paper no.1: management concepts and organisational...

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PAPER No.1: MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS AND ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

MODULE No.10: CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO OB

Subject Commerce

Paper No and Title 1: Management Concepts & Organizational Behaviour

Module No and Title 10: Contributing Disciplines to OB

Module Tag COM_P1_M10

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Learning Outcomes

2. Introductions

3. Contributing disciplines to organisational behaviour

a. Psychology

b. Sociology:

c. Social psychology

d. Anthropology

e. Political sciences

f. Economics

g. Medicine

4. Summary

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1. Learning Outcomes

After studying the contributions of various fields of behavioural sciences towards

organizational behaviour, the students may be able to:

1. Analyse the role of Psychology and Social Psychology in predicting the

individual behaviour and its impact on improving individual and organizational

performance.

2. Apply sociological concepts in understanding the group dynamics and its

functioning and its effect on organizational effectiveness.

3. Interpret the Organizational culture from anthropological perspectives and apply

its methodology to understand the formation of organizational culture and its

development.

4. Understand the contributions of political science to study the dynamics of power

bases, formation of conflicts and conflict resolutions strategies etc.

5. Understand the design of organizational structure by using the concepts of

economics and apply medicinal concepts for the wellbeing of individual and

organisation.

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2. Introduction

Organizational behavior (OB) refers to the study of human behaviour in organisational

settings. Since, organisation influences an individual and is influenced by the individual;

one cannot study individual behaviour in isolation. Thus, Stephen P Robins defines ‘OB

is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have

on behavior within an organization, and then applies that knowledge for organisational

betterment.’

People do not work in isolation. When they join an organisation, they come in contact

with other people and the organisation. When come in contact with managers, colleagues,

organisational policies, formal structure with their prior experience, values, culture etc.,

they change. The organisation is also affected by their presence, and eventual absence, of

the individual. Hence, the study of organisational behaviour should consider the ways in

which the individual and the organisation interact.

OB can be defined is an applied behavioural science which is developed from

contributions from a number of behavioural disciplines such as Sociology, Psychology

anthropology, social psychology, and political science. These are the predominant areas.

Each of these disciplines is said to be concerned with human behaviour and nature, there

are only few commonly accepted theories between them

The behavioural scientists are in the process of continuous research to enhance the

predictability of behaviour. People and environments tends to change, their work majorly

focuses to know how most people will tend to behave in a given set of circumstances and

conditions. A different methodology is applied by each discipline to the prediction

problem, and each helps managers with insight into such important areas as individual

differences, cultural influences, motivation and organisational design.

3. CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO ORGANISATINAL

BEHAVIOUR

3.1 Psychology

Psychology is a science of individual behaviour. The term ‘psychology’ is derived from

the Greek word ‘psyche’, which means ‘soul’ or ‘spirit’. It has the maximum influence on

the field of organizational behaviour. Almost all aspects of behaviour are studied by

psychologist. Psychologists are predicting the behaviour of individuals to great extent by

observing the interrelationship of personal, environmental and situational factors learning

theorists, personality theorists, counseling psychologists and most important, industrial

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and organizational psychologist are the people who have

contributed and continue to enhance the knowledge of OB.

Areas of interest in the field of psychology are:

General Psychology

Industrial Psychology

Experimental Psychology

Clinical Psychology

Consumer Psychology

Personality Psychology

Counseling Psychology

Educational Psychology

Understanding Psychological principles help significantly in gaining the knowledge of

determinants of behaviour are attitude, motivation, learning, training process, leadership

determinants of individual behaviour. The major areas researched to understand the

effectiveness, job satisfaction, emotions, individual decision making, performance

appraisal, attitude measurement, employee selection, job design and work stress.

Improvement in personal skill, changes in attitude and development positive approach to

organizational systems can be made if study is conducted in these areas. If one want to

improve the behaviour of an individual on group we have to look into the psychological

needs of an individual and group. Hence the knowledge of psychology can really help in

modifying and improving the behavior of individual and group. If the psychological

satisfaction is given to the people if the Psychological needs are fulfilled and also give

peace of mind, which can improve the ability of an organization

A number of psychological tests are conducted in the organizations for selection of

employees, measuring personality attributes and aptitude. A number of other dimensions

human personality are also measured. The instruments used are scientific and are

finalized after a lot of research.

The most important attributes of psychology includes the emphasis on the scientific study

of behavior. Psychologists understand behaviour on the basis of demonstrable, rational

cause-effect relationships. Motivation and learning are the main focus of psychology,

there immediate applications to the organizational behavior are numerous and

widespread.

3.2 Sociology:

Sociology is the study of social behaviour and relationship among social groups and

societies, and the maintenance of social order. The major focus of sociologists is on

studying the social systems in which individuals fill their roles. The focus of attention is

centered on group dynamics. Sociological concepts, theories, models and techniques help

significantly to study group behaviour in organisations, group dynamics, design of work

teams, organisational culture, formal organisational theory and structure, organisational

technology, communications, power and conflict.

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Sociology deals with the following:

1. Human interaction and this interaction is the key influencing factor among people

in social settings.

2. Study of plural behaviour. Plurality pattern of behaviour can be defined as two or

more interacting persons constitute a plural behavior.

3. The systematic study of social systems. A social system is an operational social

unit that is structured to serve a purpose.

Thus, sociologist viewed organizations as consists of a variety of people with different

roles, status and degree of authority.

3.3 Social Psychology

The study of human behaviour in the context of social situations can be defined as social

psychology. The behavioral patterns that take place when an individual takes part in a

group are studied. It mixes concepts from sociology and psychology and it determines

the focus of individuals on one another. Social psychology is social can be

determined from the f that it deals with how people are affected by other people who

are actually physically present or who are imagined to be present or even whose

presence is implied.

In general, sociology focuses on how organizations, social categories, groups and

societies are organized, how they function and change. The unit of analysis is the group

as a whole rather than the individuals who compose the group. Social Psychology deals

with many of the same phenomenal but seeks to explain whole individual human

interaction and human cognition influences culture and is influenced by culture. The unit

of analysis is the individual within the group. In reality, some forms of sociology are

closely related to social psychology.

Social Psychologists take up study of wide range of subjects range of topics including

prejudice, inter-group behavior, discrimination, stereotyping, sexism and racism, small

groups, social categories, crowd behavior, social conflict, social change, decision making

conformity, persuasion, power, influence, obedience, etc. Among them the most critical

topics relevant to organizational behavior field are behavioral change, attitude change,

communication, group process and group decision making. It basically concern with how

to implement something and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance.

3.4 Anthropology

It is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities. It is concerned

with the interactions between people and their environments, especially their cultural

environment. Culture is a major influence on the structure of organisations as well as on

the behaviour of people within organisations. The way in which people view environment

is a part of culture. Culture includes all ideas which are shared by groups of individuals

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and languages by which these ideas are communicated.

Hence, culture can be defined as a system of learned behavior. The study on environment

and culture helps us to know differences in basic and important attitudes, values, and

behaviour between people in different countries and organisations.

The world has numerous number of anthropologists, and human should be studied in a

natural habitat. Knowing the importance of studying man in natural settings over time

enables one to grasp the range of anthropology. They contribute to study the given

aspects in organizational settings – comparative attitudes, comparative values and cross-

cultural analysis between or among the employees.

3.5 Political Sciences:

Contributions of political scientist are significant to the understanding of behavior in

organizations. Political scientists understand the individual behavior and group’s

behavior in a political environment. Their contribution lies in understanding the dynamics

of power structuring of conflict and conflict resolutions tactics, power centers, allocation

of power and how people manipulate power for individual self interest.

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In a business field, theme of interest to political scientists include how and why people

acquire power, political behaviour, decision-making, conflict, the behaviour of interest

groups, and coalition formation.

The knowledge of political science can be utilized to the study the behavior of

employees, executives at micro as well as macro level.

3.6 Economics

Economists study the distribution, consumption, and production of goods and services.

Economics contributes to the behavior of organization by designing the organizational

structure. Organization and its structure is influenced by transaction cost economics. The

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costs components which makes an exchange on the

market is known as transaction cost economics. It identifies the extent to which the

organization structure and size varies in result to attempts to avoid market failures

through lowering production and transaction costs within the limits of human and

environmental factors.

Economic Pressures determine the suitable structure either through markets, hybrid

network structures or hierarchy to organise transactions effectively. A firm can be

deselected from the market if there failure to organize in the best way possible. The

environment are dynamic, organization must respond to change its structure. Shifts from

large firm hierarchies to networks or to market relations are in terms of changing

conditions of the economising function. Labour market dynamics, productivity, human

resource planning and forecasting, and cost-benefit analysis are the common interests

shared by economist.

3.7 Medicine

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Medicine is the applied science of healing or treatment of

diseases to enhance an individual's health and well-being. It has come into play in

connection with the study of human behaviour at work, specifically in the study of stress.

Behaviour of individual and lifestyle patterns play an important role in treating chronic

diseases than treating acute diseases.

These trends have contributed to the growth of wellness programmes in the context of

corporate medicine. These programmes have led to the increasing attention to medicine

in organisational behaviour. Increasingly, research is showing that controlling the causes

and consequences of stress in and out of organisational settings is important for the well-

being of the individual as well as the organisation.

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Summary

The behavioral sciences have a significant impact on the field of organizational behavior.

Contemporary organisational behaviour has an interdisciplinary focus. It draws a

reference from other fields and attempts to describe behaviour. Behavioural science

provides a systematic base of theories and theory building to explain behavior and gives

an empirical support to study individuals, group, and organization. Effort are made for

the communication of theories, ideas and research to managers who are practicing.

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