Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 8/e

Stephen P. Robbins

Chapter 1
Introduction to
Organizational Behavior

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• Organizational Behavior - systematic
study of the actions
and attitudes
that people
exhibit within
organizations

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The field of OB seeks to replace
intuitive explanations with
systematic study

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Systematic study - the use of
scientific evidence gathered under
controlled conditions and measured
and interpreted in a reasonably
rigorous manner to attribute cause
and effect

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Determinants of Employee
Performance

• Productivity
• Absenteeism
• Turnover

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 Organizational citizenship

• Discretionary behavior
• Not part of an employee's formal job
requirements
• Promotes the effective functioning of the
organization

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 Examples of Organizational
Citizenship

• Helping others on one's work team

• Volunteering for extra job activities
• Avoiding unnecessary conflicts
• Making constructive statements about
one's work group and the overall
organization

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 Job Satisfaction
• There’s a link between satisfaction and
productivity.
• Satisfaction appears to be negatively
related to absenteeism and turnover.
• Managers have a humanistic
responsibility to provide their employees
with jobs that are challenging,
intrinsically rewarding, and satisfying.

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 • Consciously coordinated
Organization social unit
• Composed of two or more
people
• Functions on a continuous
basis to achieve a common
goal
• Characterized by formal roles
that define the behavior of its
members

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 Contributing Disciplines
Psychology seeks to Sociology studies
measure,explain, people in relation to their
and change fellow human beings
behavior

Social psychology
focuses on the
influence of people
on one another

Political science is the

Anthropology is the
study of the
study of societies
behavior of individuals
to learn about human
and groups within
beings and their activities
a political environment
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 Goals of Organizational
Behavior

• Explain, predict,
and control
human behavior

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 Challenges and Opportunities
for OB
• Typical employee is getting older
• More women and minorities in the
workplace
• Global competition is requiring employees
to become more flexible
• Historical loyalty-bonds that held many
employees to their employers are being
severed

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 Responding to Globalization
• Increased Foreign Assignments
• Working with People from Different
Cultures
• Coping with Anti-Capitalism Backlash
• Overseeing Movement of Jobs to
Countries with Low-cost Labor

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Managing Diversity

Workforce diversity
-organizations are
becoming a more
heterogeneous mix of
people in terms of
gender, age, race,
ethnicity, and sexual
orientation

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 Diversity Implications

• Managers have to shift their philosophy

from treating everyone alike to
recognizing differences and responding
to those differences in ways that ensure
employee retention and greater
productivity.

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 Improving Quality and
Productivity
• Quality management
• Process reengineering

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 Quality Management
1) Intense focus on the customer
2) Concern for continual improvement
3) Improvement in the quality of everything
the organization does
4) Accurate measurement
5) Empowerment of employees

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 Process Reengineering
• Evaluating • Redefines jobs
process in terms and requires most
of contribution to employees to
goals undergo training
• Inefficient
processes thrown
out and new
systems
introduced
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 OB Insights

• Improving People Skills

• Improving Customer Service
• Empowering People
• Working in Networked Organizations
• Stimulating Innovation and Change

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 OB Insights

• Coping with “Temporariness”

• Helping Employees Balance Work/Life
Conflicts
• Declining Employee Loyalty
• Improving Ethical Behavior

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 Levels of OB Analysis

Individual Level

Group Level

Organization System Level

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