ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

MODULE-I

CONTENTS

Fundamentals of OB: Definition, scope and importance of OB,

Relationship between OB and the individual,
Evolution of OB: Human Resource Approach, Contingency Approach,
Productivity Approach, and System Approach.
Theoretical framework :Cognitive, Behavioristic and Social cognitive,
Limitations of OB.

Prepared By:

SUBHAJIT RAUL

Asst. Prof. (Depatment of MBA)

NIT, BBSR
SHORT QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:
Q.1. Why do individuals differ in their behavior?
Ans. Individuals differ in their behavior because there are various factors which
talk about individual differences, but the biographical characteristics state what
and how people are different from each other in terms of age, gender and tenure
and there also are various studies which bring out contradicting ideas. The abilities
help us understand the capabilities of different individuals.
Q.2. What is Organisational Behaviour?
Ans. Organizational Behaviour is concerned with the understanding, prediction and
control of human behaviour in organizations. It focuses on the individuals, the
groups and the organization and also on their interactional relationships. It is the
study and application of knowledge about how people act with organizations.
According to Fred Luthans, “Organisational behaviour is directly concerned with
the understanding, production and control of human behaviour in organisations.”
Q.3. What do you mean by Positive Organisational Behaviour?
Ans. Positive Organizational Behavior (POB) is defined as "the study and
application of positively oriented human resource strengths and psychological
capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for
performance improvement in today's workplace"
Q.4. Why should one study Organisational Behaviour?
Ans. The major reasons for studying OB are as follows:
I. It explains the interpersonal relationship.
II. It explains about the prediction of behavior of an individual.
III. It helps in the new economic policy of the country.
IV. It helps the manager to motivate his sub-ordinate.
Q.5. State the subject matter of OB?
Ans. The subject matter of OB are: Intrapersonal Behaviour, Interpersonal Behaviour
and Group Behaviour.
Q.6. Enlist various contributing discipline of OB?
Ans. The various contributing discipline of OB are: psychology, sociology, social
psychology, Anthropology, Political Science.
Q.7. List various approaches to the study of OB?
Ans. The approaches to study of OB are: (1) Human Resource Approach, (2)
Contingency Approach, (3) Productivity Approach, and (4) System Approach.
Q.8. Differentiate between individual behavior and group behavior?
Ans. Individual Behavior:- It is the study of individual’s personality, learning,
attitudes, motivation, and job satisfaction. Example − The personal interview round
is conducted to interact with candidates to check their skills, apart from those
mentioned in the resume.
Group Behavior:- Group behavior studies the formation of organization, structure
of organization and effectiveness of organization. The group efforts made towards
the achievement of organization’s goal is group behavior. In short, it is the way
how a group behaves. Example − Strike, rally etc.
LONG QUESTIONS & ANSWER:
What do you mean by Organisational Behaviour? Discuss its nature &
Q.1.
scope. Why do you study OB ?
Ans. MEANING & DEFINITION
Organizational Behaviour is concerned with the understanding, prediction and
control of human behaviour in organizations. It focuses on the individuals, the
groups and the organization and also on their interactional relationships. It is the
study and application of knowledge about how people act with organizations.
It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the behaviour of people
in all types of organizations. Wherever organizations are, there is a need to
understand organizational behaviour.
According to Fred Luthans, “Organisational behaviour is directly concerned with
the understanding, production and control of human behaviour in organisations.”
NATURE
The nature/ characteristics of OB are as given below:
1. OB is a part of general management and not the whole of management. It
represents behavioural approach to management.

2. OB contains a body of theory, research and application associated with a

growing concern for people at the work place. It helps in understanding
human behaviour in work organizations.
3. OB is a human tool for human benefit. It helps in predicting the behaviour of
individuals.

4. OB is inter-disciplinary field of study. It tries to synthesize knowledge drawn

from various behavioural and social sciences such as Psychology, Sociology,
Anthropology, Political-science, Economics, etc. In fact, OB is an applied
behavioural sciences.

5. OB involves three levels of analysis of behaviour-individual behaviour,

group behaviour and behaviour of the organization itself.

6. OB is an action-oriented and goal-directed discipline. It provides a rational

thinking about people and their behaviour

7. OB is both a science and an art. The systematic knowledge about human

behaviour is a science. The application of behvioural knowledge and skills
clearly leans towardss being an art.

8. OB seeks to fulfil both employees’ needs and organizational objectives.

SCOPE OF OB
“OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups,
and structure have on behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of applying
such knowledge towardss improving an organisation’s effectiveness”.
The scope of OB involves three levels of behaviour in organizations:
individuals, groups and structure.

1. Individual Behaviour
(i) Personality
(ii) Perception
(iii) Values and Attitudes
(iv) Learning
(v) Motivation
 2. Group Behaviour
(i) Work groups and group dynamics
(ii) Dynamics of conflict
(iii) Communciation
(iv) Leadership
(v) Morale

3. Organization: Structure, Process and Application

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

IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR/ WHY TO STUDY OB:

1. It builds better relationship by achieving, people, organizational, and social
objectives.
2. It covers a wide array of human resource like Behavior, training and
development, change management, leadership, teams etc.
3. It brings coordination which is the essence of management.
4. It improves goodwill of the organization.
5. It helps to achieve objectives quickly.
6. It makes optimum utilization of resources.
7. It facilitates motivation.
8. It leads to higher efficiency.
9. It improves relations in the organization.
10. It is multidisciplinary in the sense that applies different techniques,
methods, and theories to evaluate the performances.
Q2 Sketch the historical growth/ evolution of the subject organisational growth
?
Ans. The four important approaches to the study of organisational behavior, i.e, (1)
Human Resource Approach, (2) Contingency Approach, (3) Productivity Approach,
and (4) System Approach.
1. Human Resources Approach:- This approach recognizes that human resources
in an organisation are the central force. Their development will contribute to the
success of the organisation. Human resources approach provides for the changes in
the managerial role. It requires that the managers, instead of controlling the
employees, should provide active support to them by treating them as part of the
group.
[Link] Approach:- The approach stresses that there is no single way to
manage effectively under all circumstances. The methods of behaviours which
work effectively in one situation may fail in another. The organisational structure
and the processes of management are governed by the external environment and
several aspects of the internal environment. Effective management processes will
vary in different situations depending on the individuals and groups in the
organisation, the nature of the job and technology, the environment facing the
organisation and its structure.
3. Productivity Approach:- Productivity means the numerical value of the ratio of
output to input. Higher the value of this ratio, greater is the efficiency and
effectiveness of the management. The traditional concept of productivity was
concerned with economic inputs and output only. But nowadays human and social
inputs and outputs are equally important. Productivity, a significant part of
organisational behaviour decisions, is recognized and discussed extensively. These
decisions relate to human, social and economic issues. For example if better
organisational behaviour can reduce worker’s turnover or the number of absentees,
a human output or benefit occurs.
4. System Approach:- The systems approach is of the view that an organisation is
a powerful system with several subsystems which are highly and closely
interconnected. Any action taken to solve the problems in one subsystem will have
its effect on the other subsystems as well; since all the parts of the organisation are
closely connected. Thus, this approach gives the managers a way of looking at the
organisation as a whole, whole group, and the whole social system. Systems
approach has become an integral part of modern organisational theory.
Organisations are termed as complex systems comprising of interrelated and
interlocking systems.
The following figure shows the relationship clearly:

The public and government have been included keeping in view the relationship
between organisation and external environment. The other subsystems are integral
part of overall organisations.
 Q.3. Discuss in details the theoretical framework of OB?
Ans. The theoretical framework of OB are discussed below in details:
COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK
Cognitive approach emphasizes the positive and freewill aspects of human
behavior and uses concepts such as expectancy, demand, and intention. Cognition
can be simply defined as the act of knowing an item of information. In cognitive
framework, cognitions precede behavior and constitute input into the person’s
thinking, perception, problem solving, and information processing.
The work of Edward Tolman can be used to represent the cognitive theoretical
approach. According to Tolman, learning consists of the expectancy that a
particular event will lead to a particular consequence. This cognitive concept of
expectancy implies that organism is thinking about, or is conscious or aware of the
goal and result of a behavior exhibited by it. It means that a person desires a goal
and also knows the behavior that will lead to achievement of the goals.
BEHAVIORISTIC FRAMEWORK
Pioneer behaviorists Ivan Pavlov and Jon B. Watson stressed the importance of
studying observable behaviors instead of the elusive mind. They advocated that
behavior could be best understood in terms of stimulus and response (S-R). They
examined the impact of stimulus and felt that learning occurred when the S-R
connection was made. Modern behaviorism, that marks its beginning with B.F.
Skinner, advocates that behavior in response to a stimulus is contingent on
environmental consequences. Thus, it is important to note that behaviortistic
approach is based on observable behavior and environmental variables (which are
also observable).
SOCIAL COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK
Social learning theory takes the position that behavior can best be explained in
terms of a continuous reciprocal interaction among cognitive, behavioral, and
environmental determinants. The person and the environmental situation do not
function as independent units but, in conjunction with behavior itself, reciprocally
interact to determine behavior. It means that cognitive variables and environmental
variables are relevant, but the experiences generated by previous behavior also
partly determine what a person becomes and can do, which, in turn, affects
subsequently behavior. A persons cognition or understanding changes according to
the experience of consequences of past behavior.
Bandura developed social learning theory into the more comprehensive social
cognitive theory (SCT). Stajkovic and Luthans have translated this SCT into the
theoretical framework for organizational behavior. Social cognitive theory
recognizes the importance of behaviorism’s contingent environmental
consequences, but also includes cognitive processes of self regulation. The social
part acknowledges the social origins of much of human thought and action (what
individual learns from society), whereas the cognitive portion recognizes the
influential contribution of thought processes to human motivation, attitudes, and
action. In social cognitive theoretical framework, organizational participants are at
the same time both products and producers of their personality, respective
environments, and behaviors. Bandura identified five basic human capabilities as a
part of SCT.
1. Symbolizing: People process visual experiences into cognitive models. They help
in future action.
2. Forethought: Employees plan their actions.
3. Observational: Employees learn by observing the performance of the referent
group (peers, supervisors and high performers) and the consequences of their
actions.
4. Self-regulatory: Employees self regulate their actions by setting internal
standards (aspired level of performance).
5. Self-reflective: Employees reflect back on their actions (how did I do?) and
perceptually determine how they believe then can successfully accomplish the task
in the future given the context (probability of success between 0 to 100% is
estimated)
 Q.4. State the relationship between OB and Individuals? ----
Ans. OB highlights on its several aspects like:
a. Way of thinking—requires clearly identifying the level of analysis
(individual,group, organizational).
Multi-disciplinary—draws principles, theories,
b. and models from
psychology,sociology and cultural anthropology.
Humanistic orientation—assumes that individual feelings, attitudes,
c.
perceptions, goals, etc., are important to the organization.
Performance-oriented—focusing
d. on whether and why
individual/group/organization performance is high, moderate, or low.
e. External environment—substantially impacts organizational behavior.
f. Scientific method—plays a critical role in OB research.
g. Applications oriented—concerned with providing useful/applicable answers to
management problems.

Individuals:
-Each person is substantially different from all others in terms of their
personalities, needs, demographic factors and past experiences and/or because they
are placed in different physical settings, time periods or social surroundings. This
diversity needs to be recognized and viewed as a valuable asset to organizations.
Individual performance forms the basis of organizational performance. The four
key influences on individual’s behavior and motivation are:
a. Individual characteristics—e.g., personality, attitudes, perceptions, values.
b. Individualmotivation—interacts with ability to work to determine individual
performance.
c. Rewards/punishment—use of behavior modification techniques to enhance
performance and control misbehavior.
d. Stress.
 Q5
What are the Limitations of organisational behaviour ?

 Individual Differences: OB theories often generalize human behavior,

overlooking the unique characteristics and motivations of individuals. People
vary greatly in personality, values, and experiences, which can influence their
behavior in unpredictable ways.
 Complexity: Organizations are complex systems with numerous interrelated
factors influencing behavior. OB models may oversimplify this complexity,
leading to incomplete or inaccurate understandings of organizational
dynamics.
 Cultural Variations: OB theories may not fully account for cultural differences
in attitudes, communication styles, and work practices. What works in one
cultural context may not be effective in another, limiting the universality of OB
principles.
 Dynamic Nature: Organizational behavior is subject to change due to evolving
technologies, market trends, and societal norms. OB theories may struggle to
keep pace with these rapid changes, leading to outdated practices and
frameworks.
 Ethical Considerations: Some OB research and practices may raise ethical
concerns, such as invasion of privacy, manipulation of behavior, or
exploitation of power dynamics within organizations. It's essential to consider
the ethical implications of OB interventions and research methods.