INDIVIDUAL
ASSIGNMENT
OF
ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR
AND
LEADERSHIP

Submitted To:
Mr. Madan Lal Pradhan
(Course Instructor)

Submitted By:
Manish Ratna Sakya
MBAe IV ‘A’

1. What is Pygmalion effect or self fulfilling prophecy?
Ans: The Pygmalion effect is the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform. It also states that high achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectations. The belief of Pygmalion effect will lead people to perform closer to the expectations that they set for themselves. The studies of the Pygmalion effect are difficult to conduct. However, the results show a positive correlation between leader expectation and follower performance, but it is argued that the studies are done in an unnatural, manipulated setting. The paradox of the Pygmalion Effect is that having high expectations of people will produce better results, but it’s also more likely you’ll be disappointed. In business, managers, bosses, and corporate superiors can often influence the work and success of employees by expecting them to either rise or fall.
The Pygmalion effect is very similar to the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes it to become true. The effect has both positive and negative outcomes — a person expected by his or her superiors to succeed will, but the opposite is also usually true.

2. What evidence of self fulfilling prophecies have you : i. Seen lately: I saw an evidence of self fulfilling prophecy in my workplace where a new employee was positively motivated to talk to a client. He had a belief in himself that he could speak fluently and pitch effectively and eventually did succeed as well. People who tend to have a positive self-image and believe they are capable of achieving anything they set out to achieve are usually more likely to do so. ii. Seen in the OBL class: Teachers who are given information that certain students are more likely to excel and achieve than other members of the class often find that those students do, in fact, perform. If a course instructor positively influences students and keeps a certain level of expectation from them, the students can definitely perform to that expected level. If students too believe that they can pass the exam, the outcome will be true. But when a student believes that his/her exam will be spoiled, his/her fears of such failure actually cause the exam to be spoiled.

3. How might the Pygmalion effect be applied in a behavioral class?
Ans: When we expect certain behaviors of others, we are likely to act in ways that make the expected behavior more likely to occur. In terms of teaching, a faculty who believes that the students will fail will create a situation of failure but a faculty who value their students’ abilities create a climate of success. If low achievement is expected from the students, the result will be low but if high achievement is expected from the students, the actual performance will be high. These outcomes may be resulted through few verbal or non-verbal cues such as “I know you can do this” or “I don’t think you can do this”. These cues directly or indirectly influence people towards expected outcome.