CE 756 – ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

ASSIGNMENT

Topic: “Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at

Workplace, Necessity of OB, Causes and Effects and other factors
related to OB.”

Submitted By:
Name: Abhijith Surendran
Roll No: 203520001

Department of Civil Engineering

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli
Report on the Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at Workplace

CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 2
1.1 Organisational Behaviour........................................................................................................................ 2
1.2 Brief History of OB .................................................................................................................................. 2
2 KEY FORCES OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ...................................................................................... 3
2.1 People ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.2 Structure ................................................................................................................................................. 4
2.3 Technology .............................................................................................................................................. 4
2.4 Environment............................................................................................................................................ 4
3 NECESSITY OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ........................................................................................ 4
3.1 Skill Development and Improvement ..................................................................................................... 4
3.2 Relationship between Organisation and Employees .............................................................................. 5
3.3 Understanding the level of Motivation in Employees ............................................................................ 5
3.4 Increased Efficiency and Effectiveness ................................................................................................... 5
3.5 Effective use of Resources ...................................................................................................................... 5
3.6 Predicting Behaviour of Employees ........................................................................................................ 5
3.7 Goodwill of the Organisation .................................................................................................................. 5
4 CAUSES OF OB ........................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1 Moods and Emotions of the Individual ................................................................................................... 5
4.2 Hierarchy system in the Company .......................................................................................................... 5
4.3 Leadership ............................................................................................................................................... 6
4.4 Management Factors .............................................................................................................................. 6
4.5 Team ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.6 Social, Economic and Technological factors ........................................................................................... 6
5 EFFECTS OF GOOD OB ............................................................................................................................... 6
6 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 7
7 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................... 7

List of Figures:

Fig 1.1: OB relates the study from people to organisation

Fig 2.1: Key forces of OB

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Report on the Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at Workplace

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Organisational Behaviour

Organisational Behaviour (OB) is the study of behaviour of individuals in an organisation environment and the
interface between them. In other words, it is the methodical study and application of data about how individuals and
groups perform within the organisations where they work. The main goal of organisational behaviour is to invigorate
organisational theory and build a far better conceptualisation of organisational life. Fred Luthans stated OB as
“Organizational behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and control of human behaviour
in organizations.”
OB can be the study of a team or a group rather than a single person alone. OB study scrutinizes human
behaviour in a work environment and defines its impact on performance of the individual or team, job structure,
communication, motivation, leadership, etc. It deals about how individuals and groups operate within the
organisations where they work. OB can be considered as a tool for human benefits. It deals with behaviour of
individual or the group in all types of organisations like private, public, service or the cooperative sectors.

Organisation

Group

People

Fig 1.1: OB relates the study from people to organisation

There are three key levels of study in OB - examining the individual/people, the group, and the
organisation. Refer Fig 1.1. For example, if someone wants to understand his boss’s personality, he would be
examining the individual level of analysis. If he wants to know about how his manager’s personality affects his
team, he should examine things at team level. If he wants to realize how his organisation’s culture affects his
manager’s behaviour, he should be concerned in the organisational level of analysis and so on.

1.2 Brief History of OB

Adam Smith promoted a new form of organisational structure based on the division of labour in 1776. Years later,
German Sociologist Max Weber established the concept of rational organisations and introduced the concept of
“charismatic leadership”.

Though the origin to the study of OB drives to Max Weber and earlier organisational studies, it is
considered to have begun as an academic discipline with the introduction of scientific management in the 1890's,
Taylorism representing the peak of the movement. It was Fredrick Winslow Taylor, who introduced the efficient use
of goal setting and rewards to motivate employees that could be regarded as the starting of the academic subject of
OB.

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Report on the Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at Workplace

2 KEY FORCES OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

There are four key forces that drive OB in the present. These are classified as people, structure, technology, and
environment. There is an interaction between the first three and finally influenced by the environment factor.

People

Environment
OB Structure

Technology

Fig 2.1: Key forces of OB

2.1 People

This is the main element in any system thereby making the important factor in organisational behaviour studies. OB
is for the betterment of employees which in turn improve the business of the company. People form the social
system in an organisation internally. It can be an individual, small groups or large groups. Since this is a versatile
factor, its important to manage them in right direction. People might have different outlooks, different experiences,
can also differ in the level of talent and education. This is the major obstacle to overcome for an effective and
efficient team. These differences must be managed properly, and people should be controlled in such a manner that
they mingle and form relationship with each other. This can lead to self-motivation, job satisfaction, organisational
commitment etc. Also, it is important that both the employee and organization work in tune for a successful
operation of the company.

Merging the concepts in Fig 1.1 and Fig 2.1, understanding of behaviour starts from the individual level.
Every individual is responsible for setting up the working environment in a company. Over time working is not
worthwhile unless someone is enjoying the work. Employees with a positive outlook of the company will improve
productivity. Managers can also help in establishing organisational commitment in his or her subordinates by
improving the working culture and motivating them by means of rewards and incentives for quality performance.
These foundations led on the individual level are the building blocks in the team or group level.

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Report on the Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at Workplace

Some of the factors affecting Organisational Behaviour with respect to nature of individual or group are:

• Individual differences

• Perspective of the individual

• Mutuality of interests between two

• Self-motivation

• Involvement in the group

• Holistic approach

Therefore, employees or people is an important factor in the study of OB. Since various factors affect the
behaviour of the people towards a particular situation that arise in the workplace, it is important to control them and
make a positive, motivated, and efficient individual for the betterment of himself as well as the organisation.

2.2 Structure

Structure here refers to the company structure. This deals with the organisational structure within the company. The
hierarchy system followed in a company influences the organisational behaviour of the employees. The increased
number of levels and rigidity of the hierarchy system makes the employee feels like he has less stake on the
organisation and his opinions are not valued. This creates a demoralised working environment which will affect the
group as well.

2.3 Technology

This factor can be discussed in a very simple manner. Communication between teammates can happen in two ways
generally. Either through technology usually through emails or by face-to-face communications. Over usage of
technology in this case leads to less interaction between individuals and thereby less bonding in the group. This will
influence OB in that workplace. On the other hand, technology can aid as a tool for making teleconference calls for
people in different locations. This will effectively increase the interactions.

2.4 Environment

The internal and external environment of an organisation attributes to the OB. The organisational behaviour in a
company struggling to cope up would have drastic difference with a company which is successful. Also, strict rules
and policies can create a bad morale for the employee due to bad internal environment. It is important to have a
peaceful and motivated environment for efficient team building and to improve company businesses.

3 NECESSITY OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

3.1 Skill Development and Improvement

Study of OB helps in development of new skills in the employees. They become more efficient by increased
knowledge. It improves the work skills of managers also. Skills include competency, ethical behaviour, decision
making, communication etc.

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Report on the Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at Workplace

3.2 Relationship between Organisation and Employees

OB keeps track of the relationship between employee and the organisation which can help in creating better work
culture, better working environment, loyalty of employees and increasing the profitability of the company thereby.
Also, managers can identify and rectify the problems faced by his employees with the help of OB study.

3.3 Understanding the level of Motivation in Employees

OB study help the team leaders and managers to identify the potential of his subordinates and motivate them.
Applying different tools can help in increasing the performance of the individual as well as the organisation.
Motivation enhances the outlook of the employee towards his goal. This improves job satisfaction and reduces
absenteeism.

3.4 Increased Efficiency and Effectiveness

Motivation will have an impact on the performance of the employee. This improves the productivity of the
individual which attributes to the productivity of the group. When the whole team productivity shoots up, there is an
increased efficiency in the organisation. Competency in performance will bring in effective work in the groups.

3.5 Effective use of Resources

OB study helps in identifying the work style of every employee. The management can give trainings to these
employees to improve their skill set which helps in optimum use of resources in long run.

3.6 Predicting Behaviour of Employees

This is very important in the field of OB. Understanding the nature of individuals and groups is important to manage
and control them effectively. OB helps in preparing freshers to become better managers by becoming a student of
human behaviour from a management viewpoint and contributing to profitability of the organisation.

3.7 Goodwill of the Organisation

Overall, OB improves the goodwill of the organisation. When the company is successful, it will have a strong
customer base.

4 CAUSES OF OB
The various causes of OB or the factors affecting OB are:

4.1 Moods and Emotions of the Individual

Each employee in a team might be going through different emotions at a particular time. This emotional conflict can
be a hurdle for positive behaviour at times. It is important therefore to control the moods and emotions and
transform them to a positive feeling for better organisational behaviour.

4.2 Hierarchy system in the Company

As discussed earlier, the more rigid and increased levels of organisational structure can lead to negative feelings and
demotivated employees. People in the lower level of the hierarchy would feel that their opinions are not considered
by the higher management and might feel isolated.

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Report on the Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at Workplace

4.3 Leadership

A good leader is inevitable in a team. He or she should be trained well enough to understand his teammates’
problems, their differences, inculcate ethics and develop positive and motivated work environment. A good leader
enhances OB of the entire team. Employees would be automatically motivated to perform their tasks if they have a
good leader. His or her decision-making skills plays a vital role in the organisational behaviour of his teammates.

4.4 Management Factors

It is also important for a fair and unbiased higher management. They should be ready to listen to the problems of the
employees and find an effective solution for the same. Sometimes, strict policies of the company might lead to
negative OB. People finds it frustrating to work in a pressurised environment which reduces their productivity and
cause loss in profitability of the organisation. Policies should be drafted in such a way that it should not affect both
organisation as well as employees in a negative manner.

4.5 Team

Being in a team it is important to be cooperative and be kind to the teammates. Usually there would be
interdependencies in many tasks during the work. Therefore, it is important to maintain good OB within the team for
a smooth completion of the tasks. Also, many a times situations might arise with ambiguous instructions from
teammates or inconsistent works from them. This will affect the behaviour of the employee in a negative manner. It
is therefore important to have face to face communication between teammates, develop better understanding and
bonding between the teammates for better OB.

4.6 Social, Economic and Technological factors

The emotions of an individual are easily exploited by the opinions of the colleagues. For example, a negative
opinion about one employee will create a negative impact on the OB of that employee. Similarly, if the public has a
negative opinion about the organisation, it can affect the employees also.

Organisations are driven by economic factors. In case of a recession or bad performance of the company, it
will not be nice to the employees. On the other hand, a better performing company with profit might treat its
employees with rewards which generates motivation and organisational commitment.

Technology, as discussed earlier, has both positive and negative impacts. It is always better to minimise the
use of technology for communication in a team to develop better understanding and bonding.

5 EFFECTS OF GOOD OB
Some of the main effects of good OB in the individual as well as organisation is listed below:

1. Improved performance of the employees.

2. Increase in productivity of the organisation thereby increase in turnover or profit.

3. Job satisfaction of the employees is enhanced which leads to less absenteeism.

4. Better decision-making skills of individuals.

5. Improvement in teamwork and empowerment with additional skills.

6. Proper management of contingencies and risks.

7. Improvement in overall working process of the organisation.

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Report on the Role of Employee influencing Organisational Behaviour at Workplace

6 CONCLUSION
Organisational Behaviour plays a vital role in the workplace for the individual, group or the company. It is necessary
to create a positive working environment for the individuals for developing organisational commitment, motivated
nature, to enhance productivity and to improve job satisfaction. In the construction industry, OB plays an important
role due to the individual differences and high levels of hierarchy followed. OB supports for the development of an
effective organisation structure. It is inevitable for teamwork also. While working in teams, there would be
differences in opinion which can lead to emotional imbalance in people. This might lead to demotivation and
frustration and results in absenteeism and lowered productivity. Managers should play an important role in
developing good behaviour in themselves as well as inculcate them in his or team for smooth functioning of the
organisation. It is the people of the organisation who are of prime importance in the concept of organisational
behaviour.

7 REFERENCES
1. Prabha, Renuka, Horo, Federick (2014), “Organisational Behaviour and its Management
in Business”, Global Journal of Finance and Management, Volume 6.

2. Sangeeta Pawar, Mohd. Moghise (2015), “Organisational Behaviour”, Paper III, MCom.
Business Management.

3. Javed I. K., Jahanzaib M., Wasim A., (2016),” Role of Organisational Behaviour to
enhance productivity in a public sector enterprise”, Journal of Advanced Research in
Business and Management Studies, Volume 3.

4. Key Forces affecting Organisational Behaviour:

https://uodamba.wordpress.com/2014/07/13/key-forces-affect-organizational-behaviour/

5. Importance of Organisational Behaviour:

https://jebgroup.com/news/2018/1/11/the-importance-of-organizational-behaviour

6. Tall vs Flat Organisation structures:

https://bizfluent.com/info-8117900-tall-flat-organizational-structures-management.html

7. Organisational Behaviour and its importance in Management:

https://blog.college.ch/robert-kennedy-college/organisational-behaviour-and-its-
importance-in-management/
8. Organisational Behaviour:
https://www.iedunote.com/organizational-behavior
9. History and Evolution of OB:
https://www.wisdomjobs.com/e-university/principles-of-management-and-organisational-
behaviour-tutorial-366/history-and-evolution-of-organisational-behaviour-12812.html

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