The Discipline of the Organizational Behavior - Case Study Example

In the current scenario of today, most of the modern organization has become global entities. Due to globalization, the challenges also have changed much from the traditional hindrances. Previously, there was less complexity with not much of professionals working in the industry. The managers used to solve their problems by themselves due to lesser complexity. But in the present day, professionals are required to work in a professional manner in order to deal with such complex situations where everyone is contending with each other. In this age of information revolution and the globalization of the economy, it is tough to survive and remain in competition in the market. The major challenges faced by the modern organization are diverse workforce, multiple stakeholders, responsiveness, rapid change and globalization. Diverse workforce is present within the current modern organization. It’s not an easy job to manage people coming from different culture, different demographic regions, different thoughts with different types of perceive mentality. Different kinds of barriers also come up with such differences like ego, stereotype, and male dominated or female dominated. Multiple stakeholders are the persons who have shown interest in the business or the organization. The investors, suppliers, customers, lenders, etc are the stake holders of the organization. Different kinds of attitude each have with it different perception values, having different ethical values. It is not always possible that every stake holder will be contended with the organization. Managing of the stake holders is a difficult job and needs extra additional care. The organization has to response to the fast changing external and internal environment that is present around the organization. It needs to adopt new strategy as per the changing environment. The impending requirement is it to manage the changing external environment with that of the internal environment as the employees often resist changes. The discipline of the Organizational Behavior has quite a few contributions to mitigate the challenges of any modern day organization. The diversified work force can be managed if the work force is given adequate training upon their work culture and the organizations culture to be imbibed. Multiple stake holders can be managed if proper way of relative information is provided to them on timely basis. The organization can survive in the market only if they apply adoptive strategy for the changing environment with special regard to organizational culture. All these factors can be managed with the effective implementation of Organizational Behavior (Bolman & Deal, 2003). Goal Setting Theory shows how the manager and the team can achieve results through a exclusive step by step loom of setting goal and put them into action. The setting up of a goal and developing up of different strategies for achievement of the goal is the real success which will ultimately benefit both organizational objectives as well as individual aspirations. Goal Setting Theory provides the techniques necessary to implement the goal-setting philosophy in a rapidly changing world. The Goal Setting Theory was introduced in 1800s. The theory was developed to analyze employee’s performance and motivational factor. Edwin A. Locke brought this theory into momentum in 1960s which gave importance to motivating employees through the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) model. It was developed for motivational and incentive purpose which made the theory popular. The model sets the goal to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. The goals set up should be specific in nature, like what need to be achieved, how it can be done and other related information. It is to be measured in terms of incentive. Everything has a value attached to it, so did the goal setting theory. The objectives were identified in such a manner that it can be attainable. Unattainable objectives were terminated due to motivational factors. The objectives were relevant in nature for it attainability in nature. Time parameter was necessary for the organization. Without the consideration of time, the theory would have been valueless. So, within time, the work was needed to be done for the achievement of the task. Setting up of the SMART goal was the prime step. Next, the employees needed to be dedicated towards the goal. The level of difficulty, acceptance, commitment and clarity of the employees made it possible for the achievement of the goal. Employees accept and adopt the goals as indicator of individual effort and success (Association of California School Administrators, 2005). The correct setting up of goals enhances the growth of the organization as well as that of the employees through motivation, effort and persistence. With the SMART goal setting, the attainability of the organizational objectives and individual goals are expected to enhance. Goal setting theory improves the quality and frequency of feedback on performance. It reduces the irrelevant objectives and focuses only upon the objective that is given importance for the achievement which ultimately benefits the quality. Performance can be measured from the feedback of the achievement of the goals. As per the set of goals designed and persons or team assigned for the achievement of the goal, it is monitored and accordingly, performance is rated or judged. With clear sight of the goals, the employees can measure their progress and make changes in their approaches for the achievement of the goals throughout the processes. It helps in encouraging new techniques of performing the job or task that is being assigned. A constant check of their progression is evaluated by themselves and they can adopt newer ways or alter their way of achieving the goals. Individual goals need to reflect the organizational goals. If it is not aligned together than the performance will not be satisfactory, both for organization as well as for individuals. Many a times, it happens that the individual goals do not reflect the organizational goals which make the organization to lose it on its performance and employee morale also gets diminished. Goal Setting Theory can make employees more concerned about the accomplishment of the goals that they might take shortcuts rather than performing the high level of job. It creates unhealthy environment in the work culture and also tends to be followed by other employees. Such an act may make the performance rating favorable for employee and cause disadvantage for the other who is involved in performing the high level task for achieving the goal. There always lies a chance of goal conflict within the team, individual and organization. Sometimes performance goals and learning goals create a difference in performance appraisal with the grading system. Failure of the goal setting may occur due to non transfer of information, not matching of the goal to the performance measures, not having adequate feedback or lack of due goal commitment (Reference for Business, 2010). ‘Management - by- Objectives’ is a well defined, organized and systematic way that allows teams and managers to attain the goals and get a better outcome from the available sources. Since it is more systematic in nature than the goal setting theory, it has certain steps to be followed. There are five steps while dealing with MBO. First, the organizational objectives should be reviewed, second the employee objectives should be set, thirdly the process should be monitored, fourthly performance should be evaluated and finally the achievers’ should be rewarded. The organizational objectives are filtered and determined where the organization wants to be in future according to the objectives that are established. According to it, the objectives of the employee are determined so as to match and reflect the organizational goals. The processes are monitored so that anything going out of the track in achieving the objective can be processed. It mainly focuses if the employees are on track for achieving the objective or not. In the next step, the employees’ performances are appraised by different evaluating techniques and as per their standards they are rewarded in the form of incentives or promotions. This is a continuous process. Management - by – Objectives have considerable input in the decades of 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. It was seemed to work by some sort of specific objectives which rendered the evolvement of Management – by - Objectives within the organization. It was like working for the organization that had specific objectives in mind and wanted to reach certain destination but arrived in another plain realizing that it was not the objective. So, the theory was very effective and applied at that period of time in the global industry. Later, it lost its importance with the introduction of the Goal Setting Theory (1000 Ventures, n.d.). This theory was introduced so that the work can be carried out according to the objectives. The biggest advantage is the setting up of objective. Without objective it is not possible either to lead or to follow. Even if the organizations move ahead, it is very difficult to determine if they are in the right track or not with adequate objectives. As Management by Objectives is systematic in nature, it is organized and easy to understand, to follow and to adopt it. It is clear in stating the objectives of the organizations so that employees can match their objectives with the organizational objectives. The theory follows a process which helps it in reducing barriers. A process makes it easy to supervise and evaluate the performance of the employee and achievement of the objectives. Employees are within the process and can be easily judged and evaluated. It theory provides for elaborate rewarding system after completion of the objective and so it acts as a motivational factor for the employees which increases the performing ability of the organization. Management by Objectives emphasize on the setting of goals over the working of a plan. Predetermining or forecasting the future and determining of the objectives is basically a vague concept and does not work for a long time. It under determines the environment in which it sets up the goals. The theory included the available resources, employee’s acceptance, quality of resources, stake holders along with the leaders with different type of leadership techniques. The model does not cover the obstacles like defects in the resources, planning and methodology. It didn’t give much focus upon the resource that might be needed and that is available to the organization. This later creates a problem in achieving of the objectives. The planning so made for the achievement also needs to be modified from time to time making it complicated for the management. The methodologies used often are not updated and requires elaborate change in the model for high end objectives. The rapidly changing environment requires action plan immaterial to that which prepared in the past. So, the course of action plan needs to be altered very quickly as per the changes in the environment which means new plans, new action line, with newly built team and timely consumption with achievement of objectives within the time constraint. Both the theories (Goal Setting Theory and Management – by – Objective) have contributed a lot to the modern organizations in the form of certain required modifications. The planning is improved while the resources with the environmental factors are taken into considerations. Correct setting up of goals with SMART technique is adopted. Feedback system is highly improved with newly developed procedures and therefore, motivation gets increased and incentives are provided to the achievers. The MBO is more specific in its objectives, highly organized with proper action plans, of course with better rewarding system (Performance Appraisal, n.d.). Management models like Goal Setting Theory and Management - by - objectives have been present for many years in the history of the corporate world but it does not work in the current scenario as its traditional assumptions are obsolete to work in reality of today’s environment. Therefore, certain modifications are done with the models taking new environmental factors and other important factors into consideration to achieve higher performance with enhanced rewarding system. In both the model, information system is given priority as it keeps the teams’ coordinated and focused on the objectives and up-to-date decisions are implemented with proper communication system. References Association of California School Administrators, (2005). Leadership. University of Virginia. Bolman, G. L. & Deal, E. T., (2003). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. John Wiley and Sons. References for Business, (2010). Goals and Goal Setting. Goal Attributes. Retrieved Online on July 08, 2010 from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Ex-Gov/Goals-and-Goal-Setting.html 1000 Ventures, (No Date.) What is MBO? Business Guide. Retrieved Online on July 08, 2010 from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/mgmt_mbo_main.html Performance Appraisal. (2010). Management by Objectives. Results. Retrieved Online on July 08, 2010 from http://www.performance-appraisal.com/results.htm Bibliography Koontz, H. & Weihrich, H. (2006). Essentials of Management. Tata – Mc Graw Hill. Mathis, R. L. & Jackson, J. H. (2008). Human Resource Management. Cengage Learning. Miner, J. B. (2007). Organizational Behavior: From Theory to Practice. M. E. Sharpe. . Read More