What is Organisational Behaviour _.docx

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR What is organisational behaviour? This is the field of study that investigates the effect that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving on organisation's effectiveness. Interpers...

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR What is organisational behaviour? This is the field of study that investigates the effect that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving on organisation's effectiveness. Interpersonal skills --The behaviours and tactics a person uses to interact with others effectively. Being able to understand others' emotions and work well with them. Being able to appreciate others, resolving disputes and listening well. Importance of Interpersonal skills in work place Managers need a whole range of skills to create a productive work place, including technical and quantitative skills. However, leadership and communication skills are critical to organisational. When managers have solid interpersonal sk8ills, there are positive work outcomes for the organisation. These outcomes include lower turnover of strong employees, improved recruitment pools for filling employment positions and a better financial performance. Manager's functions, Roles Skills - Manager; Someone who gets things done through other people in organisations. - Organisation: A consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. - Planning, Organising, Leading, and Controlling are some of the functions most often studied. MANAGERIAL ROLES 1. Interpersonal -- Symbolic head: required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature. 2. Leader - Responsible for the motivation and direction of employees. 3. Liaison - Maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favours and information. 4. Informational, Monitor - Receives a wide variety of information; serves as nerve centre of internal and external information of the organisation. 5. Disseminator -- Transmits information received from outside or from other employees to members of the organisation. 6. Spokesperson Transmits information to outsiders on organisation's plans, policies, actions and results. Serves as expert on organisation's industry. 7. Decisional, Entrepreneur - Searches organisation and its environment for opportunities and initiates projects to bring about change. 8. Disturbance handler -- responsible for corrective action when organisation faces important, unexpected disturbances. 9. Resource allocator -- Makes or approves significant organisational resource decisions. 10. Negotiator -- Responsible for representing the organisation at major negotiations or discussions to make an agreement. MANAGERIAL SKILLS These are a collection of abilities that make it possible for managers to perform their duties. a. Technical skills -- The ability to apply specialized knowledge or experience in a particular industry. These skills involve the use of tools, equipment, procedures and techniques of the industry. All jobs require some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on the job. b. Human skills -- This is the ability to work with, understand and motivate other people, both individually and in groups. Lead and interact with employees. c. Conceptual Skills -- Efficient use of thinking, reasoning and logic. Helps in understanding business as a whole. Helps in making day to day decisions, related to business. Helps in making long term plans and expanding business. SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF BEHAVIOUR The systematic study of OB has come closer to finding ways to predict the behaviour of individuals and groups with an understanding of the situation and composition of the people. Behaviour generally is predictable if we know how the person perceived the situation and what is important to them. Organisations need to study individual and group behaviour in order to identify key elements to help improve over all work environments. Systematic study, evidence-based management and intuition are three ways to conduct this type of organisational behaviour study. **Systematic study: Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.** - Behaviour is generally predictable - There are differences between individuals - There are fundamental consistencies in behaviour - There are rules in almost every setting **Intuition**: **A feeling, not necessarily supported by research. The gut feelings about why things are the way they are, feelings about the why and what.** **Evidence-based management: This complements systematic study. It argues for managers to make decisions based on evidence.** All these three complements each other. CONTRIBUTING DISCIPLINES TO THE OB I. Psychology -- This involves, Learning, motivating personality, emotions, perceptions and training. Psychology focuses on the individual level by seeking to measure, explain and sometimes change behaviours in individuals. This area of study offers insights in such areas as learning, training, decision-making and employee selection. II. Sociology - This includes: Communication, power, conflict and inter-group behaviour. Looks at the relationship between individuals and their environment. Sociologists' main contribution to OB is through offering a better understanding og group behaviour. It looks more at how a group operates within an organisational system. One key area that sociologists contribute to in OB is culture, a key factor in OB studies. III. Social Psychology - This looks at group behaviour and how individuals can influence and be influenced by others. It blends together sociology and psychology and looks primarily at change, communication and group interactions. This involves behaviour change, attitude change, communication, group processes and group decision making. IV. Anthropology - Study of human beings and their activities in their environment. This includes values, attitudes and cultural analysis. It helps us understand the differences between groups in terms of their values, attitudes and behaviours. Helps us too understand organisational culture, organisational environment and systems. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR OB - Responding to economic pressure During economic difficulties, the need for effective managers is delicate. Anyone can manage during good times. It is much tougher to manage through economic struggles. When there are economic pressures, managers are forced to make decisions based on resource constraints. These situations may include laying off employees, motivating employees when there are limited resources, and encouraging employees when they are stressed about their future. - Responding to globalisation Organisations now exist in an environment with no national borders. As a result, the manager's job has changed. They need to have a broader perspective when making decisions. As foreign assignments increase, you will need to be able to manage a workforce that is different than what you may be used to and may bring different needs, aspirations and attitudes to the workplace. You will also have individuals coming to work in your own country that come from different cultures and you will need to find ways to accommodate their needs and help them integrate to your work place culture. - Managing Workforce Diversity As the borders are disappearing, we are seeing more and more heterogeneity in the workplace. Managers today need to embrace diversity and find ways to manage it effectively. The changing demographics have shifted management philosophy in a way that recognizes and utilizes differences to create productivity, profitability, and welcoming cultures. - Improving Customer Service Jobs worldwide have begun to focus on service industries such as retail, banking, insurance, and communications. These jobs are different from manufacturing jobs in the basis of what makes them attractive to the people to perform well. OB helps to identify the characteristics and situations that can be managed to make employees and managers more sensitive to customer satisfaction, the essential outcome to successful service delivery. - Improving People Skills Organisations are comprised of people. Organisations cannot achieve desired outcomes without people. Therefore skills to manage people successfully are essential to the effectiveness of anyone in a managerial or leadership role. OB provides the concepts and theories that help predict behaviour to create a more effective organisation, accomplishing desired goal. - Stimulating Innovation and Change Today's volatile economy and business environments mean that organizations and the people that comprise them adopt innovation and change to counter major disruptions, modifications, and changes in the operational environment. Employees or managers in the operational core are closest to the firm's policy implementation, process operation and output characteristics. They are best suited to suggestion innovation and change to improve the organisation, its people, processes and products to successfully meet the challenge of the operational environment. - Creating a Positive Work Environment Creating a positive work environment has been found to be a basis for employee satisfaction, increased productivity, and longevity of skilled personnel. Responsibility for positive work environments is not a part of traditional management practice but as the work environment has changed in terms of characteristics and behaviours of younger generations, the focus on making workplace a good place to be is important for success.