Summary
Summary articles OBC
- Course
- Institution
Extensive summary of all articles, arranged per week
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
suzanneeline94
Reviews received
Content preview
Summary Organizational Behaviour and CommunicationWeek 1: Introduction to Organizational Behavior & Communication
Martin & Fellenz (2017) - Organizational behaviour and management. Chapter 1: Introducing
Management and Organizational Behavior
Organizations are social entities that are goal-directed, that have nominal boundaries yet are
inextricably linked to their environment, and that employ deliberately designed and coordinated
activities and approaches to achieving their objectives.
Social entities: Organizations always involve people, and they are characterized by their
members and by the relationships and interactions between and among them.
Objectives/goal orientation: Organizations are created and used to achieve objectives.
Nominal boundary yet linked to environment: Formal organizations typically have identifiable
boundaries that set them apart. However, the boundaries of organizations appear often quite
flexible and even diffuse and shifting. Organizations cannot exist without their environment.
Deliberately designed and coordinated activities and approaches: Unlike some other social
entities such as friendship groups, organizations have deliberately designed structures and
coordination approaches.
Organizations are useful and convenient abstractions rather that real physical entities. When we talk
about organizations as real, we reify them, which is treating as real what is merely a concept or
abstract idea. Additionally, we often anthropomorphize organizations, which means that we treat
them as real actors with human features and abilities.
Organizations exist because they enable us to do things we could not do without them, or could not
do as well without them. They are used to direct and coordinate the activities for their members.
According to economic arguments, the boundaries are determined by what can be efficiently done by
an organization. Organizations exist only if they can contribute to more effective and efficient creation
of value, and their boundaries are mainly determined by what makes economic (or cultural, social,
political or moral) sense. This explanation for their existence is functionalist, which means that they
are adopting perspective that focuses on purpose (goals) and utility (value).
Management is a process that involves planning, organizing, leading (or deploying) and controlling
resources in order to achieve goals. People management is the process of trying to achieve goals in
organizations with and through people. Organizations can be seen as means for achieving objectives,
while management is the process of trying to achieve objectives. Without goals, there is no purpose
that can guide decisions about planning, organizing, leading/directing and about how to assess and
respond to feedback.
People and environmental factors introduce complexity, variety as well as uncertainty to the
process of management.
Early management theorists ignored the human element that contributes so much in terms of
creativity, change and variability, and instead focussed on structure, order, stability and predictability.
Today, organizational behaviour (OB) provides one of the mainstream approaches to the study of
management and organizations. OB is concerned with the behaviour of individuals and groups in
organizational contexts. Its main interest includes anything relevant to the design, management and
effectiveness of an organization, together with the dynamic and interactive relationships that exist
within them. OB deals with individuals’ thoughts (cognition), feelings (emotion, affect) and
behaviours (actions) in response to and in the context of organizations. OB involves two distinct
features:
, 1. Interdisciplinary: OB has developed out of a range of disciplines that have studied
behavioural issues in organizations as well as organizations as the context for such behaviour.
2. Explanatory: OB sets out to explain the behaviour of individuals and groups in organizations.
Because of the complexity of its subject matter, these explanations are not formulated in the
form of general laws that claim to be universal truths. Rather, they typically take the form of
theories and models that describe the relationships between variables.
Very few people work without the contact with other people, and no one in any organization works
without some form of interdependency with other members. People work in groups or in teams, are
members of specific departments, they have customers and suppliers and they have superiors to
report to and subordinates to direct and control.
Conflict and negotiations are ubiquitous in organizations that contain many different individuals who,
while sharing organizational goals and the mutual need to collaborate, also all have their own
personal agendas, preferences and objectives. In organizations just as in other complex social entities,
deliberate actions or changes in any part can often have implications elsewhere or even throughout
the whole system – also known as the law of unintended consequences.
Empirical research on organizations and management can be described along a continuum ranging
from highly controlled but decontextualized on one side to loosely controlled yet very rich on the
other.
,Most of the OB research reflects post-positivist thinking, which is characterized by a focus on causal
relationships and accurate measurements and description of an external, observable reality.
Three important sociological perspectives on management:
Technical perspective: A means-oriented approach to management in which it is regarded as
a rationally designed ‘tool’ intended to achieve objectives through the coordination of social
action.
Political perspective: Regards management as a social process intended to resolve conflict
and difference between interest groups in order to allow the achievement of particular
objectives.
Critical perspective: This approach regards management as a mechanism of control and
domination.
Mainstream perspectives on management:
Classical perspectives
- Scientific management: involves systematically evaluating work and searching for
higher productivity.
- Administrative management: looks at ways of managing the whole organization and
is a precursor to the systems approach.
Behavioural perspectives
- Human relations: a management approach that takes into account the importance of
groups and the social context.
- Organizational behaviour: a holistic approach to organizational management that
incorporates not only organizational processes but individual and group processes as
well.
Quantitative perspectives
- Management science: develops mathematical models to use as a basis for problem
solving and decision making within organizations.
- Operations management: concentrates on management of the parts of the business
involved with producing goods or services with the aim of doing so more effectively.
Integrating perspectives
- Systems theory: includes a range of different approaches to the study of
management and organizations with the aim of seeing these issues as interconnected
elements that are capable of functioning as a whole.
- Contingency theory: sees a wide set of contingent factors acting on any given
situation that influences the resulting behaviour of the individuals or organization in
the situation.
Contemporary
, - Popularism: includes a wide range of short-lived fads and fashions, few of which ever
last longer than a few years or develop into a suitable basis for actual managerial
behaviour.
Thompson and McHugh discuss modernism and postmodernism as alternative formulations of social
reality. Modernism refers to the representational aspects of a ‘grand narrative, a coherent story about
the development of the social and natural, revealed through the application of reason and science’.
Postmodernists reject that cohesion, arguing that reality is made up of a differing range of realities
and that it is constructed by our ability to express it. It is a view that holds that the ‘truth is a product
of language games’.
Cummings (1978) - Toward organizational behaviour
OB is defined as the study of individuals and groups within organizations. The units of analysis are
individual and micro interactions among individuals. It is also defined as studies utilizing laboratory
and, occasionally, field experimentation.
Organizational Theory (OT) is typically defined by its focus upon the organization as the unit of
analysis. A comparative, cross-organizational framework is essential for development of knowledge in
OT. It is identified with the predominant use of survey and, occasionally, case designs.
Organizational Behaviour – Organizational Both fields focus upon explaining human
Psychology (OP) behaviour within organizations. Their difference
centres on the fact that OP restricts its
explanatory constructs to those at the
psychological level. OB draws constructs from
multiple disciplines.
Organizational Behaviour – Organizational OB is defined as the study of individual and
Theory (OT) group behaviour within organizations and the
application of such knowledge. OT is the study of
structure, processes and outcomes of the
organization per se.
Organizational Behaviour – Personnel and OB Is seen as more concept oriented while P&HR
Human Resources (P&HR) is viewed as emphasizing techniques or
technologies.
Organizational Development (OD) is emerging and diffusing into OB. OD has two camps with their
own strategies for change; one focuses on change via the individual and micro unit within the
organization and the other on change through structural and environmental manipulation.
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller suzanneeline94. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $3.44. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
66579 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now