MGMT1135 Chapter Notes - Chapter Entire book: Interactive Media, Job Evaluation, Organizational Commitment
Organisational behaviour book notes:
CHAPTER 1
Overview:
▪Looks at factors that make companies effective, improve employee
wellbeing and drive successful collaboration among co workers
▪Employee thoughts and behaviour
▪The complex interplay between the organisations structure and culture and
its external environment
▪Organisational behaviour is the study of what people think, feel and do in
and around organisations
▪It looks at employee behaviour, decisions, perceptions and emotional
responses
▪How individuals and teams interact and collaborate with people and their
organisation- and also how they interact with their external environment
▪From an OB perspective
▪Organisations are groups of people who work independently towards some
purpose
▪Many organisations exist without physical walls and government
documentation to confer their legal status
▪A key feature of Organisational effectiveness is collective entities- they
consist of human beings who interact with each other
▪A second key feature is a collective sense of purpose- although this isn’t
always defined or agreed on
▪OB is a powerful predictor of an organisations survival and success
Contemporary challenges for organisations:
▪Organisations are facing unpredicted change
▪They are deeply affected by the external environment
Globalisation:
▪Refers to economic, social and cultural connectivity with people in other
parts of the world
▪Organisations globalise when they interact with other people in other
cultures and countries, e.g. through trade, partnerships and information
exchange
▪Today it more wide spread because of technology and government
liberalization of trade and immigrant policies
▪Benefits include; larger markets, lower costs and greater access to
innovation and knowledge
▪However, this is debate that it poorly affects developing nations
Increasing workforce diversity:
▪Diversity encompasses race, religion, sex, age ethnicity, physical and mental
health (surface level diversity)
▪Deep level diversity- differences in the psychological characteristic pf
employees, including personality, beliefs, values and attitudes
▪It is beneficial as it provides diverse knowledge and this improves decision
making
▪However, it can cause longer performance time in tasks, communication
problems and conflict
▪Despite this is, in essence it fulfils the ethical standard of fairness- bringing
with this respect, which in turn improves cooperation and coordination
among employees
Emerging employment relationships:
▪Virtual work- work performed away form the traditional physical workplace
through the use of technology
▪It is said to improve work life balance (the degree to which a person
minimises conflict between work and non work demands), e.g. females with
families, commute time
▪It can improve productivity, and also environmental and financial benefits-
saving on travel and gas emissions.
▪However, it can lead to social isolation, less cohesion among workers and
those who were not able to do virtual work found it unfair
The systematic research anchor:
▪Evidence based research- the practice of making decisions and taking
actions based on research evidence
▪Typically involves research questions, collecting data and testing hypotheses
▪However, organisations still fall for fads as they are bombarded with ideas
and OB research is generic- rarely described in the context of the problem
in a specific organisation
▪OB experts have proposed to be skeptical of hype, embrace collective
expertise and take a neutral stance towards popular trends
Multidisciplinary anchors:
▪Many OB concepts adopted from other disciplines
▪OB develops its own theories, but draws from other fields
The contingency anchor:
▪No single solution is best all of the time- changes in different situations and
environments
▪Select a strategy that is right under the conditions
▪Actions have different consequences in different situations
The multiple levels of analysis anchor:
▪OB recognises that organisations can be placed in to three levels; individual,
team and organisation
▪Most organisations have the implicit or explicit objective of making an
organisation more effective- Organisational effectiveness- in a broad
concept is represented by several perspectives including the organisations
fit with the external environment, its internal subsystem configuration for
high performance, its emphasis on Organisational learning and its ability to
satisfy the needs of key stakeholders.
▪The best idea of OE is a composite of 4 perspectives- open systems,
Organisational learning, high performance, work practice and stakeholders
▪Organisations are effective when they have a good fit with their external
environment, are learning organisations, have efficient and adaptive
internal subsystems (HPWP) and satisfy their stakeholders
Open systems perspective
▪the perspective which hold that organisations depend on the external
environment (consists of rules, expectations e.g. laws and cultural norms)
for resources, affect the environment through their output and consist of
internal sub systems that transform inputs into outputs
▪outputs= waste/pollution and stakeholder dividends
▪Organisation-environment
fit- organisations are
effective when they
maintain a good ‘fit’ with
their external environment-
this exists when the Orgs.
Inputs, processes and
outputs are aligned with the
resources available in the
external environment as
well as with its needs and
expectations of that
environment
▪An org. does this in 3 ways;
being adaptive, managing
the environment and
moving to a more
favourable environment.
Internal subsystems effectiveness:
▪Organisational efficiency (productivity)-the ratio of inputs to outputs
▪In addition to being efficient is being effective- this enables an org to
respond better to changing conditions and customer needs
▪An important feature of an effective transformation process is how well the
internal subsystems coordinate with each other
Organisational learning perspective:
▪It is a perspective that holds that Organisational effectiveness depends on
the organisations capacity to acquire, use and store valuable knowledge
▪Knowledge is a result of assets, called intellectual capital; a company’s
stock of knowledge. Exists in 3 forms; human structural and relationship
▪Intellectual capital is maintained through storing, acquiring, using and
sharing knowledge- the 3 types are human, relationship and structural
▪Human capital- the stock of knowledge, skills and abilities amoung
employees that provide economic value to the org- it is a competitive
advantage because it is valuable, rare and difficult to substitute
▪Structural- knowledge embedded in an organisations systems and structure,
e.g. documentation of work procedures, finished products
▪Relationship- the value derived from an orgs. Relationship with customers,
suppliers and others, who provided a mutual benefit
Strategies for Organisational unlearning:
▪Replacing dysfunctional policies and procedures
▪Removing outdated beliefs and assumptions
▪Challenging employees to rethink way to perform tasks
Acquiring knowledge: page 16
Document Summary
Contemporary challenges for organisations: organisations are facing unpredicted change, they are deeply affected by the external environment. Multidisciplinary anchors: many ob concepts adopted from other disciplines, ob develops its own theories, but draws from other fields. The contingency anchor: no single solution is best all of the time- changes in different situations and environments, select a strategy that is right under the conditions, actions have different consequences in different situations. Organisational learning, high performance, work practice and stakeholders: organisations are effective when they have a good fit with their external environment, are learning organisations, have efficient and adaptive internal subsystems (hpwp) and satisfy their stakeholders. Organisation-environment fit- organisations are effective when they maintain a good fit" with their external environment- this exists when the orgs. Inputs, processes and outputs are aligned with the resources available in the external environment as well as with its needs and expectations of that environment.
