HRM

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Dr Kalina Grzesiuk
 PEOPLE IN ORGANIZATIONS

• People perform their roles within complex

systems called organizations
• The study of organizational behavior focuses
on how this happens

Leavitt’s Diamond
Model of Organization
 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

• An understanding of organizational processes

and skills in the analysis and diagnosis of
organizational behaviour is important to HR
professionals, indeed to all managers.
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR IS BASED ON THE MAIN
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES
 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

• A field of study that investigates the impact of

– individuals,
– groups and
– structure
on behavior within organizations;
 INDIVIDUALS
• Organizations are the associations of individuals
• Individuals differ in many respects
• Aspects such as:
– Personality,
– Perception
– Attitudes
– Values,
– Job satisfaction
– Learning
– Motivation
 GROUPS OF INDIVIDUALS
• Group aspects in organizations:
– Group dynamics
– Group conflicts
– Communication
– Leadership
– Power
– Politics
 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
• Influence of structure:
– Formation of organizational structure
– Culture
– Change and development
 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

a) People in organizations
b) Attitudes in organizations
c) Creativity in organizations
d) Types of work-behaviours
A) PEOPLE IN ORGANIZATIONS
• Psychological contract
– Individual beliefs, shaped by the organization regarding
terms of an exchange between individuals and their
organization

• Beliefs –emphasis on promises

• Exchange – what employee gives and gets in return
• Organization – management, HR policies and
practices, culture
 CONTENTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT
Employees promise to
• Work hard
• Uphold company reputation
• Show loyalty to organization
• Work extra hours when required
• Develop new skills and update old
ones
• Be flexible
• Be courteous to clients and colleagues
• Come up with new ideas
Organizations promise to
• Pay proportionately to performance
• Opportunities for training and
development
• Opportunities for promotion
• Recognition for innovation and new
ideas
• Feedback on performance
• Interesting tasks
• An attractive benefit package
• Respectful treatment
• Reasonable job security
 EMPLOYMENT VS PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT

Employment contracts Psychological contracts

• Written • Unwritten
• Explicit • Implicit
• Legally binding • No legal status
• May have only a small influence on • Has a large influence on behaviour,
behaviour feelings and attitudes
 TYPES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT
• Transactional
– Based on economic and monetary incentives, and
clear expectations that the organization should
compensate the performance
• Relational
– Socio-emotional base, expectations of shared ideas
and values and respect and support on the
interpersonal relations
• Breach of the psychological contract, examples:
– Pay – no promised increases in pay
– Promotion – no promotion in expected time
– Type of work – not what was presented by the employer
– Training – no promised trainings
– Feedback – inadequate or absent reviews
 BREACH OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT -
CONSEQUENCES
• Negative emotions – anger, betrayal, sadness
• Relationship suffers – loss of trust and respect, low
commitment
• Reduces employee well-being – lower job satisfaction
• Withdrawal of behaviour – less willing to work hard,
to share ideas, to be a good workplace citizen
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACT

Rob Briner
 Person-job fit

– The degree to which a person’s cognitive abilities, interests and

personality dynamics fit those required by the job
 INDIVIDUAL NEEDS
The individuals and their
needs

Abilities Values Interests

What do they
What are they What do they
look for in a
capable of? like?
job?
 JOB REQUIREMENTS

The job

Duties and Benefits and

Environment Goals
expectations Risks

Where and who What is the What is the What is given to

will they be person expected person expected the person at
working with? to do? to achieve? what cost?
 WHY IS JOB-FITNESS IMPORTANT?
• Positively effects performance
• Eliminates costly mistakes in hiring
• Reduces turnover
• Can be used to attract talent
• Higher level of satisfaction
• Mental and physical well-being
 WHEN A PERSON FITS THE JOB

Better communication Increased pro-social behaviour and better

teamwork
Increase revenue Employees will be more motivated to do
Job fit

and committed to their job – reduced

employee turnover

Boost culture More positive energy and attitudes =

better performing employees
 WHEN A PERSON DOESN’T FIT THE JOB
Decreased job performance A noticeable decrease in productivity
Poor job fit

Costly hires Increased staff turnover and job

dissatisfaction

Poor work culture Higher levels of job related stress

B) ATTITUDES IN ORGANIZATION
• Complexes of beliefs or feelings people have about specific
ideas, situations or other people.
• Mechanisms of expressing peoples’ feelings
• Components:
– Affective – reflects feelings and emotions toward a situation
– Cognitive –derived from knowledge about the situation (or rather
perception of the situation)
– Intentional – how one expects to behave toward or in a situation
• People try to maintain consistency among the three
components and their attitudes
• But sometimes – there is a conflict and it’s called cognitive
dissonance
• Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and
individuals will try to reduce the dissonance
• The intensity of the desire to reduce the dissonance
is influenced by:
– The importance of the factors causing the dissonance
– The degree to which an individual believes the factors are
controllable
– Rewards available to compensate for the dissonance
ATTITUDES AND COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
 WORK-RELATED ATTITUDES
• Job-satisfaction
– The extension to which one is gratified by or fulfilled in
her/his work
 FACTORS OF JOB SATISFACTION
• Personal – needs and aspirations
• Group and organizational factors – relationships
with co-workers and supervisors, working
conditions, work policies and compensation
 JOB SATISFACTION

What is job satisfaction?

What factors influence job

satisfaction?
 NEGATIVE JOB ATTITUDES

• Bill Mathis – talks about negative job attitudes in

organizations
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyvVh-X6pwI
 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

• Reflects individual’s identification with and

attachment to organization itself
• Three levels of commitment
– Affective
– Continuance
– Normative
C) CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS
 WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
• The ability to use imagination to transcend traditional ideas,
rules, patterns, relationships and the like, and to create the
meaningful new ideas, forms and methods
THE COMPONENTS OF CREATIVITY
 SOCIAL FACTORS IN CREATIVITY
• Creativity is fostered by the environment
• Creativity must be valued by the community
• Creativity is shaped by those who evaluate it
CREATIVITY NEEDS
• Skill
– Learned capacity or talent to carry out pre-determined
results
• Talent
– Natural endowments of a person
• Personality
– Patterns of relatively enduring characteristics of
human behaviour
 PERSONAL TRAITS AND CREATIVITY
• Usually creativity is connected with:
– Openness
– Attraction to complexity
– High levels of energy
– Independence and autonomy
– Strong self-confidence
– Strong belief that one is creative
 COGNITIVE ABILITIES AND CREATIVITY
• Cognitive abilities – power to think intelligently and
to analyse situations and data effectively
• Most creative people are intelligent, not all
intelligent people are creative
• Creativity requires divergent thinking – a skill that
allows people to see differences among situations,
events and phenomena.
D) TYPES OF WORK-BEHAVIORS
 TASK PERFORMANCE
• Performance behaviour set of work-related
behaviours that organization expects the
individual to display
• Part of psychological contract
• Task performance can be assessed – work
evaluation
 COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIOURS
• Voluntary behaviours that potentially harm the
organization:

– Harassing co-workers
– Creating unnecessary conflict
– Deviating from preferred work methods
JOINING/STAYING IN THE ORGANIZATION
• Agreeing on employment relationship
• Remaining in this relationship
• If qualified people don’t stay in the organization
none of the other positive behaviours (like
organizational citizenship) will occur
• High level of turnover is a negative effect in
organization
 MAINTAINING WORK ATTENDANCE
• Organizations need everyone to show up for
work at scheduled times
• Absenteeism – some level is natural, may require
substitutes to be hired
• high level may be a symptom of other problems
such as job dissatisfaction or low morale
MOTIVATION
“It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.”

Amy Bucher, Ph.D.

(amy.bucher@gmail.com)
 DEFINITION

• The act or process of stimulating to action, providing an

incentive or motive, especially for an act.
 DETERMINANTS OF MOTIVATION LEVEL
1. intensity of desire or need,
2. incentive or reward value of the goal, and
3. expectations of the individual and of his or her significant
others
 THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Classical Theorist of • Specific perception of organization and management

management entails specific perception of motivation

• Focus on needs and deficiencies of individuals

Content perspective • try to answer the question, “What factors in the
workplace motivate people?”

Focus on why people choose certain behavioural options to

Process perspective satisfy their needs and how they evaluate their satisfaction
after they have attained their goals

Ignores the inner state of individual – concentrates on

Reinforcement perspective consequences of actions
 Taylor
Classical theorists
Mayo
Maslow Hierarchy of
needs Herzberg – Two-Factor
Content Theory
perspective
Alderfer’s ERG
Motivation McGregor’s X and Y
theories Theory
McClelland’s Theory
Self-determination
Theory
Vroom’s VIE
Process Porter and Lawler
perspective Theory of expectations
Reinforcement
Adam’s Equity Theory
perspective
CONTENT THEORIES
 NEEDS
 Something that is necessary for an organism to
live a healthy life
 Deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome
- deficiency or death
 Can be Objective/Physical or Subjective
 Objective needs - food, shelter, sleep
 Subjective needs – affection, acceptance, self-
esteem
HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
ABRAHAM MASLOW
 Once physical needs are met,
Need to love and be loved
safety needs take over
Need to feel a sense of belonging • Mostly, literal requirements
Personal including emotional
and acceptance for human survival
Health and
Need well-being
to bethe respected by
Small groups – clubs, office • If not met, human body
Financial,others
job security
and in turn respect
teams, school/college houses cannot function
Safety ofthem
property against natural
Large groups – political parties, • Metabolic needs – air, water,
disasters, calamities,
Senserest wars, etc
of contribution, to
Sports teams, facebook food,
What a man can be, he must be Law & order
feel self-valued,
• Clothing, shelter in
– needed by
Intrinsic growth of what is already in a profession
even animals or hobby
person Lowerbe
• Could - respect of as
classified others,
basic
Growth-motivated rather than the need
animal needsfor status,
deficiency-motivated recognition, fame, prestige,
Cannot normally be reached until other and attention
lower order needs are met Higher - self-respect, the
Rarely happens - < 1% need for strength,
Acceptance of facts, spontaneous, competence, mastery, self-
• Everyone starts at the lower level of the pyramid.
• As lower needs are fulfilled there is a tendency for other,
higher needs to emerge
• Maslow’s theory maintains that a person does not feel a
higher need until the needs of the current level have been
satisfied
PROCESS PERSPECTIVE
EXPECTANCY THEORY
VICTOR VROOM
• motivation will be high when workers feel:
– High levels of effort lead to high performance.
– High performance will lead to the attainment of desire outcomes.
• consists of three areas: Expectancy, Instrumentality, &
Valence.
• Expectancy
– the perception that effort (input) will result in a level of performance
– you will work hard if it leads to high performance
– you would be less willing to work hard if you knew that the best you would get
on a paper was a D regardless of how hard you tried.
• Instrumentality
– Performance leads to outcomes
– Workers are only motivated if they think performance leads to an outcome
– Managers should link performance to outcomes.
• Valence
– How desirable each outcome is to a person
– Managers should determine the outcomes workers want most.
• If just one value is low, motivation will be low.
• Even if desired outcomes are closely link to performance, the
worker must feel the task is possible to achieve for high
motivation to result.
Reinforcement perspective
REINFORCEMENT THEORY
• Focus on relationship between behaviour and its
consequences.
• Positive Reinforcement:
– people get desired outcomes when they perform needed work
behaviours.
– Positive reinforcers: pay raises, promotions.
• Negative Reinforcement:
– manager eliminates undesired outcomes once the desired
behaviour occurs. Worker performs to avoid an undesired
outcome (Work harder or you are fired).
• In both types of reinforcement, managers must be
careful to link the right behaviours by workers to what
the organization needs.
• Extinction:
– used when workers are performing behaviour
detrimental to the firm. Manager does not reward the
behaviour and over time, the worker will stop
performing it.
• Punishment:
– used when the manager does not control the reward
the worker receives (perhaps it is outside the job).
Manager administers an undesired consequence to
worker (verbal reprimands to pay cuts). Punishment
can lead to unexpected side-effects such as
resentment, and should be used sparingly.