An organisation is a social system where the members are consciously associated to achieve a common goal or set goals. If you want to work in an Organisation or to manage an organisation, it is essential to know some thing about Organisational life. The study and application of knowledge about how the people act within organisations is known as Organisational Behaviour (OB).

What is meant by an organisation ?

The term “Organisation” is interpreted in a number of meaning. We may perceive an Organisation as the activity which is an  important function of Management . We may also mean an Organisation as a process; the process of identifying and grouping the work to be performed, defined and delegating responsibility , power and establishing relationship among the people who are associated for accomplishing a common objective or goals.

In the words of Mooney and Reiley, Organization is the form of every human association for the attainment of a common purpose.

Etzioni says that ” We are born in Organisations, educated by Organisations, and most of us spend much of our lives working for Organisations”.

Indeed, we may say that the product and services of Organisations are coupled in a day to day human activities ; what we eat , what we enjoy , what We hope , what we dream are the products of Organisational lives.

Litterer has pointed out that Organisations are intervening elements between wants and their satisfactions and must be established before the wants are satisfied. From the observations of the Behavioural Scientists we may say that Organisations are made of people and for the people to achieve a common goal. In this way, we may bring all the manufacturing, service oriented establishments, schools, colleges, hospital, religious institutions, military units, police, local, State and Central govt agencies, voluntary organisations and so on under the board term “Organisation”.

Organisational Behaviour – Defined

Organisational Behaviour (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organisations effectiveness. We may say that OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an Organisation and how that behaviour affects the performance of the Organization. Further, OB is more concerned with employment related environments. This means that the behaviour related to work situation , turn-over, absenteeism, productivity, human relations, performance, and labour Management.

OB has also been characterized as a way of thinking and as a body of knowledge covering a relatively specific set of core topics such as Individual, Group, Behaviour, Motivation, Communication, Conflicts and so on.

Key Element in Organisational Behaviour:

There are four key elements in the system of OB, such as PEOPLE, STRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT. These key elements , are influenced by external environment in an organisational context. Let us see these key elements and their significance in OB.

PEOPLE

All Organisations and made of people, who form the internal social system. They consists of individuals, groups which may be a small group or large one, formal or informal group. The groups are dynamic, they form and change according to the situational need. The human Organisations are not static, but an ever changing System. In this System, people are the live wires. The Organisations exists to serve the people rather than people exist to serve the Organisation. Thus Organisations are made of the people, for the people and by the people.

STRUCTURE

The other key element in the system of OB, defrays the official relationships of people in Organisations. The people have to perform different job to achieve the goals of the Organisations. Hence, the concept of division of labour defines the role and responsibilities of people in the Organisational life. There are managers , workers, clerical and other sub-ordinate staff performing various duties in Organisations. The Organisational structure depicts their relationship such as staff and line relationship. These relationships create complex net work of OB in an Organisation.

TECHNOLOGY

The Technology provides the resources with which people work and affects the task they perform. With the help of Technology, the workload of the people are being reduced, and their strain is also reduced. The changing technology often influence the working relationship. Further the technological advancements allow people to produce more with improved quality. But at the same time it restricts the people in many ways. Most often Technology creates a “phobia” known as “Techno-phobia” among the people. It means that people develop fear over their employment and their continuance in the Organisations, if they could not cope with the technological advancements.

ENVIRONMENT

The other important key element in Organisation is the environment. All Organisations operate within an internal environment and influenced by external environment. No Organisation can exist alone without the influence of environment. An organisation is a larger System which contains many sub-systems and many other elements, such as family, group, leadership and so on the external environment such as Govt, political ideologies, etc have a greater influence on the Organisational life. The individual Organisation such as factory or establishment cannot escape from such influences. The environment, both the external and the internal environment has a greater impact on the attitude of people. Affects the working Conditions and provides Competition for resources, power etc. Often such situation leads to conflict in Organisations. Hence, the significance of environment must be considered when we study the Organisation Behaviour. Before we step into the discussion on the other sub-topics in OB .

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Bapi Sarkar.