ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR

ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR

“Organisation Behaviour is concerned with the

study of what people do in an organisation and

how that behaviour affects the performance of the

organisation.”

(Robbins: 1998,9)

ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR

The study of Organisational Behaviour involves:

� consideration of the interaction among the formal structure

(organisational context in which the process of management takes

place)

� the tasks to be undertaken

� the technology employed and the methods of carrying out work

� the behaviour of people

� the process of management

� the external environment

ORGANISATION BEHAVIOUR

Interrelated dimensions influencing behaviour:

� The Individual - working environment should satisfy individual

needs as well as attainment of organisational goals.

� The Group - formal and informal. Understanding of groups

complements a knowledge of individual behaviour.

� The Organisation - impact of organisation structure and design,

and patterns of management, on behaviour.

� The Environment - technological and scientific development,

economic activity, governmental actions.

IMPORTANCE OF MANAGEMENT THEORY

� What leading writers say is an important part of the study of management.

� It is necessary to view the interrelationships between the development of theory, behaviour in organisations and management practice.

� An understanding of the development of management thinking helps in understanding principles underlying the process of management.

� Knowledge of the history helps in understanding the nature of management and organisation behaviour.

� Many earlier ideas are still important and are often incorporated into more current management thinking.

1

MANAGEMENT THEORY

Theory provides a sound basis for action BUT

if the action is to be effective the theory must

be adequate and appropriate to the task and

to improved organisational performance.

MANAGEMENT THEORY

In theory, theory and practice are the same.

In practice, theory and practice are different.

From “LEADERSHIP ... with a human touch”

20 October 1998

DIVISION OF LABOUR

Definition:

“The extent to which the organisation’s

work is separated into different jobs to be

done by different people.”

(Moorhead and Griffin:1998,448)

DIVISION OF LABOUR

� Major purpose or function

� Product or service

� Location

� Nature of the work performed

� Common time scales

� Common processes

� Staff employed

� Customer or people to be

served

DIVISION OF LABOUR

ADVANTAGES

� Efficient use of labour

� Reduced training costs

� Increased standardisation

and uniformity of output

� Increased expertise from

repetition of tasks

DISADVANTAGES

� Routine, repetitive jobs

� Reduced job satisfaction

� Decreased worker involvement

and commitment

� Increased worker alienation

� Possible incompatibility with

computerised manufacturing

technologies

DIVISION OF LABOUR

Decisions on division of work should take

account of:

� the need for co-ordination

� the identification of clearly defined divisions of work

� economy

� the process of managing the activities

� avoiding conflict

� the design of work organisation should take account of the

nature and interests of staff and job satisfaction.

DIVISION OF LABOUR

Mintzberg’s five basic elements of structure which

Serve as co-ordinating mechanisms for the work of

the organisation.

1. Mutual Adjustment

2. Direct Supervision

3. Standardisation of Work Processes

4. Standardisation of Work Output

5. Standardisation of Worker Skills

DIVISION OF LABOUR

ADVANTAGES OF CENTRALISATION

� Easier implementation of a common policy for the organisation as

a whole.

� Prevents sub-units becoming too dependent.

� Easier co-ordination and management control.

� Improved economies of scale and a reduction in overhead costs.

� Greater use of specialisation, including better facilities and

equipment.

� Improved decision-making which might otherwise be slower.

DIVISION OF LABOUR

ARGUMENTS AGAINST CENTRALISATION

� More mechanistic structure

� Lengthens scalar chain (number of different levels in the structure

of an organisation).

DIVISION OF LABOUR

ADVANTAGES OF DECENTRALISATION

� Enables decisions to be made closer to the operational level of

work.

� Support services will be more effective if they are closer to the

activities they are intended to serve.

� Opportunities for training in management.

Tends to be easier to implement in private sector

organisations rather than the public sector -

accountability, regularity, uniformity.

DIVISION OF LABOUR

Six key elements to be addressed when designing

structure:

� Work Specialisation

� Departmentalisation

� Chain of Command (Scalar Chain)

� Span of Control (Number of subordinates reporting directly to a manager or supervisor.)

� Centralisation and Decentralisation

� Formalisation

CLASSICAL APPROACH

� Emphasis on purpose, formal structure, hierarchy of management,

technical requirements and common principles of organisation.

� This perspective was concerned with structuring organisations

effectively.

� Two major sub-groupings of this approach are:

– Bureaucracy

– Scientific Management (sometimes categorised as an

approach in its own right)

CLASSICAL APPROACH

Major Contributors:

Henri Fayol

Linda Urwick

Max Weber – most

prominent of the three.

� Weber proposed a

bureaucratic form of structure

that he believed would work

for all organisations.

� Embraced logic, rationality,

efficiency.

CLASSICAL APPROACH

Weber’s Ideal Bureaucracy

� Job Specialisation

� Authority Hierarchy

� Formal Selection

� Formal Rules and

Regulations

� Impersonality

� Career Orientation

Criticisms of Bureaucracy

� Lack of attention to the

informal organisation.

� Restriction of psychological

growth

� Bureaucratic dysfunction

CLASSICAL APPROACH

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

Emphasis on obtaining increased productivity from

individual workers through the technical structuring of

the work organisation and the provision of monetary

incentives as the motivator for higher levels of output.

Major Contributor - FW TAYLOR (1856 - 1917) - held

the view that there was a best working method by which

people should undertake their jobs.

CLASSICAL APPROACH

TAYLOR’S PRINCIPLES

� the development of a true science for each person’s work

� the scientific selection, training and development of the workers

� co-operation with the workers to ensure work is carried out in the

prescribed way

� the division of work and responsibility between management and

the workers.

CLASSICAL APPROACH

REACTIONS AGAINST SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT

� opposition because its specific goal was to get more output from

the workers

� argument that his incentive system would dehumanise the

workplace

� inadequate views of employee motivation

� allegations that he falsified some of his research findings and paid

someone to do his writing for him.

HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

� During the 1920s, attention began to focus on social factors at

work, groups, leadership, the informal organisation and

behaviour of people.

� ‘Behavioural’ and ‘informal’ are alternative headings sometimes

given to this approach.

� Turning point came with the famous Hawthorne experiments at

the Western Electric Company in America (1924-32)

� One of the researchers (leader) was ELTON MAYO (1880-

1949)

HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

Four Main Phases to the Hawthorne Experiments

� The Illumination Experiments - level of production was influenced by factors other than changes in physical conditions of work.

� The Relay Assembly Test Room - attention and interest by management reason for higher productivity.

� The Interviewing Programme -20,000 interviews. Gave impetus to present-day personnel management and use of counselling interviews. Highlighted the need for management to listen to workers.

� The Bank Wiring Observation Room - Piecework Incentive Scheme. Group pressures stronger than financial incentives offered by management.

NEO-HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

� Writers in the 1950s and 1960s who adopted a more

psychological orientation.

� Major focus was the personal adjustment of the individual within

the work organisation and the effects of group relationships and

leadership styles.

� Main contributors: MASLOW, HERZBERG AND McGREGOR.

NEO-HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF HUMAN NEEDS

General Examples NEEDS Organisational Examples

Achievement SELF-ACTUALISATION Challenging Job

Status ESTEEM Job Title

Friendship BELONGINGNESS Friends in the Work

Group

Stability SECURITY Pension Plan

Sustenance PHYSIOLOGICAL Base Salary

NEO-HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

HERZBERG isolated two different sets of factors affecting

motivation and satisfaction at work.

1. Hygiene or Maintenance Factors - concerned basically with job environment. Extrinsic to the work itself.

2. Motivators or Growth Factors - concerned with job content. Intrinsic to the work itself.

Goal of managers is to achieve a state of no dissatisfaction by

addressing Hygiene Factors. Task of improving motivation is

then by addressing the Motivators.

NEO-HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

McGREGOR argued that the style of Management adopted is a

function of the manager’s attitudes towards human nature and

behaviour at work.

He put forward two suppositions called Theory X and Theory Y which

are based on popular assumptions about work and people.

NEO-HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

THEORY X ASSUMPTIONS

� People do not like work and try to avoid it.

� People do not like work, so managers have to control, direct,

coerce, and threaten employees to get them to work toward

organisational goals.

� People prefer to be directed, to avoid responsibility, to want

security, and have little ambition.

NEO-HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

THEORY Y ASSUMPTIONS

� People do not naturally dislike work; work is a natural part of their lives.

� People are internally motivated to reach goals to which they are committed.

� People are committed to goals to the degree that they receive personal rewards when they reach their objectives.

� People will seek and accept responsibility under favourable conditions.

� People have the capacity to be innovative in solving organisational problems.

� People are bright, but generally their potentials are under-utilised.

SYSTEMS APPROACH

� Integration of the classical and human relations approaches.

Attempts to reconcile the work of the formal and the informal

writers.

� Importance of the socio-technical system.

� Attention is focused on the total work organisation and the

interrelationships of structure and behaviour, and the range of

variables within the organisation.

� The Systems Approach encourages managers to view the

organisation both as a whole and as part of a larger environment.

CONTINGENCY APPROACH

� Best viewed as an extension of the systems approach.

� Highlights possible means of differentiating between alternative

forms of organisation structure and systems of management.

� There is no one best design of organisation.

� Most appropriate structure and system of management is

dependent upon the contingencies of the situation for the

particular organisation.