Course: Organizational Behavior (5432/9506)
Level: ADB. Semester: Autumn, 2021
Assignment no 1
Q.1 What is organizational behavior (OB)? What is the importance of interpersonal skills?
Answer
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself. Organizational Behavior researchers study the behavior of individuals primarily in their organizational roles. One of the main goals of organizational behavior is to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of organizational life. As a multidisciplinary field, organizational behavior has been influenced by developments in a number of allied disciplines including sociology, psychology, economics, and engineering as well as by the experience of practitioners.
Organizational Behavior Definition
“Organizational behavior is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and control of human behavior in organizations.” — Fred Luthans.
Organizational behavior is the study of both group and individual performance and activity within an organization.
Organization Behavior
> A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only.
> An Interdisciplinary Approach.
> Applied Science.
> Normative Science.
> A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach.
> A Total System Approach.
These 6 features or characteristics show the nature of Organizational Behavior that is the study of understanding and control behavior within the organization.
Objectives of Organizational Behavior
The organizations in which people work have an effect on their thoughts, feelings, and actions. These thoughts, feelings, and actions, in turn, affect the organization itself.
Organizational behavior studies the mechanisms governing these interactions, seeking to identify and foster behaviors conducive to the survival and effectiveness of the organization.
Job Satisfaction.
Finding the Right People.
Organizational Culture.
Leadership and Conflict Resolution.
Understanding Employees Better.
Understand how to Develop Good Leaders.
Develop a Good Team.
Higher Productivity.
Organizational Behavior Model
The OB model Shows the 3 levels, Individual-level, Group level, and Organization System-level and how they impact the elements of human output.
The above figure presents the skeleton on which constructed the OB model.
It proposes that there are three levels of analysis in OB and that, as we move from the individual level to the organization systems level, we add systematically to our understanding of behavior in organizations.
The three basic levels are analogous to building blocks; each level is constructed on the previous level.
Group concepts grow out of the foundation laid in the individual section; we overlay constraints on the individual and group in order to arrive at organizational behavior.
Interpersonal Skills?
Interpersonal skills are the behaviors and tactics a person uses to interact with others effectively. In the business world, the term refers to an employee’s ability to work well with others. Interpersonal skills range from communication and listening to attitude and deportment.
Interpersonal skills help us interact with others effectively, on the job, and in the larger world.
Some people are born with such skills but everyone can improve them with practice.
Expressing appreciation, resolving disputes, and listening well are all interpersonal skills worth practicing.
Understanding Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills are often referred to as social intelligence. They depend on reading the signals others send and interpreting them accurately in order to form a response.
Everyone has a personal style and an interpersonal style, but some are more successful than others. While interpersonal skills may be based in part on personality and instinct, they can also be developed.
Although interpersonal skills can be developed, they cannot be learned solely from a textbook. They come naturally to some people, while others have to work at cultivating them and this is often done through continuous interaction with other individuals.
In many organizations, employees with strong interpersonal skills are valued for their pleasant demeanor and positive, solution-oriented attitude. These employees are seen as team players, who work well with others to achieve a goal. In more human terms, everyone likes being around them, and that never hurts.
Interpersonal skills are strongly linked to a knowledge of social expectations and customs, whether learned or acquired. People with the strongest interpersonal skills adjust their tactics and communications on the fly depending on the reactions of others.
Interpersonal Skills in the Job Search
Interpersonal skills are highly valued in the business world. Job seekers should use every opportunity to show their interpersonal skills at interviews and on resumes. It can be difficult for an interviewer to gauge a prospective employee’s actual ability to perform the job in a short interview; therefore, many interviewers rely on the interpersonal skills of a candidate and how those skills would fit within the larger organization.
Interpersonal Skills in the Workplace
Strong interpersonal skills such as negotiating, problem-solving, and knowledge-sharing are the main requirements for many jobs. Other skills are seen as essential qualifications for all employees, including:
Teamwork
Verbal and written communication
- Dependability
Responsibility
Empathy
It’s difficult to imagine a company thriving if its employees do not have these interpersonal skills. Most jobs are not isolated and require the interaction between many individuals within a firm. These can be colleagues on your level or those with a higher role in the firm, such as a managing director or CEO. Having strong interpersonal skills will allow for more efficiency in getting tasks done as well as done correctly all to the betterment of the company.
Having poor interpersonal skills can be a detriment. Even if an employee is able to do their work correctly and well, having poor interpersonal skills can be a factor in the limitations of their growth at a firm as well as holding on to a position. People want to work with individuals that they like and whose personality improves their workday. Having strong interpersonal skills only helps.
Improving Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills are best honed by practice. Expressing appreciation for team members and support staff, displaying empathy, moderating disputes quickly, and controlling displays of temper are all good exercises.
Active listening can be practiced by repeating back a speaker’s comment to make sure true communication is taking place. Furthermore, people can demonstrate active listening by providing a well thought out and appropriate answer. If all that isn’t enough, there are courses that teach these skills and many firms offer them to their employees as a part of cultivating a strong workforce.
Q.2 What are the main components of attitudes? Are these components related or unrelated?
Answer
Cognitivecomponent-theopinionorbeliefofanattitude.Affectivecomponent-theemotionalorfellingsegmentofanattitude.Behavioralcomponent-anintentiontobehaveinacertainwaytowardsomeoneorsomething.Theyarecloselyrelated,particularlycognitionandaffect.Asamanager,youneedtounderstandhowattitudesareformedandtherelationshiptoactualjobbehavior.(ThisexercisecontributestoLearningObjectiveSummarizetherelationshipbetweenattitudesandbehavior,Compareandcontrastthemajorjobattitudes,LearningOutcome:ExplaintherelationshipbetweenpersonalitytraitsandindividualbehaviorandAACSBLearningGoal:Reflectivethinkingskills.)
CognitiveDissonance:isanyincompatibilitybetweentwoormore attitudesorbetweenbehaviorandattitudes.Individualsseektoreducethisuncomfortablegap,ordissonance,toreachstabilityconsistency.Consistencyisachievedbychangingtheattitudes,modifyingthebehaviors,orthroughrationalization.Thedesiretoreducedissonancedependson:
aImportanceofelements
b.Degreeofindividualinfluence
c.Rewardsinvolvedindissonance
Socialpsychologistshavedocumentedhowthepowerofthesituationcaninfluenceourbehaviors.Nowweturntohowthepowerofthesituationcaninfluenceourattitudesandbeliefs.Attitudeisourevaluationofaperson,anidea,oranobject.Wehaveattitudesformanythingsrangingfromproductsthatwemightpickupinthesupermarkettopeoplearoundtheworldtopoliticalpolicies.Typically,attitudesarefavorableorunfavorable:positiveornegative(Eagly&Chaiken,1993).And,theyhavethreecomponents:anaffectivecomponent(feelings),abehavioralcomponent(theeffectoftheattitudeonbehavior),andacognitivecomponent(beliefandknowledge)(Rosenberg&Hovland,1960).
Forexample,youmayholdapositiveattitudetowardrecycling.Thisattitudeshouldresultinpositivefeelingstowardrecycling(suchas“Itmakesmefeelgoodtorecycle”or“IenjoyknowingthatImakeasmalldifferenceinreducingtheamountofwastethatendsupinlandfills”).Certainly,thisattitudeshouldbereflectedinourbehavior:Youactuallyrecycleasoftenasyoucan.Finally,thisattitudewillbereflectedinfavorablethoughts(forexample,“Recyclingisgoodfortheenvironment”or“Recyclingistheresponsiblethingtodo”)
Ourattitudesandbeliefsarenotonlyinfluencedbyexternalforces,butalsobyinternalinfluencesthatwecontrol.Likeourbehavior,ourattitudesandthoughtsarenotalwayschangedbysituationalpressures,buttheycanbeconsciouslychangedbyourownfreewill.Inthissectionwediscusstheconditionsunderwhichwewouldwanttochangeourownattitudesandbeliefs.
Structure of Attitudes
Affectivecomponent:thisinvolvesaperson’sfeelings/emotionsabouttheattitudeobject.
Behavioral(orconative)component:thewaytheattitudewehaveinfluencesonhowweactorbehave.
Cognitivecomponent:thisinvolvesaperson’sbelief/knowledgeaboutanattitudeobject.
Conclusion
Attitude is composed of three components, which include a cognitive component, effective or emotional component, and a behavioral component.
Basically, the cognitive component is based on the information or knowledge, whereas the affective component is based on the feelings. The behavioral component reflects how attitude affects the way we act or behave. It is helpful in understanding their complexity and the potential relationship between attitudes and behavior. But for clarity’s sake, keep in mind that the term attitude essentially refers to the affected part of the three components.
In an organization, attitudes are important for their goal or objective to succeed. Each one of these components is very different from the other, and they can build upon one another to form our attitudes and, therfore, affect how we relate to the world.
Q.3 What impact does emotional labor have on employees? What is affective events theory? What are its applications?
Answer
WHAT IS EMOTIONAL LABOR?
By definition (Hochschild, 1983, The Managed Heart), emotional labor refers to regulating or managing emotional expressions with others as part of one’s professional work role. Emotional labor is parallel to physical labor; both are occupations that tend to require a lot of effort, but EL is effort around emotions and tends to be female-dominated (i.e., service or caring work) and physical labor is effort with the body and tends to be male-dominated.
What emotional labor is NOT:
Emotional labor is distinct from “emotion work” or the interpersonal task (i.e., gift giving, event planning) that women often do in work and home lives, a current point of confusion.
Affective Events Theory (AET) is a psychological model designed to explain the connection between emotions and feelings in the workplace and job performance, job satisfaction and behaviours. AET is underlined by a belief that human beings are emotional and that their behaviour is guided by emotion.
EMOTIONAL LABOR
Emotional labor is a work-specific role.
It involves managing emotions during interactions (e.g., organizational outsiders) to achieve professional goals and conform to work role requirements.
Labor expectations are explicitly stated in handbooks, training, financial goals
What can employees DO about it?
Deep acting appears to be a less harmful way to perform emotional labor, though is not always possible, since it takes some time and attention to step back and change one’s feelings (rather than just “faking it”). Training for deep acting and other ways of modifying one’s own stress (i.e., mindfulness training) seems to help in the short-term. However, keep in mind that emotions provide information, so reappraising anger about one’s work conditions as being “not that bad” is not a good long-term solution.
Going to a back room for recovery breaks, and being able to “be real” with coworkers to take a break from faking it, also helps reduce the strain of surface acting with customers/patients.
Affective Events Theory
Do your emotions affect how you perform in a work environment? According to the affective events theory (AET), emotions are critically important to how employees handle workplace situations. The model states that there is a relationship between the employees’ internal influences (such as emotions) and their reactions to incidents that happen during their workday that affect their performance, job commitment, and long-term job satisfaction.
The theory explains that there are both positive and negative occurrences during the workday that can affect an employee’s emotions and job satisfaction. AET is about how the work environment emotionally affects workers and does not take into account any outside influences. For example, if an employee’s child is sick at home that would not be part of the AET definition, since it is outside of work.
The theory was developed by organizational psychologists Weiss and Cropanzano. Positive or negative happenings can be anything from being reprimanded for poor work performance to receiving a free cup of coffee for a good performance. All parts of the job can affect emotions, including the actual job tasks, management styles, co-workers’ actions, and job pressures. Positive and negative situations at work create long-term emotional responses that can impact job satisfaction, development, and commitment. In order to better understand this theory and its applications, let’s take a look at one way the AET performs on the job.
AET Applications
Negative Example
Rita has spent the last twenty years working her way up the corporate ladder. She started working for the local sporting goods supplier right out of college and is currently the Director of Marketing. She has been hearing that the company is not doing very well and layoffs could occur. This is causing her stress and worry during her daily work. She has tried to stay focused, but her emotional mood is not getting any better.
Over the past weekend, she ran into a co-worker who was also laid off over six months ago. He painted a horrific image of the job market, which further panicked Rita. She tried to get reassurance from her boss about her job security, but he just seemed to give her the runaround.
Q.4. Do values differ across generations and cultures? How so? Explain.
Answer
There is a serious new problem in the most environments, and it has nothing to do with crime, employment or finance. Instead, it is the problem of distinct generations attempting to work together and often colliding as their paths cross. Individuals with different values, different ideas, different ways of getting things done and different ways of communicating in every area of society have always existed. So, why is this becoming a problem now? The definition of value chosen for this purpose was illustrated by Schwartz, “desirable, trans-situational goals Money does not necessarily motivate members of this generation, but the absence of money might lead them to lose motivation. They can tolerate work as long as it is fun, like to be entrepreneurial and creative. Although they are individualistic, they may also like teamwork, more so than boomers (Karp et al., 2002). Looking at their financial value, one can safely class them to be more conservative in spending. They like to invest in safe and profitable returns but, are very cautious about utilizing their money. Memories of the veteran attitude towards financial awareness spend only where needed and save the rest for glooming days.
What Are Generations?
Each one of us is a part of a generation, or a group of individuals living at the same period of time. That time frame, or period of time, is usually considered to be roughly 30 years, primarily because that is enough time for individuals to grow up and have children of their own, thus starting the next generation. That time frame can be as low as 23 years, depending on the situation.
A generation typically shares values and viewpoints of the world, and as a new generation comes along, those values and viewpoints change. This means that every generation looks at the world differently. Regardless of the generation you are in, you’ll have different values shaped by what your generation experiences. Those values, in turn, will shape your place in the workforce.
The Different Generations Identified
Now that we understand what generations are as a definition, we need to understand what time frames they cover and what the characteristics of each generation are. There are four basic generations that we can recognize and discuss:
Traditionalists: Over the years, this generation has become the result of blending the Greatest Generation (1901 – 1924) and the Silent Generation (1925 – 1945). Traditionalists experienced things like the tail end of the Great Depression and the two World Wars. They experienced tough times when younger but began to see some prosperity toward the end of the period.
What are the differences between the generations?
Generation X. Born: 1965-1976 (or 1979 according to some sources). Coming of Age: 1988-1994.
Generation Y or Millennials. Born: 1977-1997. Coming of Age: 1998-2006.
Generation Z. Born: After 1998. Coming of Age: 2013-2020 Current.
Baby Boomers: Many of us have heard this term used, and it relates to the generation born between 1946 and 1964. Baby Boomers are individuals that were born during a period of increased birth rates following World War II. Their experiences helped to shape our country; issues such as the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War, and the emergence and development of civil rights also shaped how these individuals think and view the world.
Generation X: Gen Xers, as they are called, are individuals born from 1965 to 1980. These individuals experienced, in many ways, a very tumultuous time, with the issues of the day being things such as Watergate, the development of ‘latchkey kids’ (children who came home from school and did not have a parent home when they got there due to dual-income families), and the energy crisis.
Millennials: Millennials, sometimes called Generation Y, were born during the time frame of 1980 to the year 2000. They saw an explosion in technology but also saw many issues of the day that most certainly impacted how they view the world, including issues such as AIDS, school shootings, and terrorist attacks.
As we look at these generations, it could be argued they have many things in common such as war or terrorism or sexual revolution or AIDS, but the fact is each of these generations look at the world very differently than the next due to what they experienced in their formative years to their young adult years. What each experienced shaped who they are as individuals, and in many ways, those experiences are what define the generation gap that is prevalent between generations.
What Are the Values of Different Generations?
Just like different issues or aspects of life shaped each generation’s viewpoint of the world, it also shaped and molded the values of each generation. It is not hard to understand that if you grew up during world war, you would have a very different set of values than if you grew up during the digital age and of cellular phones. Those different values are what make each generation unique. Some of the values that we can identify for each generation are:
Traditionalists: Adherence to rules, discipline, family focus, hard work, and trust in the government
Baby Boomers: Anti-war, anti-government, equal rights, involvement, and personal gratification
Generation X: Balance, diversity, lack of loyalty to an organization, and a global mindset
Millennials: Achievement, fun, civic duty, sociability, and self-confidence
So as you can see, while there might be some similarity between the values of different generations, the main glaring issue is how different each generation’s values are. The variance in values is another driver of the generation gap.
Q5 What is perception, and what factors influence our perception?
Answer
What is Perception
Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside of conscious awareness.
According to Joseph Reitz; “Perception includes all those processes by which an individual receives information about his environment—seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting and smelling.” According to B. V. H. Gilmer, “Perception is the process of becoming aware of situations, of adding meaningful associations to sensations.” Uday Pareek said perception can be defined as “the process of receiving, selecting, organizing, interpreting, checking, and reacting to sensory stimuli or data.”
According to S. P. Robbins, perception can be defined as “the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environments.” Perception includes the 5 senses; touch, sight, taste smell and sound. It also includes what is known as perception, a set of senses involving the ability to detect changes in body positions and movements.
It also involves the- cognitive processes required to process information, such as recognizing the face of a friend or detecting a familiar perfume.
The study of these perpetual processes shows that their functioning is affected by three classes of variables—the objects or events being perceived, the environment in which perception occurs and the individual doing the perceiving.
In simple words, we can say that perception is the act of seeing what is there to be seen.
But what is seen is influenced by the perceiver, the object and its environment. The meaning of perception emphasizes all these three points.
Importance of Perception
Perception is a subjective, active and creative process through which we assign meaning to sensory information to understand ourselves and others. It can be defined as our recognition and interpretation of sensory information. It also includes how we respond to the information.
It is the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external world by means of the sensory receptors. It is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both the recognition of environmental stimelements of the environment that are critical to our survival.
Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us; it allows us to act within our environment.
Perceptionisveryimportantinunderstandinghumanbehaviorbecauseeverypersonperceivestheworldandapproacheslifeproblemsdifferently.Whateverweseeorfeelisnotnecessarilythesameasitreallyis.Whenwebuysomething,itisnotbecauseitisthebest,butbecausewetakeittobethebest.
Ifpeoplebehaveonthebasisoftheirperception,wecanpredicttheirbehaviorinthechangedcircumstancesbyunderstandingtheirpresentperceptionoftheenvironment.Onepersonmaybeviewingthefactsinonewaywhichmaybedifferentfromthefactsasseenbyanotherviewer.
Withthehelpofperception,theneedsofvariouspeoplecanbedetermined,becausepeople’sperceptionisinfluencedbytheirneeds.
Perceptionisveryimportantforthemanagerwhowantstoavoidmakingerrorswhendealingwithpeopleandeventsintheworksetting.Thisproblemismademorecomplicatedbythefactthatdifferentpeopleperceivethesamesituationdifferently.Inordertodealwiththesubordinateseffectively,themanagersmustunderstandtheirperceptionsproperly.
Perceptioncanbeimportantbecauseitoffersmorethanobjectiveoutput;itingestsanobservationandmanufacturesanalteredrealityenrichedwithpreviousexperiences.
Perceptionbuildscharacter(notnecessarilygoodorbadcharacter)thatdefinesdifferentrolesindividualsfallintotheclown,thehypocrite,theself-righteous,thevictim,etc..
Itisvitallyimportantifwewanttogetalongwithotherstotrytoseethingsfromtheirperspectiveorwalkintheirshoesforawhile.Ifwewalkintheirshoeswewillgainanewperspectiveaboutthingsandinthatunderstandtheotherandalsocanloveandhelptheothermoreappropriately.
Thus,forunderstandinghumanbehavior,itisveryimportanttounderstandtheirperception,thatis,howtheyperceivethedifferentsituations.
People’sbehaviorisbasedontheirperceptionsofwhatrealityis,notonrealityitself.Theworldasitisperceivedistheworldthatisimportantforunderstandinghumanbehavior.uli and actions in response to these stimuli.
Through the perceptual process, we gain information about the properties and
Factors Affecting Perception
Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture. Perception depends not only on the physical stimuli but also on the stimuli’s relation to the surrounding field and on conditions within the individual. Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory perceives in order to give meaning to their environment.
However, what one perceives can be substantially different from objective reality. It is the process through which the information from the outside environment is selected, received, organized and interpreted to make it meaningful.
This input of meaningful information results in decisions and actions. A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can reside in the perceiver in the object or target being perceived, or in the context of the situation in which the perception is made.
When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees, that interpretation is heavily influenced by the personal characteristics of the individual perceiver. Personal characteristics that affect perception include a person’s attitudes, personality, motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations.
There are some factors that influence the target such as- novelty, motion, sounds, size, background, proximity, similarity, etc.
Characteristics of the target being observed can affect what is perceived. Because targets are not looked at in isolation, the relationship of a target to its background also influences perception, as does our tendency to group close things and similar things together.
There are also some situational factors like the time of perceiving others, work settings, social settings, etc. which influence the perception process.
Besides these, there are some other factors like perceptual learning which is based on past experiences or any special training that we get, every one of us learns to emphasize some sensory inputs and to ignore others.
Another factor is the mental set, which refers to preparedness or readiness to receive some sensory input.
Such expectancy keeps the individual prepared with good attention and concentration. The level of knowledge we have may also change the way we perceive his or her behaviors.
For example;
if a person knows that her friend is stressed out over family problems then she might overlook her snappy comments. Learning has a considerable influence on perception.
It creates expectancy in people. The nature of the things which have to be perceived is also an influential factor. By nature we mean, whether the object is visual or auditory, and whether it involves pictures, people or animals.
Perception is determined by both physiological and psychological characteristics of the human being whereas sensation is conceived with only the physiological features.
Thus, perception is not just what one sees with the eyes it is a much more complex process by which an individual selectively absorbs or assimilates the stimuli in the environment, cognitively organizes the perceived information in a specific fashion and then interprets the information to make an assessment about what is going on in one’s environment.
When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees, that interpretation is heavily influenced by the personal characteristics of the individual perceiver.
Personal characteristics that, affect perception included a person’s attitudes, personality motives interest, past experiences, and expectations.
Perceptual Process
The perceptual process allows us to experience the world around us.
In this overview of perception and the perceptual process, we will learn more about how we go from detecting stimuli in the environment to actually taking action based on that information and it can be organized into our existing structures and patterns, and are then interpreted based on previous experiences.
Although the perception is a largely cognitive and psychological process, how we perceive the people and objects around us affects our communication.
Actually perception process is a sequence of steps that begins with the environment and leads to our perception of a stimulus and action in response to the stimulus.
In order to fully understand how the perception process works, we have to follow each of the following steps.
3 stages of perception process are;
Selection.
Organization.
Interpretation.
Selection
The world around us is filled with an infinite number of stimuli that we might attend, but our brains do not have the resources to pay attention to everything.
Thus, the first step of perception is the decision of what to attend to.
When we attend to one specific thing in our environment — whether it is a smell, a feeling, a sound, or something else entirely — it becomes the attended stimulus.
Selecting is the first part of the perception process, in which we focus our attention on certain incoming sensory information. In selection, we choose stimuli that attract our attention.
We focus on the ones that stand out to our senses (sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch). We take information through all five of our senses, but our perceptual field includes so many stimuli that it is impossible for our brains to process and make sense
