MEETING-1
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
THE OBJECTIVES ARE:
After studying this chapter, the students are expected to be able to:
Define Organizational Behavior (OB)
Describe contributing fields to Organizational Behavior
Describe behavior model for organizational efficiency
MATERIAL DESCRIPTION
A. INTRODUCTION:
Talking about organization means talking about. government offices, banks,
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schools, colleges, hospital, factories, shops, institutes, political parties may
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others. What is organizational behavior means actually? What is the benefit for
us to study it? The word organization never escape from determining and
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arranging 5 management elements, they are men, money, materials. machines
and methods in order to reach the most effectively organizational objectives.
Organizing process results in the outcome called “organization”, consisting of a
group of people working together for the achievement of one or more common
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objectives.
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B. Definition of Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior (OB) in general is considered as the study of human
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behavior in organizational settings, the interaction between human behavior and
the organization, and of the organization itself. Studying OB means we do not
only focus on one element only but the three areas, human behavior, the
organization and the organization itself. It is necessary for a comprehensive
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understanding of organizational behavior. We can not study individual behavior
without explicitly considering the organization since the organization influences
and is influenced by the individual.
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Some definitions of Organizational Behavior are shown as follow:
“Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that
individuals, groups and organizational structure have on behavior within the
organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an
organizational effectiveness”.
Organizational behavior can also be defined as – “the study and application of
knowledge about human behavior related to other elements of an organization
such as structure, technology and social systems (LM Prasad). Stephen P
Robins defines “Organizational behavior as a systematic study of the actions
and attitudes that people exhibit within organizations.”
C. Contributing fields to Organizational Behavior
There are several fields of studies that contribute and related much to
organizational behavior. These fields of studies help organization to manage all
the elements of management in order to reach the objective of the organization.
Psychology: Psychology is an applied science, which attempts to explain human
behavior in a particular situation and predicts actions of individuals.
Psychologists have been able to modify individual behavior largely with the help
of various studies. It has contributed towards various theories on learning,
motivation, personality, training and development, theories on individual
decision making, leadership, job satisfaction, performance appraisal, attitude,
ego state, job design, work stress and conflict management. When someone has
learned and took the advantage of those theories, he or she can improve
personal skills that he or she already had and usually , change his or her attitude
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and develop positive approach to organizational systems.
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Psychological tests are conducted in the organizations in order to get good
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employees, measuring personality attributes and aptitude. These instruments
which are considered as scientific in nature and have been finalized after a
great deal of research. Up to the present time, field of psychology continues to
explore new areas applicable to the field of organizational behavior so that it
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enriched the organizational behavior field.
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Sociology: It studies the impact of culture on group behavior and has
contributed to a large extent to the field of group-dynamics, roles that individual
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plays in the organization, communication, norms, status, power, conflict
management, formal organization theory, group processes and group decision-
making. As we all aware that organization usually is supported by many different
people or individuals who have different back ground
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Political science: Political science has contributed to the field of Organizational
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behavior. Stability of government at national level is one major factor for
promotion of international business, financial investments, expansion and
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employment. Investors always try to find a stable place so that it secure his
investment. But the various government rules and regulations play a very
decisive role in growth of the organization in order to protect their nation. All
organizations have to abide by the rules of the government of the day.
Social psychology: Working organizations are formal assembly of people who
are assigned specific jobs and play a vital role in formulating human behavior. It
is a subject where concept of psychology and sociology are blend to achieve
better human behavior in organization. The field has contributed to manage
change, group decision-making communication and ability of people in the
organization, to maintain social norms
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Anthropology: It is a field of study relating to human activities in various cultural
and environmental frameworks. It understands difference in behavior based on
value system of different cultures of various countries. The study is more
relevant to organizational behavior today due to globalization, mergers and
acquisitions of various industries. The advent of the 21st century has created a
situation wherein cross-cultural people will have to work in one particular
industry. Managers will have to deal with individuals and groups belonging to
different ethnic cultures and exercise adequate control or even channelize
behavior in the desired direction by appropriately manipulating various cultural
factors.
Organization behavior has used the studies on comparative attitudes and cross-
cultural transactions. Environment studies conducted by the field of
anthropology aims to understand organizational human behavior so that
acquisitions and mergers are smooth. Organizations are bound by its culture
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that is formed by human beings.
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Comprehension questions:
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1. Define organizational behavior.
2. What are various factors that are considered to regulate individual
behavior.
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3. What are various fields that have contributed to the field of organizational
behavior. Explain their contributions.
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4. Explain various components that should be taken care of while studying
organizational behavior.
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5. Explain the field of organizational behavior. Why the study is challenging.
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