1 - Organisational behaviour (OB)
The quest for people-centred organisation and ethical conduct.
People-centred organisation includes (package deal):
1. Job security (to eliminate fear of layoffs)
2. Careful hiring (emphasizing a good fit with the company culture)
3. Power to the people (via decentralization and self-managed teams)
4. Generous pay for performance
5. Lots of training
6. Less emphasis on status (build ‘we’ feeling)
7. Trust building (through sharing critical information)
Organisation: system of consciously coordinated activities/forces of two or more people → social invention to help achieve things
collectively that couldn’t be done alone.
Organisational behaviour: interdisciplinary field dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work. → Individual,
group, and organisational level of analysis.
Historical perspective:
Human relations movement: The beginning of realising the powerful effect that individual needs, supportive supervision, and
group dynamics had on job performance → eventually more humane work environments
McGregor theory X: assumptions were pessimistic and typical of how managers perceived employees.
McGregor theory Y: Modern and positive set of assumptions about employees being responsible and creative.
Quality movement: improve quality or lose business to other better companies.
Total Quality Management (TQM): organisational culture dedicated to training, continuous improvement, and a customer
satisfaction resulting in high-quality products and services. Four principles:
1. Do it right the first time to eliminate costly rework and product recalls
2. Listen to and learn from customers and employees
3. Make continuous improvement an everyday matter
4. Build teamwork, trust, and mutual respect
Deming’s thoughts on how to treat employees (Deming legacy):
Formal training in statistical process control techniques and teamwork
Helpful leadership > order giving and punishment
Elimination of fear
Emphasis on continuous process improvements.
Teamwork
Elimination of barriers to good workmanship
85-15 rule: fault 85% by machinery, 15% employees.
E-business revolution: running the entire business via the internet. Issues:
More access to information and each other, which changes the nature and content of interactions.
Leadership migrates to lower levels and out through the boundaries of the organisation to customers and suppliers
Networks go across traditional organisational and community boundaries
Followers know more in earlier stages of decision-making process → affects credibility and influence of leaders
Unethical leaders can negatively impact a broader audience
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 1
, Amount of time and contact with each other has increased.
Need to build human and social capital: using knowledge workers → perfect storm of trends that heightens the importance and
urgency of building human capital:
Spread of advanced technology to developing countries.
Offshoring of increasingly sophisticated jobs
Comparatively poor math and science skills
Massive brain drain caused by retiring post WW2 generation.
Human capital: Productive potential of one’s knowledge and actions (creativity, knowledge, enthusiasm)
Social capital: Productive potential resulting from strong, trusting and cooperative relationships (trust, teamwork, shared
goals/values).
Growth depends on the timely sharing of valuable knowledge.
Management: Process of working with and through others to achieve organisational objectives, efficiently and ethically, amid
constant change.
Wilson’s 11 managerial skills profile (in tune with today’s emphasis on managerial competency)
It yields four useful lessons:
Dealing effectively with people is what management is about.
High skills mastery leads to better subunit performance and employee moral
No difference in gender skill proficiency
Derailed managers overestimated their skill mastery.
Evolution of the 21-st century manager
Contingency approach: using management tools and techniques in a situationally appropriate manner; avoiding the one-best-way
mentality. → view organisational behaviour within situational contexts.
By OB providing insights in managing human work behaviour, it can teach about avoiding misbehaviour.
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 2
, Ethics: study of moral issues and choices.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Corporations have an obligation to constituent groups in society other than following the
law and making profit.
Caroll’s global SCR pyramid
From bottom up:
Make a profit consistent with expectations for international businesses
Obey the law of host countries and international law
Be ethical in its practices, taking standards into considerations
Be a good corporate citizen as expected by host-country.
Pressure-cooker atmosphere can result in unethical shortcuts by employees to please their boss.
General erosion of morality
Taking local norms and conduct into consideration
Ethical lapses in the workplace
Intense pressure for results starts early → act unethically but ‘look good’ for the boss.
Seven moral principles for managers
The goal for managers should be to rely on moral principles so the decisions are principled, appropriate, and defensible.
1. Dignity for human life
2. Autonomy
3. Honesty
4. Loyalty
5. Fairness
6. Humanness
7. The common good
How to improve an organisation’s ethical climate
Behave ethically yourself
Screen potential employees
Developing a meaningful code of ethics
1. Distributed to every employee
2. Firmly supported by top management
3. Refer to specific practices and dilemmas
4. Evenly enforced
Provide ethics training
Reinforce ethical behaviour
Create positions to deal with ethics
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 3
, Create climate where whistle-blowing is unnecessary → whistle-blowing: reporting unethical/illegal acts to outside third
parties.
Personal call to action: be morally attentive: faithfully considering the ethical implications of one’s actions and wanting to do
the right thing.
Five sources of OB research insights:
Meta-analysis: Pools the results of many studies through statistical procedure
Field study: examination of variables in real-life settings
Laboratory studies: manipulation and measurement of variables in contrived situations
Sample survey: Questionnaire responses from a sample of people
Case study: In-depth study of a single person, group, or organisation.
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 4
The quest for people-centred organisation and ethical conduct.
People-centred organisation includes (package deal):
1. Job security (to eliminate fear of layoffs)
2. Careful hiring (emphasizing a good fit with the company culture)
3. Power to the people (via decentralization and self-managed teams)
4. Generous pay for performance
5. Lots of training
6. Less emphasis on status (build ‘we’ feeling)
7. Trust building (through sharing critical information)
Organisation: system of consciously coordinated activities/forces of two or more people → social invention to help achieve things
collectively that couldn’t be done alone.
Organisational behaviour: interdisciplinary field dedicated to better understanding and managing people at work. → Individual,
group, and organisational level of analysis.
Historical perspective:
Human relations movement: The beginning of realising the powerful effect that individual needs, supportive supervision, and
group dynamics had on job performance → eventually more humane work environments
McGregor theory X: assumptions were pessimistic and typical of how managers perceived employees.
McGregor theory Y: Modern and positive set of assumptions about employees being responsible and creative.
Quality movement: improve quality or lose business to other better companies.
Total Quality Management (TQM): organisational culture dedicated to training, continuous improvement, and a customer
satisfaction resulting in high-quality products and services. Four principles:
1. Do it right the first time to eliminate costly rework and product recalls
2. Listen to and learn from customers and employees
3. Make continuous improvement an everyday matter
4. Build teamwork, trust, and mutual respect
Deming’s thoughts on how to treat employees (Deming legacy):
Formal training in statistical process control techniques and teamwork
Helpful leadership > order giving and punishment
Elimination of fear
Emphasis on continuous process improvements.
Teamwork
Elimination of barriers to good workmanship
85-15 rule: fault 85% by machinery, 15% employees.
E-business revolution: running the entire business via the internet. Issues:
More access to information and each other, which changes the nature and content of interactions.
Leadership migrates to lower levels and out through the boundaries of the organisation to customers and suppliers
Networks go across traditional organisational and community boundaries
Followers know more in earlier stages of decision-making process → affects credibility and influence of leaders
Unethical leaders can negatively impact a broader audience
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 1
, Amount of time and contact with each other has increased.
Need to build human and social capital: using knowledge workers → perfect storm of trends that heightens the importance and
urgency of building human capital:
Spread of advanced technology to developing countries.
Offshoring of increasingly sophisticated jobs
Comparatively poor math and science skills
Massive brain drain caused by retiring post WW2 generation.
Human capital: Productive potential of one’s knowledge and actions (creativity, knowledge, enthusiasm)
Social capital: Productive potential resulting from strong, trusting and cooperative relationships (trust, teamwork, shared
goals/values).
Growth depends on the timely sharing of valuable knowledge.
Management: Process of working with and through others to achieve organisational objectives, efficiently and ethically, amid
constant change.
Wilson’s 11 managerial skills profile (in tune with today’s emphasis on managerial competency)
It yields four useful lessons:
Dealing effectively with people is what management is about.
High skills mastery leads to better subunit performance and employee moral
No difference in gender skill proficiency
Derailed managers overestimated their skill mastery.
Evolution of the 21-st century manager
Contingency approach: using management tools and techniques in a situationally appropriate manner; avoiding the one-best-way
mentality. → view organisational behaviour within situational contexts.
By OB providing insights in managing human work behaviour, it can teach about avoiding misbehaviour.
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 2
, Ethics: study of moral issues and choices.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Corporations have an obligation to constituent groups in society other than following the
law and making profit.
Caroll’s global SCR pyramid
From bottom up:
Make a profit consistent with expectations for international businesses
Obey the law of host countries and international law
Be ethical in its practices, taking standards into considerations
Be a good corporate citizen as expected by host-country.
Pressure-cooker atmosphere can result in unethical shortcuts by employees to please their boss.
General erosion of morality
Taking local norms and conduct into consideration
Ethical lapses in the workplace
Intense pressure for results starts early → act unethically but ‘look good’ for the boss.
Seven moral principles for managers
The goal for managers should be to rely on moral principles so the decisions are principled, appropriate, and defensible.
1. Dignity for human life
2. Autonomy
3. Honesty
4. Loyalty
5. Fairness
6. Humanness
7. The common good
How to improve an organisation’s ethical climate
Behave ethically yourself
Screen potential employees
Developing a meaningful code of ethics
1. Distributed to every employee
2. Firmly supported by top management
3. Refer to specific practices and dilemmas
4. Evenly enforced
Provide ethics training
Reinforce ethical behaviour
Create positions to deal with ethics
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 3
, Create climate where whistle-blowing is unnecessary → whistle-blowing: reporting unethical/illegal acts to outside third
parties.
Personal call to action: be morally attentive: faithfully considering the ethical implications of one’s actions and wanting to do
the right thing.
Five sources of OB research insights:
Meta-analysis: Pools the results of many studies through statistical procedure
Field study: examination of variables in real-life settings
Laboratory studies: manipulation and measurement of variables in contrived situations
Sample survey: Questionnaire responses from a sample of people
Case study: In-depth study of a single person, group, or organisation.
1 - Organisational behaviour (OB) 4
