Overview and History of Organizational Behavior

What is Organizational Behavior?

An organization is a collection of people who work together to achieve individual
and organizational goals.
Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how
people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking
a system approach. 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.
Organizational behavior provides a set of tools that allow:
people to understand, analyze, and describe behavior in organizations,
and
managers to improve, enhance, or change work behaviors so that
individuals, groups and the whole organization can achieve their goals
Organizational studies encompass the study of organizations from multiple
perspectives, methods, and levels of analysis.
"Micro" organizational behavior refers to individual and group dynamics in
organizations
"Macro" strategic management and organizational theory studies whole
organizations and industries, especially how they adapt, and the
strategies, structures, and contingencies that guide them
The study of Organizational Behavior involves:
consideration of the interaction among the formal structure (organizational
context in which the process of management takes place),
the technology employed and the methods of carrying out work,
the behavior of people; the process of management, and
the external environment
Organizational Behavior can be examined in three levels:
Individual level organizational behavior involves the study of learning,
perception, creativity, motivation, personality, turnover, task performance,
cooperative behavior, deviant behavior, ethics, and cognition.
At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws heavily upon
psychology, engineering, and medicine.
Group level of analysis, organizational behaviors involves the study of
group dynamics, intra- and inter group conflict and cohesion, leadership,
power, norms, interpersonal communication, networks, and roles

At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws upon the

sociological and socio-psychological sciences.
Organization level of analysis, organizational behavior involves the study
of topics such as organizational culture, organizational structure, cultural
diversity, inter-organizational cooperation and conflict, change, technology,
and external environmental forces.
At this level of analysis, organizational behavior draws upon
anthropology and political science.

Five models of organizational behavior:

Autocratic Model, the basis of this model is power with a managerial
orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards
obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met
is subsistence. The performance result is minimal.
Custodial Model, the basis is economic resources with a managerial
orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security
and benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need
that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.
Collegial Model, the basis is partnership with a managerial orientation of
teamwork is the basis in. The employees in turn are oriented towards
responsible behavior and self-discipline. The employee need that is met is
self-actualization. The performance result is moderate enthusiasm.
Supportive Model the basis is leadership with a managerial orientation of
support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and
participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The
performance result is awakened drives.
System Model, which is the emerging model of organizational behavior. It
is the result of a strong search for higher meaning at work by many of
today employees. This model reflects the values underlying positive
organizational behavior, where managers focus their attention on helping
employees develop feelings of hope, optimism, self-confidence, empathy,
trustworthiness, esteem, courage, and resiliency. The managers try to
convey to each worker, You are an important part of our whole system.
We sincerely care about each of you. We want to join together to achieve
a better product or service, local community, and society at large. We will
make every effort to make products that are environmentally friendly.

History of Organizational Behavior

The beginnings of Oganizational Behavior can be found within the human
relations/ behavioral management movement, which emerged during the 1920s
as a response to the traditional or classical management approach. Beginning in
the late 1700s, the Industrial Revolution was the driving force for the
development of large factories employing many workers. Managers at that time

were concerned about how to design and manage work in order to increase
productivity and help organizations attain maximum efficiency. This traditional
approach included Frederick Taylors (1991) well-known framework of scientific
management, or Taylorism, as now labeled.
Frederick Winslow Taylor was the first person who attempted to study human
behavior at work using a systematic approach. Taylor studied human
characteristics, social environment, task, physical environment, capacity, speed,
durability, cost and their interaction with each other. His overall objective was to
reduce and/or remove human variability. Taylor worked to achieve his goal of
making work behaviors stable and predictable so that maximum output could be
achieved. He relied strongly upon monetary incentive systems, believing that
humans are primarily motivated by money. He faced some strong criticism,
including being accused of telling managers to treat workers as machines without
minds, but his work was very productive and laid many foundation principles for
modern management studies.
The Four Principles of Scientific Management was enumerated as follows:
1. Study the way employees perform their tasks, gather informal job knowledge
that employees possess, and experiment with ways of improving the way tasks
are performed.
2. Codify the new methods of performing tasks into written rules and standard
operating procedures.
3. Carefully select employees so that they possess skills and abilities that match
the needs of the task, and train them to perform the task according to the
established rules and procedures.
4. Establish an acceptable level of performance for a task, and then develop a
pay system that provides a reward for performance above the acceptable level.
Soon after, Frederick Winslow Taylor introduced the systematic use of
goal setting and rewards to motivate employees. In the 1920s, Australian-born
Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his colleagues conducted productivity studies
at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant in the United States. They discovered the
importance of formal and informal group dynamics in the work place, resulting in
a dramatic shift towards the human relations school of thought. Though it traces
its roots back to Max Weber and earlier, organizational studies is generally
considered to have begun as an academic discipline with the advent of scientific
management in the 1890s, with Taylorism representing the peak of this
movement. Proponents of scientific management held that rationalizing the
organization with precise sets of instructions and time-motion studies would lead
to increased productivity. Studies of different compensation systems were carried
out.
After the First World War, the focus of organizational studies shifted to
analysis of how human factors and psychology affected organizations, a
transformation propelled by the identification of the Hawthorne Effect. This
Human Relations Movement focused on teams, motivation, and the actualization

of the goals of individuals within organizations. The Hawthorne Studies at

Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company in Ciero, Illinois mark the
starting point of the field of Organizational Behavior. Initiated as an attempt to
investigate how characteristics of the work setting affect employee fatigue and
performance (i.e., lighting). Found that productivity increased regardless of
whether illumination was raised or lowered. Started in 1924 to examine the
relationship between light intensity and employee productivity a test group and
a control group were used the test group initially did not show any increase or
decrease in output in proportion to the increase/decrease in illumination. The
control group with unchanged illumination increased output by the same amount
overall by the test group. Subsequent phases brought the level of light down to
moonlight intensity: the workers could barely see what they were doing, but
productivity increased. The results baffled the researchers. Obviously, something
besides the level of illumination was causing the change in productivity the
complex human variable.
Mary Parker Follett was concerned that Taylor was ignoring the human
side of the side of the organization. She emphasized that employees should be
involved in job analysis, person with the knowledge should be in control of the
work process regardless of position, and that cross-functioning teams used to
accomplish projects. Her approach was very radical for the time.
Several studies after World War II revealed how assumptions about
employees attitudes and behavior affect managers behaviors. Another
significant impact in the development of Organizational Behavior came from
Douglas McGregor when he proposed two theories by which managers
motivated their employees: Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X stated that
employees are unintelligent and lazy. They dislike work, avoiding it whenever
possible. In addition, employees should be closely controlled because they have
little desire for responsibility, have little aptitude for creativity in solving
organizational problems, and will resist change. In contrast, Theory Y states that
employees are creative and competent; they want meaningful work; they want to
contribute; and they want to participate in decision-making and leadership
functions.
A. The Basis of Employee Attitude and Perception
Attitude
Is a mental state of readiness, systematized through experience, exerting
a directive or dynamic influence on the individuals response to all objects
and situations to which it is related
In simple terms attitude is a mindset to act in a particular according to an
individuals experience and temperament
Is the evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or
events.

Three Basic components of attitude are:

Cognitive Component of Attitude refers to opinion or belief part of attitude
Affective Component of Attitude refers to the emotional aspect of attitude
Behavioral Component of Attitude refers to the behavioral part of attitude
Formation of Attitude
How attitudes are formed? How do you develop your attitude? Essentially
attitudes are the outward manifestation of your inner values and beliefs. These
develop over time. As you grow you watch the significant people around you
behaving in a particular way; you are being told to cherish certain things over
others and you learn from your teachers and peers and come to value certain
thins over other, thus forming your value system. These in turn give rise to
development of your attitudes.

Attitudes help predict work behavior.

Attitudes help people to adapt to their work environment.

Functions of Attitude
According to Katz, attitudes serve four important functions from the viewpoint of
organizational behaviour. These are as follows.

The Adjustment Function. Attitudes often help people to adjust to their

work environment. Well-treated employees tend to develop a positive
attitude towards their job, management and the organization in general while
berated and ill treated organizational members develop a negative attitude. In
other words, attitudes help employees adjust to their environment and form a
basis for future behaviour.
Ego-Defensive Function. Attitudes help people to retain their dignity and
self- image. When a young faculty member who is full of fresh ideas and
enthusiasm, joins the organization, the older members might feel somewhat
threatened by him. But they tend to disapprove his creative ideas as crazy
and impractical and dismiss him altogether.
The Value-Expressive Function. Attitudes provide individuals with a
basis for expressing their values. For example, a manager who values
hard and sincere work will be more vocal against an employee who is having
a very casual approach towards work.
The Knowledge Function. Attitudes provide standards and frames of
reference that allow people to understand,and perceive the world around him.
If one has a strong negative attitude towards the management, whatever the
management does, even employee welfare programmes can be perceived as
something bad and as actually against them.

Some of the possible ways of changing attitudes are described below.

Providing New Information. Sometimes a dramatic change in attitude is

possible only by providing relevant and adequate information to the
person concerned. Scanty and incomplete information can be a major
reason for brewing negative feeling and attitudes.
Use of Fear. Attitudes can be changed through the use of fear. People
might resort to change their work habit for the fear of fear of unpleasant
consequences. However, the degree of the arousal of fear will have to be
taken into consideration as well.
Resolving Discrepancies: Whenever people face a dilemma or
conflicting situation they feel confused in choosing a particular course of
action. Like in the case where one is to choose from between two
alternative courses of action, it is often become difficult for him to decide
which is right for him. Even when he chooses one over the other, he might
still feel confused. If some one helps him in pointing out the positive points
in favour of the chosen course of action, he person might resolve his
dilemma.
Influence of friends and peers A very effective way of changing ones
attitude is through his friends and colleagues. Their opinion and
recommendation for something often proves to be more important. If for
example, they are all praise for a particular policy introduced in the work
place, chances are high that an individual will slowly accept that even
when he had initial reservations for that.
Co-opting. If you want to change the attitude of some body who belongs
to a different group, it is often becomes very effective if you can include
him in your own group. Like in the case of the union leader who are all the
time vehemently against any management decision, can be the person
who takes active initiative in implementing a new policy when he had
participated in that decision making process himself.

How Are Employee Attitudes Measured?

The most popular method for getting information about employee attitudes
is through attitude surveys.

Using attitude surveys on a regular basis provides managers with valuable

feedback on how employees perceive their working conditions. Managers
present the employee with set statements or questions to obtain specific
information. Individual Responses are then combined and analyzed

Important Attitudes Related to Organisations:

Job Satisfaction is a set of favorable or unfavorable feelings and
emotions with which employees view their work.
Job Involvement - the degrees, to which a person identifies with a job,
actively participates in it, and considers performance important to selfworth.

Organizational Commitment - the degree to which an employee

identifies with a particular organizational and its goals and wishes to
maintain membership in the organization.

JOB SATISFACTION
A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that an individual holds
toward his or her job
A high level of job satisfaction equals positive attitudes toward the
job and vice versa.
Employee attitudes and job satisfaction are frequently used
interchangeably.
Often when people speak of employee attitudes they mean
employee job satisfaction.
A pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or
job experiences
An employees cognitive and affective evaluation of his or her job
Determinants of Job Satisfaction:
Personality (the enduring ways a person has of feeling, thinking, and
behaving)
Work Situation (the work itself; coworkers, supervisors, and subordinates;
physical working conditions, and working hours, pay and job security)
Values (intrinsic and extrinsic work values)
Social Influence (coworkers, groups, and culture)
The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance
Job Performance
Satisfied workers are more productive AND more productive workers are
more satisfied!
Worker productivity is higher in organizations with more satisfied workers.
Absenteeism
Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.
Turnover
Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
Organizations take actions to retain high performers and to weed out
lower performers.
Customer Satisfaction

Satisfied workers provide better customer service

Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction because:

They are more friendly, upbeat, and responsive.
They are less likely to turnover, which helps build long-term customer
relationships
Organizational Citizenship behavior (OCB)
Satisfied employees who feel fairly treated by and are trusting of the
organization are more willing to engage in behaviors that go beyond the
normal expectations of their job.
Workplace Deviance
Dissatisfied workers are more likely to unionize abuse substances, steal,
be tardy, and withdraw
Cognitive Dissonance
A state of tension that is produced when an individual experiences conflict
between attitudes and behavior
Cognitive Dissonance Theory
Leon Festinger
Any Incompatibility between 2 or more attitudes or between behavior
Internal state that results when individuals notice inconsistency between 2
or more of their attitudes or between their attitudes and their behavior
Self Perception Theory
Daryl Bem
Asserts that we develop our attitudes by observing our own behavior and
concluding what attitudes must have caused them
Perception
is the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to
produce a meaningful experience of the world. It has four stages:
Stimulation, Registration, Organization, Interpretation
Social Perception
is how an individual sees others and how others perceive an individual.
This is accomplished through various means such as classifying an
individual
List of Perceptions according to Perkins:

halo effect - occurs when an individual draws a general impression about

another person based on a single characteristic, such as intelligence,
sociability, or appearance
horn effect - a person evaluates another as low on many traits because
of a belief that the individual is low on one trait that is assumed to be
critical
Projection - perception of an individual based on the comparison to
others. It is the attribution of ones own attitudes and beliefs onto others
Stereotyping - to mean a conventional image applied to whole groups of
people, and the treatment of groups according to a fixed set of generalized
traits or characteristics
Contrast Effect - relate to an individuals evaluation of another persons
characteristics based on (or affected by) comparisons with other people
who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics. It not only applies to
the perception of attractiveness, but it has also been shown to influence
self-esteem, public self-consciousness, and social anxiety
Pygmalion Effect - or self-fulfilling prophecy, describes a persons
behavior that is consistent with another individuals perception whether or
not it is accurate.

B. Theories in Workplace Communication

Communication Process
is the flow by which a message is encoded, transferred, received and
decoded.
Sender is a person, department, or unit of an organization or system who
originates the message; uses words and symbols to put forth information into
a message for the receiver, the individual(s) receiving the message.
Messages are then received and decoded or interpreted by the receiver.
Decoding is affected by the receivers prior experiences and frames of
reference. Accurate decoding of the message by the receiver is critical to
effective communication. The closer the decoded message gets to the intent
of the sender, the more effective the communication. To ensure messages are
received as intended, feedback is a necessary component of the
communication process. The receiver creates feedback to a message and
encodes it before transmitting it back to the sender. The sender receives and
decodes the feedback.

Feedback is the destinations reaction to a message. It is an important

element of communication since it allows for information to be shared
between the receiver and sender in a two-way communication.
A significant part of the communication process is the Feedback. It
is any information that individuals receive about their behavior.

Feedback can be information related to the productivity of groups in

an organization, or the performance of a particular individual

Different levels of Feedback

Descriptive feedback - identifies or describes how a person
communicates.
Evaluative feedback - provides an assessment of the person who
communicates.
Prescriptive feedback - provides advice about how one should behave or
communicate.
Task or procedural feedback - this level involves issues of effectiveness
and appropriateness.
Relational feedback - provides information about interpersonal dynamics
within a group. This level of feedback emphasizes how a group gets along
while working together.
Individual feedback - focuses on a particular individual in a group
Group feedback - focuses on how well the group is performing.

Communication Channels.
It is the means of transmitting messages.

Verbal communication refers to the use of spoken or written

words to share information with others. Dialogue is a form of verbal
communication. It is a discussion or conversation between people.
It is a process in which participants are exposed to new information.
The process involves a series of meetings of organizational
members that represent different views on issues of mutual
interest.
Another channel is the Computer-Aided Communication
which refers to the use of the Electronic mail as a form of
communication. With email messages can be clearly defined
through concrete and specific instructions rather than
abstract words or generalization. Other forms of ComputerAided Communication such various forms of technology
have infused healthcare organizations and directly enhance
and impact the communication process.

Nonverbal communication, is sharing information without using

words to encode messages. There are four basic forms of
nonverbal communication: proxemics, kinesics, facial and eye
behavior, and paralanguage. Proxemicsis the study of an
individuals perception and use of space while Kinesics refers to
body language, which is used to convey meanings and messages

Barriers to Communication
These barriers can impede the communication process. The two
categories of communication barriers are the environmental and personal.
Environmental barriers are characteristic of the organization and its
environmental setting.
Environmental Barriers include competition for attention and time
between senders and receivers. Multiple and simultaneous
demands cause messages to be incorrectly decoded. The receiver
hears the message, but does not understand it. Due to inadequate
attention paid to the message, the receiver is not really listening.
Listening is a process that integrates physical, emotional, and
intellectual inputs into the quest for meaning and understanding.

Personal barriers arise from the nature of individual.

Personal barriers arise due to an individuals frame of reference or
beliefs and values. They are based on ones socioeconomic
background and prior experiences and shape how messages are
encoded and decoded. One may also consciously or unconsciously
engage in selective perception or be influenced by fear or jealously.

There are several ways to overcome communication barriers. Longest and

coauthors (2000) specified the different guidelines for overcoming barriers:
1. Environmental barriers are reduced if receivers and senders ensure that
attention is given to their messages and that adequate time is devoted to
listening to what is being communicated.
2. A management philosophy that encourages the free flow of communication is
constructive.
3. Reducing the number of links (levels in the organizational hierarchy or steps
between the sender in the healthcare organization and the receiver who is an
external stakeholder) reduces opportunities for distortion.
4. The power/status barrier can be removed by consciously tailoring words and
symbols so that messages are understandable; reinforcing words with actions
significantly improves communication among different power/status levels.
5. Using multiple channels to reinforce complex messages decreases the
likelihood of misunderstanding.
Knowledge management relies effectively from Communication.
Employees are the organizations brain cells, and communication represents the
nervous system that carries information and shared meaning to vital parts of the
organizational body. Effective communication brings knowledge into the
organization and disseminates it to employees who require that information (Guo
& Sanchez, 2005).
Guo and Sanchez, summarizes these through the following:

 An effective communicator must have a desire to communicate, which is

influenced both by ones personal values and the expectation that the
communication will be received in a meaningful way.
An effective communicator must have an understanding of how others learn,
which includes consideration of differences in how others perceive and process
information (e.g., analytic vs. intuitive, abstract vs. concrete, verbal vs. written).
The receiver of the message should be cued as to the purpose of the message,
that is, whether the message is to provide information, elicit a response or
reaction, or arrive at a decision.
Forms of Intra-organizational Communication is provided by Longest et al.
(2000):

Upward Flow - occurs between supervisors and subordinates.

The purposes of upward communication flow are to provide
managers with information to make decisions, identify problem areas,
collect data for performance assessments, determine staff morale, and
reveal employee thoughts and feelings about the organization. Upward
flow becomes especially important with increased organizational
complexity.
Grievance procedure. This allows employees to make an appeal
upward beyond their immediate supervisor. It protects the individual
from arbitrary action by their direct supervisor and encourages
communication about complaints.
Open door policy. The supervisors door is always open to
subordinates. It is an invitation for subordinates to come in and talk
to the superior about things that trouble them. The human
resources in a healthcare organization can facilitate subordinateinitiated communication by conducting confidential counseling,
administering attitude questionnaires, and holding exit interviews
for those leaving the organization. Information gained from these
forms of communication can be used to make improvements.
Participative decision-making techniques. Through the use of
informal involvement of subordinates or formal participation
programs such as quality improvement teams, unionmanagement
committees, and suggestion boxes.
Ombudsperson. The use of an ombudsperson provides an outlet
for persons who feel they have been treated unfairly.

Downward Flow
Downward communication involves passing information from
supervisors to subordinates. This includes verbal and nonverbal
communication, such as instructions for completing tasks, as well as
communications on a one-to-one basis.

Horizontal Flow - is from manager to manager or from co-worker to coworker

Upward and downward communications are inadequate for
effective organizational performance. In complex healthcare organizations,
horizontal flow or lateral communication must also occur. The purpose of
lateral communication is the sharing of information among peers at similar
levels to keep organizational staff informed of all current practices,
policies, and procedures (Spillan et al., 2002).

Diagonal Flow - occurs between different levels of different departments

The least used channel of communication in healthcare
organizations is diagonal flow. Diagonal flows are growing in importance.
While diagonal flow does not follow the typical hierarchical chain of
command, diagonal flow is especially useful in health care for efficient
communication and coordination of patient care.

Informal Communication Flows

The most common is called the corporate grapevine. The grapevine is an
unstructured and informal network founded on social relationships rather
than organizational charts or job descriptions

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