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Summary Organizational Behaviour - Communication and Behaviour in Organisations
Summary of the 2nd year Internal communication course (IBC), Radboud University
Internal Communication: Summary IBC
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Chapter 1: Organizational behaviour
Organizations influence almost every aspect of our daily lives in a multitude of ways. If we eventually
destroy this planet, the cause will not lie with technology or weaponry, but with ineffective
organizations and management practices.
The organizational dilemma concerns how to reconcile the inconsistency between individual needs
and aspirations, and the collective purpose of the organization.
• The study of organizational behaviour is multi-disciplinary, drawing in particular from psychology,
social psychology, sociology, economics and political science.
• Organizational behaviour involves a multi-level study of the external environment, and internal
structure, functioning and performance of organizations, and the behaviour of groups and
individuals.
• Organizational effectiveness and quality of working life are explained by a combination of
contextual, individual, group, structural, process and managerial factors.
• In considering explanations of organizational behaviour, systemic thinking is required, avoiding
explanations based on single causes, and considering a range of interrelated factors at different
levels of analysis.
• A positivist perspective uses the same research methods and modes of explanation found in the
natural sciences to study and understand organizational behaviour.
• It is difficult to apply conventional scientific research methods to people, because of the ‘reactive
effects’ which come into play when people know they are being studied.
• A constructivist perspective assumes that, as we are self-defining creatures who attach meanings to
our behaviour, social science is different from natural science.
• A constructivist perspective believes that reality is not objective and ‘out there’, but is socially
constructed.
• A constructivist approach abandons scientific neutrality and seeks to stimulate social and
organizational change by providing critical feedback and encouraging self-awareness.
• Variance theory explains organizational behaviour by identifying relationships between
independent and dependent variables which can be defined and measured. Variance theories are
often quantitative, and are based on a positivist perspective.
• Process theory explains organizational behaviour using narratives which show how many factors
produce outcomes by combining and interacting over time in a given context. Process theories can
combine quantitative and qualitative dimensions, and can draw from positivist and constructivist
traditions.
• The concept of evidence-based management is popular, but the links between evidence and
practice are complex; evidence can shape the ways in which problems are understood and
approached, rather than offering specific solutions.
,• The Bath model of human resource management argues that discretionary behaviour going beyond
minimum requirements relies on having a combination of HR policies.
• High performance work practices increase organizational profitability by decreasing employee
turnover and improving productivity, but they are not widely adopted.
Videos:
Definition of organization - a social arrangement for achieving controlled performance in pursuit of
collective goals.
- Social arrangement refers to the fact that organizations are groups of people who interact
with each other as a consequence of their membership.
- The idea of collective goals refers to the fact that people within the organization have shared
objectives. Organizations are more likely
to exist where individuals acting alone cannot achieve goals that are considered worthwhile
pursuing.
- Controlled performance finally refers to the fact that organizations try to manage their
pursuit of goals. Controlled performance involves setting standards, measuring performance,
comparing actual with performance standard and taking corrective action if necessary
- Central dilemma of organizational design – the central dilemma is how to reconcile
inconsistency between individual needs and aspirations and the collective purpose of the
organization. (The idea of the individual may be different from the purpose of their collective
activity. Two issues are confronting – the interests of the organization and the interests of
the members of the organization.
- Human resource management
HRM is the function responsible for establishing integrated personal policies to support
organizational strategy
Employees must:
- Ability: have job skills and knowledge, including how to work well with others
- Motivation: feel motivated to do the work and do it well
- Opportunity: be able to use skills and contribute to team and organizational success
Evidence based management
- What is an organization: Eight metaphors: A machine, a living organism, a brain, a culture, a
political system, a psychic prison, flux and transformation, an instrument of domination
The managerial perspective: (inadequate)
- First of all, the bias of power teaches us to not only focus on managers but all people in the
organization.
, - Secondly, the bias of agenda tells us to not only focus on issues that managers find
important.
- Third, the bias of stakeholders teaches us to not focus only on management but on all
stakeholders.
- And fourth, the bias of fashion victims tells us that managerial insights are often subject to
fashion
Evidence-based management is a way to overcome those biases. Evidence based
management is systematically using the best available research evidence to inform decisions
about how to manage people and organizations.
Explaining organizational behaviour:
Positivism (positivist approach) – a perspective which assumes that the world can be understood in
terms of causal relationships between observable and measurable variables, and that these
relationships can be studied objectively using controlled experiments.
- Directly related to variance theory. Explains organizational behaviour based on universal
relationships between independent and dependent variables which can be defined and
measured precisely.
Constructivism (constructivist approach) – a perspective which argues that our social and
organizational worlds have no ultimate objective truth or reality, but are instead determined by our
shared experiences, meanings, and interpretations.
- Directly related to process theory. Explains org. behaviour based on narratives which show
how several factors, combining and interacting over time in particular context, are likely to
produce the outcomes of interest.
The problem with social science
, Decision making
Chapter 20: Decision making
• Prescriptive models of decision making recommend how individuals should behave in order to
achieve a desired outcome. The original prescriptive model is the rational model, while a later one
was devised by Victor Vroom and Philip Yetton.
• Descriptive models of decision-making reveal how individuals actually make decisions. The
behavioural theory of decision making is the earliest and most influential descriptive model and was
developed by Herbert Simon, John March and Richard Cyert.
• Explanatory models of decision-making look at what decisions were made and aim to provide an
explanation of how they occurred. The heuristics and biases model developed by Daniel Kahneman
and Amos Tversky, and Irving Janis’ groupthink concept illustrate such explanations.
• Decision conditions can be classified as those involving: certainty, risk and uncertainty.
• Decisions can be classified as routine, adaptive and innovative.
• Groups offer the advantages of a greater pool of knowledge, different perspectives, greater
problem comprehension and increased acceptance of decisions.
• Disadvantages of groups can be considered under the headings of personality factors, social
conformity, diffusion of responsibility, minority domination, logrolling, goal displacement, group
brainstorming, groupthink and satisficing.
• Individual or group decision making has been made on the basis of the following factors: type
of problem task, acceptance of decision, quality of the solution, characteristics of the individuals and
decision-making climate.
• When there is certainty about cause-and-effects and there is consensus on goals or problem
definition then a computational strategy involving the rational decision-making model is favoured.
• When there is uncertainty about cause-and effects, but there is consensus on goals or problem
definition, then a judgmental strategy involving an incremental decision-making model is favoured.
• When there is certainty about cause-and-effects, but disagreement about goals or problem
definition, then a compromise strategy involving a political decision-making model is favoured.
• When there is neither certainty about cause-and effects, nor agreement about goals or problem
definition, then an inspirational strategy involving the garbage can model of decision making is
favoured.
Videos:
Rational model of Decision making
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