Organizational Behavior Analysis

Organization behavior offers both challenges and opportunities for employers. Analyzing organization behavior is important because it gets one understand how people interpret the world, how they learn, how they process information, how they form different attitudes and opinions that condition their attitude towards work and organization.

It also helps them use aspects of psychology and communication to help understand the nature of individuals as a basis for better understanding of behavior of people at individual level in the organization.

They also get to understand the nature of social interactions and how they impact on the organization as well as how they may be influences by the organization itself. This is done through the use of sociology studies.

People get to understand organizations’ culture in the diversity and uniqueness in relation to individual organizations. They get to understand the customs, values and beliefs of particular organizations through the help of anthropology.

Understanding organization behavior helps employers to cultivate and maintain cordial relations with their staff and among employees themselves through the use of positive communication and encouraging open communication in the organization. It also equips them with the knowledge and skills of handling different types of personalities leading to proper management harmony and higher productivity in the organization.

The organization chosen for this research is Space and Style Ltd. and the research will give analysis of the organization’s culture, mode of communication, the nature of authority, motivational techniques used to influence productivity, areas of emotional quotient embraced by the organization and any virtual elements.

Organizational culture may be defined as the cultivated behavior that involves the accumulation of knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and values in the organization. It can consequently be regarded as a group’s traditional ideas and values that are attached and followed by all the generations. (Hofstede, 1997). A strong organizational culture means that the employees have similar beliefs and behavior patterns and that there is less tolerance for behaviors that deviates from the accepted patterns. Many experts started arguing that developing a strong organizational culture was essential for maximum success. Most people agree that a solid connection is there, although there remains some degree of argument as to how influential it really is.

The behavior found within a successful organization will in part be due to, and continually nourished by, a healthy organizational culture. It's extremely important to know what type of behavior culture has the greatest impact and how culture works to control the behavior of members of that particular organization. The culture will affect the organization, just as the opposite is true. Behavior is a learned habit, and the process of socialization that teaches new employees the habits of those workers already there is one of the major parts of organizational culture.

The behavior of individuals within a culture will depend greatly on the behavior that is encouraged by the higher ups, and by the general organizational culture that any corporate entity has.

Space and Style Ltd is an importing company that is located in Kenya. It deals with distribution of specialized roofing material. It operates as a salad bowl in that it has mix cultures prevailing in the organization and strongly believes in culture diversity. The employees are treated equally, and work in a friendly environment. They are satisfied with their jobs and the employee turnover is low which reduces training costs associated with hiring new employees. It is based on people with different culture identities being integrated in the same society. They can live together even though they have different aspects. Organizations find greater value in employees bringing different opinions to the table to find beneficial solutions. Space and Style Ltd has discovered a competitive advantage by availing themselves in this broader range of diverse talent to meet the needs of a global customer base.

However, maintaining a salad bowl can also be a challenge in that not only is an organization dealing with different ethnic groups, but there are also different genders, ages, income levels, social classes and discipline. This can lead to conflicts in the organization.

In organizations, there are several common forms of communication. By far, the most frequently used are verbal and written. Space and Style Ltd. mostly uses written form of communication although some situations call for verbal communication. As an import organization, Space and Style Ltd. has to use emails especially if they need to communicate with the suppliers who are overseas. Advantages of using written communication is that messages can be edited and revised before they are actually sent, they provide records which can be saved for later study and they also enable the receiver to fully understand it and send appropriate feedback. In the case of Space and Style Ltd, it provides instant feedback as compared to face to face conversation with the employer who sometimes is too busy to see the employee.

When we talk about the nature of authority, we are looking at the organization in terms of structure i.e. flat structure and tall or hierarchical structure. Tall organization structure has many management levels hence a narrow span of control. Given the numerous levels of the organization involved in daily operations, decision making tends to take longer and more impersonal. Flat organization structure, on the other hand, has fewer managers and a wide span of control, hence fosters the potential for faster growth given the ability to share and respond to new information between the levels of organization. They are also less bureaucratic and tend to be less structured. Owing to the fact that Space and Style Ltd. has a flat structure, employees are given the power to do work as they see fit. Operatives can access and communicate with managers more easily and quickly. This relies on workers taking more responsibility for decision making. Through this, the organization has been able to build trust in its employees and create a sense of loyalty to the organization. The employees also feel valued and their opinions appreciated. The employees are therefore more motivated and creative. Decision making and communication flow is also quick because there are fewer levels of management. Externally, the organization as a whole becomes more adaptable to its market and can quickly react to changes. Internally, the organization as a whole encourages more participation between all levels within the organization, promoting closer working relationships that potentially lead to better communication and creativity. According to Vecchio (2006), written communication like letters, memos, reports, faces, order forms, emails serve as permanent records, which enhance their precision and clarity in comparison to oral communication.

Motivational techniques vary from one organization to another. Intrinsic motivation comes from within, driving an individual to succeed based on inner goals and ambitions e.g. feelings of competence, accomplishment, responsibility and personal growth. In Root’s Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation Used by Managers, intrinsic motivation is the desire to accomplish goals and develop professionally. Extrinsic motivation involves work factors such as pay, promotions, fringe benefits and perquisites. The organization is known for motivating its employees by giving numerous benefits e.g. out bonuses after every six months based on the profits. Extrinsic motivation is not enough in this organization. It also recognizes the need for delegation of work which gives the employees a sense of value, and training its employees in order to make them more productive. Through delegation of duties, managers have more time to focus on more productive tasks. This can allow a small business to operate with fewer managers in the hierarchy, keeping the company lean and reducing labor costs. Intrinsically motivated employees also can be more creative than those who require outside influence to get motivated. Employees who thrive on personal accomplishment and career development are more likely to make valuable, innovative contributions to strategic initiatives simply for the satisfaction of accomplishing something meaningful in the organization. Using extrinsic motivation in the workplace can allow for a greater degree of control over operational processes. While close supervision may be intolerable to others, they thrive in situations where they have constant guidance and encouragement from supervisors.

In Daniel Goleman’s Working with Emotional Intelligence, Emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves and for managing emotions well in us and in our relationships. As emotional intelligence is critical to high performance, a person who knows how to stay motivated under stress, motivate others, manage complex interpersonal relationships, his/her others and build teams who are recognized specialists on a product or service are likely to get will get better results. Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand and explain emotions, on the one hand, and of emotions to enhance thought, on the other (Mayer & Caruso, 2002). It can also be defined as the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in oneself and others. The process and outcomes of Emotional Intelligence development also contain many elements known to reduce stress for individuals and organizations, by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing stability, continuity and harmony. Emotional intelligence is a multi-dimensional concept that links emotion and cognition to improve human interactions. It has been linked to improved workplace behaviour and specifically team behaviour and team performance. (Jordan, Peter, Lawrence & Sandra, 2009). According to Stough, Saklofske & Parker (2009), team performance is positively and significantly influenced if team is able to recognize emotions of teammates.

It plays a critical role in our working lives since the relationships we form are governed by rules of behavior that are triggered by our emotions. At Space and Style Ltd. values its employees and it is the goal of the organization to ensure that they are satisfied.

The various organizations nowadays are forced to operate in a complex and unstable business environment. The capabilities offered by the rapid changes of information and communications technologies (ICT) have been the basis upon which novel strategies have been build to cope with this problem. ICT has enabled the ability to share information easily and effectively e.g. through World Wide Web. As a consequence, the importance of physical location has to a large extent been diminished and led to flexibility in spatial terms, which in turn has led to rise of new forms of business organization such as virtual organization. Therefore, virtual organization is an organization defined by its product – market strategy, network structure, information systems and business communication patterns. Virtual Organizations are leveraged on technology. According to Dembski (1998), virtual organizations are network structures with endless potential boundaries or rather without any real separate lines. The fact that this technology is networked ensures certain types of spatial barriers are disappearing. Very often these organizations operate entirely in cyberspace, which implies that they are not tied actually to any particular location or time zone. Sometimes employing merely a handful of people, a virtual enterprise can be truly global and local at the same time. Also following a strategy of global sourcing and co-operation helps an organization benefit from all kinds of diversity and thrive on contributions from different cultures, with different tradition, customs etc. Although Space and Style Ltd. has embraced some virtual elements in that it has been using software to design the customer’s steel structure as per their requirements.

Space and Style Ltd. is highly advance in terms of technology. It has created networks for employees to be able to work efficiently and communicate to the customers and suppliers all over the world. A widely accepted definition of teleworking does not really exist. Various types of definitions have been adopted by different researchers in describing the concept of teleworking such as electronic cottage, telecommuting, flexi place, remote work, distant work and networking. The term teleworking has been used in order to describe organizational work performed outside normal organizational limits of space and time supported by computer and communication technologies (Oslon, 1987). It has enabled some of its employees e.g. the technical team and the sales staff, to work from home. This has given more freedom to the employees, reduced costs of the office space and also travelling costs. The employees are also able to work harder because they have fewer distractions hence improve productivity. The disabled employees also find it convenient because they do not have to travel to the office. This method can however be very dangerous if not monitored. It can only be suitable for specific types of jobs so it hasn’t been advantageous to some of the employees in the organization. It also makes employees feel socially isolated which might in the long run affect them psychologically. Audio and video conferencing has led to positive effects of virtual team / organization dynamics and mutual understanding of all members through observing body language and gestures. Also, the more formalized standards and procedures are in the team/organization, the greater the potential for productivity and profitability enhancement.

By analyzing their organizational behavior, organizations are able to tell whether they are effectively performing, or whether if not, what needs to be corrected in order to ensure best performance.

Reference

Agrawala, K. (2009). How does a strong culture influence organizational performance.