Organizational Behavior: Definition, Importance, Nature,
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself.
Organizational Behavior researchers study the behavior of individuals primarily in their organizational roles.
One of the main goals of organizational behavior is to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of organizational life.
As a multidisciplinary field, organizational behavior has been influenced by developments in a number of allied disciplines including sociology, psychology, economics, and engineering as well as by the experience of practitioners.
Definition by Fred Luthans “Organizational behavior is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and control of human behavior in organizations.” —
According to L. M. Prasad, “Organisational behaviour can be defined as the study and application of knowledge about human behaviour related to other elements of an organisation such as structure, technology and social systems.”
Organisational Behaviour –
Nature: A Separate Field of Study and Not a Discipline Only, An Interdisciplinary Approach, An Applied Science and a Few Others
Organizational behaviour has emerged as a separate field of study.
The nature it has acquired is identified as follows:
1. A Separate Field of Study and Not a Discipline Only:
By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical foundation. But, O.B. has a multi- interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based on a specific theoretical background. Therefore, it is better reasonable to call O.B. a separate field of study rather than a discipline only.
2. An Interdisciplinary Approach:
Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human behaviour at work. It tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthropology to make them applicable for studying and analysing organizational behaviour.
3. An Applied Science:
The very nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the application of various researches to solve the organizational problems related to human behaviour. The basic line of difference between pure science and O.B. is that while the former concentrates of fundamental researches, the latter concentrates on applied researches. O.B. involves both applied research and its application in organizational analysis. Hence, O.B. can be called both science as well as art.
4. A Normative Science:
Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive science discusses only cause effect relationship, O.B. prescribes how the findings of applied researches can be applied to socially accepted organizational goals. Thus, O.B. deals with what is accepted by individuals and society engaged in an organization. Yes, it is not that O.B. is not normative at all. In fact, O.B. is normative as well that is well underscored by the proliferation of management theories.
5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach:
Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people working in the organization. It, deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings. O.B. is based on the belief that people have an innate desire to be independent, creative and productive. It also realizes that people working in the organization can and will actualise these potentials if they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects performance or workers working in an organization.
6A Total System Approach:
The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the behavioural scientists to analyse human behaviour in view of his/her socio-psychological framework. Man’s socio- psychological framework makes man a complex one and the systems approach tries to study his/her complexity and find solution to it.
Organisational Behaviour – Scope
The scope of the organizational behavior is as under:
Impact of personality on performance
Employee motivation
Leadership
How to create effective teams and groups
Study of different organizational structures
Individual behavior, attitude and learning
Perception
Design and development of effective organization
Job design
Impact of culture on organizational behavior
Management of change
Management of conflict and stress
Organizational development
Organizational culture
Transactional analysis
Group behavior, power and politics
Job design
Study of emotions
The field of the organizational behavior does not depend upon deductions based on gut feelings but attempts to gather information regarding an issue in a scientific manner under controlled conditions. It uses information and interprets the findings so that the behavior of an individual and group can be canalized as desired.
Large number of psychologists, social scientists and academicians has carried out research on various issues related to organization behavior. Employee performance and job satisfaction are determinants of accomplishment of individual and organizational goals.
Organizations have been set up to fulfill needs of the people. In today’s competitive world, the organizations have to be growth-oriented. This is possible when productivity is ensured with respect to quantity of product to be produced with zero error quality. Employee absenteeism and turnover has a negative impact on productivity.
Goals of Organizational Behavior
The goals of the organizational behavior are as follow.
01- The employee absenteeism, productivity and turnover are emphasized.
02- The employee performance is determined by the organizational citizenship concept.
03- Attitudes consist of evaluative statements that are favorable or unfavorable and concern with people, objects or events.
04- The attitude is formed from three basic elements that are cognition, effect & behavior.
05- The beliefs, knowledge, opinions & information possessed by a person constitute the cognitive element of that person.
06- The feelings or emotions constitute the effective element of the attitude.
07- The intention to act in a specific way represents the behavioral element of the attitude of a person.
08- There are three major job related attitudes which are job involvement, job satisfaction & organizational commitment.
Organizational Behavior Model
In management, the focus is on the study of the five organizational behavior models:
- Autocratic Model
- Custodial Model
- Supportive Model
- Collegial Model
- System Model
1.Autocratic Model -This model has its roots in the historical past, and definitely became a most prominent model of the industrial revolution of 1800 and 1900s. It gives the owners and manager’s power to dictate and form decisions while making employees obey their orders. The model asserts that employees need to be instructed and motivated to perform while managers do all the thinking. The whole process is formalized with the managers and authority power has the right to give command to the people, “You do this or else…”, is a general dictatorship command. As Newstrom suggests, “the psychological result of the employees is dependence on their boss, whose power to “hire, fire and perspire” is almost absolute. Employers receive less wages as they are less skilled and their performance is also minimum, which they do it rather reluctantly as they have to satisfy the needs of their families and themselves. But there are some exceptions as many employees do give higher performance because either they would like to achieve or have a close association with their boss, or either they have been promised a good reward, but overall their performance is minimum.
- Custodial Model
Now the time came when managers began to think the security of the employees is imperative- it could be either social as well economic security. Now managers have begun to study about their employees needs, they found out that though in the autocratic setup employees does not talk back yet they have many things to say but incapability to speak result in frustrations, insecurity, and aggressive behavior towards their boss. Since they are not able to display their feelings, they would vent these feelings on their family and neighbors. This causes suffering to the entire community and relationships and this often results in bad performance. Newstrom gave the example of a wood processing plant where the employees were treated very cruelly even to the extent of physical abuse. Since workers were not able to strike back directly they show their aggression by destroying the good sheets of veneer destroying the supervisor’s credibility.
The custodial approach induces employees now to show their dependency and loyalty towards the company and not to the boss or managers or supervisors. The employees in this environment are more psychologically contended and preoccupied with their rewards but it is not necessary they would be strongly motivated to give the performance. The studies show that though it has been the best way to make them happy employee but not productive employee, so the question still remains what should be the better way? But overall this step had been a stepping stone for the creation and development of the next step.
- Supportive Model
Unlike the two previous approaches, the supportive model emphasis on motivated and aspiring leader. There is no space for any control or authoritative power in this model or on the incentives or reward schemes but it is simply based on motivating staff through the establishment of the manager and employee relationship and the treatment that is given to employees on daily basis.
One of the key aspects of the supportive model has been studies conducted at the Hawthorne Plant of Electric in the 1920s and 1930s. The study was led by Elton Mayo and F.J Roethlisberger to implore on the human behavior at work by implementing and placing keen insight on the sociological, psychological perspective in the industrial setup. They came up to a conclusion that a single organization is a social system and a worker is an important component in the system. They found that worker is not a tool that can be used in any way but has its own behavior and personality and needs to be understood. They suggested that understanding of group dynamics including the application of supportive supervision is imperative to make workers contribute and be supportive.
Through the leadership organizations give the space and climate for the employees to develop, form their own thinking and take an initiative. They would take responsibility and improve themselves. Managers are oriented towards supporting the employees to give performances and not just support them through employee benefits as done in custodial approach.
The supportive model is being widely accepted chiefly in the developed nations where the needs of the employees are different as it fulfills many of the employees emerging needs. This approach is less successful in the developing nations where the social and economic need of the working class is different. In short, in the supportive model money is not which retain the satisfaction of the employees but it is a part of the organization’s life that has been put to the use and makes other people feel wanted.
4 The Collogial Model
In this scheme, the structure of an organization is developed in a way that there is no boss nor subordinates, but all are colleagues who have to work as a team. Each one of the employees has to participate and work in coordination with each other to achieve the target rate. No one is worried about his status or a job title. Manager’s role is here like a coach whose function is to guide the team to perform and generate positive and motivating work environment, instead of focusing on his own personal growth. The team requires adopting new approaches, research and developmentand new technologies to better their performance.
We can also say Collegial model is an extension of the supportive model. The success of the collegial model depends on the management’s ability to foster the feeling of partnership between the employees. This makes the employees feel important and needed. They also feel that managers are not just mere supervisors but are also giving their equal contribution to the team.
To make the collegial model success many organizations have abolished the use of bosses and subordinates during working, as these terms create the distance between the managers and subordinates. While some of the organizations have abolished the system of allotting reserved space for executives. Now any employee can park their vehicle in the common parking space, which increases their convenience and makes them more comfortable.
The manager is oriented towards the team performance while each employee is responsible for his task and towards each other. They are more disciplined and work as per the standards set by the team. In this setup employees feel fulfilled as their contribution is accepted and well received.
5 System Model
The most emerging model of the today’s corporate era is the system model. This model emerged from the rigorous research to attain the higher level of meaning at work. Today’s employees need more than salary and security from their job, they need the hours they are putting towards the organization is giving them some value and meaning. To add to it, they need the work that is ethical, respectful, integrated with trust and integrity and gives a space to develop a community feeling among the co-workers.
In the system model, the expectations of the managers are much more than getting the work done by the employees. The managers have to show their emotional side, be more compassionate and caring towards their team and they must be sensitive towards the needs of the diverse workforce. They have to devote their attention to creating the feeling of optimism, hope, trustworthiness, courage, self-determination, and through this, they try to developed the postive work culture where the employees feel more at ease and work as if they are working for their family. This ultimately results in the long time commitment and loyalty of the employees and the success of the company.
Managers also try to foster two main concepts; authenticity and transparency and social intelligence. Managers always try to make the employees feel the part of the project and the organization and give them all the support so that they can increase their efficiency and output. In turn, the employees feel more emotionally and psychologically part of the organization and become more responsible for their actions. Employees feel more inspired, motivated, important and feel that what they are doing and what they think would be good for the organization which goes beyond their personal achievements.
Cultural Diversity Definition
C-Transport is an aviation company that manufactures airplanes. The reason for the company’s success has to do with their employees. C-Transport depends on worker diversity to bring the aircraft to fruition. Diversity consists of all the different factors that make up an individual, including age, gender, culture, religion, personality, social status and sexual orientation.
Cultural diversity (also known as multiculturalism) is a group of diverse individuals from different cultures or societies. Usually, cultural diversity takes into account language, religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, age and ethnicity. Companies started to embrace corporate diversity in the early 2000s. This was due to many trends in demographics and a changing workforce.
B.C.A study 