Organizational
Behavior, 8e
Schermerhorn, Hunt, and
Osborn
Prepared by
Michael K. McCuddy
Valparaiso University
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
2
Chapter 1
Organizational Behavior Today
 Study questions.
– What is organizational behavior and why is it
important?
– How do we learn about organizational
behavior?
– What are organizations like as work settings?
– What is the nature of managerial work?
– How do ethics influence human behavior in
organizations?
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is organizational behavior
and why is it important?
 Organizational behavior.
– Study of individuals and groups in
organizations.
– Emphasizes high performance organizations.
– Occurs in a global context.
– Dimensions of individual and group behavior.
– Nature of organizations.
– Core processes.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is organizational behavior
and why is it important?
 Shifting paradigms of organizational
behavior.
– Demise of “command-and-control.”
– Emergence of new workplace expectations.
– Critical role of information technologies.
– Belief in empowerment.
– Emphasis on teamwork.
– Concern for work-life balance.
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What is organizational behavior
and why is it important?
 Organizational behavior and diversity.
– Workforce diversity is the presence of
differences based on:
• Gender.
• Race and ethnicity.
• Age.
• Abel-bodiedness.
• Sexual orientation.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is organizational behavior
and why is it important?
 Organizational behavior and diversity —
cont.
– Valuing diversity is a core OB theme.
• Interpersonal and cultural sensitivity.
– Glass ceiling effect.
• Women and minorities as managers and executives.
• Earnings of women and minorities.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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How do we learn about
organizational behavior?
 Organizational behavior and the learning
imperative.
– Organizational learning is the process of
acquiring knowledge and utilizing information
to adapt successfully to changing
circumstances.
– Necessity of life-long learning.
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How do we learn about
organizational behavior?
 Scientific foundations of organizational
behavior.
– Interdisciplinary body of knowledge.
– Use of scientific methods.
– Focus on application.
– Contingency thinking.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What are organizations
like as work settings?
 An organization is a collection of people
working together in a division of labor to
achieve a common purpose.
 Applies to:
– A wide variety of clubs, institutions, agencies,
businesses, and other organized entities.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What are organizations
like as work settings?
 Purpose, mission, and strategies.
– Core purpose of an organization.
– Mission and vision.
– Mission statements.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What are organizations
like as work settings?
 People and work systems.
– Intellectual capital
• The sum total of knowledge, expertise, and
dedication of an organization’s workforce.
– Human resources.
– Material resources.
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What are organizations
like as work settings?
 Organizations as open systems.
– Organizations obtain resource inputs from the
environment.
– Organizations transform resource inputs.
– Organizations return transformed inputs to the
environment as outputs in the form of goods
and services.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managers:
– Perform jobs that involve directly supporting
the work efforts of others.
– Help other people get important things done in
timely, high-quality, and satisfying ways.
– Assume roles such as coordinator, coach, or
team leader.
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 The nature of managerial work.
– Managers work long hours.
– Managers are busy people.
– Managers are often interrupted.
– Managers work mostly with other people.
– Managers are communicators.
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 The management process.
– An effective manager is one whose
organizational unit, group, or team
consistently achieves its goals while its
members remain capable, committed, and
enthusiastic.
– Key results of effective management:
• Task performance.
• Job satisfaction.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Functions of management.
– Planning.
• Defining goals, setting specific performance
objectives, and identifying the actions needed to
achieve them.
– Organizing.
• Creating work structures and systems, and
arranging resources to accomplish goals and
objectives.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Functions of management — cont.
– Leading.
• Instilling enthusiasm by communicating with
others, motivating them to work hard, and
maintaining good interpersonal relations.
– Controlling.
• Ensuring that things go well by monitoring
performance and taking corrective action as
necessary.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial roles.
– Interpersonal roles.
• Figurehead.
• Leader.
• Liaison.
– Informational roles.
• Monitor.
• Disseminator.
• Spokesperson.
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial roles — cont.
– Decisional roles.
• Entrepreneur.
• Disturbance handler.
• Resource allocator.
• Negotiator.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial networks.
– Task networks.
• Specific job-related contacts.
– Career networks.
• Career guidance and opportunity resources.
– Social networks.
• Trustworthy friends and peers.
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial skills and competencies.
– A skill is an ability to translate knowledge into
action that results in a desired performance.
– Categories of skills:
• Technical.
• Human.
• Conceptual.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial skills and competencies —
cont.
– Technical skills are relatively more important
at entry levels.
– Human skills are consistently important across
all managerial levels.
– Conceptual skills are relatively more
important at top management levels.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial skills and competencies—
cont.
– Technical skills.
• An ability to perform specialized tasks.
• Derives from knowledge of expertise gained from
education or experience.
• Proficiency at using select methods, processes, and
procedures to accomplish tasks.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial skills and competencies —
cont.
– Human skills.
• An ability to work well with other people.
• Emerges as a spirit of trust, enthusiasm, and
genuine involvement in interpersonal relationships.
• Self-awareness.
• Capacity for understanding and empathizing.
• Engages in persuasive communication.
• Deals successfully with conflicts.
Organizational Behavior: Chapter 1
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What is the nature of managerial work?
 Managerial skills and competencies —
cont.
– Conceptual skills.
• An ability to see and understand how the system
works, and how the parts are interrelated.
• Used to:
– Identify problems and opportunities.
– Gather and interpret relevant information.
– Make good problem-solving decisions.
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How do ethics influence human
behavior in organizations?
 Ethical behavior.
– “Good” and “right” as opposed to “bad” or
“wrong” in a particular setting.
– Ways of thinking about ethical behavior.
• Utilitarian view.
• Individualism view.
• Moral rights view.
• Justice view.
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How do ethics influence human
behavior in organizations?
 Ethical dilemmas in the workplace.
– Nature of an ethical dilemma.
– Ethical dilemmas occur in relationships with:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Superiors.
Subordinates.
Customers.
Competitors.
Suppliers.
Regulators.
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How do ethics influence human
behavior in organizations?
 Ethical dilemmas in the workplace — cont.
– Rationalizations for unethical behavior:
• Pretending the behavior is not really unethical or
illegal.
• Saying the behavior is really in the organization’s
or person’s best interest.
• Assuming the behavior is acceptable if others don’t
find out about it.
• Presuming that superiors will support and protect
you.
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How do ethics influence human
behavior in organizations?
 Organizational social responsibility.
– The obligation of organizations to behave in
ethical and moral ways as institutions of the
broader society.
– Managers should commit organizations to:
• Pursuit of high productivity.
• Corporate social responsibility.
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How do ethics influence human
behavior in organizations?
 Work and the quality of life.
– Quality of work life (QWL).
• The overall quality of human experience in the
workplace.
– QWL commitment reflects an endorsement of
Theory Y assumptions.
– Work-life balance.
• Job demands should fit personal life and nonwork
responsibilities.
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