Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior-What is it?

OB Involves the study of process-how

people in social systems function with each other to get work done. OT deals more with the structural elements of organizations.

How to put the pieces together to facilitate the process

Process involves managers and managing

Managers, a structural component of

organizations, interacts (process component) with others to accomplish work.

Make decisions, allocate resources, direct activities. Accomplish organizational and personal goals

Process involves managers and managing contd.

Managers work in organizations

Combination of structural and process components.

Managers interpersonal skills are important.

Why?

Managers interpersonal skills are important. Why?

Because the way that managers view

organizations is changing.

How do we frequently view Organizations and People in them?

Classical Paradigm-a structural approach

Organizations are machines Machines consist of components e.g. equipment, people, buildings, cash, raw materials. Managers job is to fit the components of the machine together in the most efficient way

Whats New?
Human Relations/Systems Paradigm

Organizations are social systems Systems consist of elements, a boundary and the relationship among the elements

Social systems consist of the

relationships (process) among individuals within a given structure

What is a System?

Organizational Behavior

OB is 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 organizations effectiveness and efficiency.

Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

Open Systems vs. Closed Systems

Organizational Behavior

OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an organization (social system) and how that behavior affects the performance of the organization (its effectiveness and efficiency).

Individual Behavior Individual and group behavior Organizational structure

What do managers do?

Plan, organize, lead and control

Process components

Fill Certain Roles (sets of behaviors)

Interpersonal Informational Decisional

What kind of skills do managers need?

Technical
Human Conceptual

Activities managers perform that makes them successful

Depends on what success is.
Getting promoted

Human Resources and networking Decision making, planning, controlling, communicating

Achieving Organizational Goals

These two sets of activities frequently

work against each other.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

From where does OB draw its expertise?

Introduction

Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built upon contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines. The predominant areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and political science. Exhibit 1-3 overviews the major contributions to the study of organizational behavior.

Psychology

Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals.

Early industrial/organizational fatigue, boredom, and other factors relevant to working conditions that could impede efficient work performance. More recently, learning, perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership effectiveness, needs and motivational forces, job satisfaction, decisionmaking processes, performance appraisals, attitude measurement, employee selection techniques, work design, and job stress

Sociology
Sociologists study the social system in

which individuals fill their roles; that is, sociology studies people in relation to their fellow human beings.

Their greatest contribution to OB is through their study of group behavior in organizations, particularly formal and complex organizations

Social Psychology
Social psychology blends the concepts

of psychology and sociology. It focuses on the influence of people on one another.

Major areahow to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance.

Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of societies to

learn about human beings and their activities. Anthropologists work on cultures and environments; for instance, they have helped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behavior among people in different countries and within different organizations.

Political Science
Frequently overlooked Political science studies the behavior of

individuals and groups within a political environment.

Why is the study of organization behavior important?

Why is the study of organization behavior important?

Viewing organizations as closed

systems is no longer valid Components are no longer homogeneous Work Place diversity Globalization makes hierarchical communications too slow Information Technology gives power and information to the one who can use it best.

Why is the study of organization behavior important?

The environment is changing rapidly

making adaptation and change crucial to survival- organizations as closed systems isnt a valid model. Improving Quality and Productivity Improving ethical behavior

Now, do successful organizations put people first?

A Debate

Pro side

Yes they do because organizations are social systems and the care and feeding of people and their relationships is crucial to the organizations being able to be effective

Con side

No, most organizations are social systems secondarily. Their first need is to be efficient and to make money. Managers need to be plugged into the outside environment but minimizing resources such as people is crucial to the success of the enterprise.

Foundations of Individual Behavior

Biographical, Ability and Learning Variables

Chapter 2 looks at three individual variables that affect organizational behavior.

Biographical Characteristics
Ability Learning

Biographical characteristics
Age
Gender Tenure

Marital Status

Ability
Intellectual
Physical Ability-fit

Learning
Three theories

Classical conditioning
Pavlovs

dogs

Operant conditioning
Reward/punishment

Social learning
Observation

and perception Use of models

Shaping
Molding learning in graduated steps
Reinforced at each step by

Positive or negative reinforcement Punishment Extinction