Things move very fast in today's Internet-linked global economy. Competition is intense. Speed, cost, and quality are no longer the trade-offs they once were (meaning improvement in one came at the expense of one or both of the others). Today's customers want immediate access to high-quality products and services at a reasonable price. Thus, managers are challenged to simultaneously speed up the product creation and delivery cycle, cut costs, and improve quality. (And to do so in an ethical manner.) Regardless of the size and purpose of the organization and the technology involved, people are the common denominator when facing this immense challenge. Success or failure hinges on the ability to attract, develop, retain, motivate, and ad a diverse array of appropriately-skilled people. The human factor drives everything. To know more about workplace behavior is to gain a valuable competitive edge. The purpose of this textbook is to help present and future organizational participants better understand and manage people at work.

Although this Eight Edition of Organizational Behavior is aimed at undergraduate business students in similarly named courses, previous editions have proven highly versatile. Organizational Behavior has been used effectively in MBA programs, executive education and management development programs, and industrial and organizational psychology programs around the world. (Note: Special Canadian and European edition are available.) This textbook is the culmination of our combined 60 years of teaching experience and research of organizational behavior and management in the United States, Pacific Rim, and Europe. Thanks to detailed feedback from students, professors, and practicing managers, this Seventh Edition is shorter, more refined, and better organized. Many new changes have been made in this edition, reflecting new research evidence, new management techniques, and the fruits of our own learning process.

Organizational Behavior, eighth edition, is user driven (as a result of carefully listening to our readers). It was developed through close teamwork between the authors and the publisher and is the product of continuous improvement. This approach has helped us achieve a difficult combination of balances. Among them are balances between theory and practice, solid content and interesting coverage, and instructive detail and readability. Students and instructors say they want an up-to-date, relevant, and interesting textbook that actively involves the reader in the learning process. Our efforts toward this end are evidenced by many new topics, 799 source material referenced dated 2006 and 552 dated 2007, many new real-life examples, a stimulating art program, timely new cases and boxed inserts, end-of-chapter experiential exercises for both individuals and teams, and 23 exercises integrated into the text. We realize that reading a comprehensive textbook is hard work, but we also firmly believe the process should be interesting (and sometimes fun).