ORGANIZATIONAL

BEHAVIOUR

The contradictions are what make human behaviour so

maddening and yet so fascinating, all at the same time.
 OB IN ACTION…
Vineet Nayar, CEO of the Indian IT services giant HCL, likes to rock the boat.
Asked what he wished his greatest legacy to be in five years, Nayar responded
without missing a beat:
“ I have destroyed the office of the CEO.”
He led the charge that gave rise to the company’s bracing motto, “Employee first,
customer second”—an idea that would give many managers hives. And he invited
employees to evaluate their bosses and their bosses’ bosses; then he posted his own
review on the firm’s intranet for all to see, and urged others to follow his lead.
Source: Leadership Lessons from India by Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra V. Singh, and Michael Useem, 2010.
OBJECTIVES
 Understand the determinants of behaviour in an organizational context.
 Develop a perspective on organizations and employees (in India).
 Explain what OB is and how it has evolved.
 Discover what disciplines contribute to and are related to knowledge in OB.
 Examine the framework adopted in this course to understand OB

'swa-bhava-nirmoksha'
 'swa' = the core aspect of the entity
 'nirmoksha' = 'to inspire and express, 'bhava' = expressions | attributes
| competencies,
 EMERGENCE OF OB AS A DISCIPLINE
Traced back to Human Relations Movement stimulated by Hawthorne
experiments during 1920s at Hawthorne Works of Western Electric
Company near Chicago.
Illumination experiments- not lighting but other factors affected
productivity.
Relay Room experiments - attitudes of the employees had an
influence on productivity.
The Bank Wiring Room Study -workers combined to slow down
production
Novelty, interest, and attention are usually associated with the
“Hawthorne effect.”

Shift from ‘mechanization’ of management to ‘humanisation’ of management.

 WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR ?
A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and
structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.

OB model has three levels of analysis.

Each level is constructed on the prior level.
CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES
Many behavioral sciences
have contributed to the
development of Psychology
Organizational
Behavior
Social
Psychology

Sociology Anthropology
 DIFFERING PERSPECTIVES…
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE OF ORGANISATIONS
Membership is contractual. Work and personal domains are
clearly separate.
Modern designs of organizations evolved during the industrial
revolution in the west.
Highly work-centered structures that give the first priority to
work discipline and commitment rather than personal
matters.
Organizational theories, structures and the context of socio-
cultural environment are in tandem
Qualities considered to be highly functional are –readiness to
take responsibility, autonomy & initiative
INDIAN PERSPECTIVE OF ORGANISATIONS
Family model is often extended to work life. Work processes and
relationships often have a personalized ring. Work and personal
lives overlap.
Designs of the modern organisations in India carry the influence
of westernization as introduced by the British and later by
MNCs.
Underlying organizational processes reflect a fusion of family
centrality, social orientation of the Indian psyche and the
demands of globalization
Highly divergent and layered socio-cultural context adds
complexity to the already complex organizational dynamics.
Hierarchy-dominated relationships, highly dependent
subordinates , personalized loyalty & external LoC.
 CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE
 Convergence Hypothesis: An approach to the study of management, which
assumes that principles of good management are universal, and that ones
that work well in the United States will apply equally well in other nations.
 Divergence Hypothesis: The approach to the study of management that
recognizes that knowing how to manage most effectively requires clear
understanding of the culture in which people work.
HUMAN CAPABILITIES MODEL
HAMEL & BREEN, THE FUTURE OF MANAGEMENT, 2007
ENGINES OF YOUR INTELLECT
KNOWING
DOING Creative
BEING Analytical
Thinking
 KEY TAKEAWAYS

 The Three stages of Personal Growth and Learning: Knowing - Doing - Being
 OB focuses on how to improve intra & interpersonal factors that make
organizations more effective.
 The best predictions of behavior are made from a combination of systematic study
and intuition.
 To be a Manager and a Leader you need to develop the engines of your intellect.
 Be a CAT !
PERCEPTION &
ATTRIBUTION

2
HOW WE SEE OUR WORLD
The hiring process for the position of research director at Newchemicals Labs seemed to be going well. This
was the first time employees from various depts. were participating in the interview process, and Dr. Suresh
Chandra, the group coordinator and a veteran of several hiring committees, thought things had gone well.

 Ramesh Patel was young, handsome. and charismatic. While he made a good beginning with firm
handshakes, quick smiles and a confident talker. He Suresh felt his lack of managerial experience was a
severe shortcoming.

 Digambar Kamat was older, more serious, and had several years of experience working in research labs.
Suresh was worried, however, about his interpersonal skills. Kamat lacked a sense of humor and tended to
be abrupt. He had lasted less than a year in his last management position.

 Lakshmi Subramanian was the obvious choice for Suresh. Although she was the oldest of the candidates,
about five years from retirement, she had years of laboratory and managerial experience and provided
excellent references. It wasn't usually the case that one candidate was so clearly superior. Suresh was
pleased.
Some committee members stated that Lakshmi Subramanian was too old for the job and that
she would lack the physical energy and mental focus required for the position. They felt a
younger manager like Ramesh Patel would be better. One member stated that he didn't even
have to attend the interview. Once he had figured out Lakshmi's age through ré sumé
information, he knew she was simply too old to handle the job.

Other committee members candidly revealed that they were taken by the handsome looks and
charm of Ramesh. They reasoned that he must have other positive attributes as well, such as
intelligence, technical skills, and managerial ability. Some stated that Ramesh appeared even
more desirable since his interview had been last and he had followed two older, more reserved
candidates.

Kumar was a no-nonsense manager and strict disciplinarian who was supporting candidate
Kamat. Kumar saw Kamat as his personal clone, and, since Kumar considered himself a
competent manager, Kamat would be the same.

Somehow, the best candidate in the group was being overlooked and Suresh knew why…
 WHAT IS PERCEPTION?
“The process through which we organize and interpret the range of visual, aural,
tactile and chemical stimuli which impinge upon us.” (Thompson & McHugh 2002)

Individuals organize and interpret information from their environments using

perceptual filters.
 personality, mindset, experience, preferences, beliefs-based differences

Social perception is the study of how people form impressions of and make
inferences about other people.
EXPLAINING PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOUR
Attribution Theory in Social Perception
 Attributions based on perceived disposition (personality) and the
situation.
Kelly’s Attribution Model (a.k.a Covariation Model)
 Consistency- this person in other situations
 Distinctiveness- this person on other occasions
 Consensus -how do others behave
AN EXAMPLE OF ATTRIBUTION
You observe an individual complaining about the
food, service, and decor in a restaurant. You conclude that...
To answer “Why?” you note that...

This person always This person also S/he complained

No one else complains complains in this complains in because s/he is difficult
(consensus is low) restaurant other settings to please
(consistency is high) (distinctiveness is low) (internal attribution)

Several others also This person always This person does S/he complained
complains in this not complain in because the restaurant
complain restaurant other settings is terrible
(consensus is high) (consistency is high) (distinctiveness is high) (external attribution)
A MODEL OF ATTRIBUTION THEORY
Perceiver •Behavior
Causal
•Feelings
Attribution
Event •Conclusions

Perceptual Errors
Attribution errors
Halo Effect
 Self Serving Bias
Stereotyping
 Fundamental Attribution Error
First Impression Error
 Similar to me Effect
Selective Perception
Contrast Effect
 SELF-FULFILLING
PROPHECY
The tendency for someone’s expectations about another to cause that
person to behave in a manner consistent with those expectations.
Pygmalion Effect: A positive instance of the self-fulfilling prophecy, in
which people holding high expectations of another tend to improve that
individual’s performance.
Golem Effect: A negative instance of the self-fulfilling prophecy, in which
people holding low expectations of another tend to lower that individual’s
performance.
 ORGANIZATIONAL
APPLICATIONS
 Performance Appraisal: The process of evaluating employees on various
work-related dimensions.
 An inherently biased process

 Impression Management: Efforts by individuals (esp. in employment

interviews) to improve how they appear to others.

 Corporate Image: The impressions that people have of an organization.

Internal branding, Great places to work survey….
 KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Do not overlook the external causes of others’ behaviors.

 Identify your stereotypes.

 Evaluate people based on objective factors.

 Avoid making snap judgments !

 BOOKS TO READ

Prof Dan Ariely

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_asks_are_we_in_co
ntrol_of_our_own_decisions?language=en
ATTITUDE
The little thing that makes a BIG difference
Winston Churchill
3
WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?
Attitude is defined as “tendencies to evaluate an entity [attitude object] into some
degree of favor or disfavor, ordinarily expressed in cognitive, affective and
behavioral responses” (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993).
A SIMPLE MODEL TO BEGIN WITH….
Beliefs Feelings

Attitudes

Intentions Behavior
TRIPARTITE MODEL
Attitude object: Beer

Cognitive Affective
Belief based e.g. Emotion based e.g.
“Beer kills my brain cells” “Harmful-Beneficial”
“Beer helps me to relax” “Relaxing-Stressful”
“Beer tastes good after a hard days work” “Tasty-Bitter”

Behavioral
Intention based e.g.
“I will cut down on my beer drinking”
“I intend to drink beer when I’m stressed”
“I plan to drink more beer after work”
DOES BEHAVIOR ALWAYS
FOLLOW FROM ATTITUDES?

 People often change what they say so that it doesn’t contradict what they do!!
 People seek consistency in their attitudes and behavior.
 This is done by changing attitudes or behavior or by rationalization.
THE THEORY OF COGNITIVE
DISSONANCE
Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an
individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the
same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs,
ideas, or values.
Focuses on how humans strive for internal consistency. An individual who
experiences inconsistency (dissonance) tends to become psychologically
uncomfortable, and is motivated to try to reduce this dissonance—as well as actively
avoid situations and information likely to increase it. Leon Festinger

Desire
Desireto
toreduce
reducedissonance
dissonance
Importance
Importanceofofelements
elementscreating
creatingdissonance
dissonance
Degree
Degreeofofindividual
individualinfluence
influenceover
overelements
elements
Rewards
Rewardsinvolved
involvedinindissonance
dissonance
REDUCING COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
 MEASURING THE A-B RELATIONSHIP
 Recent research indicates that the attitudes (A) significantly predict behaviors (B)
when moderating variables are taken into account.

Moderating Variables
• Importance of the attitude
• Specificity of the attitude
• Accessibility of the attitude
• Social pressures on the individual
• Direct experience with the attitude
 SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY
Attitudes are used after the fact to
make sense out of an action that has
Attitude in line
already occurred. Behavior
with action

 "Individuals come to know their own attitudes, emotions and internal states
by inferring them from observations of their own behavior and circumstances
in which they occur. When internal cues are weak, ambiguous, or un-
interpretable, the individual is in the same position as the outside observer".
Bem, D. J., Self Perception Theory, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology,
Vol 6, 1972.
 JOB SATISFACTION
 A person's evaluation of his or her job and work context.
 A collection of attitudes about specific facets of the job.

4-34
 JOB SATISFACTION & EMPLOYEE
PERFORMANCE
 Satisfaction and Productivity
 Satisfied workers aren’t necessarily more productive.
 Worker productivity is higher in organizations with more satisfied workers.
 Satisfaction and Absenteeism
 Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.
 Satisfaction and Employee Turnover
 Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
 Organizations take actions to cultivate high performers and to weed out lower
performers.
EVLN: RESPONSES TO
DISSATISFACTION
• Leaving the situation
Exit • Quitting, transferring

• Changing the situation

Voice • Problem solving, complaining

Loyalty • Patiently waiting for the situation to improve

• Reducing work effort/quality

Neglect • Increasing absenteeism
4-36
BUILDING (AFFECTIVE) COMMITMENT
Apply humanitarian values
Justice/
Justice/ Support
Support
Support employee wellbeing
Shared
Shared Values
Values congruence
congruence
Values
Values
Employees
Employees trust
trust org
org leaders
leaders
Trust
Trust Job
Job security
security supports
supports trust
trust
Organizational
Organizational Know firm’s past/present/future
Comprehension
Comprehension Open and rapid communication

Employee
Employee Employees feel part of company
Involvement
Involvement Involvement demonstrates trust
4-37
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Managers should watch employee attitudes:
 They influence behaviour
 They give warnings of potential problems
 Managers should try to increase job satisfaction and generate positive job
attitudes
 Reduces costs by lowering turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, theft, and
increasing OCB
 Focus on the intrinsic parts of the job: make work challenging and interesting
 Pay is not enough
 REFERENCES
 Allport, Gordon W. "Attitudes." (1935).

 Eagly, Alice H., and Shelly Chaiken. The psychology of attitudes. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers,
(1993).
 Festinger, L. (1962). "Cognitive dissonance". Scientific American 207 (4): 93–107.

 Judd, Charles M., Eliot R. Smith, and Louise H. Kidder. "Research methods in social relations." (1991).

 Katz, Daniel. "The functional approach to the study of attitudes." Public opinion quarterly 24.2 (1960): 163-204

 Fishbein, Martin, and Icek Ajzen. Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research
(1975).
 Ajzen, Icek. "Attitude structure and behavior." Attitude structure and function (1989): 241-274

 Leon, Festinger. "A theory of cognitive dissonance." Evanston, Il: Row, Peterson (1957).

 Bem, D. J., Self Perception Theory, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol 6, (1972).
PERSONALITY
BEAUTY GETS THE ATTENTION
PERSONALITY GETS THE HEART
4
PERSONALITY
Characteristic patterns of
thinking, feeling and acting.

The importance of personality theory in O.B

Biological influences
Social influences
Changes over the lifespan
Relationship to learning, motivation and
health
Disorders
DETERMINANTS OF
PERSONALITY
NATURE NURTURE
 Income
Genetics
 Housing
 Nutrition
 Education
 Access to health
facilities
 Parenting Styles
 Play Opportunities
 Weather
STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY
 DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Denial: claiming/believing that what is true to be actually false.
Displacement: redirecting emotions to a substitute target.
Projection: attributing uncomfortable feelings to others.
Rationalization: generate self-justifying explanations to hide the real reasons for
our actions.
Reaction Formation: overacting in the opposite way to the fear.
Regression: going back to acting as a child.
Repression: pushing uncomfortable thoughts into the subconscious. (underlies all
other defense mechanisms)
Sublimation: redirecting 'wrong' urges into socially acceptable actions.
THE HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abraham Maslow’s
Self-Actualizing
Person Carl Roger’s
Person-Centered
Perspective

Self Concept - central feature

of personality (+ or -)
PERSONALITY
ASSESSMENT
APPROACHES
 Ratings by acquaintances (expensive)
 Questionnaires (“objective” assessment)
e.g. MBTI and BIG 5
 Projective techniques
o Inkblot techniques
o Story telling techniques/ TAT

 Behavioral assessment (“act frequency”)

 Situational testing (with ratings or act counts)
BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS
 THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE
INDICATOR Extraversion E
Outgoing, speaks out,
A personality test that taps four gregarious, interacting
characteristics and classifies Sensing S
people into 1 to 16 personality types.
Practical, details, concrete,
specific
Thinking T
Analytical, head, rules, justice
Judging J
Structured, time oriented,
decisive, organized
Introversion I
Quiet, concentrating, thinks,
reflective
Intuitive N
General, possibilities,
theoretical, abstract
Feeling F
Subjective , heart,
circumstances, mercy
Perceiving P
Flexible, open ended,
exploring, spontaneous
 SELF-EFFICACY
Individuals’ beliefs concerning their ability to perform specific tasks
successfully.
Judgments of self-efficacy consist of three components:

Magnitude: The level at which an individual believes she or he can

perform.
Strength: The person’s confidence that she or he can perform at that level.
Generality: The extent to which self-efficacy in one situation or for one
task extends to other situations and other tasks.
 SELF-MONITORING
A personality trait involving the extent to which individuals adapt their
behavior to the demands of specific situations so as to make good
impressions on others.

Consequences of self-monitoring:
 Work Performance: High self-monitors tend to do better than low self-monitors in jobs
requiring boundary-spanning activities.
 Career Success: High self-monitors tend to obtain more promotions than low self-monitors.
 Interpersonal Relationships: High self-monitors tend to form less stable and shallower
personal relationships with others than low self-monitors.
 MACHIAVELLIANISM
Niccolò Machiavelli
(1469 –1527)

A personality trait involving willingness to manipulate others for one’s own purposes.
Machiavellian tactics:
 Neglecting to share important information (e.g., claiming to “forget” to tell you about key
meetings and assignments).
 Finding subtle ways of making you look bad to management (e.g., damning you with faint praise).
 Failing to meet obligations (e.g., not holding up their end on joint projects, thereby causing you to
look bad).
 Spreading false rumors about you (e.g., making up things about you that embarrass you in front of
others).
 TYPE A VS. TYPE B
 Type A Behavior Pattern: A pattern of behavior involving high levels of competitiveness, time
urgency, and irritability.
 Type B Behavior Pattern: A pattern of behavior characterized by a casual, laid-back style; the
opposite of the Type A behavior pattern.
 Task Performance
Type As tend to excel on tasks involving time pressure or solitary work.
Type Bs have the advantage when it comes to tasks involving complex judgments and
accuracy as opposed to speed.
 Interpersonal Relations
Type As tend to annoy coworkers, are more likely to lose their tempers and lash out at others,
are more likely to become involved in conflict and are more likely to engage in aggressive and
counterproductive behavior.
LOCUS OF CONTROL

External Locus of Control: Describes people who

believe that fate, luck, or outside forces are responsible
for what happens to them.

Internal Locus of Control: Describes people who

believe that ability, effort, or their own actions
determine what happens to them.
DARK TRAITS
 CLUSTER 1: DISTANCING TRAITS

 TRAIT  DEFINITION  CLINICAL VERSION  UPSIDE  DOWNSIDE

  moody, easily annoyed,      

hard to please, emotionally passion, enthusiasm outbursts, volatility
Excitable unstable bipolar

  distrustful, cynical,   politically astute, hard to  

sensitive to criticism, fool mistrustful,
Skeptical focused on the negative paranoid quarrelsome

  unassertive, resistant to      
change, avoidant careful, precise indecisive, risk-averse
Cautious slow to make decisions

         
aloof, indifferent to schizoid stoic, calm under uncommunicative,
Reserved others’ feelings pressure insensitive

  overtly cooperative but   relaxed, easygoing on the passive-aggressive, driven

privately irritable, avoidant surface by
Leisurely stubborn, uncooperative personal agenda
 CLUSTER 2: SEDUCTIVE TRAITS

 TRAIT  DEFINITION  CLINICAL VERSION  UPSIDE  DOWNSIDE

overly self-confident,  
  entitled, with an    
inflated sense of self- assertive, filled with arrogant, grandiose
Bold narcissistic conviction
worth

   
  risk-taking, limit-   risk-tolerant,
testing, excitement- psychopathic charmingly persuasive impulsive,
Mischievous manipulative
seeking

dramatic, attention-  
  seeking, tends to    
interrupt rather than histrionic entertaining, socially obtuse
Colorful expressive
listen

 
  thinks and acts in     subject to wacky
Imaginative unusual or eccentric schizotypal creative, visionary ideas, constant change
ways
 CLUSTER 3: INGRATIATING TRAITS

 TRAIT  DEFINITION  CLINICAL VERSION  UPSIDE  DOWNSIDE

         
meticulous, precise, obsessive- compulsive hardworking, high perfectionistic,
Diligent detail-oriented standards micromanaging

eager to please,  
  reluctant to act    
submissive, conflict-
Dutiful independently or dependent compliant, loyal
express disagreement averse
 KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Be aware of and identify defensive behaviors .

 Screen for the Big Five trait of conscientiousness, openness to experiences etc

 Take into account the situational factors as well

 MBTI® can help with training and development

 Person –job fit.

MOODS AND
EMOTIONS

5
EMOTIONS
Emotions are a response of the whole organism characterized
by:
 physiological arousal
 expressive behaviors
 conscious experience

MOODS
Feelings that tend to be less intense than
emotions and that lack a contextual stimulus
 DETECTING EMOTION IN OTHERS
 People read a great deal of emotional content in the eyes (“the window to the soul”) and the faces.
 Introverts are better at detecting emotions; extroverts have emotions that are easier to read.

These faces morph from fear to anger.

Raise your hand when you first see anger under the red box.
FELT VERSUS DISPLAYED EMOTIONS

 Felt emotions: an individual’s actual

emotions.

 Displayed emotions: emotions that are

organizationally required and considered appropriate
in the given job.
AFFECTIVE EVENTS THEORY (AET)
An event in the work environment triggers positive or negative emotional reactions.
 Personality and mood determine response intensity
 Emotions can influence a broad range of work variables
EMOTIONAL LABOR
An employee’s expression of organizationally desired emotions during
interpersonal transactions at work.
Emotional Dissonance:
 Employees have to project one emotion while simultaneously feeling another
 Can be very damaging and lead to burnout
Types of Emotions:
 Felt: the individual’s actual emotions
 Displayed: required or appropriate emotions
 Surface Acting: displaying appropriately but not feeling those emotions
internally
 Deep Acting: changing internal feelings to match display rules - very stressful
EMOTION CONTAGION
Time 1
Time 2
 WHAT CREATES EMOTIONAL
CONTAGION?
An unconscious process based on mimicking
of others’ non verbal cues.
(Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994; Neumann & Strack, 2000)

Non verbal cues include:

• Tone of voice,
• Facial expression,
• Body language, and so on..
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
 GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS
 Do people experience emotions equally?
 No. Culture can determine type, frequency, and depth of experienced emotions.
 Do people interpret emotions the same way?
 Yes. Negative emotions are seen as undesirable and positive emotions are
desirable. However, the value of each emotion varies across cultures.
 Do norms of emotional expression vary?
 Yes. Some cultures have a bias against emotional expression; others demand
some display of emotion.
 KEY TAKEAWAYS
 Moods are more general than emotions and less contextual
 Emotions and moods impact all areas of work
 Managers cannot and should not attempt to completely
control the emotions of their employees
 Managers must not ignore the emotions of their co-
workers and employees
 Behavior predictions will be less accurate if emotions are
not taken into account
BOOK TO READ