explain the meaning, goals and importance of organizational behavior. discuss its contemporary issues and challenges

 

Explain the meaning, goals and importance of organizational behavior. discuss its contemporary issues and challenges Organisational behaviour affects an organisation’s performance. Characteristics of the organisational system and formal-informal dynamics at work are important environmental factors that influence peoples’ behaviour. In order to both manage people as well as to understand work behaviour, managers must continually upgrade their knowledge about all aspects of their businesses, and especially the human side of the enterprise.

Goals and importance of organizational behavior. contemporary issues and challenges And this is where organisational behaviour (OB) comes in. The field of organisational behaviour concerns itself with the study of the behaviour of individuals and groups in the context of organisations.  goals and importance of organizational behavior. discuss its contemporary issues and challenges  In this unit, we will examine the field of organisational behaviour; we shall critically examine its definition and goals. We will also shed some light on the important characteristics of the field of OB today. We shall also present a brief overview of OB in the Indian context, and lastly examine the importance of organisational behaviour as a field.

Contemporary organisations and their environments are characterized by change. Changing times always pose a challenge for people and organisations. Too much change may lead to chaos; too little change may be stifling and may cause stagnation. Knowledge and understanding of OB during such dynamic times is particularly important for those who manage or even aspire to manage. For such people, a vital part of performing their roles effectively is understanding human behaviour in an organisational context. Theories about OB help managers understand how humans and organisations behave, help them make good business decisions, and guide them about actions to take or refrain from taking. Importance of organizational behavior. discuss its contemporary issues and challenges In particular, knowledge of organisational behaviour equips managers to deal with four critical challenges  2003

 1) increasing globalization .

2) increasing diversity of organisational workforce .

3) continuing technological innovation with accompanying need for skill enhancement .

4) demand for ethical behaviour at work.

The topics studied in OB involve managers and other employees that are concerned with the efficient operation of an organisation in a rapidly changing world. The scope of OB includes topics such as the formal and informal organisation of the workplace, employee needs and motivation, leadership, interpersonal relations and group dynamics, communication, the work environment, organisational design, delegation of authority, change and change management, creation of a harmonious climate for employee-employer relations, conflict resolution, organisational development and effectiveness, organisational health, stress and its management.

In addition to managers, all of us are also inevitably involved in organisations of some sort throughout our lives. You may recall from unit 1 that in addition to work organisations, our society is made up of many other kinds of organisations, ranging from governmental, non-governmental, political, religious, educational, military, health, and social organisations. Meaning, goals and importance of organizational behavior. discuss its contemporary issues and challenges Knowledge of organisational behaviour is important as it helps us gain an understanding of how an organisation functions, how it affects our behaviour, and how we, in turn, affect the behaviour of others. To understand this context is part of understanding the world in which we live, and this underlines the relevance of OB.

 

In the previous unit, we outlined the distinction between organisational psychology and OB. Some critics have charged that that old wine (organisational psychology) has merely been poured into a new bottle (organisational behaviour). Nonetheless, it is certainly valid to say that the two cannot and must not be equated. OB is concerned not only with individual level behaviour within organisations, but also with macro-level processes, such as organisational strategy, structure and change. There is little doubt that although OB does not portray the whole of management (and neither does it intend to), OB has come into its own as a field of study, research, and application of organizational behavior. discuss its contemporary issues and challenges OB with the help of some definitions: “The study of the structure, functioning and performance of organisations and the behaviour of groups and individuals within them” (Pugh, 1971 The field that seeks knowledge of behaviour in organisational settings by systematically studying individual, group, and organisational processes” Greenberg & Baron .

A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organisation’s effectiveness” (Robbins, Judge, & Sanghi, 2009, It would be useful to describe three common key aspects of these definitions to understand clearly what is meant by OB.

There are some goals of organisational behaviour –

Describe

The first goal is to describe systematically (in an objective non-prescriptive manner), often in minute detail, how people behave at work under a variety of conditions.

Understand

A second goal is to understand why people behave as they do. Imagine how frustrating it would be for managers if they could talk about behaviour of their employees, but not understand the reasons behind those actions

Control

The final goal of OB is to control and develop human behaviour at work. Once we know what happens, why it happens and what is likely to happen in the future, we can exercise some control over it. Every organisation has specific goals such as certain levels of profits, customer satisfaction, public responsibility, and so on. It is the job of the management to mobilise and coordinate the human, technical, economic and informational resources available for the purpose of achieving such organisational goals. Managers need to be able to achieve such goals through the actions they and their employees take, and organisational behaviour can help managers meet these goals.

Predict

An important reason behind understanding behaviour is that it should help managers to then predict behaviour in various situations. It is often said: ‘the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour’. Armed with knowledge about human behaviour in organisations, managers should, for example, be able to predict which employees might be committed and productive or which ones might be counterproductive. This would help them to take preventive actions.

 

Organizational behavior is constantly evolving. Modern issues and current events have an effect on organizational culture and behavior alike. Changes in society impact how organizations operate. While it is important to understand the history of organizational behavior, it is equally important to understand how contemporary issues affect organizational behavior. Goals and importance of organizational behavior. discuss its contemporary issues and challenges For the rest of this module will discuss current challenges within the workforce and how they impact organizations on an individual, group, and organizational level. Pay close attention as you will see some, if not all, of these issues in your own workplace.

All the definitions of OB depict that the field focuses on behaviour at three distinct levels of analysis:

Level 1: Individual. Where the focus is on processes/phenomenon such as values, attitudes, beliefs, intelligence, motivation etc. that influence how people behave as individuals.

 Level 2: Group. This is more concerned with social and interpersonal aspects, such as group dynamics and leadership.

Level 3: Organisation. The main concern here is the behaviour of an organisation as a whole, for its culture, structure and processes.


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