OBdefined

Operating definition of "Organizational Behavior"

In page 9 of the text, Organizational Behavior the author Stephen P. Robbins gave a general definition of Organizational Behavior (OB). According to the author, "OB is concerned with the study of what people do in an organization and how that behavior affects the performance of the organization." However, Robbins also pointed out that there are few absolutes in OB - unlike Physics and Chemistry, human behavior cannot be generalized and predicted. Further, by observing the changing nature of the organizations and the uncertain environment they work in, the author stressed the importance of adopting a contingency approach to study OB.

The term "organization" in Organizational Behavior primarily refers to profit making organizations like firms and corporations, not entities that are created primarily for social interaction. The concept of a profit-maximizing firm cannot be discussed without mentioning the neo-classical theory of economics. Neo-classical economists such as Adam Smith chartered out ways that individuals in an organization should behave in order to maximize the profits of the organization. According to Smith, self-centered individuals work hard to increase their own welfare and consequently increase social welfare. For a long time, economists, sociologists and psychologists believed this egocentric motivation was the only factor that increased social welfare.

However, it has been observed in society that individuals do not always do everything based on egocentric motivations. From this notion, it could be concluded that in an organizational setting that is also the part of broader social setting, an individual would not always act for self-interest alone. Factors like moral bonds, traditions, shared religion, and shared ethnicity gives people a sense of belonging and identity, which eventually motivates them to contribute more to their society or organization.

Organizations are encouraging workers this informal method of socialization and cooperation as a means of maximizing productivity. This trend is also reflected on a recent survey of management literature that showed a strong emphasis on factors like leadership, the building of corporate and organizational cultures, as well as motivating workers thorough loyalty and norms, and lesser emphasis on individual incentives (cited in Fukuyama, 2003, February). Research on human behavioral reinforcement theory done by Fred Luthans and Alexander Stajkovic (1999) showed that social reinforcers have as strong an impact on performance as pay. Another well discussed topic among Sociologists is emotional intelligence, which is about bringing human emotions to the surface and understanding how they affect teamwork, (Urch, 2001) and how people interact with others emotionally (Langley, 2000).

The problem that most social scientists are face is that although society is made up of the sum of individual members, society's (in this case organization's) behavior cannot be modeled by simply adding up the behaviors of all the members in it. Any two people would react differently to the same situation. Just as an apple and an orange could not be added, subjective individual behaviors also cannot be aggregated.

Therefore, most major organizations have abandoned the old notion that organizational behavior is the sum of individual behaviors. Instead, they are trying to create an organizational culture that promotes workers loyalty either to the organization or to the fellow workers. The culture of mutual trust and shared norms are helping the workers to achieve greater organizational objectives.

Managers are also recognizing that workers are more than just a factor of production. The decision-making capabilities of the workers should be aligned to the needs of the organization. A study done by Miller in 1992 has shown that effective managers practice considerable prerogatives while designing organizational structure - they may choose anything between hierarchies to decentralized authority depending on different circumstances (cited in Fukuyama, 2003, February).

A broader definition of Organizational Behavior could be drawn from the above observation. OB is the study of the people in an organization and their individual and collective behavior. It is a study to devise methods to channel the collective individual behavior to form an effective and permanent organizational culture to maximize the productivity and profitability of the organization.

References

Druskat, V. U. (2001, March). Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups. Harvard Business Review, 79(3), 80-91.

Fukuyama, F. (2003, February). Still Disenchanted? The Modernity of Post-industrial Capitalism. Center for the study of Economy and Society Working Paper Series. Retrieved July 16, 2003, from http://www.economyandsociety.org/publications/wp3_fukuyama_03.pdf

Langley, A. (2000). Emotional intelligence - a new evaluation for management development? Career Development International, 5(3), 177-183.

Luthans, F., & Stajkovic, A. D. (1999). Reinforce for performance: The need to go beyond pay and even rewards. Academy of Management Executive, 13(2), 79-57.

Robbins, S. P. (2001). Organizational Behavior [University of Phoenix Custom Edition]. New Jersey: Pearson Custom Publishing.