Students (and instructors!) are busy people. They want an organizational behaviour textbook that delivers knowledge efficiently, and yet is readable, interesting, and fulfilling. Organizational Behaviour: aims for that ideal and, according to reviewers and adopters of the premiere edition, we are on the right track. How do we know what to include and trim out from our popular comprehensive OB textbook? We surveyed dozens of OB instructors about what topics are critical and how they can be most effectively organized. Then, along with our own judgment, we pruned the material within each chapter that didn’t satisfy the definition of ‘‘essential.’’ We also found a few chapters that, after pruning, could be combined logically with the other chapters. Although this book is less than two-thirds the length of our comprehensive textbook, it doesn’t skimp on classroom support. Cases, exercises, and self-assessments are becoming more ‘‘essential’’ than ever in this ear of active learning, critical thinking, and outcomes-based teaching. Therefore, we have included many of these resources. Any suggestions for the improvement of this book would be gratefully acknowledged