Organizational Behavior

Question # .2
Outline the importance of an individual’s contribution to the organization and the factors affecting his behavior.

1. Department of Business Administration.
Assignment no.1
Organizational Behavior (565)

Submitted To
Most Respectable,
Prof.Qasim Raza

Submitted By
Engr.Waseem Saeed
Roll AD-512530
Semester 3’ rd
ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD,
PAKISTAN.
Spring 2010

2. Question # .2
Outline the importance of an individual’s contribution to the
organization and the factors affecting his behavior.
Answer:
Organizations are composed of individuals. Each
individual is an island in himself, When an individual is appointed, his
skill alone is not hired, but his social background, likes and dislikes,
pride and prejudices etc is also hired.
Individuals make up communities. This strength comes
from the individual within a community acting together and sharing a
common ideal. Each individual is different from others in several ways.
Whether it is intelligence, physique, personality or any such trait, one can
find striking differences. This concept says that each person in this world is
unique. Individual difference means that management can get the greatest
motivation among employees by treating them differently Human
behavior is the population of behaviors exhibited by humans and
influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority,
rapport, hypnosis, persuasion, coercion and/or genetics.

3. Individuals differ widely in their physical characteristics,
temperamental qualities, mental abilities and the ways in which they
behave. The behavior of each individual is influenced by several factors.
No two individuals are alike in their physical characteristics like height,
weight, appearance etc. This also equally true of the psychological
characteristics of individuals such as their intelligence, interests and
aptitudes, personal qualities like aggressiveness, honesty and so on.
These individual differences, both in physical and psychological
characteristics of the individuals for the very basis of organizational
psychology.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS:
Psychological factors are an individual’s mental
characteristics and attributes that can affect an individual’s behavior. There
are several psychological factors and more prominent among them are
given below

4. A. Difference in Intelligence.
People differ greatly in their intelligence and this affect their
capacity to work. Person’s intelligence is often a very good index of his
ability to cope with varied problems of life. It hardly needs saying that
various jobs and positions in industry require varying degrees of
Intelligence, if they are to be carried out effectively

B. Difference in Interest.
We know that people differ greatly in their interests. Some
prefer to work quietly in indoors, others like to move about, some others
have great interest in music, acting, law, politics, some like repetitive
type of work, others are bored by it. Organizational psychologists have
found that an individual who works in the area of his interest is much
more satisfied than one who has to do some work that has no relation with
his interest.
C. Difference in Personality Characteristics.
People also differ vary widely in their personality. The term
personality as it is used in Psychology, usually applies to emotional
qualities of a person as well as certain uncharacteristic ways of his
behaving. Most of these are learned by an individual through his own
experiences in life or by imitating significant people in his surroundings. .

5. FACTOR AFFECTING INDIVIDUAL
BEHAVIOUR
Personal Factors
Physical- Characteristics.
1. Age.
2. Sex.
3. Education
4. Abilities.
5. Marital status.
6. Number of
Dependants

Environmental
Factors
1. Economic
2. Social Norms
Cultural values
3. Political

Organizational
Factors.
1. Physical Facilities.
2. Organizations
3. Structure and
Design.
4. Leadership.
5. Reward System.
6. Motivation

Psychological Factors.
1. Personality.
2. Perception.
3. Attitudes.
4. Intelligence
5. Interest

6. D. Learning.
Human beings greatest asset is their capacity to learn through
their experience with the things Encountered in life. People vary greatly in
their capacity to learn. What a man or his behavior is is largely determined
by the way he has learned in life. Learning acquires great importance in
many situations in industry, but more directly so, when we are concerned
with the problems of training.
E. Difference in Perception.
People also differ in the ways they perceive the world
surrounding them. In its simple sense, perception is understood as the act
of seeing what is there to be seen. Perception refers to the unique reading
of a situation.
F. Attitudes.
Attitude is an important factor, which affects human behavior.
It is a tendency to feel and behave in a particular way towards some
objects. Individuals acquire attitudes from different sources. The most
important sources of acquiring attitudes are direct experience with the
object, association, family etc.

8. PERSONNAL FACTORS .
Every individual brings to the work place, a variety of
personal characteristics and attributes like age, education, abilities and
similar related factors.
A. Differences in Physical Characteristics.
Physical characteristics like height, weight, strength,
keenness of vision, keenness of hearing, reaction time, etc are often
measured in some context or other. The study of the differences in such
physical characteristics acquires great importance, because successful
performance often depends upon some of these characteristics. Some heavy
job require Considerable physical energy, others require a very keen sense
of vision or learning.
B. Age.
Age is an important variable because of its impact on
performance turnover, productivity and Satisfaction. Performance depends
on age. As age advances, performance is likely to decline. Similarly ageing
has impact on turnover. There is positive association between age and
satisfaction level of employees.
C. Sex.
The issues of male and female employees have received
considerable attention from academics, Sociologists and researchers. There
may be differences in problem solving ability, analytical skill, motivation,
and leadership or learning ability. Sex has its impact on absenteeism also. It
has been proved that sometimes absenteeism is high among female
workers due to family responsibilities.

9. D. Education.
Education has its effect upon individual difference, and behavior,
largely through the level of education received. Increased levels of
education positively affect the working capacity and ability of a person.
The type of education can also affect the behavior of a person.
E. Abilities.
Ability refers to an individual’s capacity to perform the
various tasks in a job. Ability of an individual is made up of two sets of
skills. Intellectual and physical. Intellectual abilities are needed to perform
mental activities. IQ tests, for example, are designed to ascertain ones
intellectual abilities. Physical abilities manifest in ones stamina, strength
and the like. As each Employee’s physical abilities are different; their
performance level will also be different.
F.Marital Status.
Marital status has influence on people’s behavior. It affects
absenteeism, turnover and Satisfaction levels. As marriage imposes
additional responsibility; hence the needs for steady job and steady
income. The success or failure of ones marriage life also affects the behavior
of the individual.
G. Number of Dependants.
There is correlation between number of dependants an employee
has and his behavior in an Organization. Number of children an employee
has is positively related to absence, especially among females.

10. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS.
A. Economic Factors.
The economic environment is an important determinant of
individual difference. All work is performed within economic framework
that both directly and indirectly affects the individuals working in it.
Employment opportunities will have a strong influence on behavior. Fewer
job opportunities increase the emphasis on job security and can even
change the basic nature of the employee. Wages satisfy various individual
needs. Money is a complex variable and its effect on individual behavior
varies tremendously.
B. Cultural Environment.
The cultural environment is made up of institutions and other
forces that affect the society’s Basic values, perceptions, work ethics,
preferences and behavior. People grow up in a particular society that
shape their basic beliefs, values and behaviors. Culture varies from country
to country and these variations produce different behaviors; work ethics,
achievement need, effort reward expectations and values are important
cultural factors which affect individuals. In the context of job, work ethic
implies hard work and commitment to work. Strong work ethic ensures
motivated employees.
C. Political Factors.
The political climate in which an individual lives can affect
the individual behavior through several factors. The political ideology of a
country and society affects individual behavior.

11. ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS.
Individual behavior is also influenced by physical facilities,
organization structure and design, leadership and reward system in an
organization.
A. Facilities.
The physical facilities such as lighting, heating, ventilation, air
conditioning, space provided, Equipment’s etc will have their influence on
employee behavior and performance.
B. Organization Structure and Design.
An organization is a planned co ordination of a number of people
and their activities for the Achievement of some specific goals.
Organization structure shows the way in which different groups and
departments in the organization are set up. The behavior and performance
of an individual is influenced by where that person fits into the overall
structure and design of the organization.
C. Leadership.
The organization establishes a system of leadership and
supervision to provide direction, Assistance, advice and coaching to
individual members. The leader behavior is, therefore, a potential source of
influence on an individual.
D. Reward Systems.
Organizations establish reward systems to compensate their
employees. The behavior and Performance of an individual is influenced
by the reward system his organization has established.

12. E. Motivation.
Another factor which affects individual difference is motivation.
One of the most important task of a management job is to identify and
activate employee motives consciously and constructively towards the
achievement of the objectives