Models and Objectives of Organizational Analysis and Behavior - Essay Example

? Organizational Analysis and Behavior In this paper, I have explained the various scopes, models and objectives of Organizational Analysis and Behavior. This paper covers topics relating to safety, disasters and misbehavior. There is also a case study on safety mechanism (waterfall incident) which is discussed in detail and suggestions on improvements are also provided. This assignment also covers topics relating to Attitude, values, personality, Perception and factors affecting the decision making of an individual. There is also a brief discussion of culture and Organizational behavior and how behavior of an individual changes according to situations. (Jack, n.d) WATER FALL INCIDENT Every day there are number of workers injured and killed on the job but yet only some of these occurrences are attracted towards the public domain. One of the classic case studies of an OHS disaster is the waterfall incident that took place in 2003; it was one of the most tragic accidents in Australian railway history. There was a fatal derailment at waterfall which resulted in loss of many innocent lives. The ministry of transport had initiated an investigation to determine the circumstance relating to the accident and recommend some preventive and corrective action. The investigations were examined and checked in the following areas such as Infrastructure, Human factors, Rolling stock, Post accident tools and response. (Kent and Graham, 2004) The initial investigation established that there was a high possibility the driver was injured after departing from the waterfall station. The train was unattended and as a result overturned at a high speed and collided with the stanchions. Both the controls dead man system and the guard failed to work in favor in controlling the collision. The team investigated and found out that the train’s inadequate safety measures had resulted in the collision. The safety management system had identified that the railway authorities had developed ineffective rail safety regimes and management deficiencies. (Kent and Graham, 2004) The incident was also published in Sydney Morning Herald outlining ineffective safety measures. The Railway authorities also mentioned that number of improvements such as stringent medical testing, installation of back up emergency braking system would be activated. (Sydney Morning Herald, 2004) Analysis of the issue: The safety management system had identified many loopholes in the safety measures. The investigation revealed that the medical standards and medical emergency units not updated. It was also noted that the railway systems had an under developed, ineffective safety mechanisms that had caused catastrophic damage and death of people. No vigilance control mechanism, hardware devices or proper guard in place to detect the speed of the train. There was also no proper training and instructions provided to these guards. State rail had important elements missing to ensure running of a safe railway which includes safety engineering, change of management and in design and development of robust controls. The railway authorities also had a very poorly constructed review mechanism on audit, investigation and follow up. There were inadequate competent resources that could develop an efficient safety instruments and methods. The dead man system did not detect the collapse of the driver and had major deficiencies in the fundamental design. Investigations also revealed that the state railway authorities were ineffective and not fully co-operative. The management was also poorly defined and there was no budget that was allocated to improving the train safety. (Kent and Graham, 2004) The case study on the waterfall accident had outlined the importance of safety measures. The inquiries and the investigations concluded that the state rail had deficient safety mechanisms in place. The investigation also highlighted the importance of having good intergrated safety systems, documentation process, proactive and preventive approach to risk and accidents and the need for expertise in safety management in the railway department. The investigation had suggested good and adequate resources allocated for training, expertise in safety management, robust process and continuous monitoring of the safety devices in place. (Kent and Graham, 2004) Culture and Organizational Behavior Organizational analysis is considered as a management science which studies various kinds of organization. The analysis helps in maintaining efficient and structured workforce. Many theories are developed to capture the functioning of the organization. (Organizational Analysis and Planning, n.d) Organizational Behavior is the study of how people, individuals, groups behave in an organization. The actions of the individuals and groups towards the organization as a whole and its effect on the organizations functioning and performance. The base of an organization is based on the values, mission and goals of an organization. This is in turn drives the culture which forms the formal, informal and social environment. (David, 1998) Safety Disasters and Misbehavior After the Chernobyl disaster there was lot of importance given to the safety culture. Safety culture also forms a part of organizational culture and behavior. Safety culture reflects the attitudes, beliefs and values that the employees share with regards to safety (Wikipedia, 2011). An organization with positive and good safety culture is characterized by communications, mutual trust, confidence in the efficiency and effectiveness of preventive measures taken by the organization. The main objective of occupational Health and Safety is to provide and protect the employees and foster a safe working environment. It also protects the family members, co-workers, environment, suppliers and communities that are impacted by the workplace. This involves interaction with a number of other people from areas such as health physics, occupational hygiene, public health and safety and safety engineering. (Roles and Responsibilities,n.d) Management style plays a very important role in operation decisions, actions and management control. In the waterfall accident, the railway department lacked bureaucratic management. Bureaucratic management involves exercise of control on the basis of knowledge. According to Weber, the main characteristics of a bureaucratic work environment consists of rules and regulations; division of labor and specialization; competence and records. (David,1998) Rules and Regulations refer to a well defined and laid out procedures where all the organizational activities are rationalized. Each employee expected to complete given tasks and this requires a lot of co-ordination. In the waterfall incident, the railway department had no documentation or written rules and regulations regarding any of the activities performed. Division of labor and specialization is also a very important characteristic of a bureaucratic work environment. Each employee is recruited into the organization to perform specific tasks that the employee is specialist in. In the waterfall incident, the employee did not have any expertise knowledge. They were also not provided adequate training to perform the specific activity. The railway safety regulator also had incompetently developed a good safety mechanism. Impersonal relation between Managers and employees: Weber believed that key to having a cordial working environment is to have an impersonal relationship with the employees as it would help to make rational decisions. Competence is defined as a mix of proficiency, capability, and expertise knowledge to perform an activity. This is a very important criterion during an employees training, recruitment and promotion. (David, 1998) It was very evident that the railway department had employees who were not competent enough to handle the situations or the job. The medical examiners were not aware of the tasks to be undertaken. The training provided to the guards on emergency conditions was poorly deficient. The guards were indecisive and unobservant and they lacked the ability to take quick decisions to manage the emergency. (David, 1998) Attitude values and Personality The organizational structure of the railway department was not effective as it had a functional organizational structure. It becomes difficult to coordinate between different departments and it creates a narrow perceptive. Adopting lateral relations helps in integrating managers of different departments, have better control and supervision of the work, have well defined roles and responsibilities. The scope of Organizational behavior is usually under employee motivation, Individual behavior, attitude and learning, design and development of effective and efficient organization, Group behavior, Efficient leadership, power and personality needs, Organizational culture and Personality impact on organization (Kondalkar, 2007) There are different components within the organization that needs to be managed efficiently. People are the main component of any organization that needs to be directed and managed. The relationship between different workers, employees with their superiors etc. play a very important role in understanding each other’s views. The groups also play a very important role in the organization. The main reason for achieving organizational goals is due to the team’s goals and accomplishments which are aligned with the company’s goals. The personalities of individuals also play a vital role in defining behavior. The personality of a person is determined by hereditary, situation, culture and work environment. It is very difficult to know ones personality as behavior of individuals are different, multi dimensional and complex. (Kondalkar, 2007) Values and attitudes are also interlinked with personality. Values of a person are defined as faith and ideologies which forms a part of his personality. Attitude is described as an individual’s inclination towards a certain activity or event. Leon Festigner had studied the attitude, values and explained behavior and attitude in his cognitive dissonance theory (David, 1998). He explained that cognitive dissonance would be inconsistent behavior who would perceive two or more attitudes. This theory helps to predict ones behavior and attitude change. The attitude and behavior of an individual can greatly influence the perception and the decision making of an individual. Some of the factors that would affect the decision making can be classified into 3 different groups namely perception issue, Organizational issue and Environmental issues. (David, 1998). Perception affecting the decision making of an individual Perception issue can be defined as the way in which the individual interpret the work environment and the employee’s perception can greatly influence the decision making. (Factors affecting decision making, n.d) Perception involves personal characteristics such as personal values, beliefs, personal expectation and interests. The time, location and the situation can also influence the perception of an employee. Organizational issue can also impact the decision making process of a person. The issues include Organizational policies and procedures, Hierarchy and politics in the organization. Many companies have prescribed policies to resolve issues and to take decisions. Example, if there are any disciplinary issues of any staff members, many organizations have a documented procedure for complaints. The structure of the organization also directly impacts the nature of decisions of an individual. Many organizations have different levels of management and each level have designated authority in decision making. For example, a team leader cannot make any decisions regarding the organizational goals. Organizations are made up of people with different values and beliefs and it is the main driving force for organizational politics. (Factors affecting decision making, n.d) Rewards and recognition influence the decision making of an individual. If there are high rewards provided to an individual, there would be a positive attitude towards work and co workers. If there are no incentives or rewards associated towards a particular activity or work, the individual will obviously have more of a negative attitude and no job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is a very important factor in determining an individual’s behavior. Job satisfaction can be expressed in terms of remuneration, opportunity, growth, attitude, promotion and content. If the employees are satisfied, the productivity will improve, reduce absenteeism and turn over. If the individual has job dissatisfaction, it can negatively impact the work. Organizational commitment is a very important component of work. (Kondalkar, 2007) The third important and significant issue that can affect an individual decision making is within the environment. There are external factors that can affect the environment such as economy, market and government legislations. If there is a recession in a particular market, people will decide to move to a different domain. (Factors affecting decision making, n.d) Behavior of an individual changes according to situations Organizational change happens when several individuals undergo a change process at the same time. Organizational change is very critical for the company as it helps in decision making process and also readiness for a change. There are several factors that can cause a change from a particular behavior to another. The first important factor is internal to the individual such as values and beliefs which makes them to identify among the choices. The second factor is external to the individual which are mainly motivation, recognition and other non monetary and monetary benefits given to the individual. The third factor is external interventions influencing the decision making of the individual. (Organizational change through Influencing Individual Change) Implication for Management and Leadership: There were a number of recommendations that were provided by the safety management system to the railway authorities which has became part of the health and safety procedures. The investigation authorities had demanded more training to be provided to the crew members in emergency situations and taking part in recurrent training programs associated with train guards and drivers. The train crews and staff members would be provided predictive and preventive and management of emergency first aid to injured person. The authorities wanted the inefficient dead man services to be revalidated and reviewed before it was installed in the other railways. They also appointed operators to ensure that the crew members are assessed on actual man hours worked as a part of fatigue management programs. (Kent and Graham, 2004) The team had developed a safety program tool based on safety system audit checklists which are safety element, management review, safety committee, training and development, risk management team, accident reporting mechanism, analysis, emergency control procedures, equipment maintenance, staff recruitment, safety awareness and safety program plans. Clearer policies helped in enforcing action and issuing sanctions for non-compliance of regulations. (Kent and Graham, 2004) Organizational behavior helps in understanding the interactions between different departments within the organization. It is very useful for managers as it helps them to analyze and understand their employees. The key responsibilities for the management and the leadership team is to ensure there is effective governance of health and safety measures in place for handling any emergency situation and prevent injuries to people. They also need to ensure that there is allocation of time, resource and money for health and safety programs. The leadership team also should ensure there is a continuous monitoring to measure the effectiveness and efficiencies of controls and compliance to standards. There should also be clear documentation process and manual handling of such situations. They should also be able to organize suitable training courses for internal crew members and staff to ensure they are capable of handling emergency situations. The crew and staff members should also be properly supervised and follow safe systems of work. The management team should also make sure that there are robust reviews of these safety mechanism and instruments to evaluate the risks. They must also be implementing health and safety measures in research and development. (Roles and Responsibilities, n.d) Conclusion Management of human behavior in a work environment and chanalizing that into correct directions has become extremely vital and important. To facilitate positive environment, better job satisfaction, increased productivity in an organization, one needs to apply different motivational theories, leaderships, and redesigning the Organizational structure. Culture and Organizational behavior are also critical aspects in the decision making of an individual. The traditional ways of managing people has diminished as new ways has emerged. The organizations need to constantly get adapted to the new ways of handling the groups and the teams. The objective of Organizational behavior is to understand the different relationships between the individual and organization; individual and the group; between the group and the organization; and between the organization and the society as a whole. It is also a study of managerial skills and knowledge for managers in a company and investigates group behavior. Organizational behavior is also complex as they influence the behavior of individuals and organizations. (Kondalkar, 2007) Literary References Dr D.A David M, 1998, Organizational Behavior and Theory. 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Jack D, Organizational Behavior, available at http://www.hrfolks.com/articles/orgn%20mgmt/organizational%20behavior.pdf [accessed 29th April 2011] Wikipedia, 2011, safety culture, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_culture [ accessed 5th May 2011] Read More