Download contributing disciplines to organisational behavior

CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOR
INTRODUCTION
The core disciplines of the behavioral sciences are psychology, sociology and
anthropology. Although each of these disciplines is concerned with human behavior and
nature, there are little commonly accepted theories among them. In fact, there is
widespread disagreement about the problems that need to be analyzed within the
organizations and society. As different disciplines will focus the individual problems
from its own point of view with different perspectives, there will not be a common
understanding among them. The behavioral science emphasis and approach follows
closely the following fundamental steps of scientific inquiry: theory leads to research,
which leads to application (theoryresearchApplication).
The behavioral scientists are working diligently at improving the predictability of
behavior. Because people and environments do change, their work focuses on attempting
to predict how most people are likely to behave in a given set of circumstances and
conditions. Each discipline applies its own methodology to the prediction problem, and
each provides managers with insight into such important areas as individual differences,
cultural influences, motivation and organizational design.
CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
1. Psychology:
Psychology has perhaps the most influence on the field of organizational behavior
because it is a science of behavior. Almost all aspects of behavior are studied by
psychologist. Psychology deals with studying human behavior that seeks to measure,
explain and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals. Psychologists
primarily interested to predict the behavior of individuals to great extent by observing the
dynamics of personal factors, environmental and situational factors. Those who have
contributed and continue to add to the knowledge of OB are learning theorists,
personality theorists, counseling psychologists and most important, industrial and
organizational psychologist.
Some of the numerous areas of interest within the disciplines of psychology are:

General Psychology
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
Experimental Psychology

Clinical Psychology

Consumer Psychology

Personality and Social Psychology

Industrial Psychology

Counseling Psychology

Educational Psychology

Consulting Psychology
Understanding Psychological principles and its models help significantly in gaining the
knowledge of determinants of individual behavior such as learning process, motivation
techniques, personality determinants and personality development, perceptual process
and its implications, training process, leadership effectiveness, job satisfaction, individual
decision making, performance appraisal , attitude measurement, employee selection, job
design and work stress.
Learning is important in understanding organizational behavior because of the concepts
and generalizations that have developed from it. Managers are more interested to seek
solutions to the following key aspects:

What are the causes of Behavior?

What are the goals and purposes of particular Behavior?

What are the roles of genetic and environmental factors on the formation of particular
Behavior?

What are the common values, attitudes and characteristics that are binding people
together, though individuals differ from one another in personal values, personalities
and attitudes?

To what extent individuals identification or belongingness with others will help shape
his or her behavior?

To what extent social learning is associated to motivational level of individual?
All these generalizations are associated with learning, which occurs through out a
person’s life. One of the most important attributes of psychology is the emphasis on the
scientific study of behavior. Psychologists attempt to understand behavior on the basis of
rational, demonstrable cause-effect relationships. Although learning and motivation are
the main focus of psychology, the immediate applications to the field of organizational
behavior are widespread. Basic knowledge of human behavior is important in work
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design, leadership, organizational design, communication, decision making, performance
appraisal systems and reward programs. These issues are falling within the domain of
organizational behavior.
2. Sociology:
The major focus of sociologists is on studying the social systems in which individuals fill
their roles. The focus of attention is centered on group dynamics. They have made their
greatest contribution to OB through their study of group behavior in organization,
particularly formal and complex organizations. Sociological concepts, theories, models
and techniques help significantly to understand better the group dynamics, organizational
culture, formal organization theory and structure, organizational technology, bureaucracy,
communications, power, conflict and inter-group behavior. Psychologists are primarily
interested to focus their attention on the individual behavior.
Key concepts of Sociology:
Most sociologists today identify the discipline by using one of the three statements: i)
Sociology deals with human interaction and this interaction is the key influencing factor
among people in social settings. ii) Sociology is a study of plural behavior. Two or more
interacting persons constitute a plurality pattern of behavior. iii) Sociology is the
systematic study of social systems. A social system is an operational social unit that is
structured to serve a purpose. It consists of two or more persons of different status with
different roles playing a part in a pattern that is sustained by a physical and cultural base.
When analysising organizing as social system, the following elements exist:
i) People or actors
ii) Acts or Behavior
iii) Ends or Goals
iv) Norms, rules, or regulation controlling conduct or behavior
v) Beliefs held by people as actors
vi) Status and status relationships
vii) Authority or power to influence other actors
viii) Role expectations, role performances and role relationships.
There fore, organizations are viewed by sociologies as consists of a variety of people
with different roles, status and degree of authority. The organization attempts to achieve
certain generalized and specific objectives. To attain some of the abstract ends such as
the development of company loyalty, the organization’s leaders appeal to the shared
cultural base.
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The discipline of sociology has been associated with the following characteristics of a
science.
i) It is empirical: it is based on observation and reasoning, not on supernatural
revelation, and its results are not speculative
ii) It is theoretical; I attempts to summaries complex observations in abstract,
logically related propositions that purport to explain causal relationships in the
subject matter.
iii) It is cumulative; theories build upon one another, new theories correcting,
extending and refining the older ones.
iv) It is no ethical; the scientists do not ask whether particular social actions are
good or bad; they seek merely to explain them.
3. Social Psychology
It has been defined as the scientific investigation of how the thoughts, feelings and
behavior of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presents of
others. What makes social psychology social is that it deals with how people are affected
by other people who are actually physically present or who are imagined to be present or
even whose presence is implied.
In general sociology focuses on how groups, organizations, social categories and
societies are organized, how they function, how they change. The unit of analysis is the
group as a whole rather than the individuals who compose the group. Social Psychology
deals with many of the same phenomenal but seeks to explain whole individual human
interaction and human cognition influences culture and is influenced by culture. The unit
of analysis is the individual within the group. In reality, some forms of sociology are
closely related to social psychology.
Social Psychologists study an enormous range of topics including conformity, persuasion,
power, influence, obedience, prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, sexism and racism,
small groups, social categories, inter-group behavior, crowd behavior, social conflict,
social change, decision making etc. Among them the most important topics relevant to
organizational behavior field are behavioral change, attitude change, communication,
group process and group decision making. Social psychologists making significant
contributions in measuring, understanding and changing attitudes, communication
patterns they ways in which groups can satisfy individual needs and group decisionmaking
process.
4. Anthropology
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The main aim of anthropology is to acquire a better understanding of the relationship
between the human being and the environment. Adaptations to surroundings constitute
culture. The manner in which people view their environment is a part of culture. Culture
includes those ideas shared by groups of individuals and languages by which these ideas
are communicated. In essence, culture is a system of learned behavior.
Their work on culture and environment has helped us to understand differences in
fundamental values, attitudes and behavior among people in different countries and
within different organizations. Much of our current understandings of organisatoinal
culture, organization environments and differences between national cultures are the
results of the work of anthropologists or those using their methodologies.
The world is the laboratory of anthropologists, and human beings must be studied in the
natural habitant. Understanding the importance of studying man in natural settings over
time enables one to grasp the range of anthropology. Familiarity within same of the
cultural differences of employees can lead to a greater managerial objectivity and depth
in the interpretation of behavior and performance. Anthropologists contribute to study the
following aspects in organizational settings – comparative values, comparative attitudes,
cross-cultural analysis between or among the employees.
5. Political Sciences:
Contributions of political scientist are significant to the understanding of behavior in
organizations. Political scientists study the behavior of individuals and groups within a
political environment. They contribute to understand the dynamics of power centers,
structuring of conflict and conflict resolutions tactics, allocation of power and how
people manipulate power for individual self interest.
In a business field, organizations wanted to attain supremacy in their own field and
indulge in politicking activities to gain maximum advantages by following certain tacks
like Machiavellianism, coalition formation, malpractices etc.
The knowledge of political science can be utilized to the study the behavior of employees,
executives at micro as well as macro level.
6. Economics
Economics contributes organizational behavior to great extent in designing the
organizational structure. Transaction cost economics influence the organization and its
structure. Transaction costs economics implies costs components to make an exchange on
the market. This transaction cost economics examines the extent to which the
organization structure and size of an organisation varies in response to attempts to avoid
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market failures through minimising production and transaction costs within the
constraints of human and environmental factors. Costs of transactions include both costs
of market transactions and internal co-ordination. A transaction occurs when a good or
service is transferred across a ‘technologically separable barrier”
Transaction costs arise for three main reasons: They are as follows.
i) Uncertainty/Complexity: Due to incomplete information, limited skills, time,
the transaction is highly complex and uncertain. Signing a meaningful market
contract minimizes such uncertainty which increases transactions costs. Both
sides have to spend time and money on agreeing ex ante conditions of the
contract. Suitable organisation structural relationships will facilitate to meet this
objective.
ii) Opportunism (seeking self-interest or exploiting situation-cheating others):
If there are large number of sellers, the chances of being exploited is relatively
diminished – market mechanism controls transaction costs. If small number of
players exist in the market, opportunism becomes more difficult to control due to
dependency on seller. Creating legal contract or developing liaison with buyers
can help minimise this problem – a cost is paid to minimise exploitations. When
faced with opportunism, there are three possible organisational design: they are
as follows: a) Market co-ordination b ) Hierarchies-Organisation co-ordination
and c) Hybrid –Network Structure
iii) Asset Specificity (Creating special assets to provide a special good or service):
Developing specific human or physical assets to provide special good or service
which cannot be redeployed for other purposes. The higher the degree of asset
specificity, the higher the potential transaction costs because of post contractual
opportunism. Designing suitable organisational structure – Inter-firm networks
or hierarchies will help to control this type of transaction cost
Economic Pressures determine the suitable structure either through markets, hybrid
network structures or hierarchy to organise transactions effectively. Failure to organise
in the appropriate way will lead to the firm being deselected by the market. As
environment is so dynamic, organization must respond to change its structure. Shifts
from large firm hierarchies to networks or to market relations are in terms of changing
conditions of the economising function.
LEARNING
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How do we learn? Three theories have been offered to explain the process by which we
acquire patterns of behavior. These are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and
social learning.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Classical conditioning A type of conditioning in which an individual responds to some
stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such a response. Respond to stimulus that you
would otherwise not respond to.
Classical conditioning grew out of experiments to teach dogs to salivate in response to the
ringing of a bell, conducted at the turn of the century by a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov.
A simple surgical procedure allowed Pavlov to measure accurately the amount of saliva
secreted by a dog. When Pavlov presented the dog with a piece of meat, the dog exhibited a
noticeable increase in salivation. When Pavlov withheld the presentation of meat and merely
rang a bell, the dog did not salivate. Then Pavlov proceeded to link the meat and the ringing
of the bell. After repeatedly hearing the bell before getting the food, the dog began to salivate
as soon as the bell rang. After a while, the dog would salivate merely at the sound of the bell,
even if no food was offered. In effect, the dog had learned to respond—that is, to salivate —
to the bell. Let’s review this experiment to introduce the key concepts in classical
conditioning.
The meat was an unconditioned stimulus; it invariably caused the dog to react in a specific
way. The reaction that took place whenever the unconditioned stimulus occurred was called
the unconditioned response (or the noticeable increase in salivation, in this case). The bell
was an artificial stimulus, or what we call the conditioned stimulus. Although it was
originally neutral, after the bell was paired with the meat (an unconditioned stimulus), it
eventually produced a response when presented alone. The last key concept is the conditioned
response. This describes the behavior of the dog; it salivated in reaction to the bell alone.
Using these concepts, we can summarize classical conditioning. Essentially, learning a
conditioned response involves building up an association between a conditioned stimulus and
an unconditioned stimulus. When the stimuli, one compelling and the other one neutral, are
paired, the neutral one becomes a conditioned stimulus and, hence, takes on the properties of
the unconditioned stimulus. Classical conditioning can be used to explain why Christmas
carols often bring back pleasant memories of childhood; the songs are associated with the
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festive Christmas spirit and evoke fond memories and feelings of euphoria. In an
organizational setting, we can also see classical conditioning operating. For example, at
manufacturing plant, every time the top executives from the head office were scheduled to
make a visit, the plant management would clean up the administrative offices and wash the
windows. This went on for years. Eventually, employees would turn on their best behavior
and look prim and proper whenever the windows were cleaned—even in those occasional
instances when the cleaning was not paired with the visit from the top brass. People had
learned to associate the cleaning of the windows with a visit from the head office.
Classical conditioning is passive. Something happens and we react in a specific way. It is
elicited in response to a specific, identifiable event. As such, it can explain simple reflexive
behaviors. But most behavior—particularly the complex behavior of individuals in
organizations—is emitted rather than elicited. It is voluntary rather than reflexive. For
example, employees choose to arrive at work on time, ask their boss for help with problems,
or “goof off” when no one is watching. The learning of those behaviors is better understood
by looking at operant conditioning.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Operant conditioning: A type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior leads to a
reward or prevents a punishment. People do this or that hoping to be rewarded or avoid doing
this or that for fear of punishment. Operant conditioning argues that behavior is a function of
its consequences. People learn to behave to get something they want or to avoid something
they don’t want. Operant behavior means voluntary or learned behavior in contrast to
reflexive or unlearned behavior. The tendency to repeat such behavior is influenced by the
reinforcement or lack of reinforcement brought about by the consequences of the behavior.
Reinforcement, therefore, strengthens a behavior and increases the likelihood that it will be
repeated.
What Pavlov did for classical conditioning, the Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner did for
operant conditioning.69 Building on earlier work in the field, Skinner’s research extensively
expanded our knowledge of operant conditioning. Even his staunchest critics, who represent a
sizable group, admit that his operant concepts work.
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Behavior is assumed to be determined from without— that is, learned—rather than from
within—reflexive or unlearned. Skinner argued that creating pleasing consequences to follow
specific forms of behavior would increase the frequency of that behavior. People will most
likely engage in desired behaviors if they are positively reinforced for doing so. Rewards are
most effective if they immediately follow the desired response. In addition, behavior that is
not rewarded, or is punished, is less likely to be repeated.
For example, any situation in which it is either explicitly stated or implicitly suggested that
reinforcements are contingent on some action on your part involves the use of operant
learning. Your instructor says that if you want a high grade in the course you musts supply
correct answers on the test. A commissioned salesperson wanting to earn a sizable income
finds that doing so is contingent on generating high sales in her territory. Of course, the
linkage can also work to teach the individual to engage in behaviors that work against the
best interests of the organization. Assume that your boss tells you that if you will work
overtime during the next three-week busy season, you will be compensated for it at the next
performance appraisal. However, when performance appraisal time comes, you find that you
are given no positive reinforcement for your overtime work. The next time your boss asks
you to work overtime, what will you do? You’ll probably decline! Your behavior can be
explained by operant conditioning: If a behavior fails to be positively reinforced, the
probability that the behavior will be repeated declines.
SOCIAL LEARNING
People can learn through observation and direct experience.Individuals can also learn by
observing what happens to other people and just by being told about something, as well as by
direct experiences. So, for example, much of what we have learned comes from watching
models—parents, teachers, peers, motion picture and television performers, bosses, and so
forth. This view that we can learn through both observation and direct experience has been
called social-learning theory.
Although social-learning theory is an extension of operant conditioning,
— it assumes that behavior is a function of consequences
—it also acknowledges the existence of observational learning and the importance of
perception in learning.
People respond to how they perceive and define consequences not to the objective
consequences themselves.
The influence of models is central to the social-learning
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viewpoint. Four processes have been found to determine the influence that a model will have
on an individual. As we will show later in this chapter, the inclusion of the following
processes when management sets up employee training programs will significantly improve
the likelihood that the programs will be successful:
1. Attentional processes. People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay
attention to its critical features. We tend to be most influenced by models that are attractive,
repeatedly available, important to us, or similar to us in our estimation.
2. Retention processes. A model’s influence will depend on how well the individual
remembers the model’s action after the model is no longer readily available.
3. Motor reproduction processes. After a person has seen a new behavior by observing the
model, the watching must be converted to doing. This process then demonstrates that the
individual can perform the modeled activities.
4. Reinforcement processes. Individuals will be motivated to exhibit the modeled behavior if
positive incentives or rewards are provided. Behaviors that are positively reinforced will be
given more attention, learned better and performed more often.
Shaping Behavior: A Managerial Tool
Shaping behavior
Systematically reinforcing each successive step that moves an individual closer to the desired
response. Because learning takes place on the job as well as prior to it, managers will be
concerned with how they can teach employees to behave in ways that most benefit the
organization. When we attempt to mold individuals by guiding their learning in graduated
steps, we are shaping behavior. Consider the situation in which an employee’s behavior is
significantly different from that sought by management. If management rewarded the
individual only when he or she showed desirable responses, there might be very little
reinforcement-taking place. In such a case, shaping offers a logical approach toward
achieving the desired behavior.
We shape behavior by systematically reinforcing each successive step that moves the
individual closer to the desired response. If an employee who has chronically been a half-
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hour late for work comes in only twenty minutes late, we can reinforce that improvement.
Reinforcement would increase as responses more closely approximated the desired behavior.
METHODS OF SHAPING BEHAVIOR
There are four ways in which to shape behavior: through positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, punishment, and extinction.
Following a response with something pleasant is called positive reinforcement. This would
describe, for instance, the boss who praises an employee for a job well done. Following a
response by the termination or withdrawal of something unpleasant is called negative
reinforcement. If your college instructor asks a question and you don’t know the answer,
looking through your lecture notes is likely to preclude your being called on. This is a
negative reinforcement because you have learned that looking busily through your notes
prevents the instructor from calling on you. Punishment is causing an unpleasant condition in
an attempt to eliminate an undesirable behavior. Giving an employee a two-day suspension
from work without pay for showing up drunk is an example of punishment. Eliminating any
reinforcement that is maintaining a behavior is called extinction. When the behavior is not
reinforced, it tends to gradually be extinguished. College instructors who wish to discourage
students from asking questions in class can eliminate this behavior in their students by
ignoring those who raise their hands to ask questions. Hand rising will become extinct when
it is invariably met with an absence of reinforcement.
Both positive and negative reinforcement result in learning. They strengthen a response and
increase the probability of repetition. In the preceding illustrations, praise strengthens and
increases the behavior of doing a good job because praise is desired. The behavior of
“looking busy” is similarly strengthened and increased by its terminating the undesirable
consequence of being called upon by the teacher. Both punishment and extinction,
however, weaken behavior and tend to decrease its subsequent frequency. Reinforcement,
whether it is positive or negative, has an impressive record as a shaping tool. Our interest,
therefore, is in reinforcement rather than in punishment or extinction. A review of research
findings on the impact of reinforcement upon behavior in organizations concluded that:
1. Some type of reinforcement is necessary to produce a change in behavior.
2. Some types of rewards are more effective for use in organizations than others.
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3. The speed with which learning takes place and the permanence of its effects will be
determined by the timing of reinforcement.
Point 3 is extremely important and deserves considerable elaboration.
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
Continuous reinforcement A desired behavior is reinforced each and every time.
Continuous means, Each and Every time.
Intermittent reinforcement A desired behavior is reinforced often enough to make the
behavior worth repeating but not every time it is demonstrated. Often but not each and every
time.
Fixed-interval schedule Rewards are spaced at uniform time intervals. Uniform time
intervals: fixed program, timetable almost regardless of whether or not you demonstrate that
particular trait.
Variable-interval schedule Rewards are distributed in time so that reinforcements are
unpredictable. More of erratic.
The two major types of reinforcement schedules are continuous and intermittent. A continuous
reinforcement schedule reinforces the desired behavior each and every time it is demonstrated.
Take, for example, the case of someone who has historically had trouble arriving at work on
time. Every time he is not tardy his manager might compliment him on his desirable behavior.
In an intermittent schedule, on the other hand, not every instance of the desirable behavior is
reinforced, but reinforcement is given often enough to make the behavior worth repeating. This
latter schedule can be compared to the workings of a slot machine, which people will continue
to play even when they know that it is adjusted to give a considerable return to the gambling
house. The intermittent payoffs occur just often enough to reinforce the behavior of slipping in
coins and pulling the handle. Evidence indicates that the intermittent, or varied, form of
reinforcement tends to promote more resistance to extinction than does the continuous form.
An intermittent reinforcement can be of a ratio or interval type. Ratio schedules depend
upon how many responses the subject makes. The individual is reinforced after giving a
certain number of specific types of behavior. Interval schedules depend upon how much time
has passed since the last reinforcement. With interval schedules, the individual is reinforced
on the first appropriate behavior after a particular time has elapsed. Reinforcement can also
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be classified as fixed or variable. Intermittent techniques for administering rewards can,
therefore, be placed into four categories.
When rewards are spaced at uniform time intervals, the reinforcement schedule is of the
fixed-interval type. The critical variable is time, and it is held constant. This is the
predominant schedule for almost all salaried workers in North America. When you get your
paycheck on a weekly, semimonthly, monthly, or other predetermined time basis, you are
rewarded on a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule. If rewards are distributed in time so
that reinforcements are unpredictable, the schedule is of the variable-interval type. When an
instructor advises her class that pop quizzes will be given during the term (the exact number
of which is unknown to the students) and the quizzes will account for twenty percent of the
term grade, she is using a variable-interval schedule. Similarly, a series of randomly timed
unannounced visits to a company office by the corporate audit staff is an example of a
variable-interval schedule.
Fixed-ratio schedule Rewards are initiated after a fixed or constant number of responses.
Variable-ratio schedule The reward varies relative to the behavior of the individual.
In a fixed-ratio schedule, after a fixed or constant number of responses are given, a reward is
initiated. For example, a piece-rate incentive plan is a fixed-ratio schedule; the employee
receives a reward based on the number of work pieces generated. If the piece rate for a zipper
installer in a dressmaking factory is $5.00 a dozen, the reinforcement (money in this case) is
fixed to the number of zippers sewn into garments. After every dozen is sewn in, the installer
has earned another $5.00. When the reward varies relative to the behavior of the individual,
he or she is said to be reinforced on a variable-ratio schedule. Salespeople on commission
are examples of individuals on such a reinforcement schedule. On some occasions, they may
make a sale after only two calls on a potential customer. On other occasions, they might need
to make twenty or more calls to secure a sale. The reward, then, is variable in relation to the
number of successful calls the salesperson makes.
REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES AND BEHAVIOR
Continuous reinforcement schedules can lead to early satiation, and under this schedule
behavior tends to weaken rapidly when reinforces are withheld. However, continuous
reinforces are appropriate for newly emitted, unstable, or low-frequency responses. In
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contrast, intermittent reinforcers preclude early satiation because they don’t follow every
response. They are appropriate for stable or high frequency responses.
If you had to take disciplinary action against an employee, how, specifically, would you do
it?
Conclusion:
The behavioral sciences have had a significant impact on the field of organizational
behavior. They have provided a reference that encourages the use of the scientific method.
Some of the more generally agreed upon influences of behavioral science on
organizational behavior are:
i) the systematic use of theories and theory building to explain behavior
ii) An empirical base to study individuals, group, and organization.
iii) The increased use of rigorous research methods
iv) Less use of arm chair speculation in reaching managerial decisions
v) Efforts to communicate theories, research and ideas to practicing managers as
well as members of the field.
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