CHAPTER 1.

Personality and Emotions

PERSONALITY
Meaning and Definition of Personality
The term personality has been derived from Latin word personare, which means to speak through. Thus personality is used in terms of influencing others through external appearance. Sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others. Personality is an internalized system which includes all those aspects of a person that are inherited as well as those that are learned. These two internal aspects are interdependent and cannot be isolated. According to Gordon Allport, Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment. According to Ruch, Personality should include: i) External appearance and behavior or social stimulus value; ii) Inner awareness of self as a permanent organizing force; and iii) The particular pattern or organization of measurable traits, both inner and outer. According to Schiffman & Kanuk, Personality can be defined as those inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment.
Source Genetic determinants Prenatal determinants Experiential determinants External determinants Traits Development of stable personality characteristics Behavior Outcome Behavior dictated by internalized system

Personality and Behavior

Nature of Personality
Personality has some basic characteristics which are observed in the behavior of employees. They are distinctive traits of personality, individual differences, consistent traits and attributes, and perceptual process and modification. 1) Personality Traits: Personality is the sum of different traits of a person. Personality is not known by a single trait. It is a composition of physical appearance, emotional attributes, sociability, objectivity, friendliness, thoughtfulness and so on. Personality is characterized by major trait dimensions such as restraint, emotional stability, objectivity, friendliness, personal relations and masculinity versus enimity, thoughtfulness, sociability, general activity, ascendance, authoritarian, growth-oriented, mathematical, critical, satisfying and so on. 2) Personality Reflects Individual Differences: Because the inner characteristics that constitute an individuals personality are a unique combination of factors, no two individuals are exactly alike. Nevertheless, many individuals tend to be similar in terms of a single personality characteristic. For instance, many people can be described as high in sociability (the degree of interest they display in social or group activities), while others can be described as low in sociability. Personality is a useful concept because it enables us to categorize consumers into different groups on the basis of a single trait or a few traits. 3) Personality is Consistent and Enduring: An individuals personality is commonly thought to be both consistent and enduring.

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The stable nature of personality suggests that it is unreasonable for marketers to attempt to change consumers personalities to conform to certain products. At best, they may learn which personality characteristics influence specific consumer responses and attempt to appeal to relevant traits inherent in their target group of consumer. Even though an individuals personality may be consistent, consumption behavior often varies considerable because of psychological, socio-cultural and environmental factors that affect behavior. 4) Personality Can Change: Although personality tends to be consistent and enduring, it may still change under certain circumstances. For instance, an individuals personality may be altered by major life events, such as the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a major career promotion.

Significance of Personality
Personality factors are extremely important in organizational settings. Often the wrong' kind of personality causes undesirable tensions and worries in organizations. The costs of such tensions and worries are enormous when we interpret them from the point of view of employee-employer relations, peer relations and superior-subordinate relations. Sometimes, personality difficulties are the root cause of strikes, and often lead to turnover and job dissatisfaction. A consideration of personality differences of focal persons is important for at least three reasons: 1) Some people arouse hostility and aggression in their associates while others invoke sympathy and supportive responses because of their personality features. Likewise, some people encourage while others discourage free and open communication in view of their personality traits as perceived by their subordinates and associates. 2) Personality characteristics tend to produce differential emotional reactions to stress. Some people tolerate severely stressful situations while others are overwhelmed with tensions and anxieties under similar circumstances. 3) Individual personalities lead to individual differences in styles of coping with stress. When exposed to tension-producing situations, some people tend to be problem oriented, that is, to deal with the objective situations in order to eliminate their stressful characteristics. Others happen to deal with the emotional experiences, which the stress arouses in them, rather than with the determinants of experience. Still others tend to deal with derivative problems, which may be created by their efforts, to cope with the stress. They may happen to project hostility on to others and thus, make easier guilt-free aggression against them. The dangers inherent in such a hostile counter-attack are obvious.

Determinants of Personality
1) Biological Factors: Biological characteristics of human biological system influence the way in which human being tends to sense external event data, interpret, and respond to them. i) Heredity: Is the transmission of the qualities from ancestor to descendant through a mechanism lying primarily in the chromosomes of the germ cells. Heredity predisposes to certain physical, mental, and emotional states. It has been established through research on animals that physical and psychological characteristics can be transmitted through heredity. Such a conclusive proof is not available for human beings. Heredity plays an important role in personality. Brain: It is the second factor, which is supposed to play role in personality. The structure of brain determines personality though role of brain in personality formation.

ii)

iii) Physical Features: Third factor of determining personality foundation is physical characteristics and rate of maturation. A persons physical features have some influence on his personality because it will affect influence on others and, in turn, will affect his self-concept. The rate of maturation also affects personality because persons of varying maturity are exposed to different physical and social situations Personality and activities differently.

Biological factors Heredity Brain Physical features

Cultural factors

Family and social factors

Situational factor

Other factors Temperament Interest Character Schema Motives

Home environment Family members Social groups Figure: Determinants of Personality

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2) Cultural Factors: Culture is traditionally considered as the major determined of an individuals personality. The culture largely determines what a person is and what a person will learn. The culture within which a person is brought up is very important determinant of behavior of a person. It generally determines attitudes towards independence, aggression, competition, and co-operation. Each culture expects and trains its members to behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group. Despite the importance of cultural contribution to the personality, a linear relationship cannot be established between personality and a given culture. One problem stems from the existence of numerous subcultures within a given culture. Thus workers are not influenced by the same culture as managers are. 3) Family and Social Factor: The development of the individual proceeds under the influence of many socializing forces and agencies, from nuclear family to more distant or global groupings. In order to understand the effects of a family on individuals personality, we have to understand the socialization process and identification process. i) Socialization Process: The contribution of family and social group in combination with the culture is known as socialization. Socialization initially starts with the contact with mother and later on the other members of the family (father, sisters, and close relatives) and the social group play influential role in shaping an individuals personality. Identification Process: Identification starts when a person begins to identify himself with some other members of the family. Normally a child tries to emulate certain actions of his parents.

ii)

Socialization and identification process is influenced by home environment, family members, and social groups. a) Home Environment: Total home environment is a critical factor in personality development. For example, children with markedly institutional upbringing or children in a cold, unstimulating home have a much greater potential to be emotionally maladjusted than children raised by parents in a warm, loving, and stimulating environment. The key variable is not the parents per se but rather the type of environment that is generated for the child. b) Family Members: Parents and other family members have strong influence on the personality development of the child. The study by Newcomb showed the high correlation between attitudes of parents and children with a further consistency in patterns. The relationship between parents and children was higher than that between the children and their teachers. Besides parents, siblings (brothers and sisters) also contribute to personality. c) Social Groups: Besides a persons home environment and family members, there are other influences arising from the social placement of the family as the person is exposed to agencies outside the home, particularly the school, friendship, and other work groups. Similarly, socio-economic factors also affect personality development. 4) Situational Factors: An individuals personality may change in different situations. The demands of different situations may call for different aspects of ones personality. Therefore, we should not look at the personality factor in isolation. Although certain generalizations can be made about personality, there exist significant individual differences which are further influenced by situational factors. The relationship of the above factors affects the formation and development of personality. Physiological inheritance is entirely an internal contribution. Group and the culture are the early environmental factors that influence later behavior. Family and the social setting during early stages of education are the important factors which influence the initial formation of personality. Whatever the child learns lasts for life time. Later in life, it is the peer groups of primary affiliations at work, social activities, etc. which shape the personality of an individual. 5) Other Factors i) Temperament: Temperament and other non-intellectual personality traits are distributed according to the normal distribution. Temperament is the degree to which one responds emotionally. ii) Interest: The individual normally has many interests in various areas. The top executives in any organization do not have interests in common. The organization should provide opportunities like job rotation and special training programme to satisfy the interests of executives.

iii) Character: Character primarily means honesty. It is resistance to stealing and cheating others. Character is a very important requirement for responsible jobs. It is likely that an individual may not steal under normal circumstances. The situation needs to be considered to verify this part of the character of the individual.

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iv) Schema: It is an individual's belief, frame of reference, perception, and attitude which the individual possesses towards the management, the job, working conditions, pay, fringe benefits, incentive system, and development programmes in the organization. It depends upon the individuals belief towards religion, government and the satisfaction derived from environment and cultural influences of his community. v) Motives: Motives are the inner drives of the individual. They represent goal directed behavior of the individual. A motive is a cognitive factor which operates in determining ones behavior towards a goal. Individuals differ in variables which determine the inner drives. The behavior of an individual to accomplish the goal varies because of his inner drives.

Personality Types
1) Sensing Managers take in information through their senses and attend to the details of the problem. They like to solve problems in standard ways. They are patient with routine details and are precise in their work. They distrust creative inspirations and usually work all the way through to reach conclusions. They emphasize action, urgency, and bottom-line results. 2) Intuitive Managers like solving new problems and are impatient with routine details. They perceive the problem in its totality and consider several alternatives simultaneously. They are imaginative and futuristic, enjoying mind-testing games. 3) Feeling Managers heavily emphasize the human aspects in dealing with organizational problems and is more process oriented. They enjoy pleasing people and avoid conflicts. 4) Thinking Managers are logical and analytical in their problem solving and search for additional information in a logical manner. 5) Intuitive Thinkers (NT) is the architects of progress and ideas. They are interested in the principles on which the organization is built and seek answers to the whys of events. They have enormous drive and are creative. If organizations do not have some NTs, change will be minimal. 6) Sensation Feelers (SF) deal with concrete problems in a methodical way. They have astute powers of observation regarding the details of how an organization is run. SFs do not fight the system, but use what is available for problem solving. SFs are non-judgmental of their co-workers and do not look for underlying motives and meanings in peoples behavior. If organizations do not have SFs, small problems will go unattended till they become big. 7) Sensation Thinkers (ST) are decisive and excellent at decisions involving precise interpretations of facts and figures. They are persevering and precise. They want the organization run on an impersonal basis. They are hard working and super dependable. Organizations run efficiently because of such managers. 8) Intuitive Feelers (NF) have personal charisma and commitment to the people they lead. They communicate their caring and enthusiasm. They are comfortable in an unstructured, group-centered management system that lets employees participate in the decision-making process. Without NFs an organization will become cold, sterile and dull.

Theories of Personality
1) Freudian Theory/Psychoanalytical Theory: Freud, the father of psychoanalytic theory, proposed that every individuals personality is the product of a struggle among three interacting forcesthe id, the ego, and the superego. i) ID: The id is the source of strong inborn drives and urges such as aggression and sex. The id operates on what is called the pleasure principle, that is, it acts to avoid tension and seeks immediate pleasure. However, it tends to operate at a very subjective and unconscious level and is not fully capable of dealing with objective reality. Also, many of its impulses are not acceptable to the values of organized society. For example, when an individual is hot and thirsty his id would urge him to grab something cold to drink. There would be no concern about how the drink was acquired or whether it belonged to someone else.

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ii)

EGO: The ego comes into being because of the limitations of the id in dealing with the real world. Through learning and experience, the ego develops the individuals capabilities of realistic thinking and ability to deal appropriately with his environment. It operates on what is called the reality principle, which is capable of postponing the release of tension until that time when it will be effectively directed at coping ID EGO System 1 System 3 with the external environment. To Gratification illustrate, although the hungry individuals id would encourage him to just take food away from his friend, the ego might reason that asking for the SUPER food may take longer but may also EGO result in getting a greater portion. System 2 Because it serves in this way as the organized focal point for effective action in the environment, the ego is said to Interrelationships among the Id, Ego and Superego be the executive of the personality.

iii) Super ego: The super ego represents societal and personal norms and serves as an ethical constraint on behavior. It can best be described as the conscience. The super ego provides norms to ego to determine what is wrong or right. However, a person is not aware of the working of the super ego, and conscience is developed by absorption of cultural values and norms of the society. Freud theorized that there are four universal stages of psycho-sexual development which are decisive in the formation of personality. These stages are: oral, anal, phallic and genital. The first three stages of development extend from birth to five years and are called pregenital stages since the genital zones of the body have not attained a dominant role in personality development. 2) Jungian Personality Types: Carl Jung of Zurich was a contemporary and colleague of Freud. He had undertaken systematic investigations of the unconscious dynamics with the association test. He had given more attention to the question of personality type in the association test. Based on the typology of the personality, he had grouped them into two fundamental types. i) Extrovert ii) Introvert The Extrovert was very much interested in building a social relationship. While the introvert was found to be pre-occupied with his own inner world of fantasy and body activity and was relatively incapable of outgoing social interactions. This conception was further elaborated by going for a subdivision of the mental operation into four fundamental activities: a) Sensing b) Feeling c) Thinking d) Intuiting These four psychological functions of grouping personality are very often used for gathering and evaluating information. According to Jung, individuals are strong either in sensation or intuition while gathering information, and while evaluating the information they are strong either in thinking or feeling. Jungian Personality Type
Sensing Personality (S) Thinking (T) Feeling (F) Rational, logical, empirical, objective. Money-oriented efforts. Risk avoider, short-sighted. Empirical, personal values, subjectivity, considering other views, risk takers, status-conscious. Intuitive Personality (N) Broad viewer, imaginative, wider options, risk takers, long-sighted. Broad view of personal situation, peopleoriented, subjective, venturesome.

Carl Jungs theories and personality types are very relevant to consumer behavior. Marketers are benefited by using Myers-Briggs type Indicators that measures the following pairs of psychological dimensions: Sensing Intuiting. Thinking Feeling Extroversion Introversion. Judging Perceiving.

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Each of above four pairs show two distinct different personality characteristics which offers a picture of how consumers respond to the world around them. In order to avoid complexities with too many combinations of personality types, a consumer researcher suggested investigating consumption relevance with two pairs of dimensions. Sensing intuiting. Thinking feeling. As mentioned above sensation and intuiting will help consumers to obtain and find out about things and products. Whereas, the thinking and feeling dimensions can be related to the decision styles adopted by the consumers. Such psychological inventory indicators will help in learning about the four personality types impact on consumer information processing, their decision-making process and other consumption related issues that will enable marketers to satisfy consumer needs in a better manner. 3) Neo Freudian Personality Theory/Socio Psychological Theory: There were several Freuds colleagues who disagreed with his rigid adherence to consider only the basic biological or instinctive as determinants. According to these Neo-Freudians, social relationships played a vital role in the formation and development of personality. For instance, Alfred Adler viewed human beings as seeking to attain various rational goals, which he called style of life. He also placed much emphasis on the individuals efforts to overcome feelings of inferiority (i.e., to strive for superiority). Harry Stack Sullivan, another Neo-Freudian, stressed that people continuously attempt to establish significant and rewarding relationships with others. He was particularly concerned with the individuals efforts to reduce tensions, such as anxiety. Like Sullivan, Karen Horney was also interested in anxiety. She focused on the impact of child-parent relationships, especially the individuals desire to conquer feelings of anxiety. Horney proposed that individuals be classified into three personality groups: compliant, aggressive, and detached. i) Compliant individuals are those who move toward others (they desire to be loved, wanted, and appreciated). ii) Aggressive individuals are those who move against others (they desire to excel and win admiration). iii) Detached individuals are those who move away from others (they desire independence, self-reliance, self-sufficiency, and freedom from obligations). Although the Neo Freudians did not have influence in the field of marketing, many of the advertisements indicate that marketers have been using Neo Freudian theory intuitively. Ads depicting products or services which provide an opportunity to belong, be appreciated by others or social group setting are being portrayed as a compliant individuals. For example, advertisements of Close-up confidence, Rexona deodorant, Lifebuoy plus soap, Denim after shave, Old Spice deodorant, Godrej Hair Dye, etc. help in creating self confidence or in reducing anxiety. 4) Self Theory: The psychoanalytic, socio-psychological, and trait theories of personality represent the more traditional approaches to explaining the complex human personality. Self theory, also termed as organismic or field theory, emphasizes the totality and interrelatedness of all behaviors. This approach treats the organism as a whole to a greater degree than do any of the other theoretical formulations. Though there are many contributors, notably Maslow, Herzberg, Lewin, etc., the most important contribution comes from Carl Rogers. His self theory of personality is very relevant in organizational behavior. He defines the self concept as organized consistent, conceptual, gestalt composed of perceptions of the I or me and the perceptions of the relationships of the I or me to others and to various aspects of life, together with the values attached to these perceptions. There are four factors in self concept. i) Self-Image: The self-image is the way one sees oneself. Every person has certain beliefs about who or what he is; taken together, these beliefs are a persons self-image or identity. Erikson has defined identity as a life-long development largely unconscious to the individual and his society. Its roots go back all the way to the first self-recognition; in the babys earliest exchange of smiles, there is something of a self-realization coupled with a mutual recognition. Ideal-Self: The ideal-self denotes the way one would like to be. The ideal-self differs from self-image in the fact that the self-image indicates the reality of a person as perceived by him, while ideal-self indicates the ideal position as perceived by him. Thus, there may be a gap between these two characteristics. The ideal-self is important in stimulus selectivity because a person will select those stimuli for processing which fit in with the characteristics of his ideal-self.

ii)

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iii) Looking Glass-Self: The looking glass-self is the perception of a person about how others are perceiving his qualities and characteristics. This is the perception of others perception, that is, the way one thinks people perceive about him and not the way people actually see him. The looking glass-self is predominantly a social product which emerges from face-to-face interaction with others from the very beginning of the life. This interaction is directed towards cues about how others see him as an individual. Thus, beliefs about self are in large measure a reflection of others perception about the person. iv) Real-Self: The real-self is what one really is. The first three aspects of self-concept are the functions of individual perception and they may be same as real-self or different from it. An individuals selfimage is confirmed when other persons responses to him indicate their beliefs about who and what he corresponds with. In the face of feedback from the environment, the person re-evaluates himself and re-adjusts his self-image to be more consistent with the cues he was receiving. Thus, there is a mutual recognition of his real-self, and the validity of his self-image is confirmed. In analyzing organizational behavior, the self-concept plays a very significant role. A person perceives a situation depending upon his self-concept which has a direct influence on his behavior. This implies that person with different self-concept needs different types of managerial practices. 5) Trait Theory: A trait theory is defined as any distinguishing, relatively enduring way in which one individual differs from another. Accordingly, trait theorists are concerned with the construction of personality tests (or inventories) that pinpoint individual differences in terms of specific traits. Trait theorists advocated that personality tests will indicate the individual differences in terms of specific traits. Personality traits are enduring characteristics that describe and individuals behavior. The more consistent the characteristic and the more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important that trait is in describing the individual. Several attempts have been made to isolate personality traits and in this process, several thousands of traits have been pointed out. But it would better if the traits are confined to a manageable number to understand their impact. Cattell listed 171 personality traits, but concluded that they were superficial and lacking in descriptive power. What he sought was a reduced set of traits that would identify underlying patterns. The result was the identification of sixteen personality factors, which he called source or primary traits. The sixteen source traits have been presented in table below : Sixteen Primary Traits
i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) viii) ix) x) xi) xii) xiii) xiv) xv) xvi) Reserved Less intelligent Affected feelings Submissive Serious Expedient Timid Tough-minded Trusting Practical Forthright Self-assured Conservative Group dependent Uncontrolled Relaxed v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. v. Outgoing More intelligent Emotionally more stable Dominant Happy-go-lucky Conscientious Venturesome Sensitive Suspicious Imaginative Shrewd Apprehensive Experimenting Self-dependent Controlled Tense

Big Five Traits Model

The Big Five Personality Traits Model has attracted the attention of both researchers and managers. The potential value of this framework lies in the fact that it includes an integrated set of traits that appear to be valid predictors of certain behaviors at the workplace. According to Fred Luthans, Although the five traits are largely independent factors of a personality, like primary colors, they can be mixed in countless proportions and with other characteristics to yield a unique personality whole. However, also like colors, one may dominate in describing an individuals personality. It may also be noted that different people have these traits in varying degrees from high to low. The big five traits have been found to be related to job performance. The descriptive characteristics of these traits have been summarized as follows:

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The Big Five Personality Traits

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Core Traits Extroversion Agreeableness Conscientiousness Emotional stability Openness to experience Descriptive Characteristics of High Scorers Sociable, outgoing, talkative, assertive, gregarious. Cooperative, warm, caring, good-natured, courteous, trusting. Dependable, hardworking, organized, self-disciplined, persistent, responsible. Calm, secure, happy, unworried. Curious, intellectual, creative, cultured, artistically sensitive, flexible, imaginative.

1) Extroversion reflects a persons comfort level with relationships. Extroverts are sociable, talkative, assertive, and open to establishing new relationships; Introverts are less sociable, less talkative, less assertive, and more reluctant to begin relationships. 2) Agreeableness refers to a persons ability to get along with others. Highly agreeable people value harmony more than they value having their say or their way. They are co-operative and trusting of others. People who score low on agreeableness focus more on their own needs than the needs of others. 3) Conscientiousness refers to the number of goals that a person focuses on. A highly conscientious person focuses on relatively few goals at one time. He or she is likely to be organized, systematic, careful, thorough, responsible, self-disciplined, and achievement-oriented. A person with a low conscientious nature tends to focus on a higher number of goals at one time. Consequently, the individual is more disorganized, careless, and irresponsible, as well as less thorough and self-disciplined. 4) Emotional Stability focuses on an individual's ability to cope with stress. The individual with positive emotional stability tends to be calm, enthusiastic, and secure. A person with low emotional stability tends to be nervous, depressed, and insecure. 5) Openness addresses ones range of interests. Extremely open people are fascinated by novelty and innovation. They are willing to listen to new ideas and to change their own ideas, beliefs, and attitudes in response to new information. On the other hand, people with low levels of openness tend to be less receptive to new ideas and less willing to change their minds. They also tend to have fewer and narrow interests and be less curious and creative.

Personality Dimensions/Attributes Influencing Organizational Behavior

1) Locus of Control: It refers to an individuals belief that events are either within ones control (internal locus of control) or are determined by forces beyond ones control. The people who believe that they control their destinies are called internals, whereas those who see their lives is controlled by outside forces are labeled externals. It has been demonstrated that externals (those who believe that events are determined by external forces) are less satisfied with their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from work setting and are less involve in their jobs, than internals (those who believe that events are within ones control). Internals typically have more control over their own behavior, are more active in seeking information to make decisions, and are more active socially than externals. 2) Authoritarianism: It refers to a belief that there should be status and power differences among people in organizations. An individual with authoritarian personality believes in the legitimacy of formal authority, views obedience to authority as necessary, holds negative views about people and is intellectually rigid. Authoritarians tend to place high moral value on their beliefs, and are strongly oriented towards conformity to rules and regulations. They naturally prefer stable and structured work environments, which are governed by clean rules and procedures. 3) Machiavellianism: It represents the degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance and believes that ends can justify means. The term Machiavellians or Mach is named after Niccolo Machiavelli who wrote in the 16th century on how people gain and manipulate power. People with high Machiavellianism manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less and persuade others more than do people with low Machiavellianism. However, high-Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors. Generally, high-Mach flourish: i) When they interact face-to-face with others than indirectly; ii) When the situation is not structured or has a minimum of rules and regulations, thus allowing latitude for improvisation; and iii) Where emotional involvement with details irrelevant to winning distracts low-Machs.

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4) Introversion and Extroversion: These terms are generally associated with an individuals sociability and interpersonal orientation. Extroverts are gregarious and sociable individuals while introverts are shy, quiet and retiring. It has been observed that introverts and extroverts have significantly different career orientations and require different organizational environments to maximize performance. Extroverts are more suitable for positions that require considerable interaction with others, whereas introverts are more inclined to excel at tasks that require thought and analytical skills. 5) Bureaucratic Personality: A bureaucratic person differs from an authoritarian person in that his respect for authority is not total and blind, but is based upon respect for organizational rules and regulations. A bureaucratic person values subordination, rules, conformity, orderly processes in the organization, and impersonal and formal relationships. They are generally not innovative, do not take risks and are at ease in following established directives. Bureaucratic managers are better supervisors in types of work that are routine, repetitive and procedures. 6) Problem Solving Style: Individuals have their own style of making decisions and this style reflects their personality in certain ways. Some people are very thorough, meticulous and detail oriented. Others are impulsive and are easily swayed by what seems to be obvious. The problem solving style has two dimensions. One is the information gathering that involves getting and organizing data and the second dimension is the evaluation of such data and making decisions. Further, there are two styles involved in information gathering. One style is known as sensation. Sensation oriented people prefer routine and order, structured situations, and put emphasis on precise and well-defined details. The second style known as intuitive style, involves individuals who dislike routine, dislike repetition and prefer new problems. When the two dimensions of information gathering and the two dimensions of evaluation are combined, it results in four problem solving styles. These are: i) Sensation-Feeling Style: These people are dependable, friendly, and social and approach facts with human concern. They are pragmatic, methodical and like jobs that involve human contact and public relations. Some suitable areas of jobs include teaching, customer relations, social workers, and sales people. ii) Sensation-Thinking Style: They are practical, logical, decisive, and sensitive to details and prefer bureaucratic type organizations. They are not highly skilled in interpersonal relations and are more suited to such technical jobs as those of production, accounting, engineering and computer programming.

iii) Intuition-Feeling Style: These people are enthusiastic, people oriented, charismatic and helpful. Some of the professions suitable for this style are public relations, advertising, politics and personnel. iv) Intuition-Thinking Style: These people are creative, energetic, ingenious, and like jobs that are challenging in terms of design and analysis such as system design, law, research and development, top management and so on. 7) Type A and B: People who are impatient, aggressive and highly competitive are termed as Type A personality. But those who are easy going, laid-back and non-competitive are termed as Type B personality. Type A people tend to be very productive as they work very hard. The negative side of them is that they are impatient, not good team players, more irritable and have poor judgment. Type B people do better on complex tasks involving judgment and accuracy rather than speed and hard work. The profiles of both types of personality have been shown in table below.

Profiles of Type A and Type B Personalities

1) 2) Type As Are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly; Feel impatient with the rate at which most events take place; Strive to think or do two or more things at once; Cannot cope with leisure time; Are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire. Type Bs Never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience; Feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments unless such exposure is demanded by the situation; Play for fun and relaxation rather than to exhibit their superiority at any cost; Can relax without guilt.

3) 4) 5)

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Emotion
Meaning of Emotion
Emotions are intense feelings that are directed at someone or something. Emotion has been a major variable in psychology, but not organizational behavior, over the years. Similar to other psychological constructs, the exact definition and meaning of emotion is not totally agreed upon. However, most psychologists would agree that the best one word to describe emotion would be how a person feels about something. These emotional feelings are directed at someone or something, are not as broad as the term affect and are more intense and specific than the term mood. The specific differences between emotion, affect, and mood are summarized as follows: Emotions are reactions to an object, not a trait. They are object specific. You show your emotions when you are happy about something, angry at someone, afraid of something. Moods, on the other hand, are not directed at an object. Emotions can turn into moods when you lose focus on the contextual object. So when a work colleague criticizes you for the way you spoke to a client, you might become angry at him (emotion). But later in the day, you might find yourself just generally dispirited. This affective state describes a mood. Affect is a more general term and can refer to either mood or emotions.

Types of Emotions
Like the meaning of emotion, there is also not total agreement on the primary types of emotions. Table below summarizes the primary emotions and their descriptors most often mentioned in the psychology literature.

Types of Emotions
Positive Primary Emotions Love/affection Happiness/joy Surprise Negative Primary Emotions Fear Sadness Anger Disgust Shame Other Descriptors Acceptance, adoration, longing, devotion, infatuation Cheerfulness, contentment, bliss, delight, amusement, enjoyment, enthrallment, thrill, euphoria, zest Amazement, wonder, astonishment, shock Other Descriptors Anxiety, alarm, apprehension, concern, qualm, dread, fright, terror Grief, disappointment, sorrow, gloom, despair, suffering, dejection Outrage, exasperation, wrath, indignation, hostility, irritability Contempt, disdain, abhorrence, revulsion, distaste Guilt, remorse, regret, embarrassment, humiliation

Some Aspects of Emotions

There are some fundamental aspects of emotions that we need to consider. These aspects include the biology of emotions, the intensity of emotions, their frequency and duration, the relationship between rationality and emotions, and the functions of emotions. Lets deal with each of these aspects in turn. 1) Biology of Emotions: All emotions originate in the brains limbic system, which is about the size of a walnut and near our brain stem. People tend to be happiest (report more positive than negative emotions) when their limbic system is relatively inactive. When the limbic system heats up, negative emotions such as anger and guilt dominate over positive ones such as joy and happiness. Overall, the limbic system provides a lens through which you interpret events. When its active, you see things in a negative light. When its inactive, you interpret information more positively. 2) Intensity: People give different responses to identical emotion-provoking stimuli. In some cases, personality is responsible for the difference. Other times, its a result of the job requirements. People vary in their inherent ability to express emotional intensity. You may know people who almost never show their feelings. They rarely get angry. They never show rage. In contrast, you probably also know people who seem to be on an emotional roller coaster. When theyre happy, theyre ecstatic. When theyre sad, theyre deeply depressed. Jobs make different demands on our emotions. For instance, air traffic controllers, surgeons, and trial judges are expected to be calm and controlled, even in stressful situations. Conversely, the effectiveness of television evangelists, public-address announcers at sporting events, and lawyers can depend on their ability to alter their emotional intensity as the need arises. 3) Frequency and Duration: Whether an employee can successfully meet the emotional demands of a given job depends not only on what emotions need to be displayed and their intensity but also on how frequently and for how long they need to make the effort.

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Determinants of Emotions
1) Personality: Personality predisposes people to experience certain moods and emotions. For example, some people feel guilt and anger more readily than others do. Others may feel calm and relaxed no matter the situation. In other words, moods and emotions have a trait component to themmost people have builtin tendencies to experience certain moods and emotions more frequently than others do. While most people might feel slightly sad at one movie or be mildly amused at another, someone high on affect intensity would cry like a baby at a sad movie and laugh uncontrollably at a comedy. We might describe such people as emotional or intense. So, emotions differs in their intensity, but people also differ in how predisposed they are to experience emotions intensely. If a person gets really mad at a coworker, he would be experiencing an emotion intensely. But if that person gets mad, or excited, really easily, then he would be high on the personality trait of affect intensity. Also, positive events are more likely to affect the positive mood and positive emotions of extroverts and negative events are more likely to influence the negative mood and negative emotions of those scoring low on emotional stability. 2) Day of the Week and Time of the Day: Most people are at work or school Monday through Friday. For most of us, that means the weekend is a time of relaxation and leisure. Does that suggest that people are in their best moods on the weekends? Well, actually, yes, people tend to be in their worst moods (highest negative affect and lowest positive affect) early in the week and in their best moods (highest positive affect and lowest negative affect) late in the week. What about time of the day? When are you usually in your best mood? Your worst? We often think that people differ, depending on whether they are morning or evening people. However, the vast majority of us follow a similar pattern. People are generally in lower spirits early in the morning. During the course of the day, our moods tend to improve and then decline in the evening. What does this mean for organizational behavior? Asking someone for a favor, or conveying bad news, is probably not a good idea on Monday morning. Our workplace interactions will probably be more positive from mid-morning onward, and also later in the week. It does seem that people who describe themselves as morning people are more alert early in the morning. However, these morning people experience only slightly better moods (more positive affect) in the morning compared to those who describe themselves as evening people (and vice-versa). 3) Weather: When do you think you would be in a better mood? When its 70 degrees and sunny or when its a gloomy, cold, rainy day? Many people believe their mood is tied to the weather. However, evidence suggests that weather has little effect on mood. Illusory correlation explains why people tend to think that nice weather improves their mood. Illusory correlation occurs when people associate two events but in reality there is no connection. People often associate things as causal when in fact theres no true relationship. That appears to be the case with weather and moods. 4) Stress: As you might imagine, stress affects emotion and moods. For example, students have higher levels of fear before an exam, but their fear dissipates once the exam is over. At work, stressful daily events (a nasty email, an impending deadline, the loss of a big sale, being reprimanded by your boss, and so on) negatively affect employees moods. Also, the effects of stress build over time. 5) Social Activities: Do you tend to be happiest when you are at a barbeque with friends or out to dinner to celebrate a family members birthday? For most people, social activities increase positive mood and have little effect on negative mood. But do people in positive moods seek out social interactions, or do social interactions cause people to be in good moods? It seems that both are true. And, does the type of social activity matter? Indeed it does. Research suggests that physical (skiing or hiking with friends), informal (going to a party), or Epicurean (eating with others) activities are more strongly associated with increase in positive mood than formal (attending a meeting) or sedentary (watching TV with friends) events. 6) Exercise: You often hear that people should exercise to improve their mood. But does sweat therapy really work? It appears so. Research consistently shows that exercise enhances peoples positive mood. It appears that the therapeutic effects of exercise are strongest for those who are depressed. Although the effects of exercise on moods are consistent, they are not terribly strong. So, exercise may help put you in a better mood, but dont expect miracles.

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Thakurs MBA First Semester HB (Organizational Behavior)

7) Age: Do you think that young people experience more extreme, positive emotions (so-called youthful exuberance) than older people do? If you answered yes, you were wrong. One study of people aged 18-94 years revealed negative emotions seem to occur less as people get older. Periods of highly positive moods lasted longer for older individuals and bad moods faded more quickly. The study implies that emotional experience tends to improve with age so that as we get older, we experience fewer negative emotions. 8) Gender: The common belief is that women are more in touch with their feelings than men are that they react more emotionally and are better able to read emotions in others. Is there any truth to these assumptions? The evidence does confirm differences between men and women when it comes to emotional reactions and the ability to read others. In contrasting the genders, women show greater emotional expression than men; they experience emotions more intensely; and they display more frequent expressions of both positive and negative emotions, except anger. In contrast to men, women also report more comfort in expressing emotions. Finally, women are better at reading nonverbal and paralinguistic cues than are men.

Constraints on Emotions
An emotion that is acceptable on the athletic playing field may be totally unacceptable when exhibited at the workplace. Similarly, whats appropriate in one country is often inappropriate in another. These two factors play a role in determining what emotions we will display. Every organization defines boundaries that identify which emotions are acceptable and the degree to which employees may express them. Cultures set boundaries, too. Now, we look at organizational and cultural influences on emotions. 1) Organizational Influences: If you cant smile and appear happy, youre unlikely to have much of a career working at a Disney amusement park. And a manual produced by McDonalds states that its counter personnel must display traits such as sincerity, enthusiasm, confidence, and a sense of humor. There is no single emotional set that all organizations worldwide seek in their employees. However, in the United States, the evidence indicates that theres a bias against negative and intense emotions. Expressions of negative emotions such as fear, anxiety, and anger tend to be unacceptable except under fairly specific conditions. For instance, one such condition might be a high-status member of a group conveying impatience with a low-status member. Moreover, expressions of intense emotion, whether negative or positive, tend to be unacceptable because management regards them as undermining routine task performance. Again, there are instances when such expressions are acceptablefor example, a brief grieving over the sudden death of companys CEO or the celebration of a record year of profits. But for the most part, the climate in well-managed American organizations is one that strives to be emotion-free. 2) Cultural Influences: Does the degree to which people experience emotions vary across cultures? Do peoples interpretations of emotions vary across cultures? Finally, do the norms for the expression of emotions differ across cultures? Lets tackle each of these questions. Does the degree to which people experience emotions vary across cultures? Yes. In China, for example, people report that they experience fewer positive and negative emotions than those in other cultures, and whatever emotions they do experience are less intense than what other cultures report. Compared to Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese are more like Americans in their experience of emotions; on average Taiwanese report more positive and fewer negative emotions than their Chinese counterparts. In general, people in most cultures appear to experience certain positive and negative emotions, but the frequency of their experience and their intensity does vary to some degree. Do peoples interpretations of emotions vary across cultures? In general, people from all over the world interpret negative and positive emotions the same way. We all view negative emotions, such as hate, terror, and rage, as dangerous and destructive. And we all desire positive emotionssuch as joy, love, and happiness. However, some cultures value certain emotions more than others. For example, Americans value enthusiasm while Chinese consider negative emotions to be more useful and constructive than do Americans. In general, pride is seen as a positive emotion in Western, individualistic cultures such as the United States, but Eastern cultures such as China and Japan tend to view pride as undesirable. Do the norms for the expression of emotions differ across cultures? Absolutely. For example, in Venezuela (a highly collectivistic culture), someone seeing an angry expression on a friends face would think that the friend is mad at her, but in America (a very individualistic culture), a person would generally not attribute an angry friends expression to something she had done. In general, its easier for people to accurately recognize emotions within their own culture than in those of other cultures. For example, a Chinese businessperson is more likely to accurately label the emotions underlying the facial expressions of a fellow Chinese colleague than those of an American colleague.

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Above discussion illustrates the need to consider cultural factors as influencing what managers consider emotionally appropriate. Whats acceptable in one culture may seem extremely unusual or even dysfunctional in another. Managers need to know the emotional norms in each culture they do business in so they dont send unintended signals or misread the reactions of locals. For example, an American manager in Japan should know that while Americans tend to view smiling positively, Japanese are apt to attribute frequent smiling to a lack of intelligence.

Theories of Emotion
Theories of emotion explain the relation between stimulus, physiological arousal, and emotion. Do we feel an emotion because we have a physiological change, or we have a physiological change because we feel an emotion? For example, I am breathing hard because I feel afraid (Stimulus Conscious feeling Autonomic arousal), or I feel afraid because I realize I am breathing hard (Stimulus Autonomic arousal Conscious feeling). These theories of emotion differ depending on the relationship of physiological change and cognitive interpretation of emotion. What causes the emotion in each theory? 1) James-Lange Theory: This is the oldest theory. It was proposed in 1984 and combined the ideas of William James and Danish physiologist Carl Lange, who largely independently arrived at the same conclusion. We have experiences, and as a result, our autonomic nervous system creates physiological events such as muscular tension, heart rate increases, perspiration, dryness of the mouth, etc. This theory proposes that emotions happen as a result of these, rather than being the cause of them. The sequence, thus, is as follows: Event Arousal Interpretation Emotion William James described it thus: My theory is that the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion. Common sense says, we lose our fortune, are sorry and weep; we meet a bear, are frightened and run; we are insulted by a rival, and angry and strike. The hypothesis here to be defended says that this order of sequence is incorrect and that the more rational statement is that we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble. Without the bodily states following on the perception, the latter would be purely cognitive in form, pale, colorless, destitute of emotional warmth. We might then see the bear, and judge it best to run, receive the insult and deem it right to strike, but we should not actually feel afraid or angry. Lange particularly added that vasomotor changes are the emotions. Although it is an old theory, it has significant implications for management of emotions. And in a way, it is the basis of behavior modification approach. For example, if we want to make a person more democratic, we must help him to consult others when taking decisions; after sometime the person may begin to enjoy consulting others. Goleman has given an example of managing anger by changing behavior. 2) Cannon-Bard Theory: This theory is also quite old. According to this theory people feel emotions first, and then act upon them. When a stimulating event happens, we feel emotions and physiological changes (such as muscular tension, sweating, etc.) at the same time. The sequence thus is as follows: Event Simultaneous arousal and emotion In neurobiological terms, the thalamus receives a signal and relays this both to the amygdale (a part of brain), which is connected with emotion. The body then gets signals via the autonomic nervous system to tense muscles, etc. This was a refutation of the James-Lange Theory (which proposed that emotions followed arousal) by Cannon and Bard in the late 1920s. For example, I see a bear. I feel afraid. I tense in readiness to run away. 3) Two-Factor Theory: This theory has been proposed by Schachter and Singer. According to this theory the first step is to experience physiological arousal. When trying to understand what kind of person we are, we first watch what we do and feel and then deduce our nature from this. This means that the first step is to experience physiological arousal. We then try to find a label to explain our feelings, usually by looking at what we are doing and what else is happening at the time of the arousal. Thus, we dont just feel angry, happy or whatever; we experience feeling and then decide what they mean. The sequence thus is as follows: Event Arousal Reasoning Emotion This is notable as it places emotion as a cognitive act (albeit subconscious) rather than a deeper state (this is the place of arousal).