CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF

ZIMBABWE
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

INTRODUCTION TO OB

BLAZIO MANOBO
 Objectives

After this session, students will have learnt:

Meaning and nature of organisational behaviour.
The challenges and opportunities of organisational
behaviour.
The emerging thoughts in organisational behaviour.
The interdisciplinary influences on organizational behavior.
Question – Who is your single worst colleague and best
colleague and why? Gets things done, supportive, friendly,
etc
Def: Organization as a purposeful system with several
subsystems where individuals and activities are organized
to achieve certain predetermined goals through division of
labor and coordination of activities.
 Definitions of Organizational Behaviour

Organisational behaviour (OB) is the study of the actions,

attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in an
organizations.
The study of human behavior, attitudes, and performance in
organizations.
OB investigates the impact of individuals, groups and structures
within organisations for the purpose of applying such knowledge
towards improving an organization's effectiveness (S. P. Robins).
OB is a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and
ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviours of individuals
and groups in organizations.
OB is an integration of studies from behavioural sciences like
psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, social
psychology and political science.
 Key Elements of OB

People: consist of individuals and groups, and large groups as well as small ones. People are
the living, thinking, feelings beings who created the organizations. It exists to achieve their
objectives and to serve them.
Structures: There are managers and employees, accountants and assemblers. These people
have to be related in some structural way so that their work can be effective.
Mechanistic form of Organization: characterized by centralized decision making at the
top, a rigid hierarchy of authority, well but narrowly defined job responsibilities especially at
lower levels, and extensive rules and regulations which are explicitly make known to
employees through written documents.
Organic form of Organization: characterized by decentralized decision-making which
allows people directly involved with the job to make their own decisions, very few levels in the
hierarchy with flexible authority and reporting patters, loosely defined job responsibilities for
members, and very few written rules and regulations
Jobs and Tasks: Tasks refer to the various activities that need to be performed to get the job
done. The nature of tasks, it’s executives by various individuals, nature of interdependence
and inter-relatedness, group activities etc have implication for organizational effectiveness
Technology: that set of productive components most directly associated with the
transformation process, for example, production or assembly line in manufacturing firm.
Environment: It influences the attitudes of people, affects working conditions, and provides
competition for resources and power.
 Importance of organizational behaviour

Organizations influence our lives powerfully:

Most people are born/educated in organizations
Most people acquire most of their material possessions from
organizations
Most people die as members of organizations
Many of our activities are regulated by governmental
organizations
Most people spend most of their lives in organizations
OB describes the complex human context of organizations
Define the problems, challenges, and issues in organizations
Isolates important aspects of the manager’s job
Explains the human side of management
 Value of organizational behaviour

 Organizations are created to serve human ends;

 Organizations and people need each other
 Organizations need ideas, energy, and talent;
 People need careers, salaries, and work opportunities
 When the fit/ relationships between the needs of the individual and
the organization is poor, one or both will suffer (exploitation by one
or the other or both).
 A good fit between individuals and organizations benefits both
because people gain meaningful satisfying work.
 OD helps people attain the competencies needed to become
effective employees, team leaders/members, or managers
 Helps organizations to adapt to technological changes – labour
reduced by 90%, introduction of computers, home working, virtual
teams, tele-working, etc
 Helps organizations to anticipate economic changes like benefits,
full time versus part time workers, labour mobility, cross cultural
issues.
 Goals of Organizational Behaviour
The goals of organisational behaviour are to:

Explain individual and group behaviour:

 We want to know why individuals or groups behaved the way they did.
 For example, if absenteeism in an organisation is very high, we want to know the
reason so that action can be taken to correct the situation in the future.
 No two individuals or groups are likely to behave the same

Predict how people respond to change:

 We want to determined what outcomes will result from a given action.
 Having a sound knowledge of OB will help the manager predict certain behavioural
responses to change.
 In this way, the manager can anticipate which approaches will generate the least
degree of employee resistance and use that information in making decision.

Control behaviour:
 The knowledge of OB can be used by managers to control behaviour.
 Managers frequently see the control objective as the most valuable contribution that
OB makes toward their effectiveness on the job.
 Contributing disciplines
1. Psychology – Helped us to explain human behaviour in a particular
situation and to predicts actions of individuals. Developed the theories of
learning, motivation, personality, T/D, stress, and conflict management
2. Sociology: studies the impact of culture on group behaviour. It helped to
explain group-dynamics, norms, status, power, conflict management and
group decision-making.
3. Political science – helped to explain the power difference and stability of
organizations/countries in relation to investment
4. Social psychology: Blending subjects of psychology and sociology to
achieve better human behaviour in organization. The field has contributed
to manage change, group decision-making, and to maintain social norms.
5. Anthropology – studies the difference in behaviour based on value
system of different cultures of various countries. The study is more relevant
due to globalization, mergers and acquisitions of various industries.
6. Economics – Studies the relationship between production, distribution
and consumption of goods and services. Helps to explains the material how
to satisfy the material welfare of people
 Relationship between behaviour and
organizational efficiency
OB modify their attitude and promote skills so that they can act
more effectively.
Organizational behaviour is a scientific discipline – uses scientific
methods to study behavior.
The knowledge is then practically applied to workers, groups and
organizational structure as tools for effectiveness
Leaders must look for indicators (effects) of individual behaviour
and of groups in any organization.
If the behaviour is not conducive to achieve the organisational
objective then suitable alternative remedies should be used
Leader must be able to describe, understand, predict and control
individual behavior in the organization.
Jobs should be allotted to the individual based on the aptitude and
the processes must be compatible with the technology being used if
organizations should be productive
 OB and management

Functions of Management
Planning: Process of determining an organization’s desired
future position and the best means of getting there. OB provides
the tools for planning
Organizing: Process of designing jobs, grouping jobs into
units, and establishing patterns of authority between jobs and
units. OB helps to understand the processes
Leading: Process of getting the organization’s members to
work together toward the organization’s goals. OB provides a
deeper understanding of management behaviours required for
successful leadership.
Controlling: Process of monitoring and correcting the actions
of the organization and its members to keep them directed
toward their goals. OB provides basis for motivation
 Managerial benefits of OB

1. Organizational development helps to develop

managerial skills like:
 Technical: Skills necessary to accomplish specific
tasks within the organization
 Interpersonal: Skills used to communicate with,
understand, and motivate individuals and groups
 Conceptual: Skills used in abstract thinking
 Diagnostic: Skills to understand cause-effect
relationships and to recognize best solutions to
problems
Critical Managerial skills
 Managerial benefits of OB

2. OB helps manager develop Personal growth

through insight into Human behaviour
Understanding others leads to personal fulfilment
Also leads to enhanced self knowledge and self
insight
Insight is useful for purposes of selecting people for
jobs, assignments, communication and motivation
 Managerial benefits of OB

3. Enhancing organizational and individual

effectiveness
OB helps improve organizational effectiveness – i.e.
The extent to which an organization is productive
and satisfies the demands of its interested parties.
People oriented management help workers to use
their wisdom for organizational effectiveness
 Managerial benefits of OB

4. Sharpening and refining common sense

OB sharpens and enlarges the domain of managerial
common sense
It challenges managers and workers to re-examine
generally accepted ideas that may be partially
relevant.
 Challenges facing industries today

Economic recessions: Anybody can run a company when business is booming but not
when there is a recession. The difference between good and bad management can be the
difference survival and failure. OB helps understand dynamics of workers in both times
Globalization: increased foreign assignment, working with people from different
cultures, moving jobs to low cost countries
Managing workforce diversity: acknowledges a workforce of women and men; many
racial and ethnic groups; individuals with a variety of physical or psychological abilities;
and people who differ in age and sexual orientation. Managing this diversity is a global
concern.
Improving customer service: OB can provide considerable guidance in helping
managers create such cultures—in which employees are friendly and courteous,
accessible, knowledgeable, prompt in responding to customer needs, and willing to do
what’s necessary to please the customer
Improving people skills: OB offers insights into specific people skills that you can use
on the job. It offers skills to design motivating jobs,techniques for improving your
listening skills, and how to create more effective teams.
Stimulating innovation and change: Today’s successful organizations must foster
innovation and master the art of change, or they’ll become candidates for extinction. An
organization’s employees can be the impetus for innovation and change, or they can be a
major stumbling block.
Thank you

END