MGTS1601 Notes: Organisational Behaviour
MGTS1601 Notes: Organisational Behaviour Lecture 1 – Textbook Chapter 1 and 2: What is Organisational Behaviour? Summary Page for this topic: Intuition vs. Systematic study Evidence-based management (EBM) * Challenges for managers Contributing disciplines Example contributions of psychology Challenges and opportunities for OB * The importance of interpersonal skills Management functions Mintzberg’s managerial roles * Essential management skills Luthan’s study of managerial activities Successful vs. effective allocation of time Developing an OB model Types of study variables Key OB dependent variables Key OB independent variables Diversity Biological characteristics Ability
Gut feelings vs. scientific evidence 3 steps Challenges of intuition and systematic e.g. psychology Milgram + Stanford e.g. improving ethical behaviour Determines manger effectiveness Planning, organising, leading, controlling (Fayol) Interpersonal, informational & decisional roles Technical skills, human skills, conceptual skills 4 types of managerial activity – e.g. networking Average, successful & effective managers Individual, group & organisational levels Independent & Dependent Productivity, absenteeism, turnover etc. Individual, group & organisational system Surface-level, deep level & diversity management e.g. age and gender Physical vs. Intellectual
Diversity management strategies *
Select diverse employees, work in diverse groups
* = hinted long response questions
Definitions Page: Organisational Behaviour Organisation
Managers Planning
A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving organisation’s effectiveness. A consciously social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. Individuals who achieve goals through other people A process that incudes defining goals, establishing a strategy and developing plans to coordinate activities
Organising
Leading
Controlling Technical skills Human skills Conceptual skills Systematic study Evidence-based management (EBM) Intuition Psychology Social psychology Sociology Anthropology Contingency variables Workforce diversity
Ethical dilemmas Model Dependent variable Productivity
Absenteeism Turnover Deviant workplace behaviour Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB)
Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made A function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective communication channels and resolving conflicts Monitoring activities to ensure that they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations The ability to apply specialised knowledge or expertise The ability to work with, understand and motivate people, both individually and in groups The mental ability to analyse and diagnose complex situations Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence Basing managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence A gut feeling not necessarily supported by research The science that seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behaviour of humans and other animals An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another The study of people in relation to their social environment or culture The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities Situational factors: variables that moderate the relationship between two or more variables The concepts that organisations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and inclusion of other diverse groups Situation in which individuals are required to define right and wrong conduct An abstraction of reality; a simplified representation of some real-word phenomenon A response that is affected by an independent variable A performance measure that includes effectiveness and efficiency. (effectiveness is achievement of goals and efficiency is the ratio of effective output to the input required to achieve it) The failure to report to work Voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organisation Voluntary behaviour that violates significant organisational norms, and, in doing so, threatens the wellbeing of the organisation or its members Discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organisation.
Job satisfaction Independent variable Surface-level diversity
Deep-level diversity
Discrimination
Biological characteristics Ethnicity Race Ability Intellectual abilities General mental ability (GMA) Physical abilities Diversity management
A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics The presumed cause of some change in dependent variable Differences in easily perceived characteristics (e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, age or disability) that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel, but that may activate certain stereotypes Differences in values, personality and work preferences that become progressively more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better Noting a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group Personal characteristics (such as age, gender race and length of service) that are objective and easily obtained from personal records The grouping of people recognised as unique on the basis of their speech, history, origins, culture or other unique characteristics Biological heritage that distinguishes one group of people from another An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job The capacity to do mental activities such as thinking reasoning and problem solving An overall factor of intelligence, as suggested by the positive correlations among specific intellectual ability dimensions. The capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength and similar characteristics Management that makes everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others
Full Textbook Notes: The importance of interpersonal skills: - Until the late 1980’s, business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of management o Focusing on economics, accounting, finance & quantitative techniques o Human behaviour and people skills received less attention - Over the past 30 years, business schools have realised the role that understanding human behaviour plays in determining a manager’s effectiveness o Started requiring courses on people skills o Leadership and communication skills are critical Interpersonal skills helps organisations: 1) Attract and keep high-performing employees - Higher quality applications received for recruitment - Low turnover of these quality employees
-
Companies known as ‘good place to work’ have a big advantage e.g. Woolworths Social relationships between colleagues and supervisors were strongly related to overall job satisfaction o Positive social relationships also = lower stress levels + lower intentions to quit 2) Better financial performance - Companies with reputations as good places to work have been found to generate superior financial performance What do managers do? - Managers get things done through other people: o Managers: make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals - Managers do their work in an organisation - The people who oversee the activities of others and who are responsible for attaining goals in these organisations are managers o Sometimes called administrators – especially in not-for-profit organisations
The Five Management functions – Fayol: - In the early 20th century, Henri Fayol wrote that all managers perform 5 management functions: 1) planning, 2) organising, 3) commanding, 4) coordinating & 5) controlling - Because organisations exist to achieve goals, therefore needs someone to define those goals and the means for achieving them (Managers)
1) -
Planning: Defining an organisational goals Establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals Developing a comprehensive set of plans to integrate and coordinate activities Evidence indicates that this is the function that increase the most as managers move from lower-level to midlevel management 2) Organising: - Managers are also responsible for designing an organisation’s structure - Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped - Who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made 3) Leading: - Management needs to direct and coordinate people - Managers motivate employees, direct their activities, select the most effective communication channels or resolve conflicts among members 4) Controlling:
Gut feelings vs. scientific evidence 3 steps Challenges of intuition and systematic e.g. psychology Milgram + Stanford e.g. improving ethical behaviour Determines manger effectiveness Planning, organising, leading, controlling (Fayol) Interpersonal, informational & decisional roles Technical skills, human skills, conceptual skills 4 types of managerial activity – e.g. networking Average, successful & effective managers Individual, group & organisational levels Independent & Dependent Productivity, absenteeism, turnover etc. Individual, group & organisational system Surface-level, deep level & diversity management e.g. age and gender Physical vs. Intellectual
Diversity management strategies *
Select diverse employees, work in diverse groups
* = hinted long response questions
Definitions Page: Organisational Behaviour Organisation
Managers Planning
A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving organisation’s effectiveness. A consciously social unit composed of two or more people that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. Individuals who achieve goals through other people A process that incudes defining goals, establishing a strategy and developing plans to coordinate activities
Organising
Leading
Controlling Technical skills Human skills Conceptual skills Systematic study Evidence-based management (EBM) Intuition Psychology Social psychology Sociology Anthropology Contingency variables Workforce diversity
Ethical dilemmas Model Dependent variable Productivity
Absenteeism Turnover Deviant workplace behaviour Organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB)
Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made A function that includes motivating employees, directing others, selecting the most effective communication channels and resolving conflicts Monitoring activities to ensure that they are being accomplished as planned and correcting any significant deviations The ability to apply specialised knowledge or expertise The ability to work with, understand and motivate people, both individually and in groups The mental ability to analyse and diagnose complex situations Looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and drawing conclusions based on scientific evidence Basing managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence A gut feeling not necessarily supported by research The science that seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behaviour of humans and other animals An area of psychology that blends concepts from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influence of people on one another The study of people in relation to their social environment or culture The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities Situational factors: variables that moderate the relationship between two or more variables The concepts that organisations are becoming more heterogeneous in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and inclusion of other diverse groups Situation in which individuals are required to define right and wrong conduct An abstraction of reality; a simplified representation of some real-word phenomenon A response that is affected by an independent variable A performance measure that includes effectiveness and efficiency. (effectiveness is achievement of goals and efficiency is the ratio of effective output to the input required to achieve it) The failure to report to work Voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organisation Voluntary behaviour that violates significant organisational norms, and, in doing so, threatens the wellbeing of the organisation or its members Discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, but that nevertheless promotes the effective functioning of the organisation.
Job satisfaction Independent variable Surface-level diversity
Deep-level diversity
Discrimination
Biological characteristics Ethnicity Race Ability Intellectual abilities General mental ability (GMA) Physical abilities Diversity management
A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics The presumed cause of some change in dependent variable Differences in easily perceived characteristics (e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, age or disability) that do not necessarily reflect the ways people think or feel, but that may activate certain stereotypes Differences in values, personality and work preferences that become progressively more important for determining similarity as people get to know one another better Noting a difference between things; often we refer to unfair discrimination, which means making judgments about individuals based on stereotypes regarding their demographic group Personal characteristics (such as age, gender race and length of service) that are objective and easily obtained from personal records The grouping of people recognised as unique on the basis of their speech, history, origins, culture or other unique characteristics Biological heritage that distinguishes one group of people from another An individual’s capacity to perform the various tasks in a job The capacity to do mental activities such as thinking reasoning and problem solving An overall factor of intelligence, as suggested by the positive correlations among specific intellectual ability dimensions. The capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, dexterity, strength and similar characteristics Management that makes everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others
Full Textbook Notes: The importance of interpersonal skills: - Until the late 1980’s, business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of management o Focusing on economics, accounting, finance & quantitative techniques o Human behaviour and people skills received less attention - Over the past 30 years, business schools have realised the role that understanding human behaviour plays in determining a manager’s effectiveness o Started requiring courses on people skills o Leadership and communication skills are critical Interpersonal skills helps organisations: 1) Attract and keep high-performing employees - Higher quality applications received for recruitment - Low turnover of these quality employees
-
Companies known as ‘good place to work’ have a big advantage e.g. Woolworths Social relationships between colleagues and supervisors were strongly related to overall job satisfaction o Positive social relationships also = lower stress levels + lower intentions to quit 2) Better financial performance - Companies with reputations as good places to work have been found to generate superior financial performance What do managers do? - Managers get things done through other people: o Managers: make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals - Managers do their work in an organisation - The people who oversee the activities of others and who are responsible for attaining goals in these organisations are managers o Sometimes called administrators – especially in not-for-profit organisations
The Five Management functions – Fayol: - In the early 20th century, Henri Fayol wrote that all managers perform 5 management functions: 1) planning, 2) organising, 3) commanding, 4) coordinating & 5) controlling - Because organisations exist to achieve goals, therefore needs someone to define those goals and the means for achieving them (Managers)
1) -
Planning: Defining an organisational goals Establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals Developing a comprehensive set of plans to integrate and coordinate activities Evidence indicates that this is the function that increase the most as managers move from lower-level to midlevel management 2) Organising: - Managers are also responsible for designing an organisation’s structure - Determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped - Who reports to whom and where decisions are to be made 3) Leading: - Management needs to direct and coordinate people - Managers motivate employees, direct their activities, select the most effective communication channels or resolve conflicts among members 4) Controlling:
