Australian Red Cross - Aspects in the Organization - Case Study Example

Running Head: Australian Red Cross Australian Red Cross Student’s Name Professor’s Name Subject Code and Name Date Submitted Australian Red Cross Executive Summary Different organizations run their affairs differently. However, there is a certain similarity in most successful organizations in the way through which they run their affairs. For an organization to be leading in all spheres of behavioral management, certain things must be kept under control. Such are power and politics, conflicts and the way to maneuver and settle them, organizational structure that allows for competitive edge to be realized and finally the culture that an organization develops and maintains which is different from other organizations. We take an example of the Australian Red Cross and analyze the organization to see how the same affects the organization, as well as to see how such is kept under control, and how the organization can be better equipped to handle different cases should they occur Introduction The Australian Red Cross’ mission is “To be a leading humanitarian organization in Australia, improving the lives of vulnerable people through services delivered and promotion of humanitarian laws and values." In an effort to uphold the mission of the organization they have to face a few challenges in terms of relationships with people. Individuals are different in all they do and they have to be understood if any progress were to be noted in the accomplishment of their mission. This paper highlights the various behavioral aspects of individuals in organizations and how to approach them. Analysis of Behavioral Aspects in the Organization Power and Politics Politics are unavoidable in any office. This is because everyone likes to be in power and most people best express themselves more than others. Most of the people that take part in office politics may do it for the good or for the bad. The management has to be careful to monitor such behaviors. When they get out of hand they can be a big negative blow on the stability and image of the company. Politics could arise from anything in an organization for instance in the Australian Red Cross company a possible cause could be ranking, this is because most of the people working there are volunteers. If the management is not careful when deciding who to put in charge it could cause an ugly scene. Most managers actually do it based on experience at the Red Cross station, this seems effective but what happens in a case where a new volunteer is more experienced than the longest serving volunteer. This calls for serious debate and the management has to be well prepared for anything. Conflicts and Conflict Management Conflicts arise when there is a clash of ideas, opinions or interests. They will always occur in any organization because no two people are the same in their cognitive capacities. When they do happen there are ways that this can be handled according to Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann. The first is doing it in a competitive way. This where one takes a solid stand on their decision and decides not to back off no matter. It is considers a selfish way to deal with conflicts but leaves people disappointed and resentful. The second way is to approach it in a collaborative way where one considers the needs of the other people involved. This is used when the matter is too critical to be ignored. The third is accommodating; the person lets the other party have their way maybe because the matter is of more importance to them. The fourth is compromising, here the decision arrived at should favor both parties partially, they find a common ground. There is the final one, which is simply avoiding the conflict by delegating to someone with better knowledge on how to handle. This method is discouraged (Mindtools.com, 2010). Organization Management All managers have a choice in the selection of leadership strategies. Be it the scientific approach, the excellence, the value leadership perspective the trust culture or the Whole soul approach. Scientific management theory explains that the management is only interested in establishing the strategies that it may use for delivery in the business. The second theory is mainly concerned with perfection in what the organization (Aguilar, 1967, p.13). In the second approach, excellence is key, and the management directs its resources in making sure the people concerned in making the products or delivering services do that to the best of their ability. The third theory places importance on the nature of the relationship between the leader and the subordinate sharing of vision is vital here. In a trust culture, which is the fourth theory, the focus is on the subordinate and how they relate with both the leadership and colleagues. Trust is vital. The last perspective is very spiritual in nature and it entails the management being aware that the spiritual being of the ones being led is what they interact with. In that the personal lives of the followers relates very closely with what the leadership interacts with at the workplace. In this theory, emphasis is laid in the core of the person, the self drive the acceptance and how their attributes are what the leadership seeks to guide (Fairholm, 2004, p.579). Decision-making is the responsibility of the different types of management. They can however choose to delegate the simple ones to junior management. This makes it easier for them so they get to deal with the real issues at hand. Individuals within Organizations Learning Cognitive approach entails a person behaving in line with their own principles and determining what is right and what is not by what they are told. It includes self management and self verbalization. A person speaks to themselves about what to do. Behaviorist is more about conditioning and how a person is instructed to things in a certain way. They do it until they don’t need supervision to do it anymore but will require great effort to change their pattern of behavior. Reinforcement is a way of rewarding good deeds, or in a work place good work. It motivates workers ad fosters positive competition. Punishment is the action the management takes to reward a negative behavior in the workplace. It could be pay reduction to for some steady amount of lateness. People respond to these two modes of behavior correction, the management will note the change by doing assessments once in a while to monitor workers behavior (Gulick, 1937, p. 13) Personality People have different personalities in a workplace and mangers have to plan to take care of the differences in this to avoid conflicts. By knowing the personalities of the employers they can also know their strengths and weaknesses and assign jobs accordingly. Knowing peoples personalities gives one a perspective on how to best handle various employees in the organization how to deliver different types of information to some workers and how to correct them if need be. There are four major types of personalities: Phlegmatic. These are the thoughtful type; they are the cool calm and collected types in the office. They always have their work done on time and respect others opinions. They are the ‘cool’ type. The Melancholics are the kind of people everyone likes to avoid at the workplace. They are mostly moody and pessimistic. They are also very rigid. The Cholerics are more aggressive in nature. They are the competitive type and are also very impulsive. Lastly, the Sanguines, they are everyone’s favorite in the office, they are fun to be with and are good leaders (Dr.Miller, 2009, p. 2). Managers can assess personalities by analyzing quality of work of assignments given to workers. They could also know the various categories in the workplace by observing behavior and how people carry themselves around. Communication Communication is vital anywhere and in any relationships that humans form. In the work place there are several barriers to communication. Among others is the poor flow of information from managers to employees. This could be because of a lack of a proper effective system in delivering information (Kummer & Carstens, 2003, p. 4) Another hindrance could be relationships that are not healthy in the workplace, in that the employees cannot stomach each other or the management because of one reason or the other. Some of the ways in which these barriers can be overcome are by managers maintaining personal contact when delivering instructions and to avoid depending too much on technology: e-mails and phones. When they pass on the information personally they can be able to read reactions and make assessments of how the workers feel without them speaking (Smith, 2003, p. 5). They should seek to establish clarity in the understanding of instructions. Before they walk out of briefing rooms, they should make sure all the employees are on the same page. For a humanitarian aid NGO like Australian Red Cross, this means the locations that require attendance and the directions should be very clear to avoid confusion or cases of lateness. The nature of the disasters should also be clearly stated. The procedures should also be well laid out. The other point to note is giving feedback. This works both ways; the management should seek feedback from workers on the assignments given and give meaningful feedback at the end of assignments. This keeps the workers in check. For instance when the employees come back from a rescue mission whether fire or other natural disasters, the managers should have a sit-down, go through the vitals of the cases, and discuss how they could have been handled better. They could also commend workers for their good work, for responding in the first place. In this same spirit, managers amidst their busy schedules should always find time to have meetings with employees so they feel like priority. During the meetings, they should give them undivided attention by not allowing interruptions like phone calls. Perception In a work place, it is important that workers keep their opinions to themselves to avoid unnecessary conflicts. This is in a case where they are not really good opinions. The perceptions people get of others in an environment like that could be bad or pleasant how they choose to express them might be uncalled for. The organization could encourage employees to be tactful in handling such. Perceptions of a workplace will also determine how motivated a person will be. For example if in an office where people don’t talk to each other or socialize, one may feel chocked. The management should always seek to give a good impression and atmosphere and encourage the workers to maintain it (Spears, 2007, p. 6). Motivation Motivation is the drive that one has towards the accomplishment of a certain task. Motivation is what makes a volunteer respond to a disastrous situation on his cell or beeper whether they are deep asleep at night or just having a happy hour with friends at a local diner. On that note it is very important that the management keeps the employees have that joy when reporting for work any day and at any time. Abraham Maslow had a theory that all human have needs and that they are motivated by different factors at every stage of life (Maslow, 2007, p. 3). He went on further to say that until they are fulfilled they stay unmotivated. He says that the lower needs have to be fulfilled before the higher ones are. His model of hierarchy of needs starts with the biological or the physiological needs, which are basic needs like food air, water, warmth, sex, sleep. In the satisfaction of these needs the company can pay salaries on time so the employees can fulfill such. They should also make sure the amount is enough to sustain them at least through the essentials of the month. Giving enough time for employees to have breaks and rejuvenate is also another way to go. The second level of needs is the safety needs. These are the financial security concerns and protection. A person needs to feel stable at some point in their lives. The management can ensure this by providing job security and making the employees feel safe when working. Considering the Australian Red cross is an NGO this might be different but the management should make sure they appreciate the volunteers once in a while. The third are the social needs; they come from a deep need for belongingness and being loved. Everyone likes to feel needed in any environment. The organization can do this like in the case of the Australian Red Cross; they could make the volunteers work in close teams. This way they need each other. They become accountable to each other. To avoid creating alliances in the workplace, they could make sure that they reshuffle them over a period. The fourth category of needs are the esteem needs, they arise from a deep seated desire to be recognized in their fields and achievements. The employees at this point appreciate titles more. The leadership has to make sure they recognize the efforts made by any employee in their work. They need to give important projects to individuals at times so they feel important and valued. The final sets of needs are the self-actualization needs. At this point it is more about how challenging the work is to the individual. The management can give assignments that call for creativity and indulgence. The employee is seeking to grow in job fulfillment. In a humanitarian aid company there is not so much one can be promoted to but what the most NGO’s do is that give the critical cases to the most efficient volunteers. Teams within Organizations Formal groups are the official teams that the managers come up with to run the organization. They are the structures put in place for easy delegation. Informal groups are those that employees come up with within themselves based on opinions attitudes and preferences. Within these groups there could be occasional conflicts due to different opinions on matters. It is hard to convince a whole group and even to coordinate one. In every group, there is a leader and then the subordinates. There should be a clear demarcation of who does what so that the problems of overriding of power and authority. It also helps in easy decision-making. There are three basic types of teams. The first is the project team. This is assembled when there is a particular project at hand. The second is the Cross-functional, which is a collection of people from different departments of the firm. The last one is the self directed which has monopoly of the decisions it makes. It also has the financial backing to do implement the decisions. In a humanitarian aid organization setting the cross-functional team will be the leaders of the various teams of the organization that work at different shifts. Role Definition There are three types of management. The first is the upper management that includes the directors the senior managers. The second is the middle management that consists of the assistant managers and the executives. The final type is the lower management which consists of the officers and the senior officers. The organizational strategy has to factor in the type of leadership structure in use by the management so that there is no conflict of interest. It also eases the process of decision making when they know how their organization flows. Organization Processes and Development For an organization to grow they have to be open to change is inevitable. They have to be open to new ideas and creativity. They should have open forums with other organizations in the business so as to learn new techniques of doing things. This makes sure they are up to par with developments in their industries. Investing in journals weekly or monthly also helps in gathering information for advancement. They have to make sure they stay relevant no matter what; this can only be achieved by accruing knowledge. In Schein’s explanation of culture he says there are three levels of culture. The artifacts which are the physical attributes like furniture, the dressing. The values are the attitudes of the various personalities in the organization, the behaviors owned by different people. It is more about the personal values and the organizational values interacting. The third is the tacit assumptions which are culture about the unseen elements that represent the different people. It is more about the unspoken rules in the organization (Schein, 2005, p. 45). Culture is a way of life, as one perceives it. The way people decide to do things that is mostly shaped by the society. It is shaped by the values people pick along the way as they develop (Maed, 1998, p. 41). In conclusion, any organization could use different methods to make their relationships healthy and functional. Many theories have been put forward by many managers and philosophers and the best of managers can only pick a few and maximize on them. The irony of it all is that some may work best for others and not other. The trick is to keep on trying till they identify the ‘one’, it most likely will not be one, maybe a fusion of several into one. Bibliographies Aguilar, F.J.1967.Scanning the business environment. New York: Macmillan. Dr. Liz Miller, 2009.Blogspot.com:Matrix psychology. Viewed 22 September from Fairholm, M. R. 2004. Different Perspectives on the Practice of leadership. Public Administration Review 64(5). Pp.577-590. Viewed 22 September 2010 from Gulick, L.,1937. Notes on the Theory of Organization. In Papers on the Science of Administration, edited by Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick, 3–13. New York: Institute of Public Administration. Kummer, N. & Carstens, C., 2003. Formal and informal channels of communication. Viewed 22 September from Maed R.,1998. International management: cross-cultural dimensions. Blackwell publishing, United Kingdom. Viewed 22 September 2010 from Maslow, A., 2007. Maslow's Theory of Motivation - Hierarchy of Needs.1998-2007. Viewed 22 September 2010 from Mindtools.com., 2010.Conflict Resolution. Viewed 22 September from Shawn Smith, J.D., 2003. Next level consulting.“Remove your workplace communication barriers: they are costing you more than you think!” viewed 22 September from Schein, E.H., 1998-2005. Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd Ed., Jossey-Bass. ISBN 0-7879-7597-4 viewed 22 September 2010. Spear, L., 2007. Biz covering: Perception and Conflict in the Work Place. Read More