1 THE FIRST CULTURE

CHAPTER 2
ORGANISATION
1. ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR (OB)
1. An organization is an entity that exists to achieve a purpose through the collective efforts
of the people who work in or for it.
2. Organizing is the process of making arrangements in the form of defined or understood
responsibilities and relationships to enable those people to work cooperatively together.
3. Organization structures are frameworks for getting things done.
4. A traditional organization based on the military model.

Organisation culture

5. Organizational or corporate culture is the pattern of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes

and assumptions.
6. ‘Values’ refer to what is believed to be important about how people and organizations
behave.
7. ‘Norms’ are the unwritten rules of behavior.

Organisation climate

8. ‘organizational climate’ is sometimes confused with ‘organizational culture’

9. Culture refers to the deep structure of organizations, which is rooted in the values, beliefs
and assumptions held by organizational members.
10. ‘Climate’ refers to those aspects of the environment that are consciously perceived by
organizational members.

Organisational process

11. ‘Networking’ is an increasingly important process in flexible and delayered

organizations where more fluid interactions across the structure are required between
individuals and teams.
12. The communications processes used in organizations have a marked effect on how it
functions, especially if they take place through the network, which can then turn into the
‘grapevine’.
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13. The aim of organizational politicians is to get their own way by influencing people to
accept their point of view without going through the usual channels or relying on their
authority.
14. Conflict is also inevitable in organizations because they function by means of
adjustments and compromises among competitive elements in their structure and
membership.

Characteristics of people

15. The behavior of people differs because of their characteristics.

16. Characteristics are their ability, intelligence, personality, attitudes, emotions and
emotional intelligence.
17. Ability is the quality possessed by people that makes an action possible.
18. Abilities can be classified into two major groups:
(a) – verbal, numerical, memory and reasoning abilities; and
(b) – spatial and mechanical abilities, as well as perceptual (memory) and motor skills
relating to physical operations such as eye/hand coordination and mental dexterity.
19. Intelligence has been defined as: the capacity to solve problems, apply principles, make
inferences and perceive relationships.
20. Personality has been defined as the psychological qualities that influence an individual’s
characteristic behaviour patterns in a stable and distinctive manner.
21. Personality is a product of both nature (hereditary) and nurture (the pattern of life
experience).
22. Personality can be described in terms of traits or types.
23. An attitude can broadly be defined as a settled mode of thinking.
24. Attitudes are evaluative. They are developed through experience but they are less stable
than traits and can change as new experiences are gained or influences absorbed.
25. Emotions are feelings that arouse people and therefore influence their behaviour such as
anger, fear, sadness, joy, anticipation and acceptance.
26. The mildest forms of emotions are called ‘moods’, which are low intensity, long-lasting
emotional states.
27. Emotional intelligence was also defined as the capacity for recognizing our own feelings
and that of others, for motivating ourselves, for managing emotions well in ourselves as
well as others.
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2. WORK, ORGANISATION AND JOB DESIGN

28. Work design deals with the ways in which things are done in the work system of a
business by teams and individuals.
29. Organization design is concerned with deciding how organizations should be structured.
30. Job design is about establishing what people in individual jobs or roles are there to do.

Work Design

31. Work design is the creation of systems of work and a working environment that enhance
organizational effectiveness and productivity,
32. Work involves the exertion of effort and the application of knowledge and skills to
achieve a purpose. Systems of work are the combined processes, methods and techniques
used to get work done. The work environment comprises the design of jobs, working
conditions and the ways in which people are treated at work by their managers and co-
workers as well as the work system.
33. A system is a set of practices or activities that fit together and interact to achieve a
purpose.
34. Work system design is concerned with how the various processes required to make a
product or provide a service should operate.

Organization Design

35. Organization design is the process of deciding how organizations should be structured.
36. Organization’s aim is to ensure that people work effectively together to achieve the
overall purpose of the organization.

Job Design

37. Job design specifies the contents of jobs in order to satisfy work requirements and meet
the personal needs of the job holder, thus increasing levels of employee engagement.
38. A job is an organizational unit consisting of a group of defined tasks or activities to be
carried out or duties to be performed.
39. A role is the part played by individuals and the patterns of behaviour expected of them in
fulfilling their work requirements.
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40. Job rotation: This is the movement of employees from one task to another to reduce
monotony by increasing variety.
41. Job enlargement: This means combining previously fragmented tasks into one job, again
to increase the variety and meaning of repetitive work.
42. Job enrichment: This goes beyond job enlargement to add greater autonomy and
responsibility to a job. Job enrichment aims to maximize the interest and challenge of
work by providing the employee with a job that has these characteristics:
 it is a complete piece of work in the sense that the worker can identify a series of tasks or
activities that end in a recognizable and definable product;
 it affords the employee as much variety, decision-making responsibility and control as
possible in carrying out the work;
 it provides direct feedback through the work itself on how well the employee is doing his
or her job.

3. ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT

Organisation development

43. Organization development is a systematic approach to improving organizational

capability, which is concerned with process – how things get done. ‘OD’ operates as: ‘a
system wide process of data collection, diagnosis, action planning, intervention and
evaluation.

Organisation Development Strategy

44. Organization development strategy is founded on the aspiration to improve

organizational capability. It has been defined more specifically as ‘the ability to manage
people for competitive advantage’.

Organisational Diagnosis

45. An organizational diagnosis is a systematic process of gathering data about a business

organization – its problems, challenges, strengths and limitations….