Introduction of Organizational Behavior

Chapter 1

What Is Organizational
Behaviour?

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, Third Canadian Edition 1-1
Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Chapter 1 Outline

• Defining Organizational Behaviour
• OB: Making Sense of Behaviour in
Organizations
• How Will Knowing OB Make a Difference?
• Today’s Challenges in the Canadian
Workplace


What Is Organizational Behaviour?

1. What is organizational behaviour?
2. Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or
just like psychology?
3. How does knowing about organizational behaviour
make work and life more understandable?
4. What challenges do managers and employees face
in the workplace of the twenty-first century?


Organizational Behaviour

• A field of study that investigates the impact of
individuals, groups, and structure on behaviour
within organizations; the aim is to apply such
knowledge toward improving organizational
effectiveness.


Why Do We Study OB?

• To learn about yourself and others
• To understand how the many organizations you
encounter work.
• To become familiar with team work
• To help you think about the people issues faced by
managers and entrepreneurs


What Is an Organization?

• A consciously coordinated social unit:
– composed of a group of people
– functioning on a relatively continuous basis
– to achieve a common goal or set of goals.


The Building Blocks of OB

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Social Psychology
• Anthropology
• Political Science


Exhibit 1-1
Toward an OB Discipline


The Rigour of OB

• OB Looks at Consistencies
– What is common about behaviour, and helps
predictability?
• OB Looks Beyond Common Sense
– Systematic study, based on scientific evidence
• OB Has Few Absolutes
• OB Takes a Contingency Approach
– Considers behaviour in context

Exhibit 1-2
Research Methods in OB

Source: J. R. Schermerhorn, J.G. Hunt, and R. N. Osborn, Organizational Behaviour, 9th Edition, 2005, p. 4. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


How Will Knowing OB Make a
Difference?
• For Managers
– Knowing organizational behaviour can help you
manage well and makes for better corporations.
– Managing people well leads to greater
organizational commitment.
– Finally, managing well may improve
organizational citizenship.


How Will Knowing OB Make a
Difference?
• For Individuals
– What if I’m not going to work in a large organization?
• The theories generally apply to organizations of any
size.
– What if I don’t want to be a manager?
• To some extent, the roles of managers and employees
are becoming blurred in many organizations.
• While self-employed individuals often do not act as
managers, they certainly interact with other
individuals and organizations as part of their work.


Bottom Line: OB Is For Everyone

• Organizational behaviour is not just for managers.
– The roles of managers and employees are becoming
blurred in many organizations.
– Managers are increasingly asking employees to share in
their decision-making processes rather than simply follow
orders.
• 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.


Exhibit 1-4
Basic OB Model

Organization systems level

Group level

Individual level


Today’s Challenges
in the Canadian Workplace
• Challenges at the Individual Level
– Individual Differences
– Job Satisfaction
– Motivation
– Empowerment
– Behaving Ethically


• Challenges at the Group Level
– Working With Others
– Workforce Diversity


• Challenges at the Organizational Level
– Productivity
– Developing Effective Employees
– Putting People First
– Global Competition
– Managing and Working in a Multicultural World


• Challenges at the Organizational Level
– Productivity
• A performance measure including
effectiveness and efficiency.
– Effectiveness
• The achievement of goals.
– Efficiency
• The ratio of effective work output to the input
required to produce the work.

Developing Effective Employees

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB)
– Discretionary behaviour that is not part of an
employee’s formal job requirements, but that
nevertheless promotes the effective functioning
of the organization.


Putting People First

• Putting people first generates a committed
workforce and positively affects the bottom
line.
• People will work harder when they feel they
have ―more control and say in their work.‖


How to Put People First

• Provide employment security.
• Hire well.
• Create self-managed teams.
• Pay well.
• Provide extensive training.
• Reduce status differences.
• Share information about organizational
performance.

Global Competition

• In recent years, Canadian businesses have
faced tough competition from the United
States, Europe, Japan, and even China, as
well as from other companies within our
borders.
• To survive, they have had to reduce costs,
increase productivity, and improve quality.


Managing and Working in a
Multicultural World
• Managers and employees must become
capable of working with people from different
cultures:
– Multinational corporations are developing
operations worldwide.
– Companies are developing joint ventures with
foreign partners.
– Workers are pursuing job opportunities across
national borders.

Summary and Implications

1. What is organizational behaviour?
– OB is a field of study that investigates the impact
that individuals, groups, and structure have on
behaviour within an organization.
2. Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or
just like psychology?
– OB is built on contributions from a number of
behavioural disciplines, including psychology,
sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and
political science. It goes beyond ―common sense.‖


Summary and Implications

3. How does knowing about organizational behaviour
make work and life more understandable?
– OB helps people manage well, and managing well
can lead to greater organizational commitment by
employees.
4. What challenges do managers and employees face in
today’s workplace?
– Each level of analysis—the individual, the group,
and the organization—presents challenges.

OB at Work


For Review
1. Define organizational behaviour.
2. What is an organization? Is the family unit an organization? Explain.
3. ―Behaviour is generally predictable, so there is no need to formally
study OB.‖ Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Why?
4. What does it mean to say that OB takes a contingency approach in its
analysis of behaviour?
5. What are the three levels of analysis in our OB model? Are they
related? If so, how?
6. What are some of the challenges and opportunities that managers face
in today’s workplace?
7. Why is job satisfaction an important consideration for OB?
8. What are effectiveness and efficiency, and how are they related to
OB?


For Critical Thinking

1. ―OB is for everyone.‖ Build an argument to support this
statement.
2. Why do you think the subject of OB might be criticized as
being ―only common sense,‖ when we would rarely hear such
a criticism of a course in physics or statistics? Do you think
this criticism of OB is fair?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10 measuring the sophistication of a
scientific discipline in predicting phenomena, mathematical
physics would probably be a 10. Where do you think OB
would fall on the scale? Why?
4. Can empowerment lead to greater job satisfaction?


Learning About Yourself Exercise
1. Taking initiative 13. Understanding yourself and others
2. Goal setting 14. Interpersonal communication
3. Delegating effectively 15. Developing subordinates
4. Personal productivity and 16. Team building
motivation 17. Participative decision making
5. Motivating others 18. Conflict management
6. Time and stress management 19. Living with change
7. Planning 20. Creative thinking
8. Organizing 21. Managing change
9. Controlling
22. Building and maintaining a power
10. Receiving and organizing base
information
23. Negotiating agreement and
11. Evaluating routine information commitment
12. Responding to routine information 24. Negotiating and selling ideas


Learning About Yourself
Scoring Key

• Director: 1, 2, 3 Mentor: 13, 14, 15
• Producer: 4, 5, 6 Facilitator: 16, 17, 18
• Coordinator: 7, 8, 9 Innovator: 19, 20, 21
• Monitor: 10, 11, 12 Broker: 22, 23, 24

Source: Created based on material from R. E. Quinn, S. R. Faerman, M. P. Thompson, and M. R. McGrath, Becoming A Master Manager: A Competency
Framework (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1990), Chapter 1.


Breakout Group Exercises
Form small groups to discuss the following topics:
1. Consider a group situation in which you have worked. To what extent
did the group rely on the technical skills of the group members vs. their
interpersonal skills? Which skills seemed most important in helping the
group function well?

2. Identify some examples of ―worst jobs.‖ What conditions of these jobs
made them unpleasant? To what extent were these conditions related to
behaviours of individuals?

3. Develop a list of ―organizational puzzles,‖ that is, behaviour you’ve
observed in organizations that seemed to make little sense. As the term
progresses, see if you can begin to explain these puzzles, using your
knowledge of OB.


Working With Others Exercise
This exercise asks you to consider the skills outlined in the
―Competing Values Framework‖ to develop an understanding of
managerial expertise. Steps 1–4 can be completed in 15–20
minutes.
1. Using the skills listed in ―Learning About Yourself,‖ identify the 4
skills that you think all managers should have.
2. Identify the 4 skills that you think are least important for managers
to have.
3. In groups of 5–7, reach a consensus on the most-needed and least-
needed skills identified in Steps 1 and 2.
4. Using Exhibit 1-6, determine whether your ―ideal‖ managers would
have trouble managing in some dimensions of organizational
demands.

Exhibit 1-5
Competing Values Framework Flexibility
Internal Focus

External Focus
Source: Adapted from K. Cameron and R.
E. Quinn, Diagnosing and Changing
Organizational Culture: Based on the
Competing Values Framework (Reading,
MA: Addison Wesley Longman, 1999).

Control

Competing Values Framework
• Internal-External Dimension
– Inwardly, toward employee needs and concerns and/or production
processes and internal systems
or
– Outwardly, toward such factors as the marketplace, government
regulations, and the changing social, environmental, and technological
conditions of the future
• Flexibility-Control Dimension
– Flexible and dynamic, allowing more teamwork and participation; seeking
new opportunities for products and services
or
– Controlling or stable, maintaining the status quo and exhibiting less
change


Exhibit 1-6 Skills for Mastery in the
New Workplace Flexibility
1. Understanding
yourself and others
2. Interpersonal 1. Living with change
communication 2. Creative thinking
3. Developing 3. Managing change
subordinates

1. Team building 1. Building and maintaining
2. Participative Mentor Innovator a power base
decision making 2. Negotiating agreement
3. Conflict and commitment
management 3. Negotiating and
Facilitator Broker selling ideas
Internal External
1. Receiving and
Monitor Producer 1. Personal productivity
organizing information and motivation
2. Evaluating 2. Motivating others
routine information 3. Time and stress
3. Responding to Coordinator Director management
routine information

1. Planning 1. Taking initiative
2. Organizing 2. Goal setting
3. Controlling 3. Delegating effectively

Control
Source: R.E. Quinn. Beyond Rational Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1988, p. 86.

Supplemental Material

Slides for activities I do in my own
classroom


Exercise

• In groups of 6
– Introduce yourselves.
– Pick an interviewer.
– Decide on questions or topics you want interviewer to ask
me.
• The interview
– Introduce interviewer to me and the class.
– Ask one question from your list (we will go around the
groups with one question at a time).

Introduction of Organizational Behavior

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