Chapter one

ORGANISATION
BEHAVIOUR
 Course Contents
Unit 1. Foundations of Organizational Behaviour (OB)
Unit 2. Foundation of Individual Behaviour
Unit 3. Motivation: Concepts and Applications
Unit 4. Group Behaviour and Work Teams
Unit 5. Communication and Organizational Behaviour
Unit 6. Issues in Leadership
Unit 7. Power and Politics
Unit 8. Conflict and Negotiation
Unit 9. Organizational Culture
Unit 10. Organizational Change and Stress Management
 1. Definition of ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR

• Organisation Behaviour is concerned with the study of

what people do in an organisation and how that behav-
iour affects the performance of the organisation.
• A field of study that investigates the impact that indi-
viduals, groups, and structure have on behavior
within organizations, for the purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving an organization’s effec-
tiveness.
 Cont...

The study of Organisational Behaviour involves:

 Consideration of the interaction among the formal structure (or-
ganisational context in which the process of management takes
place)
 The tasks to be undertaken
 The technology employed and the methods of carrying out work
 The behaviour of people
 The process of management
 The external environment
 Interrelated dimensions influencing behaviour

 The Individual - working environment should satisfy indi-

vidual needs as well as attainment of organisational goals.
 The Group - formal and informal. Understanding of groups
complements a knowledge of individual behaviour.
 The Organisation - impact of organisation structure and
design, and patterns of management, on behaviour.
 The Environment - technological and scientific develop-
ment, economic activity, governmental actions.
 Replacing Intuition with Systematic Study

 Intuition:- A feeling not necessarily supported by

research.
 Systematic study:-Looking at relationships, at-
tempting to attribute causes and effects, and draw-
ing conclusions based on scientific evidence.
 Provides a means to predict behaviors.
 What Managers Do

• Individuals who achieve goals through other people.

• Make decisions
• Allocate resources
• Direct activities of others to achieve goals
Where Managers Work

 Organization: A consciously coordinated so-

cial unit, composed of two or more people,
that functions on a relatively continuous basis
to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
 Management Functions
 Planning: A process that includes defining goals, establishing
strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities.
 Organizing: Determining what tasks are to be done, who is
to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to
whom, and where decisions are to be made.
 Leading: A function that includes motivating employees, di-
recting others, selecting the most effective communication
channels, and resolving conflicts.
 Monitoring: activities to ensure they are being accomplished
as planned and correcting any significant deviations.
 Managerial Roles
 A role is a set of specific tasks a person performs
because of the position they hold.
 Roles are directed inside as well as outside the
organization.
 Three broad categories of roles:
1. Interpersonal
2. Informational
3. Decisional
The interpersonal roles ensure that information is
provided.

 Figureheads: projecting a set of values, communicating

an image
– Symbolizes the organization and what it is trying to achieve.
 Leader role: needs to be informed, as well as informing.
Leadership skills commonly lacking in managers
– Train, counsel, mentor and encourage high employee perfor-
mance.
 Liaison Role: developing channels of communication,
especially informal channels with other corporate direc-
tors, political connections, media, public figures.
– Link and coordinate people inside and outside the organization to
help achieve goals.
The informational roles link all managerial
work together.

 Monitor: sifting, sorting, selecting information (to help set

the agenda)
– Phone, meetings, memos, social functions, mail, public
gatherings
– Analyzes information from both the internal and exter-
nal environment.
 Disseminator: the passing of relevant information to sub-
ordinates.
– Managers transmits information to influence attitudes
and behavior of employees
 Spokesperson: has to be able to express it, have solid
verbal skills. That is right message at right times
 The decisional roles make significant use of
the information.

 Entrepreneurial: ability to identify opportunities and

threats-able to do this in diverse situations-work or leisure.
 Disturbance handler: more information available, more
likely correct decision is made
 Resource allocator: to divisions or departments; man-
agers need to have an understanding of what resources
are needed for effective functioning (e.g. budget games-
manship)
 Negotiator: managers need precise and relevant informa-
tion to facilitate this role. Therefore the best managers.
 Cont….

 The performance and requirements of these roles

can be played at different times by the same man-
ager and to different degrees depending on the
level and function of management.
 2. Managerial knowledge, skills & performance

 Knowledge base:
– Managers need a relevant, fairly extensive knowledge base for
their particular managerial job. This may be in several areas e.g.
 Knowledge of industry
 Knowledge of product
 Knowledge of market
 Knowledge of technology
 Skill base:
– Mangers also need particular skills in order to function effectively in
achieving their objective.
 Conceptual skills: the ability to analyze and diagnose a situation and find
the cause and effect.
 Human skills: the ability to understand, alter, lead and control people’s be-
havior
 Technical skills: the job specific knowledge required to perform a task. e.g.
marketing, accounting and manufacturing.
Cont…

These skills and knowledge are required by the

Managers to function in two key ways:
1. Effectively: An ability to choose and achieve
appropriate goals
2. Efficiently: An ability to make the best use of
resources.
Cont…

 Technical skills: The technical skill implies an

understanding of and proficiency in a specific
kind of activity, particularly one involving meth-
ods, processes, procedures or techniques.
 Human skills: This refers to the ability to work
with, understand and motivate other people.
 A person with a highly developed human skills is
likely to understand the feelings and emotions of
other individuals and groups.
 Cont…

 Conceptual skills:-This skill involves the ability to

see the enterprise as a whole. It includes how the
various functions of organization depend on one
another and how changes in any one part affect all
the others. It also extends to the relationship of the
individual business to the industry.
Vertical differences in Managerial Roles
 3. Disciplines that contribute to OB field

 Psychology : Science that seeks to measure, ex-

plain and sometimes change the behavior of hu-
mans and other animals
 Sociology: The study of people in relation to their
social environment or culture
 Social psychology: An area of psychology that
blends concepts from psychology and sociology
and focus on influence of people on one another
 Anthropology: The study of societies to learn
about human beings
Psychology’s contribution
 Deals with individuals:
• Learning
• Motivation
 Personality
 Emotions
 Perception
 Training
 Job satisfaction
 Individual decision making
 Performance appraisal
 Work design
 Work stress
Social psychology’s contribution
 Deals with groups
 Behavioral change
 Attitude change
 Communication
 Group processes
 Group decision making
 Power
 Conflict
 Intergroup behavior
Sociology’s contribution

 Deals with groups and organization system

 Communication
 Power
 Conflict
 Intergroup behavior
 Formal organization theory
 Organizational change
 Organizational culture
Anthropology’s contribution

 Deals with groups and organization sys-

tems
 Cross cultural analysis
 Comparative values
 Comparative attitudes
 Organizational culture
 Organizational environment
 Power
 4. Challenges and opportunities for OB
in the 21st C
 Responding to Globalization
– Increased foreign assignments
– Working with people from different cultures
– Coping with anti-capitalism backlash
– Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost la-
bor
 Managing Workforce Diversity
– Embracing diversity
– Changing demographics
– Implications for managers
– Recognizing and responding to differences
Cont…
 Improving Quality and Productivity
– Quality management (QM)
– Process reengineering
 Responding to the Labor Shortage
– Changing work force demographics
– Fewer skilled laborers
– Early retirements and older workers
 Improving Customer Service
– Increased expectation of service quality
– Customer-responsive cultures
5. Basic OB Model, Stage I

 Model: An abstraction of reality.

A simplified representation of some real-world
phenomenon.
The Dependent Variables

 Dependent variable: A response that is af-

fected by an independent variable.

x
Independent variables
 Productivity: A performance measure that in-
cludes effectiveness and efficiency.
 Effectiveness: Achievement of goals.
 Efficiency: The ratio of effective output to the
input required to achieve it.
 Absenteeism: The failure to report to work.
 Turnover: The voluntary and involuntary per-
manent withdrawal from an organization.
 Cont…

 Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB):

Discretionary behavior that is not part of an em-
ployee’s formal job requirements, but that never-
theless promotes the effective functioning of the
organization.
 Job satisfaction: A general attitude toward one’s
job, the difference between the amount of reward
workers receive and the amount they believe they
should receive.
The Independent Variables

 Independent variable: The presumed cause

of some change in the dependent variable.
Independent
Independent
Variables
Variables

Individual-Level Group-Level Organization

Organization
Individual-Level Group-Level System-Level
Variables
Variables Variables
Variables System-Level
Variables
Variables