Organizational Behaviour

Overview of the field

Organizational studies encompasses the study of organizations from multiple viewpoints, methods, and levels of analysis. For instance, one textbook (Hatch, M. & Cunliffe, A., 2006) divides these multiple viewpoints into three perspectives: modern,symbolic, and postmodern. Another traditional distinction, present especially in American academia,is between the study of "micro"organizational behavior -- which refers to individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting -- and "macro" organizational theory which studies whole organizations, how they adapt, and the strategies and structures that guide them. To this distinction, some scholars have added an interest in "meso" -- primarily interested in power, culture, and the networks of individuals and units in organizations -- and "field" level analysis which study how whole populations of organizations interact. In Europe these distinctions do exist as well, but are more rarely reflected in departmental divisions.Whenever people interact in organizations, many factors come into play. Modern organizational studies attempt to understand and model these factors. Like all modernist social sciences, organizational studies seeks to control,predict, and explain.There is some controversy over the ethics of controlling workers' behaviour. As such, organizational behaviour or OB (and itscousin, Industrial psychology) have at times been accused of being the scientific tool of the powerful.Those accusations notwithstanding, OB can play a major role in organizatioanl development and success.