Organisational Behavior - Essay Example

?Orgnisational Behaviuor The benefits of teamwork for the individual and the organisation have been discussed widely. The first benefit of teamwork for the individual is that the members get a chance to learn from each other. As Vaskova (2007) points out, according to studies, in organisations with high degree of teamwork, employs are more skilled not only in their own tasks but also in the tasks of their other team members. That means when there is teamwork; members interact with each other, observe each other, and share vital information. Thus, they easily gain expertise in not only their own tasks but also various other activities. This is so because teamwork leads to shared feeling of responsibility. Thus, workers are bonded through cooperation and communication. To illustrate, when an inexperienced person joins a team, there is enough communication to make the new member aware about his or her role in the team. Moreover, in case of doubts, the new members do not hesitate to ask the more experienced and creative ones and the experienced ones share their knowledge with the new ones. Thus, new workers easily and effectively adapt to the work environment. The second point is that teamwork improves the self esteem of the team members. This happens so because in a team, each team member feels important and needed. This sense of importance is created because each member realises that he or she has a valuable role to play in the team. When this sense of belonging grows, each member feels that he or she has the chance to explore and exhibit potential and talent. Thus, teamwork has an important role in fostering creativity of individual. Another important aspect is that teamwork enhances personal responsibility. In other words, in a team, each member has a very clearly defined role to play. Thus, each member realises the fact that their own failure in playing their role will have an impact on achieving the team’s goal. This will lead to a heightened feeling of personal responsibility. Moreover, studies prove that teamwork lessens stress. In fact, often people feel isolated in organisations without teamwork. However, effective teamwork ensures that employees feel recognised, appreciated, and protected. That means the level of stress is reduced considerably. However, there are certain disadvantages as well. To illustrate, not all people love teamwork. There are some go-getters who are happy working alone. For them, the work in a team is like a hindrance as they are not capable of performing to their fullest as they feel hindered by the less capable ones. For these people, working independently is more productive. In addition, there is the problem of conflict among members. For example, though some teams function harmoniously, some teams are prone to conflicts. As it is difficult to identify when conflicts will develop, it is difficult to avoid their development. When conflicts and power struggles arise, the employees suffer from stress, and as a result, their productivity goes down. 5. The belief that individual personality has nothing to do with behavior at work is baseless. In fact, personality will seriously affect the way people deal with various situations at work. In order to understand the role of personality, it is useful to use the Big Five Model or the five factor model. According to the model, there are five major trait categories. The first among them is openness to experience. In this category, one extreme is highly interested in, and optimistic about, new experiences and changes. Admittedly, such people will welcome taking up responsibilities and roles. When there are issues like organisational change, such people are less likely to suffer from stress. On the other hand, the other extreme is totally hostile to new experiences and they remain closed minded and rigid towards new experiences. Such people are highly likely to oppose any changes in the organisation and are less motivated to take up challenging roles. Another category is conscientiousness. It is claimed that high degree of conscientiousness leads to high degree of diligence. So, such people are more dutiful in their approach towards work. On the other hand, there are people who are less conscientious. These people are unlikely to learn how things are done as they do not have interest in details. Instead, they tend to possess big picture thinking. It is very evident that such people are less likely to be quick actors in case of emergencies. The third point of consideration is extraversion. Extravert people are always happy interacting with other people because they gain energy from performing in public (McCrae & John 1990). On the other hand, there is the other end, called introverts. These people are uncomfortable interacting with people, and for them, the source of energy is reflection. Such people like small groups or total isolation. Again, it becomes evident that extraversion and introversion will play a crucial role in deciding how an employee behaves in the workplace. To illustrate, in a team, the members who are introverts will be happy communicating and sharing information naturally. On the other hand, it will be a difficult task to ensure that an introvert communicates with other team members with the same ease and interest (ibid). Yet another point of consideration is agreeableness. In fact, the people who are high in agreeableness are more trusting and modest. It is possible to make these people understand new situations and these people are capable to understanding and adapting to situations which are new. On the other hand, the people who are low in agreeableness are more suspicious and oppositional in nature. As a result, these people will be highly hesitant to accept changes and new decisions. The last point is neuroticism or emotional stability. Those people who have less emotional stability are more prone to negative emotions. These people are likely to get disturbed even on trivial matters. So, any rumors and even minute issues in the workplace will have a very serious impact on the way these people behave. 6. An important issue affecting organisational behaviour today is organisational change. Admittedly, no organisation can stay static. They require timely changes to sustain their position in the market and also to grow. In fact, change is unsettling and most people are afraid of changes. To illustrate, introduction of a new technology in a company, the merger of a company with a new company, and the change of an important senior management person, all bring a lot of unrest in the organisation. It is seen many a times that changes create uncertainty and insecurity in staff. For example, employees will be uncertain about how the change will affect their work responsibility, who will be their new colleagues, and if the new job responsibility requires some new skills that they are unable to achieve. This situation will create stress in the minds of employees. The study by Dahl (2010) has proved that such an organisational change has considerable impact on the stress levels of employees. The study was conducted among 92860 employees in nearly 1517 large Danish organisations. It was found that there is a sharp rise in the number of employees who take stress-related medication when the company undergoes significant changes (ibid). Thus, it becomes evident that change is actually the most important issue affecting organisational behaviour at present. In yet another study, it is found that changes are often accompanied by confusion about mutual demands and expectations. This is likely to grow into power struggles, intra-group conflicts, lack of commitment and heightened stress levels. There are various ways suggested by scholars to effectively introduce changes in an organization. The first step, according to Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model (as cited in Scheid (n. d.), is to create emergency. In other words, it is necessary for the management to present such a situation in front of the employees which will make them feel that it is necessary to change to meet certain threats. Once such feeling is created, it is necessary to form a strong coalition which contains people from all departments and different layers. In order to do this, it is necessary to find those employees who have the capability to influence others. Utilising these people, it will be very easy to ensure that a strong support for the proposed change is made. Thereafter, it is necessary to make a clear vision of change. That means the people should have a clear idea about the kind of change being introduced, and the various factors to be altered to achieve this change. Once the vision is ready, it is time to communicate the change. Instead of a single formal meeting to declare change, there should be talks about change everywhere in the organisation. At this time, the anxieties and doubts of the employees should be properly and honestly answered. Thereafter, it is time to remove the barriers by identifying and removing the policies, practices, and people who are against the change. Also, proper care should be taken to ensure that the change is sustained and made a part of the corporate culture. References Dahl, M. S. (2010), ‘Organizational change and employee stress’ [online] Available at http://www.wiwi.uni-jena.de/eic/files/WS%2010%20JERS%20Dahl.pdf [accessed 17 Nov 2012 McCrae, R. R & John, O. P. (1990), ‘An introduction to the Five Factor Model’, Manuscript received October 1. pp. 171-215. [online] Available at http://psych.colorado.edu/~carey/courses/psyc5112/readings/psnbig5_mccrae03.pdf [Accessed 17 Nov 2012]. Scheid, K. (n. d.), Moving Your Organization Ahead, Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model, Best Christian Workplace Institute [Online] available at http://www.bcwinstitute.com/Learningcenter/Press/rp_change_process.pdf [accessed 17 Nov 2012]. Vaskova, R. (2007), ‘Team work and high performance work organisation’, EWCO. [online] Available at http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/ewco/reports/TN0507TR01/TN0507TR01_7.htm [accessed 17 Nov 2012] Read More