session 1

Groups of people who work interdependently towards some purpose. 

Organisational effectiveness: Organisational performance, success, goodness, health, competitiveness, excellence.

1. Open systems perspective 

- Maintain a close fit with changing conditions (inputs + processes + outputs are aligned with resources available and needs of the external env.) → political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental

- Transform input to outputs efficiently (coordination amongst various subsystems like technological, marketing, etc.) 

2. Human capital perspective 

- Employees bring knowledge, skills, abilities, creative thinking, and other valued resources → competitive advantage 

- Enhance human capital by: (1) Developing employee skills and knowledge, (2) offer job autonomy, (3) provide appropriate rewards → improve employee productivity → improve OE (market/ financial/ corporate outcomes). 

3. Stakeholder perspective

- Organisations endeavour to understand, manage and satisfy stakeholder needs and expectations.

- Challenges: Conflicting interests (profit vs ethics/ sustainability), organisational limited resources vs competing stakeholder needs 

- Triple bottom line: Internal, external, owner 

Studies what people think, feel and do in and around organisations, so that: (1) Better comprehend and predict workplace events, (2) adopt more personal theories at the workplace, (3) influence organisational events ⇒ contribute to personal success and organisational effectiveness 

1. Systematic research anchor

2. Practical orientation anchor → OB theories inform practice through evidence-based management 

3. Multidisciplinary anchor → many OB concepts adopted from other disciplines 

4. Contingency anchor → need to diagnose complicated situation to choose best action 

5. Multiple levels of analysis anchor → individual, team, organisational levels