Introduction to Organisational Behaviour Management, Organisation & Communication Faculty of International Business & Communication D. Jutten
Introduction to Organisational Behaviour
Management, Organisation & Communication
Faculty of International Business & CommunicationD. Jutten
What is Organisational Behaviour?
The field of OB is the study of people at work.
• OB studies the influence which…- Individuals, - Groups and- Organisations
…have on behaviour within organisations
Why do we need to study it?
• Managers have all sorts of people problems:• Bosses with poor communication skills• Employees’ lack of motivation• Conflict between team members• Employee resistance because of reorganisation
Understanding of human behaviour plays an important role in determining a manager’seffectiveness .
What is the Goal of studying OB?
• Learn to Understand, Predict & Change human behaviour concerning employment-related issues like:• Jobs• Work• Absenteeism• Employment turnover• Productivity• Human performance• Management
Focus of OB• Motivation
• Leader behaviour and power
• Interpersonal communication
• Group structure and processes
• Perceptions and attitudes
• Personality, emotions and values
• Change processes
• Conflict and negotiations
• Work design
Contributing disciplines
• Psychology: measure, explain and change individual behaviour
• Social psychology: focuses on people’s influences on one another
• Sociology: study of people in relation to their social environment
• Anthropology: study of societies for the purpose of learning about human beings and their activities
Why is it difficult to predict someone’s behaviour?
• People are complex and diverse
• People often act very differently in the same situation
• We behave differently in different situationsex: church/party
We need to take contingency variables (or situational conditions) into account
Challenges and opportunities for OB
• Globalisation
• Workforce Diversity: Organisations are heterogeneous • gender• age• race• ethnicity• sexual orientation• disability• religion
Managing Workforce Diversity
• increasing creativity • improvement of
decision making• different
perspective on problems• improving quality
and productivity• improving customer
services
• improving people skills• stimulating
innovation and change• improving ethical
behaviour• creating a positive
work environment
PERSONALITY TRAITS AND WORK VALUESOrganizational Behaviour: Chapter 2
What is personality?
• The growth and development of someone’s whole psychological system
• Definition by Gordon Allport: “the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment”
• The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interact with others
Personality determinants
• Heredity or environment?• Research shows heredity is of more
importance• Physical stature• Facial attractiveness • Gender• Temperament• Muscle composition and reflexes• Energy level • Biological rhythms
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
16 personality types:• Extraverted versus introverted• Sensing versus intuitive• Thinking versus feeling• Judging versus perceiving
Big Five Model video
• Openness to experience• Conscientiousness • Extraversion• Agreeableness• Emotional stability ( or Neuroticism)
• Acronym: OCEAN
Assignment: Do the personality test on: learnMyself.com and hand in the overal result of the five dimensions next week (click on green button “start advanced”)
Other personality traits relevant to OB
• Core self-evaluation
• Self-Monitoring
• Type A Personality
• Type B Personality
• Proactive Personality
Values
• Represent basic convictions that “a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence.”
• What is right or wrong; good or bad?
Values
Two factors:
• Content is something important?
• Intensity how important?
Value system:
• The hierarchy of values
• Freedom, pleasure, respect, honesty, obedience, equality
Terminal vs Instrumental Values
• Terminal desirable end states goals to achieve
• Instrumental preferable modes of behaviour or the means of achieving the terminal values
• E.g: a comfortable (prosperous) life vs ambitious behaviour (hardworking, aspiring)
Generational Values
• Veterans
• Boomers
• Xers
• Nexters
• Hardworking, conservative
• Succes, ambition, dislike of authority
• Work/life balance, team oriented
• Confident, self-relient but team oriented
Linking an individual’s personality and values to the
workplace• Person-job fit
• Person-job fit theory (by John Holland)
• satisfaction is highest and turnover is lowest when personality and occupation are in agreement
• Person-organisation fit
• with organisational changes it is more important that employees’ personalities fit the overall organisation’s culture than the specific job
Hofstede Dimensions
Hofstede’s Framework for Assessing Cultures• Power distance
• Individualism vs collectivism
• Masculinity vs femininity
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Long-term vs short-term orientation
Criticism on Hofstede
• Based on single company
• Study is 30 yrs old and world has changed• Fall of soviet union • Transformation CEEC’s • End of apartheid in South Africa• Spread of Islam• Rise of China as global power
GLOBE
• 9 dimensions which resemble Hofstede• Added were:• Human orientation• Performance orientation
Thank you for your attention!
For next week read chapters 3 & 4.