OB Chapter 1

Table of ContentsInterpersonal Skills......................................................................................................................................3

Its Importance.........................................................................................................................................3

What Managers Do......................................................................................................................................4

Organizational benefits of skilled managers............................................................................................4

Management Functions...........................................................................................................................4

Planning...............................................................................................................................................5

Organizing............................................................................................................................................5

Commanding.......................................................................................................................................5

Coordination........................................................................................................................................5

Controlling...........................................................................................................................................5

Management Roles..................................................................................................................................5

Interpersonal.......................................................................................................................................6

Informational.......................................................................................................................................6

Decisional Role....................................................................................................................................6

Management Skills..................................................................................................................................6

Technical Skills.....................................................................................................................................6

Human Skills........................................................................................................................................6

Conceptual Skills..................................................................................................................................6

Management Activities:...........................................................................................................................6

Effective and Successful Managerial Activities........................................................................................6

Defining Organizational Behavior................................................................................................................7

Intuition and study......................................................................................................................................7

Intuition...................................................................................................................................................7

Systematic Study.....................................................................................................................................7

EBM.........................................................................................................................................................8

Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behavior?

What is Organizational Behavior? Chapter 1

Four Contributing Disciplines......................................................................................................................8

1. Psychology.......................................................................................................................................8

Unit of Analysis:...........................................................................................................................8

Contributions to OB:....................................................................................................................9

2. Social Psychology.............................................................................................................................9

Unit of Analysis:...........................................................................................................................9


3. Sociology..........................................................................................................................................9

Unit of Analysis:...........................................................................................................................9


4. Anthropology.................................................................................................................................10

Unit of Analysis:.........................................................................................................................10

Contributions to OB:..................................................................................................................10

Few Absolutes in OB..................................................................................................................................10

Challenges and Opportunities for OB........................................................................................................10

Challenges and Opportunities for OB........................................................................................................11

Responding to Globalization..................................................................................................................11

Managing Workforce Diversity..............................................................................................................11

Developing an OB Model...........................................................................................................................11

Types of Study Variables............................................................................................................................12

Independent (X).....................................................................................................................................12

Dependent (Y)........................................................................................................................................12

Dependent Variables.................................................................................................................................12

1. Productivity...................................................................................................................................12

2. Absenteeism..................................................................................................................................12

3. Turnover........................................................................................................................................12

4. Deviant Workplace Behavior.........................................................................................................12

5. Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)....................................................................................12

6. Job Satisfaction..............................................................................................................................12

The Independent Variables.......................................................................................................................13

1. Individual.......................................................................................................................................13

2. Group.............................................................................................................................................13

2 | P a g eComplete Study Notes


3. Organization System......................................................................................................................13

OB Model...............................................................................................................................................13

Questions for Review................................................................................................................................13

1. What is the importance of interpersonal skills?............................................................................13

2. What do managers do in terms of functions, roles, and skills?......................................................14

3. What is organizational behavior (OB)?..........................................................................................14

4. Why is it important to complement intuition with systematic study?...........................................14

5. What are the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB?...................................14

6. Why are there few absolutes in OB?.............................................................................................14

7. What are the challenges and opportunities for managers un using OB concepts?.......................14

8. What are the three levels of analysis in this book’s OB model?....................................................14

Ch#1 - What is Organizational Behavior?

Interpersonal Skills

The skills used by a person to properly interact with others. It generally refers to an employee's

ability to get along with others while getting the job done.

Interpersonal skills include everything from communication and listening skills to attitude and

behavior. Good interpersonal skills are a must for many positions in an organization.

Its Importance

Lower turnover of quality employees Higher quality applications for recruitment Better financial performance

"Interpersonal skills" refers to character traits possessed by an individual rather than skills that

can be taught in a classroom.



Within an organization, employees with good interpersonal skills are likely being more

productive than those with poor interpersonal skills, because of their propensity to project a

positive attitude and look for solutions to problems.

Because nothing is more important to the survival of a company than the relationship between

its workers and its manager, it is of uttermost importance that a business finds a manager who

has the ability to be an excellent communicator, make friends easily, delegate tasks efficiently

and has no trouble making decisions.

What Managers Do

They get things done through other people. A manager has the following duties:

Make decisionsA manager is supposed to take decisions on behalf of an organization. These decisions involve

risks and need experience, intuition and skills to be made.

Allocate resourcesAllocating resources can be a high time job; a manger should be capable of maximum utilization

of the current resources to increase efficiency and hence allocation of resources in the right

place is of a lot of significance.

Direct activities of others to attain goalsManager should be able to assign duties to the individuals in an organization based on their

skills and capacity.

Management FunctionsManagement has to perform 4 Functions which are discussed below:

PlanningA process that includes defining goals, establishing strategy, and developing plans to coordinate

activities.



OrganizingDetermining 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.

CommandingA function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective

communication channels, and resolving conflicts.

ControllingMonitoring performance, comparing actual performance with previously set goals, and

correcting any deviation

Management RolesA manager has a set of goals that are classified under three groups

Interpersonal

1. Figurehead

2. Leader

3. Liaison

Informational

4. Monitor

5. Disseminator

6. Spokesperson

Decisional Role

7. Resource Allocators

8. Negotiator Role

9. Disturbance Handlers

Management SkillsBelow listed are some Essential Management Skills



Technical 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

Effective and Successful Managerial ActivitiesThere are four types of managerial activity

Traditional ManagementWHAT IS TM>>

1. Decision-making

2. Planning

3. Controlling

CommunicationWHAT IS

1. Exchanging routine information

2. Processing paperwork

Human Resource ManagementWHAT IS



1. Motivating

2. Disciplining

3. Managing conflict

4. Staffing

5. Training

NetworkingWHAT IS

1. Socializing

2. Politicking

3. interacting with others

Organizational Behavior

Studies impact of

Individual Groups

Structures

on behavior within organizations to improve effectiveness

Intuition and study

Intuition

Gut feelings

Individual observation

Common sense

Systematic Study

Looks at relationships

Scientific evidence

Predicts behaviors



The two are complementary means of predicting behavior.

An Outgrowth of Systematic Study…

Evidence-Based Management (EBM)

EBM

WHAT IS

Four Contributing Disciplines

PsychologyThe science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals.

4. Unit of Analysis:Individual

5. Contributions to OB: Learning, motivation, personality, emotions, perception Training, leadership effectiveness, job satisfaction Individual decision making, performance appraisal, attitude measurement Employee selection, work design, and work stress

Social Psychology

An area within psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that

focuses on the influence of people on one another.

6. Unit of Analysis:Group

7. Contributions to OB:

Behavioral change

Attitude change

Communication

Group processes

Group decision making



SociologyThe study of people in relation to their fellow human beings

8. Unit of Analysis: Organizational System

9. Contributions to OB: Group dynamics Work teams Communication Power Conflict Intergroup behavior Formal organization theory Organizational technology Organizational change Organizational culture

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

10.Unit of Analysis: Organizational System

Groups

11.Contributions to OB: Organizational culture Organizational environment Comparative values Comparative attitudes Cross-cultural analysis



Few Absolutes in OB

Situational factors that make the main relationship between two variables change—e.g., the

relationship may hold for one condition but not another.

Contingency Variable (Z) Independent Variable

(X)

Dependent Variable (Y)

In American Culture Boss Gives “Thumbs Up”

Sign

Understood as

Complimenting

In Iranian or Australian

Cultures

Boss Gives “Thumbs Up”

Sign

Understood as Insulting -

“Up Yours”

Challenges and Opportunities for OB Responding to Globalization Managing Workforce Diversity Improving Quality and Productivity Improving Customer Service Improving People Skills Stimulating Innovation and Change Coping with “Temporariness” Working in Networked Organizations Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts Creating a Positive Work Environment Improving Ethical Behavior

Challenges and Opportunities for OB

Responding to Globalization Increased foreign assignments Working with people from different cultures Coping with anti-capitalism backlash



Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor Managing people during the war on terror

Managing Workforce Diversity The people in organizations are becoming more heterogeneous demographically (disability, gender, age, national origin, non-Christian, race, and domestic partners) Exhibit 1-4

Embracing diversity Changing U.S. demographics Management philosophy changes Recognizing and responding to differences

Developing an OB ModelA model is an abstraction of reality: a simplified representation of some real-world phenomenon.

Our OB model has three levels of analysis:

Each level is constructed on the prior level

Individual Group Organizational Systems

Types of Study Variables

Independent (X)The presumed cause of the change in the dependent variable (Y).

This is the variable that OB researchers manipulate to observe the changes in Y.

Dependent (Y)This is the response to X (the independent variable).

It is what the OB researchers want to predict or explain.

The interesting variable!

Interesting OB Dependent Variables



Dependent Variables

ProductivityTransforming inputs to outputs at lowest cost. Includes the concepts of effectiveness (achievement of goals) and efficiency (meeting goals at a low cost).

AbsenteeismFailure to report to work – a huge cost to employers.

TurnoverVoluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organization.

Deviant Workplace Behavior

Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and thereby threatens the

well-being of the organization and/or any of its members.

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.

Job SatisfactionA general attitude (not a behavior) toward one’s job; a positive feeling about one's job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.

The Independent VariablesThe independent variable (X) can be at any of these three levels in this model:

IndividualBiographical characteristics, personality and emotions, values and attitudes, ability, perception, motivation, individual learning and individual decision making.

GroupCommunication, group decision making, leadership and trust, group structure, conflict, power and politics, and work teams.

Organization SystemOrganizational culture, human resource policies and practices, and organizational structure and design.



OB Modelaaaaaaaaadddddddddd

Questions for Review

What is the importance of interpersonal skills?

It is important to practice and improve interpersonal skills because they are the foundation of

building relationships with others. I do not believe there is such a thing as the perfect set of

interpersonal skills. I do believe, however, that everyone can and has the ability to practice to

further develop their skill set. Here are a few tips on how you can improve your skills:

1. Be an active listener- Take the time to listen and show others that you’re listening and

understand their perspective-even if it is not in line with yours.

2. Body language- I don’t know many people who enjoy being around unhappy individuals

or those who appear to be unhappy in any given moment. Make sure to smile, stand

tall, make eye contact and do your best to give off a good vibe. Your body language

introduces you to those around you before you even open your mouth.

3. Empathize- Try putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand their

perspective. This will allow you to better respond to their feelings and it will show

them that you care.

4. Humor- It is not all about business. After all, we are all human. Be spontaneous and say

something at an appropriate time that you think will make the other person smile. If

they smile, you know they’re probably working on their interpersonal skills, too.

5. Optimism- Be optimistic, open minded and have an overall positive attitude. Positive

attitudes are contagious to those around you. Everyone knows someone who has a

negative attitude and you definitely do not want to be “that guy”.

6. Think on your feet- It is important to be sharp, pick up on, and react to both verbal and

nonverbal cues of others.



7. Be patient- Not everyone processes and understand concepts in the same way. Take

the time to make sure that whoever you’re talking to understands what you’re saying.

8. Practice, practice, practice- The more interactions you have with others, the more

progress you’ll make.

What do managers do in terms of functions, roles, and skills?

A MANAGER must think like scientists:

Pose a managerial question

Search for best available evidence

Apply relevant information to case

Managers Should Use All Three Approaches

Intuition is often based on inaccurate information

Faddism is prevalent in management

Systematic study can be time-consuming

What is organizational behavior (OB)?ANSWER

Why is it important to complement intuition with systematic study?ANSWER

What are the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB?ANSWER

Why are there few absolutes in OB?ANSWER

What are the challenges and opportunities for managers un using OB concepts?

ANSWER

What are the three levels of analysis in this book’s OB model?ANSWER


OB Chapter 1

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Transcript of OB Chapter 1