Organisational Behaviours 3 Dec 08

INTRODUCTION TO ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

The term ‘organisational’ behaviour actually refer to behavior of people in the organisations Because organizations themselves do not behave. success of any organisation primarily Depends upon the efficiency and effectiveness of the management, and the effectiveness Of the management depends primarily on its human skill and how well it understands the Need and desires of the people working in the organisation. Human behaviour in organisation is a relatively new concept and it emerged as a distinct field of study in the late 1950’and Early 1960’.

Concept And Meaning Of Organisational Behaviour  Organisational behaviour

is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and control of human behaviour in organization according to Callahan, fleenor and kudson , “organisational behaviour” is a subset of management activities concerned with understanding, predicting and influencing individual behaviour in organisational settings”.

Organisational behavior, organisational theory, organisational psychology & human resource management. Organisational

behaviour tries to understand the behaviour, attitudes and performance of the people in organisations. Organisational theory focuses on the design and structure of the organisations. organisational theory is a macro study whereas organisational behaviouris a microstudy of people’s behaviour Organisational psychology restricts itself to psychological factor only whereas organisational behaviour consider and combines all the branches of study e.g. Science, technology, economics, anthropology, psychology and so on. Organisational behaviour is the basis of human resource management and development .The former is concept oriented whereas the later is concerned with the technology of human development.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR  1. Behavioral

Approach to Management. Organisational behaviour is that part of whole Management which represents the behavioural approach to menegment.has emerged as a Distinct field of study because of the importance of human behaviour in organizations

2. Cause and effect relationship It

provides generalizations that manager can use to anticipate the effect of certain activities on human behaviour.

3. Organisational behaviour is a Branch of Social Sciences Influenced

by several other Social sciences viz. psychology, sociology and anthropology.

4. Three levels of analysis  Namely

individual behaviour, interindividual behaviour and the Behaviour of organisations themselves as being complementary to each other.

5. A Science as well as an Art  The

systematic knowledge about human behaviour is a science and the application of behavioural knowledge and skill is an art. Organisational behaviour is not an exact science because it cannot exactly predict the behaviour of people in organisations.

6.A body of theory, Research and application  Which

helps in understanding the human behaviour in organisation and helps the managers to solve human problems in organisations.

7. Beneficial to both organisation and individuals A

reasonable climate is created so that employees may get much needed satisfaction and the organisation may attain its objectives.

8. Rational Thinking  The

major objective of organisational behaviour is to explain and predict human behaviour in organisations, so that result yielding situations can be created. OB provides rational thinking about people and their behavior.

Nature of organisational behaviour 

Whenever an individual joins an organisation he brings with him unique set of personal characteristics, experiences from other organisation and a personal background. At the first stage organisational behaviour must look at the unique perspective that each individual brings to the work setting. The second stage of organisational behaviour is to study the dynamics of how the incoming individuals interact with the broader organisation. The individual who join a new organisation has to come into contact with the co-worker, manager, formal policies and procedures of the organisation etc. over the time, he is affected by his works experience and the organisation as well as his personal experiences and maturity.

On the other hand, the organisational is also affected by the presence or absence of the individual. Thus, it is essential that OB must study the ways in which the individual and organisation interact with each other. The organisational behaviour must be studied from the perspective of the organisation itself because an organisation exists before a particular individual join in and continues to exist after he or she has left the organisation. Because the organisation influences and influenced by the People working in it. Moreover, both the individuals and the organization influenced by the external environment.

Organisational behaviour and other fields of study Organisational

behaviour is an interdisciplinary approach as it has borrowed concept, theory, Modal and practices of physical sciences as well as social sciences.

1. Psychology 

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 setting. 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 system are measured and directed with the use of psychological theories and modals. Group behaviour in the organizations Communication system in the organisation, attitudes of employees, there need etc. as a subject of social influence on behaviour.

2. Sociology 

Sociology makes use of scientific method in accumulating knowledge about the social behaviour of the groups. 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 the relation to their fellow human beings. Sociology contributes to organisational behivour through its contribution to the study of interpersonal dynamics like leadership, group dynamics, communication etc.

3. Anthropology 

Anthropology is concerned with the interaction between people and their environment especially there actual environment , culture is a major influence on the structure of organisations as well as on the behaviour of people within organizations. Anthropology contributes in understanding the cultural effects on organisational behaviour Effects of value system, norms, sentiments, cohesion and interaction.

4. Political science 

In resent times, political science has also started influencing organisational behaviour political Science is usually, thought of as the study of political systems. But political scientes are interested in how and why people acquire power, political behaviour,Decision making, conflict, the behaviour of interest group and condition formation. These are also major areas of interest in organisational behaviour In organizations, people strive for power end leadership recognition. Political perspectives and government policies are thoroughly analysed for moulding and modifying the behaviour of people, because they greatly influence the organisation.

5. Economics Economics study the production, distribution and

consumption of good 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. if psychological and economic expectations of employees are meet, they are satisfy and become high performers economic system include financial, commercial and industrial Activities the consumption pattern in society monitor the behavour of employees.

6. Science  Science

is systemetised knowledge. organisational behaviour is based on the systemetised Study of facts, behaviour, there relationship and predictions. The cause and effect relationship. A researcher, in the field of OB investigates new facts, test theories, hypothesis and modal. Personal bias, superfluous conclusions and whimsical approach are avoided in the study.

7. Technology 

The study of technological development is becoming essential for understanding the organisational behaviour, because people are influenced by the 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.Technological development leades to effective work behaviour, improved organisational Culture and helpful work environment

8. Engineering  Some

topics are common to engineering as well as organisational behaviour e.g work measurement, productivity measurement, work flow analysis, work design, job design and labour relations. In fact, organisational behaviour is dependent on engineering for these jobs.

9. Medicine  Stress

is becoming a very common problem in the organisations as well as in people working in the organisations Thus ,it can be concluded that organisational behaviour has an interdisciplinary focus.

Role of organisational behaviour A. Understanding human behavior 1.Individual behaviour It tries to analyse why and how an individual behaves in a particular way in a given situation. The behaviour of individual is affected by a number of psychological, social and culturel factors. 2. interpersonal behaviour  In organizations, two person relationship is inevitable. interpersonal interaction represents man’s most natural attempt at socialisation. The techniques, generally, used for studying interpersonal bahaviour are study of perception,Role, analysis , transation analysis etc. 

3.Group behaviour: Hawthorne studies have proven that an individual behaves differently as an individual and as a member of the group. His behaviour is often modified by group norms. 4. Inter group behaviour: The cooperation, coordination and conflicts within group influence performance. Organisational behaviour help the manager in achieving cooperative group relationship through interaction, rotation of member among groups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focus on total group objectives.

Influencing the human behaviour 

Manager can influence the behaviour through control and direction. organisational behaviour helps the manager in influencing the behaviour in the following ways:

1. Leadership  Leadership

helps the management in bringing human behaviour in tune with The organisational requireme A competent leader uses all the human and physical resources at the maximum leavel for for achieving the organisational goal.

2. Motivation  Human

beings work not only for money but also for getting job satisfaction  organisational behaviour helps the manager in understanding the needs and desires of the subordinates and other factor which affect their motivation.

3. Communication  To

achieve organisational effectives, the communication must be effective Behavioural sciences help in improving communication in the organisation the communication prosess and how it works in interpersonal dynamics is evaluated by behavioural science.

4. Organisational Change and Development  Change

can be introduced through group dynamics and proper education of employees though effective communication. The benefits of change should be highlighted and information should be shared with all those likely to be affected by the change.

5. Organisational Climate  Organisational

climate is the creation of an atmosphere of the effective supervision, the opportunity for the realisation of personal goals, good relations with others at the work and sense of accomplishment. Organisational behavior creates an atmosphere of participative leadership, two way communication, adequate compensation and better equipments for the job.

FOUNDATIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Modern organisational behaviour has a rich intellectual history, which provides a base for what we known today. In the classical theories of organistion as well as management, the roles of individuals and groups were ingnored altogether or at the most given minimum attention. A few writers and managers, howere, recognised the importance of individual, group and social processes in the organisation. Robert Own a British industrialist tried to improve the condition of industrial workers in the early nineteenth century. Mary Parker Follect was another writer whobelieved that management should become more democratic in its dealing with employees. She also believed that power should be jointly developed power, a collective not a coercive power, Regarding confects, she believed should put conflict to' use in their organisations. Follett's view of the personal qualities of a leader gives a vivid picture of the characteristics of a good leader.

THE HAWTHORNE STUDIES The Hawthorne Studies were a large research programme conducted between 1927 and 1932 a Western Electric's Hawthorne plant near Chicago.The plant produced various parts for telephone Switching Systems. Several-researchers were involuted in this study, the best known being Elton Mayo, Fritz Roethlisberger, Harvard Faculty members and consultants. These people conducted a series of experimental and observational studies in the plant and conducted employee interviews between 1924 and 1932 The First major experiment was ILLUMINATION EXPERIMENT (1924-27), who purpose was to study the different levels of lighting on productivity.

In another major experiment, A Piecework Incentive System was established for a nine man group that assembled terminal banks for telephone exchanges. Proponents of scientific management would have expected each man to work as hard as he cold to maximums his won personal income. But the Hawthorne researchers fond instead that the group as a whole established as acceptable level of output for its members. It was concluded that to be accepted as a part of the group evidently meant more to the workers them earning extra money

HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH The basic principles underlying the human relations movement were that people respond primarily to their social environment, that motivation depends more on social needs than economic needs and that satisfied employees work harder than unsatisfied employees. The values of human relations approach are exemplified in the work of Douglas McGregor, an MIT Psychologist, Who proposed two sets of assumptions abut human motivations that a manager can hold. McGregor called the assumptions Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X takes a very negative and pessimistic view of human nature and employee behaviour. Theory Y gives a more optimistic and positive view of employees. In 1943, Abraham Maslow published a pioneering theory of employee motivation that became well known and vidual accepted among managers. Maslow's theory assumes that motivation arises from a hierarchical series of needs. As the needs a each level are satisfied, the individual progresses to the next higher level.

TOWARDS ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR 

Organisational behavior began to emerge as a mature field of study in the at 1950s and early 1960s. Since that time, organisational behaviors as a scientific field of inquiry has made considerable strides, although there have been occasional steps backwards as well.

APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR

1. Human Resources Approach 

This approach recognizes that human resources in an organization are the central force. Their development will contribute to the success of the organizations. managers, instead of controlling the employees, should provide active support to them as part of the group. Loose supervision.. By treating individuals as mature adults, organizations can increase productivity and at that same time meet the needs of individuals for independence and growth.

2. Contingency Approch  There

is no single way to manage effectively under all circumstance. The methods or behaviors which work effectively in one situations may fail in another. The manager's task therefore, is to identify which method will in a particular situation, under particular circumstance and at a particular time best contribute to the attainment of organisation's goals.

3. Productivity Approach Productivity means the numerical value of the ratio of output to input. Higher the value of this ratio, greater is the efficiency and effectiveness of the management. These decisions realate to human, social and economic issues. For example if better organisational behaviour can reduce worker's turnover or the number of absentees, a human output or benefit cocurs.

4. System Approach The systems approach is of the view that an organisation in a powerful system with several subsystems which are higly and closely interconnected. This approach gives the managers a ways of looking at the organisational as a whole, whole group and the whole social system. A general system model or organisation as drawn by kast and Rosenzwerg (1966) is in the following figure :

PROCESS OF BEHAVIOUR

The S-R Model 

This model assumes that the reasons which cause human behaviour are of two types -:

(i)

Internal Feeling External Environment

(ii)

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Internal felling of a person may relate to his motivational factor whereas the external environment which is also called the stimulus directly influences the activity of a person. The stimulus may be in the from of heat, light, etc. According to this approach, behaviour is determined by the stimulus or in other words the external environment forces determine the behaviour of a person at any given movent. There is a direct relation between stimulus and response, that is why this process is called S-R process.

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The basic drawback of this model 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 feeling 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-B-A Model S-O-B-A

model is a comprehensive model of human behaviour which comines the S-R situation and human being. But O in this model is not passive or immobile.

The  In

S

this model stands for stimulus or the external environmental situation. It includes ligh, heat, sound, actions of supervisors or other aspects of environment to which a person is sensitive. It stimulates the organism or person into action.

The  In

O

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 processes 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  Stand

B

for behaviour. It includes both overt and covert behavior such as body movements, talking, facial expressions, emounos, sentiments and thinking. The response of organism indicted 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.

The  Stand

A

for accomplishment 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.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR OGRANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

1. Managerial challenges. 2. Work place issues and challenges. 3. Organisational challenges. 4. Global challenges 5. Environmental challenges

Managerial Challenge 

1. Work force Diversity-: Dealing with people who are different.

This challenge is tern\med as work force diversity. Organisations are becoming increasingly cosmopolitan. They are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. One can find a Brahmin working along with a Muslim or scheduled caste or Sikh worker. There can be employees who are physically handicapped, lesbians, gays, elderly or others who are different in some way or the other. In earlier times, managers The managers must tearn to respect diversity. They have to shift their philosophy from treating eveyone alike to recognizing differences and responding to those differences in a way that will ensure employee retentin and greater productivity while at the same time not discriminating. An increasingly diverse workforce presents both opportunities and challenges for the ogranisations. If diversity is not properly managed it can lead to higher employee turnover, more difficult communication and more interpersonal conflicts. Employees thus, need to adjust to emerging workforce expectations by replacing command and control leadership with empowerment giving more freedom and power to the employees.

2. Changing demographics of work force: a. Dual Career Couples 

This is a situation where both partners are actively pursuing professional careers. Organisations had been used to physical relocations of employees. Employees moving through organisational ranks to upper level positions need experience in variety of roles in different organisational units. This hinder the organisational flexibility in acquiring and developing talent.

b. Growing number of youngsters 

Another form of diversity comes form younger people entering the workforce. Generation-X employees are on an average about 25 years of age. The young employees are fresh, ambitions, enthusiastic and innovative. There personal needs have to be handled with circumspection. These people do not Live to work but work to live choosing a life that they want to have as opposed to just bringing home a pay check.

c. Gender factor 

Women used to have very traditional careers in earlier times like nurses, teacher, secretaries etc. Gradually they moved into professional previously dominated by makes e.g. lawyers, doctors and executives, information technology etc. On the other hand more and more men are entering into professions previously dominated by women e.g. catering, nursing, cooking fashion and textile designing etc

2. Work Place Issue and Challenge 

i. Employee Privacy: Employers, nowadays, have stared to intrude and encroach too much into the private lives of the employees. Managers need to be very sensitive to this issue since this trend creates sresentment among employees. The recent practices followed by organisations are:

1.

To implement random drug tests. To heck the background of prospective employees. Randon check of phone calls as well as a check on internet surfing. Tapping the phone lines etc.

2. 3. 4.

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II. Employee Rights: A concern related to employee privacy is employees rights. Issues have also surfaced regarding uniform dress codes, right to marry within the organisation etc. These issues tend to be controversial as more and more organisations limit or ban certain activates.

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III. Unionism: In the recent years, the general trend regarding union membership has been steadily declining. As a result, organisations carry the burden of providing the services to the employees which were previously provided by the unions.

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IV. Changed Employee Expectations” Employee expectation are also changing with change in work force demographics. Traditional motivators like, job securities, attractive pay packages, additional perquisites do not attract, retain or allure today's workforce Nowadays, employees demand empowerment and expect quality or status with the management. participative managements with employee influence and involvement along with mechanisms for upward communications. Flexitimings, opportunities to work from home.

Organisational Challenges 

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(i) Improving Quality and Productivity: Due to the advent of globalization privatization and liberalization, organisations are exposed to competitions. In such a scenari, managers have to think seriously about improving the quality and productivity. To achieve this target, managers are implementing programmers like Total Quality Management and Reengineering programmes. TQM is a philosophy of management for attainment of customer satisfaction through the continuous improvement of all organisational processes. Reengineering means radically rethinking and redesigning those processes by which we create value for customers and do work. Managers, nowadays, must understand that any effort to improve the quality and productivity in order to succeed must include the employees. They should participate actively in planning those changes also. OB offers important insights into helping the managers work through these change.

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(ii) Managing Technology and Innovations: Success will come only to those organisations that maintain their flexibility continually improve their quality and out beat their competitors with innovative proud cut and services. The challenge for managers is to stimulate employee creativity and tolerance for change. The field of OB provides a wealth of ideas and techniques to aid in realizing these goals. (iii) Coping with Temporariness: Managers today face a state of permanent, temporariness. continuously update their knowledge and skills to perform new job requirements. The organisations are also in a state of flux as they have to continuously recognize their various divisions, sell off poor performing businesses, down sixes operations and replacing permanent employees with temporaries. The study of OB can help in providing important insights into helping one in how to overcome resistance to change. (iv) Ethical Behaviour: It is the duty of today's managers to create an ethically healthy elimate for their employees, where they can do their work productively and with clean conscience. Social responsibility is the ogransiational, obligation to protect and contribute to social environment

4. Global Challenge 

Managing global environment: Internationalization of business has transformed the world into a global village. Manager have to cope with unfamiliar laws, languages, practices, attitudes, management styles, ethics etc. Manager have to be flexible and proactive if they are to face these challenges.

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Managing Cultural Diversity: To day's managers have to learn to cope with people form different cultures. If they are transferred to another country, they will have to manager a workforce that is likely to be very different in needs, aspirations and attitudes. If they are in their own country they have to work with people from other countries having different cultures.

5. Environmental Challenges 

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(i) Ecology: Responsibility of business towards society includes concern for ecology. Ecology is concerned with the relationship of living thins with their environment. (ii) Air, water, and soil pollution: The general concept recommended nowadays is that development should be in the long run and every project should cater to maintain if not mend the direct harm to the environment: (iii) Personnel policies: Personnel policies of the organisation should not be dicrimaninatory towards any particular caster, creed, religion, sex or nationality. These should be equal pay for equal work. (iv) Consumerism: Societal marketing concept has emerged to say that long term consumer welfare is also important.

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(v) Research and Development: To keep pace with the global challenges, the organisations must undertake technical and scientific research.

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(vi) International Policies: The organisation has to keep in mind the legislations and specific policies of various countries while dealing with them.

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(vii) National Economic Policies: Due to inflationary trends in the economy, there government pressure on the organisations prices and increase the wages.

the rising is always to reduce

Conclusion 

Organisational behaviour can help the organizations in facing and coping up with these challenges because these cannot be eliminated. There is no perfect solution to organizational problems, but if handled with care and diligence, these challenges can be converted into profitable opportunity. TQM re-engineering, Leadership, Organisational Culture, Group norms are sum of the OB Concepts which can helps in facing various challenges.