Chapter 1 - MGMT 363

A&M Larry Faulk

Organizational behavior (OB)

Field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations.

Human resource management

Field of study that focuses on the applications of OB theories and principles in organizations.

Strategic management

Field of study devoted to exploring the product choices and industry characteristics that affect an organization’s profitability.

Resource-based view

A model that argues that rare and inimitable resources help firms maintain competitive advantage.

Inimitable

Incapable of being imitated or copied. A resource is more valuable when it’s this.

History

A collective pool of experience, wisdom, and knowledge created by people that benefits the organization.

Numerous small decisions

People making many small decisions every day that are invisible to competitors.

Socially complex resources

Resources created by people, such as culture, teamwork, trust, and reputation. The source of competitive advantage is known, but the method of replicating the advantage is unclear.

Rule of One-Eighth

The belief that at best one-eighth, or 12 percent, of organizations will actually do what is required to build profits by putting people first.

Method of experience

When people hold firmly to some belief because it is consistent with their own experience and observations.

Method of intuition

When people hold firmly to some belief because it “just stands to reason”—it seems obvious or self-evident.

Method of authority

When people hold firmly to some belief because some respected official, agency, or source has said it is so.

Method of science

When people accept some belief because scientific studies have tended to replicate that result using a series of samples, settings, and methods.