Introduction to OB

The Field of Organizational Behavior 1-2

Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of individual

and group behavior in organizational settings. OB looks
at organizations as entities, the forces that shape them,
and their impact on the members. The study of OB
involves three levels within organizations: (1) Individual;
(2) Group (or Team); and (3) Organizational.

Its chief goal is to apply that knowledge toward

improving an organization’s effectiveness.
 Leaders In The Field : Henry Mintzberg
 one of the scourges of modern management education.
 A professor of strategy and organisation, at McGill University in Montreal. An engineer by training, he
received a PhD from MIT before joining McGill's faculty of management in 1968. He was the first
Fellow to be elected to the Royal Society of Canada from the field of Management.
 written about 120 articles and about 10 books.
 The Nature of Managerial Work (1973); The Structuring of Organizations (1979); Power In and Around
Organizations (1983); The Strategy Process (1988); and Mintzberg on Management: Inside Our Strange World
of Organizations (1989). His The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning won the best book award of the Academy
of Management in 1995.
 Strategy Safari A Guided Tour Through the Wilds of Strategic Management, and
 Why I Hate Flying (which is a spoof of all the foibles of flying, and of managing).
“I am a great believer in the flat earth theory. We thought we discovered the TRUTH several hundred
years ago: the earth is not flat, it is round. Out with the old, in with the new! However, for most practical
purposes, the earth is flat, and the flat earth theory remains perfectly acceptable and useful. The point is
that it is arrogant to consider any theory true, whether the theory is new or old. Theories can be useful or
not, depending on the circumstances. That means that the older theories that you will meet in this book
can sometimes be as useful as the latest theory. “
 Scientific Management
 Modern OB was much influenced by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the late 1890s.
 His 1911 book The Principles of Scientific Management 1 would have been on the office
shelves of Henry Ford's managers.
 Taylor was an engineer who wanted to find a way of improving employee performance in a
steel factory where he worked. He believed that he could find an ideal set of management
principles that would improve the satisfaction and performance of all employees.
 He felt that his scientific management was the one best way of managing all employees; it
would guarantee the optimal use of workers in virtually any working situation.
 Although it was later found that no single management style is highly effective in all
situations, Taylor's scientific management made some important contributions to our
understanding of OB. These include:
 identifying some of the sources of motivation of workers,
 developing goal setting programs,
 bringing in incentive pay systems,
 laying the groundwork for modern employee selection techniques, and providing properly
designed tools.
 The Hawthorne Studies
 During the 1920s, a Western Electric Co. telephone assembly plant in Hawthorne, Illinois, following
Taylor's theory, conducted routine scientific management research on variables such as the effect
of workplace lighting on productivity. The illumination in one assembly room was unchanged; in
another room, it was varied. Astonishingly, every time the lighting in either room was measured,
productivity increased, at least initially. The puzzled management hired business school professor
Elton Mayo to investigate.
 Again, Mayo soon concluded that no matter what changes were made, the employees'
productivity rose. This finding was the start for a series of four massive studies by Mayo over the next
dozen years. One study on assemblers whose work environment was not being changed showed
that they were all restricting their output to some unwritten standard. Mayo gradually switched his
attention from the physical work environment to the attitudes, morale, and social relations of the
employees, that is, to the human relations of the workplace.
 To investigate the nature of these human relations, detailed 90- minute interviews were conducted
with over 20 000 employees. These interviews disclosed the importance of the informal social
structure:
 employees were forming groups that established their own norms of behavior (including
productivity) and pressured members to produce neither more nor less than these norms. These
findings came to be known as the Hawthorne effect . The main Hawthorne effect is the remarkably
energizing effect of the simple act of showing interest or paying attention.
Motivational & Leadership Theories
 The first motivation theories were developed toward the end of the
1930s. They show how the various physical, psychological, and social
needs of a person will predict behavior. (Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
Theory of Motivation.)

 The 1950s saw the development of motivational theory based on the

work of Frederick Herzberg, which drew attention to the difference
between needs that are satisfied by the external environment (extrinsic
needs) and those that are satisfied by the inner upper-level needs
(intrinsic needs).
 The two main names in leadership research are R.M. Stogdill, who
analyzed leadership behavior and suggested that an individual's
personality characteristics determined whether he or she was a
follower or a leader, and Fred Fiedler8, who showed that different types
of leaders are needed for different situations.
Focal Points of OB 1-7

 Jobs
 Work
 Absenteeism
 Employment turnover
 Productivity
 Human performance
 Management
 Complementing Intuition with Systematic
Study

 Intuition: the “gut feeling” explanation of

behavior.
 Systematic study improves ability to
accurately predict behavior.
 Assumes behavior is not random.
 Fundamental consistencies underlie behavior.
 These can be identified and modified to reflect
individual differences.
Systematic Study
 Examines relationships.
 Attempts to attribute causes and effects.
 Bases conclusions on scientific evidence:
On data gathered under controlled
conditions.
Data is measured and interpreted in a
reasonably rigorous manner.
Evidence-Based Management

 Complements systematic study.

 Basesdecisions on the best
available scientific evidence.
 Forces
managers to become
more scientific in their thinking.
Contributing Disciplines
to the OB Field
Micro:
Psychology
The
Individual

Social Psychology

Sociology
Macro:
Groups &
Organizations Anthropology
Few Absolutes in OB
 Impossible to make simple and accurate generalizations
 Human beings are complex and diverse
 OB concepts must reflect situational conditions:
contingency variables

Condition Behavior
Input “A”
“C” “B”
Challenges and Opportunities for OB
 Theworkplace is contains a wide mix of cultures,
races, ethnic groups, genders and ages
 Employees
have to learn to cope with rapid
change due to global competition
 Corporateloyalty has decreased due to corporate
downsizing and use of temp workers
 Managers can benefit from OB theory and
concepts
Responding to Globalization
 Increased foreign assignments
 Differing needs and aspirations in workforce
 Working with people from different cultures
 Domestic
motivational techniques and
managerial styles may not work
 Overseeing movement of jobs to countries
with low-cost labor
Managing Workforce Diversity

Workforce diversity:
organizations are becoming a
more heterogeneous mix of people
in terms of gender, age, race,
ethnicity, and sexual orientation
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 while, at the same
time, not discriminating.”
OB Offers Insights Into:

 Improving quality and productivity

 Customer service and building a
customer-responsive culture
 Developing people skills
OB Aids in Dealing With:
 Stimulating Innovation and
Change
 Increasing “temporariness” in the
workplace
 Helping employees balance work-
life conflicts
 Improving ethical behavior
Thinking Positive

 Creating
a positive work environment can be a
competitive advantage
 Positive Organizational Scholarship (Positive OB):
 Examines how organizations develop human strengths,
foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential.
 Focus is on employee strengths, not their weaknesses.
Three Levels of OB Analysis
Implications for Managers
 OB helps with:
 Insights to improve people skills
 Valuing of workforce diversity
 Empowering people and creating a positive
work environment
 Dealing with labor shortages
 Coping in a world of temporariness
 Creatingan ethically healthy work
environment
Finally, we should understand…

 OB’sgoal is to understand and predict human

behavior in organizations.
 Fundamental consistencies underlie behavior.
 It is more important than ever to learn OB concepts.
 Both managers and employees must learn to cope
with temporariness.