Understanding Individuals & Groups

BY JAYANT ISAAC

AUTHOR I ACADEMICIAN I SPEAKER

CONTACT NO-9229156307EMAIL: JAYANTISAAC@YAHOO.COM

Personality• The term ‘Personality' has been derived from

the Latin term ‘Persona' which means to 'speak through'.

• Therefore a very common meaning of the term personality is the role which the person (actor) displays to the public.

Definitions of Personality 1. According to Gordon Allport:- "Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of

those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.

2. According to Floyd L. Ruch:-"Personality includes external appearance and behaviour, inner awareness of self as a permanent organizing force and the particular pattern or organization of measurable traits, both inner and outer.

Values & Attitudes in Personality• Perception: A process by which people organize, interpret,

experience and process materials received from the external environment.

• Values: Individual’s standards or ideas about what a person , object, event or activity ought to be .

• Attitudes: Individuals feelings about or inclinations towards other persons ,objects , events or activities.

AttitudesValues

PerceptionWrong Right

Personality

Stages of Personality Development

Freudian Stages• According to Freud who first formulated a

meaningful stage theory of personality develops as a result of interaction of four(4) main sources of stress. These are:– Physical growth process– Frustration– Conflicts – Threats

• These sources affect differently at each stage of the life of a person and these stages can be classified into five(5) categories:

1. Oral Stage: ( Birth to 18 Months of age)- Separation of Ego from id.

2. Anal Stage: ( From 18 Months to 3 Years of age)-Ego starts developing from this stage.

3. Phallic Stage: ( From 3 Years to 7 Years of age)4. Latency Stage: ( From 7 Years to 12 Years of age)5. Genital Stage: ( From 12 Years to 20 Years of age)

• Freud Believes that these stages are the main driving forces of personality development and also over emphasis of sexual instincts as determinants of personality development.

Neo-Freudian Stages Erikson’s psychological stages

• While formulating his stage theory of personality , Erikson has felt that relatively more attention should be given to the psychological factors rather than the sexual adaptations of the individuals.

• Based on this theme he has identified eight psychological stages of personality development.

• Each stage covers a particular span of a person’s life and in each stage, a particular type of crisis is experienced .

Erikson’s psychological stagesSTAGE OF DEVELOPMENT AGE CRISIS

1.Oral Sensory Stage 0-1 Trust Vs mistrust2.Mascular and anal stage 1-2 Autonomy Vs doubt3.Locomotor genital stage 3-5 Initiative Vs guilt4.Latency stage 6- puberty Encouragement Vs Inferiority5.Puberty & Adolescence 12-19 Identity Vs confusion6.Early adulthood Early 20s Intimacy Vs isolation7.Young and middle adulthood Late 20s Generatively Vs Stagnation

8.Mature Adulthood 30s Integrity Vs despair.

Determinants of Personality

INDIVIDUAL PERSONALITY

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

SITUATIONAL FACTORS

FAMILY & GROUP FACTORS

CULTURAL FACTORS

1.Heredity2.Brain3.Physical Features

Situations that make a person to react in +ve or -ve

Attitude of a person towards independence, aggression, competition and cooperation in the organization

1.Home Environment2.Family Members3.Social Groups

Learning

• A relatively permanent change in behaviour (or behaviour tendency) that occurs as a result of a person’s interaction with the environment

How Learning OccursClassical Conditioning

Bell No Response

Unconditioned Stimulus(Food)

Unconditioned Response(Salivation)

DuringConditioning

Conditioned Stimulus(Bell)

Unconditioned Stimulus (Food)

Unconditioned Response (Salvation)

Conditioned Response(Salivation)

Conditioned Stimulus(Bell)

How many logs are there?

Perception

Perception

• Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world.

• Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relatively unprocessed result of stimulation of sensory receptors in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue or skin.

• Perception, on the other hand, better describes one‘s ultimate experience of the world and typically involves further processing of sensory input.

• In practice, sensation and perception are virtually impossible to separate, because they are part of one continuous process.

• The Perceptual Process

• Perception is a “sense-making ” process; people interpret their environment so that they can respond appropriately.

Perception

Stimulus Recognition Translation BehaviorAttention

Nature of perception• The following ideas clarify the nature of

perception: 1. Perception is the process by which an

individual gives meaning to the environment. 2. People‘s actions, emotions, thoughts and

feelings are triggered by their perceptions of their surroundings.

3. Perception is an almost automatic process and works in the same way within each individual.

Perceptual Distortion

Perception Distortion:-

In a given negotiation, the perceiver’s own needs, desires, motivation, and personal experiences may create a predisposition about others. This is cause for concern when it leads to biases and errors in perception and subsequent communication.

Jayant Isaac,Asso.Profesor –Mkt.,Sys.,& HRM

GROUP DYNAMICS

A team of students had four members called Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done. Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

- Graham Gibbs, “Learning in Teams”

nce upon a time...

Jayant Isaac,Asso.Profesor –Mkt.,Sys.,& HRM

What is a group?•Two or more freely interacting people (Interdependent -interact and influence each other)

•Mutually may not be accountable for achieving common goals

•Common Identity

•Collective Norms.

Jayant Isaac,Asso.Profesor –Mkt.,Sys.,& HRM

CONCEPT OF GROUP DYNAMICS• GROUP = Collection Of Two Or More Persons

• DYNAMICS = Greek Meaning “Force”

“So group dynamics is a social process by which people interact face to face in small groups”.

Group Dynamics• Leadership• Roles• Norms• Status• Size• Composition• Cohesiveness

1. Socio-emotional2. Instrumental( Influential)

Groups versus Teams• All teams are groups.

• Teams have task interdependence whereas some groups do not (e.g., group of employees enjoying lunch together).

• Teams have a positive synergy(2+2=5 EFFECT).

• Skills in teams are complementary.

Reason for the formation of Groups

WhatMakesPeople

Join Groups?

StatusSecurity

Power GoalAchievement

Self-Esteem Affiliation

Characteristics of Groups• Primary (families, friendship groups etc) & Secondary Groups(no face

to face interaction)

• Membership and reference groups

• Command (subordinates & superior relation) and task groups(employees work together to accomplish a specific task)

• In-groups (clustering of individuals) and out-groups (conglomerate outlook)

PRIMARY GROUPS• Traits

– Small– Personal orientation– Enduring (long lasting) – Frequent interaction– Face-to-face– Intimate – sense of belonging– emotional orientation: bond based on emotions – loyalty

• Primary relationships– First group experienced in life– Irreplaceable– Security

• Assistance of all kinds– Emotional to financialExample: the family.

SECONDARY GROUPS• Traits

– Large membership: larger than primary groups – Goal or activity orientation– impersonal and formal – Infrequent interaction– Secondary relationships– Weak emotional ties between persons– Short term

• Importance– Networking– Career goalsExamples: co-workers, political organizations

In-Groups and Out-Groups• In-group

– “group with which people identify and have a sense of belonging” – pronoun “WE”

• Out-group– “group that people do not identify with– pronoun “THEY”

– Loyalty to INGROUP– Opposition to OUTGROUPS

Reference Groups

• a standard to evaluate ourselves, normative function, comparative function

• In-groups can be secondary or primary groups, but in either case, they are always reference groups, real or imaginary .

Theories of Group Dynamics• Propinquity Theory• Homan’s Interaction Theory• Balance Theory• Exchange Theory

Propinquity Theory• The term Propinquity means nearness.• This theory states that an individual affiliate with one

another because of spatial or geographical proximity.• In organizational context ,individuals working

together tend to form a group with others more easily as compared to with individuals working relatively at a distance place.

• Here in this theory nearness is only a facilitating factor for group formation and not the reason for it.

Homan’s Interaction Theory• This theory is based on the activities, interactions and sentiments.

• All these elements are directly related to one another.

• Acc. To this theory “the more activities persons share, the more numerous will be their interaction and the stronger will be their shared activities and sentiments.

• This theory helps to understand the basic idea behind the group formation.

ACTIVITIES INTERACTIONS

SENTIMENTS

BALANCE THEORY• Provided by Newcomb, suggested similarity of attitudes

towards relevant objects and goals as the basics for group formation.

• Persons are attracted to one another on the basic of similar attitudes towards commonly relevant objects and goals .

• Once a relationship is formed, it strives to maintain a symmetrical balance between the attraction and common attitudes.

BALANCE THEORY OF GROUP FORMATION

INDIVIDUAL - A

C

INDIVIDUAL - B

SIMILAR ATTITUDES (TOWARDS AUTHORITY,WORK,LIFE STYLES,POLITICS,RELIGIONS ETC.)

EXCHANGE THEORY• In this theory the people involve in social exchange on

the basis of perceived reward-cost relationship in a particular relationship.

• This theory suggest that an individual will join(or will not join) on the basis of the outcomes of reward and cost.

• If the reward is equal to or more than cost, the individual will join the group, in reverse case ,(s)he will not join the group.

Types of groups in organization

FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUPS• In organizational setting, there may be two

types of groups which are classified on the basis of structuring.

• These are FORMAL & INFORMAL

• Extension of these are also referred as Formal & Informal Organizations.

FORMAL GROUPS• Formal groups are created and maintained to fill

specific needs or tasks which are related to the total organizational mission.

• Such groups may be either permanent in the form of top management group such as BOD, staff groups providing specialized service to the organization.

INFORMAL GROUPS• Informal groups are created in the organization

because of operation of social and psychological forces operating at the work place.

• Members create such groups for their own satisfaction and their working is not regulated by general framework of organizational rules and regulations

CHARACTERISTICS OF FORMAL ORGANIZATION• The formal organization is build on 4 pillars

1. Division of labor2. Scalar & Functional Processes3. Structure4. Span of Control

• Organization Structure is designed by the top management• Organization structure is based on the principles of division of labor

and efficiency in operations• Organization concentrates more on performance of jobs and not on

the individuals performing the jobs• The authority and responsibility assigned to each job have to be

adhered to by the job holders.• Coordination's among members and their control are well specified

through process ,procedures, rules etc.

Individual versus Group Decision Making

• Speed

• Clear Accountability

• Consistent Values

• Knowledge & Diversity

• High Quality Decisions

• Increased Acceptance

Individuals Groups

Group Structure and its Important Aspects • Group Structure refers to the pattern of

interrelationship that exists among the group members, and makes the group functioning orderly and predictable. Four important aspects of group‘s structure are: 1. Role2. Norms3. Status4. Group Cohesiveness

1. Role

• Role or the typical part played by an individual group member in accordance with the expectations of other members from him.

• Role expectations refer to the behaviours that are expected from the person playing the role.

• The person holding the role is known as the role incumbent.

• Role ambiguity takes place when the person holding the role feels confused and does not know what is being expected from him.

2.Norms• Norms are the rules and mutual expectations that

develop within the group.

• This refers to the generally agreed upon rules that guide the group members behaviour.

• Norms have profound effect on members behaviour as it ensures conformity among them.

3. Status

• Status or the relative prestige or social position given to groups or individuals by others.

• People often join the core group or a renowned club because of the prestige associated with these groups.

4. Group Cohesiveness

• Group Cohesiveness referring to the strength of group members desires to remain a part of the group.

• This also refers to the degree of attraction of the group members for each other and the 'we-feeling' among the members.

• The degree of cohesiveness has been found to depend on external threats.

Group Decision Making

• Group decision making is a type of participatory process in which multiple individuals acting collectively, analyze problems or situations, consider and evaluate alternative courses of action, and select from among the alternatives a solution or solutions.

• The number of people involved in group decision-making varies greatly, but often ranges from two to seven.

• The individuals in a group may be demographically similar or quite diverse.

• Decision-making groups may be relatively informal in nature, or formally designated and charged with a specific goal. The process used to arrive at decisions may be unstructured or structured.

Methods of Group Decision making• Some of the more common group decision-

making methods are as follows:• BRAINSTORMING• DIALECTICAL INQUIRY• NOMINAL GROUP TECHNIQUE.• DELPHI TECHNIQUE

THANKS