HM 431 – Organizational Behavior

Dr. Nandini Banerjee

Introduction To Organizational
Behaviour
 Organizational Behaviour
A field of study that investigates how
individuals, groups and structure affect
and are affected by behavior within
organizations, toward improving an
organization’s effectiveness.
 Three levels of Analysis
 Level 1: Individual: Focuses on values,
beliefs, motivation that influences how
people behave as individuals
 Level 2: Group: Concerned with social and
interpersonal aspects like group dynamics
and leadership
 Level 3: Organization: Main concern is
behavior of an organization as a whole e.g
culture, structure, and processes
The Meaning of Organizational Behavior

Organizational behavior (OB) is

the study of human behavior in the workplace,
the interaction between people and the organization,
and the organization itself.

Organizational behavior’s major goals are to

understand, predict, and control human behavior in organisation
Thus OB is the study of:
 Human behavior

 Behavior in organisation

Improving an organizational effectiveness.

 Why Do We Study OB?
• To learn about our self and how to deal with others
• You are part of an organization now, and will
continue to be a part of various organizations
• Organizations are increasingly expecting individuals
to be able to work in teams
• Develop skills to function effectively in the
workplace.
• Grow personally through insight into human
behavior.
• Enhance overall organizational effectiveness
Benefits of Studying Organizational Behavior
 Develop skills to function effectively in
the workplace.
 Grow personally through insight into

human behavior.
 Enhance overall organizational

effectiveness.
 OB Discipline
Behavioural Contribution Unit of Output
science analysis
Learning
Motivation
Perception
Training
Leadership effectiveness
Job satisfaction
Psychology Individual decision making
Performance appraisal
Attitude measurement
Employee selection
Work design
Work stress
Individual

Group dynamics
Work teams
Communication
Power
Conflict
Intergroup behaviour
Sociology

Formal organization theory Study of

Organizational technology Group Organizational
Organizational change Behaviour
Organizational culture

Behavioural change
Attitude change
Social psychology Communication
Group processes
Group decision making
Organization
Comparative values system
Comparative attitudes
Cross-cultural analysis
Anthropology
Organizational culture
Organizational environment

Conflict
Political science Intraorganizational politics
Power
 Scope / Importance of OB
 Social System
 Cause and Effect Relationship
 Human Relation Skills
 Group and Group Dynamics
 Leadership
 Motivation
 Communication
 Industrial Relation
 Conflict Management
 Change Management
Key Developments in OB History
 The Contingency Approach
 Emphasizes that there is no one best way to
manage people. Different situations require
managers to make decisions about which
managerial methods and approaches to use in a
specific instance.

 Knowledge of organizational behavior and

management is essential to the examination of
individual and situational differences before
deciding a course of action
Key Developments in OB History

The Hawthorne Studies at Western Electric

 Originally intended as a study of the effects of environmental
changes on productivity.
 The Hawthorne Effect— the tendency of people to behave
differently (perform better) when they receive attention.
 Key Findings
1. Economic incentives are less potent than generally believed.
2. Dealing with human problems is complicated and challenging.
3. Leadership practices and work-group pressures strongly influence
productivity, satisfaction, and performance.
4. Personal problems influence worker productivity.
5. Effective communication is critical to success.
6. Factors embedded in the social system influence behavior.
 Key Developments in OB History
 The Human Relations Movement
 Based on belief that managerial practices, morale, and
productivity are strongly linked and that the proper working
environment enhances worker capabilities.
 Douglas McGregor
 Theory X
 Managers assume people dislike work,
avoid responsibility, lack ambition,
and need close supervision.
 Theory Y
 Managers assume people enjoy
work, accept responsibility,
are innovative, and are
self-controlling.
Motivation
 Security/safety: People want to feel safe, secure, and free from fear. They need
stability, structure, and order. In the workplace, job security and fringe benefits, with
an environment free of violence, fills these needs.
 Belongingness and love: This is a need for friends, family and intimacy—for social
acceptance and affection from one‘s peers. In the workplace, this need is satisfied by
participation in work groups with good relationships among co- workers and between
workers and managers.
 Esteem: People want the esteem of others and they want to be regarded as useful,
competent, and important. People also desire self-esteem and need a good self
image. In the workplace, increased responsibility, high status, and recognition for
contributions satisfy these needs.
 Self-actualization: This highest motivation level involves people striving to actualize
their full potential, to become more of what they are capable of being. They seek to
attain self-fulfillment. In the workplace, people satisfy this need by being creative,
receiving, or accepting challenging assignments.
 Focusing on the needs of retraining for growth and challenge as well as rewards and
recognition is important to the quality of work life. Managers can affect the physical,
social and psychological environment in the workplace, and they have a responsibility
to help employees fulfill their needs.
The Organization as an Iceberg
Metaphor
OB Model
 Key Managerial Practices of
Successful Organizations

1. Employment security.
2. High standards in selecting personnel.
3. Extensive use of self-managed teams
and decentralized decision making.
 Key Managerial Practices of
Successful Organizations
4. Comparatively high compensation based
on performance.
5. Extensive employee training.
6. Reduction of status differences between
higher management and other
employees
 The Layers of OB
The Organization

Change
Organizational culture
Decision making
The Group Leadership

Power and politics

Negotiation
Conflict
Communication
The Individual Groups and teams

Motivating self and others

Emotions
Values and attitudes
Perception
Personality
 What is Management?

“The art of getting things done

through people”
 What is Management?

“[Management] involves people

looking beyond themselves and
exercising formal authority over the
activities and performance of other
people.”
 Who is a Manager?
 Someone whose primary responsibility is
to carry out the management process
 Someone who plans and makes decisions,
organizes, leads, and controls human,
financial, physical, and information
resources
 Who is a Manager?

“The Manager’s job can be broadly

defined as deciding what should
be done and getting other people
to do it.”
 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.
 What is an Organization?
 A social entity that is:
 goal directed
 designed to achieve some outcome
 deliberately structured
 tasks are divided and responsibility for their
performance is assigned
 Concept from the behavioral viewpoint of
management
Is Management Art or Science?
 The Science of Management
 Assumes that problems can be approached using
rational, logical, objective, and systematic ways
 Requires technical, diagnostic, and decision-making
skills and techniques to solve problems
 The Art of Management
 Decisions are made and problems solved using a
blend of intuition, experience, instinct, and
personal insights
 Requires conceptual, communication, interpersonal,
and time-management skills to accomplish the tasks
associated with managerial activities
 Traditional Definition of
Management
Attainment of organizational goals in an effective
and efficient manner through:
 Planning

 Organizing

 Leading

 Controlling

and some authorities add:

 Staffing
 Key Concepts of Management
 The four functions of management
• Planning
• Organizing
• Leading
• Controlling
Sometimes a fifth is added:
• Staffing
 Attainment of organizational goals in an
effective & efficient manner
 Four Functions Defined
 Planning
 Setting an organization’s goals and selecting a course
of action from a set of alternatives to achieve them
 Deciding in advance what to do, how to do it, when
to do it, and who is to do it
 Organizing
 Determining how activities and resources are grouped
 Determining the composition of work groups and the
way in which work and activities are to be
coordinated
 Four Functions Defined
 Leading
 The set of processes used to get
organizational members to work together to
advance the interests of the organization
 Motivating and communicating with the
organization’s human resources to ensure
goals are attained
 Four Functions Defined
 Controlling
 Monitoring organizational progress towards
goals
 The process of comparing results and
expectations and making the appropriate
changes
 And that pesky fifth one: Staffing
 The recruitment, selection, assignment,
training, development, evaluation and
compensation of staff
 What Do We Mean By
 Effectiveness?
 The degree to which goals are achieved
 Making the right decisions and successfully implementing them
 Doing the right things in the right way at the
right times
 Efficiency?
 Using minimal resources to produce the desired volume of
output
 Using resources wisely and in a cost-effective way
 Operating in such a way that resources are not wasted
 An Alternative Definition
 An organization
 involves the interactions and efforts of
People
 in order to achieve Objectives
 channelled and coordinated through
Structure
 directed and controlled via Management
 Key Managerial Roles
Henry Mintzberg
Informational Interpersonal Decisional
•Monitor
•Figurehead •Entrepreneur
•Disseminator
•Leader •Disturbance
•Spokesperson handler
•Liaison
Positions the •Resource allocator
manager so as to Involves the
facilitate the manager in •Negotiator
sending and relationships with
other individuals The manager uses
receiving of
both inside and the available
information
outside the firm information
to make important
decisions
 Roles of managers
 Interpersonal Roles:
Figure head roles: attend certain
ceremonial duties.e.g visiting different
branches.
Leadership roles: includes hiring, training,
motivating.
Liaison roles: interacting with individual,
group inside and outside organisation.
 Roles of managers
 Decision Roles:
entrepreneur role: e.g. initiating new projects
and monitoring their progress.
disturbance handlers
resource allocators
negotiators
 Roles of managers
 Informational Roles:
collecting information about various organisations and
institutions regarding technological development,
employment, taste, preferences of public.
monitor role:.e.g from news paper, journals, magazine
etc.
disseminator: transmitting information to other members
in the organisation.
spokesperson: representing organisation to outside
parties.e.g press, clients and business partners.
 Management Skills

Top Managers Conceptual Skills

Middle Managers
First-Line Managers “People” Skills Technical
Non-managers (Personnel) Skills

Technical skills: e.g. accoutancy,personal management, engineers, surgeons

Human/peoples skill:e.g art of motivating, interpersonal skills
Conceptual skills: e.g. analyze complex situation, pinpoint the problems,
evaluate them
Fundamental Management Skills
 Technical
 Skills necessary to accomplish or understand the
specific kind of work being done in an organization
 Interpersonal
 Ability to communicate with, understand, and
motivate both individuals and groups
 Conceptual
 Ability to think in the abstract and to see the
organization as a complete unit and to integrate and
give direction to its diverse activities so that
objectives are achieved
Fundamental Management Skills
 Diagnostic
 Ability to visualize the most appropriate response to a
situation
 Communication
 Abilities both to convey ideas and information
effectively to others and to receive ideas and
information effectively from others
 Decision-Making
 Ability to recognize and define problems and
opportunities correctly and then to select an
appropriate course of action to solve the problems
and capitalize on opportunities
 OB Focus

 Job satisfaction
 Job involvement

 Organizational commitment
 Job satisfaction refers to a
collection of feelings that
an individual
holds toward
his or her job
 What Determines Job
Satisfaction?  
 Mentally challenging work
 Equitable rewards

 Supportive working conditions

 Supportive colleagues
 Are Satisfied Workers More Productive Than
Dissatisfied Workers?

 If satisfaction does have a positive effect

on productivity, that effect is fairly small.

 Productivity is more likely to lead to

satisfaction.
Job Satisfaction
 Job satisfaction
comes down to
conceptions of
fair outcomes,
treatment, and
procedures.
 Reducing Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs when

there are inconsistencies between a
person’s attitudes or between a
person’s behavior and attitudes
 Current Management Issues
 Acute labor shortages in high-technology job
sectors and an oversupply of less skilled labor
 Increasingly diverse and globalize workforce
 Need to create challenging, motivating, and
flexible work environments
 Effects of information technology on how
people work
 Current Management Issues
 Complex array of new ways of structuring
organizations
 Increasing globalization of product and
service markets
 Renewed importance of ethics and social
responsibility
 Use of quality as the basis for competition
 Shift to a predominately service-based
economy
 Bottom Line: OB Is For
Everyone
 Organizational behaviour is not just for
managers.
 OB applies equally well to all situations in which
you interact with others: on the basketball court,
at the grocery store, in school, or in church.
 Summary and Implications
 OB :
 Is a field of study that investigates the
impact that individuals, groups, and
structure have on behavior within an
organization.
Focuses on improving productivity, reducing
absenteeism and turnover, and increasing
employee job satisfaction and organizational
commitment.
 uses systematic study to improve
predictions of behavior.
Thank You