Understanding Organisational Behaviour  
                          (MCR002) 
                                
                                
                                              
                                
                          Cyril Jankoff 
                          Greg Whateley 
                                
                                
                                
                       Part 1 of MBA in a Nutshell    
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                  Session #1 - Introduction to the Field of Organisational Behaviour 
                   
                  Overview 
                  This subject provides a systematic study of human behaviour at the individual, group and 
                  organisational level. It will be analysed by looking at three levels - 
                       •   Individual level: This focuses on individual behaviour involving perception, attitudes, 
                           personality, stress and motivation (see Sessions # 2-6); 
                       •   Group level: Consideration is given to aspects such as leadership types, including 
                           communications, group dynamics and culture (see Sessions # 7-10); 
                       •   Organisation level: This level considers behaviour at the organisation level focusing 
                           on factors such as power, politics and organisational design (see Session # 11). 
                   
                  What is OB and how does it help the organisation? 
                  Organisational Behaviour (OB) is the study of what people think, feel and do in and around 
                  organisations. Organisations are groups of people who work interdependently towards some 
                  purpose. OB theories help people: (1) make sense of the workplace; (2) question and rebuild 
                  their personal mental models; and (3) get things done in organisations. OB knowledge is for 
                  everyone, not just managers. OB knowledge is also important for the organisation’s financial 
                  health. 
                   
                  Organisational opportunities and challenges 
                  In considering organisational opportunities and challenges we need to look at -  
                       •   Globalisation. 
                       •   Workforce. 
                       •   Work–life balance. 
                       •   Virtual work, particularly working from home (telework). 
                   
                  The basis of OB knowledge 
                  The OB discipline develops from evidence-based knowledge in other disciplines, and has 
                  multiple levels of analysis. However, researchers and practitioners are careful not to limit 
                  evidence to empirical research and consider qualitative information as ‘anecdotal’. Albert 
                  Einstein tried to avoid this by keeping the following message framed on his wall: ‘Not 
                  everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.’ 
                   
                  The four perspectives of organisational effectiveness 
                  The four perspectives are - 
                       •   The open systems perspective views organisations as complex organisms that ‘live’ 
                           within an external environment;  
                       •   According to the organisational learning perspective, organisational effectiveness 
                           depends on the organisation’s capacity to acquire, share, use and store valuable 
                           knowledge;  
                       •   The high-performance work practices (HPWPs) perspective identifies a bundle of 
                           systems and structures to leverage workforce potential. The most widely identified 
                           HPWPs are employee involvement, job autonomy, development of employee 
                           competencies and performance- or skill-based rewards;  
                       •   The stakeholder perspective states that leaders manage the interests of diverse 
                           stakeholders by relying on their personal and organisational values for guidance.  
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                  Session #2 - Individual Behaviour, Personality and Values 
                   
                  This Session focuses on the study of human behaviour at the individual level. 
                   
                  Key factors that directly influence individual behaviour and performance 
                  The four variables are motivation, ability, role perceptions and situational factors - and are 
                  represented by the acronym MARS. They directly influence individual behaviour and 
                  performance. 
                   
                  The five main types of workplace behaviour 
                  They are -  
                       •   Task performance behaviours refer to goal-directed behaviours under the individual’s 
                           control that support organisational objectives;  
                       •   Organisational citizenship behaviours consist of various forms of cooperation and 
                           helpfulness to others that support the organisation’s social and psychological context;  
                       •   Counterproductive work behaviours are voluntary behaviours that have the potential 
                           to harm the organisation directly or indirectly;  
                       •   Joining and staying with the organisation refers to agreeing to become an 
                           organisational member and remaining with the organisation;  
                       •   Maintaining work attendance includes minimising absenteeism when capable of 
                           working and avoiding scheduled work when not fit (that is low ‘presenteeism’).  
                   
                  Personality and the ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions 
                  Personality is the relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, emotions and behaviours that 
                  characterise a person, along with the psychological processes behind those characteristics. 
                  Personality traits are broad concepts about people that allow us to label and understand 
                  individual differences.  
                                        Ask yourself -  
                                        •    What is personality?  
                                        •    Where do we get our personality from?  
                                        •    Is personality predictive of behaviour?  
                                        •    How would you describe your own personality?  
                                        •    Has your personality changed over time?  
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       Jungian personality theory (now known as MBTI) 
       MBTI stands for Myers Briggs Type Indicator. This is a tool which is frequently used to help 
       individuals understand their own communication preference and how they interact with 
       others. It is designed to measure the elements of Jungian personality theory, particularly 
       preferences regarding perceiving and judging information. It is widely applied in work 
       settings and career counselling, coaching but it is more popular than valid. 
        
       Individual values  
       Values are stable, evaluative beliefs that guide our preferences for outcomes or courses of 
       action in a variety of situations. Compared with personality traits, values are evaluative 
       (rather than descriptive), more likely to conflict and formed more from socialisation than 
       heredity. Values influence behaviour when the situation facilitates that connection and when 
       we actively think about them and understand their relevance to the situation. Values 
       congruence refers to how similar a person’s values hierarchy is to the values hierarchy of 
       another source (organisation, person etc.). 
        
       Ethical principles 
       Ethics refers to the study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are 
       right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad. The three key ethical principles are: 
       utilitarianism (a theory of morality that advocates actions that foster happiness or pleasure), 
       individual rights and distributive justice (how rewards are distributed). Ethical behaviour is 
       influenced by the degree to which an issue demands the application of ethical principles 
       (moral intensity), the individual’s ability to recognise the presence and relative importance of 
       an ethical issue (moral sensitivity) and situational forces. Ethical conduct at work is 
       supported by codes of ethical conduct, mechanisms for communicating ethical violations, the 
       organisation’s culture and the leader’s behaviour.  
        
        
                     
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