Learn
40 modules across five units. Each module runs concept → constructs → evidence → alternatives → your decision → knowledge check.
8 modules shown
Nature & Scope of OB
Unit I — Foundations of OB
Organizational Behaviour studies how individuals, groups, and organizational structures interact to affect behaviour within firms, at three nested levels of analysis: individual, group, and organization. Managers use this lens to diagnose whether a performance problem originates in a person's ability/motivation, a team's dynamics, or systemic organizational design. Task performance (formal job duties), organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB, discretionary helpful acts), and counterproductive work behaviour (CWB, deliberate harmful acts) together determine organizational effectiveness.
Evolution of Management Thought
Unit I — Foundations of OB
Management thought evolved from Taylor's scientific management (optimizing tasks via time-motion study), through Fayol's administrative theory (principles of organizing and coordinating), to the human relations movement (Hawthorne studies showing social factors matter), and finally to systems and contingency thinking (there is no one best way; fit depends on context). Modern managers blend these lenses depending on the nature of the work and workforce.
OB Models and Disciplines
Unit I — Foundations of OB
Davis and Newstrom's OB models describe an evolving managerial philosophy: autocratic (power and obedience), custodial (economic security, dependence), supportive (leadership and participation), collegial (partnership, self-discipline), and system (trust, community, meaning). Organizations often move along this spectrum as employee orientation shifts from obedience to psychological ownership, though the appropriate model can vary by context.
Challenges & Opportunities in OB
Unit I — Foundations of OB
Contemporary OB must address a cluster of interacting forces: rapid technology adoption (e.g., AI, automation), globalization of talent and markets, workforce diversity, rising ethical scrutiny, demand for flexibility, and shifting workforce expectations around purpose and work-life balance. Managers who treat these as isolated HR issues rather than interconnected OB challenges risk poor adoption and disengagement.
Organizational Culture
Unit I — Foundations of OB
Schein's model describes organizational culture as three layers: visible artifacts (dress, rituals, office layout), espoused values (stated principles), and underlying basic assumptions (taken-for-granted beliefs driving behaviour). Culture strength reflects how widely and deeply shared these are, and person-organization (P-O) fit captures how well an individual's values align with the culture, predicting satisfaction and retention, especially critical during mergers and acquisitions.
Diversity & Inclusion
Unit I — Foundations of OB
Diversity climate refers to employees' shared perceptions of fair treatment and value for diverse groups within an organization, while inclusion and belonging capture whether individuals feel authentically welcomed and able to contribute, not merely present. Distributive justice (fairness of outcomes like pay and promotions) and procedural justice (fairness of the processes used to reach those outcomes) both shape whether diversity efforts translate into genuine inclusion or remain symbolic.
Ethics & Values
Unit I — Foundations of OB
Values are enduring beliefs about what is desirable, and value congruence describes the alignment between an individual's values, an organization's stated values, and actual decisions made under pressure. Ethical climate is the shared perception of what constitutes ethically correct behaviour in an organization, moral awareness is recognizing that a situation has an ethical dimension, and ethical intention is the resolve to act on that recognition despite competing pressures like cost or speed.
Learning Organization
Unit I — Foundations of OB
A learning organization is one that continuously builds capacity to acquire, share, and act on knowledge, underpinned by psychological safety (the belief that one can speak up without punishment or humiliation), a culture of experimentation, active knowledge sharing across units, and a learning orientation (framing mistakes as information rather than threats). Where psychological safety is low, failures and near-misses often go unreported, allowing preventable problems to recur.