Introduction

Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within an organization, then applies that knowledge to make organizations work more effectively (Robbins, 2003). In recent times, we notice the following changes in the organizational set up:

Demise of traditional hierarchical structure. Emergence of workforce with different expectations forms organizations. Advancement of information technology. Increasing importance on empowerment and teamwork. Concern for work-life balance.

In order to be effective organizations need to develop their interpersonal or people skills According to Robbins( 2003), Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within an organization, then applies that knowledge to make organizations work more effectively. Specifically, OB focuses on how to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and turnover, and increase employee citizenship and job satisfaction. An organization is more than a formal arrangement of functions, more than an organization chart, more than a vision statement, more than a set of accounts. An organization consists of people and so it is also a social system. The field of organizational behavior (OB) draws primarily from the behavioral science disciplines of psychology, social psychology, and cultural anthropology. The areas on which OB focuses are individuals who will often be working within groups, which themselves work within organizations, as well as all the interrelationships between them. Some of the specific themes embraced by OB are personality theory, attitudes and values, motivation and learning, interpersonal behavior, group dynamics, leadership and teamwork, organizational structure and design, decision-making, power, conflict, and negotiation. Some OB thinkers go further and suggest that the behavior within the organization has to be viewed partly in the wider context of the outside world’s effect on the organization and its human resources, missions, objectives, and strategies.

Landmark publications on organizational behavior

 

» 1911: Frederick Taylor: Principles of Scientific Management

» 1916: Henri Fayol: General and Industrial Management

» 1924: MaxWeber: The Theory of Social and Economic Organization

» 1933: Elton Mayo: Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization

» 1938: Chester Barnard: The Functions of the Executive

» 1954: Abraham Maslow: Motivation and Personality

» 1956: William Whyte: The Organization Man

» 1959: Frederick Herzberg: The Motivation to Work

» 1960: Douglas McGregor: The Human Side of Enterprise

» 1964: Robert Blake and Jane Mouton: The Managerial Grid

» 1973: Henry Mintzberg: The Nature of Managerial Work

» 1978: Chris Argyris and Donald Schon: Organizational Learning

» 1979: Reg Revans: Action Learning

» 1981: Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos: The Art of Japanese Management

» 1982: Tom Peters and Bob Waterman: In Search of Excellence

» 1984: Meredith Belbin: Management Teams

» 1985: Edgar Schein: Organizational Culture and Leadership

» 1986: Gareth Morgan: Images of Organization

» 1989: Charles Handy: The Age of Unreason

» 1990: Peter Senge: The Fifth Discipline

» 1990: Richard Pascale: Managing on the Edge

» 1993: James Champy and Mike Hammer: Re-engineering the Corporation

1995: Karl Weick: Sensemaking in Organizations

» 1997: Arie de Geus: The Living Company

» 1997: Thomas Stewart: Intellectual Capital

» 2000: Richard Pascale: Surfing the Edge of Chaos

»2001: Daniel Pink: Free Agent Nation

 

Contributing Disciplines To The OB Field

Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built upon contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines. The main areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science.

Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within an organization, then applies that knowledge to make organizations work more effectively. Specifically, OB focuses on how to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and turnover, and increase employee citizenship and job satisfaction. An organization is more than a formal arrangement of functions, more than an organization chart, more than a vision statement, more than a set of accounts. An organization consists of people and so it is also a social system. The field of organizational behavior (OB) draws primarily from the behavioral science disciplines of psychology, social psychology, and cultural anthropology. The areas on which OB focuses are individuals who will often be working within groups, which themselves work within organizations, as well as all the interrelationships between them. Some of the specific themes embraced by OB are personality theory, attitudes and values, motivation and learning, interpersonal behavior, group dynamics, leadership and teamwork, organizational structure and design, decision-making, power, conflict, and negotiation. OB is an interdisciplinary field, it has distinctly humanistic outlook, it is performance oriented, it considers external environment as critical, it uses scientific method and it has an applications orientation. Wood (1997) provides a useful model for exploring behavioral events. He suggests that different levels of analysis can be applied when examining the significance of an organizational issue. He proposes eight, namely: Individual, Team, Inter-group, Organizational, Inter-organizational, Societal, International, and Global. A large number of people have contributed to the growth of OB as a discipline. Some of the most important works have been done by Adam Smith, Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, Max Weber, Mary parker Follet, Abraham Maslow, B. F. Skinner, to name a few. Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built upon contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines. The main areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science.

Value, Ethics And Job Satisfaction

Introduction

Values represent basic convictions 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” (Rokeach, 1973). When the values are ranked in terms of their intensity, i.e., when the

value are prioritized in terms of their intensity, it is called value system. Types of values include, ethical/moral values, doctrinal/ideological (political, religious) values, social values, and aesthetic values.

Values have both content and intensity attributes.

The content attribute signifies that a mode of conduct or end-state of existence is important.

The intensity attribute specifies how important it is. Ranking an individual’s values in terms of their intensity equals that person’s value

system.

Values build the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation of an individual, since, value has a great impact on perceptions. Values shape relationships, behaviors, and choices. The more positive our values, more positive are people’s actions. A significant portion of the values an individual holds is established in the early years—from parents, teachers, friends, and others.

Know about different Types of Values

 Types of Values

Rokeach, in his Value Survey (Rokeach Value Survey- RVS), proposed two sets of values. They are :Terminal values and Instrumental values. Each set contains 18 individual value items. Terminal values refer to desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime. Instrumental values refer to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values. This survey proposed that people in the same occupations or categories tend to hold similar values. The terminal values and instrumental values proposed by RVS are listed below:

 

Terminal values

1. Equality (brotherhood and equal opportunity for all)2. A comfortable life (a prosperous life)3. An Exciting Life (a stimulating, active life)4. Family Security (taking care of loved ones)5. Freedom (independence and free choice)6. Health (physical and mental well-being)7. Inner Harmony (freedom from inner conflict)8. Mature Love (sexual and spiritual intimacy)9. National Security (protection from attack)10. Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life)11. Salvation (saved; eternal life)12. Self-Respect (self-esteem)

13. A Sense of Accomplishment (a lasting contribution)14. Social Recognition (respect and admiration)15. True Friendship (close companionship)16. Wisdom (a mature understanding of life)17. A World at Peace (a world free of war and conflict)18. A World of Beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)

 Instrumental values

1. Ambitious (hardworking and aspiring)2. Broad-minded    (open-minded)3. Capable (competent; effective)4. Clean (neat and tidy)5. Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)6. Forgiving (willing to pardon others)7. Helpful (working for the welfare of others)8. Honest (sincere and truthful)9. Imaginative (daring and creative)10. Independent (self-reliant; self-sufficient)11. Intellectual (intelligent and reflective)12. Logical (consistent; rational)13. Loving    (affectionate and tender)14. Loyal (faithful to friends or the group)15. Obedient (dutiful; respectful)16. Polite (courteous and well-mannered)17. Responsible (dependable and reliable)18. Self-controlled    (restrained; self-disciplined)

  Contemporary Work Cohort

Robbins (2003) has proposed Contemporary Work Cohort, in which the unique value of different cohorts is that the U.S. workforce has been segmented by the era they entered the workforce. Individuals’ values differ, but tend to reflect the societal values of the period in which they grew up. The cohorts and the respective values have been listed below:

 

1. Veterans—Workers who entered the workforce from the early 1940s through the early 1960s. They exhibited the following value orientations:

They were influenced by the Great Depression and World War II

1. Believed in hard work2. Tended to be loyal to their employer3. Terminal values: Comfortable life and family security

 

2. Boomers—Employees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1980s belonged to this category. Their value orientations were:

 

1. Influenced heavily by John F. Kennedy, the civil rights and feminist movements, the Beatles, the Vietnam War, and baby-boom competition

2. Distrusted authority, but gave a high emphasis on achievement and material success3. Organizations who employed them were vehicles for their careers4. Terminal values: sense of accomplishment and social recognition

 

3. Xers—began to enter the workforce from the mid-1980s. They cherished the following values:

 

1. Shaped by globalization, two-career parents, MTV, AIDS, and computers2. Value flexibility, life options, and achievement of job satisfaction3. Family and relationships were important and enjoyed team-oriented work4. Money was important, but would trade off for increased leisure time5. Less willing to make personal sacrifices for employers than previous generations

Terminal values: true friendship, happiness, and pleasure

4. Nexters—most recent entrants into the workforce.

 

1. Grew up in prosperous times, have high expectation, believe in themselves, and confident in their ability to succeed

2. Never-ending search for ideal job; see nothing wrong with job-hopping3. Seek financial success4. Enjoy team work, but are highly self-reliant5. Terminal values: freedom and comfortable life

 Attitudes

Attitudes are evaluative statements that are either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or events. Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are interrelated. There are three components of an attitude:

1. Cognition

2. Affect3. Behavior

Cognition – It is the mental process involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension, including thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem solving.

Affect – is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.

Behavior - The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.

 

Types of Attitudes

 

Most of the research in OB has been concerned with three attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment.

Job satisfaction

1. It is defined as an individual’s general attitude toward his/her job. A high level of job satisfaction equals positive attitudes toward the job and vice-a-versa.

 

Job involvement

1. It is the measure of the degree to which a person identifies psychologically with his/her job and considers his/her perceived performance level important to self-worth.

 

Organizational commitmento It is defined as a state in which an employee identifies with a particular

organization and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. Research evidence has shown a negative relationship between organizational commitment and both absenteeism as well as turnover. An individual’s level of organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover than the far more frequently used job satisfaction predictor, because, it is a more global and enduring response to the organization as a whole than is job satisfaction.

 

Cognitive Dissonance Theory

 

Festinger (1957), while linking attitudes with behavior, argued that, any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance. The desire to reduce dissonance would be determined by the importance of the elements creating the dissonance, the degree of influence the individual believes he/she has over the elements and the rewards that may be involved in dissonance

 Importance: If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively unimportant, the pressure to correct this imbalance will be low.

 Influence: If the dissonance is perceived as an uncontrollable result, they are less likely to be receptive to attitude change. Though dissonance exists, it is possible to rationalize and justify it.

 Rewards: The inherent tension in high dissonance tends to be reduced with high rewards.

However, it is not possible for any individual to completely avoid dissonance. Due to moderating factors, individuals will not necessarily move to reduce dissonance—or consistency.

Contemporary research has shown that attitudes can significantly predict future behavior and has confirmed Festinger’s original view that relationship can be enhanced by taking moderating variables into account( Robbins, 2003). The most powerful moderators are:

1. Importance2. Specificity3. Accessibility4. Social pressures5. Direct experience

 

Importance: refers to fundamental values, self-interest, or identification with individuals or groups that a person values.

Specificity: The more specific the attitude and the more specific the behavior, the stronger the link between the two.

Accessibility: Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than attitudes that are not accessible in memory.

Social pressures: Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior are more likely to occur where social pressures to behave in certain ways hold exceptional power.

 

Direct experience: The attitude-behavior relationship is likely to be much stronger if an attitude refers to an individual’s direct personal experience.

 

Self-perception theory

Self-perception theory (Bem, 1967) proposes that attitudes are used to make sense out of an action that has already occurred rather than devices that precede and guide action. In contrast to the cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements and they tend to create plausible answers for what has already occurred.

While the traditional attitude-behavior relationship is generally positive, the behavior-attitude relationship is stronger especially when attitudes are unclear and ambiguous or little thought has been given to it earlier.

 

Measuring Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is the sense of fulfillment and pride felt by people who enjoy their work and do it well. For an organization, satisfied work force ensures commitment to high quality performance and increased productivity Job satisfaction helps organizations to reduce complaints and grievances, absenteeism, turnover, and termination. Job satisfaction is also linked to a more healthy work force and has been found to be a good indicator of longevity. And although only little correlation has been found between job satisfaction and productivity, it has also been found that satisfying or delighting employees is a prerequisite to satisfying or delighting customers, thus protecting the “bottom line (Brown, 1996).

Creating Job Satisfaction

Probably the most important point to bear in mind when considering job satisfaction is that there are many factors that affect job satisfaction and that what makes workers happy with their jobs varies from one worker to another and from day to day. Organizations aspiring to create a work environment that enhances job satisfaction need to incorporate the following:

1. Flexible work arrangements2. Task variety and significance3. Job security4. A supportive work environment5. Competitive salary6. Career opportunities

Job enrichment

It is a deliberate upgrading of responsibility, scope, and challenge in the work itself. Job enrichment usually includes increased responsibility, recognition, and opportunities for growth, learning, and achievement. Large companies that have used job-enrichment programs to increase employee motivation and job satisfaction include, AT&T, IBM, and General Motors (Daft, 1997).

Workers’ role in job satisfaction

A worker should also take some responsibility for his or her job satisfaction. Everett (1995) proposed the following questions which employees ask themselves in regard to job satisfaction at the workplace:

1. When have I come closest to expressing my full potential in a work situation?2. What did it look like?3. What aspects of the workplace were most supportive?4. What aspects of the work itself were most satisfying?5. What did I learn from that experience that could be applied to the present situation?

The following suggestions can help a worker find personal job satisfaction:

1. Seek opportunities to demonstrate skills and talents.2. Develop communication skills.3. Acquire job related skills and try to implement them.4. Demonstrate creativity and initiative.5. Improve team building and leadership skill.6. Learn to de-stress.

The ways of expressing job dissatisfaction

There are a number of ways in which employees can express dissatisfaction (Robbins, 2003). They are:

1. Exit2. Voice3. Loyalty4. Neglect

 

1. Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the organization, actions like looking for a new position as well as resigning.

2. Voice: Actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and some forms of union activity.

3. Loyalty: Passively, but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including standing up for the organization in the face of external criticism/ crisis, and reposing trust in the organization and its management to take the right decisions and set things in order.

4. Neglect: Passively allowing conditions to worsen, including chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate

 

Personality

 Introduction

The term ‘personality’ has been derived from the Latin term ‘persona’ which means to ’speak through’. The Latin word denotes the masks worn by actors in ancient Greece and Rome. Therefore, a very common meaning of the term personality is the role which the person (actor) displays in the public domain at large. Personality is a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system-it looks at some aggregate whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Allport (1937) defined personality as “the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment”.

 

Personality Determinants

The factors affecting personality development are illustrated below:

 

1. Heredity – The relationship of heredity with personality is a well-accepted fact. Traits like physique, eye color, hair color, height, temperament, energy level, intelligence, reflexes, etc. are generally referred to describe the influence of heredity in developing personality. The heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the molecular structure of the genes, located in the chromosomes. Robbins (2003) has argued that the three different streams of research lend some credibility to the argument that heredity plays an important part in determining an individual’s personality. The first looks at the genetic underpinnings of human behavior and temperament among young children. The second addresses the study of twins who were separated at birth and the third examines the consistency in job satisfaction over time and across situations.

2. Environment – Environment comprises of culture, family, social and situational factors. The environmental factors influence personality of an individual since they provide the basis of certain experiences which determine the individual’s view about life, both positive and negative.

3. Culture – Culture establishes norms, attitudes and values that are passed on from generation to generation and create consistencies over time. Every culture expects and trains its members to behave in the ways that are acceptable to the group. People from

different cultural groups have different attitudes towards independence, aggression, competition, cooperation, artistic talent, etc. However, on the basis of culture, an individual’s personality cannot be always assessed, since individuals within the same culture (but from different family and sub-cultural background) have been seen to differ in their behavior.

4. Family - One of the most important determinants of the personality of a person is the immediate family. Families influence the behavior of a person especially in the early stages of life. The nature of such influence will depend upon the socio-economic level of the family, family size, race, religion, parent’s educational level and geographic location.

5. Situation – Situational factors also play a crucial role in determining the personality of a person. Every individual goes through different type of experiences and events in his/her life. Some of the events and experiences, which an individual goes through in his/her life, can serve as important determinants of his/her personality. A trauma suffered by a person in the childhood can sometime change the structure of his/her own personality.

Cattell’s 16 Personality Factor Model

Early research on personality traits resulted in isolating large numbers of traits, which made it impossible to predict behavior. Cattell’s (1973) is one of the most important personality trait theory, where the number of traits have been reduced. Cattell referred to these 16 factors as primary factors.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The MBTI classifies human beings into four opposite pairs (dichotomies), base on their psychological opposites. These four opposite pairs result into 16 possible combinations.

The big five model

 

Many researchers argue that five basic dimensions underlie all other personality dimensions (e.g; McCrae and Costa, 1990; Digman, 1997). The five basic dimensions are:

 

1. Extraversion. Comfort level with relationships. Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet.

2. Agreeableness. Individual’s propensity to defer to others. High agreeableness people—cooperative, warm, and trusting. Low agreeableness people—cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic.

3. Conscientiousness. A measure of reliability. A high conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable.

4. Emotional stability. A person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure.

5. Openness to experience. The range of interests and fascination with novelty. Extremely open people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the openness category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar.

Locus of control

A person’s perception of the source of his/her fate is termed locus of control. Locus of control was formulated within the framework of Rotter’s (1954) social learning theory of personality. Rotter (1975) pointed out that internality and externality represent two ends of a continuum, not an either/or typology. Internals tend to attribute outcomes of events to their own control. Externals attribute outcomes of events to external circumstances. For example, college students with a strong internal locus of control may believe that their grades were achieved through their own abilities and efforts, whereas, those with a strong external locus of control may believe that their grades are the result of good or bad luck, or to a professor who designs bad tests or grades capriciously; hence, they are less likely to expect that their own efforts will result in success and are therefore less likely to work hard for high grades.

Individuals who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from the work setting, and are less involved on their jobs than are internals. Internals, facing the same situation, attribute organizational outcomes to their own actions. Internals believe that health is substantially under their own control through proper habits; their incidences of sickness and, hence, of absenteeism, are lower.

Internals generally perform better on their jobs, but one needs to consider differences in jobs. Internals search more actively for information before making a decision, are more motivated to achieve, and make a greater attempt to control their environment, and hence, internals do well on sophisticated tasks. Internals are more suited to jobs that require initiative and independence of action and want autonomy and independence in their jobs. Externals are more compliant and willing to follow directions and be led, and do well on jobs that are well structured and routine and in which success depends heavily on complying with the direction of others.

 

Type A and Type B personality

Type A personality is a set of characteristics that includes, being impatient, excessively time-conscious, insecure about one’s status, highly competitive, hostile and aggressive, and incapable of relaxation (Friedman & Rosenman 1974). They are always moving, walking, and eating rapidly, are impatient with the rate at which most events take place, are doing do two or more things at once and cannot cope with leisure time. They are obsessed with numbers, measuring their success in terms of how many or how much of everything they acquire. Type ‘A’s operate under moderate to high levels of stress. They expose themselves to continuous time pressure, are fast workers, give preference to quantity over quality, work long hours, and are also rarely creative.

 

Type B personality is rarely hurried by the desire to obtain an increasing number of things or participate in events demanding an ever-decreasing amount of time (Friedman & Rosenman, 1974). Type Bs never suffer from a sense of time urgency with its accompanying impatience and feel no need to display or discuss either their achievements or accomplishments unless otherwise demanded by the situation. They can relax without guilt.

 

Emotions

 

Introduction

In general, the term ‘emotion’ is used to designate “a state of consciousness having to do with the arousal of feelings (Webster’s New World Dictionary).” It is “distinguished from other mental states, from cognition, volition, and awareness of physical sensation.” Feeling refers to “any of the subjective reactions, pleasant or unpleasant” that one may experience in a situation.

Theories of Emotion:

There are many theories of emotion:

 

I. James-Lange Theory (1890) [cited in Taylor, 1999]: Subjective emotional responses are the result of physiological changes within human bodies. The brain perceives an event and, in turn, sends messages down its neural circuitry to other areas of the brain. This action ultimately produces motor, autonomic and endocrine responses. These responses elicit an emotional

response, which in turn, is perceived by the brain. Therefore, it is a cyclical process. This theory argues that physiological behaviors precede the emotion.

 

II. Cannon-Bard theory (1927) [cited in Taylor, 1999]: Emotion-provoking events induce the subjective emotional experiences and physiological arousal simultaneously. Through experiences, individuals begin to acquire certain expectations for every given situation. These expectations provide a filter and every situation is processed through this filter. During this process, brain produces the emotion and corresponding physiological behaviors at the same time.

 

III. Schachter-Singer theory (1962): Both feedback from peripheral responses and a cognitive appraisal of what caused those responses produce emotions. How one interprets the peripheral response will determine the emotion he / she feels. Individuals label the emotional response depending on what we think is causing the response. For example, when someone interprets a stimulus as dangerous, it leads to physiological arousal. Then, this physiological arousal is interpreted to a particular emotion. It can be fear, surprise, excitement, and astonishment depending on how the arousal is labeled.

Parrot (2001) has categorized emotions as another classification (Figure no. 1.4):

    Figure no. 1.4:

Parrot’s classification of emotions

Source: Parrott, W. (2001), Emotions in Social Psychology, Psychology Press, Philadelphia

Culture and emotion

There are two Views of Culture and Emotion:

Universality -  Emotions are part of human nature and in all cultures universally the same set of basic emotions. Based on his cross-cultural research, Ekman (1999) has found six emotions which are universally recognized and applicable. They are:

Anger

Fear Sadness Happiness Disgust Surprise.

 

Cultural specificity – Human beings are like a tabula rasa (clean tablet) on which society writes its script. In other words, culture and traditions, normative patterns and value-orientations are responsible for not only our personality development, but also appropriate social and emotional development. This makes us functional entities in society. Each culture has a unique set of emotions and emotional responses; the emotions shown in a particular culture reflects the norms, values, practices, and language of that culture .

 

Alexithymia – emotional disorder

Some people have difficulty in expressing their emotions and understanding the emotions of others. Psychologists call this alexithymia. People who suffer from alexithymia rarely cry and are often seen by others as bland and cold. Their own feelings make them uncomfortable, and they are not able to discriminate among their different emotions. People, suffering from alexithymia, may be effective performers in jobs where little or no emotional labor. Alexithymic symptoms may be seen in people who experience:

1. Post-traumatic stress disorder 2. Certain brain injuries 3. Eating disorders (i.e., bulimia, anorexia, or binge-eating disorder) 4. Substance use dependence 5. Depression 6. Other mental health conditions

 

Relationship of gender with emotion

A number of research findings supports the view that women are more emotional than men (e.g., Broverman, Vogel, Broverman, Clarkson, & Rosenkrantz, 1972; Widiger & Settle, 1987). Women are assumed to experience more frequent and intense emotions, whereas men are assumed to be emotionally inexpressive and to have less intense emotional experiences. However, researchers have argued that the stereotype of men as unemotional is more accurate for adult targets than for child targets because males learn to control their emotions as they get older (Fabes and Martin, 1991). Likewise, women and men may experience happiness in a similar

way, but women have been taught that they can strongly express the emotion of happiness, whereas men have been taught to control it. The impact of socialization practices accumulate over time, and, thus, these stereotypes are likely to apply more strongly to adult populations (Geer and Shields, 1996).

 

Perception

 

Introduction

Individuals behave in a given manner based not on the way their external environment actually, is but, rather, on what they see or believe it to be. A supervisor may try to help his subordinates to achieve their target by advising and suggesting solutions. An employee may believe the supervisor is controlling and interfering. As a result of that, the employee may continuously try to avoid the boss. The same boss may be perceived as a ‘father figure’ to another employee for his helping attitude. As a result of that, the specific employee may acknowledge the supervisor and seeks his guidance. These two employee’s perception about the supervisor that becomes the basis for their different behavior. Perception can be defined as a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Since people’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

Individuals differ in their perceptions with regard to people and inanimate objects. An individual makes inferences about the actions of people not the same way as they do for inanimate objects. Non-living objects are subject to the laws of nature. People have beliefs, motives, or intentions. Therefore, an individual’s perception and judgment of another person’s actions are influenced by these assumptions.

 Factors Influencing Perception

 Three factors shape perception of an individual:

1. Perceiver 2. Target 3. Situation

 

Perceiver – Refers to the most prevalent personal characteristics affecting perception of the perceiver, which are attitudes, motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations.

 Target -. Characteristics of the target can also affect what is being perceived. This includes, attractiveness, gregariousness, and an individual’s tendency to group similar things together.

 Situation – The context in which objects or events are seen by individuals also influence their attention. This includes time, heat, light, or other situational factors.

Shortcuts In Judging Others

 

Individuals have a tendency to use a number of shortcuts when they judge others. An understanding of these shortcuts can be helpful toward recognizing when they can result in significant distortions.

 

Selective Perception

Any characteristic that makes a person, object, or event stand out will increase the probability that it will be perceived. It is impossible for an individual to internalize and assimilate everything that is seen .Only certain stimuli can be taken in selectively. Selectivity works as a shortcut in judging other people by allowing us to “speed-read” others, but, not without the risk of drawing an inaccurate picture. The tendency to see what we want to see can make us draw unwarranted conclusions from an ambiguous situation.

 

Halo Effect

 The halo effect (Murphy & Anhalt, 1992) occurs when we draw a general impression on the basis of a single characteristic. For example, while appraising the lecturer, students may give prominence to a single trait, such as, enthusiasm and allow their entire evaluation to be tainted by how they judge the instructor on that one trait which stood out prominently in their estimation of that person. Research suggests that it is likely to be most extreme when the traits to be perceived are ambiguous in behavioral terms, when the traits have moral overtones, and when the perceiver is judging traits with which he or she has had limited experience.

 

Contrast Effects

 Individuals do not evaluate a person in isolation. Their reaction to one person is influenced by other persons they have encountered recently. For example, an interview situation in which one sees a pool of job applicants can distort perception. Distortions in any given candidate’s evaluation can occur as a result of his or her place in the interview schedule.

 

 

Projection

 This tendency to attribute one’s own characteristics to other people—which is called projection—can distort perceptions made about others. When managers engage in projection, they compromise their ability to respond to individual differences. They tend to see people as more homogeneous than they really are.

 Stereotyping

 Stereotyping—judging someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs. Generalization is not without advantages (Hilton & Hippel, 1996). It is a means of simplifying a complex world, and it permits us to maintain consistency. The problem, of course, is when we inaccurately stereotype. In organizations, we frequently hear comments that represent stereotypes based on gender, age, race, ethnicity, and even weight. From a perceptual standpoint, if people expect to see these stereotypes, that is what they will perceive, whether or not they are accurate.

 

Specific Applications In Organizations

 

Employment Interview

Evidence indicates that interviewers make perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate and they rarely agree while perceiving the candidates. Different interviewers see different things in the same candidate and, thus, reach different conclusions about the applicant. Furthermore, interviewers generally draw early impressions and most interviewers rarely change their decisions after the first four or five minutes of the interview. Therefore, judgments of the same candidate can vary widely in an interview situatiion.

 

Performance Expectations

It is seen that individuals seek to validate their perceptions of reality, even when those perceptions are not appropriate. Self-fulfilling prophecyis a very good example of this.It is the tendency for someone’s expectations about another to cause that person to behave in a manner consistent with those expectations (Wilkins, 1976). Self fulfilling prophecy can be of two types:

 

Pygmalion Effect: A positive instance of the self-fulfilling prophecy, in which people holding high expectations of another tend to improve that individual’s performance.

 

Golem Effect: A negative instance of the self-fulfilling prophecy, in which people holding low expectations of another tend to lower that individual’s performance.

 

A study was conducted on 105 soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces who were taking a fifteen-week combat command course. Soldiers were randomly divided and identified as having high potential, normal potential, and potential not known. Instructors were seemed to get better results from the high potential group because they expected it, confirming the effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

Performance Evaluation

An employee’s performance appraisal is very much dependent on the perceptual process. Although the appraisal can be objective, many jobs are evaluated in subjective terms. Subjective measures are, by definition, judgmental. To the degree that managers use subjective measures in appraising employees, what the evaluator perceives to be good or bad employee characteristics or behaviors will significantly influence the outcome of the appraisal.

 

Employee Effort

An individual’s future in an organization is usually not dependent on performance alone. An assessment of an individual’s effort is a subjective judgment susceptible to perceptual distortions and bias.

 

Link Between Perception And Individual Decision Making

Decision-making occurs as a reaction to a problem. Problem is defined as a discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state, needing attention for alternative courses of action. The awareness that a problem exists and that a decision needs to be made is a perceptual issue. Every decision requires interpretation and evaluation of information. The perceptions of the decision maker will address these two issues.

 

Data are typically received from multiple sources. Which data are relevant to the decision and which are not

 

Alternatives will be developed, and the strengths and weaknesses of each will need to be evaluated.

For example, senior managers determine their organization’s goals, what products or services to offer, how best to finance operations, or where to locate a new manufacturing plant. Middle- and lower-level managers determine production schedules, select new employees, and decide how pay raises are to be allocated. Non-managerial employees also make decisions, including, whether or not to come to work on any given day, how much effort to put forward once at work, and whether or not to comply with a request made by the boss.

 

The Decision-Making Process

 

The optimizing decision maker is rational. He or she makes consistent, value-maximizing choices within specified constraints. This also includes the resource crunch and other limitations as well.

 

The rational decision making model

This model proposes six steps, which are as follows:

 

Step 1: Defining the problem

 

A problem is a discrepancy between an existing and a desired state of affairs. Many poor decisions can be traced to the decision-maker overlooking a problem or

defining the wrong problem.

 

Step 2: Identify the decision criteria important to solving the problem.

The decision maker determines what is relevant in making the decision. Any factors not identified in this step are considered irrelevant to the decision maker.

This brings in the decision maker’s interests, values, and similar personal preferences.

 

Step 3: Weight the previously identified criteria in order to give them the correct priority in the decision.

 

Step 4: Generate possible alternatives that could succeed in resolving the problem.

Step 5: Rating each alternative on each criterion.

Critically analyze and evaluate each alternative. The strengths and weaknesses of each alternative become evident as they are compared

with the criteria and weights established in the second and third steps.

 

Step 6: The final step is to compute the optimal decision:

Evaluating each alternative against the weighted criteria and selecting the alternative with the highest total score.

 

The above-mentioned model works with following assumptions (March, 1994):

 

Problem clarity. The decision maker is assumed to have complete information regarding the decision situation.

Known options. It is assumed the decision maker is aware of all the possible consequences of each alternative.

Clear preferences. Criteria and alternatives can be ranked and weighted to reflect their importance.

Constant preferences. Specific decision criteria are constant and the weights assigned to them are stable over time.

No time or cost constraints. The rational decision maker can obtain full information about criteria and alternatives because it is assumed that there are no time or cost constraints.

Maximum payoff. The rational decision maker will choose the alternative that yields the highest perceived value.

Two of the most important ways of decision-making in organizations are :

Bounded Rationality Intuitive decision making

 

Bounded rationality

When faced with a complex problem, most people respond by reducing the problem to a level at which it can be readily understood, due to limited information-processing capability. As a result, people seek solutions that are satisfactory and sufficient. This is called bounded rationality (Simon, 1947). Individuals operate within the confines of bounded rationality. They construct simplified models that extract the essential features.

 

How does bounded rationality work? Once a problem is identified, the search for criteria and alternatives begins. The decision maker will identify a limited list made up of the more conspicuous choices, which are easy to find, tend to be highly visible, and they will represent familiar criteria and previously tried-and-true solutions. Once this limited set of alternatives is identified, the decision-maker will begin reviewing it. The decision-maker will begin with alternatives that differ only in a relatively small degree from the choice currently in effect. The first alternative that meets the “good enough” criterion ends the search. The order in which alternatives are considered is critical in determining which alternative is selected. Assuming that a problem has more than one potential solution, the satisficing choice will be the first acceptable one the decision-maker encounters. Alternatives that depart the least from the status quo are the most likely to be selected.

 

Intuitive decision making

 

It is an unconscious process created out of distilled experience. It operates in complement with rational analysis. On one hand, some researchers consider it a form of extrasensory power or sixth sense, and on the other hand, some believe it is a personality trait that a limited number of people are born with.

 

Eight conditions when people are most likely to use intuitive decision making are:

 

when a high level of uncertainty exists when there is little precedent to draw on

when variables are less scientifically predictable when “facts” are limited when facts do not clearly point the way to go when analytical data are of little use when there are several plausible alternative solutions to choose from, with good

arguments for each when time is limited, and there is pressure to come up with the right decision

 

Decision making process

 

A. Problem Identification

Problems that are visible tend to have a higher probability of being selected than ones that are important. Visible problems are more likely to catch a decision-maker’s attention. If a decision-maker faces a conflict between selecting a problem that is important to the organization and one that is important to the decision-maker, self-interest tends to win out. The decision-maker’s self interest also plays a part. While selecting a decision to solve a problem, decision maker puts more importance to his/her self-interest over the organizational interest.

B. Alternative Development

Since decision-makers seek a satisficing solution, there is a minimal use of creativity in the search for alternatives. Efforts tend to be confined to the neighborhood of the current alternative. Evidence indicates that decision-making is incremental rather than comprehensive. Decision-makers make successive limited comparisons. The picture that emerges is one of a decision-maker who takes small steps toward his or her objective.

 

C. Making Choices

In order to avoid information overload, decisionakers rely on heuristics or judgmental shortcuts in decision making. There are two common categories of heuristics—availability and representativeness. Each creates biases in judgment.

 

The availability heuristic – It is “the tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is readily available to them.” Events that evoke emotions, that are particularly vivid, or that have occurred more recently tend to be more available in our memory. Fore example, many more people suffer from fear of flying than fear of driving in a car.

 

Representative heuristic – To assess the likelihood of an occurrence by trying to match it with a preexisting category, managers frequently predict the performance of a new product by relating it to a previous product’s success.

 

D. Escalation of commitment

It is an increased commitment to a previous decision in spite of negative information. It has been well documented that individuals escalate commitment to a failing course of action when they view themselves as responsible for the failure.

 

E. Individual Differences: Decision-Making Styles

 

People differ along two dimensions. The first is their way of thinking. Some people are logical and rational. They process information serially. Some people are intuitive and creative. They perceive things as a whole. The other dimension is a person’s tolerance for ambiguity. Some people have a high need to minimize ambiguity. Others are able to process many thoughts at the same time. These four decision making styles can be represented in the following way:

 

Directive:

Low tolerance for ambiguity and seek rationality Efficient and logical Decisions are made with minimal information and with few alternatives assessed. Make decisions fast and focus on the short-run.

Analytic:

Greater tolerance for ambiguity Desire for more information and consideration of more alternatives Best characterized as careful decision makers with the ability to adapt to or cope with

new situations

 

Conceptual:

Tend to be very broad in their outlook and consider many alternatives Their focus is long range, and they are very good at finding creative solutions to

problems.

 Behavioral:

Characterizes decision makers who work well with others Concerned with the achievement of peers and subordinates and are receptive to

suggestions from others, relying heavily on meetings for communicating Tries to avoid conflict and seeks acceptance

 F. Organizational Constraints

 Following are the organizational constraints that affect decision-makers.

Performance evaluation – Managers are strongly influenced in their decision making by the criteria by which they are evaluated. Their performance in decision making will reflect expectation.

 

Reward systems – The organization’s reward system influences decision makers by suggesting to them what choices are preferable in terms of personal payoff.

 

Programmed routines – All, but the smallest of organizations create rules, policies, procedures, and other formalized regulations in order to standardize the behavior of their members.

 

Time constraints – Decisions must be made quickly in order to stay ahead of the competition and keep customers satisfied. Almost all important decisions come with explicit deadlines.

 

Historical Precedents – Decisions have a context. Individual decisions are more accurately characterized as points in a stream of decisions. Decisions made in the past are ghosts which continually haunt current choices. It is common knowledge that the largest determining factor of the size of any given year’s budget is last year’s budget.

 

Cultural Differences – The cultural background of the decision maker can have significant influence on:

 

Ethics in Decision Making

Ethical considerations should be an important criterion in organizational decision making. There are three Ethical Decision Criteria:

 

Utilitarian criterion—decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes or consequences. The goal of utilitarianism is to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. This view tends to dominate business decision making.

 

Focus on rights—calls on individuals to make decisions consistent with fundamental liberties and privileges as set forth in documents such as the Bill of Rights.

 

o An emphasis on rights means respecting and protecting the basic rights of individuals, such as the right to privacy, to free speech, and to due process.

 

3. Focus on justice—requires individuals to impose and enforce rules fairly and impartially. There is an equitable distribution of benefits and costs.

 

Motivation

 

Introduction

Many people incorrectly view motivation as a personal trait—that is, some have it and others do not. Motivation is the result of the interaction of the individual and the situation. Motivation is “the processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal” (Robbins, 2003). Intensity is concerned with how hard a person tries. This is the element most of us focus on when we talk about motivation. Direction is the orientation that benefits the organization. And Persistence is a measure of how long a person can maintain his/her effort. Motivated individuals stay with a task long enough to achieve their goal.

 

Early Theories Of Motivation

 

In the 1950s three specific theories were formulated and are the best known: Hierarchy of Needs theory, Theories X and Y, and the Two-Factor theory.

 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

According to this theory, proposed by Maslow (1943), human beings have wants and desires which influence their behaviour; only unsatisfied needs can influence behavior, satisfied needs cannot. The needs are arranged in order of importance, from the basic to the complex. The person advances to the next level of needs only after the lower level need is at least minimally satisfied. The further they progress up the hierarchy, the more individuality, humanness and psychological health a person will show. The five needs are:

 

Physiological: Includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs Safety: Includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm Social: Includes affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship Esteem: Includes internal esteem factors, such as, self-respect, autonomy, and

achievement; and external esteem factors, such as, status, recognition, and attention Self-actualization: The drive to become what one is capable of becoming; includes

growth, achieving one’s potential, and self-fulfillment

 

Maslow separated the five needs into higher and lower orders. Physiological and safety needs are described as lower-order. Social, esteem, and self-actualization are classified as higher-order needs. Higher-order needs are satisfied internally, whereas, Lower-order needs are predominantly satisfied, externally.

 

Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor argued that a manager’s view of the nature of human beings is based on a certain grouping of assumptions and he or she tends to mould his or her behavior toward employees according to these assumptions.

 

Theory X –

In this theory management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work, if they can. Workers need to be closely supervised and a comprehensive system of controls and a hierarchical structure is needed to supervise the workers closely. It is also assumed that workers generally place security above all other factors and will display little ambition.

 

Theory Y –

In this theory management assumes employees may be ambitious, self-motivated, anxious to accept greater responsibility, and exercise self-control, self-direction, autonomy and empowerment. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. It is also believed that, if given the chance employees have the desire to be creative and forward thinking in the workplace. There is a chance for greater productivity by giving employees the freedom to perform to the best of their abilities without being bogged down by rules.

 

From the above, it is clear that Theory X assumes that lower-order needs dominate individuals. Theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate individuals.

 

Herzberg’s Two Factor theory

 

Herzberg (1959) constructed a two-dimensional paradigm of factors affecting people’s attitudes about work. These two factors are motivators and hygiene factors and this theory is also called motivation-hygiene theory.

Motivators are intrinsic factors, such as, advancement, recognition, responsibility, and achievement. Presence of these factors ensure job satisfaction. Extrinsic factors, such as, company policy, supervision, interpersonal relations, working conditions, and salary are hygiene factors. The absence of hygiene factors can create job dissatisfaction, but their presence does not motivate or create satisfaction.

In summary, motivators describe a person’s relationship with what she or he does, many related to the tasks being performed. Hygiene factors on the other hand, have to do with a person’s relationship to the context or environment in which she or he performs the job. The satisfiers relate to what a person does while the dissatisfiers relate to the situation in which the person does what he or she does.

Removing dissatisfying characteristics from a job does not necessarily make the job satisfying. Job satisfaction factors are separate and distinct from job dissatisfaction factors. When hygiene factors are adequate, people will not be dissatisfied; neither will they be satisfied. To motivate

people, emphasize factors intrinsically rewarding that are associated with the work itself or to outcomes directly derived from it.

 

Contemporary Theories Of Motivation

 

The following theories are considered contemporary , since they represent the current state of the art in explaining employee motivation

ERG Theory

McClelland’s Theory of Needs

Cognitive Evaluation Theory

Motivating Employees In Organizations

 

A number of motivation theories have been discussed above. Based on these theories, the following suggestions summarize the essence about motivating employees in organizations.

Recognize individual differences – Employees have different needs. Therefore, managers need to understand what is important to each employee. This will allow to individualize goals, level of involvement, and rewards to align with individual needs.

Use goals and feedback – Employees should have tangible and specific goals. Feedback should also be provided regularly to inform the employees about their performance in pursuit of those goals.

Include employees in decision-making – Employees should be included in making decisions that affect them, for example, choosing their own benefits packages and solving productivity and quality problems.

Link rewards to performance – Rewards should be contingent on performance and employees must perceive a clear linkage.

 

Maintain equity – Rewards should be perceived by employees as equating with the inputs they bring to the job, i.e; experience, skills, abilities, effort, and other obvious inputs should explain differences in performance and, hence, pay, job assignments, and other obvious rewards.

 

Motivational Tools

Some of the most important motivational tools have been discussed below.

Management by Objective (MBO)

Management by objectives emphasizes participatively set goals that are tangible, verifiable, and measurable. Four ingredients common to MBO programs are: goal specificity, participative decision-making, an explicit time period, and performance feedback (Robbins, 2003).

 

Goal specificity:

The objectives in MBO should be concise statements of expected accomplishments.

 

Participative decision making:

1. The manager and employee jointly choose the goals and agree on how they will be measured.

 

An explicit time period:

Each objective has a specific time period in which it is to be completed.

 

Performance feedback

Continuous feedback on progress toward goals is provided so that workers can monitor and correct their own actions.

 

MBO and Goal-Setting Theory is closely linked. Goal-setting theory proposes that tangible goals result in a higher level of individual performance than do easy goals. Feedback on one’s performance leads to higher performance. MBO also directly advocates specific goals and feedback, implies that goals must be perceived as feasible and is most effective when the goals are difficult enough to require stretching.

 

Employee Recognition Programs

Employee recognition programs consist of personal attention, expressing interest, approval, and appreciation for a job well done. They can take numerous forms. Employee Recognition Programs has close link with Reinforcement Theory. Both the concept advocate that rewarding a behavior with recognition would lead to its repetition. Recognition can take many forms, such as, personally congratulating an employee, sending a handwritten note or an e-mail message or declaring the employee as a valuable contributor to the organizational objective.

 

Employee Involvement

Employee involvement includes, participative management, workplace democracy, empowerment, and employee ownership. Employees’ involvement in the decision making would positively affect them and by increasing their autonomy and control over their work lives, employees will become more motivated, more committed to the organization, more productive, and more satisfied with their jobs.

Some forms of employee involvement have been discussed here: participative management, representative participation, quality circles, and employee stock ownership plans.

Participative management:

 

The logic behind participative management is:

a. Managers often do not know everything their employees do.

b. Better decisions

c. Increased commitment to decisions

d. Intrinsically rewarding employees makes their jobs more interesting and meaningful

The two most common forms of participative management are:

 

a. Works councils – They are groups of nominated or elected employees who must be consulted when management makes decisions. .

b. Board representatives – they are employees who sit on a company’s board of directors and represent the interests of the firm’s employees.

 

Quality circles (QC):

QC consists of a work group of eight to ten employees and supervisors who have a shared area of responsibility. Key components of QC are (Robbins, 2003):

They meet regularly on company time to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes of the problems, recommend solutions, and take corrective actions

Group Behavior

 

Introduction

A group may be defined as a collection of two or more people who work with one another regularly to achieve common goals. In a group, members are mutually dependent on one another to achieve common goals, and they interact with one another regularly to pursue those goals. Effective groups help organizations accomplish important tasks. In particular, they offer the potential for synergy—the creation of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. When synergy occurs, groups accomplish more than the total of their members’ individual capabilities.

 

Classification Of Groups

 

Groups can be of two types:

Formal

Informal

 

Formal groups

Formal groups come into existence for serving a specific organizational purpose. Individuals’ behaviors in this type of group are aimed at achieving organizational goals. The organization creates such a group to perform a specific task, which typically involves the use of resources to create a product such as a report, decision, service, or commodity (Likert, 1961). Though all members contribute to achieve group goals a leader does exist in this type of group to oversee and direct group members.

Formal groups may be permanent or temporary in nature. They may be full fledged departments divisions or specific work teams created for particular projects of fairly long duration. .

 

Permanent work groups are officially created to perform a specific function on a regular basis. They continue to exist until a decision is made to change or reconfigure the organization for some reason.

 Temporary work groups are task groups are specifically created to solve a problem or perform a defined task. They may be dismantled after the assigned task has been accomplished. Examples are the temporary committees and task forces that exist in an organization. Indeed, in today’s organizations the use of cross-functional teams or task forces for special problem-solving efforts has goner up significantly.

 

Informal group

An informal group is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined. Group of employees snacking together can be an example of such groups. Informal groups may be sub-categorized as : Command, task, interest, or friendship groups.

 

1. Command groups are dictated by the formal organization. The organization hierarchy determines a command group. It comprises of direct reports to a given manager.

2. Task groups—represent those working together to complete a job task. A task group’s boundaries are not limited to its immediate hierarchical superior. It can cross command relationships where the same member may be reporting to two or more authorities at the same time. All command groups are also task groups, but the reverse may not be true.

3. An interest group consists of peoplewho affiliate to attain a specific objective with which each is concerned.

Models Of Group Development

 

The most important models of group development have been cited below.

a. The Five-Stage Model

 

1. Forming:

In this stage the members are entering the group. The main concern is to facilitate the entry of the group members. The individuals entering are concerned with issues such as what the group can offer them, their needed contribution the similarity in terms of their personal needs, goals and group goals, the acceptable normative and behavioral standards expected for group membership and recognition for doing the work as a group member.

 

2. Storming:

This is a turbulent phase where individuals try to basically form coalitions and cliques to achieve a desired status within the group. Members also go through the process of identifying to their expected role requirements in relation to group requirements. In the process, membership expectations tend to get clarified, and attention shifts toward hurdles coming in the way of attaining group goals. Individuals begin to understand and appreciate each other’s interpersonal styles, and efforts are made to find ways to accomplish group goals while also satisfying individual needs.

 

3. Norming:

From the norming stageof group development, the group really begins to come together as a coordinated unit. At this point, close relationships develop and the group shows cohesiveness. Group members will strive to maintain positive balance at this stage.

 

4. Performing:

The group now becomes capable of dealing with complex tasks and handling internal disagreements in novel ways. The structure is stable, and members are motivated by group goals and are generally satisfied. The structure is fully functional and accepted at this stage. Group energy makes a transition from member’s focus on getting to know and understand each other to performing. For permanent work groups, performing is the last stage in their development.

5. Adjourning:

A well-integrated group is able to disband, if required, when its work is accomplished, though in itself it may be a painful process for group members, emotionally. The adjourning stage of group development is especially important for the many temporary groups that are rampant in today’s workplaces. Members of these groups must be able to convene quickly, do their jobs on a tight schedule, and then adjourn—often to reconvene later, whenever required.

 

Groups do not always proceed clearly from one stage to the next. Sometimes several stages go on simultaneously, as when groups are storming and performing. Groups may at times regress to earlier stages. Another problem is that it ignores organizational context. For instance, a study of a cockpit crew in an airliner found that, within ten minutes, three strangers assigned to fly together for the first time had become a high-performing group. The rigid organizational context provides the rules, task definitions, information, and resources required for the group to perform, effectively.

 

b. Punctuated equilibrium model

Temporary groups with deadlines do not seem to follow the model explained above. Their pattern is called the punctuated-equilibrium model.

Phase I—The first meeting sets the group’s direction. This stage is the first inertia phase. A structure of behavioral patterns and assumptions emerges.

Transition – Then a transition takes place when the group has used up almost half its allotted time. The group’s direction becomes fixed and is unlikely to be reexamined throughout the first half of the group’s life. The group tends to stand still or become locked into a fixed course of action. The group is incapable of acting on new insights in Phase 1. The midpoint seems to set an alarm clock going increasing members’ awareness that their time is limited and that they need to move on fast. A transition triggers off major changes. This ends Phase 1 and is characterized by a concentrated burst of changes, replacement old patterns, and adoption of new perspectives. The transition sets a revised direction for Phase 2.

 

Phase 2 – It is a new equilibrium and is also a period of inertia. In this phase, the group executes plans created during the transition period. The group’s last meeting is characterized by a flurry of activities. The punctuated-equilibrium model characterizes groups as demonstrating long periods of inertia interspersed with brief and rapid changes triggered mainly by their members’ awareness of time and targets .

 

Roles

All group members are actors, where each is playing a role. While some of these roles may be compatible others create conflicts. Different groups impose different role requirements on individuals.

 

Role perception

For playing one’s role effectively in a group, one’s view of how one is supposed to act in a given situation must be clear leading to clear role perception. By watching and imitating senior members of a group the new comers learn how to take on their roles effectively and also learn how to play them well.

 

Role expectations

Tuning oneself and behaving in a socially desirable manner is a part of fulfilling role expectations in a given situation in the context of achieving group goals and organizational goals.

Role conflict

When a group member is faced with the challenge of playing multiple roles, role conflict may occur due to inability of the individual to balance all the roles effectively, thereby reducing role effectiveness, hampering the group and organizational goal attainment process.

Norms

 

All groups have norms—”acceptable standards of behavior that are shared by the group’s members.” Norms serve as a guideline for members detailing what they ought and ought not to do under certain circumstances. Though a work group’s norms are unique, yet there are still some common classes of norms. They are:

 

    Performance norms which comprise the following (Robbins 2003):

 

a. Explicit cues on how hard they should work, how to get the job done, their level of output, appropriate levels of tardiness, etc.

b. These norms are extremely powerful in affecting an individual employee’s performance.

 

Appearance norms include things like appropriate dress, loyalty to the work group or organization, when to look busy, and when it is acceptable to goof off.

Social arrangement norms come from informal work groups and primarily regulate social interactions within the group.

Allocation of resources norms can originate in the group or in the organization.

Conflict Management

 

Introduction

 

Conflictoccurs whenever disagreements exist in a social situation over issues (work related or personal). Conflict is a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about (Thomas, 1992). Conflict can be either constructive or destructive. Constructive conflict prevents stagnation, stimulates creativity, allows tensions to be released. However, excessive levels of conflict can hinder the effectiveness of a group or an organization, lessens satisfaction of group members, increases absence and turnover rates, and, lowers productivity.

 

The most important views about conflict are as follows:

 

The Traditional View: This approach assumes that all conflict is dysfunctional and hinders performance. Conflict is seen as a dysfunctional outcome resulting from poor communication, a lack of openness and trust between people, and the failure of managers to be responsive to their employees.

 

The Human Relations View: This view believes that conflict is a natural occurrence in all groups and organizations. Since it was natural and inevitable it should be accepted. It cannot be eliminated and may even contribute to group performance.

 

The Inter-actionist View: This approach encourages conflict on the grounds that a harmonious, peaceful, tranquil, and cooperative group is prone to becoming static and non-responsive to needs for change and innovation. Group leaders should maintain enough conflict to keep the group viable, self-critical, and creative.

 

Functional vs. Dysfunctional Conflict

Functional, constructive forms of conflict support the goals of the group and improve its performance. Conflicts that hinder group performance are dysfunctional or destructive forms of conflict. Task conflict relates to the content and goals of the work. Low-to-moderate levels of task conflict are functional and consistently demonstrate a positive effect on group performance because it stimulates discussion, improving group performance. Relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal relationships. These conflicts are almost always dysfunctional and the friction and interpersonal hostilities inherent in relationship conflicts increase personality clashes and decrease mutual understanding.

 Levels Of Conflict

 At workplace, people may encounter conflict at the intrapersonal level (conflict within the individual), the interpersonal level (individual to- individual conflict), the inter-group level, or the inter-organizational level.

Intrapersonal conflict – Some conflicts that affect behavior in organizations involve the individual alone. It can be of three types (Schermerhorn et al, 2002):

 

Approach–approach conflict occurs when a person must choose between two positive and equally attractive alternatives. An example is having to choose between a valued promotion in the organization or a desirable new job with another firm.

 

Avoidance–avoidance conflict occurs when a person must choose between two negative and equally unattractive alternatives. An example is being asked either to accept a job transfer to another town in an undesirable location or to have one’s employment with an organization terminated.

 

Approach–avoidance conflict occurs when a person must decide to do something that has both positive and negative consequences. An example is being offered a higher paying job whose responsibilities entail unwanted demands on one’s personal time.

 

Interpersonal conflict occurs between two or more individuals who are in opposition to one another. It may be substantive or emotional or both.

 

Inter-group conflict occurs among members of different teams or groups.

 

Inter-organizational conflict occursasthe competition and rivalry that characterizes firms operating in the same markets.

Conflict Management Approaches

 

There are two types of conflict management approaches:

Direct Indirect

 

Direct conflict management approaches

 

There are five approaches to direct conflict management. They are based on the relative emphasis on cooperativeness and assertiveness in the relationship between the conflicting parties. They are as follows:

 

Avoidance – it is an extreme form of inattention; everyone simply pretends that the conflict does not really exist and hopes that it will go away.

 

Accommodation involves playing down differences among the conflicting parties and highlighting similarities and areas of agreement. This peaceful coexistence ignores the real essence of a given conflict and often creates frustration and resentment.

 

Compromise - itoccurs when each party gives up something of value to the other. As a result of no one getting its full desires, the antecedent conditions for future conflicts are established.

 

Competition – herea victory is achieved through force, superior skill, or domination by one party. It may also occur as a result of authoritative command, whereby a formal authority simply dictates a solution and specifies what is gained and what is lost by whom. This is a case of win- lose situation and as a result, future conflicts over the same issues are likely to occur.

 

Collaboration – it involves a recognition by all conflicting parties that something is wrong and needs attention. It stresses gathering and evaluating information in solving disputes and making choices.

 

Indirect conflict management approaches

 

Indirect conflict management approaches include reduced interdependence, appeals to common goals, hierarchical referral, and alterations in the use of mythology and scripts (Schermerhorn et al 2002).

 

Reduced Interdependence When work-flow conflicts exist, managers can adjust the level of interdependency among units or individuals (Walton & Dutton, 1969). To reduce the conflict, contact between conflicting parties may be reduced. The conflicting units can then be separated from one another, and each can be provided separate access to resources. Buffering is another technique to build an inventory, or buffer, between the two groups so that any output slowdown or excess is absorbed by the inventory and does not directly pressure the target group.

 

Appeals to Common Goals An appeal to common goals can focus on the mutual interdependence of the conflicting parties to achieve the common goal of an organization.

 

Hierarchical Referral – Here conflicts are reported to the senior levels to reconcile and solve.

Organizational Change

 Introduction

 Organizational change may be defined as the adoption of a new idea or a behavior by an organization (Daft 1995). It is a way of altering an existing organization to increase organizational effectiveness for achieving its objectives. Successful organizational change must continually focus on making organizations responsive to major developments like changing customer preferences, regulatory norms, economic shocks and technological innovations. Only those organizations that are able to undertake suitable change programs, can sustain and survive in a changing and demanding economic order in their bid to remain ahead of others in the race.

Know about the Forces of changes

Forces Of Changes

Forces for change are of two types:

Internal forces External forces.

 

Internal forces

Change in the top management- Change in the top management and consequent change in the ideas to run the organization also leads to change in the system, structure and processes.

 

Change in size of the organization- Change in the organization’s size leads to change in the internal structure and complexity of the operations in the organization.

 

Performance gaps- When a gap between set target and actual results (in terms of market share, employee productivity and profit) is identified, organizations face the forces to change and reduce the gap.

 

Employee needs and values- With changing needs and values of the employees, organizations change their policies. For example, attractive financial incentives, challenging assignments, vertical growth opportunities and autonomy at work may be provided in an organization to attract and retain its effective employees.

 External forces

 Technology – Technological changes are responsible for changing the nature of the job performed at all levels in an organization.

Business scenario- Due to rapid changes in the business scenario with increasing competition and global economy, the needs and demands are also changing among the customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. Organizations are, therefore, forced to change their operational methods to meet the demands of the stakeholders.

Environmental factors – Environmental factors such as economic, political and demographic factors play a vital role in devising organizational policies and strategy. For example, organizations may have to change their employment policies in accordance with the government policy, demand of the non-government organizations and changing economic conditions of a country.

Resistance To Change

Resistance to change may be of two types:

Individual resistance Organizational resistance.

 

Individual resistance-

 Change leads to insecurity among the employees because of its unknown consequences. Employees do not know for certain whether the change will bring in better prospects. For example, because of technological change people may feel threatened due to the fear of obsolescence of skills, less wages and losing the job. Change sometimes leads to new dimensions of work relationships. Due to organizational redesign, the employees may have to work with

other set of people than their existing co-workers with whom they have direct relationship, and it is generally not welcome by most of the employees.

 

Organizational resistance-

Change may bring some potential threat to the organizational power to some people. Therefore, people try to resist change. The structural inertia in the bureaucratic organizations also hinders change. Furthermore, resource constraints play a vital role in resistance to change.

Responses To Change

The responses to change depend upon the employees’ perception about the change. Different individuals differ in their attitudes and hence, the perceptions towards change. Therefore, one important task of the management of an organization is to understand and create a positive attitude among employees regarding change.

Reactions to Change

Three major reactions to change are:

Anger- After employees have passed over the shock of the new situation, most people who view the change as having a negative impact on their personal situation, many times, they will begin to blame the management or talk ill about management. This agitation and anger, if not addressed, may lead to some people actually trying to sabotage the change process by taking stances varying between active non-cooperation and passive resistance.

Denial- Many people, depending on their basic values and beliefs, move from anger to acceptance. However, there are a significant number of people who go through a denial phase. A person going through this phase will make up excuses why he or she should not be held accountable for anything that goes wrong with the organization as a result of the change. Such attempts to disassociate from the new situation often cause the person to alienate oneself from the group.

Acceptance- Once the person has accepted the change as real and that it is going to happen, he or she begins to rationalize his or her role in the new situation. It is important to understand that not only can an individual accept the situation and begin to work towards the new vision, but one can also accept the situation as having a negative impact and choose to leave the organization. Either way, the individual accepts the fact that the new environment exists.

Overcoming Resistance to Change

Some approaches can be taken to reduce the resistance to change. Some of them are listed

below (Schermerhorn, Hunt, and Osborn 2000):

Education and communication -Open communication and proper education help employees to understand the significance of change and its requirement. For that, proper initiative should be taken to provide the information regarding the type, timing, implication, purpose and reason for change.

 

Employee participation and involvement- People generally get more committed towards the change, if they are directly involved in the change process. This way, they have the opportunity to clarify their doubts and understand the perspective and requirement of change for the organization. The management also gets the chance to identify the potential problems that may occur in the workplace and the chance to prevent it.

Facilitation and support- Change agent can offer a range of supportive measures to reduce resistance. Empathetic and considerate listening can reduce employees’ fear and anxiety towards change. Counselling sessions to reduce stress, trauma, etc., can be an effective measure.

Negotiation and agreement- Organizations which have a fair chance to face potential resistance from the union representatives, can defuse the resistance by involving them directly in the change process. They should be properly briefed about the need and value of change. However, this can be a costly proposition when there is more than one dominant union in the organization, as all the contending parties would fight for power and recognition.

Strategies For Change Management

 

According to Bennis, Benne and Chin (1969), four basic strategies can be adopted to manage change:

 

Empirical-Rational

People are rational and will follow their self-interest once a change is revealed to them. Change is based on the communication of information and the proffering of incentives.

 

Normative-Re-educative

People are social beings and adhere to cultural norms and values. Change is based on redefining and reinterpreting existing norms and values, and developing people’s commitments to new ones.

 

Power-Coercive

People are basically compliant and will generally do what they are told or can be made to do. Change is based on the exercise of authority and the imposition of sanctions. According to Nicklos (2004), there can be a fourth strategy in adapting to changes, i.e. environmental-adaptive.

 

 

Environmental-Adaptive

People oppose loss and disruption, but they adapt readily to new circumstances. Change is based on building a new organization and gradually transferring people from the old one to the new one.

Toolkit for Managing Change

 

According to Nicklos (2004), some of the factors to select an effective change strategy and some tips to manage change are described as follows.

 

Generally, there is no single change strategy. One can adopt a general or what is called a ‘grand strategy’ but for any given initiative some mix of strategies serves best. Which of the preceding strategies to use in your mix of strategies is a decision affected by a number of factors. Some of the more important ones are:

 

Degree of resistance – Strong resistance argues for a coupling of power-coercive and environmental-adaptive strategies. Weak resistance or concurrence argues for a combination of empirical-rational and normative-re-educative strategies.

 

Target population -Large populations argue for a mix of all four strategies.

 

The stakes – High stakes also argue for a mix of all four strategies because when the stakes are high, nothing can be left to chance.

 

The time frame- Short time frames argue for a power-coercive strategy. Longer time frames argue for a mix of empirical-rational, normative-re-educative and environmental-adaptive strategy.

Expertise- Having adequate expertise at making change argues for some mix of the strategies outlined above. Not having the expertise argues for reliance on the power-coercive strategy.

 

Dependency – This is a classic double-edged sword. If the organization is dependent on its people, management’s ability to command or demand is limited. Conversely, if people are dependent upon the organization, their ability to oppose or resist is limited. (Mutual dependency almost always signals a requirement for some level of negotiation).