I.

OVERVIEW OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

1. Introduction
In a simple term organisational behaviour refers to the behaviour of individuals in an
organisation. Human behaviour is guided by the internal and external forces. The analysis of
these forces provides an insight for understanding the behaviour. Moreover, managers have been
grappling with the idea of the channelization of human energy towards the attainment of the
organisational goals. The understanding of human behaviour play very important role in this
endeavour as well. Thus the study of organisational behaviour provides guidelines for
influencing the behaviour of the persons in the organisation. In this module, we shall learn the
concept, genesis, needs and goals of the organisational behaviour. We shall be familiarized with
the approaches of the organisational behaviour.

2. Concept and definition of Organizational Behaviour

Organisation is a place where two or more people work together in a structured way to achieve
a specific goal or set of goals. Goals are fundamental elements of organisations. According to
Gary Johns, organisations are social interventions for accomplishing goals through group
efforts. Various environmental forces influence organisations.
There are two types of environmental forces: direct and indirect. Some of the main direct forces
are: customers, suppliers, competitors, labour market, and regulatory agencies. Some of the
main indirect forces are: economic, technological, socio cultural, political, and international.
Behaviour is anything that the human does. Behaviour is response to stimulation that can be
observed, thus it is any response or reaction of an individual. The basic unit of behaviour is
activity. According to Luthans, in understanding the variable it is extremely important to
separate the actual behaviour events from the outcomes of the events. Specific observable
behavioural events and their patterns provide useful data in order to analyze the interaction,
which precedes the behaviour and the consequences that follow the behaviour.
The field of Organisational Behaviour provides many helpful insights into understanding the
complexities of people’s behaviour on the job. Organisational Behaviour is the study and
application of knowledge about how people act within organisations. The key elements in an
organisation are: people, structure, technology, and external environment in which the
organisation operates. When people join together in an organisation to accomplish an objective,
some kind of structure is required. People also use technology to get the job done. So there is an
interaction of people, structure, and technology. In addition, these elements are influenced by the
external environment, and they influence it. The above discussion leads to a number of
definitions of OB. Some prominent definitions are given below:

Keith Davis and John Newstrom (1985) has defined O.B. as "the study and application of
knowledge how people act or behave within organization. It is a human tool for human benefit. It
applies broadly to the behaviour of people in all types of organizations such as business,
government, schools and service organizations."

In the opinion of Robbins, "O.B. is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals,

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groups and structure have on behaviour within organizations for the purpose of applying such
knowledge towards improving an organization's effectiveness".

“Organizational behavior is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and control
of human behavior in organizations.” — Fred Luthans.
To sum up, O.B. is concerned with the study of how and what people act in organizations and
also how their acts affect the performance of the organization. It also applies the knowledge
gained about individuals, groups and the effect of structure on human behaviour in order to make
organizations work more effectively.

3. Features of Organizational Behavior (Characteristics or Nature of OB)

Organizational Behavior takes a systematic approach to understand and influence human
behavior. Organizational behavior is the study and participation of knowledge about human
behavior in organizations as it relates to other system elements, such as structure, technology,
and the external social system. By nature, the field of Organizational Behavior studies is very
distinctive with its own features and characteristics.
Features of OB
1. A Separate By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical
Field of Study foundation. But, OB has a multi-interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based on a
and not a specific theoretical background. Therefore, it is better to reason to call OB a separate
Discipline Only field of study rather than a discipline only.
2. An Organizational behavior is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human
Interdisciplinary behavior at work. OB tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related
Approach disciplines like psychology, sociology, and anthropology to make them applicable for
studying and analyzing organizational behavior.
3. Applied The very nature of OB is applied. What OB basically does is the application of various
Science researches to solve the organizational problems related to human behavior. The basic
line of difference between pure science and OB is that while the former concentrates on
fundamental research, the latter concentrates on applied research. OB involves both
applied research and its application in organizational analysis. Hence, OB can be called
both science as well as art.
4. Normative Organizational Behavior is a normative science also. While positive science discusses
Science the only cause-effect relationship, OB prescribes how the findings of applied research
can be applied to socially accepted organizational goals. Thus, OB deals with what is
accepted by individuals and society engaged in an organization. Yes, it is not that OB is
not normative at all. In fact, OB is normative as well which is well underscored by the
proliferation of management theories.
5. A Humanistic Organizational Behavior applies a humanistic approach towards people working in the
and Optimistic organization. It deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings. OB is based on the
Approach belief that people have an innate desire to be independent, creative and productive. It
also realizes that people working in the organization can and will actualize these
potentials if they are given proper conditions and environments. The environment
affects performance or workers working in an organization.
6. A Total The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational
System functioning.The systems approach has been developed by behavioral scientists to
Approach analyze human behavior in view of his/her socio-psychological framework. Man’s
socio-psychological framework makes the man a complex one and the systems
approach tries to study his/her complexity and find a solution to it.

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4. Objectives of Organizational Behavior
The organizations in which people work affect their thoughts, feelings, and actions. These
thoughts, feelings, and actions, in turn, affect the organization itself. Organizational behavior
studies the mechanisms governing these interactions, seeking to identify and foster behaviors
conducive to the survival and effectiveness of the organization. Following are the objectives of
OB:

1. Job Satisfaction Understanding organizational behavior may shed light on the factors that
can foster or hamper job satisfaction, such as physical settings,
organizational rewards and punishments or work-group characteristics. Job
satisfaction, in turn, can foster higher productivity and reduced turnover,
while providing more leverage for the recruitment of top talent.
2. Finding the Right Organizational behavior may help find the right mix of talents and working
People styles required for the achievement of the task at hand. This may assist in
deciding who to include in a team or task force, as well as in deciding who
to promote to a leadership position or even the ideal profile for new hires.
3. Organizational Organizational behavior is useful for understanding and designing the
Culture communication channels and leadership structures that can reinforce
organizational culture. As rapidly evolving business environments force
organizations to adapt, entering, for example, into global markets or
utilizing virtual workforce, organizational behavior assists in developing an
appropriate culture with flexibility and adaptability.
4. Leadership and Organizational behavior may assist in fostering leadership, pro-activity and
Conflict Resolution creative problem-solving. Organizational behavior can provide the
leadership and the arbitrage dynamics required for turning conflicts into
constructive idea exchanges.
5. Understanding Organizational behavior studies help us understand why employees behave
the Employees the way they do, and also thereby predict how they are going to behave m
Better the future.
6. Understand how Organizational behavior patterns help in predicting who among the
to Develop Good employees have the potential to become leaders. They also teach us how to
Leaders mold these employees so that their leadership potential is utilized to its
fullest.
7. Develop a Good An organization is only as good as the weakest member of its team. All
Team members of the teamwork in coordination and must be motivated to work
together to achieve the best results. The teamwork theories of organizational
behavior are an essential tool in the hands of any manager.
8. Higher All of this leads us to the most important goal of achieving the highest
Productivity productivity in realizing the visions and goals of any organization.
If implemented well, the organizational behavior principles help in
motivating all the members to do their best. The levels of motivation can be
the difference between a good and a bad result.
Organizational Behavior has so many objectives by which it serves the
organizations, individuals, groups and in a word all the stakeholders.

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5. Factors Affecting Organizational Behaviour
Organizational Behavior is affected by 4 complex sets of key forces. These key forces are; 1. People, 2.
Structure, 3. Technology and 4. Environment. There is an interaction of people, structure, and technology
and these elements are influenced by the environment.

PEOPLE STRUCTURE
Factors affecting
OB

TECHNILOGY ENVIRONMENT

People
People make up the internal social system of the organization. That system consists of
individuals and groups and groups may be large and small, formal and informal. Groups are
dynamic. Groups form, change and disband. Since the organization is a combination of a group
of people, managers must handle the people in the right direction.

Structure
The structure defines the formal relationships between the members of the organization and use
of people in the organization. There are managers and employees, accounts assemblers to
accomplish different kinds of activities. They are related structurally so that their work can be
effectively coordinated. Because there is no organization can be successful without proper
coordination. Many organizational structures have become flatter. The downsizing and
restructuring have occurred as a result of the pressure to lower costs while remaining
competitive.
For bigger organizations, structures have grown more complex as a result of mergers,
acquisitions, and new ventures. Several organizations have experimented with hiring contingent
workforces (temporary, part-time, or contract employees). Finally, many firms have moved from
a traditional structure to a team-based one.

Technology
Technology provides the resources with which people work and affects the tasks that they
perform. They cannot accomplish work with their bare hands. The technology used has a
significant influence on working relationships. The great benefit of technology is that it allows
people to do more and better work, but it also restricts people in various ways’ It has cost as well
as benefits. Examples of the impact of technology include the increasing use of robots and
automated control systems in an assembly line.
The dramatic shift from a manufacturing to a service economy, the impressive advances in
computer hardware and software capabilities, the rapid move toward the widespread use of the

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information highway (internet), all have affected the behaviour of people in the organization.
Thereby they influenced the dynamic of OB.

Environment
All organizations operate within an internal and external environment. A single organization
does not exist alone. An organization is a part of a larger system that contains many other
elements, such as the government, the family, and other organizations. Numerous changes in the
environment create demands on organizations. Citizens expect organizations should be socially
responsible; new products and competition for customers come from around the globe; the direct
impact of unions diminishes; the dramatic pace of change in society quickens. There is a direct
impact of several trade unions of organizations. So all the elements of environments influence
the attitude and provide competition. It must be considered in the study of human behavior in an
organization.

6. Relationship of OB with other Disciplines

Organisational behaviour is an interdisciplinary approach as it has borrowed concepts, theories,
models and practices of physical sciences as well as social sciences. The main features of
organisational behaviour are primarily based on behavioural sciences. The organisational
behaviour is studied in relation to psychology, sociology, political science, anthropology,
economics, science, technology and environmental sciences. OB is, in fact, called an applied
behavioural science.

i) Psychology:
The term ‘psychology’ is derived from the Greek World ‘Psyche’ which means ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’.
Organisational behaviour studies human behaviour which is concerned mainly with the
psychology of the people. Psychology, especially, industrial or organisational psychology is the
greatest contributor to the field of organisational behaviour. Psychologists study behaviour and
industrial or organisational psychologists deal specifically with the behaviour of people in
organisational settings.
Individual behaviour is governed by perception, learning and personality. Industrial psychology
understands people’s behaviour at work, particularly under different working conditions, stress,
conflicts and other related behaviour of employees. Job satisfaction, performance appraisals and
reward systems are measured and directed with the use of psychological theories and models.
Group behaviour in the organisations is studied, researched and molded with the use of theories
of Social Psychology. The communication system in the organisation, attitudes of employees,
their needs etc. as a subject of social psychology have a great influence on behaviour.
Thus, many of the concepts from psychology are a central to the students of organisational
behaviour. Contribution of psychology in the field of organisational behaviour is quite
significant.

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 i) Psychology

ii) Sociology

Individual
iii) Anthropology

iv) Political Science

v) History Group Organizational

Behaviour

vi) Economics

vii) Science Organization

viii) Technology

ix) Medicine

Relationship of OB with other Disciplines

ii) Sociology:
Sociology also has a major impact on the study of organisational behaviour. Sociology makes
use of scientific methods in accumulating knowledge about the social behaviour of the groups.
Sociologists study social systems such as a family, an occupational class, a mob or an
organisation. It specifically studies, social groups, social behaviour, society, customs,
institutions, social classes, status, social mobility, prestige etc.
It studies the behaviour of the people in the society in relation to their fellow human beings.
Sociology contributes to organisational behaviour through its contribution to the study of
interpersonal dynamics like leadership, group dynamics, communication etc. Socialization is
accepted for molding the behaviour of people where the capacities of individuals to learn and
respond to social systems, values, norms and social roles are accelerated and appreciated. The
attitudes and behavioural patterns of individuals and groups are greatly influenced by
socialization.

iii) Anthropology:
Aristotle defined anthropology as a science of man’s self understanding. It particularly studies
civilization, forms of cultures and their impact on individuals and groups, biological features of

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man and evolutionary pattern, speech and relationship among languages. Anthropology is
concerned with the interactions between people and their environment, especially their cultural
environment. Culture is a major influence on the structure of organisations as well as on the
behaviour of people within organisations.
Anthropology contributes in understanding the cultural effects on organisational behaviour,
effects of value systems, norms, sentiments, cohesion and interaction. Socialization involves
spreading of values and missions of organisation among employees. Anthropology influences the
employees’ behaviour through motivation, interaction, goal setting, decision making,
coordinating and controlling.

iv) Political Science:

In recent times, political science has also started interesting the organisational behaviorists.
Political Science is usually, thought of as the study of political systems. But political scientists
are interested in how and why people acquire power, political behaviour, decision making,
conflict, the behaviour of interest groups and coalition formation. These are also major areas of
interest in organisational behaviour.
Political parties and Government directly intervene in many activities of the organisation.
Specific principles of political science are observed in organisational behaviour for delegation of
authority and responsibility, conflict resolution and stress management.
In organisations, people strive for power and leadership recognition. Political Science helps in
the management of men in an effective and efficient manner. Political perspectives and
government policies are thoroughly analyzed for molding and modifying the behaviour of
people, because they greatly influence the organisation. The law and order of the country
influence the people at work.

v) History:
“History" is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the memory, discovery,
collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of information about these events. As
organizational behaviour essentially tends to predict individual, group or social behaviour of
people, it draws from the body of knowledge of history of past event.
History of similar events of situations often helps to develop some predictive models for
behaviour of organizational members. Thus, OB relates itself with history.

vi) Economics:
Economists study the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Students
of organisational behaviour share the economist’s interest in such areas as labour market
dynamics, productivity, human resource planning and forecasting, and cost benefit analysis.
The economic conditions of a country have long lasting impact on organizational behavior. If
psychological and economic expectations of employee are met, they are satisfied and become
high performers. Economic systems include financial, commercial and industrial activities which
have greater influences on the behaviour of the people. The consumption pattern in society
monitors the behaviour of employees. Consumption oriented society witnesses a different
employee behaviour from that of a production oriented society.

vii) Science:
Science is systematized knowledge. The scientific methods attempt to produce information that

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is objective in the sense that it is certifiable and independent of a person’s opinions or
preferences. Scientific method is the backbone of organisational behaviour. Organisational
behaviour is based on the systematized study of facts, behaviour, their relationships and
predictions.
New scientific methods viz. observation of facts and behaviour, explanation of facts and
relationships and coming to conclusion thereon have become important bases of the study of
organisational behaviour. The cause and effect relationship is also established in organisational
behaviour like that of science. The verification of the relationship and its quantification has
added to the importance of organisational behaviour.
It becomes relatively easy to predict and mould the people at work. A researcher, in the field of
OB investigates new facts, tests theories, hypothesis and models. Personal bias, superfluous
conclusions and whimsical approaches are avoided in the study. A systematized form of inquiry
is used for the study of various problems.

viii) Technology:
The level of technological development affects the behaviour of the employees. Modern age is
the age of computerization. It has come within the framework of the model of organisational
behaviour. The study of technological development is becoming essential for understanding the
organisational behaviour, because people are influenced by the technological development.
Human behaviour relations and environments develop as a result of technological innovations.
Technology changes consumer behaviour, production activities, distribution and storage
activities. To cope up with the technological development people have to become educated
and/or technically skilled. They should have to be responsibility conscious and development
oriented. Unskilled or irresponsible will have no place in the modern innovative age. Thus,
technological development leads to effective work behaviour, improved organisational culture
and helpful work environment.

ix) Medicine:
Nowadays, medicine has also come in connection with the study of human behaviour at work.
Stress is becoming a very common problem in the organisations as well as in the people working
in the organisations. Research shows that controlling the causes and consequences of stress in
and out of organisational settings, is important for the well being of the individual as well as the
organisations. Medicine helps in the control of stress as well as stress related problems.

Thus, it can be concluded that organisational behaviour has an interdisciplinary focus. It draws
from a variety of other fields and attempts to describe behaviour as opposed to prescribing how
behaviour can be changed in consistent and predictable ways.

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 7. Structure and Elements of Organizational Behaviour
As an interdisciplinary subject organizational behaviour is a multi level concept contributed by a
number of behavioural, sociological and structural elements. The elements with a structure may
be presented below:
i) Personality
ii) Perception
iii) Learning I. Individual Elements
iv) Attitude and Values
v) Motivation
vi) Stress and Emotions Organizational
i) Dynamics of interpersonal behaviour Behaviour
ii) Group and Team II. Interpersonal
iii) Leadership Elements
iv) Communication
i) Power, Authority and Politics
ii) Organizational Climate and culture III. Organizational
iii) Organization structure, Design, Elements
Systems and processes

Broadly, the discipline of organizational behaviour may be classified into three categories
I. Individual elements:
A number of concepts have been drawn from psychology to understand and interpret individual
behaviour at the organization. The concepts are following:
i) Personality: Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking,
feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is the
understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability
or irritability. The other is the understanding how the various parts of a person come together as
a whole. Such concept is an important tool in interpreting an individual in an organization.
ii) Perception: Perception is the process of interpreting the external and the internal environment
by receiving stimuli from them. The knowledge helps to understand how individuals may
interpret their organizational work environment and what kinds of stimuli may generate desired
response.
iii) Learning: In simple words learning is the modification of individual behaviour. In an
organizational set up, individual members are expected to generate responses appropriate for
organizations. If the actual response of the individual member is not appropriate, learning helps
to modify and realign the responses with the organizational purpose.
iv) Attitude and Values: Attitude is a relatively enduring and general evaluation of an object,
person, group, issue, or concept on a dimension ranging from negative to positive. Attitudes
provide summary evaluations of target objects and are often assumed to be derived from specific
beliefs, emotions, and past behaviors associated with those objects. What type of evaluations
individuals make about the organizational surrounding is an important factor in OB.
Value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining
what actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics), or to describe the
significance of different actions. Value systems are proscriptive and prescriptive beliefs; they
affect ethical behavior of a person or are the basis of their intentional activities. Hence value

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system is an important component in developing the attitudinal evaluation
v) Motivation: Motivation is the goal directed drive generated from individual physiological or
psychological needs. Study of motivation gives the idea of the goal oriented behaviour of the
individuals.
vi) Stress and Emotions: Modern business organizations are specific target oriented and
individuals are driven to achieve these targets. Such situation often creates stress and emotional
dysfunctions in individuals. As a result individual becomes counterproductive for organization.
Hence, study stress and individual emotion occupies an important place in individual part of OB.
II. Interpersonal Elements
The realm of OB is not restricted within the domain of an individual’s psyche. The interactions
among individuals also have an important role in it. These come under the premise of
interpersonal behaviour. Followings are the elements:
i) Dynamics of interpersonal behaviour: It is important to know more than individuals interact
with each other. What are their state of minds,, how they view each other etc. In organizations
where people are required to work together such understanding is important and hence it forms
an important component of OB.
ii) Group and Team: Performance of a group or team is often more important than the individual
brilliance or talent. In group several individuals assume their role and collective roles ultimately
results in group performance. Group or team trefore are important components of OB.
iii) Leadership: A group is always led by an individual. He or she plays the role of coordinator,
convener, or assembler of the group. In organizations managers, supervisors play such role.
Study of leadership constitutes an important part of interpersonal behaviour.
iv) Communication: People interact through the mechanism of communication. Any problem in
communication or miscommunication may jeopardize the interpersonal effort in organizations.
Study of communication is an important part of interpersonal behavioural elements.
III. Organizational Elements
There are some factors that are applicable only to the organization as a whole. Some of them are
behavioural rest are structural factors. Following are those factors:
i) Power, Authority and Politics: Politics is the process by which groups of people make
decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has
been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious
institutions. It consists of social relations involving authority or power, the regulation of political
units, and the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply social policy. Derived essentially
from political science the body of knowledge of politics is important in organizations for number
of decisions.
Power is frequently defined by political scientists as the ability to influence the behavior of
others with or without resistance. Distribution of power along the hierarchical levels gives the
structural strength of the organization. Formal assignment of power in organizations is known as
authority.
Authority refers to the use of power that is seen as legitimate or socially approved/recognized.
Authority is the legitimate or socially approved use of power that a person or a group holds over
another. Legitimacy is vital to the notion of authority; legitimacy is the main means by which
authority is distinguished from more general notions of power. Power can be exerted by the use
of force or violence. Authority, by contrast, depends on subordinate groups consenting to the use
of power wielded by superior groups. When assigned authority is rationally distributed down the
hierarchical levels is known as delegation of authority.

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ii) Organizational Climate and culture: Collective behaviour of the members in an organization
based on shared values and beliefs and manifested through norms, rituals and common attitude is
the mark of organizational culture. Such manifestation is necessary to develop a specific identity
of the organization. Moreover, such culture will contribute towards constructive climate.
In the context organizational climate is the collective perception of the members about their
workplace. Such climate though manifested from the collective perceptions, however depends on
the physical and the psychological conveniences provided by the organization.

iii) Organization structure, Design, Systems and processes: Designing an appropriate system,
defining processes and developing clear work relationships are important for the overall
understanding of organizational behaviour. All these are done under this body of knowledge.

The above elements comprehensively express the concept of organizational behaviour as a

whole. However, it must not be overlooked, that all the above concepts are very dynamic in
nature and are influenced by a large number of variables some of which may not be controlled.
The discipline called organizational behaviour, therefore, is continuously evolving.

8. Models of OB

Models are frameworks of OB are possible explanations why do people behave as they do at
workplace. There are so many models as many are organizations. Varying results across the
organizations are substantially caused by differences in the models of organizational behaviour.
All the models of organizational behaviour are broadly classified into four types: autocratic,
custodial, supportive and collegial. We discuss these four models beginning with the autocratic.
OB is the study of human behaviour in organizations, the interface between human behaviour
and the organization and the organization itself.

a) The Autocratic Model

The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in
turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met
is subsistence. The performance result is minimal.
In case of an autocratic model, the managerial orientation is doctorial. 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 give higher performance either because of their achievement
drive or their personal liking to the boss or because of some other factor.
Evidences such as the industrial civilization of the United States and organizational crises do
suggest that the autocratic model produced results. However, its principal weakness is its high
human cost. The combination of emerging knowledge about the needs of the employees and ever
changing societal values and norms suggested managers to adopt alternative and better ways to
manage people at work. This gave genesis to the second type of models or organizational
behaviour.

b) The Custodial Model

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The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The
employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization.
The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.
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 back
about the system. Such employees filled with frustration and aggressions vent them on their co-
workers, families and neighbors. 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 programmers to
satisfy security needs of employees. Provision for an onsite day-care centre for quality child care
is an example of welfare programme meant for employees. Welfare programmes lead to
employee dependence on the organization. Stating more accurately, employees having
dependence on organization may not afford to quit even there seem greener pastures around.
Although the custodian approach brings security and satisfaction, it suffers from certain flaws
also. Employees produce anywhere near their capacities. They are also not motivated to increase
their capacities of which they are capable. Though the employees are satisfied, still they do not
feel motivated or fulfilled in their work they do. This is in conformity with the research finding
that the happy employees are not necessarily most productive employees.

c) The Supportive Model

The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in
turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is
status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.
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 organizational needs, but they are made so by an inappropriate leadership style.
The managers believe that given due and appropriate changes, 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 organizational and individual goals.
However, the supportive model of organizational behaviour is found more useful and effective in
developed nations and less effective in developing nations like ours because of employee's more
awakening in the former and less one in the latter nations.

d) The Collegial Model

The collegial model is an extension of the supportive model. As the literal meaning of the work
'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 employee. Under collegial approach, employees feel needed and
useful. They consider managers as joint contributors to organizational success rather than as
bosses.
Its greatest benefit is that the employee becomes self-discipline. Feeling responsible backed by
self-discipline creates a feeling of team work just like what the members of a football team feel.
The research studies report that compared to traditional management model, the more open,

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participative, collegial managerial approach produced improved results in situations where it is
appropriate.
Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates exclusively in one.
There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more areas overlapping in the other models.
he first model, autocratic, had its roots in the industrial revolution. The managers of this type
of organization operate out of McGregor's Theory X. The next three models begin to build on
McGregor's Theory Y. They have each evolved over a period of time and there is no one "best"
model. The collegial model should not be thought as the last or best model, but the beginning of
a new model or paradigm.
A comparison between the models is given in the table below:
Attributes Autocratic Custodial Supportive Collegial
i) Basis of the Power Economic Leadership Partnership
Model Benefits
ii) Supervisory Autocratic Monetary Continuous Team Building
Orientation Support
iii) Employee Obedience Security and Job execution by Responsible and
Orientation benefits book accountable
behaviour
iv) Employee Fear and Dependence on Participation Self- discipline
Mindset dependence on Organization and spontaneous
supervisor performance
v) Employee Need Subsistence Security Status and Self-actualization
Satisfaction recognition
vi) Outcome of Bare minimum Reluctant Measured and Motivated and
Performance participation disciplined spontaneous
performance performance

PROCESS OF BEHAVIOUR
We assume that behaviour is caused and this assumption is true. Behaviour takes place in the
form of a process. It is based on the analysis of behaviour process over the period of time. Three
models of behaviour process have been developed. These are S-R model, S-O-R model, S-O-B-
A model and S-O-B-C model.

S-R Model

S-R model of human behavior suggests that the behaviour is caused by certain reasons. The
reasons may be internal feeling (motivation) and external environment (stimulus). A stimulus is
an agent, such as, heat, light, piece of information, etc., that directly influences the activity of an
organism (person). Without the stimulus there is no information to be handled by the internal
processes prior to action taken by the person. It implies that his behaviour is determined by the
situation. Inherent in the situation are the environmental forces that shape and determine his

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behaviour at any given moment. The entire situation has been traditionally described as stimulus
response (S-R) process.

This S-R model, however, does not give the total concept of caused nature of behaviour
specially when the person concerned plays an important role in behaviour because behaviour is
shaped by his internal feelings also. Thus, combination of stimulus-response situation and human
being will give more comprehensive model of human behaviour denoting that the situation
interacting with the human preceeds and causes behaviour.

Fig. 1.4: S.R. Model.

There is a direct relation between stimulus and response, that is why this process is called S-R
process.

The basic drawback of this models is that organism or person is immobile and passive.
Whereas in reality the person concerned plays an important role in behaviour which is influenced
by the internal feelings of the person. This model, thus does not give a complete picture as to
what caused the person to act in a particular way in a particular situation.

S-O-R Model

S-O-R model of human behaviour is achieved by inserting O (organism) in the classical S-R
model. The S-O-R model is based upon the stimulus processed by the organism and followed by
a behaviour. This O is not passive and immobile as assumed in S-R model. Rather the O is
viewed as mediating, maintenance and adjective function between S and R. As a mediating
function, the O is constantly active, scanning its surroundings, monitoring its own actions,
seeking certain conditions and avoiding others. As a maintenance function, organs of O are
responsible for its health and growth. There are three categories of maintenance organs-receptors
(sense and glands), connectors (nervous organs) and effectors (muscles and glands). The
adjustments function of the O monitors the person's activities so that he can overcome obstacle
and satisfy his needs.

Though the insertion of O in S-R model gives some recognition to the importance to the
human variables, it sill remains a relatively mechanistic and simplistic approach and does not
explain the complexity of human behaviour.

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 S-O-B-A Model

S-O-B-A model is a comprehensive model of human behaviour which combines the S-R
situation and human being. But O in this model is not passive or immobile, but it is mediating,
maintenance and adjustive function between S and R.

The S in this model stands for stimulus or the external environmental situation. It includes
light, heat, sound, actions of supervisors or other aspects of environment to which a person is
sensitive. The stimulus is very comprehensive and all encompassing in nature. It stimulates the
organism or person in to action, interrupt what they are doing and help them to make their
choices. The stimulus incorporates all aspects of the environment-immediate stimulus, physical
environment and socio-cultural environment.

The O in this model stands for the organism as the person. But this O does not stand for only
the physiological being but also it includes the process within the person, e.g., heredity, maturity,
knowledge, skills, values, perceptions, attitudes, personality and motivation. The double headed
arrow between S and O indicates the interaction between the situation and organism.

The B stands for behaviour. It includes both overt and covert behaviour such as body
moments, talking, facial expressions, emotions, sentiments and thinking. The response of
organism indicated by a single headed arrow is the behaviour. Behaviour is anything that a
person does, it is not something that is done to a person.

Fig. 1.5: The S-O-B-A Model.

The A stands for accomplishments and consequences. When behaviour, in turn, acts on the
outside world, it leads to accomplishment as shown by single headed arrow. It is assumed that
the accomplishments may further change the stimulating conditions and thereby influence the
subsequent behaviour or it may create new stimulus leading to new behaviour.

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 Since behaviour is influenced by the interaction of S with O, any change in S and O will
definitely influence the behaviour. It is manager's job to decide when to change the S and to
change O. But one must analyse the conditions carefully so that the changes introduced are in the
right direction and do not give rise to worse problems. Further, the same behaviour may have
different causes. In order to adequately understand and evaluate the behaviour, it is essential to
determine which cause is involved in a particular instance. The type of treatment of the S or of
the O that will work in one cause may not work in another cause or even with the same cause on
different occasions. Similarly, the same cause may have many behaviours.

S-O-B-C Model

S-O-B-C model incorporates a more complex mechanism of human behaviour which modifies
and extends S-O-R model. In this model, S stands for the situation which is more comprehensive
than stimuli of S-O-R model and incorporates all aspects of the environment - immediate
stimulus, physical environment and socio-cultural environment. O is the organism but does not
only represent the physiological being as in the S-O-R model, but also the physiological being
which is more complex. B stands for pattern of behaviour both overt and convert. C stands for
contingent consequences both overt and covert. Thus, this model of behaviour has significant
departure from earlier models of behaviour which have considered only overt aspects. In S-O-B-
C model, behaviour takes place because of the interaction of situation (S), organism (O),
behaviour pattern (B) and consequences (C) as shown in Fig. 16.

Feedback

Fig. 1.6: S-O-B-C Model of human behaviour.

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 Fig. 1.7: Model of Organizational Behaviour.

Source: Gregory Moorhead and Rickyw Griffin: Organizational Behaviour.

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