Organizational Behavior: Core Concepts

Your OB Toolkit: Understanding People at Work

Why do people act the way they do in your organization? OB helps you figure it out.

1. The Individual Level:

• Focus: Personality, motivation, perception, emotions, decision-making.
• Questions:
  • What motivates each person on my team? (Beyond just money)
  • How do individual personalities impact performance?
• Action: Tailor motivation, feedback, and roles to individual needs.

2. The Group Level:

• Focus: Team dynamics, leadership, communication, conflict, power.
• Questions:
  • How do my teams form and evolve? (Tuckman’s Stages)
  • How can I resolve team conflicts effectively?
  • What leadership style works best for this team?
• Action: Build high-performing teams, manage conflict, foster collaboration.

3. The Organizational Level:

• Focus: Culture, structure, HR policies, change management.
• Questions:
  • What is our organizational culture like? Is it supportive of innovation?
  • How does our company structure affect communication and decision-making?
  • Are our HR policies attracting and retaining the best talent?
• Action: Design effective structures, shape culture, manage large-scale change.

Golden Rule: The better you understand human behavior at all levels of your organization, the more effective you will be as a manager and leader.