ABSTRACT
Organizational behavior (OB) is a broad and inclusive field, covering any intervention that influences the behavior of one or more people working in a group. This definition therefore includes both selection and organizational development, topics in which the modal organizational behaviorist may have limited interest. OB is not limited to particular types of organizations (e.g., corporations) or even to monetarily compensated activity. The definition uses the word intervention to emphasize both causal and applied views of the phenomena we study. The purpose of this chapter is to examine how we might learn more from attempts at application, and thus become more effective at both studying and intervening.
