1- Understanding and Managing Behaviour in
Organisations
Organisational Behaviour
• “The study of individuals and groups in organisations” (French et al., 2015) to
try and maximize their potential and increase performance through motivation
• Organisations are mechanisms through which many people, as a team, combine
their efforts and work together to accomplish a common objective, one than any
one person could alone
• 20% of all human performance problems are attributable to the individual. 80%
is attributable to the work environment (Rothwell)
Dimensions of ‘good work’ (Wright et al., 2018) and what
quality of work leads to
Pay and benefits Fairly rewarded (Tayloristic perspective)
Contracts Security
Job design and nature of work Opportunities for personal and
professional development
Work-life balance Flexibility
Relationships at work Supportive environment with
constructive relationships
Voice and representation Two-sided communication
Health and well-being Physically and mentally healthy
• Successfully delivering on this, contributes substantially to people’s quality of
life à manager’s responsibility
o Highly engaged employees are on average 50% more likely to exceed
expectations and companies outperform (Hay Group)
• Dimensions of ‘good work’ are a good starting point, however, prioritizing one
or the other may vary across individuals depending on culture, age, etc.
Additionally, organisations need to further analyse what entails a ‘good work’ to
further improve employee well-being.
• Porter (2003) argues that for quality work to be a reality governments need to
establish policies at all levels as well as increasing advice and support to small
firms
o The UK Gov. is committed to creating ‘Good Work’ as highlighted in
the 2017: Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices
o The Equality Act (2010) consolidates prior legislation and offers
protection from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics
(Gender, Age, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Disability, Marital status, Race,
Religion)
• The Performance Equation
o Positive job performance is related to employee attributes, work effort
and organisational support (T&D)
• Emotional Intelligence
1
, o Research has argued that leader’s emotional intelligence is essential to
design ‘good work’ practices and is not taken into account in the
performance equation
o Emotional Intelligence is a measure of psychological well-being and
adaption (Goleman)
o This concept contributes to Seligman theory on the importance of being
positive to achieve effective performance
• Psychological contract
o The psychological contract (relationship between the employer and
employee) is extremely relevant for ‘good work’
o A positive psychological contract leads to engagement and motivation.
When an employee wants to quit, it is because of a violation of the
psychological contract
o Netflix has adopted regular check-ins to ensure expectations on both
sides of the psychological contract are met.
• Sunday Times
o Every year the Sunday Times produces its annual list of the ‘100 best
companies to work for’ à Factors affecting results include: Leadership,
well-being, manager, team, fairness, company, development and giving
back to society
• Google
o Identified the importance of providing ‘good work’.
§ Pay and benefits:
• Free massage credit for job well done
• Offer 50% 401k match up
• Lifelong perks
§ Contracts:
• Google death benefits: If a Googler passes away while
working there, their surviving spouse continues to get half
of the Googler’s salary for the next 10 years + an
additional 1000/month for every children
§ Job design:
• Each Googler is allowed and encouraged to pick out three
books of a selection of books as gift
• Learning foreign languages for free
§ Work-life balance:
• Freedom with guidelines deadlines and open door policy
management
• New dads receive 12 weeks of paid leave and moms can
take 22 weeks
§ Relationship at work:
• Collective activities such as volleyball, soccer and
basketball tournaments
§ Voice and representation:
• HR routine meetings with staff
• 360 feedback mechanisms
§ Health and well-being:
• Meditation rooms
• Sport activities
2
, • Health centres
• Free healthy meals
• Private lake
• Pets are welcome
o Google as an organisation that ensures ‘good work’ has proven that
adapting this strategy leads to increase in productivity, lower staff
turnover, higher job satisfaction, motivation, involvement and
commitment. Achieve a competitive advantage
• Apple
o Instead of promising work-life balance, Apple emphasises on hard work.
Instead of promising career progression, Apple’s concept is for
employees to develop their own career. By doing this, they push
employees to the limit, without showing them how to reach it. However,
the strategy seems to work as from the beginning workers know what to
expect through various channels of communication.
• Bio-philia
o Design that brings nature to workplace, creating healthier workplaces
and happier employees, workplace inspiration, health and productivity
o Studies in Japan (Park et al., 2010) found that walking through forests
atmospheres decrease stress hormone levels, fall in blood pressure and
heart rate compared to walking through urban areas
o Elezyadi (2001) demonstrated how biophilic environments can decrease
absenteeism, increase staff retention and improve job performance
o Bank of America in New York designed their workplace so that more
than 80% of occupants have a view outside. Enhanced the building with
plants, such as trees and the use of natural materials like stone on walls,
visible fossils, bamboo ceiling and wood grain handles
Future trends in OB (CIPD)
à Successful organisations cannot be static and must evolve and adapt to external
trends and pressures
• Globalisation
o Can be considered as the process of integration of markets, goods and
capital around the world, which eliminates or reduces barriers to
international trade and investments
o International careers are becoming more commonplace, which requires
many new skills and competencies to be effective in the globalised
marketplace (polycentric mind-set) à International experience is
becoming a pre-requisite for career progression to many top-level
management positions
o Volume of goods and services traded globally has increased more than
fivefold since 1980 (CIPD)
o Workforce mobility increase à expatriates
§ 80% of midsized companies currently send professionals abroad
and 45% plan to increase the number (CIPD)
§ Millennials increasingly expect to take part in overseas
assignments to help meet their career ambitions (CIPD)
3
, § Nokia
• Technology
o IBM, showed that 71% of CEOs see technological development as the
most critical factor that could impact their organisations in the future
§ Taylor argues that technology can and should be used
progressively to enhance work quality, however, they can also
lead to increased control and reduction of autonomy and
discretion at work with the risk of deskilling jobs. The
introduction of new technologies almost always eliminates some
jobs. However, can also boost employment and skills
• Automatization: HR will have to identify essential human
skills that can’t be replaced by automation technology
o Allows flexibility and new communication channels
§ Global connection, meetings, calls, etc.
§ Internet based solutions
§ Tele-working allowing flexibility
§ Big data analysis
§ AI for 360-degree feedback
§ New media
§ Recruitment and selection
• Only interviews and assessments (Goldman Sachs)
• Social media to recruit
• LinkedIn - Deloitte
• Snapchat quick application - McDonalds)
• AI to remove bias from the recruitment process
(Amazon)
• Diversity
o Co-existence of people from various socio-cultural backgrounds
• Gender
o Rise in women changing corporate culture to become less macho
o More equal child-sharing
• Psychological contract
o Changing nature of relationships between employer and employee à
need for new types of employment relationships to meet the needs of
generations X and Y and cultures (Guest, 2004; Jepsen, 2009)
• Demographic
o Millennials
o By 2020, 75% of the workforce will be Millennial (CIPD)
o Different preferences
§ Younger generations increasingly value work-life balance.
Seeking a greater variety of incentives for their work
contribution. Employers cannot and should not expect the same
degree of loyalty as in the past
o Multi-generational teams as a result of rising age
• Training and development
o Life-long learning
• Employment rights and regulations
o Equality Act (2010)
o Taylor Review
4
Organisations
Organisational Behaviour
• “The study of individuals and groups in organisations” (French et al., 2015) to
try and maximize their potential and increase performance through motivation
• Organisations are mechanisms through which many people, as a team, combine
their efforts and work together to accomplish a common objective, one than any
one person could alone
• 20% of all human performance problems are attributable to the individual. 80%
is attributable to the work environment (Rothwell)
Dimensions of ‘good work’ (Wright et al., 2018) and what
quality of work leads to
Pay and benefits Fairly rewarded (Tayloristic perspective)
Contracts Security
Job design and nature of work Opportunities for personal and
professional development
Work-life balance Flexibility
Relationships at work Supportive environment with
constructive relationships
Voice and representation Two-sided communication
Health and well-being Physically and mentally healthy
• Successfully delivering on this, contributes substantially to people’s quality of
life à manager’s responsibility
o Highly engaged employees are on average 50% more likely to exceed
expectations and companies outperform (Hay Group)
• Dimensions of ‘good work’ are a good starting point, however, prioritizing one
or the other may vary across individuals depending on culture, age, etc.
Additionally, organisations need to further analyse what entails a ‘good work’ to
further improve employee well-being.
• Porter (2003) argues that for quality work to be a reality governments need to
establish policies at all levels as well as increasing advice and support to small
firms
o The UK Gov. is committed to creating ‘Good Work’ as highlighted in
the 2017: Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices
o The Equality Act (2010) consolidates prior legislation and offers
protection from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics
(Gender, Age, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Disability, Marital status, Race,
Religion)
• The Performance Equation
o Positive job performance is related to employee attributes, work effort
and organisational support (T&D)
• Emotional Intelligence
1
, o Research has argued that leader’s emotional intelligence is essential to
design ‘good work’ practices and is not taken into account in the
performance equation
o Emotional Intelligence is a measure of psychological well-being and
adaption (Goleman)
o This concept contributes to Seligman theory on the importance of being
positive to achieve effective performance
• Psychological contract
o The psychological contract (relationship between the employer and
employee) is extremely relevant for ‘good work’
o A positive psychological contract leads to engagement and motivation.
When an employee wants to quit, it is because of a violation of the
psychological contract
o Netflix has adopted regular check-ins to ensure expectations on both
sides of the psychological contract are met.
• Sunday Times
o Every year the Sunday Times produces its annual list of the ‘100 best
companies to work for’ à Factors affecting results include: Leadership,
well-being, manager, team, fairness, company, development and giving
back to society
o Identified the importance of providing ‘good work’.
§ Pay and benefits:
• Free massage credit for job well done
• Offer 50% 401k match up
• Lifelong perks
§ Contracts:
• Google death benefits: If a Googler passes away while
working there, their surviving spouse continues to get half
of the Googler’s salary for the next 10 years + an
additional 1000/month for every children
§ Job design:
• Each Googler is allowed and encouraged to pick out three
books of a selection of books as gift
• Learning foreign languages for free
§ Work-life balance:
• Freedom with guidelines deadlines and open door policy
management
• New dads receive 12 weeks of paid leave and moms can
take 22 weeks
§ Relationship at work:
• Collective activities such as volleyball, soccer and
basketball tournaments
§ Voice and representation:
• HR routine meetings with staff
• 360 feedback mechanisms
§ Health and well-being:
• Meditation rooms
• Sport activities
2
, • Health centres
• Free healthy meals
• Private lake
• Pets are welcome
o Google as an organisation that ensures ‘good work’ has proven that
adapting this strategy leads to increase in productivity, lower staff
turnover, higher job satisfaction, motivation, involvement and
commitment. Achieve a competitive advantage
• Apple
o Instead of promising work-life balance, Apple emphasises on hard work.
Instead of promising career progression, Apple’s concept is for
employees to develop their own career. By doing this, they push
employees to the limit, without showing them how to reach it. However,
the strategy seems to work as from the beginning workers know what to
expect through various channels of communication.
• Bio-philia
o Design that brings nature to workplace, creating healthier workplaces
and happier employees, workplace inspiration, health and productivity
o Studies in Japan (Park et al., 2010) found that walking through forests
atmospheres decrease stress hormone levels, fall in blood pressure and
heart rate compared to walking through urban areas
o Elezyadi (2001) demonstrated how biophilic environments can decrease
absenteeism, increase staff retention and improve job performance
o Bank of America in New York designed their workplace so that more
than 80% of occupants have a view outside. Enhanced the building with
plants, such as trees and the use of natural materials like stone on walls,
visible fossils, bamboo ceiling and wood grain handles
Future trends in OB (CIPD)
à Successful organisations cannot be static and must evolve and adapt to external
trends and pressures
• Globalisation
o Can be considered as the process of integration of markets, goods and
capital around the world, which eliminates or reduces barriers to
international trade and investments
o International careers are becoming more commonplace, which requires
many new skills and competencies to be effective in the globalised
marketplace (polycentric mind-set) à International experience is
becoming a pre-requisite for career progression to many top-level
management positions
o Volume of goods and services traded globally has increased more than
fivefold since 1980 (CIPD)
o Workforce mobility increase à expatriates
§ 80% of midsized companies currently send professionals abroad
and 45% plan to increase the number (CIPD)
§ Millennials increasingly expect to take part in overseas
assignments to help meet their career ambitions (CIPD)
3
, § Nokia
• Technology
o IBM, showed that 71% of CEOs see technological development as the
most critical factor that could impact their organisations in the future
§ Taylor argues that technology can and should be used
progressively to enhance work quality, however, they can also
lead to increased control and reduction of autonomy and
discretion at work with the risk of deskilling jobs. The
introduction of new technologies almost always eliminates some
jobs. However, can also boost employment and skills
• Automatization: HR will have to identify essential human
skills that can’t be replaced by automation technology
o Allows flexibility and new communication channels
§ Global connection, meetings, calls, etc.
§ Internet based solutions
§ Tele-working allowing flexibility
§ Big data analysis
§ AI for 360-degree feedback
§ New media
§ Recruitment and selection
• Only interviews and assessments (Goldman Sachs)
• Social media to recruit
• LinkedIn - Deloitte
• Snapchat quick application - McDonalds)
• AI to remove bias from the recruitment process
(Amazon)
• Diversity
o Co-existence of people from various socio-cultural backgrounds
• Gender
o Rise in women changing corporate culture to become less macho
o More equal child-sharing
• Psychological contract
o Changing nature of relationships between employer and employee à
need for new types of employment relationships to meet the needs of
generations X and Y and cultures (Guest, 2004; Jepsen, 2009)
• Demographic
o Millennials
o By 2020, 75% of the workforce will be Millennial (CIPD)
o Different preferences
§ Younger generations increasingly value work-life balance.
Seeking a greater variety of incentives for their work
contribution. Employers cannot and should not expect the same
degree of loyalty as in the past
o Multi-generational teams as a result of rising age
• Training and development
o Life-long learning
• Employment rights and regulations
o Equality Act (2010)
o Taylor Review
4
