Syllabus of Organisational Behaviour
- Organisational Behaviour – Significance & Theories
- Individual Behaviour – Personality, Perception, Values, Attitude, Learning and Motivation
- Group Behaviour – Team Building, Leadership, Group Dynamics
- Interpersonal Behaviour & Transactional Analysis
- Organizational Culture & Climate
- Work Force Diversity & Cross Culture Organisational Behaviour
- Emotions and Stress Management
- Organisational Justice and Whistle Blowing
- Human Resource Management – Concept, Perspectives, Influences and
- Recent Trends
- Human Resource Planning, Recruitment and Selection, Induction, Training
- and Development
- Job Analysis, Job Evaluation and Compensation Management
What is Organisational Behaviour
Organizational behavior (OB) is a multidisciplinary field that draws on psychology, sociology, and management to study human behavior in organizational settings. It examines how individuals, groups, and structures affect behavior within organizations and how organizations in turn shape individual and group behavior. The field is concerned with understanding and improving the effectiveness of organizations and the people who work in them.
Importance of Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior is important because it helps organizations to:
- Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness: By understanding how people and groups operate, organizations can improve efficiency and effectiveness.
- Enhance Job Satisfaction: Addressing factors that influence job satisfaction can lead to happier, more productive employees.
- Manage Change: Organizational behavior provides tools and insights for managing change effectively, which is critical in today's fast-paced business environment.
- Foster Innovation and Creativity: By creating inclusive and supportive environments, organizations can foster innovation and creativity.
Organizational behavior is a complex field that requires a multifaceted approach to understand and improve how people behave in organizations. By applying its principles, organizations can enhance their effectiveness and the well-being of their employees.
Overview of Organisational Behavior syllabus:
- Organisational Behaviour – Significance & Theories:
- Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior within organizational settings, focusing on how individuals, groups, and structures impact behavior.
- Significance: Understanding OB is crucial for improving organizational effectiveness, productivity, and employee satisfaction.
- Theories: Various theories like scientific management, human relations approach, contingency theory, and systems theory provide frameworks for understanding and managing organizational dynamics.
- Individual Behaviour – Personality, Perception, Values, Attitude, Learning, and Motivation:
- Personality: Refers to an individual's unique set of characteristics and traits that influence behavior.
- Perception: Involves the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory information to give meaning to one's environment.
- Values: Beliefs and principles that guide behavior and decision-making.
- Attitude: Evaluations of people, objects, or events that influence behavior.
- Learning: Acquiring new knowledge, skills, or behaviors through experience, observation, or instruction.
- Motivation: Internal processes that initiate, guide, and maintain goal-oriented behavior.
- Group Behaviour – Team Building, Leadership, Group Dynamics:
- Team Building: Fostering collaboration, communication, and trust among team members to achieve common goals.
- Leadership: Influencing and inspiring others to achieve a common goal, with various leadership styles like autocratic, democratic, transformational, and transactional.
- Group Dynamics: Patterns of interaction, communication, and influence among group members.
- Interpersonal Behaviour & Transactional Analysis:
- Interpersonal Behaviour: Communication and interaction between individuals, essential for building relationships and resolving conflicts.
- Transactional Analysis: Psychological theory analyzing interactions between individuals and communication patterns.
- Organizational Culture & Climate:
- Organizational Culture: Shared values, beliefs, norms, and practices defining an organization's character and identity.
- Organizational Climate: Perceptions and attitudes of employees towards the work environment, leadership, and organizational practices.
- Workforce Diversity & Cross-Culture Organisational Behaviour:
- Workforce Diversity: Differences in gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, and abilities among employees.
- Cross-Culture Organisational Behaviour: Examining how cultural differences influence behavior and communication in diverse organizations.
- Emotions and Stress Management:
- Emotions: Play a significant role in decision-making, motivation, and interpersonal relationships.
- Stress Management: Techniques to cope with work-related stressors, reduce burnout, and improve well-being.
- Organisational Justice and Whistle Blowing:
- Organizational Justice: Employees' perceptions of fairness in the workplace, including distributive, procedural, and interactional justice.
- Whistleblowing: Reporting unethical or illegal behavior within an organization, promoting organizational integrity and accountability.
- Human Resource Management – Concept, Perspectives, Influences, and Recent Trends:
- HRM Concept: Managing people within organizations to achieve organizational goals effectively.
- Perspectives: Behavioral, systems, and contingency approaches offer diverse frameworks for understanding HRM practices.
- Influences: Internal and external factors influencing HRM practices.
- Recent Trends: Evolving HRM practices like talent management, diversity and inclusion, and remote work arrangements.
- Human Resource Planning, Recruitment and Selection, Induction, Training and Development:
- Human Resource Planning: Forecasting future workforce needs and developing strategies to ensure the right people with the right skills are in the right positions.
- Recruitment and Selection: Attracting and hiring qualified candidates who fit the organization's culture and job requirements.
- Induction: Helping new employees adjust to their roles, responsibilities, and organizational culture.
- Training and Development: Enhancing employee skills, knowledge, and competencies to meet current and future job requirements.
- Job Analysis, Job Evaluation, and Compensation Management:
- Job Analysis: Gathering information about job duties, responsibilities, and requirements to create job descriptions and specifications.
- Job Evaluation: Assessing the relative worth of jobs within an organization to ensure internal equity and fairness in compensation.
- Compensation Management: Designing and administering pay structures, incentives, and benefits to attract, retain, and motivate employees.
Understanding each point in detail provides a comprehensive overview of Organizational Behavior and its significance in managing people and organizations effectively.
Sample Questions
- Define Organisational Behaviour and explain the scope of Organisational Behaviour.
- Answer: Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior in organizational settings. It encompasses understanding how individuals, groups, and structures influence and are influenced by behavior within organizations. The scope of OB includes topics such as individual behavior (personality, perception, motivation), group behavior (team dynamics, leadership), organizational culture, communication, and change management.
- What do you understand by "values" and "attitude"? How values and attitude affect an individual behaviour in an organisation?
- Answer: Values are beliefs and principles that guide behavior and decision-making. Attitudes are evaluations of people, objects, or events. Values and attitudes influence individual behavior in organizations by shaping perceptions, influencing motivation and job satisfaction, affecting interpersonal relationships, and impacting decision-making and job performance.
- What is personality? Explain different personality traits affecting an individual's behaviour.
- Answer: Personality refers to a set of enduring characteristics that distinguish one individual from another. Different personality traits, such as extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience, influence how individuals perceive and respond to their environment, interact with others, and approach tasks and challenges.
- Define "Motivation" and explain the importance of motivation in an organisation.
- Answer: Motivation refers to the internal processes that initiate, guide, and maintain goal-oriented behavior. It is crucial in organizations as it drives employee performance, engagement, and job satisfaction. Motivated employees are more productive, creative, and committed to achieving organizational goals.
- What do you understand by "Learning"? Explain the theories of learning.
- Answer: Learning involves acquiring new knowledge, skills, or behaviors through experience, observation, or instruction. Theories of learning include behaviorism (learning through conditioning), cognitive theory (learning through mental processes), and social learning theory (learning through observation and modeling).
- Define the concept of "Emotional Intelligence". Explain its dimensions.
- Answer: Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions effectively in oneself and others. Its dimensions include self-awareness (understanding one's emotions), self-regulation (managing emotions), social awareness (empathy), and relationship management (building and maintaining positive relationships).
- Define leadership. Explain different leadership styles.
- Answer: Leadership is the process of influencing and inspiring others to achieve a common goal. Different leadership styles include authoritarian or autocratic leadership (directive and controlling), democratic or participative leadership (collaborative and inclusive), laissez-faire leadership (hands-off and decentralized), transformational leadership (inspiring and visionary), and transactional leadership (based on rewards and punishments).
- What do you understand by "communication"? Explain the process of communication.
- Answer: Communication is the exchange of information, ideas, and feelings between individuals or groups. The process of communication involves sender (encoding), message, channel, receiver (decoding), feedback, and noise. Effective communication is essential for conveying information accurately, building relationships, and facilitating collaboration in organizations.
- Define "Organisational Change". Explain the factors influencing organisational change.
- Answer: Organizational change refers to planned or unplanned alterations in organizational processes, structures, or strategies. Factors influencing organizational change include internal factors (leadership, culture, structure) and external factors (market trends, technology, competition, regulatory changes).
- What do you understand by "Conflict"? Explain the types of conflicts.
- Answer: Conflict refers to the disagreement or discord arising from incompatible goals, values, or interests among individuals or groups. Types of conflicts include interpersonal conflict (between individuals), intragroup conflict (within a group), intergroup conflict (between groups), and intrapersonal conflict (within an individual).