LEARNING

MEANING AND DEFINITION

Learning is the process of attaining new or modified knowledge and skills. Change in existing
behavior because of new knowledge, skill or training is known as learning. The change should
be permanent means there should be significant change in behavior before and after acquiring
some knowledge or skill and the change must be because of certain kind of experience or
training.
Definitions:
In the words of Gestalt’s,“the basis of learning is to gain knowledge after observing the whole
structure. Responding towards the entire situation is learning.” Kurt Lewin said that, “The
learning as the direct cognitive organization of a situation. Motivation has a significant role
&place in learning.”
Woodworth said that,“The process of acquiring new knowledge and new responses is the
process of learning.”
According to G.D. Boaz(1984) “Learning is the process by which the individuals acquires
various habits, knowledge, and attitudes that are necessary to meet the demands of life, in
general.”
According to Cronbach,“Leaning is shown by a change in behavior as a result of
experience.”Pavlov has said, “Learning is habit formation resulting from conditioning.”
Zalkind says, “Every aspect of human behavior is responsive to learning experience, including
knowledge, Language, skills, attitude, values and one’s personality traits.”
According to N. L. Munn, “Learning is described as a process of having one’s behavior
modified more or less permanently, by what he does and the consequences of his action, or by
what he observes.”
According to Hilgard, “Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a
result of prior experience.” On the basis of above mentioned definitions, the following features
of learning can be concluded
“Learning is a process of acquiring knowledge, skills, behavior and attitude.”
Learning includes following four stages.
1. Stimulus- Everyone needs a source of motivation to perform something and Stimulus is a
motivating source or an incentive. Learners should have a good perception of stimuli, as the
learner should be supported in the learning process. When there are no triggers there is no
thought. Stimulus can take the form of 'knowledge expansion,' 'abilities and skills,' 'job quality
improvement,' 'productivity and profitability,' 'effectiveness,' 'career development,' and
'financial and non-financial incentives.' Features or nature of Learning It creates Change Its
repitition is a must It is a continuous activity It affects behavior It is an intangible activity
Stimulus -Response -Motivation- Rewards
2. Response- In theory, reaction is the result of the learner to the stimulus. When the result is
reached, response is the first step in the process of learning. Learner will respond positively,
because only then does the learning process take place and can he / she respond positively to
certain negative reactions only if the learner is persuaded of positive behavioral changes.
3. Motivation- Motivation is the key catalyst to motivate individuals to learn, because learning
cannot take place without motivation. It's the enthusiasm for learning that boosts curiosity and
attitude. No one can learn without willingness and this willingness comes from motivation
because we all know that whatever thinking and understanding capacity one has without
motivation, nobody can learn.
4. Rewards- In learning process, rewards are incentives which learner gets. In learning process,
there should be a clear incentive scheme, and it should be straightforward and predictive.
Employees should be well aware in advance when studying at various rates of what they can
get as return or bonuses. Rewards can come in both financial and non-financial form. For
examples, praise is the incentive and salary increment etc.
LEARNING THEORIES IN ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
1. Classical Conditioning: Classical conditioning theory was propounded by Ivan Pavlov that
is it is also known as Pavlovian condition theory. It is a process in which an individual responds
to some kind of stimulus that would not normally produce a response like this. Learning is
associated with a particular thing in our environment in this leaning process, with a prediction
of what will happen next. This is the easiest way to understand the learning process according
to classical conditioning theory, since the association of such an event with another desired
event is closely related. For example, "the normal stimulus for a flow of saliva is the taste of
food. But often the mouth waters at the mere sight of luscious peach, on hearing it described
or even thinking about it. Therefore, one situation is substituted for another to elicit behavior
and this process is called conditioning." In classical conditioning, According to Evan Pavlov,
“a procedure is to be followed by Pavlov to observe accurately the amount of saliva secreted
by a dog. When dog was feed with a piece of meat, the dog exhibited a noticeable increase in
salivation. When Pavlov withheld the presentation of meat and merely rang a bell, the dog did
not salivate. Then Pavlov proceeded to link the meat and the ringing of the bell. After
repeatedly hearing the bell before getting the food, the dog began to salivate as soon as the bell
rang. After a while, the dog would salivate merely at the sound of the bell, even if no food was
offered”. Learning is related to a conditioned stimulus according to the classical conditioning
and an unconditioned stimulus. In the above case, the meat was an unconditional stimulus; it
caused the dog to respond in a particular way, and the reaction that occurred after the
unconditional stimulus was called the unconditional response. In this case, the bell was a
conditioned stimulus and, when the bell was combined with the meat, it eventually created a
response when presented alone. This is called conditioned response.
2. Operant conditioning- B.F. Skinner, a Harvard Psychologist gave this theory of learning.
According to Skinner (1938), “operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through
rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an
association between a particular behavior and consequence”. The learning of a behavior is
usually followed by a reward or punishment according to this theory. Operating conditioning
indicates that an individual's behavior depends on the various types of circumstances. Usually,
people used to behave in a specific way where they earn incentives and often people used to
avoid acts from which they do not get anything. Skinner said generating satisfactory outcomes
for a specific type of action improves the action's frequency. B.F Skinner's rat experiment offers
the best example of this theory of learning in which “Skinner trained rats to press a lever to get
food, a hungry rat was placed in a box containing a lever attached to some hidden food content.
Initially the rat ran around the box randomly and while doing so, leads to press the lever, and
the food dropped into the box. The dropping of food reinforced the response of pressing the
lever. And the same things happen again and again and the rat learned to press the lever for
food. People usually engage in such a behavior’s if they are positively reinforced for doing so
and rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the desired response.”
3. Cognitive Theory- Learning cognition theory states that learning relies on one's own
perceptions, experience of meanings, comprehensions, or ideas about one's self and
environment. Learners learn in this learning process through their own successful and positive
thought processes, like a practice or using our memories. This learning process involved
physical actions or activities solely within your own experience, intuition, and didn't include
the outside environment. That needs only cognitive energy, which implies only an inner
thought process. Cognitive processes included the assessment, categorization and creation of
generalizations of the world. Cognitive learning theory proposed explanation of the various
learning mechanisms by first studying the mental processes, thinking with the aid of positive
cognitive processes, learning is easier and new information can be stored in the brain for a long
time to come.
4. Social Learning Theory- The theory of social learning is also called observational learning,
in this theory one person learns by watching what happens to others and not by being told about
something or his, her world. Due to this principle one can learn stuff by looking at others
Parents, teachers, peers, movie pictures, television artists, bosses and others for example. Most
concepts about actions are learned by studying other people's activities and studying the
repercussions for them. This theory involves four processes namely: "Attention process,
Retention process, Motor reproduction process, and Reinforcement process." In which,
attention means people know when they remember something or its vital features and pay
attention to it. In this learner all due attention is to be paid and if the learner is not attentive
they will not be able to know anything. Retention Process means how well one recalls the
actions after the model is not readily available any more. A process of motor reproduction
Upon learning, the process of motor replication is understood by monitoring others attentively
and holding the same, based on learned behavior. This involves studying the model’s behaviors
and performing one's own actions and comparing them against those of the model. This process
then demonstrates that the individual is able to carry out the activities as model. Reinforcing
method Individuals that are motivated are expected to display their modeled actions if they are
presented with good motivation or rewards for that, and more attention is paid to, learned more,
and conducted actions that is positively improved.
 ATTITUDES
MEANING AND DEFINITION
An attitude defined as the way a person feels about something- a person, a place, a commodity,
a situation or an idea.
In other words, attitudes are the set or cluster of beliefs towards objects, events and situation.
According to Gordon Allport, Attitude defined as a - “mental and neural state of readiness,
organized through experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon the individual’s
response to all objects and situation with which it is related”.
According to P R Lawrence, “Attitude represents the cluster of beliefs, assessed feelings, and
behavioral intentions toward an object”. By analyzing the above, attitude is refers to a persistent
tendency to feel and behave in a particular way toward some object.
FORMATION OF ATTITUDE
1) Direct experience with the object Attitudes can develop from a personally rewarding or
punishing experience with an object. Employees form attitudes about jobs on their previous
experiences. For example:-If everyone who has held a job has been promoted within six
months, current job holders are likely to believe that they will also be promoted within six
months.
2) Vicarious learning - One can also learn certain things by observing the behavior of other
people which automatically develop a certain kind of attitude. And this learning is known as
vicarious learning in which a person learns by observing behavior of others. For example
watching TV, movies etc.
3) Family and Peer groups- A person may also learn the attitudes by imitating his or her parents
or other family members. Even from his party of peers too. If parents have a positive attitude
toward a particular phenomenon, the child will admire his parents, and it is evident that he will
adopt a similar attitude, even without being told. Similarly, behaviors in universities, schools,
are learned from peer groups.
4) Neighbourhood - Sometimes neighbours also play a significant role in developing a
particular kind of attitude. Each and every neighbour has something different value system or
culture aspects which will automatically provide a kind of impact on our personality.
5) Economic condition and occupation- The economic condition and work-related roles of one
often lead a great deal to the creation of a certain kind of behavior, and this will shape an
attitude automatically. Our socio-economic history has a very important part to play in our
current and future attitudes.
6) Mass communication - Mass media like television, radio, newspaper, and magazines can
also add a lot to somebody's personality. Media coverage is designed to build a public attitude.
CHANGING OF ATTITUDE
Employee behaviors that operate within an organization may be modified because it is in the
best interest of the organization. Yet change is complicated, because there are some hurdles in
it. Hurdles to change Usually people resist change of attitude because of balance and
consistency theory of attitude. Accordingly, a person wants their attitudes towards people and
things to be in line with one another's 20 Organizational Behaviour own acts and objects (i.e.
safe, consistent). If habits aren't identical and consistent, people typically try rewarding
internally to eliminate differences. The second barrier When a person is bound by certain
commitment or protocol then his attitude is really hard to change like every organization has
some different kind of value system, protocol etc. The third barrier Sometimes a person sees
no strong cause or sufficient amount of information then that person finds it difficult to change
his attitude.
WAYS OF CHANGING ATTITUDE
There are certain ways for changing attitudes which are as follows:
1. Providing new information When a person is well informed with all latest and accurate
information about a particular object then that person changes himself accordingly. New
information always helps change attitudes. Once employees become conscious of the fact that
the management think about the welfare of the workers, they modify their attitude and turn pro-
management.
2. Use of Fear Sometimes fear can prove to be a powerful weapon for changing attitude. The
change will no doubt depend on the degree of fear. Yet often people tend to become stubborn
in their actions when they are being challenged too far and people can fail to adjust.
3. Influence of friends or peers Changes of attitude can also be influenced by friends or peers.
Here credibility of the peers or friends matters a lot. Peers or friends having high creditability
put more influence on change.
4. The co-opting approach Co-opting also can be an efficient means of changing habits. When
people are unhappy with a particular situation, and involve them in changing things. Co-opting
can be the most effective form of changing attitude.
5. Others It is also found that a person is more likely to alter an attitude kept in private than one
that he has publicly mentioned
COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE
1) Informational or Cognitive Component - The informational component consists of
beliefs, values, ideas and other information a person has about the object. For example, a person
seeking a job may learn from his own sources and other employees working in the company
that in a particular company the promotion chances are very favourable. In reality, it may or
may not be correct. Yet the information that person is using is the key to his attitude about that
job and about that company.
2) Emotional or Affective Component- The informational component sets the stage for the
more critical part of an attitude, its affective component. The emotional components involve
the person’s feeling or affect-positive, neutral or negative-about an object. For example, “I like
this job because the future prospects in this company are very good”.
3) Behavioural Component- The behavioural component consists of the tendency of a person
to behave in a particular manner towards an object. For example, the concerned individual in
the above case may decide to take up the job because of good future prospects.
 MOTIVATION
Motivation is a process, which accounts for an individual’s intensity, direction and persistency
of efforts towards attaining a goal. This is one of the most frequently researched topic in
Organizational Behaviour. We can call motivation as a fluid subject and therefor there is a
necessity to motivate employees continuously with more innovative ways time an on.
Therefore, history tells us development of several motivation theories. Perhaps each one of
them has a background or and environment in which it has been successful under the
circumstances.
INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION
Intrinsic Motivation: It refers to self, generated factors that influence people to behave in a
particular way or to move in a particular direction. These factors include responsibility,
freedom to act, scope to use and develop skills and abilities, interesting and challenging work,
opportunities for advancement etc.
Extrinsic Motivation: Efforts made by others to motivate people. This may be e.g.: reward,
punishment, appreciation etc.
SOME THEORIES ON MOTIVATION
1) Expectancy Theory- It was put forth by Vroom (1964). It can be described as follows:
“Whenever an individual chooses between alternatives which involve uncertain outcomes, it
seems clear that his behaviour is affected not only by his preferences among the outcomes but
also by the degree to which he believes these outcomes to be possible. An expectancy is defined
as a momentary belief concerning the likelihood that a particular act will be followed by a
particular outcome. The strength of expectations may be traced on past experiences. The theory
proposes that, motivation is likely only when a clearly perceived and usable relationship exists
between performance and outcome, and the outcome is seen as a means of satisfying needs.
This explains why extrinsic motivation (e.g.: bonus) work only if the link between efforts and
rewards is clear and the value of the reward is worth the effort. It also explains why intrinsic
motivation can be more purposeful than extrinsic motivation. Victor Vroom’s expectancy
theory is one such most widely accepted theory of motivation currently in use. This has the
strength of a tendency to act in a certain manner, which depends upon the strength of an
attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. In other words, theory says that, an employee
will be motivated to exert high level of effort when he believes that efforts will lead to a good
performance appraisal. And this will lead to organizational rewards in many ways, which in
turn will satisfy the personal goals of the employees. The employees expectation is in the form
of promotion, an increment in salary or a certificate or incentive. etc. The theory, therefore,
concentrates on three types of relationships. i. Efforts performance relationship :- The
individual presides the probability that exerting a particular amount of efforts leads to
performance. ii. Performance reward relationship:- The individuals degree of belief that
performing at a particular level will lead to reaching a desired outcome. iii. Rewards personal
goals relationship :- This is the degree to which the organizational rewards satisfy an individual
goals or need and the attractiveness of those potential rewards for the individuals. Expectancy
theory explains or rather helps to explain why some workers are not motivated on their jobs
and restrict themselves to minimum and necessary work. To summaries, the key to expectancy
theory is understanding of the individual goals as well as the linkage between his efforts and
performance and the performance and rewards and lastly between the rewards and individual
goals satisfaction. However, the theory definitely recognizes that, there is no particular
principle for explaining everyone’s motivation. As far as the effectiveness of this theory is
concerned, it has been validated with high degree of priority probably because every
individual’s goal satisfaction cannot be understood, realized clearly. Perhaps there are no
recognized methods that may surface the truth. More so the organization’s policy also may not
suit this theory, particularly where seniority comes as a rule.
2) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - This theory is one of the most famous hypothesizing that
within every human being there exists 5 needs in a hierarchical structure. These needs are i.
Physiological : This includes hunger, sex, shelter, thrust and a few bodily needs. ii. Safety :
This includes protection from physical and emotional harm as well as security. iii. Social: This
includes acceptance, belongings, affection as well as friendship. iv. Esteem: This includes the
internal esteem factors such as autonomy, achievement and self-respect. Similarly the external
esteem factors include status, recognition and attention to physiological need. v. Self-
actualization : This means drive to become what one is capable of becoming. This, therefore,
includes self-fulfillment, growth and achievement of ones potentiality. Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs can be shown diagrammatically in the form of a pyramid with base as physiological
needs and ending with self-actualization at the top as shown below. The author of the theory
separated these 5 needs in two categories, namely lower order needs that are satisfied externally
which include physiological and safety needs and the high order needs which are satisfied
internally incorporating social, esteem and self-actualization needs. Though Maslow’s theory
received recognization very widely from, managers, there is a criticism that the organizations
did not either follow or support the need structures as proposed by Maslow. Perhaps this might
be due to stringent organizational policies in the past or the recognization by the organizations
about the importance of this theory. His theory, based on needs, suggested a need hierarchy
that apply to people. He says that an individual’s needs involve physiological needs, safety
needs, social needs, esteem needs and self actualization. The theory states that when a lover
need is satisfied, the higher level need becomes dominant and the individual’s attention is
turned to satisfying higher level. He used to say that, Man is a wanting animal and only
unsatisfied needs can motivate behaviours and the dominant need is the prime motivator of
behaviour. The main implication of Maslow’s Theory is that higher order needs for esteem and
self fulfillment provide greater impetus to motivation. They grow in strength when they are
satisfied, while the lower needs decline in strength on satisfaction. To summarize, we learn
that, there is organization to understand the needs of people at various levels and appropriately
provide motivational inputs suitable to their requirements.
3) Herzberg’s Two Factor Model- He, in 1957, suggested a two-factor model based on the
study of accountants and engineers. His observations were as below: Employee’s wants can be
divided into two groups. The one group that includes salary, working conditions etc, which, if
not satisfied, creates dissatisfaction, though do not lead to explicit motivation. On the other
hand, there are factors such as rewards, advancement, Self actualization Esteem Social Security
Physiological career progression etc, which give positive satisfaction. His theory has been
heavily criticized by many. His model provides an overall picture of the factors that generally
satisfy the employee and those which positively motivate the employees. Herzberg’s two-factor
theory This is also known as motivation-hygiene theory. Herzberg was a psychologist and he
believed that, an individual’s relation to work is basic and ones attitude towards work can
determine success or failure. He got the response for his questionnaire answered by several
employees. His intention was to identify what the employee’s want from their job. He also
expected from them the situation in which they felt exceptionally good or bad about their jobs.
This resulted into certain characteristics constantly related to job satisfaction and others to job
desertification. Factors that lead to extreme dissatisfaction, in order of merit in terms of
frequency where organizational policies and administration, type of supervision and the
relation with supervisor, work environment, salary followed by comparatively low factors like
status, personal relationship, etc. Alternatively, the factors relating to high satisfaction included
similarly in order of importance achievements, recognition, work involvement, responsibility
as well as advancement and growth. 69% of factors contributing to dissatisfaction were
hygienic in nature. And 19% hygienic factors contributing to job satisfaction were hygienic in
nature, the remaining factors in both the categories were respectively 31% and 81% and were
motivator factors. Herzberg argued that the response strongly indicated that opposite of
satisfaction is not dissatisfaction because removing dissatisfaction characterizing does not
necessarily make the job satisfying. Therefore, his conclusion was that, job satisfaction factors
are separate and distinct from those that lead to job dissatisfaction. And therefore elimination
of factors for job dissatisfaction by managers may not necessarily help or create motivation.
And therefore conditions around the job such as supervision quality, pay, company policies,
physical working condition, relations with other and jobs security are called hygiene factors.
In the present context, many of these factors have depleted to a great extent. Similarly, the other
side of the two factor theory also is becoming mild and therefore this theory may not carry as
much vantage as it did during the twentieth century. The critiscism on this theory perhaps as
indicated below may also be one of the factors for curtailing its importance at present. It is as
indicated below. i. Herzberg procedure is limited by his methodology because people generally
take credit themselves when things go well and blame failure on extrinsic environment. ii. No
quantitative satisfaction asserting an employee may dislike a part of his job yet he thinks it is
acceptable. iii. The theory ignores situational factors and is said to be not in line with the early
research. iv. His theory does not give high profile of reliability because special efforts are to
be made by the researchers in interpretation of the responses. v. Herzberg assumed a
relationship between satisfaction and productivity but he looked only at satisfaction and not
productivity in research methodology he adopted.
4) Attribution Theory- It is concerned with how we explain our performance after we have
invested considerable effort and motivation in a particular task. Four types of explanations may
be used to account for either success or failure - ability, effort, task, difficulty or luck. e.g.: if
success or failure is explained in terms of efforts, then high motivation may follow. On the
other hand, if failure to achieve the level of performance is explained in terms of task difficulty
or bad luck, the results may be a loss of motivation. Incorrect attribution may be the result of
inadequate feedback, communication, appraisal and guidance. Attribution errors can create
many problems in work situation. This has the relevance to application of perception concept
to organizational behaviour. Our perceptions of people differ from those of inanimate objects
such as machines, buildings, etc. because we are able to make inferences about the actions of
people unlike about inanimate objects. It is imperative that, non-living objects are subjected fo
laws of natures and they do not have beliefs, motives or intentions but people do have. The
attribution theory proposes to develop explanation of the ways in which we judge people
differently depending upon what meaning we attribute to a given behaviour. The theory
suggests that, on observing an individual’s behaviour, we try to determine whether it was
internally or externally caused. That determination largely depends upon: i. Consensus ii.
Consistency and iii. Distinctiveness Internally cause behaviours are those that are under the
persona control of the individual. Externally caused behaviours are seen as resulting from
outside cause. When everyone is faced with a similar situation and responds in the same way,
it means the behaviour shows consensus. Consistency of a person lies in the response which is
the same way over different times. The more consistent the behaviour as well as the more is
the consensus, the more is the observer inclined to attribute both to the internal causes.
Distinctiveness means whether an individual displays different behaviours in different
situations. Depending upon whether the behaviour is usual or unusual, the observer gives the
behaviour an external or internal attribution. The attributional theory incorporated what are
known as errors as biases that distort attributions. The tendency to underestimate the influence
of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments
about the behaviour of others results in causing fundamental attribution errors. Similarly, the
tendency for individual to attribute their own success to internal factors while casting the blame
for failures on external factors results in self-serving bias. This theory was developed in the
developing countries of the West and therefore they may not be perhaps accepted in the other
parts of the world due to the traditions with which the people are governed in the remaining
atmosphere. This theory can perhaps be connected to perceptions. The factors that influence
perceptions are of three categories, namely; i. Factors in the perceiver: These are attitudes,
expectations, experience, interest and motives. ii. Factors in the target: They are proximity,
motion, novelty, similarity, size, etc. iii. Factors situationally: Social setting, time and work
setting. All these interlinked have to contribute to the attribution theory positively.
5) Equity Theory- It is concerned with the perceptions people have about how they are being
treated as compared with others. To be dealt with equitably is to be treated fairly in comparison
with another group of people or a relevant other person. This theory attempts to say that, people
will be better motivated if they are treated equitably and dernotivated if they are treated
inequitably. There are two forms of equity. Distributive equity is concerned with the fairness
with which people will feel they are rewarded in accordance with their contributions and in
comparison with others. On the other hand, procedural equity is concerned with the perception
employees have about the fairness with which organization procedures in areas such as
performance appraisal promotion and discipline are being operated
MOTIVATION AND PERFORMANCE
Requirements for job satisfaction may include high pay, equitable payment system,
opportunities for promotion, considerate and participative management, social interaction at
work, interesting and varied tasks and a high degree of control over work place and work
methods. The degree of satisfaction obtained by individuals however, depends largely on their
own needs and expectations and the environment in which they work.
MOTIVATION STRATEGIES
They aim at creation of working environment to develop policies and practices which will
provide for higher levels of performance from employees. They will be concerned with
following:
a. Measuring Motivation This is essential to provide an indication of areas where motivational
practices need to be improved. Motivation can not be directly measured. But indications of the
level of motivation can be obtained from attitude surveys, measures of productivity, employee
turnover and absenteeism, analysis of performance reviews.
b. Valuing Employees Motivation and commitment are likely to be enhanced if employees feel
that they are valuable. This means investing in their success, trusting and empowering them,
giving them the opportunity to be involved in matters which they are concerned, treating them
fairly and as human beings rather than ‘resources’ to be exploited in the interest of
management, and providing them with rewards which demonstrate to the extent to which they
are valued.
c. Behavioural Commitment It means that individuals will direct their efforts to achieving
organizational and job objectives. It can be engendered by giving people more responsibility
to manage their own jobs as individuals or as teams (empowerment) and providing for rewards
to be clearly related to success in achieving agreed goals.
d. Organizational Climate The organizational climate and core values should emphasize the
importance of high performance. Managers and team leaders should be encouraged to act as
models of the sort of behaviours expected from employees.
e. Leadership Skills Managers and team leaders should be helped to learn about the process of
motivation and how they can use their knowledge to improve the motivation of their team
members.
f. Job Design This should involve the application of motivation theory, especially those aspects
of the theory which relate to the needs and intrinsic motivation.
g. Performance Management The process of this involves setting of goals, short or long terms,
and analyzing the achievements at the end of the concerned period. A reward system for
achievement will reinforce achievement oriented behaviour.
h. Reward Management Rewarding achievement and competence is one way of keeping high
levels of motivation within organization. While designing schemes for rewards, the lessons
from expectancy theory and equity theory should be taken into consideration.
i. Employee Development The best form of development is self-development. The organization
should provide opportunities for self-development of the people.
j. Behavioural Motivation It involves influencing behaviour by its consequences. It involves
systematic analysis of the behavioural items and modifying people’s behaviour by suitable
interventions. The five steps for this procedure have been prescribed by Luthans and Kreitnes
(1975). i. Identify the critical behaviour — what people do or do not do which needs to be
changed. ii. Measure the frequency of occurrences — obtain hard evidence that a real problem
exists. iii. Carryout functional analysis — identify the stimuli that precede the behaviours and
the consequences in the shape of rewards or punishment which influence the behaviour. iv.
Develop and implement an intervention strategy — this may involve the use of positive or
negative reinforcement to influence the behaviours (i.e. providing or withholding financial or
non financial rewards). v. Evaluate the effects of the interventions- check whether the
interventions were successful. If yes, whether it resulted in the desired result. What further
steps are required to be undertaken.
IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION
No concept of OB receives as much attention of academics, researchers and practicing
managers as motivation. The increased attention towards motivation is justified by several
reasons.
1) First, motivated employee’s are always looking for better ways to do a job. When people
actively seek new ways of doing things, they usually find them. It is the responsibility of
managers to make employees look for better ways of doing jobs.
2) Second, a motivated employee generally is more quality oriented. The organization benefits,
because individuals, in and outside the organization see the enterprise as quality conscious. A
clear understanding of the way motivation works helps a manager make his employees quality
oriented.
3)Third, highly motivated workers are more productive than apathetic workers. The high
productivity of Japanese workers is attributable mainly to motivation.
4) Fourth, every organization requires human resources, in addition to the need for financial
and physical resources for it to function. Three behavioural dimensions of human resources are
significant to the organization: i. People must be attracted not only to join the organization but
also to remain in it. ii. People must perform the tasks for which they are hired and must do so
in a dependable manner. iii. People must go beyond this dependable role performance and
engage in some form of creative, spontaneous and innovative behaviour at work.
5) Fifth, motivation as a concept represents a highly complex phenomenon that affects, and is
affected by a multitude of factors in the organization. A comprehensive understanding of the
way in which organization functions requires that, increasing attention be directed towards the
question of why people behave as they do on their jobs.
6) Sixth, yet another reason why increasing attention is paid towards motivation can be found
in the present and future technology required for production. As technology increases in
complexity, machines tend to become necessary yet insufficient vehicles of effective and
efficient operations.
7) Seventh, while organizations have for some time viewed their financial and physical
resources from a long- term perspective, only recently they have begun seriously to apply this
same perspective to their human resources. Many organizations are now beginning to pay
increasing attention to developing their employees as future resources (talent bank) upon which
they can draw as they grow and develop. Finally, attention paid to motivation by our managers
speaks about its importance in management of human resources.
MOTIVATIONAL DRIVES
People tend to develop certain motivational drives as a product of the cultural environment in
which they live, and these drives affect the way people view their jobs and approach their lives.
Much of the interest in these patterns of motivation was generated by the research of David C.
McClelland of Harvard University. He developed a classification scheme highlighting three of
the more dominant drives and pointed out their significance to motivation. His studies revealed
that people’s motivational patterns tend to be strong among the workers because they have
grown up with similar backgrounds. McClelland’s research focused on the drives for
achievement, affiliation and power. An addition to these is the competence drive, which is
important factor in current attempts to attain high-quality products and services.
1) Achievement Motivation - It is a drive some people have to pursue and attain goals. An
individual with this drive wishes to achieve objectives and advance up the ladder of success.
Accomplishment is seen as important primarily for its own sake, not just for the rewards that
accompany it. A number of characteristics define achievement- oriented employees. They work
harder when they perceive that they will receive personal credit for their efforts, when there is
only moderate risk of failure and when they receive specific feedback about their past
performance. As managers, they tend to expect that, their employees will also be oriented
towards achievement. These high expectations sometimes make it difficult for achievement-
oriented managers to delegate effectively and for average employees to satisfy their manager’s
demands.
2) Affiliation Motivation- It is a drive to relate to people on a social basis. Comparisons of
achievement-motivated employees with affiliation-motivation employees illustrate how the
two patterns influence behaviour.
3) Power motivation - It is a capacity that one man has to influence the behaviour of the other,
that means the other man acts in accordance with the first man’s wishes. This implies a potential
that need not to be actualized to be effective and a dependency relationship. Power may exist
but may not be used and that is why we call it as capacity or potential. Power is also said to be
a function of dependency, for example: The greater the other man’s dependence on the first,
greater is the first man’s power in the relationship. A person can have a power on other if he
controls something, which the other one desires. Leaders achieve goals through the means of
power that facilitates their achievements. Power comes from two sources namely, formal and
personal. Formal power is on the basis of the position of the individual in an organization. This
can come from formal authority or from control of information. This is subsequently
categorized down to different formal powers like coercive power based on fear, reward power
based on ability to distribute rewards that are valuable to others, legitimate power that is
achieved as a result of ones position in the organizational hierarchy and information power that
comes from access to and control over information. Personal power doesn’t depend upon
formal position in an organization. This is vested with the competent and productive managers
having no power. The power comes from the individual’s unique characteristics such as his
expertise, skills, respect and admiration, charisma and knowledge. In short, if you want to get
things done in a group or in an organization, it helps to have power with you. If you maximize
your power you do, it increases the dependency of all others on you. Increasing the power is
relative in nature and the means vary depending upon the relative power base
 STRESS MANAGEMENT
Modern definitions of stress all recognize that it is a personal experience caused by pressure or
demands on an individual, and impacts upon the individual’s ability to cope or rather, his/her
perception of that ability.
Stress defined as a subjective feeling of tension or arousal that is triggered By a potentially
stressful situation. For example:-Job security, Overwork, Information overload etc.
Stress is an adaptive response to a situation that is perceived as challenging or threatening to a
person’s well-being.Stress has both psychological and physiological dimensions. -
Psychologically, people perceive a situation and interpret it as challenging or threatening. This
cognitive appraisal leads to a set of physiological responses, such as higher blood pressure,
sweaty hands, and faster heart beat.
TYPES OF STRESS
1) Acute Stress - Acute stress is short-term stress. Acute stress is most often caused by reactive
thinking. Negative thoughts predominate about situations or events that have recently occurred,
or upcoming situations, events, or demands in the near future. Symptoms of acute stress are
irritability, anger, sadness, tension, headaches etc.
2) Episodic Stress - People who frequently experience acute stress, or whose lives present with
frequent triggers of stress, have episodic acute stress. People with this kind of stress will
oftentimes take on more responsibilities and projects than they can handle. Symptoms of
episodic acute stress are Migraines, Hypertension, Heart disease etc.
3) Chronic Stress - Chronic stress occurs when someone feels trapped in a bad situation.
Whether it be an over-demanding job, an unhappy marriage, or a desperate financial situation
and so on. Symptoms of Chronic stress are Anxiety, Depression, Sleep issues, Memory and
concentration issues etc.
Causes and Consequences of Stress
I. Work related Stress
1) Inter personal stress- Stress arises within workplace because employees must interact more
with co-workers. For example:-Bad boss, Office politics, sexual harassment, workplace
violence, and bullying. Work related stress a) Interpersonal stress b) Role related stress c) Task
control stress d) Organizational/Physical Environment stress
Consequences of stress
Physiological - • Heart disease • Ulcers • High blood pressure • Headaches • Sleep disturbances
• More illness
Psychological -• Job dissatisfaction • Depression • Exhaustion • Moodiness • Burnout
Behavioral • Lower job performance • More accidents • Faulty decisions • Higher absenteeism
• Workplace aggression Stress Individual Differences Non work stressors
It includes the following stresses:-
 a) Sexual harassment - Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that detrimentally affects
the work environment or leads to adverse job-related consequences for its victims.
Sexual harassment includes situations where a person’s employment or job
performance is conditional on unwanted sexual relations.
b) Work place Violence - The most serious interpersonal stressor is the rising wave of
physical violence in the workplace. Employees who experience violence usually have
symptoms of severe distress after the traumatic event.
c) Work place Bullying - Offensive, intimidating, or humiliating behavior that degrades,
ridicules, or insults another person at work is called work place bullying. It leads to
more absenteeism and, back on the job, have impaired decision making, lower work
performance, and more work errors.
2) Role related stress- Role-related stressors include conditions where employees have
difficulty understanding, reconciling, or performing the various roles in their lives. Two
types of role-related stressors are role conflict, role ambiguity.
a) Role conflict -It refers to the degree of incongruity or incompatibility of expectations
associated with the person’s role. Conflict that occurs when people face competing
demands. In other words, Role conflict also occurs when an employee receives
contradictory messages from different people about how to perform a task (called intra role
conflict) or work with organizational values and work obligations that are incompatible
with his or her personal values (called person-role conflict).
b) Role ambiguity - Role ambiguity refers to the lack of clarity and predictability of the
outcomes of one’s behavior. In other words, role ambiguity refers to uncertainty about job
duties, performance expectations, level of authority, and other job conditions.
3) Task control stress- Employees are more stressed when they lack control over how and
when they perform their tasks as well as over the pace of work activity.
4) Organizational and Physical environment stress- Organizational and physical environment
stressors come in many forms. Organizations create stress by altering the psychological
contract, reducing job security, and restructuring and downsizing employment. physical work
environment, such as excessive noise, poor lighting, and safety hazards. For example, a study
of textile workers in a noisy plant found that their levels of stress measurably decreased when
supplied with ear protectors.
II. Non work Stress
There are three types of these non work stressors: time based, strain-based, and role-based
conflict.
a) Time based stress - It refers to the stress of trying to balance time at work with family. The
challenge of balancing the time demanded by work with family and other non work activities.
This stressor is particularly noticeable in employees who hold strong family values and weakest
in people whose values emphasize a work- -life imbalance.
b) Strain-based conflict - Strain-based conflict occurs when stress from one domain spills over
into the other. Relationship problems, financial difficulties, and loss of a loved one usually top
the list of non work stressors. New responsibilities such as marriage, birth of a child, and a
mortgage are also stressful to most of employees.
c) Role behavior conflict- It occurs when people are expected to enact different work and non
work roles. People who act logically and impersonally at work have difficulty switching to a
more compassionate behavioral style in their personal lives
III. Consequences of stress
1) Physiological Consequences - Many people experience tension headaches due to stress.
Others get muscle pain and related back problems. These physiological ailments are attributed
to muscle contractions that occur when people are exposed to stressors.
2) Psychological Consequences - Stress produces various psychological consequences,
including job satisfaction, moodiness, and depression. Emotional fatigue is another
psychological consequence of stress and is related to job burnout.
3) Behavioral Consequences - When stress becomes distress, job performance falls and
workplace accidents are more common. High stress levels impair our ability to remember
information, make effective decisions, and take appropriate action. This might probably
experience in an exam or emergency work situation. This kind of stress makes us to forget
important information, make mistakes, and otherwise “draw a blank” under intense pressure.
Ways of overcoming the stress Some of the ways to reduce the stress as explained below:-
1) Flexible work time- Some firms are flexible about the hours, days, and amount of time
employees want to work. For example:-Providing work–life program gives employees the
freedom to rearrange their work schedule to accommodate family events, from attending their
kids’ sports activities to caring for elderly parents.
2) Job Sharing - Job sharing splits a career position between two people so they experience less
time based stress between work and family. They typically work different parts of the week
with some overlapping work time in the weekly schedule to coordinate activities.
3) Telecommuting- This reduces the time and stress of commuting to work and makes it easier
to fulfill family obligations, such as temporarily leaving the home-office to pick the kids up
from school. Research suggests that telecommuters experience a healthier work–life balance.
4) Personal leave programs- Employers with strong work–life values offer extended maternity,
paternity, and personal leaves to care for a new family or take advantage of a personal
experience. Increasingly, employees require personal leave to care for elderly parents who need
assistance.
5) EAPs (Employee assistance programs)- EAPs are counseling services that help employees
overcome personal or organizational stressors and adopt more effective coping mechanisms.
Most EAPs are “broad brush” programs that counsel employees on any work or personal
problems.
6) Receive social support- Social support from co-workers, supervisors, family, friends, and
others is one of the more effective stress management practices. Social support refers to the
person’s interpersonal transactions with others and involves providing either emotional or
informational support to buffer the stress experience.
 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
Commitment to an organisation is defined as an individual's attitude toward the organisation
as a whole. It is the psychological connection that an employee has with an organisation and
has been shown to be associated with goal and value alignment, behavioural investments in the
organisation, and organisational allegiance. Organizational commitment is viewed from an
attitudinal perspective as a positive individual orientation toward the organisation. It is defined
as "an affective attachment to the organization's goals and values, as well as to the organisation
for its own sake, independent of its purely instrumental value"
Organizational commitment, as defined by Porter et al. (1974), is the relative strength of an
individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organisation.
According to Mowday, Steers, and Porter (1979), organisational commitment refers to the state
in which an individual identifies with a particular organisation and its objectives and desires to
remain a member in order to facilitate these objectives.

These authors define commitment in terms of three components:

I)Strong commitment to and acceptance of the organization's objectives and values.
2)A readiness to make significant efforts on behalf of the organisation.
3)A strong desire to remain an organisation member.

Commitment to an organisation can be summarised as follows:

1)An individual's willingness to identify with and the desire to remain in an
organisation for self-interest or marginal gain;
2)Desire to contribute to an organization's effectiveness;
3)Able to make personal sacrifices, perform above and beyond normal expectations, and
persevere through trying times with an organisation;
4)Affiliation with and acceptance of the organization's values and objectives.

Organizational Commitment Components

O'Reilly and Chatman (1986) defined organisational commitment as a psychological
attachment and developed a model with three dimensions: internalisation, identification, and
compliance. Internalisation is a metric that indicates how much an employee believes they
share the organization's mission and values. Identification refers to an employee's desire to be
associated with his or her organisation without adopting the organization's values. Compliance
refers to an employee who accepts the organization's values in order to benefit personally, but
does not internalise or hold those values. Although this model is the first attempt to comprehend
the multidimensional nature of organisational commitment, it has not gained widespread
acceptance.
Meyer and Allen's(1991) organisational commitment model contains three components:
affective,continuance, and normative. Affective commitment is an emotional attachment
exemplified by the statement, "I work here because the people are wonderful and the work is
enjoyable." Continuance commitment refers to the belief that the costs of leaving are
prohibitively high or that leaving would be too difficult. For instance, "I'd quit if I knew I could
find a job paying as much." A sense of obligation is a normative commitment. For instance, "I
work here because they hired me when I was in need of work, and thus I owe them." The three
components are now more thoroughly described.

1) Affective commitment is a term that refers to employees' perceptions of their emotional

connection to, or identification with, their organisation and its goals. It is the result of and is
induced by the alignment of individual and organisational values. As a result, it becomes nearly
natural for the individual to develop an emotional attachment to and enjoyment of the
organization's continued membership.(O'Reily & Chatman, 1986; Meyer & Allen, 1984).
Steers (1977) identified antecedents of affective commitment as factors that contribute to the
creation of intrinsically rewarding situations for employees. These factors include task
significance, autonomy, identity, skill variety, and feedback on employee job performance,
perceived organisational support or dependence (the perception that the organisation considers
employees' best interests when making decisions about employment conditions and work
environment), and the degree to which employees participate in goal-setting and decision-
making processes.

2) Continuance commitment is a term that refers to how employees perceive the costs of
leaving the organisation. It is the willingness to stay in an organisation due to nontransferable
personal investments such as close working relationships with coworkers, retirement and career
investments, acquired job skills that are unique to a particular organisation, years of
employment with a particular organisation, involvement in the community in which the
employer is located, and other benefits that make leaving and seeking employment elsewhere
prohibitively expensive.

3)Normative commitment- Meyer and Allen (1974) explain that when employees share a
commitment to the organisation, it makes it extremely difficult for them to leave.Employees'
perceptions of their obligation to their organisation are referred to as normative commitment.
This sense of obligation frequently stems from what Wiener (1982) referred to as the
"generalised value of loyalty and duty." This is a nearly natural tendency to be loyal and
committed to institutions such as family, marriage, country, religion, and workplace
organisation as a result of socialisation in a culture that values institutional loyalty and
devotion. According to this view of commitment, an individual acts with commitment solely
because she or he believes it is the moral and ethical thing to do. This sense of moral obligation
is quantified by the degree to which an individual believes he or she should be loyal to their
organisation, make personal sacrifices to assist them, and refrain from criticising them.