Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1
AN OVERVIEW OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS
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. It follows that those who have knowledge of human
behavior are better equipped to interact with individuals, groups, or organizations.
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 organization is more appropriately referred to as organizational behavior (OB).
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Organizational behavior or OB may be defined as the study of human behavior in organization, of the
interaction between individuals and the organization, and of the organization itself.
The Goals of OB
The three goals of OB are as follows:
1. To explain behavior
2. To predict behavior
3. To control behavior.
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
2. Structure
3. Technology
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
organizations performance. It includes suppliers, customers, competitors, government regulatory agencies,
public pressure groups, and others.
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
4. Sharpening and refinement of common sense
Development of People Skills

There are two types of skills that a person will need to succeed in his chosen career:
1. The skill in doing his work
2. The skill in relating with people
A person who is much adept in the performance in 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 the 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 behavior of others through the study
of OB will help the person understand his own behavior. 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 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 level. In those types of concerns, knowledge of OB may be very useful.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB)

History tells us that behind every major accomplishments of man is some sort of organization.
Thousands of years ago, the pyramids of Egypt and the temples in Central and South America were built by
workers recruited from among the populace. Whether or not there were attempts to make these types of workers
perform better can be subject of inquiry. What we see in the movies is the whip, which as we understand was
designed to make the workers do their assigned tasks.
It is modern history, however, that provide us with records of how concerned scientists 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 has an 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 a major part of people’s behavior.
Though 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 of 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 towards 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.
ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

May and 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 favorites in the workplace These and
similar behaviors in the organization happen every now and then. Should the propriety of such behaviors be the
concern of organizations?
If allowing such actions become the norm rather than the exception, would it be 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 or 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 behavior 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 of 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 it is to the
detriment of the organization if such actions are allowed to flourish.

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CHAPTER 1

AN OVERVIEW OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS

WHAT IS HUMAN BEHAVIOR

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

THE BENEFITS OF STUDYING ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB)

Development of People Skills

Enhancement of Organizational and Individual Effectiveness

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB)

ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

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