Societal Analysis & Development Action

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

The course began on June 6, 2005 with Fr. J.M. Das asking what we actually thought about this subject. What we understand by societal analysis and development action. We jotted many points, which were combined and I came to the conclusion that, as society is a complex system made of many components, understanding this system is important for me as a rural manager. This course gave me an understanding of this system, its component and how the interaction takes place between each of them.

On June 22, 2005 we were asked to complete two assignments as part of the course. One we had to choose any person from the society and get to know him, get his views on life, future, and the surroundings. We needed to understand his outlook towards life whether it was pessimistic or optimistic. His values, attitudes and anything internal or external that was influencing his life. Other assignment was that, we need to give a write up and presentation on a topic assigned to us.

The first assignment was of real interest and it gave me a lot of learning. I had chosen child labor as my subject. I had thought it would be difficult to get one, but to my surprise the basti just outside our institute had a number of children who were out of school and were working for their family. It really opened my eyes in many aspects. Well to be true this experience gave me more knowledge about the society than the whole course. I could feel the pulse of that poor boy and I feel that a person without that feeling which I got during my case study can’t become a true rural manager. As Mahatma Gandhiji had said that when you plan for the country, think about the poorest man you had ever seen and think how your policies is going to help him. So you can achieve that thinking only when you have really lived and worked with them. No amount of bookish knowledge is going to help you in this respect. There are many thing which you can’t expressed in word, you need to feel them. The boy, shankar sahu whenever he sees me becomes very happy and calls me to play cricket with him. The love which I see in him makes me very happy. The real pleasure of life is in giving, this is the other lesson which I learnt in this case.

On June 29, 2005 we dealt with poverty and poor. I came to know about the categories of poor, what are the reasons of poverty. On that day Fr. J.M. Das also put up a very important topic for discussion “why are poor really poor”. Well as it is has many factors involved in it some blamed the poor themselves, some the elite and the administration and some blamed the caste and culture for it. In one class, I don’t remember the date we participated in a play in which there were ten volunteers and I was one among them. Each were to assume themselves a particular member of the society who had certain responsibility and some had privileges. It was known as power walk questions. That was also a nice experience; I was to act as a widow woman with four children. When I saw all member going forward each time and I lagging behind I felt the helpness and uncomfortable with the situation.

It was during this period a drama troupe came to our institute which was performing on part of the wada na todo abhiyaan. A movement associated in expressing its solidarity with the GCAAP (Global Call For Action Against Poverty) in lobbying for making development goals the foremost political priority at both national and international fora. The play showed how self-sufficient people who are satisfied with their environment and made to believe of a better world by mining lobby and slowly their environment are poisoned and the self-sufficient people’s fall into a trap of poverty. It was really a touching play which raised lot of emotion and I could connect many of my class room learning to it. It raised many question in my mind like what’s the limit’s of development, who will define what is sustainable development, what is the line were we need to compromises between development and environment. These questions are still unanswered for me.

The second assignment which I did as part of the group was on criminalization of politics. In this I learned was how to make flash presentation. I felt that this did not give me much of new learning, as I was familiar with this topic due to regular reading of newspaper. On another aspect which I have reservation is the definition of development. Most of the people had chosen definition by Numberger, Robbins and Dudely Seers, but what I feel is that the definition on development by Kurian is the most appropriate for our country. It talks about economic aspect of development. What I feel is that development has different meaning for different country. In our country were more than thirty crore people live below poverty line, food is the most important thing. You can’t think of anything else until you have a sense of food security. So to speak of development on the basis of educational, population growth, social relationship, participation in political process etc. seems useless.

On Aug 1, 2005 another important aspect on which we were familiarized was participatory tools and methods of social analysis. In this we did some exercise like the need assessment exercise, risk analysis and pocket charts. These tools seem to be very powerful methods of social analysis. These are really very easy to use and can really ignite interest in people for participation.
To sum up I understood the dynamics that take place between different constituent of the society. I feel that my perception about poor and poverty has been refined and now I can clearly understand the chemistry that is involved in it. The whole concept of poverty, development and the resources have to be taken in holistic way and an integrated approach is required for the overall development of the country.

Organisational Behaviour

When I first heard about the subject Organisational Behaviour, my first impression about the subject was that it has something to do with how an organization function. As the first day of the class on June 21, 2005 reinforced my concept as we were told about what is an organization, what managers do, the management function, managerial skill and much more. But slowly as the days passed I realized it is just not what I had thought, it also includes the most important the factor The Individual, who shapes the organization. Here I have tried to use my learning in organizational behaviour to put in real practical use, by how it is applicable in marketing filed.

The second day of the class was on June 23, on this day I learned one important statement “people behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself”. Some of the jargon which we learned on that day included fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias; these two are very natural in human being. We all attribute our success to our hard work, dedication and commitment and when it comes to failure we start blaming on all the external factors from climate to fate. As it is said success has many fathers, (all these fathers are internal behaviors) and failure has none. We all make a model of everything, we try generalizing thing.

We all try to make a perception about a particular community such as sindhi’s and gujarti’s are good business man, sardar’s are good in hardware work. All biharis and people from Uttar Pradesh are poltitican. With these perceptions we try to deal with people. Some time we get a shock when we find a person totally different from the model which we have made for him in our mind. These models about people, community and things which we have formed undergo continuous calibration and sensitivity analysis and as such the refinement of this model is an unending or perpetual process. About the halo effect and stereotyping effect I feel that they are in helpful and in sixty percent of cases they ease our way in dealing with people. Combining Marketing with organizational behaviour we can clearly see its application in consumer buying behaviour

Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning. we chose what info we pay attention to, organize it and interpret it. Information inputs are the sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell and touch. Selective Exposure-select inputs to be exposed to our awareness. More likely if it is linked to an event, satisfies current needs, intensity of input changes. Selective Distortion-Changing/twisting current received information, inconsistent with beliefs. Advertisers that use comparative advertisements (pitching one product against another), have to be very careful that consumers do not distort the facts and perceive that the advertisement was for the competitor.Selective Retention-Remember inputs that support beliefs, forgets those that don't.Average supermarket shopper is exposed to 17,000 products in a shopping visit lasting 30 minutes-60% of purchases are unplanned. Exposed to 1,500 advertisement per day. Can't be expected to be aware of all these inputs, and certainly will not retain many. Interpreting information is based on what is already familiar, on knowledge that is stored in the memory.

June 28 we came in contact with hi-fi words, words which we always used to hear from our elders. Values and attitudes. Our values are formed by a combination of complex mix of interaction with family members, peer groups, education system. In our SADA (societal Analysis and Development Action) class there was a discussion on topic one was on a topic concerning the current past and future that’s going around us and the other was on topic concerning our values. The heat that was generated in the second discussion was ten times more than it was in the first discussion. This shows our attachment to our values, and how we become uncomfortable when our values are challenged. It has been rightly said that the greatest discovery of our generation is that we can change our destiny by changing our attitude.

In the field of marketing we can say that knowledge, positive and negative feelings about an object or activity-maybe tangible or intangible, living or non- living. Drive perceptions. Individual learns attitudes through experience and interaction with other people. Consumer attitudes toward a firm and its products greatly influence the success or failure of the firm's marketing strategy. So we have the right attitude altitude will not be a problem.

Learning is a continuous process. We behave in a manner in which we have been conditioned. We are what we think. We need to understand individual’s capacity to learn. Learning is any relatively permanent changes in a person's behavior caused by information and experience. Therefore to change consumers' behavior about your product, you need to give them new information re: product...free sample etc. When making buying decisions, buyers must process information. Knowledge is the familiarity with the product and expertise. Inexperience buyers often use prices as an indicator of quality more than those who have knowledge of a product. In our daily life consumers choose the most expensive pack, because they assume that the greater price indicates greater quality.

Emotions are inherent in man. To me they have always been a flow of thoughts with overwhelming power. To control them is a strenuous task. Situations have become out of my control and more often than not the reason has been my lack of control over my emotions. I accept that being expressive is a personality trait for me as an individual but the session on EI has taught me to measure the circumstances and use my expressions judiciously. The questionnaires provided a beautiful insight into my emotional maturity. I was aware that to control the emotions would be vital. The class showed me the methods to do so. I believe that I would be able to apply them in real life situations. I have consciously used some of the techniques with encouraging results. Our emotions are a valuable source of information. Our emotions help us make decisions. Studies show that when a person's emotional connections are severed in the brain, he can not make even simple decisions. Why? Because he doesn't know how he will feel about his choices. When we feel uncomfortable with a person's behavior, our emotions alert us. If we learn to trust our emotions and feel confident expressing ourselves we can let the person know we feel uncomfortable as soon as we are aware of our feeling. This will help us set our boundaries which are necessary to protect our physical and mental health. Our emotions help us communicate with others. Our facial expressions, for example, can convey a wide range of emotions. If we look sad or hurt, we are signalling to others that we need their help. If we are verbally skilled we will be able to express more of our emotional needs and thereby have a better chance of filling them. If we are effective at listening to the emotional troubles of others, we are better able to help them feel understood, important and cared about. The only real way to know that we are happy is when we feel happy. When we feel happy, we feel content and fulfilled. This feeling comes from having our needs met, particulary our emotional needs. We can be warm, dry, and full of food, but still unhappy. Our emotions and our feelings let us know when we are unhappy and when something is missing or needed. The better we can identify our emotions, the easier it will be to determine what is needed to be happy.

Creativity is the human quality which transformed our world. For me creativity in simple terms means thinking in a unique way and coming out with something different and new. Out of the creative act is born symbols and myths. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness–ecstasy. It is the root of innovation. Creative process cannot be explained in a single word or line. It comes out through a series of steps. The overall creative process can be broken down in to five steps. Problem formulation, preparation, idea generation, idea evaluation, and idea selection. Creativity is usually tied to original behavior, and indeed, originality is necessary for creativity, but it is not sufficient. Creativity is a syndrome or complex and flexibility is an important part of it. The flexibility of creative persons is what gives them the capacity to cope with the advances, opportunities, technologies, and changes that are a part of our current day-to-day lives. This view of creativity implies that it is reactive; and surely, it often is a reaction to problems or challenges. Science has speculated that we are using 10% of our brain capacity. If need to access and cultivate that other 90% of unrealized potential.

We all come in different shapes and sizes. We all have strengths and weaknesses. What's right for one person may not be right for another.There are things that are important to me, that you don't care about at all. And sometimes your behavior doesn't make any sense to me. But I want for us to understand each other and communicate well, because we live together in the same world. I know I can't expect you to want the same things that I want.We are not the same person, so we will not always see things the same way. I have my own Thoughts and my own Ideas, may or may not fit into your idea how I should be. By learning more about my own personality and about other personality types. I can come to better understanding of my strength and weakness. I can improve my interpersonal relationships, realign my expectations towards others, and gain a better self-knowledge that will help me define and achieve goals.

The old concept and expression "opposites attract" has been batted around for centuries. And in fact, it's very true when it comes to love relationships. From my experience I have noted that people are usually attracted to their opposite on the Extraversion/Introversion and Judging/Perceiving scales. We are naturally attracted to individuals who are different from ourselves - and therefore somewhat exciting. But it's not just the exciting differences which attract us to our opposites, it is also a natural quest for completion. We naturally are drawn towards individuals who have strengths which we are missing. When two opposites function as a couple, they become a more well-rounded, functioning unit. There is also the theory that our natural attraction to our opposites is a subconscious way of forcing us to deal with the weaker aspects of our own nature. While we are highly attracted to our opposites, two opposites involved in an intimate relationship have significant issues and communication barriers to overcome. So in a sense, our attraction to the opposite personality can be seen as our subconscious minds driving us towards becoming a more complete individual, by causing us to face the areas in life which are most difficult to us.

The same cannot be said for other kinds of relationships. When it comes to work colleagues, or friends, we are not especially interested in dealing with people who are very unlike ourselves. We are most comfortable with those who have similar interests and perspectives, and we do not show a lot of motivation or patience for dealing with our opposites. Although we are attracted to people who are very different from us in the way we deal with the world, we are most attracted to others who have a similar focus in their lives.

What I fell is that Sensors seem to communicate best with other Sensors, and that Intuitives seem to communicate best with other Intuitives.. Two individuals of any type who are well-developed and balanced can communicate effectively and make a relationship work, but many people will communicate best with people who share their same information gathering preference.

From my study on this subject I have found that Personality Type and Relationships shows a definite pattern which indicates that successful mates often share the same dominant function, and the same letter preference ("S" or "N") for their information gathering function. Of course, that does not mean that people with different preferences cannot have a happy, successful marriage, it simply indicates that people frequently settle down with individuals who are on their same "wave-length".

Now let’s go further and ask any person who is successful in whatever he or she is doing what motivates him/her, and very likely the answer will be "goals". Goal Setting is extremely important to motivation and success. So what motivates me? Why I am in college? If I am in college because that's what my parents want, I may find it difficult to motivate myself. Sure, it's possible to succeed with someone else providing the motivation for me. ("If you graduate from college, I'll give you a car!" or worse "If you don't graduate from college, you won't get a car.") But motivation that comes from within really makes the difference.

Certainly, one needs some intelligence, knowledge base, study skills, and time management skills, but if one doesn’t have motivation, he won't get far. Think about this analogy. You have a car with a full tank of gas, a well-tuned engine, good set of tires, quadraphonic CD system, and a sleek, polished exterior. There it sits. This car has incredible potential. (Have you heard that before?) However, until a driver sits behind the wheel, puts the key in the ignition, and cranks it up, the car doesn't function. You guessed it; the KEY is MOTIVATION.

Interest is an important motivator for a student. So is a desire to learn. When you link these two things together, you create success. Often success in an endeavor leads to more interest and a greater desire to learn, creating an upward spiral of motivation toward a goal you have established. When it comes to motivation, KNOWING is not as important as DOING.

Whenever we engage in communication with another person, we seek to gain information about them. We also give off information through a wide variety of verbal and nonverbal cues. One reason we engage in interpersonal communication is so that we can gain knowledge about another individual. Social Penetration Theory says that we attempt to gain information about others so that we can interact with them more effectively. We can better predict how they will think, feel, and act if we know who they are. We gain this information passively, by observing them; actively, by having others engage them; or interactively, by engaging them ourselves. Self-disclosure is often used to get information from another person. We also engage in interpersonal communication to help us better understand what someone says in a given context. The words we say can mean very different things depending on how they are said or in what context. Another reason we engage in interpersonal communication is to establish an identity. The roles we play in our relationships help us establish identity. So too does the face, the public self-image we present to others. Both roles and face are constructed based on how we interact with others.

Conflict is a part of most every interpersonal relationship. Managing conflict, then, is important if the relationship is to be long-lasting and rewarding. Researchers have identified several problems that typically arise in conflict situations. First, the parties will simply avoid the conflict. This can be damaging, because it can lead to greater problems in the future. It is usually best that the individuals discuss their differences. Second, individuals involved in conflict may blame the other individual. Often, individuals go beyond the specific behavior in question and blame the character of the person. When people use words such as, "He's such a slob," they are engaging in blame the other behavior. A final problem that is often encountered in conflict management is adopting a win-lose mentality. Focusing on each individual's goals/outcomes will help avoid using a win-lose strategy.

This course provided me an introduction to the behaviour of people within organizations, and the behaviour of the whole organizations. What I feel is that appreciation of organizations and their behaviour helps to understand, manage, and improve organizations. An appreciation of organizations and their behaviour helps to understand how technical systems may support organizations, and also why many technical systems fail to support their host organizations. Organizational behaviour offer both challenges and opportunities for managers. It offers specific insights to improve a manager’s people skills. It recognizes differences and help managers to see the value of workforce diversity and practices that may need to be changed when managing in different countries.