In the early 1920s, scientists discovered something that still shapes our understanding
of how people behave today! In a large factory in the United States called Hawthorne Works,
a group of researchers decided to test how a well-lit environment
affects workers' productivity. After a few years of conducting research,
the results came in but they were not exactly what the scientists expected.
While worker productivity did improve, the increase was not related to lighting
or any other environmental variables they introduced. It turned out that productivity
improved because workers knew someone was observing them. The more employees felt
like their work mattered and someone was paying attention, the more efficient they
were. This is the first of many studies that formed the field of Organizational Behavior.
Hi, I’m Neelie and welcome to this Learning Bite. In this episode, you will learn about what
organizational behavior is, how it can be applied in your day-to-day work, and you will also learn a
model that will help you make better decisions in your organization. But before we dive in,
don’t forget to like this video, hit the notification bell, and subscribe to our channel.
Organizational Behavior is the academic discipline that studies human behavior
in an organizational setting. So why is it important for you? And how does it apply to HR?
Organizational behavior, also known as OB, is important because it improves efficiency
and productivity in your organization. By observing human behavior for the individual,
in groups, and in the organization as a whole, job performance, job satisfaction,
innovation, customer service, ethical behavior, and organizational culture.
In short, organizational behavior helps you understand how employees behave in
the organization, and how you can influence these behaviors to create a better workplace and achieve
the goals of the organization. The three levels of influence
So how can you apply this knowledge to HR? To understand how people influence
one another, their teams, and the organization,
you need to understand the three levels of influence in an organization. These are:
the individual level, the group level,
and finally, the organizational level.
Each of these levels influences the next one. Let’s start with the individual level first.
The individual level focuses on a single person. By giving someone autonomy,
feedback, interesting assignments, and praise when they work well, that person
will get better at their job, be happier, and develop themself for a potential next role.
They may also impact others around them. This is called spillover. Someone who is very effective,
plans well, and is able to lead through expertise, will have a positive impact
on the group as well because they are more effective and can inspire others.
At the group level, we look at how teams interact and behave. Creating an effective
team is more than putting a group of high performers into a room. Effective teams
have clear roles and norms, team members have complementary skills,
and their impact is seen through their quality of work and team performance.
Team performance will improve over time as team members get more familiar with team dynamics,
build trust and rapport, gain more experience working together,
and are more effective at resolving conflicts.
At the organizational level, we examine the interplay between various teams and
departments that make up the organization. This includes assessing the overall operating model,
strategy, technological infrastructure, human resource systems, and organizational culture.
By optimizing these components and ensuring they are aligned,
the organization will be more effective. This leads to improved performance,
increased profit margins, and higher levels of stakeholder satisfaction.
An organization with a clear strategic direction, well-defined goals, and
strong leadership can create an environment that fosters collaboration and innovation among teams.
Additionally, streamline processes, improve communication, and enhance decision-making,
further contributing to organizational, but also group level, and even individual performance.
This is how these different levels influence one another. So let’s make
this practical with an example. When everyone had to suddenly work from home in early 2020,
organizations had to prepare on all three levels in order to be effective.
At the individual level, they had to make sure that everyone had the right skills to work
remotely and a workstation with stable internet. At the team level, managers had to be educated
on how to manage a remote workforce and teams had to learn how to best collaborate from a distance.
And then at the organizational level, people needed the right technology to work remotely.
The intervention needs to target all three levels in order to be
successful. If you’re only ensuring that individuals have workstations to work from
home but you are not enabling the team or organizational level, you will lack the
desired impact. Only by acting on all three levels can the organization affect behavior.
Another example is how organizations are working towards becoming more diverse and inclusive. You
cannot make an organization more inclusive by only acting on one of the levels we’ve discussed.
If you only provide inclusivity training for individuals or recruiters, that will likely
be not enough. You’ll want to combine it with group-level interventions, such as promoting
minority employee resource groups which are helpful in building social connections with peers
or encouraging participation in cross-functional project teams from different departments.
At the organizational level, top management should demonstrate a strong commitment to
DEIB by holding themselves and others accountable for progress,
Each of these individually may not move the needle,
but by combining them the intervention will be much more impactful. That's
how an understanding of these three levels will make your HR policies more
And there you have it. In this episode of Learning Bites, you’ve learned what
Organizational Behavior is, you’ve learned about the three levels of influence,
and how organizational behavior can be applied to your role in HR.
Now before you leave, don’t forget to like this video,
subscribe to our channel, and turn on the notification bell. See you next time, bye!