Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

In: Business and Management

Submitted By jianxia
Words 1293
Pages 6
How and why might organisations adopt a behavioural safety approach

Peter Webb, HSEQ Manager, Basell Polyolefins UK Ltd., Carrington Site, Manchester, M31 4AJ, England. October 2003.

Introduction

It is widely accepted that within the broader scope of human factors, specifically human behaviour at all levels within an organisation influences the effectiveness with which risks are controlled. Behavioural safety approaches aim to promote behaviours which are critical to health and safety. This essay outlines why a behavioural safety approach might be adopted.

Behavioural safety programmes vary significantly in their success. Some fail altogether. An overview is given of how to adopt such a programme. Some key barriers and enablers which have been shown to affect the outcome are highlighted.

This essay will not go into detail about what behavioural safety is, except insofar as it is necessary to explain the “why” and the “how”.

Why Organisations Might Adopt a Behavioural Safety Approach

Safety performance in many organisations has tended to reach a plateau. This follows significant improvements which were achieved initially through technological approaches (better understanding of physical hazards, inherently safe design etc.), and subsequently systems approaches (implementation of HSE management systems, quality systems etc.).

The term organisation was defined by W. J. Duncan as “a collection of interacting and interdependent individuals who work toward common goals and whose relationships are determined according to a certain structure”. This definition suggests that fundamentally organisations are made up of people, rather than buildings, equipment and machinery. In occupational organisations, people usually share a number of common goals such as controlling the level of risk to their health and safety and working towards financial

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Organization and Behavior

...Unit 3: Organisations and Behaviour Learning outcomes Explore organizational structure and culture Examine different approaches to management and leadership and theories of organization Examine the relationship between motivational theories Demonstrate an understanding of working with others, teamwork, groups and group dynamics Assessment criteria 1.1 Compare and contrast different organisational structures and culture 1.2 Analyse the relationship between an organisations structure and culture and the effects on business performance 1.3 Analyse the factors which influence individual behavior at work Organisations and Behaviour OB: The study of human behavior, attitudes, and performance in organizations. Value of OB: Helps people attain the competencies needed to become effective employees, team leaders/members, or managers Competency : an interrelated set of abilities, behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge needed by an individual to be effective in most professional and managerial positions Organisation Structures All businesses have to organise what they do A clear structure makes it easier to see which part of the business does what There are many ways to structure a business Types of Organisations Hierarchical Flat Tall Functional Product based Geographically based Matrix Centralisation Decentralisation Hierarchical structure Organisation employees are ranked at various levels within the organisation Each level is one above the other At each stage in the chain, one person has...

Words: 1319 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...business environment, workforce diversity is at the highest peak it has ever been. Companies are becoming more diverse to cope with globalization, business expansion, technology advancement and maintaining its competitiveness in the market. The purpose of this report is to understand the demographics and level and types of diversity of the workforce in the author’s organization. After which identify and describe the diversity management strategy that the organization employs, with the aims to eliminate issues and challenges of a diverse workforce and improve overall performance of the organization. 2. Demographic and Diversity of the workforce Singapore’s workforce is naturally diverse due to the multi-racial society. The changing demographic profile, the presence of more women and elderly in the workplace and globalization has also increased the workforce diversity. In almost every organization, the employees are from different backgrounds, age, gender, nationalities and religions. Robbins and Judge (2014) argued that it is these differences of each employee that framed the behavior and culture of each organization. According to Robbins and Judge (2014), there are typically two types of diversities: surface-level diversity and deep-level diversity. Surface-level diversity is the demographic and biographical characteristics differences which can be recognized easily. However, deep-level diversity is the differences in characteristics such as personality and value. These characteristics...

Words: 1202 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...Godwin Chilewa Email gstchilewa@gmail.com Leadership & Organization Behavior Course Number: MGMT 591 Prof: John Poore January 30th 2014 I. Introduction I have chosen GOSTCH as the subject of my final course project. GOSTCH created in Tanzania in 1968, under the name GSC, as an offshoot of the electronics department of Compagnie Générale de Géophysique, GOSTCH took on its current name in 1982. The company then moved from Tanzania to Houston in 1975. At the time GOSTCH had 24 employees. Today GOSTCH is a world wide leader in the seismic acquisition industry with 3200 employees in 15 countries. The company is responsible for designing, manufacturing, and selling high-tech integrated equipment for hydrocarbon exploration in land, transition zone, ocean-bottom cable, marine and downhole environments. Like most seismic acquisition GOSTCH whose headquarters in Houston Texas sell its product to oil and gas drilling companies like Shell, Chevron, Exxon-Mobile, and BP. The department I am focusing in this company is Human Resource which is responsible for recruiting, hiring, and training new employees as well as daily scheduling and employee benefits. The department consists of 15 employees. About ¾ of them have been with the company for less than 5 years. I am Change Management Consultant focusing on people side of change. My position gives me opportunity to interact with low level employees and senior leaders of the organization. My primary responsibility is to analyze and document...

Words: 990 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...Organizational Behavior CJA/510 Tracy Webb, J.D. August 15, 2011 This paper will discuss the meaning of Organizational Behavior and understanding human behavior. I will discuss Organizational Behavior within the Criminal Justice Agency and the important elements of Organizational Behavior and how these elements can challenge the effectiveness of an agency. Organizational Behavior is the study of individual behavior and group dynamics in organizations. An article that I read stated that Organizational Behavior is an application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organization. Whatever career and individual choose, the behavior of the human beings tends to shape the behavior of others. The primary concern of organizational behavior is psychosocial, interpersonal, and behavioral dynamics in organizations. The variables that affect human behavior at work are relevant to the study of organizational behavior. These organizational variables include jobs, communication, performance, design, organizational design and structure. The variables are very important in individuals’ behavior and group dynamics. Organizational Behavior encompasses mass professions, companies and organizations, with the goal of increasing productivity, attaining goals, promoting employee development and learning, motivating employee and providing customer service to external and internal stakeholders. The company that I worked for mission was to keep an open line of communication...

Words: 866 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...Organizational Behavior (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations. It does this by taking a system approach. That is, it interprets people-organization relationships in terms of the whole person, whole group, whole organization, and whole social system. Its purpose is to build better relationships by achieving human objectives, organizational objectives, and social objectives. As you can see from the definition above, organizational behavior encompasses a wide range of topics, such as human behavior, change, leadership, teams, etc. Success isn’t  a destination it’s a process.   And the margin between successes is often  small.  Ob is all about  studying  the principles of defining  nd achieving success in your organization and life. Impact of ob Organizational behavior is an aspect of doing business within large companies that many executives have overlooked. This organizational behavior impacts every nook and cranny of a company. Thinking about the organizational behavior and how people act within a company can foster new ways of managing people that can have longer-term impacts on profitability. For example, unionized work forces may have a more negative environment then non-union work environments due to the natural adversarial relationships between company management and union officials. In unionized environments many employees may feel as though their supervisor is abusing them and therefore they regulate...

Words: 2768 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Behavior in Organization

...Behavior in organization Introduction: Behavior in organization is the study and application of how individual and people in groups act and influence each other. By studying this topic, we will have deep understanding on building relationships by organizational objectives and individual objectives. Goal congruence: This is one of the criteria used to evaluate the performance of the organization. The system can achieve its goal effectively when organizational goals can be well aligned with the personal and group goals of employees and employers. In the real world, we do not have perfect goal congruence, because obviously, people have their own goals and objectives and sometimes they are against the organizational goal. An adequate control system should at least not encourage individuals to act against the best interest of the organization. Informal factors and formal factors: Formal systems and informal systems are the main factors of influencing human behavior which would affect the goal congruence. Informal factors have two main factors which are internal and external. Internal factors: Culture and management style: culture and management style could affect each other and sometimes there is no exact distinction between these two concepts. For instance, I went to a firm tour in spring quarter at the local CPA firm Miller Kaplan Arase. Their culture and management style are the same and affect each other in terms of the way they manage their people. There is no strict rank...

Words: 689 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...Qualification | Unit number and title | Pearson BTEC Level 5 HND Diploma in Business | Unit 3: Organisations and Behaviour | Student Name | Assessor Name | | Ms. Sonam Mehta | Date issued | Completion date | Submitted on | 7th February 2014 | 17th April 2014 | | | Assignment title | Comparative study of Organisational Behaviour of two chosen organisations | LearningOutcome | Assessment Criteria | In this assessment you will have the opportunity to present evidence that shows you are able to: | Task no. | Evidence(page nos.) | LO1Understand the relationshipbetween organisationalstructure and culture | 1.1 | compare and contrast different organisational structures and culture | 1 | | | 1.2 | explain the relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture can impact on the performance of the business | 1 | | | 1.3 | discuss the factors that affect individual behaviour at work | 2 | | LO2 Understand differentapproaches to managementand leadership | 2.1 | compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organisations | 3 | | | 2.2 | explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management | 3 | | | 2.3 | evaluate the different approaches to management used by different organisations | 3 | | LO3 Understand ways of usingmotivational theories inorganisations | 3.1 | discuss the impact that different leadership styles may have on motivation in organisations in periods of change | 4 | | | 3.2 | compare the application...

Words: 3403 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Organization Behaviors

...Leadership, Teambuilding, and Communication BUS 322- Organizational Behaviors Dr. James Kolacek Strayer University March 14, 2013 Based of your research, analyze the organizational stressors to determine their like;y impact on organizational performance as well as how those stressors could be addressed. Every organization has some type of stressor that has am impact on the organizations. According to the text book, a stressor or demand is a person or event that that triggers the stress response,(Nelson& Quick, 2013). Some stressors within an organization are task demands, role demands, interpersonal demands and physical demands. In the nutrition services at the hospital, the task demands are very demanding and causes stress to staff. Some task demands that this department faces are short staff, and the advancement of technology and software. When the department is faced with a shortage of staff, it adds an extra workload to the current staff. Employees are becomung stressed and burnout with the demands of completing the their own work assigments as well as the work of the employees that are absent from work. Technology is advancing everyday. The hospital is always advancing technology such as medical equipment and computers to better serve their customers. The advancement of technology causes stress because some employees can not adjust to change and fear of using the technology. Employees that become stress tend to stay out of work, work performance becomes...

Words: 1259 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...changes likely to be seen in the employment relationship include both positive and negative changes. The employees are more committed to organization and are less likely to quit. The employees are more experienced and committed to quality of work they do in organization. The negative changes that are likely to be seen are that the employees are lack flexibility and resistance to new technology. As the workforce ages it is likely that companies will look to other options such as outsourcing which will make jobs more flexible. 2. Do you think increasing age diversity will create new challenges for managers? What types of challenges do you expect will be most profound? As the age of the workforce increases, managers will surely face new diversity challenges. Most of the challenges will be due to the generation gap. With the technological advancement the older generation it resistant to adopt it as compared to younger generation. Managers will need to balance the age diversity by providing the trainings for the new technology to the older employees .So the most profound challenge associated with the increased age diversity is to integrate the new technology to the older employees of the organization. 3. What types of policies might lead to charges of age discrimination, and how can they be changed to eliminate these problems? Organizations have to implement policies and strategies that will place the older people in position best suited as per their ability. The technology must...

Words: 807 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...construct a plan that would specifically lay out all changes before they occur. This plan will show the organization why the change is occurring and what benefits it will have. This would provide the organization with a set plan showing each change that will occur as well. I would also use the eager employees to help rally the ones not so sure. These employees can help others transition better and help show the positive effects change can have on the organization. Culture is able to be managed by the people who are initially hired. Depending on who is hired the culture could be changed. Hiring people who are not only hard working, but can easily adapt to change could help the transition. Having a strong supportive management staff could drastically predict the culture that is within an organization as well. Managers are the leaders of the organization and many times set the tone. Culture can be changed, but it is something that takes time and a group effort. 2. I was taught there are two things that are certain in life; and that’s death and change. Change is inevitable; you cannot stop it no matter how hard you try. Keeping the organization informed is one way to lessen resistance to change, by being open about the change and explaining why the change is occurring. The organization’s culture as whole will determine how the smoothly the change will occur. The culture of the organization is very significant due to the culture needing to buy into the change for the progress to be made...

Words: 633 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Organization and Behavior

...delineates the relationship between them”. Organisations are structured in a variety of ways, dependant on their objectives and culture. The structure of an organisation will determine the manner in which it operates and its performance. Structure allows the responsibilities for different functions and processes to be clearly allocated to different departments and employees. Bartol and Martin (1994, p.283) says, “The Formal pattern of interactions and coordination designed by management link the task of individuals and groups in achieving organisational goals. All companies that are available today have a structure of the positioning of its employees. It shows how work is divided and how the co-ordination works between the members of the organization. The structure also shows how the tasks and responsibilities will be delegated and the way of communication is done from the top level of management to the lower level of objectives, list the tasks, divide work into groups, centralisation or decentralisation, organisation‟s principles, span of control and chain of command. The reason being is because it will help the organisations (Asian paints and Bombay paints) to develop an appropriate structure where in which it will able to link individuals in established network of relationships so that authority, responsibility and communications can be controlled. It is also necessary to assign suitable levels of authority and responsibility to groups or individuals to achieve the desired outcomes...

Words: 1271 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...CASE STUDY : SALLY’S DILEMMA: MAKING TOUGH CHOICES IN COLLABORATIVE VISIONING 1. Based on the given case study, discuss the purpose and rationale behind the approach to a strategic vision development undertaken by St. Ambrose University. What are the potential opportunities and challenges to such an endeavour? A strong vision for an organization is essential as it can change a direction of company in a short and long run. Effective vision statement consists of core value which will indicate the purpose of existence of an organization. Without a proper communication to all the relevant parties, it will be difficult to make the vision an achievable reality. Communication breakdown can be a disaster as it will divert the direction and the purpose of the vision. Vision also sets the objective that need to be achieved in future, with the direction that has been set as target/goal. Most important is, to ensure that the progression and development of a vision is being monitored for a continuous improvement. Sally’s case study is a very good example of strategic vision development where St. Ambrose University have decided to align 3 main focus area in order to a have clearer direction in a long run to attract the stakeholders and promotes the culture, thus increases the reputation of the University. The focus areas identified are i) issues of declining enrolment of student in a year ii) to increase the reputation of the brand name...

Words: 3368 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Organization Behavior

...development are centralised in Sweden. Other functions such as human resources, finance and store construction also span the whole company regardless of organisational boundaries. Other support functions including, Information Technology, Communication, and IKEA Indirect Materials and Service also provide service to IKEA stores globally. From which, IKEA can maintain centralized control over function activities and at the same time take advantage of low cost and enhanced quality from international suppliers. On top of that, control over strategic direction is improved and functional lay-offs are minimized, in order to ensure efficiency in the logistics process, the organization has integrated purchasing and distribution process under one umbrella function. In addition, IKEA was also applied flat organization structure, the system of IKEA is not hierarchy that they only have three levels of responsibility between the manager and co-workers in each store their own. CEO CEO IKEA America: Corporate Management Corporate Management Distribution Department Distribution Department Manufacturing Department Manufacturing Department Sales and marketing Department Sales and marketing Department Exhibit 2: America. Org. Structure IKEA has a lot of subsidiaries in many...

Words: 2398 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Defining Organization Behavior

...behaviour of people within an organizational context. This includes how the human resource of an organization is organized and used to help an organization achieve its competitive advantage over others in the market. It is also how the organization responds to the employees. It includes understanding the behaviour and motivating them to bring out the best of the organization (Luthans 2011). Furthermore it is the field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and organizational structures have on the behavior of these actors within the organizations. Through organization behavior it is aimed to describe systematically how people behave under variety of conditions. Furthermore it helps understand why people behave the way they do. The study also enables the organization to make future prediction of how the employees behave. Finally it aims to control and develop the worker’s activities at work. The other important aspect of organization behavior is that it takes into account the importance of human resource in an indispensible part of an organization. As the owner of Wal-Mart was quoted as saying, “The people are the key”. (Luthans 2011). This is because technology can be easily copied but the beliefs, creativity, values and motivation that the employees bring into an organization cannot be replicated. It always is a unique factor and this is what the organizations need to capitalize on This is important in educational institutes as in the competitive 21st...

Words: 1045 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Human Behavior in Organization

...Human Behavior * Any act of an individual person which is considered human behavior is a reflection of his thoughts, feelings, emotions, sentiments whether conscious or not. * It mirrors his needs, values, motivation, aspirations, conflicts and state of life. Behavior • Consists of all human activities. • Human behavior occurs anywhere and everywhere * At home * In school * In the work setting * In church * In a social clubs * In a professional organization Therefore, it is universal and is at the core of leadership, followership, communication, decision making and the process in the organization. * The principle and concepts that underlie behavior are basic. It is their implementation and practice that differ from group to group or from one country to another it is known as culture-laden behavior. Ex: the Americans offer flowers to their dead; while the Chinese placed food on top of the tomb. Note: Reverence for dead is universal. It is how each culture manifests it that spells the difference. * Human Behavior is also called Human Act which is different from Act of Man. • Human Act – when man/person performs an act with free will; he is responsible for such act which is performed with alternatives to choose from. • Act of Man – is performed by one who is forced to do so at the risk of his own life, if he does otherwise; he does not have any other alternatives to choose from. Reasons for studying Human Behavior * In...

Words: 2378 - Pages: 10