1.0 Understanding Organizational Behaviour
Learning Objectives
- Define organizational behaviour.
- Discuss the importance of organizational behaviour.
People can make work an exciting, fun, and productive place to be, or they can make it a routine, boring, and ineffective place where everyone dreads going. Under Steve Jobs’ leadership, Apple Inc. experienced great success. Jobs attributes Apple’s success to its people, stating, “Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people” (Gross, 2012). His leadership style fosters collaboration and inclusivity, creating an environment where employees are empowered to contribute meaningfully.
Just like people, organizations come in many shapes and sizes. We understand that the career path you will take may include a variety of different organizations. In addition, we know that each student reading this book has a unique set of personal and work-related experiences, capabilities, and career goals. According to Statistics Canada (2021), Canadians, on average, had 7 different employers over a 30-year career. In order to succeed in this type of career situation, individuals need to be armed with the tools necessary to be lifelong learners. So, this book will not be about giving you all the answers to every situation you may encounter when you start your first job or as you continue up the career ladder. Instead, this book will give you the vocabulary, framework, and critical thinking skills necessary for you to diagnose situations, ask tough questions, evaluate the answers you receive, and act in an effective and ethical manner regardless of situational characteristics.
Throughout this book, when we refer to organizations, we will include examples that may apply to diverse organizations, such as publicly held companies (Google, Meta, Microsoft, Clublink, etc). The opportunities and challenges that big companies face are no different from those at the Golf and Club Level. The only difference is the scale and sheer volume of employees that need to be managed. Together, we will examine people at work both as individuals and within work groups and how they impact and are impacted by the organizations (ie clubs) where they work. Before we can understand these three levels of organizational behaviour, we need to agree on a definition of organizational behaviour.
Those who study organizational behaviour, which now includes you, are interested in several outcomes such as work attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) as well as job performance (e.g., customer service and counterproductive work behaviours). A distinction is made in OB regarding which level of the organization is being studied at any given time. There are three key levels of analysis in OB. They are examining the individual, the group, and the organization. For example, if I want to understand my boss’s personality, I would be examining the individual level of analysis. If we want to know how my manager’s personality affects my team, I am examining things at the team level. But if I want to understand how my organization’s culture affects my boss’s behaviour, I would be interested in the organizational level of analysis.
Why Organizational Behaviour Matters
Personal Level
OB matters at three critical levels. It matters because it is all about things you care about. OB can help you become a more engaged organizational member. Getting along with others, getting a great job, lowering your stress level, making more effective decisions, and working effectively within a team…these are all great things, and OB addresses them! It matters because employers care about OB.
A recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) asked employers which skills are the most important for them when evaluating job candidates, and OB topics topped the list (NACE 2007 Job Outlook Survey, 2008). The following were the top five personal qualities/skills:
- Communication skills (verbal and written)
- Honesty/integrity
- Interpersonal skills (relate well to others)
- Motivation/initiative
- Strong work ethic
Organizational Level
It matters because organizations care about OB. The best companies in the world understand that the people make the place. Organizations that value their employees are more profitable than those that do not (Huselid, 1995; Pfeffer, 1998; Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999; Welbourne & Andrews, 1996). Research shows that successful organizations have a number of things in common, such as providing employment security, engaging in selective hiring, utilizing self-managed teams, being decentralized, paying well, training employees, reducing status differences, and sharing information (Pfeffer & Veiga, 1999).
The Club Management Association of Canada (n.d.) is the national professional association for individuals involved in the club management profession in Canada. Since 1957, we have been supporting our members with education, networking and member events to facilitate our members being the best in the industry. Our members are GMs, CEOs, COOs, as well as Assistant Managers, Controllers, Chefs, Golf Professionals, Superintendents, Marketing Professionals, Food and Beverage Managers and other roles in club management.
An association like CMAC provide future club leaders the opportunity to continue their education and increase their earning capacity!
Your OB Toolbox: Skill Survival Kit
Tom Peters is a management expert who talks about the concept of individuals thinking of themselves as a brand to be managed. Further, he recommends that individuals manage themselves like free agents (Peters, 1997; Peters, 2004). The following OB Toolbox includes several ideas for being effective in keeping up your skill set.
- Keep your skills fresh. Consider revolutionizing your portfolio of skills at least every 6 years.
- Master something. Competence in many skills is important, but excelling at something will set you apart.
- Embrace ambiguity. Many people fear the unknown. They like things to be predictable. Unfortunately, the only certainty in life is that things will change. Instead of running from this truth, embrace the situation as a great opportunity.
- Network. The term has been overused to the point of sounding like a cliché, but networking works. This doesn’t mean that having 200 connections on MySpace, LinkedIn, or Facebook makes you more effective than someone who has 50, but it does mean that getting to know people is a good thing in ways you can’t even imagine now.
- Appreciate new technology. This doesn’t mean you should get and use every new gadget that comes out on the market, but it does mean you need to keep up on what the new technologies are and how they may affect you and the business you are in.
A key step in building your OB skills and filling your toolbox is to learn the language of OB. Once you understand a concept, you are better able to recognize it. Once you recognize these concepts in real-world events and understand that you have choices in how you will react, you can better manage yourself and others. An effective tool you can start today is journaling, which helps you chart your progress as you learn new skills. For more on this, see the OB Toolbox below.
OB Toolbox: Journaling as a Developmental Tool
- What exactly is journaling? Journaling refers to the process of writing out thoughts and emotions on a regular basis.
- Why is journaling a good idea? Journaling is an effective way to record how you are feeling from day to day. It can be a more objective way to view trends in your thoughts and emotions, so you are not simply relying on your memory of past events, which can be inaccurate.
- How do I get started? The first step is to get a journal or create a computer file where you can add new entries on a regular basis. Set a goal for how many minutes per day you want to write and stick to it. Experts say at least 10 minutes a day is needed to see benefits, with 20 minutes being ideal. The quality of what you write is also important. Write your thoughts down clearly and specifically while also conveying your emotions in your writing. After you have been writing for at least a week, go back and examine what you have written. Do you see patterns in your interactions with others? Do you see things you like and things you’d like to change about yourself? If so, great! These are the things you can work on and reflect on. Over time, you will also be able to track changes in yourself, which can be motivating as well.
Exercises
- Which type of organizations (ie, Golf Clubs) did you have the most experience with? How did that affect your understanding of the issues in this chapter?
- Which skills do you think are the most important ones for being an effective employee?
- What are the three key levels of analysis for OB?
- Have you ever used journaling before? If so, were your experiences positive? Do you think you will use journaling as a tool in the future?
- How do you plan on using the OB Toolboxes in this book? Creating a plan now can help make you more effective throughout the term.
“1.2 Understanding Organizational Behaviour” from Organizational Behaviour by Anonymous is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
