The Organisational Behaviour Issues - Motivation at Vibe Company - Assignment Example

The Organisational Behaviour Issues Name Institution Course Date Introduction Organisational behaviour is critical in managing labour owing to the realisation that behaviour is wilfull and hence awareness on psychosocial issues pertaining to human behaviour is integral in influencing productivity & organisational success (Willmott, 2007, p.3). Kaifi & Noori (2011, p.89) notes that organisational behaviour discipline is core in bridging between managers, employees and teams by empowering management to be in a position to recognise themes of concerns, elucidate the impact of such behaviours and how to build most appropriate practices that can ensure effective, robust and dynamic organisation. The article analyse organisational behaviour issues –positive & negative using the case example of motivation at Vibe Company, teambuilding activity by Laguna Beach Resort Hotel & decision making at possum furniture. Motivation- Vibe Motivation is a critical aspect in organisations competitiveness as it is core in guaranteeing employee satisfaction, commitment, reduced turnover and performance (Dobre, 2013, p.54). The basis for motivation has been pegged on monetary reward through approaches such as reward management (Rynes Gerhart & Minette, 2004, p.382). However, there is the realisation that human employees have psychosocial needs that they need to be satisfied and thus, a call for managers to design various motivators to cater for these needs (Dobre, 2013, p.54). Using the case study of Vibe Company owned by Sam Nguyen, the aim of this section is to assess the motivation issues arising out the scenarios at the company especially in regard to Sam not appointing Sarah or Julie as marketing and public relations manager so as to replace Andrea yet they had technical and interpersonal skills as compared to Grant who was only endowed with technical skills yet was appointed the manager. The concern under motivation as result of the decision by Sam Nguyen to ignore Sarah or Julie as replacement for Andrea as Marketing and Public Relations manager is the inability to take care of other psychosocial needs of employee by believing that Sarah and Julie can be contained through financial reward alone. Indeed, this is a false premise. Nohria, Groysberg & Lee (2008, p.2-3) observes that there are four critical drives that are a function of motivation. These are the drive to acquire and these includes social status by being promoted; the drive to bond by having sense of belonging; the drive to comprehend and drive to defend. However, the promotion of Grant to succeed Andrea and overlooking Julie and Sarah because they had children and thus, not being able to be at workstation full time yet they had a holistic package in qualification as compared to Grant because they possessed both technical and people’s skills as compared to grants skills shows that Sam overlooked their motivational needs on flimsy grounds. From the perspective of how Sam approached the issue of Promoting Grant at the expense of Sara and Julie, it shows that Sam is inclined towards X theory of management & pattern ‘A’ as opposed to Y theory of management. Theory X assumes that people do not like to take responsibility; they want to be directed and value safety. Equally, pattern A individual are not open and dislike experimenting. Nevertheless, within the present democratic society such ideals might not be in tandem with the reality in ground and such theory Y tenets that seems ignored by Sam is the best solution as it appreciates integral role of pleasant environment and configuration of individuals goals with the organisational goals (Dobre, 2013, p.54-55). For instance, Vibe Company believes in work-life balance policies yet it cannot grant section of employees with a flexible working terms & family friendly program so as to rise to higher echelons of management thus leading to undertones of mistrust and reduced commitment. This depicts Sam as one who is not ready to experiment and not open to new ideas such as flexible working schedule. In future, to motivate employees such as Sarah and Julie and avoid discomforts associated with such situation, Sam should invest in domains such as succession plans, performance & development plan. This based on the fact that everyone wants power and interesting work environment and this should be done logically so as to curtail motivational issues such as lack of commitment. For instance, Vibe Company should invest in work-life balance policies such as employee assistance programmes, maternity leave, child-care referral, home-based work/ remote working and flexible schedules (Bird, 2006, p.22). This will aid in enhancing commitment, productivity and overall motivation (Wilkinson, 2008, p.121-122). Team Building- Laguna Beach Resort Hotel Teambuilding is a core principal in galvanising the synergy of the employees towards overcoming a challenge by providing solution in a collective manner. This is integral in enhancing the production of an organisation (Nazzaro & Strazzabosco , 2009, p.141). The anchoring for need for team building so as to ensure teamwork is best contextualised under the theory of constraint as described by Goldratt who observes that an organisation is strong as it weakest link. This concept has been applied by system moderators in managing change, organisational behaviour and performance (Mabin, 1990, p.1995). Using the case example of Laguna Beach Resort Hotel, the section examines the team building issues –positive and or negative exhibited by the firm. One of the emerging observations out of the deliberate endeavour by Laguna Beach Resort Hotel is the belief that great teams are built through bonding of involved individuals/ relationship building. Fapohunda (2013, p.1) notes that team building entails myriad of activities meant to enhance team performance by ensuring the best in a team is brought through ‘self development, positive communication, leadership skills and the ability to work closely together as a team to problem solve’. Indeed, the team building at Quest displays such aspirations as described earlier. For instance, Kitsana after a jump is held safely by colleagues so as to prevent her from falling. Others include use of Zig-Zag game series and stacking of buckets that require teamwork in a collaborative manner either to overcome impediments or race against time. Despite of the positive role played by such team building activities as the one being conducted at Quest by Laguna Beach Resort Hotel, the approach seems to concentrate much on relationship/bonding/interdependence, communication and ability to closely as team but neglect one of the core strategies of team building by failing to appreciates team roles/strength of each memeber. Instead it is a display of lumping together yet it has been proven that individuals have different traits and are likely to act differently within a group. According to Belbin (2011, p.9) teams are conceptualised in regards to roles and not positions. Such conceptualisation can be utilised to enhance behavioural strengths and weaknesses in organisations. Within this context, the nine roles proposed by the theory are best harnessed through a balancing act that takes care of strengths and allowable weaknesses which is not evident in the current practice. The nine roles identified by Belbin (2011, p.9) include plant who is creative, resource investigator, coordinator, shaper, monitor evaluator, team worker, implementer, complementer finisher and specialist. As such, any teambuilding activity should take care of team roles/ strength of each member so as to leverage on their strengths. This presents a holistic approach that takes cognisance of individual’s traits and the best position one can play in team synergy. For instance, team dynamics calls for limitation of ‘two most common roles affecting group effectiveness’ and these are those who dominate the conversation and those who talk less. As such while bonding/relationship is principal, inclusivity should equally be integral so that no one is left behind (Nazzaro & Strazzabosco , 2009, p.142). Additionally, while teambuilding activities are integral for creating the requisite teamwork and synergy, the approach of outsourcing such training have been seen as one of the shortcomings. The same is exhibited by Laguna Beach Resort Hotel who outsourced the exercise to Quest. For instance, Mealiea & Baltazar (2005, p.141) indicates that teambuilding fails owing to the fact that it relies on the services of an external consultant who might not be conversant with particular needs of an organisation, people & business; it entails off-site activities in artificial environments that are not a reflection of actual work-site conditions and as such making transfer difficult; and finally, it shows weakness in ability to monitor & examine the transfer of teambuilding activities to work environment. While the teambuilding activities are significant in teamwork and synergy, the paper recommends that it should be designed to enhance individual strengths as well as the overall team output. Equally, instead of outsourcing the services in outside locations, the program should be modelled in a manner that it is easier to transfer learnt lessons into the work environment. Decision Making- Jimmy Possum Furniture Decision making is an important encounter in addressing challenges or seizing opportunities by most business organisation. Such decisions can be routine that do not involve high level of engagement or those done under uncertainty that requires high level of critical thinking. One organisation management that was called to make decision under uncertainty is the Jimmy Possum furniture owing to the threat they were facing as result of market dynamics. This section examine the decision making process in terms of its effectiveness/ success; the decision making process and the significant criteria in making the decision. The ultimate goal of any decision making is to churn out successful strategies, plans or decisions. This is through anticipation of future allows firm to adapt to change and shape the future as a strategic advantage (Jones and Hill, 2007, p.100). Ireland & Hitt (2005, p.68) Indicates that the success of any organization or individual is tied to how they seize the opportunities. For instance, the realisation that they needed to change the direction of the business in terms of positioning strategy and penetration strategy shows how successful Allan and Margot are in their decisions. Prior, the focus was on manufacturing. However, with the increased competition as result of introduction of cheap imports, in 2004 they decided to engage directly with the customer. This has contributed to tremendous growth whereby in 2008 they had revenue of $25 million as compared to that of 2002 which was $3million. If they were not good at decision making irrespective of the process followed, the end result would have culminated into failure with business losing its market share. However, the contrary is true as the market share revenue grew tremendously. This saw them receive numerous awards such as business woman of the year. The hallmark of this decision making is the objectivity it displays. Tarter and Hoy (1998, p.213-215) observes that an organisation or individual (s) can make a decision through mixed scanning approach that involves trial and error till one succeeds; incremental basis based on cumulative knowledge of past failures and success one models a response that suits the current scenarios and the final one is the bounded rationality approach that involves being objective in nature through evaluation of options and arriving at the best alternative that guarantee success. The rationale for stating that Allan and colleague are objective in their approach to decision making lies on how they were able to critically examine the existing situation – the increased level of competitiveness owing to the increased importation of cheap furniture from neighbouring Asian countries. Secondly, the rationale is anchored on the response they designed. They present a value innovation approach where they still deliver the quality that customer’s desire, but deliberately decide to cut on cost and enhance their direct presence in the market by opening retail outlets that directly sells to consumers. Such distribution pattern is known to cut cost as consumers are able to buy at cheaper price as there are no intermediaries involved. From the above observation that most of the decisions were planned it means the best decision making theory that can be used to explain them is bounded rationality. Rationality as an approach to decision making is closely related to economic theories of choice. Hodgkinson and Starbuck (2008, p. 457) posit that in rational approach to decision making, a choice has to be made among a set of alternatives. Such alternatives then generate outcomes which can be evaluated based on individual preferences. Uncertain events, contingencies, as well as states of nature significantly influence the path between alternatives and outcomes leading to various outcomes. Therefore, decision makers rationally select the alternative which will produce the maximum satisfaction of their expected preference (Chandra, Krovi and Rajagopalan, 2009, p. 48). Conclusion The purpose of the paper was to assess organisational behaviour issues using the case study of motivation at Vibe Company, teambuilding activity by Laguna Beach Resort Hotel & decision making at possum furniture. The article realised that at Vibe Company, Sam has not adequately applied motivation by not addressing the psychosocial needs of employees. Secondly, the paper established that Laguna Beach Resort Hotel endeavour affirms the deliberate endeavour in enhancing teambuilding. However, the approach does not recognise individual roles and its applicability might be limited in that it setting is outside the work environment. finally, the paper found out that the decision making by owners of Jimmy Possum Furniture displays bounded rationality where they are objective in their approach. References Belbin (2011). Method, Reliability & Validity, Statistics & Research: A comprehensive review of Belbin’s team roles. Retrieved on 4 July 2014 from: http://www.belbin.com/content/page/5596/A%20Comprehensive%20Review.pdf. Bird, J. (2006). Work‐life balance: Doing it right and avoiding the pitfalls. Employment Relations Today, 33(3), 21-30. Chandra, A., Krovi, R. & Rajagopalan, B. (2009). Risk Visualization: A mechanism for Supporting Unstructured decision Making Processes. The International Journal of applied management and Technology, 6(4): 48-70. Dobre, O. I. (2013). Employee motivation and organizational performance. 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