Chapter 1

Introduction to
Organizational Behavior
 An Introduction
Organizational behavior (OB) is the: “study of human
behavior in organizational settings, the interface between
human behavior and the organization, and the organization
itself”. OB research can be categorized in at least three
ways:
 Individuals in organizations (micro-level)
 Work groups (meso-level)
 How organizations behave (macro-level)
 An Introduction

 The complexities of human behavior are not easy to

predict nor are they random. There are certain
fundamental consistencies that underlie the behavior of
all individuals and a multiplicity of interrelated factors
which influence the behavior and performance of people
as members of an organization.
 The origins of management
Stage 1: (before 1900)
 Management as a process was based on trial and error with little or no
common body of knowledge or theory and no sharing of ideas and
practices.

Stage 2: Industrialization (beginning of modern

management)
 A new industrial era began in the USA during the last 25 years of the
19th century.
 Urbanization was brought about by the completion of the nationwide
railroad system.
 Large industrial manufacturing started to better plan, organize, and
control the workforce.
 The origins of management
Stage 3: Scientific management
 Frederick Taylor (father of management ), an American engineer who
noticed the inefficient practices of workers at work and attempted to
change them.
 He conducted “Time & Motion Studies” to come up with a maximum
output and a minimum effort through the elimination of waste at the
operational level.
 Applied a scientific method of designing jobs for each element of an
employee’s work to arrive at the “one best way” of performing a task.
 Set the scientific selection, training developing workers
 Emphasized the equal division of work and interdependence between
managers and non-managers.
 The origins of management
Stage 4: The behavioral school of management
a) The human relations approach
 The human relations movement brought to the attention of
management the important role played by individuals in
determining the success or failure of an organization. It dealt
with the task of compensating for some of the deficiencies in
classical theory that was concerned mainly with the physical
environment, and concentrated on the social environment
surrounding the job.
 The Hawthorne studies, conducted by Elton Mayo, was one of
the main contributions to the human relations movement.
 The origins of management
Stage 4: The behavioral school of management
a) The human relations approach

 The general progression of the research at Hawthorne is grouped in

four phases:
1- Experiments to determine the effects of changes in the physical
environment on productivity (e.g. illumination, ventilation .. etc.).
2- Experiments to determine the effect of changes in working
conditions (e.g. hours, rest periods, refreshments … etc.).
3- A plant-wide interview program to determine worker attitudes and
sentiments.
4- Analysis of social organization at work.
 The origins of management
Stage 4: The behavioral school of management
a) The human relations approach

 Baffled by the results, where productivity increased while expecting it to

decrease upon the changes made in the physical environment ( e.g.
reducing the level of illumination), the researchers concluded that there
are other factors that had effects on the worker productivity.

 They found that workers reacted to the social conditions at work such as
informal group pressures, individual recognition, and participation in
decision making.
 The origins of management
Stage 4: The behavioral school of management
b) The behavioral science approach

 The behavioral science approach to the study of management is the

study of verifiable human behavior in organizations using scientific
procedures.

 It is largely focusing on the issue of human behavior, and drawing from

relevant literature especially in psychology, sociology, and
anthropology.
 Managers roles in organizations
Managers at the different levels of the organization
play important roles:
1- Interpersonal roles figurehead, leader, liaison.

2- Informational roles spokesperson, disseminator,

monitor.

3- Decisional roles entrepreneur, disturbance handler,

resource allocator, negotiator.
 What is an organization?
 A structured social system consisting of groups and
individuals working together to meet some agreed-upon
objectives.
 Organizations are social entities for accomplishing common
goals through group effort.
Key points of the definition:
• Social entities the essential characteristic of an organization is the
coordinated presence of people.
• Goal accomplishment individuals are assembled into organizations
for a reason or goal.
• Group effort organizations are based on the interaction and
coordination among people to accomplish their goals.
 What is organizational behavior (OB)?

 OB is the field that is concerned with understanding all aspects of

individual, group, and organizational processes in the workplace.

 OB refers to the study of attitudes and behaviors of individuals and

groups in organizations in order to help improve organizational
performance and effectiveness.

 OB is the 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.
 What is organizational behavior (OB)?
 Major disciplines that contribute to the OB field
OB is a multidisciplinary field that derives knowledge from a
wide variety of social science disciplines:

i. Psychology : seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes

change the human behavior. Early psychologists studied the
problems of fatigue and other working conditions that could
affect efficient work performance. Their contributions have
expanded to include perception, learning, personality, emotions
& stress, attitudes, and motivation.
 What is organizational behavior (OB)?
 Major disciplines that contribute to the OB field
ii. Sociology: focuses on the people not the individual in relation to
their social environment or culture. Sociologists have contributed to OB
through their study of group dynamics, teamwork, leadership,
communication, power, conflict, organizational culture and structure.
iii. Social psychology: blends concepts from both psychology
and sociology to focus on people’s influence on one another. One major
contribution is the study of organizational change, attitudes, power,
conflict, and communication.
iv. Anthropology: which is the study of societies to learn about
human beings and their activities. are some of its major contributions are
organizational culture, organizational environments, and differences in
attitudes & behavior among national cultures.
 OB goals

Three major goals for studying OB:

 Predicting behavior in organizations.

 Explaining behavior in organizations.
 Managing behavior in organizations.
 Levels of analysis in OB
1. The individual level: concerned with understanding
determinants of individual's behavior and performance level
(e.g. motives, perceptions, attitudes, personality).
2. The group level: more concerned with the behavior of
small groups including characteristics, group dynamics and
relationships.
3. The organization level: concerned with organization
design and its impact on organizational behavior.
4. The environment level: concerned with the identification
of the environment forces which influence the organization
and how the organization senses these influences and
responds to them.
 Challenges and opportunities for OB
(I) Responding to globalization:

 Globalization is the process of interconnecting the world’s

people with respect to the cultural, economic, political,
technological, and environmental aspects of their lives.

 International trade is the major driver of globalization, and

multinational enterprises (MNEs) are its primary vehicles.

 MNEs are organizations that are headquartered in a single

nation and have operations throughout various countries.
 Challenges and opportunities for OB
(I) Responding to globalization:
 One of the challenges resulting from the rise of MNEs that managers
may face is managing the workforce diversity and dealing with people
from different cultures. Managers must understand the culture shock
expatriates may experience in their early days of work and know how to
handle this period.
- Expatriates (expats): who are citizens in one country but work & live
in another country for some extended period of time.
- Culture shock: the tendency for people working abroad to become
confused and disoriented as they are faced with new cultures. They go
through general stages to adjust to a foreign culture:
 Challenges and opportunities for OB
(I) Responding to globalization:

1- An initial period of optimism and excitement about the

new culture.
2- Frustration and confusion about the new culture
(culture shock).
3- Understanding, accepting and adjusting to the new
culture (after about six months)
 Challenges and opportunities for OB
(II) Responding to employees’ need for flexibility:
Several practices that have gained popularity in recent years
provide the flexibility to today’s employees’ needs:

i. Flextime programs: making it easier for employees to adapt their

work schedules to the demands of their personal lives: when to arrive
at work and when to leave.
ii. Idiosyncratic work arrangements (i-deals): customized
agreements between individuals and employers on employment terms
benefiting each party.
iii. Job sharing: a regular part-time work in which two or more
employees share the duties of a single job, splitting the salary and
benefits in proportion to the time worked.
 Challenges and opportunities for OB
(II) Responding to employees’ need for flexibility:

iv. Voluntary reduced work time programs (V-time): programs

that allow employees to reduce the amount of time they work by a
certain amount (10 or 20%) with a proportional reduction in pay.
v. Compressed workweeks: working fewer days each week but longer
hours each day.
vi. Contingent workforce: people hired temporarily, to work as
needed for finite periods of time.
vii. Telecommuting (teleworking): allowing employees to use
communication technology to perform work from remote locations,
such as one’s home, with e-mail access.
 Challenges and opportunities for OB
(III) Working in networked organizations:
• Networked organizations (also called virtual organizations) outsource
outside firms around the globe to perform non- core functions. The
virtual organization is a loosely connected cluster of separate
organizations electronically connected to a central office and
telecommute via computers for completing tasks and sharing
information.

• In a networked organization, managers must develop new skills to

motivate, lead, and make collaborative decisions online which require
different techniques than when individuals are physically present in one
location.