Human Behavior in an Organization.html

Human Behavior in an Organization

At the heart of the transformation process occurring in organizations is the behavior of the humans who utilize the incoming resources and technology, operate within the culture and structure of the organization, and seek to follow the goals and strategies of the organization to produce the output. Although, as an academic field of study, organizational behavior is specifically interested in the human behavior occurring in organizations, the systems perspective of organizations suggests that each individual is part of the greater whole (the system) and that each individual's behavior has an effect on others' behaviors, individually and collectively. Accordingly, the study of organizational behavior includes a wide range of topics related to the active processes that occur at all levels in an organization (individual, group, and organizational) as they transform input into output. Components include culture, technology, structure, goals, strategies, processes, behaviors, and leadership.

Each component of the system is important for the performance of the organization. Each component directly or indirectly influences the behaviors of individuals in the system. Additionally, problems that can inhibit organizational productivity might occur within any component.

From a systems view, each person is a system. In an organizational context, one way to interpret the individual as a system is to consider the inputs, transformation process, and outputs by the individual. We can do the same for a team. What are its inputs, transformation processes, and outputs? We can do the same for any unit and for the organization as a whole. A key question is whether all of those systems (individuals, groups, and organizations) are working in harmony.

Additional Materials

View the PDF transcript for