ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

(CONCEPT, NATURE AND FOUNDATIONS)

AN ASSIGNMENT SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT OF THE DEGREE OF MBA (FYIC).

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Dr. Ritu Lehal Archie Bansal

16411005 (FM)

Money

16411008 (HR)

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF APPLIED MANAGEMENT,

PUNJABI UNIVERSITY,

PATIALA

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
S.N TOPICS PAGE NO.
O
1. Organisational behaviour

2. Features of organisational behaviour

3. Objectives of organisational behaviour

4. Foundations of organisational behaviour

5.

6.

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 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

“Organisational behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, production and

control of human behaviour in organisations.”—Fred Luthans.

“Organisational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals,
groups and structure have on behaviour within the organisations for the purpose of applying
such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.”—Stephens P. Robbins.

Organisational behaviour is a field of study, which means that it is a distinct area of expertise
with a common body of knowledge. It studies the three determinants of the behaviour in the
organisations:

1) Individuals
2) Groups
3) Organisational structure

In addition, organisational behaviour applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups
and structure in order to make the performance of the organisation more effective.

Organisational behaviour is the study of what people do in an organisation and how their
behaviour affects the organisation’s performance. As organisational behaviour is concerned
with employee- related issues, it emphasizes behaviour as related to concerns such as work,
job, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human performance and the
management.

Organizational Behaviour researchers study the behaviour of individuals primarily in their

organizational roles.

One of the main goals of organizational behaviour is to revitalize organizational theory and
develop a better conceptualization of organizational life.

As a multi- disciplinary field, organizational behaviour has been influenced by developments

in several allied disciplines including sociology, psychology, anthropology, management,
law, political science, social- psychology, economics, and engineering as well as by the
experience of practitioners.

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This area of study examines human behaviour in a work environment and determines its
impact on job structure, performance, communication, motivation, leadership, etc.

It is the systematic study and application of knowledge about how individuals and groups act
within the organizations where they work. OB draws from other disciplines to create a unique
field.

For example,

When we review topics such as personality and motivation, we will again review studies
from the field of psychology. The topic of team processes relies heavily on the field of
sociology.

When we study power and influence in organizations, we borrow heavily from political
sciences.

Even medical science contributes to the field of Organizational Behaviour, particularly in the
study of stress and its effects on individuals.

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 FEATURES OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Organizational Behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people,
individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is,
it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, the whole group,
the whole organization, and the whole social system.

Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational

objectives, and social objectives. The biggest feature of Organizational Behaviour is that
Organizational Behaviour takes a systematic approach to understand and influence human
behaviour. Organizational behaviour is the study and participation of knowledge about
human behaviour in organizations as it relates to other system elements, such as structure,
technology, and the external social system.

From the various definitions given by different authors, there are several features of
organisational behaviour:

 A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only.

 An Interdisciplinary Approach.
 Applied Science.
 A Normative Science.
 A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach.
 A Total System Approach.
 Three level analysis
 Beneficial to both individual and organisation
 Rational thinking

1) A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only:

By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical
foundation. But OB has a multi-interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based on
a specific theoretical background. The various other disciplines that makes the study
of organisational behaviour more effective are psychology, sociology, anthropology,
law, economics, management, political science, socio- psychology etc. Therefore, it is
better to reason to call OB a separate field of study rather than a discipline only.

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2) An Interdisciplinary Approach:
Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human
behaviour at work.
It tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from the related disciplines like
psychology, sociology, economics, law and anthropology to make them applicable for
studying and analysing the organizational behaviour with more effectiveness.

3) An Applied Science:
The very nature of organisational behaviour is applied. What OB basically does is the
application of various research to solve the organizational problems related to human
behaviour.
The basic line of difference between pure science and organisational behaviour is that
while the former concentrates of fundamental research, the latter concentrates on
applied research.
Organisational behaviour involves both applied research and its application in
organizational analysis. Hence, organisational behaviour can be called both science as
well as art.

4) A Normative Science:
Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive science
discusses the only cause-effect relationship, organisational behaviour prescribes how
the findings of applied research can be applied to socially accepted organizational
goals. Thus, Organisational behaviour deals with what is accepted by individuals and
society engaged in an organization.
In fact, Organisational behaviour is normative as well that is well underscored by the
proliferation of management theories.

5) A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach:

Organizational Behaviour applies a humanistic approach towards people working in
the organization. It deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings.
Organisational behaviour is based on the belief that people have an innate desire to be
independent, creative and productive.

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 It also realizes that people working in the organization can and will actualize these
potentials if they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects
performance or workers working in an organization.

6) A Total System Approach:

The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting the
organizational functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the
behavioural scientists to analyse human behaviour in view of his/her socio-
psychological framework.
Man’s socio-psychological framework makes the man a complex one and the systems
approach tries to study his/her complexity and find a solution to it.

7) Three Levels of Analysis:

Organisational behaviour encompasses the study of three levels of analysis namely
individual behaviour, inter-individual behaviour and the behaviour of organisations
themselves. The field of organisational behaviour embraces all these levels as being
complementary to each other.

8) Beneficial to both Organisation and Individuals:

Organisational behaviour creates an atmosphere whereby both organisation and
individuals are benefitted by each other. A reasonable climate is created so that
employees may get much needed satisfaction and the organisation may attain its
objectives.

9) Rational Thinking:
Organisational behaviour provides a rational thinking about people and their
behaviour. The major objective of organisational behaviour is to explain and predict
human behaviour in organisations, so that result yielding situations can be created.

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 OBJECTIVES OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

The organizations in which people work, influence their thoughts, feelings, and actions.
These thoughts, feelings, and actions, in turn, affect the organization itself. Organizational
behaviour studies the mechanisms governing these interactions, seeking to identify and foster
behaviours conducive to the survival and effectiveness of the organization.

1. Job Satisfaction.
2. Finding the Right People.
3. Organizational Culture.
4. Leadership and Conflict Resolution.
5. Understanding the Employees Better.
6. Understand how to Develop Good Leaders.
7. Develop a Good Team.
8. Higher Productivity.

These 8 objectives of organizational behaviour show that OB is concerned with people within
the organization, how they are interacting, what is the level of their satisfaction, the level of
motivation, and find ways to improve it in a way the yields most productivity.

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FOUNDATIONS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

There are certain fundamental concepts which are basic principles that form a strong
foundation for organisational behaviour. Organisational behaviour has a set of fundamental
concepts revolving around the nature of people and organizations.

THE NATURE OF PEOPLE

There are six basic concepts relevant to the nature of people. These are as follows:
 Law of individual differences
 Perception
 A whole person
 Motivated behaviour
 Desire for involvement
 Value of the person

1) Law of individual differences-

Each person is substantially different from all others in terms of their personalities, needs,
demographic factors and past experiences and/or because they are placed in different
physical settings, time periods or social surroundings. This diversity needs to be
recognized and viewed as an asset to organizations.

2) Perception-
Perception is the unique way in which each person sees, organizes and interprets things
based on their background of individual differences. Each person reacts not to an
objective world, but to a world judged in terms of his/her own beliefs, values and
expectations. Sometimes it may lead to selective perception in which people tend to pay
attention to only those things that are consistent with or reinforce their own expectations.
Selective perceptions may lead to misinterpretation of single events at work or create a
barrier in the search for new experience. Managers need to recognize the perceptual
differences among the employees and manage them accordingly.

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 3) A whole person-
People function as total human beings. People are physical, mental, social and spiritual
beings and the organization employs the whole person rather than certain characteristics.
There are spill over effects between the work life and life outside work and
management’s focus should be in developing not only a better employee but also a better
person in terms of growth and fulfilment. If the whole person can be developed, then
benefits will extend beyond the firm into the larger society in which each employee lives.

4) Motivated behaviour-
Individual’s behaviour is guided by their needs and the consequences that results from
their acts. In case of needs, people are motivated not by what others think they ought to
have but by what they themselves want. Motivation of employees is essential to the
operation of organizations and the biggest challenge faced by managers.

5) Desire for Involvement-

Many employees actively seek opportunities at work to become involved in relevant
decisions, thereby contributing their talents and ideas to the organization’s success.
Consequently, organizations need to provide opportunities to the employees for
meaningful involvement.

6) Value of the Person-

People want to be treated with care, dignity and respect and increasingly they are
demanding such treatment from their employers. They want to be valued for their skills
and abilities and to be provided with opportunities to develop themselves.

THE NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS

There are basically three key concepts related to the nature of organizations which are as
follows:
 Social systems
 Mutual interest
 Ethics

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1) Social systems-
Sociology tells that organizations are social systems. Just have people have
psychological needs they also have social roles and status. Their behaviour is influenced
by their group as well as by their individual drives. Two types of social systems exist side
by side in the organization- the formal (official) social system and the informal social
system- each influencing and getting influenced by the other.

2) Mutual Interest-
There is a mutuality of interest between the organization and its employees. Organization
needs employees to reach its objectives and people need organizations to help them reach
individual objectives. Mutual interest provides a super-ordinate goal – one that can be
attained only through the integrated efforts of individuals and their employees.

3) Ethics-
Ethics is the use of moral principles and values to affect the behaviour of individuals and
organizations regarding choices between what is right and wrong. In order to ensure a
higher standard of ethical performance by managers and employee’s companies have
established codes of ethics, publicized statements of ethical values and set up internal
procedures to handle misconduct.
Since Organizational behaviour involves people, ethical philosophy is involved in one
way or another in each action they take. When organization’s goals and actions are
ethical, individual, organizational and social objectives are more likely to be met.

1.

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 A survey is being carried out to understand the organisational behaviour. For this
purpose, a questionnaire has been prepared. It is requested to fill your responses. This
will help me to complete my assignment on the topic organisational behaviour, being
a student of MBA. The details of the responses will be used only for academic
purpose and personal details and responses would not be shared with anybody.
2. I belong to _________
 Working class
 Business class
 Non-working
 Student
3. If employed, are you satisfied with your job?
 Yes
 No
4. Are you punctual?
 Yes
 No
5. My topmost priority is _______
 Money
 Family
 Job
 Friends
Rate the following questions: Almost always= 5, Usually= 4, Sometimes= 3, Rarely= 2,
Almost never= 1
6. ___ How often do you feel that an employee sees a threat to his career in this
organisation?
7. ___ How often are your ideas for change given a good hearing?
8. ___ If one of your colleagues does his job in a way better than it is usually done, does
he get proper recognition for it?
9. ___ How often are people here told to carry out tasks without knowing why and for
what?
10. ___ How often are your ideas sought about the work that you are to do?
11. ___ How often do you feel that the tendency here is to pass the job of taking
important decisions on to somebody else?
12. ___ In order to meet targets within prescribed deadlines, the tendency here is to
somehow get the job over with, without adequate concerns for its quality. How often
does this happen here?
13. ___ How often do employees here rely on others?
14. ___ Some superiors are always tough, some are always soft, some change depending
upon the situation. How often does your superiors here change their way of handling
tasks and people depending on the situation?
15. ___ Considering the pressures here, how often do you feel that people resort to taking
ad- hoc decisions rather than analysing the situation?

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 ANALYSIS
In the survey, 50 respondents were selected from the university through a structured
questionnaire. The 50 respondents consisted of 30 working class, 3 working class, 15
students, 2 non- working. Most of the employees belonging to working class were satisfied
with their jobs with only 5% showing dissatisfaction. All the respondents replied that they
were punctual. There is a likelihood of a bias. The response to the priority in their life
depicted that most of the respondents (66%) showed priority towards money. An identical
number of respondents were having priority towards friends and family (10% each). Another
significant group consisting of 24% respondents showed topmost priority towards their jobs.
Most respondents gave a feeling that there was no threat to their career in the organisation,
with 90% of the respondents giving their response on 4 and 5.
Most of the respondents showed that sometimes our ideas for change were given a good
hearing (70%).
Most responses showed that usually the recognition is given if the job is done in a better way,
with 81% of the respondents giving responses on 4 and 3.
Almost all the respondents (27) surveyed know about why and which tasks are being done,
giving their responses on 4 and 5.
Almost always (5) and usually (4) was the response given by most respondents, when they
were asked about that their ideas sought about the work they do (84%).
There is a tendency to pass the job of decision making to some higher authority. So, most
respondents gave their responses as 5 score (90%) and the other 10% gave a score of 4 to this
statement.
Quality of the job with effectiveness (timely completion of job) matters here. So, most
respondents tend to score 1 and 2, when they were asked that they complete their jobs within
deadlines without paying due attention to quality (87%).
When the respondents were asked that how often they rely on others, the responses were 3
and 5 mostly (81%).
Most responses for flexibility in handling tasks were given a score of 3 and 4 (60%), while
there were some responses for 1 and 2 (40%) also.
The responses 3, 4 and 5 were there, when respondents were asked that how often ad- hoc
decisions without considering the situation analysis. While the other part of the respondents
(10%) gave response of 1 and 2.

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 CONCLUSION

Organizational behaviour is the study of shaping the behaviour of the organizational

personnel.

By nature, Organisational behaviour is an applied science which takes a systematic approach

that understands the reason behind the behaviour of an individual or group and influences it
in a way that benefits the organisation in attaining the defined organisational goals.

For stimulating and motivating the human and influencing the individual’s behaviour within
the organization, Organisational behaviour tries to find the right ways to solve out their
problems and change their behaviour as per the requirements to achieve the pre- defined
organisational goals. It sets an environment that delivers maximum performance from the
workers.

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