Introduction to Organizational

Behavior

Presented by:

Rao Jameel Afsar

The Practice of Management Can Be Traced Back Thousands of Years

• The Egyptians used management functions of planning, organizing, and controlling when they constructed the pyramids.

• Observe the next slide, it will illustrate a few of the most important management breakthroughs and practices over the last 4000 years:

Management in Antiquity

Classical Perspective

• Scientific

• Administrative

Fredrick Taylor

Max Weber 1900’s -

Behavioral Perspective

• Hawthorne Studies

• Human Relations Movement

Mayo

McGregor, Maslow 1927 -

Quantitative Perspective

• Mgt Science/Ops Research

• Systems Approach

Movement 1940’s -

Contingency Perspective Fielder, Lawler, Situational Theory

1960’s -

Emergence of Modern Management Perspectives

Classical Management Perspective

• Scientific Management–Concerned with improving the performance of

individual workers (i.e., efficiency).–Grew out of the industrial revolution’s labor

shortage at the beginning of the twentieth century.

• Administrative Management –A theory that focuses on

managing the total organization.

Scientific Management

• Concerned with improving the performance of individual workers.

• Frederick Taylor developed this system, which he believed would lead to a more efficient and productive work force.

Scientific Management

• Frederick Taylor (1856–1915) –Replaced old methods of how to do work with

scientifically-based work methods to eliminate “soldiering,” where employees deliberately worked at a pace slower than their capabilities.

–Believed in selecting, training, teaching, and developing workers.

–Used time studies of jobs, standards planning, exception rule of management, slide-rules, instruction cards, and piece-work pay systems to control and motivate employees.

Administrative Management

• Whereas scientific management deals with the jobs of individual employees, administrative management focuses on managing the total organization.

• Administrative management laid the foundation for later development in management theory.

• It is more appropriate for stable and simple organizations than for today’s dynamic and complex organizations.

The Behavioral/Human Relations Management Perspective

• Unlike the classical management perspective, the behavioral management perspective placed more emphasis on individual attitudes and behaviors and on group processes and recognized the importance of behavioral processes in the work place.

The Hawthorne Studies (1927–1932)

• Conducted by Elton Mayo and associates at Western Electric

–Illumination study—workplace lighting adjustments affected both the control and the experimental groups of production employees.

–Group study—implementation of piecework incentive plan caused production workers to establish informal levels of acceptable individual output.

• Over-producing workers were labeled “rate busters” and under-producing workers were considered “chiselers.”

–Interview program—confirmed the importance of human behavior in the workplace.

Human Relations Movement

–Grew out of the Hawthorne studies.–Proposed that workers respond primarily

to the social context of work, including social conditioning, group norms, and interpersonal dynamics.

–Assumed that the manager’s concern for workers would lead to increased worker satisfaction and improved worker performance.

• Abraham Maslow–Advanced a theory that employees are motivated

by a hierarchy of needs that they seek to satisfy.• Douglas McGregor

–Proposed Theory X and Theory Y concepts of managerial beliefs about people and work.

Quantitative Management Perspective

• Quantitative Management–Emerged during World War II

to help the Allied forces manage logistical problems.

–Focuses on decision making, economic effectiveness, mathematical models, and the use of computers to solve quantitative problems.

Quantitative Management Perspective (cont’d)

• Management Science–Focuses on the development of representative

mathematical models to assist with decisions.• Operations Management

–Practical application of management science to efficiently manage the production and distribution of products and services.

The Systems Perspective

–Subsystems are more successful working together in a cooperative and coordinated fashion than working alone.

–The whole system (subsystems working together as one system) is more productive and efficient than the sum of its parts.

The Systems Perspective of Organizations

Inputs from theenvironment:material inputs,human inputs,financial inputs, andinformation inputs

Transformationprocess: technology,operating systems,administrativesystems, andcontrol systems

Outputs intothe environment:products/services,profits/losses,employee behaviors,and informationoutputs

Feedback

The Contingency Perspective

• Universal Perspectives

–Include the classical, behavioral, and quantitative approaches.

–An attempt to identify the “one best way” to manage organizations.

• The Contingency Perspective

–Suggests that each organization is unique.

–The appropriate managerial behavior for managing an organization depends (is contingent) on the current situation in the organization.

An Integrative Framework ofManagement Perspectives

Effective and efficient management

Classical ManagementPerspectives:

Methods for enhancing efficiency and

facilitating planning, organizing, and

controlling

Behavioral Management

Perspectives: Insights for motivating

performance and understanding individual

behavior, groups and teams, and leadership

QuantitativeManagement Perspective:

Techniques for improving decision making, resource

allocation, and operations

Contingency PerspectiveSystems Approach

Recognition of the situational nature of management. Response to particular

characteristics of situation.

Recognition of internal interdependencies.

Recognition of environmental influences.

Integrating Perspectives for Managers

• A complete understanding of management requires an appreciation of, classical, behavioral, and quantitative approaches.

• The systems and contingency perspectives can help managers integrate the three approaches and enlarge understanding of all three.

What Managers Do

Managerial Activities

• Make decisions

• Allocate resources

• Direct activities of others to attain goals

Managerial Activities

• Make decisions

• Allocate resources

• Direct activities of others to attain goals

Managers (or administrators)

Individuals who achieve goals through other people.

Where Managers WorkOrganization

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.

Types of Managers

Management Functions

ManagementManagementFunctionsFunctions

ManagementManagementFunctionsFunctions

PlanningPlanningPlanningPlanning OrganizingOrganizingOrganizingOrganizing

LeadingLeadingLeadingLeadingControllingControllingControllingControlling

Management Functions (cont’d)Planning

A process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate activities.

Management Functions (cont’d)Organizing

Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made.

Management Functions (cont’d)Leading

A function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts.

Management Functions (cont’d)Controlling

Monitoring activities to ensure they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations.

Management SkillsTechnical skillsThe ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise.

Human skillsThe ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both individually and in groups.

Conceptual SkillsThe mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.

Allocation of Activities by Time

Source: Based on F. Luthans, R.M. Hodgetts, and S.A. Rosenkrantz, Real Managers (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1988).

Enter Organizational BehaviorOrganizational behavior (OB)

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.

Replacing Intuition with Systematic Study

Systematic study

Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence.

Provides a means to predict behaviors.

Intuition

A feeling not necessarily supported by research.

Toward an OB Toward an OB DisciplineDiscipline

Contributing Disciplines to the OB FieldPsychologyThe science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

SociologyThe study of people in relation to their fellow human beings.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

Social PsychologyAn area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

AnthropologyThe study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.

Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field (cont’d)

Political ScienceThe study of the behavior of individuals and groups within a political environment.

Source: Drawing by Handelsman in The New Yorker, Copyright © 1986 by the New Yorker Magazine. Reprinted by permission.

There Are Few Absolutes in OB

ContingencyContingencyVariablesVariablesx y

Contingency variables

Situational factors: variables that moderate the relationship between two or more other variables and improve the correlation.

Challenges and Opportunity for OB

• Improving People Skills

• Empowering People

• Globalization

• Stimulating Innovation and Change

• Coping with “Temporariness”

• Working in Networked Organizations

• Helping Employees Balance Work/Life Conflicts

• Improving Ethical Behavior

OB Model

Individuals

Organization

Groups/Teams

Complexity of Organizational Dimensions

Individuals OrganizationGroups/Teams

Personality

Gender

Motivation

Cultural Differences

Knowledge/Abilities

Biases

Membership

Personality

Power/Politics

Conflict Management

Decision Making

Oversight/Authority

Organizational Design

Organizational Culture

Leadership

Communication

Management Style

Ethics

OB Research

x

y

Dependent variables

• What you can measure

Independent variables

• What you want to study

The Dependent Variables (cont’d)ProductivityA performance measure that includes effectiveness and efficiency.

EffectivenessAchievement of goals.EfficiencyThe ratio of effective output to the input required to achieve it.

The Dependent Variables (cont’d)

Absenteeism

The failure to report to work.

Turnover

The voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization.

The Dependent Variables (cont’d)Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)

Discretionary behavior that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organization.

The Dependent Variables (cont’d)Job satisfaction

A general attitude toward one’s job, the difference between the amount of reward workers receive and the amount they believe they should receive.

The Independent Variables

IndependentIndependentVariablesVariables

IndependentIndependentVariablesVariables

Individual-Level Individual-Level VariablesVariables

Individual-Level Individual-Level VariablesVariables

OrganizationOrganizationSystem-LevelSystem-Level

VariablesVariables

OrganizationOrganizationSystem-LevelSystem-Level

VariablesVariables

Group-LevelGroup-LevelVariablesVariables

Group-LevelGroup-LevelVariablesVariables

Independent variable

The presumed cause of some change in the dependent variable.

How it works!

So what about this class ……

This class is designed to:

• Train you to be diagnostic and analytical about how organizational dynamics place out in the workplace

• Provide you with theories and models to guide you

• Teach you about now each individual topic might impact or influence the others topics

To get a good grade – you must:

• Come to class – only way to pass exams!

• Take good notes

• Ask questions

• Class is a “survey” class - volumes of information on each topic

Who am I?• Distinguished Visiting Professor• 22 years of “Big Time” Corporate Experience• 13 years Teaching Part-time at UMass-Amherst and National

Technological University• 5 years teaching full-time (NU,WPI, and at a small women’s

college in NC years ago)• Corporate Jobs:• Instrumentation Labs (IL)

– Digital Equipment Corp (DEC)– ABB Nuclear Power (ABB)– EMC Corporation (EMC)

• College Football Nut (Florida State)• Boat!!• And the reason I can go boating, watch college football and teach

(for nothing – nearly) is…………………………!!

Syllabus review……………