what is ob chapter1

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Robbins: Organizational Behavior Chapter One

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WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter, students should be able to:

1. Define organizational behavior (OB)2. Describe what managers do3. Explain the value of the systematic study of OB4. List the major challenges and opportunities for managers to use OB concepts5. Identify the contributions made by major behavioral science disciplines to OB6. Describe why managers require a knowledge of OB7. Explain the need for a contingency approach to the study of OB8. Identify the three levels of analysis in this books OB model

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Managers need to develop their interpersonal or people skills if they are going to be effective in their jobs.Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structurehave on behavior within an organization, then applies that knowledge to make organizations work moreeffectively. Specifically, OB focuses on how to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism and turnover, andincrease employee citizenship and job satisfaction.

We all hold generalizations about the behavior of people. Some of our generalizations may provide valid insightsinto human behavior, but many are erroneous. Organizational behavior uses systematic study to improvepredictions of behavior that would be made from intuition alone. Yet, because people are different, we need tolook at OB in a contingency framework, using situational variables to moderate cause-effect relationships.

Organizational behavior offers both challenges and opportunities for managers. It recognizes differences andhelps managers to see the value of workforce diversity and practices that may need to be changed whenmanaging in different countries. It can help improve quality and employee productivity by showing managers howto empower their people as well as how to design and implement change programs. It offers specific insights toimprove a managers people skills. In times of rapid and ongoing change, faced by most managers today, OB canhelp managers cope in a world of temporariness and learn ways to stimulate innovation. Finally, OB can offermanagers guidance in creating an ethically healthy work climate.

WEB EXERCISES

At the end of each chapter of this instructors manual, you will find suggested exercises and ideas for researchingthe WWW on OB topics. The exercises Exploring OB Topics on the Web are set up so that you can simplyphotocopy the pages, distribute them to your class, and make assignments accordingly. You may want to assignthe exercises as an out-of-class activity or as lab activities with your class. Within the lecture notes the graphic

will note that there is a WWW activity to support this material.

The chapter opens introducing Michael Bowser who is a supervisor/team chief for the Department of Defense.

The 13 to 18 people who report to him are technical specialists. Despite his technical background as a systems

engineer, he states what his job really requires is people skills. He has worked to develop his communication

skills and learned ways of motivating his staff to meet their individual needs.


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CHAPTER OUTLINE

What Managers Do

A. Importance of Developing Managers Interpersonal Skills Notes:

1. Companies with reputations as a good place to worksuch as Hewlett-

Packard, Lincoln Electric, Southwest Airlines, and Starbuckshave a bigadvantage when attracting high performing employees.

2. A recent national study of the U.S. workforce found that:

Wages and fringe benefits are not the reason people like their jobs or staywith an employer.

More important to workers is the job quality and the supportiveness of thework environments.

3. Managers good interpersonal skills are likely to make the workplace morepleasant, which in turn makes it easier to hire and retain high performingemployees.

Definitions:

Manager: Someone who gets things done through other people.They make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of othersto attain goals.

Organization: A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two ormore people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve acommon goal or set of goals.

B. Management Functions

1. French industrialist Henri Fayol wrote that all managers perform fivemanagement functions: plan, organize, command, coordinate, and control.

Modern management scholars have condensed to four: planning, organizing,leading, and controlling.

2. Planning requires a manager to:

Define goals (organizational, departmental, worker levels)

Establish an overall strategy for achieving those goals

Develop a comprehensive hierarchy of plans to integrate and coordinateactivities.

3. Organizing requires a manager to:

Determine what tasks are to be done

Who is to be assigned the tasks

How the tasks are to be grouped

Who reports to whom

Where decisions are to be made (centralized/decentralized)

4. Leading requires a manager to:

Motivate employees

Direct the activities of others

Select the most effective communication channels

Resolve conflicts among members


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B. Management Functions (cont.) Notes:

5. Controlling requires a manager to:

Monitor the organizations performance

Compare actual performance with the previously set goals

Correct significant deviations.

C. Management Roles

1. In the late 1960s, Henry Mintzberg studied five executives to determine whatmanagers did on their jobs. He concluded that managers perform ten different,highly interrelated roles or sets of behaviors attributable to their jobs.

The ten roles can be grouped as being primarily concerned with interpersonalrelationships, the transfer of information, and decision making. (Exhibit 1-1)

2. Interpersonal roles

Figureheadduties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature

Leadershiphire, train, motivate, and discipline employees

Liaisoncontact outsiders who provide the manager with information.These may be individuals or groups inside or outside the organization.

3. Informational roles

Monitorcollect information from organizations and institutions outsidetheir own

Disseminatora conduit to transmit information to organizational members

Spokespersonrepresent the organization to outsiders

4. Decisional roles

Entrepreneurmanagers initiate and oversee new projects that willimprove their organizations performance

Disturbance handlerstake corrective action in response to unforeseen

problems Resource allocatorsresponsible for allocating human, physical, and

monetary resources

Negotiator rolediscuss issues and bargain with other units to gainadvantages for their own unit

D. Management Skills

1. Robert Katz has identified three essential management skills: technical,human, and conceptual.

2. Technical skills

The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs requiresome specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skillson the job.

3. Human skills

The ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, bothindividually and in groups, describes human skills.

Many people are technically proficient but interpersonally incompetent.


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D. Management Skills Notes:

4. Conceptual skills

The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations

Decision making, for example, requires managers to spot problems,identify alternatives that can correct them, evaluate those alternatives, andselect the best one.

E. Effective vs. Successful Managerial Activities

1. Fred Luthans and his associates asked: Do managers who move up mostquickly in an organization do the same activities and with the same emphasisas managers who do the best job? Surprisingly, those managers who werethe most effective were not necessarily promoted the fastest.

2. Luthans and his associates studied more than 450 managers. They found thatall managers engage in four managerial activities.

Traditional managementDecision making, planning, and controlling. Theaverage manager spent 32 percent of his or her time performing thisactivity.

CommunicationExchanging routine information and processingpaperwork. The average manager spent 29 percent of his or her timeperforming this activity.

Human resource managementMotivating, disciplining, managing conflict,staffing, and training. The average manager spent 20 percent of his or hertime performing this activity.

NetworkingSocializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders. Theaverage manager spent 19 percent of his or her time performing thisactivity.

3. Successful managersdefined as those who were promoted the fastest:(Exhibit 1-2)

Networking made the largest relative contribution to success.

Human resource management activities made the least relativecontribution.

4. Effective managersdefined as quality and quantity of performance, as wellas, commitment to employees:

Communication made the largest relative contribution.

Networking made the least relative contribution.

5. Successful managers do not give the same emphasis to each of thoseactivities as do effective managersit almost the opposite of effectivemanagers.

6. This finding challenges the historical assumption that promotions are based onperformance, vividly illustrating the importance that social and political skillsplay in getting ahead in organizations.


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F. A Review of the Managers Job

1. One common thread runs through the functions, roles, skills, and activitiesapproaches to management: managers need to develop their people skills ifthey are going to be effective and successful.

Notes:

Enter Organizational Behavior

Definition:

Organizational Behavior: OB is a field of study that investigates the impactthat individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior withinorganizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towardimproving an organizations effectiveness.

A. Organizational behavior is a field of study.

1. OB studies three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals,groups, and structure.

2. OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups, and the effect ofstructure on behavior in order to make organizations work more effectively.

3. OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an organization and howthat behavior affects the performance of the organization.

4. There is increasing agreement as to the components of OB, but there is stillconsiderable debate as to the relative importance of each: motivation, leaderbehavior and power, interpersonal communication, group structure andprocesses, learning, attitude development and perception, change processes,conflict, work design, and work stress.

Replacing Intuition with Systematic Study

A. Introduction Notes:

1. Each of us is a student of behavior:

A casual or commonsense approach to reading others can often lead toerroneous predictions.

You can improve your predictive ability by replacing your intuitive opinionswith a more systematic approach.

The systematic approach used in this book will uncover important factsand relationships and will provide a base from which more accuratepredictions of behavior can be made.

Behavior generally is predictable if we know how the person perceived thesituation and what is important to him or her.

While peoples behavior may not appear to be rational to an outsider, thereis reason to believe it usually is intended to be rational by the individualand that they see their behavior as rational.


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A. Introduction (cont.) Notes:

2. There are certain fundamental consistencies underlying the behavior of allindividuals that can be identified and then modified to reflect individualdifferences.

These fundamental consistencies allow predictability.

There are rules (written and unwritten) in almost every setting. Therefore, it can be argued that it is possible to predict behavior.

3. When we use the phrase systematic study, we mean looking at gatheredinformation under controlled conditions and measured and interpreted in areasonably rigorous manner.

4. Systematic study replaces intuition, or those gut feelings about why I dowhat I do and what makes others tick. We want to move away from intuitionto analysis when predicting behavior.

Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce theMyth or Science: Preconceived

Notions vs. Substantive Evidence box found in the text. The purpose of the exercise is to replace popularly heldnotions with research-based conclusions. A suggestion for a class exercise follows the introduction of thematerial below.

MYTH OR SCIENCE? - Preconceived Notions vs. Substantive Evidence

Assume you signed up to take an introductory college course in calculus. On the first day, you wereasked: Why is the sign of the second derivative negative when the first derivative is set equal to zero, if thefunction is concave from below? You reply, How am I supposed to know? Thats why Im taking this course.Now, you are in an introductory course in organizational behavior. Your instructor asks you: Why arentemployees as motivated at work today as they were 30 years ago? Reluctantly, you would begin writing. You

would have no problem coming up with an explanation to this motivation question.You enter an OB course with many preconceived notions that you accept as facts. OB not only introducesyou to a comprehensive set of concepts and theories, but it also has to deal with many commonly acceptedfacts about human behavior and organizations that you have acquired over the years. But these facts are notnecessarily true. The field of OB is built on decades of research. This research provides a body of substantiveevidence that is able to replace preconceived notions. The boxes entitled Myth or Science? throughout the textcall attention to some of the more popular of these notions or myths about organizational behavior.

Class Exercise:

1. Place students in groups of three-to-five. Have them brainstorm a list of at least 3 popular facts or myths thatthey have heard about colleges, college students, and faculty. Examplecollege students are rebels; collegeboys (or girls) do not want to get their hands dirty on the job; those who can do, those who cant teach; etc.

2. Record ideas on the board. Go round-robin; take one idea at time from each group in turn until groups

contribute all their ideas.3. Now have students brainstorm about what objective data exists or could be collected to counter each of these

myths. Collect the information the same way, posting it on the board.4. Close with a discussion of the importance of these misperceptions to students and faculty and why the

parallel misperceptions about organizational behavior are important.


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Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field


1. Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built uponcontributions from a number of behavioral disciplines.

2. The predominant areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology,anthropology, and political science.

3. Exhibit 1-3 overviews the major contributions to the study of organizationalbehavior.

B. Psychology

1. Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimeschange the behavior of humans and other animals.

2. Early industrial/organizational psychologists concerned themselves withproblems of fatigue, boredom, and other factors relevant to working conditionsthat could impede efficient work performance.

3. More recently, their contributions have been expanded to include learning,perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership effectiveness, needsand motivational forces, job satisfaction, decision making processes,performance appraisals, attitude measurement, employee selectiontechniques, work design, and job stress.

C. Sociology

1. Sociologists study the social system in which individuals fill their roles; that is,sociology studies people in relation to their fellow human beings.

2. Their greatest contribution to OB is through their study of group behavior inorganizations, particularly formal and complex organizations.

D. Social Psychology

1. Social psychology blends the concepts of psychology and sociology.

2. It focuses on the influence of people on one another.

3. Major areahow to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance

E. Anthropology

1. Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and theiractivities.

2. Anthropologists work on cultures and environments; for instance, they havehelped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, andbehavior among people in different countries and within different organizations.

F. Political Science

1. Frequently overlooked as a contributing discipline.

2. Political science studies the behavior of individuals and groups within a politicalenvironment.


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There Are Few Absolutes in OB


1. There are few, if any, simple and universal principles that explainorganizational behavior.

2. Human beings are complex. Because they are not alike, our ability to makesimple, accurate, and sweeping generalizations is limited.

3. That does not mean, of course, that we cannot offer reasonably accurateexplanations of human behavior or make valid predictions. It does mean,however, that OB concepts must reflect situational, or contingency, conditions.

4. Contingency variablessituational factors are variables that moderate therelationship between the independent and dependent variables.

5. Using general concepts and then altering their application to the particularsituation developed the science of OB.

6. Organizational behavior theories mirror the subject matter with which theydeal.

Challenges and Opportunities for OB


1. There are many challenges and opportunities today for managers to use OBconcepts.

B. Responding to Globalization

1. Organizations are no longer constrained by national borders.

2. Globalization affects a managers people skills in at least two ways.

First, if you are a manager, you are increasingly likely to find yourself in a

foreign assignment. Second, even in your own country, you are going to find yourself working

with bosses, peers, and other employees who were born and raised indifferent cultures.

C. Managing Workforce Diversity

1. Workforce diversity is one of the most important and broad-based challengescurrently facing organizations.

2. While globalization focuses on differences between people from differentcountries, workforce diversity addresses differences among people withingiven countries.

3. Workforce diversity means that organizations are becoming moreheterogeneous in terms of gender, race, and ethnicity. It is an issue in Canada,Australia, South Africa, J apan, and Europe as well as the United States.

4. A melting-pot approach assumed people who were different wouldautomatically assimilate.

5. Employees do n ot set aside their cultural values and lifestyle preferenceswhen they come to work.


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C. Managing Workforce Diversity (cont.) Notes:

6. The melting pot assumption is replaced by one that recognizes and valuesdifferences.

7. Members of diverse groups were a small percentage of the workforce andwere, for the most part, ignored by large organizations (pe-1980s); now:

47 percent of the U.S. labor force are women

Minorities and immigrants make up 23 percent More workers than ever are unmarried with no children.

8. Workforce diversity has important implications for management practice.

Shift to recognizing differences and responding to those differences

Providing diversity training and revamping benefit programs toaccommodate the different needs of employees

Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the Workforce Diversity team exercisefound in the text (and at the end of the lecture notes). (Allow 40-45 minutes for the exercise).

D. Improving Quality and Productivity Notes:

1. Total quality management (TQM) is a philosophy of management that is drivenby the constant attainment of customer satisfaction through the continuousimprovement of all organizational processes.

2. Implementing quality programs requires extensive employee involvement(Exhibit 1-4).

3. Process reengineering asks the question: How would we do things aroundhere if we were starting over from scratch?

Every process is evaluated in terms of contribution to goals

Rather than make incremental changes, often old systems are eliminatedentirely and replaced with new systems

4. To improve productivity and quality, managers must include employees.

E. Responding to the Labor Shortage

1. If trends continue as expected, the U.S. will have a labor shortage for the next10-15 years (particularly in skilled positions).

2. The labor shortage is a function of low birth rates and labor participation rates(immigration does little to solve the problem).

3. Wages and benefits are not enough to keep talented workers. Managers mustunderstand human behavior and respond accordingly.

F. Improving Customer Service and People Skills

1. The majority of employees in developed countries work in service jobsjobs

that require substantive interaction with the firms customers. For example, 80percent of U.S. workers are employed in service industries.

2. Employee attitudes and behavior are directly related to customer satisfactionrequiring management to create a customer responsive culture.

3. People skills are essential to managerial effectiveness.

4. OB provides the concepts and theories that allow managers to predictemployee behavior in given situations.


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G. Empowering People Notes:

1. Today managers are being called coaches, advisers, sponsors, or facilitators,and in many organizations, employees are now called associates.

2. There is a blurring between the roles of managers and workers; decisionmaking is being pushed down to the operating level, where workers are beinggiven the freedom to make choices about schedules and procedures and tosolve work-related problems.

3. Managers are empowering employees.

They are putting employees in charge of what they do.

Managers have to learn how to give up control.

Employees have to learn how to take responsibility for their work and makeappropriate decisions.

H. Coping with Temporariness

1. Managers have always been concerned with change:

What is different today is the length of time between changes

Change is an ongoing activity for most managers. The concept ofcontinuous improvement, for instance, implies constant change

In the past, managing could be characterized by long periods of stability,interrupted occasionally by short periods of change.

Today, long periods of ongoing change are interrupted occasionally byshort periods of stability!

2. Permanent temporariness:

Both managers and employees must learn to live with flexibility,spontaneity, and unpredictability

The jobs that workers perform are in a permanent state of flux, so workersneed to continually update their knowledge and skills to perform new job

requirements.3. Work groups are also increasingly in a state of flux.

Predictability has been replaced by temporary work groups, teams thatinclude members from different departments and whose members changeall the time, and the increased use of employee rotation to fill constantlychanging work assignments.

4. Organizations themselves are in a state of flux.

They reorganize their various divisions, sell off poor-performingbusinesses, downsize operations, subcontract non-critical services andoperations to other organizations, and replace permanent employees withtemporaries.

I. Stimulating Innovation and Change

1. Successful organizations must foster innovation and the art of change.

2. Companies that maintain flexibility, continually improve quality, and beat theircompetition to the marketplace with innovative products and services will betomorrows winners.

3. Employees are critical to an organizations ability to change and innovate.


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J. Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts Notes:

1. The creation of the global workforce means work no longer sleeps. Workersare on-call 24-hours a day or working non-traditional shifts.

2. Communication technology has provided a vehicle for working at any time orany place.

3. Employees are working longer hours per weekfrom 43 to 47 hours per weeksince 1977.

4. The lifestyles of families have changes creating conflict: more dual careercouples and single parents find it hard to fulfill commitments to home, children,spouse, parents, and friends.

5. Employees want jobs that allow flexibility and provide time for a life.

Instructor Note: At this point in the lecture you may want to introduce the OB IN THE NEWS: Americas World-Class Workaholics box found in the text. The purpose of the exercise is to help students better understand whattheir expectations are when balancing work and life. A suggestion for a class exercise follows the introduction ofthe material below. Once you have completed the exercise, refer students to the ETHICAL DILEMMA: Whatsthe Right Balance Between Work and Personal Life? for another viewpointthis time from the CEO perspective.

A summary of the case and questions can be found at the end of this chapter.

OB IN THE NEWS Americas World-Class Workaholics

From the late-1970s to the late-1990s, the average workweek among salaried Americans increased from43 to 47 hours. Over the same years, the numbers of workers putting in 50 or more hours jumped from 24 to 37percent. The U.S. has moved past Japan to become the longest working nation in the advanced industrial world.Managers and professionals work the longest hours.

These statistics are in stark contrast to many other places on the globe. For instance, in Norway orSweden, ordinary workers get four to six weeks of vacation and up to a year of paid parental leave. In France, a35 hour maximum workweek is the law of the land. Compared to the average Western European, Americans areworking an average of eight weeks a year longer. Managers in Britain, however, are also working long hours.

These statistics lead us to two conclusions. First, Americans are overworked relative to much of theworld, making it harder to balance work and family responsibilities. Second, the problem is most prevalent amongmanagers and professionals. With technology expanding the number of professional jobs, we can expect anincreasing proportion of the labor force to be complaining of long hours and difficulty in handling work-lifeconflicts.

Class Exercise:

1. Ask students to individually write down the top three-to-five things they are looking for in their first careerjob.

2. On different sections of the board write categories labels such as: Salary, Family-friendly, Workweek,Office Arrangement, Atmosphere, Management, Perks, Other, etc.

3. Ask students to share their lists by coming up to the board and writing their desires under the category

that applies, or create new categories if necessary.4. Note any patterns that emerge and ask the students to speculate why that is the case.5. Now ask them to think about and brainstorm as a class what their parents looked for in their careers. A

clue to this might be what their parents telling students look for in their first job.6. As they share their ideas, create a second list on the board. Look at the two lists, and ask the students

where they see similarities and differences. Check 9 those items that are similar. X those that aredifferent.

7. Lead a discussion as to why the two lists are different. What has changed? What is different between thestudents and their parents career expectations?


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C. Productivity Notes:

1. It is achieving goals by transferring inputs to outputs at the lowest cost. Thismust be done both effectively and efficiency.

2. An organization is effective when it successfully meets the needs of itsclientele or customers

Example: When sales or market share goals are met, productivity alsodepends on achieving those goals efficiently

3. An organization is efficient when it can do so at a low cost.

Popular measures of efficiency include: ROI, profit per dollar of sales, andoutput per hour of labor.

4. Productivity is a major concern of OB: What factors influence the effectivenessand efficiency of individuals, groups and the company?

D. Absenteeism

1. Absenteeism is the failure to report to work.

2. Estimated annual costover $40 billion for U.S. organizations; $12 billion forCanadian firms; more than 60 billion Deutsch Marks (U.S. $35.5 billion) eachyear in Germany

3. A one-day absence by a clerical worker can cost a U.S. employer up to $100 inreduced efficiency and increased supervisory workload.

4. The workflow is disrupted and often important decisions must be delayed.

5. All absences are not bad. For instance, illness, fatigue, or excess stress candecrease an employees productivityit may well be better to not report towork rather than perform poorly.

E. Turnover

1. Turnover is the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from anorganization.

2. A high turnover rate results in increased recruiting, selection, and trainingcosts; costs estimated at about $15,000 per employee.

3. All organizations have some turnover and the right people leavingunder-performing employeesthereby creating opportunity for promotions, andadding new/fresh ideas, and replacing marginal employees with higher skilledworkers.

4. Turnover often involves the loss of people the organization does not want tolose.


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F. Organizational citizenship Notes:

1. Organizational citizenship is discretionary behavior that is not part of anemployees formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes theeffective functioning of the organization.

2. Desired citizenship behaviors include:

Constructive statements about work group and organization Helping others on their team

Volunteering for extra job activities

Avoiding unnecessary conflicts

Showing care for organizational property

Respecting rules and regulations

Tolerating occasional work-related impositions.

G. Job satisfaction

1. J ob satisfaction is the difference between the amount of rewards workersreceive and the amount they believe they should receive.

2. Unlike the previous three variables, job satisfaction represents an attituderather than a behavior.

3. It became a primary dependent variable for two reasons:

Demonstrated relationship to performance factors

The value preferences held by many OB researchers

4. Managers have believed for years that satisfied employees are moreproductive, however:

Much evidence questions that assumed causal relationship

It can be argued that advanced societies should be concerned not just withthe quantity of life, but also with the quality of life

Ethically, organizations have a responsibility to provide employees with

jobs that are challenging and intrinsically rewarding.

H. The Independent Variables

1. Organizational behavior is best understood when viewed essentially as a set ofincreasingly complex building blocks: individual, group, and organizationalsystem.

2. The base, or first level, of our model lies in understanding individual behavior.

3. Individual-level variables:

People enter organizations with certain characteristics that will influencetheir behavior at work.

The more obvious of these are personal or biographical characteristicssuch as age, gender, and marital status; personality characteristics; aninherent emotional framework; values and attitudes; and basic abilitylevels.

There is little management can do to alter them, yet they have a very realimpact on employee behavior.


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H. The Independent Variables (cont.) Notes:

4. There are four other individual-level variables that have been shown to affectemployee behavior:

Perception

Individual decision making

Learning Motivation

5. The middle level of our model lies in understanding behavior of groups.

6. Group-level variables:

The behavior of people in groups is more than the sum total of all theindividuals acting in their own way.

People behave differently in groups than they do when alone.

People in groups are influenced by:

a. Acceptable standards of behavior by the groupb. Degree of attractiveness to each other

c. Communication patternsd. Leadership and powere. Levels of conflict

7. The top level of our model lies in understanding organizations system levelvariables

8. Organizational behavior reaches its highest level of sophistication when weadd formal structure.

9. The design of the formal organization, work processes, and jobs; theorganizations human resource policies and practices, and the internal culture,all have an impact.

I. Toward a Contingency OB Model (Exhibit 1-7)

1. The model does not explicitly identify the vast number of contingency variablesbecause of the tremendous complexity that would be involved in such adiagram.

2. We will introduce important contingency variables that will improve theexplanatory linkage between the independent and dependent variables in ourOB model.

3. The concepts of change and stress are included in Exhibit 1-7, acknowledgingthe dynamics of behavior and the fact that work stress is an individual, group,and organizational issues.

Summary and Implications for Managers

1. Managers need to develop their interpersonal skills.

2. OB is a field that investigates the impact of individuals, groups, and structureon an organization.

3. OB focuses on improving productivity, reducing absenteeism and turnover, andincreasing employee citizenship and job satisfaction.

Notes:


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QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

1. How are OB concepts addressed in management functions, roles, and skills?Answer One common thread runs through the functions, roles, and skills of managers: the need to developpeople skills if they are going to be effective and successful. Managers get things done through other people.Managers do their work in an organization.

Management functions involve managing the organizationplanning and controlling and managingpeople within the organizationorganizing and leading. Management roles (see Exhibit 1-1) are the parts managers play within an organization and involve their

interaction with people. Management skills, as identified by Robert Katz, boil down to three essential management skills:

technical, human, and conceptual. These use OB to manage processes and people and to problem solve.

2. Define organizational behavior. Relate it to management.Answer Organizational behavior (abbreviated OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact thatindividuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying suchknowledge toward improving an organizations effectiveness. As managers accomplish their work throughothers, OB provides the tools for guiding the productivity of others, predicting human behavior at work and theperspectives needed to manage individuals from diverse backgrounds.

3. What is an organization? Is the family unit an organization? Explain.Answer An organization is a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, whichfunctions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. The family is a type oforganization because it has all the characteristics of an organization. The one variation is that the goals of afamily may not be explicit, and therefore students might argue that it is not an organization per se.

4. Identify and contrast the three general management roles.Answer In the late 1960s, Henry Mintzberg discovered three general management roles that had sub-roles(See Exhibit 1-1). The ten roles can be grouped as being primarily concerned with interpersonal relationships,the transfer of information, and decision making.

Interpersonalceremonial and symbolic

Figureheadduties are ceremonial and symbolic in nature

Leadershiphire, train, motivate, and discipline employees

Liaisoncontact outsiders who provide the manager with information. These may be individuals orgroups inside or outside the organization.

Informationinvolve the collection and dissemination of information

Monitorcollect information from organizations and institutions outside their own

Disseminatora conduit to transmit information to organizational members

Spokespersonrepresent the organization to outsiders

Decisionalfocus on making choices

Entrepreneurmanagers initiate and oversee new projects that will improve their organizationsperformance

Disturbance handlerstake corrective action in response to unforeseen problems

Resource allocatorsare responsible for allocating human, physical, and monetary resources

Negotiatordiscuss issues and bargain with other units to gain advantages for their own unit

5. What is a contingency approach to OB?Answer The final model shown in the text, which is a contingency approach, is shown in Exhibit 1-7. Thecontingency approach refers to situational factors that are variables which moderate the relationship betweenthe independent and dependent variables. There are four key dependent variables (productivity,absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction) and a large number of independent variables (for example,motivation, leadership, work processes), organized by level of analysis, that research indicates have varyingeffects. Because of the large number of independent variables, the study of OB is complex and requires asystematic approach within organizations as we seek to predict the behavior of people at work.


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QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW (cont.)

6. Contrast psychology and sociologys contribution to OB.Answer OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, group, and structure have onbehavior within organizations. Both psychology and sociology are concerned with behavior. Psychology isthe science of behavior that studies individual behavior and sociology studies people in relation to their fellowhuman beings. Psychological study in the field of OB has contributed knowledge on a number of topics

including: learning, perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership, motivation, job satisfaction,decision making, etc. Sociological study has contributed knowledge on topics such as: group dynamics,teams, organizational culture, organizational theory and structure, communications, power and conflict.

7. Behavior is generally predictable, so there is no need to formally study OB. Why is that statement wrong?Answer Such a casual or commonsense approach to reading others can often lead to erroneouspredictions. OB improves managers predictive ability by replacing intuitive opinions with a more systematicapproach. Behavior generally is predictable if we know how the person perceived the situation and what isimportant to him or her. While peoples behavior may not appear to be rational to an outsider, there is reasonto believe it usually is intended to be rational and it is seen as rational by them. There are certain fundamentalconsistencies underlying the behavior of all individuals that can be identified and then modified to reflectindividual differences. These fundamental consistencies allow predictability. When we use the phrase

systematic study, we mean looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and basing ourconclusions on scientific evidencethat is, on data gathered under controlled conditions and measured andinterpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner.

8. What are the three levels of analysis in our OB model? Are they related? If so, how?Answer Individual, group, organization. The three basic levels are analogous to building blockseach levelis constructed upon the previous level. Group concepts grow out of the foundation laid in the individualsection; we overlay structural constraints on the individual and group in order to arrive at organizationalbehavior.

9. If job satisfaction is not a behavior, why is it considered an important dependent variable?Answer J ob satisfaction is the difference between the amount of rewards workers receive and the amountthey believe they should receive. Unlike the other dependent variables, job satisfaction represents an attitude

rather than a behavior. It became a primary dependent variable for two reasons: 1) demonstrated relationshipto performance factors and 2) the value preferences held by many OB researchers. Managers have believedfor years that satisfied employees are more productive. Much evidence questions that assumed causalrelationship. However, it can be argued that advanced societies should be concerned with the quality of life.Ethically, organizations have a responsibility to provide employees with jobs that are challenging andintrinsically rewarding.

10. What are effectiveness and efficiency, and how are they related to organizational behavior?Answer An organization is productive if it achieves its goals (effective) and does so by transferring inputs tooutputs at the lowest cost (efficiency). As such, productivity implies a concern for both effectiveness andefficiency. Hospital exampleeffective when it successfully meets the needs of its clientele. It is efficientwhen it can do so at a low cost. Business firm exampleeffective when it attains its sales or market sharegoals, but its productivity also depends on achieving those goals efficiently. Achieving productivity through

effectiveness and efficiency involves all three levels of an organization, the individual, the group, and theorganizational system. OB provides the tools, insights, and ability to predict outcomes needed to balancethese two elements.


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QUESTIONS FOR CRITICAL THINKING

1. Contrast the research comparing effective managers with successful managers. What are the implicationsfrom the research for practicing managers?

Answer Successful managersNetworking made the largest relative contribution to success. Humanresource management activities made the least relative contribution. Effective managersCommunicationmade the largest relative contribution; networking the least. Successful managers do not give the same

emphasis to each of those activities as do effective managers. Their emphases are almost the opposite. Thisfinding challenges the historical assumption that promotions are based on performance, vividly illustrating theimportance that social and political skills play in getting ahead in organizations. One common thread runsthrough the functions, roles, skills, and activities approaches to management: managers need to develop theirpeople skills if they are going to be effective and successful.

2. Why do you think the subject of OB might be criticized as being only common sense, when one would rarelyhear such a criticism of a course in physics or statistics?

Answer Each of us is a student of behavior by nature. Unfortunately, our casual or commonsense approachto reading others can often lead to erroneous predictions. However, we can improve our predictive ability byreplacing our intuitive opinions with a more systematic approach. The systematic approach used in this bookwill uncover important facts and relationships and will provide a base from which more accurate predictions ofbehavior can be made. Behavior generally is predictable if we know how the person perceived the situation

and what is important to him or her. While peoples behavior may not appear to be rational to an outsider,there is reason to believe it usually is intended to be rational and it is seen as rational by them. Systematicstudy replaces intuition, or those gut feelings about why I do what I do and what makes others tick.

3. Millions of workers have lost their jobs due to downsizing. At the same time, many organizations arecomplaining that they cannot find qualified people to fill vacancies. How do you explain this apparentcontradiction?

Answer The nature of the jobs is the key issue. Low-skill jobs are being replaced; high-skill, conceptual,and technical jobs are increasing. Employees need new or updated skill sets. Organizations will need todevelop a strategy for attracting and retaining desired workers which might include targeted recruitingstrategies and employee development programs as just two examples of how to meet this crisis.

4. On a 1 to 10 scale measuring the sophistication of a scientific discipline in predicting phenomena,

mathematical physics would probably be a 10. Where do you think OB would fall on the scale? Why?Answer Students answers will vary, but the key point is that OB is moving up the scale and is somewhereabout a 5. It retains the complexity and unpredictability of being a human science but is using objective andempirical tools in the study of such behaviors to improve the applicability and predictability of its findings.

5. What do you think is the single most critical people problem facing managers today? Give specific supportfor your position?

Answer Students answers will vary. However, that managers must continue to develop his or hercommunication skills is always of critical importance. Other issues facing managers from an OB perspectiveare: the changing nature of work (what we do, how we do it do, and where we do it), challenges broughtabout by technology, finding and retaining skilled workers, motivating workers, stress and organizationalchange would all rank high on a critical scale confronting managers in todays workplace.


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POINT-COUNTERPOINT Successful Organizations Put People First

Point

Microsoft, Motorola, W.L. Gores & Associates, Southwest Airlines, Ben & J errys Homemade, Hewlett-Packard,Lincoln Electric, and Starbucks pursue people-first strategies.

Evidence suggests that successful organizations put people first. Employees are a companys only truecompetitive advantage. Competitors can match most organizations products, processes, locations, distributionchannels, and the like.

What practices differentiate people-first organizations? 1) Cultural diversity; 2) Family-friendly; 3) Investing inemployee training; 4) Empowering their employees. In turn, this converts into higher employee productivity andsatisfaction. These employees are willing to put forth the extra effort to do whatever is necessary to see that their

jobs are done properly and completely. People-first strategies also lead to organizations being able to recruitsmarter, more conscientious, and more loyal employees.

Counter Point

Putting people first is easy to say. Putting people first is not necessarily consistent with long-termcompetitiveness. Organizations are more typically pursuing a labor-cost minimization strategy rather than a

people-first strategy. As a result, most business firms place profits over people. 1) Cost-cutting measures; 2)Reengineering processes; 3) Substituting temporary workers for full-time permanent staff.Organizations with problems typically look to staffing cuts as a first response. Few organizations have the luxuryto be able to provide workers with anything more than minimal job security. Employees are a variable cost.

The labor-cost-minimization strategy appears to be spreading worldwide. It began in the United States, spread toJ apan, South Korea, and Thailandplaces that historically protected their employees in good times and badbecause people-first policies are inconsistent with aggressive, low-cost, global competition.

Teaching Notes:

Choose two teams of three-to-five students. [The rest of the class will act as a jury.] Have them prepare, outsideof class, one side of the issue to debate in class. Create a controlled debate giving each side up to 8 minutes to

make its case, 3 minutes to cross-examine the other side, then 5 minutes in class to prepare a 35 minuterebuttal, and then a final 1-minute summation/closing argument. Have the remainder of the class vote on whomade the stronger case. Close with a discussion of the issue leading the students to understand this is not aneither/or situation, but the best response incorporates elements of both positions.

Time required

Opening statement Pro 8 minutes Con 8 minutesCross-exam Pro 3 minutes Con 3 minutesPrep. for rebuttal Simultaneous both sides 5 minutesRebuttal Con 35 minutesClosing Con 1 minute Pro 35 minutes (note change

of order)

Total time 35-40 minutes Pro: 1 minute


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TEAM EXERCISE Workforce Diversity

Purpose To learn about the different needs of a diverse workforceTime required Approximately 40 minutes

Participants and roles Divide the class into six groups of approximately equal size. Each group is assignedone of the following roles. (The members of each group are to assume the character consistent with their

assigned role.)

Nancy is 28 years old. She is a divorced mother of three children, ages 3, 5, and 7. She is the departmenthead. She earns $37,000 a year on her job and receives another $3,600 a year in child support from her ex-husband.

Ethel is a 72-year-old widow. She works twenty-five hours a week to supplement her $8,000 annual pension.Including her hourly wage of $7.50, she earns $17,750 a year.

John is a 34-year-old black male born in Trinidad who is now a U.S. resident. He is married and the father oftwo small children. J ohn attends college at night and is within a year of earning his bachelors degree. Hissalary is $24,000 a year. His wife is an attorney and earns approximately $44,000 a year.

Lu is a 26-year-old physically impaired male Asian American. He is single and has a masters degree ineducation. Lu is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair as a result of an auto accident. He earns $29,000 ayear.

Maria is a single 22-year-old Hispanic. Born and raised in Mexico, she came to the United States only threemonths ago. Marias English needs considerable improvement. She earns $18,000 a year. Mike is a 16-year-old white male high school sophomore who works fifteen hours a week after school and

during vacations. He earns $6.75 an hour, or approximately $5,200 a year.

Background

Our six participants work for a company that has recently installed a flexible benefits program. Instead of thetraditional one benefit package fits all, the company is allocating an additional 25% of each employees annualpay to be used for discretionary benefits. Those benefits and their annual cost are listed below.

Supplementary health care for employeePlan A (No deductible and pays 90%) =$3,000

Plan B ($200 deductible and pays 80%) =$2,000Plan C ($1,000 deductible and pays 70%) =$500

Supplementary health care for dependents (same deductibles and percentages as above):Plan A =$2,000Plan B =$1,500Plan C =$500

Supplementary dental plan =$500

Life insurance:Plan A ($25,000 coverage) =$500Plan B ($50,000 coverage) =$1,000Plan C ($100,000 coverage) =$2,000

Plan D ($250,000 coverage) =$3,000

Mental health plan =$500

Prepaid legal assistance =$300

Vacation =2 percent of annual pay for each week, up to 6 weeks a year

Pension at retirement equal to approximately 50 percent of final annual earnings =$1,500


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Four-day workweek during the three summer months (available only to full-time employees) =4 percent ofannual pay

Day-care services (after company contribution) =$2,000 for all of an employees children, regardless ofnumber

Company-provided transportation to and from work =$750

College tuition reimbursement =$1,000

Language class tuition reimbursement =$500

The Task

1. Each group has 15 minutes (consider increasing this to 25 minutes) to develop a flexible benefits packagethat consumes 25% (and no more!) of their characters pay.

2. After completing step 1, each group appoints a spokesperson who describes to the entire class the benefitspackage they have arrived at for their character.

3. The entire class then discusses the results. How did the needs, concerns, and problems of each participant

influence the groups decision? What do the results suggest for trying to motivate a diverse workforce?

Teaching Notes

1. With these types of exercises, students will press for the right answer. Emphasize that how theyreached their decisions and awareness of others perspectives is key here, much more so than the finaldecision.

2. The allocation of resources may take several forms and be correct. Students should look at how well theneeds were met by their decision.

What needs were identified?

How did each element of the benefit plan meet the identified need?

How diverse were the needs, and why were they so diverse?

3. Consider having students research this benefit web site in order to make more informed decisionshttp://www.benefitslink.com/

[Special thanks to Professor Penny Wright (San Diego State University) for her suggestions during thedevelopment of this exercise.]


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ETHICAL DILEMMA Whats the Right Balance Between Work and Personal Life?

When you think of work/life conflicts, you probably tend to think of people in lower levels of organizations. But arecent survey of 179 CEOs revealed that many of them are struggling with this issue. Thirty-one percent, forinstance, said they have a high level of stress in their lives; 47 percent admitted that they would sacrifice somecompensation for more personal time; and 16 percent considered changing jobs in the last six month to reduce

stress or sacrifices made in their personal lives.

Most of these surveyed executives conceded that they had given up, and continue to give up, a lot to get to thetop in their organizations. They are often tired from the extensive and exhausting travel their jobs demand, not tomention an average 60-hour workweek. Yet most feel the climb to CEO position was worth whatever sacrificesthey have had to make.

J ean Stone, while not representative of the group, indicates the price that some of these executives have had topay. As CEO and president of Dukane Corp., and Illinois based manufacturer of electronic communicationsequipment, Stone describes herself as highly achievement oriented. She has an intense focus on her job andadmits to having lost sight of her personal life. Recently divorced after a 10-year marriage, she acknowledgescareer and work pressures were a factor in that.

Instructor Note:

These questions can be used as a group Q & A in class, or in conjunction with the exercise OB IN THE NEWS Americas World-Class Workaholics found in the boxed text within the chapter. Another idea would be to assignthe questions as a journal entry or short homework assignment.

Questions:

1. How much emphasis on work is too much?2. Whats the right balance between work and personal life?3. How much would you be willing to give up to be CEO of a major?4. If you were CEO, what ethical responsibilities, if any, do you think you have to help your employees

balance their work/family relationships?

CASE EXERCISE Great Plains Software: Pursuing a People-First Strategy

Great Plains Software in Fargo, North Dakota, is a success story. Begun in 1983, today it employs 2,200 people,generates sales of $195 million, and was recently bought by Microsoft for $1 billion. Management attributes muchof its success to the companys people-first strategy.

What does Great Plains do to facilitate its people-first culture? Managers point to the companys structure, perks,and its commitment to helping employees develop their skills and leadership. Great Plains has a flatorganizational structure with minimal hierarchy. Work is done in teams and perks include casual dress, onsitedaycare, aerobics, and dance classes. Management has a high degree of commitment to the development of itspeople. There is a long list of training and educational opportunities designed to help employees build their skill

level. The premier program is called Leadership is Everywhere.

Doug Burgum, CEO, is convinced the People-First strategy works. Turnover is just 5 percentfar below theindustry average of 18 to 25 percent.

Note to Instructor: Student answers will vary, but could include the elements bulleted below each question.

1. Putting people first has worked for Great Plains. If it is so effective, why do you think all firms havenot adopted these practices?


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Management structure differs throughout organizations and other organizations may not beready, or want, to make such a dramatic change to a flat structure with teams.

Organizations may perceive the training and non-traditional perks such as child care as tooexpensive to implement.

Management may feel that what they are doing within their organizations is just as effective andare satisfied with the results.

2. Do you think a people-first approach is more applicable to certain businesses or industries thanothers? If so, what might they be? Why?

The approach that Great Plains Software adopts is just one approach to putting people first.Other organizations may not have the same strategy, yet believe they have a people-firstapproach for their employees.

More traditionally structured organizations in conservative industries would have difficulty with theGreat Plains approach. For example, banking and other financial industries would be unlikely toadopt casual dress standards for direct customer contact personnel. However, they may be justas likely to invest in training and education to improve the skill levels of employees.

Each industry or organization would have its own reasons for adopting a particular strategy whenfocusing on employees. Fundamentally, it would be dependent on the goals the organization istrying to achieve while meeting their customers expectations.

3. What downside, if any, do you see in working at a company like Great Plains? The lines between work and leisure become blurred and individuals may not develop a life

outside of the workplace.

The constant change and activity could lead to fatigue.

4. What downside, if any, do you see in managing a company like Great Plains?

While not necessarily a downside, internal communication systems would need to be extremelyefficient.

Understanding the needs and capabilities of each of your employees would be of paramountimportance when making job/team assignments.

The continuously changing environment requires managers to constantly monitor shifting goalsand priorities. While that provides a challenge and interest, it could also lead to burn-out.

5. Some critics have argued that People-first polices do lead to high profits. High profits allow people-first policies. Do you agree? Explain your position.

The annual savings on reduced turn-over is significantparticularly in the technology industrywhere high salaries and low labor supply are the norm.

The majority of perks provided to the employees cost very little, such as casual dress and no-status parking.

The continual investment in employee skills provides a developed workforce that is ready toperform and innovate. This provides a scaffolding when market forces change and require newstrategies of response from the employees and management.


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Explor ing OB Topics on the World Wide Web

1. Using the World Wide Web (WWW) to locate information can be auseful tool to the student (or manager) interested in exploring topicsin OB. Search Engines are our navigational tool to explore theWWW. Some commonly used search engines are:

www.excite.com www.google.comwww.yahoo.com www.lycos.comwww.hotbot.com www.looksmart.com

For this first exercise, go to www.searchenginewatch.comto learn more about what SearchEngines and Metacrawlers do and how they differ. Once you are on the searchenginewatch homepage, click on Search Engine Listings then on Major Search Engines. This page presents anoverview of the major engines and how best to use them. Do not forget to look at other topics onthis web site that are interesting to you.

Now perform a search on Organizational Behavior using three different search engines. Do theresults differ or are they the same? If they differ, why do you think they are different? Write a

paragraph or two answering these questions based on what you learned from researching SearchEngines. Also, include another paragraph providing examples and/or reasons of when you woulduse choose one Search Engine over another.

2. The text tells us that OB replaces intuition with systematic study. Where do scholars prepare fora career researching OB topics? Additionally, what if you decide at some point to pursuegraduate study in OB. Where would you go? Perform a search to identify two-to-three graduateprograms in OB and print out the home page with the descriptions of these programs and bringthem to class. Note that different schools have programs in different departments anddisciplines which shows the diversity thinking about OB in these programs. If you need ideas aswhere to start, try:

Harvardhttp://www-hugsas.harvard.edu/webfiles/admis/socsci/orgbeh.htm Official web site of the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management

http://www.buec.udel.edu/OBWeb/

If time allows, we will discuss as a class the information you found on the general areas of studyand the types of courses required in graduate work in OB.

3. The field of OB is closely linked to practice of Human Resource Management (HRM). Go to theSociety for Human Resource Management web page: www.shrm.org and answer the followingquestions:

As you read the SHRM homepage, identify OB topics and list on a separate paper. Try tofind as many as possible. Compare your list with a classmate and note the ones you

missed. Choose one of the topics and on a separate paper write three questions you have on the

topic. Click on the topics or web links on the SHRM homepage and try to find the answers.If you find what you are looking for, write the answers next to your original questions. If youare unsuccessful in finding the answers, write a short paragraph describing what yourstrategy would be to find the answers you want.

4. We read about Great Plains Softwares effort to put People First. Many organizations look forways to promote diversity through family-friendly policies. Look for three companies who are


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incorporating family friendly policies into their HRM strategy. On a separate paper answer thefollowing questions: Who are the companies? (Be sure to list their web address too.) What are their policies? How do these policies attract and keep people? Do these policies interest you? Why?

How might they make their policies more attractive to workers? If they make the changes you suggest, what results would you expect? (Is there evidence to

back up your opinion? If it is just your opinion, say so, but later we will look for studies thatback up or refute your opinion today.)

If you are having difficulty finding sites for this exercise, try some of the ones below:

http://www.inc.com/incmagazine/archives/16990601.html http://www.workforceonline.com/archive/article/000/06/74.xci (Note: Workforce Online

requires you to fill out a free registration.) http://www.inc.com/301/ideas/0283.html http://www.inc.com/incmagazine/archives/07930561.html

http://www.smartbiz.com/sbs/arts/ctm5.htm

5. Find an organization that directly addresses the cost of absenteeism or turnover on its Web site.What, if anything, is that organization doing to reduce those costs? What did your search tellyou in terms of the importance or unimportance of these costs to organizations? In class we willmeet in small groups to discuss the strategies organizations are using. Once you have foundan organization, check with me to make certain that we do not have too many in the classresearching the same company. Be prepared to talk about your organizations strategy to thegroup and possibly the class. Below are some web sites to get you started, but do not hesitateto perform your own search: www.shrm.org http://www.jointventure.org/initiatives/health/96direct/effect.html http://www.workforceonline.com/archive/article/000/05/21.xci . http://www.healthworkplace.com http://eafinc.org/jobsrvy.htm

6. Try some advanced searching. Go to www.google.com and click on advanced search. In theexact phrase box, key in organizational behavior, and in the at least one of these wordsbox, key in globalization. On the drop down menu for Language choose English. Scrollthrough the pages to determine if there is a pattern to the types of web pages returned. Goback to the advanced search page (use your back button or retype the URL). This time in theexact phrase box, key in globalization, and in the at least one of these words box, key inemploy* (the * is a wildcard symbol which will bring up any word which begins with employsuch as employee). What types of pages were returned this time? Which would be more usefulto a scholar researching OB and globalization? Why? Now, repeat the above process choosing

an OB topic of your choice instead of globalization. Did you find similar patterns of web pagereturns with your first and second try? Prepare a paragraph or two telling what you learnedabout researching OB topics on the WWW.

7. Visit the companion web site for our textbook to see what resources are available to you. At thisweb site you find study guides with practice tests, recent news articles, and Web sites. Go to:www.prenhall.com/pubguide/. Key in Robbins in the search box and hit the search button.Scroll down and select the textbook. You will need to register to enter the site. (Keep track ofyour password!) Take the true/false practice test for the first chapter and print your results.

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