Organizational

Behaviour
What is this course about?
Understanding behaviour of people at work place /
space
How can we do it?
Using concepts, frameworks and theoretical models
outline of the course
Unit I: Foundations of Organizational Behavior
Concept of organization; Meaning and systematic study of OB; Developing an
OB model; OB in a global perspective; Challenges and opportunities for OB

Unit II: Individual Dimensions in Organizational Behavior

Nature of human behavior; Personality; meaning; theories and determinants;
Perception and individual decision making; Values, attitudes and job satisfaction
Outline cont…
Unit III: Foundations of Learning and Motivation
Learning process; Theories of learning; Content theories of motivation(brief
discussion) ; Process theories of motivation; An integrative model of motivation;
Motivational techniques for Indian managers

Unit IV: Group and Interpersonal Dimensions

Formation, classification, group dynamics, and group decision making; Power
and poliics; Transactional analysis; Conflict management
Outline cont…
Unit V: Organizational Dimensions
Leadership, Organizational culture; Work stress; Organizational change;
Organizational development
Suggested Readings

1. Robins, S.P., Judge, T.A. and Vohra N.: Organizational Behavior,

Pearson-Education: New Delhi.
2. Pareek U.: understanding Organizational Behaviour., Oxford University Press:
New Delhi.
3. Luthans F. . Organizational Behavior, McGraw:New Delhi.
What is an organization?
 Organization
Organizing- Arranging the activities of the enterprise in such a
way that they systematically contribute to the enterprises goal.
A deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific
purpose.
An organization is a consciously co ordinated social entity, with
an identifiable boundary, that functions on a relatively
continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.

.
What is a behaviour?
Response of the organism or system to various stimuli or
inputs , whether internal or external, conscious or
subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary.
Organizational behaviour
Understanding human behaviour at work ( individual, interpersonal,
group dynamics etc.).
Systematic study of human behaviour in organizational setting.
OB is multidisciplinary in nature
Basic Assumptions of OB
Organizations consist of people
Motivated people work effectively
Disparity between organizational and individual goals
Impact of policies and procedures on people are not always
predictable
Fundamental ideas
Each individual is different
Multiple roles of employees
Motivation: the force behind
Human dignity
Levels of organizational behaviour

Individual processes: perception, personality,

attitudes,motivation
Group process: team dynamics, conflict, leadership,
power and politics.
• Organizational process: change management,
organizational culture and climate.
.
 HISTORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL STUDY
Plato- leadership
Aristotle - persuasive communication
Italian philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli- organizational power and politics.
1776, Adam Smith- advocated a new form of organizational structure based on the
division of labour
Max Weber- rational organizations and initiated discussion of charismatic leadership
Frederick Winslow Taylor- systematic use of goal setting and rewards to motivate
employees
Elton Mayo- productivity studies at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant in the
United States
 HISTORY cont…
•Organizational studies is generally considered to have begun as an academic discipline with the advent of
scientific management in the 1890’s
•After the First World War, the focus of organizational studies shifted to analysis of how human factors and
psychology affected organizations
•This Human Relations Movement focused on teams, motivation and the actualization of the goals of individuals
within organizations
•Second World War- systems theory
•Carnegie School of organizational behaviour- Herbert Alexander Simon and James G. March- Application of
decision analysis, Management science and Psychology.
•1960s and 1970s- social psychology- quantitative research- Bounded Rationality, Informal Organization,
Contingency Theory, Resource Dependence, Institutional Theory and Organizational Ecology theories.
 History cont…
•1980s- Qualitative methods of study became more acceptable- anthropology,
psychology and sociology
• In the late 20th century - OB becoming inter disciplinary: Psychology, Sociology,
Anthropology, Communication.
Significance Of OB
•OB helps an individual to understand himself / herself and others better.
• OB theories and concepts will help to influence organisational events.
•OB helps the manager to understand the basics of motivation and what he
or she should do to motivate subordinates.
•OB is useful for maintaining cordial industrial relations.
• OB helps to predict behaviour and apply it in some meaningful way to
make organisations more effective.
 Disciplines That Contribute to the OB Field
Psychology
Psychology seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of
humans and other animals.
Social Psychology
Social psychology , blends concepts from both psychology and sociology to focus
on peoples’ influence on one another.
Sociology
sociology studies people in relation to their social environment or culture.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their
activities.
Challenges and Opportunities for OB
1. Responding to Economic Pressures-
2. Responding to Globalization
-Increased Foreign Assignments
- Working with People from Different Cultures
- Overseeing Movement of Jobs to Countries with Low-Cost Labor
3. Managing Workforce Diversity
4. Improving Customer Service
5. Improving People Skills
6. Stimulating Innovation and Change
7. Coping with “Temporariness”
Challenges and Opportunities for OB cont..
8. Working in Networked Organizations
9. Helping Employees Balance Work–Life Conflicts
Blurring of line between work and nonwork time- creates personal
conflicts and stress
Reasons for work–life conflicts
1. the creation of global organizations means the world never sleeps.
2. Communication technology
3. Organizations are asking employees to put in longer hours
4. The rise of the dual-career couple
Solution- Providing employees flexibility in their work schedules
•Work life balance or job security?
Challenges and Opportunities for OB cont..
10. Creating a Positive Work Environment
positive organizational scholarship (also called positive organizational behavior
), which studies how organizations develop human strengths, foster vitality and
resilience, and unlock potential.
- Identifies what is good about organizations and employees
-key independent variables in positive OB research are engagement, hope,
optimism, and resilience in the face of strain.
- Concept of “reflected best-self”—asking employees to think about when they
were at their “personal
best”
- It pushes organizations to exploit employees’ strengths rather than dwell on their
limitations
11. Improving Ethical Behaviour
 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR MODELS
Keith Davis prescribed 4 OB Models.
1. Autocratic Model
2. Custodial Model
3. Supportive Model
4. Collegial Model
1. Autocratic Model
Managerial orientation is towards power.
Managers see authority as the only means to get things done and
employees are expected to follow orders.
Organisational process is formalized and the management decides what is
the best action for the employees.
Model is based on the Theory X of McGregor where people are considered
as lazy and they try to avoid responsibility.
Communication is mostly downwards.
Subordinates are supervised strictly
2. Custodial Model

Managerial orientation is towards the use of money to pay for

employee benefits
If the organisation do not have wealth to pay the benefits then it
cannot follow custodial model.
Employees get rewards, benefits and so they are happy but are not
motivated.
Employees cannot decide what benefits or rewards they should get.
The level of performance is not high
3. Supportive Model

It depends on managerial leadership rather than the use of power or money.

Aim of managers is to support employees in their achievement of results.
Focus is on participating and involving the employees in managerial decision
making.
Model is based on the assumptions of McGregor Theory Y
This model is based on the assumption that employees move to the maturity
level and they expect the organisational climate which supports their
expectations
It is best suited in conditions where employees are self motivated.
4. Collegial Model

Extension of the supportive model.

The term collegial means a group of person having a common purpose.
The managerial orientation is towards teamwork.
Employees feel that managers are also contributing with them. So it is easy
to accept and respect their roles in the organisation.
BEHAVIOUR OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Factors Influencing The Behaviour Of The
Individual
1. Personal Factors
2. Psychological factors
3. Environmental factors
4. Organisational systems and resources
Personal Factors
o Age• As age advances performance is likely to decline and there will be decline in
productivity.
o Sex / Gender
Sex has an impact on turnover and absenteeism.
Tendency to change jobs and to abstain from work is high among females than among
men.
o Education
Type of education received also affect individual behaviour.
Education can be general which consist of arts, humanities and can be specialised which
consist of engineering, medicine, computer science.
Specialist programmes are narrow whereas general programmes expose an individual in
many areas
o Ability
It refers to an individuals capacity to perform various task in a job.
The ability of an individual is made up of 2 sets of skills - Intellectual
and physical.
Intellectual abilities - They are needed to perform mental activities.
E.g. CAT, MAT exams for MBA admissions
Physical abilities - It relates to stamina and physical features
o Marital status
Married employees have fewer absences when compared to single
because marriage imposes additional responsibilities so a steady job
is required
o Number of dependents
There is correlation between the number of dependants an employee
has and his absence.
The number of children an employee has is positively related to
absence especially among women
o Creativity.
It is cognitive activity that results in a new or novel way of viewing or
solving a problem.
• Creative individuals possess 3 categories of attributes
1. Background experience
2. Personal traits
3. Cognitive abilities
o Emotions and Emotional Intelligence
Emotions are an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear,
hate, love, surprise are expressed.
Features of emotions
o Emotions are highly focused.
o Emotions are universal
o Culture determines the expression of feelings.
Major categories of emotions are anger, fear, joy, love, sadness and
surprise.
Emotional intelligence refers to the awareness and ability to manage one's
own emotions as well as the ability to be self motivated, to feel what others
feel and to be socially skilled.
Environmental Factors
o Economic Factors
✔ Economic environment consist of many factors such as employment level,
wage rates, economic outlook & technological change.
✔ Employment opportunities will have strong influence on individual
behaviour. Very few job opportunities increase the fear among people.
✔ Wage rates satisfy various individual needs. Wage rates attract individuals
and determine their level of job satisfaction.
✔ Technological changes give potential effects upon individual job
opportunities
Cultural Environment
✔ Cultural environment is made up of institutions and other forces that affect
society's basic values, perceptions, work ethics, preferences and behaviour.

✔ Ethics & social responsibility

Political Factors
✔ The stability of the government can affect the employment opportunities
both in quantity and quality.
✔ In controlled societies educational and career opportunities are less
available to individuals.
Organisational Systems & Resources
o Individual behaviour is also influenced by physical facilities, organisational
structure and design, work related behaviour, and reward systems
Facilities - Physical facilities such as lighting, ventilation, air conditioning, space
provided for each employee have an influence on the employees performance.
Organisational structure and design - Departments and groups should be set up
in such a way that the reporting relationships and lines of communication are
established.
Leadership - An organisation establishes a system of leadership to provide
direction, assistance, advice and coaching to individual members
Reward system - The reward system designed by the organisation have influence
on the individuals behaviour
• Work related behaviour - Behaviour is influenced by the stage he or she
occupies in an organisation. There are 5 stages in an individuals organisational
life

Joining the
organisation

Exhibiting Remaining
organisational with the
citizenship organisation

Maintaining
Performing
work
required tasks
attendance
 Deviant Behaviour –Actions of employees that deliberately
breach norms of organisations as well as of society.
Two types –
1. Destructive organisation deviance
Form of behaviour that violates both organisational and societal norms
E.g. Work place violence
2.Constructive organisation deviance
It refers to actions that violates the organisational norms but are
consistent with norms of society
E.g. Whistle blowing
Examples of Deviant behaviour
o Workplace violence - Property destruction, verbal abuse, obstructing others
from performing task.
o Whistle blowing
It is the disclosure by employees of illegal, immoral practices by firms to people
or organisations able to take action.
o Cyber loafing - It refers to the use of office internet and email facilities for
personal use.
o Employee theft
Taking company property for non-business uses refers to employee theft
Psychological Factors
o Individual behaviour is also influenced by psychological factors
• Personality
• Perception
• Attitudes
• Values
• Learning
 Personality:
•It refers to personal traits, such as aggressiveness, persistence, dominance, etc.
•It determines the type of activities that he or she is suited for and the effectiveness with
which the person would perform the task.
•Managers should take into account the personality of an employee while assigning a
job/position to him in the organisation.
Perception:
Perception means the viewpoint by which a person interprets the given situation.
For example, a teacher may perceive that the students sitting on front benches are more
superior than those sitting on back benches.
An individual's behaviour is influenced not by what the situation really is but by how
the individual perceives it.
Learning:
•The behaviour depends upon skills and capabilities which is the outcome of learning.
• A person learns through education, training and experience.
•Helps the person to engage in behaviour required for effective performance of the job.
•Motivation:
•Motivation refers to the forces operating within a person.
• These forces may be internal (e.g., a challenging job) or external (e.g., rewards).
•The attitudes, beliefs goals and values of a person also influence his motivation.
•Motivation causes a person to engage in certain kinds of behaviour than others.
•In spite of all facilities, a person may not work effectively unless he is motivated to perform well.
Attitude
It is a learned predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable manner
toward people, an object, an idea, or a situation. – Martin Fishbein
It is the way a person responds to his or her environment, either positively or
negatively.
Different people can have different attitude towards same things or ideas/
Values
A collection of guiding principles; what an individual considers to be morally
right and desirable in life, especially regarding personal conduct.
Personal values are people’s internal conception of what is good, beneficial,
important, useful, beautiful, desirable, constructive, etc. Values such as
honesty, hard work, and discipline can increase an employee’s efficacy in the
workplace.
Individual Differences
It can be
1. Intra individual differences (difference in the behaviour of an individual over time)
2. inter individual differences ( difference in behaviour of individuals in the same situation)
Nature of Individual differences
With respect to work people differ in the following ways
1. Preference for working hours
2. Preference for compensation plan.
3. Kinds of jobs they like to perform.
4. People differ in the rewards they seek.
Individual Differences cont..
5. people differ in their liking for the style of supervision.
6. Differ in their tolerance for pressure and ambiguity.
Causes of Individual differences
1. Individual Variables
Physiological characteristics- Physical build up, sensory organs, nervous system etc.
Socio-Psychological characteristics- Personality, perception, attitude, values
2. Situational variables
In the context of organisation- Organisational structure, organisational processes (motivation,
leadership, communication and control)
In the context of job- Nature of job, overall environment in which job is performed
Individual Differences cont..
Implications of individual differences
Need for managers to understand individual differences-selection, placement, training,
supervision, motivation, leadership
The whole person
•A persons behaviour at work place cannot be understood in isolation.
•His background, sentiments, emotions etc. cannot be separated from the skills he use to do his
job.
•Workplace problems affect his personal life
 MODELS OF MAN/INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR

Several models of man have been developed to explain and understand the
behaviour of individuals.
Edgar Schein¹ - four models - rational-economic man, social man, self-actualising
man, and complex man.
William Whyten - 'organisation man’.
1. Rational-Economic Man:
•oldest model- based on classical organization theory
•the rational-economic man strives to maximise his self-interest.
•Managers observed their employees as rational beings who are mainly
encouraged by money
•His decisions are based on rationality
because he takes into account the costs
associated with his efforts and the
benefits he will be getting from these
efforts.

•It was grounded on the faith that by rationally

elucidating the one finest way to do things
and presenting incentives to workers in the
method of piece rates & bonuses,
organizational productivity can be improved.
•1.
•McGregor’s assumptions of Theory X mirror this model
•Assumptions
• Persons are encouraged mainly by economic incentives. They would do
things which get them the utmost economic gain.
•As the organization controls the economic incentives, human beings are
basically inactive agents, who are operated, encouraged and controlled
by the organization.
• The feelings of the persons are basically irrational & must be
controlled to attain rationality and self-interest.
• Organizations can and must be designed in such a way so as to
neutralize and control people’s feelings & thus their unpredictable
traits.
•In this model, persons are encouraged to produce more by offering
them with economic incentives. In this situation, there is no
organization-employees conflict because both are satisfying their
needs concurrently.
•Drawbacks
• This model is grounded on the classical theory, it suffers from the
inadequacies intrinsic in that theory and do not outfit the present day
organization.
• The economic incentives can work till the man is not sensibly satisfied by the
need of money.
 Social Man Model

•Based on Elton Mayo’s Hawthrone studies (1927-32)

•Man is a part of the society
•He seeks satisfaction of those needs which help to maintain his social relationship
•Focus on group/ society- man is affected by group pressure, group problems.
•Assumptions
•a) Human beings are essentially encouraged by social needs & all their efforts focused towards
getting this gratification by maintaining relationships with others.
• b) A human group is more reactive to the pressures & permissions of his social group than to the
incentives & controls of the management.
•c) The quantity of work to be done by an employee is not determined by his physical capability or
by the management but by the social norms.
d) Normally persons do not act or respond as individuals but as associates
of a group.
e) Informal leaders have an imperative role in setting & imposing the
group norms.
f) work should be redesigned to foster inter personal and group
relationships
Implications for Managers
1. Managers should focus on social as well as economic needs of people
2. Managers should analyse and understand man’s behaviour in terms of
groups and not on individual basis.
3. Economic incentives along with satisfying social needs is required to
motivate employees.
4. Managers should act as facilitators and sympathetic supporters
Organisation Man Model
3. Organisation Man Model
• William H. Whyte- Concept of ‘organisation man’.
“loyalty to the Organisation and co operation with fellow workers is most important for a
person. Therefore , he is willing to sacrifice his individuality for the sake of the
organization”. (William H. Whyte)
Assumptions
a. The group is the source of creativity.
b. Bclongingness is the ultimate nced of the individual
C. The science can achieve the goal of belongingness
d. No conflict between organization and individual
The organisation man model is an extension of the social man model
4. Self-Actualising Man Model

• According to this model, man's inherent need is to create new things

by making use of his skills and capabilities.
• He is characterised by high degree of dynamism and individuality
• There is a conflict between self-actualizing man and the formal
organisation
Assumptions
a. Various needs of man can be arranged in hierarchy.
B. Man moves from a state of immaturity to a state of maturity in the
process of self actualizing himself
C. Man is essentially self-motivated and self controlled. Therefore, any
externally

imposed incentive and control will threaten him and lead to less mature
adjustment otivated and self-controlled
D. There is an inherent conflict between traditional organisation structure
and self actualising man because such a structure is based on the
assumptions of immature personality.
These assumptions are based on McGregor's Theory Y and Argyris's
immaturity-maturity theory
This model suggests
• People in work organisations require more autonomy, incentives based
on intrinsic factors, and participation throughout the organisational
processes
•These factors increase commitment to organisational goals, release the
potential of people and induce them to work in pursuit of the goals.
5. Complex Man Model
The complex man model suggests that human
beings are complex and their behaviour
cannot be predicted accurately
Assumptions
A. Man is motivated by several variables and
there is no one universal hierarchy of needs.
There are several overlapping needs and degree
of satisfaction desired may differ from person to
person.
B. Aman learns many motives through interaction with the organization.
Therefore, need pattern depends both on the individual and his contacts
with the organization
(c) Need pattern and behaviour differ from person to person. Therefore,
the need for direction and control is not the same for all.
D. There is no direct cause and effect relationship between needs and
behaviour
E. The same man responds and behaves differently in various situations
•This model suggests a contingency approach to management- the style of
motivation and leadership varies with the situation.
•More realistic but complex