Samenvatting hoorcolleges Gedrag en Communicatie in Organisaties
Lecture 1 Introduction BCO:
Lecture 1A
Lectures focus on selected themes of the various chapters providing additional
explanation.
Large parts of the book are not covered in the lectures but are part of the
literature for the exam.
Self-studying is therefore expected and required to pass the course.
So read the whole book!
For privacy reasons the Q&A sessions will not be recorded. You also should turn your
camera on during the Q&A session.
The workgroups are mandatory. If you fail the group assignment, you get assigned a
individual assignment, this will be graded with a maximum grade of 5.5 (See digital Exam
and Total Grade).
Digital exam and total grade:
The book (all parts and chapters): self studying required!
The scientific articles in the electronic reader
The lectures (including presented videos
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lecture 1B
An organization is: 'A system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of who or more
persons'. There are four common denominators:
Coordination effort
o Achieved by policies, rules and regulation
A common goal
Division of labour
o Individuals perform separate but related tasks to achieve the common
goal
Hierarchy of authority
o Chain of command dedicated to make sure that the right people do the
right things at the right time. This is often reflected in an organizational
chart.
Organizational Behaviour (OB) is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to better
understanding and managing people at work (H1, P6). OB indeed draws on knowledge from
different disciplines, but is it really interdisciplinary? But it does not really analyse, synthesize
and harmonize links between disciplines into a coordinated and coherent whole. It is neither
a discipline or interdisciplinary, perhaps multidisciplinary.
Scientific management
The goal with scientific management is creating standards established by facts or throughs
gained through systematic observation, experiment, or reasoning to improve organizational
efficiency. This is also referred to as Taylorism. Some principles of scientific management
were ground-breaking:
Scientific selection and training of people.
Scientific job redesign based on time-motion research.
o Reducing tasks to basic elements or motions and subsequently
redesigning tasks to reduce the number of elements and motions.
1
, Work was changed to make the job more efficient and to make the welfare better
for workers. It has a bad reputation, because it is mostly focused on work
efficiency, but it is not only that. It also made life better for workers.
The internet and social media revolution
Makes virtual organizations possible:
Organizations where people work (parly) independent of location supported by
ICT.
Examples:
o Teleworking in contact with central office
o Organizations without an office
o 'New World of Work'
People work independent of time and location supported by
ICT and special office design. Based on memo by Bill
Gates in 2005.
o The problem of this concept is, it is mostly used to safe office space
and money. For this concept you have to have a new building, new
technologies etc but most companies experience a lot of difficulties.
Working from home
Research says it is the most productive to work 2 to 3 days from home, and 2 to 3 days at
the office. Research has shown that working from home is more productive, but it all has to
do with trust. A manager needs to trust him employee with working from home to do their
work. The biggest problem with working from home, is that people work to much. Nobody
tells them to stop working so people work way more then they normally would.
Working from home is not for everybody. It can lead to a more divide. Specially highly
educated jobs can do it, and very low educated jobs can do it like call centre work. This could
result in a divide.
Working from home can change whole towns, how they look like. If people work from home,
companies don't need very big buildings and stuff like that. So that can change the way city's
and towns look like.
At the moment, about 40% of the people is working from home. 15% expects to keep
working from home full time after the pandemic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lecture 1C
Diversity
Definition: Represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among
people. Based on four different layers:
Personality
Internal (surface-level) dimensions.
External (secondary) dimensions.
Organizational dimensions.
The positive and negative effects of diverse work environments. There are two perspectives:
Diversity is good for workgroups:
o Information/decision-making Theory
Diversity is bad for workgroups:
o Social categorization Theory.
2
,Information/decision-making Theory.
Proposes that diverse workgroups should outperform homogenous workgroups because of
more informational diversity:
Diverse groups are expected to do a better job in earlier phases of problem
solving.
o Because they are more likely to use their diverse background to
generate a more comprehensive view of a problem.
The existence of diverse perspectives can help groups to brainstorm or uncover
more novel alternatives during problem-solving activities.
Diversity can enhance the number of contact a group or work unit has at its
disposal.
Research on decision making provides evidence for this position.
Social Categorization Theory:
Proposes that similarities and differences are used as a basis for categorizing self and others
into groups, resulting in group dynamics with negative consequences for workgroups.
Creates 'us (ingroup)' vs 'them (outgroup)' mentality
o Liking ingroup members, disliking outgroup members
o Ingroup bias/favouritism and outgroup discrimination
o Conflict between ingroup and outgroup members.
Research on group dynamics provides evidence for this position. For example, research with
the so-called minimal group paradigm.
Minimal group paradigm there are two groups formed based on an arbitrary criterium, for
example preference for painters. Group members are then asked to divide outcomes among
ingroup versus outgroup members. You see that fellow group members are threatened more
nicer then outgroup members. Even though they don't know each other.
A Process Model of Diversity
The negative effects of group dynamics are stronger when 'fault lines' are more salient.
Making social categorization more likely. Fault lines are hypothetical dividing lines that may
split a group into subgroups based on one or more attributes.
How can we solve this? Make fault lines less salient by team composition. Strengthen the
overarching identity of the team.
3
, Defining organizational culture
Set of shared, taken-for0granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines
how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its various environments.
Passed on to new employees through the process of socialization
Influences our behaviour at work.
Organizational culture is represented on different levels:
Observable artifacts
o Consist of the physical manifestation of an organization's culture.
Manner of dress, myths and stories
Espoused values
o Explicitly stated values and norms that are preferred by an
organization.
International Organizational Behaviour
Expatriates are people who work in different countries. Cultural differences may lead to
culture shock. Anxiety and doubt caused by an overload of new expectations and cues.
Between 10% and 20% of all managers sent abroad return early because of job
dissatisfaction or difficulties in adjusting to foreign countries.
Lecture 2 Individuals in Organizations I: Attitudes and Behavior:
Lecture 2A
What is a self-concept:
The concept the individual has of himself or herself.
Important parts of one's self-concept:
o Self-esteem
o Self-efficacy
o Self-monitoring
o Organizational identification and commitment to organizations
Self-esteem is the belief about one's own self worth based on an overall self-evaluation.
Can also be specific: social, performance and appearance self-esteem.
Striving for a positive self-evaluation is seen as one of the most important motives
for human behaviour.
How can you enhance you self-esteem? Make it higher/lower?
o Favourable comparisons with others can increase one's self-esteem.
So-called downward social comparisons.
o Unfavourable comparisons with others pose a threat to one's self-
esteem. So-called upward social comparisons.
o So you should make downward social comparisons to make you feel
better about yourself! But… Upward social comparisons an increase
motivation by strengthening self-efficacy beliefs
Self-efficacy is a person's belief about his chances of successfully accomplishing a specific
task. What are sources for self-efficacy beliefs?
Prior experience.
o Feedback on task performance
Behaviour models.
o If you look at others doing tasks, you think i can do it.
o Observing others performing tasks
o upward social comparisons of task outcomes
Persuasion from others
o Direct encouragements
4
Lecture 1 Introduction BCO:
Lecture 1A
Lectures focus on selected themes of the various chapters providing additional
explanation.
Large parts of the book are not covered in the lectures but are part of the
literature for the exam.
Self-studying is therefore expected and required to pass the course.
So read the whole book!
For privacy reasons the Q&A sessions will not be recorded. You also should turn your
camera on during the Q&A session.
The workgroups are mandatory. If you fail the group assignment, you get assigned a
individual assignment, this will be graded with a maximum grade of 5.5 (See digital Exam
and Total Grade).
Digital exam and total grade:
The book (all parts and chapters): self studying required!
The scientific articles in the electronic reader
The lectures (including presented videos
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lecture 1B
An organization is: 'A system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of who or more
persons'. There are four common denominators:
Coordination effort
o Achieved by policies, rules and regulation
A common goal
Division of labour
o Individuals perform separate but related tasks to achieve the common
goal
Hierarchy of authority
o Chain of command dedicated to make sure that the right people do the
right things at the right time. This is often reflected in an organizational
chart.
Organizational Behaviour (OB) is an interdisciplinary field dedicated to better
understanding and managing people at work (H1, P6). OB indeed draws on knowledge from
different disciplines, but is it really interdisciplinary? But it does not really analyse, synthesize
and harmonize links between disciplines into a coordinated and coherent whole. It is neither
a discipline or interdisciplinary, perhaps multidisciplinary.
Scientific management
The goal with scientific management is creating standards established by facts or throughs
gained through systematic observation, experiment, or reasoning to improve organizational
efficiency. This is also referred to as Taylorism. Some principles of scientific management
were ground-breaking:
Scientific selection and training of people.
Scientific job redesign based on time-motion research.
o Reducing tasks to basic elements or motions and subsequently
redesigning tasks to reduce the number of elements and motions.
1
, Work was changed to make the job more efficient and to make the welfare better
for workers. It has a bad reputation, because it is mostly focused on work
efficiency, but it is not only that. It also made life better for workers.
The internet and social media revolution
Makes virtual organizations possible:
Organizations where people work (parly) independent of location supported by
ICT.
Examples:
o Teleworking in contact with central office
o Organizations without an office
o 'New World of Work'
People work independent of time and location supported by
ICT and special office design. Based on memo by Bill
Gates in 2005.
o The problem of this concept is, it is mostly used to safe office space
and money. For this concept you have to have a new building, new
technologies etc but most companies experience a lot of difficulties.
Working from home
Research says it is the most productive to work 2 to 3 days from home, and 2 to 3 days at
the office. Research has shown that working from home is more productive, but it all has to
do with trust. A manager needs to trust him employee with working from home to do their
work. The biggest problem with working from home, is that people work to much. Nobody
tells them to stop working so people work way more then they normally would.
Working from home is not for everybody. It can lead to a more divide. Specially highly
educated jobs can do it, and very low educated jobs can do it like call centre work. This could
result in a divide.
Working from home can change whole towns, how they look like. If people work from home,
companies don't need very big buildings and stuff like that. So that can change the way city's
and towns look like.
At the moment, about 40% of the people is working from home. 15% expects to keep
working from home full time after the pandemic.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lecture 1C
Diversity
Definition: Represents the multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among
people. Based on four different layers:
Personality
Internal (surface-level) dimensions.
External (secondary) dimensions.
Organizational dimensions.
The positive and negative effects of diverse work environments. There are two perspectives:
Diversity is good for workgroups:
o Information/decision-making Theory
Diversity is bad for workgroups:
o Social categorization Theory.
2
,Information/decision-making Theory.
Proposes that diverse workgroups should outperform homogenous workgroups because of
more informational diversity:
Diverse groups are expected to do a better job in earlier phases of problem
solving.
o Because they are more likely to use their diverse background to
generate a more comprehensive view of a problem.
The existence of diverse perspectives can help groups to brainstorm or uncover
more novel alternatives during problem-solving activities.
Diversity can enhance the number of contact a group or work unit has at its
disposal.
Research on decision making provides evidence for this position.
Social Categorization Theory:
Proposes that similarities and differences are used as a basis for categorizing self and others
into groups, resulting in group dynamics with negative consequences for workgroups.
Creates 'us (ingroup)' vs 'them (outgroup)' mentality
o Liking ingroup members, disliking outgroup members
o Ingroup bias/favouritism and outgroup discrimination
o Conflict between ingroup and outgroup members.
Research on group dynamics provides evidence for this position. For example, research with
the so-called minimal group paradigm.
Minimal group paradigm there are two groups formed based on an arbitrary criterium, for
example preference for painters. Group members are then asked to divide outcomes among
ingroup versus outgroup members. You see that fellow group members are threatened more
nicer then outgroup members. Even though they don't know each other.
A Process Model of Diversity
The negative effects of group dynamics are stronger when 'fault lines' are more salient.
Making social categorization more likely. Fault lines are hypothetical dividing lines that may
split a group into subgroups based on one or more attributes.
How can we solve this? Make fault lines less salient by team composition. Strengthen the
overarching identity of the team.
3
, Defining organizational culture
Set of shared, taken-for0granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines
how it perceives, thinks about and reacts to its various environments.
Passed on to new employees through the process of socialization
Influences our behaviour at work.
Organizational culture is represented on different levels:
Observable artifacts
o Consist of the physical manifestation of an organization's culture.
Manner of dress, myths and stories
Espoused values
o Explicitly stated values and norms that are preferred by an
organization.
International Organizational Behaviour
Expatriates are people who work in different countries. Cultural differences may lead to
culture shock. Anxiety and doubt caused by an overload of new expectations and cues.
Between 10% and 20% of all managers sent abroad return early because of job
dissatisfaction or difficulties in adjusting to foreign countries.
Lecture 2 Individuals in Organizations I: Attitudes and Behavior:
Lecture 2A
What is a self-concept:
The concept the individual has of himself or herself.
Important parts of one's self-concept:
o Self-esteem
o Self-efficacy
o Self-monitoring
o Organizational identification and commitment to organizations
Self-esteem is the belief about one's own self worth based on an overall self-evaluation.
Can also be specific: social, performance and appearance self-esteem.
Striving for a positive self-evaluation is seen as one of the most important motives
for human behaviour.
How can you enhance you self-esteem? Make it higher/lower?
o Favourable comparisons with others can increase one's self-esteem.
So-called downward social comparisons.
o Unfavourable comparisons with others pose a threat to one's self-
esteem. So-called upward social comparisons.
o So you should make downward social comparisons to make you feel
better about yourself! But… Upward social comparisons an increase
motivation by strengthening self-efficacy beliefs
Self-efficacy is a person's belief about his chances of successfully accomplishing a specific
task. What are sources for self-efficacy beliefs?
Prior experience.
o Feedback on task performance
Behaviour models.
o If you look at others doing tasks, you think i can do it.
o Observing others performing tasks
o upward social comparisons of task outcomes
Persuasion from others
o Direct encouragements
4
