Organizational Behavior and

Structure
SM60.42
Dr. Sununta Siengthai [s.siengthai@ait.ac.th ]
SOM/AIT/TH

SM60.42 - Organizational Behavior and Structure

Rationale: Understanding organizational behavior will

enable us to develop a practical perspective on
organizational development strategies. It will also enhance
the managers skills in designing and changing
organizations.

Objectives of the Course:

1. To provide a framework for understanding
organizational behavior by:
1.1. Looking at the impact of individuals on
behavior within the organization and on the
organizational performance.
1.2 looking at the impact of groups on behavior
within the organization and on the organizational
performance.
2. To investigate the impact of the organizational
processes on the individuals and groups within the
organization and hence organizational
performance.

Objectives of the Course:

To understand the impact of organizational

structure on the behavior of individuals
and groups on organizational
performance.
To be able to design organizational
development strategies for successful
organizational changes as well as
organizational effectiveness.

Meeting Schedules:
Week 1: Welcome to the course: Intro to OB;
Understanding and Managing Individual
Week 2: Foundations of Individual Behavior;
Perception and Individual Decision Making
Values, Attitudes, and Job Satisfaction
Week 3-4: Basic Motivation Concepts;
Motivation: From Concepts to Applications
Week 5; Mid-Term Exam (Closed book);
Group Behavior and Interpersonal Influence
Week 6 : Conflict and Negotiation; Leadership
Week 7: Power and Politics; Communication
Week 8: Organization Structure and Design;
Organizational Change and Innovation

What is Organizational Behavior?

Learning objectives:
1. Define organizational behavior (OB).
2. Describe what managers do.
3. Identify the contributions made by major
behavioral science
disciplines to OB.
4. Describe why managers require a knowledge of
OB.
5. Explain the need for a contingency approach to
the study of
OB.

Definition of Organizational Behavior:

- 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.

Organizational Performance

What do we mean by performance?

We define performance in terms of the results
that managers must obtain to keep the firm
viable as an economic entity. This view of
performance includes 3 dimensions, the task
performance dimension, the contextual
performance dimension, and the ethical
performance dimension. This is achieved by
what we call the building blocks of
organizational effectiveness: the individual, the
group, and the organization.

Task
Performance
The Individual

Effectiveness
Contextual
Performance
The Group

Ethical
Performance

The Organization

Cultures: national
Personal and indiv.
and Organizational
Differences
Managing Effectiveness
Attitudes,
Power and Politics in organization
perception,
Leadership in organizations
and
Organizational change
judgment
Organizational
Group and team
accommodation
performance
Motivation theories
environment
Organizational
Applied motivation
Group processes and
structure and
theories
effectiveness
design
Stress in organizations
Conflict
Decision making

A congruence model of O.B.

INPUT

Transformation
processes

Nadler and Tushman (2002)

OUTPUT

Field Studies
_____________
in real-life
organizational
settings

Meta analyses
_____________
using statistics to
pool results of
different studies

Sources of
research insight
in OB

Survey studies
______________
using questionnaires
and interviews in sample
populations

Laboratory studies
_____________
in simulated and
controlled settings

Case Studies
____________
looking indepth at single
situations

The Management Process:

Planning
______________
Choosing goals and
means to achieve them

Team
Leaders

Controlling
______________
Measuring performance
and ensuring results

Managers

Leading
____________
Inspiring people to
work hard

Organizing
____________
Creating structures
and work systems

Ten Roles of Effective Managers:

Interpersonal Roles:
How a manager interacts with other people
-- Figurehead
-- Leader
-- Liaison
Decisional Roles
How a manager uses information in decision making:
-- Entrepreneur
-- Disturbance handler
-- Resource allocator
-- Negotiator
Informational Roles:
How a manager exchanges and processes information:
-- Monitor
-- Disseminator
-- Spokesperson

What do managers do?

Organization - A consciously coordinated social unit, composed

of two
or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous
basis to achieve
a common goal or set of goals.

Managers are those who achieve goals through other people

Management Functions:

Planning
Organizing
Leading
Controlling

Robbins (2002) Organizational Behavior

Managerial Skills and Competencies:

Conceptual
Skills

Human Relations
(EQ)

Technical Skill

Developing Your Emotional Intelligence:

Self-awareness - ability to understand your own moods
and emotion;
Self-regulation - ability to think before acting and control
disruptive impulses;
Motivation - ability to work hard and persevere.
Empathy - ability to understand emotions of others;
Social skills - ability to gain rapport with others and build
good relationships.

Effective vs. Successful Managerial Activities:

Managers are all engaged in 4 managerial activities:

1. Traditional management:
Decision making, planning, and controlling.
2. Communication:
Exchanging routine information, and processing
paper-work.
3. Human resource management:
Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing,
and training.
4. Networking:
Socializing, politicking, and interacting with
outsiders.

Contributions from Psychology:

Explains individual behavior, it focuses on

the following aspects:

Learning
Motivation
Personality
Perception
Training
Leadership effectiveness
Job Satisfaction
Individual decision making
Performance appraisal
Attitude measurement
Employee selection
Job design
Work stress

Contribution from Sociology:

Explains group behavior, it focuses on the following

aspects:

Group dynamics
Communication
Power
Conflict
Intergroup behavior
Formal organization theory
Bureaucracy
Organizational technology
Organization change
Organizational culture

Contribution from Social Psychology:

Mainly explains group behavior, it

focuses on the following aspects:

Behavioral change
Attitude change
Communication
Group processes
Group decision making

Contribution from Anthropology:

Explains group and organization system, it

focuses on the following aspects:

Comparative values
Comparative attitudes
Cross-cultural analysis
Organizational culture
Organizational environment

Contribution from Political Science:

Explains organization system, it
focuses on the following aspects:
Conflict
Intra-organizational politics
Power

Ethics and O.B.

Ethical behavior is that accepted as morally good and

right, as opposed to bad or wrong, in a particular
setting. For example,

Is it ethical to withold information that might discourage a

job candidate from joining your organization?
Is it ethical to ask someone to take a job you know will not
be good for his or her career progress?

Is it ethical to ask so much of someone that they

continuallly have to choose between having a career and
having a life ?

Ways of Thinking About Ethical Behavior:

The Utilitarian View considers ethical behavior to be that

which delivers the greatest good to the greatest number of
people. Those who subscribe to the results-oriented
utilitarian logic assess the moral aspects of their decisions in
terms of the consequences they create.

The Individualism view considers ethical behavior to be

that which is best for an individuals long term self-interests.
The moral-rights view considers ethical behavior to be that
which respects fundamental rights shared by all human
beings. In an organization, this Is reflected in such issues as
rights to privacy, due process, and freedom of speech.

Ways of Thinking About Ethical Behavior:

The Justice view considers ethical behavior to be that

which is fair and impartial in its treatment of people.
Procedural justice is the degree to which the rules and
procedures specified by policies are properly followed in
all cases under which they are applied. Distributive
justice is the degree to which all people are treated the
same under a policy, regardless of race, ethinicity, gender,
age, or any other demographic characteristic.
Interactional justice is the degree to which the people
affected by a decision are treated with dignity and
respect.

Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace:

An ethical dilemma is a situation in which a person

must decide whether or not to do something that,
although benefiting them or the organization, or both,
may be considered unethical.
Common issues underlying the dilemmas involve
honesty in communications and contracts, gifts and
entertainment, kickbacks, pricing practices, and
employee termination.

Ethics Training:

Ethics training programs offer advice for handling ethical

dilemmas. In addition, the training helps participants learn
how to identify and deal with these common ationalizations
for ethical misconduct:

1. Pretending the behavior is not really unethical or illegal;

2. Excusing the behavior by saying its really in the
organizations or your best interest.
3. Assuming the behavior is okay because no one else is
expected to find out about it.
4. Presuming your superiors will support and protect you
if anything should go wrong.

Organizational Social Responsibility:

Social responsibility is the obligation of organizations
to behave in Ethical and moral ways as institutions of the
broader society.

There are few absolutes in OB. This means that

there are few, if any, simple and universal principles
that explain organizational behavior. Human beings
are very complex.

But we certainly can offer reasonably accurate

explanations of human behavior or make valid
predictions. It means that OB concepts must reflect
situational or contingency conditions.

Conclusion:

The key to managing people in ways that lead to profits,

productivity, innovation, and real organizational learning

ultimately lies in how you think about your organization
and its people When you look at your people, do you
see costs to be reduced? Or, when you look at your
people do you see intelligent, motivated, trustworthy
individuals the most critical
and valuable strategic assets your organization can have?

-- The Human Equation: Building Profits by

Putting People First by Jeffrey Pfeffer,
1998, Harvard Business School Press,
Boston.

References:
Jeffrey Pfeffer (1998) The Human Equation: Building
Profits by Putting People First , Harvard Business School
Press, Boston.

Nadler, David A. and Michael L. Tushman (2002)

Framework for Organizational Behavior in Managing
Organizations by David A. Nadler; Michael L. Tushman
and Nina Hatvany, Little Brown and Company, pp.35 48.
Robbins, Stephen (2002) Organizational Behavior.

Schermerhorn, John R., Jr.; James G. Hunt; Richard N.

Osborn (2003) Organizational Behavior, John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 8th ed.