Conceptual model of organization behaviour | Management Optional Notes for UPSC PDF Download

Conceptual Model of Organizational Behavior

• Multifaceted Study: Organization behavior is studied from various perspectives, methods, and analysis levels.
• Three Viewpoints: A common model divides these perspectives into three - modern, symbolic, and postmodern.
• Micro vs. Macro: Traditionally, there's a distinction between "micro" and "macro" organizational behavior. Micro focuses on individual and group dynamics within an organization, while macro looks at the broader picture - studying entire organizations and industries, their adaptation, strategies, structures, and contingencies.
• Meso Scale Structures: Scholars are interested in "meso" scale structures, such as power, culture, and networks within organizations.
• Field Level Analysis: Another layer is "field" level analysis, which explores how populations of organizations interact on a larger scale.

Understanding Organizational Dynamics

• Complex Interactions: In organizational settings, people interact, and numerous factors come into play.
• Modern Organizational Studies: These studies aim to comprehend and model the various factors involved. They align with modernist social sciences, focusing on controlling, predicting, and explaining outcomes.
• Controversial Ethics: Controversies arise around the ethics of controlling workers' behavior and how they are treated. This debate can be traced back to the conflict between Taylor's scientific management approach and the human relations movement in the 1940s.
• Role of Organizational Behavior (OB): OB, along with Industrial psychology, has been criticized as a tool favoring the powerful. Despite these concerns, OB plays a crucial role in organizational development. It contributes to enhancing organizational performance, as well as individual and group satisfaction and commitment.
• Accusations Set Aside: Despite accusations, the field of OB serves as a valuable tool for improving how organizations operate, fostering better performance, and ensuring the well-being of individuals and groups within the organizational context.

Key Objectives of Organizational Theorists

• Revitalizing Organizational Theory: According to Simms (1994), a primary goal of organizational theorists is to breathe new life into organizational theory and create a better understanding of how organizations function.
• Critical Assumptions: Organizational theorists carefully examine the underlying assumptions in their theories, aiming to enhance the conceptualization of organizational life. Their focus is on aiding managers and administrators in practical applications.
• Growing Field: Organizational behavior is a rapidly expanding field. Typically housed within business schools, it often coexists with programs in industrial psychology and industrial economics in universities.
• Business World Influence: The field has a significant impact on business practices, with influential practitioners like Peter Drucker and Peter Senge translating academic research into real-world applications.
• Global Relevance: In the increasingly global economy, organizational behavior plays a crucial role. As people from diverse backgrounds collaborate, effective and efficient teamwork becomes essential.
• Criticisms and Challenges: Despite its importance, the field faces criticism for ethnocentric and pro-capitalist assumptions. This raises concerns about the perspectives and biases inherent in organizational behavior studies.

Evolution of Organizational Behavior in the Past Two Decades

• Incorporation of Anthropology: Organizational behavior has expanded by integrating with anthropology. This collaboration provides insights into viewing firms as communities. Concepts like organizational culture, rituals, and symbolic acts have been introduced, offering new perspectives on understanding organizations as cohesive groups.
• Emphasis on Leadership: The study of organizational behavior now places a strong emphasis on the critical role of leadership at various levels within an organization, particularly in the context of managing change.
• Ethics as Pillars: The importance of ethics has gained prominence as a foundational element in any organizational vision. Ethics is recognized as a driving force within organizations, guiding decision-making and behavior.
• Aesthetics Integration: A new field has emerged in recent decades, focusing on the aesthetic aspects of our existence in organizations. Drawing from interdisciplinary theories and methods from humanities, theater studies, literature, music, and visual studies, this integration enhances our understanding of the aesthetic dimensions within organizational contexts.