Organizational Behaviour, 8 edition

Book Preface

What are the aims of this book?

Introduce the subject

We aim to bring the study of human behaviour in organizations to students, undergraduate and postgraduate, who have little or no previous social science background. Link to practice We aim to show readers how to translate organizational behaviour concepts, theories, and techniques into practical work, organizational, and management settings.

Recognize diversity

We aim to stimulate awareness of the diverse social and cultural factors that affect behaviour in organizations; social science can be culture bound, as laws, norms, and traditions vary from country to country, subculture to subculture.

Stimulate debate

We aim to promote a challenging, critical perspective, observing that the ‘correct’ answers to organizational questions, and solutions to problems, rely on values, judgements, and ideology, as well as on evidence; ‘authorities’ and ‘received ideas’ must be questioned.

Who are our readers?

Our target readership includes students who are new to the social sciences, and to the study of organizational behaviour. This is a core subject on most business and management studies degree, diploma, and masters programmes. Accountants, architects, bankers, computer scientists, doctors, engineers, hoteliers, teachers, nurses, surveyors, and other subject specialists, who often have no background in social science, may all find themselves studying organizational behaviour as part of their professional examination schemes.

What approach do we adopt?

Social science perspective

Our understanding of organizations derives from a broad range of social science disciplines. Most other texts adopt a managerial, psychological, or sociological perspective. However, many other occupations benefit from an understanding of organizational behaviour. Not all students are going to be managers, psychologists, or sociologists.

Self-contained chapters

The understanding of one chapter does not rely on a prior reading of others. The material does not have to be read in the sequence in which it is presented. Ideas and theories are developed from the organizational context, to individual psychology, through social psychology, to organizational sociology, politics, and management topics. Chapters cover both theory and practice, classic and contemporary.

Challenging ideas

Many of the issues covered in this book are controversial, and competing views are explained. The aim is not to identify ‘correct answers’ or ‘best practices’, which are often simplistic and misleading. The aim is to raise further questions, to trigger discussion and debate, and to stimulate your critical thinking.

Flexible design

This book works with either a two-semester or three-term introductory-level programme. Short Springboard sections point to key sources for further project and assignment work. Organizational behaviour overlaps with other subjects such as human resource management, and this book is useful for those modules, too.

Comparative analysis

One way to highlight the ways in which we behave in organizations is to compare our actions with those of others. Comparative studies have a long tradition in social science. As a student, you engage routinely in comparative analysis, on railways and aircraft, in buses, hotels, restaurants, and hospitals, through exposure to different organizational settings. Is that management behaviour appropriate? Is that employee response effective? Does our theory help us to understand those behaviours, or not?