1. Companies with reputations as a good place to work—such as Pfizer, Lincoln Electric, Southwest Airlines, and Starbucks—have a big advantage when attracting high performing employees. 2. A recent national study of the U.S. workforce found that: Wages and fringe benefits are not the reason people like their jobs or stay with an employer. More important to workers is the job quality and the supportiveness of the work environments. 3. Managers’ good interpersonal skills are li

Managers need to develop their interpersonal or people skills if they are going to be effective in their jobs. Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structures have on behavior within an organization, and then applies that knowledge to improve an organization’s effectiveness. Because OB is concerned with employment-related situations, it emphasizes behavior on the job, absenteeism, employment turnover, prod

Organizational development (OD) is a term used to encompass a collection of planned-change interventions built on humanistic-democratic values that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being. The OD paradigm values human and organizational growth, collaborative and participative processes, and a spirit of inquiry. The underlying values in most OD efforts: Respect for people Trust and support Power equalization Confrontation Participation 4. OD techni

Action research is “a change process based on the systematic collection of data and then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate.” The process consists of five steps: diagnosis, analysis, feedback, action, and evaluation. These steps closely parallel the scientific method. Diagnosis begins by gathering information about problems, concerns, and needed changes from members of the organization. Analysis of information is synthesized into primary con

1. Built on Lewin’s model; a more detailed approach for implementing change. List common failures managers make when initiating change a. Inability to create a sense of urgency for change b. Failure to create a coalition for managing the change process c. Lack of a vision for change; not communicating the vision d. Not removing obstacles that could impede the attainment of the vision e. Failure to provide short-term goals f. A tendency to declare victory too soon g. Not ancho

1. Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in organizations should follow three steps Unfreezing the status quo The movement to a new state Refreezing the new change to make it permanent 2. The status quo can be considered to be an equilibrium state. 3. To move from this equilibrium—to overcome the pressures of both individual resistance and group conformity—unfreezing is necessary. The driving forces, which direct behavior away from the status quo, can be increased. The res

Change threatens the status quo, making it an inherently political activity. Internal change agents typically are individuals high in the organization who have a lot to lose from change. Politics suggests that the impetus for change is more likely to come from outside change agents. Power struggles within the organization will determine the speed and quantity of change.

1. Six tactics used by change agents in dealing with resistance to change: 2. Education and communication: Resistance can be reduced through communicating to help employees see the logic of a change. The assumption is that the source of resistance lies in misinformation or poor communication. It works provided that the source of resistance is inadequate communication and that management-employee relations are characterized by mutual trust and credibility. 3. Participation: It

1. Individual sources 2. Organizational sources

1. One of the most well-documented findings is that organizations and their members resist change. • It provides a degree of stability and predictability to behavior. • There is a definite downside to resistance to change. It hinders adaptation and progress. 2. Resistance to change does not necessarily surface in standardized ways. • Resistance can be overt, implicit, immediate, or deferred. • It is easiest for management to deal with resistance when it is overt and imme

1. Some organizations treat all change as an accidental occurrence, however, change as an intentional, goal-oriented activity is planned change. 2. There are two goals of planned change: • Improve the ability of the organization to adapt to changes in its environment. • Change employee behavior. 3. For major change efforts, top managers are increasingly turning to temporary outside consultants with specialized knowledge in the theory and methods of change.

1. Organizations face a dynamic and changing environment. This requires adaptation. The Exhibit below summarizes six specific forces that are acting as stimulants for change. 2. The changing nature of the workforce: A multicultural environment. Human resource policies and practices changed to reflect the needs of an aging workforce. Large expenditure on training to upgrade reading, math, computer, and other skills of employees 3. Technology is changing jobs and organizat

The need for change has been implied throughout this text. “A casual reflection on change should indicate that it encompasses almost all our concepts in the organizational behavior literature. Think about leadership, motivation, organizational environment, and roles. It is impossible to think about these and other concepts without inquiring about change.” If environments were perfectly static, if employees’ skills and abilities were always up to date and incapable of deterior

A. Emotions Overview 1. Emotions are a critical factor in employee behavior 2. The myth of rationality 3. Belief that emotions of any kind were disruptive. B. What Are Emotions? 1. Effect is a generic term covering a broad range of feelings; encompasses both emotions and moods. C. Emotional Labor 1. When an employee expresses organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions a. Emotional dissonance D. Felt Vs. Displayed Emotions 1. Felt and displayed mo

Can managers control the emotions of their colleagues and employees? No. Emotions are a natural part of an individual’s makeup. Where managers err is if they ignore the emotional elements in organizational behavior and assess individual behavior as if it were completely rational. As one consultant aptly put it, “You can’t divorce emotions from the workplace because you can’t divorce emotions from people.’’Managers who understand the role of emotions will significantly improve

1. John Holland’s personality-job fit theory Each personality type has a congruent occupational environment 2. The person-organization Fit People leave jobs that are not compatible with their personalities

1. The Big Five model translates across almost all cross-cultural studies. 2. Differences tend to surface by the emphasis on dimensions. Chinese use the category of conscientiousness more often and use the category of agreeableness less often than do Americans. There is a surprisingly high amount of agreement, especially among individuals from developed countries. There are no common personality types for a given country. There is evidence that cultures differ in terms of peo

1. Locus of control A person’s perception of the source of his/her fate is termed locus of control. Internals: People who believe that they are masters of their own fate. Externals: People who believe they are pawns of fate. Individuals who rate high in externality are less satisfied with their jobs, have higher absenteeism rates, are more alienated from the work setting, and are less involved in their jobs than are the internals. Internals, facing the same situation, attribu

1. An impressive body of research supports that five basic dimensions underlie all other personality dimensions. The five basic dimensions are: a. Extroversion. Comfort level with relationships. Extroverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet. b. Agreeableness. Individual’s propensity to defer to others. High agreeableness people— cooperative, warm, and trusting. Low agreeableness people—cold, disagreeable,