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organizational behaviour jntuh r18

organizational behaviour (Vignan’S Institute of Management and Technology for

Women)

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Department of MBA 1

JNTU Hyderabad
Organizational Behaviour
IV Year B.Tech. CSE II-Sem R18

SYLLABUS

UNIT – I

Introduction to OB: Definition, Nature and Scope – Environmental and

organizational context – Impact of IT, globalization, Diversity, Ethics, culture,
reward systems and organizational design on Organizational Behaviour.

Cognitive Processes-I: Perception and Attribution: Nature and importance

of Perception – Perceptual selectivity and organization – Social perception –
Attribution Theories – Locus of control – Attribution Errors – Impression
Management.

UNIT – II

Cognitive Processes-II: Personality and Attitudes: Personality as a

continuum – Meaning of personality - Johari Window and Transactional
Analysis - Nature and Dimension of Attitudes – Job satisfaction and
organizational commitment-Motivational needs and processes – Work-
Motivation Approaches Theories of Motivation- Motivation across cultures -
Positive organizational behaviour: Optimism – Emotional intelligence – Self-
Efficacy.

UNIT – III

Dynamics of OB-I: Communication – types – interactive communication in

organizations – barriers to communication and strategies to improve the
follow of communication - Decision Making: Participative decision-making
techniques – creativity and group decision making.

Dynamics of OB-II: Stress and Conflict: Meaning and types of stress –

Meaning and types of conflict - Effect of stress and intraindividual conflict -
strategies to cope with stress and conflict.

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UNIT – IV

Dynamics of OB-III: Power and Politics: Meaning and types of power –

empowerment - Groups Vs. Teams – Nature of groups – dynamics of informal
groups – dysfunctions of groups and teams – teams in modern work place.

UNIT – V

Leading High performance: Job design and Goal setting for High
performance-Quality of Work Life-Socio technical Design and High-
performance work practices - Behavioural performance management:
reinforcement and punishment as principles of Learning – Process of
Behavioural modification - Leadership theories - Styles, Activities and skills
of Great leaders.

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UNIT – I

INTRODUCTION TO OB

DEFINITION

Organizational behaviour can be defined as the understanding, prediction,

and management of human behaviour in organizations.

NATURE AND SCOPE

A study of Organizational Behaviour (OB) is beneficial in several ways:

1) OB provides a road map to our lives in organizations. Every one of us

has an inherent need to know about the world in which we live. This is
particularly true in organizations, as they have a profound effect on our
actions and behaviours.
2) The field of OB uses scientific research to help us understand and
predict organizational life. This is not to say that this knowledge is
absolute. The decisions and actions that people in organizations make
are determined by a complex combination of factors. Besides, the field
of OB is not a pure science.
3) OB helps us influence organizational events. Though it is good to
understand and predict organizational events, most of us want to
influence the environment in which we live.
4) OB helps an individual understand himself/herself and others better.
This helps improve interpersonal relations considerably. Of particular
significance are topics like attitude, perception, leadership,
communication, and conflict, an understanding of which will change
the very style of talking and functioning of an individual.
5) The field of OB is useful for maintaining cordial industrial relations. If
an employee is slow in his or her work, or if his or her productivity is
steadily declining, it is not always because of denial of promotion or a
poor work environment. The relations between management and
employees are often strained for reasons which are personnel issues,
not technical.

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6) Finally, in the last couple of years, the Indian economy has been
witnessing an upward trend; every sector in the economy doing pretty
well, registering an overall growth rate of seven per cent per annum. In
order to sustain this trend, effective management of all sectors of the
economy, particularly the industrial sector, is of paramount
importance. This is where OB comes into the picture. It is a discipline
which enables a manager to motivate his or her subordinates towards
higher productivity and better results.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT (GLOBALIZATION, DIVERSITY & ETHICS)

GLOBALIZATION

 The major environmental context impacting organizational behaviour is

Globalization. The advances made in information technology and in air
travel have truly made the world a smaller place.
 This has led to a borderless “flat” world and we have now entered the
third phase of globalization. The first was characterized by countries
globalizing. The second was companies globalizing. And the third, since
the turn of the new century, mainly fuelled by information technology
available to everyone in the world, groups and individuals.
 The implications of this globalization for organizational behaviour are
profound and direct.
 Financial resources are not the problem. We have the money, products,
and position to be a dominant global player. What we lack are the
human resources. We just don’t have enough people with needed global
leadership capabilities.
 Although there is a trend toward similar clothes, entertainment, and
material possessions, and even general recognition that English is the
international business language, there are still important differences in
the ways in which people think and behave around the world.
 In other words, cultures around the world impact the organizational
behaviour of managers and employees quite differently. A recent study
found that cultural differences (by country, race/ethnicity, and religion)

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affected the attitudes and behaviours of managers toward profit and

other related business concerns.
 The global context is now an accepted reality, but its impact on the
study and application of organizational behaviour will increase into the
future. The problem is that the increasingly frequent intercultural
encounters cannot be solved by just simple guidelines.

Reasons for the Complexity of Cross-Cultural Management:

1) People are influenced by multiple cultures—national, regional,

organizational, functional, and professional.
2) Even though people are from the same country, they still have different
beliefs, values, and behaviours.
3) Counterparts from other cultures are becoming savvy in how to deal
with foreigners and thus may not be typical of their own culture.
4) Because of the complexity of culture, simplistic categorizations may
initially be helpful, but turn out to be poor predictors of behaviour.

DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE

 Similar to globalization, diversity and social issues have had a dramatic

effect on the study and application of management and organizational
behaviour.
 In the past, diversity was treated primarily as a legal issue. Now
organizations are beginning to realize that diversity is not just
something to deal with, but instead a reality to build on to make a
stronger, more competitive enterprise.
 Diversity must be recognized and nurtured as the organization’s
greatest asset, and the ability to attract and work with diverse talent
must be seen as a critical competitive advantage.
 In other words, the contemporary environmental context of diversity is
no longer simply a “tack on” or afterthought in the study of
organizational behaviour; it plays a central role in today’s
environmental context.

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 Although surveys indicate that a vast majority of organizations believe

that workplace diversity is important and virtually all value diversity
management skills and strategies to achieve diversity initiatives, they
still are not sure of the meaning or domain of diversity.
 The trend, however, is clear: “Diversity means much more than
ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. New and evolving diverse
populations include a full range of ages, as well as career and
geographic experiences.”
 Organizational diversity initiatives should not simply focus on getting
people of color and women in the door, but embracing an inclusive
culture to maintain these employees.

Effective Diversity Management:

1) Creating a work environment or culture that allows everyone to

contribute all that they can to the organization.
2) Leveraging differences and similarities in the workforce for the strategic
advantage of the organization.
3) Enhancing the ability of people from different backgrounds to work
effectively together.

ETHICS & ETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN ORGANISATIONS

 Ethics involves moral issues and choices and deals with right and
wrong behaviour.
 Not only individuals and groups but also a number of relevant factors
from the cultural, organizational, and external environment determine
ethical behaviour.
 Cultural influences on ethical behaviour come from family, friends,
neighbours, education, religion, and the media.
 Organizational influences come from ethical codes, role models, policies
and practices, and reward and punishment systems.
 The external forces having an impact on ethical behaviour include
political, legal, economic, and international developments.

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 These influences, acting interdependently, serve to help identify and

shape ethical behaviour in today’s organizations. There is increasing
evidence of the positive impact that ethical behaviour and corporate
social responsibility programs have on “bottom-line” performance.
 There is peer pressure on many people to be less ethical. Additionally,
what one person or group finds unethical may be viewed differently by
another individual or group.

IMPACT OF IT

From an organizational behaviour perspective, technology is an important

topic for four reasons:

1) No escape: Technology affects most aspects of our personal, domestic,

social and working lives. Computing and information technologies (‘IT’)
in particular affect: how you communicate and share information, how
you buy goods and services, how you travel and find places, how and
what you study, how you discover and apply for job vacancies, how you
are assessed when you apply for a job, and how you spend your leisure
time. IT developments also affect how private – or public – you can be.
2) The consumerization of IT: In the past, our interest focused on
organizational uses of technology. However, the ways in which IT has
developed mean that personal, domestic and corporate uses now
overlap. Many of us prefer to use our own tablets, laptops,
smartphones and apps when and where we choose, rather than to be
restricted to clumsy corporate systems. Interpersonal contacts that
used to rely on corporate email are being replaced by personal
messaging systems such as WhatsApp, Slack, Snapchat, Skype and
Facebook, although staff in many organizations are banned from using
these at work. Corporate IT is being ‘consumerized’: personal and
organizational uses of technology are no longer separate topics.
3) Organizational implications: Technology influences business
models, corporate strategy, competitive advantage, organization
structures and processes, the design of jobs, skill and knowledge

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requirements, personal work–life balance, communication systems

and organization culture. In other words, technology is an
organizational behaviour issue with many implications. The scale and
pace of innovation mean that technology is also a main driver of
organizational change.
4) A second industrial revolution: Developments in IT are creating
smarter machines, in turn creating another industrial revolution – the
second machine age. As with the first machine age, this will bring
dramatic changes, reshaping our economy, society, culture,
organizations and the nature of work. It will also affect you, personally,
by influencing the kinds of work that will be available, and the skill
and knowledge requirements of those jobs. We explore the nature and
organizational implications of the second machine age shortly.

REWARD SYSTEMS

 Reward systems as an important part of the organizational context for

organizational behaviour. For most organizations, pay dominates the
organizational reward system.
 There is considerable evidence that pay is vital not only for hiring and
retaining talented employees, but also if properly administered for its
positive impact on desirable outcomes such as productivity, quality,
and customer service.
 The challenge for managers is to administer rewards properly. In
particular, this means setting up pay systems that allow employees to
know the outcomes that are to be rewarded, that measure these
outcomes as fairly and objectively as possible, and that tie monetary
incentives directly to the results.
 Pay administration takes several forms. Traditional methods include
base salary and merit pay. Both of these, however, are often insufficient
for retaining talented people. Organizations have to offer incentives for
desirable outcomes.

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 In recent years many organizations have realized that they must

develop new pay approaches. One example is the use of commissions
that go beyond sales to outcomes such as customer service.
 Others include skill pay that is based on employees’ demonstrating
completion of training and competency in particular job-related skills,
competency pay that is based on rewarding people for abstract
knowledge or competencies related to things such as technology or
leadership, and broad banding in which salary levels are collapsed into
a small number of salary grades with broad pay ranges.
 Another important but often overlooked component of organizational
reward systems is recognition. In contrast to money, recognition is
easier to control for an individual supervisor or manager and can be
easily altered to meet the individual employee needs.
 Social recognition is provided by managers/supervisors contingent on
performing desirable behaviours. As part of the organizational reward
system, formal recognition systems can innovatively provide awards for
desirable outcomes.

COGNITIVE PROCESSES – I

PERCEPTION AND ATTRIBUTION

NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION

1) Perception plays in determining our actions, because it is through

perception that we interpret our environments, our ‘reality’.
2) Naturally, this shapes our behaviour. However, this interpretation of
reality can be different across individuals and groups, because the
reality appears to be a field of experiences, which is beyond the
classification of ‘rational’ or ‘irrational’ – it is psychologically real for the
person experiencing it.
3) When unsorted, the ‘reality’ might appear to be totally chaotic. So, for
making meaning out of it, we devise our own ‘Worldview’ – a set of basic
assumptions about what the world is really like and what is valid and
important knowledge about the world.

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4) Worldview is influenced by cultures. It constitutes guidelines about

drawing boundaries between the inevitable dualities of the world:
realising what is possible and what is not, realising what is ‘I’ and what
is ‘non-I’ and ‘others’ as well as groups, finding explanations for
differences between individuals and groups, and finding an order of
importance along which things can be arranged.
5) Our worldview, whether it is common-sense theories, frameworks,
misconceptions or even valid science, provides the basis on which our
conceptions of reality and specific views are grounded.
6) This suggests that our logic, that is so often rooted in our cause-and-
effect view of things, is just one possible explanation of questions like,
‘Why things happen the way they do?’ or, ‘Why do people behave the
way they do?
7) Once created, this worldview can be so powerful that any concept or
‘fact’ that does not ‘fit in’ is walled off.
8) This framework can influence our actions crucially, especially when the
expected state of things is different from the current state.
9) When this happens, people need to ‘make sense’ out of the disruption
by finding plausible reasons towards which action can be taken.
However, finding the ‘right’ reason is a matter of interpretation rather
than choice.

PERCEPTUAL SELECTIVITY [OR] SELECTIVE PERCEPTION

 People selectively interpret what they see based on their attitude,

interest, background and experience.
 An individual might have been appointed on a key position on the day
of the visit of CEO and the appointment may be incidental but we may
perceive appointments as a consequence of CEO’s visit.
 In an organization so many things keep happening but different people
will perceive one fact differently based on individuals’ selectivity in
perceiving which is generally based on his past experience and attitude
towards work.

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 It is important that when we read others, we make a mistake reading

with speed and putting seal of what has been selectively seen by a
perceiver.
 For correct perception an individual must be observed, studied, tried
and later perceived without an individual bias.

SOCIAL PERCEPTION

 Although the senses and subprocess provide understanding of the

overall perceptual process, most relevant to the study of organizational
behaviour is social perception, which is directly concerned with how
one individual perceives other individuals: how we get to know others.
 Organizational participants must realize that their perceptions of
another person are greatly influenced by their own characteristics and
the characteristics of the other person.
 For example, if a manager has high self-esteem and the other person is
pleasant and comes from the home office, then the manager will likely
perceive this other person in a positive, favourable manner.
 On the other hand, if the manager has low self-esteem and the other
person is an arrogant salesperson, the manager will likely perceive this
other person in a negative, unfavourable manner.
 There are numerous complex factors that enter into such social
perception, but most important are the problems associated with
stereotyping and the halo effect.

Stereotyping:

 The term stereotype refers to the tendency to perceive another person

(hence social perception) as belonging to a single class or category.
 Stereotyping may attribute favourable or unfavourable traits to the
person being perceived.
 Most often a person is put into a stereotype because the perceiver
knows only the overall category to which the person belongs.

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 However, because each individual is unique, the real traits of the person
will generally be quite different from those the stereotype would suggest.
 Stereotyping greatly influences social perception in today’s
organizations. Common stereotyped groups include managers,
supervisors, knowledge workers, union members, young people, old
people, minorities, women, white- and blue-collar workers, and all the
various functional and staff specialists, for example, accountants,
salespeople, computer programmers, and engineers.

The Halo Effect:

 The halo effect in social perception is very similar to stereotyping.

Whereas in stereotyping the person is perceived according to a single
category, under the halo effect the person is perceived on the basis of
one trait.
 Halo is often discussed in performance appraisal when a rater makes
an error in judging a person’s total personality and/or performance on
the basis of a single positive trait such as intelligence, appearance,
dependability, or cooperativeness.
 Whatever the single trait is, it may override all other traits in forming
the perception of the person.
 For example, a person’s physical appearance or dress may override all
other characteristics in making a selection decision or in appraising the
person’s performance.

ATTRIBUTION THEORIES

 Attribution involves forming beliefs about the causes of behaviour or

events. Generally, we perceive whether an observed behaviour or event
is caused mainly by characteristics of the person (internal factors) or by
the environment (external factors).

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 Internal factors include the person’s ability or motivation, whereas

external factors include resources, co-worker support, or luck. If
someone doesn’t show up for an important meeting, for instance, we
infer either internal attributions (the co-worker is forgetful, lacks
motivation, etc.) or external attributions (traffic, a family emergency,
etc.) to make sense of the person’s absence.
 People rely on the three attribution rules—consistency, distinctiveness,
and consensus—to decide whether someone’s behaviour and
performance are mainly caused by their personal characteristics or
environmental influences.

1) Consistency:

 Consistency is established by observing whether the same person

behaves in the same fashion over time.
 Consistency would be high if the same individual exhibits this
behaviour frequently within this situation.
 If the behaviour is unusual for this person in the given situation, then
consistency would be low.

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 In the case of an employee coming late to work, if the employee is late

only on that day, and does not come late generally on other days, then
the consistency would be low.

2) Distinctiveness:

 Distinctiveness is established by observing whether the same (target)

person behaves differently in different situations.
 If the late coming employee is late for other activities as well, such as
report submission, then the distinctiveness will be low.

3) Consensus:

 Consensus is established by observing whether people other than the

target person behaved in the same manner in the same situation.
 If the behaviour is unique, or rare for other people, then consensus
would be low. For example, if an employee is late for work, and is the
only employee late, then consensus is low.

LOCUS OF CONTROL

 Locus of control is defined as a person’s general beliefs about the

amount of control he or she has over personal life events.
 It is the concept, which determines whether an individual’s control
events or the events control the individuals and that they become only
the pawns of situation.
 The individual’s general locus of control would be most apparent in new
situations, where their ability to control events is uncertain.
 People have both internal locus of control and external locus of control,
only the degree varies.

1) Internal Locus of Control:

 Persons having internal locus of control believe that they can

manipulate events to their advantage and therefore they are capable of
deciding their fate.

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 For example, a manager having dominant internal locus of control

would be able to effectively control resources, decide events, which
benefits him.
 He manipulates communications, resources, events, programmes in
such a way that enhances his position and he creates an aura around
him that he is an indispensable person.
 Individual feels that he is decider of his own future and that no external
events (power) can interfere with it.

2) External Locus of Control:

 Person having dominant external locus of control believe that what

happen to them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or chance.
 These types of people lack initiative, decision-making and do not even
take calculated risk. They wait and see events take place and things
happen.

ATTRIBUTION ERRORS

1) Fundamental attribution error:

 The attribution process can be distorted through the observer’s biases.

A fundamental attributional error is defined as ‘taking’ credit for
success while blaming either others or the environment for failures.
 This arises from the rater’s tendency to judge others stringently and
himself leniently.
 This error might occur due to flawed information processing, caused by
people’s preference of explanations for events that support their general
belief that they are capable of success.

2) Optimistic Bias:

When successful, observers

i. view themselves as relatively more successful than others (low

consensus—internal).

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ii. believe that the causes of their success will remain highly consistent
and stable.
iii. believe that success will be not limited to a specific area.

This is called an optimistic bias. Conversely, when observers meet with

failure, they retain this optimistic attributional bias. This time, they blame
their failure on external, unstable, and specific circumstances.

3) Self-serving Bias:

 This bias is described as the tendency of actors to attribute their actions

to situational factors in case of failure, but make internal attributions
for success. But when others succeed, the observers make external
attributions. For other’s failures, internal attribution is made.
 People readily accept credit when told they have succeeded (attributing
the success to their ability and effort), yet often attribute failure to such
external, situational factors as bad luck or the problem’s inherent
“impossibility.

When something goes wrong in the workplace, there is a tendency for the
manager to blame the problem on the inability or poor attitude of associates,
but the situation is blamed as far as he or she personally is concerned. The
reverse is true of associates. They blame the situation for their difficulties but
make a personal attribution in terms of their manager. By the same token, if
something goes well, the manager makes personal attributions for him- or
herself and situational attributions for associates, and the associates make
personal attributions for themselves but situational attributions for the
manager. In other words, it is typical to have conflicting attributional biases
among managers and associates in organizations

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

 Silent authority, assertiveness, information control, coalitions, and

upward appeals are somewhat forceful ways to influence other people.
 In contrast, a very soft influence tactic is impression management
actively shaping the perceptions and attitudes that others have of us.

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 The impression that prospective employers form may be based on

subtle behaviours, such as how we dress and speak, or more elaborate
acts, such as announcing our accomplishment. It may be the result of
calculated efforts to get others to think of us in a certain way or be the
passive, unintended effects of our actions.
 Impression management mostly occurs through self-presentation. We
craft our public images to communicate an identity, such as being
important, vulnerable, threatening, or pleasant.
 For the most part, employees routinely engage in pleasant impression
management behaviours to satisfy the basic norms of social behaviour,
such as the way they dress and how they behave toward co-workers
and customers.
 Impression management is a common strategy for people trying to get
ahead in the workplace. In fact, career professionals encourage people
to develop a personal “brand”; that is, to form and display an accurate
impression of their own distinctive, competitive advantage.
 Furthermore, people who master the art of personal branding rely on
impression management through distinctive personal characteristics
such as black shirts, tinted hair, or unique signatures.
 One subcategory of impression management is ingratiation, which is
any attempt to increase liking by, or perceived similarity to, some
targeted person.
 Ingratiation comes in several flavours. Employees might flatter their
boss in front of others, demonstrate that they have similar attitudes as
their boss, or ask their boss for advice.
 Ingratiation is one of the more effective influence tactics at boosting a
person’s career success.

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UNIT – II

COGNITIVE PROCESSES – II

PERSONALITY AND ATTITUDES

PERSONALITY AS A CONTINUUM

Five-Factor Model of Personality:

This model follows the Traits approach to personality and experts agree that
it is valid and it effectively captures the salient aspects of personality that are
stable. The five-factor structure is designed to take care of cultural differences
in socialisation and allows self, peer, observer and stranger ratings to
measure personality.

1) Conscientiousness: Characterizes people who are organized,

dependable, goal-focused, thorough, disciplined, methodical, and
industrious. People with low conscientiousness tend to be careless,
disorganized, and less thorough.
2) Agreeableness: Describes people who are trusting, helpful, good-
natured, considerate, tolerant, selfless, generous, and flexible. People
with low agreeableness tend to be uncooperative and intolerant of
others’ needs as well as more suspicious and self-focused.
3) Neuroticism: Refers to people who tend to be anxious, insecure, self-
conscious, depressed, and temperamental. In contrast, people with low
neuroticism (high emotional stability) are poised, secure, and calm.
4) Openness to experience: Characterizes people who are imaginative,
creative, unconventional, curious, nonconforming, autonomous, and
aesthetically perceptive. Those with low scores on this dimension tend
to be more resistant to change, less open to new ideas, and more
conventional and fixed in their ways.
5) Extraversion: Describes people who are outgoing, talkative, energetic,
sociable, and assertive. The opposite is introversion, which applies to
those who are quiet, cautious, and less interactive with others.
Extraverts get their energy from people and things around them,

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whereas introverts get their energy more from personal reflection on

concepts and ideas. Introverts do not necessarily lack social skills.
Instead, they are more inclined to direct their interests to ideas than to
social events. Introverts feel more comfortable being alone than do
extraverts.

MEANING OF PERSONALITY

 Personality mean how people affect others and how they understand
and view themselves, as well as their pattern of inner and outer
measurable traits and the person-situation interaction.
 How people affect others depends primarily on their external
appearance (height, weight, facial features, color, and other physical
aspects) and traits.

JOHARI WINDOW

 Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham have developed a model to look at

one’s personality that can be known and unknown to self and known
and unknown to others.
 The concept known as Johari Window is shown in Figure below. It is a
technique to analyse and improve interpersonal - Transaction.

1) Open Self: Open Self is known as Public area. This quadrant indicates
information about self is known to oneself and also to others. The
information relates to feelings, motivation and behaviour of an

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individual, which he is willing to share with those whom he comes in

contact. The individual behaves in a straight forward manner and is
sharing.
2) Blind Self: This quadrant is related to information is not known to self
but known to others, who interact with you, know more about you. This
is known as blind area. It is important that an individual should reduce
blind area to the minimum by interacting with people more intimately
and by asking questions about self. This situation is likely to create an
unpleasant atmosphere in the organization.
3) Hidden Self: Self knows information but others do not know it. There
are certain aspects, which are private. Individual therefore does not
want to share it with subordinates and wants to keep hidden. The area
is also called Private Area.
4) Unknown Self: This area is characterized by facts unknown to the self
and to others. This is dark area, which is not pregnable. There is
nothing much that can be done about it. It should be an endeavour to
improve upon oneself by obtaining feedback from others about self.

TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS (TA)

 Transactional Analysis (TA) is analysis of Transactions that go on

between human beings who are interacting with each other that
explains why people differ from each other and behave the way they do
with each other.
 A transaction can be understood as a set of a stimulus and a response
when people engage themselves in communication or social exchange.
Thus, a transaction can be a ‘unit of measuring behaviour.
 There are three ego states as components of our personality: Parent,
Adult and Child. These ego states do not refer to people or roles, but to
‘a consistent pattern of feeling and experience directly related to a
consistent pattern of behaviour’.
 An Ego state is defined as ‘a coherent system of feelings which motivates
a related set of behaviour patterns’.

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 Parent ego state (P) is authoritarian, the adult ego state (A) is rational
and logical in approach and lastly the child ego state (C) is impulsive.

Complementary, Crossed and Covert Transactions

 A Transaction is complementary if the response to the transaction

stimulus is from the expected ego state. As long as two people relate to
each other through complementary transactions, their interaction can
go on. This transaction is socially appropriate, expected and follows the
natural order of the healthy human beings.
 A crossed transaction occurs when an unexpected or inappropriate
response is made to the transaction stimulus. The responding person
in the transaction addresses a non-complimentary ego state. One of the
important rules in Transactional Analysis is that at the root of every
disrupted communication, there is a crossed transaction.
 A Covert or ulterior transaction occurs at two levels and involves more
than two ego states. It is thus different from complementary or crossed
transactions. While the verbal message, which is socially appropriate
and acceptable, is addressed to one ego state of a person, the message
has another hidden or implied content that is aimed at another ego
state of that person.

NATURE AND DIMENSION OF ATTITUDES

Attitude:

 Attitude is a mental and neutral state of readiness organized through

experience, exerting a directive or dynamic influence upon individual’s
response to all objects and situations with which it is related.

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 In effect attitude is used in a generic sense, as to what people perceive,

feel and express their views about a situation, object or other people.
Attitude cannot be seen, but the behaviour can be seen as an
expression of attitude.

Components of Attitude:

1) Cognitive component: Cognitive component of attitude is related to

value statement. It consists of belief, ideas, values and other
information that an individual may possess or has faith in. Quality of
working hard is a value statement or faith that a manager may have.
2) Affective component: Affective component of attitude is related to
person’s feelings about another person, which may be positive, negative
or neutral. I do not like Maya because she is not hard working, or I like
Mina because she is hard working. It is an expression of feelings about
a person, object or a situation.
3) Behavioural component: Behavioural component of attitude is related
to impact of various situations or objects that lead to individual’s
behaviour based on cognitive and affective components. I do not like
Maya because she is not hard working is an affective component, I
therefore would like to disassociate myself with her, is a behavioural
component and therefore I would avoid Maya. Development of
favourable attitude, and good relationship with Mina is but natural.

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JOB SATISFACTION

 Job satisfaction is related to general attitude towards the job. A person

having a high level of satisfaction will generally hold a positive attitude
while dissatisfied people will generally display negative attitude towards
life.
 When we talk about attitude, we generally speak about job satisfaction
because they are inter-related in organizational behaviour.

Factors Determining Job Satisfaction:

1) Work Content: Content of the work itself is a major source of

satisfaction. The work must be challenging. It should lend itself
opportunities to use employee skills, ability and experience. The
content of the work should be encouraging and interesting and have
variety inbuilt in it so that it is not boring.
2) Pay and promotion policy: Salary and wages play decisive part in the
study of job satisfaction. Equitable rewards are multidimensional in
nature. The benefits are of varied nature namely pay, perks and rewards
are associated with motivation of employees.
3) Supportive working condition: Working conditions have a modest but
lasting effect on job satisfaction. Due to fast development of technology,
it is necessary that the organizations are operating on upgraded
technology, latest systems and procedures.
4) Work group: The concept of work group and work teams is more
prevalent to day. Work group of multi skilled persons with one goal will
be able to function effectively if they are friendly and co-operative. The
work group serves as a source of support, comfort, advice and
assistance to individual worker.
5) Supervision: Supervision is one of the moderate factors, which affect
job satisfaction. Qualified supervisors should be available for advice,
guidance and problem solving. Supervisors should be placed close to
the place of work and should be available.

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6) Personality job fit: Individuals should be assigned the job, that suit
their interest.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT

 Organizational commitment refers to degree to which an employee

identifies himself with the organizational goals and wishes to maintain
membership in the organization.
 He wants to “belong” to the organization and take an active part in the
its functioning. Absenting or resigning from the job versus job
satisfaction is a predictor of organizational commitment.
 Organizational commitment depends upon job enrichment factor and
degree to which the workers enjoy autonomy and freedom of action
while performing.

It is not known whether attitudes such as Satisfaction and Commitment

always cause better employee performance, but they have been found to be
more strongly related to withdrawal behaviours. Further, the evidence is not
clear about whether employees satisfied with their jobs are committed to their
organisations or employees committed to their organisations tend to be more
satisfied with their jobs. Yet, employees highly satisfied with their jobs are
more likely to stay with the organisation and are less absent. Organisational
commitment has been found to be a more direct measure of turnover
intentions than satisfaction as it reflects the extent to which an employee
shares the organisational values and goals, his/her wanting to continue
membership of the organisation and his/her willingness to work hard for it.

MOTIVATIONAL NEEDS AND PROCESSES

Motivation is defined as “inner burning passion caused by need, wants and

desire which propels an individual to exert his physical and mental energy to
achieve desired objectives”.

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Figure above graphically depicts the motivation process. Needs set up drives
aimed at goals or incentives; this is what the basic process of motivation is all
about. In a systems sense, motivation consists of these three interacting and
interdependent elements:

1) Needs: Needs are created whenever there is a physiological or

psychological imbalance. For example, a need exists when cells in the
body are deprived of food and water or when the personality is deprived
of other people who serve as friends or companions. Although
psychological needs may be based on a deficiency, sometimes they are
not. For example, an individual with a strong need to get ahead may
have a history of consistent success.
2) Drives: With a few exceptions, drives, or motives (the two terms are
often used interchangeably), are set up to alleviate needs. A
physiological drive can be simply defined as a deficiency with direction.
Physiological and psychological drives are action oriented and provide
an energizing thrust toward reaching an incentive. They are at the very
heart of the motivational process. The examples of the needs for food
and water are translated into the hunger and thirst drives, and the need
for friends becomes a drive for affiliation.
3) Incentives: At the end of the motivation cycle is the incentive, defined
as anything that will alleviate a need and reduce a drive. Thus, attaining
an incentive will tend to restore physiological or psychological balance
and will reduce or cut off the drive. Eating food, drinking water, and
obtaining friends will tend to restore the balance and reduce the
corresponding drives. Food, water, and friends are the incentives in
these examples.

WORK-MOTIVATION APPROACHES THEORIES OF MOTIVATION

1) Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory:

 Maslow suggested that every individual has complex set of needs at any
particular moment and his behaviour is determined by the existence of
strongest need.

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 He stated that human beings have five types of needs and physiological
need is the strongest hence the individual behaves in a particular
manner to satisfy that need.
 Needs are hierarchal in nature and only one need dominates at any one
point of time.
 Once the strongest need is satisfied then the second need emerges as
being the strongest need and human behaviour is regulated in process
of achieving satisfaction in series of need requirements.
 Maslow further started that there is only one need satisfying process is
underway at any one time.

a) Physiological needs: The most basic level in the hierarchy, the

physiological needs, generally corresponds to the unlearned primary needs.
The needs of hunger, thirst, sleep, and sex are some examples. According to
the theory, once these basic needs are satisfied, they no longer motivate. For
example, a starving person will strive to obtain a carrot that is within reach.
However, after eating his or her fill of carrots, the person will not strive to
obtain another one and will be motivated only by the next higher level of
needs.

b) Safety needs: This second level of needs is roughly equivalent to the

security need. Maslow stressed emotional as well as physical safety. The
whole organism may become a safety-seeking mechanism. Yet, as is true of
the physiological needs, once these safety needs are satisfied, they no longer
motivate.

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c) Love needs: This third, or intermediate, level of needs loosely corresponds

to the affection and affiliation needs. Like Freud, Maslow seems guilty of poor
choice of wording to identify his levels. His use of the word love has many
misleading connotations, such as sex, which is actually a physiological need.
Perhaps a more appropriate word describing this level would be belongingness
or social needs.

d) Esteem needs: The esteem level represents the higher needs of humans.
The needs for power, achievement, and status can be considered part of this
level. Maslow carefully pointed out that the esteem level contains both self-
esteem and esteem from others.

e) Needs for self-actualization: Maslow’s major contribution, he portrays

this level as the culmination of all the lower, intermediate, and higher needs
of humans. People who have become self-actualized are self-fulfilled and have
realized all their potential. Self-actualization is closely related to the self-
concepts. In effect, self-actualization is the person’s motivation to transform
perception of self into reality.

2) Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory:

Herzberg carried out research in nine different organizations where 200

respondents comprising accountants and engineers were subjects. The
purpose of the study was to identify various factors for goal achievement and
also the factors that could be included so that motivation levels do not fall.
Findings of the study: Herzberg concluded, “There are two types of needs,
independent of each other.”

a) Motivational Factors:

 There is a set of job conditions, which operates primarily to build strong

motivation and job satisfaction. These factors are called motivational
factors.
 They are intrinsic in nature and help increase one’s output.
 These factors have positive effect on morale, productivity, and job
satisfaction and overall efficiency of the organization.

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 These factors are as under:

i. Achievement.
ii. Advancement.
iii. Possibility of Growth.
iv. Recognition.
v. Work Itself.
vi. Responsibility.

b) Maintenance Factors:

 There are some job conditions which operate primarily to dissatisfy

employees when these conditions are absent. These factors are also
called hygiene factors.
 When these factors are present they do not motivate in a strong way,
when absent they dis-satisfy, that is why these factors are called
dissatisfiers.
 These factors are:
i. Company Policy and administration.
ii. Technical supervision.
iii. Interpersonal relationship with superiors.
iv. Interpersonal relationship with peers.
v. Interpersonal relationship with subordinates.
vi. Salary.
vii. Job security.
viii. Personal Life.
ix. Working condition.
x. Status.

These factors are necessary to maintain a reasonable degree of satisfaction of

employees. As stated earlier they are demotivators if they are not present. For
example, minimum level of working conditions must be maintained by the
organization to ensure that minimum level of satisfaction exists. If working
conditions are poor, the employees will be dissatisfied and it would have
adverse effect on goal achievement.

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3) McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y:

Douglas McGregor introduced Theory X and theory Y which are diagonally

opposite to each other. McGregor is aware that human beings are rational in
their thought process and they are social by nature. They display very high
degree of behaviour relating to achieving self-actualization. There is
interaction of variety of need fulfilment phenomenon and complex nature
displayed by an individual in different situations.

4) ERG Theory of Motivation:

Clayton Alderfer of Yale University carried out further studies on Maslow’s

theory of need hierarchy. He identified three basic needs of human being
against five needs of maslow. These are as under:

i. E-Existence need: There are related to provision of basic material

requirement of human being and are related to Maslow’s Physiological
and safety needs.
ii. R-Relatedness: This need is related to desire of an individual to
maintain sound interpersonal relationship. It is related to Maslow’s,
Social need and External component of Esteem need i.e., status,
recognition and attention.

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iii. G-Growth: Growth is an intrinsic desire for personal development. It is

related to intrinsic component of Esteem Need like advancement, self-
respect, autonomy, achievement and self-actualization need.

POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Optimism:

 It refers to the causal attributions people make when confronted with

failure or setbacks.
 Optimists tend to make specific, temporary, external causal
attributions while pessimist make global, permanent, internal
attributions.
 The ability to manage feelings and handle stress is another aspect of
emotional intelligence that has been found to be important for success.
 Optimism is both motivated and motivating; has the desirable
characteristics of perseverance, achievement, and health; makes
external, unstable, and specific attributions of personal bad events; and
is linked with positive outcomes such as occupational success.
 Obviously by extrapolating this profile, optimism could be a very
positive force in the workplace. For example, optimists may be
motivated to work harder; be more satisfied and have high morale; have
high levels of aspiration and set stretch goals; persevere in the face of
obstacles and difficulties; make attributions of personal failures and
setbacks as temporary, not as personal inadequacy, and view them as
a one-time unique circumstance; and tend to feel good and invigorated
both physically and mentally.

Emotional Intelligence (EI):

“A form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and
others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this
information to guide one’s thinking and action”.

The EI skills are:

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1) Self-awareness: knowing one’s strengths, weaknesses, drives, values,

and impact on others. A self-aware leader derives self-confidence on
the basis of a realistic self-assessment, can laugh even on himself, and
searches for constructive criticism.
2) Self-regulation: controlling or redirecting disruptive impulses and
moods. This endows the leader with integrity and trustworthiness. An
effective leader needs the trust of the followers, but one has to be
trustworthy in order to earn the trust of others. Integrity is an
important element of trustworthiness. The opposite of hypocrisy,
integrity indicates the quality of no discrepancy between one’s true
feelings and one’s words and actions.
3) Motivation: relishing achievement for its own sake. The hallmarks of
this skill are passion, unflagging energy and optimism in the face of
initial failure. Rather than defending self and blaming others, an
emotionally intelligent leader goes back to careful fact-finding, explains
to others the consequences and helps them take corrective actions.
4) Empathy: understanding other people’s emotional makeup. An
empathic leader is able to identify, retain and develop the talent of
people; and accepts that others can look at things differently.
5) Social skill: building rapport with others to move them in desired
directions. A leader’s social skill helps him or her to build networks of
contacts, create and manage teams and be persuasive. These are
useful in driving change.

Self-Efficacy

 Self-efficacy refers to a person’s belief about successfully completing a

task. Those with high self-efficacy have a “can-do” attitude. They believe
they possess the energy (motivation), ability, clear expectations (role
perceptions), and resources (situational factors) to perform the task.
 Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s conviction (or confidence) about
his or her abilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and

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courses of action needed to successfully execute a specific task within

a given context.
 Self-efficacy is often task specific, but it can also be more generalized.
People have a general self-efficacy when they believe they can be
successful across a variety of situations.
 People with higher general self-efficacy have a more positive overall self-
evaluation. How well one can execute courses of action required to deal
with prospective situations.
 It is the capability for self-reflection—people reflect back on their
actions/experience with a specific event/task to then cognitively
process how strongly they believe they can successfully accomplish this
event/task in the future—that serves as the theoretical basis for self-
efficacy.
 Unless people believe that they can produce desired effects and forestall
undesired ones by their actions, they have little incentive to act.
Whatever other factors may operate as motivators, they are rooted in
the core belief that one has the power to produce desired results.

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UNIT – III

DYNAMICS OF OB – I

COMMUNICATION

Communication refers to the process by which information is transmitted and

understood between two or more people. We emphasize the word understood
because transmitting the sender’s intended meaning is the essence of good
communication.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

1) Non-Verbal Communication:

 Although verbal communication has long been recognized as being

important, nonverbal communication is particularly relevant to the
study of organizational behaviour.
 Sometimes called the “silent language,” nonverbal communication can
be defined as “nonword human responses (such as gestures, facial
expressions) and the perceived characteristics of the environment
through which the human verbal and nonverbal messages are
transmitted. “Thus, whether a person says something or, equally
important, does not say anything, communication still can take place.
 There are many forms of nonverbal communication. Probably the most
widely recognized is body language. Body movements convey meanings
and messages. This form of communication includes facial expressions
and what people do with their eyes, feet, hands, and posture.

2) Interpersonal Communication:

 In interpersonal communication, the major emphasis is on transferring

information from one person to another.

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 Communication is looked on as a basic method of effecting behavioural

change, and it incorporates the psychological processes (perception,
learning, and motivation) on the one hand and language on the other.
 However, it must be noted that the explosion of advanced information
technology is also having an impact on this human interaction process.

3) Electronic Media and Information Technology:

 Human communication has always been central to organizational

action. Today, the introduction of various sophisticated electronic
communication technologies and the demand for faster and better
forms of interaction are visibly influencing the nature of
communication.
 Communication is not just face-to-face, but is increasingly carried out
electronically through Facebook, MySpace, blogs, wikis, texting, mobile
phones, and e-mail.
 The growing importance of the role that electronic media and
information technology plays in communication is certainly recognized
by organizational behaviour research and application.

INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS

 Although closely related, interpersonal communication is more at the

micro, individual level, whereas interactive communication is more at
the macro, organizational level.
 Communication with peers, that is, with persons of relatively equal
status on the same level of an organization, provides needed social
support for an individual.
 People can more comfortably turn to a peer for social support than they
can to those above or below them.
 The result can be good or bad for the organization. If the support is
couched in terms of task coordination to achieve overall goals,
interactive communication can be good for the organization.

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 On the other hand, “if there are no problems of task coordination left to
a group of peers, the content of their communication can take forms
which are irrelevant to or destructive of organizational functioning.

Purposes of Interactive Communication:

1) Task coordination: The department heads may meet monthly to

discuss how each department is contributing to the system’s goals.
2) Problem solving: The members of a department may assemble to
discuss how they will handle a threatened budget cut; they may employ
brainstorming techniques.
3) Information sharing: The members of one department may meet with
the members of another department to give them some new data.
4) Conflict resolution: The members of one department may meet to
discuss a conflict inherent in the department or between departments.

Methods of Interactive Communication:

1) Departmental or Inter Departmental Meetings.

2) Video Conferencing.
3) Written Reports.

BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

1) Physical Barrier:

i. Poor Timing: A person must evaluate the timing of sending a message.

Receiver must get adequate time to implement the instruction given in
the communication. If the action on the message is required to be taken
in a distant future, there is a possibility that receiver may forget the
content of the message.
ii. Choice of Channel: Message can be sent in written, verbal instruction
(face to face) or conveyed by electronic media, on line by telephone or
using combinations. Routine messages should be passed on verbally to
subordinates and boss.
iii. Inadequate Information: Too much or too little information is
dangerous. Information must be of value, meaningful and related to the

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job of the receiver. Volumes of information can be quickly sent

anywhere around the globe.
iv. Organizational Structure: Every individual in the organization must
know the channels of command and communication. They must also
know the power centres. Authority and responsibility must be clearly
defined so that the communication is directed towards the correct
person and quick decision making is achieved.
v. Information Overload: Information may be passed to concerning
individuals as it is needed. Excessive information causes information
overload. Though lot of information now can be handled by the
individual due to computers. Excessive information causes confusion
and may not be required.

2) Interpersonal Barriers:

i. Filtration: Filtration is a process when sender deliberately wants to

withhold information from reaching the receiver. It is done by
manipulating the information either because the sender believes that
all the information is not required or that the receiver is better off not
knowing certain aspects of the information.
ii. Perception: Perceptual process that operate in a situation may heavily
influence the communication process related to receiving the
information from the environment and interpreting and giving meaning
to such information.
iii. Semantic Barriers: Semantic barriers refer to the interpretation of
words, abbreviations and symbols used by the sender and perceived by
the receiver. Universally accepted symbols should generally be used in
the written communication.
iv. Power Position: Authority, power and status of an individual in an
organization affect communication win people interacting at various
levels of hierarchy. While authority makes communication more
authentic but may create social distance and therefore restrict
communication due to ‘gap’ that may be created.

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v. Cultural Barriers: Cultural differences can adversely affect the

communication effectiveness. Due to liberalization multinational
players are operating in India. It is therefore necessary to understand
ethnic backgrounds and cultures of various employees working in the
organization.
vi. Sender Credibility: If a sender’s credibility is high, the receiver will
take and interpret message favourably. Conversely, if sender is not
trusted receiver may try and interpret the message wrongly by
deliberately giving hidden meaning to various words and may even
distort the complete message.

STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE THE FOLLOW OF COMMUNICATION

1) Improve Listening Skills: An individual must be a good listener. Listening

is ‘half’ of whole communication. When one listens he also carries out
concurrent mental interpretation of what he is hearing. Positive outlook goes
a long way to ensure effective communication. Important points for good
listener are as under:

i. Do not have preconceived ideas about a subject matter.

ii. Pay full attention to what the sender is saying.
iii. Think as the sender thinks.
iv. Check back as to what you have received.
v. Give time to take feedback on action taken on the message received.
vi. Keep the principle of “need to know” in mind to avoid information
overload.
vii. Do not jump to conclusions.
viii. Do not have a prejudiced mind and take every message independently.

2) Improve Written Skills: When a message is intended to be sent, it is

necessary to identify action addresses and information addresses. The text of
the message should be simple and should clearly indicate as to what actions
are required to be taken by the receiver. A well written communication in
simple language has negligible chances of misinterpretation. Writing good

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message is an art and it must be practiced overtime. Basic principles of good

written message are brevity, clarity and simplicity.

3) Maintain Unity of Command Principle: Most of communication problems

arise when channels of command and control are not followed strictly. One
must receive orders from a specific authority and should be answerable to the
same authority. In a typical hierarchical organization, chains of reporting are
laid down and should be followed. Because of the multiplicity of organizational
functions lateral and diagonal communication is necessary, the same should
be undertaken on an even level. Creation of power blocks should be
discouraged. The object of communication is not only to carryout assigned
task but create an atmosphere of trust and understanding among all
members of the organization. It is only possible when management is not only
sensitive to the workers’ demand but keeps their promises.

DECISION MAKING

Decision Making Process:

1) The identification phase, during which recognition of a problem or

opportunity arises and a diagnosis is made. It was found that severe,
immediate problems did not receive a very systematic, extensive
diagnosis but that mild problems did.
2) The development phase, during which there may be a search for
existing standard procedures or solutions already in place or the design
of a new, tailor-made solution. It was found that the design process was
a groping, trial-and-error process in which the decision makers had
only a vague idea of the ideal solution.
3) The selection phase, during which the choice of a solution is made.
There are three ways of making this selection: by the judgment of the
decision maker, on the basis of experience or intuition rather than
logical analysis; by analysis of the alternatives on a logical, systematic
basis; and by bargaining when the selection involves a group of decision
makers and all the political manoeuvring that this entails. Once the
decision is formally accepted, an authorization is made.

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Participative Decision-Making Techniques:

Used as a decision-making technique, participation involves individuals or

groups in the process. It can be formal or informal, and it entails intellectual
and emotional as well as physical involvement. The actual amount of
participation in making decisions ranges from one extreme of no participation,
wherein the manager makes the decision and asks for no help or ideas from
anyone, to the other extreme of full participation, where everyone connected
with, or affected by, the decision is completely involved. In practice, the degree
of participation will be determined by factors such as the experience of the
person or group and the nature of the task. The more experience and the more
open and unstructured the task, the more participation there will tend to be.

Participation techniques are being applied informally on an individual or a

team basis or formally on a program basis. Individual participation
techniques are those in which an employee somehow affects the decision
making of a manager. Group participation utilizes consultative and
democratic techniques.

In consultative participation, managers ask for and receive involvement from

their employees, but the managers maintain the right to make the decision.
In the democratic form, there is total participation, and the group, not the
individual head, makes the final decision by consensus or majority vote.

GROUP DECISION MAKING

Group Decision Making Schemes:

1) The majority-wins scheme: In this commonly used scheme, the group

arrives at the decision that was initially supported by the majority. This
scheme appears to guide decision making most often when there is no
objectively correct decision. An example would be a decision about what
car model to build when the popularity of various models has not been
tested in the “court” of public opinion.
2) The truth-wins scheme: In this scheme, as more information is
provided and opinions are discussed, the group comes to recognize that

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one approach is objectively correct. For example, a group deciding

whether to use test scores in selecting employees would profit from
information about whether these scores actually predict job
performance.
3) The two-thirds majority scheme: This scheme is frequently adopted
by juries, who tend to convict defendants when two-thirds of the jury
initially favours conviction.
4) The first-shift rule: In this scheme, the group tends to adopt the
decision that reflects the first shift in opinion expressed by any group
member. If a car-manufacturing group is equally divided on whether or
not to produce a convertible, it may opt to do so after one group member
initially opposed to the idea changes her mind. If a jury is deadlocked,
the members may eventually follow the lead of the first juror to change
position.

Advantages of Group Decision Making:

1) Greater pool of knowledge: A group can bring much more information

and experience to bear on a decision or problem than an individual
alone.
2) Different perspectives: Individuals with varied experience and
interests help the group see decision situations and problems from
different angles.
3) Greater comprehension: Those who personally experience the give-
and-take of group discussion about alternative courses of action tend
to understand the rationale behind the final decision.
4) Increased acceptance: Those who play an active role in group decision
making and problem solving tend to view the outcomes as ‘ours’ rather
than ‘theirs’.
5) Training ground: Less experienced members learn to cope with group
dynamics by actually being involved.

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DYNAMICS OF OB – II

STRESS AND CONFLICT

MEANING OF STRESS

Adoptive response, mediated by individual characteristics and/ or

psychological processes, that is a consequence of any external action,
situation or event that places special physical and/or psychological demands
upon a person”.

Stress is most often described as an adaptive response to a situation that is

perceived as challenging or threatening to the person’s well-being.

MEANING AND TYPES OF CONFLICT

Meaning:

Process that begins when one party perceives that another party has
negatively affected something that the first party cares about Disagreement
between two or more individuals or groups, with each individual or group
trying to gain acceptance of its views or objective over others.

Types of Conflicts:

1) Intra-personal Conflict: Intra personal conflict is also called the conflict

within the individual. This type of conflict can be of two types:

i. Value conflict: Every individual has to play certain roles, which

conforms to his value system. However, there are certain situations
when an individual may have to compromise on value system and
beliefs. For example, finance manager of an organization, while
submitting tax returns to the government may conceal some facts,
which may go against his belief and value system.
ii. Decision-making: Problem solving is one of the important jobs every
individual has to undertake in work environment. Every problem has
various courses open. At times it is difficult for a person to select an
appropriate course of action. This situation causes conflict within the

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individual. He therefore will have to take decisions based on the past

experience and the knowledge.

2) Inter-personal Conflict: Inter-personal conflict relates to conflict between

two or more individuals and is probably the most common and recognized
form of conflict. Interpersonal conflict is caused due to disagreement over
goals and objectives of the organization. These are heightened due to
difference of opinion of individuals and when issues are not based on facts.

3) Intra-Group Conflict: Intra-group conflict relates to values, status and

roles played by an individual in the group and the group norms. Individual
may want to remain in the group for social needs but may disagree with the
methods and procedures followed by the group. The conflict may arise when
social changes are incorporated in the group. When group faces new problems
and when values are changed due to change in social environment.

4) Inter-Group Conflict: Conflicts between different groups, sections and

departments are called inter-group conflict. For example, conflict between
production and sales departments over the quality being produced and the
customer requirements. Inter-group conflict causes due to factors inherent to
the organizational structure like independence, inconsistency in various
policy matter, variance on promotion criteria, reward system and different
standards being adopted for different sub-units and departments.

5) Inter-Organizational Conflict: Inter-organizational conflict takes place

between two dependent organizations. Conflict can take place between
government organization, unions and the operating industry. Government
organizations function to ensure that minimum standards are followed by the
organizations. Managers must try and reduce inter-organizational conflicts by
adopting positive approach and by following strictly, the rules and regulations
laid down by the government agencies.

6) Intra-Organizational Conflict: Intra organizational conflict encompasses

horizontal, vertical, line–staff and role based conflicts.

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i. Horizontal Conflict: Horizontal Conflict is caused due to

incompatibility of goals, sharing limited resources and difference in
time orientation. It leads to tension, misunderstanding and frustration
on the part of both the parties. Horizontal conflict relates to employees
or group at the same level.
ii. Vertical Conflict: Vertical conflict refers to conflicts that might take
place between different levels of hierarchy. Conflicts between
subordinates and superior occur due to incompatibility. It is generally
caused because of differences in perception, value system, goals that
may be assigned, cognition and difference in individual behaviour.

EFFECT OF STRESS AND INTRAINDIVIDUAL CONFLICT

Physical Problems due to Stress & Conflict:

Specific physical health concerns that have been linked to stress include the
following:

1) Immune system problems, where there is a lessened ability to fight off

illness and infection.
2) Cardiovascular system problems, such as high blood pressure and
heart disease.
3) Musculoskeletal system problems, such as tension headaches and back
pain.
4) Gastrointestinal system problems, such as diarrhoea and constipation.

Obviously, serious physical ailments from stress have a drastic effect on the
individual; not always so obvious, but just as serious, are the effects that
physical problems such as heart disease can have on the organization.

Psychological Problems due to Stress & Conflict:

1) At least indirectly if not directly, the psychological problems resulting

from stress may be just as important, if not more important, to day-
today job performance as the physical problems.
2) High levels of stress may be accompanied by anger, anxiety, depression,
nervousness, irritability, tension, and boredom. One study found that

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stress had the strongest impact on aggressive actions, such as

sabotage, interpersonal aggression, hostility, and complaints.
3) These types of psychological problems from stress, in turn, are
especially relevant to poor job performance, lowered self-esteem,
resentment of supervision, inability to concentrate and make decisions,
and job dissatisfaction.
4) These outcomes of stress can have a direct cost effect on the
organization.

Behavioural Problems due to Stress & Conflict:

1) Direct behaviours that may accompany high levels of stress include

undereating or overeating, sleeplessness, increased smoking and
drinking, and drug abuse.
2) When it is realized that 6 percent of the population are alcoholics, that
another estimated 10 percent are problem drinkers, the potential
problems for employee behaviour caused by alcohol and drug abuse
become dramatically clear.
3) There is research evidence over the years indicating a relationship
between stress and especially absenteeism and turnover.
4) Like the psychological problems resulting from stress and conflict, the
behavioural problems are often not attributed to stress by co-workers
or supervisors and generate little sympathy.

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UNIT – IV

DYNAMICS OF OB – III

POWER AND POLITICS

MEANING AND TYPES OF POWER

Meaning:

The ability to get things done despite the will and resistance of others or the
ability to “win” political fights and outmanoeuvre the opposition.

Simply defined power as a potential force and in more detail “as the potential
ability to influence behaviour, to change the course of events, to overcome
resistance, and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do.”

Types of Power:

1) Reward Power: This source of power is based on a person’s ability to

control resources and reward others. In addition, the target of this
power must value these rewards. In an organizational context,
managers have many potential rewards, such as pay increases,
promotions, valuable information, favourable work assignments, more
responsibility, new equipment, praise, feedback, and recognition
available to them. In operant learning terms, this means that the
manager has the power to administer positive reinforcers.
2) Coercive Power: This source of power depends on fear. The person with
coercive power has the ability to inflict punishment or aversive
consequences on another person or, at least, to make threats that the
other person believes will result in punishment or undesirable
outcomes. This form of power has contributed greatly to the negative
connotation that power has for most people. A manager can also directly
or indirectly threaten an employee with these punishing consequences.
3) Legitimate Power: This power source stems from the internalized
values of the other persons that give the legitimate right to the agent to
influence them. The others feel they have the obligation to accept this

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power. It is almost identical to what is usually called authority and is

closely aligned with both reward and coercive power because the person
with legitimacy is also in a position to reward and punish.
4) Referent Power: This type of power comes from the desire on the part
of the other persons to identify with the agent wielding power. They
want to identify with the powerful person, regardless of the outcomes.
The others grant the person power because he or she is attractive and
has desirable resources or personal characteristics.
5) Expert Power: The last source of power identified by French and Raven
is based on the extent to which others attribute knowledge and
expertise to the power holder. Experts are perceived to have knowledge
or understanding only in certain well-defined areas. All the sources of
power depend on an individual’s perceptions, but expert power may be
even more dependent on this than the others.

EMPOWERMENT

 Empowerment may be defined as “recognizing and releasing into the

organization the power that people have in their wealth of useful
knowledge and internal motivation.”
 Empowerment is the authority to make decisions within one’s area of
responsibility without first having to get approval from someone else.
 Empowerment programs can transform a stagnant organization into a
vital one by creating a “shared purpose among employees, encouraging
greater collaboration, and, most importantly, delivering enhanced value
to customers.”
 To do so, the organization must overcome certain obstacles, such as
becoming impatient, assuming employees have all the needed skills
without first checking to make sure they are qualified, and creating
confusion through contradictory rewards and the model’s behaviours.
 This means there must be a linkage of the power with self-reliance,
managerial authority, and expecting individual contributor
commitment.

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 In order for this to occur, empowerment must become embedded in an

organization’s cultural values operationalized through participation,
innovation, access to information, and accountability.

Advantages:

1) Empowerment encourages innovation because employees have the

authority to try out new ideas and make decisions that result in new
ways of doing things.
2) When employees are given access to information as a vital part of their
empowerment, their willingness to cooperate is enhanced.
3) Although employees are empowered to make decisions they believe will
benefit the organization, they must also be held accountable and
responsible for results.

GROUPS VS. TEAMS [OR] DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS AND TEAMS

1) The work group has a strong, clearly focused leader; the team has
shared leadership roles.
2) The work group has individual accountability; the team has individual
and mutual accountability.
3) The work group’s purpose is the same as the organization’s; the team
has a specific purpose.
4) The work group has individual work-products; the team has collective
work-products.
5) The work group runs efficient meetings; the team encourages open-
ended, active problem-solving meetings.
6) The work group measures effectiveness indirectly (for example, financial
performance of the overall business); the team measures performance
directly by assessing collective work-products.
7) The work group discusses, decides, and delegates; the team discusses,
decides, and does real work.

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NATURE OF GROUPS

Meaning:

If a group exists in an organization, its members:

1) Are motivated to join.

2) Perceive the group as a unified unit of interacting people.
3) Contribute in various amounts to the group processes (that is, some
people contribute more time or energy to the group than do others).
4) Reach agreements and have disagreements through various forms of
interaction.

Stages of Group Development:

1) Forming: This initial stage is marked by uncertainty and even

confusion. Group members are not sure about the purpose, structure,
task, or leadership of the group.
2) Storming: This stage of development, as indicated by the term, is
characterized by conflict and confrontation. (In the usually emotionally
charged atmosphere, there may be considerable disagreement and
conflict among the members about roles and duties.).
3) Norming: Finally, in this stage the members begin to settle into
cooperation and collaboration. They have a “we” feeling with high
cohesion, group identity, and camaraderie.
4) Performing: This is the stage where the group is fully functioning and
devoted to effectively accomplishing the tasks agreed on in the norming
stage.
5) Adjourning: This represents the end of the group, which in ongoing,
permanent groups will never be reached. However, for project teams or
task forces with a specific objective, once the objective is accomplished,
the group will disband or have a new composition, and the stages will
start over again.

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Types of Groups:

1) Primary Groups: Often the terms small group and primary group are
used interchangeably. Technically, there is a difference. A small group
has to meet only the criterion of small size. Usually no attempt is made
to assign precise numbers, but the accepted criterion is that the group
must be small enough for fairly constant interaction and
communication to occur face-to-face or, in recent times, electronically.
In addition to being small, a primary group must have a feeling of
comradeship, loyalty, and a common sense of values among its
members. Thus, all primary groups are small groups, but not all small
groups are primary groups.
2) Coalitions: Although recent research indicates that the social structure
will affect the increasingly popular strategic alliance formation patterns
between organizations,19 at a more micro level, coalitions of individuals
and groups within organizations have long been recognized as an
important dimension of group dynamics.
3) Other Groups: Besides primary groups and coalitions, there are also
other classifications of groups that are important to the study of
organizational behaviour. Two important distinctions are between
membership and reference groups and between in-groups and out-
groups. These differences can be summarized by noting that
membership groups are those to which the individual actually belongs.

Group Effectiveness:

The following is an overall summary of the way to use groups to enhance

satisfaction and performance:

1) Organizing work around intact groups.

2) Having groups charged with selection, training, and rewarding of
members.
3) Using groups to enforce strong norms for behaviour, with group
involvement in off-the-job as well as on-the-job behaviour.
4) Distributing resources on a group rather than an individual basis.

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5) Allowing and perhaps even promoting intergroup rivalry so as to build

within-group solidarity.

DYNAMICS OF INFORMAL GROUPS

The major difference between formal and informal groups is that the formal
group has officially prescribed goals and relationships, whereas the informal
one does not. Despite this distinction, it is a mistake to think of formal and
informal groups as two distinctly separate entities. The two types of groups
coexist and are inseparable. Every formal organization has informal groups,
and every informal organization eventually evolves some semblance of formal
groups.

Norms & Roles in Informal Groups:

Norms are the “oughts” of behaviour. They are prescriptions for acceptable
behaviour determined by the group. Norms will be strongly enforced by work
groups if they:

1) Aid in group survival and provision of benefits.

2) Simplify or make predictable the behaviour expected of group members.
3) Help the group avoid embarrassing interpersonal problems.
4) Express the central values or goals of the group and clarify what is
distinctive about the group’s identity

A role consists of a pattern of norms. A role is a position that can be acted out
by an individual. The content of a given role is prescribed by the prevailing
norms. Probably role can best be defined as a position that has expectations
evolving from established norms. Some informal roles found in work groups
include the following:

1) The boundary spanner who acts as a facilitator and bridge between

units or groups which would not otherwise interact.
2) The buffer who protects and filters negative or disappointing news or
information that might cause group members to be upset and cause
morale to suffer.

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3) The lobbyist who promotes and tells others how successful and
important the group is to outsiders.
4) The negotiator who is empowered by the group to act on its behalf to
get resources and make deals.
5) The spokesperson who is the voice of the group.

Advantages of Informal Organization:

1) Makes for a more effective total system.

2) Lightens the workload on management.
3) Fills in gaps in a manager’s abilities.
4) Provides a safety valve for employee emotions.
5) Improves communication.

DYSFUNCTIONS OF GROUPS AND TEAMS

1) Norm Violation and Role Ambiguity/Conflict: Group norms that are

violated can result in antisocial behaviours. At the extreme, these
include sexual harassment and theft. Others include lying, spreading
rumours, withholding effort, and absenteeism. Group members who
are chronically exposed to antisocial behaviours are more likely to
engage in them, and dissatisfaction with co-workers may also rise,
especially when those co-workers exhibit more antisocial activities
than the person in question.
2) The Groupthink, Conformity Problem: A dysfunction of highly
cohesive groups and teams that has received a lot of attention has been
called groupthink. It is defined as “a deterioration of mental efficiency,
reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in group
pressures.” Essentially, groupthink results from the pressures on
individual members to conform and reach consensus.
3) Risky Shift Phenomenon: Even before excessive risk taking was
brought out by groupthink, the so-called risky shift phenomenon of
groups was recognized. Research going back many years has shown
that, contrary to popular belief, a group may make riskier decisions
than the individual members would on their own.

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4) Dysfunctions in Perspective: Such symptoms as risky shift,

polarization, and the others found in groupthink should make groups
take notice and be very careful of the dysfunctions of groups.
5) Social Loafing: Another more recently recognized dysfunction
associated with groups and teams is called social loafing. This problem
occurs when members reduce their effort and performance levels when
acting as part of a group.

TEAMS IN MODERN WORK PLACE

Cross-Functional Teams:

As part of the movement toward horizontal designs and the recognition of

dysfunctional bureaucratic functional autonomy, the focus has shifted to the
use of cross-functional teams. These teams are made up of individuals from
various departments or functional specialities. The key to ensuring successful
performance of cross-functional teams is found in two sets of criteria: one
inside the team and one in the organization at large. To improve coordination
with cross-functional teams, organizations can carry out five steps. These
include:

1) Choosing the membership carefully.

2) Clearly establishing the purpose of the team.
3) Ensuring that everyone understands how the group will function.
4) Conducting intensive team building up front so that everyone learns
how to interact effectively.
5) Achieving noticeable results so that morale remains high and the
members can see the impact of their efforts.

Virtual Teams:

 With the advent of advanced information technology, increasing

globalization, and the need for speed, the requirement that groups be
made up of members in face-to-face interaction is no longer necessary.

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 Members can now communicate at a distance through electronic

means, such as e-mail, texting, chat rooms, blogs, phone and video
conferencing, satellite transmissions, and websites.
 Members performing knowledge-based tasks in remote locations can
become members of so-called virtual teams.
 Also, those performing in telecommuting jobs often bear responsibilities
to serve on virtual teams. Virtual teams are increasingly evident in
global, partnered operations and even everyday activities.

Self-Managed Teams:

 Teams are being set up or are evolving into being self-managed as part
of the empowerment movement and the more egalitarian cultural values
in an increasing number of organizations.
 A self-managed work team can be defined as “a group of employees who
are responsible for managing and performing technical tasks that result
in a product or service being delivered to an internal or external
customer.”

Improve Team Effectiveness:

1) Team Building: Team building begins with the understanding that

work groups require time and training before they develop into
productive and cohesive units. There seems to be a learning curve in
building an effective team.
2) Collaboration: Effective group leaders do not act alone. They assemble
a group of highly talented people and figure out how to get the most
creative efforts out of everyone by effectively organizing their
collaborative efforts.
3) Group Leadership: Whether the assigned head of the team or the
emergent leader in self-managed teams, there are two key ways in
which leaders may affect performance of groups: (1) how they select
members and (2) the tactics they use to affect those members.

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4) Cultural/Global Issues: Although today’s times make global teams

operating in a multicultural environment inevitable, there is recent
evidence that they are experiencing problems.

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UNIT – V

LEADING HIGH PERFORMANCE

JOB DESIGN

 It is related to organizing (assembling) the components of job to enable

participation by all group members to accomplish the same.
 Once a job is designed, it must give satisfaction to the worker and he
should be able to experience ‘Worth’ in doing the same.

Various job design techniques are as under:

1) Job Simplification: In this technique, jobs are broken down into very
small parts where a fragment called “task” is repeatedly done over and
over again by the same individual. Quality of the product and high
volume is produced in a limited time frame. Employee therefore is paid
higher rewards. Since the individual is doing the job repeatedly, he
achieves proficiency and training cost to the organization is practically
negligible. However, there are certain disadvantages also.
2) Job Enlargement: Job Enlargement means where two or more simple
tasks are combined and allotted to an employee. As in the case of
vehicle driver, apart from driving he can undertake the job of
maintenance of the vehicle. In this situation it adds more tasks to a job
so that the worker has variety of simple tasks to perform. The advantage
of this method is more variety in a job and acquiring additional
proficiency.
3) Job Rotation: Job rotation refers to a technique where the employee is
periodically rotated from one job to another within the work design. It
involves moving employees among different jobs over a period of time.
In this system workers do not get bored and problem of job enlargement
is automatically taken care of. In job rotation workers get opportunities
to do different jobs within a span of few weeks / months as he is rotated
from one job to another.

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4) Job Enrichment: Job enrichment refers to the technique of job design

in which variety of skills are required to be possessed by the individual.
Job enrichment entails skills development and a challenge. It entails
inbuilt motivation, absolute control over the job and opportunities for
growth and learning.

GOAL SETTING FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE [OR] GOAL SETTING THEORY

 Goal setting is among the most dominant theories of work motivation.

This theory emphasises that all behaviour is motivated, and motivation
is a goal directed process.
 So, the level of motivation depends on the kind of goals that are set and
the way internal and external factors affecting the process between goal
identification to goal achievement are managed.
 The theory believes that a person who has found his/her goal will also
find the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve it.
 The highest level of individual performance occurs when individuals are
highly committed to difficult goals and when their efforts are supported
by specific outcomes and process feedback.
 Consistently better performance requires specific and difficult goals
rather than specific but easy goals, or general goals such as ‘do your
best,’ or no goals.
 Effective goal-setting requires the following dimensions:
1) Feedback: The performer should be informed about progress
toward the goal. Specific outcome feedback tells the individual

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what change is needed and specific process feedback that tells

the individual how to change.
2) Employee commitment to goal: If the performer committed to
the goal believes ‘I can do this’ and has been involved in the
goalsetting process, he would be more committed to the
achievement of the goal. But when highly committed employees
face difficult goals, they also tend to extend less help to others.
 Too many goals should be avoided. Multiple goals create conflict within
the individual and one goal may be sacrificed for meeting another goal.
 When tasks are complex, general – ‘do your best’ goals and not specific,
difficult goals result in higher performance. Specific, difficult goals lead
to higher quantity of performance on a simpler version of the same task.

QUALITY OF WORK LIFE (QWL)

 Objective of quality of work life (QWL) is to improve the general working

environment of the organization so that the employees enjoy working
because they feel pleasant experience interacting with each other.
 One of the ways of measuring QWL is to focus on the behavioural
outcomes such as rate of turnover, absenteeism, drug abuse,
alcoholism, and mental and physical illness resulting from
psychologically harmful jobs.
 Job involvement or the self-investment of individuals at work is a good
index of QWL experienced at work.
 QWL encompassing the extent of job involvement or self-investment at
work, their sense of competence (i.e., the extent of their confidence in
their own competence at work), the job satisfaction or the satisfaction
they derive from the various facets of their work such as from the nature
of the job itself, the supervision, co-workers, pay, promotional
opportunities, growth and development on the job, and other aspects of
work environment.
 Mental health of the employees is also an important factor to measure
QWL.

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Features of Quality of Work Life:

Quality of work life is a concept evolved to solve problems and achieve

organizational development. Some of the feature of QWL are as under:

1) Team building and voluntary participation of employees in

organizational developmental programme.
2) Training of employees in team problem solving.
3) Training and development of employees.
4) Organization of meetings, brain storming sessions to discuss on the
matters of customer welfare, quality, safety, customer care and
production schedules.
5) Job designing.
6) Skill training.

SOCIO TECHNICAL DESIGN & HIGH-PERFORMANCE WORK PRACTICES

1) Systems Analysis:

 An organization should study environment both external and internal,

analyse the socio-economic factors like prevailing standard of living,
social demands on employees, aspirations of children and the ability of
the individual to fulfil the same.
 Demographic factors also play a dominant role in the organizational
development paradigm.
 Based on the above factors an organization should design its reward
system so that the employee is able to live in a desired level and meet
its social obligation.
 This is important because the systems so evolved would be able to
generate enthusiasm and desire to excel in the job that will being
growth to the organization.

2) Flexible Work Hours:

 Organization should plan working based on brick pattern. The

responsibility to produce is assigned to teams and work groups.

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 The work should be assigned to them based on timings. All the

resources are made available and no interference be made by the senior
members thereby providing them the total autonomy.
 Flexible work hours are necessary for dual career families. For instance,
dual career members, who are now trying to combine their family and
work lives, face problems managing their work – family interface.

3) Job Sharing Facilities:

 Organizations should create job-sharing facilities within the

organization and may also have tie-ups with other organization for
sharing the job.
 This is particularly required for research and development branch of
any organization.
 Job sharing creates additional facility without any monetary burden on
the organization and optimum utilization of resources is achieved.
 If the facilities are available for performing the work, employees can
meet the dead line of their tasks.

4) Job Evaluation and Role Analysis Techniques:

 An individual should be trained in handling more than one job so that,

should there be need, he could be gainfully employed in a different role
(job).
 Individual has to play different roles in the organization. He should be
made self-sufficient so that he can fulfil his obligation.
 It is important that an individual should be satisfied on the job he is
performing.
 Job redesign, job rotation, job simplification, job automation is some of
the methods where organizational development takes place.

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BEHAVIOURAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

REINFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT AS PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

Reinforcement is understood to be anything that increases the frequency or

intensity of a desired behaviour. Reinforcement may be positive, negative,
punishment and extinction.

1) Positive Re-enforcement: Positive re-enforcement is institution of

reward for a particular desired behaviour. The intensity of reward must
stimulate a desired behaviour. This is instituted so that individual
works to achieve a high standard. Higher the performance required,
higher must be the recognition (Reward system). Rewards must be given
on time. Delay in awards may not have desired effect and the impact of
reward would be lost.
2) Negative Re-enforcement: In organizations acts are committed or
omitted. For commission of desired acts, a reward is given while
rewards can also be given for displaying behaviour by terminating
undesired consequences. Both, positive and negative re-enforcement
techniques are for strengthening desired behaviours. In former
employees put in their best and work hard to get financial and other
rewards but in the latter case of re-enforcement employees work in such
a way that they do not invite negative comments or reprimand from
superiors.
3) Punishment:
 Punishment is awarded to an individual for undesired
consequences of behaviour.
 It is a method of decreasing frequency of occurrence of
unpleasant behaviour and a tool generally used by organizations
for corrective or modification of individual behaviour.
 Organisations provide punishment to employees in an effort to
produce behaviour change, along with other reasons, mainly to
stop or reduce the frequency of undesirable activities.

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 Punishment acts as deterrence to other individuals and prevent

them from doing an undesired act.
 Punishment can be reduction of salary, non-granting of
increment, fine and even removal from service.
 The gravity or the scale of punishment will depend upon the
nature of behaviour displayed by an individual.
 Punishment must be awarded with due care and made public so
that it acts as deterrence.
 Punishment can shape the behaviour of not only the person who
receives it, but also the persons who witness it or come to know
about it.
 Whether punishment effectively produces behavioural change or
not, depends on punishment characteristics.
 Punishment for poor performance offsets the negative impact on
performance when others hint to the performer that ‘this task is
boring’.
 Thus, punishment may serve as a useful tool for managers,
though it should be used carefully.
4) Extinction: Extinction refers to withdrawing of re-enforcement or
reward so that the happening becomes less frequent and ultimately dies
off. The method involves withdrawing positive reinforcement earlier
granted. Eliminating any re-enforcement is called extinction.

PROCESS OF BEHAVIOURAL MODIFICATION

Behavioural performance management is based on behaviouristic, social

learning, and social cognitive theories, and especially the evidence-based
principles of reinforcement. The steps involved are:

Step 1: Identification of Performance Behaviours

In this first step the critical behaviours that make a significant impact on
performance (making or selling a product or providing a service to clients or
customers) are identified. In every organization, regardless of type or level,

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numerous behaviours are occurring all the time. Some of these behaviours
have a significant impact on performance, and some do not.

Step 2: Measurement of the Behaviour

After the performance behaviours have been identified in step 1, they are
measured. A baseline measure is obtained by the number of times that the
identified behaviour is occurring under existing conditions. Often this
baseline frequency is in and of itself very revealing. Sometimes it is discovered
that the behaviour identified in step 1 is occurring much less or much more
frequently than anticipated. The baseline measure may indicate that the
problem is much smaller or much bigger than was thought to be the case.

Step 3: Functional Analysis of the Behaviour

Once the performance behaviour has been identified and a baseline measure
has been obtained, a functional analysis is performed. A functional analysis
identifies both the antecedents (A) and consequences (C) of the target
behaviour (B), or, simply stated, an A-BC analysis is performed.

Step 4: Development of an Intervention Strategy

The goal of the intervention is to strengthen and accelerate functional

performance behaviours and/or weaken and decelerate dysfunctional
behaviours. There are several strategies that can be used, but the main ones
are positive reinforcement and punishment–positive reinforcement.

 A Positive Reinforcement Strategy: Positive, not negative,

reinforcement is recommended as an effective intervention strategy for
O.B. Mod. The reason is that positive reinforcement represents a form
of positive control of behaviour, whereas negative reinforcement
represents a form of negative control of behaviour.
 A Punishment–Positive Reinforcement Strategy: There is little
debate that a positive reinforcement strategy is the most effective
intervention for O.B. Mod. Yet realistically it is recognized that in some
cases the use of punishment to weaken and decelerate undesirable
behaviours cannot be avoided.

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Step 5: Evaluation to Ensure Performance Improvement

To review a program with one or two vice presidents at the corporate office,
various managers in the field, and perhaps a group of prospective trainees. It
continues to be used until someone in a position of authority decides that the
program has outlived its usefulness. All of this is done on the basis of opinion
and judgment.

Application of Behavioural Management:

1) Employee productivity. Most applications by far have focused on

performance output. The considerable number of research studies
clearly indicate that employee productivity or task completion is
positively affected by behavioural management techniques. The
performance improvement is for both quantity and quality of employee
output and cuts across virtually all organizational settings and all
intervention techniques.
2) Absenteeism and tardiness. This is probably the second-biggest area
of application. Studies that have examined this area have typically used
small monetary incentives or lottery incentive systems for attendance
or promptness and/or punishers for absenteeism or tardiness. One
extensive search of this literature found very positive results.
3) Safety and accident prevention. Most organizations, especially
manufacturing firms and others in which dangerous equipment is used,
are very concerned about safety. However, because accidents occur at
such a relatively low frequency, most studies have focused on reducing
identifiable safety hazards or increasing safe behaviours.
4) Sales performance. Sales managers and trainers have traditionally
relied on internal motivation techniques to get their salespeople to
improve their performance. For example, one behavioural performance
management consultant tells about a company that gave its sales
personnel a typical high-powered, multimedia training program, which
supposedly taught them effective selling skills.

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LEADERSHIP THEORIES

Trait Theory of Leadership:

 Not all managers are effective leaders and not all leaders are effective
managers. It is therefore difficult to identify effective managers and
leaders.
 Early studies of leaders defined them by traits they were supposed to
exhibit. Sometimes it was also called “attributes” that the leader
possesses.
 The theory therefore was called “trait theory” or attribute theory of
leadership. It is also known as “great man’s” theory.
 A leader might be described as loyal, brave, trustworthy or
companionate. But all these qualities may not be found in a successful
leader.
 Four characteristics are identified that leader tends to have. They are
more likely to be present in middle and upper-level managers than in
those who hold lower-level supervisory positions.

Their characteristics are as under:

1) Intelligence: Leaders tend to have higher degree of intelligence than

their followers.
2) Social maturity and breadth: Leaders have a tendency to be
emotionally mature and to have a broad range of interests. They are
members of somewhat exclusive social club.
3) Inner motivation and achievement drives: Leaders want to
accomplish things, when they achieve one goal they seek out another.
They are inner motivated and do not depend on outside forces for their
motivation.
4) Human relations attitude: Leaders are able to work effectively with
other persons. They understand that to accomplish any task they must
be considerate of others.

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STYLES OF GREAT LEADERS [OR] LEADERSHIP STYLES BASED ON

AUTHORITY

1) Autocratic leadership:

 This type of leadership is practiced by the managers concentrating on

power and authority within themselves.
 Manager exhibiting this type of style has the ability and enforces
decision by use of rewards and fear of punishment.
 They listen considerably to their followers’ opinion before making any
decision, the decision remains to be their own.
 They seemingly consider their subordinate’s ideas but when it comes to
decision making they are more autocratic than benevolent.
 An advantage of autocratic leadership is the speed of decision-making,
as the leader does not have to obtain group members approval.

2) Democratic or Participative Leadership:

 In contrast to autocratic leadership, democratic or participative leader

consults subordinates, encourages participation in decision-making.
 In the process of interaction with subordinates, democratic leader
suggests actions or decisions and obtains views of those under him.
 He has respect for subordinate’s views and does not act without their
concurrence. The leader is supportive.
 This style of leadership has various advantages, which include high
morale and support of subordinates, smooth implementation due to
subordinates being party to decision making.

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 Because of the participation of subordinates, the quality of decisions is

better as compared to the autocratic leader.

3) Laissez-faire Leadership:

 A leader who practices laissez-faire leadership is also called “free rein”

leader who uses his power very little giving subordinates full freedom of
action and independence for setting their goals and means of achieving
them.
 This type of leaders depends heavily on subordinates and see their role
as one of aiding the operation of followers by furnishing required
information when asked for and acts only as contact between various
departments and outside agencies (external environment). Here the
leader attempts to exercise very little control or influence over the group
members.
 Such type of leadership style promotes individual growth and freedom
of action for goal setting. However, the loose control by the leader over
the group may lead to lack of group cohesiveness and unity of purposes
toward organizational objective.
 This may ultimately lead to inefficiency and even worse to chaos.

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ACTIVITIES OF GREAT LEADERS [OR] ACTIVITIES OF SUCCESSFUL AND

EFFECTIVE LEADERS

1) Communication: This activity consists of exchanging routine

information and processing paperwork. Its observed behaviours include
answering procedural questions, receiving and disseminating requested
information, conveying the results of meetings, giving or receiving
routine information over the phone and e-mail, processing mail, reading
reports, writing reports/memos/letters, routine financial reporting and
bookkeeping, and general desk work.
2) Traditional management: This activity consists of planning, decision
making, and controlling. Its observed behaviours include setting goals
and objectives, defining tasks needed to accomplish goals, scheduling
employees, assigning tasks, providing routine instructions, defining
problems, handling day-to-day operational crises, deciding what to do,
developing new procedures, inspecting work, walking around
inspecting the work, monitoring performance data, and doing
preventive maintenance.
3) Human resource management: This activity contains the most
behavioural categories: motivating/reinforcing, disciplining/punishing,
managing conflict, staffing, and training/ developing. Because it was
not generally permitted to be observed, the disciplining/ punishing
category was subsequently dropped from the analysis. The observed
behaviours for this activity include allocating formal rewards, asking for
input, conveying appreciation, giving credit where due, listening to
suggestions, giving positive feedback, providing group support,
resolving conflict between work group members, appealing to higher
authorities or third parties to resolve a dispute, developing job
descriptions, reviewing applications, interviewing applicants, filling in
where needed, orienting employees, arranging for training, clarifying
roles, coaching, mentoring, and walking work group members through
a task.

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4) Networking: This activity consists of socializing/politicking and

interacting with outsiders. The observed behaviours associated with
this activity include non-work-related chitchat; informal joking around;
discussing rumours, hearsay, and the grapevine; complaining, griping,
and putting others down; politicking and gamesmanship; dealing with
customers, suppliers, and vendors; attending external meetings; and
doing/attending community service events.

SKILLS OF GREAT LEADERS [OR] LEADERSHIP SKILLS

1) Cultural flexibility: In international assignments this skill refers to

cultural awareness and sensitivity. In domestic organizations the same
skill could be said to be critical for success in light of increasing
diversity. Leaders must have the skills not only to manage but also to
recognize and celebrate the value of diversity in their organizations.
2) Communication skills: Effective leaders must be able to
communicate—in written form, orally, and nonverbally.
3) HRD skills: Because human resources are so much a part of leadership
effectiveness, leaders must have human resource development (HRD)
skills of developing a learning climate, designing and conducting

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training programs, transmitting information and experience, assessing

results, providing career counselling, creating organizational change,
and adapting learning materials.
4) Creativity: Problem solving, innovation, and creativity provide the
competitive advantage in today’s global marketplace. Leaders must
possess the skills to not only be creative themselves but also provide a
climate that encourages creativity and assists their people to be
creative.
5) Self-management of learning: This skill refers to the need for
continuous learning of new knowledge and skills. In this time of
dramatic change and global competitiveness, leaders must undergo
continuous change themselves. They must be self-learners.

******

Prepared By:

RIYAZ MOHAMMED

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