Organizational studies, organizational behaviour, and organizational theory is the systematic study and careful application of knowledge about how people - as individuals and as groups - act within organizations.
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Overview
Organizational Behaviour studies encompasses the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. For instance, one textbook [1] divides these multiple viewpoints into three perspectives: modern, symbolic, and postmodern. Another traditional distinction, present especially in American academia, is between the study of "micro" organizational behavior -- which refers to individual and group dynamics Group dynamics is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes. Relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, and communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships. Because they interact and influence each other, groups develop a number of dynamic processes that in an organizational setting -- and "macro" organizational theory which studies whole organizations, how they adapt, and the strategies and structures that guide them. To this distinction, some scholars have added an interest in "meso" -- primarily interested in power, culture, and the networks of individuals and units in organizations -- and "field" level analysis which study how whole populations of organizations interact. In Europe Europe is one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and these distinctions do exist as well, but are more rarely reflected in departmental divisions.
Whenever people interact in organizations, many factors come into play. Modern organizational studies attempt to understand and model these factors. Like all modernist social sciences, organizational studies seek to control, predict A prediction or forecast is a statement about the way things will happen in the future, often but not always based on experience or knowledge. While there is much overlap between prediction and forecast, a prediction may be a statement that some outcome is expected, while a forecast may cover a range of possible outcomes, and explain An explanation is a set of statements constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. There is some controversy over the ethics of controlling workers' behaviour. As such, organizational behaviour or OB (and its cousin, Industrial psychology Industrial and Organizational Psychology applies psychology to organizations and the workplace. (Later this year, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology plans a vote to either retain its name or to change it to the Society for Organizational Psychology or something similar that eliminates the word "Industrial" and) have at times been accused of being the scientific tool of the powerful.[citation needed] Those accusations notwithstanding, OB can play a major role in organizational development Organization development is a planned, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. Warren Bennis, has referred to OD as a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organization so that they can better adapt to new technologies, and success.
One of the main goals of organizational theorists is, according to Simms (1994) "to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptualization of organizational life."[2] An organizational theorist should carefully consider levels assumptions being made in theory[3], and is concerned to help managers and administrators.[4]
History
The Greek philosopher Plato Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Plato was originally a wrote about the essence of leadership. Aristotle Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most addressed the topic of persuasive communication. The writings of 16th century Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher/writer, and is considered one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and a playwright, but foremost, he was a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. In June of 1498, after the ouster and execution of Girolamo Savonarola, laid the foundation for contemporary work on organizational power and politics. In 1776, Adam Smith Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economics. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. The latter, usually abbreviated as The Wealth of Nations, is considered his magnum opus and advocated a new form of organizational structure based on the division of labour. One hundred years later, German sociologist Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil "Max" Weber (21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920) was a German sociologist and political economist, who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the remit of sociology itself. Weber's major works dealt with the rationalization and so-called "disenchantment" which he associated with the rise of wrote about rational organizations and initiated discussion of charismatic leadership. Soon after, Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor , widely known as F. W. Taylor, was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded as the father of scientific management and was one of the first management consultants introduced the systematic use of goal setting and rewards to motivate employees. In the 1920s, Australian-born Harvard professor Elton Mayo George Elton Mayo was an Australian psychologist, sociologist and organization theorist and his colleagues conducted productivity studies at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant in the United States.
Though it traces its roots back to Max Weber Maximilian Carl Emil "Max" Weber (21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920) was a German sociologist and political economist, who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the remit of sociology itself. Weber's major works dealt with the rationalization and so-called "disenchantment" which he associated with the rise of and earlier, organizational studies is generally considered to have begun as an academic discipline with the advent of scientific management Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows, with the objective of improving labor productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his monographs, Shop Management (1905) and The Principles of Scientific Management (1 in the 1890s, with Taylorism Scientific management is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows, with the objective of improving labor productivity. The core ideas of the theory were developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the 1880s and 1890s, and were first published in his monographs, Shop Management and The Principles of Scientific Management (1911) representing the peak of this movement. Proponents of scientific management held that rationalizing the organization with precise sets of instructions and time-motion studies would lead to increased productivity. Studies of different compensation Remuneration is wages or salary, typically money that is paid for services rendered as an employee systems were carried out.
After the First World War, the focus of organizational studies shifted to analysis of how human factors and psychology affected organizations, a transformation propelled by the identification of the Hawthorne Effect The Hawthorne effect is a form of reactivity whereby subjects improve an aspect of their behavior being experimentally measured simply in response to the fact that they are being studied, not in response to any particular experimental manipulation. This Human Relations Movement Human Relations Movement refers to those researchers of organizational development who study the behavior of people in groups, in particular workplace groups. It originated in the 1930s' Hawthorne studies, which examined the effects of social relations, motivation and employee satisfaction on factory productivity. The movement viewed workers in focused on teams, motivation Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-orientated behavior. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. The term is generally used for humans but, theoretically, it can also be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well. This article refers to human motivation. According to various theories, motivation may be rooted, and the actualization of the goals of individuals within organizations.
Prominent early scholars included Chester Barnard Chester Irving Barnard was an American business executive, public administrator, and the author of pioneering work in management theory and organizational studies. His landmark 1938 book, Functions of the Executive, sets out a theory of organization and of the functions of executives in organizations. The book has been widely assigned in, Henri Fayol Henri Fayol was a French mining engineer, director of mines, and management theorist, who developed independent of the theory of Scientific Management, a general theory of business administration also known as Fayolism. He was one of the most influential contributors to modern concepts of management, Frederick Herzberg Frederick Irving Herzberg was a psychologist who became one of the most influential flaming homosexuals, as well as many names in business management. He is most famous for introducing job enrichment and the Motivator-Hygiene theory. His 1968 publication "One More Time, How Do You Motivate Employees?" had sold 1.2 million reprints by 1987, Abraham Maslow Abraham Harold Maslow was an American psychologist. He is noted for his conceptualization of a "hierarchy of human needs", and is considered the founder of humanistic psychology, David McClelland David C. McClelland was an American psychological theorist. Noted for his work on achievement motivation and consciousness, he published a number of works from the 1950s until the 1990s and had a hand in the creation of the scoring system for the Thematic Apperception Test, and Victor Vroom Victor Vroom is a business school professor at the Yale School of Management, who was born on 9 August 1932 in Montreal, Canada. He holds a PhD from University of Michigan.
The Second World War further shifted the field, as the invention of large-scale logistics and operations research Operational research, also known as operations research, is an interdisciplinary branch of applied mathematics and formal science that uses advanced analytical methods such as mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, and mathematical optimization to arrive at optimal or near-optimal solutions to complex decision-making problems. It is often led to a renewed interest in rationalist approaches to the study of organizations. Interest grew in theory and methods native to the sciences, including systems theory Systems theory is a transdisciplinary approach, which abstracts and considers a system as a set of independent and interacting parts. The main goal is to study general principles of system functioning to be applied for the all types of systems in all fields of research. As a technical and general academic area of study it predominantly refers to, the study of organizations with a complexity theory perspective and complexity strategy. Influential work was done by Herbert Alexander Simon and James G. March James Gardner March is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, best known for his research on organizations and organizational decision making and the so-called "Carnegie School The "Carnegie School" was a so called "Freshwater" economics intellectual movement in the 1950s and 1960s based at Carnegie Mellon University and led by Herbert Simon, James March, and Richard Cyert. The focus of the research was on organizational behavior and the application of decision analysis, management science, and" of organizational behavior.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the field was strongly influenced by social psychology Social psychology is the study of the relations between people and groups. Scholars in this interdisciplinary area are typically either psychologists or sociologists, though all social psychologists employ both the individual and the group as their units of analysis and the emphasis in academic study was on quantitative research In the social sciences, quantitative research refers to the systematic empirical investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is central to. An explosion of theorizing, much of it at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon, produced Bounded Rationality Bounded rationality is a concept based on the fact that rationality of individuals is limited by the information they have, the cognitive limitations of their minds, and the finite amount of time they have to make decisions. This identifies the concept of rationality as optimization. Another way to look at bounded rationality is that, because, Informal Organization, Contingency Theory Contingency theory is a class of behavioural theory that claims that there is no best way to organize a corporation, to lead a company, or to make decisions. Instead, the optimal course of action is contingent upon the internal and external situation. Several contingency approaches were developed concurrently in the late 1960s, Resource Dependence, Institutional Theory Institutional theory focuses on the deeper and more resilient aspects of social structure. It considers the processes by which structures, including schemas, rules, norms, and routines, become established as authoritative guidelines for social behavior. Different components of institutional theory explain how these elements are created, diffused,, and Organizational Ecology Organizational ecology is a theoretical and empirical approach in the social sciences that is especially used in organizational studies. Organizational ecology utilizes insights from biology, economics, and sociology, and employs statistical analysis to try and understand the conditions under which organizations emerge, grow, and die theories, among many others.
Starting in the 1980s, cultural explanations of organizations and change became an important part of study. Qualitative methods of study became more acceptable, informed by anthropology Anthropology is the study of humanity. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology", pronounced /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/, is from the Greek anthrōpos , "human", and -logia (-λογία), "discourse" or "study", and was first used by Franç, psychology Psychology is the study of human or animal mental functions and behaviors. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is a psychologist. Psychologists are classified as social or behavioral scientists. Psychological research can be considered either basic or applied. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in and sociology Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—that uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop and refine a body of knowledge about human social activity, often with the goal of applying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare. Subject matter. A leading scholar was Karl Weick Karl E. Weick is an American organizational theorist who is noted for introducing the notions of "loose coupling", "mindfulness", and "sensemaking" into organizational studies. He is the Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He earned his.
Specific Contributions
- Frederick Winslow Taylor
Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor , widely known as F. W. Taylor, was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded as the father of scientific management and was one of the first management consultants (1856-1915) was the first person who attempted to study human behavior at work using a systematic approach. Taylor studied human characteristics, social environment, task, physical environment, capacity, speed, durability, cost and their interaction with each other. His overall objective was to reduce and/or remove human variability. Taylor worked to achieve his goal of making work behaviors stable and predictable so that maximum output could be achieved. He relied strongly upon monetary incentive systems, believing that humans are primarily motivated by money. He faced some strong criticism, including being accused of telling managers to treat workers as machines without minds, but his work was very productive and laid many foundation principles for modern management studies Management in all business areas and human organization activity is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives. Management comprises planning, organizing, staffing, leading or directing, and controlling an organization or effort for the purpose of accomplishing a goal. Resourcing encompasses the deployment and. An enlightening book about the life of Pratik Bang and his studies is that by Kanigel (1997)[5].
- Elton Mayo
Elton Mayo George Elton Mayo was an Australian psychologist, sociologist and organization theorist, an Australian national, headed the Hawthorne Studies at Harvard. In his classic writing in 1931, Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization, he advised managers to deal with emotional needs of employees at work.
- Mary Parker Follett
Mary Parker Follett Mary Parker Follett was an American social worker, management consultant and pioneer in the fields of organizational theory and organizational behavior. She also authored a number of books and numerous ground-breaking essays, articles and speeches on democracy, human relations, political philosophy, psychology, organizational behavior and conflict was a pioneer management consultant in the industrial world. As a writer, she provided analyses on workers as having complex combinations of attitude, beliefs, and needs. She told managers to motivate employees on their job performance, a "pull" rather than a "push" strategy.
- Douglas McGregor
Douglas McGregor proposed two theories/assumptions, which are very nearly the opposite of each other, about human nature based on his experience as a management consultant. His first theory was “Theory X”, which is pessimistic and negative; and according to McGregor it is how managers traditionally perceive their workers. Then, in order to help managers replace that theory/assumption, he gave “Theory Y” which takes a more modern and positive approach. He believed that managers could achieve more if they start perceiving their employees as self-energized, committed, responsible and creative beings. By means of his Theory Y, he in fact challenged the traditional theorists to adopt a developmental approach to their employees. He also wrote a book, The Human Side of Enterprise, in 1960; this book has become a foundation for the modern view of employees at work.
Current state of the field
Organizational behaviour is currently a growing field. Organizational studies departments generally form part of business schools, although many universities also have industrial psychology and industrial economics programs.
The field is highly influential in the business world with practitioners like Peter Drucker Peter Ferdinand Drucker was a writer, management consultant, and self-described “social ecologist.” His books and scholarly and popular articles explored how humans are organized across the business, government and the nonprofit sectors of society. His writings have predicted many of the major developments of the late twentieth century, and Peter Senge Peter Michael Senge is an American scientist and director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is known as author of the book The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization from 1990 (new edition of 2007). He is a senior lecturer at the System Dynamics Group at MIT Sloan, who turned the academic research into business A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods or services, or both, to consumers, businesses and governmental entities. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies. Most businesses are privately owned. A business is typically formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business practices. Organizational behaviour is becoming more important in the global economy as people with diverse backgrounds and cultural values have to work together effectively and efficiently. It is also under increasing criticism as a field for its ethnocentric and pro-capitalist assumptions (see Critical Management Studies Critical management studies is a loose but rapidly growing grouping of politically left wing and theoretically innovative approaches to management, business and organisation, grounded in a critical theory perspective. It encompasses a wide range of perspectives that are critical of traditional theories of management).
During the last 20 years organizational behavior study and practice has developed and expanded through creating integrations with other domains:
- Anthropology Anthropology is the study of humanity. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology", pronounced /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/, is from the Greek anthrōpos , "human", and -logia (-λογία), "discourse" or "study", and was first used by Franç became an interesting prism to understanding firms as communities, by introducing concepts like Organizational culture Organizational culture is an idea in the field of Organizational studies and management which describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values of an organization. It has been defined as "the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they, 'organizational rituals' and 'symbolic acts' enabling new ways to understand organizations as communities.
- Leadership Understanding: the crucial role of leadership at various level of an organization in the process of change management.
- Ethics and their importance as pillars of any vision and one of the most important driving forces in an organization.
Methods used in organizational studies
A variety of methods are used in organizational studies. They include quantitative methods found in other social sciences such as multiple regression, non-parametric statistics, time dependent analysis, and ANOVA. In addition, computer simulation in organizational studies has a long history in organizational studies. Qualitative methods are also used, such as ethnography, which involves direct participant observation, single and multiple case analysis, and other historical methods. In the last fifteen years or so, there has been greater focus on language, metaphors, and organizational storytelling.
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Question by herbreed1928: Is . Organizational Behavior. Modification a form of manipulation? Is . Organizational Behavior. Modification a form of manipulation? And if it is, is it unethical for managers to manipulate the behavior of employees ...
