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O r g a n i z a t i ona l B e h a v i o r
I n t r od u c t io n
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of
knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in
organizations. It does this by taking a system approach.
That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in
terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization,
and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better
relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational
objectives, and social objectives.
As you can see from the definition above, organizational
behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as
human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since
many of these topics are covered elsewhere in the
leadership guide, this paper will focus on a few parts of OB:
elements, models, social systems, OD, work life, action
learning, and change.
E leme n t s o f O r g a n i z a t i o n a l
B e ha v i o r
The organization's base rests on management's philosophy,
values, vision and goals. This in turn drives the
organizational culture which is composed of the formal
organization, informal organization, and the social
environment. The culture determines the type of leadership,
communication, and group dynamics within the organization.
The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which
directs their degree of motivation. The final outcome are
performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth
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and development. All these elements combine to build the
model or framework that the organization operates from.
Mo d e l s o f O r g a n i z a t i o n a l
B e ha v i o r
There are four major models or frameworks that
organizations operate out of:
o Autocratic - The basis of this model is power with a
managerial orientation of authority. The employees in
turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence
on the boss. The employee need that is met is
subsistence. The performance result is minimal.
Custodial - The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial
orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and
benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is
security. The performance result is passive cooperation.
Collegial - The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of
teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and
self-discipline. The employee need that is met is self-actualization. The
performance result is moderate enthusiasm.
Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates
exclusively in one. There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more
areas over-lapping in the other models.
The first model, autocratic, has its roots in the industrial revolution. The
managers of this type of organization operate out of McGregor's Theory X. The
next three models begin to build on McGregor's Theory Y. They have each
evolved over a period of time and there is no one "best" model. The collegial
model should not be thought as the last or best model, but the beginning of a
new model or paradigm.
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S o c i a l S y s t e m s , C u l t u r e , a n d
I n d i v id ua l i z a t i o n
A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many
ways. Within an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and
their relationships to each other and to the outside world. The behavior of one
member can have an impact, either directly or indirectly, on the behavior of
others. Also, the social system does not have boundaries...it exchanges goods,
ideas, culture, etc. with the environment around it.
Culture is the conventional behavior of a society that encompasses beliefs,
customs, knowledge, and practices. It influences human behavior, even though it
seldom enters into their conscious thought. People depend on culture as it gives
them stability, security, understanding, and the ability to respond to a given
situation. This is why people fear change. They fear the system will become
unstable, their security will be lost, they will not understand the new process, and
they will not know how to respond to the new situations.
Individualization is when employees successfully exert influence on the social
system by challenging the culture.
Impact Of Individualizat i o n
O n A O r g a n i z a t i o n
_______________________________
High | | |
| | |
| | |
| Conformity | Creative |
| | Individualism |
| | |
Socialization |_______________|_______________|
| | |
| | |
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| | |
| Isolation | Rebellion |
| | |
| | |
Low |_______________|_______________|
Low Individualization High
The chart above (Schein, 1968) shows how individualization affects different
organizations:
o Too little socialization and too little individualization creates isolation.
o Too high socialization and too little individualization creates conformity.
o Too little socialization and too high individualization creates rebellion.
o While the match that organizations want to create is high socialization and
high individualization for a creative environment. This is what it takes to
survive in a very competitive environment...having people grow with the
organization, but doing the right thing when others want to follow the easy
path.
This can become quite a balancing act. Individualism favors individual rights,
loosely knit social networks, self respect, and personal rewards and careers. It
becomes look out for number 1! Socialization or collectivism favors the group,
harmony, and asks "What is best for the organization?" Organizations need
people to challenge, question, and experiment while still maintaining the culture
that binds them into a social system.
O r g a n i z a t i on D e v e l o p m e n t
Organization Development (OD) is the systematic application of behavioral
science knowledge at various levels, such as group, inter-group, organization,
etc., to bring about planned change. Its objectives is a higher quality of work-life,
productivity, adaptability, and effectiveness. It accomplishes this by changing
attitudes, behaviors, values, strategies, procedures, and structures so that the
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organization can adapt to competitive actions, technological advances, and the
fast pace of change within the environment.
There are seven characteristics of OD:
1. Humanistic Values: Positive beliefs about the potential of employees
(McGregor's Theory Y).
2. Systems Orientation: All parts of the organization, to include structure,
technology, and people, must work together.
3. Experiential Learning: The learners' experiences in the training
environment should be the kind of human problems they encounter at
work. The training should NOT be all theory and lecture.
4. Problem Solving: Problems are identified, data is gathered, corrective
action is taken, progress is assessed, and adjustments in the problem
solving process are made as needed. This process is known as Action
Research.
5. Contingency Orientation: Actions are selected and adapted to fit the need.
6. Change Agent: Stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate change.
7. Levels of Interventions: Problems can occur at one or more level in the
organization so the strategy will require one or more interventions.
Q u a l i t y o f W o r k L i f e
Quality of Work Life (QWL) is the favorableness or unfavorableness of the job
environment. Its purpose is to develop jobs and working conditions that are
excellent for both the employees and the organization. One of the ways of
accomplishing QWL is through job design. Some of the options available for
improving job design are:
o Leave the job as is but employ only people who like the rigid environment
or routine work. Some people do enjoy the security and task support of
these kinds of jobs.
o Leave the job as is, but pay the employees more.
o Mechanize and automate the routine jobs.
o And the area that OD loves - redesign the job.
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When redesigning jobs there are two spectrums to follow - job enlargement and
job enrichment. Job enlargement adds a more variety of tasks and duties to the
job so that it is not as monotonous. This takes in the breadth of the job. That is,
the number of different tasks that an employee performs. This can also be
accomplished by job rotation.
Job enrichment, on the other hand, adds additional motivators. It adds depth to
the job - more control, responsibility, and discretion to how the job is performed.
This gives higher order needs to the employee, as opposed to job enlargement
which simply gives more variety. The chart below (Cunningham & Eberle, 1990)
illustrates the differences:
Job Enrichment and Job Performance
_______________________________
Higher | | |
Order | | Job |
| Job | Enrichment |
| Enrichment | and |
| | Enlargement |
| | |
Accent on |_______________|_______________|
Needs | | |
| | |
| Routine | Job |
| Job | Enlargement |
| | |
Lower | | |
Order |_______________|_______________|
Few Many
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Variety of Tasks
The benefits of enriching jobs include:
o Growth of the individual
o Individuals have better job satisfaction
o Self-actualization of the individual
o Better employee performance for the organization
o Organization gets intrinsically motivated employees
o Less absenteeism, turnover, and grievances for the organization
o Full use of human resources for society
o Society gains more effective organizations
There are a variety of methods for improving job enrichment (Hackman and
Oldham, 1975):
o Skill Variety: Perform different tasks that require different skill. This differs
from job enlargement which might require the employee to perform more
tasks, but require the same set of skills.
o Task Identity: Create or perform a complete piece of work. This gives a
sense of completion and responsibility for the product.
o Task Significant: This is the amount of impact that the work has on other
people as the employee perceives.
o Autonomy: This gives employees discretion and control over job related
decisions.
o Feedback: Information that tells workers how well they are performing. It
can come directly from the job (task feedback) or verbally form someone
else.
For a survey activity, see Hackman & Oldham's Five Dimensions of Motivating
Potential.
A c t i o n L e a r n i n g
An unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium -- it
led to an upturn in the Belgian economy. "Unless your ideas are ridiculed by
experts they are worth nothing," says the British academic Reg Revans, creator
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of action learning [L = P + Q] -- learning occurs through a combination of
programmed knowledge (P) and the ability to ask insightful questions (Q).
Action learning has been widely used in Europe for combining formal
management training with learning from experience. A typical program is
conducted over a period of 6 to 9 months. Teams of learners with diverse
backgrounds conduct field projects on complex organizational problems requiring
use of skills learned in formal training sessions. The learning teams then meet
periodically with a skilled instructor to discuss, analyze, and learn from their
experiences.
Revans basis his learning method on a theory called "System Beta," in that the
learning process should closely approximate the "scientific method." The model
is cyclical - you proceed through the steps and when you reach the last step you
relate the analysis to the original hypothesis and if need be, start the process
again. The six steps are:
o Formulate Hypothesis (an idea or concept)
o Design Experiment (consider ways of testing truth or validity of idea or
concept)
o Apply in Practice (put into effect, test of validity or truth)
o Observe Results (collect and process data on outcomes of test)
o Analyze Results (make sense of data)
o Compare Analysis (relate analysis to original hypothesis)
Note that you do not always have to enter this process at step 1, but you do have
to complete the process.
Revans suggest that all human learning at the individual level occurs through this
process. Note that it covers what Jim Stewart (Managing Change
Through Training and Development, 1991) calls the levels of
existence:
o We think - cognitive domain
o We feel - affective domain
o We do - action domain
All three levels are interconnected -- e.g. what we think influences and is
influenced by what we do and feel.
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C ha n g e
In its simplest form, discontinuity in the work place is "change."
Our prefrontal cortex is a fast and agile computational device that is able to hold
multiple threads of logic at once so that we can perform fast calculations.
However, it has its limits with working memory in that it can only hold a handful of
concepts at once, similar to the RAM in a PC. In addition, it burns lots of high
energy glucose (blood sugar), which is expensive for the body to produce. Thus
when given lots of information, such as when a change is required, it has a
tendency to overload and being directly linked to the amygdala (the emotional
center of the brain) that controls our fight-or-flight response, it can cause severe
physical and psychological discomfort. (Koch, 2006)
Our prefrontal cortex is marvelous for insight when not overloaded. But for
normal everyday use, our brain prefers to run off its "hard-drive" -- the basal
ganglia, which has a much larger storage area and stores memories and our
habits. In addition, it sips rather than gulps food (glucose).
When we do something familiar and predictable, our brain is mainly using the
basal ganglia, which is quite comforting to us. When we use our prefrontal cortex,
then we are looking for fight, flight, or insight. Too much change produces fight or
flight syndromes. As change agents we want to produce "insight" into our
learners so that they are able to apply their knowledge and skills not just in the
classroom, but also on the job.
And the way to help people come to "insight" is to allow them to come to their
own resolution. These moments of insight or resolutions are called "epiphanies" -
- sudden intuitive leap of understanding that are quite pleasurable to us and act
as rewards. Thus you have to resist the urge to fill in the entire picture of change,
rather you have to leave enough gaps so that the learners are allowed to make
connections of their own. Doing too much for the learners can be just as bad, if
not worse, than not doing enough.
Doing all the thinking for learners takes their brains out of action, which means
they will not invest the energy to make new connections.
R e f e r e n c e
Cunningham, J. B. & Eberle, T. (1990). "A Guide to Job Enrichment and
Redesign," Personnel, Feb 1990, p.57 in Newstrom, J. & Davis, K. (1993).
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Organization Behavior: Human Behavior at Work. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
Hackman, J. R. & Oldham, G. R. (1975). "Development of the Job Diagnostic
Survey." Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, pp. 159-70.
Knoster, T., Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (2000). A frame w o r k f o r t h i n k i n g
about systems change. In R. Villa & J. Thousand (Eds.),
R e s t r u c t u r i n g f o r c a r i n g a n d e f f e c t i v e e d u c a t i o n : P i e c i n g t h e
puzzle together (pp. 93-128). Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Koch, C. (2006). The New Science of Change. CIO Magazine, Sep 15, 2006 (pp
54-56). Also available on the web:
http://www.cio.com/archive/091506/change.html
Revans, R. W. (1982). The Origin and Growth of Action Learning .
Hunt, England: Chatwell-Bratt, Bickley.
Schein, E. (1968). "Organizational Socialization and the Profession of
Management," Industrial Management Review, 1968 vol. 9 pp. 1-15 in
Newstrom, J. & Davis, K. (1993). Organization Behavior: Human Behavior at
Work. New York: McGraw-Hill.