Chapter 1: Introducing Organizational Behavior
What is OB?
 About people who seek fulfillment in their lives and jobs in a variety of ways
and in uncertain times
 The study of human behavior in organizations, focusing on individuals,
teams, interpersonal processes, and organizational structures
 A body of knowledge with real applications to everyday living and careers,
particularly in respect to a smart workforce where connections and
collaboration are the keys to success.
 Applied discipline developed through scientific methods and taking a
contingency perspective that there is no single best way
 Initial Experience, Experimentation, Theory Building, Reflection
Trends in the Workplace
 Networking, Connecting, Ideating, Collaborating, Linking, Supporting,
Seeking, Innovating
 Ethical behavior, the importance of human capital, an emphasis on teams,
the growing influence of information technology, new workforce
expectations, changing notions of careers, and concerns for sustainability.
Managers
 Performance, Satisfaction, Team cohesion, Ethical Behavior
 Rather than relying on a clearly validated set of scientific discoveries,
managers use less reliable sources of insight such as: gut feel, Intuition, the
latest trend, what a highly paid consultant might say, what is being done in
another company.
 In the absence of a scientific approach, managers tend to make mistakes,
offer ill-conceived incentives, misinterpret employee behavior, and fail to
account for the many possible explanations for why employees might
perform poorly.
How do you know what you know? (4 ways)
 Intuition, Experience, Authority, Science
Critical Thinking
 A systematic and comprehensive process of making objective, unbiased
assessments of facts when forming a judgment.
 Characterized by four attributes: Intellectual humility, Confidence in reason,
Intellectual curiosity, Intellectual Independence
 Flaws on critical thinking: Confirmation bias, dichotomies, bandwagon effect,
selective perception
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Evidence-based management- making managerial decisions based on facts
rather than on feelings
Contingency thinking- seeks ways to meet the needs of different
management situations
o recognizes that cookie-cutter solutions cannot be universally applied
to solve organizational problems.
Effective managers and Team Leaders
 A manager who excels at helping others achieve both high performance and
job satisfaction
 Task performance- the quality and quantity of the work produced or the
services provided by an individual, team, work unit, or organization as a
whole. In essence, task performance is a reflection of how well one does his
or her job.
 Job satisfaction- a more elusive concept given that it can be an emotional
reaction based on the appraisal of one’s work conditions relative to
expectations. Essentially, job satisfaction captures how people feel about
their work and the work environment.
 These functions make up the management process and involve the following
responsibilities:
o Planning (set directions)
o Organizing (to assemble resources and systems)
o Leading (to create workforce enthusiasm)
o Controlling (to ensure desired results)
Effective Management Roles
 The ten toles of effective management, organized in three categories:
interpersonal roles, informational roles, decisional roles
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Technical skill- an ability to perform specialized tasks using knowledge or
expertise gained from education or experience
Human skills- the ability to work well with other people
Emotional Intelligence
 Self-awareness- ability to understand your own moods and emotions
 Self-regulation- ability to think before acting and to control bad impulses
 Motivation- ability to work hard and persevere
 Empathy- ability to understand the emotions of others
 Social skill- ability to gain rapport with others and build good relationships
Conceptual Skills
 Allow us to think critically, identify patterns and trends, and analyze and
solve complex, ambiguous problems
Chapter 2: OB in Context
Why does context matter?
 Context matters because it shapes behavior. We behave differently
depending on the situation.
 To understand behavior in organizations we need to consider how the
context influences people’s: Perceptions, Motivations, Emotions, Actions
Organizational Context
 Comprised of characteristics of a job, organization, or work situation that
affect the way people in that situation act and interact
 Basic Level: context is the work unit or department a person is assigned to,
consisting of: Managers, Coworkers, Peers, Subordinates
 Entry Level: most important context for employees: the nature of the work
itself, relationships with the boss and coworkers, the physical layout and
climate or culture of the work unit, team, and organization.
 Highest Level: “strategic apex”
 Understanding context can help us to read a situation and diagnose the
motivations underlying a person’s behavior
Organizational strategy
 The actions an organization takes to achieve long-term business goals. It
represents the purpose that brings people together and is reflected in the:
Mission of an organization, Vision of an organization, Values of an
organization
Hedonism
 States that people seek pleasure and avoid pain
 In other words, people are likely to continue behaviors that are rewarded
and avoid those that are punished. Rewards drive behavior
Be a Critical Thinker
 Analyze Fairness, Determine Significance, Seek Depth and Relevance
Organizational Structure
 The way work is organized and coordinated. It is like the skeleton of the
company, showing: how work is distributed, the number and type of
positions, lines of authority, reporting relationships within and across work
units
 Organization chart - a diagram that depicts the formal structure of an
organization.
 Hierarchy of authority - the listing of positions of responsibility and who
reports to whom
Line Versus Staff
 Line units have direct line authority for conducting the major business of the
organization.
 Staff units serve in an advisory capacity to line units.
Tall Versus Flat
 tall structures are typically indicative of a more bureaucratic work
environment
 flat structures are usually more empowered work environments
 Centralization is the degree to which authority to make decisions is restricted
to the highest levels of management
 Decentralization is the degree to which the authority to make decisions is
shared throughout the organization’s hierarchy.
Departmentalization
 Functional departmentalization means grouping individuals by skill,
knowledge
 Divisional departmentalization organizes work and people by products,
territories, services, clients, or legal entities
Structures in Organizations
 A mechanistic structure emphasizes hierarchy and control based on rules,
policies, and procedures (machine-like and offers efficiency)
 A bureaucratic organization is one which is highly ordered, regimented, and
standardized to generate efficiency and effectiveness.
 An organic structure is highly fluid and adaptable, designed to change in
accordance with the needs of the environment. (Adapts to the environment
and offers flexibility)
 Matrix structure uses both the functional and divisional forms simultaneously
(combines the two to offer efficiency and flexibility)
Major contexts of OB
 Strategy is the actions an organization takes to achieve long-term business
goals. It helps us know what is important and valued in organizations
 Rewards help us know what drives behavior. People do what they are
rewarded for
 Structure is the way work is organized. It helps us understand how people
work (or don’t work) together
 Culture lets us know what it is like to work in an organization
Organizational Culture
 The shared actions, values, and beliefs in an organization that guide the behavior
of its members
 Culture represents the way we do things
o serious or fun
o casual or formal
o flexible or rigid
o energizing or toxic
 A strong culture aligns and motivates everyone toward shared needs and goals
Socialization
 Process of learning the accepted norms or customs of the organization through
formal and informal social interaction
 Employees learn culture through socialization, which occurs through
interpersonal interactions and helps people in organizations learn the expected
norms and behaviors of the organization
Cultural Analysis
 Observable culture is the way things are done in the organization
o the unique stories, ceremonies, and corporate rituals that make up the
history of the company
 Shared values are the commonly held beliefs about what are the important and
right things to do
o link people together; and common cultural assumptions
 Core values are the taken-for granted truths that collections of corporate
members share as a result of their joint experience.
o the deeply held beliefs that members of an organization share
Effective Culture
 Strong cultures that provide positive workplaces for employees, a unified
direction toward mission and vision, and flexibility to adapt.
 The biggest determinant of organizational culture is its leadership
Chapter 3: Individual Differences
Personal Traits and Values
 Everyone has different goals, aspirations, and preferences
 Individual differences are the ways in which people are similar and dissimilar in
their personal characteristics.
o Family history, Personal values, Fears, Aspirations, Life experiences
 Understanding individual differences allows us to adapt our behavior to fit with
our colleagues: needs, interests, work styles
Personality
 Describes the way a person: thinks, behaves, experiences emotion, interacts with
others
 Personality traits are enduring characteristics describing an individual’s behavior.
Nature VS Nurture
 Nature and nurture describe personality as determined by both heredity
characteristics and the environment.
Behavioral and Social Traits
 Reflect how a person appears when interacting with others in both social and
professional settings
 The Big Five
o Extraversion (outgoing, energetic)
 Introvert
o Agreeableness (go with the flow, easy going)
 Disagreeable
o Conscientiousness (detailed oriented)
 Lack of Conscientiousness
o Emotional stability (relaxed carefree)
 Emotionally unstable
o Openness to experience (curious, broadminded)
 Not open to experiences
 Individuals with high-proactive personalities identify opportunities and act on
them, show initiative, and persevere
 Personal conception traits are personal beliefs and orientations toward settings
and issues
Self-Concept and Personal Conception Traits
 Self-concept is the view individuals have of themselves as physical, social,
spiritual, or moral beings.
 Self-awareness means being aware of one’s own behaviors, preferences, styles,
biases, personalities, and so on.
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Awareness of others is being aware of the behaviors, preferences, styles, biases,
and personalities of others.
Self-esteem is a belief about one’s own worth based on an overall selfevaluation.
Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief about the likelihood of successfully
completing a specific task.
Machiavellianism
 Causes someone to view and manipulate others purely for personal gain
 They approach situations logically and thoughtfully and are capable of lying to
achieve personal goals
Authoritarianism
 A tendency to adhere rigidly to conventional values and to obey recognized
authority.
Dogmatism
 leads a person to see the world as a threatening place and to regard authority as
absolute.
Self-Monitoring
 person’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external situational
(environmental) factors
Cognitive Traits
 Characterize the way one processes information, makes decision, and thinks
about the way to solve problems. A good example of a cognitive trait is problemsolving style.
Values
 Are broad preferences concerning appropriate courses of action or outcomes.
They represent a strongly held belief about what is: Valued, Important,
Acceptable
 Our values develop as a product of the learning from experience we encounter in
the cultural settings in which we live
Culture
 The learned, shared way of doing things in a particular society
 It includes the way members of a society: Eat, Dress, Greet one another, Treat
one another, Teach their children, Solve everyday problems
 Power distance is a culture’s acceptance of the status and power differences
among its members.
Chapter 4: Perception and Emotion
What is Perception?
 Perception is the way we gather, organize, and interpret information around us.
o It occurs because information is constantly coming at us from the
environment.
o To be able to function, our brains must be able to process information
quickly to make decisions and guide actions
 Stages of Perceptual Process
Attention and Selection
 Selective screening is allowing only a portion of information available to enter
into cognitive processing.
 Controlled processing means that we consciously decide what information to pay
attention to and what to ignore.
 Automatic information processing is screening that takes place without
conscious awareness
 Interpretation is the process we go through in applying reasoning or uncovering
meaning from information.
 Retrieval is the process of sorting through categories to match them to
information from the environment.
o Retrieval helps us process information quickly, but it can lead to error
when people retrieve information that biases their perspective.
Perceptual Process
 Influenced by: Past experiences, Needs, Motives, Personality, Values, Attitudes
Attribution
 Attribution is the assignment of meaning to others’ behaviors or events.
o Distinctiveness considers how consistent a person’s behavior is across
different situations.
o An internal attribution assigns the cause of the behavior to the person.
o Consensus takes into account how others respond in the same situation.
o An external attribution assigns the cause of the behavior to factors
outside the person’s control.
o Consistency addresses an individual’s behavior across time.
 Can often be wrong because heavily influenced by emotion and ego
o Fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to attribute others’
poor performance to internal causes.
o The self-serving bias is the tendency to take credit for success and blame
external factors for failure.
Perception and Attribution Errors
 Stereotypes are groups or categories (i.e., schemas and prototypes) used to
describe individuals.
 Selective perception is the tendency to single out those aspects of a situation,
person, or object that are consistent with one’s needs, values, or attitudes.
 A halo effect occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is used to
develop an overall positive impression of that individual or situation.
 The horns effect is the opposite of the halo effect; the word horn is used to refer
to the devil’s horns to contrast with halo, which is based on a saint’s halo.
 Projection is the unconscious assignment of one’s personal attributes to other
individuals.
 A contrast effect occurs when the meaning or interpretation of something is
arrived at by contrasting it with another event or situation.
 Self-fulfilling prophecies are the tendency to make something we think will
happen come true.
Emotions and Moods
 Emotions are strong positive or negative feelings directed toward someone or
something that include: Anger, Excitement, Apprehension, Attraction, Sadness,
Elation, Grief
o Emotions are usually intense and short lived and always associated with a
source or reference.
 Moods are less intense than emotions and often seem to lack a clear source
o Good, Bad
 Emotional labor is the need to show certain emotions in order to perform a job.
 Emotion and mood contagion is the spillover effect of one’s emotions and mood
onto others.
 Display rules are the degree to which it is appropriate to show emotions.
 Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to understand and interpret emotions
and to use this understanding to effectively manage social interactions.
o Individuals high in EI are not only able to express and control their own
emotions; they also are effective at recognizing, interpreting, and
responding to others’ emotions.
Attitudes
 An attitude is a predisposition to respond in a positive or negative way to
someone or something.
 Influenced by values and acquired from: friends, teachers, parents, role models,
culture
Cognitive Dissonance
 Cognitive dissonance is a state of inconsistency between an individual’s attitudes
and behavior.
o Individuals desire consistency between their attitudes and their
behaviors. When a person’s behaviors are inconsistent with their
attitudes they experience cognitive dissonance.
Job Attitudes
 Job satisfaction is an attitude reflecting a person’s positive and negative feelings
toward a job, coworkers, and the work environment.
 Job involvement is the extent to which an individual feels dedicated to a job.
 Organizational commitment is the degree of loyalty an individual feels toward
the organization.
 Organizational identification is the extent to which one feels personally
identified with one’s membership organization to the point that it becomes part
of the self-concept.
 Employee engagement is deep connection with the organization and passion for
one’s job.
How do attitudes influence work behavior?
 Withdrawal is physical or psychological disconnection from the workplace.
 Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are discretionary behaviors that
represent a willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty in one’s work.
 Counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) purposely disrupt relationships,
processes, satisfaction and performance in the workplace.
 Workplace bullying is one person acting in an abusive, demeaning, intimidating,
or violent manner toward another on a continuing basis.
 Work–home spillovers occur when what happens at work affects attitudes and
behaviors at home.