Q.6
Write short notes on
•
Locus of control
•
Machiavellianism
Ans.
Locus of Control:
A person’s perception of the source of his/ her fate is termed as Locus of Control. Locus of control was formulated within the frame work of Rotter’s {1954} Social Learning Theory of Personality. Rotter {1975} pointed out that the internality and externality are the two ends of a continuum, not an either/or topology.
External Locus of Control
Internal Locus of Control
Individual believes that his/her behaviour is guided by fate, luck, or other external circumstances
Individual believes that his/her behaviour is guided by his/her personal decisions and efforts.
Internals tend to attribute outcomes of events to their own control. Externals attribute outcome of events to external circumstances. For example, college students with a strong internal locus of control may believe that their grades were achieved through their own abilities and efforts. Whereas, those with strong external locus of control may believe that their grades are the result of good / bad luck, or to a professor who designs bad tests or grades capriciously; hence they are less likely to expect that their own efforts will result in success and are therefore less likely to work hard for higher grades. Individuals who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from work wetting and are less involved on their jobs than are internals. Internals believe that health is substantially under their own control, and hence, of absenteeism, are lower. Internals generally perform better on their jobs, but one needs to consider differences in jobs. Internals search more actively for information before making a decision, are more motivated to achieve, and make a greater attempt to control their environment, and hence, internals do well on sophisticated tasks, internals are more suited to jobs that require initiative and independence of action and want autonomy and independence in their jobs. Externals are more compliant and are willing to follow directions and be
led, and do well on the jobs that are well structured and routine and in which success depends heavily on complying with the direction of others.
Machiavellianism: Machiavellianism
is the term that some social and personality psychologists use to describe a person’s tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain. The concept is named after Renaissance diplomat and writer Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote II wrote II Principe [The prince]. Christie and Geis [1970] developed a test for measuring a person’s level of Machiavellianism. This eventually became the MACH IV test, a 20 statement personality survey that is now standard self assessment tool for Machiavellianism. Mach IV, the Machiavelli (Mach) scale measures an individual's willingness to put self-interest and his or her preferences above the interests of the group, and an individual's ability to influence and manipulate others for personal gain gain (Jaf (Jaffe fe et al, al, 1989 1989). ). Indiv Individu idual als s with with a high high scor score e on the the scal scale e are are comfortable using various means to achieve their personal goals. A high Mach has a cynical view of human nature, few scruples, and is willing to step outside the bounds of formal authority (Rayburn and Rayburn, 1996). Grams and Rogers Rogers (1990) (1990) found found that that people people who were were high high in Machia Machiavel vellian lianism ism used indirect, non-rational tactics like deceit, but also appealed to emotions to try to plant their ideas to influence their colleagues. High Mach scorers manipulate more, win more, are persuaded and persuade others more. High mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors and flourish when they interact face to face with others rather than indirectly, and when the situation has minimum number of rules and regulations, thus allowing room for improvisation. High machs makes good employees in jobs that require bargaining skills or that offer substantial rewards for winning. Literature review Several Several hundred hundred studies studies have examined Machiavellian Machiavellianism, ism, including including several several that that have resear researche ched d the degree degree of Machia Machiavel vellian lianism ism among among curren currentt and futu future re busi busine ness ss exec execut utive ives s (Heg (Hegar arty ty and and Sims, Sims, 1978 1978;; Chon Chonko ko,, 1982 1982;; Singhapakdi and Vitell, 1990). However, no previous studies have attempted to examine the extent of Machiavellianism among Egyptian students. Robinson and Shaver (1973) reviewed various studies on Machiavellianism. The auth autho ors foun found d diff diffe erent rent degr degree ees s of Mac achi hiav avel elli lian aniism betw betwe een generations, which indicate that people are becoming more manipulative and impe impers rson onal al.. Also Also revie reviewe wed, d, fiel field d stud studie ies s at medi medical cal scho school ols s reve reveal al that that psychiatrists are most Machiavellian and surgeons are least Machiavellian.
The explanation offered is that psychiatrists' role involves manipulation per se vs. vs. the the surg surgeo eon n who who has has as litt little le pers person onal al co cont ntac actt with with pati patien entt as possible. Miesing Mies ing and and Preb Preble le (198 (1985) 5) co comp mpar ared ed the the diffe differe rent nt busin busines ess s ideo ideolo logie gies, s, including Machiavellianism, and tested them with 487 MBA students. This survey revealed that postgraduates and those with work experience were less less Machia Machiavel vellia lian n in approac approach, h, compar compared ed to underg undergrad raduat uates es and those those without work experience. In addition, women compared to men, and those with some religious convictions were found to be less Machiavellian in their dealings. Gemmi emmill ll and and Heisl eisle er (197 (1972) 2) inve invest stig igat ated ed the rela relati tion onsh ship ip bet betwee ween Machia Machiavel vellian lian orient orientati ation on and severa severall job-re job-relat lated ed correl correlate ates s among among 150 managers in a large manufacturing firm in the US. The findings indicate that Machi Ma chiav avel ellia lian n orie orient ntat atio ion n is posit positive ively ly as asso soci ciat ated ed with with job job stra strain in and and perceived perceived opportunity opportunity for formal control, control, and negatively negatively associated associated with job satisfaction. Machiavellian orientation was not significantly associated with upward mobility. Siegel (1973) examined the extent to which managers, MBA students, and facu facult lty y memb member ers s exhi exhibit bit the the Ma Machi chiav avel ellia lian, n, manip manipul ulat ative ive inte interp rper erso sona nall beha behavio viorr and and lead leader ershi ship p usin using g the the Ma Mach ch scale scale and and theo theory ry X/Th X/Theo eory ry Y leader leadershi ship p sca scale. le. The study study found found the followi following ng ranking ranking of Machia Machiavel vellian lian orient orientatio ation: n: manage managers rs (lowes (lowest), t), studen students, ts, facult faculty y (highe (highest) st).. They They found found Machiavellianism relates negatively to participative leadership attitudes for both students and managers.
