General MBA Program

Course Title: Organizational Behavior and

Cross-cultural Management
Course No. MBA-5121

Individual Assignment

Assignment on Chapter 1: Overview of OB

Prepared by: Abebayehu Belete: ID. Number: ILI/MBA/15/003/19

Submitted to: Dr. Kassu Jilcha (PhD)

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

11 June, 2020

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 Table of Contents

1. What Do We Mean by Organization.....................................................................................3

2. What do we mean by Organizational behavior?....................................................................4

3. Why do some people do well in organizational settings while others have difficulty?........5

4. What people-related challenges have you noticed in the workplace?...................................6

5. Why should you care about understanding other people?.....................................................7

6. What challenges do managers and employees face in the workplace of the twenty-first
century?......................................................................................................................................8

7. Discuss organizational behavior time based developmental trend......................................10

Bibliography............................................................................................................................11

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1. What Do We Mean by Organization?
Organization is a social unit of people that is structured and managed to meet a need or to
pursue collective goals. All organizations have a management structure that determines
relationships between the different activities and the members, and subdivides and assigns
roles, responsibilities, and authority to carry out different tasks. Organizations are open
systems; they affect and are affected by their environment. Manufacturing and service firms,
schools, hospitals, churches, military units, retail stores, police departments, volunteer
organizations, start-ups, and local, provincial, and federal government agencies are all
organizations.
Organization is a collection of resources that are working together somehow to achieve a
common purpose. When we talk about an organization, we are usually referring to a group of
people. Organizations of people come in many forms. They might be a random group of
people who spontaneously came together to address a short-term need, such as collecting
litter along a certain stretch of road. Or, it might be a carefully collected, aligned and
integrated group of people who came together for the long-term to address a long-term need,
such as stopping poverty in a certain country.
An overall organization can have a variety of small organizations within it, for example,
various departments and teams of people. The way that people work together in an
organization depends on a variety of factors, including the values in their culture, the nature
of their leadership and types of current needs they are working to address.
Therefore, In short we can say that an organization is a consciously coordinated social unit
composed of a group of people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a
common goal or set of goals.

2. What do we mean by Organizational behavior?

Organizational behavior is the study of both group and individual performance and activity
within an organization. Thus, we can conclude that organizational behavior is a field of study
that investigates the impact of individuals, groups, and structure on behavior within
organizations; its purpose is to apply such knowledge toward improving an organization's
effectiveness. Behavior refers to what people do in the organization, how they perform, and

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what their attitudes are. Because the organizations studied are often business organizations,
OB is frequently applied to address workplace issues such as absenteeism, turnover,
productivity, motivation, working in groups, and job satisfaction. Managers often apply the
knowledge gained from OB research to help them manage their organizations more
effectively. Fred Luthans says that, “organizational behavior (OB) is directly concerned with
the understanding, prediction, and control of human behavior in organizations.”
Organizational behavior specifically deals with how people and groups behave in
organizations. It uses a systems approach and takes into account the whole group, all persons
and the whole organization. The purpose of organizational behavior is to build better
interactions and relationships between employees at all levels and to help organizations and
those who work for them reach desired goals while fostering strong communication.
Organizational behavior is also used as a means to implement other organizational changes.
Without a clear understanding of the culture of an organization, changes in any areas are
often unsuccessful. Hence, an organizational behavior specialist may work with other
specialists to assist in the guided change of an organization's practices and policies

3. Why do some people do well in organizational settings while others have

difficulty? Reason out.

Human beings exist at different levels of psychological development, and these levels are
expressed in the values they hold respecting their work. One useful categorization of levels
and work values appears in the sidebar, values for working.
Although the organization setup maters most in many ways, but individual quality and
willingness to grow and work for the common good is really important. Accordingly, there
are many reasons why some people do well in organizational settings while others have
difficulty. To see the difference we need to distinguish the characteristic of both sort of
people.
i) Being a good employee means having a humble attitude and a willingness to learn. This
is someone who is able to contribute to the common good of the team and the business. This
may include doing tasks that sometimes fall outside of your job description. It also means
being enthusiastic, reliable and committed. Such types of people keep balance between the

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personal success and the organization’s success. They have high sense of belongingness
towards their workplace. Moreover, they are responsible for themselves and others. They ask
for help when they need it, are dependable and reliable, will not need to be micromanaged,
will inspire others to achieve excellence. They have good experience of working in
organization, understand the vision and goals of their organization, understand the
organization culture, responsibility of managers and employees. All in all we could say some
people do well in the organizational settings because they have good knowhow about
organizational behavior. This kind of people are open-minded and ever growing. They open
themselves towards change and holistic development.
The most common qualities of a good employee and do well in organizational setting are:
people who are Action Oriented, ambitious, autonomous, cultural fit, confident, honest,
hardworking, passionate, disciplined and punctual.
ii) On the other hand, let us assume that people are not open minded and always think that
they are right, they do not really care about the other person's opinion or wellbeing let it be
an employee in the workplace or customer satisfaction. The characteristics of such kind of
people are: not taking responsibility, unwillingness to learn, disrespectful to customers, co-
workers or managers etc. These could arise from lack of work experience, negative
mentality, lack of sufficient education and poor understanding of organizational behavior.

4. What people-related challenges have you noticed in the workplace?

List out

The workplace is typically an environment in which people with different personalities,

communication styles, and worldviews interact. These differences are one potential source of
workplace issues and can ultimately lead to stress and tension for those involved. Among the
most common people-related challenges I have noticed in the workplace are: interpersonal
conflict, communication problems, gossip, bullying, harassment, discrimination, low
motivation and job satisfaction, performance issues and poor job fit. We can see some of
these challenges as follows:

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Disagreeable Coworkers: Disagreeing on certain points among coworkers is normal.
However, they must not create an unpleasant work situation. It should be avoided if possible.
When coworkers deal with disagreement they should get into a fight.
Workplace Bullies: Some people often target those they see as a threat and cause them
anxiety and stress. Such bullies force individuals to isolate themselves and feel bad about
themselves. To prevent such bullies, victims should discuss the problem with a mentor to
find the best way to handle them. However, if they are threatened they should report to their
supervisor.
Gossipers and Trouble Makers: They can be especially disruptive to the workplace and
cause misunderstandings.
Whiners and Complainers: They tend to see the negative side to everything. This attitude
can be harmful to morale. Such sort of behavior should be carefully examined since
complaining may be their attempt to avoid conflict, relieve stress about things they feel they
have no control over, or simply to get attention. Thus, they need to be helped to be more
positive thinkers.
Backstabbers: This kind of behavior cause distrust by spreading rumors or withholding
important information from those they see as rivals. This can affect people’s career goals and
reputation. People with this sort of behavior should be confronted calmly about their
behavior.
Workplace Ethics and Integrity Issues: Poor workplace ethics can be hazardous to ones’
job security. It can cause people to lose respect for a person and follow him/her for the rest of
his/her career. People should not compromise their integrity. Everyone must review ones’
employer's workplace ethics and proper business ethics.
All these could cause serious stress issues and affect the achievement of the organization.
The value of reducing stress on the job cannot be denied. The benefits of incorporating stress
eliminating programs and culture into any organization far outweighs any costs that may be
incurred. Likewise, family friendly practices are well worth any investment a company
makes to further this cause. Recognition of the importance of balance between family and
work has become an issue for women and men alike. Many of the best and brightest actively
seek companies who will take into account the vital necessity of balance in the lives of their

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employees and, thus, companies who do so are being rewarded with top notch workers who
are highly motivated and enthusiastic about their jobs.

5. Why should you care about understanding other people?

Understanding other people is key for relating with them, building trusting, and having open
relationships. All of these components are helpful in problem prevention efforts, in
enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of work and in achieving the ultimate
organizational goal.
While working in an organization, it is very important to understand others behavior as well
as make others understand ours. In order to maintain a healthy working environment, we
need to adapt to the environment and understand the goals we need to achieve.
 It helps in explaining the interpersonal relationships employees share with each other
as well as with their higher and lower subordinates.

 The prediction of individual behavior can be explained.

 It balances the cordial relationship in an enterprise by maintaining effective
communication.
 It assists in marketing.
 It helps managers to encourage their sub-ordinates.
 Any change within the organization can be made easier.
 It helps in predicting human behavior & their application to achieve organizational
goals.
 It helps in making the organization more effective.
Thus studying organizational behavior helps in recognizing the patterns of human behavior
and in turn throws light on how these patterns profoundly influence the performance of an
organization. In our contemporary situation, understanding people is not merely important
but necessary for efficiency and success of any organization.
The only way to truly understand what others are going through, or why they think or act a
certain way, is to see things the way they see them. There are various ways we can
understand other people and help them to utilize their best of ability and contribute to the
organization’s performance. The first motivational aspect at work could be understanding,
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recognizing and encouraging the workers. In doing so, the first thing we should do is: think
about what is going on in that person’s life. If you do not know, ask. Second, think about
how you would act if you were in that specific situation. Finally, talk to the person about the
situation and find out why he or she handled it in that way and help that person in any way
possible.

6. What challenges do managers and employees face in the workplace of

the twenty-first century?
Organizational behavior considers three levels of analysis regarding the challenges in the
workplace: the individual, the group, and the organization; which, combined, help us
understand behavior in organizations. Each level has different challenges.

At the individual level, managers and employees need to learn how to work with people who
may be different from themselves in a variety of dimensions, including personality,
perception, values, and attitudes. In fact, employees have a variety of experiences and come
from several cultures. Individuals also have different levels of job satisfaction and
motivation, and these affect how managers manage employees. For instance, some
employees have drug and alcohol dependencies that would affect their motivation and
productivity. Individual differences, Job-satisfaction, motivation, empowerment and
behaving ethically are the main aspects that could affect the individual’s behavior.
At the group level: The behavior of people in groups is more than the sum total of all the
individuals acting in their own way. People’s behavior when they are in a group differs from
their behavior when they are alone. Some of the challenges that occur at the group level
below are: Working with others: Much of the success in any job involves developing good
interpersonal skills. Workforce Diversity: Diversity, if positively managed, can increase
creativity and innovation in organizations, as well as improve decision making by providing
different perspectives on problems. However, if is not managed properly, there is potential
for higher turnover, miscommunication, and more interpersonal conflicts.
At the organizational level, businesses face many challenges in the twenty-first century. They
face ongoing competition at home and from neighboring businesses, as well as growing
competition from the global marketplace. Productivity is critical. It has become essential to
develop effective employees who are committed to the organization. By putting people first,

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organizations can generate a committed workforce, but taking this approach becomes a
challenge for businesses that focus solely on the bottom line. Organizations also have to learn
how to be more sensitive to cultural differences as they are multicultural competitive
companies, and often develop global alliances or set up plants in foreign countries, where
being aware of other cultures becomes a key to success.
Managers and employees face quite a lot of challenges in their workplace in the twenty-first
century, more than ever. Of course, the challenges would arise from both internal and external
factors. It is mainly the responsibility of managers to predict, investigate, plane and tackle the
challenges, but with the right tact and skill. Perhaps one of the greatest challenge facing
individuals (and organizations) is how to behave ethically.
Among the main challenges managers and employees face in the workplace are:

i) Change: due to the fast growing in science and technological innovation,

organizations are filled with possibilities for change. Any aspect of that change affects
the organization partially or entirely. Thus, both managers and employees should be well
prepared and proactive towards change that would directly or indirectly affect the
organization they work in. If any change is not handled carefully, it could highly affect
they competitiveness, performance and growth of the organization.

ii) Difficult People: There will always be people on your team, in your organization
and in your working life who are difficult. The goal of managers is to handle them with
grace and kindness.

iii) Pressure: The work environment has a lot of pressure built into it. The managers’
ability to accept and release some of that pressure will benefit the organization in the long
run.

iv) Staying Motivated: Sometimes as a manager or employee you can feel your
motivation for the organization fall flat. It happens to the best of us, but what they need to
do is muster all of the good stuff around them and get back on track. They should not
spend time dwelling on what is not working unless they can fix it.

v) Culture Issues: Just working in an organization doesn’t mean that people do not have
issues with their culture. They might be an office that does not get along well as a team, has

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 communication issues, gossips, or has undermining team members. Whatever it is, they are
going to have to deal with it as part of the organization. Changing cultural habits in an
organization is not easy, but mangers must work on it.

vi) Communication Problems: Communication issues are probably number one stressing
problems in workplace. Managers, but also employees, practicing their communication skills
at being clear and brief will benefit the entire organization.

7. Discuss organizational behavior time based developmental trend.

As we have discussed above the discipline of organizational behavior is concerned with

identifying and managing the attitudes and actions of individuals and groups, looking
particularly at how people can be motivated to join and remain in the organization, how to
get people to practice effective teamwork, how people can accomplish their jobs more
efficiently, and how employees can be encouraged to be more flexible and innovative.
Attention is brought to these attitudes and actions in order to help managers identify
problems, determine how to correct them, and change behavior so that individual
performance and ultimately organization effectiveness increase.
The field of organizational behavior has developed from the studies conducted by behavioral
scientists such as industrial psychologists, psychologists and sociologists. The focus of these
studies lies in the understanding of the human behavior in the organizations. The levels at
which these studies have been carried out relate to individuals, the small group, the inter-
group and the total organization as a socio - economic - technical system.
As a field of study, organizational behavior is built on a succession of approaches or ways of
thinking about people. Since the early 1900s those who studied behavior in organizations
have attempted to prescribe ways to effectively manage employees in order to achieve the
organization's goals. The early approaches, referred to as the classical view, promoted
increased management coordination of tasks, strict specialization and standardization of work
tasks, a strict chain of command, and centralized decision making at the manager level.
During the 1920s and 1930s the next new school of thought began to emerge, which was
referred to as the human relations movement. By and large this movement began with the
famous Hawthorne studies at the Western Electric plant that demonstrated how psychological

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and social processes could affect productivity and work behavior. This new way of thinking
looked at organizational behavior by advocating a more people-oriented style of management
that was more participative and oriented toward employee needs.
Contemporary organizational thought has shifted to a more integrative systems approach,
which includes the consideration of external influences; the relationship of the organization
with managers and employees; and organizational processes, which are the activities through
which work gets accomplished. In other words, the best solution for the situation depends on
many factors. The organization is depicted as a number of interrelated, interdependent, and
interacting subsystems that are continually changing.
The manager's role is to effectively predict, explain, and manage behavior that occurs in
organizations. Particularly, managers are interested in determining why people are more or
less motivated or satisfied. Managers must have a capacity to observe and understand the
behavior patterns of individuals, groups, and organizations; to predict what responses will be
drawn out by managerial actions; and ultimately to use this understanding and eventual
predictions to effectively manage employees.

Bibliography

Organizational Behavior and Development (2020). Retrieved June 02, 2020, From
https://www.encyclopedia.com/finance/finance-and-accounting-magazines/organizational-
behavior-and-development

Organizational Behavior Tutorial, Retrieved June 04, 2020, From

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/organizational_behavior/organizational_behavior_introductio
n.htm

Organizational Behavior: Definition, Importance, Nature, Model. Retrieved June 04, 2020,
From https://www.iedunote.com/organizational-behavior

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