Individual Behaviour

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR

Individual behaviour 

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Organizations are composed of individual and individual is different from the other. The behaviour of each individual is influenced by several factors. Every individual has particular motives, ambitions, perceptions and abilities. To understand the human behaviour in organization in a better way a careful study of all the factors which affect the human behaviour is must. The factors which affect the human beaviour are persons, environment and the organization itself. B = F(P,E and O) B = Individual behaviour P = Person E = environment O = Organization Thus individual behaviour is a function of person, environment and the organization.

I. Personal factors FACTORS AFFECTING BEHAVIOUR PERSONAL FACTORS Biographical Factors 1. Physical Characteristics

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS Learned Characteristics

1. Economic Factors

1. Physical Facilities

2. Social Cultural

2. Organisation Structure

1. Personality 3. Political Factors 2. Perception

2. Age 3. Attitudes 3. Gender 4. Values 4. Regligion 5. Marital Status

ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS

3. Leadership 4. Legal Environment

4. Reward System

A. Biographical characteristics 

1.

Characteristics which are genetic in nature and are inherited These are the qualities which the human being are born with. These are the characteristics which cannot be changed, At the most, these can be refined to some extent. If the managers know about the inherited qualities and limitations of the person, they can use there organizational beavhiour techniques more effectively .all these characteristics are explained in detail as follows: Physical characteristics: Height, skin, complexion,vision, shape and size of nose, weight etc. all these have an impact on the performance of the individuals.sometimes said that the eyes betray the character of a person. Tall and slim people are expected to dress well and behave in a sophisticated manner and fat people are supposed to be of a jolly nature. Not has not been scientifically proven. It is very difficult to understand which is the independent variable and which is the dependent variable.

2.

Age: Age is determined by the date of birth. Psychologically, younger people are expected to be more energetic, innovative, adventurous, ambition and risk taking. Whereas old people are supposed to be conservative, set in their own ways and less adaptable. Though it is incorrect to generalize all old people as inadaptable, Psychologically. Performance declines with advancement of age because older people have less stamina, memory etc. Younger people are likely to change job to avail better job opportunities, but as one grows old, the chances of his quitting job are less. There is a relationship between age and absenteeism also. Older people tend to absent more from their jobs due to unavoidable reasons e.g. going for a vacation.

3.

Gender: Being a male or female is genetic in nature and it is considered to be an inherited feature. Whether women perform as well as in jobs as men do, is an issue which has initiated lot of debates, misconceptions and opinions. Some areas like problem solving ability, analytical skill, competitive drive motivation, leadership, sociability and learning ability, there are no consistent male-female differences. Some role were considered to be exclusive domain of women e.g. nurses, airhostesses etc. but now with the passage of time, we have males in these professions also. Similarly, some jobs which were considered to be exclusive domain of men e.g. pilots, defense jobs, etc. have started accommodating women also, though with condition gender has its impact on absenteeism the tendency to abstain from work is more in females then in men, the turnover is also more in female employees, though the evidence is mixed in this case some studies have found that females have high turnover rates, while the other do not find any difference. Although this trend is changing with the passage of time, but majority of the Indian families follow these norms.

4.

Religion: People who are highly religious are supposed to have high moral values e.g. they are honest, they do not tell lies or talk ill of others. They are supposed to be contended. But there is another side of the picture also though there are no evidence but it has been observed that sometimes people who are highly dishonest and immoral are more religious as compared to the other.

5.

Marital status: Research has consistently indicated that as marriage imposes increased responsibilities, to have a steady job becomes more valuable and important. Few other questions which need answer e.g. (i) What will be the effect of divorce or death of the life partner on the performance of an employee? (ii) What about couples who live together without getting married. So far there are no answer to these questions.

6.

Experience: The impact of seniority on job performance is an issue which is subject to a lot of misconceptions and speculations. Research indicates that there is a positive relationship between seniority and job performance. Employee turnover is also considered to be negatively related to seniority.

7.

Intelligence: Whether it is an inherited trait or acquired trait, this factor affects the behaviour of the people. Intelligent people are generally not adamant and stubborn , rather they are considered to be stable and predictable.

8.

Ability: Ability refer to the capacity or capability of an individual to perform the various tasks in a job. Ability of an individual can be of two types: (i) Intellectual ability to perform mental activities some important dimensions used to ascertain intellectual ability are number aptitude, comprehension, perpetual speed and test of reasoning. For some important jobs or assignment, a person has to clear some admission test. (ii) Physical ability person’s stamina, manual dexterity, leg strength and the like. If the performance of a particular job requires some specific physical abilities, it is the duty of the management to identify the employees having those abilities

B. Learned characteristics 

Learning is defined as “a relatively permanent change in behaviour resulting from interactions with the environment”

1.

Personality: By personality we don’t mean the physical appearance of a person. Psychologists are not concerned with a smart person, with a smiling face and a charming personality. They consider personality as a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. Rather than looking at parts of the person, personality looks at some aggregate whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. By personality generally refers to personal traits such as dominance, Aggressiveness, persistence and other qualities reflected through a person’s behaviour. Some personality traits like physical build and intelligence are biological in nature but most traits like patience, open mindedness, extrovert ness etc. can be learned an individual’s personality determines the types of activities that he or she is suited for.

2.

Perception: Perception is the viewpoint by which one interpretes a situation in other words, perception is the process by which information enters our mind and is interpreted in order to give some sensible meaning to the world around us .psychology says that different people see and sense the some thing in different ways. For example, if a new manager perceives an employee to be a job shirker, be will tend to lose good relatives and friends because we change our perceptions about them.

3.

Attitude: The way a person feels about something, a person, a place, a thing a situation or an idea. In general, if a person has positive attitude about his work it will be reflected by very good work performance, less absenteeism, less turnover, obedience towards rule or authority etc. if a negative attitude can be changed by simple persuasion or by training and coaching.

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Values: According to Milton Rokeach ,”values are global beliefs that guide actions and judgments across a variety of situations. Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode conduct "Values carry on individual’s ideas as to what is right, good or desirable. All of us have a Hierarchy of values that form our value system like freedom, self respect, honesty, obedience, equality and so on. can be observed from their bahaviour individual values are influenced by the parents, teacher, friends and other external force. As a product of learning and experience in the cultural setting in which he lives. values are very important in study of organizational behaviour because these help in understanding the attitudes and motivation of individual as well as influencing their perceptions.

II. Environmental Factors A brief description of the external factor follows: (1). Economic factor: A few economic factor which directly or indirectly affect the individual behaviour are as explained below: (a). Employment level if the job opportunities are less, the individual will have to stick to a particular organization even though he does not have job satisfaction. on the other hand if the job opportunities are more, the employees turnover will be more. (b). Wage Rates what a person will get in money terms, is the major factor affecting the decision of a worker to stay in a particular organization or shift to another one which will pay more wages. (c). General economic environment some employees who are working in government offices or public sector undertakings are not affected by economic cycles. Whatever the economic position of the organization they will receive their salaries. Whereas the employees, who work in the organizations which are severely affected by economic cycle, are subjected to lay of and retrenchment.

(d). Technological development the technological development has made the job more intellectual and upgraded. This make it the duty of management to retrain the employees. For those, who pickup and acquaint themselves with new technology, the job will be rewarding and challenging. (2). Socio-cultural factor relationship with many family member, friends, colleagues, supervisors and subordinates. similarly every individual has cultural background , which shapes his values and beliefs. Work ethics achievement need effort-reward expectations and values are important cultural factor having impact achievement need effort-reword Expectations and values are important cultural factor having impact on the individual bahaviour (3). Political factors. In a politically stable country there will be a steady level of employment and high level of capital investment. whereas companies are reluctant to invest large sum of money in a politically instable country. (4). Legal environment. Rule and laws are formalized and written standers of behaviour. Both rules and laws are strictly enforced by the legal system.

(III). Organizational factors Organizational factor are as explained below: 1.

Physical facilities. Arrangement of people and things so that is has a positive influence on people. Some of the factor which influence individual behaviour are noise level, heat, light, ventilation, cleanliness, nature of the job, office furnishing, number of people working at a given place etc.

2.

Organisational structure and design reporting system lines of communication established among different levels in the organization.

3.

Leadership the human bahaviour is influenced to a large extent by the behaviour of the superiors or leader. Behaviour of the leader are more important than their qualities.

4.

Reward system the behaviour and performance of the individuals is also influenced by the reward system established by the organization to compensate their employees.

MODALS OF MAN 1.

Who are primarily motivated by money. They took the “economic man” and rational man approach to understand and predict the human behaviour. This modal is based on classical organization theory. The scientific management movement was based on the belief that by rationally explaining the one best way to do things and offering incentives to workers in the from of piece rates and bonuses, organizational output can be increased. Psychologists have also studied this modal for predicting human behaviour. For example,McGregor’s assumptions of theory x reflect this mode. In this model, people are induced to produce more by providing them with economic incentives. In this case, there is no organization- employees conflict because both are satisfying their needs simultaneously.Management is getting more production and people are getting more money. Rational Economic Man:

Drawbacks 

Though, the need of money is inexhaustible and the man will never have enough ; but after a certain stage ,only money will not be sufficient for him. he will have some psychological need also. Which can not be fulfilled by the organization in this case Therefore , it can be stated that the hole assumption of rational economic man are not sufficient in understanding and predicting human behaviour

2.

Social Man: Advocates of this school considered the worker as social man. A part of the social group. Influenced by the social forces and seeks satisfaction of the needs which are related to the maintenance of his social relationships.

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Eltan mayo conceived the concept of the social man when he carried out Hawthorne studies during (1927-1932). The total system of social man is directed towards people .the following changes were required in the managerial strategy.

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Earlier the management was conceived only with the output given by the workers. In this approach, the management had to pay attention to the workers also as human beings.

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Under this concept , the psychological needs were also to be considered

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To analyses and motivate human behaviour in term of groups rather than on individual basis.

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Instead of being the controller of behaviour, managed were supposed to act as the supporter of workers.

2. Organisation man 

An extension of social man. The concept of organization man was introduced by William Whyte. He believed that it is very important for a person to be loyal to the organization and cooperative with the fellow workers. any person who believes in this value system and acts in this way is an organization man every individual should sacrifice his individuality for the sake of the group and the organization.

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The group is the source of activity. Individuals creates only when they move in a group .A group helps to produced a whole that is greater then the sum of its parts. The ultimate need of every individual is belongingness. The organization man concept emphasizes that there is no conflict between the individual interest and the interest of the organization. Even if there is any conflict, individual interest will be sacrificed in favor of the group interest to remove the conflict. People will be willing to sacrifice their interests for the organization only if they are positive that the organisation would take care of them.

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3. The self actuating man: Self actuating man assumes that man’s inherent need is to use his capabilities and skills in such a way that he should have the satisfaction of creating certain things. i.

The basis assumption about this concept is that the various needs of a man can be put in the order of priority. For example. MASLOW has put various needs in a hierarchy: Self actualization according to this diagram is the ultimate goal, because it is last in the hierarchy and by the time this goal is achieved , all the other needs of the man are also satisfied.

ii.

In the process of self actualization, there are various changes in the behaviour of the individual and he moves from immaturity of maturity.

iii.

Self motivated and self controlled. Any incentives given by the management can not motivate him after a certain level and any control imposed on him cannot threatn him.

iv.

The earlier models were based on the assumption that a man has got immature personality. However, the reality is that if a man is left free, he will put in his maximum efforts.

PHYSIOLOGICAL SAFETY BELONGINGNESS ESTEM SELF ACTUALISATION

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Complex man: Complex man presents the real picture of human behaviour.The earlier models assume that man will always behave according to certain set patterns.Most behaviours in the organization can be understood by taking assumptions of complex man. following are a few assumptions about the complex man:

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People are not only complex but are also highly variable. Though their needs can be arranged in a hierarchy, but this hierarchy is also not universal.

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People are capable of learning new motives through their organizational experiences.

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People’s motives in different organizations or different sub parts of the same organization may be different.

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this model is quite complex, it indicates the real situation and lays emphasis on the fact that human behaviour is not as simple as assumed in the previous models. Hence current thinking on the subject is to take a ‘complex man approach and recognise that different individuals have different needs and personality traits and if there is a proper match between these and the environment they operate in, functional will emerge.

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR AND PERFORMANCE 

Performance of individual depends on four elements of individuals behaviors i.e., motivation, ability, role perceptions, situational contingences.

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Motivation: A strong positive motivation will enable the increased output of an employee but a negative motivation will reduce the performance.

2.

Ability: Ability refers to the capacity or capabilities of an individual to perform the various tasks in a job. Ability can be both intellectual as well as physical. Ability will include natural aptitudes as well as learned capabilities required to successful complete a task.

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Role Perception: A person’s beliefs about what behaviors are appropriate in particular situation are known as role perception of the employees. For accurate role perfection, an employee must understand the specific task assigned to him, the relative importance of that task.

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Situational Contingencies: Conditions beyond the employee’s immediate control; at least in the short term. Contingencies which originate from the external environment are generally beyond the control of employees and the organization.