Plain-language explanation.
Organisational Behaviour (OB) is the study of how people behave in organisations — individually, in groups, and within the organisation as a whole. It draws on psychology, sociology, and management theory to understand motivation, leadership, communication, culture, and change.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Core OB covers individual behaviour (motivation theories: Maslow — hierarchy of needs; Herzberg — two-factor theory — hygiene vs motivators; McClelland — achievement, affiliation, power; Deci and Ryan — self-determination theory — autonomy, competence, relatedness; Adams — equity theory; Vroom — expectancy theory; Locke — goal-setting theory — SMART goals), personality and individual differences (Big Five — OCEAN — openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism; MBTI — widely used but psychometric reliability critique; cognitive styles; emotional intelligence — Goleman — self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills), group and team dynamics (Tuckman — forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning; social loafing — Ringelmann effect; group cohesion; groupthink — Janis — Bay of Pigs; diversity in teams — information-decision vs social-categorisation theory), and organisational structure (Mintzberg — five parts — strategic apex, middle line, operating core, technostructure, support staff; mechanistic vs organic — Burns and Stalker; matrix structure; flat vs tall hierarchies).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Advanced OB covers leadership theory (trait approach; behavioural — Ohio State — Michigan studies — initiating structure vs consideration; situational — Hersey and Blanchard — SLT; transformational vs transactional leadership — Bass; authentic leadership — George; servant leadership — Greenleaf; distributed leadership — Spillane; leader-member exchange — LMX theory; dark triad in leaders — narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy), organisational culture (Schein — three levels — artefacts, espoused values, basic assumptions; culture typologies — Handy — power, role, task, person; Deal and Kennedy; competing values framework — Quinn; toxic culture — systematic dysfunction — workplace bullying, psychological safety — Edmondson — Google Project Aristotle), and organisational change (Lewin — three-step — unfreeze-change-refreeze; Kotter 8-step change model; McKinsey 7S; ADKAR — prosci; organisational resilience — dynamic capabilities — Teece; ambidextrous organisation — exploration vs exploitation — O'Reilly and Tushman).
How it is applied in practice.
At the organisational psychologist, HR director, and management consultant level, practitioners contribute to Journal of Applied Psychology and Academy of Management Journal; design and lead organisational transformation programmes (McKinsey 7S change assessment; culture survey — Denison; Gallup Q12 — employee engagement; Great Place to Work certification — GPTW survey); conduct organisational diagnostic and assessment (psychometric assessments — OPQ, Hogan, DISC — BPS occupational test use standards; 360-degree feedback — Lominger / Korn Ferry FYI; culture diagnostic — Hofstede's dimensions; team effectiveness interventions — Hackman and Wageman; conflict resolution — Thomas-Kilmann); lead executive development (leadership pipeline — Charan, Drotter, Noel; succession planning; HIPO frameworks; coaching — ICF competencies; Board effectiveness reviews — Spencer Stuart); and advise on future of work (hybrid work design — Microsoft New Future of Work Report; psychological safety at scale; organisational network analysis — ONA — Microsoft Viva Insights).