Behaviour in a Business Context

The aim of this book is to introduce the study of behavioural aspects of business organization to students on business and management courses, those taking business and management related courses and students following a variety of professional courses where the study of behaviour in business forms an important part of their studies. It is also intended that students on post-graduate courses who have no prior knowledge of the social science approach to organizational behaviour will find the book of benefit. The book examines factors influencing behaviour in British business in the context of efforts to reverse the long term relative decline of Britain as a manufacturing nation and behavioural aspects of contemporary approaches to the definition and solution of problems facing British business associated with such factors as the application of microelectronic technology, the Single Market, and the continued development of the "Pacific-Rim" economies. It considers how individual and group behaviour at all levels of the business enterprise is influenced by strategies developed to cope with the process of industrialization.
It also considers how policies designed to cope with differing experiences of industrialization can be seen to underly efforts to define and solve contemporary problems in the UK and her competitors. These issues are explored by an examination of human behaviour at work which introduces students to the application of sociological and psychological research in a business setting. The approach adopted is equally applicable to those involved in private or public sector organizations. The book attempts to explain the significance of behavioural factors in relative economic decline, and to suggest how, in the light of social scientific knowledge, behaviour in business organizations may be developed so as to halt and even reverse that decline.