The Relationship of Organizational Behaviour to Other Closely Related Disciplines

The Relationship of Organizational Behaviour to Other Closely Related Disciplines (Organizational theory, Organizational Development and Human resource management)

Luthans (2011), p. 20

With a rich historical background such as the Hawthorne studies and using an accepted scientific methodology as briefly outlined above, the field of organizational behaviour is now an accepted academic discipline. As with any other relatively new academic endeavor, however, there have been some rough spots and sidetracks along the way. Besides the healthy academic controversies over theoretical approach or research findings, perhaps the biggest problem that organizational behavior had to overcome was an identity crisis. Early on, the field of organizational behavior had to answer questions such as: Is it an attempt to replace all management with behavioral science concepts and techniques? How, if at all, does it differ from traditional applied or industrial psychology? Fortunately, these questions have now been answered to the satisfaction of most management academicians, behavioral scientists, and management practitioners.

Exhibit... shows in very general terms the relationships between and emphases of organizational behavior (OB) and the related disciplines of organization theory (OT), organization development (OD), and human resource management (HRM). As shown, OB tends to be more theoretically oriented and at the micro level of analysis. Specifically, OB draws from many theoretical frameworks of the behavioral sciences that are focused on understanding and explaining individual and group-behavior in organizations. As with other sciences, OB accumulates evidence and tests theories by accepted scientific methods of research. In summary, organizational behavior can be defıned as the understanding, prediction, and management of human behavior in organizations⁵.