Organizational
Behavior, 14e
Chapter 1
An Overview
of Organizational Behavior
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior,
Behavior, 14th14th Edition.
Edition. © Cengage
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Importance of Interpersonal Skills in the
Workplace
Interpersonal skills are important because…
• Better interpersonal skills result in lower turnover of quality employees
and higher quality applications for recruitment.
• There is a strong association between the quality of workplace
relationships and job satisfaction, stress, and turnover.
• ‘Good places to work’ have better financial performance.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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The Nature of Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior (OB) is
the study of human behavior in
organizational settings, of the
interface between human
behavior and the organization,
and of the organization itself.
This investigates the impact that
individuals, groups, and
organization structure have on
behavior within organizations to
improve an organization’s
effectiveness.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Why Study OB?
• Studying OB can help you:
– Become a better employee
– Become a better manager
– Understand how people behave and why they do what they do
– Help you focus on developing a global mindset
• Organizations that successfully implement OB principles have:
– Motivated, engaged employees whose goals align with business
strategy
– Strong leadership and direction
– Better bottom lines
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Science Disciplines that Contribute to OB
OB is a behavioral social science
that merges concepts from
different social sciences to apply
specifically to the organizational
setting at both the individual and
group levels.
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Managers and Organizations
• Manager: Someone who gets things done through other people in
organizations.
• 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.
– Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling (Henri Fayol defined).
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Figure 1.2 Basic Managerial Functions
Managers engage in the
four basic functions of
planning, organizing,
leading, and controlling.
These functions are applied
to human, financial,
physical, and information
resources with the ultimate
purpose of efficiently and
effectively attaining
organizational goals.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Critical Management Skills
Technical The skills necessary to accomplish specific tasks within the
skills organization
Interpersonal The ability to effectively communicate with, understand, and
skills motivate individuals and groups
Conceptual The ability to think in the abstract and to consider the “big
skills picture”
Diagnostic The ability to understand cause-and-effect relationships and
skills to recognize the optimal solutions to problems
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 8
Human Resource Management
Human resource management (HRM)
– The set of organizational activities directed at attracting,
developing, and maintaining an effective workforce
OB helps HR managers answer questions like these:
1. Which applicants should be hired?
2. Which rewards will be more motivating than others?
3. How can employees be trained and developed?
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 9
Origins of Organizational Behavior
(1 of 2)
• Scientific management
– First formal study of OB (1890s), abandoned after WWI
– Maximized productivity; led to monotonous, dehumanizing conditions
– Guiding principles
Replace rule-of-thumb work with methods based on scientifically studying
the tasks using time-and-motion studies.
Scientifically select, train, and develop all workers.
Managers provide detailed instructions and supervision to workers.
Divide work nearly equally between workers and managers.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Origins of Organizational Behavior
(2 of 2)
• Human relations movement
– Inspired by the Hawthorne effect
– Viewed organizations as cooperative systems
– Treated workers’ orientations, values, and feelings as important parts
of organizational dynamics and performance
– Created a new era of more humane, employee-centered management
and highlighted the importance of people to organizational success
– Was hampered by unsound research methods
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Organizations as Open Systems
The systems approach provides a
useful framework for
understanding how elements of
an organization interact among
themselves and with their
environment. Various inputs are
transformed into different outputs,
with important feedback from the
environment. If managers do not
understand these interrelations,
they may tend to ignore their
environment or overlook important
interrelationships within their
organizations.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Situational Perspectives on Organizational Behavior
Managers once believed that
they could identify the “one
best way” of solving problems
or reacting to situations. Here
we illustrate a more realistic
view, the situational
approach. The situational
approach suggests that
approaches to problems and
situations are contingent on
elements of the situation.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Interactionalism: People and Situations
• Interactionalist perspective
– Focuses on how individuals and situations interact continuously to
determine individuals’ behavior
– Attempts to explain how people select, interpret, and change various
situations
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Figure 1.7
Organizational
Behavior Framework
An array of environmental,
individual, group and team,
leadership, and organizational
characteristics impact
organizational behavior. If
managers understand these
concepts and characteristics,
they can better promote
organizational effectiveness.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Conclusion
People, along with their behaviors, differences, attitudes, emotions,
moods, personalities, values, intentions, thoughts, and motivations, are
inextricably linked to life in the workplace. In other words, “The people
make the place.”
• What do I hope you learn?
– Critical thinking
– Communication
– Collaboration
– Knowledge application and analysis
– Social responsibility
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
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Self-Assessment
• When you look at the list of critical management skills (technical,
interpersonal, conceptual, and diagnostic), in what area(s) do you
feel strongest? What can you do to increase your competence in the
other areas?
• In what ways are you hoping this class on organizational behavior
contributes to your future career?
• As an employee, what skills and functions of a manager do you most
appreciate when they perform well? What do you need to perform
well as a manager?
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 17
Learning Outcomes
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Describe organizational behavior, including the impact it has on both personal
and organizational success.
2. Identify the basic management functions and essential skills that make up the
management process and relate them to organizational behavior.
3. Discuss the strategic context of organizational behavior, including the
relationships between strategy and organizational behavior.
4. Identify and describe contextual perspectives on organizational behavior.
5. Discuss the role of organizational behavior in managing for effectiveness.
6. Identify managers’ challenges and opportunities in applying OB concepts.
Griffin/Phillips, Organizational Behavior, 14th Edition. © 2024 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned,
copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 18
