Organization Behavior

IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Table of Content

Table of Content .................................................................................................................... 1 1.0

Chapter 01: Question 01 ............................................................................................. 2

1.1 Elements of Organizational Behavior ........................................................................ 2 1.2 Learning Organizational Behavior ............................................................................. 2 2.0

Chapter 02: Question 03 ............................................................................................. 4

2.1 Cognitive Framework ................................................................................................ 5 2.2 Behavioristic Framework ........................................................................................... 7 2.3 Social Cognitive Framework ..................................................................................... 9 2.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 10 3.0

Chapter 03: Question 04 ........................................................................................... 11

3.1 New Conceptual Framework ................................................................................... 11 Chapter 04: Reference.......................................................................................................... 15 Appendices ........................................................................................................................... 17

Organizational Behavior

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1.0 Chapter 01: Question 01 Organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people as individuals and as groups act within organizations. In addition it can be explained as the understanding, management of employees and prediction (individuals/groups) in an organization. Organizations Theory, Organization Development and Human resources management is related to Organizational Behavior.

1.1 Elements of Organizational Behavior Organizaion's Base

Philosophy

Values

Vision

Goals

Figure 1: Elements of OB [Source: Hackman & Oldham's Five Dimensions of Motivating Potential]

1.2 Learning Organizational Behavior Generally management skills, technical skills and human conceptual skills are essential for managers to effectively achieve their goals. By listening to various people, questioning, observing and by the common sense, individuals tend to develop generalization. And generalization is used to define/explain or to forecast the behavior of others.

Now a days managers deal with variety of opportunities as well as challenges. There are many factors that formulate challenges for the managers. They are listed below. And the ultimate goal of organizational behavior is to help to overcome these challenges and take suitable measures for the managers.

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Technology Quality Ethics Globalization Diversity Figure 2: Challenges of a Manager [Source: Center for Management Research]

The following text contains the real life usability of the study of Organizational behavior.

As mentioned above major skills needed as manager are Management skills, technical skills and human conceptual skills.

Lot of managers fails to manage when there is a huge diversity within the organization.

And also there is a possibility of arising problem between employees/ employee groups because of the diversity. Therefore manager has to have the ability to understand the value of each type of the employee and use it for the success of the company. By knowing the OB (Organizational Behavior) managers will have the ability to recognize each employee and the culture and use it for the benefit.

And to find the most effective way to credit the employees of the company is a tough job for most of the managers. How to praise and motivate the best employee, how to motivate a team, how not to let go weak performers and motivate them for better results are some of the major issues. In the subject Organizational Behavior it contains frameworks and methods that can use in such situations to overcome the problems.

Knowing about the employees and the behavior in the organization is utmost important.

Therefore OB (Organizational Behavior) as a subject is very important subject for managers.

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2.0 Chapter 02: Question 03 The three Frameworks to be analyzed are Cognitive Framework, Behavioristic Framework, and Social Cognitive Framework. These frameworks are highly used in organizations.

Choosing the correct framework is totally depend on the choice of the high management, director board and done according to the structure of the company. The main purpose of these framework is to develop the individual’s/group’s psychology in-order to get the maximum out of the employees towards the company.

Cognitive Behavioristic

Framework

Framework

Social Cognitive Framework

Productivity Figure 3: Frameworks

As above the main purpose of all three frameworks are to increase the productivity of the company.

Explanations of the above frameworks and pros and cons are discussed in the below chapter briefly.

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2.1 Cognitive Framework “Edward Tolman” Contributed a lot towards this framework. According to Tolaman “learning consists of the expectancy that a particular event will lead to a particular consequence.” (Edward Tolman, 1948).

In this framework the individual/group knows the target or the consequences of some set of actions and also the behavior need to reach it. This accentuates the freewill phase of the individual which is positive. This method makes the individual use his/her unique thinking, problem solving skills, perception and also the processing of information.

In Organizational Behavior (OB), cognitive framework controls attitudes of individuals as well as personality factors, motivation and decision making factors as shown below.

Perception

Goal Setting

Personality

Decision Making

Attitudes

Motivation Figure 4: Dominations of Cognitive Approach

Cognitive Framework is very usable organizational framework and it is used in many organizations in Sri Lanka. There are many advantages of using it in Sri Lanka. One of the main reasons is, Cognitive framework is one of the best methods to give credit to the employees (Individual/Group). If the goal is achieved by the employee and if the Organizational Behavior

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performance is very good the management can evaluate them very well and can give credits. Commissions, merits (Credits) are some of the methods used to give credits. In the divisions of sales, marketing in Sri Lankan organizations they use this method to give credit to the employees.

By this method the employees get highly motivated.

There are some disadvantages of this method as well. If the specific employee/ employee group does not reach the goals on time there will not be any benefits. And there will not be any evaluation for the employee to train and to reach the goal next time. Therefore the employee could get de-motivated. This is the main disadvantage of this system, and there is no technique to learn from the others or the environment in this framework.

2.1.1 Application in Sri Lankan Organizational Context

This framework is used in many organizations in Sri Lanka. The method of applying in the organizations in Sri Lanka is as follows.

All the targets/ Goals are set for the employees. Generally this is done by the higher management. And the methods to use for the accomplishment of the goals are defined. In the given time period goals has to be achieved. And the end of the time period evaluation is done for the employees/employee groups and credits are given for the employees.

In the context of OpenArc software Solutions/ School of Computing, this method is not being used in the whole company but in some departments. In the Sales and Marketing department this method is highly used.

For the marketing executives and managers, goals are set and given time period to achieve them. At the end according to the achievements of the goals credits are given and commissions are decided.

In the context of Air Tel this method is used in departments that are outsourced.

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2.2 Behavioristic Framework Behavioristic framework is about the behaviors of an individual. The explanation is done using the concept of “Stimulus and Response� (Ivan Pavlov & John B.Watson, N/A). And it is also called the (S-R). The modern studies were started when the B.F Skinner start the further studies of Behavioristic framework.

Skinner did experiments with rats using the method of reinforcement. The rat was given 2 buttons to press and if one of them was pressed the rat received the food and if the other button is pressed the rat received an electric shock. By the positive reinforcement the rat learned to repeat the specific action and by the negative reinforcement the rat learned to not to repeat the action.

The same theory is applied for the dogs and other animals too. By all the experiments got good results. And it is applied for the humans and results were positive.

This is applicable in organizations for the employees for better result. In an organization the behavior of the employee will lead himself/herself for the consequences of it. If the behavior is positive for the organization the feedback to the individual is positive and if the behavior is negative the feedback to the individual is negative.

Positive Behavior

Positive Outcome for Employee Figure 5: Behavioristic Framework

Negative Behavior

NegativeOutcome for Employee Figure 5: Behavioristic Framework

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This framework is used in Sri Lankan organizational context. There are advantages as well as disadvantages of using this framework in Sri Lanka.

By this framework it punishes the employee by the negative behavior the individual is automatically motivated to follow the positive behavior. And the individual (employee/group of employees) who behave positively always get the benefits and by the benefits the individual gets motivated automatically.

There are disadvantages in this method as well. When the employee gets punished for a specific behavior using negative reinforcement the individual/group could be de-motivated.

And there is not method of learning from the others who are successful by the environment it self.

2.2.1 Application in Sri Lankan Organizational Context

In Sri Lanka there are some institutes which this framework is highly used. In most of the BPO companies in Sri Lanka use this concept as the organizational framework. And in some companies’ customer service division use this concept.

In the customer service and BPO companies they use the processes like monthly quality evaluation and other types of evaluations for this purpose. If the specific employee (individual/group) perform up to the standard they are given merits/commissions and other benefits. And if the employee did not perform up to the standard they are given de-merits or less commission.

The main disadvantage of this framework is by applying this, the employee face huge stress because of the consequences and that leads to less productivity and the quality.

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2.3 Social Cognitive Framework Social Cognitive is a framework which is a combination of cognitive framework and Behavioristic framework. In this the person/individual and the environment does not act as separate units. Therefore in this framework, Environmental factors, Behavior, Personal factors depend on each other and related with each other. “The environment provides models for behavior. Observational learning occurs when a person watches the actions of another person and the reinforcements that the person receives� (Bandura, 1997)

Environmental Factors Personal

Behavior

Factors

Social Cognitive Framework Figure 6: Social Cognitive Framework Dependencies

In Social cognitive theory the employee gets the chance to learn and improve himself/herself by the environment itself. If the employee is performing in poor manor and the other employees who are working with him/her are performing very well the specific employee tends to learn from the high performing employees automatically. The environment helps him/her to improve the skills.

This is highly useful method used in Sri Lanka and most of the organizations tend to use this method in their organizations.

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2.3.1 Application in Sri Lankan Organizational Context

This technique is highly used in Sri Lankan organizations. It is mainly because this is highly successful and employees tend to get the necessary training from the environment it self. Even though other techniques cannot be used in whole organization most of the times, this framework can be used in the whole organization it self.

In most of the organizations this technique is used. In the context of OpenArc Software Solutions, this technique is used in sales division. There are some sales teams/individuals that are performing well in the field. As well as employees who does not perform well in the field. And those employees are teamed with the employees who are performing well.

By that way the poor performing employee learns from the high performing employees and help for more sales.

By this method the employee get the learning from the work itself and does not need training. And learning from the work itself is more effective than room training.

2.4 Conclusion

The cognitive theory is very important and it is used in most of the organizations but in some specific divisions. It has advantages and disadvantages of its own. And this is the technique that gives more credit to the employee than any other method.

The Behavioristic framework is also very famous in Sri Lanka. In most of the call centers and BPO organizations uses this technique. But by the end consequences the employee may get stressed.

The third and the best technique is the social cognitive framework. It is a combination of both above two frameworks and it can be used in almost any environment. This framework is a very effective framework and gives positive results.

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3.0 Chapter 03: Question 04 The main target in this question is to develop a conceptual framework using other frameworks available.

Frameworks Available:  Cognitive Framework  Behavioristic Framework  Social-Cognitive Framework  Custodial Model  Supportive Model  Autocratic Model  Collegial Model

3.1 New Conceptual Framework This is a combination of Cognitive, Behavioristic, Social-Cognitive, Autocratic, Collegial and supportive models Definition is in point form as below.

1. Goals are set to each manager/responsibility holder (Cognitive) (Independent) 2. Manager orders the employees to achieve it and define the way of achieving it (Autocratic, Cognitive) (Independent) 3. Each employee will have a record for performance (Behavioristic) (Dependent on the goals) 4. If employee meets the goal he/she will be rewarded (cognitive) 5. If employee does not meet goals he/she will get de-merits (Behavioristic) (depend on goals)

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6. The poor performed employee is put to work with high performed employee for learning (Social Cognitive) (depend on performance) 7. If Employee performs well for long period of time he/she will get promoted (supportive) 8. At the end of the time period if Manager reaches his goal he will be rewarded (Cognitive) 9. All the same level managers have to work together and help each other. (Collegial) 10. If all the managers after helping others achieved the targets they will be rewarded (Social Cognitive)

Set Goals

Managers

Achieve

Do not Achieve

Rewards

De-merits

Continuous achievements

Continuous Failure

promotions

Work with well performers

Figure 7: New Framework

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The dependencies are as explained below.

Achievement

TeamWork, Envionment

behavior

reward system depend on GOALS

Personal Factors of Managers, reward system

benifits, Force on Employees

necessity of Higer Management/Organization

Figure 8: Dependencies

 The final achievement depends on the teamwork, environment of the organization  And above factor depend on the behavior of the employees in the organization  The behavior depend on the benefits for the employees and the force on them from the immediate management  And above depend on the personal factors of the management team and the reward system the organization has for the managers  Reward system depend on the ultimate goals of the organization  Goals of the system depend on the higher management and director board of the organization

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3.1.1 Application of the New Theory

For example this theory can be applied for a sales division. The ultimate goals of the managers or the targets are defined by higher authorities and the management passes them to employees dividing the responsibilities among them equally.

Employees work hard for the achievement of the goals in the specific time. In each wave the employees are evaluated. Poor performed employees are forced to work with high performed employees, therefore they can learn from high performed employees.

At the end of the given time high performed employees are rewarded and some are promoted.

In the meantime managers who are in sales are working with each other for their ultimate goal. They help each other and at the end of the time sales are evaluated. If all the managers reached the goals they are specially rewarded.

This is the example application of the new framework.

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Chapter 04: Reference 2010. Textbook | Understanding Organizational Behavior - Introduction to Organizational Behavior Textbooks, Workbooks Online Store | Business, Management. Case Studies and Management Resources. Available at: http://www.icmrindia.org/courseware/Organizational%20Behavior/OB-DS1.htm [Accessed June 12, 2010].

Alanah Davis, 2006. S o c i a l C o g n i t i v e T h e o r y. Available at: [Accessed July 6, 2010].

Ali E. Akg端n, 2003. Organizational Learning: A Socio-Cognitive Framework. Available at: [Accessed October 6, 2010].

Anna-Katharina Lautensch端tz, 2005. Towards a cognitive conceptual framework of movement. Available at: [Accessed November 6, 2010].

BF Skinner, 1996. Behavioralism, & Language Behavior. , 51 -62.

Deborah Rosch, 1997. Cognitive problem-solving skills training - children, functioning, therapy, adults, used, health, Definition, Purpose, Description, Risks, Results. Available at: http://www.minddisorders.com/Br-Del/Cognitive-problem-solving-skills-training.html [Accessed June 12, 2010].

Glanz et al, 2002. Social Cognitive Theory. Available at: http://www.cw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Health%20Communicati on/Social_cognitive_theory.doc/ [Accessed June 12, 2010].

John R. Austin, 1997. COGNITIVE FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING DEMOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES IN GROUPS. Available at: [Accessed December 6, 2010].

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Luthans, Fred, 2005. Cognitive Framework. In Organizational Behavior. McGraw Hill.

Available at: [Accessed June 6, 2010].

Luthans, Fred, Organizational Behavior McGraw Hill.,

N/A, 2009. What Is Cognitive Framework In Organization? Available at: http://www.blurtit.com/q690362.html [Accessed June 12, 2010].

springer, 2004. Visualizing Argumentation, Available at: [Accessed August 6, 2010].

Susannah B. F. Paletz, 2008. A Social-Cognitive Framework of Multidisciplinary Team Innovation. Available at: [Accessed April 6, 2010].

Tony Fetherston, 2002. A socio-cognitive framework for researching learning with IMM. Available at: [Accessed July 6, 2010]

Yanghee Kim, 2006. A Social-Cognitive Framework for Pedagogical Agents as Learning Companions. Available at: [Accessed October 6, 2010].

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Appendices Sample leadership assessment (demonstrate Behavioristic framework) Area

Leadership Competency

Grade

(Exceptional,

Above average, Average, Below average, poor) Integrity Demonstration

Constructive dialog Encouragement

1. Demonstrate honest and ethical behavior 2. Avoid political/self serving behavior 3. Courageously stand up for what he/she believe in 4. Lead by example 5. Ask people how he/she can improve 6. Genuine listeners 7. Accept positive feed back

shared

8. Communicate clear vision for organization 9. Involve people in the decision making process 10. Identifies priorities 11. Develop strategy to achieve the vision

Developing people

12. Treat people with dignity and respect 13. Ask people what they need for the better performance

Creating vision

Figure 9: Leadership assessment [Source: OpenArc Software Solutions]

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