RESIT EXAMS NOTES AND SUMMARIES: Organizational Behavior
Introduction:
OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
structures have on behavior within an organization for the purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness.
In the long-run understanding organizational behavior helps generate superior financial
performance, attract and keep high performing employees. Moreover, there is a very strong
relation between quality of workplace and job satisfaction & stress and turnover which can be
analyzed using OB.
Within an organization, managers have a very important role when it comes to its smooth
functioning. It is therefore important to mention that effective and successful managers can
be distinguished from one another.
Managerial activities are all studied within OB and are characterized by four different
categories. Firstly there is traditional management which includes decision making, planning
and controlling. Secondly, comes Communication which defines the exchange of routine info
and processing paperwork. Furthermore there is HR which takes care of motivating,
managing conflict and training employees. Finally there is networking englobes socializing,
politicking and interacting with people outside the work environment in question.
When studying organizational behavior, it is important to understand that to achieve a deeper
understanding of employees' behavior within an organization, it is important to combine
intuition with evidence-based data. To achieve a better understanding of OB, there is a
basic organizational behavior model that helps analyze any organization. It is divided into
three different categories ( input, process, outcomes) and 3 different levels ( individual,
group and organizational). (INSERT TABLEAU)
There are 4 disciplines that contribute to the OB field on different levels. Psychology
on an individual level, Social psychology on a group level, sociology on a group and an
organizational level and finally anthropology solely on an organizational level. It is important
to understand that there are few absolutes in OB because this field reflects situational
conditions (contingencies). OB presents in front of many challenges and opportunities which
, include the economic pressure, the continuing globalization, workforce diversity and
demographics, globalization, customer service and many more.
OB & Attitudes :
Attitudes can be characterized in five different categories. Firstly, there is job
involvement which showcases how much a person identifies with their job and how much it
represents them as a person. The second category is psychological empowerment which
defines any person that feels like they have power and influence through their job and in their
work environment. It is also defined by your confidence in your abilities to do things.
Moreover, organizational commitment is how much a person identifies with the organization
they work in and its goals and values. A person can be emotionally attached to the org. they
can stay out of convenience (continuance commitment) or because they feel obligated to stay
(normative commitment). It is important to note that Org. commitment usually depends on
intrinsic factors rather than exterior ones. Another category is “perceived org support” which
puts forward how much a person feels valued and supported in their organization and finally
there is employee engagement which showcases how enthusiastic a person is about their
work. Low engagement usually means low performance which leads to a higher turnover.
Attitudes are highly correlated to behavior. An attitude is an evaluative statement that
reflects how a person feels about something. It is separated into three different components:
Firstly, the cognitive component which reflects description or belief in the way things are.
The second component is the affective component which reflects emotions and feelings.
Finally, the last component is the behavioral component which reflects intentions to behave in
a certain way towards someone or something.
As previously mentioned, attitude and behavior are strongly linked because if employees are
satisfied they will perform better which generally means that attitude determines behavior.
However, there are certain cases in which there is an incompatibility between those factors.
This specific case is called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance can be reduced either
by changing our behavior, changing our attitude or rationalizing the situation we are in.
Introduction:
OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and
structures have on behavior within an organization for the purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness.
In the long-run understanding organizational behavior helps generate superior financial
performance, attract and keep high performing employees. Moreover, there is a very strong
relation between quality of workplace and job satisfaction & stress and turnover which can be
analyzed using OB.
Within an organization, managers have a very important role when it comes to its smooth
functioning. It is therefore important to mention that effective and successful managers can
be distinguished from one another.
Managerial activities are all studied within OB and are characterized by four different
categories. Firstly there is traditional management which includes decision making, planning
and controlling. Secondly, comes Communication which defines the exchange of routine info
and processing paperwork. Furthermore there is HR which takes care of motivating,
managing conflict and training employees. Finally there is networking englobes socializing,
politicking and interacting with people outside the work environment in question.
When studying organizational behavior, it is important to understand that to achieve a deeper
understanding of employees' behavior within an organization, it is important to combine
intuition with evidence-based data. To achieve a better understanding of OB, there is a
basic organizational behavior model that helps analyze any organization. It is divided into
three different categories ( input, process, outcomes) and 3 different levels ( individual,
group and organizational). (INSERT TABLEAU)
There are 4 disciplines that contribute to the OB field on different levels. Psychology
on an individual level, Social psychology on a group level, sociology on a group and an
organizational level and finally anthropology solely on an organizational level. It is important
to understand that there are few absolutes in OB because this field reflects situational
conditions (contingencies). OB presents in front of many challenges and opportunities which
, include the economic pressure, the continuing globalization, workforce diversity and
demographics, globalization, customer service and many more.
OB & Attitudes :
Attitudes can be characterized in five different categories. Firstly, there is job
involvement which showcases how much a person identifies with their job and how much it
represents them as a person. The second category is psychological empowerment which
defines any person that feels like they have power and influence through their job and in their
work environment. It is also defined by your confidence in your abilities to do things.
Moreover, organizational commitment is how much a person identifies with the organization
they work in and its goals and values. A person can be emotionally attached to the org. they
can stay out of convenience (continuance commitment) or because they feel obligated to stay
(normative commitment). It is important to note that Org. commitment usually depends on
intrinsic factors rather than exterior ones. Another category is “perceived org support” which
puts forward how much a person feels valued and supported in their organization and finally
there is employee engagement which showcases how enthusiastic a person is about their
work. Low engagement usually means low performance which leads to a higher turnover.
Attitudes are highly correlated to behavior. An attitude is an evaluative statement that
reflects how a person feels about something. It is separated into three different components:
Firstly, the cognitive component which reflects description or belief in the way things are.
The second component is the affective component which reflects emotions and feelings.
Finally, the last component is the behavioral component which reflects intentions to behave in
a certain way towards someone or something.
As previously mentioned, attitude and behavior are strongly linked because if employees are
satisfied they will perform better which generally means that attitude determines behavior.
However, there are certain cases in which there is an incompatibility between those factors.
This specific case is called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance can be reduced either
by changing our behavior, changing our attitude or rationalizing the situation we are in.
