Organizational Behavior : Sample Assignment PDF

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Organizational behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Introduction
Organizational behavior (OB) is a concept that involves the ways by which people within
an organization interact with each other. OB is studied by almost every organization in the
contemporary world to gain an advantage over other companies. A study on the ways individuals
behave in an organization influences many aspects of that organization including motivation,
leadership, performance, structure of the job and communication amongst others. In this
assignment, three different articles on organizational behavior shall be discussed that highlight
various aspects of it.
The assignment will first provide a detailed summary of the articles chosen followed by
focusing on the key ideas mentioned. The next section will encompass the analysis of the three
articles. The analysis shall include the arguments presented by the authors in the article followed
by counter arguments from other authors and individual viewpoint as well. In the succeeding
sections, recommendations for managers in an organization on the ways to implement OB will
be given. The articles chosen for the said assignment include Transformational and
Transactional Leadership and Innovative Behavior: The moderating role of psychological
empowerment by Pieterse et al. (2010). The second article is titled Decision Making in
Organizations by Lunenburg (2011) and the third article is by Lord et al. (2017) titled
Leadership in Applied Psychology: Three Waves of Theory and Research.
Summary of the articles
The first article that is authored by Pieterse et al. (2014) focuses on innovative behavior
in an organization and the role of psychological empowerment in ensuring innovative behavior.
The article talks about the two styles of leadership – transformational and transactional – that are

2ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
influenced by innovative behavior implementations. The authors included the findings of a study
conducted by them to estimate the influence of innovative behavior on the two leadership styles.
The study revealed that transformational leadership demonstrates a positive connection with
innovative behavior whereas transactional leadership shows a negative relationship (Lunenburg,
2011). They also note that transformational leadership demonstrates positive relationship only in
circumstances when psychological empowerment is on the higher side. Transactional leadership
on the other hand, demonstrates negativity when the same conditions are applied to it. Concept
of innovative behavior refers to a multi-stage process of identifying issues, generating ideas and
implementing those with support. The article clearly connects the two concepts of leadership and
innovative behavior. It states that transformational leadership is entirely based on creating
innovative things and hence innovating behavior would have positive impact on it. The authors
found that innovative behavior is damaging to transactional leadership because the followers
with a higher rate of psychological empowerment start to feel controlled and dominated (Pieterse
et al., 2010)
The second article authored by Fred Lunenburg has as its focus, the decision-making
process within organizations (Lunenburg, 2011). The author presents certain techniques with
which organizations could counter the dysfunctions that arise from decision-making within
groups. Lunenburg mentions the techniques such as brainstorming, Delphi technique, devil’s
advocacy, nominal group technique and dialectical inquiry. At the beginning, the author provides
systematic explanation of all the terms especially the key theoretical concept, which is decision-
making. According to the author, group decision-making means the involvement of all members
in the process of making decisions for the organization (Lunenburg, 2011). The author then
makes the readers aware of the various degrees at which decision-making takes place. The first