Describe various determinants of interpersonal behavior.
Explain the Johari window as a conceptual model for studying interpersonal awareness and discuss its relevance in an organizational setup.
Determinants of interpersonal behavior:
Self concept: Every person has an attitude towards himself or herself and this attitude comprises the self or self concept. The belief component represents the content of self. EX: “I’m intelligent, sincere etc”. The feeling components about oneself are reflected in feeling of self worth or in general as I’m ok or not ok.
Finally the behavioral component is the tendency to act towards oneself in a self deprecating or self enhancing manner. In order to maintain interpersonal environment and maximize congruence or harmony use certain mechanisms to stabilize interaction.
Misperception: when the actual expectations of others are not congruent with the self concept or behavior we may simply misperceive how others see us.
Selective interaction: we may choose to interact with those persons with whom we can most readily establish a congruence state.
Selective evaluation of the other person: we maximize congruence by favorably evaluating those who behave congruently towards us and evaluate those who do not.
Selective evaluation of self: We maximize congruence by altering the values placed on various aspects of our self concept so that the aspects those are in agreement with the perception of our own behavior and those of others are moist highly evaluated.
Interpersonal needs: There are 3 interpersonal needs:- Inclusion, control and affection that cause one to establish and maintain relations with others. These needs are defined as follows:
Inclusion- Need for interaction and association.
Control- A need for control and power.
Affection- the need for love and affection.
Compatibility is a property of relationship between 2 or more persons that leads to the mutual satisfaction of interpersonal needs and harmonious coexistence. If what is wanted and what is expressed is equal for both interacting persons mutual needs are satisfied.
Interpersonal orientations: three basic types of persons have been identified – tough battler, friendly helper and objective thinker. The interpersonal orientations are in terms of extremes but they are typical descriptions of familiar behavior. Many people are more oriented to one style than other and feel more comfortable with its associated behaviors.
The tough battler would relate better to others is he or she was more sensitive to others, could accept his or her own inevitable dependence on others and recognizes that some situations will not yield to pressure. The friendly helper would be more satisfied if he or she could stand up of his or her own interest and face conflict.
Like wise the objective thinker could relate to others more effectively, if he or she were more aware and accepting of his or her own feelings and those of others.
Interpersonal attraction: By choosing persons as friends an important and durable source of harmonious interactions is created. People interact more frequently with those who are perceived as confirming their self concept to great extent. The greater the importance and common consequences of an objective to 2 people, the greater the attraction between both persons. An object may refer to any focus of perception including physical objects, symbol. Other persons self concept or ones own self concept.
Johari window:
The Johari Window model is a simple and useful tool for illustrating and improving self-awareness, and mutual understanding between individuals within a group. The Johari Window tool can also be used to assess and improve a group's relationship with other groups. The Johari Window model was developed by American psychologists Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in the 1950s, while researching group dynamics. Today the Johari Window model is especially relevant due to modern emphasis on, and influence of, 'soft' skills, behaviour, empathy, cooperation, inter-group development and interpersonal development.
The four Johari Window perspectives are called 'regions' or 'areas' or 'quadrants'. Each of these regions contains and represents the information - feelings, motivation, etc - known about the person, in terms of whether the information is known or unknown by the person, and whether the information is known or unknown by others in the group.
The Johari Window's four regions, (areas, quadrants, or perspectives) are as follows, showing the quadrant numbers and commonly used names:
Johari window four regions
1. what is known by the person about him/herself and is also known by others - open area, open self, free area, free self, or 'the arena'
2. what is unknown by the person about him/herself but which others know - blind area, blind self, or 'blindspot'
3. what the person knows about him/herself that others do not know - hidden area, hidden self, avoided area, avoided self or 'facade'
4. what is unknown by the person about him/herself and is also unknown by others - unknown area or unknown self
Johari quadrant 1 - 'open self/area' or 'free area' or 'public area', or 'arena'
Johari region 1 is also known as the 'area of free activity'. This is the information about the person - behaviour, attitude, feelings, emotion, knowledge, experience, skills, views, etc - known by the person ('the self') and known by the group ('others').
The aim in any group should always be to develop the 'open area' for every person, because when we work in this area with others we are at our most effective and productive, and the group is at its most productive too. The open free area, or 'the arena', can be seen as the space where good communications and cooperation occur, free from distractions, mistrust, confusion, conflict and misunderstanding.
Johari quadrant 2 - 'blind self' or 'blind area' or 'blindspot'
Johari region 2 is what is known about a person by others in the group, but is unknown by the person him/herself. By seeking or soliciting feedback from others, the aim should be to reduce this area and thereby to increase the open , ie, to increase self-awareness. This blind area is not an effective or productive space for individuals or groups. This blind area could also be referred to as ignorance about oneself, or issues in which one is deluded. A blind area could also include issues that others are deliberately withholding from a person. We all know how difficult it is to work well when kept in the dark. No-one works well when subject to 'mushroom management'. People who are 'thick-skinned' tend to have a large 'blind area'.
Johari quadrant 3 - 'hidden self' or 'hidden area' or 'avoided self/area' or 'facade'
Johari region 3 is what is known to ourselves but kept hidden from, and therefore unknown, to others. This hidden or avoided self represents information, feelings, etc, anything that a person knows about him/self, but which is not revealed or is kept hidden from others. The hidden area could also include sensitivities, fears, hidden agendas, manipulative intentions, secrets - anything that a person knows but does not reveal, for whatever reason. It's natural for very personal and private information and feelings to remain hidden, indeed, certain information, feelings and experiences have no bearing on work, and so can and should remain hidden. However, typically, a lot of hidden information is not very personal, it is work- or performance-related, and so is better positioned in the open area.
Johari quadrant 4 - 'unknown self' or 'area of unknown activity' or 'unknown area'
Johari region 4 contains information, feelings, latent abilities, aptitudes, experiences etc, that are unknown to the person him/herself and unknown to others in the group. These unknown issues take a variety of forms: they can be feelings, behaviours, attitudes, capabilities, aptitudes, which can be quite close to the surface, and which can be positive and useful, or they can be deeper aspects of a person's personality, influencing his/her behaviour to various degrees. Large unknown areas would typically be expected in younger people, and people who lack experience or self-belief.
Examples of unknown factors are as follows, and the first example is particularly relevant and common, especially in typical organizations and teams:
• an ability that is under-estimated or un-tried through lack of opportunity, encouragement, confidence or training
• a natural ability or aptitude that a person doesn't realise they possess
• a fear or aversion that a person does not know they have
• an unknown illness
• repressed or subconscious feelings
• conditioned behaviour or attitudes from childhood
Johari window example - increasing open area through feedback solicitation
This Johari Window model diagram is an example of increasing the open area , by reduction of the blind area, which would normally be achieved through the process of asking for and then receiving feedback.
Feedback develops the open area by reducing the blind area.
The open area can also be developed through the process of disclosure, which reduces the hidden area.
The unknown area can be reduced in different ways: by others' observation (which increases the blind area); by self-discovery (which increases the hidden area), or by mutual enlightenment - typically via group experiences and discussion - which increases the open area as the unknown area reduces.
Johari window model - example for new team member or member within a new team
This Johari Window model diagram is an example of a member of a new team or a person who is new to an existing team.
The open free region is small because others know little about the new person.
Similarly the blind area is small because others know little about the new person.
The hidden or avoided issues and feelings are a relatively large area.
In this particular example the unknown area is the largest, which might be because the person is young, or lacking in self-knowledge or belief.
Johari window example - established team member example
This Johari Window model diagram is an example of an established member of a team.
The open free region is large because others know a lot about the person that the person also knows.
Through the processes of disclosure and receiving feedback the open area has expanded and at the same time reduced the sizes of the hidden, blind and unknown areas.
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