Challenges That Face The Organizational Behaviour Business Essay

Employee and customer satisfaction are the vital elements of an organisation to survive in the continuous changing world. To function effectively, the organisation must understand the culture and the diversity of the employees. Organisations must adapt to the changes of technology and customer needs, therefore the importance of the work force is a pivotal role facing any organisation today. In the past, behaviour patterns of the employees were not taken much care of, but today it is key structure to obtaining success within and outside the organisation. Every organisation has its own distinct behaviours, characteristics that portray the company’s ways of building a positive and productive relationship within the work force. The company’s philosophy, values, mission, vision, goals and objectives, communication, capacity to embrace changes, culture and learning sets as its model framework which outlines its function. Every detail of the behavioural aspect in an organisation is incorporated in the field of discipline now known as organisational behaviour. Organisational behaviour is a broad study of knowledge about how individuals and groups act in their respective organizations.

Organisational behaviour in management can be viewed as the behavioural pattern of people in management; the manner and way people interact within the organisation. Management is to organise, control and achieve the objectives of the owners of the organisations that employ them. The management operates through the manager who exercises great care in administering the resources of the organisation. According to the Management guru Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005) the basic task of management is marketing and innovation. Directors and managers have the power and responsibility to make decisions to manage an enterprise to the best of their ability. Frenchman Henri Fayol (1841 -1925) considers management to consist of six functions, forecasting, planning, organising, commanding, coordinating, controlling.

Business Strategy

A key factor in the running of organisations is the business strategy the organisation develops. Business strategy refers to how a business competes successfully in a particular market. It concerns strategic decisions on meeting the need of its customers, the choice of its product, gaining an advantage over its competitors, exploiting or creating new opportunities. A business strategy is typically the direction a business will pursue and the steps it will take to achieve its goal. A successful business strategy will identify what a business wants to accomplish, the strengths it can bring to bear on accomplishing the goals and weaknesses that must be addressed prior to integration and implementation. Business strategy determines the direction of the business in the long run, competition in the market and resources required for it to be able to compete. These are all factors which affect the overall outcome of the business and have to be taken seriously in order to achieve the goal required.

Case study

A typical example of a case study of a business strategy is Vijay Patel a self made millionaire. He is the founder chairman ‘Waymade Healthcare’, a drugs company. Although he has achieved considerable wealth already he is not ready to give up: “I’ve got a long way to go. It isn’t about making more wealth. It is about achieving the goals I have set for my business. My ambition is to become a mini Glaxo by 2010”. (Glaxco is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.)

Sunday times, 10 September 2000

Innovation and Creativity

Another critical element in order to achieve organisational goals and objectives are what new ideas can be integrated to achieve success in an organisation. Many companies introduce new ideas and plans to achieve their targets and goals. This is an important part of future success within any organisation. New technology has become available over the years which have led to newer options available to organisations which seemed distant before. Companies structure the business on these advances in technology, allowing them to have a clear vision of what they would like to achieve in the future. This process of change is known as innovation and creativity.

All organisations can innovate but where some will flourish, some will also fail. Introducing innovation and creativity will have positive and negative effects as new developments bring in fresh ideas which change old practises with new ones. The

Challenge for all organisations is to keep ahead of changing market conditions, new technologies and human resources issues. Management of these changes are the most important challenges facing any organisation. The management have to be very adaptive and flexible.

The management must have open, caring relations with every employee and face to face communication. There is also a systemic approach to business innovation, which includes change in organisation, strategy, technology, process, product and marketing. All of these will be affected by innovation and need to evolve to adapt with changes.

Case study

BT is unique in having an end-to-end open innovation process. The company scouts the latest innovations and trends in the market worldwide, creates prototypes rapidly in hothouses, uses its own research, and partners with academic institutions to create products and services for its customers. A recent successful innovation that was rapidly down streamed for use by BT Retail was the development of BT FON application for the iPhone and Android smart phones. They enable users to find the nearest Wi-Fi hotspot and roam to it instead of using the expensive data channel provided by their mobile operator. The concept for the application was rapidly developed by BT Innovate and Design researchers and developers to become one of the most downloaded free apps on both the Apple and Android sites.

Control

To achieve and maintain the quality within the organization is of critical importance which is through control process, which refers to examining the activities whether these are done in a planned and organized way. There are three types of control: market control which deals with the external market mechanic (price competition), bureaucratic control emphasis on organisation authority, admisinistration rules, regulation and policies, whereas clean control is related with behaviours patterns of employees such as norms, values, believes. Control is important to as it provide assurance in the terms of goal fulfilments. Control is considered as the final link in the management process. It tells us successful accomplishment of the organisation goals by examines planning empowering the works and their safety at workplace.

The following three step control process involves:

1. Assessment of actual perform

2. Comparing it with a standard

3. Managerial discussions to correct deviations or inadequate standard in order to measure control process following measure are utilized:

1. Personal observed

2. Statistrical reports

3. Oral reports

4. Letter report

To ensure control, it is very important to compare actual performance with the pre established standard in order to correct actual performance or revise the standard.

Quality Control:

Quality control is an important aspect of management which talk about “added value” to product and services which set them apart from competitor’s .it is an important part of company’s strategy, important at every level of operations process. The goal of quality control is to identify mistakes and correct them as soon as possible. Quality built trust and productivity increases profit for the organisation. Traditional quality control emphases on mistakes rather then preventing them. Wall Shewort (1930) introduced statistical quality control, comprised of acceptance sampling approach and process control.

Process control production:

It deals with measuring out put and comparing it to pre-establish standards for example: canned soups are retained within certain temperature during processing. it temperature is too high, soup would have burning taste and if temperature is too low then there is a chance of bacteria in the soup. If process control procedure detects a shift beyond an accurate temperature range corrective action can be taken.

Acceptance sampling process

It tests a small sample and small sample is fine than the whole is also accepted. If sample is bad than the lot is rejected.

Quality assurance

People are key to quality and works, work hard for zero defects

Total quality management

It refers to when the workers (quality circles) discuss different methods to improve quality of products and solve production problems. This strategic commitment is known as total quality management, which requires 70% members support decision.

Case study:

Motivation

Motivation refers to goal directed behaviour. It can be describe as direction and persistent of action. Twyla Dell describes motivation as what people actually expect from work they perform. The employee gets rewarded in return of their hard work to improve productivity, quality and services. Employee’s, who are motivated and dedicated to work, feel satisfied with their work performance. Their higher degree of interest results in better organisational development

There are two major categories of motivation content theory and process theory. Content theory discusses the elements which serve as motivation for an individual at work and emphasis upon people’s needs and goals and effort to achieve their goals.

Process theories deals with initiation of a particular set of behaviour, its direction and stability, involves expectancy based model, equity theory, goal theory and attribution theory.

Major that comes under content aspect are

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model;

Alderfer,s modifield need hierarchy model;

Herzberg’s two-factor theory;

McClelland’s achievement motivation theory.

Maslow’s theory

According to Maslow’s to achieve self action the basic needs of a person needs to be fulfilled first. The second step is saftly.when the individual feel secure, he and she seeks love and develop esteem. Once these needs are fulfilled, self action is the high need to be fulfilled.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model

In the context of work motivation,

Herzberg

Herzberg presents his two-factor theory, which comprised of maintenance factors and Growth factor.

Maintenance factor

Maintenance factor are related with job, its environment .If an individual is jobless, and he or she would be dissatisfaction.

Growth factor

Growth factor, on the other hand, related with effort in

Terms of improving job performance.

Case study

Tom Monaghan founder of Domino’s pizza emphasises people behaviour at work striving to accomplish the goal and meet the challenges. When their efforts rewarded, the workers gain a sense of belongingness and recognition. He strictly believes in the light of his own experience that his employees got some dreams and are willing to work with an aim to bring their dreams in to reality. With this perception facilitates them to prove his belief right.

In terms of career development, Domino’s offers employees follow the Monaghan’s own success path who started out as a delivery person and moving up through the position of store manager. Following this tradition, Domino’s employees have taken great opportunity to start their own franchises.

Monaghan ran Domino’s according to a modification of Alderfer’s model of work motivation with the belief that “people need to be rewarded for their efforts and that most of them, like him, have dreams that can be nurtured and satisfied by material wealth. Whether these dreams coincide with basic “existence needs” or the need of some people to find self-esteem through possessions is a matter of debate among psychologist. Whether they can be practical managerial creativity”.

Monoghan also believed that people need a sense of belonging and that they want to cooperate with others in a successful working environment.thus, Domino’s emphasizes teamwork. Even working at a somewhat routine and standardized job like pizza delivery, it is possible for a Domino’s employee to b part of a group, a family, with the sense of belonging that families engender.

In addition, Domino’s has a clear system of extrinsic rewards, including the opportunity to advance and become a franchise owner.Thus employees have a clear expectation of what they must do to earn certain rewards.

Finally, we might explain Domino’s success by the fact that it challenges people to use their creativity. In a business as straightforward as pizza parlors, Domino’s has found that innovation and creativity can play an improving the company product, in enhancing their own talents in the pursuit of their own opportunities, and in making the organisation successful

Factors responsible for ineffective performance of work organisation and steps to over come

As we discussed above factors responsible for effective work organisation. If any one of the above stated factors such as business strategy, innovation and creativity, quality control, does not function properly, the stability of an organisation is disturbed. And these disturbances put the organisational objectives at risk, leading to failure to achieve the desired outcome. According to a survey (2009), the Society of Human Recourse Management emphasised factors important for job satisfaction. These are job security, correlation with immediate supervisor, benefits, constant contact between employee and senior management, chance to show skills and abilities, appraisals, health and safety.

Besides, there are other factors in the working organisation responsible for the unsuccessful performance of the workforce to accomplish the outlined goals. These are as follow:

Lack of motivation

Lack of Information

Insufficient recourses

Time management

These factors and many other are important for successful work organization but in my view lack of motivation is the most important factor which put the whole organisation at risk and refrain it to accomplish the set goals.

Lack of motivation

Motivation plays a significant role in organising human behaviour at work. Increase in salary, rewards, and benefits, flexible timings, job security, promotions all keep an individual committed to their work. If any of these incentives are withdrawn, interest of the employees decreased and they start looking for some other organization which meets their needs. On the other hand, if the do not join another organisation, and remain in the same organisation, their quality of work decreased. They unable tp perform at their best. The worker might develop some psychological problems as a result of continuous stress. They consider the job as a duty irrespective of the matter that they enjoy it or not. They consider the job is the basic requirement to fulfil the basic need of themselves and their family.

Manager plays a vital role regarding workforce motivation and keeping their morale high. Employee’s motivation is the key factor which effect organisation performance. The manager should know the aptitude of employees because every individual has different personality. The manager is to involve all the staff members in the decision making process and create friendly environment.

The organisation must provide the opportunity to its work force to develop their knowledge and skills. They must be involved in different task in order to build confidence in their respective area. The employees must be provided with complete information about how to perform a task in a given time frame. They must be allowed to work independently, be capable of making decision. Their goal directed behaviour indicates task management with higher level of responsibility. Giving confidence to the employees to attend in higher level meetings provide more access to important and desirable meetings and projects. Employee might be added in specific mailing lists, in company briefings keep them aware regarding company matters. They should be provided opportunity to impact department or company goals, priorities, and measurements.

Modern nature of work organisation

Work Organisation Change

Work organisation change refers to change within organisation which effects the internal as well as external environment of the organisation. Organisation change can be initiated by the manager within organisation and it can be due to changes in policy or due to some external forces e.g., clients demand. In order to survive, the organisation must have the potential to accomplished changes.

Factor of organisational change

1. Uncertain economic scenario

2. Globalisation

3. Government intervention

4. Lack of natural resources

5. Swift developments in new technology and the information age;

6. Quality assurance and high standards of customer satisfaction

7. Increased flexibility in the structure of work organisations’ patterns of management

8. The changing composition of staff

Change within organisation is related with time factor. Old dated material resources( (machinery, equipment) as well as human resources in terms of lack of modern skill and knowledge and lack of aptitude in the labour force results in change.

These problems can be over come by regular repair of the equipment, physical material and update these with advance technology. While on the other hand, human resource management can run training workshops in order to empower their work force with relevant skill and knowledge in their respective area.

Change in organization is an indispensible element in today’s technologically advanced world. However, organizational change has faced many challenges in order to accept it by the members of the staff and even the organization as a whole. Due to its challenging nature, organisational change has been criticised keeping in view the following factors:

1. If the change does not meet the need of organisation and employees

2. If the organisation ignore needs and expectations of employees

2. If the employees are ignorant or have less information about the change

3. If the member realized there is no need for change

When the employees have insufficient information, they resist change which might be a big hurdle to achieve the goals. Every member has his or her own perception and interprets the change by using his/her own particular perspective or frame of mind. For example Habib Bank Ltd. Pakistan (2007) introduced customer relationship officers (CRO) and employed fresh graduate with updated skill and knowledge. This change was unacceptable for senior employees and they took many years to accept this change by changing their perception with the help of continues meetings and organising socials and training workshop combined with the new staff. Similarly, habits of the members serve as a source of security and when change is necessary, it leads to resistance. Effort is required to provide some rewards in order to build new habits. Change is also perceived as loss of freedom and economic implications, insecurity and fear of the unknown. For example introduction to new technology put heavy pressure on members in order to maintain their position in the orgnisation. Another major criticism is when the organisation resists the change as they are comfortable with the structure, environment and rules, already established within organisation. The possible reasons might be organisation culture, maintaining stability, investment in resources past agreements and threats to power.

Organisational culture

The development of the culture of an organisation is a long term process, and influence the organisation process and behaviour pattern of the staff members. So it is not easy to bring change and accept it promptly. However, ineffective culture is prone to change easily.

Maintaining stability

Large organisation more often sounds to be stable. Therefore change in organisation structure, rules, division of tasks leads to resistance to accept change.

Investment in resources:

To bring change, large resources are also required. Therefore the organisation experience difficulties if their resources are already invested in some project. Similarly past contracts of an organisation with some other organisation can cause resistance to accept change. Lastly change might be perceived as a threat by some group in power. As a result of change, there is strong chance that their influence on decision making or resource is minimized.

Case study

The following case study provides evidence regarding the outcome of organisation change. These outcomes are related with leadership, motivation, culture change