Organizational Behavior

Citation

Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2026). Organizational Behavior (20th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The twentieth edition (Pearson, January 2026) has eighteen chapters, an appendix on research in organisational behaviour and five comprehensive cases at the end. The publisher describes it as joining current theory and research with practices readers can apply at work, and says this edition examines trends in the future of work: AI tools, data-driven decision making, hybrid work, team dynamics and psychological safety. Experiential activities run through the chapters. The chapter order follows the classic sequence of the field, from the individual through the group to the organisation as a system; the groupings below follow that sequence.

Chapters 1–2: What Is Organizational Behavior?; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Organizations

The opening chapter defines the field and its purpose. Diversity, equity and inclusion follow immediately, before any individual-level topic, so differences among people frame the rest of the book.

Chapters 3–6: Job Attitudes; Emotions and Moods; Personality and Individual Differences; Perception and Individual Decision Making

The individual-level chapters cover attitudes towards work, emotions and moods in the workplace, personality and other individual differences, and how people perceive others and make decisions.

Chapters 7–8: Motivation Concepts; Motivation: From Concepts to Applications

Motivation receives two chapters: the first presents the theories, the second, as its title says, moves from concepts to applications.

Chapters 9–10: Foundations of Group Behavior; Understanding Work Teams

The group level begins with how groups form and function and then distinguishes work teams, the area the publisher highlights through team dynamics and psychological safety.

Chapters 11–14: Communication; Leadership; Power and Politics; Conflict and Negotiation

Four chapters on processes between people: how communication works, theories of leadership, the use of power and organisational politics, and how conflict arises and is handled through negotiation.

Chapters 15–18: Foundations of Organization Structure; Organizational Culture and Change; Human Resource Systems and Practices; Stress and Health in Organizations

The organisation-level chapters treat structure, culture together with change, human resource systems and practices, and the final chapter on stress and health at work.

Appendix and Comprehensive Cases

The appendix explains how research in organisational behaviour is conducted, and five comprehensive cases at the end of the book are designed to tie concepts from different chapters together.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–6: The field and the individual

• Organisational behaviour: the study of how individuals, groups and structures affect behaviour in organisations.
• Diversity, equity and inclusion: how differences among people are recognised and managed fairly in organisations.
• Job attitudes: evaluations people hold about their work, such as satisfaction with the job.
• Emotions and moods: feelings at work and their effects on behaviour.
• Perception and decision making: how people interpret others and situations, and how individuals choose.

Chapters 7–10: Motivation and groups

• Motivation: the processes that account for the direction, intensity and persistence of effort.
• Group behaviour: how groups form and how their members interact.
• Work teams: groups whose members' coordinated efforts produce a collective result.
• Psychological safety: a team climate in which members feel safe to speak up, named by the publisher as a theme of this edition.

Chapters 11–14: Interpersonal processes

• Leadership: the ability to influence a group towards goals.
• Power and politics: the capacity to influence others and its use outside formal roles.
• Conflict and negotiation: disagreement between parties and the process of reaching agreement.

Chapters 15–18: The organisation system

• Organisation structure: how tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated.
• Organisational culture: the shared meanings that distinguish an organisation.
• Human resource systems: practices such as selection and evaluation that shape behaviour.
• Work stress: the demands of work and their effects on health.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A clear individual–group–organisation sequence. The eighteen chapters follow the levels of analysis in order, which makes the book easy to map onto an introductory course and easy to revise from.
• Research foundation with applications. The publisher stresses joining current theory and research with practices readers can apply, and the paired motivation chapters show the pattern: concepts first, then their application. The appendix on research methods helps students judge the evidence.
• Built-in activities and integrating cases. Experiential activities in the chapters and five comprehensive cases at the end give instructors material for discussion and assessment and push students to connect topics across chapters.
• Current themes. The twentieth edition addresses AI tools, data-driven decisions, hybrid work and psychological safety, so the examples reflect the workplaces students are entering.

Limitations

• A broad survey. Eighteen topics in one volume means each receives a chapter-length overview; the theories of motivation and leadership, for instance, are presented far more briefly than in specialist reviews.
• A mainstream, managerial perspective. The book presents organisational behaviour as research findings to be applied by managers. Students who need critical or sociological perspectives on organisations will need other texts.
• US edition context. The edition listed here is the US edition; readers using a Global Edition should check that chapter numbering and examples match their course.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the course's standard introductory textbook. Mullins and Rees's Management and Organisational Behaviour and Buchanan and Huczynski's Organizational Behaviour cover similar ground from a British perspective; Buchanan and Huczynski in particular takes a critical stance, asking readers to question common assumptions about management. Either makes a good second text for students who want a perspective different from Robbins and Judge's research-to-practice approach. Hatch's Organizations: A Very Short Introduction is a short overview of how scholars study organisations and works as a quick preview of the organisation-level chapters.

Two books suit later or deeper study. Miner's Organizational Behavior 1 critically reviews the major theories of motivation and leadership with their research evidence, the natural follow-up to Chapters 7–8 and 12. March and Simon's Organizations is a founding work of the behavioural study of organisations, built on decision making under bounded rationality; it repays reading after Chapter 6 and the structure chapters, for students interested in where the field's ideas came from.

How to Use This Book

The book suits undergraduates taking a first course in organisational behaviour or management, and readers who want to apply the research to their own work experience, an aim the publisher states. No prerequisites are needed; an introductory psychology or management course helps.

A practical reading plan:

• Start with Chapters 1–2, which define the field and introduce diversity as a lens used throughout.
• Core: Chapters 3–8 (attitudes, emotions, personality, perception and decision making, motivation) and 9–12 (groups, teams, communication, leadership), the material most introductory courses emphasise.
• Select by course: Chapters 13–14 on power, politics, conflict and negotiation; Chapters 15–17 for courses that extend to structure, culture, change and human resources; Chapter 18 on stress and health.
• Read the research appendix early, especially before writing essays that cite studies.

Do the experiential activities while reading, since they connect the theories to students' own experience. Save the comprehensive cases for the end of the course or for revision, analysing each by asking which individual, group and organisation-level concepts explain what happens.