what is OB

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR (OB)

OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure (organization) have on behavior within organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.

What are organizations?

Group of people who work interdependently in an organized way towards some purpose (McShane and Van Glinow, 2005)

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 (Robbins and Judge, 2009)

Social unit of people systematically arranged and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis (https://www.wendangku.net/doc/ab11902686.html,)

In short, there are three determinants of behavior in organization: individuals, groups and structure. Therefore, OB is concerns with these three determinants. It studies what people think, feel and do in and around organizations.

Why study what people think, feel and do in organization?

As mentioned earlier, the basic unit in an organization is people. It is clear to say that individual performance is the foundation of organization performance. Understanding individual behavior, therefore, is critical for effective management.

Understanding why people behave in a certain manner helps us to understand organizational events, which will enable us to predict the organizational events. With this knowledge, therefore, it will help us to influence organizational events by understanding and applying concepts in topics such as motivation, communication, conflict, team and groups dynamic, communication, organizational structure and cultures and other topics.

WHAT ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOR ORGANIZATION WISHES TO INFLUENCE?

What students should know at the end of the day?

-To recognize people as the basic unit in an organization.

-To appreciate and understand how OB can be used to understand, to predict and to influence organizations event.

-To realize and understand how OB can contributes towards organizational performance.

-To realize and understand that OB focuses on how to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism, turnover, and deviant workplace behavior, and increase organizational citizenship and job satisfaction by looking at various causes from the three level (individual, group, and organization)