Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behavior

1. Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behavior

2. Google and OB Google has leveraged the power of organizational behavior to attract talented employees who want to make a difference in the Internet world. AP/Wide World Photos

3. What are Organizations? • Groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose • Structured patterns of interaction • Coordinated tasks • Have common objectives (even if not fully agreed) AP/Wide World Photos

4. Why Study Organizational Behavior Understand organizational events Why study organizational behavior Influence organizational events Predict organizational events

5. Trends: Globalization • Economic, social, and cultural connectivity (and interdependence) with people in other parts of the world • Effects of globalization on organizations: • New organizational structures • Different forms of communication • More diverse workforce. • More competition, mergers, work intensification and demands for work flexibility

6. Trends: Changing Workforce • Workforce has increasing diversity along several dimensions • Primary categories • gender, age, ethnicity, etc. • Secondary categories • some control over (e.g. education, marital status)

7. Trends: Changing Workforce • Current trends • Increased racial and ethnic diversity • More women in workforce • Generational diversity • New age cohorts (e.g. Gen-X, Gen-Y) • Implications • Leverage diversity advantage • Adjust to the new workforce

8. Trends: Employment Relationships • Work-life balance • Number one indicator of career success • Priority for many young people looking for new jobs • Employability • “New deal” employment relationship • Continuously learn new skills • Contingent work • No explicit or implicit contract for long-term employment, or minimum hours of work can vary in a nonsystematic way

9. Trends: Virtual Work Using information technology to perform one’s job away from the traditional physical workplace. • Telecommuting (telework) • working from home, usually internet connection to office • Virtual teams • operate across space, time, and organizational boundaries with members who communicate mainly through electronic technologies

10. Values-based Leadership in Dubai The Department of Economic Development (DED) in the Emirate of Dubai recently devoted several months to identifying the agency’s core values: accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement. DED also organized a series of workshops (shown in photo) to help employees recognize values-consistent behaviors. Department of Economic Development, Government of Dubai

11. Trends: Values/Ethics Defined Long-lasting beliefs about what is important in a variety of situations • Define right versus wrong --guide our decisions Ethics • Study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad Department of Economic Development, Government of Dubai

12. Trends: Why Values are Important • Need to guide employee decisions and actions • Globalization increases awareness of different values • Increasing emphasis on applying ethical values

13. Corporate Social Responsibility • Corporate Social Responsibility • Organization's moral obligation toward its stakeholders • Stakeholders • Shareholders, customers, suppliers, governments etc. • Triple bottom line philosophy • Economic, social & environmental

14. Organizational Behavior Anchors Multidisciplinary Anchor Organizational Behavior Anchors Systematic Research Anchor Open Systems Anchor Multiple Levels of Analysis Anchor Contingency Anchor

15. Organizational Behavior Anchors • Multidisciplinary anchor • Many OB concepts adopted from other disciplines • OB develops its own models and theories, but also needs to scan other fields for ideas • Systematic research anchor • OB researchers rely on scientific method • OB also adopting grounded theory and similar qualitative approaches to knowledge

16. Organizational Behavior 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 • OB issues can be studied from individual, team, and/or organizational level • Topics usually relate to all three levels

17. Open Systems Anchor • Need to monitor and adapt to environment • External environment -- natural and social conditions outside the organization • Receive inputs from environment; transform them into outputs back to the environment • Stakeholders – anyone with a vested interest in the organization • Organizations consist of interdependent parts (subsystems) that need to coordinate

18. Feedback Feedback Feedback Feedback Open Systems Anchor Environment

19. Knowledge Management Defined Any structured activity that improves an organization’s capacity to acquire, share, and use knowledge for its survival and success

20. 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.

21. Knowledge sharing Knowledge use Knowledge Management Processes Knowledge acquisition • Hiring talent • Acquiring firms • Individual learning • Experimentation • Communication • Communities of practice • Awareness • Freedom to apply

22. 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

23. Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behavior

24. Chapter OneExtras

25. Job Security vs. Employability Employability Job Security • Limited job security • Jobs are temporary • Career self-management • High emphasis on skill development • Lifetime job security • Jobs are permanent • Company manages career • Low emphasis on skill development