Organizational Behaviour (OB): Definition and Basic Assumptions of OB

Organizational Behaviour (OB)

Organizational Behaviour (OB)

Before knowing about the concept of Organizational Behaviour (OB) we have to understand about organization and behaviour separately so that we can know how an OB is developed. Let's discuss about Organization and behaviour separately in short.

Organization is the group of people who work together to achieve common goal by collective effort of every members, that means every members work in a same direction.

Behaviour is the response of individuals or groups through verbally or physically in a certain environment or surroundings.

Now Let's talk about the actual meaning or definition of Organizational behaviour (OB).In simple language, OB is the study of human behaviour within the organization. It is the study of behaviour of individuals , groups or Structure within the organization and how the behaviour of an individual influences their performance. After knowing the information avout their behaviour OB uses that information to improve the effectiveness of performance of employees.

Basic Assumptions of Organizational behaviour (OB)
It is not easy to understand human behaviour. Human behaviour are differ from person to person. Behaviour of an individual is impacted by various factors. It is the Foundations of OB. Basic assumptions of OB is divided into two parts:
A.Nature of People
B.Nature of Organization

A. Nature of People
In this category, there are various assumptions. These are:
i. Individual differences
Different people shows different behaviour.The behaviour of the individuals are different according to their gender, age, religion, culture, customs etc. Therefore, to understand the behaviour of an individual , it is necessary to understand these different factors of an individual.

ii. A whole Person
A person spends only certain tim within organization. But most of the time he/she spends outside the organization. A manager can't understand and predict the behaviour of an individual on the basis of the behaviour shown in organization only. The manager must understand and know what kinds of behaviour an individual shows outside the organization in order to predict their behaviour and achieve the organizational goal.

iii. Valued person
The human resources are the most valuable resources of the organization. They want that they should be treated differently than the other resources of the organization.The employees want the recognition, reward , respect in the organization for their valuable contribution to the organization.They should not be treated like Robot.

iv. Desired for involvement
Employees of the organization want to involve in decision making, making plans and strategies, problem solving etc. Manager should create an environment so that the employee can participate in planning, problem solving, decision making etc so that employees feels belongingness towards the organization.

v. Behaviour is caused
The behaviours that the employees of the organization show within the organization have causes of that behaviour. Every Employee have different desires, goals and to fulfill that desires and goals individual behave in a certain way. Managers must understand that causes and treat them according to their caused behaviour so that the organization goal to be fulfilled.

B. Nature of the Organization
This category also contains certain assumptions. They are:

i. Social System
Different level of the people within the organization work for achieving common goal.They all have their own responsibility and authority.They are interdependent to each other. Managers should know how an individual takes and completes his/her responsibility and how he/she uses his power and authority to achieve the organizational goal.

ii. Mutual interest
Employees and the organization are interdependent to each other. Employees have their own goal and organization has its own goal. organization must fulfill the individual goal so that the individual also could fulfill the organizational goal.

iii. Ethics
Ethics are the rules and regulations, norms and values, right and wrong behaviour etc.Organization has its own ethics that help the employee how to behave within the organization. Employees must know and follow the organizational Ethics so that the organizational goal is to be fulfilled.

Conclusion
In conclusion, organizational behaviour (OB) is the field of study of human behavour in the work setting. Every member of the organization shows different behaviour within the organization. Different factors affect the behaviour of an employee. There are mainly two basic assumptions of the organizational Behaviour. Managers need to know about these assumptions so that he can predict the behaviour of the employees and can change their behaviour according to the situation to achieve the organizational goal.