Module – 1

Personal Growth:
 
Meaning and concepts, Self-awareness
and self-esteem, Life Roles, Social Roles
and Organizational Roles. Nature and
Scope of Personal Growth
 Personality
“Personality is the sum total of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs and values that
are characteristic of an individual”

· Our personality traits determine how we adjust to our environment and how we react
in specific situations
·   No two individuals have the same personalities.
·   Personalities develop throughout the lifetime of individuals
·  Some traits remain constant, other traits change at different rates and to different
degrees
·  Personality development and change in traits happen at a faster pace during
childhood
·   Personality development varies from individual to individual
 Personality Traits
Personality traits are enduring characteristics that describe an
individual’s behavior. E.g.:
• Outgoing v/s reserved
• More v/s less intelligent
• Suspicious v/s trusting
• Imaginative v/s practical
• Emotionally stable v/s unstable

• Personality is a result of heredity and environment

• Each culture gives rise to a series of personality traits –
Model personalities – that are typical of members of that
society
 Personal Growth: Meaning:
• · “Personal growth refers to self-development of an individual towards the
actualization of his potentialities”
 
• · “Personal growth is a process that is related to self-improvement and the
acquisition of skills”

• · Organization context: “The acquisition of lifelong knowledge and skills

leading to continued employability”

• · It is the development of skills, attitudes, understandings, which are

responsible to that level of maturity and which society expects individual to
master 
 Personal growth transforms us from:
1. Dependence to self direction
2. Impulsiveness to self discipline
• 3. Ignorance to knowledge
• 4. Incompetence to competence
• 5. Immorality to morality
• 6. Self confine to concern for self and others
 
          
No single formula that defines the path to personal
success / growth because,
 
• We all have different goals and priorities
• Different activities and attitudes make us feel good about ourselves
• Different natural strengths and weaknesses (part of our inherent personality type)
 
         

The initiative for personal growth has to be taken by

the individual himself
 Need for personal growth
Extrinsic reasons:
1.  Increasing role of knowledge
2.  Technological concepts
3.  Obsolescence of human knowledge
4.  Pace of changes
5. Each successive change renders previous change obsolete

Intrinsic reasons:
1.To apply new concepts and acquire skills for solving problems
2. Changing environment can be met by innovative techniques
3. Present shocks are less intensive than future shocks
 Concepts of Personal Growth
1. Personal change
2. Learning
3. Motivation
4. Communication
5. Positive thinking
6. Intellectual Adaptations
7. Cultural Accumulation
8. Self Esteem
 Personal Change
• Personal growth requires personal change and personal
change starts from within
• Improve on your self-awareness: work on attitude – believe
in yourself
• The better you understand yourself, the better you
understand others and more your relationship will flourish
• You have to have a self-improvement plan for your personal
development and growth.
o Then take consistent and continuous actions
• Work on yourself instead of worrying about your conditions.
o Your life will change
 
 ….Continued
• Develop your skills
o You have the choice to grow, learn, become the person you aspire
and mastering your life, OR
o You can choose to stagnate, hesitate and remain fearful and
doubtful and live in mediocrity
• You are responsible for your frustrations, indecisions and
lack of progress
• When you know the direction you want to go and the
lifestyle you want to have, you will manage yourself, you
will change
o When you change, you grow
“We can never really change someone; people change
themselves. But we can help. We can be a resource”
- Stephen R. Covey
 Keys to Personal Growth
1. Understand what’s important to you

• Each personality type has a difficult idea of what it means to be successful

• Self knowledge will help everyone achieve success

2. Recognize your weaknesses without hiding behind them

• In a society, certain personality types and behaviors are more suited towards
particular tasks
• Eg.: Persons with a preference for feeling will have a natural advantage over thinkers in
situations that require compassion and awareness of others’ emotions (Nursing profession)
• If we learn about our and other’s personality types, we are in a position to
understand why people react differently in different situations and accept that
• These insights are extremely useful and powerful to us as individuals
 ……Continued
3. Strive for balance:
• Every personality type has a dominant function, which
overtakes the personality to the extent that the other functions
become slaves to it
• This results in a weak personality
• Balance is the key to success

4. Opening the door:

• There is no quickie scheme for personal growth
• Knowledge of Psychological type is a powerful aid but not the
actual solution. However, it leads to an improved understanding
of human nature
Steps in Personal Growth
• Identify the need for personal growth
• Analysis of the self and the job
• Determine gaps
• Preparing growth plans
 
Prerequisites for personal growth
1. Desire for personal growth
2. Will to work
3. Overcoming inferior feelings
4. Building self esteem
5. Setting goals for self development
6. Self review
 Self-Awareness
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.” - Tao
Tzu
–   Awareness is the first step in the creation process
     “Self awareness is knowing your motivations, preferences, and personality and understanding how
these factors influence your judgement, decisions, and interactions with other people”

Self-awareness is literally consciousness of one's self. It is related to but not identical with self-
consciousness

‘I think I am’ – 'I think, therefore I am': To think it is necessary to be

–   According to Locke, personal identity (the self) "depends on consciousness, not on substance" nor
on the soul.
• We are the same person to the extent that we are conscious of our past and future thoughts and actions in the same way
as we are conscious of our present thoughts and actions.
• Personal identity is only founded on the repeated act of
consciousness
– As you grow in self awareness, you will better understand why you feel what you feel
and why you behave as you behave
– That understanding then gives you the opportunity and freedom to change those things
you’d like to change about yourself and create the life you want.
– Without fully knowing who you are, self-acceptance and change become impossible.
– Having clarity about who you are and what you want (and why you want it), empowers
you to consciously and actively make those wants a reality.
– Otherwise, you’ll continue to get “caught up” in your own internal dramas and unknown
beliefs, allowing unknown thought processes to determine your feelings and actions.
• Self Awareness Is Developed Through Exercises and
Practices
– It cannot be learned like academic subjects that fill the mind with knowledge.
– It cannot be learned from books that give us more information to think about and has us
noticing less about ourselves, and the world. 
– Self Awareness Is Developed Through Exercises and Practices

• Self awareness or self knowledge is the starting point for

effectiveness at work
 Benefits of Self-Awareness
• Understanding yourself in relation to others
• Developing and implementing a sound self
improvement program
• Setting appropriate life and career goals
• Developing relationships with others
• Understanding the value of diversity
• Managing others effectively
• Increasing productivity
• Increasing your ability to contribute to organizations,
your community and family
 Others’

Perceptions Self-disclosure Diverse Experiences

Feedback

Self-awareness
(Self-concept)

Self-analysis

Behavior Personality Attitudes Perceptions

Motivation Traits Thoughts Stereotypes

Modes of thinking Factors Feelings Selective Perception
Modes of acting Self-monitoring Emotions Projection
Modes of interacting Expectations
Interest
Attributions
 Self-Awareness Theory
States that,
–   When we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current
behavior to our internal standards and values.
–   We become self-conscious as objective evaluators of ourselves.
–   Various emotional states are intensified by self-awareness, and people sometimes try to
reduce or escape it through things like television, video games, alcohol, drugs, etc.
–   However, some people may seek to increase their self awareness through these outlets.
–   People are more likely to align their behavior with their standards when made self-
aware.
–   People will be negatively affected if they don’t live up to their personal standards.
–   Various environmental cues and situations induce awareness of the self, such as
mirrors, an audience, or being videotaped or recorded.
–   These cues also increase accuracy of personal memory.

“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond and to

know one’s self”- Benjamin Franklin
 Self-Esteem
          Self esteem is your opinion of yourself.
• High self esteem is a good opinion of yourself and low self esteem is a bad opinion of yourself.
          In psychology, self-esteem reflects a person's overall evaluation or appraisal
of his or her own worth.
          Self-esteem encompasses beliefs (for example, "I am competent/incompetent")
and emotions (for example, triumph/despair, pride/shame). Behavior may reflect
self-esteem (for example, assertiveness/shyness, confidence/caution).
          Psychologists usually regard self-esteem as an enduring personality
characteristic (trait self-esteem), though normal, short-term variations (state self-
esteem) occur.
          Self-esteem can apply specifically to a particular dimension (for example, "I
believe I am a good writer, and feel proud of that in particular") or have global
extent (for example, "I believe I am a good person, and feel proud of myself in
general").
 Definitions
The term has had three major types of definition:
1. The original definition presents self-esteem as a ratio found by dividing one’s
successes in areas of life of importance to a given individual by the failures in them
or one’s “success / pretensions”.
• Problems with this approach is it considers self-esteem to be dependent upon success.

2. In the mid 1960s Morris Rosenberg and social-learning theorists defined self-
esteem in terms of a stable sense of personal worth or worthiness.
• This became the most frequently used definition for research, but involves problems of boundary-
definition, making self-esteem indistinguishable from such things as narcissism or simple boasting.

3. Nathaniel Branden in 1969 briefly defined self-esteem as "...the experience of being

competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and being worthy of happiness".
• This two-factor approach, as some have also called it, provides a balanced definition that seems to be
capable of dealing with limits of defining self-esteem primarily in terms of competence or worth alone.
 ……Contd.
• Branden’s (1969) description of self-esteem includes the following primary properties:
1. self-esteem as a basic human need, i.e., "...it makes an essential contribution to the life
process", "...is indispensable to normal and healthy self-development, and has a value for
survival."
2. self-esteem as an automatic and inevitable consequence of the sum of individuals' choices
in using their consciousness
3. something experienced as a part of, or background to, all of the individuals thoughts,
feelings and actions.

  Self esteem is a concept of personality, for it to grow, we need to have self worth, and
this self worth will be sought from embracing challenges that result in the showing of
success.
   Self-esteem is a basic human need or motivation. Abraham Maslow included self-
esteem in his hierarchy of needs.
– o   He described two different forms of esteem: the need for respect from others and the need for self-
respect, or inner self-esteem.
– o   Respect from others entails recognition, acceptance, status, and appreciation, and was believed to
be more fragile and easily lost than inner self-esteem.
– o   According to Maslow, without the fulfillment of the self-esteem need, individuals will be driven
to seek it and unable to grow and obtain self-actualization.
 Level and Quality of Self-Esteem

   Level-wise, one can exhibit high but fragile self-esteem (as in

narcissism) or
   Low but stable self-esteem (as in humility). in terms of its constancy
over time (stability)
   Humans have portrayed the dangers of excessive self-esteem and the
advantages of more humility.
Self-Esteem depends on Many Questions

1. Is your job worthwhile? Do others respect what you do?

Do you?    
2. Do you believe you are successful? 
3. How do you see yourself (your self image)?
4. How do you feel about your strengths and weaknesses?
5. What do you think of your social status?  
6. How do you relate to others?  
7. Can you make your own decisions?

Lack of choices leads to low self-esteem. 

 Importance of Self-Esteem
 Self esteem is crucial and is a cornerstone of a positive attitude towards
living.
  It is very important because it affects how we think, act and even how we
relate to other people.
  It affects our potential to be successful.
  Self esteem can be the difference between success and failure
  Esteem can affect our thinking, causing your outlook to be positive or
negative
  Esteem affects our confidence
  It affects our self image 
  If we do not value ourselves, how will we be able to value others? 
  Self esteem enables us to have the right attitude to succeed at work
  It affects our happiness
 Stages in Self-Esteem
• 1.  Know Yourself
• Physical appearance, Aptitude for mathematics, Athletic skills, Appeal, Ethics and morals,
Mechanical ability, Sense of humor, Artistic talent, etc

2.  Develop Self-Esteem

* Like yourself as you are: doesn’t mean you like everything you do, appreciate your special
gift
* Believe in yourself
* Have faith in your abilities
* Focus on good & try to improve what is weak
* Accept responsibility for your actions: don’t blame others for failures, if you have done
mistake, apologize
  * Be a good person though with weaknesses and areas need improvement than being a faulty
person
 
 ……...Contd.
3.  Face and Accept Reality:
• * When something happens in conflict with your self-image, your inner self is offended.
* To avoid this, it is natural to ignore the conflict. This creates a serious problem and
builds up stress
• * Instead of being in denial, preserve your self-esteem by facing up to the fact that
something has happened in conflict with your self-image but do not allow your self-
respect to waver
• * Accept experiences as real. This will help you overcome the barriers to building self-
esteem

• 4.  Mask Off
• * Everyone occasionally puts up a false front to mask his or her true feelings
• * They may even put on an act to create false impression
• * This can be done either to inflate or deflate oneself
• * Sometimes, it is the right thing to do (according to circumstances)
• * Though masks are effective in fooling some people, they wont work in the long run
 Self Check
1. Do you sometime break promises?
2. Do you resist giving help to others if it is inconvenient?
3. Are you frequently witty in a sarcastic way?
4. Do you have a tendency to gain attention by “topping” the remark made by the previous
speaker in a conversation?
5. Are you usually ill at ease with strangers?
6. Do you have a tendency to be Bossy?
7. Are you critical of others when you feel they are at fault?
8. Do you sometimes make fun of other people?
9. Do you frequently laugh at the mistakes of others?
10. Do you correct the mistakes of others (in grammar or pronunciation, for examples)?
11. Do you find it difficult to smile?
12. Are you unable to praise and compliment other people easily?
13. Do you frequently try to reform other people?
14. Are you unable to keep your personal troubles to yourself?
15. Are you suspicious of other people’s motives?
16. Do you frequently borrow the belongings of others?
17. Do you enjoy gossip?
18. Are you unable to keep out of other people’s business most of the time?
19. Do you talk a lot about yourself?
20. Do you ever use belittling words when referring to those who differ from you in religion,
race or politics?
 Roles: Role and Office
• In any social system, such as family, club, religious community or
work organization, individuals have certain obligations towards the
system, which in turn gives each one of them a defined place in the
system
– This scheme of mutual obligations can be called a role and
– the individual’s place in the system a position or an office

• A role is the place one occupies in a social system as defined by the

functions one performs in response to the expectations of the
‘significant’ members of a social system and one’s own expectations
from that position or office
– An “Office” is a relational and power-related concept which defines each
position in terms of its relationships to others and to the system as a whole
– A role is an obligational concept, concerned with the obligations of the position /
office
 Life Roles
The life roles are child, student, leisurite, citizen, worker, spouse,
homemaker, parent, and pensioner.
- These roles we play in four theatres
- The four theaters are home, school, community, and workplace.

We play these roles throughout different stages of life:

– The life stages are growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and
decline.

We are involved in several roles simultaneously and those roles

affect each other.
 ……Contd.
Here are life roles (in addition to work) where a person may
want to spend time:
1. Learner/Student (if someone is going to seek additional training)
2. Being a Self
3. Friend
4. Citizen (volunteer work to help others or the community)
5. Child: Son or Daughter (if either or both parents are living)
6.  Spouse/Partner
7.  Homemaker (grocery shopping, cooking, taking care of the home)
8.  Parent (if children are at home)
9.  Worker
10.Leisurite (spare time)
 Roles Competencies

Reading, writing, computing, perceiving, conceptualizing, imagining, inquiring,

Learner
aspiring, diagnosing, planning, finding help, evaluating

Being a Self (with a Self-analyzing, sensing, goal-building, objectivizing, value-clarifying, expressing,

unique self-identity) accepting, being authentic

Loving, empathizing, listening, collaborating, sharing, helping, giving of

Friend
constructive feedback, supporting

Caring, participating, leading, decision-making, acting, being sensitive to one's

Citizen conscience, discussing, having perspective (historical and cultural), being a
global citizen

Maintaining health, planning, managing, helping, sharing, efficient and effective

Family Member
buying, saving, loving, taking responsibility

Career planning, using technical skills, accepting supervision, giving

Worker supervision, getting along with people, cooperating, planning, delegating,
managing

Knowing resources, appreciating the arts and humanities, performing, playing,

Leisure User
relaxing, reflecting, planning, risking
 Social Roles
A social role is a set of connected behaviors, rights and obligations as
conceptualized by actors in a social situation.

  It is an expected behavior in a given individual’s social status and social position.

  It is vital to both functionalist and interactionist understandings of society.

Social role puts forward the following about social behavior:

1. People spend much of their lives in groups.
2. Within these groups, people often take distinct positions.
3. Each of these positions can be called a role, with a whole set of functions that are moulded by
the expectations of others.
4. Formalized expectations become norms when enough people feel comfortable in providing
punishments and rewards for the expected behavior.
5. Individuals are generally conformists, and insofar as that is true, they conform to roles.
6. The anticipation of rewards and punishments inspire this conformity.
 Characteristics of Social Roles
   Roles may be achieved or ascribed.

    An achieved role is a position that a person assumes voluntarily which reflects personal
skills, abilities, and efforts. Roles are not forced upon the individual; a choice is involved.
We have, in short, done something to achieve them.

Your role as a student, for example, is an achieved one because you have both chosen to play it and
done something that allows you to act on your choice. In other words, you achieved the required
marks to be promoted to next semester.

    An ascribed role is a position assigned to individuals or groups without regard for merit
but because of certain traits beyond their control. Roles are forced upon the individual.

These roles are called ascribed because they are roles given to us by other, more powerful, people.

For example, between the ages of 5 and 16 in our society, everyone is given the ascribed role of
schoolchild. The government has decided that everyone must play this role, whether they want to or
not.

.

 ……..Contd.
2. Roles can be semi-permanent ("doctor", "mother", "child"), or they can
be transitory (sick person)

3.   For many roles, individuals must meet certain conditions, biological

or sociological.
o       For instance, a boy cannot take the biological role of mother. Other
roles require training or experience.

4.   Role development can be influenced by a number of additional

factors, including social, genetic predisposition, cultural or situational.
     
Roles are also frequently interconnected in a role set. For
example, a high school football player carries the roles of
student, athlete, classmate, etc.
 Determinants of Social Role
1. Societal influence: The structure of society often forms individuals
into certain roles based on the social situations they choose to
experience.

2. Genetic predisposition: People take on roles that come naturally to

them. Those with athletic ability generally take on roles of athletes.

3.  Cultural influence: Different cultures place different values on certain

roles based on their lifestyle. For instance, Cricket players are
regarded higher in Asian countries than in the United States, where
cricket is less popular.

4.  Situational influence: Roles can be created or altered based on the

situation a person is put in outside their own influence.
 Organizational Roles

• Organizational roles are a method of providing service

entitlements to person entities within the system.

• Organizational roles can be static or dynamic.

• Static organizational roles must be manually added to a

person entity's detailed personal information.

• Dynamic organizational roles are automatically added to

person entities based on valid filters.
 ….Contd.
• Though a role is a link that integrates an individual with the
organization, not much attention is been paid to organizational
roles

• Organizational role of an individual is one amongst many

roles a person plays (role space)

• A role in an organization is a part of a larger constellation of

roles (role set) with which it interacts

• Organizational roles play an important part in increasing the

individual’s (the role occupant’s) effectiveness in an
organization
 An organization can be represented according to
the offices or the roles:

Office (position) Role

- Is based on power relations - Is based on mutuality
- Has related privileges - Has related obligations
- Is usually hierarchical - Is non-hierarchical
- Is created by others - Is created by others & the role occupant
- Is part of the structure - Is part of the dynamics
- Is evaluative - Is descriptive
Organization as a System of Roles
Organization as a Structure of Offices
I A
Office A B B
H

C D
C
G

E F G H I D
F
E

• An office becomes a role when it is actually defined and determined by the expectations of
other office holders
 ….Contd.
• Each role has its own system, consisting of the role occupant and others those who have a
direct relationship with him, and thereby, certain expectations form the role
– These others (significant others) are those who have expectations from a role as role senders.
– However, since the role occupant himself / herself have some expectations from the role, he / she is
also a role sender
E.g. Father in a family has both a position and a role\
Head of a department has both a position and a role
• Thus, A role is not defined without the expectations of the role senders, including the role
occupant
E.g. The position of a HR manager may be created in an organization, but his / her role will be defined
by the expectations (stated and unstated) that different persons have from the HR manager, and the
expectations that he / she has from the role

•  Distinction needs to be made among certain work-related terms: office, role, job, functions,
tasks, etc.
– Although there are no universally accepted definitions, work is generally a wider term whereas
office, role and job are ways of organizing work or dividing responsibilities
– Functions are subunits of a role, a function can be further subdivided into tasks
• Role is also a central concept in work motivation as it is only through a role an individual and
organization interact
 How a person takes a Role?
Role taking is explained by Kanz and Quinn using a concept called “Role Episode”

Role episode involves:

Role sending by significant others
Role receiving by role occupant
Constant interaction between the role occupant and the role senders
This interaction process influences the role behavior of the individual
The role senders have expectations on the basis of their perception of the role occupant’s
behavior
The role occupant acts on the basis of his perception of role
Role occupants behavior influences the expectations of the role senders

A role episode has a feedback loop

 ……..Contd.
  Role taking is concerned with identification of the self
with the role

     - If the role expectations are congruent with the self-concept,

there will be role acceptance (The degree of role acceptance can be
defined in terms of the intensity with which an individual is able to
get into a role – the intensity may vary from casual role taking to a
declining identity with the role)

- If the expectations conflict with the self-concept, it may result in

self-role distance
 Two Role Systems
• An organization can be defined as a system of roles. However, a role
itself is a system.
• From an individual’s point of view, there are two role systems:

1. Role Space: “The system of various roles which the individual carries and
performs”
– A person performs various roles which are centered around the self. These roles are
at varying distances from the self and from each other. These relationships define
the role space
– “Role space is a dynamic interrelationship between the self and the various roles an
individual occupies and also amongst these roles”

2. Role Set: The system of various roles, of which his role is a part
– Role sets are subsystems in an organization
 Role Space

Self

1 Husband
2 Father

3 Son
4 Secretary of a club

5 Personnel Manager
6 Member of a professional association
 Role Set

5 General Manager

4 HR Manager

3 Union Leader

2 Director Personnel

Role is a very useful concept in understanding the dynamics of the

integration of an individual with a social system