Management and Organizational Behaviour - Essay Example

According to Mullins, "Organisational behaviour does not encompass the whole of management; it is more accurately described in the narrower interpretation of providing a behavioural approach to management" (Mullins, 1993, p.2). rganizational behaviour includes people behaviour, management processes, organizational context and processes, and the influence of external environment. The term "behaviour science" is used to explain "a selective, interdisciplinary approach to the study of human behaviour" (Mullins, 1993, p.2-3). The main disciplines, which help to explain the nature of organizations and human behaviour, are psychology, anthropology and sociology. 2. An organization can be considered as a single system.

Organizational factors are interdependent, and "cannot be studied in isolation" (Mullins, 1993, p.2). The main headings include the individual, the group, the organization and the environment. The individual can be seen in isolation or as a part of a group, "in response to expectations of organization" or environmental influences (Mullins, 1993, p.3). For the college under analysis, an individual represents by a student and a teacher, a managerial staff member, etc. An important aspect of the study of organizations is the study of people -behaviour in groups.

This can give indications of why certain groups are effective and others are not. Group members in an organization will have one or more goals in common, such as students groups, teaching and management staff. Communication is essential within each group and members of a group have roles to play in order to achieve the group task. Expected behaviour patterns are developed within each group and these are referred to as norms. The organization is the basic framework within which individuals and groups behaviour occur.

A college itself represents a formal structure of organization within which individuals and groups interact in order to reach the common goal. The quality and nature of the decisions made are influence by the nature of the structure. The environment contains a range of influences that affect an organization. They include: socio-demographic, technological, economic and political factors. In general, the environment of the eastern European countries can be characterized as economically unstable and backward in contrast to leading European countries.

For this reason, to stress the importance of how the college is positioned with respect to its environment is necessary. 3. An open-system view recognizes that the social system is in a dynamic relationship with its environment, whereby inputs are received, transformed and outputs are passed on. Morgan in "Images of Organization" (1986 cited Mullins 1993, pp.6-7) singles out "contrasting metaphors" which help to understand organizational behaviour. They include: machines, organisms, brains, cultures, political systems, psychic prisons, flux and transformation, instruments of dominance.

According to Morgan "viewing organisations as machines can provide the basis for efficient operation in a routine, reliable and predictable way". The college structure can be viewed as a bureaucratic structure which consists of parts that managed in accordance with changing environment. Organisms mean leaving systems which are able to adapt changes of rapidly changing environment. The college structure is a flexible system which reacts on changes and adapts