ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Finding and analyzing the variables that have an impact on employee productivity, absence, turnover, and satisfaction is often complicated.

Many of the concepts—motivation, or power, politics or organizational culture—are hard to assess.

Other factors are more easily definable and readily available—data that can be obtained from an employee’s personnel file and would includecharacteristics such as:• Age• Gender• Length of service• Race• Social Group

1. The relationship between age and job performance is increasing in importance.

First, there is a widespread belief that job performance declines with increasing age. Second, the workforce is aging; workers over 55 are the fastest growing sector of the workforce.

2. Employers’ perceptions are mixed. They see a number of positive qualities that older workers bring to their jobs, specifically experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and commitment to quality.

3. It is tempting to assume that age is also inversely related to absenteeism.

Older employees have lower rates of avoidable absence. However, they have higher rates of unavoidable absence, probably due to their poorer health associated with aging and longer recovery periods when injured.

4. There is a widespread belief that productivity declines with age and that individual skills decay over time.• Older workers are also perceived as lacking flexibility and as being resistant to new technology.Skills like speed, strength and co-ordination decrease with time. Also lack of motivation and boredom steps in.• Some believe that the older you get, the less likely you are to quit your job. That conclusion is based on studies of the age-turnover relationship.

5. The relationship between age and job satisfaction is mixed.

• Most studies indicate a positive association between age and satisfaction, at least up to age 60.

• Other studies, however, have found a U-shaped relationship. When professional and nonprofessional employees are separated, satisfaction tends to continually increase among professionals as they age, whereas it falls among nonprofessionals during middle age and then rises again in the later years.

1. There are no consistant men and women differences between areas that will affect their job performance, including the areas of: Problem-solving, Analytical skills, Competitive drive, Motivation, Sociability, Learning.

2. Women are more willing to conform to authority, and men are more aggressive and more likely than women to have expectations of success, but those differences are minor.

3. There is no evidence indicating that an employee’s gender affects job satisfaction.

4. There is a difference between men and women in terms of preference for work schedules.

Mothers of preschool children are more likely to prefer part-time work, flexible work schedules, and telecommuting in order to accommodate their family responsibilities.

5. Absence and turnover rates Women’s quit rates are similar to men’s.

The research on absence consistently indicates that women have higher rates of absenteeism.

The logical explanation: cultural expectation that has historically placed home and family responsibilities on the woman.

Extensive reviews of the seniority-productivity relationship have been conducted:

There is a positive relationship between tenure and job productivity.

There is a negative relationship between tenure to absence.

Tenure is also a potent variable in explaining turnover.

Tenure has consistently been found to be negatively related to turnover and has been suggested as one of the single best predictors of turnover.

The evidence indicates that tenure and satisfaction are positively related.

Race is a controversial issue. It particularly related to employment outcomes such as personnel selection decisions, performance evaluation, pay and workplace discrimination. First in employment settings, there is a tendency for individuals to favor colleagues of their own race in performance evaluations, promotion decisions and pay rises. Second, there are substantial racial differences in attitudes. Third there is a perception about some races performing better than the others. Eg Japanese people are considered hard working. The major dilemma faced by employees for selection, promotion and similar personnel decisions is concern that they may have negative impact on racial and ethnic groups.

In India, reservation benefits are extended to certain social groups.

Preference is given to persons belonging to categories as Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Other backward Classes.

Other parameters such as religion and state of domicile are also taken into consideration

Often people of different religious faiths conflict.

In most countries, the law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees of based on their religion.

ABILITYABILITY

Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. It is a current assessment of what one can do. An individual’s overall abilities are essentially made up of two sets of factors:

1.Intellectual Ability:These abilities are needed to perform various mental activities. (GRE, MAT, CAT, etc.)

2.Physical Ability:These are more important for doing a skilled or a standardized task. Management must identify employees’ physical abilities if those are the major inputs required for performing a task.

Dimension Description Job ExampleNumber Aptitude

Ability to do speedy and accurate arithmetic

Accountant: Computing the sales tax on few items

Verbal Comprehension

Ability to understand what is read or heard and the relationship of words to each other

Plant Manager: Following corporate policies

Perceptual Speed

Ability to identify visual similarities and differences quickly and accurately

Fire Investigator: Identifying clues to support a charge of arson

Inductive Reasoning

Ability to identify a logical sequence in a problem and the solve the problem

Market Researcher: Forecasting demand for a product next time

Deductive Reasoning

Ability to use logic and assess the implication of an argument

Supervisor: Choosing b/w 2 diff. suggestions offered by employees

Spatial Visualization

Ability to imagine how an object would look if its position in space were changed

Interior Decorator: Redecorating an office

Memory Ability to retain and recall past experiences

Salesperson: Remembering the names of customers

Strength FactorsStrength Factors DescriptionDescription1. Dynamic Strength1. Dynamic Strength Ability to exert muscular force repeatedly or Ability to exert muscular force repeatedly or

continuously over timecontinuously over time2. Trunk Strength2. Trunk Strength Ability to exert muscular strength using the trunk Ability to exert muscular strength using the trunk

(particularly abdominal) muscles(particularly abdominal) muscles3. Static Strength3. Static Strength Ability to exert force against external objectsAbility to exert force against external objects4. Explosive Strength4. Explosive Strength Ability to expend a maximum energy in one or a Ability to expend a maximum energy in one or a

series of explosive acts.series of explosive acts.Flexibility FactorsFlexibility Factors

5. Extent Flexibility5. Extent Flexibility Ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far as Ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far as possiblepossible

6. Dynamic Flexibility6. Dynamic Flexibility Ability to make rapid, repeated flexible movementsAbility to make rapid, repeated flexible movementsOther FactorsOther Factors

7. Body Coordination7. Body Coordination Ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of Ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of different parts of bodydifferent parts of body

8. Balance8. Balance Ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling Ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling off balanceoff balance

9. Stamina9. Stamina Ability to continue maximum effort requiring Ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolonged effort over time.prolonged effort over time.

Behaviour is observable and measurable activity of human beings. This is known as Overt behaviour. Activities under this can be of various kinds like mental process of decision making or physical process like handling a machine.

Another aspect of behaviour which is non-observable or measurable is the Covert Behaviour like feelings, attitude – favorable or unfavorable

Covert behaviour is a significant part of the total behavior because it shapes and influences overt behaviour.

.

The Environment• Organization• Work group

• Job• Personal life

The Person• Skills & abilities

• Personality• Perceptions

• Attitudes•Values• Ethics

Behavior

B = B = ff(P,E)(P,E)B

EP

Human Behaviour is orderly not arbitrary, systematic, not random.

Human behaviour is caused therefore can be motivated and directed.

Cause and effect relationship, behaviour can be understood easily if the cause behind the behaviour is analyzed.

A person’s behaviour is caused by several factors within and outside him. He is affected by others behaviour and also affects other’s behaviour.

It should be taken in terms of cause and effect relationship. Managers can intervene and direct behaviour towards accomplishment of organizational goals.

Human behaviour is not perfectly predictable as it is effected by large number of factors.

Behavior (B) = f (P, E) or behavior is a function of the person and the environment.

Key letters explaining: Behaviour= Function= f Person =P Environment=E

At a time either a person or an environment predominates, but very often behavior is influenced by both variables.

Again significance of this attribute is that managers are required to be tolerant with and understandings of unexpected irregularities in human behavior as people adjust from one set to of behavior to another.

Also managers should help employees to adjust their behavior to that is consistent with their job roles in the organization

Process of behaviour: Based on the analysis of behaviour process over period

of time, four model of behaviour process have been developed;

1.S-R model 2.S-O-R model 3. S-O-B-A model 4. S-O-B-C model

1. S-R model: Stimulus- Response

This model of human behaviour suggest that the behaviour is caused by certain reasons. The reasons may be internal feeling (motivation) and external environment (stimulus).

The stimulus may be heat, light, piece of information etc., that directly affect the activity of organism.

S-R” model which was given by the famous  Russian psychologist developed classical conditioning theory is being said that conditioning is supposed to be a process by which a response(saliva) is attached to a stimulus (bell) different from the one which a originally elicits that response.

In simple words a response is said to be conditioned when some stimulus other than the already effective one come to arouse or modify it for the establishment of a definite stimulus-response connection.

2. S-O-R model: This model of human behaviour is achieved by inserting O (organism) in the classical S-R model. The S-O-R model is based upon the stimulus processed in the organism and followed by a behaviour. Here O which is active, is doing some functions like scanning the surrounding, monitoring its own action, seeking certain conditions and avoiding others ie., maintenance function and adjustment function. Maintenance organs are Receptors (sense organs), connectors ( nervour organs ) and effectors (muscles and glands).Adjustment function monitors epersons activities to overcome obstacles and satosfy his needs.Stimulus – Organism- Response (SOR) model attempted to focus on the organism i.e. ‘individual differences’ characteristic of people, indicating the fact that same stimulus may not result in same response due to organism interventions.

S-O-R concept clearly indicates how the interaction between stimulus and the organism determines response or behavior in a particular environmental set up. The same stimulus may produce different responses in different individuals in the same individual under different environmental conditions.

3. S-O-B-C model:

It incorporates a more complex mechanism human behaviour which modifies and extends S-O-R model.

In this model, S stands for the situation which is more comprehensive than the stimuli of S-O-R model. O is the organism represents both physiological and psychological being. B stands for pattern of behaviour both overt and covert. C stands for consequences both overt and covert.

The Stimulus-Organism-Behaviour-Consequence (SOBC) model (Fred Luthans) takes the best of all models such as S-R, and S-O-R inclusive of the whole person and human dignity features of people.

Organizational behaviour although focuses on human behaviour at work; yet, in reality it encompasses the whole gamut of human behaviour.

Managerial Implications Of Individual behaviour

To channelize individual behavior for achieving organizational objectives.

It is effective when there is good person job fit ( person's contributions match organization offers.

Each person has some specific needs to satisfy, if an organization can take perfect advantage of those behaviors and exactly fulfill his needs it will achieve perfect person job fit

1.Physiological Factors Age Gender Physical factors

2. Socio- psychological factors

Personality Perception Learning Attitudes and Values Motivation

Some people prefer challenging jobs, others prefer job security and routine operations.

Compensation plan – Some people like to work under time –wage and some under piece wage.

Supervision – Some provide necessary inputs for important decisions others may like to depend on others for decision making.

People prefer different schedules of work hour. People differ in tolerance for stress and ambiguity.

1.INDIVIDUAL VARIABLESa) Physiological Variables Age, Gender Physical Features

b) Socio-psychological variables Personality, Perception, learning, motivation.

2.SITUALTIONAL VARIABLES

a) Organizational Variables Organizational Structure, process and Culture.

b) Job variables Nature of job, Work Environment