MGHB02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1.1-1.2: Human Resource Management
1.1 Define organizations and describe their basic characteristics
Organization: a social concept of people working together to achieve a common goal
Characteristics of Organizations:
• Social invention: all organizations include people
• Goal accomplishment: organizations are created with a purpose and the people in it should
be
o Motivated to join and stay
o Able to work reliably and well
o Willing to learn and update skills
o Flexible and innovative
• Group effort: organizations include teamwork (the better the informal relationships
between people in the organization, the more effective the organization becomes)
1.2 Explain the concept of organizational behaviour and describe the goals of the field
Organizational behaviour: how the people in the organization behave (cooperation, resignation,
conflicts, etc.) and their attitudes (towards the job, the organization, the goals)
• Human resources management: practical implementation of organizational behaviour
knowledge to optimize the labour force
• Significance of organizational behaviour
o Interesting: a study of human nature and why some organizations succeed or fail
o Important: affects a large scope of society (managers, employees and consumers)
and can be used to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the people (leading to
overall efficiency of the organization)
o Makes a difference: effectiveness/success of the company is closely related to the
effectiveness of the workers
Goals of the field
• Predicting organizational behaviour
o What may cause certain types of behaviour (promote ethical decision making,
stimulate innovation, encourage sexual harassment)
• Explaining organizational behaviour
o Why do people behave a certain way (more or less satisfied, motivated, likelihood of
quitting)
o Multiple causes of one behaviour and causes can change over time (economic
environment)
• Managing organizational behaviour (more in 1.3)
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