Key Concepts and Terminology

Vital to the success of any organization is understanding employee behavior, team behavior, interpersonal development, and the core functions of the organization. As external factors increasingly affect profitability and Generation X employees demand lifestyle over traditional work hours and ethics, having a thorough understanding of organizational behavior is critical for growth and profitability. This paper will review the key concepts and terminology of organizational behavior. A review of ABC Company, a national physician and executive search firm, indicates how organizational behavior plays an important role in its success.

Organizational behavior is the study of employee and group dynamics within an organization. The purpose is to build better relationships by attaining human, organizational, and social objectives. For the company, organizational behavior has a direct impact on productivity, attendance, job satisfaction, and ultimately revenue. For the employee, organizational behavior provides for a lifelong learning process that allows for employees to learn to be flexible within an organization, maximizing his or her career potential. At ABC Company, organizational behavior is continuously reviewed to ensure maximum performance and productivity, reduce employee issues, and focus on career development. ABC Company clearly understands when the employee is happy, the company is happy. They are a service-oriented organization whose product is its people. Without maintaining healthy organizational behavior, profitability is adversely affected.

Organizational culture, or organizational personality, is another important concept in organizational behavior. Although difficult to describe in words, organizational culture is felt in the organization. It encompasses the mission, vision, and values of both the organization and the employees. Organizational culture creates the “feelings” of an organization, sets the tone for the atmosphere, and aids in driving high-performance. ABC Company is rich in organizational culture. Beginning with the mission, vision, and value statement, ABC Company also creates a great deal of enjoyment in their organization. They have a Fun Committee whose purpose is to infuse light-hearted fun into the organization. The Fun Committee plans BBQs, washer tournaments or bowling during the lunch hour, and invites the ice cream truck to the parking lot and purchases ice cream for all staff. Deep in the corporate culture is the gong. The gong is a huge brass round object with a baton that is struck when a placement. When the staff hears the sound of the gong, everyone in the organization stops what he or she is doing and proceeds to the conference room so acknowledgment of the placement can be recognized. The gong also serves as a continuing education process as the search consultant describes the challenges and wins during the course of the placement.

Diversity also plays a significant role in organizational behavior. Successful organizations value diversity and incorporate it into their strategic plans. The leadership represents and supports diversity as well as creates diversity goals. They seek to hire the best talent available and provide career mentoring and progression. It is an objective of the organization to have a well-rounded diversified staff with different racial and ethnic backgrounds, ages, genders, cultures, and lifestyles. These differences support team building initiatives. ABC Company supports diversity by hiring people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, ages, and genders.

Communication is fundamental in organizational behavior. It single-handedly brings success to an organization. Without good communication, organizations fail. It is the process by which staff communicates with each other and leadership communicates the mission, vision, and values of the organization. Communication includes sending a message, understanding the message, and providing feedback. ABC Company has a strong communication system. On a daily basis, the mission, vision, and value statements of the organization come up on the computers at login. The president sends company-wide voice mails to communicate changes,