Human Behavior in the Organization

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CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to Human Behavior in Organization

Learning Objectives:
 Define organizational behavior.
 Trace the historical roots of organizational behavior.
 Discuss the emergence of contemporary organizational
behavior, including its precursors, the Hawthorne studies,
and the human relations movement.
 Describe contemporary organizational behavior—its
characteristics, concepts, and importance.
 Identify and discuss contextual perspectives on
organizational behavior.

Overview of Human Behavior in Organization

What is an organization? An organization is defined as a collection of people

who work together to achieve a wide variety of goals. Organizational behavior is
defined as the actions and attitudes of people in organizations. The field of
organizational behavior (OB) covers the body of knowledge derived from these
actions and attitudes. It can help managers understand the complexity within
organizations, identify problems, determine the best ways to correct them, and
establish whether the changes would make a significant difference.

THE MEANING OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of

human behavior in organizational settings, how
human behavior interacts with the organization, and
the organization itself. Although we can focus on any
one of these three areas independently, we must
remember that all three are ultimately connected and
necessary for a comprehensive understanding of
organizational behavior.

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It shows the linkages among human behavior in organizational settings, the

individual-organization interface, the organization, and the environment surrounding the
organization. Each individual brings to an organization a unique set of personal
characteristics, experiences from other organizations, and personal background.
Therefore, organizational behavior must look at the unique perspective that each
individual brings to the work setting. For example, suppose that Texas Instruments hires
a consultant to investigate employee turnover. As a starting point, the consultant might
analyze the types of people the firm usually hires. The goal of this analysis would be to
learn as much as possible about the nature of the company’s workforce from the
standpoint of the individual—their expectations, their personal goals, and so forth.

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HISTORICAL ROOTS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN THE ORGANIZATION

Many disciplines, such as physics and chemistry, are literally thousands of years
old. Management has also been around in one form or another for centuries. For
example, the writings of Aristotle and Plato abound as references and examples of
management concepts and practices. But because serious interest in the study of
management did not emerge until the turn of the twentieth century, organizational
behavior is only a few decades old.
One reason for the relatively late development of management as a scientific
field is that very few large business organizations existed until around a hundred years
ago. Although management is just as important to a small organization as it is to a large
one, large firms provided both a stimulus and a laboratory for management research.
Second, many of the initial players interested in studying organizations were
economists. Economists initially assumed that management practices are by nature
efficient and effective; therefore, they concentrated on higher levels of analysis such as
national economic policy and industrial structures rather than on the internal structure of
companies.

Scientific Management is one of the first

Scientific Management
approaches to the study of management,
popularized during the early 1900s, was
scientific management. Individuals who
helped develop and promote scientific
management included Frank and Lillian
Gilbreth (whose lives are portrayed in a
book and a subsequent movie, Cheaper
by the Dozen), Henry Gantt, and
Harrington Emerson. But the person
commonly associated with scientific
management is Fredric W. Taylor.

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During the same era, another perspective

Classical Organization Theory on management theory and practice was
also emerging. Generally referred to as
classical organization theory, this
perspective is concerned with structuring
organizations effectively. Whereas
scientific management studied how
individual workers could be made more
efficient, classical organization theory
focused on how a large number of
workers and managers could be most
effectively organized into an overall
structure.

THE EMERGENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

The central themes of both scientific management and classical organization
theory are rationality, efficiency, and standardization. The roles of individuals and
groups in organizations were either ignored altogether of given only minimal attention. A
few early writers and managers, however, recognized the importance of individual and
social processes in organizations.
PRECURSORS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
In the early nineteenth century, Robert Owen, a British industrialist, attempted to
improve the condition of industrial workers. He improved working conditions, raised
minimum wages for hiring children, introduced meals for employees, and shortened
working hours. In the early twentieth century, the noted German psychologist Hugo
Munsterberg argued that the field of psychology could provide important insights into
areas such as motivation and the hiring of new employees. Another writer in the early
1900s, Mary Parker Follett, believed that management should become more democratic
in its dealings with employees. An expert in vocational guidance, Follett argued that
organizations should strive harder to accommodate their employees’ human needs.

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THE HAWTHORNE STUDIES

The Hawthorne studies were conducted between 1927 and 1932 at Western
Electric’s Hawthorne plant near Chicago. (General Electric initially sponsored the
research but withdrew its support after the first study was finished.) Several researchers
were involved, the best known being Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger, Harvard
faculty members and consultants, and William Dickson, chief of Hawthorne’s Employee
Relations Research Department.
The first major experiment at Hawthorne studied the effects of different levels of
lighting on productivity. The researchers systematically manipulated the lighting in the
area in which a group of women worked. The group’s productivity was measured and
compared with that of another group (the control group) whose lighting was left
unchanged. As lighting was increased for the experimental group, productivity went
up—but, interestingly, so did the productivity of the control group. Even when lighting
was subsequently reduced, the productivity of both groups continued to increase. Not
until the lighting had become almost as dim as moonlight did productivity start to
decline. This led the researchers to conclude that lighting had no relationship to
productivity—and at this point General Electric withdrew its sponsorship of the project!
HUMAN RELATIONS MOVEMENT
The Hawthorne studies created quite a stir among managers, providing the
foundation for an entirely new school of management thought that came to be known as
the human relations movement. The basic premises underlying the human relations
movement are that people respond primarily to their social environment, that motivation
depends more on social needs than on economic needs, and that satisfied employees
work harder than unsatisfied employees. This perspective represented a fundamental
shift away from the philosophy and values of scientific management and classical
organization theory.
The behavioral theory of management holds that all people (including
employees) have complex needs, desires, and attitudes. The fulfillment of needs is the
goal toward which employees are motivated. Effective leadership matches need-
fulfillment rewards with desired behaviors (tasks) that accomplish organizational goals.

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Theory X, which takes a pessimistic view of human nature and employee

behavior, is in many ways consistent with the tenets of scientific management. A much
more optimistic and positive view of employees is found in Theory Y. Theory Y, which is
generally representative of the human relations perspective, was the approach
McGregor himself advocated. Assumptions of Theory X and Theory Y

Towards Organizational Behavior

Most scholars would agree that organizational behavior began to emerge as a

mature field of study in the late 1950s and early 1960s. That period saw the field’s
evolution from the simple assumptions and behavioral models of the human relationists
to the concepts and methodologies of a scientific discipline. Since that time,
organizational behavior as a scientific field of inquiry has made considerable strides,
although there have been occasional steps backward as well. Many of the ideas
discussed in this book have emerged over the past two decades. We turn now to
contemporary organizational behavior.

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CONTEMPORARY ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

A. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIELD
- Researchers and managers who use concepts and ideas from organizational
behavior must recognize that it has an interdisciplinary focus and a
descriptive nature; that is, it draws from a variety of fields and attempts to
describe behavior (as opposed to prescribing how behavior can be changed
in consistent and predictable ways).
An
Interdisciplinary
Focus

A Descriptive
Interactionalism
Nature

The Importance
The
of
Contingency
Organizational
Perspective
Behavior

Contextual
Perspectove on The Systems
Organizational Perspective
Behavior

Systems and
Contigency
Perspectives

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REFERENCES:

Jones, G.R. and Gorge, J.M. Understanding and Managing

Organizational Behavior, https://g.co/kgs/3u5fqv

Griffin, Ricky W. and Gregory Moorehead, Organizational Behavior,

Managing People and Organizations. South-Western Cengage
Learning. 2014

Newstrom, John W., Organizational Behavior, Human Behavior at Work;

wMcGraw Hill Companies Inc., 2011.

LINKS
TOPICS LINKS FOR VIDEO
An Introduction to Human Behavior in https://youtu.be/pPejqzyK1cY
Organization
Overview of Human Behavior in https://youtu.be/MnvWxZhsvKA
Organization
The Meaning of Organizational Behavior https://youtu.be/couNUwE4Atk

Historical Roots of Human Behavior in the https://youtu.be/G0lcXme118k

Organization
The Emergence of Organizational https://youtu.be/TC7A9PmMPwE
Behavior
Precursors of Organizational Behavior https://youtu.be/yyi5KbAp8TE

The Hawthorne Studies https://youtu.be/sI5dxHfKGaI

Human Relations Movement https://youtu.be/F2k018hctZQ

Contemporary Organizational behavior https://youtu.be/YeVvDtOakdw

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