§ 2. Models of behavior
A person is nothing more than a series of his actions.
G. Hegel
As we have already said, behavior is a mirror in which everyone shows themselves. And not only shows. There is a
a kind of talent to peer into this mirror, to sensitively capture the attitude of others from it. This is one of the secrets of imagery. Everyone learns the patterns of behavior that bring success. The more objective the idea of your behavior, based on people’s reactions, the more effective the strategy and tactics of this behavior will be.
In everyday life, we perceive the behavior of another person as a holistic image. When expressing our position, we do this simultaneously through a variety of means. Thus, wanting to show sympathy for a person, we, as a rule, will not only tell him about our feelings, but also convey them in soft intonations of the voice, in a friendly look. This complex of signs forms a model or, as psychologists say, a pattern of behavior. The model is perceived as a single whole.
For example, authoritarian behavior includes peremptory judgments, a categorical tone, and characteristic gestures. When we see a person behaving this way, we draw appropriate conclusions for ourselves.
The integrity of the model is violated when its constituent elements contradict each other; for example, sad news that is spoken of with an ironic intonation.
In life, each behavior model is embodied differently in different people. Most behavior patterns in everyday life are not the object of special study, but among the many models there are those that are comprehended by people and become the subject of special study. These are etiquette models (prescriptions) and strategic models.
Etiquette models are characteristic of every profession. For example, the ethical attitudes required towards an enemy and a diplomat differ. If we thoroughly know the ethical requirements, then the question arises: how to achieve this standard, by what means? The answer to this question is provided by the strategic model.
Strategic models are actually recommendations on how to behave in order to achieve a particular goal. We invent a certain strategy of behavior, think about what words to say to the interlocutor in order to convince him that we are right, how to show him a readiness to cooperate, how to win his sympathy, etc.
The need to invent behavioral strategies is due to problems that arise in the process of communication. Efficiency
The communication process depends on many factors of human nature. These include the psychophysical characteristics of a person, his mental characteristics, character traits and attitudes. Some factors are obvious and we take them into account automatically, while others require special consideration. It is much more difficult to identify and take into account the influence of a person’s internal positions on his behavior with a particular partner.
Let's consider one of the most important points that underlies many strategies: the communication partner's attitude towards himself. This is necessary because there are many difficulties hidden in the level of self-esteem, in the relationship between self-esteem and the assessment of others. For example, if a person notices from the gestures of others that their feelings do not correspond to his ideas, he becomes upset. Patterns of behavior appear to protect one’s own self, the so-called defense mechanisms. As a defense mechanism, insensitivity to critical remarks, transfer of one’s negative feelings to other people, and rationalization of one’s own unreasonable actions may appear. These reactions interfere with mutual understanding and interaction. In order not to make your partner feel threatened and not provoke him into psychological defense, we need to help the person realize how we perceive his actions. And here feedback plays a huge role. Feedback is information we provide to others that contains our response to their behavior. Here are a few theses from a book by a Polish psychologist, which reveals the conditions for an effective feedback mechanism*.
1. In your comments, try to first touch on the characteristics of your partner’s behavior, and not his personality; try to talk about specific actions of your partner.
2. Talk more about your observations rather than the conclusions you reach. It is possible that with your help your partner will come to deeper and more correct conclusions. But if you still want to express your thoughts and conclusions, then do not create the illusion that your conclusions objectively reflect reality.
3. Try to be descriptive rather than judgmental...
4. When describing the behavior of another person, try not to use the categories “you always...”, “you never...”.
5. Try to focus your attention on specific actions of your partner in situations that took place very recently, and not on stories of the distant past.
6. Try to give as little advice as possible; it is better to express your thoughts, as if sharing thoughts and information with your partner.
7. When providing feedback to a person, try to emphasize what can be valuable to him, and not what can bring satisfaction to you personally. At the same time, you should try not to abuse the expression of feelings, not resort to emotional release, and try not to manipulate others. Feedback, like any form of help, should be offered rather than forced.
8. Try to give your partner such information and in such quantity that he will be able to use it.
9. Be careful to ensure that the moment for providing feedback is appropriate... It is important to choose the right time, place and situation for this. Often, in response to feedback, the partner reacts with deep emotional experiences. Therefore, you need to be very scrupulous and soberly assess the capabilities of your interlocutor.
10. Remember that giving and receiving feedback requires a certain amount of courage, understanding, and respect for yourself and others.
Your opinion about your partner should be expressed in such a way as not to cause feelings of resentment, indignation and protest in him and the person with whom he shares his observations and assessments. This is especially important if we are dealing with a person who is internally immature, extremely insecure, and has a hard time taking any criticism. It should be borne in mind that not only those who suffer from “complexes” require careful, tactful handling. Everyone, even a completely self-confident person, needs confirmation of their own importance in the eyes of others. Nothing is more painfully experienced than disrespect for an individual and an insult to self-esteem.
On the contrary, feedback that captures a person’s positive qualities has enormous positive potential.
This is what he wrote in the 18th century. French moralist F. La Rochefoucauld: “Beauty, intelligence, valor under the influence of praise
blossom, improve and achieve such brilliance that they would never have achieved if they had remained unnoticed." *
Only by recognizing the positive inclinations inherent in him, believing in the possibility of their development, can a person respect himself and strive for further self-improvement. Expressing a feeling of sympathy, recognizing a person’s merits and merits, as a rule, evokes in him reciprocal sympathy, the mood to continue communication, to meet the wishes of the interlocutor. If we truly respect and value another person, expressing such feelings is not only morally justified, but also desirable for both partners.
When psychological support is provided only to obtain one-sided benefit (it becomes a means of manipulating the consciousness and behavior of another person), the moral assessment will certainly be negative.
The advice of D. Carnegie, formulated by him in the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (M., 1989), became very popular in our country, as well as in the USA, the author’s homeland. Most of D. Carnegie’s recommendations are based on a person’s need for self-esteem, respect from the interlocutor, and attention to his needs.
Some of the tips are: “Be genuinely interested in other people”; “Remember that a person’s name is the most pleasant word for him”; “Make your interlocutor feel important, significant, and do it sincerely”; “Show that you respect the other person’s point of view. Never tell him he is wrong”; “Make your interlocutor feel that the idea belongs to him”; “When paying attention to a person’s mistakes, do not do it “head-on”; “Before criticizing another, talk about your own mistakes”; Give a person the opportunity to save his face"; “Praise a person for every achievement, no matter how small. At the same time, be sincere and generous with praise,” etc.
The end result, for which D. Carnegie suggests using his recommendations, comes down to extracting the maximum benefit from communication. As the strongest arguments in favor of his advice, D. Carnegie says that from their
With your help you can make a monetary profit, conclude lucrative contracts, and make a successful career. Some of our compatriots did not understand the main idea of D. Carnegie. believing that his advice is inapplicable because it encourages hypocrisy and bigotry.
This is, of course, not true. This model itself does not carry any manipulative connotations. It can also be used for partnership interaction, when both parties receive a positive effect from communication. Basically all the advice is based on common sense. In addition, the vivid form of presentation and many real-life examples make D. Carnegie’s book attractive and useful in many respects.
Another important psychological idea that underlies the strategic model is the idea of the need for self-presentation. The communication partner acts in accordance with his plans, based on his definition of the situation. In order for communication to proceed according to the desired plan, each of the communication participants must “present himself” in accordance with his plan.
We carry out self-presentation consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly.
For example, we can do this directly by naming our status, country or city where we came from, and marital status when meeting a person. Self-presentation can also be carried out indirectly, with the help of hints and statements (“the last time I was in Paris ...”), a suit, emphatically elegant or casual, certain manners and attributes.
Self-presentation in professional communication* is extremely important.
We should not forget that when choosing a model of behavior, we depend not so much on ourselves, but on many external circumstances. This does not relieve us from personal responsibility for our behavior.
What are the criteria for choosing a behavior model?
1. Moral integrity. Despite our tendency to subjectively interpret morality in society, there are generally accepted approaches to explaining concepts such as honesty, justice and conscience.
2. Compliance with the law and the established order in society. One of the tenets of ancient Roman law said: “Man is a sacred thing.” Any encroachment on him was unacceptable. Since it came from the people themselves, they were ordered to build their relationships in strict accordance with the spirit and letter of the law.
3. Taking into account the specific situation in which the person acts or finds himself by coincidence
4. The goal that the individual sets for himself.
5. Self-critical assessment of one’s own capabilities for using a specific behavior model.
Any copying of someone else's style is very dangerous. Thus, a person with external defects cannot imitate beautiful movie characters or famous people - it will look unnatural and ridiculous.
6. Gender of the individual. It is recommended to exhibit those qualities that are expected from either women or men. Thus, men value in a woman not only external attractiveness, but also a certain touch of eroticism. Women, knowing such programming of the male psyche, cannot help but take this into account. In turn, men should not forget that women consider their most attractive qualities not only intellectual originality and spiritual nobility, but also purely masculine strength and charm.
Women and men have enormous opportunities for non-standard choice of behavior patterns, bringing their natural charm into communication, but they often forget about this.
Women are usually in a more difficult position. After all, many men are reluctant to accept their leadership and are not at all impartial about their professional abilities. As a rule, in order for a woman to achieve at least half of what men achieve, she needs to know and be able to do twice as much. At the same time, men should be warned against inflated self-esteem. According to management experts, there is a critical shortage of male leaders in the United States today. Other countries are also experiencing this shortage. Nowadays, women are also successfully claiming the role of leaders.
Skillful use of criteria for choosing behavior models along with skillful entry into one’s life roles is one of the most important provisions of imageology.
For example, in our lives there are always certain stable parameters of behavior. So, some, getting up in the morning,
start the day with physical exercise. During the day we perform a number of the same actions. Thus, there is a specific set of everyday behaviors. This does not exclude the “wedging” into them of some other behavior patterns determined by the specific situation.
The choice of a behavior model (from the French modele - sample) does not imply any insensitive standardization of human actions, i.e. lack of a lively temperament, originality of thinking, originality, habits. The choice of a behavior model is the reproduction of such options that, in everyday communication, help an individual become sociable, and therefore attractive.
With the typology of behavioral models, it is possible to distinguish behavioral models in official and informal communication (family, friendly, everyday). Patterns of behavior can be active (aggressive) or passive (defensive) in nature.
The business sphere is the most diverse sphere of communication. Its characteristic feature is that in it all subjects of communication appear in official statuses, which inevitably determine the choice of their behavior patterns. As a result, its participants are focused on achieving some kind of business effect.
In foreign practice, there is no doubt about the mandatory creation of the image of a company or business person. Such an attitude towards him is “built into” the mentality of people, regardless of their place on the career ladder. Image acts as an integral part of the culture of business communication.
If we choose a certain model of behavior, a certain pattern, it is important to remember the constituent elements of this model. Ignoring some details or excessive emphasis on others will not give a holistic vision, and, accordingly, adequate perception. The image of a person is formed in the process of other people’s perception of his appearance (appearance) and manner of communication. These components, in turn, include many details, shades and nuances, the unique combination of which determines the overall impression of a person and, in particular, his image. The first thing that attracts attention at the first meeting is his appearance or, as they sometimes say, appearance: facial features, body features, posture, gait, gestures, facial expressions. Let's look at this in more detail.
* Melibruda E. I, you, we - M, 1986. 246
* La Rochefoucauld F. Memoirs. Maxims. – L., 1971. – P. 200. 248
* We have already discussed self-presentation in Chapter I. For more details on the goals and means of self-presentation, see/ E. Goffman. Modern foreign social psychology: Tests. – M., 1984. – P. 189– 196; Shepel V.M. Imageology, or Secrets of personal charm. – M., 1994.
You might be interested in:
- Decision Models
- §2. Organizational models of social expertise
- §2. Technologies focused on humanistic models of personality
- Chapter 4. Models of social work practice: technological specifics
- Concept and causes of deviant behavior
- Identifying manipulative behavior in business
- The role of a manager in developing ethics of behavior and communication
- Ethical codes, their importance for the formation of moral behavior in an organization
- § 4. Conflict resolution and behavior strategies in conflict situations
- § 2. Classification of conflicts. Types of behavior of people in a conflict situation
Organizational behavior. Cheat sheetO. Yu. Gracheva
4. MODELS OF WORK BEHAVIOR
Work behavior is the behavioral strategy that an employee uses in an organization. Models of labor behavior help classify people based on their behavior in a team when performing work functions. Often in different organizations a person chooses different models of his work behavior. Based on experience and theoretical knowledge, it is customary to distinguish certain types of labor behavior of employees:
1) implementation innovative behavior. People who have chosen implementation, innovative behavior as the main strategy of behavior are distinguished by great creative potential. These are innovators who generate new ideas to improve the organization's position in the market. Often the new ideas that come to their minds are completely thoughtless and irrational, but the innovative thinking of employees and their unhardened minds help organizations quickly adapt to changes in the external environment when introducing and planning innovations;
2) adaptive behavior. This behavior strategy is chosen by new employees who have just joined a new organization, or by employees for whom working conditions, the team, and labor functions have been changed. In this case, the person temporarily does not manifest himself as such, but takes the position of an evaluator, adapting to the person’s changes. Often this behavior drags on, and it is difficult for the employee to prove himself, taking off the mask of adaptability;
3) enterprising behavior. Such a person has extraordinary thinking and is ready for something new. He constantly strives for success. Often these people take risks in order to achieve their goals, having made a mistake once, they are not afraid to try new things on themselves again. A person with an enterprising work behavior has excellent business qualities, is a good communicator, and has many business partners. Many people of this profile become entrepreneurs. They know how to communicate and manage people not from books, but based on their own feelings and sensations;
4) behavior aimed at achieving goals. People often go to great lengths to move up the career ladder or receive a long-awaited salary bonus. In the event that such behavior manifests itself as determination, greater efficiency, creative and communicative activity, this has a beneficial effect on both the person himself and the organization. In another case, when an employee, in order to achieve his goals, abuses his official position, manipulates colleagues at work, and also interferes with other team members, reducing the efficiency of the entire organization, such behavior is undesirable and requires the intervention of a manager.
Behavioral Prerequisites for Institutional Analysis
First of all, the possibility of abstracting from the system of preferences that is formed within a person was raised as a big question. This is a system of values, goals, behavioral stereotypes, habits of individuals, psychological and religious types, which directly indicates that the individual makes his own choice. That is, institutionalists determine rather the nature of the situation in which the choice is made, rather than considering the result obtained within the framework of the interaction of many people. Therefore, this approach involves the inclusion of a historical aspect that looks at the evolution of a person attached to a specific culture, society, group and existing at a certain time.
The next feature of institutional theory follows from the previous one: since the assumption about the exogeneity of the system of restrictions is incorrect, then, therefore, if a person does not have the full amount of information necessary for free orientation in the world around him, then he is not able to fully reflect the processes of individual and social life. Then how can one trace the process of selecting reality and their decoding as a prerequisite for making a choice?
To address these issues within the framework of modern neo-institutional economics, two behavioral premises are used - bounded rationality and opportunism.
Simon proposes to replace the principle of maximization with the principle of satisfaction, since in complex situations following the rules of satisfactory choice is more profitable than attempts at global optimization [18, P.89].
This position may be consistent with the concepts of the Austrian school, within which, instead of maximizing utility, the premise of the comparative importance of needs and their best satisfaction with the least possible amount of goods is used.
He notes that in economic theory the concept of satisfaction does not play such a role as in psychology and the theory of motivation, where it is one of the most important. According to psychological theories, the urge to action comes from unsatisfied aspirations and disappears after they are satisfied. The conditions for satisfaction in turn depend on the level of aspiration, which depends on life experience.
Adhering to this theory, we can assume that the company’s goal is not maximization, but achieving a certain level of profit, maintaining a certain market share and a certain sales volume.
This is confirmed by statistical data. This is also consistent with the studies of Hall and Hitch and Cyert and March.
Therefore, we consider it necessary to replace the concept of rationality with the concept of subjective validity of action. Based on this premise, we are interested in two facts:
1) what is the basis for this or that decision?
2) the degree of freedom to make this decision.
Thus, decision-making is an “equilibrium” decision as a result of assessing the validity and limitations of the decision [8, P. 86].
