Module-1:

Understanding Human Behaviour

Faculties - Dr Deepali Pai, Mr T S

Narayanan
What are organizations?
 They are groups of people who work independently

towards some common purpose

 Organizations are not physical structures; rather, they are

people who work together to achieve a set of shared

goals.
 People who work in organizations have structured

patterns of interactions, meaning that they expect each

other to complete certain tasks in an organized way.
Why do organizations exist?
Organization Behaviour
OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an
organization (social system) and how that behavior affects the
performance of the organization. It consists of 2 words –

1. Organization 2. Behavior. For a complete understanding of

behavior, it has to be understood at 3 levels:
• Individual Behavior
• Individual and group behavior
• Organizational structure
The essence of OB
Why study OB?
 OB provides a road map to our lives in organizations.

 The field of OB uses scientific research to help us understand

and predict organizational life

 OB helps us influence organisational events

 OB helps an individual understand oneself and others better

 Manager in a business establishment is concerned with getting

things done through delegation

 Useful for maintaining cordial industrial relations
Definitions of OB
Luthans:
 “OB is directly concerned with the understanding, predicting and

controlling of human behavior in organizations.”

LM Prasad:
 The study and application of knowledge about human behaviour

related to other elements of an organization such as structure,

technology and social systems

Stephen P Robins:
 Organizational behaviour is a systematic study of the actions and

attitudes that people exhibit within organizations.

Basic process of OB
 Foundations of OB

Whilst the first four concepts centre around people, the next two are
concerned with organizations. The last two are a combination of the first five
assumptions
 Contributing fields to OB
Psychology: an applied science, that attempts to explain human
behaviour in a particular situation and predicts their actions

Sociology: studies the impact of culture on group behaviour

Political science:government rules and regulations play a very

decisive role in growth of the organization.

Social psychology: concept of psychology and sociology are blend

to achieve better human behaviour in organization.

Anthropology:a field of study relating to human activities in

various cultural and environmental frameworks.
End of Lecture-1
Scope of OB

 OB is the study of human behaviour within organizations.

 The subject encompasses the study of individual

behaviour, interpersonal behaviour, and of the
organizations themselves.
 It encompasses the study of human behaviour at

individual level, in a group and in an organization.

 Significance of OB
 Managing workplace diversity

 Improving ethical behavior

 Defines authority, power and status of an employee

 Makes communication effective

 In making effective groups and giving motivation

 Essential for effective strategy implementation

 Makes effective organizational structure

 For organizational development

Nature of OB

A separate field of study and not a discipline only

An inter-disciplinary approach
A normative science
A science and art
Humanistic and Optimistic approach
Oriented towards organizational objectives
A total system approach
Characteristics of OB
Integral part of management
Goal oriented
Dynamic
On-going process
Multi-level analysis
Branch of Social Science
Both Science and Art
Normative Science
Inter disciplinary
Structure of OB
 Intrapersonal behaviour covers such aspects as personality,

attitude, perception, learning, opinion, motivation, job

satisfaction, and stress management.
 Interpersonal behaviour includes group dynamics, team

dynamics, intergroup conflict, leadership, communication,

transaction analysis, and the like.
 About organizations, the study covers such aspects as their

formation, structures, effectiveness and formal and informal

organizations.
Models of OB

 There are four models of organizational behavior:

1. Autocratic model

2. Custodial model

3. Supportive model

4. Collegial model
Models of OB
  Autocratic Custodial Supportive Collegial
Basis of Power Economic Leadership Partnership
Model resources
Managerial Authority Money Support Teamwork
Orientation
Employee Obedience Security and Job Responsible
Orientation benefits performance behavior
Employee Dependence Dependence Participation Self-
psychologica on boss on discipline
l result organization
Employee Subsistence Security Status and Self-
needs met recognition actualization
Performanc Minimum Passive Awakened Moderate
e result cooperation drives enthusiasm
 Organizational components
 People: are the main component of any organization that has to

be managed. Need spectrum of individuals, relationship between

workers, work teams and groups play vital roles in organization.
 Organization structure: whether formal or informal.

 Technology: whether latest or not.

 Processes: they contribute to the productivity of organization.

 External environment
Foundation of individual behaviour
 Biological and Individual Factors
Age: is one of the important factors to generate productivity.

Gender: There is no gender difference for skills that are required

for problem solving, analytical skills, competitive drive,
motivation, sociability and learning ability.

Marital Status: Marriage imposes increased responsibilities on an

individual.

Tenure: referred to as experience-Work experience is considered

to be a good indicator of employee productivity

Ability: is individuals’ capacity to perform various tasks in a job

Emotional Intelligence
 Is a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to

monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to

discriminate among them, and to use this information to
guide one’s thinking and action.
 Emotional competence refers to the personal and social

skills that lead to superior performance in the world of

work. The emotional competencies are linked to and based
on emotional intelligence.
Learned Characteristics
Personality: Personality is sum total of ways in which an individual
reacts and interacts with others. Personality is greatly influenced by the
environment that a person has been brought up and heredity factors.
 Environment: It refers to culture in which a person is raised. Culture

establishes norms, values and attitude that are passed on to

generations.
 Heredity: is made up of biological factors- like physical stature,

facial attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle composition, energy

level.
 Continued..

Attitude: is a tendency to act/think in certain ways either

favorably or unfavorably concerning objects, people or
situation.

Values: Values are beliefs that guide actions and

judgments across a variety of situations.
End of Lecture-2
Individual behaviour
 Individual behavior can be defined as a mix of responses to

external and internal stimuli.

 It is the way a person reacts in different situations and the way

someone expresses different emotions.

Causes of Individual Behavior:

 Inherited and individual characteristics

 Learned characteristics
Inherited and Individual characteristics
Inherited features:
 Physical attributes

 Intelligence

 Gender

Individual features:
 Age

 Marital status

 Stage of life cycle

Learned characteristics
Significance of individual behaviour
 Motivation and engagement of employees

 Decision making to meet goals and objectives of

organization
 Communication within the organization

 Group dynamics

 Adaptability

 Legal and ethical compliance

Individual behaviour in groups
 A group is defined as two or more individuals interacting

and interdependent to achieve particular objectives.

 Groups can be formal or informal.

 Analysis at the group level includes group dynamics,

decision, power, organizational culture, conflict,

leadership, communication.
 Study of group behaviour in organizations involve how

groups of people function together and interact.

Significance of group behaviour
 Identifies group dynamics-how power, influence and
conflicts are distributed among members of a group.
 Enhances decision making and communication

 Enhances the performance of the group

 Improves organization culture

 Conflict identification and resolution

 Analyzes strengths and weaknesses of groups

 Enhances employee satisfaction.

Individual behaviour in organization
 When groups are combined together, they create
organizations.
 Focus of analysis at this level is how people structure

their working relationships and how organizations

interact with external environment forces.
 Major factors to be considered here are organization

structure, organization culture, power and politics,

change and development.
End of Lecture-3
Factors of organization level analysis
 Organization culture: values, beliefs and norms shared by

individuals within an organization, shaping their behaviour.

 Organization structure: rules and procedures in an organization

that govern the behaviour of individuals- formal and informal.

 Organizational dynamics: processes like communication,
decision making and power dynamics in an organization.
 Organizational change: changes to an organization’s culture,

structure and dynamics.

Significance of organization level analysis
 Enhancing organizational performance

 Increasing employee satisfaction

 Promoting workplace culture

 Improving communication-within and with external

forces.
 Building strong leadership

 Change management

 Risk identification and mitigation.

S-R Model of human behaviour
This model assumes that the reasons which cause human
behaviour are of two types:
 (i) Internal Feeling

 (ii) External Environment

Internal feelings of a person may relate to his motivational

factor whereas the external environment which is also called
the stimulus directly influences the activity of a person.
Process of S-R model
 According to this approach, behaviour is determined by the

stimulus- ie: the external environment forces determine the

behaviour of a person at any given moment.
 There is a direct relation between stimulus and response that is

why this process is called S-R process.

Drawback of S-R model
 The basic drawback of this model is that organism or person

is considered immobile and passive.

 In reality the person concerned plays an important role in

behaviour which is influenced by the internal feelings of the

person.
 This model, thus, does not give a complete picture as to

what caused the person to act in a particular way in a

particular situation.
S-O-B-A model of human behaviour
 S-O-B-A model is a comprehensive model of human behaviour

which combines the S-R situation and human being.

 But O in this model is not passive or immobile, but it is a

mediating, maintenance and adjective function between S and

R.
 S- Stimulus
 The S in this model stands for stimulus or the external

environmental situation.
 It includes light, heat, sound, actions of supervisors or other aspects

of environment to which a person is sensitive.

 It stimulates the organism or person into action, interrupt what

they are doing and help them to make their choices.

 The stimulus incorporates all aspects of the environment-
immediate stimulus, physical environment and socio-cultural
environment.
O-Organism
 The O in this model stands for the organism as the

person.
 But this O does not stand for only the physiological being

but also it includes the processes within the person e.g;

heredity, maturity, knowledge, skills, values, perceptions,
attitudes, personality and motivation.
 The double headed arrow between S and O indicates the

interaction between the situation and organism.

B-Behaviour
 The B stands for behaviour.

 It includes both overt and covert behaviour such as body

movements, talking, facial expressions, emotions,

sentiments and thinking.
 The response of organism indicated by a single headed

arrow is the behaviour.

 Behaviour is anything that a person does; it is not

something that is done to a person.

A-Accomplishments
 The A stands for accomplishments and consequences.

 When behaviour, in turn, acts on the outside world, it

leads to accomplishment as shown by single headed

arrow.
 It is assumed that the accomplishments may further

change the stimulating conditions and thereby influence

the subsequent behaviour or it may create new stimulus
leading to new behaviour.
 Continued..
 Since behaviour is influenced by the interaction of S with

O, any change in S and O will definitely influence the

behaviour
 Further, the same behaviour may have different causes.

 In order to adequately understand and evaluate the

behaviour, it is essential to determine which cause is

involved in a particular instance.
 The type of treatment of the S or of the O that will work in

one cause may not work in another cause or even with the
Challenges

Challenges at the Individual Level

– Job Satisfaction
– Empowerment
– Behaving Ethically
Challenges at the Group Level
– Working With Others

– Workforce Diversity
End of Lecture-4