Download Organizational Behaviour

Organizational
Behaviour
Dr. Fred Mugambi Mwirigi
JKUAT
Introduction
 Field of study that investigates the impact of
individuals, groups, and structure on behaviour
within organizations for the purpose of applying
such knowledge towards improving an
organization’s effectiveness.
 It is concerned with what people do in
organizations and how that behaviour affects
organizational performance.
Introduction Contd.
 OB incorporates subjects such as employee
motivation, interpersonal communication,
learning and perception, leadership and power
and organizational change and conflict
management, among others.
Behaviour
 Behaviour is the sum total of people’s
responses to stimuli or a combination of
people’s actions and reactions.
 Behaviour is not random. It is caused and
directed towards toward some end that the
individual believes, rightly or wrongly, to be in
his or her interest.
 Behaviour may or may not be predictable or
rational
Predicting Behaviour
 Predicting behaviour and the motivation behind it is
a major challenge for most managers
 Unless we can predict behaviour we cannot affect it
positively
 To accurately predict human behaviour managers
must continuously conduct a systematic study of
their employees.
 This involves attempting to study relationships
within the firm, attempting to attribute causes and
effects, and drawing conclusions based on
scientific evidence.
Causes of Behaviour
 Age
 Physical abilities
 Gender
 Income levels
 Marital status
 Educational
 No of dependants
backgrounds
 Religion
 Culture
 Etc
and the nature of
dependence
 Intellectual levels
Human foundations lead to behavior
Behavior is a manifestation of personality
Personality is the sum total of all the variables that
make us social beings
It is the sum total of ways in which individuals react
and interact with others
Personalities
9
9
10
10
11
11
12
12
13
13
14
14
15
15
Determinants of Personality
 Personality- the sum total of ways in which
individuals react and interact with others.
 It is defined in terms of measurable traits.
 Traits are the enduring characteristics that
describe an individual’s behaviour.
 Personality is influenced by the following:



Hereditary factors
Social interactions
Situational factors (what is happening at that
point in time)
Theories of Personality
 The Freudian theory
 Neo-Freudian theory
 Trait theory
Freudian Theory
 Advanced by Sigmund Freud, a Psychologist.
 His psychoanalytic theory of personality is
the cornerstone of modern psychology.
 It is based on biological needs and drives.
 Freud proposes that the human personality
consists of three interactive systems.



the id
the superego
the ego
The id
 The id is a store of primitive and impulsive
biological drives such as hunger, sex, thirst, etc.
 In many cases humans seek immediate
satisfaction for these drives without concern for
the specific means of satisfaction.
The superego
 The superego is the individual’s internal
expression of society’s moral and ethical codes
of conduct.
 Its role is to balance out the id by ensuring that
the person’s biological needs are satisfied in a
socially acceptable way.
 The superego restrains the impulsive demands
of the id.
The ego
 The ego is the individual’s conscious control.
 It is an internal monitor that restrains the
impulsive demands of the id and at the same
time balances the social cultural constraints
of the superego.
Neo-Freudian Personality
Theory
 Several of Freud’s contemporaries disagreed
with Freud’s assertion that personality is
primarily instinctual and sexual in nature.
 They argued that social relationships play a
major role in the development of personality.
 Many argued that people attempt to establish
significant and rewarding relationships with
others and so adopt personalities that are
acceptable to those around them.

Trait Theory
 Focuses on the measurement of personality in
terms of specific psychological traits.
 A trait is a characteristic that distinguishes one
individual from another.
 For example, one person may be more flexible
to change than the other when faced with a
situation that demands change.
 Traits include need for uniqueness, high
sociability, critical, etc.
Foundations of Behavior
1. Biographical characteristics (e.g. age, marital
status, family background, gender, etc.)
2. Ability (intellectual and physical abilities)
3. Learning (any relatively permanent change in
behaviour that occurs as a result of
experience). Theories of learning include operant
and classical conditioning and social learning
theories
4. Attitudes
5. Conflict
Attitudes and behavior
Attitudes are evaluative statements or judgments
concerning objects, people or events. They come
from belief systems. They influence behavior
Attitudes have the following components:
1.
Cognitive Component- The opinion or belief segment of an
attitude
2.
Affective Component- The emotional or feeling segment of
an attitude
3.
Behavioural Component- An intention to behave in a
certain way toward someone or something
25
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
compiled by Fred Mugambi
Attitudes contd.
 The components of attitudes are closely related
and the cognition and affective components
are inseparable. E.g. if an employee didn’t get a
promotion that she thought she deserved
(cognition), the employee strongly dislikes her
supervisor (affective), and the employee
seriously looks for another job (behaviour).
 If we affect attitudes we influence behaviour
26
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
compiled by Fred Mugambi
Conflict and Behaviour
27

A process that begins when one party perceives
that another party has negatively affected, or is
about to negatively affect, something that the first
party cares about

Encompasses a wide range of conflicts that people
experience in organisations
 Incompatibility of goals
 Differences over interpretations of facts
 Disagreements based on behavioural
expectations
5/24/2017
Transitions in Conflict Thought
 Traditional View of Conflict

The belief that all conflict is harmful and must be
avoided
 Human Relations View of Conflict

The belief that conflict is a natural and inevitable
outcome in any group
 Interactionist View of Conflict

28
The belief that conflict is not only a positive force in
a group but that it is absolutely necessary for a
group to perform effectively
5/24/2017
Functional Versus Dysfunctional
Conflict
29
5/24/2017
Conflict Resolution Techniques
 Problem solving (structured)
 Expansion of resources
 Avoidance of conflict
 Compromise
 Authoritative command
Perception and Behavior
Perception
A process by which individuals
organise and interpret their
sensory impressions in order to
give meaning to their environment.
 People’s behaviour is based on their
perception of what reality is, not on
reality itself.
 The world as it is perceived is the world
that is behaviourally important.
31
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
compiled by Fred Mugambi
What Influences Perception?
32
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
compiled by Fred Mugambi
Methods of shaping behavior
 Positive reinforcement- following a response
with something pleasant
 Negative reinforcement- following a response
by the termination or withdrawal of something
unpleasant
Contd.
 Punishment- causing an unpleasant
condition in an attempt to eliminate an
undesirable behaviour
 Extinction- eliminating any reinforcement
that is maintaining a behaviour. When the
behaviour is not reinforced, it tends to
gradually be extinguished.
Schedules of Reinforcement
 Fixed-interval reinforcement schedule- rewards
are spaced at uniform time intervals; the critical
variable is time, and it is held constant. Some
examples
 Variable-interval reinforcements- rewards are
distributed in time so that reinforcements are
unpredictable
Contd.
 Fixed-ratio schedule- after a fixed or constant
number of responses are given, a reward is
initiated.
 Variable-ratio schedule- the reward varies
relative to the behaviour of the individual
Incorporating controls
Recap
Foundations
5/24/2017
Belief
Systems
Personality
Behavior
37
Thank you