1. Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behaviour
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

2. PCL Family of Companies
Several organizational behaviour practices have helped the Edmonton-based PCL Family of Companies become an employer of choice, a leader in the construction industry, and a valued community member
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

3. Organizational Behaviour and Organizations
The study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations
Organizations
Groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose
Structured patterns of interaction
Coordinated tasks
Organizations have a purpose (even if not fully agreed)
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

4. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Why Study OB?
Satisfy the need to understand and predict
Helps us to test personal theories
Influence behaviour – get things done
OB improves an organization’s financial health
OB is for everyone
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

5. Old Perspective of Organizational Effectiveness
Goal oriented -- Effective firms achieve their stated objectives
No longer accepted as a perspective of org effectiveness
Companies could set easy goals
Some goals too abstract to know if achieved
Company might achieve goals but go out of business by achieving wrong goals
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

6. Defining Organizational Effectiveness as 4 Perspectives
Open systems: they have a good fit with their external environment
High-performance work practices: their internal subsystems are configured for a high-performance workplace
Organizational learning: they are learning organizations
Stakeholder: they satisfy the needs of key stakeholders
NOTE: Need to consider all four perspectives when assessing a company’s effectiveness
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

7. Open Systems Perspective
Organizations -- complex systems that “live” within (and depend upon) the external environment
Effective organizations
Maintain a close “fit” with changing conditions
Transform inputs to outputs efficiently and flexibly
Open systems perspective – foundation for the other three effectiveness perspectives
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

8. Open Systems Perspective
Subsystems -- processes, task activities, social dynamics within the system
Transformation process -- subsystems transform inputs into various outputs
Feedback -- information from environment about value of outputs/availability of inputs
Environment
Feedback
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

9. Organizational Learning Perspective
An organization’s capacity to acquire, share, use, and store valuable knowledge
Need to consider both stock and flow of knowledge
Stock: intellectual capital
Flow: org learning processes of acquisition, sharing, and use
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

10. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Intellectual Capital
Human Capital
Knowledge that people possess and generate
Structural Capital
Knowledge captured in systems and structures
Relationship Capital
Value derived from satisfied customers, reliable suppliers, etc.
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

11. Organizational Learning Processes
KNOWLEDGE
ACQUISITION
KNOWLEDGE
SHARING
KNOWLEDGE
USE
Extracting information and ideas from its environment as well as through insight
Distributing knowledge throughout the organization
Applying knowledge to organizational processes in ways that improves the organization’s effectiveness
Examples in practice
Hiring skilled staff
Posting case studies on intranet
Giving staff freedom to try out ideas
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

12. Organizational Memory
The storage and preservation of intellectual capital
Retain intellectual capital by:
Keeping knowledgeable employees
Transferring knowledge to others
Transferring human capital to structural capital
Successful companies also unlearn
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

13. High Performance Work Practices (HPWPs)
HPWPs are internal systems and structures that are associated with successful companies
Employees are competitive advantage
Value of employees increased through specific practices.
Maximum benefit when org practices are bundled
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

14. High Performance Work Practices
No consensus, but HPWPs include:
Employee involvement and job autonomy (and their combination as self-directed teams).
Employee competence (training, selection, etc.).
Performance-based rewards
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

15. Stakeholder Perspective
Stakeholders: any entity who affect or is affected by the firm’s objectives and actions
Personalizes the open systems perspective
Identifies social entities in the environment
Stakeholder relations are dynamic
Problem:
Stakeholders have conflicting interests
Firms have limited resources
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

16. Canadian Public Service as a Values-Driven Organization
The Canadian federal public service is becoming a values-driven organization. The government believes that values will guide desired behaviours and replace existing control system based on hierarchy and compliance.
Canadian Public Service
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

17. Stakeholders: Values and Ethics
Values and ethics prioritize stakeholder interests
Values
Stable, evaluative beliefs, guide preferences for outcomes or courses of action in various situations
Ethics
Moral principles/values, determine whether actions are right/wrong and outcomes are good or bad
Canadian Public Service
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

18. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Stakeholders and CSR
Stakeholder perspective includes corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Benefit society and environment beyond the firm’s immediate financial interests or legal obligations
Organization’s contract with society
Triple bottom line
Economy, society, environment
Canadian Public Service
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

19. Types of Individual Behaviour
Task Performance
Goal-directed behaviours under person’s control
Organizational Citizenship
Contextual performance – cooperation and helpfulness beyond required job duties
more
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

20. Types of Individual Behaviour (con’t)
Counterproductive Work Behaviours
Voluntary behaviours that potentially harm the organization
Joining/staying with the Organization
Agreeing to employment relationship; remaining in that relationship
Maintaining Work Attendance
Attending work at required times
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

21. © 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Globalization
Economic, social, and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world
Effects of globalization on organizations
New structures
Increasing diversity
Increasing competitive pressures, intensification
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

22. Increasing Workforce Diversity
Surface-level diversity
Observable demographic and other overt differences in people (e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, age)
Deep-level diversity
Differences in psychological characteristics (e.g. personalities, beliefs, values, and attitudes)
Example: Differences across age cohorts (e.g. Gen-Y)
Implications
Leveraging the diversity advantage
Also diversity challenges (e.g. teams, conflict)
Ethical imperative of diversity
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

23. Employment Relationships
Work/life balance
Minimizing conflict between work and nonwork demands number one indicator of career success
Virtual work
Using information technology to perform one’s job away from the traditional physical workplace
Telework – issues of replacing face time, clarifying employment expectations
Virtual teams
Operate across space, time, and organizational boundaries with members who communicate mainly through electronic technologies
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

24. Organizational Behaviour Anchors
Multidisciplinary anchor
Many OB concepts adopted from other disciplines
OB develops its own theories, but scans other fields
Systematic research anchor
OB researchers rely on scientific method
Should apply evidence-based management, but…
Bombarded with theories and models
Challenge translating general theories to specific situations
Swayed by consultant marketing
Perceptual biases -- ignoring evidence contrary to our beliefs
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

25. Organizational behaviour Anchors (con’t)
Contingency anchor
A particular action may have different consequences in different situations
Need to diagnose the situation and select best strategy under those conditions
Multiple levels of analysis anchor
Individual, team, organizational level of analysis
OB topics usually relevant at all three levels of analysis
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen

26. Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behaviour
© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved
Canadian OB 7e: McShane/Steen