Introduction to Organisational Behaviour

Michael Butler, Ed Rose, Michael Butler, Ed Rose

• Publisher: CIPD - Kogan Page
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781843984115
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Organisational Behaviour
• Index: Business

Ideal for anyone studying an introductory module in organisational behaviour, Introduction to Organisational Behaviour is a rigorous critique of all essential organisational behaviour topics. A comprehensive book with extensive accompanying online resources makes this a must-have package for anyone wanting to understand the theory and practice of organisational behaviour. Practitioner case studies, supporting video interviews where solutions and approaches are discussed, review questions at the end of every chapter make this an essential resource. Covering organisational behaviour in the context of individuals, groups and teams and managing organisations as well as the importance of organisational structures and emerging issues, Introduction to Organisational Behaviour gives understanding and guidance on the full spectrum of organisational behaviour issues. Supported by extensive online resources including video interviews, clips of key skills lecture slides, additional tutorial activities and a test bank of multiple choice questions make this a truly integrated print and electronic learning package.

Contents

Introduction: a new model of learning

Employability skills

International focus

Multimedia integration

Conclusion: the next steps

Key Learning Outcomes

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• state the benefits of reading this textbook and introduce a new model of learning, blending employability skills, international focus and multimedia elements
• understand why we have focused on employability skills
• relate employability skills to an international focus
• utilise the multimedia elements of the chapters
• be ready and energised to read the book.

Introduction: a new model of learning

Confronted with a crowded selection of organisational behaviour textbooks, you may wonder why you should choose this one. The editors believe that this book addresses a significant gap in the market. Today’s undergraduates face tremendous competition for jobs and need to set themselves apart from their rivals who, in today’s marketplace, could be from anywhere in the world. A new organisational behaviour textbook must be relevant to the modern generation of students. This book focuses on three unique selling points which will help students to transition into the workplace and to improve their learning:

• It improves students’ prospects for employability in a competitive work environment by emphasising the development of key skills.
• It relates employability skills to an international focus, given the mobility within the global workplace.
• It enhances the learning experience by integrating the textbook with a wide range of innovative online materials to help modern and sophisticated students to learn in a way that suits their approach to study.

The three unique selling points lie at the heart of the publication strategy of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). This is why the editors saw a unique opportunity and synergy between our aspirations and their practical achievement through the CIPD and this book. The partnership also brings a more creative, interactive and visual approach to the presentation of ideas about organisational behaviour.

Blending improving employability skills with adopting an international focus and integrating multimedia elements is a new learning model, which clearly differentiates this textbook from rival books (Figure 1.1). It is important to be aware that Coffield (2000) points out that there are a range of learning models – Coffield (2000) identifies 10. The focus is on employability skills because of the growing consensus that the issue has to be addressed within higher education, especially its interconnections with global ideas about how to manage and lead, all underpinned by recent research on pedagogy in learning and teaching. All these issues are discussed in the following sections.

Because organisational behaviour is core to virtually all undergraduate business degrees, there are a number of topics that must be included as standard, and the textbook reflects this. Nevertheless, we are enhancing the reader experience by introducing contemporary real-world issues – the new learning model. In tackling core topics and up-to-date issues, we assume that students have no prior knowledge of organisational behaviour. Authors use clear explanations to get students started, although they do engage with critical debates in order to get students thinking analytically.

To expand on the intended approach and level of the book: it moves student discussion from A-level standard – or the international equivalent – to provide a balance between a managerialist approach and an employee perspective. Both approaches are subject to critical evaluation – that is to say, a weighing up of the strengths and weaknesses of the approaches and how they might privilege certain world views which should not necessarily be taken for granted. ‘Bottom-up’ analysis is included in the relevant chapters. One example is how the managerialist approach might disenfranchise certain social groups – for instance, women senior managers. A further example would relate to conflict as perceived by both employer and worker.

Figure 1.1 A new model of learning, blending employability skills, international focus and multimedia elements

The book does not include separate chapters on human resource management (HRM). However, the obvious links between organisational behaviour and HRM are highlighted as appropriate throughout the text.

The issues of employability skills, international focus and multimedia integration are discussed in more detail below.

EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

Employability is a hot topic from all points of view – the teachers’, the students’, the employers’ and recent government policy, whether devised by parties on the right or the left of politics. In 2009, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) – one of the UK’s government departments – issued a policy document titled Higher Ambitions, which seeks to clarify the future of universities in a knowledge economy and is already being widely implemented in higher education (Butler, 2010). Higher Ambitions’ clear aim is on improving employability skills (BIS, 2009: 4):

In order to attract a greater diversity of students, more part-time study, more vocationally-based foundation degrees, more work-based study and more study whilst living at home must be made available. This is a core aim of these proposals, and our wider skills strategy.

Employers believe that universities ought to develop the employability skills of students (Cassidy, 2006). This is because they perceive that future graduates will overcome the relative lack of managerial and technical skills in the workplace (Wilton, 2008). Students also target skills development, expecting the teaching of professional skills to enhance their employability (Connor and Shaw, 2008). Such unified activity has contributed to ‘institutional improvement that enhanced student learning and involved faculty development’ (Hurtado, 2009: 28).

The underpinning philosophy of our book is to focus on employability skills, defined as the development of future managers and leaders who realise that managing is about getting things done through other people. More specifically, managing and leading people involves understanding individual needs, integrating people in effective teams, so that they achieve organisational goals. Leading and managing change takes place in all types of organisations, whether private, public or in the third sector – for example, non-government organisations (NGOs) – or UK- or globally based.

The book endeavours to develop future managers and leaders who may often operate within environmentally challenging contexts and who therefore require a secure foundation of relevant knowledge that can be used as they build their career. The knowledge provided by the book and acquired by the student can be deployed though the development of relevant skills and practice. Established theory is linked to emerging research, and the practical implications of this for organisational behaviour are explored.

Employability skills are specifically addressed through exploring the textbook’s learning features and by linking organisational behaviour to key skills. Through these features we seek to improve students’ prospects for employability by making them more competitive, when compared with other students.

Textbook learning features

Each chapter includes the following learning features:

• Case problem boxes – Each chapter starts with a case problem (‘Practitioner insight’) box, in which a practitioner describes a real-life organisational challenge. Students are invited to read the chapter and then go back and decide how they would approach this situation themselves, utilising the ideas they have learned during the chapter.
• Review questions – These are designed for students to assess their understanding of the central themes, including employability skills, within a chapter.
• Discussion questions – In order to consolidate critical thinking skills, authors ask review and discussion questions: these are for students to respond to on their own or as part of a team because the capacity to move between individual and teamworking is a central business and organisational competence in modern workplaces.
• Identifying ethical implications boxes – In light of the growth of corporate governance as a central concern for organisations and business schools, especially in the wake of the contemporary financial crisis and retrenchment management, each author addresses ethics in the context of the chapter content.
• Applying theory to practice boxes – These are up-to-date examples of organisational practice to illustrate the link between theory and practice.
• Taking your learning further boxes – Authors suggest seminal papers and books to extend students’ reading (with links to the seminal papers on the website); these include examples related to employability.
• Best and worst organisational practice boxes.

Linking organisational behaviour and key skills

An essential part of delivering the new learning model is to link organisational behaviour and key skills. Cotton (2001) argues that although employers are in general pleased with the technical skills of new graduates, they are less persuaded that the non-technical skills are at high standards – for example, teamworking, problem-solving, communication and attitude to work (Connor and Shaw, 2008).

Practitioners like David Farnham (Farnham and Smith, 2005), a CIPD Chief Examiner, echo Cotton’s (2001) academic argument. Farnham notes that CIPD professional standards require students both to have knowledge of the subject and to demonstrate a critical understanding of what they have learned, revealed through explanation, analysis and evaluation. Indeed, nurturing critical minds is part of a high-quality higher education (HE) experience (Malcolm, 2009) because ‘higher skills are keys to social mobility . . . as well as one of competitiveness’ (Lord Mandelson, 2009). Critical understanding is used by HR managers to deliver business performance, as expressed by Sacha Romanovitch, Head of People and Culture, Grant Thornton (2009: 39):

In an increasingly service-oriented economy the differentiation for a business usually comes down to its people. To provide an outstanding service to its clients any business needs to recruit and retain the best people – promoting and creating an effective working environment.

The focus in this textbook is on generic and transferable skills.

Drawing on this work, the editors selected the key skills in the list below to be addressed by the contributing authors:

• creative skills
• developing critical thinking skills
• emotional intelligence, empathy, sympathy and listening
• leadership, coaching and mentoring
• making presentations
• negotiating, arbitration and conflict resolution skills
• personal development planning
• professional judgement, decision-making and problem-solving
• reflective learning
• social responsibility...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Brief contents
• Detailed contents
• List of figures and tables
• Author biographies
• Praise for the book
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Walkthrough of textbook features
• Walkthrough of online resources
• Chapter 1. Introduction: A New Model of Learning Blending Employability Skills, International Focus and Multimedia Elements
• Chapter 2. Approaches to Organisational Behaviour
• Part 1: Individuals
• Part 2: Groups and Teams
• Part 3: Managing Organisations
• Part 4: Organisational Structure
• Part 5: Emerging Issues
• Glossary
• References
• Index