Legality of Object: Sec.23

The consideration and objects of a contract are lawful, unless it –

(1) is forbidden by law – any act punishable under criminal law or any special legislation or regulations.

Example: (a) A promises to obtain for B employment in public service – B promises to pay Rs.1000 to A – unlawful consideration – void agreement.

(b) A promises to drop prosecution instituted against B for robbery – B promises to restore the value of things taken – unlawful object – void agreement.

Nandlal Vs. Thomas - A licensed under Excise Act to run liquor shop – Act forbade sale, transfer or sub-lease of licence or creation of partnership in running of shop – A took B into partnership - Held, agreement void as it would defeat the policy of the law if unapproved persons could find their way into working liquor shops.

(2) It defeats the provision of any law – though not directly forbidden by law.

Fateh Singh Vs. Sanwal Singh – accused required under Criminal Procedure Code to furnish surety of Rs.5000 for his good behaviour – he deposits sum with defendant and persuades him to become surety – after period of suretyship is over, accused sued defendant for the amount – Held, the intention in requiring a surety is that the surety shall at his own risk see to the appearance of the accused – the purpose of agreement defeated by agreement of above sort – agreement void.

Napier Vs. National Business Agency Ltd. – company employed N - weekly wages of £13 and weekly expense allowance of £6 – Held, the expense allowance a device to evade tax – agreement unlawful.

Alexander Vs. Rayson – A leased flat to R at rent of £1200 a year – two separate agreements entered into, one for lease at £450 and other for services connected with flat at £750 – A sued R for recovery of instalment of £750 – Held, agreement void as object was to deceive the municipal authorities – A could not recover - R entitled to remain in possession of flat for remainder of term of lease.

(3) It is fraudulent.

Example : A, B and C enter into agreement – for division of profits to be acquired by them by fraud – object is unlawful – void agreement.

Ram Nath Misra Vs. Rajendranath Sanyal - two decree-holders against the debtor – one of them, the plaintiff, got debtor’s property attached and brought to sale – agreed with defendant , a prospective buyer, that he would not bid against the defendant and defendant would pay him off – property sold to defendant at very low price – Held, the object of the arrangement was fraudulent as it deprived the other decree-holder of his claim amount which he could have got had the sale been competitive – plaintiff could not recover anything from defendant.

(4) It involves or implies injury to person or property of another – property includes both movable and immovable property.

Ram Swaroop Vs. Bansi Mandar – B borrowed Rs.100 from R – executed bond promising to work for L without pay for two years – in case of default, B to pay principal plus exorbitant interest at once – Held, contract void as it was indistinguishable from slavery which involved injury to person of B.

Gherulal Parakh Vs. Mahadeo Dass – agreement between some persons to purchase shares in a company – intended to deceit to induce other persons to believe that there was bona fide market for the shares – Held, agreement void.

(5) Involves immorality

Baivijli Vs. Nansa Nagar - money given to married woman to obtain divorce from her husband – lender intended to marry the woman – Held, agreement was immoral.

(6) Opposed to public policy – harmful to public welfare.

(i) Agreement of trading with enemy

(ii) Agreement to commit a crime.

W.H. Smith & Sons Vs. Clinton - A promises to indemnify a firm of printers and publishers of newspapers against consequences of any libel which it might publish in the newspaper – Held, it was an agreement to commit a crime and indemnity against it - A’s promise could not be enforced and the firm liable to pay damages for published libel.

(iii) Agreement which interferes with administration of justice – it is opposed to public policy – Examples – agreement to use improper influence of any kind with the judges and officers of justice – agreement not to prosecute an offender is for stifling (oppressing) prosecution.

(iv) Agreement in restraint of legal proceedings - Example - prohibiting any party from enforcing his rights under a contract – curtailing (restricting) the period of limitation prescribed by Law of Limitation – however agreement to refer a dispute to arbitration is valid.

(v) Trafficking in public offices and titles or for procurement of public recognition like Padma Vibhushan etc. for monetary consideration.

NVP Pandian Vs. MM Roy - R paid Rs.15,000 to N who agreed to obtain a medical seat for R’s son – N failed to get the seat – R filed a suit for refund – Held, agreement against public policy – void agreement.

(vi) Agreement tending to create interest opposed to duty – anything against public or professional duty.

Example – A directs his agent B to buy particular house for him – B tells A that it cannot be bought for specific reason - buys the house for himself – against professional duty – A can compel B to sell it to him at the price B paid for it.

(vii) Agreement in restraint of parental rights –

(viii) Agreement restricting personal liberty.

Horwood Vs. Millar’s Timber & Trading Co. – A debtor agreed with money-lender not to leave his job or borrow money or dispose of his property or change his residence without lender’s written consent – held, void agreement as restricting personal freedom.

(ix) Agreement in restraint of marriage, other than a minor, is void.

Lowe Vs. Peers – P promised to marry L only and none else –to pay £.2,000 to L if he married someone else – P married X - Held, L could not recover the agreed sum as agreement in restraint of marriage

(x) Marriage brokerage agreement.

(xi) Agreements interfering with marital status.

(xii) Agreement to defraud creditors or revenue authorities.

(xiii) Agreement in restraint of trade – which interferes with liberty to engage in any lawful trade, profession or vocation – Sec.27.

Shaikh Kalu Vs Ram Saran Bhagat - out of 30 comb-makers in Patna city, 29 agreed to sell their output to R only and none else – R free to reject the goods if no market found for them – Held, the agreement restrained from exercising profession – void.

Madhav Chander Vs. Raj Coomar - M and R rival shopkeepers in a locality in Calcutta – R agreed to pay a sum of money to M if he would close his business in consideration – M closed down his business – R refused to pay and M filed a suit for recovery – Held, the agreement was void even though the restriction was a partial restriction, a restriction limited to some place.

Matching Personality and Job Types

This refers to the extent to which people successfully match their personalities with their jobs. If there is a perfect relationship between the job and personality, the job satisfaction and production turnover among the employees will be significantly higher. John Holland present six personality types and proposes that the satisfaction and the propensity to leave a job depend on the degree to which people successfully match their personalities with a suitable occupational environment. Holland’s typology of personality is given as below:

Vocational Typology	Personality Characteristics	Congruent Occupations
Realistic	Shy, genuine, persistent, stable, conforming, practical	Mechanic, drill press operator, assembly-line worker, farmer
Investigative	Analytical, original, curious, independent	Biologists, economist, mathematician, news reporter
Social	Sociable, friendly, cooperative, understanding,	Social worker, teacher, counselor, clinical psychologists
Conventional	Conforming, efficient, practical, unimaginative, inflexible	Accountant, corporate manager, bank teller, file clerk
Enterprising	Self-confident, ambitious, energetic, domineering	Lawyer, real estate agent, public relations specialist, small business manager
Artistic	Imaginative, disorderly, idealistic, emotional, impractical	Painter, musician, writer, interior decorator

· Realistic: The type of activities for this category involves physical activities which require skill, strength and coordination. The suitable personality characteristics to meet these activities would be shy, genuine, persistent, stable, conforming, practical etc. The congruent occupations for this category of people are assembly line worker, farmer, mechanic etc.

· Investigative: The type of activities for this category involves thinking, organizing and understanding. The appropriate characteristics to meet these activities would be analytical, original, curious, independent etc. The congruent occupations for this category of people are biologists, economist, mathematician, news reporter.

· Social: The type of activities for this category involves helping and developing others. The relevant personality characteristics to meet these s activities would be sociable, friendly, cooperative, understanding. The congruent occupations for this category of people are social worker, teacher, counselor, clinical psychologists.

· Conventional: The type of activities for this category involves rule-regulated, orderly and unambiguous activities. The appropriate characteristics to these activities would be conforming, efficient, practical, unimaginative, and inflexible. The congruent occupations for this category of people are accountant, corporate manager, and bank teller file clerk.

· Enterprising: The type of activist for this category involves verbal activities specific to influence others and attain power. The suitable personality characteristics to meet these activities would be self confident, ambitious, energetic, and domineering. The congruent occupations for this category of people are lawyer, real estate agent, public relations specialist, small business manager.

· Artistic: The type of activities for this category involves ambiguous and unsystematic activities that allow creative expression. The suitable personality characteristics to meet theses activities would be imaginative, disorderly, idealistic, emotional, and impractical. The congruent occupations are painter, musician, writer, interior decorator etc.

Holland’s model proposes that a realistic person in a realistic jobs is in a more compatible situation than is a realistic person in an investigate job. Sociable person should be in social jobs, conventional people in convention jobs and so forth. Due care must be exercised to ensure a perfect between personality characteristics and the type of jobs offered to the candidates during the selection process. The person-organization fit essentially argues that people leave jobs that are not compatible with their personalities.

OTHER KEY PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS RELEVANT TO WORK PLACE

Some of the important personality factors that determine what kinds of behaviors are exhibited at work include need patterns, locus of control, introversion and extroversion, tolerance of ambiguity, self-esteem and self-concept, authoritarianism and dogmatism, Machiavellianism, Type A or B Personality and work ethic.

Authoritarianism and Dogmatism:

People who are likely to have authoritarian orientation tend to use their power more aggressively towards their subordinates and create a very defensive climate in the department, while at the same time they are being very submissive or docile towards their supervisors. Dogmatism refers to the extent to which people are flexible or rigid in dealing others. Managers who are exhibiting these traits are likely to be detached from others and people show much of hatredness in them.

A combination of high authoritarianism and dogmatism is obviously not conducive to creativity and organizational effectiveness since new ideas that people at lower levels in the system have will neither be listened to nor implemented. Certain societies tend to accept authority much better than others, and hence authoritarianism can be traced to needs of dependency in members in some cultures who feel comfortable when they are ‘told’ the ways in which things have to be carried out in their work.

Machiavellianism:

This refers to the extent to which people are manipulative and tactic in achieving one’s own goals. These people strongly believe that ends can justify means. People who are high Machiavellian tend to be cool, willing to twist and turn facts to influence others and try to gain control of people, events, and situations by manipulating the system to their advantage. High Machiavellians may be successful only for a short period but in long run they tend to be distrusted and disliked by many in the department and finally they may be ineffective.

High-Machiavellians manipulates more, win more, are persuaded less and have a grater influence over other people than do low-Machiavellians. Yet these High-Machiavellians outcomes are moderated by situational factors.

It has been found that High- Machiavellians flourish:

· when they interact face-to-face with others rather than indirectly

· when the situation has a minimum number of rules and regulations, thus allowing latitude for improvisation

· where emotional involvement with details irrelevant to winning distracts low-

Machiavellianism

· when forming coalitions which they use to their advantage.

The following are the strategies to protect against the manipulative actions of High-

Machiavellians:

i) Expose them to others: Expose the broken promises, manipulative strategies and lies of high-Machiavellian to others.

ii) Pay attention to what people do, not to what they say: High-Machiavellians make great promises and are great persuaders, so pay attention to the action that a person carries out and avoid being swayed by smooth promises

iii) Avoid situations that give high-Machiavellians the edge: Do not make decisions quickly where emotions are high and a person puts forward a persuasive argument and pushes for an immediate decision. Try not to face this person on a one-to-one basis.

Invites others to participate in the meeting. :

Risk Taking

This refers to the extent to which people are willing to take chances. This propensity to assume or to avoid risk has been shown to have an effect on their decision making capabilities and information gathering process. High risk taking managers made more rapid decision and used less information in making their choices than did the low risk taking managers.

The requirement of Risk taking propensity varies from the different types of job demands.

For instance, a high risk taking propensity may lead to more effective performance for a stockbroker in brokerage firm than an accountant whose job demands more cautious approach in dealing each and every one of the things. An accountant performing auditing activities is expected to have low-risk taking propensity as his nature of job demands to follow a book of rules and regulations.

Type A and Type B Personality:

This refers to the extent to which people tend exhibit certain characteristics. Type A person feels a chronic sense of time urgency, are highly achievement oriented, exhibit a competitive drive and are impatient when their work is slowed down for any reason.

Type B persons are easygoing individuals who do not have sense of time urgency, and who do not experience the competitive drive.

Type A Mangers do operate under moderate to high level of stress. They subject themselves to more or less continuous time pressure, creating for themselves a life of deadlines. These characteristics result in some rather specific behavior outcomes. For example, Type A people are fast workers because they emphasize quantity over quality. In managerial positions, Type A executives demonstrate their competitiveness by working long hours and not infrequently making poor decisions because they make them too quickly. Type A’s are also rarely creative. Because of their concern with quantity and speed, they rely on past experiences when faced with problems. They do not allocate the time that is necessary to develop unique solutions to new problems.

Which category of people – Type A or Type B more successful in organization? The research results reported that great sales people are usually Tape A category. But the senior executives are likely to be Type B category. The main reason is that Type A people are usually trade off quality of effort for quantity. Promotions in corporate and professional organization usually go to those who are wise rather than to those who are merely hasty, to those who are tactful rather than to those who are hostile, and to those who are creative rather than to those who are merely agile in competitive strife.

The following are their typical characteristics of Type A and Type B people. Type A people are likely to more chances to get coronary heart diseases than Type B people.

Type ‘A’ Personality

· Competitive

· High Need for Achievement

· Aggressive

· Works Fast

· Impatient

· Restless

· Extremely Alert

· Tense Facial Muscles

· Constant Time Pressure

Type ‘B’ Personality

· Able to Take Time to Enjoy Leisure

· Not Preoccupied with Achievement

· Easy Going Works at Steady Pace

· Seldom Impatient

· Relaxed

· Not Easily Frustrated

· Moves Slowly

· Seldom Lacks Enough Time

Tolerance for Ambiguity

This dimension refers to the extent to which individuals are threatened by or have difficulty coping with situations that are ambiguous, where change occurs rapidly or predictably, where information is inadequate or unclear or where complexity exists. This personality characteristic indicates the level of uncertainty that people can tolerate with out experiencing undue stress and can still function effectively. Managers with higher tolerance of ambiguity scores are more likely to be entrepreneurial in their actions, to screen out less information in a complex environment, and to choose specialties in their occupations those possess less-structured tasks. It is also reported that individuals who are more tolerant of ambiguity have more difficulty focusing on a single important element of information – they are inclined to pay attention to a variety of items – and they may have somewhat less ability to concentrate without being distracted by interruptions.

There are three dimensions in Tolerance of Ambiguity. They are Novelty, Complexity and Insolubility.

• Tolerance of Ambiguity towards Novelty: This refers to the extent to which you are tolerant of new, unfamiliar information or situations.
• Tolerance of Ambiguity towards Complexity: This refers to the extent to which you are tolerant of multiple, distinctive or unrelated information.
• Tolerance of Ambiguity towards Insolubility: This refers to the extent to which you are tolerant of problems that are very difficult to solve alternative solutions are not evident, information is unavailable or the problems compensate seem unrelated to each other.

In general, the more tolerant people are of novelty, complexity, and insolubility, the more likely they are to succeed as managers in information-rich, ambiguous environment. They are less overwhelmed by these ambiguous circumstances.

Work Ethic Orientation:

This refers to the extent to which people are committed to work and involved in their activities. Extreme work ethic values could lead to traits of workoholism and workaholic people tend to give predominant interest to work which might lead to premature burnout and health problems such as hypertension, anxiety etc. Some individuals are highly workoriented while others try to do the minimum that is necessary go get by without being fired on the job. The extremely work ethic oriented person gets greatly involved in the job and lives up to being described as ‘living, eating and breathing the job’. Extreme work ethic values could lead to traits of ‘workoholism’ when work becomes to be considered as the only primary motive for living with very little outside interests.

Personality Types (MBTI)

MBTI describes four dimensions of Personality Types:

(a) Extroversion versus Introversion: (The ways in which people relate to the world)

(b) Sensing versus Intuition: (Becoming aware of and perceiving information)

(c) Thinking versus feeling: (Ways of deciding and prefer to make judgments)

(d) Judging and Perception: (The amount of control exercising and organizing people)

a) Extroversion and Introversion:

This deals with whether the focus of attention is directed towards outwardly or inwardly.

Where do you prefer to focus your attention?

Extroversion:

Extroverted attention flows outward to the world of objects and people or external ideas.

They are interacting more with people.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Extraversion are:

· Attuned to external environment

· Prefer to communicate by talking

· Work out ideas by talking them through

· Have broad interests

· Sociable and expressive

· Readily take initiative in work and relationships

Extroverts are usually active, sociable, like variety and stimulation, and are often good speakers, sales people or public relations professionals.

Introversion:

Introverted attention focused on the subjective, inner world of thoughts, feelings and ideas. Introverts like quit reflection, can concentrate on one idea or thought for longer than an extrovert, and are less active and prone to change.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Introversion are:

· Drawn to their inner world

· Prefer to communicate in writing

· Work out ideas by reflecting on them

· Learn best by reflection, mental “practice”

· Focus in depth on their interest

· Private and contained

Research scientists, academicians and librarians are often introverts.

b) Sensing Versus Intuition:

This aspect deals with the ways of collecting information and ideas.

Sensing

A person with a sensing preferences focuses on the specific, practical and tangible. The sensing person relies more on the physical or material reality of the world of the five senses: touch, sight, sound, taste or smell. Sensing managers take in information through their senses and attend to the details of the problem. They like to solve problems in standard ways. They are patient with routine details and are precise in their work. They distrust creative inspirations and usually work all the way through to reach conclusions.

They emphasize action, urgency and bottom-line results.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Sensing:

· Oriented to present realities

· Factual and concrete, precise and practical

· Focus on what is real and actual

· Observe and remember specifics

· Build carefully and thoroughly toward conclusions

· Understand ideas and theories through practical applications

· Trust experience

The sensing person is likely to provide a practical solution to problems. They may be good at repairing machines, sports, building, handicrafts, or keeping the detailed records of a business.

Sensation Feelers (SF) deal with concrete problems in a methodical way. They have astute powers of observation regarding the details of how an organization is run. SFs do not fight the system, but use what is available for problem solving. SFs are nonjudgmental of their co-workers and do not look for underlying motives and meanings in people’s behavior. If organizations do not have adequate SF’s, small problem will go unattended till they become big.

Possible Shortcomings: SF’s may be reluctant to accept new ideas and are impatient with abstract theories. They react adversely to radical changes. They have difficult honoring commitments and decision made in the past since they live full in the present moment.

Intuition

This person relies more on their insights and based on that they guess, assume and draw the inferences. Ideas, associations or creative process often accompany the presence of intuition. They focus on the relationships and connections between facts. Intuition manager like solving new problems and are impatient with routine details. They perceive the problem in its totality and consider several alternatives simultaneously. They are imaginative and futuristic, enjoying mind testing games.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Intuition:

· Oriented to future possibilities

· Imaginative and verbally creative

· Focus on the patterns and meanings in data, sees beyond the surface

· Remember specifics when they relate to pattern

· Move quickly to conclusions, follow hunches

· Want to clarify ideas and theories before putting them into practice

· Trust inspiration

The intuitive person is likely to have an affinity for music, literature, the arts, higher mathematics, and science and abstract theories. People with high level of intuition are also likely to be creative, adaptable and open to new ideas, and they are often artists, musicians, strategic players or architects.

Intuitive Thinkers (NT) are the architects of progress and ideas. They are interested in the principle on which the organization is built and seek answers to he significant events. They have enormous drive and are creative. If organizations do not have adequate number of NT’s, change will be minimal. Shortcomings of Intuitive Thinkers: Intuitive Thinkers may not always be aware of the feelings of others. Unless subordinates are intellectually competent, they may not be considered valuable. They expect a great of themselves and others and tend to escalate standards.

c) Thinking versus Feeling:

These deals with the way people make decisions.

Thinking

The person with a preference for thinking tends to be objective, analytical and impersonal in decision and judgments. Thinking managers are logical and analytical in their problem solving and search for additional information in a logical manner.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Thinking:

· Solve problem with logic,

· Use cause and effect reasoning

· Strive for an objective standard of truth

· Can be “tough-minded”

· Fair – want everyone treated equally

As this person is logical in analysis, he is good at organizing, scheduling, comparing, analyzing and quantitatively evaluating objections and activities. Sensation Thinkers (ST) are decisive and excellent at decisions involving precise interpretations of facts and figures. They are persevering and precise. They want the organization run on an impersonal basis. They are hard working and super dependable. Organizations run efficiently because of such managers.

Possible Shortcomings: STs cannot tolerate delays due to complications. In periods of rapid changes they still cling to rules and procedures which is dysfunctional. When dealing with others, STs may not accurately perceive the interpersonal process. They withhold rewards unless full deserved others.

Feeling

People who use feelings to make decision are more likely to be empathetic, loyal, and appreciative and tactful. Feeling types consider the person and are likely to bend the rules if the situation warrants. Feeling managers heavily emphasize the human aspects in dealing with organizational problems and is more process oriented. They enjoy pleasing people and avoid conflicts.

Intuitive Feelers (NF) have personal charisma and commitments to the people they lead. They communicate their caring and enthusiasm. They are comfortable in an unstructured, group-centered management system that lets employees participate in the decisionmaking process. If adequate NF’s are not available in organization, an organization will become cold, sterile and dull. Possible Shortcomings; NF’s make decision on the basis of personal likes and dislikes.

They often try to please others all the time.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Feeling:

· Empathetic

· Guided by personal values

· Assess impacts of decisions on people

· Strived for harmony and positive interactions

· Compassionate

· May appear “tenderhearted”

They like helping other people and often work as nurses, counselors and artists. They use past experiences and values and seek harmony when making judgments.

d) Judgment versus Perception

This aspect deals with the amount of control a person has over events and organizing things.

Judgment

The strong Judgment oriented people tend to live in a planned, decided and orderly way, wanting to regulate their life and control events. They are given more responsibility and authority because their operating mode is stable and predictable.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Judging:

· Scheduled

· Organize their lives

· Systematic

· Methodical

· Make short and long term plans

· Like to have things decided

· Try to avoid last-minute stresses

The person with a strong orientation for judgment will therefore be good at making decision and planning. They usually make good managers, engineers and lawyers.

Perception

Perceptive people tend to live in a flexible, spontaneous way, wanting to understand life and adapt to it. They often appear to be more relaxed and less organized than judging types and are less attracted to schedules and routines.

Characteristics associated with people who prefer Perceiving:

· Spontaneous

· Flexible

· Casual

· Open-ended

· Adapt, change course

· Like things loose and open to change

· Feel energized by last minute pressures.

The perceptive type, on the other hand, may wait until all the information and aspects of a situation are seen before they make a decision. Artists, consultants, musicians and counselors tend to be perception oriented.

PERSONALITY

INTRODUCTION

People tend to have a general notion that personality refers to a personal appearance with charming smile, or outlook. But psychologists view the concept as dynamic in nature concerned with growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. Personality can be defined as the consistent psychological patterns within an individual that affect the way they interact with others and the situations they encounter. Personality is defined as relatively stable and enduring characteristics that determine our thoughts, feelings and behavior. Personality is a complex phenomenon and there are various perspectives of personality construct. One common and simple definition of Personality is: It is the consistent psychological patterns within an individual that affect the way they interact with others and the situations they encounter.

PERSONALITY

Research studies shows that individual’s personality is more or less consistent, lasting, and can remain substantially constant across all the situations and time. But there are individual differences, for some people, these straits may be consistent across a number of situations, that is, they exhibit the same behavior such as shyness or inhibitions in the entire situation at all the time. But others may vary quite a lot. Changes in personality occur slowly over an extended period of time. Thus, if managers are able to understand certain dimensions of personality traits exhibited by individuals, they can predict confidently to a great extent the daily behavior of employees.

Personality Determinants

There are several factors that determine the formation or shaping of our personality. Among them the three major factors are: Heredity, Environment and Situation.

• Heredity The genetic components inherited from our parents at the time of conception determine strongly the personality characteristics of an individual. The color, height, physical statutory, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition, inheritable diseases etc are considered to be inherited from our parents. Research studies conducted on identical twins that were reared in different places, temperament of young children, longitudinal studies on the job satisfaction of employees over long period of time and across different situation reveal that the heredity plays a substantial role in determining the behavior of individuals. If all personality characteristics were completely dictated by heredity, they would be fixed at birth and no amounts of experience could alter them.
• Environment The culture in which people are brought up in their lives and they type of socialization process such as family’s child rearing practices, socio economic status of the family, number of children in a family, birth order, education of the parents, friends and peer group pressures, religious practices, the type of schooling and recreational activities, pastime behavior etc play a critical role in shaping our personalities. For example, our parents mould the character of all children, almost from birth by expressing and expecting their children to conform to their own values through role modeling and through various reinforcement strategies such as rewards and punishments. Research studies reveal that the birth order – the difference between first born children and later born children determine certain key personality characteristics, that is, first born tend to exhibit more ambitious, and hard working, more cooperative, more prone to guilt and anxiety and less openly aggressive. Both the heredity and environment are equally important in determining personality characteristics of an individual. Heredity sets the parameters or outer limits, but a person’s full potential will be determined by how well he or she adjusts to the demands and requirements of the environment.
• Situation The type of specific situation which a person encounters also equally shapes the type of personality characteristics. For example, an individual’s exposure to a job interview and the type of experiences encountered during that time will shape certain personality characteristics. Similarly, going for a picnic with friends and encountering the type of experiences whether pleasant and unpleasant will shape the personality characteristics of individuals.

Dimensions of Self-Concept

It is defined as the totality of individual’s thoughts and feelings having reference to himself as an object. The self concept is made up of collection of attitudes, feelings, ideas, opinions that they have about themselves including their preference towards sports, books, physical ability, smartness sexuality, job performance etc. In short, the self-concept is what we think and feel about ourselves. People tend to have both positive and negative self concept. Those who have very positive self concept tend to have high level of confidence, achievement, and success in their life.

Key Personality Traits Relevant to Work Behavior

i) Self Esteem: It refers to the individuals’ self worthiness and the extent to which they regard themselves as capable, successful, important and worthwhile. People who feel good about themselves will always produce good results. Studies of self-esteem show that it is closely related to mental health. People with low self-esteem are more likely to suffer depression and greater stress. People with positive self-esteem adjust to life better and deal every day problems more effectively. Individuals’ with high self esteem will try to take up more challenging assignments and be successful, which in turn, enhance their overall self-concept. People with high self esteem would tend to classify themselves as highly valuable in the organization.

ii) Locus of Control: It refers to the extent to which people tend to have control over their own fate and life. There are two type of locus of control. The Internal Locus of Control refers to those who believe that they control what happens to them and shape the course of their evens in their lives, whereas the External Locus of Control believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance. Internals always believe in putting more effort and seek more job related information, rely more on their own abilities and judgment at work, and more actively seek opportunities for advancement.

iii) Self Efficacy: It refers to the belief that a person has in their own capability to perform a specific task. People with high self-efficacy will prefer to have moderate level of task difficulty, strong self confidence and conviction in the chosen tasks and possess high expectation in completing the assignment across the entire situation. Employees with high self-efficacy respond to specific negative feedback about their performance with increased motivation and effort, while those with low self-efficacy are more likely to give up and reduce their motivation

iv) Self-Monitoring: It refers to the extent to which a person has the ability to adjust his or her behavior to external or situational factors. Those with high self-monitoring will be more sensitive and notice the significant changes occurring in the environment and able to adapt them by adjusting their behavior. High self-monitors are capable of exhibiting a striking contrast between their public persona and their private self. Low self-monitors cannot disguise their behavior and tend to exhibit the same behavior all the time.

v) Emotional Intelligence: It is also called as EQ which refers to individual’s ability to be aware of feelings and emotions and the extent to which they can manage them more effectively in dealing with others and challenging events. It consists of five main abilities:

• Knowing one’s emotions: Self-awareness and recognizing ones feelings as it occurs
• Managing emotions: Handling feelings and emotions appropriately to the relevant situations
• Motivating oneself: Directing the feelings and emotions in such a way to fulfilling the desired goals
• Recognizing emotions in others: Empathizing and understanding the feelings and emotions for others
• Handling Relationships: Being able to interrelate, communicate and work with others.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is very closely linked to our self-concept, because it is strongly related to self awareness.

vi ) Big Personality Traits

There are five Big Personality Traits which have a significant impact in individual’s life.

They are as follows.

• Extroversion: Extroverts are sociable, lively, and gregarious and seek outward interaction. Such individuals are likely to be most successful working in marketing division, public relations etc. where they can interact face to face with others. Introverts are quite, reflective, introspective and intellectual people, preferring to interact with a small intimate circle of friends. Introverts are more likely to be successful when they can work on highly abstract ideas (accountant, R&D work etc) in a relatively quite atmosphere.
• Agreeableness: This refers to the extent to which individuals agreeing and cooperating with others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm and trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable and antagonistic. This characteristic is very important and critical in attaining a successful achievement in their life.
• Conscientiousness: This refers to the extent to which people are responsible and dependable in their work and life. A highly conscientiousness person is responsible, organized, dependable and persistent. They are likely to move upward direction very quickly and attain remarkable achievement in their life. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized and unreliable.
• Emotional Stability: This refers to the extent to which people have the ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, selfconfident and secure. Those with highly low level of emotional stability tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed and insecure.
• Openness to experience: This refers to the extent to which people are more imaginative, artistic sensitivity and intellectualism. Individuals tend to vary widely ranging from conservative to creative or artistic. Extremely open people are creative, and artistically sensitive. Whereas not so open category personnel are very conservative and find comfort in the familiar or routine activities.