ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR STUDY NOTES
Module-I
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR:
Organization behavior:
Concepts:
Organizational Behavior is field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
structure have on behavior within organization. It is the study and application of knowledge about
how people act within organizations. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the
behavior of people in all types of organizations, such as business, government, schools and services
organizations. It covers three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, groups, and
structure. OB is an applied field. It applies the knowledge gained about individuals, and the effect of
structure on behavior, in order to make organizations work more effectively. OB covers the core
topics of motivation, leadership behavior and power, interpersonal communication, group structure
and process, learning, attitude development and perception, change process, conflict, job design and
work stress. Before studying organizational behavior, it is desirable to know the meanings of
organization and management.
Organization
Organization as a purposeful system with several subsystems where individuals and activities are
organized to achieve certain predetermined goals through division of labor and coordination of
activities. Division of labor refers to how the work is divided among the employees and coordination
refers to how all the various activities performed by the individuals are integrated or brought
together to accomplish the goals of the organization. The term organizing is used to denote one aspect
of the managerial activities when he or she is preparing and scheduling the different tasks that need
to be completed for the job to be done.
Management
It refers to the functional process of accomplishing the goals of the organization through the help of
others. A manager is an individual who is given the responsibility for achieving the goals assigned to
him or her as part of the overall goals of the organization and who is expected to get the job done.
The terms o f top management, lower management are frequently used to indicate the hierarchical
levels of those who are engaged in the process of getting the goals of the organization accomplished.
Definition of organization behavior:
According to Aldag and Brief
Organization behavior is a branch of the social sciences that seeks to build theories that can be
applied to understanding and controlling behavior in work origination.
According to Callahan
Organization behavior is a subset of management activities concerned with understanding, predicting
and influencing individual behavior in organization settings.
According to both these definitions the basic ingredients of organization behavior are the same that is
understood, predicting and controlling human behavior.
So we can define organization behavior as
It is the study and application of knowledge about human behavior related to other elements of the
organization such as structure, technology and social system.
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 1
,Organizational behavior can then be defined as: "The study of human behavior in organizational
settings, the interface between human behavior and the organizational context, and the organization
itself."
Key Elements of Organizational Behavior
Elements of Organisational Behaviour
The key elements in the organizational behavior are people,, structure, technology and the
environment in which the organisation operates.
People: People make up the internal and social system of the organisation. They consist of
individuals and groups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or
unofficial. Groups are dynamic and they work in the organisation to achieve their objectives.
Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organisations. Different
people in the organisation are performing different type of jobs and they need to be (elated in
some structural way so that their work can be effectively co-ordinate.
Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with
which people work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a
significant influence on working relationships. It allows people to do more and work better
but it also restricts' people in various ways.
Environment: All organisations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a
larger system that contains many other elements such as government, family and other
organisations. All of these mutually influence each other in a complex system that creates a
context for a group of people.
Nature of organization behavior:
Organization behavior present nature is as follows:
1. A field of study and not a discipline
2. Interdisciplinary approach
3. An applied science
4. Normative and value centered
5. ‘Humanistic and optimistic
6. Oriented towards organization objective
7. A total system approach
Scope of organization behavior:
1. Understanding human behavior :
OB provides a way for understanding human behavior at:
Individual level
Interpersonal level
Group level
Intergroup level
2. Controlling and directing human behavior:
For this purpose, OB helps managers in many areas:
Use of power and sanction
Leadership
Communication
Organisation climate
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 2
, Organisational adaptation
3. Organisational behavior models:
1. Autocratic—managers have the prime authority in the organization . minimal performance
results are assured.
2. Custodial—managerial orientation is the money, resources. Employees are oriented towards
dependence on the organization in terms of security and benefits
3. Supportive—leadership with managerial orientation of support. Employees are oriented towards
job performance and participation.
4. Collegial –partnership with managerial orientation of teamwork Employees are oriented towards
self discipline and responsible behavior
S-O-B-C Model:
S-O-B-C stands for Stimulus, Organism (a person), Behavior and Consequence. For the example I will
define each part and give an example of it separately:
Stimulus: is any event that happens in the environment, it can be a sound (like someone
shouting) a scene (a car accident, a fight. etc...), events (like receiving a paycheck).
Organism: is a person, nothing more can be said about this, so in OB you can consider that to
be an employee or an employer.
Behavior: the organism behavior and response in regards to the stimulus (for example a child
(Organism) may hit (Behavior) his brother after seeing a violent movie (Stimulus).
Consequence: is the outcome that comes after the behavior, it either reinforces (thus
repeated) the behavior or punished (thus not repeated). In the child example previously
mentioned, his mother can reprimand (Consequence: punishment) him for doing what he
did.
PERSONALITY
Definition:
According to Gluck - "Personality is a pattern of stable states and characteristics of a person that
influences his or her behaviour toward goal achievement. Each person has unique ways of protecting
these states".
Personality is the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral response patterns
of an individual. Different personality theorists present their own definitions of the word based on
their theoretical positions. Psychologists such as Freud and Erickson have attempted to come up with
personality theories.
Components of Personality
While there are many different theories of personality, the first step is to understand exactly what is
meant by the term personality. A brief definition would be that personality is made up of the
characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to
this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.
Some of the fundamental characteristics of personality include:
Consistency - There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. Essentially,
people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.
Psychological and physiological - Personality is a psychological construct, but research
suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 3
, It impacts behaviors and actions - Personality does not just influence how we move and
respond in our environment; it also causes us to act in certain ways.
Multiple expressions - Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen
in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships and other social interactions.
Determinants of Personality:
I. Biological Factors
The study of the biological contributions to personality may be studied under three heads:
(a) Heredity: Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical stature,
facial attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological
rhythms are characteristics that are considered to be inherent from one’s parents. The heredity
approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual's personality is the molecular structure
of the genes, located in the chromosomes. Research on animals has showed that both physical and
psychological characteristics can be transmitted through heredity. But research on human beings is
inadequate to support this viewpoint. However, psychologists and geneticists have accepted the fact
that heredity plays an important role in one's personality.
(b) Brain: The second biological approach is to concentrate on the role that the brain plays in
personality. Though researchers make some promising inroads, the psychologists are unable to prove
empirically the contribution of human brain in influencing personality. The most recent and exciting
possibilities come from the work done with electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) and split-brain
psychology.
(d) Physical features: A vital ingredient of the personality, an individual's external appearance, is
biologically determined. The fact that a person is tall or short, fat or skinny, black or white will
influence the person's effect on others and this in turn, will affect the self-concept. Practically all
would agree that physical characteristics have at least some influence on the personality. According
to Paul H Mussen "a child's physical characteristics may be related to his approach to the social
environment, to the expectancies of others, and to their reactions to him. These, in turn, may have
impacts on personality development". If personality characteristics were completely dictated by
heredity, they would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience could alter them. But personality
characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity. There are other factors, which also influence
personality.
II. Cultural Factors
The culture largely determines attributes toward independence, aggression, competition, and
cooperation. Culture requires both conformity and acceptance from its members. There are several
ways of ensuring that members comply with the dictates of the culture. The culture in which one life
in that may involve traditional practices, norms, customs, procedures, rules and regulations,
precedents and values, all are important determinants of personality. Moreover, the creed, religion
and believes are also very important factors of personality determinants.
III. Family Factors
The culture generally prescribes and limits what a person can be taught, it is the family, and later the
social group, which selects, interprets and dispenses the culture. Thus, the family probably has the
most significant impact on early personality development.
IV. Social Factors
Social factors also play a vital role in determining one’s personality. The things that revolve and
evolve around us on a regular basis determine our personality. The society that we live in, the
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 4
Module-I
UNDERSTANDING AND MANAGING INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR:
Organization behavior:
Concepts:
Organizational Behavior is field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
structure have on behavior within organization. It is the study and application of knowledge about
how people act within organizations. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the
behavior of people in all types of organizations, such as business, government, schools and services
organizations. It covers three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, groups, and
structure. OB is an applied field. It applies the knowledge gained about individuals, and the effect of
structure on behavior, in order to make organizations work more effectively. OB covers the core
topics of motivation, leadership behavior and power, interpersonal communication, group structure
and process, learning, attitude development and perception, change process, conflict, job design and
work stress. Before studying organizational behavior, it is desirable to know the meanings of
organization and management.
Organization
Organization as a purposeful system with several subsystems where individuals and activities are
organized to achieve certain predetermined goals through division of labor and coordination of
activities. Division of labor refers to how the work is divided among the employees and coordination
refers to how all the various activities performed by the individuals are integrated or brought
together to accomplish the goals of the organization. The term organizing is used to denote one aspect
of the managerial activities when he or she is preparing and scheduling the different tasks that need
to be completed for the job to be done.
Management
It refers to the functional process of accomplishing the goals of the organization through the help of
others. A manager is an individual who is given the responsibility for achieving the goals assigned to
him or her as part of the overall goals of the organization and who is expected to get the job done.
The terms o f top management, lower management are frequently used to indicate the hierarchical
levels of those who are engaged in the process of getting the goals of the organization accomplished.
Definition of organization behavior:
According to Aldag and Brief
Organization behavior is a branch of the social sciences that seeks to build theories that can be
applied to understanding and controlling behavior in work origination.
According to Callahan
Organization behavior is a subset of management activities concerned with understanding, predicting
and influencing individual behavior in organization settings.
According to both these definitions the basic ingredients of organization behavior are the same that is
understood, predicting and controlling human behavior.
So we can define organization behavior as
It is the study and application of knowledge about human behavior related to other elements of the
organization such as structure, technology and social system.
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 1
,Organizational behavior can then be defined as: "The study of human behavior in organizational
settings, the interface between human behavior and the organizational context, and the organization
itself."
Key Elements of Organizational Behavior
Elements of Organisational Behaviour
The key elements in the organizational behavior are people,, structure, technology and the
environment in which the organisation operates.
People: People make up the internal and social system of the organisation. They consist of
individuals and groups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or
unofficial. Groups are dynamic and they work in the organisation to achieve their objectives.
Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organisations. Different
people in the organisation are performing different type of jobs and they need to be (elated in
some structural way so that their work can be effectively co-ordinate.
Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with
which people work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a
significant influence on working relationships. It allows people to do more and work better
but it also restricts' people in various ways.
Environment: All organisations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a
larger system that contains many other elements such as government, family and other
organisations. All of these mutually influence each other in a complex system that creates a
context for a group of people.
Nature of organization behavior:
Organization behavior present nature is as follows:
1. A field of study and not a discipline
2. Interdisciplinary approach
3. An applied science
4. Normative and value centered
5. ‘Humanistic and optimistic
6. Oriented towards organization objective
7. A total system approach
Scope of organization behavior:
1. Understanding human behavior :
OB provides a way for understanding human behavior at:
Individual level
Interpersonal level
Group level
Intergroup level
2. Controlling and directing human behavior:
For this purpose, OB helps managers in many areas:
Use of power and sanction
Leadership
Communication
Organisation climate
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 2
, Organisational adaptation
3. Organisational behavior models:
1. Autocratic—managers have the prime authority in the organization . minimal performance
results are assured.
2. Custodial—managerial orientation is the money, resources. Employees are oriented towards
dependence on the organization in terms of security and benefits
3. Supportive—leadership with managerial orientation of support. Employees are oriented towards
job performance and participation.
4. Collegial –partnership with managerial orientation of teamwork Employees are oriented towards
self discipline and responsible behavior
S-O-B-C Model:
S-O-B-C stands for Stimulus, Organism (a person), Behavior and Consequence. For the example I will
define each part and give an example of it separately:
Stimulus: is any event that happens in the environment, it can be a sound (like someone
shouting) a scene (a car accident, a fight. etc...), events (like receiving a paycheck).
Organism: is a person, nothing more can be said about this, so in OB you can consider that to
be an employee or an employer.
Behavior: the organism behavior and response in regards to the stimulus (for example a child
(Organism) may hit (Behavior) his brother after seeing a violent movie (Stimulus).
Consequence: is the outcome that comes after the behavior, it either reinforces (thus
repeated) the behavior or punished (thus not repeated). In the child example previously
mentioned, his mother can reprimand (Consequence: punishment) him for doing what he
did.
PERSONALITY
Definition:
According to Gluck - "Personality is a pattern of stable states and characteristics of a person that
influences his or her behaviour toward goal achievement. Each person has unique ways of protecting
these states".
Personality is the particular combination of emotional, attitudinal, and behavioral response patterns
of an individual. Different personality theorists present their own definitions of the word based on
their theoretical positions. Psychologists such as Freud and Erickson have attempted to come up with
personality theories.
Components of Personality
While there are many different theories of personality, the first step is to understand exactly what is
meant by the term personality. A brief definition would be that personality is made up of the
characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to
this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.
Some of the fundamental characteristics of personality include:
Consistency - There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. Essentially,
people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations.
Psychological and physiological - Personality is a psychological construct, but research
suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs.
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 3
, It impacts behaviors and actions - Personality does not just influence how we move and
respond in our environment; it also causes us to act in certain ways.
Multiple expressions - Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen
in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships and other social interactions.
Determinants of Personality:
I. Biological Factors
The study of the biological contributions to personality may be studied under three heads:
(a) Heredity: Heredity refers to those factors that were determined at conception. Physical stature,
facial attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle composition and reflexes, energy level, and biological
rhythms are characteristics that are considered to be inherent from one’s parents. The heredity
approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual's personality is the molecular structure
of the genes, located in the chromosomes. Research on animals has showed that both physical and
psychological characteristics can be transmitted through heredity. But research on human beings is
inadequate to support this viewpoint. However, psychologists and geneticists have accepted the fact
that heredity plays an important role in one's personality.
(b) Brain: The second biological approach is to concentrate on the role that the brain plays in
personality. Though researchers make some promising inroads, the psychologists are unable to prove
empirically the contribution of human brain in influencing personality. The most recent and exciting
possibilities come from the work done with electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) and split-brain
psychology.
(d) Physical features: A vital ingredient of the personality, an individual's external appearance, is
biologically determined. The fact that a person is tall or short, fat or skinny, black or white will
influence the person's effect on others and this in turn, will affect the self-concept. Practically all
would agree that physical characteristics have at least some influence on the personality. According
to Paul H Mussen "a child's physical characteristics may be related to his approach to the social
environment, to the expectancies of others, and to their reactions to him. These, in turn, may have
impacts on personality development". If personality characteristics were completely dictated by
heredity, they would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience could alter them. But personality
characteristics are not completely dictated by heredity. There are other factors, which also influence
personality.
II. Cultural Factors
The culture largely determines attributes toward independence, aggression, competition, and
cooperation. Culture requires both conformity and acceptance from its members. There are several
ways of ensuring that members comply with the dictates of the culture. The culture in which one life
in that may involve traditional practices, norms, customs, procedures, rules and regulations,
precedents and values, all are important determinants of personality. Moreover, the creed, religion
and believes are also very important factors of personality determinants.
III. Family Factors
The culture generally prescribes and limits what a person can be taught, it is the family, and later the
social group, which selects, interprets and dispenses the culture. Thus, the family probably has the
most significant impact on early personality development.
IV. Social Factors
Social factors also play a vital role in determining one’s personality. The things that revolve and
evolve around us on a regular basis determine our personality. The society that we live in, the
PREPARED BY MR. ANTONY AMBIA Page 4
