Introduction

Organizational Behavior has included two terms in it. Therefore, these two terms should be detailed first before diving into the title in question.→ Organization: It is a group of people who are collected to work for a common goal with collective efforts. Organization works through two concepts i.e coordination and delegation among its group members. Delegation is necessary to allocate group members with equal work according to their capability and coordination is required to achieve organizational goal with precision.

→ Behavior: It is a verbal or physical response shown by a person as a consequence of the impact of his/her surroundings. Individual Behavior varies in accordance to their mental reactivity to particular circumstances because of their deeply imbibed morals and value system.

→ Organizational Behavior: Organizational Behavior is the observation of individual and/or group Behavior in response to the other individuals or group as a whole. It studies Behavior of people or group to know their attitude towards particular circumstances.

Definition and Meaning of OB

OB is the study of human behaviour;

The study is about behaviour in organisations; and

Knowledge about human behaviour would be useful in improving an organisation’s effectiveness.

Definition

OB refers to the behaviour of individuals and groups within organisations and the interaction between organisational members and their external environments.OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organisation’s effectiveness.

To sum up, OB obviously comprises individual behaviour, group behaviour and of the organisation itself.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

1. A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical foundation. But, O.B. has a multi-interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based on a specific theoretical background. Therefore, it is better reasonable to call O.B. a separate field of study rather than a discipline

2. An Interdisciplinary Approach

Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisciplinary approach to study human behaviour at work. It tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from related disciplines like psychology, soci-ology and anthropology to make them applicable for studying and analysing organizational behaviour.

3. An Applied Science

The very nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the application of various researches to solve the organizational problems related to human behaviour. The basic line of difference between pure science and O.B. is that while the former concentrates of fundamental researches, the latter con-centrates on applied researches. O.B. involves both applied research and its application in organiza-tional analysis. Hence, O.B. can be called both science as well as art.

4. A Normative Science

Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive science discusses only cause effect relationship, O.B. prescribes how the findings of applied researches can be applied to so-cially accepted organizational goals. Thus, O.B. deals with what is accepted by individuals and society

engaged in an organization. Yes, it is not that O.B. is not normative at all. In fact, O.B. is normative as well that is well underscored by the proliferation of management theories.

5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach

Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people working in the organization. It, deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings. O.B. is based on the belief that people have an in-nate desire to be independent, creative and productive. It also realizes that people working in the or-ganization can and will actualize these potentials if they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects performance or workers working in an organization.

6. A Total System Approach

The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the behavioural scientists to analyse human behaviour in view of his/her socio-psychological framework. Man's socio-psychological framework makes man a complex one and the systems approach tries to study his/her complexity and find solution to it.

Importance of Organization Behavior: 1. It builds better relationship by achieving, people, organizational, and

social objectives. 2. It covers a wide array of human resource like Behavior, training and

development, change management, leadership, teams etc. 3. It brings coordination which is the essence of management. 4. It improves goodwill of the organization. 5. It helps to achieve objectives quickly. 6. It makes optimum utilization of resources. 7. It facilitates motivation. 8. It leads to higher efficiency. 9. It improves relations in the organization. 10. It is multidisciplinary in the sense that applies different techniques,

methods, and theories to evaluate the performances.

WHY STUDY OB?OB is a subject which not only makes an individual a better employee of an

organisation but makes him or her a better person and a better citizen. By promoting positive attitudes and creating high tastes, OB contributes towards better quality of life.

OB provides a road map to our lives in organisations. the field of OB uses scientific research to help us understand and predict

organisational life OB helps us influence organisational events. OB helps an individual understand himself/herself and others better. a manager in a business establishment is concerned with getting things

done through delegation. the field of OB is useful for maintaining cordial industrial relations

OB Model

Challenges and Opportunities of Organizational Behavior The following are some of the significant problems:

Improving People Skills Improving Quality and Productivity Managing Workforce Diversity Responding to Globalization Empowering People Coping with Temporariness Stimulating Innovation and Change Emergence of the e-organization Improving Ethical Behavior

Individual Behaviour

Personal Factors- Age, Abilities, Sex, Education, Marital Status, Creativity, Emotional IntelligencePsychological Factors –Personality, Perception, Attitudes, Values, LearningOrganisational Systems- Physical Facilities, Organisation Structure, Leadership, Reward Management, workEnvironmental Factors – Economic, Social and cultural norms, Ethics and social responsibility, Political

Personality

The term personality is derived from the Latin word persona meaning a mask. Personality is a patterned body of habits, traits, attitudes and ideas of an individual as these are organized externally into roles and statuses and as they relate internally to motivation, goals and various aspects of selfhood.According to Robert Park and Earnest Burgess Personality is the sum and organization of those traits which determine the role of the individual in the group.Thus personality is a sum of the ideas, attitudes and values of a person which determine his role in so-ciety and form an integral part of his character.

According to K. Young, “Personality is a …. patterned body of habits, traits, atti-tudes and ideas of an individual, as these are organised externally into roles and statuses, and as they relate internally to motivation, goals, and various aspects of selfhood.”

G. W. Allport defined it as “a person’s pattern of habits, attitudes, and traits which determine his adjustment to his environment.”Personality is acquired by the individual as a result of his participation in group life. As a member of the group he learns certain behavior systems and symbolic skills which determine his ideas, attitudes and social values. These ideas, attitudes and values which an individual holds comprise his personality.

Characteristics of Personality

1. Personality is not related to bodily structure alone. It includes both structure and dynamics. 2. Personality is an indivisible unit. 3. Personality is neither good nor bad. 4. Every personality is unique 5. Personality refers to persistent qualities of the individual. It expresses consistency and regularity. 6. Personality is acquired. 7. Personality is influenced by social interaction. It is defined in terms of behavior.

Determinants of Personality:

Personality is a result of the combination of four factors, i.e., physical environment, heredity, culture, and particular experiences. Here we discuss each factor determining personality separately.

1 Personality and Environment:

Physical environment determines cultural development and to the extent, that culture in turn determines personality, a relationship between personality and environment becomes clear.2. Heredity and Personality:

Heredity is another factor determining human personality. Some of the similarities in man’s personality are said to be due to his common heredity. Every human group inherits the same general set of biologi-cal needs and capacities. These common needs and capacities explain some of our similarities in personality.

3. Personality and CultureAccording to Frank, ‘culture is a coercive influence dominating the individual and moulding his personality by virtue of the ideas, conceptions and beliefs which had brought to bear on him through communal life.” The culture provides the raw material of which the individual makes his life. The traditions, customs, mores, religion, institutions, moral and social standards of a group affect the personality of the group members. From the moment of birth, the child is treated in ways which shape his personality. Every culture exerts a series of general influences upon the individuals who grow up under it.4. Personality and Particular Experiences:

Personality is also determined by another factor, namely, the particu-lar and unique experiences. There are two types of experiences one, those that stem from continuous association with one’s group, second, those that arise suddenly and are not likely to recur. The type of peo-ple who meet the child daily has a major influence on his personality. The personality of parents does more to affect a child’s personality.

Types of Personality

Theories of Personality

1. Type Theory2. Trait Theory3. Psychoanalytical Theory4. Social Learning 5. Humanistic Theory

1.Type Theory

Type theorists have explained personality on the basis of physique(body built) and temperament (psychological). Temperament refers to emotional aspect of the personality like changes in mood, tensions, excitement, etc. A ‘type’ is simply a class of individuals said to share a common collection of characteristics.

Psychological Factors

CG Jung has classified personality on the basis of sociability character as Introverts and Extro-verts.

Introverts are described as people who share characteristics such as shyness, social withdrawal, and tendency to talk less. Because of these characteristics these people appear to be self-centered, un-able to adjust easily in social situations. They are not easily suggestible. They are future oriented, very sensible and rigid in ideas.

Extroverts share a tendency to be outgoing, friendly, talkative, and social in nature. They prefer so-cial contacts, generous, sportive, and courageous.

Ambiverts: There are only few people who are pure introverts or pure extraverts. The remaining majority of people possess both the qualities of introverts and extraverts.Such people are called as Ambiverts. This classification was made by psychologists who came after Jung.

Body BuiltSheldon has proposed a theory of personality correlating temperament and body type. He has di-vided people into three types:

a. Endomorph:

These people will have soft, fat and round body, having predominance of abdominal region. They are sociable and relaxed

b. Ectomorph: These are the people who are tall, thin and flat chested, having the skin, bones and neural structure predominantly. They are shy, reserved and self-conscious (can be compared with asthenic type).c. Mesomorph: These people are well built with heavy and strong muscles appear predominantly. They are physi-cally active, noisy, adventurous by nature

2.Trait Theory Traits are tendencies to behave in relatively consistent and distinctive ways across situations. These are the measurable aspects of personality. The most common way to describe people is to list these traits or qualities possessed by them. For example, friendliness, social, honesty, perseverance, submissiveness, dominance, etc.Allport has identified three types of traits—cardinal, central and secondary. Cardinal traits are pri-mary and they cover all aspects of an individual’s behaviour and attributes.Central traits represent few characteristics which can be used to describe a person such as kindness, honesty, etc. Secondary traits appear in only a relatively small range of situations. These are not strong enough like cardinal traits and hence they are not regarded as integral parts of one’s person-ality.RB Cattell has identified two types of traits. They are source traits and surface traits. Source traits are the underlying structures or sources that determine our behaviour. Surface traits are influenced by source traits and are manifested in our behaviour.

3.Psychoanalytical Theory: This theory was developed by famous psychologist Sigmund Freud. This theory has three major parts: (a) The personality structure which includes Id, Ego and Super ego

Personality structure: Freud constructed a model of personality with three interlock-ing parts: the Id, the Ego and the Super ego.The Id: This is the most primitive part, develops with the birth of the child. It can be thought of as a sort of store house of biologi-cally based urges.It is childish, irrational , never satisfied and always demand-ing. According to Freud the Id operates on a ‘pleasure princi-ple’. The Ego: This part usually develops from the school year of life of the child—as a result of social contacts. The ego consists of elabo-rate ways of behaving and thinking which constitute the exec-utive function of the person.The ego delays motives of Id and channels behaviour into more socially acceptable outlets. It keeps a person working for a living, getting along with people and generally adjusting to the realities of life. Freud characterised the ego as working in the service on the ‘reality principle’.That is, the ego tries to satisfy the id’s urge for pleasure, but only in realistic ways. The Super ego: This part of personality corresponds closely to what we com-monly call the conscience. It consists mainly of prohibitions learned from parents and other authorities. The super ego may condemn as ‘wrong’ certain things which the ego would other-wise do to satisfy the id.However, super ego is guided by ‘ego ideal’- a set of values and moral ideals that are pursued because they are perceived to be worthy. In other words the super ego operates on the ‘moral principal’.

Conclusion:ID seeks pleasure,Ego tests reality andSuper Ego strives for perfection.

4. Social Learning Theory

An approach to personality that emphasizes the interaction between personal traits and environment and their mediation by cognitive processes

Social learning theory has its roots in the behaviorist notion of human behavior as being determined by learning, particularly as shaped by reinforcement in the form of rewards or punishment

5. Humanistic Theory

a) In his theory, Rogers stated that the organism has one basic goal: self-actualization. He expressed his extremely optimistic approach when he explained that all of us have the tendency to grow until we reach “actualization”. According to him, we exist be-cause we need to gratify this need. There are two concept 1.Self 2.Self Actualization.Self- ideas, perceptions, values that characterise “I” or “Me”Self Actualization is the motivating force representing the inherent tendency of the in-dividual to develop all its capabilities in ways to enhance the person.

b) Just as what Rogers theorized, Maslow believed that our ultimate life goal is self-actu-alization. Some characteristics of a self-actualized person are:

Autonomous and independent Have accurate perceptions of reality Is able to accept himself, others and the society Often feels as one with nature Democratic and Appreciative

Personal effectiveness

Personal effectiveness is a branch of the self-help movement dealing with success, goals, and related concepts. Personal effectiveness means making use of all the per-sonal resources at your disposal - talents, skills, energy and time to enable you to achieve both work and life goals.

How you manage yourself impacts directly on your personal effectiveness. Being self-aware, making the most of your strengths, learning new skills and techniques and developing behavioural flexibility are all key to improving your personal perform-ance.

7 basic personal effectiveness skills

1. DeterminationIt allows you to focus only on achieving a specific goal without being distracted by less important things or spontaneous desires. It may be developed with the help of self-discipline exercise.

2. Self-confidenceIt appears in the process of personal development, as a result of getting aware of yourself, your actions and their consequences. Self-confidence is manifested in speech, appearance, dressing, gait, and physical condition. To develop it, you need to learn yourself and your capabilities, gain positive attitude and believe that by performing right actions and achieving right goals you will certainly reach success. Check out these practical tips on how to increase self-confidence.

3. PersistenceIt makes you keep moving forward regardless of emerging obstacles – problems, laziness, bad emotional state, etc. It reduces the costs of overcoming obstacles. It can also be developed with the help of self-discipline exercise.

4. Managing stressIt helps combat stress that arises in daily life from the environment and other people. Stress arises from the uncertainty in an unknown situation when a lack of information creates the risk of negative consequences of your actions. It increases efficiency in the actively changing environment. It requires problem-solving skills.

5. Problem-solving skillsThey help cope with the problems encountered with a lack of experience. It in-creases efficiency by adopting new ways of achieving goals when obtaining a new experience.

6. CreativityIt allows you to find extraordinary ways to carry out a specific action that no one has tried to use. It can lead to a decrease or an increase of costs, but usually the speed of action is greatly increased when using creative tools. It requires the ability to generate ideas.

7. Generating ideasIt helps you achieve goals using new, original, unconventional ideas. Idea is a mental image of an object formed by the human mind, which can be changed before being implemented in the real world. For generating ideas you can use a method of mental maps, which allows you to materialize, visualize and scrutinize all your ideas, which in turn contributes to the emergence of new ideas.

ATTITUDE

A tendency to respond positively or negatively towards a certain idea, object, person, or situation. Attitude influences an individual's choice of action, and responses to challenges, incentives, and rewards (together called stimuli).

“Attitude is a tendency or predisposition to evaluate an object or symbol of that object in a certain way.” -Katz & Scotland 2

Nature of Attitude

Attitude are a complex combination of things we tend to call personality, be-liefs, values, behaviors, and motivations.

An attitude exists in every person’s mind. It helps to define our identity, guide our actions, and influence how we judge people.

Although the feeling and belief components of attitude are internal to a person, we can view a person’s attitude from his or her resulting behavior.

Attitude helps us define how we see situations, as well as define how we be-have toward the situation or object.

Attitude provides us with internal cognitions or beliefs and thoughts about peo-ple and objects.

Attitude cause us to behave in a particular way toward an object or person.Characteristics of attitudes

Attitude can be characterized by:

Affective Cognitive consistency: The degree of consistency between the af-fective and cognitive components influences the attitude—behavior relation-

ship. That is, the greater the consistency between cognition and evaluation, the greater the strength of the attitude-behavior relation.

Strength: Attitudes based on direct experience with the object may be held with greater certainty. Certainty is also influenced by whether affect or cogni-tion was involved in the creation of the attitude. Attitudes formed based on affect are more certain than attitudes based on cognition

Valence: It refers to the degree or grade of likeliness or unlikeliness toward the entity/incident. If a person is fairly unconcerned toward an object then his at-titude has low valence.

Direct Experience: An attitude is a summary of a person’s past experience; thus, an attitude is grounded in direct experience predicts future behavior more accurately. Moreover, direct experience makes more information avail-able about the object itself.

Multiplicity: It refers to the amount of features creating the attitude. For ex-ample, one may show interest in becoming a doctor, but another not only shows interest, but also works hard, is sincere, and serious.

Relation to Needs: Attitudes vary in relative to requirements they serve. Atti-tudes of an individual toward the pictures serve only entertainment needs, but attitudes of an employee toward task may serve strong needs for security, achievement, recognition, and satisfaction.

Major components of attitude are

1.AFFECTIVE COMPONENT: The emotional and feeling segment of attitude. These are verbal statements about feelings. It refers to an individual’s feeling about something or someone. E. g. I like this.

2. BEHAVIOURAL COMPONENT: An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. It reflects observed behaviour. E.g. I want to change my job

3.COGNITIVE COMPONENT: The opinion or belief segment of an attitude. These are evaluative beliefs and are measured by attitude scales by taking about thoughts. E.g. I believe my boss is partial for some employees

Types of Attitudes

1. Job Satisfaction: A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evalua-tion of its characteristics.

2. Job Involvement: The degree to which a person identifies with his or her job, actively participates in it, and considers his or her performance important to self worth.

3. Organizational Commitment: The degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain member-

ship in the organization

Formation of Attitudes

Functions Of Attitudes

. Adjustment Function

The adjustment function directs people toward pleasurable or re-warding objects and away from unpleasant, undesirable ones. It serves the utilitarian concept of maximizing reward and minimizing punishment. We develop favorable attitudes towards things that aid or reward us.

We favor political parties that will advance our economic lot – if we are in business, we favor the party that will keep our taxes low, if un-employed we favor one that will increase social welfare benefits.

We are more likely to change our attitudes if doing so allows us to fulfill our goals or avoid undesirable consequences.

2. Ego Defensive Function

The ego-defensive function refers to holding attitudes that protect our self-esteem or that justify actions that make us feel guilty.

This function involves psychoanalytic principles where people use defense mechanisms to protect themselves from psychological harm. Mechanisms include:

Denial Repression Projection Rationalization

For example a consumer who has made a poor purchase decision or a poor investment may staunchly defend the decision as being correct at the time or as being the result of poor advice from another person. Such ego defensive attitude helps us to protect out self image and of-ten we are unaware of them.

3. Value expression function:

Whereas ego defensive attitudes are formed to protect a person’s self image, value expressive attitudes enable the expression of the per-son’s centrally held values. Central values tend to establish our iden-tity and gain us social approval thereby showing us who we are, and what we stand for.

Some attitudes are important to a person because they express values that are integral to that person’s self concept (i.e. their ideas about who they are).

EX: if you view yourself as a Muslim, you can reinforce that image by adopting Islamic beliefs and values.

EX: We may have a self-image of ourselves as an enlightened con-servative or a militant radical, and we therefore cultivate attitudes that we believe indicate such a core value.

4. Knowledge function:

Some attitudes are useful because they help to make the world more understandable. They help people ascribe causes to events and direct attention towards features of people or situations that are likely to be useful in making sense of them. Consequently, they help to make the world more understandable, predictable and ‘knowable’.

Humans have a need for a structured and orderly world, and there-fore they seek consistency stability definition and understanding. Out of this need develops attitudes toward acquiring knowledge.

Attitudes achieve these goals by making things fit together and make sense. Example:

I believe that I am a good person. I believe that good things happen to good people.

Theories of Attitude

1.Cognitive Dissonance Theory:

Leon Festinger, in the late 1950s proposed the theory of cognitive dis-sonance. Dissonance means an inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive be-tween two or more of his attitudes or between his behaviour and atti-tudes. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfort-able and that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance and hence the discomfort.

Therefore, individuals will seek a stable state where there is a mini-mum of dissonance, because an individual cannot completely avoid dissonance.

The desire to reduce dissonance is determined by three fac-tors:

(i) Importance of the elements creating the dissonance

(ii) The degree of influence the individual believes he has over the ele-ments.

(iii) The rewards that may be involved in dissonance

2. Functional Theory:

The functional theory considers how attitudes and efforts are related to the motivational structure of the individual.

This theory focuses on the meaning of the influence situation in terms of both the kinds of motives that it arouses and The individual’s method of coping and achieving his goals.

Three processes of attitude formation and change:

(i) Compliance

(ii) Identification and

(iii) Internalisation.

Compliance occurs when an attitude is formed or changed in order to gain a favourable impression from other person or group.

Identification occurs when a person forms or changes his attitude be-cause this adoption helps him establish or maintain a positive self defining relationship with the influencing agent.

Internalization involves adopting an attitude because it is congruent with one’s overall value systems.

. Social Judgment Theory:

The social judgment theory was originally formulated by Sherif and Hoveland. This theory attempts to explain how existing attitudes pro-duce distortions of attitude related objects and how these judgments mediate attitude change. Thus, a person’s initial attitude towards an issue, serves as an anchor for the judgment of attitude related stimuli.

The person’s initial attitude on an issue provides a point of reference against which he evaluates other opinions.

These views can be considered in terms of attitudinal continuum and can be considered as comprised of latitudes. The latitude of accep-tance, which is the range of opinions the individual finds acceptable, encompasses the opinion that best characterises his own stand. The attitude of rejection, which is the range of opinions the individual finds objectionable, encompasses the opinion he finds most objectionable. The attitude of non-commitment is the range of opinions that the per-son finds neither acceptable nor unacceptable.