INDIVIDUAL

BEHAVIOUR
 Individual behaviour
 Organizations are composed of individual and individual is different from
the other. The behaviour of each individual is influenced by several
factors. Every individual has particular motives, ambitions, perceptions
and abilities. To understand the human behaviour in organization in a
better way a careful study of all the factors which affect the human
behaviour is must.
 The factors which affect the human beaviour are persons, environment
and the organization itself.
B = F(P,E and O)
B = Individual behaviour
P = Person
E = environment
O = Organization
 Thus individual behaviour is a function of person, environment and the
organization.
 I. Personal factors
FACTORS AFFECTING BEHAVIOUR

PERSONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATIONAL

FACTORS FACTORS FACTORS

Biographical Learned
1. Economic Factors 1. Physical Facilities
Factors Characteristics
2. Social Cultural 2. Organisation
1. Physical 1. Personality Structure
Characteristics 3. Political Factors
2. Perception 3. Leadership
2. Age 4. Legal
3. Attitudes Environment 4. Reward System
3. Gender
4. Values
4. Regligion

5. Marital Status
 A. Biographical characteristics
 Characteristics which are genetic in nature and are inherited
These are the qualities which the human being are born with.
These are the characteristics which cannot be changed, At the
most, these can be refined to some extent. If the managers
know about the inherited qualities and limitations of the
person, they can use there organizational beavhiour
techniques more effectively .all these characteristics are
explained in detail as follows:
1. Physical characteristics: Height, skin, complexion,vision,
shape and size of nose, weight etc. all these have an impact on
the performance of the individuals.sometimes said that the
eyes betray the character of a person. Tall and slim people are
expected to dress well and behave in a sophisticated manner
and fat people are supposed to be of a jolly nature. Not has not
been scientifically proven. It is very difficult to understand
which is the independent variable and which is the dependent
variable.
2. Age: Age is determined by the date of birth.
Psychologically, younger people are expected to be
more energetic, innovative, adventurous, ambition and
risk taking. Whereas old people are supposed to be
conservative, set in their own ways and less adaptable.
Though it is incorrect to generalize all old people as
inadaptable, Psychologically. Performance declines
with advancement of age because older people have
less stamina, memory etc. Younger people are likely to
change job to avail better job opportunities, but as one
grows old, the chances of his quitting job are less.
There is a relationship between age and absenteeism
also. Older people tend to absent more from their jobs
due to unavoidable reasons e.g. going for a vacation.
3. Gender: Being a male or female is genetic in nature and it is
considered to be an inherited feature. Whether women
perform as well as in jobs as men do, is an issue which has
initiated lot of debates, misconceptions and opinions. Some
areas like problem solving ability, analytical skill, competitive
drive motivation, leadership, sociability and learning ability,
there are no consistent male-female differences. Some role
were considered to be exclusive domain of women e.g. nurses,
airhostesses etc. but now with the passage of time, we have
males in these professions also. Similarly, some jobs which
were considered to be exclusive domain of men e.g. pilots,
defense jobs, etc. have started accommodating women also,
though with condition gender has its impact on absenteeism
the tendency to abstain from work is more in females then in
men, the turnover is also more in female employees, though
the evidence is mixed in this case some studies have found
that females have high turnover rates, while the other do not
find any difference. Although this trend is changing with the
passage of time, but majority of the Indian families follow
these norms.
4. Religion: People who are highly religious are supposed to have
high moral values e.g. they are honest, they do not tell lies or talk
ill of others. They are supposed to be contended. But there is
another side of the picture also though there are no evidence but it
has been observed that sometimes people who are highly
dishonest and immoral are more religious as compared to the
other.
5. Marital status: Research has consistently indicated that as
marriage imposes increased responsibilities, to have a steady job
becomes more valuable and important. Few other questions which
need answer e.g. (i) What will be the effect of divorce or death of
the life partner on the performance of an employee? (ii) What
about couples who live together without getting married. So far
there are no answer to these questions.
6. Experience: The impact of seniority on job performance is an
issue which is subject to a lot of misconceptions and speculations.
Research indicates that there is a positive relationship between
seniority and job performance. Employee turnover is also
considered to be negatively related to seniority.
7. Intelligence: Whether it is an inherited trait or acquired trait, this
factor affects the behaviour of the people. Intelligent people are
generally not adamant and stubborn , rather they are considered to
be stable and predictable.
8. Ability: Ability refer to the capacity or capability of an
individual to perform the various tasks in a job. Ability of an
individual can be of two types:
(i) Intellectual ability to perform mental activities some
important dimensions used to ascertain intellectual ability are
number aptitude, comprehension, perpetual speed and test of
reasoning. For some important jobs or assignment, a person has to
clear some admission test.
(ii) Physical ability person’s stamina, manual dexterity, leg
strength and the like. If the performance of a particular job
requires some specific physical abilities, it is the duty of the
management to identify the employees having those abilities
 B. Learned characteristics
 Learning is defined as “a relatively permanent change in
behaviour resulting from interactions with the environment”
1. Personality: By personality we don’t mean the physical
appearance of a person. Psychologists are not concerned with a
smart person, with a smiling face and a charming personality. They
consider personality as a dynamic concept describing the growth
and development of a person’s whole psychological system. Rather
than looking at parts of the person, personality looks at some
aggregate whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. By
personality generally refers to personal traits such as dominance,
Aggressiveness, persistence and other qualities reflected through a
person’s behaviour. Some personality traits like physical build and
intelligence are biological in nature but most traits like patience,
open mindedness, extrovert ness etc. can be learned an individual’s
personality determines the types of activities that he or she is suited
for.
2. Perception: Perception is the viewpoint by which one
interpretes a situation in other words, perception is the
process by which information enters our mind and is
interpreted in order to give some sensible meaning to the
world around us .psychology says that different people see
and sense the some thing in different ways. For example, if a
new manager perceives an employee to be a job shirker, be
will tend to lose good relatives and friends because we
change our perceptions about them.
3. Attitude: The way a person feels about something, a person,
a place, a thing a situation or an idea. In general, if a person
has positive attitude about his work it will be reflected by
very good work performance, less absenteeism, less
turnover, obedience towards rule or authority etc. if a
negative attitude can be changed by simple persuasion or by
training and coaching.
4. Values: According to Milton Rokeach ,”values are global
beliefs that guide actions and judgments across a variety
of situations. Values represent basic convictions that a
specific mode of conduct is personally or socially
preferable to an opposite mode conduct "Values carry on
individual’s ideas as to what is right, good or desirable.
All of us have a Hierarchy of values that form our
value system like freedom, self respect, honesty,
obedience, equality and so on. can be observed from their
bahaviour individual values are influenced by the parents,
teacher, friends and other external force. As a product of
learning and experience in the cultural setting in which he
lives. values are very important in study of organizational
behaviour because these help in understanding the
attitudes and motivation of individual as well as
influencing their perceptions.
 II. Environmental Factors
A brief description of the external factor follows:
(1). Economic factor: A few economic factor which directly or
indirectly affect the individual behaviour are as explained below:
(a). Employment level if the job opportunities are less, the individual
will have to stick to a particular organization even though he does
not have job satisfaction. on the other hand if the job opportunities
are more, the employees turnover will be more.
(b). Wage Rates what a person will get in money terms, is the major
factor affecting the decision of a worker to stay in a particular
organization or shift to another one which will pay more wages.
(c). General economic environment some employees who are
working in government offices or public sector undertakings are not
affected by economic cycles. Whatever the economic position of the
organization they will receive their salaries. Whereas the employees,
who work in the organizations which are severely affected by
economic cycle, are subjected to lay of and retrenchment.
(d). Technological development the technological development has
made the job more intellectual and upgraded. This make it the duty
of management to retrain the employees. For those, who pickup and
acquaint themselves with new technology, the job will be rewarding
and challenging.
(2). Socio-cultural factor relationship with many family member,
friends, colleagues, supervisors and subordinates. similarly every
individual has cultural background , which shapes his values and
beliefs. Work ethics achievement need effort-reward expectations
and values are important cultural factor having impact achievement
need effort-reword Expectations and values are important cultural
factor having impact on the individual bahaviour
(3). Political factors. In a politically stable country there will be a
steady level of employment and high level of capital investment.
whereas companies are reluctant to invest large sum of money in a
politically instable country.
(4). Legal environment. Rule and laws are formalized and written
standers of behaviour. Both rules and laws are strictly enforced by
the legal system.
 (III). Organizational factors
Organizational factor are as explained below:
1. Physical facilities. Arrangement of people and things so that is has
a positive influence on people. Some of the factor which influence
individual behaviour are noise level, heat, light, ventilation,
cleanliness, nature of the job, office furnishing, number of people
working at a given place etc.
2. Organisational structure and design reporting system lines of
communication established among different levels in the
organization.
3. Leadership the human bahaviour is influenced to a large extent by
the behaviour of the superiors or leader. Behaviour of the leader are
more important than their qualities.
4. Reward system the behaviour and performance of the individuals is
also influenced by the reward system established by the
organization to compensate their employees.
 MODALS OF MAN
1. Rational Economic Man: Who are primarily motivated by
money. They took the “economic man” and rational man
approach to understand and predict the human behaviour.
This modal is based on classical organization theory. The
scientific management movement was based on the belief
that by rationally explaining the one best way to do things
and offering incentives to workers in the from of piece rates
and bonuses, organizational output can be increased.
Psychologists have also studied this modal for predicting
human behaviour. For example,McGregor’s assumptions of
theory x reflect this mode. In this model, people are induced
to produce more by providing them with economic
incentives. In this case, there is no organization- employees
conflict because both are satisfying their needs
simultaneously.Management is getting more production and
people are getting more money.
 Drawbacks
 Though, the need of money is inexhaustible and the man will
never have enough ; but after a certain stage ,only money
will not be sufficient for him. he will have some
psychological need also. Which can not be fulfilled by the
organization in this case Therefore , it can be stated that the
hole assumption of rational economic man are not sufficient
in understanding and predicting human behaviour
2. Social Man: Advocates of this school considered the worker
as social man. A part of the social group. Influenced by the
social forces and seeks satisfaction of the needs which are
related to the maintenance of his social relationships.
 Eltan mayo conceived the concept of the social man when
he carried out Hawthorne studies during (1927-1932). The
total system of social man is directed towards people .the
following changes were required in the managerial strategy.
i. Earlier the management was conceived only with
the output given by the workers. In this approach,
the management had to pay attention to the workers
also as human beings.
ii. Under this concept , the psychological needs were
also to be considered
iii. To analyses and motivate human behaviour in term
of groups rather than on individual basis.
iv. Instead of being the controller of behaviour,
managed were supposed to act as the supporter of
workers.
 2. Organisation man
 An extension of social man. The concept of organization man was
introduced by William Whyte. He believed that it is very important
for a person to be loyal to the organization and cooperative with the
fellow workers. any person who believes in this value system and
acts in this way is an organization man every individual should
sacrifice his individuality for the sake of the group and the
organization.
1. The group is the source of activity. Individuals creates only when
they move in a group .A group helps to produced a whole that is
greater then the sum of its parts.
2. The ultimate need of every individual is belongingness.
3. The organization man concept emphasizes that there is no conflict
between the individual interest and the interest of the organization.
Even if there is any conflict, individual interest will be sacrificed in
favor of the group interest to remove the conflict. People will be
willing to sacrifice their interests for the organization only if they are
positive that the organisation would take care of them.
3. The self actuating man: Self actuating man assumes
that man’s inherent need is to use his capabilities and
skills in such a way that he should have the
satisfaction of creating certain things.
i. The basis assumption about this concept is that the
various needs of a man can be put in the order of
priority. For example. MASLOW has put various
needs in a hierarchy:

Self actualization according to this diagram is the

ultimate goal, because it is last in the hierarchy and
by the time this goal is achieved , all the other needs
of the man are also satisfied.
ii. In the process of self actualization, there are various
changes in the behaviour of the individual and he
moves from immaturity of maturity.
iii. Self motivated and self controlled. Any incentives
given by the management can not motivate him
after a certain level and any control imposed on him
cannot threatn him.
iv. The earlier models were based on the assumption
that a man has got immature personality. However,
the reality is that if a man is left free, he will put in
his maximum efforts.
 PHYSIOLOGICAL

SAFETY

BELONGINGNESS

ESTEM

SELF ACTUALISATION
5. Complex man: Complex man presents the real picture
of human behaviour.The earlier models assume that
man will always behave according to certain set
patterns.Most behaviours in the organization can be
understood by taking assumptions of complex man.
following are a few assumptions about the complex
man:
i. People are not only complex but are also highly
variable. Though their needs can be arranged in a
hierarchy, but this hierarchy is also not universal.
ii. People are capable of learning new motives through
their organizational experiences.
iii. People’s motives in different organizations or different
sub parts of the same organization may be different.
 Though this model is quite complex, it
indicates the real situation and lays emphasis
on the fact that human behaviour is not as
simple as assumed in the previous models.
Hence current thinking on the subject is to take
a ‘complex man approach and recognise that
different individuals have different needs and
personality traits and if there is a proper match
between these and the environment they
operate in, functional will emerge.
INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR AND PERFORMANCE

 Performance of individual depends on four elements of

individuals behaviors i.e., motivation, ability, role
perceptions, situational contingences.
1. Motivation: A strong positive motivation will enable the
increased output of an employee but a negative motivation
will reduce the performance.
2. Ability: Ability refers to the capacity or capabilities of an
individual to perform the various tasks in a job. Ability can
be both intellectual as well as physical. Ability will include
natural aptitudes as well as learned capabilities required to
successful complete a task.
3. Role Perception: A person’s beliefs about what
behaviors are appropriate in particular situation are
known as role perception of the employees. For
accurate role perfection, an employee must
understand the specific task assigned to him, the
relative importance of that task.

4. Situational Contingencies: Conditions beyond the

employee’s immediate control; at least in the short
term. Contingencies which originate from the
external environment are generally beyond the
control of employees and the organization.