How Organizational Behavior Tools Help Managers to Solve Practical Problems - Essay Example

?Organizational Behaviour Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Managerial Traits 3 Managerial Abilities or Leadership Skills 4 Organizational Barriers & Challenges Faced by Managers 5 Suggestions & Conclusion 5 Works Cited 8 Introduction One of the most crucial and important tasks of a manager is to manage the employees systematically to achieve organization goals and objectives in unification. Managing people can be one of the most difficult tasks as employees can behave in an unpredictable or in different way (French 01). Organizational Behaviour (OB) lays emphasis on the behaviour of the employees working individually or in a team work. It is regarded as a composite subject derived out of various subjects like Psychology, Anthropology, Economic, and Political Science. OB lays emphasis on the application of diverse insights to create better understanding of the employee behaviour in the organizations (Colquitt, LePine and Wesson 07). Some of the important features of OB are as follows: Applied Focus: The main objective of OB is to ensure that the employees achieve the targets and objectives of the organization in unification and in systematic method. Contingency approach: This approach helps the managers in understanding the gravity of the situation and then proposing solutions accordingly. Understanding the situation helps the managers to understand the way the employees should be managed effectively and appropriately. For example identifying the cultural differences in an organization would help the managers to develop strategies that help in enhancing the productivity of the employees (French 10). Easy Accessibility: It is highly accessible and is relevant to all of the employees in their personal and professional life. OB is not regarded as a static discipline but a continuous process which helps managers seeking various solutions improvement the effectiveness of the organization. Managerial Traits It is not essential that managers need to adopt leadership skills to achieve the targets, objectives of the organization. Although, leadership behaviour suggests that managers need to portray various traits that resemble a good leader, it is not necessary that these managers need to adopt leadership skills completely. One of the main objectives of a good manager is to adopt leadership approaches at various hierarchical levels of the organization. This would be done to achieve organizational effectiveness and organizational commitment. A systematic analysis of the organizational structure and culture is identified by the managers to conduct systematic grouping. Systematic grouping will enable the managers to promote teamwork and coordination of activities among the various departmental units. The good managerial traits are similar to transformational leadership which encompasses charismatic, achievement oriented and task oriented leadership. A good manager needs to communicate effectively with his subordinates for the systematic and effective flow of instructions. A proper and effective communication model paves the path of success for an organization. Communication of ideas and knowledge sharing enables the employees of an organization to be creative and think independently which can promote innovation in an organization (Groves 579). Managerial Abilities or Leadership Skills There is a significant and positive relationship between the leadership and organizational effectiveness which arises out of managerial traits (Erkutlu 708). Transformational leadership is a significant contributor to organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Leadership and effective managerial traits are often interrelated to each other because both of them are regarded as a continual social influence process. Manager try to utilize different leadership approaches which helps in accomplishment of organizational objectives and encouraging efficient employee behaviour and maintaining the group culture of the organization. Managerial behaviour has a direct influence on the employee outcome and organizational effectiveness. However, it has been observed that the traits of the effective managers are often interrelated with the traits of a leader. For example, understanding the employee behaviour and capabilities helps in systematic delegation of responsibilities. This is essential because the performance of the individual, team and group depends upon the capability and willingness to work for the employees. This is also known as performance equation. Thus we can say that effective managerial and leadership traits are very much intertwined. They focus on accurate recruitment and selection process, decentralization of responsibility, equal pay based on performance and ensuring job security among employees. Organizational Barriers & Challenges Faced by Managers Organizational barriers prevent the systematic and deliberate coordination of activities among departmental units. It also acts as a hindrance in the system’s structure, technology and process which can lower the productivity of the organization. There are usually two types of barriers; internal and external. The internal barriers may originate from the organizational structure, culture etc. The second type of organizational barriers is out of the control of the organizational environment and the managers. One of the major organizational barriers may be development of a suitable organizational and technological structure which is a prerequisite for knowledge sharing and creation. Lack of a technological structure may result in miscommunication and gap in knowledge sharing among employees (Singh and Kant, 2008). Lack of an established organizational structure may result in improper decentralization and departmentalization of work and power. This leads to the development of a weak task force which can hamper the productivity of the work and cause delay in attaining goals and objectives of the organization (Singh and Kant, 2008). The employees working in an organization devoid of reward system is bound to have low productivity. An organization which does not provide visibility, motivation and recognition is bound to face challenges like low productivity and morale of the employees (Singh and Kant, 2008). Suggestions & Conclusion Effective knowledge sharing and creation is required for increasing organizational commitment among employees. The managers need to utilize a leadership theory or model which can act as guide for increased performance within the organizations. One of the major tools that can be utilized would be ACHIEVE (Ability, Clarity, Help, Incentive, Evaluation, Validity, and Environment). This model was developed by Hersey and Goldsmith for training and development purposes (Move learning, n.d.). Ability helps in knowledge sharing and enhancement of technical skills among employees for achievement of tasks by imparting training and development programs. Clarity and confidence helps in clearly communicating the goals, objectives and priorities of the organization by encouraging performance planning discussions and discussion of policy manuals. The Help & Support element helps in coordination of activities among department and being guided by managers and colleagues to accomplish the tasks. Incentive system would act as catalyst which would improve the organizational performance and even feedback from the employees would help in modification of the existing reward system (Movelearning, n.d.). Evaluation of the performance of the employees is essential for understanding the present position of the employees and managers should encourage regular feedback from the employees and incorporate practices which improve the employee behaviour (Movelearning, n.d.). Validity focuses on establishment of task legitimacy, result orientation and perceived fairness. This focuses on company evaluation. This element lays emphasis that the company human resource, policy like training and development, recruitment and selection need to be revised and updated continuously. The management decisions should be checked accordingly with company policy and legal guidelines regularly (Movelearning, n.d.). Environment will be divided into internal and external organizational environment. Internal policies like reward system, management style should be monitored. However, external environment like market condition and competitors cannot be controlled. Thus we can state that if the ACHIEVE Model is implemented effectively then it would definitely reap positive results and increase the organizational effectiveness. Apart from this model the management can adopt various leadership approaches at various levels especially in flat organizations to improve the effectiveness of the organization (Svensson and Wood 1005). Organizational theories that encourage teamwork and, empowerment and active participation of employees should be adopted by the managers to promote creative potentiality, active participation in decision making and constructive interpersonal relations (Xenikou and Simosi 567). Transformational leadership skills would help in employee and organizational development and improving the employee efficiency and productivity of the organization on the whole. Works Cited Colquitt, Jason A, LePine, Jeffery A and Michael J Wesson. Organizational Behaviour. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 1977. Print. Erkutlu, Hakan. “The impact of transformational leadership on organizational and leadership effectiveness.” Journal of Management Development 27.7 (2008): 708-726. French, Ray. Organizational Behaviour. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print. Groves, Kevin S. “Leader emotional expressivity, visionary leadership, and organizational change.” Leadership & Organization Development Journal 27.7 (2006): 566-583. Movelearning. "ACHIEVE Model." Training &Development Journal, n.d. Web. 8 June 2013. Singh, M.D, and R Kant. “Knowledge management barriers: An interpretive structural modeling approach.” International Journal of Management Science and Engineering Management 3.2 (2008): 141-150. Web. 8 June 2013. Svensson, Go?ran, and Greg Wood. “The serendipity of leadership effectiveness in management andbusiness practices.” Management Decision 43.7 (2005): 1001-1009. Xenikou, Athena, and Maria Simosi. “Organizational culture and transformational leadership as predictors of business unit performance.” Journal of Managerial Psychology 21.6 (2006): 566-579. Read More