By Tamal Datta Chaudhuri
Organisational Behaviour is the study of individual and group behaviour in organisations. An organisation is made of a group of people working within teams. The disposition of people towards each other contributes towards shaping an organisation. The interdisciplinary field of organisational behaviour focuses on how behaviour can be modelled with the help of analysis to impact an organisation positively. Various facets of this discipline draw inspiration from subjects like psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science and economics, among others.
The success or collapse of a business depends greatly on effective management of its employees. To manage a group of people, it is essential to understand how ideas, feelings and activities govern behaviour. As future managers, management students must understand and study the complex nature of human behaviour to be effective leaders. Some business schools are taking extra care to ensure their students understand and practise the basics of organisational behaviour:
The relation between an organisation and its employees: A better understanding of the relation between an organisation and its employees helps create better human resource strategies aimed at creating a better working atmosphere, employee commitment, and strengthening the overall value of the human capital.
Motivate employees: Organisational behaviour helps managers understand their employees, and can help them find the right methods to motivate the team. It can ensure managers and leaders identify and apply new tools based on individual requirements, resulting in high performance output for the organisation.
Improve industrial and labour relations: Organisational behaviour can be a great tool to help leaders understand the root of a problem, predict its outcome, and control the consequences. An in-depth understanding of human behaviour in the context of organisations allows managers to build stronger labour relations.
Predict human behaviour: Studying organisational behaviour can equip students better understand human behaviour from a managerial perspective. This allows them to contribute positively to organisational effectiveness.
If you’re good at organisational behaviour, job roles include industrial-organisational consultant, behavioural analyst, HR organisational development specialist, talent management specialist, and more. Typically, leaders in this domain are required to be adept at changing a company’s culture, improving morale, retaining great employees, reducing turnover, and balancing staff expectations against the company’s policies and resources.
The author is dean & professor, Calcutta Business School (CBS)