Organization behavior is the study and identification of management activities and strategies that provide employee effectiveness through understanding of the complex nature of individual, group and organization process. Organization behaviors concept draws from variety of disciplines including psychology and sociology to explain the behaviors of people in the company. Therefore concepts are methods or formulas followed to govern the individual or group productivity of the company and the effectiveness of leadership in an organization. Human resource practices
Human resource management has become one of the most important aspects of running a company. It has been realized that having a competent and a motivated workforce can help a company create a competitive advantage which other companies may find hard to replicate in the market. Therefore there is need for the company to take bold step in order to address issue of hiring and retaining a competent work force. It will begin by changing the style of leadership from the authoritative rule in order to give the workers more freedom to make their own decision as pertains to the operation of the organization.
But them most important thing is for the organization to come up with a human resource plan that will be integrated in the overall growth strategy. A strategic human resource plan will define issue on hiring, retaining, training and development of the workforce in order to maintain a competitive workforce. (Steiner, 1974) According to the famous McGregor’s theory x and y, in x mangers assume workers are lazy and irresponsible and require constant supervision and external motivation to achieve organizational goals. The theory y managers assume workers want to work and can direct and control themselves.
In advocating for theory y, managers who allow opportunities for individual challenge and initiative and who encourage participation would achieve superior performance. Motivation Motivation is the force or impetus behind behavior and actions. This energizes behavior and directs behavior towards a goal. Managers are always expected to create a desire of working to employees by creating conducive environment and a favoring atmosphere for working. (Harris, 1998) Most companies are now advocating the use of reinforcement by rewarding. An attractive object or event is supplied as a consequence of a particular work done perfectly.
According to behavior approach to motivation, managers have an understanding of employees’ motivation which begins with careful analysis of incentive and rewards that are present in the company. These incentives are like privileges and money. It’s always manager’s responsibility in to identify behaviors that need to be reinforced like outstanding performance, punctuality, neatness and completion of work. The managers are always alert to notice the desired behavior occur. Occurrence is always accompanied by reinforcement. An employee who shows an improved performance is rewarded.
The principle is that reinforcement strengthens behavior and gives that exact behavior a chance to occur again. Cognitive approach state that behavior is determiner by over thinking and not reward or punishment, it is initiated and regulated by mental process and not external events. Managers’ role in motivation is to help workers develop on curiosity and help them develop methods for searching for information. Workers should be trained to be intrinsically motivated. (Koontz, 1991) The social working approach is an integration of cognitive and behavior aspect.
This theory sees motivation as a product of two main forces, individual expectations of success in a task and vicarious experience. Individual expectation of success is determined by personal effectiveness, personal effectiveness is also called self efficiency and refers to personal confidence. The manager should empower employees to become competent in performing a task. If the empl9oyee knows that he will succeed in doing a task, then his motivation will be high. Vicarious experience constitutes the observation of other workers and compares performance.
If the worker discovers that his performance is poor, he may lose his sense of competence. In this respect the manager should the employee to keep up with level of performance of other employees so that motivation is highlighted. Though intrinsic motivation comes from the worker, is referred to as ego involvement. This results from employee’s identification with desired goal. The employee is fully involved in learning a task. Manager’s task is to empower the employee to identify with that work if the need for confidence is made. (Competence means ability to perform)
Ability to master every a task also mean competitiveness. In a task every employee has interest and desire to perform confidently in a company’s task. Managers’ role is to discover how to empower the employee to achieve. Managers should assist the employee by providing them with opportunity to become competent and help them to avoid failure. They achieve this by giving them a task that they are intellectually capable of achieving. When an employee is successful in performing a task, his self concept is enhanced and this gives great respect to the company.
Motivation can be displayed in personal goals and that very many motives are personalized depending on what the company wants to achieve. These personalized goals determine individual level of aspiration. Due to continued success, there is always an aspiration to modify and develop company’s strategies that would enhance better performance for both managers and employees. (Lawrence, 1978) Organizational structure A well planned leadership strategy is an important factor that determines the viability of an organization operation.
Good leadership is responsible for growth of the organization while unplanned leadership is responsible for drift in an organization. Planning mode of leadership, there should be a procedure to follow and that will help in determining the weaker points in the leadership therefore avoiding drift. Management is the most important factor that determines the viability of any organization operation. Good management is responsible for growth of the organization while bad managements can be held responsible for collapse of organizations. Some companies are currently being held at ransom by the kind of leadership structure.
There are many kinds of leadership that are used in running organizations depending on the kind of the organization. The authoritative kind of leadership in the organization has been responsible for some of the problems like making of decision for the organization. In this regard it is clear that there is a problem in making decision since they are made from the top and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has to be consulted before any decision is made despite the fact that there are other people in the organization who are more experienced in this work.
Authoritative leadership holds the organization to the management and it discourages innovation since the CEO has to be consulted on all matters regarding the operation of the organization. The CEO acts to provide guidance for the organization and one of the duties of CEO are to delegate duties of the office. In this regard, the CEO has to give some of the authority to other managers in the organization in order to decentralize decision making process. (Lawrence, 1978) Rise in the interest in developing people through out the organization could be attributed to a number of factors.
Employees take broader ranges of responsibility, managers, in particular are faced with a completely new environment. They are responsible for more people often worked in strategy-oriented companies and therefore, the skills and competencies that previously served them well no longer work. They have to make fundamental changes and come up with more planned productive strategies to avoid drift. Advertisement is another most important component that characterizes the operation of an organization in the market since it raises the awareness of the consumers about the availability of the products in the market.
Therefore a well planned advertisement is an important component that helps a company to penetrate the market especially when introducing a new product. Lack of a planned advertisement may have limited growth of the company which in return may cause losses in the company. Keeping in mind that the company is operating in a very competitive market, there is a need to plan strategies to follow to avoid any sort of dissatisfaction to the customers which may lead to a drift.
When introducing a new technology in the organization, some companies have proper planning that enables the employees adapt and learn much quicker because lack of proper planning can cause a drift that may be hard to recover. The corporation has set strategies to be followed and adequate training to lessen the risk of taking more time omitting other duties. The introduction of new technology in a company has caused a drift in many companies for most managers command employees on making use of technology that they are not used to therefore causing alternation of formally followed rules.
Example, if the company has been using paper work may in accounting department, introduction of computers may alter the set road map because of training and mental ideas that one is supposed to do more than before therefore causing a drift. To avoid this, there should be a set long term planning and informs the employees in advance so as they may be prepared physically, mentally and psychologically to avoid more excitement on introduction of the new technology. (Maier, 1996)
Conclusion If the company fails to have a proper planning, is likely to be faced by many challenges. One of the biggest challenges the company is likely to face in the structure of the business in the sense that will be difficult to change or recover. The managers may work hard but the competitors may continue enjoying great profits due to lack of proper management strategy. Management should be well planed and strictly followed to know the weaker parts of management.
A well addressed strategy in all areas of leadership will enhance a greater interest in the company, workers participation and productivity. In IBM, the relationship between managers, employees and consumers is valued and put in to a great consideration, this is encouraged because it gives a good reputation to the company hence increasing its business achievements world wide. The IBM Corporation has a good motivational strategy which has brought success to the company since its employees perform their duties perfectly and thus attracts many consumers internationally.
References:
Harris, R. (1998). Managing Cultural Differences. Houston: Gulf Publishing Koontz, H. (1991) The management Theory Jungle. New York, McGraw-Hill Lawrence, P. (1978) Organization and Environment: Boston: Harvard business school division of research Lawrence, P. (1978) The changing of organizational behavior patterns: Boston: Harvard business school division of research Maier, R. (1996) Psychology in industry. Boston: Houghton- Mifflin Steiner, G. (1974) Human Behavior. New York: Harcuort