Task 1 : Define human behavior and explain how it impacts both human and organizational success.

30%

Answer : Human behavior is the responses of individuals or groups of humans to internal and external
stimuli. It refers to the array of every physical action and observable emotion associated with
individuals, as well as the human race.

Understanding the behavior of a human has a great impact to human and to the organization in terms of
achieving the success. For instance, One of the most important keys to your success as a manager is the
ability to generate energy & commitment among people within an organization and to channel that
energy and commitment toward critical organizational goals. Doing this requires a thorough
understanding of the root causes of human attitudes & behavior and how they are influenced by your
actions as a manager and by the surrounding organizational context. Thus, an understanding of human
behavior will enhance management practice. It is designed to include both individual level and
organizational level concepts to enable to develop an understanding of both psychological and
contextual factors that affect behavior in the workplace.

References: (https://www.google.com/search?
q=definition+of+human+behavior&oq=definition+of+human+behavior+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l4.
12804j1j7&client=ms-android-samsung&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-
8#imgrc=PY4BqWkAoeL1xM). Accessed January 28, 2021.

(University of Michigan. 2021. Human Behavior and Organization.

Task 2 : Identify the basic management functions and essentials skills the comprise the management
process and relate them to organizational behavior. 40%

Answer : The basic management functions that comprise the management process are planning,
organizing, leading and controlling. These functions work together in the creation, execution and
realization of organizational goals. Thus, organizational behavior must be practiced to make businesses
operate more effectively by applying its principles. Managers first need to develop a plan, then organize
their resources and delegate responsibilities to employees according to the plan, then lead others to
efficiently carry out the plan, and finally evaluate the plan’s effectiveness as it is being executed and
make any necessary adjustments. In the planning stage, managers establish organizational goals and
create a course of action to achieve them.

During the planning phase, management makes strategic decisions to set a direction for the
organization. Managers can brainstorm different alternatives to achieve the objective before choosing
the best course of action. Under this function, there are several approaches on it namely:

Strategic planning: usually has a long timeframe of three years or more. It analyzes threats to the
organization, evaluates the organization’s strengths and weaknesses and creates a plan of how the
organization can best compete in its environment.
Tactical planning: the shorter-term planning of an objective that will take a year or less to achieve.
Usually aimed at a specific area or department of the organization such as its facilities, production,
finance, marketing or personnel.

Operational planning: creates a timeframe for putting a portion of strategic goal into practice
operationally.

For the organizing, managers may need to work with other departments of the organization, such as
finance and human resources, to organize the budget and staffing and to distribute the resources and
delegate tasks to personnel to achieve the goals established in the planning stage. In addition to this,
leading consists of motivating employees and influencing their behavior to achieve organizational
objectives. Leading focuses on managing people, such as individual employees, teams and groups rather
than tasks. Managers can foster a positive working environment by identifying moments when
employees need encouragement or direction and using positive reinforcement to give praise when
employees have done their jobs well. Managers usually incorporate different leadership styles and
change their management style to adapt to different situations and these includes the following:

Directing: The manager leads by deciding with little input from the employee. This is an effective
leadership style for new employees who need a lot of initial direction and training.

Coaching: The manager is more receptive to input from employees. They may pitch their ideas to
employees to work cooperatively and build trust with team members. This style of leadership is effective
for individuals who need managerial support to further develop their skills.

Supporting: The manager decides with team members but focuses more on building relationships within
the team. This style of leadership is effective for employees who have fully developed skills but are
sometimes inconsistent in their performance. 

Delegating: The leader provides a minimum of guidance to employees and is more concerned with the
vision of the project than day-to-day operations. This style of leadership is effective with employees able
to work and perform tasks on their own with little guidance. The leader can focus more on high-level
goals than on tasks.

For the last management function, the execution of the plan and making adjustments to ensure and
achieve the organizational goal should be evaluated through the process of controlling. Managers can
conduct performance appraisals and give employees feedback, providing positive remarks on what they
are doing well and suggestions for improvement. They may also offer pay raise incentives to high-
performing employees.

On the other hand, Critical Managerial Skills that comprise the management process are as follows:

Technical: Skills necessary to accomplish specific tasks within the organization

Interpersonal: Skills used to communicate with, understand, and motivate individuals and groups

Conceptual: The ability to think in the abstract

All of these functions and essential skills are related to organizational behavior as it involves a lot of
study and analysis mostly conducted by the managers to improve job performance, increase job
satisfaction, promote innovation, and encourage leadership through using the techniques of scientific
observation in order to increase an employee's amount and quality of work. This will help to understand
how people behave and why they do what they do. Therefore, organizations that successfully
implement organizational behavior principles have motivated, engaged employees whose goals align
with business strategy, have strong leadership and direction, and have better bottom lines.

References:

(indeed Career Guide. December 4, 2020.What Are the 4 Basic Functions of Management?.
www.indeed.com.). Accessed January 28, 2021.

(Investopedia. Jun 25, 2019. Organizational Behavior (OB). www.investopedia.com). Accessed January
28, 2021.

(cahills2. 2021. MGT 291 Chapter 1. quizlet.com.). Accessed January 29, 2021.

Task 3 : Identify and describe the contextual perspective on organizational behavior. 30%

Answer : There are 4 Approaches to Organizational Behavior studies; Human resources approach.
Contingency approach. Productivity approach. Systems approach.

Human Resources Approach

This approach recognizes the fact that people are the central resource in any organization and that they
should be developed towards higher levels of competency, creativity, and fulfillment.

People thus contribute to the success of the organization.

The human resources approach is also called as the supportive approach in the sense that the manager’s
role changes from control of employee to active support of their growth and performance.

The supportive approach contrasts with the traditional management approach.

In the traditional approach, managers decided what employees should do and closely monitored their
performance to ensure task accomplishment.

In the human resources approach, the role of managers changes from structuring and controlling to
supporting.

Contingency Approach

The contingency approach (sometimes called the situational approach) is based on the premise that
methods or behaviors which work effectively in One situation fail in another.
For example; Organization Development (OD) programs, way work brilliantly in one situation but fail
miserably in another situation.

Results differ because situations differ, the manager’s task, therefore, is to identify which method will, in
a particular situation, under particular circumstances, and at a particular time, best contribute to the
attainment of organization’s goals.

The strength of the contingency approach lies in the fact it encourages analysis of each situation prior to
action while at the same time discourages the habitual practice of universal assumptions about methods
and people.

The contingency approach is also more interdisciplinary, more system – oriented and more research-
oriented titan any other approach.

Productivity Approach

Productivity which is the ratio of output to input is a measure of an organization’s effectiveness. It also
reveals the manager’s efficiency in optimizing resource utilization.

The higher the numerical value of this ratio, the greater the efficiency.

Productivity is generally measured in terms of economic inputs and outputs, but human and social
inputs and outputs also are important.

For example, if better organizational behavior can improve job satisfaction, a human output or benefit
occurs.

In the same manner, when employee development programs lead to better citizens in a community, a
valuable social output occurs.

Organizational behavior decisions typically involve human, social, and/or economic issues, and so
productivity usually a significant part of these decisions is recognized and discusses extensively in the
literature on OB.

Systems Approach

The Systems Approach to OB views the organization as a united, purposeful system composed of
interrelated parts.

This approach gives managers a way of looking at the organization as a whole, whole, person, whole
group, and the whole social system.

In so doing, the systems approach tells us that the activity of any segment of an organization affects, in
varying degrees the activity of every other segment. A systems view should be the concern of every
person in an organization.

The clerk at a service counter, the machinist, and the manager all work with the people and thereby
influence the behavioral quality of life in an organization and its inputs.

Managers, however, tend to have a larger responsibility, because they are the ones who make the
majority are people oriented.
The role of managers, then, is to use organizational behavior to help build an organizational culture in
which talents are utilized and further developed, people are motivated, teams become productive,
organizations achieve their goals and society reaps the reward.

Reference:

(iEduNote. 2021. 4 Approaches to Organizational Behavior Studies Explained. www.iedunote.com.)