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Management Practices and Organisational Behaviour

Notes You may have an employee who is quite happy to have you stand behind them, looking
over their shoulder while they show you something. Others, however, may feel intimidated
or uncomfortable by this, in which case it would be better for you to sit beside them rather
than stand over them. If you can’t recognise when a person is feeling uncomfortable in a
situation, you will find that they will become distracted and thus less productive.
So how do you recognise if someone is uncomfortable in certain situations? Body language!
If you are standing too close or if they are uncomfortable with you standing behind them,
you will notice that they will move away from you slightly. If you continue to make them
uncomfortable, they will most likely pick something up and fiddle with it. You may also
find that they will lose their train of thought making it difficult to say whatever it was
they were meant to say to you.
These are just some of the basics of organisational behaviour, but as you can see, they can
have a huge impact on a person’s happiness and productivity in the workplace. Good
managers will learn about organisational behaviour to ensure that they can get the most
out of their employees and keep them happy at the same time.
Source: www.ezinearticles.com

8.5 Contributing Disciplines

Organisational behaviour is a blended discipline that has grown out of contributions from
numerous earlier fields of study. These interdisciplinary influences are the root for what is
increasingly recognized as the independent discipline of Organisational behaviour.
Organisational behaviour is an applied behavioural science that is built on contributions from
a number of behavioural disciplines. The sciences of psychology, sociology, anthropology,
political science, engineering, management and medicine are the primary fields of study out of
which Organisational behaviour has grown. Each of these sciences has had its own importance
and unique influence on the discipline of Organisational behaviour.
1. Psychology: Psychology is the science of human behaviour and dates back to the closing
decades of the nineteenth century. Psychology traces its origins to philosophy and the
science of physiology. It is the science that seeks to measure, explain and, sometimes,
change the behaviour of humans. Psychologists concern themselves with studying and
attempting to understand individual behaviour.
Since its origin, psychology has itself become differentiated into a number of specialized
fields, such as clinical, experimental, military, and Organisational psychology. The topics
in Organisational psychology, which include work teams, work motivation, training and
development, power and leadership, human resource planning and workplace wellness,
are very similar to the topics covered by Organisational behaviour.
Those who have contributed and continue to add to the knowledge of OB are learning
theorists, personality theorists, counselling psychologists and, most important, industrial
and Organisational psychologists. Industrial and Organisational psychologists concern
themselves with problems of fatigue, boredom, perception, learning motivation, job
satisfaction, personality, performance appraisals, employee selection, job designing, work
stress, etc.
2. Medicine: It is the applied science of healing or treatment of diseases to enhance an
individual's health and well-being. Medicine embraces concern for both physical and
psychological health, with the concern for industrial mental health dating back at least
sixty years. More recently, as the war against acute diseases is being won, medical attention
has shifted from acute diseases such as influenza to the more chronic ones, such as
hypertension. Individual behaviour and lifestyle patterns play a more important role in
treating chronic diseases than in treating acute diseases. These trends have contributed to
the growth of wellness programmes in the context of corporate medicine. These
programmes have led to increasing attention to medicine in Organisational behaviour.

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