1. Chapter 3
Organizational Behavior
And Management Thinking

2. Chapter Goals Define organizational behavior
Explain how management thinking affects
organizational behavior
Discuss examples of management thinking within
and between individuals, and within organizations
Apply management thinking to communication
and problem solving
Apply a technique for revealing assumptions
and perceptions

3. Organizational behavior
The study of how (and why)
people behave in the workplace
Draws on many other disciplines
Psychology
Social psychology
Industrial psychology
Sociology
Communications
Anthropology

4. Individual Between individuals Within organizations
Organizational behavior occurs at 3 levels
Individual
Between individuals
Within organizations

5. A cognitive model of behavior
Thinking  Behavior  Outcomes
A cognitive model of behavior
shows us how thinking influences behavior

6. Thinking patterns relevant to organizational behavior
Individual
Assumptions
Perceptions
Biases
Theories X and Y
Expectancy
Schemas
Mental models
Between individuals
Expectancy theory
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Attributions
Mental models
Sensemaking

7. Common individual thinking patterns that can alter understanding
Perception: what is noticed; to what attention is paid
Cognitive biases: mental processing that simplifies handling information and that can compromise decision quality
Theories X and Y: two different views about the nature of employee behavior that can influence how a manager views employees
Expectancy: prior beliefs and experiences that shape ones thoughts and perceptions
Schemas: mental representations of what is known about something

8. Common thinking patterns between individuals
that can alter common understanding
Self-fulfilling prophecy: expectations about another’s behavior that can elicit the expected behavior
Expectancy theory: managers affect employee motivation when they influence employee expectations about ability to accomplish a task and expectations of reward
Attributions: imputing the likely cause of another’s behavior
Attribution theory: explaining another’s behavior by presuming it is caused either by a person’s disposition or by the situation
Mental models: beliefs about how things work
Sensemaking: process in which organization members interpret the meaning of ambiguous information

9. Lessons from organizational sensemaking
When organizations make sense of a situation…
How they perceive the environment defines their opportunities and constraints
Understanding is retrospective because it emerges through hindsight
Taking collective action requires sufficient understanding of a situation, though actionable understanding may not be completely accurate

10. Five disciplines of organizational learning (Senge)
systems thinking to recognize patterns of connection
striving for individual proficiency and personal mastery
surfacing and challenging mental models
a common identity and shared vision of the future
team learning that reduces assumptions and creates shared meaning
these 3 disciplines counteract thinking limitations

11. Communication in organizations
Sender and receiver exchange understanding
Communication barriers: arise from…
sender’s thinking and behavior
receiver’s thinking and behavior
and from the organizational setting

12. solving in organizations
Two phases of problem
solving in organizations
Problem identification
Recognize problem
Identify cause
Set goals
Generate options
Problem solution
Assess options
Choose among options
Implement options
Evaluate solution

13. Action Inquiry to check assumptions
Framing: state purpose and intentions
Advocating: state opinion or feeling
Illustrating: Give supporting example
Inquiring: Ask for listener’s views