Asian J.

Management 4(3): July September, 2013

www.anvpublication.org

ISSN- 0976- 495X

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Changing Scope of Organisational Behaviour-The need for focusing on the

Organisational Milieu and the Emerging Importance of Training in People
Skills
Dr. Zakkariya K.A. 1* and Chandra Vadhana R.2
1

Reader, School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin
Research Scholar, School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin
*Corresponding Author E-mail: cvadhana@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:
Purpose This paper explores the important challenges of the field of organisational behaviour (OB) in the current
working environment to identify the areas where OB practitioners and HR professionals can contribute positively
towards the organisational effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews existing literature on the challenges of the present day business
environment and proceeds to identify and elaborate on two major inclusions in the scope of OB for the future. The
paper does this by analysing the four major challenges faced by any organisation in todays fast changing world i.e.
Impact of globalisation, growing workforce diversity, managing ethical and moral issues and the use of advanced
information technology to arrive at the present day organisational context, which in turn is called as the Organisational
Milieu.
Findings The authors are trying to reorient the focus of the field of organisational behaviour by explaining the need
for giving priority to both micro and macro variables of OB while studying the human behaviour in organisation. This
paper proposes two areas- Organisational Milieu and Training in People Skills- where OB professionals can
contribute as part of the changing focus in the current challenging and constantly changing working environment.
Practical implications The paper identifies two major areas of focus for modern day OB practitioners. OneFocusing on Organisational Milieu and developing suitable OD strategies based on it. Two- Identifying the Training
needs of the organisation and providing people skills training.
Originality/value The paper tries to present arguments to support the necessity for reorienting the focus of OB from
an individual perspective to an environmental perspective as well. The paper suggests the terminology organisational
milieu to denote the changing organisational context and also provides one of the most important practical aspects of
the field of OB Training in People skills , which is an important skill in todays business world.

KEY WORDS: Organisational Behaviour, Changing scope, Organisational milieu, training on people skills, soft
skills.

1. INTRODUCTION:
Management of workforce is of great concern to everyone
in a changing business environment and the field of
organisational behaviour has been offering crucial
contributions in this respect over the years. Organisational
Behaviour (OB) is basically concerned with the human
behaviour in organisations particularly in work settings.

Received on 30.04.2013
Accepted on 24.06.2013

Modified on 15.06.2013
A&V Publication all right reserved

Asian J. Management 4(3): July-Sept., 2013 page 165-171

While studying the behaviour of people in the working

environment, the basic objective is to enhance the
organisational effectiveness and there by OB is expected to
address various issues of diverse nature. Traditionally the
scope of OB is confined to three domains and they are
Individuals, Groups and Structure. That is, OB applies
knowledge gained with respect to individuals, groups and
the effect of structure on behaviour in order to make
organisations work effectively. Whatever be the type of an
organisation, whatever work happens, the basic OB position
is that all of such organisations represent a dynamic
interrelation between individuals, groups and the larger
elements of the organisation. This means that a valid

165

Asian J. Management 4(3): July September, 2013

understanding of OB requires not just an individual or

group focus and inquiring as to how they behave at work,
but also the characteristic patterns of organisational actions
over time, which reflect that organisations knowledge,
values and goals, the kind of people, the system and the
control methods it employs, as well as the socio-political
and economic context in which those actions occur (Parikh
and Gupta 2010).

and a rapid shortening of response times in all aspects of

business activities, that affect the organisational
management across the globe (Nelson and Quick, 2008).

In this context, this paper first analyses the challenges of the

field of organisational behaviour in a fast changing business
world with a view to give better focus to its applications in
the changing working environment and then proceed to
making suggestions for expanding or reorienting the scope
The focus of organisational behaviour as a field of study of OB.
can be classified into two broad groups as Micro OB and
Macro OB. The dynamics of individual and group 2. Challenges of OB in a Fast Changing Organisational
behaviour within organisations are the concern of micro World:
OB, while the macro OB, which is often referred as There are many driving forces that initiate changes in a fast
No doubt, change creates
Organisational theory focusing the whole organisation and moving business world.
studies how they adapt and analyses the strategies and enormous opportunities for business growth and at the same
time it increases the risk too. Change is imperative as the
structures that guide them (Parikh and Gupta 2010).
intensity of competition among the corporate is consistently
The studies and research in OB most often confined to the going up worldwide and hence the need for change
scope of micro OB by always considering the impact of management is of increasing importance to ensure the
individual and group behaviours on organisational organisational effectiveness. The corporate competition
performance as more important than factors coming under creates performance and cost pressures, which have a ripple
Macro OB. As a result, organisational behaviour is often effect on people and their behaviour at work. Companies
referred as individual behaviour and group dynamics in need to enhance their managerial talent and service quality
organisations and the study of OB is primarily concerned to meet the challenges of growth and company competitors.
with the psychosocial, interpersonal and behavioural Product and service quality is one tool that can help
dynamics in organisations. As OB is specifically concerned companies to become winners in a competitive environment
with the employment-related situations, it emphasizes (Nelson and Quick 2008).
behaviour as related to concerns such as work, absenteeism,
employment turnover, productivity, human performance According to Nelson and Quick (2008) managing
and management.
OB includes the core topics of organisational behaviour during changing times is
motivation, leader behaviour and power, interpersonal challenging due to at least the following four reasons:
communication, group structure and process, learning, 1) The increasing globalisation of organisations
operating territory
attitude development and perception, change processes,
2) The increasing diversity of organisational workforce
conflict, work design and work stress (Robbins, 2007).
3) The continuing demand for higher levels of moral and
ethical behaviour at work and
However, organisational variables that affect human
behaviour at work are also relevant to the study of 4) Continuing technological innovation with its
companion need for skill enhancement
organisational behaviour. Jobs, the design of work,
communication, performance appraisal, organisational
design and organisational structure etc. are some of the That is, the four major driving forces creating and shaping
major organisational variables that affect human behaviour changes at work can be summarised as globalisation,
at work and concerns of organisational behaviour. workforce diversity, ethics and character and technological
Therefore, although individual behaviour and group innovation. All these four are equally important and can
dynamics are the primary concerns in the study of affect the performance of the workforce of the company
organisational behaviour, organisational variables are also concerned. The gravity of the change that takes place in an
organisation has a great significance in the 3P test of
important (Nelson and Quick, 2008).
performance, productivity and profitability of an
It is to be noted that present day world is a world of change organisation. People are normally rigid and reactive rather
due to several aspects and business organisations are than open and responsive during the time of change. Callan
continuously undergoing changes with respect to their (1992) says that during times of significant change to
structure, process and functions. Hence, it is no doubt that organizations in strategies and structures, employees can
the issue of change management in an ever changing and experience high levels of stress as their jobs, areas of
evolving business environment is of great responsibility to responsibility and proceeds to give a range of individual
the field of organisational behaviour. There are several and organizational strategies that may be effective in
factors including continuing industrial restructuring, reducing employee stress and related problems. Prior to the
increase in the amount and availability of information, a implementation of these strategies, however, organizations
need to attract and retain the best employees, a need to must empower employees to adopt the role of change agent
understand a wide range of human and cultural differences and encourage them to take action to solve the problems

166

Asian J. Management 4(3): July September, 2013

that stress them. The challenge of OB in a fast moving and

rapidly changing business scenario thus is to make the
human factor capable of coping up with these changes by
studying the impact of such change on human factor at
work. Robbins (2007) also highlights some of the dramatic
changes in the organisational environment to support this
claim. He describes that the typical employee is getting
older; more and more women and people of colour are in
workplace, corporate downsizing and the heavy use of
temporary workers are serving the bonds of loyalty that
historically tied many employers and the global competition
is requiring employees to become more flexible and to learn
to cope with rapid changes (Robbins, 2007). Let us now
examine each of these factors in detail.
2.1 Impact of Globalisation and Competition on OB:
Dreher et al (2008) in their book Measuring globalisation:
Gauging its consequences , produced a systematic and
comprehensive research on both measuring globalisation
and analyzing its impact on the most important social and
economic issues of our time. According to them, the term
globalisation means not just the increased global economic
integration, global forms of governance, globally interlinked social and environmental developments but also the
growing integration of markets and nation-states, receding
geographical constraints on social and cultural
arrangements, the increased dissemination of ideas and
technologies, or the transformation of the economic,
political and cultural foundations of societies. Regardless of
perspective, globalisation permeates our economic,
political, and social institutions to a profound degree. They
also argue whether the forces of globalisation are ultimately
contributing to growth and opportunity or to destruction and
chaos? In particular, they analyzed the effects of
globalisation on tax policy, government spending,
economic growth, inequality, union power, and the natural
environment. It is evident that all these factors could affect
the functioning of any organisation in todays world.
Organisations today has to formulate specific plans and
strategies to meet up with the challenges and opportunities
that globalisation provides. This further means strategies for
dealing with changes at individual, group and structural
levels in an organisation.
Economic competition places pressure on all categories of
employees to be productive and to add value to the firm.
Firms are more of market oriented by focusing on customer
needs to retain their business as an effort to cope up with
the threat of competition. Since the focus of operations
became ultimate consumer satisfaction, companies started
giving high priority for quality products and services and
thereby customer satisfaction.
Since technological
advancement shortens the product life cycle and
competition has become technologically based, companies
try their best to adapt to the latest technology and
production system. As a result of this, there is constant
change in the organisational environment which influences
the performance of the employees. The uncertainty of
unemployment resulting from corporate warfare and

competition is an ongoing feature of organisational life for

people in companies or industries that pursue cost-cutting
strategies to achieve economic success (Nelson and Quick
2008). In this highly competitive customer focused, market
driven economy, organisations need to create a customerresponsive culture. The academic discipline of OB can
provide considerable guidance in helping managers create
such cultures in which employees are friendly and
courteous, accessible, knowledgeable, prompt in responding
to customer needs, and willing to do what is necessary to
please the customer (Robbins et al, 2007).
2.2 Managing Workforce Diversity:
Concern for diversity in the working environment has
increased recently due to the changing demographics of the
working population. According to Esty et al. (1995),
diversity is generally defined as acknowledging,
understanding, accepting, valuing and celebrating
differences among people with respect to age, class,
ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual
orientation, spiritual practice and public assistance status.
Actually, workforce diversity needs to be viewed as a
competitive advantage and a business opportunity in
todays globalised business environment. As MNCs are
undergoing structural transition as they emerge as
transnational companies, the concept of workforce diversity
is imperative for business success. Multiculturalism and
diversity in the workplace are important concerns of the
companies and it is evident in their recruitment initiatives.
It was predicted even in early 1990s by many researchers
that the demographic profile of the workforce in
organisations would no longer be characterised by
homogeneity or mono-culturalism. They viewed it as
evolving into a composite of multifarious people from
different socio-cultural backgrounds, in which workforce
diversity could mean the representation of people from
different group affiliations within organisations (William
Choy, 2007).
The emergence of globalisation has increased the need for
effective diversity management and the task became highly
challenging and demanding to the corporate world as the
heterogeneity of the workforce increasing day by day.
People from different countries and cultures bring in
different dynamics to workplaces. Dealing with such
diverse groups and behaviours and build sound
interpersonal relationships that encourage team work is an
important challenge. Hence effective handling of diversity
issue can result in competitive advantage.
According to Nelson and Quick (2008) management of
diversity is of high importance to managers for two reasons:
1. Managers need to know how to motivate diverse work
groups and
2. Managers need to know how to communicate
effectively with employees who have different values
and language skills

167

Asian J. Management 4(3): July September, 2013

Workforce diversity may be viewed as a key ingredient for

any company that wants to transform as a learning
organisation in the present knowledge economy. Diversity
brings together people with different backgrounds and
cultures with different perceptions and thoughts to
workplace. The workforce diversity helps organisations to
attract and retains the best human talent, improves
marketing efforts, promotes creativity and innovation,
enhances organisational flexibility and it also results in
better problem solving. Though this diversity contributes
creatively and constructively towards the organisation, it
can create confusion and conflict too in the working
environment.
Lack of cohesiveness, communication
problems, interpersonal conflicts, slowed decision making
and increased resistance to change are considered as the
problems of workforce diversity in organisations. Different
backgrounds, perspectives, customs, and values combine to
make it ever more likely that people will disagree and see
situations differently. Balancing the complications and the
benefits of diversity is among the most important workforce
issue facing most managers and their organisations today
(DeNisi and Griffin,2005).
The theories of motivation, leadership and group behaviour
based on research in a workforce of one composition may
not be applicable in a workforce of very different
composition. This may be especially problematic if ethnic,
gender, and/or religious differences lead to conflict between
leaders and followers in organisations.
Workforce
demographic change and diversity are critical challenges in
themselves for the study and management of organisational
behaviour. Hence, managing diverse workforce in an
effective manner to develop confidence and team spirit
among the employees and ensuring the expected
competitive edge for the organisation is becoming the prime
task of OB practitioners.
2.3 Information Technology and OB:
The scientific advancement in the field of Information
Technology (IT) has multiplied job demands and is leaving
employees with frequent change in the working
environment. The 21st century is essentially a period of fast
change and the same is reflected in the nature of job, job
environment and the nature of organisations as a whole.
This change is to a greater extent influenced by the
advancement in the field of computer technology, especially
the use of internet and wireless technology. On the
economic front, the decline in trade costs induced by IT will
further enhance the existing trend of increasing trade in
goods and services, especially those where reduction in
trade costs due to IT are going to be most substantial.
Furthermore, modern IT does not just influence if, but also
how foreign trade is to be carried out (Alecke and Untiedt,
2000). These matters influence the way any organisation
functions today.

field of organisational behaviour. As rightly put by

Greenberg and Barron (2003), when more work is shifted to
digital brains, some work that was once performed by
human brains become obsolete. At the same time new and
challenging opportunities emerged out as result of the
digital revolution and the same had changed the entire
concept of work environment and work culture in modern
organisations. The implication of such a transformation in
the job and job environment is of considerable importance
to the field of organisational behaviour. One such
implication is the changes in the psychological issues of
employees. For eg: The cognition, emotion, individuality
and social interactions of the individuals are drastically
influenced by application of Information Technology in
modern organisations. Quantity and quality of information,
availability and speed of information, adaptability to
information flow and decision making in such a world of
information flood etc. are potential areas of problems in the
present day organisations where OB can contribute well.
Information technology has multiplied job demands and is
leaving employees with frequent change in the working
environment.Broadly speaking, it is a fact that the
application of IT is restructuring the cognitive pattern of the
individuals as it can lead to disinhibition, confusion,
disorientation and cognitive fatigue. The personal space is
reduced the information world and the boundaries between
the individuals became invisible. Even new communication
patterns are developed and widely used. The high stress
evoking nature of jobs and lack of opportunities and time
for emotional catharsis increases the potential for emotional
problems and conflicts in working environment. Similarly,
people are experiencing technology overload in the
workplace today. Having to adjust to email, voicemail,
faxes and cell phones that make individuals all too easy to
reach is creating stressful demands on workers. Apart from
all these the emerging trend of IT has created a clear digital
division of the society as people with digital know-how and
people without digital know-how. Thus, we can say that the
new age digital working environment poses greater
opportunity and challenge to the field of organisational
behaviour in various aspects.
2.4. Managing Ethical and Moral behaviour:
Engaging in ethical behaviour requires a great amount of
courage for an individual (Nielson, 1998). It is equally
applicable for an organisation in todays world. There are
many instances of organisational ethics violation which are
being discussed in the business world and along with it, the
long cries for the necessity of integrity. Integrity has
market value (Koehn, 2003) and Henry Ford II had said
that,A good reputation is a priceless business asset that can
be earned only through consistently trustworthy behaviour.
(Ford, 1976). However, we should try to be integral, not
because it is a business asset but because it has some
intrinsic value and benefit.

It is evident that the kind of change that has taken place as a In a study conducted by (Gunthorpe, 1997), it was found
result of IT revolution has drastic implications on that upon the announcement that a firm is under
organisations and thereby causes a lot of challenge to the investigation or has in some way engaged in unethical

168

Asian J. Management 4(3): July September, 2013

understand behaviour. People who subscribe to this view

understand human behaviour in terms of external events,
consequences of behaviour and the environmental forces to
which a person is subject. The external perspective implies
that a persons behaviour is best understood by examining
the surrounding external events and environmental forces.
The necessity for ethical and moral standards is also (Nelson and Quick, 2008).
enforced by law and the recent Right to Information Act
2005 (RTI) of the Government of India helps in providing When we analyse the scope of organisational behaviour we
the citizens with the necessary information pertaining to can understand that it is concerned with both internal and
the functioning of not just the government departments but external perspectives while studying human behaviour in
also help in identifying malpractices by private and public organisation. That is, it holds the view that, factors inside
organisations. Though private bodies are not in the purview the individual and factors outside the individual, but part of
of this act directly, many statutory and financial information the organisation are influential in their performance in
can be accessed using this law. Thus, the necessity for organisations. Most of the definitions of the organisational
submitting correct data pertaining to the functioning of the behaviour are subscribing to this view and address both
individual and organisational factors while studying
organisation becomes an ethical requirement too.
behaviour in organisations. But conventionally many people
The above points suggests the need for moral and ethical described OB as scientific study of behaviour in
standard setting by any organisation in todays business organisations and ignored the relevance of organisational
factors that influence human behaviour in organisations. In
world.
this context, it would be appropriate to examine some of the
3. NEED FOR REORIENTING THE FOCUS OF OB: definitions of organisational behaviour to understand its
From the above analysis, it can be seen that Organisational orientation toward both internal and external perspectives.
Behaviour needs to widen its scope of study and According to Luthans (1995) organisational behaviour can
intervention in order to remain as a specialised field be defined as the understanding, prediction and
contributing positively towards the organisational management of human behaviour in organisations. For
effectiveness in this competitive world. The challenges Robbins et al (2007) it is a field of study that investigates
created by the globalisation, workforce diversity, ethics and the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on
technological advancement etc. in the working environment behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying
demands more inclusive and specialised interventions from such knowledge toward improving an organisations
the side of the field OB. These changes also lead to greater effectiveness. In addition OB applies knowledge gained
relevance of the macro OB factors than the past as they about individuals, groups and the effect of structure on
impact severely on employee behaviour. In this context, the behaviour in order to make organisations work more
authors wish to propose two important areas to which OB effectively. Greenberg and Baron (2003) defined OB as the
should focus further through this paper 1) Organisational field that seeks increased knowledge of all aspects of
Milieu and 2) Training needs of the organisation. And these behaviour in organisational settings through the use of the
scientific method.
two factors are discussed in detail.
behavior, a statistically significant negative abnormal
(excess) return is found. This suggests that firms are indeed
penalized for their unethical actions. This again suggests the
necessity for maintaining ethical standards in business by
the organisations.

3.1 Focusing on Organisational Milieu:

We have chosen the French word Milieu to denote the
background or the environment in which each organisation
exists. We would like to substantiate our viewpoint of the
necessity for more focus on the macro perspectives equally
in the field of OB, in the following arguments.
Majority of the theories and models of human behaviour
fall into one of two basic perspectives- internal perspective
and external perspective. The internal perspective considers
factors inside the person to understand behaviour. People
who subscribe to this view understand human behaviour in
terms of the thoughts, feelings, past experiences and needs
of the individual. These internal processes of thinking,
feeling, perceiving and judging of people are leading them
to act in specific ways. This perspective implies that people
are best understood from the inside and that peoples
behaviour is best interpreted after understanding their
thoughts and feelings. On the other hand the external
perspective focuses on factors outside the person to

According to Martin (2004) Organisational behaviour refers

directly to the behaviour that takes place in the organisation
and he maintains that the specific behaviour that occurs in
this context is directly related to the culture that has been
created by the organisation. And it is a fact that the
behaviour and the performance of the employees in the
organisation are influenced by the organisational culture.
Furnham (2004) examined the manner in which the
organisations impact the life of the individual and according
to him the organisation is a principle source for human
interaction. Organisational behaviour is about common
themes that describe the modern workplace such as ethical
behaviour, globalisation and technology, diversity,
performance and work-life balance.
While looking at the definitions narrated above, anyone will
be confused as he gets a mixed picture about the focus of
the organisational behaviour. Definitions by Luthans (1995)
and Green Berg and Barron (2003) are focusing on the
behaviour in organisations while other definitions are

169

Asian J. Management 4(3): July September, 2013

emphasizing structure and culture of the organisation too

along with the individual aspects of behaviour in
organisations. It is true that OB is a field of study that
investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and
structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the
purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an
organisations effectiveness (Robbins et al, 2007).
That is, OB studies three determinants of behaviour in
organisations: Individuals, groups and structure and all the
three are equally important as far as the organisational
effectiveness is concerned. But unfortunately the literature
shows that focus of OB has been on factors related to
individual and groups and ignored the impact of structure or
organisational factors on behaviour over the years. This is
because the basic value so far in the study of OB is that an
individual is an autonomous entity, with an innate potential
to be creative and productive. As Parikh and Gupta (2010)
put whatever be the type of an organisation, whatever work
happens, the basic OB position is that all of such
organisations represent a dynamic interrelation between
individuals, groups and the larger elements of the
organisation. According to them a valid understanding of
OB requires not just an individual or group focus and
inquiring as to how they behave at work, but also the
characteristic patterns of organisational actions over time,
which reflect that organisations knowledge, values and
goals, the kind of people, the system and the control
methods it employs, as well as the socio-political and
economic context in which those actions occur. No element
can be studied in isolation. Each element is a dynamic one,
changing continually.
The specific issue of how the organisation influences
behaviour of its employees becomes an issue of paramount
concern. Organisations can be more versatile and more
potential than any individual. Organisations that are able to
influence individual behaviour toward the objectives of the
company are able to maximise the utility of human capital.
The performance of employees in the present day world is
greatly affected by continuous changes that are taking
places in the working environment due to globalisation,
technological advancement, workforce diversity, etc., and
hence it is imperative to make constant study on the impact
of such changing organisational factors along with the
relevant factors of individuals and groups for ensuring the
organisational effectiveness.
In other words, it can be asserted that the two broad areas of
organisational behaviour, that is Micro OB and Macro OB
need to work together to increase the organisational
effectiveness in the modern changing world. While micro
OB deals with the dynamics of individual and group
behaviour within organisations, Macro OB also studies
whole organisation, how they adapt and the strategies and
structures that guide them. According to Nelson and Quick
(2008) a complete understanding of OB requires both an
understanding of human behaviour and an understanding of
the organisational context within which human behaviour is

acted out. Organisational context is the specific setting

within which organisational behaviour is enacted.
It is no doubt to say that the organisational behaviour in this
century needs to focus on the organisational context to
understand its impact on human behaviour in organisation;
especially as the so called organisational context is
undergoing constant change. In this scenario, we propose
that OB focuses on the Organisational milieu , which
consists of the nature of organisational system, effects of its
change agents such as globalisation, technological
advancement, ethical practices, workforce diversity etc., on
the working environment and even the total quality
management practices followed in the organisation. By
focusing on organisational milieu, OB assigns special
importance to planned change, individuals as well as
organisational learning and the creation of an organisational
culture that supports change and effectiveness. Hence, the
field of organisational behaviour need to be reoriented to
maintain its multiple focuses on individuals, groups and
organisational factors in a holistic manner rather than
focusing on these factors in isolation.
3.2 Training in People skills:
Another area where specialists in the field of organisational
behaviour are expected to focus is the skill development of
the managers and potential managers for managing change.
As a result of globalisation and advances in technology the
modern organisations are facing greater challenges with
respect to their man management. The importance of
change and change management in work environment poses
a big challenge to organisations. Those organisations are
fast and flexible in accommodating changes can only
effectively survive in a market oriented competitive
economy. As Robbins et al (2007) commend most
managers and employees today work in a climate best
characterised as temporary. According to them
temporariness comes with change. Jobs are continuously
being redesigned, tasks are increasingly being done by
flexible teams rather than individuals, companies are
relying more on temporary workers, jobs are being
subcontracted out to other firms and pensions are being
redesigned to move with people as they change jobs. As a
result maintaining and managing talented workforce in a
world of temporariness is becoming a crucial issue to be
addressed by OB people. Most of the CEOs are of the same
opinion that their biggest challenge is almost always finding
and keeping good people. This challenge can be faced only
by those managers who have requisite people skills.
Organisations are becoming more customer-oriented as they
are facing with global competition, to meet changing
product and service demands and to exceed customers
expectations of high quality. This impact of competition on
companies had changed their work culture and human
resource practices drastically to develop a competitive edge
in the industry. A major change obvious in this context is
that companies started reducing the number of permanent
employees through down-sizing and delayering and started

170

Asian J. Management 4(3): July September, 2013

hiring contract workers, which is known as the

casualisation of the workforce. As a result employees
experience higher stress levels and lesser loyalty for the
organisations. At the same time many organisation has
failed because its employees failed to please the customer.
So management needs to create a customer-responsive
culture. OB can provide considerable guidance in helping
managers create such cultures in which employees are
friendly and courteous, accessible, knowledgeable, prompt
in responding to customer needs, and willing to do what is
necessary to please the customer (Robbins et al, 2007).
Training people for developing people skills is one of the
biggest challenges that the field of OB can take up. Many
authors have the opinion that although organisational
behaviour is an applied discipline, a student is not trained
in organisational behaviour. Rather, one is educated in
organisational behaviour and is a co producer in learning
(Nelson and Quick, 2008). That is, to fully establish as a
discipline which is applied in nature, OB needs to develop
better models which can have direct applicability in the
industry. Since present working environment is
characterised with consistent change and requires
appropriate managerial skills to manage the change at all
levels, OB experts should assume the new role of corporate
trainers and mentors to find applications for the OB inputs.
Hosie, smith (2009) recommends better integration between
popularist management practices and ideas with traditional
research techniques to produce more business focussed
outcomes. They bring forth valid arguments that Proponents
of traditional research in the field of OB show
methodological myopia, inaccessibility, lack of relevance to
practitioners and an inability to integrate research with
successful practice. They also envisage a future scenario for
OB where hybridized theorizing and research are developed
and communicated to a wider practitioner audience. This
again means more practical outcomes from the field of OB.
Training and mentoring the people on people skills can be
one such real practical outcome. Similarly, strategies for
people skill enhancement and developing suitable
organisational milieu could be another area of practical
application of OB.

4. CONCLUSIONS:

5. REFERENCES:
1.

2.
3.

4.

5.
6.

7.

8.

9.

10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

16.

17.
18.

It is to be concluded the scope of the field of organisational

behaviour has been broadened as a result of globalisation,
19.
growing workforce diversity, managing ethical and moral
issues, technological advancement and more areas of 20.
potential opportunity for OB intervention is possible in the
current working scenario. The impact of Organisational
milieu on the employee behaviour and performance need to
be a point of focus for OB to enhance the organisational
effectiveness. OB practitioners also need to explore the
opportunities for training managers for skill development as
it is a constant need of the corporate at present. Putting
macro OB and Micro OB together to have a holistic
approach is essential in the current scenario to enhances the
intervention efficiency of the OB field.

171

Alecke, B., and Untiedt, G. (2000). Information and

Communication
Technologies,
Globalisation
and
Competitiveness: A Selective Survey. Vierteljahrshefte zur
Wirtschaftsforschung., 69(4), 544-558.
Axel Dreher, N. G. (2008). Measuring Globalisation: Gauging
Its Consequences. New york: Springer.
Bogle J. (2003). What Went Wrong in Corporate America?
Remarks at the Community Forum Distinguished Speaker
Series,Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, Bryn Mawr,
Pennsylvania, February 24, 2003
J, V. C. (1993). Individual and Organisational Strategies for
coping with organisational change. Work and Stress:An
international journal of Work, Health and Organisations, 7(1),
63-75.
DeNisi S.A. and Griffin W.R. (2005). HRM Introduction,
Cengage Learning, New Delhi.
Esty Katharine, Griffin Richard and Schorr Hirsh Marcie (1995).
Workplace Diversity. A managers guide to solving problems and
Turning diversity into a competitive advantage. Adams media
corporation
Ford Motor Company Standards of Corporate Conduct. (1976).
Policy Letter No. 3 Subject: Standards of Corporate Conduct,
dated
May
1,
1976
and
reproduced
at
http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:
WPtajn0LVP0J:www.tacautomotive.com/CE_Handbook/Forms/
FordConduct.rtf
Furnham, A. (2004). The future (and past) of work psychology
and organizational behavior: A personal view. Management
Revue, 15(4), 420-436.
Gunthorpe, D. L. (1997). Business Ethics: A Quantitative
Analysis of the Impact of Unethical Behavior by Publicly Traded
Corporations. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(5), pp 537-543.
Koehn, D. (n.d.). Integrity as a Business Asset. Journal of
Business Ethics, 58(1-3), pp 125-136.
Koehn, D. (2003). Integrity as a Business Asset. Journal of
Business Ethics, 58(1-3), pp 125-136.
Jerald Greenberg and Robert A. Baron (2003) Behaviour in
Organisations, 8th edition, Pearson Education, Delhi
Luthans, F.(1995). Organisational Behaviour. McGraw Hill
Martin, A. (2004). New directions in organizational behavior.
Management Revue, 15(4), 410-419.
Meyer, J.P., Becker, T.E., and Vandenberghe, C. (2004).
Employee commitment and motivation: A conceptual analysis
and integrative model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(
89(6),991-1007.
Nelson, D.L. and Qick, J.C. (2008). Organisational BehaviourFoundations, Realities and Challenges. 5th Edition, SouthWestern Cengage Learning, New Delhi.
Parikh, M. And Gupta, R. (2010). Organisational Behaviour. Tata
McGraw Hill Education Private Limited, New Delhi.
Peter J. Hosie, Roger C. Smith, (2009) "A future for
organisational behaviour?", European Business Review, Vol. 21
Iss: 3, pp.215 - 232
Robbins S.P; Judge.T.A. and Sanghi, S. ( 2007). Organizational
Behaviour. 12th Edition. Pearson Prentice Hall, New Delhi
William Choy K.W. (2007). Globalisation and Workforce
Diversity: HRM Implications for Multinational Corporations in
Singapore. Singapore Mnagement Review, 29,2 ABI/INFORm
Global