Introduction to Transactional Analysis
1.

Origin

Transactional Analysis or TA as it is popularly called owes its origin to a psychotherapist
Eric Berne. During his early professional years (the 1940’s and 1950’s). Berne made a departure from the existing orthodox psychiatric practices which consisted of analyzing a patient’s case in a highly esoteric language which the patient could not understand. Beme disapproved of the then-prevalent ‘expert-impersonal object’ relationship between the therapist and the patient. It often tended to raise the therapist to a lofty position and to reduce the patient to the status of an inanimate object incapable of understanding the complex dynamics of the mind. In his treatment of patients, Beme made a conscious effort to develop a simple, high-impact language to explain to his patients their inner processes and to involve them actively in his line of therapy. His efforts led to the emergence of a new, powerful system of analysis of behavior called Transactional
Analysis (TA). Beme first put forth his ideas on TA in a book titled Games People Play, which immediately became very popular. Beme and his associates in their subsequent work developed these ideas. Thus, with efforts of Beme and many other behavioral scientists, TA transcended the boundaries of therapy to enter the world of lay people, their lives on-the-job, and off-the-job.
II.

Ego States

The unit of analysis used in TA for understanding human behavior is called ego state. An ego state is a consistent pattern of feelings and experiences relating to corresponding, consistent patterns of behavior (Beme, 1972). According to Beme, each person has three basic ego states, namely Parent, Adult, and Child.
II.I.

The Parent Ego State

This reflects the attitudes, feelings and ideas absorbed by us in our childhood from our parental figures. When we think, feel or act as we saw our parental figures acting when we were small children, we are operating from our Parent ego state.
These feelings and acts can either be critical of others we disapprove, control, criticize, discipline, punish others: or they can be nurturant – we can be supportive, warm and protective towards other people.
i.

Critical Parent (CP): CP is that part of parent ego state which sets limits for one self and others and which negatively evaluates and controls other

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people. Prescriptive words like should, never, always, do’s and don’ts are often indicative of CP.
Example :

“We should never be late for the class.”
“You should always look both ways before crossing the

road. ii Nurturing Parent (NP) : NP is the aspect of the parent which is protective, solicitous and sympathetic. It shows concern for other people and allows them to grow.
Example :

“Don’t’ worry, I will sort it out for you.”
“You look tired, why don’t you rest today.”

Parental ego state often reflects the mental tapes that we picked up form our elders in our childhood. Whenever we realize that we should be critical or nurturant, we just plug in the appropriate tapes and start playing it. We can thus occasionally catch ourselves using the exact words and phrases that our parental figures (parents, teachers, elders in the family, etc) used to use!

II.2

The Adult Ego State (A)

The adult is the ego state in us that coolly collects data, sifts and analyses it and rationally arrives at decisions. The Adult is devoid of feelings and emotions. It is often referred to as the ‘minicomputer’ within us that processes information to arrive at the most logical decision, and also stores information and experiences for future use. The Adult ego state has no relationship with age. Even small children can have a highly developed Adult. For example, when a four-year old concludes that father has returned from work by seeing his vehicle parked outside, he is using his Adult to interpret information.
II.3

Child Ego State

Child ego state is that part of ourselves which acts like the little person we once were.
This is the part that is variously intuitive, impulsive, carefree, creative, fun loving, compliant, and rebellious. Child ego state is the center of our feelings and spontaneity, curiosity and creativity, and sometimes also the source of feelings and behaviour that we have learned from the environment such as feelings of guilt, anxiety, depression, etc.
According to the TA theory, the child ago state consists of three parts:
i.

Natural Child (NC): This is our natural, energetic, curious, uninhibited self. When we indulge in sensory gratification, or when we give a free vent to our feelings, or when we share our favourite joke with friends, we are operating from our NC. The excitement of watching dew drops on rose
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petals, enjoying the splash of water on our face, watching our favourite programme on the TV, or showing genuine joy on the arrival of our best friend- all these behaviours emanate from our NC.

ii.

Little Professor (LP):This is the ‘thinking’ part of the child which engages in creative, intuitive, sometimes manipulative, problem-solving. Our sudden flashes of wisdom, the bright spark, innovative, new approaches to old problems, in the other worlds creative acts which transcend rigid boundaries, all indicate that our LP is in command.

iii.

Adapted Child (AC):In contrast to the NC in which we are free, open and spontaneous, AC ego state shows our adaptations in response to environmental requirements. When confronted by the CP of our authority figures, we soon learn to behave in socially-approved ways: our socialization process tames our NC and develops in us the ability to cooperate with others, to suppress our true feelings, to say words like
‘sorry’, ‘please’, yet if we receive excessive CP message in our childhood, our adaptation takes the form of either a total compliance to or a completely rebellious stand against the authority. Thus, the functional aspects of AC often give way to an overly compliant or excessively rebellious attitude-both of which become dysfunctional.
Example:

“If they don’t accept my suggestion this time, I will stop attending these meetings.”
“Mother, I will eat spinach if you say so.”
“I am sorry I am late.”

The ego states discussed above are depicted in TA by the following diagram:

CP

P

CP- Critical Parent
NP-Nurturing Parent
A-Adult

A

NC
LP
AC

NC-Natural Child
LP-Little Professor
AC-Adapted Child

Each of these ego states has its uses, advantages and disadvantages. It is desirable that rather than getting fixated in a particular ego state, for example, using one’s CP in most of the situations, an individual develops the flexibility to move his psychic energy
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quickly and appropriately from one ego state to another. A widely -held belief in TA is that in any transactional situation, we should first put ‘the Adult into the executive’. This means that before starting transaction, we should first consult our Adult to decide which would be the most appropriate ego state in a given situation, and after having objectively and logically decided that, we can move to the concerned ego state. For example, if our
Adult tells us that we have shown enough tolerance towards a person’s mistakes and it is time to pull him up, we can then engage our CP. Or, if our Adult tells us that we have been overly harsh with a person, we can change from CP to NP or even NC.
Problems of Exclusion and Contamination
Many of us use a single ego state in most of the circumstances. Such persons tend to act in rigid, highly predictable ways in all situations because there is almost total reliance on one ego state to the exclusion of the rest. Irrespective of differences in situation, persons, etc., an individual can tend to behave as a Constant Parent, Constant Adult or a Constant
Child.
Sometimes the Parent and Child ego states overflow into the boundaries of the Adult, thereby contaminating the pure Adult and creating disturbances in its decision-making ability. For example, when the Adult gets contaminated by CP, the person accepts blindly many prejudices that he may have inherited from his parental figures. When these prejudices are accepted as facts by the Adult, the person feels no need to test them against reality and the untested, many times baseless prejudices continue to contaminate the
Adult decision-making.
The Adult can also be contaminated by Child. If excessive, such contamination can result in severe delusions requiring therapy. For example, if contaminated by AC, a person can develop a strong sense of inadequacy for the job. Once the Adult accepts this belief as a fact, it can trigger off a vicious cycle of lowered self-expectations and poor performance.

P

P

P

A

A

A

C

C

Adult contaminated by parent

Adult contaminated by
Child

C

Double Contamination

Double contamination of the Adult can further worsen the situation and in severe cases the individual may require expert help to restore mental health.
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III.

Transaction

A transaction is a unit of social interaction between two people. This interaction or exchange of words can be friendly, indifferent or hostile. Or, one person can be domineering, the other one supplicant (“Why are you late again?” “Oh, I am terribly sorry”); one can be nervous and hesitant, and the other can reassuring and supportive (“I don’t think I will be able to do the job well”, “Don’t you worry. I know your capabilities and I am confident that you will do justice to our expectations”). Or both can be funloving (Why lovely weather! Let’s enjoy the feel of the warm sun”. Yes, let’s sit in the sun and play cards”). All these transactions can be analyzed according to the ego states involved. Transaction can be either simple or complex. A simple transaction involves only one ego state by the initiator and one by the responder. A complex transaction consists of the use of two ego states by either of the parties or both.
Simple transactions are of two kinds- complementary and crossed. The exchanges given above are examples of complementary transactions typified by parallel arrows. In such transactions, the ego state that is addressed is the one that responds, and the response is to the initiating ego state. The following diagram shows an example of complementary transaction: P

P
P

P

A

A

A

C

C

C

A
C

Boss
1.

Subordinate Boss

Subordinate

Boss:
3.
“Where is the report on our induction

Subordinate:
“I feel I have

done a great scheme? “ (Adult) about it
2.

Subordinate:
“It’s on your desk” (Adult)

report, I am happy
(Natural Child)
4.

Boss
“Yes it looks

impressive.
(Nurturing

Well done”
Parent)

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When transactions are complementary, the communication can go on indefinitely because both the persons behave in the expected complementary fashion.
However, simple transactions can get crossed if the response does not come from the addressed ego state, or if it is not addressed to the initiating ego state. Following are a few examples of crossed transactions:
P

P

1

2

A

A

C

C

Husband

Wife

1. Husband : Where is my wrist watch?
2. Wife : Can’t you look for it yourself?

P

1

2

P
A

A
C

Person X

C

Person Y

1. Person X: Secretaries have become so inefficient these days. I am never able to locate my papers.
2. Person Y: Well, you should develop more organized habits.
As long as transactions are parallel, the communication between the two parties can go on indefinitely. However, if transactions become crossed, the smooth flow of communication gets disrupted for a while and there is generally a pause when the initiator reviews the situation and decides his next move. Though complementary transactions appear conducive to sound human relations, they need not always be so, for example, if two parties are all the time engaged in an oppressor-victim mode they can disrupt the game by making a crossed transaction.
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A more complicated kind of transaction is called complex or ulterior transaction because of the duplicity of meaning in one or both the transactions. Ulterior transactions can be of two kinds either angular or duplex. In angular transactions, two messages are sent simultaneously to two different ego states of a person. There is one apparent social message and another one an ulterior psychological message; and the recipient has to decide from which ego state to respond. The following figure illustrates an angular transaction: In response to a customer’s request to a salesman to show a particular shirt piece, the salesman replies: “
Oh, that piece is very expensive”.

P
P

A

A

C

C

Salesman

Customer

Selesman :

Oh, that piece is very expensive (apparent message). Let see if you can accept the challenge of buying such an expensive piece
(ulterior message).
Customer:
I think I would buy that piece only.
In this example, the salesman succeeds in hooking the Child of the customer through the underlying psychological message.
Duplex transaction also involve psychological messages, but instead of three as in the case of angular transactions four ego states come into play here. An example of duplex

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transactions can be a situation where the boss uses sarcasm while talking to the subordinate, and the subordinate pays him back in the same coin:

P
P

1
A

A

2
C

C

Boss
Boss: How come you’re so early today? also come early
(Social message)
Do you realize that you are late once too, have been again? (Psychological message)

Subordinate
Subordinate: Sometimes you
(Social message)
I know of the occasions when you,
Late
(Psychological message)

In ulterior transactions, a lot of psychological energy is spent in disguising the real message by the sender, and in decoding it by the receiver, thereby resulting in wastage, confusion, misunderstanding.
IV.

Strokes

A stroke in TA means a unit of social recognition. The recognition can be positive, for example, when we receive a pat on the back. Or it can be negative, for example, when somebody criticizes, rebukes, or punishes us. Positive strokes make us feel okay; negative strokes tell us that we are not okay. It is believed in TA that all of us crave for strokes. We all have stroke hunger. We prefer to receive positive strokes. But if positive strokes are not available, even negative strokes are welcome; they are at least better than no strokes. An absence of strokes indicates that others are indifferent to our presence, that they ignore us, which can be a very painful feeling. This craving for strokes is often evident from the behaviour of children when there are visitors in the house. As the mother gets busy attending to guests, children often find the zero-stroke situation difficult to bear. They indulge in mischief to attract strokes, if possible positive. Even negative strokes are okay as long as the mother can divert her attention from the guests.

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Strokes can be conditional (contingent upon the behaviour of the other person) or unconditional (given irrespective of how the other person behaves). Conditional strokes are for “ doing” and unconditional strokes are for “being”. Positive conditional strokes are the rewards we give to a person for doing something desirable; conditional negative strokes consist of the punishment given for doing something undesirable. Positive unconditional strokes indicate to the other person that we are happy to have him around; negative unconditional strokes give just the opposite message! We also give strokes nonverbally, for example, through a warm hug, a hearty handshake, through our gestures, postures, facial expressions, eye contact, etc.
Though all of us want to get more and more strokes, when it comes to giving strokes, ironically, we became stingy and try to exercise stroke economy (Steiner, 1974).
Following are some of the avoidable guidelines we seem to follow while economizing on strokes: 1.

Don’t give positive strokes too often. In other words don’t let others know about your good feelings towards them

2.

Don’t ask for positive strokes. Reject them if others give them to you.

3.

Don’t accept positive strokes. Reject them if others give them to you.

4
Don’t give yourself strokes. You must be modest about your achievements: try to underplay them.

This approach to strokes appears to rest upon a belief that while negative strokes are plentiful, positive strokes are limited in supply and we should give them sparingly.
Another strong cultural belief is that positive strokes are likely to spoil the other person, so we should be careful in dispensing them.
Not only individuals, but organizations also have their pet stroking patterns, though, like individuals, organizations too may have their blind spots and may not be aware of these patterns. In the long run, an organization gets from its employees the behaviour that is strokes. Organizations differ from each other in the way they stroke attendance, creativity, quality of work, competition, long association with the organizations, looking busy, compliant behaviour, customer service, people in their seats, risk-takers, etc. if organizations can give enough positive strokes to their employees to make them feel okay about themselves, this can often release their hidden energies and work can become more pleasurable. However, to be effective, strokes need to be authentic, not phony.
V

Time Structuring

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Time structuring refers to how we spend our time in relation to other people. According to TA there are six ways of structuring our time with reference to others.
1

Withdrawal.
This implies shunning contact with other people in order to be oneself, to relax, to think, and plan alone. Most people need to withdraw to themselves sometimes, though the frequency, duration and reasons may vary.
Withdrawal can be an Adult choice when we need time to organize our thoughts or it can be an Adapted Child response in order to avoid meeting a difficult person. Sometimes when a meeting becomes monotonous or unpleasant, instead of withdrawing physically, we take recourse to mental withdrawal (for example,
‘tuning out’ during a boring class).

2.

3.

Rituals:
These are formalized and predictable exchanges between people that serve to maintain the superficial social fabric of a workplace. Rituals do not involve any significant expenditure of energy or commitment, yet help in retaining cordiality between people. Two colleagues greeting each other in the morning is an example of rituals. As rituals are often group- or organization-specific, a new entrant to an organization often has to make an effort to learn the ritual of the new workplace.
Pastimes:
When we engage in conversation on topics of mutual interest, this activity is called pastime in TA. Pastimes entail interpersonal closeness greater then in the case of rituals, yet distant enough not to threaten the person concerned. For example, two co-travelers discussing their favourite sport or the political situation in the country are using ‘pastimes’ to while away their time. Pastimes give us an opportunity to decide whether or not to form closer relationship with the other person. Pastimes generally take place at parties, get-togethers, at tea-time, etc., and give us a chance to spend our time pleasurably, as also to size up the other person in order to decide whether we would be interested in developing greater intimacy with him / her. Some well-known examples of pastimes include General
Motors (talk about cars), who won? (Sports)- Both favourite of men; grocery, wardrobe, nappies-common to women; and how to? (Do something), how much
(does it cost). Ever been? (to somewhere), do you know? (so and so), etc., popular among both the sexes (Beme, 1964).
Pastiming successfully is an important part of a person’s social competence, and may be an especially relevant skill for people in selling situations.

4.

Activities
These are the actions / behaviours undertaken by people to achieve goals. Leisure activities (gardening, watching TV, reading a book), domestic chores (washing, cooking), social activities (organizing a cultural programme) and work-related

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activities (participating in a discussion, dictating a letter, taking to a client), all the above goal-related behaviours fall under this category.

5.

Intimacy
Intimacy is characterized by authenticity, openness, trust and a desire to get close to the other person, intimacy usually results when the Natural Child is in command so that two persons become spontaneous, frank and close in their relationship. Intimacy occurs in our personal and social lives and well as in our work lives. In an organizational situation, common goals, a shared understanding of the task, a common enemy, and joint stakes are some situations conducive to intimacy. 6.

Games
The sixth and final way in which we structure our time is called ‘games’. Games, as understood in TA, have generated a lot of interest among academicians as well as practitioners and a lot of research effort has been spent on deriving a better understanding of games. The following section discusses some of the more common games.
Games are characterized by a number of complementary ulterior transactions in which the outcome is fairly certain. Games are dysfunctional ways of spending our time and the pay-off is always a bad feeling for people involved. A game is repetitive in nature but the Adult is not aware of its occurrence, so that the pay-off or the bad feeling at the end of the game often comes as a surprise to the Adult.
A game often confirms an old decision that someone is “not OK”, either ‘I m not
OK” or “You” are not OK”. Game players often play one of the three phony roles:
Victim, Persecutor or Rescuer. Capitalization of these roles indicates that they do not represent genuine victims or persecutors or rescuers, as we find them in real life, but phony roles which the game-players assume in order to arrive at the predictable outcome.
Some of the games played from a Victim (I’ m not OK) position to put oneself down are:
i.

ii

Kick me :
Such game players like being kicked and provoke others to do so by violating procedures, making silly mistakes, consistently missing deadlines. These players have learned to expect and accept kicks from others because the kicks reinforce their previous self-deprecating stand.
Stupid:
This is a special type of ‘kick me’ game in which players make mistakes compulsively, don’t use their brains, and later on exclaim “Oh, again I’ve made such a stupid mistake!”
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iii

Harried:
Theses games players assume the posture of a superman to cover up their deep-rooted sense of inadequacy – the “I” m not OK” stand. They work very hard, always take over much more responsibilities than they can manage, and rush from one crisis to another, always to tell themselves how over-worked, harried they are.

iv

Wooden Leg:
People who play this game use a physical or a social, a real or an imaginary handicap as an excuse for their poor performance. The handicap is exaggerated out of proportion so that they can exclaim “You don’t expect me to win the race in spite of a wooden leg.” People coming from a disadvantage background sometimes use their background as an alibi for their failure to perform.

Persecution games (with the underlying “You’re not OK” themes) that attack or put down others include:
i.

Blemish:
Blemish players are always on the lookout for other people’s small, inconsequential mistakes (such as forgetting to dot an I or cross a T) and love to point out such mistakes. Playing this game strengthens their
“You’re not-OK” approach.

ii

NIGYSOB (Now I’ve Got You Son of a Bitch)
This is a more intense game than Blemish and the negative strokes given to the other person are very painful for the receiver. The person playing
NIGYSOB apparently appears to be operating from his Adult, but in fact makes a liberal use of his Critical Parent to hurt the other person.
NIGYSOB and Blemish often played with Kick Me as the complementary game played by the Victim. They end up with the Victim and the persecutor feeling bad about the transactions but they serve to reinforce the previous I’m not OK belief of the Victim and you’re not OK belief of the Persecutor.

iii

If IT Weren’t for You (HIM / HER / IT) :
Many people use this expression repeatedly to blame others for their own plight. Whenever we use others as scapegoats to cover up for our own sense of inadequacy, we are playing this game. The game player holds all others except himself responsible for his own failures. For example, “If it weren’t for my boss, I would have…..”, “If weren’t for my irresponsible subordinates, I would have……..”, “If it weren’t for my family: I could…….” iv

Why don’t you…..Yes, but :
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The game player makes a phony request for help from others and when other people make suggestions, he finds fault with the suggestions and rejects them. This game helps to prove that others are inadequate or inferior, in other words not OK.
It is not necessary that whenever we use any of the above mentioned expressions, we are playing games. Yet, whenever the transactions tend to be repetitive and predictable, making sense at the surface level but having an ulterior message, and when they leave behind bad feelings as residues, one or both the parties are playing games.
As they have an ulterior motive, games are primarily negative transactions. A lot of psychic energy is wasted in playing games where the only pay-off is a bad feeling and increased misunderstanding. By giving an unexpected response, by refusing to play the complementary role, and by being authentic, we can put an end to game-playing.
Stamps
Stamps are good or bad feelings that an individual collects and stores over a period of time. Good feelings are called gold stamps and bad feelings are called brown stamps. Rather than expressing them immediately, we often store these feeling and redeem or encash them at a later date.
Different people collect different stamps. Some prefer to collect gold stamps and one day they decide to encash them, for example take a vacation and enjoy themselves. Most people, however, like to collect brown stamps and accumulate their favourite bad feelings such as anger, depression, guilt. They suffer silently every time a new brown stamp is added to their collection, and finally when they cannot take it any more, they redeem the stamps in the form of an unexpected outburst. Stamp collection, particularly of brown stamps, obstructs natural behavior, ads to a person’s suffering, and can seriously affect working relationships among people, and the health of the person concerned. One of the goals of TA is to make people aware of the harmful consequences of stamp collection, so that feeling can be dealt with as they occur.
IV.

Psychological Positions
We often play games to strengthen the psychological positions we have taken about ourselves and about others. There are four basic psychological positions:
1.

I’m OK, You’re OK :
This is a constructive, healthy position which indicates a basic acceptance of oneself, and a basic acceptance of others. This does
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not mean denying one’s own weaknesses or overlooking other people’s faults / mistakes, or pretending that everyone is perfect.
An I’m OK, You’re OK position means a realistic appraisal and acceptance of oneself and others in spite of weaknesses or fault.
People who hold this psychological position are cheerful, optimistic and productive: they can build and sustain relationships with others; they do not fear intimacy; they can give and receive positive strokes easily; and their dominant work style is collaboration based on mutual respect and trust. This is sometimes called the get on with position.
2.

I’m OK, You’re not OK:
This position is sometimes the result of a childhood in which parents always blamed themselves for everything that went wrong, giving the child an impression that he is always right, almost perfect. When they grow up, children of such parents develop a false sense of superiority and invincibility. People operating from this life position blame and accuse others, and refuse to see their own problems and weaknesses. They often assume the role of the persecutor in adult life and play games to put down others, to rob them of their sense of self-worth and self-respect. Believing themselves to be always right, they often take dogmatic stands and fail to see others’ viewpoint. Their behaviour is often characterized by anger and results in reciprocated aggression or severe depression in the other person. This is also called the “get rid of” position. 3.

I’m not OK, You’re OK:
This is also known as the “get away from” position. Children who consistently receive only not-OK messages from their authority figures, start developing low self worth and feelings of inadequacy.
When this psychological position becomes strong, as adults we compare ourselves unfavorably to others, berate ourselves, underplay our achievements and admire others enviously. Such people are often sad, feeling inferior and powerless in relation to other. They tend to avoid contact with others because it is likely to expose them to others.

4.

I’m not OK, You’re not OK :
This is also known as the ‘get nowhere’ position. The sense of notOkness becomes all-pervading; they see no hope in themselves nor in others; life loses all interest and meaning for them and they can become hurtful to themselves and others.
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The psychological position we decide to adopt is a part of the life script chosen by us. A life script is a “personal plan adopted at an early age by each individual in response to external events” (Barker, 1980). Once this life script is formed on the basis of early interactions, a person feels almost compelled to abide by it. The type of scripts people enact in their lives can be either positive and constructive, indicating an OK-position, or negative and dysfunctional, indicative of a not-OK life position. We almost become slaves of our life scripts; all the events and behaviours are so structured and perceived as to match the preconceived script. Knowledge of TA can help us in identifying, and if necessary, trying to break away from a destructive script. It can give person autonomy to review and decide afresh the course of life he /she wants to follow, rather than allowing a script drawn up in early childhood to dictate this course.
VII

Managerial Styles and TA

TA helps enhance a manger’s awareness of the options he has in selecting appropriate behaviours and styles in different interpersonal situations. Combining ego states
(discussed in an earlier section) with the OK not-OK life positions, it is possible to develop a typology of dysfunctional and functional managerial styles (Pareek, Rao and
Pestonjee, 1981).
1.

Nurturing Parent :
Though usually considered to be a desirable ego stage. Nurturing Parent has its not OK as well as OK sides.
Not-OK: Patronizing Style :
When a person uses his NP to develop emotional dependency in others, when support is provided in a condescending way and the manager always emphasizes his superior position and power, such a style become dysfunctional for other person’s growth. Over caring for others in a patronizing way smothers their initiative and self-confidence.
OK: Supportive Style :
A manager who practices this style provides support only when necessary.
He tries to instill independent thinking and self-confidence in his subordinates. The subordinates know that they have to fight their own battles yet their leader is always there to encourage and cheer them, and to provide support if required. A supportive manager cares for his subordinates without developing dependency.

2.

Critical Parent:
Not-OK : Prescriptive Style :
A manager who has a high CP and who operates from a not-OK basic position is unduly critical of other. He develops norms and standards unilaterally and imposes them on others. An overly judgmental, authoritarian and controlling style deprives the other person of his sense of
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self-worth and self-respect. Such a style breeds mutual distrust and hostility. OK: Normative Style:
A high-CP style in which a manager participatively develops and uniformly and fairly implements guidelines and norms of behaviour has a salutary effect on work climate and morale. A normative style can be successful if the manager himself honours these norms scrupulously.
3.

Adult :
Not Ok: Task-obsessive-Style:
A manager who-has an inordinately high Adult ego state can become dysfunctional if all the psychic energy is concentrated in achieving the task along. An overwhelming concern about task can generate considerable counter-productive worry in the manager and can make him insensitive to the feelings of others.
OK: Problem – solving Style:
Such a manager also has an inordinately high Adult, but he is not overwhelmed by the enormity of the immediate task. He adopts a problem-solving approach and views each task in a broader perspective.
Such a manager is more relaxed and enjoys his work because each task is seen as a challenge, a problem to be solved rather than as a threat. A problem-solving style prompts the deployment of necessary human and other resources with enough concern for long-term maintenance of these resources. 4.

Little Professor:
Not-OK: Bohemian Style :
The creativity of a manager becomes ineffectual if the rapid generation of ideas in not followed up by proper development and implementation.
Managers with a high LP but practicing a bohemian style have a tremendous capacity to think of novel, off-beat ideas but they lack the perseverance to bring even a few of these ideas to fruition. Jumping from one idea to another does not allow even the good ideas to take root, and results in confusion.
Ok: Innovative Style:
People following an innovative style have respect for new ideas. Once convinced about the usefulness of their ideas, such managers carefully work out plans to convert ephemeral ideas into viable projects for the organization. They generate support for the idea among others and work for its implementation.

5.

Adapted Child:
Not-OK: Aggressive Style:
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People who follow this style operate basically from a “You’re not OK” position and like to pick up fights with others on the slightest pretext.
Because it is resorted to for its own sake irrespective of the issues involved, such aggressiveness becomes highly dysfunctional.
OK: Confronting Style:
The confronting managers assert themselves and don’t allow others to take them for granted. Whenever necessary, they confront others to safeguard the legitimate interests of their people, department, organization, etc. Even while confronting or opposing others, they have a positive and constructive approach.
This section has presented briefly some of the OK and not-so-OK styles usually adopted by managers. Knowledge about this style-range can help a manager in selecting appropriate functional styles depending upon the situational requirements.