PERSONALITY - MEANING

The word personality is derived from a Greek word “persona” which means “to speak through”.
Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that forms a person’s unique identity.

PERSONALITY - DEFINITION

“Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.”

— Stephen P. Robbins

“Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguish one “person
from another.”

— Lawerence Ervin

According to Robert E. Park and Earnest W. Burgess, personality is “the sum and organization of
those traits which determine the role of the individual in the group.”

According to Young, “Personality is the totality of behaviour of an individual with a given

tendency system interacting with a sequence of situations.”
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY

BIOLOGICAL FACTORS

The study of the biological contributions to personality may be studied under three heads:

 Heredity
Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical stature, facial
attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and
biological rhythms are characteristics that are considered to be inherent from one’s parents.
The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality
is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes.
 Brain
 The second biological approach is to concentrate on the role that the brain plays in
personality. The psychologists are unable to prove empirically the contribution of the
human brain in influencing personality.
Preliminary results from the electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) research give an
indication that a better understanding of human personality and behaviour might come
from the study of the brain.
 Biofeedback
Until recently, physiologists and psychologists felt that certain biological functions such as
brainwave patterns, gastric and hormonal secretions, and fluctuations in blood pressure and
skin temperature were beyond conscious control. Now some scientists believe that these
involuntary functions can be consciously controlled through biofeedback techniques. In
BFT, the individual learns the internal rhythms of a particular body process through
electronic signals that are feedback from equipment that is wired to the body.
 Physical Features
A vital ingredient of the personality, an individual’s external appearance, is biologically
determined. The fact that a person is tall or short, fat or skinny, black or white will influence
the person’s effect on others and this in turn, will affect the self-concept.

CULTURAL FACTORS

Among the factors that influence personality formation is the culture in which we are raised, early
conditioning, norms prevailing within the family, friends and social groups and other
miscellaneous experiences that impact us. The culture largely determines attitudes towards
independence, aggression, competition, cooperation and a host of other human responses.

According to Paul H Mussen, “each culture expects, and trains, its members to behave in ways
that are acceptable to the group. To a marked degree, the child’s cultural group defines the range
of experiences and situations he is likely to encounter and the values and personality characteristics
that will be reinforced and hence learned.”

FAMILY FACTORS

Whereas the culture generally prescribes and limits what a person can be taught, it is the family,
and later the social group, which selects, interprets and dispenses the culture. Thus, the family
probably has the most significant impact on early personality development. A substantial amount
of empirical evidence indicates that the overall home environment created by the parents, in
addition to their direct influence, is critical to personality development. The parents play an
especially important part in the identification process, which is important to the person’s early
development.

According to Mischel, the process can be examined from three different perspectives.

 Identification can be viewed as the similarity of behaviour including feelings and attitudes
between child and model.
 Identification can be looked at as the child’s motives or desires to be like the model.
 It can be viewed as the process through which the child actually takes on the attributes of
the model.

SOCIAL FACTORS

There is increasing recognition given to the role of other relevant persons, groups and especially
organisations, which greatly influence an individual’s personality. This is commonly called the
socialization process. Socialization involves the process by which a person acquires, from the
enormously wide range of behavioural potentialities that are open to him or her, those that are
ultimately synthesized and absorbed. Socialization starts with the initial contact between a mother
and her new infant. After infancy, other members of the immediate family – father, brothers, sisters
and close relatives or friends, then the social group: peers, school friends and members of the work
group – play influential roles. Socialization process is especially relevant to organizational
behaviour because the process is not confined to early childhood, taking place rather throughout
one’s life. In particular, the evidence is accumulating that socialization may be one of the best
explanations for why employees behave the way they do in today’s organizations.

SITUATIONAL FACTORS

Human personality is also influenced by situational factors. The effect of the environment is quite
strong. Knowledge, skill and language are obviously acquired and represent important
modifications of behavior. An individual’s personality, while generally stable and consistent, does
change in different situations. The varying demands of different situations call forth different
aspects of one’s personality.
According to Milgram, “Situation exerts an important press on the individual. It exercises
constraints and may provide a push. In certain circumstances, it is not so much the kind of person
a man is, as the kind of situation in which he is placed that determines his actions”. We should
therefore not look at personality patterns in isolation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONALITY

1. Locus of Control
2. Self-Efficacy
3. Self-Esteem
4. Self-Monitoring
5. Positive/Negative Affect
6. Risk-Taking
7. Type A and Type B Personality

Locus of Control

The degree to which individuals perceive control over a situation being internal or external is called
locus of control. Locus of control refers to the range of beliefs that individuals hold in terms of
being controlled by self (internal locus) or controlled by others or the situation (external locus).

Self-Efficacy

Generalized self-efficacy refers to a belief about one’s own ability to deal with events and
challenges.

High self-efficacy results in greater confidence in one’s job-related abilities to function effectively
on the job. Success in previous situations leads to increased self-efficacy for present and future
challenges.

Self-Esteem

An individual’s self-worth is referred to as self-esteem. Individuals with high self-esteem have

positive feelings about themselves.
Low self-esteem individuals are strongly affected by what others think of them, and view
themselves negatively.

Self-Monitoring

The extent to which people base their behavior on cues from other people and situations is self-
monitoring. Individuals high in self-monitoring pay attention to what behavior is appropriate in
certain situations by watching others and behaving accordingly.

Low self-monitoring individuals prefer that their behavior reflects their attitudes, and are not as
flexible in adapting their behavior to situational cues.

Positive/Negative Affect

Individuals exhibit attitudes about situations in a positive or negative fashion. An individual’s

tendency to accentuate the positive aspects of situations is referred to as positive affect, while those
accentuating less optimistic views are referred to as having negative affect. Employees with
positive affect are absent from work less often. Negative affect individuals report higher levels of
job stress.

Risk-Taking

People differ in their willingness to take chances. High-risk-taking managers made more rapid
decisions and used less information in making their choices than low risk-taking managers.

Type A and Type B Personality

Type A personality individual is aggressively involved in a chronic, struggle to achieve more and
more in less and less time, and if required to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or
other persons.

Type B personalities are rarely harried by the desire to obtain a wildly increasing number of things
or participate in an endless growing series of events in an ever decreasing amount of time.

NATURE OF PERSONALITY

 Totality of acts
 Personality and Environment
  Personality Depicts consistency
 Personality is goal-oriented behavior
 Time Integrating structure
 Personality Structure

Totality of Acts: In an organisation, human behaviour is the point of culmination which is

preceded by a number of acts. It is the totality of these acts in the form of responded behaviour
which is relevant to both individual and the organisation. The isolated psychological or
physiological aspect of individual in personality is of no use for administrative decision or action.

Personality and Environment: Personality and environment are two interdependent variables of
human behaviour. Personality gets molded according to the environment, it is also a fact that it is
the environment which stimulates personality to action.

Personality Depicts consistency: Normal personality is dynamic due to the environmental setting
around him. Personality can be flexible to the point of consistency in a different environmental
setting.

Personality is goal-oriented behavior: Every individual seeks to achieve the desired goal through
his personality. The process of goal selection is in itself a dynamic quality of personality which
also forges unity between personality and goal-directed behaviour.

Time Integrating structure: Personality provides a synthesis of the retrospect and the prospect
because the future is as much related to past as the past is to future.

Personality Structure: Personality structure consists of three dimensions – determinants, stages

and traits.
Locus of Control

The concept of "Locus of control" was derived from Rotter's social learning theory. As per this
theory, locus of control is the mon anticipation based on the association between an individual's
character, his deeds and the result achieved. is the concept is derived from numerous specific
encounters in which people identify the future outcomes of actions happening in their lives? Locus
of control is a personality trait possessed by people who believe that their internal or external
factors are responsible for their behaviour. Such individuals believe that life's events are either
under the person's control (the internal focus of control) or are due to reasons that are beyond the
son's control (external locus of control). The people who believe that they control their destinies
are called externals, whereas those who see their lives are controlled by outside forces are labelled
"externals Internals typically have more control over their behaviour, are more active in seeking
information to make cions, and are more active socially than externals.

Machiavellianism
Another trait is Machiavellianism, which owes its origins to Niccolo Machiavelli. This defines the
extent of practicality possessed by a person. Such people are emotionally isolated and down to
earth. People with a strong Machiavellianism personality are more influencing and successful but
are less influenced by others. The reverse happens with people having weak Machiavellianism
personalities. Nevertheless, situational factors control high match results A person high in
Machiavellian orientation approaches situations thoughtfully & logically and is even capable of
lying to achieve his own personal goals. They are rarely swayed by friendships, past promises,
loyalty, or the opinions of others, and they are skilled at influencing others. A person low in
Machiavellianism tends to accept direction imposed by other people in loosely structured
situations and works hard to do well in highly structured situations.

Self-Esteem

People tend to feel proud about their competence and at times about themselves. This kind of
emotion is termed self-esteem. The ones with high self-esteem feel that they are competent and
commendable enough to handle any kind of situation. On the contrary, the ones with low self-
esteem are always in doubt about their abilities and knowledge. They are never sure about their
true potential and are always afraid that they would fail in life. In terms of the Big Five personality
factors, self-esteem most likely would be part of the emotional stability factor. Self-esteem is
usually based on the following factors:

 The degree to which the individual feels that he or she receives love, acceptance, support,
and encouragement from others
 The specific characteristics and skills the person has
 The degree to which the person accepts the various aspects of the self, especially when
comparing the self to others.

Self-Monitoring

Self-monitoring refers to the degree to which people control how they display themselves in front
of other people. These people control their behaviour and follow the norms that are socially
acceptable and suitable. Such people are regarded as high self-monitors. They put effort so that
their behaviour is situationally appropriate. High self-monitors are better skilled to customise their
behaviours as per the situation. For example, if they are in a meeting and see other people making
suggestions, they will also try to make suggestions as well. They are also good at managing the
impressions that other people have of them. In contrast, low self-monitors are not particularly
sensitive to cues indicating acceptable behaviour, nor are they overly concerned about behaving
in a situationally appropriate manner. People who are low self-monitors are guided by their
attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and principles, and are not too concerned about what others think of
their behaviours. High self-monitors are more likely than low self-monitors to tailor their
behaviour to fit a given situation. Thus, high self-monitors may perform especially well in jobs
such as sales or consulting which require employees to interact with different types of people
regularly.

Risk-Taking Personality

Risk-taking is the person's willingness to take risks. People with a high propensity for risk make
decisions faster and are willing to take chances. Risk-aversive people are more cautious, make
decisions more carefully, and try to minimize risk. The ability to assume or avoid risk has been
shown to have an impact on how long it takes managers to make a decision and how much
information they need before making their decision. High risk-taking managers made more rapid
decisions and used less information in making their choices. While managers in organisations are
generally risk-aversive; there are still individual differences in this dimension. As a result, it makes
sense to recognize these differences and even to consider aligning risk-taking tendencies with
specific job demands.

Proactive Personality

Proactive personality is defined as an individual's tendency to intentionally and directly affect

change in the environment. Proactive personality describes people who identify opportunities,
show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs. Not surprisingly,
research has shown that proactive have many desirable behaviours that organisations want. For
example, they are more likely to be seen as leaders and more likely to act as change agents in
organisations, they are more likely to challenge the status quo, they have entrepreneurial abilities,
and they are more likely to achieve career success. A person with a proactive personality is
relatively unconstrained by situational forces and who affects environmental change In other
words, an individual with a highly proactive personality is one who aggressively acts to change
his or her environment or to take control over life situations.
Type A and Type B

Individuals with intolerant, competitive and hostile personalities are termed Type A whereas Type
B personalities are stress-free, relaxed and casual in nature.

Type A Personality

People with Type A personalities appear to be ones with a lot of hurry and eagerness. Such people
give priority to money and finances to such an extent that they believe that even their relationships
must depend on money People with Type A personalities give more importance to their work as
compared to their relationships. They are always interested in doing something worthy; otherwise,
they will feel guilty about wasting their time. The positive aspect of Type A personality is that
such people are winners. Since they give their best to every project, even they are totally ignorant
of the concept, still, they accomplish the task successfully due to their competitive and adventurous
nature. They tend to set up a timetable for themselves and then stick to it. The most evident trait
of Type A personality is hostility and restlessness. They display unfriendliness and impoliteness
many times Alternatively, they are highly motivated and are positive thinkers.

Type B Personality

People with Type B personalities are totally opposite to Type A people. They are silent, tolerant,
relaxed a belief in doing things at their own pace. They tend to take up things slowly, think before
coming to conclusion and might postpone work till the last minute. They are social people and like
to interact with both friends and strangers. They receive a lot of attention everywhere and are more
comfort-seeking than drive towards success while at work. They are kind, thoughtful and friendly
and have the talent of building strong relations and also striking a balance between work and
personal life. They usually lead a satisfied and happy life They can also be portrayed as bombers
and human magnets who grab the attention wherever they go m minimum effort. All these traits
make Type B unique among all personality types.

Need Patterns

Several people have an immense desire to stand out by performing difficult jobs and meeting their
own standards of perfection. They prefer taking responsibility for challenging situations and then
like to get genuine feedback on the entire effort. Such kinds of people are found in jobs that give
them a chance to quench their thirst for excellence.

Authoritarianism

The main idea here is that within an organisation, there exists a difference in power and status
among employees A person who has an authoritarian personality believes in enforcement and
obedience of authority. He al has negative opinions about other people and is rationally inflexible.
Authoritarians consider their beliefs to M ethically supreme and give excessive importance to rules
and regulations. For such a person, a steady work environment governed by clear-cut norms is
preferred. From an ethical standpoint, people can expect highly authoritarian individuals to present
a special problem because they are so susceptible to authority that in their eagerness to comply
they may behave unethically. For example, individuals might speculate that many of the Nazis
who were involved in war crimes during World War Il were high in authoritarianism or
dogmatism; they believed so strongly in authority that they followed unethical orders without
question.

Introversion and Extraversion

Introversion-extroversion is generally associated with an individual's sociability and interpersonal

orientation. These two major types of personality are discussed as follows:

1)Introverts: Introverts are concerned with their own thoughts and feelings. They are quieter than
extroverts and prefer to be removed from the social world. As such, they are happy being alone.
Introverts do socialise, but it will be with a few close friends rather than large groups of people.
They will probably feel lonelier in a crowd than on their own. Introverts prefer to plan and analyse
things and are careful in their decision-making.

Introverts tend to be low-key, deliberate, and relatively less engaged in social situations. They
often take pleasure in solitary activities such as reading, writing, drawing, watching movies, and
using computers. The archetypal artist, writer, sculptor, composer, and inventor are all highly
introverted. An introverted person is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time
spent with large groups of people (although they tend to enjoy interactions with close friends).
They prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time and like to observe situations before they
participate.
2) Extroverts: Extroverts are interested in the external world. Their focus is on people and objects.
They enjoy being with others and like group activities. As such, they like to be noticed. Extroverts
find it difficult to be alone and feel lonely if they are not with other people. Possessions and success
are valued by an extrovert.

Extrovert people tend to enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and
gregarious. They take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties,
community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups. Acting, teaching,
directing, managing, brokering are fields that favour extroversion. An extroverted person is likely
to enjoy time spent with people and find less reward in time spent alone. They enjoy risk-taking
and often show leadership abilities.

Bureaucratic Personality

According to Merton, "Bureaucratic personality is the outcome of bureaucratic characteristics in a

person, such as impersonal attitude, etc". In some cases, such characteristics increase the extent of
rudeness. For example, Aken and Hage stated that employees of organisations that promote
bureaucratic structure suffer from work decision-making processes related to organisational
policies and delegation of duties. There are severe norms that are imposed in such a hard manner
that the employee becomes powerless. Therefore, bureaucratic characteristics can be the cause of
both i.e., bureaucratic behaviour and marginalisation of work.
 ATTITUDE

Attitudes are evaluation statements either favorable or unfavorable or unfavorable concerning

objects, people or events. They reflect how one feels about something.

-Robbins

According to Katz and Scotland “Attitude is a tendency or predisposition to evaluate an object or

symbol of that object in a certain way.”

Attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness organized through experience, exerting a
directive or dynamic influence upon individual’s response to all objects and situations with which
it is related.

-G.W. Allport

According to Gordon Allport, “An attitude is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized
through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all
objects and situations with which it is related.”

Characteristics of Attitude

Characteristics of attitude are discussed below:

 Attitude are predispositions

 Attitude are different from values
 Attitude are evaluative statement
 Attitude influence human behavior
 Attitude have intensity
 Attitude are learnt

Attitude are different from values:Attitude are different from values: Values are the ideals,
whereas attitudes are narrow, they are our feelings.

Attitude are evaluative statement: Attitude are evaluative statements: either favourable or
unfavourable concerning the objects, people or events.
Attitude influence human behavior: A positive attitude towards a thing will influence human
behavior towards the thing favorably and vice-versa.

Attitude have intensity: It refers to the strength of the effective component. For example, we may
dislike an individual but the extent of our disliking would determine the intensity of our attitude
towards the person.

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

Functions of Attitude

Four important functions of attitude which are crucial in organizational behavior viewpoint are:

 Adjustment Function
 Ego-Defensive Function
 Value-Expressive Function
 Knowledge Function

Adjustment Function

Attitudes often help individuals to adjust to their work environment.

Consumers hold certain brand attitudes partly because of the brand utility. If a product has helped
us in the past even in a small way, our attitude towards it tends to be favorable. One way of
changing attitude in favor of a product is by showing people that it can solve utilitarian goals. They
may not have considered some advertisement which stresses the utilitarian benefits of a product.

Example: Well-treated employees tend to develop a positive attitude towards their management
or job.

Ego-Defensive Function

Consumers want to protect their self concept from inner feelings of doubt. Cosmetic and personal
hygiene products, by acknowledging this need, increase their relevance to the consumer and have
the possibility of a favorable attitude by offering reassurance to the consumers self concept.
Example: Older faculty might feel somewhat threatened by a young and new faculty member who
is full of fresh ideas and enthusiasm

Value-Expressive Function

Attitudes are one expression of general values, lifestyles, and outlook. If a consumer segment
generally holds a positive attitude towards being in a fashion segment, consumer may treat high
fashion clothing and accessories as symbols of that lifestyle.

Example, a manager who values honest and sincere work will be more vocal against an employee
who is having a very casual approach towards work.

Knowledge Function

Attitudes provide frames of reference or standard that allow individuals to understand and perceive
the world around him. Individuals have a strong need to know and understand the people and
things with whom they come in contact, especially if they think they might influence their
behavior.

Example, If a student has a strong negative attitude towards the college, whatever the college
does, the student will be perceived as something ‘bad’ and as actually against them.

Components of Attitude

 Cognitive component
 Affective component
 Behavioral component

Cognitive component

Beliefs are the cognitive components of consumer attitude. Cognitive component of attitude is
associated with the value statement. It consists of values, belief, ideas and other information that
a person may have faith in.
Positive brand associations enhance brand equity and are achieved through a number of positioning
strategies. Through brand associations, marketers establish and influence favorable beliefs about
a brand and unfavorable beliefs about competitors.

Example: Quality of sincere hard is a faith or value statement that a manager may have.

Affective component

Affective is the emotive component of consumer attitude. Affective component of attitude is

associated with individual feelings about another person, which may be positive, neutral or
negative.

Three research models describe the determinants of affective response.

 Functional theory of attitude explains that consumers buy as a result of one of four
psychological functions: adjustment, ego defense, value expression, and application of
prior knowledge.
 Fishbein model relates consumer beliefs and evaluations to affective response: if beliefs
are strong and desirable, affective responses are positive.
 Belief importance model analyses affective responses across competing brands.

Example: I don’t like Sam because he is not honest, or I like Sam because he is sincere. It is an
expression of feelings about a person, object or a situation.

Behavioral component

Intention is the behavioral component of consumer attitude. Behavioral component of attitude is

associated with the impact of various condition or situations that lead to person behavior based on
cognitive and affective components.

Two research models demonstrate the relationship between intention to purchase and actual
purchase and consumption.

The theories of reasoned action explain purchasing behavior as a direct result of intention,
influenced by attitude toward purchase and by subjective norms.
The theory of trying to consume explains actual consumption behavior of purchasers. It provides
insight into the establishment and maintenance of long-term relationship with consumers.

Example: I don’t like Sam because he is not honest is an affective component, I, therefore, would
like to disassociate myself with him, is a behavioural component and therefore I would avoid Sam.

Factors Influencing Attitude

These are the factors influencing attitude;

 Social Factors.
 Direct Instruction.
 Family.
 Prejudices.
 Personal Experience.
 Media.
 Educational and Religious Institutions.
 Physical Factors.
 Economic Status and Occupations.

Types of Attitude

There are broadly three types of attitude in term of organisational behavior

 Job satisfaction
 Job involvement
 Organizational commitment

Job satisfaction

A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that an individual holds toward his or her job.

A person will hold a positive attitude if had a high level of satisfaction, while dissatisfied people
will generally display a negative attitude towards life.

When we talk about attitude, we generally speak about job satisfaction because they are inter-
related in organizational behaviour.
Job involvement

Job involvement refers to the degree to which a person identifies himself (psychologically) with
his job, actively participates and considers his perceived performance level important to self-
worth. (Robbins)

Higher job satisfaction leads to low absenteeism & employee turnover and indicates that the
individual cares for his job.

Organizational commitment

Organizational commitment refers to a degree to which an employee identifies himself with the
organizational goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.Resigning from the
job or absenting versus job satisfaction is a predictor of organizational commitment.
Organizational commitment depends upon the degree of autonomy & freedom job and job
enrichment factor.

Attitude Formation

The question often arises, ‘how are the attitudes and subsequent behaviors formed?’ While
attitudes are basically learned over the years, some inherited characteristics do affect such attitudes

Some of the learned characteristics responsible for attitude formation are:

 Experiences
 Perceptual biases
 Observation of other person attitude
 Association
 Personality

Experiences

Our personal experiences with people and situations develop our attitude towards such persons
and situations.

Through job experience, people develop attitudes towards working conditions, salaries,
supervision, group dynamics and so on.
Perceptual biases

Perception is the result of a complex interaction of various senses such as feelings, seeing, hearing
and so on and plays an important part in our attitude and behavioural formation.

For example, if a manager perceives a subordinate’s ability as limited, he will give him limited
responsibility. Similarly, we lose many good friends due to our changed perception about them.

Observation of other person attitude

When we like someone, we try to emulate that person’s attitude.

For example, when we are impressed by someone keeping calm under stressful circumstances and
we appreciate such calmness, we might try to do the same.

Association

Our association with the group we belong to strongly influences our attitude. Our close association
with a group would encourage us to be consistent with the attitude of the group.

Personality

Personality is a set of traits and characteristics, habit patterns and conditioned responses to certain
stimuli that formulate the impression that a person makes upon others and this impression is a
function of a person’s attitude.

Importance of Attitude

 Career success
 Productivity
 Leadership
 Teamwork
 Decision making
 Motivation
 Interpersonal relations
 Stress management
Career success

Performance is a parameter to measure employees ‘success in the workplace. Performance leads

to success either through promotion or increased compensation. A positive attitude of an employee
will help him to think of ways to accomplish their task in a well-defined manner

Productivity

An employee with a positive attitude tends to take more interest and responsibility and will provide
better work, which in turn will improve productivity.

Leadership

Managing a diverse workforce is a crucial task for achieving the objective of an organization.
Positive attitude demonstrated by leaders or employee will result in proper communication
between the subordinate which will lead to efficient work.

Teamwork

A positive attitude of employees helps to appreciate each other ‘s competencies and work as a
team for achieving common objectives.

Decision making

An employee with a positive attitude and mindset will help employees to make better decisions,
in an objective manner. It will enable employees to choose wisely and logically and avoid them to
take an unambiguous decision.

Motivation

Motivation is an important factor for efficient work. An employee with a positive attitude will
always be mentally prepared to face any obstacle in a job. The moment they are successful in
overcoming obstacles; they are motivated to move forward.

Interpersonal relations

Customers prefer to make relation with someone who is positive in nature. A positive attitude
helps in establishing valuable customer loyalty.
Stress management

Positive attitude and thinking will reduce the stress of an employee and with reduced stress
employee can take a better decision and increase their productivity which results, employees, to
enjoy better health and take fewer sick leaves.

Parameters of
Attitude Behavior
Comparison

It is how a person feels or thinks in a It is how a person behaves or acts in

Meaning particular situation or towards response to his/her surroundings,
something or someone. according to his thoughts.

Thoughts and feelings in a particular

Result of Observation and experience
situation

Thinking process and behavior of a The reflection of that person’s character

Result to
person and attitudes

Types negative and positive innate and learned

Related to Psychology Sociology

Attitude Change

The changes in attitude can be classified into the following two types:

1. Congruent Change:

Congruent change in attitude means that the change is a movement in the same direction but the
intensity of feeling is reduced. For example, if a person dislikes his boss very much, this negative
attitude may persist, but the degree of dislike will be reduced.

2. Incongruent Change:

Incongruent change involves change of direction itself from negative to positive or vice versa
towards the person. For example, if in the above example, that person starts liking his boss; this is
a change from negative to positive attitude.

Barriers to Changing Attitudes

1. Prior Commitments:

One barrier to change of attitude is prior commitments. This occurs when people feel a
commitment to a particular course of action and are unwilling to change. Theory and research have
also supported escalation of commitment which means, tendency of the decision makers to persist
with failing course of action.

2. Strong Commitment:

If an employee is strongly committed, it becomes difficult to change his or her attitude. In other
words we can say that the stronger the belief about the attitude, the harder it is to change it.

3. Publicly Expressed Attitudes:

Attitudes that have been expressed publicly are more difficult to change. This is because of the
fact, that it requires a lot of effort for one to admit his or her mistake.

4. Low Credibility:
The term credibility implies trust, expertise and objectivity. Employees are least interested in
responding to change the efforts made by someone who is not liked, has low rate of credibility and
is not convincing. If people hate you, they are least interested in adopting your message.

5. Insufficient Information:

Sometimes people do not see any reason as to why they should change their attitudes. The boss
may not like the negative attitude of the subordinate, but the subordinate may be quite pleased with
his own behaviour. Till the boss shows him that his negative attitude will hinder his career progress
and his salary increase, he will continue to have the negative feelings. This is particularly true
when the attitude is a result of poor treatment by the management. The worker will use the negative
attitude to serve an adjustment function “I can’t respect a manager who treats us the way he does.”

6. Degree of Fear:

If there is a low level of fear, people often ignore it as the warnings are not strong enough to
warrant attention. Similarly, if a very high degree of fear is used, people again reject the message
and refuse to be persuaded as the warnings are too threatening and thus not believable. In both
these situations it is difficult to change the attitude of employees.

Ways of Overcoming the Barriers and Changing the Attitudes:

1. Providing New Information:

One of the ways of changing the attitudes is by providing new information. Sometimes, this
information will change a person’s beliefs and in this process his attitudes. This is specifically true
when the reason for the negative attitude is insufficient or misleading information. For example,
people generally have a negative attitude towards the staff at railway reservation counters.

They believe that the staff avoids the work. Therefore, whenever there is some delay in getting the
reservation, people express their displeasure towards the staff. Such a negative attitude can be
changed by drawing the attention of public towards the circumstances in which the staff works.
Sometimes, the staff is to deal with illiterate or ignorant passengers which consume a lot of time.

2. Use of Fear:
A second way of changing the attitudes is through the use of fear. Research has found out that fear
can cause some people to change their attitude. However, the degree of fear is very important for
the final outcome.

3. Resolving Discrepancies:

Another way of changing the attitudes is by resolving discrepancies between attitudes and
behaviour. For example, research shows that when a person has more than one offer of a job and
he has to make a choice, he often feels that his final choice may have been a mistake.

However, the theory of cognitive dissonance says that this mild conflict or dissonance will not last
long because people will try to actively reduce the dissonance by attitude and behaviour change.
When he takes the new job and starts working, he will start having negative feelings towards the
jobs which he has not chosen and positive ones towards the job which he has chosen. In the end,
he will conclude that he has indeed made the right choice.

4. Influence of Friends or Peers:

Change of attitude can come about through persuasion of friends or peers. Credibility of the others,
especially the peers, is important to effect change. Peers with high credibility shall exercise
significant influence as compared to those peers who have low credibility.

5. The Co-opting Approach:

Another way in which attitude change takes place is by co-opting, which means taking people who
are dissatisfied with a situation and getting them involved in improving things. For example, an
employee feels that the company should be doing something for improving the employees’
benefits. The company appoints him as a member of the employees benefit committee. By giving
him the opportunity to participate in employee benefit decision making, the company increases the
chances that his attitude will change. Once he realizes the practical problems involved in
determining the best possible benefits and the efforts and hard work involved in it, he is most likely
to change his attitude.

6. Oral Persuasion Technique:

All the attitude change techniques are not equally effective across different situations. Another
way in which attitude can be changed is through oral-pursuation. Oral pursuation techniques are
most effective when you use a positive and tactful tone, present strong evidence and use logic to
support your position.

7. Training Sessions:

The use of training sessions in which employees share and personalize their experiences and
practice new behaviours can be a powerful stimulant for changing attitude.

Measurement of Attitude in Organisational Behaviour

Though attitude is a hypothetical construct it is also subject to measurement. The most common
and frequently used measures of attitudes are the questionnaires which ask the respondents to
evaluate and rate their attitude toward a particular object directly, and to respond favorably or
unfavorably about his belief regarding the attitude object. Generally,bipolar scales are used to
assess the attitudes of individual employees in an Organisation. Different types of scales are in use
with respect to measurement of attitudes viz., Thurstone’s scale, Likert’s scale, Bogardus’s social
distance scale, Guttman’s scale etc. Let us throw a dim light on these scales.

Thurstone’s scale: The statements, both favorable and unfavorable, relating to the area in which
attitudes were to be measured are placed into eleven piles; one representing the most favorable one
and one representing the unfavorable. Individuals will then be asked to check those statements
with which they agreed. The average of the scale values of the items, which they accepted, will
give an indication of the placement of a person along the attitude continuum.

Likert’s scale: Another scale that is relatively easy when compared to the earlier is the one that is
developed by Rensis Likert.

Likert’s scale consists of five boxes ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”. Under
each statement of attitude the respondent will be given a chance to check one of five boxes and
finally all the ratings are summed up. The Likert’s scale is also known as summedrating measure,
because several statements are collected in an attitude area, such as one’s attitude about, a job, and
the scales are added up or summed to obtain a person’s attitude toward his job. The summed-rating
scale provides a means of measuring the intensity of one’s attitude toward a particular object/event
in addition to the direction.
Bogardus’s social distance scale: Perhaps the simple scale of measuring attitudes is the social
distance scale developed by Bogardus in 1925. The scale is composed of a large number of
statements regarding national, racial or ethnic groups.

Guttman’s scale: Guttman in 1950 developed cumulative scaling technique to measure attitudes.
In the scale of one’s attitude toward work, an employee might be presented with six statements
displaying successively higher degrees of dissatisfaction. It is assumed that the employee will
reach some point beyond which he can no longer agree. The main threshold is considered to be the
degree of satisfaction.

Other Commonly Used Techniques of Attitude Measurement

In addition to the above techniques used in measuring consumers’ attitudes, there are quite a few
other techniques that may also measure consumers’ attitudes.

Some of these techniques are;

 Longitudinal Studies,
 Observation of Overt Behavior Technique;
 Reactions to or Interpretation of Partially Structured Stimuli Technique,
 Performance on “Objective” Tasks Method,
 Physiological Reactions Method, and
 Osgood Semantic Differential Technique.

Longitudinal Studies

Here, the researcher measures attitude changes over a period of time. He conducts subsequent
interviews with the same subjects at various times on the same attitude object.

He plots the subjects’ responses at different times toward the attitude object along a consistent
scale of ‘favorable,’ ‘neutral,’ and ‘unfavorable’ dimensions. This method is used to gauge the
changes in subjects’ attitudes over time toward a particular object.

Observation of Overt Behavior Technique

By observing the overt behaviors of subjects, their attitudes may be understood. For example,
consumers’ attitudes toward a particular store may be measured by observing their purchases at
the said store, frequency of purchases, and the volume of purchases made from the shop.

Reactions to or Interpretation of Partially Structured Stimuli Technique

Here, subjects are presented with a particular situation through a picture and asked to interpret it
(picture). The way subjects interpret the picture tells the researcher the attitudes they hold toward
the object under consideration.

Performance on “Objective” Tasks Method

Here, subjects are asked to perform a certain task, or the researcher observes how subjects perform
a particular task. The ways they perform a task indicate their attitudes. The researcher assumes
that one’s task performance is influenced by the attitude that he holds.

Physiological Reactions Method

Attitudes may also be measured by applying techniques used to measure involuntary physiological
reactions such as galvanic skin response, pupil dilation, and voice pitch.

Osgood Semantic Differential Technique

In this test, pairs of words or statements of opposite meaning that might describe an object
(product, for example) are presented to the subject. The subjects rated each of several objects on
each dimension by placing a check at the place on a line that indicates their feelings.

Finally, the checks’ average is plotted as a profile for each object, and thus, the subjects’ attitudes
are ascertained.