Organizational Behavior

Organizational behaviour studies how people think, feel, and act in organizations — individual, group, and organizational dynamics.

Scope

It covers motivation, leadership, groups and teams, organizational culture, decision-making, and organizational change.

Core questions

• How do individuals behave in organizations?
• What motivates and leads people at work?
• How do groups and culture shape behaviour?
• How do organizations make decisions and change?

Key concepts

• Motivation
• Leadership
• Bounded rationality
• Organizational culture
• Groups and teams
• Sensemaking

Key theories

Cooperation and the executive

Barnard reframed organizations as cooperative systems requiring inducement and communication.

Bounded rationality in organizations

March and Simon analysed organizational decision-making under bounded rationality.

Organizing and sensemaking

Weick reframed organizations as ongoing processes of organizing and sensemaking.

History

Organizational behaviour grew from the human-relations movement and Barnard's and Simon's organization theory into a field integrating psychology and sociology of work.

Debates

Rational versus behavioural views of organizations

Whether organizations are rational instruments or boundedly rational, political, and interpretive systems.

Key figures

• Chester Barnard
• James March
• Herbert Simon
• Karl Weick

Seminal works

• barnard-1938
• march-simon-1958
• weick-1979

Frequently asked questions

What is bounded rationality?

Simon's idea that decision-makers, limited by information and cognition, 'satisfice' rather than optimize.