Organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people-as individuals and groups- at in organizations. Its goals are to make man agers more effective at describing, understanding, predicting, and controlling human behavior. Key elements to consider are people, structure, technology, and the external environment. Organizational behavior has emerged as an interdisciplinary field of value to managers. It builds on an increasingly solid research foundation, and it draws upon useful ideas and conceptual models from many of the behavioral sciences to make managers more effective.
Every firm has an organizational behavior system. It includes the organization’s stated or unstated philosophy, values, vision, mission, and goals; the quality of leadership, communication, and group dynamics; the nature of both the formal and informal organizations; and the influence of the social environment These items combine to create a culture in which the personal attitudes of employees and situational factors can produce motivation and goal achievement.
Communication is the transfer of information and understanding from one person to another person. Organizations need effective communication in downward, upward, and lateral directions. The two-way communication process consists of these eight steps; develop an idea, encode, transmit, receive, decode, accept, use, and provide feedback. To overcome personal, physical, and semantic barriers, managers must pay close attention to communication symbols, such as words, pictures, and nonverbal actions. Effective communication requires study and use of semantics- the science of meaning- to encourage understanding.
When people join a work group, they become part of that organization’s social system. It is the medium by which they relate to the world of work. The variables in an organizational system operate in a working balance called social equilibrium. Individuals make a psychological contract that defines their personal relationship with the system. When they contribute to the organization’s success, we call their behavior functional.
The board environment that people live in is their social culture. People need to accept and appreciate the value that a diversity of cultural backgrounds can contribute ethic and corporate attitudes toward social responsibility.
Organizations require consistent levels of high performance from their employees in order to survive in a highly competitive environment. Many firma use some form of results-oriented planning and control systems . Management by objectives (MBO) is a cyclical process that often consists of four steps as a way to attain desired performance:
1. Objective setting
2. Action Planning
3. Periodic reviews
4. Annual evaluation
Performance appraisal plays a key role in reward systems. It is the process of evaluating the performance of employees, sharing that information with them, and searching for ways to improve their performance. Appraisal is necessary in order to (1) allocate resources in a dynamic environment, (2) motivate and reward employees, (3) give employees feedback about their work, (4) maintain fair relationships within groups, (5) coach and develop employees, and (6) comply with regulations. It is also a formal Opportunity to do what should be done much more frequently in organizations express appreciation for employee contributions. Appraisal system, therefore, are necessary for proper management and for employee development.
Leadership is the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically toward achieving objectives. It is determined partially by trains, which provide the potential for leadership, and also by role behavior. Leaders ’roles combine technical, human, and conceptual skills, which leaders apply in deferent degrees at various organizational levels. Their behavior as followers is also important to the organization.
Many employees want to become more empowered. If they are allowed to play a meaningful role in the organization their feelings of self-esteem will increase and they will contribute their abilities and efforts to help the organization succeed.
Participation is an important vehicle for empowering employees. Participation is the mental and emotional involvement of people in group situations that encourages them to contribute to group goals and share responsibility for them. For employees, it is the psychological result of supportive management.
When people join an organization, they bring with them certain drives and needs that affect their on the job performance. Sometimes these are immediately apparent, but often they not only are difficult to determine and satisfy but also vary greatly from one person to another. It is useful, though, to understand how needs create tensions which stimulate effort to perform and how effective performance brings the satisfaction of rewards.
Behavior modification focuses on the external environment by stating that a number of employee behaviors can be affected by manipulation their consequences. The alternative consequences include positive and negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. Reinforcement can be applied according to either continuous or partial schedules.
Employee attitudes are important to monitor, understand and manage. They develop as the consequences of the feelings of equity or inequity in the reward system. Managers are particularly concerned with four types of attitudes- job satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, and work mood.
Job dissatisfaction may lead to increased absenteeism, turnover, and other undesirable behaviors, so employers want to develop satisfaction among their employees. The vast majority of workers in the United states report that they are satisfied with their jobs, although they may be dissatisfied with specific aspects of them.
Counseling occasionally is necessary for employees because of job and personal problems that subject them to excessive stress. Stress affects both physical and mental health and results in burnout when it occurs chronically. The conditions that cause stress are called stressors and include work overload, time pressure, role ambiguity , financial problems, and family problems. The stress-performance model indicates that excessive stress reduces job performance, but a moderate amount may help employees respond to job challenges.
It is hard enough to operate an organization in one language and one culture. When two, three, four, five-or a dozen-languages and cultures are involved (as in Canada Scandinavia, or Europe) communication difficulties are compounded many times over. Complex multinational organizations push a manager’s behavioral skills to their limits. It often proves easier to manage the technical factors of building a sophisticated new plant then to handle the social factors of operation it thereafter. The following case illustrates the complexities that arise as different cultures are mixed in multinational operations.
Leadership is the process of influencing and supporting others to work enthusiastically to ward achieving objectives. It is determined partially by traits, which provide the potential for leadership, and also by role behavior. Leaders’ roles combine technical, human, and conceptual skills, which leaders apply in different degrees at various organizational levels. Their behavior as followers is also important to the organization.
