CHAPTER ONE

AN OVER VIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

1.1. What is Organizational Behavior?

To define the organizational behavior let us define each term one by one. First Organization is
purposeful social entity consists of people who carryout individual task that are integrated to
contribute to the organization goals. The term organization is defined by various well-known
writers. A few definitions are given below. The definition depends upon how the authors viewed
at organization. Some of the definitions are:
 “Organization is a harmonious adjustment of specialized part for the accomplishment of
some common purpose or purposes” (Honey)
 Mooney and Riley in their one simplified definition stated that: organization is a form of
every human association for the attainment of common purpose.”
 An organization is a consciously coordinated social unit, made up of a group of
people, who work together on common goals on a relatively continuous basis.
 Bernard sees organization as a system of co-operative activities of two or more persons.
This means organization is a system of consciously coordinated activities of two or more
people.
Hence organization can be defined comprehensively as “an intentionally differentiated and
integrated social entity with identifiable boundary which engages in some kind of regular
activities to achieve agreed goals or set of goals.”
The second term ‘Behavior’ is defined as certain conduct that belongs to some entity.
• Organizational behavior (often abbreviated as OB) is a field of study that investigateshow
individuals, groups, and structure affect and is affected by behavior within organizations.
• Behavior refers to what people do in the organization, how they perform, and what their
attitudes are.
Organizational behavior (OB) is defined as the systematic study and application of
knowledge about how individuals and groups act within the organizations where they
work.

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Basic elements of organization
From the above mentioned various definitions the following integral elements are evident to
understand an organization is all about:
 Organization is intentionally differentiated and integrated.
 Organization is established knowingly and consciously
 Organization is designed to bring specialists, people with different ability and role
 Organization is structured with proper mechanism for integration of differentiated
functions and roles for proper coordination
 Organization has predetermine interaction patterns that people follow in an
organization
 Organization is social entity
 Organization is composed of people or group (two or more) of people
 People who see that there are benefits available from working together form
organization or join an organization.
 Organization has boundary
 Organization boundary describes and differentiates members of the organization
from non-members.
 Organization as an open system has fuzzy but reasonably tight boundary.
 The boundary can change over time
 Regular activities
 Every organization members engage in continuous activities to achieve
organization objectives
 Members of an organization participate in some kind of activities cooperatively
 People uses knowledge (know-how) and interact to service the organization
directly and indirectly
 Members receive benefit by serving the organization through some kind of
activities.
 Goals/ set of goals
 All organization have certain mission, target aim

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  Organization goal describes the purpose as why the organization exists
 The organization goal serve as means to attract organization members and driving
force for the organizational participants
 The organization goal helps the organization to solicit assistance, support from
individuals, organizations and society that wish to serve
 The organization goal are achieved more efficiently through group effort

1.2. The three basic units of analysis in OB

There are three key levels of analysis in OB. They are examining the individual, the group, and
the organization. For example, if I want to understand my boss’s personality, I would be
examining the individual level of analysis. If we want to know about how my manager’s
personality affects my team, I am examining things at the team level. But, if I want to understand
how my organization’s culture affects my boss’s behavior, I would be interested in the
organizational level of analysis.

Organizational behaviour is field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups
and structure have on behaviour within organization.
1. Individual level
Organization consists of people. They involve if various job in the organization. Each person has
individual differences.
At individual level organizational behaviour involves the study of learning, perception,
creativity, motivation, personality, turnover, task performance, cooperative behaviour, unusual
behaviour, ethics, and cognition. At this level of analysis, organizational behaviour draws
heavily upon psychological theory of personality, perception learning, motivation and job
satisfaction.At the individual level, managers and employees need to learn how to work with
people who may be different from themselves in a variety of dimensions including;
– personality,
– perception,
– values, and
– Attitudes.
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2. Group level
Peoples work together to achieve their common goals. They work cooperatively and co-ordinate
their action. At the group level of analysis, organizational behaviour involve the study of group
dynamics, intra and inter group conflict and unity, leadership, power, norms, interpersonal
communication, networks, and roles.
At this level of analysis, organizational behaviour draws upon the sociology and social
psychology theory.People’s behavior when they are in a group differs from their behavior when
they are alone. Therefore, the next step in developing an understanding of OB is the study of
group behavior. The behavior of people in groups is more than the sum total of all the
individuals acting in their own way.

3. Organization level
Organization is social system. At the organization level of analysis, organizational behaviour
involves the study of topics such as organizational culture, organizational structure, cultural
diversity, inter-organizational cooperation and conflict, change, technology, and external
environmental forces. At this level of analysis, organizational behaviour draws upon
anthropology and political science.Just as groups are not the sum total of individuals, so
organizations are not the sum total of individuals and groups. There are many more interacting
factors that place constraints on individual and group behavior.OB becomes more complex when
we move to the organizational level of analysis.
– Productivity
– Global competition

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Figure 1.1: The major levels of Organizational behavior

1.3. Replacing intuition with systematic study

Systematic study, means looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects,
and basing our conclusions on scientific evidence— that is, on data gathered under controlled
conditions, and measured and interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner—rather than relying
on common sense.OB uses scientific research to uncover how behavior works in
organizations.Forinstance, are leaders born or made? What is it that motivates people at work
nowadays? You probably have answers to such questions, and individuals who have not
reviewed the research are likely to differ on their answers.
OB Has Few Absolutes
There are few, if any, simple and universal principles that explain OB. In contrast, the physical
sciences—chemistry, astronomy, and physics, for example—have laws that are consistent and
apply in a wide range of situations. Such laws allow scientists to generalize about the pull of
gravity or to confidently send astronauts into space to repair satellites.However, as one noted
behavioral researcher concluded, “God gave all the easy problems to the physicists.” Human
beings are complex.
OB Takes a Contingency Approach
Just because people can behave differently at different times does not mean, of course, that we
cannot offer reasonably accurate explanations of human behavior or make valid predictions. It

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does mean, however, that OB must consider behavior within the context in which it occurs—
known as a contingency approach.

1.5. Objectives of OB
There are some objectives of organizational behavior:
 To describe systematically how people behave under a variety of conditions
 To understand why people behave as they do
 To predict employee behavior
 To control and develop some human activity at work

1.6. Development of OB
Every social science is based on some philosophical concept that forms its core and provides a
basis for further development. Organizational behavior also, being social science, has certain
fundamental concepts revolving around the nature of man and the nature of organization. These
concepts are:

Concepts relating Perception

to nature of man Human behavior
Human dignity

Organizational

Behavior Ethics
Concepts relating to
nature of organization Mutual interest
Social systems

1.7 Contributing disciplines to OB

Organizational behaviour is an applied behavioural science. It is built upon contributions from a
number of behavioural disciplines. The leading areas are psychology, sociology, social
psychology, anthropology, and political science. These behavioural disciplines have great
contributions to the field of knowledge and understanding of OB.

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Psychology’s contributions have been mainly at the individual or micro level of analysis, while
the other disciplines have contributed to our understanding of macro concepts such as group
processes and organization.
a. Psychology
Psychology is the social science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the
behaviour of humans and other animals. Many theorist and psychologist have contributed to the
knowledge of organizational behaviour such as learning theorists, personality theorists,
counselling psychologists and most important industrial and organizational psychologist.
Psychology’s contributions have been mainly at the individual or micro level of analysis.
The contributions of psychologists in understanding OB includes learning, perception,
personality, emotions, training, leadership effectiveness, needs and motivational forces, job
satisfaction, decision-making processes, performance appraisals, attitude measurement,
employee-selection techniques, work design, and job stress.
Early industrial and organizational psychologists studied the problems of fatigue (tiredness),
boredom, and other factors relevant to working conditions that could impede (obstruct) efficient
work performance. Now this has been expanded.

b. Social psychology
Social psychology, generally, considered a branch of psychology, but it blends concepts from
psychology and sociology. It concentrates on the influence of people on one another.
Social psychology’s contributions have been mainly at the group level of analysis.
Social psychologists are making significant contributions in the areas of measuring,
understanding, and changing attitudes; communication patterns; building trust; the ways in which
group activities can satisfy individual needs; and group decision making processes.
c. Sociology
Psychology focuses on the individual, where, sociology studies people in relation to their social
environment or culture.

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The contributions of sociology in understanding OB include communication, power, conflict,
and inter-group Behaviour at individual level analysis and formal organization relation,
organizational technology, organizational change, organizational culture at group level analysis.
d. Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities. We also
define anthropology as "science of human beings especially of their environment and social
relations and their culture".
Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments has helped us understand differences in
fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviour between people in different places, countries and
within different organizations. Understanding of organizational culture, organizational
environments, and differences among national cultures is a result of the work of anthropologists.

e. Political science
Although frequently overlooked, the contributions of political scientists are significant to the
understanding of behaviour in organizations. Political science studies the behaviour of
individuals and groups within a political environment.
Specific topics of concern include structuring of conflict, allocation of power and how people
manipulate power for individual self-interest.
1.8. Management and OB in the 21st Century
Managing Change and Innovation
• Change: is defined as the process of alteration or transformation of individuals
or groups, and organizations undergo in response to internal or external
factors.
• Change management: is the process by which the organization’s vision, mission,
strategy, structure, authority relationships, workflow, system, culture and
employees change implemented in a controlled manner by following a
predetermined framework/ model, without or with, to some extent, reasonable
modification. Change management is a systematic approach to dealing with
change, both from the organization and individual perspective. Change

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 management has got three different aspects such as: adapting to change,
controlling change, and affecting change. A proactive approach to dealing
with change is at core of these three aspects. Change management deals with
organization development (OD), which is concerned with helping managers
plan change in organizing and managing people that will develop requisite
commitment, coordination, and competence.
Forces of Organizational Change
How do organizations know when they should change? What cures should an
organization look for? Although there are no clear-cut answers to these questions, the
“cues’ that signal the need for change are found by monitoring the forces for change.
Organizations encounter many forces for change. These forces come from external
sources outside the organization and from internal sources. In other words, changes
in organization are stimulated by a number of internal and external forces often
interacting to enforce one another. The external and internal forces for change are
presented below
• Demographic characteristics (external), -include age, education, skill level,
gender, immigration
• Technological Advancement (external),- mergers and acquisitions, domestic and
international competition , recession
• Social and politician pressures, War, Values, Leadership
• Human resource problems/prospects (internal)--unmet needs, job
dissatisfaction, absenteeism and turnover, productivity, participation/
suggestions.
• Managerial Behavior/ decisions(internal),conflict, leaderships, reward-systems,
structural reorganization
Managing Diversity
Diversity has been an evolving concept. The term is both specific, focused on an
individual, and contextual, defined through societal constructs. Many current writers
define diversity as any significant difference that distinguishes one individual from
another—a description that encompasses a broad range of overt and hidden qualities.
Generally, researchers organize diversity characteristics into four areas:
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 • personality (e.g., traits, skills and abilities),
• internal (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, I.Q. sexual orientation),
• external (e.g., culture, nationality, religion, marital or parental status),
• and organizational (e.g., position, department, union/non-union)
What Do We Mean By “Managing Diversity”?(By Caleb Rosado)
Managers and leaders must expand their perspective on diversity to include a variety
of dimensions. Workplace diversity management, in his model, is also inclusive,
defined as a “comprehensive managerial process for developing an environment that
works for all employees.”This general definition also enables all staff to feel
included rather than excluded, permitting them “to connect and fortify relationships
that enable employees to deal with more potentially volatile issues that may later
arise”
1.9. Organization as a system
System
• A system is a set of interrelated parts that function as a whole to achieve a
common purpose.
• System functions by acquiring inputs from the external environment,
transforming them in some way, and discharging outputs back to the
environment.

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Figure 1.2: Diagram of organization as a system

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