Week 1: WHAT IS OB?

Summary

 Managers make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals
within organizations.
 An organization is 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.
 Organizational behaviour is the field of study that investigates the impact that individuals,
groups, and structure (organizational conditions) have on behaviour within organizations for the
purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness.

It is a study of individuals, groups and structure in a systematic way to make organizations work
more effectively.

 Systematic study attempts to attribute cause and effects, basing conclusions on scientific

evidence by gathering data under controlled conditions and measuring and interpreting it in a
rigorous manner.
The systematic study of organizational behaviour concepts replaces popularly held, but
erroneous preconceived notions with data based on science-based study.
 The field of organizational behaviour is an integration of psychology, sociology,
anthropology, and social psychology
 There are many challenges and opportunities that create a significant demand for
understanding organizational behaviour.
 Organizations are no longer constrained by national borders and managers find themselves
having to travel to different countries, work with people from different cultures, and cope
with anti-capitalism backlash.
 An area of growing importance is the movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labour.
 Organizations also contend with within country diversity caused by shifting demographics
and immigration. In addition to country diversity, diversity also includes race, gender, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, religion, cultural values, lifestyle preferences, and virtually any
dimension on which employees differ.
When diversity is not managed properly, there is a potential for higher turnover,
misunderstandings, and interpersonal conflicts. Perhaps the most significant change in the
European labour force in the last 50 years has been the sharp increase in the number of
female workers. In addition, the first half of the twentieth century will be notable for changes
in the racial and ethnic composition of the workforce as well as an aging generation of Baby
Boomers.
 Other trends include an increased emphasis on quality management or the attainment of
customer satisfaction through the continuous improvement of all organizational processes. A
customer responsive culture can be created through helping employees to improve their
people skills. It is also essential to help employees to quickly respond to
organizational change.
 Today's managers and employees must learn to cope with "temporariness" and manage
the stresses inherent to working in networked organizations.
 Flexibility must also be shown to employees, who can better do their jobs if their work and
family responsibilities are balanced. A growth area in OB research has been positive
organizational scholarship, which concerns how organizations develop human strengths,
foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential.
  Finally, managers must create an ethically healthy environment for his or her employees.

 A model is an abstraction of reality, a simplified representation of some real world phenomenon.

The model of organizational behaviour includes both dependent and independent variables. A
dependent variable is the key factor that is explained or predicted by some other (independent)
factor. The key dependent variables in the model of organizational behaviour are productivity,
absenteeism, turnover, deviant workplace behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, and
job satisfaction. These dependent variables can be explained by the independent variables.
Independent variables occur at the level of the individual, group, and organization. Finally, there
are a number of contingency variables that affect the model.
 A number of conclusions emerge from this analysis. Organizational behaviour uses systematic
study to improve predictions about the behaviour of individuals and groups within the workplace.
The study of organizational behaviour can improve productivity; reduce absenteeism, turnover,
and deviant workplace behaviour; and increase organizational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction.

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Pre Test
This activity contains 07 questions.

Take the pre test to check your knowledge of this chapter.

1. _____ are individuals who get things done through other people.
a. Leaders
b. Psychologists
c. Organizations
d. Managers
2. _____ is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and
structure have on behaviour within organizations.
a. Psychology
b. Organizational behaviour
c. Sociology
d. Leadership
3. _____ involves looking at relationships, attempting to attribute cause and effects, and
drawing conclusions based on systematic evidence.
a. Intuition
b. Systematic study
c. Workforce diversity
d. Empowerment
4. The primary dependent variables in organizational behaviour have been productivity,
absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction. More recently, _____ and _____ have
been added to the list.
a. learning and motivation
b. ability, values
c. effectiveness, efficiency
d. deviant workplace behaviour, organizational citizenship
5. A failure to report to work is termed _____.
a. Delinquency (laziness)
b. insubordination
c. turnover
d. absenteeism
6. A(n) _____ is the presumed cause of change in an outcome.
a. independent variable
b. dependent variable
c. change agent
d. variable determinant
7. Which of the following is NOT an individual level independent variable?
a. age
b. gender
c. marital status
d. productivity

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Post Test
Now that you have taken the pre test and studied the review material, try the post test to assess
your understanding.

Multiple Choice
This activity contains 14 questions.

1. The field of organizational behaviour is most concerned with an organization's _____.

a. efficiency
b. perception
c. effectiveness
d. responsiveness
2. "Intuition" is concerned with _____.
a. gut feelings
b. systematic study
c. scientific analysis
d. predictive ability
3. _____ is a science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the
behaviour of humans and other animals.
a. Anthropology
b. Social psychology
c. Sociology
d. Psychology
4. Which is not a contributing area to Organizational Behaviour?
a. anthropology
b. physiology
c. psychology
d. sociology
5. _____ is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.
a. Sociology
b. Social Psychology
c. Political Science
d. Anthropology
6. Today's managers must learn to cope with _____, as jobs are continually redesigned;
tasks are increasingly being done by flexible teams rather than individuals; and jobs
are being subcontracted to other firms.
a. anonymity
b. globalization
c. temporariness
d. inertia
7. Situations in which one is required to define right and wrong are known as _____.
a. social scenarios
b. ambiguous situations
c. moral dilemmas
d. ethical dilemmas
8. Which of the following best defines a model?
a. a simplified representation of a real-world phenomena
b. a response that is affected by an independent variable
c. a performance measure that includes effectiveness and efficiency
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 d. the presumed cause of some change in the dependent variable
9. Productivity implies a concern for _____ and _____.
a. efficiency, effectiveness
b. effectiveness, quality control
c. customer service, efficiency
d. customer service, quality control
10.A product that successfully meets the needs of its clientele is _____.
a. efficient
b. high quality
c. streamlined
d. effective
11._____ is the permanent withdrawal of an employee from an organization.
a. Psychological withdrawal
b. Absenteeism
c. Turnover
d. Sabbatical
12._____ is voluntary behaviour that violates significant organizational norms.
a. Turnover
b. Organizational citizenship behaviour
c. Deviant workplace behaviour
d. Diversity awareness
13.Job satisfaction is negatively related to _____ and _____.
a. organizational citizenship, work/life programs
b. diversity awareness, training
c. absenteeism, turnover
d. diversity awareness, organizational citizenship
14.Which of the following is NOT a type of independent variable?
a. environmental level
b. individual level
c. organization systems level
d. group level

5
True or False
This activity contains 08 questions.

1. Managers get things done through other people.

 True
 False
2. Organizational behaviour is 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.
 True
 False
3. Behaviour is generally predictable, and the systematic study of behaviour is a means to making
reasonably accurate predictions.
 True
 False
4. Learning, perception, and personality have been OB topics whose contributions have generally
come from sociology.
 True
 False
5. Social psychology is an area within psychology, blending (mixing) concepts from both
psychology and political science.
 True
 False
6. The majority of employees in developed countries work in service jobs.
 True
 False
7. Today's managers must learn to cope with ongoing stability.
 True
 False
8. There are three levels of analysis in OB, and, as we move from the individual level to the group
level, to the organization systems level, we add systematically to our understanding of
behaviour in organizations.
 True
 False