Organizational Behavior: A Skill-Building Approach

Why does organizational behavior matter - isn’t it just common sense?  

Organizational Behavior: A Skill-Building Approach helps students answer this by providing insight into OB concepts and processes through an interactive skill-building approach. Translating the latest research into practical applications and best practices, authors Christopher P. Neck, Jeffery D. Houghton, and Emma L. Murray unpack how managers can develop their managerial skills to unleash the potential of their employees. The text examines how individual characteristics, group dynamics, and organizational factors affect performance, motivation, and job satisfaction, providing students with a holistic understanding of OB. Packed with critical thinking opportunities, experiential exercises, and self-assessments, the new Second Edition provides students with a fun, hands-on introduction to the fascinating world of OB. 

Dr. Christopher P. Neck is currently an Associate Professor of Management at Arizona State University, where he held the title "University Master Teacher." From 1994 to 2009, he was part of the Pamplin College of Business faculty at Virginia Tech. He received his PhD in Management from Arizona State University and his MBA from Louisiana State University. Neck is author of the books Self-Leadership: The Definitive Guide to Personal Excellence (2016, Sage); Fit To Lead: The Proven 8-week Solution for Shaping Up Your Body, Your Mind, and Your Career (2004, St. Martin's Press; 2012, Carpenter's Sons Publishing); Mastering Self-Leadership: Empowering Yourself for Personal Excellence, 6th edition (2013, Pearson); The Wisdom of Solomon at Work (2001, Berrett-Koehler); For Team Members Only: Making Your Workplace Team Productive and Hassle-Free (1997, Amacom Books); and Medicine for the Mind: Healing Words to Help You Soar, 4th Edition (Wiley, 2012). Neck is also the coauthor of the principles of management textbook, Management: A Balanced Approach to the 21st Century (Wiley 2013; 2017, 2nd Edition); the upcoming introductory to entrepreneurship textbook, Entrepreneurship, (Sage, 2017); and the introductory to organizational behavior textbook, Organizational Behavior (Sage, 2016). Dr. Neck's research specialties include employee/executive fitness, self-leadership, leadership, group decision-making processes, and self-managing teams. He has over 100 publications in the form of books, chapters, and articles in various journals. Some of the outlets in which Neck's work has appeared include Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, The Journal of Organizational Behavior, The Academy of Management Executive, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, The Journal of Managerial Psychology, Executive Excellence, Human Relations, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Journal of Leadership Studies, Educational Leadership, and The Commercial Law Journal. Due to Neck's expertise in management, he has been cited in numerous national publications, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Houston Chronicle, and the Chicago Tribune. Additionally, each semester Neck teaches an introductory management course to a single class of anywhere from 500 to 1,000 students. Dr. Neck was the recipient of the 2007 Business Week Favorite Professor Award." He is featured on www.businessweek.com as one of the approximately twenty professors from across the world receiving this award. Neck currently teaches a mega section of Management Principles to approximately 500 students at Arizona State University. Neck received the Order of Omega Outstanding Teaching Award for 2012. This award is awarded to one professor at Arizona State by the Alpha Lamda Chapter of this leadership fraternity. His class sizes at Virginia Tech filled rooms up to 2,500 students. He received numerous teaching awards during his tenure at Virginia Tech, including the 2002 Wine Award for Teaching Excellence. Also, Neck was the ten-time winner (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009) of the "Students' Choice Teacher of The Year Award" (voted by the students for the best teacher of the year within the entire university). Also, some of the organizations that have participated in Neck's management development training include GE/Toshiba, Busch Gardens, Clark Construction, the United States Army, Crestar, American Family Insurance, Sales and Marketing Executives International, American Airlines, American Electric Power, W. L. Gore & Associates, Dillard's Department Stores, and Prudential Life Insurance. Neck is also an avid runner. He has completed 12 marathons, including the Boston Marathon, the New York City Marathon, and the San Diego Marathon. In fact, his personal record for a single long distance run is a 40-mile run. Dr. Jeffery D. Houghton completed his PhD in management at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) and is currently an associate professor of management at West Virginia University (WVU). Dr. Houghton has taught college-level business courses at Virginia Tech, Abilene Christian University (Texas), Lipscomb University (Tennessee), The International University (Vienna, Austria), and for the US Justice Department-Federal Bureau of Prisons. Prior to pursuing a full-time career in academics, he worked in the banking industry as a loan officer and branch manager. A member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Dr. Houghton's research specialties include human behavior, motivation, personality, leadership, and self-leadership. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and his work has been cited more than 1,600 times in academic journals. He currently teaches undergraduate-, master's-, and doctoral-level courses in management, organizational behavior, and leadership. Dr. Houghton was named the 2013 Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of the Year for the WVU College of Business and Economics, awarded annually to one faculty member within the college as selected by a vote of the student members of Beta Gamma Sigma; and he received the 2008 Outstanding Teaching Award for the WVU College of Business and Economics, awarded annually to one faculty member for outstanding teaching. In addition to his research and teaching activities, Dr. Houghton has consulted and conducted training seminars for companies including the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, and the Bruce Hardwood Floors Company. In his spare time, Dr. Houghton enjoys traveling, classic mystery novels, racquetball, and snow skiing. Finally, Dr. Houghton has trained for and completed two marathons, the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC, and the Dallas White Rock Marathon in Dallas, Texas. Emma L. Murray completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Spanish at University College Dublin (UCD) in County Dublin, Ireland. This was followed by a Higher Diploma (Hdip) in business studies and information technology at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business in County Dublin, Ireland. Following her studies, Emma spent nearly a decade in investment banking before becoming a full-time writer and author. As a writer, Emma has worked on numerous texts, including business and economics, self-help, and psychology. Within the field of higher education, Emma worked with Dr. Christopher P. Neck and Dr. Jeffery D. Houghton on Management (Wiley 2013); and is the coauthor of the principles of management textbook Management: A Balanced Approach to the 21st Century (Wiley 2013, 2017-2nd Edition) and the coauthor of Organizational Behavior (Sage 2017). She is the author of The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Alan Sugar Way (2010, Wiley-Capstone); and the lead author of How to Succeed as a Freelancer in Publishing (2010, How To Books). She lives in London.