Chapter 1: What is organization Behavior?

The Importance of Interpersonal Skills

1.1 – Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the work
- Until the late 1980s, business school emphasized the technical aspects(economics,
accounting, finance …) -> realize the significant role interpersonal skills plays in
determining a manager’s effectiveness.
- Attract and keep high-performing employees: the social relationships among co-workers
and supervisors were strongly related to overall job satisfaction / lower stress at work /
lower intentions to quit
- Create a pleasant workplace -> make good economic sense
+ Growing awareness of the need for understanding the means and outcomes of
corporate social responsibility
Management and Organizational Behavior
1.2 – Define organizational behavior (OB)
 Definition of manager
 Manager : an individual who achieves goals through other people. He or she makes
decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals / who
oversees the activities of others and is responsible for attaining goals in the org.
 Organization : a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more
people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or
set of goals. Ex) service firms, schools, hospitals, churches, military units, retail
stores
 Management functions
 Planning : defining an organization’s goals, establishing an overall strategy, and
developing a comprehensive set of plans to integrate and coordinate activities. From
lower-level to mid-level
 Organizing : designing an organization’s structure, determining what tasks are to be
done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom,
and where decisions are to be made
 Leading : direct and coordinate those people, motivate, direct their activities, select
the most effective communication channels, or resolve conflicts
 Controlling : monitor the performance and compare it with previously set goals.
 Management roles
 Interpersonal
- Figurehead : symbolic head, performs routine duties of a legal or social nature
- Leader : motivation and direction
- Liaison : network of outside contacts
 Informational
- Monitor : receives information (nerve center of internal/external info)
- Disseminator : transmits information from outsiders or from other employees to
others
- Spokesperson : transmits information to outsiders (expert on org’s industry)
 Decisional
 - Entrepreneur : searches for opportunities and initiates projects
- Disturbance handler : corrective action
- Resource allocator : makes or approves decisions
- Negotiator : responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations
 Management skills
 Technical skills : the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise.
 Human skills : the ability to understand, communicate with, motivate, and support
other people (individually + in groups)
 Conceptual skills : the ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations (ex)
decision making – organize a plan and execute (integrate new ideas withexisting
processes and innovate on the job)
 Effective versus successful managerial activities
 4 Managerial Activities (TCHN)
- Traditional Management: decision making, planning, controlling
- Communication: exchanging routine information and processing paperwork
- Human Resource Management: motivating, disciplining, managing conflict,
staffing, training
- Networking: socializing, politicking, interacting with outsiders
 Difference in time allocation among average vs. successful vs. effective managers:
- Average managers: T>C>H>N
- Successful managers: N>C>T>H
- Effective managers: C>>H>T>N
- Challenges assume that promotions are based on performance
- Illustrates the importance of networking and political skills for promotion
 Organizational Behavior
 Definition : a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and
structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness= what people do in an
organization, how their behavior affects the organization’s performance (specifically
with employment-related situations)
 Three determinants of behavior : individuals, groups, and structure
 To make organizations work more effectively
 Motivation, leader behavior and power, interpersonal communication, group
structure and processes, attitude development and perception, change processes,
conflict and negotiation, work design.
Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study
1.3 – Show the value to OB of systematic study.
 Systematic approach : looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and
effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence
 On data gathered under controlled conditions and measured and interpreted in a
reasonably rigorous manner
 Behavior is not random. We can identify fundamental consistencies underlying the
behavior of all individuals and modify them to reflect individual differences.
  Evidence-based management(EBM) complements systematic study by basingmanagerial
decisions on the best available scientific evidence -> systematic study and EBM add to
intuition (without a systematic approach, we tend to overestimate the accuracy)
 Big Data : the extensive use of statistical compilation and analysisex) online retailer /
bookselling industry(Amazon) / Savvy business -> use evidence as much as possible to
inform your intuition and experience
Disciplines That Contribute to the OB Field
1.4 – Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.
 OB : applied behavioral science based on psychology, social psychology, sociology, and
anthropology
 Psychology : measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and
other animals. Learning, perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership
effectiveness, needs and motivational forces, job satisfaction, decision-making
processes, performance, appraisals, attitude measurement, employee-selection
techniques, work design, and job stress
 Social Psychology : psychology + sociology -> peoples’ influence on one another.
“Change” measuring, understanding, and changing attitudes ; identifying
communication patterns; building trust -> group behavior, power and conflict
 Sociology : group behavior in formal and complex organizations – culture,
formalorganization theory and structure -> technology, communications, power, and
conflict
 Anthropology : study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
Understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behavior between people
in different countries and within different organizations.
There Are Few Absolutes in OB
1.5 – Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.
 Human beings are complex, and few, if any, simple and universal principles explain
organizational behavior.
 We can say x leads to y, but under conditions specified in z – the contingency variables.
Challenges and Opportunities for OB.
1.6 – Identify managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB concepts.
 Responding to Economic Pressures : in good times, how to reward, satisfy, and retain
employees / in bad times, stress, decision making, and coping
 Responding to Globalization
 Increased Foreign Assignments : manage a workforce very different in
needs,aspirations, and attitudes
 Working with people from different culture: how to motivate / communication style.
Need to understand how their culture, geography, and religion have shaped them
and how to adapt your management style to their differences.
 Overseeing movement of Jobs to countries with low-cost labor : jobs tend to flow
where lower costs give business a comparative advantage – balancing the interests
of their organizations with their responsibilities to the communities
  Adapting to Differing Cultural and Regulatory Norms : need to know the cultural
practices of the workforce / be aware of the unique financial and legal regulations
(economic and even political consequences)
 Managing Workforce Diversity
 Workforce diversity : heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, and inclusion of other diverse group. -> great opportunity and challenge
 Improving Customer Service : substantial interaction with an organization’s customers /
increase the success of these interactions by showing how employeeattitudes and
behavior influence customer satisfaction. Customer-responsive culture(employees are
friendly and courteous)
 Improving People Skills : relevant concepts and theories -> insights into specificskills
 Working in Networked Organizations : communicate and work together
 Enhancing Employee Well-Being at Work
 Challenge : many workers never get away from the virtual workplace / Longerhours
of work -> burnout / heavy outside commitment(balancing work-family)
 Employees want more time off / flexibility in their work schedules -> work-life
conflicts
 Creating a Positive Work Environment : linked with their work experience
 Positive organizational scholarship(behavior) : studies how organizations develop
human strengths, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential (engagement,
hope, optimism, and resilience)
 Reflected best-self : personal best – how to exploit their strengths. We all have
strengths but we focus on addressing our limitations and don’t think about how to
exploit our strengths.
 Improving Ethical Behavior : identify right and wrong conduct. The line differentiating
right from wrong has blurred. Determining the ethically correct way to behave is
especially difficult in global economy(different perspectives on certain issues) -> codes
of ethics, seminars, workshops, and training programs.
 Vacation deficit disorder : (downside) the risk of burnout

Coming Attractions: Developing an OB Model

1.7 – Compare the three levels of annalysis in this text’s OB model.
 Model: an abstraction of reality. A simplified representation of some real-world
phenomenon / at three levels of analysis (individual, group, and organizational)
 Input: variables that lead to processes. Ex) personality, group structure, organizational
culture
 Process: actions that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a resultof
inputs and that lead to certain outcomes.
 Individual level : emotions, moods, motivation, perception, and decision making
 Group level : communication, leadership, power and politics, conflict and
negotiation
 Organizational level : human resource management, change practices
 Outcomes: key variables + are affected by some other variables
 Attitudes : evaluations employees make / stress : unpleasant psychological process
that occurs in response to environmental pressures.
- Satisfied employees are more productive / more willing to engage in the above-
and-beyond citizenship behavior
 Task performance = effectiveness + efficiency -> core duties and responsibilities of a
job / functions listed on a formal job description -> organizational effectiveness
 Citizenship Behavior: discretionary behavior that contributes to the psychological
and social environment of the workplace / will provide performance beyond
expectations.
 Withdrawal behavior : set of actions that employees take to separate themselves
from the organization / negative effect on an organization / absenteeism(costs
money and time every year)
- If the “right” people are leaving the organization, it can be positive -> create an
opportunity to replace an underperforming individual / improve organizational
flexibility and employee independence -> lessen the need for management-
initiated layoffs.
 Group cohesion: the extent to which members of a group support and validate one
another while at work. -> cohesive groups are more effective. People tend to work
harder in groups that have a common purpose.
 Group functioning: the quantity and quality of a group’s work output. Group
cohesion should lead to positive group functioning.
 Productivity = effectiveness + efficiency
- Effectiveness : the degree to which an organization meets the needs of its
clientele or customers
- Efficiency: the degree to which an organization can achieve its end at a low cost
- Employee attitudes and behavior -> customer attitudes and behavior -> service
organizations’ productivity
 Organizational Survival : the degree to which an organization is able to exist and
grow over the long term