Chapter 3 Organizational Behavior And Management Thinking

Chapter Goals Define organizational behavior Explain how management thinking affects organizational behavior Discuss examples of management thinking within and between individuals, and within organizations Apply management thinking to communication and problem solving Apply a technique for revealing assumptions and perceptions

Organizational behavior The study of how (and why) people behave in the workplace Draws on many other disciplines Psychology Social psychology Industrial psychology Sociology Communications Anthropology

Individual Between individuals Within organizations Organizational behavior occurs at 3 levels Individual Between individuals Within organizations

A cognitive model of behavior Thinking  Behavior  Outcomes A cognitive model of behavior shows us how thinking influences behavior

Thinking patterns relevant to organizational behavior Individual Assumptions Perceptions Biases Theories X and Y Expectancy Schemas Mental models Between individuals Expectancy theory Self-fulfilling prophecy Attributions Mental models Sensemaking

Common individual thinking patterns that can alter understanding Perception: what is noticed; to what attention is paid Cognitive biases: mental processing that simplifies handling information and that can compromise decision quality Theories X and Y: two different views about the nature of employee behavior that can influence how a manager views employees Expectancy: prior beliefs and experiences that shape ones thoughts and perceptions Schemas: mental representations of what is known about something

Common thinking patterns between individuals that can alter common understanding Self-fulfilling prophecy: expectations about another’s behavior that can elicit the expected behavior Expectancy theory: managers affect employee motivation when they influence employee expectations about ability to accomplish a task and expectations of reward Attributions: imputing the likely cause of another’s behavior Attribution theory: explaining another’s behavior by presuming it is caused either by a person’s disposition or by the situation Mental models: beliefs about how things work Sensemaking: process in which organization members interpret the meaning of ambiguous information

Lessons from organizational sensemaking When organizations make sense of a situation… How they perceive the environment defines their opportunities and constraints Understanding is retrospective because it emerges through hindsight Taking collective action requires sufficient understanding of a situation, though actionable understanding may not be completely accurate

Five disciplines of organizational learning (Senge) systems thinking to recognize patterns of connection striving for individual proficiency and personal mastery surfacing and challenging mental models a common identity and shared vision of the future team learning that reduces assumptions and creates shared meaning these 3 disciplines counteract thinking limitations

Communication in organizations Sender and receiver exchange understanding Communication barriers: arise from… sender’s thinking and behavior receiver’s thinking and behavior and from the organizational setting

solving in organizations Two phases of problem solving in organizations Problem identification Recognize problem Identify cause Set goals Generate options Problem solution Assess options Choose among options Implement options Evaluate solution

Action Inquiry to check assumptions Framing: state purpose and intentions Advocating: state opinion or feeling Illustrating: Give supporting example Inquiring: Ask for listener’s views