HumOrg Notes.docx

Whatever size, scope or location of an organization, the reality is that they are composed of **people.** It is this people and the results of their behaviors that can direct the success or failure of an **organization**. Therefore, it is vital for organization to **understand** those people who wor...

Whatever size, scope or location of an organization, the reality is that they are composed of **people.** It is this people and the results of their behaviors that can direct the success or failure of an **organization**. Therefore, it is vital for organization to **understand** those people who work from them. The study of the organizations and those people who work for them comprises organizational behavior. **Foundations and Basic Assumptions of OB** An **organization** is a collection of individuals forming synchronized system of specialized activities for the rationale of realizing goals over some extended period of time. On the other hand, **organizational behavior** is the field of study concerned with describing, understanding, predicting, and controlling individual and group human behavior in an organizational setting where they work. It deals with what people think, feel and do in the organization. **Importance of OB** OB can be beneficial in the following ways: - - - - - - - - **Challenges of OB** - - - - - - - - **Workplace Diversity** Meaning **Diversity** is simply differences. **Workplace diversity** is a characteristic of a group of people inside the organization where differences exist on one or more relevant dimensions like gender, age, religion, race, social class, sexual orientation, personality, functional experience or geographical background. It is the otherness or those human qualities that are unique from what the individual owns and outside the groups, to which he belongs, yet present in other individuals and groups. **Dimensions of Workplace Diversity** Primary- outer part Secondary- inner part **Benefits of Workplace Diversity** Having a diverse workforce and managing it effectively have the potential to bring about a number of benefits to organizations. Here are the benefits of workplace diversity: - - - - - - - - **Roadblock to Workplace Diversity** Successful diversity management can be effective through inclusion. Inclusion can help create high-performing organizations, where all individuals feel engaged and their contributions toward meeting organizational goals are respected and valued. In other words, inclusion is how diversity can be leveraged. However, there are diversity roadblocks that need to be addressed to avoid the entire diversity and inclusion agenda being hindered. They are the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. - - - - 6. **Effectively Creating and Managing Workplace Diversity** What can organizations do to manage diversity more effectively? In this section, a review of research findings and the best practices from different companies to create a diverse yet effective workplace is listed. Here's the list of suggestions for organizations: - - - - - 1. 2. 3. 4. M2 \ Every workplace behavior cannot be understood without considering the concepts of personality, ability, attitudes and values. Personality, ability, attitudes and values are important individual characteristics that can influence work performance. They are also important concepts for predicting and changing behavior in the organizational settings. Managers who overlook these variables do themselves, their employees and their organizations a disservice. Personality at Work Personality encompasses the relatively stable feelings, thoughts, and behavioral patterns that have been formed significantly by genetic and environmental factors which give an individual his identity. An individual's personality differentiates him from other people. Understanding someone's personality offers clues about how that person is expected to act and feel in a variety of situations. In order to successfully manage organizational behavior, an understanding of different employees' personalities is useful. Having this knowledge is also practical for placing people in the right jobs and organizations. Most aspects of personality formation, development and expression are not completely understood. Most experts agree that personality is a product of both nature and nurture. Nature means the genetic or hereditary origins of a person. The genetic makeup has been inherited from the mother and father of the individual. Genetic factors account for almost 50% of the differences in behavior and 30% in determining temperament. This means the genetic code does not only determine the person's eye color, skin tone and physical shape but also personality. **Heredity** is not the only factor that influences personality. Personality is affected heavily too by nurture. **Nurture** consists of the person's socialization, life experiences and other forms of interaction in the environment. **Family relationship** which consists of the experiences of a person has with parents, siblings and other family members is a significant force in nurture. How an individual's parents expressed their feelings, how many siblings a person has, in what order he was born and the grandparents' role in his upbringing are forces that could greatly shaped the personality of a person. **Social class** could also shape personality. **The community where a child grows up** is the environment in which he learns about life. Social class determines a person's self-perception, perception of others and perception about work, authority and money. Managers must understand social class to avoid organizational problems on adjustment, quality of work life and dissatisfaction. **Culture** is another significant factor in shaping personality. The impact of culture in an individual's personality happens gradually and at times leaves no choice but to accept. The stable functioning of a society demands shared behavior amongst members. This means there must be common personality characteristics in order to institutionalize various patterns of behavior. **Other Personality Traits in the Workplace** 1. 2. 3. 4. **Ability** Ability is a person's talent to perform a mental or physical task. It includes both the **natural aptitudes** and the **learned capabilities** needed to productively finish a task. **Aptitudes** are the natural talents that aid employees in learning specific task more speedily and execute them better. **Learned capabilities** are the skills and knowledge that a person currently has. They tend to diminish over time when not in use. The following abilities have been discovered to help differentiate between higher and lower performers in the workplace: mental ability, emotional intelligence, tacit knowledge and physical ability. 1. Mental ability also known as intelligence is a better predictor of training proficiency and job success when selecting candidates for a position. **Mental Ability** is the acquisition and application of knowledge on solving problems. There are several types of mental abilities namely: - - - - - 2. Physical Ability is performing job-related tasks requiring manual labor or physical skill. Jobs that require this ability are structural iron and steel workers, tractor trailer and heavy equipment drivers, farm workers and firefighters. 3. Emotional Intelligence is the handling of relationships and interactions with others. It has four basic components namely: - - - - 4. Tacit Knowledge also called informal knowledge is the unwritten, unspoken, and hidden vast storehouse of work-related practical know-how that employees acquire based on his or her emotions, experiences, insights, intuition, observations and internalized information. Here are some **examples of tacit knowledge** critical to business that is difficult to write down, visualize and teach: - - - - - - - - - - 5. An attitude is a persistent mental state of readiness to feel and behave in a favorable or unfavorable manner about a particular person, object or idea. **Three significant conclusions** could be taken from the definition which are: 1. 2. 3. **6. Attitude Formation** Personal values, experiences and personalities are some forces that could form attitudes. It is significant to know the structure of an attitude in order to see how attitudes are formed and could be changed. There are **three important components of an attitude** namely: 1. 2. 3. **Two Important Attitudes in the Workplace** **Job Satisfaction** - is the degree of gratification or fulfillment of an employee in his work. Personal factors like needs and aspirations determine are drivers of job satisfaction. **Organizational Commitment** - mirrors the identification and attachment of an individual to the organization. A highly committed employee would see himself as a true member of the organization, would ignore negligible sources of dissatisfaction, and would have intention to stay in the job. **7. Values** Values refer to stable and evaluative life goals that people have, reflecting what is most important to them. **Types of Values** Instrumental values can be defined as specific methods of behavior. Instrumental values are not an end goal, but rather provide the means by which an end goal is accomplished. The **instrumental values** include: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The end goals that people strive to achieve and are most important to us are known as terminal values. Terminal values are the overall goals that people hope to achieve in their lifetime. Terminal values include inner harmony, social recognition, and a world of beauty. Here is the list of the **18 terminal values** which are: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **8. Self-concept, Perceptions and Attributions** Self-concept refers to how a person thinks about, evaluates or perceives himself. There are **three conceptual dimensions** of self-concept which influences a person's adaptability and well-being. They are: 1. 2. 3. **9. Self-Enhancement** Self-enhancement is a desire to magnify positive aspects of self-conceptions while isolating oneself from negative feedback and information. **10. Self-verification** Self-verification assumes that people work to preserve their self-views by seeking to confirm them. It stabilizes a person's self-concept which helps guide his thought and actions. Self-verification has numerous **implications in organizational behavior**, which are: - - - **11. Self-Evaluation** Self-evaluation is an individual's honest and objective assessment of himself. It is usually defined by **three concepts** which are self-esteem, self-efficacy and locus of control. - - - **12. Self-Monitoring** Self-monitoring refers to the level to which a person is able of checking his actions and appearance in social situations. **13. Perceptions** Perception is an intellectual process by which an individual selects, organizes and provides meaning to the world around him. **14. Visual Perception** Visual Perception is the ability to interpret the surrounding environment by processing information that is contained in visible light. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight, or vision (adjectival form: visual, optical, or ocular). **15. Social Perception** Social perception is the study of how people form impressions of and make inferences about other people. **16. Attributions** Attribution is the process through which individuals link behavior to its causes to the intentions, dispositions and events that explain why people act the way they do. It is simply the process of attaching or attributing causes or reasons to the actions and events people see. Attribution theory can be divided up into two different sections, **internal and external attributes.** **Internal attributes** mean that the behavior is being caused by something inside the person. Conversely, **external attributes** point to the cause of the behavior to be the situation, not the person. M3 The concept of **motivation** plays an important role in analyzing and explaining the behavior. **Motivation** means inspiring the personnel/workers/employee with an enthusiasm to work for the accomplishment of the objectives of the organizations. Thus, a manager has to motivate his workers to perform in order to get things done. Giving well organized and understandable instructions and orders does not mean that they will be followed. An unsatisfied need is the starting pint of motivation process and becomes the primary connection in the chain of events leading to behavior. The unsatisfied need leads the individual to execute behavior to satisfy the need. Attaining the goal satisfies the need and the process of motivation is complete. One of the **major faults** people make when trying to motivate others is not taking their individual needs into concern. If a manager wants to motivate more than one employee than he has to do his best to sit with which person individually to know more about his needs. People grew up trying to either repeat the favorable conditions they used to live in when they were children or either flees from the unfavorable situations they used to live in. Therefore, the ideal approach **to motivate a person is to know his individual needs first then present him a reward that either:** - - **Content Approaches** Motivation is a complex phenomenon. Several theories attempt to explain how motivation works. In management circles, probably the most popular explanations of motivation are based on the needs of the individual. The basic needs model, referred to as **content theory of motivation**, highlights the specification factors that motivate an individual. The content approaches center on the factors **within the individual** which rejuvenate, direct, sustain, and stop behavior. These approaches try to determine the particular needs that motivate or inspire people which have an influence on managerial practices. They are: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Aldefer's ERG Theory, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory and McClelland's Learned Needs Theory. **Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs** **Abraham Maslow** defined **need as a physiological or psychological deficiency that a person feels the compulsion to satisfy.** This need can create tensions that can influence a person's work attitudes and behaviors. Maslow formed a theory based on his definition of need that proposes that humans are motivated by multiple needs and that these needs exist in a hierarchical order. His premise is that only an unsatisfied need can influence behavior; a satisfied need is not a motivator. **Maslow's theory** is based on the following **two principles:** - - Examples of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  The **levels of motivatio**n are the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. **Aldefer's ERG Theory** **Clayton Aldefer's ERG** (**Existence, Relatedness, and Growth**) theory is built upon Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory. To begin his theory; Alderfer collapses Maslow's five levels of needs into three categories. 1. 2. 3. This approach proposes that unsatisfied needs motivate behavior, and that as lower level needs are satisfied, they become less important. Higher level needs, though, become more important as they are satisfied, and these needs are not met, a person may move down the hierarchy, which Alderfer calls the **frustration-regression principle.** Frustration-regression principle means that an already satisfied lower level need can become reactivated and influence behavior when a higher level need cannot be satisfied. As a result, managers should provide opportunities for workers to capitalize on the importance of higher level needs. **Herzberg's two Factor Theory** **Frederick Herzberg** offers another framework for understanding the motivational implications of work environments. In his two-factor theory, Herzberg identifies **two sets of factors that impact motivation in the workplace.** 1. 2. So, **hygiene factors determine dissatisfaction**, and **motivators determine satisfaction.** The two scales are independent, and you can be high on both. Following Herzberg's two-factor theory, managers need to ensure that hygiene factors are adequate and then build satisfiers into jobs. **McClelland's Learned Needs Theory** **David McClelland's** acquired needs theory recognizes that everyone prioritizes needs differently. He also believes that individuals are not born with these needs, but that they are actually learned through life experiences. McClelland identifies **three specific needs:** 1\. **Need for achievement is the drive to excel.** High achievers differentiate themselves from others by their desire to do things better. These individuals are strongly motivated by job situations with personal responsibility. Feedback, and an intermediate degree of risk. In addition, **high achievers often exhibit the following behaviors:** - - - 2\. **Need for power is the desire to cause others to behave in a way that they would not have behaved otherwise.** An individual with a high need of power is likely to follow a path of continued promotion over time. Individuals with a **high need of power often demonstrate the following behaviors:** - - - - 3\. **Need for affiliation is the desire for friendly, close interpersonal relationships and conflict avoidance.** People with the need for affiliation seek companionship, social approval, and satisfying interpersonal relationships. **People needing affiliation display the following behaviors:** - - - - - **Process Approaches** Process approaches are concerned with **"how" motivation happens.** They provide a description and analysis of how behavior is energized, directed, sustained and stopped. In other words, it explains how an employee's behavior is initiated, redirected and halted. **Implications of process theories include the following:** - - **Expectancy Theory** Expectancy Theory argues that humans act according to their conscious expectations that a particular behavior will lead to specific desirable goals. **Victor H. Vroom**, developed the expectancy theory in **1964**, producing a systematic explanatory theory of workplace motivation. Here is the **equation** suggests that human behavior is directed by subjective probability. Motivation = Expectancy X Instrumentality X Valence Where: - - - - **Equity Theory** Developed by **John Stacey Adams in 1963**, Equity Theory suggests that if the individual perceives that the rewards received are equitable, that is, fair or just in comparison with those received by others in similar positions in or outside the organization, then the individual feels satisfied. Adams identifies **six types of possible behavior as consequences of inequity.** They are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. **Goal-setting Theory** **Edwin Locke proposed Goal theory in 1968**, which proposes that motivation and performance will be high if individuals are set specific goals which are challenging, but accepted, and where feedback is given on performance. The **attributes** that Locke made emphasis in this theory are: - - - - **Job Design Practices That Motivates** Job design has a major impact on employee motivation, job satisfaction, commitment to an organization, absenteeism, and turnover. Obviously, many managers are now giving attention on how to properly design jobs so that employees are more productive and more satisfied. **Job Rotation** Job rotation involves moving employees from job to job at regular intervals. Job rotation has a number of **advantages for organizations**. 1. 2. 3. 4. **Job Enlargement** Job enlargement refers to expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety. By giving employees several different tasks to be performed, as opposed to limiting their activities to a small number of tasks, organizations hope to reduce boredom and monotony as well as utilize human resources more effectively. **Job Enrichment** Job enrichment is a job redesign technique that allows workers more control over how they perform their own tasks. This approach allows employees to take on more responsibility. As an alternative to job specialization, companies using job enrichment may experience positive outcomes, such as reduced turnover, increased productivity and reduced absences. **Empowerment** One of the contemporary approaches to motivating employees through job design is empowerment. The concept of empowerment extends the idea of autonomy. Empowerment is the removal of conditions that make a person powerless. **Structural empowerment** - it refers to the aspects of the work environment that give employees discretion and autonomy, and enable them to do their jobs effectively. The idea is that the presence of certain structural factors helps process starts with structure that leads to felt empowerment. **Here are some tips for empowering employees:** - - - - - **Flexible Working Arrangements** Flexible working arrangements refer to alternative arrangements or schedules other than the traditional or standard work hours, workdays and workweek. The effectivity and implementation of any of the flexible work arrangements shall be based on **voluntary agreements** between the employer and the employees. Flexible work arrangements can take any number of **forms**: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. **Performance Appraisals, Feedback, and Rewards** **Performance Appraisal** Performance appraisal deals with how organizations evaluate and measures its employees' achievements and behaviors. It is an **employee review by his manage**r where his work performance is evaluated and strengths and weaknesses are identified so that the employee knows his improvement areas. Performance appraisal is the right time to set new goals and objectives for the employees. **Purposes of Performance Appraisals** Effective performance appraisal systems contain **two basic systems operating in combination: an evaluation system and a feedback system.** The main aim of the **evaluation system** is to identify the performance gap. this gap is the shortfall that occurs when performance does not the standard set by the organization as acceptable. The main aim of the **feedback system** is to inform the employee about the quality of his performance. (However, the information flow is not exclusively one way. the appraiser also receives feedback from the employee about job problems.) **Purposes of performance appraisal include:** 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. **Types of Performance Appraisals** Here are different variations of performance appraisal systems, they are: I. Self-evaluations are a great way to kick-off reviews. A self-evaluation is when the employee is asked to judge their own performance against predetermined criteria. The advantage of this kind of an appraisal is that the employee is allowed to give his input into his performance appraisal, and the company can use this self-appraisal along with the standard appraisal to give a more rounded employee review. The disadvantage is that an employee may not be able to evaluate their own performance objectively, giving himself an artificially high performance grade and making the self-appraisal less valuable. **Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)** It has a list of criteria that an employee should workup to be a diligent worker. The behaviors differ according to the type of job been assessed. This method is considered favorable as the evaluation is done on the basis of individual employee performance without comparisons. The following chart represents an example of a sale's trainee's competence and a behaviorally anchored rating scale. An example of behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) **The 360 Degree Approach** Involves feedback of the manager, supervisor, team members and any direct reports. It is a powerful developmental method and quite different and to traditional manager-subordinate appraisals. **What a 360 feedback survey measures:** - - - - **What a 360 feedback surveys do not assess:** - - - - **Management by Objective (MBO)** Management by objective is a type of evaluation which falls under modern approach of performance appraisal. This method, often called MBO, is designed to include employees in the goal-setting process and define "success" by measuring accomplishments against a clearly established set of objectives. In MBO method of performance appraisal, manager and the employee agree upon specific and obtainable goals with a set deadline. This method is simple, clear, and empowers employees in the goal setting process but it disregards non-goal related success metrics. **Forced Distribution** Forced distribution is a form of comparative evaluation in which an evaluator rates subordinates according to a specified distribution. Unlike ranking methods, forced distribution is frequently applied to several rather than only one component of job performance. **Graphic Rating Scale** Rating scale is probably the most common performance appraisal method. The rating scale methodology requires an employer to develop an in-depth grading system similar to the way students in school are assessed. This graphic rating scale is then used to evaluate an employer in terms of success within a variety of areas such as technical skill se, teamwork and communication skills. **Critical Incident Method** The critical incident method allows supervisors to describe an employee's excellent or poor response to situations arising during the year in question. This method keeps answers open-ended, flexible, multi-dimensional and respectful in context. **Paired Comparison Analysis** Paired comparison analysis relies on a grid that presents numerical values for each employee based on established set of criteria. After the values are collected, they can be reviewed against other values presented in the same format and affected by the same factors. **Ranking** Ranking method compare one employee to another, resulting in an ordering of employees in relation to one another. Rankings often result in overall assessments of employees, rather in specific judgments about a number of job components. **Essay Method** The essay method involves an evaluator's written report appraising an employee's performance, usually in terms of job-behaviors and/or results. **Improving Performance Appraisals** Here are more meaningful and effective ways of improving performance appraisals: - - - Skills should include: - - - - - - - - - - - **Performance Appraisal Feedback** Performance appraisal feedback is always easier to give (and receive) if managers have followed a structured process of: - - - **Effectiveness of Performance Appraisals Feedback** Feedback can come from many different sources like managers and supervisors, measurement systems, peers, and customers. however, certain **elements** are needed to ensure its effectiveness, which are: - - - **Reinforcement Theory** Reinforcement theory of motivation was proposed by **BF Skinner** and his associates. It states that the individual's behavior is a function of its consequences. It is based on **"law of effect"**. Individual's behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated, but individual's behavior with negative consequences tends not to be repeated. The managers use the following methods for controlling the behavior of the employees: - - - - **Employee Rewards Programs** Managers who are developing, revamping or currently using rewards program should consider these **tips:** - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **Intrinsic Motivation** Is internal to the person in that it is something that has to be offered to oneself and is **driven by personal interest or enjoyment in the work itself.** **Extrinsic Motivation** Is based on tangible rewards. Is external to the individual and is typically offered by a supervisor or manager who holds all the power in relation to when extrinsic rewards are offered and in what amount. **Innovative Rewards System** There are **seven different approaches to rewards** that are not yet widely tested but are being considered by managers. They are the following: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.