Organizational Behavior Theories or Models - Essay Example

? ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR THEORIES OR MODELS Organizational Behavior Theories or Models The attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organization an organization is generally categorized under the label of organizational behavior. An organization communicates with its stakeholders through its employees. In other words, an organization is a lifeless entity and the employees are responsible for providing life to the organization. Modern organizations are operating cross culturally and they are keen in keeping a diverse workforce as a measure to increase competitive power. Diverse individuals or employees behave differently and hence the organizational behavior can be defined as the sum total of the behaviors of the diverse employees. As a result of that, it is logical to assume that no two organizations can be alike in terms of its behavior since no two individuals are alike in their behaviors. The culture, religion, and the attitudes of the employees can play vital roles in shaping organizational behavior. Leadership plays an important role in shaping organizational behavior. Ultimately leaders are responsible for the development of good as well as bad behaviors and attitudes among employees. An employee who gets good treatment from the leader may contribute heavily to the organization whereas an employee who gets bad treatment from the leader may retard the progress of the organization. Strategies necessary to motivate a diverse workforce purely depend on the abilities of the leader. In other words, leadership style plays an important role in shaping organizational behavior. Some leaders have autocratic in nature whereas some others are democratic in nature. A third segment of leaders adopt a mixed approach; autocratic style blended with democratic style. Based on these leadership styles, plenty of organizational behavior theories or models were developed in the recent past. This paper critically analyses situational leadership theory, the XY theory of motivation and Adam’s equity theory of motivation to know more about the organizational behavior theories or models. Situational Leadership theory and organizational behavior The situational leadership theory, was developed by Paul Hersey, (author of the book Situational Leader), and Ken Blanchard, (author of The One Minute Manager). The core principle of the situational leadership theory is that the leaders should be flexible enough to change their styles based on the demands of the situations (Hersey and Blanchard, 1977). The four different types of situational leadership are: Directing, Coaching, Supporting and Delegating. “Directing leadership approach is most appropriate when the followers have low willingness and low ability for the task at hand. When the followers cannot do the job and are unwilling or afraid to try, then the leader must take a highly directive role” (The Situational Leadership Model, N.d., p.3). It should be noted that power is extremely important for a military leader. He will exercise it whenever requires. It is the duty of the soldiers or the followers to obey the commands or instructions of the commander or leader, even if they have concerns about the logic and utility of the instructions they got. First obey and then question is the rule followed in military. “Coaching leadership approach is most appropriate when the followers have high willingness but low ability for the task at hand” (The Situational Leadership Model, N.d., p.3). It is the duty of the leader to make sure that the followers got enough training for undertaking a mission. For example, it would be illogical for a military leader to send a fresh untrained soldier with a mission to destroy an enemy camp. A commander would give such responsibilities to a soldier only after making sure that the soldier got enough training in dealing with such situations. “Supporting leadership approach is most appropriate when the followers have low willingness but high ability for the task at hand” (The Situational Leadership Model, N.d., p.3). there are plenty of employees who show reluctance to undertake some missions or jobs even if they are capable of completing it successfully. They may not have the self-confidence to undertake such jobs. They may be unaware of their abilities and potentials in completing such jobs successfully. In such cases, it is the duty of the leader to support such employees and encourage them to undertake such jobs. “Delegating leadership approach is most appropriate when the followers have high willingness and high ability. Leaders should rely on delegating when the follower can do the job and is motivated to do it”(The Situational Leadership Model, N.d., p.3). If the leader is confident enough of the abilities of an employee in completing a mission, he should assign that mission to that employee if the employee shows readiness. In warfronts, some soldiers come forward to undertake certain dangerous missions. If the commander is convinced with the abilities of that employee in completing that mission successfully, he should delegate that mission to that employee. Three steps are usually followed by the situational leaders; Identify the Most Important Tasks or Priorities, Diagnose the Readiness Level of the Followers and Decide the Matching Leadership Style (The Situational Leadership Model, N.d., p.1). For example, it is the duty of the commander or the group leader to identify the priority of the works in warfronts. He will make changes in the priorities based on the situations arising in the warfront. He will assign duties to each soldier under his command based on their abilities. While assigning critical missions, the commander would assess the abilities and readiness of the soldiers before assigning duties to them. He will use an autocratic leadership style at warfronts. XY theory of motivation and organizational behavior Motivation is the driving force of all human activities. Without enough motivation, human may not perform an activity. “Motivation is the inner power that pushes human toward taking action and toward achievements. Motivation is powered by desire and ambition, and therefore, if they are absent, motivation is absent too” (Sasson, 2013). Since the ultimate aim of the leadership is to motivate the employees in the right direction, motivational theories and principles have major roles in shaping a positive leadership. According to the XY theory of motivation, there are two types of employees; those who are interested in doing works and those who dislike their works. In other words, some employees have a passion towards their work. They will do everything possible to improve their performances. Reward is a good strategy to motivate such employees further. On the other hand, some employees dislike their work. Punishment is the suitable strategy required to motivate such employees. In short, leadership should use rewards and punishment judiciously to motivate the employees. It should be noted that punishment for hard working employees and complements for lazy employees may bring detrimental effects in the organization. Therefore, leadership should identify which employees are hardworking and which are not, before implementing motivational strategies. According to Furst, (2009), “Because of this inherent dislike of work, most people must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened so as to induce them to put forth enough effort so as to meet their goals and get their work done”. Different strategies are necessary to motivate different types of people. It should be noted that some employees are more interested in good remuneration whereas others are more interested in recognition. The leader should identify such characteristics of employees properly and make changes in his management strategies towards different employees. Adam’s equity theory of motivation Equity theory of motivation argues that people strive for fairness and justice in social exchanges or give and take relationships (Equity, expectancy and goal setting, Please provide citation). It should be noted that employees are human and they have all the emotions that a leader has. Even though the leader assumes a higher position, employees always expect fair treatment from him. They never like a leader who is autocratic in his leadership style. Motivation can be of two types; intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is driven by inherent traits. Fairness in the dealing may help the leader to cultivate intrinsic motivation among the employees. The employee should never develop a feeling that the leader has not shown justice to him. If he develops such feelings, he will never get enough intrinsic motivation to perform well. For example, unfairness in promotions is a big complaint in Apple Inc. Employees in Apple Inc. believes that the company is keen in promoting only the white employees. As a result of that black employees in Apple Inc. get demotivated even though they are getting good salaries. “Extrinsic motivation, by contrast, “refers to a broad array of behaviors having in common the fact that activities are engaged in not for reasons inherent in them, but for instrumental reasons” (Vallerand and Ratelle 2002, p. 42). Unlike intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation is driven by external factors. Apple employees were usually forced to work overtime on a continuous basis. “The work culture in Apple is demanding and the employees forced to work for 60-70 hours per week. In other words, in Apple there was always more work to do than the employees and hence Apple encourages workaholics” (Qumer, 2009, p.7). The management or the leadership often threatens the employees that the company is believed in employability rather than employment security. In other words, the leadership in Apple Inc. uses threatening words and punishments as a measure to motivate the employees extrinsically. Give and take relationship is only a distant dream for Apple Inc employees. They are always at the receiving end since the leaders in Apple are behaving like dictators. Conclusions Leadership styles play an important role in shaping organizational behavior. Autocratic leadership may not provide a positive working climate to the employees whereas democratic leadership helps the employees to improve their productivity and efficiency. At the same, it is impossible for a leader to be democratic always because of the differences in the attitudes and behaviors of the employees. The leader should implement situational leadership to deal with such situations. In other words, the leader should make changes in his leadership styles based on the situations to cultivate motivation among the employees. References Furst, P. G. (2009). Supervisor’s role in employee performances Retrieved from http://www.irmi.com/expert/articles/2009/furst11-construction-risk-management.aspx Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. H. (1977). Management of Organizational Behavior 3rd Edition– Utilizing Human Resources. New Jersey/Prentice Hall. Qumer S.M, (2009), Apple Inc’s corporate culture: The good, the bad and the ugly, ICMR Center for Management research, www. Icmrindia.org Sasson, R. (2013). What Is Motivation and How to Strengthen it? Retrieved from http://www.successconsciousness.com/strengthen_motivation.htm The Situational Leadership Model, (N.d.). Retrieved from http://greeks.cofc.edu/documents/The%20Situational%20Leadership%20Model.pdf Vallerand, R. J., & Ratelle, C. F. (2002). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: A hierarchical model. Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 37–63). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press. Read More