1. What is Organizational Behaviour?
Chapter 1
What is Organizational Behaviour?

2. Chapter 1 Outline What is Organizational Behaviour?
OB and Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace
How Will Knowing OB Make a Difference?
OB: Making Sense of Behaviour in Organizations
There Are Few Absolutes in OB
The Organization of This Textbook
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?
This material is found at the beginning of the chapter.

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 two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals.
This material is found on page 5.

7. Exhibit 1-1 Competing Values Framework
Flexibility
Control
Internal Focus
This material is found on page 7.
External Focus

8. 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
The material for this illustration is found on pages 6.

9. Exhibit 1-2 Skills in the New Workplace
Flexibility
Mentor
Innovator
This material is found on page 6.
Broker
Facilitator
Internal Focus
External Focus
Monitor
Producer
Coordinator
Director
Control

10. Exhibit 1-2 Skills in the New Workplace
Flexibility
Understanding yourself and others
Interpersonal communication
Developing subordinates
Living with change
Creative thinking
Managing change
MENTOR
INNOVATOR
Building and maintaining a power base
Negotiating agreement and commitment
Negotiating and selling ideas
Team building
Participative decision making
Conflict management
This material is found on page 7.
FACILITATOR
BROKER
Internal
External
MONITOR
PRODUCER
Receiving and organizing info
Evaluating routine info
Responding to routine info
Personal productivity and motivation
Motivating others
Time and stress management
COORDINATOR
DIRECTOR
Planning
Organizing
Controlling
Taking initiative
Goal setting
Delegating effectively
Control
Source: R.E. Quinn. Beyond Rational Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1988, p. 48.

11. Exhibit 1-3: How Companies are Changing
“Cool” companies
Think casual Fridays are pitiful
Believe titles are obsolete
Don't impose on employees' personal time
Allow staff to come and go as they please  
Offer all employees stock options
Let employees make decisions
Offer assistance with childcare
Have minimal bureaucracy
“Old” companies
Believe casual days are progressive
Charge employees for parks and incentives
Hold events on employee time
Have flex time: but only between 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Hide financial results from their employees
Encourage employee input -- but rarely act on it
Employ rigid hierarchies
Stop at “open door” policies

12. Today’s Challenges in the Canadian Workplace
Productivity
Lack of Respect
Demand for Job Satisfaction
Absenteeism
Turnover
Sharing Power
Managing and Working in a Changing and Competitive Environment
Managing and Working in a Global Village
Managing and Working in a Culturally Diverse Workplace
This material is found in more detail on pages 4-12.
1. In a recent Angus Reid survey, Canadians were asked to name the company they most respect. Forty percent either didn’t know or would not state the name of a company they respected. Only Montreal-based Bombardier Inc., received acknowledgment of more than 10 percent of those surveyed. This chapter’s OB in the News (p. 6) reveals further concerns expressed by Canadians about the workplace.
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 recent years, Canadian businesses have also 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.

13. Exhibit 1-5 Most Respected Businesses
This material is found on page 19.
Many of the firms that made Report on Business’ 1999 Honour Roll of Most Respected Businesses for people management also scored highly on innovation, financial performance, corporate responsibility, and investment value.
The Financial Post’s 50 Best Managed Private Companies for 1997 found that Top 50 were firms exhibited “a growing awareness of the need for a team approach, not just at the top, but throughout the organization” and “a growing investment in people using everything from advanced training to increased employee share ownership.”

14. Exhibit 1-6 Employment by Industry,1998
Agricultural and related service industries
Fishing and trapping industries
Logging and forestry industries
Mining (including milling), quarrying and oil well industries
Utilities
Manufacturing industries
Construction industries
Transportation and storage industries
Communication and other utility industries
Wholesale trade industries
Retail trade industries
Finance and insurance industries
Real estate operator and insurance agent industries
Business service industries
Government service industries
Educational service industries
Health and social service industries
Accommodation, food and beverage service industries
Other service industries
3.1 .2 .5
1.2
1.0
16.7
5.4
4.0
2.4
4.1
12.2
3.7
1.8
7.9
5.5
6.7
10.3
6.4
7.2
This material is found on page

15. Exhibit 1-6 Employment by Industry,1998
This material is found on page

16. Exhibit 1-7 Contributing Disciplines to the OB Field
This material is found on page

17. Motivating Self and Others
Exhibit 1-8: Layers of OB
The Organization
Change
Organizational Culture
Decision Making
Leadership
The Individual
Emotions
Values and Attitudes
Perception
Personality
Motivating Self and Others
The Group
Negotiation
Conflict
Communication
Groups and Teams
Power and Politics
This material is found on page

18. Summary and Implications
Managers and employees need to develop their interpersonal, or people, skills to be effective in their jobs.
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, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and on reducing absenteeism and turnover.
OB uses systematic study to improve predictions of behaviour.
This material is found on page 27.