What Is Organizational Behavior

Abstract

has been among the most influential writers on OB from a business perspective. He defines OB as "a field of study that investigates the impact of individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization's effectiveness" (2001, p. 6). Though from a business perspective effectiveness means return on investment rather than public good or benefit, Robbins's definition is certainly compatible with the definition presented by DDA. Other components of Robbins's model of OB are also directly applicable to management in public and nonprofit organizations, which makes it useful to review what Robbins has to say (the following discussion is drawn from Robbins, pp. 19-22). The purpose of OB research is to establish the predictability of human behavior in given circumstances. Robbins therefore divides his model into dependent and independent variables. Dependent variables in OB The dependent variables in OB are the employee behaviors that managers try to influence. There are five categories of these behaviors. 1. Productivity: The efficiency and effectiveness with which individuals, work groups, and organizations achieve their goals. Efficiency refers to the effort or resources required to achieve a goal, effectiveness to the completeness with which goals are achieved. Both are necessary when evaluating the productivity of individuals, groups, or organizations. For example, intense effort may be effective in achieving a goal in the short run, but the level of effort may also be unsustainable and thus ineffective over time. Managers must understand what factors influence the shifting balance between effectiveness and efficiency with the goal of generating sustainable productivity. 2. Absenteeism: Failure of individuals to report for work, primarily unscheduled or unanticipated absences. Not all such absences are "bad," of course. Life happens: employees or members of their family become ill or unexpected events occur. Management must maintain its flexibility in responding to these. When factors in the organization or the workplace tend to increase unanticipated or unscheduled absences, however, absenteeism reduces productivity and becomes a management problem. 3. Turnover: The departure of workers from the organization, voluntarily or involuntarily. When employees leave, organizations must spend scarce resources to recruit, select, train, and develop replacements. Higher turnover rates therefore mean higher costs.. If replacements are not recruited, remaining employees will have face increased workloads, which can generate further problems (e.g., low morale, stress, reduced work quality). Knowing why employees leave is the first step in managing turnover. Employees may leave an organization either voluntarily or involuntarily. Voluntary departures occur when people quit to take other jobs, to retire, to relocate, to return to school, and so on. Some voluntary turnover always exists-indeed, should exist for an organization to stay fresh-and high voluntary turnover is common in some settings (e.g., those employing high numbers of younger, unskilled, seasonal, or part time employees). Still, frequent voluntary turnover should never be ignored because it usually indicates that problems exist within the organization or workplace. Involuntary departures occur when employees are discharged for inadequate performance, for disciplinary reasons, or for organizational reasons like restructurings or workforce reductions. High rates of involuntary departures for disciplinary reasons or poor performance may signal problems in (a) telah menjadi salah satu penulis paling berpengaruh di OB dari perspektif bisnis. Dia mendefinisikan OB sebagai "bidang studi yang menyelidiki dampak dari individu, kelompok, dan struktur terhadap perilaku dalam organisasi untuk tujuan menerapkan pengetahuan tersebut untuk meningkatkan efektivitas organisasi" (2001, hal. 6). Meskipun dari perspektif bisnis, efektivitas berarti pengembalian investasi daripada barang atau manfaat publik, definisi Robbins tentu cocok dengan definisi yang disajikan oleh DDA. Komponen lain dari model Robbins tentang OB juga langsung berlaku untuk manajemen di organisasi publik dan nirlaba, yang membuatnya berguna untuk meninjau kembali apa yang dikatakan Robbins (diskusi berikut diambil dari Robbins, hal. 19-22). Tujuan dari penelitian OB adalah untuk menetapkan prediktabilitas perilaku manusia dalam keadaan tertentu. Oleh karena itu Robbins membagi modelnya menjadi variabel dependen dan independen. Variabel dependen dalam OB Variabel dependen dalam OB adalah perilaku karyawan yang coba dipengaruhi oleh manajer. Ada lima kategori perilaku ini. 1. Produktivitas: Efisiensi dan efektivitas yang digunakan individu, kelompok kerja, dan organisasi untuk mencapai tujuan mereka. Efisiensi mengacu pada upaya atau sumber daya yang dibutuhkan untuk mencapai tujuan, efektivitas hingga kelengkapan tujuan yang dicapai. Keduanya diperlukan ketika mengevaluasi produktivitas individu, kelompok, atau organisasi. Sebagai contoh, upaya intens mungkin efektif dalam mencapai tujuan dalam jangka pendek, tetapi tingkat upaya juga mungkin tidak berkelanjutan dan dengan demikian tidak efektif dari waktu ke waktu. Manajer harus memahami faktor-faktor apa yang mempengaruhi keseimbangan bergeser antara efektivitas dan efisiensi dengan tujuan menghasilkan produktivitas yang berkelanjutan. 2. Ketidakhadiran: Kegagalan individu untuk melaporkan pekerjaan, terutama absen yang tidak dijadwalkan atau tidak terduga.