HBO (Handouts) as a member of a formal group, but soon, he or she may become a member

of an informal group.
Group 1- CHAPTER 1: AN OVERVIEW OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN
ORGANIZATION The structure defines the formal relationship of people in the organization. It
describes how job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated.

For so long, man made serious attempts to be productive, economic or Technology refers to the combination of resources, knowledge and
otherwise. He did it either individually or in group. In his quest for fulfilling techniques with which people work and affect the task that they perform. It
his dreams, he is always confronted with the risk of failure, and the risk is consists of buildings, machines, work processes, and assembled resources.
most often associated with the human factor, i.e., him and the others. Even if
it was a machine that disrupted the production process, the person who Environment refers to institutions or forces outside the organization that
decided to buy or use the machine faces the risk of placing his character potentially affect the organization's performance. It includes suppliers,
under suspicion. customers, competitors, government regulatory agencies, public pressure
groups, and the like.
It has become clear that the quality and quantity of the output of the
THE BENEFITS OF STUDYING ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB)
individual, the group, or the organization depend heavily on the actions of
The study of OB offers certain benefits. They are as follows:
the person. It follows that those who have knowledge of human behavior are
1. development of people skills;
better equipped to interact with individuals, groups, or organizations.
2. personal growth;
3. enhancement of organizational and individual effectiveness;
WHAT IS HUMAN BEHAVIOR?
4. sharpening and refinement of common sense.
Human behavior refers to the physical actions of a person that can be seen or
heard such as smiling or whistling. With his thoughts, feelings, emotions, and
Development of People Skills
sentiments, the person exhibits behaviors similar or different when he is in or
There are two types of skills that a person will need to succeed in his chosen
out of organizations.
career:
1. the skill in doing his work; and
Human behavior in organizations is more appropriately referred
2. the skill in relating with people.
to as organizational behavior (OB).

A person who is much adept in the performance of his work may be

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?
successful up to a certain extent, but he will require another skill to make
Organizational behavior or OB may be defined as the study of human
other people believe that he should be more successful than his current
behavior in organization, of the interaction between individuals and the
achievement.
organization, and of the organization itself.
An example is the dentist who is well-trained in his discipline but is avoided
The Goals of OB by many would-be patients. It is not surprising to see a number of dentists
The three goals of OB are as follows: with insufficient number of patients. Many of these dentists would benefit
1. to explain behavior; from acquiring people skills through the study of OB.
2. to predict behavior; and
3. to control behavior. Another example is the group of highly productive employees who complain
IN THE that they are always bypassed in promotions. Studying OB may help them
ORGANIZATION find answers to their queries.
THE PERSON BEHAVIOR
Personal Growth
Personal growth makes a person highly competitive in the workplace. The
OUT OF THE
chance to achieve personal growth is enhanced by knowledge of OB. For
with his thoughts, ORGANIZATIO
instance, knowledge of the behavior of others through the study of OB will
feelings, emotions,
help the person understand his own behavior. A person who strives to know
sentiments
himself better is entering the realm of intrapersonal intelligence, which is a
Figure 1: THE PLACES WHERE THE PERSON EXHIBITS HIS BEHAVIOR
very useful type of intelligence for one who wants to achieve his personal
In explaining behavior as a goal, OB needs to systematically describe how goals.
people behave under a variety of conditions, and understand why people
behave as they do. Intrapersonal thinking may be described briefly as one possessed by a person
with highly accurate understanding of himself or herself.
OB must be used to predict behavior so support can be provided to
productive and dedicated employees, and measures could be instituted to Enhancement of Organizational and Individual Effectiveness
control the disruptive and less productive ones. Effectiveness is a major attribute of successful organizations, as well as
individuals. When the right decisions are made, effectiveness follows. In
OB can offer some means for management to control behavior of employees. decision making, knowledge of OB can be very useful.
As control is an important component of the effective performance, the For instance, there are persons who perform better when they work in the
usefulness of OB must not be overlooked. afternoons. It would be a mistake to make them work in the morning and
expect that they will perform better. Such errors could be avoided if the one
The Elements of OB authorized to decide on have knowledge of OB.
Four elements operate in OB. They are:
1. people Sharpening and Refinement of Common Sense
2. structure People differ in the degree of common sense they possess. Improvements in
3. technology this type of ability, however, can still be made and
4. environment great benefits can be derived if this is done.

The internal social system of the organization is composed of people For instance common sense dictates that persons working in hot and humid
consisting of individual persons and groups. The individual person is inducted places cannot perform well. Common sense, however, cannot easily provide
information on the exact temperature that will make them work at optimum Fritz Perls contribution is the Gestalt psychology wherein the conflicting
levels. In those types of concerns, knowledge of OB may be very useful. desires and needs, which dissipate energy and interfere with person is seen
as being plagued by numerous split, or that person's ability to achieve his
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB) potential. The object of Gestalt psychology is to integrate conflicting needs
History tells us that behind every major accomplishment of man is some sort into an organized whole, in which all parts of a person work together towards
of organization. Thousands of years ago, the pyramids of Egypt and the growth and development
temples in Central and South America were built by workers recruited from
among the populace. Whether or not there were attempts to make these For his part, Abraham Maslow forwarded his model which espouses the idea
types of workers perform better can be the subject of inquiry. What we see in of developing the personality toward the ultimate achievement of human
the movies is the whip, which as we understand was designed to make the potential. This process is referred to as self. actualization. To achieve this
workers do their assigned objective, the person must work his way up the succeeding steps of a
tasks. hierarchy of needs.

It is modern history, however, that provide us with records of how concerned ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
scientists and experts made studies which have direct or indirect bearing to May an organization use whatever means, fair or foul, to achieve its
OB. objectives? Is it alright for a firm to ask its employee to obtain confidential
information through espionage regarding the operations of a competitor? Is it
The origins of OB can be traced to the following: right for a business firm to adapt a policy of hiring only those who are
1. the human relations approach members of a certain religious sect? Is it right for organizations to allow
a. the scientific management approach by Frederick W. Taylor executives to play favorites in the workplace? These and similar behaviors in
b. the human relations approach by Elton Mayo and others the organization happen every now and then. Should the propriety of such
behaviors be the concern of organizations?
2. the personality theories
a. Freud's model If allowing such actions become the norm rather than the exception, would it
b. the behaviorist approach by Watson and Skinner be to the best interest of everyone especially employers and employees?
C. the humanist approach by Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, and Abraham Answers to the foregoing questions permeate a body of principles that
Maslow modern man tries to consider in the pursuit of his goals.
determined b
Frederick W. Taylor was the well-known disciple of the scientific
management movement. The primary purpose of scientific management was Philosophers maintain the view that a society that has low regard for morals
the application of scientific methods to increase the individual worker's will disintegrate after a period of time. To avoid chaos and destruction, and to
productivity. Taylor used scientific analysis and experiment to increase worker make life in society possible, adherence to the practice of moral principles
output. He did it by regarding individuals as equivalents of machine parts and regulating human relations become necessary.
assigned them specific repetitive tasks.
The above concerns bring us to the topic of organizational ethics.
Elton Mayo and his research team conducted the Hawthorne studies in 1920
to determine what effect hours of work, periods of rests and lighting might What is Ethics?
have on worker fatigue and productivity. It was discovered that the social Ethics refers to the set of moral choices a person makes based on what he or
environment have an equivalent if not greater effect on productivity than the she ought to do.
physical environment. Mayo concluded that social interaction is a factor for
increased productivity. Organizational Ethics. These are moral principles that define right or wrong
behavior in organizations.
Another group of researchers espoused the personality theories and made
significant contributions to the development of OB. Ethical Behavior. This refers to behavior that is accepted as morally "good"
and "right" as opposed to "bad" and "wrong".
A great contributor is the psychologist Sigmund Freud who brought the idea
that people are motivated by far more than conscious logical reasoning. What constitutes right and wrong behavior in organization is determined by:
Freud believed that irrational motives make up the hidden subconscious 1. the public
mind, which determines the major part of people's behavior. 2. interest groups
3. organizations
Through an approach called behaviorism, another eminent psychologist, J.B. 4. the individual's personal morals and values
Watson, formulated the theory about learned behavior. This theory indicates
that a person can be trained to behave according to the wish of the trainer. Ethical Issues
There are important ethical issues that confront organizations. They consist of
B.F. Skinner extended Watson's theory with his own theory of behavior the following:
modification. Skinner concluded that when people receive a positive stimulus 1. conflict of interest
like money or praise for what they have done, they will tend to repeat their
behavior. When they are ignored and receive no response to the action, they 2. fairness and honesty
will not be inclined to repeat it. 3. communication
4. relationships within the organization
The humanist movement is another important aspect in the development of
OB. It is composed of a group of psychologists and three prominent A conflict of interest exists when a person is in the position of having to
contributors - Carl Rogers, Fritz Perls, and Abraham Maslow. decide whether to advance the interests of the organization or to operate in
his or her own personal interests. For instance, the purchasing officer of a
Rogers focused on the person as an individual instead of adhering to a rigid
university is in a situation where there is conflict of interest when he owns
methodology. He believes that people should acquire their own values and
the shop that sells office supplies to the university.
attitudes rather than be committed to a fixed set of prescribed goals. The
more self-directed and aware people are, the better they are able to develop In organizations which practices ethical behavior, people do not accept bribes
their own individual values and adapt to a changing environment. to influence the outcome of a decision..
People in organizations are expected to be fair and honest. Ethical behavior
demands that, beyond obeying the law, they should not knowingly harm
customers, clients, and competitors through deception, coercion or
misrepresentation. For example, a certain agency of the government would
not normally release documents unless a certain amount of money is handed
down to the releasing clerk.

People can become victims of organizations that provide false and misleading
information about their products and services. For instance, a recruitment
firm makes it appear that the employment conditions they describe to the
job applicants would be identical to what the foreign employer would offer.
This practice is, of course highly unethical.

Within the organization, people may still be performing unethical acts. For
example, employee A developed an idea that will be very useful to the
organization. Employee B steals the idea and presents it to the top executive
before employee A could present it himself. This action is highly unethical and
it is to the detriment of the organization if such actions are allowed to
flourish.

SUMMARY
People exhibit certain behavior in and out of organizations. The realization of
individual, group, or organizational goals will depend on the human factor,
specifically human behavior.
The goals of OB are to explain, predict, and control behavior. The elements of
OB are people, structure, technology, and environment.

The benefits of studying OB are: (1) the development of people skills; (2)
personal growth; (3) enhancement of organizational and individual
effectiveness; and (4) sharpening and refinement of common sense.

OB is not an instant invention of man. Instead, it is a product of several stages

of inquiry into how people behave and how they can be managed to be more
productive. Personalities, great and small, contributed to the development of
OB. Taylor, Mayo, Freud, Maslow, are only some of the more prominent
names in the field of OB. The development of OB has not stopped, however,
and the process is still ongoing.

If the organization is expected to survive, its actions must be in consonance

with ethical behavior.