1. What Is Organizational Behaviour?
Chapter 1
What Is Organizational Behaviour?

2. Chapter 1 Outline Defining Organizational Behaviour
Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace
OB: Making Sense of Behaviour in Organizations
Levels of Organizational Behaviour
This material is found at the beginning of the chapter.

3. What Is Organizational Behaviour?
Questions for Consideration
What is organizational behaviour?
What challenges do managers and employees face in the workplace of the 21st century?
How will knowledge of organizational behaviour make a difference for you?

4. Organizational Behaviour
a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.
This material is found in more detail on page 4.

5. Why Do We Study OB?
To learn about yourself and how to deal with others
You are part of an organization now, and will continue to be a part of various organizations
Organizations are increasingly expecting individuals to be able to work in teams, at least some of the time
Some of you may want to be managers or entrepreneurs
This is one of the slides I use on the first day of class to help motivate the course.

6. What Is an Organization?
A consciously coordinated social unit, composed of a group of people, which functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
This material is found on page 5.
An organization is a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of a group of people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. Manufacturing and service firms are organizations, and so are schools, hospitals, churches, military units, retail stores, police departments, volunteer organizations, start-ups, and local, state and federal government agencies. There are a variety of organizations that comprise the Canadian workplace.
Only about 17 percent of Canadians work in manufacturing organizations. Three-quarters of Canadians work in the service-producing sector of the economy. The rest are are engaged in wholesale and retail trade.
The instructor might want to remind students that organizations can be located in the public sector or the private sector, they can be unionized or not, they can be publicly traded or they can be privately held. If they are publicly traded, senior managers typically are responsible to a board of directors, which may or may not take an active role in the how the firm is run. The managers themselves may or may not own shares of the firm. If the firm is privately held, it may be run by the owners, or the managers report to the owners. Firms can also operate in the for-profit or the non-profit sector. All of these facts, taken as a whole should suggest that when one thinks of an organization, the likelihood that it is a “typical” organization is small.

7. Exhibit 1-1 Challenges Facing the Workplace
Organizational Level •
Productivity
Developing Effective Employees
Global Competition
Managing in the Global Village
Group Level
Working With Others
Workforce Diversity
Individual Level
Job Satisfaction
Empowerment
Behaving Ethically
The material for this illustration is found on page 6.

8. Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace
Challenges at the Individual Level
Job Satisfaction
Empowerment
Behaving Ethically
Challenges at the Group Level
Working With Others
Workforce Diversity
This material is found in more detail on pages 8-11.
1. In a recent Financial Post survey, 75 percent of the public said it was extremely important for managers to make employees happy and satisfied.
2. Employees are increasingly demanding job satisfaction out of their jobs. In a recent Financial Post survey, 75 percent of the public deemed it extremely important for managers to make employees happy and satisfied.
3. Managers are empowering employees. They are putting employees in charge of what they do. And, in the process, managers are learning how to give up control, and employees are learning how to take responsibility for their work and make appropriate decisions.
4. In addition to the more obvious groups—women, First Nations peoples, Asian Canadians, African Canadians, Indo-Canadians—the workplace also includes people with disabilities, gays and lesbians, and the elderly.

9. Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace
Challenges at the Organizational Level
Productivity
Developing Effective Employees
Absenteeism
Turnover
Organizational Citizenship
Competition From the Global Environment
Managing and Working in a Global Village
This material is found in more detail on pages
1. Absences in 2001 resulted in the loss of 3.4% of weekly work time. Absenteeism’s annual cost has been estimated at over $18 billion for Canadian firms and $60 billion for U.S. organizations. 2. In recent years, Canadian businesses have faced tough competition from the United States, Europe, Japan, and even China. To survive, they have had to cut fat, increase productivity, and improve quality.
3. As multinational corporations develop operations worldwide, as companies develop joint ventures with foreign partners, and as workers increasingly pursue job opportunities across national borders, managers and employees must become capable of working with people from different cultures.

10. Productivity Productivity Effectiveness Efficiency
A performance measure including effectiveness and efficiency
Effectiveness
Achievement of goals
Efficiency
The ratio of effective work output to the input required to produce the work
This material is found in more detail on pages 11.

11. Effective Employees Absenteeism Turnover
Failure to report to work
Turnover
Voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from the organization
Organizational citizenship behaviour
Discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but is helpful to the organization
This material is found in more detail on pages

12. Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
Psychology
Sociology
Social Psychology
Anthropology
Political Science
This material is found in more detail on pages 15-16
Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behaviour of humans and other animals.
Sociology: Whereas psychologists focus on the individual, sociologists study the social system in which individuals fill their roles; that is, sociology studies people in relation to other human beings.
Social psychology is an area within psychology, but it blends concepts from psychology and sociology. It focuses on the influence of people on one another. One of the major areas receiving considerable investigation from social psychologists has been change--how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance. processes.
Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities. Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments, for instance, has helped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behaviour between people in different countries and within different organizations.
Political science studies the behaviour of individuals and groups within a political environment. Specific topics of concern include structuring of conflict, allocation of power, and the manipulation of power for individual self-interest.

13. Exhibit 1-2 Toward an OB Discipline
Social psychology
Psychology
Behavioural
science
Contribution
Unit of
analysis
Output
Anthropology
Sociology
Political science
Study of
Organizational
Behaviour
Organization
system
Learning
Motivation
Perception
Training
Leadership effectiveness
Job satisfaction
Individual decision making
Performance appraisal
Attitude measurement
Employee selection
Work design
Work stress
Group dynamics
Work teams
Communication
Power
Conflict
Intergroup behaviour
Formal organization theory
Organizational technology
Organizational change
Organizational culture
Intraorganizational politics
Organizational environment
Behavioural change
Attitude change
Group processes
Group decision making
Group
Comparative values
Comparative attitudes
Cross-cultural analysis
Individual
The material for this illustration is found on pages

14. The Rigour of OB OB looks at consistencies
What is common about behaviour, and helps predictability?
OB is more than common sense
Systematic study, based on scientific evidence
OB has few absolutes
OB takes a contingency approach
Considers behaviour in context
This material is found in more detail on pages
This would be a good place to get students’ views on questions such as: (1) Are happy workers always productive workers? (2) Are individuals always more productive when their boss is a real “people person?” (3) Does everyone want a challenging job?

15. Beyond Common Sense Systematic Study
Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence
Behaviour is generally predictable
There are differences between individuals
There are fundamental consistencies
There are rules (written & unwritten) in almost every setting
This material is found in more detail on page 18.

16. Exhibit 1-3 Basic OB Model, Stage I
Organization systems level
Group level
Individual level
The material for this illustration is found on page 20.

17. Exhibit 1-4 Basic OB Model, Stage II
Human resource
policies and
practices
Organizational
Organization
Work design
culture
structure
and
and design
technology
Organization
Systems Level
Change and
Group
stress
decision making
Leadership
Communication
Group
Work
Satisfaction
Organizational
commitment
Turnover
Absence
Productivity
Workplace
interaction
Human
output
structure
teams
Other
Power and
The material for this illustration is found on page 21.
groups
Conflict
politics
Group Level
Biographical
characteristics
Personality
Perception
Values and attitudes
Motivation
Individual
decision making
Human
Individual
Differences
input
Ability
Individual Level

18. Summary and Implications
OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within an organization.
OB focuses on improving productivity, reducing absenteeism and turnover, and increasing employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
OB uses systematic study to improve predictions of behaviour.
This material is found in more detail on pages 22 and 23.

19. Exhibit 1-5 Competing Values Framework
Flexibility
Control
Internal Focus
External Focus
The material for this illustration is found on page 26.
In teaching this, you may want to start by having students do the Learning about Yourself and Working with Others exercises. Debriefing the exercise will provide information about what skills students think are important, and what skills they believe they already have.
You can then point to the skill gaps, and the problems that organizations and managers would face as a result.

20. Competing Values Framework
Internal-External Dimension
Inwardly toward employee needs and concerns and/or production processes and internal systems or
Outwardly, toward such factors as the marketplace, government regulations, and the changing social, environmental, and technological conditions of the future
Flexibility-Control Dimension
Flexible and dynamic, allowing more teamwork and participation; seeking new opportunities for products and services
Controlling or stable, maintaining the status quo and exhibiting less change
This material is found in more detail on pages