Organization Behavior is based on a few fundamental concepts which revolve around the nature of people and organizations. Such basic concepts are not specific to the field of OB.
In every field of social science, or even physical science, has a philosophical foundation of basic concepts that guide its development. There are certain philosophical concepts in organizational behavior also.
Fundamental Concepts of Organizational Behavior
Individual Differences
Every individual in the world is different from others.
Science supports this idea. Each person is different from all others, probably in a million ways, just as each’s DNA profile is different.
The idea of individual differences comes originally from psychology. From the day of birth, each person is unique, and personal experiences after birth tend to make people even more different.
Perception
People’s perceptions are also different when they see an object. Two people can differently present the same object. And this is occurring in their experiences.
A person always organizes and interprets what he sees according to his lifetime experience and accumulated value.
Employees also see work differently for their personalities, needs, demographic factors, past experiences, and social surroundings.
A Whole Person
An employee’s personal life is not detached from his working life.
As an example, A woman who attends the office at 9:00 AM is always anxious about her children’s school time (if her kids can participate in school or not).
As a result, its impact falls on her concentration, which means her working life.
For this reason, we cannot separate it. So the manager should treat an employee as a whole person.
Motivated Behavior
An employee has so many needs inside him. So, they want to fulfill those needs. That’s why; they had to perform well in the organization.
Some motivations are necessary to enrich the quality of work. A path toward increased need fulfillment is the better way to enhance the quality of work.
Desire for Involvement
Every employee is actively seeking opportunities to work to involve in decision-making problems. They hunger for the chance to share what they know and to learn from the experience.
So, the organization should provide them a chance to express their opinions, ideas, and suggestions for the decision-making problem.
A meaningful involvement can bring mutual benefit to both parties.
Value of the Person
An employee wants to be treated separately from another factor of production (land, capital, labor).
They refuse to accept the old idea that they are just treated as economic tools because they are the best creation of Almighty Allah.
For this reason, they want to be treated with carrying respect, dignity, and other things by their employers and society.
Human Dignity
This concept is very philosophical. Every person needs to be treated with dignity and respect, whether it’s the CEO of the company or labor.
It confirms that people are to be treated differently from other factors of production because they are of a higher order in the universe.
it recognizes human dignity because people are of a higher order; they want to be treated with respect and dignity and should be treated this way.
Organizations are Social System
From sociology, we learn that organizations are social systems; consequently, activities therein are governed by social laws as well as psychological laws. Just as people have psychological needs, they also have social roles and status.
Their behavior is influenced by their group as well as by their drives.
In fact, two types of social systems exist side by side in organizations. One is a formal system, and the other is an informal social system.
Mutuality of Interest
Mutual interest is represented by the statement that organizations need people and people also need organizations.
Organizations have a human purpose. They are formed and maintained by some mutuality of interest among their participants.
People see organizations as a means to help them reach their goals, while at the same time, organizations need people to help achieve organizational objectives.
If mutuality is lacking, it makes no sense to try to assemble a group and develop cooperation because there is no common base on which to build.
The mutual interest provides a super-ordinate goal that unites the variety of needs that people bring to organizations.
The result is that people are encouraged to attack organizational problems rather than each other.
Holistic Concept
A holistic concept emerges when the fundamental concepts of OB are placed together.
This concept interprets people-organization relationships regarding the whole person, the whole group, the whole organization, and the whole social system.
It takes the broad view of people in organizations to understand as many factors as possible that influence their behavior as.
Issues are analyzed in terms of the total situation affecting them rather than an isolated event or problem.