LECTURE 1

Nature and Scope of

Organizational Behaviour

2-1
 Organizational Behaviour

Organizational behaviour is the study of what

people think, feel and do in and around
organizations.

Organizational behaviour is a field of study

that investigates the impact that
individuals, groups and structure have on
behaviour within organizations.
2-2
 Organizational Behaviour

Organisational Behavior is concerned with the

study of the behaviour of the people within an
organizational setting. It involves the
understanding, prediction and the control of
human behaviour. (Laurie J. Mullins)

Behaviour refers to what people do in organization,

what their attitudes are, how they perform

2-3
 What is Organization

An organization is a group of people

who work independently toward
some purpose.
Organizations are not buildings or
other physical structures.
Rather Organizations are people
who work together to achieve a
set of goals.
Employees have structured patterns
of interaction, meaning that they
expect each other to complete
certain tasks in coordinated way
in an organized way.

2-4
 Organizational behaviour

Organizational behaviour focuses

on three levels of behaviour in
organization:
Individuals- learning, attitude
development and perception,
motivation.
Group- group structure and
processes, interpersonal
communication and conflict;
and the larger organizational
environment- leadership,
power, organizational structure,
work design and change
processes.
2-5
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour

 Organizational Behaviour as a field

of study:
This means that scholars have been
accumulating a distinct knowledge
about behaviour within organizations.
By most estimates OB emerged as a
distinct field around the 1940s;
however its origin can be traced much
further back in time.

Plato the Greek philosopher wrote about

equity in work relationships. Another
Greek philosopher, Aristotle spoke
about the elements of persuasive
communication.

2-6
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

The writings of 16th Italian philosopher

Niccolo Machiavelli laid the foundation for
contemporary work on organizational
structure based on the division of labour. A
German sociologist Max Weber wrote
rational organization and initiated
discussion of charismatic leadership.

2-7
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

Soon after, Fredrick Winslow Taylor

introduced the systematic use of goal
setting and rewards to motivate
employees.

2-8
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

In the 1920s, productivity study at the Western Electric’s

Hawthorne plant reported that an informal organization
employees casually interacting with each other- operates
alongside the formal organization.

NOTE: OB ideas have been around for a long time, they

just weren’t organized into a unified discipline until
after the World War II

2-9
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

• What are Organizations? –

Organizations are as old as the
human race. Archeologists
have discovered massive
temples dating back to 3500BC
that were estimated through the
organized actions of many
people. The fact that these
impressive monuments were
built suggests not only that
complex organizations existed,
but that the people in them
cooperated reasonably well.

2-10
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

Organizations have a purpose, in whatever they

are doing. Some organizational behaviour
scholars are skeptical about the relevance of
goals in a definition of organizations. They argue
that an organization’s mission statement may be
different from the true goals. Also they question
the assumption that all the organizational
members believe in the same goals.

2-11
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

• These points may be true but imagine an

organization without goals. It would consist
of mass of people wandering around
aimlessly, without any sense of direction.
Organizations do have a collective sense
of purpose, even though it may not be fully
understood or agreed upon.

2-12
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

• Why study organizational

behavior.
• The main reason for studying O. B is
that most of us work in organizations
so we need to understand, predict and
influence (UIP) the behavior of others
in organizational settings. Marketing
students learn marketing concepts and
computer science students learn about
circuitry and software code. But
everyone needs organizational
behaviour knowledge to address the
people issues that we face when trying
to apply marketing, computer and
other ideas.

2-13
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

Satisfying the need to understand and predict. Each one

of us has an inherent need to know about the world in
which we live. This is particularly true in organizations
because they have a profound effect on our lives, we
want to understand why organizational events occur
and to more accurately predict what to expect in the
future. In other words we need to map out
organizational events so that we can participate more
fully and comfortably, in that area.

2-14
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d
The decisions and actions that people make in organization
are determined by a complex combination of factors. OB
helps us to make sense of the work place and to some
extent predict what people will do under various conditions
in the organizations.

2-15
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

OB also helps us to test personal theories of

the world that we develop through previous
observations and learning. Some of these
personal theories may be quite accurate
and predict behaviour in many situations.
However some of the personal theories are
inaccurate or overly simplistic for the real
world.

2-16
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

• Influencing organizational events.

Although it is nice to understand and predict
organizational events most of us want to influence the
environment in which we live. Whether you are a
marketing specialist or a computer programmer, you need
to know how to communicate effectively with others,
manage conflict, make better decisions, build
commitment to your ideas, help work teams operate more
effectively etc. OB theories and concepts will help you to
influence organizational events.

2-17
 Introduction to the field of
organizational behaviour cont’d

Understand
0rg’nal
events

Influence Predict
Org’nal Org’nal
events events

2-18
********************************

2-19
 EMERGING TRENDS IN OB

• Emerging trends in OB

• OB is undergoing an accelerated change most of

which is occurring in the work place. Discussed
below are some of the emerging trends;
globalization, the changing work force, emerging
employment relationships, information
technology, work teams and business ethics.

2-20
 ***************************

• Globalization
• One major challenge facing managers in the early 21st
century arises from what many commentators have
identified as an increasingly international or global
business environment. Globalization, generally, refers to
organizations integrating, operating, and competing in a
worldwide economy. As organizations adopt a more
global perspective, this will have a significant effect on the
broader context of management and OB

2-21
 Globalization

• The following are frequently cited as potential explanatory factors

underlying this changing trend:
• Improvement in international communication facilities such as the
internet;
• International competitive pressure;
• The spread of production methods and other business processes
across nations and regions;
• International business activity such as overseas franchising;

2-22
 Globalization

• Implications for OB
• With increasing globalization, corporate
leaders must adjust their OB practices to
suit the changing trends. For instance we
cannot assume that the incentive plan that
worked in one country will work in the other
or the employment relationships that exist
will be the same every where.
2-23
 Globalization

However this does not mean that OB must

be reinvented, rather organizations must
adopt a cross cultural approach to doing
business in different countries and the
need to recognize the contingencies of
effective OB practices in a diverse
workforce

2-24
 The Changing Workforce

• The nature of the workforce is changing

eventually. There is now increase in diversity of
the workforce, probably as a result of more
women entering the labour market. The presence
of more women in organizations have strongly
influenced organizational practices. Moreover,
gender based shifts are now occurring in the
organization. For instance in recent times we find
more women in the army, the police service and
in corporate positions.
2-25
 The Changing Workforce Con’t

Another form of diversity comes from the younger

people entering the workforce. Due to changes in
education system presently, people are able to
complete for instance their first degree at an
early age. These people will then seek
meaningful career opportunities. They bring new
ways of thinking into the organization and are
more energetic.

2-26
 The changing Workforce Con’t

• Implications for OB
• An increasingly diverse workforce posses both
threats and opportunities in the organization.
Organizations can gain competitive advantage
through enhanced and better decision making.
Moreover, difficult tasks can be performed more
effectively and efficiently through team work.
• For many large firms, diverse workforce provide
wider customer base.
2-27
 The changing Workforce Con’t

• Workforce diversity also brings new challenges with

respect to communication, team dynamics, organizational
politics and dysfunctional conflict into the organization.
• Employers are also forced to adjust to meet their diverse
workforce expectation by replacing command-and-control
leadership with empowerment and autonomy-giving
employees more freedom and authority to get work done.

2-28
 The changing Workforce Con’t

Finally, the changing workforce creates

increasing concerns about work place
discrimination and harassment.

2-29
 Emerging employment
relationships

• Employment relationship
Gone are the days when people enjoy secured jobs till
retirement even in the private sector. However, in the
wake of downsizing and restructuring, many
organizations are reluctant to hire more people and for
longer term simply because “one computer can do all”. It
is now common to find people working on contracts in
organizations. Replacing the job-for-life contract is a “new
deal” called employability. Under this, employees perform
a variety of work activities rather than hold specific jobs,
and they are expected to continuously learn new skills
that will keep them employed.
2-30
 Emerging employment
relationships

• Contingent work is another emerging employment

relationship. Contingent work includes any job in which
the individual does not have an implicit or explicit contract
for long term employment, or one in which the minimum
hours of work can vary in a nonsystematic way.

• telecommuting (also called teleworking) is simply working

from home usually with a computer or other
telecommunication connection to the office.

2-31
 Emerging employment
relationships

• Technology
• With the emergence of and improvement in information
technology, employees connected to their organization
network can sit comfortably in their home and conduct
their normal work without necessary being present at the
employer’s physical workplace.
• Telecommuting raises OB issue. Performance
evaluation should not be based on the number of times
the employee is at the work place, but should be based
on results or output produced.

2-32
 Emerging employment
relationships

Meanwhile employees must learn to get

things done through virtual teams. Virtual
teams are cross-functional groups that
operate across space, time and
organizational boundaries with members
who communicate mainly through
electronic technologies.

2-33
 Information technology

In our discussion, we can recall how

information technology has helped in the
area of telecommuting and virtual teams. IT
has also made it possible for small firms to
compete in the global market.

2-34
 The five Anchors of
Organizational Behaviour

• These five anchors represent the way OB

researchers think about organizations and
how they should be studied.

2-35
The five Anchors of Organizational
Behaviour

Multi-
Disciplinary
Open anchor Scientific
Systems Method
anchor Anchor
Org’nal
B’viour
Mulitiple Anchors
Levels of Contingency
Analysis anchor
anchor

2-36
 The Multidisciplinary Anchor

Organizational behaviour is anchored around

the idea that it should be drawn on
knowledge from other disciplines rather
than just its own isolated research base.

Different fields of knowledge have

contributed to current OB

2-37
 The Multidisciplinary Anchor

1.Psychology and Sociology have contributed to

our knowledge of individual and interpersonal
behaviour
Sociology- Knowledge of team dynamics,
organizational socialization and power etc.
We can also talk about-Anthropology, political
science, economics and industrial
engineering.

2-38
 Emerging

Communications
Information studies
Women’s studies

2-39
 The Scientific Method Anchor

OB researchers also test hypotheses about

org. They follow the scientific method in
collecting information.
The scientific methods help researchers to
systematically understand previous events
and conditions that have not been
explained.

2-40
 The Contingency Anchor

The main premise of this anchor is the idea

that a particular action may have different
consequences in different situations; in that
no single solution is best in all
circumstances. E.g. Types of
chairmanship. authoritarian style,
consultative style or democratic style.
NOTE: not to carry this anchor to the
extreme 2-41
 The Multiple Levels of Analysis Anchor

Organizational; events are studied from 3 levels:

Individual level: motivation, perceptions,
Personalities, values and attitudes

Team level of analysis: i.e. the way they

Interact- Organizational conflicts,
Politics , leadership and power etc.

Organizational level: How employees

Relate to each other and also how the
Org relate to the environment 2-42
 Open System Anchor

Organizations will continue to interact with

the environment.org acquire resources
from the environment. E.g raw materials,
employees, information's etc.
NOTE. Imagine an organization in a close
system. DISCUSS

2-43
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Organizations gain competitive advantage in

external environment thru knowledge
management: i.e by effectively acquiring,
sharing and utilizing knowledge.
Knowledge management : is a structured
activity that improves an org’s capacity to
acquire, share and utilize knowledge that
enhances its survival and success.
2-44
 ***************************

Intellectual Capital: is the knowledge that

resides in an organization. That is the sum
of an organizations human capital -
(employees skills, experience &
creativity),structural capital and customer
capital -(customer satisfaction, supplier etc)

2-45
 Knowledge management
processes

Knowledge management help org’s develop

their capacity to acquire, share and utilize
knowledge for their survival and success.
This process is called org’nal learning

2-46
 Knowledge management processes
Con’t

Companies have different ways to acquire,

share and utilize knowledge.
Knowledge acquisition(envt): Indi
Knowledge sharing:
Learning(obsrv, exp), env’tal
Communication, training
Scanning(survey customers)
And rewards.
grafting(hire indi,buy c’pany),exp-
(weak cos of loosing power)
erimentation(indi experiences)

knowledge utilization:
Sense- making, knowledge
Awareness and empowerment 2-47
 QUESTIONS

• What are the three levels of analysis in our

OB model? How are they related?
• Explain various approaches to the study of
OB.
• Identify and Explain the OB model.

2-48