The Study of Organization Behavior
Blogged By: Low Hang Wei @ February 7th, 2007 - 7:04 pmFor this semester, one of the modules I am taking includes Organization Behavior, abbreviated as OB. Don’t worry though, I’m not posting this because I want to revise for my OB exams or something like that. I’m only exploring how the study of OB can actually help improve our daily lives, be it at work, home or anywhere else. Despite the name OB, a lot of what we study is actually dealing with individuals and I think this knowledge can be really powerful. The knowledge I gain while reading OB related articles as part of our tutorials might actually be beneficial to the general public.
For example, in one of our tutorials, we took personality tests. For many of us, we treat personality tests as pure entertainment and maybe we get a little happy if it says things that we want to hear. Haha, I’m speaking for myself too. 
However, after taking OB, I started to take a more in-depth look at personality tests and thought from another perspective. Should we examine ourselves through personality tests? Perhaps these tests could point out flaws in our behaviors that we should change in order for us to self-improve. It might also point us to careers that we might excel in with our characteristics.
Another example relates to articles we are required to read for tutorials. Although a lot of the articles are phrased in such a way that suggests they are meant for managers such as “Emotions In The Workplace: The New Challenge for Managers”, I really think that we should look into these articles and pick up important pointers that can help us improve ourselves. Just to give a quick summary of this article, it basically explores how negative emotions affect job performance. The author suggests that managers should learn to handle such emotions tactfully.
However, I see it from another view. I believe that there is a lesson for us to learn even if we are not managers. I mean the reason why such articles exist in the first place is because not all managers are practicing it. It means that some managers will hold a grudge against you, instead of settling the problem amiably. Also, we know that it’s obviously bad to get on the wrong side of your superiors. You might lose the next pay raise, get more scoldings and probably even lose your job if things go out of hand.
When we take a deeper look into it, it means that controlling our emotions in the workplace is very important. Even if you just lose control of your emotions once in 2 years or something, you have portrayed an ugly side. Your managers might stereotype you as a bad employee and it will be extremely difficult to change his view. Of course, some managers might be very understanding, but others may not be so. Even if the manager is understanding, would it be better if he has never seen any side of you that’s bad?
I’ll just end this with a final example of another article about 360 degrees feedback. Basically, it means that companies are trying to get feedback from different people to find out what they think about you. The customers you deal with, your peers, your subordinates and your superiors might need to assess you if the company requires feedback. This essentially means that we are being watched everyday in our work commitments, so it’s important to be nice to everyone.
I believe the benefits will come when you start being nice to people. People rate you better and in the company’s perspective, you don’t give any problems, making you a more valuable employee. Therefore, assuming all things equal… simply by being nice to people, you are more likely to get that next promotion. Wow, you make people happy and you’re more likely to get promoted. That’s definitely a win-win situation, right? In conclusion: if you agree with me, take action now. Start to be nice to everyone around you.
P.S: I’m also encouraging people to be nice to one another because I want the world to be a better place.
Blogged Under: Self Improvement, Random Thoughts
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February 7th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I’m studied that last year. Haa, welcome to the club. =) let’s try to make this wrold a better place
February 8th, 2007 at 1:01 am
what if you’re not in a nice mood? will u be nice still? wouldnt u feel vv contradicting? that u haf to force it out of urself? making urself maybe more unhappy in e end?
February 8th, 2007 at 7:25 pm
like you, i have much to learn too.
im not a difficult person. but i do have my own values and principles.
technically, i agree with what u said. but stimes, for ppl who are not worth it, i will just ignore. no need to be pretentious about it.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
A, I think I have also been surfing your blog and I unintentionally sort of figured out who you are. If I guessed correctly, your name contains two Es. And if I’m right, I would just like to say that you have a nice looking blog, which is why I’m surfing it in the first place.
February 8th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Visiting via Ghost stories! While my own goals are not as ambitious as yours I’ll definitely be coming back and checking out your income opportunities. Please let me know if you’d like to exchange links. You can send an email if you are interested in doing so.
Cheers from Toronto!
February 8th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
i dun have a blog lei. haha. and no, my name honestly doesnt contain 2 E. only 1. how did u ‘ find out’ btw?
February 9th, 2007 at 2:15 am
What if your surname is included? 2 Es?
February 9th, 2007 at 2:54 am
nope. my full name has only 1 E. my surname doesnt consist of any E.
March 4th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
[…] Just recently, when I was learning more about investing indicators, I was exposed to statistics in finance. Well… they do have more fanciful names for each of these indicators, but they are basically using Statistics. It shows that professional traders are out there putting what we learnt in University into practice and making money off them. Then again, I think back to other modules I have taken, such as Business Law, Information Technology, Accounting, Organisation Behavior and a couple more. Some time back, I also blogged about how OB can help us in our lives in this post: The Study of Organization Behavior […]