- Contributing Disciplines to Organizational Behavior
- Psychology
- Social psychology
- Sociology
- Anthropology
- Other social sciences
Contributing Disciplines to Organizational Behavior:Organization behavior is an applied science that is built up on contribution from a number of behavioral science.There are some important disciplines to the organizational behavior field which developed it extensively.Due to an increase in organizational complexity, various types of knowledge are required and help many ways.
Psychology
It is the science of human and animal behaviour including the application of science to human problems.This field is interested in a very broad range of human thought and behaviour. Its contributions have been mainly at micro or individual level of analysis.More recently, their contributions have been expanded to include learning, perception, personality, training, leadership effectiveness,needs and motivational forces,job satisfaction, decision-making processes, performance appraisals, attitude measurement, employee selection techniques, work design and job stress.
Social psychology
It is the scientific study of the ways in which interaction, interdependence, and influence among persons affect their behaviour. This field of study blends concepts from psychology and sociology. Social psychologists have provided an answer to why people behave as they do Social psychology analyses the behaviour at group level. It has made a remarkable contribution in the areas of measuring, understanding and group decision making changing attitudes, communication patterns, processes etc.
Sociology
It studies people in relation to their fellow human beings. It has made generalizations about human nature, social interaction,culture and social organizations. It is the second most important contributor to the field of Organizational Behavior. Its major contribution areas are group dynamics, communication, power, conflict, culture, norms, roles, status, socialization, organization theory, organizational change etc. It helps to analyze the behavior at both group and organization levels.
Anthropology
It examines all the behaviours of man which have be learned, including all the social, technical and family behaviours which are a part of the broad concept of culture. It analyses the behaviour of people at group and level. This study helps us in understanding the cultural factors on organizational behaviour, value system, comparative norms, values and attitudes, organizational culture and environment and so on.
Other social sciences
It studies individual and group behavior in relationship to a political environment and thereby helps to analyze the behavior of people at the organizational level. Popular topics derived from political science are power, political authority, conflict etc. They help to understand the influence process in Organizational Behavior. Nowadays organizations are also regarded as political systems. So, managers need to understand organizational power and political dynamics inside the organization.
References
Acharya, Bhawani Shanker (2004). “Quality Circle An Overview”.Management and Development Review,Vol 1 No. 2 and 3, Kathmandu;Society for Development & Welfare Nepal.
Acharya, Bhawani shanker (2006).“Technology Impact on cultural Values and Innovation”. Annamalai University Women’s Training Centre in ICT, Tamilnadu, India, December,19-20.(A Conference paper).
Acharya, Bhawani Shanker (2005). “Understanding Business using Cases with Multimedia” Adaikalamatha Institute of Management, India Sept.29-30, (A conference paper)
Psychology
The discipline of psychology has greatly contributed to the field of organizational behavior since it has led to the emergence of the concept of organizational psychology. This concept is concerned with the study of workplace behavior. Bottom and Kong (2010) argued that psychologist plays a role in ensuring increased workplace productivity. This is done by selecting the individuals who best suit a particular position in the organization.
The theories mentioned in their paper as being critical to organizational decision making include the normative and descriptive theories. The behavioral decision theory evolved since there was a need to make proper organizational decisions.
Sociology
Sociology has shaped organizational behavior since it is the study of human society and people’s social stratification. Individuals come from different backgrounds and have different beliefs. People may be differentiated based on religion, race, tribe, class and many other factors (Riordan & Shore, 1997). However, successful organizations value diversity in their organization.
Diversity brings to the table a different pool of employees with different abilities and talents. Therefore, an organization can gain from the different abilities of the employees.
Diversity of employees ensures that the organization can benefit since there will be more creativity leading to innovative services and products. Therefore, diversity influences the organizational behavior in that it brings different people together, causing them to accept and work with each other to achieve common goals.
Political Science
The discipline of political science has influenced the organizational behavior in several ways. Political science models incorporate the political context in explaining organizational behavior in private organizations.
The political environment greatly affects organizations and the employees working in them (Leroux & Goerdel, 2009). It has been determined that it causes an increase in organizational goal ambiguity. Consequently, this causes role ambiguity, which influences factors such as employee satisfaction and organizational commitment (Pandey & Wright, 2006).
Anthropology
Anthropology also plays a role in shaping organizational behavior. Theories of human nature have been used to explain the relationship between human nature and their behavior. These theories also supplement the explanatory theory in the sociology of organizations. The authors argue that human beings are naturally growth-oriented and in order to experience this, they need to pursue self-interests. The democratic model describes this.
However, many organizations usually restrain individuals from pursuing self-interest. Therefore, they create unhappy individuals. Sullivan (1986) argued that organizations should return to the democratic man model. After identifying the range of the interests of the employees, managers should help in coordinating them and conduct organizational changes to reflect the interests of all.
Economics
The discipline of economics plays an important role in organizational behavior since it deals with the analysis of production and consumption of commodities and services. The main agenda of businesses and organizations is to ensure that the goods and services provided earn profits and make the business sustainable.
Organizations usually assess the financial implication of various factors including employee retention, employee absenteeism, and presenteeism. Cascio (2006) assessed the implications of unhealthy lifestyles to health care costs. Organizations realize that spending on employees due to health issues translate to organizational expenses. Therefore, organizations strive to retain employees and keep them healthy in order to spend less and earn more.
Industrial Engineering
The discipline of industrial engineering helps contribute to organizational behavior since it mainly deals with the optimization of complex systems and processes. It also deals with the integration of employees, finances, machinery, and information in order to work together to reach a common goal.
Abernathy (2011) argued that the performance and productivity of employees are necessary ingredients for any organization. Industrial engineering relates to operations management, human factors, and management science. Advancement in technology has been linked to improved productivity. Organizations also strive to empower and train employees in order to improve organizational productivity and profitability.
Emerging Disciplines
Communications
Communication is one of the emerging disciplines that have contributed to organizational behavior. Communication has been described as the activity that enables people to link in order to create relationships. Kandlousi, Ali, and Abdollahi (2010) argued that communication played an important role such that it determined the success or failure of an organization.
They believed that it was through communication that organizational activities could be organized, coordinated, informed, arranged and subordinated. Formal and informal communication work together to ensure communication satisfaction. Communication satisfaction is linked to positive outcomes such as employee satisfaction and this eventually leads to organizational accomplishments and effectiveness.
Information Systems
Information systems in the organization have a part to play when it comes to organizational behavior. Although information systems positively influence businesses in that it integrates the various aspects within the organization and assists in the decision-making process, they also contribute to unethical conduct among certain employees.
Information systems professionals, in particular, may show unethical behavior when they are involved in software piracy, hacking and putting the employees’ privacy at risk (Oz, 2001).
Marketing
Marketing has been described as a way of maintaining current customers and attracting new ones. Therefore, marketing plays an important role in shaping organizational behavior especially when the internal customers are considered. To improve organizational performance, the performance of the human resource is key. Therefore, human resource personnel should be considered as internal customers to put a priority on satisfying their needs.
As the internal customer satisfaction is achieved, the performance of the human resource personnel is improved. Research suggests that satisfaction of the needs of the internal customers could be achieved through internal marketing (Abzari & Ghujali, 2011). This helps to improve their behavior. In addition to this, it also helps improve their extra-role behaviors.
Women’s Studies
Women studies have contributed to organization behavior since they have shown the trends when it comes to the position of women in the organizational setting. Statistics have indicated that women now occupy more positions in organizations that before. They now make up a large proportion of the traditionally male-dominated environments (Jandeska & Kraimer, 2005).
This knowledge is essential to motivate women employees to work hard and to develop proper organizational behavior in order to climb the ranks of employment. Jandeska and Kraemer found that those women who were satisfied by the employment were likely to mentor other women. They also found that women who were committed to their organizations displayed citizenship behavior.
Influence of communication on leadership, globalization, diversity and workplace values and ethics
Communication is vital in organizations. In terms of leadership, communication is vital to ensure the control of employees and their activities. Leaders need to be good communicators. Communication is also vital for globalization since ideas must be exchanged to foster growth.
Communication is vital in diverse organizations since different individuals should be able to find common ground and this can only be found in good communication. In order for organizations to be successful, workplace values and ethics must be communicated well to the employees. This would foster understanding and adherence.
References
Abernathy, W. (2011). An analysis of the effects of selected management practices on organizational productivity and performance. Performance Improvement, 50(6), 39-47.
Abzari, M., & Ghujali, T. (2011). Examining the impact of internal marketing on organizational citizenship behaviour. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 3(4), 95-104.
Bottom, W., & Kong, D. (2010). Normative models for strategic decision making in industrial makin in industrial-organizational psychology and organizational behaviour. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 3(1), 417-420.
Cascio, W. (2006). The economic impact of employee behaviours on organizational performance. California Management Review, 48(4), 41-59.
Jandeska, K., & Kraimer (2005). Women’s perceptions of organizational culture, work attitudes and role-modelling behaviours. Journal of Managerial Issues, 17(4), 461-478.
Kandlousi, N., Ali, A., & Abdollahi, A. (2010). Organizational citizenship behaviour in concern of communication satisfaction: The role of the formal and informal communication. International Journal of Business and Management, 5(10), 51-61.
Leroux, K., & Goerdel, H. (2009). Political advocacy by non-profit organizations. Public Performance & Management Review, 32(4), 514-536.
Pandey, S., & Wright, B. (2006). Connecting the dots in public management: Political environment, organizational goal ambiguity, and the public manager’s role ambiguity. JPART, 16(1), 511-532.
Oz, E. (2001). Organizational commitment and ethical behaviour: An empirical study of information system professionals. Journal of Business Ethics, 34(1), 137-142.
Riordan, C., & Shore, L. (1997). Demographic diversity and employee attitudes: An empirical examination of relational demography within work units. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(3), 342-358.
Sullivan, J. (1986). Human nature, organizations, and management theory. Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 534-549.