Hospitality Management: Role of Sociology in Teaching Organisational Behaviour

I. INTRODUCTION

Organisational behaviour can be viewed as a social science discipline that is taught in business schools but has its intellectual roots in probably the advent of the 20 ${}^{th}$ century. Organisational behaviour can be seen having two dimensions; one is related to the nature of the people of the organization and the behaviour, and the other one is the nature and behaviour of the business organization in its environment. There are two general theories of organizational behaviour, Micro and Macro. The micro theory dwells in small groups and individuals which is related to psychology. Macro theory, on the other hand, focuses on the business organization itself and also on its environment; in this case, sociology plays a major role. Apart from these a new update regarding 'Meso theory' has been emerged which is based on a simultaneous study on two levels, where one level is concerned with the group processes or with the individuals in the organization (Ferraz 2018). The other level deals with business or organizational processes and serves as a link to relate these two different levels of meso-theory. The main purpose of this essay is to discuss the role of sociology in teaching organistaional behaviour and also to exhibit a few proposals regarding hospitality management trainees or managers.

II. BODY OF CONTENT

Therefore, it can be stated that organizational behaviour is a multidisciplinary field that deals with the behaviour of the people in the organisation and also with the organizational structure and behaviour of the organization. It is a matter of fact that as psychology focuses on individuals, on the other hand, sociology deals with individuals in relation to the social environment of the organisation and also within the organisation culture ("Hospitality Management And Organisational Behaviour - Laurie J. Mullins - 9780273758372 - Geography - Human Geography (117)" 2021). Sociology is concerned with a few aspects, which are: behaviour of the group of individuals inside the business organisation, communication within the organisation, organisational culture, the structure of the organisation, power, conflict and how the order is maintained among the above-mentioned groups within the organisation. Sociological theories, concepts, models and various techniques immensely help to understand the formal organisational theory and its structures, beurocracy, power conflict, and intergroup behaviour within the business organization ("Importance Of Studying Sociology In Business" 2021). Sociology is concerned with human interaction and where communication is the key that influences individuals within the social setting. To draw a link between sociology and organisational behaviour; it can be said that sociology can be considered as a study of plural behaviour where two or more individual's communication constitute a pattern of plurality in the behaviour, thus sociology can be seen as a systematic study of social systems. Business organisations according to sociologists are a variety of people having different statuses and degrees of authority inside the premises and serves different purposes within the organisations. According to sociologists the business leaders try to achieve their goals by achieving the individuals' loyalty towards the organisation and also by sustaining a positive work culture within the organization (Ferraz 2018). To attain these things maintaining a positive organisational behaviour is very important and there sociology plays a major role in teaching organisational behaviour to the hospitality management trainees and business managers which is the central idea of this essay. These subjects of the studies are immensely related to the understanding of human behaviour of the managers and the other employees within the contemporary business organisations which can be considered as social constructions.

While teaching management studies and how sociology contributes to management studies some of the elements should be named which are directly related to the professionalism and the strategies taken by the managers which operationalise the structure of the curricular units and the teaching-learning activities developed for the cause. The teaching of organisational behaviour can best be described as a pendulum as it oscillates between two main disciplines and those are psychology and sociology. It should be considered that though each one of these disciplines is adequate for a specific level of analysis than the other and they are mostly complementary and interdependent as well (Saoula, Johari and Fareed 2018). The behaviour within a business organisation is as complex as the behaviour of human beings which involves a variety of rationality from technical systematic to the logic of societal, organisational through the psychosocial dimension of interpersonal relations. The way of teaching organisational behaviour deals with a variety of paradigms that are relevant to social sciences when anyone tries to analyse the reality in question. There is a problematic approach to numerous topics which appear in the curricular unit of organisational behaviour in standard USA MBA programs, apart from that there is also an absence of a second dimension in the role of sociology in higher education. The central role of sociology in teaching organisational behaviour is in the understanding of reflexives pluralism which is scientifically based on common sense which does not forget the roots of social human action. Therefore it can be said that sociology plays a vital role in the main objective of teaching organisational behaviour. Sociology can significantly contribute to the development of competences among management students in a transversal and broader sense. Sociology can definitely foster in future business students or manager's capacity for self-reflexivity on the management of the organisations as in professional activity, a space of conflicts of interests, social logic and also positive leadership ideologies. Therefore to achieve the above-mentioned qualities it will be important for the students to be aware of the importance of integrated and articulated sociological competencies which are theoretical, relational, methodological, operative and reflexive. The above-mentioned competencies constitute a major link between knowledge as 'contents', 'products' and 'professional action'. This is a major issue in the curricular units of organisational behaviour studies ("Disciplines That Contribute To Organisational Behaviour" 2021). By the scientific metrics of the curricular unit of standard USA MBA programs where sociology plays a strong role in the area of expertise training where reflexivity is seen absent due to dominant valorization of an operationalism and an increase in demand for creativity while facing problems can be seen dissociated from critical thinking.

The usual contemporary curricular units of organisational behaviour in the business schools deals with behaviour of individuals within the organisation, the roles and importance of ethical conducts, understanding what motivates the individuals to get involved in critical thinking at the time of crisis, to understand what their needs are, to understand basic dynamics of inter and intragroup processes within the organisations and many more. Clearly, these are not enough, and sociology can play a more significant role in bridging the gaps among the above-mentioned areas to learn at business schools.

III. CONCLUSION

To conclude it can be said that while teaching organisational behaviour psychology and sociology serves as a couple of inter depending and complementing pillars that provide a general idea of individuals and studies individuals in relation to their behaviour within the organisation and the behaviour of the organisation. The

1. "Hospitality Management And Organisational Behaviour - Laurie J. Mullins - 9780273758372 - Geography - Human Geography (117)".

2. Pearson.Ch. https://www.pearson.ch/HigherEducation/Pearson/EAN/9780273758372/Hospitality-Management-and-Organisational-Behaviour.

notable contributions of the sociologists in the field of organisational behaviours are through their studies of group behaviour within organisations and group behaviour within particularly complex and formal business organisations. There are some areas within the curriculum of organisational behaviour in many business schools, which has been benefited by valuable input from famous sociologists related to organisational culture, formal theory of organisation and organisational structure, organisational communications, organisational power, conflict of interests within the organisation and most importantly organisational technology. Deriving from the well recognised sociological theories can be said that human interaction can serve as a key influencing factor among the individual within a social setting. Therefore a systematic study of the social system by the leaders of the business organisations, a social system which can be considered as an operational unit can definitely serve the purpose of maximising the production by keeping the individuals loyal towards the management. It is a matter of fact that employees are the heart of any business organisation, and therefore the leaders should be able to study the social system within the organisation to sustain the productivity and profitability of any organisation while sustaining order and discipline within the area of work. Therefore it can be said that sociology plays a pivotal role in teaching organisational behaviour to the students of hospital management.