Organizational Behavior, 18/e
Stephen P. Robbins & Timothy A. Judge
Chapter 1
Introduction to
Organizational Behavior
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After reading this chapter, you
should be able to:
1. Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the
workplace.
2. Describe the manager’s functions, roles, and skills.
3. Define organizational behavior (OB).
4. Explain the value of the systematic study of OB.
5. Identify the contributions made to OB by major
behavioral science disciplines.
6. Describe how OB concepts can help make organizations
more productive.
7. List the major challenges and opportunities for
managers to use OB concepts.
8. Identify the three levels of analysis in OB.
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The Importance of
Interpersonal Skills
• Understanding OB helps determine
manager effectiveness
– Technical and quantitative skills important
– But leadership and communication skills are
CRITICAL
• Organizational benefits of skilled
managers
– Lower turnover of quality employees
– Higher quality applications for recruitment
– Better financial performance
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Four Management Functions
• PLAN
A process that includes defining goals,
establishing strategy, and developing plans to
coordinate activities.
• ORGANIZE
Determining what tasks are to be done, who is
to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped,
who reports to whom, and where decisions are
to be made.
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Four Management Functions
• LEAD
A function that includes motivating employees,
directing others, selecting the most effective
communication channels, and resolving
conflicts.
• CONTROL
Monitoring performance, comparing actual
performance with previously set goals, and
correcting any deviation.
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Mintzberg’s Managerial Roles
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Katz’s Essential Management
Skills
• Technical Skills
– The ability to apply specialized knowledge or
expertise
• Human Skills
– The ability to work with, understand, and
motivate other people, both individually and in
groups
• Conceptual Skills
– The mental ability to analyze and diagnose
complex situations
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Luthans’ Study of Managerial
Activities
• Four types of managerial activity:
– Traditional Management
• Decision-making, planning, and controlling.
– Communication
• Exchanging routine information and processing paperwork
– Human Resource Management
• Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing and training.
– Networking
• Socializing, politicking, and interacting with others.
• Managers who promoted faster (were successful) did
different things than did effective managers (those who
did their jobs well)
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The Field of Organizational
Behavior
Organizational Behavior studies the
influence that individuals, groups and
structure have on behavior within
organizations.
Its chief goal is to apply that knowledge
toward improving an organization’s
effectiveness.
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Focal Points of OB
•Jobs
•Work
•Absenteeism
•Employment turnover
•Productivity
•Human performance
•Management
•OCB
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Complementing Intuition with
Systematic Study
• Intuition: the “gut feeling” explanation
of behavior.
• Systematic study improves ability to
accurately predict behavior.
Assumes behavior is not random.
Fundamental consistencies underlie
behavior.
These can be identified and modified to
reflect individual differences.
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Systematic Study
• Examines relationships.
• Attempts to attribute causes and
effects.
• Bases conclusions on scientific
evidence:
On data gathered under controlled
conditions.
Data is measured and interpreted in
a reasonably rigorous manner.
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Evidence-Based Management
• Complements
systematic study.
• Bases decisions on the
best available scientific
evidence.
• Forces managers to
become more scientific
in their thinking.
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Contributing Disciplines
to the OB Field
Micro:
Psychology
The
Individual
Social Psychology
Sociology
Macro:
Groups &
Organizations Anthropology
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Contributing Disciplines
to the OB Field
• Psychology
The science that seeks to measure, explain,
and sometimes change the behavior of
humans and other animals.
Unit of Analysis:
• Individual
Contributions to OB:
• Learning, motivation, personality, emotions, perception
• Training, leadership effectiveness, job satisfaction
• Individual decision making, performance appraisal,
attitude measurement
• Employee selection, work design, and work stress
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Contributing Disciplines
to the OB Field
• Social Psychology
An area within psychology that blends concepts
from psychology and sociology and that focuses
on the influence of people on one another.
– Unit of Analysis:
• Group
– Contributions to OB:
• Behavioral change
• Attitude change
• Communication
• Group processes
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Contributing Disciplines
to the OB Field
• Sociology
The study of people in relation to their
fellow human beings.
– Unit of Analysis:
– Organizational System – Group
– Contributions to OB:
Group dynamics Formal organization theory
Work teams Organizational technology
Communication Organizational change
Power Organizational culture
Conflict
Intergroup behavior
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Contributing Disciplines
to the OB Field
• Anthropology
The study of societies to learn about
human beings and their activities.
– Unit of Analysis:
-- Organizational System -- Group
– Contributions to OB:
Organizational culture Comparative values
Organizational Comparative attitudes
environment Cross-cultural analysis
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Few Absolutes in OB
• Impossible to make simple and accurate
generalizations
• Human beings are complex and diverse
• OB concepts must reflect situational
conditions: contingency variables
Condition Behavior
Input “A”
“C” “B”
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Challenges and Opportunities
for OB
• The workplace contains a wide mix of cultures,
races, ethnic groups, genders and ages
• Employees have to learn to cope with rapid
change due to global competition
• Corporate loyalty has decreased due to corporate
downsizing and use of temp workers
• Managers can benefit from OB theory and
concepts
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Challenges and Opportunities for
OB
• Responding to Globalization
• Managing Workforce Diversity
• Improving Quality and Productivity
• Improving Customer Service
• Improving People Skills
• Stimulating Innovation and Change
• Coping with “Temporariness”
• Working in Networked Organizations
• Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts
• Creating a Positive Work Environment
• Improving Ethical Behavior
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Responding to Globalization
• Increased foreign assignments
Differing needs and aspirations in
workforce
• Working with people from
different cultures
Domestic motivational techniques
and managerial styles may not
work
• Overseeing movement of jobs
to countries with low-cost labor
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Managing Workforce
Diversity
Workforce diversity:
organizations are
becoming a more
heterogeneous mix of
people in terms of
gender, age, race,
ethnicity, and sexual
orientation
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Diversity Implications
“Managers have to shift their
philosophy from treating
everyone alike to recognizing
differences and responding to
those differences in ways that
ensure employee retention
and greater productivity
while, at the same time, not
discriminating.”
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OB Offers Insights Into:
• Improving quality and
productivity
• Customer service and
building a customer-
responsive culture
• Developing people skills
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OB Aids in Dealing With:
• Stimulating Innovation
and Change
• Increasing
“temporariness” in the
workplace
• Helping employees
balance work-life conflicts
• Improving ethical
behavior
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Thinking Positive
• Creating a positive work environment can
be a competitive advantage
• Positive Organizational Scholarship
(Positive OB):
Examines how organizations develop human
strengths, foster vitality and resilience, and
unlock potential.
Focus is on employee strengths, not their
weaknesses.
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Three Levels of OB Analysis
Chapters 14 - 16
Chapters 8 - 13
Chapters 2 - 7
Plan of the Book
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Implications for Managers
• OB helps with:
Insights to improve people skills
Valuing of workforce diversity
Empowering people and creating a
positive work environment
Dealing with labor shortages
Coping in a world of temporariness
Creating an ethically healthy work
environment
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Keep in Mind…
• OB’s goal is to understand and predict
human behavior in organizations.
• Fundamental consistencies underlie
behavior.
• It is more important than ever to learn OB
concepts.
• Both managers and employees must learn
to cope with temporariness.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice
Hall
Summary
1. Defined Organizational Behavior (OB).
2. Explained the value of the systematic study of OB.
3. Identified the contributions made to OB by major
behavioral science disciplines.
4. Described how OB concepts can help make
organizations more productive.
5. Listed the major challenges and opportunities for
managers to use OB concepts.
6. Identified the three levels of analysis in OB.
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice
Hall
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
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photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher. Printed in the
United States of America.
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