Why Study OB?

Damodar Suar
IIT Kharagpur
Email: ds@hss.iitkgp.ernet.in
 There are four types of organizations on
the basis of profit and ownership where
a professional can work

Owner Profit making Non-profit making

Public

Private
There are 4Ms for sustenance and
survival of an organization. They are:
1. Man 2. Machine 3.Material 4.Money
Write the items as below in your notebook and rank
them.
Item Rank
Man
Machine
Material
Money
Based on your perception, give a rank of 1 to an item
which is most important, a rank of 2 to the next
important and a rank of 3 to the still next important
and a rank of 4 to the least important item for
sustenance and survival of an organization.
What conclusions can we draw from the data?
O = F(HB)
Q1. How does the discussion relate to OB?
Various skills are needed for a
professional to succeed in business. They
are:
1. Technical
2. Conceptual: Administrative and Innovative
3. Human
4. Entrepreneurial
Q2. How does the discussion relate to OB?
Hawthorne studies in Western Electric company
manipulated physical (lighting, ventilation, rest
pause) and social (supportive leadership, group
cooperation, group cohesion, recognition)
environment in to observe their impact on
productivity. Social factors were found to be more
important than physical environment.
 There are many misconceptions about
human beings. Indicate against each
statement whether it is true or false.

1. All employees feel motivated by money. T/F

2. Happy workers are productive workers. T/F
3. Everyone wants a challenging job. T/F
4.The most effective work group is devoid of conflict. T/F
5.Males are more intelligent and creative than females.
T/F
6. Women are more intuitive than men. T/F
7. Stress deters performance. T/F
Q3. How does the discussion relate to OB?
 There are five mindsets.
1. Reflective: Think, happenings become experience.
Experience-think-internalize and modify.UK
2. Analytical: logical way of doing things. US
3. Worldly: local conditions/culture predominate
global thinking. Indian
4. Collaborative : cooperating with one another
(suggestion box, quality circle, participative
decision making). Japanese
5. Action : Implement/doing. French
Though contents and pedagogy, all these mindsets
are incorporated in OB.
Q4. How does the discussion relate to OB?
 Hari, an undergraduate engineer,
is participating in a higher
secondary education outreach
project in his local community. He
along with others is going to spend
a day to introduce the class 12
students to the opportunities of
going to college. One of his task is
to lead a class discussion of the
question: How is the world of
work changing today? Help Hari
out by creating an outline of the
major points he should discuss
with students.
To sum-up:
OB helps understanding how we
think, feel and act as well as
others; develop human skills;
clarify the misconceptions about
human beings; and help
developing varied mindsets.
What Managers do in the place
where they work-- Organization

Mangers/executives/administrators (NGOs)
make decisions, allocate resources, and direct
the activities of others to attain goals.
An organization is a consciously coordinated
social unit, composed of two or more people, that
function on a continuous basis to achieve a
common goal or set of goals.
Resources and Constraints

Resources
Organizations need three kinds of resources
to be effective.
Input resources- raw materials, skilled
workers, and financial capital
Technical resources - machinery and
computer
Knowledge resources - information,
marketing or engineering expertise
 Constraints

Factors that limit the response of the

manager to various demands.
Budgets
Technology
Attitudes of subordinates
Legal and regulations
Managerial Functions
Henri Fayol (1916)s Managerial Functions :
Activities that must be performed for organizations to
achieve effectiveness and efficiency .

Planning Organising

Managing

Leading Controlling
Relative time spent on four management functions
by the the three level of management

Planning Organizing Leading Controlling

Top
Managers

Middle
Managers

First-Line
Managers
Effective Vs.Successful
Managers
Fred Luthans: studied more than 450 managers.
Traditional Mgt.: Decision making, planning, and controlling
Communication: Exchange routine information, and
processing paper work
Human resource management: motivating, discipline,
managing conflict, staffing and training
Networking: socializing, politicking, and interacting with
outsiders
TM COM HRM NW
Av. Manager 32% 29 20 19
Successful 13 28 11 48
Effective 19 44 26 11
OB is the study and application of knowledge
about how people--as individuals and groups
act within organizations and their actions
influence organizational effectiveness
(productivity, job satisfaction, absenteeism,
turnover and innovation)

Goals of OB:
Describe:How people behave under a variety of conditions.
Understand: Why people behave similarly or differently in
different situation.
Predict:predicting future employees behavior , who will be
dedicated, productive, cooperative, absent, tardy, or
disruptive.
Control: monitor, control and develop human beings.
OB is a human tool for human benefits.
OB MODEL

Enterprise level

Group level

Individual level
WHAT MANAGERS CAN DO?
Productivity
Engagement
Job satisfaction
ILV Do little
Innovation
GLV Do something
ELV Do a lot OCB
Absenteeism
Turnover
Business: economic
goal, social goal
Organizations are social system(formal and
informal).Every thing is related to every other.
Organizations need people and people need
organizations. Mutuality of Interest employee and
employer.
Ethics: just, right and fair, beneficial to society. when
org. goals are ethical, it creates a triple reinforcing
system
 E
t E
Employee goals h
i
Superordinate goal of
mutual interest c M
Organizational goals s A
G
O

S
OB is a systematic study of behavior replacing
intuition.
Hypothesis, use scientific methods-field
study,laboratory study, survey study, case study,meta
analysis, Data Reliability, validity, Data analysis,
Generalization, looking at relationship, causes and
effects, basing conclusion on scientific evidence,
Focuses on application

Contingency Thinking: culture, environment,

technology, task, structure, and people
X leads to Y under condition Z, A (same)
persons behavior changes in different
situations and two people act differently in
the same situation. Leadership, money, group
cohesion
There are few absolutes in OB.
Contributing Discipline
to OB
Psychology, sociology,
social psychology,
anthropology, political
science
OB in West and India
Europe-Robert Owen, British industrialist, improve working conditions,
prevented child labor, provided meals to employees.
German psychologist Munsterbeg and American scholar Mary Follett
wrote of motivation, participation and democracy.
20th century Fredrick Taylor-scientific mgt., in 1924, Hawthorne studies.
McGregor, Maslow,ob took off in west in 1950 with system, socio-
technical systems, democratic, contingency and interactional approaches.
India: first wave was increase in scope of applied behavioral science
:Department of Applied Psychology in Calcutta, Centre for study of
Developing Societies, Centre for Policy Research.
Second Wave; Relaxing boundaries of behavioral science, Fist review,
1972 by Mitra, Pareek,1980,1982, poverty, inequality, population,
family planning, ecology, communication, influence, political process.
Third wave-behavioral research and applications-groups, Lynton-group
development training, IIM cal, McGregor, Bennis, Baumgartel,
NTL,ISABS in 1971, D.P. Sinha: ABS
Fourth wave : Action Research
Trends in new work force

Demise of command and control

Emergence of new workforce expectations
Increasing impact of information technology
Belief in empowerment
Emphasis on teamwork
Concern for work-life balance
Opportunities for OB
Responding to globalization
Managing workforce diversity: Culture, gender,race,
and ethnicity, accommodative
Improving quality and productivity:TQM,BPR
Responding to labor shortage: women
Improving Costumer service
Improving man-management skills
Empowering people: delegation, participation,skill dev.
Coping with temporariness: change, flexibilty,
spontaneity and unpredictability
Stimulating innovation and change
Helping employees balance work/life conflicts
Improving ethical behavior