What is organizational behavior

Organizational behavior concerns the way employees relate to each other and how they represent the company, being a mirror of the adopted organizational culture. In this article we will provide the definition of organizational behaviour.

The result of your team’s work depends on planning, management model, cost adjustment, expenses and many other factors.

However, it is observed that not all managers pay attention to issues that affect interpersonal relationships and harm team productivity, such as organizational behavior.

Individual and collective conduct reflect the way people act within the company and deal both with other employees and with their tasks. This knowledge is important to avoid problems that affect the corporate climate and reduce performance, which is replaced by lack of motivation.

Do you want to know why studying this variable is essential for the progress of your business? Continue reading the article and find out!

Organizational behavior is defined as the result of the conduct, customs and attitudes that all professionals have within the company.

This element influences the climate, and also bases the perception of customers, suppliers, outsourced workers and people who have an indirect relationship, for example, the employees’ family members.

Businesses are created to grow and develop, right? For this, the people management process needs to be reviewed frequently in order to know and even predict problems among employees, and define strategies to achieve the desired results.

From the evaluative study of organizational behavior, HR can visualize the failures of corporate culture that need to be improved.

This method is useful to prevent the environment from being disrupted by relationships that do not match the organization’s values ​​and purposes.

Evaluation

Possibly you have already noticed that in your workplace there are some patterns of behavior and similarities in attitudes. This fact happens because the actions of human beings can be influenced by others.

To carry out a successful people management, with a commitment to improve the engagement between the team and the company’s results, it is necessary to analyze organizational behavior to understand how employees behave at work.

Evaluative levels

Organizational behavior is divided into three interrelated levels:

• individuals;
• groups;
• organizational structure.

Individuals are the basic element of organizational behavior. In this set, the study of the employee, their objectives, productivity, expectations, motivation , skills, competences and interferences that hinder their work performance is carried out.

The study of individuals is essential to get to know them and, from then on, assign tasks according to their technical capabilities and make better use of available talents and potential.

At the group level, the company is evaluated in its entirety. The formation of teams and the functions performed, communication and interaction between members, leadership , its role and power of influence are examined with the purpose of connecting groups, which are usually divided by sector, in order to work together effectively.

In this way, it is believed that there will be greater well-being, more motivation and increased productivity, as satisfied people tend to produce more.

In the category of organizational structure or system, the way in which all groups relate to each other and to the stakeholders is analyzed, as well as the management and human resources policies that are exercised.

Here, the objective is to assess the impact of this behavior on the organizational structure to understand how and how much culture influences employee attitudes.

Discover the importance of studying organizational behavior

The study of organizational behavior aims to assess the climate and attitude of employees in relation to their work.

Having this understanding makes it possible to perceive the strengths and weaknesses of professionals that interfere in their performance. See the relevance of this knowledge for your company:

• help in understanding the difficulties that prevent good interpersonal and group relationships;
• collaborates in improving people management processes, both to anticipate and avoid problems and to define leadership methods and command strategies;
• favors the understanding of available professional knowledge and skills;
• identifies how organizations affect people’s health and how the impact can be minimized;
• prepares the leadership to act with individuals and with the reflexes that are generated in the group;
• shows how employees see the organization, their role, the activities developed and the importance of this in their personal lives;
• reveals which are the factors that increase or reduce the productivity of teams .

In general, studying organizational behavior is necessary to identify problems that affect employee performance.

From this it will be possible to create an organizational behavior strategy that favors the company and the results. Therefore, it is understood the importance of this tool to facilitate people management.

Know the impact of organizational misbehavior

Organizational behavior has a great effect on your business results, regardless of the area of ​​activity.

Lack of motivation and other climate issues can arise at an individual level and extend to multiple groups. Therefore, if your company’s environment is unfavorable, possibly the results will be negatively impacted.

This is because, in these cases, there may be an increase in the absenteeism rateー when the employee is absent from work due to absence or delay.

Turnover is also a consequence of an unhealthy organizational climate. The term refers to the successive turnover of employees due to various dissatisfactions, such as lack of motivation or relationship problems.

Health is another issue impacted by organizational behavior. People who are discouraged and discontented with their role are prone to get sick more easily.

Perhaps, there really could be a bigger health issue at hand. However, this is also an indication of the lack of motivation that can lead to the absence of the professional at his job.

In order not to suffer from the negative consequences generated by the lack of control over organizational behavior, it is best to take precautions by studying the individual and collective conduct of the members of your company.

Here’s how to do an organizational behavior survey

Now that you know the importance of good organizational behavior in your company, it’s time to put that knowledge into practice and plan a strategy that reaches the individual and group level.

The assessment of the corporate environment must contain some criteria, for example:

• commitment;
• efficient communication;
• creativity and innovation to propose new solutions;
• individual and group  performance indicators ;
• personal initiative and motivation;
• number of employee absences;
• interpersonal relationships and rapport between members;
• responsibility with the company’s goals and objectives;
• collaborative sense;
• turnover rate.

The evaluation can be done by psychological tests that identify behavioral and personality characteristics, or by specific software for mapping employees.

After this step, HR will interpret the results to elaborate with leaders and managers the practices that will be implemented to improve organizational behavior.

Conclusion

A company that wants to have motivated professionals committed to success needs to make an effort to promote a positive climate. In this way, the actions of the entire team will be a reflection of the usual behavior of the place in which it is inserted.

Evaluating and studying this issue is a good initiative to get to know the behavior of employees, help their professional development and monitor the team’s performance.

We hope after reading this article you have understood the definition of organizational behaviour.