Chapter 1

1. Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behaviour?

2. Outline • What is Organizational Behaviour? • OB and Today’s Challenges in the Workplace • How Will Knowing OB Make a Difference? • OB: Making Sense of Behaviour in Organizations • There Are Few Absolutes in OB

3. What is Organizational Behaviour? • What is organizational behaviour? • What challenges do managers and employees face in the workplace of the 21st century? • How does knowing about organizational behaviour make work and life more understandable? Questions for Consideration

4. Organizational Behaviour • . . . a field of study that investigates how individuals, groups and structure affect and are affected by behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.

5. Why Do We Study OB? • To learn about yourself and how to deal with others • You are part of an organization now, and will continue to be a part of various organizations • Organizations are increasingly expecting individuals to be able to work in teams, at least some of the time • Some of you may want to be managers or entrepreneurs

6. What is an Organization? • A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.

7. Behavioural Contribution Unit of Output science analysis Learning Motivation Perception Training Leadership effectiveness Job satisfaction Individual decision making Psychology Performance appraisal Attitude measurement Employee selection Work design Work stress Individual Group dynamics Work teams Communication Power Conflict Intergroup behaviour Sociology Formal organization theory Study of Organizational technology Organizational Group Organizational change Behaviour Organizational culture Behavioural change Attitude change Social psychology Communication Group processes Group decision making Organization system Comparative values Comparative attitudes Cross-cultural analysis Anthropology Organizational culture Organizational environment Conflict Political science Intraorganizational politics Power Toward an OB Discipline Seeks to measure, explain, & sometimes change the behaviour of humans and other animals. Studying and attempting to understand individual behaviour. Focus on the individual by studying the social system in which individuals fill their roles. Studies people in relation to other human beings. An area within psychology, but it blends concepts from psychology and sociology. Focuses on the influence of people on one The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities. Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments, for instance, has helped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviour between people in different countries and within different organizations. Studies the behaviour of individuals and groups within a political environment. Specific topics of concern include structuring of conflict, allocation of power, and the manipulation of power for individual self-interest.

8. Flexibility Internal Focus External Focus Control Competing Values Framework dynamic, allowing more teamwork and participation; seeking new opportunities for products and services toward such factors as the marketplace, government regulations, and the changing social, environmental, and technological conditions of the future toward employee needs and concerns and/or production processes and internal systems • stable, maintaining the status quo and exhibiting less change

9. Roles and Skills in the New Workplace

10. “Cool” Companies Believe casual days are progressive Believe titles are obsolete Don't impose on employees' personal time Allow staff to come and go as they please   Offer all employees stock options Let employees make decisions that affect their work Offer assistance with childcare Have minimal bureaucracy (red tape) “Old” Companies Charge employees for perks and incentives Hold events on employee time Have flex time: but only between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Hide financial results from their employees Encourage employee input -- but rarely act on it Employ rigid hierarchies (chain of command) Stop at “open door” policies How Companies are Changing

11. Organizational Level • Productivity • Developing effective employees • Global competition • Managing in the global village Group Level • Working with others Workplace • Workforce diversity Individual Level • Job satisfaction • Empowerment • Behaving ethically Challenges Facing the Workplace

12. The Layers of OB The Organization Change Organizational culture Decision making The Group Leadership Power and politics Negotiation Conflict Communication Groups and teams Groups and teams The Individual Motivating self and others Emotions Values and attitudes Perception Personality

13. OB • OB: • looks at consistencies • is more than common sense • has few absolutes • takes a contingency approach

14. Bottom Line: OB Is For Everyone • Organizational behaviour is not just for managers. • OB applies equally well to all situations in which you interact with others: on the basketball court, at the grocery store, in school…etc.

15. Summary OB: • is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within an organization. • focuses on improving productivity, reducing absenteeism and turnover, and increasing employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. • uses systematic study to improve predictions of behavior.