Importance of Inspirational Leaders, Well-Organised Human Resource Serves in a Company - Research Paper Example

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR SUMMARY. Organizational behavior refers to the individual and group dynamics that are displayed within an organization. It is the study and application of the knowledge of how people, individuals and groups behave in an organization by taking a systematic approach. CULTURE Introduction Culture is the intangible thing that determines how people in an organization interact, communicate, behave and handle change. This determines how people operate and draws the line between what is acceptable and what is not within an organization. Culture can easily be diagnosed by among many things, the symbols used in the organization, heroes, routines and rituals, stories, organizational structure, control systems and the power structure. Corporate culture is the ultimate power to greatness and only companies with a strong and cohesive culture succeed, such as Apple, Google, Hewlett - Packard (HP) among others. According to Alice Branch (2003), Corporate culture can be sliced and diced and be understood: the easier it is for culture to be signed, the healthier the culture and consequently, the stronger the company’s business performance. A good example of this principle is McDonald’s Corporate culture involves the main aims of an organization, the strategies that will be employed in meeting those aims and the way the stakeholders should behave while striving to achieve those aims. It takes the effort of the top management to maintain its culture; this is by interacting a lot and communicating effectively, especially to employees of what is expected of them (Auxillium West, 2008). Corporate behavior is effected by effective leadership. The culture can be either weak or strong. Weak is where the employees fail to identify with the values of the organization hence need to be pushed to carry out tasks from the organization’s point of view. While the converse is true for strong cultures as people tend to think as a group on the direction to be taken during decision making. Various methods have been employed in grouping cultural change. The David Francis innovation model insists that an appropriate culture must be adopted, developed and maintained over time. The culture of an organization must not only be supportive but also demanding. He further emphasized that for a culture to be right, the workforce must be given selective empowerment, high enrolment in the innovation and creativity process and deliberate encouragement for an involvement in innovation. Body According to the Carlsberg - Tetley techniques, culture is said to be innovative when it is characterized by a breakthrough process, creative flip, positive language, no blame culture, real vision and stake holder training. Tata motors is an example of a company that has applied these techniques to ensure their culture is consistent with quality innovation, production and customer satisfaction. For them, innovation is integrated to all aspects of the organization, there is 360 degree management appraisal and competency training and development programmes have been introduced. All their staff members are taken through a vigorous staff training and development programmes to ensure that they remain at a leadership position globally. There is a direct correlation between the culture of an organization and the innovation process of that company. Companies that tare known to innovate well are those that embrace change and operate outside their areas of comfort and take risks. These companies are characterized by an organizational structure that is devoid of rigid functional responsibilities for the workforce and have a wide definition of business. Also, they are keen not to over emphasize on the financials when venturing into new areas as they appreciate that the financials are just but an aspect of the success package. Corporate culture is now being seeing as an asset as it marks the difference between success and failure. Conclusion 1. Inspirational leaders are needed to implement cultural change, not just strategies. Good leaders need to motivate the people to share the vision of the company, own it and energize them to unlock their potential and accept positive change. Kanter (2000) insists that a company must develop its culture as this means that the communication channels have been unified. They leadership is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that a constructive culture is maintained and they should be able to mange cultural change while effectively integrating any new patterns of organization and managemnt. 2. Corporate culture serves many functions in an organization. It helps in creating customer satisfaction, as it is focused in meeting the customer’s needs. It helps in faster decision making as the general guidelines of operation are obvious, creates co-operation between employees as they have the same values and way of thinking, employees commitment as they feel as part of the group and can be able to identify with each other. 3. Cultural change in an organization requires time and patience as employees require ample time to adjust to the change. Cummings & Worley give six outlines of the steps to be taken when implementing cultural change. First, come up with a clear strategic vision. Second, the senior management should show its commitment to implementing the vision. Third, the first notable change should occur at the top management level; fourth, the organization should be restructured to be able to accommodate the change. Then, keep going with those who are adaptive to the change, terminate the ones who are not compliant. Finally, be sensitive to the ethic and legal challenges that might arise. LEADERSHIP Introduction Leadership is the ability to influence human behavior so that it is in line with the desire of the designated leader. There are four main leadership styles. These are: 1. Autocratic 2. Paternalistic 3. Consultative 4. Participative. Body John Adair (2007) says that a leader must be able to address the individual, task and group needs of his workforce, which is basically an overlap of circles that affect each other. This involves: 1. Task definition within the three circles compass. The task should be defined in terms of the objectives, aims, and purpose. 2. Planning: this is a priniciple of leadership. 3. Briefing: A good leader communicates with his workforce at all levels in clear and simple language. At first level of leadership you should strive to become more competent at briefing your group on objectives and plans. At the senior level you will have to brief the organization, which is a much more demanding task. 4. Controlling: This function involves both checking against standards and directing the course of work in progress. 5. Evaluating: The ability to evaluate is an important leadership function and it involves the assessment of consequences, evaluating team performance, appraising and training individuals. This is a crucial element in decision making and the evaluation of the alternatives in terms of their consequences - technical, financial and human. Feedback must always be got from the teams so that the communication process can be complete. 6. Motivating: Human motives have their sources in the deeper needs and values within people. A leader can sometimes help the process by which needs are transformed into wants, which can be realized in the context of common task and the common life of group or organization. 7. Organizing: This is the function of arranging parts into a working order. The structure is a mean for attaining the organizational goals and objectives. This may involve structural changes of the tasks, technology and the environment. 8. Setting an example: A true leaders are linked by this principle that in some way or other they set an example. They do or live what they preach or require in others. There are different theories of leadership such as the contingency, behavioral, trait, transactional, scientific and transformational theories all of which are not mutually exclusive. In trait theory, it is assumed that leaders have natural traits that distinguish them from followers. John Gardner studied the lives of great North American Organizations and leaders and concluded that most of them possessed certain similar traits: competence, people skills, and intelligence, understanding, trustworthy, intelligent, decisive, and assertive among others. In behavioral theory the shift changes from individuals to the focus of the leadership such as concern for task, people, directive leadership where the leader gives directives on what needs to be done in decagon making. In scientific management, Frederick Taylor argued that the work of the leader is to plan and then issue out directives to subordinates to be carried out and to maximally utilize labor with the assumption that workers were only interested in earning money. Henry Ford exemplifies Taylor’s scientific model he turned the Ford Motor company into a mass producer of vehicles using a technical system through using repetitive physical labor that caused specialization of workers. The contingency theory argues that leadership is as a result of many factors. For instance Fred Fielder argued that leadership depended on various factors such as the power of the leader, the relationship between the leaders and followers, the task among other factors. Hersey and Blanchard came up with four leadership styles that can be applied to deal with different situations. Telling (high task/ low relationship) where the assumption is that the subordinate staff has to be pushed to get the work done. Therefore, the leader gives a great deal of directives to the subordinates. Goals and roles are emphasized. Can be used to deal with new employees. Selling (high task/ high relationship) where the people are self- driven but lack the know how of carrying the task. The leader ‘trains’ the people and encourages them to own the task. Participative (high relationship/low task) equal decision making opportunity between the leader and followers with the leader mainly overseeing and providing direction when needed. Used when the subordinates are not fully conversant with tasks. Delegating (low task/ low behavior) the main duty of carrying out tasks lies with the subordinates. The leaders distribute the tasks. Used with highly competent staff. In contingency, the leader does not rely on a given set of instructions when making decisions. Rather this is dependent on the forces of the leader, follower and the situation. The Yetton and Vroom’s Normative Model was based on the decision making of the leader and the level of acceptance to it by the followers. They described five decision making processes. These are: 1. The leader makes all the decisions alone. 2. The leader gets information from the subordinates but decides alone. T 3. The leader shares the problem to individual subordinates listens to their ideas but makes the final decision alone. 4. The leader shares the problem with subordinates as a group, listens to their feedback and ideas but decides alone. 5. The leader shares the problem with the group and they come to a unanimous decision. Yetton and Vroom took general situational behaviors and came up with a set of behaviors on how leaders should behave. In transactional leadership, the leaders outline what is expected from the subordinates and what they will get in return if they achieve the desired objectives. The assumption being that man is rational, who is mainly influenced by rewards such as money. In transformational leadership, the leader sells the ideas and the vision of the organization to the subordinates and motivates them to achieve their potential. It is important for the leader to cultivate trust and integrity between him and the followers to be quite effective. Transformational leader seeks to transform the followers even as he seeks to achieve the goals of the organization. Transformational leaders are usually charismatic and have to be prominent for followers to identify with them. In 1943 Abraham Maslow came up with basic human needs and the hierarchical manner in which they should be satisfied. These needs are psychological, safety, belonging, esteem and self actualization (Changing Minds, 2007). Self actualization is a state where individuals fulfill their potential and achieve their capabilities to the fullest. It is important for the leader to help the subordinates identify their needs as at where they are and help them move higher up the hierarchy. John Adair was of the opinion that leadership is based on three overlapping circle of needs, that is: achieving a common objective, working as a team to achieve the objective and meeting individual need of the various team members. Insuating that leadership is essentially based on the leader, team members and the situation. Management involves planning, organizing, co-ordination and implementation of policies. With the managers authority or power being derived from the organization. Leadership was seen as effecting change by virtue of one’s personal attributes. There are different levels of leadership. 1. Front line leadership where emphasis and decisions is placed on the leader. 2. Operational leadership which deals with everyday workings of the organization. 3. Strategic leadership based on identifying with the vision of the organization and implementing it with facilitation of senior management. Conclusion 1. Leaders play a crucial role in any organization and their activities have a direct impact on the overall economy of any nation. For example, McDonald’s has a positive effect on the economies of the 120 countries that it has a presence in. this is primarily because they have created employment. 2. Leadership must be people oriented. Collegial leadership involves teamwork and partnership. This leads to a responsible and self-disciplined work force. 3. A company should adopt a leadrship style that is appropriate for them. Mcdonald’s for exapmle has adopted a decentralized leadership approach. This allows for all members of staff to partiicpate in the idea generation process. This means that the workforce is included and thus, there is an increase their productitivity. The entreprenueral style has the advantage of having no inter-functional barriers, is cutomer and people oriented, informal and trust is consciously developed. HUMAN RESOURCE Introduction Human resource serves critical function such as developing a hiring strategy, hiring, selecting, training, evaluating, promoting, employee relations, keeping records, compensation of employees. It has a direct relation to organizational behavior. David Kolb (2008) postulates that there are four learning styles with each person leaning towards one style. The preference of a particular style is influenced by three different things. These include the basic developments one undergoes as they grow up, early adulthood experiences and how they have been influenced by social and formal organizations such as schools, life and career in adulthood. An understanding of these four styles helps the trainer to argument towards the most suitable style to his learners. These four styles are: 1. Diverges prefer to watch and see. They require time to think things through and like to use their minds to solve problems. They are creative, emotional and good at brainstorming. 2. Assimilates are logical and prefer to deal with ideas and information to people. They are interested in concepts rather than hands on training. 3. Converges are more practical. They know how to implement ideas and concepts into real life and are good decision makers. Is more task oriented than people oriented. 4. Accommodates are hands on. Tend to rely on their instincts than logic. They are initiative and like field work and working in teams. Spurred by challenges and like to try out new ideas. Body Management can encourage development of their employs by increasing their skill level through training, creating motivation and job satisfaction, linking employees for problem sharing and support, creating effective communication channels throughout the organization. The most successful ccmpanies globally such as McDonald’s have made heavy investments towards the developent of human resources capital. Furthermore, the management should be role models to employees on the expected behaviors, acknowledge employees who are carrying out their duties well, provide timely feedback on performances and ways to improve, provide opportunities for employee growth through workshops, mentoring, promotions among others. This ensures that a culture is developed and maintained within the organization. A human resource audit helps in evaluating various department of the company together with its employees. It outlines the capabilities, performance and potentials of both. Appraisals should be carried out in a professional manner. The appraiser should provide timely feedback and convey it positively, consider strengths, weaknesses and the career development needs provide rational future projections on performance based on current performance. Business Strategy and HR agenda includes resourcing, skills acquisition, development of plans, commitment, productivity, performance management, rewards systems and employee relations. The Kolb model postulates that there are four different stages that individuals undergo during training. Firstly, there must be objectives that are agreed upon in the company. Then, an actual measure of achievement must be established, with focus on high standard. A viable business support system must also be put in place. Conclusion Most organizations are faced with the challenge of managing people and in order to develop a good human resource strategy, some issues must be taken into consideration such as: the structure of the organization the culture the people and skill level The systems of human resource. For a good human resource strategy, get the overall picture through looking at the fundamentals and driving force of the business. Then come up with a mission statement. Conduct research to determine the weaknesses and strengths of the business, internally and externally. Conduct an analysis of the human resource that is available in comparison to what is needed. Come up with key issues that affect people in the organization and consider ways of solving them. Then break this down into a HR system: employee training and development, management development, organization development, performance appraisal, employee reward, employee selection and improvement, manpower planning, communication. Then put into action your new measures and evaluate them. The focus of human resource is to develop quality working team for the organization. Therefore, companies strive to line their HR practices with the business strategy. TEAMS Introduction Annual Reviews (2007) defines a team as a group as individuals who see themselves and are seen by others as a social entity and are interdependent because of the tasks they perform. They are embedded in a larger social structure and their tasks affect others. Teams help in flexibility in the organization as they help in effective and faster decision making and implementation due to employee participation and better information flow. Employees feel more confident and are more likely to carry out decisions that they themselves have come up with, rather than what has been forced on them. There is also minimum supervision involved if the team is the one implementing its suggested policies and hence more cost- effective. In group situations, companies report increased productivity, quality, absenteeism and attitude among employees. It is important for the team to be interdependent on each other. Body The effectiveness of a group can be measured through its outputs, its concern for its members, and potential it has for future performances. Various factors influence group performances such as cohesiveness. The more task cohesive teams are, the better their performances considering the individuals, task, number of members. Mix of members in the group is said to have impacted positively in the banking industry there were a variety of innovations as a result of the heterogeneity of the senior management teams and group leadership affects its performance. Good leaders increased individual performances and had excellent leadership skills. Group goals can serve to motivate members. There are certain characteristics that identify informal groups in organizations. These include that one should not work too much- be a rate buster, don’t work too little- be a chiseller, not tell on his fellow workers to a superior- be a squealer, don’t act like an inspector – not officious. The informal groups put up a united front to protect themselves and resist change. Informal groups usually have a history, culture and a structure. Soft human resource deals with the people and their talents and general behavior of people. Hard HRM deals with what can be quantified and how this measures to achievement of the organizations goals Conclusion Top management should support teams and help in integrating them to the rest of the organization and with other groups. It is also good for the team members to have good relations with each other. For motivation, a reward system can be put in place to recognize group achievements and avoid awarding singling out individuals from the group to be awarded as this can break up the group. The group can be provided with an information system to increase its potential through individual growth. TECHNOLOGY Introduction Total Quality Management (TQM) strives to provide satisfactory services to the customers. It reflects the culture of the organization. According to Six Sigma (2008) it is a way for the leadership and employees to get involved in improvement of their products. Some of the factors that have implemented TQM include Tata Motors, Toyota, Philips and Motorola. Some principles of TQM include commitment by the management, empowering employees, logical decisions based on facts, continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. Body There are different types of Human resource management: hard and soft. Hard HRM is concerned with controlling performance systems and management and controlling individual behavior. In hard HRM the employees work towards achieving the objectives of the organization and hard HRM has alot to do with technology: quantitative, calculative and concentrates on business strategy aspects, employees are seen as an economic factor. Hard HRM entails planning, job enlargement and job rotation. Soft HRM puts emphasis on the human aspect of HRM such as communication, motivation, leadership. There is emphasis on a culture of consistency that is characterized by employee communication, joint problem solving, developing commitment and developing values, mission and vision strategies.  To achieve TQM employees have to be trained. For instance Lloyds Bank UK Retail Banking and W.H Smith News trained there employees on new skills. TQM tools also require tools to monitor implementation such as charts of the Pareto principle, control and flow charts, check sheets and lists among others. Companies have to change their strategies at one time or another to meet customers changing demand. The organization has to create and maintain value products to remain relevant in the market. For instance Apple upgraded its programs iLife and introduced a new application Garage Band, iPhoto and iMovie which are features for viewing pictures and movies were upgraded. Conclusion It is important for employees to feel that success in their personal lives will also result in success for the company as well. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that any employee needs is a salary, benefits, safety in the work place and job security (NFIB, 2008). When the organization meets these needs, employees become inspired to work for the company. This increases employee retention, morale and harmony, professional and improved work. Job rotations involve vertical transfers of employees within the organization to reduce boredom and fatigue. It can help in career improvement as it enlarges experience of the employees. Employees also have to fit into the culture of the organization. For instance in International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) where the corporate culture involve the use of Color blue, being sales oriented, most employees dressed in grey suits white shirts and a tie. IBM embarked on re-writing some of its values and it hosted online discussions with various participants and updated its views concerning customers, employees and business ventures. REFERENCES ACCEL – Team (2008) Human Resource Management. Last retrieved 9 March, 2008 at http://www.accel-team.com/human_resources/hrm_08a.html Adair John (2007). Fundamentals of Leadership. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Annual Reviews (2007). Teams in Organizations. Last retrieved on 9 March, 2008 at http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.psych.47.1.307?cookieSet=1 Auxilium West (2008). Human Resources Software .Last retrieved on 9 March 2008 at http://www.auxillium.com/culture.shtml Beakware (2008). Corporate Culture and Change Management. 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