The Process of Developing Interpersonal Behavior - Example

Introduction Effective communication in an organization develops good interpersonal behavior among workers as well as mangers at every level of management. It also defines organizational culture which will in turn determine the success of the union in achieving the set core objectives that drives towards the main goal. Variables like personality of the communicating parties and the nature of origin of the information typically influence organizational communication. Personality is developed from feelings and perceptions of the either the sender or the receiver. On the other side, the information being passed travels through a series of filters that may account to addition or subtraction. In the long run, managers and workers within the organization will engender different assumptions in the process of developing interpersonal behavior. They argue that people within the organization are rational, theories of communication rest on the formal logic of insights, communication is an involuntary process and organizations acts as vacuum in which communication takes place. In scientific management, Henri Fayol (1916) is much endorsed by having proposed prime work of managers (planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling) that govern the lines of communication within an organization (Stewart and Dunkerley, 1980). Later down the line, Mintzberg (1998) synthesizes these roles and thus describe managers’ set of interpersonal behaviors. For instance, there are communication behaviors that need to be in categorized when it comes to signing of legal documents between the boss and the client or the secretary and behaviors allied to presiding at different meetings in the organization. Thus if the organization do not understand interpersonal behaviors of the workers within the culture, it may lead to stress, poor performance, non-effective managerial decisions and devaluing other job related behaviors. The theory of Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (Schutz, 2005) seems to organize the aspects of inclusion, power and sincerity in building good interpersonal behavior while developing effective communication in work organization. The theory states that these aspects are only contented during human interaction. Weick (1969) presented that interpersonal behavior in work organization provide vital insights in analyzing characteristics of good leadership, cooperation among workers and managers, communication and decision making in the organization. Thus, this figure out how organization adopts new strategies for effective communication that will make the enterprise more successful. I. Description of scenario Effective communication in work organization is observed from the following project management scenario in health care. NYEWASCO is a health care projects that aims at treating water to be used at hospitals around the city. Richard, 40 years, is a team leader for the project. He is very sociable, project oriented, guided by philosophy of the organization as well as authoritative. Jane is 29 years old. She is customer service assistance (deputy manager-production). She is very polite, friendly and kind. Weldon is 35 years of age. He is placed in the position purchasing officer. He is experience and informal leader who can work under partial supervision. Catherine is 23 years of age acting in the position of information manager. She is inexperience but she can learn very fast. She is outgoing person and chatty too. These statements are represented in the table below. Table showing different leaders in their respective positions in the organization Person Sex Age Position Character Richard male 40 manager Sociable, Authoritative Jane female 29 Assistant manager-production Polite, friendly kind Weldon male 35 Purchasing officer experience and informal leader Catherine female 26 information manager outgoing person and chatty too Within the organization, there is a need of procurement of new facilities into the system since the old ones are not serving well in the system. Jane, who is serving as the deputy manager in production unit of the project delivers a request later from maintenance department asking for procurement of new equipments. She delivers the later to Weldon who is purchasing officer in the project so as to present it to Richard, the manager of the project before the acquisition of the equipment. Catherine (information manager) provides full insights of the project within the parameters of the requirements of needs. This is a scenario that analyses interpersonal traits of every worker in the organization. Without effective communication at every level of the channel, it will be harder to deliver the right requirement to the maintenance team in the organization. Ultimately, there should be agreements of interpersonal behaviors among these leaders in order to procure the right facility. II. Description of theories and analysis I used two theories of interpersonal behavior in analysis of the scenario: a) Theory of Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation by Schutz which integrates the three basic elements of inclusion, control and affection. The theory states that for any interaction existing between the individuals in an organization, there exist central part areas of experience (inclusion, control and affection). Inclusion defines work organization interaction with the environment that gives qualities which will make an organization contain a sense of being there in the market place (Anna-Maria Garden, 2000). As defined by Mintzberg (1975), organization is a social group of individuals with different personalities, systematically prearranged to accomplish standardized goal. Taking a reflective of this on the scenario, Richard (manger of NYEWASCO) has all the authority to set up a new facility in the project. Thus in the process of interaction among the four employees, work group behavior will only be achieved if the desired need, which is the outlet pipe, is acquired by the management team when all the correct communication channels are followed in the organization. Control is another element in this theory that explains organizational power and talent in achieving what was set out to be accomplished. To reach these goals in an organization, line of authority and power should be followed to avoid any chaos and confusion among the individuals in the set up. From this scenario there is correct exercise of power and unitary set of actions between managers and workers. There is a lot of confidence in expressing the needs of every department by individual leaders in the organization and these leads to successful interaction that will in turn build work group behaviors. Eventually, affection aims comes in as the last element in this theory that explains how organization creates a behavior that will perhaps help take care of it. Behavior is created among workers with loyalty, trust and commitment in achieving the main goal of the organization as exercised by the two low level managers (Weldon and Catherine). Workers cooperated together by a common organizational culture exercise good conduct that will be translated to good interpersonal behavior among the staff. b) Structural Analysis of Social Behavior is another theory applicable to this scenario. Structural Analysis of Social Behavior theory states that interaction among workers in an organization is fundamentally interpersonal in nature. Joseph H. Obegi & Ety Berant (2008) presented that this model can be more prescriptive and it only identifies the changes in the interpersonal traits/behaviors. When the problems are more critical, this model recommend that gradual approach is used to enhance customary interpersonal behavior in the work organization. In-depth analysis of project management scenario under this theory seems to carry a lot of comprehensive facets of interpersonal behaviors of the individuals (workers) in the organization. For instance, the agreement of the consulting committee should respect all the ideological concerns of all the individuals in consulting team when procuring or facilitating the project. Without consensus in the team, the resulting agreement will be developed through bias of action. Thus, the two theories are very significant since both defines a series of behaviors that workers in the organization need to have so as to develop good interpersonal traits that will enhance the efficient communication not only for dipping compromised decision making but also to avoid unclear strategies of the organization. III. Conclusion In conclusion, interpersonal behavior is facilitated through different aspects within the organization as attitude, habits, social factors and self concept of individuals. The theories of interpersonal behavior expounded during the discussion vividly aid the organizational work program and ease the process of management as well as leadership. It is out of individual personality types or personal psychologies that feature successful leadership in an organization (Linda Evans, 1998). IV. Recommendation It is highly recommended that for every insight maneuvering within organizational context should have clear communication lines to reduce the cases of compromised solutions to different needs of individuals. Consequently, when analyzing interpersonal traits/behaviors of workers, it is to my opinion to subject every aspect to interpersonal theories of behavior. Reference Anna-Maria Garden, (2000). Reading the mind of the organization: connecting the strategy with the psychology of the business. South Africa: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Henry Mintzberg, John P. Kotter, Abraham Zaleznik, (1975). Harvard business review on leadership: Harvard business review paperback series. Harvard Business School: Harvard Business Press. Joseph H. and Ety B. (2008). Attachment Theory and Research in Clinical Work with Adults. University of San Diego: Guilford Press. Karl E. Weick, (1979). The social psychology of organizing: Topics in social psychology . University of Michigan: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. Linda E. (1998). Teacher morale, job satisfaction, and motivation. London: SAGE. Stewart Clegg and David Dunkerley, (1980). Organization, class and control: International library of sociology. London: Taylor & Francis. Stuart P. and Wesley Schultz, (2005). Attitudes and opinions. California State University: Routledge. Read More