Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behavior?

1. Chapter 1What is Organizational Behavior?

2. What is Organizational Behavior? Organizational Behavior is the study of human behavior in the workplace, the interaction between people and the organization with the intent to understand and predict human behavior.

3. Why Study Organizational Behavior? Understanding human behavior in organizations is a critical skill for leadership and success in organizations. To be a successful leader, one needs to understand the behaviors of people, organizations, and the situation.

4. Is organizational behavior really just common sense ? Let’s do a short quiz. Answer True or False to each of the following: When employees are happy workers are more productive . (T/F) Friendly, trusting, and approachable bosses can motivate their workers. (T/F) Leaders who exhibit a stable behavior, regardless of the situations faced, make the best leaders. (T/F) Experiences have shown us that interviews where the interviewer leads with “tell me about yourself” are very effective selection methods. (T/F) A challenging job appeals to everyone. (T/F)

5. Is organizational behavior really just common sense ? When people feel a little intimidated, they will work harder and do their best. T/F Nonspecific goals allowing individuals to work at their own pace will motivate individuals to work harder. T/F Money is a motivator for all employees. T/F Most people are much more concerned about their own salaries than they are about the salaries of others. T/F Conflict has a negative effect on work group effectiveness. T/F

6. Roadmap to Understanding Understanding Me Understanding Others Understanding Organizations Putting It All Together

7. Organizational Behavior * In the study of organizational behavior, we must replace common sense and intuition in favor of systematic study.

8. Intuition versus Common Sense Common Sense Defined The unreflective opinion of ordinary men and women, unsophisticated judgment. Intuition Defined A feeling not necessarily supported by research.

9. Systematic Study = Predictability Systematic Study Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence. Behavior is generally predictable. Recognize there are differences between individuals. ** Know there are fundamental consistencies. Realize there are rules (written & unwritten) in almost every setting impacting behavior.

10. What is an Organization? Organizations are simply groups with two or more people that share a certain set of goals and meet at regular times. *(All 40 year old adults in a community is not an organization. AARP is an organization)

11. Looking at the Big Picture ** The number one reason for failure among executives of Fortune 500 companies is poor interpersonal skills. In short, they don’t have a command of the needed human and organizational behavior skills and, as a result, they come across as not really caring about their people.

12. Why Study Organizational Behavior? What is changing that requires systematic study? Organizations and structure Diversity – more women and minorities in the labor force Global competition – outsourcing of jobs Technology’s influence on behavior Society – social changes

13. Looking at the Big Picture With strong interpersonal skills through a study in organizational behavior, we can begin to predict how others will behave in a given situation - a valuable leadership skill!

14. Organizational Behavior Human behavior depends on contingencies. Behavior can be predicted, but you have to understand the circumstances. Understanding circumstances and predicting behavior requires systematic study.

15. Developing an OB Model Independent variables Individual-level variables Group-level variables Organizational systems-level variables

16. Developing an OB Model Dependent variables Productivity Absenteeism Turnover Job Satisfaction

17. Example: What happens to productivity if you get a raise? • How could you systematically study this? Give Raises Independent Variable Measure productivity Dependent variable Then • Which is cause and which is effect?

18. Basic OB Model CAUSES (examples?) (Independent Variables) Organization decisions PRODUCTIVITY ABSENTEESIM Group Dynamics TURNOVER Individual characteristics JOB SATISFACTION

19. HOMEWORK Do the self-assessment “Personality Trait and Temperament Survey” Go to Blackboard, then “Student Resources” If you have MS Excel click on the Excel version If you don’t have MS Excel then click on the paper version and fill it out Bring your results to the next lecture

20. Summary Organizational behavior is the study of human behavior in the workplace, the interaction between people and the organization. OB is an applied field of study of what people do in organizations.

21. Summary The goal of organizational behavior is to understand and predict human behavior. OB is a function of the individual, the environment, and/or situation.

22. Summary Organizations come in many shapes and sizes – we need to study these. To study Organizational Behavior, one needs to move from an intuition and common sense approach to systematic study.