Organizational behavior

Organizational behavior or organisational behaviour (see spelling differences) is the "study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organization, and the organization itself". Organizational behavioral research can be categorized in at least three ways:

individuals in organizations (micro-level)

work groups (meso-level)

how organizations behave (macro-level)

Chester Barnard recognized that individuals behave differently when acting in their organizational roles than when acting independently of the organization. Organizational behavior researchers primarily study how individuals behave within these roles. One of the main goals of organizational behavior research is "to revitalize organizational theory and develop a better conceptual understanding of organizational life".

Relation to industrial and organizational psychology

Miner (2006) mentioned that "there is a certain arbitrariness" in identifying a "point at which organizational behavior became established as a distinct discipline" (p. 56), suggesting that it could have emerged in the 1940s or 1950s. He also underlined the fact that the industrial psychology division of the American Psychological Association did not add "organizational" to its name until 1970, "long after organizational behavior had clearly come into existence" (p. 56), noting that a similar situation arose in sociology. Although there are similarities and differences between the two disciplines, there is still confusion around differentiating organizational behavior and organizational psychology.

History

As a multi-disciplinary science, organizational behavior has been influenced by developments in a number of related disciplines, including sociology, industrial/organizational psychology, and economics.