Chapter 1: Introduction to Organizational Behavior

What is Organizational Behavior? Organizational behavior is the study and practice of how to manage individual and group behavior in business, government, and nonprofit settings. The field provides perspectives on motivation, communications, groups, power and politics, culture, and other matters. It goes through the lens of individual and group behavior.

Figure 1.2: the Social Sciences that Contribute to OB OB Topics

First Level: Individual Analysis It is the smallest possible level of analysis in organizations. Includes topics such as individual differences, perception, motivation and learning.

Second Level: Small Group Analysis Groups can be as small as two people or can be much larger, depending on the group’s goal and tasks. The study of groups and teams in organizational behavior includes issues of group size and composition, cohesion, trust, team building and decision making.

Third Level: Large Group Analysis Examples of larger groups, such as departments, and with organizational processes. It includes issues such as the design and structure of organizations, organizational culture, power and politics, and change.

Fourth Level: Organizational Analysis Managers must understand their organizations at all three levels of analysis to meet the daily challenges they face. Organizational behavior then can be seen as resulting from the exchanges among these levels.

Figure 1.1: Levels of Analysis in Organizational Behavior

The Classical Period Most managers and writers on management in the early 20th century focused on simply controlling workers and manipulating their environment. Goal was to maximize efficiency and productivity. People were primarily viewed as extensions of their tools and machines. It was assumed that workers found work to be unpleasant and would do what they were told because they would be punished or fired if they did not.

Frederick Taylor Frederick Taylor, best known as the father of scientific management. Theory is representative of these traditional perspectives on human behavior. Taylor’s overall purpose was to make workers, who he assumed to be naturally lazy, more productive.

The Humanistic Period The findings from this period would signal a fundamental shift in how employee behavior was to be understood. First, they found that people change their behavior when they know they are being observed (the so- called Hawthorne effect). Second, they concluded that human relationships (including a relationship with the researchers) influenced the behavior of workers. The Hawthorne experiments showed that human behavior and motivation is complex.

Theory X and Y In The Human Side of the Enterprise, McGregor (1960) discussed Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X—based on assumptions of people as lazy, uninvolved, and motivated solely by money— actually caused people to behave in a manner consistent with those expectations. Theory Y suggested a much more optimistic and humanistic view of people, emphasizing the inherent worth of individuals in organizations

Max Weber Weber laid out the principles that govern hierarchical organizations. Looked at the way in which individuals exercise power and control within a bureaucracy. The way a bureaucracy exhibits hierarchy, division of labor, impersonal rules, and top- down authority. Hierarchy refers to a top-down system of control in which different groups report to a single individual who then reports to another and so on up the ladder.

Positive Organizational Behavior A recent and compelling emphasis in the social psychology of organizational behavior is termed "positive organizational behavior.” Positive organizational scholarship traces its beginnings to the late 1990's, when Martin Seligman, president of the American Psychological Association, argued that his field had too long focused on illness or pathology and proposed as an alternative what he called positive psychology. Instead of concentrating on what was wrong with people, that is, their deficiencies, positive psychology focused on positive experiences.

The Job of Managers Peter Drucker suggested that the first task of management is to set objectives, to establish the goals of the group or organization and offer ways to meet those goals. Secondly, the manager organizes the tasks, saying who will do what and when. Third, the manager motivates and communicates, encouraging others to accomplish their work and engage with others. Fourth, the manager assesses performance. Fifth, the manager develops knowledge workers

Source: Based on Gosling, J., & Mintzberg, H. (2003). The five minds of the manager. Harvard Business Review, November,

Expectations of Leaders The leader is expected to:  develop a vision.  encourage the development of goals and performance objective.  communicate effectively both within and outside the organization.  encourage the highest level of creativity and innovation.  design opportunities for other participants in the organization.  carefully assess the progress of the group or organization.  develop and exemplify the highest moral and ethical standards.

Leadership Practices Challenge the Process Model the Way Enable Others to Act Inspire a Shared Vision Encourage The Heart

Elements of Globalization There are three intricately related phenomena that define our global society today.:  The first of these is globalization itself, the extension of political, social, and economic relationships around the globe.  Second is complexity, in some ways a byproduct of globalization and in some ways a separately developing phenomenon.  Third is connectedness, the capacity for groups and organizations around the world to connect with one another.

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility, as it is often called, refers to companies going beyond their bottom line, economic interests and engaging in activities that promote social well-being and environmental sustainability. Corporate social responsibility raises interesting questions for businesses, many of which were, and many of which still are primarily concerned with return on shareholder investment. Corporate social responsibility raises fundamental questions about the future role of business and society.

Figure 1.8: Themes