Employees Survey and Perception Process - Essay Example

? Essay Questions Question Employees’ Survey Employee survey is a critical aspect of organization that helps the management to collect information that is useful in understanding the workers in a better way, to improve their ability. Prior to surveying the perceptions of the employees, all the management knows is what they observe of employees’ behavior. For instance, the knowledge of their productivity, absenteeism, and turnover rates exists. Thus, there is lack of information on the attitudes and perceptions, which are responsible for driving employees’ behaviors. Understanding motivation factors helps the management in designing jobs and goal setting. Once the research questions have been identified, researchers begin collecting clues and facts. Decision to gain an understanding of the employees necessitates collection of data. In the end, the management will be able to solve the mystery facing them about the behavior of the employees (Singh 123). This is possible through putting all the clues together and drawing conclusion. Using this information the company can take proactive measures in improving production. Quantitative methods include facts that are illustrated in surveys and polls. This information allows the management to collect information that helps them to understand the needs of the employees. This is done using focus groups, interviews, and personal observations. Applying Maslow hierarchy of needs can help the management to motivate the employees. Question 2: Perception Process Perception is the way a person sees and understands things. Although everyone is constantly confronted by numerous stimuli, only a few of them are selected. Firstly, the intensity factor states that a stimulus is more likely to be perceived if it is the more intense. This has the tendency of influencing what gets people’s attention. Secondly, the size principle states that the large objects are likely to be perceived more than the smaller objects. An engineer may pay more attention to big machines rather than smaller ones. Contrast aspect influence how an object is perceived. The idea is that a stimulus that stands out against its background gets more attention. In roads safety, signs have white and yellow background to enhance attention (Singh 314). Repetition of a stimulus also affects the perceptual process. Repeated objects get more attention than a single one. That is why supervisors give directions more than once. Moving objects also gets attention more than stationary ones. Conveyor belt attract more attention than a stationary machine. Learning influences perceptual process where prior knowledge affects the selectivity process. For instance, a buyer will purchase products of which they have a prior experience. Lastly, motivation and personality affects perceptual selectivity where a person with more needs will tend to work harder than those with fewer responsibilities will (Singh 315). On the other hand, perceptual errors refer to the distortion of perception process. In an interview setting, this is seen whereby the interviewer engage in stereotyping, by generalizing all the interviewees. It is also possible for the interviewers to judge people by their physical appearance or even their first impression (Singh 317). This might cause errors in the recruitment. Lastly, the interview procedure might not achieve its objectives if the interviewer keeps on jumping into conclusion about people, and not taking time to hear them out. Question 4: Stage Group Development Model Group development is a crucial aspect in the success of any organization. The process starts by identifying the ideal members of the group. Then, forming stage sets in where crucial activity, which brings together all the people selected to form a group (Singh 447). All of them should understand team goals, the roles every person should take on, and the set of rules that govern that group. The next level includes the storming stage that focuses on efforts of resolving any issues that might be raising disagreements and blame. This should be carried out in strong, directive, and fair way. The stage involves mainly of giving direction to the team. Everything is usually discussed including the sensitive issues and then the healing process is undertaken. Then, the norming stage sets in. The group manager lessens the direction and put more emphasis in coaching group members on their roles within the team as well as the tasks they have to perform. The members are also challenged to take on extra tasks and capabilities that will help to move the group on to the next development stage. Lastly performing stage allows members to become self-directing. Coaching at both the team and individual level should be emphasized. Individuals are allowed to take on leadership tasks and the rotational of roles should be enhanced. The success gained is communicated and rewarding carried out accordingly (Singh 447). The implication of “group think” for group behavior and decision-making is the increased productivity, motivation, and learning among the workers. Question 5: Organizational Culture Organizational culture defines the norms of an organization behavior. It further dictates how things are done in that company. The Toyota Company is one of the most successful cars-making companies in the world. This is greatly contributed to the fact that the company has well defined organizational culture. The company is known to have a culture that make use of culture such as a source of learning, ideas in its operations of business resulting to a wide range of different types of vehicles. The quality is also an important aspect in the car-making company ensuring that their cars feature among the top-rated vehicles in various categories of motor vehicles (Singh 84). It is also evident that the company has a highly creative team of employees who invent new model of cars with time. Public relation is a well-considered feature of the company, and they spend a lot of money promoting a favorable image of the company. Lastly, the company put more emphasis on its production efficiency and its competitive advantage. This way they have managed to reduce production costs increasing their profits. Developing such culture involves a series of activities by the management; first, they define a clear picture of what they desire the company to be like. Then, the benefits are outlined well enough for the managers to have more understanding and be motivated. The culture is then communicated to other people. Finally, the new behavior is modeled so that everyone in the company can adopt it (Singh 87). Maintaining the culture is done through constantly explaining and promoting company’s philosophy and hiring of employees who are committed to upholding of the culture developed. The new staff should also be oriented to be part of the established culture. Continuous training helps retain the organizational culture. Lastly, it is crucial to recognize and reward the staff who exhibit high performance of activities that maintain the culture of the company. Question 6: Organizational Change Theory Organization change is an inevitable aspect of businesses. Many factors are in the interplay within the environment of operations that leads towards change. Structured change is always welcome but if it is sudden, it may face bit of resistance. Elements of organization change theory always ensure a smooth change within an organization. Change should be structured and posit well to allow a clear and a complete description that justify change. This necessitates a thorough research on reasons for change, the proposed implementation of actions as well as the expected results (Singh 487). This enables the workforce to understand the proposed changes before hand, making them likely to support the idea. The manager should also be able to anticipate resistance to change. To achieve this, the employees and the current organizational culture should be studied. This way the management can develop strategies for use to counteract the resistant. For instance, the most probable department to resist the change, the manager should try working one- one- with the group. The change manager should confront employees fear and the foreseen reaction to change. Talking openly about the change reactions allows the concerns of the employees to be addressed. For instance, the employees might need to be clarified of how change in technology within a firm will be beneficial to them (Singh 488). Ownership of the change is another important element of change. The employees should feel that they are partial owners of the change. This makes the workforce to become highly dedicated towards working for implementation of change. This is because the employees feel in charge of their own fate. For example, employees should offer ideas of the technology they want adopted in an organization. Question 7: Communication Process Communication is the process by which a person or even a group of people receives information, which has quite some value for either the sender or receiver. The model of communication comprises a process with various aspects. Firstly, the process starts from the sender of the message. This is the origin of the information intended to be sent. To improve the communication outcome the sender should have the authority of the action behind the message. The worker should also understand the consequences of the message to the organization (Singh 313). The second element of the process includes the message. This carries the information intended to reach the receiver. Every organization has policies regarding the form of message to be sent within the organization. Managers and employees should ensure the message is courteous, clear and to the point to make certain that the receiver understand it correctly (Singh 317). Encoding of the message is an essential part of the communication and entails the process of designing the message into the most appropriate form that the sender would understand. To improve its effectiveness the organizations have a set of forms to which every message should conform. Channel of communication is the medium through which the message moves from the sender to the receiver (Singh 317). The employees and managers should seek the most effective medium based on efficiency speed availability and ease of usage within the organization. The receiver is an individual or group of people who take delivery of the message. This is an important aspect of communication since these individual are entitled to act as the sender intended. In the work place, the receiver should be clearly identified so that the message is directed to the appropriate individual or a group of people. On the other hand, decoding entails the process the receiver gives meaning to the message received. Organization workers should ensure they understand the message in line with the intention of the sender by taking time to understand and assimilate the ideas mentioned before taking any act. Lastly, the receivers of the message usually send back their evaluations of the message before acting on the message (Singh 319). This is a good indicator of the success of communication process. Every person in the organization should try to give feedback so as correction measures are taken if there was miscommunication. Question 8: Group Study Norms refers to the rules that govern behavior in a particular society. Different groups of people exhibit different behavior. Understanding the behavior of a given group is essential in managing workers as well as customers. The customers are strict on the type of products, both goods and services offered by any organization (Singh 275). Thus, it is crucial to conform to societies needs lest the organization would fail to achieve its goals. On the other hand, roles are the specific function of a certain individual in a certain situation. This greatly affects the behavior of people, since they will tend to act in ways of achieving what they are expected of by the society (Singh 273). The organization should be careful in designing jobs so that they do not violate the personal roles of the employees in performance of the job. Cohesiveness refers to the spirit of closeness in a group. It is the resultant of the forces acting on members of the group to remain as one. The major elements of concern include the number, strengths, attractions, and pattern of group members. The implications here is that the cohesiveness of a group affect their productivity as well as their viability. Hawthorne Studies The Hawthorne Studies involved a series of activities designed to examine the effects of groups of workers working under various conditions. The analysis, led to the agreement that the sense of group identity is the most significant aspect in developing a feeling of social belonging, support and cohesion. This is due to the increased worker interaction (Singh 280). The Studies played a great role in advancing factors of human relations to all organizations. The employees' performance is dependent on social issues and the content of the job. These contributions are highly utilized in organizational development and behavior. Work Cited Singh, Kavita. Organizational Behaviour. Delhi: Pearson Education India, 2009. Print. Read More