People use organizational behavior analysis when they want to learn how particular groups function. In general, there are three ways in which social scientists and business analysts perceive organizational behavior. They might look at the ways in which individual people act within a group, the ways in which a group functions in an organization or how an organization functions in a larger system, such as a society or a market. One of the most important tips for organizational behavior analysis is to learn which kinds of questions need to be answered. To do this, it is a good idea to consider the best perspective to use, the important issues at hand and the reasons why an organizational behavior analysis is being performed.
People in different professions and fields tend to approach organizational behavior analysis from different perspectives. Business managers and executives, for example, might be most interested in learning how to make their companies more successful. They might perform competitor analyses and learn how their businesses stand in comparison with the competition. It also is common for them to look at individual departments within their organizations and brainstorm for ways in which their organizations can be more productive, more cost effective and more profitable.
Human resource professionals, on the other hand, are much more likely to use organizational behavior analysis to learn how individuals function within their groups. These kinds of professionals often are concerned with employees' levels of satisfaction and motivation. They might analyze group dynamics to learn which individuals are influencing group decisions and which individuals appear to be marginalized.
In scholarly circles, such as in social science fields, it is common for much research to include organizational behavior analysis. If a sociologist or anthropologist, for example, wants to learn about the behaviors of certain demographics, he or she might study the kinds of groups that they form and why they form these groups. They might study how different groups within a region, for instance, communicate with each other.
Scientists who perform conceptual organizational behavior analysis might study the history of how certain groups form and the kinds of activities in which members of certain participate. It also is common for scientists performing conceptual analysis to study and create theories for motives behind group behavior and to predict how certain groups might act in the future. In some cases, scholars might even consider philosophical issues when studying organizational behavior. People who perform these kinds of organizational behavior analysis usually want to prove certain points about the way people act and what these actions say about larger systems, such as societies and cultures.
