Introducing Organizational Behaviour

Chapter 1: pp.13-28Organizational Behavior 261

Gabrielle Durepos

Reminders

• Attendance

• Make sure you are registered for this class

• Check the Globe and Mail for articles for your assignment– You want to avoid being limited to articles that appear in the

week that the assignment is due– Assignment is due October 1st, 2012

• Group formation is due on September 19th 2012

Outline

• What is OB• Why Study OB• Different approaches to OB• The Roots of OB• Quick overview of One of Many Different approaches

to OB:– Managerialist

• Conclusions

What is Organizational Behaviour? 1/2

• The study of relationships between the behavior of people in organizations and:– Individual (self-esteem)– Organizational (effectiveness)– Societal (gender, racial discrimination)

• Organizations include:– For profit business– Not for profit organizations– Any institution (church, school)– Any collective with a common goal with individuals who work together

What is Organizational Behaviour? 2/2

• Multidisciplinary as a field of study– Psychology– Sociology– Anthropology

• What is the difference between – Macro OB

• Focus on collectives and teams• Focus on what happens between individuals

– Micro OB• Focus on individuals – individual level of analysis• Focus on what happens within individuals

Why Study Organizational Behavior?

• We live in an organizational world– Organizations SHAPE our expectations of how people should behave– Shape our expectations of how we should behave– Normalize…

• Many key decisions that affect our lives occur in organizations

• The success of an organization depends on individuals involved

• Organizations affect:– Individuals, clients, customers– Local communities– Nation states– World events

Different Approaches to OB

• What is an ‘approach’?– A paradigm– A lens

• Managerialist approach (mainstream)– This is the dominant approach

• Alternative approaches:– Actionalist (interpretive) approach– Radical approach– Feminist– Racioethnicity– Postmodern

• There is NO correct approach, some are more comfortable…

• QUESTION: why are these different approaches important?– “But Gabie… no one else cares except academics…” I want you to challenge this... Give me an

instance where we see groups who have adopted each a particular approach – and are in conversation…

The Roots of Organizational Behavior 1/5

• OB developed from an interest in:– Improving efficiency– Improving profitability– And everything else leading to this such as:

• Human relations at work• Culture at work• Diversity at work• Gender at work

The Roots of Organizational Behavior 2/5

• Frederick Taylor– Midvale steel company

– Concerned with efficiency

– Develops Scientific Approach to Management

• Taylor believed that inefficiency is due to:– Attitudes of workers

• Deliberately restricting output “Systematic Soldering”

– Methods of work• Left to workers who were inefficient

– System of management control • Managers exert arbitrary control

The Roots of Organizational Behavior 3/5

• Taylor corrects the perceived problems at Midvale through:– Work design and standardization

• Chose routine tasks • Finding the “one best way”• Producing a standardized way of completing a task

– Employee selection• The correct employee for a particular job

– Employee Motivation• How to improve attitudes?• Piece work payment incentives

– Hierarchal control• Managers use rules and regulations associated with their job to exercise control

• Taylor writes “Principles of Scientific Management”– Refines his theories at Bethlehem Iron Company – Begins consulting– His ideas spread throughout the 1920’s and beyond in the:

• United States• Soviet Union• Italy

The Roots of Organizational Behavior 4/5

• Taylor is very influential to the study of OB:– Job redesign– Structure of organizations– Selection– Training– Motivation– Managerial control and style

• His ideas commonly known as:– Scientific Management– Taylorism

The Roots of Organizational Behavior 5/5

• Frank and Lillian Gilbreth: Time and Motion Studies– Eliminate workplace fatigue

• Roethlisberger and Dickson: The Hawthorn Studies at Western Electric– Focus on factors of “human relations”– Focused on communication, participation, leadership– People are motivated by social as well as economic rewards– Look at group membership and how this affects behavior

• These theorists were all in:– Industry as they developed theories– Time of mass change and industrialization

Quick overview of different approaches to OB:

The Managerialist Approach• Steams from the work of Taylor, Gilbreth, Roethlisberger and Dickson and

others

• The most dominant; usually taken for granted as being the only approach

• From the managers point of view

• Concern with:– Understanding how behavior leads to: Improved efficiency, productivity, profitability,

growth

• Definition is:– Investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structures have on behavior

within organizations to improve effectiveness

• Also known as (sort of):– Mainstream– Functionalist– Clinical

Conclusions

• Different approaches to OB yield different definitions

• Today we have focused on a Managerial approach, next class we will explore:– Actionalist– Radical– Feminist– Racioethnicity– And do the ‘Norma Rae Exercise’

• No approach is “superior” or “correct”