Introduction to Designing Organizational Systems

BUSI 3602 – Section A – Winter 2024

Larry M. Coutts, Ph.D.

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 Agenda

 Administrative details

 Review of course outline

 Course content
 Evaluation and assignments

 Introduction to Organizational Behaviour

 Research Methods

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 Administrative Details

 Dr. Larry M. Coutts

 Email: Larry.Coutts@carleton.ca or Larry.Coutts@cunet.carleton.ca
 Home Telephone: 613-830-2339
 Office hours: By appointment only Mondays 2:30-3:30
 Office: Room 7010, Nicol Building
 Course web page: https://brightspace.carleton.ca/d2l/home/220441
 TA: TBA
 Textbook:
• McShane, S., Tasa, K., Steen, S. (2021). Canadian Organizational
Behaviour (11th Edition). McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. ISBN-
13: 978-1-26-032685-7

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 e-Textbook Purchase Option

As an alternative to a hard copy of the textbook, you can purchase a

less expensive online version of the book (e-Book).

To do so, please follow the instructions included in the e-Textbook

Purchase Instructions documents shown on the course web site.

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 Course Description

 Examines theories and research pertaining to individual and

group behaviour in organizations as well as how organizational
systems impact effectiveness

 Will help you apply your theoretical knowledge to real-life

organizational situations

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 Course Topics

1. Research methods
2. Personality, perception, and attribution Individual Level
3. Work motivation
4. Values and attitudes in organizations
5. Leadership Group Level
6. Conflict, negotiation, power, politics, and decision making
7. Group behaviour, teamwork, and communication
8. Personnel selection systems Organization Systems
9. Fairness in employee selection Level
10. Organizational culture, socialization, structure and design
11. Organizational change

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 Evaluation

1. Individual Mini Case Analysis (20%) January 29

2. Midterm Exam (in class) (30%) February 12

3. Group Case Analysis Report (20%) March 25

4. Final Exam (30%) TBA

Note: Both written assignments must be submitted to me by email

before 11:00 p.m. on the day in which they are due.

Larry.Coutts@carleton.ca
or
Larry.Coutts@cunet.carleton.ca
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 Individual Mini Case Analysis (20%)

 Individual Mini Case Analysis due by email on January 29.

 The case and instructions are provided on the course web site

 Case pertains to faculty member motivational issues in a university

English department

 Analysis of the case involves the application of motivation concepts

and theories described in the textbook and lecture

 Report should be between 3 and 4 double-spaced, typed pages

 Sources do not need to be referenced.

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 Group Case Analysis Report (20%)

 Groups of 5 formed by January 29 (class # 4). Group lists to be

submitted to me via email in the Excel Spreadsheet Template shown
on the course web site
 The group case report is due by email on March 25. Report should be
10 typed, double-spaced pages with proper referencing of sources.
 The Case is titled “Relax Inc. – Spa and Hair Salon” and is
presented with instructions on the course web site. In addition,
some additional articles to get you started on the case analysis exercise
are provided on the course web site.
 The case deals with the job satisfaction and employee engagement of
a company’s workforce. You task is to analyze the data, draw
conclusions about the results, and offer and support recommendations
to the general manager regarding ways to improve the job satisfaction
and engagement of the company’s workforce.
 Specific issues to be addressed are provided in the case.
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 Introduction to
Organizational Behaviour

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 What are Organizations?

An organization is a consciously created social unit

composed of a group of people that function on a
relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal
or set of goals

 Social inventions: The coordinated presence of people, not

things
 Goal accomplishment: They exist for a reason; virtually all
organizations have survival as a goal
 Group effort: Organizations depend on interaction and
coordination among people to accomplish their goals

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 What is Organizational Behaviour?

OB studies the impact of individuals, groups, systems,

and structures on behaviour within organizations for
the purpose of applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s effectiveness

Organizational behaviour studies what

people think, feel, and do in organizations

Understanding human behaviour plays a key role in

determining organizational effectiveness

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 Consider this…

Identify the “worst” job or organization in which you

worked.

What conditions of this job or organization made it

unpleasant?

To what extent were these conditions related to behaviours

of other individuals?

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Four general trends across organizations
during The past 30 years

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 1. People-Centred Management

 Research indicates people-centred practices are strongly

associated with higher profits and lower employee turnover
 7 people-centred practices in successful organizations:
1. Maintaining job security (eliminate fear of layoffs)
2. Instituting solid recruitment and selection processes
3. Employee empowerment (decentralized, self-managed teams)
4. Generous pay for performance
5. Lots of training
6. Less emphasis on status (to build a “we” feeling)
7. Building trust (through the sharing of critical information)

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 2. Technological Change

 Can be a constructive or disruptive force in organizations

 Effects of technological change
• Higher productivity, but displaces employees/occupations
• Alters work relationships and behaviour patterns
• Greater employee voice to executives
• Less work-nonwork separation
• Reduced attention span at work
• More techno-stress
• Technology is transforming people analytics
• Pulse surveys
• Surveillance software to track employee movements and computer
time
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 3. Teleworking Benefits and Problems

 Remote/Telework Benefits
• better work-life balance (Maybe!)
• valued work benefit
• higher productivity
• better for the environment
• lower real estate costs for company
 Remote/Telework Disadvantages
• more social isolation, less co-worker interaction
• less informal communication to help career advancement
• lower team cohesion, weaker organizational culture

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 4. The Age of Human Capital

 Human capital is the productive potential of an individual’s

knowledge and actions.

 Employees with the right combination of knowledge, skills, and

motivation represent the potential to give organizations a
competitive advantage

 Thus, today’s executives are very concerned about recruiting and

retaining talented people, developing employees’ skills, and
getting them fully engaged.

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 OB – Levels of Analysis

OB is the study of organizations from multiple

methods and levels of analysis

Organization
Individual Group
Systems
Level Level
Level

teamwork, group
norms, diversity, personnel selection,
personality, perception,
communication, organizational
values, attitudes,
leadership, power, culture, design,
job motivation,
politics, and conflict, structure, and change
decision making
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 The Foundations of OB

Learning, perception, personality, emotions, values,

Psychology attitudes, leadership, motivation, job satisfaction,
decision-making, and job design

Social Social influence, communication, attitude change,

Psychology group decision making, power, and conflict

Organizational change,
Sociology culture, and structure

Differences in fundamental values,

Anthropology attitudes, and behaviour
across national cultures
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 A Brief History of OB

1. Scientific Management (1800-1915) – (specialization, standardization)

• Frederic Taylor (1911, Principles of Scientific Management)
2. Human Relations Movement
• Hawthorne Works Studies (1924-1932; Western Electric
Company, Chicago)
 Initial interpretation: Increased attention to workers’ needs
improved productivity
 Later interpretation: Increased attention leads to temporary
increases in productivity (Hawthorne Effect)
• Douglas McGregor’s (1960) Theory X and Theory Y
3. Contingency Approach (1980’s to Present)
• Emphasis on fit between organizational processes and various
characteristics of the situation
• e.g., Leadership style; – is the best style contingent on the
nature of the situation? 21
 Why Study OB?

 OB is interesting
• It is about people and human nature.
• Why do people behave the way they do?

 OB is important and makes a difference

• Can help explain why some organizations succeed and some fail

• As individuals, the more we know about how organizations and

the people that comprise them behave, the more we will be able
to understand and “control” our own perceptions, behaviour,
emotions, and outcomes within an organization.

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 Which Statements are True?

1. Employees who are more satisfied with their jobs tend to be

much more productive than those who are less satisfied.

2. Effective organizational leaders tend to possess identical

personality traits.

3. Nearly all employees prefer stimulating, challenging jobs.

4. Pay is the best way to motivate employees and improve their job
performance.

Each statement is essentially false

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 Goals of OB

 Predicting organizational behaviour

• Through systematic study, the field of OB provides a scientific
foundation that helps improve predictions of organizational
events
 Explaining organizational behaviour
• Determining why events occur
• Explaining events is more complicated than predicting them
 Managing organizational behaviour
• If behaviour can be predicted and explained, it can often be
managed effectively

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Research Methods

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 Research Methods in OB (a)

Field Studies
On-site data
collection;
Meta-Analyses observation of Surveys
Combining and individuals questionnaire,
Analyzing the and groups phone, email,
results of many interview, or
studies online

Laboratory
Case Studies
Studies
In-depth
May be difficult
investigation of
to generalize
an individual or
results across
group over time
settings

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 Research Methods in OB (b)

o n
c t i Self Report
lle
C o
a Observation
D at

Random
Manipulation True Experiment
assignment
Research Design

No random
Manipulation Quasi-Experiment
assignment
No random No
Correlational
assignment manipulation

No random No
Descriptive
assignment manipulation
Lab Field
Research Setting
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 Data Analysis

 Descriptive Statistics
• Measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode)
• Measures of variability (range, standard deviation)

 Inferential Statistics (statistical significance)

• Extent to which results are due to chance
• Extent to which findings can be generalized to other samples
drawn from the same population

 Correlational Analysis (degree of linear relationship)

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 A Side Note

Standard Deviation
 The Standard Deviation is a measure of how spread out numbers are.

 Its symbol is σ (the Greek letter sigma)

 It is the square root of the Variance.

Variance
 The average of the squared differences from the Mean.

 i.e., For each number subtract the Mean and square the result

(the squared difference).

 Then calculate the average of those squared differences.

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Normal Distribution

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 Scatterplots of Correlations (a)

High

High Positive Correlation

Y + .80

Low
Low X High High

High Negative Correlation Y

- .80

Low
Low X High
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 Scatterplots of Correlations (b)

High

Low Positive Correlation

Y + .25

Low
Low X High
High

Low Negative Correlation Y

- .25

Low
Low X High
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 Scatterplots of Correlations (c)

Zero Correlation

High

Low

Low X High

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 Advantage of Meta-Analysis
(Example of a Correlational Study)

High
Study 2

Study 1

Low
Low X High

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When you don’t get that salary raise!

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