Fundamentals Of Organizational Behaviour:
History, Challenges of OB, Diversity and OB
Textbooks
Robbins and Judge (2015). Organisational Behaviour. New Delhi:Pearson
Nelson and Quick (2018) Organisational Behaviour. Boston: Cengage
McShane, S.L; Olekalns, M; Newman, A.; & Travaglione, T. (2016). Organisational behaviour:
emerging knowledge: global insights (5th ed.). North Ryde: McGraw-Hill Education (Australia)
Pvt.Ltd.
History of OB
Definition: Organizational behaviour (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact
individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of
applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness. (Robbins & Judge,
2017 p.48)
In other words, OB is the study of how employees behave in an organization and how their
behaviour affects the organization’s performance
Historical development of OB
Industrial Revolution – from 1760s to the mid 20th century – the rise of factories –
manager-subordinate relationships
Time-and-motion studies – designing ways to improve efficiency
o Frank Gilbreth – Motion Studies (1880s – more efficient brick-laying
o Frederick Taylor – Time studies (how to efficiently manage the time for maximum
productivity)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/10/why-was-the-qwerty-keyboard-layout-invented/
#2eb3c4d557ae
Frederick Taylor – Father of Scientific Management (late 1880s) (underlying assumption: man is
a machine)
Principles of Scientific Management (Taylor)
Established routines (rule-of-thumb) to be replaced with ones based on scientific studies.
Conduct active training for developing employees instead of having them try to learn for
themselves or passively train themselves.
Ensure that detailed instructions are given to the workers to perform their particular task
and there is supervision.
Work division between managers and workers to be done in such a manner that managers
are able to apply the principles of scientific management for planning of work and the
workers are able to perform their tasks efficiently
Fordism – rise of assembly lines (Henry Ford, early 20th century)
Unskilled workers could produce complex products
Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
Motion studies – helped to reduce number of motions when doing a task – so that it is
done more efficiently
Lillian Gilbreth – one of the first to apply psychology in management – focus on the
human being (which Taylor is seen as ignoring by treating man = machine)
Hawthorne Studies (late 1920s, early 1930s) – by Elton Mayo and colleagues
When workers were being studied, their productivity increased; and went back to normal
when studies ended.
Motivation became central to OB after these studies.
Before – greater focus on “environment/ method” to improve productivity
1950s and 1960s – many theories and important I/O or management psychologists focusing on
employee motivation, work performance and job satisfaction
1970s – Herbert Simon – organisational decision-making – bounded rationality (people are not
purely rational decision makers, but it is bounded by various limitations)
More quantitative focus – so rise to contingency theories
1980s – importance of culture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMZ-iuMQmrw
Important terms
Manager – one who achieves goals through other people
Organisation – 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.
Four important activities of managers
Planning
Organising
Leading
Controlling
So: OB is the study of how employees behave in an organization and how their behaviour affects
the organization’s performance
As OB specifically studies employment-related situations, it examines behaviour in the context
of job satisfaction, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human performance, and
management.
Units of analysis
Individual – the individual employee at whatever level – floor worker, supervisor, manager, etc.
Group – teams, group processes
Organisation/ system
Disciplines contributing to OB
Psychology – focus of unit of analysis – individual – topics such as learning, motivation,
personality, job satisfaction, attitudes, stress, etc.
Social Psychology – behavioural change, group processes, communication, etc.
Sociology – communication, power, conflict, formal organisational theory, etc.
Anthropology – organisational culture, environment, power, cross-cultural analysis, etc.
Challenges of OB
Major dramatic changes in organizations all over the world.
The typical employee is getting older
The workforce is becoming increasingly diverse
Global competition requires employees to become more flexible and cope with rapid
change.
This has led to many changes at the workplace which act as challenges for managers
Employment options – lots of variety – each having its own challenge (Robbins & Judge
2017, p 55)
Economic pressures – such as recession; losses in business – greater layoffs, less
purchase power, etc.
Globalisation – will remain a challenge – increased foreign assignments, required to work
with people from other cultures, outsourcing of jobs to countries with low-cost labour,
adaptation of different cultural and regulatory norms
Workforce Demographics – how this is changing as population changes – male/female
ratio, age of employee, etc.
Workforce Diversity: various other characteristics – race, ethnicity, sexual orientation,
cultural aspects (global organisation), etc.
Customer service – organisations fail when it fails to please customers – need of
customer-responsive culture
Social Media – posting about organisation on public social media, accessing social media
at work
Ethical dilemmas and choices – when to cut corners? When to “blow the whistle”
Diversity in organisations
In US – increased diversity in workforce – gender, ethnicity, age, disability, religion, sexual
orientation, etc.
In India – awakening regarding sexual orientation; depending of sector increased diversity
regards gender, age
Discrimination at workplace
Making judgements about people based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group (in
India – discrimination against?)
Stereotypes – “A collection of trait names upon which a large percentage of people agree as
appropriate for describing some sort of individuals”.
Forms of Discrimination
Discriminatory practices or policies – do not allow equal opportunities or equal rewards
Sexual harassment – unwanted sexual advances
Intimidation – physical threats
Mockery, insults – taking a joke too far
Exclusion – can be unintentional…
Incivility – disrespectful treatment (apart from above)
