Organizational Behavior: Terms and Concepts 1

Organizational Behavior: Terms and Concepts

Chenista Rae Straubel

Management 331

Stephan W. Daniel

October 30, 2004

 Organizational Behavior: Terms and Concepts 2

Abstract

Quality sleep time helps improve your outlook and hence, your daily experiences and

interactions with others. Everyone has 24 hours a day to do with what they will. Normally

we spend eight hours per day working, eight hours per day sleeping, and during the other

eight hours many people express their concerns for the other 16 hours. If we are happy with

our work we will naturally sleep better and this greatly improves all 24 hours available to us

and to those who love us and also those with whom we must interact.

The content of this paper serves to define key terms and concepts that apply to

organizations as well as individuals within the collective workforce. Organizations can only

be as effective as the members of their workforce and effective managers and organizations

recognize the needs not only of the organization, but also the needs of individuals within

their workforce.
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Organizational Behavior: Terms and Concepts

Organizational behavior

Organizational behavior (OB) studies individual interactions within a group setting by

attempting to improve behavior in such a way that it better accomplishes organizational

goals. Understanding our work-related behaviors helps us to expand our career potentials

and to embrace the paradigm shift that is currently taking place in organizations today.

Organizational behavior has strong ties to the social sciences including psychology,

sociology, anthropology, as well as economics and political science. It is devoted to

applying and integrating diverse insights with the goal of improving the functions of an

organization and related work experiences.

Successful OB applications can help organizations:

1) Design jobs for higher performance by improving task performance and

defining ingredients necessary for successful teams.

2) Improve job satisfaction by creating and achieving win-win situations.

This in turn reduces absenteeism and turnover.

3) Increase job involvement by defining decision levels, reward and merit

systems, and reduce stress by helping employees adapt to changes in the

organizational culture.
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Organizational culture

Shared actions, values, and beliefs that guide behavior and develop within an

organization represents the corporate culture. Analyzing corporate culture involves

observing actions, recognizing shared values, and interpreting common assumptions. Stories,

rites, rituals, and symbols become apparent when observing the actions of individuals and

recognizing the rules and roles that various members may play within a social system.

Shared meanings or values help others define expectations and know how to act under

various conditions and circumstances. Common assumptions are taken for granted and are

the “norm.” They can be inherent within management philosophy and reflect in the ways in

which the company manages both its internal and external affairs.

Organizational development can enhance organizational culture by establishing

techniques that guide and nurture cultural change. Interventions may be conducted

organizationally, within groups or inter-groups, or individually. The goals of utilizing

organizational development include improved task accomplishments, processes, and

interpersonal relationships. With its roots in basic behavioral science principles,

organizational development recognizes the importance of collaborative efforts and human

values and can be an invaluable tool for improving organizational effectiveness.

Diversity

Quality companies value diversity by focusing on respecting individual differences

and by demonstrating interpersonal and cultural sensitivity. Diversity encompasses

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differences within individuals based on gender, race and ethnicity, age, able-body, sexual

orientation, and an understanding and respect for both domestic and national cultures.

Making diversity policies stick requires:

1) Specific expectations defined during the planning phase and documented

in the organizational strategy. This document should include how the

company intends to address accountability for diversity goals and how

they will build diversity into senior management.

2) An organizational focus on talent rather than on the person.

3) Helping individuals develop personal career plans which may include

career mentoring by diversity cohorts.

4) Promoting minorities who are qualified to responsible positions within the

company.

Communication

Communication plays a key role in all aspects of personal and business affairs and

effective communication is an invaluable tool for effective management, organizations, and

individuals. Embracing open communications in all forms helps all stakeholders cope with

constant and rapid change inherent in today’s organizations. Effective communication helps

individuals not only exchange information, but to process the information in such a way that

all members understand the goal by creating a cohesiveness in the spirit of cooperation and

unity. The value of communication can be measured at levels of management within an

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organization as well as within all cultures, subgroups, and individuals by successes and

satisfaction enjoyed and realized by everyone.

Communicating organizational values, vision, goals and rules is necessary but it is

also important that the workforce clearly understands the mission and supports the goals and

the vision so much so that it seems as if the corporate mission and goals is their personal goal

and mission as well.

Effective communication ensures efficient collaboration across organizational

boundaries creating a spirit of enthusiasm and cooperation both interdepartmentally and

within the workforce while reducing interpersonal problems and conflicts. Mobilizing a

workforce requires the contributions of collective talents and communication is the key factor

in uniting the efforts of the whole to focus on the goals, mission, and vision of a successful

organization.

Reducing the management levels within an organization can increase the speed and

accuracy of information. This also reduces the “filtering” effect that can often conflict with

and hinder effective communications. The ability to process information quickly and

accurately means being able to act rather than to react (management by crisis) and also

selecting and measuring information relative to organizational goals.

Organizational effectiveness and efficiency

Clearly written mission statements help create long-term goals by defining future

aspirations the company will achieve. With this strategy, quality members are brought

together who have a strong quest for high performance and this creates a sense of purpose.
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Talented people have an internal need and desire to be a part of something larger than they

are personally and can bring meaning and involvement to their work and personal lives.

A successful company has the ability to attract, motivate, and to retain talented people

that collectively create the intellectual capital of the company. Intellectual capital is the sum

of knowledge, expertise, and dedication inherent within a workforce and is indispensable in

the organizations ability to advance its purpose, mission, and strategies. Effective

organizations know that a good plan is not sufficient and that things happen due to the efforts

of people and how people work and perform together.

Effective managers support the efforts of others by coordinating, coaching, and

leading in such a way that creates an enthusiastic and committed workforce. Quality

management helps others accomplish their tasks by creating an atmosphere of job satisfaction

and involvement that focuses on organizational commitment and task performance.

Three roles of effective managers include interpersonal, informational, and

decisional. In the interpersonal role managers demonstrate three qualities: figurehead when

attending official ceremonies; leader by creating enthusiasm, motivating, and serving needs;

and liaison by maintaining contacts with people and groups. In the informational capacity,

managers may act as: monitor by seeking out information; disseminator, sharing the

information internally; and spokesperson by sharing the information externally. In decisional

roles, managers engage in actions such as: entrepreneur when seeking out problems to solve

and opportunities to explore; disturbance handler for resolving conflict; allocating resources;

and negotiator.
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Three skills are inherent in varying degrees in effective managers: technical expertise,

interpersonal or human skills, and conceptual. Technical skills are most valuable at entry

levels and deal primarily with job-specific problems where senior executives are more

concerned with organizational issues such as purpose, mission, and strategy. Interpersonal or

human skills are ground in the foundation of organizational behavior and are important at all

managerial levels. Effective interpersonal or human skills require a high degree of self-

awareness and a capacity for understanding and emphasizing. Human skills encompass the

realm of emotional intelligence, the capacity to manage ones self and relationships

effectively. Conceptual skills is the capacity to analyze and to solve complex interrelated

problems. This involves the ability to see the entire situation as a whole and to create win-

win solutions that benefit everyone. In this arena, effective managers need to have the ability

to see and to understand how the whole organization works and to recognize

interrelationships thus identifying problem and opportunities through gathering and

interpreting information and evaluating the collection of information in a context that the

solution serves the organizational purpose.

Organizational learning

Today’s organizations recognize and embrace lifelong learning by developing a

culture that encourages the acquisition of knowledge that can be used and adapted to

changing circumstances. This includes learning from day to day experiences, informal and

internal conversations with colleagues and friends, formal counseling and advice from

mentors, success models, training seminars and workshops, and by disseminating

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information available from outside sources such as industry-specific journals and mass

media.

Organizations demonstrate the importance of organizational learning by

implementing policies that encourage both personal and corporate development and by

providing effective feedback through communicating successes and information to the

workforce.

Summary

Effective organizations recognize the importance that the quality of work life plays in

the successes of the company and fulfillment of its vision, goals, and mission. Successful

managers know the challenges of today’s information rich environment and recognize their

roles in helping individuals obtain both their personal goals as well as organizational goals

through fostering a nurturing atmosphere built upon cooperation and respect and encouraging

lifelong learning skills.

Studying organizational behavior helps us to understand how organizations function

and how we act in organizations. This helps prepare us both as individuals and members of

an organization by increasing effectiveness, reducing stress, adapting to change, creating a

feeling of fulfillment and satisfaction, and helping us to make decisions about the

organizations we choose to join.

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References

Schermerhorn, Jr., J.R., & Hunt, J.G., & Wiley, R.N. Osborn (2003). Organizational

Behavior (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ.