Leadership Skills - Developing Leaders

Summary of Chapter of Fred Luthans, 12th Edition.

One list of suggested leadership skills  includes the following:

1. Cultural flexibility. In international assignments this skill refers to cultural awareness and sensitivity. In domestic organizations the skill can be managing diversity. Leaders must have the skills not only to manage but also to recognize and celebrate the value of diversity in their organizations.

2. Communication skills. Effective leaders must be able to communicate—in written form, orally, and nonverbally.

3. HRD skills. Leaders must have human resource development (HRD) skills of developing a learning climate, designing and conducting training programs, transmitting information and experience, assessing results, providing career counseling, creating organizational change, and adapting learning materials.

4. Creativity. Problem solving, innovation, and creativity provide the competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace. Leaders must possess the skills to not only be creative themselves but also provide a climate that encourages creativity and assists their people to be creative.

5. Self-management of learning. This skill refers to the need for continuous learning of new knowledge and skills. In this time of dramatic change, leaders must be self-learners. They cannot expect others in their group  to help them to learn.

This list is as good as any other. However, as an academic analysis, Whetten and Cameron provide a more empirical derivation of effective leadership skills. On the basis of an interview study of more than 400 highly effective managers, they identified 10 skills mentioned by many. 

1. Verbal communication (including listening)

2. Managing time and stress

3. Managing individual decisions

4. Recognizing, defining, and solving problems

5. Motivating and influencing others

6. Delegating

7. Setting goals and articulating a vision

8. Self-awareness

9. Team building

10. Managing conflict

Statistical techniques identified the following four categories of effective leadership skills from the skills listed by managers:

1. Participative and human relations (for example, supportive communication and team building)

2. Competitiveness and control (for example, assertiveness, power, and influence)

3. Innovativeness and entrepreneurship (for example, creative problem solving)

4. Maintaining order and rationality (for example, managing time and rational decision making)

Whetten and Cameron note three characteristics:

1. The skills are behavioral. They are not traits or, importantly, styles. They consist of an identifiable set of actions that leaders perform and that result in certain outcomes.

2. The skills, in several cases, seem contradictory or paradoxical. For example, they are neither all soft- nor all hard-driving, oriented neither toward teamwork and interpersonal relations exclusively nor toward individualism and entrepreneurship exclusively.

3. The skills are interrelated and overlapping. Effective leaders do not perform one skill or one set of skills independent of others. In other words, effective leaders are multiskilled.

The personal skills of developing self-awareness, managing stress, and solving problems creatively overlap with one another, and so do the interpersonal skills of communicating supportively, gaining power and influence, motivating others, and managing conflict. 

Leadership skills development through career development have become more critical than ever.

Organizational behavior and human resource experts are now being asked to identify methods to train and develop leaders.  Zand suggests that the three primary areas to be developed are knowledge, trust, and power, which he refers to as the “leadership triad.” (Dale E. Zand, The Leadership Triad, Oxford University Press, New York, 1997).

A recent panel of leadership experts agreed that leadership can be taught and learned.

About 30 percent of both male and female leader emergence can be attributed to heritability. Thus 70 pcerent of one’s leadership is open to experience, learning, and development. In other words, the research evidence on whether leaders are born versus made greatly favors that they are made, developed. Management/leadership education is certainly based on the preponderance of the role of development since about two-thirds of the 50 top-ranked business schools offer leadership courses and they also offer leadership courses to executives as part of their management development programs.

About Leadership Programs

Some believe an entire new leadership development system should be used. Believing that most traditional leadership programs fail because they start with competencies and focus on individuals, one group of trainers recommends a different approach. They advocate beginning with business results and working back to abilities to be developed. In other words, it is more valuable to clarify the business purpose and desired outcomes first, and then move leader trainees toward methods of achieving these outcomes and in the process develop competencies.

Contemporary Leadership Development Approaches

One current  approach to leadership development is centered on competencies. In this approach, there are  competencies required have been derived from three ways: (1) research based, (2) strategy based, and (3) values based. Research-based competencies are from behavioral data gathered from successful leaders. Strategy-based competency models derive competencies from top manager informants regarding strategic company issues and directions. The values-based model focuses on the company’s cultural values, as interpreted by company leaders. 

Briscoe and Hall argue for a new approach, that advocates continuous learning that emphasizes flexibility in responses, and the individual leader is enabled to “learn how to learn” and therefore adapt to continually changing circumstances as found in today’s environment. Many competencies are  learned in this learning and knowledge-acquisition-based approach.

Avolio and Luthans’s promote authentic leadership approach, They emphasize that one’s life course of events plays a big role in authentic leadership development (ALD). Life’s  planned  “moments that matter” can be accelerated. Avolio and Luthans define ALD as:

The process that draws upon a leader’s life course, psychological capital, moral perspective, and a “highly developed” supporting organizational climate to produce greater self-awareness and self-regulated positive behaviors, which in turn fosters continuous, positive self-development resulting in veritable, sustained performance.

The ALD process can be proactively accelerated by starting with a desired end-point, enhanced self-awareness (both understanding your actual self and your potential best self) and self-regulation. A key to ALD is bringing the future to the present.

Another recently emerging method of leader development is coaching.  Tactics that support effective coaching include accessibility, attention, validation, empathy, support, compassion, and consistency. A supportive coach can reduce the loneliness of the CEO’s role by creating bonds that help the leader renew energy levels and provide new challenges. Also, effective coaches clarify boundaries and expectations for leaders, limiting leaders’ efforts to definable targets and time frames for learning. To obtain the greatest value from a coaching approach to leader development, some of the more important practices include a strategic focus for coaching efforts, integrating coaching into existing HR systems, building reliable “pools” of coaches, and systematically evaluating the results.

Other Indirect Techniques for Developing Leadership Effectiveness

Besides the leadership skill development programs, other more indirect techniques involving training, job design, and behavioral management can also be used. For example, leaders can undergo personal growth training that may involve a combination of psychological exercises and outdoor adventures. This approach is aimed at empowering participants to take greater responsibility for their own lives and ultimately their organizations.

The same goes for cross training and the newer “pay-for-knowledge” approaches that an increasing number of U.S. firms are beginning to implement.

Besides training, job redesign is another important technique leaders can use effectively. This approach attempts to manage the job rather than the extremely complex person who holds the job. From enriching the job by building in more responsibility, the more recent approach is to concentrate on the characteristics of identity, variety, significance, autonomy, and feedback identified by Hackman and his colleagues. 

There has been a stream of research to support the concept that when employees perceive these characteristics in their job, they do high-quality work. Leaders need to give special attention to the autonomy and feedback characteristics of their people’s jobs. Autonomy involves empowering their subordinates to make decisions and solve their own problems, in other words, giving them more control over their own job. Feedback can be built into some jobs, but leaders also must provide specific, immediate performance feedback to their people.

The behavioral management approach,  can also be effectively used by leaders to meet the challenges ahead. The organizational behavior modification (O.B. Mod.) techniques based on the principles of operant conditioning and social cognitive theory were shown  to have excellent results on human performance in organizations. It is important to note that O.B. Mod. interventions have used mainly nonfinancial rewards—feedback systems and contingent recognition/attention—in both manufacturing and service organizations.

Besides drawing from the established job design and behavioral management approaches, the search for effective leadership practices has recently gone to some unusual sources for leadership wisdom. Various books and case studies are made available to learn leadership lessons. Besides marketing books, these titles should remind researchers and practitioners of the wide variety of approaches to leadership development that have been underused or yet to be explored. One such example is the increasing use of so-called E-Tools that assist in leadership development online via the Internet.

For example, we  (authors of the book) were able to develop a broad cross-section of managers’/leaders’ positive psychological capital, which is an important dimension of authentic leadership, in a short online training intervention.

Leadership is clearly important in a wide variety of settings beyond business and industry.  There are also many similarities between the capabilities of effective business leaders and political leaders, including  the tendency to be a visionary with strong communications skills, even though there are also key differences. The question remains, however, as to whether or not one set of skills (business) can be readily adapted to the political world.

April 2026

Leadership and Management 

Leadership and management are both essential to organizational success, but they play distinct roles. While leadership focuses on setting a vision and inspiring teams, management centers on execution and delivering results. Harvard Business School Online explores the differences between the two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru13cBJ_Kpk

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hbs-ideas-insights-2026-class-day-speaker-leadership-3wlue/

Ud. 2.5.20209

Pub. 20.5.2022

Spirituality - Concept, Explanation and Measurement

WHAT IS SPIRITUALITY?


Spirituality has been defined in the psychological literature in numerous ways ( Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2002; Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2005; Zinnbauer, Pargament, & Scott, 1999).

On the basis of the works of a number of authors dealing with spirituality and spiritual well-being, Westgate (1996) identified four components of spirituality: meaning and purpose in life (i.e., the
sense of a search for, or the finding of, meaning and purpose), transcendent beliefs and experiences (i.e., an awareness or experience of something beyond life’s rational aspects), intrinsic values (i.e., values, held by the individual with no ulterior motives, that guide his or her life), and community or relationship aspects (i.e., relationship with others and a willingness to help them). Westgate
pointed out that the first two components were included in all of the writings reviewed concerning spirituality although there was a large degree of variety concerning specific definitions and descriptions of these dimensions.

Almost all researchers appear to agree that spirituality is a multi-dimensional construct (Miller & Thoresen, 2003; Seybold & Hill, 2001; Zinnbauer & Pargament, 2005). The significance of a
multidimensional approach to spirituality is that the various components of
spirituality may be related to other variables in a differential manner. .  MacDonald and Holland (2003) used the multidimensional Expressions of Spirituality Inventory (ESI) (MacDonald,
1997, 2000) in order to investigate the relation between spirituality and psychological functioning as operationalized by MMPI-2 scales and found general support for the predicted relation between spirituality and measures of depression and psychopathy. However, these researchers uncovered a pattern of differential correlations between the five ESI dimensions and the MMPI scales. For example, the MMPI Social Introversion scale was related to the Experiential / Phenomenological Dimension but not to the Paranormal Beliefs dimension, whereas the reverse was true for the MMPI Paranoia scale.


One of the few approaches to spirituality that does not include any references to religion – direct or indirect - was put forward by Elkins, Hedstrom, Huges, Leaf, and Saunders (1988). These researchers listed four major assumptions concerning spirituality. One of these assumptions is that spirituality is not identical to religiosity and an individual who is unaffiliated with traditional religion can still be ‘‘spiritual.’’ On the basis of an extensive literature search, Elkins et al. (1988) developed a multidimensional definition of spirituality. According to this definition, spirituality is composed of the following nine components: (a) Transcendent Dimension, (b) Meaning and Purpose in Life, (c) Mission in Life, (d) Sacredness of Life, (e) Material Values, (f) Altruism, (g) Idealism, (h) Awareness of the Tragic, and (i) Fruits of Spirituality. On the basis of this definition, Elkins et al. then developed the Spiritual Orientation Inventory (SOI) whose nine subscales demonstrated acceptable levels of reliability (Elkins, 1988) and which was found to discriminate between groups who were assumed to differ on level of spirituality (Lauri & Elkins, 1988). Later factor analysis of the SOI uncovered two higher order dimensions of spirituality - an experiential dimension and a spiritual value dimension (Zainuddin, 1993).

The SOI has been used in a number of empirical studies as a measure of spirituality (e.g., Smith, 1995; Sherman, 1996; Tloczynski, Knoll, & Fitch, 1997).



EJBO Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies Vol. 13, No. 2 (2008)
61 http://ejbo.jyu.fi/
Spirituality and Ethical Behaviour in the
Workplace: Wishful Thinking or Authentic Reality
Peter McGhee
Patricia Grant

Carrette & King (2005)  offer a universal and useful definition of spirituality consisting of four
behavioural characteristics that evidence a specific mindset. The behavioural characteristics of spiritual individuals include:

1. Seeking to transcend their ego (i.e. their own self-interests)
2. Awareness and acceptance of their interconnectedness with others, creation and their Ultimate Concern
3. Understanding the higher significance of their actions while seeking to integrate their lives holistically
4. Believing in something beyond the material universe which ultimately gives value to all else


A brief description of each of these follows. According to Ashforth & Pratt (2003), themes of self–transcendence figure prominently in most definitions of spirituality. What is selftranscendence? It is something that calls us beyond the “self ” (i.e. the ego) to concern for, and relationships with, others and with the ultimate “other”. Torrance (1994) interprets it as “the individual in continuous interaction with a larger reality in which he or she transcends their personal existence” (p.82). Such persons transcend their egoistic self not by floating off to some mystical union or separate realm of existence but by coming to terms with its enlarging and transformative potentiality. Emmons
(1999) echoes this in noting that such a rising may not be limited to rising above our natural world to relate to a divine being but could also include achieving a heightened state of consciousness (Mayer, 2000), having peak experiences (Maslow, 1970) or entering a state of ‘flow’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Spiritual persons seek to live an authentic life sourced in meaningful relationships. The process of self-transcendence, of affirming the spirit and transcending the ego, results in a growing awareness and acceptance of interconnectedness. This also is a general theme in the writing on spirituality (Kale, 2004; Sass, 2000). Spiritual individuals who recognise and imbue the truth of interconnectedness demonstrate the following qualities. First, they connect to the self. Spirituality is an interior journey to find the true self with which the conceited, arrogant, intellectualising, rationalising ego is so easily confused (Weil, 2002). Second, they connect to others. They no longer see themselves as an isolated “atomistic ego-subject” (Yu, 1987, p.143). For such individuals,
spirituality is a state of being, a process towards wholeness that reflects being-in-the-world (Lapierre, 1994) and understands authentic being-in-communion with others and the Ultimate
Other (Buber, 1970).


The importance of a sense of purpose is also apparent in the spirituality literature (Elkins, Hedstrom, Hughes, Leaf, & Saunders, 1988; Emmons, 2000; Wink & Dillion, 2002) Spirituality represents a higher level of understanding that enables the contextualisation of lower levels. It provides answers to the question “why?” and confers individual lives with a sense of integrated wholeness (Mitroff & Denton, 1999) The process of “meaning-making” helps us understand how spiritual individuals revise or reappraise an event or series of events in a manner that gives a higher level of meaning, that is, a spiritual meaning (Baumeister & Vohs, 2005).


Finally, spirituality is the personal expression of an ‘Ultimate Concern’. According to Tillich (1952), ultimate concerns are those ‘God values’ in our lives which have centring power; they are the things with which we are ultimately concerned. Elkins et al. (1988) survey of diverse historical literatures on spirituality supports Tillich’s view. They noted that a spiritual person has an experience-based belief in a transcendent dimension to life. The actual content of this belief may vary from a traditional theistic view of a personal God (e.g. Christianity), a non-theistic view of that infinite potential (e.g. Buddhism), or a humanistic view of the transcendent as being simply a natural extension of the
conscious self into the area of the unconscious or Greater Self. Whatever the content or models used to describe the transcendent, the spiritual person believes in something beyond the material universe (Mitroff & Denton, 1999). Furthermore, he or she believes that contact with this unseen dimension is beneficial (Dierendonck & Mohan, 2006; Emmons, Cheung, & Tehrani, 1998; WHOQOL SRPB Group, 2006).

Transcendence

All of us encounter the transcendent part of life, something that takes us beyond our current way of thinking, feeling, or acting. We master a foreign language, listen
to a new kind of music or learn to pilot a canoe. All these things are examples of
self-transcendence and they are also comprehensible; we can understand the system
of processes, abilities, and decisions behind each of these new activities. We could
refer to these situations as offering a kind of weak transcendence, something that
is beyond us but also within our reach—transcendence “of an internal and human
sort” (Nussbaum, 1990, p. 379). It is something that can be achieved or comprehended,
often without a fundamental change in our way of life or outlook.


There are  more radical forms of strong transcendence that defy comprehension, understanding, and control. This happens when we find that life cannot be put into a box or reduced to a set of propositions and rules despite our best efforts. In the words of philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1969), we find that our world is not just a settled, controllable “totality” of a clearly understood
system but is an “infinity” that sometimes goes beyond our human control and understanding. This infinity can appear in situations that challenge our settled view of things, as when the death of a loved one makes us realize the finitude of life. The psychiatrist-philosopher Karl Jaspers (1932) referred to these as limit situations or experiences. Strong transcendence also appears in the puzzles and paradoxes of life—things that seem to be simultaneously true but not reconcilable with each
other. For instance, the world seems to have an underlying unity, but at the same
time there is great diversity. Religious people can speak of God as love and at the same time acknowledge the presence of suffering in the world.  Finally, it is evident in our human freedom to make choices, pursue goals, react in different ways, and exercise creativity (Theophan, 1995, p. 72). No matter how carefully we study and plan, our own actions and those of others—even the effects of planful modern science and technology—continue to surprise us and defy prediction. In religious traditions, many thinkers speak of spiritual life as involving some kind of ascent and contact with
this transcendence and that after returning from such an encounter we find ourselves changed in important ways.

While most human philosophies and religions embrace at least some form of
weak transcendence, views on strong transcendence vary markedly. Most forms of
humanistic philosophy reject the idea of strong transcendence.  A view such as this emphasizes our ability to control the world instead of seeing it as a gift to be received. On the other hand,
many religious systems would argue that while weak transcendence exists and is
good, a view of the world or the human person that stops there is radically incomplete.
We must also take strong transcendence into account. For the majority of religious people in the world, this transcendence is not just an abstraction, but it has a personal quality. The something that is beyond relates to us in love, and we in turn offer it our love. This is known as theism, belief in a God
who is free, transcending both us and the world, but who wishes to relate to us. As transcendent, God can become an object of devotion.  Nontheistic religions may acknowledge strong transcendence but
deny its personal quality. This is a traditional stance within Buddhism.

Strong transcendence poses problems for science in general and psychology in particular on a number of fronts. First, scientists generally prefer models that attempt to explain things without reference to transcendence.   Second, some scientists have a limited view of logic which conflicts with aspects of transcendence such as paradox. As Wolfhart Pannenberg has noted,
some scientists have a tendency to confuse rationality (something that makes
sense) with rationalism (something that conforms to a rigid understanding of
logic; Tupper, 1973, p. 261), a stance that is quite restrictive and at odds with
how most people—including scientists—actually arrive at knowledge (Watts &
Williams, 1988, p. 56; Polanyi, 1962). Third, freedom also poses problems for many scientific explanations. Like most aspects of strong transcendence, freedom is defined in a negative way as not
chance or not necessity; as such it cannot be directly observed (Macquarrie, 1982,
p. 13). In the words of Levinas it is a trace phenomenon; we can see its effects as in the free response we make to the demands of others (Treanor, 2005), but we can never see the thing itself. You can observe the fact that you are reading this
book and understand how this is different than alternatives that you might have
chosen, but you cannot measure or prove that freedom allowed you to make the
choice. Some scientists assume that since something cannot be directly observed,
it cannot exist. Scholars who accept the presence of strong transcendence argue
that problems like rationalism or freedom show us a natural limitation of science
in its quest to grasp the human being. They suggest that we cannot understand
the human person solely by looking at ourselves from a non-transcendent point
of view. We must also seek other ways of knowing, (Goldsmith, 1994, p. 95;
Howard, Youngs, & Siatczynski, 1989; Powlison, 2003, p. 205; Macquarrie, 1982,
pp. 26, 41–42; Zizioulas, 2006).

Hope for an afterlife is an important part of religion for most theists, and an understanding of this phenomenon must accept that for believers this type of transcendence is entirely real. However, many scientists—including some psychologists—would find this difficult to accept because it is not directly observable. As a science, psychology suffers under limitations and needs to avoid “psychologism,”
the tendency to assume that all of religion can be explained by psychology when it obviously excludes critical aspects of the phenomena (Vergote, 1969, pp. 5–21).


Introduction to Organizational Behavior - Online Book

May - Management Knowledge Revision - Cost and Management Accounting and Organizational Behavior

To be updated

Ud. 4.4.2026

Pub. 20.2.2019

Wisdom - Theory - Science

Wisdom has been exalted in many cultures as a desired resource representing the ideal integration

of knowledge and action, mind and virtue (Clayton & Birren, 1980). In antiquity, wisdom was

reserved for divine beings. It was worshipped but was beyond the reach of mortals. It was secularized by the Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Since that time, scholars in western cultures have contemplated the nature of the wisdom of human beings and its role in the conduct of life and the organization of society.  Wisdom is associated with good judgment and actions that contribute to living well (e.g., Kekes, 1983, 1988).

Kekes (1988), for example, summarizes the importance of wisdom, ‘‘Wisdom is like love, intelligence, and decency in that it is a good thing to have and the more that we have of it the better we

are. The opposite of wisdom is foolishness, universally recognized to be a defect’’ (p. 145).

 Wisdom was established as an intellectual virtue and as a means for individuals and communities to live

well despite the uncertainties of human life (Kekes, 1988; Nussbaum, 2001; Taylor, 1955).

Aristotle was one of the first to argue for the primacy of practical over theoretical knowledge in decisions about the appropriate and ethical ways to act in life matters (e.g., Taylor, 1955). He believed that practical wisdom enabled an individual to resourcefully adapt theoretical and scientific understanding to concrete situations and dilemmas (e.g., Kekes, 1983; Nussbaum, 2001; Taylor, 1955). Practical wisdom in Aristotle’s model presupposed that an individual was also morally virtuous.

Practical wisdom is used to set priorities for action, and this selection process is guided by intuition and values and tempered by emotion.

Wisdom Theory Developed by Psychologists

One agenda of psychological science is to study general processes of the mind and behavior using standardized empirical and experimental methods.

Initial research by Clayton and Birren (1980) examined the beliefs and implicit theories that people hold about the nature of wisdom and the characteristics of people who are considered wise. They determined that wisdom is associated with cognitive, affective, and reflective characteristics and that wise persons are knowledgeable, mature, tolerant, emphatic, experienced, and intuitive. Subsequent studies have established that socially shared concepts of wisdom differ from concepts of other desirable psychological characteristics, such as intelligence, creativity, or a mature personality profile (e.g., Holliday & Chandler, 1986; Sternberg, 1985). 

Researchers have also asked whether implicit beliefs about wisdom differ across cultural groups, organize judgment and behavior in social life (e.g., professional settings, mentoring), or regulate personal growth. In addition, contemporary work includes methods developed to assess the personality and affective characteristics attributed to wise persons (e.g., Ardelt, 2004), as well as those attributed to

wisdom-related knowledge and behavior. 

The Berlin Paradigm

The Berlin Paradigm combines a broad definition of wisdom as excellence in mind and virtue with a specific characterization of wisdom as an expert knowledge system dealing with the conduct and understanding of life. We called this domain of knowledge the fundamental pragmatics of life (see Fig. 1). It is applied to life planning (e.g., which future life goals to pursue and how?), life management (e.g., how to deal best with critical problems such as suicide or family conflict?), and life review (e.g., how best to make sense of our life history and past experiences?). This knowledge is used by an individual to construct her or his own life. Alternatively, it contributes to the coconstruction of the lives of others in the form of good advice, exceptional judgment, excellent mentoring, or insightful organization of education and society

Source for the above content.

The Fascination of Wisdom Its Nature, Ontogeny, and Function

Paul B. Baltes and Jacqui Smith

Volume 3—Number 1,  2008 

Association for Psychological Science

Targowski, Andrew
Harnessing the Power of Wisdom (2013),

Cognitive Informatics and Wisdom Development: Interdisciplinary Approaches: Interdisciplinary Approaches

Targowski, Andrew
IGI Global, 31-Dec-2010 - Psychology - 260 pages

Wisdom is the ultimate human virtue. Its development and  application is important for humans and civilization.

Cognitive Informatics and Wisdom Development: Interdisciplinary Approaches argues that wise civilization cannot function without wise people and vice versa, that wise people cannot function without positive conditions for the development of wise civilization. Using the cognitive informatics approach as a basis for the investigation of wisdom, this book offers solutions on how to study and evaluate the state of wisdom in 21st century society and the requirements for wise civilization and its monitoring systems.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=_JXSqkmF0YUC


Wisdom is information reflecting good judgment and choice; it is the final cognition unit in the Semantic Ladder and has different levels of scope and quality depending on the four minds, namely basic, whole, global and universal mind, which are supported by the art of living, understood as the reflection of behavioral aspects of wisdom within the philosophical framework of the hierarchy of possible purposes of one’s life.

Wisdom Literature

Maxims of Ptahotep

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maxims_of_Ptahhotep

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/literature/ptahhotep.html  (Many passages)

Beginning of the collection of fine words

Said by the man of the elite, foremost of arm

god's father and beloved of the god

eldest son of the king of his body

overseer of the city, vizier Ptahhotep

in teaching the ignorant to be wise

according to the rules of fine words,

something useful to whoever heeds,

and something harmful to whoever transgresses it.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Maxims-of-Ptahhotep

https://www.amazon.in/Teachings-Ptahhotep-Oldest-Book-World/dp/1614279306

To be updated now. Interest in the topic once again generated by Sajid Ali Khan

Updated on 4.4.2026, 19.5.2022, 25.8.2021

Development, Learning and Growth Mindset

LECS Model

Learn, Earn, Consume, Share

Learning is basic first step for human being. Even leaders have to learn every day.

Learning and Development mindset facilitates enriching of talents in a person. Every bit of knowledge, skill, and behavior can be made better and improved. This is the growth mindset.


https://qz.com/1314088/find-your-passion-is-bad-advice-say-yale-and-stanford-psychologists/


Carol Dweck: "The Growth Mindset" | Talks at Google
365,939 views
Talks at Google
Published on 16 Jul 2015
_______________

_______________

Dweck’s Mindset Theory: How to Develop a Growth Mindset

Harry Cloke

March 12, 2025

Learning Theory

10 Min Read

https://www.growthengineering.co.uk/growth-mindset/

Growth Mindset and Enhanced Learning.

Research has shown that when students have a growth mindset, they are more likely to challenge themselves, believe that they can achieve more, and become stronger, more resilient and creative problem solvers. Educators can have an enormous impact on the mindset of their students.

https://teachingcommons.stanford.edu/teaching-guides/foundations-course-design/learning-activities/growth-mindset-and-enhanced-learning

What Having a “Growth Mindset” Actually Means

by Carol Dweck

January 13, 2016

https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means

Ud. 9.8.2025

Pub. 10.7.2018

Vroom’s VIE Model of Motivation

Vroom’s VIE model is built around the concepts of valence, instrumentality, and expectancy.

Model

Vroom’s model uses cognitive variables, variables which are used by persons in their thought process according to their perception or thinking of a situation. Vroom’s VIE model is built around the concepts of valence, instrumentality, and expectancy.


Valence according to Vroom is the strength of an individual’s preference for a particular outcome. This comes out of the value of the outcome for the individual. Valence is the anticipated value of the outcome. The valence will be positive, when the person prefers attaining the outcome to not attaining it. When the person is indifferent, valence will be zero for an outcome.


Instrumentality is a concept that refers to action that will give rise to an outcome desired by a person. If a person wants to eat a particular dish, he has to cook it. Cooking is the instrumental act that a person has to do to eat the dish. In an organization context, the person has to do certain tasks adequately to get the salary which he desires.


Expectancy relates the tasks a person has to do to get the output of the instrumental act with successful outcome at the instrumental act level. Is he or she confident that they can cook the dish properly? Is the person confident that he can do the tasks properly and complete the work assigned to him to the satisfaction of the customer or superior and get the reward desired.


According to the model, the strength of motivation to perform a certain act will depend on the algebraic sum of the products of the valences for the outcomes times the expectancies.

How managers can use this model?

They have to find out the rewards the persons under them want. They have to create a link between the business outputs and the personal rewards the employees strongly desires. Then they have to ensure that the employee has the basic capabilities to perform the tasks required to achieve the business outcomes or goals. They have to act as coaches to develop the employee.


References



Vroom, V.H., Work and Motivation, Wiley New York, 1964

Luthans, Fred, Organizational Behavior, McGraw-Hill, Boston, 2005, 10th Edition




Contents of Vroom’s Book







Work and motivation

By Victor H. Vroom

Published by Wiley, 1964

331 pages






Contents

Introduction and Historical Perspective


3

law of effect, hedonism, industrial psychology




The Motivational Bases of Work


29

Reactive inhibition, valence, nomic




Occupational Choice


49

valence, self concept, need for achievement




The Determinants of Job Satisfaction


99

job satisfaction, equity theory, human relations movement




Job Satisfaction and Job Behavior


175

job satisfaction, International Harvester, negative relationship




The Role of Motivation in Work Performance


191

level of performance, levels of motivation, motivation






Some Motivational Determinants of Effective


211

social facilitation, overlearned, level of performance




Concluding Observations on Method and Theory


271

monotonically increasing, psychologist




Bibliography


289

Psychology, Ohio State University, social facilitation




Index


317

Heron, Harlow, Sears




Recent Print by Wiley



Work and Motivation

By Victor H. Vroom

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 1994

ISBN 0787900303, 9780787900304

397 pages

Web References



http://faculty.css.edu/dswenson/web/OB/VIEtheory.html

Work and Motivation

Victor H. Vroom

Wiley, 15 Jan 1964 - Psychology - 331 pages

Why do people choose the careers they do? What factors cause people to be satisfied with their work? No single work did more to make concepts like motive, goal incentive, and attitude part of the workplace vocabulary.

This landmark work, originally published in 1964, integrates the work of hundreds of researchers in individual workplace behavior to explain choice of work, job satisfaction, and job performance. Includes an extensive new introduction that highlights and updates his model for current organization behavior educators and students, as well as professionals who must extract the highest levels of productivity from today's downsized workforces.

http://books.google.com/books?id=kexEAAAAIAAJ&q


http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/classics1985/A1985AKX9100001.pdf

Originally posted in
http://knol.google.com/ k/ vroom-s-vie-model-of-motivation

Ud. 21.9.2024

Pub. 8.12.2011

Cognitive Resources Theory of Leadership

Organizational behavior article

Fiedler, Garcia, and Vecchio have focused attention on the role of intellectual and other cognitive abilities on leader performance in the Cognitive Resources Theory (CRT).
________________________________________________________________



Fiedler, Garcia, and Vecchio have focused attention on the role of intellectual and other cognitive abilities on leader performance in the Cognitive Resources Theory (CRT).

Theory

This theory identifies cognitive resources or variables of a leader that are related to organizational performance.

Intelligence and experience are two key variables in the theory. Intelligence is one's overall effectiveness as measured by standard IQ tests. Experience includes learned behaviors and skills that are acquired over the years by performing various tasks. These two variables can impact teams performance depending on the level of stress present. Stress is defined as the level of interpersonal conflict and concerns about performance with superiors. Stress can also be there  during organizational disruptions as during mergers, reorganizations and transitions.

Hypotheses

The theory provides the following hypotheses:

Leader IQ can contribute positively to team performance when the leader is directive. That is, the group can benefit from the leader's experience only if they follow his/her guidance, especially regarding complex tasks.

Stress moderates the relationship between IQ and performance. That is, intelligence is an asset in low and moderate stress situations; under high stress, intellectual skills can become impaired and detract from or have no effect on a group's performance.

Leader experience is related positively to performance in high-stress situations but not in low-stress ones. That is, under high stress a leader can fall back on tried-and-true experiences they have acquired, and thereby help group performance. In low stress situations, they may rely too much on past experience.

References

Fred Luthans, Organizational Behavior, McGraw-Hill, New York, 9^th Edition, pp.586-87

Web References

 
http://faculty.css.edu/dswenson/web/LEAD/cogresourcetheory.html

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/au-24/fiedler.pdf

Introduction to Organizational Behavior - Online Book

_______________________________________________________________________

Ud. 19.9.2024

Pub. 6.12.2011

Originally posted in
http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/cognitive-resources-theory-of-leadership/  2utb2lsm2k7a/ 43

Introduction to Organizational Behavior - Review Notes

Introduction to Organizational Behavior

Managing the people, or the human resources of an organization is a major challenge in managing organizations. People are the key to working of an organization. Today human resources are recognized as capital by the terms human capital and intellectual capital.

The academic field or subject of organizational behavior may be only 30 years old. But the problems of organizing people existed for a long time. The Old Testament (Exodus 18:13-27) describes the predicament of Moses and the solution given by Jethro his father-in-law regarding resolving day-to-day problems and strategic problems of people through an organizational set up. Day-to-day problems are solved by certain people and Moses is expected to handle environment, set policy for solving day-to-day problems.

Vedas considered as the oldest books on earth, also contain number of statements regarding behavior of people and managing people.

Management is considered to have three major dimensions - technical, conceptual and human.

Technical skills are related to doing things like manufacture, riding a car or doing selling. Conceptual skills are about understanding ideas like demand in the market. It is about making sense of observations. Organizational behavior is a subject that examines behavior of human beings in organizations and it is of help in developing knowledge and skills in the human dimension of management.

Douglas McGregor identified that certain managers assume a set of assumptions regarding people in their work situations. These assumptions include the ideas that employers were basically lazy, are interested in earning money only and if you could make them happy through giving money they would be high performers. But McGregor also found that they are managers who follow different set of assumptions. Employees under those managers were more happy and committed and also more productive. This set of assumptions are called as Theory Y. Organizational behavior, a subject developed out of Hawthorne studies, now has outlined high performance work practices of organizations in the area of human resources. But only one eighth of organizations of are using these practices.

Stanford Professor Jeff Pfeffer, gave the opinion that only half of the managers really believe that human resources are important and they have to be taken proper care of. Only about half of who believe about the importance of human resources take practical steps to implement their concern. And then only half of the managers who start implementing the organizational behavior prescriptions manage the implementation adequately and stick with the practices for a long time and institutionalize them. Thus only about one-eighth of managers are practising high performance human resource related work practices.

Organizational behavior is related to subjects titled as Organization Theory (OT), Organization Development (OD), and Human Resource Management (HRD).

Organization behavior can be defined as the understanding, prediction, and management of human behavior in organizations. (Luthans).

All managers, regardless of their technical function, are human resource managers as they will deals with humans and human behavior in organizations. All managers need to have an understanding of theories of organizational behavior.

Organizational behavior represents the human side of management and there are other sides to running an organization. Processes of production and marketing, information systems etc. are some of them. All the behavioral sciences (anthropology, sociology, and especially psychology) make a significant contribution to the discipline. But organizational psychology and organizational behavior are two different subjects. Organizational structure and management processes are not part of organizational psychology.

The texts on organizational behavior attempt to provide the specific, necessary background, and skills to make the managers effective with human dimension of management.

Theoretical Frameworks or Perspectives in Psychology

Initially psychology was developed using the mental thinking expressed by persons interested in developing the subject of psychology. But John B. Watson differed from that approach and he pioneered the approach in which visible behavior and visible environmental stimulus became the subject of study. B.F. Skinner developed this behavioristic framework further by bringing in the contingent environmental consequences. Behavior is not the outcome of stimulus alone, but it is an outcome determined by the stimulus as well as the contingent environmental consequences of a behavior. This means, there are alternative behaviors for the same stimulus and which behavior is exhibited by a person depends on expected environmental consequences.

Cognitive perspective on psychology have developed by arguing that human beings are capable of thinking and concepts related to thinking must be brought into the subject of psychology whose objective is to explain behavior. Even though, one cannot see or observe thinking, still developing concepts related to thinking and using the concepts to explain behavior is required in psychology. Even though one cannot see or observe gravitation, the concept of gravitation is a useful concept in physics. Similarly, concepts related to thinking or cognition are to be developed and used in psychology was the argument of propopents of congitive approach to psychology.

These perspectives in psychology have influenced the development of organizational behavior.

Important points

Only about one-eighth of managers are practising high performance human resource related work practices.

Stanford Professor Jeff Pfeffer, gave the opinion that only half of the managers really believe that human resources are important and they have to be taken proper care of.

Introduction to Organizational Behavior - Online Book

Ud. 19.9.2024

Pub.  5.12.2011

Stress and Conflict - Review Notes

Stress is excessive psychological and/or physical demands on a person.

Stress

The father of stress studies, Hans Selye, feels that complete freedom from stress is death. Stress is still one of the most important and serious problems facing the field of organizational behavior. Stress can be comprehensively defined as an adaptive response to an external situation that results in physical, psychological, and/or behavioral deviations for organizational participants. The causes of stress can be categorized into extraorganizational, organizational, and group stressors, as well as individual stressors and dispositions. In combination or singly, they represent a tremendous amount of potential stress impinging on today's jobholder-at every level and in every type of organization.

Conflict

In addition to stress, the dynamics of interactive behavior at interpersonal and group levels, and the resulting conflict, play an increasingly important role in the analysis and study of organizational behavior. Conflict and stress are conceptually and practically similar, especially at the individual level. Conflict at the intraindividual level involves frustration, goal conflict, and role conflict and ambiguity. Frustration occurs when goal-directed behavior is blocked. Goal conflict can come about from approach-approach, approach-avoidance, or avoidance-avoidance situations. Role conflict and ambiguity result from a clash in the expectations of the various roles possessed by an individual and can take the forms of role conflict, intrarole conflict, or interrole conflict.

Interpersonal conflict is first examined in terms of its sources (personal differences, information deficiency, role incompatibility, and environmental stress). Then the analysis of interpersonal conflict is made through the response categories of forcing, accommodating, avoiding, compromising, and collaborating. Intergroup conflict has also become important. The antecedents to intergroup conflict are identified as competition for resources, task interdependence, jurisdictional ambiguity, and status struggles.

The effects of stress and intraindividual conflict can create physical problems (heart disease, ulcers, arthritis), psychological problems (mood changes, lowered self-esteem, resentment of supervision, inability to make decisions, and job dissatisfaction), and/or behavioral problems (tardiness, absenteeism, turnover, and accidents).

A number of individual and organizational strategies have been developed to cope with these stress-induced problems. Exercise, relaxation, behavioral self-control techniques, cognitive therapy techniques, and networking are some potentially useful coping strategies that individuals can apply to help combat existing stress. Taking a more proactive approach, management of organizations can try to eliminate stressors, reduce work-family conflict, and implement employee assistance programs (EAPs).

A special concern for organizations today is to deal with the stress resulting from downsizing that affects both those laid off and the survivors. To manage this stress, downsizing organizations must fully communicate and display fair procedural justice for those let go. To counter survivor syndrome, downsized organizations can follow such guidelines as being proactive, acknowledging survivors' emotions, communicating after the cuts, and clarifying new roles. In any case, whether on an individual or an organizational level, steps need to be taken to prevent or reduce the increasing job stress facing today's employees.

Negotiation Skills

Going beyond industrial relations and conflict management, negotiation skills are becoming increasingly recognized as important to effective management and personal success. Traditionally, negotiators have depended on distributed and positional bargaining. Relying on simplistic hard or soft strategies, this traditional approach is now being challenged by more effective alternative negotiation skills. Practical low-risk strategies include flattery, addressing the easy points first, silence, inflated opening position, and "oh, poor me." High-risk strategies include unexpected temper losses, high-balling, Boulwarism, and waiting until the last moment. In addition, alternatives to traditional distributed and positional bargaining are the integrative approach, which uses a problem-solving, collaborative strategy, and the principled, or negotiation on the merits, approach, which emphasizes people, interests, options, and criteria. These negotiation skills go beyond hard versus soft strategies and change the game, leading to a win-win, wise agreement.

Reference

Fred Luthans, Organizational Behavior

Introduction to Organizational Behavior - Online Book

Ud. 19.9.2024

Pub. 5.12.2011

Political Strategies in Use for Acquiring and Using Power in Organizations

Top 100 Management Theory Article

Definition of politics in organizations


Luthans proposes the following definition describing it as a comprehensive definition drawn from the literature.


"Organizational politics consists of intentional acts of influence undertaken by individuals or groups to enhance or protect their self-interest when conflicting courses of action are possible."

Strategies for acquiring and using power for political purposes

Maintain alliances with powerful people


Embrace or demolish


Exhibiting confidence


Divide and rule


Manipulate classified information


Accumulate and use IOUs


Attacking and blaming others


Progress one step at a time


Wait for a crisis


Take counsel with caution


Be aware of critical resources and controlling them


Building personal stature


Withdrawing from petty disputes


Creating a sponsor-protégé relationship

Using research data to support one’s point of view



Reference


Fred Luthans, Organizational Behavior

Ud. 14.9.2024

Pub. 24.11.2011  Post changed from Google Knol to this blog.

Review of Evolution of Basic Management Theory and Functional Management Subjects

Browse  Online MBA Management Theory Handbook

Review of Management

1. Evolution of Management Thought and Theory
2. Evolution of Scientific Management
3. Principles and Laws of Management - Taylor (1903 & 1911) and Gillette & Dana (1909)
4. Science and Philosophy of Management - A. Hamilton Church (1914) & Oliver Sheldon (1924)
5. Principles of Management - Henri Fayol (1916), Koontz & O'Donnell
6. Evolution of Production Management 
7. Evolution of Productivity Management
8. Evolution of Marketing Management
9. Evolution of Human Resource Management
10. Evolution of Organizational Behavior
11. Evolution of Accounting
12. Evolution of Financial Management
13. Evolution of Supply Management and Supply Chain Management
14. Evolution of Business Logistics Management
15. Industrial Management - Evolution of The Subject

Review of selected research papers in various management areas

Basic Management Theory is used in all functional management subjects.

Ud. 20.7.2024

Pub. 21.7.2019

Psychology Today Blog - Prof Raj Raghunathan - UT Austin - Happiness

 

https://happysmarts.com/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/contributors/raj-raghunathan-phd

7 Ways We Miss Out on Happiness (and 3 Ways to Stop)

Even the smart and successful commit these happiness sins.

Posted May 3, 2016

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/sapient-nature/201605/7-ways-we-miss-out-happiness-and-3-ways-stop

Resilience - Self Management

18 November 2019

Resilience is the ability to suffer unexpected negative events without damaging the oneself mentally and physically to a significant extent and then bounce back to normal condition.

People with resilience also feel distress when the negative event happens and their hopes and plans for a different outcome do not materialise. But failure in many walks of life are possible and can happen at the worst expected moment.



In Mayo Clinic's article on resilience there is a tip.

Make every day meaningful.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/resilience-training/in-depth/resilience/art-20046311


You had an awful day till now. You feel sick because of what others have done and what you have done in response. But still if you want to do something to get of our of that sick feeling try and make your day still meaningful. Do something now different that may make you feel happy. Focus on something else. Try forget the day's transactions and relationships. They happened earlier. Still you achieved somethings. Today again try to do something good.

https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rendezvous-resilience-research-note-business-leaders-policy-karajagi/

Ud. 15.7.2023

Pub. 18.11.2019

Know Yourself - Your Personality Profie and Modify as Needed

 

Know yourself to become a better leader

February 9, 2023 | 5 min read

By Marcia McNutt, PhD

Dr Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academy of Sciences, writes about how she has used personality profiling tools to develop as a leader

https://beta.elsevier.com/connect/know-yourself-to-become-a-better-leader

Empathy - Introduction

 

Etymology

The English word empathy is derived from the Ancient Greek ἐμπάθεια (empatheia, meaning "physical affection or passion"). That word derives from ἐν (en, "in, at") and πάθος (pathos, "passion" or "suffering"). 

Theodor Lipps adapted the German aesthetic term Einfühlung ("feeling into") to psychology in 1903,[7] and Edward B. Titchener translated Einfühlung into English as "empathy" in 1909.

 In modern Greek εμπάθεια may mean, depending on context, prejudice, malevolence, malice, or hatred.

Business and management

In the 2009 book Wired to Care, strategy consultant Dev Patnaik argues that a major flaw in contemporary business practice is a lack of empathy inside large corporations. He states that without empathy people inside companies struggle to make intuitive decisions and often get fooled into believing they understand their business if they have quantitative research to rely upon. He says that companies can create a sense of empathy for customers, pointing to Nike, Harley-Davidson, and IBM as examples of "Open Empathy Organizations". Such companies, he claims, see new opportunities more quickly than competitors, adapt to change more easily, and create workplaces that offer employees a greater sense of mission in their jobs. 

In the 2011 book The Empathy Factor, organizational consultant Marie Miyashiro similarly argues for bringing empathy to the workplace, and suggests Nonviolent Communication as an effective mechanism for achieving this. 

In studies by the Management Research Group, empathy was found to be the strongest predictor of ethical leadership behavior out of 22 competencies in its management model, and empathy was one of the three strongest predictors of senior executive effectiveness. 

A study by the Center for Creative Leadership found empathy to be positively correlated to job performance among employees as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/empathy

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/empathy/

https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/empathy-in-the-workplace-a-tool-for-effective-leadership/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2021/09/19/empathy-is-the-most-important-leadership-skill-according-to-research  

https://dictionary.apa.org/empathy

Emotional Intelligence - Subject Update

REVIEW article

Front. Psychol., 28 May 2019

Sec. Emotion Science

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01116

The Measurement of Emotional Intelligence: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Researchers and Practitioners

Peter J. O'Connor, Andrew Hill, Maria Kaya, and Brett Martin

Emotional Intelligence (EI) emerged in the 1990s as an ability based construct analogous to general Intelligence. However, over the past 3 decades two further, conceptually distinct forms of EI have emerged (often termed “trait EI” and “mixed model EI”) along with a large number of psychometric tools designed to measure these forms. Currently more than 30 different widely-used measures of EI have been developed. Although there is some clarity within the EI field regarding the types of EI and their respective measures, those external to the field are faced with a seemingly complex EI literature, overlapping terminology, and multiple published measures. In this paper we seek to provide guidance to researchers and practitioners seeking to utilize EI in their work. We first provide an overview of the different conceptualizations of EI. We then provide a set of recommendations for practitioners and researchers regarding the most appropriate measures of EI for a range of different purposes. We provide guidance both on how to select and use different measures of EI. We conclude with a comprehensive review of the major measures of EI in terms of factor structure, reliability, and validity.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01116/full

How to Improve Your Emotional Intelligence

An overview of the importance of Emotional Intelligence for your own success and the success of your organization.

Harvard Professional Development

Aug 26, 2019

https://professional.dce.harvard.edu/blog/how-to-improve-your-emotional-intelligence/

Books on Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence: Learn to get the most of your emotions

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1547511664

Juan Moises de la Serna - 2017 - ‎Preview

Building Emotional Intelligence: How To Control Your Emotions

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=VM1CDwAAQBAJ

Thi Tamara - 2017 - ‎Preview

Emotional Intelligence At Work

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=HNFCDwAAQBAJ

Miku Kui - 2017 - ‎Preview

Emotional Intelligence: Journey to the Centre of Your Self

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=178535857X

Jane Wharam - 2017 - ‎Preview - ‎More editions

Jane Wharam s book, Emotional Intelligence, provides a giant step towards emotional mastery.

Emotional Intelligence: why E.Q is the new I.Q

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=gqc_DwAAQBAJ

Jimmy Lama - 2017 - ‎Preview

HBR Guides to Emotional Intelligence at Work Collection (5 Books) ...

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1633694186

Harvard Business Review, ‎Karen Dillon, ‎Amy Gallo - 2017 - ‎Preview

Packed with how-to essentials from leading experts, the HBR Guides provide smart answers to your most pressing work challenges.

Emotional Intelligence

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1387341421

Sunshower Printables - 2017 - ‎Preview

Harvard Business Review Everyday Emotional Intelligence: Big Ideas.

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1633694127

Harvard Business Review - 2017 - ‎Preview

And it's not innate--it's a skill that all of us can improve. 

Emotional Intelligence for IT Professionals.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=5JlGDwAAQBAJ

Emilia M. Ludovino - 2017 - ‎Preview

Emotional Intelligence

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1473654386

Christine Wilding - 2017 - ‎Preview 

This book combines detailed, practical application of Emotional Intelligence principles along with insights from the fields of mindfulness and positive psychology to create a a powerful tool for change which you can use right away.

Making Sense of Emotion: Innovating Emotional Intelligence

https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=1442275898

M. John D. Ninivaggi - 2017 - ‎Preview

Making Sense of Emotion grasps the Yale integrative emotional intelligence ability model. 

Adding key missing elements, this book unlocks its potential to trigger “emotion performance utilization” in real life and real-time.

Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which Do You Need to Work On?

by Daniel Goleman and Richard E. Boyatzis

HBR, Feb 2017

https://hbr.org/2017/02/emotional-intelligence-has-12-elements-which-do-you-need-to-work-on

Four Domains - 12 Elements

Self Awareness

Emotional Self Awareness

Self Management

Emotional self control

Adaptibility

Achivement orientation

Positive outlook

Social Awareness

Empathy

Organizational awareness

Relationship Management

Influence

Coach and mentor

Conflict management

Teamwork

2017

Prof Marc Brackett
Google Talks
6 July 2017

____________________


_____________________




2013


Prof Marc Brackett - Yale University
____________________

____________________

Updated on 19.8.2022,  23.4.2022, 30.7.2018

Behavioral Performance Management - Revision Notes

Behavioral Performance Management Model

Identification of Performance Behaviors
Measurement of the Behavior
Functional Analysis of the Behavior
Development of Intervention Strategy
Evaluation to ensure Performance

The whole text on organizational behavior is concerned with the what and how of managing and leading people for high performance in today's organizations.

Organizational behavior is a science that explains how people behave. In a changing world, the science of behavior must remain the bedrock, the starting place for every decision we make, every new technology we apply, and every initiative we employ in our efforts to bring out the best in people.

In this chapter, an over view of learning theory and principles are first discussed as they act as the foundation for presenting the behavioral management practice.

Learning Process - Change in Behavior

All organizational behavior is either directly or indirectly affected by learning. For example, a worker's skill, a manager's attitude, an assistant's motivation, or a doctor's mode of dress are all learned.  Hence managers of organizational behavior have to understand the learning mechanisms to guide employees to change their behavior. Learning is defined as change in behavior.

In learning theories, behavioristic theories, cognitive theories, social learning and social cognitive learning theories are discussed in the chapter. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are behavioristic theories.

In operant conditioning, the organism must operate on the environment in a right way or appropriate way to get the desired reward.

Working is the operation a worker has to do to get food clothing and shelter for himself and his family.

Cognitive Learning

Tolman proposed cognitive learning.

Kohler discovered insight learning (insight is not based on experience)

Social Learning

Learning takes place via vicarious, or modeling, and self-control processes.

Behavioral Dimension Performance Management Process 

1. Identification of Performance Behaviors

Critical behavior that contribute to job performance in the organization are to be identified

2. Measurement of the Behavior

A baseline measure is obtained by determining by observing or by analysis of records the number of times the identified behavior is occurring or not occurring.

3. Functional Analysis of the Behavior

A functional analysis identifies both the antecedents (A) and consequences (C) of the target behavior (B), or simply stated, an A-B-C analysis is performed.

The antecedent cues that emit or elicit the behavior, and sometimes control it, and the consequences that are currently maintaining the behavior must be identified and understood before an effective intervention strategy can be developed.  If the employee cannot do the behavior even if he wants to do it, then intervention has to be in antecedent variables. If the employee can do but not doing it, then the intervention has to be in consequence variables.

4. Development of Intervention Strategy

The strategies to be used strengthen functional behaviors and weaken dysfunctional behaviors are positive reinforcement and punishment-positive reinforcement.

Under positive control, people come to work in order to be recognized for making a contribution to their department's goal of perfect attendance, and they keep busy irrespective of the supervisor's presence to receive incentive pay or recognition

If punishment is to be used or used, the supervisor must take the first opportunity to positively reinforce the alternative behavior.

5. Evaluation to ensure Performance

Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation to a behavior modification initiative are important. They are reaction, learning, behavioral change, and performance improvement.

Step 1: Identification of Performance Behaviors

The goal of the first step of O.B. Mod. is to identify the critical behaviors—the 5 to 10 percent of the behaviors that may account for up to 70 or 80 percent of the performance in the area in question.

The process of identifying critical behaviors can be carried out in a couple of ways. One approach is to have the person closest to the job in question—the immediate supervisor or the actual jobholder—determine the critical behaviors. Another approach to identifying critical behaviors would be to conduct a systematic behavioral audit by internal staff specialists and/or outside consultants. The audit would systematically analyze each job in question, in the manner that jobs are analyzed using job analysis techniques commonly employed in human resource management. In this approach  the jobholder, his immediate supervisor, and others related provide inputs. 

 

Regardless of the method used, there are certain guidelines that can be helpful in identifying critical behaviors. First, only direct performance behaviors are included. Only direct performance behaviors such as absenteeism or attendance, tardiness or promptness, or, most importantly, doing or not doing a particular task or procedure that leads to quantity and/or quality outcomes play the major role in O.B. Mod.  The behavior has to be measurable such as not being at the workstation, being tardy when returning from breaks, spending time at the water cooler, disrupting coworkers, playing computer

games or surfing for personal reasons, and even socializing with coworkers face-to-face or

with others online. However, for a behavior to be identified as a critical behavior appropriate for O.B. Mod., there must be a positive answer to the questions: (1) Can it be directly measured? and (2) Does it have a significant impact on a performance outcome?

The behaviors causing problems must be properly identified, or the subsequent steps of O.B. Mod. become meaningless for attaining the overall goal of

performance improvement.

Step 2: Measurement of the Behavior

After the performance behaviors have been identified in step 1, they are measured. A baseline measure is obtained by determining (either by observing and counting or by extracting from existing records) the number of times that the identified behavior is occurring under existing conditions.  The purpose of the baseline measure is to provide objective frequency data on the critical behavior. A baseline frequency count is an operational definition of the strength of the behavior under existing conditions. It is important to realize that measures are taken after the intervention as well. 

Step 3: Functional Analysis of the Behavior

Once the performance behavior has been identified and a baseline measure has been obtained, a functional analysis is performed of the critical behaviors finalized on the basis of baseline data. A functional analysis identifies both the antecedents (A) and consequences (C) of the target behavior (B), or, simply stated, an A-B-C analysis is performed. As discussed under behavioristic learning theory and operant conditioning, both the antecedent and the consequent environments are vital to the understanding, prediction, and control of human behavior in organizations.  In the A-B-C functional analysis, A is the antecedent cue, B is the performance behavior identified in step 1, and C is the contingent consequence. 

They know how to do the desired performance behavior and there is all the necessary support to do it, but there are not reinforcing consequences and therefore the behavior is not occurring. This lack of reinforcing consequences is the major problem and challenge facing behavioral management. 

Step 4: Development of an Intervention Strategy

The goal of the intervention is to strengthen and accelerate functional performance behaviors and/or weaken and decelerate dysfunctional behaviors. There are several strategies that can be used, but the main ones are positive reinforcement and punishment–positive reinforcement.

A Positive Reinforcement Strategy

Positive, not negative, reinforcement is recommended as an effective intervention strategy for

O.B. Mod. Under positive control, the person behaves in a certain way in order to

receive the desired consequence. Under positive control, people come to work in order to be

recognized for making a contribution to their department’s goal of perfect attendance, or they

keep busy whether the supervisor is around or not in order to receive incentive pay or because

they get social recognition/attention and feedback for their good work. Positive control through

a positive reinforcement intervention strategy is much more effective and longer lasting than

negative control. It creates a much healthier and more productive organizational climate.

Besides money, many positive reinforcers that are also very powerful, readily available to all behavioral managers, and cost nothing are the social reinforcers (attention and recognition) and performance feedback. These reinforcers (money, recognition, and feedback) can be and, as has been demonstrated through research, have been used as an effective O.B. Mod. strategy to improve employee performance. In fact, the most comprehensive evidence shown in Figure 12.5 indicates that when these three reinforcers are used in combination in the intervention, they produce a stronger (synergistic) effect and probability of success than any of the reinforcers used by themselves, the sum of the individual

effects, or the combination of any two of the interventions.

A Punishment–Positive Reinforcement Strategy

So many negative side effects such as hate and revenge accompany the use of punishment that it should be avoided if at all possible. Punished behavior tends to be only temporarily suppressed; for example, if a supervisor reprimands an associate for some dysfunctional behavior, the behavior will decrease in the presence of the supervisor but will surface again when the supervisor is absent. In addition, a punished person becomes very anxious and uptight; reliance on punishment may have a disastrous impact

on employee satisfaction and commitment and create unnecessary stress.

If punishment is deemed necessary and given, the desirable alternative behavior (for example, safe behavior) should be positively reinforced at the first opportunity. Use of this combination strategy will cause the alternative desirable behavior to begin to replace the undesirable behavior in the person’s

behavioral repertoire. Punishment should never be used alone as an O.B. Mod. intervention. It has to be supported by positive reinforcement support quickly.  If punishment is absolutely necessary, it should only be used in combination with positive reinforcement of the desirable alternative behavior.

Step 5: Evaluation to Ensure Performance Improvement

O.B. Mod. attempts to meet the credibility and accountability problems head on by

including evaluation as an actual part of the process. In this last step of the approach, the

need for Kirkpatrick’s well-known four levels of evaluation (reaction, learning, behavioral

change, and performance improvement) is stressed. 

The reaction level refers simply to whether the people using the approach and those having it used on them like it. If O.B. Mod. is well received and there is a positive reaction to it, there is a better chance of its being used effectively. In addition, reaction evaluations are helpful because (1) positive

reactions help ensure organizational support, (2) they can provide information for planning

future programs, (3) favorable reactions can enhance the other levels of evaluation (learning, behavioral change, and performance improvement), and (4) they can provide useful

comparative data between units and across time.

The second level of evaluation is learning, which is especially important when first

implementing an O.B. Mod. approach. Do the people using the approach understand the

theoretical background and underlying assumptions and the meaning of, and reasons

for, the steps in the model? If they do not, the model will again tend to be used ineffectively.

The third level is aimed at behavioral change. Are behaviors actually being changed? The

charting of behaviors started in step 2 of the O.B. Mod. process gives objective data for this

level of evaluation. 

The fourth and final level, performance improvement, is the most important.   “Hard” measures

(for example, data on quantity and quality, turnover, absenteeism, customer complaints,

customer satisfaction, employee grievances, safety, length of patient stay, number of clients

served, sales revenue, and rate of return on investment) and scientific methodology are used

whenever possible to systematically evaluate the impact of O.B. Mod. on performance.

Introduction to Organizational Behavior - Online Book

May - Management Knowledge Revision - Cost and Management Accounting and Organizational Behavior

Updated on 25.5.2022,  23 May 2017, 17 July 2014