Organizational behavior as a field.

Debbie Bennett has been Section Head of the accounting group at Galaxy Scientific Corporation for 14 years, and has recently been promoted. It is company policy to send new members of the corporate staff to a University Executive Development Program as part of the promotion process. Debbie reviewed the syllabus and given her 14 years of hands-on management, assumed the OB part would be a snap. However, during the introductory lecture on organizational behavior, the professor made some comments that bothered Debbie. The professor noted that most managers know their functional specialties but do a lousy job of managing their people. He pointed out that people are frequently promoted because of their technical knowledge but have little or no formal training in how to manage people. He also noted that behavioral scientists are just beginning to scratch the surface of understanding human behavior and to develop models to help managers better understand, predict, and manage organizational behavior.

Debbie is upset by the fact that her professor apparently discounts the value of experience in managing people, and she cannot see how a conceptual framework that some professor dreamed up can help her manage people better. Debbie has come to you for advice, since you are finishing up your graduate course in OB.

What will you say to Debbie to help her understand the true definition of Organizational Behavior as a field of study? How will you explain the foundations of OB and its application? What one example of OB theory/research related to job satisfaction will you highlight for her?