Organizational Behavior: An Introduction

Module 1: Introduction to Organizational Behavior

• Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of human behavior within organizational settings
• It also examines the interface between human behavior and the organization
• OB considers the organization itself as a subject of study
• Studying OB is valuable because organizations exert significant influence on individuals' lives
• OB knowledge to enhances management's understanding of behavior at all organizational levels

The Nature of Organizational Behavior

• Organizational behavior seeks to understand human behavior in organizational settings
• It Considers the organization and the interface between individuals and the organization
• These areas (individual, organization, and interface) are interrelated
• A comprehensive grasp of OB requires understanding of all three areas

Importance of Organizational Behavior (OB)

Organizations impact individuals lives in a multitude of ways:

• They educate and train people
• Serving as a primary means of acquiring material possessions
• Being where people spend the majority of their lifetime
• Affecting most people until the end of their lives
• Being regulated by governmental organizations

Studying Organizational Behavior Helps Managers By

• Describing organizations' human context
• Defining opportunities and challenges
• Isolating key managerial aspects
• Providing perspectives on the human element

Studying Organizational Behavior Helps Managers Understand:

• Individual needs, motives, behavior and career factors
• Attitudinal processes, individual differences, group and organizational dynamics and organizational culture

Basic Managerial Functions

• Planning involves defining the organization's future position and how to achieve it efficiently
• Organizing involves job design, unit grouping, and authority pattern establishment
• Leading involves aligning organizational members to work towards common goals
• Controlling involves monitoring and correcting actions to maintain goal alignment

Managerial Skills

• Technical skills enable task completion within the organization
• Interpersonal skills enable communication, understanding, and motivation of individuals and groups
• Conceptual skills enable abstract thinking
• Diagnostic skills enable cause-and-effect understanding for optimal solutions

Importance of Managerial Skills at Different Organizational Levels

• Conceptual and diagnostic skills are more important for top managers
• Technical and interpersonal skills are more important for first-line managers

Characteristics of Organizational Behavior

• OB is both interdisciplinary and descriptive in nature
• OB draws from various fields to understand behavior
• OB seeks to describe, not prescribe, behavior

Interdisciplinary Focus of Organizational Behavior

• Organizational psychology, specifically organizational psychology is a great contributor to the field of OB
• Organizational psychologists study behavior within organizational context
• Sociology contributes social system understanding like families and organizations, and organizational structure
• Anthropology shows intercultural dynamics effects structure and behavior
• Political science gives insight in to power dynamics, decision making, power, conflict, and group behavior
• Economics give knowledge of labor dynamics, productivity, planning, and cost analysis
• Engineering insights offers work measurement, productivity improvement, job design, and labor practices
• Medicine contributes stress studies specifically how it influences the well being of an individual

Organization Behavior: Descriptive Nature

• OB aims to describe relationships between behavioral variables
• Theories cannot predict specific workplace variable changes impact on employee performance
• Theories suggest concept relationships in particular settings
• One org research shows employee satisfaction is linked to insight on working conditions but may not be true in other environments

Reasons Organizational Behavior is Descriptive

• Immaturity as a field of study
• Complexities inherent in studying human behavior
• Lack of agreed-upon definitions and measures

Value of studying OB

• Behavioral processes pervade functions and roles
• Organizational work is done primarily by people

Systems and Situational Perspectives

• Both address inter-relationships among organizational and environmental aspects
• The system involves elements that function as a whole
• The situational perspective is the viewpoint in understanding actions in terms of influence

The Systems Approach to Organizations

• Organizations interact within themselves and their greater environment
• Inputs are transformed to different outputs, which are also subject to feedback
• Management should understand the interactions to also understand the environment

Situational Perspective

• Suggests situational factors influence an organizations outcomes

Three Basic Outcome Levels That Determine Organizational Effectiveness

• individual-level
• group-level
• organizational-level

Individual Level Outcomes

• Include several behaviors resulting from participation in an organization
• Productivity is a key measure of individual efficiency
• Performance, broader than productivity, encompasses all work-related behaviors
• Absenteeism and turnover impact workplace operations in an expensive manner
• Important individual attitudes are job satisfaction, organizational commitment and involvement

Intrinsic Individual Elements in Workplace

• Stress is an important individual-level outcome variable
• Should not be dismissed since costs are personal and organizational

Group and Team Level Outcomes

• Team effectiveness can significantly influence groups with their own distinct characteristics
• Individuals within groups still have an affect

Organizational Level Outcomes

• Financial performance is assessed through stock price, ROI, and growth
• Ability to ensure survival
• Ability to ensure satisfaction for those involved

Goal Setting And Optimization

• Can sometimes be seen as a contradictory task for some.
• The manager's ability to balance the various factors affecting success and productivity in the organization is paramount

The Universal Approach

• Suggests that motivation to do better comes from a place like a pay raise

The Situational Approach

• Acknowledges the various variable that alter relationships in the workplace and other managerial tasks

Activity To Relate OB And Popular Culture

• Helps appreciate organizational behavior in contemporary and popular culture
• Recent popular movies must be viewed with groups noting: Individual and interpersonal actions, organizational traits and concepts
• Key Examples: The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent, Pitch Perfect 3, Now you see me, The Avengers, Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation

Module 2: Foundations of Individual Behavior

• How an individual behaves with respect to the workings of an organization
• How individual differences are relevant to workplace behavior

Individual Organization Relationships

• Critical for how an individual behaves
• Important for individual differences that have a bearing on the performance of workplace behavior

Psychological Contracts

• Mirror legal contracts
• May include expectation of an employee in the organization

Individual Contribution Examples

• Effort
• Aptitude
• Skills

Organizations Can reciprocate in Turn With the Following

• Pay
• Job Security
• Opportunities