An Overview of Organizational

Behavior
 What is an Organization?
A consciously coordinated social unit,
composed of 2 or more people , that
functions on a relatively continuous
basis to achieve a common goal or set of
goals
 Contd…
• Org are sets of people who wk together to achieve
shared goals
 What is OB?
A field of study that investigates the impact
that individuals, groups, & structure have on
behavior within organizations, for the
purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s effectiveness
 Other Definitions
The understanding, prediction and management
of human behavior in organizations – Fred
Luthans.

Systematic study and application of human

aspects in management of an organization.
 Why OB?
• Secret of success – Dhirubhai Ambani – One must
have ambition & one must understand the minds
of men

• Ideas are no man’s monopoly

 Management Roles
Interpersonal Informational Decisional

Figure Head: Performs Nerve Centre: Much of the Entrepreneur: Acts as an

certain functions such as non routine information initiator and designer of
receiving important coming into the organization controlled change in the
visitors and signing is received by the manager organization
documents
Leader: Motivates and Disseminator: Must transmit Disturbance handler: Non-
encourages subordinates much of the information routine problems must be
received to subordinates dealt with.
Liaison: Establishes and Spokesperson: Information Resource allocator:
maintains a network of about the organization must Allocates the monetary
relationships with be transmitted to the and non monetary
outsiders outsiders resources

Negotiator: Frequently
must negotiate with the
outsiders in the matters
affecting the organization
 Management Skills

1.Technical skill: an ability to use a special proficiency

or expertise relating to a method, process or
procedure

2. Human skill:
 Managers should be able to work with the good
understanding of people coupled with the art of
motivating them
 Management Skills Contd..

 Human skills help mgrs – motivate e/e & obtain

desired behavior – showing concern for the e/e
family probl

 Without the cooperation of employees, managers

cannot run the organization smoothly and achieving
goals will be difficult

3. Conceptual skills: it is the ability to analyze the

complex situations rationally process and interpret
available information.
 Generalization about behavior
 People tend to develop some generalizations –
helpful in explaining & predicting what others do &
will do

 People understand things either directly from their

own experiences or through the experiences of
others
 Generalization about behavior
• Happy wkrs are productive wkrs (acc to study of
psychology hard wkrs are more productive)
• e/e are more productive when the boss is friendly &
reliable
• Everybody likes a challenging job
• Money motivates everyone
• The members of effective wk gps do not get into
conflict with each other
 Evolution of OB
 Industrial revolution (1776) – Robert Owen –
factory owner – identified human needs of e/e –
Father of Personnel Administration

 Scientific Mgt (1890’s) – F.W Taylor

 Human Relations movement (1920’s) – Elton Mayo

 Human Relations

• A systematic, developing body of knowledge devoted

to explaining the behaviour of individuals in the
working organisations
 Contribution of other disciplines to Human
Relations and Organisational behaviour
1. Psychology
 The science that seeks to measure, explain &
sometimes change the behaviour of humans & other
animals
 Contributions are – motivation, individual perception,
learning, training and personality

2. Sociology
 The study of people in relation to their fellow human
beings
 Analysis of group behaviour in formal and complex
organisation at the group and organisation level
 Contribution of other disciplines to Human
Relations and Organisational behaviour
3. Social psychology
 An area with in psychology that blends concepts
from psychology & sociology & that focuses on the
influence of people on one another
 Provided many useful insights in attitude change,
communication patterns, group processes and group
decision making
 The study of implementation of change in
organisation and the way in which barriers to change
implementation can be reduced
 Contribution of other disciplines to Human
Relations and Organisational behaviour
4. Industrial Psychology
• Providing a better understanding of individual differences,
various processes of selection and placement, the influence of
physical environment on human performance, accident and
safety etc
5. Anthropology (origins and social relationships of human
beings)
• The study of societies to learn about human beings & their
activities
• Impact of cultural factors on OB, value system, concepts of
interaction, comparative norms, values and attitudes,
organisational culture and cross cultural analysis
 Contribution of other disciplines to Human
Relations and Organisational behaviour
6. Economics
• Provides insights into the aspects of decision and
choice, factors that needed to be considered while
choosing the most suitable option, policies that affect
the economic growth of the firm
7. Political science
• The study of the behaviour of individuals & groups
with in a political environment
• Contributions are in the areas of structuring of
conflict, allocation of power, politics within the
organisation and the overall administrative process
 Undergoing a paradigm shift
• From Greek paradeigma – model, pattern,
example

• First intro by – the philosophy of science

historian – Thomas Kuhn

• & now used as – a broad model, a frame wk, a

way of thinking, a scheme for understanding
reality
 Undergoing a paradigm shift contd..
• Old mgt paradigm to new paradigm – shift is
difficult

• Goal of OB – help today’s & tom’s mgrs –

make the transition to the new paradigm

• Coverage of IT, globalization, managing

diversity & ethics, culture, reward s/m & so
on…
 Significance of Human relations and
Organisational Behaviour
1. Developmental skills
Changing business environment – more stress
Later realised that human resource is the
most important asset
Manager should spend time in improving
interpersonal relations and direct the
employees to improve their quality of
performance
 Significance of Human relations and
Organisational Behaviour contd..
2. Organisational performance – human relations & OB
make productive org

 According to Keith Davis

o Knowledge X Skill = Ability
o Attitude X Situation = Motivation
o Ability X Motivation = Potential performance
o Human performance X Resources = Organisational
performance
 Research foundations for OB - Hawthorne Studies
(1924 - 1932)

• Hawthorne works of the Western Electric company

Chicago

1. The illumination experiments

• Researcher modified the level of illumination

• Two groups - control group and experimental group

 Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

• Illumination was not changed for the control group

throughout the course of experiment

• Illumination was changed constantly for the

experimental group

• Experimental group - when illumination enhanced

productivity increased

• Control group - No change of illumination -

productivity increases
 Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

• Researchers identified that productivity is influenced

by some other factor

2. Relay assembly room experiments

• Elton mayo and Fritz J. Roethlisberger

• Initially 2 girls were selected for the experiment

• In turn they were asked to choose 4 other girls

 Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

• These girls were placed in a test room where they had

to assemble telephone relays

• Productivity can be identified by variables like rest

pauses, cutting down on work hours, decreasing
temperature and humidity
 Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

Findings
• Irrespective of the changes made there was an overall
increase in the productivity

• Researcher realized that since the girls were given a

great deal of freedom they had formed an informal
group, which also included the observer - informal
organisation concept
 Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

3. Interview phase

• During the time of experiment 21000 people were

interviewed over three-year period (1928 - 30)
 Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…
4. Bank wiring observation room experiments (1931 -
1932)
• Aimed to understand the power of an informal
group and peer pressure on workers productivity

• There are 14 participants

• No change in the physical working conditions

• Workers were paid on the basis of an incentive pay

plan
 Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

• o/p stayed at fairly constant level

• Economic man model behavior is not seen

• Group acceptance appeared – imp to workers

• Informal & social relations with in group

Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

• e/e’s will work hard if they believe – mgt is

concerned about their welfare & supervisors paid
special attention to them – Hawthorne Effect
 Theory X and theory Y

 Proposed by Douglas McGregor

• Theory X assumptions
1. The average person dislikes work and tries to avoid it
2. They have to be either coerced by punishment or
forced by means of financial rewards
3. Average employee prefers to be given directions about
his work and shies (jumps) away from taking greater
responsibility
 Theory X and theory Y
• Theory Y assumptions
1.People consider work as natural as play or rest
2.If employees were happy and satisfied they would
be more committed to the achievement of
organizational goals
 Theory Z

 William Ouchi
 Recommended American companies to make
changes in human resource management
 Integrative method combining both American
& Japanese mgt practices
 UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE AND
ORGANIZATION
Uniqueness of human beings

 Theory of Evolution – Charles Darwin

 No fundamental differences in the mental

processes of human beings
& animals

 Acc. to Darwin human beings are not considered

as unique species
 Understanding People And Organization contd..

 Human limitations
 Human behavior is influenced by external & internal
factors

 External factors – situations, behavior of other

individuals

 Internal factors – personality traits (aggressive

behavior)
 Influence of internal & external factors on human
behavior
 Instinct Vs Environment
 Instincts are involuntary actions performed by a
person
 Without considering the consequences of the actions

 Personality Vs Environment
 Personality can be changed
 Acc. to some personality cannot be changed
 Influence of internal & external factors on human
behavior contd..
 Cognition Vs Environment
• Acc. to cognitive theorists and behaviorists – learning and
environment (stimulus) have an impact on behavior

Understanding Behavior

• Though human beings differ in many aspects, they share

some common elements

e.g. Learning – process of learning is same – but what they

learn is depends on environment
• Understanding behavior is associated with learning
(Chapter 2)
 Organization Behavior Models

1.The Autocratic model

 Power and authority
• Who hold power have – authority to demand wk
• Wk can be extracted – pushing, directing &
persuading
• Harsh, demotivating to e/e – yield results –
industrial revolution (US) – moderate result
 Organization Behavior Models

2. The Custodial model

 E/e tolerate the ill treatment silently – autocratic
model,
• insecurity & frustration vent out on family &
friends
• wk place – complete wk-increase scrap, defective
items, withhold imp info

 E/r started welfare prog – to increase morale –

known as paternalism (offered fringe benefits, job
security)
 Organization Behavior Models

 But org should have surplus resources - to pay for

benefits
 e/e cease to depend on the managers – dependence
on org increases – helps to retain e/e
 Assured of economic reward and benefits
irrespective of performance – negative impact on
org performance
 Drawback – e/e do not contribute to the best of their
abilities
 Organization Behavior Models

3. The Supportive model

 Based on the principle of supportive relationship and
leadership rather than on power & money
 e/e work hard & strive to enhance their performance
– not under compulsion - motivated by the support
extended by the mgt
 Does not pressurize the financial resources – requires
mgrs to change attitude
 Organization Behavior Models

4. The Collegial model

 The extension of the supportive model
 Collegial (friendly, mutually respectful) – gp of
persons wking for a common purpose
 Team or gp oriented model – for creative projects
 Self disciplined e/e
 The manager is like a leader
 Global Challenges
• Adapting to different people – gender, race

• Improving qly & productivity – TQM

• Improving Ethical behavior