Lesson 1a (Chapter 1)
The primary purpose of this chapter is to introduce the field of organizational behavior. The chapter begins by defining organizational behavior as the study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself. The four functions that make up the manager’s job—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling—are discussed. Then the chapter explores the various skills—technical, interpersonal, conceptual, and diagnostic—managers must apply in organizations. The chapter then discusses human resource management. The strategic context of organization behavior is discussed, including maintaining a competitive advantage, sources of competitive advantage and types of business strategies. The next section provides some historical context on organizational behavior, looking at scientific management, Hawthorne effect and the human relations movement. The chapter continues by defining a system and systems perspective, the situational perspective, and interactionalism. The chapter continues by examining the outcomes—individual, group and team, and organization—that are important for organizational effectiveness, including the scientific
Learning Outcomes
After studying lesson 1a , students should be able to:
Define organizational behavior and describe how it impacts both personal and organizational success.
Identify the basic management functions and essential skills that comprise the management process and relate them to organizational behavior.
Describe the strategic context of organizational behavior and describe the relationships between strategy and organizational behavior.
Identify and describe contextual perspectives on organizational behavior.
Describe the role of organizational behavior in managing for effectiveness and discuss the role of research in organizational behavior.
Summarize the framework around which this book is organized.
Lesson 1b (Chapter 2)
The environment of all organizations is changing at an unprecedented rate. People work in different ways and places than in the past, the workplace is increasingly diverse, ethical challenges are a constant issue, and globalization is commonplace.
Understanding and addressing the environment of a business has traditionally been the purview of top managers. But the effects of today’s changing environment permeate the entire organization. Hence, to truly understand the behavior of people in organizational settings, it is also necessary to understand the changing environment of business.
This chapter is intended to provide the framework for such understanding. Specifically, as illustrated in Figure 2.1, we introduce and examine five of the central environmental forces for change faced by today’s organizations: diversity, globalization, technology, ethics and corporate governance, and new employment relationships. An understanding of these forces will then set the stage for our in-depth discussion of contemporary organizational behavior.
Learning Outcomes
After studying lesson 1b, students should be able to:
Describe the nature of diversity in organizations.
Describe the different types of diversity and barriers to inclusion that exist in the workplace.
Discuss the emergence of globalization and cross-cultural differences and similarities.
Discuss the changing nature of technology and its impact on business.
Describe emerging perspectives on ethics and corporate governance.
discuss the key issues in new employment relationships.
