Organizational conduct

Organizational conduct

1. Introduction

The organizational climate is considered as the set of relatively permanent characteristics in an organization that influence the behavior of its members. Also, the characteristics of the organizational climate serve as a basis to differentiate one organization from the others.

There are several approaches that can be used when weighing the organizational climate of a university institution. The demographic characteristics of the institution can be tabulated and classified with respect to size, source of income (private or public), location (rural or urban), proportion of students, etc. Another way to determine the prevailing climate is through student study: what they are. their socio-economic background, their level of intelligence, values, average grades in high school or high school, and vocational and social aspirations. Direct measurements of organizational behavior can be obtained by simple observation or by asking students to report their behaviors. A fourth approach is to determine how a member of an organization perceives that organization.The student is called to report on different aspects of the environment as he sees or perceives them. In doing so, he draws his own psychological map of the organization.

A summary by Warren Bennis, "Organization Theory," states that Theory X describes organizations without people "and Theory Y describes" people without organization "

As a first step in the study of organizational behavior, it is necessary to briefly examine research methods in the behavioral sciences. There are two reasons for studying the methodology: first, knowledge of the methods used in a given study enables one to infer and assign a degree of confidence to the results obtained; second, the experimental method used in the study of organizational behavior provided the conceptual framework for the independent, intervening and dependent variables.

2. Research methods of the behavioral sciences

The behavioral sciences fundamentally psychology, sociology and anthropology are all concerned with the study of human behavior. It is difficult to develop a classification system of research methods for the behavioral sciences that applies equally well to all three disciplines.

Research can be classified in terms of its purpose, descriptive, exploratory, or hypothesis testing study.

Also the method used to collect the data can be a classification base; for example, observation, interviews, questionnaires or surveys, or the examination of written documentation. Likewise, the place of study - in the field of action or in the laboratory - can also be the basis for distinguishing types of research. The degree of scientific rigor ranging from mere observation by a competent person (which cannot be repeated at will, to the laboratory experiment, the repetition of which can be done at will, is another basis for classification. Any classification system is highly arbitrary and contains Many categories overlap For our purposes, classifying research methods into two broad categories - field studies and experimentation - is a useful way to study organizational behavior.

Field studies are conducted within the environment of an existing organization. The data used in these can be the behavior observed in the members of an organization and recorded by a neutral observer. Or through interviews and surveys carried out by the same employees, written documents such as agreements and contracts between the employees and the company or the company within themselves.

Its purpose may be: to know the reality and practice within an organization or industry, or to provide comparative data between industries, cultures, companies or individual members of organizations.

Studies performed for a certain period of time are known as longitudinal studies.

Survey studies are designed to present a wide spectrum of events. Usually, these studies are by nature powerful and represent a sample of behavior drawn from different that may be representative of many companies and industries.

They are valuable in the sense that they establish statistical behavior indices and when verified by subsequent research, trends can be observed to extract reliable conditions, the representativeness of the samples studied and the appropriate statistical methods must be established.

Case Studies, its purpose is to provide an in-depth analysis of the company or industry or organizational unit within it. In it, many sources of information are used, for example, the researcher's observation, that given by the members of the organization during the interview and questionnaire resolution, and the objective indexes and the organizational indexes, such as costs, benefits, quantity and quality of production..

This study is adapted to follow the trends and development of a particular organization or the behavior of its members for an extended period of time because it is the most used for what is called: Longitudinal Study.

Comparative study. There are two approaches in the first: the researched can search for two or more organizations with different characteristics, which will have some effect on the behavior of its members and determine if these characteristics have the expected effect. And in the second: the researcher can start directly from the observed differences in the behavior of the members of two or more organizations and then describe and measure the organizational characteristics to determine whether or not there is a relationship with the differences in observed behaviors.

Factors that influence Perception. There are types of errors of perception, some of which are primarily due to the perceiver and others are a result of the characteristics of the perceived.

The perceiver. In addition to predisposition, there are other preconceptions on the part of the perceiver that influence social perceptions. Stereotyping is the most frequent source of perceptual deviations.

The halo effect is a perceptual phenomenon that has received great attention for its impact on the evaluative gradation of subordinates. When evaluating a subordinate there is a general tendency to focus attention on a single characteristic, either favorable or unfavorable, thus forming a "halo" that surrounds and affects the consideration and evaluation of other characteristics. If the predominant characteristic is favorable, the other characteristics will probably be considered as favorable; if, on the other hand, the dominant characteristic is unfavorable, the evaluation of the other characteristics would be rather negative.

Projection, a defense mechanism, is a means or way of transferring or projecting the blame for one's deficiencies on an object or another person. The saying "a bad worker blames his tools" is a good example. The projection also operates as a perceptual deviation in the perception of third parties and can result in unduly favorable or unfavorable impressions.

The perceived. The perceptual deviations resulting from stereotyping, the halo effect, and the projection are attributed to the perceiver, but there are also errors that are induced by those who are perceived. The organizational position of the person being perceived is significant. Characteristics are attributed to who is perceived by reason of their status. Closely related to the status is the role, that is, the behavior that is expected and is prescribed by the organizational position that one has. The visibility of certain characteristics of the perceived forces one to be attentive to those characteristics and, possibly, makes them ignore more significant elements of judgment that are not so easily visualized or determined.

Improvement of perception It is first suggested that the perceiver be constantly aware of the sources of errors of perception. The acceptance that such errors exist and the knowledge of the causes that cause them are a great help. Second, there is evidence that the degree of personal adjustment on the part of the perceiver determines what he will see in others.

3. Dependent variables - organizational behavior

There are many dimensions of the dependent variable, organizational variable. First, every individual who joins a formal organization assumes a role, a form of conduct that is expected of, and is prescribed by, position. Second, conflict is a normal part of organizational life; to believe one thing is to forge vain illusions. Third, tension, a subjective state perceived to a varying degree by each individual, is present in all organizational behavior.

Rol is an expected form of behavior derived from position. The Role cycle provides an understanding of how such expectations are established.

The role expectation is the description of the main functions, the responsibility, and the inherent authority and interpersonal relationships necessary to carry out the job. The second step in the transmission of the cycle is the transmission of the role, this is a process of influence and communication, and indicates the degree of freedom that the receiver has to carry out the assigned role behavior.

The role received. The role received by the focused person is in effect a perceived role, the role's behavior is a result of forces created by multiple roles received (including perceptual errors) and the preconceived expectations for each of those roles by the recipient himself.

The description of behavior within the context of the role cycle provides a framework for understanding behavior in organizations, particularly the phenomenon known as conflict and the concomitant subjective state, tension. Four types of conflicts associated with organizational roles are suggested: intra-transmitter, inter-transmitter, inter-role and person-role and sometimes inter-person.

Tension: Tension is defined as a state of anxiety, tightness or pressure and is a normal reaction resulting from the interaction between an individual and his environment. The forces that induce this condition are called tensor, so we can say then that the conflict often acts as a tensor.

Adjustment reactions to frustration, conflict, and anxiety

Adjustment Reactions	Psychological process
Compensation	The individual engages in pursuit with increasing vigor to offset some feeling of real or imagined limitation.
Conversion	Emotional conflicts are expressed in muscular, sensory, or bodily symptoms of disability, grief, or malfunction.
Displacement	Reorientation of repressed emotions, towards other people, ideas or objects outside the primary source of the emotion.
Fantasy	Daydreaming or other forms of imaginative activity provide an escape from reality and imaginary satisfaction.
ID	The individual magnifies his own esteem by imitating or conforming his conduct to that of another.
Negativism	Active or passive resistance operating unconsciously.
Projection	The individual protects himself from, and avoids, becoming aware of his own undesirable characteristics or unacceptable feelings, attributing them to others.
Rationalization	Justify inconsistent or undesirable behavior as well as unsustainable beliefs and motivations through explanations only acceptable to them.
Reaction Formation	Impulses not acceptable to the conscious are repressed and, in their place, opposite attitudes or modes of behavior are expressed or manifested with considerable force.
Regression	Completely exclude from consciousness the impulses, experiences and feelings that are psychologically disturbing because they create a feeling of guilt or anxiety.
Fixation	Maintain a persistent maladaptive reaction even if all indications indicate that such behavior will not cope with problems.
Resignation, apathy and boredom	Break psychological contact with the environment, stopping all sense of emotional or personal involvement.
Escape or retreat	Abandon the areas in which frustration, anxiety, or conflict is experienced, either psychically or physically.

Clearly, there is a lot we don't know about stress. For example, we do not know why some people react to tensors with the development of cardiovascular disease while others develop gastric disorders. Nor do we know why some individuals experience behavioral changes rather than physiological reactions, or why a given behavioral reaction develops instead of another. Tension is one of the normal aspects of life; It cannot be avoided, and yet there is evidence that much can be done to reduce the effects of stress. But there is no simple prescription that, if followed, can guarantee the minimization of tension.

The natural experiment is the result of a series of fortuitous circumstances. It could be said that the natural experiment is not an experiment since the experimenter does not have control, directly or indirectly, over any of the variables of the situation.

Despite this, there are instances in which the natural experiment closely resembles the field or laboratory experiment, since only one main independent variable is changed and there are available objective and varied measures of performance and behavior.

The most frequent criticisms of laboratory experiments are that they are not realistic and oversimplify organizational behavior.

The ability to take a complex situation and cut it to size, allows us to test more truthfully the hypothesis that this experiment is about.

Field studies provide a lot of information concerning organizational behavior, but its great complexity and the absence of controlled conditions make it extremely difficult to say with certainty that a given form of behavior is the direct result of a specific organizational characteristic.

Survey studies are designed to present a wide spectrum of events. Usually these studies are powerful in nature and represent a sample of organizational behavior drawn from many different individuals who may themselves be representative of a company or organization.

Survey studies are valuable in that they can establish statistical behavioral indices, and when verified by subsequent research, trends can be observed. To draw reliable conclusions, the representativeness of the samples studied must be established and the statistical methods used must be appropriate.

Case Studies, The purpose of a case study is to provide an in-depth analysis of an organization or a company within a company. A case study can use many data sources, including the researcher's observation of the organization. Normally one thinks of a case, in contrast to longitudinal study, as a snapshot, since it shows the organization for a very short period of time. Longitudinal Study: The case method is adapted to follow the development of a particular organization or the behavior of members of an organization over an extended period of time.

Comparative Study: There are two different approaches to comparative study. First, the researcher can look for two or more investigations with different characteristics that are supposed to have a certain effect on the behavior of their members and determine whether or not these differences have such an effect; second, the researcher can start from the observed differences in the behavior of two or more organizations and then describe the organizational characteristics.

The Experiment in the Field, Manipulation of the independent variable in the natural experiment is an event not controlled by the researcher and control groups are rarely available. In the field experiment, the researcher controls the timing and extent of change in the independent variable; In addition, control groups can be established as additional assurance that any change in the dependent variable, organizational performance or behavior, that occurs after the independent variable has been manipulated, is the result of that specific change and not the result of factors. uncontrolled third party.

The laboratory experiment has a greater degree of control over the independent, intervening and dependent variables. A laboratory is defined as any arrangement where the variables of the experiment are subject to the experimenter's control. Ideally, the laboratory experiment isolates and varies one independent variable at a time. The intervening variables are kept constant, or any change is also controlled, and the effect of the change in the independent variable on the behavior of the subject is accurately measured.

The most frequent criticisms of laboratory experiments are that they are not realistic and oversimplify organizational behavior. Realism may indeed suffer when subjects are tasked with assembling washers or locks instead of assembling cars and studying the behavior of Small groups in the laboratory is admittedly an oversimplification of the behavior of large groups of people in a formal organization. However, it is precisely in the ability to take a complex situation and "touch it up to measure" that the greatest strength of the laboratory experiment lies. It allows one to test a specific hypothesis or theoretical construction, control and analyze the interaction of all variables, and accurately establish the effect of the manipulated variable on the dependent variable.

The experimental method, with its Conceptualization of the independent, intervening and dependent variables, provides an effective way of thinking about organizations and behavior. It offers a means of identifying those characteristics of organizations that influence the behavior of their members. The perceptions, capacities and expectations of the members of an organization are recognized as intervening or moderate variables. Thus, behavior is best described as a function of the interaction between a person and their environment.

Suborganization Properties, The structural characteristics of the suborganization units arise from the relations of the formal organization. The most frequently mentioned are the number of organizational levels, the line and staff functions, the extent of management and the size of the subunit, defining size as the number of people. Although discussed separately, these characteristics should not be considered mutually exclusive; since there is a relationship between the size and the extension of the management which, in turn, exerts a marked influence on the number of levels within an organization.

The effects of the organizational structure on its members are measured in two areas that are attitude and behavior. The term attitude includes opinions about your own job, company policy, supervision, and perceived job satisfaction. Manifest behavior includes such measurements as absenteeism, the movement of personnel on and off, the frequency of accidents, productivity, labor conflicts, and promotional progression within the organization.

Organization levels. Initial studies of organizational behavior had to do with the attitudes and behaviors of hourly production employees. Then the studies focused on the comparison between managerial and non-managerial employees and more recently there have been many studies on the differences between hierarchical levels within management. These studies show a strong and positive relationship between organizational level and perceived degree of satisfaction of work and needs.

Organizational behavior indices show staff movement, absenteeism, accident frequency, etc. They have been frequently used as measures of hourly employee behavior and not widely with management groups.

Line And Staff Structure. Evidence indicates that the line manager consistently derives a higher degree of job satisfaction than the staff executive. Also the great managers of the line show a higher degree of satisfaction of their needs, especially relationships with esteem and self-fulfillment.

The mobility of staff executives within the organization that results from the nature of their functions keeps them much more informed than line managers about conditions within the organization.

Management Extension. The extent of management is a structural feature of easily recognized organizations. As stated before, there are several interacting factors that determine the optimal extent of management. Horizontal organizational structures (also called flat) with the consequent increased managerial extension, are positively related to high morale.

Characteristics of the total organization. An admittedly arbitrary definition is that a total organizational unit has a chief executive officer with the title of president or its equivalent and can view its actions independently of other companies, even though it may be part of a larger corporation or consortium.

Download the original file