ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT

&
MILGRAM EXPERIMENT
GROUP MEMBERS
SHAHNAWAZ ALI
AITIZAZ SURAHIO
ANAZ WAZIR
ABDUL HAYEE ADIL
M. ROHAN MALIK
SHAH MEER ISHAQ
 Designed to study the
Both were conducted in
relationship between
an important era of
obedience and
psychology
authority

OVERVIEW OF THE
EXPERIMENTS
Had very important Methodology cannot
implications on be replicated in
organizational behavior today’s status quo
 STANFORD
PRISON EXPERIMENT
 The Participants TheWhat
Thedo
Setting
Results of these
and Results
Participants
Procedure
the Experiment
1 ••• The
24
mean?
university graduates to play
interaction
There wereofthree
guardsprisoners
with the in
the roles
prisoner
each were
cell.ofhostile,
both abusive
prisoners and
or even
The Setting and Procedure • dehumanizing.
Situation
guards plays a powerful rule in
2 the Human behavior.
•• Prisoners
The 24became
volunteers
passive,are randomly
depressed and
•• showed
The
As theparticipants
guards
anxiety. were had no group
place criminal
in a or
added to either prison
position
background,
the of power,
guard they began to
lack psychological
group.
• Five
behave in
prisoners
issues, and ways they severe
experience wouldnegative
no significant not
3 Results of The Experiment emotions
usually
medical
• thePrisoners
and in
act hadtheir
to bedaily
condition.
released
study early.were to remain in the
from
lives.
• The prisoners
prison 24 hours placed in a
a day.
•• Zimbardo,
The volunteers
situation the prisonagreed
where they had
warden, to no
overlooked
the conditions.
control,
participatebecame passive
for assigned
two weeks and in
4 What do These Results Mean? • Guards were to work in
depressed.
exchange ofvoiced
$15/day.
• One three 8-hour
prisoners shifts.
objection to the
morality of the continuation of the
experiment.
• Hidden cameras and
microphones were installed to
THE EXPERIMENT • The experiment had to be stopped after
juststudy
6 days.their behaviour.
 An Unethical Experiment An
LackUnethical
Lack
Implied of
of Experiment
Generalizability
Ecological
Demands byValidity
Zimbardo
1
• •••A The
The sample
Thesetting
Stanford
psychologist wasPrison
Peter
did Experiment
Gray
not perfectly argued is
unrepresentative.
cited
that as
allone
the of
participants
mimic the
in unethical
psychological
environmental
Lack of Generalizability
2 experiments.
experiments
and are more
situational variableslikely
ofto do
• what
The they
prisonsample was mostly
believe
life. white
the researchers
•want
Thethem
and replication
middle to class ofpeople
do, and the Experiment
which in
specifically
• theAisCritic
nowitof
makes
case prohibited
difficult toinapply
the Stanford
argued that therespect
to aof
prison
guards
the the
wider Ethics codestudents
population. ofwere
the American
3 Lack of Ecological validity experiment,
and the
prisoners
Psychological Association.
act out
able to
their
hear stereotyped viewsofofthe
the discussions what
• prisoners
The sample
researchersand was almost
guards
and youngstated
do. Gray
performed
•that
Zimbardo
people with himself
age lossthe
between his
he did
according not
to include
the wants of 23-30
the
objectivityinashisa researcher.
4 Implied Demands By Zimbardo years.
experiment
researcher. introductory
textbook, Psychology, because he
thought it lacked scientific rigor.

CRITIQUE ON THE EXPERIMENT

 MILGRAM
EXPERIMENT
 The Setting
What do and
these Procedure
Results
Variations
The Participantsmean?
• Two rooms Results wereof usedthe- one for
1 The Participants • the 18learner
variations(with of
an this
electric
• 40 male participants, aged
• Ordinary
chair)
Experiment
experimentpeople
and 20another were
are likely
for theto follow
between and 50 to play
orders given by an authority figure, the
conducted.
teacher
role
even
and
toofthe
teacher experimenter with
extent of killing an
2 The Setting and Procedure •• The
an electric
Obedience
innocent shock
human generator.
decreased
being.
“Perils of Obedience”
• The participants would drew
by 21%
• Nazis when
obeyed the orders given to
•• All the
straws
The during
them participants
to determine
participants
WWII. jobstheir roles,
ranged from
instructions
learner or to
teacher. were
•
continued
unskilled
 Obedience to
to 300 volts.
professional.
authority is
3 Results of The Experiment • Theregivenwas byalso
telephone.
an
•• 65%
ingrainedof in us all from the way we
participants
“experimenter”
The
are up dressed
participants
brought were paid in a$4.50
gray
continued
lab
for coat,
just to the
played
turning by
up. highest
an actor.
• People tend to obey orders from
• The learner would learn a list of
4 What do These Results Mean? level
word
of
other people 450
pairs and
authority as morally
.
if volts
they recognize their
then theand/or
right teacher
• Participants
wouldbased.
legally test himbehavior
by naming a word
5 and asking
during thethe learner to recall
experiment.
Variations
it’s pair.
• An electric shot would be given
to the learner if he gave the
THE EXPERIMENT wrong answer.
CONCLUSION
 Importance of Stanford Prison Experiment
1) Takeaway – people perform in line with the expectations communicated to them from above, specifically, how
they interpret the expectations.

2) We expect people to stay true to their ideas about ethical behavior; however, several people do not and quickly
adapt to the environment

3) Instead of asking about vacation time and opportunities for international travel, graduates in the job market
should pay careful attention to what they can learn about how things are done in the organization.

4) There is a tendency to believe that there is little the organization can do to promote the ethical culture it seeks
apart from hiring the right people. While it is important to hire competent workers, it is important to construct
environments that make it easier to do the right thing.
 Importance of Milgram Experiment
1) The results of the Milgram experiment serve as explanatory factors for how a normal law abiding
citizen can come to commit acts of violence on innocent strangers.

2) 2) People will often for a variety of reasons fail to behave in a manner consistent with their personal
attitudes unless there are factors that facilitate correspondent action.

3) Implications of the study have relevance for a number of areas including human resource management

4) For example: candidates for positions of authority should be taught counter measures to blind
obedience. Such counter measures include the encouragement of critical thinking.
 ANY
QUESTION?