Page 290 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

CHAPTER 9 • Foundations of Individual Behavior 289
What Are the Focus and Goals
of Organizational Behavior?

9-1 Identify the focus Managers need good behavior
The actions of people
and goals of people skills. organizational behavior
organizational The material in this and the next four chapters draws The study of the actions of people at work
behavior (OB). heavily on the field of study that’s known as organiza-
tional behavior (OB). Although it’s concerned with the
subject of behavior—that is, the actions of people—organizational behavior is the study of
the actions of people at work.
One of the challenges in understanding organizational behavior is that it addresses issues
that aren’t obvious. Like an iceberg, OB has a small visible dimension and a much larger hid-
den portion. (See Exhibit 9–1.) What we see when we look at an organization is its visible as-
pects: strategies, objectives, policies and procedures, structure, technology, formal authority
relationships, and chain of command. But under the surface are other elements that managers
need to understand—elements that also influence how employees behave at work. As we’ll
show, OB provides managers with considerable insights into these important, but hidden,
aspects of the organization.

What Is the Focus of OB?

Organizational behavior focuses on three major areas:
1. Individual behavior. Based predominantly on contributions from psychologists, this area
includes such topics as attitudes, personality, perception, learning, and motivation.
2. Group behavior, which includes norms, roles, team building, leadership, and conflict.
Our knowledge about groups comes basically from the work of sociologists and social
psychologists.
3. Organizational aspects including structure, culture, and human resource policies and
practices. We’ve addressed organizational aspects in previous chapters. In this chapter
we’ll look at individual behavior, and in the following chapter we’ll look at group
behavior.

Exhibit 9–1 Organization as Iceberg

Visible Aspects
Strategies
Objectives
Policies and procedures
Structure
Technology
Formal authority
Chains of command

Hidden Aspects
Attitudes
Perceptions
Group norms
Informal interactions
Interpersonal and
intergroup conflicts