“Managers are the people who plan, organize, lead, and control the activities of the organization to achieve its goals.” (Mullins, 2007, page 201) Organizational behavior is a subject which can help managers in many aspects, “it is concerned with the study of the people’s behavior in an organization. It includes the understanding, prediction and control of human behavior.” (Mullins, 2007, page3) There is a close relationship between organizational behavior and management theory. Throughout this essay I will show how organizational behavior influenced the management process.
Specialists in organizational behavior “derive knowledge from a wide variety of social science disciplines to create a multidisciplinary.” (Greenberg, 2008, page 7) There are three key disciplines which are psychology, sociology, anthropology. Economics and political system are the inferior studies. The relationship between the five of them can be seen from the following diagram.
“Sociology is the study which is more concerned with the study of social behavior, relationships among social groups and societies and the maintenance of order.” (Mullins, 2007, page8) The main point of attention is on the analysis of social structures and behaviors in those organizations.
“Anthropology is the discipline which focuses on the cultural system, the customers and values within a group or society and the difference of the behavior among different societies.” (Mullins, 2007, page8) It will be maintained by “organization culture and leadership.” (Greenberg, 2008)
Management theories have developed as an important project in organizational behavior. They will help the manager to plan, coordinate and control the work. Mullins (2007) stated that there are four theories of management including classical, human relations, systems and contingency.