Organizational Theory, Job Characteristics Theory, Organizational Justice, and Leadership Styles - Literature review Example

Organizational Theory

• Organizational Commitment

Meyer and Allen viewed organizational commitment as affective, continuance, and normative. Affective commitment is the “positive feelings of identification with, attachment to and involvement in the work organization (375). Continuance commitment is the degree to which show commitment to companies by virtue of all expenses associated with moving to other organizations. Normative commitment is the employee’s innate feelings of obligations to stick to a particular organization (6).

Social exchange theory stems from the reciprocity concept. People initiate changes only when it is beneficial. Therefore, organizational development becomes evident when employees value treatment and employers use exchange it with employee loyalty and dedication.

Meyer suggests four proximal influences. First is the organizational justice, which entails fair treatment of employees through payment of fair remunerations, offering protection, and allocating work according to expertise. Second is person-organization fit. The concept looks ito the compatibility between employees and organizations. Third is the perceived support, which is interested in understandings the degree with which employees show trust in organisatioal values in contrast with theirs and contract fulfillment.

• Expectancy Theory

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory of motivation assumes that behavior is influenced by conscious choices because the sole purpose is to maximize pleasure while minimizing pain. The motivation process is incorporated in three elements: expectancy, instrumentality, and valence (Lunenburg 2). The expectancy model below provides an illustration of the motivation process.

ExpectancyInstrumentality

Valence

Expectancy is the probability that job-related efforts will result in a given level of performance. Based on the probability scale of between zero and one, an individual’s expectancy is at zero when there is no chance that the efforts will yield the desired results. Alternatively, when the expectancy is at one, an individual is confident that the efforts will yield desired results.

Instrumentality gives the probability of an employee attaining a reward in relation to the level of performance. Valence is the strength of an employee’s preference for a particular reward. Therefore, it can either be positive or negative.

The use of incentive pay as a compensation strategy can be a motivator because it links performance to rewards. Increase in the value of rewards act as a motivator especially where employers individualize rewards to cater for the diverse desires among employees. Leaders must minimize the use of countervalent rewards, which favor group performance. These types of rewards discourage employees from utilizing their potential and thus end up performing their tasks at minimum levels because they do not enjoy rewards as a team.

• Job Characteristic Theory

Developed by Hackman and Oldham, the job characteristic model is based on the idea that tasks themselves influence employee motivation. The five job characteristics are as follows:

Skill variety. The characteristic addresses the degree to which a job demands for various activities to execute tasks while relying on professionalism and talent.

Task identity is the degree to which tasks necessitate completion of a whole; handling all tasks from scratch.

Task significance is the degree to which the job has a significant impact on lives of other people.

Autonomy is the degree to which a job offers substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to employees.

Job feedback is the degree to which executing tasks offer relevant information about the effectiveness of individual performance.

Hackman and Oldham identified some characteristics of people, which play a notable role moderating the characteristics-psychological states relations. They are knowledge and skill, growth need strength, and work context. The Growth Need Strength concept addresses individual capabilities for personal accomplishment, learning, and development. The theory functions to moderate relationships of core job characteristics and psychological states, and relationship between psychological states and outcomes.

• Individual Personality

According to Allport, an individual’s personality is the “dynamic organization within individual of those psychological systems that determine characteristic behavior and thought,” (28). The components of the “Big Five” personality taxonomy are discussed below:

Extraversion. People who posses this trait are outgoing, talkative, and assertive. High extraversion reveals tendencies of people who are interested in attention-seeking and domineering. Low extraversion leads to reserved people with reflective personality, which creates the perception of self-absorbed characters.

Agreeableness trait conveys good-natured, cooperative, and trustful characteristics in people. Enthusiasts affirm that it is the tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic. High agreeableness indicates naivety while low agreeableness indicates untrustworthiness.

Neuroticism is the tendency of being sensitive emotional changes like anxiety, anger, and depression. High neuroticism is an assurance of being emotionally stable while low neuroticism shows susceptibility to emotional changes.

Openness is the tendency to develop intellectual curiosity and creativity. High openness is linked to unpredictability and realizing the self-actualization through euphoric experiences. Low openness is linked to pragmatic characteristics.

Conscientiousness is the tendency to be organized and dependable. High conscientiousness is linked to stubbornness while low conscientiousness is linked to flexibility.

Extraversion is the most desirable component for an employee to possess because it encourages leadership skills, negotiating business deals, and maintaining positive emotions. The least desirable component for an employee to possess is openness because of the attitudes attached to work and most things end up happening for fun instead of business productivity.

Cross-functional teams work best with the agreeableness trait because working together requires corporation and trust among members for effective goal realization. Departmental teams fit well in conscientiousness trait because people need to be organized around each other for smooth execution of tasks. Self-managed teams are best executed under the neuroticism trait because they have power to make decisions.

• Team Classification and Motivation

There are four types of teams under the “level of responsibility in setting procedures and developing objectives” classification strategy. First is the top management teams are based on organizational hierarchy and their main objective is to link the internal organization to the external world. Second is the cultural teams, which give rise to cross-cultural and transformational teams. Third are the virtual teams, which stem from collocation in time and space. Lastly is the crew team which is highly trained force specialized in executing a particular task.

Crew teams promote the development of intrinsic motivation in members because they are aligned to a compelling organizational vision, objectives, and supportive culture. Permanent teams are composed of skilled people who occupy the positions for a long time, which makes them perform their duties effectively.

Teams classified using a “nature of team interdependence” is as follows. Permanent teams are formed to last for a lifetime even when the task is over. Temporary teams lose their importance immediately the task is accomplished. Self-managed teams execute ideas without supervision and every individual is accountable of their actions. Work force teams are formed in organizations under the watch ship of a supervisor. Permanent teams complementary fit between team members because they offer long-term interaction and advocate for realization of organizational goals. Temporary and work force teams supplementary fit between team members because they offer quick solutions to short term problems that require immediate resolutions.

• Organizational Justice

Distributive justice is the outcome dispensed in proportion to inputs. These outcomes take the form of wages, job security, and career opportunities. On the contrary, procedural justice is concerned with fairness of the decision process to a particular outcome. The two forms of organizational justice differ especially where people prefer procedural justice over distributive justice because of the belief that even an unwanted outcome was part of the organizational justice principles. The level of one’s collectivism can influence the interpretation of a situation reflecting distributive justice when equity is overruled by equality. For instance is between two employees only one gets a promotion, the unpromoted employee may consider that the outputs were similar they got different rewards. One’s level of power distance may influence the interpretation of a situation as reflecting procedural justice if for instance a smoker accepted a smoking ban at the workplace after being satisfied with the information about the change of policy. The behavioral decision making style is best applicable under the distributive and procedural organizational justice because it avoids conflict. The differences in rewards systems or implementation of changes make it easy to negotiate for solutions with other parties.

• Leadership Styles

The types of leadership styles are discussed below:

The autocratic leadership style gives the top management the power to make decisions without consulting the subordinates. The decisions made by those in authority are final.

Laissez-Faire style limits a leader’s supervision over employees, which denies them a chance to get feedback. The style requires highly trained employees who can perform tasks under minimal supervision.

Transactional style allows managers to perform some tasks but gives them the power to reward or punish team members based on performance. Therefore, the management sets goals for the team and employees agree to accomplish the goals.

Transformational style relies on communication from the top management to achieve the set goals. However, the leaders motivate employees to improve productivity.

Participative style values all inputs and contributions from employees and allow them to participate in decision-making.

Participative leadership style is the best because the management motivates employees to achieve goals by acknowledging their efforts and allowing them to participate in decision-making. A motivated team gives the best results. The autocratic leadership style is the worst because people have no opinion over the decisions made by the management team.

Formal leadership is a high-order leadership classification that can be used to characterize Laissez-Faire, transactional, and transformational leadership styles.

Transformational leadership style can promote a state of optimal distinctiveness among team members because leaders motivate the team to achieve goals through clear communication mechanisms while maintaining a professional relationship.

• Communication Distortions

Distortions create barriers to effective communication. Some of them are discussed below.

Language. Communication made in a language other than the one familiar to team members can distort the meaning of meaning of information. Language causes the greatest threat especially if team members are fromdifferent geographical regions that use differing languages to communicate. Therefore, the only solution is to stick on a languagetha all team members can encode and understand.

Noise distorts the message from being successfully decoded by team members. Unnecessary sounds, which act as irritants impair attentiveness. Noise is a great threat especially when some members have hearing problems. Noises makes it difficult for them to hear if they use hearing aids.

Sender and receiver-oriented distortions. A sender can erect barriers in the process of delivering information. The receiver can as well be guilty of erecting barriers in the course of interaction. Sender and receiver oriented distortions area great threat especially when the sender and the receiver are in different geographical locations. The barriers and in most cases misinterpretation of the original information gives rise to the threat of effective communication.

Non-verbal cues. People express their emotions and feelings through non-verbal cues. However, giving wrong signals or being inattentive when others make signals distort communication. Non-verbal cues are the greatest threat because they form a significant part of effective communication skills. Situations include where some team members have visual problems or are not attentive enough to understand the signals.