Organization Behavior and Motivation - Essay Example

Organizational Behavior Organization Behavior INTRODUCTION Organizational behavior is to study the behavior of people in an organization and to assess and evaluate as to how these actions affect the end product of the company. For the purpose of this research, we have conducted an interview of the Manager of Yi Hnag Electric Company; Amanda Gong; who has 5 subordinates who are a part of her team and has more than 15 years of experience. The paper discusses about various questions asked by us during the interview and their answers and how they are linked to the theories and how the basic functions of the organization can be improved. MOTIVATION Understanding Motivation There are three basic theories that are discussed in this section of the research. The first one being the Self Determination theory; According to this theory, people are more satisfied if they do what they want to do on their own, bearing the concept of freedom in mind whereas, when this same work is converted into responsibility, then people often lose interest in doing the same work. This theory is also based on another theory known as cognitive evaluation theory according to which a person loses interest in his work because of the external factors such as increase in pay etc. This can be explained in other words as the decrease in the motivation of a person to work gradually decreases as the number of incentives being provided to him increase because people get the perception that the work they are doing is forced and compulsory and hence, the person loses interest in doing the same work because then he feels that it is his duty. Another theory, the goal setting theory explains the importance of setting goals and how it improves the performance of an individual. This theory also proves that when a person is told about what goals to achieve and when to achieve it, he automatically works on the task in order to reach his goal. Similarly, if a person is appreciated for his works, his performance eventually increases to a great extent. But a big factor regarding this theory is the acceptance of the set goal. And harder goals gave better performances as compared to easier goals. The third theory, known as self efficacy theory or social learning theory is based upon the thinking of an individual whereby he thinks that he has the ability to achieve certain goals or tasks. Hence, if a person is less efficacious he is more prone to give up easily, whereas someone who is highly efficacious will try his best to accomplish the task. The most widely accepted theory is known as expectance theory in which a person seems to think that if he performs better he will be rewarded for it and hence his performance is greatly affected due to this thinking. Summary of Responses The manager told that motivating employees was one of the most important parts of any organization and special attention is given to make sure that the employees are motivated to the best level possible. The leader appreciated each and every employee individually and also praised the individuals among the staff. Apart from this, the employees were also rewarded for their dedication and hard work. This reward could be in the form of money or a gift from the company. But the leader emphasized on giving cash because the cash was considered more effective way of appreciating the employee. This appreciation of the employees which results in better performance lies in conformity with the expectance theory; whereby, the individual becomes hard working and gives better performance thinking that he will get awarded for it. Other ways of motivating the employees is first of all by setting a goal and then appreciating the employee on reaching that goal. It is also better to get involved with the employees and also let the employees know about each other which will help to create a friendly work relationship within the office. The patterns of motivation involved in the team leaders company is the utilization of both non materialistic and materialistic incentives in order to motivate the employees to apply their maximum efforts for the success of the company. Emphasis is given on individual basis and also on team basis. The employees should feel happy when their team succeeds in achieving their goals and hence this results in a better performance at both individual and team level. The goal setting theory is involved in this as the team leaders sets the target which needs to be accomplished and then appreciates the workers when they reach the goal, this goal setting also motivates the employees to work harder because then the employees have a focused mind and that is achieve the goal set by their team leader. The employees feel happy and contended with what they do since they work in a friendly environment where they can complain about anything that they don’t like. The employees are given the freedom to what they do and nothing is forced upon them. This is similar to the theory of self determination theory where the employees think that they are working on their own accord and willingness and they are also not forced to do anything, this is one of the ways to achieve job satisfaction among employees. The basic aim of the company is to gain customer satisfaction by providing value based products of optimum quality. To motivate and promote employees personally and also in work related settings so that they may give their utmost dedication and hard work and the company fulfills its basic aim easily. Recommendations to Improve Motivation Based on the information provided to me during the interview, I recommend that the company control the amount of cash incentives being given to the employees since according to the cognitive evaluation theory the employee might lose interest in his work if he is given ample amounts of external incentives. Furthermore, the employees should also be given a sense of perspective that a part of their work is going to do greater good such as the company can donate a part of what they earn to a charity organization. This will help to create the required image in the minds of employees. GROUPS/TEAMS Understanding groups/ teams The Social identity theory focuses on the reaction of emotions that the employee makes when they are faced with success or failure of their group. When a person wins, he get motivated to achieve more, feels proud of his accomplishments, but when he fails he feels depressed and bad about himself. This theory basically focuses on why and when an employee might think of themselves as the member of the team. Another model known as the five stage group development model helps to determine the stages through which the member of a group or time goes through. These five stages are of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. The first stage of this model, also known as the forming stage is when there is no surety about the groups, the storming stage is when there is a clash within the group members, the norming stage is when the structure of the group starts to take its shape, the fourth stage is performing when the structure of the group is fully formed and has none of the problems that existed before whereas the adjourning stage is the wrap up of all the previous mentioned stages and structure of the group has been established. The second theory mentioned in this section of this book is the status characteristics theory according to which status of a person is based on three main factors; the power a person has over others, the ability of an employee to contribute towards the team’s goals, and the last being the individual characters of a person himself. The situational leadership theory says that the right leader will help in conducting the appropriate leadership skills. This also depends on the leader’s willingness in order to conduct any work. The leadership participation model portrays the importance of any decision made by the leader and how she decides on resolving an issue. The path goal theory says that the leader is responsible for providing all the guidance, material in order to achieve the targets and this helps to establish the leadership capabilities of an individual. The trait theories of leadership defines the characteristics of a leader and how a leader is differentiated from someone who does not have the potential to become a leader. According to this theory, the characteristics of a good leader include charisma, enthusiasm and courage. Summary of Responses It was last year when the company was getting a lot of complaints regarding the quality of the product and it was I, who got the responsibility to solve this problem by putting in our maximum efforts. I lead a team of five people rather than going alone. Upon investigation it was concluded that the quality of the product was being affected because of the lack in performance by some of the employees. My entire team started to brainstorm ways and ideas as to how to resolve this issue. The solution to this problem was to replace the current workers with someone else and then to conduct hourly checkups so the quality of the product had returned to the set standard. I at first explained the problem and started brainstorming ideas as to how to improve the quality of the product by not affecting anything else in the process. This was particularly difficulty task at hand since I had to change an entire step in order to make effective decisions. After this the results were evaluated and it was proved that changing the personnel also created reat impact on the end result. The leader he depicts the path goal theory whereby the leader set the goals target and lead the entire group and these goals which are set by the leader helps in achieving the end result. The team meets every once a week and bounces ideas and progress while the leader ensured that everything was right on track. However at the beginning of this project the leader used to call in meetings every other day because that was the critical stage when the problem had to be assessed and corrective measures were to be taken .However when the problem was identified and the corrective measures were taken the leader extended the meeting days to a week. The leadership also met with the workers and executives, personally and did not rely on meeting online or through other sources. Personal meetings allow better interaction as compared to those conducted virtually. The leader in this case demonstrates the trait theory of leadership and hence is based on the trait theories of leaderships. The leader also portrayed that out leader was a transformational leader as he encouraged the team members to work on their own and try to find a solution on their own. In order to create a good example of being a leader it is important that a clear target or goal is established in the mind, the leader must communicate with the team members as this will also help to set the target and subsequently achieve these targets. Apart from commanding orders the leader also needs to listen as to what other have to say regarding the problem, this is because sometimes listening is an important way to improve our ways and methods. This also conforms to the trait theory of leadership as the point mentioned are also a list of characteristics that a leader must posses. In order to break a bad news to the company it is important that the right time and place are chosen to break the news, the message being conveyed should be altered in order to create a good image among the audience and the bad news should not be felt as much. The worker should be warned about the bad news before hand; after the news is conveyed then the leader should plan on any corrective action being implemented as a result of this bad act in order to rectify it. One of the traits of a charismatic leader according to the charismatic leadership theory is to identify the problems and rectify it by analyzing the source of problem. Recommendations to Improve Group/Teams Based on the interview information, it can be concluded that the leadership needs to be stronger than it is right now and also needs to be flexible enough. The decision taken by the manager and its implementation also takes more time than regular and if a new leader is selected he should be more inclined towards being charismatic. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE Understanding Organizational Structure Departmentalization is the division of the company intro departments based on the similar function conducted by them. The entire process of departmentalization helps in successfully analyzing the products as well the reviews about the customers regarding the consumer. Chain of Command is the channel through which the information is flown from the lower worker and then moved upward towards the highest possible chair of authority. Only those who have authority has the capability to enact and implement what they feel is right. Span control helps to decide the number of people working in the organization and how to effectively and efficiently utilize these sources so that products are manufactures in shorter period of time. Another concept of centralization and decentralization is being employed in various companies. Centralization is the fact that all the decisions are made from one single point whereas decentralization means the decisions are usually taken at the individual departments. Summary of Responses The departments included in the company are divided on the basis of the functions of those departments such as the product that needed to be manufactured is in the first department with the raw materials and goods, the second department is where the manufacturing takes place whereas the third department is where the product is sold nd the money is collected for that source. The concept of departmentalization helps to achieve an efficient method of working in a company. As a leader the chain of command will be set from the lowest position to the highest positions as those people who are at lower post report to their supervisor who then talk to the assistant manager. This is the chain of command within the company whereas the director is given top priority. According to the theory the chain of command is from the elder itself and then towards the staff which will try to implement the order given from the higher authority. As a leader, the first step taken in order to change anything within the organization was altering the span of control. The decision making was also de centralized which helped to achieve faster results as compared to centralized. The decentralized helps to get quick responses and the waiting is then minimized to a great extent. The Span of control helps to effectively and efficiently utilize the sources so that maximum productivity is found. The most important decision made by a leader can be categorized into three categories ; the first being vision which helps to create a clear mind frame to achieve the goals within an organization. The next is the strategy which comes after the vision, this always comes after vision since a strategy can be made and implemented only if a clear vision is defined. The third and last important decision made by the leader is people; it is the right people who help to create a strong team and without the strong team the leader might fail eventually. All the three factors i.e., mission, core values and vision are an important part of any organization and cannot be ignored and chosen one over the other as these three terms are often homogenous and the neglection of one of these concepts does not result in a successful business. The most important trait is how a leader succeeds on using these three concepts all together, the balance between these three concepts is what defines a true leader. Recommendations to Improve Organizational Structure The company should focus on getting a centralized system rather than a decentralized one as the chances of error in centralized systems are less but it also has it strong points. The company should also focus on a simple organizational structure which is more cost effective as compared to other complex organizational structures. References Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2013). Organizational behavior. Boston: Pearson. Read More