什么是組織行為學(xué)

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?

Before we define exactly what the fieldof organizational behavior represents, take a moment to

ponder the following question: Who wasthe single worst coworker you’ve ever had? Picture fellow

students who collaborated with you onclass projects; colleagues from part-time or summer

jobs; or peers, subordinates, orsupervisors working in your current organization. What did this

coworker do that earned him or her “worst coworker” status? Was it some of thebehaviors shown

in the right column of Table 1-1 (orperhaps all of them)? Now take a moment to consider the

single bestcoworker you’ve ever had. Again, what did this coworker do to earn “best coworker”

status—someor most of the behaviors shown in the left column of Table 1-1 ?

If you ever found yourself workingalongside the two people profiled in the table, two questions

probably would be foremost on your mind:“ Why does the worstcoworker act that way?”

and “ Why does the bestcoworker act that way?” Once you understand why the two coworkers

act so differently, you might be able tofigure out ways to interact with the worst coworker more

effectively (thereby making your workinglife a bit more pleasant). If you happen to be a manager,

you might formulate plans for how toimprove attitudes and behaviors in the unit. Such

plans could include how to screenapplicants, train and socialize new organizational members,

manage evaluations and rewards for performance, and deal with conflictsthat arise between

employees. Withoutunderstanding why employees act the way they do, it’s extremely hard to

find a way to change their attitudes andbehaviors at work.

ORGANIZATIONALBEHAVIOR DEFINED

Organizationalbehavior (OB) is a field of study devotedto understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes andbehaviors of individuals and groups in organizations. Scholars in managementdepartments of universities and scientists in business organizations conduct researchon OB. The findings from those research studies are then applied by managers orconsultants to see whether they help meet “real-world” challenges. OB can be contrastedwith two other courses commonly offered in management departments: humanresource management and

strategic management. Human resource management takes the theories and principles studied

in OB and explores the “nuts-and-bolts” applications ofthose principles in organizations. An OB study might explore the relationshipbetween learning and job performance, whereas a human

resource management studymight examine the best ways to structure training programs to promote

employee learning. Strategic management focuses on the product choices and industry characteristicsthat affect an organization’sprofitability. A strategic management study might

examine the relationshipbetween firm diversification (when a firm expands into a new product

segment) and firmprofitability.

The theories and conceptsfound in OB are actually drawn from a wide variety of disciplines.

For example, research on jobperformance and individual characteristics draws primarily from

studies in industrial andorganizational psychology. Research on satisfaction, emotions, and team

processes draws heavily fromsocial psychology. Sociology research is vital to research on team

characteristics andorganizational structure, and anthropology research helps inform the study

of organizational culture.Finally, models from economics are used to understand motivation,

learning, and decisionmaking. This diversity brings a unique quality to the study of OB, as most

students will be able tofind a particular topic that’sintrinsically interesting and thought provoking to them.