A Behavioral Science and Research Perspective

What Behavioral sciences do you think are involved to Organizational Behavior?

 Psychology: The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals.

Psychology is involved on an individual unit of analysis via:  Learning  Motivation  Personality  Emotions  Perception  Training  Leadership effectiveness  Job Satisfaction  Individual Decision Making  Performance Appraisal  Attitude Measurement  Employee Selection  Work Design  Work Stress

 Social Psychology: An area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.

Social psychology is involved on a group unit of analysis via:  Behavioral change  Attitude change  Communication  Group Processes  Group Decision Making  Power  Conflict  Intergroup Behavior

 Sociology: The study of people in relation to their fellow human beings.

Sociology is involved on a group unit and an organization system unit of analysis via:  Communication  Power  Conflict  Intergroup Behavior  Formal Organization Theory  Organizational Technology  Organizational Change  Organizational Culture

Difference between Sociology and Social Psychology?

 Anthropology: The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.

Anthropology is involved on a group unit and an organization system unit of analysis via:  Comparative Values  Comparative Attitudes  Cross-Cultural Analysis  Organizational Culture  Organizational Environment Power

 Research is concerned with the systematic gathering of information. Its purpose is to help us in our search for the truth.  Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic behind them.

The three designs most often used in organizational behavior research today are (Ricky W. Griffin, Gregory Moorhead):

Laboratory and Field Experiment: The Laboratory experiment gives the researcher the most control. By creating an artificial setting, similar to a real work situation, the researcher can control almost every possible factor in that setting. He or she can then manipulate the variables in the study and examine their effects on other variables. A Field experiment is similar to a Laboratory experiment except that it is conducted in a real organization. The organizational setting provides greater realism.

 Case Studies: In depth analysis of a single setting. Useful for thorough explanation of unknown phenomena.

 Field Surveys: Typically relies on a questionnaire distributed to a sample of people selected from a large population. Qualitative Quantitative Qualitative: Refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics. Quantitative: Refers to counts and measures of things.

 Is it reliable? Reliability refers to consistency of measurement.  Is it valid? Is the study actually measuring what it claims to be measuring? Validity refers to the agreement between the value of a measurement and its true value.

Which one of the research designs, would you use, in order to check employees’ job satisfaction?

Classical Management Principles The Quantitative Approach: The quantitative approach to management involves the use of quantitative techniques, such as statistics, information models, and computer simulations, to improve decision making. The System Approach: The system approach views the organization as a unified, purposeful system composed of interrelated parts. This way the manager can look at the organization as a whole or part of the larger outside environment. The Contingency Approach: A concept in management stating that there is no one universally applicable set of management principles (rules) by which to manage organizations. Organizations are individually different, face different situations (contingency variables), and require different ways of managing.