Organizational behavior lecture notes, unit 1 OB

Unit 1 slide text
Slide 1

Explain

Explain

The following management functions can be used to classify the manager’s job.

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Planning means defining an organization’s goals, establishing an overall strategy for
achieving these goals, and developing comprehensive plans to integrate and coordinate
activities.
Organizing includes determining what tasks must be done, who will do them, how the
tasks will be grouped, who will report to whom, and where decisions will be made.
Leading includes motivating and directing employees, and communicating and resolving
conflicts.
Controlling means monitoring performance, comparing results and goals, and making
corrections.

In the 1960s, Henry Mintzberg concluded that managers perform ten roles that can be
grouped around three themes: interpersonal relationships, information transfer, and
decision making.
Managers perform three types of interpersonal roles:
•
Figureheads perform ceremonial or symbolic roles.
•
Leaders train, motivate, and discipline employees.
•

Liaisons contact external information sources.
Managers perform three types of informational roles:
•
Monitors collect marketplace information from outside sources.
•
Disseminators transmit information to organizational members.
•
Spokespersons represent their organizations to outsiders.
Managers perform four types of decisional roles:
•
Entrepreneurs initiate and oversee new projects to improve organizational
performance.
•
Disturbance handlers take action to respond to unforeseen problems.
•
Resource allocators control human, mechanical, and monetary resources.
•
Negotiators bargain with others to gain advantage for their own units.

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Effective managers must exercise the following three essential skills:
•
•
•

Technical skills refer to specialized knowledge or expertise.
Conceptual skills refer to the mental ability to analyze and diagnose
complex situations.

Human skills encompass the ability to work with, understand, and
motivate people, both individually and in groups.

Fred Luthens and his associates studied over 450 managers and found that they all
engaged in four managerial activities:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Traditional management. Decision making, planning, and controlling.
Communication. Exchanging routine information and processing
paperwork.
Human resource management. Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict,
staffing, and training.
Networking. Socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders.

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Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that
individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations. The purpose of
investigating these elements is to apply such knowledge toward improving the
effectiveness of an organization. OB includes the core topics of motivation, leader
behavior and power, interpersonal communication, group structure and processes,
learning, attitude development and perception, change processes, conflict, work design,
and work stress.

These need to balance

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Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built upon contributions
from a number of behavioral disciplines.
Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the
behavior of individuals. The following areas of psychology have contributed to the
knowledge base of OB: learning and personality theorists, counseling psychologists, and
industrial and organizational psychologists.
Sociology, the study of people in relation to their fellow human beings, has contributed to
OB in the following areas: group dynamics; design of work teams; organizational culture,
theory, structure, and technology; and power, communications, and conflict.
Social psychology blends concepts from psychology and sociology to focus on how
people influence one another. Social psychologists have made significant contributions in
the areas of measuring, understanding, and changing attitudes; communication patterns;
the ways in which group activities can satisfy individual needs; and group decisionmaking processes.
Anthropology is the study of societies to learn more about human beings and their
activities. Much of our current understanding of organizational cultures and
environments, and the differences among national cultures is the result of the work of
anthropologists.
Political science is the study of the behavior of individuals and groups within a political
environment. Specific topics of concern include structuring of conflict, allocation of
power, and how people manipulate power for individual self-interest.

The global world!

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The Big D

The packages

Not necessary

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Discuss by region

Discuss motivation controversy

Not necessary

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Explain

In a workplace characterized by cutbacks, intense global competition, and expectations of
higher worker productivity, it is not surprising that many employees feel pressured to cut
corners, break rules, and engage in other questionable activities. So members of
organizations are often faced with ethical dilemmas, in which they must define right and
wrong conduct. But ethical behavior is tough to define, especially when employees can
find evidence of unethical behavior at all social and organizational levels.
Organizations are responding to this problem in a number of ways.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Writing and distributing codes of ethics to guide employees through ethical
dilemmas.
Offering seminars, workshops, and training to improve ethical behaviors.
Providing in-house advisers who can assist with ethical issues.
Creating protection mechanisms for employees who reveal internal
practices that are unethical.

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Ask question What is dependant variable

Ask question What is independent variable

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