Individual Behavior Models

The models through which we can understand Individual behavior are as follow.

1. Rational Economic Man

From the organizational viewpoint, managers had, for a long time, view their employees as balanced beings who are chiefly motivated by money. They took the ‘ECONOMIC MAN’ and ‘RATIONAL MAN’ approach is to understand and forecast the human behavior. This model is based on classical organization theory.

The Scientific Management Movement was based on the faith that by reasonably explaining the one best way to do things and presenting incentives to workers in the form of piece rates and bonuses, organizational production can be improved. Psychologists have also studied this model for predicting human behavior. For example, McGregor’s assumptions of Theory X reflect this model.

The main points of this theory are as follow:

  • People are forced mainly by economic incentives. They will do things which get them the maximum economic gain.
  • As the organization controls the economic incentives, human beings are fundamentally passive agents, who are manipulating, motivated and controlled by the organization.
  • The feelings of the people are essentially irrational and must be controlled to achieve rationality and self interest.
  • Organizations can and have to be designed in such a way so as to deactivate and control people’s feelings and therefore their unpredictable traits.

2. Social Man

With the channel of time, the advocates of human relations school standard that there is a lot more to human behavior than just being social man economic and rational. Advocates of this school measured the worker as a social man. They renowned that man is a part of the communal group he is prejudiced by the social forces and seeks approval of the needs which are related to the preservation of his social relationships. Elton Mayo conceives the concept of the social man when he carried out Hawthorne studies during 1927-32.

On the basis of Hawthorne studies following important points of the theory were derived.

  • Human beings are basically motivated by social needs and all their efforts are directed towards getting this satisfaction by maintaining relationships with others.
  • A human being is more responsive to the pressures and sanctions of his social group than to the incentives and controls of the management. The reason is that he values social relationship higher than his economic motives which are directly under the control of management.
  • The amount of work to be done by a worker is not determined by his physical capacity or by the management but by the social norms.
  • Generally people do not act or react as individuals but as members of a group.
  • Informal leaders play an important role in setting and enforcing the group norms.
  • Management should change and organize work in such a way that it provides more belongingness not only in terms of interpersonal and group relationships, but also man’s relationship with his job.

3. Organizational Man

Organization man is an expansion of social man. The concept of organization man was presented by William Whyte. He supposed that it is very significant for a person to be faithful to the organization and helpful with the fellow workers. Any person who believes in this value system and acts in this way is an organization man. The foundation of this idea is that every individual should give up his individuality for the sake of the group and the organization.

This idea was originally suggested by Henry Fayol, when he optional that individual interest should be subordinated to the general interest. Whyte had explained three main points, on which this concept of organization man is based.

The three main points are as follow:

  • The first point is that individual by himself is inaccessible and meaningless. The group is the source of activity. Individuals make only when they move in a group. A group helps to produce a whole that is better than the sum of its parts.
  • The final need of every individual is belongingness. He wants to belong to his families, friends, relatives, colleagues and other members of the society as a whole. Whyte says that there should be no conflict between man and society.
  • The goal of belongingness is achieved with the help of science. Whenever there is a conflict between the needs of the society and the needs of the individual, equilibrium can be created by applying the methods of science. Science can help in removing all the obstacles to consensus.

4. The Self Actuating Man

The idea of self actuating man is a new extension of social man and the organization man models. The social man idea assumes that the configuration of social groups is the basis of approval for the individuals. But as against this the self actuating man assumes that man’s inherent need is to use his capabilities and skills in such a way that he should have the satisfaction of creating certain things. The earlier models do not allow him to satisfy his self actuating needs.

The main points of the theory are as follow;

  • The basic assumption about this concept is that the various needs of a man can be put in the order of priority. For example, MASLOW has put various needs in a hierarchy: Every unsatisfied need is a motivational factor for him.
  • In the process of self actualization, there are various changes in the behavior of the individual and he moves from immaturity to maturity.
  • Another assumption is that a man is primarily self motivated and self controlled. Any incentives given by the management cannot motivate him after a certain level and any control imposed on him cannot threaten him.
  • The earlier models were based on the assumption that a man has got immature personality. However, the reality is that if a man is left free he will put in his maximum efforts.

organizational behaviour

November 14, 2018