Introduction to

Organizational
Behavior
Why Do We Study OB?

• To learn about yourself and others

• To understand how the many
organizations you encounter work.
• To become familiar with team work
• To help you think about the people
issues faced by managers and
entrepreneurs
 What Is an
Organization?

• A consciously coordinated social unit:

• composed of a group of people
• functioning on a relatively continuous
basis
• to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
 Concept of Organizational Behaviour

• Process and Business of every organization are classified into two

main groups
• Fundamental Process - Operational Functions, Production and other
work functions
• Management Process – Control functions are implemented in
management, Leadership
The process of organizational relations, called
organizational behaviour, is the subject of
several disciplines with different perspective -
psychology, Industrial Psychology,
Communication, Psychiatry, Sociology,
anthropology, Political science
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

Micro: Psychology
The Individual

Social Psychology

Sociology
Macro:
Groups &
Organizations Anthropology
 Features

• 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.
 Various Definition

• Initial Definition Given by D.S.Pugh 1971 – “ If Functions of objective,

structure and practical realization in the organization setup the relations
between individuals and groups in work processes, management and
administration, we called organizational behaviour”.
• Fred Luthans somewhat narrowly defined organizational behaviour as a
managerial skill to understanding, prediction and control human behaviour.
• Barnard 1938 – Organizations are a system of cooperative activities and
their coordination requires something intangible and personal that is largely
a matter of personal relationships.
 Various Definition

• Robins 1989 - Organizational Behaviour is a special field of study

of the impact that individuals, groups and organizational
structure have on behaviour within organizations, to apply such
knowledge to improve organizational performance.
• Buchanan and Huczynski 1997 – Organizations are defined as
social arrangements, constructed by people, who can also
change them
 Challenges and Opportunities for OB
• The workplace is contains a wide mix of cultures,
races, ethnic groups, genders and ages
• Employees have to learn to cope with rapid change
due to global competition
• Corporate loyalty has decreased due to corporate
downsizing and use of temp workers
• Managers can benefit from OB theory and concepts
Responding to Globalization
• Increased foreign assignments
• Differing needs and aspirations in
workforce
• Working with people from
different cultures
• Domestic motivational techniques
and managerial styles may not work
• Overseeing movement of jobs to
countries with low-cost labor
 Managing Workforce Diversity

Workforce diversity:
organizations are
becoming a more
heterogeneous mix of
people in terms of gender,
age, race, ethnicity
Diversity Implications

“Managers have to shift their

philosophy from treating
everyone alike to recognizing
differences and responding to
those differences in ways that
ensure employee retention and
greater productivity while, at
the same time, not
discriminating.”
 OB Offers Insights Into:

• Improving quality and productivity

• Customer service and building a
customer-responsive culture
• Developing people skills
OB Aids in Dealing With:

• Stimulating Innovation and Change

• Increasing “temporariness” in the
workplace
• Helping employees balance work-life
conflicts
• Improving ethical behavior
 Thinking Positive

• Creating a positive work environment can be a competitive

advantage
• Positive Organizational Scholarship (Positive OB):
• Examines how organizations develop human strengths, foster
vitality and resilience, and unlock potential.
• Focus is on employee strengths, not their weaknesses.
 Define “role”

• A role is a set of behaviours associated with a particular job

 Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles

Henry Mintzberg studied CEOs at work and created a scheme to define

what managers do on the job. These are commonly referred to as
Mintzberg’s managerial roles.
These can be grouped into three primary headings: interpersonal,
informational and decisional

27
 INTERPERSONAL
Role Description
Figurehead Manager serves as an official
representative of the
organization or unit
Leader Manager guides and motivates
staff and acts as a positive
influence in the workplace
Liaison Manager interacts with peers
and with people outside the
organization to gain information
Identifiable Activity
Greeting visitors;
signing legal
documents
Staffing, training
Acknowledging
mail/email; serving on
boards; performing
activities that involve
outsiders
 INFORMATIONAL
Role Description Identifiable Activity
Monitor Manager receives and Reading magazines
collects information and reports;
maintaining personal
contacts
Communication Manager distributes Holding meetings;
(Disseminator) information within the making phone calls to
organization relay information;
email/memos
Spokesperson Manager distributes Holding board
information outside the meetings; giving
organization information to the
media
 DECISIONAL
Role Description Identifiable Activity
Entrepreneur Manager initiates change Organizing sessions to
develop new
programs; supervises
design of projects
Disturbance Manager decides how Steps in when an
Handler conflicts between employee suddenly
subordinates should be leaves or an important
resolved customer is lost
Resource Manager decides how the Scheduling;
Allocator organization will use its requesting
resources authorization;
budgeting
Negotiator Manager decides to negotiate Participating in union
major contracts with other contract negotiations
 Review ~

• Processes or tasks (activities: planning, organizing, leading, controlling)

• Roles (behaviours: interpersonal, informational and decisional)
• Skills are abilities crucial to success in a managerial position.
 Behavioral Perspective of Managerial Styles

• Managerial Roles
• Conceptual
• Administrative
• Interpersonal
• Action
 Behavioral Perspective of Managerial Styles

• How Managers Perform Roles

• Linking
• Conceiving
• Leading
 Behavioral Perspective of Managerial Styles

• Managerial Approaches to Action

• Deductive
• Inductive
Behavioral Perspective of Managerial Styles
• Management Mind-Sets
• Reflective
• Analytic
• Worldly
• Collaborative
• Action