PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

LESSON 11

PREPARED BY: DR. MUKUNDA KUMAR

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 1. WHY LOOK AT INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOUR

• Organizational behaviour (OB) is concerned with the actions

of people at work.
• Like an iceberg, OB has a small visible dimension and a
much larger hidden portion.
• See Figure 1
• What we see when we look at organization is their visible
aspects:
i. Strategies
ii. Goals
iii.Policies and procedures
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 1. WHY LOOK AT INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOUR

 What we see when we look at organization is their visible

aspects (cont’d)
iv. Structures
v. Technology
vi. Formal authority relationships and
vii. Chain of command
• Under the surface are other elements that managers need
to understand
• These are elements that influence how employees work

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1. WHY LOOK AT INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR:
FIG 1: THE ORGANIZATION AS AN ICEBERG

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 2. FOCUS OF OB

• OB focuses on 2 major areas:

1. First, OB looks at individual behaviour
 This area includes:
i. Attitudes
ii. Perceptions
iii.Personality
iv.Learning and
v. Motivation

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 2. FOCUS OF OB

2. Second, OB is concerned with group behaviour

 These include:
i. Norms
ii. Roles
iii. Team building
iv. Leadership and
v. Conflict

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 3. GOALS OF OB

• The goals of OB:

i. Explain
ii. Predict and
iii.Influence behaviour
 Managers need to do these to manage their
employees.

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 3. GOALS OF OB

• Manager’s success depends on getting things

done through people.
• To do this, the manager needs to be able to:
i. Explain why employees engage in some
behaviours rather than others
ii. Predict how employees will respond to various
actions manager might take
iii.Influence how employees behave.

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 3. GOALS OF OB

• 5 important employee behaviours that are

important in explaining, predicting and
influencing are:
i. Employee productivity
ii. Absenteeism
iii.Turnover
iv.Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB)
v. Job satisfaction.
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 3. GOALS OF OB:
i. EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY

• Is a performance measure of both efficiency and

effectiveness.
• Managers want to know what factors will
influence the efficiency and effectiveness of
employees.

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 3. GOALS OF OB:
ii. ABSENTEEISM

• Is the failure to report to work

• It is very difficult for work to get done if
employees don’t show up.
• Absenteeism cannot be totally eliminated.
• Excessive levels will have a direct and immediate
impact on the organization’s functioning.

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 3. GOALS OF OB:
iii. TURNOVER

• Is the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from

an organization.
• It can be a problem because of increased:
i. Recruiting
ii. Selecting
iii.Training costs and
iv. Work disruptions
• Managers cannot eliminate turnover but can minimize.
• Especially among high-performing employees and those
difficult to replace.
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 3. GOALS OF OB:
iv. OCB

• Is discretionary behaviour that’s not part of an employee’s formal

job requirements.
• It promotes effective functioning of the organization.
• Examples of good OCB:
a. Helping others on one’s work team
b. Volunteering for extended job activities
c. Avoiding unnecessary conflicts and
d. Making constructive statements of one’s work group and the
organization
 Organizations need individual who will do more than their usual
job duties.
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 3. GOALS OF OB:
v. JOB SATISFACTION (JS)

• Refers to an individual’s general attitude toward

his or her job.
• JS is an attitude rather than a behaviour.
• It is an outcome that concerns many managers
• Satisfied employees are more likely to show up to
work and stay with the organization

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 3. GOALS OF OB

• Four psychological factors that can predict and

explain employee productivity, absenteeism,
turnover, OCB and JS are:
a. Employee attitudes
b. Personality
c. Perception and
d. Learning

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS
a. ATTITUDES

• Attitudes are evaluative statement i.e either favourably or

unfavourably concerning objects, people or events.
• For example when a person says “I like my job” he or she
is expressing an attitude about a work.
• And attitude is made up of three components:
i. Cognitive component
 This refers to the beliefs, opinions, knowledge or cognition
ii. The affective component
 Is the emotional or feeling part of an attitude.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS
a. ATTITUDES

iii. The behavioural component

 Refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward
someone or something.
 Managers are interested in job-related attitudes for
example:
i. JS
ii. Job involvement and
iii. Organizational commitment.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
a. ATTITUDES:
i. JS

• JS refers to a person’s general attitude toward his

or her job
• A person with high level of JS has a positive
attitude toward the job
• Person who is dissatisfied with the job has a
negative attitude.
• When people speak of employee attitudes, they are
referring to JS.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
a. ATTITUDES:
i. JS

• Need to consider the effect of JS on employee behaviour i.e.

on productivity , absenteeism and turnover.
i. Satisfaction and productivity
ii. Satisfaction and absenteeism and
iii.Satisfaction and turnover
iv. JS and customer satisfaction
 Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and
loyalty.
 Satisfied employees are friendly, upbeat and responsive,
which customers appreciate.
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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
a. ATTITUDES:
i. JS

iv. JS and customer satisfaction

 Satisfied employees are less likely to leave their jobs.
 Customers encounter familiar faces and receive experienced
service
 These qualities help build customer satisfaction and loyalty.
 Rude, thoughtless or unreasonably demanding customers
affect employees’ job satisfaction.
 Service oriented businesses such as FedEx, Southwest
Airlines, American Express obsess about pleasing their
customers.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
a. ATTITUDES
ii. JOB INVOLVEMENT

• Is the degree to which an employee identifies with his or

her job
• Actively participates in it
• Considers his or her job performance to be important to his
or her self-worth.
• Employees with high level of job involvement strongly
identify with and really care about the kind of work they
do.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
a. ATTITUDES
iii. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

• Is the degree to which an employee identifies with a

particular organization and its goals
• Wishes to maintain membership in the organization

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS :
b. PERSONALITY
• Some people are quiet and passive and other are loud and aggressive.
• Examples of personalities:
i. Quiet,
ii. Passive
iii.Loud
iv.Aggressive
v. Ambitious
vi.Extroverted
vii.Loyal
viii.Sociable.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS ::
b. PERSONALITY

• Two approaches to classifying personality traits:

i. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
ii. The Big Five Model

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS : :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

• One of the most popular approaches to classifying

personality traits.
• MBTI consists of more than 100 questions
1. Social interaction: Extrovert or Introvert (E or I)
 Extrovert
 An extrovert is someone who is outgoing, dominant, and
often aggressive and who wants to change the world.
 Extroverts need a work environment that’s is varied and
action oriented.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS : :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

1. Social interaction: Extrovert or Introvert (E or I)

 Introvert
 Individual who’s shy and withdrawn
 Focuses on understanding the world
 Prefer a work environment that is quiet and concentrated
– that lets them be alone
 Give them chance to explore in depth a limited set of
experiences.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS : :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

2. Preference for gathering data: Sensing or Intuitive (S or

N)
 Sensing
 Dislikes new problems unless there are a standard ways
to solve them.
 They like an established routine
 Have a high need for closure
 Show patience with routine details.
 Good at precise work.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS : :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

2. Preference for gathering data: Sensing or Intuitive (S or I)

 Intuitive
• Individual who like solving new problems
• Dislike doing the same thing over and over again
• Jump to conclusions
• Impatient with routine details
• Dislike taking time for precision

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS : :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

3. Preference for decision making: Feeling or Thinking (F

or T):
 Feeling
 Aware of other people and their feelings for example:
 Harmony,
 Need occasional praise,
 Dislike telling people unpleasant things,
 Tend to be sympathetic and
 Relate well to most people

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS : :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

• Preference for decision making: Feeling or Thinking (F or

T) (cont’d)
 Thinking
• Unemotional and uninterested in people’s feelings, like
analysis and putting things into logical order
• Are able to reprimand people and fire them when
necessary
• Hard hearted

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTOR :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

4. Style of making decisions: Perceptive or Judgmental (P or J)

 Perceptive
 Curious
 Spontaneous
 Flexible
 Adaptable and
 Tolerant
 Focus on starting a task and
 Want to find out all about before starting it.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
b. PERSONALITY:
i. MBTI

4. Style of making decisions: Perceptive or Judgmental (P

or J) (cont’d)
 Judgmental
 Decisive
 Good planners
 Purposeful and exciting
 Focus on completing task
 Make decisions quickly
 Want only the information necessary to get a task done

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS :
c. PERCEPTION:

• Is a process by which individuals give meaning to their

environment by organizing and interpreting their sensory
impressions.
• Individuals may look at the same thing yet perceive it
differently.
• For example:
i. One manager can interpret the fact that her assistant regularly
takes several days to make important decisions as evidence that
the assistant is slow, disorganized and afraid to make decisions
 This manager would evaluate her assistant negatively

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS :
c. PERCEPTION:

ii. Another manager with the same assistant might interpret

that the tendency as evidence that the assistant is
thoughtful, thorugh and deliberate.
 The second manager would evaluate the assistant
positively.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
c. PERCEPTION:
i. FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PERCEPTION

a) The perceiver
 When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what
he or she sees, the individual’s personal characteristics will heavily
influence the interpretation.
 These personal characteristics include:
i. Attitudes
ii. Personality
iii. Motives
iv. Interests
v. Experiences and
vi. expectations
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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS :
c. PERCEPTION:

ii. Target
 The characteristics of the target being observed can also affect
what’s perceived
 Loud people are more likely to be noticed in a group than quiet
people.
 Extremely attractive or unattractive individuals
iii. The Situation
 The context in which we see objects or events is also important.
 The time at which an object or event is seen can influence
attention, as can location, light, heat colour

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL
FACTORS :
d. LEARNING

• Definition of learning:
“ Any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a
result of experience.”
 Learning occurs all the time as we continuously learn from our
experiences
 2 learning theories relevant to understanding how and why
individual behaviour occurs:
i. Operant conditioning and
ii. Social learning
 Managers can use learning principles to shape employees’
behaviours
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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
d. LEARNING:
i. OPERANT CONDITIONING

• Is the term applied to the theory that behaviour is a function

of its consequences.
• People learn to behave to get something they want or to
avoid something they don’t want.
• Operant behaviour describes voluntary or learned behaviour.
• The tendency to repeat learned behaviour is influenced by
the reinforcement or lack of reinforcement that happens as a
result of the behaviour.
• Reinforcement strengthens behaviour and increases the
likelihood that it will be repeated.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
d. LEARNING:
i. OPERANT CONDITIONING

• People will most likely engage in desired behaviour if they are

positively reinforced for doing so
• Rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the desired
response.
• Behaviour that isn’t rewarded or is punished is less likely to be
repeated.
• For example:
a. If students want high grade need to perform well.
b. Salesperson
 The linkage between behaviour and reinforcement can also work to
teach the individual to behave in ways that work against the best
interests of the organization.
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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
d. LEARNING:
ii. SOCIAL LEARNING

• Individuals can learn by:

i. Observing what happens to other people
ii. Being told about something
iii. Through direct experiences
 Much of what we have learned comes from watching others (models)
e.g:
 Parents
 Teachers
 Peers
 Television
 Leaders, movie actors etc.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
d. LEARNING:
ii. SOCIAL LEARNING

• The amount of influence that these models will have on an individual

is determined by four processes:
1. Attention processes
 People learn from a model only when they recognise and pay attention
to its critical features.
 We tend to be most influenced by models who are attractive,
repeatedly available, thought to be important or are seen similar to us.
2. Retention processes
 A model’s influence will depend on how well the individual
remembers the model’s action, even after the model is no longer
readily available.

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 4. FOUR IMPORTANT PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS :
d. LEARNING:
ii. SOCIAL LEARNING

3. Motor reproduction processes

 After a person has seen a new behaviour by observing the
model, the watching must become doing.
 This process then demonstrated that the individual can
actually do the modeled activities.
4. Reinforcement processes
 Individuals will be motivated to exhibit the modeled
behaviour if positive incentives or rewards are provided.
 Behaviours that are reinforced will be given more
attention, learned better and performed more often.
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 REFERENCE

• Robbins, S. P. & Coulter, M. (2005) Management.

8th Edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

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