Transcript Organisational Behaviour - Human resource management

Organisational Behaviour
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how
people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system
approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the
whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose
is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational
objectives, and social objectives. As you can see from the definition above,
organizational behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as human
behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Since many of these topics are covered
elsewhere in the leadership guide, this paper will focus on a few parts of OB:
elements, models, social systems, OD, work life, action learning, and change.
Elements of Organizational Behavior :
The organization's base rests on management's philosophy, values, vision and
goals. This in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the
formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. The
culture determines the type of leadership, communication, and group dynamics
within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life
which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcome are performance,
individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these
elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization
operates from
Models of Organizational Behavior
There are four major models or frameworks that organizations operate out of:
Autocratic - The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of
authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on
the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is
minimal.
Custodial - The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial
orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and
benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is
security. The performance result is passive cooperation.
Supportive - The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of
support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and
participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The
performance result is awakened drives.
Collegial - The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of
teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and selfdiscipline. The employee need that is met is self-actualization. The performance
result is moderate enthusiasm.
Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates exclusively
in one. There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more areas over-lapping
in the other models. The first model, autocratic, has its roots in the industrial
revolution. The managers of this type of organization operate out of McGregor's
Theory X. The next three models begin to build on McGregor's Theory Y. They have
each evolved over a period of time and there is no one "best" model. The collegial
model should not be thought as the last or best model, but the beginning of a new
model or paradigm
Social Systems, Culture, and Individualization :
A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways.
Within an organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their
relationships to each other and to the outside world. The behavior of one member
can have an impact, either directly or indirectly, on the behavior of others. Also, the
social system does not have boundaries...it exchanges goods, ideas, culture, etc. with
the environment around it. Culture is the conventional behavior of a society that
encompasses beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices. It influences human
behavior, even though it seldom enters into their conscious thought. People depend
on culture as it gives them stability, security, understanding, and the ability to
respond to a given situation. This is why people fear change. They fear the system
will become unstable, their security will be lost, they will not understand the new
process, and they will not know how to respond to the new situations.
Individualization is when employees successfully exert influence on the social
system by challenging the culture.
Impact of Individual on an Organisation
High
Socialisation
Conformity
Creative
Individualism
Isolation
Rebellion
Low
Low
Low
High
The chart above (Schein, 1968) shows how individualization affects different organizations:
Too little socialization and too little individualization creates isolation.
Too high socialization and too little individualization creates conformity.
Too little socialization and too high individualization creates rebellion.
While the match that organizations want to create is high socialization and high
individualization for a creative environment. This is what it takes to survive in a very
competitive environment...having people grow with the organization, but doing the
right thing when others want to follow the easy path.
This can become quite a balancing act. Individualism favors individual rights, loosely
knit social networks, self respect, and personal rewards and careers. It becomes look
out for number 1! Socialization or collectivism favors the group, harmony, and asks
"What is best for the organization?" Organizations need people to challenge,
question, and experiment while still maintaining the culture that binds them into a
social system.
Organization Development:
Organization Development (OD) is the systematic application of behavioral science
knowledge at various levels, such as group, inter-group, organization, etc., to bring
about planned change. Its objectives is a higher quality of work-life, productivity,
adaptability, and effectiveness. It accomplishes this by changing attitudes, behaviors,
values, strategies, procedures, and structures so that the organization can adapt to
competitive actions, technological advances, and the fast pace of change within the
environment. There are seven characteristics of OD:
Humanistic Values: Positive beliefs about the potential of employees (McGregor's
Theory Y).
Systems Orientation: All parts of the organization, to include structure, technology, and
people, must work together.
Experiential Learning: The learners' experiences in the training environment should be
the kind of human problems they encounter at work. The training should NOT be
all theory and lecture.
Problem Solving: Problems are identified, data is gathered, corrective action is taken,
progress is assessed, and adjustments in the problem solving process are made as
needed. This process is known as Action Research.
Contingency Orientation: Actions are selected and adapted to fit the need.
Change Agent: Stimulate, facilitate, and coordinate change.
Levels of Interventions: Problems can occur at one or more level in the organization so
the strategy will require one or more interventions.
Quality of Work Life :
Quality of Work Life (QWL) is the favorableness or unfavorableness of the job
environment. Its purpose is to develop jobs and working conditions that are excellent
for both the employees and the organization. One of the ways of accomplishing
QWL is through job design. Some of the options available for improving job design
are:
Leave the job as is but employ only people who like the rigid environment or routine
work. Some people do enjoy the security and task support of these kinds of jobs.
Leave the job as is, but pay the employees more.
Mechanize and automate the routine jobs.
And the area that OD loves - redesign the job.
When redesigning jobs there are two spectrums to follow - job enlargement and job
enrichment. Job enlargement adds a more variety of tasks and duties to the job so that
it is not as monotonous. This takes in the breadth of the job. That is, the number of
different tasks that an employee performs. This can also be accomplished by job
rotation. Job enrichment, on the other hand, adds additional motivators. It adds depth
to the job - more control, responsibility, and discretion to how the job is performed.
This gives higher order needs to the employee, as opposed to job enlargement which
simply gives more variety. The chart below (Cunningham & Eberle, 1990) illustrates
the differences
Job Enrichment and Job Performance
Higher
Order
Accent on
Needs
Lower
Order
Few
Job Enrichment
Job Enrichment &
Enlargement
Routine Job
Job Enlargement
Variety
of task
Many
The benefits of enriching jobs include :
Growth of the individual
Individuals have better job satisfaction
Self-actualization of the individual
Better employee performance for the organization
Organization gets intrinsically motivated employees
Less absenteeism, turnover, and grievances for the organization
Full use of human resources for society
Society gains more effective organizations
There are a variety of methods for improving job enrichment:
Skill Variety: Perform different tasks that require different skill. This differs from job
enlargement which might require the employee to perform more tasks, but require the
same set of skills.
Task Identity: Create or perform a complete piece of work. This gives a sense of
completion and responsibility for the product.
Task Significant: This is the amount of impact that the work has on other people as
the employee perceives.
Autonomy: This gives employees discretion and control over job related decisions.
Feedback: Information that tells workers how well they are performing. It can come
directly from the job (task feedback) or verbally form someone else.
Action Learning :
An unheralded British academic was invited to try out his theories in Belgium -- it led to an
upturn in the Belgian economy. "Unless your ideas are ridiculed by experts they are worth
nothing," says the British academic Reg Revans, creator of action learning [L = P + Q] -learning occurs through a combination of programmed knowledge (P) and the ability to
ask insightful questions (Q). Action learning has been widely used in Europe for combining
formal management training with learning from experience. A typical program is conducted
over a period of 6 to 9 months. Teams of learners with diverse backgrounds conduct field
projects on complex organizational problems requiring use of skills learned in formal
training sessions. The learning teams then meet periodically with a skilled instructor to
discuss, analyze, and learn from their experiences.
Revans basis his learning method on a theory called "System Beta," in that the learning
process should closely approximate the "scientific method." The model is cyclical - you
proceed through the steps and when you reach the last step you relate the analysis to
the original hypothesis and if need be, start the process again. The six steps are:
Formulate Hypothesis (an idea or concept)
Design Experiment (consider ways of testing truth or validity of idea or concept)
Apply in Practice (put into effect, test of validity or truth)
Observe Results (collect and process data on outcomes of test)
Analyze Results (make sense of data)
Compare Analysis (relate analysis to original hypothesis)
Note that you do not always have to enter this process at step 1, but you do have to
complete the process. Revans suggest that all human learning at the individual level
occurs through this process. Note that it covers what Jim Stewart (Managing Change
Through Training and Development, 1991) calls the levels of existence:
We think - cognitive domain
We feel - affective domain
We do - action domain
All three levels are interconnected -- e.g. what we think influences and is influenced by
what we do and feel.
Change :
In its simplest form, discontinuity in the work place is "change." Our prefrontal cortex is
similar to the RAM memory in a PC -- it is fast and agile computational device that is able
to hold multiple threads of logic at once so that we can perform fast calculations.
However it has its limits in that it can only hold a handful of concepts at once. In
addition, it burns lots of high energy glucose (blood sugar), which is expensive for the
body to produce. Thus when given lots of information, such as when a change is
required, it has a tendency to overload and being directly linked to the amygdala (the
emotional center of the brain) that controls our fight-or-flight response, it can cause
severe physical and psychological discomfort.
Our prefrontal cortex is marvelous for insight when not overloaded. But for normal
everyday use, our brain prefers to run off its "hard-drive" -- the basal ganglia, which has a
much larger storage area and stores memories and our habits. In addition, it sips rather
than gulps food (glucose).
When we do something familiar and predictable, our brain is mainly using
the basal ganglia, which is quite comforting to us. When we use our
prefrontal cortex, then we are looking for fight, flight, or insight. Too much
change produces fight or flight syndromes. As change agents we want to
produce "insight" into our learners so that they are able to apply their
knowledge and skills not just in the classroom, but also on the job.
And the way to help people come to "insight" is to allow them to come to
their own resolution. These moments of insight or resolutions are called
"epiphanies" -- sudden intuitive leap of understanding that are quite
pleasurable to us and act as rewards. Thus you have to resist the urge to fill
in the entire picture of change, rather you have to leave enough gaps so
that the learners are allowed to make connections of their own. Doing too
much for the learners can be just as bad, if not worse, than not doing
enough.
Doing all the thinking for learners takes their brains out of action which
means they will not invest the energy to make new connections.
Reference:
Cunningham, J. B. & Eberle, T. (1990). "A Guide to Job Enrichment and Redesign,"
Personnel, Feb 1990, p.57 in Newstrom, J. & Davis, K. (1993). Organization Behavior:
Human Behavior at Work. New York: McGraw-Hill. Knoster, T., Villa, R., & Thousand, J.
(2000). A framework for thinking about systems change. In R. Villa & J. Thousand (Eds.),
Restructuring for caring and effective education: Piecing the puzzle together (pp. 93-128). Baltimore:
Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Koch, C. (2006). The New Science of Change. CIO Magazine, Sep 15, 2006 (pp 54-56).
Also available on the web: http://www.cio.com/archive/091506/change.html
Revans, R. W. (1982). The Origin and Growth of Action Learning. Hunt, England: ChatwellBratt, Bickley.
Schein, E. (1968). "Organizational Socialization and the Profession of Management,"
Industrial Management Review, 1968 vol. 9 pp. 1-15 in Newstrom, J. & Davis, K. (1993).
Organization Behavior: Human Behavior at Work. New York: McGraw-Hill.