In our Organization Behavior class we were asked to create a mind map incorporating all the important and relevant topics we have covered during the course, and how they relate with the other topics and fit in the bigger picture of organizational behavior as a subject.
Whilst drawing my mind map, I realized that most of the relevant topics of OB really fall under 4 main branches – Organizational psychology, development, theory and human resources. I believe that these are the 4 most important aspects of OB simply because business is about people. All organizations comprise people; and the organization’s success (or lack of it) really depends on the interactions of the people within the organization, and with the external environment of the organization.
Having said that business is all about people, I believe the Organizational Psychology branch is most critical in understanding org behavior. The thinking styles and belief systems of the people in an organization, and how well these styles can work together is a driving factor of the organization’s success. Attitudes, expectations, goals, assumptions and interpretations are all shaped by the thinking styles and belief systems of individuals. When thinking styles and belief systems are similar or match, there is more effective communication and people are able to influence each other with more ease. However, it may not always be effective to have the same thinking styles and belief systems amongst all colleagues as this may result in different aspects of a problem getting ignored (eg. legal belief system individuals may not consider apathy, empathy etc. when making decisions as power, control and authority will be their priorities, they will need psychological believers to realize that). On the other hand, when people of very diverse thinking styles and belief systems come together there could be utter chaos and disagreement therefore disabling them from making a decision.