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Organizational Behaviour I What is Organizational Behaviour (CHP. 1)

Organizational Behaviour
Definition of Research (abbreviated as OB)
Organizational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that Individuals, groups and organizational structure have on behaviour within the Organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an Organizational effectiveness. Behaviour refers to what people do in the organizations, how they perform and what their attitudes are. In business organizations, OB is frequently applied to address workplace issues such as absenteeism, turnover, productivity, motivation working in groups and job satisfaction. Managers often apply the knowledge gained from OB research to help them manage their organizations more effectively. The above definition has three main elements; first organizational behaviour is an investigative study of individuals and groups, second, the impact of organizational structure on human behaviour and the third, the application of knowledge to achieve organizational effectiveness. These factors are interactive in nature and the impact of such behaviour is applied to various systems so that the goals are achieved. The nature of study of organizational behaviour is the investigation for establishing cause and affects relationship. OB involves integration of studies undertaken relating to behavioural sciences like psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, social psychology and political science. Therefore, Organizational Behaviour is a comprehensive field of study in which individual, group and organizational structure is studied in relation to organizational growth and organizational culture, in an environment where impact of modern technology is great. The aim of the study is to ensure that the human behaviour contributes towards growth of the organization and greater efficiency is achieved. Stephen P. Robins defines Organizational Behaviour as A systematic study of the actions and attitudes that people exhibit within organizations. According to L.M. Prasad, it is the study and application of knowledge about human behaviour related to other elements of an organization such as structure, technology and social systems. OB is for Everyone Why do some people do well in organizational settings while others have difficulty? It may seem natural to think that the study of OB is for leaders and managers of organizations. After all, they often set the agenda for everyone else. However, OB is for everyone. For instance, many employees have informal leadership roles. They are often expected to move beyond simply providing labour to playing a more proactive role in achieving organizational success. For instance, employees in some retail stores can make decisions about when to accept returned items on their own, with involving the manager. Thus, in many organizations, the roles of managers and employees have become blurred. OB is not just for managers and employees. Entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals may not act as managers, but they certainly interact with other individuals and organizations as part their work. In fact, much of OB is relevant beyond the workplace. OB applies equally well to all situations in which you interact with others. In fact, OB is relevant anywhere that people come together and share experiences, work on goals, or meet to solve problems. The study of OB can shed light on the interactions among family members, the voluntary group that comes together to do something about reviving the downtown area, students working as a team on a class project, the parents who sit on the board of their childs daycare centre, or even the members of a lunchtime pickup basketball team.

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Organizational Behaviour I What is Organizational Behaviour (CHP. 1)

The Building Blocks of OB

OB is an applied behavioural science that is built upon contributions from a number of behavioural disciplines. The main areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science. Psychologys contributions have been mainly at the individual or micro-level of analysis. The other four disciplines have contributed to our understanding of macro concepts, such as group processes and organization. The following exhibit presents an overview of the major contributions to the study of OB.

EXHIBIT 1-1: Toward an OB Discipline

Behavioural Science Contribution
Learning Motivation Personality Emotions Perception Training Leadership effectiveness Job satisfaction Individual decision making Performance appraisal Attitude measurement Employee selection Work design Work stress Group dynamics Work teams Communication Power Conflict Intergroup behaviour

Unit of Analysis

Output

Psychology

Bases of Organizational Behaviour 1. Psychology: The science or study of individual human behaviour 2. Sociology: The study of group human behaviour 3. Social Psychology: Studies influences of people on one another 4. Anthropology: Study of the human race, and culture 5. Political Science: Behaviour of individuals in political environment

Individual

Formal organization theory Organizational technology Organizational change Organizational culture Behavioural change Attitude change Communication Group processes Group decision making Comparative values Comparative attitudes Cross-culture analysis

Anthropology
Organizational culture Organizational environment Conflict Intraorganizational politics Power

Political Science

Organization system

Social psychology

Group

Sociology

Study of Organizational Behaviour

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Organizational Behaviour I What is Organizational Behaviour (CHP. 1)

Challenges and Opportunities for OB

A quick look at few dramatic changes now taking place in organization 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Old employee getting old Corporate Downsizing Temporary working employees Global competition War on terror

In short there are lot of challenges and opportunities today for managers to OB concepts. Some of the most critical issues confronting managers for which OB offer solutions - or at least some meaningful insights towards solutions are reviewed below: 1. G l o b a l i z a t i o n t o R e s p o n d Organizations are no longer constrained by national borders, world become global village. Increased foreign assignment Transferred to your employers operating division in another country, once there, youll have to manage workforce, aspiration from employees, and attitudes from those you are used to back home. Working with different people Working with bosses, peers and other employees who were born and raised in different culture, to work effectively with them youve to understand how their culture, geographic and religion have shaped them. Coping with Anti-capitalism backlash Soak the rich means fine should be charged with respect of income you earn. Managers at global companies have come to realize that economic values are not universally transferable, n e e d t o m o d i f y b y m a n a g e r s t o reflect economic values in those countries theyre working. Overseeing Movement of jobs to countries with low cost labor In a global economy, jobs tend to flow to places where lower cost provides business firms with comparative advantages. Managing people During the war on terror An understanding of OB topics such as emotions, motivation, communication and leadership can help managers to deal more effectively with their employees fear about terrorism.

2. M a n a g i n g w o r k f o r c e d i v e r s i t y The people in organization are becoming heterogeneous demographically, work force diversity, whereas globalization focuses on differences between people from different countries, mix of people in terms of gender, age, race, and sexual orientation. - Embracing diversity - Changing US demographics - Changing management philosophy - Recognizing and responding to difference. 3. Improving Quality and productivity World added capacity in response to increase demand. Excess capacity translates in increase competition, is forcing managers to reduce costs and, at the same time; improve the organization quality and productivity.

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Organizational Behaviour I What is Organizational Behaviour (CHP. 1) 4. I m p r o v i n g C u s t o m e r s e r v i c e OB can contribute to improving an organizations performance by showing that how employees attitude and behavior are associated with customer satisfaction. 5. I m p r o v i n g p e o p l e s k i l l s Designing motivating jobs, how creating effective teams, techniques for improving interpersonal skills. 6. Stimulating innovation and change Victory will go the organization that maintain their flexibility, continually improve their quality and beat their competition in market place. An organizations employees can be major block in change, the challenge to the manager to stimulate their creativity and tolerance for change. 7. C o p i n g w i t h T e m p o r a r i n e s s Survival for the organization, is need to move fast and flexible and innovative in their products, jobs are redesigned, task are done by flexibility, trained old employees w i t h n e w technology, better understanding of change, overcome resistance to change, create organizational culture. 8. W o r k i n g i n n e t w o r k o r g a n i z a t i o n Global working through one link i.e. INTERNET, technology changes the people to work together and communicate at thousand miles, people can work from their home and non office locations. 9. Helping employees Balance work-life conflicts - Flexible Working hours. - Reporting time. - Creating opportunities for employees. - Job security. - Design workplace. - Jobs. 10. Creating positive Work Environment Human strength, vitality, right person appointed at right place, effort on what good for organization. 11. Improving Ethical Behavior - Manager shouldnt place an order on which subordinate dont agree. - Define clearly the right and wrong conduct. - Fair policy and appropriate system. - Increase confidence and trust over organization. - Have some logic against order you place to employees

Development of an OB Model
A model is an abstraction of reality, a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon. Consider the following exhibit.

EXHIBIT 1-2: Basic OB Model, Stage 1

Basic OB Model Stage 1 - An abstraction of reality. - A simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon. - A frame work for Organization
System Levels

Group Level
Individual Level

It is the skeleton on which we will construct our OB model. It proposes that there are three levels of analysis in OB and that, as we move from the individual level to organization systems level, we add systematically to our understanding of behaviour in organizations.

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Organizational Behaviour I What is Organizational Behaviour (CHP. 1) As we go in detail of this model, we get stage 2 as represented in exhibit below this:

EXHIBIT 1-3: Basic OB Model, Stage 2

Human resource policies and practices Stress and Change Organization structure and design

ORGANIZATION SYSTEMS LEVEL

Human Output

Organizational culture

Productivity Absence

Group decision making

Leadership and trust

GROUP LEVEL

Turnover Deviant Workplace Behaviour

Communication

Group Structure

Work teams Citizenship Behaviour

Conflict

Power and politics

Satisfaction

Biographical characteristics

Perception

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL

Personality and emotions

Motivation

Individual decision making

Values and attitudes Human Input

Individual learning

Ability

From the above exhibit; there are two kinds of variables; Dependent Variables and Independent Variables. A dependent variable is the key factor that you want to explain or predict and that is affected by some other factor. Scholars have historically tended to emphasize production, absenteeism, turn-over, organizational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction as the primary dependent variables in OB; whereas an independent variable is the presumed cause of some change in independent variable. They are the major determinants of independent variables. Dependent Variables Productivity An organization is productive if it achieves its goals by transferring inputs to outputs at the lowest cost. As such, productivity is a performance measure that implies a concern for both effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness is the achievement of goals whereas efficiency is the ratio of effective output to the input requires achieving it.

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Organizational Behaviour I What is Organizational Behaviour (CHP. 1) Absenteeism It is defined as the failure to report to work. Recent surveys have concluded that it is a huge cost and disruption to employers. Turnover Turnover is the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization. A high turnover rate may result in extremely increased recruiting, selection and training costs. Deviant Workplace Behaviour It is defined as voluntary behaviour that violates significant organizational norms and in doing so, threatens the well-being of the organization or its members. Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) It is the discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employees formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organization. Job Satisfaction It is defined as a positive feeling about ones job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. It represents an attitude rather than a behavior. There are two reasons for this to be a primary dependent variable, that is, the difference between the amount of reward the workers receive and the amount they believe they should receive.

Contingency approach to OB
It is an approach taken by OB that considers behaviour within context in which it occurs. OB scholars would avoid stating that effective leaders should always seek the ideas of their employees before making a decision. Rather, it is found that in some situations a participative style is clearly superior, but in other situations an autocratic decision style is more effective. In other words, the effectiveness of a particular leadership style depends on the situation in which it is used. Consistent with the contingency approach, leaders need to adjust their styles to the unique cultural aspects of a country. For example, a manipulative or autocratic style is compatible with high power distance, and we find high power distance scores in Russia and Spain, and Arab, Far Eastern, and most Latin countries. Power distance rankings should also be good indicators of employee willingness to accept participative leadership. Participation is likely to be most effective in low power distance cultures as exist in Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden.

Prepared by:

Mohammad Azfar Javaid

(Student of EMBA-IT)