ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

ASSIGNMENTON

MOTIVATIONAL CONCEPTS, POWER AND

POLICTICS, AND LEADERSHIP

MOTIVATIONAL CONCEPTS:

All individuals are motivated to different levels at different times and situations. Motivation can be categorized into three elements namely intensity, direction and persistence. Intensity refers to the amount of effort an individual puts in, and whether that effort is directed towards right path and how long he maintains that same level of effort.

Motivational concepts can be divided into 4 content theories and process theories. The content theories tells us about the factors that motivates individuals. The 4 content theories are as follows:

1) Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory: The theory proposed by Maslow’s tells us about the hierarchy of needs is in the order of Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem and Self Actualization. Physiological being the basic need of the hierarchy. According to him, fulfillment of needs at one level activates the needs at the level above that one. Physiological and Safety needs are termed as lower order needs and are satisfied internally whereas Social, Esteem and Self Actualization are termed as higher order needs and are satisfied externally.

2) Theory X and Theory Y: This theory was proposed by Douglas Mcgregor. Theory X concludes that managers think that employees don’t like their work and therefore be directed or forced to do it. Theory Y concludes that managers think their employees enjoy the work and responsibilities given to them.

3) Two Factor Theory: This theory is also known as Motivation-Hygiene theory. According to this theory, the employees relates internal factors (motivators like achievement, recognition, responsibility, and growth) to job satisfaction and external factors (hygiene’s like salary, status, supervision, etc.) to job dissatisfaction and that the opposite of satisfaction is no satisfaction and the opposite of dissatisfaction is no dissatisfaction.

4) McClelland’s Theory of Needs: This theory relates the motivation to three needs namely: a) Need for Achievement, b) Need for power, and c) Need for Affiliation. He proposed that those in the top management positions should have a high need for power and a low need for affiliation. He stated that people with a high need for achievement will succeed best when given projects with attainable goals and although individuals with a need for achievement can make good managers, they are not suited to being in the top management positions. He also believes that people with a high need for affiliation may not be good top managers but will be team players and are best suited for a cooperative work environment.

The process theories help us in understanding how an individual gets motivated based upon the factors described above. They are as follows:

1) Self Determination Theory: This theory states that level of motivation decreases when the employees are rewarded externally and they start to treat the work as obligation. The

employees perform better with higher levels of motivation when they feel the work which they are doing helps them grow internally. People feel more motivated when their reasons for pursuing goals are consistent with their interest and core values.

2) Goal Setting Theory: This theory explains that goals which are specific and difficult, and for a limited time period with feedback yields more better performance than goals which are neither specific nor time limited. Another approach called Management by Objectives (MBO) states that goals should be tangible, verifiable and measureable.

3) Self-Efficacy Theory: This theory refers to an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task. If a person has higher self-efficacy, the more confidence he has in his ability to succeed and will try harder to complete the challenge. According to researchers who developed the theory proposed four ways in which it can be increased: enactive mastery, vicarious modeling, verbal persuasion and arousal.

4) Equity Theory: According to this theory, individuals compare their inputs and outcomes with others and try to reduce the inequity. There are four types of comparisons:a) Self-inside: In this an employee will compare himself with the individuals at the same

level inside the organization.b) Self-outside: In this an employee will compare himself with individuals at the same

level but outside the organization.c) Other-inside: In this an employee will compare himself with individuals of another

group inside the same organization.d) Other-outside: In this an employee will compare himself with individuals of another

group outside the organization.And depending upon the perceived inequity they will make following choices:a) Change their inputs.b) Change the outcomes.c) Change their perception about themselves.d) Change the way how they perceive others.e) Change the person whom they refer due to inequity.f) Or quit the job.

5) Expectancy Theory: Basically this theory focuses on three relationships, which are as follows: a) Effort-Performance relationship: An individual will try to put in effort only when he thinks it will lead to good performance. b) Performance-Reward relationship: The extent of performance in return related to the reward which will be awarded. c) Reward-personal goals relationship: And whether the rewards earned satisfies the personal goals of the individual. It can be explained with the help of an equation:

Motivation=Expectancy (E-P)*Instrumentality (P-R)*Valence (R-G)

The Job Characteristics Model:This model describes the five core job dimensions to keep the employees motivated.a) Skill Variety: In this an employee can showcase his/her talents and different skill sets.b) Task Identity: To which extent an employee gets to do the task from beginning till the

end or completion.c) Task Significance: How the job done will be impacting others and the society.

d) Autonomy: The extent to which an employee gets the freedom to select procedures and timing to carry out the task.

e) Feedback: And the most important dimension is feedback, the recognition which an individual gets from completion of the task.

These core dimensions can be combined to give a single equation:Motivating Potential Score (MPS) = {(Skill Variety +Task Identity +Task

Significance)/3}*Autonomy*Feedback.

POWER AND POLITICS:

Power is defined as the ability to influence and control anything that is of value to others. Influence is a process of affecting thoughts, behavior and feelings of other people in the organization and to get them to do what they otherwise would not have done.

Power is the ability to effect a change in an individual or a group in some way. Power may or may not be legitimate. Authority is legitimate and it is the power which is sanctioned by the organization and is often the source of power.

The five sources of power are coercive, reward, legitimate, expert and referent. Further Coercive, Reward and Legitimate power are termed as Formal power. Expert and Referent powers as personal power. Coercive power is based on fear and is the ability to influence another person through threats or fear of punishment. Reward power is a positive power which refers to the ability to get things done through others on the basis of one's power to grant rewards. Legitimate power depends on organizational position and authority. Expert power is derived from a person's expertise or specialized knowledge of a certain subject. And referent power is based upon the intrapersonal skills of an individual. 

Dependency is the most important concept of power. The degree of dependence of the target determines the power exercised by the agent. Dependency increases when the resource required is of importance, scarce and non-substitutable by a person.

Politics in organizations is often called power in action. Politics may be legitimate (within sanctioned organizational limits) or illegitimate (exceeding sanctioned organizational limits) in nature. The degree of politicking engaged depends on individual as well as organizational factors. Individual politicking is a function of the person's power motive, personality factors and background, and current work environment. Organizational politicking is a function of culture, goal and role clarity and the attitude of top management.

The office politics can be managed effectively if we follow some guidelines as follows:a) By understanding power circuits.b) By building your goodwill and personal image.

c) To have a strong circle of influence.d) To build positive relationships with the colleagues and seniors.e) To stay away from bad influences.

LEADERSHIP:

Leadership is the ability to influence people and drive them toward the achievement of goals. The research on leadership has led to the development of three types of theories:

a) Trait Theoryb) Behavioral Theory c) Contingency Theory.

According to Trait theories, some traits such as extroversion, aggressiveness, self-confidence, honesty and integrity and intelligence differentiate leaders form non-leaders. According to the behavioristic theories, successful leadership depends more on appropriate behavior and skills, and less on personality traits. The three types of skills used are technical, human and conceptual skills.

Four different behavioral theories: a) The Ohio State Studies, b) The University of Michigan Studies, c) The Managerial Grid and d) The Scandinavian Studies sought to identify the different behaviors adopted by leaders. The Ohio State Studies concluded that leaders who score high on the dimensions of initiating structure (task orientation) and consideration (concern for people) achieve superior subordinate performance and satisfaction, compared to those who score low on either one of them or both. 

The Michigan Studies found that an employee-centered style of leadership is more effective than a production-centered style of leadership. The Managerial Grid suggested that leaders who have equal concern for people and production are most effective. The Scandinavian studies resulted in the emergence of a new dimension called 'development-oriented' behavior. According to these studies, leaders who embrace change and encourage new ideas and practices are successful.

The contingency theories deal with the situational aspects of leadership styles. Some of the well-known contingency theories are a) Fiedler's contingency model, b) Hersey and Blanchard's situational theory, c) Leader-Member exchange theory, d) Leader Participation model and e) The Path-Goal theory.

Fiedler's model suggests that the leader should choose his style of leadership depending on the favorability or no favorability of the overall situation. Hersey and Blanchard's situational theory states that the most critical factor that influences the selection of a leader's style is the maturity level of his subordinates.

The Leader-Member exchange theory suggests that leaders try and establish a special relationship with a small group of subordinates; this small group would constitute an in-group, with all the rest of subordinates being in an out-group. The in-group members get more attention from the leader and enjoy special privileges. The Leader participation approach provides a sequential set of rules that can be followed for identifying the type of situation and determining the amount of participation that should be demanded from subordinates for decision making. 

According to the Path-Goal theory, the leader should guide his followers in achieving the organizational goals, and also establish individual and group goals that are compatible with the broad organizational goals.