Introduction To The Field Of Organizational Behaviour

Introduction to the Field of Organizational

Behavior

What are Organizations?What are Organizations?

Groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose Structured patterns of

interaction Coordinated tasks Work toward some

purpose

OrganizationalOrganizationalBehaviorBehaviorResearchResearch

UnderstandUnderstandorganizationalorganizational

eventsevents

PredictPredictorganizationalorganizational

eventsevents

InfluenceInfluenceorganizationalorganizational

eventsevents

Why Study Organizational Behavior

Trends: Globalization

Economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world

Effects of globalization on organizations: Greater efficiencies and knowledge sources Ethical issues about economies of developing

countries New organizational structures and communication Greater workforce diversity More competitive pressure, demands on

employees

Trends: Information Technology

Blurs temporal and spatial boundaries between employees and organizations

Re-designs jobs and power relationshipsIncreases value of knowledge managementSupports telecommutingSupports virtual teams

Telecommuting

An alternative work arrangement where employees work at home or remote site, usually with a computer connection to the office

Tends to increase productivity and empowerment, reduce stress and costs

Problems with lack of recognition, lack of social interaction

Trends: Changing Workforce

Primary and secondary diversity -- but concerns about distinguishing people by ethnicity

More women in workforce and professions Different needs of Gen-X/Gen-Y and baby-

boomersDiversity has advantages, but firms need to

adjust

Trends: Employment Relationship

Employability “New deal” employment relationship Continuously learn new skills

Contingent work No contract for long-term employment Free agents, temporary-temporaries Minimum hours of work vary

Employability vs Job Security

Job SecurityJob Security

• Lifetime job securityLifetime job security

• Jobs are permanentJobs are permanent

• Company manages careerCompany manages career

• Low emphasis on skill Low emphasis on skill developmentdevelopment

EmployabilityEmployability

• Limited job securityLimited job security

• Jobs are temporaryJobs are temporary

• Career self-managementCareer self-management

• High emphasis on skill High emphasis on skill developmentdevelopment

Trends: Workplace Values & Ethics

Values are long-lasting beliefs about what is important in a variety of situations Define right versus wrong --guide our decisions Values relate to individuals, companies,

professions, societies, etc.

Importance values due to: Need to guide employee decisions and actions Globalization increases awareness of different

values Increasing emphasis on applying ethical values Ethics -- study of moral principles or values

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility Organization’s moral obligation toward its

stakeholdersStakeholders

Shareholders, customers, suppliers, governments etc.

Triple bottom line philosophy Economic, Social & Environmental

OrganizationalOrganizationalBehaviorBehaviorAnchorsAnchors

MultidisciplinaryMultidisciplinaryAnchorAnchor

Systematic Systematic Research Research AnchorAnchor

ContingencyContingencyAnchorAnchor

Open Open Systems Systems AnchorAnchor

Multiple Multiple Levels of Levels of Analysis Analysis AnchorAnchor

Organizational Behavior Anchors

OutputsOutputsInputsInputs

SubsystemSubsystemSubsystemSubsystem

SubsystemSubsystem SubsystemSubsystem

OrganizationOrganization

Open Systems Anchor of OB

FeedbackFeedbackFeedbackFeedback

Knowledge Management Defined

Any structured activity that improves an organization’s capacity to acquire, share, and use knowledge for its survival and success

Structural Structural CapitalCapital

Relationship Relationship CapitalCapital

Knowledge captured in systems and structures

Values derived from satisfied customers, reliable suppliers, etc.

Human CapitalHuman CapitalKnowledge that people possess and generate

Intellectual Capital

• Awareness

• Empowerment

• Communication

• Communities of practice

• Grafting

• Individual learning

• Experimentation

KnowledgeKnowledgeacquisitionacquisition

KnowledgeKnowledgesharingsharing

KnowledgeKnowledgeuseuse

Knowledge Management Processes

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.

The Importance of Organizational Behavior People as organizations People as resources People as people

The Nature of Organizational Behavior

Challenges at Workplace

Workplace

Organizational Level

• Productivity• Developing Effective Employees• Global Competition• Managing in the Global Village

Group Level

• Working With Others• Workforce Diversity

Individual Level

• Job Satisfaction• Empowerment• Behaving Ethically

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 evidenceOB has few absolutesOB 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

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

PsychologySociologySocial PsychologyAnthropologyPolitical Science

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)




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.

The Historical Roots of Organizational Behavior

Scientific Management Era (early 1900s) Frederick W. Taylor

Studied the efficiency and productivity of individual workers.

Systematically studied jobs to eliminate soldiering. Promoted standardized job performance methods. Implemented piece-rate based incentive pay systems. Taylor’s innovations boosted productivity markedly.

Other Pioneers Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Henry Gantt Harrington Emerson

Scientific Management

Positive Attributes Facilitated job specialization and mass production. Demonstrated to managers their role in enhancing

performance and productivity. Negative Attributes

Labor opposed scientific management because its explicit goal was to get more output from workers.

Critics argued that Taylor’s methods and ideas would dehumanize the workplace and reduce workers to little more than drones.

Theorists later argued that Taylor’s views of employee motivation were inadequate and narrow.

The Historical Roots of Organizational Behavior

Classical Organization Theory This perspective was concerned with structuring

organizations effectively. Whereas scientific management studied how

individual workers could be made more efficient, organization theory focused on how a large number of workers and managers could be organized most effectively into an overall structure.

Major Contributors to Classical Organization Theory

Henri Fayol French executive and engineer.

Lyndall Urwick British executive.

Max Weber German Sociologist. Proposed a “bureaucratic” form of structure based on

logic, rationality, and efficiency that was assumed to be the most efficient (universal) approach to structuring for all organizations.

The Emergence of Organizational Behavior

Legacy of Scientific Management and Classical Organizational Theory Rationality, efficiency, and standardization were the

central themes of both scientific management and classic organization theory.

The roles of individuals and groups in organizations were either ignored or given only minimal attention.

The Hawthorne Studies (1927–1932) Focused attention on the role of human behavior in

the workplace. Led directly to the emergence of organizational

behavior as a field of study.

The Hawthorne Studies (1927–1932)

Involved two studies conducted by Elton Mayo at Western Electric’s plant near Chicago: The effects of lighting on productivity. The effectiveness of a piecework incentive system.

The studies yielded surprising results: In the lighting study, productivity went up because

the workers were singled out for special treatment. In the incentive system experiment, social pressures

caused the workers to vary their work rates. As a result of the Hawthorne studies, researchers

concluded that the human element in the workplace was more important than previously thought.

The Emergence of Organizational Behavior

The Human Relations Movement People respond primarily to their social environment. Motivation depends on social, not economic needs. Satisfied employees work harder than dissatisfied

employees. Douglas McGregor – Theory X and Theory Y Abraham Maslow – Hierarchy of needs

Toward Organizational Behavior: The Value of People Organizational behavior reached maturity as a field of

study in the late 1950s .

Contextual Perspectives on Organizational Behavior

The Systems Perspective A system is an interrelated set of elements that

function as a whole.

The Systems Approach Provides a framework for understanding how the

elements of an organization interact among themselves and with their environment.


The Universal Perspective Suggests that whenever a manager encounters a

problem, a universal approach exists that will lead to the desired outcome.

The Contingency Perspective Suggests that whenever a manager encounters a

problem, the approach to use is contingent on other variables.

The Systems Approach to Organizations


Interactionalism: People and Situations First presented in terms of interactional psychology,

this view assumes that individual behavior results from a continuous and multidirectional interaction between the characteristics of the person and the characteristics of the situation.

Interactionalism attempts to explain how people select, interpret, and change various situations

There Are Few Absolutes in OB

ContingencyContingencyVariablesVariablesx y

The Independent Variables

IndependentIndependentVariablesVariables

IndependentIndependentVariablesVariables

Individual-Level Individual-Level VariablesVariables

Individual-Level Individual-Level VariablesVariables

OrganizationOrganizationSystem-LevelSystem-Level

VariablesVariables

OrganizationOrganizationSystem-LevelSystem-Level

VariablesVariables

Group-LevelGroup-LevelVariablesVariables

Group-LevelGroup-LevelVariablesVariables

The Dependent Variables

x

y

The Dependent Variables (cont’d)


