ACCESS Test Bank for Organizational Behavior 19th Edition Robbins
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-1
CHAPTER 1
What Is Organizational Behavior?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1-1. Define organizational behavior (OB).
1-2. Show the value of systematic study to OB.
1-3. Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.
1-4. Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.
1-5. Identify managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB concepts.
1-6. Compare the three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model.
1-7. Describe the key employability skills gained from studying OB that are applicable to
other majors or future careers.
This chapter begins with a vignette entitled “The Rise and Fall of WeWork’s CEO.” The details of this story are jarring,
reflecting the complexity and speed of organizational life. The effects of behavior ring through organizations—felt by
workers, managers, groups, teams, and sometimes, by the whole organization. They also highlight several issues of
interest to those seeking to understand organizational behavior, including motivation, justice, ethics, structure,
culture, personality, and organizationally relevant outcomes, such as turnover, productivity, and survival. Throughout
this text, you will learn how organizational challenges often cut across areas like these, so the systematic approach
pursued in this text and your course is essential.
BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Management and Organizational Behavior
A. Who’s Who in the World of Work
1. Worker: As an individual, member of work groups, teams, or organizations,
contributes to the accomplishment of work goals.
2. Manager: Someone who gets things done through other people. They make
decisions, allocate resources, and direct others’ activities to attain goals.
3. 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.
B. Management Activities
1. Although workers’ activities may also involve interacting and coordinating work with
other people, it is usually a much more significant component of managerial jobs. All
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
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,ACCESS Test Bank for Organizational Behavior 19th Edition Robbins
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-2
managers perform four primary management functions: planning, organizing,
leading, and controlling.
C. Management Roles
1. Introduction
a. In the late 1960s, Henry Mintzberg studied five executives to determine what
managers did on their jobs. He concluded that managers perform ten different,
highly interrelated roles or sets of behaviors attributable to their jobs.
2. The ten roles can be grouped as being primarily concerned with interpersonal
relationships, the transfer of information, and decision making. (Exhibit 1-1)
a. Interpersonal Roles: Figurehead, Leader, Liaison
b. Informational Roles: Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson
c. Decisional Roles: Entrepreneur, Disturbance handlers, Resource allocator,
Negotiator role
D. Management Skills
1. Technical Skills: The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs
require some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on
the job.
2. People Skills: Ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both
individually and in groups.
3. Conceptual Skills: The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
E. Effective Versus Successful Managerial Activities
1. Luthans and his associates studied more than 450 managers. They found that all
managers engage in four managerial activities:
a. Traditional management
b. Communication
c. Human resource (HR) management
d. Networking
2. The “average” manager spent 32% of their time in traditional management activities,
29% communicating, 20% in HR management activities, and 19% networking.
F. Organizational Behavior (OB) Defined: OB is a field of study investigating the impact
that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations to apply
such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.
1. OB studies three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, groups, and
structure.
2. Successful managers are defined as those who were promoted the fastest.
(Exhibit 1-2)
II. Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study
A. Introduction
1. It is human nature to be a student of other people’s behavior. Reading others can
often lead to erroneous predictions, but using a systematic approach can improve
accuracy.
2. The systematic approach used in this book will uncover important facts and
relationships and provide a base from which more accurate predictions of behavior
can be made.
a. Systematic Study of Behavior: Generally, behavior is predictable if we know
how the person perceives the situation and what is important to them.
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
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,ACCESS Test Bank for Organizational Behavior 19th Edition Robbins
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-3
b. Evidence-Based Management (EBM): Basing managerial decisions on the best
available scientific evidence. Complements systematic study. Argues for
managers to make decisions on evidence.
3. Intuition: An instinct feeling not necessarily supported by research.
4. Systematic study and EBM add to intuition, or those “gut feelings” about “why I do
what I do” and “what makes others tick.” The key is to know when to use intuition.
5. Many managers hold so-called commonsense opinions regarding effective
management that have been flatly refuted by empirical evidence. Moreover, managers
are often motivated to hold onto these beliefs even in the face of contradictory
evidence.
B. Building on Big Data With Artificial Intelligence
1. Background: Researchers, the media, and company leaders have identified the
potential of data-driven management and decision making. A manager who uses data
to define objectives, develop theories of causality, and test those theories can
determine which employee activities are relevant to their objectives.
2. Current Usage: The reasons for data analytics include predicting any event, detecting
how much risk is incurred at any time, and preventing large and small catastrophes.
3. New Trends: The use of Big Data to understand, help, and manage people is “as
ubiquitous as the air we breathe. Organizations are also beginning to focus on “fast
data,” actionable data to guide business decisions in real-time. Artificial intelligence,
robotics, and machine learning are among the most recent advancements for
processing and analyzing an organization’s information.
4. Limitations: As technological capabilities for handling big data and AI have
increased, so have privacy issues and appropriate applications of employees and
customers as data sources. Human behavior can also be unpredictable and elusive.
III. Disciplines That Contribute to the OB Field
A. Introduction
1. Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built upon
contributions from several behavioral disciplines.
2. The predominant areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology, and
anthropology.
3. Exhibit 1-3 overviews the major contributions to the study of organizational behavior.
B. Psychology
1. Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the
behavior of humans and other animals.
C. Social Psychology
1. Social psychology blends the concepts of psychology and sociology.
D. Sociology
1. Sociologists study the social system in which individuals fill their roles; that is,
sociology studies people in relation to their fellow human beings.
E. Anthropology
1. Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their
activities.
IV. There Are Few Absolutes in OB
A. Introduction
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
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, ACCESS Test Bank for Organizational Behavior 19th Edition Robbins
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-4
1. There are few, if any, simple and universal principles that explain organizational
behavior.
2. Contingency variables—situational factors are variables that moderate the
relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
V. Challenges and Opportunities
A. Introduction
1. There are many challenges and opportunities today for managers to use OB concepts.
2. Employment options today have adapted to include new opportunities for workers.
(Exhibit 1-4)
B. Workforce Diversity and Inclusion
1. Workforce diversity recognizes that the workforce is heterogeneous in its gender
identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.
2. Workforce inclusion focuses on creating and maintaining workplaces that support
and leverage its members' diversity. An inclusive workplace is one in which workers
feel that they are involved in critical processes, feel welcomed and valued, and are
treated as “insiders.”
3. OB researchers study how people from diverse backgrounds fare in the workplace,
the unique challenges and benefits they experience, and how their conditions can be
improved.
C. Continuing Globalization
1. Globalization is the process in which worldwide integration and interdependence is
promoted across national borders.
2. Increased Foreign Assignments
a. Working with People from Different Cultures
b. Even in your own country, you will find yourself working with people born and
raised in different cultures. Managers working outside their own country need to
know the workforce's cultural norms in each country where they do business.
D. Technology and Social Media
1. While technology allows many employees to do their work at home or on the beach
in Tahiti, it also means that many feel like they are not part of a team or that they
must be “always-on.”
2. Given this significant technology adoption by both employees and organizations, a
focus on technologies (e.g., AI, social media, and remote work) will substantially
affect OB for years to come.
E. (Un)ethical Behavior
1. Unethical behavior is any action that violates widely accepted moral norms (e.g.,
lying, cheating, stealing, harming others). In contrast, ethical behavior meets or
exceeds widely accepted moral norms (e.g., following the rules, going above self-
interest to help others).
2. Companies that promote justice in how rewards and resources are allocated (i.e., the
equal treatment of all), how procedures are defined, how people are treated, and how
information is distributed can help improve worker perceptions of fairness.
F. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
1. CSR is an organization’s self-regulated actions to benefit society or the environment
beyond what is required by law.
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
mynursytest.store
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-1
CHAPTER 1
What Is Organizational Behavior?
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
1-1. Define organizational behavior (OB).
1-2. Show the value of systematic study to OB.
1-3. Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB.
1-4. Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB.
1-5. Identify managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB concepts.
1-6. Compare the three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model.
1-7. Describe the key employability skills gained from studying OB that are applicable to
other majors or future careers.
This chapter begins with a vignette entitled “The Rise and Fall of WeWork’s CEO.” The details of this story are jarring,
reflecting the complexity and speed of organizational life. The effects of behavior ring through organizations—felt by
workers, managers, groups, teams, and sometimes, by the whole organization. They also highlight several issues of
interest to those seeking to understand organizational behavior, including motivation, justice, ethics, structure,
culture, personality, and organizationally relevant outcomes, such as turnover, productivity, and survival. Throughout
this text, you will learn how organizational challenges often cut across areas like these, so the systematic approach
pursued in this text and your course is essential.
BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Management and Organizational Behavior
A. Who’s Who in the World of Work
1. Worker: As an individual, member of work groups, teams, or organizations,
contributes to the accomplishment of work goals.
2. Manager: Someone who gets things done through other people. They make
decisions, allocate resources, and direct others’ activities to attain goals.
3. 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.
B. Management Activities
1. Although workers’ activities may also involve interacting and coordinating work with
other people, it is usually a much more significant component of managerial jobs. All
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
mynursytest.store
,ACCESS Test Bank for Organizational Behavior 19th Edition Robbins
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-2
managers perform four primary management functions: planning, organizing,
leading, and controlling.
C. Management Roles
1. Introduction
a. In the late 1960s, Henry Mintzberg studied five executives to determine what
managers did on their jobs. He concluded that managers perform ten different,
highly interrelated roles or sets of behaviors attributable to their jobs.
2. The ten roles can be grouped as being primarily concerned with interpersonal
relationships, the transfer of information, and decision making. (Exhibit 1-1)
a. Interpersonal Roles: Figurehead, Leader, Liaison
b. Informational Roles: Monitor, Disseminator, Spokesperson
c. Decisional Roles: Entrepreneur, Disturbance handlers, Resource allocator,
Negotiator role
D. Management Skills
1. Technical Skills: The ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. All jobs
require some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on
the job.
2. People Skills: Ability to work with, understand, and motivate other people, both
individually and in groups.
3. Conceptual Skills: The mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations.
E. Effective Versus Successful Managerial Activities
1. Luthans and his associates studied more than 450 managers. They found that all
managers engage in four managerial activities:
a. Traditional management
b. Communication
c. Human resource (HR) management
d. Networking
2. The “average” manager spent 32% of their time in traditional management activities,
29% communicating, 20% in HR management activities, and 19% networking.
F. Organizational Behavior (OB) Defined: OB is a field of study investigating the impact
that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations to apply
such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.
1. OB studies three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, groups, and
structure.
2. Successful managers are defined as those who were promoted the fastest.
(Exhibit 1-2)
II. Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study
A. Introduction
1. It is human nature to be a student of other people’s behavior. Reading others can
often lead to erroneous predictions, but using a systematic approach can improve
accuracy.
2. The systematic approach used in this book will uncover important facts and
relationships and provide a base from which more accurate predictions of behavior
can be made.
a. Systematic Study of Behavior: Generally, behavior is predictable if we know
how the person perceives the situation and what is important to them.
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
mynursytest.store
,ACCESS Test Bank for Organizational Behavior 19th Edition Robbins
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-3
b. Evidence-Based Management (EBM): Basing managerial decisions on the best
available scientific evidence. Complements systematic study. Argues for
managers to make decisions on evidence.
3. Intuition: An instinct feeling not necessarily supported by research.
4. Systematic study and EBM add to intuition, or those “gut feelings” about “why I do
what I do” and “what makes others tick.” The key is to know when to use intuition.
5. Many managers hold so-called commonsense opinions regarding effective
management that have been flatly refuted by empirical evidence. Moreover, managers
are often motivated to hold onto these beliefs even in the face of contradictory
evidence.
B. Building on Big Data With Artificial Intelligence
1. Background: Researchers, the media, and company leaders have identified the
potential of data-driven management and decision making. A manager who uses data
to define objectives, develop theories of causality, and test those theories can
determine which employee activities are relevant to their objectives.
2. Current Usage: The reasons for data analytics include predicting any event, detecting
how much risk is incurred at any time, and preventing large and small catastrophes.
3. New Trends: The use of Big Data to understand, help, and manage people is “as
ubiquitous as the air we breathe. Organizations are also beginning to focus on “fast
data,” actionable data to guide business decisions in real-time. Artificial intelligence,
robotics, and machine learning are among the most recent advancements for
processing and analyzing an organization’s information.
4. Limitations: As technological capabilities for handling big data and AI have
increased, so have privacy issues and appropriate applications of employees and
customers as data sources. Human behavior can also be unpredictable and elusive.
III. Disciplines That Contribute to the OB Field
A. Introduction
1. Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science that is built upon
contributions from several behavioral disciplines.
2. The predominant areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology, and
anthropology.
3. Exhibit 1-3 overviews the major contributions to the study of organizational behavior.
B. Psychology
1. Psychology is the science that seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the
behavior of humans and other animals.
C. Social Psychology
1. Social psychology blends the concepts of psychology and sociology.
D. Sociology
1. Sociologists study the social system in which individuals fill their roles; that is,
sociology studies people in relation to their fellow human beings.
E. Anthropology
1. Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their
activities.
IV. There Are Few Absolutes in OB
A. Introduction
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
mynursytest.store
, ACCESS Test Bank for Organizational Behavior 19th Edition Robbins
Chapter 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 1-4
1. There are few, if any, simple and universal principles that explain organizational
behavior.
2. Contingency variables—situational factors are variables that moderate the
relationship between the independent and dependent variables.
V. Challenges and Opportunities
A. Introduction
1. There are many challenges and opportunities today for managers to use OB concepts.
2. Employment options today have adapted to include new opportunities for workers.
(Exhibit 1-4)
B. Workforce Diversity and Inclusion
1. Workforce diversity recognizes that the workforce is heterogeneous in its gender
identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.
2. Workforce inclusion focuses on creating and maintaining workplaces that support
and leverage its members' diversity. An inclusive workplace is one in which workers
feel that they are involved in critical processes, feel welcomed and valued, and are
treated as “insiders.”
3. OB researchers study how people from diverse backgrounds fare in the workplace,
the unique challenges and benefits they experience, and how their conditions can be
improved.
C. Continuing Globalization
1. Globalization is the process in which worldwide integration and interdependence is
promoted across national borders.
2. Increased Foreign Assignments
a. Working with People from Different Cultures
b. Even in your own country, you will find yourself working with people born and
raised in different cultures. Managers working outside their own country need to
know the workforce's cultural norms in each country where they do business.
D. Technology and Social Media
1. While technology allows many employees to do their work at home or on the beach
in Tahiti, it also means that many feel like they are not part of a team or that they
must be “always-on.”
2. Given this significant technology adoption by both employees and organizations, a
focus on technologies (e.g., AI, social media, and remote work) will substantially
affect OB for years to come.
E. (Un)ethical Behavior
1. Unethical behavior is any action that violates widely accepted moral norms (e.g.,
lying, cheating, stealing, harming others). In contrast, ethical behavior meets or
exceeds widely accepted moral norms (e.g., following the rules, going above self-
interest to help others).
2. Companies that promote justice in how rewards and resources are allocated (i.e., the
equal treatment of all), how procedures are defined, how people are treated, and how
information is distributed can help improve worker perceptions of fairness.
F. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
1. CSR is an organization’s self-regulated actions to benefit society or the environment
beyond what is required by law.
Copyright © 2023 Pearson Education, Inc.
mynursytest.store
