INTRODUCTION TO

ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
The term ‘organisational’ behaviour actually refer to
behavior of people in the organisations Because
organizations themselves do not behave. success of any
organisation primarily Depends upon the efficiency and
effectiveness of the management, and the effectiveness
Of the management depends primarily on its human
skill and how well it understands the
Need and desires of the people working in the
organisation. Human behaviour in organisation is a
relatively new concept and it emerged as a distinct field
of study in the late 1950’and Early 1960’.
 Concept And Meaning Of
Organisational Behaviour
 Organisational behaviour is directly concerned
with the understanding, prediction, and control
of human behaviour in organization according
to Callahan, fleenor and kudson ,
“organisational behaviour” is a subset of
management activities concerned with
understanding, predicting and influencing
individual behaviour in organisational
settings”.
 Organisational behavior, organisational
theory, organisational psychology & human
resource management.
Organisational behaviour tries to understand the behaviour, attitudes and
performance of the people in organisations.
Organisational theory focuses on the design and structure of the
organisations. organisational theory is a macro study whereas
organisational behaviouris a microstudy of people’s behaviour
Organisational psychology restricts itself to psychological factor only
whereas organisational behaviour consider and combines all the branches
of study e.g. Science, technology, economics, anthropology, psychology
and so on.
Organisational behaviour is the basis of human resource management
and development .The former is concept oriented whereas the later is
concerned with the technology of human development.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
 1. BehavioralApproach to Management.
Organisational behaviour is that part of whole
Management which represents the behavioural
approach to menegment.has emerged as a
Distinct field of study because of the
importance of human behaviour in
organizations
 2. Cause and effect relationship

It provides generalizations that

manager can use to anticipate the
effect of certain activities on human
behaviour.
3. Organisational behaviour is a
Branch of Social Sciences

Influenced by several other Social

sciences viz. psychology, sociology
and anthropology.
 4. Three levels of analysis

 Namely individual behaviour, inter-

individual behaviour and the Behaviour
of organisations themselves as being
complementary to each other.
5. A Science as well as an Art
 The systematic knowledge about human
behaviour is a science and the application
of behavioural knowledge and skill is an
art. Organisational behaviour is not an
exact science because it cannot exactly
predict the behaviour of people in
organisations.
6.A body of theory, Research
and application
 Which helps in understanding the human
behaviour in organisation and helps the
managers to solve human problems in
organisations.
 7. Beneficial to
both
organisation and individuals
A reasonable climate is created so
that employees may get much needed
satisfaction and the organisation may
attain its objectives.
 8. Rational Thinking
 The major objective of organisational
behaviour is to explain and predict human
behaviour in organisations, so that result
yielding situations can be created. OB
provides rational thinking about people
and their behavior.
 Nature of organisational
behaviour
 Whenever an individual joins an organisation he brings with
him unique set of personal characteristics, experiences from
other organisation and a personal background. At the first
stage organisational behaviour must look at the unique
perspective that each individual brings to the work setting. The
second stage of organisational behaviour is to study the
dynamics of how the incoming individuals interact with the
broader organisation. The individual who join a new
organisation has to come into contact with the co-worker,
manager, formal policies and procedures of the organisation
etc. over the time, he is affected by his works experience and
the organisation as well as his personal experiences and
maturity.
On the other hand, the organisational is also affected by
the presence or absence of the individual. Thus, it is
essential that OB must study the ways in which the
individual and organisation interact with each other.
The organisational behaviour must be studied from the
perspective of the organisation itself because an
organisation exists before a particular individual join in
and continues to exist after he or she has left the
organisation. Because the organisation influences and
influenced by the People working in it. Moreover, both
the individuals and the organization influenced by the
external environment.
Organisational behaviour and
other fields of study

Organisational behaviour is an
interdisciplinary approach as it has
borrowed concept, theory, Modal and
practices of physical sciences as well as
social sciences.
 1. Psychology
 Organisational behaviour studies human behaviour which is concerned
mainly with the psychology of the people Psychology, especially,
industrial or organisational psychology is the greatest contributor to the
field of organisational behaviour. Psychologists study behaviour and
industrial or organisational psychologists deal specifically with the
behaviour of people in organisational setting. Individual behaviour is
governed by perception, learning and personality. industrial psychology
understands people’s behaviour at work, particularly under different
working conditions, stress, conflicts and other related behaviour of
employees. Job satisfaction, performance appraisals and reward system are
measured and directed with the use of psychological theories and modals.
Group behaviour in the organizations
Communication system in the organisation, attitudes of employees, there
need etc. as a subject of social influence on behaviour.
 2. Sociology
 Sociology makes use of scientific method in
accumulating knowledge about the social behaviour
of the groups. It specifically studies, social groups,
social behaviour, society, customs, institutions, social
classes, status, social mobility, prestige etc. it studies
the behaviour of the people in the society in the
relation to their fellow human beings. Sociology
contributes to organisational behivour through its
contribution to the study of interpersonal dynamics
like leadership, group dynamics, communication etc.
 3. Anthropology
 Anthropology is concerned with the interaction
between people and their environment especially
there actual environment , culture is a major
influence on the structure of organisations as well as
on the behaviour of people within organizations.
Anthropology contributes in understanding the
cultural effects on organisational behaviour Effects of
value system, norms, sentiments, cohesion and
interaction.
 4. Political science
 In resent times, political science has also started influencing
organisational behaviour political Science is usually, thought
of as the study of political systems. But political scientes are
interested in how and why people acquire power, political
behaviour,Decision making, conflict, the behaviour of interest
group and condition formation. These are also major areas of
interest in organisational behaviour In organizations, people
strive for power end leadership recognition. Political
perspectives and government policies are thoroughly analysed
for moulding and modifying the behaviour of people, because
they greatly influence the organisation.
 5. Economics
Economics study the production, distribution and
consumption of good and services. Students of
organisational behaviour share the economist,s
interest in such areas as labour Market dynamics,
productivity, human resource planning and
forecasting, and cost benefit Analysis. if
psychological and economic expectations of
employees are meet, they are satisfy and become high
performers economic system include financial,
commercial and industrial Activities the consumption
pattern in society monitor the behavour of employees.
 6. Science
 Science is systemetised knowledge.
organisational behaviour is based on the
systemetised Study of facts, behaviour, there
relationship and predictions. The cause and
effect relationship. A researcher, in the field of
OB investigates new facts, test theories,
hypothesis and modal. Personal bias,
superfluous conclusions and whimsical
approach are avoided in the study.
 7. Technology
 The study of technological development is
becoming essential for understanding the
organisational behaviour, because people are
influenced by the technological innovations.
Technology changes consumer behaviour,
production activities,Distribution and storage
activities. To cope up with the technological
development people have to become educated
and/or technically skilled.Technological
development leades to effective work behaviour,
improved organisational Culture and helpful work
environment
 8. Engineering
 Some topics are common to engineering as
well as organisational behaviour e.g work
measurement, productivity measurement, work
flow analysis, work design, job design and
labour relations. In fact, organisational
behaviour is dependent on engineering for
these jobs.
 9. Medicine
 Stress
is becoming a very common problem
in the organisations as well as in people
working in the organisations Thus ,it can be
concluded that organisational behaviour
has an interdisciplinary focus.
Role of organisational behaviour
A. Understanding human behavior
1.Individual behaviour
 It tries to analyse why and how an individual behaves in a
particular way in a given situation. The behaviour of
individual is affected by a number of psychological, social
and culturel factors.
2. interpersonal behaviour
 In organizations, two person relationship is inevitable.
interpersonal interaction represents man’s most natural
attempt at socialisation. The techniques, generally, used for
studying interpersonal bahaviour are study of
perception,Role, analysis , transation analysis etc.
3.Group behaviour: Hawthorne studies have proven
that an individual behaves differently as an individual
and as a member of the group. His behaviour is often
modified by group norms.

4. Inter group behaviour: The cooperation,

coordination and conflicts within group influence
performance. Organisational behaviour help the
manager in achieving cooperative group relationship
through interaction, rotation of member among groups,
avoidance of win-lose situation and focus on total
group objectives.
Influencing the human behaviour
 Manager can influence the behaviour
through control and direction.
organisational behaviour helps the
manager in influencing the behaviour in
the following ways:
 1. Leadership
 Leadership helps the management in
bringing human behaviour in tune with
The organisational requireme A
competent leader uses all the human and
physical resources at the maximum leavel
for for achieving the organisational goal.
 2. Motivation
 Human beings work not only for money
but also for getting job satisfaction
 organisational behaviour helps the
manager in understanding the needs and
desires of the subordinates and other
factor which affect their motivation.
 3. Communication
 Toachieve organisational effectives, the
communication must be effective
Behavioural sciences help in improving
communication in the organisation the
communication prosess and how it
works in interpersonal dynamics is
evaluated by behavioural science.
 4. Organisational Change and
Development

 Change can be introduced through group

dynamics and proper education of employees
though effective communication. The benefits
of change should be highlighted and
information should be shared with all those
likely to be affected by the change.
 5. Organisational Climate
 Organisational climate is the creation of an
atmosphere of the effective supervision, the
opportunity for the realisation of personal
goals, good relations with others at the work
and sense of accomplishment. Organisational
behavior creates an atmosphere of
participative leadership, two way
communication, adequate compensation and
better equipments for the job.
 FOUNDATIONS OF
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Modern organisational behaviour has a rich intellectual history, which
provides a base for what we known today. In the classical theories of
organistion as well as management, the roles of individuals and groups
were ingnored altogether or at the most given minimum attention. A few
writers and managers, howere, recognised the importance of individual,
group and social processes in the organisation. Robert Own a British
industrialist tried to improve the condition of industrial workers in the
early nineteenth century. Mary Parker Follect was another writer
whobelieved that management should become more democratic in its
dealing with employees. She also believed that power should be jointly
developed power, a collective not a coercive power, Regarding confects,
she believed should put conflict to' use in their organisations.
Follett's view of the personal qualities of a leader gives a vivid picture of
the characteristics of a good leader.
 THE HAWTHORNE STUDIES

The Hawthorne Studies were a large research programme

conducted between 1927 and 1932 a Western Electric's Hawthorne
plant near Chicago.The plant produced various parts for telephone
Switching Systems. Several-researchers were involuted in this
study, the best known being Elton Mayo, Fritz Roethlisberger,
Harvard Faculty members and consultants. These people
conducted a series of experimental and observational studies in the
plant and conducted employee interviews between 1924 and 1932
The First major experiment was ILLUMINATION EXPERIMENT
(1924-27), who purpose was to study the different levels of
lighting on productivity.
In another major experiment, A Piecework Incentive
System was established for a nine man group that
assembled terminal banks for telephone exchanges.
Proponents of scientific management would have
expected each man to work as hard as he cold to
maximums his won personal income. But the
Hawthorne researchers fond instead that the group as a
whole established as acceptable level of output for its
members. It was concluded that to be accepted as a part
of the group evidently meant more to the workers them
earning extra money
HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH
The basic principles underlying the human relations movement were that
people respond primarily to their social environment, that motivation
depends more on social needs than economic needs and that satisfied
employees work harder than unsatisfied employees. The values of human
relations approach are exemplified in the work of Douglas McGregor, an
MIT Psychologist, Who proposed two sets of assumptions abut human
motivations that a manager can hold. McGregor called the assumptions
Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X takes a very negative and pessimistic
view of human nature and employee behaviour. Theory Y gives a more
optimistic and positive view of employees. In 1943, Abraham Maslow
published a pioneering theory of employee motivation that became well
known and vidual accepted among managers. Maslow's theory assumes
that motivation arises from a hierarchical series of needs. As the needs a
each level are satisfied, the individual progresses to the next higher level.
 TOWARDS ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOR

 Organisational behavior began to emerge as a mature

field of study in the at 1950s and early 1960s. Since
that time, organisational behaviors as a scientific field
of inquiry has made considerable strides, although
there have been occasional steps backwards as well.
APPROACHES TO THE
STUDY OF
ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOR
1. Human Resources Approach
 This approach recognizes that human resources in an
organization are the central force. Their development
will contribute to the success of the organizations.
managers, instead of controlling the employees,
should provide active support to them as part of the
group. Loose supervision.. By treating individuals as
mature adults, organizations can increase productivity
and at that same time meet the needs of individuals
for independence and growth.
 2. Contingency Approch
 There is no single way to manage effectively
under all circumstance. The methods or
behaviors which work effectively in one
situations may fail in another. The manager's
task therefore, is to identify which method will
in a particular situation, under particular
circumstance and at a particular time best
contribute to the attainment of organisation's
goals.
 3. Productivity Approach
Productivity means the numerical value of the
ratio of output to input. Higher the value of this
ratio, greater is the efficiency and effectiveness
of the management. These decisions realate to
human, social and economic issues. For example
if better organisational behaviour can reduce
worker's turnover or the number of absentees, a
human output or benefit cocurs.
 4. System Approach
The systems approach is of the view that an
organisation in a powerful system with several
subsystems which are higly and closely
interconnected. This approach gives the
managers a ways of looking at the
organisational as a whole, whole group and the
whole social system. A general system model
or organisation as drawn by kast and
Rosenzwerg (1966) is in the following figure :
PROCESS OF BEHAVIOUR
 The S-R Model
 This model assumes that the reasons which
cause human behaviour are of two types -:
(i) Internal Feeling
(ii) External Environment
 Internal felling of a person may relate to his motivational
factor whereas the external environment which is also called
the stimulus directly influences the activity of a person. The
stimulus may be in the from of heat, light, etc. According to
this approach, behaviour is determined by the stimulus or in
other words the external environment forces determine the
behaviour of a person at any given movent. There is a direct
relation between stimulus and response, that is why this
process is called S-R process.
 The basic drawback of this model is that organism or person is
immobile and passive. Whereas in reality the person
concerned plays an important role in behaviour which is
influenced by the internal feeling of the person. This model,
thus, does not give a complete picture as to what caused the
person to act in a particular way in a particular situation.
 S-O-B-A Model
S-O-B-A model is a comprehensive model of
human behaviour which comines the S-R situation
and human being. But O in this model is not passive
or immobile.
 The S
 Inthis model stands for stimulus or the
external environmental situation. It
includes ligh, heat, sound, actions of
supervisors or other aspects of
environment to which a person is
sensitive. It stimulates the organism or
person into action.
 In
The O
this model stands for the organism as the
person. But this O does not stand for only the
physiological being but also it includes the
processes within the person e.g.; heredity,
maturity, knowledge, skills, values,
perceptions, attitudes, personality and
motivation. The double headed arrow between
S and O Indicates the interaction between the
situation and organism.
 The B
 Stand for behaviour. It includes both overt and
covert behavior such as body movements,
talking, facial expressions, emounos,
sentiments and thinking. The response of
organism indicted by a single headed arrow is
the behaviour. Behaviour is anything that a
person does. it is not something that is done to
a person.
 The A
 Stand for accomplishment and consequences.
When behaviour, in turn, acts on the outside
world, it leads to accomplishment as shown by
single headed arrow. It is assumed that the
accomplishments may further change the
stimulating conditions and thereby influence
the subsequent behaviour or it may create new
stimulus leading to new behaviour.
 CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
OGRANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
1. Managerial challenges.

2. Work place issues and challenges.

3. Organisational challenges.

4. Global challenges

5. Environmental challenges

 Managerial Challenge
 1. Work force Diversity-: Dealing with people who are different.
This challenge is tern\med as work force diversity. Organisations are
becoming increasingly cosmopolitan. They are becoming more
heterogeneous in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. One can find a
Brahmin working along with a Muslim or scheduled caste or Sikh worker.
There can be employees who are physically handicapped, lesbians, gays,
elderly or others who are different in some way or the other. In earlier times,
managers The managers must tearn to respect diversity. They have to shift
their philosophy from treating eveyone alike to recognizing differences and
responding to those differences in a way that will ensure employee retentin
and greater productivity while at the same time not discriminating. An
increasingly diverse workforce presents both opportunities and challenges
for the ogranisations. If diversity is not properly managed it can lead to
higher employee turnover, more difficult communication and more
interpersonal conflicts. Employees thus, need to adjust to emerging
workforce expectations by replacing command and control leadership with
empowerment giving more freedom and power to the employees.
2. Changing demographics of work
force:
a. Dual Career Couples
 This is a situation where both partners are actively
pursuing professional careers. Organisations had been
used to physical relocations of employees. Employees
moving through organisational ranks to upper level
positions need experience in variety of roles in
different organisational units. This hinder the
organisational flexibility in acquiring and developing
talent.
b. Growing number of youngsters
 Another form of diversity comes form younger people
entering the workforce. Generation-X employees are on
an average about 25 years of age. The young employees
are fresh, ambitions, enthusiastic and innovative. There
personal needs have to be handled with circumspection.
These people do not Live to work but work to live
choosing a life that they want to have as opposed to just
bringing home a pay check.
 c. Gender factor
 Women used to have very traditional careers in
earlier times like nurses, teacher, secretaries etc.
Gradually they moved into professional previously
dominated by makes e.g. lawyers, doctors and
executives, information technology etc. On the other
hand more and more men are entering into
professions previously dominated by women e.g.
catering, nursing, cooking fashion and textile
designing etc
2. Work Place Issue and Challenge
 i. Employee Privacy: Employers, nowadays, have
stared to intrude and encroach too much into the
private lives of the employees. Managers need to be
very sensitive to this issue since this trend creates
sresentment among employees. The recent practices
followed by organisations are:
1. To implement random drug tests.
2. To heck the background of prospective employees.
3. Randon check of phone calls as well as a check on
internet surfing.
4. Tapping the phone lines etc.
 II. Employee Rights: A concern related to employee
privacy is employees rights. Issues have also surfaced
regarding uniform dress codes, right to marry within the
organisation etc. These issues tend to be controversial as
more and more organisations limit or ban certain
activates.
 III. Unionism: In the recent years, the general trend
regarding union membership has been steadily declining.
As a result, organisations carry the burden of providing
the services to the employees which were previously
provided by the unions.
 IV. Changed Employee Expectations” Employee
expectation are also changing with change in work
force demographics. Traditional motivators like, job
securities, attractive pay packages, additional
perquisites do not attract, retain or allure today's
workforce Nowadays, employees demand
empowerment and expect quality or status with the
management. participative managements with
employee influence and involvement along with
mechanisms for upward communications. Flexi-
timings, opportunities to work from home.
 Organisational Challenges
 (i) Improving Quality and Productivity: Due to the advent of
globalization privatization and liberalization, organisations are
exposed to competitions. In such a scenari, managers have to think
seriously about improving the quality and productivity. To achieve
this target, managers are implementing programmers like Total
Quality Management and Reengineering programmes.
 TQM is a philosophy of management for attainment of customer
satisfaction through the continuous improvement of all
organisational processes. Reengineering means radically rethinking
and redesigning those processes by which we create value for
customers and do work. Managers, nowadays, must understand that
any effort to improve the quality and productivity in order to succeed
must include the employees. They should participate actively in
planning those changes also. OB offers important insights into
helping the managers work through these change.
 (ii) Managing Technology and Innovations: Success will come
only to those organisations that maintain their flexibility continually
improve their quality and out beat their competitors with innovative
proud cut and services. The challenge for managers is to stimulate
employee creativity and tolerance for change. The field of OB
provides a wealth of ideas and techniques to aid in realizing these
goals.
 (iii) Coping with Temporariness: Managers today face a state of
permanent, temporariness. continuously update their knowledge and
skills to perform new job requirements. The organisations are also in
a state of flux as they have to continuously recognize their various
divisions, sell off poor performing businesses, down sixes
operations and replacing permanent employees with temporaries.
The study of OB can help in providing important insights into
helping one in how to overcome resistance to change.
 (iv) Ethical Behaviour: It is the duty of today's managers to create
an ethically healthy elimate for their employees, where they can do
their work productively and with clean conscience. Social
responsibility is the ogransiational, obligation to protect and
contribute to social environment
 4. Global Challenge
 Managing global environment: Internationalization of
business has transformed the world into a global village.
Manager have to cope with unfamiliar laws, languages,
practices, attitudes, management styles, ethics etc. Manager
have to be flexible and proactive if they are to face these
challenges.
 Managing Cultural Diversity: To day's managers have to
learn to cope with people form different cultures. If they are
transferred to another country, they will have to manager a
workforce that is likely to be very different in needs,
aspirations and attitudes. If they are in their own country they
have to work with people from other countries having
different cultures.
 5. Environmental Challenges

 (i) Ecology: Responsibility of business towards society

includes concern for ecology. Ecology is concerned with the
relationship of living thins with their environment.
 (ii) Air, water, and soil pollution: The general concept
recommended nowadays is that development should be in the
long run and every project should cater to maintain if not mend
the direct harm to the environment:
 (iii) Personnel policies: Personnel policies of the organisation
should not be dicrimaninatory towards any particular caster,
creed, religion, sex or nationality. These should be equal pay
for equal work.
 (iv) Consumerism: Societal marketing concept has emerged to
say that long term consumer welfare is also important.
 (v) Research and Development: To keep pace with
the global challenges, the organisations must
undertake technical and scientific research.

 (vi) International Policies: The organisation has to

keep in mind the legislations and specific policies of
various countries while dealing with them.

 (vii) National Economic Policies: Due to the rising

inflationary trends in the economy, there is always
government pressure on the organisations to reduce
prices and increase the wages.
 Conclusion
 Organisational behaviour can help the organizations
in facing and coping up with these challenges
because these cannot be eliminated. There is no
perfect solution to organizational problems, but if
handled with care and diligence, these challenges
can be converted into profitable opportunity. TQM
re-engineering, Leadership, Organisational Culture,
Group norms are sum of the OB Concepts which
can helps in facing various challenges.