ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Answer 1

INTRODUCTION Organisation: It is an open system which exchanges information and resources with its environment. Every organisation has two types of environment, i.e. internal environment and external environment. The internal environment would include production techniques, management philosophy, human relations etc. On the other hand, external environment denotes those conditions and forces that are outside the organisation but still affects the performance of the organisation, example, politico-legal factors, regulating agencies, labour organisations etc.

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR Individual behaviour means some concrete action of an individual. The individuals behaviour is influenced by various factors. Some factors lie within himself and some lie outside him. The environment acts as a stimulus and the individual responds to it. Individuals behave differently to different stimuli because of multitude of factors such as education, personality, physical characteristics, cultural background, experiences etc. Individuals behave differently depending upon their motivation, learning, values, perceptions etc. These differences are reflected upon their behaviour. Thus, if both individual and environmental variables are taken into consideration, there can be

 Differences in behaviour of an individual over time, i.e. intraindividual differences Differences in behaviour among individuals given the same set of stimuli, i.e. inter-individual differences

ANALYSIS The organisation comprises of individuals who differ from each other on the basis of personality traits, skills and attitude. These individual differences affect human behaviour in a big way. These differences occur due to various factors. Those are: Personality It refers to the personality traits such as dominance, aggression etc. If an individual is dominant or aggressive or resistant at the work place, this will tend to demotivate other individuals. Example: In an organisation, if the supervisor is strict and dominant, the subordinate would not be ease in sharing his suggestions, grievance with him and thus, creating a gap in between them. Ability Ability is the actual skills and capabilities which an individual possesses and which are essential for the effective performance of the activities. Example: An employee does not possess the full knowledge and skills towards the job function he is performing, then his confidence level would be low and this would get reflected in his work performance.

 Problem of Adjustment If an individual is not of adjusting nature, he would not get along well with others in the organisation. This will hamper the co-ordination in the enterprise. Example: There are two workers, worker X and worker Y. The work time for Worker X starts at 9a.m. to 9p.m. and the work time for Worker Y starts at 9p.m. to 9a.m. of the next day. If any day Worker Y is late and Worker X leaves without handing over the work to him, the lack of co-ordination between them would make work suffer. Economic reasons There are various economic factors which give rise to individual differences among employees impacting the human behaviour. Some of them are: o Fear of technological unemployment o Fear of reduced work hours and consequently reduced monetary benefits o Fear of demotion and consequently reduced pay o Fear of speed-up and reduced incentive wages Example: A worker feels that due to advancement in technology, he would be chucked out of his job whereas this will not happen to his friend in that company who is not in the same department, the level of his performance will decrease.

 Emotional factors Emotional factors do tend to affect the behaviour of an individual. The employee basically is faces two types of fears. They are: o Fear of unknown: The uncertainty of future affects the human behaviour in a big way. o Ego defensiveness: Ego deflation is also a major factor that affects the human behaviour. Example: An employee has a big ego, h will neither pay attention to his boss orders and nor to his subordinates suggestions. This would again lead to strained relations in the organisation. Perception It is the viewpoint of an individual towards a person or a situation. Example: An employee perceives his subordinate to unskilled for his job profile. He would never take his decisions, suggestions etc. seriously. Motivation It refers to all the forces operating within a person to cause him to engage in certain kind of behaviour rather than others. Example: The workers are not motivated to work hard, neither from within nor from others. This is will cause deviation in the work performance of the workers.

The various environmental factors that affect the human behaviour are: Labour Unions These are the large groups of members of the organisation that are formed to safeguard the interest of the workers. Example: A worker is influenced by the labour union to raise his voice for salary hike wherein he is already satisfied by his pay. This would put him in a dilemma whether to support the union or his employer. Socio-cultural factors The social environment includes relationship with family members, friends, co-workers etc. The socio cultural factors affect other factors to determine the behaviour of an individual. Example: If a worker comes to work after having a fight with his wife, his anger would reflect upon his work. Political- legal factors These factors are those which are political in nature and based upon rules and regulations. Example: the worker is not satisfied with the new taxation scheme that has come in the recent budget. This will demotivate him to perform better.

CONCLUSION From the above analysis, we can conclude that an individual operates within internal and external environment and respond differently to various situations. The human behaviour is affected by individual differences occurring between the employees. Thus, the factors should be well taken care of so that the harmony prevails in the organisation.

Answer 2

INTRODUCTION- SCENARIO A manufacturing company is making automotive parts with 200 workers working on 5 different assembly lines with 40 workers on each assembly line. The workers have to report at 9 a.m. in the morning and can leave only after 6 p.m. Workers are given their daily targets in terms of how much quantity they have to produce. During the course of time, management has noticed that the workers are not reporting on time and leave early for home which is a concern for the management as this is affecting the productivity of the company as a whole. While they are on the job, their productivity level is also not up to the mark. The management in order to discipline them has taken various measures like fines and punishments for late coming, layoffs etc. but the workers are fully unionised and thus resist all the attempts by management to discipline them.

SITUATION ANALYSIS Looking at the conduct of the workers, it is very prominent that they are not at all motivated to work for achievement of organisational goals. Rather, they are working just for the sake of earning a living. In such a case, the manager should not focus on enhancing the workers productivity through profit maximisation, i.e. should not focus too much on the monetary compensation, instead the management should emphasis more on satisfying higher level needs of the workers, bringing conformity to work group standards, motivating them etc.

RECOMMENDATIONS The various steps that would be taken as the HR Manager of the manufacturing company to increase the productivity of the workers working on the assembly line would be based on four parametersmotivation, leadership, participative management and quality circles.

MOTIVATION Motivation is the way that moves the person to action and continues him in the course of action initiated. It intensifies his desire and willingness to use his energy for achievement of organisational objectives. In order to increase the productivity of the workers, they are to be motivated to work hard that helps in achieving organisational as well as individual goals. Various ways through which the workers can be motivated are: Positive motivation: The workers would be influenced to perform better through the possibility of rewards, such as higher wages linked to performance of an individual Intrinsic motivation: This provides satisfaction to the workers during the performance of a work activity. Example, recognition, status etc. Financial incentives: These are those incentives which are associated with money. They are generally used to motivate workers. These include fringe benefits, bonuses, retirement benefits etc. Non-financial incentives: These are those motivators that are not associated with monetary rewards. Example, praise, workers participation in management, suggestion system etc.

 Job enrichment: To increase the satisfaction level of the workers, job enrichment needs to be done, i.e. increasing the content of the job leading to responsibility up gradation and scope enhancement. Job enlargement: In order to reduce boredom in workers, the tasks should be enlarged to make it broader based, i.e. the workers on the assembly line can be asked to perform the other clerical tasks as well.

Fig. 1.1, Motivation

Various theories of motivation that can be applied to improve the working situation of the company are: McGregor Participation Model According to this theory, two pair of assumptions was made about human beings. First set of assumptions are contained in Theory X and second set of assumptions in Theory Y.

Fig 1.2, Mc Gregor Theory

In the above mentioned case, the manager should follow the Theory Y which assumes that the goals of the organisation and individuals are not always incongruent. The emphasis should be laid on satisfaction of higher needs of workers and not on the use of authority as an instrument of command and control. Example: the workers should be encouraged to take new initiatives to work so as to fulfil their self-actualisation needs. Herzbergs Motivation-Hygiene Model According to this theory, employee dissatisfaction is influenced by hygiene factors and employee satisfaction is influenced by motivation factors.

Fig 1.3, Hezbergs Motivation-Hygiene Theory

In this situation, the manger would lay equal emphasis on both the factors as to achieve higher performance not only wages are to be improved but also improve the working conditions. Example: the performance and the efforts of the workers are to be recognized and opportunities for personal growth should be given to them.

LEADERSHIP Leadership is the process of influencing a group and inducing the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal. Effective leadership is important for inspiring the workers for accomplishment of given objectives. In order to reduce absenteeism and increase productivity of workers, the management should follow participative or democratic style of leadership. In this style of leadership, the instructions are given to workers after consulting them. The managerial authority is decentralised to lower levels.

Fig. 1.4, Leadership

The various theories of leadership that can be applied in this situation are: Michigan Studies According to this study, two distinct styles of leadership can be followed: Production-centred/ Job-centred and Employee-centred.

Fig. 1.5, Michigan Studies

In this case, the manager should follow the Employee-centred Leadership which is relation oriented. The employer concentrates on human relations, focussing upon needs, welfare and advancement of the workers under this theory. Example: the management should show concern for employees, i.e. there could be some personal reasons for an employee leaving early for home. The management should be sympathetic to it. Ohio State Leadership Studies According to this theory, there are two dimensions of leader behaviour. Initiating structure/Construction: It attempts to organize work, work relationships, procedure and goals. Consideration: It is concerned with well-being of employees, their status, comfort, mutual trust, respect and friendship.

Fig 1.6, Ohio State Leadership Theory

In this situation, the manager should select that style which is high on consideration and high on initiating structure, i.e. the level of understanding between the management and workers should be high but not at the cost of well-defined organisational structure. The rules and regulations are to be followed in the strictest sense.

Example: the workers should be provided with good and hygienic working condition facilities but at the same time it should not be too comforting that would distract the workers. Blake and Moutons Grid According to this grid, various combinations of two variables, i.e. concern for people and concern for production are demonstrated in in the form of a grid.

Fig. 1.7, Blake and Moutons Grid

In this situation, the management should adopt The 9,9 Managerial Style (Team), where in there is maximum concern for both people and production. It aims at integrating the workers with the dimensions of work under conditions of high concern for growth. Example: the workers should be given adequate breaks in between the working hours to reduce fatigue in them but then the breaks should neither be of long durations and nor too frequent that would break the flow of work.

PARTICIPATIVE MANAGEMENT Participative management is involvement of employees in making significant decisions. There must be an atmosphere of trust and employee participation must be based on informed choice.

Fig. 1.8, Participative Management

Example: the decisions that are taken by the management should be taken after consulting the workers. QUALITY CIRCLES It is a small group of employees of 8 to 10 doing similar or related work who meet regularly to identify, analyse and solve productquality problems and to improve general operations. It helps in increasing productivity, improving quality and also increasing workers job satisfaction.

Fig. 1.9, Quality Circles

Example: as there are 200 workers with 40 on each assembly line, small groups of 10 workers each should be made who would meet on a regular basis to review the performance of individuals and take decisions to correct the deviations.

CONCLUSION The workers productivity is low due to various behavioural factors such as low- morale, no motivation to work hard, fatigue, monotony etc. Thus, the management to build the interest of the workers in performing better should take various corrective and preventive actions that have been discussed above. The management should aim at synchronising individual objectives with the organisational objectives and target at achieving both of them simultaneously.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Web sources <http://www.baleader.net>, April 12,2011 <http://www.newagepublishers.com/samplechapter/0013 95.pdf>, April 12,2011 <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organizati onal-behavior.html>, March 28,2011 Books as references B.P. Singh, T.N. Chhabra, Organisational Theory and Behaviour, Pg:93-96 Laurie J. Mullins, Management and Organisational Behaviour,2005,Pearson Education Limited, UK, Pg: 727 Stephen P. Robbins, et al. Essentials of Organisational Behaviour, 2010, Pearson Education Limited, UK, Pg: 18-20