3240 What Is Organizationa Behaviour

Chapter 1
What is
Organizational
Behaviour?
Chapter 1, Stephen P. Robbins and Nancy Langton, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Second Canadian Edition.
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education Canada Inc.
Outline
• What is Organizational Behaviour?
• OB and Today’s Challenges in the Canadian
Workplace
• How Will Knowing OB Make a Difference?
• OB: Making Sense of Behaviour in
Organizations
• There Are Few Absolutes in OB
What is Organizational
Behaviour?
Questions for Consideration
1. What is organizational behaviour?
2. What challenges do managers and employees face
in the workplace of the 21st century?
3. How does knowing about organizational
behaviour make work and life more
understandable?
Organizational
Behaviour
• . . . a field of study that investigates
how individuals, groups and structure
affect and are affected by behaviour
within organizations, for the purpose of
applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s
effectiveness.
Why Do We Study OB?
• To learn about yourself and how to deal with
others
• You are part of an organization now, and will
continue to be a part of various organizations
• Organizations are increasingly expecting
individuals to be able to work in teams, at
least some of the time
• Some of you may want to be managers or
entrepreneurs
What is an
Organization?
• A consciously coordinated social
unit, composed of two or more
people, that functions on a
relatively continuous basis to
achieve a common goal or set of
goals.
Exhibit 1-5
Competing Values
Framework
Flexibility
Internal Focus
External Focus
Control
Task:
Best Job: Why?
Why?
Worst Job:
Roles and Skills in the New
Workplace
Flexibility
Mentor Innovator
External Focus
Internal Focus
Facilitator Broker
Monitor Producer
Coordinator Director
Control
How Companies are
Changing
“Cool” Companies “Old” Companies
• Believe casual days are • Think casual Fridays are pitiful
progressive • Charge employees for perks and
• Believe titles are obsolete incentives
• Don't impose on employees' • Hold events on employee time
personal time • Have flex time: but only
• Allow staff to come and go as between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
they please • Hide financial results from their
• Offer all employees stock employees
options • Encourage employee input --
• Let employees make decisions but rarely act on it
that affect their work • Employ rigid hierarchies (chain
• Offer assistance with childcare of command)
• Have minimal bureaucracy (red • Stop at “open door” policies
tape)
Exhibit 1-1 Challenges
Facing the Workplace
Organizational Level
• Productivity
• Developing effective employees
• Global competition
• Managing in the global village
Group Level
• Working with others
• Workforce diversity Workplace
Individual Level
• Job satisfaction
• Empowerment
• Behaving ethically
Exhibit 1-4
The Layers of OB
The Organization
Change
Organizational culture
Decision making
The Group Leadership
Power and politics

Negotiation
Conflict
Communication
The Individual Groups and teams
Motivating self and others

Emotions
Values and attitudes
Perception
Personality
Exhibit 1-3
Toward an OB Discipline
Behavioural Contribution Unit of Output
science analysis
Learning
Motivation
Perception
Training
Leadership effectiveness
Job satisfaction
Psychology Individual decision making
Performance appraisal
Attitude measurement
Employee selection
Work design
Work stress
Individual
Group dynamics
Work teams
Communication
Power
Conflict
Intergroup behaviour
Sociology
Formal organization theory Study of
Organizational technology Group Organizational
Organizational change Behaviour
Behavioural change
Attitude change
Social psychology Communication
Group processes
Group decision making
Organization
Comparative values system
Comparative attitudes
Cross-cultural analysis
Anthropology
Organizational environment
Conflict
Political science Intraorganizational politics
Power
The Rigour of OB
• OB:
• looks at consistencies
• is more than common sense
• has few absolutes
• takes a contingency approach
Bottom Line: OB Is For
Everyone
• Organizational behaviour is not just for
managers.
• OB applies equally well to all situations in
which you interact with others: on the
basketball court, at the grocery store, in
school, or in church.
Summary and
Implications
• OB:
• is a field of study that investigates the impact
that individuals, groups, and structure have
on behaviour within an organization.
• focuses on improving productivity, reducing
absenteeism and turnover, and increasing
employee job satisfaction and organizational
commitment.
• uses systematic study to improve predictions
of behaviour.

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Chapter 1

Best Job: Why?

Power and politics

Motivating self and others

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