Introduction: As you already know, the broad subject of OB (Organisational Behaviour) deals with how formal organisations work in order to achieve their goals. In OB-I, addressing the question of why people behave the way they do, you studied the behaviour of people in organisations -- people as individuals, in pairs, groups and teams – so as to be able to enhance people’s effectiveness. That was micro OB.

The competence and effectiveness of individuals or even of groups and teams in organisations do not of themselves ensure organisational effectiveness. People’s efforts and interaction patterns need to be co-ordinated by organisational mechanisms. OB-II (sometimes called macro OB) studies the organisation: Why do organisations behave the way they do?

Objective: Organisations are an inevitable part of modern-day life and are therefore a valid domain (territory) of study. Organisations are complex entities. They have tasks, structures, strategies, systems, procedures, etc. to facilitate achievement of organisational goals. One hears terms such as organisational goal, department, division, power, hierarchy, strategy, organisational culture, environment, etc. What do these words mean and how do they relate to effectiveness? What is organisational effectiveness? What are its determinants? The course on Organisation Structure & Design (OB-II) is to provide answers to these questions, enabling the students thereby to grasp the "personality" of whatever organisation they join. This knowledge will also come handy when introducing and managing change in organisations.

Note on assignment: No more than three groups may study the same organisation. Groups that study the same organisation must adopt different models / perspectives. A detailed instruction sheet for the assignment will be given to you in session #3.