Importance of Organizational Behaviour

Organizational behavior is defined as actions and attitudes of individuals and groups toward one another and toward the organization as a whole, and its effect on the organization's functioning and performance.

Organizational behavior is defined as the study which deals with all aspects of human behavior that occur within the context of an organization. It entails the study of how individuals behave as individuals and in groups within an organization. Organizational behavior is the study of human behavior, attitudes and performance in organizations.

Organizations are social inventions for accomplishing common goals through group effort. Organizational behavior is concerned with the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations and can be understood in terms of three levels of analysis: the individual, the group, and the organization.

A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness.

Elements of Organizational Behaviour

The key elements in the organizational behaviour are people, structure, technology and the environment in which the organization operates.

• People: People make up the internal and social system of the organization. They consist of individuals and groups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or unofficial. Groups are dynamic and they work in the organization to achieve their objectives.
• Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organizations. Different people in the organization are performing different type of jobs and they need to be related in some structural way so that their work can be effectively coordinated.
• Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with which people work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a significant influence on working relationships. It allows people to do more and work better but it also restricts' people in various ways.
• Environment: All organizations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a larger system that contains many other elements such as government, family and other organizations. All of these mutually influence each other in a complex system that creates a context for a group of people.

Need and Importance of Organizational Behaviour

Organizations are all around us. We are born in an organization, we live, work and most probably will die in an organization. Yet most of us do not understand how people function, behave and interact between each other within these organizations. We also do not understand if people shape an organization or an organization shapes people. In the beginning, people create an organization and shape its mission and culture and later more people join the organization. This new group of people adjust themselves within the existing organizational culture. Sometimes they also influence organizational culture by bringing new and unique skills to the organization. Sometimes they learn from each and

at other times, external forces like competition, political and cultural changes compel them to learn new technical, communication or interpersonal skills. All these internal and external factors help an organization and its people to evolve to cope with the everchanging world. Until recently, managers paid little attention to Organizational Behavior or soft skill training. The industrial revolution created the need for hard [technical] skills.

People worked in the production line and were not required to think or interact to each other. However, things have changed; instead of standing behind the production lines, they now sit in front of a computer and control a robot who works in the production line. Now, people need more technical skills, but they also need skills to communicate and work within a group. The great English poet Samuel Butler put it together more eloquently, "Any fool can paint a picture, but it takes a wise man to be able to sell it." If the "fool" is the metaphor for hard skill then the "wise man" would be the soft skill; but the soft skill of the wise man is useless without the hard skill of the fool; the harmonizing of both skills sells the picture. Therefore, the study of Organizational Behavior is not considered pop psychobabble anymore. A comparison between old and new organizations makes the picture clear.

Nature and Scope of Organizational Behaviour

Organizational behaviour is an applied behavioral science that is built on

contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines such as psychology, sociology,

social psychology, anthropology and economics.

So now let us see how these disciplines are related to organizational behavior.

• Psychology: Psychology is the study of human behavior which tries to identify the characteristics of individuals and provides an understanding why an individual behaves in a particular way. This thus provides us with useful insight into areas such as human motivation, perceptual processes or personality characteristics.
• Sociology: Sociology is the study of social behavior, relationships among social groups and societies, and the maintenance of social order. The main focus of attention is on the social system. This helps us to appreciate the functioning of individuals within the organization which is essentially a socio-technical entity.
• Social psychology: Social psychology is the study of human behaviour in the context of social situations. This essentially addresses the problem of understanding the typical behavioral patterns to be expected from an individual when he takes part in a group.
• Anthropology: Anthropology is the science of mankind and the study of human behaviour as a whole. The main focus of attention is on the cultural system, beliefs, customs, ideas and values within a group or society and the comparison of behaviour among different cultures. In the context of today's organizational scenario, it is very important to appreciate the differences that exist among people coming from different cultural backgrounds as people are often found to work with others from the other side of the globe.
• Economics: Any organization to survive and sustain must be aware of the economic viability of their effort. This applies even to the non-profit and voluntary organizations as well.

Framework of Organizational Behaviour

Organizations achieve their goals by creating, communicating and operating an organizational behaviour system. Organizational behaviour system defines organizational structure and culture and explains their impact on employees. These systems exist in every organization, but sometimes in varying forms. They have a greater chance of being successful, though, if they have been consciously created, regularly examined and updated to meet new and emerging conditions. The primary advantage of organizational behaviour system is to identify the major human and organizational variables that affect organizational outcomes. For some variables managers can only be aware of them and acknowledge their impact whereas for other variables, managers can exert some control over them. The outcomes are measured in terms of quantity and quality of products and services, level of customer service, employee satisfaction and personal growth and development.