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Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Introduction tothe Field of

Organizational Behavior

Chapter OneChapter One

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John LassiterChief Creative Officerof Pixar and Disney

Pixar Animation Studios

OB practices have helped Pixar Animation Studios to become the world’s most successful animation studio Employee competencies --

Pixar finds the best people People-centered -- Pixar has

long-term employment, not short-term projects

Teamwork and org learning -- Pixar supports teams and encourages cross-fertilization

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John LassiterChief Creative Officerof Pixar and Disney

Organizational Behavior and Organizations

Organizational behavior The study of what people

think, feel, and do in and around organizations

Organizations Groups of people who work

interdependently toward some purpose— Structured patterns of

interaction: employees expect each other to complete certain tasks in a coordinated way

— Have common objectives (even if not fully agreed)

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Why Study Organizational Behavior?

OB theories help you to make sense of the workplace Important -- much of our time is in organizations

OB provides knowledge/tools to work with others Helps you to get things done—influencing people,

building high performance work teams, motivating workers, handling workplace conflicts, and so on

OB improves an organization’s financial health Firms that apply performance-based rewards,

employee communication, work-life balance, and other OB practices outperform firms in which these practices are absent


Lockheed Martin

Perspectives ofOrganizational Effectiveness

Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behavior


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Old Perspective: Achieving Goals

The objective of most organizational theories is to make organizations more effective

Effective organizations achieve their stated goals

Goal attainment view is no longer accepted as a perspective of organizational effectiveness, because: Companies could set easy goals to be considered

effective Some goals are too abstract to know if achieved Company might achieve goals but go out of business by

achieving wrong goals Today, organizational effectiveness is defined according

to four perspectives (see next slide)

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Four Perspectives of Org. Effectiveness

1. Open systems: they have a good fit with their external environment

2. High-performance work practices: their internal subsystems are configured for a high-performance workplace

3. Organizational learning: they are learning organizations

4. Stakeholder: they satisfy the needs of key stakeholders

NOTE: Need to consider all four perspectives when assessing a company’s effectiveness

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Open Systems Perspective

Organizations are complex systems that “live” within (and depend upon) the external environment

Effective organizations Maintain a close “fit” with those changing

conditions Transform inputs to outputs efficiently and flexibly

Open systems perspective is the foundation on which the other three effectiveness perspectives are built

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Open Systems Perspective

Subsystems processes, task activities, social dynamics within the system (organizational efficiency/productivity)

Transformation process subsystems transform inputs into various outputs

Feedback information from environment about value of outputs and/or availability of inputs

FeedbackFeedback

FeedbackFeedback

Environment

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Organizational Learning Perspective

Organizational Learning: an organization’s capacity to acquire, share, use, and store valuable knowledge

Need to consider both stock and flow of knowledge Stock: intellectual capital Flow: organizational learning processes of

acquisition, sharing, and use of knowledge

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Intellectual Capital

Relationship Relationship CapitalCapital

Value derived from relationships with satisfied customers, reliable suppliers, etc.

StructuralStructuralCapitalCapital

Knowledge captured in systems and structures (documents, production lines, products)

HumanHumanCapitalCapital

Knowledge that people possess and generate

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Organizational Learning Processes

Applying knowledge to organizational processes in ways that improves the organization’s effectiveness

Distributing knowledge throughout the organization

Extracting information and ideas from its environment as well as through insight

KNOWLEDGEACQUISITIONKNOWLEDGEACQUISITION

KNOWLEDGESHARING

KNOWLEDGESHARING

KNOWLEDGEUSE

KNOWLEDGEUSE

Examples in practice

Hiring skilled staff, training, simulations

Posting case studies on intranet,

Giving staff freedom to try out ideas

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High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs)

HPWPs are internal systems and structures that are associated with successful companies

HPWP is based on three propositions:1.Employees are important sources of competitive

advantage. As such employees are valuable, rare, difficult to imitate, and non-substitutable

2.Value of employees can be increased through specific organizational practices

3.organizational practices must be bundled together to maximize benefits

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High Performance Work Practices

No consensus, but HPWPs include: Employee involvement and work autonomy (and

their combination as self-directed teams).

Employee competence (training, selection, etc.).

Performance-based rewards

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Organizational Stakeholders

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Stakeholder Perspective

Lockheed Martin is an “ideal” employer, according to undergrad engineering students

The company pays attention to its many stakeholders

Relies on values and ethics to guide decisions

Strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility (including clean-up of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, shown here) Lockheed Martin

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Lockheed Martin

Stakeholder Perspective

Stakeholders: any entity who affect or is affected by the firm’s objectives and actionsStakeholder perspective personalizes the open systems perspective Identifies social entities in the

environment Stakeholder relations are dynamic

Firms must understand, manage, and satisfy stakeholders’ interestsProblem: Stakeholders have conflicting

interests Firms have limited resources

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Stakeholders: Values and Ethics

Managers rely on personal and organizational values and ethics to prioritize stakeholder interestsValues Stable, evaluative beliefs

that guide preferences for outcomes or courses of action in various situations

Ethics Moral principles/values,

determine whether actions are right/wrong and outcomes are good or bad

Lockheed Martin

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Stakeholders and CSR

Stakeholder perspective includes corporate social responsibility (CSR)

CSR: organizational activities intended to benefit society and environment beyond the firm’s immediate financial interests or legal obligations

It represents organization’s contract with society

Many organizations adopt the Triple Bottom Line aim (Economy, Society, and environment )

Lockheed Martin


Types ofIndividual Behavior



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Types of Individual Behavior

Organizational Organizational CitizenshipCitizenship

Performance beyond the required job duties. Involves various forms of cooperation and helpfulness to others that support organization’s effectiveness

Task PerformanceTask Performance

Goal-directed behaviors under person’s control that support organization’s effectiveness. They transform inputs into outputs

more

The implementation of the four perspectives of organizational effectiveness requires performing five types of employees behavior. These behaviors are:

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Types of Behavior in Organizations (con’t)

Maintaining Work Maintaining Work AttendanceAttendance

Attending work at required times

Joining/staying with Joining/staying with the Organizationthe Organization

None of the previous three behaviours would occur if qualified people do not join and stay with the organization. Goal-directed behaviors under person’s control

Counterproductive Counterproductive Work BehaviorsWork Behaviors

Voluntary behavior that potentially harms the organization. Five categories: abuse of others, threats, work avoidance, work sabotage, and overt acts


Contemporary Challenges

for Organizations



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Globalization

Globalization: economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world

Higher connectivity (and interdependence) due to better information technology and transportation systems

Globalization has many effects on organizations, as discussed throughout this book e.g., leadership, diversity, conflict, organizational

structures

Refer to your textbook, page 14

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Increasing Workforce Diversity

Surface-level diversity Observable demographic or physiological differences in

people (e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, age, physical disabilities) Increasing surface-level diversity in U.S. and other countries

Deep-level diversity Differences in the psychological characteristics of employees

(e.g. personalities, beliefs, values, and attitudes) Example: Differences across age cohorts (e.g. Gen-X, Gen-Y)

Implications Leveraging the diversity advantage Also challenges of diversity (e.g. team development, conflict) Ethical imperative of diversity

Refer to your textbook, page 15

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Employment Relationships

Work hours Less separation from work 24/7 work schedule (longer but more flexible) Due mainly to IT (Internet and BB) and globalization Push for more work-life balance

— minimizing conflict between work and non-work demands

Virtual work Perform jobs away from traditional workplace (e.g.

telecommuting) Some benefits, but also suited more to some types

of people


Introduction to the Field of

Organizational Behavior

Chapter OneChapter One

dragon 1

Business

organizations ob

organizational learning

organizational theories

disney organizational

study organizational

effectiveness perspectives

best people people

ob theories