DBA 303:

ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
DR MOSES OTIENO
0721246929
moses.otieno@uonbi.ac.ke
Course content
1. Organizational Behaviour: Its Meaning, Nature And Scope
2. Essence Of Organizational Behaviour: Why Study “OB”
3. Challenges And Opportunities For OB
4. Leadership: Its Meaning, Nature And Scope
5. The Changing Perspectives (Theories) Of Leadership
6. Effective Leadership: Styles And Patterns Of Leadership
Behaviour
7. Motivating people
8. Power And Politics In Organisations
9. Teamwork And Organizational Behaviour
10. Managing Conflict In Organisations
11. Stress management In Organisations
Organisational behaviour
Introduction
Definition
 It is the field of study that investigates the
impact of individuals, groups and structure
on behaviour in the organisation for the
purpose of applying such knowledge towards
improving organizational effectiveness
 It is a systematic study of the behaviour and
attitudes of both individuals and groups
within the organisations
 Concerns itself with the scientific study or the
behavioral process which occurs in work
settings”
 Focuses on understanding and explaining
individual and group behaviours in
organisations
 It is concerned with what people do in an

organisation and how that behaviour affects

performance
 The understanding, prediction and

management of human behaviour in the

organisations
 More micro than macro
 OB is a field of study that investigates the
impact that individuals, groups, and
structure have on behaviour within an
organization.
 OB focuses on improving productivity,

reducing absenteeism and turnover, and

increasing employee job satisfaction and
organizational commitment.
 OB uses systematic study to improve

predictions of behaviour.
OT vs. OB vs. HRM
 Organizational Theory
 Focuses on the organisation as the unit of

analysis. Organizational attributes such as

goals, technology and culture are the subject
of study.
 Organizational theory often uses an across-

organizational approach or macro perspective

in gathering new knowledge.
 Human resources management
 Attempts to apply the principles of the
behavioral sciences in the workplace
 While OB is somewhat more concept oriented,
HRM is more concerned with applied
techniques and behavioral technology.
 HRM tries to provide a link between the
individual and the organisation by designing
and implementing systems to attract, develop
and motivate individuals within the
organisation
OB OT
 Emphasis on the  Focuses largely
scientific study of on organizational
behavioral and
phenomena at environmental
individual and phenomena
group level  Level of analysis -
 Level of analysis - Macro/theory
Micro/theory oriented
oriented
 HRM
 Focuses on the

application of
behavioral
knowledge in
selecting, placing,
and training personal
 Level of analysis -

Micro/application
oriented field of
study
The Rigour of OB
 OB looks at consistencies
◦ What is common about behaviour, and helps
predictability?
 OB is more than common sense
◦ Systematic study, based on scientific evidence
 OB has few absolutes
 OB takes a contingency approach
◦ Considers behaviour in context
Beyond Common Sense
 Systematic Study
◦ Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute
causes and effects and drawing conclusions based
on scientific evidence
 Behaviour is generally predictable
 There are differences between individuals
 There are fundamental consistencies
 There are rules (written & unwritten) in almost every
setting
Contributing Disciplines to the OB
Field
 Psychology
 Sociology
 Social Psychology
 Anthropology
 Political Science
Contributing Disciplines to the OB
Field
Contributing Disciplines to the OB
Field (cont’d)
Contributing Disciplines to the OB
Field (cont’d)
Contributing Disciplines to the OB
Field (cont’d)
WHY BOTHER STUDY
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

1. Practical application
2. Personal growth
3. Increased knowledge
Practical application
 There are important practical benefits to
understanding the principles of
organizational behaviour:

◦ Development of personal styles of leadership can

be guided by knowledge of the results of studies
of OB that have attempted to relate leadership
styles to situational requirements

◦ The choice of problem solving strategy or the

selection of appropriate employee appraisal
format can be guided by an understanding of the
results of studies in the associated topic areas
Practical application (cont..)
 In the area of performance enhancement, benefits
can be gained by applying knowledge gathered in
the field of OB

 Because the environment in which the organisation

operates is increasing in complexity, one must
understand how to design effective organizational
structures and how to relate to individuals from
diverse and often international background

 Being able to deal effectively with others in

organizational settings requires understanding of
OB
Practical application (cont..)
 Attracting and developing talented individuals
are 2 issues critically important to the survival
and prosperity of an organisation

 Emphasis of human element instead of on

technical financial and other tangible resources
often separate competing organisations when
it comes to organizational performance. This
occurs because all serious competitors in a
given industry are likely to have attained nearly
the same level of technical sophistication
2.PERSONAL GROWTH

 The second reason for studying OB is the

personal fulfillment we gain form
understanding our fellow human

 Understanding others may also lead to

greater self-knowledge and self insight

 Such personal growth is an aspect of

education that is often cited as the
greatest benefit of studying the liberal arts
and sciences
Personal growth (cont…)
 Advancement in the business world
◦ It is also important for advancement in business world – it
can make a difference when it comes to advancing beyond
an entry level position.
◦ Entry level hiring are based largely on technical
competency, such as certification in a specialized area e.g.
CPA. Bachelor’s degree, MBA etc.
◦ Promotions however are often based on more that mere
technical competency.
◦ They are based on demonstrated abilities to understand
and work effectively with superiors, peer and subordinated.
◦ In short, an understanding of organizational behaviour may
be invaluable to you once you have that first job and seek
to distinguish yourself
3.INCREASED KNOWLEDGE
 To gather knowledge about people in a work setting
 At minimum, the filed seeks to gather knowledge
for its own sake just like some sciences like Physics
and chemistry; the practical use of certain findings
may not be practical for years.
 Same could apply to Organizational Behaviour.
Some early theories were not of immediate use but
are today useful
 Additionally, the study of OB can help one think in a
critical fashion about matters that relate to
experience of working. Such critical thinking ability
can be useful in analyzing both employees and
personal problems
challenges facing organisations
today that have made it
necessary for managers to
Study OB
Challenges facing organisations
1. Improving quality and productivity
 More and more managers are confronted with the challenge
of having to improve their organisations productivity and
the quality of their products and services.
 In improving quality and productivity, they are
implementing programmes like TQM and Business Process
Reengineering (BPR)
2. Improving people skills/interpersonal skills
 OB gives the manager the opportunity to completely
exercise insight in behaviour, how to alter the behaviour
and generally improve interpersonal skills
 The subject matter of OB helps both practicing managers as
well as potential managers to develop skills that can be
used on the job
Challenges facing organisations
(cont…)
3. Managing workforce diversity
 Workforce diversity has important implication for
management – managers will need to shift their philosophy
form treating everyone alike to recognizing differences and
responding to them in ways that will ensure employee
retention and greater productivity.
4. Responding to Globalization
 The world today is continuous becoming global village.
Organisations no longer constraint themselves to national
boarders.
 OB provides us with fundamental concepts to enable us
focus on how cultural differences might require managers
to modify their managerial practices
Challenges facing organisations
(cont…)
5. Empowering people
 Managers are empowering employees; they are
putting employees of what to do.
 They have to learn how to give up control and
employees have to learn how to take up
responsibility for their work.
6. Stimulating innovativeness and change
 This implies that today successful organisations
must foster innovation and master the art of
change, or they become extinct.
 Victory will go to organisation that maintain
flexibility, continually improve quality and beating
competition in the market place
Challenges facing organisations
(cont…)
7. Coping with temporariness
 Today change is an ongoing activity for most manages.
 Managing in the past could be characterized by long
periods of stability, interrupted occasionally by short
periods of change.
 But managing today could be described as long period of
on going change, interrupted occasionally by short periods
of stability
 The world that most managers and employees face today is
that of permanent temporariness.
 There is permanent change in the jobs themselves, so
workers need to continuously update their knowledge and
skills to perform new jobs requirements
 Today managers and employees must learn to cope with
temporariness. They have to live with flexibility and
unpredictability.
Challenges facing organisations
(cont…)
8. Dealing with employees’ loyalty
 Today, organisations seek to be lean, and mean by closing
down operations, moving to low cost regions, closing the
less profitable branches, and eliminating entire levels of
managing and replacing permanent employees with
temporary ones.

 These kinds of changes result in a decline of employee

loyally. Employees perceive that their employers are less
committed to them and as a result, they result to being
committed to their employer

 The manager therefore is to devise ways to motivate

workers who feel less committed to their employers, but at
the same time maintain organizational global
competitiveness
Challenges facing organisations
(cont…)
9. Improving Ethical Behaviours
 Organisations today are characterized by cut
backs, expectations of improving workers
productivity and tough competition in the market
place.
 Due to there pressures, employees feel pressured
to cut corners, break roles, and engage in other
forms of questionable practices could also be
contracted to give guidance to employees
 Today managers need to create an ethically
healthy climate, living by example, for employees
where they can do their work productively and
confront minimal degree of ambiguity regarding
what constitutes right and wrong behaviour.
OB – HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT (1900 –
1945)
 First developed by Fredrick W. Taylor (1856 –
1915)
 Taylor aimed at making management a

science abased on a well recognized, clearly

defined and fixed principles
 He replaced the rule of the thumb method of

scientific management
Taylors core values
 The rule of:
◦ Reason,
◦ Improved quality
◦ Lower costs
◦ Higher wages and higher output
◦ Labor-management cooperation, experimentation
◦ Clear tasks and goals,
◦ Feedback, training, mutual help and support,
stress reduction,
◦ Careful selection and development of people.
Taylors core values
 He was the first to present a systematic
study of interactions among job
requirements, tools, methods, and human
skill, to fit people to jobs both
psychologically and physically, and to let data
and facts do the talking rather than prejudice
or opinions
 He advocates the use of
◦ Observation
◦ Measurement
◦ Experimentation
◦ Analysis
◦ Rationality
◦ Reasoning
 As a chief instrument for developing
managerial systems
Taylor principles
 Father of scientific management
 Principles

◦ Develop a science for each element of work

◦ Select the best worker for each task
◦ Train the worker in the prescribed method
◦ Develop a spirit of cooperation between
management and labor
◦ Divide the work between management and labor
into equal shares, each doing what they do best
 The basic components of scientific
management as propounded by Taylor are:
◦ Determination of the standard of performance
◦ Functional foremanship
◦ Responsibilities of management
◦ Differential piecework system of wage payment
◦ Mental revolution
 Determining the standards of performance
 Taylor introduced the “time and motion
study” to identify exactly how long it takes
to do a task and identify and eliminate
wasteful motions
 Functional foremanship
 Here Taylor called for separation of
planning from doing where the functional
foreman (specialist) did the planning of
various aspects of work
 Responsibility and management
 Managers should accept responsibility for
planning, directing and organising
 Managers should perform these functions in
a scientific way – i.e. analyse all operations
and develop scientific methods of doing them
 Workers should be scientifically selected and
trained
 Managers should heartily cooperate with
workers to ensure that work is done
according to scientifically selected managers
 Differential piece work system of payment – to ensure that
workers turn out optimal production – so that workers who
work hard get more

 Mental revolution
 Taylor held that the technique of determining work
standards, delimiting wasteful operations and differential
piece rate system of wage payment should benefit the worker
in form of higher wage payment and the employer in form of
higher production and this would result to a “mental
revolution” between ,management and workers
 They would develop a cooperative rather than antagonistic
attitude towards each other
Criticism of Tailors Study
 Saw man as an economic being - man is only
motivated by money
 Saw that man can be programmed as a

machine – in the development of standards of

performance
The Hawthorne Studies (1924 –
1945)
 The Hawthorne Experiments
 The experiments were carried out between
1927 and 1933 at the Chicago Hawthorne
plant of the Western Electric Company.
Four studies were carried out namely:
◦ The illumination studies
◦ The Relay Assembly Test Room Studies
◦ The interviewing Program
◦ The Bank Wiring Room studies

The illumination studies
 These studies were expected to determine
the relationship between the level of
illumination and worker’s productivity.
 It was expected that worker’s productivity
would increase with increasing levels of
illumination.
 The studies failed to prove any relationship
between worker’s productivity and level of
illumination
Relay assembly test room studies
 These studies were carried out to determine the
relationship between worker’s productivity and
improved benefits and working conditions.
 Manipulated factors of production to measure
effect on output:
◦ Pay Incentives
◦ Length of Work Day & Work Week
◦ Use of Rest Periods
◦ Company Sponsored Meals
 The studies found out that there was no cause –
and – effect relationship between working
conditions and output.
 Rather, there were other factors that affected
worker’s output such as his/her attitudes and
supervisor behavior
Interview programme
 A group of employees were interviewed to learn
more about their opinions with respect to their
work, working conditions and supervision. The
workers suggested that:
 Psychological factors help determine whether a
worker is satisfied or dissatisfied in any particular
work situation
 The person’s need for self-actualization
determines his/her satisfaction in the work.
 A person’s work group and his relationship to it,
also determines his/her productivity.
 Behavior of managers and workers in the work
setting is as important in explaining the level of
performance as the technical aspects of the task
Bank

wiring room studies
This study was expected to study the effect of group
influence on workers productivity.
 Few Special Conditions
◦ Segregated work area
◦ No Management Visits
◦ Supervision would remain the same
◦ Observer would record data only – no interaction with
workers
 New incentive pay rate was established for the small group
 Any increases in output would be included in departmental
pay incentives
 The researchers found out that an informal grouping and
relationship was a critical factor in the workers’
productivity.
 The informal group determined the group’s productivity,
and functioned as a protective mechanism (served both for
internal and external purposes).
Conclusions on Hawthorne
experiments
 An industrial organization is a socio technical
system. The socio part is the human aspects that
need to be taken care of in order to increase
workers’ productivity and the technical system is
the physical aspects that also need to be
improved.
 Employee attitudes and morale are also
important as determinants of productivity.
 Other factors include worker’s personality and
supervisor’s behavior, leadership style also
affect worker’s altitude and morale.
 A worker’s social group has a prevailing effect on
his or her altitude and productivity
Contribution

 The Hawthorne Studies have however made

the following contribution OB.
◦ Their finding on the importance of informal groups
is also a key to organization theory.
◦ Contribution on course effect of job satisfaction
◦ Contribution in the role of leadership and style of
leadership
◦ Their emphasis on employee altitude towards work
as an additional to other factors was a
breakthrough in OB.
CONTINGENCY APPROACH (1945 –
PRESENT
 Following World War II, a new approach on
organizational behaviour began to develop
 Called the contingency approach, it acknowledged
the difficulty of offering simple general principles
to explain or predict behaviour in organizational
setting
 The approach sought to specify the conditions
under which we can expect to find certain
relationships.
 As such it represented a search for the factors that
would aid in predicting and explaining behaviour
 Organizational behaviour researchers who subscribe t the
contingency approach believe that employee behaviour is too
complex to be explained by only a few simple and straight
forward principles. Instead, they seek to identify the factors
that are jointly necessary for a given principle to hold

 Contingency researchers recognize the interdependency of

personal and situational factors in determination of employee
behaviour

 therefore if you ask what is the best way for a manager to

behaviour – autocratically or democratically, the contingent
researcher will consider issues like subordinates
expectations and preferences and the situations at hand,
cultural differences, etc
CULTURE –QUALITY MOVEMENT
(1980 – PRESENT
 TQM is a corporate culture characterized by increased
customer satisfaction through continuous improvements, in
which all employees actively participate

 Two terms that gained quick interest among managers and

organizational researcher’s wee organizational culture and
quality improvement.

 The authors of several books in the early 1980s – Peter

Waterman ( In Search of Excellence), Deal and Kennedy
( Corporate Culture) and others focus on how to build a
strong set of shared positive values and norms within a
corporation (that is a strong corporate culture) while
emphasizing quality service, high performance and flexibility.
Organisational excellence, core values and core competencies

 First step in building organizational

excellence is building quality into people.
 Organizational excellence is a result of

building quality into the following 4Ps:

◦ people;
◦ partnership;
◦ processes of work; and
◦ products/service products.
Building quality into people
 The first priority of any quality strategy must
be to build quality into people, which is the
essential foundation and necessary catalyst
for improving partnerships, processes and
products.
 The quality strategy relating to building

quality into people should be designed to

strengthen two essential parts:
◦ Core Values (CV) and
◦ core competencies (CC).
Core Values (CV)
 The CV are the non-changeable spiritual values such as
honesty, loyalty, integrity, goodness, trust, justice, respect,
humbleness, dignity, etc. which are independent of culture,
time, place, race and age.

 If CV are ignored in the quality strategy the company will not be

able to utilize the CC, which they try to build into the people.
 Various managerial efforts seem to have small effect if these
values are lacking between employees and between
management and employees.
 Research shows that trust is a prerequisite for communication
and dialogue, building people relationships, building
competencies and capabilities and for building a co-operative
culture.
 Research also shows that procedural fairness
and procedural justice in the decision making
process are associated with increased
motivation and commitment toward the
decisions made among employees.
 Research show furthermore that even though
the employees have the opportunity to
participate in the decision-making process,
they will get negative motivational effects in
form of frustration if their voices have not been
respected in the process.
Recent research results carried out indicate
strongly that one of the most critical factors
for attaining employees' motivation and
commitment is related to personal CV.
 In short, it seems that CV are very critical

motivating factors of human beings.

Core competencies (CC)
 The CC, which comprise the capabilities
needed to satisfy human's mental needs, can
at the lowest level be subdivided into two
main areas:
◦ emotional competencies (EC); and
◦ intellectual competencies (IC).
 Some research has shown that that the
strongest determinant for human success is
emotional competence or intelligence
competencies
Core competence - EC
 And according to recent research the IC can
explain less than 10 percent of a company's
success, while the EC can explain 90 percent
of a company's success.
 EC are human capabilities to feel, to see, to

listen, to aware, to sense, to taste, etc

 Emotional
competencies/emotional
intelligence
 Do you know anybody who is extremely
bright and yet cannot put life together?
 That very bright student but failed in

university?
 That very bright employee but performance

is wanting?
 Scientist over years have discovered

another type of intelligence which is not IQ

but EQ
 EQ is essential for survival
What EC involves
 EQ/EC involves a combination of
competencies which allow a person to:
◦ Be aware of own emotions
◦ Understand own emotions
◦ Be in control of own emotions
◦ Recognize and understand emotions of others and
◦ Use that knowledge for their own success and
success of others
Core competence - EC
 Include various types of interpersonal skills
such as techniques for emphatic listening,
dialogue, discussion, etc.
 People who do not posses the EC will get

serious problems in understanding other

people.
 Thus, EC are especially critical issues, which

have tremendous impacts in building

interpersonal relationships.
Categories of EC
Category Description competence
Self to know one's inner Emotional self
awareness feeling, preference, awareness
intuition as well as
one's strengths and Accurate self
weaknesses assessment

Having realistic Self confidence

understanding of our
own abilities and
strong sense of self
Component description Competencies
Self •To be able to control one's •Self control
regulatory/ own feeling, impulse,
management . stress and changing •Conscientiousness
environment
• Trustworthy
•Handling our own
emotions so that they do •Adaptability
not interfere but facilitate
•Achievement
•Having ability to defer
gratification in pursuit of •Orientation
goals
component Description Competencies
Social •Sensing what others Empathy
awareness are feeling
Organizational
•Being able to awareness
understand situation
from other peoples Service
perspective orientation

•Cultivating
relationship with
category description Competencies

Social skills Handling emotions Influence

in respect to other
people Leadership

Able to read Developing people

intricacies of social
interactions Communication
Able to interact in
social situations Change catalyst
well
Building bonds
Able to use this skill
Those with High level of Those with Low levels of
EQ feel…. EQ feel…..
Motivation, Focus Loneliness, Fear
Friendship, Fulfillment Frustrations, guilt
Freedom, Balance Emptiness, Bitterness
Connection, Desire Instability Lethargy
Peqce of mind, Awareness Depression,
Balance, Self control Disappointment
Autonomy, Contentment Resentment, Anger
Appreciation Dependence, victimization
failure
Core competence - IC
 IC are related to human capabilities, which
involve reasoning in contrast to the EC, which
involve sensing and feeling.
 These include:

◦ Planning and organizing, decision making,

leadership , team building skills, professionalism,
relationship management, client/ stakeholder
focus, verbal/written communication, processing
work, taking initiative, adaptablity etc.
Relating 4Ps to CV and CC
 A pre-condition for achieving organizational
excellence defined as “the 4P” (people,
partnership, processes and products) is to
satisfy peoples' needs in a balanced way.
 The CC are those capabilities, which, together
with the CV, are important for satisfying peoples'
spiritual and mental needs so that business
excellence can be achieved.
 CV and the EC especially are related to the first
2P, i.e. people and partnership.

 Without focusing on the CV and the EC it will
be very difficult to achieve Excellency in the
last 2P, i.e. processes and products.
 To build quality into the last 2P IC are

needed.
 The critical or core IC are those

competencies, which are needed to satisfy

people's intellectual needs and at the same
time necessary to build Excellency into the
organization's processes and products.
 As an effective response to growing global competition high
quality was seen to be the result of high employee
commitment and loyalty, - focusing on people, CC and CV
and do this

 High levels of employee commitment and loyalty is believed

to result, partially, from greater employee involvement,

 In some organisations, a deliberate focus can be identified

that seeks to have employees openly discuss aspects of
corporate culture, and suggest techniques for achieving a
culture that emphasizes greater teamwork and cooperation
 Advocates of culture – quality movement
claim that productivity and financial return
can be significantly enhanced by developing
culture that emphasize key values
 Presently, the evidence suggest that, properly
introduced, there are some economic
advantages to following culture-quality
movement
 THEORITICAL
FRAMEWORK OF OB
OB – Theoretical Framework
 Although OB is extremely complex and
includes many inputs and dimensions, three
frameworks:
◦ The cognitive,
◦ Behaviouristic,
◦ social cognitive frameworks
 Can be used to develop an overall model for
OB
Cognitive Framework
 The cognitive approach to human behaviour
has many sources of inputs ( the five
senses)
 Cognition, which is the basic unit of the

cognitive framework, can be defined as the

act of knowing an item from information
 Under this framework, cognition precedes

behaviour and constitutes input into the

persons thinking, perception, problem
solving, and information processing
Edward Tolman Cognitive framework
 Although Tolman believed behaviour to be
appropriate unit of analysis, he felt that
behaviour is purposeful, that it is directed
towards a goal
 He felt that cognitive learning consists of a
relationship between cognitive
environmental cues and expectations
 Through experimentation, he found out that
a rat could learn to run through an intricate
maze, with purpose and direction, towards
goal (food)
 Tolman observed that at each point in the
maze, expectations were established – in
other words, the rat learned to expect a
certain cogitative cue associated with the
choice point might eventually lead to the
food
 If the rat actually received the food, the
association between the cue and the
expectancy was strengthen, and leaning
occurred
 Tolman’s approach could be depicted that
learning is an association between the cue
and the expectancy)
 In his laboratory experiment, he found that
animals learned to expect a certain event
would follow another – for example, animal
learned to behaviour as if they expect food
when a certain cue appeared.
 Thus, Tolman believed that learning consist
of expectancy that a particular event will
lead to a particular consequence
 This cognitive concept of expectancy
implies that the organisms is thinking about
or is conscious or aware of, the goal.
 Thus Tolman and others espousing the
cognitive approach felt hat behaviour is best
explained by these cognitions
 Applied to OB, cognitive approach has

dominated unit of analysis such as

perception, personality and attitudes,
motivation, decision making and goal setting
BEHAVIOURISTIC FRAMEWORK

 The roots of behavioristic theory of human

behaviour can be trace back to the work of
Ivan Pavlov and John Watson
 These pioneering behaviorists stressed the
importance of dealing with observable
behaviour instead of the elusive mind that
had preoccupied earlier psychologist
 They used the classical conditioning
experiment to formulate the stimulus-
response (S - R) explanation of human
behaviour
 Both Pavlov and Watson felt that behaviour
could be best understood in terms of S-R
 A stimulus elicit response
 They concentrated mainly on the impact of

the stimulus and felt that learning occurred

when the S -R connection was made
 Ivan Pavlov who attributed leaning to the

association or connection between stimulus

and response (S-R
 Based on Pavlov classical conditioning
experiment using dogs as subjects
 When presented with meat powder
( unconditioned stimulus) - the dog
secreted saliva (unconditioned response)
 When he merely rang a bell (neutral
stimulus) the dog did not salivate
 When meat was accompanied with the
ringing of the bell several times, then Pavlov
rang the bell without presenting the meat,
the dog salivated to the bell alone
 Conclusion - that the dog has become
classically conditioned to salivate
(conditioned response) to the sound of the
bell ( conditioned stimulus
 Thus classical conditioned can be defined
as a process in which a formerly neutral
stimulus, when paired with an
unconditioned stimulus, becomes a
conditioned stimulus that elicit a
conditioned response; in other words, the
S-R connection is learned
Example of Pavlov S - R
 Stimulus (S)  Response ®
 Is stuck by a pin  Flinches
 Is shocked by an  Jumps/screams

electric current  Jumps/screams

 Is surprised by a  Flexes lower leg
loud sound
 Is tapped below the

kneecap
B.F Skinner
 Another psychologist whose work explains this
framework is B. F. Skinner.

 He felt that the early behaviorists helped explain

respondent’s behaviours (those behaviours elicited
by stimulus) but not the more complex operant
behaviours

 In other words, the S -R approach helped explain

the physical reflexes, for examples, when stuck by
a pin (S), the person will flinch ( R) or when tapped
below the kneecap (S) the Epson will extend the
lower leg ( R)
 Skinner felt that classical conditioning explains
only respondent (reflexive) behaviours. – i.e.
involuntary responses that are elicited by a
stimulus
 He felt that more complex, but common human
behaviour cannot be explained by classical
conditioning alone.
 He noted that the greater part of the behaviour of
an organism was under control of stimuli which
were effective only because they were correlated
with reinforcing consequences
 Through his research thus , skinner posited that
behaviour was a function of consequences, not the
classical conditioning eliciting stimuli
 He felt that most human behaviour affects, or
operates on, the environment to receive a desirable
consequences.
 This type of behaviour is learned through operant
conditioning
 Operant conditioning is concerned primarily with
learning that occurs as a consequence of
behaviour, or R-S.
 It is not concerned with the eliciting causes of
behaviour, as classical , or respondent,
conditioning is
 The organism has to operate on an environment
(thus the term operant conditioning) in order to
receive the desirable consequences.
 The preceding stimulus does not cause the
behaviour in operant conditioning; it serves
as a cue to emit the behaviour. For skinner
and other behaviorists, behaviour is a
function of its contingent environmental
consequences
 So behavourisitic approach is environmentally
based. It posits that cognitive processes such
as thinking, expectancies, and perception
may exist but are not needed to predict and
control or manage behaviour
 On the other hand, Skinner found out
through his operant conditioning experiment,
that the consequences of a response could
better explain most behaviour than elicit
stimuli could
 He emphasized the importance of the

response-stimulus (R -S) relationship

Example of Skinners operant
conditioning
 Response ®  Stimulus (S)
 Works  Paid
 Talks to others
 Meets more people
 Enters a restaurant
 Obtain food
 Enters a library
 Finds a book
 Increases
 Receives merit pay
productivity
 Completes a  Receives praise or

difficult assignment a promotion

 Today operant conditioning has much
greater impact on human learning than
classical conditioning
 It explain much of organizational behaviour
 E.g. people go to work to feed, cloth and
house themselves and their families -
working (conditioned response) is
instrumental in obtaining food, shelter and
clothing
 Managers can analyse the consequences of
organizational behaviour, to change the
environment, and help accomplish goals
Social cognitive Framework
 The cognitive approach has been accused of being
mentalistic, and the behavioristic approach has
been accused of being deterministic.
 Social Cognitive theorists argue that the S-R model
and to a lesser degree the R –S model, are too
mechanistic explanation of human
 The social cognitive approach tires to integrate the
contribution so both of these approaches
 Social cognitive theory recognizes the importance
of behaviorism’s contingent environmental
consequences, but also includes cognitive
processes of self regulation
 Based on the work of Albert Bandura social learning
theory and David and Luthans, this framework
proposes a social learning approach to
organizational behaviour
 Social learning takes the position that behaviour
can best be explained in terms of a continuous
reciprocal interaction among cognitive, behavioral
and environmental determinants.
 The persons and the environmental situations do
not function as independent units but, in
conjunction with the behaviour itself, reciprocally
interact to determine behaviour
 Bandura explains that “it is largely through their
actions that people produce the environmental
conditions that affect their behavior in a reciprocal
fashion
 The expediencies generated by behaviour also
partly determine what a person becomes and can
do which in turn, affects subsequent behaviour
Social cognitive theory framework
 Social/organisational environment

Behavior

 Cognition behavioural consequences