chapter 1, nancy langton and stephen p. robbins, organizational behaviour, fourth canadian edition...

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-1Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Class 2 (Chapter 1)

What Is Organizational Behaviour?

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-2Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Organizational Behaviour

A field of study that investigates the impact

that individuals, groups, and structure on

behaviour within organizations; the aim is

to apply such knowledge toward improving

organizational effectiveness.

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-4Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Why Do We Study OB?

• To learn about yourself and others

• To understand how the many organizations you encounter work

• To become familiar with team work

• To help you think about the people issues faced by managers and entrepreneurs

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-5Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

What Is an Organization?

• A consciously coordinated social unit:

– composed of a group of people

– functioning on a relatively continuous basis

– to achieve a common goal or set of goals.

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-6Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-7Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-8Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-9Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace

• Challenges at the Individual Level– Individual Differences– Job Satisfaction– Motivation– Empowerment– Behaving Ethically

* (Human Behaviour exercise)

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-10Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace

• Challenges at the Group Level– Working With Others

– Workforce Diversity

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-11Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace

• Challenges at the Organizational Level– Productivity

– Developing Effective Employees

– Putting People First

– Global Competition

– Managing and Working in a Multicultural World

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-13Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Putting People First

• Putting people first generates a committed workforce, and positively affects the bottom line.

• People will work harder when they feel they have “more control and say in their work.”

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-14Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

How to Put People First

• Provide employment security. • Hire well.• Create self-managed teams.• Pay well.• Provide extensive training.• Reduce status differences.• Share information about organizational

performance.

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-15Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

How Number #1 Does It

• Google’s story (video): http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/business/2007/01/08/fortune.best.cos.google.newser.cnn.cnn&source=money&wm=9

• What’s life like at Google: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0701/gallery.Google_life/

• More about what makes employees satisfied or happy: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2006/fortune/0612/gallery.bestcos.askannie/index.html

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-16Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Global Competition• In recent years, Canadian businesses have faced

tough competition from the United States, Europe, Japan, and even China, as well as from other companies within our borders.

• To survive, they have had to reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve quality.

• Often the focus needs to change to creativity:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/16/news/economy/annie/fortune_annie0317/index.htm?postversion=2006031711

Chapter 1, Nancy Langton and Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behaviour, Fourth Canadian Edition 1-17Copyright © 2007 Pearson Education Canada

Class Exercise - Organizations that don’t make sense

Let’s compile a list of things we’ve seen in the work place, as employee, consumer or observer that just doesn’t make sense:

We’ll revisit this list during the semester to see if we can begin to explain these puzzles, using our knowledge of OB.