Chapter

1. Chapter 1 Nature and Importance of Organisational Behaviour

2. Uneasy life at the Top As a Greek philosopher once wrote many centuries ago, “Change alone is unchanging”, and that is still as appropriate a statement today as it was then. In this economic jungle, little is uncertain but change. Thanks to the LPG era (liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation) managers have to grapple with tremendous amount of change constantly. They have to fight for space in the market place. There is a mad scramble for scarce resources. These resources have to be converted into useful products and services, putting human assets to best use. Customers, in the end, may or may not like these products.

3. Welcome to the Economic Jungle Organisations are basically goal-attaining instruments. They utilise resources, relying on the strengths and capabilities of managers, to produce results. Managers, in fact, are the people who use resources – human, material, financial and information – as skillfully as possible in order to produce results better than others—effectively and efficiently. This, of course, requires integration of a variety of activities – such as planning, organising, decision-making, motivating, leading and controlling – yet, a manager’s day is typically fragmented with interruptions, break in sequence and other distractions (Hitt et al).

4. Managerial Roles Henry Mintzberg offered a view of the managing job that throws considerable light on how managers perform their work. Managers, according to Mintzberg, must fill many roles as they carry out the management functions. These roles can be grouped into three categories: interpersonal, informational and decisional.

5. Managerial skills Performing management functions and roles and achieving competitive advantage are the principal characteristics of a manager’s job. Merely understanding this fact, however, does not guarantee success. Managers need a variety of skills to do these things well. Skills here refer to specific abilities that result from knowledge, information, practice and aptitude. Robert L. Katz has identified three basic types of skills – technical, human and conceptual – that he says are needed by all managers.

6. Managers Wear Many hats! • Successful managers wear many hats. They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and possess an equally wide variety of traits and skills. To reach the top, there are no shortcuts, but there are at least three general pre-conditions for achieving success as a manager. • Education • Experience • Understanding Trends • Activities of Managers—Findings of a Survey of 450 Managers • Traditional management: Decision-making, planning and controlling • Communication:Exchanging notes and processing paper work • Human resource management: Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing and training • Networking: Socializing, politicking and interacting with outsiders • (Source: F. Luthans, “Successful and Effective peal managers”, Academy of Management Executive, May 1998.)

7. Welcome to the Human Side of Work Organisations are not so much about plant and machinery as people. Everything else flows from that. People are what differentiate a Toyota from a General Motors, a Wal-Mart from a K-Mart (or for that matter an HDFC Bank from a Dena Bank), and an Apple from a Sony. People can make or break a company. In a competitive world, companies have to take care of the customer, innovate continually in order to deliver better goods or services, strive for continuous improvements in quality and render services better than competitors. Above all, they must recognise the importance of moving closer to the hearts of employees through novel compensation methods, participative schemes and retention plans. Cont….

8. What’s the secret source that makes a company the best place to work for? • High and differentiated compensation • Innovative titles • Faster career progression plans • Meaningful growth avenues • More satisfying jobs • Overseas exposure • Opportunity to work on cutting-edge technologies and problems • Referral schemes etc. (many a time, employees may want a bit of all these and much more!)

9. The Meaning of Organisational Behaviour (OB) • Precisely stated, OB is the study of human attitudes, behaviour and performance. It is the study of what people do in an organisation and how that behaviour affects the performance of the organisation. As rightly indicated by J.W. Newstrom, OB is the systematic study and careful application of knowledge about how people – as individuals and as groups – act within organisations. It is an action-oriented and goal-directed discipline. Its goals are to make managers more effective at describing, understanding, predicting, and controlling human behaviour. • Describe behaviour • Understand behaviour • Predict behaviour • Control behaviour

10. Nature and Scope of OB • The essential features of OB may be listed thus: • Three levels of analysis • Distinct field of study • Interdisciplinary in nature • Use of scientific methods • Focus on application • Contingency thinking • Subset of management • Positive and optimistic • Integrative in nature

11. Importance of OB • OB tries to look into the impact that individuals, groups and organisation have on the behaviour of members, working in an organisation. It tries to utilise this knowledge with a view to improve organisational performance. As an applied behavioural science, it applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups and the effect of structure on behaviour towards the objective of making organisations work more effectively (Robbins) OB, more specifically, is important to managers because of the following reasons: • Uncover hidden aspects of organisation • Explain and predict behaviour • Acquire ‘people skills’ and win the race • Formulateinformed judgments

12. Multidisciplinary Nature of OB OB is multidisciplinary in nature. It is, in fact, an applied behavioural science that is built on contributions from a wide variety of social science disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, political science, economics etc. The Multidisciplinary Roots of OB DisciplineRelevant OB topics Psychology Perception and learning, personality, emotion and stress, attitudes, motivation, decision-making and creativity. Sociology Group dynamics, socialisation, communication, intergroup behaviour, power, conflict. Social Psychology Intergroup collaboration, group decision-making, integration of individual needs with group activities, effect of change on individuals. Anthropology Organisational culture, leadership, organisational empowerment Economics Decision-making, organisational power Political Science Conflict, intra-organisational politics, manipulating power for individual self-interest.

13. Models of OB A model is a simplified presentation of some real-world phenomenon. The OB model focuses attention on three distinct levels of analysis—individuals, groups and organisations. It tries to look into the impact the individuals, groups and organisations have on the behaviour of members working in an organisation. It tries to utilise this knowledge with a view to improve organisational performance. The model of OB is generally built around two sets of variables, namely dependent variables (productivity, absenteeism, turnover, job satisfaction) and independent variables (individual level variables, group level variables and organisation system level variables). The basic objective of any model of OB is to make managers more effective at describing, understanding, predicting and controlling human behaviour. Cont….

14. Organisation Structure Organisational Culture, Creativity and Innovation Human Resource Policies and Practices Organisation Level Organisational Change and Development International Organisational Behaviour Productivity Group Behaviour Teams and Teamwork Communication Group Leve l Outcomes Leadership Absenteeism Power and Politics Conflict and Negotiation Turnover Job Satisfaction Cont….

15. Personality Perception and Attribution Ethics and Social Responsibilities Values, Attitudes and Job Satisfaction Individual Level Learning and Behaviour Modification Basic Concepts in Motivation Job Design, Empowerment and Work Scheduling Basic OB Model Resources

16. Facilitator Roles for Managers in the Systems model of OB • Support employee commitment to short and long-term goals • Coach individuals and groups in appropriate skills and behaviours • Model and foster self-esteem • Show genuine concern and empathy for people • Offer timely and acceptable feedback • Influence people to learn continuously and share that learning with others • Help individuals identify and confront issues in ethical ways • Stimulate insight through interviews, questions and suggestions • Encourage people to feel comfortable with change and uncertainty • Build cohesive, productive work teams. Various Models of OB Over the years, five different models of OB have emerged, typically representing beliefs that have significantly influenced management thought and actions, namely, autocratic, custodial, supportive, collegial and system.