The organization’s base rests on management’s philosophy, values, vision and goals. This in turn drives the organizational culture which is composed of the formal organization, informal organization, and the social environment. The culture determines the type of
leadership, communication, and group dynamics within the organization. The workers perceive this as the quality of work life which directs their degree of motivation. The final outcomes are performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization operates from The discipline of Organizational Behavior encompasses three broad areas:
1. The Behavior of People in Organizations
OB draws on psychology, anthropology and sociology to gain insight into the behavior of individuals in organizational settings. Topics studied include:
- perception, cognition, learning
- personality and motivation
- leadership, power, conformity, communication
- decision making
2. Organizational Structure
Organizations consist of people organized to achieve organizational goals (like manufacture cars). One of the most important strategic elements of an organization is its structure: how the people are arranged so as to produce what the organization produces.
Topics include:
- Task identification and division of labor
- Departmentation
- Coordination and control mechanisms
- Processes and procedures, such as promotion, hiring policies, compensation
- Organizational form (e.g., bureaucracy)
- Size
- Centralization of decision-making
- The relationships among these variables
3. Behavior of organizations
Just as we can study the interactions of individuals with the organization and with each other, we can also study the interactions of organizations with their environments, which include individual citizens and other organizations including the government. Some of
the behaviors of organizations that we are interested in include:
Adoption of new practices such as
- Downsizing
- Team-based structure
- Domestic partner benefits (e.g., partners of gay employees get full medical coverage
- Re-engineering
- Environmental protection (“green” practices)
Adaptation to changing conditions
- global competition
- increasing pace of technological change
- changing social structure (e.g., status of women)
As part of these investigations, we study such things as:
The position or organizations in the economic food chain (organization A sells to organization B, which sells to organization C and so on): an economy is like an ecosystem, and an organizations position in the economy is their ecological niche the influence of stakeholders on organizations
Features of Organizational Behavior
Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, the whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives.
Organizational Behavior is;
- A Separate Field of Study and not a Discipline Only.
- An Interdisciplinary Approach.
- An Applied Science.
- A Normative Science.
- A Humanistic and Optimistic Approach.
- A Total System Approach.
These 6 features or characteristics shows the nature of Organizational Behavior that is the study of understanding and control behavior within the organization.
Objectives of Organizational Behavior
The organizations in which people work have an effect on their thoughts, feelings, and actions. These thoughts, feelings, and actions, in turn, affect the organization itself. Organizational behavior studies the mechanisms governing these interactions, seeking to
identify and foster behaviors conducive to the survival and effectiveness of the organization.
- Job Satisfaction.
- Finding the Right People.
- Organizational Culture.
- Leadership and Conflict Resolution.
- Understanding the Employees Better.
- Understand how to Develop Good Leaders.
- Develop a Good Team.
- Higher Productivity.
These 8 objectives of organizational behavior show that OB is concerned with people within the organization, how they are interacting, what is the level of their satisfaction, the level of motivation, and find ways to improve it in a way the yields most productivity.
Limitations of Organizational Behavior
Recognize the limitations of organizational behavior. Organizational Behavior will not abolish conflict and frustration; it can only reduce them. It is a way to improve, not an absolute answer to problems. Furthermore, it is but part of the whole cloth of an organization.
We can discuss organizational behavior as a separate subject, but to apply it, we must tie it to the whole reality. Improved organizational behavior will not solve unemployment. Organizational Behavior will not make up for our deficiencies, cannot substitute for poor planning, inept organizing, or inadequate controls. It is only one of the many systems operating within a larger social system.
Major limitations of OB are;
- Behavioral Bias.
- The Law of Diminishing Returns.
- Unethical Manipulation of People
