III B.TECH- II SEMESTER / III B.

TECH- II0 SEMESTER

(20BTXHSXX) ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
(Common to all branches)

UNIT - I: INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

MEANING AND DEFINITION OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

INTRODUCTION:

Organizational behaviour describes how people interact with one another inside of
an organization, such as a business. These interactions subsequently influence how the
organization itself behaves and how well it performs. Organizational behaviour is the study
of both group and individual performance and activity within an organization.

MEANING:

Organizational Behaviour is concerned with the understanding, prediction, and

control of human behavior in organizations. It focuses on the individuals, the groups, and
the organization and also on their interactional relationships. It is the study and application
of knowledge about how people act with organizations.

It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the behaviour of people in
all types of organizations. Wherever organizations are, there is a need to understand
organizational behavior.

DEFINITION:

According to Fred Luthans, “Organisational behavior is directly concerned with the

understanding, prediction, and control of human behavior in organizations.”

In words of John Newstram and Keith Devis, “Organisational behavior is the study
and application of knowledge about how people as individuals and as groups act within
organisations. It strives to identify ways in which people can act more effectively.”

NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

Introduction:
Organizational behaviour is an applied behavioural science that is built on contributions
from a number of behavioural disciplines.

The following are mainly discussed as the nature of organizational behaviour.

Nature of organizational behavior:

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.
 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 analysing organizational behaviour.
 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.
 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.
 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 actualise these potentials if
they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects performance or
workers working in an organization.
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 BEHAVIOR:

“OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and
structure have on behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of applying such
knowledge towards improving an organisation’s effectiveness”.

The scope of OB involves three levels of behaviour in organizations: individuals,

groups and structure.

1. Individual Behaviour

(i) Personality
(ii) Perception
(iii) Values and Attitudes
(iv) Learning
(v) Motivation

2. Group Behaviour

(i) Work groups and group dynamics

(ii) Dynamics of conflict
(iii) Communication
(iv) Leadership
(v) Morale

3. Organization: Structure, Process and Application

(i) Organizational Climate

(ii) Organizational Culture
 (iii) Organizational Change
(iv) Organizational Effectiveness
(v) Organizational Development

FEATURES OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

The essential characteristics or features of organizational behaviour are as follows:

An Integral Part of Management:

OB is a part of general management and not the whole of management. It

represents behaviour approach to management. It is significant to note that because of the
importance of human behaviour in organisations. OB has assumed the status of a distinct
field of study.

A Field of Study:

OB is a field of study, research and application associated with a growing concern for
people at the workplace. Its study helps in understanding the human behaviour in work
organizations. It includes creative thinking among the managers to solve human problems in
organisations.

Inter-disciplinary Approach:

The field of organisational behaviour is heavily influenced by several other

behavioural sciences and social sciences. The prominent among these are psychology,
sociology and anthropology. Organizational behaviour draws a rich array of research from
these disciplines.

Levels of Analysis:

OB involves three levels of analysis of behaviour;

1. Individual behaviour
2. Group behaviour and
3. Organizational behaviour
It helps in demolishing incorrect assumptions one may hold about behaviour. It
provides a rational thinking about people.
Goal-Oriented:

OB is an action-oriented and goal-directed discipline. The major goals of

organisational behaviour are to understand, explain and predict human behaviour in the
organisational context so that it may be moulded into result-yielding situations. It provides a
rational thinking about people and their behaviour.

Human Tool:
 OB is a human tool for human benefit. It helps in understanding and predicting the
behaviour of individuals. It provides generalisations that managers can use to anticipate the
effects of certain actions on human behaviour.
Science and Art:

OB is both a science as well as an art. The systematic knowledge about human

behaviour is a science. The application of behaviour knowledge and skills clearly leans
towards being an art. However, organisation behaviour is not an exact science like physics
or chemistry. It cannot provide specific answers to all organisational problems. The exact
prediction of behaviour of people in organizations is also not possible.

SIGNIFICANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

The following are the significant importance of organizational behaviour;

1. Good work place relations

2. Employee motivation
3. Builds psychologically safe workplace
4. Nature of employees
5. Higher efficiency in Teams

Good work place relations:

It is hard to build meaningful workplace relationships. As a leader, you have to look

out for any instances of conflict. Or situations that can hamper employee relationships.

Figuring out the real issues that harm employee relationships might be a daunting job. But it
is essential to do that.Organizational behavior is essential to assist a leader in solving the
issues. It helps you in-

 Swiftly deducing any behavioural change

 Figuring out any tension between team members
 Studying different emotions of people

The main objective is to improve communication among people. On top of that, it reduces

any chances of misunderstanding that can harm relationships.

Employee motivation:
Motivation is a crucial element when we talk about employee engagement. Without
motivation, it is difficult to improve productivity. A lack of motivation is why people don’t
give their 100% effort to the job.
Tackling such an issue will require the study of organizational behavior. It-

 Determines the factors responsible for diminished employee

motivation
 Monitors the overall experience of an employee
 Measures the performance based on changes in behaviour
 It gives a clear understanding of the issues. After which, you can quickly act on it and
resolve them for greater efficiency.
Builds psychologically safe workplace:

Organizational behavior study helps a leader to understand their influence on the

employees. It determines your attitude towards them. It draws a clear picture of how to
make your workplace psychologically safe. This is a workplace that will inspire and build
morale.

A psychologically safe workplace helps the employees in-

 Experimenting with new ideas

 Overcoming the fear of getting judged
 Enhancing performance
Recognize that you can examine differences by studying behavior. This allows a
manager to build a workplace where employees feel at home and work without any hiccups.

Nature of employees:
Achieving success in the long term can be a difficult task. And maintaining
consistency is even more significantly challenging.However, it will all depend on how
employees behave at work. Their attitude towards their work will reflect on the results.
The employees need to be passionate and enthusiastic about their work. And if they
are laid back regarding their work, then it poses as a roadblock.
To understand the impact of it, the study of behavior is critical. It helps a manager in
deducing-
 How people are interacting with each other
 What are the reasons behind declining team unity
 If the employees are worried about their job securities
The factors can be varying. However, if the nature of the employees does not change
over time, it can hinder growth. This can result in an organization getting derailed from the
path of success.

Higher efficiency in Teams:

The study of behavior in an organization is vital for team collaboration. It gives you
insights into the similarities and differences that people share.Understanding the dynamics
will assist a leader in facilitating better team unity.
A team with good chemistry will-

 Collaborate more effectively and produce the best results

 Support each other during difficult times
 Acknowledge each other’s strengths and weaknesses

In return, it builds good morale and confidence among team members. Thus,
increasing team bonding which is crucial in meeting the company objectives. As a
result, leaders can achieve greater success in the long term.

Summary:
 The study of organizational behavior is easier said than done. It takes tremendous
effort and time to successfully do it. Social psychology plays a crucial role in human behavior
in organizational settings. A leader must do thorough organizational behavior research to
bring the best in their people. Take the necessary steps to improve employee experience
and bring the right behavioral change within the organization.

LEVELS AND CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLES TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

1.Individual Level –
Deals with the concepts at the individual level. Examples of individual-level concepts
are perception, personality, learning, motivation, and attitude.

2.Group Level –
 Deals with the concepts at the group level. Examples of group-level concepts are
team, conflict, leadership, power, and politics. Group-level concepts may include how
groups are formed, how to make effective teams, how individually and collectively the
group activities can be improved, how to motivate employees, and which type of group
would be suitable for a particular assignment.
3.Organizational Level –
Deals with the concepts at the organizational level. Examples of organizational-level
concepts are change management and organizational culture. Other topics discussed at
organizational level include the concept of organization, different organizational models,
and organizational change along with its impact and implementation. The working
conditions and stress management are also discussed at the organizational level.

Contributional disciples to organizational behaviour:

 Psychology
 Sociology
 Social psychology
 Anthropology
 Economics
 Political-sciences

Psychology:

Psychology is the study of human behaviour which tries to identify the

characteristics of individuals and provides us with useful insight into areas such as human
motivation, perceptual processes or personality characteristics.

Sociology:

Sociology is the study of social behaviour, relationships among social groups and
societies, and the maintenance of social order. The main focus of attention is on the social
system. This helps us to appreciate the functioning of individuals within the organization
which is essentially a socio-technical entity.

Social Psychology:

Social Psychology is the study of human behaviour in the contest of social situations.
This essentially addresses the problem of understanding the typical behavioural patterns to
be expected from an individual when he takes part in a group.

Anthropology:
 Anthropology is the science of mankind and the study of human behaviour as a
whole. The main focus of attention is on the cultural system, beliefs, customs, ideas and
values within a group or society and the comparison of behaviour among different cultures.
In the context of today’s organizational scenario. It is very important to appreciate the
differences that exist among people coming from different cultural backgrounds as people
are often found to work with others from the other side of the globe.

Economics:

Any organization to survive and sustain itself must be aware of the economic viability
of their effort. This applies even to non-profit and voluntary organizations as well.

Political Science:

The contributions of Political Scientists are significant to the understanding of

arrangement in organizations. It studies individuals and groups within specific conditions
concerning power dynamics. Important topics under here include the structuring of conflict,
allocation of power, and how people manipulate power for individual self-interest, etc.

EMERGING ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

Challenges and opportunities for organizational behavior are massive and rapidly

changing for improving productivity and meeting business goals. Although the problems
with organizations and the solutions over the ages have not changed, the emphasis and
surrounding environmental context certainly have changed.

Although the resulting lean and mean organizations offered some short-run benefits
in terms of lowered costs and improved productivity, if they continued to do business, as
usual, they would not be able to meet current or future challenges.

The nature of work is changing so rapidly that rigid job structures impede the work
to be done now, and that may drastically change the following year, month, or even week.

Main challenges and opportunities of organizational behavior are;

1. Improving Peoples’s Skills.

2. Improving Quality and Productivity.

3. Total Quality Management (TQM).

4. Managing Workforce Diversity.

5. Responding to Globalization.

6. Empowering People.

7. Coping with Temporariness.

 8. Stimulating Innovation and Change.

9. Emergence of E-Organisation & E-Commerce.

10. Improving Ethical Behavior.

11. Improving Customer Service.

12. Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts.

13. Flattening World.

Improving People’s Skills

Technological changes, structural changes, environmental changes are accelerated at

a faster rate in the business field.Unless employees and executives are equipped to possess
the required skills to adapt to those changes, the targeted goals cannot be achieved in time.

These two different categories of skills – managerial skills and technical skills.Some
of the managerial skills include listening skills, motivating skills, planning and organizing
skills, leading skills, problem-solving skills, decision-making skills.

These skills can be enhanced by organizing a series of training and development

programs, career development programs, induction, and socialization.

Improving Quality and Productivity

Quality is the extent to which the customers or users believe the product or service
surpasses their needs and expectations.

For example, a customer who purchases an automobile has a certain expectation,

one of which is that the automobile engine will start when it is turned on.If the engine fails
to start, the customer’s expectations will not have been met and the customer will perceive
the quality of the car as poor. The key dimensions of quality as follows.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a philosophy of management that is driven by

the constant attainment of customer satisfaction through the continuous improvement of
all organizational processes.

The components of TQM are;

(a) An intense focus on the customer,

(b) Concern for continual improvement,
(c) Improvement in the quality of everything the organization does,
(d) Accurate measurement and,
(e) Empowerment of employees.
 Managing Workforce Diversity

This refers to employing different categories of employees who are heterogeneous

in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, relation, community, physically disadvantaged, elderly
people, etc.

In general, employees wanted to retain their individual and cultural identity, values
and lifestyles even though they are working in the same organization with common rules
and regulations.

The major challenge for organizations is to become more accommodating to diverse

groups of people by addressing their different lifestyles, family needs, and work styles.

Responding to Globalization

Today’s business is mostly market-driven; wherever the demands exist irrespective

of distance, locations, climatic conditions, the business operations are expanded to gain
their market share and to remain in the top rank, etc. Business operations are no longer
restricted to a particular locality or region.

The company’s products or services are spreading across nations using mass
communication, the internet, faster transportation, etc.

Empowering People

The main issue is delegating more power and responsibility to the lower level cadre
of employees and assigning more freedom to make choices about their schedules,
operations, procedures and the method of solving their work-related problems.

Encouraging the employees to participate in the work-related decision will sizable

enhance their commitment to work.

Empowerment is defined as putting employees in charge of what they do by eliciting

some sort of ownership in them.

Coping with Temporariness

In recent times, the product life cycles are slimming, the methods of operations are
improving, and fashions are changing very fast. In those days, the managers needed to
introduce major change programs once or twice a decade.

Today, change is an ongoing activity for most managers.

The concept of continuous improvement implies constant change. In yesteryears,

there used to be a long period of stability and occasionally interrupted by a short period of
change, but at present, the change process is an ongoing activity due to competitiveness in
developing new products and services with better features.
 Everyone in the organization faces today is one of permanent temporariness. The
actual jobs that workers perform are in a permanent state of flux’s, workers need to
continually update their knowledge and skills to perform new job requirements.

Stimulating Innovation and Change

Today’s successful organizations must foster innovation and be proficient in the art
of change; otherwise, they will become candidates for extinction in due course of time and
vanished from their field of business.

Victory will go to those organizations that maintain flexibility, continually improve

their quality, and beat the competition to the market place with a constant stream of
innovative products and services.

The emergence of E-Organisation & E-Commerce

It refers to the business operations involving the electronic mode of transactions. It

encompasses presenting products on websites and filling the order.The vast majority of
articles and media attention given to using the Internet in business are directed at online
shopping.

In this process, the marketing and selling of goods and services are being carried out
over the Internet.

In e-commerce, the following activities are being taken place quite often – the tremendous
numbers of people who are shopping on the Internet, business houses are setting up
websites where they can sell goods, conducting the following transactions such as getting
paid and fulfilling orders.

Improving Ethical Behavior

The complexity in business operations is forcing the workforce to face ethical

dilemmas, where they are required to define right and wrong conduct to complete their
assigned activities.

The ground rules governing the constituents of good ethical behavior has not been
clearly defined, Differentiating right things from wrong behavior has become more blurred.

Improving Customer Service

OB can contribute to improving organizational performance by showing drat how

employees’ attitudes and behavior are associated with customer satisfaction.

In that case, service should be the first production-oriented by using technological

opportunities like a computer, the internet, etc.To improve customer service we need to
provide sales service and also the after-sales service.
 Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts

The typical employee in the 1960s or 1970s showed up at the workplace Monday through
Friday and did his or her job 8 or 9-hour chunk of time.

The workplace and hours were specified. That’s no longer true for a large segment of
today’s workforce.

Employees are increasingly complaining that the line between work and non-work time has
become blurred, creating personal conflict and stress.

Many forces have contributed to blurring the lines between employees’ work life and
personal life.

Flattening World

In this point that the Internet has “flattened” the world and created an environment
in which there is a more level playing field in terms of access to information.

This access to information has led to an increase in innovation, as knowledge can be

shared instantly across time zones and cultures.

It has also created intense competition, as the speed of business is growing faster
and faster all the time.