Define Ornganizational behaviour as a system. (OB as a System)

 

A system is a group of interrelated parts acting together to accomplish a goal. An organization today is described as a system. It is viewed as a group of interrelated parts within  unified purpose. All system are composed of three elements input, process and output.

Similarly, OB also can be viewed from a systems perspective (approach). It is a social system. Organization achieve their goals by creating, operating and communicating an OB system. We present here the OB system (model) developed by S.P. Robbins.

 

OB system is composed of input, processes (throughputs), output and feedback mechanism. It also interacts with the external environmental forces.

1.      Inputs: They are also called the independent variables. They are the determinants of productivity, absenteeism, turnover, citizenship and job satisfaction. There are three categories of input variables, group level variables and organizational level variables. Individual working in organization are the building blocks for group formation. When group are combined together, they constitute (form) an organization. Each of them are independent in nature (for details also see ‘levels of OB analysis’ topic in this book).

 

2.      Processes: The input received by the individuals, groups and organization as a whole are processed together to bring the outputs (the dependent variables). Inputs received by an OB system are processed by:

 

·         Individual process variables (e.g. motivation, perception, learning decision making etc.

·         Group process variables (eg, group dynamics communication, leadership, power and politics, conflict process etc.)

·         Organizational process variables (e.g. HR policies and practices, interaction with external environment, formal organizational designs etc. For details also see 'contributing disciplines to the field of OB.)

 

3.      Outputs: They are also called the dependent variables. They are the key factors that OB

  wants to explain and predict. Here, we explain briefly each of these dependent

variables:

 

·         Productivity: One of the major concerns of OB is productivity, Productivity is an indicator of how much an organization is creating relative to its inputs. In other words, it is a measurement of performance that includes efficiency and effectiveness.

 

·         Absenteeism: Second major output variable of OB system absenteeism. It is defined as the intentional failure to go to the work high degree of worker absenteeism may result poor organizational productivity and vice versa.

·         Turnover: It is the third output or dependent variable of CB system It is something that occurs when people quit their jobs. It covers both voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization. A high level of employee turnover brings a low level of productivity and vice versa.

 

·         Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB): It is the extent to which an individual's behaviour makes a positive overall contribution to the organization. According to one expert, "OCB is discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee's formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organization

 

 

·         Job satisfaction: It is the final dependent variable in an OB system, Job satisfaction is the amount of overall positive affect (or feelings)that individuals have toward their jobs. It represents an attitude rather than a behaviour. This variable is also important from organizational point of view because:

Satisfaction is negatively related to absenteeism and turnover (i.e., high level of job

satisfaction produces low level of employee absenteeism and turn over and vice versa.)

 

4.      Feedback: The feedback system measures outputs of OB process and feed into the system ( i.e., inputs and processing) to correct deviations and to achieve the desired behavioral results. So we can say that organizational behaviour is known as system and it has all those elements and parameters to be considered as system. 

s