ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN & BEHAVIOR

HUMAN BEHAVIOR
“We have indeed created man of the best stature, then do We reduce him to the lowest
of the low, except those who believe and do good deeds”.
Al Qur’an [95:4-6]

INTRODUCTION
 Until late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized technical aspects of management,
focusing on economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative techniques.
 Course work in human behavior & people skills received relatively less attention.
 Over past three decades, however, businesses have come to realize the role that
understanding human behavior plays in determining a manager’s effectiveness.

Attitudes
 An attitude represents a person's general feeling of favorableness or un-favorableness toward
a particular object whether a person, place, event, or idea and indicates one’s feelings or affect
toward that object.
 Attitudes also tend to be stable over time and are difficult to change.
 They are made up of beliefs, feelings, and tendencies.
 They affect behavior through intentions.

Behavior
 Behavior is the range of actions and mannerisms made by organisms or systems, in
conjunction with their environment.
 It is the response of system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or
external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.
 Organisms with more complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new
responses and thus adjust their behavior.
Organizational Behavior (OB)
o Study of the actions of people at work; the most important asset of an organization.
o Field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have
on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s effectiveness.

Douglas McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X
 Average employee is lazy, dislikes work, and will try to do as little as possible
 Manager’s task is to supervise closely and control employees through reward and punishment
Theory Y
 Employees will do what is good for the organization when committed
 Manager’s task is to create a work setting that encourages commitment to organizational goals
and provide opportunities for employees to exercise initiative
 Effective Versus Successful Managerial Activities

Major Behavioral Science Disciplines that Contribute to OB

 OB is an applied behavioral science that is built upon contributions from a number of
behavioral disciplines.

Psychology
 Science that seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behavior of humans and
other animals.
 Psychologists studied problems of fatigue, boredom, and working conditions that could impede
work performance. Their contributions include:
 Learning
 Perception
 Personality
 Emotions
 Training
 Leadership Effectiveness
 Needs And Motivational Forces
 Job Satisfaction
 Decision-making Processes
 Performance Appraisals
 Employee-selection Techniques
 Work Design
 Job Stress
Sociology
 Sociology studies people in relation to their social environment or culture.
 Sociologists have contributed to OB through :
o study of group behavior in organizations,
o organizational culture,
o structure,
o communications,
o power,
o and conflict.

Social Psychology
 A branch of psychology, which blends concepts from both psychology and sociology to focus
on peoples’ influence on one another.
 One major study area is change —how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its
acceptance.
 Social psychologists contribute to :
o measuring, understanding, and changing attitudes;
o identifying communication patterns;
o building trust;
o study of group behavior;
o power and conflict.

Anthropology
 Study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
 Anthropologists work on cultures which helps to understand differences in fundamental
values, attitudes, and behavior between people in different countries and within different
organizations
 Much of our current understanding of organizational culture and differences among national
cultures is a result of the work of anthropologists.

Challenges and Opportunities

o Responding to Economic Pressure
 In economic tough times, effective management is an asset.
 understanding how to reward, satisfy, and retain employees, stress
management, decision making.
o Responding to Globalization
 Increased Foreign Assignments
 Working with People from Different Cultures
o Managing Workforce Diversity
 Workforce diversity acknowledges a
 workforce of women and men;
 many racial and ethnic groups;
 individuals with a variety of physical or psychological abilities;
 and people who differ in age.
o Improving Customer Service
 Today the majority of employees in developed countries work in service jobs.
 Employee attitudes and behavior are associated with customer satisfaction.
o Improving People Skills
 People skills are essential to managerial effectiveness.
 OB provides the concepts and theories that allow managers to channelize
employee behavior in given situations.
o Stimulating Innovation and Change
 Successful organizations must foster innovation and master the art of change.
 Employees can be the impetus for innovation and change or a major block.
 Managers must stimulate employees’ creativity and tolerance for change.
o Coping with “Temporariness”
 Organizations must be flexible and fast in order to survive.
 OB provides help in understanding a work world of continual change, how to
overcome resistance to change, and how to create an organizational culture that
thrives on change.
o Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts
 Communication technology has provided a vehicle for working at any time or any
place.
 Employees are working longer hours per week.
 The lifestyles of families have changed—creating conflict.
 Balancing work and life demands now surpasses job security as an employee
priority.
 o Creating a Positive Work Environment
 Organizations have realized creating a positive work environment can be a
competitive advantage.
 This field of study focuses on employees’ strengths versus their limitations as
employees. Highlights situations in which they performed at their personal best.
o Improving Ethical Behavior
 Ethical dilemmas are situations in which an individual is required to define right
and wrong conduct.
 Good ethical behavior is not so easily defined.
 Organizations are distributing codes of ethics to guide employees through ethical
dilemmas.
 Managers need to create an ethically healthy climate.

Implications for Managers

 Work on your interpersonal skills to increase your leadership potential.
 Improve your technical skills and conceptual skills through training & staying current with OB.
 OB can
o improve your employees’ work quality and productivity by empowering them
o design and implement change programs
o improve customer service
o help your employees balance work-life conflicts
o committed workforce

Bottom Line: OB Is For Everyone

 OB is not just for managers.
 OB focuses on improving productivity, reducing absenteeism and turnover, and increasing
employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment- “more control and say in their work.”
 OB applies equally well to all situations in which you interact with others:
 on the basketball court, at the grocery store, in university, in organizations