MASTER OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS PRINCIPLE OF MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR MCA615
MASTER OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS PRINCIPLE OF MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR MCA615 Prof. P. Subba Rao
CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY Institute of Distance and Online Learning Course Development Committee Chairman Prof. (Dr.) R.S. Bawa Vice Chancellor, Chandigarh University, Punjab Advisors Prof. (Dr.) Bharat Bhushan, Director, IGNOU Prof. (Dr.) Manjulika Srivastava, Director, CIQA, IGNOU Programme Coordinators & Editing Team Master of Business Administration (MBA) Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Co-ordinator – Prof. Pragya Sharma Co-ordinator – Dr. Rupali Arora Master of Computer Applications (MCA) Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) Co-ordinator – Dr. Deepti Rani Sindhu Co-ordinator – Dr. Raju Kumar Master of Commerce (M.Com.) Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) Co-ordinato – Dr. Shashi Singhal Co-ordinator – Dr. Minakshi Garg Master of Arts (Psychology) Bachelor of Science (Travel & TourismManagement) Co-ordinator – Ms. Nitya Mahajan Co-ordinator – Dr. Shikha Sharma Master of Arts (English) Bachelor of Arts (General) Co-ordinato – Dr. Ashita Chadha Co-ordinator – Ms. Neeraj Gohlan Master of Arts (Mass Communication and Bachelor of Arts (Mass Communication and Journalism) Journalism) Co-ordinator – Dr. Chanchal Sachdeva Suri Co-ordinator – Dr. Kamaljit Kaur Academic and Administrative Management Prof. (Dr.) Pranveer Singh Satvat Prof. (Dr.) S.S. Sehgal Pro VC (Academic) Registrar Prof. (Dr.) H. Nagaraja Udupa Prof. (Dr.) Shiv Kumar Tripathi Director (IDOL) Executive Director (USB) © No part of this publication should be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording and/or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author and the publisher. SLM SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR CU IDOL STUDENTS Printed and Published by: Himalaya Publishing House Pvt. Ltd., E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.himpub.com For: CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY Institute of Distance and Online Learning CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Course Code: MCA615 Credits: 2 Course Objectives: To provide knowledge on the principles of management which is essential for all kinds of people in all kinds of organisations. To understand Organisational Behaviour researchers study the behaviour of individuals primarily in their organisational roles. To understand the goals of organisational behaviour that is to revitalise organisational theory and develop a better conceptualisation of organisational life. Syllabus Unit 1 – Organisational Behaviour: Concept, Role in Business Management Practices, Challenges to OB, Opportunities for OB in Present Business Environment, Interdisciplinary Approach to OB. Unit 2 – Individual Behaviour: Personality – Concept, Determinants and Theories; Learning – Principles and Theories; Perception – Meaning and Importance in Managerial Decisions, Attitude, Values and Beliefs; Motivation: Concept, Importance and Theories (Maslow’s, McGregor’s, Herzberg’s, Alderfer’s, Porter Lawyer and Vroom); Group Behaviour: Group Dynamics, Group Norms; Group Cohesiveness and Development, Team Work, Types of Team, Characteristics of Effective Teams. Unit 3 – Management: Concept, Management as a Science and Art, Functions of Management, Levels of Management. Management Theories: Scientific Management and Principles, Administrative Management (Henri Fayol), Behavioural Theory (Elton Mayo), Contingency Theory, Management by Objective. Unit 4 – Planning: Concept, Process, Types of Plans, Decision-making: Concept and Process. Role of Decision-making in Business Organisations. Unit 5 – Organising: Nature, Process and Significance; Formal and Informal Organisation; Span of Management. Unit 6 – Staffing: Manpower Planning, Recruitment and Selection, Factors Affecting Staffing, Directing and Leadership – Theories and Styles. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Text Books: 1. Ghuman, Ashwathapa (2000), Principles of Management, New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Publishers. 2. Stephen, R. (2019), Management, Delhi: Pearson Publishers, India. 3. Koontz, Weirich (2006), Essentials of Management, New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Publishers. Reference Book: 1. Prasad, L.M (2015), Principles & Practices of Management, New Delhi: S. Chand Publishers. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
CONTENTS 1 – 13 14 – 81 Unit 1: Organisational Behaviour 82 – 116 Unit 2: Individual Behaviour 117 – 139 Unit 3: Management 140 – 159 Unit 4: Planning 160 – 192 Unit 5: Organising 193 – 194 Unit 6: Staffing References CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
UNIT 1 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Structure: 1.0 Learning Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Meaning of Organisational Behaviour 1.3 Definitions of Organisational Behaviour 1.4 Elements of Organisational Behaviour 1.5 Nature of Organisational Behaviour 1.6 Role in Business Management Practices 1.7 Inter-disciplinary Approach to Organisational Behaviour 1.8 Summary 1.9 Key Words/Abbreviations 1.10 Learning Activity 1.11 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) 1.12 References 1.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to understand: Meaning of Organisational Behaviour Definitions of Organisational Behaviour CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
2 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Nature of Organisational Behaviour Role in Business Management Practices Opportunities for Organisational Behaviour in the Present Business Environment Challenges to Organisation Behaviour Inter-disciplinary approach to Organisation Behaviour 1.1 Introduction Organisational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people as individuals and as groups act within organisations. It can be defined as the understanding, prediction and management of human behaviour in organisations. OB is related to other disciplines like Organisations Theory, Organisation Development and Personnel/Human Resources Management. Henry Mintzberg classified management roles depending on the extent of interpersonal relationships, the transfer of information and decision-making involved in the job. Managers need certain skills and competencies to successfully achieve their goals. The most significant management skills are the technical, human and conceptual skills. People develop generalizations by observing, sensing, asking and listening to various people around them. They use these generalizations to explain or predict the behaviour of others. A systematic approach to the study of behaviour will bring to light important facts and relationships that provide the basis for more accurate understanding, prediction and control of behaviour. It is important to know how a person perceives a situation to predict his behaviour. There are differences as well as consistencies that can be seen in people’s behaviour. The study of Organisational Behaviour (OB) is very interesting and challenging too. It is related to individuals, group of people working together in teams. The study becomes more challenging when situational factors interact. The study of organisational behaviour relates to the expected behaviour of an individual in the organisation. No two individuals are likely to behave in the same manner in a particular work situation. It is the predictability of a manager about the expected behaviour of an individual. There are no absolutes in human behaviour. It is the human CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Organisational Behaviour 3 factor that is contributory to the productivity hence the study of human behaviour is important. Great importance therefore must be attached to the study. Researchers, management practitioners, psychologists, and social scientists must understand the very credentials of an individual, his background, social framework, educational update, impact of social groups and other situational factors on behaviour. Managers under whom an individual is working should be able to explain, predict, evaluate and modify human behaviour that will largely depend upon knowledge, skill and experience of the manager in handling large group of people in diverse situations. Pre-emptive actions need to be taken for human behaviour forecasting. The value system, emotional intelligence, organisational culture, job design and the work environment are important causal agents in determining human behaviour. Cause and effect relationship plays an important role in how an individual is likely to behave in a particular situation and its impact on productivity. An appropriate organisational culture can modify individual behaviour. Recent trends exist in laying greater stress on organisational development and imbibing a favourable organisational culture in each individual. It also involves fostering a team spirit and motivation so that the organisational objectives are achieved. There is a need for commitment on the part of the management that should be continuous and incremental in nature. Human relations movement refers to the researchers of organisational development who study the behaviour of people in groups, in particular workplace groups. It originated in the 1930s’ Hawthorne studies, which examined the effects of social relations, motivation and employee satisfaction on factory productivity. The movement viewed workers in terms of their psychology and fit with companies, rather than as interchangeable parts. The hallmark of human- relation theories is the primacy given to organisations as human cooperative systems rather than mechanical contraptions. Human behaviour is a very complex, no matter how you try to discuss it or even attempt an explanation of how and why we function the way we do! According to a few well-known psychologists “Myers-Briggs” and “Kersey” there are about sixteen distinct personality types, which define our personality. And somewhere mixed into all of this information they can tell us if we are either an extroverted or introverted type of person. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
4 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Human may be physically alike but not behaviourally. In fact, the same person behaves differently in different situations. This is due to the influence of various factors. The important among them include: various models of man like Economic Man, Social Man, Organisation Man, Self-actualizing Man, Complex Man, Impulsive Man and Compulsive Man. As such, human behaviour is complex and dynamic. George Elton Mayo stressed the following: Natural groups, in which social aspects take precedence over functional organisational structures. Upwards communication, by which communication is two way, from worker to chief executive, as well as vice versa. Cohesive and good leadership is needed to communicate goals and to ensure effective and coherent decision making. It has become a concern of many companies to improve the job-oriented interpersonal skills of employees. The teaching of these skills to employees is referred to as “soft skills” training. Companies need their employees to be able to successfully communicate and convey information, to be able to interpret others’ emotions, to be open to others’ feelings, and to be able to solve conflicts and arrive at resolutions. By acquiring these skills, the employees, those in management positions and the customer can maintain more compatible relationships. 1.2 Meaning of Organisational Behaviour Organisational Behaviour is field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisation. It is the study and application of knowledge about how people act within organisations. 1.3 Definitions of Organisational Behaviour According to Fred Luthans, “Organisational behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour”. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Organisational Behaviour 5 According to Keith Davis and Newstrom, “Organisational Behaviour is the study and application of knowledge of how people act or behave within organisation”. Stephen P. Robbins defines organisational behaviour as “a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behaviour within organisations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organisation’s effectiveness.” Steven L. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow defines organisational behaviour as “the study of what people think, feel and do in and around organisations.” The authors view that organisational behaviour includes the study of the impact of individual, team and structural characteristics on behaviour in organisations and understanding and predicting the impact of these behaviours on organisational success. 1.4 Elements of Organisational Behaviour The key elements in the organisational behaviour are people, structure, technology and the environment in which the organisation operates: People: People make up the internal and social system of the organisation. They consist of individuals and groups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or unofficial. Groups are dynamic and they work in the organisation to achieve their objectives. Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organisations. Different people in the organisation are performing different type of jobs and they need to be (elated in some structural way so that their work can be effectively co-ordinated. Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with which people work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a significant influence on working relationships. It allows people to do more and work better but it also restricts’ people in various ways. Environment: All organisations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a larger system that contains many other elements such as government, family and other CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
6 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour organisations. All of these mutually influence each other in a complex system that creates a context for a group of people. 1.5 Nature of Organisational Behaviour Each individual brings to an organisation a unique set of personal characteristics, experiences from other organisation, the environment surrounding the organisation and1 they also poses a personal background. In considering the people working in an organisation, organisational behaviour must look at the unique perspective that each individual brings to the work setting. But individuals do not work in isolation. They come in contact with other individuals and the organisation in a variety of ways. Points of contact include managers, co-workers, formal policies and procedures of the organisation, and various changes implemented by the organisation. Over time, the individual, too, changes, as a function of both the personal experiences and the organisation. The organisation is also affected by the presence and eventual absence of the individual. Clearly, the study of organisational behaviour must consider the ways in which the individual and the organisation interact. An organisation, characteristically, exists before a particular person joins it and continues to exist after he leaves it. Thus, the organisation itself represents a crucial third perspective from which to view organisational behaviour. 1.6 Role in Business Management Practices The co-operative relationships help the organisation in achieving its objectives. Organisational behaviour provides means to understand and achieve co-operative group relationships through interaction, rotation of members among groups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focusing on total group objectives: (i) Controlling and Directing Behaviour: After understanding the mechanism of human behaviour, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour so that it conforms to the standards required for achieving the organisational objectives. Thus, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour at all levels of individual interaction. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Organisational Behaviour 7 Therefore, organisational behaviour helps managers in controlling and directing in different areas such as use of power and sanction, leadership, communication and building organisational climate favorable for better interaction. (ii) Use of Power and Sanction: The behaviours can be controlled and directed by the use of power and sanction, which are formally defined by the organisation. Power is referred to as the capacity of an individual to take certain action and may be utilized in many ways. Organisational behaviour explains how various means of power and sanction can, be utilized so that both organisational and individual objectives are achieved simultaneously. (iii) Leadership: Organisational behaviour brings new insights and understanding to the practice and theory of leadership. It identifies various leadership styles available to a manager and analyses which style is more appropriate in a given situation. Thus, managers can adopt styles keeping in view the various dimensions of organisations, individuals and situations. (iv) Communication: Communication helps people to come in contact with each other. To achieve organisational objectives, the communication must be effective. The communication process and its work in inter-personal dynamics have been evaluated by organisational behaviour. (v) Organisational Climate: Organisational climate refers to the total organisational situations affecting human behaviour. Organisational climate takes a system perspective that affect human behaviour. Besides improving the satisfactory working conditions and adequate compensation, organisational climate includes creation of an atmosphere of effective supervision; the opportunity for the realisation of personal goals, congenial relations with others at the work place and a sense of accomplishment. (vi) Organisational Adaptation: Organisations, as dynamic entities are characterized by pervasive changes. Organisations have to adapt themselves to the environmental changes by making suitable, internal arrangements such as convincing employees who normally have the tendency of resisting any changes. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
8 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour 1.7 Inter-disciplinary Approach to Organisational Behaviour Organisational behaviour is field of study that illustrates the impact that individual, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisation for his purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organisation effectiveness i.e., organisational behaviour is concussed with the study of what people do in an organisation and how that behaviour affects the performance of the organisation. Underlying this systematic approach is the belief that behaviour is not random. It stems from and is directed towards some and that individual believes, rightly or wrongly, is in his or her best interest. Organisational behaviour is an applied behavioural science that is built on contribution from a number of behavioural disciplines. The predominant areas are: Psychology: The science that sets to explain and sometimes change the behavior of human being. The contribution includes study of topics like Motivation, personality, Emotions, Job Satisfaction etc. Sociology: The study people in relation to them human beings. The contribution includes study of topics like Group dynamics, work team, communication, power etc. Anthropology: The study of societies to learn about human being and their activities. The contribution includes study of topics like organisational culture, organisational environment, cross-cultural analysis etc. Political Science: The study of individual and groups within a political environment. The contribution includes the study of topics like conflict, Intra-organisational politics, power etc. One of the most important and broad based challenges currently facing organisations is adapting to people who are different. The term to describe this challenge is work force diversity. While globalization focuses on differences between people from different countries work force diversity addresses differences among people within given countries. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Organisational Behaviour 9 Work force means that organisations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, which varies from the so-called norm. It includes women, south Indians, Bengalines, Punjabis, physically disabled, elderly etc. Work forces diversity has important implications for management practice. Managers have to shift their philosophy from treating everyone alike to recognizing differences and responding to those differences in ways that ensure employee retention and greater productivity while at the sometimes, not discriminating. This shift includes, for instead, providing diversity training and revamping benefits programs to accommodate the different employees. Work force diversity if positively managed, can increase creativity and innovation in organisations as well as improve decision making by providing different perspectives on problems. When work diversity is not managed properly, there is potential for higher turnover, more difficult communication and more interpersonal conflicts. Organisational Behaviour studies encompass the study of organisations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. 1.8 Summary Organisational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people as individuals and as groups act within organisations. It can be defined as the understanding, prediction and management of human behaviour in organisations. OB is related to other disciplines like Organisations Theory, Organisation Development and Personnel/Human Resources Management. Organisational behaviour offers several ideas to management as to how human factor should be properly emphasised to achieve organisational objectives. Barnard has observed that an organisation is a conscious interaction of two or more people. This suggests that since an organisation is the interaction of persons, they should be given adequate importance in managing the organisation. Organisational behaviour provides opportunity to management to analyze human behaviour and prescribe means for shaping it to a particular direction. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
10 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour The co-operative relationships help the organisation in achieving its objectives. Organisational behaviour provides means to understand and achieve co-operative group relationships through interaction, rotation of members among groups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focusing on total group objectives. Organisational behaviour brings new insights and understanding to the practice and theory of leadership. It identifies various leadership styles available to a manager and analyses which style is more appropriate in a given situation. Thus, managers can adopt styles keeping in view the various dimensions of organisations, individuals and situations. Communication helps people to come in contact with each other. To achieve organisational objectives, the communication must be effective. The communication process and its work in inter-personal dynamics have been evaluated by organisational behaviour. Organisational climate refers to the total organisational situations affecting human behaviour. Organisational climate takes a system perspective that affect human behaviour. Besides improving the satisfactory working conditions and adequate compensation, organisational climate includes creation of an atmosphere of effective supervision; the opportunity for the realisation of personal goals, congenial relations with others at the work place and a sense of accomplishment. The modern approach to organisational behaviour is the search for the truth of why people behave the way they do. The organisational behaviour is a delicate and complex process. If one aims to manage an organisation, it is necessary to understand its operation. Organisation is the combination of science and people. While science and technology is predictable, the human behaviour in organisation is rather unpredictable. This is because it arises from deep needs and value systems of people. E-commerce refers to the business operations involving electronic mode of transactions. It encompasses presenting products on websites and filling order. The vast majority of articles and media attention given to using the Internet in business are directed at on-line shopping. In this process, the marketing and selling of goods and services are being carried out over the Internet. In e-commerce, the following activities are being taken place quite often – the tremendous numbers of people who are shopping on the Internet, business houses are setting up websites where they CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Organisational Behaviour 11 can sell goods, conducting the following transactions such as getting paid and fulfilling orders. It is a dramatic change in the way a company relates to its customers. At present e-commerce is exploding. E-business refers to the full breadth of activities included in a successful Internet based enterprise. As such, e-commerce is a subset of e-business. E-business includes developing strategies for running Internet-based companies, creating integrated supply chains, collaborating with partners to electronically coordinate design and production, identifying a different kind of leader to run a ‘virtual’ business, finding skilled people to build and operate intranets and websites, and running the back room or the administrative side. E-business includes the creation of new markets and customers, but it’s also concerned with the optimum ways to combine Computers, the Web and Application Software. 1.9 Key Words/Abbreviations Organisational Behaviour: Organisational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people as individuals and as groups act within organisations. It can be defined as the understanding, prediction and management of human behaviour in organisations. Organisational Climate: Organisational climate refers to the total organisational situations affecting human behaviour. Organisational climate takes a system perspective that affect human behaviour. Besides improving the satisfactory working conditions and adequate compensation, organisational climate includes creation of an atmosphere of effective supervision; the opportunity for the realisation of personal goals, congenial relations with others at the work place and a sense of accomplishment. Workforce Diversity: This refers to employing different categories of employees who are heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, relation, community, physically disadvantaged, homosexuals, elderly people etc. The primary reason to employ heterogeneous category of employees is to tap the talents and potentialities, harnessing the innovativeness, obtaining synergetic effect among the divorce workforce. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
12 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour E-commerce: E-Commerce refers to the business operations involving electronic mode of transactions. It encompasses presenting products on websites and filling order. Ethical behaviour: The complexity in business operations is forcing the workforce to face ethical dilemmas, where they are required to define right and wrong conduct in order to complete their assigned activities. Managers must evolve code of ethics to guide employees through ethical dilemmas. Organizing seminars, workshops, training programs will help improve ethical behaviour of employees. Inter-disciplinary Approach: Organisational behavior is an applied behavior disciplines such as sociology, psychology, political science and psychology. 1.10 Learning Activity 1. Prepare a report on Scope of Organisational Behaviour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Students are required to analyze the different challenges of Organisational Behaviour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.11 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) A. Descriptive Type Questions 1. Explain the meaning and nature of Organisational Behaviour. 2. Describe the role of Organisational Behaviour in Business Management Practices. 3. Discus various elements of Organisational Behaviour. 4. Explain Organisational Challenges and Organisational Behaviour. 5. Discuss challenges of Social Systems on Organisational Behaviour. 6. Explain Inter-discipline approach to Organisational Behaviour CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Organisational Behaviour 13 B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Hawthorne studies focused on _____________. (a) Social relations (b) Employee satisfaction (c) Motivation (d) All the above 2. Who has given the following definition? “Organisational behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour” (a) Fred Luthans (b) Keith Davis and Newstrom (c) Stephen P. Robbins (d) None of the above 3. Elements of organisational behaviour include _____________. (a) People (b) Structure (c) Technology (d) All the above 4. Organisation is the combination of _____________. (a) Man and Machine (b) Man and Structure (c) Science and People (d) Both (a) and (b) 5. Social systems consist of _____________. (a) Religious Aspects (b) Language (c) Customs (d) All the above Answers 1. (d), 2. (a), 3. (d), 4. (c), 5. (d). 1.12 References References of this unit have been given at the end of the book. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
UNIT 2 INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR Structure: 2.0 Learning Objectives 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Nature of Individual Human Behaviour 2.3 Factors Influencing Individual Behaviour 2.4 Personality 2.5 Determinants of Personality 2.6 Perception 2.7 Importance of Perception in Managerial Decisions 2.8 Learning and Learning Principles 2.9 Motivation 2.10 Introduction to Group Behaviour 2.11 Meaning and Features of Groups 2.12 Types of Groups 2.13 Group Formation and Development 2.14 Group Dynamics and its Importance 2.15 Types of Teams 2.16 Characteristics of Effective Team 2.17 Summary CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 15 2.18 Key Words/Abbreviations 2.19 Learning Activity 2.20 Unit End Questions (MCQ and Descriptive) 2.21 References 2.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to understand: Nature of human behaviour Nature of personality Determinants of personality Perception and learning Attitudes Different views of learning Motivation Theories of motivation Foundation of Group Behaviour Stages of group development Group structure Teams v/s. group Types of teams Creating effective teams 2.1 Introduction Individual Behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
16 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour organisms around as well as the physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary. In humans, behaviour is believed to be controlled primarily by the endocrine system and the nervous system. It is most commonly believed that complexity in the behaviour of an organism is correlated to the complexity of its nervous system. Generally, organisms with more complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new responses and thus adjust their behaviour. Behaviours can be either innate or learned. However, current research in the Human Micro biome Project points towards a possibility that human behaviour may be controlled by the composition of the microbe population within a human body. Behaviour can be regarded as any action of an organism that changes its relationship to its environment. Behaviour provides outputs from the organism to the environment. Human behaviour can be common, unusual, acceptable, or unacceptable. Humans evaluate the acceptability of behaviour using social norms and regulate behaviour by means of social control. In sociology, behaviour is considered as having no meaning, being not directed at other people and thus is the most basic human action, although it can play a part in diagnosis of disorders such as the autism spectrum disorders. Animal behaviour is studied in comparative psychology, ethnology, behavioural ecology and socio-biology. According to moral values, human behaviour may also depend upon the common, usual, unusual, acceptable or unacceptable behaviour of others. 2.2 Nature of Individual Human Behaviour Human behaviour is complex and every individual is different from another, the challenge of an effective organisation is in successfully matching the task, the manager and the subordinate. Under ideal situation, a manager would first analyze the task, then determine the required skills and assemble a team that complement each other skills; thereby creating an enriching & conflict free team. In reality, a manager has to use the existing resources for a given task, and must have the ability to understand the differences in individual behaviours and use them appropriately to increase the synergy. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 17 2.3 Factors Influencing Individual Behaviour The various factors that influencing individual behaviour are: (i) Abilities: Abilities of a person are the natural or learns traits. Abilities can be classified into mental and physical abilities and different task requires different level of the two. Mental abilities represent the intelligence, person’s deductive reasoning, and memory, analytical and verbal comprehension. Physical abilities include muscular strength, stamina, body coordination and motor skills. An individual’s self awareness of his own abilities determines how he feels about the task, while the manager’s perception of his abilities determines the kind of task he assigns to the individual. (ii) Gender: Although, research concludes that men and women are equal in their mental abilities and job performance, society does emphasize differences. However, absenteeism is one area where differences are found and can be attributed to being primary caregiver to children. However, this creates a difference in self perception of one’s abilities, personal values and social behaviour. Similarly, a manager’s personal values might influence how he considers gender as factor in his task assignment and evaluation. (iii) Race: Race and culture exert significant influence when both workplace and society have considerable diversity. Stereotyping and attributing behaviour based on race and culture are common mistakes that influence individual behaviour. It is important for both management and the staff of diverse workforce to learn about different cultures, their values, common artifacts and communication protocols. This would create a more comfortable corporate culture and would subdue behaviours that might be perceived as insensitive and offensive. (iv) Perception: Perception is the basic cognitive process that transforms sensory stimuli into meaningful information. Most real life problems are multidimensional and the rational approach is often entwined with the gut feeling, resulting in individual perception. This quells the famous notion that reality is objective and thus everyone must perceive it the same way. Both managers and subordinates must recognize that perceptual differences exist and often are the reason for mutual dissatisfaction. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
18 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour (v) Stereotyping: It is categorization of individuals on basis of single attribute, it ends up creating a generalized and simplified belief that do not take into account other significant characteristics. Age, race and sex are the three most common basis of stereotyping; not only they are unethical but can cost missing resources. In general, stereotyping leads to decisions that are based on inaccurate data that can result in unfair performance evaluations, job design or promotion. (vi) Selective Perception: It is the process of selecting only the information that supports our pre-existing belief system, thereby eliminating the discomforting information. Selective perception acts like a catalyst to stereotyping because people tend to notice things that fit their existing notion and not notice things that don’t. Both stereotyping and selective perception can be beneficial only by chance since they are based on partial information. The specific situations in which they can be positively exploited cannot be used as reliable methods. (vii) Attribution: Attribution is the process of observing behaviour and then determining its cause based on individual’s personality or situation. Attribution based on personality is due to internal causes and is termed as dispositional attribution. It includes personality traits like shyness, arrogance, intelligence, etc. Attribution based on external influences and situations that are outside the control of individual are termed as situational attribution. The basic attribution framework uses three criteria mentioned below. (viii) Consensus: It is the extent to which other people in the same situation might respond similarly. When behaviour is attributed to consensus, the individual is not rewarded or penalized due his personality. (ix) Distinctiveness: It is the extent to which the individual’s behaviour can be attributed to situations or to his personality. If the person behaves the same way in seemingly different situations, then his behaviour will be attributed to his personality. (x) Consistency: It is the measure of the frequency of the observed behaviour, how often does the behaviour occurs? High consistency is linked to dispositional attribution while low consistency is linked to situational attribution. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 19 (xi) Attitude: An attitude is the abstract learns response of an individual’s entire cognitive process over a period of time. It is experienced as a quick response to a familiar situation without any deep reasoning; it forms the basis of biases and attribution errors. As an example, an individual who has worked in various organisations might develop an attitude of indifference towards organisational citizenship. (xii) Personality: Personality is the relatively stable set of psychological attributes that distinguishes one individual from another. The ‘integrated individual behaviour model’ is a framework to understand the process by which the personality develops over a period of time. 2.4 Personality (A) Introduction: Changing Times: Need for Changed Personality Until the liberalisation of economies in various countries, environment was relatively static. Consequently, the jobs were secured. In other words, it was almost impossible for the companies to fire the employees. But, privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation changed this scenario. Competition caused by the economic liberalisations, led to the downsizing, de-layering, job sharing, talent management, retention, retrenchment and other massive layoffs. With this change losing a job has become a common feature in India as has been in the western world. Some public sector and private sector companies adapted the retrenchment strategies either voluntarily or compulsorily. However, the economic boom and particularly the boom in software industry, pharmaceutical and other sun-rising industries created a number of jobs. Added to this the man-made economic boom resulted in creation of a number of jobs. Thus, the economic boom opened up a number of jobs in various industries particularly in software industry during 1991 and 2007. Slowly, employees shifted to software industry by learning new skills. The recent economic recession in various industries after 2007 resulted in loss of jobs and issue of pink slips to the employees in significant number of companies particularly in software CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
20 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour and retail industries. The young male and female employees were shocked of this new culture of hiring and firing. Thus, hiring, firing and rehiring culture entered in their minds. Similarly, learning continuously in order to acquire the status of employability from time-to-time has also entered the young minds. Indians today learnt that the days of ‘lifetime employment’ have gone. They also learnt that they will get jobs only, if they learn and acquire new and employable skills continuously. Today, we need the people with versatile personality traits. The individuals should have and develop multiple traits and need to change them depending upon circumstances. Mahatma Gandhi designed the non-violence strategy whereas Subash Chandra Bose designed the aggressive strategy for the attainment of Independence to India. Bin Laden diverted innocent Muslim youth towards violence and terrorism in the name of God whereas Nelson Mandela directed the South Africans towards a peaceful transformation based on Gandhian principles of non-violence (Ahimsa). Narayana Murthy of Infosys followed a middle path silently. Even in the normal business activities, we come across several types of people. Some of them are competitive while others are contented. Some people are aggressive whereas others are quiet. Why do people vary so widely? To answer this question, we should know the concept of personality. (B) What is Personality? What does personality mean? People use different terms like good, popular, strong, honest, weak, polite, etc., to denote personality. Behavioural scientists and common people define personality from different perspectives. The word personality can be traced to the Latin words ‘per sona’ which are translated as “to speak through.” According to Gordon Allport, personality is “the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.” CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 21 Fred Luthans defines the term personality as, “how people affect others and how they understand and view themselves, as well as their pattern of inner and outer measurable traits and the person-situation intervention.” Robbins defines personality as, “the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others.” Thus, personality devotes for the methods of affecting others, reacting to others’ actions and interacting with others. These methods are chosen by individuals based on several factors. Important one among these are their traits. Now, we shall study personality traits. (C) Personality Traits According to Luthans, the way people affect others as per their personality traits. Personality traits include: height, weight, facial features, colour, dimension, etc. Personality traits are enduring characteristics like shyness, submissiveness, laziness, timidity, loyalty, dynamism, aggressiveness, creativity, etc., exhibited in a large number of situations. Allport and Odbert identified 17,953 personality traits. It is highly difficult to predict the individual behaviour based on such a large number of traits. R.B. Cattell reduced this number to 171. He further reduced them to 16 personality factors, or primary traits (See Table 2.1). The 16 factors are found to be generally steady and constant sources of behaviour. They help in predicting individual behaviour in specific situations. Box 2.1 presents personality traits of effective leaders. Table 2.1: Sixteen Primary Traits 1. Reserved Vs. Outgoing 2. Less intelligent Vs. More intelligent 3. Affected by feelings Vs. Emotionally stable 4. Submissive Vs. Dominant 5. Serious Vs. Happy-go-lucky 6. Expedient Vs. Conscientious 7. Timid Vs. Venturesome CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
22 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour 8. Tough-minded Vs. Sensitive 9. Trusting Vs. Suspicious 10. Practical Vs. Imaginative 11. Forthright Vs. Shrewd 12. Self-assured Vs. Apprehensive 13. Conservative Vs. Experimenting 14. Group dependent Vs. Self-sufficient 15. Uncontrolled Vs. Controlled 16. Relaxed Vs. Tense Source: Stephen P. Robbins, “Organisational Behaviour,” op.cit., p. 94. Box 2.1: Personality Traits of Effective Leaders What makes an effective leader? Why are people naturally attracted to some individuals and follow their lead while others have to work hard at coalescing others behind them and in the end are not particularly effective and are there secret ingredients that go into making effective leaders? If so, what are they and why are they so important? In this article, we’ll cover the first five of ten traits that most all effective leaders exhibit. Assertiveness – Absolutely essential to being a leader, the ability to be forthright in expressing demands, opinions, feelings, and attitudes is a key component of success. Assertiveness actually helps leaders in their performance of many tasks and especially in identifying and achieving goals. To lead, you must be prepared to confront your followers about their mistakes, make legitimate demands, demand higher performance and always set high expectations of yourself and others. Enthusiasm – Leaders know enthusiasm is contagious. Others react positively to it almost instantly. They also know without it, it’s virtually impossible to expect others to follow. Yet enthusiasm is one of the easiest traits to develop in yourself. People don’t follow leaders who are boring and dull. Moreover, the leader knows he or she must frame his or her vision and mission in an enthusiastic way for others to want to make it their own. Enthusiasm fully developed is charisma. While genuinely rare, leaders who have transformed themselves into charismatic are able to easily enroll others to “buy in” and follow. Warmth – Warmth is actually the glue that holds it all together. In fact, without warmth, a leader cannot build the rapport between himself and others that’s critical to leading. Frankly, warmth is not only wanted and needed by everyone, but it’s one of the key ingredients for emotional support of others that holds the group together. It’s also another important component of charisma. People expect their leaders to have warmth – don’t disappoint them. Self-Awareness & Objectivity – Effective leaders have developed the ability to quickly assess the strengths and limitations of and others. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 23 This allows them to capitalise upon strengths, and build-up weaknesses to convert them into strengths. A good leader also recognizes that attempting to change others is not nearly as effective as simply noticing the way others are “wired” and using those already present patterns to achieve success. High Tolerance For Frustration – Simply stated, the ability to cope with and quickly overcome the inevitable roadblocks that will come. Others will watch closely how you respond when frustrated. How you act when things are going well is easy. How you respond when the going gets tough is far more difficult. Many leaders have lost their followers having failed in this trait. Other leaders have actually cemented and grown their following by rising to the occasion and showing that in good situations or bad, their ability to stay focused while not become upset and frustrated is strong. http://www.google.co.in/search?q=personality&hl=en&sa=2 (Accessed on 12/08/09) 2.5 Determinants of Personality There has been a debate whether the leaders are born or made? It has been viewed after a long debate that leaders are both born and made, i.e., heredity. Similarly, there has been an argument as to whether personality is determined at birth or is the result of individual’s interaction with the environment. Added to this, it is also argued that situation is another factor that determines personality. Now, we shall discuss these three broad determinants of personality. According to the heredity approach, the individual’s personality is influenced by the molecular structure of the genes located in the chromosomes. Heredity Certain physical and psychological characteristics like facial attractiveness, temperament, gender, muscle composition, energy level, biological rhythms, etc., either substantially or partly are inherited from one’s parents. They are inherited by the parents’ biological, physiological and psychological make-up. Research studies show that traits like shyness, fear, height distress are mostly caused by inherited genetic characteristics. They also show that genetics accounts for around 50 per cent of personality differences and more than 30 per cent of the variation in occupational and leisure interests. However, it is strongly argued that personality factors are not completely dictated by heredity, but they are also determined by the environment. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
24 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Now, we shall study another determinant factor of personality, i.e., Environment. Environment Environmental factors are those factors which encircle us and which influence our behaviour. Culture is the most important factor among the environmental factors that influence personality. Most of the Indians are humble, obedient, tolerant, non-violent, non-materialistic, non- competitive and tend to sacrifice. Hindu religious texts, saints, parents and elders teach these cultural values. Japanese are industrious, obedient, dependent and non-violent. Buddhist religious texts and monks and elders taught these values. While the westerners are independent, competitive, industrious, ambitious and aggressive as the independent western society/culture, parents and teachers in the schools infused these cultural values in them. Culture is the complex of beliefs, values, norms, opinions and attitudes which are shared by individuals of contemporary period and transmitted from generation-to-generation. Culture is learnt from the family members, friends, peers, social groups, teachers, etc. Thus, culture is considered as the major determinant of the personality as it determines what and how an individual learns. For example, a young boy of a family with docile nature was adopted by another family with aggressive nature. The boy turned into an aggressive guy when he grew up. Many Indians who normally avoid the work, come late to the workplaces and are less quality conscious in Indian organisations behave quiet differently in western organisations. They respond and adjust to the demands of the work environment of the companies in the west. Thus, culture shapes the personality of an individual, in addition to heredity. Stephen P. Robbins views that heredity sets the parameters or outer limits while culture makes the individual to adjust himself/herself to the demands and requirements of the environment. Now, we shall discuss the third factor, i.e., situation. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 25 Situation Situations change based on the shifts in environmental factors. The stable economic environment before 1990s has turned into a more dynamic and volatile environment due to globalisation of world economies and information technology innovations. These shifts led to more competitive and challenging situations during 1991 and 2007. These situations changed into recessionary and shirking situations consequent upon economic meltdown throughout the globe after 2007. Managers changed their managing styles in crafting and implementing strategies based on these shifts in situations. Job demands vary depending upon situations and employees change their traits depending up on situational demands. Women managers have started to grow to the levels of chief executive officers of the companies and accept challenges along with men. (See Box 2.6). Managers adapt creative and growth strategies during economic boom periods and adapt retrenchment and conservative strategies during economic recession. Thus, exhibitive personality traits change based on situational demands. 2.6 Perception Perception is not necessarily just what one sees with his own eyes or what one listens with his own ears. Perception is a unique interpretation of the situation, not an exact recording of it. Fred Luthans defines the term perception as a very complex cognitive process that yields a unique picture of the world, a picture that may be quite different from reality. Uma Sekharan defines perception as, “the process through which people select, organise and interpret or atach meaning to events happening in the environment.” Stephen P. Robbins defines perception as “a process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environments.” Udai Pareek et al define perception as, “the process of receiving, selecting, organising, interpreting, checking and reacting to sensory stimuli or data.” Perceptual skills can be enhanced by adopting the following measures: Knowing oneself more accurately Assessing and knowing the others more exactly CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
26 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Being empathic Having positive attitudes Enhancing one’s self-concept Open and two-way communication with the employees Develop the habit of analysing the incidents/people/objects from the multi-dimensional point of view Avoid attributions Get complete information from multi-sources regarding an object/incident/a person and organize, interpret and perceive from the data. Be in the adult ego state, so that you would be a rational decision-maker. It does mean that your internal factors would be in control. Avoid other perceptual distortions that bias our perception Avoid inappropriate attributions. These measures help us to perceive other people, objects and situations as accurately as possible. But most of the subordinates working in various companies are concerned about how their superiors perceive them? In fact most of us also think, how our friends perceive us, how our colleagues view us and the like. In turn, we prefer to behave appropriately to others’ preferences in order to impress them. 2.7 Importance of Perception in Managerial Decisions Perception is applicable not only in social settings, but at organizational settings and workplaces also. In fact, it effects employee performance, customer service, product design, product quality, financial performance, building corporate image and the like. It affects various human resource management functions and customer service functions directly and some other functions indirectly. To be specific, perception affects performance appraisal, impression management and corporate image. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 27 Perception and Performance Appraisal Performance here refers to the degree of accomplishment of the tasks that make up an individual’s job. It indicates how well an individual is fulfilling the job demands. Performance appraisal is a method of evaluating the behaviour of employees in the work spot, normally including both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of job performance. Often the term is confused with effort, but performance is always measured in terms of results and not efforts. Some of the important features of performance appraisal may be captured thus: Performance appraisal is the systematic description of an employee’s job-relevant accomplishments and failures. The basic purpose is to find out how well the employee is performing the job and to establish a plan of improvement. Appraisals are arranged periodically according to a definite plan. Perception affects the measurement and comparison of it with the standards. Expectations of superiors in terms of performance standards rather than actually set standards influence the performance appraisal. Research studies found that superiors’ expectations rather than actual performance standards were considered in appraising the performance of bank tellers. In addition performance is measured depending on the characteristics of the perceived. The perceiver’s characteristics affect performance appraisal in the form of rating biases. The problem with subjective measure (is that rating which is not verifiable by others) has the opportunity for bias. The perceiver’s biases include: (a) halo effect, (b) the error of central tendency, (c) the leniency and strictness biases, (d) personal prejudice and (e) the recency effect. (a) Halo Effect: It is the tendency of the perceiver to depend excessively on the rating of one trait or behavioural consideration in rating all other traits or behavioural considerations. One way of minimising the halo effect is appraising all the employees by one trait before going to rate them on the basis of another trait. (b) The Error of Central Tendency: Some perceiver follow play safe policy in rating by rating all the employees around the middle point of the rating scale and they avoid rating the people at both the extremes of the scale. They follow play safe policy because of CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
28 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour answerability to the management or lack of knowledge about the job and the person he is rating or has least interest in his job. (c) The Leniency and Strictness: The leniency bias crops when some perceivers have a tendency liberalise their rating by assigning higher rates consistently. Such ratings do not serve any purpose. It should be noticed that is assigning consistently low rates also is equally demaging. (d) Personal Prejudice: If the perceiver dislikes any employee or any group, he may rate them at the lower end, which may distort the rating purpose and affect the career of the employees concerned. (e) The Recency Effect: The perceivers generally remember the recent actions of the employee at the time of rating and rate them on the basis of these recent actions — favourable or unfavourable — rather than on the whole activities. The other areas of perception those affect performance appraisal include various problems of perception like: attribution, similar-to-me effect and first impression effect. Impression Management The purpose of impression management or self-presentation is to regulate or monitor what others perceive of us. We mostly tend to try to present ourselves in a socially desirable or acceptable way in order to impress others. The employees tend to present themselves in an acceptable way to their superiors in order to be rated high in the performance appraisal or to be considered for continuation of employment or promotion or salary increase and the like. The impression management strategies (See Table 2.2) include enhancing the positive behavioural outcomes and reducing the negative behavioural outcomes. In addition, the employees would like to give the impression that they are capable of more than what they really are. In addition, they use other strategies like hiding the weaknesses, dissociation with the trouble-makers, apologising for their mistakes, associating with the positive impression-makers and the like. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 29 Impression Management and Employment Interviews Normally, most of the candidates try to impress the interview panel and market themselves in one way or the other. The impression techniques that the candidates use include dressing, speaking and elaborating acts. A study summarized the impression techniques by interviewees in a campus recruitment interviews (See Table 2.2). In fact the interviewers also responded favourably to these techniques. Thus, the candidates became successful in interviews by following these techniques. Table 2.2: Impression Management Techniques Used by Job Interviewees Impression Description Frequency of Management using Technique Technique Directly describing oneself in a positive manner of the situation 100% at hand (for example: I am a sincere employee). Self-promotion Personal Stories Describing past events that make oneself look good (for 96% example: I used to work until 8 p.m. in my previous job). 54% Opinion 50% Conformity Expressing beliefs that are assumed to be held by the target (for 46% Entitlements example: I agreeing with you-interview panel member). Other Claiming responsibility for successful past events (for example: Enhancement I was responsible for profits of my company in 2010). Making statements that flatter, praise or compliment the interviewers (for example: Your company earned profits only because of your efforts) (Source: Adapted from Jerald Greenberg and Robert A. Baron, “Behaviour in Organisations”, Prentice Hall of India (P) Ltd., New Delhi, 2007, p. 54.) Impression Management by Organisations: Corporate Image Like individuals, corporations also impress their stakeholders with respect to different aspects. For example, companies use recruitment advertisements to impress prospective employees, use issue of share advertisement to impress upon the prospective shareholders and use marketing advertisements to impress current and future customers. Companies also use their annual reports to impress all kinds of stakeholders. Companies publish annual reports projecting their image with highly attractive material, good photographs, success stories, significant achievements and data. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
30 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Another impresive management technique used by companies is creating employer brand. Employer brand carries various human resource management aspects in particular and business — both internal and external — aspects in general in order to attract, utilise and retain talent. Thus, employer brand creates employee friendly image of the employer, builds healthy working relationships between employer and employees, enhances self-esteem and organisational loyalty of the employees and there by creating a perception of stabiling in production and growth. 2.8 Learning and Learning Principles Human resources play a critical role in implementing organisational strategies and achieving goals. Different strategies need different kinds of employee behaviour. For example, the growth strategies need transformational leadership styles, employee empowerment and adult-adult ego states. Retrenchment strategies need parent-child ego states and autocratic leadership style. Thus, efficient achievement of different strategies desire different behaviours. Employees are expected to acquire the desirable work behaviour based on strategies to achieve organisational goals. In other words, employees change their behaviours depending up on shifts in strategies. Employees change their behaviours by learning new competencies, knowledge, beliefs, values and the like. Meaning Learning is a relatively permanent change in knowledge or observable behaviour that results from practice or experience. People acquire new competencies, skills, knowledge, values, beliefs, norms, cause and effect relationships and the like based on either one’s own experience or others’ experience or research output. This learning influences the individuals to change their knowledge or wisdom and/or observable behaviour. All learning may not result in observable behaviour as all learning may not result in performance. Performance need motivation and commitment to use the learned knowledge and acquired competency on to the job for the benefit of the organisation. Forms of Learning There are many forms of learning. Learning takes place through education, training, management development programmes, self-observation of various activities. Individuals CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 31 primarily learn through various formal and informal education programmes. Formal education programmes are offered by schools, colleges, universities, technical, vocational training institutions as well as open and distance educational institutions. Informal education is provided by the parents and other family members, peers and various social and religious organisations. Various organisations provide job training to prepare the candidates for jobs. In addition, organisations provide training and management development programmes to their employees to provide job skills. Individuals learn through these educational, training and management development programmes. In addition, individuals learn by observing others while performing various activities. Similarly, individuals learn through converting the ideas, imaginations and assumptions into practice as well as through various research activities. Learning Principles Models of human learning are studied in order to find out the reasons for fast and accurate learning. The principles of learning developed by Sikula are as follows: (a) All human beings can learn. (b) An individual must be motivated to learn. (c) Learning is active and not passive. (d) Learners may acquire knowledge more rapidly with guidance. Feedback ensures improvement in speed and accuracy of learning. (e) Appropriate material (like case studies, tools, problems, reading, etc.) should be provided. (f) Time must be provided to practice learning. (g) Learning methods should be varied. Variety of methods should be introduced to off-set fatigue and boredom. (h) The learner must secure satisfaction from learning. Education must fulfill human needs, desires and expectations. (i) Learners need reinforcement of correct behaviour. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
32 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour (j) Standards of performance should be set for the learner. (k) Different levels of learning exist. (l) Learning is an adjustment on the part of an individual. (m) Individual differences play a large part in effectiveness of the learning process. (n) Learning is a cumulative process. (o) Ego involvement is widely regarded as a major factor in learning. (p) The rate of learning decreases when complex skills are involved. (q) Learning is closely related to attention and concentration. (r) Learning involves long-run retention and immediate acquisition of knowledge. (s) Accuracy deserves generally more emphasis than speed. (t) Learning should be relatively based. (u) Learning should be goal-oriented. Different Views of Learning (i) Transmission View: Transmission is the process by which information; knowledge, ideas and skills are taught to others through purposeful, conscious telling, demonstration, and guidance. Over the course of a lifetime, this method accounts for only about 10% of learning. Unfortunately, this is the most traditional and, currently, the most pre-dominate method of instruction. However, we are finding out it is not very effective and moving toward acquisition and emergence, and examining the lessons of accretion. (ii) Acquisition View: Acquisition is the conscious choice to learn. Material in this category is relevant to the learner. This method includes exploring, experimenting, self-instruction, inquiry, and general curiosity. Currently, acquisition accounts for about 20% of what we learn. (iii) Accretion View: Accretion is the gradual, often subconscious or subliminal, process by which we learn things like language, culture, habits, prejudices, and social rules and behaviours. We are usually unaware that the processes involved in accretion are taking CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 33 place, but this method accounts for about 70% of what we know. Social learning certainly plays into this type of learning, as does the hidden or covert curriculum. (iv) Emergence View: Emergence is the result of patterning, structuring and the construction of new ideas and meanings that did not exist before, but which emerges from the brain through thoughtful reflection, insight and creative expression or group interactions. This form of learning accounts for the internal capacities of synthesis, creativity, intuition, wisdom, and problem-solving. This method is greatly dependent on the allocation of time, and opportunities to reflect and construct new knowledge. This method plays an important role in inspiration and originality. In the context of current educational practices, we learn only 1-2% by this method. Characteristics of Learning Learning has the following characteristics: Learning involves change: As indicated earlier, people acquire new information which is processed in their cognition. This process produces new knowledge. This new knowledge brings changes in their existing pattern of behaviour. Change must be Relatively Permanent: When the information acquired is converted into knowledge and wisdom, people change their behaviour more or less permanently. Behavioural Issues: The change in the knowledge and wisdom should produce different attitudes and values. These new attitudes and values should change the behaviour. Then only it is called learning. In other words, the new attitudes and values not accompanied by change in behaviour is not called learning. Experience-based: Learning is based on experience. Experience may be direct or indirect, personal, through observation or through reading. Now, we shall discuss the theories of learning. There are three theories of learning, viz., Behaviouralistic Theories Cognitive Theories Social Learning Theory CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
34 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Behaviouralistic Theories Behaviouralistic theories of learning are developed by the traditional behaviourists like Ivan Pavlov, and John B. Watson. These classical behaviourists attributed learning to the connection between Stimulus and Response (S R). Whereas, the operant behaviourists particularly B.F. Skinner attributed learning to the consequence, i.e., Response-Stimulus (R S) connection. The Stimulus Response connection deals with classical or respondent connection while the Response Stimulus connection deals with the instrumental or operant conditioning. Classical Conditioning The Russian Pioneering behaviourist Ivan Pavlov conducted classical conditioning experiment using dogs as subjects. Classical conditioning came out of experiments to teach dogs to salivate in response to the ringing of a bell. Pavlov measured the amount of Saliva secreted by a dog. Pavlov presented meat powder to the dog (unconditioned stimulus), then he noticed a great deal of salivation (unconditioned response). When he merely rang a bell (neutral stimulus) the dog had no salivation. Next Pavlov presented the meat powder along with ringing the bell. After doing this several times, he rang the bell without presenting the meat. This time the dog salivated to the bell alone. The dog had become classically conditioned to salivate (conditioned response) to the sound of the bell (conditioned stimulus). The classical conditioning reveals that the stimulus elicits response, i.e., S R. Examples of classical conditioning The Individual Stimulus (S) Response (R) Runs away Sees a snake Says ‘Yes’ boss is ordered by an autocratic manner reads it sees a good book Skinner felt that classical conditioning cannot explain the more complex human behaviours. He felt that human behaviour affects or is affected by the environment. This behaviour is explained by operant conditioning. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 35 Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning emphasises that learning occurs as a consequence of behaviour, i.e., R S. Employees work for more hours to get more salary or not to be fired. If the management pays more salary to those employees who work for more hours, then the employees repeat their behaviour of working for more hours. Paying more salary is called reinforcement. Reinforcement strengthens a behaviour and increases the likelihood of repeating that behaviour. Example of operant conditioning: The student Response (R) Stimulus (S) The employee studies hard gets first class The businessman Commits to the company is promoted The student is ethical maximises wealth enters the classroom listens to the lecture Operant conditioning is more relevant to human learning than classical conditioning. It also explains most of the organisational behaviour aspects. Operant conditioning is used by organisational behaviour researchers to explain the effectiveness of managers. Cognitive Theories Cognitive theories emphasise on the cognitive process. Cognitive learning theories establish the relationship between cognitive environmental cues and expectations. Edward Tolman is a widely recognised cognitive theorist. He conducted an experiment using white rats as subjects. He found that a rat could learn to run through an intricate maze with purpose and direction toward a goal (food). The rat learned to expect that certain cognitive cues associated with the choice point might eventually led to food. Tolman’s approach is depicted as S-S (Stimulus-Stimulus). In other words learning is the association between the cue and expectancy. Employees expect higher salaries, promotions, and high quality of work life. Employees learn that they can achieve their expectations by working productively. The realisation of working CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
36 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour productively is the result of cognitive environmental cues. Organisational behaviour researchers are currently concerned about the relationship between cognitions and organisational behaviour. Now, we shall discuss the social learning theory. Social Learning Theory People learn through different means like observation of others, direct experiences and indirect experiences. Learning though these various means is called social learning. Social learning theory integrates behavioural concepts, cognitive concepts and environmental determinants. (See Fig 2.1). Social learning takes place through reciprocal interactions among people, behaviour and environment. Reciprocal interactions take place by integrating operant and cognitive learning approaches. This theory draws the inputs from the principles of classical and operant conditioning. It also recognises that learning takes place through various means like vicarious, modelling and self controlling processes. Symbolic Processes Self Control Verbal/mental images Self efficacy that that Help guide behaviour control behaviour Modelling Behaviour Behaviour acquired by Observing and imitating others Fig. 2.1: Social Learning Model (Source: Adapted from R. Kreitner and Fred Luthans, “A Social Learning Approach to Behavioural Management”, Organisational Dynamics, Autumn, 1984, p. 55. It is observed from the figure that individuals learn by observing others, imitate them and modelling them through practice. Employees model their superiors or other managers. Tutors in the university model their lecturers/mentors. Kids model and imitate their big brothers/sisters/ CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 37 parents/ other family members. However, the entire behaviour of individuals is not acquired through imitations. However, the individuals learn through their own verbal and mental images as well as their own self efficacy that controls behaviour. These approaches shape the leaning through imitating the models. People learn from various role models like parents, teachers, peers, leaders, etc. The influence of models is significant in social learning theory. There are four processes through which the model influences the individuals. These four processes include: Attention Processes: People learn from the critical features of the models like leadership skills, attractiveness, timely decision-making, etc. Retention Process: The level of influence of the model depends on the level to what extent the individual remembers the model. Motor Reproduction Processes: People may at times imitate the models. Children imitate their parents and teachers. This is because, observation is converted into action. Reinforcement Processes: Individuals prefer to exhibit the behaviour of the model, if such behaviour results in rewards. People pay more attention to and learn the positively reinforced behaviours from the models. 2.9 Motivation (A) Why Motivation? Every human action is the result of a need or desire. One experiences a sort of mental discomfort as long as that need remains unsatisfied in him/her. The moment the action is initiated he/she makes an attempt to get over the discomfort. What causes an action is the need or desire? What causes a need is called the stimulus? Therefore, the manager’s duty is to create the stimulus that causes a need which initiates action leading to satisfaction. This should be a repetitive process for the action to continue. All this is called ‘motivation’ in management. Now we shall discuss the need for, significance and nature of motivation. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
38 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Managers motivate the employees basically owing to the following reasons: To direct employees’ skills, competencies and knowledge towards job performance: People are the critical resource in the business process in converting the inputs into output and thereby achieving business goal. People contribute to the achievement of organisational goals with the help of their skills, competencies and knowledge. Employees use these skills for the job when they are enabled and encouraged to do so. Managers through motivation direct employee skills towards job performance. Otherwise employees use these skills for unproductive purposes like organisational politics and unproductive trade union activities and for their personal business. To direct employees’ skills, competencies and knowledge towards organisational requirements: Employees contribute their skills and competencies towards the achievement of organisational purposes and strategies in addition to their jobs. Managers have to encourage employees to use their resources to contribute to organisational goals in addition to job needs. To encourage employees to achieve strategies: Organisational success as well as sustainability depends on achievement of organisational strategies efficiently. Managers have to encourage employees to use their resources to contribute to the achievement of organisational strategies in addition to job needs. To enhance employee job satisfaction: Employees’ job satisfaction depends on a number of factors like remuneration, type of the job, job challenges, interesting work, social factors, job security, organisational facilities, organisational brand in the market as well as corporate governance and citizenship. Managers strive to provide these and encourage employees to feel that this job is providing a range of benefits and get satisfied with the job. To increase employee commitment to the job and organisation: Employee commitment is essential ingredient for organisational success as committed employees spends all his resources for the organisation. This in turn makes the company to be innovative, caring for customer and grow continuously. To attract candidates suitable to the job and the organisation: Organisational motivational practices create employer brand. Positive employer brand attract the competent candidates to apply for a job. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 39 To retain competent and high performing employees: Organisational motivational practices result in employee satisfaction and satisfied employees prefer to stay with the organisation. Thus managers practice motivation in order to retain competent and high performing employees. To enhance human resource competency as a distinctive competitive advantage of the organisation: Human resource is recognized as a distinctive competitive advantage in competing with other organisations as all other resources can be copied/imitated or acquired. But the committed human resource with innovative skills can't be copied/imitated. Managers, therefore, convert human resource as a distinctive competitive advantage through motivation. To reduce absenteeism: Motivation enhances employee job satisfaction. The satisfied employee prefers to commit to the job and the organisation. The committed employee prefers to spend his/her resources and time to the job and the organisation. Thus motivation reduces absenteeism. To increase employee productivity: Higher productivity reduces cost of operations and thereby increases profits. Committed and competent employees positively contribute to productivity. Managers motivate employees to be committed and acquire competencies. To enhance organisational citizenship: Motivated employees not only contribute to organisational productivity, but also to the organisational behaviour that is compatible to the norms of corporate citizenship behaviour. There are five categories of corporate citizenship behaviour viz., (i) conscientiousness-performing tasks beyond minimum required levels, (ii) altruism-helping others, (iii) civic virtue- participating in the political life of the organisation, (iv) sportsmanship-taking positive attitude and not complaining and (v) courtesy-treating others with respect. Managers motivate the employees towards the enhancement of organisational citizenship. Motives The term motive is derived from the Latin word ‘movere.’ It means ‘to move.’ ‘Motive’ is defined as an inner-state that energises, activates (or moves) and directs (or channels) the behaviour of individuals towards certain goals. Motives are certain important needs of human beings. These needs have different degrees of potency or strength. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
40 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour The strong need or motive creates high tension or disequilibrium in a person and makes him restless until the need is fulfilled. For example, the need for professional recognition makes the doctor restless until the co-doctors and patients recognize him as an efficient doctor. In order to reduce the tension, the doctor treats the critical cases. Motives induce the individuals to channel their behaviour towards those actions which would reduce the disequilibrium. Thus, motives are drives which energises individuals to an action with a direction. For example, the strong motive of earning large sums of money directs the students to take up the action of studying course which have fast earnings. Types of Motives Motives are classified into three categories, viz., primary motives, general motives and secondary motives. Primary Motives Psychologists say some motives are unlearned and they are called physiological, biological, unlearned or primary motives. Like, fasting before prayer and fasting during religiously auspicious days. In these cases, secondary motives are stronger over primary motives. These motives include: hunger, sleep, avoidance of pain, sex and material concern. These motives are both unlearned and physiologically based. These motives always do not take precedence over general or secondary motives. General and secondary motives take precedence over primary motives in some situations. General Motives The motives which can’t be classified either as primary motives or as secondary motives are categorized into general motives. These motives are unlearned but not physiologically based. Primary movies tend to reduce the tension or stimulation. In contrast, general motives encourage a person to increase the stimulation. Therefore, these needs are also called, ‘stimulus motives.’ General motives play a significant role in organisational behaviour than primary motives. General motives include: Curiosity, manipulation, activity motives and affection motive. Human curiosity, manipulation and activity drives are quite intense. The teacher or examiner tries CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 41 to confuse the student in order to create curiosity to learn deeper or exhibit the potentialities. Similarly, superiors allocate complex work to the subordinates in order to explore the employees’ curiosity, manipulation and activity drives. Similarly, employees should also be allowed to exhibit their curiosity, manipulation and activity motives, in order to motivate them. Affection motive is closely associated with the sex motive or primary motive and also affiliation motive or secondary motive. Hence, affection motive sometimes is classified as primary motive and sometimes as secondary motive. Affection motive plays a vital role in the organisations as most of the employees, in these days, are deprived of love and affection at home. Further, it plays a vital role in the general society also, due to the adages of, ‘Love makes the world go round’ and ‘Love conquers all.’ Secondary Motives General motives play a significant role in organisational behaviour compared to primary motives. But secondary motives play further pivotal role in organisational behaviour. Primary motives do not play a significant role in the developed countries. However, it is not true in case of developing countries like ours. Secondary motives are closely related to learning concepts. Important secondary motives are power, achievement and affiliation. Examples of key secondary needs are presented in Exhibit 2.5. Exhibit 2.5: Examples of Key Secondary Needs Need for Achievement Doing better than competitors Attaining or surpassing a difficult goal Solving a complex problem Carrying out a challenging assignment successfully Developing a better way to do something Need for Security Having a secure job Being protected against loss of income or economic disaster Having protection against illness and disability CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
42 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Being protected against physical harm or hazardous conditions Avoiding tasks or decisions with a risk of failure and blame Need for Power Influencing people to change their attitudes or behaviour Controlling people and activities Being in a position of authority over others Gaining control over information and resources Defeating an opponent or enemy Need for Status Having the right car and wearing the right clothes Working for the right company in the right job Having a degree from the right university Living in the right neighbourhood and belonging to the country club Having executive privileges Need for Affiliation Being liked by many people Being accepted as part of a group or team Working with people who are friendly and cooperative Maintaining harmonious relationships and avoiding conflicts Participating in pleasant social activities (Source: Adapted from Gary Yukl, Skills for Managers and Leaders, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1990, p. 41. The examples of need for status are developed by Fred Luthans, op.cit., p. 144.) (B) Motivating Marketing Manager of ABC Pharma Ltd. tells the sales force as: Those who achieve 200% targets will receive 200% of monthly salary as commission and will be promoted as Area Sales Managers. Thus, the marketing manager induced the sales force to engage in extensive sales through the motives of commission and promotion. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
Individual Behaviour 43 Motivating implies that one person induces another person to engage in action or desired work behaviour by ensuring that a channel to direct the motive of the person becomes available and accessible to the person. Managers play a significant role in motivating the subordinates. They identify employees' talents, skills, creativity and innovative ideas and energise them to put these into action. Thus, the managers motivate their subordinates. Through this action, the managers help convert the innovative and creative ideas of their subordinates into worthwhile actions. Managers play a significant role in motivating their subordinates by channelling the employee's potentialities and work behaviour towards the organisational goals. Further, the managers also convert a weak desire into a strong desire and motive. This, in turn helps the employee to make use of his potentialities for his benefit and also for the organisation. The relationship among motive, motivating and motivation is presented in Fig. 2.2. Motive Motivating Motivation Needs in Setting up proper stimuli Engagement of Individuals in the work environment to individuals in activate the motives in desired/positive individuals work behaviour Fig. 2.2: Relationship among Motive, Motivating and Motivation Motivation Motivation is derived from the word motive. “A motive is an inner-state that energises, activates or moves and directs or channels behaviour towards goals.” “Motivation represents an unsatisfied need which creates a state of tension or disequilibrium, causing the individual to move in a goal directed pattern towards restoring a state of equilibrium by satisfying the need.” According to the Encyclopaedia of Management, “motivation refers to the degree of readiness of an organisation to pursue some designated goal and implies the determination of the nature and locus of the forces, including the degree of readiness.” CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
44 Principle of Management and Organisation Behaviour Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or ‘incentive.’ Thus, the process of motivation lies in the meaning of and relationship among needs, drives and incentives (Fig. 2.3). Need Drive Goals/Incentives (Deficiency) (Deficiency (Reduction of drives with Direction) and fulfills deficiencies) Fig. 2.3: The Basic Motivation Process Need: Need is deficiency. Needs are created whenever there is a physiological or psychological imbalance. Drive: Drive is a deficiency with direction. They are action-oriented and provide an emerging thrust towards goal accomplishment. Incentives: Incentive is anything that will alleviate a need to reduce a drive. Constant state of tension is the nature of Feedback, possible Goal Equilibrium motivated people. The drives towards an activity Modification of relieve the tension. The outcome or the result also Action, movement reduces the tension. Greater activity is needed to Unsatisfied Need or Behaviour reduce the greater tension. The greater activity increases the level of motivation. Thus, greater Tension/Disequilibrium tension needs greater activity which results in higher motivation. The basic motivation process is presented Unsatisfied Need in Fig. 2.4. This process shows that there are three Creation of a Need phases in motivation. There are three areas in motivation, viz., Fig. 2.4: Basic Motivation Process motives, motivation and motivating. Let us look at each of them. The three basic phases of motivation include: Effort, Persistence and Direction. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)
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