Organizational Behavior: The Problems that Exist for George at ABC Consulting - Case Study Example

Organizational Behavior Name Course Tutor Date Organizational Behavior The problems that exist for George at ABC Consulting Just like many modern organizations; ABC consulting is facing employees’ management problems. Kiazad (2013, p.238) contend that George is one of the employees who have become a victim of such problems after working in the organization for just three months. George after applying for work in several two places was lucky to get two call-ups, Big 4 organization and ABC Consulting, chose the former thinking that it was the right place to advance his career (Kiazad, 2013, p. 238). However, this was not to be as he experienced several problems. The first there was; no motivation at ABC Consulting as demonstrated by offering of low salary (Kiazad, 2013, p.238). For instance, area manager, Janet told George on his first day at work that they do not offer big salaries. According to Piers & König (2006, p.893), organization behavior theorists however, argued that high salary and rewards motivate employees. They went ahead to argue that low motivation at the workplace has a severe effect on employees because it arouses, maintain and direct them towards realizing the organizational goals (Piers & König, 2006, p.895). Absence of it leads to low performance and even high rates of turnover. In the first day, Janet told George that the even though the company does not offer large salary, it provides bonus for every employee after three months of probation and confirmation (Kiazad, 2013, p.239). She went ahead to state that three months are just a formality and everyone gets the 10 percent bonus. Kiazad (2013, p.239) posited that after three months George was denied the bonus and made up his mind to resign. In a nutshell, the rewards are associated with behavior reinforcement. Another problem faced by George at ABC consulting was lack of work–life balance which he was contemplating. Work-life balance is very important for individual employees since it give them ample time to relieve the hard day of hustle and also to engage in homes chores (Reynolds, 2005, p.1318). Alterman et al. (2013, p.662) assert that in an organization where the employees work for longer hours continuously will get stressed up which in turn lead to absenteeism, low work performance, moodiness, poor decisions, burnout and emotional fatigue. This is true with George’s situation because after being assigned into a project team, he spends numerous nights working on the project (Kiazad, 2013, p.239). In fact, he was in charge of writing a project report, which was required within one week. Work-life imbalance often make employees to psychological strain can impact the health, increasing responsibility and strong pressure of time (Reynolds, 2005, p.1323). Also, ABC Consulting was suffering from lack of collaboration and involvement. Lack of job collaboration often leads to low performance because everybody has their own ideas which they want incorporated within the project (Daugherty et al, 2006, p.65). In some cases, some may not get a grip of what the project is like. For instance, during presentation of the project after data collection, George could not contribute on ideas because he was not engaged when he was included in the group (Kiazad, 2013, p.238). Lack of collaboration also depicted lack of proper leadership within the group to take George through the project. Instead, members of the group, Janet and Daniel criticized him (Kiazad, 2013, p.239). Planned systems of collaboration support introspection of communication and behavior. Daugherty et al. (2006, p.66) asserts that such systems, particularly aspire to improve the teams’ success when they are collaborative in solving problems. Two motivation theories which explain George's attitudes and behaviors as described in the case study Two of the motivation theories which can be used to explain attitude and behavior of George at ABC Consulting are Two-factor theory and the Four Drive Theory. Kiazad (2013, p.238) demonstrates that when George decided on a company to work for, he favored ABC Consulting over Big 4 organization because he thought it best suits his capabilities and could even improve them to greater heights. His perception was that ABC Consulting was offering better work–life balance, having supportive and collaborative colleagues and providing the freedom to be creative (Kiazad, 2013, p.238). However, after working for three months George’s attitude and behavior disfavored ABC Consulting due to less motivation. According to Two-Factor theory by Frederick Herzberg, attitude and behavior towards an organization is driven by motivation (Colbert, et al. 2004, 607). In his Two-Factor of motivation, Herzberg holds that the existence of one class of job incentives or attributes results to employee satisfaction in an organization, whilst another different set results to dissatisfaction in an organization. Such attributes include competency, salary, status and personal worth (Schultz & Schultz, 2010, p.38). That does not mean that the absence of these factors will lead to less motivation, but what leads to less motivation is unfavorable factors. For instance, if the employee is made to believe that he is incompetence like George, obviously he will be less motivated hence negative attitude and behavior towards work and the organization in general. The truth is, George was making an effort which needed fine tuning to discover himself. His personal worth was however, wished away when Janet criticized every paragraph of the report that he wrote (Kiazad, 2013, p.239). According to Piers & König (2006), Two-Factor theory is characterized by two aspects; motivators and hygiene factors. However, it is normally the hygiene factors such as salary, work conditions and fringe benefits which cause dissatisfaction. George disfavor of the organization and less motivation concerning the work was resulted by the condition of the work and benefits (Kiazad, 2013, p.239). According to Kiazad (2013, p.238), work condition was characterized by less collaborative workforce, conflict-rocked environment and lack of work-life balance while benefits were attributed by unfulfilled promises regarding bonus. Four Drive Theory of motivation can also be used to describe behavior and attitude of George at ABC Consulting. From the point of deciding to work for this company, George had shown some intention which underlines Four Drive Theory including the drive to Acquire and Achieve, Bond & Belong, be Challenged and Comprehend, and Define and Defend. Admitting that money was important as well, bonus is a confirmation that George was driven by material goods and was ready to perform better to acquire and achieve them (Kiazad, 2013, p.238). Also, getting into a group or accepting to be drafted into a group shows that George was ready to bond, belong and engage members of the organization. Research demonstrates that people have the tendency of bonding with people of similar personalities, outlooks and demographics (Nelson, n.d). The need to bond is likely to result to healthy interactions among workers (Emelander, 2009). At the end, the members of the group were not collaborative and less engaging on matters of the project so George became less motivated about the work. One undoing that George shown was lack of drive to learn. The blame lies on Janet and Daniel of not introducing George as a new member into the project, but he also fails to ask to be given some clarifications. Asking questions gives a clear picture about the project and its goals. Instead, George went ahead to put his ideas which were rejected hence dissatisfaction. Recommendations to improve George's job satisfaction and motivation and prevent turnover Job satisfaction and less motivation are one of the greatest determinants of high rates of turnover at any modern organization (Robertson, Birch & Cooper, 2012, p.226). In fact, George resigned due to lack of job satisfaction and less motivation. Hence, the following recommendation can be adopted to reduce the levels of employees’ turnover in the future. Transformational leadership is one of the ways the management can improve job satisfaction to mitigate high levels of employees’ turnover in the future (Wright, 2007). When transformational leadership is entrenched within ABC Consulting systems, employees are likely to be motivated to rediscover themselves and surpass their personal aspirations. This is because transformational leadership communicates vision and mission of the project and the company as a whole (Wright, 2007. This is to confirm that if there was presence of transformation leadership within George’s group, there could have been a group leader who brief and remind members on project goals and assist them whenever they are stuck. Brief & Weiss (2002) claims that transformational leader has the interpersonal ability to engage a person on one-on one basis, understand their problems and motivate them. If such leadership was existing within ABC Consulting, George would have not resigned. Organizational conflict management can be used to create job satisfaction and motivation. Reynolds (2005, p.1322) pines that organization where conflict at individual level or organizational level exists cannot realize its goals because employees will be pulling towards different directions. George actually had role definition conflict with Janet after criticism all its work and questioning his competence. Conflict made George demoralized and he felt dissatisfied with the work environment and decided to quit. Conflict management strategies modern organizations like ABC Consulting can foster include smoothing-holding talks with the disputants and reminding them importance of harmony towards realization of organizational goals (Reynolds, 2005). Also, confrontation where every party is allowed to state the causes of conflict and trying find solutions. Creating a clear communication channel where everyone can air their views concerning management and ideas about the projects. Project communication is very important because it articulates the project direction, ideas and milestone to members (Barrett, 2006, p.387). At ABC Consulting, communication channel was not well initiated, therefore George and everybody else was contributing their ideas without consulting and discussing. When people communicate and discuss issues within the workplace and their opinions are respected, they feel valued to be part of the organization (Barrett, 2006, p.385). This should extend the communication skills and professionalism. References Alterman, T, Luckhaupt, SE, Dahlhamer, JM, Ward, BW & Calvert, GM. (2013). Job insecurity, work-family imbalance, and hostile work environment: Prevalence data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey. Am J Ind Med, 56(6), 660–669. Barrett, D.J. (2006). Strong communication skills a must for today’s leaders. Handbook of Business Strategy, 7(1), 385 – 390. Brief, AP, & Weiss, HM. (2002). Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 279–323. Colbert, et al (2004). Interactive effects of personality and perceptions of the work situation on workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 599-609. Daugherty, P.J, Richey, R.G, Anthony S. R, Min, S, Chen, H, Arndt, A.D, Genchev, S.E. (2006). Is Collaboration Paying Off For Firms? Business Horizons, 49, 61–70. Emelander, S. (2009). The Four Drive Theory in the Workplace. Retrieved on 6th December 2014 from http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/the-four-drive-theory-in-the-workplace-1650121.html Kiazad, K. (2013). In McShane, S., Olekalns, M & Travaglione, T. (2013). Organisational Behaviour: Emerging knowledge. Global Insights. Sydney: McGraw-Hill. pp.238-239 Nelson, K. (n.d). 4-Drive Model: New Theory on Employee Motivation. Retrieved on 6th December 2014 http://lanterngroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/4-Drive-Model-Driving-Sales-Performance.pdf Piers, S & König, C. (2006). Integrating theories of motivation. Academy of Management Review, 31, 889–913. Reynolds, J. (2005). In the Face of Conflict: Work-Life Conflict and Desired Work Hour Adjustments. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67(5), 1313–1331. Robertson, IT, Birch, AJ & Cooper, CL. (2012). Job and work attitudes, engagement an employee performance: Where does psychological well-being fit in? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 33, 224-232. Schultz, D. P & Schultz, S.E. (2010). Psychology and Work Today: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology (10th ed.). New York City: Prentice Hall. Wright, P.J. (2007). Effective leadership: An analysis of the relationship between Transformational leadership and organizational climate, Doctoral dissertation, Capella University. Proquest Information and Learning Company, (UMI No.3264296). Read More