Introduction to OB Flashcards
What are organizations?
Social inventions for accomplishing goals through group effort
What is management?
The art of getting things done in organizations
What is traditional management? Did it work? Why?
Paying people to do a job and bossing them around; this didn’t work that well. The managers didn’t worry about whether workers were happy or safe, and they didn’t try to motivate them; they considered that the employees’ responsibility
Define the Hawthorne effect
When subjects change their behaviour because they know they are being watched
Give an example of the Hawthorne effect
Managers adjusted the lights in their factory to make them brighter in an attempt to increase productivity; this changed the company’s results but it was not in the way they expected. Their behaviour changed because they knew they were being studied and wanted to perform well
What is the best way to get great performance?
Making people feel good about their jobs, about their leaders, about themselves, and their cultures
What are some challenges in OB?
There are infinite individual and group differences; people have different needs; people have many biases and conflicts
How can we overcome challenges and take advantage of opportunities of human dynamics?
Learn about them; simply paying people to do a list of tasks (traditional management style) is no longer effective nor efficient. Understanding human psychology to better manage people, keep them motivated and happy, and therefore more productive and loyal is the best way to take advantage of human dynamics
What are the benefits of OB?
Significant decrease in turnover, more sales per employee, increase in market value per employee, and improvement in profit per employee across firms that take advantage of OB strategies and techniques
