Lesson 1: What is organizational behavior?
1 The importance of interpersonal skills
incorporating OB principles into the workplace can yield many important organizational
outcomes:
1. generating superior financial performance
2. attracting and keeping high-performing employees (outstanding employees are
always short in supply and hard to replace)
3. satisfied employees, less stress, and less turnover
4. encouraging social responsibility awareness
2 Management and organizational behavior
defining terms
-managers: get things done through other people, make decisions, allocate resources, and
direct the activities of others to attain goals
-organization: a consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people, that
functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common set of goals
categorization of managers’ activities
-planning: defining an organization’s goals, and developing a comprehensive set of plans to
integrate and coordinate activities
-organizing: engaging in designing the work unit's structure, determining 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 made
-leading: directing and coordinating people, motivating employees, directing their activities,
selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts
-controlling: monitoring the organization’s performance and comparing it with previously
set goals, and potentially correcting them
Management roles
interpersonal roles
- figurehead: symbolic head; required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal
or social nature
- leader: responsible for the motivation and direction of employees
- liaison: maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and information
informational roles
- monitor: receives a wide variety of information; serves as the nerve center of
internal and external information of the organization
- disseminator: transmits information received from outsiders or from other
employees to members of the organization
Lesson 1 1/6
, - spokesperson: transmits information to outsiders on organization’s plans; policies;
actions; and results; serves as expert on organization’s industry
decisional roles
- entrepreneur: searches organization and its environment for opportunities and
initiates projects to bring about change
- disturbance handler: responsible for corrective action when the organization faces
important, unexpected disturbances
- resource allocator: makes or approves significant organizational decisions
- negotiator: responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations
management skills
-technical skills: the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise
-human skills: the ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both
individually and in groups
-conceptual skills: the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations
effective vs. successful managerial activities
four managerial activities
1. traditional management: decision-making, planning, and controlling
2. communication: exchanging routine information and processing paperwork
3. human resource management: motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing,
and training
4. networking: socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders
allocation of activities by time
successful managers: networking makes the largest contribution, HRM the least
è defined in terms of speed of promotion
effective managers: communication makes the largest contribution, networking the least
è defined in terms of quality and quantity of performance
definition OB
the study of what people do in an organization and the way their behavior affects the
organization’s performance
3 Complementing intuition with systematic study
-systematic study: looking at relationships, attempting to attribute to causes and effects,
and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence
-evidence-based management (EBM): basing managerial decisions on the best available
scientific evidence
-intuition: an instinctive feeling not necessarily supported by research
Lesson 1 2/6
1 The importance of interpersonal skills
incorporating OB principles into the workplace can yield many important organizational
outcomes:
1. generating superior financial performance
2. attracting and keeping high-performing employees (outstanding employees are
always short in supply and hard to replace)
3. satisfied employees, less stress, and less turnover
4. encouraging social responsibility awareness
2 Management and organizational behavior
defining terms
-managers: get things done through other people, make decisions, allocate resources, and
direct the activities of others to attain goals
-organization: a consciously coordinated social unit composed of two or more people, that
functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common set of goals
categorization of managers’ activities
-planning: defining an organization’s goals, and developing a comprehensive set of plans to
integrate and coordinate activities
-organizing: engaging in designing the work unit's structure, determining 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 made
-leading: directing and coordinating people, motivating employees, directing their activities,
selecting the most effective communication channels, and resolving conflicts
-controlling: monitoring the organization’s performance and comparing it with previously
set goals, and potentially correcting them
Management roles
interpersonal roles
- figurehead: symbolic head; required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal
or social nature
- leader: responsible for the motivation and direction of employees
- liaison: maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and information
informational roles
- monitor: receives a wide variety of information; serves as the nerve center of
internal and external information of the organization
- disseminator: transmits information received from outsiders or from other
employees to members of the organization
Lesson 1 1/6
, - spokesperson: transmits information to outsiders on organization’s plans; policies;
actions; and results; serves as expert on organization’s industry
decisional roles
- entrepreneur: searches organization and its environment for opportunities and
initiates projects to bring about change
- disturbance handler: responsible for corrective action when the organization faces
important, unexpected disturbances
- resource allocator: makes or approves significant organizational decisions
- negotiator: responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations
management skills
-technical skills: the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise
-human skills: the ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both
individually and in groups
-conceptual skills: the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations
effective vs. successful managerial activities
four managerial activities
1. traditional management: decision-making, planning, and controlling
2. communication: exchanging routine information and processing paperwork
3. human resource management: motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing,
and training
4. networking: socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders
allocation of activities by time
successful managers: networking makes the largest contribution, HRM the least
è defined in terms of speed of promotion
effective managers: communication makes the largest contribution, networking the least
è defined in terms of quality and quantity of performance
definition OB
the study of what people do in an organization and the way their behavior affects the
organization’s performance
3 Complementing intuition with systematic study
-systematic study: looking at relationships, attempting to attribute to causes and effects,
and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence
-evidence-based management (EBM): basing managerial decisions on the best available
scientific evidence
-intuition: an instinctive feeling not necessarily supported by research
Lesson 1 2/6
