Allama Iqbal Open University

Assignment# 1

Student name : Yaman Tahir

Roll No. : BY482002
Subject. : Organizational Behaviour
Course code : 8427
Program : BBA 4years
Semester : Autumn 2022
Q1. What are the challenges and opportunities for managers in
using OB concepts?
Ans:
Organizational behavior is the culture of the organization, which includes how employees
interact with each other. This also includes how employees feel about the company. The
challenges and opportunities of organizational behavior in most companies include overcoming
cultural and ethnic differences, improving productivity, hiring employees suited to the
organizational culture or who can improve it, delegating tasks to employees, and finding an
appropriate level of life balance. Challenges and opportunities for organizational behavior are
massive and rapidly changing for improving productivity and meeting business goals.

Organizational behavior is the analysis of human dynamics within an organization. It helps HR

professionals and business leaders to understand the relationship between them and their employees.
In addition, it tells a lot about the interaction between employees at the same level. Although
organizational behavior varies from one organization to another, its nature has important implications.

In the present times, managers have to deal with various contemporary challenges and opportunities to
use organizational behavior concepts and improve productivity. Some of the challenges and
opportunities for organizational behavior are listed below.

Challenges and Opportunities of Organizational Behavior

The challenges and opportunities of Organizational Behavior can be fully understood with the help of
the following points: –

Improving Peoples’ Skills;

Improving Quality and Productivity;

Total Quality Management (TQM);

Managing Workforce Diversity;

Responding to Globalization;

Empowering People;

Coping with Temporariness;

Stimulating Innovation and Change;

Emergence of E-Organisation & E-Commerce;

Improving Ethical Behavior;

Improving Customer Service;

Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts; and

Flattening World.

Opportunities for Managers in Organizational Behavioral Concepts

Improving Workforce Skills

Technological changes, factors of organizational structural alterations and environmental modifications

are among the constant aspects that change within any organization. Employees are required to be apt
and up to date with the technology which entails equipping the executives and employees with the skills
necessary to adapt to the change(Sascha, Wohlgezogen, and Zajac 589). This is a paramount opportunity
as it provides the manager with a platform to improve on their managerial skills. The skills include (1)
technical skills such as listening, motivational, organizational, problem-solving and decision-making skills
(Lazaroiu 66). On the other hand, (2) managerial skills including how to generate developmental
programs, career advancement programs, induction, and socialization among others improve how a
manager administers his or her team.

Improving Quality and Productivity

Managers have the opportunity to develop on quality which in turn enhances performance productivity.
Variety is necessary since customers or users can relate to the product and the service provided with the
needs and expectations. High quality, for instance, ensures that customers have a good rapport with the
business (Lazaroiu 66). There is an opportunity for any manager since various key dimensions are
improved upon that include performance ratings, features, the durability of strategic management and
reputation of the company. By confronting the challenges faced by managers within their work category,
the quality and productivity of the workforce are enhanced. As a result, there is a witness of excellent
management.

Total Quality Administration

The philosophy in management revolves around the drivers of any organization to the attainment of
high-quality satisfaction of any customer with the continuous improvement of all organizational
processes. These entail the intense focus on the needs of the customer which range from the type of
product and the type of service needed. The manager is provided with the constant need to enhance
improvement continuously through quality improvement (Stone and Deadrick 140). There are strategic
ways of improving this which include empowerment of employees and accurate measurement of vital
programs to improve the workforce. For instance, the incorporation of training programs for workers
may require a skill set in handling the latest technology. How to go about is the real challenge as well as
a real opportunity for the workforce to work hand in hand to improve on performance and output.

Empowering the Workforce

A manager’s primary role in any organization is to ensure that the employees are energetic, enthusiastic
and ready to handle any tough project. The art of ensuring that employees stay motivated is both a
challenge and an opportunity (Stone and Deadrick 130). To achieve this, managers delegate the power
and the responsibility to the lower cadre of employees by assigning some form of freedom to make
decisions on work-related aspects. The aspects can include decision making on operations, strategic
adoption of ideas and how to make the workforce coordinate based on responsibilities and work
aims(Sascha, Wohlgezogen, and Zajac 589). Therefore, the manager has to ensure that encouraging the
workers to participate in the work roles is related to the decision and the will to enhance their work
commitment. The reason is that managers are required continuously to allow their employees to fully
control their work performance which impacts on the self-supervision factors and improved work
output.

Q2.Does behavior always follow from attitudes? Why or why not? Discuss the factors that affect
whether behavior follows from attitudes.

Ans: Behavior does not always follow from attitudes. This is because behavior has numerous causes.
Behavior follows from attitudes when a person has choice in how to act. For example, a person with a
positive attitude may take on a different task than a person with a negative attitude when they are given
the choice, but they may both take on the same task if forced to.

Ego-defensive – This particular attitude acts as a defence against the harsh realities of certain truths in
life that one may be unwilling to accept. It protects us from psychological harm. When a senior
executive is opposed by an employee junior to him, he/she may be unwilling to accept it even though
he/she may be wrong. Accepting their fault may lead to them being psychologically troubled. So, the
ego-defensive attitude influences their behaviour in such a way that their actions prevent them from
psychological harm.

Value-expressive – Our values define our identity and establish who we are. An individual may have
certain values integral to themselves that help shape their attitude. If an organization inculcates values
in its employees which are aligned with the values of the organization, it will develop a certain passion
among the individuals and will lead them to achieve better results.
Attitude, when shaped in the right way, can influence behaviour to achieve a favourable outcome. The
concept that behaviour follows attitude is used extensively by advertising and marketing companies.
When done right, advertisements can change the attitudes of people towards some things especially
their product. As a result, the viewer tends to or at least considers buying that product. This behaviour
of the person would not have arisen if it was not for the change in attitude caused by the advertisement.
A similar concept is used by psychologists while formulating means to tackle social issues like racism,
discrimination, etc. “Social Marketing ” is a concept that uses the above idea along with the concepts of
marketing to encourage good behaviours in people and at the same time discourage some bad
behaviours such as frequent smoking, drinking, etc. This involves literally selling attitudes to people
thereby influencing their behaviour.

By attitudes, we mean the beliefs, feelings, and action tendencies of an individual or group of individuals
towards objects, ideas, and people.

Factors influencing attitude are beliefs, feelings, and action tendencies of an individual or group of
individuals towards objects, ideas, and people.

Quite often, persons and objects, or ideas become associated in the minds of individuals and as a result,
attitudes become multidimensional and complex. Attitudes involve some knowledge of a situation.

However, the essential aspect of the attitude is found in the fact that some characteristic feeling or
emotion is experienced and, as we would accordingly expect, some definite tendency to action is
associated.

Subjectively, then, the important factor is the feeling or emotion. These are the factors influencing
attitude;

9 factors influencing attitude are;

Social Factors

Direct Instruction

Family

Prejudices

Personal Experience

Media

Educational and Religious Institutions

Physical Factors

Economic Status and Occupations

Social Factors

Every society has the majority of people who prefer to lead a harmonious life. They try to avoid
unnecessary friction or conflicts with people.

Naturally, they are inclined to develop positive attitudes towards most people and issues.

Our attitudes may facilitate and maintain our relationships with members of positively valued groups.
Social roles and social norms can have a strong influence on attitudes.

Direct Instruction

In general, the individual being conformist or the direction of the attitude of the people it deems
important. Sometimes direct instruction can influence attitude formation

For example, somebody gives information about the usefulness of some fruit.

On the basis of this information, we can develop a positive or negative attitude about that fruit.

Family

The family is the most powerful source for the formation of attitudes. The parents, elder brother, or
sister provide information about various things.

Attitudes developed by an individual, whether positive or negative, are the result of family influence,
which is very powerful and difficult to change.

Prejudices

An attitude may involve a prejudice, in which we prejudge an issue without giving unbiased
consideration to all the evidence.

Prejudices are preconceived ideas or judgments where one develops some attitudes toward other
people, objects, etc.
If we are prejudiced against a person, who is, accused of a crime, we may regard him as guilty regardless
of the evidence. We can also be prejudiced in favor of something.

Personal Experience

In order to be the basis of attitudes, personal experiences have left a strong impression.

Therefore, the attitude will be more easily formed when personal experience involves emotional factors.

In situations involving emotions, appreciation will be a more in-depth experience and longer trace.

Q3. What is the evidence for and against the existence of emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to perceive, interpret, demonstrate, control, evaluate, and use
emotions to communicate with and relate to others effectively and constructively. Some experts suggest
that emotional intelligence is more important than IQ for success in life.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to perceive, interpret, demonstrate, control, and use emotions
to communicate with and relate to others effectively and constructively. This ability to express and
control emotions is essential, but so is the ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions
of others.

Signs of Emotional Intelligence

Some key signs and examples of emotional intelligence include:1

An ability to identify and describe what people are feeling

An awareness of personal strengths and limitations

Self-confidence and self-acceptance

The ability to let go of mistakes

An ability to accept and embrace change

A strong sense of curiosity, particularly about other people

Feelings of empathy and concern for others

Showing sensitivity to the feelings of other people

Accepting responsibility for mistakes

The ability to manage emotions in difficult situations

How Emotional Intelligence Is Measured

A number of different assessments have emerged to measure levels of emotional intelligence. Such tests
generally fall into one of two types: self-report tests and ability tests.

Self-report tests are the most common because they are the easiest to administer and score. On such
tests, respondents respond to questions or statements by rating their own behaviors. For example, on a
statement such as “I often feel that I understand how others are feeling,” a test-taker might describe the
statement as disagree, somewhat disagree, agree, or strongly agree.

Ability tests, on the other hand, involve having people respond to situations and then assessing their
skills. Such tests often require people to demonstrate their abilities, which are then rated by a third
party.

If you are taking an emotional intelligence test administered by a mental health professional, here are
two measures that might be used:

Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) is an ability-based test that measures the
four branches of Mayer and Salovey’s EI model. Test-takers perform tasks designed to assess their ability
to perceive, identify, understand, and manage emotions.

Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI) is based on an older instrument known as the Self-
Assessment Questionnaire and involves having people who know the individual offer ratings of that
person’s abilities in several different emotional competencies. The test is designed to evaluate the social
and emotional abilities that help distinguish people as strong leaders.

There are also plenty of more informal online resources, many of them free, to investigate your
emotional intelligence.
Components of Emotional Intelligence

Researchers suggest that there are four different levels of emotional intelligence including emotional
perception, the ability to reason using emotions, the ability to understand emotions, and the ability to
manage emotions.

Perceiving emotions: The first step in understanding emotions is to perceive them accurately. In many
cases, this might involve understanding nonverbal signals such as body language and facial expressions.

Reasoning with emotions: The next step involves using emotions to promote thinking and cognitive
activity. Emotions help prioritize what we pay attention and react to; we respond emotionally to things
that garner our attention.

Understanding emotions: The emotions that we perceive can carry a wide variety of meanings. If
someone is expressing angry emotions, the observer must interpret the cause of the person’s anger and
what it could mean. For example, if your boss is acting angry, it might mean that they are dissatisfied
with your work, or it could be because they got a speeding ticket on their way to work that morning or
that they’ve been fighting with their partner.

Q. 4 What is attribution theory? What are the three determinants of attribution? What are its
implications for explaining organizational behavior?

Attribution Theory:

Attribution theory assumes that people try to determine why people do what they do, i.e., attribute
causes to behavior. A person seeking to understand why another person did something may attribute
one or more causes to that behaviour.

The Attribution Theory is concerned with how individuals perceive the information they receive,
interpret events, and how these form causal judgements.

No individual would take an action or decision without attributing it to a cause or factor.

According to Heider, this is aimed at assessing the explanation that people give to certain behaviors, it
considers how individuals interpret their behaviors.

The theory of attribution posits that attribution, whether done internally or externally, has great
influence on how people feel and relate to others.
Heider says that all behavior is considered to be determined by either internal or by external factors:

External Attribution (Situational Attribution): Causality is assigned to an outside factor, agent or force.
Outside factors fall outside your control. You perceive you have no choice. So your behavior is
influenced, limited or even completely determined by influences outside your control. Therefore you
feel not responsible. A generic example is the weather.

Internal Attribution (Dispositional Attribution): Causality is assigned to an inside factor, agent or force.
Inside factors fall inside your own control. You can choose to behave in a particular way or not. So your
behavior is not influenced, limited or even completely determined by influences outside your control.
Therefore you feel responsible. A typical example is your own intelligence.

This is also dependent on individual personality and cognitive behaviors.

As a complex psychological process, there have been diverse attempts to explain this concept using
many theories.

From an attribution theory perspective, individuals exhibit creativity when dealing with others people
and external factors.

What are the Steps in the Attribution Theory Process?

There is a three-stage process underlying attribution:

Perception. Observe. The person must perceive or observe the behavior.

Judgment. Determine deliberateness. The person must believe that the behavior was intentionally
performed.

Attribute. The person must determine if he believes the other person was forced to perform the
behavior (in which case the cause is attributed to the situation) or not (in which case the cause is
attributed to the other person).

Determinants of Attribution Theory

Distinctiveness: It means whether individuals have different behavior in different situations. ...

Consensus: It refers to whether everyone facing a similar situation responds in the same way. ...

Consistency: It shows whether a person shows the same behavior over time.

Q5. How do the predictions of self-determination theory apply to intrinsic !

Someone with high self-determination doesn’t rely on external rewards or punishments to motivate
them to take action. Instead, they engage in behaviors because they are motivated intrinsically. They
have an internal desire to set goals and work toward them. Base their actions on their own goals and
behaviors

Self-determination refers to a person’s ability to make choices and manage their own life. Being self-
determined means that you feel in greater control, as opposed to being non-self-determined, which can
leave you feeling that your life is controlled by others.

Verywell Mind

Search

Search

Verywell Health

Verywell Fit

Verywell Family

Ad

THEORIES

What Is Self-Determination Theory?

How Self-Determination Influences Motivation

By Kendra Cherry Updated on November 08, 2022

Medically reviewed by David Susman, PhD

Self-determined man
Edwin Jimenez / Cultura Exclusive / Getty Images

Table of Contents

VIEW ALL

Table of Contents

How It Works

Example

Self-Determined vs. Non-Self-Determined

Impact

Traits

Self-determination refers to a person’s ability to make choices and manage their own life. Being self-
determined means that you feel in greater control, as opposed to being non-self-determined, which can
leave you feeling that your life is controlled by others.

It states that people are motivated to grow and change by three innate (and universal) psychological
needs. The concept of intrinsic motivation, or engaging in activities for the inherent reward of the
behavior itself, plays an important role in this theory.

Self-determination is an important concept in psychology since it plays a role in psychological health and
well-being. Promoting self-determination is also an emerging best practice when working with certain
populations, such as individuals with intellectual disabilities.1

Self-determination theory seeks to explain how being self-determined impacts motivation—that people
feel more motivated to take action when they think that what they do will have an effect on the
outcome. Learn more about how this theory works, as well as what you can do to improve your self-
determination skills.

Assumptions of Self-Determination

Self-determination theory makes two key assumptions:

The need for growth drives behavior. The first assumption of self-determination theory is that people
are actively directed toward growth. Gaining mastery over challenges and taking in new experiences are
essential for developing a cohesive sense of self.
Autonomous motivation is important. While people are often motivated to act by external rewards such
as money, prizes, and acclaim (known as extrinsic motivation), self-determination theory focuses
primarily on internal sources of motivation such as a need to gain knowledge or independence (intrinsic
motivation).