Organizational behavior skills, or OB skills, are abilities and personality traits related to individual and institutional organizations, and are very important in many work settings. People in managerial positions in particular must generally have good organizational skills to effectively manage people, projects, and resources. Skills such as preparation, communication, and time management are all essential for organization and are, therefore, valuable in many work settings. This applies on both large and small scales — an individual employee needs such skills in order to effectively manage his own time and resources just as a manager needs them to organize projects, people, and resources on a larger scale. Individuals who lack organizational behavior skills tend to be unorganized and unskilled at managing time and resources, and may, therefore, fit poorly into many work settings.
Many of the most important organizational behavior skills fall into the broad category of "time management." Organizing and managing time use is absolutely essential for the success of projects in school, work, and many other settings. One must always consider deadlines, competition, and other time-sensitive factors when organizing plans and projects on a day-to-day basis as well as on longer time scales. Organizational behavior skills related to time management also include the ability to adapt to changing circumstances, such as when one part of a project takes longer than expected. The ability to constantly analyze available resources, temporal and physical, and make the best possible use of them are highly important organizational behavior skills.
Resource management is another important category of organizational skills. In work, school, and many other settings, people at all levels are called upon to organize resources, including basic office supplies, raw materials, and teams of workers. It is necessary to organize and use these resources properly if one hopes to gain the greatest possible benefit from them. Poor organization often leads to waste, which can cost time, money, and other important resources.
Though they are most often discussed in relation to professional performance, organizational behavior skills are also important in one's personal life. Organizational behavior skills related to time management, for instance, may determine how much time one spends playing video games and watching television instead of doing productive work. Likewise, resource management organizational behavior skills can be thought of in terms of money management; those who lack such skills may spend too much money without paying enough attention to how much they actually earn, or they may make inappropriate use of credit. Building and maintaining such skills is, therefore, essential to both personal and professional life.
