Introduction:

Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of

knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in
organizations. It does this by taking a s y s t e m a p p r o a c h .
That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in
terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization,
and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better
relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational
objectives, and social objectives.

As you can see from the definition above, organizational

behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as
human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since many
of these topics are covered elsewhere in the leadership
guide, this paper will focus on a few parts of OB: elements,
models, social systems, OD, work life, action learning, and
change.

“A b i l i t y ”

An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.

Ability may be:

• aptitude
• ability to pay
• Intelligence
• physical ability
• skill
• expertise

Intellectual Abilities:
That required to do mental activities.

Intellectual Ability

Intellectual ability commonly refers to the ability measured

by performance on an intelligence test. It is also sometimes
used in the context of discussing the performance of
someone in an academic or real world setting.

Intellectual ability and cortical

development in children and adolescents

Children who are adept at any one of the three academic 'R's
(reading, writing and arithmetic) tend to be good at the
others, and grow into adults who are similarly skilled at
diverse intellectually demanding activities1, 2, 3. Determining
the neuroanatomical correlates of this relatively stable
individual trait of general intelligence has proved difficult,
particularly in the rapidly developing brains of children and
adolescents. Here we demonstrate that the trajectory of
change in the thickness of the cerebral cortex, rather than
cortical thickness itself, is most closely related to level of
intelligence. Using a longitudinal design, we find a marked
developmental shift from a predominantly negative
correlation between intelligence and cortical thickness in
early childhood to a positive correlation in late childhood and
beyond. Additionally, level of intelligence is associated with
the trajectory of cortical development, primarily in frontal
regions implicated in the maturation of intelligent activity4, 5.
More intelligent children demonstrate a particularly plastic
cortex, with an initial accelerated and prolonged phase of
cortical increase, which yields to equally vigorous cortical
thinning by early adolescence. This study indicates that the
neuroanatomical expression of intelligence in children is
dynamic

Physical Abilities:
That required to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity,
strength, and similar characteristics.

Fitness for the job Rejection of an applicant for failing a

physical abilities test must be based on a determination of
the individual's fitness for the job not on a general
determination on the disabilities of the applicant.

Physical Abilities Tests: Tests typically test applicants on

some physical requirement such as lifting strength, rope
climbing, or obstacle course completion.
Advantages Disadvantages

• can idendentify • costly to administer

individuals who are
physically unable to
perform the essential
functions of a job without
risking injury to
themselves or others
• can result in decreased
costs related to
disability/medical claims,
insurance, and workers
compensation
• requirements must be
shown to be job related
through a thorough job
analysis
• may have age based
disparate impact against
older applicants

• decreased absenteeism

T h e A b i l i t y - J o b Fi t :

Employee performance is enhanced when there is a high

ability - job fit

Individual Ability
let’s see how an individuals ability is related to
organizational
behaviour;
Organizational behaviour is traditionally considered as the ‘
study of human behaviour in
the work place’. According to this view organisations,
representing collective entities of
human actions and experiences, are dependent upon the
extent to which such actions/
experiences, are effectively coordinated. To understand
human action, one needs to have
a fundamental understanding of human behaviours and the
underlying stimuli. The
behaviour of individuals are influenced significantly by their
abilities. The following
diagram presents the various individual factors affecting the
final behaviour of a person.
Figure 1.Behaviour of Individuals

ABILITY
Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform the
various tasks in a job.
An individual's overall abilities are essentially made up of the
following factors:
1. Intellectual Abilities, and
2. Physical Abilities.
Different Types of Abilities
Figure 2. Various types of abilities
INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES:
Intellectual Abilities are those that are needed to perform
mental activities. Mental
activities can be measured by intelligent quotient (IQ) tests,
that are designed to ascertain
one's general Mental abilities. Some familiar examples of
such tests in are Common
Admission Tests (CAT), Management programs admission
tests (GMAT), law (LSAT),
and medical (MCAT), etc. Usually these tests try to measure
and evaluate one’s mental
abilities on various academic areas pertaining to the success
in the relevant courses, such
as mathematics, English, General knowledge etc.
It is believed that there are a few different dimensions of
mental abilities. Some of the
most frequently cited dimensions of intellectual capacities
are:

1. Number Aptitude (Mathematics),

2. Verbal Comprehension (English),
3. Perceptual Speed,
4. Reasoning,
5. Deductive Reasoning,
6. Spatial Visualization,
7. Memory
Generally speaking, the more information processing is
required in a job, the more
general intelligence and verbal abilities will be necessary to
perform the job successfully.
Of course, a high IQ is not a prerequisite for all. In Fact, for
many jobs in which
employee behavior is highly routine and there are little or no
opportunities to exercise
discretion, a high IQ may be unrelated to performance. On
the other hand, a careful
review of the evidence demonstrates that tests that assess
verbal, numerical, spatial, and
perceptual ability are valid predictors of job proficiency at all
levels of jobs. Therefore,
tests measure specific dimensions of intelligence have been
found to be strong predictors
of future job performance.
Exhibit 1: Different Types of Mental abilities
Sr
No.
Dimension of
intellectual abilities
Description
Job Example
1 :Number aptitude
Ability to do speedy and accurate
arithmetic
Accountant
2: Verbal
Communication
Read write speaking ability
Senior
managers
3: Perceptual Speed
Identify similarities and differences
quickly and accurately
Investigators
4: Inductive reasoning
Logical sequence drawing
Market
Researcher
5: Deductive reasoning
Ability to use logic and assess the
implications of the argument
Supervisors
6: Spatial Visualization
Ability to imagine
Interior
decorator
7: Memory
Ability to retain and recall past
experience
Sales person-
Remembering
customer’s
name

PHYSICAL ABILITIES
To the same degree that intellectual abilities play a larger
role in complex jobs with
demanding information-processing requirements, specific
physical abilities gain
importance for successfully doing less skilled and more
standardized jobs. For example,
jobs in which success demands stamina, manual dexterity,
leg strength, or similar talents
require management to identify an employee's physical
capabilities.
Research on the requirements needed in hundreds of jobs
has identified nine basic
abilities involved in the performance of physical tasks. These
are described in Exhibit 2.
Individuals differ in the extent to which they have each of
these abilities. Surprisingly,
there is also little relationship between them: A high score on
one is no assurance of a
high score on others. High employee performance is Likely to
be achieved when
management has ascertained the extent to which a job
requires each of the nine abilities
and then ensures that, employees in that job have those
abilities.
The specific intellectual or physical abilities required for
adequate job performance
depend on the ability requirements of the job. So, for
example, airline pilots need strong
spatial-visualization abilities. Beach lifeguards need both
strong spatial-visualization
abilities and body coordination Senior Managers need verbal
abilities; high rise
construction workers need balance; and Journalists with
weak reasoning abilities would
likely have difficulty meeting minimum job-performance
standards.
What predictions can we make when the fit is poor?
Quite obviously, if employees lack the required abilities, they
are likely to fail. But When
the ability-job fit is out of sync because the employee has
abilities that far exceed the
requirements of the job, our predictions would be very
different. Job performance is
likely to be adequate, but there will be organizational
inefficiencies and possible declines
in employee satisfaction. Given that pay tends to reflect the
highest skill level that
employees possess, if an employee's abilities far exceed
those necessary to do the job,
management will be paying more than it needs to, Abilities
significantly above those
required can also reduce the employee's job satisfaction
when the employee's desire to
use his or her abilities is particularly strong and is frustrated
by the limitations of the job.

Exhibit 2: Different Types of Physical Abilities

Nine Basic Physical abilities
Strength factor
1: Dynamic
Exerting muscular strength rapidly and repeatedly
2: Trunk
Exerting muscular strength rapidly and repeatedly using the
trunk muscle
3: Static
Exert force against external object
4: Explosive
Exert and expend all force in one or series of explosive acts.
Flexibility factor
5: Extent
Ability to bend trunk and back muscle
6: Dynamic
Ability to bend trunk and back muscle rapidly and repeatedly
Other factor
7: Body Co-
ordination
Mind and body control
8: Balance
Ability to maintain equilibrium against external force.
9: Stamina
Ability to exert force persistently.

• IINTELLECTUAL ABILITIES
The abilities that are needed to
perform mental activities (such as
logical reasoning, analysis) as per the
requirement of the job
• PHYSICAL ABILITIES
• some jobs demand certain specific
physical abilities for its success (such
as stamina, physical dexterity, leg
strength
ability and Job Fit:
Employee performance is enhanced when an employee and
position are well
matched—what we call a high ability–job fit. If we focus only
on the employee’s
abilities or the ability requirements of the job, we ignore the
fact that employee
performance depends on the interaction of the two.
What predictions can we make when the fit is poor? If
employees lack the
required abilities, they are likely to fail. If you’re hired as a
word processor and you
can’t meet the job’s basic keyboard typing requirements,
your performance is going to
be poor in spite of your positive attitude or your high level of
motivation. When an
employee has abilities that far exceed the requirements of
the job, our predictions
would be very different. The employee’s performance may
be adequate, but it may be
accompanied by organizational inefficiencies and possible
declines in employee satis-
faction because the employee is frustrated by the limitations
of the job. Additionally,
given that pay tends to reflect the highest skill level that
employees possess, if an
employee’s abilities far exceed those necessary to do the
job, management will be
paying more than it needs to pay.

Ability job fit?

what prediction can you make for an orginization
where ablity-joby fit is poor?
If people's abilities aren't suited for the job, the organization
will likely suffer from:
-- inefficiencies -- it will take a longer time frame for such
employees to complete tasks, as compared with people who
are suited for the job
-- lack of innovation - employees who aren't suited for the
job won't be able to make a strong impact through creative
design, new ideas, etc.
-- poor morale - people will be frustrated because they don't
have the ability to do as good a job as they would like to do

This will result in inferior products and services, as well as

decreased competitiveness. At the extreme, this could lead
to bankruptcy, or at least lower share prices (if public),
leadership change and / or restructuring.

o Employee performance is enhanced when there is

a high ability - job fit.
o We need to keep this in mind from an HR
perspective as well as an individual trying to make
a job decision.
• What predictions can we make if the fit is poor?
o If employees lack the required abilities?
o If employees abilities far exceed the requirements
of the job?

Physical Abilities Tests: Tests typically test applicants on

some physical requirement such as lifting strength, rope
climbing, or obstacle course completion.
 Advantages Disadvantages

• can idendentify • costly to administer

individuals who are • requirements must be
physically unable to shown to be job related
perform the essential through a thorough job
functions of a job without analysis
risking injury to
themselves or others • may have age based
• can result in decreased disparate impact against
costs related to older applicants
disability/medical claims,
insurance, and workers
compensation

• decreased absenteeism

Ability and Job Fit

physical Abilities: Specific physical abilities have importance

to the same degree that intellecutual abilities do. Even
though intellectual abilities play a larger role in complex jobs
that have demanding information-processing requirements.
Physical abililities do gain importance for the fact that they
require less-skilled and more-standardized jobs successfully.
Jobs in which success is due in part to and demands stamina,
leg strength, manual dexterity, and or similar talents that
require management to identify an employee’s physical
capabilities.

According to research done on the requirements needed for

hundreds of jobs. There are nine key basic abilities that are
connected in the performance of physical tasks. Each
individual is different to the extent in which they will possess
each of these abilities. Surprisingly, there is very little
relationship between them. Getting a high score one isn’t
assurance that a person will get a high score on others.
Employee performance is more likely to be higher when
management has determined the extent to which a job
requires each of the nine abilities. It then ensures that
employees in said job do have those abilities per se..

The major concern is with trying to explain and predict the

behavior of people at work. In this section, it is being
demonstrated that jobs do place differing demands on
people, and that people are often different in their abilities in
said relation to job. Employee performance is improved
overall when there is the presence of a high ability-job fit.

Specific intellectual and or physical abilities that are required

for proper job performance depend solely on the ability
requirements of that job. For example, airline pilots should
have strong spatial visualization abilities. Beach lifeguards
also need strong spatial visualizaion and good body
coordination. Senior executives should possess excellent
verbal abilities. Journalists who don’t have strong reasoning
abilities would surely have difficulty meeting their minimum
job-performance standards. High-rise construction workers
should have balance. If one directly focuses their attention
only on the employee’s abilities or only on the ability
requirements of the job alone. This will be ignoring the fact
that employee performance does depend on the interaction
of the two as one.

What predictions can be made when the fit turns out to be

poor? Those employees who don’t have the required abilities
are more likely to fail as a rule. If someone is hired as a word
processor and cannot meet the basic keyboard typing
requirments. Your performance will lack and be poor despite
your positive attitude and level of motivation. If the ability
job fit is totally out of sync. Due to the fact that the
employee has abilities that go beyond the requirments of the
job. Predictions would then be different per se. Though job
performance is more than likely to be adequate. There will
still be organizational inefficiencies and possible declines in
employee satisfaction. Pay usually tends to reflect the
highest skill level that an employee has. But if an
employee’s abilities far exceed those necessary to perform
the job. Management will then be paying more than it really
needs to. Any abilities above those that are required can also
help to reduce the employee’s job satisfaction whenever the
employee’s desire to use his or her abilities are particularly
strong and they do become frustrated by the confining
limitations that the job has.

If you are a job seeker, you might not be considering the

importance of "ability job-fit." This fit is critical. Without it,
you become among the estimated 75 percent of the
workforce who are dissatisfied with their jobs. Failure to
match personal characteristics in the job process may result
in unfavorable outcomes such as job lock, personal
dissatisfaction, employment ceilings and the uncomfortable
position of seeking a new job after a short period of time. If
you achieve the ability jobfit, you are one of the few who is
passionate about ...

Intellectual Ability and Job Fit:

Intellectual abilities are all those that are required to perform
any and all specific mental activities per se. These mental
activities are for thinking, reasoning, and problem solving as
a rule. It is intelligence quotient (IQ) tests that are designed
and used to determine one’s general intellectual abilities.
Popular college admission tests such as the SAT and ACT and
graduate admission tests in business (GMAT), common
admission (CAT), law(LSAT), and medicine (MCAT).

There are seven frequently cited dimensions that make up

intellectual abilities. These seven dimensions are number
aptitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive
reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial visualization, and
memory.

Demands differ with regards to jobs and the emphasis that is

placed on incumbents to use their intellectual abilities. The
more complex a job is in terms of information processing
demands. The more general intelligence and verbal abilities
will be necessary overall to perform the job successfully.

Having a high iQ isn’t always a prerequisite for a lot of jobs.

A high IQ may very well be unrelated to performance in jobs
where employee behavior is highly routine and there are
little to no opportunities to exercise discretion. However, on
the other hand, a careful review of evidence usually
demonstrates that tests which assess verbal, numerical,
spatial, and perceptual abilities are valid predictors of job
proficiency. This is something that is at all levels of jobs.

Tests that do measure specific dimensions of intelligence

have been discovered to be strong indicators of job
performance in the future. This is mainly why top companies
like Amazon.com and Microsoft do emphasize assessing
candidates’ intelligence as the key element as part of their
inititial hiring process.

Those companies who visit campus for recruiting MBAs in

Asia prefer going only to business school that give CAT. CAT
has three key components that are logical reasoning,
quantitative analysis, and verbal ability..

One of the major dilemmas faced by employers who use

ability tests for selection, promoting, training, and similar
personnel decisions is that they may have a negative
response with regards to racial and ethnic groups. For
instance of this, some minority groups do score on the
average, as much as one standard deviation lower than
whites. These scores are tied to verbal, numerical, and
spatial ability tests spefically as a rule. But after reviewing
the evidence, researchers recently concluded that even
though there are group differences in mean teast
performance. There is very little evidence to support that
well-constructed tests are more predictive of educational
training, and or occupational training for those members of
the majority group than members of minority groups.
Researchers have begun to expand the meaning of
intelligence beyond mental abilities in the past ten years.
Recent evidence of this suggests that intelligence can be
more understood if it is broken down into four working parts.
These four subparts are cognitive, social, emotional, and
cultural.

Cognitive intelligence is all about the aptitudes that have

long been a part of traditional intelligence tests. A person’s
ability to relate effectively and well with others is called
social intelligence. The ability to identify, understand and
manage one’s emotions is known as being emotional
intelligence. Cultural intelligence is the awareness of all
cross-cultural differences and the overall ability to function
positively in cross-cultural situations. This line of inquiry
towards multiple intelligences is something that is still in its
infancy. But it does have considerable promise. It may very
well help us to explain why some so-called very smart
people-those with high cognitive intelligence don’t readily
adapt well to everyday life. As well as work well with others
and succeed if placed in leadership roles.

What's more impressive to you, physical ability or

intellectual prowess?

Super smart. The mind is an amazing thing and there is a

real thrill for me to see how much a mind can do. The thing
is ... a strong guy that can lift heavy things (as an example)
can only do that. A smart person can figure out way to get
the heavy things lifted in other ways and they are still smart
on top of that. ;)

Persons with Intellectual Disability:

Individuals who demonstrate a slower rate of learning and a
limited capacity to learn are identified as having an
intellectual disability. Intellectual Disability is seven times
more prevalent than deafness, nine times more prevalent
than cerebral palsy, 15 times more prevalent than total
blindness and 35 times more prevalent than muscular
dystrophy.

Ninety percent of all persons with an intellectual disability

have a mild intellectual disability and generally are
outwardly indistinguishable from their peers without an
intellectual disability. However, because of their learning
limitations, certain teaching and coaching strategies are
more successful than others. Specifically, demonstration,
physical prompt, and manipulation of body parts are
preferred to verbal instruction. Tasks to be learned should be
divided into small meaningful steps, presented sequentially
and then practiced in total with as little change in the order
as possible. Feedback about an athlete's performance should
be immediate and specific. Comments such as "you kept
your eyes on the ball" are more meaningful and helpful than
saying "good shot."

Like most groups of people, athletes with intellectual

disabilities will vary greatly in terms of their physical abilities
and their sport skill proficiency. The degree of intellectual
disability generally does not determine an athlete's
performance level. However, athletes with severe intellectual
disabilities will be more challenged by the tactical aspects of
competition. These athletes will also experience a greater
incidence of secondary impairments (such as cerebral palsy
or other physical limitations) affecting motor skills. Yet, given
proper coaching and sufficient practice time, most athletes
with intellectual disabilities can successfully compete
alongside or against many of their nondisabled peers.

This Coaches' Guide is written for coaches, teachers, family

members, peer coaches and others who train or assist in
training athletes with intellectual disabilities. The task
analyzed approach enables skills to be taught incrementally
and customized for each athlete. The array of Special
Olympics sports and events within each sport are designed
to ensure there is an appropriate opportunity for every
Special Olympics athlete regardless of his/her learning or
physical abilities and his/her sport skill proficiency.

WHO ARE PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES?

Although there is no general consensus as to who are people

with disabilities, comparable definitions of disability have
been developed for a range of clinical, policy, demographic,
and research purposes. Asch and Mudrick have found
agreement that people with disabilities:

• have a permanent or chronic physical or mental

impairment or condition;
• the impairment or condition may differ in degree of
severity;
• the impairment or condition may differ in degree of
visibility to others; and
• the age of onset of the impairment or condition varies
by individual.1

Legal/policy definitions of disability have been developed in

recent decades to protect individuals from discrimination in
the most important components of American life --
employment, housing, and public accommodations that
include schools and universities, settings for the delivery of
health care and social services, business and commercial
services, recreational/cultural programs, transportation, and
telecommunications. Functional definitions of disability are
provided by the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (for
federal agencies) and the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) of 1990 (for state and local governments and private
entities). Although the parameters of these definitions have
been expanded and narrowed by various court decisions, in
essence:

The term ‘disability’ means, with respect to an

individual: (A) a physical or mental impairment
that substantially limits one or more of the major
life activities of such individual; (B) a record of
 such impairment; or (C) being regarded as having
such an impairment.2

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity

Commission, the ADA covers persons with impairments that:

Substantially limit major life activities such as

seeing, hearing, speaking, walking, breathing,
performing manual tasks, learning, caring for
oneself, and working…[I]ndividual[s] with epilepsy,
paralysis, HIV infection, AIDS, a substantial
hearing or visual impairment, mental retardation,
or a specific learning disability [are] covered.3

Furthermore, the Individuals with Disabilities Education

Improvement Act of 2004, which applies to educational
services for children requiring special instructional
methodologies, provides definitional guidance on the
conditions that affect a “child with a disability.” These
conditions include children who need special education and
related services due to: “mental retardation, hearing
impairments (including deafness), speech or language
impairments, visual impairments (including blindness),
serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments,
autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or
specific learning disabilities.”4 This illustrative listing of
conditions in children might be used to apply to individuals
throughout the lifespan.

Professional and consumer literature may use the following

terms to characterize people with disabilities:

• “Physical disability,” to describe orthopedic and

mobility impairments, as well as sensory limitations
such as vision and hearing, and speech impediments.
• “Developmental disability,” defined as a “severe,
chronic disability…that: (i) is attributable to a mental or
physical impairment or a combination of mental and
physical impairments; (ii) is manifested before that
individual attains age 22; (iii) is likely to continue
 indefinitely; (iv) results in substantial functional
limitations in three or more…major life activit[ies].”5
More commonly, the term “developmental disability” is
used to apply to people with intellectual disabilities as a
result of mental retardation. In recent years, the terms
“developmental” and “intellectual” disabilities are
preferred as descriptive terms to “mental retardation.”6
• “Cognitive disability,” resulting from neurological
impairment at any age. Such a disability may be early
onset and also called an intellectual or developmental
disability, or later onset due to traumatic injury (such as
head trauma from automobile or other accidents) or
medical condition (such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s
diseases).
• “Psychiatric disability” to describe long-lasting
behavioral, mental health, or emotional conditions.
• Individuals may be “dually diagnosed;” in other words,
have concurrent diagnoses or labels of multiple
disabilities, such as intellectual and psychiatric
disabilities.

Air Force Pararescue Physical Ability and Stamina Test (PAST)

The following Physical Ability and Stamina Test (PAST) is for

new accessions for Pararescue. “New Accessions” means
applicants who take the PAST before completing basic
training and Technical School. Individuals who apply for
Pararescue after completing basic training and technical
school, and prior service applicants are considered “re-
trainees,” and do not take the below PAST. Those
individuals take the combined Pararescue/Combat Combat

Perceived Job Relatedness of Physical Ability Testing for

Firefighters: Exploring Variations in Reactions

Although increasing research attention is being directed at

applicant reactions to selection processes, little work has
been directed at perceptions of physical abilities testing. This
study examined the perceived job relatedness of physical
abilities tests. Experience, self-efficacy, and consistency of
test administration were found to be related to perceptions
of job relevance. Implications for selection system design are
discussed.

I n t e l l i g e n c e H as T h r e e Fac e t s:

There are numerous intellectual abilities, but they fall neatly

into a rational system

In this limited space I have attempted to convey information

regarding progress in discovering the nature of human
intelligence. By intensive factor-analytic investigation, mostly
within the past 20 years, the multifactor picture of
intelligence has grown far beyond the expectations of those
who have been most concerned. A comprehensive,
systematic theoretical model known as the "structure of
intellect" has been developed to put rationality into the
picture.

The model is a cubical affair, its three dimensions

representing ways in which the abilities differ from one
another. Represented are: five basic kinds of operation, four
substantive kinds of information or "contents," and six formal
kinds of information or "products," respectively. Each
intellectual ability involves a unique conjunction of one kind
of operation, one kind of content, and one kind of product, all
abilities being relatively independent in a population, but
with common joint involvement in intellectual activity.

This taxonomic model has led to the discovery of many

abilities not suspected before. Although the number of
abilities is large, the 15 category constructs provide much
parsimony. They also provide a systematic basis for viewing
mental operations in general, thus suggesting new general
psychological theory.
The implications for future intelligence testing and for
education are numerous. Assessment of intellectual qualities
should go much beyond present standard intelligence tests,
which seriously neglect important abilities that contribute to
problem-solving and creative performance in general.
Educational philosophy, curriculum-building, teaching
procedures, and examination methods should all be
improved by giving attention to the structure of intellect as
the basic frame of reference. There is much basis for
expecting that various intellectual abilities can be improved
in individuals, and the procedures needed for doing this
should be clear