THEORIES & MODELS

OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

REPRESENTATIONS OF HOW THE REAL WORLD FUNCTIONS

• Help us organize our knowledge

• Summarize diverse findings & highlight relationships
• Tell us what to pay attention to (and what to ignore)
• Help us understand why events occur as they do (causal relationships)
• Give guidance about how to bring about change
 THREE KINDS OF THEORIES/MODELS

DESCRIPTIVE 80+ %

PREDICTIVE 15+ %

PRESCRIPTIVE <5 %
 MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS
FAYOL (16)

• PLANNING

• ORGANIZING

• LEADING

• CONTROLLING
 MANAGERIAL ACTIVITIES
MINTZBERG

MANAGERIAL ACTIVITY IS CHARACTERIZED BY VARIETY,

FRAGMENTATION, AND BREVITY
LITTLE TIME FOR QUIET REFLECTION
CRISES ARE INTERSPERSED WITH TRIVIAL EVENTS
MUST BE ABLE TO SHIFT GEARS QUICKLY
ONLY SPENDS AN AVERAGE OF NINE MINUTES PER ACTIVITY

THE MANAGER PERFORMS A GREAT DEAL OF WORK AT AN

UNRELENTING PACE
IN ONE DAY:
PROCESSED 36 PIECES OF MAIL
ATTENDED 8 MEETINGS
TOOK A TOUR OF THE PLANT
MET WITH UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS
 MANAGERIAL ROLES
MINTZBERG (73)

INTERPERSONAL ROLES
• Figurehead
• Leader (Supervisor)
• Liaison (Linking-Pin)
INFORMATIONAL ROLES
• Monitor
• Disseminator
• Spokesperson
DECISIONAL ROLES
• Innovator (Entrepreneur)
• Disturbance Handler (Crisis)
• Resource Allocator
• Negotiator
 MANAGEMENT SKILLS
KATZ (74)

• TECHNICAL
– SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE & PROFICIENCY
– ABILITY TO WORK WITH THINGS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
(A FOCUS ON WHAT IS DONE)

• HUMAN
– WORK WITH AND THROUGH OTHER PEOPLE & GROUPS
– MOTIVATES, COMMUNICATES, AND RESOLVES CONFLICTS
(A FOCUS ON HOW SOMETHING IS DONE)

• CONCEPTUAL
– UNDERSTANDS THE CORPORATION AS A WHOLE; SEES THE “BIG PICTURE”
– FUTURE-ORIENTED….THINKS STRATEGICALLY
– ANALYTIC AND DECISION-MAKING ABILITY
– INFORMATION PROCESSING & PLANNING ABILITIES
(A FOCUS ON WHY SOMETHING IS DONE)
 EFFECTIVE v. SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS
Luthans (88)

STUDIED FOUR MANAGERIAL ACTIVITIES:

TRADITIONAL MANAGERIAL ACTIVITIES

Plans, sets objectives, strategies, makes decisions, oversees controls, etc.

COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES
Exchanges relevant information inside the firm, stays in touch with others

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Inspires and motivates, involves staff in decisions, educates & develops staff

NETWORKING ACTIVITIES
Interacts with outsiders, is politically & socially active within the organization
 RESEARCH FINDINGS ON
EFFECTIVE v. SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS

N = 450 Percentage of time devoted to each activity

MGRL ACTIVITY AVERAGE EFFECTIVE SUCCESS

TRADITIONAL 32 % 19 % 13 %

COMMUNICATION 29 % 44 % 28 %

HUMAN RESOURCE 20 % 26 % 11 %

NETWORKING 19 % 11 % 48 %
EFFECTIVE MANAGERS

Quality and quantity of performance achievement

Satisfaction and commitment of workers

SUCCESSFUL MANAGERS

Speed of promotion within the organization

CONCLUSION:

Promotions aren’t necessarily based on performance…

but are related to social and political activity in the firm.
 THE MANAGERIAL GRID
BLAKE & MOUTON (64)

9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
COUNTRY-CLUB TEAM
(1,9) (9,9)

CONCERN
FOR MIDDLE OF ROAD
PEOPLE (5,5)

IMPOVERISHED TASK
1 (1,1) (9,1)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 9
CONCERN FOR PRODUCTION
 SEARCHING FOR THE
“PRINCIPLES” OF MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT THEORIES ARE DERIVED FROM:

INDIVIDUAL OBSERVATION
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND OBSERVATION
CASE SITUATIONS AND STUDIES
ARCHIVAL RECORDS AND DOCUMENTS

SURVEY RESEARCH
INTERVIEWS
QUESTIONNAIRES

EXPERIMENTATION
LABORATORY
FIELD
NATURAL
 EVALUATING RESEARCH

• IS IT VALID?
DOES THE STUDY MEASURE WHAT IT CLAIMS TO MEASURE?

• IS IT RELIABLE?
ARE THE MEASUREMENTS CONSISTENT WHEN REPEATED?

• IS IT GENERALIZABLE?
ARE THE FINDINGS APPLICABLE TO OTHER SITUATIONS?

• IS IT ETHICALLY APPROPRIATE?
WERE PRIVACY & CONFIDENTIALITY MAINTAINED IN THE STUDY?
 OBSERVATION & CASES

ADVANTAGES
• Probes one situation in great depth
• Rich in details, clues and possible causes
• Facilitates discovery of unexpected relationships
• Starting point for theory development

DISADVANTAGES
• Selective observation and bias…information is easily distorted/lost
• What we “know” about a case is limited by the data available/provided
• Observation/data gathering is time consuming…when do we stop?
• Data are not easily quantifiable…relationships can’t be tested
• Generalizations are not possible from a sample of one
 SURVEY RESEARCH
ADVANTAGES
• Questions can be standardized
• Collects information independent of the researcher
• Allows quantitative analyses
• Sampling of populations is possible

• DISADVANTAGES
• Often identifies symptoms (and emotions), rather than causes
• Requires expertise to design…and time to administer
• Objectivity of responses
– Questions may “shape” the responses
– Social desirability bias
– Confidentiality and sensitive questions
• Issue of non-response
• Little control is really evident
– One-shot studies
– Hard to really prove cause-effect relationships
 EXPERIMENTS

ADVANTAGES
• Can infer “cause-effect” relationships
• Can be repeated…checked for consistency

DISADVANTAGES
• Difficult to control all the variables
– Realism is lost in the laboratory
– Precision is lost in the field
– No controls over natural experiments
• Manipulation may affect worker productivity
• When is the best time to take an observation/measurement?
• Subject loss
• Subject bias
• Generalizability to other organizations/settings
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGNS