Organizational Behavior:

Introduction: All organisations, be these business, educational or government, are social

systems. These are run by people. Take a business/industrial organisation, for example. It is a
combination of men, money, machinery, material and management, commonly known as five
Ms. In fact, it is management, i.e. people who actually take care of other four Ms. Then, it means
that the functioning of an organisation depends upon how people work or behave in the
organisation.

Human behaviour is caused and is highly unpredictable also. Why people behave as they
behave has, therefore, been a subject of much interest and concem since our earliest years.
Therefore, understanding human behaviour has assumed great significance for the managers
for managing people effectively. In other words, knowledge about why people behave as they
behave helps managers extract maximum results from people's efforts for accomplishing
organisational goals in an effective manner. For this, managers need to seek answers mainly to
these two questions: Why people behave as they behave or why people do what they do at work
in organisations? and (in What influences people's behaviour at work! The same constitute the
subject matter of organisational behaviour.

Meaning:

OB is concerned with the study of human behaviour at work. In other words, OB is the study and
application of knowledge about how people as individuals and as groups behave or act in
organisations.

Definition:

According to Luthans "OB is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction & control of
human behaviour in organisations."

NATURE AND SCOPE OF OB

Organisational behaviour has emerged as a separate field of study. The nature it has acquired
by now is identified as follows:

1. A Separate Field of Study and Not a Discipline only: A discipline is an accepted science that
is based on a theoretical foundation. But, OB has a multi- interdisciplinary orientation and is,
thus, not based on a specific theoretical background. Therefore, it is better reasonable to call
OB as a separate field of study rather than a discipline only.

2.: OB is essentially an interdisciplinary approach: to study human behaviour at work. It tries to

integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related disciplines like psychology, sociology, and
anthropology to make the applicable for studying and analysing organisational behaviour.
3. An Applied Science: The very nature of OB is applied. What OB basical, does is the
application of various researches to solve the organisational problem related to human
behaviour. The basic line of difference between pure science and OB is that while the former
concentrates on fundamental researches, the latter concentrates on applied researches. As OB
involves both applied research and application in organisational analysis, hence, OB can be
called both science as well as art.

4. A Normative Science: OB is a normative science also. While the positive science discusses
only cause effect relationship, OB prescribes how the findings of applied researches can be
applied to socially accepted organisational goals. Thus, OB deals with what is accepted by
individuals and society engaged in an organisation. Yes, it is not that OB is not normative at all.
In fact, OB is normative as well that is well underscored by the proliferation of management
theories.

5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach: OB applies humanistic approach towards people

working in the organisation. It treats people as thinking, feeling human beings. OB is based on
the belief that people have an innate desire to be independent, creative, and productive. It also
realizes that people working in the organisation can and will actualise these potentials if they
are given proper conditions and environment. As stated earlier, environment affects
performance of workers working in an organisation.

6. A Total System Approach: The systems approach is one that integrates all the variables
affecting organisational functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the
behavioural scientists to analyse human behaviour in view of his/ her socio-psychological
framework. Man's socio-psychological framework makes him a complex one and the systems
approach tries to study his/her complexity and find solution to it.

Scope of OB:

OB is the study of human behaviour at work in organisations. Accordingly, the scope of OB

includes the study of individuals, groups and organisation/structure.

Individuals: Organisations are the associations of individuals. Individuals differ in many

respects. The study of individuals, therefore, includes aspects such as personality, perception,
attitudes, values, job satisfaction, learning and motivation.

Groups of Individuals: Groups include aspects such as group dynamics, group conflicts,
communication, leadership, power and politics, and the like.

Organisation/Structure: The study of organisation/structure includes aspects such as

formation of organisational structure, culture and change and development. In nutshell, OB
studies how organisations influence people or how people influence organisations.
NEED FOR STUDYING ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Organisational behaviour is the study of people at work in organisations. And we study

organisations because we spend our lives interacting with them. If all the world is a stage, it is a
stage filled with organisations. Regardless of the part we play as a student, employee, manager
or customer, we play our roles/parts on an organisational stage. By acting our parts, The study
of OB benefits us in several ways.

Firstly, the study of OB helps us understand ourselves and others in a better way. This helps
greatly in improving our inter-personal relations in the organisations.
Secondly, the knowledge of OB helps the managers know individual employees better and
motivate employees to work for better results.

Thirdly, one of the basic characteristics of OB is that it is human in nature. So to say, OB tackles
human problems humanly, It helps understand the cause of the problem, predicts its future
course of action and controls its evil consequences.

Fourthly, the most popular reason for studying OB is to learn how to predict human behaviour
and, then, apply it in some useful way to make the organisation more effective.

Finally, all organisations are run by man. It is man working in the organisations makes all the
difference. Then, it implies that effective utilization of people working in the organisation
guarantees success of the organisation.

CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO OB:

OB is an applied behavioural science. It has drawn heavily from a number of other applied
interdisciplinary behavioural disciplines of psychology, sociology and anthropology, & other
social sciences.

Psychology: The discipline that has had the greatest influence on the field of OB is psychology.
It is a science that focuses directly on understanding and predicting individual behaviour. It has
greatly contributed to the intra-personal dynamics of human behaviour. Topics such as
personality, perception, attitude, opinion, learning and motivation describe intra-personal
aspects of OB.

Sociology: is the study of people in relation to their fellow human beings. Whereas
psychologists focus on the individuals, sociologists study groups of individuals. The field of
sociology has made valuable contributions to our understanding of group dynamics within
organisations) The topics derived from sociology include group dynamics, formation of groups,
communication, formal and informal organisations and the like.

Anthropology: is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
Anthropology helps us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviour
between people in different regions and organisationsIn sum and substance, anthropology
studies culture. Culture dictates what people learn and how they behave.

Other Social Sciences: Besides psychology, sociology and anthropology, threeother disciplines
also contributed to our understanding of OB are economics, political science, and history.
Several economic models describe the behaviour of individuals when they are confronted with a
choice, and these economic models have made valuable contributions to our understanding of
both individual and organisational decision-making processes. Power, politics, and authority are
popular topics derived from the field of political science. They help explain certain influence
processes in OB. History has also greatly contributed to our understanding of OB by describing
the lives of great leaders and the successes and failures of organisations they managed.
MODELS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR:

Models are frameworks or possible explanations why do people behave as they behave at work.
There are so many models as many are organisations. Varying results across the organisations
are substantially caused by differences in the models of organisational behaviour.

Autocratic Model: In case of an autocratic model, the managerial orientation is dictorial. The
managers exercise their commands over employees. The managers give orders and the
employees have to obey the orders. Thus, the employees' orientation towards the
managers/bosses is obedience. Under autocratic conditions, employees usually give minimum
performance and, in turn, get minimum wages. Some employees give higher performance either
because of their achievement drive or their personal liking to the boss or because of some other
factor.

The Custodial Model: While studying the employees, the managers realized and recognized that
although the employees managed under autocratic style do not talk back to their boss, they
certainly think bad about the system. Such employees filled with frustration and aggression vent
them on their co-workers, families and neighbours. This made the managers think how to
develop better employee satisfaction and security. It was realized that this can be done by
dispelling employees' insecurities, frustration, and aggression. This called for introduction of
welfare programmes to satisfy security needs of employees. Such provision for an on-site day-
care centre for quality child care is an example of such welfare programme meant for
employees. Welfare programmes lead to employee dependence on the organisation. Although
the custodian approach brings security and satisfaction.
The Supportive Model: The supportive model is founded on leadership, not on money or
authority. In fact, it is the managerial leadership style that provides an atmosphere to help
employees grow and accomplish their tasks successfully. The managers recognize that the
workers are not by nature passive and disinterested to organisational needs, but they are made
so by an unappropriate leadership style. The managers believe that given due and appropriate
chances, the workers become ready to share responsibility, develop a drive to contribute their
mite, and improve themselves. Thus, under supportive approach, the management's orientation
is to support the employee's job performance for meeting both organisational and individual
goals.

The Collegial Model: The collegial model is an extension of the supportive model. As the literal
meaning of the word 'college' means a group of persons having the common purpose, the
collegial model relates to a team work/concept. The basic foundation of the collegial model lies
on management's building a feeling of partnership with employees. Under collegial approach,
employees feel needed and useful. They consider managers as joint contributors to
organisational success rather than as bosses.