Chapter 1

Welcome to the World of OB

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Learning Objectives

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1 Define organizational behavior (referred to as OB throughout the text).

2 Show the value of systematic study to OB.

3 Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.

4 Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.

5 Identify managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB concepts.

6 Compare the three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model.

Why OB Matters?

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♣ Till 1980s business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of management

Technical skills are very important but it is not enough … why?

Interpersonal skills are needed and equally important.

What is interpersonal skills? Why it is needed?

♣ OB helps transforming a workplace from good to great (high quality of the workplace).

♣There are strong associations between the quality of workplace relationships and employee job

satisfaction, stress, and turnover … etc.

♣ Increasing the OB element in organizations can foster social responsibility awareness.

Management and Organizational

Behavior

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Organizational Behavior (OB)

A field of study that investigates the impact individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within

organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s

effectiveness.

OB is the study of Human “employees” behavior

in the organizational context.

OB examines behavior in the context of job

satisfaction, absenteeism, employment

turnover, productivity, human performance,

and management. In addition to other core

topics

Management and Organizational

Behavior

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Effective versus Successful Managerial Activities

Complementing Intuition with

Systematic Study

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Systematic StudyLooking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and

drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence

Evidence Based

ManagementBasing managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence

Intuition A gut feeling not necessarily supported by research

What is the importance of big data?

What is the importance of using systematic study

and EBM?

What is the problem with over depending on

intuition?

Disciplines that Contribute to the OB

Field

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PsychologyThe science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change thebehavior of humans and other animals

Social PsychologyAn area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology andsociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another

Sociology The study of people in relation to their social environment or culture

Anthropology The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities

Disciplines that Contribute to the OB

Field

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There are Few Absolutes in OB

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Why there are few absolutes in OB?

Because of situational factors that make the main relationship between two variables change … e.g., the

relationship may hold for one condition but not another

Contingency

Variables (Situational

Factors)

Variable that moderate the relationship between two or more other variables

Dependent Variable (Y) - “Effect”Independent Variable (X) - “Cause”

Contingency Variables (z) - Situational Factors

Challenges and Opportunities for OB

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1 Continuing Globalization

Adapting to differing cultural and regulatory

norms

2 Workforce Demographic

Working with people from different cultures

3 Workforce Diversity

The concept that organizations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, race,

ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.

4 Social Media

Challenges and Opportunities for OB

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5 Employee Well-Being at Work

6 Positive Work Environment

7 Ethical Behavior

Ethical dilemmas and ethical choices are situations in which individuals are required to define

right and wrong conduct.

positive organizational scholarship / positive organizational behavior

An area of OB research that concerns how organizations develop human strengths, foster vitality

and resilience, and unlock potential.

Coming Attractions: Developing an OB

Model

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A model

Abstraction of reality, or a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon

Input Process Outcomes

Coming Attractions: Developing an OB

Model

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The Independent Variables (X) The Dependent Variables (Y)

The presumed cause of the change in the

dependent variable (Y)

This is the variable that OB researchers

manipulate to observe the changes in Y

This is the response to X (the independent

variable)

It is what the OB researchers want to predict or

explain

The interesting variable!

Productivity – Absenteeism – Turnover - Deviant

Workplace Behavior - Organizational Citizenship

Behavior - Job Satisfaction … etc.

Individual – Group – Organization System

Level Variable

Contingency Variables (z) - Situational Factors

Coming Attractions: Developing an OB

Model

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Independent

Variables (X)

Dependent

Variables (Y)

Th

ree L

evels

Organizational Behavior

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Management Process

Input Process Output

Organizational Resources Managerial FunctionsOrganizational goals and

objectives

Capital

Equipment & machinery

Raw material

Human resource

Planning

Organizing

Leading

Controlling

Effectiveness

Efficiency

The process of best utilizing organizational resources through applying managerial functions to achieve

organizational goals and objectives

Organizational Behavior

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Organizational Behavior (OB)

The process of predicting human behavior in the organizational context in order to enhance, motivate,

maintain, change, eliminate … etc. that behavior to achieve organizational goals and objectives

What Understand, study, and analyze human behavior

Why Enhance, motivate, maintain, change, eliminate … etc. human behavior

Purpose Achieve organizational goals and objectives (effectiveness – efficiency)