Introduction to OB

The Nature of OB

• Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations.

• The study of OB provides a set of tools—concepts and theories—that help people to understand, analyze, and describe what goes on in organizations and why.

The Nature of OB

• The nature, reasons, aims and features of behavioral processes are dealt with.

• Behavioral sciences is not normative but descriptive

The Levels of OB

• It is study of,– individual, – team, and – organizational-level characteristics that

influence behavior within work settings.

Basic OB ModelModelAn abstraction of reality.A simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon.

OB at Individual Level

• Characteristics of individuals (such as personality, feeling, and motivation) affect how well people do their jobs.

• whether they like what they do, whether they get along with the people they work with, and so on.

• personality and ability; attitudes, values, and moods; perception and attribution; learning; motivation; and stress and work-life linkages

OB at Group Level

• A group is two or more people who interact to achieve their goals.

• A team is a group in which members work together intensively and develop team-specific routines to achieve a common group goal.

OB at Group Level

• number of members in a group,• the type and diversity of team members, • the tasks they perform, • and the attractiveness of a group,

to its members all influence both behaviors of group as a whole and individuals within the group.

OB at Organizational Level• Characteristics of the organization as a whole

(such as its culture and the design of an organization’s structure) have important effects on the behavior of individuals and groups.

• The values and beliefs in an organization’s culture influence how people, groups, and managers interact with each other and with people (such as customers or suppliers) outside the organization.

• An organization’s structure controls how people and groups cooperate and interact to achieve organizational goals.

Its Relations to Other Disciplines

• Various disciplines exist within the field of behavioral sciences, especially: – Psychology-deals with personality systems and people’s

actions. Its aim is understand, predict and control behavior. Subfileds are experimental, development and industrial psychology.

– Sociology- deals with social group behaviors and social processes. The units of study in sociology are societies, organizations, groups.

– Social-Psychology- deals with the socialization process of human being.

– Anthropology- deals with the cultural roots of societies.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

Micro:The

Individual

Macro:Groups &

Organizations

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field

PsychologyThe science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

SociologyThe study of people in relation to their fellow human beings.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

Social PsychologyAn area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

AnthropologyThe study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.

Organizational Behavior

• One of the the subfield of behavioral sciences is organizational behavior that is related to also manegarial sciences.

Replacing Intuition with Systematic Study

Systematic studyLooking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.Provides a means to predict behaviors.

IntuitionA feeling not necessarily supported by research.

Challenges and Opportunities for OB

• Responding to Globalization– Increased foreign assignments– Working with people from different cultures– Coping with anti-capitalism backlash– Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost

labor

• Managing Workforce Diversity– Embracing diversity– Changing demographics– Implications for managers

• Recognizing and responding to differences

DomesticDomesticPartnersPartners

Major Workforce Diversity Categories

RaceRaceNon-ChristianNon-Christian

NationalNationalOriginOrigin

AgeAge

DisabilityDisability

GenderGender

Challenges and Opportunities for OB (cont’d)

• Improving Quality and Productivity– Quality management (QM)– Process reengineering

• Responding to the Labor Shortage– Changing work force demographics– Fewer skilled laborers– Early retirements and older workers

• Improving Customer Service– Increased expectation of service quality– Customer-responsive cultures

Challenges and Opportunity for OB (cont’d)

• Improving People Skills• Empowering People• Stimulating Innovation and Change• Coping with “Temporariness”• Working in Networked Organizations• Helping Employees Balance

Work/Life Conflicts• Improving Ethical Behavior

Implications for Managers

• OB helps with:– Insights to improve people skills– Valuing of workforce diversity– Empowering people and creating a

positive work environment– Dealing with labor shortages– Coping in a world of temporariness– Creating an ethically healthy work

environment