Organizational Behavior: Definition, Importance - Term Paper Example

Organizational Behavior Name Professor Date Introduction Countries are undergoing dramatic and increasing economic transformation. Balnave, Brown, Maconachie & Stone argue that jobs which once offered employment on a lifetime basis have currently become uncommon, replaced by occupations with high turnover, unequal pay and few fringe benefits1. The manufacturing jobs are waning, whilst temporary jobs and service sector are growing. The countries’ workforce are changing in numerous ways. Employment among women is rising, and working ladies frequently provide the support for their households or operate on a part-time basis while meeting family roles2. Abrahamson postulates Africans, Americans, Latinos, Spanish and other individuals from other races account for an increasing share of the labor force and normally work harder for incomes and fringe benefits not enough to support their households. In a business environment of sweeping globalization, rapid technological advancement, and emphasis on the corporate culture and job insecurity is extensive3. Based on the factors such as 24-hour economy, globalization, technology, and generational change, this essay describes how the workforce is changing and provides two consequences of these changes for organizations. The essays also analyses why emotional labor an issue for employee in the fast paced service industries. Changing workforce Globalization trends are prompting workforce to be more adaptable and flexible. The current crop of employees who are operating in globalized business environment among cultural diverse labor market must now have to be multilingual4. On the part of the managers, it has become very complex to manage workforce, because the environment is totally different from 50 years ago. Managers have to ensure that, employees they are taking to work in other countries are able to adopt in that culture and provide good results at the end of the day. Therefore, the organization, guided by the manager has to conduct thorough training to enable the employees to be familiar with the environment and the culture they are going to work. Despite of training, the employees sometimes still find it difficult to cope. According to Hosfted, countries normally have different cultural dimensions; as such employees are likely to face cultural differences5. Employees are likely to face communication problems, stereotypes and discrimination. The diversity movement, according to management experts, discrimination has the possibility of polarizing the social groups and harms its productivity whilst breeding resentment and cynicism, increasing intergroup tensions and conflicts, and decreasing efficiency, which is contrary to what managing workforce diversity is supposed to achieve6. All these might be as a result of less motivation employees get when their culture is not respected and stereotyped. Discrimination and stereotypes lead to emotional imbalance and bad attitude towards individuals and work. The challenge hence is manager to manage the conflicts arise between the dominant and the minority group. If appropriately managed, the organization can realize the benefits of globalization of creating brand awareness and maximizing profit. Apart from good management, employees require to acknowledge the value and appreciate diversity before they can benefit from it. Competition has changed the nature of the economy and most organizations now operate on a 24-hour basis to have a market advantage. This has resulted in longer hours of working thus leading to intense stress. Individuals are overburdened by the careers that are demanding, a slow economic growth and demanding families among others. Pedersen & Lewis postulate that, currently, there are tight deadlines owing to stiff competition and the workforce’ responsibility is not just to meet the set deadline but also to present a quality product or service7. This has left employees with limited time for family time and leisure, hence resulting to increased stress. Times have changed when women were required to remain at home and do house chores. As such, several women are getting into labor market. However, it must be noted it is them who are highly affected by 24-hour economy compared to men. This is because women face an intense schedule both at home and at the organization. Pedersen & Lewis posit that back in their offices, their employers require them to devote their time and work for longer hours to offer services which as a result affect them personally and results to work-life imbalance8. The overloads, pressures and work demands bring the question of work commitment and organizational performance. DelCampo asserts that in an organization where the employees work for longer hours continuously will get stressed up leading to illnesses such as hypertension, depression, headaches, etc. Also stress can lead to absents, low work performance, moodiness, poor decisions, burnout and emotional fatigue9. To reduce stress and improve motivation among employees, the manager must create Work-life balance in the organization. Work-life balance can be achieved through the introduction of flexible work practices such as flexi-time, working from home and job sharing among others10. Managers ought to understand that employees are an important asset of the organizations and hence it is vital that their happiness is offered the first priority. Today, the world has become a global village, and the employees are now more informed than before. This factor can be attributed to information technology advancement. Since the information is widespread, it has become difficult to infringe the right of an employee. The employees are also informed of the salary scale, making it hard to exploit them. Wesolowski claims those days of making an outstanding first impression while delivering an application letter in-person are gone. The focus on online applications, emailing and online job-searching has turned out to be the dominant method for most job-seekers and the management11. Such kind of trend has both positive and negative aspects which control a prospective and the fate an employee and employer's business. For potential employees, they can gather the information concerning a company of which to use to apply for the job. Technology is also of advantage to the employer because they are able to access more potential employees. Wesolowski argues that the job-seekers in the current market have the information, hence is choosy just as the organization who wants to employ them12. The shortcoming of these hiring and selection practices for organization and employee is that the qualified applicant for a particular job might normally get sidestepped when such stringent search conditions are employed. Technology has also changed how an organization manages their employees. Management does not need to meet employees quite often to inform them of a project. Technology has provided an efficient and effective communication channel where the manager can articulate their issues. Martin contends that rise in the number of baby boomers and millennials has changed the nature of management. Research indicates that today, baby boomers are the largest group of active employees13. Research also demonstrates that baby boomers stand out for their strengths as organizational optimism, memory and their motivation to work for longer hours. This group of employees grew up in during corporate hierarchies, as opposed to flat organization structures and teamwork-oriented job functions which are currently adopted. However, this generation is slowly exiting the market while millennials are taking over. Millennials have a considerably different view on what they anticipate from the employment experience. They are difficult to manage since they are technological skilled, well educated, and self-confident, have the capability to multi-task, and also has a lot of energy14. Millennials have higher expectations and fancy working in team settings, as opposed to individuals. They seek for challenges, yet work-life balance is of greatest significance to them. They want instant results and quick advancement in the career ladder, a situation which could be viewed as weakness by baby boomers. Modes of communication also pose challenges between these different generations. Wesolowski argues that baby boomers mostly value face-to-face mode of communication, and do not have problem going to another office to ask a coworker a question15. The millennials, on the other hand, prefer instant messaging and e-mailing. However, these changes have had several consequences for organizations. As mentioned earlier, working in these times of technology and globalization has resulted in a multicultural and flexible workforce. On the other hand, generational change has resulted to new ideas. Schott affirms that multicultural and flexible workforce has a positive impact to the organization because they provide an opportunity for the company to enter into new markets and be able to satisfy the needs of that market16. Multiculturalism also brings unique talents into the organization which in turns increases creativity and innovation. Employees who come from a different culture bring on board some unique experiences, diverse skills and knowledge which vastly benefit the organization by enhancing their receptiveness and productivity. Even though, some experts claim that millennial generation is lazy, this group of employees has brought new ideas into the organization. They are creative, well education and technology savvy17. Their grasp of technology can now be used to the advantage of the organization. DelCampo claims that technology can be used in production, marketing and sales. In the current competitive environment, specialization is not just enough; employers are now want employees who can multitask and get things done quickly18. This attribute is mainly found in millennial generation. It is also argued that this generation prefers working in teams; this is beneficial to a business which wants to encourage creativity and improve the speed of delivery. Why emotional labor an issue for employee in the fast paced service industries According to Glomb, Kammeyer-Mueller & Rotundo the business world is really changing so fast that most companies have to conduct training so as to keep with the pace19. One of such fast paced industries is the service sector. The customer behavior and needs are changing and if companies do not change, they could be phased out. As such, companies are employing employees who are adaptive and can serve a customer with a desire and respect. For such reasons, most employers now want to gauge the emotional labor of the candidates during hiring. Wilk & Moynihan state that emotional labor is a job requirement in which employees are expected to demonstrate required emotions towards a customer during interpersonal transaction20. However, some still find the pace too fast. Customer on the other hand does not care whether your customer service officers understand what they want or not21. What they want is that their needs are met. Such reasons have made emotional labor to be an issue for employee in the fast paced service industries. According to Earley, Ang, and Tan Pressure, workloads, and job demands have led to stress on employees. Also back at home, family is expecting you to meet the family roles22. Due to all the pressure, it is very difficult to strike a balance between job demands and family roles. This kind of situation has led to negative emotions at work. Wilk & Moynihan claim that the statement justifies the fact that occupational, organizational and societal norms determine emotional labor or lack of it. In fact, empirical research shows that in usually busy service organization, employees tend to show negative emotions due to stress and depression. Emotions are also an inner thing which is linked to a personality of a person. Some people are just “slow” based on their personality. When such people find themselves in a fast-paced service industry where organizations are competing for profits, they find it hard to cope23. Therefore, such pace triggers his emotions; in this case it is the negative emotions. Managers could see such employees as rude because they tend to show their emotions through their voice, gesture, facial expressions and body movements. Emotional labor is an issue for employee in the fast paced service industry because of tight supervision and strict organization rules24. Some employees with emotional problems would perceive supervision and rules to be too much. Hence, they will become frustrated with the work leading to bad attitude and negative emotions towards customers, workmates and management. Managers ought to have emotional intelligence and coach these employees on ways to cope25. Conclusion Globalization and technology are increasingly changing the world and the employees the manager are dealing with. As the most important asset in the organization, the managers must accept the situation as it is and try to take advantage of it. However, they must not pressure and push employee so as to gain the market. Creating work-life balance through flexi-time, working from home and job sharing among others, can help managers rise a happy and motivated workforce. Bibliography Abrahamson, E. Change without Pain. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2004. Amy, Glass. Understanding generational differences for competitive success", Industrial and Commercial Training 39 no. 2 (2007): 98–103 Balnave, N, Brown, J, Maconachie, G & Stone, R, Employment relations in Australia, 2nd edn, John Wiley & Sons, Australia, 2009 Carolyn, Martin. "From high maintenance to high productivity: What managers need to know about Generation Y". Industrial and Commercial Training 37 no. 1 (2005): 39 - 44 Eikhof, D, Warhurst, C & Haunschild. Introduction: What work? What life? What balance? Critical reflections on the work-life balance debate, Employee Relations 29, no. 4 (2007): 325-333. Earley, P.C., Soon Ang, and Joo-Seng Tan. Developing Cultural Intelligence in the Workplace. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005. Glomb, T.M.; Kammeyer-Mueller, J.; Rotundo, M. "Emotional Labor Demands and Compensating Wage Differentials". Journal of Applied Psychology 89 (2004): 700-714. Liz, Schott. Changing Workforce, Changing Economy: State Unemployment Insurance Reforms for the 21st Century. National Employment Law Project, New York, NY 10038, 2004. Pedersen, V & Lewis, S. Flexible friends? Flexible working time arrangements, blurred work-life boundaries and friendship, Work, Employment & Society 26, no. 3 (2012): 464- 48. Peter, Wesolowski. "Melding a multi-generational workforce: Communication technology is part of the problem – and the solution". Human Resource Management International Digest 22, No. 2, (2014): 33–35. Robert, DelCampo. “Managing the Multigenerational Workforce: From the GI Generation to the Millennials". Human Resource Management International Digest, 20 no. 2 (2012): 23-45. Wilk, S.L, & Moynihan, L.M. "Display rule "regulators": The relationship between supervisors and workers emotional exhaustion". Academy of Management Journal 44 no.5 (2005): 1018-1027. Read More