ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Module 1
UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?
Organizational behavior (OB) is the academic study of the ways people act within groups.
Its principles are applied primarily in attempts to make businesses operate more
effectively.

The study of organizational behavior has its roots in the late 1920s, when the Western
Electric Company launched a now-famous series of studies of the behavior of workers at its
Hawthorne Works plant in Cicero, Illinois.
Researchers there set out to determine whether workers could be made to be more
productive if their environment was upgraded with better lighting and other design
improvements. To their surprise, the researchers found that the environment was less
important than social factors. It was more important, for example, that people got along
with their co-workers and felt their bosses appreciated them.

Those initial findings inspired a series of wide-ranging studies between 1924 and 1933.
They included the effects on productivity of work breaks, isolation, and lighting, among
many other factors.

The best known of the results is called the Hawthorne Effect, which describes the way test
subjects' behavior may change when they know they are being observed. Researchers are
taught to consider whether and to what degree the Hawthorne Effect is skewing their
findings on human behavior.

Organizational behavior was not fully recognized by the American Psychological

Association as a field of academic study until the 1970s. However, the Hawthorne research
is credited for validating organizational behavior as a legitimate field of study, and it's the
foundation of the human resources profession as we now know it.

“Organisational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people act
within an organisation. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the
behaviour of people in all types of organisation.”— Newstrom and Davis.

In short, organizational behaviour revolves around two fundamental components:

1. The nature of the man.

2. The nature of the organisation.

In other words, organisational behaviour may be organisation of individual’s behaviour in

relation to physical means and resources so as to achieve the desired objective of the
organisation.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

1. Behavioural Approach to Management:

Organisational behaviour is that part of whole management which represents the

behavioural approach to management. Organisational behaviour has emerged as a distinct

field of study because of the importance of human behaviour in organisations.

2. Cause and Effect Relationship:

Human behaviour is generally taken in terms of cause and effect relationship and not in

philosophical terms. It helps in predicting the behaviour of individuals. It provides

generalizations that managers can use to anticipate the effect of certain activities on human
behaviour.

3. Organisational Behaviour is a Branch of Social Sciences:

Organisational behaviour is heavily influenced by several other social sciences viz.

psychology, sociology and anthropology. It draws a rich array of research from these
disciplines.

4. Three Levels of Analysis:

Organisational behaviour encompasses the study of three levels of analysis namely

individual behaviour, inter-individual behaviour and the behaviour of organisations

themselves. The field of organisational behaviour embraces all these levels as being
complementary to each other.

5. A Science as well as an Art:

Organisational behaviour is a science as well as an art. The systematic knowledge about

human behaviour is a science and the application of behavioural knowledge and skills is an

art. Organisational behaviour is not an exact science because it cannot exactly predict the

behaviour of people in organisations. At best a manager can generalize to a limited extent

and in many cases, he has to act on the basis of partial information.

6. A Body of Theory, Research and Application:

Organisational behaviour consists of a body of theory, research and application which

helps in understanding the human behaviour in organisation. All these techniques help the
managers to solve human problems in organisations.

7. Beneficial to both Organisation and Individuals:

Organisational behaviour creates an atmosphere whereby both organisation and

individuals are benefitted by each other. A reasonable climate is created so that employees
may get much needed satisfaction and the organisation may attain its objectives.

8. Rational Thinking:

Organisational behaviour provides a rational thinking about people and their behaviour.

The major objective of organisational behaviour is to explain and predict human behaviour
in organisations, so that result yielding situations can be created.

NATURE OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

Organizational behaviour has emerged as a separate field of study. The nature it has
acquired is identified as follows:

1. A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only

By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical foundation.

But, O.B. has a multi-interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based on a specific
theoretical background. Therefore, it is better reasonable to call O.B. a separate field of study
rather than a discipline only.
 2. An Interdisciplinary Approach

Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human

behaviour at work. It tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related
disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthropology to make them applicable for
studying and analyzing organizational behaviour.

3. An Applied Science

The very nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the application of various
researches to solve the organizational problems related to human behaviour. The basic line
of difference between pure science and O.B. is that while the former concentrates of
fundamental researches, the latter concentrates on applied researches. O.B. involves both
applied research and its application in organizational analysis. Hence, O.B. can be called both
science as well as art.

4. A Normative Science

Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive science discusses
only cause effect relationship, O.B. prescribes how the findings of applied researches can be
applied to socially accepted organizational goals. Thus, O.B. deals with what is accepted by
individuals and society engaged in an organization. Yes, it is not that O.B. is not normative at
all. In fact, O.B. is normative as well that is well underscored by the proliferation of
management theories.

5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach

Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people working in the

organization. It, deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings. O.B. is based on the
belief that people have an innate desire to be independent, creative and productive. It also
realizes that people working in the organization can and will actualize these potentials if they
are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects performance or workers
working in an organization.

6. A Total System Approach

The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational
functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the behavioural scientists to
analyse human behaviour in view of his/her socio-psychological framework. Man's socio-
psychological framework makes man a complex one and the systems approach tries to study
his/her complexity and find solution to it.
 SCOPE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

The three internal organizational elements viz., people, technology and structure and the
fourth element, i.e., external social systems may be taken as the scope of O.B.

1. People

The people constitute the internal social system of the organization. They consist of
individuals and groups. Groups may be large or small, formal or informal, official or
unofficial. They are dynamic. They form, change and disband. Human organization changes
everyday. Today, it is not the same as it was yesterday. It may change further in the coming
days. People are living, thinking and feeling being who created the organization and try to
achieve the objectives and goals. Thus, organizations exist to serve the people and not the
people exist to serve the organization.

2. Structure

Structure defines the sole relationship of people in an organization. Different people in an

organization are given different roles and they have certain relationship with others. It leads
to division of labour so that people can perform their duties or work to accomplish the
organizational goal. Thus, everybody cannot be an accountant or a clerk. Work is complex
and different duties are to be performed by different people. Some may be accountant, others
may be managers, clerks, peons or workers. All are so related to each other to accomplish
the goal in a co-ordinated manner. Thus, structure relates to power and duties. One has the
authority and others have a duty to obey him.

3. Technology

Technology imparts the physical and economic conditions within which people work. With
their bare hands people can do nothing so they are given assistance of buildings, machines,
tools, processes and resources. The nature of technology depends very much on the nature
of the organization and influences the work or working conditions. Thus, technology brings
effectiveness and at the same restricts people in various ways.

4. Social System

Social system provides external environment which the organization operates. A single
organization cannot exist also. It is a part of the whole. One organization cannot give
everything and therefore, there are many other organizations. All these organizations
influence each other. It influences the attitudes of people, their working conditions and
above all provides competition for resources and power.
FACTORS AFFECTING ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Some of the factors affecting Individual Behavior in an organization are as follows:
I. PERSONAL FACTORS:

The personal factors which influence the individual behaviour can be classified into

two categories:
A. Biographic Characteristics

B. Learned Characteristics

A. Biographical Characteristics:
All the human beings have certain characteristics which are genetic in nature and are

inherited. These are the qualities which the human beings are born with. These are the

characteristics which cannot be changed; at the most, these can be refined to some extent.

If the managers know about the inherited qualities and limitations of the persons, they can
use their organisational behaviour techniques more effectively.

All these characteristics are explained in detail as follows:

1. Physical Characteristics:

Some of these characteristics are related to height, skin, complexion, vision, shape and size

of nose, weight etc. All these have an impact on the performance of the individuals. It is

sometimes said that the eyes betray the character of a person. Similarly certain ideas about
the behaviour can be formed on the basis of whether the person is fat, tall or slim.

Tall and slim people are expected to dress well and behave in a sophisticated manner and

fat people are supposed to be of a jolly nature. Whether there is a correlation between body

structure and behaviour or not has not been scientifically proven. Even if there is a

correlation between these two, it is very difficult to understand which the independent
variable is and which is dependent variable.
2. Age:

Age is considered to be an inherited characteristic because it is determined by the date of

birth. The relationship between age and job performance is an issue of increasing

performance. Psychologically, younger people are expected to be more energetic,

innovative, adventurous, ambitious and risk taking. Whereas old people are supposed to be

conservative, set in their own ways and less adaptable. Though it is incorrect to generalize
all old people as unadoptable, physiologically, performance depends on age.

Performance declines with advancement of age because older people have less stamina,

memory etc. Younger people are likely to change jobs to avail better job opportunities, but

as one grows old, the chances of his quitting job are less. There is a relationship between

age and absenteeism also. Older people tend to absent more from their jobs due to
unavoidable reasons e.g. poor health.

Whereas younger people absent themselves from job due to avoidable reasons e.g. going

for a vacation. In the organisations which are subject to dramatic changes due to latest

innovations, the older people get less job satisfaction as they start feeling obsolete as

compared to their younger colleagues. Though there is no clear cut demarcation between

young age and old age but according to Lehman the peak of creative ability is among people
between the ages 30 and 40.

3. Gender:

Being a male or female is genetic in nature and it is considered to be an inherited feature.

Whether women perform as well as in jobs as men do, is an issue which has initiated lot of

debates, misconceptions and opinions. The traditional view was that man is tougher than

woman or women are highly emotional than men. But these are some stereotyped baseless

assumptions. Research has proved that there are few if any, important differences between
man and woman that will affect their job performance.
Specially, in some are like problem solving ability, analytical skill, competitive drive,

motivation, leadership, sociability and learning ability, there are no consistent male-female

differences. Initially, some roles were considered to be exclusive domain of women e.g.

nurses, airhostesses etc. but now with the passage of time, we have males in these

professions also. Similarly, some jobs which were considered to be exclusive domain of

men e.g. pilots, defence jobs, etc. have started accommodating women also, though with
some conditions.

Gender has its impact on absenteeism. The tendency to abstain from work is more in

females than in men, because historically, our society has placed home and family

responsibilities on the females. When a child is ill, or the house is being white washed or
some unexpected guests turn up, it is the female who has to take leave.

The turnover is also more in female employees, though the evidence is mixed in this case.

Some studies have found that females have high turnover rates, while the others do not

find any difference. The reasons for high turnover can be that sometimes the females have
to quit their jobs or change into part time jobs to look after the children and their homes.

Sometimes they have to quit their jobs if their husbands get transferred to some other

place and the females’ job is non-transferable. Although this trend is changing with the
passage of time, but majority of the Indian families still follow these norms.

4. Religion:

Though there are no scientific studies to prove it and we cannot generalize it, but religion

and religion based cultures play an important role in determining some aspects of

individual behaviour, especially those aspects which concern morals, ethics and a code of

conduct. The religion and culture also determine attitudes towards work and towards
financial incentives.
People who are highly religious are supposed to have high moral values e.g. they are

honest, they do not tell lies or talk ill of others, they are supposed to be contended. But

there is another side of the picture also. Though there are no evidences but it has been

observed that sometimes people who are highly dishonest and immoral are more religious
as compared to the others.

5. Marital Status:

There are not enough studies to draw any conclusion as to whether there is any

relationship between marital status and job performance. Research has consistently

indicated that as marriage imposes increased responsibilities, to have a steady job becomes

more valuable and important. Married employees have fewer absences, less turnover and

more job satisfaction as compared to unmarried workers. But no research has so far
identified the causes for this.

6. Experience:

The next biographical characteristic is tenure or experience. The impact of seniority on job

performance is an issue which is subject to a lot of misconceptions and speculations. Work

experience is considered to be a good indicator of employee productivity. Research

indicates that there is a positive relationship between seniority and job performance.
Moreover studies also indicate a negative relationship between seniority and absenteeism.

Employee turnover is also considered to be negatively related to seniority. But in

considering this relationship, past experience i.e. experience of the employee on the

previous job is also to be considered. Research indicates that experience and satisfaction

are positively related. Here we have to distinguish between chronological age and seniority

of the employee. Seniority experience is a better indicator of job satisfaction than the
chronological age of the person.
7. Intelligence:

Generally, it is considered that intelligence is an inherited quality. Some people are born

intelligent or in other words intelligent parents produce intelligent children. But practical

experience has shown that sometimes very intelligent parents have less intelligent children
and sometimes average parents have very intelligent children.

Moreover intelligence can be enhanced with efforts, hard work, proper environment and

motivation. Anyway, whether it is an inherited trait or acquired trait this factor affects the

behaviour of the people. Intelligent people are generally not adamant and stubborn, rather
they are considered to be stable and predictable.

8. Ability:

Ability refers to the capacity or capability of an individual to perform the various tasks in a
job. Ability is the criterion used to determine what a person can do.

Ability of an individual can be of two types:

(i) Intellectual Ability:

If the individual is expected to perform mental activities, he must have a particular level of

intellectual ability. Some important dimensions used to ascertain intellectual ability are

number aptitude, comprehension, perceptual speed and test of reasoning. For some
important jobs or assignment, a person has to clear some admission test.

(ii) Physical ability:

Physical abilities include a person’s stamina, manual dexterity, leg strength and the like. If

the performance of a particular job requires some specific physical abilities, it is the duty of

the management to identify the employees having those abilities. This is accomplished by
either careful selection of people or by a combination of selection and training.
B. Learned Characteristics:
Learning is defined as, “a relatively permanent change in behaviour resulting from

interactions with the environment.” A person is born with biographical characteristics

which are difficult to change or modify. Therefore, the managers lay much stress on
studying, learning and predicting the learned characteristics.

Some of these learned characteristics are as follows:

1. Personality:

By personality we don’t mean the physical appearance of a person. Psychologists are not

concerned with a smart person, with a smiling face and a charming personality. They

consider personality as a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a

person’s whole psychological system. Rather than looking at parts of the person,
personality looks at some aggregate whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Personality generally refers to personal traits such as dominance, aggressiveness,

persistence and other qualities reflected through a person’s behaviour. Some personality

traits like physical built and intelligence are biological in nature but most traits like
patience, open mindedness, extrovertness etc. can be learned.

An individual’s personality determines the types of activities that he or she is suited for.

According to Tedeschi and Lindskold, people who are open minded seem to work out

better in bargaining agreements than people who are narrow minded. Similarly people

who are extroverts and outgoing are more likely to be successful as managers than those
who are introverts.

2. Perception:

Perception is the viewpoint by which one interprets a situation. In other words,

“perception is the process by which information enters our minds and is interpreted in
order to give some sensible meaning to the world around us. Psychology says that different

people see and sense the same thing in different ways. For example, if a new manager

perceives an employee to be a job shirker, he will give him less important jobs, even though

that employee is a very able person. Sometimes, we tend to lose good relatives and friends
because we change our perceptions about them.

3. Attitude:

Attitude is just like perception but with a frame of reference. It is a tendency to act in a

certain way, either favourably or unfavourably concerning objects, people or events. For

example, if I say I am satisfied with my job, I am expressing my attitude towards work. An

attitude may be defined as the way a person feels about something, a person, a place, a

thing, a situation or an idea. It expresses an individual’s positive or negative feeling about

some object. An attitude may be unconsciously held. Most of our attitudes are such about
which we are not aware; QNE most common of this is prejudice.

A person’s attitude towards a given situation can be ascertained by measuring and

understanding his feelings, thoughts and behaviours. When we directly ask questions from

the individuals, we can measure his feelings and thoughts. Behaviour can be measured

either by observing the actions of the individual or simply by asking him questions about
how he would behave in a particular situation.

In general, if a person has positive attitude about his work it will be reflected by very good

work performance, less absenteeism, less turnover, obedience towards rule or authority

etc. If a person has got negative attitude towards his work, he will act in exactly the

opposite way. The negative attitude can be changed by simple persuasion or by training
and coaching.

4. Values:
According to Milton Rokeach, “Values are global beliefs that guide actions and judgements

across a variety of situations. Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of

conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode of conduct.” Values carry

an individual’s ideas as to what is right, good or desirable. All of us have a hierarchy of

values that form our value system. This system is identified by the relative importance we
assign to some values like freedom, self respect, honesty, obedience, equality and so on.

Values are so closely embedded in the people that these can be observed from their

behaviour. Individual values are influenced by the parents, teachers, friends and other

external forces. A person’s values also develop as a product of learning and experience in

the cultural setting in which he lives. Values vary from person to person because every
person learns in a different way and have different types of experience.

Values are very important in the study of organisational behaviour because these help in

understanding the attitudes and motivation of individuals as well as influencing their

perceptions. Values determine what is right and what is wrong, where right or wrong is

interpreted in terms of perceived values of the decision maker. Values sometimes

overpower even objectivity and rationality. The value system can significantly influence the
manager’s outlook and behaviour.

II. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS:

The external environment is known to have a considerable impact on a person’s behaviour.

A brief description of the external factors follows:

1. Economic Factors.
The behaviour of an individual is affected to a large extent by the economic environment.

A few economic factors which directly or indirectly affect the individual behaviour
are as explained below:
(a) Employment Level:

The employment opportunities which are available to the individuals go a long way in

influencing the individual behaviour. If the job opportunities are less, the individual will

have to stick to a particular organisation even though he does not have job satisfaction. He

may or may not ‘ be loyal to the management but he will remain in the organisation for

monetary benefits only. On the other hand if the job opportunities are more, the employees’

turnover will be more. They will continue changing their jobs till they find the ideal job,
which gives them maximum satisfaction, monetary as well as psychological.

(b) Wage Rates:

The major consideration of every employee who is working in the organisation is his

wages. Though job satisfaction is very important, but what a person will get in money

terms, is the major factor affecting the decision of a worker to stay in a particular
organisation or shift to another one which will pay more wages.

(c) General Economic Environment:

Some employees who are working in Government offices or public sector undertakings are

not affected by economic cycles. Whatever the economic position of the organisation, they

will receive their salaries. Whereas, the employees, who work in the organisations, which

are severely affected by economic cycles are subjected to layoffs and retrenchment. For

these employees job security and a stable income is the most important factor whereas the
former employees will be motivated by some other factors.

(d) Technological Development:

Though technology is not an economic factor, but we include it in the economic factors

because of the impact it has on the individual job opportunities. The technological

development has made the job more intellectual and upgraded. Some workers will be
dislocated unless they are well equipped to work on new machines. This makes it the duty
of management to retrain the employees. For those, who pickup and acquaint themselves
with new technology, the jobs will be rewarding and challenging.

2. Socio-cultural Factors:

The social environment of an individual includes his relationship with family members,

friends, colleagues, supervisors and subordinates. The behaviour of other people not with

the individual, but in general, is also a part of his social environment. Similarly, every

individual has a cultural background, which shapes his values and beliefs. Work ethics

achievement need, effort-reward expectations and values are important cultural factors
having impact on the individual behaviour.

3. Political Factors

Political environment of the country will affect the individual behaviour not directly, but

through several other factors. In a politically stable country there will be a steady level of

employment (both in quantity and quality) and high level of capital investment. Whereas
companies are reluctant to invest large sums of money in a politically instable country.

The political ideology of a country affects the individual behaviour through the relative

freedom available to its citizens. A country can have a controlled society or less controlled

society. The relative freedom available to the individuals can affect their career choice, job
design and performance.

4. Legal Environment.

Rules and laws are formalized and written standards of behaviour. Both rules and laws are

strictly enforced by the legal system. Laws relate to all the members of the society e.g.

Murder is a crime which is illegal and punishable by law and applies to all the people

within the system. Observing the laws voluntarily allows for predictability of individual
behaviour.

III. ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS:

Individual behaviour is influenced by a wide variety of organisational systems and
resources.

These organisational factors are as explained below:

1. Physical Facilities:

The physical environment at a work place is the arrangement of people and things so that

is has a positive influence on people. Some of the factors which influence individual

behaviour are noise level, heat, light, ventilation, cleanliness, nature of job, office
furnishing, number of people working at a given place etc.

2. Organisation Structure and Design:

These are concerned with the way in which different departments in the organisation are

set up. What is the reporting system? How are the lines of communication established

among different levels in the organisation. The behaviour and performance of the
individual is influenced by where that person fits into the organisational hierarchy.

3. Leadership:

The system of leadership is established by the management to provide direction,

assistance, advice and coaching to individuals. The human behaviour is influenced to a

large extent by the behaviour of the superiors or leaders. Behaviour of the leaders is more
important than their qualities.

4. Reward System:

The behaviour and performance of the individuals is also influenced by the reward system
established by the organisation to compensate their employees.

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS

Behavior as an individual or in a group is always analyzed by everyone in the organization.

It is analyzed at three different levels −

 Individual level of analysis

  Group level of analysis
 Organizational level of analysis

INDIVIDUAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

Organizational behavior, at this level of analysis massively draws upon psychology,

engineering, and medicine. At the individual level of analysis, organizational behavior
includes the study of learning, perception, creativity, motivation, and personality.
In addition, it also includes the study of turnover, task performance and evaluation,
coordinated behavior, deviant work behavior, ethics, and cognition.
For example − Ram joins a company as an intern and is very open to learning new things
but as time passes and he gets promoted his attitude towards his interns becomes rude.
This is a fine example of individual level of analysis.

GROUP LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

Organizational behavior, at this level of analysis, draws upon the sociological and socio-
psychological discipline. At the group level of analysis, organizational behavior includes the
study of group gesture, intra-group and intergroup dispute and attachment.
It is further extended to the study of leadership, power, norms, interpersonal
communication, networks, and roles.
An example of this level of analysis − Board of directors of company X decide to give bonus
to their workers as they have really worked hard on a certain project.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL OF ANALYSIS

Organizational behavior, at this level of analysis draws upon sociology and political science.
At this level of analysis, organizational behavior includes the study of organizational
culture, structure, cultural diversity, inter-organizational cooperation and coordination.
It further includes the study of dispute, change, technology, and external environmental
forces. Some other fields of study that adds to the interest of organizational behavior are
ergonomics, statistics, and psychometrics.
To have a clear understanding on the topic and avoid any kind of confusion let’s look at an
example at different levels and try to analyze it.
Rohit is interested in becoming a singer as he is interested in music and feels he can do
better in this field. While his parents force him to pursue his job as a software engineer, as
according to his father’s perception a software job pays well and is far better than struggling
to become a singer.
In this case, we see Rohit and his father have a clash of opinions, hence this is a case of
individual level of analysis.
Extending this example further, if Rohit seeks help from his friends on this matter his
friends will support him as they have the same mindset support the idea of following their
own dreams, struggling and achieving their goal. Meanwhile Rohit’s father’s friend circle
might find the idea of pursuing singing as a career insane and support his father’s decision
of opting for a software.
Here we see two different groups of people with contradicting ideologies, this becomes a
case of group level of analysis.
MODELS OF BEHAVIOUR

We assume that behaviour is caused and this assumption is true. Behaviour takes place in
the form of a process. It is based on the analysis of behaviour process over the period of time.
Three models of behaviour process have been developed. These are S-R model, S-O-R model,
S-O-B-A model and S-O-B-C model.

 S-R Model

S-R model of human behavior suggests that the behaviour is caused by certain reasons.
The reasons may be internal feeling (motivation) and external environment (stimulus). A
stimulus is an agent, such as, heat, light, piece of information, etc., that directly influences the
activity of an organism (person). Without the stimulus there is no information to be handled
by the internal processes prior to action taken by the person. It implies that his behaviour is
determined by the situation. Inherent in the situation are the environmental forces that
shape and determine his behaviour at any given moment. The entire situation has been
traditionally described as stimulus response (S-R) process.

This S-R model, however, does not give the total concept of caused nature of behaviour
specially when the person concerned plays an important role in behaviour because
behaviour is shaped by his internal feelings also. Thus, combination of stimulus-response
situation and human being will give more comprehensive model of human behaviour
denoting that the situation interacting with the human preceeds and causes behaviour.

There is a direct relation between stimulus and response, that is why this process is called
S-R process.

The basic drawback of this models is that organism or person is immobile and passive.
Whereas in reality the person concerned plays an important role in behaviour which is
influenced by the internal feelings of the person. This model, thus does not give a complete
picture as to what caused the person to act in a particular way in a particular situation.

 S-O-R Model

S-O-R model of human behaviour is achieved by inserting O (organism) in the classical S-

R model. The S-O-R model is based upon the stimulus processed by the organism and
followed by a behaviour. This O is not passive and immobile as assumed in S-R model. Rather
the O is viewed as mediating, maintenance and adjective function between S and R. As a
mediating function, the O is constantly active, scanning its surroundings, monitoring its own
actions, seeking certain conditions and avoiding others. As a maintenance function, organs
of O are responsible for its health and growth. There are three categories of maintenance
organs-receptors (sense and glands), connectors (nervous organs) and effectors (muscles
and glands). The adjustments function of the O monitors the person's activities so that he
can overcome obstacle and satisfy his needs.

Though the insertion of O in S-R model gives some recognition to the importance to the
human variables, it sill remains a relatively mechanistic and simplistic approach and does
not explain the complexity of human behaviour.

 S-O-B-A Model

S-O-B-A model is a comprehensive model of human behaviour which combines the S-R
situation and human being. But O in this model is not passive or immobile, but it is mediating,
maintenance and adjustive function between S and R.

The S in this model stands for stimulus or the external environmental situation. It includes
light, heat, sound, actions of supervisors or other aspects of environment to which a person
is sensitive. The stimulus is very comprehensive and all encompassing in nature. It
stimulates the organism or person in to action, interrupt what they are doing and help them
to make their choices. The stimulus incorporates all aspects of the environment-immediate
stimulus, physical environment and socio-cultural environment.

The O in this model stands for the organism as the person. But this O does not stand for
only the physiological being but also it includes the process within the person, e.g., heredity,
maturity, knowledge, skills, values, perceptions, attitudes, personality and motivation. The
double headed arrow between S and O indicates the interaction between the situation and
organism.

The B stands for behaviour. It includes both overt and covert behaviour such as body
moments, talking, facial expressions, emotions, sentiments and thinking. The response of
organism indicated by a single headed arrow is the behaviour. Behaviour is anything that a
person does, it is not something that is done to a person.
 The A stands for accomplishments and consequences. When behaviour, in turn, acts on the
outside world, it leads to accomplishment as shown by single headed arrow. It is assumed
that the accomplishments may further change the stimulating conditions and thereby
influence the subsequent behaviour or it may create new stimulus leading to new behaviour.

Since behaviour is influenced by the interaction of S with O, any change in S and O will
definitely influence the behaviour. It is manager's job to decide when to change the S and to
change O. But one must analyse the conditions carefully so that the changes introduced are
in the right direction and do not give rise to worse problems. Further, the same behaviour
may have different causes. In order to adequately understand and evaluate the behaviour, it
is essential to determine which cause is involved in a particular instance. The type of
treatment of the S or of the O that will work in one cause may not work in another cause or
even with the same cause on different occasions. Similarly, the same cause may have many
behaviours.

 S-O-B-C Model

S-O-B-C model incorporates a more complex mechanism of human behaviour which

modifies and extends S-O-R model. In this model, S stands for the situation which is more
comprehensive than stimuli of S-O-R model and incorporates all aspects of the environment
- immediate stimulus, physical environment and socio-cultural environment. O is the
organism but does not only represent the physiological being as in the S-O-R model, but also
the physiological being which is more complex. B stands for pattern of behaviour both overt
and convert. C stands for contingent consequences both overt and covert. Thus, this model
of behaviour has significant departure from earlier models of behaviour which have
considered only overt aspects. In S-O-B-C model, behaviour takes place because of the
interaction of situation (S), organism (O), behaviour pattern (B) and consequences (C).
MODULE 2
PERSONALITIES AND THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
"Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical
systems that determine his characteristics behavior and thought" (Allport)
“The characteristics or blend of characteristics that make a person unique” (Weinberg &
Gould).

CHARACTERISTICS OF PERSONALITY IN OB

Personality is the total sum of traits defining the characteristics of individual. It represents
the enduring behavior of person. Personality has the following characteristics.

1. Unique set

Personality refer the unique set of characteristics of individual. It is different from one
personal to other.

2. Relatively stable

Personality is relatively stable as it is found almost same look, interaction or behave

throughout the period.

3. Whole person

Personality is composed with physical as well as mental qualities. It is the concept of

complete i.e. whole individual defining total concept.

4. Describing person

Personality is concerned with factors within people that causes to behave to do. It explains
the structure of person. It expresses the ways of reacting and interacting with others.

5. Situation specific

Personality is situation specific as it can be varied with environmental settings. It is

concerned with person-situation interaction.

6. Partially inherited

Personality is partially inherited and is partially shaped with environment. This can be
developed with interacting, with environment i.e. experience of individual.

7. Goal oriented
Personality is goal oriented behavior. People react or interact in order to satisfy their goals.

DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY IN OB

Personality is the factor which differentiates one individual from others. It is thus, important
to identify the factors forming personality of an individual so that they can be treated
according to organizational set-up. Many scholars, managers and social scientists,
psychologists, from very beginning, started searching the answer of the question about 'what
determines the personality?' Many psychologists argued that the personality is shaped by
heredity with birth i.e. it is biological factor ('nature' argument) while some other argued
that it is shaped with external factors like social setting, experience, situational factors, etc.
('nurture' argument). . Determinants of personality can thus, be summarized as below:

1. The Nature Factors

There is a strong arguments that individual governs personality with its conception i.e.
heredity. It is the genetic background of a person inherited from parents. Personality or
characteristics of parents are transferred through chromosomes containing genes during
conception. Researchers have found that about 50 percent of personality traits are
genetically inherited. Some biological, physical and psychological natures are formed
through the heredity factor.

Biological feature i.e. gender of individual and biological rhythms are predetermined
through genes. X and Y Chromosomes transferred from father sets the gender as male or
female. Similarly, physical stature, facial attractiveness, temperament, muscle composition,
reflexes and energy level of individual are largely determined with heredity. In animal,
researchers have set many evidences for psychological transmission from parents to
generations but the evidences are less in case of human being. Thus, heredity as nature
determines the personality of individual and sets the limits for personality development of
individual.

2. The Nurture Factors

Nurture factors are situational and socio-cultural factors. Psychologists or scholars who
believe in this ground argue that personality is developed with the natural and socio-cultural
interaction. Situation is the greatest teacher in shaping the personality. Identification
process and socialization process of individual greatly affect to shape the personality of
individual.

3. Cultural Factors

Culture is the most influential factor determining the personality of the person. Cultural
values and practices are easily learnt by individual. Person observes and practices the
cultural values, beliefs and norms transmitted and being practiced by their seniors, family
members, relatives and society members. This gives almost permanent experience to
individual and hence set the values, beliefs and norms as guidelines of life which ultimately
sets the personality. These personality traits are more permanent and reflected in the work
environment. Thus, managers are more permanent and reflected in the work environment.
Thus, managers are more interested to study the culture of individual before making hiring
decisions. For instances, Japanese people are encouraged to work in team as they have the
strong family culture, they respect to each individual in the organization, encourage
cooperation and mutual trust. But, American people wish to work individually, are more
aggressive and believe in individual competition. These behaviors are the results of
personality govern by culture.

PERSONALITY THEORIES
Since there is no exact definition of the term personality, different theorists from
psychology field as well as from other fields dealing with human behavior have carried on
researches to find out the answers as to what Personality is?
These theories have been grouped as –
1. Psychoanalytic Theory
2. Socio- Psychological Theory
3. Trait Theory
4. Self Theory

Psychoanalytic Theory –Sigmund Freud

Definition: The Psychoanalytic Theory is the personality theory, which is based on the
notion that an individual gets motivated more by unseen forces that are controlled by the
conscious and the rational thought.

Sigmund Freud is closely related to the psychoanalytic theory. According to him, the human
behavior is formed through an interaction between three components of the mind, i.e. Id,
Ego and Super Ego.

 Id:

Id is the primitive part of the mind that seeks immediate gratification of biological or
instinctual needs. The biological needs are the basic physical needs and while the
instinctual needs are the natural or unlearned needs, such as hunger, thirst,etc. Id is the
unconscious part of the mind; that act instantaneously without giving much thought to
what is right and what is wrong.

Example: If your Id passed through a boy playing with a ball, the immediate urge to get
that ball will drive you to snatch it by any means, this is irrational and may lead to the
conflict between the boys. Thus, Id is the source of psychic energy, a force that is behind all
the mental forces.

 Super-Ego:

The Super-Ego is related to the social or the moral values that an individual inculcates as he
matures. It acts as an ethical constraint on behavior and helps an individual to develop his
conscience. As the individual grows in the society, he learns the cultural values and the
norms of the society which help him to differentiate between right and wrong.

Example: If the super-ego passed that boy playing with a ball, it would not snatch it, as it
would know that snatching is bad and may lead to a quarrel. Thus, super ego act as a
constraint on your behavior and guides you to follow the right path. But if the Id is stronger
than super-ego, you will definitely snatch the ball by any means.

 Ego:

Ego is the logical and the conscious part of the mind which is associated with the reality
principle. This means it balances the demands of Id and super-ego in the context of real life
situations. Ego is conscious and hence keep a check on Id through a proper reasoning of an
external environment.

Example: If you pass through the same boy playing with the ball, your ego will mediate the
conflict between the Id and super-ego and will decide to buy a new ball for yourself. This
may hurt you Id, but the ego would take this decision to reach to a compromise situation
between the Id and super-ego by satisfying the desire of getting a ball without committing
any unpleasant social behavior.

Hence, these are the fundamental structures of the mind, and there is always a conflict
between these three. The efforts to attain the balance between these defines the way we
behave in the external environment.

SOCIO PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY

Definition: The Socio-Psychological Theory asserts that individual and society are
interlinked. This means, an individual strives to meet the needs of the society and the
society helps him to attain his goals. Through this interaction, the personality of an
individual is determined.
The Socio-Psychological theory is the contribution of Adler, Horney, Forman and Sullivan.
This theory is also called as Neo-Freudian Theory because it differs from the Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory in the following respects:
  According to this theory, the social variables and not the biological instincts, are the
important determinants in shaping the individual’s personality.

 Here, the motivation is conscious, i.e. an individual knows what are his needs and
wants and what kind of behavior is required to meet these needs.

Thus, the theorists believe that socio-psychological factors, i.e. the combination of both the
social (family, society, wealth, religion) and the psychological factors (feelings, thoughts,
beliefs) play an important role in shaping the personality of an individual.

It is the society from where the individual inculcates the cultural values and the social
norms, which helps him in shaping his personality and influences his behavior according to
the external situations.

TRAIT THEORY

Definition: The Trait Theory asserts that an individual is composed of a set of definite
predisposition attributes called as traits. These traits are distinguishable and often long
lasting quality or a characteristic of a person that makes him different from the others.

The two most common trait theories are:

ALLPORT’S TRAIT THEORY:

This theory is given by Gordon Allport. According to him, the personality of an individual
can be studied through a distinction between the common traits and the personal
dispositions.

The common traits are used to compare the people on the grounds of six values, such as
religious, social, economic, political, aesthetic and theoretical. Besides the common traits,
there are personal dispositions which are unique and are classified as follows:

 Cardinal Traits: The cardinal traits are powerful, and few people possess personality
dominated by a single trait. Such as Mother Teressa’s altruism.
 Central Traits: These traits are the general characteristics possessed by many
individuals in the varying degrees. Such as loyalty, friendliness, agreeableness, kindness,
etc.
 Secondary Trait: The secondary traits show why at times, a person behaves differently
than his usual behavior. Such as a jolly person may get miserable when people try to
tease him.
CATTELL’S TRAIT THEORY:
 This trait theory is given by Raymond Cattell. According to him, the sample of a large
number of variables should be studied to have a proper understanding of the individual
personality.

He collected the life data (everyday life behaviors of individuals), experimental data
(standardizing experiments by measuring actions), questionnaire data (responses gathered
from the introspection of an individual’s behavior) and done the factor analysis to identify
the traits that are related to one another.

By using the factor analysis method, he identified 16 key personality factors:

1. Abstractedness – Imaginative Vs Practical

2. Warmth – Outgoing Vs Reserved
3. Vigilance – Suspicious Vs Trusting
4. Tension – Impatient Vs Relaxed
5. Apprehension – Worried Vs Confident
6. Emotional Stability – Calm Vs anxious
7. Liveliness – Spontaneous Vs Restrained
8. Dominance – Forceful Vs Submissive
9. Social Boldness – Uninhibited Vs Shy
10. Perfectionism – Controlled Vs Undisciplined
11. Privateness – Discreet Vs Open
12. Sensitivity – Tender Vs Tough
13. Self Reliance – Self sufficient Vs Dependent
14. Rule-Consciousness – Conforming Vs Non-Conforming
15. Reasoning – Abstract Vs Concrete
16. Openness to Change – Flexible Vs Stubborn

The trait theory is based on the assumption that the traits are common to many individuals
and they vary in absolute amounts. Also, the traits remain consistent over a period of time,
and thus can be measured through the behavioral indicators.

SELF THEORY

Definition: The Self Theory emphasizes on the set of perceptions an individual has for
himself and the perceptions of the relationships he has with others and the other aspects of
life. Carl Rogers has contributed significantly towards the self theory.

The self theory comprises of four factors that are explained below:

1. Self-Image: Self-image means what an individual thinks about himself. Everybody has
certain beliefs about themselves, such as who or what they are, these beliefs form the self
image and identity of a person.
 According to Erikson, identity is formed through a lifelong development usually
unconscious to the individual and his society, i.e. an individual forms perception about
himself unconsciously, according to the social circumstances.

2. Ideal-Self: The ideal-self means, the way an individual would like to be. It is very much
different from the self-image, as it shows the ideal position perceived by an individual,
whereas the self-image is the reality that an individual perceives.Thus, there could be a gap
between these two.

The ideal-self-acts as a stimulus to motivate an individual to undertake those activities that

are in compliance with the characteristics of his ideal self.

3. Looking-Glass-Self: The looking-glass self means, an individual’s perception of how others

are perceiving his qualities or feeling about him. Simply, it is the perception of other’s
perception, i.e. perceiving what others perceive about yourself and not see what actually
you are.
4. Real-Self: The real-self is what others show you with respect to your self-image. An
individual’s self-image is confirmed when others responses to him and shares their beliefs
or perception, about what they actually feel about him.

This is taken as feedback from the environment that helps an individual to adjusts his self-
image accordingly and be in line with the cues he had received.

Thus, according to Carl Rogers, the self theory is composed of several perceptions of “I” or
“me” and the perception of relationships of “I” and “me” to others.

EFFECT OF PERSONALITY ON WORK OUTPUT AND BEHAVIOUR

 Self Concept and Self Esteem

 Need Patterns( Achievements, Autonomy, Affiliation, Dominance)
 Mechanism
 Locus of Control
 Tolerance for Ambiguity
 Type A and Type B Personality
 Introversion and Extroversion
 Work Orientation

FREUD’S STAGES OF PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is probably the most well known theorist when it comes to
the development of personality. Freud’s Stages of Psychosexual Development are, like other
stage theories, completed in a predetermined sequence and can result in either successful
completion or a healthy personality or can result in failure, leading to an unhealthy
personality. This theory is probably the most well known as well as the most controversial,
as Freud believed that we develop through stages based upon a particular erogenous zone.
During each stage, an unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on that
particular erogenous zone and either over– or under-indulges once he or she becomes an
adult.
 Oral Stage (Birth to 18 months)
During the oral stage, the child if focused on oral pleasures (sucking). Too much or too little
gratification can result in an Oral Fixation or Oral Personality which is evidenced by a
preoccupation with oral activities. This type of personality may have a stronger tendency to
smoke, drink alcohol, over eat, or bite his or her nails. Personality wise, these individuals
may become overly dependent upon others, gullible, and perpetual followers. On the other
hand, they may also fight these urges and develop pessimism and aggression toward
others.
 Anal Stage (18 months to three years)
The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on eliminating and retaining feces. Through
society’s pressure, mainly via parents, the child has to learn to control anal stimulation. In
terms of personality, after effects of an anal fixation during this stage can result in an
obsession with cleanliness, perfection, and control (anal retentive). On the opposite end of
the spectrum, they may become messy and disorganized (anal expulsive).
 Phallic Stage (ages three to seven)
The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. Freud believed that during this stage boy
develop unconscious sexual desires for their mother. Because of this, he becomes rivals
with his father and sees him as competition for the mother’s affection. During this time,
boys also develop a fear that their father will punish them for these feelings, such as by
castrating them. This group of feelings is known as Oedipus Complex ( after the Greek
Mythology figure who accidentally killed his father and married his mother).
Later it was added that girls go through a similar situation, developing unconscious sexual
attraction to their father. Although Freud Strongly disagreed with this, it has been termed
the Electra Complex by more recent psychoanalysts.
According to Freud, out of fear of castration and due to the strong competition of his father,
boys eventually decide to identify with him rather than fight him. By identifying with his
father, the boy develops masculine characteristics and identifies himself as a male, and
represses his sexual feelings toward his mother. A fixation at this stage could result in
sexual deviancies (both overindulging and avoidance) and weak or confused sexual
identity according to psychoanalysts.
 Latency Stage (age seven to twelve)
This is the stage when puberty comes to play.
 Genital Stage (twelve to twenty)(procreating, reproduction)
The final stage of psychosexual development begins at the start of puberty when sexual
urges are once again awakened. Through the lessons learned during the previous stages,
 adolescents direct their sexual urges onto opposite sex peers, with the primary focus of
pleasure is the genitals.
ERIKSON’S PSYCHOLOGICAL STAGES
Erikson was an ego psychologist who developed one of the most popular and influential
theories of development. While his theory was impacted by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's
work, Erikson's theory centered on psychosocial development rather than psychosexual
development. The stages that make up his theory are as follows:

STAGES PSYCHOSOCIAL CRISES BASIC VIRTUE AGE STAGES OF

DEVELOPMENT
1 Trust vs. Mistrust Hope 0-1 Oral and Sensory
2 Autonomy vs. Shame Will 1-2 Muscular and Anal
3 Initiative vs. Guilt Purpose 2-5 Locomotor and
Genital
4 Industry vs. Inferiority Competency 5-12 Latency Stage
5 Identity vs. Role Confusion Fidelity 12-18 Puberty and
Adolescence
6 Intimacy vs. Isolation Love 18-40(Early Early Adulthood
20s)
7 Generativity vs. Stagnation Care 40-65 Young and Middle
Adulthood
8 Ego Integrity vs. Despair Wisdom 65+ Mature Adulthood

 Trust vs. Mistrust

From birth to 12 months of age, infants must learn that adults can be trusted. This occurs
when adults meet a child’s basic needs for survival. Infants are dependent upon their
caregivers, so caregivers who are responsive and sensitive to their infant’s needs help their
baby to develop a sense of trust; their baby will see the world as a safe, predictable place.
Unresponsive caregivers who do not meet their baby’s needs can engender feelings
of anxiety, fear, and mistrust; their baby may see the world as unpredictable. If infants are
treated cruelly or their needs are not met appropriately, they will likely grow up with a
sense of mistrust for people in the world.

 Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

As toddlers (ages 1–3 years) begin to explore their world, they learn that they can control
their actions and act on their environment to get results. They begin to show clear
preferences for certain elements of the environment, such as food, toys, and clothing. A
toddler’s main task is to resolve the issue of autonomy vs. shame and doubt by working to
establish independence. This is the “me do it” stage. For example, we might observe a
budding sense of autonomy in a 2-year-old child who wants to choose her clothes and dress
herself. Although her outfits might not be appropriate for the situation, her input in such
basic decisions has an effect on her sense of independence. If denied the opportunity to act
on her environment, she may begin to doubt her abilities, which could lead to low self-
esteem and feelings of shame.

 Initiative vs. Guilt

Once children reach the preschool stage (ages 3–6 years), they are capable of initiating
activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play.
According to Erikson, preschool children must resolve the task of initiative vs. guilt.By
learning to plan and achieve goals while interacting with others, preschool children can
master this task. Initiative, a sense of ambition and responsibility, occurs when parents
allow a child to explore within limits and then support the child’s choice. These children
will develop self-confidence and feel a sense of purpose. Those who are unsuccessful at this
stage—with their initiative misfiring or stifled by over-controlling parents—may develop
feelings of guilt.

 Industry vs. Inferiority

During the elementary school stage (ages 6–12), children face the task of industry vs.
inferiority. Children begin to compare themselves with their peers to see how they measure
up. They either develop a sense of pride and accomplishment in their schoolwork, sports,
social activities, and family life, or they feel inferior and inadequate because they feel that
they don’t measure up. If children do not learn to get along with others or have negative
experiences at home or with peers, an inferiority complex might develop
into adolescence and adulthood.

 Identity vs. Role Confusion

In adolescence (ages 12–18), children face the task of identity vs. role confusion. According
to Erikson, an adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self. Adolescents struggle
with questions such as “Who am I?” and “What do I want to do with my life?” Along the
way, most adolescents try on many different selves to see which ones fit; they explore
various roles and ideas, set goals, and attempt to discover their “adult” selves. Adolescents
who are successful at this stage have a strong sense of identity and are able to remain true
to their beliefs and values in the face of problems and other people’s perspectives. When
adolescents are apathetic, do not make a conscious search for identity, or are pressured to
conform to their parents’ ideas for the future, they may develop a weak sense of self and
experience role confusion. They will be unsure of their identity and confused about the
future. Teenagers who struggle to adopt a positive role will likely struggle to “find”
themselves as adults.
  Intimacy vs. Isolation

People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are concerned with intimacy vs.
isolation. After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, we are ready to share our
life with others. However, if other stages have not been successfully resolved, young adults
may have trouble developing and maintaining successful relationships with others. Erikson
said that we must have a strong sense of self before we can develop successful intimate
relationships. Adults who do not develop a positive self-concept in adolescence may
experience feelings of loneliness and emotional isolation.

 Generativity vs. Stagnation

When people reach their 40s, they enter the time known as middle adulthood, which
extends to the mid-60s. The social task of middle adulthood is generativity vs.
stagnation. Generativity involves finding your life’s work and contributing to the
development of others through activities such as volunteering, mentoring, and raising
children. During this stage, middle-aged adults begin contributing to the next generation,
often through childbirth and caring for others; they also engage in meaningful and
productive work which contributes positively to society. Those who do not master this task
may experience stagnation and feel as though they are not leaving a mark on the world in a
meaningful way; they may have little connection with others and little interest in
productivity and self-improvement.

 Integrity vs. Despair

From the mid-60s to the end of life, we are in the period of development known as late
adulthood. Erikson’s task at this stage is called integrity vs. despair. He said that people in
late adulthood reflect on their lives and feel either a sense of satisfaction or a sense of
failure. People who feel proud of their accomplishments feel a sense of integrity, and they
can look back on their lives with few regrets. However, people who are not successful at
this stage may feel as if their life has been wasted. They focus on what “would have,”
“should have,” and “could have” been. They face the end of their lives with feelings of
bitterness, depression, and despair.

PERCEPTION
Perception is an intellectual process of transforming sensory stimuli to meaningful
information. It is the process of interpreting something that we see or hear in our mind and
use it later to judge and give a verdict on a situation, person, group etc.
It can be divided into six types −
 Of sound − The ability to receive sound by identifying vibrations.
 Of speech − The competence of interpreting and understanding the sounds of
language heard.
  Touch − Identifying objects through patterns of its surface by touching it.
 Taste − The ability to receive flavor of substances by tasting it through sensory
organs known as taste buds.
 Other senses − They approve perception through body, like balance, acceleration,
pain, time, sensation felt in throat and lungs etc.
 Of the social world − It permits people to understand other individuals and groups
of their social world. Example − Priya goes to a restaurant and likes their customer
service, so she will perceive that it is a good place to hang out and will recommend it
to her friends, who may or may not like it. Priya’s perception about the restaurant is
good.

PERCEPTUAL PROCESS
Perceptual process are the different stages of perception we go through. The different
stages are −

 Receiving
 Selecting
 Organizing
 Interpreting

 RECEIVING
Receiving is the first and most important stage in the process of perception. It is the initial
stage in which a person collects all information and receives the information through the
sense organs.

 SELECTING
Selecting is the second stage in the process. Here a person doesn’t receive the data randomly
but selectively. A person selects some information out of all in accordance with his interest
or needs. The selection of data is dominated by various external and internal factors.
 External factors − The factors that influence the perception of an individual
externally are intensity, size, contrast, movement, repetition, familiarity, and
novelty.
 Internal factors − The factors that influence the perception of an individual
internally are psychological requirements, learning, background, experience, self-
acceptance, and interest.
  ORGANIZING
Keeping things in order or say in a synchronized way is organizing. In order to make sense
of the data received, it is important to organize them.
We can organize the data by −
 Grouping them on the basis of their similarity, proximity, closure, continuity.
 Establishing a figure ground is the basic process in perception. Here by figure we
mean what is kept as main focus and by ground we mean background stimuli, which
are not given attention.
 Perceptual constancy that is the tendency to stabilize perception so that contextual
changes don’t affect them.

 INTERPRETING
Finally, we have the process of interpreting which means forming an idea about a particular
object depending upon the need or interest. Interpretation means that the information we
have sensed and organized, is finally given a meaning by turning it into something that can
be categorized. It includes stereotyping, halo effect etc.

IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION:
(i) Perception is very important in understanding the human behaviour, because every

person perceives the world and approaches the life problems differently- Whatever we see

or feel is not necessarily the same as it really is. It is because what we hear is not what is

really said, but what we perceive as being said. When we buy something, it is not because it

is the best, but because we take it to be the best. Thus, it is because of perception, we can
find out why one individual finds a job satisfying while another one may not be satisfied
with it.

(ii) If people behave on the basis of their perception, we can predict their behaviour in the

changed circumstances by understanding their present perception of the environment. One

person may be viewing the facts in one way which may be different from the facts as seen
by another viewer.
(iii) With the help of perception, the needs of various people can be determined, because

people’s perception is influenced by their needs. Like the mirrors at an amusement park,
they distort the world in relation to their tensions.

(iv) Perception is very important for the manager who wants to avoid making errors when

dealing with people and events in the work setting. This problem is made more

complicated by the fact that different people perceive the same situation differently. In

order to deal with the subordinates effectively, the managers must understand their
perceptions properly.

Thus, for understanding the human behaviour, it is very important to understand their

perception, that is, how they perceive the different situations. People’s behaviour is based

on their perceptions of what reality is, not on reality itself. The world as it is perceived is
the world that is important for understanding the human behaviour.

PERCEPTUAL SELECTIVITY

There are many stimuli demanding attention of the individual at the same time and that
individual can sense only a limited amount of stimuli at a time. Human beings are
characteristically selective. They select from among those physical stimuli, which they can
register at a point in time. They close themselves off entirely from some stimuli and tend to
open their channels of absorption to others. Thus, they set themselves to respond to a
particular stimulus or a group of stimuli. Yet, certain events may characteristically creep
into an individual’s perceptual life and distract his attention.

For instance, the sound of a gun, other things being equal, is more likely to attract attention
than the sound of a gas burner. Thus, while dealing with selective phenomenon two terms
are involved; attention and set. ‘Attention’ incorporates all aspects of the selective process
whereas ‘set’ refers to specific factors or processes within the individual himself that has a
bearing on what he attends to. Accordingly, while studying the selective process in
 perception, we study set factors lying within the individual himself, as well as those stimuli
which can creep into his experience— those which are characteristically attention inviting.

Thus some of the factors that attract attention lie in the situations and some are within the
individual. The factors that are in the situations are called ‘external attention factors‘ and
those factors that are within an individual are called ‘internal set factors’.

External attention factors

The external attention factors are:
 Intensity
 Size
 Contrast
 Repetition
 Motion
 Novelty and familiarity
Intensity
The intensity of stimulus implies that the more intense the stimulus audio or visual, the
more is the likelihood it will be perceived. A loud noise, strong odour or bright light or
bright colours will be more readily perceived than soft sound, weak odour or dim light. It is
because of this advantage that advertisers employ intensity to draw the consumers’
attention.

Size
As regards the size of the stimulus, any odd size attracts attention. A Great Den dog which is
tall attracts the attention. At the same time a pocket dog also attracts attention because of
its size. However, generally the larger the object the more likely it will be perceived. The
amount of attention enhances with the size of the newspaper advertisement exposed to the
individuals, although the increase in attention may not be directly proportional to the
increase in size.

Contrast
The contrast principle states that external stimuli, which stand out against the background
or which, are not what the people expect will receive attention. Plant safety signs, which
 have black lettering on a yellow background or white lettering on a red background, are
attentions getting.

Any change in the accustomed atmosphere attracts attraction. Thus if one or more of the
machines should come suddenly to a halt, the supervisor would immediately notice the
difference in noise level. Also a person who has fallen asleep in a bus because of the drone
of the engine wakes up immediately the engine stops.

Repetition
The factor of repetition implies that a repeated external stimulus attracts more attention
than the one that occurs at one time alone. Perhaps, it is because of this that supervisors
tend to repeat directions regarding job instructions several times for even simple tasks to
hold the attention of their workers. Advertisers while putting T.V. or radio advertisements
repeat the brand name they are advertising.

Motion
The factor of motion implies that the individual attend to changing objects in their field of
vision than to static objects. It is because of this advantage that advertisers involve signs,
which include moving objects in their campaigns. At an unconscious level the animals in
the jungles make use of this principle. A tiger lying in wait is motionless until his prey is
nearer him and then jumps at an appropriate moment.

Novelty and familiarity

A novel object in the familiar situation or a familiar object in a novel situation tends to
attract attention. Thus a white person or a black person in India catches attention faster.
Job rotation is an example of this principle. Recent research indicates that job rotation not
only increased attention but also employees’ acquisition of new skills.

Internal set factors

The internal set factors are as under:
 Habit
 Motivation and interest
 Learning
 Organizational role and specialization:
Habit
A Hindu will bow and do Namaskar when he sees a temple while walking on road, because
of his well-established habit. The motor set may cause the likelihood of inappropriate
responses. These are several instances in life settings where individuals tend to react with
the right response to the wrong signals. Thus a retired solidier may throw himself on the
ground when he hears a sudden burst of car tyre.

Motivation and interest

Two examples of motivational factors are hunger and thirst. Motivational factors increase
the individual’s sensitivity to those stimuli which he considers as relevant to the
satisfaction of his needs in view of his past experience with them.

A thirsty individual has a perceptual set to seek a water fountain or a hotel to quench his
thirst, which increases for him the likelihood of perceiving restaurant signs and decreases
the likelihood of visualizing other objects at that moment in time. A worker who has a
strong need for affiliation, when walks into the lunchroom, the table where several
coworkers are sitting tends to be perceived and the empty table or the table where only
one person is sitting will attract no attention.

Learning and Perception

The process of learning plays a crucial role even in primitive organization. However, it
should be recognized that the role of learning is more pronounced in respect of complex
forms of perception where the symbolic content creeps into the process. Although
interrelated with motivation and personality, learning may play the single biggest role in
developing perceptual set.

PRINCIPLES OF PERPETUAL ORGANISATION

According to this principle, things in the environment often tend to be seen as part of a whole. In
many cases, our minds will even fill in the missing information to create cohesive shapes.
Follow the links below to find more information and examples of the different Gestalt laws of
perceptual organization.

Similarity
The law of similarity suggests that things similar things tend to appear grouped together.
Grouping can occur in both visual and auditory stimuli. In the image above, for example, you
probably see the groupings of colored circles as rows rather than just a collection of dots.

Pragnanz/Simplification
The word pragnanz is a German term meaning "good figure." The law of Pragnanz is sometimes
referred to as the law of good figure or the law of simplicity. This law holds that objects in the
environment are seen in a way that makes them appear as simple as possible.3

You see the image above as a series of overlapping circles rather than an assortment of curved,
connected lines.

Proximity
According to the law of proximity, things that are near each other seem to be grouped together.
In the above image, the circles on the left appear to be part of one grouping while those on the
right appear to be part of another. Because the objects are close to each other, we group them
together.
Continuity
The law of continuity holds that points that are connected by straight or curving lines are seen in
a way that follows the smoothest path. Rather than seeing separate lines and angles, lines are
seen as belonging together.

Closure
According to the law of closure, things are grouped together if they seem to complete some
entity. Our brains often ignore contradictory information and fill in gaps in information. In the
image above, you probably see the shapes of a circle and rectangle because your brain fills in the
missing gaps in order to create a meaningful image.

Common Region
This Gestalt law of perceptual organization suggests that elements that are grouped together
within the same region of space tend to be grouped together.1

For example, imagine that there are three oval shapes drawn on a piece of paper with two dots
located at each end of the oval. The ovals are right next to each other so that the dot at the end of
one oval is actually closer to the dot at the end of a separate oval. Despite the proximity of the
dots, the two that are inside each oval are perceived as being a group rather than the dots that are
actually closest to each other.

INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION

Interpersonal perception begins with the perception of another person, an awareness and
appraisal of his attitudes, attributes, intentions and their likely reactions to one's actions.
Research was conducted by Zalking and Costello for better understanding of interpersonal
perception. The specific characteristics of the perceiver, according to them are:

1) Knowing one makes it easier to see other accurately.

2) One's own characteristics affect the characteristics he is likely to see in others.

3) The person who accepts himself is more likely to be able to see favourable aspects of other
people.

4) Accuracy in perceiving others is not a single skill.

Similarly the characteristics of the person who is being perceived are:

1) The status of the person perceived will greatly influence other's perception of him.
2) The person being perceived is usually placed into categories to simply the viewer’s
perceptual activities. Two common categories are status and role.

3) The visible traits of the person will greatly influence the perception of him.

In order to develop perceptual skills one has to avoid perceptual distortion, make accurate
self-perception, put oneself in another person’s place and create good impression about
oneself.

FUNDAMENTAL FORCES IN INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION

HALO EFFECT AND STEREOTYPING

The halo effect is a type of cognitive bias in which our overall impression of a person
influences how we feel and think about his or her character. Essentially, your overall
impression of a person ("He is nice!") impacts your evaluations of that person's specific
traits ("He is also smart!"). Perceptions of a single trait can carry over to how people
perceive other aspects of that person.

One great example of the halo effect in action is our overall impression of celebrities. Since
people perceive them as attractive, successful, and often likable, they also tend to see them
as intelligent, kind, and funny.

Stereotypes are assumptions made about a group of people and are applied to individuals,
irrespective of their personal characteristics, because of their affiliation with a certain
group. Stereotypes can be positive, negative or neutral. While both positive and negative
stereotypes can be harmful, they can occasionally serve as a learning experience, as we'll
find out at the end of the lesson.

PRIMACY AND RECENCY EFFECTS

First impressions are known as the primacy effect. First impressions are important
because they set the tone for future interactions. Recency effects are final impressions.
These matter, because this is how people tend to remember us. Both the first impressions
and last impressions tend to be more important than any impressions people form in
between.

PERCEPTUAL SET

Perceptual set is the idea that we perceive only what we want or expect to perceive. This
limits our ability to accurately perceive what is actually there. An example of this is the
preconception we form when we see a baby wrapped in blue. It then becomes difficult for
us to imagine that this child could be a girl. People tend to see what they are used to seeing.

EGOCENTRISM

The idea of egocentrism means the inability to take another's perspective. As you might
imagine, this interferes with our ability to accurately perceive others. While this is common
in children, most of us outgrow this – but not all. In egocentrism, we assume that others
should react to situations the way we would.

POSITIVITY AND NEGATIVITY BIASES

Both positivity and negativity biases affect our ability to accurately perceive the
communications of others. Positivity bias means a tendency to focus heavily on another's
positive attributes when forming a perception of that person. A negativity bias means the
reverse: a tendency to focus heavily on another's negative attributes when forming a
perception of that person. In a negativity bias, even one piece of negative information can
adversely affect your perception of that person. These types of biases are particularly
influential in the communications of long-term relationships, such as marriage. Satisfied
couples tend to emphasize the positive attributes of their relationship, while dissatisfied
couples tend to emphasize the negative.

ATTRIBUTION

In addition to noticing others' behaviors, we want to figure out the causes of these
behaviors. Why did she behave like that at the party yesterday? We want to know.

In answering the "why" question, we offer explanations for the behaviors we observe.
These explanations are known as attributions. Whatever we attribute someone's behavior
to, we proceed with them in accordance with the attribution. For example, let's say we are
hit by a car. When we approach the other driver, we find that he had a heart attack, and
that's why he hit us. How would you respond to this? On the other hand, when we approach
the other driver, we find that she is completely drunk. Would your response to the drunk
woman be different from your response to the man who had a heart attack? Most people
would probably say yes.
There are three main types of attribution errors we tend to make in perceiving and
interpreting behaviors and situations. The first is self-serving bias. This means we
attribute our successes to our own internal characteristics, but our failures to external
causes. For example, if you get an "A" on your exam, it's because you're smart and you
studied well; but if you get an "F," it's because the exam wasn't fair. In other words, your
success was your own, but your failure was someone else's fault. The next type of
attribution error is called the fundamental attribution error. Here, we attribute others'
behaviors to internal, rather than external, causes. For example, the girl volunteers because
she is kindhearted, and the cashier miscounted our change because she doesn't know how
to count. The fundamental attribution error is exceedingly strong, and research has found
that it applies even when we consciously know better. As competent communicators, we
need to keep in mind that most behaviors are in response to external causes. The third type
of common attribution error is over-attribution. Here, we identify one or two obvious
characteristics of an individual and extrapolate those characteristics to explain other things
that person does. For example, if you know someone who is the youngest of eight children,
you might attribute that person's insistence on getting her own way all the time to her
being the baby of a large family. This might also be the reason you offer for her always
seeming to need to be the center of attention, and interrupting others when they speak.
Over-attribution can be problematic, particularly within the context of marriage, when, for
example, a woman expressing her needs is dismissed as her simply being a woman. This
can also be problematic when interacting with individuals from marginalized groups, such
as migrants or homeless people, where an individual's behaviors can be attributed
primarily to that person's group membership.

LEARNING
Learning is a change in behaviour as a result of experience. Learning can be defined as
relatively permanent change in behaviour potentiality that results from reinforced practice
or experience (Steers and Porter).

Definition

A relatively permanent change in behaviour (or behaviour tendency) that occurs as a result
of a person's interaction with the environment.

The components of learning process are: drive, cue stimuli, response, reinforcement and
retention.
 Drive: Learning frequently occurs in the presence of drive – any strong stimulus that impels
action. Drives are basically of two types -primary (or physiological); and secondary (or
psychological). These two categories of drives often interact with each other. Individuals
operate under many drives at the same time. To predict a behavior, it is necessary to
establish which drives are stimulating the most.
 Cue Stimuli: Cue stimuli are those factors that exist in the environment as perceived by the
individual. The idea is to discover the conditions under which stimulus will increase the
probability of eliciting a specific response. There may be two types of stimuli with respect to
their results in terms of response concerned: stimulus generalization and stimulus
discrimination.

1. Generalization occurs when a response is elicited by a similar but new

stimulus. If two stimuli are exactly alike, they will have the same
probability of evoking a specified response. The principle of
generalization has important implications for human learning. Because
of generalization, a person does not have to completely relearn each of
the new tasks. It allows the members to adapt to overall changing
conditions and specific new assignments. The individual can borrow
from past learning experiences to adjust more smoothly to new
learning situations.
2. Discrimination is a procedure in which an organization learns to emit
a response to a stimulus but avoids making the same response to a
similar but somewhat different stimulus. Discrimination has wide
applications in organizational behavior. For example, a supervisor can
discriminate between two equally high producing workers, one with
low quality and other with high quality.

 Responses: The stimulus results in responses. Responses may be in the physical form or
may be in terms of attitudes, familiarity, perception or other complex phenomena. In the
above example, the supervisor discriminates between the worker producing low quality
products and the worker producing high quality products, and positively responds only to
the quality conscious worker.
 Reinforcement: Reinforcement is a fundamental condition of learning. Without
reinforcement, no measurable modification of behavior takes place. Reinforcement may be
defined as the environmental event’s affecting the probability of occurrence of responses
with which they are associated.
 Retention: The stability of learned behavior over time is defined as retention and its
contrary is known as forgetting. Some of the learning is retained over a period of time while
others may be forgotten.

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE LEARNING

1. Motivation: learner’s motivation is one of the major conditions for learning. As we
shall see later in this text, motivation is something that moves a person to action and
continuous him in the course of the already initiated. This course of action
includes learning too. A positive behavior developed through learning results into
 reward while a negative behavior results into punishment. Thus, degree of the
learner’s motivation is positively associated with his learning. There is overwhelming
evidence that support the generalization that motivation responses tend to be
repeated whereas non-motivated responses tend to be discontinued.
2. Mental set-up: Mental set-up refers to the preparation for an action, in the context
learning. If a person is prepared to act, he can do the things quickly and in no time.
Without mental set-up, learning cannot go smoothly and easily it happens so because
the person’s mental set-up activates him to do the act, and due to this level of
activation, he gets inclined to perform the act. Various Research Studies also support
this view.
3. Nature of learning materials: Nature of learning materials affects learning by
providing the clue for understanding. There are a number of features of the learning
materials which affect learning. First, if the learning material is of easy nature, it is
learned quickly whereas difficult material takes time to understand. Second,
familiarity with learning materials affects learning if the learner is familiar with the
learning materials, he can learn more quickly as compared to when he is unfamiliar:
with these third, serial position, shape, and meaningfulness of learning materials and
this also affect learning. It these, features are positive, learning takes place at faster
rate.
4. Practice: practice is a very basic condition of learning and affects all types of
learning. The more a person practices, more be absorbs the learning contents. Most
of the motor skills (like, swimming, etc.) are learned based on this principal.
5. Environment: Environment in which learning process occurs also, affects learning.
Environment here refers to the situational set up for learning. Environmental factors
can either strengthen or weaken the innate ability to achieve and
learn. Environment with its pressure and high rate of change increases the likelihood
of stress and has a negative impact on learning. Environment with features of
support, cohesion, and affiliation has positive impact on learning.

LEARNING STYLES

1. Visual learner—focus on visual depictions such as pictures and graphs

2. Print learner—focus on seeing written words
3. Auditory learner—focus on listening and hearing
4. Interactive learner—focus on conversation and verbalization
5. Haptic learner—focus on sense of touch or grasp
6. Kinesthetic learner—focus on physical involvement
7. Olfactory learner—focus on smell and taste
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING THEORY
Classical conditioning theory is developed by Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian
physiologist in the early 1900s. This is called classical because this is the first theory in the
area of learning. Pavlov was trying to discover the fact regarding digestive system but he
obtained the theory of learning. Later than, he worked out to uncover and establish
underlying principles of classical conditioning.
Classical conditioning theory has introduced a simple cause and effect relationship between
stimulus and response. This theory states that learning a conditioned response involves
association between conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. It explains simple
reflexive behavior which is unlearned behavior.
Pavlov Experiment with dog

Pavlov established this theory through findings of the experiment with dog. Pavlov
presented piece of meat to dog. He noticed salivation in dog and the salivation is increased
noticeably. He later, rang the bell without meat but the dog did not salivate. This means
ringing bell did not stimulate for salivation. He then, linked ringing bell and serving meat of
piece repeatedly. Dog repeatedly heard the bell just getting meat. Dog learnt that when the
bell rings he will get meat. Thus, whenever dog hears ringing bell, starts salivating. Later,
Pavlov stopped providing meat, but dog salivation on ringing bell. Pavlov described this
phenomenon i.e. dog responded with ringing bell. The dog had learned an association
between ringing bell and the food. In conclusion, this learning is conditional response
involves association between conditioned stimulus (bell), unconditioned stimulus (food),
and unconditioned response (salivation).
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in the theory represents the particular motivator or trigger to
respond automatically or naturally without previous learning. For example, with we talk or
see sour food or delicious food, salivation starts through it was not learned. Here sour or
delicious food is unconditioned stimulus.
Unconditioned response (UCR) represents the act or output of unconditioned stimulus. Here,
salivating is unconditioned response.
Conditioned stimulus (CS) is a motivating situation caused by unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned stimulus does not emerge automatically as unconditioned stimulus.
Contributions and limitations of classical conditioning

Classical conditioning theory is simple explanation of relation between stimulus and

response. This explains that for learned behavior, there should be motivating factor
(stimulus). It also makes the reflective or involuntary after the stimulus-response
relationship has been established. In many situation, this theory explains the human
behaviors.
 But, this theory has some important limitations as well. Some of the limitations are as
follows:
 Human behavior and behavior of dogs cannot be similar.
 Behavioral environment in organizations is complex in comparison to the experiment
conducted by Pavlov.
 It does not provide significant part of total human learning.
 It explains the passive approach.
 Decision making process is complex in nature. Thus, simple conditioning cannot always
work.

MODULE 3

Concept of Motivation:

The term motivation is derived from the word ‘motive”. The word ‘motive’ as a noun means

an objective, as a verb this word means moving into action. Therefore, motives are forces

which induce people to act in a way, so as to ensure the fulfillment of a particular human

need at a time. Behind every human action there is a motive. Therefore, management must
provide motives to people to make them work for the organization.

Motivation may be defined as a planned managerial process, which stimulates people to

work to the best of their capabilities, by providing them with motives, which are based on
their unfulfilled needs.

“Motivation means a process of stimulating people to action to accomplish desired goods.”

—William G. Scott

“Motivation is the process of attempting to influence others to do your will through the
possibility of gain or reward.” — Flippo

Motivation is, in fact, pressing the right button to get the desired human behaviour.
Motivation is no doubt an essential ingredient of any Organisation. It is the psychological
technique which really executes the plans and policies through the efforts of others.

IMPORTANCE/SIGNIFICANCE OF MOTIVATION
Motivation is a very important for an organization because of the following benefits it
provides:

1. Puts human resources into action

Every concern requires physical, financial and human resources to accomplish the
goals. It is through motivation that the human resources can be utilized by making
full use of it. This can be done by building willingness in employees to work. This
will help the enterprise in securing best possible utilization of resources.

2. Improves level of efficiency of employees

The level of a subordinate or a employee does not only depend upon his
qualifications and abilities. For getting best of his work performance, the gap
between ability and willingness has to be filled which helps in improving the level of
performance of subordinates. This will result into-

a. Increase in productivity,
b. Reducing cost of operations, and
c. Improving overall efficiency.
3. Leads to achievement of organizational goals

The goals of an enterprise can be achieved only when the following factors take
place :-

a.There is best possible utilization of resources,

b.There is a co-operative work environment,
c.The employees are goal-directed and they act in a purposive manner,
d.Goals can be achieved if co-ordination and co-operation takes place
simultaneously which can be effectively done through motivation.
4. Builds friendly relationship

Motivation is an important factor which brings employees satisfaction. This can be

done by keeping into mind and framing an incentive plan for the benefit of the
employees. This could initiate the following things:

a. Monetary and non-monetary incentives,

 b. Promotion opportunities for employees,
c. Disincentives for inefficient employees.

In order to build a cordial, friendly atmosphere in a concern, the above steps should
be taken by a manager. This would help in:

iv.Effective co-operation which brings stability,

v. Industrial dispute and unrest in employees will reduce,
vi. The employees will be adaptable to the changes and there will be no
resistance to the change,
vii. This will help in providing a smooth and sound concern in which individual
interests will coincide with the organizational interests,
viii. This will result in profit maximization through increased productivity.
5. Leads to stability of work force

Stability of workforce is very important from the point of view of reputation and
goodwill of a concern. The employees can remain loyal to the enterprise only when
they have a feeling of participation in the management. The skills and efficiency of
employees will always be of advantage to employees as well as employees. This will
lead to a good public image in the market which will attract competent and qualified
people into a concern. As it is said, “Old is gold” which suffices with the role of
motivation here, the older the people, more the experience and their adjustment
into a concern which can be of benefit to the enterprise.

From the above discussion, we can say that motivation is an internal feeling which can be
understood only by manager since he is in close contact with the employees. Needs, wants
and desires are inter-related and they are the driving force to act. These needs can be
understood by the manager and he can frame motivation plans accordingly. We can say
that motivation therefore is a continuous process since motivation process is based on
needs which are unlimited. The process has to be continued throughout.

Motivation is important to an individual as:

1. Motivation will help him achieve his personal goals.

2. If an individual is motivated, he will have job satisfaction.
3. Motivation will help in self-development of individual.
4. An individual would always gain by working with a dynamic team.

Similarly, motivation is important to a business as:

1. The more motivated the employees are, the more empowered the team is.
2. The more is the team work and individual employee contribution, more profitable
and successful is the business.
3. During period of amendments, there will be more adaptability and creativity.
4. Motivation will lead to an optimistic and challenging attitude at work place.
2 types of factors that influence motivation:

 Intrinsic – self generated factors (responsibility, freedom to act, scope to use and
develop skills and abilities, interesting and challenging work, opportunities for
advancement) – they have a deeper and longer-term effect
 Extrinsic – what is done for people to motivate them (rewards, promotion,
punishment) – they have an immediate and powerful effect, but won’t necessarily last
long

BEHAVIOUR

Behaviour is 'need' based and goal oriented. The basic unit of behaviour is an activity. In
fact all behaviour is a series of activities. As human beings we are always doing something:
walking, talking, eating, sleeping, working and the like. Why do people engage in one
activity and not another? How can we understand, predict, and even control what activity
or activities a person may engage in at a given moment? To predict behaviour one must
know which motives or needs of people evoke a certain action at a particular time.

 Motives: People differ not only in their ability to do but also in their will to do, or
motivation. The motivation of people depends on the strength of their motives.
Motives are needs, wants, drives, or impulses within the individual. Motives are
directed towards goals, which may be conscious or sub-conscious.
 Goals: Goals are outside an individual; they are sometimes referred to as “hoped for”
towards which motives are directed. These goals are also called incentives, which
may be tangible rewards, such as increased pay or intangible rewards, such as
praise or power.
 Motive Strength: All individuals have several needs and all of them compete for their
behaviour. The need with the greatest strength at a particular moment leads to
activity. Satisfied needs decrease in strength and no longer motivate behaviour to
seek goals to satisfy them.

THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

Alderfer’s ERG Theory

Is based on Maslows Hierchy of needs; recategorizes Maslows categories of needs into

three simpler and broader groups:

 Existence needs – need for material and energy exchange; basic physiological and
safety needs
 Relatedness needs – transactions with human environment, process of sharing or
mutuality; need for interpersonal relationships and attention; is about equivalent to
Maslows social needs and part of the esteem needs
  Growth needs – people make creative or productive efforts for themselves; need for
personal growth and self-development; part of Maslows esteem needs and self-
fulfillment needs

On contrast to Maslow, here more than one level of needs can be relevant at the same time.
There is no hierarchy; people may for instance work to fulfill their personal growth needs,
whereas not al relatedness needs are fulfilled. (partly adapted from Management Study
Guide)

McClelland’s needs

Based mainly on studies of managers. 3 most important needs:

 achievement – need for competitive success measured against a personal standard

of excellence
 affiliation – need for warm, friendly relationships with others, interpersonal
relationships
 power – need to control and influence others

The hierarchy of these three groups of needs may differ from individual to individual.
Hence, there are different motivators depending on a person’s high-priority needs.

Herzbergs two-factor model

There are some factors that result in satisfaction and some factors that just prevent
dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, the opposite of Satisfaction is No Satisfaction and
the opposite of Dissatisfaction is No Dissatisfaction.

 Motivators – factors that really motivate people, also called satisfiers, provide
intrinsic motivation
Examples for Motivators: recognition, growth and career development opportunities,
responsibility, autonomy, self-fulfillment
 Hygiene factors – dissatisfiers; their absence would demotivate people, but their
presence not necessarily improves motivation; essentially describe the environment,
little effect on positive job attitudes
Examples for Hygiene factors: salary, work conditions, relationships with superios and
peers, company policy

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

Definition: Vroom’s Expectancy Theory was proposed by Victor. H. Vroom, who believed
that people are motivated to perform activities to achieve some goal to the extent they
expect that certain actions on their part would help them to achieve the goal.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory is based on the assumption that an individual’s behavior
results from the choices made by him with respect to the alternative course of action,
which is related to the psychological events occurring simultaneously with the behavior.
This means an individual selects a certain behavior over the other behaviors with an
expectation of getting results, the one desired for.

Thus, Vroom’s Expectancy Theory has its roots in the cognitive concept, i.e. how an
individual processes the different elements of motivation. This theory is built around the
concept of valence, instrumentality, and Expectancy and, therefore, is often called as VIE
theory.

The algebraic representation of Vroom’s Expectancy theory is:

Motivation (force) = ∑Valence x Expectancy

PORTER – LAWLER MODEL OF MOTIVATION

The various elements of this model are explained in the following figure:

1. Effort:
Effort refers to the amount of energy which a person exerts on a job.

2. Value of Reward:

First of all people try to figure out whether the rewards that are likely to be received from

doing a job will be attractive to them. This is referred to as valence in Vroom’s theory. A
person who is looking for more money, for example, extra vacation time may not be an

attractive reward. If the reward to be obtained is attractive or valent then the individual
will put extra efforts to perform the job. otherwise he will lower his effort.

3. Perceived Effort Reward Probability:

In addition, before people put forth any effort, they will also try to assess the probability of

a certain level of effort leading to a desired level of performance and the possibility of that

performance leading to certain kinds of rewards. Based on the valence of the reward and
the effort reward probability, people can decide to put in certain level of work effort.
4. Performance:

Effort leads to performance. The expected level of performance will depend upon the

amount of effort, the abilities and traits of the individual and his role perceptions. Abilities

include knowledge, skills and intellectual capacity to perform the job. Traits which are

important for many jobs are endurance, pre-servance, and goal directedness. Thus, abilities
and traits will moderate the effort- performance relationship.

In addition, people performing the jobs should have accurate role perception which refers

to the wav in which people define for the jobs. People may perceive their roles differently.

Only those, who perceive their roles as is defined by the organization, will be able to
perform well when they put forth the requisite effort.

5. Rewards:

Performance leads to certain outcomes in the shape of two types of rewards namely

extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are the external rewards given

by others in the organization in the form of money, recognition or praise. Intrinsic rewards

are internal feelings of job sell esteem and sense of competence that individuals feel when
they do a good job.

6. Satisfaction:

Satisfaction will result from both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. However, for being

satisfied, an individual will compare his actual rewards with the perceived rewards if

actual rewards meet or exceed perceived equitable rewards, the individual will feel

satisfied and if these are less than the equitable rewards, the individual will feel
dissatisfied.

EQUITY THEORY – ADAMS

Equity theory of motivation describes the relationship between the employee’s perception
of how fairly is he being treated and how hard he is motivated to work. J. Stacy Adams
developed equity theory.
Equity Theory states that the employees perceive what they get from a job situation
(outcomes) in relation to what they put into it( inputs) and then compare their inputs-
outcomes ratio with the inputs- outcomes ratios of others.
This theory show-

 Inputs: Inputs include all the rich and diverse elements that employees believe they
bring or contribute to the job – their education, experience, effort, loyalty, commitment.
 Outcomes: Outcomes are rewards they perceive they get from their jobs and employers
outcomes include- direct pay and bonuses, fringe benefit, job security, social rewards
and psychological.
 Overrewarded: if employees fell over-rewarded equity theory predicts then they will
feel an imbalance in their relationship with their employee and seek to restore that
balance.
 Equity: if employees perceive equity then they will be motivated to continue to
contribute act about the same level.
 Unrewarded: unrewarded who feel they have been unrewarded and seek to reduce
their feeling in equity through the same types of strategies but same of this specific
action are now reverse.

This theory is based on the following two assumptions about human behavior:

1. Individuals make contributions (inputs) for which they expect certain outcomes
(rewards). Inputs include such things as the person’s past training and experience,
special knowledge, personal characteristics etc. Outcomes include pay, recognition,
promotion, prestige, fringe benefits etc.
2. Individuals decide whether or not a particular exchange is satisfactory, by comparing
their inputs and outcomes to those of others, in the form of a ratio. Equity exists when
an individual concludes that his/her own outcome/input ratio is equal to that of other
people.

The essential aspects of the equity theory may be shown by an equation;

There should be a balance of the outcomes/inputs relationship for one person in
comparison with that for another person. If the person thinks that the rewards are greater
than what is considered, he/she may work harder.
If the person perceives the rewards as equitable, he/she probably will continue at the same
level of output.

If the person feels that he/she is inequitably rewarded, he/she may be dissatisfied, reduce
the quantity or quality of output, or even leave the organization.

X AND Y THEORY

Our management style is firmly influenced by our beliefs and assumptions about what
encourages members of our team, like: If we believe that our team members dislike work,
then we tend towards an authoritarian style of management. However, if we assume that
employees take pride in doing a good job, we tend to adopt a more participative style.
Douglas McGregor, the eminent social psychologist, divides management style into two
contrasting theories −

 Theory X
 Theory Y

Theory X

This theory believes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working, and
this encourages an authoritarian style of management. According to this theory,
management must firmly intervene to get things done. This style of management concludes
that workers −

 Disfavor working.
 Abstain from responsibility and the need to be directed.
 Need to be controlled, forced, and warned to deliver what's needed.
 Demand to be supervised at each and every step, with controls put in place.
 Require to be attracted to produce results, else they have no ambition or incentive
to work.
McGregor observed that X-type workers are in fact mostly in minority, and yet in mass
organizations, such as large scale production environment, X Theory management may be
needed and can be unavoidable.

Theory Y

This theory explains a participative style of management that is distributive in nature. It

concludes that employees are happy to work, are self-motivated and creative, and enjoy
working with greater responsibility. It estimates that workers −
 Take responsibility willingly and are encouraged to fulfill the goals they are given.
 Explore and accept responsibility and do not need much guidance.
 Assume work as a natural part of life and solve work issues imaginatively.
In Y-type organizations, people at lower levels are engaged in decision making and have
more responsibility.

COMPARING THEORY X & THEORY Y

Motivation

Theory X considers that people dislike work, they want to avoid it and do not take
responsibilities willingly.
In contrast, Theory Y considers that people are self-motivated, and sportingly take
responsibilities.

Management Style and Control

In a Theory X-type organization, the management is authoritarian, and centralized control

is maintained.
While in Theory Y-type organization, the management style is participative, employees are
involved decision making, but the power retains to implement decisions.

Work Organization

Theory X employees are specialized and the same work cycle continues.
In Theory Y, the work tends to be coordinated around wider areas of skill or knowledge.
Employees are also motivated to develop expertise and make suggestions and
improvements.

Rewards and Appraisals

Theory X organizations work on a ‘carrot and stick’ basis, and performance assessment is
part of the overall mechanisms of control and compensation.
Coming to Theory Y organizations, appraisal is regular and crucial, but is usually a separate
mechanism from organizational controls. Theory Y organizations provide employees
frequent opportunities for promotion.

Application

Theory X management style is widely accepted as inferior to others, however it has its place
in large scale production procedure and unskilled production-line work.
Many of the principles of Theory Y are widely accepted by different types of organization
that value and motivate active participation.
Theory Y-style management is appropriate to knowledge work and licensed services.
Licensed service organizations naturally develop Theory Y-type practices by the nature of
their work, even high structure knowledge framework, like call center operations, benefits
from its principles to motivate knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES – (MOTIVATION AT WORK IN BOOK)

MASLOWS THEORY IN BOOK

ATTITUDE

An attitude is a way of thinking or feeling about something, a certain state of mind at the
time.

Nature of Attitude
An attitude may be defined as a tendency to react positively or negatively in regard to an
object. For example, a person who has a positive attitude towards the religion is likely to
enjoy going to worship services, believe that the religious institutions fosters morality, and
may, therefore, contribute to its financial support.

An attitude is always directed toward some object, such as the temple, school etc. The
object may be of general social significance, such as labour-management relations, or it
may be purely personal, such as a feeling about playing cricket or football. Moreover, the
object of an attitude may be as abstract as the philosophy of re-birth or as concrete as a car.
An attitude is a tendency to react in a certain way. That is, a person who has an attitude has
a readiness or a disposition to react favorably or unfavorably to anyone of a large variety of
related situations. Until some situation arouses it, however, the attitude is latent. For
example, a man who has a patriotic attitude toward his country is not continuously aroused
about it. But his patriotic attitude arouses his country is threatened from an external
aggression or if the National Anthem is sung, and so on.

Attitudes are for or against things. We tend to have favorable attitudes toward sources of
gratification and unfavorable attitudes toward sources of punishment and frustration. It is
possible, of course, that our attitudes toward an object may not be uniformly favorable or
unfavorable. For example, we may admire and respect American technical
accomplishments and yet resent other aspects of its system

ABC – COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE

There are said to be three components of an attitude, which can easily be remembered
using ‘ABC’. These three components are;
 Affective Component – feelings of an attitude – For example if a person is scared of spiders
or dogs.
 Behavioural Component – Predispositions to act towards an attitude. – For example if the
person scared of spiders sees one, they will react and scream.
 Cognitive Component – Thoughts about an attitude. – For example this is why they justify
their actions against the spider, believing it to be dangerous in some way.

Characteristics of Attitudes :
Attitude can be characterized by their –
1. Valence,
2. Multiplexity
3. Relation to needs
4. Centrality.

1. Valence:It refers to the magnitude or degree of favorableness or unfavourableness

toward the object/event. While measuring the attitudes we are basically concerned with
the valence. If a person is relatively indifferent toward an object then his attitude has
low valence. On the other hand, if a person is extremely favorable or unfavorable toward
and attitude object, then his attitude will have a high valence.

2. Multiplexity: It refers to the number of elements constituting the attitude. For example,
one student may show interest in studies, but another not only shows interest, but also
works hard, is sincere, and serious. Similarly an employee may feel simply loyal to an
Organisation, but another may feel loyal, respectful, fearful and dependent.

3. Relation to needs: Attitudes vary in relation to needs they serve. For instance, attitudes
of an individual toward the pictures may serve only entertainment needs. On the other
hand, attitudes of an individual toward task may serve strong needs for security,
achievement, recognition, and satisfaction.

4. Centrality: One salient characteristic of the attitude refers to the importance of the
attitude object to the individual. The centrality indicates the importance of the object.
The attitudes that have high centrality for an individual will be less susceptible to
change.
ATTITUDE FORMATION
The question often arises “Where do attitudes come from?” Attitudes are basically learned.
People are not born with specific attitudes; rather they acquire them through the “process
 of sources of attitudes are learning”. Attitudes reflect a person’s previous reinforcement
history. The sources of a person’s attitude are a mixture of –
1. Personal experiences
2. Association
3. Family
4. Peer groups and society
5. Models and
6. Institutional factors.
1. Personal Experiences: People form attitudes by coming in direct contact with an
attitude object. By the time a person goes for work in a specified Organisation, he holds
many attitudes toward the type of the job that is acceptable to him, the expected pay,
working conditions and supervision. Through job experiences they develop attitudes
about such factors as salary, performance reviews, job design, work group, affiliation
and managerial capabilities etc. Previous work experience can account for the individual
differences in attitudes such as loyalty, commitments, performance etc. Many mangers
in work organisations frequently notice these differences in attitudes.

2. Association: People are highly influenced by the major groups or associations to which
they belong. Geographic region, religion, educational background, race, sex, age and
income- class–all strongly influence attitudes. The nearer the group the stronger is the
group influence on the attitudes of the individual.

3. Family: Family is the primary group that an individual belongs to. Family exerts
influence on the initial core of attitudes held by an individual. Individuals develop
certain attitudes from family members–parents, brothers, sisters etc. The family
characteristics influence the individual’s early attitude patterns. Researchers have found
a high degree of relationship between parents and children in attitudes than they found
between children and their peers. They also empirically observed low correlation
between attitudes of the children and their teachers.

4. Peer Groups: As people approach their adulthood, they increasingly rely on their peer
groups for approval /attitude. How others judge an individual largely determine his
selfimage and approval-seeking behaviour. Social class and religious affiliation also play
vital role in forming attitudes of an individual. The culture, language, and the structure
of society, all provide an individual with the boundaries of his initial attitudes. At the
very early age an individual is taught that certain attitudes are acceptable and certain
others are non- acceptable in the society. What seem to be appropriate in one
individual’s culture and society may be totally unacceptable in another culture.
5. Models: Some of the attitudes are developed through imitation of models. The process is
something like this: In a particular situation, we see how another person behaves. We
correctly or incorrectly interpret his behaviour as representing certain attitudes and
beliefs. If we identify with him and respect his judgment, we tend to accept his way of
perceiving and feeling about the situation. Children are often quite observant about how
their parents react to different people and situations.They learn by watching whom
their parent’s respect, which they treat with condescension, whom they regard as
friends, and whom they dislike. Such evaluations maybe acquired without the child’s
directly interacting with such people. Instead of using a simple model, children (and
adults) may seek to emulate different characteristics of different people. In this way
their values, attitudes, and beliefs may be derived from many other people. Those that
are functional for them tend to be retained.

6. Institutional Factors: Many institutional factors function as sources and support of our
attitudes and beliefs. For example, when people come into this temple, they bow down
to pray, sit with heads bowed.Their clothes are clean and freshly washed. The entire
process is devoted to ritual. From this we can get an idea as to the general character of
the religious attitudes and beliefs. There is implicit attitude of reverence, an orientation
toward a deity, a ritualized rather than spontaneous expression of feeling, a sharp
differentiation between Pujari and devotees and so on. The different parts of the
institution – the architecture, furnishings, people’s clothing, and behaviour–have a
meaning which fits in with certain beliefs and attitudes. There are many other
institutions in our society – schools, military organisations, and the like – which also
function as sources and supports of attitudes and beliefs.

PROCESS OF CHANGE IN ATTITUDE IN MALOBIKA MAAM NOTES

MODULE 4
INTERPERSONAL DIMENSIONS OF BEHAVIOUR

Interpersonal behavior is the behavior and actions that are present in human relationships.
The way in which people communicate, and all that this entails, is considered interpersonal
behavior.

Interpersonal behavior may include both verbal communication and nonverbal cues, such
as body language or facial expressions. Verbal interpersonal behavior consists of joking,
relating to one another via the art of storytelling, and taking or following orders.
Interpersonal skills are highly desirable in many situations, specifically careers that rely on
personal relationships such as the health care industry or sales.
The study of interpersonal behavior is a social science that examines the way people
interact with one another.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS

Transactional analysis is the study of individual in the organization when he is interacting

with other individual on social front or professional front. Eric Berne is credited to the
movement for psychotherapy, which he started in 1950s. He observed that there are
several persons within one person and therefore an individual transacts in different ways
with different persons in different situations. People spend considerable time interacting
with each other. They transact in a way that may provide connecting tissues between two
individuals, which may hold them together. This type of pair relationship is called Dyadic
relationship. Transactional analysis offers a mode of expression of personality and
dynamics of self and its relationship with others. It is a method of analyzing and
understanding inter personal behaviour. Transactional analysis involves the analysis of the
following factors:-

(a) Study of awareness

(b) Ego State

(c) Analysis of transactions

(d) Life Script

(e) Psychological games

(f) Study of life positions

(g) Stroking

(h) Games analysis

Johari Window

Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham have developed a model to look at one’s personality
that can be known and unknown to self and known and unknown to others. It is a
technique to analyze and improve interpersonal - The above figure indicates that there are
four parts (self) in all of us that has been indicated by four quadrants. These are explained
below:

(a) Open Self: Open Self is known as Public area. This quadrant indicates information about
self is known to oneself and also to others. The information relates to feelings, motivation
and behaviour of an individual, which he is willing to share with those whom he comes in
contact. The individual behaves in a straight forward manner and is sharing. In an
organizational setting, because of the openness of the individual the chances of conflict are
reduced to minimum.

(b) Blind Self: This quadrant is related to information is not known to self but known to
others, who interact with you, know more about you. This is known as blind area. It is
important that an individual should reduce blind area to the minimum by interacting with
people more intimately and by asking questions about self. For example, an individual may
not be aware of the fact that he is extremely task oriented and employees do not like it. In
other words, others know and perceive the individual as a hard taskmaster and dislike him
because of this. This is blind area that a person is blind to the fact that he interacts with
others in the professional manner. This situation is likely to create an unpleasant
atmosphere in the organization. Individual therefore should reduce blind area and increase
public area. This will reduce conflict situations to a great extent in interpersonal behavior.

(c) Hidden Self: Certain aspect of personality has formed this quadrant. Self knows
information but others do not know it. There are certain aspects, which are private.
Individual therefore does not want to share it with subordinates and wants to keep hidden.
The area is also called Private Area.

(d) Unknown Self: This area is characterized by facts unknown to the self and to others.
This is dark area, which is not pregnable. There is nothing much that can be done about it.
It should be an endeavor to improve upon one self by obtaining feed back from others
about self. Individual should carry out improvement and perceive one self correctly so that
one perceives each person in the right manner. There are certain factors to improve
Interpersonal relations. (Public Area).

EGO STATE

Study of ego state is an important part of transactional analysis, it explains psychological

behaviour pattern of an individual. Study of ego state is related to the way an individual
thinks, his feelings and subsequent behaviour. People interact with each other in terms of
psychological positions of behaviour known as ego state. Sigmund Freud was the first to
advocate that in every individual there are three ego states residing within him i.e. parent
ego, adult ego and child ego. They stimulate, monitor and control individual behaviour. The
ego state is not related to the age of an individual. He further states that a person can
change ego state depending upon situation and modify his behaviour. Berne states,
“Although we cannot directly observe these ego states, we can observe behaviour of an
individual and can infer which of the three ego states an individual is transacting at a
particular moment”. Let us study these ego states.

EARLY THEORY
In the 1950's Eric Berne began to develop his theories of Transactional Analysis. He said
that verbal communication, particularly face to face, is at the centre of human social
relationships and psychoanalysis.
His starting-point was that when two people encounter each other, one of them will speak
to the other. This he called the Transaction Stimulus. The reaction from the other person he
called the Transaction Response.
The person sending the Stimulus is called the Agent. The person who responds is called the
Respondent.
Transactional Analysis became the method of examining the transaction wherein: 'I do
something to you, and you do something back'.
Berne also said that each person is made up of three alter ego states:
1. PARENT
This is our ingrained voice of authority, absorbed conditioning, learning and attitudes from
when we were young. We were conditioned by our real parents, teachers, older people,
next door neighbours, aunts and uncles, Father Christmas and Jack Frost. Our Parent is
made up of a huge number of hidden and overt recorded playbacks. Typically embodied by
phrases and attitudes starting with 'how to', 'under no circumstances', 'always' and 'never
forget', 'don't lie, cheat, steal', etc. Our parent is formed by external events and influences
upon us as we grow through early childhood. We can change it, but this is easier said than
done.
2. CHILD
Our internal reaction and feelings to external events form the 'Child'. This is the seeing,
hearing, feeling, and emotional body of data within each of us. When anger or despair
dominates reason, the Child is in control. Like our Parent we can change it, but it is no
easier.

3. ADULT
Our 'Adult' is our ability to think and determine action for ourselves, based on received
data. The adult in us begins to form at around ten months old, and is the means by which
we keep our Parent and Child under control. If we are to change our Parent or Child we
must do so through our adult.
In other words:
Parent is our 'Taught' concept of life
Child is our 'Felt' concept of life
Adult is our 'Thought' concept of life
When we communicate we are doing so from one of our own alter ego states, our Parent,
Adult or Child. Our feelings at the time determine which one we use, and at any time
something can trigger a shift from one state to another. When we respond, we are also
doing this from one of the three states, and it is in the analysis of these stimuli and
responses that the essence of Transactional Analysis lies.
At the core of Berne's theory is the rule that effective transactions (ie successful
communications) must be complementary. They must go back from the receiving ego state
to the sending ego state. For example, if the stimulus is Parent to Child, the response must
be Child to Parent, or the transaction is 'crossed', and there will be a problem between
sender and receiver.

Transactional analysis, developed by psychiatrist Eric Berne, is a form of modern

psychology that examines a person's relationships and interactions. Berne took
inspiration from Sigmund Freud's theories of personality, combining them with his
own observations of human interaction in order to develop transactional
analysis. In therapy, transactional analysis can be used to address one's interactions
and communications with the purpose of establishing and reinforcing the idea that
each individual is valuable and has the capacity for positive change and personal
growth.

MODULE 5 – GROUP BEHAVIOUR AND LEADERSHIP

GROUP BEHAVIOUR
Group can be defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who
come together to achieve particular objectives. A group behavior can be stated as a course
of action a group takes as a family. For example: Strike.
Thus, Group Characteristics are:

 Interaction among members

 Shared goals
 People see themselves as members
 Two or more people

TYPES OF GROUP
FORMAL GROUPS

These are the type of work groups created by the organization and have designated work
assignments and rooted tasks. The behavior of such groups is directed toward achieving
organizational goals.
These can be further classified into two sub-groups −
 Command group − It is a group consisting of individuals who report directly to the
manager.
 Interest group − It is a group formed by individuals working together to achieve a
specific objective. Example − A group of workers working on a project and reporting
to the same manager is considered as a command group. A group of friends chilling
out together is considered as interest group or say members of a club.

INFORMAL GROUPS

These groups are formed with friendships and common interests. These can be further
classified into two sub-groups −
 Task group − Those working together to finish a job or task is known as task group.
 Friendship group − Those brought together because of their shared interests or
common characteristics is known as friendship group.

FACTORS GOVERNING FORMATION OF GROUPS:

The following are the factors that govern formation of groups:

1. Personal Traits:

The first and foremost factor that governs formation of group is personal traits. People join
groups because they find commonality of interests, beliefs, values and attitudes. People of
common beliefs, interests, values and attitudes come together and form group.

The group fosters their interests and beliefs. The interaction with the people of similar

values, beliefs, attitudes becomes easier. They feel at home with the other members of the
group. There is no way to conflict when the members share the same ideology.

Political parties are formed on the same principles. The people come together and form
group because of security and affiliation needs. They feel secured after joining the group.
Employees form unions to be secured from the threat of termination and other such
dangers of facing unemployment. They feel safe after joining group.

2. Identical Objective:

The people with similar objectives have strong feeling to come together and form groups.

Executives pick up people and assign them activities in sales or marketing or advertising.

This enables people to come together and interact and they share the burden of each other

while working together. They know each other well and having the same objectives can
form a group.

3. Emerging Leadership:

People form groups with a potent will of emerging leaders of the group. When people come

together they choose someone to lead them. The leader gets accepted by the people. People
follow him because they feel that he will safeguard their interests.

The leaders get authority from their followers. The leader hence assumes power. He

emerges because of group. The groups are formed and people join groups who want to be

leaders or can automatically emerge as leaders. The role of leaders is quite significant and
important to the members of group.

4. Interaction:

People get opportunity to interact in a group and they join it or come together and form it.

Through interaction social relationship is developed. The need for interaction is very
strong among people. A desire to have an interaction is a potential reason to form a group.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUP:
 Size: To form a group, it must be having at least two members. Practically, the number
of group members ranges from 15 to 20. The more the members in the group, the more
complex it is to manage.
 Goals: Every group has certain goals, that are the reasons for its existence.
 Norms: A group has certain rules, for interacting with the group members.
 Structure: It has a structure, based on the roles and positions held by the members.
 Roles: Every member of a group has certain roles and responsibilities, which are
assigned, by the group leader.
 Interaction: The interaction between the group members can occur in several ways, i.e.
face to face, telephonic, in writing or in any other manner.
 Collective Identity: A group is an aggregation of individuals, which are separately
called as members, and collectively called as a group.
Furthermore, a group climate is an emotional setting of the group, that relies on
participative spirit, coordination, trust and bonding among the members, open
communication and other similar factors.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FORMAL AND INFORMAL GROUPS

BASIS FOR
FORMAL GROUP INFORMAL GROUP
COMPARISON

Meaning Groups created by the organization, Groups created by the

for the purpose of accomplishing a employees themselves, for their
specific task are known as Formal own sake are known as
Groups. Informal Groups.

Formation Deliberately Voluntarily

Size Large Comparatively small.

Life Depends on the type of group. Depends on the members.

Structure Well Defined Ill Defined

Importance is Position Person

given to
 BASIS FOR
FORMAL GROUP INFORMAL GROUP
COMPARISON

Relationship Professional Personal

Communication Moves in a defined direction. Stretches in all the directions.

4 Important Theories of Group Formation

(1) Propinquity Theory, (2) Homan’s Theory, (3) Balance Theory, and (4) Exchange

Theory.

1. Propinquity Theory:

The most basic theory explaining affiliation is propinquity. This interesting word simply

means that individuals affiliate with one another because of spatial or geographical

proximity. In an organisation employees who work in the same area of the plant or office or

managers with offices close to one another would more probably form into groups than

would those who are not physically located together. There is some research evidence to

support the propinquity theory and on the surface, it has a great deal of merit for

explaining group formation. The drawback of this theory is that it is not analytical and does

not begin to explain some of the complexities of group formation. Some more theoretical
and practical reasons need to be explored.

2. Homan’s Theory:

According to George C. Homans, “The more activities persons share, the more numerous

will be there interactions and the stronger will be their shared activities and sentiments,

and the more sentiments people have for one another, the more will be their shared
activities and interactions.”
It is a very comprehensive theory and based on activities, interactions and Homan’s theory

is based on sentiments. These three elements are directly related to each other. The

members’ activities interactions and of a group share activities and interact with one
another not just because of physical proximity but also to accomplish group goals.

The key element is interaction because of which they develop common sentiments for one

another. These sentiments gradually get expressed through the formation of informal

groups. If any disturbance is caused to any of the three-activities, interactions and

sentiments, it is likely to disturb all the others.

Their relationships are shown in the following figure:

3. Balance Theory:

Another very comprehensive theory is a Balance Theory of group formation. This theory as

proposed by Theodore Newcomb states that “Persons are attracted to one another on the

basis of similar attitudes towards commonly relevant objects and goals. Once a relationship

is formed, it strives to maintain a symmetrical balance between the attraction and the

common attitudes. If an imbalance occurs, attempts are made to restore the balance. If the
balance cannot be restored, the relationship dissolves.”

Thus, the balance theory is additive in nature in the sense, that it introduces the factor of
balance to the propinquity and interaction factors. There must be a balance in the
relationship between the group members for the group to be formed and for its survival.
The following -figure shows the balance theory.

Individual (A) will interact and form a relationship/group with individual (B) because of

common attitudes and values (C). Once this relationship is formed, the participants strive

to maintain a symmetrical balance between the attraction and the common attitudes. If an

imbalance occurs, an attempt is made to restore the balance. If the balance cannot be
restored, the relationship dissolves.

4. Exchange Theory:

This theory is based on reward-cost outcomes of interactions. To be attracted towards a

group, a person thinks in terms of what he will get in exchange of interaction with group

members. A minimum positive level (rewards greater than costs) of an outcome must exist

in order for attraction or affiliation to take place. Rewards from interactions gratify needs
while costs incur anxiety, frustrations, embarrassment or fatigue. Propinquity, interaction
and common attitudes all have roles in the exchange theory.

INTERGROUP PROBLEMS/CONFLICTS
Conflict can be defined as a mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs,
drives, wishes, and external or internal demands. Where there are people, there is conflict.
They are usually taken in a negative association. However, this is inaccurate as conflicts are
necessary for healthy relationships. It all depends on the approach we use to resolve the
conflict.
CLASSIFICATION OF CONFLICT

When we think of the different types of conflict, we might instantly think of the ones
referred to in literature, especially in fiction. They can be applied to real life, of course.
However, in contemporary times, types of conflict which are easily identifiable are classified
into four different types −

 Intrapersonal
 Intragroup
 Interpersonal
 Intergroup

 INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT

Intrapersonal conflict takes place within an individual. The person experiences it in his own
mind. Thus, it is a type of conflict that is psychological involving the individual’s thoughts,
values, principles and emotions. Intrapersonal conflict may come in different forms, from
the simple mundane ones like deciding whether or not to go vegan for lunch to ones that
can affect major decisions such as choosing a career path.
However, this type of conflict can be quite difficult to handle, if you find it hard to decipher
your inner struggles. It results in restlessness and uneasiness, or can even cause depression.
On such occasions, it is advised to seek a way to let go of the anxiety by communicating with
other people. Eventually, when the person finds himself/herself out of the situation, he/she
can become more empowered as a person. Thus, the experience invokes a positive change
which helps in personal growth.

 INTRAGROUP CONFLICT

Intragroup conflict occurs among individuals within a team. The incompatibilities and
misunderstandings between team members leads to intragroup conflict. It starts from
interpersonal disagreements like team members have different personalities which may
lead to tension or differences in views and ideas. Say for example, during a presentation,
members of the team might find the notions presented by the one presiding to be erroneous
due to their differences in opinion.
Within a team, conflict can be helpful in coming up with decisions, which will eventually
allow them to achieve their objectives as a team. But, if the degree of conflict disrupts
harmony among the members, then some serious guidance from a different party will be
needed for it to be settled.

 INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT

Interpersonal conflict means a conflict between two individuals. Basically, this occurs
because of some differences in people. We have varied personalities which usually lead to
incompatible choices and opinions. So, it is a natural occurrence which can eventually help
in personal growth or developing our relationships with others.
In addition, adjustments are necessary for managing this type of conflict. However, when
interpersonal conflict becomes too destructive, calling in a mediator helps so as to have the
issue resolved.

 INTERGROUP CONFLICT

Intergroup conflict occurs when a misunderstanding arises among different teams within
an organization. For example, the marketing department of an organization can come in
conflict with the customer support department. This is because of the varied sets of goals
and interests of these different groups. In addition to this, competition also contributes to
intergroup conflict. There are other factors which increase this type of conflict. Some of
these factors may include a rivalry in resources or the boundaries set by a group to others
which forms their own identity as a team.
Conflict should not always be perceived as a problem rather at times it is a chance for
growth and can be an effective means of opening up among groups or individuals. However,
when conflict begins to suppress or disrupt productivity and gives way to more conflicts,
then conflict management is what is needed for problem resolution.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

Conflict resolution is a method by which two or more parties find a peaceful solution to a
disagreement among them. The disagreement can be personal, financial, political, or
emotional. When a disagreement arises, often the best course of action is negotiation to
resolve the disagreement. We all know that when people gather for a discussion, it is not
necessary that what one thinks is right the other thinks the same way, this difference in
thinking or mentality leads to conflict.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

We get into a conflict when the person opposite to us has a different mindset. It is very
common in a workplace to get into differences of opinion. Sometimes there is a conflict
between two or more employees, sometimes employees have a conflict with their managers
and so on. Now the question is, how can we manage disagreements in ways that build
personal and collegial relationships?
Here are five strategies from conflict management theory for managing stressful situations.
None of them is a "one-size-fits-all" answer. Which one is the best in a given situation
depends on variety of factors, including an appraisal of the levels of conflict.
 Collaborating − win/win
 Compromising − win some/lose some
 Accommodating − lose/win
  Competing − win/lose
 Avoiding − no winners/no losers

 COLLABORATING

This technique follows the rule "I win, you win". Collaborating means working together by
integrating ideas set out by multiple people. The objective here is to find a creative solution
acceptable to everyone. It calls for a significant time commitment but is not appropriate for
all conflicts.
This technique is used in situations where −

 There is a high level of trust

 We don't want to take complete responsibility
 We want others to also have "ownership" of solutions
 People involved are willing to change their thinking
 We need to work through animosity and hard feelings
However, this process takes a lot of time and energy and some may take advantage of other
people's trust and openness.
Example − A businessman should work collaboratively with the manager to establish
policies, but collaborative decision-making regarding office supplies wastes time better
spent on other activities.

 COMPROMISING

This technique follows the rule "You bend, I bend". Compromising means adjusting with
each other’s opinions and ideas, and thinking of a solution where some points of both the
parties can be entertained. Similarly, both the parties need to give up on some of their ideas
and should agree with the other.
This technique can be used in situations where −
 People of equal levels are equally committed to goals
 Time can be saved by reaching intermediate settlements on individual parts of
complex matters
 Goals are moderately important
Important values and long-term objectives can be derailed using this technique. This
process may not work if initial demands are high and mainly if there's no commitment to
honor the compromise solutions.
Example − Two friends had a fight and they decide to compromise with each other through
mutual understanding.
  ACCOMMODATING

This technique follows the rule "I lose, you win". Accommodating means giving up of ideas
and thoughts so that the other party wins and the conflict ends. This technique can be used
when −
 An issue is not that important to us as it is to the other person
 We realize we are wrong
 We are willing to let others learn by mistake
 We know we cannot win
 It is not the right time and we would prefer to simply build credit for the future
 Harmony is extremely important
 What the parties have in common is a good deal more important than their
differences
However, using this technique, one's own ideas don't get attention and credibility, and
influence can be lost.
Example − When we fight with someone we love we choose to let them win.

 COMPETING

This technique follows the rule "I win, you lose". Competing means when there is a dispute
a person or a group is not willing to collaborate or adjust but it simply wants the opposite
party to lose. This technique can be used when −
 We know you are right.
 Time is short and a quick decision is to be made.
 A strong personality is trying to steamroll us and we don't want to be taken
advantage of.
 We need to stand up for our rights.
This technique can further escalate conflict or losers may retaliate.
Example − When in a debate the party with more facts wins.

 AVOIDING

This technique follows the rule "No winners, no losers". Avoiding means the ideas suggested
by both the parties are rejected and a third person is involved who takes a decision without
favoring any of the parties. This technique can be used when −
 The conflict is small and relationships are at stake
 We are counting to ten to cool off
  More important issues are pressing and we feel we don't have time to deal with this
particular one
 We have no power and we see no chance of getting our concerns met
 We are too emotionally involved and others around us can solve the conflict more
successfully
Using this technique may lead to postponing the conflict, that may make matters worse.
Example − Rahul and Rohit had a fight, their mother came and punished both of them.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership can be defined as the ability of the management to make sound decisions and
inspire others to perform well. It is the process of directing the behavior of others towards
achieving a common goal. In short, leadership is getting things done through others.

LEADER VS MANAGER

A leader is someone whom people follow or someone who guides or directs others. A
manager is someone who is responsible for directing and controlling the work and staff in
an organization, or of a department within it.
The main difference between the two is that a leader works by example, while a manager
dictates expectations. If a manager goes against the rules, that will tarnish his position as a
manager. If a leader goes against the example he or she is trying to set, that will be seen as
a setback. Following are a few subtle differences between the two −
 A leader is an innovator and creator whereas a manager is a commander.
 A leader can’t be a manager but the opposite is possible, a manager is more than a
leader.
 A leader does what is right, while the manager makes things right.
 A leader deals with change whereas a manager plans for a change.
 A leader gives direction to do something whereas the manager plans for everything
that is to be done.
 A leader encourages people whereas the manager controls people.
 A leader handles communication, credibility, and empowerment whereas a manager
deals with organizing and staffing.

TRADITIONAL THEORY

Traditional theory is a theory based on different traits of a human beings. It assumes that
leaders are born and not made. According to this theory, leadership behavior is the sum
total of all traits that a leader possess.
Thus this theory gives the profile of a successful and complete leader. According to this
theory, there are five human traits. They are −
 Physical trait − it includes energy, activity, appearance, and height.
 Ability trait − it includes judgement, knowledge, and fluency in speech.
 Personal trait − it includes self-confidence, creativity, and enthusiasm.
 Work trait − it includes organization and achievement.
 Social trait − it includes interpersonal skill, cooperativeness, popularity and
prestige.

DRAWBACKS

Following are the major drawbacks of this theory −

 Traits are not arranged according to their importance.

 There is no quantitative tool to judge the human traits.
 This trait can’t be used universally.
 This trait can be achieved and developed.
 Situational factors are avoided.
IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership is an important function of management which helps to maximize efficiency
and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of
leadership in a concern.

1. Initiates action- Leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the
policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.
2. Motivation- A leader proves to be playing an incentive role in the concern’s
working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards
and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.
3. Providing guidance- A leader has to not only supervise but also play a guiding role
for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates the way
they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.
4. Creating confidence- Confidence is an important factor which can be achieved
through expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining them clearly
their role and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also
important to hear the employees with regards to their complaints and problems.
5. Building morale- Morale denotes willing co-operation of the employees towards
their work and getting them into confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be
a morale booster by achieving full co-operation so that they perform with best of
their abilities as they work to achieve goals.
6. Builds work environment- Management is getting things done from people. An
efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human
 relations should be kept into mind by a leader. He should have personal contacts
with employees and should listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat
employees on humanitarian terms.
7. Co-ordination- Co-ordination can be achieved through reconciling personal
interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through
proper and effective co-ordination which should be primary motive of a leader.

LEADERSHIP THEORIES
1. The Trait Theory
Ralph M. Stogdill proposed the trait theory of leadership in the late 1940s; he explained
that an individual must possess the key personality traits and characteristics to be an
effective leader and these traits are inherent by birth.
Some of the core leadership traits based on this theory can be categorised as follows:
 Physiological traits: Height, weight, structure, colour, appearance
and so forth.
 Socioeconomic characteristics: Gender, religion, marital status, age,
occupation, literacy and earnings.
 Personality traits: Extraversion, self-confidence, patience, agreeable,
reliable, honesty and leadership motivation.
 Intellectual traits: Decisiveness, intelligence, judgemental ability,
knowledge and emotional attribute.
 Task-related traits: Attainment drive, dedication, initiative,
determination and business expertise.
 Social characteristics: Socially active, cordiality and cooperation.
 Some of the other traits being charisma, adaptiveness, creativity,
uniqueness.
This theory was criticised since it neglected the environmental factors which may not
always remain the same. The list of traits is quite vast and keeps on changing from time
to time. It was unable to explain failures despite possessing the certain traits specified
in the theory. Moreover, of the identified traits can be acquired through learning and
training.

2. Behavioural Theory:
The behavioural theory of leadership evolved in the 1950s. After understanding that the
personal traits of a leader are essential for effective leadership, the researchers were
now keen to know that what leaders do to become effective leaders
Thus, they now focussed on the leader’s behaviour rather than traits. To study the
behaviour of leaders, two major research programs were started by two different
 universities namely, the Ohio State Leadership Studies and the University of Michigan
Studies.

 The Ohio State University Studies: A group of researchers at Ohio State University
prepared a questionnaire to be surveyed in military and industrial setups, to
determine the perception of the subordinates for the actual behaviour of their
leaders. From their findings, the researchers identified two major categories of
leader behaviour:
 Consideration: The leaders are attentive towards their subordinates and build up
an excellent inter-personnel relationship with them. They are very supportive and
friendly. This was termed as ‘people-oriented behaviour’.
 Initiating structure: The leaders are majorly concerned about the achievement of
goals and schedule and structure work accordingly. For such leaders, subordinates
are just resources, and they have to make the optimal utilisation of them. This was
termed as ‘task-oriented behaviour’.
 The University of Michigan Studies: This study is based on how the leader’s
behaviour is related to group performance. Researchers made a comparison of
effective managers with the ineffective ones and found that the two can be
discriminated on the basis of their behaviour, i.e. job-centric behaviour and
organisational-member centric behaviour.
The study further resulted in the identification of four additional behaviours essential
for effective leadership which are:

 Support
 Goal emphasis
 Work facilitation
 Interaction facilitation

3. Contingency Theory of Leadership

Contingency Theory of Leadership is a very special kind of approach which states that the
success of a leader does not only depend on his abilities.

There are many other factors relating to the work environment, company culture and
employees which impact a manager’s success in the process of leadership.

Hence, his success is contingent on his roles. This model is given by Fiedler.
That is why, many times, it is called as ‘Fiedler Contingency Model of Leadership’.
Moreover, An integrated model of leadership has been proposed by George Terry.

History of Contingency Theory of Leadership

Fred Fiedler gave the Contingency Approach of leadership in 1958 during his research of
leader effectiveness in group situations. He was of the belief that the success of a leader
depends mainly on two factors, viz, Control of the situation and the manager’s set of skills.

Thus he believed that the abilities or the skills of the manager remain fixed whereas the
situation keeps on changing.

So, a leader’s effectiveness is contingent on the leader’s style matching the situation, not
adapting to it. A leader will be most effective when his features and styles of leadership will
match with the situation and environment around him.

Basis of Contingency Theory

The basis of this approach is quite simple. It states that people with different abilities can
perform better in their respective fields.

For example, a person with all the relevant skills, education, and training in the selling of
books will prove to be more successful in the field of books marketing rather than the
production of laptops.

Similarly, a manager has his own set of skills, abilities, ways, experiences, and preferences
which may not be successful universally in all the leadership roles.

Main Variables of Leadership

 Leader

 Followers

 Organization

 Environment

1. Leader

Leader himself is a very important and integral part of leadership.

His personal values, deep beliefs, and convictions shape his behaviour. Leader’s confidence in
the group members, the extent of power-sharing and general circumstances play an
important role. His self-awareness is also very important.

2. Followers

A leader will be effective only if his/her employees are always ready to follow his directions
and commands. His efforts will be a complete waste if his employees are of different opinions.

That is why some managers are effective in one aspect or field may turn out to be less
effective in another aspect due to different attributes and personalities of the employees.

For Example, IT employees like very less delegation of work and desire more and more
autonomy in work. This may lead to a lot of problems for a manager to lead a group.

3. Organization

Organization too plays an important role in the degree of the functioning of the leadership.
Nature and type of organization influence the practice of leadership.

Whenever there is a high degree of dependence between various departments in the

organization, the leadership becomes more and more important.

It is because in such case the workers start focussing on their respective work only without
thinking about the effect of their action on other departments. In the case of high structured
tasks, the managers have more power and influence on the workers because the workers’
behaviour under such structure is rigid.

Moreover, in the case of uncertain tasks, passive leadership tends to be more effective.

4. Environment

Everyone believes that the environment plays an important role in the functioning of the
whole organization. So, a manager should work in harmony with the external environment.

The environment is subject to change and the manager should keep himself updated with all
the changes like political change, social change, economic change, etc.

It is very important to do so because all the factors of the environment influence the
applicability of the leadership.
 4. Managerial grid model of leadership explained
Developed by R. R. Blake and J. S. Mouton, the Managerial Grid Model helps Managers to
analyze their own leadership styles through a technique known as grid training.
The Blake Mouton Managerial Grid is based on two behavioral dimensions:
 Concern for People: this is the degree to which a leader considers team members'
needs, interests and areas of personal development when deciding how best to
accomplish a task.
 Concern for Results: this is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete
objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best
to accomplish a task.
Blake and Mouton defined five leadership styles based on these, as illustrated in the
diagram below.

The five resulting leadership styles are as follows:

1. Impoverished Management (1, 1): Managers with this approach are low on both
the dimensions and exercise minimum effort to get the work done from
subordinates. The leader has low concern for employee satisfaction and work
deadlines and as a result disharmony and disorganization prevail within the
organization. The leaders are termed ineffective wherein their action is merely
aimed at preserving job and seniority.
2. Task management (9, 1): Also called dictatorial or perish style. Here leaders are
more concerned about production and have less concern for people. The style is
based on theory X of McGregor. The employees’ needs are not taken care of and they
are simply a means to an end. The leader believes that efficiency can result only
 through proper organization of work systems and through elimination of people
wherever possible. Such a style can definitely increase the output of organization in
short run but due to the strict policies and procedures, high labour turnover is
inevitable.
3. Middle-of-the-Road (5, 5): This is basically a compromising style wherein the
leader tries to maintain a balance between goals of company and the needs of
people. The leader does not push the boundaries of achievement resulting in
average performance for organization. Here neither employee nor production needs
are fully met.
4. Country Club (1, 9): This is a collegial style characterized by low task and high
people orientation where the leader gives thoughtful attention to the needs of
people thus providing them with a friendly and comfortable environment. The
leader feels that such a treatment with employees will lead to self-motivation and
will find people working hard on their own. However, a low focus on tasks can
hamper production and lead to questionable results.
5. Team Management (9, 9): Characterized by high people and task focus, the style is
based on the theory Y of McGregor and has been termed as most effective style
according to Blake and Mouton. The leader feels that empowerment, commitment,
trust, and respect are the key elements in creating a team atmosphere which will
automatically result in high employee satisfaction and production.

Advantages of the Managerial Grid Model

 Managers help to analyze their own leadership styles through a technique known as grid
training.
 Managers identify how they with respect to their concern for production and people.

Limitations of the Managerial Grid Model

 The model ignores the importance of internal and external limits, matter and scenario.
 There is some more aspect of leadership that can be covered but are not.

LEADERSHIP STYLES

1. Authoritarian Leadership (Autocratic)

Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for
what needs to be done when it should be done, and how it should be done. This style of
leadership is strongly focused on both command by the leader and control of the followers.
There is also a clear division between the leader and the members. Authoritarian leaders
make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.

Researchers found that decision-making was less creative under authoritarian leadership.1
 Lewin also concluded that it is harder to move from an authoritarian style to a democratic
style than vice versa. Abuse of this method is usually viewed as controlling, bossy, and
dictatorial.

Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group
decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group. The
autocratic approach can be a good one when the situation calls for rapid decisions and
decisive actions. However, it tends to create dysfunctional and even hostile environments,
often pitting followers against the domineering leader.

2. Participative Leadership (Democratic)

Lewin’s study found that participative leadership, also known as democratic leadership, is
typically the most effective leadership style.1 Democratic leaders offer guidance to group
members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group
members. In Lewin’s study, children in this group were less productive than the members
of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a higher quality.2

Participative leaders encourage group members to participate but retain the final say in the
decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more
motivated and creative. Democratic leaders tend to make followers feel like they are an
important part of the team, which helps foster commitment to the goals of the group.

3. Delegative Leadership (Laissez-Faire)

Researchers found that children under delegative leadership, also known as laissez-faire
leadership, were the least productive of all three groups.1 The children in this group also
made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation, and were unable to work
independently.

Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making
up to group members. While this style can be useful in situations involving highly qualified
experts, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.

Lewin noted that laissez-faire leadership tended to result in groups that lacked direction
where members blamed each other for mistakes, refused to accept personal responsibility,
and produced a lack of progress and work.

MODULE 6 – CHANGE AND CONFLICT

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE?

Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. Culture is comprised

of the assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization members
and their behaviors. Members of an organization soon come to sense the particular culture
of an organization. Culture is one of those terms that's difficult to express distinctly, but
everyone knows it when they sense it. For example, the culture of a large, for-profit
corporation is quite different than that of a hospital which is quite different than that of a
university. You can tell the culture of an organization by looking at the arrangement of
furniture, what they brag about, what members wear, etc. -- similar to what you can use to
get a feeling about someone's personality.

Corporate culture can be looked at as a system. Inputs include feedback from, e.g., society,
professions, laws, stories, heroes, values on competition or service, etc. The process is
based on our assumptions, values and norms, e.g., our values on money, time, facilities,
space and people. Outputs or effects of our culture are, e.g., organizational behaviors,
technologies, strategies, image, products, services, appearance, etc.

The concept of culture is particularly important when attempting to manage organization-

wide change. Practitioners are coming to realize that, despite the best-laid plans,
organizational change must include not only changing structures and processes, but also
changing the corporate culture as well.

There's been a great deal of literature generated over the past decade about the concept of
organizational culture -- particularly in regard to learning how to change organizational
culture. Organizational change efforts are rumored to fail the vast majority of the time.
Usually, this failure is credited to lack of understanding about the strong role of culture and
the role it plays in organizations. That's one of the reasons that many strategic planners
now place as much emphasis on identifying strategic values as they do mission and vision.

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

There are different types of culture just like there are different types of personality.
Researcher Jeffrey Sonnenfeld identified the following four types of cultures.

 Academy Culture

Employees are highly skilled and tend to stay in the organization, while working their way
up the ranks. The organization provides a stable environment in which employees can
development and exercise their skills. Examples are universities, hospitals, large
corporations, etc.

 Baseball Team Culture

Employees are "free agents" who have highly prized skills. They are in high demand and
can rather easily get jobs elsewhere. This type of culture exists in fast-paced, high-risk
organizations, such as investment banking, advertising, etc.

 Club Culture
The most important requirement for employees in this culture is to fit into the group.
Usually employees start at the bottom and stay with the organization. The organization
promotes from within and highly values seniority. Examples are the military, some law
firms, etc.

 Fortress Culture

Employees don't know if they'll be laid off or not. These organizations often undergo
massive reorganization. There are many opportunities for those with timely, specialized
skills. Examples are savings and loans, large car companies, etc.

DETERMINANTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

 Characteristics of Members
Personal characteristics of the members of an organization also affect the climate
prevailing in the organization. For example an organization with well educated, ambitious
and younger employees is likely to have a different OC than an organization with less
educated, and less upwardly mobile, older employees. The former might inculcate an
environment of competitiveness, calculated risk-taking, frankness of opinions, etc.

 Organizational Size
In a small sized organization it is much easier to foster a climate for creativity and
innovation or to establish a participative king of management with greater stress on
horizontal distribution of responsibilities. On the other hand, in a large organization it is
easier to have a more authoritative kind of management with stress on vertical distribution
of responsibilities. This in turn leads to distinct environments as has been explained with
the help of the concept of System 4 organization.

We have now studies seven basic determinants of OC. The lost is not exhaustive but these
are the basic internal factors determining the internal environment of an organization.

 Organizational Policies
Specific organizational policies can influence a specific dimension of OC to quite an extent.
For example, if the company policy states that layoffs will be used only as a last resort to
cope with business downturn, then it would, in general, foster an internal environment that
is supportive and humanistic. Similarly if you are working in a company where it is agreed
that the first beneficiaries of increased profit, then the OC will be characterized by High
Reward Orientation and probably by High Progressiveness and Development.
  Managerial Values
The values held by executives have a strong influence on OC because values lead to actions
and shape decisions. Values add to perceptions of the organization as impersonal,
paternalistic, formal, informal, hostile or friendly.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE MODEL [PDF]

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
Meaning of Organisational Change:
Organisational change refers to any alteration that occurs in total work environment.
Organisational change is an important characteristic of most organisations. An organisation
must develop adaptability to change otherwise it will either be left behind or be swept
away by the forces of change. Organisational change is inevitable in a progressive culture.
Modern organizations are highly dynamic, versatile and adaptive to the multiplicity of
changes.

Organisational change refers to the alteration of structural relationships and roles of

people in the organization. It is largely structural in nature. An enterprise can be changed
in several ways. Its technology can be changed, its structure, its people and other elements
can be changed. Organisational change calls for a change in the individual behaviour of the
employees.

Organizations survive, grow or decay depending upon the changing behaviour of the
employees. Most changes disturb the equilibrium of situation and environment in which
the individuals or groups exist. If a change is detrimental to the interests of individuals or
groups, they will resist the change.

CAUSES OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE:

(A) External Pressures:
i. Change in Technology and Equipment:
Advancements in technology is the major cause (i.e., external pressure) of change. Each
technological alternative results in new forms of organization to meet and match the needs.

ii. Market Situation:

Changes in market situation include rapidly changing goals, needs and desires of
consumers, suppliers, unions etc. If an organization has to survive, it has to cope with
changes in market situations.

iii. Social and Political Changes:

Organisational units literally have no control over social and political changes in the
country. Relations between government and business or drive for social equality are some
factors which may compel for organisational change.

(B) Internal Pressures (Pressures for Change from Within the

Organisation):
i. Changes in the Managerial Personnel:
One of the most frequent reasons for major changes in the organisation is the change of
executives at the top. No two managers have the same style, skills or managerial
philosophies.

ii. Deficiencies in the Existing Organization:

Many deficiencies are noticed in the organisations with the passage of time. A change is
necessary to remove such deficiencies as lack of uniformity in the policies, obstacles in
communication, any ambiguity etc.

iii. Other Factors:

Certain other factors such as listed below also demand a change in the organisation.

Employee’s desire to share in decision-making

Employee’s desire for higher wage rate

Improvement in working conditions, etc.

RESPONSE TO ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE:

Every change is responded by the people working in the organisation. These responses
may be positive or negative depending upon the fact as how they affect people.
Before introducing a change, the manager should study and understand employee’s
attitudes so as to create a positive response. Three sets of factors-psychological, personal
and social- govern the attitude of people.

PROCESS OF ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE:

Unless the behavioural patterns of the employees change, the change will have a little
impact on the effectiveness of the organisation.

A commonly accepted model for bringing change in people was suggested by Kurt
Lewin in terms of three phase process:-

(1) Unfreezing:
The essence of unfreezing phase is that the individual is made to realize that his beliefs,
feelings and behaviour are no longer appropriate or relevant to the current situation in the
organisation. Once convinced, people may change their behaviour. Reward for those willing
to change and punishment for others may help in this matter.

(2) Changing:
Once convinced and ready to change, an individual, under this phase, learns to behave in
new ways. He is first provided with the model in which he is to identify himself. Gradually
he will accept that model and behave in the manner suggested by the model. In another
process (known as internalisation), the individual is placed in a situation where new
behaviour is demanded of him if he is to operate successfully.
(3) Refreezing:
During this phase, a person has to practice and experiment with the new method of
behaviour and see that it effectively blends with his other behavioural attitudes.
Reinforcement, for creating a permanent set in the individual, is provided through either
continuous or intermittent schedules.

RESISTANCE TO ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE:

Resistance to change is perhaps one of the baffling problems a manager encounters
because it can take many shapes. People may resign, they may show tardiness, loss of
motivation to work, increased absenteeism, request for transfer, wild-cat strikes, shoddy
work, reduction in productivity etc.

Classification of Resistance to Change:

Resistance to change may be classified as:
1. Industrial Resistance

2. Organisational Resistance

1. INDUSTRIAL RESISTANCE:
Individual resistance may be there because of the following reasons:
A. Economic Reasons:
(a) Obsolescence of Skills:
When a person feels that with the introduction of newer processes, his skills will just
become obsolete, he will resist the change. For example, a twenty years experienced
accountant is quite likely to resist the introduction of a computer for preparing the wage
bills because he feels that might affect his pay and position.

(b) Fear of Economic Loss:

People resist change if it opens the possibility of lowering their income directly or
indirectly.

B. Personal Reasons:
(a) Ego Defensiveness:
A sales manager may turn down the suggestions of a salesman simply because the manager
perceives that his ego may be deflated by accepting the suggestion.

(b) Status Quo:

Most of the people feel comfortable with status quo and strongly resist change as it may
involve uncertainty and risk.

(c) Fear of Unknown:

Change presents unknown and unknown poses a constant threat and sores people. For fear
of unknown, a manager may refuse promotion that requires his relocating in another state.

C. Social Reasons:
(a) Social Displacement:
Introduction of change (e.g., relocating) may result in breaking up of work groups and thus
result in disturbance of the existing social relationships of people.

(b) Peer Pressure:

Whenever change is unwilling to the peers, they force the individual subordinate
employees who are bent of accepting the change, to resist it.

2. ORGANIZATIONAL RESISTANCE:
Resistance may also be present at organizational level. Some organizations are so designed
that they resist innovations.

Some of the reasons of organizational resistance are:

(a) Threats to Power and Influence:
Some people (especially sitting at the top levels) resist change because they feel that a
change might affect their position, power and influence in the organization.

(b) Organizational Structure:

Some organization structures (e.g., bureaucratic structure) have inbuilt mechanism for
resistance to change.

(c) Resource Constraints:

Non-availability of financial, material and human resources may also act as a resistance to
change.

(d) Sunk Cost:

In some companies, heavy capital is blocked in the fixed or permanent assets. If such an
organization wishes to introduce change, then difficulty arises because of these sunk costs.
OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE:
Change creates tension and emotional turmoil in the minds of employees. Change thus
results in resistance quite frequently, negative reactions doom the success of the change
program especially when a manager is unable to handle it properly.

Some of the techniques to handle the change properly and to deal with resistance to
change are:
(a) Education and Communication:
One of the easiest techniques to overcome resistance to change is to educate the people
who resist it. In many cases, people do not properly understand the change and hence
become afraid of its consequences and resist change.

(b) Participation and Involvement:

If subordinates are allowed to participate and involve themselves in the change process
(decision-making regarding the implementation of the change), their misunderstandings
about the consequences of change are cleared, they generally feel satisfied and do not
oppose change.

(c) Support:
Support may be facilitative and emotional. Managers sometimes deal with potential
resistance by being supportive. This includes listening, providing emotional support,
providing training in new skills etc.

(d) Incentives:
Offering incentive is another fruitful way to overcome resistance to change.

(e) Manipulation:
Managers generally indulge in manipulation when all other tactics have failed to overcome
resistance to change.

(f) Coercion:
At times, there is no way except to deal with resistance coercively. People are forced to
accept change by threatening them with loss of their jobs, promotion possibilities and so
forth.
EXTERNAL FACTORS AFFECTING THE ORGANIZATION

 Competitors
Unless you’ve invented something unique, there are other companies in your industry that
sell what you sell. That means you have to be aware of your competition and what they’re
doing in the marketplace, and use that information to distinguish yourself in as many ways
as possible. Although you can’t control what your competitors do, you can find areas of
weakness in their marketing and use that to your advantage.
 Customers
Customers are flaky and unpredictable, and just when you think you’ve got their loyalty,
they move on to the next big thing. You can’t control customer behavior, but you can study
it and learn how to adapt to changes that could impact your sales. When customers indicate
they want something you’re not offering, you may want to listen and start offering what
they’re asking for, before your competitors do.
 Economy
Business owners can’t control the economy, but they must respond to indicators that trend
upward or downward, then adjust their own operations accordingly. For example, if
economists forecast a recession, it could be time to tighten budgets, eliminate some
projects, and remain in a holding pattern until things improve. However, when the
economy grows and interest rates are low, that could make it easier for you to obtain low-
interest loans to help expand your business.
PLANNED CHANGE
Planned change is the process of preparing the entire organization, or a significant part of
it, for new goals or a new direction. This direction can refer to culture, internal structures,
processes, metrics and rewards, or any other related aspects. While constant change is the
new normal and the best companies embrace it, not all change is planned. On occasion,
organizations will suddenly adapt to new market demands and heightened competition.

It’s also worth noting that planning for change and planning for innovation are not the
same. Some practitioners describe change in general as incidental, administrative, and
serving mostly "cosmetic purposes." Its role is, therefore, to maintain stability and
incorporate certainties into the organization.

By contrast, innovation is a transformative process that requires deeper change (a

makeover), custom tools, and creativity. Thus, innovation, as a change process, can appear
unexpected and even nonsensical.

Let's take a look at planned change in general. Then, let's look at how a step-wise approach
can help increase an organization’s effectiveness and capability to change itself. The
following insights stem from Thomas Cummings and Christopher Worley’s writings. Their
seminal work, "Organization Development and Change," is an excellent primer on change
management models.

STEPS IN PLANNED CHANGE

Once managers and an organization commit to planned change, they need to create a
logical step‐by step approach in order to accomplish the objectives. Planned change
requires managers to follow an eight‐step process for successful implementations, which is
illustrated in Figure 1.
 1. Recognize the need for change. Recognition of the need for change may occur at
the top management level or in peripheral parts of the organization. The change
may be due to either internal or external forces.
2. Develop the goals of the change. Remember that before any action is taken, it is
necessary to determine why the change is necessary. Both problems and
opportunities must be evaluated. Then it is important to define the needed changes
in terms of products, technology, structure, and culture.
3. Select a change agent. The change agent is the person who takes leadership
responsibility to implement planned change. The change agent must be alert to
things that need revamping, open to good ideas, and supportive of the
implementation of those ideas into actual practice.
4. Diagnose the current climate. In this step, the change agent sets about gathering
data about the climate of the organization in order to help employees prepare for
change. Preparing people for change requires direct and forceful feedback about the
negatives of the present situation, as compared to the desired future state, and
sensitizing people to the forces of change that exist in their environment.
5. Select an implementation method. This step requires a decision on the best way
to bring about the change. Managers can make themselves more sensitive to
pressures for change by using networks of people and organizations with different
perspectives and views, visiting other organizations exposed to new ideas, and
using external standards of performance, such as competitor's progress.
6. Develop a plan. This step involves actually putting together the plan, or the “what”
information. This phase also determines the when, where, and how of the plan. The
plan is like a road map. It notes specific events and activities that must be timed and
integrated to produce the change. It also delegates responsibility for each of the
goals and objectives.
7. Implement the plan. After all the questions have been answered, the plan is put
into operation. Once a change has begun, initial excitement can dissipate in the face
of everyday problems. Managers can maintain the momentum for change by
providing resources, developing new competencies and skills, reinforcing new
behaviors, and building a support system for those initiating the change.
8. Follow the plan and evaluate it. During this step, managers must compare the
actual results to the goals established in Step 4. It is important to determine
whether the goals were met; a complete follow‐up and evaluation of the results aids
this determination. Change should produce positive results and not be undertaken
for its own sake.

CAUSES OF RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

I have conducted a literature review and practical research that enables me to discover 28
possible causes of resistance to change. Here, I will shortly present these 28 causes of
resistance to change:
 The threat of power on an individual level. It is more likely that managers will
resist changes that will decrease their power and transfers it to their subordinates. In
such a way, the threat of power is one of the causes of resistance to change;
 Threat of power on an organizational level. With the change process, some groups,
departments or sectors of the organization become more powerful. Because of that,
some persons will be opposed to such a proposal or processes where they will lose
their organizational power;
 Losing control of employees. The change process sometimes can reduce the level of
control that managers can conduct. In such a way managers can resist the proposed
changes if the change process will require a reduction of their control power;
 Increasing the control of the employees. Organizational changes can increase the
managerial control of the employees, and this process can produce employees to
become resistant to such proposal proposals of change;
 Economic factors. Organizational changes sometimes can be seen from the
employee’s side simply as something that will decrease or increase their salary or
other economic privileges that some workplace brings to them at the moment before
the implementation of the change process. It is normal to expect that those people
who feel that they will lose the portion of their salary will resist the change.
 Image, prestige, and reputation. Each workplace brings adequate image, prestige,
and reputation that are important to all employees. Organizational changes can make
a drastic shift in these employee’s benefits. If this is the case with the proposed
change, then it will produce dissatisfaction. So, image, prestige, and reputation is one
of the causes of resistance to change;
 The threat of comfort. Organizational changes in many cases result in personal
discomfort and make employee’s life more difficult. They make a transfer from the
comfort of the status quo to the discomfort of the new situation. Employees have
the skills to do an old job without some special attention to accomplishing the task.
Each new task requires forgetting the old methods of doing the job and learning new
things that lead to waste of energy, and causes dissatisfaction;
 Job’s security. Organizational change can eliminate some workplaces, can produce
technological excess, layoffs and so on. Job’s security simply is one of the causes of
resistance to change;
 Reallocation of resources. With organizational changes, some groups, departments
or sectors of the organization can receive more resources while others will lose. So,
this will bring resistance from the individuals, groups or departments who will lose
some of their currently available resources.
 Already gained interests of some organized groups in the company.
Organizational change can make new groups more significant for the success of the
organization. That’s a big threat for old coalitions that will cause resistance to change
in those groups that will become more insignificant with the proposals;
 Implications on personal plans. Organizational change can stop other plans,
projects or other personal or family activities. In such a way this become one of the
causes of resistance to change for those persons who will be reached by this change;
 Too much dependence on others. In an organization, there are employees who too
much depend on other individuals. This dependence is based on the current support
that they receive from powerful individuals. If the change process brings the threat of
 that dependence, it will cause resistance to change of those persons that will be
threatened by this change;
 Misunderstanding the process. Organizational individuals usually resist change
when they do not understand the real purpose of the proposed changes. When
employees don’t understand the process, they usually assume something bad. This
will cause resistance to change;
 Mistrust to initiators of change. When employees don’t have trust in the initiators of
the process, the process will not be accepted and this will cause resistance to change;
 Different evaluation and perception. Different evaluation and perception can affect
organizational changes if there are persons who consider the proposed changes as a
bad idea. Because of that, they are resistant to proposed changes.
 Fear of unknown. Organizational change, in many cases, leads to uncertainty and
some dose of fear. It is normal people to feel the fear of uncertainty. When employees
feel uncertainty in a process of transformation, they think that changes are something
dangerous. This uncertainty affects organizational members to resist the proposed
change;
 Organizational members’ habits. Employees work in large part is based on habits,
and work tasks are performed in a certain way based on those habits. Organizational
changes require shifts of those habits and because of that dissatisfaction from these
proposals.
 Previous Experience. All employees already have some experience with a previous
organizational change process. So, they know that this process is not an easy process.
That experience simply will tell them that most of the change processes in the past
was a failure. So, this can cause resistance to change;
 The threat to interpersonal relations. Employees are often friends with each other
and they have a strong social and interpersonal relationship inside and outside the
organization. If an organizational change process can be seen as a threat to these
powerful social networks in the organization, the affected employees will resist that
change.
 The weakness of the proposed changes. Sometimes proposed change might have a
weakness that can be recognized by the employees. So, those employees will resist the
implementation of the process until these weaknesses will not be removed or solved.
 Limited resources. A normal problem in every organization is to have limited
resources. When resources are limited, and with the proposed organizational changes
those resources are threatened, the resistance to change is more likely to occur;
 Bureaucratic inertia. Every organization has its own mechanisms as rules, policies,
and procedures. Sometimes, when individuals want to change their behavior, these
mechanisms in many cases can resist the proposed changes;
 Selective information processing. Individuals usually have selective information
processing or hear only something that they want to hear. They simply ignore
information that is opposite of the current situation, and with this, they don’t want to
accept important aspects of the proposed changes. Because of that, appear resistance
to change;
 Uninformed employees. Often times employees are not provided with adequate
information about organizational changes that must be implemented. And normally,
this can cause resistance to change;
  Peer pressure. Often, we utilize some kind of informal punishment for colleagues
who supports change which others don’t support. This situation can have a large
impact on increasing the level of resistance to change;
 Skepticism about the need for change. If the problem is not a personal thing of
employees, they will not see the real need why they must change themselves. Those
that can’t see the need for change will have a low readiness level of the change
process;
 Increasing workload. In the process of organizational change, except normal
working activities, employees usually will implement activities of a new change
process. These increases of workloads affect appearing of resistance to change;
 Short time to perform the change process. Because organizational systems are
open systems and they are interactive with their environment, the need for change
often comes from outside. In such a way the performing time is dictated from the
outside of an organization. These situations lead to short time for implementation of
the organizational change process and cause resistance to change.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT
DEFINITION:
Organizational Conflict or otherwise known as workplace conflict, is described as the state
of disagreement or misunderstanding, resulting from the actual or perceived dissent of
needs, beliefs, resources and relationship between the members of the organization. At the
workplace, whenever, two or more persons interact, conflict occurs when opinions with
respect to any task or decision are in contradiction.

In simple terms, organizational conflict alludes to the result of human interaction, that
starts when one member of the organization discerns that his/her goals, values or attitude
are incompatible, with those of other members of the organization. The incompatibility in
opinions can come into being, within a member, between two members, or between groups
of the organization.

FACTORS INFLUENCING ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT

1. Unclear Responsibility: If there is lack of clarity, regarding who is responsible for which
section of a task or project, conflict takes place. And, to avoid this situation, the roles and
responsibility of the team members should be stated clearly and also agreed upon by all.
2. Interpersonal Relationship: Every member of an organization, possesses different
personality, which plays a crucial role in resolving conflict in an organization. Conflicts at
the workplace, are often caused by interpersonal issues between the members of the
organization.
3. Scarcity of Resources: One of the main reason for occurence of conflict in an organization
is the inadequacy of resources like time, money, materials etc. due to which members of the
organization compete with each other, leading to conflict between them.
4. Conflict of Interest: When there is a disorientation between the personal goals of the
individual and the goals of the organization, conflict of interest arises, as the individual may
fight for his personal goals, which hinders the overall success of the project.

Conflicts alleviate at the workplace due to individual and inter-individual factors.

Individual related causes entails attitudes, beliefs, personality orientation and human-
frailties. Inter-individual conflicts arises when a manager breaches norms of the
organization.

TYPES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT

 Relationship Conflict: The conflict arising out of interpersonal tension among
employees, which is concerned with the relationship intrinsically, not the project at
hand.
 Task Conflict: When there is a discord, among members regarding nature of work to be
performed is task conflict
 Process Conflict: Clashes among the team members due to the difference in opinions,
on how work should be completed, is called process conflict.
Organizational conflict can also be personal conflict (one that exist between two people
because of mutual dislike), intragroup conflict (one arising out of lack of liberty, resource,
etc. in a group) and intergroup conflict (one that exist between two groups).

CAUSES OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONFICT

 Managerial Expectations: Every employee is expected to meet the targets, imposed by
his/her superior and when these expectations are misunderstood or not fulfilled within
the stipulated time, conflicts arises.
 Communication Disruption: One of the major cause of conflict at the workplace is
disruption in the communication, i.e. if one employee requires certain information from
another, who does not respond properly, conflict sparks in the organization.
 Misunderstanding: Misunderstanding of information, can also alleviate dispute in
organization, in the sense that if one person misinterpret some information, it can lead
to series of conflicts.
 Lack of accounhtability: If in a project, responsibilities are not clear and some mistake
has arisen, of which no member of the team wants to take responsibility can also
become a cause of conflict in the organization.
The causes of organizational conflict are to be known, to resolve them as early as possible,
because it hinders the efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of the employees and the
organization as well, which ultimately hampers its success.
 WAYS TO MANAGE CONFLICTS IN ORGANIZATION

1. Handle the conflict positively.

2. Formation of official grievance procedure for all members.
3. Concentrate on the causes rather than their effect, to assess conflicts.
4. Parties to conflicts should be given an equal voice, irrespective of their position, term or
political influence.
5. Active participation of all the parties to conflict can also help to counter it.

In an organization, conflict is inevitable and so various means are to be discovered to

resolve them or use them in a way that can help the organization to increase its
productivity.

RESOLUTION OF ORGANISATIONAL CONFLICTS:

Efforts for conflict management may be divided into two groups:-
(1) Preventive measures include:
(a) Development of effective leadership,

(b) Participative decision-making,

(c) Two-way communication system,

(d) Improvement in interpersonal relationship, and

(e) Revision for facilities and opportunities to develop informal groups.

(2) Curative measures:

The following steps must be taken in resolving a conflict which has already arisen:
(a) Dig full details of the conflict and note the stage of conflict (whether preliminary or
advanced). More efforts are required to resolve a conflict of advanced stage.

(b) Issues involved in the conflict should be analysed and understood. Conflict may be due
to facts, goals, methods or values.

(c) Then, the following conflict handling modes can be tried:

(i) Problem solving – May be done by the management or mutually by the parties involved
in conflict.

(ii) Mediation through persuasion. Management may attempt to sweep out the differences
and smoothen the affair.
(iii) Bargaining

(iv) Politics

(v) Letting the parties in conflict to settle their scores if they adopt a rigid attitude and do
not see to the reason or appeal. This is the last resort if all other conflict handling modes
fail.

APPROACHES TO CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Many people head in the opposite direction when they spot conflict in the workplace. But if
you’re a manager that's a mistake. Conflict can be healthy or unhealthy, but either way, it
merits your attention.

Healthy conflict focuses on differences of opinion regarding tasks or work-related

activities. It can be leveraged and facilitated for gain.

Unhealthy conflict is the kind that gets personal. It must be extinguished immediately or it
jeopardizes the work environment.

5 Styles of Conflict Management:

The research work of Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann in the 1970s led to the
identification of five styles of conflict and the development of a widely used self-assessment
called the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, or TKI.

Their work suggested that we all have a preferred way to deal with conflict which serves us
well in some situations, but not all. The key to success is to develop a flexible toolkit
of conflict management approaches and use the one that best fits the situation.

The more you can get comfortable with each way of dealing with conflict, the more
effective you will be.

 Collaborating

In the collaborative approach, the manager works with the people involved to develop a
win-win solution. The focus in on finding a solution that meets everyone’s needs.

This style is appropriate when:

 The situation is not urgent

 An important decision needs to be made
 The conflict involves many people or a number of people across teams
  Previous conflict resolution attempts have failed

This style is not appropriate when:

 A decision needs to be made urgently

 The matter is trivial to all involved

 Competing

With a competitive approach, the person who takes the firmest stand wins. This style is
often seen as aggressive and can be the cause of others in the conflict feeling taken
advantage of.

Nevertheless, this style is appropriate when:

 A decision needs to be made quickly

 An unpopular decision needs to be made
 Someone is trying to take advantage of a situation

This style is not appropriate when:

 People are feeling sensitive about the issue

 The situation is not urgent
 Buy-in is important

 Compromising

With the compromising approach, each person gives up something that contributes
towards the conflict resolution.

This style is appropriate when:

 A decision needs to be made sooner rather than later

 Resolving the conflict is more important than having each individual win
 Power among the people in the conflict is equal

This style is not appropriate when:

 A variety of important needs must be met

 The situation is extremely urgent
 One person holds more power than another
  Accommodating

The accommodating style is one of the most passive conflict resolution methods. One of the
individuals gives in so that the other person can get what they want. As a rule, this style is
not very effective, but it is appropriate in certain scenarios:

 Maintaining the relationship is more important than winning

 The issue at hand is very important to only one person

This style is not appropriate when:

 It will not permanently solve the problem

 Avoiding

The last approach is to avoid the conflict entirely. People who use this style tend to accept
decisions without question, avoid confrontation, and delegate difficult decisions and tasks.
Avoiding is another passive approach that is typically not effective, but it has its uses.

This style is appropriate when:

 The issue is trivial

 The conflict will resolve itself on its own soon

This style is not appropriate when:

 The issue is important to you or your team

 The conflict will grow worse without attention

The Bottom Line

There is no right or wrong style of conflict resolution. Each has its time and place. Learn
how to use all five and you’ll be much more effective. As a manager, learn to suggest
different approaches based on these five styles when striving to defuse conflict.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MEANING OF ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (O.D):
Organisational (or organization) Development or simply O.D. is a technique of planned
change. It seeks to change beliefs, attitudes, values and structures-in fact the entire culture
of the organization—so that the organization may better adapt to technology and live with
the pace of change.
O.D. is a comprehensive strategy for organization improvement. O.D. is a long range effort
to improve an organization’s problem solving and renewal processes, particularly through
a more effective and collaborative management culture.

R. Beckhard defines O.D. as a change strategy which is:

(i) Planned.

(ii) Organization-wide.

(iii) Managed from the top to increase organization effectiveness and health through
planned interventions in the organization’s processes, using behavioural science
knowledge.

OBJECTIVES OF ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

(a) Improvement in the performance of the organisation.

(b) Improvement in the ability of the organisation to adapt to its environment, and

(c) Improvement in inter-personal and inter-group behaviour to secure team work.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

1. Organisational development is an educational strategy for bringing a planned change.

2. It is related to real problems of the organisation.

3. Laboratory training methods based on experienced behaviour are primarily used to

bring change.

4. O.D. uses change agent (or consultant) to guide and affect the change. The role of
change agent is to guide groups towards more effective group processes rather than telling
them what to do. Change agents simply assist the group in problem solving processes and
the groups solve the problems themselves.

5. There is a close working relationship between change agents and the people who are
being changed.

6. O.D. seeks to build problem-solving capacity by improving group dynamics and problem
confrontation.
7. O.D. reaches into all aspects of the organization culture in order to make it more humanly
responsive.

8. O.D. is a long term approach (of 3 to 5 years period) and is meant to elevate the
organization to a higher level of functioning by improving the performance and satisfaction
of organization members.

9. O.D. is broad-based and describes a variety of change programmes. It is concerned

not only with changes in organizational design but also with changes in organizational
philosophies, skills of individuals and groups.

10. O.D. is a dynamic process. It recognises that the goals of the organization change and
hence the methods of attaining them should also change.

11. O.D. utilizes systems thinking. It is based on open, adaptive systems concept. The
organization is treated as an interrelated whole and no part of the organization can be
changed without affecting other parts.

12. O.D. is research based. Change agents conduct surveys, collect data, evaluate and then
decisions are taken.

13. O.D. uses group processes rather than individual process. It makes efforts to improve
group performance.

14. O.D. is situational and contingency oriented.

15. Organization Development and Management Development are complementary rather

then conflicting.
BENEFITS OF ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Increasing productivity and efficiency comes with many benefits. However, the best way to
encourage positive results is by using a well-thought-out organizational development
structure. Organizational development is used to equip an organization with the right tools
so that it can adapt and respond well to changes in the market. The benefits of
organizational development include:

1. Continuous development
Entities that participate in organizational development continually develop their business
models. Organizational development creates a constant pattern of improvement in which
strategies are developed, evaluated, implemented, and assessed for quality.

In essence, the process builds a favorable environment in which a company can embrace
change, both internally and externally. The change is leveraged to encourage periodic
renewal.

2. Increased horizontal and vertical communication

Of considerable merit to organizational development is effective communication,
interaction, and feedback in an organization. An efficient communication system aligns
employees with mutual goals, values, and objectives.

An open communication system enables employees to understand the importance of

change in an organization. An active organizational development increases communication
in an organization, and feedback is shared continuously shared to encourage improvement.

3. Employee growth
Organizational development places significant emphasis on effective communication to
encourage employees to effect necessary changes. Many industry changes
require employee development programs. As a result, many organizations are working
towards improving the skills of their employees to equip them with market-relevant skills
and the right attitude.

4. Enhancement of products and services

Innovation is one of the main benefits of organizational development, and it is often
associated with the improvement of products and services. One approach to change is
employee development, and its critical focal point is a reward for motivation and success.

In such a case, the engagement of employees is very high, which leads to innovation and
productivity. Through competitive analysis, consumer expectations, and market research,
organizational development promotes change.

5. Increased profit margins

Organizational development influences the bottom line in many different ways. As a result
of increased productivity and innovation, profits and efficiency increase as well. Costs come
down because the organization can manage turnover and absenteeism. After the alignment
of an entity’s objectives, it can focus entirely on development and product and service
quality, leading to improvements in employee satisfaction.

PROCESS OF ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT – 5 STEPS

Organisational development is a process rather than a solution to a given problem.
Organisational development process involves the following steps:
1. Problem identification and definition.
2. Collection of necessary data.
3. Diagnosis.
4. Planning of change and its implementation.
5. Evaluation of feedback.
Step # 1. Problem Identification and Definition:
Understanding and identification of the problem in the organisation is the first step in OD
process. The awareness of the problem includes knowledge of the possible problems of
organisational growth, human satisfaction, organisational effectiveness, and use of human
resources. Having understood exactly what the problem is, the OD practitioner can proceed
to collect the necessary data to solve the problem.
Step # 2. Collection of Necessary Data:
Data gathering is perhaps the most important activity in the process of OD. Personal
interviews, personal observations, and questionnaires are the most common base through
which the data is collected. Different data and as such the question of which method to use
depends upon the nature of problem the organisation encounters. Having collected the
necessary data, organisation proceeds to analyse it.
Step # 3. Diagnosis:
There is no hook-book formula for accurate diagnosis. It demands considerable skills of
analysis and observation as most of the problems are often expressed by organisational
members in ambiguous terms. OD program may turn out to be a self-defeating exercise if
decisions were to be based on such general vague information.
Before decisions are taken, the information collected must be subjected to a microscopic
examination, and therefore, experience and judgement are critical to this phase. If
organisational leaders were to show in decent haste to arrive at decisions quickly without
considering the pitfalls, dangers, it may prove to be very costly at the end. Diagnosis should
not be limited to a single problem.
Often, important factors like attitudes, assumptions, available resource, etc., must be taken
into account in the diagnostic phase. For this purpose attitude surveys can be undertaken
through questionnaires wherein the respondents may be asked to evaluate and rate several
jobs related factor like working conditions, compensation, benefits, etc.
Such surveys will help identify the problem clearly as perceived by the organisational
members. Diagnosis assists the planners to locate the source of specific problem and see
what changes are required in the system, the structure, or in people.
Step # 4. Planning of Change and its Implementation:
After diagnosing the problem, the OD expert turns his attention to the planning of change
and implementing it. OD interventions come into picture here. Intervention is considered
to be the action phase in OD process. Intervention is a set planned, programmed activities,
and techniques by which organisation and their clients collaborate in an OD program.
According to French and Bell, ‘interventions consist of the long range evolving applications
of OD techniques targeted for changing individuals, groups, or the total organisations’.
The range and numbers of available interventions is not small but extensive. The particular
interventions to be used depend on the target group in the organisation. One intervention
differs from another. In a program it does not consider all interventions, but selects the
appropriate one that suits the requirement. But sometimes more than one intervention is
used in a program.
Step # 5. Evaluation and Feedback:
Probably one of the important stages in OD process is evaluation. As one stage ends and
another stage looms, evaluation is helpful to know as to what has been done, whether it is
correctly done or not, and show whether further work is needed before proceeding to the
next stage.
Any OD activity is incomplete without proper feedback. Feedback is the process of relaying
evaluations to appropriate employees and group by means of special sessions or reports.
Feedback must be carefully handled because sometimes emotional factor set in.
For instance, when mistakes of some of the members are spelled out then emotional factors
accompanying the resentment may creep in. It is important to remember that feedback
should be based on the broad array of data and should include the assessment of the
change model itself.