Organizational studies, organizational behavior, and organizational theory are related terms for the academic study of organizations, examining them using the methods of economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, communication studies, and psychology. Related practical disciplines include strategic management, human resources and industrial and organizational psychology. For other uses, see Organization (disambiguation). ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge [1]) is the systematic and scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social action, and culture[2]. Areas studied in sociology can range from the analysis of brief contacts between anonymous... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political Science is the field concerning the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. ... This is about the social science. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Psychological science redirects here. ... Strategic management is the art and science of formulating, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decisions that will enable an organization to achieve its objectives[1]. It is the process of specifying the organizations objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve these objectives, and allocating resources to implement the policies... This article is about human resources as it applies to business, labor, and economies. ... Industrial and organizational psychology (also known as I/O psychology, work psychology, work and organizational psychology, W-O psychology, occupational psychology, personnel psychology or talent assessment) concerns the application of psychological theories, research methods, and intervention strategies to workplace issues. ...

Overview of the field

Organizational studies encompasses the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. For instance, a traditional distinction, present especially in American academia, is between the study of "micro" organizational behavior -- which refers to individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting -- and "macro" organizational theory which studies whole organizations, how they adapt, and the strategies and structures that guide them. To this distinction, some scholars have added an interest in "meso" -- primarily interested in power, culture, and the networks of individuals and units in organizations -- and "field" level analysis which study how whole populations of organizations interact. In Europe these distinctions do exist as well, but are more rarely reflected in departmental divisions. The term group dynamics implies that individual behaviours may differ depending on individuals current or prospective connections to a sociological group. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

Whenever people interact in organizations, many factors come into play. Organizational studies attempt to understand and model these factors. Like all social sciences, organizational studies seeks to control, predict, and explain. There is some controversy over the ethics of controlling workers' behaviour. As such, organizational behaviour or OB (and its cousin, Industrial psychology) have at times been accused of being the scientific tool of the powerful.^{[citation needed]} Those accusations notwithstanding, OB can play a major role in organizational development and success. Look up control in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Prediction of future events is an ancient human wish. ... An explanation is a statement which points to causes, context and consequences of some object (or process, state of affairs etc. ... Industrial psychology is the psychology that deals with the workplace, focusing on both the workers and the organizations that employ them. ... The field of organization development (OD) has had several definitions. ...

History

The Greek philosopher Plato wrote about the essence of leadership. Aristotle addressed the topic of persuasive communication. The writings of 16th century Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli laid the foundation for contemporary work on organizational power and politics. In 1776, Adam Smith advocated a new form of organizational structure based on the division of labour. One hundred years later, German sociologist Max Weber wrote about rational organizations and initiated discussion of charismatic leadership. Soon after, Frederick Winslow Taylor introduced the systematic use of goal setting and rewards to motivate employees. In the 1920's, Australian-born Harvard professor Elton Mayo and his colleagues conducted productivity studies at Western Electric's Hawthorne plant in the United States. For other uses, see Plato (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Aristotle (disambiguation). ... Machiavelli redirects here. ... For other persons named Adam Smith, see Adam Smith (disambiguation). ... For the politician, see Max Weber (politician). ... Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 to March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. ... George Elton Mayo (born Adelaide, December 26, 1880; died September 7, 1949) was a psychologist and sociologist. ...

Though it traces its roots back to Max Weber and earlier, organizational studies is generally considered to have begun as an academic discipline with the advent of scientific management in the 1890s, with Taylorism representing the peak of this movement. Proponents of scientific management held that rationalizing the organization with precise sets of instructions and time-motion studies would lead to increased productivity. Studies of different compensation systems were carried out. For the politician, see Max Weber (politician). ... Scientific management, also called Taylorism or the Classical Perspective, is a method in management theory that determines changes to improve labour productivity. ... Taylorism or Scientific management is the name of the approach to management and Industrial/Organizational Psychology initiated by Frederick Winslow Taylor in his 1911 monograph The Principles of Scientific Management. ... Remuneration is pay or salary, typically monetary compensation for services rendered, as in a employment. ...

After the First World War, the focus of organizational studies shifted to analysis of how human factors and psychology affected organizations, a transformation propelled by the identification of the Hawthorne Effect. This Human Relations Movement focused on teams, motivation, and the actualization of the goals of individuals within organizations. The Hawthorne effect refers to a phenomenon of observing workers behavior or their performance and changing it temporarily. ... Human Relations Movement refers to those researchers of organizational development who study the behavior of people in groups, in particular workplace groups. ... A team is any group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. ... Motivation is a word used to refer to the reason or reasons for engaging in a particular behavior, especially human behavior. ...

Prominent early scholars included Chester Barnard, Henri Fayol, Mary Parker Follett, Frederick Herzberg, Abraham Maslow, David McClelland, and Victor Vroom. Chester Irving Barnard (1886–1961) was a telecommunications executive and author of Functions of the Executive, an influential 20th century management book, in which Barnard presented a theory of organization and the functions of executives in organizations. ... Henri Fayol (born 1841 in Istanbul; died 1925 in Paris) was a French management theorist. ... Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) was a social worker, consultant, and author of books on democracy, human relations, and management. ... // Frederick Irving Herzberg (1923 - 2000) was a noted psychologist who became one of the most influential names in business management. ... Abraham (Harold) Maslow (April 1, 1908 – June 8, 1970) was an American psychologist. ... David McClelland David Clarence McClelland (1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American personality psychologist, social psychologist, and an advocate of quantitative history. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The Second World War further shifted the field, as the invention of large-scale logistics and operations research led to a renewed interest in rationalist approaches to the study of organizations. Interest grew in theory and methods native to the sciences, including systems theory, the study of organizations with a complexity theory perspective and complexity strategy. Influential work was done by Herbert Alexander Simon and James G. March and the so-called "Carnegie School" of organizational behavior. Operations Research or Operational Research (OR) is an interdisciplinary branch of mathematics which uses methods like mathematical modeling, statistics, and algorithms to arrive at optimal or good decisions in complex problems which are concerned with optimizing the maxima (profit, faster assembly line, greater crop yield, higher bandwidth, etc) or minima... Systems theory is an interdisciplinary field of science. ... Complexity Theory has been used extensively in the field of strategic management and organizational studies, sometimes called Complexity strategy or Complex Adaptive Organization on the internet or in popular press. ... Complexity Theory has been used extensively in the field of strategic management and organizational studies, sometimes called Complexity strategy or Complex Adaptive Organization on the internet or in popular press. ... Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was a researcher in the fields of cognitive psychology, computer science, public administration, economics and philosophy (sometimes described as a polymath). ... James G. March is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. ...

In the 1960s and 1970s, the field was strongly influenced by social psychology and the emphasis in academic study was on quantitative research. An explosion of theorizing, much of it at Stanford University and Carnegie Mellon, produced Bounded Rationality, Informal Organization, Contingency Theory, Resource Dependence, Institutional Theory, and Population Ecology theories, among many others. The scope of social psychological research. ... Quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. ... Many models of human behavior in the social sciences assume that humans can be reasonably approximated or described as rational entities, especially as conceived by rational choice theory. ... Peter Blau Peter Michael Blau (February 7, 1918–March 12, 2002) was a sociologist. ... The contingency theory is a leadership theory developed by Fred Fiedler. ... ... New institutionalism describes social theory that focuses on developing a sociological view of institutions, the way they interact and the effects of institutions on society. ... Population ecology is a major subfield of ecology—one that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. ...

Starting in the 1980s, cultural explanations of organizations and change became an important part of study. Qualitative methods of study became more acceptable, informed by anthropology, psychology and sociology. A leading scholar was Karl Weick. This is about the social science. ... Psychological science redirects here. ... Sociology (from Latin: socius, companion; and the suffix -ology, the study of, from Greek λόγος, lógos, knowledge [1]) is the systematic and scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social action, and culture[2]. Areas studied in sociology can range from the analysis of brief contacts between anonymous... Karl Weick is a noted organizational theorist who is famous for his loose coupling and sense-making theories in organizations. ...

Specific Contributions

Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915): Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 to March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. ...

Taylor was the first person who attempted to study human behavior at work using a systematic approach. Taylor studied human characteristics, social environment, task, physical environment, capacity, speed, durability, cost and their interaction with each other. His overall objective was to reduce and/or remove human variability. Taylor worked to achieve his goal of making work behaviors stable and predictable so that maximum output could be achieved. He relied strongly upon monetary incentive systems, believing that humans are primarily motivated by money. He faced some strong criticism, including being accused of telling managers to treat workers as machines without minds, but his work was very productive and laid many foundation principles for modern management study.

Elton Mayo: George Elton Mayo (born Adelaide, December 26, 1880; died September 7, 1949) was a psychologist and sociologist. ...

Elton Mayo, an Australian national, headed the Hawthorne Studies at Harvard. In his classic writing in 1931, Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization, he advised managers to deal with emotional needs of employees at work.

Mary Parker Follett: Mary Parker Follett (1868–1933) was a social worker, consultant, and author of books on democracy, human relations, and management. ...

Mary Parker Follett was a pioneer woman management consultant in the industrial world, which was mainly dominated by males. As a writer, she provided analyses on workers as having complex combinations of attitude, beliefs, and needs. She told managers to motivate employees on their job performance, a“pull” rather than a "push" strategy.

Douglas McGregor: Douglas McGregor (1906 - 1964) was a Management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management whose 1960 book The Human Side of Enterprise had a profound influence on management practices. ...

Douglas McGregor proposed two theories/assumptions, which are very nearly the opposite of each other, about human nature based on his experience as a management consultant. His first theory was “Theory X”, which is pessimistic and negative; and according to McGregor it is how managers traditionally perceive their workers. Then, in order to help managers replace that theory/assumption, he gave “Theory Y” which takes a more modern and positive approach. He believed that managers could achieve more if managers start perceiving their employees as self-energized, committed, responsible and creative beings. By means of his Theory Y, he in fact challenged the traditional theorists to adopt a developmental approach to their employees. He also wrote a book The Human Side of Enterprise in 1960; this book has become a foundation for the modern view of employees at work.

Current state of the field

Organizational behaviour is currently a growing field. Organizational studies departments generally form part of business schools, although many universities also have industrial psychology and industrial economics programs.

The field is highly influential in the business world with practitioners like Peter Drucker and Peter Senge, who turned the academic research into business practices. Organizational behaviour is becoming more important in the global economy as people with diverse backgrounds and cultural values have to work together effectively and efficiently. It is also under increasing criticism as a field for its ethnocentric and pro-capitalist assumptions (see Critical Management Studies). Peter Ferdinand Drucker (November 19, 1909–November 11, 2005) was a writer, management consultant and university professor. ... Peter Michael Senge was the Director of the Center for Organizational Learning at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and is presently (2005) on the faculty at MIT. He is the founding chair of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL). ... Critical management studies (CMS) is a loose but rapidly growing grouping of politically left wing and theoretically innovative approaches to management, business and organisation. ...

Methods used in organizational studies

A variety of methods are used in organizational studies. They include quantitative methods found in other social sciences such as multiple regression, Non-parametric statistics, time dependent analysis, and ANOVA. In addition, computer simulation in organizational studies has a long history in organizational studies. Qualitative methods are also used, such as ethnography, which involves direct participant observation, single and multiple case analysis, and other historical methods. In the last fifteen years or so, there has been greater focus on language, metaphors, and organizational storytelling. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into linear regression. ... Non-Parametric statistics are statistics where it is not assumed that the population fits any parametrized distributions. ... In statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models and their associated procedures which compare means by splitting the overall observed variance into different parts. ... Computer Simulation is a prominent method in organizational studies and strategic management. ... Ethnography ( ethnos = people and graphein = writing) is the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on fieldwork. ... Participant observation is a major research strategy which aims to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious, occupational, or deviant group) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their natural environment. ... Case analysis is one of the most general and applicable methods of analytical thinking, depending only on the division of a problem, decision or situation into a sufficient number of separate cases. ... Storytelling has long been a feature of human societies, groups and organizations. ...

Systems framework

Kurt Lewin attended the Macy conferences and is commonly identified as the founder of the movement to study groups scientifically.

The systems framework is also fundamental to organizational theory as organizations are complex dynamic goal-oriented processes. One of the early thinkers in the field was Alexander Bogdanov, who developed his Tectology, a theory widely considered a precursor of Bertalanffy's General Systems Theory, aiming to model and design human organizations. Kurt Lewin was particularly influential in developing the systems perspective within organizational theory and coined the term "systems of ideology", from his frustration with behavioural psychologies that became an obstacle to sustainable work in psychology (see Ash 1992: 198-207). Jay Forrester with his work in dynamics and management alongside numerous theorists including Edgar Schein that followed in their tradition since the Civil Rights Era have also been influential. The complexity theory perspective on organizations is another systems view of organizations. Image File history File linksMetadata Kurt_Lewin. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Kurt_Lewin. ... Kurt Zadek Lewin (September 9, 1890 – February 12, 1947) was a German psychologist and one of the pioneers of social psychology. ... The ten Macy Conferences between 1946 and 1953 were the first organised approach to interdisciplinarity, spawning breakthroughs in systems theory and leading to the foundation of what later was to be known as cybernetics. ... Organizational Studies (also known as Industrial Organizations, Organizational Behavior and I/O) is a distinct field of academic study which takes as its subject organizations, examining them using the methods of economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and psychology. ... For other uses, see Organization (disambiguation). ... Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov Russian: (born Alyaksandr Malinouski, Belarusian: ) August 22 (Old Style), 1873, Hrodna, Russia (today Belarus) - April 7, 1928, Moscow) was a Russian physician, philosopher, economist, science fiction writer, and revolutionary of Belarusian ethnicity whose scientific interests ranged from the universal systems theory to the possibility of human rejuvenation... Tectology is a term coined by Alexander Bogdanov (1873-1928), scientist, philosopher, economist, physician, novelist, poet, and Marxist revolutionary, unknown to almost everyone except for the experts in Russian science history. ... Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (September 19, 1901, Vienna, Austria - June 12, 1972, USA) was a biologist who was a founder of general systems theory. ... Systems theory is an interdisciplinary field of science. ... Jay Wright Forrester (born 14 July 1918 Climax, Nebraska) is an American pioneer of computer engineering. ... Edgar H. Schein (born 1928), a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management has had a notable mark on the field of organizational development in many areas, including career development, group process consultation, and organizational culture. ... Prominent figures of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. ... Complexity theory has been used extensively in the field of strategic management and organizational studies, sometimes called complexity strategy or complex adaptive organization on the internet or in popular press. ...

The systems approach to organizations relies heavily upon achieving negative entropy through openness and feedback. A systemic view on organizations is transdisciplinary and integrative. In other words, it transcends the perspectives of individual disciplines, integrating them on the basis of a common "code", or more exactly, on the basis of the formal apparatus provided by systems theory. The systems approach gives primacy to the interrelationships, not to the elements of the system. It is from these dynamic interrelationships that new properties of the system emerge. In recent years, systems thinking has been developed to provide techniques for studying systems in holistic ways to supplement traditional reductionistic methods. In this more recent tradition, systems theory in organizational studies is considered by some as a humanistic extension of the natural sciences. For other uses, see: information entropy (in information theory) and entropy (disambiguation). ... This article is about systems theory. ... For other uses, see Feedback (disambiguation). ... Systems thinking is a social approach using systems theories to create desired outcomes, or change. ... The Earth seen from Apollo 17. ... Descartes held that non-human animals could be reductively explained as automata — De homines 1622. ... Humanism is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to universal human qualities — particularly rationality. ... The Michelson–Morley experiment was used to disprove that light propagated through a luminiferous aether. ...

See also

• Organization design
• Organization development
• Organizational Dissent
• Organizational empowerment
• Organizational engineering

Organization design involves the creation of roles, processes, and formal reporting relationships in an organization. ... Organization development is the process through which an organization develops the internal capacity to be the most effective it can be in its mission work and to sustain itself over the long term. ... Kassing (1998) defines organizational dissent as the “expression of disagreement or contradictory opinions about organizational practices and policies”. Since dissent involves disagreement it can lead to conflict, which if not resolved, can lead to violence and struggle. ... // Organizational Engineering is a form of Organizational Development created by Gary Salton of Professional Communications, Inc. ...

Theories and models of organizational studies

Decision making

• Mintzberg's managerial roles
• Rational Decision-Making Model
• Scientific management

The Rational Decision-Making Model is a process for making logically sound decisions. ... Scientific management, also called Taylorism or the Classical Perspective, is a method in management theory that determines changes to improve labour productivity. ...

Organization structures and dynamics

• Bureaucracy
• Complexity theory and organizations
• Contingency theory
• Evolutionary Theory and organizations
• Hybrid Organisation
• Incentive theory (organization)
• Informal Organization
• Institutional theory
• Organizational ecology
• Model of Organizational Citizenship behaviour
• Model of organizational justice
• Model of Organizational Misbehaviour
• Resource dependence theory
• Transaction cost
• Hofstede's Framework for Assessing Cultures

The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      This article is about the sociological concept. ... Complexity Theory has been used extensively in the field of strategic management and organizational studies, sometimes called Complexity strategy or Complex Adaptive Organization on the internet or in popular press. ... The contingency theory is a leadership theory developed by Fred Fiedler. ... Peter Blau Peter Michael Blau (February 7, 1918–March 12, 2002) was a sociologist. ... New institutionalism describes social theory that focuses on developing a sociological view of institutions, the way they interact and the effects of institutions on society. ... Organizational Ecology (also Organizational Demography and the Population Ecology of Organizations) is a theoretical and practical approach in the social sciences that is especially used in organizational studies. ... In economics and related disciplines, a transaction cost is a cost incurred in making an economic exchange. ... Geert Hofstede is an influential expert on the interactions between national cultures and organizational cultures, author of several books including Cultures Consequences (2nd, fully revised edition, 2001) and Software of the Mind. ...

Personality traits theories

• Big Five personality traits
• Holland's Typology of Personality and Congruent Occupations
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

In psychology, the Big Five personality traits are five broad factors or dimensions of personality discovered through empirical research (Goldberg, 1993). ... The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality questionnaire designed to identify certain psychological differences according to the typological theories of Carl Gustav Jung as published in his 1921 book Psychological Types (English edition, 1923). ...

Control and stress modelling

• Herzberg's Two factor theory
• Theory X and Theory Y

For Schachters two factor theory of emotion, see two factor theory of emotion. ... Theory X and theory Y are theories of human motivation developed by Douglas McGregor in the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior, and organizational development. ... Theory X and theory Y are theories of human motivation developed by Douglas McGregor in the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior, and organizational development. ...

Motivation in Organizations

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can (March 2008).

"Although motivation is a broad and complex concept, organizational scientists have agreed on its basic characteristics. Drawing from various social sciences, we define motivation as the set of processes that arouse, direct, and maintain human behavior toward attaining some goal" (Baron et al. 248) Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Motivation is a word used to refer to the reason or reasons for engaging in a particular behavior, especially human behavior. ...

There are many different Motivation Theories such as:

• Attribution theory
• Equity theory
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs
• Incentive theory (psychology)
• Model of Emotional labor in organizations

Sources Cited Baron, Robert A., & Greenberg, Jerald. Behavior in organizations - 9th edition. Pearson Education Inc., New Jersey: 2008. Attribution theory is a social psychology theory developed by Fritz Heider, Harold Kelley, Edward E. Jones, and Lee Ross. ... Equity theory. ... Maslows hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology that Abraham Maslow proposed in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation,[1] which he subsequently extended to include his observations of humans innate curiosity. ... wwwwwrrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg Emotional labor is a form of emotional regulation in which workers are expected to display certain emotions as part of their job and to promote organizational goals. ...

External links

Primary organization-focused journals

• Administrative Science Quarterly [1]
• Organizational Science [2]
• Academy of Management Journal [3]
• Academy of Management Review [4]
• Strategic Management Journal [5]
• Strategic Organization - SO! [6]
• Management Science [7]

Administrative Science Quarterly, founded in 1956, is one of the most eminent academic journals in the field of organizational studies. ... The current version of the article or section reads like an advertisement. ... The current version of the article or section reads like an advertisement. ... Management science, or MS, is the discipline of using mathematics, and other analytical methods, to help make better business decisions. ...

Other journals

• Journal of Management [8]
• Journal of Applied Psychology [9]
• Organization Studies [10]
• Organization [11]
• Management Learning [12]
• International Journal of Knowledge Culture and Change Management [13]
• Journal of Organizational Change Management [14]
• European Management Review [15]
• Anthropology of Work Review [16]
• Research in Organizational behaviour [17]
• Journal of Organizational behaviour
• Organizational behaviour and Human Decision Processes [18]
• Human Relations [19]

Journal of Applied Psychology is a publication of the APA. It has a high impact factor for its field. ... Organizational Studies (also known as Industrial Organizations, Organizational Behavior and I/O) is a distinct field of academic study which takes as its subject organizations, examining them using the methods of economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and psychology. ... For other uses, see Organization (disambiguation). ... Though human resources have been part of business and organisations since the first days of agriculture, the modern concept of human resources began in reaction to the efficiency focus of Taylorism in the early 1900s. ...

References

• Ash, M.G. 1992. "Cultural Contexts and Scientific Change in Psychology: Kurt Lewin in Iowa." American Psychologist, Vol. 47, No. 2, pp. 198-207.
• Robbins, Stephen P. Organizational Behavior - Concepts, Controversies, Applications. 4th Ed. Prentice Hall (2004) ISBN 0-13-170901-1.
• Weick, Karl E. The Social Psychology of Organizing 2nd Ed. McGraw Hill (1979) ISBN 0-07-554808-9.
• Simon, Herbert A. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Admini