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Unit 1

Introduction
Organization Behavior Concept
Understanding one individual's behavior is a challenging problem in and of itself. The
work of organizations gets done through the behavior of people, individually or
collectively, on their own or in collaboration with technology. Thus, central to the
management task is the management of organizational behavior. To do this, there must
be the capacity to understand the patterns of behavior at individual, group, and
organization levels, to predict what behavior responses will be elicited by different
managerial actions, and finally to use understanding and prediction to achieve control.
Organizational behavior is the study of what people do in an organization and how that
behavior affects the performance of the organizations. It is an academic discipline
concerned with describing, understanding, predicting, and controlling human behavior in
an organizational environment.

According to S.P. Robbins, "Organizational Behavior (OB) is a field of study that

investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior
within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization's effectiveness."
Like other inputs into an enterprise, the human beings employed by that enterprise
constitute a resource -- in this case, a human resource. Other resources must be
managed to ensure both the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. It takes
economists, accountants, and financial analysts to understand and utilize the firm's
monetary resources. Similarly, technologists, engineers, and trades people serve to help
management utilize the firm's material and production facilities efficiently. It is the role
of the Human Resource Manager, and others, skilled in the analysis of human interaction
with the work environment, to assist management in the proper utilization of human
resources. The study of Organizational Behavior facilitates the process of explaining,
understanding, predicting, maintaining, and changing employee behavior in an
organizational setting.

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Figure: Organizational Behavior Elements

In summary, to understand behavior in the organization, we must examine the
interaction of individuals with the various factors the individuals encounter in that
organizational setting. The behaviors encountered in the organization are, of course,
very diverse. The diversity of personalities interacting with varied organizational
environments results in considerable variation in associated behavior. The employees of
the firm are resources -- human resources. Just as accountants provide the expertise the
firm requires to best manage its financial resources, so the Organizational Behavior
specialist provides the expertise needed to manage the firm's human resources.

Figure: Individual Behavior in the Organizational Setting

The Historical Evolution of Organizational Behavior

Today, Organizational Behavior is considered as an important aspect in organizational
effectiveness. However, OB as a distinct field of study was emerged at 1940s. Prior to
this, before the sixteenth century, Greek philosopher Plato wrote about the essence of
leadership for job satisfaction. Aristotle addressed the topic of persuasive
communication in organization. The writings of 16th century Italian philosopher Niccol
Machiavelli laid the foundation for contemporary work on organizational power and
politics.

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In 1776, Adam Smith advocated a new form of organizational structure which is based
on the division of labour. One hundred years later, German sociologist Max Weber wrote
about rational organizations and initiated discussion of charismatic leadership. Soon
after, Frederick Winslow Taylor, also known as father of scientific management,
introduced the systematic use of goal setting and rewards to motivate employees. In the
1920s, Australian-born Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his colleagues conducted
productivity studies at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant in the United States.
Although the above contributions traces its roots back to Max Weber and earlier
scientists, organizational behavioral studies is generally considered to have begun as an
academic field with the advent of scientific management of F.W. Taylor. In the
Taylorism, rationalizing the organization with specific sets of instructions and timemotion studies, individual compensation system can lead lead to the increased
productivity and efficiency.
After the First World War, the focus of organizational studies shifted to analysis of how
human factors and psychology affected organizations, a transformation propelled by the
identification of the Hawthorne Effect of Elton Mayo. This Human Relations Movement
focused on teams, motivation, and the actualization of the goals of individuals within
organizations, the Prominent scholars for it were, Frederick Herzberg, Abraham Maslow,
David McClelland, and Victor Vroom, those have contributed in motivational theories.
The Second World War further shifted the field, as the invention of large-scale logistics
and operations research and the management science. Interest grew in theory and
methods to the sciences of management rather that art, including systems theory, the
study of organizations with a complexity theory perspective and complexity strategy.
The major contributors were Herbert Alexander Simon and James G. March.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the field was strongly influenced by social psychology also and the emphasis
in academic study was on quantitative research. An explosion of theorizing, much of it at Stanford
University and Carnegie Mellon, produced Bounded Rationality, Informal Organization, Contingency
Theory, Resource Dependence, Institutional Theory, and Population Ecology theories, among many
others.
Starting in the 1980s, cultural explanations of organizations and change became an important part of
study. Qualitative methods of study became more acceptable, informed by anthropology, psychology
and sociology.

Specific Contributions
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915):
Taylor was the first person who attempted to study human behavior at work using a
systematic approach. Taylor studied human characteristics, social environment, task,
physical environment, capacity, speed, durability, cost and their interaction with each
other. His overall objective was to reduce and/or remove human variability. Taylor
worked to achieve his goal of making work behaviors stable and predictable so that
maximum output could be achieved. He relied strongly upon monetary incentive
systems, believing that humans are primarily motivated by money. He faced some
strong criticism, including being accused of telling managers to treat workers as
machines without minds, but his work was very productive and laid many foundation
principles for modern management study.
Elton Mayo:

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Elton Mayo, an Australian national, headed the Hawthorne Studies at Harvard. In his
classic writing in 1931, Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization, he advised
managers to deal with emotional needs of employees at work.
Mary Parker Follett:
Mary Parker Follett was a pioneer woman management consultant in the industrial
world, which was mainly dominated by males. As a writer, she provided analyses on
workers as having complex combinations of attitude, beliefs, and needs. She told
managers to motivate employees on their job performance, apull rather than a "push"
strategy.
Douglas McGregor:
Douglas McGregor proposed two theories/assumptions, which are very nearly the
opposite of each other, about human nature based on his experience as a management
consultant. His first theory was Theory X, which is pessimistic and negative; and
according to McGregor it is how managers traditionally perceive their workers. Then, in
order to help managers replace that theory/assumption, he gave Theory Y which takes
a more modern and positive approach. He believed that managers could achieve more if
managers start perceiving their employees as self-energized, committed, responsible
and creative beings. By means of his Theory Y, he in fact challenged the traditional
theorists to adopt a developmental approach to their employees. He also wrote a book
The Human Side of Enterprise in 1960; this book has become a foundation for the
modern view of employees at work.

Organizational Behavior as Interdisciplinary field

OB is considered as an academic discipline. However, it is widely considered as an
interdisciplinary field of study because of covering varieties of academic discipline
within it. The filed of studies can be shown from the figure below.

Psychology
Psychology refers to the science that tries to measure, explain, predict and sometimes
change the behavior of humans. OB focuses on human psychology through learning,
perception, personality emotions, training, leadership, motivation, job satisfaction etc.

Sociology
It is the study of people in the organization in relation with others which includes, group,
teams, communication, power, conflict etc.

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Behavioral
Science

Psychology

Contribution

Unit of
Analysis

Output

Learning
Motivation
Personality
Emotions
Perception
Training
Leadership effectiveness
Job satisfaction
Individual decision
making
Performance appraisal
Attitude measurement
Employee selection
Work design
Work stress
Individua
l

Group dynamics
Work teams
Communication
Power
Conflict
Inter group behaviour
Sociology

Social
Psychology

Formal organization
theory
Organizational
technology
Organizational change
Organizational culture
Behavioral change
Attitude change
Communication'
Group process
Group decision making

Group

Organizationa
l System

Comparative values
Comparative attitudes
Cross-cultural analysis
Anthropolog
y

Study of
Organizationa
l Behavior

Organizational culture
Organizational
Environment

Conflict
Source: Stephen P. Robbins
Intraorganizational
psychologypolitics
Power

Political
science

Social

It is the combine of both Psychology and Sociology which focuses on influence of people
on one another. The fields of study are: Behavioral change, attitude change,
communication, group process and group decision making.

Anthropology
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It is the study about societies to identify about human beings and their activities such as
cultures and environments.

Political Science
Political science primarily focuses on studying the behavior of individuals and groups
within the political environment within the organization which includes conflict,
Intraorganizational politics and power.

Challenges and Opportunities for Organizational Behavior

Organizational behaviour is becoming more important in the global economy as people
with diverse backgrounds and cultural values have to work together effectively and
efficiently. The followings are the points of challenges and how can OB help coping
those challenges.
1. Responding to Globalization:
The world is being the global village and organizations are not constrained by
national border in the recent days. To satisfy the customers of the world in highly
competitive globalized market, organizations need to provide the products and
service of their choice, preference and taste. Organizations need working in
foreign countries in a multicultural diversity environment. The management
practices need to be modified from countries to countries to cope with the
diversity. In the globalization, the companies tend to establish the business firms
where they can have lower costs of labor to reduce the cost of production for
global competition
2. Managing Workforce diversity
The most important and most emerging challenge for today's managers is
workforce diversity because the focus of globalization is on people from different
countries. It is the concept that the industries have heterogeneity in people
regarding the gender, age, race, religion, language, ethnicity, physical abilities,
nationalities, culture and inclusion of diversified individuals.
3. Improving Quality and Productivity
The business is becoming highly the customer focused in the recent days. The
product quality should continuously be improved to compete in the market and to
satisfy the customers. However, the productivity should not be decreased. The
organizational improvement is needed, the accurate measurement and employee
empowerment should be focused to improve the both, quality and productivity.
Total quality management (TQM) (a management philosophy for the quality
improvement) and process engineering (the process of reconsidering the methods
and organization structure) is to be adopted.
4. Responding to Outsourcing
Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day
execution of an entire business function to an external service provider. The client
organization and the supplier enter into a contractual agreement that defines the
transferred services. Under the agreement the supplier acquires the means of
production in the form of a transfer of people, assets and other resources from
the client. The client agrees to procure the services from the supplier for the term
of the contract. Business segments typically outsourced include information
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technology, human resources, facilities, real estate management, and accounting.

It is the both challenge and opportunity for the organization and responding to it
in the benefit of the firm is certainly the difficult job. Eventhough it has many
opportunites to the firm, it may create problem damaging the local market, low
social responsibility, low quality in product or service, high staff turnover, fraud,
security related issues etc.
5. Improving Customer Service:
Customers are treated as the 'god' for the organizations in the recent days. The
service to be rendered by the employees should be pleased by the clients in
service industries like teaching, technical support, fast-food counters, airlines etc.
OB can contribute to improving in organization's performance to the managers
through identifying about the employee attitudes and behavior associated with
customer satisfaction creating the customer-responsive culture. OB can help the
managers in creating customer-friendly culture, prompt responding to customer
needs and providing the guidance about pleasing them.
6. Improving People Skills:
OB helps managers improving the necessary skills required to manage effectively
including the motivational skills, communication and team work. It not only
imparts the knowledge and skills needed to enhance the learning ability but about
the perception of individual.
7. Empowering People
Managers are giving up controls to the lower levels , they are becoming highly
flexible, organization encourages the employee participation in decision making
and forming self-managed teams in modern organizations. Workers are accepting
responsibility and managers are granting them the authority. Empowering
changes leadership style, power relationships, needs skills and abilities about
understanding and predicting employees' behavior and for this, OB is inevitable.
8. Stimulating Innovation and Change
The challenge for the today's managers is stimulating the product and service
innovation for the survival and growth in competitive environment the change to
adjust to it. The employees may resist the change and innovation having the
stumbling block to it. OB provides the adequate ideas and techniques to remove
the block and go further ahead.
9. Coping with "Temporariness"
Globalization, advance in product and services, technology changes make the
organization compelled to change the nature of job, flexibility in structure, jobs
are regularly redesigned. Even the organizations are also changing. The parttime workers, temporary workers or short-term contractors are increasing
especially in developed countries to cope with increased work pressure, use
expert knowledge and reduce labour cost. The developing countries like Nepal
also facing challenges about the part time and temporary workers. However, the
human resource managers are getting challenges to manage such contingent
workers. Part time workers are frequently moving from one job to another. It is
very difficult to fully retain them and keep then in the organization for long time.

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Managers need to cope those "temporariness" in job and workers. They need to
learn about flexibility, to predict, creating the organizational culture, overcome
the barriers to change, which can be learnt through OB.

10.

Working in Networked Organizations

The use of computer and internet in workplace is increasing day by day. The
interlink between the organizations and workplace using communication
technologies is rapidly expanding, resulting the networked organizations.
Organization becomes complex allowing maximum number of people without any
physical distance, like a global village. Motivating, leading and communicating
those virtually connected employees is highly challenging. OB can be the
important insight for getting knowledge to help managing those logically
connected people.
11.

Helping Employees Balance Work/Life Conflicts

In recent days, employees often feel that they are unable to create balance
between the work and their personal life. They blame that their job create
problem in their family life because of lacking take care about their family, spouse
or children since they almost busy in office work even in home. The fast growing
organizations, these days, have no office hours, specially no closing hours. It
sometimes, creates conflict, bore and interfere in personal life and they are not
happy.
It has been seen that there should be the balance between the work and personal
life. They need flexibility in their work schedules, with equal emphasis on "life"
and "job". And if this happens, it is very difficult to attract the most capable and
motivated employees. OB offers different ideas, suggestions and guidance in
maintaining balance between these two and resolving the conflict.
12.

Improving Ethical Behavior

Employees in the organization are finding difficult to differentiate what is right

and what is wrong. They always see people around them are in unethical
practices like taking bribe and padding expense accounts, favoritism and
nepotism. It creates decreasing the confidence and trust in management.
Managers try to provide in-house advice about DOs and DONTs regarding ethical
behavior. They Create protection mechanisms write and distribute codes of ethics
to their employees and sometimes they also offer seminars, workshops, and
training to improving the ethical behavior

13.

Declining Employee Loyalty

Because of global completion, unemployment and inflation, employees are unable

to be loyal and honest although they do not like it. Management can not easily
trust to employee, they do not like delegating authority because of fear of misuse.
Officials take bribe for bread and butter and they increase their expense
accounts. Workforce motivation is becoming highly challenging because of
temporariness and brain-drain. OB of course can provide the techniques to

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increasing the employee loyalty determining the code of ethics or ethical

behavior, motivating them, communicating effectively.

Emerging Trends in Organizational Behavior

Different writers explained differently about the emerging trends to OB. The following
points can be traced out as the recent trends to OB.
1.
2.

Globalization of products and services

The revolution in middle level management: Maximum cut in the middle level
managers, restructuring and redefining the roles

3.

Decentralization of business, government, political and social institutions

4.

High level of diversity among people, groups, institutions and geographic

locations

5.

Computerization in organizations

6.

Use of technologies in communication

7.

Priority and reservation opportunities for minorities and women

8.

Inclusion of different race, caste, religion, language, region etc.

9.

Unionization

10. Flat structure and wide span of control

11. Team and Group Approach with dynamic leadership
12. Virtual team and virtual organizations
13. Innovative plan for special career needs: Flexible working hours, reduced
hours, quality of work life
14. Contingent workforce
15. Ethical behavioral issues

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Unit 2

Perception
Concept
Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the
recognition of environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli. Through
the perceptual process, we gain information about properties and elements of the
environment that are critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience
of the world around us; it allows us to act within our environment.
"Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impression in order to give meaning to their environment." S.P. Robbins
It is the process of becoming aware of something through the senses and achieving
understanding of it; the process of interpretation based on sensation; the psychological
ability to process or use information received through the sense organs
So that perception is the set of psychological processes by which people recognize,
organize, synthesize, and give meaning (in the brain) to the sensations received from
environmental stimuli (in the sense organs)
Why is it Important?
Study about perception is very important because peoples behavior is based on their
perception of what reality is, not on reality itself. The world that is perceived is the
world that is behaviorally important.
Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relatively unprocessed result of stimulation
of sensory receptors in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or skin. Perception, on the other
hand, better describes one's ultimate experience of the world and typically involves
further processing of sensory input. In practice, sensation and perception are virtually
impossible to separate, because they are part of one continuous process.

Perceptual Process
The perceptual process is a sequence of steps that begins with the environment and
leads to our perception of a stimulus and an action in response to the stimulus.
We speak of a 'sense of humor' because different people sense humor in different
things. What one person perceives (senses) to be funny, another person might not.
On the other hand when one has managed to perceive humor in something, laughter (in
one register or another) follows rather automatically. It is the behavioral response to the
perception of humor.
The perceptual process involves brain structuring, and how it organizes
incoming stimuli, determines what we experience.
The perceptual process is a sequence of steps that starts with the stimuli that happen in
our surroundings and leads through nerve transmission through peripheral and central

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nerves and the brain to our perception of what is going on. It also includes our resulting
action to the original stimulus.
So, the perceptual process involved when we go outside from a room with no windows
on a rainy day is that the stimulus from the environment - the fact that it is raining and
cold and we are getting wet - is recognized by our senses. Our eyes, ears, cold receptors
and touch receptors all send signals to the brain, which works out that its raining.
The cognitive process within the brain then comes up with the decision to go back inside
and pick up a coat and an umbrella before we set out again. This is our response to the
stimulus.

Person Perception: Making Judgments About Others

Attribution Theory
Attribution theory is proposed to develop the analysis of the ways in which we judge
people differently. When individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine
whether it is internally (under the personal control of the individual) or externally
(outside causes force you to behave a certain way) caused.

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Internal factors: The behavior that are believed to be under the personal control of
the individual.
(Late: Over slipping)
External factors: The result from outside cause; that is the person is seen as having
been forced into
the behavior by the situation. (Late: Traffic Jam)

Distinctiveness: Whether an individual displays different behaviors in different

situations.
(Unusual behavior)
Consensus:
same way

Everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds in the

Consistency:

Responding the same way in over a time.

Frequently Used Shortcuts in Judging Others

Selective Perception People selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their
interest, background, experience, and attitudes. (Student asked:
Which subject is most useful? Each teachers reply that their own
subject is highly useful and most important to study)
Halo Effect

Drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a

single characteristic. (Students rate the teacher low because of
unfriendliness even though he is knowledgeable, experienced and
talented)

Contrast Effects Evaluations of a persons characteristics that are affected by

comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank
higher or lower on the same characteristics. (In the interview, if the
former candidate is strong, you might get low score, and the
former is weak, you get high score.)
Projection
Stereotyping

Attributing ones own characteristics to other people. (If you are

highly talented, others too have)
Judging someone on the basis of ones perception of the group to
which that person belongs. (All Muslims are not terrorists)

Factors Influencing Perception

We see that the same thing is perceived by the individuals differently. When the
individual looks at any thing and tries to interpret what he or she sees, that
interpretation is heavily influenced by personal characteristics like attitudes, personality,
interests etc. The following figure explains the factors that influencing perception

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1. Factors that shape (and can distort perception):

Perceiver
Target
Situation

2. When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees,
that interpretation is heavily influenced by personal characteristics of the individual
perceiver.
3. The more relevant personal characteristics affecting perception of the perceiver are
attitudes, motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations.
4. Characteristics of the target can also affect what is being perceived. This would
include attractiveness, gregariousness, and our tendency to group similar things
together. For example, members of a group with clearly distinguishable features or
color are often perceived as alike in other, unrelated characteristics as well.
5. The context in which we see objects or events also influences our attention. This
could include time, heat, light, or other situational factors.

Perception and Individual Decision Making

It is the truth that how individuals in organization make decisions and the quality to their
final choices are largely influenced by their perceptions.
The Link between Perception and Individual Decision Making
Decisions = Choosing between two or more alternatives
Problems = A discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state
How should we make decisions in organizations?
To maximize a particular outcome, try the rational decision making model
Steps in the Rational Decision-Making Model
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Define the problem

Identify the decision criteria.
Allocate weights to the criteria.
Develop the alternatives.
Evaluate the alternatives.
Select the best alternative.

Assumptions of the Rational Decision-Making Model

Problem Clarity-: The problem is clear and unambiguous.
Known Options: The decision-maker can identify all relevant criteria and viable
alternatives.
Clear Preferences: Rationality assumes that the criteria and alternatives can be
ranked and weighted.
Constant Preferences: Specific decision criteria are constant and that the weights
assigned to them are stable over time.
No Time or Cost Constraints: Full information is available because there is no time or
cost constraints.
Maximum Payoff: The choice alternative will yield the highest perceived value.

So, how are decisions actually made in organizations?

1. Bounded Rationality: Individuals make decisions by constructing simplified models
that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their
complexity.
2. Intuitive Decision Making:
Intuition = an unconscious process created out of distilled experience.
Intuition is often used when there is a high level of uncertainty, there is little
precedent to go on, when the variable in question are less predictable, when
facts are limited, these facts dont lead you in one particular direction, data is
of little use, when there are several plausible choices, and there is time pressure
3. Problem Identification
Problems that are visible tend to have a higher probability of being selected than ones
that are important. Why?

It is easier to recognize visible problems.

Decision-Makers want to appear competent and on-top of problems.
Decision-Makers self-interest affects problem selection because it is usually in
the Decision-Makers best interest to address problems of high visibility and high
payoff. This demonstrates an ability to perceive and attack problems.

4. Alternative Development: Decision makers rarely seek optimum solutions but

satisfying or good enough ones.

Efforts made are simple and confined to the familiar.

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Efforts are incremental rather than comprehensive.

Many successive limited comparisons rather than calculating value for each
alternative.
This approach makes it unnecessary for the decision maker to thoroughly
examine an alternative and its consequences.
Thus the decision makers steps are small and limited to comparisons of the
current or familiar options.

Common Biases & Errors

We tend to take shortcuts in decision making and this allows error and bias to enter
our decisions. Common biases and errors include:

Overconfidence Bias We tend to be overly optimistic (especially when

our intellect and interpersonal abilities are low)
Anchoring Bias Tendency to focus on initial information as a starting
point.
Confirmation Bias We tend to seek out info that reaffirms our past
choices and we discount info that contradicts our past judgments.
Availability Bias --or the tendency of people to base their judgments on
information readily available to them.
Representative Bias -- The tendency to assess the
likelihood of an
occurrence by drawing analogies and seeing identical situations in which
they dont exist.
Escalation of Commitment --an increased commitment to a previous
decision in spite of negative information (all too often creeps into decision
making)
Randomness Error We tend to create meaning out of random events
(and superstitions).
Hindsight Bias We tend to believe falsely that wed have accurately
predicted the outcome of an event, after that outcome is actually known.

Summary and Implications for Managers

Individuals behave based not on the way their external environment actually is but,
rather, on what they see or believe it to be. Evidence suggests that what individuals
perceive from their work situation will influence their productivity more than will the
situation itself. Absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction are also reactions to the
individuals perceptions.
Individuals think and reason before they act. Under some decision situations, people
follow the rational decision-making model. However, this doesnt happen very often.
So, what can managers do to improve their decision making?

Analyze the situation.

Be aware of biases.
Combine rational analysis with intuition.
Dont assume that your specific decision style is appropriate for every job.
Try to enhance your creativity

Unit 3

Learning
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Concept
Learning is one of the most important mental functions of humans, animals and artificial
cognitive systems. It relies on the acquisition of different types of knowledge supported by
perceived information. It leads to the development of new capacities, skills, values,
understanding, and preferences. Its goal is the increasing of individual and group
experience.
According to S.P. Robbins, Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior
that occurs as a result of experience.
So that learning is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, attitudes or values through
study, experience or teaching that causes a change of behaviour that is persistent,
measurable and specified or allows an individual to formulate a new mental construct or
revise a prior mental conduct. It is an ongoing process in occurring at all times.

Steps in Learning
The followings four are the steps in learning process:
1. Input: The communication or message, information or any other that you get from
the sensory organs is the input for learning.
2. Response: The response after getting input as an understanding of input It is the
acting shown by the learner, your immediate response whether you motivate or
not.
3. Motivation: The drive towards the learning process, showing the activity, interest
and attitude to learn. Individuals need high degree of motivation towards learning
4. Reinforcement: The final outcome of learning determines the reinforcement. It is
the process of forcing the learner to change his or her behavior. The learner is
reinforced to learn something using positive as well as negative ways. For eg.,
students get punishment if they became unable to answer.

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Models of Learning
Also known as theories of learning, models of learning explain about how individuals learn in
their life. The scientific investigation of the learning process was begun at the end of the
19th century by Ivan Pavlov in Russia and Edward Thorndike in the United States. Three
models are currently widely used to explain changes in learned behavior.

1. Classical Conditioning Theory

According to S.P. Robbins, "Classical conditioning is a type of conditioning in which an
individual responds to some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such a response."
The first model of learning, classical conditioning was initially identified by Pavlov to teach
dogs to salivate in response to the ringing of a bell.
When he presented the dong with a piece of meat, the dog exhibited a noticeable increase
in salivation. When he postponed the presentation of meat and only rang the bell, the dog
did not salivate. Then Pavlov proceeded to link the meat and the ringing of the bell. After
repeatedly hearing the bell before getting food, the dog began to salivate as soon as the bell
rang. After some times, the dog started salivating only on the bell ring without meat. The
effect is the dog had learned to respond-that is, to salivate-to the bell.
Salivation is an innate reflex, or unconditioned response, to the presentation of food, an
unconditioned stimulus. Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate merely to
the sound of a buzzer (a conditioned stimulus), after it was sounded a number of times in
conjunction with the presentation of food. Learning is said to occur because salivation has
been conditioned to a new stimulus that did not elicit it initially. The pairing of food with the
buzzer acts to reinforce the buzzer as the prominent stimulus.
So that Stimulus-response theory, referred to as S-R theory, is a theoretical model of
behavioral psychology that suggests humans and other animals can learn to associate a new
stimulus- the conditioned stimulus (CS)- with a pre-existing stimulus - the unconditioned
stimulus (UCS), and can think, feel or respond to the CS as if it were actually the UCS.

2. Operant Conditioning Theory

A second type of learning, known as operant conditioning, was developed around the same
time as Pavlov's theory by Thorndike, and later expanded upon by B. F. Skinner. Here,
learning takes place as the individual acts upon the environment. Operant behavior can be
defined as the voluntary or learned behavior in contrast to unlearned behavior.

Robbins defines that "Operant conditioning is a type of conditioning in which

desired voluntary behavior leads to a reward or prevents a punishment." Operant
condition claims that people can learn to behave to get something they want or
avoid something the don't want. While classical conditioning involves
natural/normal reaction, operant conditioning requireticular technique was
responsible for a particular behavior change.
There is a strong emphasis on accountability for everyone involved in a
behavior modification program.

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Techniques of Behavior Modification

a. Positive reinforcement: Positive reinforcement occurs when a behavior
(response) is followed by a favorable stimulus (commonly seen as pleasant) that
increases the frequency of that behavior. Appreciation for well done in job is an
example.

b. Negative reinforcement: Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior

(response) is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus (commonly seen as
unpleasant) thereby increasing that behavior's frequency. When teacher asks a
question to you, you try to see note book so that teacher would not punish
you.

c. Punishment:
Positive punishment (also called "Punishment by contingent stimulation")
occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by an aversive stimulus, such as
introducing a shock or loud noise, resulting in a decrease in that behavior.
Negative punishment (also called "Punishment by contingent withdrawal")
occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of a favorable
stimulus, such as taking away a child's toy following an undesired behavior,
resulting in a decrease in that behavior.

d. Extinction: Eliminating any reinforcement, maintaining the current behavior

In shaping behavior, reinforcement is very important tool rather then punishment or
extinction. So that whether it is positive or negative, you need to apply reinforcement but
schedules can be varied. It can be continuous or intermittent, fixed interval or variableinterval type.

Unit 4

Personality
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Concept
As we meet different people in our daily lives, we talk about their personality. We need
to see personality not at parts of the person, but as a whole. Personality is the different
physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person looks, feels, decides, acts
and reacts which comprises internal (invisible) and external (visible) character.
Personality can be defined as:

the complex of all the attributes--behavioral, temperamental, emotional and

mental--that characterize a unique individual
A set of qualities that make a person (or thing) distinct from another; An assumed
role or manner of behavior; A celebrity; Charisma, or qualities that make a person
stand out from the crowd; Pertaining to personality
means (1) the sum of the characteristics which make up physical and mental
being, including appearance, manners, habits, tastes and moral character; (2) the
characteristics that distinguish one person from another (this is equivalent to
individuality); (3) the capacity for having mental states
"Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts
with others."- S.P. Robbins

Personality is made up the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors

that make a person unique. Personality originates within the individual and remains
fairly
consistent
throughout
life.
Personality psychologists are interested in the unique characteristics of individuals, as
well as similarities among groups of people. Personality is displayed through thoughts,
feelings, behaviors and many other ways.

Determinants of Personality
Heredity
Researchers have discovered that almost fifty percent of human behavior and
personality characteristics are genetically inherited. Those are the parental and
biological factors, physiological and psychological factors.

Environment
The environment the individual grows up, the family background, culture and society,
norms andHeredity
belief, values and attitude, education, income, employment
influences the
Environment
personality.
Positive
&
negative
aspects
of
upbringing
affect
personality.
Family background
Physical structure
Facial attractiveness
Temperament
(nature)

Muscle Composition
Energy Level
Gender, age, race,
height, weight

Personality
Behavior

Education
Income
Employment
Experience

Society, culture
and friends

Situation
The situational
factors that shows
the certain behaviors
(Place, Function,
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Situation
Even though environment and heredity determines the personality, the situation may
modify in individual's personality. The demand of the current situation, the place,
function and position greatly influences in showing the certain behavior. Some situations
are: in temple, at employment interview, at Picnic, Public Park.

Personality Traits
Personality traits are the bearing or enduring characteristics that describes the behavior
of an individual like shy, aggressive, lazy, ambitious, loyal, timid (fearful) etc..
Individuals show those traits repetitively in a noticeable form and those characters
become personality traits. Researchers believe that the personality traits could help in
employee selection, placement and career development.
Different scientists tried to identify the common personality traits and they spent many
years . The two popular models of Personality Traits are explained below.

A. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Personality Type or Psychological Type are terms most commonly associated with
the model of personality development created by Isabel Briggs Myers the author of
the world's most widely used personality inventory, the MBTI or Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator.

The Basic Model: 2 Kinds of Mental Processes, 2 Kinds of Mental Orientations

2 Kinds of Mental Processes
a) The first set of mental preferences relates to how people "Perceive" or take in
information.

Those who prefer Sensing Perception favor clear, tangible data and
information that fits in well with their direct here-and-now experience. They
like practical and prefer routine and order.
In contrast, those who prefer Intuition Perception are drawn to information
that is more abstract, conceptual, big-picture, and represents imaginative
possibilities for the future.
Sensing Characteristics

Mentally live in the Now,

attending to present
opportunities

Intuitive Characteristics

20

Mentally live in the Future,

attending to future possibilities
Using imagination and

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Using common sense and

creating practical solutions
is automatic-instinctual

Memory recall is rich in

detail of facts and past
events

Best improvise from past

experience

Like clear and concrete

information; dislike guessing
when facts are "fuzzy"

creating/inventing new possibilities

is automatic-instinctual

Memory recall emphasizes

patterns, contexts, and
connections

Best improvise from theoretical

understanding

Comfortable with ambiguous, fuzzy

data and with guessing its
meaning.

b) The second set of mental preferences identifies how people form "Judgments"
or make decisions. In the Myers MBTI Type Code, this is the third letter.

Those who prefer Thinking Judgment have a natural preference for making
decisions in an objective, logical, and analytical manner with an emphasis on
tasks and results to be accomplished.
Those whose preference is for Feeling Judgment make their decisions in a
somewhat global, visceral, harmony and value-oriented way, paying particular
attention to the impact of decisions and actions on other people.
Thinking Characteristics

Feeling Characteristics

Instinctively search for facts

and logic in a decision
situation.
Naturally notices tasks and
work to be accomplished.

Easily able to provide an

objective and critical
analysis.

Naturally seek consensus and

popular opinions.

Accept conflict as a natural,

normal part of relationships
with people.

Unsettled by conflict; have almost

a toxic reaction to disharmony.

Instinctively employ personal

feelings and impact on people in
decision situations
Naturally sensitive to people
needs and reactions.

2 Kinds of Mental Orientations

a) Introversion vs Extroversion

Those who prefer Introversion draw their primary energy from the
inner world of information, thoughts, ideas, and other reflections. When
circumstances require an excessive amount of attention spent in the
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"outside" world, those preferring Introversion find the need to retreat to

a more private setting, they are very quit and shy.
In contrast, those who prefer Extraversion are drawn to the outside
world as their elemental source of energy. Rarely, if ever, do
extraverted preference people feel their energy batteries are "drained"
by excessive amounts of interaction with the outside world. They must
engage the things, people, places and activities going on in the outside
world for their life force, they are sociable and outgoing
Extraverted
Characteristics

Act first, think/reflect later

Feel deprived when cutoff
from interaction with the
outside world

Usually open to and

motivated by outside world
of people and things

Enjoy wide variety and

change in people
relationships

Introverted Characteristics

Think/reflect first, then Act

Regularly require an amount of
"private time" to recharge
batteries

Motivated internally, mind is

sometimes so active it is "closed"
to outside world

Prefer one-to-one communication

and relationships

b) Judging vs Perceiving

Those who prefer Judging typically leads to a style oriented towards closure,
organization, planning, or in some fashion managing the things and or people
found in the external environment. The drive is to order the outside world.
They want control, to be ordered and well structured.
Those who prefer Perceiving typically results in an open, adaptable, flexible
style of relating to the things and people found in the outside world. The drive
is to experience the outside world rather than order it; in general lack of
closure is easily tolerated.

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S.Aryal

Judging Characteristics

Plan many of the details in

advance before moving into
action.
Focus on task-related action;
complete meaningful
segments before moving on.
Work best and avoid stress
when keep ahead of
deadlines.

Perceiving Characteristics

Comfortable moving into action without a plan;

plan on-the-go.

Like to multitask, have variety, mix

work and play.

Naturally tolerant of time pressure;

work best close to the deadlines.

Instinctively avoid commitments which

interfere with flexibility, freedom and
variety

Naturally use targets, dates

and standard routines to
manage life.

B. Big Five Personality Traits

The "Big Five" personality traits are five broad factors or dimensions of personality discovered
through empirical research by John Bearden.
The five factors are as follows:
1. Openness to experience - appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual
ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience.
Openness is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas,
imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. The trait distinguishes
imaginative people from down-to-earth, conventional people. People who are
open to experience are intellectually curious, appreciative of art, and sensitive to
beauty. In compared to closed people, they tend to be,more creative and more
aware of their feelings and unconventional beliefs.
Sample Openness items
I am full of ideas.
I am quick to understand things.
I have a rich vocabulary.
I have a vivid imagination.
I have excellent ideas.
I spend time reflecting on things.
I use difficult words.
I am not interested in abstract ideas. (reversed)
I do not have a good imagination. (reversed)
I have difficulty understanding abstract ideas. (reversed)
2. Conscientiousness - a tendency to show self-discipline, responsible, act
dutifully, and aim for achievement; planned rather than spontaneous behaviour.
Conscientiousness is a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim
for achievement. The trait shows a preference for planned rather than
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spontaneous behaviour. It influences the way in which we control, regulate, and

direct our impulses. Conscientious individuals avoid trouble and achieve high
levels of success through purposeful planning and persistence. They are also
positively regarded by others as intelligent and reliable.
Sample Conscientiousness items

I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

am always prepared.
am exacting in my work.
follow a schedule.
get chores done right away.
like order.
pay attention to details.
leave my belongings around. (reversed)
make a mess of things. (reversed)
often forget to put things back in their proper place. (reversed)
shirk my duties. (reversed)

3. Extroversion - energy, positive emotions, surgency, and the tendency to seek

stimulation and the company of others.
Extraversion, also called "extroversion," is characterized by positive emotions,
surgency, and the tendency to seek out stimulation and the company of others.
Extraverts enjoy being with people, and are often perceived as full of energy.
They tend to be enthusiastic, action-oriented individuals who are likely to say
"Yes!" or "Let's go!" to opportunities for excitement. In groups they like to talk,
assert themselves, and draw attention to themselves. Introverts lack the
exuberance, energy, and activity levels of extraverts. They tend to be quiet, lowkey, deliberate, and less involved in the social world. Their lack of social
involvement should not be interpreted as shyness or depression. Introverts simply
need less stimulation than extraverts and more time alone.
Sample Extraversion items
I am the life of the party.
I don't mind being the center of attention.
I feel comfortable around people.
I start conversations.
I talk to a lot of different people at parties.
I am quiet around strangers. (reversed)
I don't like to draw attention to myself. (reversed)
I don't talk a lot. (reversed)
I have little to say. (reversed)
4. Agreeableness - a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than
suspicious and antagonistic towards others.
Agreeableness is a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than
suspicious and antagonistic towards others. The trait reflects individual
differences in concern for social harmony. Agreeable individuals value getting
along with others. They are generally considerate, friendly, generous, helpful, and
willing to compromise their interests with others. Agreeable people also have an
optimistic view of human nature. They believe people are basically honest,
decent, and trustworthy.
Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting along with others. They
are generally unconcerned with others well-being, and are less likely to extend
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S.Aryal

themselves for other people. Sometimes their skepticism about others motives
causes them to be suspicious, unfriendly, and uncooperative.
Sample Agreeableness items
I am interested in people.
I feel others emotions.
I have a soft heart.
I make people feel at ease.
I sympathize with others feelings.
I take time out for others.
I am not interested in other peoples problems. (reversed)
I am not really interested in others. (reversed)
I feel little concern for others. (reversed)
I insult people. (reversed)
5. Emtional Etsbility (Neuroticism) - a tendency to experience unpleasant
emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability; sometimes
called emotional instability.
Neuroticism is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger,
anxiety, or depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability. Those who
score high in neuroticism are emotionally reactive and vulnerable to stress. They
are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening, and minor
frustrations as hopelessly difficult. Their negative emotional reactions tend to
persist for unusually long periods of time, which means they are often in a bad
mood. These problems in emotional regulation can diminish a neurotic's ability to
think clearly, make decisions, and cope effectively with stress.
At the other end of the scale, individuals who score low in neuroticism are less
easily upset and are less emotionally reactive. They tend to be calm, emotionally
stable, and free from persistent negative feelings. Freedom from negative
feelings does not mean that low scorers experience a lot of positive feelings.
Sample Neuroticism items
I am easily disturbed.
I change my mood a lot.
I get irritated easily.
I get stressed out easily.
I get upset easily.
I have frequent mood swings.
I often feel depressed.
I worry about things.
I am relaxed most of the time. (reversed)
I seldom feel depressed.(reversed)

Major Personality Influencing Organizational Behavior

The followings are the major personality traits which influences organizational behavior
1. Locus of Control: The locus of control is the belief of the indivudla whether
they are the master of their fate. It can either be internal (meaning you believe
that you control yourself and your life) or external (meaning you believe that your
environment, some higher power or other people control your decisions and your
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S.Aryal

life). It was developed by Julian B. Rotter in 1954 as an important aspect of

personality.
Internals tend to attribute outcomes of events to their own control. Externals
attribute outcomes of events to external circumstances. For example, college
students with a strong internal locus of control may believe that their grades were
achieved through their own abilities and efforts, whereas those with a strong
external locus of control may believe that their grades are the result of good or
bad luck, or to a professor who designs bad tests or grades capriciously; hence,
they are less likely to expect that their own efforts will result in success and are
therefore less likely to work hard for high grades.
Researches have shown that individulas who are externals are less satisfied with
their jobs, they have higher abseentism, do less effort and they are more
dissatisfied because they perceive as having little control by them in success and
outcomes and vice versa for internals.
2. Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism is primarily the term some social and personality
psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate
others for personal gain. The trait is named after Niccol Machiavelli,
propounded the theory in using power and gaining, can also refer to the doctrine
of Machiavelli who described about the politics of sixteenth century's political
leaders who used to deceive people to influence others. We can categories into
two: High Mach and Low Mach personality.
High Machs: They tend to take a more detached, calculating approach in their
interaction with other people. They tend to believe most people are concerned
only with their own well-being, selfish and to depend too much on anyone else is
foolish. They believe some of the most efficient ways to achieve a goal are to use
deception, rewards, promises, flattery (sweet talk) and even punishments to
manipulate others into doing their bidding.
Low Machs: They tend to take a more personal, empathic approach in their
interaction with other people. They tend to be more trusting of others and more
honest. They believe humans are essentially good natured. At the extreme, low
Machs are passive, submissive, and highly agreeable. They also tend to believe
that everyone has a good and bad side.

3. Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is a person's overall self-appraisal of his or her own worth. It is the
degree they like or dislike themselves. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs (for
example, "I am competent /incompetent") and emotions (for example,
success/failure, pride/ humiliation).
Self-esteem can apply specifically to a particular dimension (for example, "I
believe I am a good writer, and feel proud of that in particular") or have global
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S.Aryal

extent (for example, "I believe I am a good person, and feel proud of myself in
general").
4. Self-Monitoring
The theory is proposed by Mark Snyder in 1974. The theory refers to the process
through which people regulate their own behavior in order to "look good" so that
they will be perceived by others in a favorable manner. It disintinguishes
between high self-monitors, who monitor their behaviour to fit different
situations, and low self-monitors, who are more cross-situationally consistent.

Some people are sensitive to how other sees them, and they always adjust their

behavior to external situational factors. People who are high self-monitors

constantly watch other people, what they do and how they respond to the
behavior of others and will hence usually adapt well to differing social situations.
On the other hand, low self-monitors are generally unaware to how other see
them and hence show to their own different style.
5. Risk Taking
It is the willingness to take risk or chances. Some people want to take high risk for
gaining something while others do not like taking risk. Such personality highly
influences the managerial decision making and information needed for it. High
risk taking managers make more rapid decisions and use less information in
making their decisions than do the low risk taking managers.
6. Type A Personality
The Type A and Type B are a personality type theory that describes a pattern of
behaviors of the individuals.
Type A individuals can be described as impatient, excessively time-conscious,
insecure about their status, highly competitive, aggressive, and incapable of
relaxation. Type B individuals, in contrast, are described as patient, relaxed, and
easy-going.
Type A's
1. Are always moving, walking and eating rapidly
2. fell impatient with the rate at which most events take place
3. strive two think or do two o more things at once
4. cannot cope with leisure time
5. are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many
or how much of everything they acquire
Type B's
1. Never suffer from sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience
2. feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or
accomplishments unless such exposure is demanded by the situation
3. play for fun and relaxation, rather than to exhibit their superiority at any
cost
4. can relax without guilt (fault)
Source: S.P. Robbins and Seema Sanghi, 2007 p.p 105

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7. Proactive Personality
Proactive personality is the trait of the individual who identify opportunities, show
initiative, take action and preserve until meaningful change occurs. They create a
positive change in environment to remove obstacles and go forward. These
people are highly suitable for entrepreneurship, management and they are likely
to be success. Nevertheless, they may leave the organization to establish their
own business. They are very clever in maintaining relationship, influencing work
situations and career planning.

Matching Personality and Jobs

Matching the individual's personality and his or her job is a great challenge not only for
the managers but also the individuals who seek their career. The best fit between the
personality and their occupation of course leads to success in their life.

1. Person-Job Fit
In this context, John Holland Development Personality-Job Fit Theory. He explained it
Holland presents six personality types and proposes that satisfaction and the
propensity to leave a job depend on the degree to which individuals successfully
match their personalities to an occupational environment.

Each one of the six personality types has a congruent occupational environment.

The theory argues that satisfaction is highest and turnover lowest when
personality and occupation are in agreement.

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S.Aryal

Type

Personal
Characteristics

Congruent
Occupation

Realistic:
Prefers
physical Shy, genuine, persistent, Mechanic, drill press
activities that require skill, stable,
conforming, operator, assembly-line
strength and coordination
practical
worker, farmer
Investigative: Prefers activities Analytical, original,
that involve thinking, organizing curious, independent
and understanding

Biologist, economist,
mathematician news
reporter

Social: Prefers activities that

involve helping and developing
others

Sociable, friendly,
cooperative,
understanding

Social worker, teacher,

counselor, clinical
psychologists

rule- Conforming, efficient,

and practical, unimaginative,
inflexible

Accountant, corporate
manager, bank teller,
file clerk

Conventional:
Prefers
regulated,
orderly,
unambiguous activities

Enterprising: Prefers verbal Self-confident, ambitious,

activities in which there are energetic, domineering
opportunities to influence others
and attain power

Lawyer, real state

agent, public relation
specialist small business
manager

Artistic: Prefers ambiguous and Imaginative, disorderly,

unsystematic
activities
that idealistic, emotional,
follow creative expression
impractical

Painter, musician,
writer, interior decorator

2. The Person-Organization Fit

The Person-Organization Fit argues that people leave organizations that are not
compatible with their personalities. Organizations need to use Big-Five Personality
Traits to make the organizational environment favorable to the employees so that they
can keep the individuals for long.

Most important for an organization facing a dynamic and changing environment,

and requiring employees who are able to readily change tasks and move fluidly
between teams.
It argues that people leave jobs that are not compatible with their personalities.

Matching people to the organizational culture at the time of hiring should result in
higher employee satisfaction and reduced turnover.

Unit 5
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Motivation
Concept and Process
Since motivation influences productivity, supervisors need to understand what
motivates employees to reach peak performance. It is not an easy task to increase
employee motivation because employees respond in different ways to their jobs and
their organization's practices.
Motivation is the set of processes that moves a person toward a goal. Thus, motivated
behaviors are voluntary choices controlled by the individual employee. The supervisor
(motivator) wants to influence the factors that motivate employees to higher levels of
productivity.
Factors that affect work motivation include individual differences, job characteristics,
and organizational practices. Individual differences are the personal needs, values, and
attitudes, interests and abilities that people bring to their jobs. Job characteristics are
the aspects of the position that determine its limitations and challenges.
Organizational practices are the rules, human resources policies, managerial practices,
and rewards systems of an organization. Supervisors must consider how these factors
interact to affect employee job performance.
"The process that account for an individual's intensity direction and persistence of
effort toward attaining a goal." - S.P. Robbins
"Motivation is the set of forces that causes people to behave in certain ways." R.W.
Griffin
On any given day, an employee may choose to work as hard as possible
at a job, to work just a hard enough to avoid a reprimand (warning), or
to do as little as possible. The Level of motivation varies both between
individual and within individuals at different times which lead to show
the aforementioned behavior.

The Motivation Framework (Process of Motivation)

Need
(Deficiency)

Search for ways

to satisfy need

Choice of behavior to
satisfy need

Determination of future needs

and search/choice or
satisfaction

Importance of Motivation
1. Optimum use of resources
2. Productivity improvement

Evaluation of Need
Satisfaction

Motivation
Feedback

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S.Aryal

3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Efficiency and effectiveness

Understand Employee behaviour
Employee retention
Creativity promotion
Job Satisfaction
Other employee factors
- Low employee turnover
- Reduce absenteeism
- Reduce rate of accidents
- Better employee discipline
- Reduced employee grievances
- Harmonious labour relation

Motivation Theories
Early Theories
The theories which have not held up well under examination
1. Maslow's Need Hierarchy Theory
2. Hertzberg's Motivation Hygiene Theory
3. Theory X and Theory Y

Contemporary Theory
There are number of contemporary theories that have one ting in common-each has a
reasonable degree of valid supporting documentation.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Expectancy Theory
ERG Theory
Equity Theory
McClelland's Need Achievement Theory

1. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory

There is a hierarchy of five needs-physiological, safety, social, esteem an self
actualization; each need is substantially satisfied, the next need becomes dominant.

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S.Aryal

Achievement

Challenging job

Self Actualization
Needs

High order
needs

Status

Esteem Needs
Respect of others, and ego
or status needs

Friendship

Social needs
Belongingness, affection, friendship
Safety needs

Stability
Bodily needs

Criticisms

Physiological needs
Hunger, thirst, the activity, sleep, sex

Job Title

Friends at work
Pension Plans

Low order
needs

Base Salary

1. Theoretical difficulties
2. Not research based
3. Superfluous classification scheme: The model is based more on wisher of what an
'SHOULD BE' rather than what he 'ACTUALLY' is.
4. Individual difference

2. Theory X and Theory Y (Douglas McGregor)

Theory X
The assumptions that employees dislike work, are lazy, dislike responsibility, and must be
coerced to perform.
Theory Y
The assumption that employees like work, are creative, seek responsibility and can exercise self
direction.

Assumption of Theory X
1. Employees inherently dislike work and, wherever possible, will attempt to avoid it.
2. Since employee dislike work, they must be coerced, controlled, or threatened punishment
to achieve goals.
3. Employees will avoid responsibility and seek formal direction whenever possible
4. Most workers place security above all other factors associated with work and will display
little ambition.

Assumption of Theory Y
1.
2.
3.
4.

Employees can view work as being a natural as rest play

People will exercise self-direction and self-control if they are committed to the objectives.
The average person can learn to accept, even seek responsibility.
The ability to make innovative decision is widely dispersed throughout the population and
is not necessarily the sole province of those in management positions.
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3. Hertzberg's Motivation-Hygiene Theory

(Duel Factor Theory)

Hygiene Factors (Intrinsic)

(dissatisfiers)
- These factors are necessary to avoid dissatisfaction.
a. Company policy and administration
b. Technical supervision
c. Interpersonal relations with superiors, peers and subordinates
d. Salary
e. Job Security
f. Personal life
g. Work conditions
h. Status

Motivational Factors
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.

Achievement
Recognition
Work itself
Responsibility
Advancement
Growth
Contrasting views of Satisfaction
Traditional View

Satisfaction

Dissatisfaction
Herzberg's view
Motivators

Satisfaction

No satisfaction
Hygiene Factors

No dissatisfaction

Dissatisfaction

Criticisms
1. The procedure that Hertzberg used is limit by its methodology. When things are going
well, people tend to take credit themselves. They blame failure on the extrinsic
environment.
2. The reliability of Hertzberg's methodology is questioned.
3. No overall measure of satisfaction was used.
4. The theory is inconsistent with previous research. It ignores situational variables.
5. No relationship between satisfaction and productivity.

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Comparisons between Hierarchy of Needs Theory and Motivation-Hygiene

Theory

4. ERG Theory
-

(Clayton Alderfer)

There are three groups of core needs: existence, relatedness and growth.

Growth
(Esteem,
actualization
needs)

Self

Relatednes
s
(Social
needs)

Existence
(Physiological
and
safety needs)
ERG Theory argues that satisfied lower-order needs lead to desire to satisfied higher-order needs;
but multiple needs can be operating as motivators at the same time, and frustrations in
attempting to satisfy a higher-level need can result in regression to a lower level need.

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5. McClelland's Need Achievement Theory (David McClelland)

1. Need for achievement( nAch)
- The desire to accomplish a goal or task more effectively than the past-personal
responsibility etc.
2. Need for affiliation (nAff)
- The desire for human companionship and acceptance (social interaction, offer
opportunities to make friends
3. Need for Power (nPow)
- The desire to be influential in a group and to control one's environment. (supervisory
positions)

6. Equity Theory (J Stacy Adams)

Equity theory suggests that people are motivated to seek social equity in the rewards they
receive for performance.
An employee selects adds to the complexity of equity theory. There are four referent
comparisons that an employee can use:
1. Self-inside : An employee's expectations in a different position inside his or her current
organization
2. Self-outside : An employee's experiences in a situation or position outside his or her
current organizations.
3. Other-inside : Another individuals or group of individuals inside the employees
organization.
4. Other-outside : Another individual or group of individuals outside the employee's
organization.

The equity comparison process

Outcomes (Self)
Inputs (Self)

?
=

Outcomes (Others)
Input (Others)

When employees perceive an inequity, they can be predicted to make one of six choices:
1) Change their inputs-effort
2) Change their outcomes-result (product)
3) Distort perception of self
4) Distort perception of others
5) Choose different referent
6) Leave the field/quit job

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S.Aryal

7. Expectancy Theory (Victor Vroom)

A theory of motivation that suggests that motivation depends on two things, how much we
want something and how likely we think we are to get it.
EP
Individual
Effort

PO
Individual
Performance

Valence
Organization
al Resources

Personal
Goals

Motivation = Expectancy X Valence

1. Effort-to-performance expectancy relationship
2. Performance -to-outcome (Reward) relationship
3. Rewards -to-personal goals relationship
Valence = Outcome
Recap of Motivational Theories

Theory

Summary

Individual

Hierarchy of
Needs

Abraham
Maslow

Five needs in an hierarchical order from lowest to highest: physiological,

safety, social, esteem, self actualization.
An individual moves up the hierarchy and, when a need is substantially
realized, moves up to the next need.

Theory XTheory Y

Douglas
McGregor

Proposes two alternative sets of assumptions that managers hold about

human beings' motivation-one basically negative, labeled Theory X; and the
other basically positive, labeled Theory Y.
McGregor argues that Theory Y assumptions are more valid that Theory X
and that employee motivation would be maximized by giving workers
greater job involvement and autonomy

MotivationHygiene

Frederick
Hertzberg

Argues that intrinsic job factors motivate whereas extrinsic factors only
placate employees.

ERG Theory

Clayton
Alderfer

Need
Achievement

David
McClelland

There are three groups of core needs: existence, relatedness and growth.
Existence: Physiological and safety needs
Relatedness: Social needs
Growth: Esteem, Self actualization needs
Proposes that there are three major needs in workplace situations:
achievement, affiliation and power: A high need to achieve has been
positively related to higher work performance when jobs provide
responsibility, feedback, and moderate challenge.

Equity
Theory

J. Stacey
Adams

An individual compares his or her input/outcome ratio to that of relevant

others. If there is a perceived inequity, the individual will change his or her
behaviour or compare themselves with someone else.

Expectancy
Theory

Victor Vroom

Proposes that motivation is a function of valence (value) of the effort

performance and the performance reward relationships.

Unit 6

Groups in Organization
Concept

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S.Aryal

Group can be defined as two or more humans that interact with one another, accept
expectations and obligations as members of the group, and share a common identity. A
true group exhibits some degree of cohesion and is more than a simple collection or
aggregate of individuals, such as people waiting at a bus stop. Characteristics shared by
members of a group include interests, values, ethnic or social background, and kinship
ties. According to Paul Hare, the defining characteristic of a group is social interaction.
So that group can be defined as two or more freely interacting individuals who share a
common identity and purpose.
"Group is defined as two or more persons who interact regularly to accomplish a
common purpose or goal." - Gary Dessler
"A work group is a collection of two or more people who interact with each other, share
similar interests and come together to accomplish some work activity." - Arnold &
Feldman
"Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to
achieve particular objectives."- S.P. Robbins

Characteristics of group
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)

Two or more people

Interaction and interdependence
Similar interests
Common identity
Common purpose or goals
Informal leadership
Individual accountability
Behavioural norms
Cohesiveness

Why do People Join Group?

Security. By joining a group, individuals can reduce the insecurity of
"Standing alone." People feel stronger, have fewer self-doubts, and are
more resistant to threats when they are part of a group.
Status. Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others provides
recognition and status for its members.
Self-Esteem. Groups can fulfil social needs. People enjoy the regular
interaction that comes with group membership. For many people, these onthe-job interactions are their primary source for fulfilling their needs for
affiliation.
Power. What cannot be achieved individually often becomes possible
through group action. There is power in numbers.
Goal Achievement. There are times when it takes more than one person
to accomplish a particular task-there is a need to pool talents, knowledge,
or power in order to complete a job. In such instances, management will
rely on the use of a formal group.
(Source: S.P. Robbins and Seema Sanghi, 2007 p.p.
229)

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S.Aryal

Types of groups
1) Formal group:
Formal group is a collection of people created to do something productive that
contributes to the success of the larger organization. Formal group is defined by
organizational structure and established under formal authority.
a) Command group: A group created by the organization that report directly
to the specified manager and are controlled by him/her.
b) Task Groups: A group with cross command relationship who are not
limited to their hierarchical form and work together to complete a job or
task. They need high coordination among the group members and are
responsible for specific non-routine activities.
2) Informal group: A group created by its members for purpose that may or may
not be relevant to the organization's goals. It is not defined by organizational
structure and it does not have formal authority. It is a collection of people seeking
friendship and acceptance that satisfies esteem needs.
a) Interest group: Those who form a grouping to fulfil the certain interest
which is concerned by each member.
b) Friendship group: The group which is formed for social alliance and they
come together that have common characteristics for fostering friendship.
(Ethnic groups/Religious Groups of other )

Nature and Significance of Informal Group

Nature of Informal Group:
-

Influenced by personal goal (rather than organizational goal)

Not defined by organizational structure

No formal reporting relationship and authority

Personal interest

Common characteristics of the group members

- Temporary in nature
(Ethnic groups, politics affiliated unions are some examples)

Significance of Informal Group

-

To fulfill relatedness needs

To enhance affiliation among organizational members

To increase social identity of the group members

To accomplish tasks that are not possible individually through formal relations
alone

To influence people outside the group

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S.Aryal

Group Formation Process

A well functioning group does not just form in ad hoc. It needs to follow a systematic
process and takes time to develop to a point where it can be effective and where all
members feel connected to it. There are popular five stages of group development
which is explained below:

Forming
This is the initial stage when the group comes together and members begin to
develop their relationship with one another and learn what is expected of them. This
is the stage when team building begins and trust starts to develop and individuals
test themselves whether they can be the part of group. Group members will start
establishing limits on acceptable behavior through experimentation. In this stage, it
is uncertain about the purpose, structure of group and leader.

Forming
Test which
interpersonal
behaviors ate
acceptable and
which are
unacceptable to
the other members

Storming

Storming

Norming

Performing

Develop
group structure
Group's
agenda
Recognizing
leader
Pattern of
interaction

Acceptance
of roles and
understand
others role
Sense of
unity

Enacting
roles
Direct effort
toward goal
attainment and
performance

During this stage of group development, interpersonal conflicts arise and differences
of opinion about the group and its goals will surface. If the group is unable to clearly
state its purposes and goals or if it cannot agree on shared goals, the group may
collapse at this point. It is important to work through the conflict at this time and to
establish clear goals. It is necessary for there to be discussion so everyone feels
heard and can come to an agreement on the direction the group is to move in.

Norming
Once the group resolves its conflicts, it can now establish patterns of how to get its
work done. In this stage, we find the close relationship and cohesiveness among the
group members. Expectations of one another are clearly articulated and accepted by
members of the group. Formal and informal procedures are established in delegating
tasks, responding to questions, and in the process by which the group functions.
Members of the group come to understand how the group as a whole operates.

Performing
It is the final stage for the permanent work group. During this fourth stage of group
development, issues related to roles, expectations, and norms are no longer of major
importance. The group is now focused on its task, working intentionally and
effectively to accomplish its goals. The group will find that it can enjoy its
accomplishments and that members will be learning new skills and sharing roles.
After a group enters the performing stage, it is unrealistic to expect it to remain
there permanently. When new members join or some people leave, there will be a
new process of forming, storming, and norming engaged as everyone learns about
one another. External events may lead to conflicts within the group. To remain
healthy, groups will go through all of these processes in a continuous circle.
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S.Aryal

Adjourning
The final stage of group development is adjourning which is only for the temporary
groups. In this stage, the temporary group members who has specific goal enclose all
their activities and formally end the group.
When conflict arises in a group, do not try to silence the conflict or to run from it. Let
the conflict come out into the open so people can discuss it. If the conflict is kept
under the surface, members will not be able to build trusting relationships and this
could harm the groups effectiveness. If handled properly, the group will come out of
the conflict with a stronger sense of cohesiveness then before.

Group Structure:
Concept
Group structure is the process of shaping the behavior of the individual members to
make it possible to explain and able to predicting their behavior for increasing the
group performance. We study the different variables of those group structure which
helps understanding and shaping the behavior.

The structural variables

There are different variables that structure the group which are: roles, norms, group
size, composition and cohesiveness. Those individual variables are explained below.

Leadership
Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an
objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and
coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such
as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills. To be an effective leader,
your followers must have trust in you and they need to be sold on your vision.

Some leadership attributes:

Beliefs are what we hold dear to us and are rooted deeply within us. They could be
assumptions or convictions that you hold true regarding people, concepts, or things.
They could be the beliefs about life, death, religion, what is good, what is bad, what
is human nature, etc.
Values are attitudes about the worth of people, concepts, or things. For example,
you might value a good car, home, friendship, personal comfort, or relatives. Values
are important as they influence a person's behavior to weigh the importance of
alternatives. For example, you might value friends more than privacy, while others
might be the opposite.
Skills are the knowledge and abilities that a person gains throughout life. The ability
to learn a new skill varies with each individual. Some skills come almost naturally,
while others come only by complete devotion to study and practice.
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S.Aryal

Traits are distinguishing qualities or characteristics of a person, while character is

the sum total of these traits. There are hundreds of personality traits, far too many to
be discussed here. Instead, we will focus on a few that are crucial for a leader. The
more of these you display as a leader, the more your followers will believe and trust
in you. Some traits of leadership are: Honest, Forward-Looking, Competent, Inspiring,
Intelligent etc.
Leaders have clear visions and they communicate these visions to their employees.
At another word, leadership means working with and through people by providing
them with a vision of the future which is meaningful to them and motivating.
Leadership is both strategic and pragmatic (realistic) and encourages all members of
a team to deliver their best as an individual and as a team member.
In contrast to individual leadership, some organizations have adopted group
leadership. In this situation, more than one person provides direction to the group as
a whole. Some organizations have taken this approach in hopes of increasing
creativity, reducing costs, or downsizing. Others may see the traditional leadership of
a boss as costing too much in team performance. In some situations, the
maintenance of the boss becomes too expensive - either by draining the resources of
the group as a whole, or by impeding the creativity within the team, even
unintentionally.

Roles
A role is a set of connected behaviors, rights and obligations as conceptualized by
actors in a social situation. It is mostly defined as an expected behavior in a given
individual social status and social position. A set of expectations govern the behavior of
persons holding a particular role in group; a set of norms that defines how persons in a
particular position should behave.
According to S.P. Robbins, Role is a set of expected behavior patterns attributed
to someone occupying a given position in a social unit.
Role Identity: It is the certain behaviors and attitudes of the individual which are
consistent with a role. Individuals have the ability to shift or change their roles rapidly
when the situation or environment changes. For Example, employee changes his or her
role rapidly after the promotion.
Role Perception: Role perception is the view of the individuals how they need to act
while playing roles in a given situation. We perceive to act in different situations by the
friend, society, teachers, videos or other source. An employee perceives managerial
roles observing the activities of seniors.
Role Expectation: It is the expectation from others how should you act in a given
situation. Psychological contract is an example in which management and employees do
unwritten contract what management expects and vice versa.
Role confusion is a situation where an individual has trouble determining which role
he/she should play. For example, one could be a college student who would attend a
convention of a particular recreational interest and find his or her teacher there. Conflict
between behaving as a student and as an enthusiast who shares the same interest
emerges, leading to confusion.
Role conflict characterises a situation where fulfilling a certain role has a conflict with
fulfilling another role. For example, you found your teacher made a mistake and should
you report that? If you did, you might disgrace him and if you didn't, you might not fulfil
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S.Aryal

your role as student. While role conflict takes place across different role sets, role strain
happens within the same role set.

Every member of a group plays a certain role within that group. Some roles relate to the task aspect of
the group, while others promote social interaction. Here are the examples of some roles that group
members play.
Task-Oriented Roles

Social Roles

Roles which relate to the completion of the group's task:

Initiator-contributor: Generates new ideas.
Information-seeker: Asks for information about the
task.
Opinion-seeker: Asks for the input from the group
about its values.
Information-giver: Offers facts or generalization to the
group.
Opinion-giver: States his or her beliefs about a group
issue.
Elaborator: Explains ideas within the group, offers
examples to clarify ideas.
Coordinator: Shows the relationships between ideas.
Orienter: Shifts the direction of the group's discussion.
Evaluator-critic: Measures group's actions against some
objective standard.
Energizer: Stimulates the group to a higher level of
activity.
Procedural-technician: Performs logistical functions for
the group.
Recorder: Keeps a record of group actions.
Groups also have members who play certain social roles:
Encourager: Praises the ideas of others.
Harmonizer: Mediates differences between group
members.
Compromiser: Moves group to another position that is
favored by all group members.
Gatekeeper/expediter: Keeps communication channels
open.
Standard Setter: Suggests standards or criteria for the
group to achieve.
Group observer: Keeps records of group activities and
uses this information to offer feedback to the group.

Individualistic Roles

Follower: Goes along with the group and accepts the

group's ideas.
These roles place the group member above the group and are
destructive to the group.
Aggressor: Attacks other group members, deflates the
status of others, and other aggressive behavior.
Blocker: Resists movement by the group.
Recognition seeker: Calls attention to himself or
herself.
Self-confessor: Seeks to disclose non-group related
feelings or opinions.
Dominator: Asserts control over the group by
manipulating the other group members.

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Help seeker: Tries to gain the sympathy of the group.

Special interest pleader: Uses stereotypes to assert his

or her own prejudices.

Status
Status is a position or rank given to groups or group members by the organization. It
can be the job title, benefits and services, facilities etc. which differentiates the
status from one to another. Status plays a dominant role in organizational behavior
since it affects motivation, leadership, job satisfaction and other behavioral
consequences.
In organization, people who control the group using their power tend to be in high
status. The leader or manager of a group will be in high status than the members or
employees. Besides this, status also depends upon to the contribution to the group.
For instance, in a playgroup, the individual who has extra performance can have
higher status event though they are in same group.

Norms
Norms are the standards (degrees of acceptability and unacceptability) for conduct
that helps individuals judge what is right or wrong and good or bad in a given social
setting. They:

Are culturally derived and vary from one culture to another.

Are usually unwritten, yet have a strong influence on individual behavior.

May go above and beyond formal rules and written policies.

According to S.P. Robbins, Norms are acceptable standards of behavior within a

group that are shared by the groups members.
Reasons that groups enforce norms

To facilitate the survival of the group.

To simplify or clarify role expectations.

To help group members avoid embarrassing situations.

To express key group values and enhance the groups unique identity.

Norms are effective guides for social behavior. Norms must be activated before they
can guide. Individuals are expected to fulfill their role in society. Society regulates
the behavior of different roles on a reward or punishment system. Individuals
primarily attempt to fulfill their roles for their own succession.
Rewarded- Individuals are rewarded for living up to their roles (i.e. students getting
an "A" on their exam)
Punished- Individuals are punished for not completing the duties of their role (i.e. a
salesman is fired for not selling enough product)

Size
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S.Aryal

Size does matter at least as far as groups are concerned. In very small groups, the
addition or loss of one member can of course make a radical difference to the group
process. Larger groups need to be managed in quite different ways from smaller
ones. So let's tackle this systematically: "Formal" features refer to necessary
properties of the group, and are functions of the number of people and "Process"
features are more empirically determined. Those formality and process are more
important as the size gets greater.
Smaller groups are faster to complete the tasks and making decisions than the larger
one. But if the purpose of group is problem solving and fact finding, they can get
better result because of more inputs. Generally, seven members of group are found
to be effective and here should be odd number in group size.
Social loafing
The term social loafing is one important finding about the group size. Social
loafing is a tendency of the individuals to make less effort in group than
individually. So it claims that the sum total productivity of the individuals always
less than that of group. It indicates that increase in group size inversely related to
individual performance.

Composition
The group members should have the variety of abilities. The dissimilar abilities,
inclusive and participative group can be effective than the similar and homogenous.
There should be different personalities, gender, race, age, academic background and
level, skills, experience. But there can be different compositional factors according
to the group objectives and types. If there is high level of diversity, it creates conflict
and competition in group leading to high productivity if the leader is very able to
manage conflict.

Cohesiveness
Cohesiveness is the degree of being attractive, motivated and committed in the
group. It is the level of mutual understanding, cooperation and belongingness within
the members.
The group which are cohesive can spent hours of time in interaction, they can stay
together and collectively defend the external threats. It is the factor that keeps its
members within the group for long duration.

Performance Norms

Relationship between Group Cohesiveness, Performance Norms and

Productivity
Cohesiveness
Hig
h

Low

High

Low

High
Productivity
Low
Productivity

Moderate
productivity

44

Moderate to
Low
Productivity

S.Aryal

Suggestions for improving group cohesiveness:

1. Make the group smaller
2. Encourage agreement with group goals
3. Increase the time members spent together
4. Increase the status of the group and the perceived difficulty of attaining membership
in the group
5. Stimulate competition with other groups
6. Give rewards to the group rather than to individual members
7. Physically isolate the group
(Source: S.P. Robbins)

Group Decision Making

In most organizations, decisions are made by groups, teams or committees. It is the
process of making collective decision.
The common characters of group decision making are:
Decision making with a common decision making problem
Shared interest in a collective decision
All members have an opportunity to influence the decision

Advantages and Disadvantages of Group Decision Making

A major advantage of group decision making is that more information is brought
to bear identifying and evaluating alternatives. The more diverse the group's
composition, the more likely it is that creative ideas will be forthcoming
1
.
2
3
4
5

Advantages
More information and knowledge
are available
More alternatives are likely to be
generated
More acceptance of the final
decisions is likely
Enhanced communication of
decision making may result
Better decision generally emerge

Disadvantages
1 The process takes longer, so it is
costlier
2 Compromise decision resulting from
indecisiveness may emerge`
3 One person may dominate the group
4 Group think may occur

Issues relating to group decision making

The two popular issues about group decision making are as follows:
a) Groupthink: Groupthink is the situations in which group pressures for
consensus and conformity discourage the group from critically appraising or
realistic appraisal of alternative course of actions. It weakens the efficiency of the
individual because of pressure from group members and may go beyond the
reality and moral judgment.
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S.Aryal

Symptoms of the group think:

1. Group members rationalize any resistance to the assumptions they have
made. No matter how strongly the evidence may contradict their basic
assumptions, members behave so as to reinforce those assumptions
continually.
2. Members apply direct pressures on those who momentarily express doubts
about \any of the group's shared views or who question the validity of
arguments supporting the alternative favored by the majority.
3. Members who have doubts or hold differing points of view seek to avoid
deviating from what appears to be group consensus by keeping silent about
misgiving and even minimizing to them shelves the importance of their
doubts.
4. There appears to be an illusion of unanimity (harmony or agreement). If
someone doesn't speak, its assumed that he or she is in full accord. In other
words, abstention (non-participation) becomes viewed as a Yes vote.
Source: S.P. Robbins and Seema Sanghi, p. p. 247

b) Groupshift: It is change in decision risk between the group's decision and the
individual decision that members within the group would make; can be with
towards conservatism or greater risk - S.P. Robbins. Group shift, also known as a
special case of group think, is a change in decision risk between the groups
decision and the individual decision that members within the group would make,
can be either toward conservatism (traditional or popular) or greater risk decision
in comparison to the decision by the individual alone. In group decision, the initial
positions of individual members of a group are exaggerated toward a more
extreme position

What Causes Groupshift?

Discussion creates familiarization among group members

Group discussion motivates individuals to take risks

Group diffuses responsibility

Improving Group Decision Making

To make the group decision effective, there are some techniques to be followed which
are explained below.

1) Brainstorming: A decision making group in which members openly discuss,

argue about and agree on the best alternative. It is an idea generation
process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives, while
withholding any criticism of those alternatives and lastly, the members
agree on the best one, proposed by any member of the group.
It is a group process for generating possible solutions to a problem developed by
Alex F. Osborne to increase individual capabilities.
Advantages
A large number of ideas can be generated in a short period of time
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S.Aryal

Simple -no special expertise or knowledge required from the facilitator

Disadvantages
Credit for another persons ideas may impede participation
Works best when participants represent a wide range of disciplines

2) Delphi Group: A form of group decision making in which a group is used to

achieve a consensus of expert opinion without face-to-face meeting of
experts. It is a group process which helps aggregates viewpoints in settings where
subjective information has to be relied on the production of numerical estimates
and forecasts on selected statements and depends on written feedback (instead of
bringing people together)

Characteristics

Panel of experts
Facilitator who leads the process (manager)
Anonymous participation
Makes it easier to change opinion
Iterative processing of the responses in several rounds
Interaction through questionnaires
Same arguments are not repeated
Estimates and associated arguments are generated by and presented to the
panel
Statistical interpretation of the forecasts

3) Nominal Group: It is an organized group meeting for problem

identification, problem solving, and program planning etc. which is used to
eliminate the problems encountered in small group meetings. Individual
members meet face-to-face and present the idea in a meeting. After the
complete discussion and evaluation, they rank the ideas and highest rank
will be the final decision. It is a structured technique used to generate
creative and innovative alternatives or ideas.
Group Activity

Individual Activity

Team members
receive description
of problem

Individuals take turns

describing solutions
to each other;
Group then discusses
and evaluates ideas

Individuals silently
write down
possible solutions.

Individual Activity

Individuals silently
rank or vote on each
solution presented.

Advantages
Best for small group meetings
Fact finding and Idea generation
Search of problem or solution
Disadvantages
Not suitable for routine business and Bargaining
Problems with predetermined outcomes

4. Computer assisted decision making

For the decision making a large number software packages available for the decision
makers for their decision analysis. Those software packages can be use for group
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S.Aryal

decision making, voting or other analysis and prediction of values. Web based
applications can also be used of offline software like o Excel, Access may also be used
for decisional purpose.
Advantages
Graphical support for problem structuring, value and probability elicitation
Facilitate changes to models relatively easily
Sensitivity analyses can be easily conducted
Analysis of complex value and probability structures
Possibility to carry out analysis in distributed mode

Unit 7

Leadership
Concept and Nature
Leader is a person who can influence the behaviour of others without having to rely on
force, who is a person accepted by others as a leader.
"Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals." Robbins
"Leadership is a process, the use of noncoercieve influence to shape the group's
or organization' goals, motivate behaviour toward the achievement of those
goals, and help define group or organization culture; as a property, the set of
characteristics attributed to individuals who are perceived to be leaders." - Griffin
So that the leadership can be defined as a process that takes place in groups in which
one member influences and controls the behaviour of the other members toward some
common goal."

Distinction between Management and Leadership

Activity
Creating an agenda

Management
Planning & Budgeting
- Establishing detailed
steps, allocating
resources
48

Leadership
Establishing direction
- Developing vision

S.Aryal

Developing a human
network for achieving
the agenda
Executing plans

Organizing and staffing

- Structure, Staffing,
Delegating authority,
monitor and implement
Controlling and Problem
Solving
- Monitoring results vs
plan,
- Solving problem

Aligning people
- Communication
- Influencing
- Creating teams
Motivating and Inspiring
- Energizing people to overcome
major political, bureaucratic and
resource barriers

Functions of Leadership
a) Establishing direction : Giving the proper direction to the followers where
determining the destination
b) Aligning people: Keeping the followers within the control of leader
c) Motivating and inspiring: Motivate them and try to be inspired by the leader
d) Change management: Manage any type of organizational change convincing
the followers, creating trust to the management
e) Coordination: Coordinate where necessary
f) Determining goal: Determine both long and short-term goals and objectives to
be achieved
g) Representing organization: Manager represents on behalf of the organization.
h) Making quick and rational decision: Leaders should be able to make
immediate and rational decisions
i) Environmental adaptation: Make the change according to the environmental
change to adopt to it
j) Communication: Effective communication to its stakeholders

Traits of a Good Leader (Those popular traits illustrated by different writers)

Honesty - Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive
behavior will not inspire trust.

Competent - Your actions should be based on reason and moral principles. Do

not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.

Forward-looking Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be
owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want
and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic
values.

Inspiring - Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in

mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new
heights. Take charge when necessary.

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S.Aryal

Intelligent - Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.

Fair-minded - Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of

justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests,
and well-being of others.

Broad-minded - Seek out diversity.

Courageous - Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the

seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under
stress.

Straightforward - Use sound judgment to make good decisions at the right

time.

Imaginative - Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans,

and methods. Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and
solutions to problems. Be innovative.

Leadership Theories
1) Trait Theory of Leadership
Trait theory assumes that some basic trait (character) or set of traits existed that
differentiated leaders from non leaders. Those traits include intelligence,
assertiveness, good looking, good vocabulary, attractiveness, self-confidence,
ability, commitment etc. It emphasizes on 'leaders by born'
It assumes that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better
suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify particular personality or
behavioral characteristics shared by leaders. But if particular traits are key
features of leadership, how do we explain people who possess those qualities but
are not leaders? This question is one of the difficulties in using trait theories to
explain leadership.
Decenzo and Robbins have mentioned six traits which differentiated leaders from
non-leaders.
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Drive: High effort, high energy and persistent to achieve goal

Desire to lead: Strong desire to influence and lead others
Honesty : Trust by followers, honest in their words
Self-confidence: can do approach for doing right things
Intelligence: Intelligence skill to gather, interpret, analyze the information
for appropriate decision and to create vision, solving problems.
f) Job relevant knowledge: The leader should exceed the job knowledge in
technical as well as non-technical matters
a) Great Man Theory of Leadership
Early research on leadership was based on the study of people who were already
great leaders. These people were often from the upper classes, as few from
lower classes had the opportunity to lead. This contributed to the idea that
leadership had something to do with extraordinary things.
Great Man theories assume that the capacity for leadership is inherent that
great leaders are born not made. These theories often portray great leaders as
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S.Aryal

heroic, mythic and intended to rise to leadership when needed. The term Great
Man was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of primarily as a
male quality, especially in terms of military leadership. This was easy to verify,
by pointing to people such as Jesus and Buddha.
It concludes that leader is born and we can not make them since they need to act
and behave highly differently than non-leaders; they are the very great man in
organization and very difficult to find leaders everywhere
2) Behavioural Theory of Leadership (People can be trained to be leader)
Opposing the views of Trait Theory, behavioural perspectives of leadership argues
that leadership depends upon the individuals how they behave others. It claims
that leadership is highly behavioural which can be trained/educated to the
individuals. It tries to identify what leaders should do rather than what leaders do.
The followings are the theories under Behavioural Perspectives:
i)

Managerial Grid/Leadership Grid Style

Industrial psychologists Blake and Mouton developed such styles consisting
two dimensions: i) Concern for people: human aspect and ii) Concern for
production: task aspects. They developed 81 possible combinations for
leading purpose. Here is the five combinations as an example.

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S.Aryal

High

Concern for
people

1.9

9.9
5.5

1.1

9.1

Low Concern for production High

1.1 - Impoverished style: Little concern for production as well as people.

They try to use of minimum effort to get wok done to be popular.
1.9 - Country club style: The leader focuses on people like, friendship at
work, motivation and no priority is given for production.
9.1 - Task manager style: The autocratic style of leading in which the
concern of managers will be on high production rather than people's
needs and satisfaction.
9.9 - Team builder style: The most effective leadership in which
manager focuses on high production through employee participation,
motivation and commitment.
5.5 - Middle of roader style: The very safe style of leadership in which
manager tries to balance the concern for production as well as people,
the individual is compromiser.
ii)

Michigan Studies
The researchers of University of Michigan which was led by Rensis Likert in
1940, concluded that there are two types of behaviours of the managers in
the organization.
a) Job-centered leader behaviour
The behaviour of leader who pay close attention to the job and work
procedures involved with that job.
b) Employee-centered leader behaviour
The behaviour of leaders who develop cohesive (unified) work group and
ensuring employees' satisfaction, freedom and provide necessary
assistance to their subordinates.

iii) Ohio State Studies

In late 1940's, Ohio State University of USA conducted the series of researches
to seek the dimensions of leader behaviour. Finally they concluded the two
behaviours described by their employees:
a) Initiating Structure: It is the leadership behaviours to define and
structure the role of leader to organize the work, maintaining working
relationships and goal achievement.
They focus on planning and
controlling, standards and rules-regulations especially: assigning the task
to particular members, maintaining definite standards of performance and
emphasizing to meet the deadline.

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S.Aryal

b) Consideration: On the other hand, the consideration behaviour focuses

on job relationships, mutual trust at work, respect for subordinate's ideas
and always considers the feeling of followers. They show concern about the
comfort, well-being, status and satisfaction of followers.
The conclusion of Ohio State Studies is : High Initiation Structure and High
Consideration (High-High Style) generally results positive outcomes but
situational factors needed to be integrated to this theory.

3) Contingency Theory
Contingency theories of leadership focus on particular variables related to the
environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is best
suited for the situation. According to this theory, no leadership style is best in all
situations. Success depends upon a number of variables, including the leadership
style, qualities of the followers, and aspects of the situation.

Fiedler's Model of Leadership

It is the first comprehensive contingency model of leadership developed by Fred
Fiedler which proposes effective group performance depends on a proper match
between a leader's style of interacting with subordinates and the degree to which
the situation gives control to the leader.
Identifying Leadership Style
According him, we need to identify the leadership style of the individual whether
he/she focus on task or relationship. For this purpose, he developed a least
preferred co-worker (LPC) questionnaire.
Defining the Situation
After the identification of leadership style, we need to understand the situation or
contingency dimensions which can be:
a) Leader-member relations : confidence, trust, and respect to leader
b) Task Structure: Job is structured or unstructured
c) Position Power: Power of leader to influence like hiring, firing, discipline,
promotion and salary increases

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Matching Leader and Situations

Fiedler developed the model as a finding of those two: LPC and three different
situational variables and presented it as follows:

Performanc
e

Task
Oriented
Relationship
Oriented

Good

Category

Poor

Leader-member
relations
Task structure
Position power

I Favorabl
II

Good
High
Stron
g

Goo
d
High
Wea
k

III

IV

VI

VII
VIII
Unfavorable

Good

Goo
d
Low
Wea
k

Poor

Poor

Poor

Poor

High
Stron
g

High
Wea
k

Low
Stron
g

Low
Wea
k

Low
Stron
g

Since his assumption is the fix of leadership style in individual, we have only two
ways to improve the effectiveness in leadership; those are i) change the leader
and ii) change the situation (relation, task structure and position power)

Unit 8

Communication
Concept
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Communication is a process that allows people to exchange information by one of

several methods. There are auditory means, such as speaking or singing, and nonverbal,
physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch or eye
contact.
"Communication is the process of transmitting information from one person to
another."
"Effective communication is the process of sending message in such a away that
the message received is as close in meaning as possible to the message
intended." - Griffin

Communication Structure
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)

Sender and receiver

Two way process
Flow
Channel
Encoding and decoding
Feedback
Noise

The Communication Process

Message

Sender

Encoding

Channels

Decoding

Receiver

Noise

Feedback

Types of communication
1. Formal and Informal Communication
Formal communication

Communication through organization structure in which the message is being

communicated through formal authorities. It can be vertical, horizontal, two-way,
diagonal, upward, downward etc.

Informal communication

Informal communication may or may not follow official reporting relationships. It

can be the followings :
a) Grapevine
An informal communication network suitable for large scale organization.
i.
Gossip chain : One person tells many
ii.
Cluster chain : One person passes information to the selected few
individuals
b) Management by wandering around
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Some managers keep in touch with what's going on by wandering around and
talking with people

2. Interpersonal and Non-verbal communication

a) Interpersonal communication
Process of transferring information between group members and among
each others.
Oral communication
- Speeches
- Formal one -on-one and group discussions
- Grapevine
Written communication
- memos
- Letters
- Fax
- Email/instant messages
- Notices, Journals, Bulletin etc
b) Non-verbal communication
Communication without using words
- Facial expressions
- Body movements, Physical contact, body language
- Tone
- Image
- Settings

Barriers to Communication
Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood. - Freeman Teague, Jr.

Anything that prevents understanding of the message is a barrier to

communication. Many physical and psychological barriers exist:
o

Culture, background and bias - We allow our past experiences to

change the meaning of the message. Our culture, background, and bias
can be good as they allow us use our past experiences to understand
something new, it is when they change the meaning of the message
then they interfere with the communication process.
Noise - Equipment or environmental noise impede clear
communication. The sender and the receiver must both be able to
concentrate on the messages being sent to each other.
Ourselves - Focusing on ourselves, rather than the other person can
lead to confusion and conflict. The "Me Generation" is out when it comes
to effective communication. Some of the factors that cause this are
defensiveness (we feel someone is attacking us), superiority (we feel we
know more that the other), and ego (we feel we are the center of the
activity).
Perception - If we feel the person is talking too fast, not fluently, does
not articulate clearly, etc., we may dismiss the person. Also our
preconceived attitudes affect our ability to listen. We listen uncritically
to persons of high status and dismiss those of low status.
Message - Distractions happen when we focus on the facts rather than
the idea. Our educational institutions reinforce this with tests and
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questions. Semantic distractions occur when a word is used differently

than you prefer. For example, the word chairman instead of chairperson
may cause you to focus on the word and not the message.
Environmental - Bright lights, an attractive person, unusual sights, or
any other stimulus provides a potential distraction.
Smothering - We take it for granted that the impulse to send useful
information is automatic. Not true! Too often we believe that certain
information has no value to others or they are already aware of the
facts.
Stress - People do not see things the same way when under stress.
What we see and believe at a given moment is influenced by our
psychological frames of references - our beliefs, values, knowledge,
experiences, and goals.

o
o

These barriers can be thought of as filters, that is, the message leaves the
sender, goes through the above filters, and is then heard by the receiver. These
filters muffle the message. And the way to overcome filters is through active
listening and feedback.
The following are the important points:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

Filtering (manipulation of information)

Selective perception of receivers
Information overload
Language
Reluctance to communication
Emotions
Cultural barriers
Politically correct communication
Less Listening power

Improving communication effectiveness (Overcoming

barriers)

Individual skills
-

Develop good listening skills

Encourage two-way communication
Be aware of language and meaning
Maintain credibility
Be sensitive to receiver's perspective
Be sensible to sender's perspective

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Organizational skills
-

Follow up
Regulate information flows
Understand the richness of media

Unit 9

Conflict Management
Concept
Conflict is a situation of disagreement to others view, idea, principle or other matter. It is
the opposition in the decision or approach given by other employees. It may be
misunderstanding or miscommunication or real but inevitable element of interpersonal
relationships in organizations.
"Conflict is a disagreement between two or more
organizations." - Griffin

individual,

group or

"Conflict is a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has
negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party
cares about." - S.P. Robbins
Conflict may be job-related or personal, simple or strong, short-lived or for months or
even years. Traditionally, it viewed as a problem, but in modern days, it is viewed that
some conflicts are beneficial to the organizations. All the conflicts are not harmful.

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Thoughts of Conflict
Traditional view: The belief that all conflict is harmful and must be avoided
Human relations view: The belief that conflict is a natural and inevitable outcome in
any group.
Interactionist view: The belief that conflict is not only a positive force in a group but it
is absolutely necessary for a group to perform effective ly.

Conflict and organizational performance

Performance

High

Optimal level of conflict

Low
Low

Conflict

High

If there is absolutely no conflict in the group or organization, its members may become
lazy with no competition in organization. As a result, group or organizational
performance and innovation may subsequently begin to suffer. A moderate level of
conflict among group or organizational members, on the other hand, can spark
motivation, creativity, innovation and initiative and raise performance. Too much
conflict though can produce undesirable results such as hostility and lack of cooperation,
which lower performance.

The Conflict Process

There are the five stages of conflict which is explained in the following figure.
Stage I: Potential Opposition or Incompatibility:
This is an opportunity for creating conflict. In this stage, the individual seeks for sources
of conflict that can be of communication, structure or personal variables.
Communication: Distorted communication, misunderstanding, noise in communication
channels, inadequate information are the source of conflict related to communication.
Stage I

Stage II

opposition or

personalizatio

Stage III

Stage IV

Stage V

Structure: Size of the organization, degree of specialization, role and responsibilities,

diverse
goals, style of leadership,
reward
system, interdependence
creates conflict.
Potential
Cognition and
Intentions
Behaviour
Outcomes
Personal
Variables: The
personality of individual may dislike by others and it creates
incompatibility
n
Conflict-handling
Increased
differences. Prejudice, disagreements,
authoritarian
arises conflict.
Perceived
intentions
group
Antecedent
conditions
Communication
Structure
Personal
variables

Conflict

Felt
Conflict

Competing
Collaborating
Compromising
Avoiding
59
Accommodating

Over conflict
Party's
behaviour
Other's
reaction

performanc
e
Decreased
group
performanc
e

S.Aryal

Stage II: Cognition and Personalization

From the stage I, if the individual negatively affected, it may perceived or felt as conflict
and it is personalized. This is the very important stage in which the individuals
understand what the conflict is and emotions play a major role for reducing or increasing
conflict.
Perceived Conflict: Awareness by one or more parties of the existence of conditions
that create opportunities for conflict to arise
Felt Conflict: Emotional involvement in a conflict creating anxiety, tenseness,
frustration or hostility

Stage III: Intentions

It is the decision to act in the given situation. Person may act in different ways like:
- Competing : A desire to satisfy one's interests, ignoring the impact on the other
party to the conflict
- Collaborating: Intention of the parties to solve the problem by clarifying
differences, cooperation and mutually beneficial outcome for all conflicting
parties.
- Avoiding: Avoiding the conflicting parties/people , withdrawing or ignoring
- Accommodating: Sacrificing your goal so that others can achieve their goal (to
maintain relationship)
- Compromising: Each party in a conflict give up something and solve problem.

Stage IV: Behaviour

It is the visibility of conflict in which conflicting parties show the reactions and actions.
In this stage, the conflicting parties show certain behaviour and other react for this.

Stage V: Outcome
As a consequence of actions and reaction as behaviour of conflict, it mat increase or
decrease the organizational performance.
Functional Outcomes: Conflict can be highly constructible t when it improves the
quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages interest and
curiosity among group member, provides the medium through which problems can be
raised and releasing tension and foster the environment for self-evaluation and change.
It focuses on majority decision and avoids the rubber-stamp of decision or group think.
Dysfunctional Outcomes: It is the destructive consequence of conflict that can be
destruction of group, reduction in group cohesiveness, fighting between group
members, halt of functioning threaten for group survival etc.
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Sources of Conflict
1) Interpersonal conflict
- Great variety in goals, perception, attitudes
- Personality clash, distrust each other's motives, dislike one another
- Gender problem
2) Inter group conflict
- Conflict between two or more organizational groups that may arise from
organizational causes than interpersonal causes
- Different department often have different goals, different targets
3) Conflict between organization and environment
- Conflict between the organizations because of competition
- Conflict between organization and its particular stakeholders

Interdepartmental Conflict
One of the major causes of organizational conflict is structural, also known as
interdepartmental. Organizations are designed around product lines, regions or
technical specialties. These activities are assigned to departments that often have
mutually exclusive structured interests and goals among the departmental employees
and they interact within a framework of scarce resources and task dependency. When
resources are relatively fixed and when one department's gain is at the expense of
another, conflict should be expected. For example, employee selection is the gain HR
Department but the cost involved in the selection is expense for finance department.
If two sub-units in an organizational system have differentiated goals and are
functionally interdependent, conditions exist for conflict. Interdependence produces the
need for team work, mutual cooperation and understanding but it also creates conflict.
Major causes of departmental conflict:
o
o
o
o
o

Different attitudes between line and staff units

Organizational size (directly related to level of conflict) and standardization
(inversely related to conflict)
physical or communicational barriers between departments
unequal access to authority, rewards or organizational resources and
ambiguity or uncertainty in assigning tasks or rewards to different departments are

Approaches to Conflict Management

Conflict management is the technique of resolving or stimulating conflict so that desired
level of conflict can be achieved.

Interpersonal Conflict Management Approach:

1. Competing
It is a desire to satisfy one's interests, ignoring the impact on the other party to
the conflict. This strategy results from a high concern for self-group's own
interests with less concern for others. The outcome is "win/lose." This strategy
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S.Aryal

includes most attempts at bargaining. It is generally used when basic rights are at
stake or to set a precedent. However, it can cause the conflict to escalate and
losers may try to retaliate.
2. Collaborating
It is the intention of the parties to solve the problem by clarifying differences,
cooperation and mutually beneficial outcome for all conflicting parties. This
results from a high concern for your group's own interests, matched with a high
concern for the interests of other partners. The outcome is "win/win." This
strategy is generally used when concerns for others are important. It is also
generally the best strategy when society's interest is at stake. This approach
helps build commitment and reduce bad feelings. The drawbacks are that it takes
time and energy. In addition, some partners may take advantage of the others'
trust and openness. Generally regarded as the best approach for managing
conflict, the objective of collaboration is to reach consensus.
3. Avoiding
It is avoiding the conflicting parties/people, withdrawing or ignoring. These results
from a low concern for self-group's own interests coupled with a low concern for
the interests of others. The outcome is "lose/lose." This strategy is generally used
when other issues are more pressing. It is also used when confrontation has a
high potential for damage or more information is needed. The drawbacks are that
important decisions may be made by default.
4. Accommodating
Sacrificing your goal so that others can achieve their goal (to maintain
relationship). his results from a low concern for your group's own interests
combined with a high concern for the interests of other partners. The outcome is
"lose/win." This strategy is generally used when the issue is more important to
others than to you.
5. Compromising
Each party in a conflict give up something and solve problem. his strategy results
from a high concern for your group's own interests along with a moderate concern
for the interests of other partners. The outcome is "win some/lose some." This
strategy is generally used to achieve temporary solutions, to avoid destructive
power struggles or when time pressures exist.

Structural Conflict Management Approach

Approach Description

When to use

Problem - The problem-solving approach involves

Solving
supporting the individuals involved in the
conflict to help them consider all the options
and find the best solution. Sometimes
referred to as the Confrontation approach.

This approach should be employed in

situations where there is not a clear
concise agreed to solution, and there is
time to allow the parties to collaborate
and innovate. For this approach to work,
it is also important that the conflicting
parties both bring ideas and creativity to
the problem.

Comprise Comprise involves working out a middle

This approach should be employed in
ground that satisfies all parties to some
situations when both parties have a
degree. The compromising approach
valid but different approach to resolve
requires each of the conflicting members to the problem or complete the task hand,
accede in order to achieve a resolution.
or when there is not a best practice to
be followed. By assuring everyone's
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Approach Description

When to use
perspective is considered and
represented, this approach will allow a
win-win situation to occur.

Smoothin Smoothing de-emphasizes the differences

g
between points of view and focuses on
commonalities. The smoothing approach
involves minimizing the importance of the
problem at the heart of the conflict in an
effort to make the conflict seem pointless.
Forcing

This approach is particularly useful for

minor or unimportant issues, or issues
that are not critical to project success.

The forcing approach requires others to yield This approach should be used when
to the point of view of one side or another. It time is a critical factor. It is imperative
is also called the win-lose approach and can that the project manager provides the
increase conflict. The forcing approach
desired resolution to the conflict. This
involves you, as project manager, using your approach doesn't solve the conflict, but
influence and powers within the project
it does ensure that things get done.
team to simply resolve the issue yourself,
making a decision about the way to move
forward.

Withdraw Withdrawal involves avoiding or retreating

al
from the conflict or potential conflict and
allowing the involved parties to work out the
conflict on their own. The withdrawing
approach involves giving in to the conflict by
simply refusing to acknowledge that there is
a problem and declining to discuss it.

Because this approach involves avoiding

the problem, it should not be used very
often. It can be a temporary solution to
deal with heated and emotional
conflicts, or it can be used if the issue
isn't relevant to the work of the project
team.

Tips to Manage Structural Conflict

1. Regularly review job descriptions. Get your employee's input to them. Write down
and date job descriptions. Ensure:
a. Job roles don't conflict.
b. No tasks "fall in a crack".
2. Intentionally build relationships with all subordinates.
a. Meet at least once a month alone with them in office.
b. Ask about accomplishments, challenges and issues.
3. Get regular, written status reports and include:
a. Accomplishments.
b. Currents issues and needs from management.
c. Plans for the upcoming period.
4. Conduct basic training about:
a. Interpersonal communications.
b. Conflict management.
c. Delegation.
5. Develop procedures for routine tasks and include the employees' input.
a. Have employees write procedures when possible and appropriate.
b. Get employees' review of the procedures.
c. Distribute the procedures.
d. Train employees about the procedures.
6. Regularly hold management meetings, for example, every month, to communicate
new initiatives and status of current programs.
7. Consider an anonymous suggestion box in which employees can provide
suggestions.
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Managing Conflict
A Guide for Watershed Partnerships
Understanding conflict.
What is conflict?
Conflict is a natural disagreement resulting from individuals or groups that differ in attitudes, beliefs, values or
needs. It can also originate from past rivalries and personality differences. Other causes of conflict include
trying to negotiate before the timing is right or before needed information is available.
The ingredients of conflict.
Needs - Needs are things that are essential to our well-being. Conflicts arise when we ignore others' needs,
our own needs or the group's needs. Be careful not to confuse needs with desires (things we would like, but
are not essential).
Perceptions - People interpret reality differently. They perceive differences in the severity, causes and
consequences of problems. Misperceptions or differing perceptions may come from: self-perceptions, others'
perceptions, differing perceptions of situations and perceptions of threat.
Power - How people define and use power is an important influence on the number and types of conflicts that
occur. This also influences how conflict is managed. Conflicts can arise when people try to make others
change their actions or to gain an unfair advantage.
Values - Values are beliefs or principles we consider to be very important. Serious conflicts arise when people
hold incompatible values or when values are not clear. Conflicts also arise when one party refuses to accept
the fact that the other party holds something as a value rather than a preference.
Feelings and emotions - Many people let their feelings and emotions become a major influence over how
they deal with conflict. Conflicts can also occur because people ignore their own or others' feelings and
emotions. Other conflicts occur when feelings and emotions differ over a particular issue.
Conflict is not always negative. In fact, it can be healthy when effectively managed. Healthy conflict can lead
to...
Growth and innovation
New ways of thinking
Additional management options
If the conflict is understood, it can be effectively managed by reaching a consensus that meets both the
individual's and society's needs. This results in mutual benefits and strengthens the relationship. The goal is for
all to "win" by having at least some of their needs met.
How public and private conflicts differ.
Most of us have experience with conflict management and negotiation in private disputes (with a salesman,
among family members or with your employer).
Public conflicts, like those that can occur during watershed management efforts and other environmental
issues often are rooted in trying to balance environmental protection and economic growth and jobs. Keep in
mind, however, that effective watershed management can result in both economic and environmental benefits.
Some complicating factors include:
Distribution of costs and benefits. Those who benefit may not be the same as those who pay the costs.
Perceptions of problems. People tend to blame others for causing the problem.
Speed of clean-up or other actions. Some will want changes to take place more quickly than others.

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Managing Conflict
There are five steps to managing conflict. These steps are:
Analyze the conflict
Determine management strategy
Pre-negotiation
Negotiation
Post-negotiation
Step 1: Analyze the conflict.
The first step in managing conflict is to analyze the nature and type of conflict. To do this, you'll find it helpful to
ask questions.
Answers may come from your own experience, your partners or local media coverage. You may want to
actually interview some of the groups involved. Additional information regarding analyzing conflicts can be
found in the Guide to Information and Resources.
Step 2: Determine management strategy.
Once you have a general understanding of the conflict, the groups involved will need to analyze and select the
most appropriate strategy. In some cases it may be necessary to have a neutral facilitator to help move the
groups toward consensus.
Conflict Management Strategies
Collaboration
Compromise
Competition
Accommodation
Avoidance
Collaboration - This results from a high concern for your group's own interests, matched with a high concern
for the interests of other partners. The outcome is "win/win." This strategy is generally used when concerns for
others are important. It is also generally the best strategy when society's interest is at stake. This approach
helps build commitment and reduce bad feelings. The drawbacks are that it takes time and energy. In addition,
some partners may take advantage of the others' trust and openness. Generally regarded as the best approach
for managing conflict, the objective of collaboration is to reach consensus. (See the Building Local Partnerships
guide for more information about consensus.)
Compromise - This strategy results from a high concern for your group's own interests along with a moderate
concern for the interests of other partners. The outcome is "win some/lose some." This strategy is generally
used to achieve temporary solutions, to avoid destructive power struggles or when time pressures exist. One
drawback is that partners can lose sight of important values and long-term objectives. This approach can also
distract the partners from the merits of an issue and create a cynical climate.
Competition - This strategy results from a high concern for your group's own interests with less concern for
others. The outcome is "win/lose." This strategy includes most attempts at bargaining. It is generally used when
basic rights are at stake or to set a precedent. However, it can cause the conflict to escalate and losers may try
to retaliate.
Accommodation - This results from a low concern for your group's own interests combined with a high
concern for the interests of other partners. The outcome is "lose/win." This strategy is generally used when the
issue is more important to others than to you. It is a "goodwill gesture." It is also appropriate when you
recognize that you are wrong.The drawbacks are that your own ideas and concerns don't get attention. You
may also lose credibility and future influence.
Avoidance -This results from a low concern for your group's own interests coupled with a low concern for the
interests of others. The outcome is "lose/lose." This strategy is generally used when the issue is trivial or other
issues are more pressing. It is also used when confrontation has a high potential for damage or more
information is needed. The drawbacks are that important decisions may be made by default.

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Conflict Analysis Exercise:

Think of a controversial issue to analyze. On a separate sheet of paper, answer these questions.
Groups involved
Who are the groups involved?
Who do they represent?
How are they organized?
What is their power base?
Are the groups capable of working together?
What are the historical relationships among the groups?
Substance
How did the conflict arise?
How are the main and secondary issues described?
Can negative issues be reframed positively?
Are the issues negotiable?
Have positions been taken and, if so, are there common
interests?
What information is available and what other information is
needed?
What values or interests are challenged?
Possible strategies
Would consensus serve all interests?
Are there external constraints or other influences that must
be accommodated?
What are the past experiences (if any) of the groups working
together?
What is the timeline for a decision?
How will the public and the media be involved and informed?
Will an outside negotiator be needed?
Step 3: Pre-negotiation.
To set the stage for effective negotiation, the groundwork must be laid. The following should occur prior to
negotiation.
Initiation - One partner raises the possibility of negotiation and begins the process. If no one is willing to
approach the others to encourage them to reach an agreement, a trusted outsider could be brought in as a
facilitator.
Assessment - Conditions must be right for negotiation to be successful. Key players must be identified and
invited. Each side must be willing to collaborate with the others. Reasonable deadlines and sufficient resources
to support the effort must exist. Spokespersons for each group must be identified and involved. Parties need to
determine which issues are negotiable and which are not.
Ground rules and agenda - The groups must agree on ground rules for communication, negotiation and
decision making. They should agree on the objectives of the negotiation process. An agenda of issues to be
covered needs to be developed.
Organization - Meeting logistics must be established, including agreed upon times and places. People must
be contacted and encouraged to attend. Minutes must be taken so that information can be distributed before
and after meetings.
Joint fact-finding - The groups must agree on what information is relevant to the conflict. This should include
what is known and not known about social and technical issues. Agreement is also needed on methods for
generating answers to questions.

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Step 4: Negotiation.
Interests - When negotiating be sure to openly discuss interests, rather than stated positions. Interests include
the reasons, needs, concerns and motivations underlying positions. Satisfaction of interests should be the
common goal.
Options - To resolve conflicts, concentrate on inventing options for satisfying interests. Do not judge ideas or
favor any of the options suggested. Encourage creativity, not commitment.
Evaluation - Only after the partners have finished listing options, should the options be discussed. Determine
together which ideas are best for satisfying various interests.
Written agreement - Document areas of agreement and disagreement to ensure common understanding. This
helps ensure that agreements can be remembered and communicated clearly.
Commitment - Every partner must be confident that the others will carry out their parts of the agreement.
Discuss and agree upon methods to ensure partners understand and honor their commitments.
When evaluating options...
Use objective criteria for ranking ideas
Make trade-offs among different issues
Combine different options to form acceptable agreements
Step 5: Post-negotiation.
Once negotiation is complete, the group will need to implement the decisions made. Some key steps include:
Ratification - The partners must get support for the agreement from organizations that have a role to play in
the agreement. These organizations should be partners and should have been involved in the previous steps.
Each organization will need to follow its own procedures to review and adopt the agreement.
Implementation - You and your partners' jobs are not done when you've reached agreement. Communication
and collaboration should continue as the agreement is carried out. The partnership will need to have a plan to
monitor progress, document success, resolve problems, renegotiate terms and celebrate success.
Negotiation skills.
Negotiation is an important skill for coming to an agreement when conflicts develop at home, at work and when
dealing with issues like those related to watershed management. When negotiating...
Separate people from the problem.
When negotiating, remember you're dealing with people who have their own unique needs, emotions and
perceptions.
Some conflicts are based on differences in thinking and perceptions. These conflicts may exist mainly in
peoples' minds. It helps for each party to put themselves into the other's shoes so they can understand each
other's point of view.
Identify and openly discuss differences in perceptions, being careful not to place blame. In addition, recognize
and understand the other side's emotions as well as your own.
Interest vs. Position
People often confuse interests with positions. An interest may be reducing litter in roadside ditches. There are
many possible ways of addressing this interest. One might be the position of mandatory recycling. Another
position might be a deposit on bottles and cans. Still another could be organizing a clean-up day.
Focus on interests, not positions.
Focusing on interests, rather than positions, makes it possible to come up with better agreements. Even when
people stand on opposite positions, they usually have a few shared interests.

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It takes time and effort to identify interests. Groups may not even be clear about their own interests. It helps to
write down each group's interests as they are discovered. It helps to ask why others take the positions or make
the decisions they do. Partners will have multiple interests. Interests involving important human needs (such as
security, economic well-being, a sense of belonging, recognition and control over one's life) are difficult to
negotiate.
Develop optional solutions.
When developing optional solutions that meet the interests of all sides, try to meet as many of each side's
interests as possible. Start by inviting all sides to brainstorm ideas (before reaching a decision). Brainstorming
is discussed in the Leading & Communicating guide.
Some obstacles to developing innovative options are:
Judging and rejecting prematurely
Searching for a single best answer
Putting limits on scope or vision
Considering only your own interests
To overcome these obstacles, view the situation through the eyes of different partners. Focus on shared
interests to make the process smoother for all involved. Look for meaningful opportunities, not simple solutions.
Developing objective criteria.
When developing criteria for selecting or combining possible alternatives, revisit the conflicting interests. These
can't be ignored or "wished" away. Instead discuss them as you begin developing criteria for judging
alternatives. Also keep in mind principles such as fairness, efficiency and scientific merit.
Strive for criteria that are legitimate, practical and unbiased. You may also find it helps to explore the criteria
used in making past decisions and discuss criteria with your partners or outside experts.

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Basics of Conflict Management

Written by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Copyright 1997-2008.
Adapted from the Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision.

Clarifying Confusion About Conflict

Conflict is when two or more values, perspectives and opinions are contradictory in nature and haven't
been aligned or agreed about yet, including:
1. Within yourself when you're not living according to your values;
2. When your values and perspectives are threatened; or
3. Discomfort from fear of the unknown or from lack of fulfillment.
Conflict is inevitable and often good, for example, good teams always go through a "form, storm,
norm and perform" period. Getting the most out of diversity means often-contradictory values,
perspectives and opinions.
Conflict is often needed. It:
1. Helps to raise and address problems.
2. Energizes work to be on the most appropriate issues.
3. Helps people "be real", for example, it motivates them to participate.
4. Helps people learn how to recognize and benefit from their differences.
Conflict is not the same as discomfort. The conflict isn't the problem - it is when conflict is poorly
managed that is the problem.
Conflict is a problem when it:
1. Hampers productivity.
2. Lowers morale.
3. Causes more and continued conflicts.
4. Causes inappropriate behaviors.

Types of Managerial Actions that Cause Workplace Conflicts

1. Poor communications
a. Employees experience continuing surprises, they aren't informed of new
decisions, programs, etc.
b. Employees don't understand reasons for decisions, they aren't involved in
decision-making.
c. As a result, employees trust the "rumor mill" more than management.
2. The alignment or the amount of resources is insufficient. There is:
a. Disagreement about "who does what".
b. Stress from working with inadequate resources.
3. "Personal chemistry", including conflicting values or actions among managers and employees, for
example:
a. Strong personal natures don't match.
b. We often don't like in others what we don't like in ourselves.
4. Leadership problems, including inconsistent, missing, too-strong or uninformed leadership (at any
level in the organization), evidenced by:
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a. Avoiding conflict, "passing the buck" with little follow-through on decisions.

b. Employees see the same continued issues in the workplace.
c. Supervisors don't understand the jobs of their subordinates.

Key Managerial Actions / Structures to Minimize Conflicts

1. Regularly review job descriptions. Get your employee's input to them. Write down and date job
descriptions. Ensure:
a. Job roles don't conflict.
b. No tasks "fall in a crack".
2. Intentionally build relationships with all subordinates.
a. Meet at least once a month alone with them in office.
b. Ask about accomplishments, challenges and issues.
3. Get regular, written status reports and include:
a. Accomplishments.
b. Currents issues and needs from management.
c. Plans for the upcoming period.
4. Conduct basic training about:
a. Interpersonal communications.
b. Conflict management.
c. Delegation.
5. Develop procedures for routine tasks and include the employees' input.
a. Have employees write procedures when possible and appropriate.
b. Get employees' review of the procedures.
c. Distribute the procedures.
d. Train employees about the procedures.
6. Regularly hold management meetings, for example, every month, to communicate new initiatives
and status of current programs.
7. Consider an anonymous suggestion box in which employees can provide suggestions.

Ways People Deal With Conflict

There is no one best way to deal with conflict. It depends on the current situation. Here are the major
ways that people use to deal with conflict.
1. Avoid it. Pretend it is not there or ignore it.
a. Use it when it simply is not worth the effort to argue. Usually this approach tends
to worsen the conflict over time.
2. Accommodate it. Give in to others, sometimes to the extent that you compromise yourself.
a. Use this approach very sparingly and infrequently, for example, in situations
when you know that you will have another more useful approach in the very
near future. Usually this approach tends to worsen the conflict over time, and
causes conflicts within yourself.

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3. Competing. Work to get your way, rather than clarifying and addressing the issue. Competitors love
accommodators.
a. Use when you have a very strong conviction about your position.
4. Compromising. Mutual give-and-take.
a. Use when the goal is to get past the issue and move on.
5. Collaborating. Focus on working together.
a. Use when the goal is to meet as many current needs as possible by using mutual
resources. This approach sometimes raises new mutual needs.
b. Use when the goal is to cultivate ownership and commitment.

To Manage a Conflict Within Yourself - "Core Process"

It's often in the trying that we find solace, not in getting the best solution. The following steps will
help you in this regard.
1. Name the conflict, or identify the issue, including what you want that you aren't getting. Consider:
a. Writing your thoughts down to come to a conclusion.
b. Talk to someone, including asking them to help you summarize the conflict in 5
sentences or less.
2. Get perspective by discussing the issue with your friend or by putting it down in writing. Consider:
a. How important is this issue?
b. Does the issue seem worse because you're tired, angry at something else, etc.?
c. What's your role in this issue?
3. Pick at least one thing you can do about the conflict.
a. Identify at least three courses of action.
b. For each course, write at least three pros and cons.
c. Select an action - if there is no clear course of action, pick the alternative that
will not hurt, or be least hurtful, to yourself and others.
d. Briefly discuss that course of action with a friend.
4. Then do something.
a. Wait at least a day before you do anything about the conflict. This gives you
a cooling off period.
b. Then take an action.
c. Have in your own mind, a date when you will act again if you see no clear
improvement.

To Manage a Conflict With Another - "Core Process"

1. Know what you don't like about yourself, early on in your career. We often don't like in others what
we don't want to see in ourselves.
a. Write down 5 traits that really bug you when see them in others.
b. Be aware that these traits are your "hot buttons".
2. Manage yourself. If you and/or the other person are getting heated up, then manage yourself to stay
calm by
a. Speaking to the person as if the other person is not heated up - this can be very
effective!
b. Avoid use of the word "you" - this avoids blaming.
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c. Nod your head to assure them you heard them.

d. Maintain eye contact with them.
3. Move the discussion to a private area, if possible.
4. Give the other person time to vent.
a. Don't interrupt them or judge what they are saying.
5. Verify that you're accurately hearing each other. When they are done speaking:}
a. Ask the other person to let you rephrase (uninterrupted) what you are hearing from
them to ensure you are hearing them.
b. To understand them more, ask open-ended questions. Avoid "why" questions those questions often make people feel defensive.
6. Repeat the above step, this time for them to verify that they are hearing you. When you present
your position
a. Use "I", not "you".
b. Talk in terms of the present as much as possible.
c. Mention your feelings.
7. Acknowledge where you disagree and where you agree.
8. Work the issue, not the person. When they are convinced that you understand them:
a. Ask "What can we do fix the problem?" They will likely begin to complain again.
Then ask the same question. Focus on actions they can do, too.
9. If possible, identify at least one action that can be done by one or both of you.
a. Ask the other person if they will support the action.
b. If they will not, then ask for a "cooling off period".
10. Thank the person for working with you.
11. If the situation remains a conflict, then:
a. Conclude if the other person's behavior conflicts with policies and procedures in
the workplace and if so, present the issue to your supervisor.
b. Consider whether to agree to disagree.
c. Consider seeking a third party to mediate.

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Unit 10

Organizational Change and Development

Concept of Change
Change means making things different. Those change can be either planned
(intentional) or sometimes unplanned (unintentional). Typically, the concept of
organizational change is in regard to organization-wide change, as opposed to smaller
changes such as adding a new person, modifying a program, etc. Examples of
organization-wide change might include a change in mission, restructuring operations
(e.g., restructuring to self-managed teams, ), new technologies, mergers, major
collaborations, "rightsizing", new programs such as Total Quality Management, reengineering, etc.
Organizational change is important to usher in long-term success in an organization. A
change entails realignment of organizational systems and processes. Managing
change involves institutionalizing the philosophy of change in the organization.
Effective change management entails creating a definitive vision and managing
the transition to the desired future state.
Change Management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and
organizations from a current state to a desired future state. The current definition of
Change Management includes both organizational change management processes and
individual change management models, which together are used to manage the people
side of change.

Forces for Change

Change and change is the basic feature of the organizations in today's dynamic world.
Unwillingly, we need to change to cope to the new and changing environment. There are
the followings factors which enforce change:
1. Dynamic business environment
2. Globalization
3. Workforce diversity
4. Fast changing technology
5. High Competition
6. Social change
7. Internal environment of the business
(Explain yourself)

Force

Examples
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Nature of the workforce

More cultural diversity

Increasing number of women
Many new entrants with knowledge and
skills

Technology

Faster,
cheaper
and
more
mobile
computers
Online music sharing
Deciphering of the human genetic code

Economic shocks

Rise and fall of dot-com stocks

Stock market all time high
Record GDP

Competition

Global competitors
Mergers and consolidations
Growth of e-commerce

Social trends

Internet chat rooms

Adaptation to other cultures
Rise in discount and retailers

World politics

Iraq-U.S. war and U.S. relationship with

other countries
Opening of makers in China
War on terrorism following 9/11/01

Source: S.P. Robbins and Seema Sanghi, 2005 p.p. 525

Resistance to Change
Organizational change is an enviable phenomenon in every enterprise. However,
research has shown that people of the organization resists change. Such resistance
may severely interrupt the change process. The followings are the major forces for
resistance to change.

Individual sources (Individual resistance)

Habit: To cope with life's complexities, we rely on habits or programmed responses. But
when confronted with change, this tendency to respond in our accustomed ways
becomes a source of resistance
Security: People with a high need for security are likely to resist change because it
threatens their feelings of safety.
Economic factors: Changes in job tasks or established work routine can arouse
economic fears if people are concerned that they won't be able to perform the
new tasks or routine to their previous standards, especially when pay is closely
tied to productivity
Fear of the unknown: Change substitutes ambiguity and uncertainty for the known
Selective information processing: Individuals are guilty of selectively processing
information in order to keep their perceptions intact. They hear what they want
to hear and they ignore information that challenges the world they have
created.

Organizational sources (Organizational resistance)

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Structural inertia: Organizations have built-in mechanisms like their section processes
ad formalized regulations- to produce stability. When organization is confronted
with change, this structural inertia acts as a counterbalance to sustain stability
Limited focus of change: Organizations are made up of a number of interdependent
subsystems. One can't be changed without affecting the others, So, limited
changes in subsystems tend to be nullified by the larger system.
Group inertia: Even if individuals want to change their behavior, group norms may act
as a constraints,
Threat to expertise: Changes in organizational patterns may threaten the expertise if
specialized groups
Threat to established power relationships: Any redistribution of decision-making
authority can threaten long-established power relationships within the
organization
Threat to established resource allocation: Groups in the organization that control
sizable resources often see change as a threat. They tend to be content with the
way things are.

Overcoming Barriers to Change

The followings arte the six tactics of overcoming the resistance to change
1. Education and Communication: Before implementing change, organization can
provide necessary trainings and education about the new change. Effective
communication about logics of change, understanding and providing accurate
information can help managing change. Discussion, meetings, presentations can
be done for communication.
2. Participation: If we are involved in change decisions, it is very less likely to
resist the change. Management should participate the individuals who may resist
the change, increase their commitment and contribution to change process
3. Facilitation and Support: Organization needs to provide different facilities to
the individuals who resist change. They can appoint a change agent and his or
she facilitate the change through supporting the individuals
4. Negotiation: Negotiation can be taken place between the potential resisters and
the organization if the resistance is from powerful individuals. Different reward
packages can be offered to those powerful individuals
5. Manipulation and Cooptation: Manipulation is a way of misinterpretation of
the fact providing false information to the potential resisters so that they may
appear soft and support the change. Twisting and distorting the reality and
providing false information to get employees accept change can be done.
Cooptation is another process which uses the manipulation and participation
providing the key role in decision making to the leader of potential resistance
group. The purpose is not to consider their advice but get the endorsement.
6. Coercion: It is the process of using force and threats on the resisters is coercion. It
is the last step and if the step five (manipulation and cooptation) doesn't work,
management is compelled to coerce the employees for change.

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Formula for Change

A Formula for Change was developed by Richard Beckhard and David Gleicher
and is sometimes referred to as Gleicher's Formula. The Formula illustrates that
the combination of organisational dissatisfaction, vision for the future and the
possibility of immediate, tactical action must be stronger than the resistance
within the organisation in order for meaningful changes to occur.
ADKAR
The ADKAR model for individual change management was developed by Prosci
with input from more than 1000 organizations from 59 countries. This model
describes five required building blocks for change to be realized successfully on
an individual level. The building blocks of the ADKAR Model include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Awareness of why the change is needed

Desire to support and participate in the change
Knowledge of how to change
Ability to implement new skills and behaviors
Reinforcement to sustain the change

Organizational Development Concept

Organization development is the process through which an organization develops the
internal capacity to most efficiently and effectively provide its mission work and to
sustain itself over the long term. This definition highlights the explicit connection
between organizational development work and the achievement of organizational visionmission.
According S.P. Robbins, organizational development (OD) is a collection of plannedchange intervntions, built on humanistic-democratric values, that seeks to improve
organizational effectiveness and employe well-being.
According to Richard Beckhard, OD is defined as: a planned effort, organization-wide,
managed from the top, to increase organization effectiveness and health, through
planned interventions in the organization's 'processes', using behavioural science
knowledge.
According to Warren Bennis, organization development (OD) is a complex strategy
intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organizations so that
they can better adapt to new technologies, markets, and challenges.
The follwoign are the facotors to be valued for oeganizational development efforts
(Values of OD efforts)
1. Respect for people: Individuals are perceived as being responsible,
conscientious and caring, they should be treated with dignity and respect
2. Trust and support: The effective and healthy organization is characterized by
trust, authenticity, openness and a supportive climate
3. Power equalization: Effective organizations deemphasize hierarchical authority
and control

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4. Confrontation: Problems should not be swept under rug, they should be openly
cont\fronted
5. Participation: The more that people who will be affected by a change are
involved in the decisions surrounding that change, the more they will be
committed to implementing those decisions. (Source: S.P. Robbins, 2005, 532)

Process and Prerequisites for Organizational Development

Process for Organizational Development
The followings are the processes for organizational development
1. Initial Diagnosis: It is the process of identifying problems that requires to be solved
with consultation of experts and also finds whether problems can be solved with OD
intervention.
2. Data Collection: It is the process of collecting necessary information about
organizational climate and problems to identify performance gaps using interviews and
questionnaire.
Initial
Diagnosis
Data Collection
Evaluation

Feedback and
Confrontation

Action
Planning
Interventions
Sensitivity Training
Survey Feedback
Process Consultation
Team Building
Inter-group
development
Appreciative
Inquiry
3. Feedback and confrontation: After the
initial diagnosis and identifying solutions, a
summary of collected data is provided to employees for their feedback. Confrontation
takes place with disagreement. The OD team is responsible to address those
disagreements and defines the areas of priority for change.
4. Action Planning: It is the specific plan with appropriate resource allocation. With
the consultation of experts, appropriate actions with alternatives are developed with
potential consequences.
5. Interventions: It is the process of implementing the change towards the
development. Interventions are the techniques of OD for bringing the change. Such
techniques are:
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Sensitivity Training: It is a method of changing through unstructured group

interaction. Members brought together in a free and open environment in which
participants discuss themselves and their interactive processes, loosely directed
by a professional behavioral scientist. It is a process of laboratory training in
which participants learn by observing rather than saying which helps in dealing
interpersonal problems.
Survey Feedback: It is the process of using questionnaires to identify
differences among members' perceptions. The result of survey is discussed I
groups to develop remedies. Training and development activities can also be
initiated to solve the major problems.
Process Consultation: It is a process of consultation in which external
consultant assists a client to understand process events with which he or she
must deal and identify processes that need improvement. The consultant helps
the client solving his or her own problems with best processes.
Team building: Work teams are formed to implement change process which will
have high-interaction in group activities to increase trust and openness among
team members. It can be applied within groups at which activities arte
interdependent
Inter-group development: It is the process of changing the attitude,
stereotypes and perception of the group in each other. Understanding and
coordination will be developed among different group and make harmonious
working environment.
Appreciative Inquiry: Seeks to identify the unique qualities and special
strengths of an organization, which can then be built n to improve performance.
Others:
Organizational restructuring: Process of overall change in organizational
structure
Technological changes: Modification of work methods, redesigning jobs,
application and installment of modern technologies
6. Follow-up an Evaluation: Regular monitoring or change process is an important
function to ensure the achievement of results. According to the results achieved and
learning from past, further problems will be identified and considered as valuable
feedback.
In OD, practitioners might work in a manner similar to "organizational physicians"
intending to improve the effectiveness of people and organizations by:
1) Establishing relationships with key personnel in the organization (often called
"entering" and "contracting" with the organization);
2) Researching and evaluating systems in the organization to understand
dysfunctions and/or goals of the systems in the organization ("diagnosing" the
systems in the organization);
3) Identifying approaches (or "interventions") to improve effectiveness of the
organization and its people;

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4) Applying approaches to improve effectiveness (methods of "planned change" in

the organization),
5) Evaluating the ongoing effectiveness of the approaches and their results.

Prerequisites for Organizational Development

1. Commitment from Top Management: Strong emphasis and commitment of
implementing change process.
2. Presence of change agent as a facilitator
3. Successful past experience in OD
4. Participation of competent and skillful external consultants/experts/
5. Built-in reward systems (Reward for contributions to change management)
(Describe yourself)

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