What is Organizational

Behaviour?
 Outline

• Defining Organizational Behaviour

• OB: Making Sense of Behaviour in
Organizations
• How Will Knowing OB Make a Difference?
• Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace
 What Is Organizational Behaviour?

1. What is organizational behaviour?

2. Isn’t organizational behaviour common sense? Or
just like psychology?
3. How does knowing about organizational behaviour
make work and life more understandable?
4. What challenges do managers and employees face
in the workplace of the twenty-first century?
 Organizational Behaviour
• . . . a field of study that investigates
how individuals, groups and structure
affect and are affected by behaviour
within organizations, for the purpose of
applying such knowledge toward
improving an organization’s
effectiveness.
 Why Do We Study OB?

• To learn about yourself and others

• To understand how the many organizations you
encounter work.
• To become familiar with team work
• To help you think about the people issues faced by
managers and entrepreneurs
.
What is an 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
 Roles and Skills in the New
Workplace
Flexibility

Mentor Innovator

External Focus
Internal Focus

Facilitator Broker

Monitor Producer

Coordinator Director

Control
 How Companies are Changing
“Cool” Companies
• Believe casual days are
progressive
• Believe titles are obsolete
• Don't impose on employees'
personal time
• Allow staff to come and go as
they please
• Offer all employees stock
options
• Let employees make decisions
that affect their work
• Offer assistance with childcare
• Have minimal bureaucracy (red
tape)
“Old” Companies
• Think casual Fridays are pitiful
• Charge employees for perks and
incentives
• Hold events on employee time
• Have flex time: but only
between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
• Hide financial results from their
employees
• Encourage employee input --
but rarely act on it
• Employ rigid hierarchies (chain
of command)
• Stop at “open door” policies
Exhibit 1-1 Challenges
Facing the Workplace
Organizational Level
• Productivity
• Developing effective employees
• Global competition
• Managing in the global village

Group Level
• Working with others
• Workforce diversity Workplace

Individual Level
• Job satisfaction
• Empowerment
• Behaving ethically
 Summary and Implications
• OB is a field of study that investigates the
impact that individuals, groups, and structure
have on behaviour within an organization.
• OB focuses on improving productivity,
reducing absenteeism and turnover, and
increasing employee job satisfaction and
organizational commitment.
• OB uses systematic study to improve
predictions of behaviour.