3 Organisational Behaviour: Importance and field of study

Dr. Harpreet Singh Chahal

1. Learning Outcome

2. Introduction

3. Importance of OB

4. Contribution of Various Field in OB

5. Summary

1. Learning Outcome:

After completing this module the students will be able to:
Describe the importance of OB in modern business.
Discuss the contributions of various disciplines in theory building of OB.

2. Introduction

The study of organizational behaviour is one of the most important elements in the management. Organizational behaviour aims at helping managers and supervisors in different ways. It plays an important role in all facets of managing an organization. OB is related with the identification, analysis and applying the knowledge regarding how individuals behave individually and in a group. In addition to this it also aim at analyzing how individuals as well as groups influence the organizational systems. The prime objective of OB is to maintain healthy and sound interpersonal relationships in the organizations. OB focuses on all those factors which have bearing on the individuals and group dynamics in the organization. Literature of OB provides a knowledge of information and techniques which may help in selecting, training and retaining employees in such a manner that both employees and organizations are benefited from each other.

3. Importance of OB

The study of Ob has three facets- Individual behaviour, organisation and the interface between the two. Each individual when join the organisation brings also the set of beliefs, values, attitudes and other personal attributes. These all variables interact with each other in order to establish an organisational setting. It is specifically concerned with work related behaviour of human beings. Organizational behaviour is the study of attitudes and behaviour of individuals and groups working in an organization. Organisation behaviour not only studies individual behaviour but, it also examines the behaviour of group of people working together to achieve a common goal. The main purpose of organisation behaviour is to bring about efficiency in the organisations and improvise the quality of work life and reduce work stress by implementing theories and models of OB. In business world, organisation behaviour has emerged as indispensible field because it helps the managers in developing better understanding of their relationships with the subordinates. Such an understanding can help future managers achieve a successful career in this field. The theory of OB advocates that researchers, managers, psychologists and social scientists must understand the impact of an individual’s personal characteristics, his cultural background, education, social groups and other situational factors on his behaviour. Managers who are leading a team must be able to understand, explain and modify the behaviour of employees working under their supervision. The basic concepts of OB such as value system, emotional intelligence, job design, organisational culture and work environment are the important factors that help in explaining and modifying the human behaviour. Therefore, it becomes very important for the managers to use the theories and models postulated by OB to understand, predict and control the behaviour of employees. Following points will further bring out the importance of OB in the field of management.

Organisation behaviour gives the overall idea: The attitude and behaviour of every individual reflects their job related behaviour and performance. The study of organisation behaviour enables the organisation to forecast in advance that the overall man power and resources are enough to attain the organisation goal or not.
Multidisciplinary in nature: The nature of OB is multidisciplinary. This means that it is helpful for managing all facets of the organisation. Organisation behaviour provides various methods, techniques, theories, and models which can be successfully implemented every discipline.
Focus on individual behaviour: The primary focus of organisational behaviour is to study the behaviour of individuals in an organisational setting. Individual behaviour of an employee includes his responses to the external and internal stimuli. Such responses are reflected in an individual’s psychological system. Individual behaviour aims at explaining the causes of behaviour of human beings so that such knowledge can be used in moulding their behaviour and attitude according to the demand of work. Organisation behaviour is one of the subjects which are used for the betterment of employees at work to increase the productivity.
Motivating the employees: The manager in any business organisation is responsible for getting the work done through others. This is possible only if he can motivate his employees to perform better. OB helps the managers in understanding the concepts and applications of motivation. This understanding enables him to decide what strategies he should adopt to motivate his employees. Organisational behaviour describes the causes of behaviour. It also helps in explaining the weak areas of performance which need improvement and suggest the different methods to improve the performance.
OB is useful in making organisational strategies: organisational behaviour is also useful in making and directing the strategies to achieve short terms as well as long term goals.
Works for the welfare of humans: Organisational behaviour is a humanistic approach which works for welfare of humans working in organisation. OB gives priority to workers’ attitudes, their beliefs, perceptions, abilities, career aspirations, needs and motives, individual differences because all these variables directly or indirectly influence performance of the organisation.
Scientific in nature: In the field of OB, various scientific methods are used for surveying the attitudes and behaviour of individuals as well as groups. The results are also interpreted in a scientific manner. Due to scientific approach, organisation behaviour gets the due importance and is recognised as an important discipline to study.
OB helps in improving interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships: OB helps an individual in gaining a better insight into the intrapersonal and interpersonal relationships. It enables an individual to understand him and others in a better way. Such a practice will considerably improve the interpersonal relationships. Few concepts of OB like perception, attitude, leadership, and transactional analysis and conflict management aim at improving interpersonal behaviour as well as style of functioning in the organisation.
Maintaining cordial industrial relations: The field of OB is very useful in maintaining cordial industrial relations in the organisation. Sometimes employee suddenly go on strike, the basic issue behind the same may not be demand for more wages, promotions, higher bonus. Reluctance of management to talk with the union members may provoke them to call a strike. In other words, generally personal reasons as compared to the technical are majorly responsible for the restrained relationships between management and workers. OB is very useful in understanding the causes behind the problems, analyse the course of action required and control its consequences. It serves as a basis for modern human resource management.
Usefulness of OB in career management: The field of OB is very useful in building one’s career in the field of management. It is very helpful for the one who want to learn how to understand, predict, describe and control the behaviour of others and want to apply this knowledge in a useful manner.
Skill Development: An important requirement for entering into, surviving, and succeeding in the modern workplace is to have appropriate skills. The knowledge of theories and models of organizational behaviour have gained importance in the modern workplace because of their relevance in developing interpersonal skills of employees. Interpersonal skills generally refer to skills required to motivate others, communicating effectively, cross cultural abilities and leadership skills.
Enhancing Organizational and Individual Effectiveness: An important goal of organizational behaviour is to improve organizational effectiveness. People-oriented management practices enable workers to use their wisdom and to receive appropriate training. If a person develops knowledge about the concepts of how to improve interpersonal communication, conflict resolution and teamwork, he or she will become high performer and therefore the personal effectiveness will lead to organisational effectiveness.

4. Contribution of Various Field in OB

Organizational behaviour is an interdisciplinary concept because the theories, models, concepts and practices of OB have been derived from physical sciences as well as social sciences. The main features of organizational behaviour are primarily based on behavioural sciences. In fact, OB is also called as behavioural science. Ob is the synthesis of many academic disciplines and theories of OB are built upon the number of other scientific and behavioural disciplines. The major disciplines contributing in the field of OB are psychology, sociology, political science, anthropology, economics, science, technology and environmental sciences. Contributions of different disciplines in OB are explained as below:

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1) Psychology: It refers to the study of understanding the behaviour of an individual. The word psychology is derived from the Greek word ‘psyche’ which means soul or spirit. Psychology has contributed a lot towards the theories of learning, personality, perception, motivation, attitude measurement, training process stress management, conflict management, individual decision making, leadership effectiveness, job design, job satisfaction etc. Study of these concepts is very useful in improving interpersonal skills, attitude formation and change, adopting appropriate leadership style and developing positive approach towards organisational systems. Psychological testing is the most important contribution of psychology in the field of OB. Many organisations rely largely on the psychological tests to select new employees, measuring personality traits and aptitude. Study of all variables influencing the behaviour of an individual at workplace is derived from industrial psychology. In industrial psychology enables us to examine employees’ behaviour by judging their working conditions, stress, conflicts and other related variables. Some of the important areas of psychology which have contributed in Ob are: Educational psychology Experimental psychology Consumer psychology Industrial psychology Counselling psychology

2) Sociology: Sociology refers to the study of social systems in which individuals exercise their roles towards other human beings. Sociology has contributed in the study of group behaviour. It studies the behaviour of the individuals towards their fellow human beings. Literature of sociology has enriched the OB discipline through the study of interpersonal relationships, group dynamics, leadership, and communication, formation of groups, group roles and conflict management.

3) Social psychology: social psychology combines the concepts of both psychology and sociology. This study explains the influence of people on one another. The most important area of social psychology contributing in the OB discipline is change management. How to reduce the change? Why do people resist the change? How to overcome the resistance? Such questions are successfully addressed by the change management theory of social psychology. In addition to this social psychology is very helpful in developing effective communication patterns, group processes and effectiveness of group-decision making.

4) Anthropology: Anthropology is the study of relationship between the man and the environment. Particularly anthropologists study the culture because; it has significant influence on human behaviour. Culture guides human beings about how to behave and what to learn. Culture is the set of ideas and believes shared by a group. It can also be referred as learned behaviour. Every organisation develops a distinct culture. Some organisations develop closed culture, become secretive, publically introvert do not allow participation of employees. On the other hand, some organisations follow open culture. Such organisations owe their responsibility towards the environment and society. They prefer participative style of management. Culture of the organisation influences the behaviour of an employee in many ways. His judgement of good or bad, right or wrong, style of functioning and everything else is culture driven. Anthropology is the study of humans and their societies in the past and present. Its main components, social anthropology and cultural anthropology describe the workings of societies around the world. Linguistic anthropology investigates the influence of language in social life. Biological or physical anthropology which are related with long-term development of the human organism. Anthropology shows the understanding in the effects of cultural on the behaviour of individuals and groups working in the organizations. It studies the effects of value systems, norms, sentiments, cohesion and interaction. Anthropology has influenced the employees’ behaviour through motivation, interaction, goal setting, decision making, coordinating and controlling.

5) Political science: political science is the study of behaviour which is use to study the behaviour of individual or group in a political environment. Political science is a social science discipline which focuses on the systems of government, analysis of political activity and political behaviour. It is related with the theory and practice of politics which is applied majorly for distribution of power and resources. Political scientists have been engaged in revealing the relationships underlying political events and conditions, and these revelations have attempted to construct general principles about the way the world of politics works. Political science has contributed a lot in the theory building of organizational behaviour. It helps in gaining an insight about how and why people acquire power, their involvement in political behaviour, decision making, conflict, the behaviour of interest groups and coalition formation in an organisational context. Specific principles of political science which can be clearly observed in organizational behaviour are delegation of authority and responsibility, conflict resolution and stress management. In organizations, people prefer concentration of power and leadership recognition. Political Science helps in the management of men in an effective and efficient manner. Political perspectives are analyzed for moulding and modifying the behaviour of employees at work.

Source: Aswathappa, “Organisational behaviour”, Himalaya publishing house.

6) Other Disciplines: Apart from the above mentioned disciplines, there are some other disciplines of study which contribute in the theory building of organizational behaviour. These disciplines are explained as under:

a) Economics:

Economics is the study of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. In organizational behaviour has learned a lot from economic variables such as labor market dynamics, productivity, demand and supply forecasting, cost benefit analysis, marginal utility analysis, human resource planning and decision making. The economic conditions of a country also have a significant impact on organizational behaviour. If psychological and economic expectations of employee are fulfilled then they are satisfied and become high performers. Economic systems include financial, commercial and industrial activities which also have great influences on the behaviour of the people. The consumption pattern in society also monitors the behaviour of employees. Consumption oriented society witnesses a different employee behaviour.

b) Science:

Science is systematized knowledge. The scientific methods attempt to produce information which is helpful in achieving the objectives on the basis of a person’s opinions or preferences. Scientific methods are the backbone of organizational behaviour. Organizational behaviour is based on the systematized study of facts, behaviour, their relationships and predictions. New scientific methods like observation of facts and behaviour, explanation of facts and relationships and coming to conclusion thereon have become important bases of the study of organizational behaviour. The cause and effect relationship have been established in organizational behaviour through science. The verification of the relationship and its quantification has included to the importance of organizational behaviour. In the field of OB, we attempt to investigate new facts, tests theories, hypothesis and models. Personal bias, superfluous conclusions and whimsical approaches are avoided in OB. A systematized form of inquiry is used for the study of various problems.

c) Technology:

The technological development has significantly affected the behaviour of the employees at work. Modern time is the age of computerization. It has come within the framework of the model of organizational behaviour. The study of technological development has become very important for understanding the organizational behaviour because people today are more influenced by the recent technological developments. Technology has changed production activities, distribution and storage activities, decision making, leadership patterns, communication patterns, training and development to a great extent. To meet out with the technological development people need to be educated and trained accordingly. Unskilled or irresponsible employees will stand nowhere in the modern innovative age. Therefore, it can be said that technological development leads to effective work behaviour, improved organizational culture and helpful work environment.

d) Engineering:

Engineering also influences the study of organizational behaviour. Some methods of engineering which are also used in the field of organizational behaviour are work measurement, productivity measurement, work flow analysis, work design, job design and labor relations, theory of ergonomics etc. These contributions have been very helpful to achieve objectives of the organizations. Organizational behaviour is depending much on the engineering particularly in case of technical jobs.

5. Summary

The main purpose of organisation behaviour is to bring about efficiency in the organisations and improvise the quality of work life and reduce work stress by implementing theories and models of OB. In business world, organisation behaviour has emerged as indispensible field because it helps the managers in developing better understanding of their relationships with the subordinates. Such an understanding can help future managers achieve a successful career in this field. The theory of OB advocates that researchers, managers, psychologists and social scientists must understand the impact of an individual’s personal characteristics, his cultural background, education, social groups and other situational factors on his behaviour. Managers who are leading a team must be able to understand, explain and modify the behaviour of employees working under their supervision. The basic concepts of OB such as value system, emotional intelligence, job design, organisational culture and work environment are the important factors that help in explaining and modifying the human behaviour. Therefore, it becomes very important for the managers to use the theories and models postulated by OB to understand, predict and control the behaviour of employees.

Learn More

Stephen Robins (2012). Organizational Behavior. New Delhi-110092: Prentice Hall publications.
Aswathappa, K. (2003). Organisational Behaviour. Himalaya Publishing House.
Nair, S. R. (2010). Organisational Behaviour (text & Cases). Himalaya Publishing House.
Prasad, L. M. (2014). Organizational Behaviour. Sultan Chand & Sons.
Greenberg, J. (2003). Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Miner, J. B. (2002). Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. Oxford University Press.
Pareek, U. (2014), Understanding Organisational Behaviour, Oxford University Press (Revised and Updated by Sushama Khanna)
http://www.bput.ac.in/lecture_notes/ob.pdf
Ivancevich, J.M., Konopaske, R. and Matteson, M. (2012), Organisational Behaviour and Management, Mc Graw Hill.
Moshal, B.S. (2015), Organisational Behaviour, Anne Books.