Organizational Behavior And Development: The Human Management Science For The 21st Century

Most of us work in organizations, they are a common and inescapable feature of the modern business environment, and they influence and impact almost all features and aspects of our lives. Indeed, everyone has experienced both good and bad of organizations most likely as one of their many stakeholders such as an employee, a customer, a supplier, and a shareholder or we may even have started our own organization!

There is nothing new about them, they have been with us in one form or another for thousands of years and we have largely taken them for granted; even families are organizations! Only in more recent times have we begun to develop some understanding of why organizations exist and in particular, how and why the people within them behave the way they do. We know that they are social entities with goals using structures to provide functions, coordination, and order with a common purpose in dealing with their external environment. They are also a subtle and often difficult blend of humanity and technology and in the world of business, they exist for two very simple reasons. Firstly, they enable us to do things we could not do without them, or could not do well without them, and secondly, to develop a sustainable competitive advantage.

Our thinking used to be that because they are social entities all we needed to do for them to be effective was to set up the requisite systems, processes, policies, and procedures, and for them to be maintained and when necessary, policed or even enforced through the practice of Human Resource Management.

The time for such thinking has long since passed and in order to keep up with today’s fast and continuously changing business environment, organizations are increasingly examining their own structures, development, culture, and people to continuously improve their effectiveness and performance. Organizations usually face resistance, failure, and rarely deliver the intended benefits of organizational transformation and change and require the ability to lead people effectively through transition; by letting them embrace, adopt and engage in the needed transformation efforts. Over the last decade and in the years to come Organizational Development has and will encompass far more than just Human Resource Management and is becoming the key to success for many of the world’s most successful companies.

My role and responsibility as the course leader of the “Certificate in Organizational Behaviour, Development & Management”, is quite simply to provide delegates with a clear understanding of:

1. What defines organizations and management
2. How the management challenges of ethics, change, performance and globalization interact with Organizational Behaviour
3. The nature and impact of individuality on work activities
4. The ways in which groups form and interact whilst undertaking work within organizations
5. The influence of technology on work within the organization
6. The nature of processes such as motivation and decision making on the functioning of organizations
7. The design and structural determinants of organizational form
8. Management issues such as the challenge of leadership
9. The nature and impact of internal and external drivers for change on people and organizations and assessing their readiness for change
10. The power, political, and control factors of organizational activity
11. The nature of Human Resource Management and learning on people and organizations who employ them
12. How to adapt the organization to meet ever-changing and demanding stakeholder expectations

The course is designed and delivered to provide delegates with an opportunity to apply academic models to real-life organizational issues and my aim is to enhance their learning by providing them with examples, tips, techniques, and even experiences, I have acquired over a career of more than 40 years in international business working for and with multi-national corporations and small to medium-sized organizations in both the private and public sector. This results in five key takeaways for all delegates:

1. The understanding and skills needed in order to carry out organizational and managerial challenges effectively
2. The understanding of how the behavior of individuals and groups impacts organizations
3. An understanding and knowledge of the competencies that make for effective management and leadership within organizations
4. Be equipped with the knowledge and approaches involved in motivating, engaging, and developing employees using a variety of techniques
5. The skills and ability to adapt the organization to meet changing and demanding expectations

The course attracts middle to senior managers and board-level executives from a variety of organizational disciplines including Human Resource professionals who wish to progress to the wider discipline of Organizational Development by enhancing their knowledge and skills. Delegates should ideally have a graduate-level education or at least a minimum of three to five years of experience in a business or organizational environment.

I look forward to welcoming you on our next delivery of the “Certificate in Organizational Behaviour, Management & Development” course and to taking you on an enlightening journey through the issues, mechanisms, and practices of modern organizational development, the Human Management Science for the 21st Century.

Nigel H. Tomlinson.

Nigel is a Leoron Board Member and Head of Practice for Leadership, Management & Administration courses. He is also an Associate Lecturer for the London School of Business & Finance and has a career that spans more than 40 years in international business and corporate international investment. Currently, he holds the position of non-executive director/advisor and innovation specialist. Nigel has led many companies into success including the Sheffield Chamber, which won various awards on the UK, European, and World stages.