CULTURE AND PERSONALITY:Definition of sub culture, Definition of Personality, Types of Persons

<< HUMAN RELATIONS:Some Guidelines for Effective Human Relations, Communication has 3meanings

PERSONALITY AND STRESS:Personality, PERSONAL TOOLS TO CONTROL STRESS >>

Human Relations MGMT611

Lesson 02

CULTURE AND PERSONALITY

Culture is that complex hold which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, norms, customs and any other habit

acquired by a man as a member of a society".(Advertiler)

There are many capacities with in an individual which are developed through the culture for example in

Pakistani culture,

We greet each other especially our elders by SALAAM.

If we are going in a bus, and see an elderly lady standing the youngster would naturally offer his/her

seat to the lady.

Beliefs and knowledge guide us how to go about and handle different situations e.g. if u see a child crying

bitterly on the roadside you would stop to ask him why he is crying? And would attempt to solve his

problem whether he is your child or some one else's. You would help the child because of your believe

system which is a product of a certain culture.

Cultures are becoming more and more complexed because of many reasons. The cultures are

interconnected, People learn different values, different ways of doing things when they interact with people

from other cultures. That is creating new complexity and secondly that there are sub-cultures with in each

culture. Even in Pakistani culture we have several sub cultures e.g. Sindhi, Punjabi, Bloch, Pashto culture

etc. People are learning different values from different people around the world as they travel to different

countries. These capacities are creating diversity in our own culture also. It has become more important

then ever and difficult to understand the different situations and to handle them.

Human relations are important for better understanding of people and how to relate with different human

beings and making a teams performance better. In an organization, if a Manager or a Supervisor is

interested in getting maximum work done by the employees, He can accomplish this goal more effectively if

he understands the employees and is able to make an accurate assessment about them. It is possible that

some individuals in the organization, value their respect more than the monitory or financial rewards. These

individuals come from a fluent family where they value respect in the institution more than money. Such a

person would work harder if you give him respect on their other hand if another person is hard up and in

need of money, he is working to make ends meet. Bonus or monitory reward will make him work harder

and will be a motivating force for him to keep up his hard work. It is important that the supervisor or the

manager understands the individuals, as well their needs, then he will be in better position to get optimum

work done by the employees.

Definition of sub culture:

"Set of people with different set of behaviors and beliefs which differentiates them from a larger culture of which they are a part".

In other words sub-culture helps in producing smaller cultural groups as youth cultures, army officer's

culture, elite culture etc. all form different groups having different cultural impact on capacities, beliefs and

knowledge. Similarly, urban and rural people have different knowledge, beliefs and values, in other words

both urban and rural areas have a particular culture with different ways of doing things and different ways

of perceiving things. The youth culture has the physical strength and energy and a brave. The elderly have

the wisdom and knowledge. They have the experience of life and can advice the youth on different aspects

of life. So the sub cultures provide different individuals with different knowledge, beliefs, ideas and

experiences. If a person does something wrong, the sub culture has its ways of getting the person know that

such an act is disapproved by the people in the culture.

The culture also provides "A social system" which is a pattern of social acts through which one gets to

know the dos and don'ts. Social group is an aggregate of people, this social group may be a smaller social

group which imparts certain traits in certain individuals, e.g. friendly, unfriendly, cooperative and un-

cooperative behavior etc. the social group with which an individual acts has a great impact on person's

personality.

Human Relations MGMT611

Social group is one in which the individual's interacts frequently and spent more time in it therefore they

have more influence on the personality of an individual. Peer group is an example of social group the

individuals have same characteristics in it. A circle of close friends with whom they spent their time, relax

and talk about different things.

Definition of Personality

Personality is a sum total of habits, traits, characteristics of an individual. It is actually a force or power to

do things. Some people have more power and some have less e.g. an army officer has the power and

knowledge about security issues whereas a professor may have knowledge and powers on educational

issues.

Another important aspect of personality is intelligence quotient or IQ. In a job situation employers are

interested it see how quickly employees can pick up instructions, learn more new skills and adapt to the

change in demands such skills are rewarded and helpful in developing a successful career for the individuals

and increase in organizations profit.

In today's organizations people from diverse cultures and sub-cultures come to work. If some one comes

from a rural or urban back ground they will have different ways of looking at different entities which makes

it harder to deal with them. It is difficult to get work done by these people because they will not work if

they are dealt with in same monotonous manner. How different people see different things because of their

cultural back ground. In an organization, when individuals are asked to perform a task every one may not be

willing to do it depending on how they perceive their orders. Human relations becomes important in such

situations if the supervisor can access the situation, mood, and personality of the employees and then give

orders and get he work done. The supervisors should appreciate individual diversity and act accordingly.

There are different personality types introvert, extrovert, tuff, tender, aggressive, passive etc. there are

different types are people around the world.

Types of Persons

A person is an entity having a distinct identity with certain distinguishable and persistent characteristics. In

the most common sense, a person is "a human being regarded as an individual. Some other characteristics

used to define a 'person' include personal identity, self-awareness, individuality, and a sense of self that

persists through time.

1. Type A

The Type A personality is characterized as fast moving, hardworking, time conscious, comparative,

impatient and preoccupied with work.

2. Type B

The Type B personality is the opposite of Type A which is commonly associated with stress and is usually

liked by the organizations today.

Table of Contents: