The Building Blocks of OB
OB is an applied behavioural science that is built upon contributions from a number of
behavioural disciplines. The main areas are psychology, sociology, social psychology,
anthropology, and political science.^5 As we will learn, psychology’s contributions have been
mainly at the individual or micro-level of analysis. The other four disciplines have con-
tributed to our understanding of macro concepts, such as group processes and organi-
zation. Exhibit 1-1 presents an overview of the major contributions to the study of OB.
6 Part 1 Understanding the Workplace
Social psychology
Psychology
Behavioural
science
Contribution Unit of
analysis
Output
Anthropology
Sociology
Political science
Study of
Organizational
Behaviour
Organization
system
Learning
Motivation
Personality
Emotions
Perception
Training
Leadership effectiveness
Job satisfaction
Individual decision making
Performance appraisal
Attitude measurement
Employee selection
Work design
Work stress
Group dynamics
Work teams
Communication
Power
Conflict
Intergroup behaviour
Formal organization theory
Organizational technology
Organizational change
Organizational culture
Conflict
Intraorganizational politics
Power
Organizational culture
Organizational environment
Behavioural change
Attitude change
Communication
Group processes
Group decision making
Group
Comparative values
Comparative attitudes
Cross-cultural analysis
Individual
EXHIBIT 1-1 Toward an OB Discipline