Organisational Behaviour

Dr Seema Sant

Lecture plan

• Structure of the course

• Issues to explore in the course

• Historical overview

SOME RECOMMENDED SOURCES

• References: • 1) Understanding Organizational Behavior – Udai

Pareek• 2) Organizational Behavior – Stephen Robbins• 3) Organizational Behavior – Fred Luthans• 4) Organizational Behavior – L. M. Prasad (Sultan

Chand)

Organizational behaviour (OB)

“the study of human behaviour in organizational

contexts with a focus on individual and group

processes and actions” (pp.2)

Issues to explore in the course

Issues to explore in the course

Hong Kong stock exchange, 1994

“An intitative approach [to organisations] fails to represent what it means to be human, misrepresents the qualities of the relational processes and, more

generally, grossly distorts the relationships between person and organisation” (Hoskings and Morley 1991:IX)

Issues to explore in the course

“The relationship between a person and a context involves accommodation (changing oneself) and assimilation (changing the context)… people are both products of their contexts and participants in the shaping of those contexts.” (Hoskings and Morley, 1991:5)

Any Question?

Issues to explore in the course

The notion of an organisation as an imperative, absolute entity, is the direct outcome of historical transformations occurred in Europe and North America from the end of the 18th century onwards:

Before the 19th Century:

• Experience of Artisan work (e.g. Ironsmith)

– Technical skills, personal competence and craft pride constitutive of the working process.

Industrial revolution in the 19th Century

– Close relationship between the subject of work and his/her activity was lost

Historical overview

Early 20th Century: ‘Classical approach’

Advent of scientific management (F.W. Taylor)

– Aim: controlling labour through science

– Far-reaching process of establishing control and surveillance: to discipline the mind and body of the productive subject was the central concern.

– Deconstruction of the task from ‘within’– Rigid control over time and body movements

– Conception and execution as separate domains in hierarchical relationships

Technology for social control

Historical overview

Historical overview

Historical overviewHawthorne Studies and the Human RelationsMovement (Elton Mayo, 1923-1933)

– Hawthorne studies: environment and productivity? – Results: organizations are social systems, not just technical

economical systems– Groups, teamwork, different job roles, human relations are

of great significance in organizations– We are motivated by many needs– Leadership should be modified to include concepts of

human relations

A new discipline of human behaviour and, by extension, Organisational behaviour. (1960s)

Systems Rationalist approachModern Approach

1. The organization seen as an open socio-technical system.

2. The existence of subsystems which interact with one another.

3. Management is a distinct subsystem which is responsible for direction and coordination of all other subsystems.

Organisation (open system view)

Transformation process outputsinputs

Historical overview

Andreas Gursky’s The factory

► People’s subjectivity in relation to organisational processes.► Political and cultural nature of social relations.► Social construction of organisational reality, co-creation of the

phenomenon you are seeking to study.

Historical overview

Symbolic-Interpretative perspective

Psychosocial

OrganizationalBehavior

BehavioralInterpersonal

Organizational Behavior: Dynamics in Organizations

OrganizationalDesign

Jobs

WorkDesign

PerformanceAppraisal

OrganizationalStructure

Organizational Variables that Affect Human Behavior

Communication

HumanBehavior

Human Behaviorin the

Organization

Clockworks or Snake pit?

Organizational vs. Individual Point of View

Internal/External Perspective of Human Behavior

Understand behavior in terms of

External events, environmental forces, & behavioral consequences

Thoughts,feelings, past experiences, and needs

Explain behavior by examining

Surrounding external events & environmental forces

Individuals’ history & personal value system

Internal Perspective External Perspective

Each perspective has produced motivational & leadership theories.

Psychology the science of

human behavior

Management the study of overseeing

activities and supervising people in organizations

Anthropologythe science of the learned behavior of human beings

Medicine the applied science of healing or treatment of diseases to enhance an individual’s health and

well-being

Engineering the applied science of energy & matter

Sociology the science of society

Interdisciplinary Influences on Organizational

Behavior

Toward an OB Discipline

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

PsychologyThe science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

SociologyThe study of people in relation to their fellow human beings.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

Social PsychologyAn area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

AnthropologyThe study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

Political ScienceThe study of the behavior of individuals and groups within a political environment.

To explore in the course

BY INTRODUCING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS, WE HOPE:

TO STIMULATE YOUR SEARCH FOR NEW KNOWLEDGE, CREATIVITY AND SKILLS AS ORGANISATIONAL PRACTITIONERS