Organisational Behaviour and Development - Essay Example

Organisational Behaviour and Development Faculty Q. Understanding of perspective on communication, relationships and culture 2)a) The language people use in organisations can be an indicator of the views held by organisational members about what goes on within the organisation and outside. Research has shown (Weatherall2002; Wilson 1998, 1992; Pattison1991) how actions, like organisational change or development for example, can be "legitimised" by management through language. Discuss with reference to communicate theory. There are various frameworks of the communication theories based on communication mechanism (Mechanistic Theory), feeling and interpretation of the message by an individual (Psychological Theory), Symbolic interaction and social constructionist theory and many others. Each theory has three important aspect of communication i.e. sender, receiver and message. According to Roberts (2007) “Change is a multifaceted phenomenon, yet regardless of the paradigm adopted, there is agreement among all writers about change: it is hard, and generally more complex than anyone first anticipates.” Managing change is directing resources to the direction of goals. It involves all the concerned people from the organisation. It is a calculative and structured process of dealing with known changes. Change management is the process requires proper communication and coordination with all the related departments. There are various issues involved in change management process. Change management is always a planned approach of an organisation. Change management process will be successful when there is maximum involvement of the collective effort of the people. The risk of failure of implementation is identified and strategy is developed to deal with the same. The human aspect of change is the primary aspect of the change management in the organisation. This is depended on the industrial psychology. There are various angles to the process like change management. The process should be multi-disciplinary. It should touch all the aspects of the organisation with a focus on the fundamental of the human resource management issues. The new procedures, policies and change in the organisation processes, process and strategic procedures have various risk of the resistance. People when work together form groups. These groups can be formal and informal. Groups have certain norms. The members of a group are likeminded in various issues and approaches. They have commitment for each other. The group communicate through some language to each other. The language becomes the basic tool of keeping the information regarding the norms and expectations of the members. In order to have a successful process, company needs to involve employees in the decision making process. Their views and perspectives needs to be considered. The involvement of people can be achieved with convincing them regarding the positive aspects of the process. Once people get involve, they feel associated and responsible for the success of the process. Hirchhom 2000, Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt 2001). The actions like organisational change and development are the processes that can be legitimised by the communication process. Open and interactive communication allows management to handle employees’ queries and grievances and develop a supportive environment. This helps in understanding the mindset of the people and convincing them about the positive aspects of the change and development process. The language also allows communicating about the goals, expectations and developing better understanding about the scenario. The language is an important and integral aspect of almost all the activities from the day to day operations to the actions like implementation of change and organisational development. b) Critically examine the significance of language within organisations for title and role. Language is a tool of coding and decoding of information in the communication process. This allows sender to send a message and receiver to interpret the message to get the meaning out of the codes. Communication process can be defined as the two way process of interaction among the sender and receiver. The communication process allows employee to share information and experiences. It helps employees to get involve in the organizational processes. The employee behaviour and his relationship within the organization largely depends on the type of communication he is involved within the organization as well as with the outside organizational environment. The information regarding external environment is communicated to the employees through various modes and mediums. There are various factors that impact the communication process. These factors are language, communication environment and individual factors. The employees may get involve in the communication process indirectly or directly and the communication may involve the verbal and non verbal mode of communication. The non verbal communication includes all the other form of communication where there is no use of words for instance body language, facial and eye expressions, quality of voice, and tone of communication, gestures and others. The non verbal communication is a strong part of communication that often gives full meaning to the entire interaction. The communication process is irreversible and complicated. The surrounding of an individual has an impact on the communication process. The respectful environment allows the open communication. An effective communication process is non interrupted and volunteer process. The interpersonal communication processes are based on the time and subject matter. Confidentiality, accepting mistakes, interrupting communication on the will of the participants, focusing on one’s own perspective of the communication are some of the important aspects of communication. Language has a significant role in the organisation. The language allows sharing common goals, communicating about what is expected and how it can be achieved and allowing subordinates to communicate their experience regarding different aspects of their responsibilities. The use of language and interpretation of language is based on various factors related to receiver and sender. The relationship between receiver and sender determines the tone of language and the way the message has been interpreted. The culture, role and power issues have important role in the communication process. Language is also an important barrier in the interpersonal communication process. The cases where people from different lingual backgrounds communicate with each other, various aspects of verbal and non verbal communication have important role in that. The cultural differences in the communication process may cause difficulty in understanding the actual meaning and mislead the people involved in the communication. This way the communication process will be broken. The predetermined notions regarding the culture, environment, roles, titles and behaviour may also impact the use of language in particular manner. The level of understanding of people using language differs with all these factors. The choice of words will also differ for different power centres, roles and titles within the organisation. The title and role have impact on the use of language by individuals in the organisation. The power status within an organisation and in the society influences the level of trust people have on each other and therefore restrictive the kinds of information shared among them. The values, norms, social pressure, rituals and other aspects of the culture influence the use of language within the organisation. An organisation with open culture will allow sharing information openly. This kind of culture will encourage two way communications and can have the open door policy for the employees where employees right to share information and experience with the seniors without any hesitation. One the other hand where title and role are very important and dominating factors, the communication will be one sided. The different power status of employees adds to the acceptance or rejection of the message. The role and power status forms the self image of a person. “Self-concept may be defined as the totality of a complex, organized, and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his or her personal existence. Self-concept is different from self-esteem (feelings of personal worth and level of satisfaction regarding ones self) or self-report (what a person is willing and able to disclose). Fromm (1956) was as beautifully clear as anyone when he described self-concept as "life being aware of it."” (Purkey, 1988) The self concept is influenced by various factors of environment and person specific. “It is also becoming clear that self-concept has at least three major qualities of interest to counsellors: (1) it is learned, (2) it is organized, and (3) it is dynamic” (Purkey, 1988) Language is very significant in the organisation and it varies according to the background of the individual, their title and roles in the organisation. The way a person from the top management uses language is different from the frontline staff. Higher the responsibility of the individual in the organisation, higher will be his attentiveness for the choice of words and language used in different business scenario. Reference: Abrahamson, E. & Fairchild, G. (1999). "Management fashion: lifecycles, triggers, and collective learning processes." Administrative Science Quarterly. 44. Johnson, Gerry and Kevan Scholes (2002), Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases, 6th Ed., Financial Times-Prentice Hall. Hall, J (1975) Communication Revisited :The Johari Windows, The California Management Review, Vol. 15 (3) 208-223 Hirschhorn L, Campaigning for Change, Harvard Business Review “Change Without Pain”by Eric Abrahamson (Harvard Business Review, July–August 2000, Product no. 6498) Hubbell, A P. and R M. Chory- Assad (2005) Motivating Factors: Perceptions of Justice and Their Relationship with Managerial and Organizational Trust. 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