Andrews University

College of Education and International Services

PhD Leadership

THE ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR READER

Book Reaction

Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Course

LEAD 644-999 LEADERSHIP & ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS

By

Sean Williams

December 2020
 This book review focuses on the ninth edition of the book The Organizational

Behavior Reader written by Joyce Osland and Marlene Turner. The International Edition

published by Pearson Education Inc. was utilized for this course and consequently this

review. I am not privileged to compare it with the US edition as currently I only have access

to the International Edition. The possibility of variance with the US edition is a noted by the

publisher and thus understood. The two authors are experts in the field who are involved on

the educational, research, and consultant platforms for modern day organization concepts.

The Organizational Behavior Reader provides a powerful collection of articles

relevant to theory for studies in business and Industrial Psychology, and also relevant for

application by business practitioners and consultants. The book is divided into four broad

sections, each comprising a number of charters.

The first section, titled Understanding Yourself and Other People at Work focuses on

the setting for organizational behavior. This setting involves the “when” in terms of business

era; the climate in terms of globalization; the characteristics of organizational engagement in

terms contracts and business relations and interactive roles; the atmosphere in terms of

learning attitudes, psychological well-being, ethics, and stress. The second section is titled

Creating Effective Work Groups. It focuses on interpersonal interactions such as

communication, conflicts, and negotiation; team dynamics such as stereotypes, diversity, and

creativity; and leadership of teams with focus on composition, functions, problem solving .

The third section is titled Leadership and Management. It seeks to clarify leadership

roles and levels, present the impact of organization culture on leadership and performance,

evaluate the decision-making process, assess leadership power and influence with

consideration to coaching and empowerment, and analysis of reinforcement of performance

motif through reward management. The final section dubbed Managing Effective

Organizations concentrates on organization design and implementation of change.

 Each chapter is introduced by reference to field-based needs, observations, and

realities relative to the topic of the chapter. Key related concepts relevant to theory and

practice are highlighted are highlighted and articles are introduced that respond these

concepts. The chapters are then complete with the content of two or three research articles or

extracts from scholarly material that highlights cutting-edge principles, theories, or findings.

I find the book to great collection of useful and relevant material that can truly prove

helpful to both student and practioner. The insight derived is both relevant and applicable to

varied organizational applications and is without doubt profitable for readers at any level in

the organization. My experience with the book has enhanced my understanding of much of

the dynamics at play in my current employ and organizational involvements. This is powerful

resource and one that I highly recommend.

The author’s experience and expertise in the field comes to the fore when the chapter

titles and the alignment of articles and research content for each topic is considered. The

breadth and scope of coverage whilst not exhaustive is substantial, focused, and impressive.

In addition, the reader is exposed to wider catalogue of relevant data sources, references,

think tanks to consult for additional reading, research, content, and theories. The examples

cited throughout the book and articles are real organizations with chronicled and published

reports that can be related, researched, and even tracked by the reader.

There is one area of silence however that I believe is not explored in the text that

could prove useful to current and prospective organizational leaders. Given the changing

climate it would be expected that a new edition of the book should have some expression on

this subject – the use of technology in the leadership and management process. Whilst I am

very appreciative of the personal tone of the book in keeping the language and the interact of

leadership and management humane and personal the reality of technology, and its impact as

a critical component in leadership and management deserves attention in any scholarly work
on organizational behavior for both students and practitioners. I consider this a useful chapter

to be added to section four of the book that deals with Managing Effective Organization.

In conclusion, this is a classic collection of scholarly articles that provides the reader

with a useful platform from which view, explore, and navigate the landscape of

organizational leadership. This book sets the foundation for launching out into the deep with

some amount of confidence and assurance. The content is fundamental, current, and

inspiring.

TEXT:

Osland, J.S., Turner, M.E. (2011). The Organizational Behavior Reader, 9th ed. (International

Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.