SM60.42Dr. Sununta Siengthai [s.siengthai@ait.ac.th ]

SOM/AIT/TH

Organizational Behavior and Structure

SM60.42 - Organizational Behavior and Structure

Rationale: Understanding organizational behavior will enable us to develop a practical perspective on organizational development strategies. It will also enhance the manager’s skills in designing and changing organizations.

Objectives of the Course:

1. To provide a framework for understanding organizational behavior by:1.1. Looking at the impact of individuals on behavior within the organization and on the organizational performance.1.2 looking at the impact of groups on behavior within the organization and on the organizational performance.

2. To investigate the impact of the organizational processes on the individuals and groups within the organization and hence organizational performance.

Objectives of the Course:

• To understand the impact of organizational structure on the behavior of individuals and groups on organizational performance.

• To be able to design organizational development strategies for successful organizational changes as well as organizational effectiveness.

Meeting Schedules:

Week 1: Welcome to the course: Intro to OB;Understanding and Managing Individual

Week 2: Foundations of Individual Behavior;Perception and Individual Decision MakingValues, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction

Week 3-4: Basic Motivation Concepts;Motivation: From Concepts to Applications

Week 5; Mid-Term Exam (Closed book);Group Behavior and Interpersonal Influence

Week 6 : Conflict and Negotiation; LeadershipWeek 7: Power and Politics; CommunicationWeek 8: Organization Structure and Design;

Organizational Change and Innovation

What is Organizational Behavior?

Learning objectives:

1. Define organizational behavior (OB).2. Describe what managers do.3. Identify the contributions made by major

behavioral science disciplines to OB.

4. Describe why managers require a knowledge of OB.

5. Explain the need for a contingency approach to the study of OB.

Definition of Organizational Behavior:

- A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviorwithin organizations, for the purpose of applying suchknowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness.

Organizational Performance

• What do we mean by performance?• We define performance in terms of the results

that managers must obtain to keep the firm viable as an economic entity. This view of performance includes 3 dimensions, the task performance dimension, the contextual performance dimension, and the ethical performance dimension. This is achieved by what we call the building blocks of organizational effectiveness: the individual, the group, and the organization.

EffectivenessTask Contextual Ethical

Performance Performance Performance

Managing EffectivenessPower and Politics in organization

Leadership in organizationsOrganizational change

The Individual The Group The Organization

Personal and indiv.Differences

Attitudes,perception,and judgment

Organizationalaccommodation

Motivation theoriesApplied motivationtheoriesStress in organizations

Group and team performanceenvironment

Group processes and effectiveness

ConflictDecision making

Cultures: national and Organizational

Organizational structure and design

A congruence model of O.B.

INPUTTransforma-

tionprocesses

OUTPUT

Nadler and Tushman (2002)

Field Studies_____________

in real-lifeorganizational

settings

Meta analyses_____________using statistics to

pool results of different studies

Laboratory studies_____________in simulated and controlled settings

Survey studies______________

using questionnairesand interviews in sample

populations

Case Studies____________

looking indepth at singlesituations

Sources of research insightin OB

Planning______________

Choosing goals and means to achieve them

Controlling______________

Measuring performanceand ensuring results

Organizing____________

Creating structures and work systems

Leading____________

Inspiring people to work hard

Managers

Team Leaders

The Management Process:

Ten Roles of Effective Managers:Interpersonal Roles:How a manager interacts with other people-- Figurehead-- Leader-- Liaison

Decisional RolesHow a manager uses information in decision making:-- Entrepreneur-- Disturbance handler-- Resource allocator-- NegotiatorInformational Roles:How a manager exchanges and processes information:-- Monitor-- Disseminator-- Spokesperson

What do managers do?

• 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.

• Managers are those who achieve goals through other people

• Management Functions:– Planning– Organizing– Leading– Controlling

Robbins (2002) Organizational Behavior

Managerial Skills and Competencies:

Human Relations

Technical Skill

Conceptual Skills

(EQ)

Developing Your Emotional Intelligence:

Self-awareness - ability to understand your own moodsand emotion;

Self-regulation - ability to think before acting and controldisruptive impulses;

Motivation - ability to work hard and persevere.Empathy - ability to understand emotions of others;Social skills - ability to gain rapport with others and build

good relationships.

Effective vs. Successful Managerial Activities:

• Managers are all engaged in 4 managerial activities:– 1. Traditional management:

• Decision making, planning, and controlling.– 2. Communication:

• Exchanging routine information, and processing paper-work.

– 3. Human resource management:• Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing,

and training.– 4. Networking:

• Socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders.

Contributions from Psychology:• Explains individual behavior, it focuses on

the following aspects:

– Learning– Motivation– Personality– Perception– Training– Leadership effectiveness– Job Satisfaction– Individual decision making– Performance appraisal– Attitude measurement– Employee selection– Job design– Work stress

Contribution from Sociology:

• Explains group behavior, it focuses on the following aspects:

– Group dynamics– Communication– Power– Conflict– Intergroup behavior– Formal organization theory– Bureaucracy– Organizational technology– Organization change– Organizational culture

Contribution from Social Psychology:

• Mainly explains group behavior, it focuses on the following aspects:

– Behavioral change– Attitude change– Communication– Group processes– Group decision making

Contribution from Anthropology:

• Explains group and organization system, it focuses on the following aspects:

– Comparative values– Comparative attitudes– Cross-cultural analysis– Organizational culture– Organizational environment

Contribution from Political Science:

• Explains organization system, it focuses on the following aspects:

– Conflict– Intra-organizational politics– Power

Ethics and O.B.

Ethical behavior is that accepted as morally “good” and “right”, as opposed to “bad” or “wrong”, in a particular setting. For example,

Is it ethical to withold information that might discourage a job candidate from joining your organization?

Is it ethical to ask someone to take a job you know will not be good for his or her career progress?

Is it ethical to ask so much of someone that they continuallly have to choose between “having a ‘career’ and having a ‘life’ ” ?

Ways of Thinking About Ethical Behavior:

The Utilitarian View – considers ethical behavior to be that which delivers the greatest good to the greatest number of people. Those who subscribe to the results-oriented utilitarian logic assess the moral aspects of their decisions in terms of the consequences they create.

The Individualism view – considers ethical behavior to be that which is best for an individual’s long term self-interests.

The moral-rights view considers ethical behavior to be that which respects fundamental rights shared by all human beings. In an organization, this Is reflected in such issues as rights to privacy, due process, and freedom of speech.

Ways of Thinking About Ethical Behavior:

The Justice view – considers ethical behavior to be that which is fair and impartial in its treatment of people. Procedural justice is the degree to which the rules and procedures specified by policies are properly followed in all cases under which they are applied. Distributive justice is the degree to which all people are treated the same under a policy, regardless of race, ethinicity, gender, age, or any other demographic characteristic. Interactional justice is the degree to which the people affected by a decision are treated with dignity and respect.

Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace:

An ethical dilemma is a situation in which a person must decide whether or not to do something that, although benefiting them or the organization, or both, may be considered unethical.

Common issues underlying the dilemmas involve honesty in communications and contracts, gifts and entertainment, kickbacks, pricing practices, and employee termination.

Ethics Training:Ethics training programs offer advice for handling ethical dilemmas. In addition, the training helps participants learn how to identify and deal with these common ationalizationsfor ethical misconduct:

1. Pretending the behavior is not really unethical or illegal;2. Excusing the behavior by saying it’s really in the

organization’s or your best interest. 3. Assuming the behavior is okay because no one else is

expected to find out about it.4. Presuming your superiors will support and protect you

if anything should go wrong.

Organizational Social Responsibility:

Social responsibility – is the obligation of organizations to behave in Ethical and moral ways as institutions of the broader society.

There are few absolutes in OB. This means that there are few, if any, simple and universal principles that explain organizational behavior. Human beings are very complex.

But we certainly can offer reasonably accurate explanations of human behavior or make valid predictions. It means that OB concepts must reflect situational or contingency conditions.

Conclusion:

“ The key to managing people in ways that lead to profits, productivity, innovation, and real organizational learning ultimately lies in how you think about your organization and its people… When you look at your people, do you see costs to be reduced?… Or, when you look at your people do you see intelligent, motivated, trustworthy individuals – the most criticaland valuable strategic assets your organization can have? ”

-- The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First by Jeffrey Pfeffer,1998, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

References:

Jeffrey Pfeffer (1998) The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First , Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

Nadler, David A. and Michael L. Tushman (2002) Framework for Organizational Behavior in Managing Organizations by David A. Nadler; Michael L. Tushmanand Nina Hatvany, Little Brown and Company, pp.35 – 48.

Robbins, Stephen (2002) Organizational Behavior.

Schermerhorn, John R., Jr.; James G. Hunt; Richard N. Osborn (2003) Organizational Behavior, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 8th ed.