ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR QS.1: EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING ORGANISATIONAL BAHAVIOUR?

Organizational Behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have a behavior within an organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organizations effectiveness. Organizational studies encompass the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and level of analysis. The environment of business is ever changing. Because of this fact, the role of the manager has become increasingly more important. With recent increase in workload and responsibilities, managers have found that their importance in a working environment has also increased. In order to help managers and supervisors learn more about the complexity of the new workforce many different areas of study have been developed. One area of study that has increased in importance over the years is the study of organizational behavior. In order to understand the importance of organizational behavior, we must first define exactly what organizational behavior is and what it covers. Organizational behavior is the study of attitudes and behavior of individuals and groups in organizations. Organizational behavior tries to examine different types of workers in all types of different situations. Organizational behavior aims to help managers and supervisors in many ways. It plays a role in all facets of an organization. Finance, marketing, and production are just departments within an organization. It studies the human behavior within the organization and the relationship between human behavior and the organization. There are many reasons for the importance of organizational behavior in an organization. 1. Most people are born and educated in organizations, acquire most of the material possessions from organizations, and die as members of organizations. In addition, we can be consumers, employees, or investors in an organization. 2. The study of organizational behavior can greatly clarify the factors that affect how managers manage. 3. The value of organizational behavior is that it isolates important aspects of the managers job and offers specific perspectives on the human side of management. 4. An understanding of organizational behavior can play a vital role in managerial work. Another key organizational behavior that directly affects competitiveness in the marketplace is the management of critical variables and performance metrics. Measurement is vital. The trick is to know which variables to measure. When you want to ensure that the product you are shipping is of the highest quality, should you inspect a sample of the product just prior to shipping or is it more prudent to inspect the work-inprocess inventory at key locations throughout the process? The later would involve critical variables and would discover defects sooner minimizing the production of defective material. Todays business world is increasing in complexity every day. Not only does the company end up growing, so do their employees. In order for a company to be successful, management must try to develop employee to management relationships. Studying organizational behavior can help companies better understand employees which will eventually lead to a better more stable company. QS.2 DEFINE LEARNING. DESCRIBE VARIOUS LEARNING THEORIES? The formal definition of learning describes the process as a relatively permanent change in behavior based on an individuals interactional experience with its environment. As such, learning is an important form of personal adaption. Learning is the lifelong process of transforming information and experience into knowledge, skills, behaviors and attitudes.

1. Classical conditioning: Classical conditioning is a reflective or automatic type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus. Classical conditioning is also known as pavolian conditioning based on Ivan Pavlov theories a Russian scientist. Its important to note that classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex. In Pavlovs classic experiment with dogs, the neutral signal was the sound of a tone and the naturally occurring reflex was salivating in response to food. By associating the neutral stimulus with the environment stimulus (the presentation of food) the sound of the tone alone could produce the salivating response. In reality people do not respond exactly like Pavlovs dogs. There are however numerous real world applications for classical conditioning. 2. Operant conditioning: B.F. stinners entire system is based on operant conditioning. The organism is in the process of operating on the environment, which in ordinary terms means it is bouncing around its world, doing what it does. During this operating, the organism encounters a special kind of stimulus called a reinforcing stimulus, or simply a reinforce. This special stimulus has the effect of increasing the operant i.e., the behavior occurring just before the reinforce. This is operant conditioning: the behavior is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms tendency to repeat the behavior in the future. 3. Social learning: social learning refers to the sociological process of training individuals in a manner generally approved by the society in general and peer groups within society. The concept is stronger than that of socialization which refers to the process of inheriting norms, customs, and ideologies. This theory uses the principles of social learning theory, specifically observational theory. At a young age children would have to identify with one gender to adopt vicarious learning, which is unlikely, and so gender behavior can be adopted by children at an older age. The study of brander, Ross and Ross showed that boys are more likely to imitate the behavior of males while girls re more likely to copy females. There are two more important issues in social learning: a. Relevance: Behavior that is seen as relevant is likely to be imitated, such as gender behavior. b. Identification: the learning will only occur if the learner identifies the model, which social learning theory suggests happens when the individual finds some similarity between themselves and the model such as gender. 4. Cognitive learning: Not all cases of learning can easily be captured by classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Learning would be extremely efficient if we had to rely completely on conditioning for all our learning. Human beings can learn efficiently by observation, taking instruction, and imitating the behavior of others. Cognitive learning is the result of listening, watching, touching or experiencing. Cognitive learning is a powerful mechanism that provides the means of knowledge, and goes well beyond simple imitation of others. Cognitive learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skill by mental or cognitive processes the procedures we have for manipulating information in our heads. Cognitive processes include creating mental representations of physical objects and events, and other forms of information processing. 5. Programmed learning: Programmed learning, educational technique characterized by self-paced, selfadministered instruction presented in logical sequence and with much repetition of concepts. Programmed learning received its major impetus from the work done in the mid-1950s by the American behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner and is based on the theory that learning in many areas is best accomplished by small, incremental steps with immediate reinforcement, or reward; for the learner. This technique can be applied through texts, so-called teaching machines, and computer-assistedinstruction. Transformational leaders use organizational learning to achieve continuous performance improvements in their organization. Meanwhile underperforming organizations dont even have processes in place to learn from their mistakes. They keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. This leads to recurring performance issues 2

such as product quality problems, delayed product introductions and operational inefficiencies that diminish the return on investment. QS.3: DESCRIBE THE PERSONALITY TRIATS THAT INFLUENCE THE BEHAVIOR OF PEOPLE WORKING IN ORGANIZATIONS? While intelligence is really important, personality is more likely to affect employees attitudes and behavior. What is personality? Personality is the stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment and how he or she feels, thinks, and behaves. Personalities are the dimensions and traits that are determined by genetic predisposition and ones long -term learning history. The personality of an employee and organizational behavior are inter-related and inter-dependent. Organizational behavior of the employees depends upon the attitude and personality of the individual. Certain factors that need consideration to understand organizational behavior of employees may be mentioned as follows: 1. Locus of control: There are three types of locus of control: a. Internal Locus of Control: Individual believes that his/her behavior is guided by his/her personal decisions and efforts. b. External Locus of Control: Individual believes that his/her behavior is guided by fate, luck, or other external circumstances c. Affected attributes: Motivation, performance, leadership etc. 2. Need Pattern: a. Achievement: need to achieve goals b. Affiliation: need for co-operation c. Autonomy: need for freedom to make decisions d. Dominance: desire to exercise authority 3. Introversion v/s Extroversion: a. Introverts: turns inwards, are quiet, unsocial etc. b. Extroverts: turn outward, lively, active etc. 4. Authoritarianism: Love authority, rigid, judgmental, lack of tact etc. 5. Machiavellianism (Niccolo Machiavelli): Tendency to manipulate others for their own goals, pragmatic, try to gain control etc. 6. Self Esteem: Indicator of capability, importance, success, etc. 7. Self-monitoring: Ability to adjust with external factors 8. Risk Taking: Time taken for decision making, subsequent actions for moderate risks 9. Work-Ethics Orientation: Balance between work and home results in a rational manager 10. Agreeableness: Defers to others, cooperative, trusting, not agonistic etc. 11. Openness to experience: Interested in novel things vs. comfortable with the familiar, adventurous, curios, artistic etc. 12. Conscientiousness: reliable, follows through, responsible, organized, dependable, persistent. QS.4: DEFINE THE TERM MOTIVATION. EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING THEORIES: A. MASLOWS NEED HIERARCHY THEORY B. TWO FACTOR THEORY Motivation is a force or an impulse which makes a man moves physically and mentally to achieve certain goals. High motivation leads to high job satisfaction and in turn to higher efficiency. The processes that account for an individuals intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal are motivation. 3

The key elements of motivation are intensity, direction and persistence. Michael Julius defines motivation a process of stimulating the self or sub-ordinates to get into the desired course of action. Dublin describes motivation as a force or impulse that moves a person to start and continue action to accomplish a certain goal. March and Simon outline motivation as a function of needs and drives that makes a person take action to achieve the desired goals i.e. performance = (ability X motivation). All motivation starts with an unsatisfied need. The urge to satisfy the need results in the drive which continues till the goal is achieved. A. MASLOWS NEED HIERACHY THEORY (MNH) : Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, found that work motivation arises from the hierarchy of needs. These needs can be organized on five different levels. As one need is satisfied, the next level comes into play. Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are inborn; having evolved over tens of thousands of years. MNH of needs helps to explain how these needs motivate us all. MNH states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself. Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.

The first two levels i.e. the physiological need and the security needs can be considered as lower order needs, while the next three levels can be considered as higher order needs. The lower needs are primarily satisfied externally by economic rewards. While the higher order needs are satisfied internally through social and psychological rewards like acceptance, job satisfaction, etc. The needs identical are identified are inter-related, inter-dependent and overlapping. Each higher level need emerges before the lower level need disappears.

B. FREDRICK HERZBERGS TWO FACTOR THEORY (TFT): According to Herzberg, all needs and their satisfaction do not motivate employees. This can be considered a modification of Maslows theory. Herzberg says that man has two sets of needs; one as an animal to avoid pain, and two as a human being to grow psychologically. He illustrated this also through biblical example: 4

Adam after his expulsion from Eden having the need for food, warmth, shelter, safety, etc. the hygiene needs; and Abraham, capable and achieving great things from through self-development the motivational needs. Herzbergs ideas relate strongly to modern ethical management and social responsibility, and very directly to the psychological contract. Herzbergs ideas were developed several decades before proper consideration and description of these more recent and important organizational perspectives. There are two sets of factors in motivating a person: motivating factors and maintenance factors. Maintenance Factors (extrinsic/dissatisfiers) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Personal life Salary Job security Working conditions Company policy and administration Quality of supervision Inter-personal relationships 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Motivating Factors (intrinsic/satisfiers) Status Recognition Advancement Responsibility Possibility and growth Achievement Work itself

Motivational factors are directly related with job and are content-oriented Their presence highly motivates the person, but their absence does not cause dissatisfaction Maintenance factors are context-oriented Their presence does not significantly motivate the person, but their absence can cause dissatisfaction. Their presence prevents dissatisfaction and maintains a certain minimum level of motivation and affect performance level. BETWEEN AUTOCRATIC STYLE AND PARTICIPATIVE STYLE OF

QS.5: DIFFERENCIATE LEADERSHIP?

We define leadership as the ability to influence through communication the activities of others, individually or as a group, toward the accomplishment of worthwhile, meaningful, and challenging goals. This defin ition indicates that one cannot be a leader unless there are people (e.g. Coworkers, followers) to be led. A. Autocratic style: This leadership style is very dominating, and this person makes every decision in the building. This kind of leadership is concerned with doing everything in the building their way, regardless of the outcome. He/she will be on every committee, and will be in command of all meetings. Generally, the organization is very orderly because of the fear of the leader. When you work under this kind of leadership everyone will know their role. The leader will make sure everyone knows what is expected of them, and they will have little or no input on their role. This is because the leader will dictate all roles in the building. Procedures in the building will have to be followed by all staff. Workers who violate rules will be punished according to the policies of the organization. Staff member have to be very obedient to the leader or risk losing their job. Most procedures and rules were crafted by the leader, and he/she do not deviate from them. Both staff and parents may not feel they are a part of the school, because the leader dictates the operation of everything. The many talents and skills of the staff may not be utilized because of the dominate style of the leader. Staff members normally don't have a buy-in attitude. Sometimes this has led to tension in the organization, and workers leaving the organization. B. Participative style: The participative leadership style is completely opposite of the authoritarian style. This leader encourages input from staff and parents. This style normally has led to "buy-in" from all parties. This style allows decision to be made based on what the majority decides. These leaders generally have an open-door policy for workers and 5

staff. He/she will not serve on all committees in the organization, but will have a representative on all committees. Because of the respect that exists, committees will still solicit the leaders' opinion. This kind of leader will know how to utilize his or her staff and get the most productivity from them. This style generally involves the organization working as a team, which empowers the staff to make decisions. Everyone in the organization generally is supportive of this kind of leadership style. These organizations are generally very positive because everyone is working on the same page. Most importantly, the participative leadership style has a positive effect on the workers and staff in the organization. Generally, staffs discipline problems are fewer, because workers respect an administration that seems concerned about them. The positive atmosphere motivates the workers to perform to the best of their ability, which eliminates much of the negative behavior. Workers will be encouraged to participate in clubs, organization and the overall organizational functions. QS.6: DESCRIBE TYPES OF COMMUNICATION ON THE BASIS OF DIRECTION? Managers must provide for organizational communication in four distinct directions, downward, upward, horizontal and diagonal. The manager who understands and examines the formal flow of communication is better able to appreciate the barriers to effective organizational communication, as well as the means for overcoming them.

1. Downward Communication: Downward communication flows from individuals in higher levels of the organization to those at lower levels. The most common forms of downward communication are job instructions, official memos, policy statements, procedures, posters, manuals, and company publications. In many organizations, downward communication often is both inadequate and inaccurate, and employees typically receive such tremendous amounts of 6

downward communication that they selectively decide which messages to fully receive, which to partially receive, and which to disregard. The key aspect of downward communication is that subordinates tend to react more effectively to those matters they judge to be of the greatest personal interact to the boss. Those downward communications that match subordinates impressions of their bosss preference are given priority for follow up action. Managers must be aware of this selective screening of downward communication. Having clear principles and clear organizational goals will ensure that the employees pay attention to those messages that affect organizational performance. 2. Upward Communication: A high-performing organization needs effective upward communication as much as it needs effective downward communication. Effective upward communication getting messages from employees to management is difficult to achieve, especially in larger organizations. Upper-levels managers often dont respond to messages sent from lower-level employees and lower-level employees are often reluctant to communicate upward especially when the message contains bad news. However, upward communication is often necessary for sound decision making. Widely used upward communication devices include suggestion boxes, group meetings, and participative decision making, and appeal or grievance procedures. In the absence of these flows, employees find ways to adapt to nonexistent or inadequate upward communication channels. Effective upward communications are important because they provide employees with opportunities to be heard. It may be difficult for some managers to relinquish control over the upward communication channel, but the alternative not getting valuable information from employees could be far worse. 3. Horizontal Communication: Often overlooked in the designs of most organizations is provision for formal horizontal flow of communication. Although vertical communication flows are the primary considerations in organizational design, effective organizations also need horizontal communication. Horizontal communication for e.g., between production and sales departments in a business organization and between different departments within a hospital, is necessary for the coordination of diverse organizational functions. Managers who recognize the need for horizontal communication can appoint committees of representatives from various departments. The use of routinely scheduled interdepartmental staff meetings can facilitates horizontal communication. The more interdependent the work of the departments, the greater is the need to formalize horizontal communication. Of the four formal communication channels, horizontal communication tends to be the most effective. Messages are often sent and accurately received, and feedback is frequently obtained. Many companies are using the technology to share best practices information across departments and divisions. Managers should determine if they could be sharing information more effectively among groups. 4. Diagonal Communication: Diagonal communication cuts across different functions and levels in an organization. Diagonal communication occurs between officers who are at different levels of authority and who serve under different commands. This type of communication is quick in tactical situations which require the quick transfer of information and advice or orders. Diagonal communication is usually verbal. Communication that takes place between a manager and employees of other workgroups is called diagonal communication. It generally does not appear on organizational chart. For instance - To design a training module a training manager interacts with Operation personnel to enquire about the way they perform their task.

5. Conclusion: An organizations formal structure can have impacts on its flow of communication. The four basic patterns of formal communication i.e. upward, downward, horizontal and diagonal, are spelled out by the relationships depicted in an organization chart. However, communication involves people as well as structure. Managers and employees tend to adapt and modify the formal channels to suit their needs, goals and time. In some cases, informal channels emerge to supplant the formal channels.