ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR PROCESS
O.B. studies O.B. at work. Thus, O.B. can be the behaviour of the members of the organization towards each other, toward the organization, towards the customers or clients and toward the society at large. Human behaviour is often caused. Psychologists have taken it as axiomatic that a cause must priced its effect. For example, a Professor, who enters the classroom after having a hot exchange and quarrel with his subordinate, may reveal bitterness to his students in the class. Similarly when a manager comes to office after quarreling with his wife in the morning, may possible exhibit unpleasant behaviour like rebuking for pretty things to his subordinates. In sum and substance, O.B. is the behaviour of people with each other in an organizational framework. It follows cause-effects process and affects both interpersonal relations and managerial effectiveness in the organization.
Organizational behaviour process is illustrated with an imaginary cause-effect model as shown above.
In Fig. 1.3, circle represents organizational framework. It contains three levels of managers, viz., Top Level Managers (TM), Middle Level Managers (MM) and Lower Level Managers (LM) and people denoted by P. The hierarchy of managers is indicated by the triangle within the overall organizational framework. The bold line and dotted line of triangle represent managerial effectiveness and human relations respectively.
The diagram exhibits that behaviour is caused, or say, behaviour has a cause-effect relationship. In other words, the behaviour of one individual serves as cause for another's behaviour. The behaviour of another individual, thus, becomes effect. For example, B1 behaviour top level management (TM) toward its people (P) becomes cause for B3 behaviour (i.e., effect) of the people. Similarly, B3 is the cause of B4 effect. This goes on and on in the whole organizational framework. Finally, the diagram shows a positive relationship between behaviour, human relations and managerial effectiveness in the organization. To be precise, better the human relations maintained among the people, greater would be the positive behaviour and in turn, greater would be managerial effectiveness and vice versa. Thus, it becomes clear that O.B. follows a cause-effect process.
Fig. 1.3: Cause-Effect Process of O.B.
Models of Organizational Behaviour
Organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives and social objectives.
It can be defined as the understanding, prediction and management of human behavior in organizations. OB is related to other disciplines like Organizations Theory, Organization Development and Personnel/Human Resources Management.
Henry Mintzberg classified management roles depending on the extent of interpersonal relationships, the transfer of information and decision-making involved in the job. Managers need certain skills and competencies to successfully achieve their goals. The most significant management skills are the technical, human and conceptual skills. People develop generalizations by observing, sensing, asking and listening to various people around them. They use these generalizations to explain or predict the behavior of others.
A systematic approach to the study of behavior will bring to light important facts and relationships that provide the basis for more accurate understanding, prediction and control of behavior. It is important to know how a person perceives a situation to predict his behavior. There are differences as well as consistencies that can be seen in people's behavior.
An overall model of organizational behavior can be developed on the basis of three theoretical frameworks. They are the cognitive, behavioristic and social learning frameworks. The cognitive approach gives more credit to people than the other approaches and is based on the expectancy, demand and incentive concepts. Edward Tolman has made significant contributions to this approach.
Behavioristic framework focuses on observable behaviors. Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson were the pioneers of the behavioristic theory. They explained human behavior on the basis of the connection between stimulus and response. The social learning approach incorporates the concepts and principles of both the cognitive and behavioristic frameworks. In this approach, behavior is explained as a continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral and environmental determinants. The organization behavior model (S-O-B-C) has incorporated the best aspects from the three frameworks of human behavior. In this model, the letters S-O-B-C represent situation, organism, behavior and consequences, respectively.
In modern times, managers confront many challenges and opportunities. The greatest challenges among all of them are the result of environmental changes occurring due to globalization, information technology, total quality and diversity and ethics. O.B. models help managers to face these challenges and take appropriate actions. The four models of O.B. are the autocratic model, the custodial model, the supportive model and the collegial model. The autocratic model is based on power. It works well especially in times of an organizational crisis.
The custodial model of O.B. takes into consideration the security needs of employees. A custodial environment gives a psychological reassurance of economic rewards and benefits. The supportive model of O.B. seeks to create supportive work environment and motivate employees to perform well on their job. In the collegial model, the management nurtures a feeling of partnership with its employees and makes the employees feel themselves as an asset to the organization.
