Organizational Behavior at Fasco Motors - Essay Example

 Organizational Behavior at Fasco Motors At Fasco, there was a breakdown of ethics caused by the behaviors of senior-level management. Fasco in Thailand was operating in an environment in which most business dealings with Thai officials involved values related to family and relationship. Thailand is a collectivist country, in which individuals usually view themselves as “members of an extended family and place group needs ahead of individual needs and value reciprocation of favors and respect for tradition” (Blodgett, Bakir & Rose, 339). Fasco management should have been working continuously to create a culture of collectivism and loyalty, under a team methodology, to ensure that the business was aligned to Thailand customer needs and values. To the customers in Thailand, the concept of trust, ethics and relationship were vital to establishing business relationships. The unethical behaviors, such as providing low-cost products to favorite customers and then adjusting accounting to hide this deception, was creating a culture of mistrust and greed. When it was discovered, by other managers in the leadership team, that these situations were occurring, failure to disclose this knowledge to senior-level officials showed the lack of integrity related to establishing a loyalty-based, family-oriented organizational culture. Positive organizational behavior demands that individuals in management or senior-level leadership roles model behaviors related to ethics, unity, and trustworthy business practices. There is a theory in social sciences referred to as social learning theory in which individuals observe role models and then learn what behaviors are appropriate based on whether they are rewarded or punished (Neubert, Carlson, Kacmar, Roberts & Chonko, 158). When the role model is someone attractive and credible, or hold high status in a firm, people will generally model these behaviors when they are not punished effectively (Neubert, et al). This is what was occurring at the organization as mid-level management viewed their leaders being rewarded for their false accounting practices. In fact, Allen Moot, the general manager, was receiving kickbacks for these efforts and thus it provided legitimacy to model these same behaviors by the other managers who were ultimately fired for their role in modeling these unethical business practices. In order to create a cohesive organization built on ethics and loyalty, there must be an establishment of affiliation between all group members. Creating a sense of team belonging is critical in organizational behavior in order to gain motivation and commitment. “Once the need for affiliation is satisfied, the individual desires more recognition and this can produce feelings of prestige, power and control” (Gambrel & Cianci, 144). While the managers were receiving kickbacks for their improper business decisions, others were observing lack of punishment for unethical behaviors and thus an unacceptable type of affiliation was being created: one in which individuals were gaining financial rewards for dishonest business dealings. However, this indecent type of affiliation in the management ranks was providing perceptions of power, confidence and control and thus people were willing to abandon business needs to satisfy their own financial objectives. To have a quality team, people have to come to identify with the group and psychologically join in order for there to be loyalty (Bushe & Coetzer, 185). High ranking managers like Allen Moot were creating a new type of social identity related to groups by accommodating individual needs and forsaking business objectives in the process. Regardless of the unethical behaviors, team membership was being developed effectively, but for all the wrong reasons as it related to personal fulfillment and financial reward. AN ANALYSIS OF WHAT SHOULD BE DONE Jim Doyle, the president of the company, was completely unaware that unethical business behaviors were occurring. This indicates that there was a lack of auditing presence at Fasco and not enough proper governance. Some organizations produce routine employee and management surveys as a means to give employees a voice and discover where there are opportunities for improvement (Robbins & Judge, 88). It was not until rumors of improper business dealings reached the ears of Doyle that an auditing system was put into place, long after the damage had been done and Thailand government involved in trying to put a stop to shady business practices. Surveys provide the same type of group membership needed to build loyalty and this might have provided the business with more proactive data about improper activities to halt them long before the business suffered profit and reputation damage. The only disadvantage, potentially, to using surveys is that they might be distributed to a culture that is already loyal to management conducting underhanded business practices. In order for a senior manager to build a culture of loyalty and dedication to meeting corporate goals, the barriers related to establishing interpersonal communication between all levels of management and subordinates needs to be broken apart. Jim Doyle rarely visited the Thai business division and thus had virtually no visibility in the organization. This indicates a top-down hierarchy of control that did not value the quality of establishing relationships between executive leadership and the employee population. A potential solution could have been to make Jim Doyle more visible through more frequent visits to the business to discuss policy and improvement innovations with employees and mid-level management and human resources. If Doyle had been more present, it might have instilled more confidence in his ethical leadership and allowed employees and managers to model similar behaviors by establishing trust and team-based loyalty. The disadvantage to this solution, however, is that such activities are costly in relation to recurrent travel expenses and could have taken Doyle away from his other important executive activities in the United States, thus diminishing his effectiveness as company president. A PLAN OF ACTION The damage has already been done at Fasco, however in order to prevent it from happening again, the company requires a better system of communication so that problems with improper business management can be identified early on. It is suggested that the business develop a 360 degree feedback system by which employees, managers and even business partners and customers can be consulted to gain insight into opinion about Fasco operations and its integrity. The goal is to establish a sense of team membership that remains loyal to the business’ performance targets and proper business behaviors by gaining commitment and dedication from all staff members. Since the Thai customers and partners value the quality of relationships, it is likely they will gladly participate in the 360 degree feedback system, using surveys and interpersonal discussions with management. It may even strengthen these external partnerships since family-oriented values drive much of the Thai customer decision-making process. Once monthly, Fasco should distribute surveys and make appropriate calls and appointments with external partners so that employees have a voice in making changes, improvements or blowing the proverbial whistle on suspicious business activities occurring from within. Jim Doyle, as president, should take the lead in promoting the need for this system and thus strengthen his visibility within the organization in the hopes others will model these same behaviors. Human resources management should take the lead in distribution and analysis of this data with monthly consultations with Doyle and other executive team members. To evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies, a new internal HR auditing system should be developed that records all data received from the monthly surveys. Surveys provide quantitative data that can be charted, graphed or otherwise correlated to identify any key trends and also whether or not successes in the objective of improvement have been met. There is a need for an auditing system and the 360 degree feedback process provides opportunity for a new type of measurement. Works Cited Blodgett, J., A. Bakir & G. Rose. “A Test of the Validity of Hofstede’s Cultural Framework”, The Journal of Consumer Marketing, vol.25, no.6 (2008). Bushe, G. & G. Coetzer. “Group Development and Team Effectiveness: Using Cognitive Representations to Measure Group Development and Predict Task Performance and Group Viability”, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol.43, no2, (2007). Gambrel, P.A. & R. Cianci. “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Does it Apply in a Collectivist Culture”, Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, vol.8, no.2 (2003). Neubert, M., D. Carlson, K. Kacmar, J. Roberts & L. Chonko. “The Virtuous Influence of Ethical Leadership Behavior: Evidence from the Field”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol.90 (2009). Robbins, Stephen P. & Timothy A. Judge. Organizational Behavior, 14th ed. (2008). Pearson Prentice Hall. Read More