Introduction to
the Field of
Organizational
Behavior
Chapter One
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Pixar Animation Studios
OB practices have helped Pixar
Animation Studios to become
the world’s most successful
animation studio



Employee competencies -Pixar finds the best people
People-centered -- Pixar has
long-term employment, not
short-term projects
Teamwork and org learning -Pixar supports teams and
encourages cross-fertilization
John Lassiter
Chief Creative Officer
of Pixar and Disney
1-2
Organizational Behavior and Organizations
Organizational behavior
 The study of what people think, feel,
and do in and around organizations
Organizations

Groups of people who work
interdependently toward some
purpose
—
—
—
Structured patterns of interaction
Coordinated tasks
Have common objectives (even if
not fully agreed)
John Lassiter
Chief Creative Officer
of Pixar and Disney
1-3
Why Study Organizational Behavior?
OB theories help you to make sense of the
workplace


Question and rebuild your personal theories for work
Important -- much of our time is in organizations
OB provides knowledge/tools to work with others

Helps you to get things done
OB improves an organization’s financial health
1-4
Perspectives of
Organizational
Effectiveness
Introduction to the Field of
Organizational Behavior
Lockheed Martin
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Old Perspective: Achieving Goals
Effective firms achieve their stated objectives
No longer accepted as a perspective of org
effectiveness



Companies could set easy goals
Some goals too abstract to know if achieved
Company might achieve goals but go out of business by
achieving wrong goals
1-6
Four Perspectives of Org. Effectiveness
1. Open systems: they have a good fit with their external
environment
2. High-performance work practices: their internal
subsystems are configured for a high-performance
workplace
3. Organizational learning: they are learning organizations
4. Stakeholder: they satisfy the needs of key stakeholders
NOTE: Need to consider all four perspectives when assessing
a company’s effectiveness
1-7
Open Systems Perspective
Organizations are complex systems that “live”
within (and depend upon) the external
environment
Effective organizations


Maintain a close “fit” with those changing conditions
Transform inputs to outputs efficiently and flexibly
Open systems perspective is the foundation on
which the other three effectiveness perspective
are built
1-8
Open Systems Perspective
Environment
Subsystems

processes, task
activities, social
dynamics within the
system
Feedback
Feedback
Transformation process

subsystems transform
inputs into various
outputs
Feedback

information from
environment about
value of
outputs/availability of
inputs
Feedback
Feedback
1-9
Organizational Learning Perspective
An organization’s capacity to acquire, share, use,
and store valuable knowledge
Need to consider both stock and flow of
knowledge


Stock: intellectual capital
Flow: org learning processes of acquisition, sharing, and
use
1-10
Intellectual Capital
Human
Capital
Knowledge that people possess and
generate
Structural Capital
Knowledge captured in systems and
structures
Relationship
Capital
Value derived from satisfied customers,
reliable suppliers, etc.
1-11
Organizational Learning Processes
KNOWLEDGE
ACQUISITION
Extracting information
and ideas from its
environment as well
as through insight
KNOWLEDGE
SHARING
Distributing
knowledge
throughout the
organization
KNOWLEDGE
USE
Applying knowledge
to organizational
processes in ways
that improves the
organization’s
effectiveness
Examples in practice
Hiring skilled staff
Posting case
studies on intranet
Giving staff
freedom to try out
ideas
1-12
Organizational Memory
The storage and preservation of intellectual
capital
Retain intellectual capital by:



Keeping knowledgeable employees
Transferring knowledge to others
Transferring human capital to structural capital
Successful companies also unlearn
1-13
High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs)
HPWPs are internal systems and structures that are
associated with successful companies
1. Employees important for competitive advantage
2. Value of employees increased through specific practices.
3. Maximum benefit when org practices are bundled
1-14
High Performance Work Practices
No consensus, but HPWPs include:

Employee involvement and work autonomy (and their
combination as self-directed teams).

Employee competence (training, selection, etc.).

Performance-based rewards
1-15
Stakeholder Perspective
Lockheed Martin is an “ideal”
employer, according to undergrad
engineering students
The company pays attention to its
many stakeholders
Relies on values and ethics to guide
decisions
Strong emphasis on corporate social
responsibility (including clean-up of
New Orleans following Hurricane
Katrina, shown here)
Lockheed Martin
1-16
Stakeholder Perspective
Stakeholders: any entity who affect or
is affected by the firm’s objectives and
actions
Personalizes the open systems
perspective


Identifies social entities in the
environment
Stakeholder relations are dynamic
Problem:

Stakeholders have conflicting interests

Firms have limited resources
Lockheed Martin
1-17
Stakeholders: Values and Ethics
We rely on values and ethics to
prioritize stakeholder interests
Values

Stable, evaluative beliefs, guide
preferences for outcomes or
courses of action in various
situations
Ethics

Moral principles/values, determine
whether actions are right/wrong
and outcomes are good or bad
Lockheed Martin
1-18
Stakeholders and CSR
Stakeholder perspective includes
corporate social responsibility (CSR)
 Benefit society and environment
beyond the firm’s immediate
financial interests or legal
obligations

Organization’s contract with society
Triple bottom line

Economy, society, environment
Lockheed Martin
1-19
Types of
Individual Behavior
Introduction to the Field of
Organizational Behavior
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Individual Behavior
Task Performance
Organizational
Citizenship
Goal-directed behaviors under
person’s control
Performance beyond the required job
duties
more
1-21
Types of Behavior in Organizations
(con’t)
Counterproductive
Work Behaviors
Voluntary behavior that potentially
harms the organization
Joining/staying with
the Organization
Goal-directed behaviors under
person’s control
Maintaining Work
Attendance
Attending work at required times
1-22
Contemporary
Challenges
for Organizations
Introduction to the Field of
Organizational Behavior
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Globalization
Economic, social, and cultural connectivity with
people in other parts of the world
Higher connectivity (and interdependence) due to
better information technology and transportation
systems
Globalization has many effects on organizations,
as discussed throughout this book

e.g., leadership, diversity, conflict, org structures
1-24
Increasing Workforce Diversity
Surface-level diversity
 Observable demographic or physiological differences in people (e.g.


race, ethnicity, gender, age, physical disabilities)
Increasing surface-level diversity in U.S. and other countries
Shifting demographics of Americans
Deep-level diversity


Differences in the psychological characteristics of employees (e.g.
personalities, beliefs, values, and attitudes)
Example: Differences across age cohorts (e.g. Gen-X, Gen-Y)
Implications
 Leveraging the diversity advantage


Also challenges of diversity (e.g. team development, conflict)
Ethical imperative of diversity
1-25
Employment Relationships
Work hours




Less separation from work
24/7 work schedule
Due mainly to info technology and globalization
Push for more work-life balance
—
minimizing conflict between work and nonwork demands
Virtual work


Perform jobs away from traditional workplace (e.g.
telecommuting)
Some benefits, but also suited more to some types of
people
1-26
Anchors of
Organizational
Behavior Knowledge
Introduction to the Field of
Organizational Behavior
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Organizational Behavior Anchors
Multidisciplinary anchor


Many OB concepts adopted from other disciplines
OB develops its own theories, but also scans other fields
Systematic research anchor



OB researchers rely on scientific method
Should apply evidence-based management
Problems applying evidence-based management
—
—
—
—
Bombarded with theories and models from many sources
Challenge translating general OB theories to specific situations
People swayed by heavy marketing of some theories/models
Perceptual biases -- we ignore evidence contrary to our current
theories
1-28
Organizational Behavior Anchors
(con’t)
Contingency anchor


A particular action may have different consequences in
different situations
Need to diagnose the situation and select best strategy under
those conditions
Multiple levels of analysis anchor


Individual, team, organizational level of analysis
OB topics usually relevant at all three levels of analysis
1-29
Introduction to the
Field of
Organizational
Behavior
Chapter One
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.