Personality Dimensions

The word personality stems from the Latin word persona, which referred to a theatrical mask worn by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities.Almost everyday we describe and assess the personalities of the people around us.While our informal assessments of personality tend to focus more on individuals, personality psychologists instead use conceptions of personality that can apply to everyone.

A brief definition would be that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique.Although no single definition is acceptable to all personality theorists, we can say that personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person's behavior."(Feist and Feist, 2009) 

Dimensions of Personality 

Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism refers to build acceptance of authority. Authoritarian people believe in obedience and respect for authority. They rightly adhere to conventional values, are generally conservative endorse strong parental control in keeping the family close and together are concerned with toughness and power, are close minded and are generally less educated.

 Because of their beliefs in the hierarchical order they make good followers, work better under directive supervision and are more productive within Authoritarian organizational structure.

Bureaucratic Personality

A Bureaucratic person differs from an Authoritarian person in that his respect of authority is not total and blind. But is based on respect from organizational rules and regulations. A bureaucratic person values subordination, rules, conformity, and orderly process in the organization and impersonal and formal relationships. They are generally not innovative, do not take risks and are at ease in following established directives. Bureaucratic mangers are better supervisors in type of works that are routine repetitive and procedural.

Machiavellianism

Machiavellianism personality emerges in manipulating others for purely personal gains and gaining and keeping control of others. People with Machiavellianism have high level of self-confidence and high self-esteem. They are cool and calculating and have no hesitation in using others or talking advantages of others in orders in order to serve their own goals. They believe that ends justify means and do not feel guilty in using unethical means to serve their own interest. They are skilled in influencing others and they approach the situations thoughtfully and logically. They would not hesitate to lie if necessary and they are not easily swayed by a sense of friendship, trust or loyalty. They are especially successful in exploiting structured situations and vulnerable people.

Locus of Control

Locus of control means whether people believe that they are in control of events or events control them. Those who have an internal sense of control believe that they control and shape the course of events in their life’s, those who have external locus of control tend to believe the events occur purely by chance or because of factors beyond their own control. Former categories of people seek opportunities for advancement, and rely more on their abilities and judgements at work – while later category of people remain mostly inactive and allow the events occur on their own.

Introvert and Extrovert Personalities

Introvert persons are basically shy, prefer to be alone and have difficulty in communicating. Introverts are behaviourally described as quite, introspective, intellectual, well ordered, emotionally inexpressive and value oriented – prefers small group of intimate friends and plans well ahead. Extroverts are outgoing, objective, and aggressive and relate well with people. Introverts are behaviorally described as ‘sociable, lively, impulsive, seeking novelty and change, carefree and emotionally expressive’.

Type A and B Personality

Personality has been grouped into two categories denoted by alphabets A and B Type A people feel a sense of time, urgency, or highly achievement oriented exhibit a competitive drive, and are impatient when their work is slowed for any reason. Such people are more to heart attack. On the other hand type B people are easy going do not have urgency for time and do not experience the competitive drive.

Self Esteem

Self-esteem is a measure of self-confidence and respect for ones abilities and motivation. Self-esteem is positively related to assertiveness, independence and creativity. High self-esteem people are very friendly, affectionate, find it easy to form interpersonal attachment and find good in other people. Low self-esteem people are usually critical of others, are generally depressed and blame others for their own failures.

Emerging Challenges in the Field of OB

Organisations are deeply affected by the external environment. Organisations need to maintain, monitor and adjust to changes in accordance to the environment in which it functions. External environment keeps changing continuously over the years, however the changes in the past decade and the decades to come, are more profound than others. These changes would require corporate leader and all employees to adjust to new challenges. 

1. Workforce Diversity:

               Diversity includes differences in the psychological characteristics of employees, including personalities, beliefs, values and attitudes.This deep-level diversity Differences in the psychological characteristics of employees, including personalities, beliefs, values and attitudes. isn't as visible as surface-level diversity, but it is evident in a person's decisions, statements and actions.Diversity if managed positively enhances creativity and innovation in organization as well as ensures better decision–making by providing different perspectives on problems. When not managed, diversity leads to increased turnover, heightened inter-personal conflict and more strained communication.Managers must learn to respect diversity and live with diverse behaviours. 

2. Changed Employee Expectation:

               Traditional allurements such as job security, attractive remuneration housing does not attract, retain and motivate today’s workforce. Employees demand empowerment and expect equality of status with the management. Empowerment results in redefining jobs, both from the shop floor as well as the boardrooms. Expectations of equality break up the traditional relationship between employer and employee – top to bottom.

3. Globalization:

             Globalisation Economic, social and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world. Growing internationalization of business has its impact on people management.Although businesses have traded goods across borders for centuries, the degree of globalisation today is unprecedented because information technology and transportation systems allow a much more intense level of connectivity and interdependence across the planet. 

          Globalisation offers numerous benefits to organisations in terms of larger markets, lower costs, and greater access to knowledge and innovation. At the same time, there is considerable debate about whether globalisation benefits developing nations, and whether it is primarily responsible for increasing work intensification, as well as reducing job security and work–life balance in developed countries. To face this challenge the management must be flexible and pro-active. 

4. Improving Productivity and Quality:

               As organizations are exposed to competition, managers are seriously thinking of improving quality and productivity. In this context managers are implementing programmes like TQM (Total Quality Management) and Re-engineering programmes that requires employee involvement. TQM is a philosophy of management that is inspired by constant attainment of customer satisfaction of all organizational process.

               Re-engineering means radically re-building and redesigning those processes by which we create value for customers.

5. Changing Demographics Of Workforce:

               Combine globalisation with emerging workforce diversity, and add in new information technology. This lead to incredible changes in employment relationships.A few decades ago, most (although not all) employees in India and Pakistan and similar cultures would finish their workday after eight or nine hours and could separate their personal time from the workday.There were no smart phones and no internet connections to keep staff tethered to work on a 24/7 schedule.Most competitors were located in the same country, so they had similar work practices and labour costs. Today, work hours are longer employees experience more work-related stress, and there is growing evidence that family and personal relations are suffering. The emerging issues of this new century is for more work–life balance;- The degree to which a person minimises conflict between work and nonwork demands. Another employment relationship trend brought by means of information technology is virtual work, in which employees use information technology to perform their jobs away from the traditional physical workplace.

Various Definition of Management

There is no common agreement among its experts and practitioners about its precise definition. Although management as a discipline is more than 80 years old, many management experts have tried to define management. But, no definition of management has been universally accepted. Yet, a definition of management is necessary for its teaching and research, and also for improvement in its practice.

Some of the leading definitions of management: (In no specific Order)

Louis Allan, “Management is what a manager does.”

Peter F. Drucker defines, "management is an organ; organs can be described and defined only through their functions". The Principles of Management.

According to Terry, "Management is not people; it is an activity like walking, reading, swimming or running. People who perform Management can be designated as members, members of Management or executive leaders."

Ralph C. Davis has defined Management as, "Management is the function of executive leadership anywhere."

According to Mc Farland, "Management is defined for conceptual, theoretical and analytical purposes as that process by which managers create, direct, maintain and operate purposive organization through systematic, co-ordinated co-operative human effort."

Henry Fayol, "To manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to compound, to co-ordinate and to control." Industrial and General Administration

Harold Koontz says, "Management is the art of getting things done through and within formally organized group." The Management Theory Jungle.

Howard M. Carlisle, "Management is defined as the process by which the elements of a group are integrated, coordinated and/or utilized so as to effectively and efficiently achieve organizational objectives."

William Spriegal, "Management is that function of an enterprise which concerns itself with direction and control of the various activities to attain business objectives. Management is essentially an executive function; it deals with the active direction of the human effort."

Kimball and Kimball, "Management embraces all duties and functions that pertain to the initiation of an enterprise, its financing, the establishment of all major policies, the provision of all necessary equipment, the outlining of the general form of organization under which the enterprise is to operate and the selection of the principal officers."

Sir Charles Reynold, "Management is the process of getting things done through the agency of a community. The functions of management are the handling of community with a view of fulfilling the purposes for which it exists."

E.F.L. Brech, "Management is concerned with seeing that the job gets done, its tasks all centre on planning and guiding the operations that are going on in the enterprise."

Koontz and O'Donnel, "Management is the creation and maintenance of an internal environment in an enterprise where individuals, working in groups, can perform efficiently and effectively toward the attainment of group goals. It is the art of getting the work done through and with people in formally organized groups."

James Lundy, "Management is principally a task of planning, coordinating, motivating and controlling the efforts of other towards a specific objective. It involves the combining of the traditional factors of production land, labour, capital in an optimum manner, paying due attention, of course, to the particular goals of the organization."

Wheeler, "Management is centered in the administrators or managers of the firm who integrate men, material and money into an effective operating limit."

Theo Haimann, "Management principles are universal. It may be applied to any kind of enterprises, where the human efforts are coordinated."

J.D. Mooney and A.C. Railey, "Management is the art of directing and inspiring people."

J.N. Schulze, "Management is the force which leads guides and directs an organization in the accomplishment of a pre-determined object."

Oliver Scheldon, "Management proper is the function in industry concerned in the execution of policy, within the limits set up by the administration and the employment of the organization for the particular objectives set before it."

Keith and Gubellini, "Management is the force that integrates men and physical plant into an effective operating unit."

Donald J. Clough, "Management is the art and science of decision-making and leadership".

Ralph, C. Davix, "Management is the function of executive leadership anywhere."

Association of Mechanical Engineers, U.S.A., "Management is the art and science of preparing, organizing and directing human efforts applied to control the forces and utilize the materials of nature for the benefit to man."

F.W. Taylor, "Management implies substitution of exact scientific investigation and knowledge for the old individual judgment or opinion, in all matters in the establishment."

Newman, summer and Warren, "The job of Management is to make co-operative endeavour to function properly. A manager is one who gets things done by working with people and other resources in order to reach an objective."

G.E. Milward, "Management is the process and the agency through which the execution of policy is planned and supervised."

Ordway Tead, "Management is the process and agency which directs and guides the operations of an organization in the realizing of established aims."

Mary Parker Follett defines management as the "art of getting things done through people". This definition calls attention to the fundamental difference between a manager and other personnel of an organization. A manager is one who contributes to the organization’s goals indirectly by directing the efforts of others – not by performing the task himself. On the other hand, a person who is not a manager makes his contribution to the organization’s goals directly by performing the task himself.

George R. Terry. He defines management as a distinct process "consisting of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and other resources".

Organisational Behaviour - Definition

With the advent of globalization, Organisations are undergoing unprecedented and revolutionary change. From the speed of Decision Making, Technological and Global Perspective pressures, Mergers and Acquisitions, the need to rethink business processes and alliances, Organisations are constantly faced with shifting demands. All these challenges complicate their task of managing an organization. If the managers are to facilitate the smooth functioning of their organization, they have to effectively manage the most important resource available to them, i.e., the human resource. This is where OB plays an important role. OB is a study that helps managers in understanding and analyzing the nature of an organization’s workgroups and the individuals within a work group.

What does Organizational Behaviour study of Organisation

The study of organizational behaviour focuses on three characteristics aspects of organization. These are behaviour, structure and process.

Behaviour: Organizations are created by people to benefit people. In order to understand organization behaviour we must be able to understand the behaviour of individuals. The study of perception, job satisfaction, motivation and learning are all concerned with the behaviour of individuals. The study of behaviour includes how individuals respond to situations exposed to them.

Structure: The term structure refers to the fixed and formal relationships of the organization such as how jobs are assigned to various departments, who reports to whom and how the jobs and departments are arranged in an organizational chart. The structure of an organization has a large influence on behaviour of individuals working and the effectiveness of the organization.

Processes: The term processes in the context of organization refers to the interactions among the members of the organization. Communication, leadership and power are examples of some of the major organizational process.

Defining Organizational behavior 

Keith Davis  defines Organizational Behaviour “An academic discipline concerned with understanding human behaviour, describing human behaviour”. OB is not a discipline like other disciplines. It is an integration of several areas of knowledge such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, political science and economics.

According to Stephen Robbins;“OB is a field of study that investigates the impact of individual, groups and structure have on behaviour within the organisation”. He adds that the purpose of this study is to apply this knowledge and improve the organisational efficiency.

 “ Organizational behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour in organizations “.Fred Luthens

 “ Study and application of knowledge how people act or behave within organization. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the behaviour of people in all types of organizations such as business, government, schools and services organizations “.Davis and Newstorm 

In simple terms Organizational behavior is an academic discipline concerned with describing, understanding, predicting, and controlling human behavior in an organizational environment. It attempts to apply this knowledge in the effective management of human resources in an organization. OB is a discipline that studies the effect of organizational structure and design, and the changes in the organizational environment on the behavior of the workforce.

Source: Organisational Behaviour – Stephen Robbins

Emergence of E-Organization

E- Commerce: It refers to the business operations involving electronic mode of transactions. It encompasses presenting products on websites and filling order. The vast majority of articles and media attention given to using the Internet in business are directed at on-line shopping. In this process, the marketing and selling of goods and services are being carried out over the Internet. In e-commerce, the following activities are being taken place quite often - the tremendous numbers of people who are shopping on the Internet, business houses are setting up websites where they can sell goods, conducting the following transactions such as getting paid and fulfilling orders. It is a dramatic change in the way a company relates to its customers. At present e-commerce is exploding.

E-business: It refers to the full breadth of activities included in a successful Internet based enterprise. As such, e-commerce is a subset of e-business. E-business includes developing strategies for running Internet-based companies, creating integrated supply chains, collaborating with partners to electronically coordinate design and production, identifying a different kind of leader to run a ‘virtual’ business, finding skilled people to build and operate intranets and websites, and running the back room or the administrative side. E-business includes the creation of new markets and customers, but it’s also concerned with the optimum ways to combine Computers, the Web and Application Software. A sizeable number of multinational corporations are selling goods and services via the Internet.

Growth rate of e-business: The application of Internet operations are initially covers a small part of the business. At this point, their e-commerce operations are secondary to their traditional business. An increasingly popular application of e-business is merely using the Internet to better manage an ongoing business. Later, there are millions of firms that are now selling anything over the Internet, but they are using e-business applications to improve communications with internal and external stakeholders and to better perform traditional business functions. Some companies are putting maximum effort in improving its internal efficiency and providing support to its wide-reaching dealer network and to on-line sellers by crating a shared and integrated network. The companies wanted to make creasing

E-Organizations: This embraces e-commerce and e-business. State and central governments, municipal corporations are using the Internet for extending all the public utility services more efficiently through internet.

The growing use of the Internet, tablet devices, and smart phones coupled with larger consumer confidence will see that eCommerce will continue to evolve and expand.