Role of Organizational Behaviour

Role of organizational Behaviour

Managers must understand the behavoural pattern of the people and shape this pattern to achieve organizational objectives. Organisational behavior helps the managers in the following areas:

  1. Understanding human behavior
  2. Controlling and directing human behavior
  3. Organisational adaptation

 

1. Understanding human behavior

Organisational behavior is concerned with understanding the human behavior in an organizational setting and deals with the description of the causes and effects while seeking to understand the behavior of individuals and groups and the impact of structural design o their behavior. Thus, behavior can be understood at the individual level, interpersonal level, group level and intergroup level.

i. Individual level

Human resource is the most important resource rather the backbone of every organization. Due attention towards this most important resource is extremely important. Organisation behavior provides an understanding of why people behave as they do in the organization. The behavior of individuals is affected by a number of psychological, social and cultural factors. Factors such as attitudes, beliefs, perception and personalities have a deep impact on the behavior of individuals. OB integrates all these factors to provide  simplicity in understanding human behavior. Keeping individuals motivated and satisfied in their jobs along with a stress free environment is important so that the full potential of the individual is utilized.

ii. Interpersonal level

People in organization have to necessarily work in coordination with others to meet organizational goals. This is achieved by creating teams, committees and work groups. How do people work together in groups? What factors determine whether the group will be cohesive and productive? What type of tasks could be assigned to the groups? The Hawthorne experiments have shown that an individual behaves differently when he works alone and when he works in a group. The principles of theories of social psychology can be applied to the study of groups in organisations for better communication, more effective leadership and for building high morale. Organisational behavior  provides the means for understanding these interpersonal relationships in an organization.

iii. Group level

Though people interpret anything at their individual level, they a are often modified by group pressure which thus becomes a force in shaping human behavior. Thus, individuals should be studied in group also. Research in group dynamics have contributed vitally to OB and shows how a group behaves in terms of its norms, cohesion, goals, procedures, communication pattern, leadership and membership.

iv. Intergroup Level

The organization is made up of many groups that develop a complex of relationships to build its process and substance. Understanding of the effect of group relationships is important for managers in today’s organization. Intergroup relationships may be in the form of cooperation or competition. The cooperative relationships help the organization in achieving its objectives. OB provides means to understand and achieve cooperative group relationships through interaction, rotation of members among groups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focus on total group objectives.

2. Controlling and Directing Behaviour

After understanding the mechanism of human behavior managers are required to control and direct the behavior so that it conforms to standards required for achieving organizational objectives. Thus, managers are required to control and direct the behavior at all levels of individual interaction. For this purpose, OB helps managers in many areas :

i. Use of Power and Sanction

O.B. can be controlled and directed by the use of power and sanction which are formally prescribed by the organization. Power is referred to as capacity of an individual to take certain action and may be utilized in many ways. The use of power is related with sanction in the organization. However, mere use of power and sanction in the organisation is not enough for directing human behavior. Moreover these can be used in several ways and not all ways are equally effective. OB explains how various means of power can be utilized so that both organizational and individual objective are achieved simultaneously.

ii. Leadership

Another method of bringing human behavior in tune with organizational requirement is leadership. Today, the difference between a successful and failing organization lies in the quality of leadership of its management personnel. OB brings new insights and understanding to the theory and practice of leadership. It defines various leadership styles available to a manager and analyses which style is more appropriate in a given situation.

iii. Communication

Communication is the building block of an organization. It is communication through which people come in contact with others. People in the organization, particularly at higher level spend considerable time in communicating. To achieve organisational effectiveness, the communication must effective. The communication process and how it works in interpersonal dynamics has been evaluated by organisational behavior.

iv. Organisational Climate

Organisational climate refers to the total organizational situations affecting human behavior. Organisational climate takes a systems perspective and affects human behavior. Organisational behavior suggests the approach to create organizational climate in totally rather than merely improving the physiological conditions or increasing employee satisfaction by changing isolated work process. Satisfactory working conditions adequate compensation and the necessary equipment for the job are viewed as only small part of the requirements for sound motivational climate. Of greater importance are the creation of an atmosphere of effective supervision, the opportunity for the realization of personal goals, congenial relations with others at the workplace, and a sense of accomplishment. Thus, OB has discovered a new approach of managing people in the organization.

3. Organizational Adaptation

Organization as dynamic entities are characterized by pervasive change. In this age of environmental variability, the real job of manager is to provide continuity in organizations because the organizations have to adapt themselves to the environmental changes by making suitable internal arrangements. However, such organizational arrangements are mostly resisted by internal people. Thus managers have to face dual problems of identifying the need for change and then implementing the change without adversely affecting the need for satisfaction of organisational people. It is also the essence of change. Management of change is seen as a self-perpetrating ever evolving phenomenon.

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