Lesson 1 Flashcards
Organizational Behaviour
The study of what people think, feel, and do in and around organizations.
Organizations
Groups of people who work interdependently towards some purpose.
Organizational effectiveness
A broad concept represented by several perspectives, including the organizations fit with the external environment, internal subsystems configuration for high performance, emphasis on organizational learning, and ability to satisfy the needs of key steakholders.
Open systems
A perspective which holds that organizations depend on the external environment for resources, affect the environment through their output, and consist of internal subsystems that transforms inputs into outputs.
Organizational efficiency
The amount of outputs relative to inputs in the organization’s transformation process.
Organizational learning
A perspective which holds that organizational effectiveness depends on the organization’s capacity to acquire, share, use, and store valuable knowledge.
Intellectual capital
A company’s stock of knowledge, including human capital, structural capital, and relationship capital.
Human capital
The stock of knowledge, skills, and abilities among employees that provide economic value to the organization.
Structural capital
Knowledge embedded in an organization’s systems and structure.
Relationship capital
The value derived from an organization’s relationship with customers, suppliers, and others.
High-performance work practices (HPWP)
A perspective which holds that effective organizations incorporate several workplace practices that leverage the potential of human capital.
Stakeholders
Individuals, groups, and other entities that affect, or are affected by, the organization’s objectives and actions.
Values
Relatively stable, evaluative beliefs that guide a person’s preferences for outcomes or courses of actions in a variety of situations.
Ethics
The study of moral principles or values that determine whether actions are right or wrong and outcomes are good or bad.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
Organizational activities intended to benefit society and the environment beyond the firm’s immediate financial interests or legal obligations.
Four perspectives of organizational effectiveness
- open systems
- organizational learning
- high-performance work practices
- stakeholders
Globalization
Economic, social, and cultural connective with people in other parts of the world.
Surface-level diversity
The observable demographic or physiological differences in people, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, age, and physical disabilities.
Deep-level diversity
Differences in the psychological characteristics of employees, including personalities, beliefs, values, and attitudes.
Work-life balance
The degree to which a person minimizes conflict between work and non-work demands
Virtual work
Work performed away from the traditional physical workplace by using information technology.
Evidence-based management
The practice of making decisions and taking actions based on research evidence.
The 4 anchors of organizational behaviour knowledge
- systematic research anchor
- multidisciplinary anchor
- contingency anchor
- multiple levels of analysis anchor
Systematic research anchor
Study organizations using systematic research methods.
Multidisciplinary anchor
Import knowledge from other disciplines, not just create its own knowledge.
Contingency anchor
Recognize that the effectiveness of an action may depend on the situation.
Multiple levels of analysis anchor
Understand OB events from three levels of analysis: individual, team, and organization.
OB theory helps people to:
- make sense of the workplace
- question and rebuild their personal mental models
- get things done in organizations
Contemporary challenges for organizations
- globalization
- increased workforce diversity
- emerging employment relationships
Organizational inputs include:
- raw materials
- human resources
- information
- financial resources
- equipment
Organizational outputs include:
- Products/services
- employee behaviour
- profits/losses
- waste/pollution
Knowledge sharing
- communication
- training
- information systems
- observation
Knowledge use
- knowledge awareness
- sensemaking
- autonomy
- empowerment
Knowledge storage
- human memory
- documentation
- practices/habits
- databases
Knowledge acquisition
- individual learning
- environment scanning
- grafting
- experimentation
Intellectual capital is the sum of:
Human capital + structural capital + relationship capital
Human capital
Knowledge that people possess and generate.
Structural capital
Knowledge captures in the systems and structure.
Relationship capital
Value derived from satisfied customers, reliable suppliers, etc.
