Organizational Behaviour Lecture Notes
Lecture 1
Critical approach – critical thinking
The skills of analysing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging
or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems.
Organizational Behaviour = the study of the structure and management of organization, their
environments, and the actions and interactions of their individual members and groups
Refers to the activities and interactions of people in organizations
,The main restraint to human aspiration is our ability to work together. The most man-made disasters
have been traced to organization and management factors
OB looks at attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizational context
Goals of science:
- Description: understanding and interpreting circumstances using observations (observe
learning)
- Prediction: precise prediction focussing on groups
- Explanation: how to explain human behaviour
- Control/ ability to change: findings are often designed to encourage change
Evidence-based management (EBMgt) = to use the latest and best research evidence in managing
people and organizations to improve decision-making quality.
Lecture 2
Culture and learning
Culture:
- Systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people
- Way of life of a group of people
- Sum of total of the learned behaviour of a group of people
Organizational culture
- ‘the way we do things around here’
- ‘how people behave when no one is watching’
- ‘collective programming of the mind’
Shared meaning
Values:
Contains two elements
1. Judgemental element (what is right, good, desirable?)
2. An intensity attribute (how important is it?)
Individual values (freedom, self-respect) and organizational values (being team oriented, being
competitive)
Norms= standards of behaviour that are shared by the group’s members
, Symbols = indicators of organizational culture with a meaning (authority symbol)
Rituals = rites, ceremonies, events (recognition awards, Friday)
Stories = anecdotes on past events (story of the founder, star employees
Lecture 1
Critical approach – critical thinking
The skills of analysing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging
or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems.
Organizational Behaviour = the study of the structure and management of organization, their
environments, and the actions and interactions of their individual members and groups
Refers to the activities and interactions of people in organizations
,The main restraint to human aspiration is our ability to work together. The most man-made disasters
have been traced to organization and management factors
OB looks at attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizational context
Goals of science:
- Description: understanding and interpreting circumstances using observations (observe
learning)
- Prediction: precise prediction focussing on groups
- Explanation: how to explain human behaviour
- Control/ ability to change: findings are often designed to encourage change
Evidence-based management (EBMgt) = to use the latest and best research evidence in managing
people and organizations to improve decision-making quality.
Lecture 2
Culture and learning
Culture:
- Systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people
- Way of life of a group of people
- Sum of total of the learned behaviour of a group of people
Organizational culture
- ‘the way we do things around here’
- ‘how people behave when no one is watching’
- ‘collective programming of the mind’
Shared meaning
Values:
Contains two elements
1. Judgemental element (what is right, good, desirable?)
2. An intensity attribute (how important is it?)
Individual values (freedom, self-respect) and organizational values (being team oriented, being
competitive)
Norms= standards of behaviour that are shared by the group’s members
, Symbols = indicators of organizational culture with a meaning (authority symbol)
Rituals = rites, ceremonies, events (recognition awards, Friday)
Stories = anecdotes on past events (story of the founder, star employees
