Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior

by jennifer-m-george, Gareth R. Jones

This text reflects current concerns facing organizations, their managers and workers, as well as combining cutting edge research with many accessible learning features. The book contains sections focusing on ethics, diversity, global issues and competitive advantage. Also included are opening and closing cases which provide more illustrations of companies applying concepts explained in the chapter. encouraging them to use their answers to analyze the theory being discussed in the chapter. It also discusses the relationship between moods, values and attitudes.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, College

800 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Frida Andreasson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as the primary textbook for a university course in 2025, even though it was published over 15 years ago. That context shaped my experience a lot and worked against it. The book explains foundational concepts of organisational behaviour clearly and is fairly well-structured, but many examples, assumptions about the workspace, and theories feel grossly outdated. So much has changed in organizational life since 2010 that parts of this read more like a time capsule than a practical guide. I often found myself mentally updating the material to fit today’s context and getting distracted by how some people and companies that were well regarded by the public have since had a down call. It wasn’t a bad book for its time, but as a current student, it didn’t fully meet my needs. Additionally, that this is called a global edition is a joke. It’s USA centric and it doesn’t seem to understand it. My rating reflects my experience reading it now as someone from outside the USA, not necessarily the value it had when it was new.

[jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Again, an academic introductory book, but now on organizational behaviour. Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior is a thick textbook meant not only for psychology students such as myself aiming for a specialization in social and organizational psychology, but it’s also aimed towards students in the business administration branch, and, more in general, managers.

It’s composed of three parts, namely: (1) Individuals in organization, (2) Group and team processes, and (3) Organizational processes. At the start of each chapter, objectives are set that ought to be met after finishing the corresponding chapter, key terms are explained in the margins, and there are a number of exercises at the end of each chapter to help solidify the reader’s new knowledge (questions for review, questions for discussion, etc.).

It’s a very colourful textbook, with many illustrations, diagrams, and case studies/examples for a more practical viewpoint. The book explores every single theory there is to know in the field of organizational behaviour, but it doesn’t explore it fully – it defines and explains terms and theories, yes, but it doesn’t show as much about these theories being executed in practice (though it does try, with its examples of different businesses all around the world), and sometimes only scratches the surface. This makes it a textbook suitable for beginners, not for advanced students, since it tends to stay on the theoretical side, and not look much at practical implications/situations.

Also, another interesting note: in the end section of each chapter, where the questions for review/discussion are brought up, only newspaper articles from the New York Times are being used as source material. I don’t think I need to explain why this isn’t a good thing.

In the end, though, this book can be used as a good book of reference on organizational theories/behaviour, and it’s definitely a good introductory book for beginners. However, it lacks a somewhat more practical side to it, and it’s probably not a good buy if you’re an advanced student of this type of behaviour.

[Venkatesh]

f

[Audu]

is cool

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good for an MBA textbook. I particularly liked the chapters on power and influence, leadership, and motivation (needs theory / Maslow). Enjoyed the class and the book.