ORGANISATIEPSYCHOLOGIE
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,INHOUDSTAFEL
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,WAT IS ORGANISATIEGEDRAG?
1 FILMPJE: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR CONCEPTS
o Organisational behavior is the study of human behavior in organizational settings
o Interface: Although we can focus on any one of these three areas, we must remember that
all 3 are ultimately necessary for a comprehensive understanding of organizational behavior
o Human behavior: Each individual brings to an organization a unique set of personal
background and set of experiences from other organisations
o Individual-organisational: But individuals do not work in isolation. They come in contact with
other people and with the organization in a variety of ways
o The organization: An organization, of course, exists before a particular person joins it and
continues to exist after he or she leaves. The organization otself represents a crucial third
perspective from which to view organizational behavior.
o Organizational succes: Understanding how people behave in organizations and why they do
what they do is critical to working effectiveley with and managing others
o Importance: Organisational behavior is an important topic for anyone who works of who will
eventually work in an organization, which is the case for most people
o Benefit: Imagine the difference between a company with motivated, engaged employees
with clear goals aligned with the business strategy and one with unhappy employees, a lot of
conflict, weak leadership, and a lack of direction
o A mounting body of evidence shows that an emphasis on the softer side of business
positively influences bottom line results
2 ORGANISATIEGEDRAG
o Organisatiegedrag bestudeert het gedrag van individuen op de werkvloer
- Inzicht krijgen in menselijk gedrag
- “waarom mensen doen wat ze doen”
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, Inzicht uit psychologie en sociologie
o Key characteristics?
- Toegepaste focus: het heeft als doel om inzicht te verwerken die in de praktijk binnen
organisaties gebruikt kunnen worden om mensen te motiveren/te coachen om zo de
prestaties van werknemers te verbeteren
- Contingency approach: men gaat niet uit van ‘the Holy grale’ , er is niet 1 theorie die zegt
hoe we mensen moeten aansporen (verschillen tussen personen, verschillen in
omgeving,… spelen hier ook een rol)
- Empirisch onderzoek (e.g. Hawthorne studies): de inzichten die men verwerft, komen
vooral uit wetenschappelijk onderzoek
o Hawthorne studies
- The hawthorne studies were conducted in several stages between 1924 and 1932 at a
Western Electric plant in Chicago
- Lighting: The first stage of the Hawthorne Studies investigates the effects of lighting
levels and incentives on employee productivity in the Relay Test Assembly Room
- Separated: Two groups of six experienced female workers, five to do the work and one to
supply needed parts, were separated drom the main part of the factory by a 10-foot
partition and placed at a standard work bench with the necessary parts and tools
- Five years: over the next five years, the experimenters introduced various levels and
combinations of lighting, financial incentives, and rest pauses (work breaks) to study the
effect on productivity
- Production:
Production levels increased whether the experimenters increased or decreased the
lighting, paid workers based on individual production of group production, or
increased or decreased the number and lengthe of rest paused
In fact, Mayo and his fellow researchers were surprised that production steadily
increased from 2,400 relays per day at the beginning of the study to 3,000 relays per
day five years later
- Why?
First, substantially more attention was paid to these workers than to workers in the
rest of the plant
Effect: For years, the “Hawthorne Effect” has been incorrectly defined as increasing
productivity by paying more attention to workers
Human factors: For the first time, human factors related to work were found to be
more important than the physical conditions or design of the work
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