Theories of Leadership, Organizational Change, Communication Problems - Coursework Example

Organizational Change Task: Organizational Change Introduction The organization behavior can be analyzed to identify a problem, determine its cause and develop procedures on how to solve the problem. Conception of ideas, leadership skills and organizational change constitutes among the very fundamental aspects that can be looked at for an efficient solution to be achieved. Communication is one major problem that is experienced in most organizations and can be solved using various aspects in management including leadership, perception and organizational change. Setting targets that are achievable without straining can ease communication failure; this is according to (Mirza 3003). Communication problems accounts Communication refers to passing of information and getting appropriate feedback in the process. In case of communication problems, the information may not reach the intended individual or there maybe feedback failure. In other words, the recipient might fail to understand the sender or might misinterpret the message thus cause poor responses or inappropriate feedbacks. These are often experienced in various organizations and thus have effects on the effectiveness and the overall performance of the organization. My experience with the communication problem in an organization was in a milk-producing firm that had several branches, employees and managers. There was a massive communication problem between managers, the workers, the managers, and other managers. This had tremendous effect in the flow of information thus causing several negative consequences in the overall performances. The major causes of communication problems were due to many reasons including people were not aligned with the mission or vision of the organization, lack of understanding on what managers were trying to achieve. People had poor work habits, indiscipline among people about timeliness; people were not responsible for performance networking, people in the organization required micro-management. Due to the communication problems, various actions and reactions were evident among people in the organization. These symptoms included: reduced or no level of communication among the members, improper planning or increased workload, lateness that was repetitive and rampant, low quality of work, poor working atmosphere due to people lacking accommodating personality. Perception in solving communication problem in an organization Perception maybe defined as procedural way in which people put in order and make interpretations of their sensory impressions. This is meant to give reflection to their surroundings. It is an important in ensuring that people’s behaviors is kept on check. This is because; the manner in which people carry out themselves depends on their perception on issues or ideas. Thus, managers and employees may differ in perception thus without communication. It may be difficult to bring the different parties into consensus. Perception can be influenced by various factors including: Target, perceiver and situation The target must be efficiently established to enable the right perception of an idea. The perceiver must have the right attitude, on ill motives, sufficient experience, realistic expectations and high interest in the idea at hand. Various situations influence perception; this is basically the context of the idea. Attribution theory: This theory looks into the manner in which individuals interprets events, in relation to their thinking and behavior. The assumption here is that individuals try to determine why people act as they act. An individual can make to attributions. These may be either internal or external attributions. In internal attributions, the behavior is under personal control of the person, while, in external, it is due to the outside causes. It has been argued, determining the attribution may help in determining and solving the problem of communication. Thus the organization ought to have determined it. For instance, the employees who were making various mistakes could have been doing it intentionally (Rajul 2006). Interpretative factors: Individuals’ behavior in the organization can be classified into various interpretations. These may include distinctiveness, consensus and consistency. Distinctiveness refers to the showing of different behavior under different situations. The problem of communication, therefore, could be analyzed, if, in case, it was usual and the attribution factors determined weather internal or external. Consensus, on the other hand, refers to weather the response is similar to others. Uniformity in the communication problem and incase was high, then it was attributed by external factors and vice versa. Lastly, the interpretive factor of consistency, which refers to prolonged response in the same manner, should have been determined to help solve the problem. Judging others from the surface Selective perception-people may selectively interpret what they view basing on their experience, interest, background and their attitude. Halo effect-drawing general impression about people based on single characteristics. It is suggested that, stereo typing-judging individuals based on the association with particular groups that they belong to. Projection- this involves attributing one’s own attributions to other people (Kanigel 1997). All the above shortcuts can be applied in the organization in order to solve communication problem in various ways including evaluation of communication effectiveness, contribution of employees to the communication system and performances. Leadership This refers to the process of having influence on the behavior of the workers to do their work willingly and enthusiastically to realize the predetermined goals. This is distinct from management, which is planning, staffing, organizing, directing and controlling an organization to achieve the determined goals. Rajul (2006) argues that the manager and leader do distinct things that go hand in hand. The managers do planning and budgeting while the leaders do work on vision and direction. The leaders do also align, motivate and inspire the workers. Leadership is a personal quality. It involves the formation of a group of followers without coercion but voluntarily. The effectiveness of leadership is described or explicated in the manner, in which the variables of a situation is handled or contained. A group of individuals, therefore, must accept the leader, as a head. For this to be true there must be communication between the group and the leader according to (Fayyaz, Nazir &Javid 2008). The major importance of leadership includes motivating the employees, building of morale, confidence creation, facilitation of change, setting of goals, and representing the organization. In order for the organization’s employees to realize all these importance of the leader, there must be efficient communication between the group and the leader. Theories of leadership Charismatic leadership theory This is also referred to as the great man theory. It has been argued in this theory that, the charismatic leaders inspire their followers and have an impact on the organization through their personal energy and vision. (Cole 2001). Their qualities may include high levels of self-confidence, dominance, communication of their vision and strong conviction. Trait leadership theory This quality may be relatively enduring and may include sergency, will, dominance, sociability, intelligence, physical and constitutional leadership characters. Traits maybe acquired or innate. Innate characteristic maybe referred to traits that are acquired since birth, and encompasses the physical features and intelligence. Ian (2009) suggests that, acquirable qualities can be gained and increased through various processes. These include skills such as communication skills among others. Behavioral leadership theory It emphasizes that the role of the leader should be effective to enable strong leadership. Functional behavior influences the members of the organization positively while the opposite is true for the dysfunctional behavior. Situational leadership Was known to have been applied by the German armed forces. The leader’s effectiveness is determined with the factors associated with the leader and situational factors. Transformational leadership These leaders create a vision for their organization, inspires the organization members to oversee their interest and do their best to realize extraordinary results Transactional leadership Classifies the task requirements of every individual thus motivating them. Trust, ethics, and leadership go hand in hand. A leader may gain trust of the followers through competence, honesty and benevolence. This may encourage risk taking, enhance productivity and enable the formation of effective groups. Comparison between Ohio university studies and university of Michigan studies According to Ohio state university, initiating structure and consideration are adopted. While in the University of Michigan, the production orientation and employee orientation. The initiating structure involves the length by which the leaders have a likelihood of defining and structuring the specified roles of the employees and other managers in the organization. In ensuring this, the structure looks deeply into following of rules, procedural processes, maximizing and maintenance of the performance standards, precisely defining the role of employees and beating of the set deadlines. In consideration, relationship is more emphasized on. This structure is more approachable, close and also friendly and equitable. A leader has all the freedom to adopt both the consideration and initiating structure to maximize on the quality of leadership. The study of Ohio state studies has been supported by various research findings as high level of performance and satisfaction being realized most of the time. Increase in negative behavior realized by employees may lower the performance. In the University of Michigan, employee-orientation and production orientation are the major considerations. The job/ production oriented put much emphasis on the technical aspects of the job. It, however, has been found out that the system is associated with general low performance. The employee oriented system emphasizes on the human needs of the employees in the organization. This is always associated with the high levels of job satisfaction and organizations productivity. Management grid In the management process, managers may choose to look more into the concern of the workers, but not much on the production concerns thus termed task management. People are considered a commodity just like machines. If both the people and production concern are low, then it is termed an impoverished management and does not work for any organization. In case of a balanced consideration of both the people and production concerns, it is considered a dampened pendulum. It works well for most organizations. In case, the concern of the people and production are considered to high levels, it is termed team management and the production is achieved from the merger of work and human requirements. Another case is whereby the management looks more into the production concerns than the people’s concern and termed country club management. Various management models are available for adoption by organizations. These include the fielder’s contingency model whereby contingency characteristics affect the leader’s behavior, which intern affects the employee’s behavior that also determines the contingency characteristics as suggested by (Reddy 2004). Hersey and Blanchard’s theory in which the contingency is represented by the follower’s maturity the situational model in this theory depends on the follower’s readiness. The major implications are that the leader must check on the readiness and maturity of the employees. The style of leadership should also change as per situations. The leaders in the organization could have adapted some of the management skills and leadership models discussed above in order to curb the communication problem. The leaders should adapt acceptable structures, traits and behavior for communication to be enhanced and enable performance of the organization. Organizational change This affects other facets in the organization. It may be compelled to change due to various reasons including change in technology, market situation, and economic pressure, social and political factors. Dereck (2008) suggests that there may be other factors resulting from pressure from internal environment such as changes in management, performance, innovation, and deficiencies in the existing systems. Various factors may give rise to change resistance, these maybe: insecurity, possible social loss, economic losses, inconveniences, resentment of control, union opposition, unanticipated repercussions among others. Communication is one way of dealing with resistance to change. Giving information in advance and providing the reasons for the change can help solve the problem. Other tactics includes identifying and involving individuals affected by the change, identifying and selection of the best overall strategy, drawing of an implementation of detailed plans, review and evaluation of the change. Team building and sensitivity training techniques may implement these changes. After identifying that the communication problem was due to resistance to change, the organization ought to adopt professional methods of introducing and implementing change. Conclusion Communication is an important tool in the organization management. From good communication, the organizations may reap benefits such as improved performance, good working culture, personal effectiveness in the management positions, collaboration that makes implementation of change easier and ease in management and holding of meetings as suggested by (Wick 1979). Understanding is one aspect that should be manifested in the communication this ranges from different roles and assigned responsibility in teamwork. Closure, a sense of accomplishment of the past should be kept in play and a feel of satisfaction within the organization. Performance, this should be at every level and done without compulsion by any other person. Training of personnel, published materials or other group sharing methods can be used to improve communication in an organization. References Fayyaz, A, Nazir, A G & Javid A D 2008, Organizational Behavior Atlantic Publishers & Dist, Reddy, RJ, 2004, Organizational Behavior, New Delhi Derek, R 2008, Organizational Behavior and Analysis: An Integrated Approach, FT Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Mirza, S S 2003, Organizational Behavior, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New Delhi Cole, G A 2001, Organizational Behavior, Cengage Learning EMEA, UK. Ian, B 2009, Organizational Behavior: Individuals, Groups and Organization, Prentice Hall/Financial Times, New Jersey. Rajul, D 2006, Organizational Behavior, Krishna Prakashan, Meerut. Robbins, S P 2004, Organizational Behavior - Concepts, Controversies, Applications, 4th Ed. Prentice Hall New Jersey. Kanigel, R 1997. The One Best Way, Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency, Brown and Co, London. Weick, K E 1979, the Social Psychology of Organizing 2nd Ed, McGraw Hill, New York. Read More