Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behavior?

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Chapter 1What is Organizational Behavior?

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

What is Organizational Behavior?

Organizational Behavior is the study of human behavior in the workplace, the interaction between people and the organization with the intent to understand and predict human behavior.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Why Study Organizational Behavior?

Understanding human behavior in organizations is a critical skill for leadership and success in organizations.

To be a successful leader, one needs to understand the behaviors of people, organizations, and the situation.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Is organizational behavior really just common sense ?

Let’s do a short quiz. Answer True or False to each of the following:

When employees are happy workers are more productive . (T/F)

Friendly, trusting, and approachable bosses can motivate their workers. (T/F)

Leaders who exhibit a stable behavior, regardless of the situations faced, make the best leaders. (T/F)

Experiences have shown us that interviews where the interviewer leads with “tell me about yourself” are very effective selection methods. (T/F)

A challenging job appeals to everyone. (T/F)

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Is organizational behavior really just common sense ?

When people feel a little intimidated, they will work harder and do their best. T/F

Nonspecific goals allowing individuals to work at their own pace will motivate individuals to work harder. T/F

Money is a motivator for all employees. T/F Most people are much more concerned about their

own salaries than they are about the salaries of others. T/F

Conflict has a negative effect on work group effectiveness. T/F

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Roadmap to Understanding

Putting It All Together

Understanding Me

UnderstandingOthers

UnderstandingOrganizations

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Organizational Behavior

* In the study of organizational behavior, we must replace common sense and intuition in favor of systematic study.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Intuition versus Common Sense

Common Sense DefinedThe unreflective opinion of ordinary men and women, unsophisticated judgment.

Intuition DefinedA feeling not necessarily supported by

research.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Systematic Study = Predictability Systematic Study

Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.

Behavior is generally predictable. Recognize there are differences between

individuals. ** Know there are fundamental

consistencies. Realize there are rules (written &

unwritten) in almost every setting impacting behavior.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

What is an Organization?

Organizations are simply groups with two or more people that share a certain set of goals and meet at regular times. * (All 40 year old adults in a community is not an organization. AARP is an organization)

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Looking at the Big Picture

** The number one reason for failure among executives of Fortune 500 companies is poor interpersonal skills. In short, they don’t have a command of the needed human and organizational behavior skills and, as a result, they come across as not really caring about their people.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Why Study Organizational Behavior?

What is changing that requires systematic study? Organizations and structure Diversity – more women and minorities in

the labor force Global competition – outsourcing of jobs Technology’s influence on behavior Society – social changes

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Looking at the Big Picture With strong interpersonal skills

through a study in organizational behavior, we can begin to predict how others will behave in a given situation - a valuable leadership skill!

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Organizational Behavior

Human behavior depends on contingencies.

Behavior can be predicted, but you have to understand the circumstances.

Understanding circumstances and predicting behavior requires systematic study.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Developing an OB Model

Independent variables Individual-level variables Group-level variables Organizational systems-level

variables

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Developing an OB Model Dependent variables

Productivity Absenteeism Turnover Job Satisfaction

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Example: What happens to productivity if you get a raise?

How could you systematically study this?

Measure productivit

yDependent

variable

Give Raises

Independent Variable

Then

Which is cause and which is effect?

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Basic OB ModelCAUSES

(examples?)(Independent Variables)

PRODUCTIVITY

ABSENTEESIM

TURNOVER

JOB SATISFACTION

Organization decisions

Group Dynamics

Individual characteristics

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

HOMEWORKDo the self-assessment “Personality Trait and Temperament Survey”

Go to Blackboard, then “Student Resources”

If you have MS Excel click on the Excel version

If you don’t have MS Excel then click on the paper version and fill it out

Bring your results to the next lecture

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Summary

Organizational behavior is the study of human behavior in the workplace, the interaction between people and the organization.

OB is an applied field of study of what people do in organizations.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Summary The goal of organizational

behavior is to understand and predict human behavior.

OB is a function of the individual, the environment, and/or situation.

Parts taken from Human Behavior 2ed

Summary

Organizations come in many shapes and sizes – we need to study these.

To study Organizational Behavior, one needs to move from an intuition and common sense approach to systematic study.