Introduction to Organizational Behaviour

Meaning
Organizational Behaviour helps to understand different activities and actions of people in an organization &
change in the workforce & their motivation. In this new era, Business manager and competition manager
should concentrate on changing aspects such as employee’s nature, reaction and response to different
situations of the organization.
The changing technology, political & social structure, culture & values, economic and many factors are
responsible for a new structure and work environment of organizations.
OB is the study of individual behaviour in isolation, when in group and as a part of an organisation. The
study of individual behaviour only, would be incomplete because behaviour is affected by the people
surrounding us as well as by the organisation, in which we work. Studying only individuals or only
organisations would be of no use. It is essential to study both simultaneously.
Definition of Organisational Behaviour
Below is one of the simplest definitions of organisational behaviour.
“Organisational Behaviour can be defined as the study of human behaviour in the workplace, the interaction
between people and the organization, and the organization itself.”
3 Levels: Individual, Group and Organisational Structure Level
OB can be defined as actions and behaviors of individuals and groups towards and their impact on the
organization’s overall functioning and performance. OB can be studied at various levels within an
organization, and each level has a unique set of roles, responsibilities, and goals.
Following points discuss the three levels briefly:
1. Individual Level – Deals with the concepts at the individual level. Examples of individual-level concepts
are perception, personality, learning, motivation, and attitude.
2. Group Level – Deals with the concepts at the group level. Examples of group-level concepts are team,
conflict, leadership, power, and politics. Group-level concepts may include how groups are formed, how to
make effective teams, how individually and collectively the group activities can be improved, how to
motivate employees, and which type of group would be suitable for a particular assignment.
3. Organizational Structure Level – Deals with the concepts at the organizational level. Examples of
organizational-level concepts are change management and organizational culture. Other topics discussed at
organizational level include the concept of organization, different organizational models, and organizational
change along with its impact and implementation. The working conditions and stress management are also
discussed at the organizational level.
Nature of Organisational Behaviour
1. A Separate Field of Study and Not a Discipline Only:
It is a discipline which is based on a theoretical foundation. O.B. has a multi- interdisciplinary orientation and is,
thus, not based on a specific theoretical background associated with other fields. Therefore, it is better reasonable
to call O.B. a separate field of study rather than a discipline only.
2. An Interdisciplinary Approach:
Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human behaviour at work. It tries to
integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthropology to
make them applicable for studying and analysing organizational behaviour.
3. An Applied Science:
The nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the application of various researches to solve the
organizational problems related to human behaviour. The basic line of difference between pure science and O.B. is
that while the former concentrates of fundamental researches, the latter concentrates on applied researches. O.B.
involves both applied research and its application in organizational analysis. Hence, O.B. can be called both
science as well as art.
4. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach:
Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people working in the organization. It, deals with
the thinking and feeling of human beings. O.B. is based on the belief that people have an innate desire to be
independent, creative and productive. It also realizes that people working in the organization can and will actualise
these potentials if they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects performance or workers
working in an organization.
5. A Total System Approach:
The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational functioning. The systems
approach has been developed by the behavioural scientists to analyse human behaviour in view of his/her socio-
psychological framework. Man’s socio- psychological framework makes man a complex one and the systems
approach tries to study his/her complexity and find solution.

Characteristics Organisational Behaviour

According the Keith Davis, ‘Organisational behaviour is an academic discipline concerned with understanding
and describing human behaviour in an organisational environment’. It seeks to shed light on the whole complex
human factor in organisations by identifying causes and effects of that behaviour.
Another definition provided by Joe Kelly states, ‘Organisational behaviour is the systematic study of the nature of
organisations, how they begin, grow, develop, and their effect on individual members, constituent groups, other
organisations and larger institutions’.
Modern organisational behaviour is characterised by the acceptance of a human resource model. It takes a more
positive view of human beings. People are accepted as they are and not prejudged using stereotypes.
Some of the important characteristics of organisational behaviour are discussed as follows:
1. Organisational behaviour is a rational thinking, not an emotional feeling about people. The major goals of
organisational behaviour are to explain and predict human behavioural in organisations. It is action-oriented and
goal-directed.
2. Organisational behavioural seeks to balanced human and technical values at work. It seeks to achieve
productivity by building and maintaining employee’s dignity, growth and satisfaction, rather than at the expense
of these values.
3. Organisational behaviour integrates behavioural sciences. Many of its core concepts are borrowed from
others fields and discipline like social psychology, sociology, and anthropology, etc.
4. Organisational behaviour exists at multiple like levels. Behaviour occurs at the individual, the group, and the
organisational systems levels. Behaviour that is attributable to each of these levels can be both identified and
isolated but at the same time these three levels interact with each other and OB-being affected by the behaviour of
individuals, group level behaviour is affected by the organisational level phenomena and so on.
5. Organisations are made up of both social and technical components and therefore characterized as social-
technical systems. The operational implication of this is that any approach of looking at behaviour must also take
into account the technical component of organisation especially such issues as the nature of work and the
technology.
Key Element of Organisational Behaviour
Understanding people is not sufficient and hence OB extends its scope to structure, technology and the
environment also. Elements given below can be undertaken as a part of the scope of organisational
behaviour.
• People
• Environment
• Technology and
• Structure
People, structure, technology and the external environment are the key elements of the organizational
behaviour.

Disciplines To Organizational Behavior (OB)

Organizational behavior (OB) is characterized by being a multidisciplinary discipline in nature as so OB is
contributed by various disciplines.
These disciplines have developed and made organizational behaviour a strong separate field of study with its
own applications to use. As the complexities are increasing, OB has faced many complexities and assumed
to use ideas of some disciplines that led it to bring success in the organizational functions.
The major contributing disciplines to the field of organizational behaviour are:
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Social Psychology
• Anthropology
• Political Science
• Economics
Here, we will discuss all these disciplines and how they have contributed to organizational behaviour to be a
better discipline.
Psychology:
Psychology is the behavioural science that studies human behaviour and mental processes. It is the science
of humans. It is the best tool to understand why people think, what they think, and how they think.
Psychology helps to know why people think and behave the way they do. Its major seven perspectives –
cognitive, behavioural, psychologycal, humanistic, biological, socio-cultural, and evolutionary are what let
us understand human behaviour in a better way.
Psychology has contributed many important concepts to OB, such as:
• Motivation
• Learning
• Perception
• Personality
• Emotion
• Training
• Employee Selection
• Attitude
• Work Design
• Job Stress, etc.
Since organizational behaviour is also a behavioural approach the above contributions of psychology have
made better use in organizational settings. Such as motivation, is the influencer of employees when
motivation is seen in employees the organizational performance seems to be positively boosted, and learning
on the job further enhances the skills of employees.
Sociology:
Sociology is the study of human behaviour in a social setting consisting of human interaction, social ties,
and growth of society, structure, and regulations. Sociology believes humans are social beings, they are in
groups.
Sociologists study humans in group behaviour. After psychology, sociology is one of the most important
contributing disciplines to the field of organizational behaviour.
The major contributions areas of sociology are
• group dynamics,
• status, culture, power,
• communication,
• socialization,
• organizational change, and
• technology
Sociologists view an organization as a system consisting of a variety of people having different roles,
statuses, power, and authorities.
A manager should use the concept of sociology to understand a group’s behaviour at both group and
organizational levels and take appropriate managerial actions.
Social Psychology:
Social psychology is the combination of both psychology and sociology. It studies the social behaviour and
thought of people plus how people think, feel, process, and act. It explains the interaction, interdependence,
and influence of people among one another.
It studies the behaviour of people at the group level. One of the main contributions of social psychology to
the OB is how to predict, manage, and change the behaviour of humans in organizational settings.
Social psychologists study various areas combining both sociology and psychology but the most important
for organizational behaviour are the concept of behavioural change, attitude change, communication, group
process, and group decision making.
Anthropology:
Anthropology is the science of humans. It studies the evolution or development stages of human beings
consisting of human nature, different societies, and how different cultures are developed.
It also studies how humans interacted with their environment, how they are now, and how in the future and
how humans are civilized.
It helps to understand the society of humans and their activities. Its major contributions include comparative
values, attitude, analysis, and norms and it helps to understand cultural factors in organizational settings
such as organizational culture, environment, power, and so on.
Political Science:
Political science deals with politics and its practices in different scenarios. It mainly concerns the allocation
of power, conflict resolution, group togrtherness, and how to manipulate power for individual self-interest.
Its concerns in OB mainly deal with the allocation of power to the employees, manipulation, and controlling
of conflicts in the organization.
Today, organizations are also regarded as a political system. Thus, a manager should understand the
structure of politics and how it works. The study of politics helps managers to understand the dynamics of
power and politics and help apply them in the organizational settings in a proper way.
Economics:
The science of economics is related to the cost. It is the study of how to minimize cost, how to best use
scarce resources, and achieve more from less.
To run the daily operations of the organization there is a need for money. The study of economics helps
managers to best use the organization’s limited resources. And, economic factors such as labour market
dynamics, wages, demand-supply, cost of production, etc. also influence organizational behaviour.

Challenges and Opportunities for Organizational Behaviour

➢ Improving People Skills:

Technological changes, structural changes, environmental changes are accelerated at a faster rate
in business field. Unless employees and executives are equipped to possess the required skills to adapt
those changes, the achievement of the targeted goals cannot be achieved in time. There two different
categories of skills – managerial skills and technical skills. Some of the managerial skills include
listening skills, motivating skills, planning and organizing skills, leading skills, problem solving skill,
decision making skills etc. These skills can be enhanced by organizing a series of training and
development programmes, career development programmes, induction and socialization etc.
Suggestion/Implications for Managers: Designing an effective performance appraisal system with built-in
training facilities will help upgrade the skills of the employees to cope up the demands of the external
environment. The lower level cadre in management is required to possess more of technical skills. As
they move towards upward direction, their roles will be remarkably changed and expected to have more
of human relations and conceptual skills.

➢ Improving Quality and Productivity:

Quality is the extent to which the customers or users believe the product or service surpasses their needs
and expectations. More and more managers are confronting to meet the challenges to fulfill the specific
requirements of customers. In order to improve quality and productivity, they are implementing programs
like total quality management and reengineering programs that require extensive employee involvement.

Total Quality Management (TQM): It is a philosophy of management that is driven by the constant
attainment of customer satisfaction through the continuous improvement of all organizational process.
The component of TQM are (a) intense focus of the customer
(b) concern for continual improvement (c) improvement in the quality of everything the organization does
(d) accurate measurement and (e) empowerment of employees.

Reengineering: This refers to radically rethinking and redesigning those processes by which we create
value for customers and do work. It requires managers to reconsider how work would be done and their
organisation structured if they were to start from beginning.
Implications for Managers: Today’s managers understand that any efforts to improve quality and
productivity must influence their employees. These employees will not only be a major force in carrying
out changes, but increasingly will participate actively in planning those changes. Managers will put
maximum effort in meeting the customer’s requirements by involving everyone from all the levels and
across all functions. Top management’s participation and commitment and a culture of continuous
improvement must be established.

➢ Managing Workforce Diversity:

This refers to employing different categories of employees who are heterogeneous in terms of
gender, race, ethnicity, relation, community, physically disadvantaged, homosexuals, elderly people etc.
The primary reason to employ heterogeneous category of employees is to tap the talents and
potentialities, harnessing the innovativeness, obtaining synergetic effect among the divorce workforce. In
general, employees wanted to retain their individual and cultural identity, values and life styles even
though they are working in the same organization with common rules and regulations. The major
challenge for organizations is to become more accommodating to diverse groups of people by addressing
their different life styles, family needs and work styles.
Implications for Managers: Managers have to shift their philosophy from treating everyone alike
to recognizing individual differences and responding to those differences in ways that will ensure
employee retention and greater productivity while, at the same time not discriminating. If work force
diversity is managed more effectively, the management is likely to acquire more benefits such as
creativity and innovation as well as improving decision making skills by providing different perspectives
on problems. If diversity is not managed properly and showed biases to favour only a few categories of
employees, there is potential for higher turnover, more difficulty in communicating and more
interpersonal conflicts.

➢ Responding to Globalization:
Today’s business is mostly market driven; wherever the demands exist irrespective of distance,
locations, climatic conditions, the business operations are expanded to gain their market share and to
remain in the top rank etc. Business operations are no longer restricted to a particular locality or region.
Company’s products or services are spreading across the nations using mass communication, internet,
faster transportation etc.
Implications for Managers: Globalization affects managerial skills in at least two ways:
i) The Manager has to manage a workforce that is likely to have very different needs, aspirations
and attitudes from the ones that they are used to manage in their home countries. ii) Understanding the
culture of local people and learn to adapt management styles to these different cultures is very critical for
the success of business operations. One of the main personality traits required for expatriate managers is
to have sensitivity to understand the individual differences among people and exhibit tolerance to it.

➢ Empowering People
Empowerment is defined as putting employees in charge of what they do by eliciting some sort of
ownership in them. The main issue is delegating more power and responsibility to the lower level cadre
of employees and assigning more freedom to make choices about their schedules, operations, procedures
and the method of solving their work-related problems. Encouraging the employees to participate in work
related decision will sizably enhance their commitment at work. Managers are doing considerably further
by allowing employees full control of their work. An increasing number of organizations are using self-
managed teams, where workers operate largely without boss. Due to the implementation of empowerment
concepts across all the levels, the relationship between managers and the employees is reshaped.
Implications for Manager: The executive must learn to delegate their tasks to the subordinates
and make them more responsible in their work. And in so doing, managers have to learn how to give up
control and employees have to learn how to take responsibility for their work and make appropriate
decision. If all the employees are empowered, it drastically changes the type of leadership styles, power
relationships, the way work is designed and the way organizations are structured.

➢ Coping with ‘Temporariness”

In recent times, the Product life cycles are slimming, the methods of operations are improving,
and fashions are changing very fast. In those days, the managers needed to introduce major change
programs once or twice a decade. Today, change is an ongoing activity for most managers. The concept
of continuous improvement implies constant change. In yester years, there used to be a long period of
stability and occasionally interrupted by short period of change, but at present the change process is an
ongoing activity due to competitiveness in developing new products and services with better features.
Everyone in the organization faces today is one of permanent temporariness. The actual jobs that workers
perform are in a permanent state of flux. So, workers need to continually update their knowledge and
skills to perform new job requirements.
Implications for Manager: Managers and employees must learn to cope with temporariness. They
have to learn to live with flexibility, spontaneity, and unpredictability. The knowledge of Organizational
Behaviors will help understand better the current state of a work world of continual change, the methods
of overcoming resistance to change process, the ways of creating a better organizational culture that
facilitates change process etc.

➢ Stimulating Innovation and Change

Today’s successful organizations must foster innovation and be proficient in the art of change;
otherwise they will be vanished from their field of business. Victory will go to those organizations that
maintain flexibility, continually improve their quality, and beat the competition to the market place with a
constant stream of innovative products and services. Implications for Managers: Some of the basic
functions of business are being displaced due to the advent of a new systems and procedures. The
challenge for managers is to stimulate employee creativity and tolerance for change.
 ➢ Emergence of E-Organization
E- Commerce: It refers to the business operations involving electronic mode of transactions. It
encompasses presenting products on websites and filling order. The vast majority of articles and media
attention given to using the Internet in business are directed at on-line shopping. In this process, the
marketing and selling of goods and services are being carried out over the Internet.
E-business: It refers to the full breadth of activities included in a successful Internet based
enterprise. As such, e-commerce is a subset of e-business. E-business includes developing strategies for
running Internet-based companies, creating integrated supply chains, collaborating with partners to
electronically coordinate design and production, identifying a different kind of leader to run a „virtual‟
business, finding skilled people to build and operate intranets and websites, and running the back room or
the administrative side. E-business includes the creation of new markets and customers, but it‟s also
concerned with the optimum ways to combine Computers, the Web and Application Software. A sizable
number of multinational corporations are selling goods and services via the Internet.
E-Organizations: This embraces e-commerce and e-business. State and central governments, municipal
corporations are using the Internet for extending all the public utility services more efficiently through
internet. Implications for Managers: The employees must acquire skills, knowledge, attitudes in
learning new technology, overcoming any resistance

➢ Improving Ethical behaviour:

The complexity in business operations is forcing the workforce to face ethical dilemmas, where
they are required to define right and wrong conduct in order to complete their assigned activities. The
ground rules governing the constituents of good ethical behaviour has not been clearly defined.
Differentiating right things from wrong behaviour has become more blurred. Unethical practices have
become a common practice such as successful executives who use insider information for personal
financial gain, employees in competitor business participating in massive cover-ups of defective products
etc.
Implications for Managers: Managers must evolve code of ethics to guide employees through
ethical dilemmas. Organizing seminars, workshops, training programs will help improve ethical
behaviour of employees. Retaining consultants, lawyers, voluntary service organizations to assist the
company in dealing with ethical issues will ensure positive ethical behaviour. Managers need to create an
ethically healthy climate for his employees where they can do their work productively and confront a
minimal degree of ambiguity regarding what constitutes right and wrong behaviour.

Conclusion:
Organisational behaviour can help the organisations in facing and coping up with these challenges because
these cannot be eliminated. There is no perfect situation to organisational problems, but if handled with care
and diligence, these challenges can be converted into profitable opportunities. TQM, Reengineering,
leadership, organisational culture, group norms etc. Are some of the concepts which can help in facing
various challenges.