Foundations of Organizational Behavior
What Is Organizational Behavior?
. . a field of study that investigates the impact of individuals, groups, and structure on behavior within
organizations
the purpose of applying such knowledge is to improve an organization’s effectiveness
The Basic OB Model
Definition of Organizational Behavior
Robbins: Organizational behavior studies the impact that individuals, groups and structure
have on behavior within organizations for the
purpose of applying such knowledge
towards improving an organization's effectiveness
There are Few Absolutes in OB
Major differences between OB and physical sciences:
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Lack of universal principles
Limited ability to make simple, accurate, and sweeping generalizations
Predictions about human behavior are at best probabilistic, not absolute
OB concepts must reflect situational, contextual conditions
Assumptions underlying Organizational Behavior
Individual differences
Whole person
Caused behavior
Human dignity
Organizations are social systems
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Mutuality of interest
Holistic concept
Significance of Human Relations and Organizational Behavior
Contribution to ‘People-Skills’ Building
Understanding people
These fields provide an understanding of why people behave as they do in organizations
Building ‘People-Skills’
Understanding people: A worker is viewed as a human being exposed to varied stresses, having
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fears
expectations
frustrations
impulses
All these exert a great influence on his performance
Attempts are being made to motivate a worker to
not only do his work but also improve his performance in correlation to his potential
Getting people to work effectively
Greater emphasis is being laid on management development programs
It is in these areas that the fields of OB and HR have assumed utmost significance
Davis illustrates the significance of OB with the following equation:
Ability * Motivation = Human Performance
Contribution to Organizational Performance
Here Ability is the product of knowledge and skill
While Motivation stems from an individual’s attitudes in a given situation
Contribution to Organizational Performance
OB is represented by motivation and as it motivates workers to acquire ability, it is the most significant part of
the whole equation of human performance
Emerging Trends and Future Prospects
‘Megatrends’ in OB and HR
Luthans identifies six specific trends
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Declining productivity
Revolution in middle management
Computerized offices and factories
Equal opportunities for minorities and women
Union-management cooperation
Innovative plans for special career needs
Emerging Trends and Future Prospects
OB and HR have reached the status of identifiable fields of study and applications respectively, with explicit
implications for human resource management in complex organizations
There is a movement in this field (e.g. perception, personality,…) to those more specifically identified with OB
& HR (e.g job conflict and stress, organizational development,……..)
The trend is to make HR more application oriented
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Shifting Paradigms of Organizational Behavior
Demise of “command-and-control”
Increasing competitiveness
Traditional hierarchical structures are proving unwieldy, slow, and costly for survival
Emergence of new workforce expectations
A new generation of workers is bringing with it
Less tolerance for hierarchy
More informality
Concerns for performance merit rather than status
Increasing impact of Information Technology
Organizations are now burgeoning with computers, and the consequent implications for information
utilization are far reaching and substantial
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Belief in empowerment
A dynamic and complex environment
places a premium on knowledge, experience and commitment
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which thrive in high-involvement and participatory work-settings
Organizations today are less vertical and more horizontal in focus
Driven by complex environments and customer demands
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Work is increasingly team based
Focus is on peer contributions
Concern for work-life balance
As society increases in complexity, organizations are paying more attention to how members balance the
sometimes conflicting demands and priorities of work and personal affairs
Competing Values Framework
Internal-External Dimension
inwardly towards employee needs and concerns and / or production processes and internal systems
outwardly, towards the marketplace, government regulations, the changing social, environmental,
and technological conditions of the future
Flexibility-Control Dimension
flexible and dynamic, allowing more teamwork and participation; seeking new opportunities for
products and services
controlling or stable, maintaining the status quo and exhibiting less change
Skills in the New Workplace
Managerial Roles for External Focus
Innovator
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Living with change
Creative thinking
Managing change
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Building, maintaining a power base
Negotiating agreements, commitments
Negotiating and selling ideas
Control
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Personal productivity and motivation
Motivating others
Time and stress management
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Taking initiative
Goal setting
Delegating effectively
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Understanding yourself and others
Interpersonal communication
Broker
Producer
Director
Mentor
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Developing subordinates
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Team building
Participative decision-making
Conflict management
Control
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Receiving and organizing information
Evaluating routine information
Responding to routine information
Facilitator
Monitor
Coordinator
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Planning
Organizing
Controlling
Research Foundations for Organizational Behavior
Lippitt and White Leadership Studies
involved directing groups of schoolchildren in the production of arts and crafts in four different clubs
They had three types of leader assigned to them
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Authoritarian - this leader was to remain aloof and to use orders without consultation in directing the
group activities
Democratic - this leader was to offer guidance, encourage the children and to participate in the group
Laissez-faire - this leader gave the children knowledge, but did not become involved and generally
participated little in the group's activities
The aggressive children were rebellious and constantly demanded attention from the leader, as well as tending
to blame other members of the group whenever anything went wrong
The apathetic children placed fewer demands on the leader and were less critical of him
Democratic - morale was high, relationships between the group members as well as with the group leader
were friendly
Laissez-faire - these were the worst group of all
Their group satisfaction was the lowest
They co-operated little and placed great demands on the leader
Showed little ability to work independently
Conclusions
The studies demonstrated that different types of leadership can give rise to numerous complex reactions from
the same or similar groups
Lester Coch and John R.P. French conducted their study in the late 1940s at the Marion, Virginia plant which
produced pyjamas and employed 500 women and 100 men
The Study
Coch and French divided a number of workers whose jobs were about to be changed, into three groups
Group I were simply told by management that the change would be made
Group II were told why the changes were necessary and what would be involved and were also invited to
choose representatives who would help to devise the retraining program
Group III were told why the changes were necessary and what was involved, but, in this case, the whole group
was invited to help design and plan the new jobs and the retraining
Groups II and III improved their production (Gro up III doing slightly better than Group II), whereas in Group I
production declined
Communication between the ranks is vital, explaining to those affected why a particular course of action is to
be followed;
Participation in decision making is very important, the lower ranks sharing in the decision-making process,
especially where they are to be directly affected
Involved three phases:
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Experimental reorganization of automatic weaving
Experimental reorganization of non-automatic weaving and
Experimental reorganization of management
It demonstrated empirically how people can be integrated with technology to accomplish effective
performance
Theory X and Theory Y (Douglas Mc Gregor)
Theory X relates to assumptions upon which traditional organizations are based and which are inadequate for
the optimal realization of human potential
Theory Y deals with assumptions which are consistent with recent research findings leading to higher
motivation and greater actualization of both individual as well as organizational goals
Assumptions of Theory X
Most people have
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Little capacity for creativity in solving organizational problems
Motivation occurs only at the physiological and safety levels
They must be closely controlled and often coerced to achieve organizational objectives
Assumptions of Theory Y
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Work is as natural as play, if the conditions are favourable
Self-control is often indispensable in achieving organizational goals
The capacity for creativity in solving organizational problems is widely distributed in the population
Motivation occurs at the social, esteem and self-actualization levels, as well as physiological and
security levels
People can be self-directed and creative at work if properly motivated
Research Foundations for Organizational Behavior
Milgram’s Obedience to Authority Study
Milgram conducted a series of experimental studies in the Yale Psychological Laboratory on nearly
1000 adults. He analysed the immediate situational impact on their personality
Implications
The findings suggest that situations can play a very powerful role in an individual’s personality
Indeed, the situational determinants are as relevant as case histories in determining human behavior
Milgram indicates that the situation exercises crucial pressure on the individual in the form of constraints
and pushes
There may be circumstances in which the situation rather than the personality determines the actions of a
person
This leads us to the person-situation interface in the dynamics of human behavior at work
Dwivedi’s Management by Trust
Dwivedi evolved a new trust-based behavioral approach to management based on his action-research in two
organizations in India
A ‘dynamic system,
based on definable, measurable and developable units of trusting behavior,
involving attainment of effective performance through optimization of organizational structures and
processes,
assimilation of conflicts and integration of goals’
Dwivedi’s Management by Trust
Management by trust involves six interrelated, interdependent and interacting factors