ob definition etc

8/10/2019 OB Definition Etc

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Session 1


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Definition

The understanding, prediction, andmanagement of human behaviour in

organizations.

OB is involved with the study and application

of the human side of management and

organization.


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Challenges facing Management

Academic field of OB has been around for just

2530 years.

Significant human-oriented problems continue

to plague organizations.

Of the companies which have downsized over

the past 5 years, half of them reported

increased profits, a third of them reported

increase in productivity, while almost all(86%), reported experiencing greatly decreased

morale.


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The New Environment

The first major environmental developmentis not just the workplace, nature, form andmanagement of human resources, which hasdramatically changed, but the surrounding

environment,which has driven thesechanges.

The second major environmentaldevelopment is the second generation of the

Information Age which has moved toautomated decision making, moretechnology-based telecommunications and

the information super highway.


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Some interesting facts of IT The global network of computers, telephones and TV

has increased its info carrying capacity a milliontimes over during the past two decades.

Computing power doubling about every 18 months.

A $2,000 laptop is many times more powerful than a

$100 million mainframe computer was about 20 yearsago. Only 50,000 computers existed about 25 yearsago. Today there are as many as 150 million.

In 1960, a transatlantic telephone cable could carry

only 138 conversations simultaneously. Today, a fibreoptic cable can carry 1.5 million conversations.

A 3-minute telephone call between New York andLondon costs only $2 today; in 1930 it cost a hundred

times more (in dollars).


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A third major development is the quality

service revolutionthat is occurring around

the world.

Total Quali ty Management,has become the

need of the hour.


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The final major development that has had

significant environmental impact onorganization and management is diversity

and ethics.Diversity has taken on the ethical

implications of how management can

eliminate all forms of discrimination (age,

sex, race, ethnic origin, religion, disability)

and provides equal opportunity in all

aspects of employment.


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Total Quality Management (TQM)

This term is used to represent the widearray of changesmade by organizationsdetermined to improve their overall

productivity and profi t. A major technique of TQM to gain

prominence is reengineering,or startingall over on a clean piece of paper.Thisactually means starting from scratch, totallyredesigning the job and redoing the process.


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Historical Background - The Hawthorne Studies

The Hawthorne Studies mark the historical roots of

Organizational Behaviour. Studies commenced at theHawthorne Worksof the Western Electr ic Companyoutside Chicago,in1924. Illumination studiesattempted to examine the relationship between thel ight intensity on the shop floor of manual work sites

and employee production.A test group and controlgroup were used.

The test group initially showed no increase ordecrease in output in proportion to the increase or

decrease in illumination. The control group with unchanged illumination

increased output by the same amount overall as thetest group.


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Subsequent phases brought the level of lightdown to moonlight intensity; the workers

could barely see what they were doing, butproductivity increased. The results baffledthe researchers. It appeared that somevariables were not being held constant or

under control. It was something besides thelevel of illumination, which was causing thechange in productivity. This change was thecomplex humanvariable.

The results of the illumination

experiments provided the impetus forfurther study of human behaviourat work.


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Managers who apply and draw from the field

of OB are called HRMs.They have an HRM

role because they all manage people. Allmanagers, regardless of their technical

function, are HRMs, because they deal with

human behaviour in orgs. All managers needto have an understanding and perspective of

OB.

OB is the behavioural approach to

managementNOT the whole of management.

ob definition etc

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