Disciplines Contributing to the Study of Organizational Behavior

You may recognize a number of social and behavioral sciences as the origins of the organizational-behavior issues we will discuss, especially in the early parts of the course. Think of OB as borrowing the findings from these fields and applying them to explaining, predicting, and controlling human behavior in formal work settings. The origins are interesting to the extent that they will help you better understand the modern-day discipline of organizational behavior—its current state is illuminated by its history and foundations.

Psychology makes a strong contribution to many of the micro- or individual-level issues we will discuss. Also notable are contributions from sociology, social psychology, political science, and even anthropology. This makes the study of organizational behavior interesting and vibrant. Rather than being closeted by the confines of a narrow disciplinary lens, we can draw on any discipline that enables us to better understand organizations and the behavior of people in them. Figure 1.1 illustrates some of these related disciplines.