Organizational Behaviour

1. SANGEETHA PAUL
APPROACHES TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

2. INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
 OB is an integration of all other social
sciences and disciplines that help in
understanding the behaviour of people at
work in the organization.
 The interest of various social sciences in
people may be called behavioural science
which represents the systematized body of
knowledge pertaining to why how people
behave as they do.

3. HUMAN RESOURCE APPROACH OR SUPPORTIVE
APPROACH
 This approach highlighted the impact of behaviour on
performance.
 Interpersonal behaviour has its impact on satisfaction
which in turn may lead to improved performance.
 The growth and popularity of this approach is attributed to
Elton Mayo and his Hawthorne experiments.
 Central to this approach was an increased understanding
of the individual worker with emphasis on motivation,
needs, interpersonal relationships and group dynamics.
 This approach is called supportive approach because in
this the approach of managers role changes, he does not
control the employees to get the work done, rather
support them to grow to their full abilities.

4. ABRAHAM MASLOW
 The contributions of Abraham Maslow and
Douglas McGregor form the human resource
approach
 He came out with a thesis that unmet needs are
the causes for problems that people face.
 Maslow built a hierarchy of needs, starting from
physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self
actualization needs.
 McGregor’s Theory X assumes the individual to
be lazy, non creative and in need of constant
prodding.

5. HUMAN RESOURCE APPROACH
 Theory Y views the individual as having
tremendous potential, which effective
management can channelize towards
organizational goals.
 The theme of human resource approach is the
need for designing jobs, so that tasks are not
perceived as dehumanizing or demeaning but
instead allow workers to use their full potential.
 Though there is a shift towards job, concern for
employee behaviour is not to be undermined.

6. BEHAVIOR SCIENCE APPROACH
 Psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists
began studying people at work. These
individuals are known as behavioural scientists
and their approach to management is known as
behavioral science approach.
 The emphasis of this approach lies more on the
nature of work and the degree to which it can
fulfill the human need to express skills and
abilities.
 This approach owes its origin to Mary Parker
Follet, one of the earlier management thinkers.

7. CONTINGENCY APPROACH
 This approach rejects the notion that a universal
set of principles and methodologies can be
applied to managing behaviour in organizations.
 This approach suggests that there is no one
best way to tackle human problems.
 Each situation must be analyzed carefully
before taking any action and at the same time
discouraging universal concept about people.
 It is sometimes called situational approach
because appropriate action depends upon the
situational variables.

8. SYSTEMS APPROACH
 Organizations are social systems. There are so
many variables in the system which influence
each other.
 A manager must consider the situation behind
the scene before taking any action because
such an action may affect the whole system.
 Effects may be positive or negative, so a cost-
benefit analysis should be made taking into
consideration the organization as a whole
system because it may influence organization
elsewhere.

9. THANK YOU