Organizational Behavior Models

1.  Autocratic Model

The basis of this model is the power of the boss.

Max Weber said that power is “the likelihood that one actor in a social relationship will be able to carry out his own will despite resistance.”

Walternord said that power is “the ability to direct the flow of available energy and resources toward certain goals instead of other goals.” People think that power is only used when these goals are at least somewhat at odds with each other.

These are the most important parts of this model:

1. a) An autocratic environment means that people respect authority. This power comes from having the right to command over the people it applies to. The bosses think they know what’s best for the health of the organisation and its members, and they think that employees should do what they say. The idea is that workers need to be told what to do, persuaded, and pushed to do it. The bosses decide what to do, and the workers do what they say. D. McGregor came up with this way of running an organisation in his theory X. There is a lot of control over workers when this common view is held.

(b) Under the autocratic model, employees should obey their boss, but they don’t have to show him respect. Bosses have full power to hire, fire, and suffocate workers. People who work for the boss are paid the bare minimum for doing the bare minimum. This view of management, called “scientific management,” was created by F.W. Taylor and is now the standard view. The workers sometimes only do the bare minimum, even though they don’t want to because they have to take care of themselves and their families. There are employees who do a better job because they want to overcome problems. A study by David C. McClelland at Harvard University found that “some people like to work under strong authority because they feel that their boss is a natural born leader.”

(c) The autocratic model has worked in some cases where workers are actually lazy and don’t want to do their jobs. It’s also needed when there is a deadline for the work that needs to be done. Managers often use the threat that the workers will not get their reward or pay if they don’t stick to their rules.

1. d) Autocratic leadership is bad because workers don’t know what’s going on and are scared and insecure.

These days, this model doesn’t really work because most countries have laws that set minimum wages. This means that managers can’t say they will cut workers’ pay or benefits. The workers are also well-trained and organised, so managers can’t always tell them what to do.

The Model of the Prison

In order to fix the problems with the autocratic model, the custodial model was created. Under the autocratic model, workers sometimes acted violently toward their bosses and their families because they felt unsafe and angry. To get rid of this feeling of fear and anger, it was thought that a model for better employer-employee relations should be created. The progressive managers used the custodial model.

Here are some of the most important things about this model:

(a) The economic resources are important for the Custodial Model to work because it focuses on the economic benefits and rewards. The employer looks to the employee’s need for safety as a motivator since the employee’s physical needs are already met.

1. b) Under the Custodial Model, employees depend on the company instead of their boss. People who work for a company that offers good benefits and growth opportunities will not be able to afford to leave.

(3) The workers are content and happy with this model, but they aren’t very motivated. In this way, they only offer passive cooperation. They don’t work harder than they did when the leader was autocratic.

1. d) The best thing about this model is that it makes employees feel safe and happy.
2. e) The problem with this model is that it only uses material rewards to get people to work hard. On the other hand, the workers have emotional needs too.

Because this method had some problems, people started looking for the best way to motivate workers so that they could do their best work.

The Model of Support

The “Principles of Supportive Relationships” are where the supportive model got its start. Rene Likert said, “The organization’s leadership and other processes must be set up in a way that makes it most likely that every member will, based on his background, values, and expectations, see every interaction and relationship with the organisation as supportive and one that builds and maintains his sense of personal worth and importance.”

These are the main things about this model:

1. a) The Supportive Model doesn’t depend on money or power, but on good leadership. Management and leadership work together to make the workplace a good place to work so that employees can grow and do things they’re capable of, as long as the goals of the organisation are met.
2. b) The boss thinks that the worker will do their part, take responsibility, and get better if they are given the chance. The workers aren’t thought to be naturally lazy and unwilling to do their jobs. If they are properly motivated, they can work on their own and come up with new ideas for the company.

(c) Instead of just giving employees money and benefits, like in the custodial approach, management should prioritise helping employees do their jobs well.

1. d) This model meets the employees’ psychological needs as well as their basic needs for food and safety. It’s like McGregor’s theory and the way people are handled in human resources.

(“e”) This model is better than the first two models. Supportive behaviour helps create a friendly relationship between a boss and an employee, based on trust and confidence. It has been shown that this model works well in wealthy countries where workers care more about their psychological needs, such as having high self-esteem and being happy with their job. But it doesn’t work very well in India, where most workers live below the poverty line. Taking care of their physical needs and feeling safe are the most important things for them. They don’t care much about the psychological needs.

The Model of Collegiality

The supportive model is built on top of the collegial model. The word “collegial” in the dictionary means “a group of people working together toward a common goal.” Based on what it means, it’s clear that this model is based on a partnership between employees and management.

These are the things that this model has:

1. This model makes the workplace better because it makes the employees feel like they are partners in the business. They don’t see the managers as bosses, but as people who work with them. People who work for and with management both accept and respect each other.
2. b) The collegial model helps an organisation to work as a team. The workers take on tasks because they think it’s the right thing to do, not because they fear getting in trouble with the bosses. The organisation can build a system of self-discipline with this help.
3. c) When people work together in this way, they are satisfied with their jobs, involved in their work, committed to their jobs, and somewhat fulfilled.
4. d) The collegial model works well in research labs and other similar places of work.

It’s clear from looking at all four models that there isn’t just one that works best for all organisations. Based on the specifics of the case, the managers will need to use more than one model. We can say that the Supportive and Collegial Models will be used more than the Autocratic and Custodial Models because professional management is becoming more popular.

Other Types

There are also a number of different ways to group some models of organisational behaviour.

Here are some of these models and how they work:

I Models of behaviour

The goal of normative models is to figure out what should be done to get the best results. Finding the best actions is what these models are all about. When management makes plans and policies, they care more about what managers and employees should and shouldn’t do than what they actually do. This is why normative models make up most management theories.

1. ii) Models based on facts

The normative models talk about what should be done, while the empirical models talk about what the employees actually do. This model is an important part of organisational behaviour because it looks at what really happens in organisations and how people act.

iii. Models of ecosystems

A business can’t just exist in a vacuum. It has to interact with its surroundings all the time. The environment has an effect on every part of the organisation because it provides the inputs that the organisation then turns into outputs. Through a process called feedback, output leads to the appearance of new inputs.

Ecological interaction is the way that the organisation and the environment work together. This is what ecological approach is all about. Ecological models are those that take into account the changes that happen in the environment and how complicated it is.

1. iv) Models that aren’t ecological

This model is not the same as the ecological model, as the name suggests. The ecological model recognises that the environment is complicated and always changing. Non-ecological models, on the other hand, think that the environment is stable and that everything will stay the same. This model doesn’t help us figure out what will happen in the future in general. At this point in time, when environmental factors are very important, this model is not very useful.

1. v) Models of Ideology

It is called a “ideographic model” when a model is made to deal with a specific case or situation. This model works for situations like a single country, an organisation, a group, an individual, a biography, a historical event, and so on. When looking at organisational behaviour on a small scale, this model is usually what’s used.

(vi) Models of Nobodies

These models cover a wide range of situations. These have to do with building theories on a large scale. These deal with generalisations, laws, and hypotheses that show how things behave regularly and how variables are related. These models can be used to look at how an organisational system works across borders, within an organisation, between groups, and between individuals. Collectively, we can say that organisational behaviour is the study of how people, groups, and the structure of an organisation affect behaviour. The findings from these studies are then used to improve the way organisations work.

Systemic studies are used in organisational behaviour to make better predictions of behaviour than would be possible if only management instructions were used. That being said, since every organisation is different, we need to find an organisational behaviour model that works for each one. Managers can learn how to make their workplaces more ethically healthy by looking at organisational behaviour, which gives them both challenges and opportunities.