1.

How are OB concepts addressed in management functions, roles, and skills?

One common thread runs through the functions, roles, and skills of managers: the need to develop people skills if they are going to be effective and successful. Managers get things done through other people. Managers do their work in an organization. Management functions involve managing the organizationplanning and controlling and managing people within the organizationorganizing and leading. Management roles (see Exhibit 1-1) are the parts managers play within an organization and involve their interaction with people. Management skills, as identified by Robert Katz, boil down to three essential management skills: technical, human, and conceptual. These use OB to manage processes and people and to problem solve.

2.

Define organizational behavior. Relate it to management.

Organizational behavior (abbreviated 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 organizations effectiveness. As managers accomplish their work through others, OB provides the tools for guiding the productivity of others, predicting human behavior at work and the perspectives needed to manage individuals from diverse backgrounds.

3.

What is an organization? Is the family unit an organization? Explain.

An organization is a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, which functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. The family is a type of organization because it has all the characteristics of an organization. The one variation is that the goals of a family may not be explicit, and therefore students might argue that it is not an organization per se.

4.

Identify and contrast the three general management roles.

In the late 1960s, Henry Mintzberg discovered three general management roles that had subroles (See Exhibit 1-1). The ten roles can be grouped as being primarily concerned with interpersonal relationships, the transfer of information, and decision making.

Interpersonalceremonial and symbolic Figureheadduties are ceremonial and symbolic in nature Leadershiphire, train, motivate, and discipline employees Liaisoncontact outsiders who provide the manager with information. These may be individuals or groups inside or outside the organization.

Informationinvolve the collection and dissemination of information Monitorcollect information from organizations and institutions outside their own Disseminatora conduit to transmit information to organizational members Spokespersonrepresent the organization to outsiders Decisionalfocus on making choices Entrepreneurmanagers initiate and oversee new projects that will improve their organizations performance

Disturbance handlerstake corrective action in response to unforeseen problems Resource allocatorsare responsible for allocating human, physical, and monetary resources

Negotiatordiscuss issues and bargain with other units to gain advantages for their own unit

6. Contrast the contributions of psychology and sociology to OB.

OB is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, group, and structure have on behavior within organizations. Both psychology and sociology are concerned with behavior. Psychology is the science of behavior that studies individual behavior and sociology studies people in relation to their fellow human beings. Psychological study in the field of OB has contributed knowledge on a number of topics including: learning, perception,

personality, emotions, training, leadership, motivation, job satisfaction, decision making, etc. Sociological study has contributed knowledge on topics such as: group dynamics, teams, organizational culture, organizational theory and structure, communications, power and conflict.

8. What are the three levels of analysis in our OB model? Are they related? If so, how? Individual, group, organization. The three basic levels are analogous to building blocks each level is constructed upon the previous level. Group concepts grow out of the foundation laid in the individual section; we overlay structural constraints on the individual and group in order to arrive at organizational behavior.

10. What are effectiveness and efficiency, and how are they related to organizational behavior?

An organization is productive if it achieves its goals (effective) and does so by transferring inputs to outputs at the lowest cost (efficiency). As such, productivity implies a concern for both effectiveness and efficiency. Hospital exampleeffective when it successfully meets the needs of its clientele. It is efficient when it can do so at a low cost. Business firm exampleeffective when it attains its sales or market share goals, but its productivity also depends on achieving those goals efficiently. Achieving productivity through effectiveness and efficiency involves all three levels of an organization, the individual, the group, and the organizational system. OB provides the tools, insights, and ability to predict outcomes needed to balance these two elements.