Organizational Behavior - Essay Example

Organizational Behavior Before going into the discussion regarding organizational behavior and communication, let us get a better understanding of what organizational behavior actually is. Organizational behavior is a field of study, which analyzes the influence of individuals and groups on the overall behavior of employees working for any company or organization. Organizational behavior is related to the concern of a manager to recognize the unique perspective of the new employee in order to improve organizational effectiveness (Bloisi, Cook, & Hunsaker, 2006). The main areas of concern related to organizational behavior include overall organizational productivity, reduction in employee absenteeism, increase in the organizational effectiveness, and increasing job satisfaction among the employees of the company. The main purpose behind studying organizational behaviors is to apply appropriate mechanisms not only to improve employee performance but also to increase organizational effectiveness by examining the individual influence on overall work environment of the company. Organizational Communication There are six main factors, which affect the employee behavior at the workplace. These factors include communication, organizational structure, work design, organizational design, jobs, and performance appraisal. All of these factors play a considerable role in shaping the behaviors of the employees working for any company or organization. Let us discuss how organizational communication affects employee behavior at the workplace. Organizational communication is somewhat different from simple form of communication. In simple communication, people can transmit any kind of information anywhere or can send messages to each other whereas organizational communication refers to the concept of sending work related messages or transmitting information to different kinds of audiences at the workplace. Organizational communication is a field, which makes employees learn effective communication skills from each other. Consistency of the messages with goals, objectives, strategies, and implementation plans is very important in organizational communication. Organizational communication is based on two general approaches, which include container approach and social constructionist approach. In container’s approach, a channel is used to transmit information from the sender to the receiver whereas in social constructionist approach, employees make use of language to create different teams, networks, and relationships. Study of organizational communication plays a very critical role in shaping communication behaviors of the employees, which eventually lead to the creation of a productive work environment. Communication Process Model Communication is a process, which involves a sender and a receiver. The sender sends a message to the communication channel, which encodes the message and sends it to the receiving end where the receiving end first decodes the message and then presents it to the receiver. The receiver provides the feedback to the sender, which make the communication process more effective. Encoding and decoding of a message is based on one’s own perceptions, which include the concepts of feelings, cultural values, attitudes, and behaviors. The three main components involved in a communication process include channel of communication, environment or circumstances of communication, and interference that occurs during communication. Formal and Informal Communication Formal communication takes place through formal channels whereas informal communication takes place through informal channels. Formal communication plays its role in maintaining authority relationship whereas informal communication never includes lines of the authority. Formal communication takes place due to job related needs whereas informal communication takes place due to personal needs of the employees. Formal communication needs proper location whereas in formal communication can be done anywhere. Answer: No: 2 Key Areas of National and Organizational culture The four main areas of national culture include power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity. In every nation, there is a difference between distribution of power, wealth, and privileges. Power distance is the extent to which citizens accept the power differences and are happy to live their lives in accordance with that unequal distribution of powers and rights. Individualism is a degree to which people living in the same society act independently of each other. Uncertainty avoidance is a concept related to the ways people cope with uncertain conditions, which may occur in life. The last area, masculinity, refers to the separation of gender roles in any specific society. Organizational culture includes the roles and responsibilities of people. The four main areas of organizational culture include roles, power distribution, tasks, and employees. Roles are the pillars of an organization, which define the responsibilities of each employee. Power distribution means the extent to which any specific role has decision-making power in the organization. Tasks mean the responsibilities of each employee, which he/she needs to accept. Persons are employees, managers, supervisors, and all people involved in running an organization. Key Elements of Geert Hofstedes Model The key elements of Hofstedes Model include power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity. Power distance is the degree to which citizens accept the differences between powers and live their lives in accordance with that unequal distribution of powers and rights. In the countries like Denmark and Israel, there is very low power distances, whereas in France, India, Pakistan, and some other Asian countries, distances between powers are comparatively high. Individualism is a degree to which people living in the same society act independently of each other. Some countries are good at manufacturing whereas some countries like United States and England promote entrepreneurship. Uncertainty avoidance is a concept related to the ways people cope with uncertain conditions, which may occur in life. For example, people have to take care of laws to avoid any kind of uncertainty. The last area, masculinity, refers to the separation of gender roles in any specific country. Some countries like Japan and Pakistan are highly masculine countries whereas countries like Denmark and Norway have feminine cultures. Examples of Business and National Cultures Some examples of business culture include dress code, formal communication, respect for higher authorities, work-oriented culture, punctuality, ethics, and productive thinking. All of these examples can be commonly observed in any business environment. Some examples of national cultures include individualism, respect for social norms and values, traditions, and obedience to laws and constitution of the country. Answer: No: 3 Three Areas of the Environment There are three main areas of any business environment, which include internal environment, microenvironment, and macro environment. Internal environment of a company refers to the internal resources and functions of a company, such as, employees, internal views of TESCO businesses, internal production, internal budgeting, organizational structure, and culture of the company. Microenvironment includes all those forces, which have the tendency to influence the company directly. Some of those forces include suppliers, consumers, competitors of the company, and contacts and agents who can influence the internal business functions. Macro environment includes such factors which although affect the company but with a very little influence. Some of those forces include changes in the legislation, technological changes, social changes, and globalization. Application to Real Life Organization Let us take an example in which all of the above-mentioned forces will apply on a company. The name of the company is One-World Technologies, which is an electric product-manufacturing firm. The internal forces, such as, employees and business functions will work in an appropriate manner to increase the productivity of the company. Macro forces, such as, suppliers will supply high quality raw material which will be used to manufacture high quality products which will increase customer satisfaction. In macro context, the company will not only need to carry out its business operations according to laws of the country but also it will need to apply latest technology to compete in the market. PEST Model and Macro Environment The four main factors included in PEST model are political, economic, social, and technological factors. All of these factors belong to macro environment of a company. Political factors include current and potential political pressures, such as, trading agreements and business regulations. Economic factors include inflation levels and interest rates, which influence the general economic state of a company. Social factors include various socials and cultural aspects, which affect a company. Technological factors include new technology and technological incentives, which affect the productivity of a company. Answer: No: 4 Bureaucracy Kayne (2011) states, “A bureaucracy is a large administrative structure tasked with carrying out unnecessarily complicated procedures and rules to ‘facilitate’ duties of the entity”. Bureaucracy injects order and rationality into social life and is concerned with administration. The four main features of bureaucracy include hierarchy of authority, specialization, Stewart, and system of rules and impersonality. The positive viewpoints regarding bureaucracy are that there is a control in conduct of employees. Moreover, discipline, standardization, and seniority-based promotions are some of the attractive features of bureaucracy. Some of the negative aspects include absence of individual autonomy, impersonal behaviors, passive nature, and over-emphasis on rules. Key Characteristics of Bureaucracy Some of the key characteristics of bureaucracy include fixed division of labor, fixed salaries, merit based selection of employees, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and seniority based promotions. All of these characteristics make approach towards management of businesses very easy and defined. Organizations reflect the Max Weber’s style of bureaucracy by incorporating all elements of bureaucracy into the organizational processes. Many countries have implemented bureaucracy as a model of business management, which reflects the increased role of bureaucracy in improving the business management. Relevant Theorists Some of most relevant theories of bureaucracy include Hegel’s theory of modern bureaucracy, Marxian theory of bureaucracy, and Niskanen’s behavioral theory of bureaucracy. Hegel’s theory is very much relevant to Weber’s theory. It can be applied in organizations by setting proper laws regarding infrastructure and management of organizations. Marxian theory of bureaucracy focused on the officialdom of the capitalist state and proved beneficial for the organizational settings. Niskanen’s behavioral theory of bureaucracy focuses on the behaviors of employees working for any organizations. This theory suggests that improvement in the behaviors of employees is the real essence of bureaucracy. Answer: No: 5 Motivation Motivation is the level of enthusiasm and inspiration to do something. Motivation is a key towards success of any person. It is related to organizational behavior in a sense that it shapes the behaviors of employees and makes them more committed and dedicated towards their jobs, which not only results in improving employee productivity but also improves productivity of the company as a whole. There are hardly any negative effects of motivation on businesses. There are two main types of motivation, which include extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation includes rewards, such as, fringe benefits, increase in pays, and performance recognition. This type of motivation increase employee productivity and performance. Intrinsic motivation includes psychological rewards, such as, positive recognition, appreciation from the managers, and a sense of responsibility and achievement. This type of motivations creates an internal interest in the employees, which leads them to work hard towards their jobs. There are two main categories of motivation theories, which include content theories and process theories. Content theories, such as, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s 2-Factor theory focus on the types of motivators, whereas process theories, such as, Vroom’s Expectancy Theory, Adam’s Equity Theory, and Locke’s Goal Theory concentrate on the actual processes of motivation. Answer: No: 6 Change within Business Change within businesses is a concept, which means to bring a positive change in the policies and strategies of a business. It is sometimes known as organizational change, which becomes very necessary if the current strategies of a business are not proving beneficial or productive. “In order to run a business successfully and smoothly we need to make certain changes at regular time intervals, this stops the business from reaching a point of saturation” (Fyfe, n.d.). There are some theories related to change within businesses, which describe the importance of organizational change. These theories also help managers assess the changes at the macro level. Lewin’s Force Field theory of change is one those theories which suggests change as a very important concept for an organization. This theory believes that various forces arise from the ways an organization operates and controls its systems. “For an organization to change, managers must find ways to increase the forces for change, decrease the resistance of change, or do both at the same time” (Consador, n.d.). However, sometimes change is not received positively by the organizations. For example, if an organization adopts new technology without training the employees regarding use of that technology, it might result in decreasing overall productivity of that organization instead of increasing its performance and productivity. An organization not only needs to make the employees aware of change but also needs to train them accordingly in order to make the change productive for the organization. References Bloisi, W., Cook, C., & Hunsaker, P. (2006). Management and Organizational Behavior (2nd ed.). U.S.A: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Consador, K. (n.d.). Organizational Change Theory. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/about_5389727_organizational-change-theory.html Fyfe, R. (n.d.). Managing Change Within a Business. Retrieved from http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Managing-Change-Within-A-Business/1104162 Kayne, R. (2011). What is a Bureaucracy?. Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-bureaucracy.htm Read More