Bus293 Organisational Behavior

Chapter 1 – What is organisational behaviour

1. What is organizational behavior and why do managers need to understand it?

Organizational behavior is the study of individuals and groups in organizations. Managers need to understand it since they must manage the people within their organizations. Managers know that success in a highly dynamic environment will be achieved by active opportunity seekers and problem solvers.

OB helps managers to analyses workplace experiences, to know what to look for in situations, to understand what they find and to take (or help others to take) the required action.

1. What is the psychological contract? Why is it important to understanding employment? What major challenges to the quality of work life are presented by the conditions and environment of today’s organizations?

• As the text states, a psychological contract is the set of expectations held by the individual that specifies what the organization and individual expect to give and receive from one another in their working relationship. When an inducement-contributions balance exists, the value exchange in the psychological contract is felt to be fair; thus, the individual can be expected to feel positive toward the organization and his or her position. However, when the exchange of values is perceived to be unfair, the individual may feel negatively toward the organization and his or her position, possibly resulting in negative attitudes, work behavior, etc.
•  Managers should take care to first create a healthy psychological contract by fairly representing inducements and discussing expectations about employee contributions. The same honesty applies when maintaining the psychological contract. Quality of work life encompasses such areas as participation, independence, equity and responsiveness.
• Today’s organizations present many challenges for quality of work life. There is no limit to the points that might be raised. These might include complexity, constant organizational change, stress, quality of management, uncertainty, or family/social pressures. The important thing would be for students to consider and discuss these rather than coming up with a definitive list.

Chapter 2 – Individual attributes and their effect on job performance

1. Describe and explain the job performance equation.
   

Job Performance = Individual Attribute X Work Performance X Organisational Support

The individual performance equation views performance as the result of the individual’s attributes, their level of work effort and organisational support.

The equation multiplies these variables, thus indicating how one could nullify the other. All factors need to be present and positive for performance to be successful.

In order to perform at one’s job there must be an individual capacity to perform, a motivation or willingness to perform, and an organisational opportunity to perform.