Stephens P.

Robbins
Timothy A. Judge
Organizational Behavior, 17th ed., Pearson

INTRODUCTION TO
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Learning Objectives

1. Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace

2. Define Organizational Behavior (OB)
3. Show the value to OB of systematic study
4. Identify the major behavioral sciences disciplines that contribute to OB
5. Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB
6. Identify managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB concepts
7. Compare the 3 levels of analysis in this text’s OB model

1–2
 The Importance of Interpersonal
Skills

 Able to generate superior financial performance

 Helps organizations to attract and keep high
performing employees
 There are strong association between the quality
of workplace relationships and employee job
satisfaction, stress and turnover.

1–3
What Managers Do

Managerial
ManagerialActivities
Activities
••Make
Makedecisions
decisions
••Allocate
Allocateresources
resources
••Direct
Directactivities
activitiesofofothers
othersto
to
attain
attaingoals
goals
1–4
Where Managers Work

1–5
Management Functions

Planning
Planning Organizing
Organizing
Management
Management
Functions
Functions

Controlling
Controlling Leading
Leading

1–6
Management Roles
by Henry Mintzberg

 Interpersonal Roles
• Figurehead, Leader and Liaisons
 Informational Roles
• Monitor, Disseminator and Spokesperson
 Decisional Roles
• Entrepreneur, Disturbance Handler and Resource
allocator and Negotiator
1–7
Management Skills

 Technical Skills
the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise
 Human Skills
the ability to work with, understand, and motivate other
people, both individually and in groups
 Conceptual Skills
the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex
situation 1–8
ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR

1–9
Contributing Disciplines

Many behavioral sciences

have contributed to the
development of Psychology
Organizational
Behavior
Social
Psychology

Sociology Anthropology
1-10
 Psychology

The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes

change the behavior of humans and other animals.

 Unit of Analysis:
 Individual

 Contributions to OB:
 Learning, motivation, personality, emotions, perception
 Training, leadership effectiveness, job satisfaction
 Individual decision making, performance appraisal attitude measurement
 Employee selection, work design, and work stress 1-11
Social Psychology

An area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology

and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one
another.
 Unit of Analysis:
 Group

 Contributions to OB:
 Behavioral change
 Attitude change
 Communication
 Group processes
 Group decision making 1-12
 Sociology

The study of people in relation to their fellow human

beings.
 Unit of Analysis:
› -- Organizational System › -- Group
 Contributions to OB:
› Group dynamics › Formal organization theory
› Work teams › Organizational technology
› Communication › Organizational change
› Power › Organizational culture
› Conflict
› Intergroup behavior
1–13
 Anthropology

The study of societies to learn about human beings and

their activities.

 Unit of Analysis:
› Organizational System › -- Group

 Contributions to OB:
› Organizational culture › Comparative values
› Organizational › Comparative attitudes
environment › Cross-cultural analysis 1-14
Few Absolutes in OB

Situational factors that make the main relationship between two

variables change—e.g., the relationship may hold for one condition
but not another.

Contingency Independent Dependent

Variable (Z) Variable (X) Variable (Y)

In American Boss Gives

Understood as
“Thumbs Up”
Culture Sign
Complimenting

In Iranian or Boss Gives Understood as

Australian “Thumbs Up” Insulting - “Up
Cultures Sign Yours!”
1-15
 Challenges and
Opportunities for OB
 Economic Pressures
 Continuing Globalization
 Workforce Demographics
 Workforce Diversity
 Customer Service
 People Skills
 Networked Organizations
 Social Media
 Employee Well-Being at Work
 Positive Work Environment
 Ethical Behavior
 Improving Quality and
Productivity
1-16
 Developing an OB Model

 A model is an abstraction of reality – a simplified

representation of some real-world phenomenon.

1–17
 Developing an OB Model

 OB model has three levels of variables, there are :

 Inputs
 leads to processes
 Set the stage what will occur later on in an organization
 Processes
 actions that individuals, groups and organizations engage in
as a result of inputs and that lead to certain outcomes
 Outcomes
 key factors that affected by some other variables
1-18
1-19
The Independent Variables

Independent
Independent
Variables
Variables

Individual-Level Group-Level Organization

Organization
Individual-Level Group-Level System-Level
Variables
Variables Variables
Variables System-Level
Variables
Variables
1–20
 The Independent Variables

The independent variable (X) can be at any of these three levels in this model:
 Individual
 Biographical characteristics, personality and emotions, values and attitudes, ability,
perception, motivation, individual learning, and individual decision making
 Group
 Communication, group decision making, leadership and trust, group structure,
conflict, power and politics, and work teams
 Organization System
 Organizational culture, human resource policies and practices, and organizational
structure and design

1-21
The Dependent Variables

x 1-22