Organisational Behavior - Coursework Example

Organisational Behaviour Organisational behaviour is the study of employees’ behaviour in a workplace setting so that means can be devised to ensure that they are able to function and perform better within an organisation. The study of this concept is divided into three parts which concentrate on the study of individuals, work groups, and finally, how entire organisations behave to ensure that they achieve their goals. The study of organisational behaviour entails the recognition that most individuals tend to behave in a different manner when they are in their organisational role to when they are outside of it, meaning that the organisation has an impact on the way that employees behave (Baron & Greenberg, 2008, p.248). Under such circumstances, it is possible that these individuals behave in a different manner in the organisational setting because they believe that it is the best way through which they can enhance their performance. It is because of this that organisational behaviour makes a study of individuals specifically in their organisational capacity in a bid to ensure that there is better understanding of the diverse nature of organisational life. In this paper, a study of the organisational behaviour with reference to Bard Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceutica will be made with the aim of helping managers and administrators come up with better strategies, which can be used to enhance the performance of their organisations. This way, the study will attempt to make a critical analysis of organisational behaviour so that its different aspects can be brought to light; thus, ensuring that the ability of organisations to function as homogenous units in the new globalised environment is recognised. When the two companies named above are considered, they are similar in the sense that they have developed strong organisational cultures and rituals which all of their employees follow, ensuring their success. It has been recognised that the behaviour of individuals within an organisation can be heavily influenced through the development of a strong organisational culture because it is this which determines how employees work together. Because of this, the management of an organisation should take the initiative to ensure that its culture is carefully developed in a manner that recognises the need for cooperation between all of the individuals who work within it (Crowder, Robinson, Hughes & Sim, 2012). Thus, the organisation will be able to function in a more organised and harmonious manner than if the culture was not carefully managed. If an organisation has a strong organisational culture, it becomes possible for people from diverse backgrounds and cultures to work together despite their differences and this provides the organisation with the means of achieving its objectives with less conflict between its employees. In such a situation, the emotional intelligence theory comes into play because it works towards the identification, understanding and management of individual and the feelings of others in the workplace. This theory states that it is the responsibility of individuals within an organisation to develop an understanding of their fellow employees despite their backgrounds because based on this understanding; they can be able to determine the motivations behind each other’s behaviour in the organisational setting and use it to achieve the organisation’s goals. This theory makes possible the understanding or organisations as communities where it is the behaviour of the people within them that determine the direction that they will follow and the means that will be used to ensure that the goals of the organisation are achieved. In the current world, the study of leadership within organisations has become a part of organisational behaviour because it is leaders who often determine the direction which the organisation will take. Both Bard and Janssen have become and remained successful in the current highly competitive business environment because of the strong leaders that they have since without them, these companies would not be ranked among the top in the United Kingdom (Lewi, 2007). Strong leaders often have an influence on organisational behaviour because they are able to predict job performance and this is determined through the manner in which they act among other people within the organisation (Hughes, Clegg, Robinson & Crowder, 2012). The way that leaders act within the organisation can be used as a determinant of its performance because a leader who is relaxed and easy going with his subordinates is more likely to be achieving success than one who takes an openly hostile position towards employees. Therefore, it is important for leaders to be conscious of the way that they behave around people with whom they work and this requires self-discipline and thoroughness since it is these which ensure the success of organisations. Moreover, leaders have to display a high level of emotional stability because it affects the way that employees view their work and helps them cope with diverse situations; whether simple or difficult. Thus, if a leader does not bring his problems outside the organisation with him to work, then it is likely that his subordinates will follow his example, and this makes it possible for personal issues not to affect job performance. Extraversion among leaders and employees is extremely positive when considered in relation with job performance because it allows them to effectively interact with potential clients in a positive manner, hence increasing the chances of an organisation’s success. In addition, agreeableness is a positive aspect of organisational behaviour because it ensures that all individuals within the organisation get along with one another in a positive way although in many organisations, it is often quite difficult for leaders to achieve it because they have to be firm at times in order to put their point across. The pursuit of ethics has become one of the most desirable aspects of organisational behaviour in the modern world because this is the only means through which organisations can be made accountable for their actions. Ethical values have become matters of significance especially in situations where organisations are found to participate in fraudulent activities, in this case Bard being an example. In 2013, Bard Pharmaceuticals was found guilty of having given kickbacks to medical practitioners and customers in the United States for submitting false claims to Medicaid, the government-run medical insurance program (Hilzenrath, 2010). The actions of this firm defied the ethical values that it was supposed to follow because it took advantage of its clients and the government in order to make a profit. It is essential for organisations to develop and maintain strong ethical values because this is the only means through which they can hope to continue to retain the confidence of their clients. However, these values cannot be maintained without some form of positive reinforcement because it is this which ensures that individuals develop all the desirable ethical behaviour that becomes a basic part of the organisational behaviour. According to the reinforcement theory, it is through the use of positive reinforcements such as the development of a reward system or the sacking of those individuals who violate ethical values of the organisation that individuals in the workplace can be encouraged to develop positive behaviour that can be of benefit to the organisation. Whenever individuals within the organisation choose to disregard ethical values in their work, it is essential to ensure that they gain the full force of the negative consequences that come about because this is the most effective manner of encouraging positive reinforcement (Spector & Fox, 2005). Thus, in order to ensure organisational adherence to ethical values, it is essential for the organisation to develop a system of reward and punishment for those who adhere to ethical values and those who do not respectively since this will help advance the motive of individuals staying on the right track in their activities on behalf of the organisation. Decision making is an important aspect of organisational behaviour because it prescribes the manner in which decisions within organisations should be normally made as well as aims at improving the process of decision making (Hughes, Clegg, Robinson & Crowder, 2012). It should be recognised that while some of the decisions that are made by the management of organisations tend to be long term, most of them tend to be short term because the latter can be easily managed and the results measured over a certain period. This is where the goal-setting theory comes into play because it involves the creation of challenging goals with the intention of ensuring that the levels of organisational performance are increased. Challenging goals make it possible for individuals to work within an environment that demands that they push themselves to the limit to ensure that the goals of the organisation are achieved and this provides the opportunity to increase work output. Furthermore, the decision to create specific goals increases the performance of individuals within the organisation because they know exactly what they would like to achieve, thus furthers the interests of the organisation within the shortest time possible. It is also the responsibility of the organisation to ensure that individuals feel like active participants in the decision making process because this provides them with the incentive to work harder to achieve the objectives of the organisation without questioning the validity of the decision taken. Moreover, it leads to more commitment from these individuals because through being participants in the decision making, they become interested parties in ensuring that the goals of the organisation are completed and not left pending (Balzer & Gillespie, 2007). The study of organisational behaviour has shown that it is critical for individuals to be shown the results of previous decisions because it encourages them to work harder to achieve better results; this process being of extreme importance for the organisation because it helps it surpass previous objectives in order to retain its competitive edge in the market. In this way, the organisation becomes a beneficiary of a positive decision making process that considers the way that individuals within it will react to different means of presenting decisions to them. Organisational behaviour also involves the study of how employees are motivated to increase their output through the development of reward programs that appreciate their efforts on behalf of the organisation (Taylor & Hansen, 2005). However, in recent years, the association between rewards programs and organisational performance have come to be questioned. There have developed systems through which individual performance and rewards are determined by what their immediate supervisors have to report and this has reduced the credibility of these programs in many organisations. In this way, individuals in some organisations have not been motivated as desired and have instead become disillusioned by the reward system itself. There has developed a realization that individuals within an organisation tend to be the best source of information when conducting an evaluation to determine the individual who are best suited to be rewarded for their services. It has been established that individuals are often concerned about fairness in the evaluation and reward process because this serves to motivate them to increase their output on behalf of the organisation since they feel indebted to it. In conclusion, the discussion on organisational behaviour above has shown that companies, such as Bard Pharmaceuticals and Janssen Pharmaceutica, which develop strong organisational cultures and rituals which all of their employees follow, have high chances of success in the highly competitive global market. In addition, the study of leadership within organisations has become a part of organisational behaviour because it proves that leaders are the ones who often determine the direction which will be taken by the organisation to ensure that it achieves its objectives. Furthermore, ethics has become one of the most desirable aspects of organisational behaviour in the modern world because this is the only means through which organisations can be made accountable for their actions. Moreover, decision making has also been found to be an important aspect of organisational behaviour because it prescribes the manner in which decisions within organisations should be normally made, involving all individuals within it so that there is little resistance. Finally, organisational behaviour involves the study of how employees are motivated to increase their output through the development of reward programs that appreciate their efforts on behalf of the organisation. Thus, organisational behaviour is extremely important in the day to day running of any organisation because it determines whether the latter will be able to develop a proper environment to help it achieve its targets. References Balzer, W. K. & Gillespie, J. Z., 2007. Job satisfaction. In Rogelberg, S. G. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of industrial and organizational psychology Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 406-413. Baron, R.A., & Greenberg, J., 2008. Behavior in organizations – 9th edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. p.248 Crowder, R. M., Robinson, M. A., Hughes, H. P. N., & Sim, Y. W., 2012. The development of an agent-based modeling framework for simulating engineering team work. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics – Part A. Systems and Humans, vol. 42(6), pp.1425–1439. Hilzenrath, D.S., 2010. Justice suit accuses Johnson & Johnson of paying kickbacks. The Washington Post 16 January. Hughes, H. P. N., Clegg, C. W., Robinson, M. A., & Crowder, R. M., 2012. Agent-based modelling and simulation: The potential contribution to organizational psychology. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 85(3), pp. 487–502. Lewi, P.J., 2007. Successful Pharmaceutical Discovery: Paul Janssens Concept of Drug Research. R&D Management, 37(4), pp. 355-362. Spector, P. E., & Fox, S., 2005. The Stressor-Emotion Model of Counterproductive Work Behavior. In S. Fox, P. E. Spector (Eds.) , Counterproductive work behavior: Investigations of actors and targets. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, pp. 151-174. Taylor, S. & Hansen, H., 2005. Finding form: Looking at the field of organizational aesthetics. Journal of Management Studies, 42(6), pp.1211–1231 Read More