Organizational Behavior and Leadership - Essay Example

Organizational Behavior and Leadership 1. What is Organizational Behavior? Before going into the discussion regarding organizational behavior and its relationship with leadership, let us get a better understanding of what organizational behavior actually is. Organizational behavior is a field of study, which examines the impact of groups and individuals on the behavior of employees working for any specific company or organization. “Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) research and practice may be characterized as either behavior focused or results focused” (Hyten 2009). Organizational behavior focuses on improving organizational productivity, increasing organizational effectiveness, reducing employee absenteeism, and increasing job satisfaction among the employees of a company. When an employee joins a new organization, he or she brings to the organization a new and unique set of personal background and characteristics from other organizations (Griffin & Moorhead 2010, p. 3). The manager of that organization must be able to recognize the unique perspective of the new employee in order to manage a better working relationship with that employee. This understanding of employee behaviors in order to improve organizational effectiveness is known as organizational behavior. The main purpose of the study of organizational behaviors is to apply principles to increase the organizational effectiveness by examining the individual impact and to bring required improvements in the organizational structure. Implementation of the essential principles is very important to bring a positive change in the organizational structure. Management of the company needs to be fully aware of the basic goals and objectives of the company in order to implement the principles behind any organizational behavior. Some of the main objectives for the application of principles include understanding the employees’ nature, understanding the organizational culture, developing effective leaders, developing good teams, and increasing the productivity (Stevens 2007). 2. Importance of Organization Behavior Studying organizational behavior is extremely important for the mangers for increasing productivity of any company or organization (Miner 2007). The studies not only makes an employee know his importance in the organization as an employee but also helps him develop good characteristics and behaviors required to progress in the professional career. If we talk about multinational organizations, we can say that such organizations have distinctive organizational characteristics that provide a unique context for organizational behaviors (Peterson & Thomas 2007). Virtually all multinational organizations have different managers, which include marketing manager, accounts manager, human resource manager, and plant manager but hardly any organization has an organizational behavior manager. The reason is that organizational behavior is not an area of responsibility or a business function; rather it is a perspective, which provides a set of information that managers of all departments need to carry out their job responsibilities in an effective way (Griffin & Moorhead 2010, p. 6). The study of organizational behavior provides insights into all job related activities to the managers. Managers can use the information in many ways to improve their efficiency. Understanding of organizational behavior helps mangers understand their own motives and behaviors in order to use them in various decision-making processes and workplace communications (Luthans 2002). Greenberg (2008) found that managers deals with many people within an organization for different purposes. “An understanding of attitudinal processes, individual differences, group dynamics, intergroup dynamics, organization culture, and power and political behavior can help managers handle such interactions more effectively” (Griffin & Moorhead 2010, p. 7). Organizations expect their employees to work in teams in order to increase organizational productivity and efficiency. Groups are always better as compared to individuals because in groups, different people apply their skills and abilities towards a common task, which results in achieving the tasks more effectively and efficiently. However, teamwork requires good understanding among all team members, which is only possible when the employees have a good understanding of each other’s behaviors. Understanding of individual behavior helps the teams achieve the goals in an effective way. Organizational behavior studies also helps employees become good leaders and entrepreneurs. For a leader, it is essential to have a good understanding of the needs and behaviors of the followers. The needs of the employees also shape individual behaviors in many ways (Harris & Hartman 2002, p. 201). Without having an understanding of the individual behaviors, it is impossible for a leader to work towards the cause in an appropriate manner. The basic traits of every leader are common. Joy (n.d.) asserts, “Whether it is team leadership, corporate leadership or global leadership, the basic traits of a good leader remain common”. Leaders need to posses good behavior and skills in order to inspire and motivate other people. Leaders lead the followers by their own example. Therefore, in order to become a good leader, a person should not only be able to read the minds of the people but also he should be able to understand their behaviors. Entrepreneurs also need to study organizational behavior in order to start a successful business. Studying organizational behavior is very important for the entrepreneurs because it helps them deal with different issues related to employees. For the owner or manager of any new company or organization, there occur different organizational level, group level, and individual level issues, which the managers need to resolve in a quick time. Some of the major issues include managing organizational productivity, managing in the global environment, developing effective teams or groups, managing workforce diversity, and ensuring job satisfaction and employee empowerment. If the manager of a company will not have a good understanding of behaviors and characteristics of every employee, he or she will not be able to make appropriate decisions regarding workplace issues. Therefore, an entrepreneur needs to have an understanding of employee behaviors not only to make a strong social unit but also to face different challenges related to workplace in an effective way. 3. How Organizational Behavior Related to Leadership? Organizational behavior is concerned with the study of human behavior within any specific organizational settings and is deeply associated with the concept of leadership. Leadership means management and control of people. In organizational settings, it is related to the management and control of employees working for an organization. Organizational behavior involves understanding of human behaviors, which influence the behavior of employees of an organization. A leader leads a group of people towards achievement of any specific goal or objective. To accomplish the goals, leaders must be able to manage and control human behaviors because if the mindset of the people following a leader will not be same, the leader will not be able to achieve the desired goals effectively. Leaders not only inspire other people by showing a dynamic behavior but also motivate them towards the accomplishments of tasks. “Leadership involves influencing a group of individuals who have a common purpose” (Northouse 2010, p. 3). Leaders are team players who work with other people to achieve a common goal. The factors of motivation and interpersonal communication play a crucial role in successful achievement of goals. In organization context, the interpersonal communication can only be successful if the employees and the manager have good working relationship between each other. Managers should be able to bring positive changes to the organizational structure if they find any flaw in the structure. Leaders need to support employees’ efforts constantly in order to make them improve their effectiveness (Hellriegel & Slocum 2007, p. 4). Managers must also be able to manage the conflicts successfully and reduce work stress by forming teams and groups. The managers can accomplish all of these tasks only if they have a proper understanding of organizational behavior and posses all qualities of an effective leader. 4. Management Functions related to Managers and Leaders “Management is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives in an efficient and ethical manner” (Kinicki & Kreitner 2009, p. 6). There are five basic management functions, which a manager or a leader needs to perform in order to be successful. Those functions include planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. These functions are not only the core activities of a manager but also they have a deep association with the studies of organizational behavior. Planning means defining the goals and developing the strategies to achieve those goals. This management function helps managers and leaders establish their goals and take appropriate actions to accomplish the goals. The planning function also includes development of a comprehensive plan hierarchy in order to control task related activities. Next management function is organizing, which means to determine the tasks, which need to be done by the employees. In this phase, a manager determines the tasks, assigns them to the employees based on their skills and abilities, forms groups, and organizes all activities related to completion of those tasks. Next management function is leading, which is closely associated with the concept of leadership. Leading involves many critical tasks such as motivating the employees, directing employees’ activities, inspiring the employees by showing good behavior and leadership skills, selecting effective channels for communication with the employees, and injecting enthusiasm in the minds of employees to work towards the goals with dedication and commitment. The last of the management functions is controlling, which means to monitor the performance of the teams. The managers monitor and evaluate the performance of team members and compare the performance with original goals in order to make required changes if they find any flaws in the performance. 5. Importance of Organizational Behavior in Marketing Understanding of organizational behavior also plays a key role in the field of marketing. Marketing managers need to understand the behaviors of sales and marketing employees in order to assign relevant tasks to them. Marketing employees deal with the promotion and sales of company’s products, so they should maintain good personal relationships with the key customers of the company and that can only be possible if they show welcoming behavior towards the customers. Marketing employees directly interact with the customers so they need to present a good image of the company to the customers in order to increase the sales of the company’s products. Team performance is also important in this regard because it affects the overall productivity of each employee. 6. Conclusion Summing it up, organizational behavior is a field of study, which examines the impact of groups and individuals on the behavior of employees and focuses on improving organizational productivity, increasing organizational effectiveness, and increasing job satisfaction among the employees of a company. The manager of any organization needs to recognize the unique perspective of every new employee in order to manage a better working relationship with that employee. Organizational behavior is deeply associated with the concept of leadership and is extremely important for increasing the overall productivity of any company or organization. Therefore, the manager of any specific organization need to have a proper understanding of employee behaviors not only to make the organization a strong social unit but also to face different challenges related to workplace in an effective way. References Greenberg, J 2003, Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science, 2nd edn, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah. Griffin, R & Moorhead, G 2010, Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, 9th edn, Cengage Learning, Mason. Harris, O & Hartman, S 2002, Organizational Behavior, The Haworth Press, New York. Hellriegel, D & Slocum, J 2007, Organizational Behavior, 11th edn, Thomson Higher Education, Mason. Hyten, C 2009, ‘Strengthening the Focus on Business Results: The Need for Systems Approaches in Organizational Behavior Management’, Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 87-107. Joy, D n.d., Characteristics of a Good Leader, viewed 28 March, 2011, . Kinicki, A & Kreitner, R 2009, Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills, & Nest Practices, Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited, New Delhi. Luthans, F 2002, ‘The Need for and Meaning of Positive Organizational Behavior’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 695-706. Miner, J 2007, Organizational Behavior: From Theory to Practice, M.E. Sharpe, New York. Northouse, P 2010, Leadership: Theory and Practice, 5th edn, SAGE Publications, California. Peterson, M & Thomas, D 2007, ‘Organizational Behavior in Multinational Organizations’, Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 261-279. Stevens, P 2007, Objectives of Organizational Behavior Studies, viewed 28 March, 2011, . Read More