Module 1

Organization

An organization is a collection of people who work together to achieve individual and organizational
goals.

Organizational Behavior

 OB is a discipline that deals with the study and application of knowledge about how people
as individuals and as groups act within organizations.

 Fred Luthans defines OB as “the understanding, prediction and management of human

behavior in organizations.”

Characteristics of OB

 Inter-disciplinary

 Research based

 Applied science

 Behavioral aspects

 Increased acceptance of findings by managers 

Importance of OB

 provides a road map to our lives in organizations

 understand and predict organizational life

 influence organizational events

 understand oneself & others better

 understand the basis of motivation

 maintaining cordial industrial relation

 useful in the field of marketing

 pursue career in management

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

OB Model
Common Mistakes Committed by Managers

 Lack of clarity
 Lack of empathy
 Act as a demotivator
 Poor listening skills
 Failure to give effective feedback
 Too busy to manage

Challenges and Opportunity for OB

 Responding to Globalization
 Managing Workforce Diversity
 Improving Quality and Productivity
 Responding to the Labor Shortage
 Improving Customer Service
 Improving People Skills
 Empowering People
 Coping with “Temporariness”
 Stimulation Innovation and Change
 Helping Employees Balance Work/Life Conflicts
 Improving Ethical Behavior

Module 2

Personality

 The word Personality derived from the Latin word ‘persona’ which means ‘to speak through
‘.

 Defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual interacts with people & reacts to
situations.

 It can also be defined as the traits exhibited by a person during these interactions.

Personality Determinants

• Heredity

• Environment

• Situation

Personality Traits

Introversion/Extroversion

 Introverts perform better in quiet environments with little stimulation, whereas extroverts
perform better in more lively environments (that is, environments with more people, noise,
and change).
  Introvert may perform well in an independent research position, an extrovert would
probably prefer a job with more people contact (for example, in management).

The Big Five Model

1. Extroversion – Sociable, talkative, assertive

2. Agreeableness – Good natured, cooperative, trusting

3. Conscientiousness – Responsible, dependable, persistent & achievement- oriented

4. Emotional Stability – Calm, self-confident, secure, tense, insecure & nervous

5. Openness to Experience – Imaginative, artistically sensitive

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

 The original versions of the MBTI were constructed by two Americans, Katharine Cook
Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers.

 The MBTI is based on the conceptual theory proposed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.

 Each person is said to have one preferred quality from each category, producing 16 unique
types.

 4 Personality Categories

o Extroverted or Introverted (E or I)
o Sensing or Intuitive (S or N)
o Thinking or Feeling (T or F)
o Perceiving or Judging (P or J)

Major Personality Attributes Influencing OB

 Locus of control
 Machiavellianism
 Authoritarianism
 Self-esteem
 Self-monitoring
 Propensity for risk taking
 Type A personality

Learning

 Learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, practice or

experience.

 “Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience”.

- Stephen Robbins

Theories of Learning

1. Classical Conditioning

A type of conditioning in which an

 individual responds to some stimulus

that would not ordinarily produce such

a response.

2. Operant Conditioning (Instrumental Learning)

3. Social-learning Theory

4. Cognitive Theory

The cognitive theory recognises the role of an organism in receiving, memorising, retrieving and
interpreting the stimulus and reacting to it.

It assumes that the organism learns the meaning of various objects and events and learned
responses depend upon the meaning assigned to stimuli.

The theory states that when people observe a model performing a behavior and the consequences
of that behavior, they remember the sequence of events and use this information to guide
subsequent behaviors.

Principles of Learning

 Trainee must be motivated to learn

 Information must be meaningful 

 Learning must be reinforced

 Organisation of material

 Feedback on learning

Strategies Of Reinforcement 

1. Positive reinforcement is a reward or other desirable consequence that follows a particular

behavior or activity.

2. Negative reinforcement takes place when individuals learn to escape or avoid from
unpleasant consequences.

3. Punishment is a means of reducing a desired behavior by introducing a potentially

undesirable consequence.

4. Extinction is an effective method of controlling undesirable behaviour. It is based on the

principle that if a response is not reinforced, it will eventually disappear.
Application of learning

 Use of lotteries to reduce absenteeism

 Work pay vs sick pay

 Training and development 

 Mentoring 

 Discipline

 Self-management

Values

 Values are stable, enduring beliefs about what is worthwhile that influence thought and
behavior.

 A judgmental element of what is right, good or desirable

Importance of Values

Types of Values – 1. Terminal values & 2. Instrumental values

 Module 3

ATTITUDE

 Attitude refers to feelings & beliefs of an individual or group of people.

 They are learned predispositions towards aspects of our environment.
 They are evaluative statements which are either favorable or unfavorable

FACTORS THAT DETERMINE OUR ATTITUDE

 Environment
 Experience
 Education

ABC MODEL OF ATTITUDE

BENEFITS OF A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

 Makes for a pleasing personality

 Is energizing

 Increases your enjoyment of life

 Inspires others around you

 Helps u become a contributing member of society and an asset to your country

BENEFITS FOR THE ORGANIZATION

 Increases productivity

 Fosters teamwork

 Solves problems

 Improves quality

 Makes for a congenial atmosphere

 Breeds loyalty

 Reduces stress

 Fosters better relationship

Attitudes and Employee Behaviour

Job Satisfaction

 A positive emotional state resulting from an individual's opinion of the job.

 5 dimensions are the pay level, the work itself, the opportunities for promotion, the quality
of supervision, and the level of satisfaction with one's co-workers.

 Instruments

 Job Descriptive Index (JDI)

 Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)

Organizational Commitment

 The degree to which a person identifies with and feels a part of the organization.

 The three kinds of organizational commitment:

Affective commitment, Continuance commitment & Normative commitment

 Increase OC by encouraging employee participation in decision-making and by providing

employees with relatively high levels of job security, autonomy, and responsibility.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

 Refers to the incompatibility that an individual may perceive between two or more of his
attitudes, or between his behavior and attitudes.
  Leon Festinger 1957

 Psychological stress

The effort made by an individual to reduce dissonance depends on:-

 the significance of the elements that give rise to dissonance,

 the extend to which they can be controlled &

 the rewards that he is likely to lose by not overcoming them.

CHANGING ATTITUDES OF EMPLOYEES

 Give feedback
 Develop positive conditions of work
 Positive role model
 Providing new information
 Use of fear
 Influence of friends or peers

CONSEQUENCES OF A NEGATIVE ATTITUDE

 Bitterness

 Resentment

 A purposeless life

 Ill health

 High stress levels for themselves & others

Modifying Negative Employee Attitudes

 Negative employee attitudes can be modified through persuasion.

 The extent to which a negative attitude can be changed will depend

1. on the characteristics of the persuader

2. the person being persuaded and

3. the message