BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE (New)

Compiled According to CSVTU Syllabus of MBA Ist Semester

Syllabus of MBA Ist Semester

UNIT - I
Understanding Human Behavior, Conceptual framework for understanding individual behavior as
an input-output system, Biological foundation of Behavior, The dynamics of people and
Organization Comprehensive organizational behavior model; Determinants of organizational
effectiveness; Biographical characteristics of individual behavior.

Compiled By
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(Note: Not for Commercial Purpose)

Understanding Human Behavior

Studying human behavior can help us understand the various internal and external factors that shape our
experiences. In this unit we’ll explore some of the reasons why understanding how humans think, act and feel the
way they do is an integral part of achieving personal and professional goals and contributing to society at large.

What is human behavior?

The way we behave impacts our own lives and the lives of those around us. But how much do we know about why
we act the way we do? Why does gaining this kind of understanding matter?We can live our entire lives with little
awareness of our feelings and those of others.

However, is this a life well lived? From daily relationship struggles to conflict at work, understanding ourselves and
others better can only have a positive impact.

As the human population continues to grow, it’s now becoming more critical than ever to make an effort to build
harmonious relationships. Of course, conflict is inevitable, and understanding human behaviour won’t necessarily
remove it. However, with deeper awareness, we can find ways to address problems more constructively and
compassionately.

The dynamics of people and Organization

BEHAVIORAL scientists study four primary areas of behavioral science: Individual behavior, Group behavior,
Organizational structure, and Organizational processes. They investigate many facets of these areas like
personality and perception, attitudes and job satisfaction, group dynamics, politics and the role of leadership in the
organization, job design, the impact of stress on work, decision-making processes, the communications chain, and
company cultures and climates. They use a variety of techniques and approaches to evaluate each of these
elements and its impact on individuals, groups, and organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

“Organisational behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, production and control of human
behaviour in organisations.”
—Fred Luthans.
“Organisational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure
have on behaviour within the organisations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an
organization’s effectiveness.”
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—Stephens P. Robbins.
“OB is the study of human behaviour in organisational setting, of the interface between human behaviour and
organisation and of the organisation itself.”
-K Aswathappa
Elements of Organizational Behavior / Behavioral Science
The key elements in the organizational behavior are people, structure, technology and the environment in
which the organization operates.

1. People: People make up the internal and social system of the organization. They consist of individuals and
groups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or unofficial. Groups are dynamic and
they work in the organization to achieve their objectives.
2. Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organizations. Different people in the
organization are performing different type of jobs and they need to be (elated in some structural way so
that their work can be effectively co-ordinate.
3. Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with which people
work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a significant influence on working
relationships. It allows people to do more and work better but it also restricts' people in various ways.
4. Environment: All organizations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a larger system
that contains many other elements such as government, family and other organizations. All of these
mutually influence each other in a complex system that creates a context for a group of people.

GLOBAL SCENARIO & BEHAVIOUR SCIENCE

Due to globalization of economy, many organizations now operate in more than one country.
These multinational operations add new dimensions to organizational behavior. It is a step into different
social, political and economic environments.

Therefore, communication and control becomes difficult. The social, political and economic
differences among countries" influence international organizational behavior.
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SOCIAL CONDITIONS: In many countries due to poorly developed resources, there is shortage of
managerial personnel, scientists and technicians. Hence the required skills must be temporarily imported
from other countries, and training programs need to be developed to train the local workers. Trained
locals become the nucleus for developing others, thereby spreading the training through masses.
Another significant social condition in many countries is that the local culture is not familiar with
advanced technology. A few countries arc agriculture dominated and a few other manufacturing
industries dominated. Naturally, the nature of their culture and work life will be different.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS: Political conditions that have a significant effect on organizational behavior
include instability of the government, restricting industries to a particular area and nationalistic drives
such as self-sufficiency in latest technologies. When the government is unstable, organizations become
cautious about further investments. This organizational instability leaves workers insecure and causes
them to be passive and low in taking any initiatives.
In spite of instability, a nationalistic drive is strong for locals to run their country and their
organizations by themselves without any interference by foreign nationals.
In some nations, organized labor is mostly an arm of the authoritarian state and in some other
nations labor is somewhat independent. In some nations, State tends to be involved in collective
bargaining and other practices that affect workers. For example, workers' participation in management
are restricted by law while in other countries they are permitted.

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: The most significant economic conditions in less developed nations are low
per capita income and rapid inflation. Inflation makes the economic life of workers insecure when
compared to developed countries.
The different socio-economic and political conditions existing in countries influence the
introduction of advanced technology and sophisticated organizational systems. A developed country can
easily adopt advanced technology when compared to a less developed country. These limiting conditions
cannot be changed rapidly because they arc too well established and woven into the whole social fabric of
a nation.

MANAGING AN INTERNATIONAL WORKFORCE: Whenever an organization expands its operations to other

countries, it tends to become multicultural and will then face the challenge of blending various cultures
together. The managerial personnel entering another nation need to adjust their leadership styles,
communication patterns and other practices to fit their host country. Their role is to provide fusion of
cultures in which employees from both countries adjust to the new situation seeking a greater
productivity for the benefit of both the organization and the people of the country in which it operates.

Barriers to Cultural Adaptation

 Managers and other employees who come into a host country tend to exhibit different
behaviors and somewhat, see situation around them from their own perspectives. They may
fail to recognize the key differences between their own and other cultures. These people are
called, 'parochial'.
 Another category of managers called 'individualistic' place greatest emphasis on their personal
needs and welfare. They are more concerned about themselves than the host country.
 Another potential barrier to easy adaptation of another culture occurs, when-people are
predisposed to believe that their homeland conditions are the-best. This predisposition is known
as the 'self-reference criterion' or 'ethnocentrism'. This feeling interferes with understanding
human: behaviour in other cultures and obtaining productivity from local employees.

Cultural Distance: To decide the amount of adaptation that may be required when personnel moves to
another country, it is helpful to understand the cultural distance between the two countries. Cultural
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distance is the amount of distance between any two social systems. Whatever may be the amount of
cultural distance, it does affect the responses of all individuals to business. The manager's job is to make
the employees adapt to the other culture and integrate the interests of the various cultures involved.

Cultural Shock: When employees enter another nation they tend to suffer cultural shock, which is the
insecurity and disorientation caused by encountering a different culture. They may not know how to act.
may fear losing face and self-confidence or may become emotionally upset. Cultural shock is virtually
universal. Some of the more frequent reasons for cultural shock are as follows:
 Different management philosophies
 New language
 Alternative food, dress, availability of goods
 Attitude towards work and productivity
 Separation from family, friends and colleagues
 Unique currency system

Many expatriates report difficulty in adjusting to different human resource management philosophies, the
language, the different currency and work attitudes in another culture.

Overcoming Barriers to Cultural Adaptation

 Careful selection; of employees, who can withstand/adjust cultural shocks for international assignments* is
important.
 Pre-departure training in geography, customs, culture and political environment in which the employee
will be living will help for cultural adaptation.
 Incentives and guarantees for better position will motivate employees for cultural adaptation in the new
country.

 Employees who return to their home country after working in another nation for sometime tend
to suffer cultural shock in their own homeland. After adjusting to the culture of another nation and
enjoying its uniqueness, it is difficult for expatriates to re-adjust to the surroundings of their home
country. Hence, organizations need repatriation policies and programs to help returning employees
obtain suitable assignments and adjust to the 'new' environments.

Cultural Contingencies: Productive business practices from one country cannot be transferred directly to
another country. This reflects the idea of cultural contingency that the most productive practices for a
particular nation will depend heavily on the culture, social system, economic development and
employee's values in the host country. Hence, the expatriate managers must learn to operate effectively
in a new environment with certain amount of flexibility. Labor policy, personnel practices and production
methods need to be adapted to a different labor force. Organization structures and communication
patterns need to be suitable for local operations.

Conceptual framework for understanding individual behavior as an input-output system,

Biological foundation of Behavior

Behavior as an Input-Output System

People are considered as the "spinal cord" of every organization. Managers of every organization must be
familiar about behavior of people. Understanding an individual behavior is a very difficult task. Therefore
behavior can be observed as input-output system.
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The Inputs: Stimuli form the inputs for the system and the information getting process or function is the
sensation. The event data from the environment are received and transformed to sensations by sense
organs of vision, audition, smell, taste, those on the inner ear and muscles.

The processing: Something happens to the inputs as soon as they are sent to central processing unit i.e.
nervous system by the receptors. Perception of the situation, thinking, reasoning or problem-solving
occurs. A choice between alternatives is made and decision is taken.

The Outputs: Outputs are the behavioral response of individual. It is caused by inputs and processing
components of the individual behavior. The situations in which outputs occur largely influence the
working of the system as a whole. These situations may include environmental factors which affect, the
psycho-motor process.

Individuals behave differently because of a multitude of factors. These include an individual’s age, sex,
education, intelligence, personality, physical characteristics, experience, values, family and cultural
background etc. For instance, a young railway ticket collector would behave differently from one who is
more experienced and mature. Situational variables affecting individual behavior include organizational
and social variables e.g., type of organization, nature of supervision, and physical job variables like
method of work, design of work, and physical work environment.

1. Traditional View of Input-Output System

According to this system, if we assume that behavior is caused and this assumption is true, behavior takes
place in the form of a process or system. Based on the analysis of behavior processes or systems have
been developed.

a) S – R Model
S – R process where ‘S’ stands for stimulus and ‘R’ stands for response. The process of human behavior
may thus be regarded as stimulus-response process. The teacher is affected by student’s behavior and in
turn affects their behavior. This takes place through interaction between/among them, and is subject to
the environment in which they interact. Thus, individual behavior is not a self-induced phenomenon, but
is affected by a larger system e.g., group, family and the society within which one functions.

Similarly, S – R model of human behavior suggests that the behavior is caused by certain reasons. The
reasons may be internal feeling (motivation) and external environment (stimulus). A stimulus is an agent,
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such as, heat, light, piece of information etc. that directly influences the activity of an organism (person).
Without the stimulus, there is no information to be handled by the internal processes prior to action
taken by the person. It implies that his behavior is determined by the situation. Inherent in the situation
are the environmental forces that shape and determine his behavior at any given moment. The entire
situation has been traditionally described as stimulus response (S – R) process. This S – R model,
however, does not give the total concept of caused nature of behavior especially when the person
concerned plays an important role in behavior especially when their person concerned plays an
important role in behavior because behavior is shaped by his internal feelings also. Thus, combination of
stimulus – response situation and human being will give a more comprehensive model of human
behavior denoting that the situation interacting with the human being proceeds and causes behavior.

b) S – O – R Model

S – O – R model of human behavior is achieved by inserting O (organism) in the classical S – R model. The
S – O – R model is based upon the stimulus processed by the organism and followed by behavior. This O is
not passive and immobile as assumed in S – R model. Rather the O is not viewed as a mediating,
maintenance, and adjustive function between S and R as a mediating function, the O is constantly active,
scanning its surroundings, monitoring its own actions, seeking certain conditions and avoiding others. As
a maintenance function, organs of O are responsible for its health and growth. There are three categories
of maintenance organs-receptors (sense organs), connectors (nervous organs), and effectors (muscles
and glands). The adjustment function of the O monitors the person’s activities so that he can overcome
obstacles and satisfy his needs. Though the insertion of O in S – R model gives some recognition to the
importance to the human variables. It still remains a relatively mechanistic and simplistic approach and
does not explain the complexity of human behavior

2. Behavior View of Input-Output System (S – O – B Model)

It is also popularly known as S – O – B model. S – O – B incorporates a more complex mechanism of

human behavior which modifies and extends S – O – R models. In this model, ‘S’ stands for the situation
which is more comprehensive than stimuli of S – O – R model and incorporates all aspects of the
environment – immediate stimulus, physical environment, and socio-cultural environment. ‘O’ is the
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organism but does not only represent the physiological being as in the S – O – R model, but also the
psychological being which is more complex. ‘B’ stands for pattern of behavior, both overt and covert.

This model of behavior has significant departure from earlier models for behavior which have consider
only overt aspects.

S – O – B model tries to explain the process of human behavior. The understanding, predicting, and
directing human behavior in organizations may be increased when we identify and analyze the different
variables which go in shaping the behavior. Various factors affecting the human behavior may lie within
the individual himself or lie in the situations with which he interacts.

Biological Foundation of Behavior

The general biological characteristics of human system, especially as laid down in heredity and revealed
during the subsequent period of development of the individual, influence the ways in which he or she
tends to sense external event data, interpret them, respond to them and learn from his/her own past
experiences.

The individual inherits a similarity to other individuals as well as uniqueness in the form of genes
and chromosomes. In addition, he or she inherits and physical traits and the ability to learn and behave
intellectually, which a wide impact on his/her behavioral patterns.

The childhood sensory and perceptual experience contributes a lot towards the maturity of the
sensory and perceptual abilities. The growth of the individual is markedly influenced by the
functioning of the ductless glands including the pituitary, the thyroid, the adrenals and the gonads.

The structure of the nervous system plays a significant role in bringing together the human
behavior and personality. Integration of human behavior takes place because of the constraint
functioning of receptors, effectors and connectors. The human behavior ranges from the simple reflex
action to the complex problem-solving activity involving various levels of integration.

Biological Basis of Behavior

The biological basis of human behavior is rooted in the complex interplay of genetics, brain chemistry,
and physiology. Each aspect contributes to the unique patterns of thought, emotion, and action that
characterize an individual. Understanding these biological factors provides a foundational understanding
of why we behave the way we do.

Genetics and Behavior

Genetics play a crucial role in shaping behaviors by influencing our predispositions towards certain traits
and abilities. For instance, twin studies have revealed that traits such as intelligence, aggression, and risk
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of mental health disorders have a genetic component. A landmark study by Bouchard demonstrated that
identical twins reared apart exhibit remarkably similar behaviors, suggesting a strong genetic influence.

Neurobiology of Behavior
At the heart of our behavior is our brain, which acts as the control center, processing and responding to
information. Neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers in the brain, play a pivotal role in this process.
For example, serotonin and dopamine
influence mood and motivation respectively.

Hormonal Influences
Hormones also significantly impact behavior.
The endocrine system, which secretes
hormones into the bloodstream, interacts
closely with the brain to affect a wide range of
behaviors from stress response to social
bonding. The hormone oxytocin, often dubbed
the “love hormone,” for example, is involved in
forming social bonds and trust.
The Brain’s Structure and
Function
The structure and function of the brain also
dictate behavioral outputs. Different brain
regions have specialized functions that influence specific behaviors. The amygdala, involved in emotional
processing, and the frontal cortex, responsible for decision-making and problem-solving, are two critical
areas. Structural differences in these areas can lead to distinct behavioral patterns. For instance,
individuals with a larger amygdala may experience heightened emotional responses

Organization:
(a) “A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of
two or more people, that functions on a relatively
continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of
goals.” - Chester Bernard.
‘
(b) “An organization comes into existence when there a
number of persons in communication and relationship to each other and is willing to contribute to a common
Endeavour.”
4 key aspects of organization:-
1. Communication
2. Cooperative effort
3. Common objectives
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4. Rules and regulations.

Sociology

Social psychology
FEATURES OF AN ORGANISATION:
Organizations are systems of people that clearly define each member’s roles in the system. The following
are the main features that characterize the organizations.

 Association of People: An organization brings together individuals who collaborate and work collectively
Anthropology
towards a common purpose.
 Common Goals: Members of the organization share specific objectives that they strive to achieve together,
guiding their actions and decisions.
 Well-Defined Structure: The organization has a clear and established framework that outlines roles,
relationships,
Political and hierarchical levels to facilitate efficient operations.
science
 Coordinated Activities: Activities within the organization are synchronized and aligned to ensure
harmony and effective collaboration among members.
 Communication: Open and effective communication channels are established to enable the exchange of
information, ideas, and feedback among members.
 Division of Work: Tasks and responsibilities are assigned and distributed among members based on their
skills, expertise, and job roles to optimize efficiency and productivity.
 Environmental Influence: Organizations operate within an external environment that can impact their
functioning, requiring them to adapt and respond to changes and influences from the outside world.
 Well-defined Authority and Responsibility Relationships: The organization establishes a clear
structure of authority and assigns responsibilities to different positions or individuals to ensure
accountability and effective decision-making.
 Continuity: Organizations are designed for longevity and aim for sustainable operations over time,
ensuring stability and endurance beyond individual members or specific periods.
 Rules and Regulations: Organizations implement policies, procedures, and guidelines to provide a
framework for behavior, ensure compliance, and maintain ethical standards.

Comprehensive organizational behavior model.

As fantastically (and fanatically) self-aware organisms, we humans tend to ascribe great importance to our
intellectual processes: We’re rational and reasoning creatures, we assert, capable of stepping back and assessing
our own behavior through an analytical lens.

Organizations differ in the quality of organizational behaviour that they develop. These differences
are substantially caused by different models of organizational behaviour that dominant management's
thought in each organization. The model that a manager holds usually begins with certain assumptions
about people and thereby leads to certain interpretations of organizational events.

The following four models of organizational behaviour are as follows:

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Autocratic Model - In an autocratic model', the manager has the power to command his subordinates to
do a specific job. Management believes that it knows what is best for an organization and therefore,
employees are required to follow their orders. The psychological result of this model on employees is
their increasing dependence on their boss. Its main weakness is its high human cost.

Custodial Model - This model focuses better employee satisfaction and security. Under this model
organizations satisfy the security and welfare needs of employees. Hence, it is known as custodian model.
This model leads to employee dependence on an organization rather than on boss. As a result of
economic rewards and benefits, employees are happy and contented but they are not strongly motivated.
Martial arts master Bruce Lee is coined with saying: “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked,
while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” Due to the nature of the work, flexibility
is a characteristic many custodial professionals already demonstrate, but this is increasingly important
during a crisis.

Supportive Model - The supportive model depends on 'leadership' instead of power or money. Through
leadership, management provides a climate to help employees grow and accomplish in the interest of an
organization. This model assumes that employees will take responsibility, develop a drive to contribute
and improve them if management will give them a chance. Therefore, management's direction is to
'Support' the employee's job performance rather than to 'support' employee benefit payments, as in the
custodial approach. Since management supports employees in their work, the psychological result is a
feeling of participation and task involvement in an, organization.

Collegial Model - The term 'collegial' relates to a body of persons having a common purpose. It is a team
concept. Management is the coach that builds a better team. The management is seen as joint contributor
rather than as a boss. The employee response to this situation is responsibility. The psychological result
of the collegial approach for the employee is 'self-discipline'. In this kind of environment employees
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normally feel some degree of fulfillment and worthwhile contribution towards their work. This results in
enthusiasm in employees' performance.

FOUR MODELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

A Comparison

Autocratic Custodial Supportive Collegial

Basis of Model Power Economic resources Leadership Partnership

Managerial- orientation Authority Money Support Teamwork

Employee psychological Dependence on Dependence on

Participation Self-discipline
result boss organization
Status and
Employee needs met Subsistence Security Self-actualization
recognition
Awakened Moderate
Performance result Minimum Passive cooperation
drives enthusiasm

Determinants of organizational effectiveness

Organizational Effectiveness denotes the degree to which a business proficiently attains its goals by
streamlining internal operations, optimizing resource utilization, and aligning with strategic objectives.
Successful organizations often demonstrate elevated productivity, contented employees, and flexibility in
response to evolving environments. Critical elements encompass transparent communication, strong
leadership, and a capacity for innovation.

The diverse approaches embrace diverse standard for assessing organizational effectiveness. That is why,
a very significant & tough job for the manager, who is examining the condition, is to ascertain the factors
underlying organizational effectiveness. The main set of factors or variables that possibly have their
effect on effectiveness are:

 Organizational characteristics

 Environmental characteristics

 Managerial policies and practices

 Employee characteristics

Organizational characteristics
Organizational characteristics which affect the effectiveness are of succeeding forms:
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(a) Organizational structure
(b) Technology

Technology & organizational structure are interconnected. The kind of technology defines the nature &
structure of organization. Alteration of technology will need many changes in the organization in the
method of :

 Alteration in the operation such as from labor intensive to capital intensive.

 Shifting of employees to either diverse sections inside the similar factory or to other factory of
the organization.

 Modification in span of control.

 Forming of new & winding up of few departments.

 Alteration in the materials which are used.

 Reeducation & provision of more knowledge about the newest technology to the employees

Environmental characteristics
Each organization needs an appropriate management information system which will observe such
variations in the environmental setting which have a bearing on organizational structure.

The environmental factors which effect the organization are of two forms:

(a) External Environment: it entails of the largely market, legal, & technical facets which have a straight
bearing on supply of materials & other factors of production as well as the distribution of finished goods.
The external environment is considered by intricacy, uncertainty &ambiguity.

(b) Internal Environment: the internal environment of the organization is intensely influenced by
psycho-sociological factors which decide individual reactions to organizational expectations. If the
employees give suitable & proper reaction to the programmes & policies undertaken by the organization,
the organization would be effective otherwise not. The reactions of the employees would depend upon
the synchronization prevailing amongst the members & the consistency in perception of individuals & the
organization.

Employee Characteristics Human factor is the utmost vital factor which effects the goal
attainment of the organization. If there is a close amalgamation amongst the individual & organizational
goals, the organization would be extremely effective as elucidated in the behavioral approach to the
effectiveness. If the organization, without compromising with its essential programmes & policies, might
readapt to accommodate valid ambitions of the employees, it should to do so to attain effectiveness. In
case there is a fight amid the individual & the group goals & the issues relays to the very presence of the
organization, the organization would have to take strong stand to deal with the condition.

To aid in attaining the effectiveness of the organization, the employees should have the succeeding
features:
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They should be fascinated towards &pleased with the organization.

 They should be dedicated towards the organization.

 Their motives, aims & needs should not be in conflict with the organizational aims.

 The employees should be capable & conversant.

 They should have their role lucidity.

 The job turnover should be very low, if any.

Managerial Policies & Practices

Managerial policies & practices are the furthermost significant factors influencing the organizational
effectiveness. These policies & practices comprise:

Strategic goal setting: goal setting is very tough course. Goals should be so designed that they carry
employees’ sustenance. While setting the goals, the management should understand the work connecting
to the accomplishment of the goal so planned.

Resource acquisition & utilization: the efficiency of the organization rests on the acquisition &
utilization of resources. The main tasks of the manager are to use the resources optimally. There should
not be any wastage of resources.

Leadership & decision making: Decision making is task of dynamic leadership. Leadership & decision
making could go a long way in making the organization effective. An effective leader is the one whose
decisions are focused towards attaining such organizational goals which are acknowledged &executed by
the organizational employees.

Performance environment: such practices should be executed by the management which outcomes in
enhancing the quality of the performance of individuals which would eventually be reflected in
organizational effectiveness.

Foundation of Individual Behaviour

Individual behaviour is influenced by various factors. We will study those personal factors, which has
influence on productivity, job satisfaction, absenteeism and turnover.
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Biographical &
Environmental
Individual
Factors
Factors

Learned Organisational
Factors Factors

1. BIOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS
There are certain factors which are inherited by an individual. A person inherits physical appearance,
way of talking, analyzing, and taking initiative in a group. Physical attributes of a person are important in
work environment. If a manager is able to identify these factors he will be able to deal with each of
individual employees effectively. These factors
are as under:
I. Age: Age is one of the important factors to generate productivity. The relationship between job
and performance is an issue of increasing concern. Younger employees are expected to be more
energetic, adventurous, ambitions and risk takers. On the other hand old people are considered to
be more conservative, having slow speed of work and are less adaptable. Job performance and
turnover declines with increasing age and therefore less job opportunities, hence there are less of
resignation. Older people generally get higher wages, longer paid vacation and they stick on to the
job because of pensionary benefits. However productivity is related to attitude and behaviour of
employees irrespective of age factor. Speed, agility, strength and coordination reduces by age.
Experience, the older employees enjoy is of a great significance, disadvantages caused due to
declining age is offset by experience.

II. Gender: Traditionally some jobs were reserved for females like nursing jobs. Over a passage of
time, there is no gender differenciation between male and female. We observe successful female
entrepreneurs working around the world. In the Indian defence services, the women fighter pilots
had done a wonderful job during Kargil operations. They can undergo physical and mental stress
and display exemplary capabilities. There is no gender difference for skills that are required for
problem solving, analytical skills, competitive drive, motivation, sociability and learning ability. It
has been established that women are more willing to conform to authority. Men are more
aggressive and have a greater expectations from the organization. There is no difference in
productivity and job satisfaction. Women absents more as compared to the men, this is because of
the social responsibility and domestic problems. Women have to stay longer at home for child
care, illness of dependants and the like. As far as turnover is concerned, there is no difference
between men and women.

III. Religion: Religion and culture play an important role in determining various aspects of individual
behaviour. There is a great impact on individual who have been brought up in ideal religious
culture concerning moral, ethics and a code of conduct. Religion and culture determine individual
attitude towards work and compensation.Employees having high religious value are generally
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found to be hard working, honest, dependable, sociable, who can fit in the organization well. They
are productive, innovative and think well of the organization.

IV. Marital Status: Marriage imposes increased responsibilities on an individual, therefore an

individual desires to have a steady job. Married employees have fewer absences, lesser turnover
and higher job satisfaction. Number of dependants is also a factor to be considered. There is no
clear cut information about the impact of marital status on productivity absenteeism, turnover
and job satisfaction. Since marriage increases the family commitment, an individual do not change
organizations.

V. Tenure: Tenure is referred to as experience. The impact of experience on performance is an issue

which is subject to a lot of misconception and speculation. Work experience is considered to be a
good indicator of employee productivity. There is a positive relationship between seniority and
job performance and negative relationship between seniority and absenteeism.

VI. Employee turnover is negatively related to seniority. Research indicates that experience and
satisfaction are positively related. Seniority and experience is a better indicator of job satisfaction
than the age of a person.

VII. Ability -Ability is individuals’ capacity to perform various tasks in a job. Ability is made up
of two sets of skills:
Intellectual skills or ability & Physical skills or ability.

We are not created equals. It does not mean we are inherently inferiors to others. Everyone has
strengths and weaknesses in ability. What is important is to identify level of ability or skills and
put it to optimum utilization to improve performance.

(A) Intellectual ability: It is an ability of a person that is required to do mental activities. Higher IQ is not
necessary to perform the job successfully. For any high job a general level of intelligence is adequate.
Intellectual ability can be further
divided into the following skills:
a) Number Aptitude: A person having number aptitude displays speed, accuracy and
arithmetic inclination in the work. Such individuals can be best employed in accounts
and sales tax departments.
b) Verbal Comprehension: It refers to ability to understand what is heard or read. It is
relationship of words to each other. People having verbal comprehension can be best
employed as plant managers. They would be ideal to draft corporate polices.
c) Perceptual Speed: It is an ability to identify visual similarities and differences. Such
individuals can be gainfully employed for investigative jobs.
d) Inductive Reasoning: The ability is related to individual’s skill to identify logical
sequence in a problem and later solve the same. Such individuals can be assigned the
job in research and development departments / organizations.
e) Memory: It is an ability to recall past experience. Sales persons depend upon this ability
in performance of their job.

(B) Physical Ability: Physical ability refers to strength factors which includes dynamic strength (muscles
force), trunk strength (abdominal muscles), static strength (exertion of force against external object) and
explosive strength. Other factors relate to body coordination, balance and stamina. It is the
responsibility of the manager to identify physical skills in the individual and assign them suitable jobs
commensurate with their ability. High importance of physical skills are given in police, railways, defence,
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024
revenue and agriculture fields where various skills are important. In industrial setting, it must be ensured
that ability is co-related to the job requirements so that an optimum output is achieved.

Emotions
For many years wisdom of a person and his ability to perform was measured by Intelligence
Quotient (IQ). IQ was a measure for admission to schools, measurement of performance
instudies, for seeking jobs and performance evaluation while on the job. However studies indicate
that Emotional Intelligence (EI) is now considered as greater predictor of success than IQ.

Wechsler and Robert Thornadike carried out work on non-cognitive aspects of intelligence
like social intelligence. In 1990, Salovey and Mayer coined the term ‘Emotional intelligence’. They
described emotional intelligence as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to
moniter one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this
information to guide one’s thinking and action”. Cognitive abilities are related to IQ of an
individual and non-cognitive with emotions. It has been found that emotional and social skills
actually help to improve cognitive functioning also.

2. Learned Characteristics
Personality: Personality is sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others. It is
a dynamic organization within an individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique
adjustments with his environment. It is the charm, positive attitude, smiling face, growth and the
development of a person that adds to personality. Personality is greatly influence by the environment
that a person has been brought up and the factors of heredity.

I. Heredity: Heredity is transmitted through genes that determine hormone balance and leads to
physique formation which shapes personality. Heredity refers to those factors like physical
stature, facial attractiveness, sex, temperament, muscle composition, reflects and energy level.
Heredity is made up of biological factors. Traits like shyness; fear and distress are passed on to
generations. Traits are characteristics of an individual when exhibited in large number of
situations. More consistence and more frequent occurrences in diverse situations, the more
predominant the trait in an individual are. Common traits found in a person are shyness,
aggressive, submissive, laziness, ambitious, loyal and timid.

II. Perception is the process by which information is interpreted in order to give meaning to the
world around us. Different people perceive the same thing differently. It should be noted that we
should evaluate each situation / individual carefully before forming an opinion. Perceptual errors
should be avoided perception will be studied in greater details in the subsequent chapters.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024

III. Attitude: Attitude is a tendency to act/think in certain ways either favourably or unfavourably
concerning objects, people or situation. For example, If I say I am satisfied with my job, what
actually I am doing is expressing my attitude towards the job. An attitude is the way a person feels
about a person, a place, a thing, a situation or an idea. Attitude could be positive or negative.
Attitude can be measured either by observing the action of the individual or simply asking him the
questions about how he would behave in a particular situation.

IV. Values: Values are beliefs that guide actions and judgments across a variety of situations. Values
represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to
an opposite mode of conduct. Values are of two types, terminal value that are ultimate values like
freedom, salvation, truth and non-violance. Instrumental values relate to means for achieving
ends. It is a tool for acquiring terminal values. For example obedient, capable etc. Individual values
are formed in the initial stages. They are influenced by the parents, teachers, friends and other
social groups. Values vary from person to person. Values help in understanding the attitudes, and
motivational level of the individuals. It helps to change

3. Environmental Factors
On the behavior of a person, the external environment plays a significant role. Economic Factors – In an
economic environment, the behavior of an individual is largely affected due to certain factors including:

(a) Employment Level – The employment opportunities available to an individual directly influence the
behavior of an individual. Even after the lack of job satisfaction, the individual have to stick to the same
job as there are less job opportunities for him/her. In such cases, it is important that they may be loyal to
the company in providing better productivity; they are only remaining in the same organization due to
the monetary benefits offered to them.

(b) Wage Rates – Every employee is majorly concern with the wages offered to them by the company or
the organization. The decision of a worker or an employee is directly affected by the monetary terms
from the side of the company.

(c) General Economic Environment – There are various employees that does not have any effect of
economic cycle whether in a public sector undertakings or government offices. Regardless of their
economic position within the organization, they will receive their salaries. Employees in the private
sectors are greatly affected by the stable income and job security but the former employees can be
motivated from other factors.

Similarly, there are various other environmental factors in an organization that could affect the behavior
of the employees, including social factors, political factors or legal environment.

4. Organizational Factors

With wide variety of resources and organizational systems, individual behavior is influenced that
includes:

1. Physical Facilities – At a workplace, the physical environment is considered as an arrangement of

people and things positive that could also create influence on other people. There are certain factors that
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024
influence the behavior of an individual including cleanliness, light, ventilation, noise level, nature of job,
number of people working, etc.

(a)Structure and Design – The way in which every department of the organization is set-up has direct
concern with the structure and design. The performance and the behavior of an individual is directly
influenced by the position at which person could perfectly fits in the whole organizational hierarchy.

(b)Leadership – The management of the organization establish the system of leadership so that the
proper assistance, advice, guidance, direction and coaching could be given to the individuals. The
behavior of each employee is influenced to the large extent to the behavior of the leaders or the superiors
of the same organization. The behavior of the leaders is more important than the qualities of the leaders.

(c)Reward System – The performance and the behavior of individuals are directly influenced by the
reward system that is established by the organization so that the employees could be able to compensate.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024
--Case Study---

Managing People and Organizations

Humanized Robots?
Helen Bowers was stumped. Sitting in her office at the plant, she pondered the same questions she
had been facing for months: how to get her company’s employees to work harder and produce
more. No matter what she did, it didn’t seem to help much.

Helen had inherited the business three years ago when her father, Jake Bowers, passed away
unexpectedly. Bowers Machine Parts was founded four decades ago by Jake and had grown into a
moderate-size corporation. Bowers makes replacement parts for large-scale manufacturing
machines such as lathes and mills. The firm is headquartered in Kansas City and has three plants
scattered throughout Missouri.

Although Helen grew up in the family business, she never understood her father’s approach. Jake
had treated his employees like part of his family. In Helen’s view, however, he paid them more
than he had to, asked their advice far more often than he should have, and spent too much time
listening to their ideas and complaints. When Helen took over, she vowed to change how things
were done. In particular, she resolved to stop handling employees with kid gloves and to treat
them like what they were: the hired help.

In addition to changing the way employees were treated, Helen had another goal for Bowers. She
wanted to meet the challenge of international competition. Japanese firms had moved
aggressively into the market for heavy industrial equipment. She saw this as both a threat and an
opportunity. On the one hand, if she could get a toehold as a parts supplier to these firms, Bowers
could grow rapidly. On the other, the lucrative parts market was also sure to attract more
Japanese competitors. Helen had to make sure that Bowers could compete effectively with highly
productive and profitable Japanese firms.

From the day Helen took over, she practiced an altogether different philosophy to achieve her
goals. For one thing, she increased production quotas by 20 percent. She instructed her first-line
supervisors to crack down on employees and eliminate all idle time. She also decided to shut
down the company softball field her father had built. She thought the employees really didn’t use
it much, and she wanted the space for future expansion.

Helen also announced that future contributions to the firm’s profit-sharing plan would be phased
out. Employees were paid enough, she believed, and all profits were the rightful property of the
owner—her. She also had private plans to cut future pay increases to bring average wages down
to where she thought they belonged. Finally, Helen changed a number of operational procedures.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024
In particular, she stopped asking other people for their advice. She reasoned that she was the boss
and knew what was best. If she asked for advice and then didn’t take it, it would only stir up
resentment.

All in all, Helen thought, things should be going much better. Output should be up and costs should
be way down. Her strategy should be resulting in much higher levels of productivity and profits.

But that was not happening. Whenever Helen walked through one of the plants, she sensed that
people weren’t doing their best. Performance reports indicated that output was only marginally
higher than before but scrap rates had soared. Payroll costs were indeed lower, but other
personnel costs were up. It seemed that turnover had increased substantially and training costs
had gone up as a result.

In desperation, Helen finally had hired a consultant. After carefully researching the history of the
organization and Helen’s recent changes, the consultant made some remarkable suggestions. The
bottom line, Helen felt, was that the consultant thought she should go back to that "humanistic
nonsense" her father had used. No matter how she turned it, though, she just couldn’t see the
wisdom in this. People worked to make a buck and didn’t want all that participation stuff.
Suddenly, Helen knew just what to do: She would announce that all employees who failed to
increase their productivity by 10 percent would suffer an equal pay cut. She sighed in relief,
feeling confident that she had finally figured out the answer.
Case Questions
I. How successful do you think Helen Bowers’s new plan will be?
II. What challenges does Helen confront?
III. If you were Helen’s consultant, what would you advise her to do?
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024
--Case Study---
NATIONAL CADET CORPS (NCC) – A BOON FOR SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT

National Cadet Corps (NCC) is a national organization having junior wing and senior wing both for
girls and boys. Junior wing NCC is meant for secondary school level and senior wing is applicable
for college students. The objective of NCC organization is to inculcate discipline for the youth of
our nation. An Army Officer of the rank of Lt General called Director General (DG) heads NCC
organization at national level. The organization has a vast network at each state level headed by
an officer of the rank of Brigadier known as Deputy Director General (DDG) of a particular state.
In every state there are number of Group Headquarters located at important cities depending
upon school and college density and compositions. Under Group Headquarters there are number
of NCC Battalions (Boys/ Girls). Number of battalions in each Group Headquarters varies
depending upon the size of the area. In the same fashion, number of groups under a DDG varies.
NCC is applicable to all school/ college going children. It is voluntary organization in nature.
DDGs, group commanders and battalion commanders organize various events round the year.
These are as under:
I. Participation in professional training that includes the following:
a. Weapon training, including firing or rifles,light machine guns.
b. Drill.
c. First aid training in various contingencies.
d. Basic field craft and guard duties.
e. Basic battle craft at a level of a section (section comprises of ten men)
II. Organization of training camps where teamwork, comradeship, cooperation and events
mention in (a) above are practiced. The training camps are generally of the duration of two
weeks. Such camps are held twice a year.
III. After completion of two and four years of training, B certification and C certificates
respectively are awarded to the cadets. The certificates have preference for admission to
various professional courses like medicine. It also has a weightage for
IV. government jobs. A person having C certificate need not appear in the written examination
conducted by UPSC for commissioned officers of the defence services which is a major
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE -2024
concession. Such students have to face Service Selection Boards direct, for selection in the
defence services as commissioned officers.
V. Individual having C certification (which is achieved after four years of NCC training) gets six
months seniority in defense services.

NCC is considered as one of the best organizations of our country. The organization has produced
better citizens. During the course of the attachment, the cadets are given full NCC kit. Refreshment
is provided during parade days (twice a week). The cadets are provided meals, transportation and
medical facility.

The training in the organization is a costly affair to the exchequer of the state government. NCC
officers have to interact with civil administration at state level, district level, and with principals/
directors of the colleges. They have to deal with local population, medical authorities, RTO and all
agencies related with civil administration. This involves advance planning, good communication
and inter-personal relationship. Social, cultural and ethnic activities are promoted in the NCC.
Annual training camps are held at state or national level. Cadets, develop friendship with various
individuals and learn to live in a community environment during training camps. NCC covers land,
air and naval branches and all cadets are put through training in the skill development of
respective wings.

Discussion Questions
a. Why NCC is considered as one of the best organizations.
b. How does the organization relate to field of organizational behaviour. What are various
agencies that the officials have to interact.
c. What are the benefits of NCC.
d. How does the management interact with external environmental forces?