ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR

 The field of Organizational Behavior is evolving everyday. Researches are being conducted to explore new arenas of OB. There are already several concepts, theories and models which are been applied to study and promote human behavior in the area of Industries and Organizations.

The popular phrases "going above and beyond" or "giving their all" are almost getting zero application in the human life. We are restricting our behavior within the stipulated boundaries and scaling them with the job role which has been assigned to us by the organization.

The modern era concept of Organization Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is reaching out the field of OB quite prominently. The OCB if explained in simple languages, is the response or actions or behaviors which are not required by the personnel. They are not a job characteristics, but are beneficial to the team and works for the organization's better functioning and efficiency.

OCB has been defined as, "individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and in the aggregate promotes the efficient functioning of the organization". (Organ, 1997)

BENEFITS OF PRACTICING OCB: 

1) Finding one's work meaningful. The workers feel more significant and their contribution to the workplace more essential and useful.

2) Organization Citizenship Behavior increase the control ability over one's own tasks. They have a greater grip on what they are performing or how they are performing.

3) This kind of behavior helps in preventing burnout. As, the personnel identifies that his/her contribution of doing something good is of some purpose, it re boosts them.

4) OCB shares a directly proportional relationship with work-performance and productivity.

5) This is a good way to set in the organization. Employees who are new to the field can learn by practicing OCB.

There are very few disadvantages of OCB. Firstly, sometimes the behavior may get unnoticed by the supervisor or the leader. And, secondly it might lead to a poor Family - Work life balance.

TYPES OF OCB:

There are several ways in which an employee can show OCB. Past research studies highlight a few ways which are more commonly portrayed in the field of Organizational behavior.

ALTRUISM: When an employee assists his/her coworkers in finishing a project, though he/she will get nothing in return. The form of OCB where an employee helps another without any expectation, is altruism in OCB.

COURTESY: Personnel when guiding the colleagues to overcome a personal life experience so that it does not effect their job performance. Courtesy is being polite or considerate towards people who work with.

SPORTSMANSHIP: Taking a rejection from the employer's part sportingly. Refraining oneself from showing frustration or hate towards the authority in time of any rejection or disagreement is sportsmanship.

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: Attending a project work or helping in structuring a pitch which is not a part of assigned job role is showing conscientiousness. Basically putting the phrase "going above and beyond " into use.

CIVIC VIRTUE: Participating in social events organized by the company or following company's principles in personal life is affirming to the virtues of the company. When the worker represents his organization in a golden frame, his/her civic virtue is said to be high.

So, while drawing the conclusion it can be said that OCB is argued to facilitate a positive work environment, which enables organizations to attract and retain employees (Organ, 1988) and increase employee's positive beliefs toward their job and the organization.(Koopman, 2016)

REFERENCE:

Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome. Lexington books/DC heath and com.

   

   

Mc CLELLAND'S THREE MOTIVES

 An individual is unpredictable. Psychologists have always worked and studied the complex human behavior - the behavior which he himself often fails to explain.

In the work environment  the task assigned to a worker can be repetitive or creative. That may feel as a duty or an accomplishment. Whatever it might be, an individual acts or behaves in multivariate manner in his workplace. And his behaviors are certainly influenced by his motives, experiences, social equations and cognitive functioning.

As, the work of an Industrial Psychologist is to predict and study the employees behavior in his workplace, the cause of the same is also essential to identify.

The human behavior is at least guided by a single motive at a time. So, working upon those complex motivations are one of the important agenda.

Motivation is a complicated phenomenon. And has been described by many psychologists in various forms overtime. In the field of organizational behavior motivation and need theories have always played an essential role. The popular Need theories which we often read about are delivered by Maslow, Alderfer, Herzberg, Mc Gregor and McClelland.

McClelland in his theory of Motivation talked about three forms of motives - power, achievement and affiliation.

Need for Power (n pow): The desire to control others is the key explanation here. The urge to control and manipulate others' behavior and to achieve personalized and socialized power. An individual with high n pow will control others, work to have an impact on people around and will use other people to accomplish his motives.

Need for Achievement (n ach): The need for excellence is the priority of every individual with high n ach. The tendency is to overcome challenges and reach goals either set by others or by the individual himself. They work upon obstacles and persist on their behavior to achieve the predetermined goals.

Need for Affiliation (n aff): The desire to posses satisfying relationships is the core of need for affiliation. The characteristics of forming and continuing close relationships, getting accepted by people around and to belong to them are seen in people with high need for affiliation.

REFERENCES:

Pareek, U. N. (1988). Organizational behaviour processes. Rawat publications.

TWO FACTOR THEORY - HERZBERG

 We always do have believed that the antonym of 'SATISFACTION' is 'DISSATISFACTION', but psychologist Fredrick Herzberg introduced a different thought in his theory of Motivation. The opposite of 'Satisfaction' is 'NO SATISFACTION' and that to of 'Dissatisfaction' is 'NO DISSATISFACTION'.

The theories of Motivation of early and contemporary ones has shown more than one perspectives of interpreting the cause of an individual's motivation towards performing certain tasks. Maslow's Need Hierarchy theory has highlighted the 'Self-actualization', Alderfer's ERG theory has concentrated on the 'levels of needs', McClelland has focused on the type approach of need.

Herzberg's Two Factor Theory aimed at analyzing the contrasting view of Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction. It is a theory that bridges up intrinsic factors to job satisfaction and links extrinsic factors to job dissatisfaction. This theory is also known as - 'Motivation - Hygiene Theory'.

By following critical incident technique, Herzberg did a detailed study on the data collected from several employees. He inferred from that, the factors reportedly responsible for job satisfaction are not engaged with dissatisfaction which lead him to reach the conclusion that:

a) INTRINSIC FACTORS like advancement in job, recognition, challenges related to the job role, achievement and the work itself are responsible for an individual's ultimate motivation towards his/her job. The content factors of the job work as the 'Motivators' and leads to 'Satisfaction' - and if they are not fulfilled there is 'No Satisfaction'.

b) EXTRINSIC FACTRORS or 'Hygiene factors' as mentioned by Herzberg are those peripheral ingredients, which by themselves though are unable to bring satisfaction but can save from 'dissatisfaction'. The 'job context' factors like salary, company policy, work team, working conditions are if fulfilled properly, the employee will be 'not dissatisfied'.

REFERENCES:

Pareek, U. N. (1988). Organizational behaviour processes. Rawat publications.

Robbins, S. P. (2010). Organizational behavior. 

RANDOM SAMPLING

 The certain branch of mathematics which is concerned with the collection and interpretation of numerical data collected from the samples is called 'Statistics'.

According to Ciccarelli, "A sample is a group of subjects selected from a larger population of subjects, usually selected randomly....."

Blalock in 1960, has categorized sampling into two methods: Probability Sampling Methods and Nonprobability Sampling Methods.

Firstly, Probability Sampling Method determines the probable chance of inclusion of every unit or individual within the sample.

Secondly, Nonprobability Sampling Method is that method which is unable to provide us with knowledge of probable chance of an unit or individual's inclusion within the sample.

RANDOM SAMPLING:

The core of Behavioral Science Experimentation is 'Predict and Control'. Predicting all the factors that will act as variables and manipulating or controlling them in the hope of eliciting the perfect responses as the outcome of the experiment is the 'ideal' condition. But, this surreal situation is hard to reach, as knowing all the variables is impossible and controlling them is more inhuman.

The concept of Randomization works as a boon to this situation. When all the units or individual of a certain Universe or Population has equal and independent chance of being selected, the varied characteristics are included within the sample, which counterbalances in the long run.

So, the concept of randomness is at the center of the new era behavioral science research.

SAMPLING WITH AND WITHOUT REPLACEMENT:

Suppose we are conducting sampling with the fish bowl method. There are total 100 pieces of paper within the bowl. The chance of the 1st person to get selected is 1/100th . If we remove the piece of paper and choose the 2nd person - the chance of his selection becomes 1/99th.

a) Selection of unit or individual from the source without returning the slip is sampling without replacement.

b) Selection of unit or individual from the source returning the slips every time they were taken out, is sampling with replacement.

It can be concluded that sampling is fetching a portion of the universe or population as a representative of the same. And, Random Sampling is simply selection of this portion in such a fashion so that every individual has an equal and autonomous chance to be a part of the sample. 

REFERENCES:

Kerlinger, F. N., & Lee, H. B. (1986). Foundations of behavioral research, Fort Worth. TX: Holt, Rinehart, Winston.

Quinton, S. (2015). Saundra K. Ciccarelli and J. Noland White, Psychology (/Global Edition).

Singh, A. K. (2015). Tests, measurements and research methods in behavioural sciences. Bharati Bhawan.

ATTITUDE - BEHAVIOUR LINK

 When someone asks you "What do you feel about chocolates, the political condition of your country"? You will definitely come up with an answer as you cannot feel absolute neutral about these.

Each one of us are constantly evaluating our world around and every stimulus present around us. So, to define Attitude it can be said that - 'Attitude is the process of forming judgements about objects, ideas or people'.

"An attitude denotes an adjustment of the individual towards some selected person, a group or an institution". (Kuppuswamy)

The Attitude posses three vital components:

a) Cognitive Component: The thoughts and beliefs which are formed about any social stimulus.

b) Affective Component: The emotion or the feeling aspects attached to the social stimulus.

c) Behavioral / Conative Component: The tendency to respond or to enact in accordance with the social stimulus.

These 3 components are often put together to form the A-B-C model of Attitude.

How Attitude and Behavior is Related?

The interrelatedness between these two factors are not quite lucid. They share a complex form of linkage - which changes in respect of the stimulus, situation and other variables.

→ When Attitude - Behavior goes hand-in-hand?

Firstly, when we hold a strong attitude about any particular stimulus we tend to behave exactly in accordance with it.

Secondly, times when the individual is aware about his/her own set of beliefs.

Thirdly, times when there is no external or group pressure for behaving in a certain fashion.

Fourthly, he/she is not being observed by others.

Lastly, when he/she expects to have a positive consequence from that particular act.

Here, comes the concept of Predicting Spontaneous Behavior where the response of a person can be successfully predicted in a situation where he/she needs to act spontaneously. The Attitude Accessibility is the key which helps us in the guess work. The intensity of the association between an attitude object and a person's judgement of the same, when measured by the speed with which they claim how they are affected by it. This access to one's attitude or knowing the intensity of the association helps us in predicting the behavior.

The next is Predicting Deliberative Behavior, where the planned actions are guessed. The explanation behind this is easy, the thoughtful actions are often intention specific. So, if the inner thoughts or objectives of a person is known, their actions can also be predicted as well.

→ When Attitude - Behavior are inconsistent?

Sometimes what we say and what we do are dissimilar. For example, we may hate our Boss, say negative things about them to others; but when they are in front of us we show respect and behave cordially.

We often hold a generalized attitude about something, for example; any out-group, other religion; but does not let that reflect in our actions.

Few times our attitude and behavior are at a conflicting state. When we perceive a sense of distress or uneasiness as our thoughts and beliefs are not at par with our actions; we experience Cognitive Dissonance. 

REFERENCES:

Kuppuswamy, B. (1961). An introduction to social psychology. Asia publishing house.

Quinton, S. (2015). Saundra K. Ciccarelli and J. Noland White, Psychology (/Global Edition).

ALDERFER'S ERG THEORY

 The Need Theories of Motivation mainly focuses on the relationship between achievement and productivity. Among the most discussed need theories like Maslow's hierarchy model, McClelland's needs, Two-factor theory of Herzberg - Alderfer's ERG theory is another important one.

These early theories of employee motivation was developed during the 1950's and are still equally popular. The Content Theories focused on the determinants which motivates the personnel at work. The content theory which we will discuss now is Alderfer's ERG Theory.

Though it is said that the work of Herzberg is an extended version of this theory, but Alderfer's concept for motivation; more specifically need - is much more linear than Maslow and Herzberg. Clayton Alderfer propounded three groups of needs:

1) EXISTENCE: The need for survival or physiological well-being. The most basic to all needs.

2) RELATEDNESS: The need for having successful social or interpersonal relationships. The need to derive social recognition from people around.

3) GROWTH: The internal need of an individual for his/her own personal development. The need to express oneself in a creative manner.

He has suggested a much more of a continuous pattern of needs rather than a hierarchical model.

COMPARISON TO MASLOW'S HIERARCHY THEORY:

Starting with an example, If an individual's culture or surrounding or job environment requires him/her to give priority to interpersonal relationships, then he/she might give 'Relatedness' needs a first priority over 'Existence' needs.

So, it can be easily said that the most basic difference between these two theories is that - Maslow has focused on the Need Hierarchy levels, whereas; Alderfer had lesser limitations while generating the needs. He was much more linear and focused on an worker's immediate environmental demands.

SIMILARITIES TO MASLOW'S HIERARCHY THEORY:

The similarities are more in comparison to the dissimilarities. Maslow and Alderfer, both have promoted fulfillment of needs is the ultimate for work motivation.

The needs are being divided into several types and there are lower-order needs and higher-order needs in both the theories.

And, according to them the satisfaction of higher-order needs are more important for job satisfaction.

Lastly, more the higher-order needs are satisfied, more intense they do become.

REFERENCES:

Luthans, F. (2002). The need for and meaning of positive organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 23(6), 695-706.

AN INTRODUCTION TO SAMPLING

 The researches in the field of behavioral sciences are either experimental or non-experimental and aims to draw inferences about certain specific and prominent group by conducting applicable form of measurements. These 'specific' and 'prominent' groups are termed as 'POPULATION'. Therefore, a population can be defined as any distinguished and clearly defined or described group of individuals. For example; "all college students", "all parents" etc.

Population can be segregated into two types -

FINITE POPULATION: The group whose members are easily countable.

INFINITE POPULATION: The group whose size is large, so the total number of members are uncountable.

In case of performing researches, the researchers reach to the conclusions often relying on a smaller 'experience' or SAMPLE. They take a relatively small sample of the population or universe they want to draw the inference upon.

So ,"Sampling is taking any portion of a population or universe, as representative of that population or universe". (Kerlinger; 1964)

According to Kothari and Garg, "Sampling is defined as the selection of some part of an aggregate or totality on the basis of which a judgement or inference about the aggregate or totality is made".

In other words, sampling is simply gathering information about a distinguished and well-defined group by only studying a portion of it.

Thus, a sample is a representation of all characteristics of a population. The selection method of the sampling technique is called SAMPLE DESIGN.

PURPOSES OF SAMPLING: 

◘ Sampling is economical in nature, as it gives a speedy result within lesser time and involving lesser resources.

◘ In case of infinite population, sampling is inevitable.

◘ The method of sampling helps in gathering facts about the nature of the target population.

◘ Sampling designs provide accurate measurements.

TYPES OF SAMPLING: 

REFERENCES:

Kerlinger, F. N. (1966). Foundations of behavioral research. 

Kothari, C., & Garg, G. (2014). Research Methodology: Methods and Strategy. New age international.

Singh, A. K. (2015). Tests, measurements and research methods in behavioural sciences. Bharati Bhawan.