PROJECT ON

TYPES OF BEHAVIOUR

Submitted by Ms. SONALI D. MITHBAWKAR

ROLL NO. 11 M.COM-II (Business Management)

SUBMITTED TO University of Mumbai

PROJECT GUIDE Prof. Mrunmayee R.Thatte

VPMs K. G. Joshi College of Arts & N. G. Bedekar College of Commerce Chendani Bunder Road, Thane (W) 400601. Tel. No. 022-25332412 Academic Year

2013-2014

CERTIFICATE
Miss. Sonali Dhairyadhar Mithbawkar of M.Com (Business Management) Semester 3rd Roll No.11 has undertaken & completed the project work titled Types of Behaviors during the academic year 2013-14 under the guidance of Prof. Mrunmayee R. Thatte submitted on K. G. Joshi to this college in fulfillment of the curriculum of MASTER OF COMMERCE (BUSINESS MANAGEMENT) UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI. This is bonafide project work & the information presented is True & original to the best of our knowledge & belief.

Project Guide

External Examiner

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In brief, this project has taught me basic fundamentals of Types of Behaviors. I take this opportunity to thank the people who have helped me in preparing my project. It gives me immense pleasure in expressing my post-graduate to my project guide Prof. Mrs. Mrunmayee R. Thatte for giving her precious time & helped me in completing my project. I would also like to thank Prof. Mr. Murdeshwar Sir our Principal Dr. Mrs. S. A. Singh for their valuable suggestions & support provided during the project & also the library staff for providing the books whenever demanded by us. I thank them for being informative & tolerant. I would not have been able to complete to my project without sincere guidance & effort of above. Mentioned people, where presence was blessing in disguise for me, which motivated me to complete my project on time.

DECLARATION
I Sonali D. Mithbawkar the student of Joshi- Bedekar College presently studying in M-Com (Business Management) Semester 3rd hereby declare that, I have completed this project on Types of Behaviors in Academic year 2013-14. The information submitted is true & original to the best of my knowledge.

Place: Thane Date: [ Sonali D. Mithbawkar ]

INDEX

SR. NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Behavior Organizational Behavior Nature of OB History

PARTICULARS

PG. NO. 6 7 8 9 12 13 17 17 20 21 22 22 23 26 32 35 37 39 40

Methods used in organizational studies Theories & Models Elements of OB Importance of OB Group Behavior Defining Characteristics of Groups Types of groups Group structure Stages of group development Consequences of intergroup relations Human Behavior Consumer Behavior Evaluation of alternatives Conclusion Bibliography

Behavior
Behavior or behaviour is the range of actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with their environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment. It is the response of the system or organism to various stimuli or inputs, whether internal or external, conscious or subconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary. Organization as a purposeful system with several subsystems where individuals and activities are organized to achieve certain predetermined goals through division of labor and coordination of activities. Division of labor refers to how the work is divided among the employees and coordination refers to how all the various activities performed by the individuals are integrated or brought together to accomplish the goals of the organization. The term organizing is used to denote one aspect of the managerial activities when he or she is preparing and scheduling the different tasks that need to be completed for the job to be done. It is the behavior of the people working in an organization to achieve common goals or objectives. Organization comprises of people with different attitudes, cultures, beliefs, norms and values. So let us understand organizational behavior and what it exactly it means. Organizational Behavior can be defined as the study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations. The study of Organizational Behavior facilitates the process of explaining, understanding) predicting, maintaining, and changing employee behavior in an organizational setting. The value of organizational behavior is that: it isolates important aspects of the managers job and offers specific perspective on the human side of management: People as organizations, People as resources, People as people

In other words, it involves the understanding, prediction and control of human behavior and factors affecting their performance and interaction among the organizational members. And because organizational behavior is concerned specifically with employment related situations, you should not be surprised to find that it emphasizes behavior as related- to concerns such as jobs, work, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human performance and management

Organizational behavior
Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behavior within an organization for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization's effectiveness. It is an interdisciplinary field that includes sociology, psychology, communication, and management; and it complements the academic studies of organizational theory (which is focused on organizational and intraorganizational topics) and human resource studies (which is more applied and business-oriented). It may also be referred to as organizational studies or organizational science. The field has its roots in industrial and organizational psychology. Organizational Behavior is field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behavior within organization. It is the study and application of knowledge about how people act within organizations. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the behavior of people in all types of organizations, such as business, government, schools and services organizations. It covers three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, groups, and structure. OB is an applied field. It applies the knowledge gained about individuals, and the effect of structure on behavior, in order to make organizations work more effectively. OB covers the core topics of motivation, leadership behavior and power, interpersonal communication, group structure and process, learning, attitude development and perception, change process, conflict, job design and work stress.

Overview
Organizational studies encompass the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. For instance, one textbook divides these multiple viewpoints into three perspectives: modern, symbolic, and postmodern. Another traditional distinction, present especially in American academia, is between the study of "micro" organizational behaviour which refers to individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting and "macro" strategic management and organizational theory which studies whole organizations and industries, how they adapt, and the strategies, structures and contingencies that guide them. To this distinction, some scholars have added an interest in "meso" scale structures - power, culture, and the networks of individuals and i.e. ronit units in organizations and "field" level analysis which study how whole populations of organizations interact. Whenever people interact in organizations, many factors come into play. Modern organizational studies attempt to understand and model these factors. Like all modernist social sciences, organizational studies seek to control, predict, and explain. There is some controversy over the

ethics of controlling workers' behavior, as well as the manner in which workers are treated (see Taylor's scientific management approach compared to the human relations movement of the 1940s). As such, organizational behaviour or OB (and its cousin, Industrial psychology) have at times been accused of being the scientific tool of the powerful. Those accusations notwithstanding, OB can play a major role in organizational development, enhancing organizational performance, as well as individual and group performance / satisfaction / commitment. One of the main goals of organizational theorists is, according to Simms (1994), "to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of organizational life." An organizational theorist should carefully consider levels assumptions being made in theory, and is concerned to help managers and administrators.

Nature of Organizational Behavior (OB)

Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built on contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines such as psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology and economics.

Psychology Psychology is the study of human behavior which tries to identify the characteristics of individuals and provides an understanding why an individual behaves in a particular way. This thus provides us with useful insight into areas such as human motivation, perceptual processes or personality characteristics. Sociology Sociology is the study of social behavior, relationships among social groups and societies, and the maintenance of social order. The main focus of attention is on the social system. This helps us to appreciate the functioning of individuals within the organization which is essentially a socio-technical entity. Social psychology Social psychology is the study of human behavior in the context of social situations. This essentially addresses the problem of understanding the typical behavioral patterns to be expected from an individual when he takes part in a group. Anthropology Anthropology is the science of mankind and the study of human behavior as a whole. The main focus of attention is on the cultural system, beliefs, customs, ideas and values
9

within a group or society and the comparison of behavior among different cultures. In the context of todays organizational scenario. It is very important to appreciate the differences that exist among people coming from different cultural backgrounds as people are often found to work with others from the other side of the globe. Economics Any organization to survive and sustain must be aware of the economic viability of their effort. This applies even to the non-profit and voluntary organizations as well-technical entity. Political Science Although frequently overlooked, the contributions of political scientists are significant to the understand arrangement in organizations. It studies individuals and groups within specific conditions concerning the power dynamics. Important topics under here include structuring of conflict, allocation of power and how people manipulate power for individual self-interest etc.

History
While Classical philosophies rarely took upon a task of developing a specific theory of organizations, some had used implicit conceptions of general organization in construct views on politics and virtue; the Greek philosopher Plato, for example, wrote about the essence of leadership, emphasized the importance of specialization and discussed a primordial form of incentive structures in speculating how to get people to embody the goal of the just city in The Republic. Aristotle also addressed such topics as persuasive communication. The writings of 16th century Italian philosopher Niccol Machiavelli laid the foundation for contemporary work on organizational power and politics. In 1776, Adam Smith advocated a new form of organizational structure based on the division of labour. One hundred years later, German sociologist Max Weber wrote about rational organizations and initiated discussion of charismatic leadership. Soon after, Frederick Winslow Taylor introduced the systematic use of goal setting and rewards to motivate employees. In the 1920s, Australian-born Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his colleagues conducted productivity studies at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant in the United States. Though it traces its roots back to Max Weber and earlier, organizational studies began as an academic discipline with the advent of scientific management in the 1890s, with Taylorism representing the peak of this movement. Proponents of scientific management held that rationalizing the organization with precise sets of instructions and time-motion studies

10

would lead to increased productivity. Studies of different compensation systems were carried out. After the First World War, the focus of organizational studies shifted to how human factors and psychology affected organizations, a transformation propelled by the identification of the Hawthorne Effect. This Human Relations Movement focused on teams, motivation, and the actualization of the goals of individuals within organizations. Prominent early scholars included Chester Barnard, Henri Fayol, Frederick Herzberg, Abraham Maslow, David McClelland, and Victor Vroom. The Second World War further shifted the field, as the invention of large-scale logistics and operations research led to a renewed interest in rationalist approaches to the study of organizations. Interest grew in theory and methods native to the sciences, including systems theory, the study of organizations with a complexity theory perspective and complexity strategy. Influential work was done by Herbert Alexander Simon and James G. March and the so-called "Carnegie School" of organizational behavior. In the 1960s and 1970s, the field was strongly influenced by social psychology and the emphasis in academic study was on quantitative research. An explosion of theorizing, much of it at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon, produced Bounded Rationality, Informal Organization, Contingency Theory, Resource Dependence, Institutional Theory, and Organizational Ecology theories, among many others. Starting in the 1980s, cultural explanations of organizations and change became an important part of study. Qualitative methods of study became more acceptable, informed by anthropology, psychology and sociology. A leading scholar was Karl Weick.

Elton Mayo Elton Mayo, an Australian national, headed the Hawthorne Studies at Harvard. In his classic writing in 1931, Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization, he advised managers to deal with emotional needs of employees at work. Mary Parker Follett Mary Parker Follett was a pioneer management consultant in the industrial world. As a writer, she provided analyses on workers as having complex combinations of attitude, beliefs, and needs. She told managers to motivate employees on their job performance, a "pull" rather than a "push" strategy. Douglas McGregor Douglas McGregor proposed two theories/assumptions, which are very nearly the opposite of each other, about human nature based on his experience as a management
11

consultant. His first theory was "Theory X", which is pessimistic and negative; and according to McGregor it is how managers traditionally perceive their workers. Then, in order to help managers replace that theory/assumption, he gave "Theory Y" which takes a more modern and positive approach. He believed that managers could achieve more if they start perceiving their employees as self-energized, committed, responsible and creative beings. By means of his Theory Y, he in fact challenged the traditional theorists to adopt a developmental approach to their employees. He also wrote a book, The Human Side of Enterprise, in 1960; this book has become a foundation for the modern view of employees at work.

Current state of the field

Organizational behavior is a growing field. Organizational studies departments generally form part of business schools, although many universities also have industrial psychology and industrial economics programs. The field is highly influential in the business world with practitioners such as Peter Drucker and Peter Senge, who turned the academic research into business practices. Organizational behaviour is becoming more important in the global economy as people with diverse backgrounds and cultural values must work together effectively and efficiently. It is also under increasing criticism as a field for its ethnocentric and pro-capitalist assumptions. During the last 20 years, organizational behavior study and practice has developed and expanded through creating integrations with other domains: Anthropology became an interesting prism to understanding firms as communities, by introducing concepts like Organizational culture, 'organizational rituals' and 'symbolic acts' enabling new ways to understand organizations as communities. Leadership Understanding: the crucial role of leadership at various levels of an organization in the process of change management. Ethics and their importance as pillars of any vision and one of the most important driving forces in an organization. Aesthetics: Within the last decades a field emerged that focuses on the aesthetic sphere of our existence in organizations, drawing on interdisciplinary theories and methods from the humanities and disciplines such as theatre studies, literature, music, visual studies and many more.

12

Methods used in Organizational Studies

A variety of methods are used in organizational studies, many of which are found in other social sciences. I. Quantitative methods a. Multiple Regression b. c. d. e. Non-Parametric Statistics Time Series Analysis Meta-Analysis ANOVA

II.

Computer simulation
Computer simulation is a prominent method in organizational studies and strategic management. While there are many uses for computer simulation (including the development of engineering systems inside high-technology firms), most academics in the fields of strategic management and organizational studies have used computer simulation to understand how organizations or firms operate. More recently, however, researchers have also started to apply computer simulation to understand organizational behaviour at a more micro-level, focusing on individual and interpersonal cognition and behavior such as team working. While the strategy researchers have tended to focus on testing theories of firm performance, many organizational theorists are focused on more descriptive theories, the one uniting theme has been the use of computational models to either verify or extend theories. It is perhaps no accident that those researchers using computational simulation have been inspired by ideas from biological modeling, ecology, theoretical physics and thermodynamics, chaos theory, complexity theory and organization studies since these methods have also been fruitfully used in those areas.

III.

Qualitative methods
a. Ethnography, Which Involves Direct Participant Observation b. Single And Multiple Case Analysis c. Grounded Theory Approaches d. Other Historical Methods

13

Theories and Models

Current theories of organization can be divided into two broad categories: Organizational Behavior - focusing on the behavior of individuals within organizations Organization Theory - focusing on the behavior of organizations and populations of organizations

I.

Organizational Behavior

Chester Barnard recognized that individuals behave differently when acting in their organizational role than when acting separately from the organization. Organizational behavior studies these differences to describe and model the behavior of individuals and groups in organizations. Organizational Behavior draws most heavily on psychology and social psychology.

Motivation in Organizations
Motivation the forces either internal or external to a person that arouse enthusiasm and resistance to pursue a certain course of action. According to Baron etal. (2008): "Although motivation is a broad and complex concept, organizational scientists have agreed on its basic characteristics. Drawing from various social sciences, we define motivation as the set of processes that arouse, direct, and maintain human behavior toward attaining some goal"

II.

Organization Theory

Organizational Theory studies the organization as a whole or populations of organizations. The focus of organizational theory is to understand the structure and processes of organizations and how organizations interact with industries and societies.

14

Systems theory
The systems framework is also fundamental to organizational theory as organizations are complex dynamic goal-oriented processes. One of the early thinkers in the field was Alexander Bogdanov, who developed his Tectology, a theory widely considered a precursor of Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory, aiming to model and design human organizations. Kurt Lewin was particularly influential in developing the systems perspective within organizational theory and coined the term "systems of ideology", from his frustration with behavioral psychologies that became an obstacle to sustainable work in psychology (see Ash 1992: 198-207). The complexity theory perspective on organizations is another systems view of organizations. German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (1927 - 1998) developed a sociological system theory and describes organizations - alongside interactions and society - as one of three main entities. The systems approach to organizations relies heavily upon achieving negative entropy through openness and feedback. A systemic view on organizations is transdisciplinary and integrative. In other words, it transcends the perspectives of individual disciplines, integrating them on the basis of a common "code", or more exactly, on the basis of the formal apparatus provided by systems theory. The systems approach gives primacy to the interrelationships, not to the elements of the system. It is from these dynamic interrelationships that new properties of the system emerge. In recent years, systems thinking has been developed to provide techniques for studying systems in holistic ways to supplement traditional reductionistic methods. In this more recent tradition, systems theory in organizational studies is considered by some as a humanistic extension of the natural sciences.

Organization Structures and Dynamics

Incentive theory is a concept of human resources or management theory. In the corporate sense, it states that firm owners should structure employee compensation in such a way that the employees' goals are aligned with owners' goals. As it applies to the operations of firms, it is more accurately called the principalagent problem.

Complexity theory and organizations Contingency theory French & Raven's Five bases of Power Hybrid organization Informal Organization Merger integration Model of Organizational Citizenship behaviour
15

Model of Organizational Justice Model of Organizational Misbehavior Resource dependence theory Mintzberg's Organigraph

Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy is most commonly attributed to Max Weber. Weber argued that bureaucracy was the application of rational-legal authority to the organization of work: through the application of rationality, bureaucracy was the most technically efficient form of organization. Charles Perrow has extended this work, showing the continuing application of bureaucratic concepts to the study of organizations. Perrow argues that all organizations can be understood in terms of bureaucracy and that organizational failures are more often a result of insufficient application of bureaucratic principals.
Weber's principals of bureaucratic organization:

A formal organizational hierarchy Management by rules Organization by functional specialty and selecting people based on their skills and technical qualifications An "up-focused" (to organization's board or shareholders) or "in-focused" (to the organization itself) mission Purposefully impersonal to apply the same rules and structures to all people.

Organizational Ecology
Organizational Ecology models apply concept from evolutionary theory to the study of populations of organizations, focusing on birth (founding), growth and change, and death (firm mortality). In this view, organizations are 'selected' based on their fit with their operating environment.

Economic Theories of Organization

Theory of the Firm Transaction Cost Economics Agency Theory

16

Organizational Culture
There are two broad approaches of organizational culture. The first studies the impact of regional and national cultures on the organization. In this school of thought, the regional or national culture has a significant impact on all aspects of organizational behavior. Understanding these differences is important for both working with other organizations from other cultures and in structuring organizations for and managing people from other cultures. This is exemplified by Geert Hofstede's Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. In an ongoing research program, Hofstede has surveyed a large number of cultures and identified six dimensions of national culture that effect the behavior of individuals in organizations: Power Distance Individualism Uncertainty Avoidance Masculinity Long Term Orientation

The second approach to organizational culture emphasizes the culture of the organization itself. This approach presumes that organizations can be characterized by cultural dimensions such as beliefs, values, rituals, symbols, and so forth. Within this approach, the approaches generally consist of either developing models for understanding organizational culture or developing typologies of organizational culture. Edgar Schein developed a model for understanding organizational culture and identified three levels of organizational culture: Artifacts and Behaviors Espoused Values Shared Basic Assumptions

Schein argued that if any of these three levels were divergent tension would result: if, for example, espoused values or desired behaviors were not consistent with the basic assumptions of an organization it is unlikely that these values or behaviors would be rejected. Typologies of organizational culture identified specific organizational culture and related these cultures to performance or effectiveness of the organization.

17

ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

The key elements in the organizational behaviour are people, structure, technology and the environment in which the organization operates. People: People make up the internal and social system of the organization. They consist of individuals and groups. The groups may be big or small; formal or informal; official or unofficial. Groups are dynamic and they work in the organization to achieve their objectives. Structure: Structure defines the formal relationships of the people in organizations. Different people in the organization are performing different type of jobs and they need to be (elated in some structural way so that their work can be effectively coordinated. Technology: Technology such as machines and work processes provide the resources with which people work and affects the tasks that they perform. The technology used has a significant influence on working relationships. It allows people to do more and work better but it also restricts people in various ways. Environment: All organizations operate within an external environment. It is the part of a larger system that contains many other elements such as government, family and other organizations. All of these mutually influence each other in a complex system that creates a context for a group of people.

IMPORTANCE OF Organizational behaviour

Organizational behaviour offers several ideas to management as to how human factor should be properly emphasized to achieve organizational objectives. Barnard has observed that an organization is a conscious interaction of two or more people. This suggests that since an organization is the interaction of persons, they should be given adequate importance in managing the organization. Organizational behaviour provides opportunity to management to analyze human behaviour and prescribe means for shaping it to a particular direction. Understanding Human Behaviour Organizational behaviour provides understanding the human behaviour in all directions in which the human beings interact. Thus, organizational behaviour can be understood at the individual level, interpersonal level, group level and inter-group level.

18

Organizational behaviour helps to analyze why and how an individual behaves in a particular way. Human behaviour is a complex phenomenon and is affected by a large number of factors including the psychological, social and cultural implications. Organizational behaviour integrates these factors to provide simplicity in understanding the human behaviour.

Interpersonal Level: Human behaviour can be understood at the level of interpersonal interaction. Organizational behaviour provides means for understanding the interpersonal relationships in an organization. Analysis of reciprocal relationships, role analysis and transactional analysis are some of the common methods, which provide such understanding. Group Level: Though people interpret anything at their individual level, they are often modified by group pressures, which then become a force in shaping human behaviour, thus, individuals should be studied in groups also... Research in group dynamics has contributed vitally to organizational behaviour and shows how a group behaves in its norms, cohesion, goals, procedures, communication pattern and leadership. These research results are advancing managerial knowledge of understanding group behaviour, which is very important for organizational morale and productivity. Inter-group Level: The organization is made up of many groups that develop complex relationships to build their process and substance. Understanding the effect of group relationships is important for managers in todays organization. Inter-group relationship may be in the form of co-operation or competition.

The co-operative relationships help the organization in achieving its objectives. Organizational behaviour provides means to understand and achieve co-operative group relationships through interaction, rotation of members among groups, avoidance of win-lose situation and focusing on total group objectives.

Controlling and Directing Behaviour: After understanding the mechanism of human behaviour, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour so that it conforms to the standards required for achieving the organizational objectives. Thus, managers are required to control and direct the behaviour at all levels of individual interaction. Therefore, organizational behaviour helps managers in controlling and directing in different areas such as use of power and

19

sanction, leadership, communication and building organizational climate favorable for better interaction. Use of Power and Sanction: The behaviors can be controlled and directed by the use of power and sanction, which are formally defined by the organization. Power is referred to as the capacity of an individual to take certain action and may be utilized in many ways. Organizational behaviour explains how various means of power and sanction can, be utilized so that both organizational and individual objectives are achieved simultaneously. Leadership: Organizational behaviour brings new insights and understanding to the practice and theory of leadership. It identifies various leadership styles available to a manager and analyses which style is more appropriate in a given situation. Thus, managers can adopt styles keeping in view the various dimensions of organizations, individuals and situations. Communication: Communication helps people to come in contact with each other. To achieve organizational objectives, the communication must be effective. The communication process and its work in inter-personal dynamics have been evaluated by organizational behaviour. Organizational Climate: Organizational climate refers to the total organisational situations affecting human behaviour. Organisational climate takes a system perspective that affect human behaviour. Besides improving the satisfactory working conditions and adequate compensation, organisational climate includes creation of an atmosphere of effective supervision; the opportunity for the realization of personal goals, congenial relations with others at the work place and a sense of accomplishment. Organisational Adaptation: Organisations, as dynamic entities are characterised by pervasive changes. Organisations have to adapt themselves to the environmental changes by making suitable, internal arrangements such as convincing employees who normally have the tendency of resisting any changes.

20

Group behaviour
Group behaviour sociology refers to the situations where people interact in large or small groups. The field of group dynamics deals with small groups that may reach consensus and act in a coordinated way. Groups of a large number of people in a given area may act simultaneously to achieve a goal that differs from what individuals would do acting alone (herd behaviour). A large group (a crowd or mob) is likely to show examples of group behaviour when people gathered in a given place and time act in a similar wayfor example, joining a protest or march, participating in a fight or acting patriotically. Special forms of large group behaviour are:

Crowd "hysteria" Spectators - when a group of people gathered together on purpose to participate in an event like theatre play, cinema movie, football match, a concert, etc. Public - exception to the rule that the group must occupy the same physical place. People watching same channel on television may react in the same way, as they are occupying the same type of place - in front of television - although they may physically be doing this all over the world.

Group behaviour differs from mass actions, which refers to people who behave similarly on a more global scale (for example, shoppers in different shops), while group behaviour refers usually to people in one place. If the group behaviour is coordinated, then it is called group action. Swarm intelligence is a special case of group behaviour where group members interact to fulfill a specific task. This type of group dynamics has received much attention by the soft computing community in the form of the particle swarm optimization family of algorithms.

Why do people join groups

People join groups for a multitude of reasons. A major reason is that group membership often results in some form of need satisfaction on the part of the individual. Membership in a group can fulfill numerous needs, including some that group members may not realize they benefit from:

Companionship groups provide members to simply be in the company of other people. Survival and security From a historic or evolutionary perspective our ancestors would partake in group experiences for hunting and defence.
21

Affiliation and status membership into various groups can provide individuals with certain socials status' or security. Power and control with group membership comes the opportunity for leadership roles; individuals who feel they need to exert their power and opinions over others can have such experiences within group settings. Achievement groups have the capability to achieve more than individuals acting alone.

Organizations typically form groups to accomplish work related tasks. However, a member of a work group may unintentionally reap numerous benefits that are independent of the original group construct.

Defining characteristics of groups

Currently, no universal definition describes what constitutes a group. Groups can have varying numbers of members, communication styles, and structures. Research identifies a few common requirements that contribute to recognition of individuals that work in a collaborative environment considered a "group":

Interdependence: For an individual of the collective to accomplish their part in the assigned task, they depend, to some degree, on outputs of other collective members. Social interaction: To accomplish the goal requires some form of verbal or nonverbal communication amongst members of the collective. Perception of a group: All members of the collective must agree they are, in fact, part of a group. Commonality of purpose: All the members of the collective come together to serve or attain a common goal. Favoritism: Members of the same group tend to be positively prejudiced toward other members and tend to discriminate in their favor.

Some researchers suggest additional characteristics must be identified to categorize a collective of individuals as a group such as: working the same shifts, shared physical work locations, and reporting to the same manager. However the commonalities of the multiple definitions reviewed suggest that the definition of a group is based on the interdependence of people who come together to accomplish a common goal.

22

Types of groups
Group types are routinely distinguished by the work that the groups do:

Production groups consist of front line employees who produce some tangible output. Autonomous production groups are self-directed or self-managing while semiautonomous production groups typically have a dedicated supervisor who oversees all operations. Service groups consist of employees that work with customers on a repeated basis, such as airline teams, maintenance groups, sales groups, call centres, etc. Management groups consist of an executive or senior manager along with managers that report directly to him/her. Management groups are often able to organize themselves towards goals such as policy making, budgeting, staffing, and planning. Project groups are generally cross-function groups of individuals brought together for the duration of a specific, time-limited project. Project groups are usually disbanded once the project is complete. Action and performing groups are groups that typically consist of expert specialists who conduct complex, time-limited performance events. Examples include musical bands, military crews, surgery teams, rescue units or professional music groups. Advisory groups consist of employees that work outside of, but parallel with, production processes. Examples include quality circles, selection committees, or other advisory groups pulled together to make recommendations to an organization.

Group structure
A group's structure is the internal framework that defines members' relations to one another over time. The most important elements of group structure are roles, norms, values, communication patterns, and status differentials. A role can be defined as a tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way. Roles may be assigned formally, but more often are defined through the process of role differentiation. Role differentiation is the degree to which different group members have specialized functions. Functional (task) roles are generally defined in relation to the tasks the team is expected to perform. Other types of roles are the socio-emotional role, which helps maintain the social fabric of the group, the individual role and the leader role. Group norms are the informal rules that groups adopt to regulate members' behaviour. Norms refer to what should be done and represent value judgments about appropriate behaviour in social

23

situations. Although they are infrequently written down or even discussed, norms have powerful influence on group behaviour. Group values are goals or ideas that serve as guiding principles for the group. Like norms, values may be communicated either explicitly or on an ad hoc basis. Values can serve as a rallying point for the team. However, some values (such as conformity) can also be dysfunction and lead to poor decisions by the team. Communication patterns describe the flow of information within the group and they are typically described as either centralized or decentralized. With a centralized pattern, communications tend to flow from one source to all group members. Centralized communications allow consistent, standardization information but they may restrict the free flow of information. Decentralized communications make it easy to share information directly between group members. When decentralized, communications tend to flow more freely, but the delivery of information may not be as fast or accurate as with centralized communications. Another potential downside of decentralized communications is the sheer volume of information that can be generated, particularly with electronic media. Status differentials are the relative differences in status among group members. Status can be determined by a variety of factors, including expertise, occupation, age, gender or ethnic origin. Status differentials may affect the relative amount of pay among group members and they may also affect the group's tolerance to violation of group norms (i.e., people with higher status are given more freedom to violate group norms).

Stages of Group Development

Group development focuses on the somewhat unique way groups are formed and the way they may change over time. There are a variety of development theories and some suggest that groups develop through a series of phases culminating in effective performance. The most common of these models is Tuckman's (1965) Stage Model. It breaks group development into the following five stages: I. Forming: As the group convenes, conflict is usually low to non-existent as everyone tries to determine their individual role and the personalities of fellow team members. This stage is often marked by agreeable neutrality while the group takes form and begins to navigate the unknown.

24

II. Storming: Storming occurs after the group overcomes the sense of uncertainty and begins to actively explore roles and boundaries. Chaos, pronounced efforts to influence others, and instances of conflict and/or enthusiasm are common. III. Norming: Norming in groups indicate that norms and role ownership are emerging. Generally this means that conflict and chaos is decreasing or has ended. IV. Performing: Originally noted as the final stage, performing occurs when the team completes their primary task(s). V. Adjourning: Tuckman (1977) refined the model to include a fifth stage to address how the group begins to disengage and move on to new tasks potentially beyond the team. While Tuckman's (1965) model is useful in describing developmental processes, there are instances when groups do not strictly adhere to the exact sequence. Additionally, the storming stage may decrease but not fully dissipate and continue across other stages.

Intergroup dynamics and behaviour

Intergroup behaviour, or the way groups interact with other groups, is best examined in terms of the frequency and interaction type the groups engage in. Thomas (1976) elaborated on this concept by noting that the nature of intergroup interactions depends largely on the degree to which groups must interact to achieve their goals, and the degree of compatibility between the goals of different groups.

Accommodation interaction is based on groups having similar goals and taking part in minimal to moderate mutual concession and cooperation to achieve them. Avoidance interaction is found between groups where there are different or conflicting goals and even minimal collaboration is not warranted. Both of these interactions are viewed as having no to low impact on successfully achieving each group's goals. Collaboration interaction is necessary when the goals of two groups are largely compatible and partnership is required for successful goal accomplishment. Competition interaction usually occurs when two groups must interact to meet specific goals that are vastly incompatible. Compromise interaction occurs when two groups have a moderate need to interact to meet specific goals that are moderately compatible. In this interaction, the two groups may work together on a semi-regular basis to ensure they are on track to meet the overlapping goals. Deindividuation is a phenomenon that occurs when individuals of a group become less aware of their values.

25

Diffusion of responsibility is the tendency for group members to feel diminished responsibility for their actions when surrounded by others who are behaving in a similar manner. Intergroup behaviour is influenced by factors beyond interaction types. Examples of these include Interdependence, Organizational Culture, Past History, and Organizational Social Networks. Interdependence is the degree to which group depend on each other and is determined by the type of group tasks (i.e., simple versus complex), organization structure, and the organizational authority system). Interdependence may occur in one of three common forms: o Pooled interdependence: The combined efforts of largely separate groups positively contribute to the organization. o Sequential interdependence: The effort or output of one group is used as the input for another group. o Reciprocal interdependence: A series of mutual exchanges between groups, requiring a high degree of continuous interactions. Organizational culture and its shared norms, values, and power structure, often dictate the frequency and degree to which intergroup interactions and collaborations occur. Past history with intergroup relationships also impact interdependence behaviour. The influence of this factor is directly connected to the past interaction experience between groups. Whether the interaction was positive or negative, new group members may be influenced in the direction of the group's previous experience. Social networks in organizations are another vital factor when considering intergroup behaviour. Cordial individual group member interaction is believed to greatly impact the quality of intergroup relationships.

Intergroup conflict
Intergroup conflict may be caused by competition for resources, goal incompatibility, time incompatibility, and contentious influence tactics. There are activities that organizations can participate in to reduce or prevent competition between groups.

Resources: Resources (e.g., budgets, personnel, physical space) are generally limited within organizations so that competition for resources between groups is often unavoidable. Goal Incompatibility: Goal incompatibility occurs when the goals of two or more groups are in direct opposition such that one group achieves its goal while the other group cannot meet their goal. Goal incompatibility may be distinguished between real goal incompatibility and perceived goal incompatibility.

26

Time Incompatibility: Work groups perform different tasks, have different goals, and interact with different customers, such that groups operate under different deadlines. Contentious Influence Tactics: Contentious influence tactics (e.g., threats, demands, and other negative behaviour) may be used to try to influence members of another group, creating cycles of retaliation and influencing opinions of those within their own group (e.g., creating bad reputations).

Consequences of intergroup conflict

Effects related to conflict between groups may be either negative or positive.

Group members' perceptions of one another change in a negative manner where a distinction is made between "in-group" and "out-group". Members of groups in conflict develop an "us versus them" mentality and view members of the other group as fundamentally different from themselves but similar to each other. Group members become more cohesive to compete against a "common enemy". Quality of intergroup interactions (e.g., communication) may decline among groups in conflict, which in turn may decrease the quality of work. Negative perceptions of the other group may be transferred to incoming group members. Conflict may create discrepancies between the goals of the group and the goals of the organization.

Improving the quality of intergroup relations

Superordinate goals are goals that are approved by all groups and that may require the groups to interact in a cooperative manner to achieve the goals (e.g., produce a product, prepare a report, and complete a service to customers). Superordinate goals may also be used to create a "common enemy" that increases the cohesion among group members to defeat the enemy. Negotiation may facilitate communication of issues that cause conflict between groups so that groups can form a resolution suitable to everyone. Principled negotiation is a style of negotiation where members try to problem-solve until they reach a resolution, rather than focus on individual positions. (Fischer and Ury, 1981) Member exchanges allow group members to exchange roles with those of the other group members. These exchanges are intended to provide a new perspective.

27

Intergroup Team Development may be used to improve relations for members within the same group or between groups. One intervention developed by Blake, Shephard, and Mouton (1964) has members of both groups generate one list about how the group perceives the other group and one list that describes how they think the other group describes them. The groups share the lists to reduce misperceptions. Reducing the need for intergroup interaction may be necessary for work groups that cannot work well together. A "coordinating group" may be used as an intermediary between groups so that each group would communicate through the "coordinating group". Organizations may create slack resources by adding additional inventory so that groups do not have to interact as frequently. Organizations may also reduce task interdependence between those groups that function under different time frames and deadlines (i.e., physically separate the groups). The resource allocation process should be fair so that all groups have access to the process and political considerations between groups are minimized. Organizations should first reexamine the process to determine that groups have the resources needed to be effective. Ethical behaviour is intrinsic to the way we conduct our business and is part of our legacy from the founder of the Tata Group, Jamsetji Tata, who believed that business must operate in a way that respects the rights of all its stakeholders and creates an overall benefit for society. Tata Steel believes in adopting the best practices in terms of corporate governance that have been and continue to be developed. The company conducts all aspects of its business with full transparency and accountability.

Risk management
The Group regularly reviews and updates its risk management system to address the complex risks faced across our global business. Our risk management process is assured through the Groups corporate assurance and risk management function with reporting to the Group chief financial officer and reports and recommendations made to the audit committee of the Board.

28

Business Ethics and our code of conduct

We do not tolerate corrupt or fraudulent practices. We expect honesty, integrity and transparency in all aspects of our business from our employees, contractors and other business counterparts. Our ethical principles are clearly and unambiguously articulated in the Tata Code of Conduct, to which all Tata Group companies subscribe. Originally written in 1998, the Code was updated in 2008 to better reflect changing expectations within society and the increasingly global scale of the Groups activities.

Human rights
The Tata Steel Group is proud of its longstanding reputation as a fair and caring employer, and respects all human rights both within and outside the workplace. The Tata Code of Conduct stipulates that all employees have a personal responsibility to help preserve the human rights of everyone at work and in the wider community.

Ethical tin sourcing

Our European packaging business produces tinplate for a global market. We include ethical sourcing protocols in our tin supplier contracts and make a constant effort to have reliable and auditable information concerning the origin of the acquired minerals so we can avoid the use of conflict minerals. We are cooperating in the tin supply chain with the International Tin Research Institute (ITRI) and are also involved in activities led by the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH). We also work with NGOs such as the Dutch Friends of the Earth.

Getting started on business ethics

Best practices in corporate governance can only emerge when informed by an established set of business principles and a defined approach towards organizational behaviour, says management consultant Anil Chopra. The fall of many US corporations in the early years of the 21st century brought one clear message to the fore: ethics matters in business. You can fool some people all the time, or all
29

people some of the time, but ultimately you cannot fool all the people all the time. If you are not running an ethical enterprise, it will cost you dearly at some point or the other. Business leaders, thus, need to bring ethical conduct to the core of their agenda, if they have not already done so. But how does a company go about doing this? To share experiences and look for answers, four business ethics organizations joined forces in early 2004 to create the first European conference for ethics and compliance practitioners. The conference, called Ideas and Best Practices in Business Ethics, was held in France and around 100 corporate ethics practitioners from nine countries attended it. The meeting provided them an opportunity to meet their counterparts, share ideas and best practices, and create a forum for continuous dialogue among ethics and compliance professionals in organizations. The participants came from a range of industries, including information technology, telecommunications, oil and gas, defence, banking and finance, utilities, automotive, retail and healthcare. The overwhelming majority of the delegates gave the event a high rating and voted in favour of having another conference this year. The main take away from the conference is simple: the sooner companies begin discussing and enacting processes for managing integrity standards within their organizations, the better. In India senior business leaders have to start giving more thought to this area of organizational behaviour, start framing their beliefs on integrity standards, circulate these among their employees and get their conference and affirmation on adherence to these standards. More important, senior leaders must create communication platforms that encourage employees (and other associates of the company) to raise concerns related to possible or actual deviations from integrity standards especially those that could damage the reputation of the organization. All such platforms and processes must get institutionalized in due course. Kenneth E. Goodpaster, professor of business ethics at the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis, USA, emphasizes that "business leaders are the principal architects of corporate conscience. They are the ones who must manage the challenges associated with pursuing profit while maintaining integrity. They are the ones most responsible for delivering on the moral agenda of the corporation. That agenda includes three broad imperatives: orienting, institutionalizing and sustaining ethical values within the corporate culture." Given the high competitive pressures, it is easy for business leaders to say that enforcing ethical conduct is difficult, but this is not an excuse they can use. As Jeffrey E. Garten, dean of the Yale School of Management, wrote in his book, The Politics of Fortune: A New Agenda for Business Leaders, "The essential point should not be lost: the more complex the markets become, the more the integrity of its leaders matters, and the less likely that higher prescriptive laws and regulations will really matter." Thomas W. Dunfee of the Wharton School, who holds the Kolodny Chair of Social Responsibility in Business, even has a tool the C2 Principles for Combating Corruption that business leaders can use as a starting point for framing their own ethical standards.
30

Among the first issues that need discussing in organizations that want to be seen as ethical are the following: Creating the post of ethics practitioner or counselor, with a specific description of the job and its responsibilities. Discussion of ways and means of embedding values in an organization. Route map for implementing a code of conduct and establishing a clearly stated set of integrity standards. Working out the relationship between ethics and other business functions, and aligning company policies with the code. Planning for ethics training and communication to employees. Creating a structure for ethics monitoring, compliance auditing and whistle blowing.

Best practices in corporate governance can emerge when informed by an established set of business principles and a defined approach towards organizational behaviour. Without such business ethics, governance stands bereft of a well-reasoned rationale. Left to itself, corporate governance runs the real risk of becoming a mere form-filling exercise, dedicated to observing form. The roadmap, thus, needs to be based on substance, which means adhering to a dedicated code of behavioural norms in its spirit. My past employers, the Tatas, have used the maxim 'leadership with trust' to promote ethical conduct throughout the group, and this is borne out by its longevity. The group's embedded values have been unity, integrity, excellence, responsibility and understanding. Since 1999, the group has circulated to all its employees a document called the 'Tata code of conduct', which is simple, easy to understand and easy to follow. In its journey towards institutionalization, the substance of the code is constantly communicated at all levels of the organization, apart from parties with whom the Tatas do business. The content of the code covers such areas as commitment towards national interest, maintaining harmonious relations with employees, abhorrence of bribery and corruption, avoidance of conflicts of interest, and emphasis on corporate social responsibility. The Tata code enhances internal and external trust and confidence. The key pitfall to avoid while drawing up such codes is that the contents should not give employees a feeling that these are a set of dos and don'ts, or that they are too complex. In fact, whenever employees are faced with ethical dilemmas, the code should offer clear integrity standards to follow. The organization (through its senior leadership) should communicate often that it has formally adopted a specific position or set of beliefs regarding these fundamental values or principles and that it expects (and wants) employees to use them as the basis for business decision-making.

31

A code's credibility depends largely on setting up an effective compliance programme, the key elements of which should include: Clear, established standards, policies and procedures that are reasonably capable of reducing the likelihood of violations of the code. Assigned supervision to high-level personnel. Each CEO should be the principal ethics officer, with the process being delegated, top down, to credible individuals in each company. A clearly designated ethics counselor / officer. At Tatas the role of the ethics counselor is well defined. Encouragement to whistleblowers to report violations, or possible violations, to the ethics counselor. Communication and training to all employees. This is the ultimate guarantee of the success of the ethics code. Establishment of an advisory channel so that employees can obtain advice regarding possible ethics dilemmas. Establishment of uniform disciplinary actions in case of violations and taking preventive steps to head off future violations, after understanding the 'root' causes of such violations; for example, by forming appropriate organizational policies.

At company management conferences, the CEO, as the principal ethics officer, could facilitate occasional 'breakout sessions' to discuss subjects like payment of facilitation and speed money, handling letters received in anonymity, board oversight of the process for driving ethical behaviour and so on. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act stipulates that any company whose securities are registered or traded in the US has to adopt a code of ethics. Calpers (the California Public Employees' Retirement System), one of largest US pension funds, is a prominent crusader for reform in corporate governance and its fund managers may well adopt reality tests on whether processes for managing business ethics are in place to safeguard the interests of its shareholders, that is, US pensioners. While economists and managers know how to measure efficiency, we also need to define and find acceptable measures of fairness. Tools have been developed to capture the perceptions of employees in organizations that have developed robust ethical standards per se. Moving forward, companies need to collaborate to weed out corrupt practices. At the macro level, though, effective corporate governance would largely depend on reforms related to robust corporate law, accounting standards, strong regulations, an efficient judicial system, and determined efforts to establish integrity standards within companies by clamping down on corruption and preventing violations. .

32

In India, the Department of Company Affairs, the Securities and Exchange Board and organizations such as the Central Vigilance Commission need to start a dialogue with international bodies like the Ethics Officers Association, the Conference Board, USA, and Transparency International, Berlin, among others. This will help put in place appropriate processes for managing ethics, implementing codes of integrity standards and business principles for countering bribes, dissuading corrupt practices and the like. *Anil Chopra is a management consultant and was till recently a senior consultant on the management of business ethics at Tata Quality Management Services. This article has been taken from the February 2005 issue of Indian Management, a publication from the Business Standard group.

Human behavior
Human behavior refers to the range of behaviors exhibited by humans and which are influenced by culture, attitudes, emotions, values, ethics, authority, rapport, hypnosis,persuasion, coercion a nd/or genetics. The behavior of people (and other organisms or even mechanisms) falls within a range with some behavior being common, some unusual, some acceptable, and some outside acceptable limits. In sociology, behavior in general is considered as having no meaning, being not directed at other people, and thus is the most basic human action. Behavior in this general sense should not be mistaken with social behavior, which is a more advanced action, as social behavior is behavior specifically directed at other people. The acceptability of behavior is evaluated relative to social norms and regulated by various means of social control. The behavior of humans is studied by the academic disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, social work, sociology, economics, and anthropology. Human behaviour is experienced throughout an individuals entire lifetime. It includes the way they act based on different factors such as genetics, social norms, core faith, and attitude. Behaviour is impacted by certain traits each individual has. The traits vary from person to person and can produce different actions or behaviour from each person. Social norms also impact behaviour. Humans are expected to follow certain rules in society, which conditions the way people behave. There are certain behaviors that are acceptable or unacceptable in different societies and cultures. Core faith can be perceived through the religion and philosophy of that individual. It shapes the way a person thinks and this in turn results in different human behaviors. Attitude can be defined as "the degree to which the person has a favorable or unfavorable evaluation of
33

the behavior in question." Your attitude highly reflects the behaviour you will portray in specific situations. Thus, human behavior is greatly influenced by the attitudes we use on a daily basis.

Factors.
i. Genetics Human behavior can be affected in many ways, one of which is genetics. Everyone has different traits such as intelligence and shyness which they inherit through heredity. These traits impact human behavior and there are indications that behavior is affected by genetics. First, behavior can be different in different species. People behave differently from how a chickadee behaves for example. Second, behavior can be reproduced in consecutive generations of humans. In each generation of people there will be similar behaviors that occur. Third, biological structures can be alternated resulting in behavior changes. For example, if one develops a brain injury, one can change from behaving politely to being aggressive. Another way behavior can be affected is by behaviors that are brought up in families. For example, certain behaviors that can occur from a mental illness that runs in the family. Fourth, evolutionary history of genetics has a big impact on behavior. All species have DNA which can bind them all together. Geneticists are now able to introduce or exclude specific genes, resulting in different traits and behaviors arising from those traits. One gene does not create behavior. Behaviors result from a combination of genes, and these genes can be affected by different factors. Factors such as genes and environment are included in the growth of any trait. Genes can be manipulated and modified and the environment can increase certain outcomes of genes. Understanding genetics in relation to behavior is difficult and there are many things still being studied about this. ii. Social norms Social norm. Individuals behavior changes according to the group they go into, which allows norms to provide an order in society. Without social norms, it would be difficult for human society to function; humans beings need norms in order to guide and direct their behaviors. Norms are used to create roles in society, which allows people to function properly in different social class structures. These are some of the reasons why people, believe that social norms are crucial to human behavior.

34

iii.

Core faith and culture Another important factor of human behavior is their core faith. This faith can be through religion, philosophy, culture, or personal belief and often affects the way a person can behave. 80% of the United States public claims some sort of belief in a higher power, which makes religion a large importance in society. It is only natural for something that plays such a large role in society to have an effect on human behavior. For example, when a lesbian couple was featured on the JC Penney Mother's Day advertisement in 2012, thousands of Christian mothers boycotted the pro-gay marriage company. Morals are another factor of core faith that affects the way a person behaves. Emotions connected to morals including shame, pride, and discomfort and these can change the way a person acts. Most importantly, shame and guilt have a large impact on behavior. Lastly, culture highly affects human behavior. The beliefs of certain cultures are taught to children from such a young age that they are greatly affected as they grow up. These beliefs are taken into consideration throughout daily life, which leads to people from different cultures acting differently. These differences are able to alter the way different cultures and areas of the world interact and act.

iv.

Attitude An attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing, or event. The interesting thing about an attitude and human beings is that it alters between each individual. Everyone has a different attitude towards different things. A main factor that determines attitude is likes and dislikes. The more one likes something or someone the more one is willing to open up and accept what they have to offer. When one doesnt like something, one is more likely to get defensive and shut down. An example of how one's attitude affects one's human behavior could be as simple as taking a child to the park or to the doctor. Children know they have fun at the park so their attitude becomes willing and positive, but when a doctor is mentioned, they shut down and become upset with the thought of pain. Attitudes can sculpt personalities and the way people view who we are. People with similar attitudes tend to stick together as interests and hobbies are common. This does not mean that people with attitudes do not interact, because they do. What it means is that specific attitudes can bring people together (e.g., religious groups). Attitudes have a lot to do with the mind which highly relates to Human behavior. The way a human will behave depends a lot on how they look at the situation and what they expect to gain from it. Positive attitudes are better than negative ones as negativity can bring on negative emotions that most of the time can be avoided. It is up to humans to make sure their attitudes positively reflect the behaviors they want to show. This can be done by assessing their attitudes and properly presenting them in society.

35

Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the decision-making processes of buyers, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general. Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Research has shown that consumer behaviour is difficult to predict, even for experts in the field. Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalization, customization and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions. Each method for vote counting is assumed as social function but if Arrows possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonicity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind the productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009).

Black box model

The black box model shows the interaction of stimuli, consumer characteristics, and decision process and consumer responses. It can be distinguished between interpersonal stimuli (between people) or intrapersonal stimuli (within people). The black box model is related to the black box theory of behaviorisms, where the focus is not set on the processes inside a consumer, but the relation between the stimuli and the response of the consumer. The marketing stimuli are planned and processed by the companies, whereas the environmental stimuli are given by social factors, based on the economical, political and cultural circumstances of a society. The buyers
36

black box contains the buyer characteristics and the decision process, which determines the buyers response. Environmental factors Marketing Stimuli Environmental Stimuli Economic Technological Political Cultural Demographic Natural Buyer's black box Buyer Characteristics Attitudes Motivation Perceptions Personality Lifestyle Knowledge Decision Process Problem recognition Information search Alternative evaluation Purchase decision Post-purchase behaviour Buyer's response Product choice Brand choice Dealer choice Purchase timing Purchase amount

Product Price Place Promotion

The black box model considers the buyers response as a result of a conscious, rational decision process, in which it is assumed that the buyer has recognized the problem. However, in reality many decisions are not made in awareness of a determined problem by the consumer.

Information search
Once the consumer has recognized a problem, they search for information on products and services that can solve that problem. Belch and Belch (2007) explain that consumers undertake both an internal (memory) and an external search. Sources of information include personal sources and experience, and commercial and public sources. The relevant internal psychological process associated with information search is perception, which can be defined as "the process by which an individual receives, selects, organises, and interprets information to create a meaningful picture of the world". Consumers' tendency to search for information on goods and services makes it possible for researchers to forecast the purchasing plans of consumers using brief descriptions of the products of interest.

The selective perception process can be divided into:

Selective exposure: consumers select which promotional messages they will expose themselves to. Selective attention: consumers select which promotional messages they will pay attention to.

37

Selective comprehension: consumer interprets messages in line with their beliefs, attitudes, motives and experiences. Selective retention: consumers remember messages that are more meaningful or important to them.

The implications of this process help to develop an effective promotional strategy, and suggest which sources of information are more effective for the brand.

Evaluation of alternatives
At this time the consumer compares the brands and products that are in their evoked set. The evoked set refers to the number of alternatives that are considered by consumers during the problem-solving process. Sometimes also known as consideration, this set tends to be small relative to the total number of options available. How can the marketing organisation increase the likelihood that their brand is part of the consumer's evoked set? Consumers evaluate alternatives in terms of the functional and psychological benefits that they offer. The marketing organisation needs to understand what benefits consumers are seeking and therefore which attributes are most important in terms of making a decision. It also needs to check other brands of the customers consideration set to prepare the right plan for its own brand.

Purchase decision
Once the alternatives have been evaluated, the consumer is ready to make a purchase decision. Sometimes purchase intention does not result in an actual purchase. The marketing organisation must facilitate the consumer to act on their purchase intention. The organisation can use a variety of techniques to achieve this. The provision of credit or payment terms may encourage purchase, or a sales promotion such as the opportunity to receive a premium or enter a competition may provide an incentive to buy now. The relevant internal psychological process that is associated with purchase decision is integration. Once the integration is achieved, the organisation can influence the purchase decisions much more easily. There are 5 stages of a consumer buying process they are: The problem recognition stage, meaning the identification of something a consumer needs. The search for information, which means you search your knowledge bases or external knowledge sources for information on the product. The possibility of alternative options, meaning whether there is another better or cheaper product available. The choice to purchase the product and then

38

finally the actual purchase of the product.This shows the complete process that a consumer will most likely, whether recognizably or not, go through when they go to buy a product.

Post purchase evaluation

The EKB (Engel, Kollat, Blackwell) model was further developed by Rice (1993) which suggested there should be a feedback loop, Foxall (2005) further suggests the importance of the post purchase evaluation and that it is key because of its influences on future purchase patterns.

Other influences
Consumer behaviour is influenced by internal conditions such as demographics, psychographics (lifestyle), personality, motivation, knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Psychological factors include an individuals motivation, perception, attitude and belief, while personal factors include income level, personality, age, occupation and lifestyle. Congruence between personality and the way a persuasive message is framed (i.e., aligning the message framing with the recipients personality profile) may play an important role in ensuring the success of that message. In a recent experiment, five advertisements (each designed to target one of the five major trait domains of human personality) were constructed for a single product. The results demonstrated that advertisements were evaluated more positively the more they cohered with participants dispositional motives. Tailoring persuasive messages to the personality traits of the targeted audience can be an effective way of enhancing the messages impact. Behaviour can also be affected by external influences, such as culture, sub-culture, locality, royalty, ethnicity, family, social class, past experience reference groups, lifestyle, market mix factors.

39

Conclusion
To summarize the researches on OB, there is more evidence that the teaching and implementation of soft skills should get higher priority in education and company training process, but it should only complement hard skill, not substitute for it. Today's postindustrial hi-tech organization requires knowledge intensive work environment and demands creativity form its workers. Most organizations are now encouraging team approach to solve problems.

40

Bibliography

Books:

Organizational Behavior by Michal Vaz

Website:

http://www.google.com/ http://www/wikipedia.com/

41