Name: Bhagyashri Sawant 

Roll Number: 20-1013 

Registration No: 20-1013 

Specialization: Marketing

Batch: 2020-2022 

Institution: Balaji Institute of International Business (BIIB) 

Semester: 1 

Subject Name: Organizational Behaviour

Assignment Number: 1 

Submission Date: 3nd October 2020 

Total Number Of Pages Written: 18

1. Although only some people in an organization need to know about marketing, or
accounting or production, almost everybody benefits by knowing about
Organizational Behaviour. Do you agree with this statement? If not why not? If so,
exactly how can OB help you in your work and with dealing with other people?
Ans. Yes, I agree with the statement. Although only some people in an organization need
to know about marketing, or accounting or production, almost everybody benefits by
knowing about Organizational Behaviour because Organizational Behavior is the
observation of individual and/or group Behavior in response to the other individuals or
group as a whole. It studies Behavior of people or group to know their attitude towards
particular circumstances.  There are various aspects of Organizational Behavior which it
has to deal with, to know the soul of particular Organization.
In an organization, the importance of organizational behaviour has tremendous
necessities. Organizational Behaviour helps us to understand human beings and their
complex natures in the organizations by identifiying the causes and effects of that
behaviour.

Studying Organizational Behaviour has the following benefits:

 OB is a systematic study of the actions and attitudes that people exhibit within
the organisation. It also helps any individual to understand his behaviour.
 OB has proved instrumental for managers in getting their work done
effectively.
 OB lays emphasis on the interaction and relations between organisation and
individual behaviour. It works as a positive attempt in fulfilling psychological
agreement between organisation and the individuals.
 OB delivers job satisfaction to employees and helps in developing work-
related behaviour in the organisation.
 OB helps in building motivating climate in the organisation.
 OB helps in building cordial industrial relations.
 OB smooths the progress of marketing by providing deeper insight of
consumer behaviour and motivating and managing field employees.
 OB helps in predicting behaviour and its application in meaningful way
delivers effectiveness in the organisation.
 OB helps in predicting behaviour and its application in meaningful way
delivers effectiveness in the organisation.
  OB implies effective management of human resources.

How Can Ob Help You In Your Work And With Dealing With Other People?

If I am the Marketing Manager in an organization, OB will help me in the following

ways:

1. Identify and promote positive behaviors: "Prosocial" behaviors within an

organization are those which benefit other individuals and the company as a whole.
Leaders at every level of the organization need to be able to identify, promote and
reward these behaviors -- and conversely, to discourage behaviors that lead to mistrust
and other poor interpersonal dynamics between people who must work together.
2. Create a positive workplace culture: Individual "prosocial" behaviors do not
necessarily occur naturally. New hires do not come into organizations with a mental
makeup optimized for the success of their companies. They must first be incentivized,
in part through rewards, recognition, perks and bonuses. The right incentives are the
building blocks of a supportive and selfless workplace culture.
3. Motivate employees to exhibit "prosocial" behaviors: This discipline offers a set
of motivational tools for managers to use, which takes into account individual
differences between employees. Effectively, this skill is applied psychology and
sociology for managers.
4. Identify the causes of negative behaviours: Toxic behaviors that can infect a
department and spread throughout an organization may originate with individuals;
they may come from the top down; or they may even be the result of external or
internal influences. A manager with expertise in organizational behavior will be able
to find the root causes of negative behaviors and develop plans to solve the identified
problems.
5. Assess likely employee response before initiating organizational
change: Predictive capabilities are among the most important for managers, and
become even more important as leaders work their way up in the organizational
structure. In order to determine the right strategies and implement them successfully,
leaders at every level must be able to accurately anticipate how employees will react,
 and work to develop contingencies. The study of organizational behavior enables this
predictive capability.

OB helps in improving functional behaviour within the organisation. It helps in

attaining higher productivity, effectiveness, efficiency, organisational citizenship.

2. Explain how the field of OB stands to benefit by taking a global perspective. What
are the various challenges and opportunities of OB and what are the different
perspectives associated with studying OB?

Ans. The global context of organizational behavior is becoming increasingly significant as

organizations expand beyond their national boundaries. Managers of multinational firms have
to manage a variety of social, political and economic environments as well as unique
individual differences. The differences at the level of the individual include
individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and
masculinity/femininity, which are different in different countries.

Managers need to be sensitive to cultural differences across different countries to achieve

their goals in the global economy. The various aspects that differentiate cultures are people's
perceptions, their relationship with their environment, the time dimension, and the
importance attached to public and private space. Differences between countries in these
cultural aspects affect the way business can be conducted across the globe. Employees who
travel to a foreign country for work find it difficult to adapt to the new culture because of
factors like parochialism, ethnocentrism and culture shock.

Although culture shock acts as a potential barrier to globalization, it can be overcome through
careful selection, training and assistance for employees on foreign assignments. Managerial
leadership is the process of influencing others to direct their efforts towards the achievement
of specific goals. There are many factors that influence the way in which managers lead their
employees. Some of these factors include personal values, interpersonal skills, background
and the decision-making skills of the manager.

In some countries, the emphasis on production rather than productivity becomes a barrier to
the improvement of the performance of the organization. It is not possible to transfer business
practices directly from one country to the other. It is also not possible to use either the home
country practices or the traditional practices of the host country. In such a situation, the best
approach for expatriate managers would be to operate within the scope of home office
policies, after adapting them to fit the culture of the host nation.

Challenges & Opportunities of OB:

The significance of studying OB is increasing day-by-day due to dynamic business

environment. Now-a-days, numerous changes are taking place in the global, industrial, and
organizational setups. These changes have brought numerous challenges for OB.

1. Globalization:

Implies that no organization can work effectively in isolation and has to comply with the
global factors that have an impact on it. Globalization poses numerous challenges in front of
an organization. At the individual level, an employee may require to work on foreign
assignments or collaborate with people from different cultures.

At the group level, problems may arise in decision-making procedures and while working in
teams that include people of different cultural backgrounds. At the organizational level,
problems may arise in case of mergers or acquisitions due to vast cultural differences.

2. Management of Workforce Diversity:

Refers to the need of numerous conflict resolution techniques and problem- solving
approaches to deal with diverse workforce. It is difficult to manage the employees belonging
to different cultural backgrounds, due to differences in their values, beliefs, attitudes, and
behaviors. A proper management of workforce diversity can have numerous positive results,
such as the availability of fresh ideas and talents.

3. Improvement in Quality and Productivity:

Refers to matching the desired levels of quality and productivity with the ever-changing
demands. Management guru Tom Peter says, “Almost all quality improvement comes via
simplification of design, manufacturing, layout, processes, and procedures.” Now-a-days, a
number of programs, such as process reengineering and quality management are being
implemented to bring improvement in productivity.
4. Improvement in People Skills:

Implies that it is the necessity of time to improve and upgrade the skills of employees from
time to time. The change in business, political, and technological environment makes it
important to train and develop the employees according to new trends. The technical and
interpersonal skills of employees need constant improvement.

5. Incorporation of Innovation:

Implies that it is necessary to incorporate change in rules, regulations, processes and

procedures of an organization to suit the current standards. It is easy to formulate the
strategies for change in an organization, but difficult to implement it due to the employee
resistance. If the resistance of employees is overcome then the positive changes can be
brought in the organization to enhance the productivity level.

6. Incorporation of Work-Life Balance:

Indicates that the demanding work schedules and challenging jobs tend to upset the personal
and social life of employees at times. Work-life balance can be achieved by implementing the
concepts, such as work from home and flexible work-timings.

Different perspectives associated with studying OB

OB is the study and application of knowledge about predicting, understanding, and

controlling the behavior in the organizational setting. It is of great importance for any
organization in today’s scenario. The vast changes in the organizational set up and the world
economy, as well as the growing concern about the stakeholders have increased the scope of
the study of OB.

The different perspective to studying associated with studying OB can be understood

with the help of the 4 Basic Approaches to Organizational Behaviour:

 Human Resources Approach

People are the greatest asset of any They are the central subsystem and resource of an
organization, this approach is concerned with the growth and development of people towards
higher levels of competency, certainty, and fulfillment. This approach recognizes the fact that
people are the central resource in any organization and that they should be developed towards
higher levels of aptitude, inspiration, and accomplishment. It assumes that increased
capabilities and expanded opportunities for people will lead to the improvement of
organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Their development will contribute to the success
of the organization.

In the human resources approach, the role of managers changes from structuring and
controlling to supporting. This approach recognizes that human resources in an institute are
an essential force. Human resources approach provides for the changes in administrative
responsibility. It requires that the managers, instead of controlling the employees, should
provide dynamic support to them by treating them as part of the group.

 Contingency Approach

The contingency approach stresses that there is no particular way to administer efficiently
under all situation. This approach is also referred to as ‘situational approach’ a technique that
works in one situation will not necessarily work in all cases. Hence managers have to identify
the technique which will best contribute to the attainment of the management’s goal in a
particular situation, under particular circumstances and at a particular time. This approach
also sometimes called the situational approach is based on the principle that methods or
behaviors which work efficiently in one circumstance fail in another. This method
discourages habitual practices of universal assumptions about methods and people.

The contingency approach is also more interdisciplinary, more system – oriented and more
research-oriented titan any other approach. The organizational structure and the processes of
management are governed by the exterior environment and numerous aspects of the internal
environment.

 Human Relations Approach

Organizations should be viewed as a social system with economic and social dimensions. The
work environment should be conducive to the restoration of man’s dignity. The Humanistic
approach is based on the following assumptions:

 The organization is a system designed to produce a product or a service at a

reasonable price.
  The organization is a social system through which the individuals try to find
expression for their needs, goals, and aspirations. Hence the basic model for this
approach should be employer participation, job satisfaction and increased
productivity.

Productivity which is the ratio of output to input is the determination of an organization’s

efficiency. It also reveals the manager’s competence in optimizing resource operation. For
example, if better organizational behavior can decrease worker’s turnover or the number of
absentees, a human output or advantage occurs.

 Systems Approach

The Systems approach Organizational Behavior views an organization as a unified, powerful

system composed of interrelated parts. The activity of any segment of an organization affects
in different degrees the activity of another segment. This approach gives managers a way of
looking at the organization as an intact, whole, person, whole group, and the whole social
system.

According to this approach, an organization receives numerous inputs from its environment
such as material, human and financial. These inputs are then processed so as to produce the
final output in terms of products or services.

3. How can the field of OB contribute to the effective functioning of the organizations
and to the wellbeing of individuals? What are various contributing disciplines of
Organizational Behaviour that helped in effective functioning of goal attainment in
organizations?
Ans. OB is related to the individual behaviors in organizations, apart from group behaviors
and behaviors in organizations. An organization is as good as its working group. An
organization needs to grow continuously therefore, there is a need to keep its persons rising
through following procedures they are:

1. Continuous Learning – The continuous learning in individuals works substantially

in the growth of the individuals. There are many ways of learning that helps
individuals to grow. Learning can be termed as any permanent change in behavior or
 behavior potential that results from experience. There is need to promote functional
behavior among individuals for effective functioning of organizations, and
discourages behavior that is unfavorable to the organizations. There are different
methods of learning and various means through which learning can be converted into
desirable behavior in the individuals.

2. Creating Right Perception: There is need to create right perception among

individuals. Perception can be termed as process through which we select, organize
and interpret inputs that are supplied to us by our sensory receptors. There are five
senses in humans (eyes through sight, ears through audition, nose through smell,
mouth or tongue through taste, and skin through touch) and these senses continuously
gathers information from the surroundings. It is the perception that gives meaning to
the various set of information’s that are gathered through these senses. The study of
OB helps in creating right perception that is prime requirement for the efficiently
working with people.

3. Building Positive Attitudes and Values: The building of positive attitude and values
plays significant role in the growth of individuals. Attitude can be defined as long-
lasting evaluation that represents an individual like or dislike for an item, group, or
issues. Positive attitudes form an important element in building effective
relationships. Values are the fundamental ideas that a definite form of way of survival
is individual or social and is preferable to an opposite or adverse form of performing
the work. Values are the base of attitudes and behavior, therefore it is important to
discover values in OB.

4. Having Personality and Emotions Compatible at Work Place: Personality is

person’s unique and relatively constant model of behavior, thoughts, and feelings.
There is requirement in organizations to generate a right grouping of person and job,
in order to utilize full potential of an individual. According to the provisions of the
work, qualities can be also developed. Emotions are reactions which are the outcome
of subjective cognitive states, physiological reactions, and expressive behaviors.
Cognition is the mental behavior related to the thought, knowledge, and memory.
Proper understanding of emotions helps an individual for self-development.
 5. Maintaining Stress-free Individuals and Environment: Stress is a self-motivated
condition in which an individual is to deal with an opportunity, constraint, or demand
related to what he or she needs and for which the result is supposed to be both
doubtful and significant. With rising competition and survival, and quality becoming
higher and difficult to match, stress is the administrative anxiety of modern era.

6. Keeping Individuals and Teams Motivated and providing Job Satisfaction:

Motivation can be explained as the most important indescribable source of the
organization. Motivation is an indirect in-house procedure that activates, guides, and
maintains behavior over time. Job satisfaction is a universal approach towards one’s
job. It also depends on the segregation between the amount of rewards workers
receive and the amount they believe they should be given.

Organizations as well as individuals do not exist in isolation. There is constant fluctuation of

environmental impact on organization that helps in stimulating behavior pattern within the
organization. It is important for organization to muster flexibility for its long-term existence.
The boundaries of organizations are becoming more transparent rather more fragile.
Organizations are required to focus on many emerging issues so as to integrate it well with
the environmental changes. Some of these are as follows:
 Continuous improvement of people and process.
 Integrating human factor with grand objectives of the organization.
 More emphasis on quality of products, services, and process.
 Restructuring to suit requirements of service organizations, task force teams, as
well as, in case of rightsizing and acquisition and merger.
 Managing diversity.
 Product innovation.
 Managing creativity and innovations.
 Cross-cultural management.
 Managing multinationals.
Various contributing disciplines of Organizational Behaviour

1. Psychology
The terms psychology comes from the Greek word ‘Psyche’ meaning soul or spirit.
Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behavior
of human beings. Modern psychology is almost universally defined as the science of behavior
which is nearly identical with behavioral science, in general. Psychology has a great deal of
influence on the field of organizational behavior. Psychology is concerned with individual
behavior.
Psychology studies behavior of different people in various conditions such as normal,
abnormal, social, industrial legal, childhood, adolescence, old age, etc. It also studies
processes of human behavior, such as learning, motivation, perception, individual and group
decision-making, pattern of influences change in organization, group process, satisfaction,
communication, selection and training. 

It is a science, which describes the change of behavior of human and other animals. It is
concerned with the more study of human behavior. The major contribution of psychology in
the field of OB (Organizational Behavior) have been concerned are following:
o Learning
o Personality
o Perception
o Individual decision-making
o Performance appraised
o Attitude measurement
o Employee selected
o Work design
o Motivation
o Emotions
o Work strain
o Job satisfaction
2. Social Psychology
Social psychology is that part of psychology that integrates concepts from psychology and
sociology. In other words, social psychology studies all aspects of social behavior and social
thought – how people think about and interact with others. One of the areas receiving
considerable attention from social psychology is change law to reduce its resistance and
implement it successfully. Additionally, social psychology is useful in the areas of measuring
and understanding changing attitudes; communication patterns; the ways in which group
activities can satisfy individual needs and group decision making processes. It focuses on the
influences of people on one another.
It is an area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that
focuses on the influence of people on one another. The major contributions of social
psychology to OB are as follows:
o Behavior change
o Attitude change
o Communication
o Group process
o Group decision-making
3. Sociology
Sociology is the study of group behavior. It can be described as an academic discipline that
utilizes the scientific method in accumulating knowledge about a person’s social behavior. In
other words, it studies the behavior of the people in relation to their fellow human beings.
Some of the areas within OB that have received valuable input from sociologist include group
dynamics, organizational culture, formal organization theory and structure, organizational
technology, bureaucracy, communication power, conflict and inter-group behavior. To the
managerial practice, its contribution is mainly in the field of bureaucracy, role structures,
social system theory, group dynamics, effect of industrialization on the social behavior etc.

It is the study of society, social institution and social relationship. The main contributions of
sociology to the field of OB are as follows:
o Group dynamics
o Communication
o Power
o Conflict
o Inter group behavior
o Formal organizational theory
o Organizational technology
o Organizational change
o Organizational culture
4. Anthropology
The term anthropology combines the Greek term ‘anthropo’ meaning man and the noun
ending ‘logy’ meaning science. Thus, anthropology can be defined as the science of man. It is
also known as ‘science of humanity’ which encompasses a broad range of studies including
the evolutionary history of human beings and features of different societies, cultures and
human groups. In other words, the field of anthropology studies the relationship between
individuals and their environment. Groups of individual living together create a body of
shared ideas that are called culture. Culture is embodies in the system of symbols shared by a
group of people and is reflected in their language and beliefs. The culture of a civilization or
the sub-culture of a defined group is transmitted by the stories and myths told by members of
the group. These stories and myths help the groups to understand who they are and what
things are important.

It is the study of society to learn human beings and their activities. The major contributions
of Anthropology in the field of OB are as follows:
o Comparative values
o Comparative attitudes
o Cross-culture analysis
o Organization environment
o Organization culture
5. Political Science
Political science is the branch of social science which deals with politics in its theory and
practice, and the analysis of various political system and political behaviors. Political
scientists study the behavior of individuals and groups within a political environment.
Specific topics of concern to political scientists include conflict resolution, group coalition,
allocation of power and how people manipulate power for individual self-interest. In other
words, political science helps us to understand the dynamics of power and politics within
organizations, since there is usually a hierarchical structure of differing levels of managers
and subordinates.

It is the study of the behavior of individuals and group within or political environment. The
main contribution of political science in the field of OB have been concerned with:
o Conflict
o Intra-organizational policies
o Power
4. Explain the contribution of the Hawthorne studies in the evolution of the subject of
Organization Behaviour.
Ans. Hawthorne studies were initially sponsored by National research council at the Western
electric company‘s Hawthorne works in Cicero, Ilion’s in the year 1924 but eventually
expanded up to middle of 1930s. Engineers of the company carried out initial research, the
object of the study was to ―examine the effect of various illumination levels on productivity.
The study envisaged formation of control group and experimental group. Control group
members worked under constant illumination intensity while the experiment group was
subjected to varying intensity levels. It was expected that the individual output be directly
related to intensity of light. Majorly Hawthorns experiment consisted of 4 parts. The 4 parts
are:

 Illumination Experiment (1924-27)

The initial experiments reflected strongly the physical orientation of scientific
management, since they were designed to explore the relationship between lighting
and productivity. The rational approach of scientific management predicted a positive
relationship i.e., as lighting increased, productivity would increase up to a point of
course. Logically, at some (high) level of illumination productivity should begin to
decline, so the original experiment was designed to determine the optimal level of
illumination. The light experiments were conducted on female workers, who were
divided into two groups. One group was placed in a test room where the intensity of
illumination was varied, and the other group worked in a control room with
supposedly constant conditions. The results were baffling to the researchers. The
researchers found no predictable relationship between lighting and output and,
because the research results could not be explained by existing knowledge, the
researchers were forced to find new explanation. Further research indicated that the
lack of a predictable relationship between lighting and output was related to the
mental and emotional side of organisations rather than the physical, mechanistic side
recognized by scientific management. Additional studies showed that economic
factors, such as incentive systems, were equally poor in predicting behaviour.
 Relay Assembly Test Room Experiment (1927-1929)
intrigued with positive changes in productivity some of the engineers and company
officials decided to attempt to determine the causes through further studies.
 Accordingly, a second set of experiments took place between 1927 and 1933 known
as the Relay Room experiments. The most famous study involved five girls
assembling electrical relays in the Relay Assembly Test Room, a special room away
from other workers where the researchers could alter work conditions and evaluate the
results. The study was aimed at exploring the best combination of work and rest
periods, but a number of other factors were also varied, such as pay, length of the
workday, and provisions for free lunches. Generally, productivity increased over the
period of the study, regardless of how the factors under consideration were
manipulated. The conclusion was that the independent variables (rest pauses and so
forth) were not by themselves causing the change in the dependent variable (output).
 Interviewing Programme (1928-1930)
21,000 employees were interviewed over a period of three years to find out reasons
for increased productivity. It was concluded that productivity can be increased if
workers are allowed to talk freely about matters that are important to them.
 Bank Wiring Test Room Experiment (1932
A group of 14 male workers in the bank wiring room were placed under observation
for six months. A worker's pay depended on the performance of the group as a whole.
The researchers thought that the efficient workers would put pressure on the less
efficient workers to complete the work. However, it was found that the group
established its own standards of output, and social pressure was used to achieve the
standards of output.

Conclusions of Hawthorne Studies / Experiments

The conclusions derived from the Hawthorne Studies were as follows:
1. The social and psychological factors are responsible for workers' productivity and job
satisfaction. Only good physical working conditions are not enough to increase
productivity.
2. The informal relations among workers influence the workers' behaviour and
performance more than the formal relations in the organisation.
3. Employees will perform better if they are allowed to participate in decision-making
affecting their interests.
4. Employees will also work more efficiently, when they believe that the management is
interested in their welfare.
 5. When employees are treated with respect and dignity, their performance will improve.
6. Financial incentives alone cannot increase the performance. Social and Psychological
needs must also be satisfied in order to increase productivity.
7. Good communication between the superiors and subordinates can improve the
relations and the productivity of the subordinates.
8. Special attention and freedom to express their views will improve the performance of
the workers.

5. What are the different Models of Organizational Behaviour? Describe the evolution
of the models and how each model differs from the other. Is there one best model? What
is the best model according to you?
Ans. There are five models of organizational behavior, and each one represents the
progressive changes that exist in management models.
 Autrocratic Model:
The main structure of this model is power with authority. Leaders take full command
and make all company or group decisions. This management style is formal and
assumes that if an employee does not abide they will be punished.
 Custodial Model
This approach focuses on improving employee satisfaction through rewards, security
and economic resources. Although employees may feel content, they may not feel
motivated to work and see the necessity of working together with others.

 Supportive Model
This model forms a closer connection between managers and employees. Employees
will feel support from their managers, leading to better performance. Leadership is
given in conjunction with managerial orientation. Employees also feel motivated and
have insights on how they can contribute to the organization.

 Collegial Model
The basis of this model is concentrated on the element of teamwork and serves as an
extension from the supportive model. Employees will depend on each other and they
 will cooperate to solve issues and complete tasks. Employees will feel a sense of
satisfaction and achievement.

 System Model
This model is the foundation of company culture and team environment which
consists of policies, management and communication. It explores in the area of
integrating an employee’s skills into facilitating the organization. The intent is to
reach an agreement between employees and the organization to generate common
goals.

Is there one best model?

On analysing these models, it cannot be generalized whether one model is better than
the other or any model is the best. These models are based on assumptions about
people and how they react to different situations. Primarily, these models depend
upon need hierarchy of the individuals. As one moves up the hierarchy, there is a shift
in the model from autocratic to systems model. Use of these models is contingent
upon the situation, which may relate to policies of the organisation, its culture and
climate, the level at which people work, their level of maturity, work environment,
personality factors etc. To say that any one of the models is the best model isn't right
as no model is hundred percent right.

The best model according to me is the System Model because in the System Model, the
organization looks at the overall structure and team environment, and considers that
individuals have different goals, talents and potential.

The system model attempts to develop feelings of mutual trust, where employee performance
is driven through the integrated approach, the corporate culture, the employee’s role and
perceived value in the organization. The system model views employee needs in a broader
context than just financial return – the model views employees as wanting a good working
environment where they could work with integrity, supported by tools, processes, and a
logical organizational structure .

This model contends that if the organization respects and trusts their employees and assigns
them appropriate tasks, then the employees will try their best to meet the standards and
deliver good results for their organization. And the employees to benefit through increased
job skills, experience, and being a valuable member of the team.
Managers in the system model look to resolve any work issues with concern for the overall
system and range of employees. Managers act as facilitators, or problem-solvers, to a large
extent. Management considers the ever changing demands of work structure and
organizational cultural needs in complex dynamic environments.

If the employees feel secure and happy with the organization and perceive that they have a
valuable role to play, then they become more committed to the organization. This is because
they will have a feeling of “ownership” of the roles and even part of the direction of the
organization.