This document provides an introduction to organizational behavior. It defines organizational behavior as a field of study focused on understanding and improving individual and group attitudes and behaviors in organizations. It discusses how firms that effectively manage organizational behavior concepts can see benefits like increased profitability and retention. The key ways of knowing about organizational behavior discussed are experience, intuition, authority, and science. The scientific method, which involves developing and testing theories using collected data and statistical analysis, is emphasized as the most reliable approach. Correlations are examined, and it is noted that while they can indicate relationships, causation requires additional evidence. Meta-analysis is introduced as a technique for combining multiple correlation studies.

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What IsWhat Is
OrganizationalOrganizational
Behavior?Behavior?
Chapter 1

2. 1-2
What is Organizational Behavior?What is Organizational Behavior?
• A field of study devoted
to understanding,
explaining, and ultimately
improving the attitudes
and behaviors of
individuals and groups in
organizations

3. 1-3

4. 1-4
Does OB Matter?Does OB Matter?
• Do firms who do a good job managing
OB concepts become more profitable as
a result?

5. 1-5
Does OB Matter?Does OB Matter?
• The resource-based
view of the firm

6. 1-6
Does OB Matter?Does OB Matter?

7. 1-7
Does OB Matter?Does OB Matter?
Retention
Sales/employee
Market value
Profitability

8. 1-8
How Do We Know Things About OB?How Do We Know Things About OB?
• Where does the
knowledge in this
textbook come from?
• Understanding that
requires an
understanding of how
we know things, in
general

9. 1-9
How Do We Know Things about OB?How Do We Know Things about OB?
• Methods of Knowing
๏ Experience
๏ Intuition
๏ Authority
๏ Science
• What are the benefits of the last one, relative to the
other three?

10. 1-10
How Do We Know Things about OB?How Do We Know Things about OB?
• Scientific method

11. 1-11
How Do We Know Things about OB?How Do We Know Things about OB?
• Theory
๏ A collection of assertions
(both verbal and symbolic)
that specify how and why
variables are related, as
well as the conditions in
which they should (and
should not) be related

12. 1-12
How Do We Know Things about OB?How Do We Know Things about OB?
• To test our theory we
gather data on the
variables included in our
hypotheses
• We then use variants of
the correlation
coefficient to test
hypotheses, to see if
they verify our theory

13. 1-13
How Do We Know Things about OB?How Do We Know Things about OB?
• The correlation
๏ Perfect positive relationship: 1
๏ Perfect negative relationship: -1
๏ Strength of the correlation inferred from judging the
compactness of a scatterplot of the X-Y values
๏ More compact = stronger correlation
๏ Less compact = weaker correlation

14. 1-14
The CorrelationThe Correlation

15. 1-15
The CorrelationThe Correlation

16. 1-16
The CorrelationThe Correlation

17. 1-17
The CorrelationThe Correlation
• Important Disclaimer
๏ Correlation does not prove causation
• Proving causation requires:
๏ Correlation
๏ Temporal precedence
๏ Elimination of alternative explanations

18. 1-18
How Do We Know Things about OB?How Do We Know Things about OB?
• The correlations from multiple studies get averaged
together using a technique called meta-analysis
• Meta-analyses can then form the foundation for
evidence-based management--the use of scientific
findings to inform management education and practice