Organizational behavior chapter 1 summary

Organizational behavior is a developing field of study. Changes in the environment constantly challenge the ability of organizations and their owners, managers, employees to adapt to change work behaviors and procedures to increase the effectiveness with which they operate.

Organizations exist to provide goods and services that people want, and the amount and quality of these goods and services are products of the behaviors and performance of an organization's employees.

Organizational behavior is a study of the many factors that have an impact on how people and groups act, think, feel, and respond to work in organizations and how organizations respond to their environments. Organizational behavior provides a set of tools -- theories and concepts -- to understand, analyze, describe, and manage attitudes and behavior in organizations.

The study of organizational behavior can improve and change individual, group, and organizational behavior to attain individual, group, in organizational goals.

Organizational behavior can be analyzed at three levels; the individual, the group, and the organization as a whole.A full understanding is impossible without an examination of the factors that affect behavior at each level.

A significant task for organizations managers and employees is to use the tools of organizational behavior to increase organizational effectiveness, that is, an organization's ability to achieve its goals.

The activities of most organizations can be modeled as an open system in which an organization takes and resources from its external environment and converts or transforms them into good and services that are sent back to that environment, where customers buy them.

Changing pressures or forces in the social and cultural, global, technological, and employment or work environment posed many challenges for organizational behavior, and organizations must respond effectively to those challenges if they are to survive and prosper.

Two major challenges of importance to organizational behavior today from the social and cultural environment are those that derive from a breakdown in ethical values and from the increasing diversity of the workforce.

Two important challenges facing organizations from the global environment are to appreciate the differences that exist between countries and then to benefit from this new global knowledge to improve organizational behaviors and procedures.

Changes in the technological environment, and particularly advances in information technology, are also having important effects of organizational behavior and procedures. IT has improved effectiveness by helping an organization improve the quality of its products, lower their costs, and by promoting creativity and organizational learning and innovation.

Many changes have also been taking place in the employment or work environment and important developments that have affected organizational behavior include a shortening employment relationship because of downsizing, the growth in the number of contingent or temporary employees, and outsourcing.

Organizational behavior -- Chapter 1

Organization -- a collection of people who work together to achieve individual and organizational goals
organizational behavior -- the study of factors that affect how individuals and groups act in organizations and how organizations respond to their environments

Organizational behavior provides a set of tools that allow;

• people to understand, analyze, and describe behavior in organizations
• managers to improve, enhance, or change work behaviors so that individuals, groups, and the whole organization can achieve their goals

Group -- 2 more people who interact to achieve their goals
team -- a group in which members worked together intensively to achieve a common group goal

Understanding and managing organizational behavior requires studying:

individuals in organizations

• individual differences: personality and ability
• work values, attitudes, moods, and emotions
• perception, attribution, and the management of diversity
• learning and creativity
• the nature of work motivation
• creating a motivating work setting
• pay, careers, and changing employment relationships
• managing stress and work life balance
  

Groups and team processes

• the nature of work groups and teams
• effective workgroups and teams
• leaders and leadership
• power, politics, conflict, and negotiation
• communication in organizations
• decision making and organizational learning
  

Organizational processes

• organizational design and structure
• organizational culture and ethical behavior
• organizational change and development

Virtual team -- a group whose members worked together intensively via electronic means and may never actually meet
manager -- a person who supervises the activities of one or more employees
top management team -- high-ranking executives who plan a company strategy so that the company can achieve its goals
organizational effectiveness -- the ability of an organization to achieve its goals
Management -- the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling and organizations human, financial, material, and other resources to increase its effectiveness
planning -- deciding how best to allocate and use resources to achieve organizational goals
organizing -- establishing a structure of relationships that dictates how members of an organization work together to achieve organizational goals
leading -- encouraging and coordinating individuals and groups that all organizational members are working to achieve organizational goals
self managed teams -- groups of employees who are given the authority and responsibility to manage many different aspects of their own organizational behavior
controlling -- monitoring and evaluating individual, group, and organizational performance to see whether organizational goals are being achieved
role -- a set of behaviors or tasks a person is expected to perform because of the position he or she holds in the group or organization
skill -- an ability to act in a way that allows a person to perform well in his or her role
conceptual skills -- the ability to analyze and diagnose a situation into distinguish between cause and effect
human skills -- the ability to understand, work with, lead, and control the behavior of other people in groups
technical skills -- job specific knowledge and techniques
open system -- organizations that taken resources from their external environment and convert or transform them into goods and services that are sent back to their environments where customers buy them
organizational procedure -- a rule or routine an employee follows to perform some task and the most effective way
national culture -- the set of values or beliefs that a society considers important in the norms of behavior that are approved or sanctioned in that society
ethics -- the values, beliefs, and moral rules that managers and employees should use to analyze or inter per a situation and then decide what is the right or appropriate way to behave
well-being -- the condition of being happy, healthy, and prosperous
social responsibility -- an organization's obligations toward people or groups that are directly affected by its actions
diverse city -- differences resulting from age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic background
global organizations -- companies that produce or sell their products and countries and regions throughout the world
global learning -- the process of acquiring and learning the skills, knowledge, and organizational behaviors and procedures and countries overseas
expatriate employees -- the people who work for company overseas and are responsible for developing relationships with organizations and countries around the globe
information -- a set of data, facts, numbers, and words that has been organized in such a way that it provides its users with knowledge
knowledge -- what a person perceives, recognizes, identifies, or discovers from analyzing data and information
information technology -- the many different kinds of computer and communications hardware and software, and the skills of their designers, programmers, managers, and technicians
organizational learning -- the process of managing information and knowledge to achieve a better fit between the organization and its environment
intranets -- a network of information technology linkages inside an organization that connects all of its members
downsizing -- the process by which organizations laid-off managers and workers to reduce costs
empowerment -- the process of giving employees throughout organization the authority to make important decisions and to be responsible for their outcomes
contingent workers -- people employed for temporary periods by an organization and he receive no benefits such as health insurance or pensions
outsourcing -- the process of employing people in groups outside the organization or other organizations, to perform specific jobs or types of work activities that used to be performed by the organization itself
freelancer -- a person who contracts with the organization to perform specific services