Organizational Behavior

One

Putting People First

Before you embark on any long journey, it is always a good idea to have a guide to see where you're headed and to help to remember where you've been. Each chapter in this book begins with a Chapter Navigator designed to help you anticipate where the chapter is heading, to provide a quick reference point throughout the chapter in case you need to get your bearings, and to offer an overarching look at how from two perspectives introduced in this chapter (conventional and sustainable) the content can look different. We sincerely hope that you will enjoy your journey learning about organizational behavior and how it applies to your present and future experiences in organizations!

Organizations exist to accomplish goals, but sometimes the pursuit of those goals becomes drudgery for the people who make up the organization. In those cases, it is helpful to do things that remind people there's more to a job than having a narrow focus on the bottom-line. This is what happened one day at United Supermarkets, when a distraught customer approached a representative in the store to complain about a spoiled ham. She said her husband had picked up this ham earlier in ...