Session 1

Organizational
Behavior: The
Introduction

Organizations

 Groups of people who work

interdependently toward some
purpose

 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

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 MANAGEMENT
Management is a process by which organizational goals
(outputs) are achieved through the use of corporate resources
(inputs). These organizational decisions (processes) are
typically made by managers.

Managerial Activities
• Make decisions
• Allocate resources
• Direct activities of others
to attain goals

MANAGERS & ORGANIZATION

PEOPLE

METHODS/TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT
PRINCIPLES PHYSICAL RESOURCES
MANAGERS (POAC) (MATERIAL, MACHINES,
TOOLS)

FINANCIAL RESOURCES

INFORMATION

ORGANIZATIONAL RESOURCES OBJECTIVES

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 Successful and Effective
Manager
*) Successful defined in terms of the speed of promotion
within the organization.

Effective defined in terms of the quantity and quality

of their performance and satisfaction and
commitment of their employees

Manager Challenges
 Improving Operational Excellence
 Managing Workforce Diversity
 Improving Quality and Productivity
 Improving Customer Service and Responsiveness
 Improving and Empowering People Skills
 Stimulating Innovation and Change
 Working in Networked Organizations
 Helping Employees Balance Work/Life Conflicts
 Improving Ethical Behavior
 Creating a Positive Work Environment
 Responding to Globalization
 Responding to Economic Pressure
 Coping with “Temporariness”

3
Behaviour
 The action or reaction of something under specified
circumstances

 The way how people act as individual and as groups

14

Performance Continuum
PROBLEM EMPLOYEE STAR

DEADWOOD WORK HORSE

4
Intuition and Systematic Study
• Gut feelings
Intuition • Individual observation

Managing People
• Common sense

• Looks at relationships
Systematic • Scientific evidence
Study • Predicts behaviors

The two are complementary means of predicting behavior.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice
Hall

Managers Should Use All Approaches

The trick is to know when to go with your gut.
– Jack Welsh

 Intuition is often based on inaccurate information

 Faddism is prevalent in management
 Systematic study can be time consuming

Use evidence as much as possible to inform your

intuition and experience. That is the promise of OB.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.

publishing as Prentice Hall

5
 Organizational Behavior
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.

The study of what people think, feel, and

do in and around organizations

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 Three Levels of Analysis
in OB Model

Few Absolutes in OB
Situational factors that make the main relationship
between two variables change—e.g., the relationship may
hold for one condition but not another.

Contingency Independent Dependent

Variable (Z) Variable (X) Variable (Y)

In American Boss Gives

Understood as
“Thumbs Up”
Culture Complimenting
Sign

In Iranian or Boss Gives Understood as

Australian “Thumbs Up” Insulting - “Up
Sign Yours!”
Cultures
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
publishing as Prentice Hall

7
 Basic OB Model

Model
An abstraction of reality.
A simplified representation
of some real-world
phenomenon.

OB MODEL Dependent
Variables (Y)
Three Levels

Independent
Variables (X)

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing

as Prentice Hall

8
Managerial Implications

 OB focuses on how to improve factors that make

organizations more effective.
 The best predictions of behavior are made from a
combination of systematic study and intuition.
 Situational variables moderate cause-and-effect
relationships, which is why OB theories are
contingent.