Chapter 1

Nelson & Quick

Introduction: Organizational
Behavior in Changing Times
Organizational Behavior

The study of individual behavior and

group dynamics in organizations
 Organizational Behavior:
Dynamics in Organizations

Psychosocial

Interpersonal
Behavioral
Organizational
Behavior
 Organizational Variables that
Affect Human Behavior

Performance Work
Appraisal Design

Communication
Jobs
Organizational
Structure Human Organizational
Behavior Design
Organizational vs. Individual
Point of View

Clockworks or Snake pit?

Human Behavior
in the
Organization
 Internal/External Perspective of
Human Behavior
Internal Perspective External Perspective
Understand Thoughts,feelings, External events,
behavior in past experiences, environmental forces, &
terms of and needs behavioral consequences

Explain Individuals’ history Surrounding external

behavior by & personal value events & environmental
examining system forces

Each perspective has produced

motivational & leadership theories.
 Sociology
the science
Psychology of society
the science of Engineering
human behavior the applied science
of energy & matter
Interdisciplinary
Anthropology Influences on
the science of the Organizational Medicine
learned behavior
of human beings
Behavior the applied science of
healing or treatment of
diseases to enhance an
Management individual’s health and
the study of overseeing well-being
activities and supervising
people in organizations
 Components of an Organization

Task - an organization’s mission, purpose, or goal for

existing
People - the human resources of the organization
Structure - the manner in which an organization’s work is
designed at the micro level; how departments,
divisions, & the overall organization are designed at the
macro level
Technology - the intellectual and mechanical processes
used by an organization to transform inputs into
products or services that meet organizational goals
(ch02)
 Open Systems
View of Task environment:
Organization Competitors
Unions
Regulatory agencies
Clients

Structure
Inputs:
Material Outputs:
Capital Task Technology Products
Human Services

People
(Actors)
Organizational Boundary
Based on Harold Levitt, “Applied Organizational Change in
Industry: Structural, Technological, and Humanistic Approaches,” in J.G.
March (ed.), Handbook of Organizations, Rand McNally, Chicago, 1965,
p. 1145. Reprinted by permission of James G. March
 Formal vs. Informal
Organization

Formal Organization - the official, legitimate, and

most visible part of the system
Informal Organization - the unofficial and less
visible part of the system

Hawthorne Studies: studies

conducted during the 1920’s and
1930’s that discovered the existence
of the informal organization
 Formal organization
Formal & (overt)
Informal Goals & objectives
Policies & procedures
Elements of Job descriptions
Organizations Financial resources
Authority structure
Communication channels
Products and services
Social
Surface
Informal organization
(covert)
Beliefs & assumptions
Perceptions & attitudes
Values
Feelings, such as fear, joy
anger, trust, & hope
Group norms
Informal leaders
 U.S. Gross Domestic Product

Total 17% 6%
11%
$9.3 Trillion
8%
38% 20%

Federal purchases State/local purchases

Personal durable goods Personal nondurable goods
Personal Services Fixed investments
 Six Focus Organizations

 Brinker International
 Enron*
 Harley Davidson
 Hewlett-Packard
 Patagonia
 American Heart Association

*NOTE: Enron was in a state of turmoil at the time

the book went to press. Visit the Nelson/Quick web
site for updates on its current situation.
 The Challenge of Change

 Too much change = chaos

 Too little change = stagnation

How do you view change?

Threat Opportunity
 International Competition in
Business
Driving forces creating and shaping change at work
 Globalization  Diversity
 Technology  Ethics

Success will require:

 positive response to the competition in the
international marketplace
 responsiveness to ethnic, religious, and gender
diversity in the workforce
 Quality
 A potential means for giving organizations in viable
industries a competitive edge in international
competition
 A rubric for products and services that are of high
status
 A customer-oriented philosophy of management with
implications for all aspects of organizational behavior
 A cultural value embedded in successful
organizations
 Cannot be optimized

Quality Is not a fad

Is not an end in itself

Three key questions in evaluating quality-improvement ideas

1. Does the idea improve customer response?
2. Does the idea accelerate results?
3. Does the idea raise the effectiveness of resources?

YES means the idea should improve overall quality

Total Quality Management

The total dedication to continuous

improvement and to customers so that the
customers’ needs are met and their
expectations exceeded
 CEOs Advance Total Quality by:

 Engaging in participative management

 Being willing to change everything
 Focusing quality efforts on customer service
 Including quality as a criterion in reward systems
 Improving the flow of information regarding
quality-improvement successes or failures
 Being actively & personally involved in quality
efforts
Seven Categories in the Malcolm Baldrige
National Quality Award Examination

 Leadership
 Information and analysis
 Strategic quality planning
 Human resource utilization
 Quality assurance of products & services
 Quality results
 Customer satisfaction
 Challenges to Managing
Organizational Behavior

1. Increasing globalization of organizations’ operating

territory
2. Increasing diversity of organizational workforces
3. Continuing technological innovation with its
companion need for skill enhancement
4. Continuing demand for higher levels of moral &
ethical behavior at work
 Learning about Organizational
Behavior

Mastery of Development of Application

basic objective specific skills** of knowledge
knowledge* and abilities and skills

* Objective knowledge ** Skill development

knowledge that results the mastery of abilities
from research and essential to successful
scholarly activities functioning in organizations
 Learning from Structured Activity

Individual or group
structured activity
(e.g., group decision
New or modified activity) Systematic review
knowledge or skills of the structured
(e.g., consensus activity (e.g.,
group decisions are compare individual
better) & group results)
Conclusions based
on the systematic
review (e.g., the
group did better)
Three Assumptions Required for
Learning from Structured Activity

 Each student must accept responsibility for his/her

own behavior, actions, & learning
 Each student must actively participate in the
individual/group structured learning activity
 Each student must be open to new information,
new skills, new ideas, and experimentation
 Trends Affecting Managers

 Industrial restructuring
 Increased amount & availability of information
 Need to attract & retain the best employees
 Need to understand human & cultural differences
 Rapid shortening of response times in all aspects of
business
Watchwords for Organizations
in These Changing Times