MVBE Teaching notes

8/7/2019 MVBE Teaching notes

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Managerial Values And Business Ethics

This course seeks to explore into the underlying values which people hold and the impact

of these values on ones personal code of ethics. Some of the key questions examined are

as follows: What are the differences between universal values and personal values, and

interactions between them? Do these values serve a major role in a managers career and

life? How do they influence the managers personal ethical codes as well as the corporate

code of ethics? What are the ways in which conflict amongst ones core values can be

minimized or sorted out when needed in different decision-making situations? How can

conflicts between corporate codes of ethics and managers as well as employees personalcodes of ethics be resolved? What are the key drivers of motivation both internal and

external and whether greater awareness of ones own thought processes can help in

ensuring greater inner motivation? Whether greater awareness of ones own values,

ethical codes and mental and emotional processes can help an individual to both grow as

a human being and to become more aligned with universal values? Does character have a

role to play in a managers career as well as the kind of leadership that he brings to the

workplace? Apart from seeking to answer these and other questions, this course would

also look at a number of real cases from the field where the question of values and ethics

were paramount and how they were handled. Could there be some learnings from these

cases and could these situations have been handled better?


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Personal

Values

Universal

Values

Values and Ethics

Values are principles, standards or qualities that are considered worthwhile or desirable.

Universal values are those principle, standards or qualities that are accepted universally

across geographical locations and different cultures in almost all the parts of the world.

Truth, honesty, punctuality, tolerance, love, compassion, cooperation etc. are some of the

examples of universal values. Personal values are those qualities, principles or standards

of behaviour that a given person considers desirable. These values may or may not be in

sync with the timeless and universal principles such as truth, love, cooperation, freedom,

honesty, justice, fairness, tolerance for differences of opinion, integrity and so on. The

greater is the overlap between ones personal and universal values, greater is the moral

health of an individual, at least ideally speaking.

That is why it is important to introspect and see from time to time if ones personal

values are in alignment with the Universal values or not. Ones personal values influence

the decisions that one makes or the actions that one takes, very powerfully, though one


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may not be aware of these values in the background which are operating at a given point

of time. A level of self-mastery in terms of awareness, at least morally, can be said to

have been achieved only when one becomes aware of the operating values the moment a

decision is made, or action is taken.

Ethics is a rationally developed set of rules and guidelines, which help one to determine

what is right or wrong in a given situation. Ones personal ethics flows out of ones

personal values. It is also influenced in a given situation by the contextual variables such

as organizational culture, group norms, and company rules and so on. For example, truth

is a dear value to me. So, speaking the truth in different situations is a part of my personal

ethics when there is no pressure upon me to do otherwise. But in a given context, there

may be a pressure upon me in terms of potential losses, personal or organizational to do

otherwise. In such cases, the strength of my convictions about this particular value would

determine my actual behaviour. So, personal ethics takes into account the values held

dear, the strength of ones conviction as well as the situational variables.

A perfectly aligned and integrated set of personal ethics can only flow out of a perfectly

aligned and integrated personal value system. A high degree of integration and alignment

in ones value system with respect to the set of universal values is attained only by the

highly integrated (in terms of harmony between their physical, cognitive, emotional and

spiritual selves) individuals.

A perfect overlap between the universal values and personal values is the ideal situation,

which will be found extremely rarely in real life. People like Amma or Mother Teresa

would come close to this ideal. The rest of us can strive in that direction. But greater the

overlap, more ethical one is likely to be in his day-to-day dealings.


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The Integrated Individual: A person with an integrated self has all the four parts of his

being - physical, cognitive, emotional and spiritual- in perfect harmony with one another .

All the four parts of the individuals being pull in the same direction thus strengthening

the inner core (self) of the individual. The nervous energy or consciousness of such a

person is not scattered. Rather it is very focussed generating a tremendous impact

wherever it is focussed just like a lens which can burn a piece of paper by focussing the

suns energy.

An integrated individual possesses a healthy regard for his body and lives according to

the natural principles of healthy living. He does not flog his body to meet the needs of

other dimensions. He is aware as to what contributes to his physical health and what does

not. So, he takes nutritious and healthful food, does exercises, Yoga, walking, swimming

etc. to maintain the physical tone; takes sufficient rest, sleep etc. So his body is capable

of taking very hard work when needed without succumbing.

He understands the need for an emotionally fulfilling life and hence invests a lot in his

relationships with his family, friends, relatives, neighbourhood and colleagues at the

workplace. He understands that one gets from others on the emotional plane what one

gives to them. So, he treats everyone with a lot of love, respect and understanding. This

Self

Spiritual

CognitivePhy

sical

Emotional

Self

Spiritual

CognitivePhy

sical

Emotional


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enables him to forge very enriching and life affirming relationships with the members of

his family, relatives, friends and colleagues. Their love, loyalty and support toward these

relations generate an equivalent amount of love, loyalty and support from the other side.

This generates a secure source of continuous emotional fulfillment and happiness in their

lives.

An integrated individual understands some fundamental secrets of happiness and success

at the cognitive level. He knows that there is a basic difference between need and

greed. Needs can be fulfilled but greed cannot because greed is a sign of a feeling of

lack in the self while need is genuine and easily met. A need is something, which is met

very easily the moment the desired object is gained and used whereas greed demands

more and more without the desire ever getting satisfied. Greed causes one to accumulate

and hoard resources up to fantastic levels which one is not going to be able to be use in

ones life time and still crave for more. It is like a moral black hole which sucks the entire

being (sum total of all the four dimensions of a persons life) of the individual within

itself and yet remains as hungry as it always was. But by the time the being has been

sucked in, all that remains is a life left in ruins (in extreme cases) as may happen to

chronic workaholics, criminals or lawbreakers for example. They understand the

difference between intrinsic & instrumental values of objects on one hand and the

symbolic value on the other. While the intrinsic & instrumental values of an object

satisfy a real need, the symbolic value is the status symbol function or aspirational

function of a product or service, which caters to a want as opposed to a need. As the

term want suggests, it is a want or lack of something with in the self. They realize that

craving for status symbols is a symptom of a deeper malaise afflicting the self viz. a

sense of inner lack or incompleteness. Such a lack can never be completed with outer

possessions or acquisitions. As a result of this understanding, they purchase and use

goods and services primarily for their true intrinsic and instrumental values. The brands

they use may be of good or excellent reputation, but they do not chase brands per se to

fulfill or complete themselves by gaining a sense of status out of them. They use brands

that give them quality products and services and do not bother too much about the

aspirational values that may or may not be embedded in those brands for others. They


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realize that true self esteem comes from within as a realization of ones innate self

worth. A lack of inner self worth can never be completed or fulfilled truly from

outside. Their inner strength, level of maturity and understanding of life gives them that

sense of completeness which allows them to get out of the rat race for the newest and the

most exotic brands or status symbols. As a result they save a lot of mental energy, which

allows them to refocus this surplus energy for achieving the tasks that are dear to their

hearts. They are able to concentrate more intensely on their jobs as more often than not,

they choose jobs, which they like and believe in rather than doing it for the material

rewards alone associated with their jobs. Of course, they too need material rewards like

anyone else, but only up to a certain level which enables them to maintain an excellent

lifestyle on the material plane. But beyond that, real achievement in terms of fulfilling

their work goals inspires them more than material rewards. But it so happens more

often than not that these people end up getting much more material rewards than others

as their level of integration makes them an outstanding performer and leader within

their organization.

At the cognitive level, an integrated individual keeps updating himself and strengthening

his technical competence due to the innate interest in the work that he does. This makes

him an outstanding professional in a technical sense. This technical excellence happens

because his being (sum total of his strengths, interests and innate talents) flows into his

doing (the work or profession that he has chosen). The havings or the rewards

associated with the work in terms of promotions, monetary rewards, name, fame, respect

etc. accrue to him because of his outstanding work quality. Look at the diagram below to

see the difference between a healthy process and an unhealthy one as far as alignment

between being, doing, and having is concerned.


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He is innately humble and reads or practices a lot in order to improve constantly through

self-effort as well as by learning from other great performers, leaders and sources of

wisdom. Their respect for and spirit of cooperation with colleagues coupled with their

technical competence, hard working ability, humility and inner strength helps them often

to achieve the pinnacles of success. For example, we have seen people like Narayan

Murthy, Azim Premji, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Varghese Kurien, Abraham Lincoln,

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and so on.

An integrated individual who is spiritually integrated too, feels intimately connected to

his community, his work team, his organization, his society, the world at large and

ultimately the environment depending upon the level of spiritual integration. At the

highest levels of spiritual integration, such people start to live at Maslows self-

transcendence level. For example, Amma or Mother Teresa caring and living for thewhole world. But even at the initial stages of spiritual integration, they show signs of

these strong bonds to their workplace, colleagues, organization, community etc. Such a

person understands that a responsible self-interest means respecting the interest of others.

He realizes that by strengthening the whole, the parts parts become stronger too. Its

like watering the root of a tree. If one waters the root, the entire tree gets the benefit. But

Being Doing Having

Healthy Process

Having Doing Being

Unhealthy Process


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if one waters the branches alone, there is a lot of loss of resources (water, time and effort

in this example). He focusses not upon taking the largest bit from the cake, but upon

enlarging the cake itself, so that everyone gets more and still a significant part of the cake

remains for future expansion. Such an individual is always inspired by grand visions and

has an uncanny way of inspiring others. His enthusiasm is almost infectious. He has an

unimpeachable character. His inner values are almost completely clarified and serve as an

unfailing compass while making decisions and acting out his day-to-day responsibilities.

They always look at the potential or the upside of the people, teams and organizations

that they work with and tirelessly encourage and help them to achieve the same.

These people often represent Maslows self actualizing people or Jim Collins level 5

leaders or Carl Rogers fully functioning individuals. There is a huge amount of

research in the OB and leadership literature supporting what has been described about the

integrated individuals in the paragraphs above. For example, you could read the hugely

popular leadership book called Good to Great by Jim Collins, which is based upon

some real life examples of some of the greatest corporate leaders. Or those of you who

have interest could delve into transformational leadership or servant leadership literature.

References are given at the end of these teaching notes.

The Self World Framework


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The self has three kinds of relations with the different entities of the world in which it

is embedded; very close, moderately close and peripheral. Very close relations engage

the entire being of the individual, i.e. all the four dimensions of his self. Moderately

close relations engage primarily one or two dimensions, for example, the workplace

involves primarily the mind and the body, more mind for the highly qualified and skilled

employees and more body for the unskilled and semi skilled workers. Only a motivating

workplace would engage the emotional dimension and only an inspiring workplace

would engage the spirit of the people working there. The peripheral relations only

engage at a superficial level.

Every entity with which the self engages observes and interprets the signals being

constantly emitted by it for its content, reliability and consistency. The content part

depends upon the overall context of the relationship, as well as the specific

circumstances. The quality of content of the signals being emitted in terms of reliability

and consistency depends in turn upon three things, (i) motivation level, (ii) ability and

Family

Friends

Work place

Markets

Others

Society &Culture

Govt.

Professional

Association

Religion

Educational

institutionsSelf

FCSS

LBP

nAch; I am

Fulfillment

Family

Friends

Work place

Markets

Others

Society &Culture

Govt.

Professional

Association

Religion

Educational

institutionsSelf

FCSS

LBP

nAch; I am

Fulfillment


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(iii) character or the value system possessed by an individual. The superior quality

of content enables the self to discharge the roles expected of it in a satisfactory manner.

This is confirmed by the MAC (Motivation, Ability and Character) framework. We have,

Performance = Motivation x Ability;

In turn,

Motivation = Expectancy x Instrumentality x Valence

Where expectancy is the concerned persons perceived probability that he will be able to

perform a task assigned to him up to the desired standard; instrumentality is his

perception of the probability that the management would give the reward that it has

promised for a satisfactory performance of the task assigned, and valence is the

concerned individuals perception of the probability that the reward offered by the

management would be liked by him or her. So, expectancy is the perception of an

employee about his own competence to complete the task up to the required standards;

instrumentality is a measure of his trust in the management as far as keeping their

promise of disbursing the promised rewards are concerned; and, valence is the

attractiveness of the reward (i.e. how much the concerned employee likes that particular

reward). This relationship tells us about the importance of management keeping its

promises when it comes to giving the promised rewards upon satisfactory execution of

work tasks. Otherwise the value of instrumentality would go down for the employees

thus lowering the overall motivation levels. Similarly, this model also shows the

importance of giving rewards after doing a proper study of the kinds of rewards really

appreciated by the employees. If the rewards offered are not attractive to the employees,

then the valence level goes down. This also tells us the importance of proper

performance appraisal systems. If performance is not recognized and rewarded correctly

and fairly then motivation levels of the workforce may be adversely affected. We will

look at how to ensure internal motivation later on in these notes.


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Motivation and ability are like the two wings of a bird, which enable the self to fly

efficiently or perform its expected roles smoothly. The character component is like the

propulsion mechanism, which enables the self to overcome the downward pull of

gravity. A sterling character enables the self to reach and explore the higher reaches of

the sky of professional career. Many promising careers are cut short due to unethical

practices. More in tune with the generally accepted ethical principles the character; the

greater is the ability of a self to generate trust among all the interacting people and

the organizational authorities. Trust is generally regarded as the most important variable

when it comes to forging strong relationships among employees at the workplace.

A sterling character is one, which is in tune with some of the most widely accepted

universal values. Greater the overlap between the set of universal values and a persons

personal values better is the character that a person possesses in moral terms. There are

some universal values, which are generally regarded as inviolable and against which all

the individuals are judged. Some of these values are:

Truth: Its good to be truthful. The ideal is to achieve consistency between thought,

word and action. In fact, truth can be called the greatest of all the other universal values.

Honesty: Its good or desirable to be honest. Especially with ones teammates, superiors

and subordinates. It helps to generate trust and a healthy respect for ones character in the

eyes of relevant others.

Integrity: It is the alignment between ones inner values and external behaviour. It is the

extent to which a person holds on to his personal truth under all circumstances of life. It

is a measure of the alignment between ones thoughts, words and actions. People with

integrity invariably generate a lot of respect and trust among others. It definitely helps a

manager to gain the trust of one and all.

Respect for human dignity: Humans should be respected just for being human

irrespective of caste, class, creed or hierarchical position. An internalization of this value


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would help a manager to command respect of subordinates and colleagues alike. It would

also help him to break the barriers or distance generated by hierarchical positions.

Love & Compassion: One should behave lovingly and show compassion towards others.

People doing so invariably gain the trust, love and loyalty of others. It helps a manager to

get the emotional commitment of employees both towards his own leadership, the team

as well as the workplace.

Belief in the virtues of hard work or industriousness: People who believe in this virtue

are invariably given greater and bigger responsibilities as they grow in their careers. Most

top managers exhibit this characteristic.

Respect for laws and norms: Itis generally regarded as desirable. Adherence to norms

helps to gain the acceptance of a group while adherence to laws helps to prevent a

manager from getting caught on the wrong side of law, which may be disastrous at times

both for the manager concerned and the organization. Example: Enron.

Justice: Managers who are fair in their dealings are generally more successful in

motivating their subordinates than those who are not. A reputation for being unfair or

biased is surely going to be a liability for managerial success.

Cooperativeness: Managers who have a deeply embedded habit of thinking

cooperatively i.e. thinking in terms of maximizing the interests of the group and

organization instinctively engage in behaviours that attracts more and more responsibility

and generates greater trust and support from all the stakeholders including employees,

customers, superiors and so on. Such a thinking style facilitates effective performance in

senior management positions and also in reaching those positions pretty quickly.

Everyone working or interacting with such a manager feels at ease and it facilitates an

easy flow and exchange of ideas, which obviously improves decision-making as well as

team morale and spirit. The famous self-development Guru Stephen Covey (author of

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) calls it win-win thinking.


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To the extent a persons behaviour is grounded in these and other important universal

values, he or she is able to evoke trust, respect and admiration from the different entities

with which he or she engages. It ensures an exemplary character. When such a person

needs support, there are plenty of hands to help him in his work.

So, the content of the signal is determined by these three factors, viz. motivation, ability

and character. But people also look forreliable performance because erratic behaviour

increases the risk of engaging with such a self for the interacting entities. The same

argument holds good for lack in consistency also, especially between what one says and

what one does. A manger can ill afford to say (preach) one thing and do (practice)

something else or to say something to someone and a contradictory thing to someone

else. If a manger can ensure these three things, i.e. consistently high quality of content

of the signals that he emits; reliability and also the consistency in the discharge of his

duties, then sky is the limit for such a manager.

How can a high degree of motivation, ability and character be developed? Is

constant growth of an individual possible with greater self-awareness till he reaches

the self-actualization level? Would that be useful to a manager for gaining success in

his career as well as happiness in life?

The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow postulated that human beings have an inbuilt

tendency to grow in terms of their dominant needs, which are arranged in a sort of

hierarchy. The moment a lower order need is fulfilled, they move on to the satisfaction of

the next level need in this needs hierarchy. The hierarchy of needs as proposed by

Maslow is shown below.


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Selfactualization

Self esteem

Belongingness

Safety needs

Physiological needs

Selfactualization

Self esteem

Belongingness

Safety needs

Physiological needs

Self Transcendence

Gratification

Survival

Acceptance

by others

Passion

Love & Acceptance for Self

Love & Acceptance for all

Satisfied

Self

Satisfying career

& social standing

Nourishing relationships

Secure home, work& social environment

Healthy body

Complete acceptance &

living of Universal Being values

Gratified & respectful of ones

body; good healthy habits

(Healthy human beings)

Assured survival; no feelingof external threat

(Secure human being)

Feeling of being accepted by loved

ones unconditionally

(Loving human being)

Feeling of being successful in life

(Successful human being)

Satisfaction of ones Being

values (Fulfilled human being)

(can inspire the group & orgn.)

Physiological

(Body)

Safety (Body,mind of heart)

Belongingness (Heart)

Self esteem (Mind)

Self actualization (spirit)

Self transcendence

(Spirit)

Enlightened individual

(can inspire the world)

Satisfied

Self

Satisfying career

& social standing

Nourishing relationships

Secure home, work& social environment

Healthy body

Complete acceptance &

living of Universal Being values

Gratified & respectful of ones

body; good healthy habits

(Healthy human beings)

Assured survival; no feelingof external threat

(Secure human being)

Feeling of being accepted by loved

ones unconditionally

(Loving human being)

Feeling of being successful in life

(Successful human being)

Satisfaction of ones Being

values (Fulfilled human being)

(can inspire the group & orgn.)

Physiological

(Body)

Safety (Body,mind of heart)

Belongingness (Heart)

Self esteem (Mind)

Self actualization (spirit)

Self transcendence

(Spirit)

Enlightened individual

(can inspire the world)


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These needs on the Maslows framework can also be understood in terms of the four

dimensions of life, namely, body, mind (cognitive), heart (emotional) and spirit

(spiritual) as shown in the framework above. If we look at the animal world, we will

notice that at the level of the body, we have a lot in common with them. This level

almost coincides with the two lowest levels of needs in Maslows schema, namely thephysiological needs and safety needs except for the fact that constant physical threats

and punishments may lead to emotional insecurity in the Maslows schema which then

would be at the level of heart or emotions in the lifes four dimensions schema. Maslow

called the needs at these two lowest levels as instinctoid, i.e. they have to be fulfilled or

else the individual may not survive or may live a highly uncertain life ala the caveman or

Self

actualizing

man

Spirit

(Spiritual)

Heart

(Emotional)

Mind(Cognitive)

Body

(Physiological)

Respects his body; Follows

healthy habits

Invests constantly in their

chosen vocation; deals withinformation very effectively

Emotionally free; invests in

nourishing relationships

Enjoys what he does;

encourages & supports

growth of others

Self

actualizing

man

Spirit

(Spiritual)

Heart

(Emotional)

Mind(Cognitive)

Body

(Physiological)

Respects his body; Follows

healthy habits

Invests constantly in their

chosen vocation; deals withinformation very effectively

Emotionally free; invests in

nourishing relationships

Enjoys what he does;

encourages & supports

growth of others


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hunters/gatherers of yore. These are extremely strong needs and hence cannot be denied

for long without endangering the self literally. Also, if these needs are not gratified for

some time, even those operating at higher levels of the need hierarchy would have to

come down to the level where deprivation has taken place. For example, one cannot deny

hunger, thirst or homelessness for long without these needs becoming the dominant one

till they are satisfied.

At the level of the heart, one looks for acceptance by others generally, and at least some

close loving relationships where one is accepted unconditionally for constant emotional

nourishment. Human beings have an inherent need to be accepted, admired and

appreciated. When this need is thwarted, it turns into need for respect. If one is engaged

in an activity, which flows out from the core of ones being, he easily excels at it and it

becomes easy for him to command respect. The activity itself would lead the individual

to complete self-acceptance sooner or later. But when one is not able to command

respect, then this relatively healthier need turns into demand for respect. When this

need is thwarted, a person gets stuck at this level. He keeps trying to prove himself to

others. Faced with a continuous rejection from the outside world, it soon leads to a

persons rejection of his own self and hence a very poor self esteem. A person sometimes

turns to an acquisition spree to compensate for this lack of respect or self-esteem, and the

outer possessions become substitutes for this inner lack ofself esteem. But no matter

how much a person is able to acquire possessions, it is never able to fill the sense of inner

lack. This lack is essentially a lack of self-esteem which itself is a result of non-

acceptance of the self by the relevant others. Most importantly, in childhood and

early adolescence when the personality has not yet completely formed and is in the

process of being shaped.

Essentially, what we are saying is that there is an inborn human need that is visible very

clearly in small children viz. the need to be loved. They need a constant reassurance

from their parents and siblings initially and then from their friends etc. that they are

loved, appreciated and admired. The more easily this reassurance is available, the more

accepted they feel. This allows them to feel secure in the knowledge that their parents


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are there to support them when they get into trouble. They indulge their curiosity freely,

and explore the world around them quite spontaneously. This helps to form a very stable

base to the personality and leads to a healthy self-esteem. Their free exploration of the

environment enables them in most cases to identify hobbies or activities that they are

keenly interested in and to indulge in them. The parents support these pursuits and may

even actively support the childs chosen pursuit. This is what often helps the prodigies to

come to the fore at such an early age in many cases. These hobbies may later become

professions. In such cases, a healthy self esteem coupled with the choice of a profession,

which flows from the inner core of their being, and for which they also possess an

innate talent, enables them to actualize their potential. So, self-actualization becomes

possible for them in many cases. True self-actualization is when an individual is

completely dedicated to the expression of his inner being irrespective of any other

inducement, material or otherwise. He has no regrets for having chosen his vocation. The

amount of havings (rewards) that accrue as a result is not the criterion by which he

judges his self. In fact, he does not judge his self at all. But despite this primary focus

upon the expression of ones being, such people more often than not are rewarded

amply by the society (i.e. plenty of havings accrue to them) simply because they end up

becoming very good at what they choose as their vocation. They achieve this excellence

because of their innate interest in the activity chosen, talent for that activity as well as the

sheer joy, which they experience in practicing and perfecting their work. Such people are

able to accept themselves completely as they invariably develop a very healthy self-

esteem and are able to hit the zone or the state of flow quite frequently.

In the higher reaches of self-actualization, they may not even need some of the lower

order needs as strongly as others. For example, they do not need external commendation

or greater relative success to sustain their self-esteem. They have accepted themselves so

completely that they can go on their chosen path in the face of opposition from the

mightiest forces without the least doubt in their minds and without showing any signs of

psychological pathology. They appear as integrated at the end of an ordeal as at the

beginning of it. Tests and trials of life may in fact help them to reach even higher and

higher levels of self-actualization as they discover new reserves of strength within


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themselves. We have had a number of leaders of this type in the recent past. Names of

Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela or Ag San Su Kyi may be cited as examples. In the

field of business, Varghese Kurien is an example, who fought against all odds to pioneer

the cooperative movement, which ushered in the milk revolution of India. Bill Gates with

his DOS, which made the personal computer possible, is another example from the field

of business.

Apart from an indomitable will that was described above, these self-actualizing subjects

also exhibit an easy and loving acceptance of the others in their immediate environment,

including the workplace. They accept people despite their apparent weaknesses and

shortcomings so completely that most people in their vicinity develop a spontaneous love

and respect for them. They always look at the potentials hidden in people and try to bring

them out rather than focussing on their limitations. The self-actualizing subject becomes

like the lighthouse guiding others in their growth. To the others, he represents the higher

possibilities of their own selves. Most people feel inspired while working with them. This

happens almost spontaneously. It is the power of love to energize, and to melt

psychological blocks and complexes, and to inspire to dream. One just has to look at

Amma and how she is able to spontaneously inspire others around her to understand what

is explained above.

The reason this happens is because everyone needs to be loved and accepted

unconditionally, and people feel this unconditional love and acceptance flowing from

these self-actualizing subjects. There are hundreds of known examples from the

corporate, NGO and social sector and thousands of the lesser known or unknown

examples of self-actualizing subjects scattered al over the world. It may be a loving

mother toiling away in the dead of the night for the betterment of her family in the

poorest regions of Africa or a dedicated doctor serving the poor selflessly in a remote

village of India. Wherever these people are, they inspire and energize others around them.

On the other hand, when the inherent need to be loved and accepted unconditionally is

not fulfilled in the childhood, the child feels judged, restrained and fearful of disapproval


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if he does something that the parents or teachers do not like. This constant evaluation and

disapproval of activities that the parents and teachers disapprove of creates in the child a

tendency to conform in order to please his elders and hence regain their unconditional

love and acceptance. It cannot explore the environment freely as a completely and

unconditionally loved child does. It is always fearful of a disapproval or a punishment

coming his way if he trespasses the boundaries imposed on him ever so little. This

constant compulsion to look behind for an authority figures approval soon becomes a

habit. It leads to the development of a meek personality. The self-esteem becomes very

low. But the need for love/acceptance is so strong that the child does not give up. He tries

to excel at a vocation/activity, which the parents and teachers approve of, even if it does

not resonate with their own inner interests. In modern educated society, especially in the

urban areas of our country, most of the parents want their children to excel at academics.

Anything else, which the child may be keenly interested in but which is not consistent

with a sound academic performance, is frowned upon. The inbuilt need for acceptance or

love causes the child/adolescent to give up these extra-curricular hobbies/activities in

order to win the parents and teachers approval. This essentially means a disconnect

from ones true being from a very early age. Once these children are disconnected from

their true being or potential, anything else just serves the purpose of trying to win the

approval of parents, teachers and other relevant authority figures. These constant

approvals serve as a substitute for the acceptance or the love for which the child

craves. Soon, the need for approvals becomes a deeply ingrained false need overlaying

the original need for love. This results in spontaneity being drained away from the

personality. Graceful spontaneity is possible only in activities that flow outward from the

inner core of their being

According to this framework, a person starts to aim for achievements in life once his

lower order needs for instinctoid gratification (physiological needs), safety and

belongingness (love) are satisfied. Thus for a person to be really motivated at his

workplace, his dominant need has to be eitherself-esteem orself-actualization.


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If he has an unsatisfied need for belongingness then he cant really be motivated in a

healthy way to achieve something significant in life. In such cases he would be extremely

competitive trying to substitute for lack of love with a tremendous amount of respect

from others. Maslow also said that people who are not loved enough especially in their

formative years (early childhood and adolescence) lose the ability to love

unconditionally. This tends to harden them emotionally and hence makes it more and

more difficult for them to gain love as one gets love only if he gives it to others.

Thus for a person to have a healthy self esteem need, he needs to fulfill his need for love

and belongingness first. So, if any of us feels that he or she is a bit unfulfilled on the need

for belongingness, then the best course of action is to start reinvesting in the personal

relationships with the near and dear ones, to forge new and deep friendships in order to

get the emotional nourishment that is necessary to free the mental space. Once a person is

free emotionally then he can concentrate on his profession with complete dedication.

In the case of a self-actualizing person, he has not only fulfilled his need for

belongingness, but he also no longer needs respect or appreciation from outside for his

self-esteem. He has a very high sense of self worth, which is derived from with in. Such a

person chooses a work for which he feels passionately and hence motivation and ability

are not a problem at all. He keeps upgrading himself as he enjoys his work. Enjoying

ones work automatically ensures a very high level of internal motivation.

In the MAC framework, when considering the variable motivation, we had seen the

external factors that influence work motivation. But, when a person enjoys his work

passionately, then it ensures a very high level of internal motivation automatically. By the

time a person reaches the self-actualization level, he has had a very full and rich life with

a wide variety of experiences pertaining to all the lower levels of need. Hence, he

understands life much more completely than an average person. This makes him realize

that most of the universal values have intrinsic worth to them in order to ensure well

being for the all. Since, such people have a spiritual dimension, which has been activated;

they start to think in terms of win-win or the welfare of the community. This enables


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them to develop deep respect for most of the universal values and hence they tend to have

very strongly ethical characters.

So, to ensure a high degree of motivation, ability and a strongly ethical character, which

is an unbeatable combination for great success in life on all the fronts, it is always

advantageous for a person that his self grows continuously in order to achieve better

and better harmony among all the four dimensions of life, so that one can ultimately

reach the self-actualization level. It is possible to reach the self-actualization level for

most of us if we reorganize our lives identifying what steps need to be taken to fulfill

the lower order needs. For most of us at the best business schools, in the worst case we

need to start from the third level need of belongingness. If that is the case we need to

build nourishing relationships in our lives that can be done deliberately if we recognize

this lack clearly.

In most of the cases we may already be operating at the self-esteem level and have a clear

sense of being loved unconditionally by our loved ones. An awareness of this fact would

make our journey to the top of the hierarchy quite easy. Only thing, which is needed, is to

find a work that one believes in with all of ones being, a work environment whose

code of ethics (formal and informal) is more or less in alignment with ones personal

values and then pursue ones calling (a work which draws upon ones being or the

deepest urge within ones self can be called a calling). Finding a suitable work

environment is very important in order to express ones being at the workplace with a

fair degree of comfort and without too many unnecessary distractions. Work related

obstacles and challenges would obviously be welcome as they allow the self to stretch

itself and hence expand its capabilities. The more capable the self becomes higher it

reaches on the flow curve thus adding greater depth and joy to ones work experience.

If the above conditions are met, i.e. the vocation flows from ones being and the

workplace supports and nurtures this vocation and welcomes its expression at ever higher

and higher levels, then the rest will fall in place on its own as far as achieving self-

actualization is concerned. The only pitfall that needs to be avoided in that case is losing


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touch with real life, which can be prevented by understanding some useful cognitive

frameworks explained below.

The self object diagram:

As can be seen from the diagram above, when the self contacts a pleasurable object or

experience then it is the quality of the selfs attention to the experience which ensures

happiness or lack of it from this experience. If a person does not pay attention to this

experience at all or starts to take these things for granted, then no happiness accrues to

him. That is one of the main reasons why it is possible for even a very rich and successful

individual on the material plane to have a listless and unhappy life despite having a lavish

lifestyle. There are other reasons of course, but this too is an important one of them.

Always remember that there is nothing intrinsically with in the object that can make youhappy unless you pay attention to the object while using or consuming it. So, if you are

taking a cup of coffee and your mind is lost in some other thought then you may not

enjoy your coffee as much as you would if you had paid attention to it while drinking it.

This habit of paying attention to each and every pleasurable activity can go a very long

way in helping us to enjoy our material prosperity thereby adding to our overall

HU

H HH

H U

U

H

H

HH

UH H

H

H U

U

H

H

H

Mind as a bucket which accumulates happiness as H and unhappiness as U

Self ObjectQuality of attention

Causes quality of

experience

Self ObjectQuality of attention

Causes quality of

experience


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happiness and gratitude levels. At times, we need to pay gratitude as well to our good

fortunes, which we have quite justly earned through our talent and hard work. In

happiness literature, gratitude for all the good things that life has given to us and keeps

giving to us all the time, has been described as one of the most powerful if not the most

powerful attitudes to have, if one wishes to have a happy and fulfilling life. It is better to

be happy than to be unhappy.

As long as one agrees with this assumption, some further things can be understood. For

example, one can think of ones self as a bucket which can be filled with happy or

unhappy experiences. More the bucket is filled with H (which can be used to denote

happiness) the bigger it becomes. For example, when one feels love for someone and

wishes to embrace him, he quite naturally and spontaneously opens his arms and enfolds

the other in a tight heart-to-heart embrace. It is as if two selves have become one. The

self quite literally expands with happiness. Just the opposite happens if this bucket is

filled with U (unhappiness). The self shrinks in this case. For example, imagine yourself

walking down the corridor and suddenly you see a member of the faculty who is known

for his temper and strictness. You may instinctively shrink a little bit, bow your head a

little bit and then wish him in as polite and nice a tone as you can muster. You may do

this even if your first instinct was to run away. It is a common experience that when one

is experiencing a strong negative emotion like fear for example, one tends to crouch or

shrink, to hide, to hold on to something for support etc. etc. In contrast, an expanded and

happier self is better equipped to face the challenges of life as its intrinsic motivation is

high most of the times which is an important factor of performance as we have seen from

the MAC framework.

Some people have a tendency to focus on every thing that goes wrong in ones day-to-

day life no matter how small that wrong is while ignoring everything that is right or good.

This causes them to accumulate Us all the time and literally wasting the opportunities to

collect Hs. This causes them to develop a bad mood most of the time and over a period

of time being unhappy becomes a personality trait, which is so hard to rectify. This

causes them to lose their internal motivation and sense of joy thereby affecting their work


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performance (MAC framework) as well making their life drudgery. Just the reverse

happens to habitual optimists. They tend to focus upon the good things of life and hence

are in good mood most of the time. Over time these good moods become a personality

trait. If someone has been making this particular mistake, he can rectify it by starting to

pay attention to the good things as well which life shows up in his life in order to start

collecting Hs. Soon, his bucket too would start to fill with Hs and start to expand.

Another thing is that as Hs start to increase in proportion, Us find it hard to remain in

the bucket. Both H and U are in conflict to take over your cognitive space. Which of

the two would win depends upon your support. Since, it is better to have the bucket of

your self filled with Hs as explained above, you may very well choose in its favour.

But of course the choice is yours.

So, to sum up, one needs to be constantly aware of what is happening in ones life on a

moment-to-moment basis. This helps one to collect Hs from pleasurable experiences

and to avoid Us as much as possible. An awareness of this fact may help one to sort out

many of ones bad habits, which generate unpleasantness. For example, procrastination

which repeatedly causes one to experience the pressure of meeting deadlines, or

unpunctuality which may cause negative experiences at the workplace, eating junk food,

especially if one has a sensitive stomach or values good health and so on. Another benefit

of paying attention to the various things that are going on in ones life on a moment-to-

moment basis is that one can learn from all these experiences. As we learn more and

more from each of our life experiences many of which are currently left unutilized

because of lack of awareness or close attention not being paid to them; we start to rapidly

gain in maturity and wisdom. In fact, an acute observer of life is likely to have a higher

IQ as well as EQ. IQ is the ratio of ones mental age to biological age. The assumption

behind this relation is that as one grows older one learns from life and hence ones mental

age increases. But increase in mental age alone in absolute terms is not going to increase

ones IQ or intelligence level because ones biological age is also increasing all the time.

To protect ones IQ and to increase it constantly one needs to increase ones mental age

faster than the rate of increase in biological age. This can happen only if one learns from

as many life experiences as possible. Constant efforts to increase ones wisdom and


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knowledge by reading good books, watching and learning from great people, paying

close attention to ones life experiences, doing ones work with a lot of interest etc. are

definitely going to help. These things quite obviously increase ones emotional maturity

and hence EQ also would increase. So, paying close attention to ones life brings rewards

in terms of increased happiness, internal motivation as well as intelligence and emotional

maturity. The enhanced levels of these key psychological and cognitive resources would

definitely have a positive impact upon ones career as well as personal life. But it

demands constant practice.

Cognitive Complexity and its relationship with Lifestyle demand and supply:

Body and heart, i.e. the physiological needs and ability to feel are biologically embedded

so deep within the cellular memory of the individual that it is not possible to think of a

normal human being without these two levels of existence. The mind (thinking) part is

also always present but its level of complexity can vary from a completely illiterate tribal

with very undeveloped cognitive tools to the most highly educated modern man with a

tremendous amount of cognitive complexity. The greater the level of education and

interaction with different cultures around the world that one has, the greater is the level of

cognitive complexity. The differences in the levels of cognitive complexity can be so

huge that it may lead to two completely different worlds two people at the opposite ends

of the spectrum. To a tribal, the world may appear so uncertain and unpredictable as to

evoke fear, reverence and awe. But, to a modern educated man, a lot of these forces are

under control with the aid of science.

It is at the level of cognition that human beings differ the most from one another. There

are differences in the emotional capabilities of a more refined man as compared to a less

refined man, but the emotional differences between them are not as much in terms of

types and range, as they are in terms of cognitions. An accountant and a doctor would

look at the same company in completely different ways. The cognitive differences

between people are also sources of lack of understanding of one anothers viewpoints.

Most of the conflicts starting from the level of small groups to nations and religions are


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due to cognitive differences or differing worldviews. As a person becomes more complex

cognitively, even his feelings become more differentiated and finer as more differentiated

cognitions also produce more differentiated (in terms of variety and range) feelings. A

trained student of fine arts would definitely be able to feel much more complex emotions

in the presence of aesthetically exquisite works of art than a layman. It can be observed

that people who are cognitively more refined are able to appreciate art, music, literature,

and even natural phenomena much better than less refined ones. The same phenomenon

may evoke immortal poetry from a cognitively complex person, who also has a talent for

poetry, while a less complex person who has an innate talent for poetry but could not

develop it because of lack of education, may not be able to do so.

At the level of the heart, it is much more easy to become happy; while, at the level of

the mind, it is much more difficult and needs a very high degree of cognitive

complexity engaging with a task at a very high level of sophistication. This phenomenon

has been very well explained by the famous psychologist Mihalyi Csiskzsentmihalyi who

terms such experiences as flow experiences.

As can be seen from the diagram above, the task complexity is on the y-axis while skill in

===performing the task (a proxy for cognitive complexity in this case) is on the x-axis.

Regionofflow

TaskComplexity

Task Competence

Regionofflow

TaskComplexity

Task Competence


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The channel of flow is the region produced when a very highly skilled person is engaged

in a task, which is difficult and complex enough to engage his complete attention. The

person gets completely immersed in the task that he loves to do as well is very good at. In

such cases the work becomes a joy and hours can pass in a state of bliss.

Csiskzsentmihalyi has called such experiences where a person forgets his self while

being engaged in a task as flow experiences. So, to be happy at the cognitive level, a

person has to not only be very skilled at some vocation but also has to find opportunities

to express his skill. This insight again emphasizes the importance of finding a work

which allows one to express ones being (talents).

The cognitive dimension has other sub-dimensions, the satisfaction or otherwise of which

may produce either happiness or frustration. For example, the need for achievement as

reflected in the career and other material goals of a person. The moment we talk of

happiness or satisfaction derived from the cognitive dimension, feelings come into the

picture. For a cognitively simple person, the need for achievement may be very simple

and very easily satisfied. For example, a simple, uneducated farmer with a small

landholding may be very easily satisfied if he is able to produce enough to feed his family

for the year and attain some surplus to provide for the other needs of the family. But, for

a cognitively complex farmer, he may like to maximize his economic return per unit of

land and other resources as compared to what others have achieved in his locality or as

compared to other parts of the country from the same crops. If he is not able to achieve

the benchmark productivity, he may not be satisfied even if the output in absolute terms

is enough to enjoy a much better quality of life as compared to the first farmer. Similar

logic could apply to small time little educated petty shopkeepers and highly educated

owners of modern departmental stores and retail chains or MBAs from smaller less

known institutes and those from IIMs, XLRI etc. Normally, more cognitively complex a

person is, greater and stronger is his need for achievement and higher his own inner

benchmarks of performance. Another factor is the constant competitive and social

pressure exerted by the peer group to which a person belongs. An IIM graduate would

always compare himself with other IIM graduates to see how he is doing in life, no

matter what his material and lifestyle achievements are in absolute terms. Even if he has


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done ten times better than as compared to a MBA from a small institute, he would not be

happy unless he has done better than an average IIM graduate. Cognitive complexity

makes a person conscious of his position in society, leads to higher aspirations, better

quality of life as well as greater capability of dealing with the environment and holding

more difficult and differentiated jobs. Such people make better and more well informed

decisions. The modern institutional structures like the free market economy, democracy,

institutions for higher learning etc. are designed to reward those who are more complex

cognitively. But on the flip side, greater cognitive complexity may lead one to an

alienation from the basic ground of life where the self meets real life as can be seen

from the frameworks discussed below. These things are being explained with a view to

produce greater awareness among the students of these cognitive phenomena so that they

can take well-informed decisions in their own careers as well as personal lives.

As a persons cognitive complexity increases he becomes a member of more and more

differentiated and elitist peer groups which have their own norms of evaluating lifestyle

standards which are determined by a complex interplay of lifestyle comparisons among

one another and ever increasing aspirations created by both better and more differentiated

products due to technical and creative advancements and aggressive advertising

Life Style demand

Life

StyleSupply

Ifmarke

tisperfect Degree of discontent or frustration

Degree of luck

Less complex

man

More complex

man

Technological development

generates a rotatory force on this

curve upwards

Life Style demand

Life

StyleSupply

Ifmarke

tisperfect Degree of discontent or frustration

Degree of luck

Less complex

man

More complex

man

Technological development

generates a rotatory force on this

curve upwards


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campaigns to sell better and higher lifestyles. This shifts the lifestyle demand towards the

right or in simple terms as a persons cognitive complexity increases he demands a better

quality lifestyle. The corresponding lifestyle supply which would meet this level of

lifestyle demand or need, and which a perfect lifestyle market would be able to supply, is

available at a much higher economic price than what would be required for a simple

satisfaction of the most basic lifestyle needs of a cognitively simple man (say a simple

farmer or a clerk with a government department). So, to sustain this highly differentiated

and elevated lifestyle one constantly needs to earn a very high level of income. This

creates the pressure to meet the expectations of the highly differentiated (complex,

demanding and requiring a very high level of skill) job that one does. Since a highly

differentiated job alone can fetch the rewards which are enough to sustain the

corresponding lifestyle demand, this job necessarily requires a high degree of skill as well

as willingness and ability to work hard for a significant part of ones life. With greater

and better education facilities available to more and more people, there is an ever-

increasing supply of people who can hold a particular job, no matter how differentiated it

is. On top of that the rates of technological and knowledge obsolescence are at an all time

high due to frenetic technological and knowledge enhancements in virtually all the

professional fields. These factors force a person holding a highly differentiated high

lifestyle-fetching job to be constantly on his toes to keep upgrading his skills, and to keep

performing at very high levels to protect his job as well as to flourish in it. A very subtle

problem associated with this is that ones self-esteem gets tied to the level of the job

differentiation as well as the lifestyle level enjoyed and aspired for. This tendency is

reinforced because of favorable social evaluations in favor of more differentiated jobs

and lifestyles. Greater the level of differentiation of the job one does and the lifestyle one

enjoys, greater is the social status enjoyed by an individual in modern society.

So, the threat of a slip down the lifestyle curve threatens the self-esteem need of a

professional constantly. This prevents a person occupying very high positions too from

being relaxed enough to be able to truly enjoy the perks of his position. Secondly, this

constant pressure to perform is easier when one is younger and healthier. It becomes

difficult to sustain that kind of an extremely hard working work life as one advances in


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age and ones vitality starts to decrease. The greater the pressures associated with a job,

faster is the burnout rate and hence in the medium to long run health may become a

casualty of the constant pressure of performance in a highly differentiated job. Thirdly, as

symbolic values are craved more in this sort of a lifestyle (extremely differentiated),

real values start to languish. These real values may be relationships with spouse,

children, friends and colleagues; physical and mental health; hobbies; restful spaces

which are needed by everyone to just let oneself be and appreciate and enjoy life that one

is living. These spaces are also needed to rejuvenate oneself and to reflect upon all that

one has achieved and gone through in ones life and to reflect upon and work through the

various good and bad experiences that one has gained in ones life. Without these

periodical spaces, a person may not be able to grow in wisdom as much as someone else

of an equal intelligence who gets such spaces for contemplation and reflection over ones

life experiences. Life is not only about running and pulling and pushing constantly; it is

also about relaxing, appreciating, reflecting and contemplating periodically as one goes

along. This is true if one wishes to have a rich life, which is enjoyable as well as

meaningful. These small things which one may start to take for granted owing to the

pressures felt in these highly differentiated and competitive jobs may prevent a person

from enjoying his life truly and fully. The emotionaland cognitive muscles, which are

needed to enjoy and appreciate true value, may wither due to disuse and cause a person

to lose touch with life itself despite such a lavish lifestyle.

Typically, people get locked at a particular lifestyle level because of the associated self-

esteem need accruing from the peer group and relevant others. This creates the pressure

to conform to social and peer group norms unless one is able to see the entire set up of

this competitive game as explained above and chooses to be aware of this trap to avoid its

pitfalls.

In the lifestyle demand and supply diagram, people who have achieved a lifestyle level

which is above what is justified by their cognitive complexity level, instead of feeling a

sense of gratitude for their good fortune, adjust their lifestyle demand upward to

match the lifestyle level gained by luck thus closing the degree of luck gap. So, instead


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of happiness at the stroke of luck, greater pressure to protect ones turf results. This game

of ever increasing lifestyle needs and cognitive complexity to fulfill those needs ensures

that ones material acquisitions never make one happy on an enduring basis.

Besides, the ever increasing output of consumer goods and services can only happen by

ever greater exploitation of the planets resources thus endangering its habitat and

ecology as can be seen today. If we do not make a course correction, we may soon pay

for it collectively in a manner, which is too frightening to imagine.

Another thing, which comes out of the lifestyle demand and supply curve, is that all the

players who get trapped in this game disconnect the intrinsic and instrumental needs

from the symbolic need. This whole game is played on the foundation of the constantly

increasing demand for the symbolic value that products carry. The entire game of ever-

differentiated brands is played on this basis. But ultimately all of this gets reduced to the

self esteem that people derive from these differentiated products which fuels this spiral

of ever increasing demand for symbolic value.

So, if a person is able to understand this game completely two things will happen. He can

keep playing this game and perhaps play better because he understands the game better

and hence enjoy it more. Secondly, he gets the freedom from the constant pressure that he

used to feel to attain a lifestyle standard imposed by the peer group. The peer group and

social norms of determining success by comparison of lifestyles and acquisitions can no

longer have a hold on him. So, he plays this game as a relatively liberated player and

hence enjoys the game as well as life much more than earlier. He gets back in touch with

his real felt needs and starts to really appreciate and enjoy his successes and

achievements in real terms. The cognitive space now freed as a result can be devoted to

pursuing activities which are closer to his real being thus giving real happiness by

attaining the state of flow more often than what is possible in the high pressure modern

life otherwise which is trapped in the game just described. A clever man knows how

much to play this game and then when to step into the world of his true being. Also


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greater enjoyment and skill accrues to a person while playing this game if he understands

the game better.

Differentiation: Differentiation increases constantly because of continuous

advancements in technologies as well as by way of innovations within the same product

segments catering ultimately to the same underlying intrinsic and instrumental needs. It is

the symbolic value which signals the I have arrived message to relevant others and

which is embedded in the differentiated products as interpreted by the individual, which

creates the ever increasing urge to aspire for more and more differentiated products. If it

were not for this signaling function, which the differentiated products perform, there

would not be so much demand for them. This is well understood by the companies selling

these differentiated products. As the demand gets saturated, they come up with more

differentiated products either with the help of technological improvements in existing

products or by way of package innovations. The corporates engage in this game because

they are headed by management teams that ultimately are composed of the same modern

men that we have been discussing about, who have a chronic need to prove themselves

better than their rivals and contemporaries. The stock and financial markets fuel this

behaviour by imposing their expectations of constantly better performance through the

reward mechanism of higher stock prices and lower interest rates for the most successful

corporates at this game.

The key difference between a cognitively simple and complex man is the greater demand

for various goods and services that a cognitively complex man has as well as the level of

differentiation is needed by him even in those goods and services that overlap with a

cognitively simple man. For a cognitively complex man, a simple meeting of the felt

needs is not enough. He also needs differentiation in order to meet his elitist lifestyle

demands.

Why do differentiated needs arise?


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They arise because modern man derives his sense of self from external objects. Thus only

way to gain an acceptable level of self-esteem is possible by acquisition of more and

more highly differentiated objects. But the fickle market forces and technological

advancements keep shifting the levels of possible as well as expected differentiation ever

forward; higher and higher. This creates a constant pressure to achieve and consume

more and more of higher and higher quality highly differentiated products. The more

soon becomes less because of constant external comparison with what the peer group

has achieved. But if the level of acquisition or quality of life achieved at an absolute level

is way above what is actually needed in terms of fulfilling the intrinsic and instrumental

needs, then there is no need for an aware person to participate in this rat race for more

and more acquisitions. He can thereafter concentrate on fulfilling his being needs,

which will fetch him, inner satisfaction and enrich his cognitive and emotional life.

The Emotion Processing Mechanism

For most people the manner in which negative emotions like anger, jealousy etc. is

processed is shown below:


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First, a person experiences a negative emotion and as he becomes aware of it, he instantly

or rather quite quickly expresses that emotion in the form of some action. It could be

shouting at the person who has caused the negative emotion, or shrugging ones

shoulders, or making a bad face, or hitting etc. The true recognition of the emotion (that I

again became angry etc.) happens after the action has been taken. Then the repentance

etc. may come. But the next time, again a similar stimulus would produce a similar

response. This pattern keeps repeating itself and each time one goes through that pattern,

the particular negative emotion, which is characteristic of a person, keeps getting

strengthened till it becomes a deeply embedded personality trait. Another thing is that the

action taken in a negative frame of mind (be it anger, jealousy, revenge or whatever) is

likely to be sub-optimum, and sometimes even damaging. This may exacerbate the

situation, which actually produced the emotion in the first place, thus pushing the self

deeper into that particular emotion. Even other related emotions may start to arise as the

situation worsens further. Besides, it would put the person on whom the self has taken

out its anger also in a negative mood, which in turn would be passed on to other people

Emotion is generated

Attention is directed to the emotion

Action is taken

Recognition of emotion takes place



Action is taken

Recognition of emotion takes place

Normal Evolved



Recognition of the emotion

Complete understanding of the emotion

Acceptance of the emotion

Necessary action is taken



Recognition of the emotion

Complete understanding of the emotion

Acceptance of the emotion

Necessary action is taken


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