Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behavior?

4.

Negotiator-responsible for representing the

organization at major negotiations

The Importance of Interpersonal Skills

What Mangers Do
Managers/administrators-an individual who achieves goals
through other people
Organizations-a consciously coordinated social unit,
composed of 2 or more people, that functions on a relatively
continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set goals

Management Skills
1.
2.

Management Functions
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Planning-a process that includes defining goals,

establishing strategy and developing plans to
coordinate activities
Organizing-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-a function that includes motivating
employees, directing others, selecting the most
effective communication channels and resolving
conflicting
(commanding and coordinating)
Controlling-monitoring activities to ensure they are
being accomplished as planned and correcting any
significant deviations
Coordinating and Commanding

Henry Mintzbergs Management Roles

Interpersonal
1.

2.
3.

Figurehead-symbolic head; required to perform a

number of routine duties of a legal or social nature
(president hands out diplomas, supervisor giving a
tour)
Leader-Responsible for motivation and direction of
employees
Liaison-Maintains a network of outside contacts who
provide favors and information
a. Outside (sales manager obtains info from quality
control manager in his own company)
b. Inside (sales manager contacts other sales
executive through a marketing trade association)

3.

Effective VS Successful Managerial Activities

All engaged in 4 managerial activities:
1.
2.
3.
4.

2.

3.

Monitor-receives a wide variety of information,

serves as nerve center of internal and external
information of the organization
Disseminator-transmits information received from
outsiders of from other employees to members of the
organization
Spokesperson-transmits information to outsiders on
organizations plans, policies, actions and results;
serves as expert on organizations industry

Decisional
1.

2.

3.

Entrepreneur-searches organization and its

environment for opportunities and initiates projects
to bring about change
Disturbance handler-responsible for corrective
action when organization faces important,
unexpected disturbances
Resource allocator-makes or approves significant
organizational decisions

Traditional Management-decision making,

planning, controlling
Communication-exchanging routine information
and processing paperwork
Human Resource Management-motivating,
disciplining, managing conflict, staffing and training
Networking-socializing, politicking and interacting
with outsiders

Successful-speed of promotion within their organization

(networking)
Effective-quantity and quality of their performance and the
satisfaction and commitment of employees (communication)

Enter Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior (OB)-a field of study that
investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure
have on behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of
applying such knowledge toward improving an organizations
effectiveness
-the study of what people do in an organization and
how their behaviour affects the organizations
performance
-it studies 3 determinants of behaviour in
organization

Informational
1.

Technical Skills-the ability to apply specialized

knowledge or expertise
Human Skills-the ability to work with, understand,
motivate other people, both individually and in
groups
Conceptual Skills-the mental ability to analyse and
diagnose complex situations

3 determinants of behaviour in organization:

1.
2.
3.

Individuals
Groups
structure

Complementing Intuition with Systematic

Study
*Fundamental consistencies behaviour is not random
Systematic Study-looking at relationships, attempting to
attribute causes and effects and drawing conclusions based
on scientific evidence
-allow predictability
Evidence-based management (EBM)-the basing of
managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence

Intuition-a gut feeling not necessarily supported by research

*We tend to overestimate the accuracy of what we think we
know
Management by Walking Around (MBWA) is the most
effective management
1.
2.
3.

Available hours: tasked with planning, organizing,

coordinating and controllingspent in meeting
Focus: focus toward the concerns of employees
Application: the more managers know their
employees, the more effective those managers will
be

Big Data- the extensive use of statistical compilation and

analysis
Persistent-giving relatively constant outcomes over time
Predicative-showing steady causality between certain inputs
and outcomes

Disciplines That Contribute to the OB Field

1.

2.

3.
4.

Psychology-the science that seeks to measure,

explain and sometimes change the behaviour of
human and other animals
-focuses on individual
Social Psychology-an area of psychology that
blends concepts from psychology and sociology and
that focuses on the influence of people on one
another
-one major study is change (how to implement it and
how to reduce barriers to its acceptance)
Sociology-the study of people in relation to their
social environment or culture
Anthropology-the study of societies to learn about
human beings and their activities

Exhibit 1-3 p. 46

Workforce diversity-the concept that organizations are

becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, race,
ethnicity, sexual orientation and inclusion of other diverse
groups
-difference among people within given countries
Globalization-difference among people from different
countries
Improving Customer Service
Improving People Skills
Working in Networked Organizations
*Networked organizations allow people to
communicate and work together even though they may be
thousands miles apart
Enhancing Employee Well-Being at Work
*organizations that dont help their people achiever
work-life balance will find it increasingly difficult to attract and
retain the most capable and motivated employees
Creating a Positive Work Environment
Positive organizational behaviour/scholarship-an area of
OB research that concerns how organizations develop human
strength, foster vitality and resilience and unlock potential
Improving Ethical Behavior
Ethical dilemmas and ethical choices-situations in which
individuals are required to define right and wrong conduct

Coming Attractions: Developing an OB Model

Model-an abstraction of reality; a simplified representation of
some real-word phenomenon
3 types of variables:
1.
2.

There are Few Absolutes in OB

Contingency variables-situational factors: variables that
moderate the relationship between 2 or more variables
-x leads to y, but only under conditions specified in z

Challenges and Opportunities for OB

Responding to Economic Pressures
*managers are on the front lines with employees who must be
fired, who are asked to make do with less, and who worry
about futures
Responding to Globalization
1.

2.
3.
4.

Increased Foreign Assignments

*foreign assignment-managers are transferred to
employers operating division or subsidiary in
another country
Working with People from Different Cultures
*economic values are not universally transferrable
Overseeing Movement of Jobs to Countries with LowCost Labor
Adapting to Differing Cultural and Regulatory Norms

Managing Workforce Diversity

3.

Input-variables that lead to processes

Processes-actions that individuals, groups, and
organizations engage in as a result of inputs and that
lead to certain outcomes
Outcomes-the key variables that you want to
explain or predict and that are affected by some
other variables

3 levels of analysis:
1.
2.
3.

Individual
Group
organizational

The Individual
A.
B.

C.

Inputs
1. Diversity in Organizations
2. Personality and Values
Processes
1. Emotions and moods
2. Motivation
3. Perception and decision making
Outcomes
1. Attitudes and Stress
Attitudes-the evaluations employees make,
ranging from positive to negative, about
objects, people, or events
Stress-unpleasant psychological process
that occurs in response to environmental
pressures

2.

3.

4.

Task Performance-the combination of

effectiveness and efficiency at doing your
core job tasks
-the most important human output
Citizenship Behavior-discretionary
behaviour that contributes to the
psychological and social environment of the
workplace
Withdrawal Behavior-the set of actions
employees take to separate themselves
from the organization

The Group
A.
1.
2.
3.
B.

C.
1.
2.

Inputs
Group Structures
Group Roles
Team Responsibilities
Processes
1. Communication
2. Leadership
3. Power and Polities
4. Conflict and Negotiation
Outcomes
Group Cohesion-the extent to which members of a
group support and validate one another while at work
Group functioning-the quantity and quality of a
work groups output

The Organization
A.

Inputs
1. Structure
2. Culture

B.

Processes
1. Human Resource Management
2. Change Practices
Outcomes
1. Profitability/Productivity-the combination of the
effectiveness and efficiency of an organization
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 ends at a low cost
2. Survival-the degree to which an organization is
able to exist and grow over the long term

C.