Definition - Organisational Behaviour.

OB is a systematic study of the actions and reactions

of individuals, groups and subsystems.
O.B. is the systematic study and careful application
of knowledge about how people- as individuals and as
members of groups act within organizations. It strives
to identify ways in which people can act more
effectively.

O.B. is a field of study that investigates the impact

that individuals, groups and structures have on behaviour
within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge
towards improving an organizations effectiveness.
O.B. is the study and understanding of individual and group behavi
patterns of structure in order to help improve organizational

performance and effectiveness .

Define Organizational Behavior?

Ans. "Organizational behavior is 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." - Stephen P. Robbins
"Organizational behavior can be defined as the
understanding; prediction and management of the human
behavior affect the performance of the organizations. Luthans
In brief organizational behavior is concerned with the study
of what people do in an organization and how their behavior
affects the performance of the organizations. Organizational
behavior is a scientific discipline in which a large number of

research is conducted which improve its knowledge base .

Organizational Theory is the sociological

study of formal social organizations, such as
businesses and bureaucracies, and their
interrelationship with the environment in which
they operate. It complements the studies of
organizational behavior and human resource
studies.

Hawthorne
Studies
The real beginning of applied research in the area

of organizational behaviour started with Hawthorne

Experiments. In 1924, a group of professors began
an enquiry into the human aspects of work and
working conditions at the Hawthorne plant of
Western Electric Company, Chicago. The findings of
these studies were given a new name 'human
relations' the studies brought out a number of
findings relevant to understanding human behaviour
at work. The Human element in the workplace was
considerably more important. The workers are
influenced by social factors and the behaviour of
the individual worker is determined by the group

Theoretical Framework of Organizational

Behaviour
Behavioural Framework:
Behaviour can be best explained in terms of stimulusResponse.
That is, a particular stimulus will lead to a particular response.

However, responses can be conditioned or trained by presenting

conditioned stimulus/consequences.
Classical Conditioning: Ivan Pavlov and John Watson developed this
theory. According to this theory, learning/conditioning takes place
when Stimulus-Response connection is established. Classical
conditioning may be defined as a process in which a neutral stimulus,
when repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, becomes a
conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response.
This may be explained as under:
Unconditioned StimulusUnconditioned Response
Conditioned stimulusConditioned Response.
Ivan Pavlov developed the theory of classical conditioning on the
basis of his famous experiment with dog. Whenever he presented meat
powder (Unconditioned Stimulus) to the dog, it salivated
(Unconditioned Response). The dog did not salivate when a bell rung

(Neutral Stimulus/Conditioned Stimulus). Later, Pavlov rang the bell

(Conditioned Stimulus) whenever he presented meat powder
(Unconditioned Stimulus) to the dog. He repeated the exercise several
times. Afterwards, Pavlov rang the bell (Conditioned Stimulus)
without presenting the meat powder (Unconditioned Stimulus) and
found that the dog actually salivated (Conditioned Response).
Critics of Classical Conditioning theory say that this theory at best
explains reflexive (involuntary/automatic/impulsive) behaviour.
Operant Conditioning: B F Skinner developed Operant Conditioning
theory in order to overcome the weaknesses of Classical Conditioning.
In Operant Conditioning, responses to a particular stimulus occur on
the basis on consequences of that response. Thus there is strong
association between consequence and response to a particular
stimulus.
This may be explained as under:

StimulusResponseConsequencesFuture Response on the

basis of consequence
Consequences can be any of the following:
Something good can begin or be presented
Something good can end or be taken away
Something bad can begin or be presented
Something bad can end or be taken away
Consequences have to be immediate and clearly linked to the
responses.
Behavioural framework debunked the Freudian proposition that
behaviour came from unconscious.
Cognitive Framework:
Cognition means a mental process involved in knowing, learning and
understanding things. Edward Tolman propounded this theory in
1940s. According to cognitive Framework, cognition precedes

response/behaviour and constitute inputs into persons thinking,

perception, problem solving and information processing.
The theory may be explained as under:
Stimulus-Cognition-Response
According to Tolman, behaviour of a person is determined by
Expectancy, Demand and Intention based on his/her cognition. He
developed this theory on the basis of his experiment with white rat.
He found that a rat could learn to run through an intricate maze with a
purpose and direction towards a goal (food). He observed that at each
choice point in the maze, expectations were established. In other
words, the rat learned to expect that certain cognitive cues associated
with the choice point might eventually lead to food. If the rat actually
received the food, the association between the cue and expectancy
was established and learning occurred.
In Organizational Behaviour, Cognitive Framework has been applied
mainly in motivation. Expectations, attributions, locus of control and

goal-setting are all cognitive concepts that represent purposefulness of

the subject.
Social Cognitive Framework:
This framework was developed by Albert Bandura who believes that
human behaviour can best be explained in terms of a continuous
reciprocal interaction among cognitive, behavioural and
environmental determinants. Most of our responses are guided by
observation and imitation.
According to this theory, human behaviour is determined by five basic
capabilities:
Symbolizing: An individual associates a symbol to his future
responses.
Forethought: An individual anticipates the consequences and
accordingly makes a choice of responses.
Observational: An individual observes others before choosing his/her
own responses.

Self-regulatory: an individual controls his/her action by setting

internal standards (aspired levels of performance) and by evaluating
discrepancy between the standard and the performance
Self-reflective: An individual reflects back on his/her actions and
perceptually determine the causes of success or failure and possible
measure to improve the quality of responses.
nt. What
is Perception?
A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment
Why is it Important?
Because peoples behavior is based on their perception of what
reality is, not on reality itself.
The world that is perceived is the world that is behaviorally
important. What is Perception?The Nature of Perception
Perception is the process by which individuals select, organize, and
interpret the input from their senses to give

meaning and order to the world around them. The process of

perception involves the perceiverthe person
making the interpretation, the target of perceptionwhat the
perceiver interprets, and the situation in which
perception takes place. The target can be an event, a situation, an idea,
a noise, a group of people, or another
person. Person perception, or the process of perceiving another
person, plays a large role in organizational
behavior.

Internal and External Attributions

Causal explanations for behaviors can be either internal attributions,
behavior caused by some characteristic
of the target, or external attributions, behavior assigned to factors
outside the individual. Common internal
attributions include ability, effort, and personality. Poor performance
may be attributed to lack of effort or
ability, and poor relations with coworkers may be attributed to

personality. Common external attributions

include luck, chance, and easy tasks. A workers accomplishment may
be viewed as a stroke of luck.
Whether attributions are internal or external determines how people
respond to behavior. High performance,
attributed to ability, results in a promotion, but attributed to luck,
results in no promotion. The attributions
people make for their own behavior influence subsequent actions. A
successful worker who attributes an
outcome to luck remains unaffected, whereas attributing success to
ability increases confidence.

Social Perception
Social perception, or the way one individual views others, affects
behavior within an organization. Management expert Joseph

Champoux writes in his book "Organizational Behavior" that an

individual's social perception can be described in terms of a "target,"
or what is being perceived, and a "stimulus threshold," a certain level
of information that must be received in order to make a perceptive
assumption on an individual, work process or any other target.
Wrongful social perceptions, such as fundamental attribution error
that arises when one person mistakes another person's characteristics
as the cause of a negative event, can lead to problems in organizational
behavior.

Social Perception
The processes, through which individuals attempt to combine,
integrate and interpret information about
others. Social status, a targets real or perceived position in society or
an organization, also affects perception.
High-status targets are perceived as more credible, knowledgeable,
and responsible than low-status targets.
Organizations use a high-status target to make public announcements

and presentations because the audience

perceives that person as credible.To ensure that women and minorities
enjoy equal footing including social status, many organizations have
adopted affirmative action programs. Yet, these programs may
perpetuate the low status of women and
minorities because others perceive and treat affirmative action hires as
second-class citizens. This can result in
not fully utilizing these workers capabilities. After qualified
employees left the company, Monsanto realized
that affirmative action initiatives must include training programs to
manage diversity, eliminate bias, and avoid
the second-class citizen status that minorities inadvertently acquire

Attributes
The Process through which individuals attempt to determine the
causes of others behavior

Attribution Theory
People try to make sense of a situation by explaining its cause; this

explanation is an attribution. Attribution

theory describes how people explain the causes of their own and
other peoples behavior. To the extent that
attributions are accurate, better organizational decisions can be made.
Supervisors make attributions for high or low performance. If a
supervisor attributes high performance to
exceptional ability, challenging work is assigned, but if it is attributed
to luck, no change in assignment will be
made. Incorrect attributions result in over challenging or under
challenging assignments. Smooth day-to-day
interactions often hinge on accurate attributions.

Internal and External Attributions

Causal explanations for behaviors can be either internal attributions,
behavior caused by some characteristic
of the target, or external attributions, behavior assigned to factors
outside the individual. Common internal
attributions include ability, effort, and personality. Poor performance
may be attributed to lack of effort or

ability, and poor relations with coworkers may be attributed to

personality. Common external attributions
include luck, chance, and easy tasks. A workers accomplishment may
be viewed as a stroke of luck.
Whether attributions are internal or external determines how people
respond to behavior. High performance,
attributed to ability, results in a promotion, but attributed to luck,
results in no promotion. The attributions
people make for their own behavior influence subsequent actions. A
successful worker who attributes an
outcome to luck remains unaffected, whereas attributing success to
ability increases confidence.