Introduction to Organizational Behaviour

What is an Organization?
Organization is a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of a group of people, which functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve common goal or a set of goals.
Organization is a collection of people who work together to achieve individual or organizational goals.Organization is group of people with specific responsibilities acting together for achieving specific purpose.
Organization is a social arrangement that pursues collective goals.
Organization is a collection of people working together in a division of labour to achieve common purpose.
While Henry Fayol emphasized that the purpose of an organization was to get work done in a specialized, machine-like function, Peter Drucker proposed that ‘the organization is above all, social, it is people’.
According to Herbert Simon, an Organization influences its members by
Division of Labour
Standard Practices
Decision making
Communication
Training

What is behaviour?
Behaviour is the pattern of how a person responds to a stimulus.
Responses can be influenced by
Culture: the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.
Attitude: a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's like or dislike for an item; mental position relative to a way of thinking or being. The current popular usage of attitude implies a negative mindset, a "chip on the shoulder" behavior, and an inner anger toward the prevailing majority of thought.
Emotion: a feeling that is private and subjective; a state of psychological arousal an expression or display of distinctive somatic and autonomic responses.
Values: beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something)
Ethics: response based on what is right; the process of determining how one should hold the interests of various stakeholders, taking into account moral values/principles
Authority: the power or right to give orders or make decisions
Coercion: obtaining a response by use force; compelling a person to behave in an involuntary way (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats/intimidation
Persuasion: obtaining a response by convincing a person; the process of guiding people toward the adoption of an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic (though not always logical) means. It is strategy of problem-solving relying on "appeals" rather than force.
Genetics: inherited from parents; pertaining to genes or any of their effects.

What is Organizational Behaviour?
A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behaviour within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organization’s effectiveness.–Stephen P Robbins
Organizational Behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction and control of human behaviour in organizations.–Fred Luthans
An academic discipline concerned with understanding and describing human behaviour in an organizational environment. (This definition seeks to shed light on the whole complex human factor in organizations by identifying causes and effects of behaviour)–Keith Davis
A systematic study of the nature of organizations: how they begin, grow, and develop and their influence on individuals, groups, organizations and institutions.–Joe Kelly
A field that seeks knowledge of behaviour in organizational settings by systematically studying individual, group and organizational processes.–Baron & Greenberg

The academic discipline of Organizational Behavior encompasses three broad areas:
Behavior of People in Organizations OB draws on psychology, anthropology and sociology to gain insight into the behavior of individuals in organizational settings. Topics studied include:perception, cognition, learningpersonality and motivationleadership, power, conformity, communicationdecision making
Organizational Structure Organizations consist of people organized to achieve organizational goals (like manufacture cars). One of the most important strategic elements of an organization is its structure: how the people are arranged so as to produce what the organization produces. Topics include:task identification and division of labordepartmentationcoordination and control mechanismsprocesses and procedures, such as promotion, hiring policies, compensationorganizational form (e.g., bureaucracy)size centralization of decision-making, the relationships among these variables
Behaviour of organizations Just as we can study the interactions of individuals with the organization and with each other, we can also study the interactions of organizations with their environments, which include individual citizens and other organizations including the government. Some of the behaviors of organizations that we are interested in include:adoption of new practices such asdownsizingteam-based structuredomestic partner benefits (e.g., partners of gay employees get full medical coverage)re-engineeringenvironmental protection ("green" practices)adaptation to changing conditionsglobal competitionincreasing pace of technological changechanging social structure (e.g., status of women)

Why to study Organizational Behaviour?
Organizational Behaviour facilitates the process of explaining, understanding, predicting, maintaining and changing employee behaviour in an organizational setting.Organizational Behaviour focuses on five levels of analysis:
Individual
Inter-personal
Group
Organizational
Environmental
Study of Organizational Behaviour becomes important because of broad nature and scope of the subject:
Organizational Behavioour is Inter-disciplinary: It integrates knowledge from various relevant disciplines e.g. Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Anthropology, Economics, Medical Science, Engineering etc.
Organizational Behaviour is an Applied Science: It is oriented towards understanding the forces that affect behaviour so that their influences can be predicted, monitored and guided towards better and effective functioning of the organization.
Organizational Behaviour uses Scientific Methods: It follwos the scientific methods and uses logical theory in its investigation and answering the research questions. It is empirical, interpretative, critical and creative science.
Behavioural Orientation: It is directly connected with the human side of management. More precisely, it looks at all the management functions from behavioural perspective.
Contingency Approach: There are few absolutes in Organizational Behaviour. The approach is directed towards developing managerial actions that are most appropriate for a specific situation.

Challenges and Opportunities for Organizational Behaviour
Responding to globalization
Shifting Work/Employment Relationships
Work-life balance
Empowering people
Ethical behaviour
Responding to labour shortage
Improving people skill
Managing workforce diversity
Improving Quality and Productivity

Shifting Work-Employment Relationship

Robotized workplaces
Unmanned workstation
Officeless work
Open 24 hours, 24X7
Contract for work –Contract of work
Employed worker—Independent Contractor
Permanent—Temporary
Office—Home
Fixed—Flexible working hours
Jobs as property—Jobs as prosperity
Lifetime employment—Lifetime employability
Single task/career—multiple task career
Individual—Team
Functional—Cross-functionalManagers–Facilitators
Autonomous hierarchies—Independent Partnerships
Employee as a servant—Employee as a partner
Loyalty—Competence
Control—Commitment
Direction—Empowerment