(A) What Is Organizational Behavior

Chapter 1
What Is
Organizational
Behaviour?
Chapter 1, Stephen P. Robbins and Nancy Langton, Organizational Behaviour, Third Canadian Edition.
Copyright © 2003 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
Chapter 1 Outline
• Defining Organizational Behaviour
• Today’s Challenges in the Canadian
Workplace
• OB: Making Sense of Behaviour in
Organizations
• Levels of Organizational Behaviour
What Is Organizational
Behaviour?
Questions for Consideration
• What is organizational behaviour?
• What challenges do managers and
employees face in the workplace of the
21st century?
• How will knowledge of organizational
behaviour make a difference for you?
Organizational Behaviour
• . . . a field of study that investigates the
impact that individuals, groups and
structure have on behaviour within
organizations, for the purpose of applying
such knowledge toward improving an
organization’s effectiveness.
Why Do We Study OB?
• To learn about yourself and how to deal with
others
• You are part of an organization now, and will
continue to be a part of various organizations
• Organizations are increasingly expecting
individuals to be able to work in teams, at least
some of the time
• Some of you may want to be managers or
entrepreneurs
What Is an Organization?
• A consciously coordinated social unit,
composed of a group of people, which
functions on a relatively continuous basis
to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
Exhibit 1-1 Challenges Facing
the Workplace
Organizational Level
• Productivity
• Developing Effective Employees
• Global Competition
• Managing in the Global Village
Group Level
• Working With Others
• Workforce Diversity Workplace
Individual Level
• Job Satisfaction
• Empowerment
• Behaving Ethically
Today’s Challenges in the
Canadian Workplace
• Challenges at the Individual Level
– Job Satisfaction
– Empowerment
– Behaving Ethically
• Challenges at the Group Level
– Working With Others
– Workforce Diversity
Today’s Challenges in the
Canadian Workplace
• Challenges at the Organizational Level
– Productivity
– Developing Effective Employees
• Absenteeism
• Turnover
• Organizational Citizenship
– Competition From the Global Environment
– Managing and Working in a Global Village
Productivity
• Productivity
– A performance measure including
effectiveness and efficiency
• Effectiveness
– Achievement of goals
• Efficiency
– The ratio of effective work output to the
input required to produce the work
Effective Employees
• Absenteeism
– Failure to report to work
• Turnover
– Voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal
from the organization
• Organizational citizenship behaviour
– Discretionary behaviour that is not part of an
employee’s formal job requirements, but is helpful to
the organization
Contributing Disciplines to the
OB Field
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Social Psychology
• Anthropology
• Political Science
Exhibit 1-2
Toward an OB Discipline
Behavioural Contribution Unit of Output
science analysis
Learning
Motivation
Perception
Training
Leadership effectiveness
Job satisfaction
Psychology Individual decision making
Performance appraisal
Attitude measurement
Employee selection
Work design
Work stress
Individual
Group dynamics
Work teams
Communication
Power
Conflict
Intergroup behaviour
Sociology
Formal organization theory Study of
Organizational technology Group Organizational
Organizational change Behaviour
Organizational culture
Behavioural change
Attitude change
Social psychology Communication
Group processes
Group decision making
Organization
Comparative values system
Comparative attitudes
Cross-cultural analysis
Anthropology
Organizational culture
Organizational environment
Conflict
Political science Intraorganizational politics
Power
The Rigour of OB
• OB looks at consistencies
– What is common about behaviour, and helps
predictability?
• OB is more than common sense
– Systematic study, based on scientific evidence
• OB has few absolutes
• OB takes a contingency approach
– Considers behaviour in context
Beyond Common Sense
• Systematic Study
– Looking at relationships, attempting to
attribute causes and effects and drawing
conclusions based on scientific evidence
• Behaviour is generally predictable
• There are differences between individuals
• There are fundamental consistencies
• There are rules (written & unwritten) in almost
every setting
Exhibit 1-3
Basic OB Model, Stage I
Organization systems level
Group level
Individual level
Exhibit 1-4
Basic OB Model, Stage II
Human resource
policies and
practices
Organization Work design

Organizational
structure and
culture
and design technology
Organization
Systems Level
Change and Group

Leadership
stress decision making
Group Work
Communication Productivity
structure teams
Absence
Turnover
Other Power and
Conflict Human
groups politics
Group Level output
Satisfaction
Organizational
commitment
Biographical
characteristics
Workplace
interaction
Personality Perception
Motivation Individual
Values and
attitudes decision making
Human Individual
Ability Differences
input
Individual Level
Summary and Implications
• OB is a field of study that investigates the
impact that individuals, groups, and structure
have on behaviour within an organization.
• OB focuses on improving productivity, reducing
absenteeism and turnover, and increasing
employee job satisfaction and organizational
commitment.
• OB uses systematic study to improve
predictions of behaviour.
OB at Work
For Review
• 1. Define organizational behaviour.
• 2. What is an organization? Is the family unit an organization? Explain.
• 3. “Behaviour is generally predictable, so there is no need to formally
study OB.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
• 4. What are some of the challenges and opportunities that managers
face as we move into the 21st century?
• 5. What are the three levels of analysis in our OB model? Are they
related? If so, how?
• 6. Why is job satisfaction an important consideration for OB?
• 7. What are effectiveness and efficiency, and how are they related to
organizational behaviour?
• 8. What does it mean to say OB takes a contingency approach in its
analysis of behaviour?
For Critical Thinking
• 1. “OB is for everyone.” Build an argument to support
this statement.
• 2. Why do you think the subject of OB might be
criticized as being “only common sense,” when we
would rarely hear such a criticism of a course in physics
or statistics? Do you think this criticism of OB is fair?
• 3. On a scale of 1 to 10 measuring the sophistication of a
scientific discipline in predicting phenomena,
mathematical physics would probably be a 10. Where
do you think OB would fall on the scale? Why?
• 4. Can empowerment lead to greater job satisfaction?
Exhibit 1-5
Competing Values Framework
Flexibility
Internal Focus
External Focus
Control
Competing Values Framework
• Internal-External Dimension
– Inwardly toward employee needs and concerns and/or production
processes and internal systems
or
– Outwardly, toward such factors as the marketplace, government
regulations, and the changing social, environmental, and technological
conditions of the future
• Flexibility-Control Dimension
– Flexible and dynamic, allowing more teamwork and participation;
seeking new opportunities for products and services
or
– Controlling or stable, maintaining the status quo and exhibiting less
change
Exhibit 1-6 Skills for Mastery in
the New Workplace
Flexibility
1. Understanding
yourself and others
2. Interpersonal 1. Living with change
communication 2. Creative thinking
3. Developing 3. Managing change
subordinates
1. Team building 1. Building and maintaining

2. Participative Mentor Innovator a power base
decision making 2. Negotiating agreement
3. Conflict and commitment
management 3. Negotiating and
Facilitator Broker selling ideas
Internal External
1. Receiving and
Monitor Producer 1. Personal productivity
organizing information and motivation
2. Evaluating 2. Motivating others
routine information 3. Time and stress
3. Responding to Coordinator Director management
routine information
1. Planning 1. Taking initiative

2. Organizing 2. Goal setting
3. Controlling 3. Delegating effectively
Control
Source: R.E. Quinn. Beyond Rational Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1988, p. 48.
Learning About Yourself
Scoring Key
• Director: 1, 2, 3 Mentor: 13, 14, 15

• Producer: 4, 5, 6 Facilitator: 16, 17, 18
• Coordinator: 7, 8, 9 Innovator: 19, 20, 21
• Monitor: 10, 11, 12 Broker: 22, 23, 24
Learning About Yourself
Exercise
1. Taking initiative 13. Understanding yourself and others
2. Goal setting 14. Interpersonal communication
3. Delegating effectively 15. Developing subordinates
4. Personal productivity and 16. Team building
motivation 17. Participative decision making
5. Motivating others 18. Conflict management
6. Time and stress management 19. Living with change
7. Planning 20. Creative thinking
8. Organizing 21. Managing change
9. Controlling 22. Building and maintaining a power
10. Receiving and organizing base
information 23. Negotiating agreement and
11. Evaluating routine information commitment
12. Responding to routine information 24. Negotiating and selling ideas
Breakout Group Exercises
Form small groups to discuss the following topics:
1. Consider a group situation in which you have worked. To what
extent did the group rely on the technical skills of the group
members vs. their interpersonal skills? Which skills seemed most
important in helping the group function well?
2. Identify some examples of “worst jobs.” What conditions of these
jobs made them unpleasant? To what extent were these conditions
related to behaviours of individuals?
3. Develop a list of “organizational puzzles,” i.e., behaviour you’ve
observed in organizations that seemed to make little sense. As the
term progresses, see if you can begin to explain these puzzles, using
your knowledge of organizational behaviour.
Working With Others Exercise
This exercise asks you to consider the skills outlined in the Competing
Values Framework to develop an understanding of managerial
expertise. Steps 1–4 can be completed in 15–20 minutes.
• 1. Using the skills listed in “Learning About Yourself,” identify the
4 skills that you think all managers should have.
• 2. Identify the 4 skills that you think are least important for
managers to have.
• 3. In groups of 5–7, reach a consensus on the most-needed and
least-needed skills identified in Steps 1 and 2.
• 4. Using Exhibit 1-4, determine whether your “ideal” managers
would have trouble managing in some dimensions of organizational
demands.
Supplemental Material
Slides for activities I do in my own

classroom
Exercise
• In groups of 6
– Introduce yourselves
– Pick an interviewer
– Decide on questions or topics you want interviewer
to ask me
• The interview
– Introduce interviewer to me and the class
– Ask one question from your list (we will go around
the groups with one question at a time)

(A) What Is Organizational Behavior

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(A) What Is Organizational Behavior

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Chapter 1

Organization systems level

Organization Work design

Change and Group

1. Team building 1. Building and maintaining

1. Planning 1. Taking initiative

• Director: 1, 2, 3 Mentor: 13, 14, 15

Slides for activities I do in my own

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