Organizational Development (Lesson2)

What is organizational behavior?

Organizational behavior is concerned with people’s interactions within organizations. It is concerned with how
individuals interact within an organization and how to improve workers’ performance within the organization.
Since human factors contribute to a company’s better productivity, studying human behavior is imperative. For
the study of organizational behavior, research related to improving job satisfaction, increasing job performance,
and encouraging leadership are included.
Organizational behavior is the most important for a company that wants to explore and improve its workforce.
They are the foundation for managers to produce better results.
Brief History of Organizational Behaviour
The concept of organizational behavior originated in the 1990 AD. During that period, F.W. Taylor advocated
that providing improved working situations could increase productivity. But this approach is just the initial
momentum for organizational behavior.
Moreover, during the first world war period, in 1920 AD, Whiting Williams published a book named “What is
in the workers’ mind? It totally changed the thinking of entrepreneurs about the importance of human relations
in an organization.
Hawthorne Electric Company experiment helped understand the core concept of social systems in the
workplace and human issues to be solved by understanding the human factor.
And after the Hawthorne experiment, the ethical or human conduct in an organization improved remarkably. So
till now, it is the origin of the Human Resource profession.
The environment is less important than social factors. When employees find they are being heard, they can
provide better results to the company. Also, it helps to increase the productivity of an employee.
Examples Of Organizational Behavior In The Workplace
Multiple factors affect organizational behavior. And the company managers can use these factors to evaluate the
work culture better. Let’s discuss them one by one.
Personality: Personality is one example of organizational behavior. The best way to determine if a candidate is
a good fit for an organization is to understand their personality.
Leadership: Leadership can be either focused, goal-oriented, broad, or centralized. Or it can simply be the
result of a position of authority.
Power, authority, and politics: Political science, power, and authority work interdependently in a workspace.
And to run a successful business, one has to use these elements perfectly depending on organizational rules and
ethical guidelines.
Elements of organizational behavior
To explore OB’s elements, we need to first review what OB actually is and what are its examples.
Organizational behavior has four core elements. Let’s find out what are these four elements.
ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

PEOPLE TECHNOLOGY

STRUCTURE ENVIRONMENT

People
The essential element of OB is people. Here people mean an employee that works for that organization. So, you
must take care of how well the people are treated and how well you listen to them.
As the backbone of an organization, they help to achieve the organization’s goals by doing the work
systematically. So, if there are any changes in their behavior, a leader needs to know the reason behind that.
Structure
The employee that works individually or in groups creates the whole structure. It is the layout of the
organization. The roles and responsibilities of people in a structure should be clearly described. If you do so,
there will not be any confusion regarding their duties which results in greater efficiency.
Technology
People and structures are not enough for an organization. When you provide the needed technology, people can
perform the task effectively. If you failed to provide technology, it would be difficult for people to complete
their responsibilities.
It also helps to reduce production costs. Depending on the work needed to complete, you can use technology.
Environment
The last one is “Business Environment.” For an organization to run successfully, external factors also matter the
most. Business leaders must study both the internal environment (organizational culture) and the external
environment (economic, social, political, and cultural) factors. Don’t hesitate to make any changes when you
find them necessary.
Levels of organizational behavior
OB uses the three levels to analyze the behavior of people. And these three basic levels are Individual, Group
(Team), and Organization System level Analysis. These levels are interrelated to each other. Organizational
Behavior analyses the interaction between these three levels and, at last, decides how they can improve the
organization’s performance.
To increase ROI, analyze each level carefully and create a healthier work environment. Following is the list of
three levels of organizational behavior.

LEVELS OF ORGANIZATIONIONAL BEHAVIOR

01. INDIVIDUAL LEVEL 02. GROUP LEVEL

03.ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEM LEVEL

Individual Level
Building blocks for group formation are individuals in organizations. Everyone is unique by their nature. It
revolves around psychology. It is related to the individual thought process, including their characteristics, such
as attitude, job satisfaction, emotions, moods, values, personalities, perception, and motivation.
Group Level
Group level is also called Meso level of Analysis. It mainly revolves around social psychology, anthropology,
and sociology. Simply, it focuses on how the people working together to finish the task interact. And the group
can be either formal or informal.
Organization System Level
Organizational Behavior is the Macro level of Analysis (Organization system). They mainly revolve around
organizational anthropology, organizational sociology, and organizational psychology.
When different individuals are brought together, they create a group. Similarly, when multiple groups are
combined, they form an organization.
Model of organizational behavior
Autocratic model
The autocratic model depends on power, strength, and formal authority. This model gives the power to the
managers or owners to make decisions and dictate. At the same time, the employees follow their orders and are
entirely dependent on their bosses.
Advantages of the autocratic model
1. Obedient and disciplined employees.
2. Quick decision-making and a high level of secrecy.
Drawbacks of the autocratic model
1. People are easily frustrated because of the minimum wage.
2. Employees feel insecure as their ideas are not welcomed.
Custodial Model
The custodial model relies on economic resources to motivate the employees. They offer health services,
finance packages, cars, and so on as incentives. So, this model depends on the firm rather than the manager or
bosses.
Additionally, they retain the employees and reduce over time. Now it’s time for the employees to show their
loyalty to their company.
Advantages of the Custodial Model
1. Motivate employees.
2. More skilled workforce.
Disadvantages of the Custodial Model
1. Can retain low-performing employees, and not everyone is satisfied with incentives; some want praise.
2. It ignores the physiology of workers.
Supportive model
This model understands that employees are not any devices you can use as per your wish; they have their
characteristics. So it is essential to make employee contributions and be helpful. It gives a chance for the
employee to take the initiative and improve themselves. Advantages of Supportive model
1. A healthy relationship between manager and employee.
2. Greater productivity and harmony in the organization.
Disadvantages of the Supportive model
1.To support the employees they have to spend more time. 2.It might not be the best for workers who just came
to work and get paid.
Collegial Model
The collegial model eliminates the bosses and subordinates. All the colleagues work together as a team to
accomplish a task in this model. No one has to worry about either status or position.

The collegial Model can also be called the extension of the supportive model. So it is about the partnership
between management and employees. This model expects the employees to feel they are part of a whole and
must contribute.

Moreover, they have to recognize others’ contributions as well. Here the manager is like a coach who has to
create a positive workspace with an energetic environment.

Advantages of Collegial Model

1. Teamwork.
2. Better discipline.

Disadvantages of Collegial Model

1. Role conflicts can arise.

2. Every team member may not give their full efforts.

System Model
The system model is the emerging model of today’s era. It tries to balance the goal of the individual employee
with an organizational goal. Now the managers have to show their emotional sides too.

They have to be caring, understanding, and passionate. It is the base of a positive corporate culture.

Advantages of system model

1. Healthy work environment.

2. Good communication.

Disadvantages of system model

1. It can be quite complex, making them difficult to understand.

2. Employees can be static and inflexible, meaning they may not be able to adapt to changing conditions or
new information.

Scope of organizational behavior

Having proper knowledge of organizational behavior is imperative to generate a positive impact and a healthy
environment in an organization. The scope of organizational behavior can be generally defined as its ability to
govern or influence an organization’s operations. A three-fold concept is incorporated in OB.

Individual behavior
As its name suggests, it is the study of an individual’s attitudes, learning, job satisfaction, motivation, and
personality.
Example: Before making a perception about someone, it is better to understand them. And for that, conduct
various interactive sessions.
Inter-individual Behavior

Inter-individual behavior is when communication happens between the employees among themselves. It helps
to solve problems quickly by understanding each other’s qualities.
Example: Understanding people’s leadership qualities, group conflicts, power and politics, and group dynamics
to conduct a new board members list.

Group Behavior
Group behavior is about the efforts a group of employees makes to achieve something within the organization.
It studies the structure, formation, and effectiveness of the organization.
Example: Strike

Why is organizational behavior important in the

workplace?
Until now, we have understood that organizational behavior helps improve the workspace’s efficiency by
understanding the social and economic factors that affect how teams work. The key to an organization’s success
is how people interact and work with each other.

Studying organizational behavior helps to motivate workers, increase their performance and build a strong
relationship between employees and the organization. It also assists in making the decisions needed for human
resource management, hiring, and employee retention processes. Now, let’s discuss the importance of
organizational behavior in the workplace in detail.

Good workplace relationships

Though finding the problems that are affecting employee relationships might be a difficult job, it is an essential
one. Also, the study of organizational behavior is vital for businesses facing problems due to changes in market
forces and pandemics.

Organizational behavior helps managers and leaders to solve issues by communicating with them. Moreover,
the chance of misunderstanding gets low. As a result, a good workplace relationship can be generated.

Learn more: Communicating Styles at Work- Types and How to Use Them🤝👫

Creates a psychologically safe workplace

If there is a psychologically safe working environment, the employees can generate new ideas and experiment
with them. Using time-tracking software like timeTracko can enhance employee performance, resulting in
increased productivity for a business.

Psychologically safe workplaces help employees perform better. The study of organizational behavior helps
leaders determine their attitudes toward employees. So, managers can create a safe workplace where they feel at
home.

Teams with higher efficiency

An organizational behavior study provides you with a clear view of the similarities and differences that workers
shares. And the leader can use the information to create a better team. There is no doubt that a team with good
chemistry will understand and support each other. They also have an idea about their colleague’s strengths and
weaknesses.
So, to achieve long-term success by increasing team members’ confidence, the study of organizational behavior
is helpful.

Employee motivation
Lack of motivation can cause employees to leave the job. Without motivation, the employee won’t give 100%
effort to their work.

The study of organizational behavior can assist leaders in understanding the motivational tools necessary to
enable their employees to perform at their peak.

👉 You may like: Best Tips to Enhance Employee Satisfaction That Leads to Better Productivity

Nature of employees
The employee that brings positive vibes to that work has a better possibility to increase the performance of the
company. In contrast, a stressed employee can disturb the overall company’s performance.

So, to achieve success, it is crucial to understand the employee’s nature at work. And for that study of OB is
important, and it helps the manager to the reason behind their behavior.

Better communication
To bring the best result, leaders must communicate with their employees first. And the workers behave
according to the surrounding environment. If their leader is dominant, they may get frustrated. And that can be
the reason for their behavior change. But if the leader or colleagues are someone who listens to them and shows
their strength, they may align better with them.

The study of OB assists managers/leaders to understand in which type of organizational model workers perform
well.

Learn more: How to Enhance Your Team Communication?

Goals of organizational behavior

The study of organizational behavior examines the behavior of individuals and groups within an organization.
To manage human resources effectively, organizations need to know, understand, predict, and control human
behavior. The following goals have been defined by OB:

To describe
The first goal of OB is to describe how workers behave under various circumstances.

To understand
And then the next objective is to understand why they behave as they do. Understand the reason behind every
action.

To predict
Realizing or predicting the future behavior of workers is another goal of OB. Such as managers predicting why
their employees are working/leaving their company.
To control
The last and most important goal of OB is to control and create a healthy working environment for the
organization.

Managers must take every necessary action to develop the team’s commitment and skill.

Conclusion
The main reason behind the study of OB is to generate a productive and healthy work environment. Leaders
should conduct organizational behavior research to bring out the best in their employees. Moreover, if they
need to change their customer service or improve their ethical behavior, they need to do that as well.

This article covers every detail of organizational behavior, including the importance of organizational behavior,
goals, types, and model.

I hope you enjoy reading the article. Don’t hesitate to share it with your friends if you find it informative.

FAQs
1. What is an organizational behavior example?
There are many types of organizational behavior, including personality, leadership, power, and authority.

2. What are organizational behavior skills?

Organizational behavior skills include effective communication, financial management, time management,
team-building, and conflict resolution.

3. How organizational behavior can benefit you?

Individuals can gain a deeper understanding of themselves and others, improving careers and efficiency.
Additionally, Organizational Behavior can motivate employees and improve the success of companies.

4. What is the purpose of organizational behavior?

Organizational behavior is primarily concerned with understanding people’s behavior, resolving disputes, hiring
qualified employees, increasing productivity, and building a good team. Thus, it is essential to the success of
any organization.