Organisational Behaviour

Definition
Organisational Behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within organisation for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organisations effectiveness.

OB is a field of study

Means a distinct area of expertise with a common body of knowledge It studies three determinants of behaviour in organisation Individuals, Groups, Structure OB applies knowledge about individuals, groups and the effect of structure on behaviour in order to make organisation work more effectively.

What does it study?

Applying such knowledge

Therefore OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an organisation and how the behaviour affects the performance of the organisation. It is concerned with employment related situations, and emphasises behaviour as related to concerns such as jobs, work, absenteeism, employment turnover (attrition), productivity, performance and management.

CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO THE FIELD OF OB

Psychology The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behaviour of human and other animals. Sociology The study of people in relation to their fellow human beings.

Social psychology An area with psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.
Anthropology The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities. Political science the study of the behaviour of individual and groups within a political environment.

CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO THE FIELD OF OB Behavioural Science Contribution Unit of Output Learning Job satisfaction analysis
Motivation Personality Emotions Perception Training Leadership Group dynamics Work teams Communication Decision making Performance appraisal Attitude Selection Work design Stress Power Conflict Intergroup behaviour

Psychology

Individual

Sociology

Formal organisational theory Organisational technology

Organisational change Organisational culture

Group

Study of OB

Social psychology

Behavioural change Attitude change Communication

Group processes Group decision making

Anthropology

Comparative values & attitudes Cross culture analysis Organisational culture &environment Conflict Intraorganisational politics Power

Organisation system

Political science

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR OB

1. Responding to Globalisation 2. Managing Workforce Diversity 3. Improving Quality and Productivity 4. Responding to Labour Shortage 5. Improving Customer Service 6. Improving People Skill 7. Empowering People 8. Coping with Temporariness 9. Stimulating Innovation and Change 10.Helping Employees Balance Work/Life Conflicts 11.Improving Ethical Behaviour

What is Organisational Behaviour ?

Every individual has 24 hours a day. The worldwide research has shown that an average person spends about 6 to 8 hours a day in sleep more than 8 hours are spent in working and traveling. One gets left with only 8 hours for personal and private life with family and friends. It means we spend 33% of life in sleeping, 50% in working and are left with only 17% for personal pleasures.

Therefore subject of Organisational Behaviour deals with that part of life which the employee spend in working which is also called On the job life. Employees Off the job life is interrelated and interdependent on On the job life and vice versa.

Models of organisational behaviour

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Autocratic Model The custodial model The supportive model The collegial model The SOBC (Stimulus, organism, behaviour, consequences) model

Models are frameworks of description of how things work and are also known as paradigms. Every model in OB makes certain assumptions regarding the nature of the people working in the organization. Models of OB not only differ from organization to organization but also from department to department within an organization. The organizational practices are also largely dependent on a managers personal preferences.

The Autocratic Model

The model is based on power and assumes that the person who holds power has the authority to demand work from workers.

It is based on the assumption that authority is central to results i.e., work can only be extracted by means of pushing, directing, and persuading the employees.
People must accept the authority of their superiors and obey their instructions. Obedience is the main employee orientation and is shown by the subordinates for respect for the knowledge and authority of the superiors or fear of punishment. Job security, basic needs of a person, survival and growth makes the subordinates to obey. This model was widely popular during the Industrial Revolution, where managers used authority for for unfair practices such as suspending the employees for not obeying the orders, giving low pay, etc. Such a work environment motivates very few employees to exhibit higher productivity. However, the autocratic model works well under certain conditions, particularly in times of an organizational crisis.

The Custodial Model

In this model, the emphasis is laid on providing job security to the employees This assumes that the OB depends upon the economic resources. It has been observed that employees generally prefer jobs that promise job security. Therefore, employers offer fringe benefits to strengthen the employees confidence in job security. Employee work for money and desires job security. While money is the main managerial orientation, job security is the employee orientation. For the basic need of job security employee offer a passive co-operation to the superiors. The management knows better welfare of the people & takes the role of custodian and guardian of the people and their wealth. While money helps in retaining the employees, knowing that they are going to get incentives irrespective of their job performance might cause the employees to be more laid back in their approach toward work.

The Supportive Model

This model emphasizes leadership rather than power or money and assumes that management is leadership.

The management plays the role of a supportive leadership where leaders promote an environment for the employees to grow while they help in achieving the organizations objectives.
The employees are performance oriented & need support for their initiative and drive for performance. This encourages participation by the subordinates. The employees are self motivated and the he basic need is their self esteem and recognition. The employees need support, status and recognition to enhance their performance

The model might not be effective for employees whose lower level needs are not satisfied. Nevertheless, the supportive model enhances the relationships between the employee and the employer.

The Collegial Model

This approach is an extension of the supportive model

The term collegial refers to a group of persons working for a common purpose.
This model is based on the assumption that generally the employees are selfdisciplined (they exhibit a responsible behaviour), self-satisfied, and have specific goals which motivate them to improve their performance. The main need of the employee is self actualisaton. If this need is satisfied, they show enthusiastic performance. Therefore they must be encouraged for the participation in decision making. Team building on the part of management is must as the team work is main managerial orientation. In this approach, the superior acts more like a leader who leads the way And motivates employees that to perform at their best.

The SOBC Model

SOBC Model of Organizational Behavior is based on the social learning approach. And is based on the assumption that every behaviour is caused. What we see are the consequences of the behaviour shown by organism due to stimulus. This model can be diagrammatically shown as follows: Stimulus > Organism > Behaviour > Consequences (cause) (individual) (Actions) (Results)

The Stimulus : is an environmental variable that depicts the environmental situation, both contextual and organizational. It is the cause that may be overt or covert, physical, social, psychological, technological, environmental etc.
The Organism : is a cognitive variable that understands organizational participants which link the environmental situation and the resulting organizational behavior. It can be individual or a group. They have cognitive mediators with physiological existence.

The SOBC Model

Behaviour : Represents the organizational behavior The Consequences : are environmental variable s that depicts organizational and group dynamics and the consequences of previous interactions between environmental, personal and behavioral variables. Consequesnces are expressed as the results that may be overt or covert. Positive or negative and can have effects on environmental dynamics and applications.

SOBC model is based on the very practical philosophy of human behaviour that: every behaviour is caused & follows the Cause-Effect relationship.

OB Models at a glance
Model depends on Autocratic Power Custodial Economic resources Supportive Leadership Collegial SOBC Partnership Social orientation

Managerial orientation
Employee orientation Employee psychological Result Employees needs met Performance result

Authority

Money

Support

Teamwork

Human behavior

Obedience Dependence on boss Subsistence

Security Dependence on Organization Maintenance

Job Participation

Responsiblit Stimulus(cause) y Selfdiscipline Selfactualization enthusiasm Consequence (+ve/-ve result) follows the Cause-Effect relationship

Higher-order

Minimum

Passive cooperation

Awakened drives