Organizational Behaviour An Introduction.

What are organizations? Nature of Organizations.

Organizations are made by people who operate within them. They bring in
with them their soft luggage of beliefs, experiences and much more.
1) Organizations are social units deliberately constructed to seek specific
goals.
It is a powerful tool created for the accomplishment of a task, or for
problem-solving, or for whatever purpose that satisfies some human
needs.
Human efforts could be organized in many ways- to provide service for
profit, not-for-profit social service, producing consumer goods etc.
Organizations vary in size-it could be small to very large.
Organization can serve as well as harm the society from where it draws
its resources in which it offers its goods and services.
2) Organizations live longer. They live far beyond the tenure and even the
life of their individual members.
Organizations have their own life cycles with different phases launch,
growth, maturity, and pause. At every phase, members face different
challenges. When the challenges are managed well, the organization
grows, develops and prospers.
3) Organizations are not open for everybody. Only its appointed members
can act within and on behalf of the organization.
They are separated from their environment by a boundary. Within the
boundary the members share roles and responsibility.
Members enjoy certain privileges and have access to and use of the
organizations resources and facilities. Whom to allow access and at
what level in the organization is the sole discretion of the organization.
4) Organizations are complex systems. This complexity depends on the
size of the organization, availability of resources like technology,
manpower, capital and organizational activities selected by the
promoters.
Systems are designed to perform functions like problem-solving,
decision making, communicating and leadership. Organizations also
have formal arrangements in terms of rules, policies etc. for governing
the managerial functions, processes and organizational systems.

5) Organizations have stable arrangement for work and related matters

eg, assignment of work and responsibility to people, places for specific
activities, procedures that define how things should be done, defining
reporting relationships, where decisions are made etc.
6) Organizational processes go beyond being simply rational. This is
because the features of organizations also include behavioural
challenges. Various activities and processes are subject to ambiguity,
uncertainty and possibility of unfavourable outcomes.
In contrast organizational members participating in these processes
may prefer predictability, control, certainty and favourable outcomes.
Because of these opposing forces, not all organizational activities occur
in a rational, objective, optimal and predetermined fashion.
7) Organizational relationships are interdependent. People in higher
authority and status also depend on subordinates to execute their
responsibilities. Mutual interest of members and the organization is
catered to.

The study of Organizational Behaviour involves:

A) The environment in which the organization operates It includes
varying social needs, customer demands, legal political constraints,
economics status and technological changes.
B) The individual in the organization- what influences their performance?
Studies individuals characteristics like personality, attitudes,
perception, emotion, values. How motivation interacts with ability. Use
of rewards and punishment in behaviour modification techniques to
help in performance and control misbehavior, and also stress.
C) Interpersonal processes and group behaviour studies group
behaviour, different kind of groups, team dynamics, inter and intra
group conflict, power and politics in organizations.
D) Organizational processes, structure and design various subunits in an
organization.
Organizational processes leadership, communication, decision
making, organizational change and development.
Organizational structure- components of the organization eg,
departments, positions.
Design-job design like specify contents, methods, relationship of jobs
and specific task assignment.

Contributing disciplines:
OB borrows it concepts from many behavioural science disciplines but
mostly from Psychology.
Psychology learning, motivation, personality, emotion, perception,
attitude, training, individual decision making, employee selection,
leadership effectiveness, performance appraisal, work design, work
stress.
Social Psychology behavioural change, attitude
communication, group processes, group decision making.

change,

Sociology group dynamics, work teams, communication, power,

conflict, formal organizational theory, organizational technology,
organizational change, organizational culture.
Anthropology comparative values, comparative attitudes, crosscultural analysis, organizational culture, organizational environment.
Political Science conflict, power, organizational politics.
Skills of a manager
Technical skills specialized knowledge, expertise.
Human skills work with, understand and motivate other people.
Poor listeners, inability to understand others needs, manage conflict,
trust.
Conceptual skills ability to diagnose complex situations, decision
making, identify problems, develop solutions, evaluate, interpret
information.
Challenges faced by organizations today:
Managing in a global environment.
Managing workforce diversity.
Managing technological innovation.
Managing ethical issues.
The specific issues include:
Globalization, information technology- internet, telecommunication,
virtual teams.
The changing workforce demographies, employability, govt. mandate,
socio-political
environment,
work
life
balance
coping
with
temporariness, stimulating innovation, increased foreign assignmentpeople with different needs, aspirations and attitudes. Empowering
people.

Organizational Behaviour:
OB is the study of what people think, feel and do in and around
organizations. It is the systematic study of individuals, teams and
structural characteristics that influence behaviour within organizations.
It is not only relevant for managers or leaders but is also useful to
anyone who works in and around organizations.
OB at times may appear prescriptive.
Unlike physical sciences there are few simple and universal principles
that explain OB. Two people may act differently in the same situation
and the same persons behaviour changes in different situations. There
are no off the shelf readymade solutions to problems. Therefore
situational factors that may moderate the relationship between any
two variables must be considered while interpreting results.
Even where two or more organizations offer the same product, like the
outlets of Pizza Hut, they are not the same everywhere. That is
because organizations are made by people who operate within them,
and when these people enter organizations they bring with their soft
luggage of beliefs, experiences and much more. Understanding these
behavioural dynamics and applying the concepts will help us in
influencing organizational events for the betterment of both- the
organization and the individual.