MODULE-3

COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION

Communication is an important aspect of human behaviour. Communication is central to

everything that we do. Without communication an organization can’t function at all. No
managers can be successful without communicating effectively. Communication has been
derived from the Latin word “communis” which means common. Communication stands for
sharing of ideas in common.

According to Keith Davis, “communication is a process of information and

understanding from one person to another.”

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

The process models of communication contain six main elements such as i) sender, ii)
message, iii) receiver, iv) feedback, v) channel, vi) noise or interference. As communication
occurs, sender and receiver interact by encoding/sending and decoding/receiving messages.
Encoding means putting the message into words or diagram or nonverbal signals so that it can be
transmitted. The receiver hears, reads or looks in order to decode or interpret the message.

Sender:

Communication begins with sender, the individual who reacts to situations from a unique
vantage point, interpreting ideas and filtering experiences through their own perception. Sender
conceives his ides based on the accumulated attitudes, experiences, skills and cultural
conditioning.

Message:

The message is the idea of feeling transmitted from the sender to the receiver to achieve
understanding. It makes a connection between the sender and the receiver and may be made up
of signs, words and movement. The tone of voice, inflection, the rate of speech, facial
expression, touching and body movement may be misinterpreted by the receiver, or poorly
constructed message may lead to misunderstanding. The message the sender meant to send is not
always the message received.

Receiver:

The receiver decodes or interprets the message to achieve understanding. In doing this,
the receiver also acts as an individual from a unique vantage point, interpreting the idea
according to a particular personal perception of the message. This perception is also the result of
the receiver’s unique background of experiences, beliefs and concerns. Interpretation of the same
message may vary between people.

Feedback:

Feedback is an essential part f successful interpersonal communication. It is the

receiver’s response to the sender’s message, telling the sender how their message is being
received and helping the receiver confirm whether their perception of the message is correct. It
can be intentional or unintentional. Feedback:

- Provides continuity in the communication

- Indicates effective understanding or misunderstanding of the message
- Stimulates further communication and discussion.

Channel:

A communication channel is the means of techniques used to signal or convey a message

– for example, a conversation, letter, telephone call, e-mail or television program.

Sometimes these channels are internal to the organization; other channels are outside the
organization and are thus external channels. An appropriate channel suits the communication
purpose, the need of the sender, the message and the needs of the receiver. Different lines or
channels of communication are used inside an organization. Horizontal channels operate between
colleagues at the same level within the organization’s structures, while vertical channels move
communication up and down between different levels in the organization.

Noise:

The message received is not necessarily the same as the message sent. Something other
than the intended message is received because noise or interference interrupts the intended
message. Noise or interference that interrupts the message or communication flow between
sender and receiver can lead to misunderstanding or to confused or ambiguous communication.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION:

There are nine patterns of communication:

Downward communication:

It refers to the flow of communication from supervisor to the subordinate. To improve

downward communication, managers can present job instructions clearly to subordinates, explain
why things need to be done in a particular way so that people who perform the jobs understand
better. For example, clear staff regulations, rules, handbooks, procedures manual etc. are the
good examples of downward communication.

Upward communication:
 It refers to the flow is from the subordinate to the superiors. To improve upward
communication, screen upward messages so that the more relevant aspects of the information are
received by top management, provide the climate in which members can communicate both
positive and negative messages, detect biases when they occur, reduce status difference and
wherever possible, require quantified data to be submitted rather than provide subjective
information for decision making. For example, instituting suggestion scheme, union leader
voicing their demands to management, etc..

Lateral/Horizontal Communication:

It takes place between or among members who are at the same level in the organization.
For example, two supervisors of the same department or different department are discussing
work matters with each other. To improve lateral communication, it is desirable to establish
openness and trust among members of various department, develop reward systems that facilitate
inter-departmental cooperation, learn that what the other departments are doing by getting
involved in interdepartmental meetings and, if possible design the organization structure in such
a way so that greater opportunities of interdepartmental contact exist.

Diagonal Communication:

It refers to the flow of messages between persons who are in position at different levels of
the hierarchy and also in different departments. This type of communication takes place under
special circumstances.

Formal Communication:

The channels of communication established formally by the management are called

formal communication. These are used for the transmission of official messages within or
outside organization. However it suffers from delay and also chances of distortion.

Informal communication:

Communication which takes place on the basis of informal or social relations among people in
an organization is known as informal communication. It is otherwise known as grapevine
communication. The grapevine has three main characteristics.

i) It is not controlled by management.

ii) It is perceived by most employees as being more believable and reliable than formal
communication issued by top management.
iii) It is largely used to serve the self interests of those people within it and it is one of the
quickest means of communication.

Verbal Communication:

When the message is conveyed orally, it is called verbal communication. It is most

economical in terms of time and money.

Written Communication:
 Communication that takes place between people in written form is called written
communication. For e.g. memos, reports, bulletins etc.. It is permanent, tangible and verifiable.
But it is time consuming.

Nonverbal/Gestural communication:

Communicating nonverbally with body movements ,with some gestures is known as

nonverbal communication.

The types of nonverbal communication can be classified into seven categories:

i) Body movements or kinesics

ii) Physical characteristics
iii) Touching behavior
iv) Vocal qualities or paralanguage
v) Use of space or proximity
vi) Artifacts
vii) Environment

FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION

There are four major functions of communication. They are: Emotive, Motivation,
Information and Control.

Emotive:

Through communication, employees can express their frustrations and satisfactions to

each other and to management. In addition, communication provides a mechanism for
individuals to compare attitude and resolve ambiguous about their jobs, their roles and areas of
conflict between groups and individuals. If an employee is dissatisfied with his pay, he will often
communicate with others informally, to determine whether the feelings are justified or not.

Motivation:

A second major function of communication is to motivate, direct, control and evaluate

the performance of organizational members. Leadership is an influence process by which
supervisors attempt to control the behaviour and performance of subordinates. Communication is
the major vehicle of such control available to leaders. Hence, leadership activities, such as
issuing orders, rewarding behavior and performance, reviewing and evaluating performance,
making job and task assignments, and training and developing subordinates all involve
communication.

Information:

Communication serves a vital information function for decision-making. It is based on

technological orientation and facilitates information processing activities and ways to improve
the accuracy with which communication channels carry information going into individual, group
and organizational decisions.

Control:

Organizations are attempting to control the activities of individuals through the design
and use of formal communication channels. Most types of programs or standard operating
procedures have a large communication component to them. Hence, formal communication
channels represent a major structural means of control within organizations.

BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Semantic Problems:

The use of inappropriate language, symbols, and words may affect the understanding
capacity of the receiver. The sender must ensure that the proper words and language are chosen
to communicate the intended message so that there is no room for misinterpretation or confusion
as the receiver decodes the message exactly as it was encoded. Many words commonly used in
communication carry quite different meanings for different people. Two general kinds’ of
semantic problems present barriers to communication.
i) Some words and phrases are so general or abstract that they invite varying interpretation.
ii) Semantic problem arise when different groups develop their own technical language.

Status Effects:

Status effect also hinder communication in as much as people occupying higher positions
in the organization have a tendency to tell a lot to the subordinates but not to listen. When people
do not listen, they do not understand each other and thus effective communication is blocked.
Thus, the superior-subordinate status comes in the way of effective communication taking place.

Physical Distraction:

When people communicate with each other, noise may also enter in the form of various
types of distraction. Distractions may occur because of situational factors such as constant
telephone interruptions, people walking in and out of the room, or loud noises in the background.
Apart from these physical noises, certain peculiar mannerism of the speaker may also be
distracting to the listener and hide effective listening.

Information Overload:

This refers to too much volume of information which is beyond the level of a person to
comprehend. Communication may be ineffective when too much information is transmitted at
one time or when complex information is presented within a short time frame. The problem is
compounded if the individual also has limited attention span and poor memory retention.
Managers are literally drowned in communication and unable to attend to them fully. This
includes variety of information received from different mode such as e-mail, memos, official
letters, reports, instructions, circular, telephone, meetings etc. is required to attend.
Time Pressures:

Time is always short, and this fact often leads to distortion in communication. A major
temptation when pressed for time is to short-circuit formal communication channels. Because of
time pressures, many messages are hastily and inadequately communicated by managers, leaving
the listener with much ambiguity and confusion as to what has been said and what action should
be taken. Since managers have to deal with a large number of people on an ongoing basis within
limited periods of time, giving incomplete information and verbally transmitted short,
telegraphic message seems inevitable.

Cultural Differences:

Words, colors and symbols have different meanings in different cultures and sometimes
even between sub-cultures within a national boundary.

Trust Level:

When there is lack of sufficient trust between the communicating parties, selective
listening takes place, resulting in ineffective communication. Complete information is seldom
exchanged under such circumstances and the withholding of information by one or both parties
will further aggravate the trust issue and impersonal problems. Evaluating tendencies develop
selective listening increases further and messages get distorted.

Selective Perception:

People have a tendency to listen to only part of a message and “block out” other
information for a variety of reasons. One of the most important of aspect is a need to avoid or
reduce cognitive dissonance. Thus, people have a tendency to ignore new information that
conflicts with or denies already established beliefs, values, and expectations. Selective
perception occurs when the receiver values the context of the communication including the role,
identity, values, mood and motives of the sender (Perceptual Distortion).

Self-Concept:

An individual’s motives and personality strongly influence the decoding or symbolic

interpretation process. An employee who has a highly felt need for advancement in an
organization and whose personality tend be to quite optimistic might read a smile and casual
comment from a supervisor as an indication that he is being groomed for promotion. A person
with low need for advancement and a pessimistic disposition may read nothing more than a
casual comment unrelated to anything else into the supervisor’s comment.

Absence of Two-way Communication:

If communication is only one way – from top to bottom or from superior to subordinate –
without any feedback, would hinder communication from taking place in an effective manner.
For instance, the receiver might decode the message in a way that was not intended. Neither the
receiver nor the sender will then realize that the message was misinterpreted until it becomes too
late to rectify the situations. For example, An examination question is one way communication
which could easily get misinterpreted by some students since attempts by students to seek
clarifications in the examination hall is usually discouraged.

OVERCOMING BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

There are number of ways managers can minimize a number of communication barriers.
In general, communication can be improved in two ways. First, the manger must sharpen his or
her skills in manipulating symbols, that is, process of encoding. This implies that the sender must
take as much care as possible in choosing symbols and establishing the context within which the
message is transmitted. There are number of techniques that are commonly employed by
managers to accomplish these ends.

Active listening:

It implies that the receiver of information engages in the following patterns of behavior.
a) stop talking since it is impossible to talk and listen at the same time, b) remove the distracting
elements as much as possible c) is patient and lets the other person say whatever needs to be
said, d) appreciate the emotion behind the speaker’s words and is empathic, e) is attentive, f)
creates a positive listening environment f) uses feedback mechanisms to check understanding g)
withholds judgment h) asks questions, i) reacts to the message and not he person. Active
listening takes a lot of energy and be perfected by conscious and constant practice.

Follow up and Feedback:

The process of feedback makes communication a two-way process. In face-to-face

situations, the sender should try to become sensitive to facial expressions and other signs that
indicate how the message is being received. It is often important to solicit questions of
clarification from the receiver. When more formal communication is involved, the writer may
specify specific forms and times for responding to insure feedback.

Parallel Channels and Repetition:

A major principle of communication technology is to provide parallel channels of

communication that reinforce each other. Thus, a verbal request may be followed up with a
memo. In this way, the sender has ensured getting the attention of the receivers and also ensured
that the sender will have a record to refer to in case lie or she forgets in its order.

Timing:

A manager may ignore a memo or request simply because other problems are pressing in
at the same time. Two kinds of actions can be taken by management to ensure the accurate
reception of communication through timing. i) they may want to standardize the timing of
specific messages, ii) many organizations establish “retreats” or time away from normal job
pressures to transmit material, ideas and instructions to employees. This action insures the
undivided attention of the receivers.
Be patient and paying adequate attention:

When choosing a style of language, the sender must give a due consideration to the
listener’s intention, and his background. Effective use of language consists of tailoring one’s
message for the context of the receivers in order to maximize overall between the intended and
received messages.

Information Communication and Information Centers:

Running parallel to formal communication channel in an organization is an informal

network commonly called grapevines. They tend to be a universal fact of life in all organizations.
They have been used to serve not only informational functions but also motivational functions as
well. A number of employees needs are served by the powerful reinforce. Effective
communicators often combine formal and informal (grapevine) channels of communication.
Thus a manager may reinforce information received through formal with an off-the record talk
with key subordinates. In reverse directing, he or she might reinforce and clarify a formal written
with an informal chat session among employees.

Exception principle and need to know:

In order to deal effectively with the information overload problem many organizations
try to establish certain principles for actually limiting the extent of communications. Many firms
implement an “exception principle” in communication channels. This principle orders that only
communications regarding exceptional derivations, from orders, plans, and policies be
communicated upward on a routine basis. Hence, upper levels of management will receive only
that information which truly demands their attention. A closely related principle involves
downward communication. Here, managers should be selective and transmit information on a
“need to know” basis. In this way, lower level personnel receive only communication that is
immediately critical to carrying out their tasks. The success of these two principles depends on
the type of organization within which jobs are carried out. They will be most effective in highly
structured organizations where tasks are relatively simple and routine. In less formal
organization, in which work is rather complex and not highly structured, communication needs
to be as open and unrestricted as possible.

Being empathetic in understanding:

Good communicators are able to reduce the chance of communication barrier and the
associated problems by communicating with empathy – a feeling and awareness of the other
person and their point of view. A good communicator is able to recognize emotions in others and
respond appropriately. It is reported that empathy as the foundation for the quality of a
relationship. In a satisfying relations both parties have empathy for the other person’s point of
view and are also willing to provide appropriate and sufficient feedback to achieve the
understanding.
Using feedback mechanisms:

Since feedback involved both receiver and sender, it is important to understand the
conditions under which feedback session will be more effective both from the sender’s and
receiver’s perspective. For feedback to be most effective, the person giving the feedback must:

a) give specific and not general or vague feedback

b) give feedback immediately or soon after the event has taken place rather than long after the
event has occurred
c) give feedback on aspects that the receiver can rectify rather than on aspects over which the
individual has no control
d) Be descriptive than evaluative
e) Give feedback on a few critical issues where improvement is most urgently expected rather
than on a wide range of problem areas
f) Examine your own motivation in giving the feedback
g) Be sure that the receiver is ready to receive feedback
h) Be non-threatening and disregard you superior status while offering feedback.

Minimize Physical distraction:

Taking due care in minimizing the external noise, interruptions, awkward mannerism,
unusual and unwanted incidences etc facilitate to heighten the attention levels of the members in
attempting to satisfy a higher-level need can result in regression to a lower-level need.

GROUPS

INTRODUCTION

Groups have been a central part of our everybody lives. At any given time, we are
members in many different groups such as family, student association, workgroups, different
clubs.

A group is a collection of two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who

have come together to achieve a particular common objective.

According to D.H.Smith, “A group is the largest set of two or more individuals who are
jointly characterized by a network of relevant communication, a shared sense of collective
identity and one or more shared disposition with associated normative strength.

The above definition stresses the following points.

Interaction
Size
Shared goal interest
Collective Identity
TYPES OF GROUPS

Various methods are used to classify the types of groups that exist in our organizations.
In organizations, the predominant operating groups are the functional groups, task or project
groups and interest groups. In addition, groups are also classified as formal and informal groups.

Formal groups:

Formal groups are collections of employees who are made to work together by the
organization to get the job done smoothly and efficiently. For example, if five members are put
together in a department to attend to customer complaints they would be a formal group. The
formal groups are those whose primary purpose is facilitating, through member interactions, the
attainment of the goals of the organization .Task groups, project groups, command groups come
under formal groups.

Task or Project Groups:

When a number of employees are formally brought together for the purpose of
accomplishing a specific task – for a short-term or long term period – such a collection of
individuals is called a task or project group. For example, the plant manager of a chemical
processing plant may be interested in identifying potential safety problems in the plant. To
provide a coordinated effort, the manager creates a four-person task force consisting of the
production superintendent, maintenance superintendent, director of engineering and the safety
engineer. The group members will deliberate these issues bring out suitable remediable measure
for those safety problems within a deadline period.

If any problems are found, the plant manager may create other task forces to work toward
the elimination of the potential problems. These activities create a situation that encourages the
members of the task force to communicate, interact and to coordinate activities, if the purpose of
the group is to be accomplished.

Informal groups:

Informal groups are groups that emerge or randomly get formed due to the formal group
members’ interaction with each other, and thereby develop common interest. For example,
members who are showing interest in cricket will join together and share and enjoy taking about
the cricket games. Informal groups provide a very important service by satisfying their members’
social needs. Because of interactions that result from the close proximity of task interactions,
group members play cricket together, spending their tea breaks together etc.Friends groups,
Interest groups come under informal groups.

Interest and Friendship Groups:

The group members formed relationships based on some common characteristics such as
age, political belief, or interests. Generally, it can be considered as formal or informal group.
Employees who joined together to have their fringe benefits continued to have its
implementation, to support a peer who has been fired, or to seek more festival holidays etc. they
tend to unite together to further their common interest. Groups often develop because the
individual members have one or more common characteristics. This is called friendship groups.
For example, recreation clubs, social groups etc.

REASONS FOR JOINING GROUPS:

The most popular reasons for joining a group are related to our needs for security,
identity, affiliation, power and engaging in common tasks.

Security:

By joining a group, members can reduce the insecurity of being alone. The membership
will make them feel stronger, gaining resistant to threats, having fewer self-doubts etc.New
employees are particularly vulnerable to a sense of isolation and turn to the group for guidance
and support.

Status:

Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others provides recognition and status
for its members. Being a member of Rotary Club, the members feel pride and gain status and
recognition.

Self-Esteem:

Groups can provide people with feelings of self-worth. That is, in addition to conveying
status to those outside the group, membership can also give increased feelings of worth to the
group members themselves. The self-esteem is bolstered when members are accepted by a highly
valued group. Being assigned to a task force whose purpose is to review and make
recommendations for the location of the company’s new corporate headquarters can fulfill one’s
intrinsic needs for competence and growth.

Affiliation:

Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the regular interaction that comes with
group membership. For many people, these on-the-job interactions at work are the primary
source for fulfilling their needs for affiliation.

Power:

For individuals who desire to influence others, groups can offer power without a formal
position of authority in the organization. As a group leader he or she may be able to make
requests of group members and obtain compliance without any of the responsibilities that
traditionally go either formal managerial position.

Goal Achievement:

There are times when it takes more than one person to accomplish a particular task- there
is a need to pool talents, knowledge in order to complete a job. In such instances, management
will rely on the use of a formal group.

STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT:

i) Forming: At this stage, group members try to comprehend where they stand in the group and
how they are being perceived by others in the group. The members are very cautious in their
interactions with each other and the relationships among the group members are very superficial.
Members’ seldom express their feelings in the group and the individual members who are trying
to understand who they are in the group have concerns about how they will fit in the group as
permanent group members. This is characterized by much uncertainty about group’s purpose,
structure and leadership. Members are ‘testing the waters’ to determine what types of behavior
are acceptable. This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part
of a group.

ii) Storming: At this stage, disagreement tends to get expressed among the group members, and
feelings of anxiety and resentment are also expressed. Some power struggle may ensure at this
stage to determine who should assume the informal leadership role in the group. This storming
stage is also known as the sub-grouping and confrontation. This group is characterized by intra-
group conflict. Members accept the existence of the group, but there is resistance to the control
the group imposes on individuality. There is sometimes conflict over who will control the group.
When this stage is complete, there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the
group.

iii) Norming: This stage is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. The group sets
norms, tries to attain some degree of cohesiveness, understands the goals of the group, starts
making good decision, expresses feelings openly and makes attempts to resolve problems and
attain group effectiveness. At this stage, members’ roles get defined, and task and maintenance
roles are assumed by group members. Group members’ also begin to express satisfaction and
confidence about being members of the group.

iv) Performing: This stage is characterized by collaboration and integration. The group
members evaluate their performance so that the members develop and grow. The group
relationships and structures are set and accepted. Group energy has moved from getting to know
and understand each other, to performing the task at hand. Feelings are expressed at this stage
without fear, leadership roles shared among the members, and the group members’ activities are
highly co-coordinated. The task and maintenance roles are played very effectively. The task
performance levels are high and member satisfaction, pride and commitment to the group also
high. Both performance and members’ satisfaction are sustained indefinitely;

v) Adjourning: This stage is characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than
task performance. The group prepares for its disbandment. High task performance is no longer
the group’s top priority. Instead, attention is directed towards finalizing activities. As the group
approaches the terminal phase, members break off their bonds of affection and stop interaction
with each other. Responses of group members vary in this state. Some feel pride in what the
group has accomplished. Others may be negative and critical of the way the organization has
treated the group and others may be sad over the loss of friendship gained during the life of the
work groups. These five stages of group development are only a suggestive and not prescriptive.
Sometimes, groups do not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. Sometimes, several
stages go on simultaneously as when groups are storming and performing at the same time.
Under some conditions, high levels of conflict are conducive to high group performance.

GROUP COHESION:

Cohesion refers to the extent of unity in the group and is reflected in the members’
conformity to the norms of the group, feelings of attraction for each other, and wanting to
be co-members of the group. Attraction, cohesion and conforming to norms are all
intertwined. The more the members feel attracted to the group, the greater will be the
group cohesion. The greater the cohesion, the greater the influence of group members to
persuade one another to conform to the group norms. The greater the conformity, the
greater the identification of the members with the group, and the greater the group
cohesion. Cohesive groups work together to achieve the group goals. They can be
considered as valuable assets to the organization if the group’s goals coincide with the
organization’s goals.

Factors increasing Cohesiveness:

The following factors can facilitate to increase the cohesiveness of the work group.

i) Agreement on Group Goals: If the group agrees on the purpose and direction of its activities,
this will serve to bind the group together and structure interaction patterns towards successful
goal accomplishment.

ii) Frequency of Interaction: When group member have the opportunity to interact frequently
with each other, the probability for closeness to develop will increase. Managers can provide
opportunities for increased group interaction by calling frequent formal and informal meetings,
providing a common meetings place or physically designing the facilities so that group members
are within sight of one another.

iii) Personal Attractiveness: Cohesiveness is enhanced when members are attractive to one
another if mutual trust and support already exists. Personal attraction also helps group members
to overcome obstacles to goal accomplishment and personal growth and development.

iv) Inter-group Competition: Competition with other groups, both written and external to the
organization is a mechanism that acts to bring groups closer together for attaining a common
purpose.

v) Favorable Evaluation: If a group has performed in an outstanding manner, some recognition

for its performance by management serves to elevate the prestige of the group in the eyes of the
group members and other members of the group. Favorable evaluation helps make group
members feel proud about being members of the group.

vi) Group Size: As the size of the group increases, the frequency of interaction each member has
with other group members decreases, thus decreasing the probability that cohesiveness will
develop. Past studies have shown the groups of four to six members provide the best opportunity
for interaction.

vii) Pleasant experiences with the group: When group members are attracted to each other or
there is a full trust and cooperation, interaction may become a pleasant experience resulting in
high level of cohesiveness in the group.

viii) Lack of Domination: When one or few members dominate the group, cohesiveness cannot
adequately develop. Such behavior can create smaller “cliques” within the group or identify
individual members as isolates or deviates.

ix) Gender of Members: It is reported that women tend to have greater cohesion than men. A
possible reason is that women are more likely to be feeling types than thinking types.

x) Previous Success: If a group has a history of success, it builds an espirit de corps that attracts
and unites members. Successful organizations find it easier to attract and hire new employees
than unsuccessful ones.

xi) Humor: Humor has been linked to increased cohesion in several studies. It is reported that
the greater the cohesion, the greater the influence of the group over the behavior of members and
subsequently group performance. As groups are composed of individuals who are attracted to the
goals of the group and to each other, one would expect to find a strong relationship between
cohesiveness and group performance. The major difference between highly cohesive and low
cohesive groups would be how closely members conformed to the group norms. Further, the
group performance would be influenced not only by cohesion, but by the level of group norms.

GROUP DECISION MAKING:

Decisions made by the members of the group in a collective way is known as group
decision making. Groups offer excellent techniques for performing many of the steps in the
decision making process. If the group is composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds, the
alternatives generated should be more extensive and the analysis will be more critical.

Strengths of Group Decision-making:

The following aspects identified the main advantages that groups offer over individuals in the
making of decisions.

i) More information and knowledge: By aggregating the resources of several individuals, the
group brings more input into the decision process.

ii) Increased diversity of views: Group brings heterogeneity to the decision-making process and
this opens up the opportunity for more approaches and alternatives to be considered.

iii) Increased acceptance of a solution: The group acceptance facilitates higher satisfaction
among those employees required to implement it.
iv) Increased legitimacy: The group decision making process is consistent with demographic
ideals and therefore may be perceived as being more legitimate than decisions made by an
individual.

Weakness of group decision making:

Some of the main disadvantages are:

i) Time-consuming: It takes time to assemble a group.

ii) Pressures to conform: The desire by group members to be accepted and considered as an asset
to the group can result in squashing any overt disagreement, thus encouraging conformity among
viewpoints.

iii) Domination by the few: Few people will try to dominate the group discussion. If such people
are happened to be mediocre, the group overall effectiveness will suffer.

iv) Ambiguous responsibility: In group decision, the responsibility of any single member is
reduced.

Teams require individuals with technical expertise, as well as problem-solving, decision-

making and interpersonal skills and high scores on the personality characteristics of extroversion,
agreeableness, conscientious and emotional stability. Effective teams are neither too large nor
too small- typically they range in size from five to twelve people. They also have adequate
resources, effective leadership and a performance evaluation and reward system that reflect team
contribution Effective teams have members committed to a common purpose, specific team
goals, member who believe in the team’s capabilities and a manageable level of conflict.

TEAMS
Team is a small no. of people with complementary skill who are committed for common
purpose for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Types of Teams

There are four common types of teams:

i) Problem-solving Teams:

The primary goals of these teams are improving quality, efficiency and the work environment.
The members share ideas or offer suggestions about how work process and methods can be
improved. Quality circles are one of the problem solving teams where the work group members
meet regularly to discuss and solve problems. The team members use tools and techniques to
examine these problems and to present to management solutions and the costs and benefits of
solving a problem.
ii) Self-managed Teams:
This refers to a team of employees who perform highly related or inter-dependent jobs and to
take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Typically this includes planning
and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, collective control over the pace of work,
making operating decisions and taking action on problems. Self-managed teams meet their own
goals and measure their own performance once top management sets the overall objectives. Fully
self-managed work teams even select their own members and have the members evaluate each
other’s performance.

iii) Cross-functional Teams:

This refers to a type of teams where employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from
different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. Examples of Cross functional
include task force to resolve emergency cases, committee composed of members from across
departmental lines etc.

iv) Virtual Teams:

Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed member in order to
achieve a common goals. They allow people to collaborate on-line using communication links
such as wide area networks, video conferencing or e-mail. The three primary factors that
differentiate virtual teams from face to face teams are: i) the absence of Para verbal and non-
verbal cues, ii) limited social context and iii) the ability to overcome time and space constraints.
In virtual teams the members will never have an opportunity to have an access of Para language
and non-verbal communication. And also suffer social support and less direct interaction among
members.

Difference between work group and work teams:

Work group: A group that interacts primarily to share information to make decision to help each
group member perform within his or her area of responsibility. Work groups have no need or
opportunity to engage in collective work that requires joint effort. Work team: A group whose
individual effort results in a performance that is greater than the sum of the individual inputs. A
team gets a greater degree of individual commitment towards the common shared goal. The
efforts of the team members result in more synergy and may achieve a better total performance.

TEAM BUILDING:

It is defined as planned interventions facilitated by a third-party consultant that developed

problem solving procedures and skills, increase role clarity, solve major problems and improve
effectiveness of work groups. Experts have clustered team-building activities into four general
types such as interpersonal process, goal setting, defining roles and problem solving.

i) Interpersonal Process: The resolution of conflicts between and among the team members by
creating a system of open communication by providing training on listening skills, negotiation
skills etc.
ii) Goal Setting: Focusing on shared understanding of the mission and goals of the team. During
this activity the team members clarify general goals and define specific tasks and sub goal to be
accomplished within a specific time with set measurement criteria and reporting mechanisms.
iii) Defining Roles: The members must define the roles without any ambiguity and ensure that
instructions are very clear. The responsibilities, norms and expressions and requirements of each
role are clarified.
iv) Problem Solving: The member must identify the problem and must follow steps such as
gathering and analyzing data, finding causes, understanding solutions, choosing solutions,
planning an action and implementing and evaluating the action.

LEADERSHIP
INTRODUCTION
Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve
a common goal. Leadership is defined as the process of influencing others to get the job done
more effectively over a sustained period of time. Leaders play a critical role in influencing the
work behavior of others in the system.
According to Pearce &Robbinson, “Leadership is the process of influencing others to work
towards the attainment of specific goals.”
Importance of Motivation
• Task support
• Psychological Support
• Development of individuals
• Building the team spirit
• Motivation
• Provides feedback
• Facilitates change
• Maintains discipline

STYLES OF LEADERSHIP

Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style

characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group members.
Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and judgments and rarely
accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves absolute, authoritarian control over
a group.

Characteristics of Autocratic Leadership

Some of the primary characteristics of autocratic leadership include:
•Little or no input from group members
•Leaders make the decisions
•Group leaders dictate all the work methods and processes
•Group members are rarely trusted with decisions or important tasks
Benefits of Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leadership can be beneficial in some instances, such as when decisions need to be
made quickly without consulting with a large group of people. Some projects require strong
leadership in order to get things accomplished quickly and efficiently.
In situations that are particularly successful, such as during military conflicts, group members
may actually prefer an autocratic style. It allows members of the group to focus on performing
specific tasks without worrying about making complex decisions..
Downsides of Autocratic Leadership
While autocratic leadership can be beneficial at times, there are also many instances where this
leadership style can be problematic. People who abuse an autocratic leadership style are often
viewed as bossy, controlling, and dictatorial, which can lead to resentment among group
members.
Because autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting the group, people in the group may
dislike that they are unable to contribute ideas.

Democratic leadership, also known as participative leadership, is a type of leadership style

in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process.
Researchers have found that this learning style is usually one of the most effective and lead to
higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased group morale.

Characteristics of Democratic Leadership

Some of the primary characteristics of democratic leadership include:

•Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader retains the
final say over decisions.
•Members of the group feel more engaged in the process.
•Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.

Benefits of Democratic Leadership

Because group members are encouraged to share their thoughts, democratic leadership can leader
to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems. Group members also feel more involved
and committed to projects, making them more likely to care about the end results. Research on
leadership styles has also shown that democratic leadership leads to higher productivity among
group members.

Downsides of Democratic Leadership

While democratic leadership has been described as the most effective leadership style, it does
have some potential downsides. In situations where roles are unclear or time is of the essence,
democratic leadership can lead to communication failures and uncompleted projects. In some
cases, group members may not have the necessary knowledge or expertise to make quality
contributions to the decision-making process.
Democratic leadership works best in situations where group members are skilled and eager to
share their knowledge. It is also important to have plenty of time to allow people to contribute,
develop a plan and then vote on the best course of action.
Laissez-faire leadership, also known as delegative leadership, is a type of leadership style
in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers
have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among
group members.
Laissez-faire leadership is characterized by:
•Very little guidance from leaders
•Complete freedom for followers to make decisions
•Leaders provide the tools and resources needed
•Group members are expected to solve problems on their own
Laissez-faire leadership can be effective in situations where group members are highly skilled,
motivated and capable of working on their own. While the conventional term for this style is
'laissez-faire' and implies a completely hands-off approach, many leaders still remain open and
available to group members for consultation and feedback.
Downsides of Laissez-Faire Leadership
Laissez-faire leadership is not ideal in situations where group members lack the knowledge or
experience they need to complete tasks and make decisions. Some people are not good at setting
their own deadlines, managing their own projects and solving problems on their own. In such
situations, projects can go off-track and deadlines can be missed when team mem

THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP

There are three major approaches to leadership: a) trait theories, b) behavioral theories, c)
situational theories. Trait theories highlight that there exists a finite set of individual traits
or characteristics that distinguish successful from unsuccessful leaders. Behavioral theories
highlight that the most important aspect of leadership is not the traits of the leader, but what the
leader does in various situations. Successful leaders are distinguished form unsuccessful leaders
by their particular style of leadership. Situational theories outlines that the effectiveness of the
leader is not only determined by his or her style of behavior, but also by the situation
surrounding the leadership environment. Situational factors include the characteristics of the
leader and the subordinates, the nature of the task and the structure of the group.

TRAIT THEORY:

Some of the significant characteristics of leaders are categorized as follows:

- Physical Characteristics – age, appearance, height, weight
- Social Background – Education, social status, mobility
- Intelligence – Intelligence, ability, judgment, knowledge, decisiveness, fluency of speech
- Personality – Aggressiveness, alertness, dominance, enthusiasm, extroversion, independence,
creativity, personal integrity, self-confidence
- Task-related Characteristics – Achievement drive, drive for responsibility, initiative,
persistence, enterprise, task orientation
- Social Characteristics – Administrative ability, attractiveness, cooperativeness, popularity,
prestige, sociability, interpersonal skill, tack and diplomacy

The list of important leadership traits is endless and grows with each passing year. It has
not yet been shown that a finite set of traits can distinguish successful from unsuccessful leaders.
For example, successful research administrators are usually inquisitive, independent, perspective,
and experts within their field. Successful sales manages are usually high-need achievers,
gregarious, enthusiastic and project a professional stature, What may be important traits for one
occupation may not be important for other roles in the same organization. Uniformity of traits
across all levels is thus questioned. Trait identifies who the leader is, not the behavioral patterns
he or she will exhibit in attempting to influence subordinate actions.

BEHAVIOURAL THEORY:

The foundation for the style of leadership approach was the belief that effective leaders
utilized a particular style to lead individuals and groups to achieving certain goals, resulting in
high productivity and morale. Unlike trait theories, the behavioral approach focused on leader
effectiveness, not the emergence of an individual as a leader. There are two prominent styles of
leadership such as task orientation, and employee orientation.

Task orientation is the emphasis the leader place on getting the job done by such actions
as assigning and organizing the work, making decision, and evaluating performance. Employee
orientation is the openness and friendless exhibited by the leader and his concern for the needs of
subordinates. Two major research studies directed toward investigating the behavioral approach
to leaderships is i) Ohio State University Studies and ii) University of Michigan Studies.

Ohio State Studies: Initiating Structures and Consideration: They identified two independent
leadership dimensions.
- Initiating Structure: This concerned the degree to which the leader organized and defined the
task, assigned the work to be done, established communication networks and evaluated work-
group performance.
- Consideration, which was defined as behavior that involves trust, mutual respect, friendship;
support and concern for the welfare of the employee. Consideration refers to an emphasis on an
employee orientation leadership style. Their findings indicated that a mixture of initiating-
structure and consideration leader behavior, which are achieved the highest effectiveness,
depends largely on situational factors.

Michigan State Studies: Two distinct styles of leadership were developed from their studies:
- Job-centered leaderships style, which focused on the use of close supervision, legitimate and
coercive power, meeting schedules and evaluating work performance.
- Employee-centered style, which is people oriented and emphasis delegation of responsibility
and a concern for employee welfare, needs, advancement and personal growth. Their findings
reported that employee centered and job centered styles result in productivity increase. However,
job centered behavior created tension and pressure and resulted in lower satisfaction and
increased turnover and absenteeism. Employee centered style is the best leadership style.
-Leadership’s style is too complex to be viewed as uni-dimensional, but more than two
dimensions may complicate the interpretation of leadership behavior. The measurement of
leadership style for each of the approaches was accomplished through the use of questionnaire.
This method of measurement is both limited and controversial. Further, in search of the most
effective leadership’s style, the research findings suggested that a universally accepted best style
was inappropriate to the complexities of modern organizations.

Managerial Grid: The five basic approaches to management identified by Black and Mouton
are based on the two dimensions of concern of people and concern for production that are
associated with leaders. A managerial grid is formed based on these two dimensions which are
rated on 9 point scale. If manager is securing the lowest score on these two dimensions I,I is
identified as impoverished style of managers who are low on both their concern of people and
production, 1,9 or country club style is designated to those managers who are having high
concern for people but low concern for production. The 5, 5 or the middle-of-the road style
concerns the moderate levels of concern for both people and production. The 9,1 or task
management style is one where there is a high concern for production but very little concern for
people and finally, 9,9 or team management style is one where the manager has high concern for
both people and production. According to Black and Mouton the one best style for all mangers is
the 9,9 or team management style.

Likert’s System Four Model: Rensis Likert suggests that managers operate under four different
systems.
System I – Exploitative Authoritative: The manager believes in very authoritarian manner and
actually exploits the subordinates
System II – Benevolent Authoritative: The manager takes a paternalistic approach while still
being autocratic. Behaving as benevolent autocratic, the leader maintains strict control over the
subordinates albeit in a paternalistic manner.
System III – Consultative: The manager consults the subordinates and still maintains the right
to make the final decision.
System IV – Participative Groups: The manager uses a democratic style and makes decision
by consensus and majority vote.

Likert feels that the best way for all organizations to manage employees is to move towards
System IV.

Situational Theory: Situational approaches to leadership take the position that there is no “one
best way to lead in all the situations. Effective leadership style will vary from situations to
situation, depending on several factors such as the personality predisposition of the leaders, the
characteristics of the followers, the nature of task being done and other situational factors.
Tannenbaum and Schmidt reported that the use of authority by the manager (boss centered
leaderships style) or the area of freedom given to subordinates (subordinate centered leadership)
is a function of the following factors such as i) forces in the manager – value system, confidence
in subordinates, leadership predispositions and feelings of security and insecurity), ii) forces in
the subordinates (their needs for independence or dependence, readiness to assume
responsibility, tolerance for ambiguity, abilities, knowledge and experience and inclination to
participate in decision making) and iii) forces in the situation (type of organization, group
effectiveness, time pressures and the nature of the problem itself)

Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership: Fiedler developed a model to predict work group
effectiveness by taking into consideration the best fit between the leadership style and the degree
of favorableness of the situation. The following three factors are considered to check whether the
situation will be favorable or unfavorable. These factors are i) Leader- Member relations, ii)
Task structure of the group, iii) Perceived position power of the manager.

Leadership Style Assessment – Leased Preferred Coworkers Scale: Fiedler developed a scale
to rate the type of relationship a supervisor holds towards the least preferred coworkers on a
twenty-item questionnaire. The supervisor is asked to describe the person with whom he has
worked least well in accomplishing some task. The model postulates that a low LPC score
(unfavorable avoidable evaluation) indicates the degree to which a leader is ready to reject those
with whom he cannot work. Therefore, the lower the LPC score, the greater the tendency for the
leader to be task oriented. On the other hand, a high LPC (favorable evaluation) indicates a
willingness to perceive even the worst coworker as having some positive attributes. Therefore,
the higher the LPC score, the greatest the tendency for the leader to be employee oriented.

Favorable Situation: The situation is considered as highly favorable if it possess a high level of
positive interpersonal relations between leaders and members, a well-defined task structures and
a leaders perceive that they are bestowed with strong perceived positional power. In such
type of situation the leader will have a great deal of control over situations and will simply have
to make sure that he gives the necessary instructions to get the task done. There is no need for
him to waste time talking to each employee in order to be perceived as friendly. A task-oriented
style will be effective in such situation.

Unfavorable Situation: The situation is considered as highly unfavorable if it possesses a low

level of interpersonal relationship between leaders and members, a poorly defined task and a
relatively a weak perceived power. The leader of a task-force committee which is appointed to
solve problems encountered in the work setting is likely to find him in such a situation. In such
type of situation, the leader is in highly vulnerable situations and there is no other way to enforce
a strict discipline and order to bring the situation in normalcy than following relationship
oriented style.

Moderately Favorable Situation: Here the leader might find herself in a mixed situation. For
instance, a manager might have good relationship with her workers, but the task structure and
position power of the leader may be low. For example, a bank officer may have a good
relationship staff member, but the task structure or the power to control the staff members (either
to reward or punish members) is not strong enough. In such situations, the manager will be very
successful and get the desirable results if he follows more of relationships oriented style than
task oriented task style. The major findings of fielder are that the task-oriented leaders perform
better than relationship oriented leaders in both extreme situations that are very favorable and
thosethat are unfavorable. Relationship oriented leaders tend to perform better than task oriented
leaders in situations that are intermediate in favorableness. These findings suggest that each of
the leadership style can be effective in certain situation. Fiedler also suggests that the
organization can change the effectiveness of the group’s performance by changing the
favorableness of the situations or by changing the leader’s preferred style through education and
training.

Fiedler’s contingency model has proven to be major addition to the study of leadership in
organizations for a number of reasons. First, the contingency model was one of the first
approaches to leadership that included situational factors within its theoretical framework. The
model will probably continue to be an important source of new ideas, propositions and
hypotheses about situational leadership. Second, it provides the subtle but important implication
that one should not speak of leadership as being either good or poor. Rather, a more realistic
viewpoint would be that a manager’s style of leading may be effective in one situation but not in
another. Finally, leadership effectiveness is a function of the leader’s style and the interaction of
situational factors. The organization may improve the effectiveness of a particular work
environment either modifying the situational factors or attempting to change the manager’s
leadership style.

Path-Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness: A second situational theory of leadership has been
proposed by House and Evan. The principle function of the leader is facilitating to increase
valence perception of their subordinates and clarify and increase expectancy probabilities of
them. This will in turn make them to put greater amount of effort and derive higher level of
satisfaction and performance in their work. The theory is composed of two basic propositions
such as i) role of the leader and ii) dynamics of the situation. The two main aspects of this model
are as follows:

Leadership Role: Leader behavior is acceptable and satisfying to the extent that subordinates
perceive such behavior as a source of satisfaction or instrumental to future satisfaction. There are
four styles of leadership:

- Directive Leadership Behavior: This deals with planning, organizing, controlling and
coordinating of subordinates activities by the leader. It is similar to the traditional dimension of
initiating structure in that the leader’s emphasis is on letting the subordinates know what is
expected of them.

- Supportive Leadership Behavior: This concerns giving support consideration to the needs of
the subordinates, displaying concern for their well-being and welfare and creating a friendly and
pleasant environment.

- Participative Leadership Behavior: This deals with sharing of information and an emphasis
on consultation with subordinates and use of their ideas and suggestions in reaching group-
related decision.

- Achievement-Oriented Leadership Behavior: This deals with setting challenging goals,

expecting subordinates to perform at the highest level, continually seeking improvement in
performance. The leader wants good performance, but at the same time displays confidence in
the ability of his subordinates to do a good job.

Dynamics of Situation: The leadership style is determined by the situation in which the leader
functions. Two main factors that influence the situational effectiveness of the leader’s behavior
are: a) the characteristics of the subordinates and b) the characteristics of his work environment,
including task, work group and other organizational factors. The theory proposes that leader
behavior will be perceived as acceptable to subordinates to the extent that the subordinates see
such behavior as either an immediate source of satisfaction or as needed for future satisfaction.

Characteristics of Subordinates: Subordinates characteristics are seen to partially determine

this perception. The following are the characteristics:

- Ability: This refers to the subordinates perception of his or own ability

- Locus of Control: This deals with the degree to which an employee believes that he or she has
control of what happens to him. People who believe that they controlled their environment and
who believe what happens to them occurs because of their behavior are called internal. People
who believe what happens to them is not under their control and occurs because of luck or fate
are externals.
- Need and Motives: A subordinate’s dominant needs may affect the impact of leader behavior.
For example, individuals with high safety and security needs may accept an instrumental leader
style, but employees with high affiliation and esteem needs may react more positively to a
supportive leader.

Characteristics of Work Environment:

There are three broad aspects work environment such as i) task structures, ii) primary work
group and iii) formal authority system.

Path-Goal theory states that leaders can exercise four different kinds of styles such as directive
leadership, supportive leadership, participative leadership and achievement oriented leadership.
The Path-Goal theory postulates that any of the four styles can be used effectively by the leader,
depending upon situational factors such as subordinate characteristics (ability internal or external
locus of control, needs and motives), and attributes in the work setting (task characteristics,
authority system and the nature of the primary work groups). If there is a good fit between the
leadership style and the situational factors in the work setting, then subordinates will experience
job satisfaction, accept and value the leader as a dispense or valued rewards and will engage in
motivated behavior because they will know that their effort will lead to performance and that
performance will lead to valued rewards. The rationale behind the theory is that leader can help
the subordinates to achieve their goals by providing what is missing in the situation. Employees
are helped by the leader to see the path by which their efforts will lead to performance and
performance to desired rewards. The leader can take care of the missing links in the situation and
facilitate to fulfill the needs of the subordinates. This suggests that leaders should involve their
subordinates as much as possible in goal setting. This will enhance a person’s sense of control
over the organization’s goal and have significant benefits in terms of job satisfaction, self-esteem
and self-efficacy as well as productivity improvement for the organization. Goals need to be
difficult enough to be challenging and yet realistic and achievable. Goal setting needs to be
consistent across everyone and over time.

Hersey and Blanchard’s Life Cycle Model of Situation Leadership: Heresy and Blanchard
developed a situational model focusing on the followers characteristics. Successful leadership is
achieved by selecting the right leadership style, which is contingent on the level of the followers’
developmental level. It is the followers who accept or reject the leader, so that they are important
factors in a leader’s success. Blanchard defined developmental level as the skill and willingness
of people to take responsibility for directing their own behavior. It consists of two components
such as job maturity (Job competence – skills and abilities) and psychological maturity
(motivation and willingness to take responsibility).

Situational Leadership Styles:

Situational leadership uses the same two leadership dimensions – task and relationship behavior.
However, the situational leadership approach goes a step further by considering each as either
high or low and then combining them into for specific leadership styles:

Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating.

i) Directing: (high directive – low supportive): The leader defines roles and tells people what
tasks to do and how, when and where to do them. It emphasis directive behavior.
ii) Coaching: (high directive – high supportive): The leader provides both directive behavior
and supportive behavior)
iii) Supporting (low directive-high supportive): The leader and follower share in decision-
making, with the main role of the leader being facilitating and communicating.
iv) Delegating: (low directive-low supportive): The leader provides little direction or support.

Followers Characteristics:

Besides identifying leadership behavior, the Situational Style Leadership model also identifies
follower readiness or developmental level. The follower’s readiness for a task is shown on a
continuum ranging from D1 to D4. Two characteristics are used to identify the level of readiness
to complete the task such as i) ability and ii) willingness. The situational leadership model finds
that different followers have different combinations of these two characteristics and different
levels of development or readiness and capacity to complete the tasks. There are four
developmental stages of followers.

i) D1: Unwilling, insecure, and with the ability to perform the task.
ii) D2: Willing, confident, and without the ability to perform the task.
iii) D3: Unwilling, insecure and with the ability to perform the task
iv) D4: Willing, confident and with the ability to perform the task.

INSPIRATIONAL APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP

These contemporary leadership theories view leaders as individuals who inspire followers
through their words, ideas, and behaviors.

A. Charismatic Leadership. Charisma, as defined by Max Weber, is “a certain quality of an

individual personality, by virtue of which he or she is set apart from ordinary people and
treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional
powers or qualities. These are not assessable to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of
divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as
a leader.”

B. Transformational Leadership. While transformational leadership does divide leadership

into two categories, these are not opposites but complements. Transformational leadership
builds on top of transactional leadership and produces levels of follower effort and
performance that go beyond what would occur with a transactional approach alone. But the
reverse is not true.

Leadership Types. This theory of leadership divides leaders into two types, based on their
methods and outcomes:

a. Transactional Leaders: those who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of
establish goals by clarifying role and task requirements. These leaders were described in
the other (non-inspirational) sections of this chapter.
 b. Transformational Leaders: those who inspire followers to transcend their own self-
interests for the good of the organization and are capable of having a profound or
extraordinary effect on their followers.

What Makes Leadership Effective:

The following points make the leadership effective.

Mental and physical health
Knowledge and Intelligent
Clear cut and worthy goal
Conviction
Sense of responsibility
Motivation
Initiative and Drive
Besides there are some other factors which make the leadership effective.Thosevare-
Leader’s own personality, past experience & expectation
Expectation & behaviour of his superior
Expectation & behaviour of his subordinate
Task Requirement
Organisational culture & climate

CONFLICT
INTRODUCTION
Human beings experience conflict in their everyday life. Hence organizations are not
free of it. Conflict has considerable influence on individual and organizational performance.
Therefore conflict management is very very necessary.
According to Kolb and Bartinek, “conflict can be a disagreement, the presence of tension, or
some other difficulty within or between two or more parties.

TYPES OF CONFLICT

Intrapersonal Conflict: When conflict occurs within an individual, it is called intrapersonal

conflict. It occurs in three ways.

a)Approach-Approach Conflict-Here an individual must choose between two alternatives which

have expected positive outcome.

b)Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict- Here an individual must choose between two alternatives

which have expected negative outcome.

c)Approach-Avoidance Conflict- Here an individual must decide whether to do something that is

expected to have both positive and negative outcome.

Interpersonal Conflict: When conflict occurs in between individual to individual ,it is called
interpersonal conflict.

Intragroup Conflict: When conflict occurs within one group,it is called intragroup conflict.
Intergroup Conflict: When conflict occurs amongst different groups, it is called intergroup
conflict. It occurs in three ways.

a)Vertical Conflict-It refers to conflicts that occur between individuals at different levels.
Conflict between the superior and subordinate is an example of vertical conflict.

b)Horizontal conflict-It refers to tensions between employees or groups at the same hierarchical
level. Horizontal conflict occurs because of interdependence among the parties concerned in the
work situation.

c)Line & Staff Conflict- It refers to the conflicts that arise between those who assist or act in an
advisory capacity (staff) and those who have direct authority to create the products, process, and
services of the organizing (line).

CONFLICT PROCESS
The conflict process can be categorized into five stages. They are as follows:

Stage I: Potential opposition or incompatibility:

This covers the present condition that creates opportunity for conflicts to arise. This may be one
of the conditions responsible for the occurrence of conflict. The major sources of conflict can be
further categorized as communication, structure and personal variables. Communication: It is
reported that word connotations, jargon, insufficient exchange of information and noise in the
communication channel are all barriers to communication and potential antecedent conditions to
conflict.
Stage II: Cognition and personalization:
Perception or sense making plays a major role in the resolving conflict. Conflict may either be
perceived or felt in nature. Perceived conflict is defined as awareness by one or more parties of
the existence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise. Felt conflict is defined
as emotional involvement in a conflict creating anxiety, tenseness, frustrations or hostility.
Negative emotions have been found to produce over simplification of issues, reductions in trust,
and negative interpretations of the other party’s behavior.
Stage III: Intentions:
Using two dimensions – cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the
other party’s concerns) and assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy his or
her own concerns) – five conflict handling intentions can be identified. There are as follows: i)
competing (assertive and uncooperative), ii) collaborating (assertive and cooperative), iii)
avoiding (unassertive and uncooperative), iv) accommodating (unassertive and cooperative) and
v) compromising (mid-range on both assertiveness and cooperativeness).
Stage IV: Behaviour:
All conflicts manifest in behavior somewhere along with continuum ranging from no conflict or
minor conflict such as minor disagreements or misunderstanding, overt questioning or
challenging of others, to annihilatory conflict such as threats and ultimatum, aggressive physical
attacks or overt efforts to destroy the other party.
Stage V: Outcomes:
The outcomes of conflict may be functional or dysfunctional. Conflict is constructive when it
improves the quality of decision, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages interest and
curiosity among group members, provides the medium through which problems can be aired and
tensions released and fosters an environment of self-evaluation and change.

CAUSES OF INTER-GROUP CONFLICT:

There are three basic sources of inter-group conflict: i) goal incompatibility, ii) decision-making
requirements and iii) performance expectations.
Interdependence: Conflict potential increases when groups are interdependent. The different
types of Interdependence are as follows:
1. Pooled interdependence—no direct interaction occurs between groups;
interdependence exists because their pooled performance determines organizational performance
(e.g.,
the Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet divisions at General Motors). Creates relatively low conflict
potential.
2. Sequential interdependence—Occurs when one group must complete
its task before another group can complete its task (e.g., two groups on an assembly line). Makes
conflict more likely because output (quality and quantity) of one group depends on the task input
of
another.
3. Reciprocal interdependence—the output of each group is the input for
other groups and vice versa (e.g., the anesthesiology, nursing, and surgical teams in an operating
room).
Creates high conflict potential.
All organizations have pooled interdependence; complex organizations have sequential
interdependence; and the more complex organizations have reciprocal interdependence. The
more
complex the organization, the greater the conflict potential.
B. Goals Difference: Groups with different goals have different expectations that can cause
conflict
when the groups interact. Goal differences become more evident when resources are limited and
are
allocated across the groups. Conflict pressures increase when groups think resources have not
been
allocated equitably. Different goal can produce different perceptions. Different time horizons can
produce different times perspectives and affect perceived importance of problems (e.g., a
company
president's time perspective of five‐to‐ten years vs. a foreman's perspective of one month to one
year).
C. Perceptual Differences: Status incongruency-one group perceiving itself as more prestigious
than another can provoke intergroup conflict. Inaccurate perceptions often causes groups to
develop
stereotypes about other groups, which can provoke conflict and erode intergroup relations.
When conflict is low rational model describes the organization where goals are consistent across
participants, power and control are centralized, decision process are orderly, logical, rational,
rules and
norms are norms of efficiency, information is extensive, systematic and accurate.
When conflict is high political model describes the organization where goals are inconsistent and
pluralistic within the organization, power and control are decentralized and shifting coalitions
and
interest groups, decision process are disorderly and result of bargaining and interplay among
interests,

Conflict management Techniques:

The various strategies for minimizing and resolving conflicts can be classified into five
categories: i) Avoidance, ii) Accommodating, iii) Compromise, iv) Competition and v)
Collaboration.

Avoidance:
This strategy involves a general disregard for the causes of the conflict and the person might
diplomatically sidestep a conflicting issue, postpone addressing it till later, or withdraw
physically or psychologically from a threatening situation. Avoiding mode is used when the
individual is both unassertive and uncooperative – that is, the person has a very low concern for
his own and his opponent’s needs. The individual follows the following three methods

i) Non-attention: The manager totally avoids or ignores the dysfunctional situation. Individuals
tend to “look the other way” or disregard hostile action in hopes that the situation will resolve
itself in time
ii) Physical separation: It involves moving conflicting groups physically apart from each other.
The rationale is that if the groups cannot interact, conflict will diminish.
iii) Limited interaction: Groups are allowed to interact only on formal situations.

Accommodation:
Accommodation is a negotiation style where one party is willing to oblige or adapt to meet the
needs of the other party. That party that accommodates loses and the other party wins.
Accommodation is useful for negotiation on minor matters. The negotiation parties may not look
for creative, new solutions. Accommodation might take the form of selfless generosity, or
obeying another’s order rather unwillingly or giving in to another person’s point of view. In all
these cases, the individual neglects his or her own concern to satisfy the concerns of their other
party. There is an element of self-sacrifice.

Competition:
Competition occurs when one party negotiates to maximize its results at the expense of the other
party’s needs. Competition leads to one party gaining the advantage over the other. One party
wins while the other party loses. Although it is quick and can be used as counter against another
person, this option usually produces a win-lose result. Competing is a power oriented mode of
resolving tensions and one uses whatever power one has or can muster such skills, knowledge,
abilities, rank being well-connected etc. to win.

Compromising:
Compromise is the settlement of differences through concessions of one or both parties. In
compromising, the party tries to find some expedient, mutually acceptable solutions with
partially satisfies both parties, though neither is fully satisfied. A compromising stance addresses
the issue without avoiding it, but does not explore the alternative in a way that would be
completely satisfying to both parties as in the case of collaboration. Compromising involves
“splitting the difference”, exchanging concessions and seeking quick middle-ground solutions.
Collaboration:
Collaboration occurs when people cooperate to produce a solution satisfactory to both.
Collaborating involves an attempt to work with the other person to find solutions that would be
satisfying to both parties. Here, the underlying concerns of both parties are explored in depth, the
disagreements examine in detail and resolutions arrived at by combining the insights of both the
parties. A creative solution usually emerges because of the joint efforts of both the parties who
are keen on both gaining from the situation without hurting the other.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
When people interact in assertive or non-assertive ways, there is a social transaction in
which one person responds to another. The study of these social transactions between people is
called Transactional Analysis (TA). Transactional analysis was developed by Eric Berne for
psychotherapy in the 1950s. The objective of TA is to provide better understanding of how
people relate to one another, so that they may develop improved communication and human
relationship.

KEY IDEAS IN TA
Ego States

The personality of a person is the collection of behaviour patterns developed over a period of
time that other people begin to recognize as that person. these behaviour patterns are evolved
in differing degrees from three ego states - Parent, Adult and Child.
Parent ego is formed by external events and influences upon us as we grow through early
childhood to adulthood. Parent ego is characterized by protective, nurturing, commanding, and
directing.
There are two kinds of Parent ego states : (i) Nurturing Parent and (ii) Critical parent. The
Nurturing parent is that part of a person which is understanding and caring about other
people. Behaviour coming from the nurturing parent may set limits on and provide direction
for people behaviour. It will not put the people down and make them feel not OK as
individual. Critical parent behaviour attacks people's personalities as well as their behaviour.
Critical parent makes people feel that they are not OK. When people are in their critical parent
ego state they are very evaluative and judgmental. They are always ready to respond with a
'should' or 'ought' to almost anything people tell them.
The Adult ego state evokes behaviour that could be described simply as logical, reasonable,
rationale and unemotional. Behaviour from the adult ego state is characterized by problem
solving analysis and rationale decision-making. People operating from the adult ego state are
taking emotional content of their child ego state, the value-laden content of their parent ego state
and checking them out in the reality of the external world. These people are examining
alternatives, probabilities and values prior to engaging in behaviour.
The child ego state is associated with behaviours that appear when a person is responding
emotionally. A person's child contains the 'natural' impulses and attitudes learned from child
experiences. There are several forms of the child ego state. However, two kinds of ego states
viz. happy child and destructive child are commonly relevant in their behaviour. People behaving
from their happy child are doing things they want to do it but it is not destructive to
others. However, people in their destructive child are also doing things but their behaviour is
either destructive to others or to themselves, or to their environment. In understanding the
difference between these two types of child ego state, it helps to remember that behaviour by
itself is not happy or destructive. Whether a person's behaviour is coming from a happy child
or destructive child depends on the transaction feedback from others.
.
Strokes
Berne observed that people need strokes, the units of interpersonal recognition, to survive and
thrive. Understanding how people give and receive positive and negative strokes and changing
unhealthy patterns of stroking are powerful aspects of work in transactional analysis. Stroking is
the recognition that one person gives to another. Strokes are essential to a person's life. Without
them, Berne said, the "spinal cord will shrivel up." It has been shown that a very young child
needs actual physical strokes in order to remain alive. Adults can get by on fewer physical
strokes as they learn to exchange verbal strokes; positive strokes like praise or expressions of
appreciation, or negative strokes like negative judgments or put downs. Therefore, the exchange
of strokes is one of the most important things that people do in their daily lives.

Games
The essential aspect of games is that they are crooked or covert exchanges of strokes. A game
is a recurring series of covert transactions with a beginning, middle and end, and a payoff.
The payoff is a hidden advantage which motivates the players to participate. Transactional
Analysis became a nation-wide fad in the 1960's due to the bestselling success of Eric Berne's
book, Games People Play. In this book he assigned engaging names (“Now I’ve got you,” “Kick
me,” “I only trying to help.”) for different games. For instance when Jane plays "Why Don' You,
Yes But" she asks advice from another but rejects every suggestion so that everyone ends up
exasperated. It is the type of conversation which occurs over and over again, especially in
therapy groups. It is devious and covert: on the social level, it appears to be a conversation in
which a person in the Adult ego state is asking a question to one or more people who are also in
their Adult ego states. What makes it a game is that none of the suggestions are really accepted.
The reason for that is that, at the psychological and much more meaningful level, what is really
going on is that Jane may need advice but needs strokes even more. Because these strokes are
being given in a roundabout way they are not as satisfying as direct strokes would be. This is
why the game ends on a note of depressed frustration.

Payoffs
There are a number of payoffs of this game; every game pays off at three different levels: (i)
The biological pay-off of a game is strokes. Even though games end badly, all the players get
a considerable number of strokes – both positive and negative – out of playing them. (ii) The
social pay-off of a game is time-structuring. People are able to fill time which otherwise might
have been dull and depressing with an exciting activity. (iii) The existential pay-off of a game is
the way in which the game confirms the existential position of each player.

Life position
In the process of growing up, people make basic assumptions about their own self-worth as
well as about the worth of significant people in their environment that may or may not be
channelized to other people later in life. Harris called them combination of an assumption
about oneself and another person a life position. Life position tend to be more permanent
than ego states. They are learned through out life by way of reinforcements for, and responses to
expressed. These assumptions are described in terms of 'okay ness'. Thus individual that they are
either OK or not OK and other individuals are assumed to be either OK or not OK.

Four possible relationship resulted from this life position.

1. I am not OK, You are not OK (neither person have value)
2. I am not OK, You are OK (you have value but I do not have)
3. I am OK, You are not OK (I have value but you don't have)
4. I am OK, You are OK (we both have value)
I AM NOT OK, YOU'RE NOT OK:
People tend to feel bad about themselves and see that the whole world as miserable. People
with this life position usually give up. They do not trust other people and have no confidence
in themselves.
I AM NOT OK, YOU'RE OK
People with this life position often come from their child ego state. They feel that others are
more capable and generally have fewer problems than they themselves do. They tend to think
that they always got the short end of the stick. This is the most common life position for people
who have high expectations for authority. They see their world as "I don't have any control or
much power, but those people seem to have all the power and rewards and punishment."
I AM OK, YOU'RE NOT OK
This type of people often come their Critical Parent ego state. They tend to be down on other
people for at least two reasons. First, they often regard other people as source of criticism. They
feel that if they are not exactly perfect or right, people will be excessively critical of them.
Second, they want to break away or rebel from some authority figure and become more
independent, but they are either not sure how to go about this or they have had pleasant
experiences in attempting it in the past.
I AM OK, YOU'RE OK
This life position is considered as healthy position. People with these feelings express confidence
in themselves as well as trust and confidence in other people in their environment. Their
behaviour tends to come from their Nurturing Parent, Adult and Happy Child ego states, while
seldom being evoked from their Destructive Child or Critical parent. TA may be used to explain
why people behave in specific patterns throughout their life. This analysis enables people to
identify patterns of transactions between themselves and others. Ultimately, this can help us to
determine which ego state most heavily influencing our behaviour and the behaviour of other
people with whom we interact.
Transaction:
There are two types of transactions. One is complementary, another is non-complementary.
When the receiver of the message responds the message in the same ego state he or she receives
it, is known as complementary transaction. Here the ego state of two persons are parallel to
each other. When the receiver of the message responds the message with different ego state than
the ego state he/she receives message is known as non-complementary transaction. Here the
ego state of two persons are not parallel rather than crossed happens.

APPLICATION OF TA:

Stroking – Stroking is defined as any act of recognition for another. People seek stoking in
their interaction with others. It applies to all type of recognition, such as physical, verbal and
eye contact between people. Strokes may be either positive, negative, or mixed. Positive strokes,
when they are received contribute to a person's sense being OK. Negative stokes hurt physically
or emotionally and make us feel OK about ourselves. There also is a
difference between conditional and unconditional strokes. Conditional strokes are offered to
employees if they perform correctly or avoid problems. A Regional manager may promise" I
will give you a choice posting if you achieve the targets of advances, deposits and recovery
and turn around the branch". Unconditional strokes are presented without any connection to
behaviour, although they may make a person feel good (for example, "you're a good officer").
TA and Leadership – when managers transact primarily from a single ego state, they limit
their choice of leadership styles. For example, the person with a dominant Parent ego state will
tend towards a more autocratic style. If the Child state is dominant, the free-rein style may be
used extensively. However, a supervisor who feels "I am OK-You're OK" and who has a well-
developed Adult state, is more likely to collect data prior to making a choice of style. The style
chosen by the adult state generally will allow ample freedom for employees to participate in the
decision process.
TA and conflict resolution – There are several natural connections between TA and the
approaches to resolving conflict. the Parent ego state may lead to the use of a forcing strategy,
while the child state may smooth over conflicts or try to avoid them. The "I am OK – You're
OK" person is more likely to seek a win-win outcome, applying the Adult ego state.
Benefits of TA – Organisations that have used TA approach were found moderately successful
training in TA can give employees fresh insights into their own personalities, and it also can help
them to understand why others sometimes respond as they do. A major benefit is improved
interpersonal communication. Employees in organization can sense when crossed
communication occurs and then take steps to restore complementary communication, preferably
in the Adult-to-Adult pattern. The result is a general improvement in interpersonal transactions.

Conclusion

Transactional analysis is the study of social transaction between people. One useful
approach is the classification of Parent, Adult and child ego states. An Adult-to-adult
complementary transaction is especially desirable at work. Crossed transactions tend to cut off
communication and produce conflicts. TA is essentially a learning experience through which
an individual discovers how to sort out the data that goes into his decisions. This approach is
useful to improve the interpersonal communication in organization and in social life. I’m OK,
You're OK life position shows acceptance of self and others. TA gives employees fresh insights
into their own personalities.