ASSIGNMENT No.

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Course: Organizational Behavior Code (565)
Semester: Spring 2010 Level: MBA

Q.No. 1
Define the importance of organizational behavior. How can we relate
total quality management (TQM) with organizational behavior?
Ans

Importance of organizational behavior

Organizational behavior (OB) applies the knowledge gained about

individuals, groups, and the effect of structure on behavior in order to make
organizations work more effectively. It is concerned with the study of what
people do in an organization and how that behavior affects the performance
of the organization. There is increasing agreement as to the components of
OB, but there is still considerable debate as to the relative importance of
each: motivation, leader behavior and power, interpersonal communication,
group structure and processes, learning, attitude development and
perception, change processes, conflict, work design, and work stress. It is
also important because it focus on the following areas.
 OB is a way of thinking.
 OB is multidisciplinary.
 There is a distinctly humanistic orientation with OB.
 The field of OB is performance oriented.
 The external environment is seen as having significant impact on OB.
Organizational behavior offers both challenges and opportunities for
managers. It recognizes differences and helps managers to see the value of
workforce diversity and practices that may need to be changed when
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managing in different countries. It can help improve quality and employee
productivity by showing managers how to empower their people as well as
how to design and implement change programs. It offers specific insights to
improve a manager’s people skills. In times of rapid and ongoing change,
faced by most managers today, OB can help managers cope in a world of
“temporariness” and learn ways to stimulate innovation. Finally, OB can offer
managers guidance in creating an ethically healthy work climate.
Managers need to develop their interpersonal or people skills if they are
going to be effective in their jobs. Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of
study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure
have on behavior within an organization, and then applies that knowledge to
make organizations work more effectively. Specifically, OB focuses on how
to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and turnover, and increase
employee citizenship and job satisfaction.
OB studies three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals,
groups, and structure. OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals,
groups, and the effect of structure on behavior in order to make
organizations work more effectively. OB is concerned with the study of what
people do in an organization and how that behavior affects the performance
of the organization. There is increasing agreement as to the components of
OB, but there is still considerable debate as to the relative importance of
each: motivation, leader behavior and power, interpersonal communication,
group structure and processes, learning, attitude development and
perception, change processes, conflict, work design, and work stress.
Relation of total quality management (TQM) with organizational
behavior
One approach to increasing quality is called Total Quality Management
(TQM), a technique borrowed from the Japanese. TQM involves a whole new

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philosophy of managing behavior in organizations and includes elements like
giving workers the responsibility for finding ways to do their jobs more
efficiently and ways to improve quality.

Total quality management (TQM)

A total commitment to:
 High-quality results.
 Continuous improvement.
 Customer satisfaction.
 Meeting customers’ needs.
 Doing all tasks right the first time.

Total quality management (TQM) is the integration of all functions and

processes with in organization in order to achieve continuous improvement
of the quality of goods and services. The goal is customer satisfaction.
TQM is based on a number of ideas. It means thinking about quality in
terms of all functions of the enterprise and is a start-to-finish process that
integrates interrelated function at all levels. It is a systems approach that
considers every interaction between the various elements of the
organization. Thus, the overall effectiveness of the system is higher than the
sum of the individual outputs from the subsystems. The subsystems include
all the organizational function in the life cycle of a product, such as
1. Design
2. Planning
3. Production
4. Distribution
5. Field service.

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 Findings indicate that attaining quality superiority produces the
following organizational benefits:
1- Greater customer loyalty.
2- Market share improvements.
3- Higher stock prices.
4- Reduced service calls.
5- Higher prices.
6- Greater productivity

One approach to increasing quality is called Total Quality Management

(TQM), a technique borrowed from the Japanese. TQM involves a whole new
philosophy of managing behavior in organizations and includes elements like
giving workers the responsibility for finding ways to do their jobs more
efficiently and ways to improve quality.

The goal of TQM is to help producing a good quality product as well as

lowing the cost, improving the productivity, shortening the delivery time and
making a duly delivery. This also means that TQM aims for the 3P:

(1) Performance or Perfectibility

(2) Price

(3) Punctuality of the quality of the product by the effort of all the member
of the organization.

In general, TQM is a set of principles for improving the quality by

encouraging all the direct and indirect workers, officers and managers
(employees in short) in improving processes, products, services, and the
culture.
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Q. No 2

Outline the importance of an individual’s contribution to the

organization and the factors affecting his behavior.

Ans

Individual behavior is given vital importance in overall organizational

behavior because the individual performance based on achievements of
organizational goal. Whenever an employee performs his duties, his efforts
should be guided toward some end. That end is meeting organizational
goals. The individual performance and organizational goal relationship is
designed to provide something of value to the organization. The likelihood
that is successful performance on the job will lead to the attainment of
organizational goals. Just as individuals have unsatisfied needs that cause
them to behave in a certain manner, so too, do organizations. But the
organization’s unsatisfied needs (unfulfilled goals) cannot be satisfied
without the effort of its people. If employees’ performance is not adequate
to meet company objectives, the company will be less able to “reward” its
people.
To know the organizational behavior, this also means that jobs must be
analyzed properly (and updated frequently) to ensure that the job is defined
in terms of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities. Furthermore, study of OB
must identify what the job incumbent must posses to be successful. Once
these two concepts are in place, it will ensure that the appropriate person
has been selected for the job and also for the organization.
By knowing individual behavior about his ability to work with best equipment
available to do the job with productive performance, the organization
facilitates productive performance. Consider an individual who must spend a
considerable part of each day using specific tools. If the tools are located a
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distance from the job sight, this individual will be less productive than if the
tools were readily accessible.
Doing something differently is individual behavior that excites employees.
In the past, however, companies generally did not look for unique and
creative ways to turn on employees. For years companies held that
rewarding. Employees want giving pay raises, some recognition here and
there, and providing for an occasional guest motivation speaker.
An appreciation of the nature of individual differences is necessary to
understand why people behave in certain ways in an organization.
1. Organizational outcomes predicted by personality include job satisfaction,
work stress, and leadership effectiveness. Personality is not a useful
predictor of organizational outcomes when there are strong situational
constraints.
2. Feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors in an organization are
determined by the interaction of personality and situation.
3. The Big Five personality traits are extraversion (positive affectivity),
neuroticism (negative affectivity), agreeableness, conscientiousness, and
openness to experience.
4. In addition to possessing different personalities, workers also differ in
their abilities, or capabilities. The two major types of ability are cognitive
and physical ability.
5. Types of cognitive ability can be arranged in a hierarchy with general
intelligence at the top. Specific types of cognitive include: verbal, numerical,
reasoning, deductive, ability to see relationships, memory, spatial, and
perceptual.
Other factors are more easily definable and readily available data that can
be obtained from an employee’s personnel file and would include
characteristics such as:

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  Age
 Gender
 Marital status
 Length of service, etc.
Age
1. The relationship between age and job performance is increasing in
importance.
 First, there is a widespread belief that job performance declines with
increasing age.
 Second, the workforce is aging; workers over 55 are the fastest
growing sector of the workforce.
2. Employers’ perceptions are mixed.
They see a number of positive qualities that older workers bring to their
jobs, specifically experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and
commitment to quality.
Gender
1. There are few, if any, important differences between men and women
that will affect their job performance, including the areas of:
 Problem-solving
 Analytical skills
 Competitive drive
 Motivation
 Sociability
 Learning ability
Marital Status
1. There are not enough studies to draw any conclusions about the effect of
marital status on job productivity. Research consistently indicates that

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married employees have fewer absences, undergo fewer turnovers, and are
more satisfied with their jobs than are their unmarried coworkers.
Tenure
The issue of the impact of job seniority on job performance has been subject
to misconceptions and speculations. Extensive reviews of the seniority
productivity relationship have been conducted:
 There is a positive relationship between tenure and job productivity.
 There is a negative relationship between tenure to absence.
 Tenure is also a potent variable in explaining turnover.

Q. .No 3
Discuss the role of Information Technology with reference to
organizational behavior in organizations.
Ans
The impact that the information technology explosion has had on
organization is truly amazing with no end in sight. Obviously technological
break through in last two centuries have had a dramatic impact .For
example , followers of pioneering economist Joseph Schumpeter’s 50 years
model note that the first wave in modern history (1780s-1840s) brought
steam power that drove the industrial revolution , next came the railroads
(1840-1890s) followed by electric power (1890-1930s) and then cheap oil
and auto mobile (1930s-1980s) . Now the fifth wave is being powered by
information technology. Yet this latest technological breakthrough is agreed
to have a faster (it took radio 38 years to reach 50 millions , users , TV13
years but web just 5 years ) and much different , more pervasive impact for
three major reasons.
1. Information technology not only can be applied across all sectors of
a given economy and the world (which is true of the other technologies
as well ) , but it can affect , every function with in as organization . for
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 example , information technology can improve not only the
programmed of product such as automobile ( to days autos have more
computer processing power than the first lunar landing craft had in
1969) but also the design , engineering manufacturing and service of
the auto . The name is true in auto sales where it is estimated that
over half of auto punchers are influence by the internet, and the
customer can order directly from the auto manufacturer.
2. The cost of computer processing power has fallen by an average of
about 30 percent a year in real times , one estimate is that it now
costs only one hundredth of one percent of what it did in the early
1970s . Put in to relative terms , if autos had developed and decreased
in cost at the same pace as microprocessor over the past two decades
a typical car would now cost less than five and get 250,000 miles to
the gallon
3. Unlike other technological breakthroughs such as steam power
electricity, information technology can be both an input and final
product.
It is capable of revolutionizing the production distribution of entire
industries, services of its own. In addition to all of these things, the Internet
has itself become a new marketplace and directly affects managers do every
day, ranging from locating a new supplier at the best price to coordinating a
project on the other side of the world to collecting and managing customer
data.
The products range from cellular phones that allow managers to stay in
touch with their field personnel no matter where they are to lop(or even
palm) personnel computers that can handle inventory control and help
employees communicate with each other via e-mail to compact discs(CD-
ROM) that are able to store and retrieve billions of pieces of information , to

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the Internet , Intranet and Extranet (electronic interchange outside the
organization’s internal information system .
In recent years, personal digital (or data) assistants (PDAs) which are
wireless, handheld, and tied in to Internet, have made virtually all
information available anytime, anywhere.
E-mail via PCs and PDAs has become common place in today’s workplace, it
is used to communicate with every one, inside and out side the organization
around the world. The same is true of word processing and spreadsheets;
this is simply the way business is conducted. In addition B2B allows
customers, suppliers to computer system basis. In today’s organizations
written sales and other order forms have been eliminated, information is
being entered directly in to computers and these machines are being
programmed to interpret information and make decisions. For almost all
organization today, orders with venders are placed electronically and
computers help manage inventory. When recorders are necessary the
machines automatically place by sending electronic managers to suppliers
computers. Besides these common tools of the information age, perhaps the
biggest environmental impact on the fields of organizational behavior is e-
commerce or business, knowledge management and human
capital/intelligence.
E-Business
E-Business is still largely portrayed as a recent phenomenon and is almost
equated with to days Internet. Yet, it should be remembered that-business
was really born over 150 years ago when a telegraph operator tapped out a
message to the next to the next town when the train would be arriving Next
telephones, short wave radios, copiers, computers and fax machines. This
entire electronic breakthrough had significant input

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Intranets

Organizations to day are using the wonders of the Internet, but without
some of problems. To avoid the bothersome public access problems and
“span” but take advantage of what the Internet and web technology can
offer, almost all organization are now using and Intranet . These private nets
or Intranets, Use the in fracture and standards of the Internet and World
Wide Web, but are cordoned off from the public Internet through software
programs known as fire walls. With venture out in to the Internet and all of
its wealth of knowledge, but unauthorized users can not come in to their
Intranet.
Support decision making

Information system also help managers of organization, companies and

other business professional make better decisions and attempt to gain a
competitive advantage.
Support Business processes
The information technology supports the business process and made the
operation easy. Company can easily process data and same the data daily
base information. Company can easily keep the employees data.

Q. No 4
“Happy workers are productive workers”. The idea that happy
workers are productive workers developed in the 1930s and 1940s.
Based on this managers worked to make their employees happier by
focusing on working conditions and work environment. Then, in the
1980s, research suggested that the relationship between job
satisfaction and job performance was not particularly high. The
authors of this research even went so far to label this relationship as
an illusion. More recently though, it has been estimated that the
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correlation between job satisfaction and job performance is
moderately strong.
It is important to note here that the reverse of this relationship
might be true, such that, productive workers are likely to be happy
workers, or productivity leads to satisfaction. In other words, if you
do well on your job, you feel good about it intrinsically.
1. Discuss the above comparison and present your comments.
Ans

The Impact of Dissatisfied and Satisfied Employees on the Workplace

There are consequences when employees like their jobs, and there are
consequences when employees dislike their jobs. On theoretical framework–
the exist-voice-loyalty-neglect framework is helpful in understanding the
consequences of dissatisfaction. the framework’s four responses, which differ
from one another along two dimensions: constructive/destructive and
active/passive. There responses are defined as follows:

• Exit: Behavior directed toward leaving the organization, including

looking for a new position as well as resigning.
• Voice: Actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions,
including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and
some forms of union activity.
• Loyalty: Passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve,
including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism
and trusting the organization and its management to “do the right thing.”
• Neglect: Passively allowing conditions to worsen, including chronic
absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and increased error rate.

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 Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variables–
productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. But this model expands employee
response to include voice and loyalty constructive behaviors that allow
individuals to tolerate unpleasant situation or to revive satisfactory working
conditions. It helps us to understand situations, such as those sometimes
found among unionized workers, for who low job satisfaction is coupled with
low turnover. Union members often express dissatisfaction through the
grievance procedure or through formal contract negotiations. These voice
mechanisms allow union members to continue in their jobs while convincing
themselves that they are acting to improve the situation.
As helpful as this framework is in presenting the possible consequences of
job dissatisfaction, it’s quite general. We now discuss more specific
outcomes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the workplace.

Job Satisfaction and Job Performance

As the “Myth or Science?” box concludes, happy workers are more
likely to be productive workers, although it’s hard to tell which way the
causality runs. However, some researches used to believe that the
relationship between job satisfaction and ob performance was a
management myth. But a review of 300 studies suggested that the
correlation is pretty strong.
Job Satisfaction and OCB
It seems logical to assume that job satisfaction should be a major
determinant of an employee’s organization citizenship behavior (OCB).
Satisfied employees would seem more likely to talk positively about the
organization help others, and go beyond the normal expectations in their
job. Moreover, satisfied employees might be more prone to go beyond the
call of duty because they want to reciprocate their positive experiences.

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Consistent with these thinking, early discussions of OCB assumed that it was
closely linked with satisfaction. More recent evidence, however, suggests
that satisfaction influences OCB, but through perceptions of fairness.
Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction
Employees in service jobs often interact with customers. Since the
management of service organization should be concerned with pleasing
those customers, it is reasonable to ask: Is employee satisfaction related to
positive customer outcomes? For frontline employees who have regular
contact with customers, the answer is “Yes”
The evidence indicates that satisfied employees increase customer
satisfaction and loyalty. Why? In service organizations, customers retention
and defection are highly dependent on how frontline employees deal with
customers. Satisfied employees are more likely to be friendly, upbeat, and
responsive which customers appreciate. And because satisfied employees
are less prone to turnover, customers are more likely to encounter familiar
faces and receive experienced service.
Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism
We find a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and
absenteeism, but the correlation is moderate to weak. While it certainly
makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, other
factors have an impact on the relationship and reduce the correlation
coefficient. For example, organizations that provide liberal sick leave benefits
are encouraging all their employees – including those who are high satisfied
to take days off. Assuming that you have a reasonable number of varied
interests, you can find work satisfying and yet still take off work to enjoy a 3
days weekend or tan yourself on a warm summer day if those days come
free with no penalties.

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Job Satisfaction and Turnover
Satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover, but the correlation is
stronger than what we found for absenteeism. Yet, again, other factors such
as labor-market conditions, expectations about alternative job opportunities,
and length of tenure with the organization are important constraints on the
actual decision to leave one’s current job.
Measuring Job Satisfaction
We’ve previously defined job satisfaction as a positive feeling about one’s
job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. This definition is
clearly a very broad one. Yet this is inherent in the concept. Remember, a
person’s job is more than just the obvious activities of shuffling papers,
writing programming code, waiting on customers, or driving a truck. Jobs
require interaction with coworkers and bosses, following organizational rules
and policies, meeting performance standards, living with working conditions
that are often less than ideal, and the like. This means that an employee’s
assessment of how satisfied or dissatisfied he or she is with the job is a
complex summation of a number of discrete job elements. How, then, do we
measure the concept?
How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs?
Are most people satisfied with their jobs? The answer seems to be a
qualified “yes” in the United States and in most developed countries.
Independent studies, conducted among workers over the past 30 years,
generally indicate that the majority of workers are satisfied with their jobs.
Although the percentage range is wide, more people report that they’re
satisfied than not. Moreover, these results generally apply to other
developed countries. For instance, comparable studies among workers in
Canada, Mexico, and Europe indicate more positive than negative results.

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What Causes Job Satisfaction?
Think about the best job you ever had. What made it so Chances are you
probably liked the work you did. In fact, of the major job-satisfaction facets
(work itself, pay, advancement opportunities, supervision, coworkers),
enjoying the work itself is almost always the facet most strongly correlated
with high levels of overall job satisfaction. Interesting jobs that provide
training, variety, independence, and control satisfy most employees. In
other words, most people prefer work that is challenging and stimulating
over work that is predictable and routine.

Q. .No 5
As sales manager Charles occasionally relies on punishment to try to
improve his employees’ performance. For instance, one time he was
dealing with a salesman who was having a bad month. He talked to
the employee about what he could do to help him move more cars.
But after another week without a sale and a condescending attitude
from the employee, the manager confronted him. He screamed at the
employee, told him his performance was unacceptable, and then
threw a notebook binder at him. The manager said “I had talked to
him before, said that I would help him out, but that we had to do
something about his sales numbers. The day I actually threw my
binder at him, he actually sold a couple of cars”. And the manager is
unapologetic about his behaviour “I am always tough on my
salespeople, but they know the reason is that I want them do to
better. Do I think its always effective? No but if you do it once in a
while, it works.”
Apparently, Charles isn’t alone. When the pressure for meeting
numbers and deadlines is high, some managers rely on punishment
to try to motivate employees. A motivation consultant says it can
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backfire on a manager, when he or she avoids telling employees that
there are negative consequences for poor performance. “Positive
reinforcement is something that employees should earn” according
to him. For example, there are cases where high performing sales
person refuses to do his paperwork but still gets high praise from
the boss because his numbers are good.
Many managers still rely on threats to motivate employees and it
does work on some employees. According to them, punishment can
sometimes provide a much-needed kick in the pants to salespeople
who are slacking or unaware of their poor performance. For some
people, public embarrassment works.
Questions:
1. What conditions, if any, do you think justify the use of
punishment?
2. Do you think most managers use punishment? If so, why?
3. What’s the downside of using punishment? And of using
positive reinforcement?
4. What would your behaviour response be if you had to
work for a boss who uses punishment?

Ans
1- What conditions, if any, do you think justify the use of
punishment?
According to operant conditioning, both good and bad behaviors are
controlled by reinforced consequences. Identifying behavioral reinforces and
removing them can decrease a behavior. An undesired behavior without
reinforcement can diminishes until it no longer occurs. This process is called
extinction. Extinction can modify the behavior of a worker who spends much

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time talking or telling jokes. The attention of coworkers reinforces this
behavior. Although extinction is useful, it takes time to eliminate the
undesired behavior. When behaviors need to stop immediately, managers
may resort to punishment.
 Employees dislike work, they must be coerced, controlled, or
threatened with punishment to achieve goals.
 Employees inherently dislike work and, whenever possible, will
attempt to avoid it.
 Employee will avoid responsibilities and seek formal direction
whenever possible.
2. Do you think most managers use punishment? If so, why?

Managers can influence employees' behavior by reinforcing actions they

deem desirable. However, because the emphasis is on positive
reinforcement, not punishment, managers should ignore, not punish,
unfavorable behavior. Even though punishment eliminates undesired
behavior faster than non-reinforcement does, its effect is often only
temporary and may later have unpleasant side effects including
dysfunctional behavior such as workplace conflicts, absenteeism, and
turnover.
A manager must decide if attendance at meetings is the desired behavior or
attendance and participation. The manager would need to reinforce both
behaviors if both are desired

3- What’s the downside of using punishment? And of using positive

reinforcement
Positive reinforcement increases the probability that a behavior will occur by
administering positive consequences (called positive reinforces) following the

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behavior. Managers determine what consequences a worker considers
positive. Potential reinforces include rewards such as pay, bonuses,
promotions, job titles, interesting work, and verbal praise. Rewards are
positive reinforcements if a worker acts in the desired manner to obtain
them.
Workers differ in what they consider to be a positive reinforce. For some,
titles are rewards, for others it is vacation time. Once the desired behavior is
determined, reinforces must follow to increase reoccurrence. Organizations
use reinforcement to promote the learning and performance of many
behaviors. Some organizations use positive reinforcement for diversity
efforts and to retain valuable employees.
The administration of negative consequences is or the withdrawal of positive
consequences to reduce the likelihood of repeating the behavior in similar
settings.
 Also known as avoidance.
 The withdrawal of negative consequences to increase the likelihood of
repeating the desired behavior in similar settings.
4- What would your behavior response be if you had to work for a
boss who uses punishment?
Punishment consists of administering a negative consequence when the
undesired behavior occurs. Punishment is not the same as negative
reinforcement. It decreases a behavior, whereas negative reinforcement
increases the frequency of a behavior. Punishment administers a negative
consequence, whereas negative reinforcement removes a negative
consequence. Our behavior response is negative if we had to work for a boss
uses punishment.

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