MCA-110 Organizational Behavior

Individual behavior

Dr. S. Suresh
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Applications
NIT Kurukshetra

January 25, 2024 MCA110 – Organizational Behavior 1

 Individual behavior
◼ Individual behavior can be defined as a mix of
responses to external and internal stimuli. It is the
way a person reacts in different situations and the
way someone expresses different emotions like
anger, happiness, love, etc.
 Methods of Shaping Individual Behavior

We have various ways of shaping individual

behavior with respect to their original conduct −

◼ Positive reinforcement
◼ Negative reinforcement
◼ Punishment
◼ Extinction
 Positive Reinforcement
◼ It occurs when a desirable event or stimulus is
given as an outcome of a behavior and the
behavior improves. A positive reinforcer is a
stimulus event for which an individual will work in
order to achieve it.
◼ For example − A company announces a rewards
program in which employees earn prizes
depending on the number of items they sold.
 Negative Reinforcement
◼ It occurs when an aversive event or when a
stimulus is removed or prevented from happening
and the rate of a behavior improves. A negative
reinforceris a stimulus event for which an
individual will work in order to terminate, to
escape from, to postpone its occurrence.
◼ For example − A company has a policy that an
employee can have a Saturday off only if he
completes the assigned work by Friday.
 Punishment
◼ The creation of some unpleasant conditions to
remove an undesirable behavior.
◼ For example − A teenager comes home late and
the parents take away the privilege of using the
cell phone
 Extinction
◼ The process of eradicating (dying) any type of
reinforcement causing any undesirable behavior.
◼ For example − A child who crawls under the table
to hide and seek attention, gradually stops doing
so when the attention is withdrawn.
 Classical Conditioning Theory
◼ Definition: The Classical Conditioning Theory was
proposed by a Russian Physiologist Ivan Pavlov.
According to this theory, behavior is learnt by a
repetitive association between the response and
the stimulus.

The classical conditioning theory is based on the

assumption that learning is developed through the
interactions with the environment. Also, the
environment shapes the behavior and internal
mental state such as thoughts, feelings, emotions
do not explain the human behavior.
 Organizational culture
◼ Organizational culture is a system of shared
assumptions, values, and beliefs, which governs
how people behave in organizations. These
shared values have a strong influence on the
people in the organization and dictate how they
dress, act, and perform their jobs. Every
organization develops and maintains a unique
culture, which provides guidelines and boundaries
for the behavior of the members of the
organization.
 Organizational culture
◼ Organizational culture is based on shared attitudes,
beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that
have been developed over time and are considered valid.

Also called corporate culture, it's shown in

(1) the ways the organization conducts its business, treats its
employees, customers, and the wider community,
(2) the extent to which freedom is allowed in decision
making, developing new ideas, and personal expression,
(3) how power and information flow through its hierarchy,
and
(4) how committed employees are towards collective
objectives.
 Organizational culture
◼ It affects the organization's productivity and
performance, and provides guidelines on
customer care and service, product quality and
safety, attendance and punctuality, and concern
for the environment.
It also extends to production-methods, marketing
and advertising practices, and to new product
creation. Organizational culture is unique for
every organization and one of the hardest things
to change.
 Dimensions of Culture
◼ Which values characterize an organization’s
culture? Even though culture may not be
immediately observable, identifying a set of
values that might be used to describe an
organization’s culture helps us identify, measure,
and manage culture more effectively. For this
purpose, several researchers have proposed
various culture typologies
Dimensions of Organizational Culture
Profile (OCP)
 Organizational culture
◼ companies that have innovative cultures are
flexible and adaptable, and experiment with new
ideas. These companies are characterized by a
flat hierarchy in which titles and other status
distinctions tend to be downplayed.
 Organizational culture
◼ Companies with aggressive cultures value
competitiveness and outperforming competitors:
By emphasizing this, they may fall short in the
area of corporate social responsibility. For
example, Microsoft Corporation is often identified
as a company with an aggressive culture. The
company has faced a number of antitrust lawsuits
and disputes with competitors over the years. In
aggressive companies, people may use language
such as “We will kill our competition.”
 Organizational culture
◼ outcome-oriented cultures as those that
emphasize achievement, results, and action as
important values.

◼ Employees are trained and mentored to sell

company products effectively, and they learn how
much money their department made every day
◼ Stable cultures are predictable, rule-oriented, and
bureaucratic. These organizations aim to
coordinate and align individual effort for greatest
levels of efficiency. When the environment is
stable and certain, these cultures may help the
organization be effective by providing stable and
constant levels of output
 Organizational culture
◼ People-oriented cultures value fairness,
supportiveness, and respect for individual rights.
These organizations truly live the mantra that
“people are their greatest asset.” In addition to
having fair procedures and management styles,
these companies create an atmosphere where
work is fun and employees do not feel required to
choose between work and other aspects of their
lives
◼ Companies with team-oriented cultures are
collaborative and emphasize cooperation among
employees.
 Organizational culture
◼ Organizations with detail-oriented cultures are
characterized in the OCP framework as
emphasizing precision and paying attention to
details. Such a culture gives a competitive
advantage to companies in the hospitality industry
by helping them differentiate themselves from
others.