MGMT20001 – OB Lecture 1 (Scientific Management & Human Relations)

Course & Module Orientation

• Subject: MGMT20001 – Organizational Behaviour (OB)
  • Semester cohort ≈ 850 students → necessitates a large tutor team.
  • Current lecture = Module 2 / Week 1 (modules and weeks are numbered differently).
• Teaching Team
  • Dr Victoria (Vicky) Roberts – lecturer for micro-topics.
  • Background: dual-sport Australian representative, researches athlete abuse & prevention.
  • Office hours: after lecture or by email.
  • Prof Bill Harley – coordinator & lecturer for macro-topics (critical management, control, participation).
  • Samida – Head Tutor coordinating tutorial delivery.
• Educational 3-Part Model (repeated weekly per module)
  1. Live Lecture – foundational theories & key ideas.
  2. Online Tutorial (asynchronous) – reflection quizzes, videos, surveys, preparatory cases.
  3. Face-to-Face Tutorial – verbal articulation, debate, consensus building, mini-presentations; post-tutorial syntheses provided online.

Learning Resources

• Lecture slides = core “architecture”; every slide is examinable.
• Textbook: 10th edition (deep dives, foundational + extension reading).
  • Some topics span multiple chapters; others require extra articles.
• Readings
  • Required → examinable.
  • Supplementary → extension only (not examined).
• Embedded videos per module (e.g., assembly-line footage, McDonald’s kitchen clip).
• Case studies
  • 10-page authored cases used from mid-semester onward.
  • Also provided in final exam for theory application.

Skill-Building Workshop

• Date: Wednesday 6 Aug, 12 – 2 PM (Week 2).
• Purpose: develop academic & research skills.
  • Morag – argument structuring & persuasive writing.
  • Ben – advanced database searching for peer-reviewed articles.
  • Samida – unpacking the Individual Assignment (scientific management vs human relations).
• Strongly recommended attendance (not a lecture; interactive workshop).

Tutorials, Teams & Major Assessments

• Tutorial enrolment
  • Must attend the session you are enrolled in.
  • Official change period closes end of Week 3.
• Group Case-Study Report
  • Weighting: 30 %.
  • Team allocation occurs Week 3 tutorial; first full team meeting Week 4.
  • Deliverable: 5 000-word analytical report (+ 7 weeks collaboration).
  • Embedded learning goal: authentic teamwork skills (coordination, conflict management, shared leadership).
• Final Exam
  • Part A: Written reflection on personal team experience.
  • Part B: Case analysis applying OB theories (case supplied in exam).

Defining Organizational Behaviour (OB)

• Study of how individuals, groups, and structures affect behaviour inside organisations.
• Explores how people think, feel, decide, coordinate, and influence outcomes.
• Multidisciplinary roots
  • Psychology → individual motives & cognition.
  • Social psychology → small-group dynamics.
  • Sociology → macro structures, culture, institutions.
  • Anthropology → cultural evolution, rituals.
  • Political science → power, interests, resource allocation.

What Is an Organisation?

• Core elements students identified in class discussion:
  • Group of people working interdependently toward a common goal.
  • Deliberate structure/ hierarchy / functions (e.g., design, production, marketing).
  • Shared resources:
  • Human $\text{(skills, knowledge, labour)}$
  • Financial $\text{(capital)}$
  • Physical $\text{(buildings, technology)}$.
  • Formal HR systems (hiring, pay, complaints, development).
  • Provides goods/services (for-profit, public good, or volunteer-based).
• OB therefore spans every sector: finance, accounting, sport, arts, health, mining, non-profit, etc.

Levels of Analysis in OB

1. Micro (Individual) – perception, values, motivation, bias, personality, decision making.
2. Meso (Group/Team) – cohesion, conflict, leadership, communication patterns.
3. Macro (Organisation/System) – ethics, culture, power, politics, change management, structure.

• Ethics acts as a bridge: influenced by personal values and organisational systems.

Formal vs Informal Organisation

• Formal (above the waterline)
  • Policies, organograms, mission statements, job descriptions, legal rules.
• Informal (below the waterline – bigger mass)
  • Unwritten norms, relationships, lunch-room talk, “who actually solves problems,” trusted networks.
• Effectiveness demands alignment between the two; dissonance breeds conflict & inefficiency.

Two Classical Approaches to Management

1. Scientific Management

• Founder: Frederick W. Taylor (engineer); seminal text 1911.
• Historical context: Industrial Revolution, mass-production factories (e.g., Ford Model T).
• Core Principles
  1. Job Design – break work into precise, measurable elements; find the “one best way.”
  2. HR Management – sharp division of labour: managers plan/think, workers execute.
  3. Performance Management – $\text{Pay} \propto \text{Output}$; money assumed primary motivator.
  4. Professional Management – emergence of management as specialised expertise.
• Legacy
  • Standardisation, efficiency, assembly-lines, fast-food kitchen timers.
  • $\text{De-skilling} \rightarrow \text{Repetition} \rightarrow \text{Alienation}$.
  • Worker dissatisfaction, absenteeism, political unrest.
• Modern echoes: robotics, highly automated manufacturing, rigorous SOPs (e.g., McDonald’s fry timer).

2. Human Relations School

• Catalyst: negative consequences of scientific management.
• Key Researchers: Elton Mayo & colleagues – Hawthorne Works studies (1920s-30s).
• Findings
  • Productivity rose when workers believed researchers/management cared → “Hawthorne effect.”
  • Informal social groups could collectively alter or distort outcomes (resistance or support).
• Assumptions
  • Organisations are social systems; work fulfils social & psychological needs.
  • Motivation derives from belonging, recognition, meaningful participation – not merely pay.
• Managerial Implications
  • Foster inclusive, collaborative climates.
  • Align formal processes with informal norms.
  • Attend to values, leadership style, communication richness, team development.

Comparative Snapshot

• Contemporary best practice usually blends both: retain efficiency and nurture engagement.

Real-World Illustrations Mentioned

• Who Gives A Crap – toilet-roll B-Corp donating 50 % of profits to clean-water projects (social mission + business efficiency).
• Sports teams – high-performance coordination & ethical pitfalls (lecturer’s research domain).
• Fast-food line, automated factories, robots – persistence of Taylorist principles.

Ethical, Philosophical & Practical Implications

• Scientific management foregrounds utilitarian efficiency; risks dehumanising labour.
• Human relations foregrounds dignity & well-being; risks undervaluing measurable output.
• Power & politics stem from conflicting interests (organisational vs personal).
• Effective OB practice strives for $\text{Alignment} = \text{Shared Goals} + \text{Proper Incentives} + \text{Healthy Culture}$.

Key Takeaways for Exam & Career

• Memorise core tenets & historical roots of both management schools – forms basis of Individual Assignment.
• Recognise OB’s multi-level, multi-disciplinary scope: micro → macro, psychology → politics.
• Observe organisational life through formal/informal dual lens.
• Case-study practice will directly prepare you for final exam analysis.
• Skill-building workshop and tutorials are crucial for mastering academic writing, teamwork, and research techniques.