By Prof.

Neha Gupte
 Work stress: Meaning of stress, Stressors, Sources of Stress, Types
of stress

 Stress Management strategies

 Concept of Conflict, Functional versus Dysfunctional Conflict

 Five stage Conflict Process, Types of Conflict (Task Conflict,

Relationship Conflict, Process Conflict, Personality Conflict,
Intergroup Conflict)

 Managing Conflict (Styles for Handling Dysfunctional Conflict,

Third-Party Interventions)
 Job stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional
responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not
match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Job
stress can lead to poor health and even injury.

 Work-related stress is the response people may have when

presented with work demands and pressures that are not
matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge
their ability to cope.

 Stress occurs in a wide range of work circumstances but is often

made worse when employees feel they have little support from
supervisors and colleagues, as well as little control over work
processes.
 A stressor is a situation or event that causes us to feel stressed.
They can be internal or external factors, like our memories,
environment, or the people around us.
 Acute stress: Acute stress is a very short-term type of stress that
can either be positive or more distressing; this is the type of stress
we most often encounter in day-to-day life.

 Chronic stress: Chronic stress is stress that seems never-ending and

inescapable, like the stress of a bad marriage or an extremely taxing
job; chronic stress can also stem from traumatic experiences and
childhood trauma.

 Episodic acute stress: Episodic acute stress is acute stress that

seems to run uncontrolled and be a way of life, creating a life of
ongoing distress.

 Eustress: Eustress is fun and exciting. It's known as a positive type

of stress that can keep you energized. It's associated with surges of
adrenaline, such as when you are skiing or racing to meet a
deadline.
 Offer a Flexible Work Environment

 Establish Different Work Spaces in the Office

 Introduce an Employee Wellness Program

 Learn to recognize the signs

 Try to get regular exercise

 Take care of yourself

 Practice mindfulness in your life

 Conflict’ means disagreement, opposition of any kind, argument,
antagonism or hatred between two persons or groups or among
many persons or groups.

 People working in an organisation may have difference of values,

ideas, opinions, attitudes, objectives, preferences and
personalities.

 Conflict may arise between individuals, between groups, between

individuals and groups, between individuals and the management
personnel or between groups and the management personnel, etc.

 Example, A, an individual, does not perform his duties properly. B,

the manager of the department, warns him on the issue. A becomes
annoyed and a conflict arises between A and B.
 Stage One- Latent: A conflict has an early quiet stage. In conflict
resolution theory it is called the latent stage, meaning the
participants are not yet aware of the conflict, but there may be
hidden frustrations and they may surface at any time. Sometimes
these brewing or buried conflicts never find their way to the open
air. Other times the conflict is looming and evident. And sometimes
conflicts come without warning.

 Stage Two- Perceived: Once a conflict develops and it is known, it

goes through the perceived. In the perceived stage, one or more
parties become aware of actual conflict. Note that there may be no
conditions of latent conflict present in the perceived stage. In that
case, conflict may be resolved by simply improving communications
between affected parties. A caveat is that if parties’ positions are in
opposition, open communication can make the conflict worse.
 Stage Three- Felt: The felt stage of conflict concentrates on
emotions coming into play for affected parties. In other words,
two people are aware that they’re having a conflict in the
workplace. It contributes to feelings of tension, stress, and
anxiety.

 Stage Four- Manifest: In the manifest stage, conflict is out in the

open. One way to define conflict in this stage is to say it is
behavior that frustrates the goals of another participant. In other
words, one person consciously blocks another person’s goal
achievement.
 Stage Five- Aftermath: The outcome of the conflict can range
from a fully positive resolution to the alternate; a relationship
dissolution. In conflicts that are a one time event, this may be
the end. For those with ongoing relationships this process looks
less like a singular mountain, like the figure above and more like
an ongoing loop.
 Intrapersonal Conflict: The intrapersonal conflict is conflict
experienced by a single individual, when his or her own goals, values or
roles diverge. A lawyer may experience a conflict of values when he
represents a defendant he knows to be guilty of the charges brought
against him. It might be a role conflict where a worker might have to
choose between dinner with clients or dinner with family.

 Interpersonal Conflict: As you might guess, interpersonal conflict is

conflict due to differences in goals, value, and styles between two or
more people who are required to interact. As this type of conflict is
between individuals, the conflicts can get very personal.
 Intragroup Conflict: Intragroup conflict is conflict within a group
or team, where members conflict over goals or procedures. For
instance, a board of directors may want to take a risk to launch a
set of products on behalf of their organization, in spite of
dissenting opinions among several members. Intragroup conflict
takes place among them as they argue the pros and cons of
taking such a risk.

 Intergroup Conflict: Intergroup conflict is when conflict between

groups inside and outside an organization disagree on various
issues. Conflict can also arise between two groups within the
same organization, and that also would be considered intergroup
conflict.
 Task Conflict: In a business or organization, task conflict occurs
when two parties are unable to move forward on a task due to
differing needs, behaviors or attitudes. It can be conflict over
organizational policies and procedures, distribution of resources
or the method or means of completing a task.

 Relationship conflict: It comes from differences in personality,

interaction style, taste, ways of thinking, and differences of
opinion. In a business environment, people who would not
interact together usually are thrown together to work on a team
where they must get along.
 Process Conflict: A process conflict can be seen as similar to a
task conflict, but process is disagreeing about how the project or
task is done. In a process conflict, for example, teammates might
disagree about whether a decision will be made by group
consensus or a single individual.

 Personality conflicts: These are perhaps one of the most

challenging areas of corrective action. It is not uncommon to
have employees who simply don't get along well with one another
or to have one employee who doesn't seem able to get along with
anyone, including yourself.
 The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) provides five
modes of responding to conflict: competing, collaborating,
compromising, avoiding, and accommodating.

 Competing mode involves asserting your own agenda at the expense

of others and is useful in situations requiring quick decisions, safety
concerns, or enforcing rules.

 Collaborating mode aims to satisfy both sides and find a win-win

solution, and it is useful for difficult situations, merging solutions, and
encouraging discussions.

 Compromising mode seeks a solution that partially satisfies both

sides, reducing tension and allowing relatively quick decisions when
collaboration and competition fail.
 Avoiding mode delays addressing the conflict and is used when

the issue is not serious or when a bigger issue requires more time

and effort to solve.

 Accommodating mode prioritizes the needs of the other side,

mending relationships and maintaining a positive environment,

and is useful for quick resolutions or valuing relationships over

outcomes.
 Introduction, Definition of Personality -Determinants of
Personality

 Personality Theories -Personality and Organization

 Personality Structure -Personality and Behavior

 Ego State, Johari window- Transactional Analysis

 Personality can be defined as those inner psychological characteristics that both

determine and reflect how a person think and act in an environment.

 The inner characteristics of personality are specific qualities, attributes, traits, factors

and mannerism that distinguish one individual from other individuals. Personalities are

likely to influence the individual’s product and store choices. They also affect the way

consumer responds to a firm’s communication efforts.

 Personality is a pattern of stable states and characteristics of a person that influences his

or her behaviour toward goal achievement. Each person has unique ways of protecting

these states.

 Personality is the fundamental and foremost determinant of individual behaviour. It seeks

to integrate the physiological and psychological facets of an individual to put them into

action. Personality consists of an individual’s characteristics and distinctive ways of

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

 It signifies the role which a person plays in public. Every

individual has a unique, personal and major determinant of his
behavior that defines his/her personality.
 Personality Definition by Authors: No common definition of
personality has so far been arrived at. Every individual defines
personality in a different way which includes trait factors and
physical appearance.

 According to J.B Kolasa, “Personality is a broad, amorphous

designation relating to fundamental approaches of persons to
others and themselves. To most psychologists and students of
behaviour, this term refers to the study of the characteristic
traits of an individual, relationships between these traits and the
way in which a person adjusts to other people and situations.”
 The determinants of personality can be grouped in five broad
categories:

 Biological Factors

 Cultural Factors

 Family Factors

 Social Factors

 Situational Factors
 Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at
conception. Physical stature, facial attractiveness, sex,
temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level,
and biological rhythms are characteristics that are considered to
be inherent from one’s parents.

 Brain: The second biological approach is to concentrate on the

role that the brain plays in personality. The psychologists are
unable to prove empirically the contribution of the human brain
in influencing personality.
 Biofeedback: Until recently, physiologists and psychologists felt that certain
biological functions such as brainwave patterns, gastric and hormonal
secretions, and fluctuations in blood pressure and skin temperature were
beyond conscious control. ome scientists believe that these involuntary
functions can be consciously controlled through biofeedback techniques. In
BFT, the individual learns the internal rhythms of a particular body process
through electronic signals that are feedback from equipment that is wired to
the body.

 Physical Features: A vital ingredient of the personality, an individual’s

external appearance, is biologically determined. The fact that a person is tall
or short, fat or skinny, black or white will influence the person’s effect on
others and this in turn, will affect the self-concept.
 The culture largely determines attitudes
towards independence, aggression, competition, cooperation and
a host of other human responses.

 According to Paul H Mussen, “each culture expects, and trains,

its members to behave in ways that are acceptable to the group.
To a marked degree, the child’s cultural group defines the range
of experiences and situations he is likely to encounter and the
values and personality characteristics that will be reinforced and
hence learned.”
 Whereas the culture generally prescribes and limits what a
person can be taught, it is the family, and later the social group,
which selects, interprets and dispenses the culture. Thus, the
family probably has the most significant impact on early
personality development.
 Socialization involves the process by which a person acquires,
from the enormously wide range of behavioural
potentialities that are open to him or her, those that are
ultimately synthesized and absorbed.

 Socialization starts with the initial contact between a mother and

her new infant. After infancy, other members of the immediate
family – father, brothers, sisters and close relatives or friends,
then the social group: peers, school friends and members of the
work group – play influential roles.
 Human personality is also influenced by situational factors. The
effect of the environment is quite strong. Knowledge, skill and
language are obviously acquired and represent important
modifications of behavior.

 An individual’s personality, while generally stable and consistent,

does change in different situations. The varying demands of
different situations call forth different aspects of one’s
personality.
 The theories of personality can be conveniently grouped under four
types:

 Big five personality traits.

 Holland's Typology of Personality and Congruent Occupations.

 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

 Extroversion: This trait includes characteristics such as
excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high
amounts of emotional expressiveness.

 Agreeableness: This personality dimension includes attributes

such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other pro-social
behaviors.

 Conscientiousness: Common features of this dimension include

high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control and goal-
directed behaviors.

 Emotional Stability: Individuals high in this trait tend to

experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability,
and sadness
 Openness to Experience: This trait features characteristics such
as imagination and insight, and those high in this trait also tend
to have a broad range of interests.
 The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report
inventory designed to identify a person's personality type,
strengths, and preferences. The questionnaire was developed by
Isabel Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs based on their work
with Carl Jung's theory of personality types. Today, the MBTI
inventory is one of the world's most widely used psychological
instruments.

 The goal of the MBTI is to allow respondents to further explore

and understand their own personalities including their likes,
dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, possible career preferences, and
compatibility with other people.

 No one personality type is "best" or "better" than another. It isn't

a tool designed to look for dysfunction or abnormality. Instead,
its goal is simply to help you learn more about yourself.
The questionnaire itself is made up of four different scales.
 Extraversion (E) – Introversion (I)

 The extraversion-introversion dichotomy was first explored by

Jung in his theory of personality types as a way to describe how
people respond and interact with the world around them. While
these terms are familiar to most people, the way in which they
are used in the MBTI differs somewhat from their popular usage.

 Extraverts (also often spelled extroverts) are "outward-turning"

and tend to be action-oriented, enjoy more frequent social
interaction, and feel energized after spending time with other
people. Introverts are "inward-turning" and tend to be thought-
oriented, enjoy deep and meaningful social interactions, and feel
recharged after spending time alone.
 Sensing (S) – Intuition (N)

 This scale involves looking at how people gather information from

the world around them. Just like with extraversion and
introversion, all people spend some time sensing and intuiting
depending on the situation. According to the MBTI, people tend
to be dominant in one area or the other.

 People who prefer sensing tend to pay a great deal of attention

to reality, particularly to what they can learn from their own
senses. They tend to focus on facts and details and enjoy getting
hands-on experience. Those who prefer intuition pay more
attention to things like patterns and impressions. They enjoy
thinking about possibilities, imagining the future, and abstract
theories.
 Thinking (T) – Feeling (F)

 This scale focuses on how people make decisions based on the

information that they gathered from their sensing or intuition
functions. People who prefer thinking place a greater emphasis
on facts and objective data.

 They tend to be consistent, logical, and impersonal when

weighing a decision. Those who prefer feeling are more likely to
consider people and emotions when arriving at a conclusion.
 Judging (J) – Perceiving (P)

 The final scale involves how people tend to deal with the outside
world. Those who lean toward judging prefer structure and firm
decisions. People who lean toward perceiving are more open,
flexible, and adaptable. These two tendencies interact with the
other scales.

 Remember, all people at least spend some time engaged in

extraverted activities. The judging-perceiving scale helps
describe whether you behave like an extravert when you are
taking in new information (sensing and intuiting) or when you are
making decisions (thinking and feeling).
 The Myers Briggs Types: Each type is then listed by its four-letter
code:
 ISTJ - The Inspector: Reserved and practical, they tend to be loyal,
orderly, and traditional.
 ISTP - The Crafter: Highly independent, they enjoy new
experiences that provide first-hand learning.
 ISFJ - The Protector: Warm-hearted and dedicated, they are
always ready to protect the people they care about.
 ISFP - The Artist: Easy-going and flexible, they tend to be reserved
and artistic.
 INFJ - The Advocate: Creative and analytical, they are considered
one of the rarest Myers-Briggs types.3
 INFP - The Mediator: Idealistic with high values, they strive to
make the world a better place.
 INTJ - The Architect: High logical, they are both very creative and
analytical.
 INTP - The Thinker: Quiet and introverted, they are known for
having a rich inner world.

 ESTP - The Persuader: Out-going and dramatic, they enjoy

spending time with others and focusing on the here-and-now.

 ESTJ - The Director: Assertive and rule-oriented, they have high

principles and a tendency to take charge.

 ESFP - The Performer: Outgoing and spontaneous, they enjoy

taking center stage.

 ESFJ - The Caregiver: Soft-hearted and outgoing, they tend to

believe the best about other people.

 ENFP - The Champion: Charismatic and energetic, they enjoy

situations where they can put their creativity to work.
 ENFJ - The Giver: Loyal and sensitive, they are known for being
understanding and generous.

 ENTP - The Debater: Highly inventive, they love being surrounded

by ideas and tend to start many projects (but may struggle to
finish them).

 ENTJ - The Commander: Outspoken and confident, they are great

at making plans and organizing projects.
 According to John Holland's theory, most people are one of six
personality types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social,
Enterprising, and Conventional.
 Realistic:

 Likes to work with animals, tools, or machines; generally avoids

social activities like teaching, healing, and informing others;

 Has good skills in working with tools, mechanical or electrical

drawings, machines, or plants and animals;

 Values practical things you can see, touch, and use like plants
and animals, tools, equipment, or machines; and

 Sees self as practical, mechanical, and realistic.

 Investigative

 Likes to study and solve math or science problems; generally

avoids leading, selling, or persuading people;

 Is good at understanding and solving science and math problems;

 Values science; and

 Sees self as precise, scientific, and intellectual.

 Artistic

 Likes to do creative activities like art, drama, crafts, dance,

music, or creative writing; generally avoids highly ordered or
repetitive activities;

 Has good artistic abilities -- in creative writing, drama, crafts,

music, or art;

 Values the creative arts -- like drama, music, art, or the works of
creative writers; and

 Sees self as expressive, original, and independent.

 Social

 Likes to do things to help people -- like, teaching, nursing, or

giving first aid, providing information; generally avoids using
machines, tools, or animals to achieve a goal;

 Is good at teaching, counseling, nursing, or giving information;

 Values helping people and solving social problems; and

 Sees self as helpful, friendly, and trustworthy.

 Enterprising

 Likes to lead and persuade people, and to sell things and ideas;
generally avoids activities that require careful observation and
scientific, analytical thinking;

 Is good at leading people and selling things or ideas;

 Values success in politics, leadership, or business; and

 Sees self as energetic, ambitious, and sociable.

 Conventional

 Likes to work with numbers, records, or machines in a set,

orderly way; generally avoids ambiguous, unstructured activities

 Is good at working with written records and numbers in a

systematic, orderly way;

 Values success in business; and

 Sees self as orderly, and good at following a set plan.

 Theories of Personality
 Psychoanalytic Theory

 Type Theories

 Trait Theories

 Self Theory
 The Psychoanalytic theory of personality has held the interest of
psychologists and psychiatrists for a long time. Sigmund Freud, its
formulator, was quite an influence. It attends to emphasizes three main
issues i.e. the id, the ego and the superego.

 Components of Psychoanalytic Theory:

 Id

 Ego

 Superego
 Id

 The id is the only part of the personality that is present at birth. It is

inherited, primitive, inaccessible and completely unconscious.

 The id operates according to the pleasure principle, that is, to seek

pleasure, avoid pain and gain immediate gratification of its wishes.

 The id contains:

 (a) The life instincts, which are sexual instincts and biological urges such as
hunger and thirst

(b) The death instinct, which accounts for our aggressive and destructive
impulses.
 Ego

 The ego is the logical, rational, realistic part of the personality.

The ego evolves from the id and draws its energy from the id.

 One of the functions of the ego is to satisfy the id’s urges. But
the ego, which is mostly conscious, acts according to the reality
principle. It must consider the constraints of the real world in
determining appropriate times, places, and object for
gratification of the id’s wishes.
 Superego

 When the child is age 5 or 6 the superego – the moral component

of the personality – is formed.

 The superego has two parts:

 (a) The “conscience“, consisting of all the behaviours for which

we have been punished and about which we feel guilty

(b) The “ego ideal“, containing the behaviours for which we have
been praised and rewarded and about which we feel pride and
satisfaction.
 The type theory represents an attempt to scientifically
describe personality by classifying individuals into convenient
categories.

 Two categories of type theories of personality are explained

below:

 Sheldon Physiognomy Theory

 Carl Jung Extrovert Introvert Theory

 Sheldon Physiognomy Theory

 William Sheldon has presented a unique body-type temperamental model

that represents a link between certain anatomical features and

psychological traits with distinguishing characteristics of an individual

and his behaviour.

 Sheldon identifies three body types:

 Endomorph: He is bulky and beloved. Sheldon’s endomorph to be rather

fat, thick in proportion to his height. His personality temperament is

viscerotonic (the person seeks comfort, loves fine food, eats too much, is

jovial, affectionate and liked by all).

 Mesomorph: He is basically strong, athletic and tough. All
appreciate his physique. In fact, it is this personality all other
“morphs” wish for. According to Sheldon, he will tend to be
somatotonic (he is fond of muscular activity; he tends to be
highly aggressive, and self-assertive).

 Ectomorph: These people are thin, long and poorly developed

physically. Though physically weak, he leads the league in the
intelligent department.
 Carl Jung Extrovert Introvert Theory

 The way to type personality is in terms of behaviour or psychological factors. Jung’s

introvert and extrovert types are an example.

 However, as Carl Jung himself pointed out, the introvert-extrovert typology turns out

to be more in the nature of a continuum than discrete, separate types. Carl Jung

proposed his own two-part theory of personality.

 Carl Jung two types are:

 Extrovert: They are optimistic, outgoing, gregarious and sociable. Extroverts are

basically objective, reality-oriented individuals who are more doers than thinkers.

 Introverts: By contrast, introverts are more inward-directed people. They are less

sociable, withdrawn and absorbed in inner life. They tend to be guided by their own

ideas and philosophy.

 Few people are complete introverts or extroverts, but the mixture of these two

ingredients determines the kind of overall personality of an individual.

 Some early personality researchers believed that to understand
individuals, we must break down behaviour patterns into a series
of observable traits.

 According to trait theory, a personality trait can be defined as an

“enduring attribute of a person that appears consistently in a
variety of situations”. In combination, such traits distinguish one
personality from another.

 A trait is a personal characteristic that is used to describe and

explain personality. It is a list of relatively stable and consistent
personal characteristics.
 Gordon Allport Personality Traits

 Gordon Allport claims that personality traits are real entities,

physically located somewhere in the brain. We each inherit our own

unique set of raw material for given traits, which are then shaped

by our experiences.

 Traits describe the particular way we respond to the environment

and the consistency of that response. If we are shy, we respond to

strangers differently than if we are friendly; if we are self-

confident,
 Gordon identified two main categories of traits:

 1. Common Traits: Common traits are those we share or hold in common with
most others in our own culture.

 2. Individual Traits: According to Allport, there are three individual traits:

cardinal, central and secondary traits.

 Cardinal Traits: A cardinal trait is “so pervasive and outstanding in a life that
almost every act seems traceable to its influence”.

 Central Traits: According to Allport, are those that we would “mention in

writing a careful letter of recommendation”.

 Secondary Traits: The secondary traits are less obvious, less consistent and
not as critical in defining our personality as the cardinal and central traits.
Examples of secondary traits are food and music preferences.
 Raymond Cattell 16 Personality Factors

 Raymond Cattell considered personality to be a pattern of traits

providing the key to understanding and predicting a person’s
behaviour.

 Cattell identified two types:

 Surface Traits: Observable qualities of a person like honest,

helpful, kind, generous etc., Cattell called these “surface
traits”.

 Source Traits: Make up the most basic personality structure and,

according to Cattell, actually cause behaviour. Intelligence is a
source trait, and every person has a certain amount of it but,
obviously not exactly the same amount or the same kind.
 The psychoanalytic, type and trait theories represent the more
traditional approach to explaining the complex human personality.

 Self theory rejects both psychoanalytic and behaviouristic

conceptions of human nature as too mechanistic, portraying people
as creatures helplessly buffeted about by internal instincts or
external stimuli.

 Carl Rogers is most closely associated with his approach of self-

theory.

 Rogers and his associates have developed this personality theory

that places emphasis on the individual as an initiating, creating,
influential determinant of behaviour within the environmental
framework.
 According to Rogers basic ingredients of personality:

 Self Actualization

 Carl Rogers believed that humans have one basic motive that is
the tendency to self-actualize – i.e. to fulfill one’s potential and
achieve the highest level of ‘human-beingness’ we can.

 Self concept

 Self-concept is defined as “the organized, consistent set of

perceptions and beliefs about oneself”.
 The self-concept includes three components:

 Self worth

 what we think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of self-worth

developed in early childhood and were formed from the interaction of

the child with the mother and father.

 Self-image

 How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological health.

Self-image includes the influence of our body image on inner personality.

 Ideal self

 This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals and

ambitions in life, and is dynamic – i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in

childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late twenties etc.
 Ego States are consistent patterns of feeling, thinking and
behaviour that we all possess.

 Transactional Analysis identifies three Ego States, called Parent,

Adult, and Child.

 This is not about actual parents, adults and children, but about
different ways of experiencing.
 The Parent Ego

 The Parent ego state refers to the

behaviours, thoughts and feelings that
are copied, learned or even borrowed
from our parents, parental figures, or
significant others.

 Parental figures/significant others

are not necessarily biological, but maybe
someone with power, authority or
influence that have had an impact on us
during our childhood. These may be
teachers, priests, or even movie heroes.
 The Adult Ego

 The Adult ego state operates in the here

and now and rationally processes what we
are thinking and feeling, which is based
on facts without interference of
unconscious contamination.

 We are thinking and responding

appropriately, displaying logical and
consistent behaviour. Put simply, this is
us being us, without those external
influences of our Parent and Child ego
states.
 The Child Ego
 The Child ego state is not when we are
acting childish, or what others perceive
as childish behaviour. It is how we
behaved, thought and felt, replayed out
as we did as a child.
 These adaptive behaviours can be
immediate and act as a survival instinct
within us, putting obstacles in the way of
our own growth.
 These are archaic memories that we are
unable to remember on a conscious
level, but lie within our unconscious.
 To gain a deeper understanding
of the idea of ego states we can
look at the functional model.
This looks at how we use our
ego states. The functional
model splits the Parent and
Child ego states into Nurturing
Parent/Controlling Parent and
Free Child/Adapted Child.
 Child ego state:

 Free Child: When we are in our Free Child ego state this usually means that

we are behaving independently of real or internal Parental pressures, usually

when we are doing something that is for ourselves.

 We might be in our Free Child ego state when we are being creative,

intimate, spontaneous, or reckless, selfish etc. As you can see some of these

have more positive connotations and some negative.

 The best way to identify if one is positive or negative is to look at how

appropriate/helpful it is to you and those around you.

 For example, if I drive recklessly for fun, but at the expense of others’

safety then I might be in negative Free Child, whereas if I paint a new

picture for enjoyment or relaxation then I may be in positive Free Child.

 Adopted Child: When we are growing up we learn to adapt to the demands

and pressures of others - in particular our parent figures. This may mean -

for example - conforming to rules, being polite in social situations etc.

These may be the more positive aspects of the Adaptive Child - aspects that

we carry with us into adulthood.

 We also learn to adapt to the more unconscious pressures of our parents.

For example, it may be that our parents were happier when we put others’

needs before our own, or when we hid certain feelings –

 for example sadness or anger. As we grow into adults we may find that

constantly pleasing others and adapting to others' needs mean that we get

walked over or we feel angry. And if we learnt to hide certain feelings from

others as a child this may mean that as adults we feel 'shut off' or depressed

or lack assertiveness. Again, to see if an aspect is positive or negative ask

yourself how helpful it is to yourself and your overall mental well being.
 Parent Ego State

 Nurturing Parent: Aspects of the Nurturing Parent may be

nurturing, caring, soothing etc.

 The positive elements of this may be more obvious but this can
also be a negative,

 for example when we are smothering someone or rescuing them

and therefore discounting their abilities.
 Controlling Parent: When we are in Controlling Parent we may be doing

things such as laying down rules, setting boundaries, enforcing guidelines etc.

 Positive aspects of these may be that we are keeping people safe or

preventing chaos, or keeping ourselves on task. Negative aspects of the

Controlling Parent may be when we are being critical, shouting, putting

someone down or shaming them etc.

 For these reasons the negative Controlling Parent is sometimes called the

Critical Parent. Many of you may recognise your own internal Critical Parent

and have a critical dialogue in your head whereby you continually chastise

yourself or beat yourself up for not being good enough - your Child in

response may feel sad, angry, scared or depressed. Obviously the voice in this

instance is not helpful - but this realisation alone and recognising its origins

can sometimes be enough to help you to start diminishing this unhelpful

voice.
 Egograms: It can be useful to draw your own ‘Egogram’ - a concept
developed by Jack Dusay - to see where you may want to rebalance or
redistribute your own psychic energy.

 An Egogram is simply a way of illustrating how much of each ego state

you identify with and recognise within yourself. The height of each bar
above each part of the ego state reflects the amount of time we might
spend in that state. The egogram below depicts a person who has a high
level of Critical Parent and not too much Free Child.

 Therefore to rebalance, this person might want to develop their

Nurturing Parent (for example by being kinder to themselves) and learn
how to have more fun. The idea is that investing a certain amount of
energy into one area takes it away from the corresponding opposite, so
that the amount of energy remains constant. Try drawing your own
egogram and work out if you would like to rebalance some of your own
ego states.
 Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham have developed a concept, known as
the Johari Window, that helps individuals discover more about their
perceptions of themselves. The concept also helps individuals
understand the behavior of self and others.

 According to Luft and Ingham, there are four parts of the personal
window that account for self-perceptions.

 There is the public arena, which includes the individual’s knowledge

of personal attitudes and behavior; this knowledge is also recognized
by the people who surround the individual. The private arena
contains perceptions the individual has about self that are not known
to others. A third part, the blind arena, is not recognized by the
individual but is known to others. Finally, there is the unknown
arena, in which neither the individual nor others are aware of
perceptions that may be held about the individual
 Open Self:

 Open self is known as Public area. This quadrant indicates

information about selfish known to oneself and also to others.
The information relates to feelings, motivation and behaviour of
an individual, which he is willing to share with those whom he
comes in contact.

 The individual behaves in a straight forward manner and is

sharing. In an organizational setting, because of the openness of
the individual the chances of conflict are reduced to minimum
 Blind Self:

 This quadrant is related to information is not known to self but known to

others,who interact with you, know more about you.

 This is known as blind area. It is important thatan individual should reduce

blind area to the minimum by interacting with people moreintimately and by

asking questions about self.

 For example, an individual may not be awareof the fact that he is extremely

task oriented and employees do not like it. In other words,others know and

perceive the individual as a hard taskmaster and dislike him because of this.
 This is blind area that a person is blind to the fact that he interacts with

others in theprofessional manner. This situation is likely to create an

unpleasant atmosphere in the organization.

 Individual therefore should reduce blind area and increase public area. This

willreduce conflict situations to a great extent in interpersonal behaviour.

 Hidden Self:

 Certain aspect of personality has formed this quadrant. Self

knows information but others do not know it. There are certain
aspects, which are private. Individual therefore does not want to
share it with subordinates and wants to keep hidden. The area is
also called Private Area.
 Unknown Self:

 This area is characterized by facts unknown to the self and to

others. This is dark area, which is not pregnable. There is nothing
much that can be done about it.

 It should be an Endeavour to improve upon oneself by obtaining

feedback from others about self. Individual should carry out
improvement and perceive.

 one self correctly so that one perceives each person in the right
manner. There are certain factors to improve Interpersonal
relations.(Public Area)
 Another important approach related to the development of self-
perception and its impact upon behaviour is the transactional
analysis concept.

 According to the theory, as first proposed by Eric Berne, much

can be discovered about an individual by analyzing the type of
interactions (transactions) engaged in.

 According to Thomas Harris, who has popularized the concept,

the type of transaction an individual uses in relating to other
people is a consequence of the individual’s life position at a
particular moment (life positions do change at times)
 Life positions are really types of perceptions of self and others. In
Harris’s view, there are four basic life positions

 (a) I am Okay you are Okay.

 b) I am Okay you are not Okay.

 (c) I am not Okay you are Okay.

 (d) I am not Okay you are not Okay

 I am Okay your Okay (C)

 This is an ideal life position because this position is rationally chosen

one. In this position individual behaves rationally and accept significance
of others. People feel happy and life is worth living.

 Individual with this life position expresses confidence in his subordinates,

work with high level of delegation of authority, and believes in give and
take.

 Manages enjoys good communication network, work with confidence and

there is work sharing and positive attitude towards work. People remain
happy and have high level of job satisfaction.

 People work with adult ego state. There is no conflict situation and there
is total understanding among subordinates and peer group. An Ideal life
position.
 I am Okay, you are not okay (B)

 This is distrustful psychological life position taken by individual who feel

that others are wrong. They blame others for their failure. People who

have been neglected by parents in their childhood take this position.

 They generally operate from rebellion child ego state that feel victimized

and blame others for their miseries. Mangers lack trust, confidence in the

intellectual level, skills and talent in their subordinates and do not

believe in delegation of authority.

 They perceive delegation as threat to their personal existence. Managers

are critical, oppressive and point out flaws in the working of

subordinates.

 They operate from critical parent ego state and rarely give positive

remarks. They feel their workers lazy, Irresponsible and find them as

stated in theory X of Mc Gregor. Expresses bossing attitude.

 I am not okay, you are okay (D)

 This life position is common to persons who feel powerless in

comparison to others. Persons in this life position always grumble

and feel at the mercy of others.

 They have tendency to withdraw and at times experience

depression that may lead to suicide in extreme cases. People

with this life position operate from child ego state.

 Managers tend to give and receive bad feelings. They are

unpredictable and display erratic behaviours. It is not a good life

position. People are diffident in this life position.

 I am not okay, you are not okay (A)

 This is the worst life position in which individual feel defeated and
sees whole world as miserable. It is a desperate life position where
people loose interest in living.

 In extreme cases people commit suicide or homicide. This position

is caused due to children having brought up by servants and very
scant or no attention having been paid by the parents.

 At managerial level, no decision is taken in time and managers

make mistakes. They at times provoke others in the negative
direction and display a lack of personal potency.

 Manager with this position look to others for final decision and
often delegate in-appropriately