Where Managers Work

What is an Organization
A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.

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Definition and meaning of OB

OB is the study of human behavior. The study is about behavior in organization. Knowledge about human behavior would be useful in improving an organizations effectiveness.

 Organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people act within organizations. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the behavior of people in all types of organizations such as business, government, schools and service organizations. The understanding, prediction and

management of organizations.

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What is Organizational Behavior?

Organizational Behavior studies encompass the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. Provides a set of useful tools; -at the individual level- interpersonal relations, - at the group level group dynamics formal teams and informal groups inter-group relations, - at the orgn level inter-organizational

What is Organizational Behavior?

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Importance Of OB
OB provides a road map to our lives in organizations. It depicts effect on our actions and behavior. OB uses a scientific research to help us understand and predict organizational life. OB theories and concepts helps us influence organizational events. OB helps an individual understand himself/herself and others better. This helps to improve interpersonal relations.

 OB will help the manager understand the basis of motivation and what he or she should do to motivate subordinates. OB is useful for maintaining cordial industrial relations. If any problem is there OB helps to understand the cause of the problem, predicts its coarse of action and control its consequences. It acts as a basis for human resource management.

Characteristics of OB
An integral part of management Goal oriented Satisfaction of employees need Inter-disciplinary approach Research based theories and practice Total system approach Science and art
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Goals/ objectives Of OB
Describe how people behave under a variety of conditions. Understand why people behave as they do Predict future employee behavior. Control and develop human activity at work to improve productivity, skill improvement, team effort, etc.

Need of studying OB
Understanding of self and others Motivation of human resources Effective communication Effective organizational climate Good human relations. Introduction of change in the organization.

Why Study Organizational Behavior / Process Of OB

Understanding How strong are they ? How do they inter relate ? Prediction What pattern of behavior are present? What is the cause-effect relationship? Controlling What solutions are possible? Which variables can be influenced and how?

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

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Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

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Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

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Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

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Forces\Factors affecting OB
People- individuals and groups Structure- jobs and relationships Technology-machinery, computers Environment-government, competition, social pressures. All the above forces interact on each other resulting in OB.
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Components of Organizational Behavior

Understanding organizational behavior requires studying

Part One Individuals in Organizations

Part Two Group and Team Processes

Part Three Organizational Processes

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 Challenges in the field of OB

1. Improving People Skills 2. Empowering People

3. Stimulating Innovation and Change

4. Increased foreign assignment 5. Working with people from different culture 6. Changing demographics. 7. Helping Employees Balance Work/Life Conflicts

8. Improving Ethical Behavior

9. Responding to globalization

A Short History of Organizational Behavior

The Greek philosopher Plato wrote about the essence of leadership. Aristotle addressed the topic of persuasive communication. The writings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius in 500 BC are beginning to influence contemporary thinking about ethics and leadership.

 The writings of 16th century Italian philosopher Niccol Machiavelli laid the foundation for contemporary work on organizational power and politics. In 1776, Adam Smith advocated a new form of organizational structure based on the division of labor. German sociologist Max Weber wrote about rational organizations and initiated discussion of charismatic leadership.

 Frederick Winslow Taylor introduced the systematic use of goal setting and rewards to motivate employees. In the 1920s, Australian-born Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his colleagues conducted productivity studies. They discovered the importance of formal and informal group dynamics in the work place, resulting in a dramatic shift towards the human relations school of thought.

 Though it traces its roots back to Max Weber and earlier, organizational studies is generally considered to have begun as an academic discipline with the advent of scientific management in the 1890s, with Taylorism representing the peak of this movement. Proponents of scientific management held that rationalizing the organization with precise sets of instructions and time-motion studies would lead to increased productivity. Studies of different compensation systems were carried out.

 After the First World War, the focus of organizational studies shifted to analysis of how human factors and psychology affected organizations, a transformation propelled by the identification of the Hawthorne Effect. This Human Relations Movement focused on teams, motivation, and the actualization of the goals of individuals within organizations.

 The Second World War further shifted the field, as the invention of large-scale logistics and operations research led to a renewed interest in rationalist approaches to the study of organizations Interest grew in theory and methods native to the sciences, including systems theory, the study of organizations with a complexity theory perspective and complexity strategy. Influential work was done by Herbert Alexander Simon and James G. March.

 Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (18561915) was the first person who attempted to study human behavior at work using a systematic approach. Taylor studied human characteristics, social environment, task, physical environment, capacity, speed, durability, cost and their interaction with each other. His overall objective was to reduce and/or remove human variability.

 Taylor worked to achieve his goal of making work behaviors stable and predictable so that maximum output could be achieved. He relied strongly upon monetary incentive systems, believing that humans are primarily motivated by money. He faced some strong criticism, including being accused of telling managers to treat workers as machines without minds, but his work was very productive and laid many foundation principles for modern management studies.

The Hawthorne Studies

Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric Company near Chicago; 1924-1932 these studies mark the starting point of the field of Organisational Behaviour Initiated as an attempt to investigate how characteristics of the work setting affect employee fatigue and performance (i.e., lighting). Found that productivity increased regardless of whether illumination was raised or lowered.
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 Started in 1924 to examine the relationship between light intensity and employee productivity a test group and a control group were used . The test group initially did not show any increase or decrease in output in proportion to the increase/decrease in illumination. The control group with unchanged illumination increased output by the same amount overall by the test group.

 Subsequent phases brought the level of light down to moonlight intensity: the workers could barely see what they were doing, but productivity increased. The results baffled the researchers. Obviously, something besides the level of illumination

was causing the change in productivity

the complex human variable.

 Conclusion the independent variables (rest pauses, etc.,) were not by themselves causing the change in the dependent variable (output). Something was still not being controlled.

The serendipitous results of these experiments provided the impetus for the further study of human behavior in the work place. Subsequent phase relay room, where operators assembled relay switches test specific variables, such as length of workday, rest breaks, and method of payment. basically the same results each test period yielded higher productivity than the earlier one. Even when the workers were subjected to the original conditions of experiment, productivity increasedthat was causing the change in the output.

 Conclusion the independent variables (rest pauses, etc.,) were not by themselves causing the change in the dependent variable (output). Something was still not being controlled. The bank wiring room study: the bank wirers were placed in a separate test room. No experimental changes during the study an observer and an interviewer gathered objective data departments regular supervisors were used to maintain order and control.

Findings were opposite to relay room experiments output was restricted informal group norm was lower than managements social pressures used to gain compliance with group norms. The incentive system dictated that the more a worker produced, the more money he would earn Also, the best producers will be laid off last In spite of this output was restricted. Social ostracism, ridicule, and name-calling were the major sanctions used by the group to enforce this restriction.

Implications
Workers preference to work in the relay room, because of: i. Small group ii. Type of supervision iii Earnings iv Novelty of the situation v. Interest in the experiment vi attention received in the test room The last 3 associated with Hawthorne Effect special attention paid to them

 At first employees were considered a cost, then

Human Resources, and now are becoming widely recognised as human capital (what you know education, experience, skills). Investing
in this capital results in desired performance outcomes such as increased productivity and customer satisfaction. Even going beyond human capital are more recently
recognised as social capital ( who you know networks, connections, friends), and positive psychological capital ( who you are confidence, hope, optimism, resiliency and more importantly who you can become, i.e., ones possible authentic self).
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 Growing research evidence that employees psychological capital is positively related to their performance and desired attitudes. As the ultimate techie Bill Gates observed; the inventory, the value of my company, walks out the door every evening.
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