Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

UNIT-3: SYLLABUS
UNIT-3: Introduction to Organizational Behaviour
Organizational Behaviour- Definition; Historical Background; Nature, Scope and Importance;
Linkages with other social Sciences; Approaches and Models.

CONCEPTS / TOPICS

Topic. No. Topic

3.1 Definition of Organizational Behaviour & Historical Background

3.2 Nature & Scope of Organizational Behaviour

3.3 Importance of Organizational Behaviour

3.4 OB Linkages with other social Sciences

3.5 Approaches of Organizational Behaviour

3.6 Models of Organizational Behaviour

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 1 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

3.1 Definition of Organizational Behaviour & Historical

Background:
Organizational Behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups
and structure have on behaviour within organizations for the purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.
OB is a field of study, meaning that it is a distinct area of expertise with a common body of
knowledge. It focuses on three determinants of behaviour in organizations, individuals, groups
and structure. In addition, OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups and the
effect of structure on behaviour in order to make organizations work more effectively.
To sum up the definition, OB is the study of what people do in an organization and the way
their behaviour affects the organization’s performance.

Historical Background of OB:

Though the origin to the study of Organisational Behaviour can trace its roots back to Max
Weber and earlier organisational studies, it is generally considered to have begun as an
academic discipline with the advent of scientific management in the 1890's, with Taylorism
representing the peak of the movement. Thus, it was Fredrick Winslow Taylor who
introduced the systematic use of goal setting and rewards to motivate employees that could
be considered as the starting of the academic discipline of Organisational Behaviour.
Proponents of scientific management held that rationalising the organisation with precise sets
of instructions and time-motion studies would lead to increased productivity. Studies of
different compensation systems were also carried out to motivate workers.
In 1920's Elton Mayo an Australian born Harvard Professor and his colleagues conducted
productivity studies at Western Electric's Hawthorne Plant. With this epoch making study the
focus of organisational studies shifted to analysis of how human factors and psychology
affected organisations. This shift of focus in the study of organisations was called the
Hawthorne Effect. The Human Relations Movement focused on teams, motivation, and the
actualisation of goals of individuals within organisations. Studies conducted by prominent
scholars like Chester Barnard, Henri Fayol, Mary Parker Follett, Frederick Herzberg, Abraham
Mas low, David Mc Cellan and Victor Vroom contributed to the growth of Organisational
Behaviour as a discipline.
In the 1960's and 1970's, the field was strongly influenced by social psychology and the
emphasis in academic study was quantitative research. An explosion of the orising, bounded
rationality, informal organisation, contingency theory, resource dependence, institution
theory and population ecology theories have contributed to the study of organisational
behaviour.
The historical development of organisational behaviour is based on Various Historical
Concepts such as Industrial Revolution, Scientific Management and the Human
Relations Movement.

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 2 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

3.2 Nature & Scope of Organizational Behaviour

The nature it has acquired is identified as follows:
1. A Separate Field of Study and Not a Discipline Only:
By definition, a discipline is an accepted science that is based on a theoretical
foundation. But, O.B. has a multi- interdisciplinary orientation and is, thus, not based
on a specific theoretical background. Therefore, it is better reasonable to call O.B. a
separate field of study rather than a discipline only.
2. An Interdisciplinary Approach:
Organizational behaviour is essentially an interdisci­plinary approach to study human
behaviour at work. It tries to integrate the relevant knowledge drawn from re­lated
disciplines like psychology, sociology and anthro­pology to make them applicable for
studying and analysing organizational behaviour.

3. An Applied Science:
The very nature of O.B. is applied. What O.B. basically does is the application of
various researches to solve the organizational problems related to human behaviour.
The basic line of difference between pure science and O.B. is that while the former
concentrates of fundamental researches, the latter concentrates on applied
researches. O.B. involves both applied research and its application in organizational
analysis. Hence, O.B. can be called both science as well as art.
4. A Normative Science:
Organizational Behaviour is a normative science also. While the positive science
discusses only cause effect relationship, O.B. prescribes how the findings of applied
researches can be applied to socially accepted organizational goals. Thus, O.B. deals
with what is accepted by individuals and society engaged in an organization. Yes, it is
not that O.B. is not normative at all. In fact, O.B. is normative as well that is well
underscored by the proliferation of management theories.
5. A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach:
Organizational Behaviour applies humanistic approach towards people working in the
organization. It, deals with the thinking and feeling of human beings. O.B. is based on
the belief that people have an innate desire to be independent, creative and productive.
It also realizes that people working in the organization can and will actualise these
potentials if they are given proper conditions and environment. Environment affects
performance or workers working in an organization.
6 A Total System Approach:
The system approach is one that integrates all the variables, affecting organizational
functioning. The systems approach has been developed by the behavioural scientists

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 3 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

to analyse human behaviour in view of his/her socio-psychological framework. Man’s

socio- psychological framework makes man a complex one and the systems approach
tries to study his/her complexity and find solution to it.

The scope of the organizational behaviour is as under:

Large number of psychologists, social scientists and academicians has carried out research on
various issues related to organization behaviour. Employee performance and job satisfaction
are determinants of accomplishment of individual and organizational goals.

Organizations have been set up to fulfil needs of the people. In today’s competitive world, the
organizations have to be growth oriented. This is possible when productivity is ensured with
respect to quantity of product to be produced with zero error quality. Employee absenteeism
and turnover has a negative impact on productivity. The ultimate scope of OB focuses on:
1. Impact of personality on performance
2. Employee motivation
3. Leadership
4. How to create effective teams and groups
5. Study of different organizational structures
6. Individual behavior, attitude and learning
7. Perception
8. Design and development of effective organization
9. Job design
10. Impact of culture on organizational behavior
11. Management of change
12. Management of conflict and stress
13. Organizational development
14. Organizational culture
15. Transactional analysis
16. Group behaviour, power and politics
17. Job design
18. Study of emotions
The field of the organizational behaviour does not depend upon deductions based on gut
feelings but attempts to gather information regarding an issue in a scientific manner under
controlled conditions. It uses information and interprets the findings so that the behaviour of
an individual and group can be canalized as desired.
Benchmarking, re-engineering, job re-design and empowerment are some of the important
factors so that an organization can function as well-oiled machine. This is not only applicable
to manufacturing organizations but also to service and social organizations.

3.3 Importance of Organizational Behaviour

Understanding the importance of Organisational Behaviour provides direction to the
Organisation. Organisational behaviour has great relevance in today’s business environment.

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 4 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

Studying OB helps to understand and predict organisational life. It also helps to understand
the nature and activities of people in an organisation. It has great need and significance to
motivate employees and to maintain interrelations in the organisation.

The need for and importance of organisational behaviour are as under:

1. Skill Improvement:
o Study of Organisational Behaviour helps to improve skills.
o This includes the ability of employees and use of knowledge to become more efficient.
o It also improves managers, as well as other employees, work skill.
2. Understanding Consumer Buying Behaviour:
It also an important part to improve the marketing process by understanding
consumer (buying) behaviour.
3. Employee Motivation:
OB helps to understand the basis of Motivation and different ways to motivate
employees properly.
4. Nature of Employees:
o Understanding of personnel and employee nature is important to manage them
properly.
o With the help of OB, we can understand whether employees or people are Introvert,
Extrovert, Motivated, Dominating etc.
5. Anticipating Organisational events:
o The scientific study of behaviour helps to understand and predict organisational events.
o For example Annual Business Planning, Demand Management, Product line
management, Production Planning, Resources Scheduling, Logistics etc.
6. Efficiency & Effectiveness:
Study of organisational behaviour helps to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the
organisation
7. Better Environment of Organisation:
OB helps to create a healthy, ethical and smooth environment in an organisation.
8. Optimum or Better Utilization of Resources:
o Study of OB helps to understand employees and their work style and skill better way.
o By understanding this, management can train and motivate employees for optimum
utilization of resources.
9. Goodwill of organization:
Organisational Behaviour helps to improve Goodwill of organization.

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 5 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

3.4 OB Linkages with other social Sciences

The relationship of OB with other fields of study is depicted in the following diagram:

1. Psychology:
The term ‘psychology’ is derived from the Greek World ‘Psyche’ which means ‘soul’
or ‘spirit’. Organisational behaviour studies human behaviour which is concerned
mainly with the psychology of the people. Psychology, especially, industrial or
organisational psychology is the greatest contributor to the field of organisational
behaviour. Psychologists study behaviour and industrial or organisational psychologists
deal specifically with the behaviour of people in organisational settings.
2. Sociology:
Sociology also has a major impact on the study of organisational behaviour. Sociology
makes use of scientific methods in accumulating knowledge about the social behaviour
of the groups. Sociologists study social systems such as a family, an occupational class,
a mob or an organisation. It specifically studies, social groups, social behaviour, society,
customs, institutions, social classes, status, social mobility, prestige etc.
3. Anthropology:
Anthropology is concerned with the interactions between people and their
environment, especially their cultural environment. Culture is a major influence on the
structure of organisations as well as on the behaviour of people within organisations.
‘Anthropo’ is a Greek word which means ‘man’ and ‘logy’ means ‘Science’. Aristotle
defined anthropology as a science of man’s self understanding. It particularly studies
civilization, forms of cultures and their impact on individuals and groups, biological
features of man and evolutionary pattern, speech and relationship among languages.
4. Political Science:
In recent times, political science has also started interesting the organisational
behaviourists. Political Science is usually, thought of as the study of political systems.
But political scientists are interested in how and why people acquire power, political
behaviour, decision making, conflict, the behaviour of interest groups and coalition
formation. These are also major areas of interest in organisational behaviour.

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 6 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

5. Economics:
Economists study the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.
Students of organisational behaviour share the economist’s interest in such areas as
labour market dynamics, productivity, human resource planning and forecasting, and
cost benefit analysis.
6. Science:
Science is systematized knowledge. The scientific methods attempt to produce
information that is objective in the sense that it is certifiable and independent of a
person’s opinions or preferences. Scientific method is the backbone of organisational
behaviour. Organisational behaviour is based on the systematized study of facts,
behaviour, their relationships and predictions.
7. Technology:
The level of technological development affects the behaviour of the employees.
Modern age is the age of computerization. It has come within the framework of the
model of organisational behaviour. The study of technological development is
becoming essential for understanding the organisational behaviour, because people are
influenced by the technological development. Human behaviour relations and
environments develop as a result of technological innovations.
8. Engineering:
Engineering also influences the study of organisational behaviour. Some topics are
common to engineering as well as organisational behaviour e.g. work measurement,
productivity measurement, work flow analysis, work design, job design and labour
relations. In fact, organisational behaviour is dependent on engineering for these
technical jobs.
9. Medicine:
Nowadays, medicine has also come in connection with the study of human behaviour
at work. Stress is becoming a very common problem in the organisations as well as in
the people working in the organisations. Research shows that controlling the causes
and consequences of stress in and out of organisational settings, is important for the
well being of the individual as well as the organisations. Medicine helps in the control
of stress as well as stress related problems.
Thus, it can be concluded that organisational behaviour has an inter­disciplinary focus. It draws
from a variety of other fields and attempts to describe behaviour as opposed to prescribing
how behaviour can be changed in consistent and predictable ways.

3.5 Approaches of Organizational Behaviour:

Organizational behaviour approaches are a result of the research done by experts in this field.
These experts studied and attempted to quantify research done about the actions and
reactions of employees, with regard to their work environments.

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 7 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

It is a field that has begun developing only recently and new approaches and results are being
expounded every day.
There are 4 Approaches to Organizational Behaviour studies;

1. Human Resources Approach

This approach recognizes the fact that people are the central resource in any
organization and that they should be developed towards higher levels of competency,
creativity, and fulfilment. People thus contribute to the success of the organization.
The human resources approach is also called as the supportive approach in the sense
that the manager’s role changes from control of employee to active support of their
growth and performance.
2. Contingency Approach
The contingency approach (sometimes called the situational approach) is based on the
premise that methods or behaviours which work effectively in One situation fail in
another.
The strength of the contingency approach lies in the fact it encourages analysis of each
situation prior to action while at the same time discourages the habitual practice of
universal assumptions about methods and people.
The contingency approach is also more interdisciplinary, more system – oriented and
more research-oriented titan any other approach.
3. Productivity Approach
Productivity which is the ratio of output to input is a measure of an organization’s
effectiveness. It also reveals the manager’s efficiency in optimizing resource utilization.

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 8 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

The higher the numerical value of this ratio, the greater the efficiency. Productivity is
generally measured in terms of economic inputs and outputs, but human and social
inputs and outputs also are important.
4. Systems Approach
The Systems Approach to OB views the organization as a united, purposeful system
composed of interrelated parts.
This approach gives managers a way of looking at the organization as a whole, whole,
person, whole group, and the whole social system.
In so doing, the systems approach tells us that the activity of any segment of an
organization affects, in varying degrees the activity of every other segment. A
systems view should be the concern of every person in an organization.
Additionally, there is also inter-disciplinary approach has come into existence with its
own stand and importance to follow.
5. Inter-Disciplinary Approach
Organizational behaviour is an integration of all other social sciences and disciplines
such as psychology, sociology, organizational theories etc.
They all are interdependent and influence each other. The man is studied as a whole
and therefore, all disciplines concerning man are integrated.

3.6 Models of Organizational Behaviour:

Almost all organizations develop the models on the basis of which behaviour of the
people is determined. It is noted that most of the organizations make the assumptions
on the basis that people are not to be trusted even in the slightest matter. For instance,
McGregor theories X and Y are based on quite contradictory assumptions.
The Organizational Behaviour models formulated would show many different
variations and kind of continuum between the two opposite poles. Organizational
Behaviour Model, the focus is on the study of the five models:
• Autocratic Model
• Custodial Model
• Supportive Model
• Collegial Model
• System Model
1. Autocratic model:
This model has its roots in the historical past and definitely became the most
prominent model of the industrial revolution of the 1800 and 1900s. It gives the
owners and manager’s power to dictate and form decisions while making employees
obey their orders. The model asserts that employees need to be instructed and
motivated to perform while managers do all the thinking. The whole process is

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 9 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

formalized with the managers, and authority power has the right to give the command
to the people, “You do this or else…”, is a general dictatorship command.
The theory of X assumption of McGregor states employers do not take responsibility,
and managers have to supervise over their work to obtain desired results. This model
can also be compared to the Likert system in which the use of punishment, force, fear
or threats is sometimes used to get the results from the employees.
2. Custodial Model
Now the time came when managers began to think the security of the employees is
imperative- it could be social as well economic security. Now managers have begun
to study their employees’ needs; they found out that though in the autocratic setup,
employees do not talk back yet they have many things to say but incapability to speak
result in frustrations, insecurity, and aggressive behaviour towards their employees
boss. Since they are not able to display their feelings, they would vent these feelings
on their family and neighbours. This causes suffering to the entire community and
relationships, and this often results in bad performance
3. Supportive Model
Unlike the two previous approaches, the supportive model emphasis on a motivated
and aspiring leader. There is no space for any control or authoritative power in this
model or on the incentives or reward schemes, but it is simply based on motivating
staff through the establishment of the manager and employee relationship and the
treatment that is given to employees on a daily basis.
One of the key aspects of the supportive model has been studies conducted at the
Hawthorne Plant of Electric in the 1920s and 1930s. Elton Mayo and F.J Roethlisberger
led the study to implore human behaviour at work by implementing and placing keen
insight into the sociological, psychological perspective in the industrial setup. They
concluded that a single organization is a social system, and a worker is an important
component of the system. They found that a worker is not a tool that can be used in
any way but has its own behaviour and personality and needs to be understood. They
suggested that understanding group dynamism, including supportive supervision, is
imperative to make workers contribute and be supportive.
4. The Collegial Model
In this scheme, the structure of an organization is developed in a way that there is no
boss nor subordinates, but all are colleagues who have to work as a team. Each of
the employees has to participate and coordinate with each other to achieve the target
rate. No one is worried about his status or job title. Manager’s role is here like a
coach whose function is to guide the team to perform and generate a positive and
motivating work environment instead of focusing on his own personal growth. The
team requires adopting new approaches, research and development and new
technologies to better their performance.

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 10 | 11

 Dr.N.Aruna Kumari, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities & Sciences, VNR VJIET.

5. The System Model

The most emerging model of the today’s corporate era is the system model. This
model emerged from the rigorous research to attain a higher level of meaning at work.
In the system model, the expectations of the managers are much more than getting
the work done by the employees. The managers have to show their emotional side,
be more compassionate and caring towards their team, and they must be sensitive
towards the needs of the diverse workforce. They have to devote their attention to
creating the feeling of optimism, hope, trustworthiness, courage, self-determination,
and through this, they try to develop a positive work culture where the employees
feel more at ease and work as if they are working for their family. This ultimately
results in the long-time commitment and loyalty of the employees and the success of
the company.
-*-*-*-

PMOB NOTES BY DR.N.ARUNA KUMARI P a g e 11 | 11