JAMMIE B. AKUT

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR Dr. CHAVES

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS

Self-concept or self identity refers to the global understanding a sentient being has of oneself.

The self-concept is composed of relatively permanent self-assessments, such as knowledge of

one's skills and abilities, one's occupation and hobbies, and awareness of one's physical

attributes. The self-concept is not restricted to the present. It includes past selves and future

selves. Future selves represent the individuals’ ideas of what they might become, what they

would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming. They correspond to hopes, fears,

standards, goals, and threats. Personality is made up of characteristic patterns of thoughts,

feelings, and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from

within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life. Some of the fundamental

characteristics of personality include consistency – the recognizable order and regularity to

behaviours since people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations;

psychological and physiological since personality is a psychological construct, but also

influenced by biological processes and needs; impact behaviors and actions because

personality does not just influence how we move and respond in our environment; it also causes

us to act in certain ways; last is multiple expressions - personality is displayed in more than just

behaviour, it can also be seen in out thoughts, feelings, close relationships, and other social

interactions.

An emotion is a mental and physiological state associated with a wide variety of feelings,

thoughts, and behavior. They are subjective experiences, or experienced from an individual

point of view. They are often associated with mood, temperament, personality, and disposition.

The James-Lange theory posits that emotional experience is largely due to the experience of

bodily changes. This theory and its derivatives state that a changed situation leads to a changed

bodily state. As James says 'the perception of bodily changes as they occur is the emotion. This

theory is supported by experiments in which by manipulating the bodily state, a desired emotion

is induced. The James-Lange theory, conversely, asserts that first we react to a situation and

then we interpret our actions into an emotional response. In this way, emotions serve to explain

and organize our own actions to us.

Emotional Intelligence is a relatively recent behavioural model, rising to prominence with Daniel

Goleman. The EQ concept argues that IQ, or conventional intelligence, is too narrow; that there

are wider areas of Emotional Intelligence that dictate and enable our success. Success requires

more than IQ, which has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence. Another concept is

the Multiple Intelligence developed by Dr. Gardner where he says that we should also place

equal attention on individuals who show gifts in the other intelligences: the artists, architects,

musicians, naturalists, and others who enrich the world in which we live. Unfortunately, many

children who have these gifts do not receive much reinforcement from school. The theory of

multiple intelligences proposes that teachers be trained to present their lessons in a wide variety

of ways using music, cooperative learning, art activities, role play, multimedia, field trips, inner

reflection, and much more. The theory of multiple intelligences also gives adults a whole new

way to look at their lives; examining potentials that they left behind in their childhood but now

have the opportunity to develop through courses, hobbies, or other programs of self-

development.

Having read different articles about self concept, personality, emotional and multiple

intelligences made me realize that it is imperative to know the self well since we deal with

internal and external situations that need our attention. If we are not aware of our selves we will

be vulnerable to stress and problems, which might make us liabilities to the company we work

at. Before we take into account the whole organization, our personal issues must be dealt with

first.

Question:

Can you cite concrete examples when organizations would use multiple intelligence or

emotional intelligence to address different issues in the company?

REFERENCES

Abelson, Michael (2006). Basic Elements of Individual Behavior in Organizations. (Online).(July 30, 2009)http://wehner.tamu.edu/mgmt.www/mgmt.363/non-business_363/Chapter%2015%20%20%20Griffin%208th%20Edition.pdf

Armstrong, Thomas. (nd). Multiple Intelligences. (Online). (July 30,2009)http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligences.htm

Cherniss, Cary & Goleman, Daniel. (1998).Guidelines for Best Practice. (Online).( July 30,2009)http://www.businessballs.com/emotionalintelligencebestpractice.pdf