Assignment Code: BPCC-112/Asst /TMA /2022-23

Course Code: BPCC-112

Assignment Name: Organizational Behavior

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Assignment One

Answer the following descriptive category questions in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks. 3 x 20 = 60

1. Explain the four basic components of psychological capital required for positive organizational Behavior.

Ans) Every organisation aspires to achieve high levels of production, which depend on the mental and physical involvement of its human resources. Self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resiliency are some of the key elements of psychological capital because the idea rests on the positive facets of human life.

Self-efficacy/Confidence

According to Bandura's social cognitive theory, a response's final result depends on how the environment, an individual's thoughts, and their conduct interact. This theory includes a theoretical framework that places emphasis on how a person employs symbolization, self-regulation, and self-reflection to successfully handle a certain scenario and then reflects back on their experiences to deal in the future.

Self-efficacy is defined as "an individual's conviction about his or her skills to mobilise the motivation, cognitive resource, and sequence of action needed to successfully execute a specific task and situation" by Stajkovic and Luthans. Self-efficacy differs from other organisational ideas like self-esteem, expectation notions, locus of control, etc. in particular. When we discuss self-esteem, the idea of one's own worthlessness permeates the conversation. Here, the current self is the main focus, whereas self-efficacy focuses on achievement in upcoming tasks or circumstances.

Hope

Hope makes use of a person's self-initiated, goal-directed behaviours and motives. The methods used to accomplish a goal depend on whether one has hopes in another person or in oneself. One such mechanism is agency, or internalised control, which fosters the will and motivation to achieve one's objectives. Another aspect of hope is the "way power"—the means by which the objective is attained by getting through the challenges. The setting of high-quality goals that are based on the escalating difficulty of the problems at hand and the decision to use novel approaches to solve the problems successfully make up the hope component

"A positive motivational state that is predicated on an interactively acquired sense of effective agency and paths," according to Snyder, Irving, and Anderson. The "state hope scale" is a scale that Snyder and his colleagues have created that measures optimism.

Optimism

Optimism is given more weight in positive psychology in order to advance a person's entire growth. Seligman and Schulman, for instance, discovered that positive insurance agents were more effective than negative insurance agents. Positivity is always beneficial for maintaining mental and emotional equilibrium and fitness. The beliefs, values, and traditions that make up an organization's culture are intended to be upheld by all of its personnel. Stress and pressure can occasionally have an impact on a person's commitment, productivity, and job happiness. Therefore, keeping a healthy dose of optimism can aid the Organization in keeping a positive attitude and high production.

Resilience

Adults rarely go through horrific experiences in their regular daily lives. One must be resilient to handle such hardships and trials. Resilience is a skill that people might develop as a result of numerous internal and external factors. Understanding the process of coping with stressors, adversity, change, or opportunity that results in the identification, fortification, and enrichment of protective factors is one of three major concepts of developing resilience. The other two concepts are identifying the motivational forces within individuals and groups and the creation of experiences that foster the activation and use of these There are a variety of strategies to create a resilient atmosphere in an organisation, such as by proactively avoiding hostile events.

2. Explain the causes and consequences of stress. Describe the various techniques of managing stress.

Ans) Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain. Stress is your body's response to anything that requires attention or action.

Causes of Stress

There are many different things in life that can cause stress. Some of the main sources of stress include work, finances, relationships, parenting, and day-to-day inconveniences.

Stress can trigger the body’s response to a perceived threat or danger, known as the fight-or-flight response. During this reaction, certain hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are released. This speeds the heart rate, slows digestion, shunts blood flow to major muscle groups, and changes various other autonomic nervous functions, giving the body a burst of energy and strength.

When the perceived threat is gone, systems are designed to return to normal function via the relaxation response. But in cases of chronic stress, the relaxation response doesn't occur often enough, and being in a near-constant state of fight-or-flight can cause damage to the body.

Stress can also lead to some unhealthy habits that have a negative impact on your health. For example, many people cope with stress by eating too much or by smoking. These unhealthy habits damage the body and create bigger problems in the long-term.

Consequences/Effects of Stress

Stress can have several effects on your health and well-being. It can make it more challenging to deal with life's daily hassles, affect your interpersonal relationships, and have detrimental effects on your health. The connection between your mind and body is apparent when you examine stress's impact on your life.

Feeling stressed over a relationship, money, or living situation can create physical health issues. The inverse is also true. Health problems, whether you're dealing with high blood pressure or diabetes, will also affect your stress level and mental health.

Serious acute stress, like being involved in a natural disaster or getting into a verbal altercation, can trigger heart attacks, arrhythmias, and even sudden death. However, this happens mostly in individuals who already have heart disease.

Stress also takes an emotional toll. While some stress may produce feelings of mild anxiety or frustration, prolonged stress can also lead to burnout, anxiety disorders, and depression.

Techniques of Managing Stress

Use guided meditation: Guided meditation is a great way to distract yourself from the stress of day-to-day life. There are many guided meditations available on the internet that can help you find 5 minutes of cantered relaxation.

Practice deep breathing: Deep breathing is a great way to reduce the activation of your sympathetic nervous system, which controls the body’s response to a perceived threat. Deep breaths taken in to a count of five seconds, held for two seconds and released to a count of five seconds, can help activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which helps reduce the overall stress and anxiety you may be experiencing.

Maintain physical exercise and good nutrition: Physical exercise and nutrition are two important components in how you respond to stress. When your body is healthy, your mind can be healthy and vice versa..

Manage social media time: Spending time on social media sites can become stressful, not only by what we might see on them, but also because the time you are spending on social media might be best spent enjoying visiting with friends, being outside enjoying the weather or reading a great book.

Connect with others: Humans are social beings. You need to have connections with people to feel supported. Finding a sense of community — whether at work, with a religious organization, or through shared activities, such as organized sports — is important to your well-being.

3. Describe the bases of power and concept of dependency. Discuss the various power tactics.

Ans) The following are explored regarding the bases of power, the concept of dependency, and power tactics:

Bases of Power

Referent Power, Expert Power, Legitimate Power, Reward Power, and Coercive Power are the five categories of power that James French and Bertram Raven postulated. Informational power was a sixth basis of power that Raven introduced to the concept.

Coercive Power: The foundation of coercive power is punishment and fear. The reason the target is persuaded is that they wish to avoid the unpleasant consequences of disobeying the influence agent or upsetting them.

Reward Power: Coercive power is the exact opposite of rewarding power. It is predicated on managing resources and giving out rewards. This would only be effective if the target valued these possible benefits and assets.

Legitimate Power: When someone is in a position of authority, they have the legal right to use their power in this official way. It depends on their position in the hierarchy and formal title. People with legitimate power are able to use both rewards and coercion.

Referent Power: One might use their position as a reputable and well-liked person or group to get others to cooperate or comply. As a result, referent power typically develops over time as a person builds up their authority and trust. This kind of authority is effective because the "following" identify with, respect, or admire the leader.

Expert Power: Expertise or the perception that a leader possesses expert knowledge, skills, and talents in a certain sector gives rise to expert power. Those who continuously outperform others may rise to positions of influence and power.

Informational Power: Logic and information that can be used to change another person's behaviour make up informational power. Information is frequently more persuasive when it is "overheard" rather than directly conveyed.

Dependency

Power frequently comes via dependence. The power of the agent over the target increases in direct proportion to the target's dependence on the agent or their relationship with the agency. This dependence may exist because the target is unable to end the relationship, appears to have no other options, or has no comparable options. Therefore, dependence may exist or be developed as a result of three elements, namely importance, scarcity, and non-substitutability.

Power Tactics

Individuals have specific methods for converting the sources of their power into acts to exercise their power; these methods are known as "tactics." In reaction to attempts at influence, the respondent may resist, comply, or commit. Resistance is when the responder actively or passively refuses the request or influence tactic. If a respondent complies with a request even when they don't want to, they are using compliance.

Reasoned or Rational Persuasion: This tactic entails persuading the other person to agree with you by using logic, reason, or factual proof. As psychologist Ellen Langer and her team showed in a 1978 experiment, logic need not be perfect to be effective in comparison to no reasoning at all.

Inspirational Appeals: In this technique, the persuader employs emotional appeals or enthuses others to encourage commitment. To attain one's own aims, one must keep in mind the targets' motives, values, and goals. This strategy is frequently employed by CEOs and politicians to influence their audiences, respectively.

Consultation Tactics: By soliciting their input and including them in the decision-making process, this strategy works. It functions well in settings where democratic decision-making is prized because it imparts a sense of control even when involvement has little bearing on the outcome.

Assignment Two

Answer the following short category questions in about 100 words each. Each question carries 5 marks. 8 x 5 = 40

4. Action Research Model

Ans) Kurt Lewin first presented the action research concept in 1946. This model is a component of the action research strategy, which emphasises problem-solving activities between the target or client and the change agent or researcher. The strategy focuses on both issue solving and information generation. The fundamental premise of action research has historically been that when institution members are actively involved in the cyclical process of knowledge collection and implementation of actionable solutions, organisational challenges can be resolved.

Another premise is that the results of knowledge in action must be used to anticipate both intentional and unforeseen consequences in addition to being answers to organisational challenges.

The seven primary components of the action research paradigm each constitute a cycle of planning, doing, and learning:

1. Recognising the issue.

2. A meeting with a behavioural science specialist.

3. Collecting of information and early diagnosis.

4. To a major client or group, feedback

5. Joint evaluation of the issue.

6. Preparing a joint action.

7. Action.

5. Strategies to manage the organizational resistance for change.

Ans) The management of organisational resistance to change can be done in a variety of ways:

1. Education and Communication: It is crucial to educate employees about the proposed changes and to explain them to them since resistance to change sometimes results from a fear of the unknown.

2. Participation and involvement: Participating in a process makes you accountable for it, which reduces your likelihood of resisting it.

3. Facilitation and support: Change can cause anxiety and discomfort since it necessitates routine adjustment. In this situation, managers and change agents must be emotionally present, provide assistance through counselling, and teach the necessary skills.

4. Develop Positive Relationships: According to studies, employees who trust their managers and have a positive opinion of their organisation are more open to change than employees who have doubts about their managers.

5. Implementing Changes Fairly: The fairness of a process is just as crucial as the result. The issue of procedural fairness is more crucial when the result of an action is unfavourable.

6. Selecting People Who Accept Change: Numerous personality studies indicate that some personality traits are more adaptable to change.

7. Coercion: It alludes to a technique for using outright threats against resisters 

6. Functions of Communication

Ans) Communication serves four major functions within a group or organization. These are :

Control: When employees communicate any job-related grievance to their immediate boss, follow their job description, or comply with company policies, communication is performing a control function.

Motivation: Communication fosters motivation by clarifying to employees what they must do, how well they are doing it, and how they can improve if performance is subpar. The formation of specific goals, feedback on progress toward the goals, and reward for desired behaviour all stimulate motivation and require communication.

Emotional Expression: Communication is a fundamental mechanism by which members of group shows their satisfaction and frustrations. Communication, therefore, provides for the emotional expression of feelings and fulfilment of social needs.

Information: Communication provides the information individuals and groups need to make decisions by transmitting the data needed to identify and evaluate choices. Thus, communication helps to facilitate decision making.

7. Process Theories of motivation

Ans) The primary process theories of motivation are as follows:

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: According to Vroom, motivation is a result of three factors: expectancy, which is the belief that effort will result in successful performance; instrumentality, which is the belief that performance will produce specific results and valence, which is the degree to which anticipated results are desirable or undesirable.

Equity Theory: According to equity theory, people engage in social comparison by contrasting their actions and rewards with those of comparable others.

Goal-Setting Theory: According to the goal-setting theory, people are more likely to be motivated if they adopt concrete, difficult goals and receive feedback on how well they're doing with them.

Reinforcement Theory of Motivation: In order to better understand how different people are motivated to work, reinforcement theory was developed.

8. Work Situation Characteristics

Ans) The following are a few examples of work-related traits that can affect someone's degree of job satisfaction:

1. The work: The nature of the task itself best predicts overall job happiness as well as other crucial outcomes like employee retention. It also accounts for all the primary situational effects on job satisfaction.

2. Pay: A key, complex, multifaceted component in job satisfaction is wages and pay. Employees frequently perceive their salary as an indicator of how management views their contribution to the company, which affects how satisfied they are with their work.

3. Promotions: Job happiness is significantly impacted by promotional opportunities.

4. Promotions do, however, appear to have a variety of effects on job satisfaction since they come on diverse forms.

5. Supervision: Job satisfaction can also be significantly impacted by the type of supervision given. According to studies, staff members who enjoy working with their managers tend to be happier overall.

6. Work group: Researchers have been studying the value of social support from co-workers for decades. Research dating back to the 1920s' Hawthorne Studies has revealed that happier employees are those that are a part of a social network and have co-worker connections.

9. Relevance of Work Values for an Effective Organization

Ans) Following are a few examples of employee work values that have a big impact on the organization's efficiency:

1. Team work spirit: An employee who supports teamwork sees their own job in the context of the organization's wider objective and encourages collaboration among staff members in order to achieve the organization's goals.

2. Resilience: Employees that are resilient often manage to get through challenging or difficult circumstances. They encounter challenging circumstances and overcome them. These workers are more driven and committed in their contributions to organisational change and development scenarios.

3. Work Ethic: Employees with high levels of work ethics put out a deliberate effort and are better at managing their time. Such workers are less likely to leave their employers, which helps to lower overall employee turnover rates.

4. Positive Attitude: Employees with a positive attitude not only work diligently but also inspire others to work productively. These workers contribute to completing a task in a timely manner and so aid in the achievement of the organization's goal.

5. Responsible: Any firm can benefit from having employees that complete their work on time and take responsibility for their actions and behaviour. An accountable worker respects their work and is dependable for their employers.

10. Characteristics of the Field of OB Today

Ans) Some of the characteristics of the OB today as follows:

Behavioural Approach to Management: OB is that part of whole management which represents the behavioural approach to management. Organisational behaviour has emerged as a distinct field of study because of the importance of human behaviour in organisations.

Cause and Effect Relationship: Human behaviour is generally taken in terms of cause and effect relationship and not in philosophical terms. It helps in predicting the behaviour of individuals. It provides generalizations that managers can use to anticipate the effect of certain activities on human behaviour.

Three Levels of Analysis: OB encompasses the study of three levels of analysis namely individual behaviour, inter-individual behaviour and the behaviour of organisations themselves. The field of OB embraces all these levels as being complementary to each other.

A Body of Theory, Research and Application: OB consists of a body of theory, research and application which helps in understanding the human behaviour in organisation. All these techniques help the managers to solve human problems in organisations.

Rational Thinking: OB provides a rational thinking about people and their behaviour. The major objective of organisational behaviour is to explain and predict human behaviour in organisations, so that result yielding situations can be created.

11. Contemporary Issues and Challenges.

Ans) The following are some of the contemporary issues and challenges:

1. Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment: The practise of discriminating against employees based on their gender is still prevalent in many firms.

2. Quality Improvement and Total Quality Management: Any firm must constantly look for novel ways to satisfy the demands and expectations of its consumers, clients, and society.

3. Improving Skills: The Organization faces a challenge in determining the necessary training before planning a number of induction, socialisation, career development, and training and development programmes.

4. Work Force Diversity: The management of the diverse work force has grown more difficult for the organisation as a result of the rise in the recruitment of heterogeneous workers from a variety of communities, cultures, and societies.

5. Globalization: It is difficult for them to maintain and retain staff from other countries.

6. Ethical Dilemma: To protect its reputation in the worldwide market, the firm must work to stop immoral behaviours such disclosing private information for financial gain, social loafing, etc.