The Character Effect in Psychology of Regret and Potential
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[pic 1][pic 2]Table of Contents:IntroductionEvaluation of Existing literatureCritique on Existing literatureResearch MethodAnalysis- Regret, Antecedent, and Causes- Outcomes- What you could have to use your 100%?Implications on employees and on OB practitionersConclusionLimitationBibliographyIntroduction:Everytime when confronted with outcome of a bad decision, people start blaming themselves and then realize that if only they could have acted differently, this outcome would have been better and different. The unpleasant feeling, experienced by people when they look back on the bad decisions they have taken, is the emotion of regret. But Regret occurs when people lack the Potential to take a wiser decision and act upon it accordingly. But what is Potential all about? Potential is nothing but a virtue of character with which one is nurtured since Childhood. And Character doesn’t builds up in a day, it is the cumulative effect of all namely, the experiences of themselves, their dreams, desire and the character of people with who they interact. With this study, we took a step to delve into the reasons of Regrets that people have at their organizations and how the cause that was seeming external, with no internal locus of control is related to one’s own character and failure to use their own potential. We also studied how this external reasons could be transformed into one’s own strengths just by continuously practicing character that would affect vision, dreams and strengths and hence, leaving no room for Regrets. With the antecedents, causes, outcome and ways to improvement, this study opens another avenue of understanding Regret as an unused potential and which is a virtue of character.Evaluation of Existing literature: (from: Strengths of Character and Well–Being by Nansook Park, Christopher Peterson, Martin E. P. Seligman)Positive psychology is an umbrella term for theories and research about what makes life most worth living (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Strengths of character and positive experiences such as a satisfied life are among the central concerns of positive psychology (McCullough & Snyder, 2000; Seligman, 2002). Character strengths can be defined as positive traits reflected in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They exist in degrees and can be measured as individual differences. We speculate that these are grounded in biology through an evolutionary process that selected for these predispositions toward moral excellence as means solving the important tasks necessary for survival of the species (cf. Bok, 1995; Schwartz, 1994; Wright, 1994). As an initial step toward specifying important positive traits, The Values in Action (VIA) Classification of Strengths was developed. The details of our thinking are spelled out elsewhere (Peterson & Seligman, 2004). Here are our conclusions: • A character strength is “a disposition to act, desire, and feel that involves the exercise of judgment and leads to a recognizable human excellence or instance of human flourishing” (Yearley, 1990, p, 13). • Character strengths are plural—that is, good character comprises a family of positive traits. • Character strengths are not segregated mechanisms with automatic effects on behavior; rather, virtuous activity involves choosing virtue for itself and in light of a justifiable life plan, which means that people can reflect on their own strengths of character and talk about them to others.
• Character strengths can be distinguished from related individual differences such as talents and abilities by different • The application of these criteria led us to identify 24 different strengths of character. For Seligman, the strengths are the “route” through we achieve virtues in our life.Seligman clarifies the difference between talents and strengths by defining strengths as moral traits that can be developed, learned, and that take effort. Talents, on the other hand, tend to be inherent and can only be cultivated from what exists rather than what develops through effort (Seligman 2002, p. 134). For example, many people consider musical ability as more or less inherent and can only be strengthened. Seligman sees the healthy exercise and development of strengths and virtues as a key to the good life – a life in which one uses one’s “signature strengths every day in the main realms of your life to bring abundant gratification and authentic happiness.” The good life is a place of happiness, good relationships and work, and from this point, Seligman encourages people to go further to seek a meaningful life in the continual quest for happiness (Seligman 2002, p. 161).Critique on the existing literature:Seligman and Peterson has beautifully captured the essence of strengths of character and how can it bring authentic happiness in anyone’s life and that relates to the study that with character one can avoid all the regrets of their life. But the existing literature fails to draw an analogy between Character and Potential apart from also between Potential and Regret. Also the existing literature could draw an appropriate analogy that Character can be developed with practice. With this study we extend the existing literature to the point that all external locus of control start resembling as internal locus of control because of every Regret becoming an outcome of undeveloped Character leading to not using of one’s Potential fully. And one can easily transform all the Regret into Potential with it. Research Methodology:Detailed Telephonic interview of working people with 1 year to 12 year of experience, selected through convenient sampling.Number of respondents: 10Analysis:The analysis deals with every regret, outcome and causes getting mapped to a weakness of Character and how it can be improved through practice of Character that would boost the Potential leaving no room for any Regret.The list of top 20 regrets with their Antecedents and Causes as per detailed interview:RegretAntecedentCauseI am unable to perform better in team meetings and even if I perform I couldn’t convey the same to my bossFear/ Lack of ConfidenceMy teachers in school and my previous boss were strict and they never let us speak our viewsI am not very much social and nervous to talking to girls because of that I lost many opportunities I studied in a boy’s school hence since childhood never had an experience of dealing with girls and I am unable to trust peopleI presented fake bills for travel reimbursement to companyMoral DeficiencyI had financial problems and my friends also did the same every timeI was terminated from my previous organization but I told that I resigned to HR of my new organization during interviewI was never taught by anyone to accept our failures is a good learning avenueWhen my team lost an important project because of me, I put that blame to one of my colleague who was then terminated (he was dealing with a financial crisis)I always lived in a world where I saw only selfish people and there is no value of a person who is honestI disclosed confidential information about my organization to my friend of from a rival company while I was inebriated that led to financial loss of companyLack of Self ControlI feel good in doing things at extremes. Also If I am frustrated with something I want to speak about it with someone and end up speaking even something that shouldn’t be disclosedMy way of working differed from my boss and despite taking it as constructive or an avenue of learning a new way of working from him, I never collaborated with him because of fear that he will reject the ideaConflictI got educated at the top B School of India and qualifications of my boss is lesser than me. He might have more experience than me but I believed that I knew more.My boss always rejected my new ideas as he had a different mindset because of our generation gapMy organization couldn’t integrate people of different age groups togetherWhile training I didn’t pay attention that made me incompetent as compared to othersInefficiency/Laziness/InactivenessMy mentor taught me in a boring way and he was not concerned whether I am learning something or notI never took any initiative in my organization like my colleagues and lost opportunities to learn something new My previous boss was a Machiavellian but my new boss was a kind hearted and because of my past experiences I didn’t trust him for almost a year that created a gap between us  ProjectionOnce cheated or manipulated, it is not easy for me to trust someone of the similar type and I believed that all bosses are sameOnce I had a heated argument with my boss and instead of sorting it out with him and I resigned from company in angerEmotional (Anger)Since Childhood, I cannot stay with a person who can hurt my egoI was jealous from one of my team mate and when there was a client visit I informed wrong timing to him and he missed the meeting leading to show cause notice to himEmotional (Jealousy)“If you cannot increase length of your line than shorten somebody else’s line”- This is what I believedI had a fight with one of my colleague and while she was struggling with a project in which I was expert, I didn’t help her and company lost the projectShe also didn’t help when I was struggling with something after our fightI remain always in hurry to accomplish anything and because of that I do not give proper attention to the task and end up producing average resultsImpatienceI want to win the world as early as possible. I wish to see myself as an expert with a long list of achievements and ahead of everyoneI got rejected in an interview for promotion because my boss selected my colleague who was a boot lickerInjusticeI always believed that if you are capable then you will be noticed and will get your share, might be late but you need not require to raise your voice or flatter someoneI always tried to prove that I am the best despite at times I was wrong and that made my team mate against meHedonismMy parents taught me, “If you yourself don’t believe that you are best that no one will be”I couldn’t complete a critical project for my organization because of my diseaseLost SpiritHow can one even think of stretching themselves when they are ill? Even if you can but there is no point doing soI ended up my personal life because of my hectic work scheduleLack of ManagementSince college I lack time management and how to allocate proper time to everythingI always did my tasks just for the sake of doing it, never tried to stretch myselfLack of Interest/ IncompetencyI can’t compromise with my leisure activities because of stretching myself at work and adding extra inputs