Pygmalion Effect

Dear Students,

Have you heard of the ancient Greek sculptor Pygmalion?

Pygmalion principle finds its origin from an old Greek myth. A sculptor named Pygmalion sculpted a statue of a woman. He fell in love with the statue. His love was so strong, that it transformed the statue into a real woman. It is this transformative effect resulting from expectations which is the basis of the Pygmalion Principle. It states that expectations affect performance.

The Pygmalion effect enables employees to excel in response to the supervisor's message that they are capable of success and expected to succeed. The Pygmalion effect can also undermine employees'performance when the subtle communication from the manager tells them the opposite. As an example, the supervisor fails to praise a staff person's performance as frequently as she/he praises others.

So, in coming days, when you step into the shoes of a manager of a team, tell your team -members, "I expect you to achieve this because I believe in you and I know you can".

The outcome of such Pygmalion effect will be marvellous.

With best wishes,

Prof. D. P. Chattopadhyay

(Globsyn Business School)