified as a single group because of physical proximity. Several workers who work on a particular process may be viewed as a single whole. If the output is low and the supervisor reports a number of grievances from the group, the management may perceive that all the workers working on that particular process are trouble makers whereas in some of them might be loyal and dedicated employees.
Similarity: The greater the similarity of stimuli, the greater is the tendency to perceive them as a common group. Similarity is conceptually related to proximity but in most cases stronger than proximity. In an organization, all employees who wear blue collars may be perceived as a common group, when in reality, each employee is a unique individual. This might also lead to perceptual error termed as stereotyping.
Perceptual Constancy: There are two issues. While objective reality of stimuli remains unchanged, people’s subjective reality also remains constant. That is, the individual is likely to give meaning to stimuli in the same way whenever exposed to them unless and until objective reality has been revealed more broadly by way of undoing the perceptual errors. For example, a manager in the company who believes that female employees are poor performers would continue to have the same perception until and unless the latter prove that they are better than their male colleagues.
Perceptual Context: It gives meaning and value to simple stimuli in the environment. The organizational culture and structure provide the primary context in which workers and managers perceive things. Thus, a verbal order, an e-mail message, a new policy, a suggestion, a raised eyebrow, a pat on the back takes on special meaning and value when placed in the context of work organization.

Perceptual Errors:
Accuracy of judgment:Similarity error: People are predisposed towards those having similar traits, socio-economic-cultural background.
Contrast error: People tend to compare among the available resources and thus arrive at a conclusion that might be far from the objective reality.
Race/gender/age bias: People’s perception may be tempered by their prejudices vis-à-vis race, gender, and age.First impression error: People may hold a long-term view about a person or thing based on first impression.
Perceptual defense: People tend to defend the way they perceive things. Once established, a person’s way of viewing the world may become highly resistant to change. Sometimes, perceptual defense may have negative consequences. This perceptual error can result in manager’s inability to perceive the need to be creative in solving problems. As a result, the individual simply proceeds as in the past even in the face of evidence that business as usual is not accomplishing anything worthwhile.Stereotyping: It is the belief that all members of a specific groups share similar traits and behaviour. Most often, a person is put into a stereotype because the perceiver knows only the overall category to which the person belongs. However, because each individual is unique, the real traits of the person are generally quite different from those that stereotype would suggest.
Halo effect: Under halo effect, a person is perceived on the basis of a single trait. It generally occurs during performance appraisal where the supervisor rates an employee on the basis of only one trait e.g. intelligence, punctuality, cooperativeness appearance etc.
Projection: It is the tendency of seeing one’s own traits in others. Thus, individuals project their own feelings, personality characteristics attitudes, or motives onto others. Projection may be especially strong for undesirable traits that the perceivers possess but fail to recognize in themselves. People whose personality traits include stingyness, obstinacy, and disorderliness tend to rate others higher on these traits than do people who do not have these traits.

Individual Behaviour Handout # 5

Attribution
What is attribution?
Attribution refers to our intuitive attempts to infer the causes of human behaviour. One of the major attribution tasks we face is determining whether an observed behaviour reflects something about the person or something about the situation in which we observe the person. We attribute as we seek to make sense of the world, assign people’s action/behaviour to either internal or external causes. Generally we attribute in a fairly logical way.

Attributions also implies the ways in which people come to understand the causes of their own and others’ behaviour. In essence, the attribution process reflects people’s need to explain events through deliberate actions of others rather than viewing them as random events.

Attribution Process
People make attributions in an attempt to understand why people behave as they do and to make better sense of their situations. Individuals do not consciously make attributions all the time although they may do it unconsciously most often. However, under certain circumstances, people are likely to make causal attributions consciously. For example, causal attributions are common in the following situations:
The perceiver has been asked an explicit question about another’s behaviour (Why did she/he do that?
An unexpected event occurs (I have never seen him behave that way. I wonder what is going on?
The perceiver depends on another person for desired outcomes. (I wonder why my boss made that comment about my expense account?)
The perceiver experiences feelings of filaure or loss of control. (I can’t believe, I failed in my public lecture assignment despite so much of preparation.

There are three steps involved in attribution process:

Antecedent –Factors internal to the perceiver: Information, Beliefs, Motivation

Attribution –made by the perceiver: Perceived causes of behaviour (such as internal versus external causes)

Consequences –for the perceiver: Behaviour, Feelings, and Expectations

Types of Attribution
There are two types of attributions: dispositional/internal and situational/external. In case of dispositional or internal attribution, we tend to attribute an observed behaviour to person’s beliefs, attitudes, and personality characteristics. On the other hand, we attribute any observed behaviour to a situation in case of situational/external attribution. Indeed, there is always some external cause leading to a particular behaviour. However, we overlook causal power of situations in our day-to-day reasoning. An individual’s behaviour is so compelling to us that we take it as a face value representation of a person and give insufficient weight to the circumstances surrounding it. We underestimate the situational causes of behaviour, jumping too easily to conclusions about the person’s disposition. If we observe someone behaving aggressively, we instantly assume that he or she has an aggressive personality.

The scenario when we underestimate the situational influence on behaviour and give credence to one’s personality leads to fundamental attribution error. We make fundamental attribution error so often because it is an over-learned, automatic process that frequently occurs outside our conscious awareness. We can correct our initial, automatic dispositional attributions with reference to plausible situational causes only when we have the cognitive resource to think deliberately and carefully.

Besides fundamental attribution error, another significant issue is that of self-serving bias. People readily accept credit when told that they have succeeded (attributing the success to their ability and effort), yet often attribute failure to such external situational factors as bad luck, or the problem’s inherent impossibility.

Harold Kelley’s Model of Attribution
Kelley’s model is based on three broad concepts:
Consistency: the extent to which the person perceived behaves in the same manner on other occasions when faced with the same situation.
Distinctiveness: the extent to which the person perceived acts in the same manner in different situations.
Consensus: the extent to which others, when faced with similar situation behave in the manner similar to that of the perceiver.

Kelley provides a framework to adjudge whether the cause of poor performance can be attributed to internal or external factors.

Kelley has explained his model through an example of poor performance of a subordinate
Co-workers are also performing poorly—High Consensus
The subordinate performed poorly only during this time—Low Consistency
The subordinate does well on other tasks—High distinctiveness
Co-workers are performing very well on this particular task—Low consensus
The subordinate does not do well on this task at any time—High consistency
The subordinate does poorly on other tasks as well—Low distinctiveness

Following inferences can be made by using Kelley’s model of attribution
Behaviour--------------------Attribution
High consensus--------------External
Low consistency-------------External
High distinctiveness---------External
Low Consensus-------------Internal
High Consistency-----------Internal
Low distinctiveness---------Internal

Individual Behaviour Handout # 6

Impression Management

What is impression management?
Connotations of Impression include feeling, idea, notion, thought, sense, intuition, inkling, hunch, and consciousness.
Impression management on the hand, is the process by which a person knowingly attempts to influence the perception of the other about him/her. It is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event by regulating and controlling information in social interaction. It is usually synonymous with self-presentation, if a person tries to influence the perception of their image.
It can also be defined as an attempt by an individual to manipulate or control the impression that others form about them. They are especially likely to use these tactics when talking with people who have power over them or on whom they are dependent for promotions and key assignments.
And while the term 'impression management' may sound like just a buzzword, the concept has been around for quite a long time. In fact, Benjamin Franklin wrote quite candidly about impression management in his autobiography, first published in 1868. He writes: "In order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. I dressed plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion… and, to show that I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchased at the stores through the streets on a wheelbarrow."
Still good ideas today! Another example: Dale Carnegie's long-time bestseller How to Win Friends and Influence People was first published in 1936, going on to sell over 15 million copies. Similarly, Harrison Monarth’s book The Confident Speaker helps presenters of today manage the impressions of audiences everywhere. Impression management has clearly been around for quite awhile, undoubtedly long before Benjamin Franklin. However, in today's branding oriented world, it's more critical to success than ever. Organizations worldwide devote much of their efforts to actively managing their brands and reputations. And just like the smart corporate players - managers, employees and entrepreneurs should also seek to manage their reputations and the impressions they leave on people – their own personal brands.

Factors that provides direction to Impression Management
Self-concept
Desired/Undesired Identity
Role Constraints
Targets’ Values
Current Social Image

Impression Management Techniques

Behavioural Matching: Person matches his behaviour to that of the perceiver. For example, employee tries to imitate her manager’s behaviour by being aggressive and fast paced.
Self-promotion: The person tries to present her personal attributes in a highly positive and exaggerated way. For example, employee reminds her boss about her previous accomplishments and associate with co-workers who are valued.
Conforming to Norms: Person follows agreed upon norms for behaviour in the organization. For example, employee stays late at night even if she has completed all her assignments because staying late is one of the norms of her organization.
Flattering others: Person compliments others profusely. But beyond a certain limit, the person is exposed.
Being Consistent: Person’s belief and behaviour are consistent.
Face-saving: Person apologies in case he has committed some mistakes.
Maintain a professional and well-groomed physical appearance: If you want a star role, you have to dress the part! In the career world, this means dressing professionally and attractively, exemplifying whatever dress code is appropriate for your particular workplace. While you usually won't be expected to wear the latest fashions, your clothes should be clean, pressed, and relatively new. Your personal appearance should also be neat and clean. This communicates the message that you are aware how you come across and committed to putting your best foot forward.
Use appropriate and positive body language: Develop body language that is both welcoming and confident. Maintain comfortable eye contact. Smile when it's appropriate, whether it’s the “social” smile or an authentic smile of joy. Reflect your self-confidence and self-esteem by standing straight and tall, with great posture and your head held high. Offer a firm handshake. Discuss ideas with open palms.
Develop relationships at the office: Strengthen your position in the team by cultivating friendly and positive relationships with your coworkers and superiors. This doesn't necessarily mean schmoozing, or professing your love for cats to your cat-loving boss – even though you’re allergic to felines. Chances are, you have at least one or two things in common with everyone at your office. Look for these shared interests or experiences, and use them as an opportunity to genuinely relate to your coworkers.
Be a team player: Be willing to cover your teammates' or your bosses' backs once in a while. This doesn't mean consistently taking the fall for someone else's incompetence; however, mistakes do happen, sometimes at inopportune times. If you can help minimize the fallout, you should do so. By helping your coworkers maintain their professional reputations, you'll earn their gratitude and respect, and they'll be more inclined to do the same for you in a similar situation. Besides, it's the golden rule.
Demotion preventive strategies
Accounts: Person explains the reasons of his/her failure
Apologies: Person simply apologies for his/her mistakes
Dissociation: Person dissociate himself from the group on the pretext that his voice/suggestions are unheard and that is why he should not be party to eventual failure of the project.
Promotion enhancing strategies
Entitlements: Person claims certain incentives/non-monetary reward as a matter of right after the project has succeeded.
Enhancements: Person asks for increasing incentives/non-monetary reward as he/she thinks that his/her efforts have not been compensated properly.
Obstacle disclosure: Person discloses the obstacles encountered during project implementation so as to claim better appreciation for his/her efforts.

Creating a politically correct impression
Frame arguments in terms of organizational goals
Develop right image
Gain control of organizational resources
Make yourself appear indispensable
Be visible
Develop powerful allies
Avoid tainted members
Support your boss

Individual Behaviour Handout # 7

Theories of Motivation
What is motivation?
‘Motivation’ is derived from the Latin term ‘movere’ that means ‘to move’. Thus, motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates a behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive (Luthans). Broadly speaking, motivation is willingness to exert high levels of efforts towards organizational goals, conditioned by the efforts’ ability to satisfy some individual needs (Robbins). Need means some internal state that make certain outcomes appear attractive. An unsatisfied need creates tension that stimulates drives within the individual. These drives generate a search behaviour to find particular goals, that if attained, will satisfy the need and lead to the reduction in tension. In other words, needs create motives for a particular action (behaviour).Primary motives are hunger, thirst, maternal concerns, avoidance of pain, etc. These motives are involuntary. Then there are secondary motives which play an important role in employee motivation. Examples of secondary motives are: need for achievement, need for power, need for affiliation, need for security, and need for status.
Theories of Motivation
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
Abraham Maslow suggested that needs of human being can be arranged in a hierarchical order. He maintained that the moment a particular need is satisfied, it ceases to be a motivator. Given below is the hierarchy of needs (with company strategies to meet those needs in brackets)
Self-Actualization: self-fulfillment
(opportunities for personal growth, realization of potentials)
Esteem Needs: self-respect, autonomy, achievement, recognition
(titles, status, symbols, promotion)
Social Needs: affection, belogingness, acceptance
(formal and informal work groups)
Safety Needs: security and protection from any contingencies(seniority plans, health insurance, social security measures)
Physiological Needs: Basic Needs(
Salary and Wages)

Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory
Fredrick Herzberg proposed Motivation-Hygiene theory of motivation. According to Herzberg, the factors leading to job satisfaction are distinctly different from those that lead to job-dissatisfaction. Therefore, the managers who seek to eliminate factors that create job-dissatisfaction can bring about peace at the workplace but cannot motivate the employees. These factors are termed as hygiene factors comprising administration, supervision, working conditions, salary and wages etc. While absence of hygiene factors will lead to dissatisfaction, mere presence of these factors will not satisfy (i.e. motivate) the employees. In order to motivate the employees, managers must resort to ‘motivators’ (those factors that motivate the employees towards better performance) such as recognition, challenging assignment, responsibility, opportunities for growth and self-fulfillment etc.

ERG Theory
Clayton Alderfer proposed the ERG theory of motivation. According to Alderfer, there are three groups of core needs:
Existence (basic material existence, safety needs);
Relatedness (social and self-esteem needs); and
Growth: an intrinsic desire to grow and self-fulfillment.
Contrary to Maslow’s theory, he proposed that more than one need may be operative at the same time and if the gratification of higher level need is stifled, the desire to satisfy lower level need would increase. For example, inability to satisfy the need for socialization may lead an individual to concentrate on making more money.

Mclelland’s Theory of Needs
David Mclelland and his associates developed a theory of needs that provides a practical framework for motivational programmes at workplaces across the globe.The theory focuses on three needs:
Need for Achievement: Drive to excel and become champions
Need for Power: Urge to control actions/ behaviour of others
Need for Affiliation: Desire for intense socialization
Some reflections on the Theory of Needs
A high achievement need does not necessarily mean that the person would be a good manager, especially in large organizations. People with high achivement needs are interested in how well they do personally and not in influencing others to do well. A salesperson with high achievement need would not necessarily make a good sales manager, and a good general manager in a large organization may have low achievement need.
A person with high affiliation need may be a good team-worker. However, a manager with high affiliation need may face a lot of problems. The best managers have high need of power and low need of affiliation.

Goal-setting Theory
Edwin Lock proposed the Goal Setting theory in 1960s. He observed that intention to work toward a goal is a major source of motivation. A goal tells the employees what is to be done and what should be the intensity of efforts. Specific goals have invariably resulted in higher performance. If factors like ability and acceptance of the goals are held constant, difficult goals are likely to produce better results. Feedback plays an important role in Goal-setting theory. Feedback reinforces high performance behaviour. Lack of feedback may jeopardize goal accomplishment.Besides feedback, success of Goal-setting theory also depends on goal commitment, self-efficacy and culture.
Goal commitment: employee is committed to goal i.e. he is determined not to lower or abandon the goal.
Self-efficacy: employee’s belief in his/her ability to accomplish the goal
Culture: shared values and meanings are crucial. Due to cultural influence, Japanese tend to have higher goal commitments and self-efficacy.

Expectancy Theory of Motivation
Victor Vroom proposed the Expectancy Theory of Motivation. Vroom observed that the strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. For example, an employee will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when he or she believes that efforts will lead to good performance appraisal which in turn will result in salary hike, incentive, bonus, promotion that will satisfy personal goals of the employee.The theory is based on the following three relationships:
Effort-Performance Relationship: The probability perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort will lead to performance
Performance-Reward Relationship: The degree to which the individual believes that performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome.Reward-Personal Goal Relationship: The degree to which organizational rewards satisfy an individual’s personal goals and attractiveness of those potential rewards for the individual.

Linking Motivational Theories with HR Practices at the Workplace
Management by Objective (MBO)MBO is linked to goal-setting theory. Peter Drucker proposed this concept. Broadly speaking, MBO is a process of agreeing upon objectives within an organization. MBO is often accomplished by using set targets. Objectives should be SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-specific. Reliance Industries Limited in India has successfully implemented MBO programme. Any MBO initiative must be implemented along side suitable adjustment in rewards and feedback system.

Employee Recognition Programmes Employee recognition programmes cater to the social needs and self-esteem needs of the employees. These include awards, newsletter announcements regarding accomplishments of an individual or a group, appreciation letter, certificate of merit, employee of the month/year programme, annual felicitation programmes to honour outstanding performers etc.Employee Involvement Programmes This is aimed at augmenting the commitment of the employees towards organization by providing them a role in decision making, autonomy, empowerment and stock ownership. Thus, employee involvement strategies link the destines of the employees with the of the company/organization. For example, by granting the employees a role in decision-making, Ford Motors has benefited in terms of improved product design, cost reduction, quality improvement and overall productivity.
In number of organizations, workers participation in management is ensured by works council, works committees, quality circles etc. Besides many companies are now offering Employee Stock Ownership Plans in a big way to ensure employee involvement.

Reward System A number of companies are resorting to performance-linked rewards in order to motivate employees. Examples are Variable Pay, Profit Sharing, Gain Sharing, Skill-based pay, flexible benefits, etc.

Individual Behaviour Handout # 8

Learning and Reinforcement

What is learning?
Webster’s Dictionary defines learning as “the act or experience of one that learns; knowledge of skill acquired by instruction or study; modification of a behavioral tendency by experience."

Learning is often defined as a change in behavior , which is demonstrated by people implementing knowledge, skills, or practices derived from education.

Learning is also defined as ‘the cognitive and physical activity giving rise to a relatively permanent change in knowledge, skills or attitude.

A fairly standard consensual definition of learning is that "it is a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from practice. However, a few scholars believe that learning implies changes in "capability" or even simple "knowledge" or "understanding", even if it is not manifest in behaviour.

Broadly speaking Learning is:
complex
transformational
natural, and life-long
multi-level
fundamentally personal, yet also social
active and interactive
measurable
greatly influenced by organizational factors, including leadership, culture and structures.

Why is it important to understand learning process?
Theories of learning are important for a number of reasons. First, training designed with an awareness of how people learn is clearly more likely to be effective. Secondly, if learning theories can explain how people initially acquire competence they might also help explain what differentiates excellent from merely competent individuals. Finally, learning theories can also help when considering how work is described. Trainers need valid methods for describing what people at work do in order to identify what skills individuals need to do a job and what opportunities the job provides for development of skills in an individual.

Theories of Learning
Classical conditioning
This theory was propounded by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist in early 20th centuary. Classical conditioning is a process by which individuals learn to link the information from a neutral stimulus to a stimulus that causes a response. This response may not be under the control of an individual. In the classical conditioning process, an unconditioned stimulus (environmental event) brings out a natural response. Then a neutral environmental event, called a conditioned stimulus is paired with unconditioned stimulus that brings out the behaviour. Eventually the conditioned stimulus alone brings out the behaviour which is called a conditioned response.

Pavlov proved his point by his famous experiment with dog. He noticed that the dog salivated (unconditioned response) whenever meat powder (unconditioned stimulus) was present it. He then paired meat powder (unconditioned stimulus) with a bell (conditioned stimulus) and the dog salivated (unconditioned response). After repeating this exercise several times, the dog salivated (conditioned response) whenever the bell (conditioned stimulus) rang even without the meat powder (unconditioned stimulus).

Based on Stimulus-Response psychology, this theory suggests that learning/conditioning takes place when Stimulus-Response connection is established.
Unconditioned Stimulus—Unconditioned Response
Conditioned Stimulus—Conditioned Response
Classical conditioning is not widely used in work settings.
Operant Conditioning
B F Skinner propounded the ‘Operant Conditioning’ theory. This refers to a process by which individuals learn voluntary behaviours from the consequences of their previous actions. Managers are interested in operant (voluntary) behaviour because they can influence the results of such behaviours. For example, frequency of a particular behaviour may be increased or decreased by changing the consequences.

Based on Response –Stimulus psychology, there is strong association between consequence and response to a particular stimulus. Learning takes place somewhat like the flow given below:

Stimulus—Response—Consequences—Future Response on the basis of consequence
Social Cognition:
Propounded by Albert Bandura, this theory suggests that learning takes place through the metal processing of information. While individuals learn by being a part of the society, they use thought process to make decisions. People actively process information when they learn. By watching others perform a task, people develop mental pictures of how to perform the task. Observers often learn faster than those who do not observe the behaviour of others because they do not need to unlearn behaviour and can avoid needless and costly errors.
Social cognition has five tools:
Symbolizing: An individual associates a symbol to his future responses.Forethought: An individual anticipates the consequences and accordingly makes a choice of responses
Observational: An individual observes others before choosing his/her own responses.
Self-regulatory: an individual controls his/her action by setting internal standards (aspired levels of performance) and by evaluating discrepancy between the standard and the performance
Self-reflective: An individual reflects back on his/her actions and perceptually determine the causes of success or failure and possible measure to improve the quality of responses.

Reinforcement Theory
The one theory of influence almost everyone knows about is reinforcement. It works in a variety of situations, it can be simply applied, and it has just a few basic ideas. In fact, reinforcement theory boils down to a Main Point: Consequences influence behavior.
Think about that for a moment. Consequences influence behavior. It means that people do things because they know other things will follow. Thus, depending upon the type of consequence that follows, people will produce some behaviors and avoid others. Pretty simple. Pretty realistic, too. Reinforcement theory (consequences influence behavior) makes sense.
Principles of Reinfrocement
There are three basic principles of this theory. These are the Rules of Consequences. The three Rules describe the logical outcomes, which typically occur after consequences.
Consequences which give Rewards increase a behavior.
Consequences which give Punishments decrease a behavior.
Consequences which give neither Rewards nor Punishments extinguish a behavior.
These Rules provide an excellent blueprint for influence. If you want to increase a behavior (make it more frequent, more intense, more likely), then when the behavior is shown, provide a Consequence of Reward. If you want to decrease a behavior (make it less frequent, less intense, less likely), then when the behavior is shown, provide a Consequence of Punishment. Finally, if you want a behavior to extinguish (disappear, fall out of the behavioral repertoire), then when the behavior is shown, then provide no Consequence (ignore the behavior).
Now, the Big Question becomes, "What is a reward?" or "What is a punishment?" The answer is easy.
What is a reward? Anything that increases the behavior.
What is a punisher? Anything that decreases the behavior.
The Process of Reinforcement
The Rules of Consequence are used in a three-step sequence that defines the process of reinforcement. We can call these steps, When-Do-Get.
Step 1: When in some situation,Step 2: Do some behavior,Step 3: Get some consequence.
According to Reinforcement Theory, people learn several things during the process of reinforcement. First, they learn that certain behaviors (Step 2: Do) lead to consequences (Step 3: Get). This is the most obvious application of the Rules of Consequence. A student realizes that if she does well on an assignment (Do), then she will get a Rewarding Consequence of a pretty sticker (Get). Another student discovers that if he speaks out inappropriately (Do), then he will receive the Punishing Consequence of reduced recess time (Get).
But second, and as important, people learn that the Do-Get only works in certain situations (Step 1: When). For example, a child may discover that when she is with her parents (When) and she throws a temper tantrum (Do), she embarrasses them and they give her Rewards such as attention, toys, candy, or whatever (Get). Now when this child hits school and tries this trick, she is cruelly disappointed when the teacher provides a Punishing Consequence rather than a Rewarding Consequence. She soon learns that Tantrum ---> Reward only works When she is with Mom and Dad.
This is simple. When in some situation-Do some behavior-Get a consequence. And there are only three consequences, Rewarding, Punishing, and Ignoring. Let's look at some examples in action.

Limitations of Reinforcement
While Reinforcement Theory is a powerful influence tool, it does have several serious limitations. To use it effectively, you must be aware of these difficulties in application.
1. It is difficult to identify rewards and punishments. As noted earlier in this chapter, reinforcers are identified by their function. Thus, there is no cookbook list of Rewards and Punishments. Candy increases student cooperation, but has no value as payment to a factory worker. Thus, you have to observe your students very carefully to discover the things they find most rewarding or punishing. (See the coach example above.)
And once you do find things that function effectively, you can be seriously disappointed to discover that they lose their value over time. As the students become accustomed to receiving some Reward (say candy or stickers), they may grow bored over time. This is perhaps the greatest challenge for any teacher. Finding good Rewards and Punishments requires a great deal of experience and insight.
2. You must control all sources of reinforcement. Teachers often must compete with the student's peer group. Peers provide an extremely important source of reinforcement, sometimes greater than any Reward or Punishment a teacher can give. The child's parents and family are another source of reinforcement. Teachers sometimes think their reinforcement applications are failing because the teacher is not using the "right" Reward or Punishment. Instead the problem may be that the student wants or needs the reinforcers the peer group offers more than the ones the teacher gives.
3. Internal changes can be difficult to create. One side effect of reinforcement theory is that children learn to perform behaviors we want them to show only when the Get is available. If the Reward is not present, then the child will not show cooperation or good effort or attention or friendliness. The child becomes little more than a well-trained monkey who does a trick, then holds out a hand waiting for the banana. The child has not internalized the behavior but instead requires the full process (When-Do-Get). This means that the teacher must always be running around providing the correct consequences for the desired behaviors at the right time. In such an instance one wonders who is being trained, the teacher or the student.
You should also realize that reinforcement works best with the heuristic thinker ("If I get a Reward, then the thing is good. If I get a Punishment, then the thing is bad."). It does not require systematic thinking. As we discovered in the Dual Process chapter, influence with heuristic thinkers is often short lived and usually situation dependent. The influence lasts only as long as the cue (in this case the Reward or the Punishment) is available. This simply means you need to maintain a steady diet of reinforcement cues to maintain the actions you desire.
4. Punishing is difficult to do well. Punishment is an extremely powerful consequence for all living things. Whether it is a monkey, a pigeon, a child, or an adult, punishing consequences can produce extremely rapid, strong, and memorable changes. The problem is that effective punishment demands certain requirements. The research clearly shows that effective punishment must be: 1) immediate (right now!), 2) intense (the biggest possible stick), 3) unavoidable (there is no escape), and 4) consistent (every time). If you cannot deliver punishment under these conditions, then the punishment is likely to fail.
Thus, the best punishment would be something like this. A kid does the Bad Thing, then: the kid is instantly placed in a dark room filled with snakes and bugs and jungly vines while weird and frightening voices shriek, "Don't do the Bad Thing, Don't do the Bad Thing." And as soon as the kid stops doing the Bad Thing, bang, the kid is back in class, safe and sound.
While this example is an exaggeration, you get the point. We know that most principals, almost all school boards, and all parents would be against this kind of punishment. Therefore, one of the most powerful aspects of reinforcement is effectively taken away from the teacher. Yet, some teachers persist in using weakened forms of punishment, often with unsuccessful and frustrating effects.
5. Students may come to hate teachers who use punishment. Punishment is, by definition, an aversive, painful consequence. People experience very negative emotional states when they get punished. And, as we learned in the Classical Conditioning chapter, it is very easy to condition emotions. Thus, when a teacher uses punishment, the students will probably feel angry or fearful or hopeless and they will then connect or associate these negative feelings with the source of the punishment, the teacher.
This is not a good state of affairs. As a teacher you want to use influence tools to accomplish important learning goals. If the influence tool produces negative affect for the teacher, the teacher is essentially shooting herself in the foot. Sure, the punishment helps accomplish one goal, but at the same time the punishment is making other goals more difficult to achieve.
6. It is easy to reinforce one pigeon, but a whole flock? Reinforcement theory has been most strongly tested with animals, particularly pigeons. And that research with pigeons has yielded outstanding results. The problem for teachers is this: The research used reinforcement principles on one pigeon at a time. Teachers teach a whole flock. The sheer size of a classroom brings a very difficult dimension into the proper application of reinforcement theory.

Reinforcement at the workplace
In operant conditioning, reinforcement is an increase in the strength of a response
following the change in environment immediately following that response. Response
strength can be assessed by measures such as the frequency with which the response is
made (for example, a pigeon may peck a key more times in the session), or the speed
with which it is made (for example, a rat may run a maze faster). The environment
change contingent upon the response is called a reinforcer. Reinforcement can only be
confirmed retrospectively, as objects, items, food or other potential 'reinforcers' can only
be called such by demonstrating increases in behavior after their administration. It is the
strength of the response that is reinforced, not the organism.pes of reinforcement
B.F. Skinner, the researcher who articulated the major theoretical constructs of reinforcement and behaviorism,refused to specify causal origins of reinforcers. Skinner argued that reinforcers are defined by a change in response strength (that is, functionally rather than causally), and that what is a reinforcer to one person may not be to another. Accordingly, activities, foods or items which are generally considered pleasant or enjoyable may not necessarily be reinforcing; they can only be considered so if the behavior that immediately precedes the potential reinforcer increases in similar future situations. If a child receives a cookie when he or she asks for one, and the frequency of 'cookie-requesting behavior' increases, the cookie can be seen as reinforcing 'cookie-requesting behavior'. If however, cookie-requesting behavior does not increase, the cookie cannot be considered reinforcing. The sole criterion which can determine if an item, activity or food is reinforcing is the change in the probability of a behavior after the administration of a potential reinforcer. Other theories may focus on additional factors such as whether the person expected the strategy to work at some point, but a behavioral theory of reinforcement would focus specifically upon the probability of the behavior.
The study of reinforcement has produced an enormous body of reproducible experimental results. Reinforcement is the central concept and procedure in the experimental analysis of behavior and much of quantitative analysis of behavior.
Positive reinforcement is an increase in the future frequency of a behavior due to the addition of a stimulus immediately following a response. Giving (or adding) food to a dog contingent on its sitting is an example of positive reinforcement (if this results in an increase in the future behavior of the dog sitting).
Negative reinforcement is an increase in the future frequency of a behavior when the consequence is the removal of an aversive stimulus. Turning off (or removing) an annoying song when a child asks their parent is an example of negative reinforcement (if this results in an increase in asking behavior of the child in the future).
Avoidance conditioning is a form of negative reinforcement that occurs when a behavior prevents an aversive stimulus from starting or being applied.
Skinner discusses that while it may appear so, Punishment is not the opposite of reinforcement. Rather, it has some other effects as well as decreasing undesired behavior.
decreases likelihood of behavior
increases likelihood of behavior
presented
positive punishment
positive reinforcement
taken away
negative punishment
negative reinforcement
Distinguishing "positive" from "negative" can be difficult, and the necessity of the distinction is often debated. For example, in a very warm room, a current of external air serves as positive reinforcement because it is pleasantly cool or negative reinforcement because it removes uncomfortably hot air. Some reinforcement can be simultaneously positive and negative, such as a drug addict taking drugs for the added euphoria and eliminating withdrawal symptoms. Many behavioral psychologists simply refer to reinforcement or punishment—without polarity—to cover all consequent environmental changes.
Primary reinforcers
A primary reinforcer, sometimes called an unconditioned reinforcer, is a stimulus that does not require pairing to function as a reinforcer and most likely has obtained this function through the evolution and its role in species' survival. Examples of primary reinforcers include sleep, food, air, water, and sex. Other primary reinforcers, such as certain drugs, may mimic the effects of other primary reinforcers. While these primary reinforcers are fairly stable through life and across individuals, the reinforcing value of different primary reinforcers varies due to multiple factors (e.g., genetics, experience). Thus, one person may prefer one type of food while another abhors it. Or one person may eat lots of food while another eats very little. So even though food is a primary reinforcer for both individuals, the value of food as a reinforcer differs between them.
Often primary reinforcers shift their reinforcing value temporarily through satiation and deprivation. Food, for example, may cease to be effective as a reinforcer after a certain amount of it has been consumed (satiation). After a period during which it does not receive any of the primary reinforcer (deprivation), however, the primary reinforcer may once again regain its effectiveness in increasing response strength.
Secondary reinforcers
A secondary reinforcer, sometimes called a conditioned reinforcer, is a stimulus or situation that has acquired its function as a reinforcer after pairing with a stimulus which functions as a reinforcer. This stimulus may be a primary reinforcer or another conditioned reinforcer (such as money). An example of a secondary reinforcer would be the sound from a clicker, as used in clicker training. The sound of the clicker has been associated with praise or treats, and subsequently, the sound of the clicker may function as a reinforcer. As with primary reinforcers, an organism can experience satiation and deprivation with secondary reinforcers.
Other reinforcement terms
A generalized reinforcer is a conditioned reinforcer that has obtained the reinforcing function by pairing with many other reinforcers (such as money, a secondary generalized reinforcer).
In reinforcer sampling a potentially reinforcing but unfamiliar stimulus is presented to an organism without regard to any prior behavior. The stimulus may then later be used more effectively in reinforcement.
Socially mediated reinforcement (direct reinforcement) involves the delivery of reinforcement which requires the behavior of another organism.
Reinforcement hierarchy is a list of actions, rank-ordering the most desirable to least desirable consequences that may serve as a reinforcer. A reinforcement hierarchy can be used to determine the relative frequency and desirability of different activities, and is often employed when applying the Premack principle.
Contingent outcomes are more likely to reinforce behavior than non-contingent responses. Contingent outcomes are those directly linked to a causal behavior, such a light turning on being contingent on flipping a switch. Note that contingent outcomes are not necessary to demonstrate reinforcement, but perceived contingency may increase learning.
Contiguous stimuli are stimuli closely associated by time and space with specific behaviors. They reduce the amount of time needed to learn a behavior while increasing its resistance to extinction. Giving a dog a piece of food immediately after sitting is more contiguous with (and therefore more likely to reinforce) the behavior than a several minute delay in food delivery following the behavior.
Noncontingent reinforcement refers to response-independent delivery of stimuli identified serve as reinforcers for some behaviors of that organism. However, this typically entails time-based delivery of stimuli identified as maintaining aberrant behavior, which serves to decrease the rate of the target behavior. As no measured behavior is identified as being strengthened, there is controversy surrounding the use of the term noncontingent "reinforcement".
Natural and artificial reinforcement

Individual Behaviour Handout # 9

Interpersonal Relations at Work

What is ‘Interpersonal Relations’?
The concept of interpersonal relationships involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. Such persons may interact overtly, covertly, face-to-face; or may remain effectively unknown to each other (as in a virtual community whose members maintain anonymity and do not socialize outside of a chat-room).
Interpersonal Relations may be defined as a unique and relatively stable behavioral pattern that exists or develops between two people as a result of individual and extra-individual influences.

Why is it important to learn about ‘Interpersonal Relations’?
Interpersonal relations at work (and away, too) play a critical role in the development and maintenance of trust and positive feelings in an organization. Although the quality of interpersonal relationships alone is not enough to produce worker productivity, it can significantly contribute to it.

It has been observed that relationships generally fail due to a lack of honest communication and awareness. Poor interpersonal relations at the work may result in interpersonal violence, rivalry and sabotage.

Interpersonal Relations also provide
• Companionship
• Emotional Support
• Guidance
• Emotional Comfort
• Reliance
• Understanding
• Conflict Resolution
• Identification
• Respect
• Empathy
• Intimacy
• Influence
• Acceptance
• Shared Values

Stages in interpersonal relationships
1) Contact:
a) Perceptual: noticing how parties look at each other and their body-language
b) Interactional cues: nodding, maintaining eye-contact etc.
c) Invitational: encouraging the potential relationship (for example, suggesting a later meeting involving some social lubricant such as coffee)
d) Avoidance strategies: if one person discloses and the other does not: minimal response, lack of eye-contact, etc.
2) Involvement:
a) Feelers: hints or questions (for example: asking about family)
b) Intensifying strategies: furthering the relationship (for example meeting an old friend, bringing the other to meet family, becoming more affectionate etc.)
c) Public: parties seen in public together often (if in a romantic relationship, may involve holding hands)
3) Intimacy: parties very close; may have exchanged some sort of personal belonging or something that represents further commitment. (For example, a promise ring in a romantic relationship or a friendship-necklace identifying two people as best friends.
4) Deterioration: things start to fall apart. In a romantic relationship, typically after some time, people move out of the so-called "honeymoon stage", and start to notice flaws. The way they address this determines the fate of the relationship

Determinnats of Interperosnal Relations
· The discovery or establishment of common ground between individuals provides a fundamental component for enduring interpersonal relationships. Loss of common ground, which may happen over time, may tend to end interpersonal relationships.
· Positive partner-qualities such as compassion, intelligence and an ability and willingness to communicate effectively have "better" outcomes in lasting interpersonal relations.
· Interpersonal relationships through consanguinity and affinity can persist despite the absence of love, affection, or common ground.
· Friendship may involves some degree of transitivity: one may become a friend of an existing friend's friend. But in case a love trangle emegres, one will have to lose.
· Mutual benefits also foster lasting interpersonal relations.

Interpersonal Conflicts

Sources of conflicts:
Personal differences: Everyone has a unique background rooted in his or her upbringing, culture, family traditions, and socialization process. Disagreements stemming from the differences often become highly emotional and take moral overtones. A disagreement about who is factually correct easily turns into a bitter argument over who is morally correct?
Information deficit: Information deficit occurs due to communication breakdown in organizations. It may so happen that two conflicting persons are using different sources of information or both of them are thoroughly misinformed. Unlike personal differences, they are not emotionally charged and once correct information is furnished, there is little resentment.
Role Incompatibility: Sometimes the individual roles of the managers may appear to be incompatible. For example, the production manager and sales manager have interdependent functions: one supports the other. However, the role of the production manager is to cut costs and one way to do this is to keep a low inventory. The sales manager on the other hand has the role of increasing revenue through increased sales. The sales manager may make delivery promises to customers that are incompatible with low inventory maintained by production department. Such a situation may result in nasty interpersonal conflict.
Environmental stress: Conflicts may also arise due to certain environmental constraints such as downsizing, competitive pressures, uncertainty, new work rules, enhanced performance standards, etc.
Conflict Resolution
1. Avoiding: This is unassertive and uncooperative behaviour. A person uses this style to stay away from conflict, ignore disagreements, or remain neutral. The avoidance approach reflects an aversion to tension and frustration and may involve a decision to let conflict work itself out. However, such an approach might frustrate others and lead to project failures. Avoidance may work in case the issue is of passing importance or others can resolve it more effectively.
2. Forcing: This is assertive and uncooperative behaviour and represents a win-lose approach to interpersonal conflict. Those who use this approach actually try to achieve their own goals without concern for others. This style relies on coercive power. It may result in lower morale and motivation of the employees.
3. Accommodating: This is cooperative and non-assertive behaviour. While using this style, an individual may act as though the conflict will go away in time and appeal for cooperation.
4. Collaborating: This is strong cooperative and assertive behaviour. It best represents a win-win approach to interpersonal conflicts. The person using collaboration desires to maximize joint results. An individual who uses this style tends to see conflict as natural, helpful and leading to more creative solution if handled properly. The norms, rewards and punishments of the organization –especially those set by the top management –provide framework for encouraging or discouraging collaboration.
5. Compromising: This refers to behaviour that is placed in between assertiveness and cooperation. This is best represented in ‘give and take’ approach to interpersonal relations. Compromising is widely used and accepted as a means for resolving interpersonal conflicts. As compared to collaborating style, this approach does not maximize mutual satisfaction.
Interpersonal Competencies
· Able to work well with others
Be honest
Able to deal with untrustworthy individuals
Able to build strong professional business relationships
Use joint problem solving
Practice active listening
Be respectful to everyone
Practice patience
Honor your commitments
Hold people accountable

Interpersonal Communication
The goals of interpersonal communication are to understand the exact meaning and intent of others, to be understood by others, to gain acceptance for yourself or your ideas or both, and to produce action or change. Interpersonal communication can be divided into six categories: listening, self-presentation, problem solving, decision-making, negotiating, and conflict management.
Listening “between the words” (akin to “reading between the lines”) helps us to identify problems in negotiating effectively, resolving conflict, and making decisions and helps in problem solving. Self-presentation can be verbal or nonverbal, written or graphic. The effectiveness of oral and written messages varies. For example, a general overview is best conveyed both orally and in writing, but a dispute should be settled orally. Project managers are expected to integrate the efforts of all project participants (or “stakeholders”) and manage all interfaces effectively.

The elements of interpersonal relationships include creating cohesive project teams; developing effective communication skills; emphasizing the importance of listening; delegating effectively; achieving a balance among authority, responsibility, and accountability; negotiating to achieve a win-win outcome; respecting each other’s opinion; helping each other succeed; using power and influence effectively; and managing corporate politics.

Individual Behaviour Handout #10

Managing Stress and Agressive Behaviour

What is stress?
Stress is a psychological and physiological response to events that upset our personal balance in some way. When faced with a threat, whether to our physical safety or emotional equilibrium, the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” response. We all know what this stress response feels like: heart pounding in the chest, muscles tensing up, breath coming faster, every sense on red alert.
The biological stress response is meant to protect and support us. It’s what helped our stone age ancestors survive the life-or-death situations they commonly faced. But in the modern world, most of the stress we feel is in response to psychological rather than physical threats. Caring for a chronically-ill child or getting audited by the IRS qualify as stressful situations, but neither calls for either fight or flight. Unfortunately, our bodies don't make this distinction. Whether we’re stressed over a looming deadline, an argument with a friend, or a mountain of bills, the warning bells ring. And just like a caveman confronting a sabertooth tiger, we go into automatic overdrive.If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, you may be running on stress a good portion of the time—launching into emergency mode with every traffic jam, phone call from the in-laws, or segment of the evening news. But the problem with the stress response is that the more it’s activated, the harder it is to shut off. Instead of leveling off once the crisis has passed, your stress hormones, heart rate, and blood pressure remain elevated.Furthermore, extended or repeated activation of the stress response takes a heavy toll on the body. Prolonged exposure to stress increases your risk of everything from heart disease, obesity, and infection to anxiety, depression, and memory problems. Because of the widespread damage it can cause, it’s essential to learn how to deal with stress in a more positive way and reduce its impact on your daily life.

Signs and symptoms of stress
Cognitive symptoms:
Memory problems
Indecisiveness
Inability to concentrate
Trouble thinking clearly
Poor judgment
Seeing only the negative
Anxious or racing thoughts
Constant worrying
Loss of objectivity
Fearful anticipation
Physical Symptoms:
Headaches or backaches
Muscle tension and stiffness
Diarrhea or constipation
Nausea, dizziness
Insomnia
Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
Weight gain or loss
Skin breakouts (eczema)
Loss of sex drive
Frequent colds
Emotional symptoms:
Moodiness
Agitation
Restlessness
Short temper
Irritability, impatience
Inability to relax
Feeling tense and “on edge”
Feeling overwhelmed
Sense of loneliness and isolation
Depression
Behavioural symptoms:
Eating more or less
Sleeping too much or too little
Isolating yourself from others
Procrastination, neglecting responsibilities
Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to relax
Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)
Teeth grinding or jaw clenching
Overdoing activities (e.g. exercising, shopping)
Overreacting
Causes of stress:
Environmental stressors – Your physical surroundings can set off the stress response. Examples of environmental stressors include an unsafe neighborhood, pollution, noise (sirens keeping you up at night, a barking dog next door), and uncomfortable living conditions. For people living in crime-ridden areas or war-torn regions, the stress may be unrelenting.
Family and relationship stressors – Problems with friends, romantic partners, and family members are common daily stressors. Marital disagreements, dysfunctional relationships, rebellious teens, or caring for a chronically-ill family member or a child with special needs can all send stress levels skyrocketing.
Work stressors – In our career-driven society, work can be an ever-present source of stress. Work stress is caused by things such as job dissatisfaction, an exhausting workload, insufficient pay, office politics, and conflicts with your boss or co-workers.Social stressors – Your social situation can cause stress. For example, poverty, financial pressures, racial and sexual discrimination or harassment, unemployment, isolation, and a lack of social support all take a toll on daily quality of life.

Managing stress at the workplace
To combat stress, unhealthy ‘quick fixes’ like alcohol, or cigarettes, or sweet, fatty foods must be avoided. We feel we don’t have the time to relax with friends, take a walk or step back and see the problems from another point of view. Some try to lead a healthy lifestyle, however, with stress this can be hard to keep up. For example if you have had a hard and long day at work it can be difficult to motivate yourself to exercise or to cook a healthy meal. A cycle starts with less exercise and ready-prepared meals because of lethargy, or feeling pressed for time. It is important to break this cycle and find ways of managing stress levels. Identify the sources of stress, then if possible have a break away from the source, for example if you are having trouble managing your workload, arrange to go on a time management course. The situation causing our stress may not be in an individual’s control to change but steps to try and manage it effectively really helps. Simply acknowledging to yourself and someone else you aren’t coping is half the battle. Positive steps to manage your working day will feel like a breath of fresh air. If an employee or partner comes to you asking for help be sure to take them seriously and take immediate steps to take action. Source support through information channels – for example, talking to a colleague or friend about workplace stress, and make stress alleviation readily available for staff.

Coping with Stress
The best way to cope with stress is to make changes to lifestyle:
Take more exercise
Eat a balanced diet rich in fruit and vegetables
Drink plenty of water
Cut down on alcohol intake, eliminate smoking and drugs
Take time out to relax completely: listen to music, read, watch tv, have a night-out with friends or even something very simple like taking a warm bath.
Laugh more. Do things that make you laugh, it’s proven to release feel good hormones.
Take More Exercise
Being active will reduce the ill effects of stress.
Change your lifestyle routine to be more active so exercise fits easily into your routine.
If pressured by time or deadlines, short, frequent breaks of activity throughout the day will work best.
Ways to bring natural activity into everyday routines:
Take stairs not lift or escalator.
Walk to work, shops, park, wherever possible, instead of driving.
Light gardening on weekendsMake family time more active, e.g. swimming instead of a movie, mini golf instead of games arcade.
Take up a low impact, fun sport. Bowling, croquet, gem fossicking.
Other ideas include:
10-minute walk before or after work allows you to establish priorities for the day or week ahead
Short breaks of activity throughout the day: move away from the work area and stand tall, stretch or walk
Walk at lunch every day for a productive afternoon. The mind works well when the body is moving and solutions can seem clearer
Make time to move and stretch when sitting, standing, driving or working
Try a new skill, hobby or activity