Assignment 4

Of
Organizational Behavior and leadership

Submitted By:
Bishop Panta
MBAe 4th Trimester
Section: B

Submitted To:
Mr. Madan L. Pradhan
1) What is Pygmalion Effect or Self-fulfilling prophecy?

Answer: Self-fulfilling prophecy (or, the Pygmalion effect) refers to the notion that one
persons expectation for another persons behavior can quite unwittingly become a more accurate
prediction simply for its having been made (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968, p. vii).The Pygmalion
effect is a type of self-fulfilling prophecy where if you think something will happen, you may
unconsciously make it happen through your actions or inaction. It occurs in the workplace when
a manager raises his or her expectations for the performance of workers, and this actually results
in an increase in worker performance. Pygmalion Effect is the phenomenon whereby higher
expectation leads to an increase in performance and lower expectation leads to a decrease in
performance. The Pygmalion effect is a psychological principle that has relevance to effectively
managing people. It occurs in the workplace when a manager raises his or her expectations for
the performance of workers, and this actually results in an increase in workers performance. By
the Pygmalion Effect, people internalize their positive labels and those positive labels succeed
accordingly.

For example, suppose that you are meeting Sagar, a friend of your friend, Prashant, for the first
time. Prashant has said in the past that Sagar is a little shy. According to this theory, expectation
may lead you to behave toward Sagar in a way that guarantees that he behaves in a more reserve
manner. You may assume that he would not like to talk a lot about himself, so you dont ask him
a lot of questions. You may think that he is uncomfortable meeting new people, so you do not
engage him in much conversation. Your behavior makes him behave more shyly than he might
have otherwise. Your expectation (or, prophecy) about Sagar is thus fulfilled as a result of that
expectation. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2) What evidence of self-fulfilling prophecies have you seen lately?

Answer: I saw an evidence of self fulfilling prophecy in my home where my sister was
positively motivated to communicate smoothly with the people taking the interview for her new
job. She had a belief in herself that she could speak fluently and pitch effectively and eventually
did succeed as well. People who tend to have a positive self-image and confidence believe they
are capable of achieving anything and they set out to achieve things more likely than others.
3) How might the Pygmalion effect be applied in the class?

Answer: Pygmalion Effect is highly applicable in the classroom as well. The teachers in the
class expects differently from different people. The behavior that is shown to students by the
teachers differs. We can clearly see the expectation of the teacher influence the behavior of the
students. If the teacher expects the student as a good performer and shows such behavior, the
students will be more motivated towards reading and as such gets to more like the expectation of
a teacher. Likewise, if the teacher expect some students as a low performer and shows the
behavior of neglecting them, then the students will not be focused on their studies and hence be
the lower performer.