SAINT JOSEPH COLLEGE OF SINDANGAN INCORPORATED

National Highway, Poblacion, Sindangan, ZN.

Philippines
email address: [email protected]
Cell No. 09269875590
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BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ACCOUNTANCY (BSA)

OOO

MODULE 1: OVERVIEW OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATION

For so long, man made serious attempts to be productive, economic or otherwise, He did it
either individually or in group. In his quest for fulfilling his dreams, he is always confronted with
the risk of failure, and the risk is most often associated with the human factor, i.e., him and the
others. Even if it was a machine that disrupted the production process, the person who decided to
buy or use the machine faces the risk of placing his character under suspicion.
It has become clear that the quality and quantity of the output of the individual, the group,
or the organization depend heavily on the actions of the person. If follows that those who have
knowledge of human behavior are better equipped to interact with individuals, groups, or
organizations

I. LEARNING OUTCOMES:
At the end of this module, the students are expected to learn:

1. What is Human Behavior

2. What is Organizational Behavior.
3. The Benefits of Studying Organizational Behavior
4. A Brief History of Organizational Behavior.
5. Ethics and Organizational Behavior
II. ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE (APK)

III. TOPIC DISCUSSION

A. WHAT IS HUMAN BEHAVIOR?

Human Behavior refers to the physical actions of a person that can be seen or heard
such as smiling or whistling. With his thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sentiments, the
person exhibits behaviors similar or different when he is in or out of organizations.
Human behavior in organizations is more appropriately referred to as organizational
behavior (OB).
 B. WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?
Organizational Behavior or OB may be defined as the study of human behaviour in
organization, of the interaction between individuals and organization, and of the
organization itself.

 The Goals of Organization Behavior?

The three goals of OB are as follows:
1) To explain behavior;
2) To predict behavior; and
3) To control behaviour.
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with his thoughts,
THE feelings, emotions,
PERSON sentiments

BEHAVIOR

IN THE OUT OF THE

ORGANIZATION ORGANIZATION

Figure 1

THE PLACES WHERE THE PERSON EXHIBITS HIS BEHAVIOR

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In explaining behavior as a goal, OB needs to systematically describe how people behave

under a variety of conditions, and understand why people behave as they do.

OB must be used to predict behavior so support can be provided to productive and dedicated
employees, and measures could be instituted to control the disruptive and less productive ones.

OB can offer some means for management to control the behavior of employees. As
control is an important component of effective performance, the usefulness of OB must not be
overlooked.

 The Elements of OB
Four elements operate in OB. They are:
1) People 3) technology
2) Structure 4) environment
 The internal social system of the organization is composed of people consisting of
individual persons and groups. The individual person is inducted as a member of a
formal group, but soon, he or she may become a member of an informal group.
The Structure defines the formal relationship of people in the organization. It
describes how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated.
Technology refers to the combination of resources, knowledge and techniques with
which people work and affect the task that they perform. It consists of buildings,
machines, work processes, and assembled resources.
Environment refers to institutions or forces outside the organization that potentially
affect the organization’s performance. It includes suppliers, customers, competitors,
government regulatory agencies, public pressure groups and the like.
C. THE BENEFITS OF STUDYING ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB)
The study of OB offers certain benefits. They are as follows:
1) Development of people skills;
2) Personal growth;
3) Enhancement of organizational and individual effectiveness; and
4) Sharpening and refinement of common sense.

 Development of People Skills

There are two types of skills that a person will need to succeed is his chosen
career:
1) The skill in doing his work; and
2) The skill in relating with people.
A person who is much adept in the performance f his work may be
successful up to a certain extent, but he will require another skill to make
other people believe that he should be more successful than his current
achievement.
An example is the dentist who is well-trained in his discipline but is
avoided by many would-be patients. It is not surprising to see a number of
dentists with insufficient number of patients. Many of these dentists would
benefit from acquiring people skills through the study of OB.
Another example is the group of highly productive employees who
complain that they are always bypassed in promotions. Studying OB may
help them find answers to their queries.
 Personal Growth
Personal growth makes a person highly competitive in the workplace. The
chance to achieve personal growth is enhanced by knowledge of OB. For
instance, knowledge of the behaviour of others through the study of OB will help
the person understand how own behaviour. A person who strives to know
himself better is entering the realm of intrapersonal intelligence, which is a very
useful type of intelligence for one who wants to achieve his personal goals.
Intrapersonal thinking may be described briefly as one possessed by a person
with highly accurate understanding of himself or herself.
  Enhancement of Organizational and Individual Effectiveness
Effectiveness is a major attribute of successful organizations, as well as
individuals. When the right decisions are made, effectiveness follows. In
decision making, knowledge of OB can be very useful.
For instance, there are persons who perform better when they work in the
afternoons. It would be a mistake to make them work in the morning and expect
that they will perform better. Such errors could be avoided if the one authorized
to decide on work assignments have knowledge of OB.

 Sharpening and Refinement of Common Sense

People differ in the degree of common sense they possess. Improvements in
this type of ability, however, can still be made and great benefits can be derived
if this is done.
For instance, common sense dictates that persons working in a hot and humid
places cannot perform well. Common sense, however, cannot easily provide
information on the exact temperature that will make them work at optimum
levels. In those types of concerns, knowledge of OB may be very useful.

D. BRIEF HISTORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB)

History tells us that behind every major accomplishment of man is some sort of
organization. Thousands of years ago, the pyramids of Egypt and the temples in Cetral
and South America were built by the workers recruited from among the populace.
Whether or not there were attempts to make these types of workers perform better can
be the subject of inquiry. What we see in the movies is the whip, which as we
understood was designed to make the workers do their assigned tasks.
It is modern history, however, that provide us with records of how concerned
scientist and experts made studies which have direct or indirect bearing to OB.
The origins of OB can be traced to the following:

1) The human relations approach

a. The scientific management approach by Frederick W. Taylor
b. The human relations approach by Elton Mayo and others
2) The personality theories
a. Freud’s model
b. The behaviorist approach by Watson and Skinner
c. The humanist approach by Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, and Abraham Maslow
Frederick W. Taylor was the well-known disciple of the scientific management
movement. The primary purpose of scientific management was the application of
scientific methods to increase the individual worker’s productivity. Taylor used
scientific analysis and experiment to increase worker output. He did it by regarding
individuals as equivalents of machine parts and assigned them specific repetitive
tasks.
Elton Mayo and his research team conducted the Hawthorne studies in 1920 to
determine what effect hours of work, periods of rests and lighting might have on
worker fatigue and productivity. It was discovered that the social environment have
and equivalent if not greater effect on productivity than the physical environment.
Mayo concluded that social interaction is a factor for increased productivity.
 Another group of researchers espoused the personality theories and made
significant contributions to the development of OB.
A great contributor is the psychologist Sigmund Freud who brought the idea that
people are motivated by far more than conscious logical reasoning. Freud believed
that irrational motives make up the hidden subconscious mind, which determines the
major part of people’s behavior.
Through an approach called behaviorism, another eminent psychologist, J.B.
Watson, formulated the theory about learned behavior. This theory indicates that a
person can be trained to behave according to the wish of the trainer.
B.F. Skinner extended Watson’s theory with his own theory of behavior
modification. Skinner concluded that when people receive a positive stimulus like
money or praise for what they have done, they will tend to repeat their behavior.
When they are ignored and receive no response to the action, they will not be
inclined to repeat it.
The humanist movement is another important aspect in the development of OB.
It is composed of a group or psychologists and three prominent contributors – Carl
Rogers, Fritz Perls, and Abraham Maslow.
Rogers focused on the person as an individual instead of adhering to a rigid
methodology. He believes that people should acquire their own values and attitudes
rather than be committed to a fixed set of prescribed goals. The more self-directed
and aware people are, the better they are able to develop their own individual values
and adapt to a changing environment.
Fritz Perls’ contribution is the Gestalt psychology wherein the person is seen as
being plagued by numerous split, or conflicting desires and needs, which dissipate
energy and interfere with that person’s ability to achieve his potential. The object of
Gestalt psychology is to integrate conflicting needs into an organized whole, in
which all parts of a person work together towards growth and development.
For his part, Abraham Maslow forwarded his model which espouses the idea of
developing the personality toward the ultimate achievement of human potential.
This process is referred to as self-actualization. To achieve this objective, the
person must work his way up the succeeding steps of a hierarchy of needs.
E. ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
May an organization use whatever means, fair or foul, to achieve its objectives? Is it
alright for a firm to ask its employee to obtain confidential information through
espionage regarding the operations of a competitor? Is it right for a business firm to
adapt a policy of hiring only those who are members of a certain religious sect? Is it
right for organizations to allow executives to play favourites in the workplace? These
and similar behaviours in the organization happen every now and then. Should the
propriety of such behaviours be the concern of organizations?
If allowing such actions become the norm rather than the exception, would it be to
the best interest of everyone especially employers and employees? Answers to the
foregoing questions permeate a body of principles that modern man tries to consider in
the pursuit of his goals.
 Philosophers maintain the view that a society that has low regard for morals will
disintegrate after a period of time. To avoid chaos and destruction, and to make life in
society possible, adherence to the practice of moral principles regulating human
relations become necessary.
The above concerns bring us to the topic of organizational ethics.

 What is Ethics?
Ethics refers to the set of moral choices a person makes based on what he or
she ought to do.
Organizational Ethics. These are moral principles that define right and
wrong behavior in organizations.
Ethical Behavior. This refers to behavior that is accepted as morally “good
and “right” as opposed to “bad” and “wrong.”
What constitutes right and wrong behaviour in organization is determined
by:
1) The public
2) Interest groups
3) Organizations
4) The individual’s personal morals and values

 Ethical Issues
There are important ethical issues that confront organizations. They consist
of the following:
1) Conflict of interest
2) Fairness and honesty
3) Communication
4) Relationships within the organization
A Conflict of Interest exists when a person is in the position of having to
decide whether to advance the interests of the organization or to operate in
his or her own personal interests. For instance, the purchasing officer of a
university is in a situation where there is conflict of interest when he owns
the shop that sells office supplies to the university.
In organizations which practices ethical behavior, people do not accept
bribes to influence the outcome of a decision.
People in organizations are expected to be Fair and Honest. Ethical
behavior demands that, beyond obeying the law, they should not knowingly
harm customers, clients, and competitors through deception, coercion or
misrepresentation. For example, a certain agency of the government would
not normally release documents unless a certain amount or money is handed
down to the releasing clerk.
People can become victims of organizations that provide false and
misleading information about their products and services. For instance, a
recruitment firm makes it appear that the employment conditions they
describe to the job applicants would be identical to what the foreign
employer would offer. This practice is, of course highly unethical.
 Within the organization, people may still be performing unethical acts.
For example, employee A developed an idea that will be very useful to the
organization. Employee B steals the idea and presents it to the top executive
before employee A could present it himself. This action is highly unethical
and its is to the detriment of the organization if such actions are allowed to
flourish.

SUMMARY
People exhibit certain behavior in and out of organizations. The realization of
individual, group, or organizational goals will depend on the human factor,
specifically human behavior.
The goals of OB are to explain, predict, and control behavior.
The elements of OB are people, structure, technology, and environment.
The benefits of studying OB are: (1) the development of people skills; (2)
personal growth; (3) enhancement of organizational and individual effectiveness;
and (4) sharpening and refinement of common sense.
OB is not instant invention of man. Instead, it is a product of several stages of
inquiry into how people behave and how they can be managed to be more
productive. Personalities, great and small, contributed to the development of OB.
|Taylor, Mayo, Freud, Maslow, are only some of the more prominent names in the
field of OB. The development of OB has not stopped, however, and the process is
still ongoing.
If the organization is expected to survive, its actins must be in consonance with
ethical behavior.
IV. ACTIVITIES (FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT)
Formative Assessments are quizzes and tests that evaluate how someone is
learning throughout a course.

1. What is human behavior? Organizational behavior?

2. Why is the prediction of behavior an important goal of OB?
3. How may technology be described as an element of OB?
4. What benefits may be derived from studying OB?
5. What is the specific contribution of Frederick Taylor to the development of OB?
6. In Freud’s opinion, what determines the major part of people’s behavior?
7. What may be expected of a society with low regard for morals?
8. When does “conflict of interest” exist?
Group Activity: CASE STUDY
THE BONE OF CONTENTION

Bella has been with Food Corporation for the three years, working as one of the
finance staff. She joined the company right after graduation, and, due to diligence, rose
from the ranks. She is a Certified Public Accountant from a reputable school in Metro
Manila. Apparently at the onset, she was happy and content with her work, regularly
receiving her monthly remuneration on time. She receive added benefits accruing to
ordinary employees like her, such as 13th month pay, midyear bonuses, and uniform
allowances. She received average industry rates for her type of job.
Patty was a classmate of Bella. She recently joined food Corporation also as
finance staff, being herself an accounting graduate. Unlike Bella, she had been to
different companies, transferring from one job to the other. Because of her various
experiences, she was offered a premium over last salary upon joining the company. She
received a salary higher than that of Bella.
Office idiosyncrasies were plenty in Food Corporation. Because of this, Bella
was able to get information on Patty’s salary. Having been with the company for so
long a time, Bella felt depressed and demotivated upon learning of the big disparity in
their salaries, considering that Patty was a newcomer. Also, Patty was new in the field,
although the work was also related to her educational background and past work
experiences. Despite the benefits Bella was entitled to receive, she did not get sufficient
periodic salary increases in return for her loyalty and dedication. In fact, her present
salary including past merit increases, is still lower than that being received by Patty.
Despite all these, Bella remained friendly with Patty, but maintained a distance
which could be felt by the latter. There seemed to be some silent hostility between the
two, the reason for which Patty could not understand. In fact, she was unaware of the
salary of Bella. Being only new in the company, she did not have any access to such
information.
After some time, friendliness was transformed into mere civilized co-existence.
Behind the back of Patty, some things were heard. competence was being questioned,
every move watched. Patty felt limited and unfree. She admitted she was new to the
company. But she was eager to learn. She tried to stay after office hours to learn the
ropes of the trade, in spite of her other activities such as school work.
Fortunately for the two, Bella was to be assigned to one of the company’s
foreign branches. She was recommended by her former boss who was assigned also to
some other foreign office. However, while waiting for the time of her departure, she
remained as finance staff, receiving the same salary. During this time, relations between
the two somehow improved. Patty sensed that there was something bothering Bella and
so she tried to be as cordial and patient as possible. Also, she had a hint as to what was
causing the anxiety of Bella. The situation, however, affected the performance of Patty.
She could not concentrate on the things she had to do. In the office, she became
conscious of what people might say. She was afraid to commit mistakes, and hence
afraid to try to do things unless she knew them. Since she was new to the company,
most of the things that had to be done were unfamiliar to her. Thus, her performance
suffered.
 QUESTIONS:
1) Why is Bella demotivated? Is she justified to be so?
2) Describe the relationship between Bella and Patty. Were their behavior’s Justified?
Explain your stand.
3) What are the immediate and long-range problems in this case?
4) Propose solutions to the problem you mentioned in number 3.
________________________
This case was prepared by Prof. Maynard Bagtasos, a Professor of Ateneo de
Zamboanga University. Adopted by Edralin M. Deleña for HBO class.

V. SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Summative Assessments are quizzes and tests that evaluate how much someone has
learned throughout a course.

Group and Individual Activity:

Writing and Solving Case Problems and Presentations.

The Case of the Vacillating General Manager

Leon B. Postigo, young and aggressive, was delighted to accept a job in the Manila
Branch office of General food Products, Incorporated, a consumer products multinational
whose main operations were centered and focused in the US. However, over the last ten
years, the multinational made a very aggressive expansion in the Far East, and other Asian
countries including the Philippines. Leon has been working in the US in a franchised chain
of retail outlets for the past ten years when he decided to come back to the Philippines. His
forte was in marketing consumer products. One thing led to another, he was offered the job
in Manila. He eagerly accepted the offer and was looking forward to working again in
“crazy” Manila. Ten months later, Leon was miserable. The problem was Jose Dalman, the
General Manager, in charge of the Manila branch to whom Leon reported.

Dalman had worked his way to General Manager position by “keeping his nose
clean”, and not making serious mistakes, which Dalman accomplished by avoiding
controversial and risky decisions. As Dalman complained, “Any time I ask him to make a
decision, he just wants us to dig deeper and provide 30 more pages of data, most of which
are irrelevant anyway. I can’t get any improvements started.” For example, Leon believed
that the line of frozen pizzas and other food items, for which he was in charge of, would be
more successful if prices were lowered. He and his 4 product managers spent weeks
preparing graphs and charts and other data and information to justify a lower price. Dalman
reviewed the data but kept on vacillating and asking for more information. His latest
request for weather patterns that might affect shopping habits seemed not only absurd but
out-rightly crazy – especially here in Manila!

Dalman seemed terrified of departing from the status quo. The frozen pizzas and
other food items product lines still had the “old-style packaging”, even though reformulated
for microwave ovens already. Dalman would not approve a promotional campaign in
March simply because in previous years it had been run in May-June months. Dalman
measured progress and improvements not by new ideas or sales results but by hours spent in
the office – according to Leon.
 After ten months on the job, Leon made a final effort to reason with Dalman. He
argued that the Branch was taking a big risk by avoiding decisions to improve things. Market
share was slipping. New pricing and promotional strategies were essential. But Dalman just
urged more patience and told Leon that he and his product managers would have to build a
more solid case to justify their proposal. Leon left Dalman’s office angry, bitter , and
exasperated. Two weeks after the meeting, Leon’s two best product managers quit, disgusted
and “burned out” by the marathon sessions analyzing pointless data without results!

1) If you were Leon, what would you do now?

2) If you were Dalman’s Boss and Leon complained to you, what would you do?
3) Why do you think Dalman is acting the way he is as described in the case study?

GUIDE FOR ORAL CASE ANALYSIS

1) DEFINE THE PROBLEM IN THE CASE

Each case represents a real-life business situation. Buried in each case are a multiple
of business and management problems. There may be more than one major problem
presented, but each case problem of a case is often the most difficult job facing the business
student. It should be done very carefully, for the entire analysis depends on the problem
definition.
2) SET YOUR OBJECTIVES FOR PROBLEM SOLUTION

Once you have defined the problem in the case (and to help you define it, if it is
especially complex) the student must decide “what he wants to do”. He must get explicit
objectives that he wants his decisions on actions to accomplish. Without such objectives, it
would be impossible to tell a “good” decision from a “bad” one.
It is important that the student decides upon standards of evaluation when he is
setting his case objectives. Standards should be specific enough to lend themselves to easy
implementation.
3) AREA OF CONSIDERATION

a) Personnel Point of View

1) Prospects of job security for ___(names)____ with the company.

2) Human relations and turnover rate at __(company)__.
3) Personal attitude and sense of self-image of _____________.
4) Psychological make-up and career goals/plans of __________.

b) Company’s Point of View

1) High turnover and employee apathy.

2) Future plans and objectives of the company.
3) Present management and personal policy.
 4) OUTLINE ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION

Once the problems have been outlined, and the student has isolated his specific
objectives, the alternative solutions should examined. Each alternative will have its
strengths and weaknesses, and these should be made explicit. None will be “perfect”, but-
by keeping the objectives and standards in mind-one or two approaches can be chosen.
There is no “right” or “wrong” problem solution; the merits of a case analysis depend on
the depth of analysis as well as the decision reached. A student who reaches a sound
decision for unsound reasons is a poorer business manager in the long run, than one who
reaches a questionable decision (in this case) for very sound reasons.
In any case, the student will have to make assumptions about facts that are not
explicitly outlined in the case. The fewer assumptions that have to be made in a case
analysis, the better the analysis is. If you must make assumptions, they should be made
explicit. In no case should a course of action revolve solely around an assumption. If the
student must use an assumptions to support his entire case, it can’t be that strong!
5) COME TO CONCLUSION

Every student should decide upon a course of action before coming to class. The
very process of making a decision and preparing to defend it should open the student’s eye
to the strengths and weaknesses of his analysis. It is most important that the student’s
decision be directed at the problem as defined; and it is equally important that the
consequences of the conclusions be carefully examined.
EXAMPLE PAPER GUIDE IN SOLVING A CASE
1) What is the problem? I. INTRODUCTION
2) What are our objectives? II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
3) What are alternative are open to us? III. OBJECTIVES
4) Come to a conclusion! IV. ARE FOR CONSIDERATIONS
V. ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION
VI. CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATION

VI. CONCLUSION:

Organizational behavior can help the organizations in facing and coping up with these
challenges because these cannot be eliminated. There is no perfect solution to
organizational problems, but if handled with care and diligence, these challenges can be
covered into profitable opportunities. TQM, reengineering, leadership, organizational
culture, group norms etc. are some of the OB concepts which can help in facing various
challenges.

o Management theories developed when managers struggled with the best way to
manage large numbers of people and developing technology.
 o Management theories gave way to organizational behavior as a discipline, which
studies how groups influence organizations.

. . . . this is the end. . . just for now!

EDRALIN M. DELEÑA, MBA

College Instructor
Human Behavior in Organization
09269875590
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
National, Highway, Poblacion, Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte
7110