Managing People &

Organizations
The Gateway to Career Success
Managing People & Organizations
Why study Organizational Behavior?
 To improve effectiveness
 Non-technical skills are the gateway to success
 Technical skills alone are not sufficient for an
organization or individual to be successful
 Graduates of this program cite managing
people as their #1 developmental issue
Managing People & Organizations

Is Organizational Behavior pretty much

common sense?
Managing People & Organizations
What is an organization?
 Any group working together to achieve
common goals
 Must have an ongoing purpose

 Includes corporations, government agencies,

family businesses, non-profits
 Organizations exist within organizations
Managing People & Organizations
Why would an organization perform better than an equal
number of individuals acting independently?

 A Common goal can generate synergy

 Organization solves the problem of quantity but not
complexity
 Individuals have limited capacity
 Organizations need specialized skills
 Cooperation among Specialists should increase potential
 Performance is a function of the cooperation effectiveness
 All of this depends on teamwork
Managing People & Organizations
What do managers do?
 Accomplish tasks through others

 Make decisions

 Allocate resources

 Achieve goals
Managing People & Organizations
Framework for management
 Plan – define goals, establish strategy, plan and
coordinate activities
 Lead – motivate workforce, direct activities,
communicate, resolve conflicts
 Organize – design structure, assign tasks, decide on
roles, define reporting relationships
 Control – monitor activities, correct deviations,
compare to goals
Managing People & Organizations

What do managers need?

 Technical skills,

 Non-technical skills,

 Analytical skills
Managing People & Organizations
What is theory?
 A system of assumptions or accepted principles
 Explains the nature or behavior of a set of phenomena
 There is an element of speculation
 Helps us analyze, explain or predict behavior in
organizations
 Theory is validated through experimentation
 Not the same as peoples experiences
Managing People & Organizations
 Theories help us to understand the practice of
management
 Offer insights into causality
 Can guide management action and improve
effectiveness