Tuesday, October 21, 2014

VALUES



Concept of Value:
·         Value is a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful. Whether we are consciously aware of them or not, every individual has a core set of personal values. Values can range from the commonplace, such as the belief in hard work and punctuality, to the more psychological, such as self-reliance, concern for others, and harmony of purpose.
·         Convictions and framework of philosophy of an individual on the basis of which he/she judges what is good or bad, desirable or undisrable, ethical or unethical.
·         Ethical precept on which we base our behavior.
·         Values are shaped by the culture in which we live and by our experiences.
·         Values guide one’s  behavior.
The social organization consists of a single interconnected fabric. The threads and the weave of the fabricare formed by the multidimensional interaction of social activities, organizations, institutions and values. The ultimate determinants of the power of social organization are the values of society.
Abraham:Generalised standards by which people define what is good, what is bad.
Rokeach: Beliefs that guide actions and judgments across a variety of situations. Represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode of conduct.
Importance of Values:
·         Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation, behaviors of individuals and cultures.
·         Influence our perception of the world around us.
·         Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong.”
·         Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are preferred over others.
Value System:
A hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity.
Features of Value:
·         Element of culture
·         Learned responses
·         Inculcated and transmitted
·         Social phenomenon
·         Adaptive process
Factors in Value Formation:

Value: Practical Picture
Figure 1, taken from Chapter 3 of Kellert (page 41), shows a rough estimate from his studies of these classes of values towards living diversity in American Society. The data (frequency of values) represent over 3000 interviews in 49 states of the U.S.
Rokeach Value Survey:
The ‘Rokeach Value Survey’ (RVS) is a classification system of values. Developed by social psychologist Milton Rokeach, the system consists of two sets of values, 18 individual value items in each. One set is called terminal values the other instrumental values.
The task for participants in the survey is to arrange the 18 terminal values, followed by the 18 instrumental values, into an order "of importance to YOU, as guiding principles in YOUR life" (Rokeach, 1973).


Terminal Values
Desirable end-states of existence. These are the goals that a person would like to achieve during his or her lifetime. These values vary among different groups of people in different cultures.
Instrumental Values
Preferable modes of behavior. These are preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values.

Terminal Values
Instrumental Values
  1. True Friendship
  2. Mature Love
  3. Self-Respect
  4. Happiness
  5. Inner Harmony
  6. Equality
  7. Freedom
  8. Pleasure
  9. Social Recognition
  10. Wisdom
  11. Salvation
  12. Family Security
  13. National Security
  14. A Sense of Accomplishment
  15. A World of Beauty
  16. A World at Peace
  17. A Comfortable Life
  18. An Exciting Life
  1. Cheerfulness
  2. Ambition
  3. Love
  4. Cleanliness
  5. Self-Control
  6. Capability
  7. Courage
  8. Politeness
  9. Honesty
  10. Imagination
  11. Independence
  12. Intellect
  13. Broad-Mindedness
  14. Logic
  15. Obedience
  16. Helpfulness
  17. Responsibility
  18. Forgiveness

Exhibit:
Mean Value Rankings of Executives, Union Members, and Activists:
[Source:Based on W. C. Frederick and J. Weber, “The Values of Corporate Managers and Their Critics: An Empirical Description and Normative Implications,” in W. C. Frederick and L. E. Preston (eds.) Business Ethics: Research Issues and Empirical Studies (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1990), pp. 123–44.]
Dominant Work Values in Today’s Workforce:

Values and Culture:
Culture:
·         Complex whole including knowledge, belief, arts, morals, laws, custom, habits, capabilities, personality.
·         Important component of value. Every culture has a set of moral and social values.
·         Makes a man social. Sum total of man’s life.
·         Shapes and reshapes values, norms and beliefs.
·         Develops attitudes.
·         May be material or non-material.


Material Culture
House/Clothes/ Ornaments/ Utensils/ Gadgets/ Vehicles/Books
Non-Material Culture
Feelings/ Perception/ Ideas/ Thoughts/ Imagination/ Expectations
Personality:
The term 'personality' has been derived from the Latin term 'persona'which means to 'speak through'. The Latin word denotes the masks worn by actors in ancient Greece and Rome. Therefore a very common meaning of the term personality is the role which the person (actor) displays to the public:The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others.
Gordon Allport-Personality is the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment.
Floyd L. Ruch- Personality includes external appearance and behaviour, inner awareness of self as a permanent organising force and the particular pattern or organisation of measurable traits, both inner and outer.
Fred Luthans- Personality means how a person affects others and how he understands and views himself as well as the pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and the person-situation interaction.
Salvatore Maddi- Personality is a stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities and differences in the psychological behaviour (thoughts, feelings and actions) of people that have continuity in time and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment.
Personality Determinants:
          Heredity
          Environment
          Situation
Personality Traits:
          Enduring characteristics that describe an individual’s behavior.
Personality Types:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI):
A personality test that taps four characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types.
                                                                                             i.            Extroverted vs. Introverted (E or I)
                                                                                           ii.            Sensing vs. Intuitive (S or N)
                                                                                          iii.            Thinking vs. Feeling (T or F)
                                                                                         iv.            Judging vs. Perceiving (P or J)
Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions:
                                 i.            Extroversion: Sociable, gregarious, and assertive
                               ii.            Agreeableness: Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting.
                              iii.            Conscientiousness: Responsible, dependable, persistent, and organized.
                             iv.            Emotional Stability: Calm, self-confident, secure (positive) versus nervous, depressed, and insecure (negative).
                               v.            Openness to Experience: Imaginativeness, artistic, sensitivity, and intellectualism.
Features / Characteristics / Nature of Personality in the words (Bonner):     
  • Human behavior is composed of act.
  • It is distinguished by self-consistency.
  • It is a goal directed behavior.
  • It is a power of becoming.
  • It is unique in mature.
  • It results into behavior (action).
  • Personality is visualized as a whole in a Particular environment.
Personality Theories:
                    I.            Trait Theory - understand individuals by breaking down behavior patterns into observable traits
                  II.            Psychodynamic Theory - emphasizes the unconscious determinants of behavior
                III.            Humanistic Theory - emphasizes individual growth and improvement
                IV.            Integrative Approach - describes personality as a composite of an individual’s psychological processes
Sigmund Freud's Psychoanalytical theory of personality has been based primarily on his concept of unconscious nature of personality. It is based on the notion that man is motivated more by unseen forces than by conscious and rational thoughts. Freud noted that his patient's behaviour could not always be consciously explained. It was a clinical finding which led him to conclude that the major force which motivates a human being is his unconscious framework. This framework includes three conflicting psychoanalytic concepts the Id, the ego and the super ego. Their brief description is as follows :
(i) The ID .Id is the foundation of the unconscious behaviour and is the base of libido drives. In simple words, Id is the sources of psychic energy and seeks immediate satisfaction of biological or instinctual needs. These needs include sexual pleasure and other biological pleasures. Id has animalistic instincts of aggression, power and domination. It demands immediate pleasure at whatever cost. As an individual matures he learns to control the Id, but even then it remains a driving force throughout life and an important source of thinking and behaviour.
(ii )The EGO. The Ego is associated with the realities of life. Just as the Id is the unconscious part of human personality, Ego is the conscious and logical part because it is concerned about the realities of external environment. The ego of a person keeps the Id in check whenever it demands immediate pleasure. With its logic and intellect, ego controls the Id so that the pleasures unconsciously demanded by the human beings are granted at an appropriate time and place and in an appropriate manner.
(iii) The Super EGO. The Super Ego is the higher level force to restrain the Id and is described as the conscious of a person. The super ego represents the norms of the individual, his family and the society and is an ethical constraint on the behaviour. The conscious of a person is continuously telling him what is right and what is wrong. A person may not be aware of the working of the super ego, because conscious is developed by the cultural values inculcated in a person by the norms of society.
Ethics is the activity of examining the moral standards of a society or of an individual. Whether the standards are reasonable or not and how to apply the standard in particular situations are examined by ethicists. The aim of ethics is develop a body of moral standards that a person feels reasonable to hold based on careful thought.