An Operating Definition of Organizational Behavior
An Operating Definition of Organizational Behavior
Kenneth Buckner
ORG 502, Organizational Behavior
Mr. Wynne
November 9, 2003
An Operating Definition of Organizational Behavior
While we are not supposed to quote the Funk and Wagnalls definition of “organizational behavior,” being new to the subject, I had to at least look it up to see what it was supposed to mean. To my surprise, I could not find an official definition, neither online nor in any of the dictionaries in my office. Being an expert on the internet, I logged in to the Google search engine, which produced 431,000 websites with the phrase “organizational behavior.” Most were organizations, or books, or papers from doctors this and scientists that and websites extolling the many insights and ramifications of their versions of “OB.” Take note at the use of the word “versions” of OB. There’s more than one, and if this starts to sound a bit rambling, even confusing, join the club. Website after website listed their answers to numerous specialized problems. Everyone had a unique insight into something, but it became very apparent that there are no hard and fast rules in the study of Organizational Behaviors. At most, it appears to be an inaccurate science based on understanding, controlling and manipulating situations involving human beings, using their needs and wants within a company, to achieve the goals assigned by management. Officially, the text states that:
Organizational behavior (often abbreviated as OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness. (p.17)
The textbook also offered a generalized explanation of the subject, but it too listed various points of view. The reader is asked to accept the premise that an organization has a personality, and a “pattern of behavior,” influenced by both management and employees, with various stimuli affecting the results. Sometimes they work together and sometimes the employees are going in one direction while the management is heading for the Cayman Islands (see Enron). This divergence seemed to add credence to a quote from Harold R. McAlindon, which states that “the quality of an organization can never exceed the quality of the minds that make it up.”
The book stresses that the managers’ responsibility is to achieve a certain goal but in most companies they are not the ones doing the work, and using various methods, they inspire the employees to achieve these goals. After reading the first section from our textbook, I finally started to get a sense of the focus of the course, if not a concrete definition of organizational behavior. Appendix A went over the historical growth of OB, with its various theories, different eras and contributing luminaries. Appendix B was a list of the syntax and terminology of OB. In the main part of the chapter I read descriptions of managers and their responsibilities, with lists for “Effective vs. [next page]