BUSINESS 240: Discussion Board Week 1 and 2: Organizational Behavior

This discussion board post for BUSINESS 240 explores organizational behavior, focusing on the relationship between corporate culture and performance. The student defines organizational behavior and summarizes an article from the Wall Street Journal, highlighting how a strong, positive corporate culture correlates with improved company performance. The post then delves into the application of organizational behavior principles, discussing leadership, decision-making, and motivation. It integrates biblical perspectives, drawing parallels between the Israelites' actions in Joshua 6 and organizational behavior. The post also includes replies to fellow students, addressing intellectual capital, workplace values, and ethics, offering insights into the interplay between individual and organizational values and ethical considerations within a business context. References from academic journals and publications support the analysis.

Running head: BUSINESS 240 1
Discussion Board Week 1 and 2
Name of Student
Name of Institution

BUSINESS 240 2
Discussion Board Week 1 and 2
Part 1
Definition: Organizational Behavior
Organizational behavior is the application and study of knowledge that relates to how
people behave and act within an organization.
Summary: The Relationship Between Corporate Culture and Performance URL
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-relationship-between-corporate-culture-and-
performance-1456110320
Organizational behavior is a philosophy that is intended to improve efficiency and
productivity within organizations. This summary is on an article written on the Wall Street
Journal written by Alina Dizik, The Relationship Between Corporate Culture and Performance.
Dizik posits that a strong corporate culture has a correlation with the performance of a company.
Corporate culture that is positive is shown to improve the bottom line of a company. What is
termed as corporate culture is hard to define but is synonymous with organizational culture. It
can be referred to as the business environment created by the actions and values of employees
and managers that is unique (Dizik, 2016). At the same time, successful companies without a
strong corporate culture will likely experience declined performances. Studies undertaken
showed that culture precipitates performance and not the opposite. The dividends of positive
corporate culture will most often be realized in the future.
Discussion
Organizational behavior is a philosophy that seeks to improve efficiency and productivity
within organizations. This inculcates concepts such as decision making, leadership and
motivation. The actions and values of the employees and managers collectively constitute the

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corporate culture when analyzed within the context of the article. This culture improves
organizational performance, including the bottom line. It is assumed that the corporate behavior
that has been adopted by the company is the resident organizational culture and this influences
the performance of the company. The major variance to this assumption is why companies that
post strong performances do not necessarily have positive corporate cultures? Are there other
factors that could contribute to a company with a weak corporate culture to perform strongly?
These two questions need more interrogation in order to give meaningful and logical reasons
based on current research.
Biblical Integration
The appropriate verse in the Bible that best describes organizational behavior is found in
Joshua 6: 2-4 (NKJV, 2012). The Israelites were given instructions on how to destroy Jericho.
The instructions given became their “organizational behavior” for a period of seven days. The
values and actions undertaken by Joshua, the priests and the Israelites was their corporate culture
as they encircled Jericho for the seven days. The leadership provided by Joshua and the decision
he made to fully trust God and walk by faith motivated the Israelites to follow him. This
strengthened their faith and ultimately gave them victory when the walls fell down. Their
“corporate culture” of faith in Jehovah and His servant contributed to their success when they
besieged Jericho. McShane & Glinow (2016), state that the effects of recent events touching on
victories in the past contributed to this self-fulfilling prophecy. Strong and positive values led to
actions that resulted in victory and was motivated by an organizational behavior underpinned on
faith.
Part Two- Replies
Reply to Steve Patrick- Intellectual Capital

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The question as to the boundary lines between individual intellectual capital and that of
an organization is complicated and intricate in nature. On the one side, the organization has
rightful claims and stake in the intellectual capital of its employees. The organization allocates
resources and an atmosphere that stimulates creativity and this contributes to the end capital
derived from the employee. The dilemma posed in this question is that the employee may equally
be employing their own resources privately outside of the company premises and this could also
contribute to the gaining of intellectual capital. The ideal position to be taken by employees and
organizations is to sign new agreements that acknowledge the efforts and inputs of both. This
should also be starting point for registering patents. Pastor, Glova, Liptak & Kovac (2017) state
that the agreement signed should give guidance on how both parties will benefit from
commercializing the intellectual capital that originated from the employee while working for the
company.
Reply to Diane Gaillard-Values
While Diane has not posed direct questions, there is an implied question that arises. The
assumption that companies use the value systems expected and defined by the society may not
necessarily be true. As people grow up, the values that they later espouse in life are shaped by
the instilled parental values ( Suhariadi, 2016). Other factors that may affect their value systems
and belief include the schools they attended, friends, family members and the religion they
practice (Crysdale, 2007). When one is employed, they assume that the same beliefs will be
embraced and celebrated by their employer. There is a culture shock when they discover that
their values have no place at the workplace (McShane & Glinow, 2016). Most organizations
have definitions of values that are at best nebulous, vague and ambiguous. Companies may insist
on values that strive for success, performance and profits no matter the cost in terms of ethics

BUSINESS 240 5
and morality. People will then be forced to adapt to the new culture in order to fit in or may be
forced to resign.
Reply to Juliet Gaskins- Ethics
The questioned posed by Juliet is in relation to the systems that govern ethics at the
workplace. Most organizations are governed by a code of ethics that spells out the ideal
expected behavior of the employees. This is the moral and values philosophy espoused by the
organization. There are a range of penalties for behavior that is unethical. At the same time, there
may be an ethical dissonance between the employee and the organization (Bishop, 2013).
Personal ethics influence the employee in their decision making process. At the same time, the
organizational ethics may be at variance with the personal ethics (Liu & Ding, 2012). Situations
arise where the organization and employee poses high ethics. Others may exhibit high personal
ethics while the organization poses low organizational ethics. This contributes to the dissonance
at the work place and may lead to ethical dilemmas. While companies hold employees to certain
ethical standards, the employee is disenfranchised when the organization has shortcomings on
the same issue.

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References
Bishop, W. (2013). The Role of Ethics in 21st Century Organizations. Journal of Business
Ethics, 118(3), 635-637. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42921253
Crysdale, C. (2007). The Character of Moral Value, Moral Knowledge, and Moral Debate. In
McQueen M. (Author) & MONSOUR H. (Ed.), Ethics & the New Genetics: An
Integrated Approach (pp. 79-92). University of Toronto Press. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt2tv388.9
Dizik, A. (2016). The Relationship Between Corporate Culture and Performance. The Wall Street
Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-relationship-between-
corporate-culture-and-performance-1456110320
Liu, N., & Ding, C. G. (2012). General ethical judgments, perceived organizational support,
interactional justice, and workplace deviance. International Journal Of Human Resource
Management, 23(13), 2712-2735. doi:10.1080/09585192.2011.610945
McShane, S., & Glinow, M., V. (2016). Organizational Behavior (7th Ed). Ebook. New York:
McGraw-Hill Education.
NKJV. (2012). Joshua. China: Bible Society.
Pastor, D., Glova, J., Lipták, F., & Kováč, V. (2017). Intangibles and methods for their valuation
in financial terms: Literature review. Intangible Capital, 13(2), 387-410.
doi:10.3926/ic.752
Suhariadi, F. (2016). FORMING VALUES OF PRODUCTIVE BEHAVIORS. International
Journal Of Organizational Innovation, 8(4), 64-76.