Personal Learning Paper

Organizational Behavior

Ankan Jyoti Bhattacharyya

Chapter No

Chapter Name

OB and its introduction

How do values and attitudes affect us?

Personality and Perception

Motivation

Groups & Teams

Leadership

Change Management

POS

Conclusion

Introduction:

This paper is an attempt at explaining the various concepts learnt during the course of the Organizational Behavior course and show their implication in real life scenarios. By the help of this paper, I have tried to demonstrate the use organizational behavior and tactics has in solving many real life scenarios. Here I have more or less sequentially assimilated the concepts learnt in the course and explained the various theories associated with them in brief.

Chapter 1: OB and its introduction

The course started off with an introduction to the topic of organizational behavior. OB was defined as: looking at relationship, attempting to attribute causes & effects & basing our conclusions on scientific evidence, viz. on data gathered under controlled conditions & measured & interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner or very simply, we can state that OB is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. Thus OB encourages us to look at relations and behaviors in a systematic manner. This is a deviation from the intuitive manner in which people used to judge others. Now people in organizations indulge in systematic analysis so as to improve their accuracy in prediction & explanation of behavior. This is a result of the belief that behavior is not random, but directed towards an end, which is believed to be right or wrong by the individual concerned. These are some of the reasons leading to the classification of OB as a field of study. The characteristics of OB as a field of study are: A distinct area of expertise with a common body of knowledge Knowledge accumulated from various disciplines and social sciences Studies 3 components or determinants of behavior: Individual, Group & Structure Applies that knowledge to make organizations effective

The development of OB as a field of study is also because of the contribution of many different disciplines, viz. psychology, sociology, anthropology, social psychology, political science etc. Psychology has probably contributed the maximum to OB. There are various schools of thought when it comes to

psychology and each has added some element to the overall study and understanding of OB. The different schools are: Structuralism (dealt with the smaller domain of immediate experience) Functionalism (understanding the inherent reasons behind motivation and adaptability etc.) Behaviorism (studying behavioral response to different stimuli and scenarios) Gestalt Psychology (dealt with concepts of experience and perception) Psychoanalysis (dealt with the structure & development of personality)

Then we learnt about the biological & physiological approach to OB, and learnt about the impact the biological factors like heredity, CNS (Central Nervous System), the brain etc. have on the behavior of a person. Based on this there was an exercise undertaken to determine whether we are governed by the left side of the brain or the right. This exercise revealed to me that I am more governed by the right side of the brain. According to the studies being undertaken, it has been found that people who are more dominated by the right side of the brain are intuitive, produce & appreciate music, art, possess spatial skills and process more than one information simultaneously. Apart from the different theories and concepts impacting OB, we also learnt about the various proponents of these theories and the different people who have contributed to the present state of OB. Prominent among them are, Frederick W Taylor, Adam Smith, B.F. Skinner (behaviorism), Gestalt, Sigmund Freud (the man who founded the basis for psychoanalysis), Max Weber (and the Structural Theory), Mary Parker Follett and many more.

Chapter 2: How do values and attitudes affect us?

In this session, we learnt about values and the value system. When we talk about values, then we refer to certain modes of conduct which a person considers as preferable over some others. Values are learnt from the upbringing a person has and from the society he exists in. The importance of values in social life is implied by the value system, which defines the intensity and content of values in society. Values are very important when we talk from an organizational point of view. It influences a host of features like motivation, perception, behavior and the sense of whats right and whats wrong. To understand the impact of values in organizations, Rokeach Study was undertaken which defined values as terminal values and instrumental values. Values also differ from culture to culture, and in turn influence the way a person behaves in the society or an organization. To understand this phenomenon, Hofstede defined a framework to assess cultures. Values also have a tremendous impact on the attitude a person displays. The kind of values one inherits from his surroundings modifies the behavior he portrays. When talking about attitudes, we can define the same as, evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events. Attitude is one of the prime factors which directly translates into performance in an organization. There are primarily three types of attitudes: Job Satisfaction (positive and/or negative feelings toward the job) Job Involvement (Identifying, participating considering performance important to self-worth) Organizational Commitment (Identifying with a particular organization) We also learnt how three factors can affect the performance of an individual in the organization: affective, continuance, normative. Next phase consisted of learning about the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, and measuring the relationship between attitude (A) and behavior (B).
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From these discussions, we could infer how the values in an individual can change his/her perception about others and relates subsequently to his/her performance.

Chapter 3: Personality and Perception

Personality is defined as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others. The personality of an individual is defined by the traits he/she displays. These traits are broadly categorized as the Big Five Traits and they are: Extraversion Agreeable Conscientiousness Emotional Stability Openness

Extraversion can be effective when it comes to performance, but studies indicate that in the long run, it is agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability which increase the value of a person in an organization. These traits make the person a team player, hardworking and an overall asset for the organization. Openness comes in handy when the individual is in an organization going through changes, for they accept changes well and can adapt accordingly. But these arent the only ones affecting OB; there are a few more, which are: Locus of control Machiavellianism Self-esteem/Core-self-evaluations Self-monitoring Risk taking Type A personality
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Another important aspect of this discussion was the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, which was also done as part of an activity in the class. This test provided me an insight into how and what my personality is. At the end of the test, I found myself to be ESTJ and ENTP type. Another test undertaken during this discussion was the Mach V test, which revealed to me a Mach score of 108, a moderately high Mach score. This indicated that I was moderately pragmatic, and emotionally distant (again to an extent). Another aspect of this discussion was the study of emotions and how different emotions and moods affect worker productivity and performance. When an employee doesnt feel good and is in a foul mood, he/she tends to work less and reduce the overall productivity of the organization. In such scenarios, people who are emotionally stable tend to come out as winners. They can control their emotions and keep a tab on how their mood is affecting their performance. This is also another reason for selecting such people into the organization. Emotions and moods also impact another very important aspect of organizations as well as society. This factor is perception. Perception is the way we analyze the surrounding environment and make judgments about people and their actions. We had an in depth analysis of the Attribution Theory of perception and also of the common shortcuts people employ in judging the people they meet. Some of the most commonly used ones are: Selective perception Contrast effects Projection or Freudian Projection Stereotyping Halo Effect

All these shortcuts, in some way or another, tend to affect ones judgment while perceiving the actions and behaviors displayed by others. Another important area where the perception of people has been seen to have an actual impact is the Pygmalion Effect. In this effect, the perception harbored by the manager actually translates to the level of productivity displayed by the employees. This also happens to students, who tend to underperform in some classes, and tend to get labeled as poor students. This actually affects their performance level and in
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many cases brings it down. It also has positive effects, wherein a student tends to perform more after being labeled as poor or mediocre.

Chapter 4: Motivation

The word motivation has been seen to have tremendous effect. In organizations, this word assumes even more profound meaning. Many workers who tend to underperform, due to a variety of reasons, can come up to the level of others just by an injection of motivation. Motivation thus has been a topic of intense study resulting in numerous theories. The various theories in motivation are:

Abraham Maslows Hierarchy Theory Douglas McGregors Theory X and Theory Y Frederick Herzbergs Two Factor Theory David McClellands Theory of Needs Self Determination Theory Clayton Alderfers ERG Theory Cognitive Evaluation Theory Goal Setting Theory Self Efficacy Theory Reinforcement Theory Equity Theory Expectancy Theory

There was also an analysis of why certain theories tend to fail in dealing with the complex issues of todays organization. Prominent among them was the Goal Setting theory, wherein in many organizations because of non-clarity among the top level management, the employees couldnt achieve the goals set and had a performance dip. This actually affected the credibility of the theory, and other theories started getting more influential.
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We also had a discussion on how motivation theories are linked with the employee recognition and employee involvement programs. The employee recognition programs make the employees feel as part of the organization and thus motivate them to perform even better. It also conditions them to act in a certain way which is suitable for the company/organization. Employee involvement is attained via programs like participative management, representative participation, quality circle, ESOP. The examples of job design and job scheduling, variable pay programs are also methods employed by organizations to retain employees. Thus we can define performance as: Performance= f (ability * motivation * opportunity)

Chapter 5: Groups & Teams

This session began with an introduction to the concept of groups. Group refers to a two or more individuals who interact, are interdependent and have come together to achieve particular objectives. Based on this definition we classified groups into the following main categories: Formal (or groups defined by the organization) Informal (or groups formed in response to social contact and are not structured in any way) Command (or groups composed of individuals who report to a given official directly) Task group (or a group formed in response to finding a solution to a problem) Interest (or a group which works towards attainment of a single goal) Friendship (or a group developed out of common interests) There are many examples of such groups, from real life. Formal, command and task groups are usually the most common groups seen in an organization. A formal
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group can be a combination of task & command group also, e.g. a group comprised of individuals working on the same project who report to the same project head. Other forms of groups are more seen in social scenarios. The most common and easily seen group is friendship group, where a group of individuals become friends because they share certain similar tastes. Interest groups are usually found in protest scenarios or political meetings etc. The most important feature witnessed by many groups is social loafing. Loafing refers to the tendency of individuals to work less when in a group. This is a very common scenario in many organizational and non-organizational groups. Certain individuals tend to loaf around while the remaining members work on the project. A very common term for this is free riding. This brings in drastic changes in the groups productivity. Another commonly seen effect is group think and group shift. Group think is very commonly seen in tightly knit groups like school friends, batch mates, colleagues etc, wherein an individual tends to think and work like the group even though he may individually think in a very different manner. Group shift is more seen in organizations and here an individuals decision gets affected by the way his group thinks about the case in hand, e.g. during mergers and acquisitions etc. Another variant of groups can be teams, which is usually seen more in organizations. The advantage of a team is that it utilizes the talent of different individuals and by combining them forms a better mix of talents. Teams tend to be more adaptive also, and can lead to increased motivation within the team and the organization as a whole. Teams can be classified as: Problem solving Self managed Cross functional Virtual

A team is usually smaller than groups and in many cases is very formal. The people in a team are well trained, have enough time to work on projects, have the authority to solve problems within themselves and have the most needed entity for any group or team, a champion, who comes in to the rescue of the team and

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motivates and fuels them to achieve their targets efficiently. This individual can either be the team lead or any other individual in the team.

Chapter 6: Leadership

The most important and the most cherished resource of any organization is the leader. An individual who can motivate and influence a group to achieve their goals effectively can be termed as a leader. Like in teams, wherein the team lead defines the roles of individuals and provides motivation to work, likewise in organizations, certain individuals tend to emerge as leaders. In the initial phases leaders were believed to be born, but in present times it has been seen that situations influence a person more than any inherent quality, and transform the individual into a leader. We learnt about the trait theories of leadership which believed in the former idea. But the most commonly used and popular leadership theories concentrate on the latter idea and believe that leadership can be cultivated in individuals. Based on this notion behavioral studies and contingency theories have been designed. The various contingency theories are: Fiedlers Contingency model Cognitive resource theory Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership Theory Leader-Member Exchange theory Path-goal theory Leader participation model

Each of these theories, tend to act on the notion that leaders emerge out of situations or are created by cultivating leadership traits in them. Another very important concept emerging out of these theories is the concept of participative management. This concept states that the leaders need to involve their followers when taking decisions and help and guide them towards achieving their goals. The leader must also see to it that any follower deviating from the goals need to brought in line via coercion or gentle persuasion.

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Chapter 6: Power and Politics in Organizations Power has been defined as the ability of an individual to influence another individual and make him/her act according to their way. Many people tend to confuse power to be an off shoot of leadership, but it is actually quite different. Leaders tend to focus on goal achievement and make sure their followers are compatible with the goals being set. Power on the other hand, requires followers to be dependent on the person, and is used more as a means to achieve goals. There are many bases of power, based on the scenario in which they are found. The most important ones are: Formal Power o Reward power o Coercive power Legitimate Power Information Power Expert Power Referent Power Charismatic Power Each of this power bases have been seen to have been exercised in different scenarios in organizations and they have different impacts on the employee motivation and employee retention policies. Another aspect of power, in organizations is the evolution of impression management, wherein certain individuals tend to maintain their individual impressions before the superiors and follow many processes in order to do so. Some of them are: Conformity Excuses Apologies Self promotion Flattery Favors Association

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Chapter 7: Change Management

Change is probably the only aspect that remains constant in organizations as well as in real life too. Many organizations go through changes and it is in these scenarios that leaders tend to be more important than before. Leaders are the people who everyone looks up to, when the organization faces crisis and needs to change. Hence now change management has been included as an integral part of every organization and every organization maintains change agents who guide the people through these changes. Many organizations go through planned changes, wherein the need for these change agents becomes even more important, since it is their duty to guide and bring the people in the organization to the next level and through the change. Planned change may occur because of two primary reasons: Improving the ability of the organization to adapt to changes in its environment. Changing the behavior of individuals and groups in the organization. During changes, another aspect that is widely observed is resistance to change, since human beings to get accustomed to their surroundings and hence tend to oppose any kind of changes. There are 3 primary forms of this: Overt and immediate Voicing complaints, engaging in job actions Implicit and deferred o Loss of employee loyalty and motivation, increased errors or mistakes, increased absenteeism

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In order to overcome resistance so as to let the smooth flow of things to start, the change agents follow these steps: Education and communication Participation Facilitation and support Fair implementation Manipulation and cooptation Coercion A combination of some of these steps is by and large, followed by almost all organizations during and after changes, which ensures that normality returns to the workplace. During change people with emotional stability tend to perform better, and at times these people are actually the ones who act as change agents and bring their colleagues out of despair.

Chapter 8: POS

The final OB session started with the topic of POS (Positive Organizational Scholarship) which is basically a positive approach to psychology. We usually tend to discuss the negative aspects of organizational behavior. But here we discuss the positive aspects of the various OB concepts. Positive Psychology was initiated by Martin Seligman in 1998. Aim of positive psychology is to use scientific methodology to discover and promote the factors that allow individuals, groups, organizations, and communities to thrive. The emphasis is on identifying the good in people, rather than focusing on the bad.

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POB (Positive Organizational Behavior) is an extension of POS and has the following constructs: Optimism Hope Happiness/SWB Resiliency Confidence/ self-efficacy Each of these try to uncover the positive behavior and allow organizations to focus more on nurturing these then going after the negative aspects and losing out on employees.

Chapter 9: Conclusion

Finally, in conclusion, I would like to point out that learning OB was definitely an insight into the way organizations functions and the various kinds of behavioral traits displayed by individuals in organizations. OB has not only provided insights into key areas like motivation, change management, leadership etc. but also into areas like perception, values, and attitudes etc. which tend to get neglected. s

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