Course Subject : HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATION

Term : 2ND Semester 2018-2019

Instructor : Mark Anthony R. Casem, MBA, DBA
Schedule : WedFri 4:30 – 6:00 PM
E-mail address : casemmarkanthony@yahoo.com

TOPIC : FUNDAMENTALS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

“ Many of our most critical problems are not in the world of things, but in the world of
PEOPLE”. The study of human behavior, therefore, is just as important, if not more
important, than study of things. Indeed, there is no other subject more interesting and
challenging than people.”

 Situation # 1
A story is told of an executive who had to drive some distance to his head office for
conference with his President

On his way, his car tires went off in a place near a mental hospital. He had
difficulty putting them back to be in time for his appointment when along came a man,
apparently a patient who was trying to escape from the institution.
The latter offered to help and to presto! The tires were in place in such a short time
much to amusement and pleasure of the business executive who uttered

“ Hey, man you’re a wizard. But why are you in this mental hospital?”
The man replied with twinkle in his eyes, “ I may be crazy but I am not stupid as you
are!”

What personal characteristics does each of the two actors in the story possess which
have affected their behavior? Can we compare the behavior of the executive and that of
the mental patient?

 Situation # 2
It was observed with concern by a small group of employees of a marketing firm that
Rita was not eating her lunch for the fourth day with them. Her individual behavior
amazed them since she usually led the group to come together, start the meal and
recount the “stories” of the day.

What made Rita change her behavior? How did this affect the group? How would she
react if the group asked her the reason for her acting differently?

NATURE AND SCOPE OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Any act of an individual person which is considered human behavior is a reflection of his
thoughts, feelings, emotions, sentiments whether conscious or not.
It mirrors his needs, values, motivation, aspirations, conflicts and state of life.

Behavior, therefore, consists of all human activities.

The principles and concepts that underlie behavior are basic. It is their implementation
and practice that differ from group to group or from country to another. This culture-
laden behavior is best illustrated in the following incident.
One afternoon in a memorial park, a group of Chinese placed food on top of the tomb of
their dead while the Americans laid flowers to venerate their dead.

The Americans who were wondering why the Chinese used food sent a representative
to the Chinese group to inquire, “ When are your dead coming up to eat your food?”.
A quick Chinese retorted, “ At the very same time your dead will come up to smell your
flowers!”

Reverence for the dead is universal. It is how each culture manifests it that spells the
difference.

NATURE OF SCIENCE
 Science is popularly defined as an accumulation of systematic knowledge based
on facts.
 It is a method of approach to the entire empirical world.
 Basic to modern science is an intricate relation between theory and facts.
 FACT is regarded as an empirically verifiable observation
 THEORY refers either to the relationships between facts or to
the ordering of terms in some meaningful way.

WHY THE STUDY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Business organizations are made up of people interested in other people.
1. People are continually adjusting to and depending on other people. Many people
fail to adjust to the work environment because they do not know the nature of the
work and the climate they are getting into.
2. A second reason for studying human behavior arises from the fact that more and
more leaders of business and industry are coming from the ranks of college
graduates.
3. A knowledge of the principles of the human behavior will help one acquire
understanding, skills, and desires which will prepare him to work with others with
increasing cooperation, understanding and effectiveness.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

The scientific study of human behavior was only a 19 th century development. Until the
later of the 19th century, philosophy was only approach to the study of human behavior.
The direct forerunner of psychology is PSYCHOPHYSICS – a science developed by
Fechner.
It is a science that studied the functional relations of dependency between mind
and body but which actually determined the physical characteristics of stimuli and the
sensations they produce.

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOR

The majority of theories and models of human behavior fall into one of two basic
categories :
INTERNAL PERSPECTIVE considers the factors inside the person to understand
behavior. People who subscribe to this view understand human behavior.
This view is psycho dynamically oriented.
Behavior is explained in terms of the thoughts, feelings, past experiences and needs of
the individual.
The internal processes of thinking, feeling, perceiving and judging lead people to act in
specific way.
This internal perspective implies that people are best understood from the inside and
that people’s behavior is best interpreted after understanding their thoughts and
feelings.

The other category of theories takes an EXTERNAL PERSPECTIVE. This focuses on

factors outside the person to understand behavior.
External events, consequences of behavior, environmental forces to which a person is
subject, are emphasized by this external perspective.
A person’s history, value system, feelings and thoughts are not very important in
interpreting actions and behavior.
Kurt Lewin considered both perspectives in saying that behavior is a function of both the
person and the environment.

DEVELOPMENT OF BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE

The term “behavioral science” came into use only in the 1950’s when the Ford
Foundation coined it to describe its program on Individual Behavior and Human
Relations.
Behavioral Science has emerged as a new integrated discipline that is primarily
concerned with valid generalizations about human behavior in group situations from
viewpoints of psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology.
To qualify as a behavioral science, a field of study must satisfy TWO BASIC CRITERIA
First, it must have human behavior as its subject matter; Second, it must study
human behavior in a scientific manner.
The second criterion must be very clearly understood because the study of human
behavior is by no means the exclusive monopoly of the behavioral sciences.

BASIC DEFINITIONS
The two words from which the term “ behavioral science” is derived are BEHAVIOR and
SCIENCE.
Science may be defined from two viewpoints :
STATIC VIEW defines science as a body of knowledge. Its emphasis is on the
scientific activity ( research) rather than on the activity itself.
DYNAMIC VIEW defines science as an activity as such, it is more concerned
with what scientists do.

Human Behavior may be defined as any activity of an individual or group, whether

such activity can be observed by another person or detected by scientific instruments.
Specific definitions : It is the response of an individual to stimulus situation. It refers to
both the types of responses and the manner in which it was made.
It refers not only to what the person does but also how he does it.
A stimulus situation refers to a factor, condition, situation or a combination of factors
( whether internal or external) which provide the occasion for a response.
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR is individual behavior and group dynamics in
organization. The study of organizational behavior is concerned with the psychosocial,
interpersonal, and behavior dynamics in organizations.
However, organizational variables such as design of work, performance appraisal,
communication, organization structure, etc., are also relevant to the study of
organizational behavior.

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES recognize human behavior as having three characteristics :

First, that is it is CAUSED; second, it is MOTIVATED or GOAL-ORIENTED; and third, it
is INTEGRATED – that the individual’s motives, emotions, cognitions and self-
concepts, his attitudes, value systems, etc.

BASIC STEPS IN RESEARCH

Statement of the Problem
research begins with defining and searching the problem, expressing it in explicit
and concrete terms.

The Research Design

This generally involves the following steps :
1. determining the type of data needed;
2. identifying the source of data;
3. selecting the methods generally used in the study of human behavior are:
Analytic or Documentary, experimental, survey and case;
4. Choosing the subject or formulating the sampling plan.

Processing the Data

Coding is a technical process by which raw data are transformed into symbolic or
numbers that may be tabulated.
Tabulation is a systematic method of counting similar replies and adding them in an
accurate and orderly manner.

Analysis and Interpretation

There are two basic methods of analyzing data :
1. Statistical; and
2. Inferential
Correlation determines what is average or typical and finds out the extent of diverse
behavior and others
Inferential analysis is the process of determining the meaning of evidence by reflective
thinking.