Organizational Behavior and Culture

Organizational Behavior and Culture

Lisa Wells

University of Phoenix

MGT 307

Organizational Behavior and Culture

Organizations need to change and evolve to keep pace with the changing workforce. An organizations culture defines who they are and how they operate. Organizational behavior is the study of how these cultures impact business. With a more diverse workforce companies must learn new ways of operating and communicating to stay successful.

A company’s culture is formed through management’s thoughts and actions. Culture is the values, behaviors, beliefs, and rituals of an organization. Cultures are created by leaders developing ideas and sharing their ideas with others. Others share in the ideas and those ideas are brought to life; a working company is formed and rules are determined (Schein, 1997). These rules form the backbone of the company’s culture. Leaders teach the employees under them what is expected of them and ensure that employees are following company policy. A manager will explain to an employee how a customer is greeted or what rewards he or she can expect for a praiseworthy performance. A manager influences a company’s culture by role modeling the behaviors that he or she expects from employees. Employees need teaching and coaching from the managers to be successful. A strong culture within a company is a long-lasting one.

By studying the people that work for an organization mangers can obtain a better understanding of how to make the company run more efficiently. Organizational behavior uses sociology, psychology, and social sciences to improve performance of individuals, groups, and organizations. Organizational behavior scholars usually test through scientific methods using models to indentify independent and dependent variables. Using scientific thinking allows for the collection of data to be controlled, proposed explanations are carefully tested, and only explanations that can be scientifically verified are accepted...