1. Organizational Behavior Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Essentials of
Organizational Behavior
13e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Chapter 5
Personality and Values

2. Chapter 1
What Is Organizational Behavior?

3. After studying this chapter you should be able to:
Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
Define organizational behavior (OB).
Show the value to OB of systematic study.
Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.
Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.
Identify the challenges and opportunities managers have in applying OB concepts.
Compare the three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model.
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4. The Importance of Interpersonal Skills
Good people skills are important
Good places to work have superior financial performance
Developing managers’ interpersonal skills helps attract and keep high-performing employees
There is a strong association between the quality of workplace relationships and employee job satisfaction, stress, and turnover
Increasing OB principles can foster social responsibility awareness
Since the late 1980s, business schools have recognized the link between understanding human behavior and managerial effectiveness. Managers cannot succeed on technical skills alone. They also need good people skills.
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5. The Field of Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior studies the influence that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations
Its chief goal is to apply that knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness
Organizational behavior looks at how individuals, groups, and structure can influence the behavior within an organization. This study is done so that we can use the knowledge to improve organizational outcomes and thereby its effectiveness.
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Focal Points of OB
Jobs
Work
Absenteeism
Employment turnover
Productivity
Human performance
Management
Some key areas we will look at in this course are aspects of jobs and work and how they impact organizational effectiveness. We will also look at work aspects such as absenteeism, employee turnover, and productivity to see how various theories or practices influence these behaviors. In addition, we will look at the intersection of human performance and management and how various practices can improve performance.
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7. Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study
Intuition: your “gut feeling” explanation of behavior
Systematic study improves ability to accurately predict behavior
Assumes behavior is not random
Fundamental consistencies underlie behavior
These can be identified and modified to reflect individual differences
Often our intuition leads us in the decision-making process. Our intuition relies on gut feelings, individual observation, and common sense. Although our intuition is extremely useful in the decision-making process, it does not give us the complete picture. By engaging in a systematic study of behavior we can enhance our effectiveness. It is not an either/or relationship, rather intuition and systematic study can work effectively together to predict behavior.
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Systematic Study
Examines relationships
Attempts to attribute causes and effects
Bases conclusions on scientific evidence:
Data is gathered under controlled conditions
Data is measured and interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner
When we talk about engaging in a systematic study, we are talking about looking at relationships. By doing so, we can better determine cause and effect, and then by applying scientific evidence to our conclusions, we are better able to predict behavior.
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9. Evidence-Based Management
Evidence-based management: Bases decisions on the best available scientific evidence
Complements systematic study
Forces managers to become more scientific in their thinking
Evidence-based management (EBM) complements systematic study by applying scientific evidence to managerial decisions.
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Big Data
Big data: the extensive use of statistical compilation and analysis
Identify persistent and predictive statistics
Create targeted marketing strategies
Using big data for managerial practices:
Define objectives, develop theories of causality, test the theories to see which employee activities are relevant to the objectives
Big data can be used together with intuition to help make decisions.
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11. Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Psychology
Social Psychology
Sociology
Anthropology
Micro:
The Individual
Macro:
Groups &
Organizations
Organizational Behavior (OB) is interdisciplinary in nature as it is an applied behavioral science. The theory in OB relies on contributions from multiple behavioral disciplines. These disciplines include Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology.
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12. Few Absolutes in OB
Impossible to make simple and accurate generalizations
Human beings are complex
and diverse
OB concepts must reflect situational conditions: contingency variables
Contingency Variable (Z)
Independent Variable (X)
Dependent Variable (Y)
In American Culture
Boss Gives “Thumbs Up” Sign
Understood as Complimenting
In Iranian or Australian Cultures
Understood as Insulting - “Up Yours!”
There are few absolutes in organizational behavior. When making decisions you must always take into account situational factors that can change the relationship between two variables. For example, as seen in this chart one message from a boss in an American culture can mean a completely different thing in another culture. It is always important to take context into account.
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13. Challenges and Opportunities for OB
Responding to economic pressures
Responding to globalization
Managing workplace diversity
Improving customer service
Improving people skills
Working in networked organizations
Enhancing employee well-being at work
Creating a positive work environment
Improving ethical behavior
In the workplace today there are many challenges and opportunities in the area of Organizational Behavior. Understanding OB has never been more important for managers as organizations are changing at a much more rapid pace than historically seen.
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14. Responding to Economic Pressures
Effective management can be just as hard, if not harder, in ‘good’ economic times as in ‘bad’ economic times
Good management can be the difference between survival and failure
Effective managers emphasize different skills depending on the economic situation. During ‘good’ times, managers focus on rewarding, satisfying, and retaining employees. During ‘bad’ economic times, managers need skills that help them address stress, decision making, and coping.
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15. Responding to Globalization
Increased foreign assignments
Working with people from different cultures
Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor
Adapting to differing cultural and regulatory norms
Organizations now exist in an environment with no national borders. As a result the manager’s job has changed. They need to have a broader perspective when making decisions.
As foreign assignments increase, you will need to be able to manage a workforce that is different than what you may be used to and may bring different needs, aspirations, and attitudes to the workplace.
You will also have individuals coming to work in your own country that come from different cultures, and you will need to find ways to accommodate their needs and help them assimilate to your workplace culture.
You may also need to do the difficult task of moving jobs outside of your country to a country with lower labor costs. This is a difficult process logistically but also emotionally for the workers who will be losing their jobs.
You will need to be aware of, and appreciate, the cultural norms in each country in which you do business. In addition, it’s important to consider country and local regulations that could affect how you do business.
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16. Managing Workforce Diversity
Workforce diversity: organizations are becoming a more heterogeneous mix of people in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation
As the borders are disappearing we are seeing more and more heterogeneity in the workplace. Managers today need to embrace diversity and find ways to manage it effectively. The changing demographics have shifted management philosophy in a way that recognizes and utilizes differences to create productivity, profitability, and welcoming cultures.
Diversity poses great opportunities and challenging questions for managers and employees in all countries. Managers must recognize differences and find ways to utilize those differences to improve organizational performance.
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17. Improving Customer Service and People Skills
The majority of employees in developed nations work in service jobs
They must know how to please their customers
People skills are essential to success in today’s organizations
Most workers in developed nations will work in service-oriented jobs. It is critical to organizational success that workers improve their customer service and people skills.
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18. Working in Networked Organizations
Managers must adapt their skills and communication styles to succeed in a networked organization
As technology continues to become an integral part of organizational effectiveness, workers will find that their communication styles and needs will change as well. Managers must stay on top of what is needed to motivate workers in this environment.
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19. Enhancing Employee Well-Being at Work
The line between work and non-work has blurred and managers are increasingly dealing with conflicts that arise between work and life away from work
As technology continues to become an integral part of organizational effectiveness, workers will find that their communication styles and needs will change as well. Managers must stay on top of what is needed to motivate workers in this environment.
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20. Creating a Positive Work Environment
Positive organizational scholarship: how organizations develop human strengths, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential
Focus on what’s good about an organization, not what’s bad
Positive organizational behavior is a growing interest in organizational behavior. It promotes the idea of exploiting employee strengths rather than focusing on employee limitations or weaknesses.
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21. Improving Ethical Behavior
Managers facing ethical dilemmas or ethical choices are required to identify right and wrong conduct
This can be difficult in a global economy where different cultures approach decisions from different perspectives
Companies promoting strong ethical missions:
Encourage employees to behave with integrity
Provide strong leadership that influence employee decisions to behave ethically
Today’s highly competitive global economy has created a work environment in which employees may feel pressured to make poor decisions. Moreover, there is generally greater tolerance for unethical behavior. This has prompted many companies to try to help employees navigate ethical dilemmas using tools such as seminars and workshops, as well as formal codes of ethics.
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22. Three Levels of OB Analysis
Chapters
Chapters
In Organizational Behavior (OB) we utilize the representation of the world as broken down into three levels. The first level of analysis we will look at is the Individual level. At this level we look at individuals’ behavior. Next, recognizing that individuals make up groups, we analyze how group behavior occurs. Finally, organizations are made up of groups of individuals, so we analyze the organization at a systems level.
Chapters 2 - 8
Plan of the Book
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23. Implications for Managers
Don’t rely on generalizations
Use metrics and situational variables rather than “hunches” to explain cause-and-effect relationships
Increase leadership potential by improving interpersonal skills
Improve technical and conceptual skills by staying current with trends like big data
Recognize the role of organizational behavior on employee work quality and productivity
Use organizational behavior to help design and implement change programs, improve customer service, and address the work-life balance conflict
The OB Model is critical to your understanding of how organizations behave. In the remainder of this book we will be utilizing that model to look at behavior on an individual, group, and organizational level.
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Keep in Mind…
OB’s goal is to understand and predict human behavior in organizations
Fundamental consistencies underlie behavior
It is more important than ever to learn OB concepts
Both managers and employees must learn to cope with temporariness
Keep in mind that the goal of OB is to understand and then to predict behavior so that we can improve organizational effectiveness. This assumes there is consistency in behavior and that we can systematically study it to develop patterns that will increase the accuracy of our predictions.
It is more important now, than ever before, to learn OB concepts because we are in a rapidly changing environment.
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Summary
Demonstrated the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace.
Defined Organizational Behavior (OB).
Showed the value to OB of systematic study.
Identified the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.
Demonstrated how few absolutes apply in OB.
Identified the major challenges and opportunities managers have in applying OB concepts.
Identified the three levels of analysis in OB.
Copyright ©2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

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