ob1 2010 ch1 introduction

8/8/2019 OB1 2010 Ch1 Introduction

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Chapter ONE

What Is

OrganizationalBehavior?



After studying this chapter, you should

be able to:

1. Describe what managers do

2. Define organizational behavior (OB)

3. Explain the value of the systematic study of OB

4. Describe why managers require a knowledge of OB

5. Identify forces affecting OB

6. Identify the contributions made by major

behavioral science disciplines to OB

7. List the major challenges and opportunities for

managers to use OB concepts

8. Trace historical evolution of OB

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What are Organizations?

•Groups of people who

work interdependently

toward some purpose

– Structured patterns of

interaction

– Coordinated tasks

– Work toward some purpose© Richard Hernandez/San Jose Mercury News



Where Managers Work



What Managers Do

Managerial Activities

• Make decisions

• Allocate resources• Direct activities of others to

attain goals

Managerial Activities

• Make decisions

• Allocate resources

• Direct activities of others to

attain goals

Managers (or Administrators)Individuals who achieve goals through other people



Management Functions

Planning Organizing

LeadingControlling

ManagementFunctions



Management Functions (cont’d)

PlanningA process that includes defininggoals, establishing strategy, anddeveloping plans to coordinate

activities




Organizing

Determining what tasks are to be done,who is to do them, how the tasks are tobe grouped, who reports to whom, and

where decisions are to be made




LeadingA function that includes motivatingemployees, directing others, selectingthe most effective communication

channels, and resolving conflicts




ControllingMonitoring activities to ensure they are beingaccomplished as planned and correcting anysignificant deviations



Management Skills

Technical Skills

The ability to apply specialized

knowledge or expertise

Human Skills

The ability to work with,

understand, and motivate other

people, both individually and

in groups

Conceptual Skills

The mental ability to analyze and

diagnose complex situations



Effective vs Successful Managers:

Allocation of Activities by Time



Enter Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior (OB)

A field of study that investigates the impact that

individuals, groups, and structure have on

behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an

organization’s effectiveness



Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study

Systematic Study

Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causesand effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific

evidence

Provides a means to predict behaviors

Intuition

“Gut” feelings about “why I do what I do” and “what makes

others tick”



OrganizationalOrganizational

Behavior Behavior

UnderstandUnderstand

organizationalorganizational

eventsevents

PredictPredict


eventsevents

InfluenceInfluence


eventsevents

Why Study Organizational Behavior



Goals of Organizational Behavior

• DESCRIBE – systematically, how people behave in a variety of

conditions

• UNDERSTAND – why people behave as they do (inquisitive

managers learn to probe for underlying explanations)

• PREDICT – future employee behaviour (ideally managers would

have the capacity to predict which employees may be dedicated and

productive or which ones might be absent, tardy, or disruptive on a

certain day – so that managers can take preventive actions)

• CONTROL & MODIFY – at least partially

HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS

These thus MOTIVATE, INTRODUCE CHANGE when

required, and build good HUMAN RELATIONS.



Forces of Organizational Behavior

ENVIRONMENT

• Government

•Competition•Societal Pressures

PEOPLE

• Individuals

•Groups

TECHNOLOGY

Machinery

Information Technology

STRUCTURE

• Formal Relationships

OB



Forces of Organizational Behavior

• PEOPLE – Internal social system

– Individuals & groups

– Groups are dynamic – form, change & disband

– Workforce is richly diverse

• ENVIRONMENT – Dynamic (ex. Globalization)

– Affects attitudes, working conditions, provides competition for resources and power.

• STRUCTURE: defines formal relationships and use of people in organizations – Flatter due to downsizing & restructuring

– Complex due to mergers, acquisitions and new ventures – Team based instead of traditional

• TECHNOLOGY – Buildings, machines, work processes

– (has significant influence on working relationships)



Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

E X H I B I T 1–3 (cont’d)

Psychology

The science that seeks to measure, explain, and

sometimes change the behavior of humans and other

animals



Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)


Sociology

The study of people in relation to their fellow human

beings





Social Psychology

An area within psychology that blends concepts from

psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence

of people on one another





Anthropology

The study of societies to learn about human beings and

their activities



There Are Few Absolutes in OB

x y

Contingency variables: “It Depends!”

Situational factors that make the main relationship

between two variables change—e.g., the

relationship may hold for one condition but not

another

Country 1

x y Country 2

May be related to

May NOT be related to

In

In



Challenges and Opportunities for OB

• Responding to Globalization – Increased foreign assignments

– Working with people from different cultures

– Coping with anti-capitalism backlash

– Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost

labor – Managing people during the war on terror

– Unfamiliar laws, foreign languages, changed management styles

• Managing Workforce Diversity

– Embracing diversity

– Implications for managers• Recognizing and responding to differences



DomesticPartners

Major Workforce Diversity Categories

Race

Non-Christian

National

Origin

Age

Disability

E X H I B I T 1–4

Gender



Challenges and Opportunities for OB (cont’d)

• Improving Quality and Productivity

– Quality management (QM)

– Process reengineering

• Responding to the Labor Shortage – Changing work force demographics

– Fewer skilled laborers

– Early retirements and older workers

• Improving Customer Service – Increased expectation of service quality

– Customer-responsive cultures



Challenges and Opportunities for OB (cont’d)

• Information Technology – Blurs temporal and spatial boundaries – Redesigns jobs and power relationships

– Increases value of knowledge management – Supports virtual teams

• Corporate Reorganization – Rightsizing/downsizing

– Mergers and acquisitions – (these involve- fear of loss of jobs, changes in

remunerations and benefits, changes in status,group dynamics)



Challenges and Opportunity for OB (cont’d)

• Improving people skills• Empowering people

• Stimulating innovation and change

• Coping with “temporariness”

• Working in networked organizations

• Helping employees balance work/life conflicts

• Improving ethical behavior

• Managing people during the war on terrorism



Basic OB Model, Stage I

E X H I B I T 1-6

ModelAn abstraction of reality

A simplified representation of

some real-world phenomenon



The Dependent Variables

x

y

Dependent VariableA response that is affected by an independent variable (what

organizational behavior researchers try to understand)



The Dependent Variables (cont’d)

Productivity

A performance measure thatincludes effectiveness and efficiency

Effectiveness

Achievement of goals

Efficiency

Ratio of output to the input




Absenteeism

The failure to report to work

Turnover

The voluntary and

involuntary permanent

withdrawal from an

organization




Deviant Workplace Behavior

Voluntary behavior that violates

significant organizational norms and

thereby threatens the well-being of theorganization and/or any of its members




Organizational Citizenship Behavior

(OCB)

Discretionary behavior that is not

part of an employee’s formal job

requirements, but that nevertheless

promotes the effective functioning of

the organization




Job Satisfaction

A general attitude (not a behavior) toward one’s job; a

positive feeling of one's job resulting from an evaluation of

its characteristics



The Independent Variables

IndependentVariables Can Be

Individual-Level

Variables

Organization

System-Level

Variables

Group-Level

Variables

Independent Variable

The presumed cause of some change in the dependent

variable; major determinants of a dependent variable



Historical Evolution of OB

‘Human Relations’ approach: HAWTHORNE EXPTS

– Enquiry into human aspects of work & working conditions at

Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company, Chicago

(manufacturer of telephone equipments)

– Professors from Harvard (Elton Mayo, Whitehead, …)

– Conducted a series of experimental & observational studies

(1924-1932)



Historical Evolution of OB (contd.)

HAWTHORNE EXPTS

1. Illumination Experiments: to find out effect of

illumination on worker productivity

2. Relay Assembly Test Room Experiments: to find out

effect of changes in working hours and other working conditions

on productivity

3. Mass Interviewing Programme: to find out workers

attitudes & sentiments4. Bank Wiring Observation Room Experiments: to find

out social aspect of work



Historical Evolution of OB (contd.)

HAWTHORNE EXPTS:

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS

1. Social Factors in Output: level of production set by social norms

2. Groups: Workers create groups; tend to react as members of groups.

3. Leadership: not necessary from superiors; there may be informal

leadership can be more important than formal leadership.

4. Communication: very important in organizations.

5. Conflict: individual, group, organization.

6. Supervision: friendly, genuinely concerned favourable effect of

productivity.

ob1 2010 ch1 introduction

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