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ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR


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LESSON 1INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Learning Objectives

After reading this lesson, you should be able to understand:

The major environmental challenges and the paradigm shift that the management

faces today The management perspective of organizational behaviour

The historical background of modern organizational behaviour

The modern approach to organizational behaviour

The knowledge and information explosion, global competition, total quality and diversity are some of the bitter realitithat the managers are facing today. There are many solutions being offered to deal with these complex challenges. Ythe simple but most profound solution may be found in the words of Sam Walton, the richest person in the world athe founder of Wal-Mart. Sam was once asked the key to successful organizations and management. Sam quickreplied, "People are the key".

The term paradigm comes from the Greek word 'paradigma', which means ''model, pattern or example". Fiintroduced over thirty years ago, by the philosophy and science historian Thomas Khun, the term "paradigm" is noused as, a broad model, a framework, a way of thinking, and a scheme for understanding reality. The impact

information technology, total quality and diversity mentioned earlier has led to a paradigm shift.

NEW PARADIGMThe organizational behaviour has a goal lo help the managers make a transition to the new paradigm. Some of the neparadigm characteristics include coverage of second-generation information technology and total quality managemesuch as empowerment, reengineering and benchmarking, and learning organization for managing diversity of work. Tnew paradigm sets the stage for the study, understanding, and application of the time-tested micro-variables, dynamiand macro-variables. One must know why management needs a new perspective to meet the environmenchallenges and to shift to a new paradigm.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE FOR MANAGEMENTManagement is generally considered to have three major dimensionstechnical, conceptual and human. The technidimension consists of the manager's expertise in particular functional areas. They know the requirements of the jo

and have the functional knowledge to get the job done. But the practicing managers ignore the conceptual and humdimensions of their jobs.Most managers think that their employees are lazy, and are interested only in money, and that if you cou

make them happy in terms of money, they would be productive. If such assumptions are accepted, the humaproblems that the management is facing are relatively easy to solve.

But human behaviour at work is much more complicated and diverse. The new perspective assumes themployees are extremely complex and that there is a need for theoretical understanding given by empirical researbefore applications can be made for managing people effectively.

MODERN APPROACH TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

The modern approach to organizational behaviour is the search for the truth of why people behave the way they dThe organizational behaviour is a delicate and complex process. If one aims to manage an organization, it is necessato understand its operation. Organization is the combination of science and people. While science and technology

predictable, the human behaviour in organization is rather unpredictable. This is because it arises from deep needs avalue systems of people.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR MODERN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOURScientific Management ApproachScientific management approach was developed by F.W. Taylor at the beginning of the 20th century. This theosupported the use of certain steps in scientifically studying each element of a job, selecting and training the beworkers for the job arid making sure that the workers follow the prescribed method of doing the job. It providedscientific rationale for job specialization and mass production. His assumption was that employees are motivatelargely by money. To increase the output, Taylor advised managers to pay monetary incentives to efficient workers.

Yet, his theory was criticized by many employers and workers. Workers objected to the pressure of work being harder and faster. Critics worried that the methods took the humanity out of labor, reducing workers to machin


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responding to management incentives. Therefore, Taylor's view is now considered inadequate and narrow due to tpoints given by the critics.

Bureaucratic ApproachWhile scientific management was focusing on the interaction between workers and the task, me researchers westudying how to structure the organization more effectively. Instead of trying to make each worker more efficieclassical organization theory sought the most effective overall organizational structure for workers and managers.

The theory's most prominent advocate, Max Weber, proposed a 'bureaucratic form' of structure, which thought would work for all organizations. Weber's idea! bureaucracy was , logical, rational and efficient. He made t

naive assumption that one structure would work best for all organizations.

Henry Ford, Henry Fayol and Frederick W. Taylor, the early management pioneers, recognized the behavioside of management. However, they did not emphasize the human dimensions. Although there were varied acomplex reasons for the emerging importance of behavioral approach to management, it is generally recognized ththe Hawthorne studies mark the historical roots for the field of organizational behaviour.

Hawthorne StudiesEven, as Taylor and Weber brought attention with their rational, logical approaches to more efficient productivity, thviews were criticized on the ground that both approaches ignored worker's humanity.

The real beginning of applied research in the area of organizational behaviour started with HawthorExperiments. In 1924, a group of professors began an enquiry into the human aspects of work and working conditioat the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company, Chicago. The findings of these studies were given a new nam'human relations' the studies brought out a number of findings relevant to understanding human behaviour at work. THuman element in the workplace was considerably more important. The workers are influenced by social factors athe behaviour of the individual worker is determined by the group.

Hawthorne studies have been criticized for their research methods and conclusions drawn. But their impact othe emerging field of organizational behaviour was dramatic. They helped usher in a more humanity centered approato work.

APPROACHES TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOURThere are mainly four approaches to organizational behaviour. They are: Human resources approach ' Contingency approach Productivity approach Systems approach

Human Resources ApproachThe human resources approach is concerned with the growth and development of people towards higher levels competency, creativity and fulfillment, because people are the central resource in any organization. This approach heemployees become better in terms of work and responsibility and then it tries to create a climate in which they ccontribute to the best of their improved abilities. This approach is also known as 'supportive approach' because tmanager's primary role changes from control of employees to providing an active support for their growth aperformance.

A Contingency ApproachA contingency approach to organizational behaviour implies that different situations require different behaviopractices for effectiveness instead of following a traditional approach for all situations. Each situation must be analyzcarefully to determine the significant variables that exist in order to establish the more effective practices. The strengof this approach is that it encourages analysis of each situation prior to action. Thus, it helps to use all the curre

knowledge about people in the organization in the most appropriate manner.

Productivity ApproachProductivity is a ratio that compares units of output with units of input. It is often measured in terms of economic inpuand outputs. Productivity is considered to be improved, if more outputs can be produced from the same amount inputs. But besides economic inputs and outputs, human and social inputs and outputs also arc important.

Systems ApproachA system is an interrelated part of an organization or a society that interacts with everyone related to that organizatior society and functions as a whole. Within the organization 'people' employ 'technology' in performing the 'task' ththey are responsible for, while the 'structure' of the organization serves as a basis for co-ordinating all their differeactivities. The systems view emphasizes the interdependence of each of these elements within the organization, if th


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organization as a whole is to function effectively. The other key aspect of the systems view of organization is emphasis on the interaction between the organization and its broader environment,, which consists of social, economcultural and political environment within which they operate.

Organizations arc dependent upon their surrounding environment in two main ways: First, the organizatrequires 'inputs' from the environment in the form of raw material, people, money, ideas and so on. The organizatioitself can be thought of as performing certain 'transformation' processes, on its inputs in order to create outputs in thform of products or services. Secondly, the organization depends on environment such as, public to accept its outpThe systems view of organization thus emphasizes on the key interdependencies that organizations must managWithin themselves the organizations must trade off the interdependencies among people, tasks, technology anstructure in order to perform their transformation processes effectively and efficiently. Organizations must al

recognize their interdependence with the broader environments within which they exist.

CONTEMPORARY ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

A Separate Field of StudyOrganizational behaviour can be treated as a distinct field of study. It is yet to become a science. Now efforts are beimade to synthesize principles, concepts and processes in this field of study.

Interdisciplinary ApproachOrganizational behaviour is basically an interdisciplinary approach. It draws heavily from other disciplines lpsychology, sociology and anthropology. Besides, it also takes relevant things from economics, political science, laand history. Organizational behaviour integrates the relevant contents of these disciplines to make them applicable organizational analysis. e.g. it addresses issues, which may be relevant to the case, such as the following:

What facilitates accurate perception and attribution?

What influences individual, group and organizational learning and the development of individual attitudtoward .work?

How do individual differences in personality, personal development, and career development affect individuabehaviours and attitudes?

What motivates people to work, and how. does the organizational reward system influence worker's behavioand attitudes?

How do managers build effective teams?

What contributes to effective decision-making?

What are the constituents of effective communication?

What are the characteristics of effective communication?

How can power be secured and used productively?

What factors contribute to effective negotiations?

How can conflict (between groups or between a manager and subordinates) be resolved or managed?

How can jobs and organizations be effectively designed? How can managers help workers deal effectively with change?

An Applied ScienceThe basic objective of organizational behaviour is to make application of various researches to solve the organizationproblems, particularly related to the human behavioral aspect.

Normative and Value CenteredOrganizational behaviour is a normative science. A normative science prescribes how the various findings researches can be applied to get organizational results, which are acceptable to the society. Thus, what is acceptabby the society or individuals engaged in an organization is a matter of values of the society and people concerned.

Humanistic and Optimistic

Organizational behaviour focuses the attention on people from humanistic point of view. It is based on the belief thneeds and motivation of people are of high' concern. Further, there is optimism about the innate potential of man to bindependent, creative, predictive and capable of contributing positively to the objectives of the organization.

Oriented towards Organizational ObjectivesOrganizational behaviour is oriented towards organizational objectives. In fact, organizational behaviour tries integrate both individual and organizational objectives so that both are achieved simultaneously.

A Total System Approach


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An individual's behaviour can be analyzed keeping in view his psychological framework, interpersonal-orientatiogroup influence and social and cultural factors; Thus, individual's nature is quite complex and organizational behavioby applying systems approach tries to find solutions for this complexity.

LESSON 2

FOUNDATION OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Learning ObjectivesAfter reading this lesson, you should be able to:

Define and explain the meaning of organizational behaviour

Understand the nature and importance of organizational behaviour

Relate the organizational behaviour to managers job

DEFINITION OF MANAGEMENTManagement is commonly defined as "Getting work done through other people". This simple definition explains thsignificance of the role of people. The work will not be done unless "people" want to do the work and if the work is n

done then there will be no organisation. Hence, the cooperation of the workers is crucial to the success or failure of torganisation.

DEFINITION OF ORGANISATIONAccording to Gary Johns, "Organisations are social inventions for accomplishing goals through group efforts". Tdefinition covers wide variety-of groups such as businesses, schools, hospitals, fraternal groups, religious bodiegovernment agencies and so on. There are three significant aspects in the above definition, which require furthanalysis. They are as follows:

Social Inventions:The word "social" as a derivative of society basically means gathering of people. It is tpeople that primarily make up an organisation.

Accomplishing Goals:All organisations have reasons for their existence. These reasons are the goatowards which all organisational efforts are directed. While the primary goal .of any commercial organisationto make money for its owners, this goal is inter-related with many other goals. Accordingly, any organisationgoal must integrate in itself the personal goals of all individuals associated with the organisation.

Group Effort:People, both as members of the society at large and as a part of an organisation interact weach other and are inter-dependent. Individuals in themselves have physical and intellectual limitations athese limitations can only be overcome by group efforts.

MEANING AND DEFINITION OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUROrganisational behaviour is concerned with people's thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions in setting up a woUnderstanding an individual behaviour is in itself a challenge, but understanding group behaviour in an organisationenvironment is a monumental managerial task.

As Nadler and Tushman put it, "Understanding one individual's behaviour is challenging in and of itseunderstanding a group that is made up of different individuals and comprehending the many relationships among thoindividuals is even more complex. Ultimately, the organisation's work gets done through people, individually collectively, on their, own or in collaboration with technology. Therefore, the management of organisational behaviour

central to the management taska task that involves the capacity to "understand" the behaviour patterns of individuagroups and organisations, to ''predict'" what behavioural responses will be elicited by various managerial actions anfinally to use this understanding and these predictions to achieve "control".

Organisational behaviour can then be defined as: "The study of human behaviour in organisational settings, tinterface between human behaviour and the organisational context, and the organisation itself."

The above definition has three partsthe individual behaviour, the organisation and the (interface between ttwo. Each individual brings to an organisation a unique set of beliefs, values, attitudes and other personcharacteristics and these characteristics of all individuals must interact with each other in order to create organisation


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settings. The organisational behaviour is specifically concerned with work-related behaviour, which takes place organisations.

In addition to understanding; the on-going behavioural processes involved, in 'their own jobs, managers muunderstand the basic human element of their work. Organisational behaviour offers three major ways of understandithis context; people as organisations, people as resources and people as people.

Above all, organisations are people; and without people there would be no organisations. Thus, if manageare to understand the organisations in which they work, they must first understand the people who make up torganisations.

As resources, people are one of the organisation's most valuable assets. People create the organisation, guiand direct its course, and vitalise and revitalise it. People make the decisions, solve the problems, and answer tquestions. As managers increasingly recognise the value of potential contributions by their employees, it will becommore and more important for managers and employees to grasp the complexities of organisational behaviour.

Finally, there is people as people - an argument derived from the simple notion of humanistic managemePeople spend a large part of their lives in ; organisational settings, mostly as employees. They have a right to expesomething in return beyond wages and benefits. They have a right to expect satisfaction and to learn new skills. understanding of organisational behaviour can help the manager better appreciate the variety of individual needs anexpectations.

Organisational behaviour is concerned with the characteristics and behaviours of employees in isolation; tcharacteristics and processes that are part of the organisation itself; 'and the characteristics and behaviours direcresulting from people with their individual needs and motivations working within the structure of the organisation. Ocannot understand an individuals behaviour completely without learning something about that individual's organisatioSimilarly, he cannot understand how the organisation operates without; studying the people who-make it up. Thus, torganisation influences and is influenced by individuals.

ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOURThe key elements in the organisational behaviour are people,, structure, technology and the environment in which torganisation operates.

People:People make up the internal and social system of the organisation. They consist of individuals agroups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or unofficial. Groups are dynamic and thwork in the organisation to achieve their objectives.

Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organisations. Different people in torganisation are performing different type of jobs and they need to be (elated in some structural way so th

their work can be effectively co-ordinated. Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with which peop

work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a significant influence on workirelationships. It allows people to do more and work better but it also restricts' people in various ways.

Environment:All organisations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a larger system thcontains many other elements such as government, family and other organisations. All of these mutuainfluence each other in a complex system that creates a context for a group of people.

NATURE OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUREach individual brings to an organisation a unique set of personal characteristics, experiences from other organisatiothe environment surrounding the organisation and

1they also posses a personal background. In considering the peop

working in an organisation, organisational behaviour must look at the unique perspective that each individual brings the work setting.

But individuals do not work in isolation. They come in contact with other individuals and the organisation invariety of ways. Points of contact include managers, co-workers, formal policies and procedures of the organisatioand various changes implemented by the organisation. Over time, the individual, too, changes, as a function of both tpersonal experiences and the organisation. The organisation is also affected by the presence and eventual absencethe individual. Clearly, the study of organisational behaviour must consider the ways in which the individual and torganisation interact.

An organisation, characteristically, exists before a particular person joins it and continues to exist after leaves it. Thus, the organisation itself represents a crucial third perspective from which to view organisationbehaviour.


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NEED FOR STUDYING ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOURThe rules of work are different from the rules of play. The uniqueness of rules and the environment of organisatioforces managers to study organisational behaviour in order to learn about normal and abnormal ranges of behaviour.

More specifically, organisational behaviour serves three purposes:

What causes behaviour?

Why particular antecedents cause behaviour?

Which antecedents of behaviour can be controlled directly and which are beyond control?

A more specific and formal course in organisational behaviour helps an individual to develop more refined aworkable sets of assumption that is directly relevant to his work interactions. Organisational behaviour helps predicting human behaviour in the organisational setting by drawing a clear distinction between individual behavioand group behaviour.

Organisational behaviour does not provide solutions to all complex and different behaviour puzzles organisations. It is only the intelligent judgement of the manager in dealing with a specific issue that can try to solve thproblem. Organisational behaviour only assists in making judgements that are derived from tenable assumptionjudgement that takes into account the important variables underlying the situation; judgement that are assigned drecognition to the complexity of individual or group behaviour; judgement that explicitly takes into account the manageown goals, motives, hang-ups, blind spots and weaknesses.

IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Organisational behaviour offers several ideas to management as to how human factor should be properly emphasisto achieve organisational objectives. Barnard has observed that an organisation is a conscious interaction of two more people. This suggests that since an organisation is Ihe interaction of persons, they should be given adequaimportance in managing the organisation. Organisational behaviour provides opportunity to management to analyhuman behaviour and prescribe means for shaping it to a particular direction.

Understanding Human Behaviour Organisational behaviour provides understanding the human behaviour in directions in which the human beings interact. Thus, organisational behaviour can be understood at the individual levinterpersonal level, group level and inter-group level.

Organisational behaviour helps to analyse 'why' and 'how' an individual behaves in a particular way. Humbehaviour is a complex phenomenon and is affected by a large number of factors including the psychological, socand cultural implications. Organisational behaviour integrates these factors to provide* simplicity in understanding thuman behaviour.

Interpersonal Level: Human behaviour can be understood at the level of interpersonal interactioOrganisational behaviour provides means for understanding the interpersonal relationships in an organisatioAnalysis of reciprocal relationships, role analysis and transactional analysis are some of the common methodwhich provide such understanding.

Group Level: Though people interpret anything at their individual level, they are often modified by gropressures, which then become a force in shaping human behaviour, Thus, individuals should be studied groups also.. Research in group dynamics has contributed vitally to organisational behaviour and shows howgroup behaves in its norms, cohesion, goals, procedures, communication pattern and leadership. Theresearch results are advancing managerial knowledge of understanding group behaviour, which is veimportant for organisational morale and productivity.

Inter-group Level:The organisation is made up of many groups that develop complex relationships to butheir process and substance. Understanding the effect of group relationships is important for managers

today's organisation. Inter-group relationship may be in the form of co-operation or competition.

The co-operative relationships help the organisation in achieving its objectives. Organisational behaviour providmeans to understand and achieve co-operative group relationships through interaction, rotation of members amogroups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focussing on total group objectives.

Controlling and Directing Behaviour:After understanding the mechanism of human behaviour, manageare required to control and direct the behaviour so that it conforms to the standards required for achieving torganisational objectives. Thus, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour at all levels individual interaction. Therefore, organisational behaviour helps managers in controlling and directing


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different areas such as use of power and sanction, leadership, communication and building organisatioclimate favourable for better interaction.

Use of Power and Sanction: The behaviours can be controlled and directed by the use of power asanction, which are formally defined by the organisation. Power is referred to as the capacity of an individual take certain action and may be utilised in many ways. Organisational behaviour explains how various meanspower and sanction can ,be utilised so that both organisational and individual objectives are achievsimultaneously.

Leadership: Organisational behaviour brings new insights and understanding to the practice and theory leadership. It identifies various leadership styles available to a manager and analyses which style is moappropriate in a given situation. Thus, managers can adopt styles keeping in view the various dimensions

organisations, individuals and situations. Communication:Communication helps people to come in contact with each other. To achieve organisation

objectives, the communication must be effective. The communication process and its work in inter-persondynamics have been evaluated by organisational behaviour.

Organisational Climate: Organisational climate refers to the total organisational situations affecting humbehaviour. Organisational climate takes a system perspective that affect human behaviour. Besides improvithe satisfactory working conditions and adequate compensation, organisational climate includes creation of atmosphere of effective supervision; the opportunity for the realisation of personal goals, congenial relatiowith others at the work place and a sense of accomplishment.

Organisational Adaptation: Organisations, as dynamic entities are characterised by pervasive changeOrganisations have to adapt themselves to the environmental changes by making suitable, internarrangements such as convincing employees who normally have the tendency of resisting any changes.

LEVELS OF ANALYSISOrganisational behaviour can be viewed from different perspectives or levels of analysis. At one level, the organisatcan be viewed as consisting of individuals working on tasks in the pursuit of the organisational goals. A second level analysis focuses upon the interaction among organisational members as they work in' teams, groups and departmenFinally, organisational behaviour can be analysed from the perspective of the organisation as a whole.

Organisation at the Individual Level:Organisational behaviour can be studied in the perspective of individumembers of the organisation. This approach to organisational behaviour draws heavily on the discipline psychology and explains why individuals behave and react the way they do to different organisational policiepractices and procedures. Within this perspective, psychologically based theories of learning, motivatiosatisfaction and leadership are brought to bear upon the behaviour and performance of individual membersan organisation. Factors such as attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and personalities are taken into account antheir impact upon individuals behaviour and performance on the job is studied.

Organisation at the Group Level:People rarely work independently in organisations; they have to necessarwork in coordination to meet the organisational goals. This frequently results in people working together teams, committees and groups. How do people work together in groups? What factors determine whethgroup will be cohesive and productive? What types of tasks could be assigned to groups? These are somethe questions that can be asked about the effective functioning of groups in organisations. An importacomponent of organisational behaviour involves the application of knowledge and theories from socpsychology to the study of groups in organisations.

Organisation at the Organisational Level:Some organisational behaviour researchers take the organisatias a whole as their object of study. This j macro perspective on organisational behaviour draws heavily otheories and concepts from the discipline of 'sociology'. Researchers seek to understand the implications of trelationship between the organisation and its environment for the effectiveness of the organisation. Emphasisplaced upon understanding how organisational structure and design influences the effectiveness of organisation. Other factors such as the technology employed by the organisation, the size of the organisatiand the organisation's age are also examined and their implications for effective organisational functioning aexplored.

These different perspectives on the study of organisational behaviour are not in conflict with one another. Instead thare complementary. A full and complete understanding of the nature of organisations and the determinants of theffectiveness requires a blending of knowledge derived from each perspective.

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUROrganisational behaviour starts with the following six fundamental concepts revolving around the nature of people aorganisations:The nature of people:

Individual differences

A whole person

Motivated behaviour


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Value of the personThe nature of organisation:

Social system

Mutual interest

Individual Differences:Individuals are different in their physical and mental traits. They are different not onin the physical appearance such as sex, age, height, weight, complexion and so on but also different in thpsychological trait such as intelligence, attitude, motivation and perception. This belief that each persondifferent from all others is typically called the 'Law of Individual Differences'. Individual differences mean ththe management has to treat them differently to get the best out of them.

A Whole Person: Though the organisation may feel that they are employing only the individual's skill

intelligence, in fact, they employ the 'whole person'. This means that individual does not have only the skill anintelligence but he has a personal life, needs and desires as well. In other words, his personal life cannot separated from his work life since people function as total human beings.

When management practices organisational behaviour, it is not only trying to develop a better employee but it alwants to develop a 'better person' in terms of all round growth and development. The benefit will extend beyond tfirm into the larger society in which each employee lives.

Motivated behaviour:It is the urge of the individual to satisfy a particular need that motivates him to do an aThe motivation could be positive or negative.Motivation is essential for the proper functioning of organisations. The organisation can show to its employehow certain actions will increase their need fulfilment.

Value of the Person:It is more an ethical philosophy. It stresses that people are to be treated with respect adignity. Every job, however simple, entitles the people who do it to proper respect and recognition of theunique aspirations and abilities. Since organisational behaviour involves people, ethical philosophy is involv

in one way or the other.The nature of an organisation can be understood with the help of tjie description of following two points:

Social System:A system is a group of independent and interrelated elements comprising a unified whole.context with an organisation, the individuals of a society are considered as a system organised bycharacteristic pattern of relationships having a distinctive culture and values. It is also called social organisatior social structure. It can be further divided into following categories:

o Feudal system: This is a social system, which is developed in Europe in the 8th Century. A political aeconomic system based on the holding of. land and relation of lord to vassal and characterized by homaglegal and military service of tenants, and forfeiture.

o Patriarchate:This is social system, in which a male is considered to be the family head and title or surnametraced through his chain. In other words, power lies in his hands.

o Matriarchate:This is social system, in which a female is considered to be the family head and title or surnam

is traced through her chain. In other words, power lies in her hands.o Meritocracy:This is a social system, in which power vests in the hands of the person with superior intellects.o Class Structure:This is a social system of different classes with in a society.o Segregation:This is a social system, which provides separate facilities for minority groups of a society.

Mutual Interest: Organisational relationships are most likely to be strong if different groups can negotiastrategies. This can be defined as the interests that are common to both the parties and are related to taccomplishment of their respective goals. This space for sharing ideas builds trust. Individuals who hashared mutual interests are likely to make their organisation the strongest, because even though the views adifferent they have a shared concern for similar objectives. It is important for the individuals to think about thissues openly, and to incorporate the perspectives of their colleagues. This helps to build sustainable aharmonious activities that can operate in the mutual direct interests of the organisation.

Holistic Organisational Behaviour: When the above six concepts of organisational behaviour are considertogether, they provide a holistic concept of the subject. Holistic organisational behaviour interprets people-organisatrelationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organisation and whole social system.

Thus, the blending of nature of people and organisation results in an holistic organisational behaviour.


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LESSON 3Models of organizational behaviour

Learning ObjectivesAfter reading this lesson, you should be able to understand:

The concept of organizational behaviour system

The different models of organizational behaviour

The importance of organizational behaviour to managers

The future of organizational behaviour

Organizations have undergone tremendous change in the behaviour of their employee's. Earlier employers had systematic program for managing their employees instead their simple rules served as a powerful influence employees. However, today increasing many organizations are experimenting with new ways to attract and motivatheir employees.

CONCEPT OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR SYSTEMOrganizations achieve their goals by creating, communicating and operating an organizational behaviour systeOrganizational behaviour system defines organizational structure and culture and explains their impact on employeeThe figure 3.1 shows the major elements of a good organizational behaviour system:

These systems exist in every organization, but sometimes in varying forms. They have a greater chance of beisuccessful, though, if they have been consciously created, regularly examined and updated to meet new and emergiconditions. The primary advantage of organizational behaviour system is to identify the major human and organizationvariables that affect organizational outcomes. For some variables managers can only be aware of them a

acknowledge their impact whereas for other variables, managers can exert some control over them. The outcomes ameasured in terms of quantity and quality of products and services, level of customer service, employee satisfactiand personal growth and development.

These systems exist in every organization, but sometimes in varying forms. They have a greater chance being successful, though, if they have been consciously created, regularly examined and updated to meet new aemerging conditions. The primary advantage of organizational behaviour system is to identify the major human aorganizational variables that affect organizational outcomes. For some variables managers can only be aware of theand acknowledge their impact whereas for other variables, managers can exert some control over them. The outcomarc measured in terms of quantity and quality of products and services, level of customer service, employee satisfactiand personal growth and development.


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ELEMENTS OF THE SYSTEMThe system's base rests in the fundamental beliefs and intentions of those who join together to create it such as owneand managers who currently administer it. The philosophy of organizational behaviour held by management consists an integrated set of assumptions and beliefs about the way things are, the purpose for these activities, and the wthey should be. These philosophies are sometimes explicit and occasionally implicit, in the minds managers.

Organizations differ in the quality of organizational behaviour that they develop. These differences asubstantially caused by different models of organizational behaviour that dominant management's thought in eaorganization. The model that a manager holds usually begins with certain assumptions about people and thereby leato certain interpretations of organizational events.

The following four models of organizational behaviour are as follows: A. Autocratic modelB. Custodial modelC. Supportive modelD. Collegial model

Autocratic ModelIn an autocratic model', the manager has the power to command his subordinates to do a specific job. Managemebelieves that it knows what is best for an organization and therefore, employees are required to follow their orders. Thpsychological result of this model on employees is their increasing dependence on their boss. Its main weakness is high human cost.

Custodial ModelThis model focuses better employee satisfaction and security. Under this model organizations satisfy the security awelfare needs of employees. Hence, it is known as custodian model. This model leads to employee dependence on aorganization rather than on boss. As a result of economic rewards and benefits, employees are happy and contentbut they are not strongly motivated.

Supportive ModelThe supportive model depends on 'leadership' instead of power or money. Through leadership, management provida climate to help employees grow and accomplish in the interest of an organization. This model assumes themployees will take responsibility, develop a drive to contribute and improve them if management will give themchance. Therefore, management's direction is to 'Support' the employee's job performance rather than to 'suppoemployee benefit payments, as in the custodial approach. Since management supports employees in their work, tpsychological result is a feeling of participation and task involvement in an, organization.Collegial ModelThe term 'collegial' relates to a body of persons having a common purpose. It is a team concept. Management is tcoach that builds a better team. The management is seen as joint contributor rather than as a boss. The employ

response to this situation is responsibility. The psychological result of the collegial approach for the employee is 'sediscipline'. In this kind of environment employees normally feel some degree of fulfillment and worthwhile contributitowards their work. This results in enthusiasm in employees' performance.

FOUR MODELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Autocratic Custodial Supportive CollegialBasis of Model Power Economic

resourcesLeadership Partnership

Managerial-orientation

Authority Money Support Teamwork

Employeepsychological

result

Dependence onboss

Dependence onorganization

Participation Self-discipline

Employee needsmet

Subsistence Security Status andrecognition

Self-actualization

Performanceresult

Minimum Passivecooperation

Awakeneddrives

Moderate enthusiasm

It is wrong to assume that a particular model is the best model. This is because a model depends on tknowledge about human behaviour in a particular environment, which is unpredictable. The primary challenge fmanagement is to identify the model it is actually using and then assess its current effectiveness.


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The selection of model by a manager is determined by a number of factors such as, the existing philosophvision and goals of manager. In addition, environmental conditions help in determining which model will be the moeffective model.

IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR TO MANAGERSManagers perform four major functions such as planning, organizing, directing and controlling. In addition to thefunctions there are ten managerial roles, which can be defined as organized set of behaviors identified with tposition. These roles are developed by Henry Mintzberg in 1960s after a careful study of executives at work. All theroles, in one form or other deal with people and their behaviour. These ten managerial roles are divided into thrcategories. The first category called the interpersonal roles arises directly from the manager's position and the form

authority given to him. The second category, the informational role arises as a direct result of the interpersonal roland these two categories give rise to the third category called decisional roles. Figure 3.2 shows the categories managerial roles.

The roles, in the context of organizational behaviour, are as follows:Interpersonal RolesIn every organization managers spend a considerable amount of time in interacting with other people both within theown organizations as well as outside. These people include peers, subordinates, superiors, suppliers, customegovernment officials and community leaders. All these interactions require an understanding of interpersonal behaviouStudies show that interacting with people takes up nearly 80% of a manager's time. These interactions involve tfollowing three major interpersonal roles:

Figure/lead Role:Managers act as symbolic figureheads performing social or legal obligations. These dutinclude greeting visitors, signing legal documents, taking important customers to lunch, attending subordinate's wedding and speaking at functions in schools and churches. All these, primarily, are duties o

ceremonial nature but are important for the smooth functioning of an organization. Leadership Role:The influence of the manager is most clearly seen in the leadership role as a leader of a u

or an organization. Since he is responsible for the activities of his subordinates therefore he must lead acoordinate their activities in meeting task-related goals and motivate them to perform better. He must be ideal leader so that his subordinates follow his directions and guidelines with respect and dedication.

Liaison Role:The managers must maintain a network of outside contacts. In addition, they need to haveconstant contact with their own subordinates, peers and superiors in order to assess the external environmeof competition, social changes or changes in governmental rules and regulations. In this role, the managebuild up their own external information system. This can be achieved by attending meetings and professionconferences, personal phone calls, trade journals and informal personal contacts with outside agencies.


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Information Roles

A manager, by virtue of his interpersonal contacts, emerges as a source of information about a variety of issuconcerning an organization. In this capacity of information processing, a manager executes the following three roles.

Monitor Role:The managers are constantly monitoring and scanning their internal and external environmecollecting and studying information regarding their organization. This can be done by reading reports aperiodicals, interrogating their liaison contacts and through gossip, hearsay and speculation.

Information Disseminator Role: The managers must transmit the information regarding changes policies or other matters to their subordinates, their peers and to other members of an organization. Tcan be done through memos, phone calls, individual meetings and group meetings.

Spokesman Role:A manager has to be a spokesman for his unit and represent his unit in either sendi

relevant information to people outside his unit or making some demands on behalf of his unit.Decision RolesA manager must make decisions and solve organizational problems on the basis of the environmental informatireceived. In that respect, a manager plays four important roles.

Entrepreneur Role:Managers, as entrepreneurs are constantly involved in improving their units and facing tdynamic technological challenges. They are constantly on the lookout for new ideas for product improvementproduct addition. They initiate feasibility studies, arrange capital for new products and ask for suggestiofrom the employees to improve organization. This can be achieved through suggestion boxes, holdistrategy meetings with project managers and R&D personnel.

Conflict Handling Role: The managers are constantly involved as judge in solving conflicts among temployees and between employees and management. Mangers must anticipate such problems and tapreventive action and take corrective action once the problem arises. These problems may involve labdisputes, customer complaints, employee grievances, machine breakdowns, cash flow shortages a

interpersonal conflicts. Resource Allocation Role: The managers establish priorities among various projects or programs and ma

budgetary allocations to different activities of an organization based on these priorities.

Negotiator Role:The managers in their negotiator role represent their organization in negotiating deals aagreements within and outside of an organization. They negotiate contracts with the unions. Sales managemay negotiate prices with prime customers. Purchasing managers may negotiate prices with vendors.

All these ten roles are important in a manager's job and are interrelated, even though some roles may be moinfluential than others depending upon the managerial position. For example, sales manager gives more importance interpersonal roles, while the production manager may give more importance to decisional roles.

LIMITATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Organizational behaviour cannot abolish conflict and frustration but can only reduce them. It is a way

improve but not an absolute answer to problems.

It is only one of the many systems operating within a large social system. People who lack system understanding may develop a 'behavioral basis', which gives them a narrow vie

point, i.e., a tunnel vision that emphasizes on satisfying employee experiences while overlooking the broadsystem of an organization in relation to all its public.

The law of diminishing returns also operates in the case of organizational behaviour. It states, that at sompoint increase of a desirable practice produce declining returns and sometimes, negative returns. The conceimplies that for any situation there is an optimum amount of a desirable practice. When that point is exceedethere is a decline in returns. For example, too much security may lead to less employee initiative and growThis relationship shows that organizational effectiveness is achieved not by maximizing one human variable bby working all system variables together in a balanced way.

A significant concern about organizational behaviour is that its knowledge and techniques could be used manipulate people without regard for human welfare. People who lack ethical values could use people unethical ways.

FUTURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOURThe growing interest in organizational behaviour stems from both a philosophical desire by many people to create mohumanistic work places and a practical need to design more productive work environments. As a result of these forceorganizational behaviour is now a part of the curriculum of almost all courses including engineering and medical.

The field of organizational behaviour has grown in depth and breadth. The keys to its past and future succerevolve around the related processes of theory development, research and managerial practice.

Although organizational behaviour has certain limitations, it has a tremendous potential to contribute to tadvancement of civilisation. It has provided and will provide much improvement in the human environment. By buildia better climate for people, organizational behaviour will release their creative potential to solve major social problemIn this way organizational behaviour will contribute to social improvements. Improved organizational behaviour is neasy to apply but opportunities are there. It should produce a higher quality of life in which there is improved harmowithin each individual, among people and among the organizations of future.


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LESSON 4GLOBAL SCENARIO OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Learning ObjectivesAfter reading this lesson, you should be able to understand:

The global scenario of organizational behaviour

The barriers to cultural adaptation and measures to overcome those barriers

Due to globalization of economy, many organizations now operate in more than one country. These multinationoperations add new dimensions to organizational behaviour. It is a step into different social, political and economenvironments. Therefore, communication and control becomes difficult. The social, political and economic differencamong countries" influence international organizational behaviour.

SOCIAL CONDITIONSIn many countries due to poorly developed resources, there is shortage of managerial personnel, scientists atechnicians. Hence the required skills must be temporarily imported from other countries, and training programs need be developed to train the local workers. Trained locals become the nucleus for developing others, thereby spreadithe training through masses.

Another significant social condition in many countries is that the local culture is not familiar with advanc

technology. A few countries arc agriculture dominated and a few other manufacturing industries dominated. Naturalthe nature of their culture and work life will be different.

POLITICAL CONDITIONSPolitical conditions that have a significant effect on organizational behaviour include instability of the governmerestricting industries to a particular area and nationalistic drives such as self-sufficiency in latest technologies. Whthe government is unstable, organizations become cautious about further investments. This organizational instabileaves workers insecure and causes them to be passive and low in taking any initiatives.

In spite of instability, a nationalistic drive is strong for locals to run their country and their organizations themselves without any interference by foreign nationals.

In some nations, organized labor is mostly an arm of the authoritarian state and in some other nations laborsomewhat independent. In some nations, State tends to be involved in collective bargaining and other practices thaffect workers. For example, workers' participation in management are restricted by law while in other countries thare permitted.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONSThe most significant economic conditions in less developed nations are low per capita income and rapid inflatioInflation makes the economic life of workers insecure when compared to developed countries.

The different socio-economic and political conditions existing in countries influence the introduction advanced technology and sophisticated organizational systems. A developed country can easily adopt advanctechnology when compared to a less developed country. These limiting conditions cannot be changed rapidly becauthey arc too well established and woven into the whole social fabric of a nation.

MANAGING AN INTERNATIONAL WORKFORCEWhenever an organization expands its operations to other countries, it tends to become multicultural and will then fathe challenge of blending various cultures together. The managerial personnel entering another nation need to adjutheir leadership styles, communication patterns and other practices to fit their host country. Their role is to provid

fusion of cultures in which employees from both countries adjust to the new situation seeking a greater productivity fthe benefit of both the organization and the people of the country in which it operates.

Barriers to Cultural Adaptation

Managers and other employees who come into a host country tend to exhibit different behaviors asomewhat, see situation around them from their own perspectives. They may fail to recognize the kdifferences between their own and other cultures. These people are called, 'parochial'.

Another category of managers called 'individualistic' place greatest emphasis on their personal needs awelfare. They are more concerned about themselves than the host country.

Another potential barrier to easy adaptation of another culture occurs, when-people are predisposed to beliethat their homeland conditions are the-best. This predisposition is known as the 'self-reference criterion'


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'ethnocentrism'. This feeling interferes with understanding human: behaviour in other cultures and obtainiproductivity from local employees.

Cultural DistanceTo decide the amount of adaptation that may be required when personnel moves to another country, it is helpful understand the cultural distance between the two countries. Cultural distance is the amount of distance between atwo social systems. Whatever may be the amount of cultural distance, it does affect the responses of all individuals business. The manager's job is to make the employees adapt to the other culture and integrate the interests of tvarious cultures involved.

Cultural ShockWhen employees enter another nation they tend to suffer cultural shock, which is the insecurity and disorientatiocaused by encountering a different culture. They may not know how to act. may fear losing face and self-confidencemay become emotionally upset. Cultural shock is virtually universal. Some of the more frequent reasons for cultushock are as follows:

Different management philosophies

New language

Alternative food, dress, availability of goods

Attitude towards work and productivity

Separation from family, friends and colleagues

Unique currency systemMany expatriates report difficulty in adjusting to different human resource management philosophies, the languag

the different currency and work attitudes in another culture.

Overcoming Barriers to Cultural Adaptation

Careful selection; of employees, who can withstand/adjust cultural shocks for international assignments*important.

Pre-departure training in geography, customs, culture and political environment in which the employee will living will help for cultural adaptation.

Incentives and guarantees for better position will motivate employees for cultural adaptation in the new countr

Employees who return to their home country after working in another nation for sometime tend to suffer cultushock in their own homeland. After adjusting to the culture of another nation and enjoying its uniqueness, itdifficult for expatriates to re-adjust to the surroundings of their home country. Hence, organizations nerepatriation policies and programs to help returning employees obtain suitable assignments and adjust to th'new' environments.

Cultural Contingencies

Productive business practices from one country cannot be transferred directly to another country. This reflects the idof cultural contingency that the most productive practices for a particular nation will depend heavily on the cultusocial system, economic development and employee's values in the host country. Hence, the expatriate managemust learn to operate effectively in a new environment with certain amount of flexibility. Labor policy, personnpractices and production methods need to be adapted to a different labor force. Organization structures acommunication patterns need to be suitable for local operations.

MANAGEMENT'S INTEGRATING ROLEOnce managers are in a host country, their attention needs to be directed toward integrating the technologicapproaches with the local cultures involved.

Motivating and Leading Local EmployeesSame motivational tools may not suit the employees of all the nations. Hence, appropriate motivational techniquneed to be implemented depending on the requirement of employees of that particular nation.

Similarly, communication problems may also arise between the expatriate manager and the employees of thost country. Hence, managers need to make adjustments in their communication suited to< local cultures. If locculture is ignored, the resulting imbalance in the social system interferes with the productivity.

Eventually, a cadre of employees with cross-cultural adaptability can be developed in organizations with larinternational operations. These employees are 'trans-cultural employees because they operate effectively in sevecultures. They are low in ethnocentrism and adapt readily to different cultures without major cultural shock. Thusually can communicate fluently in more than one language.

Trans-cultural employees are especially needed in large, multinational firms that operate in a-variety of nationcultures. For a firm to be truly multi-national in character, it should have ownership, operations, markets and managetruly diversified. Its leaders look to the world as an economic and social unit; but they recognize each local culturrespect its integrity, acknowledge its benefits and use its differences effectively in their organization.


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LESSON 5

FOUNDATION OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR


Understand the nature of individual differences in organizations

Identify the individual factors affecting organizational behavior

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIORHuman behavior, which is; considered a complex phenomenon, is very difficult to define in absolute terms. It is primara combination of responses to external and internal stimuli. These responses would reflect psychological structure the person and may be results' of the combination of biological and psychological processes, which interpret therespond to them in an appropriate manner and learn from the result of these responses.

Psychologist Kurt Levin has conducted; considerable research into the human behavior and its causes. Hbelieves that people are influenced by a number of diversified factors, which can be both genetic and environmentThe influence of these factors determines the pattern of human behavior.

Whenever people buy something, for example, a car, both the buyer and the seller sign a contract thspecifies the terms of the sales agreement. Similarly, most people, when they begin a working relationship with organization formulate a psychological contract with their employer. A psychological contract is the overall set

expectations that an individual holds with respect to his or her contributions to the. organization and the organizationresponse to those contributions. A psychological contract is not written down like a legal contract.An individual makes a variety of contributions to an organization in the form ofefforts, skills, ability, tim

loyalty and so forth. These contributions presumably satisfy various needs and requirements of the organization. return for contributions, the organization provides incentives such as pay, promotion, and job security to the employeJust as the contributions available from the individual must satisfy the organization's needs, the incentives must serthe employees' needs in return.

If both the individual and the organization consider the psychological contract fair and equitable, they will satisfied with the relationship and are likely to continue it. If either party perceives an imbalance or iniquity in thcontract, it may initiate a change. A major challenge faced by an organization, thus, is to manage the psychologiccontracts.

One specific aspect of managing psychological contracts is managing the person-job fit. The 'person-job fit'the extent to which the contributions made by the individual match the incentives offered by the organization. In theoeach employee has a specific set of needs to fulfill and a set of job related behaviors and abilities to contribute. If thorganization can take complete advantage of those behaviors and abilities and exactly fulfill the employee's needswill achieve a perfect person-job fit. Of course, such a precise, level of person-job fit is seldom achieved due to varioreasons such as imperfect selection procedures, differences in individual skills, constant change in the needs arequirements of people and organization. Thus, the behavior of individuals in organization is the primary concern management and it is essential that the managers should have an understanding of the factors influencing the behavof the employees they manage. The figure 5.1 identifies five sets of factors that have an impact upon individubehavior in organizations.

NATURE OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCESIndividual differences are personal attributes that vary from one person to another. Individual differences may physical and psychological. The figure 5.2 shows the attributes of physical and psychological differences.


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Physical Differences Psychological Differences

Height

Weight

Body Shape

Appearance

Complexionfigure5.2

Personality

Attitudes

Perception

Motivation

Learning

Whenever an organization attempts to assess the individual differences among its employees, it must considthe situation in which that particular behavior occurs. Individuals who are satisfied in one context may prove to dissatisfied in another context. Assessing both individual differences and contributions in relation to incentives acontexts, then, is a major challenge for organizations as they attempt to establish effective psychological contracts wtheir employees and achieve optimal fits between people and jobs.

Individual differences make the manager's job extremely challenging. In fact, according to a recent researc"variability among workers is substantial at all levels but increases dramatically with job complexity. Due to thereasons, growing work force diversity compel managers to view individual differences in a fresh way. Leaders now tafrequently about "valuing differences" and learn to "manage diversity". So rather than limiting diversity, as in the patoday's managers need to better understand and accommodate employee diversity and individual differences.

IMPORTANT DIMENSIONS OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Self-concept Personality dimensions

Abilities, and

Personal values and ethics.

Self-conceptSelf is the core of one's conscious existence. Awareness of self is referred to as one's self-concept. Sociologists VikGecas defines self-concept as "the concept the individual has of himself as a physical, social and spiritual or mobeing". In other words, every individual recognizes himself as a distinct individual. A self-concept would be impossibwithout the capacity to think. This brings us to the role of cognitions. Cognitions represent, "any knowledge, opinion, belief about the environment about oneself, or about one's behavior". Among many different types of cognitions, thoinvolving expectation, planning, goal setting, evaluating and setting personal standards are particularly relevant organizational, behavior.

Self-esteemSelf-esteem is a belief over one's own worth based on an overall self-evaluation. Those with low self-esteem tendview themselves in negative terms. They do not feel good about themselves, tend to have trouble in dealing effectivewith others, and are hampered by self-doubts. High self-esteem individuals, in contrast, see themselves as worthwhicapable and acceptable. Although, high self-esteem is generally considered a positive trait because it is associated wbetter performance and greater satisfaction, recent research uncovered flaws among those having high self-esteeSpecifically, high self-esteem subjects tended to become self-centered and boastful when faced with situations undpressure Hence moderate self-esteem is desirable.

Managers can build employee self-esteem in four ways:1. Be supportive by showing concern for personal problems, interests, status and contribution.2. Offer work involving variety, autonomy and challenges that suit the individual's values, skills and abilities.3. Strive for management-employee cohesiveness and trust building.

4. Have faith in each employee's self-management ability, reward successes.

Self-efficacySelf-efficacy is a person's belief about his' or her chances of successfully accomplishing a specific task. Accordingone organizational behavior writer, "Self-efficacy arises from the gradual acquisition of complex, cognitive, socilinguistic, and/or physical skills through experience",

There is strong linkage between high self-efficacy expectations and success in terms of physical and mentasks, anxiety reduction, addiction control, pain tolerance and illness recovery. Oppositely, those with low self-efficaexpectations tend to have low success rates.


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Self-efficacy Implications for ManagersManagers need to nurture self-efficacy in them and in their employees. Self-efficacy requires constructive action each of the following managerial areas:

To design recruitment selection procedure.

To design interview questions to probe applicant's general self-efficacy for determining orientation and trainineeds.

For designing job.

For systematic self-management training.

For goal-setting and quality improvement.

To evolve suitable leadership.

To design suitable regards.

Personality DimensionsThe big, five personality dimensions are: extroversion, agreeableness, thoroughness, emotional stability and openneto experience. Ideally, these personality dimensions that correlate positively and strongly with job performance woube helpful in the selection, training and appraisal of employees. The individuals who exhibit; traits associated withstrong sense of responsibility and determination generally perform better than those who do not.

PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL QUALITIESPhysical differences among individuals are the most visible of all differences. They are also relatively easy to assesIntellectual differences are somewhat more difficult to discern, but they too can be assessed by fairly objective meanThe abilities/skills and competencies of employees are both physical and intellectual qualities.

Ability refers to an individual's skill to perform effectively in one or more areas of activity, such as physic

mental or interpersonal work.Individuals with numerical ability, for example, can be trained to apply their ability in the field of engineerinaccounting and computer science. Abilities develop from an individual's natural aptitudes and subsequelearning opportunities. Aptitudes are relatively stable capacities for performing some activity effectiveLearning opportunities translate aptitude into abilities through practice, experience and formal traininOrganizations have to ensure that people possess the necessary abilities to engage in the behaviors requirfor effective performance. This can 6e accomplished either by careful selection of people or by a combinatiof selection and training.

Skills are generally thought of as being more task-specific capabilities than abilities. For example, an individuwith numerical ability who goes to school to learn accounting develops a numerical skill specific to that fielThus, when a particular ability is applied to a specialized area, (for example accounting), it becomes a skill.

Competencies are skills associated with specialization. Competencies are skills that have been refined practice and experience and that enable, the-individual to specialize in some field. For example, an accounta

with numerical "ability and accounting skill takes a position in the Taxation Department and as time passes, develops more competency as a tax expert.

Physical abilities such as strength, flexibility, endurance and stamina can be developed with exercise and traininMental abilities such as reasoning, memory visualization, comprehension and inter-personal abilities can also developed through practice and education. Even in the absence of such formal programs, many individuals manatheir own careers in such a way as to continually upgrade their abilities, skills and competencies in order to remavaluable to their organizations.

PERSONAL VALUES AND ETHICSAccording to Milton Rokeach, a value is "an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end-stated

existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct are end-state of existence".Ethics involve the study of moral issues and choices. It is concerned with right versus wrong and good vers

bad. Relative to the workplace, the terms business ethics and management ethics are often heard.

Moral Principles for Managers

Judge actions by their consequences; achieve the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Basic human rights should be respected.

Rules and rewards should be administered impartially, fairly and equitably.

Improving Organization's Ethical Climate

Managers are powerful role models whose habits and actual behavior send clear signals about the importanof ethical conduct. Ethical behavior is a 1 top to bottom proposition.

Screen potential employees by checking references, credentials, and other information for ascertaining thethical behavior.


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LESSON - 6PERSONALITY


Understand perceptual clarity about personality

Discuss main determinants of personality

Explain nature and dimensions of personality

Describe personality attributes that are relevant to organizational behavior

Personality is a complex, multi-dimensional construct and there is no simple definition of what personality is. Maddefines personality as,

A stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities a

differences in the psychological behavior and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social abiological pressures of the moment".

From the above definition we can infer that all individuals have some universally common characteristics. Ythey differ in some other specific attributes. This makes it difficult for the managers to assume that they can apply samreward types or motivation techniques to modify different individual behaviors. The definition, however, does not methat people never change. In simple terms, it asserts that individuals do not change all at once. Their thoughts, feelingvalues and actions remain relatively stable over time. Changes in individual's personality can, however, occur graduaover a period of time. The managers should, therefore, attempt to understand certain dimensions of personality. Thcan enable them to predict the behavior of their employees on a daily basis.

Some personality theorists stress the need 6f identifying person-situation as interaction. This is equivalentrecognizing thd social learning aspects related to personality. Such a social learning analysis is one of the mocomprehensive and meaningful ways included in the overall study of organizational behavior. From this perspectivpersonality means the way people affect others. It also involves people's understanding themselves, as well as thpattern of inner and outer measurable traits, and the person and situation interaction. People affect others dependiprimarily upon their external appearance such as height, weight, facial features, color and other physical aspects atraits.

Personality traits are very important in organizational behavior. In particular, five personality traits especiarelated to job performance have recently emerged from research. Characteristics of these traits can be summarized follows:

1. Extroversion: Sociable, talkative and assertive.2. Agreeableness: Good-natured, cooperative and trusting.3. Conscientiousness: Responsible, dependable, persistent and achievement-oriented.4. Emotional Stability: Viewed from a negative standpoint such as tense, insecure and nervous.5. Openness to Experience: Imaginative, artistically sensitive and intellectual.

Identifying the above "big five" traits related to performance reveals that personality plays an important role organizational behavior. Besides physical appearance and personality traits, the aspects of personality concerned wthe self-concept such as self-esteem and self-efficacy and the person-situation interaction also play important roles.

PERSONALITY FORMATIONThe personality formation of an individual starts at birth and continues throughout his life. Three major types of factoplay important roles in personality formation, which are as follows:

Determinants: The most widely studied determinants of personality are biological, social and cultural. Peopgrow up in the presence of certain hereditary characteristics (body shape and height), the social context (famand friends) and the cultural context (religion and values). These three parts interact with each other to sha

personality. As people grow into adulthood, their personalities become very clearly defined and generastable.

Stages: According to Sigmund Freud human personality progresses through four stages: dependecompulsive, oedipal and mature. This concept of stages of growth provides a valuable perspective organizational behavior. Experienced managers become aware of the stages that their employees often through. This helps them 19 deal with these stages effectively and promote maximum growth for the individuand for the organization.

Traits:Traits to personality are also based on psychology. According to some trait theories, all people shacommon traits, like social, (political, religious and aesthetic preferences but each individual's nature differetiates that person from all others.


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PERSONALITY FACTORS IN ORGANISATIQN5Some of the important personality factors that determine what kind of behaviors are exhibited at work include tfollowing:

Need PatternSteers and Braunstein in 1976 ^developed a scale for the four needs of personality that became apparent in the 'woenvironment. They are as follows:

The need for achievement: Those with a high achievement need engage themselves proactively in wobehaviors in order to feel proud of their achievements and successes.

The need for affiliation:Those in greater need for affiliation like to work cooperatively with others.

The need for autonomy:Those in need for autonomy function in the best way when not closely supervised.

The need for dominance: Those high in need for dominance are very effective while operating environments where they can actively enforce their legitimate authority.

Locus of Control

Locus of control is the degree to which an individual believes that his or her behavior has direct impact on thconsequences of that behavior. Some people, for example, believe that if they work hard they will certainly succeeThey, strongly believe that each individual is in control of his or her life. They are said to have an internal locus control. By contrast, some people think that what happens to them is a result of fate, chance, luck or the behavior other people, rather than the lack of skills or poor performance on their part. Because- these individuals think th

forces beyond their control dictate the happenings around them, they are said to have an external locus of control.As a personality attribute, locus of control has clear implications for organizations. For example, certa

individuals have an internal locus of control, which means they have a relatively strong desire to participate in tmanagement of their organizations and have a' freedom to do their jobs. Thus, they may prefer a decentralizorganization where they have a right of decision-making and work with a leader who provides them freedom aautonomy. They may like a reward system that recognizes individual performance and contributions.

Conversely, people with an external locus of control, are likely to prefer a more centralized organization whethey need not take any decisions. They may incline to structured jobs where standard procedures are defined for theThey may prefer a leader who makes most of the decisions and a reward system that considers seniority rather thamerit.

Introversion and ExtroversionIntroversion is the tendency of individuals, which directs them to be inward and process feelings, thoughts and ide

within themselves. Extroversion, on the contrary, refers to the tendency in individuals to look outside themselvesearching for external stimuli with which they can interact. While there is some element of introversion as well extroversion in all of us, people tend to be dominant as either extroverts or introverts. Extroverts are sociable, lively angregarious and seek outward stimuli or external exchanges. Such individuals are likely to be most successful whworking in the sales department, publicity office, personal relations unit, and so on, where they can interact face to fawith others. Introverts, on the other Hand, are quiet, reflective, introspective, and intellectual people, preferring interact with a small intimate circle of friends. Introverts are more likely to be successful when they can work on highabstract ideas such as R&D work, in a relatively quiet atmosphere. Since managers have to constantly interact windividuals both in and out of the organization and influence people to achieve the organization's goals, it is believethat extroverts are likely to be more successful as managers.

Tolerance for Ambiguity

This personality characteristic indicates the level of uncertainty that people can tolerate to work efficiently witho

experiencing undue stress. Managers have to work well under conditions of extreme uncertainty and insufficieinformation, especially when things are rapidly changing in the organization's external environment. Managers whave a high tolerance for ambiguity can cope up well under these conditions. Managers, who have a low tolerance fambiguity may be effective in structured work settings but find it almost impossible to operate effectively when thinare rapidly changing and much information about the future events is not available. Thus, tolerance for ambiguity ispersonality dimension necessary for managerial success.

Self-Esteem and Self-ConceptSelf-esteem denotes the extent to which individuals consistently regard themselves as capable, successful, importaand worthy individuals. Self-esteem is an important personality factor that determines how managers percethemselves and their role in the organization. Self-esteem is important to self-concept, i.e., the way individuals, defithemselves as to who they are and derive their sense of identity. High self-esteem provides a high sense of se


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concept, which, in turn, reinforces high self-esteem. Thus, the two are mutually reinforcing. Individuals with a high seesteem will try to take on more challenging assignments and be successful. Thus, they will be enhancing their seconcept i.e., they would tend to define themselves as highly valued individuals in the organizational system. The highthe self-concept and self-esteem, the greater will be their contributions to the goals of the organization, especially whthe system rewards them for their contributions.

Authoritarianism and DogmatismAuthoritarianism is the extent to which an individual believes that power and status differences are important withhierarchical social systems like organizations. For example, an employee who is highly authoritarian may accedirectives or orders from his superior without much questioning. A person who is not highly authoritarian might agree

carry out appropriate and reasonable directives from his boss. But he may also raise questions, express disagreemeand even refuse to carry out requests if they arc for some reason objectionable.Dogmatism is the rigidity of a person's beliefs and his or her openness to other viewpoints. The popular term

'close-minded' and 'open-minded' describe people who are more and less .dogmatic in their beliefs respectively. Fexample, a manager may be unwilling to listen to a new idea related to doing something more efficiently. He is said be a person who is close-minded or highly dogmatic. A manager who is very receptive to hearing about and trying onew ideas in the same circumstances might be seen as more open-minded or less dogmatic. Dogmatism can be eithbeneficial or detrimental to organizations, but given the degree of change in the nature of organizations and thenvironments, individuals who are, not dogmatic are most likely to be useful and productive organizational members.

Risk PropensityRisk-propensity is the decree to which an individual is willing to take chances and make risky decisions. A managwith a high-risk propensity might be expected to experiment with new ideas and to lead the organization in nedirections. In contrast, a manager with low risk propensity might lead to a stagnant and overly conservatiorganization.

MachiavellianismMachiavellianism is manipulating or influencing other people as a primary way of achieving one's goal. An individutends to be Machiavellian, if he tends to be logical in assessing the system around, willing to twist and turn facts influence others, and try to gain control of people, events and situations by manipulating the system to his advantage.

Type A and B PersonalitiesType A persons feel a chronic sense of time urgency, are highly achievement-oriented, exhibit a competitive drive, aare impatient when their work is slowed down for any reason. Type B persons are easy-going individuals who do nfeel the time urgency, and who do not experience the competitive drive. Type A individuals are significantly more proto heart attacks than Type B individuals. While Type A persons help the organization to move ahead in a relatively shoperiod of time they may also suffer health problems, which might be detrimental to both themselves and th

organization in the long run.

Work-Ethic OrientationSome individuals are highly work-oriented while others try to do the minimum Work that is necessary to get by withobeing fired on-the-job. The extremely work oriented person gets greatly involved in the job. Extreme work ethic valucould lead to traits of "workahollism" where work is considered as the only primary motive for living with very litoutside interests. For a workaholic turning to work can sometimes become a viable alternative to facing non-worelated problems. A high level of work ethic orientation of members is good for the organization to achieve its goaToo much "workahollism", however, might lead to premature physical and mental exhaustion and health problemwhich is dysfunctional for both organization and the workaholic members.

The above ten different personality predispositions are important for individual, managerial aorganizational effectiveness.

DESIRED PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS FOR EFFECTIVE MANAGERS

Obviously, there arc some personality ^predispositions, which are favourable "to managerial effectiveness and to tsuccess of managers. Apart from possessing the necessary skills and abilities, managers need to develop a higtolerance for ambiguity. There are many changes taking place in the internal and the external environment of organization.. Naturally, several unpredictable factors are involved in any complex situation, which are beyond tmanagers control. Therefore, they should be able to, handle situations as they come, without experiencing undstress. Thus, a high tolerance for ambiguity is a desired managerial trait. Managers with a good mix of achievemenaffiliations and power will be successful in most situations. This is because they will have the drive to achieve the goaand the interpersonal orientation to get the job done through others. In sales and other people-oriented roles, extrovmanagers will fit better in their jobs. Similarly, managers with internal locus of control will be more efficient intellectual and skilled performers. Managers with good work ethic values, will get more involved in their jobs and ma


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things happen. They are likely to be more successful in their jobs. Managers with Type A personalities may suit vewell for some jobs, which have inbuilt performance pressures and deadlines, but they need to know how to relthrough exercises and self-monitor their stress levels.

Personality is a relatively stable factor, but our predispositions can be changed through conscious choice. Finstance, our tolerance for ambiguity and ability to handle stress can be considerably enhanced; the attributions wmake for success such as internal versus external-locus of control can be changed. Also, our latent needs can activated and our skills in decision-making can be increased through training programs and by deliberately making tnecessary changes. Recognizing the essential ingredients for managerial success is the first step towards making tchanges.

THE SELF-CONCEPT: SELF-ESTEEM AND SELF-EFFICACYPeople's attempt to understand themselves is called the self-concept in personality theory. The human self is mademany interacting parts and may be though

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