1. Individual, Society and Nation Semester - 2 Study Material
By: Kavita Tandon

2. Module I: Individual differences and Personality
Importance of studying personality
Definition and structure of Personality
Theories of Personality
Individual Differences

3. Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organised set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his/her cognitions, motivations and behaviours in various situations
Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving
Myers-Briggs tool, which classifies each individual as one of 16 personality types, is considered such a powerful tool that most college career centres and fortune 500 companies use it to help people to determine their appropriate course in work world.

4. “IMPORTANCE OF NATURE VS. NURTURE IN PERSONALITY”
DNA vs. Upbringing
Some experts argue that our genetic inheritance has virtually nothing to do with how our personalities are formed.
The popular thinking nowadays is that you can’t really talk about expression of final behaviours without relating the genes interacting with the environment.

5. Personality Tests
If you go into any job no matter where you are in the world you will come across a multitude of different personalities and behaviours. An individual's personality doesn't just affect the individual, but everyone around them.
Organizations consist of people who work together. Differences between individuals based on personality traits, may be an incentive for the development of creativity and a source of conflicts and other problems existing in the organization.
Managers need to be able to measure personalities in order to make useful hiring decisions and they can do this by giving personality test and evaluating the results.
This essay will cover information about the individual differences and behaviour at work. Also will give examples of method of measure of personalities and theories.

6. There are so many different tests which can help to predict or describe personality. For example, there are two popular methods, which managers can use to help them to determine which type of individual they want to bring to the organization or how to effectively manage the people.
1. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
2. The Big Five Personality Model
MBTI is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. Individuals are given a 100 question personality test that asks them how they would react in certain situations. Based on the results from the test they are rated as an introvert or an extrovert, intuitive or sensing, feeling or thinking, and perceiving or judging person.
(NOTE: Management would rate a quiet or shy person as an introvert and a person that is outgoing, assertive and sociable as an extrovert personality. And intuitive person often look's at the "big picture" and a sensing person has attention to detail and often likes routine and order. A feeling type of person relies on emotion and values and a thinking person uses simple reason to handle situations. A perceiving individual would be able to handle flexibility and be spontaneous, and a judging individual likes control and often prefers things to be structured.)

7. The Big Five Personality Model
The big five personality traits are the best accepted and most commonly used model of personality in academic psychology.
The big five come from the statistical study of responses to personality items. Using a technique called factor analysis researchers can look at the responses of people to hundreds of personality items and ask the question "what is the best way to summarize an individual?”.
This has been done with many samples from all over the world and the general result is that, while there seem to be unlimited personality variables, five stand out from the pack in terms of explaining a lot of a persons answers to questions about their personality: extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience.

8. FOCUS LESS ON WINNING OR LOSING GAME
PERSONALITY A
PERSONALITY B
AMBITIOUS
LOWER STRESS LEVELS
RIGIDLY ORGANIZED
FOCUS LESS ON WINNING OR LOSING GAME
HIGHLY STATUS CONSCIOUS
OR LOSING THE GAME
SENSITIVE
CAREERS OF CREATIVITY
IMPATIENT
ENJOY EXPLORING IDEAS
ANXIOUS
GREGARIOUS
PROACTIVE
SOCIAL ANIMALS
CONCERNED WITH TIME MGMT
LACK OF ATTENTION TO DETAIL
WORKAHOLICS
DETAIL

9. MODULE II: Managing Diversity
Meaning of Diversity
Factors
Challenges in Diversity Management
Increasing Diversity in Work Force

10. Diversity
The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognising our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious and political beliefs.
It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive and nurturing environment.

11. Quotes on Diversity
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities”- Stephen Covey
“To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater”-Bono
“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and test of our civilisation”-M.K. Gandhi
“The art of thinking independently together”-Malcolm Forbes

12. Advantages of Workplace Diversity
increased creativity
increased productivity
new language skills
global understanding
new processes
greater agility
better market insight
innovation
increase market share and satisfied diverse customer base

13. Barriers and challenges to managing diversity
Inaccurate stereotypes and prejudice
Ethnocentrism
Poor career planning
Negative diversity climate
Unsupportive & hostile working env for diverse emp
Resistance to change
Lack of political savvy on the part of diverse emp

14. MODULE III: Socialization
Human infants are born without any culture.  They must be transformed by their parents, teachers, and others into cultural and socially adept animals.  The general process of acquiring culture is referred to as socialization. 
During socialization, we learn the language of the culture we are born into as well as the roles we are to play in life.  For instance, girls learn how to be daughters, sisters, friends, wives, and mothers.  In addition, they learn about the occupational roles that their society has in store for them.  We also learn and usually adopt our culture's norms through the socialization process.  
Norms are the conceptions of appropriate and expected behavior that are held by most members of the society. 
While socialization refers to the general process of acquiring culture, anthropologists use the term enculturation  for the process of being socialized to a particular culture

15. Agents of Socialization
Family The most important agent of socialization, family helps mould an individual. The family values, beliefs, religious inclinations and political views shape an individual's outlook towards society. Parents are the biggest influence for the social development in children. Schools After family, schools are probably the most important influence on an individual. Schools help pass on knowledge, create awareness and inculcate the feelings of tolerance in individuals. The second step to socialization is schools where a child meets different children and learns to make out the right and wrong in society. Community and Culture Community and culture help pass on the religious views and cultural traditions in an individual. A community is the group where an individual meets people with similar ideologies and interact for personal and community growth. Peers Meeting like-minded people, making friends and hanging out together may seem like a teenagers life. But in fact, each and every individual in society loves to have social contact. Peers have great impact on an individual's thoughts and line of thinking. An individual learns to behave in a manner that they think will be acceptable to their peers. Peer acceptance is an important part of socialization.
Mass Media In today's world, mass media is one of important ways of socialization. People are influenced by the social norms portrayed by the mass media. Political, religious and social views are enforced in a hard way through the repeated exposure and arguments put forth by the agents of mass media.

16. TYPES OF SOCIALIZATION
Primary socialization for a child is very important because it sets the ground work for all future socialization. Primary Socialization occurs when a child learns the attitudes, values, and actions appropriate to individuals as members of a particular culture. It is mainly influenced by the immediate family and friends. For example if a child saw his/her mother expressing a discriminatory opinion about a minority group, then that child may think this behavior is acceptable and could continue to have this opinion about minority groups.
Secondary socialization Secondary socialization refers to the process of learning what is the appropriate behavior as a member of a smaller group within the larger society. Basically, it is the behavioral patterns reinforced by socializing agents of society. Secondary socialization takes place outside the home. It is where children and adults learn how to act in a way that is appropriate for the situations they are in Schools require very different behavior from the home, and Children must act according to new rules. New teachers have to act in a way that is different from pupils and learn the new rules from people around them. Secondary Socialization is usually associated with teenagers and adults, and involves smaller changes than those occurring in primary socialization. Such examples of Secondary Socialization are entering a new profession or relocating to a new environment or society.
Anticipatory socialization Anticipatory socialization refers to the processes of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. For example, a couple might move in together before getting married in order to try out, or anticipate, what living together will be like] Research by Kenneth J. Levine and Cynthia A. Hoffner suggests that parents are the main source of anticipatory socialization in regards to jobs and careers.
TYPES OF SOCIALIZATION

17. Re-socialization Re-socialization refers to the process of discarding former behavior patterns and reflexes, accepting new ones as part of a transition in one's life. This occurs throughout the human life cycle. 
Re-socialization can be an intense experience, with the individual experiencing a sharp break with his or her past, as well as a need to learn and be exposed to radically different norms and values. One common example involves re-socialization through a total institution, or "a setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff". Re-socialization via total institutions involves a two step process: 1) the staff work to root out a new inmate's individual identity & 2) the staff attempt to create for the inmate a new identity. Other examples of this are the experience of a young man or woman leaving home to join the military, or a religious convert internalizing the beliefs and rituals of a new faith. An extreme example would be the process by which a transsexual learns to function socially in a dramatically altered gender role.
Organizational socialization
Organizational socialization is the process whereby an employee learns the knowledge and skills necessary to assume his or her organizational role. As newcomers become socialized, they learn about the organization and its history, values, jargon, culture, and procedures. This acquired knowledge about new employees' future work environment affects the way they are able to apply their skills and abilities to their jobs. How actively engaged the employees are in pursuing knowledge affects their socialization process.They also learn about their work group, the specific people they work with on a daily basis, their own role in the organization, the skills needed to do their job, and both formal procedures and informal norms. Socialization functions as a control system in that newcomers learn to internalize and obey organizational values and practices.