Organizational Behavior (O.B.) Challenges

ENTER ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

We’ve made the case for the importance of people skills. But neither this book nor the discipline on which it is based is called “people skills.” The term that is widely used to describe the discipline isorganizational behavior.

OB’s goal is to understand and predict human behavior in organizations; the complexities of human behavior are not easy to predict, but neither are they random—certain fundamental consistencies underlie the behavior of all individuals.

Organizational behavior (often abbreviated OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness. That’s a mouthful, so let’s break it down.

Organizational behavior is a field of study, meaning that it is a distinct area of expertise with a common body of knowledge. What does it study? It studies three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, groups, and structure. In addition, OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups, and the effect of structure on behavior in order to make organizations work more effectively.

To sum up our definition, OB is the study of what people do in an organization and how their behavior affects the organization’s performance. And because OB is concerned specifically with employment-related situations, you should not be surprised that it emphasizes behavior as related to concerns such as jobs, work, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human performance, and management. Although debate exists about the relative importance of each, OB includes the following core topics:

· • Motivation

· • Leader behavior and power

· • Interpersonal communication

· • Group structure and processes

· • Personality, emotions, and values

· • Attitude development and perception

· • Change processes

· • Conflict and negotiation