62711438 Organizational Behavior Final Exam Note[1]

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR – All Final Q.1: Organizational Behavior: Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people- as individuals and as groups- act within organizations. It strives to identify ways in which people can act more effectively. It is also an applied science which provides a useful set of tools at many levels of analysis. For example: It helps Managers to look at the behavior of individuals within an organization.

Q.2: Goals of Organizational Behavior: There are basically four goals of Organizational Behavior: 1. Describe: Describe systematically, how people behave under a variety of conditions. Achieving this goal allows Managers to communicate about human behavior at work using a common language. 2. Understand: A second goal is to understand why people behave as they do. 3. Predict: Predicting future employee behavior is another goal of Organizational Behavior. 4. Control: The final goal of Organizational Behavior is to control, at least partially and develop some human behavior at work.

Q.3: Forces of Organizational Behavior: A complex set of forces affects the nature of organizations today, which can be classified into four areas:

2. THE NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS:  Social Systems: Two types of Social Systems exist side by side in organizations. One is the formal (official) social system, and th other is the informal social system  Mutual Interest: Organizations need people and people need organizations. They are formed and maintained on the basis of some mutuality of interest among their participants. Managers need employees to help them reach organizational objectives; people need organizations to help them reach individual objectives.  Ethics: In order to attract and retain valuable employees in an era in which good workers are constantly recruited away, ethical treatment is necessary. When the organization’s goals and actions are ethical, mutuality creates a triple reward system in which individual, organizational, and social objectives are all met.

Fundamental concepts of Organizational Behavior The Nature of People The Nature of Organizations  Individual differences  Social system  Perception  Mutual interest  A whole person  Ethics  Motivated behavior  Desire for involvement  Value of the persons

Q.6: Models of Organizational Behavior:

Q.4: “Organization exists to serve people, rather than people existing to serve organizations” : People make up the internal social system of the organization. That system consists of individuals and groups; large groups as well as small groups. There are unofficial, informal groups, as well as more official and formal groups. So, we must remember that, “Organization exists to serve people, rather than people existing to serve organizations”.

Q.5: Fundamental concepts of Organizational Behavior: Organizational Behavior starts with a set of fundamental concepts revolving around the nature of people and organizations. Such concept consists of two main elements: 1. THE NATURE OF PEOPLE:  Individual Differences: The idea of individual differences comes originally from Psychology. The belief that each person is different from all others is typically called the Law of Individual Differences.  Perception: Even when presented with the same object, two people may view it in two different ways. Their view of their objective environment is filtered by Perception.  A whole person: Although some organizations may wish they could employ only a person’s skill or brain, they actually employ a whole person rather than certain characteristics.  Motivated Behavior: This fact leaves management with two basic ways to motivate people. It can show them how certain action will increase their need fulfillment, or it can threaten decreased need fulfillment if they follow an undesirable course of action.  Desire for Involvement: Many employees are contributing their talents and ideas to the organization’s success. Organizations need to provide opportunities for meaningful involvement.  Value of the Person: People deserve to be treated differently from other factors of production because they are of a higher order in the universe and want to be treated with caring, respect, dignity.

(1) Achievement Motivation: Achievement motivation drives humans to strive for excellence by improving on personal and societal standards of performance. In artificial agents, achievement motivation has potential roles in focusing agent behavior and driving the acquisition of competence.

(2) Affiliation Motivation: Affiliation refers to a class of social interactions that seek contact with formerly unknown or little known individuals and maintain contact with those individuals in a manner that both parties experience as satisfying, stimulating and enriching. The need for affiliation is activated when an individual comes into contact with another unknown or little known individual. As with achievement motivation, affiliation motivation is thought to comprise two contrasting components: hope of affiliation and fear of rejection. Hope of affiliation prompts us to approach unknown individuals and get to know them better. Fear of rejection urges caution and sensitivity in our dealings with strangers.

(3) Power Motivation: Power can be described as a domainspecific relationship between two individuals, characterized by the asymmetric distribution of social competence, access to resources or social status. Power is manifested by unilateral behavioral control and can occur in a number of different ways. Types of power include reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, expert power and informational power.

In addition, risk-taking behavior is necessary both for establishing boundaries and identifying and exploiting high return situations.

2. Structure: Structure defines the formal relationship and use of people in organizations. There are Managers and Employees, Accountants and Assemblers. These people have to be related in some structural way so that their work can be effectively coordinated.

4. Environment: All organizations operate within an internal and an external environment. It is part of a larger system that contains many other elements, such as government, the family and other organizations. It influences the attitude of people, affects working conditions, and provides competition for resources and power. It must be considered in the study of human behavior in organization.

(1) Achievement (2) Affiliation (3) Power.

As with affiliation, power motivation can be considered with respect to incentive and probability of success. Power motivated individuals select high-incentive goals, as achieving these goals gives them significant control of the resources and reinforces of others.

1. People: People make up the internal social system of the organization. That system consists of individuals and groups; large groups as well as small groups. There are unofficial, informal groups, as well as more official and formal groups.

3. Technology: Technology provides the resources with which people work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a significant influence on working relationships. It has costs as well as benefits.

McClelland focused on the three Motivational Drives for:

Q.14: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: The best known theory of motivation was developed by Abraham Maslow. He hypothesized that within every human being there exists a hierarchy of five needs. These needs are: 1. Physiological needs: It includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex and other bodily needs.

Q.7:, Q.8:, Q.9: CONCEPTUAL QUESTIONS

2. Safety needs: It includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm. Q.10: Motivation: Motivation is the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal. Three Key Elements of Motivation are: (1) Intensity: how hard a person tries (2) Direction: toward beneficial goal (3) Persistence: how long a person tries.

3. Belongingness and Love: It includes affection, belongingness, acceptance and friendship. 4. Esteem: It includes internal and external factors. Internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy and achievement. External factors such as status, recognition and attention. 5. Self-actualization: The drive to become what one is capable of becoming. It includes growth, achieving one’s potential self-fulfillment.

Q.11: Process of Motivation: The Motivation Process is shown below:

Unsatisfied Need Tension

Effort

Satisfied Need

Tension reduction

 Intensity  Direction

Self-actualization Personal growth and fulfilment

 Persistence Esteem needs Achievement, status, responsibility, reputation Q.12: What is Need? Types of Need Defining “Need”: Defining and determining need is easier said than done. It is not value-free, as who determines it, how it is determined and for what purpose it is done, will all affect the outcome. Types of “Need”: Bradshaw (1972) has provided a methodology in making a ‘real’ need possible. His framework involves four different ways of thinking about ‘need’: (1) Normative Need (2) Felt Need (3) Expressed Need (4) Comparative Need.

Q.13: Explain Motivational Drives: Motivational drives are a product of the cultural environment: •Family •School •Church •Books.

Belongingness and Love needs Family, affection, relationships, work group, etc.

Safety needs Protection, security, order, law, limits, stability etc.

Biological and Physiological needs Basic life needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.

Figure: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need

Q.15: Explain the Herzberg Theory: To better understand employee attitudes and motivation, Frederick Herzberg performed studies to determine which factors in an employee's work environment caused satisfaction or dissatisfaction. He published his findings in the 1959 book The Motivation to Work.

Q.18: Leadership: Leadership is the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically toward achieving objectives. It is a Catalyst that transforms potential into reality. The 3 important elements in the definition are: (1) Influence / support (2) Voluntary effort (3) Goal achievement.

The following table presents the top six factors causing dissatisfaction and the top six factors causing satisfaction, listed in the order of higher to lower importance. The two Factors in the Theory: (1) Hygiene factors are needed to ensure that an employee does not become dissatisfied. They do not cause higher levels of motivation, but without them there is dissatisfaction. (2) Motivation factors are needed in order to motivate an employee into higher performance. These factors result from internal generators in employees.

Leading to Dissatisfaction

  

Company policy Supervision Relationship w/Boss

  

Work conditions Salary Relationship w/Peers

Leading to Satisfaction

     

Achievement

Q. 23: The Managerial Grid Theory of Leadership: Blake and Mouton proposed a managerial grid based on the styles of “concern for people” and “concern for production” which is known as The Managerial Grid Theory of Leadership.

Q.19: Difference between Management and Leadership: Leadership

Seeking Operation Strategy Focus Dependence View Direction Alignment Relationship Outcome

Manager

Leader

Seeks for Objectives Manager admintrts. Manager maintains Systems & Structure Relies on control Short-range view Plans and budgets Creates boundaries Acts as Boss Maintains ability

Seeks for Vision Leader innovates Leader develops People Inspires trust Long-range persp. Creates strategy Reduces them Acts as Coach Creates change

• The grid has 9 possible positions along each axis, creating 81 different positions. • The grid shows the dominating factors in a leader’s thinking in regard to getting results. • Based on the findings of Blake and Mouton, managers were found to perform best under a 9, 9 style, as contrasted, for example, with a 9, 1 (authority type) or 1, 9 (lassiez-faire type) style. Unfortunately, the grid offers a better framework for conceptualizing leadership style than for presenting any tangible new information.

Recognition Work itself Responsibility Advancement Growth

Q.20: Traits of Effective Leader / Difference between effective leader and ineffective leader: Early research tried to identify the traits- Physical, intellectual or personality characteristics- that differed between leaders and nonleaders or between successful or unsuccessful leaders. Many corporations today still use the controversial Myers-Briggs typology indicates personality test. The most important traits are: A high level of personal drive, The desire to leave, Personal integrity and Self-confidence. Figure: The Managerial Grid

Q.16: Explain the ERG Model: This theory is developed by Clayton Alderfer. He has reworked on Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory. Alderfer's contribution to organizational behavior was dubbed the ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness, and Growth), and was created to align Maslow's motivation theory more closely with empirical research.

Cognitive (analytical) ability, business knowledge, charisma, creativity, flexibility and personal warmth are also frequently desired. Q.24: Employee Attitude and types: Q.21: Skills of Leaders: The three broad types of skill leaders use are: (i) Technical, (ii) Human and (iii) Conceptual. Although, these skills are interrelated in practice, they can be considered specially. 1. Technical Skill: Technical skill refers to a person’s knowledge of ability in any type of process or technique. Examples are the skills learnt by Accountants, Engineers, Word processing operators etc. Technical skill is the distinguishing feature of job performance at the operating and professional levels. 2. Human Skill: Human Skill is the ability to work effectively with people and to build team work. No leader at any organization level escapes the requirement for effective human skill.

After the original formulation of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, studies had shown that the middle levels of Maslow's hierarchy overlap. Alderfer addressed this issue by reducing the number of levels to three. The letters ERG represent these three levels of needs: • Existence: It refers to our concern with basic material existence motivators. • Relatedness: It refers to the motivation we have for maintaining interpersonal relationships. • Growth: It refers to an intrinsic desire for personal development. Like Maslow's model, the ERG motivation is hierarchical, and creates a pyramid or triangle appearance. Existence needs motivate at a more fundamental level than relatedness needs, which, in turn supersedes growth needs.

Q.17: Comparison of the Maslow, Herzberg and Alderfer models: In the following comparison between Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, Herzberg’s Two factor model and Alderfer ERG model is given below – 1. Maslow and Alderfer focus on the internal needs of that employee, whereas Herzberg also identifies and differentiates the condition (Job content and Job context) that could be provided for need satisfaction. 2.

Maslow and Herzberg models suggest that in modern societies many workers have already satisfied their lower-order needs, so they are now motivated mainly by higher-order needs and motivators. Alderfer suggests that the failure to satisfy relatedness or growth needs will cause renewed interest in existence needs.

Employee Attitude: Attitudes are the feelings and beliefs that largely determine how employees will perceive their environment, commit themselves to intended actions, and ultimately believe. Types of Employee Attitudes: There are mainly two types of Employee Attitudes: 1. Attitudes affect perceptions: •Perceptions affect attitudes 2. Employee predispositions: •Positive affectivity •Negative affectivity.

3. Conceptual Skill: Conceptual Skill is the ability to think in terms of models, frameworks and broad relationships, such as long-range plans. It becomes increasingly important in higher managerial jobs. Conceptual skills deals with ideas, whereas human skill concerns people and technical skill involves things.

Q.25: Components of Employee Attitude: Employee Attitudes consist of three elements: 1. Cognitive component 2. Affective component 3. Behavioral component.

Q.22: Style of Leadership: The total pattern of the explicit and implicit leader’s actions as seen by employees is called Leadership Style. Leadership Style is a consistent combination of: (i) Philosophy, (ii) Skills, (iii) Traits, (iv) Attitudes, (v) Beliefs about subordinates’ abilities.

Q.26: Effects of Employee Attitudes on performance: Employee Attitudes are visible in two ways:

Employee perceptions of leadership style are all that really matters. Two basic elements of Leadership Style are: 1. Positive and Negative Leaders: There are differences in the ways leaders approach people to motivate them. If the approach emphasizes rewards- economic or the leader uses positive leadership. If emphasis is placed on penalties, the leader is applying negative leadership. Negative leaders act domineering and superior with people.

1. Dissatisfaction: Dissatisfied employees engage in: •Psychological withdrawal •Physical withdrawal •Aggression. 2. Satisfaction: Satisfied employees: •Go beyond the call of duty •Have good work records •Actively pursue excellence.

Q.27: Relationship of Job Satisfaction to Turnover and Absences: High

2. Autocratic, Consultative and Participative Leaders: Autocratic Leaders: Autocratic Leaders centralizes power and decision making in themselves. The Leaders take full authority and assume full responsibility.

Turnover

Consultative Leaders: Consultative Leaders approach one or more employees and ask them for inputs prior to making a decision. These leaders may then choose to use or ignore the information and advice received.

Absence

Participative Leaders: Participative Leaders clearly decentralize authority. Participative decisions are not unilateral, as with the autocrat, because they use inputs from followers and participation by them.

Low Low

High

Figure: Relationship of Job Satisfaction to Turnover and Absences

Q.28: Job Satisfaction Survey: A job satisfaction survey is a procedure by which employees report their feelings toward their jobs and work environment.

Q.36: Outcome of interpersonal conflict: Conflict may produce four distinct outcomes: 1. Lose-Lose 2. Lose-Win 3. Win-Lose 4. Win-Win.

Q.29: Benefits of Job Satisfaction Survey: Besides general and specific benefits, a successful Job Satisfaction Survey produces two main benefits: 1. Monitoring Attitude: One benefit of attitude study is that they give management an indication of general levels of satisfaction in a company. 2. Additional benefits: Surveys have many other benefits as well. The flow of communication in all directions is improved as people plan the survey, take it, and discuss its results.

Q.37: Resolution strategies of conflict: There are five resolution strategies of conflict: 1. Avoiding: 2. Smoothing: 3. Forcing: 4. Compromising:

Q.30: Survey precondition / prerequisites: Successful survey conditions are benefited when the following conditions are met:

5. Confronting:

1. Top management actively supports the survey. 2. Employees are fully involved in planning the survey. 3. A clear objective exists for conducting the survey.

Q.38: Managing Change: Managing Change is about helping people adapt to changing practices, processes or environments. It is when we proactively make the most of changes to benefit our organization.

4. The study is designed and administered consistent with standards of sound research. 5. Management is capable and willing to take follow up action. 6. Both the results and action plans are communicated to employees.

Q.31: Conflict: Conflict is any situation in which two or more parties feel themselves in opposition.

Q.39: Nature of Change:  Change is any alteration occurring in the work environment that affects the ways in which employees must act.  Organizations tend to achieve equilibrium in their social structure. When change comes along, it requires employees to make new adjustments as the organization seeks a new equilibrium.  Disequilibrium occurs when employees are unable to make adequate adjustments.  This disequilibrium makes a dilemma for managers.

Q.32: Nature of Conflict: By its very nature, conflict is a process of polarization and receding opportunity. When two people or parties are in conflict, they characteristically move to opposite sides of an issue. Conflict is a process of simplification. We ignore the reasons, justifications, viewpoints and concerns of the other side. They are wrong and we are right.

Q.33: Levels / Types of Conflict: 1. Intrapersonal conflicts: • Actual or perceived pressures from incompatible goals or expectations. • Approach-approach conflict • Avoidance-avoidance conflict • Approach-avoidance conflict. 2. Interpersonal conflict: • Occurs between two or more individuals who are in opposition to one another. 3. Intergroup conflict: • Occurs among members of different teams or groups.

 Organizational changes involve minor changes and more dramatic changes.

Q.40: How Individual Attitudes Affects Response to Change: Each change is interpreted by individuals according to their attitudes. The way that people feel about a change is one factor that determines how they will respond to it.  One cause is personal history.  A second cause is the work environment.  Feelings are nonlogical.

Q.41: Resistance to change: Resistance to change consists of any employee behaviors designed to discredit, delay or prevent the implementation of a work change.

Q.42: Reasons for Resistance: Employees may resist changes for three broad reasons: 1. Nature of change:

Q.34: Sources of Interpersonal Conflict: Interpersonal Conflicts arises from following sources:

2. Method used:

1. Organizational change 2. Different sets if value 3. Threats to status 4. Contrasting perceptions 5. Lack of trust 6. Personality clashes.

3. Perceptions of inequity:

Q.35: Effects of conflict: Well, there are two ways of effects in conflict:

2. Psychological Resistance (Emotional):

Q.43: Types of Resistance: There are three different types of Resistance: 1. Logical Resistance (Rational):

3. Sociological Resistance (Social): 1. Functional (or constructive) conflict: Results in positive benefits to individuals, the group, or the organization. Effects: • Surfaces important problems so they can be addressed. • Causes careful consideration of decisions. • Causes reconsideration of decisions. • Increases information available for decision making. • Provides opportunities for creativity.

2. Dysfunctional (or destructive) conflict: Works to the disadvantage of individuals, the group, or the organization. Effects: • Diverts energies. • Harms group cohesion. • Promotes interpersonal hostilities. • Creates overall negative environment for workers.

Q.44: Possible benefits of Resistance: Resistance is not all bad. It can bring following benefits:  Encourages management to reexamine its change proposals  Ensures proper management plans and implement change  Discourage careless management decisions  Help identify specific problem areas  gives management information about the intensity of employee emotion on an issue.

Q.45: Three Stages in Change: 1. Unfreezing 2. Changing 3. Refreezing.