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Chapter 1
Introduction to Organizational Behavior
Chapter Overview
This chapter introduces the concept of organizational behavior. The focus of the text is that
coupling individual understanding of behavior gained through experience with that gained
through systematic OB analysis will help managers become more effective.
Chapter Objectives
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to:
2. Show the value of the systematic study of OB.
4. Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.
6. Identify the three levels of analysis in OB.
Suggested Lecture Outline
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Managers most often describe people problems as their most frequent and
troublesome problems. They talk about:
B. Until the late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of
management, focusing on economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative
techniques.
2. During the past three decades, however, business faculty have come to realize
the role that understanding human behavior plays in determining a manager’s
1. Regardless of labor market conditions, outstanding employees are always in
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2. Companies known as good places to work have a big advantage.
3. A recent survey of hundreds of workplaces, and over 200,000 respondents,
showed the social relationships among co-workers and supervisors were
strongly related to overall job satisfaction.
a. Positive social relationships also were associated with lower stress at work
and lower intentions to quit.
4. We have come to understand that in today’s competitive and demanding
workplace, managers can’t succeed on their technical skills alone.
a. They also have to have good people skills.
II. ENTER ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
A. We’ve made the case for the importance of people skills. But neither this book nor
the discipline on which it is based is called “people skills.”
B. The term that is widely used to describe the discipline is organizational behavior.
1. Organizational Behavior (OB) studies the influence that individuals, groups,
3. OB applies the knowledge gained from this study to make organizations work
more effectively.
4. This text will focus on:
a. motivation
b. leader behavior and power
III. COMPLEMENTING INTUITION WITH SYSTEMATIC STUDY
A. People develop intuitive understandings of the behaviors of other people through
experience. This experiential, common sense method of “reading” human behavior
can often lead to erroneous predictions.
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C. The fundamental assumption of the systematic approach is that human behavior is
not random. There are fundamental consistencies that underlie the behavior of all
1. Systematic study of behavior means: examining
relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects,
2. Evidence-based Management (EBM): This
complementary approach to systematic study involves
3. Intuition: your “gut feelings” about “what makes others tick.” This natural
ability to guess how people will react is most accurate when coupled with
systemic thinking and evidence-based management.
IV. DISCIPLINES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE OB FIELD
A. Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science built
on contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines,
1. Psychology’s contributions have been mainly at the individual or micro level of
2. Exhibit 1-1 is an overview of the major contributions to the study of
organizational behavior.
B. Psychology: seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes
change behavior of humans and other animals.
1. Those who have contributed and continue to add to the
knowledge of OB are
1) Early industrial/organizational psychologists studied the problems of
2) More recently, their contributions have expanded to include learning,
perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership effectiveness,
C. Social psychology: generally considered a branch of psychology; blends concepts
from both psychology and sociology to focus on peoples’ influence on one another.
Exhibit 1.1
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1. One major study area is change—how to implement it and how to reduce
barriers to its acceptance.
2. Social psychologists also contribute to measuring, understanding, and changing
attitudes; identifying communication patterns; and building trust.
D. Sociology: studies people in relation to their social environment or culture.
1. While psychology focuses on the individual, sociology studies people in relation
to their social environment or culture.
a. Sociologists have contributed to OB through their study of group behavior in
E. Anthropology: the study of societies to learn about human beings and their
activities.
1. Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments has helped us understand
2. Much of our current understanding of organizational culture, organizational
environments, and differences among national cultures is a result of the work of
anthropologists or those using their methods.
V. THERE ARE FEW ABSOLUTES IN OB
A. Laws in the physical sciences—chemistry, astronomy, physics—are consistent and
apply in a wide range of situations.
explain organizational behavior.
a. Because we are not alike, our ability to make simple, accurate, and sweeping
generalizations is limited.
B. That doesn’t mean that we can’t offer reasonably accurate
1. We can say x leads to y, but only under conditions specified in z—the
contingency variables.
3. For example, OB scholars would avoid stating that everyone likes complex and
challenging work (the general concept), because not everyone wants a
challenging job.
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3. Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor. Outsourcing
tasks and jobs to low-labor-cost countries may make economic sense, but such
B. Managing Workforce Diversity.
1. One of the most important challenges for organizations is
adapting to people who are different. We describe this
2. Workforce diversity acknowledges a workforce of women and men; many
racial and ethnic groups; individuals with a variety of physical or psychological
3. The most significant change in the U.S. labor force during the last half of the
twentieth century was the rapid increase in the number of female workers.
a. In 1950, for instance, only 29.6 percent of the workforce was female. By
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5. Exhibit 1-2 shows the major categories of Workforce
Diversity.
C. Improving Customer Service. The majority of the workforce
in developed nations works in service jobs.
1. These jobs require substantial interaction with the
2. Managers must create customer-responsive cultures whose members are:
a. Friendly and courteous
Exhibit 1.2
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4. Finally, organizations themselves are in a state of flux. They continually
5. Today’s managers and employees must learn to cope with temporariness,
flexibility, spontaneity, and unpredictability.
G. Working in Networked Organizations
1. Networked organizations allow people to communicate
and work together even though they may be thousands of miles apart.
a. Independent contractors can telecommute via computer to workplaces
2. The manager’s job is different in a networked organization.
a. Motivating and leading people and making collaborative decisions online
H. Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts.
1. The typical employee in the 1960s or 1970s showed up at a
specified workplace Monday through Friday and worked
2. How do work–life conflicts come about?
1) The need to consult with colleagues or customers eight or ten time zones
away means many employees of global firms are “on call” 24 hours a
day.
b. Second, communication technology allows many technical and professional
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actually happened and what you were expecting to happen. What do you think may
have caused the difference?
2. Web Crawling. Using an Internet search engine of your choice, find an article in
3. Current Event. In a small group (four or fewer people per group), discuss a current
event that was influenced by, or could have been positively influenced by a clear
4. Three-Minute Elevator Introduction. Have students introduce themselves by giving
their name, and any other information you deem appropriate, and by offering one
5. Experiences with Managers. Divide the class into groups of three, and have them
6. Where Do You Want to Work? Lead a class discussion on what makes good
7. Learn From Experience. If you have older adult students, have them share their
8. Analyzing Your Organization (Cumulative Project). This is an on-going activity that
will help the student better understand his or her organization, or, if the student is
not currently working, the organization for which he or she would like to work. This
cumulative “hands–on” project will build on the concepts of each chapter. The point
of the exercise is to take the OB theories and concepts and apply them to real
organizations.
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Suggested Assignments:
1. Have the students discuss your course syllabus including a description of the
project with their supervisor (or the person who will be their primary
2. Have the students briefly describe their chosen organization, discussing
what goods or services are produced, how many employees it has, what the