Lecture 1 – Introduction to organizational behavior
Organizational behavior is important in healthcare as the sector is dynamic; costs are rising, people are rapidly ageing and those
people have (multiple) chronic conditions. The demand of care increases, but supplies don’t increase at the same pace so not all
demanded care can be covered. There is a strong plead for effectiveness of healthcare organizations, an efficient provision of care
while providing safe, effective, high quality and patient centered care.
Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior
within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organizations effectiveness.
Human Resource Management is the management of work and people towards desired ends; about the relationship between
employer and employee, employees as resources to achieve organizational success through knowledge, skills and competencies,
and management as activities to let employees act in a desired way to achieve organizational success.
Different organizations have a strong HRM strategy; for example Buurtzorg with self-managing teams. Strategic HRM is defined as
the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities intended to enable an organization to achieve its goals. It
involves all of the activities that are implemented by an organization to affect the behavior of individuals in an effort to implement
the strategic needs of a business. As having a strong HR that is related to the strategies of the organization will lead to better
performance.
HRM has shifted from personal management to HRM, Employees are not seen as costs anymore, but they represent human capital
which is important for the organization. It shifted from control (Reward systems) to more commitment, how to get employees
committed and happy as this may lead to an effective organization. Furthermore there is a focus on shared responsibility. It is more
about managing talent, managing work-life balance, become a learning organization and improve leadership development > more
about creating a nice work environment.
Different HRM approaches
- Hard HRM – stresses the rationalism of strategic fit and places emphasis on performance management and an instrumental
approach to the management of individuals. It focusses on the resources, employees are one of the resources and those
are managed to create an added economic value; more about being efficient and effective. It focusses on performance,
there are rewards and appraisal (theory X) > organizational strategy is central (Michigan model)
- Soft HRM – emphasizes individuals and their self-direction and places commitment, trust, and self-regulated behavior at
the center of any strategic approach to people. It focusses on the humans, they are the most important resource of the
organization and a goal on its own. Relationships are important, not the economic rationality but more the moral values;
being fair as an employer to the employees. Employees are central and are intrinsic motivated > Harvard model.
- Individual practices – HRM is a single practice, like training, selection, appraisal on its own.
- HRM systems – a bundle of HR activities that increase organizational performance; the different HR practices intercorrelate.
There are three different topics on which you can bundle the HR practices around: empowerment-enhancing bundles
, (empower the employees: self-managing teams, voice in decision making, give them autonomy), motivation enhancing
bundles (motivate the employees: linking pay to performance, different incentive plans), and skill-enhancing bundles (skill
the employees: training, recruitments). The idea behind those bundles is that they increase the extra step employees take
for the organization to increase firm performance based on the Abilities-Motivation-Opportunities model.
Different employees require different HR strategies.
1. High unique, high strategic value – employees have the
potential to increase the effectiveness of the
organization and are unique for the organization (are
specialized): nurses and doctors; you need to retain
those professionals
2. Low unique, high strategic value – employees that are
important to the organization, but not that unique: social
workers; you need to get the work done
3. Low unique, low strategic value – employees that are not
important to increase the effectiveness of the
organization, but they are needed: cleaners; you don’t
want to invest in those groups and don’t want them
internally in the organization
4. High unique, low strategic value – people that are
specialized but no potential to the increase the efficiency
and effectiveness of the organization: lawyers; you need
them in certain situations.
There is an assumption that HRM matters for the performance, different explanations are known for this (causal chain)
- Black box – there is a correlation between the HRM and firm performance, but there is no reason why as there are different
aspects influencing at the same time
- Paauwe there are HRM activities and performance, and in between HRM outcomes which explain the relationship. For
example, more autonomy leads to more satisfaction and motivation, which leads to firm performance. But there is reverse
causality as well; having a well-performing organization increases the investments in a lot of HRM activities. When
measuring all the steps at the same time you measure correlation and not causality; a longitudinal study is needed.
- Bath tub model – there are two levels of analysis; the individual and organizational level. You may have an HR strategy on
the organizational level, but you need to translate it to the individual level as well to really get the change. Implementing a
new HR strategy will only lead to organizational performance if individuals act upon it; they need to perceive it as something
positive. There is an organizational level, but the individual level is important as well, often only the measurements on
