ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Introduction to Organizational Behavior

Organization
• An organization is a consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or
more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common
goal or set of goals.
• An organization is a structure having relationship that is inter winded between
people who work with collective sense of purpose

Structure of an organization
• Organization structure is the basic frame work with in which the decision making
behavior of an executive take place
• It is an established pattern of relationship among the components of
organization.
• These relationship are stable and change only slowly

Types of organization
• Organizations are formed with a specific purpose.
• Some organizations are profit driven and some serve the society like universities
, hospitals and welfare organizations

There are three general type of organization, they are :

1. Functional organization

2. Line and staff

3. Matrix form

These organizations will have formal structures

• In recent time there are informal structures which have invisible relationship
between the members, such as network organization and boundary less
organization. These are called as virtual organization

Functional organization
• In this type the specialists person will be heading their respective departments to
discharge specific functions assigned to them
• Workers under functional type receives instructions from their head or specialists

Line and staff organization

• This is combined structure of line (Actual execution of work) and staff(Advisory
body)
 • This structure covers planning and execution
• Planning is done by staff officials and execution is done by line officials

Matrix organization
• This is the multiple command system in which workers will have two bosses
• In this structure vertical and horizontal pattern of reporting system operates
simultaneously.
• Global organizations prefers this structure

Types of organization structure

• There are two types of structures
1. Tall structure

2. Flat structure

Tall structure implies

1. Centralization of authority

2. Many middle level management and narrow span of control

3. Extended communication lines

4. Impersonality

Flat organization structure implies

1. Less intervention from top management

2. De – Centralized authority

3. Wide span of management

4. Less extended communication lines

Organizational structures is determined by varies factor,

1. Size of the business

2. Job designing

3. Grouping of activity

4. Span of control

5. Delegation of authority

• Today’s organizations are becoming oriented towards flat structure and

technology is the driving force therefore virtual organizations are increasing
 reducing the human force at work

MEANING AND DEFINITION OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

• Organizational behavior is concerned with people's thoughts, feelings, emotions
and actions in setting up a work. Understanding an individual behaviour is in itself
a challenge, but understanding group behaviour in an organisational environment
is a monumental managerial task.
• As Nadler and Tushman put it, "Understanding one individual's behaviour is
challenging in and of itself; understanding a group that is made up of different
individuals and comprehending the many relationships among those individuals
is even more complex. Ultimately, the organisation's work gets done through
people, individually or collectively, on their, own or in collaboration with
technology. Therefore, the management of organisationalbehaviour is central to
the management task—a task that involves the capacity to "understand" the
behaviour patterns of individuals, groups and organisations, to ''predict'" what
behavioural responses will be elicited by various managerial actions and finally to
use this understanding and these predictions to achieve "control".
• Organisationalbehaviour can then be defined as: "The study of human behaviour
in organisational settings, the interface between human behaviour and the
organisational context, and the organisation itself."
• The above definition has three parts—the individual behaviour, the organisation
and the (interface between the two. Each individual brings to an organisation a
unique set of beliefs, values, attitudes and other personal characteristics and
these characteristics of all individuals must interact with each other in order to
create organisational settings. The organisationalbehaviour is specifically
concerned with work-related behaviour, which takes place in organisations.

OB:
• “A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure
have on behavior within organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge
toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.”
• “Organization behaviour is the study and application of knowledge of how people act
or behave within organization.”
• “It is the study of what people think, feel and do in and around organization.”

Basic concepts / variables of OB

• Individual behavior
• Perception
• Values and attitudes
• Motivation

FOUNDATIONS OF OB
• The basic assumptions distinct to the discipline are:
 1. Individual differences

2. A whole person

3. Caused behaviour

4. Human dignity

5. Social system

6. Mutuality of interest

7. Holistic concept

1. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Each person in the world is individually different.
• Whether in terms of intelligence, physique, personality, speech or any other trait.
• This basically takes place because of psychological difference.
• This difference is usually causing great motivation to the management by
treating people differently.
• OB begins with the individual.
• A group is powerless until individuals act.

2. A WHOLE PERSON
• An individual is not only measured in terms of the skills he is processing but also
his likes and dislikes, pride and prejudice etc.

• A person’s family life can not be ignored/separated from his work life.
3. CAUSED BEHAVIOUR
• The employee behavior is caused but not random.
• And his behavior is directed towards what is right or wrong, his interest etc
• Thus a human behavior is caused because of some reason behind it.
• Ad management should realize it and correct his behavior if wrong.

4. HUMAN DIGNITY
• People should be treated differently from other factors as they are in the highest
order in the universe.

• Every person wanted to be treated with dignity and respect.

• Every job entitles a person to treated with respect and recognition of their
ABILITIES.

5. SOCIAL SYSTEMS
• Organizations are social system and all activities are governed by social and
 psychological laws.

• People have social roles and status. Their bahaviour is influenced by group and
individual drives.

• Two types of system exists side by side: formal and informal systems.

• An organization is a social system and changes dynamically.

• All the parts are interdependent are influenced by each other.

6. MUTUALITY OF INTEREST
• Organizations need people and people need organizations.‖
• Organization have human purpose. They are formed and maintained because of
the mutual interest among the people.
• People see organization as a means to help them reach their goals.
• This mutuality in interest helps in achieving the organization goals effectively.

7. HOLISTIC CONCEPT
• All the above concepts make OB a holistic system.
• This concept interprets organization relationship as a whole person, whole group,
whole organization and a whole social system.

IMPORTANCE /BENEFITS OF OB
1. OB provides a road map to our lives in organization: every person is made up
differently as per their personality showing different emotions, feelings and
behavior. This makes an organization perplexed. Thus OB helps us in tackling
and overcoming such differences which are functional, less stressed and career
advancing.
2. The field of OB uses scientific research to help us understand and predict
organizational life: OB is not a pure science but it helps us in understanding the
cause and effect relationship among the people in an organization.
3. OB helps us influence organizational events: a person needs to know how to
communicate their ideas effectively to others, manage conflicts, take decisions,
work with teams etc. thus OB helps in influencing organizational events.
4. OB helps an individual understand himself and others better: this helps in
improving the interpersonal relationships considerably.
5. A manager in a business establishment is concerned with getting things done
through delegation: the person will be successful in delegating the authority,
motivate subordinates for better results.
6. The field of OB is useful in maintaining cordial industrial relations: In an
organization it is an indifferent attitude of the boss which makes the workers
lazy. The relation between management and employee are often strained by
different reason which are personal reason , human problem should be tackled
humanely.
7. The subject of OB is also useful in the field of marketing: organization behavior
helps in understanding the consumer choice and studying their behavior, there
 fore OB helps us in innovating new products with creativity and learning of
responses
8. Interest in pursuing carrier in marketing: OB creates a person to take up carrier in
management on how to predict human behavior to the effectiveness of
organization. It talks about people skill and ability to understand one‘s employees
9. Effective management of all the sectors: Effective management means efficient
management of human resources and this is possible only through study of OB.
OB enables the manager to motivate his subordinate towards higher productivity
and better results.

NATUREOF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR.

Organizational Behavior’ – It has two words ‘organization’ and ‘Behavior’. Now, what is
an Organization? We can define the term organization as two or more individuals who
are interacting with each other or working with each other to achieve a common goal. Or
objective/s.

organizations play a major role in our lives. We possibly cannot think of a single
moment in our lives when we are not depending on organizations in some form or the
other common goals or objectives. Organization comprises of people with different
attitudes, cultures, beliefs, norms and values. So now, let’s discusses about
organizational behavior and what it exactly means. Organizational Behavior’ can be
defined as the study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations. The
study of Organizational Behavior facilitates the process of explaining, understanding,
predicting, maintaining, and changing employee behavior in an organizational setting,
people as resources, and people as people. In other words, it involves the
understanding, prediction and control of human behavior and factors affecting their
performance and interaction among the organizational members..

Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built on contributions

from a number of behavioral disciplines such as psychology, sociology, social
psychology, anthropology and economics. So now students lets see how these
disciplines are related to organizational behavior.

 Psychology: Psychology is the study of human behavior which tries to identify the
characteristics of individuals and provides an understanding why an individual
behaves in a particular way. This thus provides us with useful insight into areas
such as human motivation, perceptual processes or personality characteristics.

 Sociology: Sociology is the study of social behavior, relationships among social

groups and societies, and the maintenance of social order. The main focus of
attention is on the social system. This helps us to appreciate the functioning of
individuals within the organization which is essentially a socio-technical entity.

 Social Psychology: Social psychology is the study of human behavior in the

context of social situations. This essentially addresses the problem of
understanding the typical behavioral patterns to be expected from an individual
when he takes part in a group.
  Anthropology: Anthropology is the science of mankind and the study of human
behavior as a whole. The main focus of attention is on the cultural system,
beliefs, customs, ideas and values within a group or society and the comparison
of behavior amongst different cultures in the context of today’s organizational
scenario. It is very important to appreciate the differences that exist among
people coming from different cultural backgrounds as people are often found to
work with others from the other side of the globe.

 Economics: Any organization to survive and sustain must be aware of the

economic viability of their effort. This applies even to the non-profit and voluntary
organizations as well.

 Political Science: Although frequently overlooked, the contributions of political

scientists are significant to understand arrangement in organizations. It studies
individuals and groups within specific conditions concerning the power
dynamics. Important topics under here include structuring of Conflict, allocation
of power and how people manipulate power for individual self-interest etc.

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Why study organizational behavior? : - Behaviors is generally predictable, and the

systematic study of behavior is a means to making reasonably accurate predictions.

Principles of organization

1. Align departmental objectives to corporate goals: - It is to be ensured that the

objectives of different departments in the organization are unified and aligned to the
corporate goals.
2. Cost- effective operations: - An organization is said to be efficient if it can achieve the
goals at the lowest costs and with minimum undesirable consequences.
3. Optimum number of subordinates: - In each managerial position, there is a limit to the
number of persons an individual can effectively manage.
4. Specialization: - Similar activities are grouped together to ensure better performance
of the work and efficiency at each level.
5. Define authority: - The authority and responsibility relationships underlying each
position in the organization have to be defined clearly to avoid confusion or
misinterpretation.
6. Flow of authority: - This refers to the line of authority from the top management in an
enterprise to other levels. If this is clear, then the terms of responsibility also can be
understood.
7. Manage via exceptional cases: - An organization should be geared in such a way that
manager’s attention is drawn only to exceptional problems.

APPROACHES TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR There are mainly four approaches to

organizational behaviour. They are: • Human resources approach ' • Contingency approach •
Productivity approach • Systems approach Human Resources Approach The human
resources approach is concerned with the growth and development of people towards
higher levels of competency, creativity and fulfillment, because people are the central
resource in any organization. This approach help employees become better in terms of
work and responsibility and then it tries to create a climate in which they can contribute to
the best of their improved abilities. This approach is also known as 'supportive approach'
because the manager's primary role changes from control of employees to providing an
active support for their growth and performance. A Contingency Approach A contingency
approach to organizational behaviour implies that different situations require different
behavioral practices for effectiveness instead of following a traditional approach for all
situations. Each situation must be analyzed carefully to determine the significant variables
that exist in order to establish the more effective practices. The strength of this approach is
that it encourages analysis of each situation prior to action. Thus, it helps to use all the
current knowledge about people in the organization in the most appropriate manner.

Productivity Approach Productivity is a ratio that compares units of output with units of
input. It is often measured in terms of economic inputs and outputs. Productivity is
considered to be improved, if more outputs can be produced from the same amount of
inputs. But besides economic inputs and outputs, human and social inputs and outputs also
arc important. Systems Approach A system is an interrelated part of an organization or a
society that interacts with everyone related to that organization or society and functions as
a whole. Within the organization 'people' employ 'technology' in performing the 'task' that
they are responsible for, while the 'structure' of the organization serves as a basis for
co-ordinating all their different activities. The systems view emphasizes the
interdependence of each of these elements within the organization, if the organization as a
whole is to function effectively. The other key aspect of the systems view of organization is
its emphasis on the interaction between the organization and its broader environment,,
which consists of social, economic, cultural and political environment within which they
operate. Organizations arc dependent upon their surrounding environment in two main
ways: First, the organization requires 'inputs' from the environment in the form of raw
material, people, money, ideas and so on. The organization itself can be thought of as
performing certain 'transformation' processes, on its inputs in order to create outputs in the
form of products or services. Secondly, the organization depends on environment such as,
public to accept its output. The systems view of organization thus emphasizes on the key
interdependencies that organizations must manage. Within themselves the organizations
must trade off the interdependencies among people, tasks, technology and structure in
order to perform their transformation processes effectively and efficiently. Organizations
must also recognize their interdependence with the broader environments within which they
exist.

LIMITATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

 Organizational behavior cannot abolish conflict and frustration but can only reduce
them. It is a way to improve but not an absolute answer to problems.
 It is only one of the many systems operating within a large social system.
 People who lack system understanding may develop a 'behavioral basis', which gives
them a narrow view point, i.e., a tunnel vision that emphasizes on satisfying
employee experiences while overlooking the broader system of an organization in
relation to all its public.
 The law of diminishing returns also operates in the case of organizational behavior.
It states, that at some point increase of a desirable practice produce declining
returns and sometimes, negative returns. The concept implies that for any situation
there is an optimum amount of a desirable practice. When that point is exceeded,
there is a decline in returns. For example, too much security may lead to less
employee initiative and growth. This relationship shows that organizational
effectiveness is achieved not by maximizing one human variable but by working all
system variables together in a balanced way.
 A significant concern about organizational behaviour is that its knowledge and
techniques could be used to manipulate people without regard for human welfare.
People who lack ethical values could use people in unethical ways.

FUTURE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR The growing interest in organizational

behaviour stems from both a philosophical desire by many people to create more
humanistic work places and a practical need to design more productive work environments.
As a result of these forces, organizational behaviour is now a part of the curriculum of
almost all courses including engineering and medical. The field of organizational behavior
has grown in depth and breadth. The keys to its past and future success revolve around the
related processes of theory development, research and managerial practice

Personality
Acording to stephensrobbin
• Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts
with others‘
• Personality refers to how people affect others and how they understand and view
them selfs as well as their pattern of inner and outer measurable trades, and the
person – situation interventions
Personality traits (Attributes)
• A trait is a characteristic or distinguishing feature , which makes an individual
different from others, Ex. Reserved / out spoken,relaxed/tensed etc
Meaning and Definition
Personality is defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual reactsto and
interacts with others. It is the combination of physical and mental appearance. It
combines: – The External Appearance. The External Behavior. – The Inner Awareness. –
The Inner Organization – The Traits (Both Inner and Outer). Personality is derived from
the word Per Sonnare Meaning „The Mask‟ or „To Speak through personality is defined
as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.

Determinants Of Personality

.Biological Factors.
• Cultural Factors.

Family and Social Processes.

• Situational Factors

Biological Factors
• Heredity.
• Brain.
• Physical Features

Cultural Factors
• Values.
• Beliefs.
• Customs.
• Traditions

Family and Social Factors

• Socialization Process.
• Identification Process

Situational Factors
• Circumference.
• Learned Modification

Nature and Scope of Personality.

• Make the employees aware of the Self.

.Matching job requirements with individual characteristics.

.Helps the individual employees to motivate themselves.

Helps in Managerial activities

– Decision Making.
– Designing.
– Planning.
– Controlling
Theories Of Personality
• Intra-Psychic Theory
• Type Theory
• Trait Theory
• Social Learning Theory
• Self Theory

Intra-Psychic Theory
The psychoanalytical theory of personality is based on the Freudian concept of
unconscious nature of personality. On the basis of his clinical experience, Freud noted
that his patient’s behavior could not always be consciously explained. This prompted
him to believe that the personalitystructure is primarily founded on unconscious
framework and thathuman behavior and motivation are the outcomes of such
conflicting psychoanalytic concepts as the id, the ego and the super ego. IDs
thefoundation of the unconscious and is the basis of libido drives. It strivesfor sexual
and other biological pleasures and has animal instincts of aggression, power and
domination. Ego is conscious in nature and isa mechanism to relate our conscious
urges to the outside real world. Itkeeps the id in check through the realities of the
external environment.While id demands immediate pleasure, regardless of costs, ego
controlsit so that these pleasures are granted at an appropriate time and in
anacceptable manner. Because of difficulty in keeping the id under control,ego is
supported by super ego. The super ego is the higher level restrainingforce and can be
described as the conscience of the person. The consciencecreates standards of what is
right and what is wrong and is generallysubconsciously developed by the absorption of
cultural and ethical valuesof the social environment. All these three Freudian elements
are interrelatedand each cannot exist in isolation from others. In order to create
a“normal” personality there must be a balance in the relationship amongthese three
forces.

Developed by : Sigmund Freud

• Human mind consists of 3 elements –
o Preconscious.
o Conscious.
o Unconscious.

• Human Personalities have 3 basic structure.

o The Id.
o The Ego.
o The Superego

The Id
o Everything that is inbuilt psychologically.
o Present at the time of birth.
o Store house of all instincts, wishes, and Desires.
Consists:
The Id
– Everything that is inbuilt psychologically.
– Present at the time of birth.
– Store house of all instincts, wishes, and Desires.

• Characteristics:
– childish,
– Irrational,
– Never Satisfied,
– Destructive. The Unconscious State of Mind

The Ego Unreality to

• Develops as the child grows from Child to
Adult.
• Differentiates from Reality.

• Conscious mediator demand and reality of between the world. IDs

• Characterized By:
Practical
– Rational
– Logical
Conscious State of mind
Super Ego
• Develops as the Child grows and absorbs the parental and cultural values.
• Represents:
o Noble thoughts.
o Noble ideas.
o Noble feelings
Ego Ideal
Preconscious part of mind
Defense
Mechanism
• Conflict between Id, Ego, and Superego results Defense Mechanism.
o Aggression.
o Repression.
o Rationalization.
o Reaction.
o Projection.
Type Theory
1.Sheldon‟s Physiognomy Theory.
2. Carl Jung‟s Extrovert Introvert Theory.
Physiognomy
Theory
Developed By : William Sheldon
• Temperamental Body type Model.
• Relation Between Physic Type with Personality Type.
 o Endomorphs.
o Mesomorphs.
o Ectomorphs
Endomorphs
Body type
• Bulky
• Fat
• Thick
Personality
type
• Viscertonic
Characteristics
• Beloved.
• Seeks comfort
• Loves fine food
• Jovial
• Affectionate
• Appreciated by all

Carl Jun’s Extrovert – Introvert

Theory
• Personality is of two types –
Extrovert
Introvert
Extroversion
• Very objective and reality Oriented
• Optimistic
• Outgoing
• Gregarious
• Sociable
Characteristics

Friendly
– Enjoy interactions

Introversion
• Inwardly directed people
• Less sociable
• Guided by their own ideas and beliefs

Characteristics:
– Rigid –
Less flexible
– Subjective
– Enjoy solitude
Trait Theory
Trait theory presents an approach to understand personality. Manytraits are common to
most people. However, there are many other traitsthat are unique to a person. It may be
remembered that traits are reactionsand not what a person possesses. A person does not
possess emotion buthe acts emotionally in some circumstances. One the basis of the
traits,people may be described as emotional, aggressive, loyal, creative, flexible,humorous,
sentimental, and impulsive and so on. Traits are the basicelements of personality and can
be used to summarize the behavior ofa person. However, determining basic traits is rather
difficult becausethousands of descriptive words are there.Traits distinguishes one
personality from the other. – Traits can describe the construction of individuals. – Traits
can be quantifiable but do not define measurement

16 Pairs of fundamental traits

• Reserved vs. out going.
• Less intelligent vs. more intelligent.
• Affected by feeling vs. emotionally stable
• Submissive vs. dominant.
• Serious vs. happy go lucky.
• Expedient vs. conscientious.
• Timid vs. venturesome.
• Trusting vs. suspicious
• Tough minded vs. sensitive.
• Practical vs. imaginative.
• Forth right vs. shored.
• Self assured vs. apprehensive.
• Conservative vs. experimental.
• Group dependent vs. self-sufficient.
• Uncontrolled vs. controlled.
• Relaxed vs. tense

Trait Theory
• All ports Trait Theory.
• Cattles Trait Theory
All ports Trait

6 fundamental traits controls individual behavior – Social

o Political
o Religious
o Theoretical
o Economic
o Aesthetic
• Personal dispositions
o Cardinal
o Central
o Secondary.
 Cattle’s Theory
• 171 traits can describe the individual personality • Traits can be classified into two
categories – Source Trait
– Surface Trait

Social Learning
Theory
• Situation is an important determinant of personality

• Individuals develop their personality in learning to cope with situation.

• Individuals may learn in two ways: – Direct learning: – Reinforced Learning
• Direct
• Vicarious
• Self Administered
Self Theory
Developed by : Carl Roger
• Individual as a whole determines his / her personalityThe
Self
– The Organism
– The Development

PERSONALITY TRAITS

Big Five Model gives five basic personality traits presented below

• Extraversion. Theextraversion dimension captures our comfort level with

relationships. Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts
tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.
• Agreeableness. Theagreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s propensity
to defer to others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusting.
People who score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable,
• Conscientiousness. Theconscientiousness dimension is a measure of reliability.
A highly conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable, and
persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted,
disorganized, and unreliable.
• Emotional stability. Theemotional stability dimension—often labeled by its
converse, neuroticism—taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with
positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those
with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.
• Openness to experience. Theopenness to experience dimension addresses
range of interests and fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are
creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the category
are conventional and find comfort in thefamiliar.
THE BIG FIVE MODEL
• This model supports 5 basic personality dimensions or domains which
determines overall human personality and account for individual differences.

• The big 5 traits are OCEAN:

• Openness

• Consciousness

• Extroversion
• Agreeableness

• Neuroticism

OPENNESS
• This dimension reflect one‘s range of interests and fascinations with novelty.

• People who like to learn new thing and enjoy new experiences usually score high
in openness.

• Such traits are: Imaginative, innovative, creative, flexible and curious.

• On the other hand those who score low are less receptive to new ideas, more
rigid, comfort seekers.

CONSCIOUSNESS (CAREFULLNESS)
• This dimensions measures reliability and promptness of a person.

• It reflects the traits like:

1. Dependability

2. Responsible

3. Organized systematic

4. Persistent

• Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized and
unreliable.

EXTROVERSION
• This dimension reflects a persons comfort level in relationships.

• These are sociable and are lively, assertive, talkative and outgoing.
 • They get energy from interacting with others.

• The opposite of extroverts are introverts which reflects those traits like timid,
reserved, quiet, and the person gets his energy from within.

AGREEABLENESS
• It refers to a person‘s ability t get along with others. These are friendly,
co-operative, kind, compassionate, warm and trusting.
• People who score low on agreeableness are cold, more distant and unkind to
others, disagreeable and antagonistic(aggressive and hostile).

NEUROTICISM (EMOTIONAL STABILITY)

• This dimension reflects a person's ability to withstand stress and degree of
negative emotions. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self
confident and self confident and secured.

• A person with low emotional stability tends to be nervous, depressed, anxious

and in secured

OTHER PERSONALITY TRAITS PERSONALITY FACTORS IN ORGANISATIQNS

Some of the important personality factors that determine what kind of behaviors are
exhibited at work include the following:

Locus of Control
Locus of control is the degree to which an individual believes that his or her behavior
has direct impact on the consequences of that behavior. Some people, for example,
believe that if they work hard they will certainly succeed. They, strongly believe that
each individual is in control of his or her life. They are said to have an internal locus of
control. By contrast, some people think that what happens to them is a result of fate,
chance, luck or the behavior of other people, rather than the lack of skills or poor
performance on their part. Because- these individuals think that forces beyond their
control dictate the happenings around them, they are said to have an external locus of
control. As a personality attribute, locus of control has clear implications for
organizations. For example, certain individuals have an internal locus of control, which
means they have a relatively strong desire to participate in the management of their
organizations and have a' freedom to do their jobs. Thus, they may prefer a
decentralized organization where they have a right of decision-making and work with a
leader who provides them freedom and autonomy. They may like a reward system that
recognizes individual performance and contributions. Conversely, people with an
external locus of control, are likely to prefer a more centralized organization where they
need not take any decisions. They may incline to structured jobs where standard
procedures are defined for them. They may prefer a leader who makes most of the
decisions and a reward system that considers seniority rather than merit.

Introversion and Extroversion Introversion is the tendency of individuals, which directs

them to be inward and process feelings, thoughts and ideas within themselves.
Extroversion, on the contrary, refers to the tendency in individuals to look outside
themselves, searching for external stimuli with which they can interact. While there is
some element of introversion as well as extroversion in all of us, people tend to be
dominant as either extroverts or introverts. Extroverts are sociable, lively and gregarious
and seek outward stimuli or external exchanges. Such individuals are likely to be most
successful while working in the sales department, publicity office, personal relations
unit, and so on, where they can interact face to face with others. Introverts, on the other
Hand, are quiet, reflective, introspective, and intellectual people, preferring to interact
with a small intimate circle of friends. Introverts are more likely to be successful when
they can work on highly abstract ideas such as R&D work, in a relatively quiet
atmosphere. Since managers have to constantly interact with individuals both in and out
of the organization and influence people to achieve the organization's goals, it is
believed that extroverts are likely to be more successful as managers.

Tolerance for Ambiguity

This personality characteristic indicates the level of uncertainty that people can tolerate
to work efficiently without experiencing undue stress. Managers have to work well
under conditions of extreme uncertainty and insufficient information, especially when
things are rapidly changing in the organization's external environment. Managers who
have a high tolerance for ambiguity can cope up well under these conditions. Managers,
who have a low tolerance for ambiguity may be effective in structured work settings but
find it almost impossible to operate effectively when things are rapidly changing and
much information about the future events is not available. Thus, tolerance for ambiguity
is a personality dimension necessary for managerial success.

Self-Esteem and Self-Concept

Self-esteem denotes the extent to which individuals consistently regard themselves as
capable, successful, important and worthy individuals. Self-esteem is an important
personality factor that determines how managers perceive themselves and their role in
the organization. Self-esteem is important to self-concept, i.e., the way individuals,
define themselves as to who they are and derive their sense of identity. High
self-esteem provides a high sense of self-concept, which, in turn, reinforces high
self-esteem. Thus, the two are mutually reinforcing. Individuals with a high self-esteem
will try to take on more challenging assignments and be successful. Thus, they will be
enhancing their self-concept i.e., they would tend to define themselves as highly valued
38 individuals in the organizational system. The higher the self-concept and
self-esteem, the greater will be their contributions to the goals of the organization,
especially when the system rewards them for their contributions.

Authoritarianism and Dogmatism

Authoritarianism is the extent to which an individual believes that power and status
differences are important within' hierarchical social systems like organizations. For
example, an employee who is highly authoritarian may accept directives or orders from
his superior without much questioning. A person who is not highly authoritarian might
agree to carry out appropriate and reasonable directives from his boss. But he may also
raise questions, express disagreement and even refuse to carry out requests if they arc
for some reason objectionable. Dogmatism is the rigidity of a person's beliefs and his or
her openness to other viewpoints. The popular terms 'close-minded' and 'open-minded'
describe people who are more and less .dogmatic in their beliefs respectively. For
example, a manager may be unwilling to listen to a new idea related to doing something
more efficiently. He is said to be a person who is close-minded or highly dogmatic. A
manager who is very receptive to hearing about and trying out new ideas in the same
circumstances might be seen as more open-minded or less dogmatic. Dogmatism can
be either beneficial or detrimental to organizations, but given the degree of change in
the nature of organizations and their environments, individuals who are, not dogmatic
are most likely to be useful and productive organizational members.

Risk Propensity Risk-propensity is the decree to which an individual is willing to take

chances and make risky decisions. A manager with a high-risk propensity might be
expected to experiment with new ideas and to lead the organization in new directions. In
contrast, a manager with low risk propensity might lead to a stagnant and overly
conservative organization.

Machiavellianism is manipulating or influencing other people as a primary way of

achieving one's goal. An individual tends to be Machiavellian, if he tends to be logical in
assessing the system around, willing to twist and turn facts to influence others, and try
to gain control of people, events and situations by manipulating the system to his
advantage.

Type A and B Personalities Type A persons feel a chronic sense of time urgency, are
highly achievement-oriented, exhibit a competitive drive, and are impatient when their
work is slowed down for any reason. Type B persons are easy-going individuals who do
not feel the time urgency, and who do not experience the competitive drive. Type A
individuals are significantly more prone to heart attacks than Type B individuals. While
Type A persons help the organization to move ahead in a relatively short period of time
they may also suffer health problems, which might be detrimental to both themselves
and the organization in the long run.

Work-Ethic Orientation Some individuals are highly work-oriented while others try to do
the minimum Work that is necessary to get by without being fired on-the-job. The
extremely work oriented person gets greatly involved in the job. Extreme work ethic
values could lead to traits of "workahollism" where work is considered as the only
primary motive for living with very little outside interests. For a workaholic turning to
work can sometimes become a viable alternative to facing non-work related problems.
A high level of work ethic orientation of members is good for the organization to
achieve its goals. Too much "workahollism", however, might lead to premature physical
and mental exhaustion and health problems, which is dysfunctional for both
organization and the workaholic members. The above ten different personality
predispositions are important for individual, managerial and organizational
effectiveness.

PERSONALITY AND WORK

• YOUR Success at work depends upon what kind of person you are.

• Researchers have made a comparison between successful and unsuccessful

people.

• In one study, the empirical evidence reveals that some define success in terms of
money whereas others in terms of intrinsic happiness.

• More successful men were found to be more persistent. They were exhibiting
self confidence and had agreeableness.
 • They were open minded and extroverts which increases their performance.

• Generally, the essential traits are expected traits of management professionals

are persistent and confidence.

• A congenial job brings self fulfillment and self confidence in people.

• Personality is the sum total of our habits, physical, mental and emotional

PERSONALITY AND OB
Emotional stability
WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
• Less negative thinking and fewer negative emotions
• Less hyper-vigilant

WHAT DOES IT AFFECT?

• Higher job & life satisfaction
• Lower stress levels

Extroversion
WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
• Better interpersonal skills
• Greater social dominance
• More emotionally expressive

WHAT DOES IT AFFECT?

• Higher performance*
• Enhanced leadership
• Higher job & life satisfaction

Openness
WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
• Increased learning
• More creative
• More flexible & autonomous

WHAT DOES IT AFFECT?

• Training performance
• Enhanced leadership
• More adaptable to change

Agreeableness
WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
• Better liked
• More compliant and Conforming
WHAT DOES IT AFFECT?
• Higher performance*
• Lower levels of deviant behavior
Conscientiousness
WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
• Greater effort & persistence
• More drive and discipline
• Better organized & planning

PERCEPTION

Meaning of Perception:

― Perception is the process of receiving information about and making sense of the
world around us. It involves deciding which information to notice, how to categorize
this information and how to interpret it within the framework of existing knowledge.‖
PERCEPTUAL PROCESS:

18
 Receiving Stimuli: Stimuli are received by us through sensory organs such as
vision, hearing, smell, touch & taste. There are two types of stimuli. They are:

 Internal stimuli: Energy generated by muscles, food passing through the

digestive system, etc.

 External Stimuli: Light waves, sound waves, mechanical energy or pressure,

etc from objects that one can smell & taste.

 Selecting stimuli: The process of filtering information received by our senses

is called selecting stimuli or selective attention.

External Factors:

o Nature: Whether the object is visual or organs of hearing.

o Location: The best location of a visual stimulus for attracting attention is

directly in the front of the eyes & in the centre of a stage in a conference hall..

o Colour: it can be used to attract attention of a product or to create a

suitable atmosphere.

Example: Red distance effect-close

Black Psychological effect-Death or mourning

* Size: Generally, objects of larger size attract more attention than do
one smaller
s.

* Contrast: It states that external stimuli which stands out against the
background or which are not what people are expecting, will receive their
attention.

* Movement: The principle of motion states that a moving object receives

19
more attention than an object that is stationary. Ex: A workman will be focused
more on a conveyor belt of a machine than a idle flower vase.

20
 * Repetition: It state that a repeated stimuli would draw more attention that
a non repetitive one. Ex: The same advertisement of an airtel flashed daily on
television is based on the principle of repetition.

* Novelty & Familiarity: New objects in familiar settings or familiar objects

in new settings or familiar objects in new settings will draw the attention of the
perceiver.

Internal Factors:

* Learning: Learning is a cognitive factor. People tend to perceive what

they want to perceive.

Bird in the
the hand

* Psychological needs: needs play significant role in perceptual selectivity.

Example: A thirsty person in a desert, for instance, gets the illusion of water
when seeing sand from a distance.

* Age Difference: Senior executives complain about the inability of the

young ones to take tough decisions concerning terminating people or paying
attention to details
& paper work.

*Interest: Perception is unconsciously influenced by the interests of the

perceiver. Ex: A painter will notice the colour or paint of building whereas a
common may notice it.

*Ambivalence: It is mixed feeling about a situation. It means opposing

emotional attitude towards the same object. Ex: A son may be anxious, curious
to purchase a laptop. Once he purchases Samsung laptop with Windows Xp
features. After few years a laptop would be launched with additional features
such as Windows7.His attitude towards the same object would be opposing
because the laptop purchased may not meet his current needs.

*Paranoid Perception: An emotionally disturbed person, his perceptual

field differs from that of reality & personalised interpretation. Ex: Mr X, a
21
paranoid person may perceive a football as a basket ball.

22
 Perceptual Organisation: It is the process by which people group stimuli into
recognisable patterns. Example: Most people have a mental picture of an object
made of plastic & having four legs, a seat, aback- an image of chair.

People organise the incoming information into a meaningful whole &

recognise the object to be a chair.

Factors affecting in perceptual organisation are as

follows:

* Ambiguous figures: Perceptual organisation becomes a difficult task

when there are confusing & disorganised stimuli in the external environment.

 * Figure Background: It states that the relationship of a target to its

background influences perception.

 Perceptual Grouping: This principle was 1st defined by Gestalt psychologists

include the following:

* Principle of similarity: When objects of similar shape, size or colour tend to be

grouped together. Ex: All employees who wear Black Gown may be perceived as a
Lawyer, when, in reality, each worker is a civil lawyer or criminal lawyer or a
unique individual.

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 * Principle of proximity: It states the tendency to perceive stimuli which are near
one another as belonging together. Ex: Several employees in an
organisation may be identified as a single group because of physical proximity.

* Principle of Closure: A person has a tendency to perceive a whole when none

exist. It supplies missing stimuli. Ex: When, a manger has to take a decision
even when there is no sufficient data. He takes the decision based on
experience; imagination the data can be filled.

* Principle of Continuity: It is the tendency to perceive objects as continuing

patterns. In business forecasting, a common continuing error is to assume that
the future will simply reflect current events & trends.

* Area: Where one part of an area showing an ambiguous figure is smaller in

size than the remainder, it is more likely that the smaller area will be seen as a
figure & the rest of the total area as background.

 Perceptual Constancy: A more subtle or thin part of perceptual organisation is

constancy.

* Shape Constancy: Whenever an object appears to maintain its shape despite

marked changes in the retinal image. Ex: Whether we view ‗Bangle‘ from the
side or front, its shape is ‗Round‘.

* Size Constancy: It refers to the fact that as an object is moved farther away we
tend to see it as more or less invariant in size. Ex: The players in the opposite
side of the field do not look smaller than those closer to you even though their
images on the retina of the eye are much smaller.

* Colour Constancy: It implies that familiar objects are perceived to be of

the same colour in varied conditions.

 Process of Interpreting: Once the data have been received & organised, the
perceiver interprets or assigns meaning to the information.

Factors affecting the interpretation of data are as

follows:

* Perceptual Set: Previously held beliefs about objects influence an

individual‘s
perception of similar
objects.

* Attribution: It refers to the process by which the individual assigns causes to

the behaviour he or she conceives.
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* Stereotyping: It means judging someone on the basis of one‘s perception of
the group
to which that person
belongs.

25
 * Halo effect: The halo effect refers to the tendency of judging people on the
basis of a single trait which may be good or bad, favourable or unfavourable.

* Perceptual Context: The context in which an object is placed influences

perception.

* Perceptual Defense: It is the inability to perceive that is threatening to the

perceiver.

* Projection: We tend to believe that other posses the same characteristics

of what we have.

 The process of checking: The perceiver tends to check whether his

interpretations are right or wrong.

 The process of reacting: The perceiver would finalise with some action in
relation to his or her perception which may be a favourable or unfavourable.

When perception fails or errors in perception:

 Fundamental attribution error: It refers to a tendency to underestimate the

importance of external factors & overestimate the importance of internal
factors when making attributions about the behaviour of others.

 Self-fulfilling Prophecy or Pygmallion effect: People‘s expectations or beliefs

determine
their behaviour & performance, thus serving to make their expectations come
true.

 Primacy effect: First impression is the best impression.

 Recency effect: Individual‘s tend to remember the recent happenings&

based on that,
come to a conclusion on a particular event.

 Projection: We tend to believe that other posses the same characteristics

of what we have.

 Stereotyping: It means judging someone on the basis of one‘s perception of

the group to which that person belongs.

 Halo effect: The halo effect refers to the tendency of judging people on the
basis of a single trait which may be good or bad, favourable or unfavourable.

26
  Perceptual Defense: It is the inability to perceive that is threatening to the
perceiver.

Factors influencing perception

Interpersonal Perception: It is understanding & interpretation process of two

individuals in a work setting. It focuses on only people. It is otherwise called
Social perception.

Application of perception in Organisation & Measures to improve Perception:

Perception, in many cases has important effects on organisation. They are

discussed as follows:

 Employment Interview: When a candidate appears for interview, some

of the interviewers look at their physical appearance, analytical thinking, critical
thinking, etc. One may give appositive feedback & other a negative on the same
candidates. It is clear that where interview is an important input for selection, the
perceptual factors influence the decision to select a candidate.
27
 Performance Appraisal: Assessment of an employee‘s performance depends
on the
perception of the evaluator.

28
  Conflict Management: The perceptions of an employee have of others even
overflow into the workplace & cause conflict with other co-workers.

 Employee Loyalty: To retain an employee in an organisation is not that easy as

employee becomes closer to the organisation, he would understand the pro‘s &
cons of the organisations. Sometimes he would perceive that the
competitor‘s organisation pays better than his current organisation.

Measures:

 Have a high level of self awareness; Individual needs, experience &

expectations can all affect perceptions.

 Avoid inappropriate attributions: Each and every employee would describe the
cause of behaviour in a wrong situation which has to be avoided.

 Be Empathetic: Employee should be able to perceive the situation same as it

is. Do not arise the personal impressions at your work place.

 Diversity management programmes: Organisation need to introduce

diversity management programmes because employees came from various
culture where they need to understand the value of diversity & personal biases
can be avoided.

Need for perception:

 It helps to understand, predict & control the behaviour of the individuals.

 It helps to categorise the information & to interpret it effectively.

 It helps to set performance goals.

 It helps in decision making.

 To organise the things or situations effectively.

 It helps to analyse the needs of various departments.

 It helps to identify the career path of employee in an organisation.

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 Attitude and behavior
Attitude represents the cluster of beliefs, assessed feelings &behavioural intentions
towards an object. They reflect how one feels about something or somebody. Based on the
believes& perceptions an individual frames his attitude.
Attitudes are learned pre-dispositions towards aspects of our environment. They may be
positively or negatively directed towards certain people, service or institutions.

Meaning and Definition

Definitions:
“An attitude is mental state of readiness, learned and organized through evidences,
exerting a specific influences on person’s response to people, object and situations’
with which it is related”
“Attitudes are learned predispositionstowards aspects of our environment. They may be
positively or negatively directed towards certain people, services or institutions.”

Definitions:
“By attitude we mean the beliefs, feelings and action tendencies of an individual or
group of individuals towards objects, ideas and people. Quite often persons and objects
or ideas become associated in the minds of individuals and as a result ofattitudes
become multidimensional and complex

Attitudes can be distinguished in terms of:

– Valence: Magnitude of the degree of thefavorableness or unfavourableness.
– Multiplicity: Refers to the number of elementsconstituting attitude
– Relation to Need: Attitudes can vary in relation to the need of the person.
– Centrality: Refers to the importance of theattitudes object towards the individual.

Attitude
Characteristics
• Attitudes are learned.
• Attitudes refers to the feelings andbeliefs of the individuals.
• The feelings and beliefs define one’spredisposition towards the givenaspects of
the world.
• Attitudes are organized and are coreto the individuals.
• All people irrespective of their statusor intelligence holds attitude.

Nature of Attitudes:
o Attitudes refers to feelings and beliefs of an individual.

o The feelings & beliefs are directed towards other people.

o Attitudes affect the behaviour or action of people.

30
 o Attitudes are gradually acquired over a period of time.

o They are evaluative statements.

o All people have attitudes.

o Attitude may be unconsciously held.

Attitude – Components

• Attitude Comprises of three vitalcomponents.

o The Affective Component: The affective or feeling component refers to the
emotions or beliefs associated with an object.
o The Cognitive Component: This believecomponents refers to the belief or opinion of
a person towards an attitude object.
o The Overt Component: This is also known as behavioral or conative component.
This is concerned with the way one intends to behave towards an attitude object.

• The ABC Model

ABC Model: The three components of attitude is called the ABC model, the three letters
respectively standing for affect, behavioural&cognition.This model helps us in a thorough
understanding of the attitude of people.
Ex: If an employer wants to introduce flexitime in his office he would want to know:
a) How they feel about it (affect)
b) Whether they‘ll use it (behaviour) 27
c) What they think about the policy (Cognition)

Attitude – Formation
• Attitudes are acquired through theprocess of learning.
 The Experience: People develop attitudes bygaining experience. Through job
experiencesindividuals learn attitudes.
o Learning and Attitude:
• Classical Conditioning and learning servesas a basis of attitude formation.
• Operant Conditioning also underliesacquisition of attitude.
• Vicarious Learning: Refers to the formationof attitude by observing behavior of
others
and consequences of that behavior.
o Family: Family exerts influence on the initial core of attitudes held by an
individual.

31
 o Peer Groups: As people approach theiradulthood, they increasingly rely on their
peer groups for approval or attitude formation.
• Associations: People are highly influenced by the major groups or associations they
belong to.
o Economic Status and Occupations: Oureconomic and occupational status /
positionalso contribute to attitude formation.
o Personality Factor

Functions Served by Attitude

• Adjustment Function: This functionrecognizes the famous hedonisticprinciple.

“People strive to maximize therewards and minimize the penalties.”
 Ego Defense Function: People normallyexpend a great deal of energies in
theprocess of learning to live withthemselves. They form and maintaincertain
attitudes to protect their self image.
• Value Expressive Function: Many attitudesserve another yet very important,
function, in terms of positive expression of an individual in the minds of the
otherpeople.
• Knowledge Function: Another mainfunction is the knowledge function. This
isbased on the need for understanding andmaking sense of the world. People
needmaintain a stable, organized andmeaningful structure of their world inorder
to prevent chaos.

Types
• Job Satisfaction: Refers to an individual’s attitude towards his or her job.
• Job Involvement: The degree to which aperson identifies with his or her job,actively
participates in it, and considershis or her performance importance to selfworth.
• Organizational Commitment: The degreeto which an employee identifies with
aparticulars organization and its goals andwishes to maintain membership in
theorganization.

Attitudes and Behavior

Rechard La Piere:
– The more specific the measurement of attitude, themore it is to be related to
behavior.
– Attitudes are related to behavior, but they are
influenced by situational factors such as pressure by theUnion, top management etc.

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

• Proposed by Leon Festinger

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• Cognitive dissonance is any incompatibilitybetween two or more attitudes or between
behavior and attitude.
– People seek consistency among their behavior andattitude.
• Dissonance refers to a psychological inconsistent among different
cognitionsassociated with internal attitudes and behavior
• Any kind of inconsistency is uncomfortable andthe individual attempts to reduce
dissonance andhence discomfort.

• Proposed by Leon Festinger

• Cognitive dissonance is any incompatibility
between two or more attitudes or between
behavior and attitude.
– People seek consistency among their behavior andattitude.
• Dissonance refers to a psychological
inconsistent among different cognitions
associated with internal attitudes and behavior
• Any kind of inconsistency is uncomfortable andthe individual attempts to reduce
dissonance andhence discomfort.

Changing Attitude

• Change in Attitude depends on the following

factors:
– Characteristics of the Communicator : These includewhether the communicators are
biased ordispassionate, whether the manager is attractive andliked etc.
– The method of communication: Communication should be easy and convincing so
that it creates change without any discomfort.
– Characteristics of Taught: Degree of commitment of the target to the initial attitude.
– Situational factors: These are not only extensive but also play a major role in
influencing the change in attitude of people.

Changing Attitude
• Process:
– Give Proper Feedback
– Accentuate positive conditions
– Positive role model
– Providing new information
– Use of fear / Threat
– Influence of friends / press
– Coping approach.

Attitude Measurement/ Job Satisfaction Measurement: There are a number of ways of

measuring attitudes:
o Rating Scales: It allows an individual to rate their liking or disliking towards a job or
an individual. One of the most popular rating scale is the JDI (Job Descriptive Index)

33
 o Critical Incidents: Here employees were asked to describe incidents on the job when
they were particularly satisfied or dissatisfied. The incidents were then analysed in
determining which aspects of these incidents of results in positive & negative
attitudes in the employee.
o Interviews: Personal interviews are yet another measurement of job satisfaction.
Employees are interviewed & their responses reveal the extent of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction.
o Action Tendencies: They represent the inclinations people have to avoid or approach
certain things. By gathering information on such inclinations, their job satisfaction
can be measured.
o Likert Scale: This was developed by Likert & is widely used even today. Here an
individual is asked to indicate agreements or disagreement with job factors .The
individual is also required to state how strongly he or she agrees or disagrees. This
is normally done on a 5 point scale which includes:

*Strongly Approve * Approve * Undecided *Disapprove * Strongly disapprove

MOTIVATION

Motivation is derived from the word motive. “A motive is an inner state that energies,
activates or moves and directs or channels behavior towards goals.

We define motivation as the processes that account for an individual’s intensity,

direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal.

Characteristics

• It is an internal driving force for theemployees.

• Motivation has got a profound influenceon human behavior.
• Motivation brings the satisfaction i.e. thecontentment experiences of an
individualwhich he drives out of need fulfillment.
• Motivation brings satisfaction of needs.
• Motivation is a complex and completeprocess.

Importance of Motivation
To increase work efficiency .
To combine ability with willingness

34
To reduce the rate of labor turnover
To develop the leadership quality

Theories of Motivation.
• Content Theories

– Need Priority Model (Maslow).

– Two factor Theory

• Process Theories
– Vroom s Expectancy Theory.
– Porter Lawler model
–
– Contemporary Theories
– Equity Theory.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The best-known theory of motivation is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. 5
Maslow hypothesized that within every human being, there exists a hierarchy of five
needs:

1. Physiological. Includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs.
2. Safety. Security and protection from physical and emotional harm.
3. Social. Affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.
4. Esteem. Internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement, and
external factors such as status, recognition, and attention.
5. Self-actualization. Drive to become what we are capable of becoming; includes
growth, achieving our potential, and self-fulfillment. Although no need is ever fully
gratified, a substantially satisfied need no longer motivates. Thus as each becomes
substantially satisfied, the next one becomes dominant. So if you want to motivate
someone, according to Maslow, you need to understand what level of the hierarchy that
person is currently on and focus on satisfying needs at or above that level, moving up
the steps in.
Implications of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory
This model helps the managers to understand and deal with issues of employee
motivation at the workplace. This model can be applied to motivate people at all levels
in the organization. Managers who understand the need patterns of their staff can help
the employees to engage in the kinds of work activities and provide the types of work
environment that will satisfy their needs at work. For instance, the employees love and
belonging needs can be fully satisfied by organizing

35
yearly dinner and dance program, office week end parties, creating recreation clubs or
social clubs etc. Fortunately, the workplace has the potential to offer need gratification
for several different types of needs, and mangers can motivate employees by giving
appropriate organizational support which will gratify individual’s needs. Thus, despite its
drawbacks, Maslow’s theory offers managers a good technique on understanding the
motives or needs of individuals and how to motivate organizational members.

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation

Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory is also called motivation-hygiene theory. A theory that
relates intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and associates extrinsic factors with
dissatisfaction.

Hygiene factors Factors—such as company policy and administration,

Supervision, and salary—that, when adequate in a job, placate workers.
Herzberg argued that improvement in the hygiene factors would
only minimize dissatisfaction but not increase satisfaction and motivation

Motivating Factors
The presence of motivating factors always ensures job satisfaction and happiness
among the employees. They are: achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement,
growth and the work itself. These motivating factors are relating to the work content
factors.

Implications for Managers

In Herzberg’s framework, these managerial reactions have focused primarily on the
hygiene factors surrounding the job, which has resulted in bringing individual to the
theoretical “zero point” of motivation. The two-factor theory would predict that
improvements in motivation would only appear when managerial action focused not
only the factors surrounding the job but on the inherent in most assembly line jobs and
developing jobs that can provide increased levels
of challenge and opportunities for a sense of achievement, advancement, growth and
personal development.

EXPECTANCY THEORY

• Vroom’s Key Variables:

– Valence: The personal value workers place on the
Rewards.
– Expectancy: The perceived relationship between a given level of efforts
and a given level of performances.
It refers to the extent to which the person believes that his efforts will lead
to the first level of outcome i.e. Performance.
– Instrumentality: This refers to the relationship

36
Between performance and rewards
• It is a theory based on self-interest where in each individual seeks to
maximize his expected satisfaction.
• The motivational relationship may be expressed in the form of a formula.
Motivation = V x E x I
(Valence x Expectancy x Instrumentality)

• Porter and Lawler Model:

• Performance is a function of three important factors.
– The employees must want to perform.
– Motivation alone will not ensure task performance.
– A person must usually have an accurate knowledge ofthe requirements
of the job.
• Variables
– Effort: This signifies the amount of energy exerted by an individual on a
specific task.
– Performance: Combination of the effort that anIndividual puts forth and
the level of ability which hehas and the way he perceives the role he should
take.
– Rewards: Performance leads to rewards.
– Satisfaction: It is derived from the extent to whichActual rewards fall
short meet or exceed the personsperceived equitable level of rewards.

– Contemporary Theories
– Equity Theory

• Stacy Adams equity theory is one of the popularsocial exchange theories

• Assumptions:
– Individuals make contributions (inputs) for which theyexpect certain
outcomes (rewards).
– Individuals decide whether or not a particularexchange is satisfactory by
comparing their inputs andoutcomes to those of others in the form of a
ratio.

• The inequity occurs in two ways.

– Overpayment in equity.
– Under payment in equity.
• The theory makes some postulates.
– Perceived inequity create tension.

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– Amount of tension is proportional to magnitude ofinequity.
– The tension created in individuals will motivate themto reduce it.
– The strength of motivation to reduce inequity isproportional to the
perceived inequity.

MODULE-3
Group Dynamics
• Groups – meaning and definition.
• Formation of groups.
• Theory and stages of groupdevelopment
•Five stage model
•Punctuated equilibrium model.
• Types of groups
• Group structure
• Norms.
• Leadership.
• Size.
• Cohesiveness.
• Models of small group behavior

Meaning and Definition

• S. P. Robbins: “A group is when two or more individuals, interacting and

interdependent, who have come together to achieve a particular objectives”.
• G. C. Homans: “A group is a combination of any numberof people who share
goals, often communicate with each other over a period of time, and are few
enough so that each individual may communicate with all the others,
person-to-person”.
• David Horton Smith: “A group is the largest set of two or more individuals who
are jointly characterized by anetwork of relevant communications, a shared
sense of collectivity identity and one or more shared dispositionswith associative
normative strength”.

Concluding Definition

“ combination A group is a of two ormore people with the purpose

ofachieving their common and sharedgoals through their integratedeffort.”

Features
38
• Combination of two or more individuals.
• Individuals are motivated to come closure physically or virtually.
• They come closure to achieve their common goal.
• They achieve their goal through integrated efforts.
• They perceive the group as a unified unit.
• They contribute different inputs towards goal achievement.
• Reach at various agreements and/or Disagreements.

REASONS FOR JOINING GROUPS:

Protection of common and individual Interest:
By joining a group, members can reduce the insecurity of being alone. The membership
will make them feel stronger, gaining resistant to threats, having fewer self-doubts etc.
New employees are particularly vulnerable to a sense of isolation and turn to the group
for guidance and support. Employees develop a sense of security at personal as well as
professional front by joining groups.

Status:
Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others provides recognition and
status for its members. Being a member of Rotary Club, the members feel pride and
gain status and recognition.
Self-Esteem:
Groups can provide people with feelings of self-worth. That is, in addition to conveying
status to those outside the group, membership can also give increased feelings of
worth to the group members themselves. The self-esteem is bolstered when members
are accepted by a highly valued group. Being assigned to a task force whose purpose is
to review and make recommendations for the location of the company’s new corporate
headquarters can fulfill one’s intrinsic needs for competence and growth.

Affiliation:
Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the regular interaction that comes with
group membership. For many people, these on-the-job interactions at work are the
primary source for fulfilling their needs

Types of Groups

• Formal Groups
• A Standing Task Group
• A Task Group

• Informal Group
• Interest Group
• Friendship Group
• Reference Group

39
• Open/Closed Group In/Out Groups
Group Development

• Five Stage Model

• Contemporary Model
• Punctuated Equilibrium Model

Five Stage Model

• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing
• Adjourning

i) Forming: At this stage, group members try to comprehend where they stand in the
group and how they are being perceived by others in the group. The members are very
cautious in their interactions with each other and the relationships among the group
members are very superficial. Members’ seldom express their feelings in the group and
the individual members who are trying to understand who they are in the group have
concerns about how they will fit in the group as permanent group members. This is
characterized by much uncertainty about group’s purpose, structure and leadership.
Members are ‘testing the waters’ to determine what types of behavior are acceptable.
This stage is complete when members have begun to think of themselves as part of a
group.

ii) Storming: At this stage, disagreement tends to get expressed among the group
members, and feelings of anxiety and resentment are also expressed. Some power
struggle may ensure at this stage to determine who should assume the informal
leadership role in the group. This storming stage is also known as the sub-grouping and
confrontation. This group is characterized by intra- group conflict. Members accept the
existence of the group, but there is resistance to the control the group imposes on
individuality. There is sometimes conflict over who will control the group. When this
stage is complete, there will be a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership within the
group.

iii) Norming: This stage is characterized by close relationships and cohesiveness. The
group sets norms, tries to attain some degree of cohesiveness, understands the goals
of the group, starts making good decision, expresses feelings openly and makes
attempts to resolve problems and attain group effectiveness. At this stage, members’
roles get defined, and task and maintenance roles are assumed by group members.
Group members’ also begin to express satisfaction and confidence about being
members of the group.

40
iv)Performing: This stage is characterized by collaboration and integration. The group
members evaluate their performance so that the members develop and grow. The
group relationships and structures are set and accepted. Group energy has moved from
getting to know and understand each other, to performing the task at hand. Feelings are
expressed at this stage without fear, leadership roles shared among the members, and
the group members’ activities arehighly co-coordinated. The task and maintenance
roles are played very effectively. The task performance levels are high and member
satisfaction, pride and commitment to the group also high. Both performance and
members’ satisfaction are sustained indefinitely;

v) Adjourning: This stage is characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather

than task performance. The group prepares for its disbandment. High task performance
is no longer the group’s top priority. Instead, attention is directed towards finalizing
activities. As the group approaches the terminal phase, members break off their bonds
of affection and stop interaction with each other. Responses of group members vary in
this state. Some feel pride in what the group has accomplished. Others may be negative
and critical of the way the organization hastreated the group and others may be sad
over the loss of friendship gained during the life of the work groups. These five stages
of group development are only a suggestive and not prescriptive. Sometimes, groups do
not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. Sometimes, several stages go on
simultaneously as when groups are storming and performing at the same time. Under
some conditions, high levels of conflict are conducive to high group performance

Group Structure
• Structure of the group shapes the
behavior of the members.
• Structure explains and predicts
individual behavior within the group
there by helps to identify the performance of the group.
• Structure can be studied under four
broad heads, such as:
• Leadership.
• Norms
• Group size.
• Group cohesiveness

Group Role
• Role: A part that an individual plays as aresult of occupying some position
orstatus in the group.
• People play 3 different roles:
• Task oriented
• Relation oriented
• Self oriented
• The role played by an individual can bestudied under three broad heads, as such:

41
 • Perceived role
• Enacted role
• Expected role

Group Norms
• All groups have established norms
• Norms are acceptable standards ofbehavior that are shared by thegroup
members.
• Norms define the individuals role
• Norms can be of the following types:
• Performance Norms
• Appearance norms
• Social management norms
• Allocation of resource norms
• Norms are important because
• It facilitates the groups’ survival
• It increases the predictability of the groupmembers’ behavior
• It reduces inter personal problems
• It allows members to express the centralvalues of the group and classify what
isdistinctive about the group.

.Group Cohesiveness
• Cohesiveness is the degree to whichgroup members are attracted toeach other
and are motivated tostay in the group
• Productivity depends on theperformance related norms and cohesiveness
• To increase the cohesiveness
• Make the group smaller
• Increase the time members spent together
• Encourage agreement with group goals
• Stimulate competition with other groups
• Physically isolate the group.

Factors increasing Cohesiveness

The following factors can facilitate to increase the cohesiveness of the work group.
i) Common conscent on Group Goals: If the group agrees on the purpose and direction
of its activities, this will serve to bind the group together and structure interaction
patterns towards successful goal accomplishment.

ii) Frequent Interactions: When group member have the opportunity to interact
frequently with each other, the probability for closeness to develop will increase.
Managers can provide opportunities for increased group interaction by calling frequent
formal and informal meetings, providing a common meetings place or physically designing
the facilities so that group members are within sight of one another.

42
iii) Personal Attractiveness: Cohesiveness is enhanced when members are attractive to one
another if mutual trust and support already exists. Personal attraction also helps group
members to overcome obstacles to goal accomplishment and personal growth and
development.

iv) Inter-group Competition: Competition with other groups, both written and external to the
organization is a mechanism that acts to bring groups closer together for attaining a
common purpose.

v) Favorable Evaluation: If a group has performed in an outstanding manner, some

recognition for its performance by management serves to elevate the prestige of the group
in the eyes of the group members and other members of the group. Favorable evaluation
helps make group members feel proud about being members of the group.

vi) Group Size: As the size of the group increases, the frequency of interaction between
members decreases, thus decreasing the probability of maintaining cohesiveness. Past
studies have shown the groups of four to six members provide the best opportunity for
interaction

vii) Pleasant experiences with the group: When group members are attracted to each other
or there is a full trust and cooperation, interaction may become a pleasant experience
resulting in high level of cohesiveness in the group.

viii) Lack of Domination: When one or few members dominate the group, cohesiveness
cannot adequately develop. Such behavior can create smaller “cliques” within the group or
identify individual members as isolates or deviates.

ix) Gender of Members: It is reported that women tend to have greater cohesion than men.
A possible reason is that women are more likely to be feeling types than thinking types.

x) Previous Success: If a group has a history of success, it builds anspirit de corps that
attracts and unites members. Successful organizations find it easier to attract and hire new
employees than unsuccessful ones.

xi) Humor: Humor has been linked to increased cohesion in several studies. It is reported
that the greater the cohesion, the greater the influence of the group over the behavior of
members and subsequently group performance. As groups are composed of individuals
who are attracted to the goals of the group and to each other, one would expect to find a
strong relationship between cohesiveness and group performance. The major difference
between highly cohesive and low cohesive groups would be how closely members
conformed to the group norms. Further, the group performance would be influenced not
only by cohesion, but by the level of group norms .

43
GROUP DECISION MAKING:

Decisions made by the members of the group in a collective way is known as group
decision making. Groups offer excellent techniques for performing many of the steps in
the decision making process. If the group is composed of individuals with diverse
backgrounds, the alternatives generated should be more extensive and the analysis will
be more critical.

Strengths of Group Decision-making:

The following aspects identified the main advantages that groups offer over individuals
in the making of decisions.

i) More information and knowledge: By aggregating the resources of several

individuals, the group brings more input into the decision process.

ii) Increased diversity of views: Group brings heterogeneity to the

decision-making process and this opens up the opportunity for more
approaches and alternatives to be considered.

iii) Increased acceptance of a solution: The group acceptance facilitates higher

satisfaction among those employees required to implement it.

Weakness of group decision making: Some of the main disadvantages are:

i) Time-consuming: It takes time to assemble a group.

ii) Pressures to conform: The desire by group members to be accepted and considered
as an asset to the group can result in squashing any overt disagreement, thus
encouraging conformity among viewpoints.

iii) Domination by the few: Few people will try to dominate the group discussion. If such
people are happened to be mediocre, the group overall effectiveness will suffer.

iv) Ambiguous responsibility: In group decision, the responsibility of any single member
is reduced.

TEAMS
Team is a small no. of people with complementary skill who are committed for common
purpose for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Types of Teams

There are four common types of teams:

i) Problem-solving Teams:

44
The primary goals of these teams are improving quality, efficiency and the work
environment. The members share ideas or offer suggestions about how work process
and methods can be improved. Quality circles are one of the problem solving teams
where the work group members meet regularly to discuss and solve problems. The
team members use tools and techniques to examine these problems and to present to
management solutions and the costs and benefits of solving a problem.

ii) Self-managed Teams:

This refers to a team of employees who perform highly related or inter-dependent jobs
and to take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Typically this
includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, collective
control over the pace of work, making operating decisions and taking action on
problems. Self-managed teams meet their own goals and measure their own
performance once top management sets the overall objectives. Fully self-managed
work teams even select their own members and have the members evaluate each
other’s performance.

iii) Cross-functional Teams:

This refers to a type of teams where employees from about the same hierarchical level,
but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. Examples of
Cross functional include task force to resolve emergency cases, committee composed
of members from across departmental lines etc.

iv) Virtual Teams:

Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed member in
order to achieve a common goals. They allow people to collaborate on-line using
communication links such as wide area networks, video conferencing or e-mail. The
three primary factors that differentiate virtual teams from face to face teams are: i) the
absence of Para verbal and non- verbal cues, ii) limited social context and iii) the ability
to overcome time and space constraints. In virtual teams the members will never have
an opportunity to have an access of Para language and non-verbal communication. And
also suffer social support and less direct interaction among members.

Difference between Groups and Teams:

iv) Increased legitimacy: The group decision making process is consistent with
demographic ideals and therefore may be perceived as being more legitimate than
decisions made by an individual.

Weakness of group decision making:Some of the main disadvantages are:

i) Time-consuming: It takes time to assemble a group.

ii) Pressures to conform: The desire by group members to be accepted and

considered as an asset to the group can result in squashing any overt
disagreement, thus encouraging conformity among viewpoints.

45
 iii) Domination by the few: Few people will try to dominate the group discussion. If
such people are happened to be mediocre, the group overall effectiveness will
suffer.

iv) Ambiguous responsibility: In group decision, the responsibility of any single

member is reduced.

Teams require individuals with technical expertise, as well as problem-solving, decision-

making and interpersonal skills and high scores on the personality characteristics of
extroversion, agreeableness, conscientious and emotional stability. Effective teams are
neither too large nor too small- typically they range in size from five to twelve people.
They also have adequate resources, effective leadership and a performance evaluation
and reward system that reflect team contribution Effective teams have members
committed to a common purpose, specific team goals, member who believe in the
team’s capabilities and a manageable level of conflict.

TEAMS
Team is a small no. of people with complementary skill who are committed for common
purpose for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Types of Teams
There are four common types of teams:

i) Problem-solving Teams:
The primary goals of these teams are improving quality, efficiency and the work
environment. The members share ideas or offer suggestions about how work process
and methods can be improved. Quality circles are one of the problem solving teams
where the work group members meet regularly to discuss and solve problems. The
team members use tools and techniques to examine these problems and to present to
management solutions and the costs and benefits of solving a problem.

ii) Self-managed Teams:

This refers to a team of employees who perform highly related or inter-dependent jobs
and to take on many of the responsibilities of their former supervisors. Typically this
includes planning and scheduling of work, assigning tasks to members, collective
control over the pace of work, making operating decisions and taking action on
problems. Self-managed teams meet their own goals and measure their own
performance once top management sets the overall objectives. Fully self-managed
work teams even select their own members and have the members evaluate each
other’s performance.

iii) Cross-functional Teams:

This refers to a type of teams where employees from about the same hierarchical level,
but from different work areas, who come together to accomplish a task. Examples of
Cross functional include task force to resolve emergency cases, committee composed
of members from across departmental lines etc.
46
iv) Virtual Teams:
Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed member in
order to achieve a common goals. They allow people to collaborate on-line using
communication links such as wide area networks, video conferencing or e-mail. The
three primary factors that differentiate virtual teams from face to face teams are: i) the
absence of Para verbal and non- verbal cues, ii) limited social context and iii) the ability
to overcome time and space constraints. In virtual teams the members will never have
an opportunity to have an access of Para language and non-verbal communication. And
also suffer social support and less direct interaction among members.

Difference between Groups and Teams:

Group: A group that interacts primarily to share information to make decision to help
each group member perform within his or her area of responsibility. Work groups have
no need or opportunity to engage in collective work that requires joint effort.

Team: A group whose individual effort results in a performance that is greater than the
sum of the individual inputs. A team gets a greater degree of individual commitment
towards the common shared goal. The efforts of the team members result in more
synergy and may achieve a better total performance.

TEAM BUILDING:
It is defined as planned interventions facilitated by a third-party consultant that
developed problem solving procedures and skills, increase role clarity, solve major
problems and improve effectiveness of work groups. Experts have clustered
team-building activities into four general types such as interpersonal process, goal
setting, defining roles and problem solving.

i) Interpersonal Process: The resolution of conflicts between and among the team
members by creating a system of open communication by providing training on
listening skills, negotiation skills etc.

Leadership

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to
achieve a common goal. Leadership is defined as the process of influencing others to
get the job done more effectively over a sustained period of time. Leaders play a critical
role in influencing the work behavior of others in the system.
Qualities of a Leader

According to Pearce &Robbinson, “Leadership is the process of influencing others to

work towards the attainment of specific goals
Qualities of a Leader

47
 1. Intelligence
2. Sound Physique
3. Responsibility
4. Trustworthy
5. Spirit of Enthusiasm
6. Confidence
7. Must do Things in Systematic manner
8. Significant Level of Tolerance
9. Focused
10. Committed to Excellence

Effectiveness of leaders
• Task achievement
• Development of individuals
• Building the team
• Make the vision tangible

Leader’s power
• Reward power
• Coercive power
• 
Legitimate power
• Expert power
• Referent power

STYLES OF LEADERSHIP
A-Autocratic style, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style
characterized by individual control over all decisions and little input from group
members. Autocratic leaders typically make choices based on their own ideas and
judgments and rarely accept advice from followers. Autocratic leadership involves
absolute, authoritarian control over a group.
Characteristics of Autocratic Leadership Some of the primary characteristics of
autocratic leadership include:

• Little or no input from group members

• Leaders make the decisions
• Group leaders dictate all the work methods and processes
• Group members are rarely trusted with decisions or important tasks Advantages
:
Autocratic leadership can be beneficial in some instances, such as when decisions need

48
to be made quickly without consulting with a large group of people. Some projects
require strong leadership in order to get things accomplished quickly and efficiently.
In situations that are particularly successful, such as during military conflicts, group
members may actually prefer an autocratic style. It allows members of the group to
focus on performing specific tasks without worrying about making complex decisions..

Disadvantages :
While autocratic leadership can be beneficial at times, there are also many instances
where this leadership style can be problematic. People who abuse an autocratic
leadership style are often viewed as bossy, controlling, and dictatorial, which can lead to
resentment among group members.
Because autocratic leaders make decisions without consulting the group, people in the
group may dislike that they are unable to contribute ideas.

B-Democratic style
It is also known as participative leadership, is a type of leadership style in which
members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process.
Researchers have found that this learning style is usually one of the most effective and
lead to higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased
group morale.

Characteristics :
Some of the primary characteristics of democratic leadership include:
•Group members are encouraged to share ideas and opinions, even though the leader
retains the final say over decisions.
•Members of the group feel more engaged in the process.
•Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.

Advantages :
Because group members are encouraged to share their thoughts, democratic leadership
can leader to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems. Group members
also feel more involved and committed to projects, making them more likely to care
about the end results. Research on leadership styles has also shown that democratic
leadership leads to higher productivity among group members.

Disadvantages :
While democratic leadership has been described as the most effective leadership style,
it does have some potential downsides. In situations where roles are unclear or time is
of the essence, democratic leadership can lead to communication failures and
uncompleted projects. In some cases, group members may not have the necessary
knowledge or expertise to make quality contributions to the decision-making process.
Democratic leadership works best in situations where group members are skilled and
eager to share their knowledge. It is also important to have plenty of time to allow
people to contribute, develop a plan and then vote on the best course of action.

LEADERSHIP
49
THEORIES
• TRAIT THEORY
• BEHAVIOURAL THEORIES
• FIEDLER’S CONTINGENCYMODEL
• PATH-GOAL THEORY
• SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIPTHEORY
• MANAGERIAL GRID

TRAIT THEORY:
Some of the significant characteristics of leaders are categorized as follows:
- Physical Characteristics – age, appearance, height, weight
- Social Background – Education, social status, mobility
- Intelligence – Intelligence, ability, judgment, knowledge, decisiveness, fluency of
speech
- Personality – Aggressiveness, alertness, dominance, enthusiasm, extroversion,
independence, creativity, personal integrity, self-confidence
- Task-related Characteristics – Achievement drive, drive for responsibility,
initiative, persistence, enterprise, task orientation
- Social Characteristics – Administrative ability, attractiveness, cooperativeness,
popularity, prestige, sociability, interpersonal skill, tack and diplomacy

The list of important leadership traits is endless and grows with each passing year. It
has not yet been shown that a finite set of traits can distinguish successful from
unsuccessful leaders. For example, successful research administrators are usually
inquisitive, independent, perspective, and experts within their field. Successful sales
manages are usually high-need achievers gregarious, enthusiastic and project a
professional stature, What may be important traits for one occupation may not be
important for other roles in the same organization. Uniformity of traits across all levels
is thus questioned. Trait identifies who the leader is, not the behavioral patterns he or
she will exhibit in attempting to influence subordinate actions.

BEHAVIOURAL THEORY:
The foundation for the style of leadership approach was the belief that effective leaders
utilized a particular style to lead individuals and groups to achieving certain goals,
resulting in high productivity and morale. Unlike trait theories, the behavioral approach
focused on leader effectiveness, not the emergence of an individual as a leader. There
are two prominent styles of leadership such as task orientation, and employee
orientation.
Task orientation is the emphasis the leader place on getting the job done by such
actions as assigning and organizing the work, making decision, and evaluating
performance. Employee orientation is the openness and friendless exhibited by the
leader and his concern for the needs of subordinates. Two major research studies
directed toward investigating the behavioral approach to leaderships is i) Ohio State
University Studies and ii) University of Michigan Studies.

50
Ohio State Studies: Initiating Structures and Consideration: They identified two
independent leadership dimensions.
– Initiating Structure: This concerned the degree to which the leader organized and
defined the task, assigned the work to be done, established communication
networks and evaluated work- group performance.
– Consideration, which was defined as behavior that involves trust, mutual respect,
friendship; support and concern for the welfare of the employee. Consideration
refers to an emphasis on an employee orientation leadership style. Their findings
indicated that a mixture of initiating- structure and consideration leader behavior,
which are achieved the highest effectiveness, depends largely on situational
factors.

Michigan State Studies: Two distinct styles of leadership were developed from their
studies:
Job-centered leaderships style, which focused on the use of close supervision,
legitimate and coercive power, meeting schedules and evaluating work performance.
– Employee-centered style, which is people oriented and emphasis delegation of
responsibility and a concern for employee welfare, needs, advancement and
personal growth. Their findings reported that employee centered and job
centered styles result in productivity increase. However, job centered behavior
created tension and pressure and resulted in lower satisfaction and increased
turnover and absenteeism. Employee centered style is the best leadership style.
– Leadership’s style is too complex to be viewed as uni-dimensional, but more than
two dimensions may complicate the interpretation of leadership behavior. The
measurement of leadership style for each of the approaches was accomplished
through the use of questionnaire. This method of measurement is both limited
and controversial. Further, in search of the most effective leadership’s style, the
research findings suggested that a universally accepted best style was
inappropriate to the complexities of modern organizations.

Managerial Grid: The five basic approaches to management identified by Black and
Mouton are based on the two dimensions of concern of people and concern for
production that are associated with leaders. A managerial grid is formed based on
these two dimensions which are rated on 9 point scale. If manager is securing the
lowest score on these two dimensions I,I is identified as impoverished style of
managers who are low on both their concern of people and production, 1,9 or country
club style is designated to those managers who are having high concern for people but
low concern for production. The 5, 5 or the middle-of-the road style concerns the
moderate levels of concern for both people and production. The 9,1 or task
management style is one where there is a high concern for production but very little
concern for people and finally, 9,9 or team management style is one where the manager
has high concern for both people and production. According to Blake and Mouton the
one best style for all mangers is the 9,9 or team management style.

51
Likert’s System Four Model: Rensis Likert suggests that managers operate under four
different systems.
System I – Exploitative Authoritative: The manager believes in very authoritarian manner
and actually exploits the subordinates
System II – Benevolent Authoritative: The manager takes a paternalistic approach while
still being autocratic. Behaving as benevolent autocratic, the leader maintains strict
control over the subordinates albeit in a paternalistic manner.
System III – Consultative: The manager consults the subordinates and still maintains
the right to make the final decision.
System IV – Participative Groups: The manager uses a democratic style and makes
decision by consensus and majority vote.
Likert feels that the best way for all organizations to manage employees is to move
towards System IV.

Situational Theory:
Situational approaches to leadership take the position that there is no “one best way to
lead in all the situations. Effective leadership style will vary from situations to situation,
depending on several factors such as the personality predisposition of the leaders, the
characteristics of the followers, the nature of task being done and other situational
factors.
Tannenbaum and Schmidt reported that the use of authority by the manager (boss
centered leaderships style) or the area of freedom given to subordinates (subordinate
centered leadership) is a function of the following factors such as i) forces in the
manager – value system, confidence in subordinates, leadership predispositions and
feelings of security and insecurity), ii) forces in the subordinates (their needs for
independence or dependence, readiness to assume responsibility, tolerance for
ambiguity, abilities, knowledge and experience and inclination to participate in decision
making) and iii) forces in the situation (type of organization, group effectiveness, time
pressures and the nature of the problem itself)

Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership: Fiedler developed a model to predict work

group effectiveness by taking into consideration the best fit between the leadership
style and the degree of favorableness of the situation. The following three factors are
considered to check whether the situation will be favorable or unfavorable. These
factors are i) Leader- Member relations, ii) Task structure of the group, iii) Perceived
position power of the manager.

Leadership Style Assessment – Leased Preferred Coworkers Scale: Fiedler developed a

scale to rate the type of relationship a supervisor holds towards the least preferred
coworkers on a twenty-item questionnaire. The supervisor is asked to describe the
person with whom he has associated with leaders. A managerial grid is formed based
on these two dimensions which are rated on 9 point scale. If manager is securing the
lowest score on these two dimensions I,I is identified as impoverished style of
managers who are low on both their concern of people and production, 1,9 or country
club style is designated to those managers who are having high concern for people but
52
low concern for production. The 5, 5 or the middle-of-the road style concerns the
moderate levels of concern for both people and production. The 9,1 or task
management style is one where there is a high concern for production but very little
concern for people and finally, 9,9 or team management style is one where the manager
has high concern for both people and production. According to Blake and Mouton the
one best style for all mangers is the 9,9 or team management style.

Likert’s System Four Model: Rensis Likert suggests that managers operate under four
different systems.

System I – Exploitative Authoritative: The manager believes in very authoritarian manner

and actually exploits the subordinates
System II – Benevolent Authoritative: The manager takes a paternalistic approach while
still being autocratic. Behaving as benevolent autocratic, the leader maintains strict
control over the subordinates albeit in a paternalistic manner.

System III – Consultative: The manager consults the subordinates and still maintains
the right to make the final decision.

System IV – Participative Groups: The manager uses a democratic style and makes
decision by consensus and majority vote.
Likert feels that the best way for all organizations to manage employees is to move
towards

System IV.
Situational Theory:
Situational approaches to leadership take the position that there is no “one best way to
lead in all the situations. Effective leadership style will vary from situations to situation,
depending on several factors such as the personality predisposition of the leaders, the
characteristics of the followers, the nature of task being done and other situational
factors.
Tannenbaum and Schmidt reported that the use of authority by the manager (boss
centered leaderships style) or the area of freedom given to subordinates (subordinate
centered leadership) is a function of the following factors such as i) forces in the
manager – value system, confidence in subordinates, leadership predispositions and
feelings of security and insecurity), ii) forces in the subordinates (their needs for
independence or dependence, readiness to assume responsibility, tolerance for
ambiguity, abilities, knowledge and experience and inclination to participate in decision
making) and iii) forces in the situation (type of organization, group effectiveness, time
pressures and the nature of the problem itself)

Fiedler’s Contingency Model of Leadership: Fiedler developed a model to predict work

group effectiveness by taking into consideration the best fit between the leadership
style and the degree of favorableness of the situation. The following three factors are
considered to check whether the situation will be favorable or unfavorable. These
factors are i) Leader- Member relations, ii) Task structure of the group, iii) Perceived
53
position power of the manager.

Leadership Style Assessment – Leased Preferred Coworkers Scale: Fiedler developed a

scale to rate the type of relationship a supervisor holds towards the least preferred
coworkers on a twenty-item questionnaire. The supervisor is asked to describe the
person with whom he has worked least well in accomplishing some task. The model
postulates that a low LPC score (unfavorable avoidable evaluation) indicates the degree
to which a leader is ready to reject those with whom he cannot work. Therefore, the
lower the LPC score, the greater the tendency for the leader to be task oriented. On the
other hand, a high LPC (favorable evaluation) indicates a willingness to perceive even
the worst coworker as having some positive attributes. Therefore, the higher the LPC
score, the greatest the tendency for the leader to be employee oriented.

Favorable Situation: The situation is considered as highly favorable if it possess a high

level of positive interpersonal relations between leaders and members, a well-defined
task structures and a leaders perceive that they are bestowed with strong perceived
positional power. In such
type of situation the leader will have a great deal of control over situations and will
simply have to make sure that he gives the necessary instructions to get the task done.
There is no need for him to waste time talking to each employee in order to be
perceived as friendly. A task-oriented style will be effective in such situation.

Unfavorable Situation: The situation is considered as highly unfavorable if it possesses

a low level of interpersonal relationship between leaders and members, a poorly defined
task and a relatively a weak perceived power. The leader of a task-force committee
which is appointed to solve problems encountered in the work setting is likely to find
him in such a situation. In such type of situation, the leader is in highly vulnerable
situations and there is no other way to enforce a strict discipline and order to bring the
situation in normalcy than following relationship oriented style.

Modera

Path-Goal Theory of Leader Effectiveness: A second situational theory of leadership has

been proposed by House and Evan. The principle function of the leader is facilitating to
increase valence perception of their subordinates and clarify and increase expectancy
probabilities of them. This will in turn make them to put greater amount of effort and
derive higher level of satisfaction and performance in their work. The theory is
composed of two basic propositions such as i) role of the leader and ii) dynamics of the
situation. The two main aspects of this model are as follows:

Leadership Role: Leader behavior is acceptable and satisfying to the extent that
subordinates perceive such behavior as a source of satisfaction or instrumental to
future satisfaction. There are four styles of leadership:

- Directive Leadership Behavior: This deals with planning, organizing, controlling

and coordinating of subordinates activities by the leader. It is similar to the
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 traditional dimension of initiating structure in that the leader’s emphasis is on
letting the subordinates know what is expected of them.

- Supportive Leadership Behavior: This concerns giving support consideration to

the needs of the subordinates, displaying concern for their well-being and welfare
and creating a friendly and pleasant environment.

- Participative Leadership Behavior: This deals with sharing of information and an

emphasis on consultation with subordinates and use of their ideas and
suggestions in reaching group- related decision.

- Achievement-Oriented Leadership Behavior: This deals with setting challenging

goals, expecting subordinates to perform at the highest level, continually seeking
improvement in performance. The leader wants good performance, but at the
same time displays confidence in the ability of his subordinates to do a good job.

Dynamics of Situation: The leadership style is determined by the situation in which the
leader functions. Two main factors that influence the situational effectiveness of the
leader’s behavior are: a) the characteristics of the subordinates and b) the
characteristics of his work environment, including task, work group and other
organizational factors. The theory proposes that leader behavior will be perceived as
acceptable to subordinates to the extent that the subordinates see such behavior as
either an immediate source of satisfaction or as needed for future satisfaction.

Characteristics of Subordinates: Subordinates characteristics are seen to partially

determine this perception. The following are the characteristics:
- Ability: This refers to the subordinates perception of his or own ability
- Locus of Control: This deals with the degree to which an employee believes that he or
she has control of what happens to him. People who believe that they controlled their
environment and who believe what happens to them occurs because of their behavior
are called internal. People who believe what happens to them is not under their control
and occurs because of luck or fate are externals.

- Need and Motives: A subordinate’s dominant needs may affect the impact of leader
behavior. For example, individuals with high safety and security needs may accept an
instrumental leader style, but employees with high affiliation and esteem needs may
react more positively to a supportive leader.

Characteristics of Work Environment:

There are three broad aspects work environment such as i) task structures, ii) primary
work group and iii) formal authority system.
Path-Goal theory states that leaders can exercise four different kinds of styles such as
directive leadership, supportive leadership, participative leadership and achievement
oriented leadership. The Path-Goal theory postulates that any of the four styles can be
used effectively by the leader, depending upon situational factors such as subordinate

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characteristics (ability internal or external locus of control, needs and motives), and
attributes in the work setting (task characteristics, authority system and the nature of
the primary work groups). If there is a good fit between the leadership style and the
situational factors in the work setting, then subordinates will experience job
satisfaction, accept and value the leader as a dispense or valued rewards and will
engage in motivated behavior because they will know that their effort will lead to
performance and that performance will lead to valued rewards. The rationale behind the
theory is that leader can help the subordinates to achieve their goals by providing what
is missing in the situation. Employees are helped by the leader to see the path by which
their efforts will lead to performance and performance to desired rewards. The leader
can take care of the missing links in the situation and facilitate to fulfill the needs of the
subordinates. This suggests that leaders should involve their subordinates as much as
possible in goal setting. This will enhance a person’s sense of control over the
organization’s goal and have significant benefits in terms of job satisfaction,
self-esteem and self-efficacy as well as productivity improvement for the organization.
Goals need to be difficult enough to be challenging and yet realistic and achievable.
Goal setting needs to be consistent across everyone and over time.
Hersey and Blanchard’s Life Cycle Model of Situation Leadership: Heresy and Blanchard
developed a situational model focusing on the followers characteristics. Successful
leadership is achieved by selecting the right leadership style, which is contingent on the
level of the followers’ developmental level. It is the followers who accept or reject the
leader, so that they are important factors in a leader’s success. Blanchard defined
developmental level as the skill and willingness of people to take responsibility for
directing their own behavior. It consists of two components such as job maturity (Job
competence – skills and abilities) and psychological maturity (motivation and
willingness to take responsibility).

Situational Leadership Styles:

Situational leadership uses the same two leadership dimensions – task and relationship
behavior. However, the situational leadership approach goes a step further by
considering each as either high or low and then combining them into for specific
leadership styles: Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating.

i) Directing: (high directive – low supportive): The leader defines roles and tells
people what tasks to do and how, when and where to do them. It emphasis
directive behavior.
ii) Coaching: (high directive – high supportive): The leader provides both directive
behavior and supportive behavior)
iii) Supporting (low directive-high supportive): The leader and follower share in
decision- making, with the main role of the leader being facilitating and
communicating.
iv) Delegating: (low directive-low supportive): The leader provides little direction or
support.

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INSPIRATIONAL APPROACHES TO LEADERSHIP
These contemporary leadership theories view leaders as individuals who inspire
followers through their words, ideas, and behaviors.

A. Charismatic Leadership. Charisma, as defined by Max Weber, is “a certain quality of

an individual personality, by virtue of which he or she is set apart from ordinary people
and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically
exceptional powers or qualities. These are not assessable to the ordinary person, but
are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual
concerned is treated as a leader.”

B. Transformational Leadership. While transformational leadership does divide

leadership into two categories, these are not opposites but complements.
Transformational leadership builds on top of transactional leadership and produces
levels of follower effort and performance that go beyond what would occur with a
transactional approach alone. But the reverse is not true.

Leadership Types.This theory of leadership divides leaders into two types, based on
their methods and outcomes:
a. Transactional Leaders: those who guide or motivate their followers in the
direction of establish goals by clarifying role and task
b. requirements. These leaders were described in the other (non-inspirational)
sections of this chapter.

Transformational Leaders: those who inspire followers to transcend their own self-
interests for the good of the organization and are capable of having a profound or
extraordinary effect on their followers.

What Makes Leadership Effective:

The following points make the leadership effective. Sound mental and physical health
Knowledge and Intelligent
Clear cut and worthy goal Conviction
Sense of responsibility
Motivation
Initiative and Drive Leader’s own personality,
past experience & expectation &behavior of his superior Expectation &behavior of his
subordinate
Task Requirement Organizational culture &climate

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

The way we individuals change due to age, education, change of job, illness, change in
geographical area, organizations also change due to several reasons over a period of
time. Change is necessary for survival and growth. Changes are constantly taking place
in our environment. Changes occur outside organization that requires internal
adaptation. The manager has to ensure that individual and groups in organizations, and
57
structures, process and behaviors of sub-systems must adapt to the changing external
and internal environments. In effect, the manager is a change agent who facilitates
changes to occur in the various subsystems of the organization needed.
Any alteration which occurs in the overall work environment of an organization is called
organizational change.

Change is the law of nature. It is a necessary way of life in most organizations for their
survival and growth. Though there may be some discontentment during the early days
of the change, persons learn to meet the change and adopt themselves to the changing
situation; hence, resistance to change would be a short- term phenomenon. The term
‘Organizational change’ implies the creation of imbalance in the existent pattern or
situation. Adjustment among people, technology and structural set up is established
when an organization operates for a long time.
Human resource is an important factor in the adjustments among individuals as well as
between the organization and environment, as an organization is mostly composed of
people. Individual members can resist either individually or in a group.

Reasons for resistance: - Some of the important reasons for resistance to change are as
follows.
1. Economic reasons
a. Fear of reduction in employment
b. Fear to demotion
c. Fear of work load

2. Personal reasons
a. Need for training
b. Boredom and monotony
c. No participation in change

3. Social reasons
a. Need for new social adjustment
b. Taking change as imposed from outside
c. Other considerations

Principles of change
Estimating the reasons for the possible resistance to change and preparing to allay
their fears.
Mindful of channels of authority.
Preparedness for all questions and criticism.
Creating interest in them, convincing them and preparing them.

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Keeping in touch with the process of change.

Approaches to organizational change

Participation of employees
Planning for change
Protecting employee’s interests
Group dynamics
Cautions and slow introduction
Positive motion
Sharing the benefits of change
Training and development
Career planning and development
Organization development

FACTORS AFFECTING CHANGE:

There are both external and internal forces that result in pressure for change,

External Factors:
The external forces that create the need for change come from various sources. Some
of them are as follows:
a-Competitive Market Force: Competition is changing. The global economy means that
competitors are as likely to come from across the ocean as from across town.
Heightened competition also means the established organizations need to defend
themselves against both traditional competitors that develop new products and
services and small, entrepreneurial firms with innovative offers. Successful
organizations will be the ones that can change in response to the competitor.

Government laws and regulations:

These are frequent impetus for change. Creation of special economic zones and foreign
direct investment in India sparked off major changes in the IT Industries, Insurance, and
Car
manufacturing industries. More foreign automobile industries are setting up
manufacturing plants and generating more employment opportunities in India.

b-Technology:
It creates the need for change. For example, technological developments in
sophisticated and extremely expensive diagnostic equipment have created significant
economy of scale for hospitals and medical centers. Assembly-line technology is
undergoing dramatic change as organizations replace human labor with robots. Even in
the greetings card industry, electronic mail and internet have influenced the way people

59
send greetings.

c-Labor Markets:
The fluctuation in labor markets forces managers to change. For instance, the demand
for webpage designers and website managers made it necessary for organizations that
need those kinds of employees to change their human resources management
activities to attract and retain skilled employees in the areas of greatest need.

d-Economic Changes:
Economic changes affect almost all organization. The appreciation of rupee value
against the US dollar affects the export prospects of knitwear products from India to
America as those products cost more to Americans. But even in strong economy,
uncertainties about interest rates, government budgets deficits and current exchange
rates create conditions that may force organizations to change.

Internal Factors:
Internal forces can also stimulate the need for change. These internal forces tend to
originate primarily from the internal operations of the organizations or from the impact
of external changes.

a-Structural factors:
A structural force would be the inability to transmit important information from the top
of
the organization to the lower level cadre. Because of numerous layers in the hierarchy,
information moves slowly from one level to the next. This could be viewed as a process
or a behavioral problem involving a failure to communicate effectively.

b-Strategy:
A redefinition or modification of an organization’s strategy often introduces a host of
change. The strategic move of Reliance Industries in getting into retail business in
urban and rural markets made them to introduce a change in the managerial approach
as well as the human relations approach to gain acceptance from the different cross
section of the customers.

c-Organizations Workforce: In recent times, the work force composition is varied and is
not very static. Its composition changes in terms of age, education, sex and so forth. In
a stable organization with a large pool of seasoned executives, there might be a need to
restructure jobs in order to retain younger managers who occupy lower ranks. The
compensation and benefit system might also need to be adapted to reflect the needs of
an older work force.

d-Introduction of new technology:

The introduction of new equipment represents another internal force for change.
Employees may
manufacturing industries. More foreign automobile industries are setting up
manufacturing plants and generating more employment opportunities in India.
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b-Technology:
It creates the need for change. For example, technological developments in
sophisticated and extremely expensive diagnostic equipment have created significant
economy of scale for hospitals and medical centers. Assembly-line technology is
undergoing dramatic change as organizations replace human labor with robots. Even in
the greetings card industry, electronic mail and internet have influenced the way people
send greetings.

c-Labor Markets:
The fluctuation in labor markets forces managers to change. For instance, the demand
for webpage designers and website managers made it necessary for organizations that
need those kinds of employees to change their human resources management
activities to attract and retain skilled employees in the areas of greatest need.

d-Economic Changes:
Economic changes affect almost all organization. The appreciation of rupee value
against the US dollar affects the export prospects of knitwear products from India to
America as those products cost more to Americans. But even in strong economy,
uncertainties about interest rates, government budgets deficits and current exchange
rates create conditions that may force organizations to change.

Internal Factors:
Internal forces can also stimulate the need for change. These internal forces tend to
originate primarily from the internal operations of the organizations or from the impact
of external changes.

a-Structural factors:
A structural force would be the inability to transmit important information from the top
of
the organization to the lower level cadre. Because of numerous layers in the hierarchy,
information moves slowly from one level to the next. This could be viewed as a process
or a behavioral problem involving a failure to communicate effectively.

b-Strategy:
A redefinition or modification of an organization’s strategy often introduces a host of
change. The strategic move of Reliance Industries in getting into retail business in
urban and rural markets made them to introduce a change in the managerial approach
as well as the human relations approach to gain acceptance from the different cross
section of the customers.

c-Organizations Workforce:
In recent times, the work force composition is varied and is not very static. Its
composition changes in terms of age, education, sex and so forth. In a stable
organization with a large pool of seasoned executives, there might be a need to
61
restructure jobs in order to retain younger managers who occupy lower ranks. The
compensation and benefit system might also need to be adapted to reflect the needs of
an older work force.

d-Introduction of new technology:

The introduction of new equipment represents another internal force for change.
Employees may
have their jobs redesigned, they need to undergo training on how to operate the new
equipment or they may be required to establish new interactions patterns with their
work group.

e-Employee Attitudes:
Employee attitudes such as increased job satisfaction may lead to increased
absenteeism, more voluntary resignations, and even labor strikes. Such events will often
lead to changes in management policies and practices.

RESISTANCE TO CHANGE
In planning for change, the team leaders must take into consideration the various
factors on which the members exhibit their resistance to implement the change
process. For example, the company wanted to install a new software program in cash
counter computer terminals to facilitate the fast movement. But some employees may
not respond favorably and display their refusal to cooperate by increasing absenteeism,
sub-standard work, joining of union increased labor turn over etc. Resistance to change
can also be a source of functional conflict. For example, resistance to a reorganization
plan or a change in a product line can stimulate a healthy debate over the merits of the
idea and result in a better decision.

Resistance can be overt, implicit, immediate or deferred. It is the easiest for

management to deal with resistance when it is overt and immediate such as employees
strike, work slowdown etc. The greater challenge is managing resistance that is implicit
or deferred. Such as loss of loyalty to the organization, loss of motivation to work,
increased errors or mistakes increased absenteeism etc. .

a-Individual Resistance
Individual sources of resistance to change lie in basic human characteristics such as
perceptions, personalities and needs.

Habit: The team members are habituated or conditioned to do their job or activity in a
particular way. When they are asked to do differently, they tend to respond to resist
change. When employees are asked to move to new office building across the town,
they are likely to change their routine habits like waking up ten minutes earlier, finding
new parking place, adjusting to new office layout, developing new lunch time routine
etc.

Security: The team members with a high need for security are likely to resist change
because it threatens their feelings of safety. When Indian Railway introduced new online
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booking for their reservations, employees may have similar fears.

Economic Factors: If the members feel that the new changes result in lower pay, they
may likely to resist change process. Changes in jobs or established work routine can
also arouse economic fears if people are concerned that they won’t be able to perform
the new tasks or routines to their previous standards, especially when the pay is closely
tied to productivity.

Fear of the Unknown: The cashiers or secretaries might fear the new activities due to
lack of knowledge in operating the new software program. They might develop a
negative attitude towards working with new programs or behave dysfunction ally if
required to use them. Employees in organizations hold the same dislike for uncertainty.
For example, if an organization introduced TQM, the production employees will have to
learn statistical process control techniques. Therefore, they may develop a negative
attitude towards TQM or behavior dysfunction ally if required, to use statistical
techniques.

Selective Information Processing: Once the team members shape their world through
their own way, they prefer to do their work based on their perceptions. If the change
process demands to follow the new method, the members tend to resist. So individuals
are guilty of selectivelyprocessing information in order to keep their perception intact.
They hear what they want to hear. They ignore information that challenges the world
they have created.

B-Organizational Resistance
Some organizations prefer to follow their routine and reluctant to venture new things or
follow any new methods of doing. Government agencies want to continue doing what
they have been doing for years, whether the need for their service changes or remains
the same. Six major sources of organizational resistance have been identified. They are
as follows:

Structural Inertia: Organizations have built in mechanisms to produce stability. For

instance, the training and orientation programs reinforce specific role requirements and
skills. Formalization provides job descriptions, rules and procedures for employees to
follow. Once the routine has been established, organization is very reluctant to adapt to
new changes. When an organization is confronted with the change process, the team
members tend to resist.

Limited Focus of Change: The change process is interlinked. One activity cannot be
changed without affecting the others. If change is introduced in technology without
considering the structural changes, the change in technology is not likely to be
accepted. Organizations are made up of number of interdependent subsystems.

Group Inertia: Some times the group norm or standards could act as a constraint. For
example, the union norms may dictate resistance to change process.

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Threat to Expertise: The change process could threaten the expertise of team members
of the groups. Once the members feel that they are forced to learn something new, they
tend to resist. The introduction of decentralized personal computers, which allow
managers to gain access to information directly from a company’s mainframe, is an
example of a change that was strongly resisted by many information system
departments in the 1980s. Because of decentralized end-user computing was a threat
to the specialized skills held by those in the centralized information system
departments.

Threat to Established Power Relationship: The change process can threaten long
established power relationships within the organization. Due to this reason, the
members can resist the change.

Threat to established resource allocation: The group, which enjoys sizable resources,
may not like to accept the change process that facilitates reduction in their budget.

Conflict Management
Organizations can be thought of as arenas for staging conflicts with conflict as the essence
of what the organization is. In this way of thinking, conflict is not a byproduct of normal
operations or an unintended and unwanted consequence of day-to-day activities, but the
way the organization makes choices for future action, makes changes in power
relationships, and keeps itself flexible and adaptive.
According to Joe Kelly, “Conflict is defined as opposition or disputes between persons,
groups or ideas”.
According to Follette, “Conflict is the appearance of differences, difference of opinions, of
interests”.

OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

John Kotter and Leonard Schlesinger offered six ways of overcoming resistance to
change, which are highly situation dependent. More than one of these techniques may
be used in any given situations.

□□Education and Communication: If the logic and advantages of the change are
explained early to the team members, resistance can be reduced. This can be achieved
through one-to-one discussions, memos, group presentations, or reports. This tactics
assumes that the source of resistance lies in misinformed or poor communication. If
the team members received the full facts and have their misunderstanding cleared up,
their resistance will subside. Once people have bought into the idea, they will implement
the change. The only problem is that this could be very time consuming process, if too
many people are to be communicated with.

□□Participation and Involvement: Resistance to change can be reduced or eliminated by

having those involved participate in the decision of the change through meetings and
induction. It is difficult for individuals to resist a change decision in which they

64
participated. Once people have had an opportunity to contribute ideas and become a
part of the change process, they will be less inclined to see it fail. However, working in
committees or task forces is a time consuming activity, and hence it will take a longer
time to bring about changes.

□□Facilitation and Support: Easing the change process and providing support for those
caught up in it is another way managers can deal with resistance. Retraining programs,
allowing time off after a difficult period, and offering emotional support and
understanding may help. This emotional support can be given through empathic
listening, offering training and other types of help. Such facilitation and emotional
support help individual to deal more effectively with their adjustment problems. This
process can be time consuming and there is no guarantee that it will always work.

□□Negotiation and Agreement: It is sometimes necessary for a team leader to negotiate

with potential resistance or exchange something of value for a lessening the resistance.
For instance, if the resistance is from a few powerful individuals in the team, a specific
reward package can be negotiated that will meet their individual needs. Though in some
instances this may be the relatively easy way to gain acceptance, it is possible that this
could be an expensive way of effecting changes as well. Also, if the use of this strategy
becomes public knowledge, others might also want to try to negotiate before they
accept the change.

□□Manipulation and Co-optation: The team leader seeks to ‘buy off’ the key members
who are resisting by giving them an important role in the change decision. The team
leader’s advice is sought, not to arrive at a better decision but to get their endorsement.
Some of the co-opting tactics include selectively sharing information and consciously
structuring certain types of events that would win support. This can be a quick and
relatively easy and inexpensive strategy to gain support. However, the purpose will be
defeated if people feel they are being manipulated.

□□Explicit and Implicit Coercion: The team leaders can force the members to go along
with changes by threats involving loss or transfers of jobs, lack of promotion, etc. Such
methods, though not uncommon, i s more difficult to gain support for future change
efforts. This strategy can be particularly resorted to when changes have to be speedily
enforced or when changes are of a temporary nature. Though speedy and effective in
the short run, it may make people angry and resort to all kinds of mean behaviors in the
long run.

LEWIN’S MODEL OF CHANGE/APPROACHES TO MANAGING ORG. CHANGE/PLANNED

CHANGE

Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in organizations should follow three steps
i) Unfreezing the status quo
ii) Movement to a new state
i) freezing the new change to make it permanent.

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Unfreezing:
It is actually the process of preparing the system for change through disconfirmation of
the old practices, attitudes, tendencies, or behaviors. This is the initial phase where
those involved in the change experience a need for something different and a sense of
restlessness with the status quo. In essence, the feeling that the system is hurting itself
badly now and desperately requires a
change to survive, is sensed by all. Initiative for changes efforts are taken to overcome
the pressures of both individual resistance and group conformity.

Movement to a new state:

Changing or moving is the phase where the changes that have been planned are
actually initiated and carried out. Changes could relate to the mission, strategy,
objectives, people, tasks, work roles, technology, structure, corporate culture, or any
other aspects of the organization. Well thought out changes have to be carefully
implemented with participation of the members who will be affected by the change.
Changes incorporated too quickly without adequate preparation will result in resistance
to change.

Refreezing:
It is the last phase of the planned change process. Refreezing ensures that the planned
changes that have been introduced are working satisfactorily, that any modifications,
extra considerations, or support needed for making the changes operational are
attended to, and that there is reasonable guarantee that the changes will indeed fill the
gap and bring the system to the new, desired state of equilibrium. This necessarily
implies that the results are monitored and evaluated, and wherever necessary corrective
measures are taken up to reach the new goal. If the refreezing phase is neglected or
temporarily attended to, the desired results will not ensure and the change may even be
total disaster.

Forced Field Analysis:

Kurt Lewin stated that there are two types of forces operating in the change process. I)
Those forces which prepare or make the system ready for changes to occur, are called
as driving forces,
ii) Those forces which oppose or operate against changes taking place in the system,
are called as restraining forces. If the two sets of forces are equal in strength, then the
systems is in a state of equilibrium and changes will not occur. If the driving forces are
stronger than the restraining forces, then the system will be changing to find a new
equilibrium as the gap to be filled gets narrowed down. A more viable option is to
reduce existing resistance by dealing with and minimizing the forces that resist the
change. In practice, a combination of both strategies – reducing the restraining factors
and increasing the driving forces often ensures best results.

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