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CHAPTER
7
Organizational
Behavior
I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading Chapter 7 in the textbook, the student should be able to:
1. Understand and explain the meaning of organizational behavior
pp. 279–288
2. Assess the impact of bureaucratic structure on individual and
pp. 289–299
3. Distinguish among different theories and strategies about
organizations in the future as impacted by technology, social
change, and other forces in the environment.
pp. 301–308
II. SUGGESTED LECTURE
A. Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior benefitted from Hugo Münsterberg’s pioneering studies
on psychological findings from laboratory experiments on how people behave as
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II. Suggested Lecture
B. Group Behavior
1. Group Dynamics is a subfield of organizational behavior concerned with
2. Groupthink: Strict adherence to group norms makes for overconformity and
rigidity and can lead to groupthink, which is a special type of group dynam-
3. Formal and Informal Groups: Within all organizations, there are formal and
informal groups. Command groups are the supervisors and those who report
directly to them; task groups are those that come together to perform specific
tasks; informal groups are those that associate voluntarily with each other for
social needs.
C. Organization Development (OD)
OD is about planned organizational adaptation and change geared toward
D. The Impact of Personality
In his book Personality and Organizations (1957), Chris Argyris suggested that
there was an inherent conflict between the personalities of mature adults and
E. Impact of Bureaucratic Structure on Behavior
Each organization has a unique structure that defines how labor and technology
1. Bureaucratic Dysfunctionality is something very common in our everyday lives.
Bureaucratic structure stresses depersonalized relationships and power and
authority gained by virtue of organizational position, not innovative thought
or action. Victor Thompson calls this type of employee a “bureaupath.”
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CHAPTER 7
2. Bureaucratic Impersonality: Max Weber acknowledged that dehumanization
F. Motivation
Various theories of motivation have developed over time.
1. The Hawthorne Experiments: These were experiments at the Hawthorne
Works of Western Electric Company, Chicago. The results of the experiments
revealed that work situations are first of all social situations; that workers are
motivated by peer pressure, the attention paid to them by significant elites,
and other complex sets of factors beyond remuneration.
2. The Needs Hierarchy: In an important but controversial work, “A Theory of
Human Motivation,” Abraham Maslow asserted that a person’s needs are not
all equal but ascend in a hierarchy. At the bottom are survival needs, while at
G. The Future of Organizations
1. The Postbureaucratic Organization: Dwight Waldo in 1952 prophesied
about a “postbureaucratic” organization. His view was taken up by Warren
Bennis, who argued about the “end of bureaucracy,” predicting that rap-
idly changing, adaptive organizational systems would take its place. Alvin
Toffler, in Future Shock (1970), argued that future shock is the human
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III. Assessments
2. Postmodernism: Shoshana Zuboff describes in her book The Age of the
Smart Machine her observations of workers isolated from each other, talking
and that they behave in fixed ways.
3. Feminist Approaches to Organizational Behavior: Women constitute a
larger percentage of the workforce today due to increased education of
behavior.
4. Rob Cross and other network theorists have pushed for a different approach
to understanding how organizational behavior is understood. They argue
III. ASSESSMENTS
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Which of the following is an advantage of bureaucratic impersonality?
a. It increases organizational effectiveness.
b. It accounts for human emotions in the workplace.
c. It provides even-handed application of rules.
d. A and c
p. 291, d
2. Which of the following characteristics does ‘group think’ not display?
a. Brainstorming, and acceptance of alternative viewpoints.
p. 309–311, a
3. “The Law of the Situation,” was a theory developed by:
a. Douglas McGregor.
4. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs called for a progression through the following
components:
a. survival needs, safety needs, love needs, esteem needs, self-actualization
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CHAPTER 7
b. survival needs, safety needs, self-actualization needs, love needs, esteem
needs.
5. The five factors of job satisfaction according to the motivation-hygiene the-
ory are:
a. self actualization, esteem needs, love or affiliation needs, safety needs.
6. The idea that there is an inherent conflict between the personalities of mature
adults and the needs of organizations, and that organizations treat employees
like children which leads to ineffectiveness:
a. was developed by Kurt Lewin.
b. is a part of the post-breaucratic paradigm.
c. was developed by Chris Argyris.
d. was developed by Shoshana Zuboff.
p. 288, c
7. Organizational Development (OD) is about:
a. planned organizational change.
b. a process to achieve change.
c. satisficing.
d. a. and b.
p. 285, d
8. Which of the following, as seen by the feminist perspective, does not perpetu-
ate male dominance in the workplace?
a. Gender divisions producing gender patterning of jobs.
b. Masculine symbols and images.
c. Continued interactions characterized by dominance and subordination.
d. Promotion based on merit and job accomplishment.
p. 306, d
9. What was the unexpected result of the Hawthorne experiments?
10. Bureaucratic structure emphasizes the following, except:
a. conservatism and slowness to change.
11. The pioneer that brought the concepts from psychology into organizational
management to help explain and understand human behavior and organiza-
12. The idea that digital technology has reshaped communication and infor–
mation exchange in organizations has created a new perspective on how
organizations operate. At its most basic level, it is driven by what trend in
how workers work?
a. Most individuals work for more than one boss.
b. Most individuals work from home.
c. Most individuals no longer work alone.
d. Most individuals work as freelancers.
p. 305, c
Chapter 7 Student Self Assessment Questions
Q1 Early theorists—like the psychologist Hugo Munsterberg—used industrial
psychology to help organizations understand human behavior and
motivation. What was their core premise?
Q2 Group Dynamics has been a centerpiece of organizational behavior for
some time. As a subfield, to which set of organized work activities is it most
applicable today?
Q3 Chester Bernard’s classic work The Functions of the Executive discusses in
depth how orders are accepted and why. But this work also helped pioneer
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Q8 Which of the following best describes how Chris Argyris felt about
modern organizations?
Q9 A process for identifying needs for organizational improvement through
the use of external consultation and also encouraging psychological
ownership of problems and solutions by organizational members is
referred to as what?
of management was the first major empirical challenge to what?
Q17 What is the Hawthorne effect?
Q18 What is a basic tenet of Abraham Maslow’s A Theory of Human
Motivation ?
Q19 What was the main idea of Frederick Herzberg’s “The Motivation-
Hygiene Concept” theory?
Q20 According to Douglas McGregor’s famous Theory X and Theory Y, how
is a Theory X person characterized?
Q21 According to Dwight Waldo, a “postbureaucratic” organization would
look like what?
IV. ACTIVITIES
Individual Exercise: Critical Thinking—“Organizational
Dramas & Employee Flare–Ups”
A recent school of thought, promoted by Daniel Goleman and others, contrib-
utes to organizational behavior by its focus on human emotion in organizations.
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IV. Activities
Instructor’s note: Point to the emotionally charged rhetoric in Congress and among
Politicians—direct insults such as the type of comments that went around in the
2016 presidential campaign. Ask students whether our Presidential Candidates and
Members of Congress should set a better example. If Congressional members can-
not control their emotions, then what about ordinary employees? Do emotional
outbursts have destructive consequences? Do negative emotional states affect job
performance?
Class Discussion Questions with Instructor’s Notes
1. Explain the group dynamics behind Irving Janis’s concept of groupthink.
Use an example from current affairs to explain groupthink. Can you sug-
gest some form of antidote to the negative effects of groupthink in organi-
zational life?
Students should be able to explain the six observable symptoms listed
in the textbook about groupthink. Students will suggest a variety of current
2. Behavior in modern organizations is impacted heavily by technology. Tech-
nology has been introduced into the workplace to help solve problems
and reach goals, but it comes at a price. What are some of the problems
caused by “technocracy”? Brainstorm options for alleviating some of these
problems.
People in organizations today grapple with the problem of participation
in organizational life in a world increasingly dependent on electronic rather
than face-to-face interaction. This may impact human support systems, and
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3. How do you believe that organizational behavior will change due to the
increasing entry of women into the workforce”? Explain how public policy
has helped more women enter the workforce and aspire to higher positions in
organizations.
Some scholars argue that the increased entry of women into the paid
workforce is likely to lead to organizational cultures that lean to more
collaborative and less competitive forms of leadership and decision making.
Writing Exercises
Using one of the following key words or phrases of your choice, write a short
analysis linking the word or phrase from the scholarly text to an incident in your
workplace, your daily life, or a media report that you have heard.
employee alienation blind conformance
Individual Writing Assignment: Balancing Structure
and Behavior in Organizations
Your Assignment
In the second decade of the twenty-first century, public and social sector organiza-
tions have finally become serious about environmental stewardship and sustainabil-
ity. Organizational leaders have come to the same mindset of most scientists, that
no issue is more pressing for organizations—both in the US and in the world—than
confronting climate change and the potential impacts of global warming. The new
logic is that short term profit, long term economic viability, and high performance
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IV. Activities
These are impressive goals given the nation’s lack of action and attention in the
past. Perhaps it helps that last year, 2014 to 2016 were logged as being the hottest
years on record globally, and temperatures from 2001 to 2012 were warmer than
any previous decade in every region of the United States.
But, what if—as Peter Senge, a noted organizational theorist has written—
the real organizational requirement (what he terms a “business imperative”)
must be an 80 percent reduction in worldwide CO 2 emissions over the next
20 years. Senge’s 80–20 challenge would require a true revolution in organiza-
tional thinking.
2
IF organizations are to lead a revolution in management thinking and culture,
one would think that climate change, global warming reduction, and sustainable
Your brief should assess organizational design alternatives for making cli–
mate change/sustainable development “an organizational reality” in terms of
organizational structure, governance, and culture. You are not expected to be
an expert on global warming, sustainable development, or climate change, cap
and trade etc. While all of these issues are going to be increasingly important,
for now, your paper is about using organizational design to bring about a change
in thinking about organizational priorities, goals, and ultimately, organizational
behaviors. Extending the analysis, your sustainability goals ought to reach out-
96 Organizational Behavior
CHAPTER 7
Option 1—The Sustainability Department
Recast the environmental staff personnel into a new Department of Environmental/
Option 2—The Sustainability Czar or Czarina
Create a “Czar” position in the Top Executive Office—reporting directly to the
Option 3—The Climate Leadership Team
Option 4—The CCCO/CSO
Create a new staff or line office in the organizational structure which has func-
Option 5—The Climate LOs
Create high level liaisons or executive staff positions in all the major subunits of the
Option 6—The Climate Council
Create a “Climate Change Leadership Council” that brings suppliers, contractors,
Option X—The War Room
Your own model or perhaps something totally new—like establishing a “Carbon
1. What are the goals, roles and responsibilities of your new “element”—and
how will it interact with the rest of the organization and its customers/
partners? Who are your new goals for—the organization, its customers, its
contractors, its publics?
2. How will you measure change? Suggest a metric (outcome measurement)
that could be used to assess whether your new structure is producing
results.
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V. Additional Web Resources
Further Reflection on Groupthink
Re-read the case study on groupthink at the end of Chapter 7 in your textbook.
Consider the extent to which groupthink represents a failure in a group’s
critical thinking process, that is, the failure to express doubt, disagreement,
and conflict with the group. Then, in small groups, discuss and write answers
to the following:
1. What is conflict and why does it create problems in groups? Why is
conflict helpful to groups, rather than harmful? What are potential
sources of conflict within groups? What are ways to solve the problems
V. ADDITIONAL WEB RESOURCES
Administrative Science Quarterly
http://asq.sagepub.com/
One of the oldest but still a premier journal in all aspects of organization and management
People Management
www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/index.html
An online magazine that focuses on various aspects of human resource (HR) management. It
Performance Management Network (PMN)
www.pmn.net
The PMN’s mission is to add value to public and private sector enterprises through the
CASE STUDY “The Dangers of Groupthink from
Pearl Harbor to the War in Iraq”
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Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology
www.siop.org
Section for Women in Public Administration
www.aspaonline.org/swpa/
This organization is dedicated to working with women and men on projects and programs
Organizational Dynamics
www.journals.elsevier.com/organizational-dynamics/
A top rated business oriented journal with numerous sources for students and researchers,
American Society for Quality
www.asq.org
A global community of experts on quality in all fields, organizations, and industries. The
NOTES
1 MIT Sloan Management Review Winter 2009—see especially interview with Jay Forrester
pp. 9–11.
2 Peter Senge, Bryan Smith, and Nina Kruschwitz, “The Next Industrial Imperative”,
Strategy & Business Summer 2008 pp. 45–55.
3 What has changed in the past few years is the appearance of sustainability plans. Increas-