Organizational behavior
Unit 1
Definition: a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure
have on the behavior of the people within organizations for the purpose of applying such
knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness”
- Organization: a social unit, composed of two or more people, who work together in
an organized way with a shared purpose or common task
- Models that explain the connections between motivation, learning, and
decision-making are based heavily on business and economic models
Why Does Organizational Behavior Matter?
- Organizations are prone to rapid change
-> These changes require that we systematically examine the situation instead of
making decisions solely based on intuition, vague ideas, gut feelings, and
generalizations.
-> it is about recognizing and evaluating essential elements, patterns, similarities,
and differences to make the right decisions
The scientific process includes:
1. Description, the accurate portrayal or depiction of a phenomenon.
2. Explanation, understanding why the phenomenon exists and what causes it.
3. Prediction, anticipating an event prior to its occurrence.
4. Control, manipulating antecedents to
change behavior.”
Job Performance and Commitment: An
Integrative Model
Two main goals: job performance and
organizational commitment
1.2 Organizational Mechanisms
- Is based on organizational cultures
and organizational structure
- Organizational structure: defines how
the various units within one
organization are connected to each
other, how they work, and how they
communicate with each other (some
are centralized, others decentralized
therefore have more autonomy)
- Organizational culture: the sum of
values, beliefs, expectations, and
practices that influence and guide the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of the
members of the organization
, 1.3 Group-Related Mechanisms
-> include four factors: team processes and communication, team characteristics and
diversity, leadership styles and behaviors, and leadership power and negotiations.
- People do not work alone but in constant interaction with each other, no matter how
big or small the organization
- Team characteristics and diversity, describes how teams are formed, staffed, and
combined, and how team members complement each other in their work
- The leadership factors examine the behavior and influence of leaders
- Power and negotiations primarily deals with how members of organizations become
leaders, how they gain authority, deal with power and how they negotiate to gain or
keep authority and power
1.4 Individual Characteristics
-> divided into ability and personality
- Personality embraces attitudes, opinions, and moods, and it is often expressed or
visible in interactions with other people (uniqueness)
-> relevant for the workplace, i.e., reactions, interactions, behavioral, and emotional
tendencies
- Difference: intellectual ( ex. Mathematical skills) and physical abilities (ex. endurance)
(both kills are required depending on the job)
- A mismatch can have negative impacts on the commitment
1.5 Individual Mechanisms
-> includes job satisfaction, stress, motivation, trust, justice and ethics, and learning and
decision-making.
Unit 2
2.1 Performance
What is job performance?
- High performing employees lead to a high-performing and therefore successful
organization
- = the result of work or an activity
- an employee’s contribution in their performance can be both negative or positive,
which are also in and beyond a person’s control
- the focus on purely financial results tend to stimulate undesirable behavior and
activities
How do we measure job performance?
- task performance, citizenship behavior, and counterproductive behavior
Task performance
- This summarizes all work-related tasks and duties, as laid out in a job description
- Example can be found in the course book// BERUFNET for examples
