Leadership and Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how
people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system
approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole
person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build
better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social
objectives.
As you can see from the definition above, organizational behavior encompasses a wide
range of topics, such as human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since many of
these topics are covered elsewhere in the leadership guide, this paper will focus on a few
parts of OB: elements, models, social systems, OD, work life, action learning, and
change.

Elements of Organizational Behavior

The organization's base rests on management's philosophy, values, vision and goals. This
in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the formal organization,
informal organization, and the social environment. The culture determines the type of
leadership, communication, and group dynamics within the organization. The workers
perceive this as the quality of work life which directs their degree of motivation. The
final outcome are performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and
development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the
organization operates from.

Models of Organizational Behavior

There are four major models or frameworks that organizations operate out of, Autocratic,
Custodial, Supportive, and Collegial:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Social Systems, Culture, and Individualization

A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Within
an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to
each other and to the outside world. The behavior of one member can have an impact,
either directly or indirectly, on the behavior of others. Also, the social system does not
have boundaries... it exchanges goods, ideas, culture, etc. with the environment around it.
Culture is the conventional behavior of a society that encompasses beliefs, customs,
knowledge, and practices. It influences human behavior, even though it seldom enters
into their conscious thought. People depend on culture as it gives them stability, security,
understanding, and the ability to respond to a given situation. This is why people fear
change. They fear the system will become unstable, their security will be lost, they will
not understand the new process, and they will not know how to respond to the new
situations.
Individualization is when employees successfully exert influence on the social system by
challenging the culture.
The quadrant shown below shows how individualization affects different organizations
(Schein, 1968):

Quadrant A Too little socialization and too little individualization creates

isolation.
Quadrant B Too little socialization and too high individualization creates
rebellion.
Quadrant C Too high socialization and too little individualization creates
conformity.
Quadrant D While the match that organizations want to create is high
socialization and high individualization for a creative environment. This is what it
takes to survive in a very competitive environment... having people grow with the
organization, but doing the right thing when others want to follow the easy path.

This can become quite a balancing act. Individualism favors individual rights, loosely
knit social networks, self respect, and personal rewards and careers it may become
look out for Number One! Socialization or collectivism favors the group, harmony, and
asks What is best for the organization? Organizations need people to challenge,
question, and experiment while still maintaining the culture that binds them into a social
system.

Organization Development

Organization Development (OD) is the systematic application of behavioral science

knowledge at various levels, such as group, inter-group, organization, etc., to bring about
planned change (Newstrom, Davis, 1993). Its objectives is a higher quality of work-life,
productivity, adaptability, and effectiveness. It accomplishes this by changing attitudes,
behaviors, values, strategies, procedures, and structures so that the organization can adapt
to competitive actions, technological advances, and the fast pace of change within the
environment.
There are seven characteristics of OD (Newstrom, Davis, 1993):
1. Humanistic Values: Positive beliefs about the potential of employees (McGregor's
Theory Y).
2. Systems Orientation: All parts of the organization, to include structure,
technology, and people, must work together.
3. Experiential Learning: The learners' experiences in the training environment
should be the kind of human problems they encounter at work. The training
should NOT be all theory and lecture.
4. Problem Solving: Problems are identified, data is gathered, corrective action is
taken, progress is assessed, and adjustments in the problem solving process are
made as needed. This process is known as Action Research.
5. Contingency Orientation: Actions are selected and adapted to fit the need.
6. Change Agent: Stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate change.
7. Levels of Interventions: Problems can occur at one or more level in the
organization so the strategy will require one or more interventions.

Quality of Work Life

Quality of Work Life (QWL) is the favorableness or unfavorableness of the job
environment (Newstrom, Davis, 1993). Its purpose is to develop jobs and working
conditions that are excellent for both the employees and the organization. One of the
ways of accomplishing QWL is through job design. Some of the options available for
improving job design are:

Leave the job as is but employ only people who like the rigid environment or
routine work. Some people do enjoy the security and task support of these kinds
of jobs.
Leave the job as is, but pay the employees more.
Mechanize and automate the routine jobs.
And the area that OD loves redesign the job.

When redesigning jobs there are two spectrums to follow job enlargement and job
enrichment. Job enlargement adds a more variety of tasks and duties to the job so that it is
not as monotonous. This takes in the breadth of the job. That is, the number of different
tasks that an employee performs. This can also be accomplished by job rotation.
Job enrichment, on the other hand, adds additional motivators. It adds depth to the job
more control, responsibility, and discretion to how the job is performed. This gives higher
order needs to the employee, as opposed to job enlargement which simply gives more
variety. The chart below illustrates the differences (Cunningham & Eberle, 1990):

The benefits of enriching jobs include:

Growth of the individual

Individuals have better job satisfaction
Self-actualization of the individual
Better employee performance for the organization
Organization gets intrinsically motivated employees
Less absenteeism, turnover, and grievances for the organization
Full use of human resources for society
Society gains more effective organizations

There are a variety of methods for improving job enrichment (Hackman and Oldham,
1975):

Skill Variety: Perform different tasks that require different skill. This differs from
job enlargement which might require the employee to perform more tasks, but
require the same set of skills.
Task Identity: Create or perform a complete piece of work. This gives a sense of
completion and responsibility for the product.

Task Significant: This is the amount of impact that the work has on other people
as the employee perceives.
Autonomy: This gives employees discretion and control over job related
decisions.
Feedback: Information that tells workers how well they are performing. It can
come directly from the job (task feedback) or verbally form someone else.

For a survey activity, see Hackman & Oldham's Five Dimensions of Motivating Potential.

Action Learning
An unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium it led to
an upturn in the Belgian economy. Unless your ideas are ridiculed by experts they are
worth nothing, says the British academic Reg Revans, creator of action learning.
Action Learning can be viewed as a formula: [L = P + Q]:

Learning (L) occurs through a combination of

programmed knowledge (P) and
the ability to ask insightful questions (Q).

Action learning has been widely used in Europe for combining formal management
training with learning from experience. A typical program is conducted over a period of 6
to 9 months. Teams of learners with diverse backgrounds conduct field projects on
complex organizational problems that require the use of skills learned in formal training
sessions. The learning teams then meet periodically with a skilled instructor to discuss,
analyze, and learn from their experiences.
Revans basis his learning method on a theory called System Beta, in that the learning
process should closely approximate the scientific method. The model is cyclical you
proceed through the steps and when you reach the last step you relate the analysis to the
original hypothesis and if need be, start the process again. The six steps are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Formulate Hypothesis (an idea or concept)

Design Experiment (consider ways of testing truth or validity of idea or concept)
Apply in Practice (put into effect, test of validity or truth)
Observe Results (collect and process data on outcomes of test)
Analyze Results (make sense of data)
Compare Analysis (relate analysis to original hypothesis)

Note that you do not always have to enter this process at step 1, but you do have to
complete the process.
Revans suggest that all human learning at the individual level occurs through this
process. Note that it covers what Jim Stewart (1991) calls the levels of existence:

We think cognitive domain

We feel affective domain
We do action domain

All three levels are interconnected e.g. what we think influences and is influenced by
what we do and feel.

Change
In its simplest form, discontinuity in the work place is change, Knoster, Villa, 2000).
Our prefrontal cortex is a fast and agile computational device that is able to hold multiple
threads of logic at once so that we can perform fast calculations. However, it has its limits
with working memory in that it can only hold a handful of concepts at once, similar to the
RAM in a PC. In addition, it burns lots of high energy glucose (blood sugar), which is
expensive for the body to produce. Thus when given lots of information, such as when a
change is required, it has a tendency to overload and being directly linked to the
amygdala (the emotional center of the brain) that controls our fight-or-flight response, it
can cause severe physical and psychological discomfort. (Koch, 2006)
Our prefrontal cortex is marvelous for insight when not overloaded. But for normal
everyday use, our brain prefers to run off its hard-drive the basal ganglia, which has a
much larger storage area and stores memories and our habits. In addition, it sips rather
than gulps food (glucose).
When we do something familiar and predictable, our brain is mainly using the basal
ganglia, which is quite comforting to us. When we use our prefrontal cortex, then we are
looking for fight, flight, or insight. Too much change produces fight or flight syndromes.
As change agents we want to produce insight into our learners so that they are able to
apply their knowledge and skills not just in the classroom, but also on the job.
And the way to help people come to insight is to allow them to come to their own
resolution. These moments of insight or resolutions are called epiphanies sudden
intuitive leap of understanding that are quite pleasurable to us and act as rewards. Thus
you have to resist the urge to fill in the entire picture of change, rather you have to leave
enough gaps so that the learners are allowed to make connections of their own. Doing too
much for the learners can be just as bad, if not worse, than not doing enough.
Doing all the thinking for learners takes their brains out of action, which means they will
not invest the energy to make new connections.