Managing People and Organizations - Term Paper Example

? Theoretically, organizational behaviour refers to an interdisciplinary field of study encompassing psychology, sociology, management and communication. It entails looking at the behaviour of an organization from two viewpoints- its behaviour with internal aspects that is individual and group dynamics and its behaviour with external aspects that is, with other organizations within the industry. The former is termed micro-organizational theory whereas the latter is termed macro-organizational theory. The central point of focus is how structures within the organization impact human behaviour; individual and group dynamics are the other aspects studied. Studying organizational behaviour helps to explain, predict and control organizational development, and overall its performance. Organizational climate, on the other hand, ascribes to the observable, powerful force that defines the organization, thus, it can be said to stem from organizational behaviour as it sets the pace for the force. The customs, procedures, policies and practices are what define the organizational climate as these are perpetual. It is important to identify how these come about as such an understanding will help develop models that positively impact performance, behaviours and attitudes of among individuals and groups within the organization. For managers, understanding organizational climate becomes crucial when planning to undertake transformational change. This is because it is more measurable and definable than organizational culture as a tool for driving change. In gaining this understanding, management may gauge the perception of the employees by asking how they feel working there; weighing their level of morale and finding out if there is any goodwill in the business. By asking how the employees feel about working there, management can also deduce their sense of loyalty and belongingness to the organization. This will facilitate designing a strategy for change that will be easily embraced by the employees making it effective (Griffin and Moorehead 2010, p.472). Broken down, organizational climate, following the micro organizational theory, is defined using two relationships between the people and the organization; and between the superiors and subordinates. This lays emphasis on leadership as the most significant determinant of organizational climate. Other determinants include organizational culture, historical forces, standards of accountability, standards of behaviour, rewards, communication, trust and commitment, organizational networks and vision and strategies. Looking into these makes the concept of organizational culture more definable and facilitates modelling to improve performance, attitudes and behaviours. Often, managers focus on organizational culture, which is rather detached from the actual situation (Srivastava 2005, p.42). Leadership is the most significant determinant since a leader will influence the behaviour and expectations of every person within the organization. This may be outlined in two ways, the course followed by management and styles of leadership. A leader sets the climate within an organization going by how he engages with employees to gain their commitment as well as strategizing on the changes that need to be made in order to improve performance. The process of management ascribes to the relationships set by the organizational structure; that is, how superiors interact with their subordinates and vice versa. In addition, it refers to how management initiates change, bureaucracies, policies and procedures. For example, an organization that is reluctant to reward well-performing employees or invest in team-building activities will reflect a negative attitude from employees as they will have no commitment (The Kennedy Group n.d). Of importance as well, leadership practices employed when fostering a desirable organizational climate, that will in turn breed good organizational performance, should focus on competition as an external goal. That is, guiding employees to be better than their counterparts in different organizations. This is due to the fact that internal competition, between departments, is disruptive as mistrust and disunity are cultivated. Generally, when creating a desirable organizational climate leadership practices should be strived at making the employees feel like they have a stake in the organization. This motivates them to direct their efforts towards its success, thereby promoting good performance (The Kennedy Group n.d). Organizational structure follows in significance as it is determined by leadership. It refers to the informal and formal approaches pre-set by management to facilitate carrying out of duties and tasks and resolving of conflicts within the organization. This is essential because it is a sign of how management feels about its employees- their sense of value and commitment to them (The Kennedy Group n.d.). For instance, setting stringent working hours and uncomfortable working conditions where the employees are not free to work independently and unsupervised may hamper innovation in employees and in turn, employees will not feel valued. A rigid structure will set a low level of morale in employees and this creates a negative climate. Holding strong course as well are historical forces, referring to the foundation of the organization in terms of what the original ideas defining the organizations such as the founders’ stance on hiring policies. Where an organization began with an all-inclusive hiring policy implying taking on graduate students based not only on their academic performance, the climate set will be one that attracts applications from students that have excelled in extra-curricular activities. This sets the organization apart from its competitors and sets a positively distinct climate. Historical forces will determine how easy or difficult it will be for the organization to enact change, as particular standards will be in place (The Kennedy Group n.d.). Conversely, historical forces may allude to external forces pre-existent within the organization’s environment making them difficult to manage and influence. This is particularly so with government and legal policies and regulations. In this case, management should aim to create structures that can ‘cushion’ the risky nature of these forces. Similarly, management should view itself as being responsible for dictating the future environments. How organizations deal with employees’ misconduct and non-performance is what defines standards of accountability. This takes into account how violation of organizational values such as treating everyone with respect, are dealt with. Where management is seen to enforce values and reprimand misconduct effectively, a desired organizational climate will be set. In addition, employees must be held accountable for their performance to maintain a climate of consistency and continuity with regards to positive performance. This may be coupled with communication since it is important to relay reprimand in a sensitive yet firm way that does not involve humiliating the employees. This includes laying open communication channels to enable reporting of violations without leaving them feeling threatened; along with enabling the employees to offer constructive feedback. Besides that, conflicts should be resolved in a way that allows for both parties to be heard and their opinions respected. Communication is therefore, key in setting the right organizational climate (The Kennedy Group n.d.). Where the goals and objectives set by an organization have been met, it is crucial that employees who have contributed to this are rewarded since this will encourage better performance and reap a feeling of appreciation. A desired organizational climate will be set as management will relay the importance and consequence of achieving targets. Rewards will motivate employees, in so doing uplift their morale, and this gives management an opportunity to address how they value competence, and that the alternative is unacceptable. Trust and commitment are coupled together and essential as they go hand in hand. Where employees feel their input is valued, support is offered and their actions are backed, they will remain committed to the organization. This breeds a desired organizational climate as employees will have positive attitudes and behaviours that in turn result in good performance (The Kennedy Group n.d.). Following the macro organizational theory, it is important that an organization maintains amicable relationships with other organizations in the industry. This is what describes organizational networks, where the relationships looked at are not only with other organizations, but with suppliers and stakeholders. This defines organizational climate as prejudged by outside forces that helps management generate goodwill and support from outsiders. More importantly, organizational networks relates to how individuals in different occupations and professions interact with each other while in an organization. Where IT professionals feel more important than accountants, the organizational climate set will be undesired as these two groups will be in conflict or experience tension (Daft 2009, pp.385-386). Lastly, the vision and strategies set by an organization are important in defining the organizational climate as these dictate its future. An organization that aggressively pursues its vision and strategies reflects this upon its climate as the performance, attitudes and behaviours of employees will be structured towards this. Hence, it is imperative for an organization to align its goals and resources with the vision and strategies as this will create the desired climate. Apart from these determinants, an organization has to consider its external environment separately when establishing a desired climate. The external environment refers to the economic conditions along with government regulations, public perception as this generates goodwill and competitors as these create industry forces (Daft 2009, p.387). Through deducing the organizational climate, management is able to underpin the subcultures existing within the organization. Subcultures refer to the everyday association of employees from the way they communicate with one other to the problems they face. This eases the process of strategizing as management will be able to align the strategies to the pre-existing subcultures which is ideally the ‘situation at hand’. Furthermore, management can be able to steer the organizational climate to make it desirable as it all begins with leadership. This is mostly because organizational climate depicts the psychological impact of the work environment; making leadership a key factor as it is responsible for ensuring that the needs and expectations of employees are met. Once this is done, it becomes easy to guide organizational performance and establish a corporate culture (Daft 2009, p.385). Overall, it is evident that organizational climate affects performance as it describes the atmosphere within an organization. Therefore, management has to monitor and streamline pertinent conditions otherwise described as determinants, so as to achieve good performance. Organizational climate is manifested by organizational culture which acts as the guiding tool when making change; thus it would be of benefit to management to look into its culture so as to develop strategies. However, the two concepts are similar and inevitably will be used interchangeably as they relate to the social context of an organization by looking into the behaviours in both individual and group dynamics. Nonetheless, it is possible for management to get a distinction of the two by looking at organizational climate as the ‘here and now’ whereas organizational culture as the ‘what has been and is persisting’. In any case, the former is more definable and measurable making it preferable when enacting transformational change owing to the fact that traditions are what define organizational culture making it difficult for management to manipulate. References Daft, R. 2009. “Organization theory and design”. London: Cengage Learning. Griffin, R. and Moorehead, G. 2010. “Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations”. London: Cengage Learning. Srivastava, S. 2005. “Organization and Behavior Management”. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. The Kennedy Group “Culture vs Climate”. [Online] Available at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthekennedygroup.com%2F_pdfs%2Fculture_vs_climate.pdf&ei=c56lUY-NIdDX7Aae54GQDA&usg=AFQjCNEIyTBa0iouxVClZOS-zeHgsItzeA&sig2=gmim-9EEm-mWOwzxkrssQA&bvm=bv.47008514,d.d2k [Accessed on 29 May 2013] Read More