MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
L0 1 –D ISCUSS THE MEANING AND IMPORTANCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
o
Explain how organizational behavior affects organizational performance
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR?
ORGANIZATIONS
We come into contact with organizations every day. Organizations play a major role in so
many aspects of our lives – giving us a place to work, entertaining us, developing new
products and services for us. Organizations are responsible for education, training, health,
welfare and security.
According to Newstrom, organizations are complex systems. To work well in a system, you
need to know how the system operates. Organizations combine people, science,
technology, processes. Progress depends on how well organizations manage these. (3)
How is your family unit an organization?
HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Organizations are social systems consisting of a two or more people working towards a
common goal. Humans can be unpredictable. However, behavior can be partially
understood by applying scientific and behavioral theories. There are no perfect solutions to
all organizational problems. However, understanding some basics can help people increase
skills to improve work relationships.
Human beings are very complex in nature. People think and feel and behave. We all are
students of human behavior. If we think about it, we’ve been reading people almost all our
lives. When we drive, we predict what the other drivers will do – stop at a red light, signal
when turning left or right or cut us off to exit the highway.
When entering an elevator, what do people do?
When in a lecture room, how do students ask a question?
Human behavior can be partly predictable.
How is your classroom an organization?
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WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR?
In any area of work, you will always deal with people. People can make your job easier or an
easy job very difficult. How can we handle people well? The first step is to understand why
they behave as they do.
This course will examine individual behavior within the organization and proceed to explore
group processes and group behavior in organizations.
Organizational behavior is the systematic study and careful application of knowledge about
how people – as individual and as groups – act within organizations. (Newstrom 4) It
identifies ways in which people can work more effectively.
According to Newstrom, OB involves five levels of analysis. (4)
Individuals
Interpersonal relations
Groups - formal and informal
Intergroup relations and
coordination
Whole systems
FIGURE 1 FIVE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS
GOALS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
1.
To describe how people behave under different conditions.
2.
To understand why people behave as they do.
3.
To use this understanding to predict employee behavior, so that managers can
promote or prevent actions.
4.
To use these skills to (at least partially) control how people behave at work.
People are one of the most important resources that any organization has. OB is about how
an organization can get the best out of this resource.
FORCES
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Many forces affect organizations. Managers today need to understand management theory,
like OB, to explore the causal connections between forces. This helps to make predictions,
to understand present situations and explain why they occurred.
People
Technology
Environment
Structure
FIGURE 2 FORCES AFFECTING ORGANIZATIONS
FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
1 THE NATURE OF PEOPLE
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Each person is individually different and needs to be motivated differently. People from
common backgrounds can react differently to the same situation. People look at the
world and see things differently. People see the environment filtered by perception.
People unconsciously use an organized framework they have built out of a lifetime of
experiences and values. They see what they think, and not necessarily what is.
Employees see work differently for many reasons. People differ in personalities, needs,
demographic factors and past experiences. People act on their perceptions.
People use selective perception: they pay attention to those features of the
environment that are consistent with or reinforce their own expectations.
“I react not to an objective world, but to a world judged by my own beliefs, values and expectations.”
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A WHOLE PERSON
An organization employs a whole person not just the single skill of that person.
Many situations affect how a person performs at work. Problems at home may be carried
to work. Money problems, arguments, family disagreements, may affect people during
the working day. Family events such as a new baby or illness can create stresses
situations for working families. People belong to many organizations, apart from work.
People play many roles, within and outside the organization.
Managers and organizations must accept the fact that they employ the ‘whole person’,
and manage accordingly.
MOTIVATED BEHAVIOUR
All people are motivated by what they want and need. To succeed, an organization must
meet employees’ needs and wants. Thus, motivation is essential to the success of any
organization. People will make a good effort at work if they are motivated. If you offer a
bonus, a person may work harder if they are motivated by money. Not everyone is
motivated by money.
What motivates you?
DESIRE FOR INVOLVEMENT
People today want to be involved in decisions that affect organizations. They want to
contribute their talents and ideas to help the organization achieve success. Therefore,
organizations need to provide opportunities for meaningful involvement – employee
empowerment.
At work, many people want to be part of a team. If the manager is choosing staff to
work on a special project, many people want to be chosen, not left out.
People want to fulfill their belief in their own ability by successfully completing
challenging tasks. Self-efficacy is the drive people have to achieve something.
Graduating from college, learning to drive, winning a competition are examples of selfefficacy, where the reward for achievement is the achievement itself.
VALUE OF THE PERSON
People should be treated differently from other factors of production, such as land,
capital, technology, entrepreneurship. People want to be treated with care, respect and
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dignity. People want to be valued for their skills and abilities. They want opportunities to
develop themselves and to make meaningful contributions.
Many countries and organizations do not share this view of human dignity. Can you think of
some countries and some practices that are examples of this?
Nature of
people
Nature of
organizations
Individual
differences
Social
systems
Perception
Mutual
interest
Whole
person
Ethics
Motivated
behavior
Desire for
involvement
Value of the
person
FIGURE 3 FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF OB
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2 THE NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS
Social
Systems
Organizations
Mutual
Interest
Ethics
FIGURE 4 NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS
SOCIAL SYSTEMS
Organizations are social systems, ruled by both social and psychological laws. (A family
is another example of a social system.)
People have social roles and status. People’s behavior is affected by group and
individual drives. Organizations consist of different groups of people, interacting
together, formally and informally.
Think about all the social systems in your college. Groups can be formal or informal.
People who regularly eat lunch together at work are an informal group. Your class is a
formal group, because it is part of the organizational structure of the college. Systems
are dynamic (constantly changing) and the parts are interdependent. Everything is
related to everything else.
ANT theory
MUTUAL INTEREST
Organizations need people and people need organizations. Newstrom says that
“Managers need employees to help them reach organizational objectives; people need
organizations to help them reach individual objectives. If mutuality is lacking, trying to
assemble a group and develop cooperation makes no sense because there is no
common sense on which to build.” (10) Reaching goals can only be reached through the
integrated efforts of individuals and employers.
ETHICS
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Ethical treatment is necessary to keep valuable employees. Many companies now have
codes of ethics and ethics training for employees. Ethics refers to treating people
properly – with dignity and respect. It does not matter what level the job is, managing
director or cleaner, everyone at work should be treated with respect – everyone makes a
contribution to the organization.
Since OB always involves people, ethics comes into every action taken in the
organization. “When an organizations actions are ethical, it is more likely that individual,
organizational and social objectives will be met. “ (Newstrom 12)
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. What is the meaning of organizational behavior?
2. What are the goals of OB?
3. What are the fundamental concepts of OB?
4. What is the “nature of people”? Give examples from your own experience.
5. What is the “nature of organizations? Give examples from your own experience.
6. Why is OB important?
7. How does organizational behavior affect organizational performance?
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REVIEW
I NSIGHTS
An insight is a new and clear perception. It is an ability to “see” something clearly.
Insights are new knowledge or new ways to view something. Insights are things you
want to remember. (Newstrom 24)
Highlight in your own words ten insights from this unit.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
C RITICAL THINKING
Think back on the material in this unit. (Newstrom 25)
What three questions would you raise about the material?
R EFLECTION
A reflection is what you think and feel about something. (Newstrom 25)
Express your personal thoughts and feelings or reactions to any of the ideas or topic s in this
unit. Be prepared to share these with the class.
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