Important Concepts of Organisational Behaviour

Concepts of Organizational Behaviour

Some of the important concepts having relevance to Organizational Behaviour are discussed below.

1. Individual Differences in Organization

People differ not only in their physical attributes but in their psychological qualities as well. For example, there are differences in the capacity of different individuals to understand, learn, memorize, judge, predict, conclude and so on. Knowledge of such individual differences is important for the manager to get the best out of every employee. While assigning work to different employees, these differences will have to be taken into account.

2. Perception of employees

‘One man’s food is another man’s poison’ is a famous quotation. The way a person sees, understands and interprets things is what is called perception. While one employee may welcome a particular policy of the organization, another may oppose it on the ground that it is detrimental to the interests of the employees.

3. The concept of Whole Person in Organization

By this we mean that it is not the skill or the intelligence of the employee alone that is important for the growth of the organization. The personal life of the employee, his emotions, feelings etc. are equally important to get the best out of him.

The manager cannot separate or isolate the home life of employees from his official life. It, therefore, goes without saying that unless steps are taken to satisfy the total individual, it is not possible to benefit fully from his potentials.

4. Motivation of employees

People have different kinds of needs for the satisfaction of which they strive hard. Maslow, for example, has pointed out five different kinds of human needs — Physiological, Safety, Social, Esteem and Selfactualisation needs.

The extent to which the efforts of a person have helped him to fulfill his needs determines behaviour. For example, if, in spite of the hard work done, an employee is unable to get his promotion, he may feel frustrated and the same will be reflected in his behaviour.

5. Involvement/Empowerment of employees

People in the workplace cannot be handled in the manner machines are handled. An employee must be able to fully involve himself in the work he does for best results. In other words, he should not do his work mechanically. The manager, should, therefore, empower the employee by giving him all that is reasonably essential for the effective performance of his tasks. It may be mentioned here that in an organization only human beings can be empowered.

Empowerment gives the employee a sense of belonging and he is able to do his work with involvement.

6. Dignity of Labour in an organization

The employees must be treated with respect and dignity. In a workplace, where the management treats labour as a commodity that can be purchased for a price, human relationships are bound to be poor.

Payment of fair wages, provision of good working environment and job security, creation of facilities for training, encouraging employees’ participation in decision-making etc., indicate that the management respects the dignity of labour.

7. Social System

An organization is a conglomeration of individuals who work for a common goal. The activity of each individual affects and is affected by the activities of others. Two types of social systems exist in any organization — one is ‘formal’ and the other one is ‘informal’.

The formal system is developed using the authority — responsibility relationships. It is deliberately and consciously created. The informal system, on the other hand, develops naturally and spontaneously due to such factors as friendship, language, personal likes and dislikes of individuals.

8. Mutuality of Interest in organization

Just like how the organizations need people, people also need organizations. It is only the people who work for the attainment of the organizational objectives. Similarly, it is only the organization that satisfies the needs of the people. Thus, there is mutuality of interest without which the conglomeration of people is meaningless.