Organisational Behaviour

Organisational Behaviour
S. No Reference No Particulars Slide

From-To
1 Chapter 1 Introduction to Organisational 4-20
Behaviour
2 Chapter 2 Understanding Individual Behaviour 21-44
3 Chapter 3 Personality 45-58

4 Chapter 4 Perception 59-73
5 Chapter 5 Learning 74-107
6 Chapter 6 Motivation 108-133
7 Chapter 7 Leadership and People Skills 134-167
8 Chapter 8 Groups and Teams 168-191
9 Chapter 9 Conflict Management 192-227
10 Chapter 10 Power & Politics in Organisations 228-251
Course Introduction
• Organisational behaviour is concerned with individuals, or group of individuals working

together in an organisation.
• Every organisation needs to give importance to organisational development and inculcating a
favourable organisational culture in every employee. Organisations focus on fostering team
spirit and motivation to achieve organisational objectives.
• Organisations are composed of a number of individuals working collectively in teams to attain
the organisational objectives. It is thus, essential for all employees to have a positive attitude
towards work.
• Delegation of powers to subordinates, division of labour, efficient communication,
benchmarking, re-engineering, job re-design and empowerment are some of the important
aspects of organisational behaviour.
Chapter 1: Introduction to
Chapter Index
From-To
1 Learning Objectives 6
2 Topic 1 Defining Organisational Behaviour 7-10
3 Topic 2 Approaches to Organisational 11-15

Behaviour
4 Topic 3 Opportunities and Challenges of 16

5 Topic 4 Scientific Aspects of Organisational 17

Behaviour
6 Let’s Sum Up 18
• Explain the concept of organisational behaviour
• Describe the scope and importance of organisational behaviour
• Discuss the approaches to organisational behaviour
• Identify the opportunities and challenges of organisational behaviour
• Explain the scientific aspects of organisational behaviour
1. Defining Organisational Behaviour
• Organisational behaviour (OB) is the study of human behaviour at work.

• It examines the human behaviour in an organisation with regard to the interactions among
individuals and group of individuals.
• It assesses the political, psychological and commercial conditions that affect the performance
of an employee in an organisation.
• It provides a humanistic approach to an organisation by focusing on the human processes
within the organisation rather than restricting the focus to the functional or structural aspects
of the organisation.
Scope of Organisational Behaviour

Psychology
Social psychology
Industrial psychology
Sociology
Cultural anthropology
Political Science
Economics
Semantics
Importance of Organisational Behaviour
Attaining organisational effectiveness
Sustaining changes in business environment
Overcoming competition
Fulfilling human needs

Features of Organisational Behaviour

• People: This element includes the employees of an organisation responsible for
performing various tasks.
• Structure: This element refers to the framework of an organisation, which determines the
different levels of hierarchy, rules, regulation and policies.
• Technology: Organisations need to adapt to the rapid technological developments taking
place in its external environment in order to stay ahead of the competition.
• Environment: An organisation constantly interacts with its external environment, which
includes the society, government, customers, legal framework and global influences.
1. Approaches to Organisational Behaviour
• Scientific Management
Classical approach • Bureaucratic Management
• Administrative Management
Neo-classical approach • Human resource approach
• Systems approach
Modern approach • Contingency approach
Classical Approach
The Classical approach comprises of the following management theories:
• This is based on the concept of planning of work to

Scientific management achieve efficiency, standardisation, specialization, and
simplification.
• This theory considers the organisation as a part of the

Bureaucratic management broader society.
• This theory was proposed by Henry Fayol and is based

Administrative management on several principles of management.
Neo-Classical Approach
• The Hawthorne Experiment formed the basis of the neo-classical approach to organisational
behaviour.
• The first experiment was carried out in 1924-27, to assess the effect of different levels of
illumination (lighting) on productivity of labour.
• The second experiment, which began in 1927, was carried out in the relay assembly
department, where electromagnetic switches for telephone connections were produced.
• The third experiment was carried out in a separate test room with 6 women to asses the
production rate for each worker.
Neo-Classical Approach
• Most views of neoclassical thinkers are human centric as against the authority centred views
of the classical organisational theory.
• The neo-classical approach emphasises on the point that organisation is a social system in
which individuals work together to achieve major objectives.
• The neo-classical theory states that the fulfilment of employee needs with regard to
recognition, role in decision making and overall satisfaction is essential to improve employee
efficiency.
Modern Approach
• The modern approach of organisational behaviour seeks to overcome the limitations of the
traditional approaches (classical and neo-classical).
• The modern approach is based on the scientific explanations of the complexities of
organisational structure. The modern approach can be further divided into two separate
approaches:
Systems approach
Contingency approach
Opportunities and Challenges of Organisational Behaviour
Responding to globalisation
Managing workforce diversity
Improving quality and productivity
Developing employee skills
Promoting innovation and change
Coping with temporariness
Empowering people
Encouraging ethical behaviour

Scientific Aspects of Organisational Behaviour
The scientific aspects of organisational behaviour can help managers to understand and manage
some of the contemporary issues that include:
Diversity at workplace
Employee trust on organisation
Quality and flexibility at work
Employee selection and retention

Let’s Sum Up
• Organisational behaviour is the study of human behaviour at work.

• The scope of OB could be understood by contributions made by various disciplines, such as
psychology, social psychology, industrial psychology, sociology, cultural anthropology,
political science, economics, semantics and physiology.
• There are mainly three approaches to organisational behaviour; classical approach, neo-
classical approach and modern approach.
• The scientific aspects of organisational behaviour can help managers in addressing issues,
such as diversity at workplace, employee’s trust on organisation, quality and flexibility at
work and employee selection and retention.
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Chapter 2: Understanding
Individual Behaviour
Chapter Index
From-To
2 Topic 1 Individual Behaviour 24-25
3 Topic 2 Biographical Attributes 26-28
4 Topic 3 Ability 29-35
5 Topic 4 Values 36-37
6 Topic 5 Attitudes 38-39
7 Topic 6 Job Satisfaction 40-41
8 Let’s Sum Up 42
• Explain individual behaviour
• Identify the biographical attributes of individual behaviour
• Discuss the ability of an individual
• Identify the importance of values
• Discuss the different types of attitudes
• Explain the importance of job satisfaction for an individual
1. Individual Behaviour
• Individual behaviour is the response of an individual towards an action, environment, person

or stimulus.
• It is important for the manager of an organisation to understand the individual behaviour of
the employees working with him/her to delegate job responsibilities so as to obtain the best
outcome.
• It also helps managers develop a positive and result-oriented work attitude among
individuals/employees.
2. Individual Behaviour
Factors Affecting
Individual Behaviour
Environmental Organisational
Personal Factors
Factors Behaviour
1. Biographical Attributes
• The following are the different types of biographical attributes:
Physical characteristics
• These characteristics include the height, weight, skin, shape, vision
and complexion of an individual.
Age
• It is assumed that young people are energetic, innovative,
ambitious and risk taking; while older people are assumed to be
more conservative, prone to work on a defined principle and less
adaptive in nature.
Religion
• Religion-based bias exists in some professions, especially in India,
which further affects the behaviour of individuals in the workplace.
Gender
• Women face discrimination in some professions , which not only
affects their behaviour towards work, colleagues and seniors, but also
impacts their performance.
Marital status
• It is found that married people are more responsible and have a long-
term perspective for any decision or topic.
Experience
• Experienced people are more confident and have a positive attitude
towards work, while inexperienced people tend to be nervous and
might avoid taking risks at work.
Intelligence
• An intelligent individual can easily learn and can identify new and
creative ways to perform a task.
1. Ability
• Ability is the capacity of a person to perform a job, handle a situation, or innovate. It can be
broadly categorised into the following types:
Intellectual ability Physical ability

2. Ability
• Intellectual ability includes the following:
• It is the ability of an individual to perform arithmetic quickly and with

Number aptitude accuracy.
• It is the ability of an individual to understand the meaning of what is

Verbal
read or heard by him/her.
comprehension
• It is the ability of an individual to determine the similarities and

Perceptual speed differences of a visual event accurately and rapidly.
• It is the ability of determining a logical sequence in a problem and

Inductive
then solving it accordingly.
reasoning
3. Ability
• It is the ability of an individual to apply and measure the outcome

Deductive of an argument.
reasoning
• It is the ability of an individual to imagine the appearance of an

Spatial object if its position is changed in the space.
visualisation
• It is the ability of an individual to retain and recall his/her past

experiences and events.
Memory
4. Ability
• Physical ability includes the following:

• It is the ability of an individual to exert muscular force repeatedly
Dynamic strength and rapidly.
• It is the ability of an individual to exert muscular force repeatedly

Trunk strength and rapidly using the trunk muscle.
• It is the ability of an individual to exert force against external objects.

Static strength
Explosive • It is the ability of an individual to exert and expand all force in one or
strength a series of explosive acts.
• It is the ability of an individual to bend the trunk and back muscles as

Extent flexibility much as possible.
5. Ability
• It is the ability of an individual to perform flexible movements

Dynamic repeatedly and rapidly.
flexibility
• It is the ability of an individual to coordinate the simultaneous

Body movements of different body parts.
coordination
• It is the ability of an individual to continue maximum effort

Stamina requiring prolonged effort over time.
• It is the ability of an individual; to maintain equilibrium against

Balance external forces.
6. Ability
Ability-Job Fit
• The abilities of an employee should match the job requirements in order to perform the job
effectively.
• There should be a proper balance between the abilities of an employee and the job
requirements.
• If the abilities are less than what are required for performing the job effectively, it will lead to
low performance of the employee. On the other hand, if the abilities of an employee is more
than he job requirements, the employee may feel dissatisfied and it also leads to organisational
inefficiency.
7. Ability
The examples of different jobs and the abilities required for performing these jobs:
Jobs Abilities required
Accountant Number aptitude
Investigators Perceptual Speed
Market Researcher Inductive reasoning
Supervisors Deductive reasoning
Interior Designer Spatial Visualization
Sales Executive Memory
High-rise construction workers Balance
Beach lifeguards Spatial-visualization abilities and body coordination
Dancers and Gymnasts Extent and dynamic flexibility

Soldiers Reasoning and body coordination
1. Values
• Values refer to an individual’s inherent principles, which pre-determine his/her reaction in a

particular situation.
• The values of an individual are built on the basis of his/her family background and culture,
past experiences and ethical standards.
• The different types of values as per the RVS are as follows:
Terminal values
Instrumental values
2. Values
The different types of generations and the values followed by them are discussed as follows:
The builders
The baby boomers
The X generation
The Y generation
The Z generation
1. Attitudes
• Attitude refers to the tendency of an individual to respond in a specific set of situations. It

plays an important role in framing individual behaviour. According to various social
psychologists, the attitude of an individual includes three main components, which are:
Cognitive component Affective component Behavioural component

2. Attitudes
• The attitude of an individual depicted at his/her workplace is known as job attitude. There are
three major types of job attitudes, which are as follows:
Job satisfaction
Job involvement
Organisational commitment
1. Job Satisfaction
• Job satisfaction is the positive attitude of an individual towards the different aspects of his/her
job. Job satisfaction directly affects the behaviour of an individual at the workplace.
• A satisfied individual remains in a positive mood and improves in areas of brainstorming,
decision making and problem solving at the workplace. This not only improves his/her
performance, but also reduces stress and conflicts among the individuals in the organisation.
2. Job Satisfaction
Some factors that affect the satisfaction and dissatisfaction level of an individual are:
Let’s Sum Up
• Individual behaviour refers to the reaction of an individual towards an action, environment,

person or stimulus.
• Biographical attributes are inherited and generic in nature.
• Ability refers to the capacity of a person to perform a job, handle a situation or innovate.
• Values are the principles that are inherent in an individual and affect his/her reaction in a
particular situation.
• Attitude refers to the way in which an individual generally reacts in a particular situation.
• Job satisfaction refers to the positive attitude of an individual towards the different aspects of
his/her job.
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Chapter 3: Personality
Chapter Index
From-To
2 Topic 1 Definition of Personality 48
3 Topic 2 Stages of Personality Development 49-50
4 Topic 3 Determinants of Personality 51
5 Topic 4 Theories of Personality 52-54
6 Topic 5 Significant Personality Traits 55

Affecting Organisational Behaviour
7 Let’s Sum Up 56
• Define personality
• Describe the stages of personality development
• Discuss the determinants of personality
• Explain the theories of personality
• Describe the personality traits that affect organisational behaviour
Definition of Personality
• We can conclude that personality can be defined as a combination of physical, mental and
moral qualities of individuals that are reflected in their unique behaviour.
• The essential elements of personality are freedom, behaviour, peculiarity, physical, mental ,
and moral qualities, adaptability to the environment, psychological systems, and habits.
1. Stages of Personality Development
The Phallic Stage
The Anal Stage The Latent Stage
Freudian The Genital

The Oral Stage
Stages Stage
2. Stages of Personality Development
Erikson Stages
Trust vs. Mistrust
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Initiative vs. Guilt
Industry vs. Inferiority
Identity vs. Confusion
Intimacy vs. Isolation
Generativity vs. Stagnation
Integrity vs. Despair

Determinants of Personality
Following are the main determinants of personality:

• Heredity
• Environment:
– Cultural Factor
– Family Factor
– Social Factor
– Situational Factor
• Other Factors
1. Theories of Personality
• Psychoanalytic Theory:
– This theory originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. From his clinical work with
patients suffering from mental illness, Freud came to the conclusion that childhood
experiences and unconscious desires influenced the behaviour of individuals.
• Neo-Freudian Theories
– These theories are the brain work of psychologists who agreed with the basis of Freud`s
psychoanalytic theory. Major neo-Freudian psychologists include Carl Jung, Alfred
Adler, Erik Erikson, Karen Homey and Erich Fromm.
Trait Theory:
• A personality trait refers to a long-lasting attribute of a person that emerges in different
situations.
• We can differentiate the personality of an individual from the personality of another person
through traits. According to the trait theory, every person has a specific and unique set of
features.
• Following are some of the other assumptions of the theory:
– It allows variations in traits of different individuals.
– It presumes traits to be relatively stable.
– It measures traits by using behaviour indicators.
• Social Learning Theory:

• There are three core concepts of the social learning theory. These are as follows:
– People can learn by observing others.
– The internal mental condition of an individual is an essential part of the learning process.
– An individual’s learning does not necessarily result in a change in his/her behaviour.
• Self Theory:
– Carl Rogers (1902-1987), an influential American psychologist, is the proponent of this
theory.
– There are nineteen propositions in Rogers’ theory of personality development.
Significant Personality Traits Affecting Organisational
Behaviour
Extroversion
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Emotional Stability
Openness to Experience
Let’s Sum Up
• Personality refers to the set of traits possessed by an individual that makes him/her distinct
from others. Personality determines the behaviour of an individual.
• The elements of personality are behaviour; freedom; peculiarity; physical, mental and moral
qualities; adaptability to the environment; psychological systems and habits.
• The Freudian stages of personality development include the oral stage, anal stage, phallic
stage, latent stage and genital stage.
• Erikson`s stages of personality development include trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame
and doubt, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. confusion, intimacy vs.
isolation, generativity vs. stagnation and integrity vs. despair.
• .
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Chapter 4: Perception
Chapter Index
From-To
2 Topic 1 Definition of Perception 62-65
3 Topic 2 Factors Influencing Perception 66
4 Topic 3 Impression Management 67
5 Topic 4 Perception of Self-image and 68

Behaviour
6 Topic 5 Managerial Implications of 69

Perception
7 Topic 6 Managing the Perception Process 70
6 Let’s Sum Up 71
• Explain the concept of perception
• Describe the perceptual process and selectivity
• Discuss the factors influencing perception
• Explain the concept of impression management in organisations
• Describe the perception of self-image and behaviour
• Explain the managerial implications of perception
• Discuss the management of perception process
1. Definition of Perception
• Perception is a process of interpretation of stimuli perceived through the sensory organs of

individuals.
• Perception helps people organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give
meaning to their environment.
• Perception can be divided into two types; visual perception and auditory perception.
• Visual perception is a process through which a naked eye detects light, depth, etc. around a
stimulus and interprets it.
• Auditory perception is the process by which the brain interprets what an individual hears.
Importance of Perception
• The importance of perception can be explained with the help of the SOBC (Stimulus-
Organism- Behaviour-Consequence) Model of organisational behaviour given by Fred
Luthans.
• Elements of the SOBC model:
• Stimulus: An organism perceives a stimulus from the environment.
• Organism: The organism uses his senses (sight, hear, touch, smell, and taste) to perceive the
stimulus.
• Behaviour: The sensory data is interpreted in the human brain which marks the human
behaviour towards the stimulus.
• Consequence: All types of behaviours result in an outcome or consequence.
Perception Process
The process of perception is multifaceted and includes several sub-processes referred to as the
cognitive processes occurring within an individual. These are:
Perception Process
Stimulus Registration Interpretation Reaction

Perceptual Selectivity
• Perceptual selectivity refers to the tendency of an individual to select certain objects in the
environment and disregard the others.
• Perceptual selectivity is mainly governed by two aspects:
1) An individual’s senses are activated by certain stimuli in the environment while others are
unnoticed by human senses.
2) The second point is concerned with individuals’ ability to adapt to certain stimuli to which
they are constantly exposed referred to as sensory adaptation.
• Perceptual selectivity is affected by a number of factors which are as follows:
 External factors
 Internal factors
Factors Influencing Perception
Perceiver
External factors Target
Situation
Factors Affecting Perception
Sensory limits and

thresholds
Internal factors
Psychological factors
Impression Management
• Impression management involves representing oneself in a way an individual wants others to

see him or her.
• There are three types of selves individuals use to represent themselves, which are as follows:
 Authentic self: The image of an individual that is consistent with the way an individual
views himself or herself.
 Ideal self-: This is the public image of an individual that is consistent with the way an
individual desires to be.
 Tactical self- This is the public image of an individual is portrayed to get to a certain end,
mostly favorable and positive outcomes.
Perception of Self-image and Behaviour
• Self-image can be defined as the idea, notion, or mental image that individuals have of
themselves.
• According to the social identity theory, self-image is a combination of two key parts:
 Personal identity: Personal identity includes such things as personality traits and other
characteristics that make a person unique.
 Social identity: Social identity includes the groups that individuals associate them with.
• Self-image may not necessarily coincide with reality. Individuals may form an inflated self-
image and consider that they can perform better than they actually can.
• On the contrary, individuals may form negative self-images and perceive themselves as
bearing several flaws or weaknesses.
Managerial Implications of Perception
There are various managerial implications of perception in an organisation such as:

• Employee selection and recruitment
• Employee performance appraisal
 Comparing employees
 Favouring employees
• Stereotyping and Halo effect

• Meeting initial expectations
• Forming a similar-to-me effect
• Forming a projection bias
• Judging based on Primacy effect
• Judging based on Recency effect
Managing the Perception Process
Perception management at the workplace holds increasing importance as organisations worldwide

are becoming more employee oriented. Some of the ways to manage the perception process are as
follows:
• Individuals should have high levels of self-awareness
• Individuals should support their perception through information from different sources
• Individuals should be empathetic
• Individuals should rise above personal impressions
• Individuals should avoid common perceptual distortions
• Individuals should avoid inappropriate attributions
Let’s Sum Up
• Perception is a process of interpretation of stimuli perceived through the sensory organs

of individuals.
• According to the SOBC model, an organism perceives a stimulus from the environment
which is interpreted in human brain and marks the human behaviour towards the
stimulus. Behaviour has a certain consequence.
• The process of perception is multifaceted and includes four sub-processes; stimulus,
registration, interpretation, and reaction.
• Perceptual selectivity refers to the tendency of an individual to select certain objects in
the environment and ignore the others.
• Impression management involves representing oneself in a way an individual wants
others to see him or her.
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Chapter 5: Learning
Chapter Index
From-To
2 Topic 1 Definition of Learning 77-78
3 Topic 2 Significance of Learning 79
4 Topic 3 Theories of Learning 80-89
5 Topic 4 Meaning of Reinforcement 90-104
6 Let’s Sum Up 105

• Define learning
• Identify the significance of learning
• Discuss the theories of learning
• Explain the concept of reinforcement
1. Definition of Learning
• Learning is a continuous process wherein an individual acquires new skills, values, and
knowledge. The two main elements in this definition are:
• The change that happens in learning should be relatively permanent. This implies that there
should be a change in the behaviour of the individual after going through the learning process.
The change can be either positive or negative. For example, a newly appointed individual in
an organisation learns how to perform his/her job. After learning, the individual is able to
perform his/her job effectively.
• The change in individual behaviour should be a result of an experience or practice and not due
to biological maturation. For example, a new manager of an organisation learns to manage the
available resources effectively to get desired results.
2. Definition of Learning
• In other words, learning is a relatively permanent change (including cognitive, emotional,

psychological, and environmental changes) in the behaviour of an individual as a result of
direct or indirect experience.
• Effective learning occurs only when whatever is learned is retained in the memory of the
learner and is carried to the work place.
Significance of Learning
• Today, changes are occurring at a rapid speed whether it is technology, lifestyle, or

organisational culture. To survive in such an environment, it is essential for individuals to
learn new technology and ways of performing a job.
• Organisations having employees with a learning attitude are able to meet the changing
business requirements, because such employees are ready to change their working style and
pattern.
• Organisational learning helps employees to change their behaviour, hence bringing efficiency
in their work. Thus, an organisation as a whole must adopt a habit of constant learning. The
main objective of organisational learning is to instill a desire among all the members of the
organisation to find new ways to improve their effectiveness.
1. Theories of Learning
Classical Conditioning Theory
Operant or Instrumental Conditioning Theory
Cognitive Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory

Classical Conditioning Theory

• The classical conditioning theory was provided by Ivan Pavlov. In this theory, Pavlov studied
the relationship between stimulus and response.
• He wanted to study the reflex response of a particular stimulus that characterises the behaviour
of an individual or an animal. For this purpose, he conducted an experiment with a dog to
check its reflexes when it saw bones.
• To conduct this experiment, Pavlov, while presenting a dog to the bone, also rang a bell. He
kept repeating this stimulus. Initially, the dog would not salivate when presented with only the
bell.
• However, after some time, Pavlov observed that the dog started salivating when only the bell
was rung. The dog had formed a relation between the presence of the bell and the bone, which
produced the conditioned response of salivation. The dog learned to relate the ringing of the
bell with food.
• Thus, Pavlov found the reason for generating a response, even when the actual stimulus was
not present. He also concluded that an individual or an animal can learn reflex behaviour.
Operant or Instrumental Conditioning Theory

• The operant conditioning theory was provided by B.F. Skinner. He defined operant
conditioning as a process through which individuals learn voluntary behaviour. It can also be
defined as the behaviour of an individual or an animal in an environment. It uses the
consequences of a particular behaviour to modify that behaviour.
• Operant conditioning is different from classical conditioning, because it deals with the
modification of voluntary behaviour. On the other hand, classical conditioning only explains
the relationship between the stimulus and the response.
• Skinner had started experimentation on operant learning theories since 1930s. He wanted to
have a better control over the learning process that enabled organism to operate freely in an
environment.
• For his experiment, Skinner left a hungry rat in the box. The rat performed some random
activities to explore the box. During these activities, rat pressed the lever accidentally and a
pellet of food is delivered in the food cup.
• The first time rat did not learn the conncetion between the lever and food pellets. However,
with time, he understood and learned that on pressing the lever a food pellet will come in the
food cup.
• The basic principle of operant conditioning is that the probability of occurrence of a particular
response depends on its consequence. For example, if the rat presses the lever and did not get
food, the response rate will decrease gradually and then disappears.
Cognitive Learning Theory

• The cognitive learning theory is also known as cognitivism. According to cognitivism,
learning occurs when a person’s schema (the perception of an individual about the world) is
combined, extended, or altered. It basically works on two key assumptions:
• The memory system processes the information in an organised way.
• Prior knowledge plays an important role in learning.
• The framework of cognitivism looks beyond the behaviour -based framework and tries to
understand how human memory helps in learning.
• The main components of information processing are discussed as follows:

• Sensory Memory: It represents the first stage of information processing by human brain. The
information obtained from different sense organs, such as ear and eye, is hold in sensory
memory very briefly till the time it is forwarded for further processing.
• Selection Attention: It is the ability of the individual to select and process a certain part of the
information in the sensory memory and ignore the irrelevant information.
• Pattern recognition: It is the process in which an individual try to connect with the information
gathered by relating it with the information he/she already stored in his/her memory.
• Short-term memory: It retains information for a short period of time. At this stage, the
information is processed further to make information ready for long term storage and
response.
• Rehearsal and chunking: These are the two processes that help in converting the short term
memory to long term memory by encoding of information.
• Encoding: It is the process of relating the new information transferred from the short-term
memory to the long-term memory with the information already existed in the long-term
memory so as to make the information more memorable.
• Long-term memory: It retains information for a relatively longer period of time.

Social Learning Theory

• According to Bandura, a renowned psychologist who specialised in social cognitive theory,
social learning is defined as follows:
• “Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others,
one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded
information serves as a guide for action”.
• The social learning theory encompasses the cognitive, behavioural, and environmental
influences.
The necessary factors for effective social learning are
Attention
Retention
Reproduction
Motivation
1. Meaning of Reinforcement
• Reinforcement is a process through which a certain type of behaviour is strengthened in an

individual.
• The reinforcement theory was developed by B.F. Skinner and his associates and is applied to
motivate and retain employees.
• This theory seeks to explain behaviour without relying on unobservable internal factors such
as needs, thoughts, etc.
• The elements of reinforcement theory are as follows:
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction
Positive Reinforcement
• It is the positive reassurance and encouragement given to employees on exhibiting desired
behaviour or delivering desired results.
• It increases the frequency of a particular behaviour in a person due to addition of a particular
stimulus.
• For example, in a paper manufacturing factory, a supervisor improves a quick-return
mechanism, which reduces ‘idle time’ by 30%. As a result, his/her salary increases by 35%.
Needless to say, he/she, as well as his/her colleagues, would try to repeat this type of
innovation because of the reward.
Negative Reinforcement
• It involves encouraging good behaviour among employees by removing the situation or
stimulus that may lead to undesirable behaviour or results.
• It increases the frequency of a particular behaviour due to the removal of a particular stimulus.
• For example, if a manager stops punishing employees for low performance, employees may
increase the quality of their performance and productivity.
Punishment
• It involves creating circumstances that do not allow any scope for occurrence of any
undesirable behaviour or result.
• For example, an employee who is suspended from work for not performing his/her duty
properly will take utmost care after rejoining the work, because he/she will not prefer the same
treatment in the future.
Extinction
• It is the complete absence of reinforcements (positive and negative) for lowering the
probability of occurrence of undesirable behaviour of results.
• It seeks to decrease the frequency of the behaviour by removing the consequence that
reinforces it.
• For example, a film director usually delivers interesting films. However, the last two films of
this director have not been very absorbing. This prompts you to avoid any further films of this
director in the future. On the other hand, if the director simply stops delivering films, though
you do not miss the director’s films, you still have favourable memories of the director’s
work.
Learning Through Reinforcement

• Learning through reinforcement is one of the oldest approaches used by organisations for
changing the behaviour of individuals at a workplace. This is also called behaviour
modification.
• According to behaviour modification, learning is dependent on the environment.
• It states that environment teaches an individual to change his/her behaviour to maximise
positive consequences and minimise undesirable behaviour
The stages of behaviour modification are:
Antecedents (A) Behaviour (B) Consequences (C)

Organisational Reward System

• Various organisations follow different reward systems based on the performance of its
employees. Certain organisations prefer to go for monetary rewards, whereas, a few prefer
non-monetary rewards.
• Benefits, appreciation, and recognition are equally important parts of a strategic reward
system. An employee-reward system reflects the integrated policies of an organisation, which
is revealed by the desired level of performance of an employee and his/her contribution
towards the organisational objectives.
• A reward system executes the entire reward process in an organised way. For developing the
performance of employees and for initiating an effective reward system, managers need to
focus on the important aspects of rewards such as performance facilitation, performance
encouragement, and value of rewards.
The features of reward system are as follows:

A reward system provides a mixed element of monetary and non-monetary reward
to match the requirements of individual employees.
It communicates the reward at the right time to encourage employees.
It connects the reward with performance, which yields positive results for both
organisation and employees.
It reflects promotions and compensation to cover more responsibilities and improve

performance.
It provides the opportunity to link appraisal with the reward system.

Administering Reinforcement
• To administer reinforcement effectively, certain schedules of reinforcement are developed,
because when and how reinforcement is administered is significant. There are two major types
of reinforcement schedules, which are as follows:
Continuous
Reinforcement schedules
Intermittent
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule

• In continuous reinforcement schedule, reinforcement is continuous, that is, every time
desirable behaviour is demonstrated, it is encouraged or reinforced, so that the frequency of its
demonstration increases.
• For example, a chocolate for every good presentation.
Intermittent Reinforcement Schedule

• In intermittent reinforcement schedule, the acceptable or desirable behaviour is reinforced but
not each and every time, because the amount of reinforcement given once is often enough to
make the behaviour worth repeating.
Fixed interval
schedule
Interval schedule
Variable interval
Intermittent schedule
reinforcement
schedule Fixed-ratio
schedule
Ratio schedule
Variable-ratio
schedule
The different types of intermittent reinforcement schedules are:
Fixed Interval Schedule

• When rewards are spaced at uniform or pre-fixed equal time intervals, the reinforcement
schedule is called fixed-interval reinforcement schedule.
Variable Interval Schedule
• If rewards are distributed in time, so that reinforcements are unpredictable, the schedule
is of the variable-interval type.
Fixed-ratio Schedule
• In a fixed-ratio reinforcement schedule, rewards are initiated after a fixed or constant
number of responses to encourage this fixed number of responses and performances.
Variable-ratio Schedule
• In the variable-ratio schedule, reward is provided to employees after a varying number of
responses instead of the fixed number of responses.
The impact of punishment is as follows:
Punishment may result in undesirable emotional reactions.
Punishment can also lead to sabotage, wherein the punished employees form a group and
plan to damage the organisation’s property, such as machines.
Most of the time, punishment leads to temporary suppression of undesirable behaviour

instead of its complete elimination.
Punishment reduces initiative taking and ability for flexibility in employees. This is
because self-esteem of an employee decreases when he/she is given a punishment.
Let’s Sum Up
• Learning refers to the process of acquiring knowledge and new skills by an individual.
• The different learning theories, developed to understand the process of learning, are classical
conditioning theory, operant or instrumental conditioning theory, cognitive learning theory,
and social learning theory.
• Reinforcement refers to strengthening a particular behaviour in an individual.
• Reward is a form of positive reinforcement that motivates employees to improve their
performance.
• Punishment tries to decrease the frequency of unwanted behaviour and actions or an
undesirable happening. Punishment can be of two types: positive punishment and negative
punishment.
Post Your Query
Chapter 6: Motivation
Chapter Index

From-To
Meaning of Motivation
2 Topic 1 112
Characteristics of Motivation
3 Topic 2 113
4 Topic 3 Different Motives of Motivation 114-115
Motivational Approaches
5 Topic 4 116-119
Chapter Index
From-To
Theories of Motivation
6 Topic 5 120
Content Theories
7 Topic 6 121-124
Process Theories
8 Topic 7 125-129
Motivation in Practice
9 Topic 8 130
10 Topic 9 Let’s Sum Up 131

• Define motivation
• Explain the characteristics of motivation
• Describe different motives of motivation
• Discuss the theories of motivation
Meaning of Motivation
• Motivation is a very fundamental psychological process.

• The term ‘motivation’ is derived from the Latin word ‘movere’ meaning ‘to move’. Therefore,
in simple words, motivation refers to the psychological process of driving an individual to
certain goals.
• Motivation consists of three interacting and independent elements: needs, drives, and
incentives.
• Needs are created whenever there is a physical or a psychological imbalance.
• Drives provide the energising thrust to achieve a goal. Incentives are at the end of the
motivation cycle. Incentives can be defined as factors that reduce drive and alleviate needs.
Characteristics of Motivation
• Motivation refers to an internal feeling that helps individuals in achieving their personal and
professional goals in an efficient manner.
• Motivation generates a drive to move in a certain direction and achieve certain goals.
• The source of motivation for different people is different; it depends on their age, status,
cultural background, etc.
• Motivation is a psychological concept. Therefore, it comes from within an individual. Human
behaviour is influenced more by inner motivation than external influences
1. Different Motives of Motivation
Primary Motives:
• For a motive to be classified as ‘primary’ it needs to meet at least two criteria, which are as
follows:
– It must be unlearned. In other words, these motives are inherent in a human being.
– It must be physiologically based. In other words, these motives originate from the
biological system of a human being.
General Motives:
• There are a number of motives that lie between primary and secondary motives. These
motives are partially learned and partially biologically inherent.
2. Different Motives of Motivation
Secondary Motives:
• Secondary motives are the most important of the three types of motives, because these are
learned motives.
• As a society develops, the primary and general motives give way to secondary motives. For
example, in a primitive society, primary motives, such as hunger and sex, were very dominant.
However, as society developed, motives, such as power and achievement, took precedence.
1. Motivational Approaches
Instinct Approach:
• According to this approach, instincts or inborn patterns of behaviour, influence the behaviour
of a person. These instincts are biologically predetermined. Therefore, the approach
successfully explains food-seeking and mate-seeking behaviour of individuals, because sex
and hunger are primary instincts.
• However, this approach cannot always explain the complex behavioural patterns displayed by
humans. For example, the instinct to survive does not influence the behaviour of an individual
who saves a friend in a car accident.
• Thus, there are factors in addition to instincts that influence human behaviour.
Drive-reduction Approach:
• This approach was proposed by Clark C. Hull.
• The approach establishes a relationship between needs and the fulfillment of needs.
• According to this approach, every living organism experiences certain drives or arousals that
create a feeling of anxiety and tension. Each organism behaves in a certain manner to reduce
this anxiety.
Incentive Approach:
• According to this approach, motivation originates from the desire to achieve external goals or
incentives.
• Incentives can be tangible, such as money and food, and intangible, such as love and
recognition.
• However, this approach fails to determine how certain incentives direct behaviour.
• In addition, it is not scientifically possible to determine the value of an incentive.
Cognitive Approach:
• This is a relatively modern approach, and it is widely accepted by psychologists.
• The main focus of this approach remains on the individual`s thoughts, beliefs, and
perceptions, as well as his/her understanding of the world.
• According to the cognitive theory of motivation by Edward C. Tolman, an individual`s
expectation of behaviour and the value attached to its consequences determine his/her
behaviour.
Theories of Motivation
Some of the theories provided by eminent theorists are as follows:

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Theory X and Theory Y
• Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory/Motivation-Hygiene Theory
• McClelland’s Theory of Needs
• Goal Setting Theory
• Equity Theory
• Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
• ERG Theory
• Cognitive Evaluation Theory
1. Content Theories
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory:

1. Physiological Needs: Include needs for hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other physical needs
2. Safety Needs: Include need for safety and protection from physical and emotional harm
3. Social Needs: Include need for affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship
4. Esteem Needs: Include need for internal esteem factors, such as self-respect, autonomy, and
achievement; as well as external esteem factors.
5. 5. Self-actualisation Needs: Include need for the drive to realise one’s potential, self-
growth, and self-fulfilment

2. Content Theories
Herzberg Two-factor Theory

• This theory was proposed by psychologist Frederick Herzberg, who was one of the most
influential names in business management. The Herzberg two-factor theory investigates
people’s expectations from their jobs. Herzberg asked people to describe the situations in their
jobs; when they felt good or bad. From the responses, Herzberg arrived at the conclusion that
the following two factors are related with job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction:
– Intrinsic Factors/Motivators: These factors represent people’s perception about their

jobs.
– Extrinsic Factors/Hygiene Factors: These are the factors in the absence of which
dissatisfaction is created among employees.
3. Content Theories
Alderfer ERG Theory:

• This theory was proposed by Clayton Alderfer to address some of the limitations of Maslow’s
need hierarchy theory. The letters ERG stand for three levels of needs, which are explained as
follows:
– Existence: Existence needs correspond to the physiological and safety needs of
Maslow’s hierarchy.
– Relatedness: Relatedness needs correspond to Maslow’s belongingness needs. Growth:
Growth needs correspond to Maslow’s esteem and self-actualisation needs.
4. Content Theories
Mcclelland Needs Theory

• David McClelland was the proponent of this theory. According to this theory, every individual
is driven by the following three motivators:
– Achievement: People who are driven by achievement are driven by complex challenges,
and they want to find solutions of problems.
– Power: These people want to have control over a situation, and they are very influential.
It has been observed that executives are strongly motivated by power.
– Affiliation: Affiliation-oriented people have a strong desire to belong. They are deeply
concerned about relationships, and they strive to reduce uncertainty. In addition, they are
good team players.
1. Process Theories
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory:

• This theory is one of the most widely-accepted theories of motivation. The theory focuses on
the following three relationships:
2. Process Theories
Porter’s Prformance Satisfaction Theory

• It is based on the following four assumptions:
• Multiple factors in the individual and in the environment determine behaviour.
• Individuals make conscious decisions about how they are going to behave in an organisational
set up.
• Different individuals have different needs, desires, and goals.
• The behaviour of an individual depends on the expectation that the behaviour will bring
certain rewards.
3. Process Theories
Porter’s Prformance Satisfaction Theory

The various elements of the theory are:
4. Process Theories
Equity Theory
• This theory was proposed by John Stacey Adams.

• The theory calls for a fair balance to be struck between the inputs of an employee, such as
hard work, skills, tolerance, and enthusiasm, and the outputs such as compensation, benefits,
and recognition.
• According to this theory, a balance between the inputs and outputs creates a strong and
productive relationship between the employees and employers.
5. Process Theories
Reinforcement Theory:
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction
Motivation in Practice
Reinforcement Theory:
Monetary and Non-monetary Benefits
Job Enrichment
Job Rotation
Goal Setting
Alternative Working Schedule

Let’s Sum Up
• Motivation refers to an internal feeling that helps individuals in achieving their personal and
professional goals in an efficient manner.
• Motivation originates from underlying human motives.
• Different types of motives are primary motives, general motives, and secondary motives.
• Motivation refers to encouraging individuals to direct their actions towards the realisation of
organisational goals.
• Some of the theories provided by eminent theorists are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Theory
X and Theory Y, Herzberg’s two-factor theory/motivation-hygiene theory, McClelland’s
theory of needs, goal setting theory, equity theory, Vroom’s expectancy theory, ERG Theory,
and Cognitive Evaluation Theory.
Post Your Query
Chapter 7: Leadership and
People Skills
Chapter Index
From-To
2 Topic 1 Definition of Leadership 137-144
3 Topic 2 Leadership Theories 145-150
4 Topic 3 Pitfalls in Leadership 151-154
5 Topic 4 Emotional Intelligence 155-158
6 Topic 5 Styles of Leadership and Their Impact 159-164

on Employees

• Explain the concept and significance of leadership
• Identify the differences between managers and leaders
• Discuss the leadership theories
• Discuss the pitfalls in leadership
• Explain the concept of emotional intelligence
• Discuss the styles of leadership and their impact on employees
1. Definition of Leadership
• Leadership is the ability of an individual to persuade other individuals to behave in a

particular way, willingly.
• In organisations, leadership entails motivating employees to do their jobs using the skills and
commitment that is required for the attainment of desired results.
• Leaders should possess certain people skills for efficient leadership that helps them to cope up
with other individuals.
Assertive Skills
Communication Skills
Motivation Skills
Adaptive Skills
• Assertive Skills: Effective leadership requires the ability to assert how individuals behave in
certain situations as objectively as possible. Leaders should be able to use their assertive skills
to identify the reasons for individual behaviour in a particular situation to interact with them,
empathetically.
• Communication Skills: Leaders should develop strategies to communicate their ideas and
views effectively. Communication skills help in exchange of ideas that lead to problem
solving and decision making, both of which are required for efficient leadership.
• Motivation Skills: Communication alone may not encourage people to follow a leader.
Individuals are interested in knowing the benefits that a certain decision or strategy offers to
them. That is when the motivational skills of a leader are required to highlight the incentives
of accomplishing a task.
• Adaptive Skills: An efficient leader is aware that no two individuals are the same, and they do
not have the same needs. Therefore, leadership requires having adaptive skills to adjust the
communication and motivation techniques while meeting an individual’s needs.
Significance of Leadership
Leadership provides many advantages to an organisation, leading to the achievement of success
and stability.
Leadership Provides Clear Vision
Leadership Leads to Effective Planning
Leaders Inspire and Motivate
Leaders Build Employee Morale
Leaders Encourage New Ideas
Leaders Improve Employee-organisation Relationship
Leaders Help in Management of Crisis

• Leadership Provides Clear Vision: Leaders communicate a clear vision to employees of an

organisation by presenting the bigger picture. They are the connection between the
organisation and the employee. Thus, employees remain focused regarding the organisational
direction and do not stray from their roles and responsibilities.
• Leadership Leads to Effective Planning: Leaders provide a structured approach to generate
a plan of action to achieve organisational goals. Planning helps employees to identify,
contribute to, and understand their roles in achieving defined objectives.
• Leaders Inspire and Motivate: If a leader shows commitment and enthusiasm towards
organisational goals, he/she provides inspiration and motivation for employees to perform at a
high level.
• Leaders Build Employee Morale: High-employee morale signifies wilful dedication of

employees towards their work. Leaders build employee morale to maintain that dedication.
This helps in encouraging employees to perform with perseverance as they work to achieve
the goals.
• Leaders Encourage New Ideas: Leaders encourage employees to contribute and discuss new
ideas and innovative techniques by creating a positive environment. This helps in using
employees’ diverse experiences and ideas to improve business.
Managers vs. Leaders

 Managers Influence While Leaders Inspire: Management comprises controlling
individuals to accomplish a goal. Leadership involves influencing, motivating, and
enabling other individuals to contribute in the attainment of an objective.
 Managers Create Circles of Power While Leaders Create Circles of Influence:
Managers have subordinates who help in carrying out the instructions laid down by the
manager. Leaders usually have followers, who are motivated by the leader to perform.
 Managers Work to Achieve a Given Objective, While Leaders Create Targets for the
Future: Managers influence subordinates to accomplish an identified target. However,
leaders are futuristic in their approach and inspire individuals to accomplish
revolutionary ideas.
Managers vs. Leaders

Leadership Characteristics Management Characteristics
Strategic and people-oriented focus Tactical and organisational focus
Setting of organisational direction and goals Planning coordinated activities
Motivating and inspiring people Administering and maintaining systems

Establishing principles Formulating policies
Building a team and development of talent Allocating and supporting human resources
Developing new opportunities Solving logistical problems
Promoting innovation and invention Ensuring conformance to standards and procedures
Empowering and mentoring people Instructing and directing people
Risk engagement and instigation of change Management and containment of risks
Long-term, high-level perspective Short-term, detailed perspective

1. Leadership Theories
The three main leadership theories are as follows:
Trait Theories
Behavioural Theories
Contingency Theories
Trait Theories
• Popular in the 1940s and 1950s, the trait theories of leadership are based on the assumption
that individuals inherit certain traits that make them suitable for leadership.
• According to the trait theories, leaders have common personalities or behavioural
characteristics.
• The physiological and psychological qualities common to leaders are high level of energy,
aggressiveness, self-reliance, pleasant appearance, persuasiveness, and dominance.
• However, the theory failed to explain how certain leaders, who are effective, lack one or more
of the qualities mentioned in these theories.
Behavioural Theories
• The limited scope of the trait theory to predict leadership behaviour led researchers to shift
their focus to the behavioural theories of leadership, during the 1950s.
• Behavioural theories of leadership are based upon the belief that it is not the personal traits of
an individual but his/her behaviour that makes him/her an effective leader.
• As per behavioural theories, leadership behaviour can be categorised into the following two
types:
 Production oriented
 Employee oriented
• The theory states that leadership effectiveness is a function of two variables:
 The tasks or interpersonal relationships that motivate a leader
 The situation
• The tasks or interpersonal relationships that motivate a leader can be assessed with the help of
a Least Preferred Co-worker (LPC) scale.
• Higher LPC scores signify more positive descriptions of the least preferred co-worker. Low
LPC scores signify more negative description of the co-worker. east Preferred Co-worker
(LPC) scale.
• Workers with high LPC scores are motivated to maintain harmonious interpersonal
relationships. Workers with low LPC scores are driven to perform better and focus on
interpersonal skills.
According to the contingency theory, there are two types of leaders:
• Task-oriented Leaders: These leaders usually see their LPCs more negatively,
resulting in lower scores. Task-oriented leaders were referred to as low-LPC leaders by
Fiedler. Low-LPC leaders are effective in organising a group to get tasks and projects
done. However, building interpersonal relationships is a low priority for such leaders.
• Relationship-oriented Leaders: These leaders usually see their LPCs more positively,
resulting in higher scores. Relationship-oriented leaders were referred to as high-LPC
leaders. High-LPC leaders focus on building interpersonal relationships, while avoiding
and managing conflict.
The LPC scale used in organisations is as follows:
1. Pitfalls in Leadership
An effective leader is aware that pitfalls appear midcourse and needs to be prepared to overcome
them. Pitfalls in leadership can be categorised as follows:
Personal Pitfalls
Pitfalls in
Leadership
Environmental Organisational
Pitfalls Pitfalls
Personal pitfalls
A leader can face or be involved in the following personal pitfalls:
• Criticism: This is one of the major personal pitfalls faced by a leader. Criticism should be
handled by the leader keeping in view the role he/she has without being personal.
• Dictatorship: If leaders become dictatorial in their approach rather than being collaborative,
they tend to keep their personal objectives above those of the followers and lay unrealistic
targets for them.
• Role Confusion: A leader’s role is to serve others and work for their welfare. However, in
their passion to accomplish a task, leaders often ignore the other individuals associated with
him/her.
Organisational pitfalls
• The rules and principles driving an organisation should be well versed by a leader to
understand the ramifications of not abiding by them.
• A leader who misses to comprehend the cultural clues may face obstructions in leading the
organisation towards a new direction.
• Another common organisational pitfall is experiencing changes in leadership. It can be
challenging when an organisation’s founding leader changes.
• People in the organisation are committed to the previous leader and may resist the new leader.
• The new leader should view this as a developmental process and attempt to win the trust of the
people.
Environmental pitfalls
• Organisations and their external environment change constantly. These changes can
be legislative, social and political, economic, etc.
• Organisations need to respond to changes by adopting new policies and plans.
• Depending on the external influence, a leader needs to bring about changes in his/her
strategies and work procedures.
• It can be challenging to keep employees motivated during times of crisis or change.
• A leader should set an example by leading the team through the change and inspire
others to follow suit.

1. Emotional Intelligence
• Emotions are organised responses that typically arise in response to an event, internal or
external, which bears a positive or negative meaning for an individual.
• Intelligence can be defined as the ability of an individual to act purposefully, think rationally,
and cope effectively with changes around him/her.
• Emotional intelligence is an individual’s ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions
to relieve stress; communicate and empathise with other individuals; and overcome challenges
and conflict.
• Emotional intelligence affects several aspects of an individual’s daily life such as the way
he/she behaves and interacts with other individuals.
Emotional intelligence has four main aspects:
Self-awareness
Emotional
Relationship Intelligence Self-
Management management
Social
Awareness
• Self awareness: It is the ability of individuals to recognise their emotions and the way they
affect their thoughts and behaviour. It also includes the ability of individuals to identify their
strengths and weaknesses and develop self-confidence.
• Self management: It is the ability of individuals to control impulsive feelings and behaviours,
manage emotions, take initiatives, adhere to commitments, and adapt to changing situations.
• Social Awareness: It is the ability of individuals to understand the emotions, needs, and
apprehensions of other individuals.
• Relationship Management: It is the ability of individuals to develop and maintain good
relationships with others and to communicate and inspire others in a team to work in
collaboration, thereby, avoiding conflicts.
Emotional Intelligence at Workplace

• Emotional intelligence helps individuals understand the social complexities of the workplace.
• Even in well-known organisational set-ups, the most valued and productive leaders are those
who have strong traits of emotional intelligence.
• Effective leaders are distinguished by appreciable degrees of emotional intelligence, which

includes qualities such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social
skills.
• Emotional intelligence in leadership gives birth to resonant leadership.
• Resonant leaders possess higher degrees of emotional intelligence and the ability to connect
with their followers.
1. Styles of Leadership and Their Impact on Employees
• A leadership style includes the techniques and methods used by leaders to motivate other
individuals to follow their instructions.
• There are basically three factors that influence the kind of leadership an individual follows:
 Characteristics of the leader
 Characteristics of the subordinates
 Characteristics of the organisational environment
• The personal background of leaders and employees both affects the style of leadership
followed.
• These factors include personality, knowledge, values, and experiences and learning, which
shape an individual’s feelings.
A broad classification of leadership styles is as follows:
Leadership Styles Autocratic Leadership
Bureaucratic Leadership
Democratic Leadership
Charismatic Leadership
Situational Leadership
Transactional Leadership
Transformational Leadership
Laissez Faire Leadership

• Autocratic Leadership: Leaders who follow the autocratic style are extremely confident of
their decision-making abilities, organising abilities, and capacity to formulate strategies and
plans. Although this leadership style works well when decisions need to be taken promptly,
there is a lack of shared vision and motivation among employees. Autocratic leadership
eliminates commitment, creativity, and innovation on the part of employees.
• Bureaucratic Leadership: Bureaucratic leaders believe that policy dictates direction. They
are strongly committed to procedures and processes instead of employees’ needs and
objectives. The disadvantage of this style of leadership is that the most important
characteristics of leadership, such as motivation and development of employees, are generally
ignored.
• Democratic Leadership: Democratic leadership style emphasises that leaders offer guidance
to people and accept inputs from individuals to make decisions. Democratic leaders reserve
the right to make the final decision, but they encourage feedback, ideas, and suggestions from
all employees. Democratic leaders usually have more satisfied followers.
• Charismatic Leadership: Leaders following charismatic style of leadership have a vision and
personality that motivate people to execute the vision. Charismatic leadership offers
opportunities for creativity and innovation, because it is highly motivational. Employees tend
to follow such leaders and are usually content with their roles and tasks in the achievement of
organisational objectives.
• Situational Leadership: The situational leadership theory states that there is no ideal style of
leadership to suit every situation. Experienced and seasoned leaders, who are aware of
organisational and employee needs, tend to adopt the situational leadership style. Employees
are content, because there is freedom to choose the best strategy for every situation, which
offers scope for innovation, development, and learning.
• Transactional Leadership: Leaders following this style tend to adopt a system of rewards
and punishments for employees. For example, when employees are successful, they are
rewarded; and when employees fail, they are reprimanded or punished.
• Transformational Leadership: Leaders following the transformational leadership style

attempt to transform their followers. These leaders are usually energetic, enthusiastic, and
passionate towards employees. Transformational leaders represent the most valuable form of
leadership, because employees are offered fair opportunities to change, transform, and develop
themselves as contributors.
• Laissez Faire Leadership: Leaders following this style believe that people excel when they
are left alone to respond to their responsibilities and obligations on their own. Therefore,
Laissez faire leaders extend the least possible guidance to employees and attempt to control
them through less obvious means. The laissez faire leadership style is suitable for
organisations where employees are highly skilled and motivated to work on their own.
Let’s Sum Up
• Leadership is the ability of an individual to persuade other individuals to behave in a

particular way, willingly.
• Leaders should possess certain people skills for efficient leadership such as assertive skills,
communication skills, motivation skills, and adaptive skills
• The three main leadership theories are trait theories, behavioural theories, and contingency
theories.
• Pitfalls in leadership involve personal pitfalls, organisational pitfalls, and environmental
pitfalls.
• Emotional intelligence is an individual’s ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions
to relieve stress, communicate, and empathise with other individuals, overcome challenges
and conflict.
Post Your Query
Chapter 8: Groups and
Teams
Chapter Index
From-To
2 Topic 1 Group Dynamics 171-174
3 Topic 2 Types of Groups 175-179
4 Topic 3 Understanding Group Processes 180
5 Topic 4 Formation of Groups 181-182
6 Topic 5 Theories of Group Formation 183
7 Topic 6 Concept of Teams 184-188

• Explain the concept of group dynamics
• Identify the different types of groups
• Explain the different group processes
• Describe the formation of groups
• Discuss the theories of group formation
• Explain the concept of teams
1. Group Dynamics
• Organisational behaviour, defines a group as the collection of two or more independent

individuals interacting with each other to achieve a common goal.
• Group dynamics is a social process by which people interact face-to-face in small groups. It
describes how a group should be organised and operated. The features of group dynamics are
as follows:
• It outlines the interaction model within the group.
• It estimates the pressure of other groups.
• It estimates the pressure exerted by members of the group.
• It facilitates decision-making process of the group.
• It measures and increases satisfaction level of group members.
2. Group Dynamics
• The importance of understanding group dynamics is as follows:

• It enables managers to manage the groups effectively and promotes effective working of the
organisation.
• It helps managers to harness the synergy of the group for any contingent business need.
• It prepares the groups for better future performance.
3. Group Dynamics
Features of Groups
• Groups’ emphasise on the development and accomplishment of common goals of the group
members rather than individual goals.
• In groups, full participation of all the members is expected.
• Groups mainly focus on behavioural changes instead of personality changes.
• Groups’ emphasise on the impact of behaviours, rather than their intent.
• Groups help in determining the reasons for less participation by the members in a group
activity.
• Groups facilitate the efforts of people to establish reasonable boundaries with colleagues.
• In groups, power or authority is not used for resolving the problems.
4. Group Dynamics
Importance of Groups
• Groups provide a sense of becomingness among the employees
• Groups act as a source of warmth and support for the employees
• Groups provide a power/authority to the group members
• Groups provide security to the employees
• Groups offer recognition and status to the employees
1.Types of Groups
Formal groups
Types of groups
Reference Group
2.Types of Groups
• Formal Groups can be further categorised as follows:
Secondary group
Command group
Task group
Committee
3.Types of Groups
• Different types of models are used for communicating in formal groups. Some of these models
are discussed as follows:
Chain model
Wheel model
Circular model
Free flow model
Inverted V model
4.Types of Groups
• Informal Groups can be further categorised as follows:
Primary group
Interest group
Friendship group
Reference group
5.Types of Groups
• The communication models followed in the informal groups are discussed as follows:
Single strand model Gossip model Probability model Cluster model

Understanding Group Processes
• In every group, there are certain inherent processes, which are called group processes. Some
of the important dynamics of the group are as follows:
Roles
Norms
Status
Free rider tendency
Group cohesiveness
1.Formation of Groups
• Forming a group is as simple as asking some friends to meet and complete a task.
• However, when people work in a group task, the relationship of each member of a group has
to be professional.
• Although, it takes time for a group of people to work in a coordinated, professional manner to
complete a common task effectively.
• Thus, before a group reaches a stage where it can function effectively, it has to go through
various stages of development.
2.Formation of Groups
The stages of group development are as follows:
Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning

Theories of Group Formation
Propinquity Theory
Homan’s Theory
Balance Theory
Exchange Theory
1.Concept of Teams
• Team can be defined as a formal group comprising interdependent individuals who are
responsible for the attainment of common goals.
• A team has following features:
• In a team the members interact freely with each other.
• A team provides support to all its team members willingly.
• A team encourages collective decision-making.
• A team creates an environment of trust and support among team members.
• A team provides opportunity to the team members to give suggestions.
• In teams, regular feedback is provided to members for improving their performance by the
leader or supervisor.
2.Concept of Teams
Teams help organisations in the following ways:

• Team makes the members loyal to each other when they unite to accomplish common
organisational objectives.
• Team increases the performance of individual members by utilising the collective knowledge,
skills, and ideas of team members.
• Team provides an opportunity to team members to show their potentials by delegation of work.
• Team increases flexibility among the members of the team. This is due to the fact that when
people in a team come together from different background for a common purpose then they
become more tolerant, open for discussions, and eager to learn. This further helps the
organisation to use its workforce in diverse fields.
3.Concept of Teams
• The different types of teams are as follows:
Functional Team
Cross Functional Team
Self-Managed Team
Supervised Team
Virtual Team
Problem-Solving Team
4.Concept of Teams
• Difference between Groups and Teams

Group Team
The group focuses on individual’s Team focuses on mutual accountability.
accountability.
The group emphasises on sharing of ideas, Team emphasises on taking decisions, discussing various
information, and perspectives of the issues, solving problems, or planning for the future.
members.
It focuses on the goals of individuals.
It focuses on the collective and common goals of the entire
team.
Group produces the outcomes, such as Team produces collective outcome that is achieved by the
individual projects or assignments. entire team.
It encompasses individual roles, It encompasses shared roles, responsibilities, tasks, and

responsibilities, tasks, procedures, or assignments.
assignments.
Group shows individual concern of every Team shows no individual concerns; the entire team is
member of the work group to his/her own responsible for the work as a whole.
work.
5.Concept of Teams
Problems in Teamwork
Communication
Personal Variables
Unrealistic Expectations
Change
Goal Conflict
Difference in Values
Behaviour
Let’s Sum Up
• The group is the collection of two or more independent individuals to achieve a common goal.
Group dynamics refers to a social process through which people interact face-to-face in small
groups.
• After group formation, bond of intimacy and stable relationships are developed among the
group members, which provide a structure for the group along with some important processes,
which characterises the dynamics within groups.
• Various stages involved in the group formation are forming, storming, norming, performing,
and adjourning.
• Different theories for group formation are propinquity theory, Homan’s theory, Balance theory,
and exchange theory.
• Team is the formal group that includes interdependent individuals responsible for the
attainment of common goals.
Post Your Query
Chapter 9: Conflict
Management
Chapter Index

From-To
2 Topic 1 Understanding Conflicts 196-205
3 Topic 2 Functional Conflicts 206-207
4 Topic 3 Dysfunctional Conflicts 208-209
5 Topic 4 Types of Conflicts 210-217

Chapter Index

From-To
6 Topic 5 Conflict Resolution and Management 218-221
7 Topic 6 Encouraging Functional Conflict for 222-224

Organisational Effectiveness
8 Topic 7 Let’s Sum Up 225

• Explain the concept of conflict
• Describe the sources of conflict
• Discuss the positive and negative aspects of conflict
• Explain functional and dysfunctional conflict
• Describe the types of conflict
• Discuss conflict resolution and management
• Explain the role of functional conflict in increasing organisational effectiveness
1. Understanding Conflicts
• According to Chung and Meggison, “Conflict is the struggle between incompatible or

opposing needs, wishes, ideas, interests, or people.” According to them conflict arises when
individuals or groups encounter goals that both parties cannot attain satisfactorily.
• According to Pondy, conflict has been defined as “the condition of objective incompatibility
between values and goals; as the behaviour of deliberately interfering with another’s goal
achievement; and as emotionally in terms of hostility.”
• Conflict is perceived in many different and unique ways, three of them being the most
significant. They are as follows:
• Traditional View: According to this view, all types of conflicts are harmful to an organisation.
Therefore, conflicts should be avoided at any cost. According to this view, managers should
try to suppress all types of conflicts within the organisation.
• Human Relations View of Conflict: In this view, conflict is a natural phenomenon. This view
states that conflict is essential for success and progress in an organisation.
• Interactionist View of Conflict: According to this view, conflict is necessary for a group to
perform efficiently. This is because conflicts lead to positive results.
Following are some of the main characteristics of conflict:

• It occurs when two or more individuals pursue incompatible goals.
• In a conflict, individuals try to prevent others from attaining their goals.
• It arises due to a dilemma within an individual to select the right course of action.
• It occurs when there is a mismatch between the actual and expected role.
• It arises when the goals of one individual or department clashes with the goals of another
individual or department.
• Sources of Conflicts:
Communication
Personal Variables
Unrealistic Expectations
Change
Goal
Difference in Values
Behaviour
Sources of Conflicts:
• Communication: Conflict arises because of ineffective communication or lack of
communication.
• Personal Variables: Personality and value system of different employees are diverse.
• Unrealistic Expectations: It refers to the impractical expectations that management bears
from employees.
• Change: It is a common tendency of employees to resist organisational change. Resistance to
change leads to conflict.

Sources of Conflicts:
• Goal: Goals of two or more individuals or departments may collide and lead to conflicts.
• Difference in Values: These indicate that people have different value systems, to which they
are emotionally attached and uncompromising. In such a scenario, the values of one individual
may collide with another that may lead to conflict. For example, two salespersons are selling a
product.
• Behaviour: This indicates that an extreme action of an individual, whether defensive or
offensive, can be a reason for conflict. For example, on receiving negative feedback from a
superior, an employee aggressively accuses his superior of bias.
Performance Low Employee

Degradation Retention
Negative Aspects of
Conflicts
Negative Aspects of Conflicts:
• Performance Degradation: Conflicts consume significant energy of the individuals involved

as well as the organisation. These lead to degradation in performance. For example, an
employee who spends time arguing with a colleague is not able to deliver tasks within time.
• Low Employee Retention: Conflicts create demotivation among employees. This increases
employee turnover and leads to low retention. For example, employees who think they are the
victims of conflicts may bear negative perceptions about the organisation and try to find
opportunities in other organisations.
Competition
Change in
Organisational Creativity
Culture
Positive
Aspects of
Conflicts
Positive Aspects of Conflicts:
• Change in Organisational Culture: Conflicts help in identifying the potential problem areas
in an organisation. Dealing with the problems leads to change in organisational culture.
• Competition: Conflict may induce healthy competition in an organisation. This helps in
increasing productivity and quality.
• Creativity: Increasing competition due to conflicts may spur creativity among employees. For
example, an employee tries to show that he/she is better than a colleague and thus forms
profitable ideas for the entire team.
1. Functional Conflicts
• Functional conflicts refer to constructive conflicts that support the goals of the organisations
and improve its performance.
• Functional conflicts involve people genuinely interested in solving problems and listening to
one another.
• A great way to improve a team’s performance is stimulating functional conflicts and hence
generating innovative ideas.
2. Functional Conflicts
Following are the two methods of stimulating functional conflicts:

• Devil’s Advocacy: It involves assigning a team member the role of a critic. This person will
always criticise an idea that the team may have. This helps in creating an environment of
critical thinking. However, the role of the critic should be revolved in the team, so that no
particular individual develops the reputation of being negative.
• Dialectic Method: It involves conducting a debate of opposite views before taking any
decision. After hearing the pros and cons of different ideas, the team has greater success in
making sound decisions.
1. Dysfunctional Conflicts
• A dysfunctional conflict consists of various disputes and disagreements that hinder the
performance of the company.
• It involves people unwilling to work for a common goal and solve a particular problem.
• In a workplace, there are various methods of dealing with dysfunctional conflicts.
2. Dysfunctional Conflicts
Obliging
Integrating Dominating
Dealing with
Dysfunctional
Conflicts
1. Types of Conflicts
Inter-personal Conflicts
• Individual-level conflict indicates that human behaviour is directed by needs, which guide the
activities of an individual.
• Before joining an organisation, individuals try to match their needs with the organisation’s
offerings in terms of salary packages or other benefits. However, if they observe any inequity
with their colleagues in the organisation, it may result in a conflict at the individual level.
• Such a conflict may lead to tension, frustration, and unpleasant behaviour in individuals. For
example, an employee who believes he/she is paid less than
Following are two important concepts in the context of inter-personal conflicts:
• Transactional Analysis: It refers to a model of people and relationships that was devolped by
Dr. Eric Berne in the 1960s. It is based on two notions:
– First, we have three ‘ego-states’ in our personality. These states are parent, adult, and
child.
– Second, these states converse with one another in ‘transactions’.
• Johari Window: It refers to a communication model used to improve understanding among
individuals. The word “Johari” is derived from the names of Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham,
who developed this model in 1955.
The Johari window is a four quadrant grid shown as follows:
Following are the generic steps in resolving inter-personal conflicts:

1. Defining the problem in terms of needs
2. Brainstorming possible solutions
3. Selecting the solution(s) that best meet both parties’ needs and checking
possible consequences
4. Planning who will do what, where, and by when
5. Implementing the plan
6. Evaluating the process and the outcomes

Inter-group Conflicts
• Conflicts that occur between two or more groups are called inter-group conflicts.
• These are frequently seen within an organisation when two departments are in conflict with
each other to acquire scarce resources. For example, the marketing and the finance department
may be in conflict owing to difference in man power. In addition, two separate departments
can be in conflict regarding their contribution in the company.
• Intergroup conflict is minimised when different divisions work for common organisational
goals. It may be helpful to an organisation by increasing healthy competition.
• There are a number of techniques to resolve inter-group conflicts. Some of these techniques
are:
1. Avoidance where possible
2. Problem solving
3. Changing certain variables
4. Constituting a dispute resolution system
• The conflict resolution method should be selected on the basis of why the conflict occurs and
the seriousness of the conflict. A face-to-face meeting as in problem solving is a very effective
way of resolving misunderstanding or language barriers.
Intra-individual Conflict
• This type of conflict is also known as intrapsychic conflict.
• It occurs within an individual when an individual argues with himself/herself about an issue.
For example, an individual wants to buy a new pair of shoes but knows that he/she should not
spend money on them.
• Thus, intra-individual conflict occurs when there is inconsistency among an individual`s
cognitive elements.
Intra-individual Conflict
Goal Conflict
Frustration Role Conflict
Intra-
individual
Conflict
1. Conflict Resolution and Management
• Conflict plays both functional and dysfunctional roles, depending upon the impact it has on
the performance of employees.
• In case a conflict improves performance, it needs to be stimulated.
• If a conflict hampers performance, it needs to be controlled and resolved.
• A conflict has to be resolved especially when it reaches the optimal level.
Avoidance
Increasing Compromis
Resources e
Super-
Authoritativ
ordinate
e Command
Goals
Conflict Altering the

Problem
Resolution Human
Solving
Techniques Variable
• Problem Solving: This is a direct approach of resolving conflict in which the source of the
conflict is removed. In this approach, the main cause of the conflict is identified and removed
to resolve the conflict.
• Super-ordinate Goals: When various parties work for the fulfilment of the same goals, there
is less chance of conflict. Therefore, management should set super-ordinate goals to eliminate
conflicts.
• Increasing Resources: At times, lack of resources can be a cause for conflict. In such cases,
increasing the availability of resources can help in removing conflicts. For example, conflict
may arise in a project because of allocation of fewer resources than required. In such cases,
conflict can be avoided by deploying more resources.
• Avoidance: It is an indirect approach of resolving conflicts. In this approach, the cause of

conflict is avoided. For example, two mutually incompatible individuals may be asked to work
in separate groups to avoid any circumstance of face-off.
• Compromise: This refers to a technique in which both the conflicting parties are required to
give up their personal motives and think collectively to resolve a conflict.
• Authoritative Command: Indicates that by the use of formal authority, managers can resolve
the conflict.
• Altering the Human Variable: It involves various techniques, such as training to change the
human behaviour or attitude to deal with conflict in a better manner. On the other hand, the
individual involved in the conflict can be transferred to another place to help resolve the
conflict.
1. Encouraging Functional Conflict for Organisational
Effectiveness
• Functional conflicts are beneficial for an organisation.

• These types of conflicts can bring positive outcomes by improving the performance of
employees.
• Therefore, an organisation needs to stimulate these types of conflicts to promote healthy
competition and increased creativity.
• There are a number of techniques for stimulating the functional conflicts
Effectiveness
Restructuring the
Group
Bringing in Appointing the

Outsiders Devil`s Advocate
Conflict
Stimulation
Techniques
Effectiveness
• Bringing in Outsiders: Means that a manager can stimulate conflict by including an
employee whose working style, personality, and way of thinking is different from existing
employees.
• Restructuring the Group: It refers to reshuffle between two or more groups to exchange their
members. In such a case, all the concerned groups would have a combination of some old and
some new members.
• Appointing the Devil’s Advocate: This refers to an act of appointing a manager, who can
initiate arguments and oppose the already set-ideas to induce the conflict in the organisation.
Such a person helps in bringing the attention of other members to certain conflicting points
that can later be resolved.

Let’s Sum Up
• In simple words, conflict refers to the actual and perceived disagreement among needs, values,
and interests of individuals and groups.
• Some of the major sources of conflicts in organisations are communication, personal
variables, unrealistic expectations, change, goal, the difference in values, and behaviour.
• Some of the negative results of conflicts are performance degradation and low employee
retention.
• Some of the positive consequences of conflict are change in organisational culture,
competition, and creativity.
• Functional conflicts refer to constructive conflicts that support the goals of the organisations
and improve its performance. Functional conflicts involve people genuinely interested in
solving problems and listening to one another.
Post Your Query
Chapter 10: Power and
Politics in Organisations
Chapter Index

From-To
2 Topic 1 Understanding Power 231-239
3 Topic 2 Politics within Organisations 240-244
4 Topic 3 Importance of Personality 245-248

Development for Encountering
Politics

• Explain the concept of power and the difference between power and leadership
• Discuss the sources of power and the use of power tactics by individuals
• Discuss the existence of power in groups
• Discuss the existence of politics and factors contributing to politics within organisations
• Explain the role of politics in determining organisational culture
• Discuss the importance of personality development for encountering politics
1. Understanding Power
• Power is the potential ability to influence the behaviour of others.

• Power within organisations affects decision making for resource allocation, goals and
objectives setting, hiring of individuals, structural and employment decisions, etc.
• The idea of power symbolises interactions among individuals, where one individual influences
and the other is influenced.
• Power is dynamic and changes as situations and individuals change.
• Leaders also influence and inspire other individuals. However, power and leadership differ
from each other in more than one way.
Difference Between Leadership and Power

• Leadership refers to influencing people with or without the advantage of a formal position or
role, whereas power refers to getting people to do things owing to the formal platform or
charter an individual holds in an organisation.
• Leaders help other individuals in the group to work in coordination with one another, establish
their goals, and accomplish them for the success of the group.
• Power enables an individual to make other individuals act even when they resist, while leaders
influence individuals to accomplish common goals, at the same time, enabling them to
accomplish these goals.
Sources of Power
• Sources of power are based on the interpersonal relationships between supervisors and
subordinates in an organisation.
• Social psychologists, John French and Bertram Raven identified five sources of power:
Reward
power
Coercive
power
Sources of Legitimate
power power
Expert power
Referent
power
Identifying the Sources of Power in Organisations

• Organisational power focuses on the power of managers over subordinates in an organisation.
• Situational characteristics refer to the structure of the organisation, the opportunity to
influence others, access to influential people and critical resources, the kind of position an
individual holds, etc.
• Structural and situational sources of power in organisations may result in unequal access to
information, resources, and decision making within different departments in an organisation.
Identifying the Sources of Power in Organisations

The structural and situational sources of power in organisations are categorised as follows:
Knowledge as power
Resources as power
Structural and situational
sources of power
Decision making as power
Networks as power
Power Tactics
• Individuals use certain strategies to gain power and manipulate the bases of power for specific
actions such as influencing the behaviour of other individuals, gaining a particular advantage,
etc.
• These strategies are referred to as power tactics. Power tactics are used by individuals on their
own (individual), within a group (intra-group) and between groups (inter- group).
Power Tactics
Power tactics used by individuals can be categorised as follows:
Assertiveness
Friendliness
Rationality
Individual and
intra-group Sanctions
tactics
Higher authority
Bargaining
Power tactics Coalition
Uncertainty absorption
Inter-group Substitutability
tactics
Integrative importance
Power Tactics
• Individual and Intra-group Tactics: These tactics are identified on the basis of how
managers influence their subordinates, co-workers, and superiors.
• Inter-group Tactics: When one group in an organisation influences the other, the former
exerts power on the latter. Based on this, inter-group tactics have been identified in
organisations.
Power in Groups
• Power is a fundamental need within groups to influence the behaviour of other individuals and
make important group decisions.
• Unfortunately, sometimes members of a group express their need for power in inappropriate
and socially unacceptable ways.
• However, there are rational and devoted members in a group, who are promoted to positions
with higher responsibility and authority.
• They view themselves as having greater accountability towards the group members and the
objectives of the group.
• Power abusers, on the other hand, often consider themselves as superior to other group
members in less influential positions.
1. Politics within Organisations
• The political system of an organisation represents how power is applied and distributed in the
organisation.
• Power is crucial to the formulation of strategies in organisations because decisions regarding
whether to continue with the previous strategy or formulate a new one, are always political in
nature.
• Negative politics has been identified as one of the major sources of stress within existing
organisations. It includes the use of destabilising methods to promote personal agendas,;
distract other individuals; and compromise the interests, welfare, and goals of other
employees.
• Negative political tactics involve filtering or distortion of information, non-cooperation,
retaliations, dishonesty, sabotage, and coercions.
Factors Contributing to Existence of Politics

• Several research and studies have been conducted to identify the factors that contribute to the
existence of politics within organisations.
• These factors may broadly be classified as individual factors and organisational factors.
• Both individual and organisational factors may have a positive or negative impact on the
organisation.
Factors Contributing to Existence of Politics
Need for power
Machiavellianism
Individual factors
Locus of control
Risk-seeking
Factors contributing to tendency
organisational politics
Limited resources
Organisational Uncertainty in
factors decision making
Performance pressure
Role of Politics in Determining Organisational Culture

• Organisational culture refers to the values and behaviours that contribute to the distinctive
social and psychological environment of an organisation.
• It is a system of shared meanings and beliefs, held by members of an organisation, which
determines how they act towards each other.
• A favourable organisational culture provides both the organisation and its employees with
direction and stability.
• The political environment of an organisation has a direct impact on its culture. Positive
aspects of politics, such as strategy and decision making, conflict management, employee
recognition and support, etc., may improve the organisational culture, but negative politics
may ruin it.
Role of Politics in Determining Organisational Culture

• Negative politics, often referred to as workplace politics, is the use of power and social
networking within the organisation to influence individuals to serve personal interests without
considering its effect on other individuals and the organisation.
• Organisational culture includes the way individuals behave with one another, which forms the
basis for teamwork.
• To improve the way an organisation manages information and new developments, changes
need to be introduced.
• However, introduction of a change of any kind always meets resistance. This tendency to
resist change on the part of individuals contributes as the most significant factor to workplace
politics.
1. Importance of Personality Development for
Encountering Politics
• Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organised set of characteristics possessed by an

individual that distinctively impacts his/her cognitions, motivations, and behaviours in
different situations.
• Personality is an outcome of the basic personal values and personality traits of an individual,
which also determines the political behaviour of the individual.
• Personality Traits: These refer to the characteristics or qualities that distinguish one
individual from another. For example, being ambitious, persistent, courageous, etc. are
personality traits of individuals.
• Personal Values: These refer to the broad goals that act as guiding principles for individuals
such as honesty, dignity, etc. Basic values differ for each individual, which explains the reason
for the different personality individuals possess.
• The five-factor model of personality, often referred to as the Big Five Model, supports that
five basic dimensions trigger most of the significant variations in an individual’s personality.
• The five traits of personality are often referred by the acronym OCEAN.
• Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Extroversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
Let’s Sum Up
• Power is the potential ability to influence the behaviour of others. The term power may be
applied to people, groups, divisions, organisations, and nations.
• The various sources of power are reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, expert
power, and referent power.
• Power tactics used by individuals can be categorised into individual and intra-group tactics
and inter-group tactics.
• Organisational politics includes actions by individuals or departments in an organisation for
acquiring, developing, and using power and other resources for obtaining desirable outcomes
at times of uncertainty or disagreement.
• Focussing on the Big Five Model of Personality helps to reshape political attitude and thus the
political behaviour of individuals in an organisation.
Post Your Query

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Organisational Behaviour

S. No Reference No Particulars Slide

3 Chapter 3 Personality 45-58

• Organisational behaviour is concerned with individuals, or group of individuals working

2 Topic 1 Defining Organisational Behaviour 7-10

3 Topic 2 Approaches to Organisational 11-15

4 Topic 3 Opportunities and Challenges of 16

5 Topic 4 Scientific Aspects of Organisational 17

• Organisational behaviour (OB) is the study of human behaviour at work.

Scope of Organisational Behaviour

Importance of Organisational Behaviour

Attaining organisational effectiveness

Sustaining changes in business environment

Fulfilling human needs

Features of Organisational Behaviour

performing various tasks.

different levels of hierarchy, rules, regulation and policies.

• Technology: Organisations need to adapt to the rapid technological developments taking

place in its external environment in order to stay ahead of the competition.

• Environment: An organisation constantly interacts with its external environment, which

Neo-classical approach • Human resource approach

• This is based on the concept of planning of work to

• This theory considers the organisation as a part of the

• This theory was proposed by Henry Fayol and is based

Managing workforce diversity

Improving quality and productivity

Developing employee skills

Promoting innovation and change

Coping with temporariness

Encouraging ethical behaviour

Employee trust on organisation

Quality and flexibility at work

Employee selection and retention

• Organisational behaviour is the study of human behaviour at work.

2 Topic 1 Individual Behaviour 24-25

3 Topic 2 Biographical Attributes 26-28

4 Topic 3 Ability 29-35

5 Topic 4 Values 36-37

6 Topic 5 Attitudes 38-39

7 Topic 6 Job Satisfaction 40-41

• Individual behaviour is the response of an individual towards an action, environment, person

• The following are the different types of biographical attributes:

Intellectual ability Physical ability

• Intellectual ability includes the following:

• It is the ability of an individual to perform arithmetic quickly and with

• It is the ability of an individual to understand the meaning of what is

• It is the ability of an individual to determine the similarities and

• It is the ability of determining a logical sequence in a problem and

• It is the ability of an individual to apply and measure the outcome

• It is the ability of an individual to imagine the appearance of an

• It is the ability of an individual to retain and recall his/her past

• Physical ability includes the following:

• It is the ability of an individual to exert muscular force repeatedly

• It is the ability of an individual to exert force against external objects.

• It is the ability of an individual to bend the trunk and back muscles as

• It is the ability of an individual to perform flexible movements

• It is the ability of an individual to coordinate the simultaneous

• It is the ability of an individual to continue maximum effort

• It is the ability of an individual; to maintain equilibrium against