Strategic Implications of Organizational Behaviour for the Telecommunication Industry - Coursework Example

Organisational Culture Name University Name Introduction As modern and contemporary organizations and institutions respectively strive to remain unique, viable and relevant and seeks to enhance their sustainable competitive advantage, developing and establishing a strong and a healthy culture is among the effective ways they can do so. By establishing an effective and productive organizational culture, they are able to attract and retain quality internal and external environments which are essential in effective and efficient satisfaction of the changing needs and demands of the customer and increasing the market share, vital in enhancing profitability. Organizational culture refers to particular assortment of ideals, principles, traditions, customs, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and norms that are shared and is the common factor linking a group of people or stakeholders in an organization that influences their conduct, their interactions with each other and their correlation with the external environment outside the firm (Martin & Fellenz, 2010). Organizational culture defines a firm or the people that work in it and constitutes the psychological assumptions that facilitate interpretation and actions in a firm by establishing suitable organizational behaviour for different circumstances as described by (Knights & Willmott, 2006). Organizational culture initiates organizational behaviour. Organizational behaviour entails the identification, comprehension, prediction and management of human conduct within the firm’s environment as defined by (Martin & Fellenz, 2010). The organization behaviour of a firm is heavily influenced by the choices made by the top level management on varied issues and the existing environment of the organization. Choices made include business strategic plans, organisational design and structure, methods and techniques of selecting and recruiting new personnel, methods of promotion and general conduct of management team in executing their mandate as highlighted by (Miner, 2007). Since organizational culture and organizational are interrelated and vital to the success of a firm, this report seeks to explicitly analyze the implications of organizational behaviour on the telecommunication industry. Strategic implications of organizational behaviour for the telecommunication industry The organizational behaviour existing in a successful organizational is partly owing to the existing culture. More often that not, the organizational behaviour of the employees in a firm is greatly reliant on the conduct encouraged and promoted by the top level management and the existing culture, since culture influences what type of behaviour is sustainable while behaviour supports the existing culture as noted by (Knights & Willmott, 2006). The telecommunication industry is a rapidly growing and advancing one, which plays a very significant role in the global economy, generating more than three trillion US dollars with expectations being that the service revenues within the industry will reach three trillion US dollars by 2013 (Madden, 2003). The telecommunication industry encompasses activities and services of electronic systems for conveying messages through the telephones, internet, broadband, radio, cables, television and more recently transmission of voice and signals over wireless systems through fibre optic cables and mobile networks as indicated by (Madden, 2003). Just as in any other industry, the organization behaviour in the telecommunication industry is essential in ensuring the internal stakeholders are in sync and are able to effectively and efficiently produce technologically advanced products and services that meet the changing tastes, preferences, needs and expectations of the global consumer. Since telecommunication industry is a highly competitive one, establishing a healthy and productive organizational culture and behaviour is imperative for improving performance, attracting a larger market share, enhancing the competitive edge and ensuring business sustainability as suggested by (Martin & Fellenz, 2010). Organizational behaviour within the telecommunication industry has played an important role in helping grow and develop competences, eliminating unproductive behaviours that may hinder success and damage relationships within various organizational structures and promote essential elements such as replicability, sustainability and objectivity which helps in ensuring the anticipated mission, goals and objectives of the industry are effectively and efficiently achieved as supported by (Knights & Willmott, 2006). Through organizational behaviour, the industry has been able to adequately identify appropriate conduct, ideals, principles and attitudes that are able to help employees perform better, produce more, be more creative and ensure the industry’s sustainability is achieved. By instilling the right and suitable organizational behaviour, the telecommunication industry has been able to successfully stimulate, facilitate and co-ordinate change which is the underlying factor that promotes sustainability within the industry. This is because; change management is not an option for the industry where technology plays the greatest role. Being able to be flexible and easily adaptable to change has seen the telecommunication industry counter stiff global market competition and turbulent market environments that are coupled with shifting political, social, technological, legal, environmental, financial and economical forces. Business needs within telecommunication industry and opportunities for organizational behaviour Among varied business needs that exists within the telecommunication industry includes the need to easily and efficiently adapt to change to be able to remain relevant and feasible in changing market environments and the need for creativity and innovation as a means to enhance sustainability, effectively meet the changing needs of the global customer and produce better, unique, inimitable and hard to substitute products and services as highlighted by (Madden, 2003). The other business needs within the telecommunication industry include the need for sustainability since, rapidly developing technologies and shifting market forces can easily put an industry out of business and make it economically unviable. The fourth business need within the telecommunication industry is the need to effectively and sufficiently counter increasing global competition. Stiff competition has shifted the bargaining power to the consumer, has resulted in rapid drops in prices and it has made it difficult to successfully increase the market share and accrue high profitability for telecommunication firms (Madden, 2003). Stiff competition and sometimes unfair competition has resulted in varied telecommunication businesses and firms register losses or to go out of business. These business needs within the telecommunication industry can effectively and competently be met by establishment of positive and productive organizational behaviour. This is because, productive and positive organizational behaviours within telecommunication industry will proficiently improve the ways the industry operates, manages and handles its internal environment such as investors, employees and shareholders, manage conflicts in the workplace, treats its external environment comprising of the suppliers, marketers, community and customers among others as discussed by (Knights & Willmott, 2006). Through positive organizational behaviour, the industry will understand how better to allow autonomy and liberty in making decisions, generating and sharing new ideas and perspectives and personal expression along and across the industry’s organizational culture. In addition, the industry will effectively be able to share power across and along organizational structures, improve knowledge sharing and information flow to enhance communication and innovation as mentioned by (Martin & Fellenz, 2010). Through positive organizational behaviour, the industry will be in a better position to enhance employee dedication and commitment in working towards a common goal and objective as suggested by (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). Strategic implications of organizational behaviour to industries such as the telecommunication industry are many and encompass among other things developing the right image and reputation a business or an industry has (Srivastava, 2005). An industry that is reputed for production of high quality products, take their corporate social responsibility seriously and who treats its internal and external environment with respect, fairness, care and dignity, is more likely to attract the best and valuable employee and retain them, have a workforce that is committed to collective goals and ensure the needs and demands of its target market are effectively met and in good time as highlighted by (Black, 2003). Through organizational behaviour, the telecommunications industry is able to develop the right work related attitudes within its workforce, which is vital in inspiring and motivating them. A motivated workforce have positive outlook of the duties and tasks assigned to them, they help each where they can and they above all are willing to fully exploit their best potentials to ensure individual and corporate goals and objectives and attained (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). Positive organizational behaviour cultivates team work, enhances flow of communication and work processes, allows the labour forces the freedom to grow and fail, cultivates creativity, improves decision making processes and helps in resolving work related conflicts and helps in solving problems as highlighted by (Nelson & Qucik, 2007). According to (Champoux, 2010), organization behaviour ensures the right employees is selected and recruited regardless of their race, colour, religion, culture, social status, language and ethnicity among others, they are hired for the right job position and at the right cost. In addition, an industry as big as the telecommunication industry is able to foster effective change management, offer better leadership and management, enhance innovation, solve industrial challenges effectively and efficiently and make the right decisions and thus, improve performance, productivity and attract a larger market share as suggested by (Griffin & Moorhead, 2009). Telecommunication industry can benefit from increased performance and accountability, increased job satisfaction and teamwork, enhanced dedication and commitment by employees and enhanced employee personal growth and development that comes with establishment of positive organizational behaviour as noted by (Madden, 2003). Implications (both opportunities and challenges) that organizational behaviour have on the telecommunication industry Nevertheless, enhancing positive organizational behaviour within the telecommunication industry is easier said than done. Positive organizational behaviour requires effective leadership and management systems that encourage employee integration and eliminate boundaries among varied organizational structures (Bloisi, et al., 2007). This is particularly difficult to do owing to leaders and managers and other stakeholders within the industry who are unwilling to share power, consult others, adopt ideas generated by lower level employees and who are not willing to challenge the status quo. In addition, existing organizational culture and ethics are a great impediment to adopting the right organization behaviour since culture is deep-rooted and it is among the difficult organizational systems to change as discussed by (Srivastava, 2005). Organizational behaviour cannot thrive in an industry whose organizational culture constituting of ethics, ideals, beliefs, principles, norms and attitudes are not aligned to it properly or existent of cultural elements and factors that does not encourage the anticipated behaviour. Positive organizational behaviour within the telecommunication industry may be a difficult process to accomplish owing to resistance by the industry’s stakeholders to adapt and be flexible to change. This is coupled by their unwillingness to completely alter the existing systems, structures and processes to ensure the required change is effectively implemented (Black, 2003). Due to the impact of globalization, developing and implementing similar organizational behaviours in firms operating within the telecommunication industry becomes hard to do owing to cultural differences and the fact that different people from different regions of the globe perceive varied situations differently and thus, react and act in the situations differently. This makes adopting similar organizational behaviour within the telecommunication industry difficult to do. This initiates inconsistency within the industry. Be it as it may, there are numerous opportunities that organizational behaviour has in positively impacting on the telecommunication industry. This includes development of standard policies and guidelines guiding the actions and operations of the firms within the industry to ensure they adhere to quality production, adherence to applicable local and international laws and ensuring that each firm is accountable in developing a conducive environment. This fosters motivation, enhanced performance, satisfaction, safety, security, commitment and healthy interrelations for both the internal and external environments of the industry as highlighted by (Srivastava, 2005). Developing a healthy organizational culture that encourages communication and information flow, encouraging personal growth and development, enhancing teamwork, promoting effective leadership and management, distributing power and fostering active participation in decision making and problem solving processes are among ways positive organizational behaviour can be developed within the telecommunication industry. Such positive organizational behaviour will help in improving creativity and innovation, enhancing the industry’s capacity to adapt to market and environmental changes, promoting sustainability and helping the industry in countering stiff market competition as indicated by (Champoux, 2010). Through positive organizational behaviour and culture, the telecommunication industry will be able to improve its competitive advantage through creativity and customer service, improve consistency and performance by employees, increase team cohesiveness, enhance employee satisfaction and motivation and be able to strongly align itself towards achieving anticipated outcomes and meeting identified business needs (Madden, 2003). Presently, the existing organization behaviour within the telecommunication industry is characterized by a culture where creativity and innovation is encouraged, teamwork and individual accountability is needed to ensure that the industry is able to develop and implement strategies that are not only sustainable but also, that helps to produce updated products and services that meet the demands, needs, expectations and preferences of the modern global customer. This has seen the industry adopt emerging technologies such as the satellite, smart mobile networks and fibre optic cables to enhance innovation, increase efficiency and ensure globalization is not halted. This has made the industry sustainable, economically feasible, and competitive and sustains its position as among the leading global industries. Conclusion Organizational behaviour entails the identification, comprehension, prediction and management of human conduct within the firm’s environment. The organizational behaviour adopted in a certain industry or firm is greatly influenced by the values, beliefs, principles, attitudes, perceptions, traditions and customs held by the stakeholders within the industry or firm. Organizational behaviour is directly influenced by organizational culture and vice versa. The report has analyzed the strategic implications that organizational behaviour has on the telecommunication industry by indentifying the industry’s business needs that offer opportunities to organizational behaviour and the implications (both opportunities and challenges) organizational behaviour has on the industry. References Black, R. J. (2003). Organizational culture: Creating the influence needed for strategic success. London: Universal-Publishers. Bloisi, W., Cook, C.W. & Hunsaker, P.L. (2007). Management and organisational behaviour. New Jersey: McGraw-Hill Education. Champoux, J. (2010). Organizational behaviour: Integrating individuals, groups, and organizations. New York: Taylor & Francis. Griffin, R.W., & Moorhead, G. (2009). Organizational behaviour: Managing people and organizations. London: Cengage Learning. Knights, D., & Willmott, H. (2006). Introducing organisational behaviour and management, 4th Ed. London: Cengage Learning EMEA. Madden, G. (2003). 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