Unit 1

Organizational Behavior

Shantha Gowri B
Avinash degree College
L B Nagar ,Hyderabad
 Meaning & Definition

• “It is the field of study that investigates the impact of individuals, groups and structure on
behavior in the organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards
improving organizational effectiveness”-Stephen Robbins
• OB studies what people do in an organization and how that behavior affects the
performance of the organization.
• Focuses on understanding and explaining individual and group behaviors in organizations
• It is concerned with what people do in an organization and how that behavior affects
performance
• The understanding, prediction and management of human behavior in the organizations
• More micro than macro
• OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure
have on behavior within an organization.
• OB focuses on improving productivity, reducing absenteeism and turnover, and increasing
employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
 Behavioral model for OB/Goals of OB

• Describe how they behave

• Understand why ? Reasons?

• Predict future employee behavior

• Control human activity at work

 Scope of OB

• Individual

• Inter individual

• Group behavior
 Concept of OB

1.Nature of people 2.Nature of Organization

• Individual differences • Social systems

• Perception • Mutual Interest

• Whole Person • Ethics

• Motivated Behavior

• Value of person
 Factors influencing OB

1.People-

• identify the need spectrum of individuals and take suitable steps for its fulfillment to enable them to perform effectively

so that they complete their allotted task in time

• Dyadic relation ship-Relationship between the workers, with subordinates and superiors should be established based

on full understanding and complete faith based on mutual trust so that it is easy to communicate and understand each

other’s views

• Work teams and Groups play a vital role in the organization.

• Outsiders-Individual may have to keep his personal interest aside if it conflicts with team or group goals

2.Structure-Formal & Informal

3.Technology-

• Selection of type of technology-long linked, mediating ,Intensive

• Maintain balance between Technical& Social systems

4.Environment

• Job & Processes

• Internal environment relates to various personnel policies and corresponding managerial actions,

• External environment relates to cultural, social, legal, and governmental rules and regulations that should be taken care
 4 Key Elements/Assumptions /Organization components that need to be managed

• People

• Structure

• Technology

• Environment

• Leadership

• Culture

• Tools of communication
 Role/Importance of OB

1.Understanding Human Behavior and HR- individual, Interpersonal. Group and Intergroup Behavior
• Nations wellbeing
• Organization Performance
• Strategic Advantages
• Efficient HRM
2.Influencing Human Behavior
• Skill improvement
• Motivation
• Understanding nature of employees
• Anticipate Orgn Events
• Organization Climate
• Goodwill
• Optimum utilization of resources
• Leadership
• Communication
• Orgn change and development
Characteristics/Nature of OB

• Behavioral Approach
• Cause & Effect Relationship
• Branch of Social science
• 3 levels of Analysis
• Science as well as Art
• Body of Theory,Resesarch
and Application
• Beneficial to both
Organization & Individuals
• Balanced Thinking
• Interdisciplinary Approach
 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

Psychology seeks to Sociology studies

measure,explain, people in relation to their
and change fellow human beings
behavior

Social psychology
focuses on the
influence of people
on one another

Political science is the

Anthropology is the
study of the
study of societies
behavior of individuals
to learn about human
and groups within
beings and their activities
a political environment12
 Contributing Disciplines

• Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the
behavior of humans and other animals.

• Sociology: Whereas psychologists focus on the individual, sociologists study the social
system in which individuals fill their roles; that is, sociology studies people in relation to
other human beings.

• Social psychology is an area within psychology, but it blends concepts from psychology
and sociology. It focuses on the influence of people on one another. One of the major
areas receiving considerable investigation from social psychologists has been change--
how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance. processes.

• Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments, for instance, has helped us
understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behavior between people in
different countries and within different organizations.

• Political science studies the behavior of individuals and groups within a political
environment. Specific topics of concern include structuring of conflict, allocation of
power, and the manipulation of power for individual self-interest.
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)
Historical Development of OB
Models Of Organization Behaviour
 Perception-Definition & Meaning

• “Perception may be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.” --Joseph Reitz,

• Joseph Reitz, “Perception includes all those processes by which an individual receives
information about his environment—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling. The
study of these perpetual processes shows that their functioning is affected by three
classes of variables—the objects or events being perceived, the environment in which
perception occurs and the individual doing the perceiving.”

• Perception is the act of seeing what is there to be seen. But what is seen is influenced by
the perceiver, the object and its environment. The meaning of perception emphasizes all
these three points.
 Nature of Perception
• Intellectual process of transforming
sensory stimuli to meaningful
information. It
• Basic cognitive or psychological process
• Subjective process -Different
Importance
• Understanding the tasks to be
performed.
• Understanding associated
importance of tasks allotted.
• Understanding preferred behavior
to complete respective tasks.
• Clarifying role perceptions.
• Managers can avoid errors
 TYPES OF PERCEPTION

• Of sound − The ability to receive sound by identifying vibrations.

• Of speech − The competence of interpreting and understanding the sounds of language
heard.
• Touch − Identifying objects through patterns of its surface by touching it.
• Taste − The ability to receive flavor of substances by tasting it through sensory organs
known as taste buds.
• Other senses − They approve perception through body, like balance, acceleration, pain,
time, sensation felt in throat and lungs etc.
• Of the social world − It permits people to understand other individuals and groups of their
social world.

 Example − Riya goes to a restaurant and likes their customer service, so she will perceive that
it is a good place to hang out and will recommend it to her friends, who may or may not like it.
Riya's perception about the restaurant is good.
Perception Process
 Process of Perception

1.Receiving the stimuli-sensory –sources

2.Selection of the Stimuli

• Individual External factors
• Individual Internal factors
• Selective perception-(Interest)

--Principles of Figure ground

Meaningful-Figure and meaningless –Ground

--Principle & Relevancy-needs & desires

3.Organisation of Stimuli
• Grouping –Similarity or Proximity
• Closure-Incomplete Information end up in guess and form complete information
• Simplification-Overloaded with information –Subtract and concentrate on important ones
 Process of Perception

4.Interpretation
• Halo Effect-general impression based on single trait
• Attribution-Explain human behavior with Cause & Effect Relationship
• Stereotyping-judged based on group they belong
• Personality
• Situation
• Perceiver
5.Action-Resultant Behavior -Positive or Negative
Factors
FactorsThat
That
Influence
Influence
Perception
Perception
 Factors influencing perception

1.Factors in Perceiver
• Attitudes
• Moods
• Motives
• Self-Concept\Interest
• Cognitive Structure Expectations
2.Situation Factors
3.Factors of objective /Target
 Barriers and Suggestions of Perception

• Halo Effect-general impression based on • Perceive oneself accurately

single trait • Improve ones self concept
• Attribution-Explain human behavior with • Be empathetic
Cause & Effect Relationship • Have positive attitude
• Stereotyping-judged based on group • Avoid perceptual Distortions
they belong
• Communicating openly two way
• Expectancy-Pygmalion effect-Self
• Conscious effort to avoid attribution
Prophecy
• Perceptual Defense-protect from
threatening stimuli
• Projection-See their own trait in others
 Applications of Perception

• Employment Interview
• Performance Appraisal
• Performance Expectation
• Employee Effort
• Employee Loyalty
 Attribution in Perception-Concept

• Attribution theory - when we evaluate human behaviour,it is either internally caused or it is

caused due to external factors

Three factors.
1.Distinctiveness-Individual behavior-Internal & External factors

2.Consensus: This factor refers to group behavior

3.Consistency:

Fundamental attribution error - the tendency to under estimate the influence of external
factors and over estimate the influence of internal factors or personal factors while carrying
out perception.

Self-serving bias error- caused by the individuals who tend to attribute their own success to
internal causation like ability, hard work and self-worth and the failure, to external factors like
Luck
 Values

• “Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of

existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct
or end –state of existence-Rokeach
Types/Sources

• Personal Values
• Family Values
• Social-Cultural Values
• Material values
• Spiritual Values/Religious
• Moral Values
• Political
• Life exp
• Halo effect
RVS-Terminal values & Instrumental Values
 Beliefs and Values:
Beliefs
• Beliefs refer to the way in which an
individual organizes his perceptions and
cognitions
• Beliefs are concepts that we hold to be
true.
• These may come from religion, but not
always.
• Beliefs determine our attitudes and
opinions
Values
• Values refer to the cognition of an
individual that a certain mode of conduct
or style of behavior is socially preferable
to the other possible modes of conduct
or behavioral styles.
• Values provide standards of competence
and morality.
• These are ideas that we hold to be
important.
• They govern the way we behave,
communicate and interact with others.
• They transcend specific objects,
Situations or persons.
• These are relatively permanent and there
is resistant to change them
 Dissimilarities  between Values and Attitudes

Values Attitudes

Values help to guide our behavior. Attitudes are the response that is a result of our values.

Values decide what we think as for right, wrong, Attitudes are our likes and dislike towards things, people, and
good, or unjust. objects.

Values are more or less permanent in nature. Attitudes are changeable with favorable experiences.

They represent single belief that, guides actions They represent several beliefs focused on a specific object or
and judgment across objects and situations. situation.

They derived from social and cultural mores. These are personal experiences.
 Similarities between Values and Attitudes

• Values and attitudes are two important variables influencing cognitive process and
behavior.
• They are learned and acquired essentially from the same sources.
• They endure and are resistant to change.
• They have a reciprocal influence and are used interchangeably.
 Characteristics of Values

• Values provide standards of competence and morality.

• These are ideas that we hold to be important.
• They govern the way we behave, communicate and interact with others.
• They transcend specific objects, Situations or persons.
• These are relatively permanent and there is resistant to change them.
• These are extremely practical, and valuation requires not just techniques but also an
understanding of the strategic context.
• These can provide standards of competence and morality.
• These can go beyond specific situations or persons.
• Personal values can be influenced by culture, tradition, and a combination of internal and
external factors.
• These are relatively permanent.
 Characteristics of Values

• These are more central to the core of a person.

• Most of our core values are learned early in life from family, friends, neighborhood school,
the mass print, visual media and other sources within the society.
• Values are loaded with effective thoughts about ideas, objects, behavior, etc.
• They contain a judgmental element in that they carry an individual’s ideas as to what is
right, good, or desirable.
• Values can differ from culture to culture and even person to person.
• Values play a significant role in the integration and fulfillment of man’s basic impulses and
desire stably and consistently appropriate for his living.
• They are generic experiences in social action made up of both individual and social
responses and attitudes.
• They build up societies, integrate social relations.
• They mold the ideal dimensions of personality and depth of culture.
• They influence people’s behavior and serve as criteria for evaluating the actions of others.
• They have a great role to play in the conduct of social life. They help in creating norms to
guide day-to-day behavior
 Attitudes-Meaning & Components

• Evaluation of a particular person,belief,event,place or thing.

• A predisposition or a tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea,
object, person, or situation. Attitude influences an individual's choice of action, and
responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards (together called stimuli).

Four major components of attitude are

• (1) Affective: emotions or feelings.
• (2) Informational or Cognitive: belief or opinions held consciously.
• (3) Conative: inclination for action.
• (4) Evaluative: positive or negative response to stimuli.
 Characteristics of Attitude

• Attitudes are the complex combination of things we tend to call personality, beliefs,
values, behaviors, and motivations.
• It can fall anywhere along a continuum from very favorable to very unfavorable.
• All people, irrespective of their status or intelligence, hold attitudes.
• An attitude exists in every person’s mind. It helps to define our identity, guide our actions,
and influence how we judge people.
• Although the feeling and belief components of attitude are internal to a person, we can
view a person’s attitude from his or her resulting behavior.
• Attitude helps us define how we see situations, as well as define how we behave toward
the situation or object.
• It provides us with internal cognitions or beliefs and thoughts about people and objects.
• It can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitude is those that we are consciously aware
of an implicit attitude is unconscious, but still, have an effect on our behaviors.
 Characteristics of Attitude

• Attitudes cause us to behave in a particular way toward an object or person.

• An attitude is a summary of a person’s past experience; thus, an attitude is grounded in
direct experience predicts future behavior more accurately.
• It includes certain aspects of personality as interests, appreciation and social conduct.
• It indicates the sum total of a man’s inclinations and feelings.
• An attitude is a point of view, substantiated or otherwise, true or false which one holds
towards an idea, object or person.
• It has aspects such as direction, intensity, generality or specificity.
• It refers to one’s readiness for doing Work.
• It may be positive or negative and may be affected by age, position, and education.
 Attitudes-Types & Barriers

3 types of attitudes are; Barriers

• Job Satisfaction, • Prior Commitment.
• Job Involvement, • Insufficient Information.
• Organizational Commitment. • Balance and Consistency.
• Lack of Resources.
• Improper Reward System.
• Resistance to Change.
 Functions & Sources of Attitudes

Functions SOURCES
• Adaptive -People modify their attitudes • Direct personal experience
to adjust to their work environment. • Association\Family & peer groups
• Knowledge-Attitudes provide a standard • Neighborhood
of reference which allows people to • Economic status
understand and explain their
• Mass Communication
environment
• Value-Expressive-People express their
values through attitudes
• Ego-Defense-It helps them to defend
their self-images.
 Formation of Attitude

• Direct Experience with the object

• Classical conditioning & Attitude
• Operant conditioning and Attitude Acquisition
• Vicarious Learning
• Family and peer groups
• Economic Status and Occupations
 Factors influencing Attitude

I. Psychological Factors-Attitude Formation & Attitude Change

A.Direct Instruction
-Operant ,
-Classical or Social /Observational,
-Unconscious Motivation

II.Personal Experience
Reducing Surplus information
• Personal Interest
• Needs & Satisfaction
• Solution of Problems
• Previous experience
• Isolated Events
• Reliable Personality
• Parents /Teachers/Friends Influence
• Mass Communication-Print & Electronic
• Selective Perception
• Personality
• Economic Status & Occupation
• Group Association
 Structural Models of Attitudes

1.Tricomponent Attitude Model

• Cognitive Component – The knowledge and perceptions that are acquired by a combination
of direct experience with the attitude object and related information from various sources.

• Affective Component – A consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular product or

brand.

• Conative Component – The likelihood or tendency that an individual will undertake a specific
action or behave in a particular way with regard to the attitude object.

2.Multiattribute Attitude Model

• The attitude-toward-object model – Attitude is function of evaluation of product- specific
beliefs and evaluations
• The attitude-toward-behavior model –Is the attitude toward behaving or acting with respect
to an object, rather than the attitude toward the object itself
• Theory-of-reasoned-action model – A comprehensive, integrative model of attitudes
 Structural Models of Attitudes

3. The Trying-to-Consume Model

Theory of Trying to Consume An attitude theory designed to account for the many cases
where the action or outcome is not certain but instead reflects the consumer’s attempt to
consume (or purchase).

4. Attitude-toward-the-Ad Model
A model that proposes that a consumer forms various feelings (affects) and judgments
(cognitions) as the result of exposure to an advertisement, which, in turn, affect the
consumer’s attitude toward the ad and attitude toward the brand.
 Personality-Meaning , Definition & Characteristics

” Personality is a dynamic organization within an individual of those psychological systems

that determines his unique adjustment with the environment. It is a sum total of ways in which
an individual reacts and interacts with others.”

Characteristics

•  Consistency
• Psychological & Physiological
• Impacts Behaviors and actions
• Multiple Expression
• Inherited Characteristics
• Learned Characteristics
 Determinants of Personality

A.)Biological Factors

• Heredity: The biological physiological or psychological characteristics that an individual is

born with constitute heredity. An individual’s personality is determined by the type of
genes he inherits from his parents.
• Brain
• Biofeedback
• Physical Features: Some traits may have the same genetic code and may be genetically
transmitted along with physical characteristics such as height and hair color.

B.)Environment: an individual is exposed to plays a major role in shaping his personality.

• Culture -of the society in which an individual is brought up

• Family-the norms set by the parents
• social groups-teachers and others
• Situational Factors: An individual’s personality may not change entirely with a particular
situation. However different situations bring out different aspect of an individual’s
personality.
 Personality -Stages

• Sigmund Freud-Psychoanalytical theory

• Carl Jung
• Erikson stages
• Chris Argyis –Immaturity –Maturity theory
• Traits theory
• Self Theory
• Big Five Personality Traits
 Sigmund Freud-Psychoanalytical theory

• Level of Consciousness
• Defense Mechanisms
• Id
• Ego
• Super Ego
Erikson Stages
Chris Argyis –Immaturity –Maturity theory
 Personality Types/ Big Five

• Locus of control
• Machiavellianism
• Self Esteem
• Self Monitoring
• Risk Taking
• Type A Personality
1.Locus of control
1.Locus of control It refers to the
degree to which people
believe that they can
control their fate or any
situation.

i. Some people believe that they

are masters of their won
fate and are known as
internal locus of control
ii.while some believe that their
fate is controlled by luck,
chance or external forces
and are called external
locus of control.
2.Machiavellianism

It refers to the degree to which

an individual is practical in the
approach, maintains an
emotional distance from others,
and believes that ends justify the
means.
3.Self Esteem

The degree of liking an individual

is referred to as self-esteem
4.Self Monitoring

It refers to their ability to adapt

his behavior to the demands of
the situation. High self-monitors
are capable of changing their
behavior according to the
situation.
5.Risk Taking
This refers to the extent to which
an individual is prepared to take
risks.
People who are highly risk-
taking in their behavior make
decision quickly without
searching for much information.
6.Type A Personality
Individuals who strive continuously to achieve
more things in less time, even in the face of
opposition are said to have a Type A
personality.

Characteristics of type A personalities are:

They try to be fast in everything they do
Try to be involved in more than one thing at a
time.
Always busy and find themselves unable to
cope with leisure time.
 Learning-Nature & Significance

Nature
• Change in Behavior relatively or Permanent
• Based on experience or Training
• Reinforcement
• Reflected in the behavior

Significance of learning
• Learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, practice or
experience.
• Learning helps in the effective management of human resources
• Behavior of people in the organization can be learned directly or indirectly.
 Determinants of learning

• Motive
• Stimuli
• Reinforcement
• Attention
• Recognition
• Retention
• Efforts
• Reward
 Theories of Learning

 1.Classical Conditioning

• It was for by Ivan Pavlov formulated this theory -conducted experiments on dogs.

• This theory emphasizes the connection between stimulus and response and is called
connectionist theories.
• The S-R connection deals with classical or respondent conditioning while
• R-S connection deals with instrumental or operant conditioning.
• Learning is due to the consequence that follows the response, which influences the
repetition of the response

– Conditioned response (Salivation)

– Conditioned Stimulus (ringing of bell)
Classical Conditioning
 Operant conditioning

2.Operant conditioning:
• Skinner designed an apparatus called the “operant Chamber” to understand leaned
behavior in animals.

• The Skinner box has a lever, which on pressing, drops a pellet of food.

• A hungry rat was placed in the Skinner box.

• Soon, it started exploring and sniffing around, looking for food. It eventually pressed the
lever by accident and received a pellet of food.

• The rat soon learned to associate pressing of the lever with the reward of food. This form
of learning, which is based on trial and error is called operant conditioning.

• Consequences determine the behavior that results in learning. People learn to behave in a
particular manner in order to obtain something they or to avoid something they do not
want.
Operant conditioning
 Social Learning theory:

3.Social Learning theory: Blend of both Cognitive and classical

4 process of social learning are:

• Attention
• Retention
• Motor Reproduction
• Reinforcement
 Modeling processes:

• Learning can take place through vicarious or modeling and self-control processes.

• Self-efficacy-The self-perceptions of how well a person can cope with situations as they
arise. People with high self-efficacy usually do better than people with low-efficacy.

• N.E. Miller and J.C Dollard learning- could occur through imitation of others.

• Albert Bandura hypothesized -that people could learn from others and that such
• learning took place in two steps:

1.Through observation a person acquires a mental pictures of an act carried out by

someone and the consequences.
2.Then the person enacts the acquired image.
3.If the consequence turn out top be positive, the behavior is repeated other wise it is
discontinued.
Cognitive theories: Edwad
Tolman

• It stated that cognitive learning

consists of a relationship
between cognitive environment
cue and expectation.
• He conducted an experiment
on white rates.
• Rats were allowed to run
through a complicated maze in
search of food.
• The food was placed at certain
points in the maze.
• When the rats come across
the food, they began to
associate the presence of food
with certain cognitive cues
• Result-- learning took place.
• This learning associated
between the cue and
expectation is termed as S-S
(stimulus-stimulus) learning.
 Principles of Learning

• Feedback\Active Learning
• Reinforcement
• Meaningful material
• Multiple Sense Learning-Sight & Hearing
• Over Learning
• Primacy & Recency
Law of effect
• Edward L.Thorndike believe that learning involved forming bonds between stimulus and
response
• States that responses followed by pleasant consequence are more likely to be repeated,
while responses followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.
• Example:
• Some employees do not learn from repeated failures as they have high self-efficacy. Such
employees also do not obey the instructions given by the manager and continue to work in
their own style. Such a misguided sense of self-efficacy could neutralize the law of Effect.

Self Learning –Ekalavya

 
Learning through Reinforcement
Reinforce means to strengthen,
and reinforcement refers to a
stimulus which strengthens the
probability of a particular
response being repeated.

• Positive reinforcement.
• Negative reinforcement.
• Extinction
• Punishment