overview of ob

An Overview of Organizational Behavior

What is an Organization? A consciously coordinated social unit,

composed of 2 or more people , that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals

Contd…

• Org are sets of people who wk together to achieve shared goals

What is OB? A field of study that investigates the impact

that individuals, groups, & structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness

Other DefinitionsThe understanding, prediction and management

of human behavior in organizations – Fred Luthans.

Systematic study and application of human aspects in management of an organization.

Why OB?

• Secret of success – Dhirubhai Ambani – One must have ambition & one must understand the minds of men

• Ideas are no man’s monopoly

Management RolesInterpersonal Informational Decisional

Figure Head: Performs certain functions such as receiving important visitors and signing documents

Nerve Centre: Much of the non routine information coming into the organization is received by the manager

Entrepreneur: Acts as an initiator and designer of controlled change in the organization

Leader: Motivates and encourages subordinates

Disseminator: Must transmit much of the information received to subordinates

Disturbance handler: Non-routine problems must be dealt with.

Liaison: Establishes and maintains a network of relationships with outsiders

Spokesperson: Information about the organization must be transmitted to the outsiders

Resource allocator: Allocates the monetary and non monetary resources

Negotiator: Frequently must negotiate with the outsiders in the matters affecting the organization

Management Skills

1.Technical skill: an ability to use a special proficiency or expertise relating to a method, process or procedure

2. Human skill: Managers should be able to work with the good

understanding of people coupled with the art of motivating them

Management Skills Contd..

Human skills help mgrs – motivate e/e & obtain desired behavior – showing concern for the e/e family probl

Without the cooperation of employees, managers cannot run the organization smoothly and achieving goals will be difficult

3. Conceptual skills: it is the ability to analyze the complex situations rationally process and interpret available information.

Generalization about behavior People tend to develop some generalizations –

helpful in explaining & predicting what others do & will do

People understand things either directly from their own experiences or through the experiences of others

Generalization about behavior

• Happy wkrs are productive wkrs (acc to study of psychology hard wkrs are more productive)

• e/e are more productive when the boss is friendly & reliable

• Everybody likes a challenging job

• Money motivates everyone

• The members of effective wk gps do not get into conflict with each other

Evolution of OBIndustrial revolution (1776) – Robert Owen –

factory owner – identified human needs of e/e – Father of Personnel Administration

Scientific Mgt (1890’s) – F.W Taylor

Human Relations movement (1920’s) – Elton Mayo

Human Relations

• A systematic, developing body of knowledge devoted to explaining the behaviour of individuals in the working organisations

1. Psychology The science that seeks to measure, explain &

sometimes change the behaviour of humans & other animals

Contributions are – motivation, individual perception, learning, training and personality

2. Sociology The study of people in relation to their fellow human

beings Analysis of group behaviour in formal and complex

organisation at the group and organisation level

Contribution of other disciplines to Human Relations and Organisational behaviour


3. Social psychology An area with in psychology that blends concepts

from psychology & sociology & that focuses on the influence of people on one another

Provided many useful insights in attitude change, communication patterns, group processes and group decision making

The study of implementation of change in organisation and the way in which barriers to change implementation can be reduced


4. Industrial Psychology

• Providing a better understanding of individual differences, various processes of selection and placement, the influence of physical environment on human performance, accident and safety etc

5. Anthropology (origins and social relationships of human beings)

• The study of societies to learn about human beings & their activities

• Impact of cultural factors on OB, value system, concepts of interaction, comparative norms, values and attitudes, organisational culture and cross cultural analysis


6. Economics• Provides insights into the aspects of decision and

choice, factors that needed to be considered while choosing the most suitable option, policies that affect the economic growth of the firm

7. Political science• The study of the behaviour of individuals & groups

with in a political environment • Contributions are in the areas of structuring of

conflict, allocation of power, politics within the organisation and the overall administrative process

Undergoing a paradigm shift

• From Greek paradeigma – model, pattern, example

• First intro by – the philosophy of science historian – Thomas Kuhn

• & now used as – a broad model, a frame wk, a way of thinking, a scheme for understanding reality

Undergoing a paradigm shift contd..

• Old mgt paradigm to new paradigm – shift is difficult

• Goal of OB – help today’s & tom’s mgrs – make the transition to the new paradigm

• Coverage of IT, globalization, managing diversity & ethics, culture, reward s/m & so on…

Significance of Human relations and Organisational Behaviour

1. Developmental skillsChanging business environment – more stressLater realised that human resource is the

most important assetManager should spend time in improving

interpersonal relations and direct the employees to improve their quality of performance

Significance of Human relations and Organisational Behaviour contd..

2. Organisational performance – human relations & OB make productive org

According to Keith Daviso Knowledge X Skill = Abilityo Attitude X Situation = Motivationo Ability X Motivation = Potential performanceo Human performance X Resources = Organisational

performance

Research foundations for OB - Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932)

• Hawthorne works of the Western Electric company Chicago

1. The illumination experiments

• Researcher modified the level of illumination

• Two groups - control group and experimental group

Hawthorne Studies (1924 - 1932) contd…

• Illumination was not changed for the control group throughout the course of experiment

• Illumination was changed constantly for the experimental group

• Experimental group - when illumination enhanced productivity increased

• Control group - No change of illumination - productivity increases


• Researchers identified that productivity is influenced by some other factor

2. Relay assembly room experiments

• Elton mayo and Fritz J. Roethlisberger

• Initially 2 girls were selected for the experiment

• In turn they were asked to choose 4 other girls


• These girls were placed in a test room where they had to assemble telephone relays

• Productivity can be identified by variables like rest pauses, cutting down on work hours, decreasing temperature and humidity


Findings

• Irrespective of the changes made there was an overall increase in the productivity

• Researcher realized that since the girls were given a great deal of freedom they had formed an informal group, which also included the observer - informal organisation concept


3. Interview phase

• During the time of experiment 21000 people were interviewed over three-year period (1928 - 30)


4. Bank wiring observation room experiments (1931 - 1932)

• Aimed to understand the power of an informal group and peer pressure on workers productivity

• There are 14 participants

• No change in the physical working conditions

• Workers were paid on the basis of an incentive pay plan


• o/p stayed at fairly constant level

• Economic man model behavior is not seen

• Group acceptance appeared – imp to workers

• Informal & social relations with in group


• e/e’s will work hard if they believe – mgt is concerned about their welfare & supervisors paid special attention to them – Hawthorne Effect

Theory X and theory Y

Proposed by Douglas McGregor

• Theory X assumptions

1. The average person dislikes work and tries to avoid it

2. They have to be either coerced by punishment or forced by means of financial rewards

3. Average employee prefers to be given directions about his work and shies (jumps) away from taking greater responsibility

Theory X and theory Y

• Theory Y assumptions1.People consider work as natural as play or rest

2.If employees were happy and satisfied they would be more committed to the achievement of organizational goals

Theory Z

William Ouchi Recommended American companies to make

changes in human resource management Integrative method combining both American

& Japanese mgt practices

UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATION

Uniqueness of human beings

Theory of Evolution – Charles Darwin

No fundamental differences in the mental processes of human beings & animals

Acc. to Darwin human beings are not considered as unique species

Understanding People And Organization contd..

Human limitations Human behavior is influenced by external & internal

factors

External factors – situations, behavior of other individuals

Internal factors – personality traits (aggressive behavior)

Influence of internal & external factors on human behavior

Instinct Vs Environment Instincts are involuntary actions performed by a

person Without considering the consequences of the actions

Personality Vs Environment Personality can be changed Acc. to some personality cannot be changed

Influence of internal & external factors on human behavior contd..

Cognition Vs Environment• Acc. to cognitive theorists and behaviorists – learning and

environment (stimulus) have an impact on behavior

Understanding Behavior

• Though human beings differ in many aspects, they share some common elements

e.g. Learning – process of learning is same – but what they learn is depends on environment

• Understanding behavior is associated with learning (Chapter 2)

Organization Behavior Models

1. The Autocratic model Power and authority

• Who hold power have – authority to demand wk

• Wk can be extracted – pushing, directing & persuading

• Harsh, demotivating to e/e – yield results – industrial revolution (US) – moderate result


2. The Custodial model E/e tolerate the ill treatment silently – autocratic

model,

• insecurity & frustration vent out on family & friends

• wk place – complete wk-increase scrap, defective items, withhold imp info

E/r started welfare prog – to increase morale – known as paternalism (offered fringe benefits, job security)


But org should have surplus resources - to pay for benefits

e/e cease to depend on the managers – dependence on org increases – helps to retain e/e

Assured of economic reward and benefits irrespective of performance – negative impact on org performance

Drawback – e/e do not contribute to the best of their abilities


3. The Supportive modelBased on the principle of supportive relationship and

leadership rather than on power & money e/e work hard & strive to enhance their performance

– not under compulsion - motivated by the support extended by the mgt

Does not pressurize the financial resources – requires mgrs to change attitude


4. The Collegial modelThe extension of the supportive modelCollegial (friendly, mutually respectful) – gp of

persons wking for a common purpose Team or gp oriented model – for creative projects Self disciplined e/eThe manager is like a leader

Global Challenges

• Adapting to different people – gender, race

• Improving qly & productivity – TQM

• Improving Ethical behavior

overview of ob

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