Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA)

Programme PGDM (RM)

Batch 43 (2022-24)
Academic Year 2022-23
Course Level Basic
Area OB-HR
Term I
Title of the Course Individual and Group Behavior (IGB)
Credits 3
Number of Section(s) C&D
Type Core
Prerequisites None
Course Instructor Prof. Madhavi Mehta
Email ID madhavi@irma.ac.in
Contact Number 9313927147

Course Description:
This course is about leadership development, as most organizations want certain leadership
attributes in their managers other than the functional area expertise. Leadership skills are
different from functional area expertise. A finance manager may have thorough knowledge of
all financial indicators, but this becomes useless if s/he does not have the ability to navigate
through a tricky deal and reach amicably a negotiated settlement where both the parties are
winners. It is important for the leaders to know what skill set they need to develop. These skill
sets involve development of a cluster of qualities, attitudes, values, understanding self and
others, working with others in team requiring understanding of group dynamics, problem
solving skills, etc. The world is changing fast. Therefore, organizations need to adapt to
changing conditions. Thus, adaptability and creative problem-solving skills, control of emotions
under trying circumstances are some of the qualities that the organizations are valuing
increasingly. Many organizations are restructuring the internal arrangements by developing
teams. Teamwork has taken a prominent place in organizational processes. Several studies
have suggested that in today’s context organizations are increasingly searching for candidates
with strong work ethic, positive attitudes, strong interpersonal communication skills, ability to
think laterally, able to receive and benefit from critical feedback, active listening skills, being a
good team player, and with the ability to lead from the front.

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Course Objectives:
Individual and Group Behaviour (IGB) is a critical field of study for anyone who plans to work
in an organization at some point in his or her life. The purpose of this course is to help
participants understand the key concepts and principles about how people behave in life as
well as in organizations and make them more effective co-workers and team members. This
course will attempt to develop certain ways of thinking to enable participants to recognise the
importance of, and difficulty in, understanding another person's point of view. In the process
of doing so, the need for identifying one's own feelings, perceptions, and assumptions that
intervene in one's interaction with others will be made evident and attended to. The specific
purpose of this course is to enable participants to become an effective manager of people,
without losing the respect for human dignity. This course will deal with how individuals relate
in family, workplace, and society and how personal, situational, organizational, and societal
factors affect individual behaviour. The terminal purpose of this course is to develop
responsible members of the community and society.

Learning Outcome:

It is envisaged that on completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Analyse individual level processes in perception, learning, motivation, and attitudes

that shape behaviour.
• Effectively motivate self, other individuals, and groups for enhanced performance.
• Analyse the causes of individual and organizational level stressors and take effective
steps in managing it.
• Demonstrate clear understanding of factors affecting group dynamics in team
situations to lead effective result-oriented teams.
• Analyse the antecedents of conflicts in groups and work team and have the requisite
skills to manage conflicts in teams and groups.
• Initiate effective decision-making process to create effective action plans for teams and
groups.
• Understand the importance of the role of ethics and social responsibility in our
individual life as well as in the context of organizations.

Pedagogy / Teaching Methodology: Success in life as well as in the classroom goes through the
five stages of Interest-Effort-Learn-Perform-Succeed, and each stage is equally important. In
this course, there are some mandatory readings and activities. The readings and activities listed
in the session plan are mandatory meaning that you should complete the readings before you
come to the class. Most quizzes will be based on that day’s reading including the cases.

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Evaluation:
Component Learning Objective/s Weightage %
Class Participation Articulation, clarity of thought, 15%
understanding of concepts
Quiz Learning the basic concepts their 20%
application
Group Assignment Assimilation of the course learning as 10%
(Simulation Reflection) applied during the simulation
Mid Term Analytical Ability 25%
End Term Analytical Ability 30%
TOTAL 100

Details/Instructions for Evaluation:

Success in life as well as in the classroom goes through the five stages of Interest-Effort-Learn-
Perform-Succeed, and each stage is equally important. In this course, there are some
mandatory readings and activities. The readings and activities listed in the session plan are
mandatory meaning that you should complete the readings before you come to the class. Most
quizzes will be based on that day’s reading including the cases. A word about in-class case
discussion and preparation - for every session in which a case is scheduled to be discussed you
are requested to read the case thoroughly in advance and prepare a one-two page write up
analysing the case. You come to the class with your write-up and participate in the class
discussion at the end of the class you submit the write-up. You will be evaluated primarily based
on the richness of your case discussion and preparedness. The write-up is a necessary condition
to participate in the class discussion. Without the case note, your participation will be invalid.

In any system of learning, evaluation is an integral part because it helps you to know where you
stand vis-à-vis others as well as self. Research has shown that knowledge of results helps us to
improve our performance and leads to success. Keeping in line with IRMA’s policy of continuous
evaluation, in IGB course participants will be evaluated regularly.

TEXTBOOKS:
• Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge, Niharika Vohra (2018)“Organizational Behaviour”,
18th Edition, Pearson.
All the readings with TB specifying chapter and/or page numbers are from the book.

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SCHEDULE OF SESSIONS:

Session No. 1 Introduction to Individual and Group Behavior

Objectives: The session will provide an overview of the complexity of human
behavior in organizations as well as in other spheres of social interactions.
We will discuss the interdisciplinary origins and behavior in times of change,
organizational context within which behavior occurs, and opportunities that
exist in times of change. The session will focus on the challenge for people
at work; the ways people learn about organizational behavior and explain
how the text’s pedagogical features relate to the various learning styles.
Reading: Chapter 1. (TB)
Cases: Case Incidents 1 & 2 (TB pp: 76,77)
Session No. 2 Values and being a Professional
Objectives: In this session, we will discuss the importance of values and
identify the dominant values in today’s workforce. We will also try and
understand what it means to be a professional – ideas and practices that are
universally applicable, across callings.
Reading: Chapter 4. (TB pp:167-175, 178)
Session No. 3 Diversity in Organizations
Objectives: In this session, we will converse the issue of cultural differences
that contribute a great deal to the diversity of the workforce, but here are
other forms of diversity that are important as well. Diversity encompasses all
forms of differences among individuals, including culture, gender, age, ability,
religion, personality, social status, and sexual orientation. Diversity has
garnered increasing attention in recent years, largely because of
demographic changes in the working population. As managers feel that
dealing with diversity is a paramount concern for two reasons, firstly,
managers need to motivate diverse work groups and secondly, managers
must communicate with employees who have different values and languages
skills
Reading: Chapter 2. (TB)
Case: Conman Systems (TAU)
Session No. 4 Personality and Behavior
Objectives: In this session the focus will be on individual differences. We
will discuss how these individual differences have been grouped across
different dimensions. Thus, we will try to understand the construct called
'personality' and its effect on our behaviour. The effort will be directed to
understand how under different situation individuals behave in a
consistent manner because of their personality. Participants will also have
an opportunity to examine their own selves and reflect on the pattern of

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 their behavior.
Reading: Chapter 4 (TB pp: 151-167)
Session No. 5 Perception and attribution
Objectives: In this session, we would learn on perception, which is another
psychological process that creates individual differences. In that, the primary
vehicle through which we come to understand our world, perception and
ourselves adds meaning to information gathered via the five senses of touch,
smell, hearing, vision, and taste. There are three major categories of factors
influence our perception of others: characteristics of ourselves, as perceivers;
characteristics of the target person we perceive; and characteristics of the
situation in which the interaction takes place. Additionally, we will try to
understand social perception process and the barriers to perception.
Unfortunately, barriers often prevent us from perceiving others accurately.
We will discuss, five major barriers to social perception namely, selective
perception, stereotype, first-impression error, projection, and self-fulfilling
prophecies.
Reading: Chapter 5. (TB)
Cases:
• Rajan the driver (TAU)
• Multi- Media Case (Shall be carried out during the session)
Session No. 6 Attitude formation and change
Objectives: The discussion will be on an attitude to help the future managers
to understand the antecedents to attitudes as well as their consequences.
Managers also need to understand the different components of attitudes
that affect work behavior, and how to use persuasion to change attitudes,
the ABC Model of attitude, how attitudes are formed and sources of job
satisfaction and commitment. We will also discuss different theories of
attitude change. We will also discuss what happens when people are forced
to behave against their held attitudes and beliefs.
Reading:
• Chapter 3. (TB)
• Behaviour Change Communication (TAU)
Case: Nandagopal Charitable Case (TAU)
Session No. 7 Emotions and Emotional intelligence
Objectives: Basis of most human actions is emotion. Therefore, it is
important to know the workings of emotion. In this session, we would learn
about emotions at work, emotional labor, and management of emotions of
self and others in the work environment. The focus will be on understanding
the constructs of intelligence and emotion particularly, the nature of emotion
(e.g., physiological arousal, expression, and subjective feelings), and the

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 construct of emotional intelligence. Participants will learn to identify their
own emotions and label them appropriately, learn to regulate emotion,
understand emotion of others and interpret it accurately, and helping others
to regulate their emotions like cheering up or calming down other people.
Readings: Chapter 6. (TB)
Session No. 8 Motivation concepts
Objectives: In this session, we would discuss the concept of motivation. We
will focus on all major theories of motivation with a special focus on recent
theories like Self-determination theory and their implications for
performance. How people can be motivated/nudged to adopt behavior that
they had not thought that they would be adopting. Additionally, we will focus
on cultural differences in motivation.
Reading: Chapter 7. (TB)
Case: Engstrom Auto Mirror Plant (TAU)
Session No. 9 Motivation – from concepts to application
Objectives: In this session we shall attempt to understand how organizational
effectiveness can be achieved through various motivation techniques and
programs at individual, team and organizational levels.
Reading: Chapter 8 (TB)
Session No. 10 Learning
Objectives: In this session, the focus will be on understanding the process of
learning and its implications for performance at work. Through case
discussions, we will cover different learning theories and their usefulness in
solving capability gap problem in organizations.
Reading: Chapter 5. (TB pp: 197-205)
Session No. 11 Organizational Stress and its Management
Objectives: In this session, the focus will be on understanding stress, distress
and strain, the four different of stress, the consequences of stress, the
individual factors that influence a person’s response to stress and strain and
the stages and elements of preventive stress management for individuals and
organizations. Different stress management techniques, such as cognitive
reframing, body regulation, and emotional management, will be discussed.
Participants will also undertake exercises on each one of these.
Reading: Chapter 16. (TB)
Case: Amazon as an employer (TAU)
Session No. 12 Communication
Objectives: In this session we will converse the issue of the interpersonal
communication process and the roe of listening in the process, the five
communication skills of effective supervisions, the five communication
barriers and gateways through them, difference between defensive and non-
defensive communication, the impact of nonverbal communication, positive

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 and healthy communication, the communication technologies and how they
affect the communication
Reading: Chapter 12. (TB)
Case: DRW Technologies (TAU)
Session No. 13 Interpersonal Relationships
Objectives: Interpersonal relationship refers to the interrelationship
between individuals. At workplace if the employees working together can
bond it not only creates a positive work environment but also enhances
productivity. The objective of this session is to sensitize individuals to the
value of openness and respect with each other for healthy interpersonal
dynamics in organizations.
Readings:
• Interpersonal Behaviour – An Introduction (TAU)
• The Johari Window: Model for Personal and Interpersonal
Effectiveness (TAU)
Case: Kay Sunderland: Making the Grade at Attain Learning (TAU)
Session No. 14 Team Dynamics I
Objectives: In this session the discussion will learn how groups are formed
and what are the different types of groups. We will also understand the
implications of diversity for group effectiveness. We will contrast the benefits
and disadvantages of cohesive groups.
Reading: Chapter 9. (TB)
Case: Medisys Corp: The IntensCare Product Development Team (TAU)
Session No. 15 Team Dynamics II
Objectives: In this session the discussion will the carried-on group and work
teams, the benefits organizations and individuals derive from working in
teams, the factors that influence group behavior, how groups from and
develop, how task and maintenance functions influence group performance,
the factors that influence group effectiveness, how empowerment relates to
self-managed teams and the importance of upper echelons and top
management teams.
Reading: Chapter 10. (TB)
Case: Gram Sevak Sangh (TAU)
Session No. 16 Leadership I
Objectives: In this session, participants would learn about the process of
guiding and directing behavior of people in the work environment. The
difference between leadership and management, between leaders and
managers, the role of trail theory in describing leaders, the role of
foundational behavioral research in the development of leadership theories,
the four contingency theories of leadership and its comparison, the recent
developments in leadership theory of leader-member exchange and

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 inspirational leadership, how issues of emotional intelligence, trust, gender
and servant leadership are informing today’s leadership models
Reading: Chapter 13. (TB)
Session No. 17 Leadership II
Objectives: In this session we will continue the discussion on leadership and
ways of influencing people. Through the case “The Green Reformer – Anna
Hazare” we will focus on understanding his leadership style
Reading: Legitimizing Leadership (TAU)
Case: The Green Reformer – Anna Hazare (TAU)
Session No. 18 Conflict Management and Negotiation
Objectives: In these sessions, we will learn about the nature of conflicts in
organizations, the role structural and personal factor’s play in causing
conflict in organizations, the nature of group conflict in organizations, the
factors that influence conflict between individuals in organizations, effective
and ineffective techniques for managing conflicts, identify five styles of
conflict management. We will try to understand the concept of negotiation,
two major approaches: distributive bargaining and integrative negotiation
and the process of negotiating that involves an open discussion of problem
solutions, and the outcome often is an exchange in which both parties work
toward a mutually beneficial solution.
Reading: Chapter 17. (TB)
Case: The Budgeting Exercise (TAU)
Session No. 19 Integrating IGB through simulation exercise
and 20. Objectives: To allow participants to work in a team setting. This award-
winning simulation uses the dramatic context of a Mount Everest expedition
to reinforce participant learning in group dynamics and leadership.
Participants play one of 5 roles on a team of climbers attempting to summit
the mountain. During each round of play they must collectively discuss
whether to attempt the next camp en route to the summit. Ultimately, teams
must climb through 5 camps in 6 simulated days totaling approximately 1.5
actual hours of seat time. Team members analyze information on weather,
health conditions, supplies, goals, and hiking speed, and determine how
much of that information to communicate to their teammates. Along the
journey, the team must also make decisions in response to 3 hidden
challenges which affect their ascent, hiking speed, health, and overall
success.

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