ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

                    

                              

Management of Conflict

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Organizational behavior is concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behavior in the organizations. Organizational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about, how people, as individual and group, behave within organisations.  

“Organisational behaviour is a subset of management activities concerned with understanding, predicting and influencing individual behaviour in organisational settings.”

Thus, organisational behaviour is concerned with that aspect of human behaviour which is relevant for organisational performance. It studies human behaviour at individual level, group level and organisational level.

NATURE AND SCOPE (FEATURES) OF ORGANIZATIONAL  BEHAVIOUR

Organizational behaviour has emerged as a separate field of study. The nature it has acquired is identified as follows :

1. A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only

By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical foundation. But, O.B. has a multi-interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based on a specific theoretical background. Therefore, it is better reasonable to call O.B. a separate field of study rather than a discipline only.

2. An Interdisciplinary Approach

Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human behaviour at work. It tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthropology to make them applicable for studying and analysing organizational behaviour.

3. An Applied Science

The very nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the application of various researches to solve the organizational problems related to human behaviour. The basic line of difference between pure science and O.B. is that while the former concentrates of fundamental researches, the latter concentrates on applied researches. O.B. involves both applied research and its application in organizational analysis. Hence, O.B. can be called both science as well as art.

4. A Normative Science

Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive science discusses only cause effect relationship, O.B. prescribes how the findings of applied researches can be applied to socially accepted organizational goals. Thus, O.B. deals with what is accepted by individuals and society engaged in an organization. Yes, it is not that O.B. is not normative at all. In fact, O.B. is normative as well that is well underscored by the proliferation of management theories.

5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach

Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people working in the organization. It, deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings. O.B. is based on the belief that people have an innate desire to be independent, creative and productive. It also realizes that people working in the organization can and will actualize these potentials if they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects performance or workers working in an organization.

6. A Total System Approach

The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the behavioural scientists to analyse human behaviour in view of his/her socio-psychological framework. Man's socio-psychological framework makes man a complex one and the systems approach tries to study his/her complexity and find solution to it.

The scope of the organizational behavior is as under:

ü  Impact of personality on performance

ü  Employee motivation

ü  Leadership

ü  How to create effective teams and groups

ü  Study of different organizational structures

ü  Individual behavior, attitude and learning

ü  Perception

ü  Design and development of effective organization

ü  Job design

ü  Impact of culture on organizational behavior

ü  Management of change

ü  Management of conflict and stress

ü  Organizational development

ü  Organizational culture

ü  Transactional analysis

ü  Group behavior, power and politics

ü  Job design

ü  Study of emotions

The field of the organizational behavior does not depend upon deductions based on gut feelings but attempts to gather information regarding an issue in a scientific manner under controlled conditions. It uses information and interprets the findings so that the behavior of an individual and group can be canalized as desired.

Large number of psychologists, social scientists and academicians has carried out research on various issues related to organization behavior. Employee performance and job satisfaction are determinants of accomplishment of individual and organizational goals.

Elements of Organizational Behaviour:

The three internal organizational elements viz., people, technology and structure and the fourth element, i.e., external social systems may be taken as the scope of O.B.

1. People

The people constitute the internal social system of the organization. They consist of individuals and groups. Groups may be large or small, formal or informal, official or unofficial. They are dynamic. They form, change and disband. Human organization changes everyday. Today, it is not the same as it was yesterday. It may change further in the coming days. People are living, thinking and feeling being who created the organization and try to achieve the objectives and goals. Thus, organizations exist to serve the people and not the people exist to serve the organization.

2. Structure

Structure defines the sole relationship of people in an organization. Different people in an organization are given different roles and they have certain relationship with others. It leads to division of labour so that people can perform their duties or work to accomplish the organizational goal. Thus, everybody cannot be an accountant or a clerk. Work is complex and different duties are to be performed by different people. Some may be accountant, others may be managers, clerks, peons or workers. All are so related to each other to accomplish the goal in a co-ordinated manner. Thus, structure relates to power and duties. One has the authority and others have a duty to obey him.

3. Technology

Technology imparts the physical and economic conditions within which people work. With their bare hands people can do nothing so they are given assistance of buildings, machines, tools, processes and resources. The nature of technology depends very much on the nature of the organization and influences the work or working conditions. Thus, technology brings effectiveness and at the same restricts people in various ways.

4. Social System

Social system provides external environment which the organization operates. A single organization cannot exist also. It is a part of the whole. One organization cannot give everything and therefore, there are many other organizations. All these organizations influence each other. It influences the attitudes of people, their working conditions and above all provides competition for resources and power.

O.B. is the study of human behaviour at work in organizations. Accordingly, the scope of O.B. includes the study of individuals, groups and organization/structure. Let us briefly reflect on what aspects each of these three cover.

Individuals

Organizations are the associations of individuals. Individuals differ in many respects. The study of individuals, therefore, includes aspects such as personality, perception, attitudes, values, job satisfaction, learning and motivation.

Groups of Individuals

Groups include aspects such as group dynamics, group conflicts, communication, leadership, power and politics and the like.

Challenges & Opportunities:

Organisational Goal: Goals are the objectives, aims or purposes which are to be achieved by an organisation over varying periods of time.

Goals are the results of planning which is related to future as described by Vroom and Etzioni. Planning is required both for choosing the goals and attaining the goals.

The word aim, goal, mission, objective or purpose are used interchangeably in general practice.

Mission is generally associated with non-business organisation. A government announce its mission in terms of eradicating poverty, unemployment, economic and social inequality etc.

Purpose according to gross is an all inclusive term which refers to commitment of desired future.

An object may be defined as a specific category of purpose for which the organisation is committed. The objective may be production of goods or services, efficiency etc.

Importance of Organisational goals:

1.      Focus attention of individuals and groups to specific activities and efforts of organisations.

2.      Provide a source of Legitimacy to action by members.

3.      Serve as a standard of performance.

4.      Affect the structure of organisation.

5.      Provide clues about the nature and character of organisation.   

Organisational Behaviour – Four Major Models: Autocratic, Custodial, Supportive and Collegial

There are four major models or frameworks that organizations operate out of-

1. Autocratic,

2. Custodial,

3. Supportive, and

4. Collegial.

1. Autocratic:

The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is minimal.

2. Custodial:

The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.

3. Supportive:

The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.

4. Collegial:

The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline. The employee need that is met is self-actualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm.

Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates exclusively in one. There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more areas over-lapping in the other models.

The first model, autocratic, has its roots in the industrial revolution. The managers of this type of organization operate mostly out of McGregor’s Theory X. The next three models begin to build on McGregor’s Theory Y. They have each evolved over a period of time and there is no one best model. In addition, the collegial model should not be thought as the last or best model, but the beginning of a new model or paradigm.

Globalization:

Implies that no organization can work effectively in isolation and has to comply with the global factors that have an impact on it. Globalization poses numerous challenges in front of an organization. At the individual level, an employee may require to work on foreign assignments or collaborate with people from different cultures.

At the group level, problems may arise in decision-making procedures and while working in teams that include people of different cultural backgrounds. At the organizational level, problems may arise in case of mergers or acquisitions due to vast cultural differences.

Management of Workforce Diversity:

Refers to the need of numerous conflict resolution techniques and problem- solving approaches to deal with diverse workforce. It is difficult to manage the employees belonging to different cultural backgrounds, due to differences in their values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. A proper management of workforce diversity can have numerous positive results, such as the availability of fresh ideas and talents.

 

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Unit II

 Individual, Group and Organisational Level

OB can be defined as actions and behaviors of individuals and groups towards and their impact on the organization’s overall functioning and performance. OB can be studied at various levels within an organization, and each level has a unique set of roles, responsibilities, and goals.

Following points discuss the three levels briefly:

1.      Individual Level – Deals with the concepts at the individual level. Examples of individual-level concepts are perception, personality, learning, motivation, and attitude.

2.      Group Level – Deals with the concepts at the group level. Examples of group-level

concepts are team, conflict, leadership, power, and politics. Group-level concepts may include how groups are formed, how to make effective teams, how individually and collectively the group activities can be improved, how to motivate employees, and which type of group would be suitable for a particular assignment.

3. Organizational Level – Deals with the concepts at the organizational level. Examples

    of organizational-level concepts are change management and organizational culture.

    Other topics discussed at organizational level include the concept of organization,

    different organizational models, and organizational change along with its impact and  

    implementation. The working conditions and stress management are also discussed at

   the organizational level.

Perception

Perception (from the Latin perceptio) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information, or the environment.

All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sensory system. For example, vision involves light striking the retina of the eye, smell is mediated by odor molecules, and hearing involves pressure waves.

Perception is not only the passive receipt of these signals, but it's also shaped by the recipient's learning, memory, expectation, and attention.

Perception can be split into two processes, 

• (1) processing the sensory input, which transforms these low-level information to higher-level information (e.g., extracts shapes for object recognition);
• (2) processing which is connected with a person's concepts and expectations (or knowledge), restorative and selective mechanisms (such as attention) that influence perception.

Personality

The word personality is derived from a Greek word “persona” which means “to speak through.” Personality is the combination of characteristics or qualities that forms a person’s unique identity. It signifies the role which a person plays in public. Every individual has a unique, personal and major determinant of his behavior that defines his/her personality.

Personality trait is basically influenced by two major features −

• Inherited characteristics
• Learned characteristics

Inherited Characteristics

The features an individual acquires from their parents or forefathers, in other words the gifted features an individual possesses by birth is considered as inherited characteristics. It consists of the following features −

• Color of a person’s eye
• Religion/Race of a person
• Shape of the nose
• Shape of earlobes

Learned Characteristics

Nobody learns everything by birth. First, our school is our home, then our society, followed by educational institutes. The characteristics an individual acquires by observing, practicing, and learning from others and the surroundings is known as learned characteristics.

Learned characteristics includes the following features −

• Perception − Result of different senses like feeling, hearing etc.
• Values − Influences perception of a situation, decision making process.
• Personality − Patterns of thinking, feeling, understanding and behaving.
• Attitude − Positive or negative attitude like expressing one’s thought.

Motivation

Motivation can be described as the internal force that impacts the direction, intensity, and endurance of a person’s voluntary choice of behavior. It consists of −

• Direction − focused by goals.
• Intensity − bulk of effort allocated.
• Persistence − amount of time taken for the effort to be exerted.

Example − A team leader encourages team members to work efficiently.

Features of Motivation

Motivation is an internal feeling, that is, it defines the psychological state of a person. It is a continuous process and we should make sure that it is not disturbed. A person should be encouraged completely.

Motivation consists of three interacting and dependent elements −

• Needs − The requirements or deficiency which is created whenever there is physiological imbalance.
• Drives − The various camps or events organized to motivate the employees and give them new opportunities.
• Incentives − Employees need to be rewarded for their nice work in order to keep them encouraged.

Importance of Motivation

We need to motivate employees because of the following reasons −

• Motivated employee are more quality oriented.
• Highly motivated employees are more productive as compared to other employees.
• It helps in achieving three behavior dimension of human resource namely
  • Candidates must be attracted not only to join but also remain in the firm.
  • Employees must perform task in a dependable manner.
  • Employees should be creative, spontaneous and innovative at work.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

This theory was produced in order to answer the question “What motivates an individual”. Every second need comes to force when the first need is satisfied completely. Maslow explained the hierarchy of needs by grouping them into two: deficiency needs and growth needs.

Physiological Needs

Every individual needs to take care of the basic requirements required to sustain. These requirements include food to eat, clothing to wear and shelter to live in. These necessities are relatively independent of each other but are finite.

Safety Needs

Everybody wants to stay in a protected environment with minimal danger so that they can have a peaceful life. Safety needs basically includes protection from physiological danger like accident and having economic security like bank accounts, health insurance

In an enterprise, it includes job security, salary increment, etc. The managerial practice to satisfy this involves offering pension scheme, provident fund, gratuity etc.

Social Needs

We have all heard that man is a social animal, we want to be there with those people where we are loved and we are accepted as we are; nobody wants to be judged. This is a common requirement every human desires.

This theory helps managers to think about encouraging their employees by identifying employee needs. In short, it presents motivation as constantly changing force, expressing itself to the constant need for fulfilment of new and higher levels of needs.

Esteem

Esteem means the typical human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People often involve in a profession or hobby to gain recognition, earn fame and respect. According to Maslow, the needs of humans have strict guidelines - the hierarchies rather than being sharply separated, are interrelated. This means that esteem and the consequent levels are not strictly separated but are closely related.

Self-Actualization

Self-actualization means realizing one’s full potential. Maslow describes this as a desire to complete everything that one can, to become the most that one can be.

• Theory X & Theory Y

Douglas McGregor, the eminent social psychologist, divides management style into two contrasting theories −

• Theory X
• Theory Y

Theory X

This theory believes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, and this encourages an authoritarian style of management. According to this theory, management must firmly intervene to get things done. This style of management concludes that workers −

• Disfavor working.
• Abstain responsibility and the need to be directed.
• Need to be controlled, forced, and warned to deliver what's needed.
• Demand to be supervised at each and every step, with controls put in place.
• Require to be attracted to produce results, else they have no ambition or incentive to work.

McGregor observed that X-type workers are in fact mostly in minority, and yet in mass organizations, such as large scale production environment, X Theory management may be needed and can be unavoidable.

Theory Y

This theory explains a participative style of management, that is, distributive in nature. It concludes that employees are happy to work, are self-motivated and creative, and enjoy working with greater responsibility. It estimates that workers −

• Take responsibility willingly and are encouraged to fulfill the goals they are given.
• Explore and accept responsibility and do not need much guidance.
• Assume work as a natural part of life and solve work issues imaginatively.

In Y-type organizations, people at lower levels are engaged in decision making and have more responsibility.


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Vroom’s Expectancy Theory:

One of the most widely accepted explanations of motivation is offered by Victor Vroom in his Expectancy Theory” It is a cognitive process theory of motivation. The theory is founded on the basic notions that people will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when they believe there are relationships between the effort they put forth, the performance they achieve, and the outcomes/ rewards they receive.

The relationships between notions of effort, performance, and reward are depicted in figure below:

  

Thus, the key constructs in the expectancy theory of motivation are:

1. Valence:

Valence, according to Vroom, means the value or strength one places on a particular outcome or reward.

2. Expectancy:

It relates efforts to performance.

3. Instrumentality:

By instrumentality, Vroom means, the belief that performance is related to rewards.

Thus, Vroom’s motivation can also be expressed in the form of an equation as follows: Motivation = Valence x Expectancy x Instrumentality

Being the model multiplicative in nature, all the three variables must have high positive values to imply motivated performance choice. If any one of the variables approaches to zero level, the possibility of the so motivated performance also touches zero level.

However, Vroom’s expectancy theory has its critics. The important ones are:

1. Critics like Porter and Lawler lebeled it as a theory of cognitive hedonism which proposes that individual cognitively chooses the course of action that leads to the greatest degree of pleasure or the smallest degree of pain.

2. The assumption that people are rational and calculating makes the theory idealistic.

3. The expectancy theory does not describe individual and situational differences.

But the valence or value people place on various rewards varies. For example, one employee prefers salary to benefits, whereas another person prefers to just the reverse. The valence for the same reward varies from situation to situation.

In spite of all these critics, the greatest point in me expectancy theory is that it explains why significant segment of workforce exerts low levels of efforts in carrying out job responsibilities.

Models of Organizational Behaviour

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