Organisational Behaviour

Week 1
Tutorial 1: Organisational Behaviour and Key Competency
1. Define organizational behaviour
They study of individuals and groups within an organizational context, and the study of
internal processes and practices as they influence the effectiveness of an individuals, teams,
and organisations.

2. List and briefly define the seven key competencies that are needed by individuals to be
effective.
i. Ethics competency
The knowledge, skills, and abilities to incorporate values and principles that
distinguish right from wrong when making decisions and choosing behaviours.

Key attributes include KSA of individuals, teams, & org to be effective in doing:

o Identifying & describing the principles of ethical decision making and behaviour.
o Assessing the importance of ethical issues in considering alternative courses of action.
E.g. when buying car some ppl consider the gasoline mileage as it allows them to help
reduce air pollution.
o Demonstrating dignity & respect for others in working relationships s.a taking actions
against discriminatory practice as individually feasible and in terms of a person’s
position. Eg the manager of a supermarket is more able to stop his worker from
disrespecting the minority grp than a checkout associate.
 ii. Self-competency
The knowledge, skills, and abilities to assess your personal strength and weakness, set
and pursue professional and personal goals, balance work and personal life, and
engage in new learning.

Key attributes include KSA of individuals, teams, & org to be effective in doing:

o Understanding one’s own and others’ personality and attitude.

o Perceiving, appraising and interpreting accurately oneself and others.
o Understanding and acting one’s own and others’ work-related motivations &
emotions.
o Assessing and establishing one’s own developmental, personal and work-related
goals.
o Taking responsibility for managing oneself and career over time and through stressful
circumstances.

iii. Diversity competency

The knowledge, skills, and abilities to value unique individual, group, and
organisational characteristics as potential sources of organisational strength, and
appreciate the uniqueness of each.
*help ppl work effectively together even if their interest and background are
different.

Key attributes include KSA of individuals, teams, & org to be effective in doing:

o Fostering an environment of inclusion with ppl who possess characteristics different

frm themselves.
o Learning frm individuals, teams or orgs with different characteristics, experiences,
perspectives and backgrounds. Diversity of thought and behaviour is vital to
stimulating creativity and innovation.
o Embracing and developing personal, team or organizational tendencies—s.a
conscientiousness and attitudes that demonstrates respect for ppl of other cultures and
races—that support diversity in workplace.
 iv. Across culture competency
The knowledge, skills, and abilities to recognise and embrace similarities &
differences among nations & cultures.

Key attributes include KSA of individuals, teams, & org to be effective in doing:

v. Communication competency
The knowledge, skills, and abilities to use all the modes of transmitting,
understanding, and receiving ideas, thought, and feelings- verbal, listening, nonverbal,
and written- for accurately transferring and exchanging information.

Key attributes include KSA of individuals, teams, & org to be effective in doing:

vi. Teams competency

The knowledge, skills, and abilities to develop, support, facilitate, and lead groups to
achieve goals.

Key attributes include KSA of individuals, teams, & org to be effective in doing:

o
vii. Change competency
The knowledge, skills, and abilities to recognise and implement needed adaptations or
entirely new transformations in the people, tasks, strategies, structures, or
technologies.

Key attributes include KSA of individuals, teams, & org to be effective in doing:

o
 3. Describe the reasons on why companies need to focus on their managers’ interpersonal skills.
Managers need a whole cadre of skills to create a productive workplace, including technical
and quantitative skills.
However, leadership and communication skills are critical to organisational success.
When managers have solid interpersonal skills, there are positive work outcomes for the
organisation.
viii. Lower turnover of strong employees (high turnover will incurred high cost, time,
training, orientation
ix. Improved recruitment pools for filling employment positions
x. Better bottom line/ financial performance.

4. Explain what is meant by diversity, specify the difference between primary and secondary
categories of diversity, and provide several examples of diversity in each of those categories.

Diversity
The condition of having or being composed of differing elements. The inclusion of different
types of people (such as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organisation.

 Primary Dimensions
Inborn difference- have an impact throughout one’s life
e.g. age, gender, ethnicity, sex, race, physical ability

 Secondary Dimensions
Acquired or changed throughout one’s lifetime.
Have less impact- still impact self definitions.
e.g. education, religious beliefs, geographical location, income, work background,
parental status, marital status.

5. Briefly define teams competency and the use of teams in individualistic and collective cultures.

Teams competency

The knowledge, skills, and abilities to develop, support, facilitate, and lead groups to achieve
goals.
Individualistic Culture

Individualism crates uneasiness over the use of teams or groups in organisations.

In individualistic cultures, the use of teams by organisations does not come as naturally.

There is a tendency of people to look after themselves and their immediate families.

In individualistic cultures, employees seek to stand out from the team.

Collectivist Culture

In collective cultures, the use of teams by organisations is a natural extension of culture values.

There is a tendency of people to emphasis their belonging to group and look after each other in
exchange for loyalty.

In a collectivist culture, individual employees seek to fit into the team.