ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior

Contemporary organizations are changing, and the field of organizational behavior is changing with them. This chapter describes the shifts organizational research manifests as firms transition to a new era of flexible, lateral forms of organizing. It seeks answers to two questions. First, how are core features of organizational research influenced by the changes contemporary organizations are undergoing? Second, what new dynamics and features are emerging as important organizational research issues?

The central problems in organizational behavior are influenced by changes in organizations themselves. Although Annual Review of Psychology (ARP) authors often have reported the durability of such traditional categories as work motivation and performance, absenteeism and turnover, climate and culture, and groups and leadership (e.g. O'Reilly 1991), other recent commentaries report more substantial shifts. The time frame used to review a body of research is probably the greatest determinant of whether we observe change or stability. For example, Barley & Kunda's (1992) investigation of trends in managerial thought ranged from the 1870s to the present and reported alternating cycles of rational (e.g. scientific management) and normative (e.g. human relations) thinking among managers and scholars predicated on the degree of expansion or contraction in the economy of the time. From their starting point in the 1950s, Goodman & Whetten (1995) noted an adaptive quality in the field's work that shifts attention toward particular applied problems firms face within a given decade: Organizational development was a theme in the 1950s and 1960s, and organizational decline and interorganizational relations were themes in the 1980s and 1990s. In the ARP, the historic reach of chapters typically centers around the intervening years since a subject's last review, a practice that can highlight stability and mask trends. (Herriot P, Pemberton C. 1995)

What is Organizational behavior?

Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness. It is there for the beneficial consequences of any organization between the individuals and whole infrastructure of the institute.

"The ability to influence others is a skill that allows you to achieve your goals. Scarce resources and turbulent times require librarians to engage in the game of politics with the same vigor as their competitors." Abigail Hubbard

The study of organizational behavior facilitates the process of explaining, understanding, predicting, maintaining, and changing employee behavior in an organizational setting. This results in more efficiency and more gracious attitudes.

Organizational Behavior is in addition the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. This act is performed by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets individuals-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and most significant whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. (Aldrich HE, Sasaki T. 1995)

For a better understanding of the behavior in an organization, interaction of individuals with the various factors the individuals encounter in ...