Business Organisational Behavior - Strategy for Adoption of Modern Technology - Essay Example

Business Organizational Behaviour Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Strategy for adoption of modern technology and the effect of the external environment on the strategy supported by the structure and size of the college of Higher Education 4 Conclusion 10 References 12 Introduction Organizational Behaviour is defined as the study of the interface between the organization and human behaviour, the organization and the human behaviour that exist in the organizational settings. Organizational behaviour comprises of two major parts the micro organizational behaviour and the macro organizational behaviour. The micro part of the study is about group dynamics and individual behaviour in an organizational setting. The macro part of the study is about the whole of industry and organization and the way they adapt to the changing external conditions, and how the various contingencies, structures and strategies that guide the behaviour of the organization. The main objective of the study is to develop a better conceptualization of the organizational life and to revitalize the organizational theory. This assignment deals with the strategy that should be adopted by the college of higher education so as to enhance better experience of the college students. The strategy or rather the system an organization follows greatly depends on the external factors that are continuously changing. Modern technology is a very major aspect that is adopted by most of the organization in today’s scenario. The college aims at embracing new modern technology so as to facilitate the experience of college students. Modernized lab facilities, library facilities, and adoption of new technology in IT infrastructure would enhance the experience of the students. The strategy is extended to the criteria’s that should be incorporated in modern organization. The assignment encloses the structure of the organization and the way it represents to the stakeholders. Strategy for adoption of modern technology and the effect of the external environment on the strategy supported by the structure and size of the college of Higher Education Organizations whether bigger or smaller are designed and created by people so as to fulfil the human objectives. Any organization is always threatened by the external factors that are beyond the control of the organization. For instance the college of higher education has the major threat of competition from other colleges who has improvised modern technology that facilitates better understanding of students. Students while taking admission always are more concerned about the infrastructure of the college and the innovative technology that the college uses so as to provide them with a better learning experience. This college can exceed the expectation of the students who are a part of this organization and even those who want to be a part by embracing some modern technology. In order to do so the college needs to adapt some strategy that would guide them to tackle the external conditions that affect the operations of this organization. External factor are always beyond the control of an organization. Some factors such as the credit worthiness, reputation of an organization is a result of how effectively the organization is being operated. Government regulations, competition, and tight lending options are some of the external factors that affect the operations of any organization whether it’s a big enterprise or a small one. Some of the strategic action plans that can be implemented in order to tackle such external factors are developing effective plans for compliance to the changing government regulations, constant development in work process and adoption of modern technology so as to remain one step ahead of the competition, and exploring other alternative sources for financing under the strict lending conditions (Anderson and Paine, 1975, pp.811-823). The college of higher would face the affect of the external factor that is high competition from other such colleges who offer the same service as this college. The forwarding thinking strategic approach can help the college to overcome the threat of such external factors. The innovative way of incorporating modern technology would help the college to be at pace with other competitors and at same time develop good learning experience for their students. The external environment of college/ institution is rapidly changing as there is more need of modern technologies and systemized organizational structure by the students. The external environment of the college can be characterized by turbulence and change. The fiscal decision and policy making of the organization is greatly controlled by the external agencies. The college needs to really focus on the curriculum being offered and the quality of the instructions that is provided by the college of higher education. The strategy of the college will be to focus on the quality of the education that it will be offering to its students. The implementation of well defined curriculum and introduction of modern technology in the system would help the college to sustain in the competitive environment of the global economy. The evolution of an electronic technology based system has challenged many institutions of higher education that are based on the traditional managerial paradigm. The complexity of change, magnitude and accelerating rate has created opportunities and vulnerabilities for many colleges of higher education. The volume of changes and its rapidity has resulted into less lead time for the administrator of institutions and to implement some strategies. The institution is a societal system that is affected or re perceived to be affected by the external factors. The task environment and the general societal environment are the external factors that affect an organization. The task environment factors include revenue or sources, students and governmental education regulation and policies that are apparent to the college of higher education (Chaffee, 1985, pp.133-172). The factors can be more broadly classified into economic factors, demographic factors, governmental pressures, religious factors and societal influences. The economic factors include the dependency of the institution on external elements for financial survival. Such as funds from the government for operating expenses, tuition fees from the students and their family on proper time, research and training permission from the external agencies, income generating projects, charitable donations from the alumni. Largely the institutions depend on the tuition income for their financial stability, but the unwillingness of the external factors to increase taxes, and the limitation on the colleges to increase tuition fees causes a great impact on the financial viability of the college in order to sustain in the competitive environment. Competition has always been the central element for institutions in terms of prestige, donations, best students, amongst all others, and has been the central driving force for any college of higher education. Competition is a major external factor for all institutions, strive to get research grants, the best faculty, the best students, and to be in important rankings in all reports or publications. All of the colleges try to offer the best of infrastructure, sports facilities, and faster accessibility to computer network. The global competitive environment has made the student the buyer of the higher education product. Their demand is to get the best of curriculum, facilities and degree offerings. Student consumerism era has forced even the most prestigious institutions to give attention to the interest and demand of the students who are the end consumers of the service that is going to be delivered by them. The college while designing its strategy should consider these factors and incorporate a more flexible degree structure, the best faculty for different subjects, theoretical as well as emphasis on the practical application, and various other majors to meet the demand of the students. The academic sector has been greatly impacted by the demographic changes. There is a wide diversity in the student population in today’s scenario. Some part of the student population is that group who are not of the college and due to some vocational need has returned to the college campus. Another section is those students who do not want a full-fledged course but wants remedial courses and hence are more demanding towards part time courses. The institutions need to adjust all its activities according to the wide array of students and more diverse student base with varying interests. The full-time traditional model of the institution is no longer valid and more institutions are focused on part-time courses. Expansion in student population, variation by age, increased diversity, interest and ability has impacted and transformed the institutional landscape. Politics and government has been affecting the institution of higher education. The bulk of funding is provided by the government. They are even responsible for forming the legal structure of the institution, organizing and forming regulations of the colleges, and even providing legal regulations and charter to these institutions (Cleland and King, 1974, pp.70-74). They even determine grant programs and sponsor loans, tuition charges, and to some extent even determine the admission policies. Government at all levels greatly affects the operations of the colleges of higher education. Enough flexibility is required in designing the various operations of the college so as to easily incorporate any change in the government regulations. Social developments and trends greatly affect the functioning of the colleges. The students always have the demand for new initiatives, new curriculum, and updated technology based infrastructure. Colleges are greatly expanding its operations so as to meet the needs of the students. They are even redesigning its curriculum structure so as to meet the societal needs. The diversity in offering various subjects is the best way of overcoming such external factors. The strategy planning requires effective scanning of the environment analysis and deciding on alternative strategies so as to meet the ongoing changes of the environment. The alternative strategies thus designed helps in selecting the best of the strategies in terms of feasibility. The suitable strategies lead to policy making so as to adapt to the changing environment. The strategy that should be adopted by the college is a total curriculum design based on the interest of the students. The curriculum should consist of all the modern subjects that could facilitate the growth of the students. On the other hand the college administration should focus on implementation of technology based infrastructure. The IT department of the college should be able to meet the demand of the students by providing the best of computer knowledge to the students. The students should be able to be competitive in the global space by having abundant knowledge about various fields. This can only be possible through an easy access to the computer networks. The college can even enter into strategic partnerships with some research agencies that will incorporate knowledge to the students regarding the changing economic conditions, and lessons on some modern skills and technology that would help the students to possess competitive advantage. A fully wifi integrated college campus would help the administration to educate its students on a continuous basis. Even the college can aim on developing a better library facility, with a more of technology based facility where the students can even access the curriculum materials and other study materials of various subjects even after the college hours through a common site developed by the college. This kind of technical support would help the students to update their knowledge and at the same time be well prepared for their individual curriculum through constant access of e-books. The next attempt of the college would be to have diversity in the staff base; they should have such teaching staffs from diverse background that are able to impart the appropriate knowledge on their students. The structure of the college would be such as – (Source: Alexis and Wilson, 1967, p.134) The college development council would be operated by the Principal of the college, the board of directors and the dean who are in charge of various departments. The college will even comprise of faculty development department, R&D department, special support department for providing various IT support for the smooth running of the college, and even a special team that would focus on development of curriculum structure. Such a distinctive organizational structure that comprises of separate departments that handle specific tasks would help the students to develop their knowledge. The IT support would help the college to develop the knowledge base of the students in the most innovative way possible. The distinguished operations with separate deans would help the college to meet the needs of the stakeholders. The issue of the various staff, supporting staff, co-coordinators, and students is attended by the dean of the respective departments. On the broader aspect the issues are then addressed by the deans to the college council which comprises of the Principal and the other trustees or the board of directors. They then look into the matters that are addressed by the dean and then take the appropriate decision to resolve the issues. The well defined channel between the stakeholders and the higher authority would yield faster decision making. There are some modern technologies that can be incorporated into the system such as online tutorial, online study groups and online counselling. The student socialization with other online students group and the student’s orientation to the online courses helps the student to succeed well in their courses. Such technological advancement even would help the college to achieve sustainability in the highly competitive environment of the educational sector (Duncan, 1972, pp.313-327). The online courses or the online study material should not only comprise of theoretical materials but also should comprise of tool to impart practical knowledge to the students. The college should have an integrated technical support so as to reduce the manual work associate with billing, admission, degree requirement, financial aid, schedules, assessment, placement etc. Other social media sites can be highly effective in facilitating the education of the students. Such sites include Edmodo, Grockit, Skype, Wikispaces, Pinterest etc that would provide the teaching staff to share their knowledge, study materials and other course related information with their students to the extent that the students are able to collaborate with other students worldwide to enhance their knowledge base. The teaching staff should even modify their lectures through software’s available so as to make it more appealing and interesting for their students. Conclusion College of higher education needs proper strategy planning in order to survive in the highly competitive environment. It is even subjected to different external factors that continuously impact the college. The students on the high student consumerism environment require the best of curriculum. This demand has always created a lot of pressure on the colleges to make their curriculum flexible enough so as to incorporate the changing demand of the students. The external conditions which are out of the control of any organization greatly impact the business policy or the strategy design. Organizations need to consider the various changing elements in the environment in the strategy planning. Technology is the most important aspect that should be considered by every organization. For a college effective curriculum design to enhance the knowledge base but it should even focus on a faster decision-making process by following an integrated system based on modern technology. The college even can use the strategy by giving their students an online platform to have a quicker access to study materials as well as share their knowledge with other online students group. Even a more systemized organizational structure would help the college to resolve the issues efficiently and at the same time make effective strategies to develop their students and deliver the best of education possible through a diverse teaching staff, and even providing modernized online courses to those students who are only focused towards part time courses. References Alexis, M., Wilson, C. Z. 1967. Organizational Decision Making. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Anderson, C. R., Paine, F. T. 1975. Manageria1 perceptions and strategic behaviour. Academy of Management Journal. Vol.18, pp.811-823. Chaffee, E. E. 1985. The concept of strategy: From business to higher education. Handbook of Theory and Research in Higher Education. New York: Agathon Press. Cleland, D. I., King, W. R. 1974. Developing a Planning culture for more effective strategic planning. Long-Range Planning. Vol. 7(3), pp.70-74. Duncan, R. B. 1972. Characteristics of organizational environments and perceived environmental uncertainty. Administrative Science Review. Vol. 17, pp. 313-327. Read More