ORGANIZATIONAL

BEHAVIOUR

UNIT 1 A: WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR?

MANAGERS AND OB

 Manager: Individual who achieves goals through other people

 Organization: A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a
relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
 MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

Henry Fayol:
 Planning: A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate
activities.

 Organizing: Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who
reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.

 Leading : A function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective
communication channels, and resolving conflicts.

 Controlling: Monitoring activities to ensure they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any
significant deviations.
Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles
 TECHNICAL SKILSS

 HUMAN SKILLS

 CONCEPTUAL SKILLS

 Traditional management, human resources, communication, networking

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS AND OB?

 Communication, capacity for interaction , team work, feedback and constructive criticism, problem solving
approach, tenacious, persuasion, flexibility, patience, negotiation, active listening, positive, proper advice,
being attentive, non verbal , assertiveness , emotional intelligence
THE HAWTHORNE STUDIEs

 1924 at the Hawthorne works of the Western Electric Company outside of Chicago
 Light intensity and productivity
 Test group showed no change, control group similar as test group.
 Subsequent phases: light intensity shifted to moonlight intensity and productivity increased
 Other subsequent phases:
 1. Relay room
 2. Bank Wiring room
The Hawthorne studies

 The relay room participants showed better productivity. In follow up questionnaires the following
broad reasons were stated:
 1. Small group
 2. Type of supervision
 3. Earnings
 4. Novelty of the situation
 5. Interest in the experiment
 6. Attention received in the test room
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR?

Study of behavior within organization, discipline, interaction within systems, professional behavior (norms,
being followed? ) , social environment influencing output, chaos- frustration of individuals, insight of behavior,
avoiding conflicts between management and employees, increasing productivity and performance, motivation of
the employees,
 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 toward improving an organization’s
effectiveness.

 Through systematic studies, Evidence based management (EBM)

 OCB- beyond doing what you are expected to do, long term orientation, reciprocal link, general
commitment and loyalty, being courteous, cooperation.
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

 Organizational behaviour (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact individuals, groups, and
structure have on behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s effectiveness.
 It studies 3 determinants of behavior in organizations: Individuals, groups and structure.
 OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups, and the effect of structure on behaviour in
order to make organizations work more effectively.
 Examines behaviour in terms of job satisfaction, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human
performance, and management.
 systematic study: looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and basing our
conclusions on scientific evidence—that is, on data gathered under controlled conditions and measured and
interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner.

 Evidence-based management (EBM) complements systematic study by basing managerial decisions on the
best available scientific evidence. A manager might pose a managerial question, search for the best available
evidence, and apply the relevant information to the question or case at hand.
 Intuition v/s Objectivity
 Big data
INCLUDES THE CORE TOPICS:

 Motivation
 Leader behaviour and power
 Interpersonal communication
 Group structure and processes
 Attitude development and perception
 Change processes
 Conflict and negotiation
 Work design
Disciplines that contribute

 Psychology
 Social Psychology
 Sociology
 Anthropology

 OB concepts must reflect situational and contingency conditions: x leads to y but only under conditions
specified in z- the contingency variables.
CHALLENGES

• Economic pressures
• Continuing globalizations: Increased Foreign assignments, Working with people from different cultures, Overseeing
movements of jobs to countries with Low Cost labor, Adapting to different cultures and regulatory norms.
• Workforce demographics
• Workforce diversity
• Customer service
• People skills
• Networked organizations
• Social media
• Employee well-being at work
• Positive work environment
• Ethical behavior
A MODEL OF OB- PARAMETERS,
CONCEPTS AND RELATIONSHIPS

 INPUT: Variables that lead to processes

 individual diversity characteristics, personality, and values are shaped by a combination of an individual’s
genetic inheritance and childhood environment.
 Group structure, roles, and team responsibilities are typically assigned immediately before or after a group is
formed.
 Finally, organizational structure and culture are usually the result of years of development and change as the
organization
 Processes: Actions that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a
 result of inputs and that lead to certain outcomes.

 Outcomes are the key variables that you want to explain or predict, and that are affected by some other variables.
 Attitudes and Stress: An unpleasant psychological process that occurs in response to
 environmental pressures.
 Task performance: he combination of effectiveness and efficiency at doing core
 job tasks.
 OCB: Discretionary behavior that contributes to the psychological and social environment of the workplace.
 Withdrawal: The set of actions employees take to separate themselves from
 the organization.
 Group Cohesion: The extent to which members of a group support and validate one
 another while at work.
 Group Functioning: The quantity and quality of a group’s work output.
 Productivity: The combination of the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization.
 Survival
PERSONALITY AND PERSONALITY
THEORIES
CHARACTERISTICS FAVORABLE IN A
WORK PLACE

 Leadership qualities, kind, conscientiousness, intolerance toward time wastage, communication, punctuality,
discipline, integrity, cooperation, mutual respect, approachability, interpersonal skills, creativity, energetic,
enthusiasm, presentation, management skills, innovation, helpful, ocb, body language, compliance to rules,
transparent, flexibility, tolerance, optimism
DEFINITION

 Allport said personality is “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems
that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.”
 Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.
 Measuring Personality: Self report and other report
 Heredity as a factor
 Age
 The more consistent the characteristic over time, and the more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the
more important that trait is in describing the individual.
 THE MBTI (12th/ 17th ed) 

Respondents are classified as extraverted or introverted (E or I), sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling
(T or F), and judging or perceiving (J or P).

 Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive.
Introverts are quiet and shy.
  Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N). Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They focus on
details. Intuitivists rely on unconscious processes and look at the “big picture.”
  Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F). Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely
on their personal values and emotions.
  Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P). Judging types want control and prefer their world to be ordered and
structured. Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous.
 OCEAN MODEL- BIG 5 (12th/ 17th ed)

 Extraversion. The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with relationships. Extraverts tend to be
gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.
  Agreeableness. The agreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others. Highly
agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are cold,
disagreeable, and antagonistic.
 Conscientiousness. The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of reliability. A highly conscientious person is
responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted,
disorganized, and unreliable.
 Neuroticism/ Emotional stability. The emotional stability dimension—often labeled by its converse, neuroticism
—taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident,
and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.
  Openness to experience. The openness to experience dimension addresses range of interests and fascination with
novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the
category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.
 “The preponderance of evidence shows that individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful,
thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have
higher job performance in most if not all occupations.”
CONSCIENTIOUSNESS

 higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge, probably because highly
conscientious people learn more
 Conscientious individuals who are more interested in learning than in just performing on the job are
also exceptionally good at maintaining performance in the face of negative feedback.
 conscientiousness—in the form of persistence, attention to detail, and setting of high standards—was
more important than other traits.
 Conscientious people live longer because they take better care of themselves (they eat better and
exercise more) and engage in fewer risky behaviors like smoking, drinking and drugs, and risky sexual
or driving behavior.
 Behaviour in changing contexts, learning vs performance, creativity
EMOTIONAL STABILITY

 emotional stability is most strongly related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels
 ore likely to be positive and optimistic and experience fewer negative emotions. They are happier than
those who score low on Emotional stability
 People low on emotional stability are hypervigilant (looking for problems or impending signs of
danger) and are especially vulnerable to the physical and psychological effects of stress.
EXTRAVERTS

 Happier in jobs and life as whole

 They experience more positive emotions than do introverts, and they more freely express these
feelings.
 They also tend to perform better in jobs that require significant interpersonal interaction
 Have more friends, spend more time in social situations than introverts
 Strong predictor of leadership emergence
 Downsides: Impulsivity, more likely to lie
OPENNESS

 More creative, in science and arts.

 Comfortable with ambiguity and change
 Efficient leaders
 Susceptible to workplace accidents
AGREEABLENESS

 Better liked than disagreeable people

 Customer service, corporate world: hospitality sector, marketing
 Rule abiding
 More satisfied, commitment through OCB
 Downside: lower levels of career success
* Jobs requiring
significant team
work/
interpersonal
interaction
OTHER PERSONALITY TRAITS
RELEVANT TO OB (12th and 17th ed) 

CORE SELF EVALUATION

 People who have positive core self-evaluations like themselves and see themselves as effective, capable,
and in control of their environment.
 Can we be too positive?
MACHIAVELLIANISM  (12th and 14th ed) 
 Uzi is a young bank manager in Taiwan. He’s had three promotions in the past 4 years and makes no
apologies for the aggressive tactics he’s used to propel his career upward. “I’m prepared to do whatever
I have to do to get ahead,” 
 The degree to which an individual is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can
justify means. 
 Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use power. 
 If it works, use it” is consistent with a high-Mach perspective. 
 High Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less by others, but persuade others more than
do low Machs.
 They are more likely to act aggressively and engage in CWBs as well. Surprisingly, Machiavellianism
does not significantly predict overall job performance 
 High-Mach employees, by manipulating others to their advantage, win in the short term at a job, but
they lose those gains in the long term because they are not well liked. 
 Ethical implications: Not motivated by CSR, Lower EE because employees see through surface acting 
 High Machs flourish when
1. they interact face to face with others rather than indirectly;
2. when the situation has minimal rules and regulations, allowing latitude for improvisation;
3. when emotional involvement with details irrelevant to winning distracts low Machs.

When will High Machs be productive?

When will their strategies not work?
NARCISSISM (12th and 14th ed)
 In psychology, narcissism describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance, requires
excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant. 
 Evidence suggests that narcissists are more charismatic and thus more likely to emerge as leaders, and
they may even display better psychological health
 A study found that while narcissists thought they were better leaders than their colleagues, their
supervisors actually rated them as worse. 
 want to gain the admiration of others and receive affirmation of their superiority 
 tend to “talk down” to those who threaten them, treating others as if they were inferior. 
 selfish and exploitive 
 narcissistic CEOs of baseball organizations tend to generate higher levels of manager turnover, although
curiously, members of external organizations see them as more influential. 
SELF-MONITIORING (!2th ed)
 Self-monitoring refers to an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational
factors.43 Individuals high in self-monitoring show considerable adaptability in adjusting their behaviour
to external situational factors. 
 Low self-monitors tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation; hence, there is
high behavioural consistency between who they are and what they do. 
 High self-monitors pay closer attention to the behavior of others and are more capable of conforming than
are low self-monitors 
 They also receive better performance ratings, are more likely to emerge as leaders, and show less
commitment to their organizations. 
 In addition, high self-monitoring managers tend to be more mobile in their careers, receive more
promotions (both internal and cross-organizational), and are more likely to occupy central positions in an
organization.46 
RISK TAKING ( 12th ed) 
 People differ in their willingness to take chances, 
 79 managers worked on simulated exercises that required them to make hiring decisions.48 High risk-
taking managers made more rapid decisions and used less information than did the low risk takers.
Interestingly, decision accuracy was the same for both groups 
 previous studies have shown managers in large organizations to be more risk averse than growth-
oriented entrepreneurs who actively manage small businesses; recent findings suggest managers in large
organizations may actually be more willing to take risks than entrepreneurs 
 Differences in Risk Propensity
 Types of job
PROACTIVE PERSONALITY (12th ed)
 Those with a proactive personality identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until
meaningful change occurs, compared to others who passively react to situations. 
 Proactives create positive change in their environment, regardless of, or even in spite of, constraints or
obstacles 
 Leaders and change agents; satisfied and helpful 
 If an organization requires people with entrepreneurial initiative, proactives make good candidates;
however, they’re also more likely to leave an organization to start their own business. 
 select, create, and influence work situations in their favor. 
 Job and organizational information, develop contacts in high places, engage in career planning, and
demonstrate persistence in the face of career obstacles. 
OTHER ORIENTATION (12th ed)
 Some people just naturally seem to think about other people a lot, being concerned about their well-being
and feelings.
 Others behave like “economic actors,” primarily rational and self-interested.
 What are the consequences of having a high level of other-orientation?