Organizational Behavior: a Discipline for Discovery

Ask a manager of 35, 25 or even 15 years ago what their Organization's Behavioral patterns were or how their employees felt about certain issues and you would probably be met with blank stares. Organizational Behavior (OB) was not a part of the business world in those days. The idea that a manager need only deal with the technical skills of it's employees while disregarding their own listening skills, communication skills and interaction skills was the common mode of thought. A recent study on employee burnout by Northwestern National Life Insurance shows that at least one out of every four employees views their job as the biggest stressor in their lives (Work, stress and health conference, 1999). Clearly it is time to reevaluate our thinking on the business concepts of the past and focus our attention on our organization with a more humanistic approach. What worked in the past is not necessarily going to work today. As the world changes so too does our environment change. We need to change with it or be left behind. Organizational Behavior is one of those vehicles being used for change. The past 10-15 years has shown an increase in Organizational Behavior studies. …