flowchart TB O[Organisation Level<br/>Structure · Culture · Change · Design] --> G[Group Level<br/>Teams · Leadership · Conflict · Power] G --> I[Individual Level<br/>Personality · Perception · Motivation · Attitude] style O fill:#FCE4EC,stroke:#AD1457 style G fill:#FFF3E0,stroke:#E65100 style I fill:#E3F2FD,stroke:#1565C0
17 Organisational Behaviour: Concept, Scope and Nature
17.1 What is Organisational Behaviour?
Organisational Behaviour (OB) is the systematic study of human behaviour in organisations — what people do, why they do it, and what difference it makes to organisational performance. Stephen Robbins, the field’s most-prescribed textbook author, defines it as “a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organisation’s effectiveness” (robbins2018ob?).
Three influential definitions are widely cited.
TipThree Definitions of Organisational Behaviour
| Author | Working definition | What it foregrounds |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Robbins | “A field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations” | Three units of analysis; impact on effectiveness |
| Fred Luthans | “The understanding, prediction and management of human behaviour in organisations” | Three working aims of the field (luthans2021?) |
| Keith Davis & John Newstrom | “The study and application of knowledge about how people — as individuals and as groups — act within organisations” | Both science and application (newstrom2014?) |
The slogan that captures the field: OB is applied behavioural science in the workplace. It draws on psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology and political science, and translates their findings into managerial practice.
17.2 Nature and Features of OB
OB has a recognisable set of features.
- A separate field of study, not a discipline. OB borrows its theory from older disciplines but synthesises it into a distinct field with its own questions and methods.
- Inter-disciplinary. Psychology contributes the most; sociology, anthropology and political science contribute the rest.
- Applied science. OB exists to improve managerial practice, not just to satisfy academic curiosity.
- Normative as well as descriptive. OB describes how people do behave and prescribes how they should be managed.
- Humanistic and optimistic. Modern OB starts from the premise that people want to do meaningful work and contribute.
- Total-system orientation. Behaviour is shaped by individual, group and organisational forces simultaneously.
- Action-oriented. Field results are tested against real organisational outcomes — productivity, satisfaction, retention, citizenship.
17.3 Why Study OB?
The case for OB rests on five practical observations.
- People are the most variable and least predictable resource. Capital can be borrowed, technology bought, structures redesigned in weeks; people change more slowly and reward different management.
- Manager intuition is not enough. Common-sense beliefs about motivation, conflict, leadership and decision-making are often wrong; OB research is the corrective.
- Behaviour drives results. Productivity, quality, safety, customer experience — every measurable outcome rests on what people do.
- Costs of getting it wrong are large. Turnover, disengagement, absenteeism, workplace conflict and accidents all show up on the bottom line.
- The workforce keeps changing. Generations, cultures, technologies and expectations shift; managerial repertoire must shift with them.
17.4 Scope of OB — Three Levels of Analysis
OB studies behaviour at three nested levels. The individual level is the building block; the group level is the team in which the individual works; the organisation level is the whole system in which the groups sit. Each level has its own concepts, theories and tools.
TipThree Levels of Organisational Behaviour
| Level | Working unit | Topics covered |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | The person | Personality, perception, learning, motivation, attitude, values, emotions, decision-making |
| Group | The team or interpersonal unit | Group dynamics, communication, leadership, power, conflict, negotiation |
| Organisation | The whole firm | Structure, culture, change, technology, environment, design, development |
A complete OB analysis works at all three levels. A productivity problem read at the individual level (lazy workers) often looks different at the group level (dysfunctional team norms) or the organisation level (a structure that pulls people in opposite directions).
17.5 Disciplines Contributing to OB
OB is a confluence of five behavioural and social-science disciplines, each contributing distinct theories and methods.
TipDisciplines That Feed OB
| Discipline | Unit of analysis | Contribution to OB |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | Individual | Learning, perception, personality, emotion, attitude, motivation, training, performance appraisal, work design |
| Sociology | Group, organisation | Group dynamics, work teams, communication, power, conflict, organisational culture, formal organisation theory |
| Social psychology | Individual in group | Behaviour change, attitude change, communication, group decision-making, building trust |
| Anthropology | Culture, organisation | Comparative values, attitudes, organisational culture, cross-cultural analysis, environment |
| Political science | Group, organisation | Conflict, intra-organisational politics, power, coalitions |
Among these, psychology is the most cited contributor — most OB courses are dominated by psychological concepts at the individual and group levels.
17.6 Models of Organisational Behaviour — Davis and Newstrom
Keith Davis and John Newstrom’s Human Behavior at Work identifies five models of OB, each describing a distinct philosophy of how managers see and manage people (newstrom2014?). The five models can be read as an evolution — though older models persist alongside newer ones.
TipDavis & Newstrom’s Five Models of OB
| Model | Basis of model | Managerial orientation | Employee orientation | Employee psychological result | Employee needs met | Performance result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autocratic | Power | Authority | Obedience | Dependence on the boss | Subsistence | Minimum |
| Custodial | Economic resources | Money | Security and benefits | Dependence on the organisation | Security | Passive cooperation |
| Supportive | Leadership | Support | Job performance | Participation | Status and recognition | Awakened drives |
| Collegial | Partnership | Teamwork | Responsible behaviour | Self-discipline | Self-actualisation | Moderate enthusiasm |
| System | Trust, community, meaning | Caring, compassion | Psychological ownership | Self-motivation | Wide range, including meaning | Passion and commitment to goals |
The autocratic model fits the early industrial factory; the custodial model fits the post-Depression welfare-capitalism era; the supportive and collegial models fit the post-1960s knowledge era; the system model — added in the latest editions — fits today’s purpose-driven and values-based workplaces. A working manager rarely sits cleanly in one model; the actual stance is usually a mix, varying by situation.
17.7 Foundations of OB — Davis’s Six Assumptions
Davis’s classical six-assumption foundation underlies the field.
TipSix Foundational Assumptions of OB (Davis)
| About people | About organisations |
|---|---|
| Individual differences — every person is unique | Social systems — organisations are social, not just technical |
| The whole person — work and personal life are not separable | Mutual interest — employer and employees need each other |
| Caused behaviour — every behaviour has a cause | Ethics — without ethical underpinnings, the system collapses |
| Human dignity — people are not the same as machines |
The six assumptions, stated together, define the humanistic posture that distinguishes modern OB from purely economic or engineering views of management.
17.8 Approaches to OB
Four approaches dominate the way OB researchers and practitioners frame their work.
TipFour Approaches to OB
| Approach | Core claim | Lead names |
|---|---|---|
| Human resources approach | People are resources to be developed; participation and growth are central | McGregor, Likert, Argyris |
| Contingency approach | The “best” practice depends on the situation; no universal answers | Lawrence & Lorsch, Fiedler, Vroom |
| Productivity / results approach | OB is judged by what it delivers — productivity, quality, satisfaction | Most modern empirical research |
| Systems approach | The organisation is an open system of interacting parts in an environment | Kast & Rosenzweig, Bertalanffy |
A trained OB practitioner blends the four — develops people through participation, adapts practices to the situation, measures results, and thinks in systems.
17.10 Challenges and Opportunities for OB
Modern OB faces a recurring set of issues.
TipEight Challenges for OB
| Challenge | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Globalisation | Managing across cultures, borders and time zones |
| Workforce diversity | Surface- and deep-level diversity; inclusion |
| Quality and customer focus | Behavioural foundations of TQM, lean and service excellence |
| Empowerment | Devolving decision-making to those closest to the work |
| Innovation and change | Fostering creativity; managing the human side of change |
| Hybrid and remote work | Behaviour and engagement without daily proximity |
| Technology and AI | New skills, new biases, new ethical questions |
| Ethics and CSR | Organisational behaviour as moral behaviour |
The field has expanded its agenda in response — positive organisational behaviour (Luthans), engagement, psychological capital, purpose, psychological safety and employee experience are all post-2000 OB concepts that did not exist in the 1980 textbook.
17.11 A Brief History of OB
OB as a recognisable field crystallised in the late 1950s and 1960s. Three milestones shape the genealogy already familiar from chapter 1.
TipFive Milestones in the History of OB
| Milestone | Decade | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific management | 1900s–1920s | Treated workers as economic units; provoked the human-relations reaction |
| Hawthorne studies | 1924–1932 | Showed that social and psychological factors matter as much as physical ones — the symbolic birth of OB |
| Human relations movement | 1940s–1950s | Mayo, Roethlisberger, Maslow, McGregor, Herzberg — “people matter” as a managerial commitment |
| Behavioural science movement | 1950s–1960s | Empirical, multi-disciplinary research on behaviour at work |
| Contemporary OB | 1970s–today | Systems, contingency, positive psychology, cross-cultural, evidence-based management |
17.12 Practice Questions
Eight questions to test the chapter. Each card hides the answer — click Show answer to reveal it.
Q1
Stephen Robbins's three units of analysis
Stephen Robbins's three units of analysis in OB are:
APeople, products and processes
BIndividuals, groups and structure
CInputs, throughputs and outputs
DStrategy, systems and skills
Show answer
Correct answer
B. Individual–group–organisational structure is the standard three-level framing.
Q2
Match the discipline with its primary
Match the discipline with its primary contribution to OB:
| Discipline | Contribution | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| (i) | Psychology | (a) | Group dynamics and culture |
| (ii) | Sociology | (b) | Cross-cultural values and environments |
| (iii) | Anthropology | (c) | Power, coalitions, intra-organisational politics |
| (iv) | Political science | (d) | Personality, motivation, learning |
A(i)-(d), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(b), (iv)-(c)
B(i)-(a), (ii)-(b), (iii)-(c), (iv)-(d)
C(i)-(c), (ii)-(d), (iii)-(b), (iv)-(a)
D(i)-(b), (ii)-(c), (iii)-(d), (iv)-(a)
Show answer
Correct answer
A. (i)-(d), (ii)-(a), (iii)-(b), (iv)-(c)
Q3
Davis and Newstrom's five models of
Davis and Newstrom's five models of OB include autocratic, custodial, supportive, collegial and:
ABureaucratic
BSystem
CMechanistic
DCharismatic
Show answer
Correct answer
B. The fifth model — system — was added in later editions.
Q4
Davis's foundational assumption that every beha...
Davis's foundational assumption that every behaviour has a cause is called:
ACaused behaviour
BWhole person
CMutual interest
DIndividual differences
Show answer
Correct answer
A. Caused behaviour — one of the four assumptions about people.
Q5
Which of the following is not
Which of the following is not a feature of OB?
AInter-disciplinary
BAction-oriented
CConfined to the individual level
DHumanistic
Show answer
Correct answer
C. OB studies the individual, the group and the organisation simultaneously.
Q6
The OB approach that argues "the
The OB approach that argues "the best practice depends on the situation" is the:
AHuman resources approach
BProductivity approach
CContingency approach
DSystems approach
Show answer
Correct answer
C. Contingency theory — Lawrence & Lorsch, Fiedler, Vroom.
Q7
Positive organisational behaviour, psychologica...
Positive organisational behaviour, psychological capital and psychological safety are concepts associated with which era of OB?
AScientific management
BHawthorne era
CHuman relations movement
DContemporary OB (post-2000)
Show answer
Correct answer
D. These are 21st-century concepts in OB.
Q8
OB differs from Organisation Development (OD)
OB differs from Organisation Development (OD) in that:
AOB studies behaviour; OD intervenes to change it
BOB is short-term; OD is long-term
COB is for individuals only; OD is for groups
DOB ignores culture; OD focuses on it
Show answer
Correct answer
A. OB is the underlying understanding; OD is the planned change effort.
ImportantQuick recall
- OB = systematic study of human behaviour in organisations. Robbins: individuals × groups × structure.
- Luthans’s three aims: understanding, prediction, management of behaviour.
- Three levels: Individual (personality, motivation), Group (teams, leadership), Organisation (structure, culture, change).
- Five disciplines: Psychology (most), Sociology, Social Psychology, Anthropology, Political Science.
- Davis & Newstrom’s five OB models: Autocratic → Custodial → Supportive → Collegial → System.
- Davis’s six assumptions: individual differences, whole person, caused behaviour, human dignity, social systems, mutual interest (and ethics).
- Four approaches: Human resources, Contingency, Productivity, Systems.
- OB vs sister fields: PM (administrative), HRM (operational), OD (planned change), OB (understanding).
- Eight challenges: globalisation, diversity, quality / customer, empowerment, innovation / change, hybrid work, technology / AI, ethics / CSR.
- History: Scientific management → Hawthorne → Human relations → Behavioural science → Contemporary OB.