Work Values, Attitudes, Moods and Emotions - the case of Wells Fargo Company - Term Paper Example

? Work Values, Attitudes, Moods and Emotions - the case of Wells Fargo Company Summary The human resources sector of organizations has a key role in the organizational growth, but its effectiveness is not standardized. The development of innovative HR policies is often used as a means for supporting the increase of organizational performance, either in the short or the long term. In this context, the emphasis on work values, attitudes, moods and emotions in all organizational department has become a common phenomenon. In Wells Fargo Company the use of work values, attitudes, moods and emotions as tools for increase the firm’s competitiveness has been proved an effective strategic choice. However, as the literature suggests, the development of HR plans needs to be carefully monitored. Failures in regard to one or more parts of these plans may set the firm’s position in its industry in risk. The principles on which organizational strategies are based are not common in organizations worldwide. However, it seems that certain organizational decisions are likely to be based on similar rules and criteria. Also, it has been proved that the success of organizational plans is depended on the ability of organizations to identify and evaluate appropriately employee needs. In this context, work values, moods and emotions are of critical importance for organizations in different industries. The role of work values, attitudes, moods and emotions in the development of organizational plans is highlighted in this paper. Reference is made to a specific company, the Wells Fargo Company, one of the most successful organizations in the greater Los Angeles area. The specific organization operates in the banking sector and is well known for its employee values. The specific organization is considered as one of the most successful for the American banking industry. The success of the organization has been highly related to one of its practices: work values, attitudes and emotions are highly taken into consideration when the key strategies of the organization are reviewed. Values, attitudes, moods and emotions are key elements of organizational strategies under the following term: the involvement of these elements in key strategic decisions is not standardized. This means that there are no specific rules imposing the use of the above elements in the development of an organization’s strategic policies. However, the use of these elements seems to increase the effectiveness of organizational plans, even in the long term. In order to understand the role of these elements in an organization’s strategies, it would be necessary to review their characteristics; then, the ways in which these elements can influence an organization’s strategic planning process would be made clear. The framework of values in the context of modern organizations is reflected in the following definition: ‘values are an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite mode of conduct’ (Gilliland, Steiner and Skarlicki 4). On the other hand, Williams (1993) note that work values should be described as the belief that every organizational task needs to be accomplished on time in accordance with the guidelines given. Moreover, Allison and Kaye (2005) support the view that values as an elements of organizational culture reflects the priorities of organization’s in regard to critical social and environmental issues, such as the protection of the environment, the support to the community and so on. At the next level, Niven (2011) notes that organizational values are quite important for the stabilization of the organizational performance; for this reason, it is suggested that regular changes on organizational values are avoided (Niven 2011). Rather, emphasis should be given on the development of a core framework of organizational values on which the organization’s aims and objectives would be based. Regarding the potential use of attitudes as elements of organizational culture, the following issues should be made clear: a) attitudes are related mostly to individuals and not to the organization, meaning that they are used for reflecting the perceptions of employees on various issues, referring both to the internal and the external organizational environment (Bratton and Gold 2001); the attitudes of individuals, as members of the organization can be also reflected to their reaction towards specific organizational policies, such as the level of rewarding, the terms of promotion and so on (Bratton and Gold 2001), b) the attitudes of individuals within organizations can be identified in the criteria which these individuals use for managing risk (Griffin and Moorhead 2011); for example, risk propensity shows the ‘level at which individuals are willing to accept risk’ (Griffin and Moorhead 71), c) attitudes can be closely related to job satisfaction, a view highlighted in the study of Brief (1998). In accordance with the above view, leaders in modern organizations can significantly influence the attitudes of employees if they promote specific organizational plans, as for instance the establishment of high rewarding based on performance or the provision of benefits related to the family of employees and so on. The role of emotion as an element of organizational strategy has been highly reviewed in the literature. In accordance with Ashkanasy and Cooper (2008) the use of emotions as a criterion for developing an organization’s critical strategic decisions may set organizational activities in risk. It is explained that emotions are not always proactive for organizations. For instance, agony and stress can negatively affect the development of an important organizational project. For this reason, it is suggested that the incorporation of emotions in organizational culture is carefully reviewed and evaluated. The above problem is also highlighted in the study of Zerbe (2010) where it is noted that ‘emotions in the workplace may be negative’ (Zerbe 2010) On the other hand, Fineman (2000) noted that the characteristics of feelings in the workplace are not the same as in the past. It is explained that feelings in the workplace are likely to be based on ‘the personal assessment of various facts’ (Fineman 48), resulting to the transformation of feelings to appraisal. Emotions are also likely to be used as the basis for the development of an organization’s strategic framework. The use of emotions when developing key organizational strategies is a common practice of firms worldwide. In fact, it seems that organizations are likely to take emotions into consideration while designing their HR plans aiming to improve communication and cooperation in the internal organizational environment. In accordance with Fineman (2003) emotional organizations are differentiated from other organizations at the following point: the former ‘set employees at the centre of the organization’ (Fineman 1). Moreover, emotional organizations are set emotion as the key criterion of interaction within the organization (Fineman 1), meaning also the interaction between employees and customers. When emotions are used for developing critical organizational policies, then the following phenomenon appears: ‘organizational departments grow and compete through feelings, as reflected in preferences and ambitions’ (Fineman 1). On the other hand, Hartel, Ashkanasy and Zerbe (2006) note that emotions, as part of the organization’s strategies, do not have a standard role. It is explained that the power of emotions to influence organizational strategies can be differentiated as a result of changes in the internal organizational environment or pressures from the organization’s external environment. Indeed, in case that the involvement of emotions in key organizational strategies is not accepted by a firm’s stakeholders, it is possible that the use of emotions for defining organizational policies is reviewed. As an example, if important changes are promoted within a particular organization the following phenomenon would appear: emotions would ‘converge from individual to a group level’ (Hartel, Ashkanasy and Zerbe 364). In this case, employees who ‘share common organizational culture’ (Hartel, Ashkanasy and Zerbe 364) would be able ‘to converge their emotions easier’ (Hartel, Ashkanasy and Zerbe 364) compared to employees who cannot perform well as members of a group. Through the above process, the organization can develop an emotional capability which would be significantly higher compared to that of the individuals/ members of the organization (Hartel, Ashkanasy and Zerbe 364). From this point of view, the assignment of tasks within organizations is critical in order for organtion’s target to be achieved. The role of emotions and values in influencing the organizational plans can be explained by using the relevant theory of Schein (1992); in accordance with the above theory, the characteristics of organizational culture are depended on: a) the beliefs and values of the organization’s leader, b) the experiences of organization’s members and c) the values and beliefs of new organization’s members’ (Humphrey 31). In other words, emotions and values can influence the organizational strategic framework at the level that they can affect organizational culture. The above view describes effectively the relationship between values, emotions and organizational strategy but it does not explain under which criteria the various sources of organizational culture, as described above, can participate in the design of organizational policies. In other words, is the level of participation of these sources in strategic planning standardized or under certain terms certain of these sources can be preferred as elements of organizational culture, influencing organizational strategy? In accordance with Schermerhorn (2011) the role of emotions and moods in the workplace seems to have two different aspects: at a first level, the emotions and moods of employees are likely to be influenced by the conditions of the internal and external organizational environment (Schermerhorn 2011). Further, the emotions and moods influence the job satisfaction and the employee performance (Schermerhorn 2011), establishing a relationship between emotions/ moods and the organizational performance. Towards this direction, Martin and Tesser (1996) noted that moods can influence employee performance in the following way: when the mood of an employee is negative, his ability to respond to the challenges of his tasks is reduced; as the mood of the particular employee is being changed his willingness to participate in the completion of his organization’s activities is increased (Martin and Tesser 1996). The importance of values, attitudes and emotions for the development of organizational performance is made clear in the case of Wells Fargo; the firm operates in the banking industry of US, based in the LA area. As revealed through the firm’s website, values and emotions are key elements of the organizational culture. This fact is identified through the following characteristics of the firm’s culture: a) one of the key requirements for an individual to enter the organization is talent, meaning the capabilities of the individual to respond to the needs of the organization. New employees are given the necessary training but their capabilities to respond to the challenges of a particular role are carefully checked in advance (Wells and Fargo, values 2012), b) the organization highly relies on the commitment and the responsibility of employees; indeed, the level at which employees are able to complete successfully the tasks assigned to them is evaluated in advance, as possible. At this point it is noted that the performance of new employees in the first period of their entrance in the organization is monitored aiming to check whether every new employee has understood the firm’s values (Wells and Fargo, values 2012), c) employees are considered to be precious members of the organization. In this way, it is assumed that emotions, moods and attitudes of employees are taken into consideration when developing the firm’s HR plans; also, it is assumed that the responses of employees to daily organizational activities are carefully reviewed aiming to identify the potential weaknesses of employees in completing a particular task so that appropriate support is provided (Wells and Fargo, values 2012), d) the level at which employees are motivated and ready to respond to daily organizational challenges is of critical importance when evaluating the contribution of employees in the realization of various organizational projects. In any case, it is clear that the organization highly emphasizes on the value of employees as members of the organization, a fact which is also revealed in the use of the term ‘team members’ instead of ‘employees’ when referring to individuals in various organizational departments, e) it should be noted that the organization supports the development of initiatives by employees; in fact, it is suggested that employees take prudent risks and support the truth (Wells and Fargo, values 2012), f) the ability of employees to evaluate the needs of customers and the efforts of employees to be aware of the firm’s performance are also highly appreciated by the organization’s leaders (Wells and Fargo, values 2012); the above characteristics of employees, as reflecting their attitudes are of key importance in order for them to secure their position as members of the organization (Wells and Fargo, values 2012). Since people are highly valued in Wells Fargo, in the context described above, it is assumed that the emotions and the attitudes of employees are taken into consideration when the firm’s critical policies are to be established. For this reason, the case of Wells Fargo is considered as an important example for proving the influence of values, attitudes, moods and emotions within modern organizations. The potentials of organizations to develop effective HR policies are depended on their ability to understand the needs of their employees and take measures for keeping the communication and cooperation across the organization at high levels. It seems that certain elements of the organizational strategy can highly affect employee performance. Reference is made specifically to the role of values, attitudes, moods and emotions as related to the development of the organizational performance. In Wells Fargo managers have developed an integrate framework in order to secure job satisfaction. Emphasis is given on the value of employees as members of the organization, and their contribution in the success of the organization, i.e. not just for completing specific organizational tasks but also to secure the competitiveness of the organization towards its rivals. The potentials of organizational leaders to define the terms under which values, attitudes and emotions will be incorporated in the organizational culture cannot be ignored. In any case, the promotion of values, attitudes, moods and emotions within organizations should not be considered as a threat in regard to the mode of control existing in each organization. Works Cited Allison, Michael and Jude, Kaye. Strategic planning for nonprofit organizations: a practical guide and workbook. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2005. Ashkanasy, Neal, and Cary, Cooper. Research companion to emotion in organizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008. Bratton, John and Jeffrey, Gold. Human resource management: theory and practice. London: Routledge, 2001. Brief, Arthur. Attitudes in and around organizations. London: SAGE, 1998. Fineman, Stephen. Understanding emotion at work. London: SAGE, 2003. Fineman, Stephen. Emotion in organizations. London: SAGE, 2000. Gilliland, Stephen, Steiner, Dirk & Daniel, Skarlicki. Emerging perspectives on values in organizations. Charlotte: IAP, 2003. Griffin, Ricky and Gregory, Moorhead. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. Belmont: Cengage Learning, 2011. Hartel, Charmine, Ashkanasy, Neal, and Wilfred, Zerbe. Emotions in Organizational Behavior. London: Routledge, 2006. Martin, Leonard, and Abraham, Tesser. Striving and feeling: interactions among goals, affect, and self-regulation. London: Routledge, 1996. Niven, Paul. Balanced Scorecard: Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. Schermerhorn, John. Organizational Behavior. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons, 2011. Wells Fargo and Company. 8 January 2012. . Williams, Lloyd. The congruence of people and organizations: healing dysfunction from the inside out. Cheltenham: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1993. Zerbe, Wilfred. Emotions and Organizational Dynamism. Cheltenham: Emerald Group Publishing, 2010. Read More