What Is Organizational Behavior

Stephen P. Robbins
Timothy A. Judge
(Seventeenth Edition)
Learning Objectives

After studying this chapter, you should be able to:

 Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace
 Define organizational behavior ( OB ).
 Show the value to OB of systematic study.
 Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.
 Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.
 Identify the challenges and opportunities managers have in applying OB concepts.
 Compare the three levels of analysis in this book’s OB model.
The Importance of Interpersonal Skills
 Interpersonal skills refers to the ability of a person to communicate effectively with other
person.
 Interpersonal skills include verbal communication, nonverbal communication, listening
skills, negotiations, problem solving etc.
 Developing managers interpersonal skills helps organizations attract and keep high
performing employees.
1–4 Management and organizational Behavior
Individuals who achieve goals through other people.

Managerial
ManagerialActivities
Activities
••Make
Makedecisions
decisions
••Allocate
Allocateresources
resources
••Direct
Directactivities
activitiesofofothers
othersto
to
attain
attaingoals
goals

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–5 Where Managers Work
Organization
A consciously coordinated social unit,
composed of two or more people, that
functions on a relatively continuous basis
to achieve a common goal or set of
goals.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–6 Management Functions

Planning
Planning Organizing
Organizing

Management
Management
Functions
Functions

Controlling
Controlling Leading
Leading

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–7 Management Functions (cont’d)
Planning
A process that includes defining goals,
establishing strategy, and developing
plans to coordinate activities.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–8 Management Functions (cont’d)
Organizing
Determining what tasks are to be done,
who is to do them, how the tasks are to
be grouped, who reports to whom, and
where decisions are to be made.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–9 Management Functions (cont’d)
Leading
A function that includes motivating
employees, directing others, selecting
the most effective communication
channels, and resolving conflicts.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–10 Management Functions (cont’d)
Controlling
Monitoring activities to ensure they are being
accomplished as planned and correcting any
significant deviations.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–11 Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles

Source: Adapted from The Nature of Managerial Work by H. Mintzberg. Copyright © 1973 by H.
EEXXHHIIBBIITT
© 2005
Mintzberg. Prentice
Reprinted by Hall Inc. Allofrights
permission reserved.
Pearson Education. 1–1
1–1
1–12 Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles (cont’d)

Source: Adapted from The Nature of Managerial Work by H. Mintzberg. Copyright © 1973 by H.
EEXXHHIIBBIITT
© 2005
Mintzberg. Prentice
Reprinted by Hall Inc. Allofrights
permission reserved.
Pearson Education. 1–1
1–1(cont’d)
(cont’d)
1–13 Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles (cont’d)

Source: Adapted from The Nature of Managerial Work by H. Mintzberg. Copyright © 1973 by H.
EEXXHHIIBBIITT
© 2005
Mintzberg. Prentice
Reprinted by Hall Inc. Allofrights
permission reserved.
Pearson Education. 1–1
1–1(cont’d)
(cont’d)
1–14 Management Skills
Technical skills
The ability to apply specialized
knowledge or expertise.

Human skills
The ability to work with, understand,
and motivate other people, both
individually and in groups.

Conceptual Skills
The mental ability to analyze and
diagnose complex situations.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

 Effective Versus Successful Managerial Activities
1–15
(Luthans)

1.1. Traditional
Traditionalmanagement
management
• •Decision making, planning, and controlling
Decision making, planning, and controlling
2.2. Communication
Communication
• •Exchanging routine information and processing paperwork
Exchanging routine information and processing paperwork
3.3. Human
Humanresource
resourcemanagement
management
• •Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing, and
Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing, and
training
training
4.4. Networking
Networking
• •Socializing, politicking, and interacting with others
Socializing, politicking, and interacting with others

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–16 Allocation of Activities by Time

Source: Based on F. Luthans, R.M. Hodgetts, and S.A. Rosenkrantz, Real

EEXXHHIIBBII
Managers© (Cambridge,
2005 PrenticeMA:
HallBallinger,
Inc. All rights reserved.
1988). TT 1–2
1–2
 Introductions: OB

Think about your past experiences in organisations

(e.g., school, volunteer, work), and briefly describe
a time that someone's behaviour in that organisation
surprised you. Briefly describe what happened and
why you think it happened.
 What is Organizational Behaviour?
 Organisations are ‘groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose’
(McShane et al., 2013: 4)

 Organisational behaviour (OB) is a field of study that seeks to understand, explain, predict
and change human behaviour in organisation contexts (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2012: 5)

 Organisational effectiveness is the ultimate dependent variable (i.e., outcome to be

explained) in OB
 In simple terms, organisational behaviour or OB is the study of
individuals and groups in organisations.
1–19 Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior
(OB)
A field of study that
investigates the impact that
individuals, groups, and
structure have on behavior
within organizations, for the
purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving
an organization’s effectiveness.

© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.

1–20 Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study
Intuition
An instinctive feeling not necessarily supported by
research.

Systematic study
Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and
effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.
Provides a means to predict behaviors.
Evidence-based management (EBM) The basing of managerial
decisions on the best available scientific evidence.
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved.
1-21
An Outgrowth of Systematic Study…
Evidence-Based Management (EBM)

Basing managerial decisions on the best available

scientific evidence

Must think like scientists: Apply

relevant
Search for information
best available to case
evidence

Pose a
managerial
question
Complementing Intuition with Systematic
Study
 Big Data
 Background
 Current usage
 New Trends
 Limitations
1–24 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Psychology
The science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change
the behavior of humans and other animals.

EEXXHHIIBBIITT 1–
1–
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 33(cont’d)
(cont’d)
1–25 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)
Sociology
The study of people in relation to their fellow human beings.

EEXXHHIIBBIITT
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 1–3
1–3(cont’d)
(cont’d)
1–26 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
(cont’d)
Social Psychology
An area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology
and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one
another.

EEXXHHIIBBIITT
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 1–3
1–3(cont’d)
(cont’d)
1–27 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)
Anthropology
The study of societies to learn about human beings and their
activities.

EEXXHHIIBBIITT
© 2005 Prentice Hall Inc. All rights reserved. 1–3
1–3(cont’d)
(cont’d)
 Challenges and Opportunities for OB
Employment Options(Ex. 1-4)
Conditions of
Categories of Types of Employment Compensation
Employment Employment Places of
Employment for
Local Employment
Full-time
Employed Part-time
Expatriate
Underemployed/und
Flextime Short term
erutilized
Unemployed/ job Job share assignee
less Contingent Flexpatriate Salary
Independent
Anchored
Entrepreneur International Hourly
Retired Contractor Floating
Business Overtime
Job seeking Temporary Virtual
Traveler Bonus
Laid off Reduced hour Flexible
Visa Employee Contract
Furloughed Intern Work from
Re-employed
Union/nonunion Time off
home
employee Benefits
 Challenges and Opportunities for OB
 Economic Pressures
 Continuing Globalization
 Increased foreign assignment
 Working with people from different cultures
 Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor
 Adapting to differing cultural and regulatory norms
 Workforce Demographics
 Workforce Diversity
 Customer Service
 People skills
Challenges and Opportunities for OB

 Networked Organizations
 Social Media
 Employee well-being at work
 Positive work environment
 Ethical behavior
Coming attractions: Developing an OB Model

 Model – An abstraction of reality, a simplified representation of some real-world

phenomenon.
 Input – variables that lead to processes
 Processes – Actions that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a result of
inputs and that lead to certain outcomes.
 Outcomes – key factors that are affected by some other variables.
1-32
Divide the class into groups of approximately four members each. Each group should consider the
following scenario: You will assume the role of a special committee of district managers at a large
pharmaceutical company. Your committee will be meeting to discuss some problems. The process set
up by the company is as follows:
1. Each committee member should first review the problem privately and formulate independent
ideas for what might be done.
2. 2. At the start of the meeting, each member should spend one minute addressing the group. During
the meeting, the committee must reach a consensus on both the best solution and supporting ratio-
nale to each problem. How this is done is entirely up to the committee members, but you must
come up with a consensus decision and not a majority opinion achieved by voting.

Here is the problem your committee is to consider:

The company has no specific policy regarding facial hair. Tom, a pharmaceutical sales rep with a little
more than a year’s experience and an average (but declining) sales record, has grown a very long and
ragged beard that detracts significantly from his appearance.
His hobby is playing bass in an amateur bluegrass band, and he feels that a ragged beard is an
important part of the act. Tom says his beard is a personal fashion statement that has to do with his
individual freedom. There have been numerous complaints about Tom’s appearance from both doctors
and pharmacists. The manager has talked to him on many occasions about the impact his appearance
could have on his sales. Nevertheless, Tom still has the beard. The manager is concerned about Tom’s
decreasing sales as well as the professional image of the sales force in the medical community. Tom
says his sales decrease has nothing to do with his beard. However, sales in the other territories in the
district are significantly better than they were last year.
When the groups have reached their consensus decisions, the following questions will serve for class
discussion: 1-8. What do you think are the concerns for the company regarding Tom’s facial hair?
Should they care about his appearance? 1-9. What was your group’s consensus decision regard-ing the
issue with Tom’s facial hair? 1-10. Let’s say Tom told you he thinks the beard is part of his personal
religion that he is forming. Do you think that announcement would change how