Industrial Behavior Modification - Essay Example

? Organizational behaviour Organisational Behaviour Assignment Organisational Behaviour Good human relationships are paramount o the success of an organisation. This includes the behaviour and relationships of individuals, groups within the organisation as well as their relationships with the organisation. The field of organisational behaviour is one of the most significant fields that addresses this important aspect of an organisation. By definition, organisational behaviour (OB) refers to the study and application of knowledge about structure and functioning of organizations and how individuals, groups and various people act in organisations. In order to achieve this, OB it interprets people-organization relationships existing in any organisation in terms of the whole person, organization, and social system. The main objective of OB is to develop better relationships by achieving organizational objectives, human objectives and social objectives. From its definition, it is clear that OB encompasses many topics that are critical to an organisation such as human leadership, change, behaviour, teams among others. In order to address all these areas, OB requires contributions from various fields. This brings out one character of OB, that is, it is a multi-disciplinary field. There are various disciplines working in the field of OB that have made contributions to the subject. These are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology and political science. These are the major behavioural science Contributions of various disciplines to OB. Psychology Psychology is a science that seeks to understand, measure, explain and even change the behaviour of people and animals. The major concern for psychologists therefore is to study of the behaviours of individuals in an attempt to understand them. People in psychology who have contributed significantly and continue to add to the knowledge of OB are counseling psychologists, personality theorists, earning theorists and most important, organizational and industrial and psychologists. Psychology has contributed to OB through many contributions that assisted in forming the study of OB. Examples of areas of contribution include motivation, leadership, learning. personality, perception, training, job satisfaction, performance appraisal, individual decision making. One of the contributions of psychology to Ob is that it has provided a means of measuring leadership effectiveness. according to Baron (2007), psychology has provided various ways of measuring leadership. In relation to this, it has provided way of developing statistical models of behaviours and attributes that make up an effective organisational leader. Job satisfaction is among employees is important as it determines the effectives of the organisation. Psychology has contributed to this area by providing a secret oh now an organisation can exploit its employees. Braksick (1999) explains that on how an organisation provides an opportunity and environment to bring out the best in its workforce is certainly its ability to explore the psychology of its employees. Individual decision-making among the members of an organisation affects an organisation. Psychology reveals that the tendencies to make the right decisions or those that will benefit the organisation are attributed to the psychological and the cognitive state of the individual. The statistical works of psychology relates to attitudes of members and this is an important contribution to OB. it directs that how an organization is to reward and manage its members and create policy must include their mindsets and align them to the objectives of the organization. Psychology has had on important contribution how to achieve optimal performance and efficiency in an organisation by touching on work design so as to meet organisational goals. Through psychology, the management of an organisation is able to understand that the interconnection of an employee and their environment include temperature climate, machinery and that associated stressors have a direct link to the cognitive state and tendencies of that employee (Brown (1982). Psychology reveals the importance of the perception of the employees of an organisation. O’Brien and Dickinson (1982) explain that as a person leans to adapt and find a position/place in an organisation, their perception of what surrounds them becomes clear. Therefore, how the member of an organisation responds to the organization and its members are the major factors that that determine their attitudes and tendencies. Intergroup behaviour is one of the concerns of OB because teaming is an important step for many organisations as the role of teams become increasingly necessary. The ability to study the dynamics of a particular group and their exchanges can improve the capability of an OB practitioner to facilitate group formation within the organisation for the benefit of the organisation. Sociology Sociology as a behavioural science discipline refers to the study of human beings in relation to their culture or social environment. According to Sussmann and Vecchio (1982), the impact that sociology has on OB is significant because at their nature, organizations are formations that hold both a culture and social environment. The elements of Sociology’s contribution to OB include power, conflict, communication, intergroup behaviour, organisational change, culture and technology. Sociology’s contribution towards communication in organizations is valuable because it helps to optimize the process of communication and improve its accuracy. This is critical because the manner and modes that members of an organization exchange information and its effectiveness is necessary for the effective organization (Robbins and Judge 2007). The study and understanding of conflict as directed in sociology are necessary in pointing out and mapping an improvement process within an organization. It also helps to predict potential calamity. The study of conflict and its origins within the organisation is important in noting its sources and solutions (Robbins 2009). Intergroup behaviour is one of the concerns of OB because teaming is an important step for many organisations as the role of teams become increasingly necessary. The ability to study the dynamics of a particular group and their exchanges can improve the capability of an OB practitioner to facilitate group formation within the organisation for the benefit of the organisation. Organisational change is important for purposes of competing globally. Sociologists state that how an organization can adapt to the changes in needs and the environmental will define its future success. In terms of organizational culture, Robbins (2009) states that the core elements of an organisation and how they are interpreted is important. This is because the orgainsation’s tangible and intangible attributes will either become a favourable aspect or unfavourable aspect /challenge to the organization. Social psychology According to (Robbins and Judge 2007), social psychology is an area within psychology that combines concepts from sociology and psychology and that focuses on the influence of people each another. It brings together the two complimentary disciplines into OB. within this discipline; the main focus is the interplay between an individual and the group. One of the contributions of this discipline to OB is behavioural and/or attitude change and this is mainly features in discussions of customer service. Social psychologists make important contributions to OB by contributing to the areas of building trust, understanding, measuring, and changing communication patterns and attitudes, how group activities can satisfy the needs of individual and the process of group decision-making. Social-psychology has also been of great importance in OB in the understanding group processes or group decision making. (Baron and Greenberg 2008) state that the study of group dynamics and its effect/impact will affect the organisational processes and decision-making. Anthropology contributions Anthropology is the study of human and its cultures. Of all the disciplines in social science, anthropology is the one that is closely related to the study of the cultures and the cultural phenomena. The anthropologists aim is to realize how the values and the beliefs that can be able to make up a society’s culture affect the performance of that society. Many experts in this field are of the idea that to understand the relationship between culture and the society, it is important to look at a culture from the point of view of the individuals who practice it. Political science Political science is a discipline that studies the behavior of persons and groups within a political environment. this discipline has also made some contributions towards the understanding of OB. Specific topics of concern that are important to OB include allocation of power, the structuring of conflict and how individuals manipulate power for their self-interest (Warner 1994). Conclusion OB concerns itself with the development of better relationships by achieving organizational objectives, human objectives and social objectives. Because of this important task, the subject draws from major behavioural sciences that help to address various aspects of an organisation that mark its OB. the major disciplines that contribute to the subject are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology and political science. Although some of their contributions are intertwined, each of the disciplines is important on its own in the understanding of OB and better performance of OB practitioners. Reference List Baron Richard (2007). Organizational Behavior Disciplines. Online: http://rmbaron.net/Research/Organizational%20Behavior%20Disciplines.htm. Accessed 7th November, 2011. Baron Robert and Greenberg Jerald (2008). Behaviour in organization (9th). New Jersey. Pearson Education Inc. Braksick Wilk. (1999). Unlock Behavior, Unleash Profits: How your leadership behaviour can unlock profitability in your organization. McGraw-Hill. New York. Brown Paul. (1982). Managing behavior on the job. John Wiley. New York.  O’Brien Michael and Dickinson Alyce. 1982). Introduction to Industrial Behavior Modification. In R. M. O’Brien, A. M. Dickinson, & M. P. Rosow (Eds.), Industrial Behavior Modification (pp. 7-34). Pergamon Press. New York: Robbins Stephen and Judge Timothy. (2007). Organizational behavior. Pearson Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River. Robbins Stephens. (2009). Organisational behaviour : global and Southern African perspectives. Pearson Education South Africa. Cape Town. Sussmann Mario and Vecchio Robert. (1982). “A Social Influence Interpretation of Worker Motivation: Academy of Management.” The Academy of Management Review. (2) pp 177. Warner Malcolm (1994). “Organizational behavior revisited.” Human Relations. (10) pp 1151. Read More