Chap 001

Chapter 1

Introduction to Organizational Behavior: An

Evidence-Based Approach

Copyright © 2011 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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Learning Objectives

Provide an overview of major challenges and the paradigm shift facing management.

Outline an evidence-based approach to organizational behavior.

Summarize the Hawthorne studies, a starting point for modern organizational behavior.

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Learning Objectives (Continued)

Explain the methodology used to accumulate knowledge and facilitate understanding of organizational behavior.

Relate the various theoretical framework that serve as a foundation for the study of organizational behavior.

Present the social cognitive model that serves as a conceptual framework.

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Challenges Facing Management

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Challenges Facing Management (continued)

Meet competitive challenges in the international marketplace

Meeting quality expectations of customers Restructuring the organizations Improve productivity Cost reduction programs Globalizing supply chains Creating shared services

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Undergoing a Paradigm Shift

Paradigm establishes the rules, defines boundaries, and tells one how to behave within these boundaries to be successful.

The paradigm effect helps explain why there is considerable resistance to change and why it is very difficult to move from the old management paradigm to the new.

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New Perspective for Management

Management has three major dimensions: Technical, conceptual, and human.

New perspective is based on the following assumption: Employees are extremely complex. There is a need for theoretical understanding backed

by rigorous empirical research.

Jeff Pfeffer has summarized the status of the organizational behavior approach as a “one-eighth” situation.

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New Perspective for Management (continued)

Sources that prevent effective implementation and sustainability: Hollow talk Debilitating fear Destructive internal competition Poorly designed and complex measurement systems Mindless reliance on precedent

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Evidence-based Management (EBM)

EBM refers to translating principles based on best evidence into organizational practices.

Through EBM, practicing managers develop into experts who make organizational decisions informed by social science and organizational research.

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Hawthorne Studies

Provide historical roots for the notion of a social organization and mark the generally recognized starting point for the academic field of organizational behavior.The illumination studiesStudy in the relay room and bank wiring room

Novelty, interest, and attention are usually associated with the “Hawthorne effect.”

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Research Methodology to Determine Valid Evidence

Overall scientific perspective: The overall purposes are understanding/explanation,

prediction, and control. The definitions are precise and operational. The measures are reliable and valid. The methods are systematic. The results are cumulative.

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Figure 1.1 - Simple RelationshipsAmong Problems, Methodology, and Valid Evidence

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Research Methodology to Determine Valid Evidence (continued)

Starting with theory Theories allow the researcher to deduce logical

propositions or hypotheses that can be tested by acceptable research designs.

They are ever changing on the basis of the empirical results.

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Use of research designs A primary aim of any research design is to establish

a cause-and-effect relationship. Three designs most often used today are experiment,

case, and survey. An experiment involves the manipulation of independent

variables to measure their effect on, or the change in, dependent variables, while everything else is held constant or controlled.

Research Methodology to Determine Valid Evidence (continued)

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Validity of studies Study must have both internal and external validity

in order to make a meaningful contribution to the body of knowledge.

A study has internal validity if there are no plausible alternative explanations of the reported results other than those reported.

The threats to internal validity can be overcome with careful design of the study.

Research Methodology to Determine Valid Evidence (continued)

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Validity of studies External validity is concerned with the

generalizability of the results obtained In order for a study to have external validity, the

results must be applicable to a wide range of people and situations.

Research Methodology to Determine Valid Evidence (continued)

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Defining Organization Behavior

The understanding, prediction, and management of human behavior in organizations.

Organizational behavior is extremely complex and includes many inputs and dimensions.

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Figure 1.2 - The Relationship of Organizational Behavior to Other Closely Related Disciplines

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Theoretical Foundation for Organizational Behavior

Cognitive framework Cognitions precede behavior and constitute input

into the person’s thinking, perception, problem solving, and information processing.

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Theoretical Foundation for Organizational Behavior (continued)

Behavioristic framework The pioneering behaviorists used classical

conditioning experiments to formulate the stimulus-response (S-R) explanation of human behavior.

Modern behaviorism emphasized the importance of the response-stimulus (R-S) relationship.

The behavioristic approach is environmentally based. It posits that cognitive processes such as thinking,

expectancies, and perception may exist but are not needed to predict and control or manage behavior.

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Social Cognitive Framework The social cognitive theory (SCT) is much more

comprehensive. It explains organizational behavior in terms of the

bidirectional, reciprocal causation among the organizational participants, the organizational environment, and the organizational behavior itself.

Theoretical Foundation for Organizational Behavior (continued)

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Figure 1.3 - A Social Learning Approach toOrganizational Behavior

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Figure 1.4 - The Basic Human Capabilities According to Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)

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Figure 1.5 - A Conceptual Model for the Study of Organizational Behavior: An Evidence-Based Approach

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Questions