Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts

• Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of how individuals and groups act within organizations
• Aims to understand, predict, and improve employee performance and organizational effectiveness

Key Concepts in OB

• Individual behavior: Focuses on personality, perception, motivation, learning, and attitudes
• Personality: Refers to the relatively stable set of psychological traits that influence how individuals interact with their environment
• Perception: The process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment
• Motivation: The processes that account for an individual’s intensity, direction, and persistence of effort toward attaining a goal
• Learning: A relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience
• Attitudes: Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events
• Group behavior: Examines team dynamics, leadership, communication, power, and conflict
• Team dynamics: The interacting forces within a team that influence its performance and cohesion
• Leadership: The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals
• Communication: The process of conveying information and understanding between two or more people
• Power: The capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with A’s wishes
• Conflict: A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about
• Organizational processes: Includes organizational culture, structure, change, and human resource management
• Organizational culture: The shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that influence the behavior of members in an organization
• Organizational structure: The way in which job tasks are formally divided, grouped, and coordinated
• Organizational change: The alteration of an organization’s environment, structure, technology, or people
• Human resource management (HRM): The policies, practices, and systems that influence employees’ behavior, attitudes, and performance

Models of OB

• Frameworks used to explain and predict organizational behavior
• Common models include:
• Cognitive framework: Emphasizes the role of mental processes in understanding behavior
• Behavioristic framework: Focuses on observable behaviors and environmental factors
• Social learning framework: Integrates cognitive and behavioristic approaches, recognizing the interaction between individuals and their environment
• Systems framework: Views the organization as a complex system with interdependent parts

Motivation Theories

• Theories explaining what drives individuals to act in certain ways
• Key theories include:
• Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Proposes that individuals are motivated by a hierarchy of needs, starting from physiological needs to self-actualization
• Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: Suggests that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are influenced by different factors (motivators and hygiene factors)
• Expectancy Theory: States that motivation is determined by an individual’s beliefs about effort, performance, and outcomes
• Goal-Setting Theory: Emphasizes the importance of specific and challenging goals in improving performance
• Equity Theory: Focuses on individuals’ perceptions of fairness in their interactions and outcomes

Leadership Theories

• Theories explaining how leaders influence their followers
• Key theories include:
• Trait Theory: Suggests that effective leaders possess certain personality traits
• Behavioral Theories: Focus on what leaders do, categorizing leadership styles into task-oriented and relationship-oriented behaviors
• Contingency Theories: Argue that the effectiveness of a particular leadership style depends on the situation (Fiedler's Contingency Model, Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory)
• Transformational Leadership: Focuses on inspiring and motivating followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes
• Transactional Leadership: Emphasizes the exchange between leaders and followers

Group Dynamics

• The study of how groups form, develop, and function
• Key concepts include:
• Group Formation: Stages include forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning
• Group Roles: Expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position in a social unit
• Group Norms: Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group's members
• Group Cohesion: The degree to which group members are attracted to each other and motivated to stay in the group
• Social Loafing: The tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than when working individually
• Groupthink: A phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides the realistic appraisal of alternative courses of action
• Group Decision Making: Processes by which groups make decisions; can be influenced by factors such as group size, composition, and leadership

Communication in Organizations

• The process by which information is exchanged between individuals and groups
• Key aspects include:
• Communication Channels: Formal and informal channels through which information flows
• Barriers to Communication: Factors that impede effective communication, such as filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotions, language, silence, communication apprehension, and lying
• Nonverbal Communication: Communication through body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice
• Active Listening: Paying attention, withholding judgment, reflecting feelings, clarifying, and summarizing
• Improving Communication: Strategies for overcoming communication barriers and enhancing communication effectiveness

Organizational Culture

• The shared values, beliefs, and assumptions that influence behavior within an organization
• Key elements include:
• Types of Culture: Observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions
• Strong vs. Weak Cultures: Cultures with high or low agreement among members about values and intensity of these values
• Creating and Maintaining Culture: Factors influencing the formation and perpetuation of organizational culture
• Changing Culture: Strategies for modifying an organization’s culture
• Impact of Culture: How culture influences employee behavior, performance, and organizational effectiveness

Organizational Change

• The process by which organizations move from their present state to a desired future state
• Key concepts include:
• Types of Change: Planned vs. unplanned change; incremental vs. transformational change
• Resistance to Change: Factors that make individuals and organizations resist change
• Managing Change: Strategies for overcoming resistance and implementing change successfully
• Lewin's Three-Step Model: Unfreezing, changing, and refreezing
• Kotter's Eight-Step Plan for Implementing Change: Establishing a sense of urgency, forming a guiding coalition, creating a new vision, communicating the vision, empowering others to act on the vision, planning for and creating short-term wins, consolidating improvements and producing still more change, and institutionalizing new approaches
• Organizational Development (OD): Techniques used to facilitate planned change

Stress Management

• Dealing with stressors in the workplace to reduce negative impacts on health and performance
• Key aspects include:
• Sources of Stress: Individual, group, and organizational stressors
• Consequences of Stress: Physiological, psychological, and behavioral effects
• Stress Management Techniques: Individual and organizational approaches to reducing stress
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs): Programs designed to help employees cope with personal problems that may be affecting their job performance
• Wellness Programs: Initiatives to promote employee health and well-being

Diversity and Inclusion

• Recognizing, respecting, and valuing differences among individuals in the workplace
• Key concepts include:
• Types of Diversity: Demographic, cultural, and personality differences
• Benefits of Diversity: Improved creativity, innovation, and problem-solving
• Challenges of Diversity: Stereotyping, discrimination, and communication barriers
• Inclusion: Creating a work environment where all individuals feel valued and respected
• Diversity Management Programs: Initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Ethics in OB

• Applying ethical principles to organizational decisions and practices
• Key aspects include:
• Ethical Dilemmas: Situations in which individuals must make a choice between conflicting values
• Ethical Frameworks: Utilitarianism, rights-based ethics, and justice-based ethics
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): An organization’s commitment to operating in an ethical and sustainable manner
• Creating an Ethical Culture: Promoting ethical behavior through leadership, policies, and training