SUBJECT: BUS IC 04 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

UNIVERSITY: UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT

COURSE: MBA

SEMESTER: 1

Chathamkulam Institute of Advanced Studies

Approved by AICTE – Affiliated to University of Calicut

Chathamkulam Knowledge Park, Menonpara (P.O), Kanjikkode East, Palakkad – 678556

www.chathamkulaminstitutions.org, email – [email protected]

MODULE 1
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Introduction

It is a study of human behavior as individuals and groups in an organization.

What Managers Do?

Managerial Activities:- Make decisions, Allocate resources, Direct activities of others to attain goals

Where Managers Work

Organisation:- 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.

Definition

OB is concerned with “study of the structure, functioning and performance of the organizations
and the behavior of the groups and individual within them”.

“Study of human behaviour, attitude and performance within an organizational settings,

drawing on theory, methods and principles from such disciplines as psychology, sociology and
cultural anthropology to learn about individual perception, values, learning capabilities and
actions while working with groups and within the total organization; analyzing the external
environment affect on the organization and its human resources, missions, objectives and
strategies”

From these definitions we view of OB as :–

1. A way of thinking
2. An inter-disciplinary field
3. Having a distinctly humanistic outlook
4. Performance Oriented
5. Seeing the external environment as critical
6. Using scientific method
7. Having an application orientation

1
Meaning :– Organizational Behaviour is concerned with the understanding prediction and
control of human behaviour in organisations. In other words rganizational behavior is a subset
of management activities concerned with understanding, predicting and influencing individual
behaviour in organizational settings. Organizational behavior attempts to understand
individuals in an organization as a basis of meeting individual need and
achieving organizational objectives.

Organizational behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people as
individuals and groups-act within organizations. In other words, the understanding of
organizational behaviour can be used by the managers in performing their jobs effectively.

Levels of analysis :–
1. Individual
2. Team
3. Inter-group
4. Organizational
5. Inter-organizational
6. Societal
7. International
8. Global

Features of Organizational Behaviour

The essential characteristics of organizational behaviour are as follows :–
i) An integral part of Management :– OB is a part of general management and not the whole
of management. It represents behavioral approach to management. It is significant to note that
because of the importance of human behaviour in organizations, OB has assumed the status
of a distinct field of study.
ii) A field of study :– OB is a field of study backed by a body of theory, research
and application associated with a growing concern for people at the workplace. Its study helps in
understanding the human behaviour in work organizations.
iii) Inter-disciplinary approach :– The field of organizational behaviour is heavily
influenced by several other behavioral sciences and social sciences.
iv) Levels of Analysis :– OB involves three levels of analysis of behaviour- individual
behaviour, group behaviour and behaviour of the organization itself. It provides a rational
thinking about people.
v) Goal-oriented :– OB is an action-oriented and goal-directed discipline. The major goals
of organizational behaviour are to understand, explain and predict human behaviour in the
organization.
vi) Human Tool :– OB is a human tool for human benefit. It helps in understanding
and predicting the behaviour of individuals.

2
vii) Science and Art :– OB is both a science as well as an art. The systematic knowledge
about human behaviour is a science and the application of behavioral knowledge and skills is
an Art.
viii) Satisfaction of Employees Needs :– OB seeks to fulfill employees needs and aspirations.
Every employee in the organization wants to fulfill his needs through organizational activities.

Historical Development of Human Relations and Organization Behavior

• Scientific management Movement
• Research Studies
• Other Development
• Interdisciplinary studies
• The mature Outlook
• The emergence of Human Relations and organizational behavior

Scientific Management Movement

• Frederick W. Taylor contributed for the study towards management. His contribution
helps in improving working conditions enhancing the productivity of the organization.

Research Studies
• Elton mayo and F.J. Roethlisberger (1920-30) positive correlation between productivity
and worker participation. The Research Center for Group Dynamics, university of
Michigan and the personnel research Board, Ohio State University, conducted studies on
leadership and motivation. National training laboratories in bethel, Maine, concentrated
on group dynamics.

Other Development
• Development of concepts like paternalism and welfare management. Personnel
department were created to improve the rations between employers and employees.

Interdisciplinary Studies
• Some studies conducted in universities like Indian Institute of Technology, kanpur and
Kharagpur, Ahmedabad Textile Industries Research Association, South Indian Textile
Research Association, All this association established for studies on the social and
psychological problems of industrial workers.

The Mature Outlook

• Organizational behaviour was considered as a serious study at university level and
became a full-fledged discipline.

The Emergence Of Human Relations and Organizational Behavior

• The fields of human relations and organizational behavior emerged when concepts from
3
 psychology, sociology and economics were applied to problems specific to organizations.

Contribution Of Other Disciplines to Human Relations and

Organizational Behavior
• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Industrial psychology
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• Economics

Psychology:
• It is a social science that helps explain, measure and remodel human behavior.
Psychologists are involved mainly in the study of individual behavior.

Social Psychology:
• It is blend of psychology and sociology that focuses on the influence of people on one
another.

4
Industrial psychology:
It applies the principles and theories of psychology to the industrial context.

Sociology:
• It is the scientific study of the nature and development of society and social behavior.

Anthropology:
• It is the study of method and especially of its origin, development, customs and beliefs.

Economics:
• It is a science of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.

5
Political Science:
• It involves the study of individual and group behavior within a particular political
environment.

Why Managers require the study of OB

• Role of a manager
– Interpersonal
– Informational
– Decision making

Approaches to the study of OB

• Productivity approach
• Interactionalism approach
• Contingency approach
• Systems approach
• HR approach

Productivity approach
• The ratio of output to input is the measure of an organisation’s effectiveness. In terms of
ob a better ob can improve job satisfaction, a human output or benefit occur.
Interactionalism approach
• This view assumes individual behaviour results from a continuous and multidirectional
interaction between characteristics of the person and of the situation. How people select,
interpret, and change various situations
Contingency approach
• Assumes that there is no one best way.
• Situations and outcomes are contingent on or influenced by other variables.
a) Organisational problems or situations must be evaluated in terms of…..
b) Elements of the situation, which the suggest….
c) Contingent ways of responding.

Need for a contingency approach for the study of OB

• People’s behaviour change from situation to situation
• The change in the behaviour also influenced by the variable in varied proportion.
• Situational approach is more suitable. Eg. Motivating one employee will differ from
motivating the other.

6
Systems approach
• Organisation as united
• Purposeful system composed of interrelated parts
• Looking at organisation in totality
• The activity of any segment of an organisation affects, in varying degrees the activity of
every other segment.
HR Approach

 HR Approach:- This approach recognises the fact that people are the central resource in
any organisation and that they should be developed towards higher levels of competency,
creativity and fulfillment. People thus developed will contribute to the success of the
organisation.

Challenges for Organizational Behaviour :–

The field of Organizational Behaviour is dynamic and not static. Behavioral scientists are
continuously engaged in updating behavioral skills to cope up with the emerging changes in
the external environment of the organizations. The major challenges of organizational
behaviour are as follows:-

1) Globalisation of Business :– Barriers to trade between different countries have been reduced to
a great extent. Managing in a global economy poses many challenges and opportunities. The
global managers must work to understand the local culture and the behavioral forces that
affect the workforce in order to manage the workers more effectively.

2) Adapting to different people :– Managing workforce diversity is a major challenge currently

face by organizations. Globalization deals with differences between people of various
countries, whereas workforce diversity focuses on the differences among people within the
given organization. If management fails to accommodate diversity it would give rise to problems
such as high employee turnover, interpersonal conflicts and ineffective communication.

3) Improving Quality and productivity: – TQM and reengineering are two widely used methods to
improve quality and productivity in organizations. Both of these methods require the
participation and cooperation of employees to achieve desired improvement in quality and
productivity. OB gives some valuable insights to help the managers’ plan and implement these
changes.

4) Satisfaction of Aspirations of Workforce :– There has been a rise in the proportion of

employees in today’s industries who belong to the younger generations whose aspirations are
different from those of the earlier generations. Today’s workers are more career-oriented.
7
The managers would be required to evolve appropriate techniques to satisfy the higher level need
of workers. They would be motivated by better career prospects, growth opportunities and
autonomy.

5) Management of Change :– Earlier, the structure and processes in organizations were stable
for a long period of time and change took place only occasionally. But now in present times,
change is a continuous process. The challenge before managers is to prepare organizational
members for change. They must play the role of ‘change agents’ or ‘facilitators of change’
to improve organizational effectiveness.

6) Improving Ethical behaviour :– In the business environment characterized by cut-throat

competition, organizations set very difficult targets for employees who under pressure break rules
and even uses the unfair practices to achieve the targets. Therefore ethically healthy
environment is essential for improved productivity and efficiency.

Scope of OB
• Increasing organisational effectiveness
• Understanding human behaviour in an organisational settings
The Study of Individuals- They differ in many aspects such as Personality, Perception, attitude,
value, Job satisfaction, Learning, Motivation.

The study of groups and group dynamics, group conflicts,communication leadership, power and
politics

The study of organisation and its structure - formation o organisational structrure, culture,
change and development

MODULE: 2
8
Basic psychological Process

• Perception
• Learning
• Motivation
• Remembering
Definition of Motivation

• Motivation is defined as “The willingness to exert high level of effort towards organizational
goals, conditioned by efforts ability to satisfy some individual needs.”
Stephen P Robbins

Elements of Motivation

Physiological/ Individual behaves in a Achieves a particular

certain manner goal
Psychological deficiency
(DRIVE) (INCENTIVE)
(NEED
Classification of Motives

• Primary Motives
• General Motive
• Secondary Motives
Primary Motives:

• A motive is termed as a primary motive when it satisfies both the criteria. It is not earned, and it
is physiological based.
• Example: Hunger, thirst, sleep, sex, avoidance of pain
General Motives:

• A motive is considered to be a general motive if it is not learned, but is also not based on
physiological need
• The curiosity, manipulation and activity motives
• The affection motive
The Curiosity, Manipulation and Activity Motives

 The motives of curiosity, manipulation and activity are very beneficial for a person, as they often
result in innovations and better ways of doing things.
 If individuals were restricted from satisfying these motives, there would be no improvement in
the way things are done, which would result in stagnation.
The Affection Motive:

 Affection or love is a somewhat complex general motive.

 The complexity arises due to that fact that love is similar to the primary motives in some ways,
while in some other ways, it resembles secondary motives.
Secondary Motives:

9
 • It is a motive that has been learned or acquired over time
• The power motive
• The achievement motive
• The affiliation motive
• The security motive
• The status motive

The Power Motive

 The person’ drives to gain power and prove himself superior to others.

Achievement Motive

 The achievement motive is a person’ desire to perform excellently or to handle complex or

competitive situations successfully.
David C. McClelland

 Profile of High achievers:

 Moderate degree of risk
 Need for precise feedback
 Satisfaction with accomplishment
 Total dedication towards task

Affiliation Motive

 Employees especially those at the lower levels of the organizational hierarchy, have a strong
desire to belong to and be accepted by other employees or the whole group
Security Motive

 Security motive is based largely on fear and is avoidance-oriented i.e., people try to avoid
insecurity rather than attempt to achieve security
Status Motive

 Status is defined as the rank as person holds relative to others within a group. The status motive
is extremely important
The Content Theories of Work Motivation

 The content theories of motivation attempt to identify and prioritize the needs and derives that
motivate people at work.
 The theories are:
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
 Herzberg’s Two-factor Theory of Motivation
 Alderfer’s ERG theory

10
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow

Two-Factor Theory

 Herzberg’s classification of needs as hygienes and motivators.

Hygienes Factors (Needs): (physiological, safety, and social/existence and relatedness needs)

Extrinsic Factors: (Dissatisfaction, No Dissatisfaction)

 Pay, Status, Job security, Fringe benefits, Policies and administrative practices, Human Relations
Motivator Factors (Needs): (esteem and self-actualization/growth needs)

Intrinsic Factors: (No Job Satisfaction, Job Satisfaction

 Meaningful and challenging work, recognition for accomplishments, feeling of achievement,

increased responsibility, opportunity for growth, opportunity for advancement

Alderfer’s ERG Theory: - Clayton Alderfer

 Existence needs – These are associated with the survival and physiological wellbeing of an
individual.
 Relatedness needs – These needs emphasize the significance of social and interpersonal
relationship.
 Growth needs – These needs are related to a person’s inner desire for personal growth and
development

The Relationship between Maslow,s Hierarchy of Needs, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory and Alderfer’s
ERG Needs

11
 Self actualization needs Physiological
Esteem needs needs
(Important projects,

Social needs
(Good coworkers, Self-actualization and
Esteem and status
Safety or Security
Needs

Physiological needs Belongings and social

(Basic pay, needs

Safety and
security

The Process Theories of Work Motivation

 The process theories of motivation deal with the cognitive antecedents that go into motivation or
effort, and more specifically, with the way the cognitive antecedents of an individual relate to one
another.
 The theories are
 Vrooms’ Expectancy Theory of Motivation
 The Porter-Lawler Model

12
Vrooms’ Expectancy Theory of Motivation

 The theory is based on three variables – valence, instrumentality and expectancy – and is
therefore commonly termed VIE theory.
 Valence (V) denotes the strength of an individual’s preference for a particular outcome.

 Instrumentality refers to the degree to which a first-level outcome would help in attaining the
desired second-level outcome.
 Expectancy is the probability that performing a specific action would produce a particular first-
level outcome or effort.

Relationships Identified In Vroom’s Expectancy Theory

 Effort-performance relationship
 Performance-reward relationship
 Rewards-personal goals relationship

The Porter-Lawler Model

Porter and Lawler tried to explore the complex relationship between motivation, satisfaction and
performance, and pointed out that efforts put in by an employee did not directly result in performance

13
The Contemporary Theories of Work Motivation

 Equity Theory :
J. Stacy Adams

 This theory states that the degree of equity or inequity perceived by an employee with reference
to his work situation plays a major role in work performance and satisfaction.

 Equity theory represented schematically as:

Person’s Outcomes = Other’s Outcomes

Person’s inputs Other’s inputs

 Inequity is represented as follows:

Person’s Outcomes < Other’s Outcomes

Person’s inputs Other’s inputs

(or)

Person’s Outcomes > Other’s Outcomes

Person’s inputs Other’s inputs

 Various referent comparison used by employees:

14
  Self-inside
 Self-outside
 Other-inside
 Other-outside

 After comparing his position with that of his referent, if an employee perceives an inequity, he
will make certain choices. The choices that an employee is likely to make are as described below:
 Change in inputs
 Change in outcomes
 Distort perceptions of self
 Distort perception of others

Attribution Theory

 Attribution theory deals with the cognitive processes of an individual, which help interpret his
behavior as being caused by aspects pertaining to the relevant environment.
Harold H.Kelley

Locus of Control Attributions

 ‘Locus of control’ refers to the chief source of factors that creates a result or gives rise to an
outcome in the employee’s perceptions.
Other Attributions

 Consensus:
Behave in similar manner

 Consistency:
Pattern of behavior, which may be relatively stable or unstable

 Distinctiveness:
Indicates whether a person’s behavior is similar for all tasks

Other Emerging Theories

 Control theory:
It reflects an individual’s ability to control his life and aspects associated with his

job.

 Agency theory:
The agency theory assumes that the interests of principals and agents sometimes

conflict with each other.

Motivation of Performance Through Job Design and Goal Setting:

15
  “Job design” can be defined as the process of structuring tasks and responsibilities into a job in an
attempt to make the job more meaningful, significant and satisfying.
 The theory of goal setting as propounded by Locke, Wood and Mento is based on the principle
that difficult goals stimulate performance and commitment.

Approaches to job design

 Job engineering approach to job design

 Job enlargement approach
 Job rotation
 Job enrichment
 Job engineering approach to job design:
Concerned with issues like plant layout, design of products, processes and tools.

 Job enlargement approach:

Deals with the horizontal expansion of jobs

 Job rotation:
This approach involves the regular switching of jobs among employees.

 Job enrichment:
The job enrichment approach carries out a vertical expansion of jobs.

Quality of Work Life and Socio- Technical Approach to Job Design

 QWL approach deals with the impact of work on the employees and on organizational
effectiveness.
 The sociotechnical aspect of job design aims at creating a harmonious interface between the
human and technological aspects of work so as to enhance the quality of work life.

Job Characteristics Approach to Job Design

 The Job Characteristics approach identifies certain features of jobs that result in certain
psychological states.
 The core dimensions or characteristics of a job :
 Skill variety
 Task identify
 Task significance
 Autonomy
Measuring Task Scope:

 Task scope refers to a dimension for describing jobs at various levels of the organization.
 Hackman and Oldham have developed a qualitative method
 MPS = (Skill variety + task identify + task significance) x autonomy x feedback/3

16
Redesigning Jobs

 Combination of tasks
 Vertical Loading of jobs
 Introduction of an open feedback system
 Formation of natural teams
Motivating Performance Through Goal Setting:

 A goal can be defined as the desired consequence of an action.

 Performance enhancement through goal setting:
 Goals should be specific
 Goals should be difficult and challenging
 Goals must be owned and accepted
 Goals must have a specific time frame
 Goals should be measurable
Barriers to Effective Goal Setting

 Lack of top management-support

 Lack of Communication
 Content of the goal
 Technical incompetence

Application of Goal Setting to Organizational System Performance

 The theory of goal setting is usually implemented through a system called Management by
Objectives, popularly known as MBO.
 MBO refers to the process of setting goals and objectives through the participation of the
management and he workers.

The Process of MBO

 Consensus on key goals and objectives

 Sketch a plan of action
 Control of behavior
 Periodic appraisal and reviews:

Meaning of Perception

• Perception may be defined as the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets
stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the environment in which he lives

Sensation Vs Perception

• Sensation deals with the basic behavior of an individual, caused by his physiological functions.

17
 • Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets stimuli into a
meaningful and coherent picture of the environment in which he lives.
Sub processes of Perception

Video - Exercise

[From www.metacafe.com] 1910717.8552064.11.flv

Perceptual Selectivity

• Though people are exposed to several stimuli , they tend to select only a few at a given point of
time, this is perceptual selectivity.
• Subliminal Perception : when the stimuli is so subtle that an individual may not even be
conscious that he is exposed to some stimulus.
Factors That Influence Perception

18
Factors Influencing Perceptual Selectivity

External Attention Factors

 Intensity
 Size
 Contrast
 Repetition
 Motion
 Novelty and
 familiarity

Internal Set Factors

 Learning and Perception

 Motivation and Perception
 Personality and Perception
 Intensity
 According to the intensity principle of attention, the intensity of an external stimulus determines
its probability of being perceived.
Example:

Light Colour Bright Colour

Size:
A larger object is more likely to be noticed than a smaller object.
Example:

Which you can read fast?

God is great
God is great

19
  Contrast: According to the principles of contrast, the stimuli that contradict most with the
background or the expectations of people receive maximum attention.
 Example: Which white square is smaller?

Motion:

People gives more attention to moving objects than the stationery objects.

Example:

Moving object Stationery object

Learning and Perception:

Learning by itself plays a major role in developing the perceptual set.

Example: the symbols of driving instructions.

Motivation and Perception:

The primary motives:Hunger and Thirst

The secondary motives:The need for power, The need for affiliation and The need for achievement

Personality and Perception: Personality of a person influence perception

Factors Influencing Perception

 The Perceiver
 The Target
 he Situation

The Link Between Perceptions and Individual Decision Making

Perceptions of the
decision maker

20
 Out come

Specific applications in organisations

Social Perception

It is directly concerned with how one individual perceives other individuals; how we get to know others.

Factors affecting social perception

 Attribution :-Attribution refers to how people explain the cause of another’s or their own
behavior.
The determination depends on three factors:
Distinctiveness
Consensus
Consistency

 Stereotyping
It is the tendency to perceive another person as belonging to a single class or category

Eg: women, doctors, professors, artists, software engineers

 Halo effect
The person is perceived on the basis of one trait or event

Impression Management

 It is referred to as “self presentation”

 It is the process by which people try to manage or control the perceptions formed by other people
about themselves.

Impression Management Strategies Used By Employees

1. Demotion preventive strategy

 It is used when employees want to minimize their responsibilities for negative outcome

21
  Accounts
 Apologies
 Disassociation
2. Promotion enhancement strategy

 It is used when employees want to maximize their responsibility for a positive outcome or
improve their image
 Entitlements
 Enhancements
 Obstacle-disclosure
 Association

Linkage Between Perception and Individual Decision-making

 Perception has a crucial role in individual decision-making in organizations, by affecting both the
decision as well as the quality of the decision.
 The decision taken by an individual is a complex process involving the intake of data, screening
procession and interpreting and evaluating of data, based on the perceptions of the individual.
Placement related Questions

• Employment Interview
• Perceptual biases affect the accuracy of interviewers’ judgments of applicants.
• Performance Expectations
• Self-fulfilling prophecy (pygmalion effect): The lower or higher performance of
employees reflects preconceived leader expectations about employee capabilities.
• Performance Evaluations
• Appraisals are subjective perceptions of performance.
• Employee Effort
• Assessment of individual effort is a subjective judgment subject to perceptual distortion
and bias.

Learning and Behavior Management

To understand
 Significance of Learning
 The Theoretical Process of Learning
 Principles of Learning
 Behavioral Management

Significance of Learning

22
  Learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through study, practice or
experience.
 Learning helps in the effective management of human resources
The Theoretical Process of Learning

A. Behaviorist theories:
 Ivan Pavlov

 This theory emphasizes the connection between stimulus and response and is called connectionist
theories.
 The S-R connection deals with classical or respondent conditioning while
 R-S connection deals with instrumental or operant conditioning.

A.1 Classical Conditioning

 Classical conditioning is defined as a process which a formerly neutral stimulus, when paired
with an unconditioned stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned
response.
 Classical Conditioning
 Conditioned response (Salivation)
 Conditioned Stimulus (ringing of bell)
Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov)

A.2. Operant Conditioning

23
 B.F. Skinner
 Consequences determine the behavior that results in learning. People learn to behave in a
particular manner in order to obtain something they or to avoid something they do not want.
 Consequences determine the behavior that results in learning.

B. Cognitive Theories
 EdwadTolman stated that cognitive learning consists of a relationship between cognitive
environment cue and expectation.
 This learning associated between the cue and expectation is termed as S-S (stimulus-stimulus)
learning
Cognitive process of learning

Prior Learning Behaviour choice Perceived learning

Feed back

Cognitive theory

• People draw on their experiences and use past learning as a basis for present behavior.
• Experiences represent presumed knowledge or cognitions.
• People make choices about their behaviour.
• The employee recognize the consequences of their choices.

C. Social Learning Theory

 Learning can take place through vicarious or modeling and self-control processes.
 Modeling processes
 Self-efficacy

C.1. Modeling processes

24
 Albert Bandura hypothesized that people could learn from others and that such learning took
place in twos steps:
 Through observation a person acquires a mental pictures of an act carried out by someone and its
consequences.
Then the person enacts the acquired image.

C.2. Self-Efficacy:

The self-perceptions of how well a person can cope with situations as they arise. People with
high self-efficacy usually do better than people with low-efficacy.

Principles of Learning

 Law of effect
Edward L. Thorndike

Theory states that responses followed by pleasant consequence are more likely to be repeated,

while responses followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Meaning of Reinforcement:

 Reinforce means to strengthen, and reinforcement refers to a stimulus which strengthens the
probability of a particular response being repeated.
 Positive reinforcement.
 Increases the chance that the particular behavior would be repeated because it results in a
desirable consequence.
 Pay, promotions, interesting work, praise, awards

 Negative reinforcement.
 Negative reinforcement also increases a particular behavior being repeated because he wants to
avoid the negative consequence.
 Nagging, complaining

Behavioral Management

 It is the application of the reinforcement theory or operant conditioning to exert a positive

influence on the performance of employees.
Application of Learning concepts

• Programs to reduce absenteeism

• Developing training programs
• Creating mentoring programs
• Self Management
Learning concept for self management

25
 Observing one’s own behaviour, comparing the behaviour with a standard and rewarding one self if
the behaviour meets the standard.

• Deliberately manipulate
• stimuli
• Internal process
• Responses to achieve personal behavioural outcomes
• Performance goal setting
• Performance management
Using Learning concepts for self management

• Behaviour modifications
• Personality development
• Leadership skills
• Improved performance after training

Personality and Attitudes

Meaning of Personality

 The sum total ways in which an individual interacts with people and reacts to situations
Traits of Personality

 Extraversion:
The extent to which people is comfortable with other people.

 Introverts prefer to be by themselves instead of talking to others

 Agreeableness:
This refers to the extent to which a person subjugates his interests for the sake of the group.

 Conscientiousness:
This refers to the extent to which a person is responsible and achievement oriented.

 Emotional Stability:
This trait determines an individual’s ability to withstand stress.

 Openness to experience:
It refers to an individual’s range of interests and indicates how innovative or how rigid he is in

his beliefs.

The Self-concept

 ‘Self’ refers to the personality of an individual as viewed by that people himself.

 Self concept refers to the efforts made by individual to understand his own self.
 Self-esteem refers to the self-perceived competence and self-image of people.

26
  Self-efficacy refers to a person’s perception of his ability to cope with different situations as they
arise.

Personality Determinants

 Heredity:
The biological physiological or psychological characteristics that an individual is born with

constitute heredity.

Example: Height and hair color

 Environment:
That environment that an individual is exposed to plays a major role in shaping his

personality.

 Situation: Different situations bring out different aspect of an individual’s personality.

Other Personality Attributes That Influence Organizational Behavior:

 Locus of control:
It refers to the degree to which people believe that they can control their fate or any situation.

Some people believe that they are masters of their won fate and are known as internal locus of

control while some believe that their fate is controlled by luck, chance or external forces and

are called external locus of control.

 Machiavellianism:
It refers to the degree to which an individual is practical in the approach, maintains an

emotional distance from others, and believes that ends justify the means.

 Self-esteem:
Then degree of liking an individual is referred to as self-esteem.

 Self-monitoring:
It refers to their ability to adapt his behavior to the demands of the situation.

 Risk taking:
This refers to the extent to which an individual is prepared to take risks.

Theories of Personality

• Type theory
• Trait theory

27
 • Psychoanalytic theory
• Social learning and
• Humanistic theory

Type Theory

• People are grouped into identifiable categories. One basis for classifying personalities is the
structure of the body. Kretschemer and Sheldon are credited with this classification.
• In type theories, a relationship was sought to be established between features of face or body and
personality.
• Thus, a short, plump person (endomorph) was said to be sociable, relaxed, and even tempered; a
tall, thin person was characterized as restrained, self-conscious, and fond of solitude; a heavy-set
muscular individual was described as noisy, callous, and fond of physical activity. Although a
person’s physique may have some influence on personality, the relationship is much more subtle
than this sort of classification implies. Thus classification of personalities on physical basis is
subjective. Type theories are simple and popular but carry no substance

Trait Theory

• Trait theory visualizes personality as a reflection of certain traits of the individual. On the basis
of traits theory, people can be described as aggressive, loyal, pleasant, flexible, humorous, and
sentimental impulsive, cool and so on. Traits are the basic elements of personality and can be
used to summarise behavior.
• Psychologists working in the area of trait theory are concerned with
• Determining the basic traits that provide a meaningful description of personality
• Finding some way to measure them

There are two ways of assessing personality traits

• The person describes himself by answering questions about this attitudes, feelings and behaviours
• Someone else evaluates the person’s traits either from what he knows about the individual or
from direct observations of behavior.

Psychoanalytic Theory

• Psychoanalytic theory owes its origin to Sigmund Freud. In his 40 years of writing and clinical
practice, Freud, acknowledged as one of the intellectual giants in the history of modern thought,
developed,
– The first comprehensive personality theory
– A method of treating neurotic ills and
– An extensive body of clinical observations based on his therapeutic experience and self-
analyiss.

28
Freud saw personality as being composed of three elements

• Id
• Ego
• Super ego
• This tripartite division of personality is known as the structural model of mental life,
although Freud felt the divisions should be understood as hypothetical rather than as
specific ‘structures’ of personality.

Social Learning Theory

•Much of human behavior is either learnt or modified by learning. Through learning one acquires
knowledge, language, attitudes, values, manual skills, fears, personality traits, and self-insight.
Therefore a study of the process of learning throws more light on understanding human’s
activities. There are many ways of learning, learning through reinforcement, direct experience,
and learning by observing others, also called vicarious learning. For social learning theorists,
reinforcement is not always necessary for learning. They believe that since an individual can
make use of complex symbolic processes to code and store his observations in memory, he can
learn by observing the actions of others and by noting the consequences of those actions. The
social learning theories of personality regard a situation as an important determinant of behavior.
Humanistic Approach

• The humanistic approach to the study of personality includes a number of theories which,
although different in some respects, share a common emphasis on man’s potential for self-
direction and freedom of choice, They are concerned with the ‘self’ and the individual’s
subjective experiences. The theories stress a man’s positive nature – his push towards growth
and self-actualisation. Their emphasis is also on the ‘here and now’ rather than on events in early
childhood that may have shaped the individual’s personality.
Rogers Self Theory

• Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are credited with the humanistic theory of personality.
• Rogers approach to personality is described as phenomenological. Phenomenology is the study
of the individual’s subjective experience, feelings, and private concepts as well as his views of
the world and self. For Rogers, behavior is utterly dependent upon how one perceives the world,
that is, behavior is the result of immediate events as they are actually perceived and interpreted by
the individual. Such an approach to personality emphasizes the self and its characteristics.
Indeed, his theory is often referred to as self theory personality because the best advantage for
understanding behavior is from the internal frame of reference of the individual himself.
Maslow’s Self-Actualisation Theory

• The humanistic psychology of Maslow, postulates man as a self-actualiser. By self-actualization,

Maslow meant the development of full individuality in harmony with all parts of the personality.
Man is always in the process of becoming something different. He tries to use his potential to
become a useful member of society, and to lead a truly authentic and fruitful life. This drive of
man which is inherent in him, is called self-actualisation.

29
The central to the humanistic approach are the following concepts

• An individual is an integrated whole,

• Animal research is irrelevant to human behavior,
• Human nature is essentially good
• Man has creative potential and
• Psychological health of man is most important
Type A Personality:

 Individuals who strive continuously to achieve more things in less time, even in the face of
opposition are said to have a Type A personality.
The characteristics of type A personalities are:

 Fast in everything they do

 Involved in more than one thing at a time.
 Always busy and find themselves unable to cope with leisure time.
Type B Personality

• Just the opposite and is more relaxed, sociable and has a balanced outlook on life.
• They put extra effort in order to meet a deadline but do not feel pressurized.
The Development of Personality and Socialization:

Levinson’s theory of Adult Life stages:

Four periods of stability

 22-28 yrs steps into adult stage

 33-40 process of settling down
 45-50 enters middle adulthood
 55-60 middle adulthood ends and enter old age
Four transitional periods

The four transitional periods identified by Levinson were:

 Age-thirty transition (28-33)

 Mid- life transition (40-45)

 Age-fifty transition (50-55)

 Late age transition (60-65
According to Levinson, the maximum development in one’s personality takes place during mid-
life transition.

Hall’s Career Stage Model:

30
  Exploration stage: seeks an identity for himself, attempts to understand himself and his
personality and tries out various roles in his career.
 Establishment Stage: The employee tries to settle down in his job and interacts with co-workers
to development.
 Maintenance stage: the productivity of the employee reaches its peak and he feels the need to
contribute something to the next generation.
 Decline stage: In this stage the productivity of a person starts declining.

Argyris’ immaturity to maturity theory:

Immaturity Maturity

Passive Active

Dependence Independence

Behave in few ways Capable of behaving in many ways

Erratic shallow interests Deeper and stronger interests

Short time perspective Long time Perspective (past and future)

Subordinate position Equal or superordinate position

Lack of awareness of self Awareness and control over self

The Socialization Process:

 The process through which an individual’s personality is influenced by his interaction with
certain person, groups and society at large is known as socialization process.
Characteristics

 It brings about a change in the attitude.

 It continues for an extended period of time.
 Helps the new employee adjust to new jobs.
 New employee as well as mangers influence each other.
 Initial period of socialization process is crucial.

Steps in Socialisation Process

 Offering them with challenging and interesting job

 Providing them with proper and relevant training
 Providing them with objective and timely feedback
 Appointing an experienced supervisor to conduct the socialization process
 Designing an informal orientation program

31
  Assigning new employees to work groups that are highly satisfied and have high morale
Matching Personalities with Jobs:

Relationships among Occupational Personality Types

 Realistic
 Investigate
 Artistic
 Social
 Enterprising
 Conventional
Building and maintaining the self values, attitudes and job satisfaction

• Every organisation establishes a specific ethical climate for its members.

• Values, Attitudes and job Satisfaction
• Ethical issues in organizational behavior
Beliefs and Values:

 Beliefs refer to the way in which an individual organizes his perceptions and cognitions
 Values refer to the cognition of an individual that a certain mode of conduct or style of behavior
is socially preferable to the other possible modes of conduct or behavioral styles.

Values, Attitudes and job satisfaction

• Value is the basic conviction that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is
personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct, or end-state of
existence
• They carry a judgmental element in that they carry the individual’s idea of what is right, good, or
desirable.
• Value system:- a hierarchy based on a ranking of an individual’s values in terms of their intensity
• Importance of values:- they generally influence attitudes and behaviour
Sources of value system

• A significant portion is determined with the help of genetics

• Besides this, the other factors are: national culture, parental dictates, teachers, friends and similar
influences of the environment
• Values are comparatively consistent and prevalent.

Concepts of Attitudes:

 The tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards objects, people or events.

Three Components of Attitude

 Cognitive: It indicates the opinions, values or beliefs of an individual about something.

32
  The affective component: It represents the feeling of a person towards something.
 The behavioral component: It indicates the intention of a person to behave in a particular way.

Types of Attitude

Job satisfaction:-“a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or
job experience.”

3 dimensions of Job Satisfaction

 It is an emotional response to a job.

 It reflects other attitudes of employees.
 It depends on the extent to which outcomes meet his expectations.

6 dimensions of Job Satisfaction

(P.C. Smith, L.M. Kendall, C.L. Hulin)

 Work
 Pay
 Promotion opportunities
 Supervision
 Coworkers
 Working condition

Outcomes of Job Satisfaction

 Not a strong relationship with productivity

 Moderate relationship with turnover
 Inverse relationship with absenteeism
 Inverse relationship with stress levels, accidents, grievances etc.

Job involvement:- refers to the extent to which a person identifies psychologically with his job, actively
participates in it, and considers that his performance in the job contributes to his self-worth.

Organisational commitment:-It refers to an employee’s satisfaction with a particular organization and

its goals.

 Meyer and Allen proposed a three component model of org commitment

33
  Affective commitment:- concerned with the employee’s emotional attachment and
involvement with the organisation
 Continuance commitment:- This is influenced by the costs that could accrue to the
employee if he leaves the organisation.
 Normative commitment:- Refers to the extent to which an employee feels obligated to
continue in the organisation.

Functions of Attitude

 The Adjustment function:

People modify their attitudes to adjust to their work environment.

 Ego-defensiveness:
It helps them to defend their self-images.

 Value-expression:
People express their values through attitudes

 Knowledge function:
Attitudes provide a standard of reference which allows people to understand and explain their

environment.

Attitudes and Consistency:

 People constantly try to align their attitudes with their behavior and eliminate any divergence
among their attitudes.

Cognitive dissonance

Leon Festinger

 Cognitive Dissonance refers to the incompatibility that an individual may perceive between 2 or
more of his attitudes or between his behaviors and attitudes.
Sources of attitudes

• Inherited from parents and acquired from teachers or peer group members.
• Hereditary predispositions
• Interpretation and attitudes that we emulate
Ethical issues in organisational behavior

34
 • Code of ethics is a formal statement that acts as a guide which describes the general value system,
ethical principles and specific ethical rules that people within an organisation are expected to
follow.
• Known as company ‘Credo’
• Issues related to:-
– Conflict of interest
– Privacy of information
– Gift giving or bribes
– Political contributions etc.

Mental and health problems in organizations

• Stress
• The general adaptation syndrome
• Stress responses
• Causes
• Sources
• Strategies to cope up

Definition of Stress

A person’s adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive psychological and physical demand on
him or her.

Gregory Moorhead and Ticky W.Griffin

General Adaptation Syndrome

GAS refers to the defensive reactions designed to help a person cope with any environmental demand
perceived as threatening.

• GAS outlines three stages:-

– Alarm stage
– The resistance stage
– Exhaustion stage

The Causes of Stress

Categories of Stress:

 Extra organizational Stressors

 Organizational Stressors
 Group Stressors

35
  Individual Stressors
Extra Organizational Stressors

 Employees affected by external factors

They are:

 Social & Technological changes

 Family problems
 Relocation
 Race & Class
 Residential & community condition
Organizational Stressors

 Certain macro-level aspects of the organizations act as potential stressors.

They are:

 High-stress jobs
 Job role
 Poor working conditions
 Organizational politics
 Poor work relationship
Group Stressors

Groups tend to have great impact on the behavior of their members and others who come in contact with
them.

Various factors are

 Absence of group cohesiveness

 Absence of support from group members
 Conflicts related to the group
Individual Stressors

Fred Luthans suggests that a person’s disposition

as the demands of the situations are responsible

for the way a person perceives stress.

Various factors are

 Role conflict & ambiguity

 Type A characteristics
 Locus of control
 Learned helplessness
 Self – efficacy

36
The Effects of Occupational Stress:

 Problems
 Psychological Problems
 Behavioral Problems

Physical Problems

Prolonged exposure of high stress levels can often result in severe physiological disorders, such as high
blood pressure and high levels of cholesterol, ulcers and heart

Diseases, which may seriously affect the health of employees

Psychological Problems

 High levels of stress make a person feel angry, anxious, bored, depresses, dissatisfied, tense and
irritated.
 This result in poor performance at workplace.

Behavioral Problems

 They may lead to symptoms like sleep disorders, overeating, loss of appetite, Increase,
smoking or alcohol consumption.

Stress and performance:

Strategies to Cope with Stress

Individual strategies

 Problem-focused strategies
 Emotion-focused strategies
Organizational strategies

 Problem-focused strategies
 Emotion-focused strategies
Individual Strategies

 Problem-focused strategies
 It helps an individual cope with stress by identifying the source of stress and determining the
course of action
 Emotion-focused strategies
 It can be used when people are in high-stress occupations and they have to get accustomed to the
hectic schedules

37
Problem-Focused Strategies

Some Strategies are:

 Time management
 Requesting others for help
 Shifting to another job
Emotion-Focused Strategies

Some strategies are

 Relaxation
 Exercise
 Psychological strategies
 Recreation
 Companionship
Organizational Strategies

Problem-focused Strategies

 Redesigning the job

 Proper selection and placement
 Training
 Team building
 Providing various day care facilities

Emotion-Focused Strategies

 Promoting open communication within the organization

 Employee assistance programs
 Mentoring
 Wellness programs and personal time off

Stress and job performance

Optimum stress level

38
MODULE 3
FOUNDATIONS OF GROUP BEHAVIOR

Definitions of a Group

A collection of individuals, the members accept a common task, become interdependent in their
performance, and interact with one another to promote its accomplishment

Harold H. Kelley and J.W. Thibaut

Nature of groups:

There are three views regarding the nature of groups.

1. Normative:- How a group is to be organized and how its activities are to be carried out. This
view emphasizes democratic leadership, participation of he members and cooperation among them.

39
 2. Group dynamics consists of a set of techniques like role plays, brainstorming, sensitivity
training, team building, Johari window and self managed teams.

3. Regarding internal nature of groups- how groups are formed, their structure, processes and
their functioning. How groups affects the individual members, other groups and the organization as a
whole.

Dynamics of group formation: Why people Join Group?

 Acc. to the Theory of Propinquity- , people associate with one another due to geographical
proximity. Ex. Employees working in the same office are more likely to form a group than
employees working in different offices.
 Acc to the Balance theory- people who have similar attitudes toward certain objects and goals
tend to form a group.
 Acc. to the Exchange theory- the reward-cost outcomes of interactions serve as the basis for
group formation. Affiliations and associations takes place when rewards are greater than the costs
incurred.

Stages of Group Development:

The five-Stage Model:

Adjourning/Mourning

Completion, ending or evolution

Performing

Achieving the purpose

Norming

Agreeing purpose and conduct 40

 Storming

Resolving differences

Forming

Initial meeting together

 Stage I: Forming - great deal of uncertainty about the group’s structure, purpose and leadership.
 Stage 2: Storming - intragroup conflict. Resistance to the constraints that the group imposes on
individuality. Conflict over who will control the group.
 Stage 3: Norming - close relationships develop and the group demonstrates cohesiveness.
Strong sense of group identity and camaraderie.
 Stage 4: Performing - structure is fully functional and accepted. Emphasis is on performing the
task.
 Stage 5: Adjourning - group prepares for its disbandment. Attention is directed towards
wrapping up activities.

Punctuated Equilibrium Model

Studies have confirmed that groups do not develop in a universal sequence of stages BUT the timing of
when groups form and change the way they work is

Highly consistent:

According to the punctuated equilibrium model

1. The first meeting sets the group’s direction.

2. The first phase of group activity is one of inertia.

3. A transition takes place at the end of the first phase which occurs exactly when a group has used up
half its allotted time.

4. The transition initiates major changes.

5. A second phase of inertia follows the transition.

41
6. The group’s last meeting is characterised by markedly accelerated activity.

Various types of Groups:

Formal groups Informal  Small groups

groups  Large groups
 Primary groups
 Secondary groups
 Coalitions
 Membership groups
 Reference groups

 Command  Friendship
groups groups
 Task groups  Interest groups

Formal groups:

These groups are formed by the organization to carry out specific tasks. The tasks and
responsibilities of the members of a formal group are concerned with achieving organizational group

It includes two types:

 Command group
 Task groups

Command group:

It is represented in the organization chart and is relatively permanent in nature. The employees who are
members of a command group report to a common superior. Thus they have a functional reporting
relationship. For instance, the dean of management institute and his faculty members form a command
group.

Task groups:

42
They are formed to carry out specific tasks. Such groups are temporary in nature. They are generally
dissolved once the task is over.

Informal groups:

Informal groups are formed by the employees themselves. Hence they are not formally structured.
Common interest and the need to for companionship, recreation, growth and support lead to the formation
of informal groups.

They are of two types:

 Friendship group
 Interest groups

Friendship groups:

They are more permanent in nature than interest groups. They are formed because of the cordial
relationship that the members hare with one another. The relationships in this group are based on
similarity in age, ethic heritage.

Interest groups:

They are relatively temporary and are organized around a common activity or interest. A group of
employees coming together to organized a picnic for the department compose an interest group.

Nature of Informal Groups:

 Common interest and values, and identical perceptions of their

roles further strengthen the interaction among employees and give rise to a much higher system of social
relationships call informal groups.

 Informal groups emerge naturally as people associate with one

another and are not determined by formal lines of authority.

Significance of Informal groups:

 In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the organization, the

43
management should understand the dynamics of the informal groups operating within it.

 Informal group are quite powerful and influential because the

members of the group have a lot in common and depend ion each other to carry our organizational
activities.

Difficulties and problems associated with informal groups:

 Prevent organizational changes:

Informal groups reject the introduction of changes within an organization.

 Role conflict:
An employee may experience role conflict if the informal group and the organization place conflicting
demands on him.

 Increased scope for rumors:

Rumours often started in informal groups and spread quickly throughput the organization, causing
immense damage if they are not dealt with promptly.

 Pressure to conform to group norms:

Members are often pressurized to comply with the norms of the group

Other types of groups include

Small groups:

They have only a few members. As a result, face-to-face interaction and communication between them is
possible.

Large groups:

The number of members is very high. Personal interaction among the members in the group is not
possible.

Primary group:

It is made up of members who have similar and loyalties and has a feeling of friendship towards each
other.

Secondary groups:

44
They share same values and beliefs, but because of the size of the group, they do not interact often with
each other.

Coalitions:

They are created by members for a specific purposed and do not have a formal structure.

Membership groups:

They are the groups to which individual actually belongs. However, the members of such groups may
have a personal relationship with each other.

For example, the only relationship that exist among the members of a public library is their membership

Reference groups:

It is actually the groups to which an individual would like to belong.

Example: A prestigious club to which the individual like to join.

What is Group Dynamics?

 Group dynamics deals with the attitudes and behavioral patterns of a group.
 Group dynamics concern how groups are formed, what is their structure and which processes are
followed in their functioning. Thus, it is concerned with the interactions and forces operating
between groups.

Group Structure

 It helps shape the behavior of its members, predict the behavior and guide the performance of the
group as a whole.
 Structural variables are:
1. Formal leadership

2. Roles

3. Norms

45
 4. Group status

5. Group size

6. Composition of the group

Formal leadership

 Leader’s behavior has a significant impact on the group behavior and performance
 Style of a leader is imitated by the members of the group.

Roles

 Set of behavior pattern which an individual occupying a certain position in society is expected to
display.
 Dimensions of role are:

Role Identity: Attitudes and behavior of an individual gives rise to role identity. When a certain
situation requires the individual to make a major changes in his behavior and attitude, the individual does
so in order to fit the role

Role perception: It involves understanding how one is supposed to behave in a particular role.
For example, in the organization, a new employee adjusts to the organization and the job by observing
how other employees are behaving in the organization and carrying out their duties.

Role Expectations: how an individual is expected to behave in a given situation. The role
expectations are to a large extent based on the role that has been defined for the individual.

Role conflict: An individual who is required to perform diverse roles in life may find that
compliance with one role hinders his compliance with another role. The divergent role expectations of
an individual lead to the conflict in the individual.

Norms

Acceptable standards of behaviour within a group that are shared by the group’s members.

 Norms pertaining to performance related process:

Informal norms of an organization may have a greater influence on his level of performance.

 Appearance norms:
How to dress appropriately to work, how to appear loyal to the organization and to one’s own groups,

46
how to appear busy all these are appearance norms.

 Norms pertaining to informal social arrangements:

It regulate social interactions within the group.

 Norms that regulate the allocation of resources:

These norms regular the assignment of overtime works.

Status

 A socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.

 It plays a significant role as a motivator and is thus an important factor in understanding human
behaviour.

Size of a group

 12 or more are good for obtaining diverse input.

 Approx. 7 members tend to be more effective for taking action.
 Groups of 5-7 members exercise the best elements of both small and large groups.
 Social Loafing - The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively
than when working individually.

Composition of a group

Most group activities require a variety of skills and knowledge. Research studies show that
heterogeneous groups (those composed of dissimilar individuals in terms of gender, personalities,
opinions, abilities, skills and perspectives) are likely to perform more effectively.

Group Cohesion and Cohesiveness

 Group cohesion means the degree to which the group members are attracted to each other and
remain within the group. It is usually reflected by its resiliency to disruption by outside forces.
Group cohesion develops out of the activities, interactions and sentiments of the members.
Cohesiveness binds all the group members to work as one man to attain the set goals.
 Group cohesiveness is another important factor besides group norms which affects group
behaviour. Group cohesiveness means the degree of attachment of the members to their group. If
group cohesion is high, the interaction between members of the group is high and the degree of
agreement in group opinion is high.

47
 Group demography - The degree to which members of a group share a common demographic
attribute such as age, sex, race, educational level or length of service in the organisation, and the impact
of this attribute on turnover.

Group Tasks

 Large groups facilitate pooling of information e.g. addition of a diverse perspective to a

problem-solving committee.
 When the task is to co-ordinate and implement a decision, larger groups are not so
effective.
 Therefore, the size-performance relationship is moderated by the group’s task requirements.

Group Processes

 The processes that go on within a work group e.g. communication patterns, group decision
processes, leader behaviour, power dynamics, conflict interactions etc.
 Group processes can also yield positive results. That is, they can create outputs greater than
the sum of the inputs. Such phenomenon is called ‘synergy’.
 The performance of an individual can vary, depending on whether the task is performance in
from of others or in private. This phenomenon is known as ‘social facilitation effect.’

Dynamics of formal work groups:

Although group dynamics is generally associated with informal norms and roles, formally designated
work groups also have noticeable dynamics.

Example: Committee may perform various functions like service, advisory or administrative. They also
involved in making the final decision on a specific matter.

Successful Group Behaviour

 The importance of group behaviour has been realized from time to time. Elton Mayo and his
associates way back in 1920 conducted the famous Hawthorne experiments and came to know
that the group behaviour have major impact on productivity.

Group Behaviour

 Groups are composed of individuals. Hence, the group behaviour means behaviour of its

48
 members.
 In practice, each member of the group affects the behaviour of other members and, in turn, is also
affected by them.
 Behaviour of individual members in a group becomes different than their behaviour outside the
group situation. Therefore, while studying group behaviour, the factors that should be understood
are group norms, group cohesion, group role, group conflict and group decision-making.

Groupthink

 Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people tries to minimize
conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation of alternative viewpoints by
actively suppressing uncooperative viewpoints, and by isolating themselves from outside
influences.

Group shift

 When people are in groups, they make decisions about risk differently from when they are alone.
In the group, they are likely to make riskier decisions, as the shared risk makes the individual risk
less.

Social Loafing

 Social Loafing - The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively
than when working individually.

Albilene paradox

 Is a phenomenon where all group members end up doing what none of the members individually
would have liked to do.
 This happens when any one suggests something based on the belief that ‘this is what I think other
might like’, instead of asking others’ opinion.

Group Decision Making

 Group decision-making (also known as collaborative decision-making) is a situation faced when

individuals collectively make a choice from the alternatives before them.

Methods of group decisions making

 Brainstorming:It is a combination of group problem-solving and discussions. It works on the

belief that the more the number of ideas, greater the possibility of arriving at a solution to the
problem that is acceptable to all.

49
  Nominal group technique: In a nominal group technique, the team divides itself into smaller
groups and generates ideas. Possible options are noted down in writing and the team members
further discuss these to narrow down the possible choices they would like to accept. Team
members then discuss and vote on the best possible choice.
 Multi-voting: It starts with a round of voting where an individual casts his vote for the shortlisted
options. Each individual can cast one vote at a time. The options with the maximum number of
votes are carried to the next round. This process is repeated until a clear winning option is
obtained.
 Delphi method: In this method of decision-making, the facilitator allows team members to
individually brainstorm and submit their ideas “anonymously”. Other team members do not know
the owner of the ideas. The facilitator then collects all the inputs and circulates them among
others for modifying or improving them. This process continues until a final decision is made.
 Electronic meeting:Here, the decision-making process takes place virtually with the help of
technology. For instance, we can have a Skype call with the client. Create two or three strategies
and discuss them with the client clearly in the Skype call; let the client choose the strategy close
to his expectations.

Definition of Work Teams

A small number of people with complemen-tary skills who are committed to a common purpose, common
performance goals, and an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable”.

-G. Moorhead and R.W. Griffin

Difference Between work Groups and Work Teams

Characteristics Workgroups Work teams

Goal Share information Collective performance

Synergy Neutral Positive

Accountability Individual Individual and mutual

Skills Random and varied Complementary

Leadership Focused leader Shared among teams

Product Individual product Collective work product

Discussion, decision & delegation Individually Collective 50

Size Any size Small

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Definition of conflict:

Conflict may be defined as the disagreement between two or more individuals or over an issue of mutual
interest.

Sources of Conflict

 Organizational change- changes due to new technology, political and social development
 Personality clashes- difference in maturity levels, emotional stability and their behavior.
 Differences in value sets: Difference opinions, values and beliefs
 Threats to status
 Perceptual difference

Classifications of conflicts:

 Intrapersonal conflict:
In the process of achieving his goals, an individual may experience stress and frustration and may face
internal conflict.

 Interpersonal conflict:
People always try to maintain their image and respect. When someone threatened their self-concept, they
try to retaliate and this leads to interpersonal conflict.

 Intergroup conflict:
In an organization, people from different departments compete for limited resources such as funds,
personnel and support services. This competition results in conflict.

Organizational conflict:

51
 Institutionalized conflict:

It arises due to the division of work:

 Individual versus individual conflict:

When two people in an organization are fighting for one post, one will win and the other will lose. This
win-lose situation gives rides to conflict between the two individuals.

 Individual versus organizational conflict:

Differences between an individual’s expectations and the organization’s polices can give rise to conflict
between the individual and the organization.

 Hierarchical conflict:
The difference in outlook and focus at different hierarchical levels may result in conflict

 Functional conflict:
When an organization has a functional organization structure, conflict may arise between the different
functions.

 Line versus staff conflict:

Conflicts are common between the staff function and the time function. The genesis of these conflicts
lies in the different perceptions that each function has of the other, and the different ways in which they
are evaluated.

Emergent conflict:

It arises due to social and personal reasons.

 Individual versus informal group conflict:

This type of conflict arises when an individual tries to satisfy his needs through the informal group of
which he is a member.

 Formal-informal conflict:
The demands of the informal system on the employee are different from the organizational expectations,
thereby leading to conflict.

 Status conflict:
This type of conflict arises when an experienced person has to work under a person with less work
experience.

 Political conflict:
This type of conflict arises when an individual tries to move up in an organization adopting any means
possible.

52
 The conflict process:

The Conflict Process

Increased
Perceived Conflict group
performance
Conflict Handling
Antecedent Cond. Intentions
• Communication Overt Conflict
• Structure •Avoiding
•Dominating •Party’s Behavior
• Personal •Other’s reactions
•Compromising
Variables
•Problem-solving
•Accommodating
decreased
group
Felt Conflict performance

Stage I: Potential Stage II: Cognition & Stage III: Intentions Stage IV: Behaviour Stage V:
opposition or personalization Outcomes
incompatibility

Stage 1: Potential opposition or incompatibility

For a conflict to arise, the conditions that lead to the conflict should be present.

These conditions have been condensed in three categories; communication, structure and personal
variables.

 Communication: Differing word connotations, jargon, insufficient exchange of

information and noise in the communication channel are all barriers to communication and may
lead to conflict.
 Structure:
The word structure means size, degree of specialization in the tasks assigned to group members,
jurisdictional clarity, member-goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems, and the degree of
dependence between groups.

 Personal Variables:
They include the individual value system that each person has and the personality characteristics that
account for individual idiosyncrasies and differences.

Stage II: Cognition and personalization

53
  This is the stage where conflict issues tend to be defined
 The prior mentioned conditions can only lead to conflict when one or more of the parties are
affected by, and aware of, the conflict.
 Conflict may reach the felt level where the individual will experience anxiety, tenseness,
frustration, or hostility.
 In this stage two issues are to be considered- clearly defined the issues of conflict and examining
the roe of emotion. If the conflict is clearly defined, it would be easy to determine the outcomes
and the means to settle the conflicts.

Stage III: Intentions:

 Individual decide on the action that is to be taken to deal with the conflict.
 The individual attempts to discover the intentions of the other person so as to choose an
appropriate action in response to that person’s behavior.
 Five types of conflict-handling intentions:
 Accommodating
 Problem-solving
 Avoiding
 Dominating
 Compromising

There are two dimensions that should be considered while attempting to resolve conflicts.

 Desire to satisfy self

 Desire to satisfy others

HIGH Desire to Satisfy Self LOW

Desire
to Satisfy
Others

HIGH
Conflict Styles
chapter-14 12

54
 HIGH Desire to Satisfy Self LOW

Avoiding
Desire
to Satisfy
Others

HIGH
Conflict Styles
chapter-14 13

Avoiding
I lose - you lose

chapter-14 14

Avoiding takes place when one of parties to a conflict recognized the existence of a conflicting situation,
and tries to avoid the other party.

HIGH Desire to Satisfy Self LOW

Avoiding
Desire
to Satisfy
Others

Accommodating

HIGH

Conflict Styles
chapter-14 15

55
 Obliging or Accommodating
I lose - you win

chapter-14 16

Accommodating takes place when one party tries to satisfy the interests of the other party by sacrificing
its own interests.

HIGH Desire to Satisfy Self LOW

Dominating Avoiding
Desire
to Satisfy
Others

Obliging
HIGH

Conflict Styles
chapter-14 17

Slide-18

Dominating or Forcing
I win - you lose

chapter-14 18

56
It takes place when each party tries to satisfy its own interested at the expense of the other party.

HIGH Desire to Satisfy Self LOW

Dominating Avoiding
Desire
to Satisfy
Compromising Others

Obliging
HIGH

Conflict Styles
chapter-14 19

Compromising
I give in - you give in

chapter-14 20

It occurs when the parties to the conflict give up some of their demands in order to resolve the problem.

57
 HIGH Desire to Satisfy Self LOW

Dominating Avoiding
Desire
to Satisfy
Compromising Others

Problem-solving Obliging
HIGH

Conflict Styles
chapter-14 21

Integrating or Collaboration
I win - you win

chapter-14 22

It takes place when all parties to the conflict fully cooperate with each other but do not let go their own
interest in doing so. This results in the parties ultimately coming up with a win-win solution which
benefits all the parties involved in the conflict.

Stage IV: Behavior

 This is the stage when conflicts become visible.

 It includes the statements, actions, and reactions made by the conflicting parties.

Stage V: Outcomes

58
  Outcomes are the consequences that result from interaction among conflict parties.
 The outcomes can be Functional or Dysfunctional.
 Conflict is functional if it improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation,
encourages interest and curiosity, provides the medium through which the problems can be aired
and tensions released, and fosters an environment of self-evaluation and change.
 Conflict challenges the status quo.
Dysfunctional outcomes

 Uncontrolled opposition breeds discontent, which eventually leads to destruction of the group.
 It reduces group effectiveness.
 Reduces group cohesiveness
 Retards effective communication.

Approaches to Conflict Management

 Dominance
If one party dominates, or even eliminates the other party, the conflict can be resolved easily. In this
technique, an individual can demonstrate his strength by inflicting damage on the other party.

 Avoidance : In this approach to conflict management, the conflicting parties attempt to resolve
the conflict either by withdrawal or by disguising the incompatibilities between their goals. Either
one or both the parties may withdraw from the conflict situation.

 Smoothing : In this technique, differences between both the parties are ignored or played down,
while similarities are highlighted. This helps both the parties understand that there is a way for
them to work together towards achieving a common goal.
 Compromise:
In this technique, an attempt is made to reach an amicable solution, which is acceptable to both the
parties.

 Hierarchical Decision-Making
In this technique, both the parties in conflict ask a formal superior to make a decision for them to resolve
the conflict.

Appeal Procedure:

 This technique is usually used when an individual feels that this problem has not been
adequately addressed by his immediate superior. Therefore, he makes an appeal to the higher-ups
in the management.

 System Restructuring :
 Clearly defining the roles and responsibilities
 Job rotation for people from interdependent departments

59
  Creating a buffer inventory of shared resources.
 Developing duplicate facilities
 A matrix type of organization

 Altering Human Variables

Sensitivity training can alter these human variables.

 Problem-solving
In this technique, both the conflicting parties come together to solve the problem. They discuss
their doubts and misunderstandings, analyze the problem and try to understand each other’s viewpoints.

 Bargaining
In this technique, both the parties understand their dependence on each other and work together to
resolve the conflict.

Module 4

Group communication – Leadership – Creativity and Group decision making

Group communication

• Group communication refers to the interaction between members of a small group of

individuals.
• Quality communication leads to effective group decision making and project completion.
Sociologists study group communication in work and social groups. Group
communication applies to groups containing between three and 20 people.
Communication between two people is a dialog, and larger groups are unable to use
group communication effectively.
• Quality group communication involves a facilitator and group members with a sense of
belonging, common goals and mutual respect.

60
 • Both verbal and nonverbal communication is components of group communication.
Purpose of Group communication

• To share and exchange information and ideas

• To collect feedback or information on project/policy/ scheme
• To arrive at a decision on important matters
• To solve a problem
• To discuss issue related to group itself
• To elaborate any work undertaken based on research
Other decision making purposes

• To reach a decision
• To solve a problem
• To reconcile a conflict
• To negotiate an agreement
• To win acceptance for a new idea, plan or system
Group discussion

• It is widely used for decision making and problem solving

Categories of GD

Organisational GD

GD as part of selection process

Organisational GD ( Explanations given in module 3)

• Brainstorming
• Nominal group technique
• Delphi Technique
GD as part of Selection

• It has become a major selection process for candidates.

• Evaluation components
• Knowledge
• Communication Skill
• Active Listening
• Clarity of thought and expression
• Apt language
• Appropriateness of body language
• Group Behaviour
• Leadership skills
Preparation

61
 • Time:- to be decided when the discussion has to be conducted ( at what time and date)
• Duration:- approximately how much time is required for the discussed is to be planned –
total duration required for the GD based on the importance and weightage of the topic
• Agenda:- what are the pointed to be discussed – what are the matters put forward for the
discussion
• Venue:- where or which place all the members are to be assembled for the discussed.
All the above matters are to planned and informed to all the members in advance and necessary
arrangements are to be done as per planning.

Technology advancement in Group communication

• Tele conferencing:- meeting through telephone

• Video conferencing:- meeting through video like skip or google talk
• Social media:- facebook, and other social media like watsap group
• Web conferencing:- only text content can be shared, no video chatting is not possible.

Leadership

Definition of leadership

A leader is one who sets vision, goals and motivates people and obtains their commitment to
achieve the goals and realize the vision.

TRAITS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

 Some researchers believed cognitive and psychological factors like intelligence,

ambition, aggressiveness are common traits in leaders
 Others believed height, large body structure and personal attractiveness are important
 Initiative, desire to lead, integrity, self-confidence, analytical ability, charisma,
creativity etc are some of the common traits of a leader

Leadership behavior Vs. Traits:

Successful leadership depends more on appropriate behavior and action and less on personality
traits. Behavior can be learned and changed where as traits remain more or less fixed.

Thus school of thoughts suggests that.

62
  Leaders are born not made
 Leaders can be developed
Leadership Skills

Robert Katz, identified three skills

 Technical skills
 Human skills
 Conceptual skills

Technical skills:

 A person’s knowledge and ability to make effective use of any process or technique
constitutes his technical skills.
 The employees at operational and professional levels are required to have certain
technical skills.

Human skills:

An individual’s ability to cooperate with other members of the organization and work effectively
in terms is referred to as human skills. Human skills also involve developing positive
interpersonal; relationships, solving people’s problems and gaining acceptance of other
employees.

Conceptual skills:

It refers to the ability to analyze complex situation, interpret available information.

Organizational Levels

Top Conceptual

Middle Human

Supervisor Technical

63
 Knowledge & skills required

All levels of management require similar level of human skills whereas the end for technical skills
decrease and the need for conceptual skills increase as we move up the organizational hierarchy.

LEADERSHIP THEORIES:

A) Trait Theories.
 Early researchers studied the personality traits and concluded that leaders are born and not made.

Example: Napoleon

 Napoleon was natural leaders even if they were made to face situations different from what they
actually faced.

 “Great person” theory leadership traits can be acquired with training and experience.

Example: Anil Ambani became leader through his experience.

 The only trait that was found to be common was intelligent

 Trait approaches only provide description of leaders; they have little analytical or predictive value

• Researcher was unable to find a link between physical traits such as height & strength with
leadership.
 Some researcher who studied Emotional intelligence of leaders has suggested that empathy
graciousness, optimism & ability to read non verbal clues are imp. characteristics of leader

64
 B) Behavioral Theories
Researcher tried to identify the behavior that were unique to leader & which distinguished them from non
leaders.

Four behavioral theories

 i) The Ohio state studies

 ii) University of Michigan studies
 iii) The managerial grid
 iv) Scandinavian studies

B i) The Ohio State Studies

 In 1945 researchers from different streams like psychology, sociology and economics carried out
leadership studies at Ohio state university.
 They defined two dimensions out of 1000 to study leadership behavior.
 Initiating structure - individual’s ability to define his as well as subordinate’s tasks and get them
accomplished in time.
 Consideration - Extent, to which a leader cares for his subordinates, respects their ideas and
feelings and establishes work relation by mutual trust and respect.
 The researchers concluded that a “high-high” type of leadership yielded best results.

B ii) University of Michigan Studies

 Research carried out at Survey research center, university of Michigan.

 Leadership behavior could be categorized along 2 dimensions.
 Employee-oriented & production-oriented.
 Employee-oriented leaders achieve higher job satisfaction and higher group productivity.
 Production–oriented leaders achieve lower job satisfaction and lower group productivity.

B iii) Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid

Blake and Mouton developed a two dimensional matrix model of leadership styles.

The model consist of nine rows and column

The rows represent the leader's concern for production, while the column represent concern for
people. The leader can be located any one of total 81 position

Blake & Mouton found five intersection points:

1) 1,9 (Country club management)

2) 1,1 (Impoverished management)

65
3) 9,1 (Authority-compliance)
4) 5,5 (Middle of the road management)
5) 9,9 (team management)

Concern for production

1) 1,9 (Country club management)- leaders have high concern for people but low concern for
production.
2) 1,1 (Impoverished management)-leaders exhibits no concern for people or for work, hence they
often fail as leaders.
3) 9,1 (Authority-compliance)- leaders have high concern for production and low concern for
people.
4) 5,5 (Middle of the road management)- leaders have balance concern for both production and
people
5) 9,9 (team management)- leaders who high concern for both people and production and this style
is more effective in the organization.

66
 B iv) Scandinavian studies

Behavioral theories were developed (1945 & 1965)

 This period is characterized by economic and business stability

 Some Finnish & Swedish researchers began reviewing the earlier literature in the modern context.
 Their main purpose was to verify whether the existing two dimensions could successfully explain
leadership or more dimensions need to be added.
 Research result in emergence of new dimension called development oriented behavior.
 Development oriented leaders experimented with new ideas and practices and embrace changes
 The subordinate of development oriented leaders also showed higher level of job satisfaction

C) Contingency Approaches
Contingency theories of leadership postulate that leaders have to change their style depending on situation
they face.

 Fiedler’s contingency model

 Hersey and Blanchard’s situational theory
 Leader member exchange theory
 Leadership- participation model
 Path – goal theory

C i) Fiedler’s Contingency Model

Appropriate style of leadership depends on whether the overall situation is favorable or unfavorable to the
leader. Particular situation is analyzed on following parameters:

 Leader–member relationships: this shows the extent to which a leader is accepted by his
subordinates
 Degree of task structure: degree to which the task on hand can be performed efficiently
 The Leader’s Position: It refer to the power or formal authority that the leader is bestowed within
the organization

C ii) Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory

 It is other wise called Life cycle” model

 maturity level of the subordinate plays a major role in influencing the leadership style of the
superior
 All employees will not have the same level of competence and commitment to do the assigned
tasks.
 Leadership styles can be categorized into four types - telling, selling, participating & delegating
 Low in his ability to perform as well as willingness to perform - telling style
 Low in ability but high in willingness to perform - selling style
 Capable of performing but not willing to perform - participating style

67
 • Capable and is also willing to carry out the task - delegating style

C iii) Leader – Member Exchange Theory

 George Green –leaders establish a special relationship with a small group of subordinates
usually early in their interaction.
 This small group is referred to as the in-group and the rest are called out – group.
 The leaders trust the subordinates, who belong to in groups, give them more attention, interact
with them frequently and offer them special privileges.
 In–group members receive high performance ratings and receive rewards and promotions quickly.
 Leaders favor people who have attitudes and personality similar to their own.

C iv) Leadership Participation Model

Victor Vroom & Philip Yetton conducted extensive research on leadership behavior to establish
relationship between leadership behavior and decision making.

 Victor Vroom & Philip Yetton

 They established the relationship between leadership behavior and decision making style
Problem attributes:

 They came up with 12 contingencies called problem attributes categorized into two classes:
decision-quality and employee-acceptance.
 Decision-quality dimension include cost considerations, information availability and nature of
problem structure.
 Employee-acceptance can have dimensions like need for commitment, their prior approval,
congruence of their goals with that of the organization, and conflict among the employees.
 Once the leader identifies the nature of the problem he can adopt one of the
following 5 styles of leadership

 Autocratic I – leader takes a decision on his own

 Autocratic II - leader obtains relevant information from subordinates & then attempts to
find a solution
 Consultative I – leader explains problem & invites ideas, he takes final decision
 Consultative II - leader meets a group of subordinates, discuses the problem & listens to
their ideas , final decision may or may not be according to subordinates
 Group II - after sharing the problem with the subordinates, the leader initiates a group
discussion till a consensus is reached. The leader accepts the solution offered by his
subordinates

C v) Path Goal Theory

Path goal theory is contingency model of leadership developed by Robert House.

68
Acc . To this theory leader should provide required support & guidance to his followers.

Behavior of leader is acceptable to followers if:

1) The subordinate feel that satisfaction of needs (promotion) depends on their effective performance.

2) They are provided with guidance, support & reward that are needed for effective performance.

 Leader defines the path to achieve goals and remove obstructions that come in the way of the
employees
 Robert house suggested 4 types of leadership with the help of path goal
 Directive leadership - leader clearly tells his subordinates what is expected gives schedules and
instructs ‘how’
 Supportive leadership - the leader attempts to address the needs and problems
 Participative leadership - discusses problems & seeks suggestions
 Achievement–oriented leadership: attempts to develop his subordinates
• Thus Leader’s Behavior Depends On 2 Contingency Variables – Environmental And Personal
Characteristics

Leadership Styles

 Autocratic leadership: the leaders attain all the authority and decision making power
 Consultative leadership: the leaders encourage employees to participate in decision making
 Laissez faire: leader completely delegates the responsibilities and decision making power to the
subordinates.
 Bureaucratic leadership: leaders set certain rigid rules and regulations and procedures
 Manipulative leadership: they believe that the employees should be manipulated to get them to
behave in the way the leader wants them to behave
 Expert leadership: a person with high level of knowledge and abilities leads the group

Likert’s Four Systems Of Management: Likert Suggested Four Systems Of Management

1. System 1 management – “exploitative-authoritative” style- it represents dictatorial leadership

behavior. All the decisions are made by managers and their is little employee participation
2. System 2 management – “benevolent-authoritative” style:
Though the managers behave in a patronizing manner, they have confidence and trust in their
subordinates. They permit upward communication to a certain degree and ask for participation
from subordinates.

3. System 3 management – “consultative” style:

Managers in this system do not have completed confidence and trust in their subordinates.
Though they seek advice from subordinates, they retain the right to take the final decision.

69
 4. System 4 management – “participative leadership” style: in this system, managers trust their
subordinates completely and have confidence in their abilities. They always ask the opinions of
their subordinates and make use of their ideas.

Roles and activities of managers:

1) Interpersonal role:
In this role, the manager acts as a figurehead for the organization. He conduct talks with important clients
and suppliers and makes formal announcements in the public on behalf of the organization.

He motivates and encourages his subordinates to accomplish work-related goals as a part of his leader
role. In liaison role, he interacts with people outside his unit or outside the organization and tries to
improve his relations with them

2) Informational role:
This role of managers consists of three other roles

 Monitor-He gathers information from his superiors, suboridates and other contacts.
 Disseminator: He disseminates information to employees who need it
 Spokesperson: He disseminates information to people outside the organization.

3) Decisional role:
 Entrepreneur: The manager initiates a change program or a project in the organization and
acquires the resources needed for their implementation
 Disturbance handler: The manager handles crisis situations and prevents them from affecting the
functioning of the organization.
 Resource allocator: The manager allocates resources to his subordinates according to their
requirements
 Negotiator: Manager is constantly in the process of negotiation with supervisors, subordinates,
clients and suppliers.
Activities Performed by Managers
 Communication
 Traditional management
 Human Resource Management
 Networking
Determinants of leadership:

 1)Quality of subordinates: a effective leader always build strong team consist of people who are
independent & self motivated.
 2)The nature of situation: According to situation's viewpoint, different individuals are effective
in different situation. The situationist theory proposes that an individual who has the background
and knowledge relevant to a given situation will come forwards by himself to lead the group
when that situation arises.

70
Task of supervisor

First line supervisor:

 Supervise work being done

 Develop work schedule
 Communication with worker
 Making decision of day to day operation

Second or third line supervisor perform more or less same activity. They may resolve the problems
referred to them by there subordinates.

Effective supervisory practice:

Research conducted by the university of Michigan indicated the following four supervisory practices were
effective:

 Devote more time to planning & supporting function

 Avoid close supervision
 Concern foe employees
 Promote group cohesiveness

71
Creativity and Group decision making

• Creativity factors in decision making involves the development of unique and novel responses or
ideas by group members to solve the problems
• Creativity is very important in changing business environment and situations.
• Developing an original product, service or idea that makes a socially recognised contribution
• part of the decision-making process  not separate from it
• creativity is influenced by both personal competencies and organisational
conditions, supported by creativity practices
ROOTS OF GROUP DECISION MAKING - 1978

• Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001)

• Simon was among the founding fathers of several of today's important scientific domains,
including artificial intelligence, information processing, decision-making, problem-solving,
attention economics, organization theory, AND complex systems.
• He receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics "for his pioneering research into the
decision-making process within economic organizations" (1978).

GROUP DECISION MAKING An Overview

 It is a situation faced when individuals collectively make a choice from the alternatives before
them.
 Decisions made collectively tend to be more effective than decisions made by a single individual.
However, there are also examples where the decisions made by a group are flawed.
Steps in the Decision-Making Model

1.
Define the
problem

6.
2.
Select the Identify the
best alternative criteria

Making a Decision

5.
3.
Evaluate the
Allocate weights
alternatives
to the criteria
4.
Develop
alternatives

72
Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Third
Canadian Edition

Factors that impact group behaviors also affect group decisions. Like:

1. Designation/status
2. Dominative character

3. Experience/Age

4. limited time

5. Facts and figures

6. Economical condition

7. Financial constraints

GROUP DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES

i. Brainstorming
This technique involves a group of people, usually between five and ten, sitting around a table, generating
ideas in the form of free association. The primary focus is on generation of ideas rather them on
evaluation of ideas.

Brainstorming technique is very effective when the problem is comparatively specific.

ii. Nominal Group Technique (NGT)

Nominal group technique is similar to brainstorming except that the approach is more structured.
Members form the group in name only and operate independently, generating ideas for solving the
problem on their own, in silence and in writing. Members do not interact with each other so that strong
personality domination is avoided. It encourages individual creativity.

iii. Delphi Technique:

This technique is the modification of the nominal group technique

1. The problem is identified and a sample of experts is selected. These experts are asked to provide
potential solutions through a series of carefully designed questionnaires.
2. Each expert completes and returns the initial questionnaire.

3. The results of the questionnaire are compiled at a central location and the central

coordinator prepares a second questionnaire based on the previous answers.

4. Each member receives a copy of the results along with the second questionnaire.

5. Members are asked to review the results and respond to second questionnaire. The

73
 results typically trigger new solutions or cause changes in the original position.

6. The process is repeated until a consensus is reached.

iv. Didactic interaction:

This technique is applicable only in certain situations, but is an excellent method when such a situation
exists. The type of problem should be such that it results in a yes-no solution. For example, the decision
may be to buy or not to buy, to merge or not to merge, to expand or not to expand and so on. Such a
decision requires an extensive and exhaustive discussion and investigation since a wrong decision can
have serious consequences.

Decision-making in social settings

Decision-making in groups is sometimes examined separately as process and outcome. Process refers to
the group interactions.

The use of politics is often judged negatively, but it is a useful way to approach problems when
preferences among actors are in conflict.

Gathering

Sub-committee

Participatory

There are no perfect decision-making rules. Depending on how the rules are implemented in practice and
the situation, all of these can lead to situations where either no decision is made, or to situations where
decisions made are inconsistent with one another over time.

DECISION MAKING IN CORPORATES

Individual Decision Making

Decision making without a group's input or a decision made regardless of the group's opinion is,
naturally, an individual decision. This is the more traditional decision making approach and can work
effectively for a manager when the group's input is not required or in certain cases, desired.

Group Decision Making

There are several models of group decision making that you can put to use. Two examples are consensus
and consultation. Consensus decision making involves posing several options to the group and using the
most popular option to make a decision.

74
Consultation

Consultation takes the opinions of the group into consideration when making a decision. Both methods
require the group's participation and call for a manager who respects the opinions and input of the group
in the decision making process.

Advantages of Group decision making

• Groups bring more diverse information and knowledge to bear on the question under
consideration.
• An increased number of alternatives can be developed.
• Greater understanding and acceptance of the final decision are likely.
• Members develop knowledge and skill for future use.

Disadvantages of group decision making

• Group decision making is more time consuming.

• Disagreements may delay decisions and cause hard feelings.
• The discussion may be dominated by one or a few group members.
• Groupthink is the tendency in cohesive groups to seeks
agreement about an issue at the expense of realistically appraising the

situation.

• Group polarisation:- Tendency for teams to make more extreme decisions than individuals
• Riskier options usually taken because of gambler’s fallacy  believe luck is on their

How to overcome disadvantages

• Individuals should be involved only if they have information and knowledge relevant to the
decision
• The composition of the group should reflect the diversity of the broader work group.
Heterogeneous groups have been found to be more effective over time than groups with the same
nationality and ethnic backgrounds.
• Two tactics are available to avoid groupthink
• (a) Devil's advocates are individuals who are assigned the role of
making sure that the negative aspects of any attractive decision alternatives are considered.
• (b)Dialectical inequity is a procedure in which a decision situation is
approached from two opposite points of view.

75
MODULE 5
Designing Organizational Structure
• Organizational Design:- involving decisions about six key elements:

• Work specialization

• Departmentalization

• Chain of command

• Span of control

• Centralization and decentralization

• Formalization

Basic Characteristics of Organizational Structure

• Division of labor: dividing up the many tasks of the organization into specialized jobs

• Hierarchy of authority: Who manages whom.

• Span of control: how many managed by a person.

• Line vs staff positions

• Decentralization

Hierarchy of Authority

• Tall vs flat hierarchies

• Autonomy and control

• Communication

• Size

Span of control

• Number of people directly reporting to the next level

• Assumes coordination through direct supervision

• Wider span of control possible when

• used with other coordinating methods

• subordinates’ tasks are similar

76
 • tasks are routine

• Flatter structures require wider span (if same number of people in the firm)

• A wide span of control: a large number of employees reporting,

• A narrow span of control: a small number employees reporting

• The appropriate span of control depends on the experience, knowledge and skills of the
employees and the nature of the task.

Line vs Staff Positions

• Line vs Staff:

• Line positions are those in which people are involved in producing the main goods or
service or make decisions relating to the production of the main business.

• Staff positions These are positions in which people make recommendations to others but
are not directly involved in the production of the good or service

Decentralization

• The extent to which decision making is concentrated in a few people or dispersed through out the
organization

• Advantage: benefits associated with greater participation and moving the decision closest towards
implementation

• Disadvantage: Lack of perspective and information, lack of consensus

Common Organizational Designs

• Traditional Designs

• Simple structure

• Low departmentalization, wide spans of control, centralized authority, little

formalization

• Functional structure

• Departmentalization by function

• Operations, finance, marketing, human resources, and product research

and development

• Divisional structure

• Composed of separate business units or divisions with limited autonomy under

the coordination and control the parent corporation.

77
 • Contemporary Organizational Designs

• Team structures

• The entire organization is made up of work groups or self-managed teams of

empowered employees.

• Matrix and project structures

• Specialists from different functional departments are assigned to work on

projects led by project managers.

• Matrix and project participants have two managers.

• In project structures, employees work continuously on projects; moving on to

another project as each project is completed.

• Boundaryless Organization

• An flexible and unstructured organizational design that is intended to break down

external barriers between the organization and its customers and suppliers.

• Removes internal (horizontal) boundaries:

• Eliminates the chain of command

• Has limitless spans of control

• Uses empowered teams rather than departments

• Eliminates external boundaries:

• Uses virtual, network, and modular organizational structures to get closer

to stakeholders.

Removing External Boundaries

• Virtual Organization

• An organization that consists of a small core of full-time employees and that temporarily
hires specialists to work on opportunities that arise.

• Network Organization

• A small core organization that outsources its major business functions (e.g.,
manufacturing) in order to concentrate on what it does best.

• Modular Organization

• A manufacturing organization that uses outside suppliers to provide product components

for its final assembly operations

78
Today’s Organizational Design Challenges

• Keeping Employees Connected

• Widely dispersed and mobile employees

• Building a Learning Organization

• Managing Global Structural Issues

• Cultural implications of design elements

Functional Structure

Advantage: efficiency, communication

Disadvantage: isolation of units

Product Structure

Advantages: Product focus, flexibility

Disadvantage: Duplication of effort

79
Market Structure

Geographic Structure

Matrix Structure

Combination any two or more types of organization structure

80
Mechanistic & Organic Designs

• Mechanistic: tallness in hierarchy, specialization, centralization in authority, formalization.

Work best under stable conditions

• Organic: flatness, generalization, decentralization flexibility Best fit dynamic conditions and
complex technology

Organisational Development and Change

• Organizational Development or O.D. is a planned effort initiated by process specialists to help an

organization develop its diagnostic skills, coping capabilities, linkage strategies( in the form of
temporary and semi-permanent systems) and a culture of mutuality.

• OD is the framework for a change process designed to lead to desirable positive impact to all
stakeholders and the environment. OD can design interventions with application of several
multidisciplinary methods and research besides traditional OD approaches.

Organizational Change Management

• What is Organizational Change?

• It is generally considered to be an organization-wide change, as opposed to smaller

changes such as adding a new person. (See previous slide of this section for examples)

• It includes the management of changes to the organizational culture, business processes,

physical environment, job design / responsibilities, staff skills / knowledge and policies /
procedures.

• When the change is fundamental and radical, one might call it organizational
transformation

The Need for Change in Organizations

• Change as a survival tactic -- if the organization does not keep pace the changing technology,
consumer demands, and effective business processes, they will lose their competitive edge.

Planned Change

• Changes in products or services

• Changes in size or structure

• Changes in administrative structures

• Changes in technology

81
Unplanned Change

• Government regulation

• Economic competition

• Performance Gaps

Areas of Organizational Change

• Goals and strategies

• Technology

• Job design

• Structure

• Processes

• People

Unfreezing the Status Quo/ Kurt Lewin’s Model of Change/

Lewin’s 3 step model of change

Lewin’s Three-Step Change Model

82
Pressures of change

 Aspirations
 Technological Advances
 Life-Cycle
Forces
 Growing International Interdependence
 Changes in Demographics
 Shifting Political Dynamics
 Changes in Societal Values
 Introduction
or Removal of Government Regulations

Resistance to change

• Economic reasons

• Fear of economic loss (reduced work, unemployment, reduced wages/incentives etc.)

• Obsolescence of skills (what they have been doing so long might be under threat)

• Personal Reasons

• Fear of unknown

• Status quo ( habit)

• Self-interest and ego-defensiveness (perceived loss of power)

• Social Reasons

83
 • Social displacement (breaking of informal groups)

• Peer pressure

• Organisational Issues

• Threat to power and influence

• Organisation structure

• Resource constraints

• Sunk costs

Overcoming resistance to change

• Education and communication

• Participation and involvement

• Facilitation and support

• Negotiation and agreement

• Manipulation and cooptation (selectively withhold undesirable information, create false rumours,
distort facts to get potential resisters accept the change.

• Coercion

• Group dynamics

Managing change

• Effective planning for change

• Introduce/implement the change

• Overcome the resistance to change

• Feedback

The OD Process

84
ORGANIZATION ICEBERG” APPROACH TO OD

Intervention

85
To intervene is to enter into an ongoing system of relationships, to come between or among persons,
groups, or objects for the purpose of helping them.

It refers to the range of planned, programmatic activities clients and consultants participate in during the
course of an organization development program.

Intervention techniques focus on 4 categories:

• 1.Individual or interpersonal level.

• 2.Team or group level.

• 3.Intergroup level.

• 4.Total organizational system level.

86
Major families of OD Interventions

• Diagnostic activities:

1. Fact finding activities designed to ascertain the state of the system.

2. Data collection methods are interviews, questionarie

surveys meetings and examining organizational records.

• Team-building activities:

1. Activities designed to enhance the effective operation of system teams.

2. Different kinds of teams are formal work teams, temporary task force teams newly constituted
teams and cross functional teams.

87
 • Inter group teams:

1. Activities designed to improve the effectiveness of independent groups.

2. They focus on joint activities and output is considered as a single system.

3. When more than two groups are involved , the activities are called organizational mirroring.

• Survey feedback activities:

1. Activities that rely on questionnaire surveys to generate information.

2. Groups analyze the data regarding their performance and design action plans to correct problems.

Survey Feedback

• Collecting data about the system and feeding back the data for individuals and groups at all levels
of the organization to analyze, interpret meanings, and design corrective action steps.

• These are having two components- the use of Attitude Survey and the use of Feedback
workshops.

• Survey feedback has been shown to be an effective change technique in OD.

• A well designed survey helps organization members to develop valid models of how
organizations work and also provide feedback about progress towards goals.

• Education and training activities:

1. Activities designed to improve individual skills, abilities and knowledge.

2. The activities may be directed toward technical skills required for performing tasks.

3. The activities may be directed toward leadership issues, responsibilities and functions of group
members.

• Techno structural and structural activities:

1. Activities designed to improve the effectiveness of organizational structures and job designs.

2. The activities may take form of;

--- experimenting with new organization structures and evaluating their effectiveness

--- devising new ways to bring technical resources to bear on problems.

• Process consultant activities:

1. Activities that help the client to perceive understand and act up on process events.

2. These activities perhaps more accurately describe an approach.

88
 3. Primary emphasis is on process such as communications, leader and member roles in groups and
intergroup co-operation and competition.

• Grid organization development activities:

1. Activities developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, constitute a six phase change model
involving the total organization.

2. Internal resources are developed to conduct most of the programs which may take 3 to 5 years.

Grid Organizational Development

• Designed by Robert R. Blake and Jane S. Mouton.

• Six phase program lasting about 3-5 years.

• An organization can move systematically from the stage of examining managerial behavior and
style to the development and implementation of an ideal strategic corporate model.

• It enable individuals and groups to assess their own strengths and weaknesses.

• Based on two dimension-

Steps of Optimal survey

• Organization members at the top of the hierarchy are involved in the preliminary planning.

• Data are collected from all organizations.

• Data are fed back to the top executive team and then down through the hierarchy is functional
teams.

• Each superior presides at a meeting with their subordinates in which the data are discussed.

• Most feedback meetings include a consultant who has helped prepare the superior for the meeting
and who serves as a resource person.

Phases in Grid OD

1. SIX PHASE:

 Upgrading individual managers

 Skills and leadership abilities

 Moves to team improvement activities

89
  Intergroup relations activities

 Planning for improvement

 Developing implementation tactics

 Evaluation phase

Phase 1: The Managerial Grid- Grid seminar is conducted by the company manager. Attention is given to
assessing an individual’s managerial styles; problem solving; and communication skills etc.

Phase 2: Teamwork Development- The goal is perfecting teamwork in the organization through analysis
of team culture, traditions etc.. Feedback given to each manager about their individual team behavior .

Phase 3: Intergroup Development- The goal is to move groups from their ineffective ways towards an
ideal model. The phase includes building operational plans for moving the two groups.

Phase 4: developing an ideal strategic corporate model- the focus shifts to corporate planning. Top
management design an ideal strategic corporate model that would define what the corporation would be
like.

Phase 5: Implementing the Ideal Strategic Model- the organization implement the model developed in
phase 4. Each component appoints a planning team whose job is to examine every phase of the
component’s operation . After the planning and assessment steps are completed, conversion of the
organization to the ideal condition is implemented.

Phase 6: Systematic Critique- Systematic critiquing, measuring, and evaluating lead to knowledge of
what progress has been made, what barriers still exist and must be overcome.

90