How Behavior Can Affect an Organization: Siemens - Case Study Example

A Report on How Behavior Can Affect an Organization- Siemens Introduction Siemens is an international company operation in different regions all over the world. It is the engineering company manufacturing various products including traffic lights, wind generators, and fridges among others. Siemens has been operating in the UK since 1843 and has over 20, 000 employees and approximately 370, 000 employees across the world (Siemens 2012, p.17). The company mainly operates mainly in three sectors, that is, industry where it develops systems for transport and it provides lightening and electrical systems for major construction projects. Secondly, in energy sector, it produces systems for power transmission and distribution for various power companies. Another area is healthcare and Siemens specializes in equipment to assist medical diagnosis including MRI scanners, imaging technology, and blood testing equipments among others (The Times 2007, p.125). This paper reports on how behavior can affect an organization and it particularly focuses on Siemens. The organizational structure and culture within Siemens and Capco Organizational structure refers to the formal system that defines how different task in the organization are divided, grouped and coordinated. It can also be perceived as the way in which the interrelated groups within an organization are set up to enable them function effectively. Siemens has a hierarchical organizational structure and so employees are required to report to their managers or supervisors. In companies such as Capco, there is a non-hierarchical and team driven flat organizational structure which has short chain of command but wide span of control. This type of organizational structure creates a highly motivated and empowered workforce where every employee is free to ask questions and suggest improvements. The culture of an organization is the typical way individuals operate and tasks performed in the organization. Organizational culture is specifically associated with behavior patterns and relationships. Organization’s culture develops over time and individuals working for the organization including senior management and workforce create it. Normally, the organizations values and vision are very important in creating a dynamic culture. Siemens Company has been established on a high performance culture, which is shared by everyone ranging from the most senior executive to employees as well as trainees. How the relationship between an organization’s structure and culture could affect the performance of a Siemens Agreeably, the success of an organization largely depends on the organization’s culture and structure. Siemens success and its ability to sustain its position as the leading company in the world is due to its organization structure and high performing culture. Notably, if the organization has a good culture and structure, the employees will be motivated to give their best and ensure they achieve the common organizational goal. For instance, when the organizational structure is appropriate, employees will be able to analyze their work performance and progress. Indeed, a good organizational structure will help in achieving the organizational goals and a strong organizational culture will help in motivating the employees hence increase in performance of an organization. The organizational structure and culture of Siemens affect the company’s performance and progress positively and negatively. Siemens organizational structure and culture explains the limitations of the company and enables organizational members to know each other and work together for the success and achievement of the company’s goals. More so, both organizational structure and culture can create stability in the organization and favorable work environment that increases the company’s performance and productivity. In addition, Siemens employees have a proper way of communicating with each other and are aware of their tasks. However, organizational structure and culture can as well affect the company negatively, for instance, if the culture is too much complex because this will slow down the decision making process. The effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organizations and the leadership styles within Siemens Different organizations and managers employ different leadership styles and the common leadership styles include participative or democratic, transformational, transactional, and authoritative among others. To begin with, democratic leadership values and encourages the input of others including the views of subordinates. A democratic leader is a team leader who focuses on individuals and engages people in the decision making process and other activities. This type of leadership promotes the morale of subordinates since it allows employees to make significant contribution to the decision making process. Many organizations like to use this form of leadership because it effective when it comes to making effective decisions and good management in the organization. For example, this is the type of leadership used in Siemens as employees are properly engaged and motivated to do a good job. Employees are involves in the business are part of the successful team (The Times 2007, p.126). Secondly, transformational leadership is a popular form of leadership found at all levels of the organization. This type of leadership is recognized for enhancing motivation and performance of both leaders and workers in an organization. Transformational leadership needs trust, concern and facilitation as opposed to having full control over others. Therefore, transformational leaders gain other people’s trust and attract many followers (Caldwell et al 2012, p.176). A transformational leader is capable of inspiring individuals to aspire to and to achieve something beyond their imagination. According to Bass and Bruce (1994, p.3), transformational leaders focus on every person’s achievement and they intervene as mentors to these people. More so, these leaders motivate their subordinates and enhance their productivity through communication since they depend on high levels of communication to meet their goals and also pay attention to the needs and interest of their leaders and also to their personal development (Bass and Riggio, 2005, p.4). This form of leadership is very effective as it helps in increasing organizational performance, and enhancing employee satisfaction with both their job and leader. Another leadership style is transactional leadership, which involves setting clear goals for the followers and also includes the use of rewards or punishments to ensure that followers comply with goals. In transactional leadership, there is clarity of goals and roles and everyone is expected to effectively perform tasks assigned to them. Transactional leaders concentrate on managing and supervising their subordinates to work on group performance. Transactional leadership seeks to maintain the existing norms and structure of the organization and tend to shape their work in line with organizational culture. In addition, some organizational leaders employ autocratic leadership style that allows them to make decisions independently without consulting others. Mostly, an autocratic leader focuses on the tasks and decides alone without involving the subordinates. The factors, which influence individual behavior at work Every employee has a unique behavior within the organization because they are influenced by different factors depending on their personality and perception. Some of the common factors influencing individuals at work include demographic factors, perception, personality, and attitudes. To begin with, demographic factors affecting individuals at work include socio-economic background, education, sex, and age among others. Many organizations prefer individuals from a better socio-economic background, well educated, young and have more work experience. Perception refers to the use of five senses to interpret the environment stimuli in meaningful manner. Every employee perceives the work environment differently and so employees are more likely to perform better if they perceive the environment positively. Personality simply refers to the study of traits and unique qualities of an individual. Some of the personality factors influencing behavior at work include openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Firstly, high openness to experience has broad interest and a wide imagination whereas low openness is conservative and conventional. Another personality factor is conscientiousness, those with a high level of conscientiousness are original and effective, and they mainly focus on their job. However, those with low level of conscientiousness tend to be very slow, careless and undutiful and this affects their task performance. More so, extraversion is also another important factor and those with high level of extraversion are outgoing and energetic while those with low level tend to be quiet, shy and unsocial. Agreeableness is also a significant personality factors influencing individual’ behavior at work and those employees with high level of agreeableness are kind, friendly and team workers. They are more competitive and this has a positive impact on the performance and productivity of an organization. Lastly, neuroticism shows the effectiveness and emotional control in an individual’s body. If neuroticism level in the body is high this denotes uneasiness and uncertainty but if it is short, there is self-confidence, emotional steadiness and vitality. In addition, individuals attitude affect their behavior at work. Individuals are able to conduct organizational tasks if they have the ability to adapt to the task condition successfully. How organizational theory underpins the practice of management The organization theory underpins the practice of management as these theories support different management functions such as controlling planning and organizing among others, and ensures that they are carried out effectively. Siemens uses scientific management approach to manage the organization and its operations effectively. The scientific management theory assists in improving efficiency in an organization through observation. This approach is useful in improving how employees perform different tasks assigned to them and ensures that the management gets the best from their employees. Therefore, productivity of an organization using this approach will be effective and efficient. However, this approach makes some management functions such as planning and controlling to be exclusively handled by the management.  The different approaches to management used within Siemens There are different approaches to management including human relations approach and bureaucratic approach. The human relations approach suggests that individuals are emotional and rational beings and that organizations comprise of informal structures, rules and norms, and formal practices and procedure. Another approach is bureaucracy, which refers to the structure and as set of rules to assist in controlling organizational activities especially in large companies. Organizations are mainly created to perform effectively, maximize profits and be successful. Therefore, improving the performance of an organization needs proper management of the organization and requires the use of different management approaches. In addition, contingency approach to management attempts to predict possible relationships between situation and outcome (Elsy and Thattil 2009, p.65). The impact that different leadership styles may have on motivation in organizations in periods of change In democratic leadership style, participation is encourages and employees are fully engaged in organizational activities and decision making process. This leadership style is the best since it allows employees to participate and share with innovative ideas. Mostly, democratic leadership increases productivity as workers feel involved and committed to perform task given. Democratic leadership style motivates employees because their involvement and participation in the decision-making process will make feel that they are part of the organization and their contribution valued. Again, there is reduced communication gap and so employees are able to communicate with top management easily. In autocratic leadership, leaders make all necessary decisions in the organization and provide little information to staff members. This leadership type de-motivates employees especially those interested in participating in the decision making process. Here, employees are motivated because there is reduced pressure resulting from less control as the leader is responsible. More so, this approach will make employees to work hard and complete the task assigned to them and probably take correcting measure to sole any problem. The application of different motivational theories within the workplace Motivation refers to a psychological force determining the direction of an individual’s behavior, an individual’s level of effort, and individuals’ level of persistence in facing obstacles (Lauby 2005, p.1). Undoubtedly, motivation of employees has direct impact on the performance and productivity of an organization. Motivation is a stimulating factor that encourages employees to put more effort when performing tasks. Some of the common motivational theories include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory among others. Herzberg focuses on the motivating factors in an organization and he mentions achievement and recognition for the achievement, work, and potential for personal growth (King and Lawley 2012, p.288). The usefulness of a motivation theory for managers The theories of motivation are very important to managers as they help managers to create a highly motivated and productive workforce. Motivating employees is one of the major roles of a manger and according to Herzberg, managers need to ensure that the motivating factors are in place so as to improve the performance of workers. Those employees who are well motivated usually love their work and are more productive and there exist many factors motivating individuals a creative environment. Siemens provide a supportive and creative environment, which enables its employees to learn new ideas and exhibit some progress. The organizational structure of Siemens motivates employees as it empowers them to improve their work performance. Siemens culture shows that the company values its employees and assists in recruiting the next generation of engineers. Normally, motivated workforce put more effort into work in order to achieve the required outcomes. This is because they are encouraged to be proud of their work. Motivated workers tend not to be absent because they are happy working and they are more loyal to the company since their needs are met while unmotivated workers are in most cases unsatisfied with their role in the organization. They perform poorly leading to poor productivity in the company. The nature of groups and group behavior within Siemens A group refers to the gathering of individuals to perform a particular task and achieve a common goal and it involves various steps such as formation, performing and adjourning. Notably, group behavior within Siemens is that employees are given more freedom and this allows them to make decisions within the group. More so, there is more commitment as employees share a common goal and works together toward the achievement of that goal. The group members mainly focus on the same objective to enable them achieve a common goal. Factors that may promote or inhibit the development of effective teamwork Siemens Every organization needs to have effective teamwork because effective teamwork leads to higher productivity. Some of the factors that may promote effective teamwork in Siemens include effective communication, team innovation, excellent leadership, team member wellbeing, conflict resolution, and inter-team cooperation among others. Good communication is very important for any firm to be successful. There is need to have a very good communication in a teamwork in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts and misunderstandings. Team innovation refers to the degree to which team members develop and implement new processes or products (West 2012, p.7). More so, excellent leadership is an important component of effective leadership. A good leader should be able to motivate employees and support them in any way possible. The well-being of team members includes factors such as mental health, their growth and development. Further, effective teamwork includes the ability to resolve conflict and so the team leader should be capable of resolving the conflict between members in the team. Lastly, inter-team cooperation is the effectiveness of team members working with other teams in the same company (West 2012, p.7). On the contrary, factors that may inhibit the development of effective teamwork include poor communication, conflicting priorities, and overwork among others (Blazey 2009, p.9). The impact of technology on team functioning within Siemens Technology plays a leading role in Siemens and has a significant impact on team functioning within this company. The functioning of any team in an organization depends on technology-mediated communication (Coovert and Thompson 2013, p.101). One of the most important technologies is e-mail as it positively affects the organization because it makes communication easier within the company. Communication is very essential to the success of an organization and so teamwork members should be in a position of communicating effectively (Lake and May 2007, p.342). E-mails help team members to communicate with each other without meeting face to face effectively. In this case, teamwork members do not necessarily need to be in the same place to communicate. This has really made team work function within Siemens very effective. Video conferencing has also made it possible for employees to communicate face to face. Organizations make use of web pages to save files (Lake and May 2007, p.353). Other such as Skype, Google plus, teleconferencing, and social websites have also made teamwork functioning in Siemens. However, technology also as well affected teamwork functioning negatively, for instance, hacker do take advantage and hack business strategies and documents. Conclusion This report analyzes how behavior affects an organization particularly Siemens. The organizational culture and structure can help in speeding up company operations, meet the expectations of customers and successfully adapt to changes. A strong organizational culture and structure is directly related to the performance of an organization, for instance, Siemens is one of the leading companies in the world and this is because of its strong organizational culture. There are many leadership styles including transformational, democratic, and transactional among others and these leadership styles impact on motivation differently. Workers motivation is very important for any organization as it leads to increased productivity and work performance within the organization. Some of the factors influencing individual’s behavior at work include personality, perception, demographic factors, and attitude among others. Groups within Siemens are determined by their commitment towards the achievement of a common goal. Teamwork is a very important factor within an organization as it leads to higher productivity and significantly contributes to the success of an organization. Technology play a leading role in ensuring that the functions of teamwork members are effective and the emergency of technology-mediated communications has made it possible for team members to communicate effectively with each other. References “Siemens: Creating a High Performance Culture”, 2007, The Times 100, pp.125-128. Bass, B.M, and Bruce J.A. 1994. Improving Organizational Effectiveness Through Transformational Leadership. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Bass, Bernard M., and Riggio Ronald E. 2005, Transformational Leadership, Psychology Press. Blazey, M. L. 2009, Insights to performance excellence, 2009-2010: an inside look at the 2009-2010 Baldrige Award criteria, Milwaukee, Asq Quality Press. Caldwell, Cam et al., 2012, Transformative Leadership: Achieving Unparalleled Excellence, Journal of Business Ethics, 109.2, pp. 175-87.  Coovert, M. D., and Thompson, L.F., 2013, The Psychology of Workplace Technology, London: Routledge. Elsy, P.A., and Thattil, G. S., 2009, Approaches to management, New Dehli, Discovery Publishing House. King, D., and Lawley, S. 2012, Organizational behavior, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Lake, S., and May, K.B., 2007, The Business of Technology: Digital Multimedia, Cengage Learning. Lauby, S. J. 2005, Motivating employees, Alexandria, Va, ASTD Press.  Siemens, 2012, Annual Report, pp.1-251. West, M. A. 2012, Effective teamwork: practical lessons from organizational research, Chichester, West Sussex, John Wiley & Sons. Read More