Week 1 BUS7000 HRC7611 Organizational Behavior and Theory Introductions Introductions • Who are you? • Where do you work? • Experience with Organizational Behavior? • Expectations of this course? • Your first concert or fun fact Discuss syllabus Groundrules 1-2 Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behavior McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Practicing OB at Brasilata Brasilata has become one of Brazil’s most innovative and productive companies by applying organizational behavior knowledge, including employee involvement, creativity, motivation, leadership, teamwork, and organizational culture. 1-4 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 • Collective entities • Collective sense of purpose 1-5 Why Study OB? Satisfy the need to understand and predict Helps us to test personal theories Influence behavior – get things done OB improves an organization’s financial health OB is for everyone 1-6 Organizational Effectiveness The ultimate dependent variable in OB Old approach -- achievement of stated goals Problem with goal attainment • Could set easy goals • Company might achieve wrong goals 1-7 Four Perspectives of Organizational Effectiveness Open Systems Perspective Organizational Learning Perspective High-Performance WP Perspective Stakeholder Perspective NOTE: Need to consider all four perspectives when assessing a company’s effectiveness 1-8 Open Systems Perspective Organizations are complex systems that “live” within (and depend upon) the external environment Effective organizations • Maintain a close “fit” with changing conditions • Transform inputs to outputs efficiently and flexibly Foundation for the other three organizational effectiveness perspectives 1-9 Open Systems Perspective External Environment subsystem •Raw materials •Human resources •Information •Finances •Equipment Technological subsystem Engineerin g subsystem Transforming Accounting subsystem inputs to outputs Marketing Managerial subsystem /Sales subsystem • Products/services • Shareholder dividends • Community support • Waste/pollution Production subsystem Feedback Feedback 1-10 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, use, and storage 1-11 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. 1-12 The Human Capital Advantage Employee knowledge, skills, and abilities Competitive advantage because: • Helps discover opportunities and minimize threats in the external environment • Rare and difficult to imitate • Nonsubstitutable: Not easily replaced by technology 1-13 Organizational Learning Processes Knowledge Acquisition Knowledge Sharing Knowledge Use Knowledge Storage • Learning • Communication • Awareness • Human memory • Scanning • Training • Sensemaking • Documentation • Grafting • Info systems • Autonomy • Practices/habits • Experimenting • Observation • Empowerment • Databases 1-14 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 1-15 High-Performance Practices at American Express American Express encourages employees to go “off script,” meaning that they are empowered to customize their conversations rather than rely on memorized statements. This autonomy is one of several high performance work practices. 1-16 High-Performance Work Practices Workplace practices that leverage the potential of human capital Four HPWPs (likely others) 1. Employee involvement 2. Job autonomy 3. Employee competence (training, selection) 4. Performance-based rewards Need to “bundle” them – work best together 1-17 Corporate Social Responsibility at MTN Group in Africa At MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile (cell) phone company, employees help the community and environment through the company’s award-winning “21 Days of Y’ello Care” program. This photo shows MTN employees in Uganda planting trees during a Y’ello Care event. 1-18 Stakeholder Perspective Stakeholders: entities who affect or are affected by the firm’s objectives and actions Personalizes the open systems perspective Challenges with stakeholder perspective: • Stakeholders have conflicting interests • Firms have limited resources to satisfy all stakeholder needs 1-19 Stakeholders: Values and Ethics Values and ethics 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 1-20 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 1-21 Globalization Economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world Improved communication and transportation systems have increased globalization Effects of globalization on organizations • Cost efficiencies, innovation, knowledge • Increasing diversity • Increasing competitive pressures, intensification 1-22 Increasing Workforce Diversity Surface-level vs deep-level diversity Implications • Better knowledge, decisions, representation, financial returns • Manage challenges of diversity (e.g. teams, conflict) • Ethical imperative of diversity 1-23 Emerging Employment Relationships Work/life balance • Minimizing conflict between work and nonwork demands number one indicator of career success Virtual work • Using information technology to perform one’s job away from the traditional physical workplace • Telecommuting – issues of social isolation, emphasis on face time, employee self-leadership 1-24 Organizational Behavior Anchors Systematic research anchor • OB knowledge is built on systematic research • Evidence-based management – decisions and actions based on research evidence rather than fads, hype, and untested assumptions Multidisciplinary anchor • Many OB concepts adopted from other disciplines • OB develops its own theories, but scans other fields 1-25 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 1-26 Discussion Key learnings? Next weeks assignments. 1-27