Management Notes

It is very important to study organizational behavior because it provides an

understanding of why people behave as they do in organizations. OB helps us to study
the complex nature of human beings in organizations by identifying causes and
effects of that behavior.
Some of the importance of Organizational Behavior (OB) in any type of organizations
is as follows:

1. OB helps in understanding Organization and Employees in a better way.

2. OB helps in motivating employees.
3. OB helps in improving Industrial / Labor relations.
4. OB helps in predicting and controlling Human Behavior.
5. OB helps in effective utilization of Human Resources.

1. OB helps in understanding Organization and Employees in a better way:

Studying OB helps to understand organization and people in a better way. When we

can understand organization and employees, it helps to develop friendly relationship
between organization and employees creating a proper working environment in an
organization.
Studying OB helps to find out the factor causing the behavior, and helps to apply
different strategies to control the critical behavior which harms the organization.

2. OB helps in motivating employees:

Studying OB helps managers to motivate the employees bringing a good

organizational performance. As every individual differs from each other, therefore
OB helps managers to apply appropriate motivational tools and techniques in
accordance with the nature of individual employees. This helps achieving
organizational goal properly.

3. OB helps in improving Industrial / Labour relations:

Studying OB helps to improve industrial/labour relations. OB helps in understanding

the root-cause of the problem, predict its future course of action and control its
negative consequences. As, managers are aware about the positive and negative
consequences of the behavior, it enables managers to maintain friendly relations with
their employees which creates peace and harmony in the organization.

4. OB helps in predicting and controlling Human Behavior:

Studying OB helps to predict and control human behavior. It is the one of the most
important reason for studying OB. Knowledge of OB is very much important for the
management students who are going to have a career as a successful manager. If OB
is studied properly then it helps to bring organizational effectiveness.

5. OB helps in effective utilization of Human Resources:

Studying OB helps in effective utilization of Human Resources. Knowledge

of OB helps managers to manage people effectively in the organization. It enables
managers to inspire and motivate employees toward higher productivity and better
results as the manager is able to analyze and understand nature and behavior of his
employees.

Human behavior is important in an organization as it defines how people work

together and interact with one another. A co-operative team with an established
leader will produce better results than a group of people that have no guidance and
don't know how to work with one another. Organizations spend time and effort in the
human resources department ensuring human behavior in the workplace is
appropriate and productive.

• Human behavior and the organization hierarchy

Human behavior is of crucial importance in the establishment of a hierarchy.

Hierarchies are necessary in every kind of organization, from schools to companies to
charities. Some homes even have a hierarchy established. Hierarchies allow workers
in an organization to pursue similar objectives by working together. Leaders are
needed to guide organization members through day-to-day tasks. Human behavior
dictates the strongest will be highest in a hierarchy, as it is for those people
organization members have the greatest respect. For instance, in a company, it will
be those with the most work experience and highest standard of qualifications who
gain high hierarchy positions.

• Human behavior and co-operation

Human behavior allows members of an organization to work together effectively. As

people know the necessary way in which to interact with one another, they can
communicate effectively and build good working relationships that allow
organization objectives to be pursued with maximum effect. Sometimes it is necessary
to influence and change human behavior in terms of cooperation. For instance, a few
decades ago it was considered the norm for male colleagues to call female colleagues
pet names such as 'love' and 'hun'. Nowadays, this is thought to be unprofessional
and even derogatory. Any organization member who treats their colleagues in a way
that is deemed inappropriate can face disciplinary procedures if they do not alter
their behavior.

Organizational behavior deals with the study of human behavior within groups
or organizations and how this behavior can be modeled through analysis to impact
the organizations in a positive way.

An organization in itself is composed of a group of people working individually or

often within teams. The disposition of people towards each other in an organization
remains the contributing factor towards shaping the organization. Organizational
Behavior is an interdisciplinary field, in that it draws greatly from other subjects
such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science and economics, to
mention a few.

The success of an organization is largely dependent on effective management of its

people. Behavior of people within an organization is governed by their ideas, feelings
and activities. For effective management of people, it is crucial to perceive their
requirements. However, since human behavior can differ with each individual, it
becomes almost impossible to come with a unique solution to the organizational
problems. For this reason, it is important to consider psychological and social aspects
to design solutions focused on solving organizational issues.

The behavior of individuals within an organization can either defile the organization
or aid in its overall improvement. For instance, certain employees may be
compassionate and helpful towards their co-workers which helps to create a
supportive work culture. This selfless attitude can be a result of the employee’s faith
in the management and their satisfaction and commitment towards the organization.

However, an employee who no longer trusts the management or is left unsatisfied at

the work front, may show antisocial behavior which can be harmful for the
organization. Organizational culture is defined by the company parameters such as
values, beliefs, norms and principles, visions, and behavioral expectations among
many other things. Behavior of employees is highly impacted by work culture, as such
it can affect them either positively or negatively.

A pro-social and supportive culture at work can be a major influence and also
encourage and build an environment of selflessness. When people are encouraged,
they feel more confident towards contributing ideas that might eventually benefit the
organization. On the contrary, employees are more likely to hold up or not suggest
any ideas at all if they feel they are going to face criticism or embarrassment.
Generally, employees gain an understanding of the company’s culture through
socializing with other people.

In order to solve the organizational problems, it is necessary to first understand the

reason for its occurrence. If the problems faced are due to damaging organizational
behavior, it becomes crucial to recognize the purpose behind such a behavior. Only
then can measures be taken to counter it and guide the organization in a progressive
direction. Incorporation of new and encouraging behaviors in the company culture
might prove rewarding to the employees and as such profit the company as a whole.

There are many factors that promote constructive organizational behavior, such as
accomplishments, self-actualization, encouragement, affiliation etc. Management
should try to figure out the driving force that stimulates such a behavior and try to
integrate more such factors in the work culture.

This can be in the form of promotions, new incentives, plans or rewards. It does not
make sense to hire capable people and expect complete dedication in the absence of
pro-social and rewarding company culture. In fact, people are more likely to lose
interest in their work if they don’t feel recognized and rewarded.

Organizational Behavior is a social science as it is mostly concerned with people and

behavior. It takes into account individual and group behavior and the factors that
impact these behaviors. It is necessary to first understand the behavior of people
constituting the organization in order to figure out how these work. The first and
foremost importance of organizational behavior lies in understanding
human behavior.

If the management can interpret properly the human needs within an organization,
it can work towards fulfilling those needs and also chalk out new plans and incentives
to satisfy the employees and boost them. In addition, the management has to
understand also the reason for problematic behavior within organizations and take
measures to eliminate the causes.

Influencing human behavior is another important aspect of studying organizational

behavior. It helps the management to assess the reaction of employees beforehand,
prior to making any changes in policies or schemes.

This way the management can come up with ways to alleviate any conflicts that may
arise as a result of the change. Also, certain measures such as perks, promotions etc.,
can help in creating a content workplace which directly impacts employee
performance in a positive way. As a whole, the organization gains hugely through
analyzing and understanding organization behavior.

INTRODUCTION
According to (Robins & Judge, 10th, p.2), Organizational Behavior studies the
influence and impact that individuals, groups, and organizational structure have on
behavior within organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization's effectiveness.
In the business world today, Organizational Behavior is an essential tool for
managing effective teams and it helps to understand and predict human behavior in
an organization. It studies on how organizations can be structures more accurately,
and how several events in their outside situations effect organizations. It has become
more significant today than in previous years because organizations must master to
adapt to the rapidly changing business cultures that have stemmed from a
competitive market.
In order to know how to handle a new workforce, and cope with the challenges of the
new environment, the employers need to deliver their message about behavior and
attitude of groups, and individuals in corporation. According to Graham and Krueger
(1996), soft skills were never a part of management training and it was precious that
employers were advised for possessing those skills. If employer can understands on
an employee's adaptability, personality, and creativity, motivating that employee the
way he need to be motivated is never a gray area and a guaranteed success.
Question (A): Why it is important to study Organizational Behavior?
The study of organizational behavior is one of the most significant elements in the
management sciences, as it makes management learn from what has succeeded
elsewhere. Generally, financial strength is a measure of the organizations past
success. What determines whether the organization will continue to deliver sought-
after products, will continue to develop cutting edge technology, will continue to make
the right options about which direction the market is going to go, will continue to
make sound investments, is the people and the organizational culture and structure.
According to Casey Reader (2010), different organizational structures will show
different types of organizations that each has strengths and weaknesses. There are
four main elements which are Motivation, Culture, Change, and System. According
to Motivation, it draws that individual behave differently when they are in groups.
Major of the study of organizational behavior has aimed on how best to motivate
group of individuals. Professionals have figure that it often doesn't matter exactly
what you do, but merely that employees are aware of your efforts to motivate. Based
on Culture, when individual communicate with one another over an extended period
of time they intentionally to deliver a selective culture that determines how tasks get
completed and common attitudes. Organizational theorists tend to practice this
culture and how it influences behavior. Strong cultures align with the overall goals
of an organization, such as having an emphasis on innovation. On the other hand,
weak cultures degrade from business goals, and cause conflicts, such as
overemphasizing bureaucratic rule-following. Today, Motivation and Culture are
important to practice with Organizational Behavior because major organizations are
encouraging team approach to solve difficulties. Today's post-industrial hi-tech
organization requires knowledge intensive work environment and demands
creativity from its own employees. Employers gave awareness to Organizational
Behavior or soft skill training. The industrial revolution created the wants for hard
skills. Employees who work in production line and were not required thinking or
communicating to each other. But now, instead of standing behind the production
line, employees need to sit in front of a computer, and control machine equipment
who works in the production line. Now, employees are not only required to learn new
technical skills but also how to communicate, negotiate, decentralize, and motivate
within each other.
Based on (Morgan, 1997: 5), we have to accept that any theory or perspective that we
bring to the study of organization and management, while capable of creating
valuable insights, is also incomplete, biased, and potentially misleading.
Organizational behavior shows the important key points as Regulatory, and Radical.
Basically, Regulatory helps to draw what goes on in organizations, possibly to present
minor changes that might improve them, but not to make any basic judgment about
whether what happens is correct or incorrect. Radical tends to make judgments about
the way that organizations ought to be and provide recommendations on how this
could be accomplished. Traditional organization used to practice Regulatory while
new modern organization tends to act Radical. To well organize in budget controlling,
new modern organization in today doesn't willing to give a long time for bank credit
card's salesperson to hit their sales target. New modern organizations urge to get the
results from salesperson whereas the salesperson should hit their monthly sales on
time and accurately, if the salesperson failed to hit the target continuously in few
months, employers reserved the rights to terminate the employee. Conversely,
traditional organizations used to act Regulatory whereas Hire and Fire policy will
never be the options for a traditional organization to behave. Employers are patient
enough and they're willing to spend times to educate, guide, and monitor an
employee's performance.
Based on (Taylor, 1911: Fayol, 1949), the orthodox view in organization theory has
been based predominantly on the metaphors of machine and organism. The metaphor
of a machine underwrites the work of the classical management theorists. According
to Figure 1, it draws the three concepts for understanding the nature and
organization of social science, which is Paradigms, Metaphors, and Puzzle Solving.
Metaphor plays an important role in organization behavior. Metaphor is frequently
regarded as no more than a literary and descriptive device for embellishment, but
more fundamentally is a creative form which generates its effect though a crossing of
images.
Based on Figure 2, by Burrell and Morgan (1979), functionalist paradigm, which is
also named as objective-regulation, is the first paradigm for organizational study. It's
also a strong outline for the study of organizations and assume that rational human
actions and believes one can be understand through the hypothesis testing. Due to
the problem-solving orientation which is leads to rational explanation. It seeks to
provide rational explanations of human affairs and it's pragmatic and deeply rotten
in sociological positivism. Relationships are concrete and can be identified studied
and measured via science. Functionalist paradigm is based on upon the assumption
that society has a concrete, real existence, and a systemic character oriented to
produce an ordered and regulated state of affairs, it encourages an approach to social
theory that focuses upon understanding the role of human begins in society. Behavior
is always seen as being contextually bound in a real world of concrete and tangible
social relationships. The functionalist perspective is primarily regulative and
pragmatic in its basic orientation, concerned with understanding community in a way
which arise useful empirical knowledge.
According to Figure 2, by Burrell and Morgan (1979), interpretative paradigm, which
is also called as subjective-regulation, is the paradigm whether organizations exist in
any real sense beyond the conceptions of social actors, so understanding must be
based on the experience of people who work in them. Basically, individuals seek to
explain the stability of behavior from the selective viewpoint. Interpretative also
explain the behavior from the individual's viewpoint. It emphasized the spiritual
nature of the world. The interpretative social theorist tends to understand the process
through which shared multiples realities arise, are sustained and changed. Like the
functionalist, the interpretative approach is based on the assumption and belief that
there is an underlying pattern and order within the social world. However, the
interpretative theorist looks the functionalist's attempt to institute an objective social
science as an unattainable end.
Question (B): How this learning may be useful to you in the future?
According to (Krech, Cruthfield and Ballachey, 1962), leadership draws as a
personality trait. Leadership has traditionally been seen as a distinctly interpersonal
phenomenon demonstrated in the interactions between leaders and subordinates.
The differential characteristics and career experiences likely to influence the
development of these selected skills also are considered along with the implications
of these observations for leadership theory and for the career development of
organizational leaders. Due to (Jeroen P.J. de Jong, and Deanne N. Den Hartog,
1990), the leadership abstract's purpose is to provide an inventory of leader behaviors
likely to enhance employee's innovative behavior, and including idea generation and
application behavior. In order to be most effective, leaders in an organization must
have a clear vision and understanding of the organizational structure. With the well
observation of Organizational Behavior, individuals can built a good and high quality
of leadership throughout this selected observation. Individuals able to own a good
personality traits, and known well with the own roles and responsibilities of a leader.
Human beings encourage seeking satisfaction in every phase of their life. From
satisfying their basic primal needs and wants, which is hunger, thirst, rest and social
interaction, the complex community today has its benchmark of goals and fulfillment
that should be accomplished by individuals. This selective set of fulfillment and goals
encloses securing a good job, preferably with a good pay and hopefully, with a high
level of job satisfaction. There is no fixed and formal guideline on how to overcome
challenges at work into a motivation for individuals to reach job satisfaction, so that
with the good practicing of Organizational Behavior, individuals are able to well
handle the task pressure, and overcome the variety of challenges. Due to the research
and learning of Organizational Behavior, individuals will be able to present and well-
practiced a positive working attitude towards his own task and job responsibilities.
This selected learning of Organizational Behavior helps individual to create self-
awareness all the times. Individuals will be able to draw and execute his own action
plan, and well known the current position of him, and be aware of where is the next
position he is going to reach.
CONCLUSION
Organizational Behavior is the application of knowledge about how peoples,
individuals, and groups act and react in an organization, in order to reach and
accomplish the highest quality of performances, and dominant results. One way for
an organization to become more innovative is to capitalize on its own employee's to
innovate. All organizations and groups experience the direct relationship between job
satisfaction, and performance. In order to maximize the performance of those within
a system, it is significant important to develop an optimal interpersonal chemistry.
There is more evidence that the teaching and implementation of soft skills should get
higher emphasis in education and organization training process, but it should only
complement hard skills, not substitute for it.