Relevant Organisational Behaviour Theory - Essay Example

Introduction: Organizations comprise of people and people have emotions, needs, dependency and goals that are independent of the organization they work for. So the need to analyze the behaviour to avoid conflicts and for better management arose. Organizational Behaviour is primarily concerned with the field of psychology, but other related to other disciplines like sociology, political science and economics. In the early days of the industrial revolution when increasing production was an important factor, modern management theories began to emerge. Most of the early theorists like F W Taylor, or Frank and Lillian Gilbreth focused mainly on increasing production, in effect ignoring the humanitarian aspect. Taylor to a certain extent stressed that just monetary reward will motivate workers to perform better. Even though production dramatically increased, resentment and anger towards management ran high. The biggest impact that changed the outlook of the management world was the Hawthorne Studies (1923 - 1933), which indirectly established that workers motivate to other factors other than money and that they will perform better when they are appreciated. From then on theories that specifically stressed employee behaviour emerged. There is a marked difference in the approaches of the early theorists, and modern thinkers. While the early theories stressed that workers were motivated by money and that there were no conflict of interest between the goals of the workers and the organization. Now it is universally recognized that organizations are social entities and not just economic ones, workers are not motivated by money alone, there can exist conflict of interest between the employees' and organizational goals, employees need not always behave logically and existence of informal groups affect employee behaviour. "These studies added much to our knowledge of human behaviour in organizations and created pressure for management to change the traditional ways of managing human resources. The Human Relations Movement pushed managers toward gaining participative support of lower levels of the organization in solving organization problems. The Movement also fostered a more open and trusting environment and a greater emphasis on groups rather than just individuals" (Wertheim). A theory known as Theory Z has incorporated American and Japanese Management practices was propounded by Mr. William Ouchi in 1981. The salient points of this theory is efforts to provide long term employment, a hand in decision making, individual responsibility in the place of collective responsibility, slow evaluation of work and slow promotion and a concern toward the not only the employee but his family as well. "In 1981, William Ouchi came up with a method that would combine American and Japanese managing practice together to form Theory Z. In order for him to accomplish this, he had to learn about the Japanese culture. He had to find out why the Japanese quality and productivity were much higher than the American" (Colon). Literature review Organisational behaviour is the study of the behaviour of the human resources and its impact on the organisation. "Organisational Behaviour (OB) is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations" (Organisational behaviour. 2007). Organisational behaviour is the sum total of the behaviour of the employees in the organisation. The attitude of the management has great influence over the organisational behaviour. A better interpersonal relationship is very essential for a better organisational behaviour. The interpersonal relationship in an organisation will be fostered only when the employees are satisfied with the working conditions and other major factors within the organisation. The organisational behaviour begins from the objective and goals of an organisation. The day to day functioning of an organisation is based on the general objectives of the organisation. A better organisational behaviour is very essential for the achievement of such goals. Organisational behaviour is depended on the attitude of the employers and their leadership styles in the organisation. An employer with an autocratic attitude will normally develop a poor organisational behaviour in the organisation. In contrast when the employers adopt a participative style of leadership the organisational behaviour will be improved. An employee's behaviour will create an impact on his co-workers too. A particular behaviour gets easily spread in an organisation which ultimately influences the behaviour and culture of the organisation as a whole. Organisational Development is another important activity. Organisational Development refers to the improvement made in the organisation on the basis of the current behaviour styles. The given case study deals with the issues in Organisational Behaviour. The case study deals with the problem of non identification of skills or talent of the employees. Identification of talent of the employees is highly important in an organization's perspective. The case study speaks about key talent. Key talent means the talent in any specific area. The talent of an employee in performing any specific technical task is referred to as key talent. This is one of the basic requirements for a better organisational behaviour. Identification of key skills of the employees will help the management to understand what the ability of an employee is and how his abilities can be made use of for the betterment of the organisation. According to the given case the talent or ability of the employees are not fully recognized by the organization. Before clearly looking at the theory that applies to the given situation, the different theories that are applicable in organizational behaviour can be examined. Organizational behaviour is greatly influenced by the leadership styles being carried on in the organization. There are basically four types of leadership styles. These are autocratic model, custodial model, supportive or democratic model and collegial of free reign model. In the autocratic model the superior has a commanding attitude over the subordinates. The superior has an intention to exert pressure on the subordinates to get the work done by them. The superiors give less human consideration for the employees in an autocratic leadership style. "It is one in which the manager retains as much power and decision-making authority as possible" (Styles of leadership. 2002). The subordinates have respect for the superiors under this style. The respect and obedience of the subordinates is a result of fear of punishment from the superior. The employees are kept under the threat by the superiors in this type of leadership. Due to this the employees perform very less. The superiors give less importance for the skills, grievances and all other factors relating to the employees. The superiors have less trust over the employees. The employees get less chance for reflecting their actual skills. In this style the employers try to motivate the employees through punishments and standard rewards. Communication flows only to one direction that is from the superiors to the subordinates. The communication from the employees to the employers is fully blocked. Even though this method has the above mentioned demerits it is advantageous in the sense that it will help to maintain a discipline in the organization. The employees will be very keen on work. They try to finish the assigned work in time due to the fear of punishment. The next style of leadership is the custodial model. In the custodial leadership style the employers direct the employees towards the achievement of the organizational goals. The employees are made clear of the objectives of the organization and what the employees should do in order to achieve the goal. "According to Berlew, in stage 1, custodial leadership, the focus is on improving working conditions, compensation, and fringe benefits" (Stroh 2002, P. 253). The employees are made fully aware of the benefits that the organization will gain through the achievement of a particular goal. The employees are also informed about the benefits that will be paid to them when a particular objective is achieved. Therefore the employees are highly motivated and they strive hard for then achievement of the stated objective. The employees are more concerned about the financial security as they are made aware of the remuneration in the beginning itself. The skills of the employees are recognized to a certain extend in this style of leadership. This style is a good motivator for the employees when compared to the autocratic style. The third style of leadership is democratic or supportive model. As the name indicates, in this method the employees are given better support by the employers. This is a democratic style as the employees are given equal role in decision making and other activities. "The democratic leader gives followers a vote in nearly every decision the team makes" (Democratic leadership style. 2008). Support to the employees is the major feature of this style of leadership. There is a two way flow of communication. The employees are free to communicate their ideas to the superiors and the superiors properly inform the subordinates about the work and responsibilities. The employees participate in the decision making process of the team. One of the notable features of this method is that the skills of the employees are properly understood by the employers. The employers properly understand what the specific skills of the employees are and they understand how their skills can be properly made use of for the achievement of the objectives. Due to this method the motivation and job satisfaction of the employees are improved. "Although a democratic leader will make the final decision, he or she invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process." (Leadership styles. 2008). This method is highly beneficial for maintaining a better organizational culture as it is a good motivator for the employees. Understanding the capabilities of the employees will help the management to utilize the employees properly. The company will gain better from the skill of the employees. The next style of leadership is free reign or collegial model. Under this method the employees are given full freedom. The employees are free to move within the organization and are free to take any decision regarding the management of the team and the organization. This is also a participative approach. But in this method the employers have less control over the employees. The employees are left to work and take decision on their own. Even though this is a participative approach the skills of the employees are not properly understood by the employees as the employers have limited control over the employees. But the employees are motivated to a great extend under this method. "Unstructured leadership where a manager gives subordinates direct decision-making responsibilities. While this is the weakest form of management style, it is consistent with employee empowerment" (Laissez-Faire leadership. 2008). Even though this style of leadership involves less stress on the part of the employees it is not acceptable in all situations. This method will create an unorganized situation in the organization. This method is highly unsystematic. Now the given case can be analyzed. The key issue in the case is non-identification of the key skills or key talents of the employees. Identification of the specific talent of the employees is highly important on an organization's perspective. Only through such identification the organization can make use of such employees better. The case says that the major fault with many organizations is that they don't identify the key talent or key skill of the employees. The survey in US had shown that only 23% of the firms have identified the key talents of the employees and has utilized it for the organization. The rest of the firms are not fully aware of the key skills of their employees. If the firms were able to identify such key talents they could better utilize the employees for achieving the objectives. The leadership style has an important role in this part. It is the leadership style of the organization that determines the organizational behaviour. The leadership style employed in the organization will determine the freedom of the employees in the organization. When the employees enjoy better freedom they will be motivated to reflect their core skills in the organization. This is possible only in the case of a participative or democratic leadership approach. The problem said in the case is that is that there is no room for identification of the key talents of the employees. A general overlook on the employees is only made in many organizations. Most of the organizations are very much fond of persons with all skills and only such persons are boosted up for further better performance. Such persons are referred to as 'Hipos'. But there may be many other employees who are not talented in all areas but possess a particular skill. Such persons are not being utilized properly by the management. In order to identify the key talents of the employees there should be better interpersonal relationship in the organization. The case speaks about poor interpersonal relationship in many organizations. Only when the interpersonal relationship is enhanced the talents of the employees can be identified by the employees. Conclusion It can be concluded that the issue mentioned in the particular case is a result of poor Organisational behaviour. A better organizational behaviour is said to occur only when there is a good interpersonal relationship within the organization. The interpersonal relationship is the result of a good leadership style in the organization. In case when there is no interpersonal relationship in a firm then the firm will face the problems of non recognition of the employee skills. Therefore a participative approach of leadership style is always good for the organization so that the skills of the employees are better understood by the managers. Bibliography COLON, Roborto. Organization Type Z. Modified American. Last accessed 29 January 2008 at: http://www.stfrancis.edu/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/btopics/works/theoryz.htm Democratic leadership style. (2008). [online]. Money-zine.com. Last accessed 29 January 2008 at: http://www.money-zine.com/Definitions/Career-Dictionary/Democratic-Leadership-Style/ Leadership styles. (2008). Democratic leadership or participative leadership. [online]. Last accessed 29 January 2008 at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm Laissez-Faire leadership. (2008). Answers.com. Last accessed 29 January 2008 at: http://www.answers.com/topic/laissez-faire-leadershipcat=biz-fin Organizational behaviour. (2007). Introduction. Last accessed 29 January 2008 at: http://www.nwlink.com/donclark/leader/leadob.html Styles of leadership. (2002). Autocratic leadership style. [online]. Essortment. Last accessed 29 January 2008 at: http://ut.essortment.com/leadershipstyle_rrnq.htm Stroh, L. K et al., 2002. Organizational Behaviour: a management challenge. P. 253. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. WERTHEIM, Edward G. Historical Background of Organizational Behaviour. Last accessed 29 January 2008 at: http://web.cba.neu.edu/ewertheim/introd/history.htm Read More