ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
What Do We Mean by Organization?
An organization is a consciously coordinated social unit, made up of a group of people, who
work together on common goals on a relatively continuous basis. Manufacturing and service
firms are organizations, and so are schools, hospitals, churches, military units, retail stores,
police departments, volunteer organizations, start-ups, and local, provincial, and federal
government agencies.
What is Organizational behaviour (OB)?
Organizational behaviour (OB) is the systematic study of the actions and attitudes that people
exhibit within organizations. It is individual behaviour and group dynamics in organizations. The
study of organizational behaviour is primarily concerned with the psychosocial, interpersonal
and behavioural dynamics in organizations. However, organizational variables that affect human
behaviour at work are also relevant to the study of organizational behaviour. These
organizational variable include jobs, the design and organizational structure. Therefore, although
individual behaviour and group dynamics are the primary concerns in the study of organizational
behaviour, organizational variables are important as the context in which human behaviour
occurs. The term ‘organizational behaviour’ is defined by Stephen P Robbins as "a field of study
that investigates the impact of individuals, groups and structures on behaviour within
organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization's
effectiveness". According to this definition, organizational behaviour
• Is a field of study with a common body of knowledge.
• It studies three determinants of behaviour in organizations. They are individuals, groups and
structures.
• It applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups and the effect of structure on
behaviour in order to make organizations work more effectively.
Organizational behaviour is a basic and applied social science seeking knowledge about how
individuals, groups, and organizations function for improving the effectiveness and wellbeing
of employees and organizations.
Definitions
 “Organizational Behaviour” is the study and application of knowledge about how people
– as individual and as groups – act within organizations.
 It is 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
towards improving an organization’s effectiveness.
 Organizational Behaviour means the study of behavior of individuals, and groups in
organizations and organizations themselves, as they act and interact to attain desired
outcomes.
 OB is a scientific study in which a number of research studies and conceptual
developments are taking place. It is also an applied science wherein information about
effective practices in one organization is being extended to many others.
OB provides a useful set of tools at many levels of analysis – It helps managers to understand the
behavior of individuals within an organization; understand the interpersonal relationships, when
two people(coworkers or a superior –subordinate pair) interact; to understand the dynamics or
relationships with in small groups, both formal teams and informal groups; to understand the
intergroup relationships; and finally understand the organizations as whole systems that have
inter organizational relationships
Objectives of Organizational Behaviour
There are some goals of organizational behavior which are as follows:
1. Describe: The first goal is to describe, systematically how people behave under a variety of
conditions. Achieving this goal allows managers to communicate about human behavior at work
using a common language.
2. Understand: A second goal is to understand any people behave as they do. The managers
would be frustrated if they could talk about behavior of their employees, but not understand the
reasons behind those actions.
3. Predict: The managers would have capacity to predict which employees might be dedicated
and productive or which ones might have absent, cause problem. And thus the managers could
take preventive actions.
4. Control: The final goal of OB is to control and develop some human activity at work. Since
managers are held responsible for performance outcome, they are vitally interested in being able
to make an impact on employee behavior, skill development, team effort, and productivity.
Managers need to be able to improve results through the actions they and their employees take,
and organizational behavior can aid them in their pursuit of this goal.
Features of Organizational Behaviour
The essential characteristics of organizational behaviour are as follows:
(i)An Integral Part of Management. OB is a part of general management and not the whole of
management. It represents behaviour approach to management. It is significant to note that
because of the importance of human behaviour in organizations, OB has assumed the status of a
distinct field of study.
(ii)A Field of Study. OB is a field of study backed by a body of theory, research and application
associated with a growing concern for people at the workplace. Its study helps in understanding
the human behaviour in work organizations. It includes creative thinking among the managers
to solve human problems in organizations.
(iii)Inter-disciplinary Approach. The field of organizational behaviour is heavily influenced by
several other behavioural sciences and social sciences. The prominent among these
are psychology, sociology and anthropology. Organizational behaviour draws a rich array of
research from these disciplines. What makes it a field in its own right is the attempt to integrate
various aspects and levels of behaviour.
(iv)Levels of Analysis. OB involves three levels of analysis of behaviour – individual behaviour,
group behaviour and behaviour of the organization itself. It helps in demolishing ‘incorrect’
assumptions one may hold about behaviour. It provides a rational thinking about people.
(v)Goal-Oriented. OB is an action – oriented and goal-directed discipline. The major goals of
organizational behaviour are to understand, explain and predict human behaviour in the
organizational context so that it may be moulded into result-yielding situations. It provides a
rational thinking about people and their behaviour.
(vi)Human Tool. OB is a human tool for human benefit. It helps in understanding and predicting
the behaviour of individuals. It provides generalizations that managers can use to anticipate the
effects of certain actions on human behaviour.
(vii)Science and Art. OB is both a science as well as an art. The systematic knowledge about
human behaviour is a science. The application of behaviour knowledge and skills clearly leans
towards being an art. However, organization behaviour is not an exact science like physics or
chemistry. It cannot provide specific answers to all organizational problems. The exact
prediction of behavior of people in organizations is also not possible. It is possible to predict
relationships between variables on a broad scale, but it is difficult to apply predictive models in
all situations.
(viii)Satisfaction of Employees’ Needs. OB seeks to fulfill employees’ need and aspirations.
Every employee in the organization wants to fulfill hisneeds through organizational activities. It
is the organization’sresponsibility to provide congenial climate in the organization so thatpeople
may get need satisfaction and the organization may attain its objectives. Thus, both organization
and individuals can be benefited by each other.
PERSONALITY
DEFINING PERSONALITY
The term personality derived from the Latin word “ p e r s o n a ”, which means “mask.”
It refers to an individual’s distinct and relatively enduring pattern of thoughts,
feelings ,needs, motives, values, attitudes and behaviors. It excludes race, gender,
and physical attractiveness…
• It refers to the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts
and interacts with others.
• Personality refers to the distinctive and relatively enduring way of thinking, feeling, and acting
for a particular individual
.• The inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person responds
to his or her environment
.• The nature of personality reflects individual differences and it is consistent and enduring change
of behavior
.• Relatively stable and distinctive patterns of behavior that characterize an individual and his or
her reactions to the environment.
• Personality is a relatively stable set of characteristics that influences an individual’s behavior.• It
is unique, relatively consistent pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving.
• It refers to Preferences–for exp.-how to handle situations, what is the sense of humour, or your
expectations of others.
CHARACTERISTIC OF PERSONALITY
• It is an abstraction which is based on inferences that is derived from behavioral observation of
person.
• Personality is different from one person to another.
• It refers to an evolving process that is subject to a variety of internal and external influences,
including in terms of genetic and biological propensities, social experience and changing
environmental circumstances.
DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY
It refers to the factors like biological, cultural, family, social and situational factors that directly
and indirectly influence individual behavior. Personality is different from one person to another
person. The major determinants of personality are
1)Biological factors
 Heredity
• It refers to physical stature, facial attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and
reflexes, energy level, and biological rhythms. These are the characteristics that are considered to
be inherent.
• It plays an important part in determining an individual’s personality.
• Heredity approach argues that the ultimate explanation of an individual’s personality is the
molecular structures of the genes, which are located in the chromosomes
.
 Brain
• Brain is the second biological approach to determine personality.
• It plays an important role in determining personality.
• Electrical Stimulation of the Brain (ESB) and Split brain psychology results indicates that a
better understanding of human personality and behavior might come from a closer study of the
brain.
• The definite areas of the human brain are associated with pain and pleasure. Research study
shows that these things are true.
 Biofeedback
• It is the third biological approach to determine personality.
• Physiologists and psychologists felt that biological functions like brainwave patterns, gastric
and hormonal secretions, and fluctuations in blood pressure and skin temperature were beyond
conscious control. Recent research shows that these functions can be consciously controlled through
biofeedback techniques.
• For this purpose, individual can learn the internal rhythms of a particular body process through
electronic signals that are fedback from equipment which is wired to body
• In this process, the person can learn to control the body process .
• It is one of the interesting topics to do future research work in personality.
 Physical Features
• It is third biological approach to determine personality.
• It is vital ingredient of the personality, it focus an individual person’s external appearance
which also determined the personality.
• Physical features like tall or short, fat or skinny, black or white. These physical features will be
influenced the personal effect on others and also affect self concept of individual.
• Recent research studies shows that definitely this features influence to individual personality in
an organization. In totally, heredity would be fixed at birth and no amount of experience can be
altering them through creation of suitable environment.
2)Cultural Factors
“Each culture expects, and trains, its members to behave in ways that are acceptable to the
group. To a marked degree, the child’s cultural group defines the range of experiences and situations he is
likely to encounter and the values and personality characteristics that will reinforced and hence
learned”.—Paul H Mussen
• Cultural factors are also major factors which influence to determine individual personality.
• It refers to traditional practice, customs, procedure, norms and rules and regulation followed by
the society.
• It significantly influence to individual behavior compare to biological factors.
• Cultural factors determine attitudes towards independence, aggression, competition,
cooperation, positive thinking, team spirit, and a host of the human being and discharge his/her
duties towards valuable responsibilities to society.
• Western culture influence to Indian society. It is the best example of the cultural factors determining the
personality.
3)Family Factors
• Family factors are also major factors which influence individual personality
.• Family consists of husband and wife and their children.
• Family’s role is very important for nurturing and personality development of their children.
• Family will guide, supervise, take care of all family members, provide cooperation,
coordination and also explain the role and responsibilities of an individual towards the family and
society.
• Family either directly or indirectly influences a person for development of individual personality.
4)Social Factors
• Social factors are also major factors which determine individual personality.
• It involves the reorganization of individual in an organization or society.
• It refers to acquiring of wide range of personality by acquiring and absorbed by themselves in
the society or an organization.
• Socialization process starts from home and extends to work environment in an organization or
society.
• It focuses on good relationships, cooperation, coordination and interaction among the members
in the society or an organization or a family. In totally, environment factors consist of cultural
factors, family factors, and social factors.
5)Situational Factors
• Situational factors also influence to determine of personality.
• Situational factors are very important to change the individual behavior in
different circumstance at different situations, it also influence to personality
of individual person.
• In general term, personality is stable and consistent and it does change in
different situations.The Interaction of Personality and Situational Factors are outlined:
• Strong situational pressures• Personality may not predict behavior
• Example: enforcement of rules• Weak Situational pressures• Personality may predict behavior• Example:
Customer sales representative• A strong situation can overwhelm the effects of individual
personalities by providing strong cues for appropriate behavior
PERSONALITY TRAITS
For identification and classification of traits and characteristics of a person’s personality, two
methods/approaches have really engrossed their importance in the fields of psychology and
behavioral studies. These two approaches are:
1. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
2. The Big Five Personality Model
1. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
“The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or MBTI is a systematic assessment process which involves a
100 questionnaire designed to assess the perception of people about the world and the mental
capabilities by using the results of the answers by the interviewees about the decisions they make
in some given particular conditions and situations”
On the result of the above questionnaire, a person is classified as one of the following:
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Extroverted or Introverted (E or I)
Sensing or Intuitive (S or N)
Thinking or Feeling (T or F)
Judging or Perceiving (J or P)
Brief explanations of the above classifications are given below:
1. Extrovert and Introvert
1. Extroverts are usually action oriented people and generally focuses on taking actions more
frequently while introverts are usually thought oriented people and prefer to take actions with
less frequency as extroverts.
2. Extroverts like to do more interaction as compared to introverts. Introverts are inclined
towards the ‘substantiality’ of the interaction rather than the ‘frequency’ of the interaction.
3. Extroverts like to spend more time with people and in socialization as compared to introverts,
who usually like to spend their time alone.
4. Extroverts are generally known as to be sociable, outgoing and assertive, while introverts as
shy, timid and quite.
2. Sensing and Intuitive
1. People who fall in the category of “Sensing” prefer routine and order in their lives and are
much more practical than ‘Intuitive’ type of persons, who preferable rely on their unconscious
process rather than being practical.
3. Thinking and Feeling
1. People who fall in the category of ‘Thinking’, are much more logical and thought-provoked
persons than ‘Feeling’ type persons.
2. ‘Thinking’ people find reasons to support their feelings while ‘Feeling’ people tend to rely on
their emotions and feelings to give a reason to their points and thoughts.
4. Judging and Perceiving
1. ‘Judging’ people like structures and orders while ‘Perceiving’ type of persons like flexibility.
2. ‘Judging’ people are not that much spontaneous as ‘Perceiving’ ones.
Together, these classifications describe 16 different types of personalities .
In the image, we can have a clear vision about the MBTI table.
THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY MODEL
There came many criticisms on ‘The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator’ despite its well-structured
approach. It may lack of strong supporting evidences, but this cannot be said about the BIG
FIVE PERSONALITY MODEL. Its supporting evidences have been growing for the last 50
years. While there are lot of things that support this BIG FIVE PERSONALITY MODEL, but
some of the researches do not agree on the exact label of the ‘5 dimensions’ of this approach.
These five dimensions or categories are described below:
1. EXTRAVERSION
This category measures your comfort level with your relationships. This trait includes
characteristics and qualities such as, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness and emotional
expressiveness
2. AGREEABLNESS
This category measures your propensity to agree or defer to other people. This trait includes
characteristics such as kindness, affection, trust, co-operation and being warm with other people.
3. CONSCIENTIOUNESS
This category measures your level of reliability and responsibility. This trait includes the
qualities such as, responsibility, reliability, dependability, persistency, goal-directed behavior
and being organized and structured.
4. EMOTIONAL STABILITY / NEUROTICISM
This category which measures your emotional stability is often known ‘Neuroticism’. People,
who tend to be high in the negative scores, are most likely to be, emotionally insecure, anxious,
depressed, not being confident and sad. While people, who score more positive ones in this trait,
are most likely to be, calm, self-confident, emotionally stable, secure and happy.
5. OPENNESS
This category measures your range of interests and fascination with novelty. People who score
‘High’ in this trait are often creative, curious and artistically sensitive and also may have a broad
range of interests. While people who score less in this trait, are more likely to be conventional
and find comfort in the familiar and traditional patterns. They do not really like to think ‘out of
the box’
PERCEPTION
What is perception?
Perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory
information. The word perception comes from the Latin perception-, percepio, , meaning
"receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses.
According to Stephen P Robbins, Perception is a process by which individuals organize and
interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. The term
originated from a Latin word ‘percepio’ meaning receiving, collecting, action of taking
possession, apprehension with the mind or senses.
MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTION
• The process by which people select, organize, interpret, retrieve, and respond to information
.• Perceptual information is gathered from:• Sight. • Hearing.• Touch. • Taste.• Smell
.• The process of interpreting the messages of our senses to provide order and meaning to the
environment.
• The process by which people select, organize, interpret, and respond to information from the
world around them
.• Perception (consciously and unconsciously) involves searching for, obtaining, and processing
information in the mind in an attempt to make sense of the world.
•Selection and organization often account for differences in interpretation/perception between
individuals observing the same stimuli.
• A process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to
give meaning to their environment.
•People’s behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.
•The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally important.
Perceptual Process
Perception is composed of six processes
“receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting, checking, and reacting to stimuli”.
 Process of Receiving Stimuli
The human organism is structured with five sensory organs, viz., vision,hearing, smell, touch
and tasting. There is the sixth sense about which much is speculated and nothing is known. We
receive stimuli through the organs. Secondary organs receive not only physical objects; they
receive events or objects that have been repressed. We may not be able to report the existence of
certain stimuli but our behaviour reveals that we are often subject to their
influence. Similarly, stimuli need not be external to us. They may be inside also.
 Process of Selecting Stimuli
Myriads of stimuli seemingly claim our for our attention at any given time. We need to filter or
screen out most of them so that we may deal with the important or relevant ones. Two sets of
factors govern the selection of stimuli: external and internal.
External Factors Influencing Selection
The external factors influencing selection are:
 Nature: By nature we mean, whether the object is visual or auditory, and whether it
involves pictures, people or animals.
 Location: The best location of a visual stimulus for attracting attention is directly in
the front of the eyes in the center of a page. When this location is not possible in a
newspaper or a magazine, a position in the upper portion of a page in more favorable than
one in the lower portions, and the left hand side receives more attention than the right
hand side.
 Intensity: Stimuli of higher intensity are perceived more than the objects with low
intensity. A loud noise, strong odour, or bright light will be noticed more than a soft
sound, weak odour, or dim light.
 Size: Generally objects of larger size attract more attention than the smaller ones. The
maintenance engineering staff may pay more attention to a big machine than to a small
one, even though the smaller one costs as much and as important to the operation.
 Contrast: The contrast principle states that external stimuli which stand out against the
background, or which are not what people are expecting, will receive their attention.
 Movement: The principle of motion states that a moving object receives more attention
than an object that is standing still.
 Repetition: The repetition principle states that a repeated external stimulus is more
attention drawing than a single one.
 Novelty and Familiarity: The novelty and familiarity principle states that either a novel or
a familiar external situation can serve as an attention getter. New objects in familiar
settings or familiar objects in new setting will draw the attention of the perceiver.
Internal Factors Influencing Selection
Internal factors influencing selection of stimuli include learning, psychological
needs, age differences, interests, ambivalence, and paranoid perception. These factors relate to
oneself.
 Learning: Learning, a cognitive factor, has considerable influence onperception. It
creates expectancy in people. People tend to perceive what they want to perceive.
 Psychological Needs: Needs play a significant role in perceptual selectivity. Unreal
things often look real because of deprived needs.
 Age Difference: Older senior executives complain about the inability of the new young
to take tough decisions concerning terminating or resigning people and paying
attention to details and paper work. The young managers in turn complain about the “old
guards” resisting change and using paper and rules as ends in themselves. Different
perceptions of old and young executives are due to their age differences perceptions.
 Interest: The interests of the perceiver unconsciously influence perception. An architect
will notice many details of buildings that he passes only once. It has been argued that, in
their influence on perception, interests cannot be distinguished from needs. That is, the
person with a particular interest has a need to involve himself in activities pertaining to
it. Yet there is some value in conceiving the two as distinct. Once they have been
satisfied, most needs no longer influence perception. But if the person has a special
interest, his perception is likely to be selective at any time.
 Ambivalence: Another factor in perceptual selection is ambivalence or mixed feelings
about a situation.
 Paranoid Perception: When the person’s perception is so selective that he can find little
common ground for communication with others, he is likely to be paranoid
 The Organizing Process
The perceptual selection is related to the discussion of external and Internal factors which
helped gain the perceiver’s attention. This aspect of forming
bits of information into meaningful wholes is called the perceptual organization. There are three
dimensions to the perceptual organization, viz., figure ground, perceptual grouping,
and perceptual constancy.
 Figure Ground: Figure ground is considered to be the most basic form
of perceptual organization. The figure ground principle states that the relationship of a
target to its background influences perception. In other words, according to the principle,
perceived objects stand out as separable from their general background.
 Perceptual Grouping: There is a general tendency among individuals to group several
stimuli together into a recognizable pattern. There are certain underlying uniformities in
grouping. When simple constellations of stimuli are presented to people, they tend to
group them together by closure, continuity, proximity, and similarity.
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Closure: An individual may perceive a whole while one actually does not exists. The
person’s perceptual process closes the gaps that are unfilled by from sensory inputs. In a
formal organization, employees may either see a ‘whole’ that does not exits or not be able
to put the pieces together into a ‘whole’ that does exists. For example, head of a project
team may take the view that the entire team agrees to his plan of action whereas there are
differing views among the team members, which remains unarticulated in a formal
manner. On the other hand, a functional team might view/perceive that their objectives
are the objectives of the whole company.
Continuity: An individual tend to perceive continuous lines/patterns. This leads to
inflexible thinking on the part of organizational members (both managers and
employees). Thus, only the obvious, continuous patterns or relationships are perceived.
For example, a new design for some production process or product may be limited to
obvious flows or continuous lines/patterns. New innovative ideas or designs may not be
perceived.
Proximity: A group of stimuli that are close together will be perceived as a whole pattern
of parts belonging together. For example, several employees in an organization may be
identified as a single group because of physical proximity. Several workers who work on
a particular process may be viewed as a single whole. If the output is low and the
supervisor reports a number of grievances from the group, the management may perceive
that all the workers working on that particular process are trouble makers whereas in
some of them might be loyal and dedicated employees.
 Similarity: The greater the similarity of stimuli, the greater is the tendency to perceive
them as a common group. Similarity is conceptually related to proximity but in most
cases stronger than proximity. In an organization, all employees who wear blue collars
may be perceived as a common group, when in reality, each employee is a unique
individual
 Perceptual Constancy: There are two issues. While objective reality of stimuli remains
unchanged, people’s subjective reality also remains constant. That is, the individual is
likely to give meaning to stimuli in the same way whenever exposed to them unless and
until objective reality has been revealed more broadly by way of undoing the perceptual
errors. For example, a manager in the company who believes that female employees are
poor performers would continue to have the same perception until and unless the latter
prove that they are better than their male colleagues.
 The Process of Interpreting
After the data have been received and organized, the perceiver interprets or assigns meaning
to the information. In fact, perception is said to have taken place only after the data have been
interpreted. Several factors contribute towards what has been interpreted. More important
amongst them are
 Perceptual Set:-Previously held beliefs about objects influence an individual’s
perceptions of similar objects. This is called perceptual set.
 Attribution:-Attribution refers to the process by which the individual assigns causes to
the behaviour he conceives. There are critics who argue that perceptual
distortion occurs because of attribution. As too much credit or blame for behaviour is
placed on persons rather than on environment. Factors such as status, intentions, and
consequences influence the attribution process.
 Stereotyping:- Stereotyping is the tendency for a person’s perceptions of another to be
influenced by the social group to which the others belong.
In perceiving another, a person is likely to categories the other according to some silent
characteristic such as sex, race, religion, nationality, occupation, or
organizational affiliation.
The individual’s experiences with others in the category in which he has placed them lead
him to believe that they have certain traits in common. Thus, he is ready to perceive
the other as possessing the same trait. For example, if dishonesty is associated with
politicians, we are likely to assume that all politicians are dishonest.
 Halo Effect:- The halo effect refers to the tendency of perceiving people in terms of
good and bad, and ascribing all good qualities to one who is liked and all bad qualities to
another who is disliked.
 Perceptual Context:- It gives meaning and value to simple stimuli in the environment.
The organizational culture and structure provide the primary context in which workers
and managers perceive things. Thus, a verbal order, an e-mail message, a new policy, a
suggestion, a raised eyebrow, a pat on the back takes on special meaning and value when
placed in the context of work organization
 Perceptual Defense :- According to the principle of perceptual defense, an individual is
likely to put defense when confronted with conflicting, unacceptable and threatening
stimuli.The defense mechanisms put up by the perceiver may assume any of the four
forms: outright denial, modification of the data received, change in perception
but refusal to change, and change in perception itself.
 The Process of Checking
After data have been received and interpreted, the perceiver tends to check whether
his interpretations are right or wrong. One way of checking is for the person himself to indulge in
introspection. He will put a series of question to himself and his answers will confirm whether
his perception about an individual or an object is correct or not. Another way is to check the
veracity about the interpretation with others.
 The Process of Reacting
The last phase in perception is the reaction. The perceiver shall indulge in some
action in relation to his perception. The action depends on whether the p e r c e p t i o n i s
f a v o r a b l e o r u n f a v o r a b l e . T h e a c t i o n i s p o s i t i v e w h e n t h e perception is
favourable. It is negative when the perception is unfavourable. The cycle of perception is not
complete unless it leads to some action as listed below:
(a) Covert action
(b) Overt action
(a) Covert Action
It refers to take action in the form of the formation of opinions or attitudes of an individual
person.
(b) Overt Action
It refers to a definite action in relation to the perception.
PERCEPTION AND ITS APPLICATION IN ORGANIZATIONS
People in organizations are always assessing others. Managers must appraise their subordinate's
performance, evaluate how co-workers are working. When a new person joins a department he or
she is immediately assessed by the other persons. These have important effect on the
organization.
Employment Interview: Interviewers make perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate.
Different interviewers see different things in the same candidate and arrive at different
conclusions about the applicant. Employment interview is an important input into the hiring
decision, and perceptual factors influence who is hired and vis-à-vis the Quality of an
'
organization s labour force.
Performance Appraisals: An employee's performance appraisal is very much dependent on the
perceptual process. An employee's future is closely tied to his or her appraisal - promotions,
increments and continuation of employment are among the common outcomes. The performance
appraisal represents an assessment of an employee's work. While this may be objective most jobs
are evaluated in subjective terms. Subjective measures are judgmental. The evaluator forms a
general impression of an employee's work, to the degree that managers use subjective measures
in appraising employee's the evaluator perceives to be `good or bad' employee
characteristics/behaviors will significantly influence the appraisal outcome.
Assessing Level of Effort: In many organizations, the level of an employee's effort is given high
importance. Assessment of an individual's effort is a subjective judgment susceptible to
perceptual distortions and bias.
Assessing Loyalty: Another important judgment that managers decide about employees is
whether they are loyal to the organization.
Implications of Perception on Performance and Satisfaction
Productivity: What individuals perceive from their work situation will influence their
productivity. More than the situation itself than whether a job is actually interesting or
challenging is not relevant. How a manager successfully plans and organizes the work of his
subordinates and actually helps them in structuring their work is far less important than how his
subordinates perceive his efforts.
Therefore, to be able to influence productivity, it is necessary to assess how workers perceive
their jobs.
Absenteeism and Labour Turnover: Absenteeism and Labour Turnover are some of the
reactions to the individuals perception. Managers must understand how each individual interprets
his job. and where there is a significant difference between what is seen and what exists and try
to eliminate the distortions. Failure to deal with the differences when individuals perceive the job
in negative terms will result in increased absenteeism and turnover.
Job Satisfaction: Job satisfaction is a highly subjective, and feeling of the benefits that derive
from the job. Clearly his variable is critically linked to perception. If job satisfaction is to be
improved, the worker's perception of the job characteristics, supervision and the organization as
a whole must be positive.
MOTIVATION
Definition:-According to George R. Terry, "Motivation is the desire within an individual that
stimulates him or her to action."
In the words of Robert Dubin, it is "the complex of forces starting and keeping a person
at work in an organization". Viteles defines motivation as "an unsatisfied need which creates a
state of tension or disequilibrium, causing the individual to move in a goal directed pattern
towards restoring a state of equilibrium, by satisfying the need."
According to Encyclopedia of Management. "Motivation refers to the degree of readiness
of an organism to pursue some designated goals and implies the determination of the nature and
locus of force inducing a degree of readiness."
On the basis of above definitions, the following observations can be made regarding
motivation:
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Motivation is an inner psychological force, which activates and compels the person to
behave in a particular manner.
The motivation process is influenced by personality traits, learning abilities, perception
and competence of an individual.
A highly motivated employee works more efficiently and his level of production tends to
be higher than others.
Motivation originates from the-needs and wants of an individual. It is a tension of lacking
something in his mind, which forces him to work more efficiently.
Motivation is also a process of stimulating and channelising the energy of an individual
for achieving set goals.
Motivation also plays a crucial role in determining the level of performance. Highly
motivated employees get higher satisfaction, which may lead to higher efficiency.
Motivating force an^ its degree, may differ from individual to individual depending on
his personality, needs, competence and other factors.
The process of Motivation helps the manager in analysing and understanding human
behavior and finding but how an individual can be inspired to produce desirable working
behavior.
Motivation may be positive as well as negative. Positive motivation includes incentives,
rewards and other benefits while negative motivation implies some punishment, fear, use
of force etc.
The motivation procedure contributes to and boosts up the morale of the employees. A
high degree of motivation may lead to high morale.
FEATURES OF MOTIVATION
The following are the features of motivation:
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It is an internal feeling and forces a person to action.
It is a continuous activity.
It varies from person to person and from time to time.
It may be positive or negative.
IMPORTANCE OF MOTIVATION
Motivation is an important part of managing process. A team of highly qualified and motivated
employees is necessary for achieving objectives of an organization because of the following
reasons:
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Motivated employees make optimum use of available resources for achieving objectives.
Motivation is directly related to the level of efficiency of employees.
Motivated employees make full use of their energy and other abilities to raise the existing
level of efficiency.
Motivated employees make goal-directed efforts. They are more committed and
cooperative for achieving organizational objectives.
Motivated employees are more loyal and sincere to an organization. These factors help
reduce absenteeism and labor turnover.
Motivation is considered as a backbone of good industrial relations.
Effectively motivated employees get more job satisfaction and possess high morale.
Motivation also helps in improving the image of an organization.
The motivation process begins with identification of individual needs. For example, when an
employee feels underpaid then what, then he tries to fulfill his needs by asking for a raise or by
working harder to earn a raise or by seeking a new job. He then chooses to pursue one or more of
these options for instance, working harder while simultaneously looking for a job. If his hard
work resulted in a pay rise, he probably feels satisfied and will continue to work hard. But if no
raise has been provided he is likely to try another option. Since people have many different
needs, the satisfaction of one need or set of needs is likely to give rise to the identification of
other needs. Thus, the cycle of motivation is constantly repeated.
Understanding human motivation is crucial for managing people. Extensive research has
been performed to find out what makes people work and how to motivate them. This includes
managers, social scientists, behaviorists and psychologists. A number of theories have been
developed, even though there is no universally acceptable motivation theory. Understanding
these theories facilitates the managers to get a better insight into the human behavior.
NEED-BASED THEORIES TO MOTIVATION
Need-based theories try to answer the question, "what factor(s) motivate people to choose certain
behaviors?" Some of the widely known need-based theories are as follows:
(a) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow Abraham proposed his theory in the 1940s. This theory, popularly known as the
Hierarchy of Needs assumes that people are motivated to satisfy five levels of needs:
physiological, security, belongingness, esteem and self-actualization needs. The figure 9.1 shows
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Maslow suggested that the five levels of needs are arranged in accordance with their
importance, starting from the bottom of the hierarchy. An individual is motivated first and
foremost to satisfy physiological needs. When these needs are satisfied, he is motivated and
'moves up' the hierarchy to satisfy security needs. This 'moving up process continues until the
individual reaches the self-actualization level.
Physiological needs represent the basic issues of survival such as food, sex, water and air.
In organizational settings, most physiological needs are satisfied by adequate wages and by the
work environment itself, which provides employees with rest rooms, adequate lighting,
comfortable temperatures and ventilation.
Security or safety needs refer to the requirements for a secure physical and emotional
environment. Examples include the desire for adequate housing and clothing, the need to be free
from worry about money and job security and the desire for safe working conditions. Security
needs are satisfied for people in the work place by job continuity, a grievance resolving system
and an adequate insurance and retirement benefit package.
Belonging or social needs are related to the, social aspect of human life. They include the
need for love and affection and the need to be accepted by one's peers. For most people these
needs are satisfied by a combination of family and community relationships and friendships on
the job. Managers can help ensure the 'satisfaction of these important needs by allowing social
interaction and by making employees feel like part of a team or work group.
Esteem needs actually comprise of two different sets of needs:
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The need for a positive self-image and self-respect.
The need for recognition and respect from others.
Organizations can help address esteem needs by providing a variety of external symbols of
accomplishment such as job titles and spacious offices. At a more fundamental level,
organizations can also help satisfy esteem needs by providing employees with challenging job
assignments that can induce a sense of accomplishment.
At the top of the hierarchy are those needs, which Maslow defines the self-actualization
needs. These needs involve realizing one's potential for continued: growth and individual
development. Since these needs are highly individualized and personal, self-actualization needs
are perhaps the most difficult for managers to address. Therefore, an employee should try to
meet these needs on his own end. However, an organization can help his employee by creating a
climate for fulfillment of self-actualization needs. For instance, an organization can help in
fulfillment of these needs by encouraging employee’s participation in decision-making process
and by providing them with an opportunity to learn new things about their jobs and organization.
This process of contributing to actual organizational performance helps employees experience
personal growth and development associated with self-actualizing.
Maslow's concept of the need hierarchy possesses a certain intuitive logic and has been
accepted universally by managers. But research has revealed several shortcomings of the theory
such as some research has found that five levels of needs are not always present and that the
order of the levels is not always the same as assumed by Maslow. Moreover, it is difficult for
organizations to use the need hierarchy to enhance employee motivation.
(b) ERG Theory of Motivation
Clayton Alderfer has proposed an alternative hierarchy of needs - called the ERG Theory of
Motivation. The letters E, R and G stand for Existence, Relatedness and Growth. The figure 9.2
shows ERG theory:
ERG Theory the need hierarchy developed by Maslow into three 9.2. The existence needs
in this theory refers to the physiological and security needs of Maslow. Relatedness needs refers
to belongingness and esteem needs. Growth needs refers to both self-esteem and selfactualization needs.
Although ERG Theory assumes that motivated behavior follows a hierarchy in somewhat
the same fashion as suggested by Maslow, there are two important differences.
 Firstly, ERG theory suggests that more than one kind of need might motivate a person at
the same time. For example, it allows for the possibility that people can be motivated by a
desire for money (existence); friendship (relatedness), and an opportunity to learn new
skills (growth) all at the same time.
 Secondly, ERG theory has an element of frustrations-regression that is missing from
Maslow's need hierarchy. Maslow maintained that one heed must be satisfied before an
individual can progress to needs at a higher level, for example, from security needs to
belongingness. This is termed as satisfaction—progression process. Although the ERG
theory includes this process, it also suggests that if needs remain unsatisfied at some
higher level, the individual will become frustrated, regress to a lower level and will begin
to pursue low level needs again. For" example, a worker previously motivated by money
(existence needs) is awarded a pay rise to satisfy this needs. Then he attempts to establish
more friendship to satisfy relatedness needs. If for some reason an employee finds that it
is impossible to become better friends with others in the work place, he may eventually
become frustrated and regress to being motivated to earn even more money. This is
termed as ‘frustration-regression' process.
The ERG theory emphasis on the following key points regarding needs:
o Some needs may be more important than others.
o People may change their behavior after any particular set of needs has been
satisfied.
(c) Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory/ The Dual-Structure Approach to Motivation
Another popular need-based approach to motivation is the dual-structure approach developed by
Frederick Herzberg. This is also known as Two-factor Theory. Herzberg developed this approach
after interviewing 200 accountants and engineers in Pittsburg. He asked them to recall such
occasions when they had been dissatisfied and less motivated. He found that entirely different
sets of factors were associated with satisfaction and dissatisfaction. For instance, an individual
who identified 'low pay' as causing dissatisfaction did not necessarily mention 'high pay' as a
cause of satisfaction. Instead, several other factors, such as recognition or accomplishment, were
cited as causing satisfaction.
This finding suggests that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are at opposite ends of a single
scale. Employees would, therefore, be satisfied, dissatisfied or somewhere in between. Herzberg
argued that attitudes and motivation consists of a dual structure. One structure involves a set of
factors that result in feelings ranging from satisfaction to no satisfaction. The other structure
involves a set of factors that result in feelings ranging from dissatisfaction to no satisfaction.
Herzberg identified two sets of factors responsible for causing either satisfaction or
dissatisfaction. The factors influencing satisfaction are called motivation factors or motivators,
which are related specifically to the job itself and the factors causing dissatisfaction are called
hygiene factors, which are related to the work environment in which the job is performed.
Motivators
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Achievement
Recognition
Advancement
The work itself
The possibility of personal growth
Responsibility
Hygiene or Maintenance Factors
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Company policies
Technical supervision
Interpersonal relations with supervisor
Interpersonal relations with peers
Interpersonal relations with subordinates
Salary
Job security
Personal life
Work conditions
Status
Based on these findings, Herzberg recommended that managers seeking to motivate
employees should first make sure that hygiene factors are taken care of and that employees are
not dissatisfied with pay, security and working conditions. Once a manager has eliminated
employee dissatisfaction, Hertzberg recommends focusing on a different set of factors to
increase motivation, by improving opportunities for advancement, recognition, advancement and
growth. Specifically, he recommends job enrichment as a means of enhancing the availability of
motivation factors.
Although widely accepted by managers, Hertzberg’s dual structure approach however suffers
from certain drawbacks. Other researchers who measured satisfaction and dissatisfaction based
on different aspects reached very different conclusions. They have also criticized Herzberg's
theory for its inability to define the relationship between satisfaction and motivation and to pay
enough attention to differences between individuals. Hence, at present Herzberg's theory is not
held in high esteem by researchers in the field of motivation. The theory, however, had a major
impact on managers and has played a key role in increasing their awareness of motivation and its
importance in type work place.