Sunday, 22 August 2021

Organization Behavior: Introduction, Definition and Contributory Fields



Organization Behavior

Ø  The field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behavior within organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving organizations effectiveness.

Ø  Behavior is generally predictable and the systematic study of behavior is means to making reasonably accurate predictions.

Ø  Contributory disciplines to the OB field:

Ø  OB is an applied behavioral science that is built on contributions from a number of behavior disciplines.

Ø  The potential areas are psychology, sociology, socio psychology, anthropology and political science.

Ø  Psychology’s contributions have been mainly at the individual level or micro level. While the other four disciplines (sociology, socio psychology, anthropology and political science) have contributed to our understanding of macro concept such as group processes and organizations.

Psychology:

o   The science that seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behavior of human and other animals.

o   Psychologists contribution:

§  Early: problems of fatigue, boredom and other factors relevant to working conditions

§  Recent: learning, perception, personality, emotions, training and leadership

§  Leadership effectiveness needs and motivational forces, job satisfaction and decision making process.

Sociology:

o   The study of people in relation to their fellow human beings.

o   Psychology focus on the individuals.

o   Contribution:

§  Study of group behavior, group dynamics, design of work teams, organization cultures, formal organization theories and structure, organization technology, communication, power and conflicts.

Social- Psychology:

o   An area within psychology that blends concept from psychology and sociology and that focuses on the influences of people on one another.

o   Contribution:

§  Organization change: how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance.

§  Measuring, changing, understanding attitudes, communication patterns, building trust.

Anthropology:

o   The study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities.

o   Contribution:

§  Organization culture, values, attitudes, behavior between people in different countries, different organizations

Ø  Political Science:

o   The study of the behavior of individuals and groups within political environment.

o   Contribution:

§  Structuring of conflict, allocation of power, and how people manipulate power for individual’s self-interest.



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