Agrigreen incorporation which is located in the western United States deals with the manufacture of various farm fertilizers. The Agrigreens appointed Tad Pierson as a project engineer in one of its plants. The incorporation has charged him with the responsibility of overseeing the operations of the plants surveying team. Having worked with the team before, he is awake to some of the conflicts and performance problems that may appear within the team.
The increased frequency and degree of the problems in the team have left Tad concerned with the performance standards of the team, the production calendar, and employee dissatisfaction. Tad Pierson hopes to get a long-lasting solution to the problems that the group is facing. The company employs surveyors to oversee the quality of performance by the employees and ensure that the safety standards of all the projects are properly met. Before the creation of the surveying department, Agrigreen used part-time project engineers also known as drafting recruits.
The importance of the surveying team led to the official creation of the department with Howard Line Berry as the leading surveyor. He was appointed to the position after receiving the necessary education which was proved by the certification from a local college. It is important that the position of the leading surveyor was occupied by a professional with the necessary skills and good experience, this is important for the surveyor to get a good reputation and respect among the workers.
The post of lead surveyor was created to aid Silverton who was the project engineer at that time. Based on his educational qualification and high salary it became apparent that he was overqualified to offer surveying services. Howards tenure was filled with various mishaps and friction with fellow employees and supervisors. In his employment term, he had five managers and three survey assistants, all of whom had experienced some form of friction with him with the exemption of Adams who had taken up most of Howards ill friction behaviors.
Howards performance had been questioned as it had various production and safety issues. For instance, his error on location fixing led to the complete demolition of a mills foundation. This situation destroyed his reputation within the organization. Howard also had endless confrontations and conflicts with members of the engineering team and company managers. One of his assistants Mel Cutler, who had been appointed into the organization several years before, noticed Howards shortcoming in regards to taking notes.
This was five years following his appointment to the post of surveyor assistant. Since then, the work experiences of the employees have turned into a nightmare. He also noticed that it took so much longer for Howard to snack during the break that it would violate the companys reporting and departure time. Mel took every opportunity that presented itself to take on a part-time job to avoid Howard. Mel usually listened to various discussions that did ridicule Howards inappropriate habits. Vince Adams who was appointed to replace him as Howards assistant has taken up some of these bad habits too.
Howard Lineberry seemed to be different from all the previous people who occupied the same position with all of his managements moves. He believed that they were unfair to him and assumed his presence in the organization. He was barely involved in projects, the engineers preferring to do the surveys by themselves. The employees of the plant received Tad Piersons appointment into the plant with much enthusiasm. They hoped that it was time Howard had been laid off and his place assigned to someone else who was well capable of performing as a lead surveyor. Pierson had noticed the plants employee problems that he wished to rectify.
Finding of the fact
The first issue in the organization is the reduced quality of work produced by Howard. Howard had proved to be an inefficient surveyor from the point he had made a wrong location for the mill, his note-taking skills had also been questioned by Cutler. He did not deliver the production processes on time due to his time management problems. This led to the increased cost of production for the firm. The second issue in the case study was the lack of motivation amongst the employees.
For Howard to feel this degree of dissatisfaction and lack of enthusiasm, it was a case of shortcomings in the organizations culture. The organization lacked a culture of motivating their employees even after making errors. Instead, for this organization, the best that could be done was excluding Howard from plant activities.
The third issue was related to the organizational structure. The hiring and placement of new employees were in complete disregard of proper hiring procedures that should see the existent employees promoted. This method of hiring new employees to as high as a management position may have the advantage of securing the best talent in the market but could also tend to lead to employees, already in the organization, feeling ignored.
Recommendations
The recommendations to the issues raised above could be observed in the study of organizational behavior. Organizational behavior is categorized into two, micro-organizational, and macro-organizational behaviors (Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007). Micro-organizational behavior looks into the personal dynamics of the employees in the organization. Macro-organizational behavior looks into the general structure of an organization and its contribution to the behaviors of the employees (Hosfede, 2001).
Recommendation one
The reduced productivity by Howard may be a case of incompetence or as a result of individual traits such as laziness or the lack of proper judgment. Howards case of the wrong location is a clear presentation of the variation in perception amongst individuals. It appeared right to him but wrong to the engineers. This led to the demolition of the mills foundation. Perception refers to the way individuals interpret the environment (Huczyski, 2007).
The employees of the plant should try and understand that there exist differences in the way people perform their duties. Such an understanding could enable individuals to relate better with Howard. Eighteen years in the organization meant that he had some skills to offer the organization. The project engineer could avert this seeming lack of productivity by encouraging teamwork. Howards department could be integrated with other departments in the organization. This would lead to a synchronized way of doing work. Besides improved overall productivity, Howard would be understood better, a situation that would lead to work enthusiasm on his part. Proper training on the job should be done to synchronize these perceptions (Huczyski, 2007).
Recommendation 2
A feeling of dissatisfaction among the organizations employees is a demonstration of some level of lack of motivation amongst them. Motivation is a force that tunes human behavior to achieve a set of objectives. The laxity in Howards work may be averted by providing him/her with incentives. Incentives may not necessarily be in the form of increased payment but psychological incentives. This means that the psychological needs of the employees should be met through recognition, the feeling of a sense of recognition, career development, and being a part of greater responsibility (Hosfede, 2001).
Recommendation 3
The organization should make structural adjustments. Structural failure acts as a catalyst to greater dissatisfaction amongst the employees. The recruitment of employees should be based on merit. Employees who are already in the organization should be appointed to the new projects instead of recruiting new employees every time a vacancy is created. For eighteen years, Howard had been in the same position. He had seen many graduates recruited to take up roles way above him, most of which he felt that he was well qualified to hold (Hosfede, 2001).
Howard may have had the feeling that the young graduates were being favored. If the hiring of young talent is necessary, it should be done transparently. The chain of command in the organization should also be adhered to. Howard was in some cases forced to report to the different managers from that that he had been assigned (Hosfede, 2001).
Organizational behavior is broad and it merely entails looking into how individuals perceive activities in the organization and work towards their harmonization. Emphasis should not only be laid on remuneration but the psychological needs of the employee should be met. The organizational structure of the organization should seek to encourage greater productivity and personal development (Hosfede, 2001).
References
Hosfede, G. (2001). Cultures Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. New York: Sage Publications.
Huczynski, A. A., & Buchanan, D. A. (2007). Organizational behavior. Harlow: Pearson Education Centre.
An attitude is a psychological trend that is conveyed by assessing a particular responsibility with some degree of favour or disfavour. In the context of work environment, this paper looks at the causes of negative attitude, as well as how it leads to a dysfunctional behaviour in the organization. The paper will utilize a case where an employee working for an organization develops a negative attitude towards work.
Practices, such as low payment without other benefits, lack of development and growth, bias in promotions in the company make the worker develop a negative perception towards work leading to the perception of inequality. In addition, incorrect beliefs in relation to life and work often caused by negativity from family, friends, and unsatisfying circumstances from the workers upbringing leads to a negative attitude.
As a result, this would develop a dysfunctional behaviour that affects the organization, colleagues, and the work environment. The employee starts being absent, reporting to work late, leaving early, taking excessive breaks, not finishing work on time, lying about hours worked, and wasting organizational resources. The quality of work is not being considered thus directly costing the organization.
Dysfunctional behaviour that affects others workers include sexual harassment, gossiping, bullying, and unfriendliness. Eventually, the employee ends up engaging in disobedient behaviour, such as drug addiction. Attitudes among workers have a positive or negative impact on the performance of an organization.
The responsibility of the management is to impart positive attitudes among members of staff, such shunning away from practices that can stimulate a bad feeling. Cancelling workshops and other trainings are good tools that an employer can use to rehabilitate employees with negative work history. If the organization in the above case had considered this, the dysfunction behaviour depicted by the employee would not have occurred.
Organization Citizenship Behaviour
People come with diverse working personalities, such as principles, attitude, and approaches. Behaviour is yet an extra enlightenment that explains why individuals adopt citizenship behaviours. Citizenship is more of behaviour a sociological and psychological concept. In other words, it has a human and collective module, particularly when observed on the roles of leader-follower affairs and employees efficiency.
Organizations that motivate their workers end up with an enhanced production system because workers would not mind doing extra work to an extent of exceeding the expected requirements. Organizational citizenship behaviour has a very solid connection with the worker and organizational performance leading to adoption of actions that are driven by motivation.
On a wider perspective, this is a social exchange. The drive for this exchange is to exploit benefits and reduce costs, influencing the usefulness, and productivity of employees and organizations.
Most of these motivations are extrinsic as compared to intrinsic process motivation. Extrinsic motivation is a behaviour that is motivated by outward prizes, such as cash, recognition, results, and admiration. This type of motivation arises from external forces as opposed to intrinsic forces, which exposes the actions of the worker. Individuals carrying out intrinsic motivation contribute in events that they appreciate and build an enjoyable work atmosphere for themselves and other colleagues.
Understandably, perception can be made that staffs that relish their work are more possibly to assist co-workers and create an aiding work environment. These employees find organizational citizenships behaviours interesting and are likely to follow them without orders. Influential motivation is also anticipated to have an undesirable connection with organizational citizenship behaviour. Since workers in this purpose contribute informally, compensated doings and organizational citizenship behaviours are not properly rewarded.
Organizational behavior involves the study of people within an organizational setup. The research focuses on the many reasons for studying organizational behavior. The research also focuses on the theories in practice within the organization. Understanding organizational behavior and the theories in practice aid in the accomplishment of organizational goals.
The organizational behavior theories will help the managers and other persons concerned have a better understanding of the diverse cultures, temperaments, likes, and dislikes of line and staff personnel within the organization.
Likewise, the organizational behavior theories generated from studying actual practices will help persons expand their career successfully by maximizing the potential of each person under ones leadership. The theories will help one effortlessly persuade the people to do ones bidding or instructions. The theories will equip the organizational behavior learner to be adept at all organizational environments such as dynamic, complex, shifting, and challenging work endeavors (Shermerhorn 2010).
Further, the theories will teach the organizational theory learner the best way to communicate to each person within the organization by taking into consideration the persons gender, race, ethnicity, age, capacity, and educational background.
For example, the engineer can easily communicate with a fellow engineer by using engineering terminologies in an engineering organization. A doctor can use medical terminologies to communicate with a doctor in a hospital organization. The musician can communicate with another musician using musical notes and other musical terminologies in the music organization (Shermerhorn 2010).
In a current event situation, the accountant can easily communicate with another accountant in an accounting organization. The accountant can effortlessly discuss to a fellow accounting employee how the client has generated enough revenues by maximizing profits.
The other accountant can also discuss to another accounting partner the possibility of increasing the allowance for doubtful accountant to ensure that uncollectible accounts will be shown in the financial statements. The client will be eager to learn from the accounting firms representative that the client can increase its revenues by setting up a branch in another highly saturated community (Miner 2007).
For example, accountant can understand each other in an accounting environment. The accounting staff can easily generate financial data from the clients and other employees in the accounting department because all the employees understand each other.
This is the very essence of organization behavior. In the same light, the accounting staff can easily communicate with another accounting staff with the intention of synergizing their efforts to lessen the time spent to produce the clients financials statements. In addition, the secretary can coordinate with the accounting staff in order to help in the preparation of the encoding of the accounting transactions (Miner 2007).
In another situation, the clients manager must use organizational behavior theories to let each subordinate know the expected output. The manager can visit the accounting firms research department to discuss the probability of setting up a new shop in another busy community. Consequently, the research department head can comfortably person the research staff to make a feasibility study that would cater to the clients need to know if the proposed new branch will generate net profits.
In turn the research head will gather a team of five or more researchers to gather data needed to prepare a projected balance sheet, income statement and statement of cash flows. The research leader has to have a good relationship with the research staff. The leader may have to learn the culture, likes and dislikes of each member of the research team to be able to get along with the research subordinates. In turn, the subordinates have to learn to get along with the other members of the research team (McShane 2003).
The effective manager leads an enthusiastic subordinate force to consistently achieve high production and quality output. The output often surpasses established benchmarks. For example, the employee who is often reprimanded when uncalled for may be discouraged to work in the company.
The employee who is given a very high unachievable benchmark may prefer to exit the organization and look for greener pastures (less stringent) to work for. The manager will create a work situation where the subordinates will be eager to accomplish each task assigned. In addition, the successful organizations manager can maximize the abilities and talents of each member of the organizational workforce to accomplish organizational goals and objectives (McShane 2003).
The manager will use organizational theories to synergize the organizational team members. The manager will use the theories to make each team member complement each other to increase production and marketing outputs.
This can be done by ensuring that each member is selected based on ones capability and personality in terms of helping the other team members accomplish the organizations tasks and goals. The company would not want to hire a workplace bully for he or she would surely disrupt the profitable harmony within the organization (Hollenbeck 2009).
The managers will use the organizational behavior theories to maximize the ability of the labor force to achiever revenue targets. To accomplish this, the employees will have to be trained to prioritize organizational goals over personal goals. In addition, the employees must learn the organizations mission and vision by heart.
Next, the employees should be given a list of instructions or tasks to be complied within their assigned time period. The list may include each employees job responsibilities. The list may also include the companys policies, procedures, and other work related information. The list will guide the employees in their quest to accomplish organizational goals and objectives (Hollenbeck 2009).
In terms of management functions, management must learn to plan, organize, lead, and control the subordinates to ensure organizational success. The managers must explain each plan in a very cordial way to each employee; the employees will be more than eager to implement each step in the managers plan if the employees are made to feel important.
The manager must learn to use tact in organizing the people to perform each synergizing task in the accomplishment of organizational goals; a Chinese employee may feel more comfortable working beside another Chinese employee because they have the same cultural background. Likewise, the Korean manager will feel at ease organizing a team of Korean subordinates because they speak the same language and grew up with the same cultures.
In addition, a female employee would feel comfortable working beside another female employee. However, there are exceptions to the general rules on organizational behavior. The Japanese manager may feel comfortable leading Japanese subordinates within an organization because they have the same work ideologies. Further, the Canadian manager may feel comfortable controlling Canadian subordinates (Kreitner 2006).
In addition, organizational behavior theories teach managers to be result oriented. The same theories will create opportunities for each individual and group to make high level performance outcomes in all job responsibilities in an enthusiastic manger. To accomplish this, the managers mastery of organizational behavior theory will aid the manager to ensure that each subordinate is satisfied with each assigned task and gets an important role in the accomplishment of group or department goals.
The manager will learn to assign the most effective person to accomplish a job. The manager will hire people who have the minimum academic qualifications to finish an assigned task; the engineer can be hired to design a grocery store. In turn, the managers will use the organizational behavior theories to ensure that each subordinate will prioritize organizational commitment (Kreitner 2006)..
Further, learning organizational behavior theories will teach the managers inculcate ethical standards in each subordinate. Ethical standards include doing what is right in each situation. For example, a person will learn that it unethical to bribe the supervisor to give a high production performance grade. Likewise, it would be unethical to declare that one is present during days when one is absent. In addition, the employee may reduce the quantity produced because one has already reached the daily quota or benchmark.
This normally occurs when the benchmark is set at an easy level. Consequently, the manager must increase the benchmark to a more realistic level. Each manager must be able to oversee the organization as a whole and to resolve any obstacles to accomplishment of the organizational goals and objectives by encouraging the employees to give their best in each job responsibility (Hartman 2001).
Thus, the managers will have to master organizational behavior theories in order to adapt to any unexpected predicament within the organization. The manager will have to know how to persuade the lackluster employees to improve their performance. The manager must know how to handle the work bully. The manager will know how to handle the complaining employee. The manager will have to know how to encourage the lazy workers to increase their work output (Hartman 2001).
In terms of outside communication, the managers and employees will need organizational behavior theories to make the most out of each outside contact. The marketing department representative will have to learn how to get along with the production department staff. The marketing department cannot sell the goods if the production department staff will not produce the goods; the marketing department must have a good relationship with the production department.
The managers will have to adapt the organizational behavior theories to each complex, high intensity organizational environment. The manager must use the theories to effectively tackle each subordinates queries or complaints in terms of long hours of work, intensity or complexity of the assigned tasks, and job interruptions that will reduce each employees work output (Griffin 2009).
The manager will use the organizational theories to fill a variety of organizational tasks. The tasks focus on interpersonal activities; the activities include getting to know the subordinates with the aim of getting their loyalty in each job activity. The tasks will include informational transfer. The manager will have to use tact in sending instructions or correspondences to each subordinate; some employees may be hurt by one erroneous word that does not take the employees culture into consideration (Griffin 2009).
The manager will have to use the organizational behavior theories to achieve preset benchmarks. The manager will need to use technical terms to communicate the organizations goals to the subordinates. For example, the nurse supervisor can easily communicate nursing terminologies like blood pressure, resuscitation, vital signs, diabetes, migraine and the like.
The statistician manager can easily communicate with a statistics employee when they discuss the mean, median, mode, or analysis of variance when analyzing statistical data. The soldier can use military terminologies to communicate with fellow soldiers in the field (Shermerhorn 2010).
Briefly, the study of organizational behavior theories in practice is a complex issue. The theories will smooth the progress of the managers and other persons within the organization to have a better understanding of the employees diverse cultures, temperaments, likes, and dislikes. The theories will aid the manager or leader to effortlessly persuade their subordinates to comply with the superiors instructions.
The theories will equip the organizational behavior learner to be adept at all organizational environments such as dynamic, complex, shifting, and challenging work environments. The theories will enhance transfer of information within the organization. Organizational behavior theories will aid the organizations manager convince the subordinates to comply their assigned tasks. The managers will implement the organizational behavior theories maximize the labor force to generate profits.
In terms of management functions, management must plan, organize, lead, and control the subordinates to ensure organizational success. Further, learning organizational behavior theories will train the managers to inculcate ethical standards in each subordinate. Indeed, understanding organizational behavior and the theories in practice support in the accomplishment of organizational goals.
References
Griffin, R., 2009. Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations. New York: Cengage Press.
The LSI is used as a tool to strengthen the behavioral and thinking styles of the individual so that he/she can come out with their optimum performance and prove more effective. The LSI measures self image of 12 different thinking styles categorized into three dimensions: Constructive styles; passive/ defensive styles and aggressive/ defensive styles. My LSI chart can be interpreted as follows;
Primary and Backup Thinking Styles
Primary thinking style is the one which drives the basic functioning styles of an individual while the backup thinking style provides valuable support. As per the LSI illustration I am the strongest in the category of passive/ defensive styles, followed by aggressive defensive styles. The traits in the passive/ defensive style are; Avoidance, Dependent, Conventional and Approval. Avoidance and Conventional have been indicated as the highest scores, indicating that I appear to be inclined more towards using the conventional methods in the first attempt and avoid being innovative without exhausting the conventional methods.
The dependent and approval styles closely follow the other scores in this category. Dependent scale measures the extent to which an individual feels that he/she has little control over his/her life and seek security and self protection from others around. The relatively higher scores of Dependent and Approval styles indicate that I feel more comfortable to work with the active support and guidance of my mentors and well-wishers.
Limiting Style
The Avoidance style, appears to be a limiting factor which has been prohibiting me from taking initiatives and in turn resulting in making me more conventional in approach. Though, being conventional is not a bad idea, as it effectively means following the existing rules and regulations, but in todays highly competitive era dictated by globalization such an approach is often termed as, blending in for remaining low profile. Such an approach often results in reducing creativity and the level of achievement. Therefore it will be my endeavor to improvise on this trait.
Impact on Management Style
Management in general implies managing the show with the help of available resources. The resources include human resources as well as material resources. Management therefore involves a coordinated approach taking care of all the factors affecting the business operations. Companies and organizations are made for people and by the people, and obviously their effectiveness depends on the behavior and performance of the people running these companies. It is therefore quite logical to say that Human Resource Management is a very crucial and an integral part of any organization. Five functions of management as stated in our textbook: planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Some of my personal styles which affect my style of management are;
Humanistic encouraging
My percentile score on this count indicate that there are only 44 percent of people who have scored below 29. That is one area which requires to be looked into because, motivating the people around forms a key component for management and to motivate a leader has to encourage the people to innovative and improvise. Such an approach helps in organizing the workforce.
Competitive
This indicates to the extent an individual is able to compete and compare oneself with others. This style is generally accepted as a measure of success, but to be highly competitive can often result in the habit of being preoccupied with winning which might result in limiting the levels of productivity or is stated to affect the quality. Therefore, being competitive to some extent is good but it needs to be seen that it doesnt acquire the form of a rivalry.
Conventional
While adhering to existing rules and guidelines is indeed good for a manager, it is equally true that this doesnt come in the way of encouraging the innovative approaches, depending upon the circumstances. Unconventional approach often helps in the process of planning and managing the human resources.
Perfectionistic
Being a perfectionist often helps in maintaining the quality standards in the organization. Therefore such an approach helps in the task of controlling and pushing others as well for making efforts to this end. My percentile score puts me above the 69 percent people and I need to turn this as my strength.
Genesis of Personal Styles
Conclusion and Reflection
The LSI circumplex indicates the nature of an individual in terms of variety of styles. While I am very much afflitiative in nature i.e. I am more in favor of forming sustaining and satisfying relationships, theres something which requires adaptation according to the times. The competitive times requires facing the challenges quite boldly and encouraging the team members to come out with their best, which often calls for some innovative unconventional yet legal ways and means to get the task done. Therefore I feel that I need to be more active in my approach instead of being unduly defensive to script a success story.
The case study is about Organizational Behavior (OB), and how it affects productivity and work ethics. OB is highlighted in the case study through different characters including, Amie Lee, Hahn Chen, and Abdul Balli. Abdul, who is a manager, promotes Amie based on her excellent interaction with both employees and clients. However, Hahn disagrees with the promotion stating that Amie will not add any value to the position as she lacks technical expertise. Due to this, Hahn would like a transfer. It should be noted that both Amie and Hahn can be described as ideal employees with much knowledge in their fields.
What Areas of OB Does It Cover?
Organizational Behavior has several essential elements. One such element that is brought out through the case study is that of leadership (Tinti, Venelli-Costa, Martins-Vieira & Cappellozza, 2017). It can be argued that Abdul, who is the manager, has strong leadership skills. First, he weighs the merits and demerits of promoting Amie Lee. He acknowledges that she has excellent customer relations, and ties this value to the organizations strategy. Additionally, Abdul also tries to resolve the complaint against Amie by bringing together all affected parties. He acknowledges that both sides have valid reasons for their actions and opinions.
The case study also covers the concept of company structure. Even though Abdul recognizes the benefit of promoting Amie, Hahn does not. Additionally, Hahn appears to be unsure of Amies job description. For instance, Hahn believes that Amie should only deal with customers as a salesperson, but should not be promoted to supervisor as that position requires someone with a background in technology and innovation. In line with the stated, one can also argue that the technical person still needs non-technical expertise to run the department smoothly.
The case study also covers the concept of culture. Organizational culture partly involves how employees treat and view each other (Moonjoo, 2017). One of the oldest employees in the company has a negative attitude towards the colleague. According to Hahn, there is no way Amie can supervise him as she lacks the technical expertise to understand his work. Additionally, from Hahns behavior, one can denote a feeling of superiority. He, thus, belittles Amie due to her non-technical background.
What Are Some of the Theories That Are Covered in This Case? How Would You Apply Them?
Two OB theories can be applied in the case study provided. The first, the System Model, supports the integration of different views, skills, and opinions in a work setting. Abdul applies this OB theory in his leadership style. He not only engages technical experts, such as Hahn but also involves non-technical experts, such as Amie. The second theory that can be applied to the case study is the Collegial Model. The Collegial Model appreciates the need for consensus in business. Using this theory, Abdul can resolve the problem by sharing powers between Hahn and Amie. In turn, Hahn would also be promoted to a supervisor. The division of power would then be based on expertise, where Hahn can supervise technical issues while Amie can manage the non-technical aspects.
Could This Problem Have Been Avoided by Abdul? How?
Yes, Abdul could have avoided the problem. It can be argued that indeed, Hahn has reason to question the ability of Amie to supervise technical matters, as she does not understand them. Thus, it would have been more appropriate for Abdul to create two positions for the technical and non-technical supervisor. The two would then work together for the benefit of the whole organization.
What is Your Solution to This Problem?
The current problem is that Hahn refuses to work under Amie. To resolve the stated problem, Abdul should consider creating a second position. It should be noted that Hahn does not have an issue with being supervised. His primary concern is being managed by a non-technical person. Thus, Abdul can hire anyone else to fill in the position of technical supervisor if he feels Hahn is not well suited for the job.
What Needs to Be Done to Get The Department Running Smoothly Again?
To get the department running smoothly again, the manager has to call another meeting with both Amie and Hahn. Abdul then has to acknowledge the potential of both employees and further explain the need to create a second position. Abdul should be clear that both positions have to work together to ensure the seamless functioning of the department. Abdul should then work with the Human Resource department to come up with comprehensive job descriptions for both positions.
How Will You Prevent This Problem From Occurring Again in the Company?
To prevent such incidents in the future, I would liaise with the Human Resource department before doing any promotions. A keen review of the job description will allow the manager to pick the best candidate for any position. Additionally, if the budget allows, one can recommend the creation of two positions to cater for both the technical and non-technical aspects.
References
Moonjoo, K. (2017). Effects of team diversity, transformational leadership, and perceived organizational support on team-learning behavior. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 45(8), 1255-1270.
Tinti, J. A., Venelli-Costa, L., Martins-Vieira, A., & Cappellozza, A. (2017). The impact of human resources policies and practices on organizational citizenship behaviors. Brazilian Business Review, 14(6), 636-653.
Today, workplace aggression and violence have become a source of growing concern and one of the main topics of the organizational behavior theory and practices of human resource management. According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor (2016), the rate of work-related homicides increased in 2015 by 2%. Workplace violence encompasses psychological or physically aggressive behaviors that cause harm to personnel or an organization as a whole and frequently result in serious and fatal injuries (Taylor & Kluemper, 2012; Dillon, 2013; De Puy et al., 2015). Therefore, organizations should implement workplace violence prevention programs in order to provide their personnel with a safe working environment.
The primary question of a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) should be designed to clarify if the CEO of Company XYZ has a license to carry a concealed gun. Furthermore, while counseling Betty Smith, the Director of HR, and helping her analyze the situation, the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) should ascertain whether there are potential predictors of violent behavior within the organization as follows:
Previous violence victimization (De Puy et al., 2015, p. 218);
Incidents of verbal threats and harassment (Dillon, 2013);
Employees addiction to aggression;
Workplace incivility (Taylor & Kluemper, 2012, p. 316);
Symptoms of psychological distress in employees (De Puy et al., 2015).
Also, the Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) should ask questions to reveal if there is any source of violence in the company, including criminal, customer or client, co-worker, and domestic op personal violence (Dillon, 2013, p. 16). The Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) should ask Betty Smith about organizational stressors, such as adverse work conditions, inadequate wages, inordinately bureaucratic styles of management, lack of autonomy, strict hierarchy, irrelevant supervision, and interpersonal conflicts. What is more, it is essential to clarify if other employees bring guns concealed.
The right to possess a firearm is one of the civil liberties of Americans; it is protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Today, residents of the forty states can easily obtain a permit to conceal a gun. Due to the concealed carry permit and the Second Amendment, ordinary citizens frequently carry firearms for self-defense in public (Lindgren, 2014; McGinty, Wolfson, Sell, & Webster, 2016). Undoubtedly, people feel calmer and more confident, having a weapon. They know that they can protect themselves, their loved ones, and their property at any time. In addition, fearing rebuff, perpetrators try to avoid conflicts with armed citizens. However, everyone who intends to carry a gun concealed at work should take into consideration the organizational and cultural environment. If the CEO of Company XYZ brings his gun to work, the relationships between the senior managers and employees will not improve. Instead, this idea is associated with increased antagonism, organizational stressors, and disrupted interactions within the organization. In order to prevent the escalation of potential downsizing-related conflicts into armed violence, the CEO and HR Director of Company XYZ should re-evaluate their managerial practices and leadership style.
The decision on involving covert armed employees should be made in conformity with national regulations, specific state gun laws, and underlying principles of organizational culture. In case a company decides to allow its employees to carry concealed weapons while at work, those should be screened for all manifestations of aggression at the workplace and in the family and informal relationships. Also, HR managers should check records kept by licensed firearm dealers (Gabor, 2016). Background checks are obligatory procedures designed to identify individuals prohibited by federal or state law from purchasing or possessing firearms (Lindgren, 2014; McGinty et al., 2016, p. 4). Experts in psychology should examine such candidates to reveal if they are prone to aggression. In 2015, work-related shootings increased by 15% in comparison with the rates in 2014. What is more, this organizational decision will entail additional expenditures on gun training classes for covert armed employees. However, being purposefully trained, armed security guards ensure a higher security level.
Nevertheless, the practice of having an unarmed security guard sitting at the front desk cannot be identified as a relevant security measure. A guard should monitor the working environment safety and examine all persons entering the premises during working hours. Although security guards are physically trained and prepared to fend off troublemakers, they appear to be defenseless while countering an aggressive gunman. Therefore, concluding a contract with a protection agency, an organization should specify requirements for security guards armament.
Over the last 30 years, many state laws have expanded the rights of gun owners (Gabor, 2016, p. 4). For instance, Indiana, Vermont, and some other states prohibit employers from telling their workers that they are not allowed to have firearms in their cars. In Alaska and Vermont, the concealed carry of guns is allowed without a permit. While making a decision on the CEOs right to keep a gun at work, the Director of HR should consider the law related to carrying a concealed weapon, Reasonable May Issue, and Shall-Issue adopted in each particular state. In addition to compliance with state and national regulations, in order to obtain a concealed carry permit, an individual should be mentally healthy and correspond to specific training requirements, such as courses developed by the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Summing up, the expansion of laws that permit concealed gun carrying has not reduced mass shooting rates (Gabor, 2016, p. 75). The elimination of social and economic issues that contribute to increasing violence and tensions in society will be more efficient in ensuring safety. Thus, workplace violence prevention requires consolidated efforts of the government, public, and businesses.
References
De Puy, J., Romain-Glassey, N., Gut, M., Pascal, W., Mangin, P., & Danuser, B. (2015). Clinically assessed consequences of workplace physical violence. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health, 88, 213224.
Dillon, B. L. (2013). Workplace violence: Impact, causes, and prevention. Work, 42(1), 15-20.
Gabor, T. (2016). Confronting gun violence in America. Lake Worth, FL: Springer.
Lindgren, J. (2014). Foreword: The past and future of guns. The Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 104(4), 705-716.
McGinty, E. E., Wolfson, J. A., Sell, T. K., & Webster, D. W. (2016). Common sense or gun control? Political communication and news media framing of firearm sale background checks after Newtown. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 41(1), 3-40.
Taylor, S. G., & Kluemper, D. H. (2012). Linking perceptions of role stress and incivility to workplace aggression: The moderating role of personality. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 17(3), 316-329.
The fatal accident occurred on January 28, 2008, 73 seconds after the mission began and was caused by a technical failure (Vaughan, 1990). The O-rings sealing failed because of the prevailing cold conditions and as a result, there was a gas leak that produced flames that in turn reached the highly combustible Hydrogen fuel tank leading to an explosion.
Causes
According to Perrow (1984) cited in Vaughan, it was expected that the technical system should fail. In fact, they were bound to fail sooner or later by design. Turner (1978) on the other hand believed that the failure of the technical system was caused by the accumulation of small red flag events that had been overlooked over time. The O-ring problem for instance had been known since 1970 since more than half of the missions had experienced the problem. The problem was well known that it was one possible factor that could cause an accident.
Though the immediate cause of failure was identified as technical, further analysis has shown that it was an organizational technical failure; that is failure within the organization to identify, measure and correct problems due to the organization structure leading to technical failure. Thus, the O-ring failures that led to the space shuttle disaster were caused by the following organizational failure
The problem was caused by poor communication, inadequate information handling, faulty decision making, failure to comply with regulations and confusion of priorities given to cost and time deadline over safety.
Dependent regulatory bodies also depended more on NASA yet they were supposed to regulate it. This is due to its size complexity and sensitivity to the nature of projects it was carrying out.
Recommendations
A stronger oversight body is needed: The ASAP should be strengthened to oversee the safety standards are met since the government provides funding for the program. If safety standards are not met they should be able to withdraw funding. Thus, the regulator must be able to threaten and impose meaningful sanctions
Staffing and Resources for the regulatory bodies: The three bodies that were concerned with regulating NASA were understaffed and poorly resourced. There is a need to employ more staff to be able to adequately monitor NASAs work. SRQ&A had a staff of 500 compared to the 22,000 staff of NASA (Vaughan, 1990). The SSCCP had only twenty non-full-time staff that were needed to work full time.
Top management position for Quality and Regulatory body: The need for the position of the quality regulator to be given a more senior position to advise the administration and to guide organization policy and strategy. There is also a need for a fully-fledged department with enough staff to monitor the work of NASA and its contractors. This will make it easier to access vital information easily and to take action against them which is a limitation that external regulators could not overcome.
Reducing informational dependency by ensuring that both the regulator and regulated understand that they have a common and mutual destiny. The government relied on NASA to fulfill its goal of showing US supremacy in international competition for scientific advances and military supremacy.
NASA on the other hand depends on the government for funding needed for continued operations. NASA needs to appreciate that its output is the input for regulators and must therefore provide all information.
Concerns about the danger of the O-ring had been raised and a call to cancel the shuttle launch was made, this was canceled by a middle-level supervisor. Thus, there is a need for a clear mechanism in which any danger detected is escalated to top management who are the only ones with the authority to allow for the launch under such circumstances after extensive consultation with all quality stakeholders i.e. contractors internal and external regulators and government.
More cross-functional teams should be involved in project developments evaluation and reporting: Future development should involve parties from the government, contractors, NASA, internal and external regulators. This ensures that the information they have access to is equally accessible among all teams and thereby enhances problem-solving exercises. Finally, there should be a clear mechanism for reporting which should be established for identifying and informing all parties on potential problems.
References
Vaughan, D. 1990. Autonomy, Interdependence, and Social Control: NASA and the Space Shuttle Challenger. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(2): pp 225-257.
Turner, B.1976. The Organizational and Interorganizational development of Disaster. New York: Prentice Hall.
Types of Culture and Power as a Property Viewpoint:
Power culture
Role culture
Task culture
Person culture
Cultural Awareness and Organizational Psychology
Culture and context are essential aspects of successful conversation;
Cultural awareness assists in breaking down cultural barriers;
The specialty of industrial and organizational psychology is characterized by organizational behavior and the business;
The focus of the specialty is on extracting personal, team, and organizational performance principles.
Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions Theory
Hofstede identified six categories that define culture:
Power Distance Index.
Collectivism vs. Individualism.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index.
Femininity vs. Masculinity.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Orientation.
Restraint vs. Indulgence.
The Impact of Globalization on Organizational Culture
Organizations today work in a dynamic climate that is directly impacted by globalization;
Ideals that serve as the cornerstone for business growth and development.
Main Principles of Network and System Theory
A system is described as an ordered collection of components that are connected in some way;
At all levels, feedback is critical to system functioning
Organizational Politics and Organizational Change
Organizational politics is a broad term that refers to various activities involving the use of influence tactics;
Politically savvy individuals outperform their politically illiterate peers;
Organizational changes are those that have a significant influence on global business.
Team Types
Departmental teams;
Problem-solving teams;
Virtual teams;
Cross-functional teams;
Self-managed teams.
Effective VS Ineffective Teams
Effective:
Independence is used constructively to assist the group in achieving a goal that would otherwise be unachievable;
The groups members understand and embrace the job of achieving the groups purpose;
Ineffective:
A few people tend to control the conversation;
The organization is notorious for avoiding any discussion of its upkeep.
Belbins Typology
Belbin defined nine different team roles and divided them into three categories:
action-oriented;
people-oriented;
thought-oriented.
Soft and Hard Communication, Cooperation and Competition
The parties goals may be adversely interdependent;
Collaboration and contact that is more successful, as well as open and friendly dispositions.
Microsoft Example
Companies must grant this authority while still protecting key IT assets;
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration tool for teams that helps them stay focused.
References List
Bednor, R., & Ljudvigovo, I. (2020). Belbin team roles in a start-up team. In SHS Web of Conferences, EDP Sciences. vol. 83, p. 1-8.
Dihl, L., Testa, E. S., Knob, P., da Silva, G. L., Favaretto, R. M., de Alcantara, M. F., & Musse, S. R. (2017). Generating cultural characters based on Hofstede dimensions, 2017 IEEE Virtual Humans and Crowds for Immersive Environments (VHCIE). IEEE. pp. 1-5.
Gui, R. (2019). Study of cross-cultural awareness in business interpretation. In 2018 international symposium on social science and management innovation (SSMI 2018), Atlantis Press. pp. 459-462.
Knippenberg, D. V. (2018). Leadership and identity. In J. Antonakis & D. V. Day (Eds.), The nature of leadership, Sage Publications, Inc. pp. 300326.
Larjovuori, R. L., Bordi, L., Makiniemi, J. P., & Heikkila-Tammi, K. (2016). The role of leadership and employee well-being in organizational digitalization, Tiziana Russo-Spenaand Cristina Mele, 1145.
Landells, E. M., & Albrecht, S. L. (2017). The positives and negatives of organizational politics: A qualitative study. Journal of business and psychology, 32(1), 41-58.
Nikolova, L. V., Rodionov, D. G., & Afanasyeva, N. V. (2017). Impact of globalization on innovation project risks estimation, European Research Studies Journal, 20(2B), pp. 396-410.
AehiKralak, S. (2020). The impact of organizational culture on business enterprises in BiH, Journal of Ekonomi, 2(1), pp. 1-4.
Tasgit, Y. E., ^enterk, F. K., & Ergen, E. (2017). Corporate culture and business strategy: Which strategies can be applied more easily in which culture?, International Journal of Business and Social Science, 8(6), pp. 80-91.
Welzer, T., Druhovec, M., Eberwimmer, M., Gaisch, M., Fereder, R., & Costa, Y. (2017). Cultural awareness in research and teaching. In Proceedings Cross-Cultural Business Conference 2017, Shaker Verlag. pp. 289-296.
The cause of actions is greatly influenced by the decision made, thus determining the success or failure of the business. The CEO is responsible for the coordination and overall functioning of an organization and must ensure an effective plan is implemented to handle changes and ensure stakeholders interests are enhanced. The choice of organizational structure and design will give me the strategic approach to address the following key area and respond with effective decision actions resulting in a reduction of the manufacturing cost, reduced staff numbers, and smooth employee integration.
Employee Relationships and Integration
Welcoming new employees and ensuring that they fit well into the organizational structure while establishing harmonious relationships will require choosing the best structure and design. I will prefer to implement an organic structure with a decentralized design to create an adaptive and pliable structure and a design that promotes employee involvement and participation (Roh & Lao, 2013). The above decision-making action smoothens the employee integration process with minimal disruptions as the powers are decentralized, and bottom leadership can manage the changes. Scrapping off the existing structure will lay off some staff.
Technological Changes
Decision-making on how to deal and cope up with the technological changes will require a cause of action that will mold the internal structure and design to deal with the external forces. I will employ the knowledge of contingency theory during the implementation of the organizational structure and design. According to Roh and Lao (2013), a structure and design that is adjustable and adaptable fosters creativity and innovation, increases competitive advantage and viability. The secret is to know the right time to actualize the plans or change plans depending on my situation.
Globalization
McShane and von Glinow (2018), referred to globalization as the connectivity of the people internally and externally in the organization through culture, economy, and socially. The interaction commonly concerned foreign countries, and my decision as a CEO will focus on managing peoples relationships and diversifying to accommodate every challenge and opportunity associated with globalization. A contingency plan comes in handy to mitigate unforeseen challenges as the structure and design are made to adjust and adapt accordingly. Going global requires flexibility to accommodate global problems like language barriers, social-cultural issues, and technology integration.
Retention of Employee Talent
Managing humans is very difficult since you are not dealing with machines that take orders and obey. To achieve good financial performance, in the long run, my focus in this area is to promote employee participation and involvement through doing some checks and balances on the structure and design of my organization. Timely grievances handling will lower employee turnover rate and cut hiring costs of replacement employees. The organic structure and decentralized design will ensure every employee talent is exploited as most decisions within their expertise areas are entirely theirs to make.
Conclusion
Leadership is the direction of the organization. Employees look up to their leader to provide solutions to the problems bedeviling their workstation. It takes a good plan to deal with dynamic challenges and ensure the stakeholders best interests are served. Understanding your organizations internal and external environment is essential to make the best choice of the available cause of action. It is wise to be dynamic and embrace change to balance organizational structure and design to result in the best decision-making action. Structure shapes the culture; thus, the design of the structure is important.
References
McShane, S. L., and Von GILNOW, M. A. (2018). Organizational behavior. Emerging knowledge, global reality (8 th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Roh, B. E., & Lao, T. M. (2013). The Positive Role of Organizational Leaders During Mergers and Acquisitions. Leadership & Organizational Management Journal, 2013(2).
I undertook the voluntary program at the JJs Development Center, a non-profit organization that helps learn everything about organizational behavior. JJs Development Center is a childs care center and a Child Care Assistance in Isolation (CCAIR) emergency in Pearl, Mississippi. The center holds 114 children who range from infant to 12-year-old kids. The center provides infant care, full-day, and subsidiary children services from the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The organization was established in 1999 and has annual average earnings of $500,000 with seven staff members ( JJs Development Center | Pearl MS CCAIR Emergency, 2022). The organizations mission is to provide quality education and childcare that enhances long-term benefits. My role in the organization was as a subsidiary teacher responsible for assisting the daycare teacher in her duties. The job included designing and creating activities to entertain the children, help their intellectual development, and encourage positive interactions in the workplace. In addition, the role required monitoring the children, ensuring they were safe, overseeing their interactions, designing craft projects, and guaranteeing that they appropriately behaved. During that period, I mostly integrated with children of age 4 to 7.
Organizational Behavior Concepts
Job Design and Performance
JJs Development Center provides transparent information about their job design and performance description. Job design refers to arranging duties, tasks, and responsibilities in a work unit. It is essential as it is a way to organize the methods, relationships, and contexts of work to achieve job satisfaction (Jang et al., 2018). It impacts the firms performance by managing people based on their skills, task, and authority. The main aspects that can explain how job design and performance are illustrated at JJs Development Center are class concepts job rotation, job enlargement, how people perceive their jobs, and quality management.
The job design of JJs Development Center used job enlargement in their design. It is the extension, elaboration, broadening, and augmentation of the work. It combines the jobs connected to an individual with more functions and duties aligned with the organizations goals (Alias et al., 2018). The benefit of such a notion is that it motivates the individual to handle more responsibilities. In addition, it makes employees develop their career through experience and acquiring opportunities which also act as motivation (Ivancevich, Konopaske & Matteson, 2018). However, the negative impacts outweigh the positive as the employees feel like they cannot handle more duties and responsibilities than they are supposed to undertake. As a result, they neglect some duties showing lousy performance results. Job enlargement is a job design visible at the JJs Development Center.
The job design is also seen within the employees duties. The organization had only seven employees; two were in managerial positions, leaving five employees to handle more than 150 children ( JJs Development Center | Pearl MS CCAIR Emergency, 2022). Some classes had more children than the others, as they were divided according to their age. Giving one teacher per class enlarges their duties as they are supposed to carry many responsibilities at a time. For instance, they must design and create activities to entertain the children, help their intellectual development, encourage positive interactions. Moreover, they are to monitor the children, ensure that they are safe, design craft projects, and ensure that they are well behaved.
Managing a daycare class by one teacher negatively affected the tutors since they handled most of the pupils continuously. By the afternoon, they are exhausted, making it difficult for them to handle the children. It was evident as the environment was chaotic and noisy, the children were feral, and the teacher was exhausted from yelling. It was also difficult to monitor all children simultaneously, especially if the teacher explained a story as the class had about 30 children. For this reason, job enlargement is not suitable in a daycare organization.
In addition, job rotation was part of the organizational behavior in JJs Development Center, which is a concept of organizational behavior. It is when employees are transferred from one department to another. The process positively generates knowledge and awareness in order to develop their abilities and skills (Ivancevich, Konopaske & Matteson, 2018). Moreover, it helps alleviate the exhaustion and monotony that an employee might be experiencing, which increases their performance.
Another advantage of job rotation is intrinsic benefits as it initiates progress opportunities. At the JJs Development Center, the teachers rotated between classes every 3 hours such that the teacher in class A was transferred to class B every 3 hours. It had a positive impact, especially on reducing mental overload as children get bored if they get used to one tutor. It decreases their attention span as children are not capable of listening to one tutor for a prolonged period. The rotation ensured that the teachers had a new perspective in handling their classes, improving their production and efficiency. Also, job rotation allowed the teachers to teach another set of students, reduce the number of errors in their duties, and increase their job satisfaction. Hence, job rotation positively impacted JJs Development Center.
Moreover, JJs Development Center displayed self-managed teams in its organizational behavior. The employees form a group, and they carry out their tasks individually. It is a form of job enrichment that uses a depth approach. The functions and tasks that the tutors are supposed to carry out are brought together and then divided into individual work (Ivancevich, Konopaske & Matteson, 2018). The self-managed team is appropriate for the organization since activities are similar. The benefit of a self-managed team is that it results in the desired outcome even though they did not inform the supervisor. For instance, during the lunch break, the employees have more tasks as they supervise the kids as they eat monitor the children in the playground, and this is the only time the staffs have ample time to write down the childrens assignment. To solve this, the teachers have formed a self-managed team where some tutors monitor the children in the playground, others monitor those eating, and one handles their assignments. The approach is practical as it reduces workloads, increasing employee satisfaction and performance.
Furthermore, JJs Development Center illustrated organizational behavior that aligns with job performance outcomes. Job performance outcome refers to the results of an employees behavior. It is divided into intrinsic and extrinsic, behavioral, and objective outcomes (Ivancevich, Konopaske & Matteson, 2018). The intrinsic outcome is associated with activity with inherent satisfaction rather than separable consequences. It is mainly acquired through doing an activity for their benefit and does not involve another person. The extrinsic outcome is achieved by completing a task due to external forces correlated with the job, such as a reward (Ivancevich, Konopaske & Matteson, 2018). At JJs Development Center, the teachers reflected extrinsic and intrinsic outcomes.
For instance, during the numerical class, the teacher was motivated to deliver the knowledge to understand. The teacher would use various activities to perform this task, such as drawing using images that resemble numbers and creating a song that the children would easily remember. If a child recognized a number, one would see the teachers joy as the outcome is intrinsic. The teachers were also motivated to perform due to an extrinsic reward of a pay rise. Hence, they tried to perform the best by delivering quality work, which will lead to the enrolment of more children in the center hence a pay rise. Similarly, their performance was motivated by the objective outcome as their job duties reflected on the childrens skills, abilities, and knowledge. The teachers ensured that their performance was of good quality in the long run.
Motivation Theory
As a subsidiary teacher at JJs Development Center, the motivational theory aspect from the organizational behavior concept was evident. The motivational theory describes the forces that compel individuals or push them towards satisfactory basic needs and wants (Ivancevich, Konopaske & Matteson, 2018). The level of needs tends to determine the rewards that can satisfy an individual. The daycare mainly applied this as children were cooperative when they knew the tension that would acquire them from their rewards; hence a reward needs to be satisfying. Therefore, motivation can be associated with the internal force, the reward that energizes the action, and its direction. It can also be associated with a decision-making process to do the action; it is governed by involuntary choice where one can opt not to do the action as there is no reward to look forward to (Ahmad, Khan & Arshad, 2021). To explain the motivation on the voluntary experience in JJs Development Center, the expectancy theory, equity theory, Maslows need hierarchy, and the McClelland learning needs theory will be used.
JJs Development Center organizational behavior demonstrated motivation using the Herzberg Two Factor Theory. The Herzberg two-factor theory focuses on the source of motivations that results in the work performed. It is classified into satisfiers: the motivation factors, dissatisfaction, and hygiene factors (Konopaske et al., 2018). Hygiene factors help prevent dissatisfaction within the job environment, mainly extrinsic conditions. Employees in JJs Development Center demonstrated the hygiene factor through several ways, such as creating opportunities for their growth as job enlargements. They also ensured they acquired recognition from their colleagues as they practiced self-managed teams that allowed them to achieve good performance and ensured that they enjoyed the work itself by teaching using creative means.
The other aspect of the Herzberg factory theory is the motivators which are the factors that contribute to satisfaction from the job itself. The JJs Development Center ensured that the employees had good interpersonal status with their colleagues by ensuring they interacted and created a great atmosphere. In addition, less supervision shows trust as they plan activities independently. The working sessions are a motivator as the management provides with assistive learning devices and support that they would require to ensure that their roles and duties are achieved.
Maslows hierarchy of needs was the leading organizational behavior concept of motivation evident within the JJs Development Center. The Maslow Hierarchy of needs believes that man is inherently good and contains an inner drive that constantly grows. It classifies human motives into five categories of phycology needs: water, food, and shelter; safety should protect one from danger, uncertainty, and deprivation. The social needs that give and receive affection are feelings of belongingness and love, the self-actualization need, and the ego need for prestige, status, and recognition (Marczak & Yawson, 2021). Working with children in the daycare, the childrens behaviors were closely related to this hierarchy of needs, especially on theory attitude. For instance, towards the tea break, the children were more attentive in the creative design classes because they were looking towards satisfying their psychological needs as misbehavior would attribute the teacher to hold them a bit longer, even if it is a minute.
Another instance that this was portrayed is during the break itself, and the teacher was advocating for the children to share their snacks. During this period, the children sharing objects in the art class were delighted. They received love and friendship from those they interacted with during the art class. It shows that their social needs were met, encouraging the other children to interact more during the class project. The kids who did not have friends during the break will be motivated to participate more in the class and share more to acquire the approval of social needs. Hence, the hierarchy of needs by Maslow was well portrayed within JJs Development Center.
The Maslow Hierarchy was also demonstrated in the organizations behavior differently. The tutors and leaders ensured that the children within the daycare felt a sense of safety which was practiced through activity routines and predictability (Kovach, 2018). Every child was subjected to a specific routine during the classroom. For instance, the tutor began by greetings in the morning, followed by citing choruses and dancing before beginning learning activities. The routine allowed the children to have a predictable daily schedule that allowed them to anticipate and expect order during the learning session, providing a sense of control and safety.
In addition, the tutors fostered an environment that allowed healthy levels of risk-taking through the children having healthy discussions where they would openly share their thoughts on a subject, ask questions and provide solutions. It allowed them to eliminate the fear of judgment from their peers and cultivate a trust-based relationship with the tutor. In addition, the tutor provided with the feeling of self-esteem, love, and belongingness. The tutors and leaders ensured that each student was regarded differently and treated individually, such as appreciating their character traits.
Furthermore, the McClelland learning needs theory was illustrated at JJs Development Center as an organizational behavior concept for motivation. It proposes that a person, when in vital needs, impacts the motivation of a person to undertake activities that lead to the satisfaction of need. The arch to be motivated is the desire to perform and achieve, desire for power, and need for affiliation (Kovach, 2018). The theory illustrates that needs are acquired and learned through coping with ones environment. Since these needs are learned, the actions are of higher frequency to achieve it, hence the motivation. The children highly demonstrated the McClelland learning need during the class activities. The teacher recognized the child who was obediently following the instructions and those who could acquire the studys outcome during the class. By recognizing them, it illustrated that they were achievers, which led the children to be more involved as they desired to be recognized. They were also trying to be achievers by participating in class to solve the provided problem.
Additionally, JJs Development Center demonstrated the equity theory motivation in the organization behavior concept. The equity theory explains more on how satisfaction is acquired than the cause of motivation. Under this theory, an individual weighs out their input against what they receive, mostly the outcome or reward, as more rewards impact a higher satisfaction (Tarifin, 2018). It is mainly impacted by the outcome, input, comparison, and person. During the volunteer, children who think they were treated fairly, or when their input was treated similarly to others, found it acceptable. For instance, there was a question session of identifying shapes, and the children with answers would raise their hands.
I found that most of the children would raise their hands as the teacher gave them equal opportunity to answer, and once they got it correct, they would get rewarded through the teacher singing them a song and clapping for them as a sign of cheering. If this gesture failed to happen to every answer, the children would think that some are getting better recognition and rewards. It would cause a similar reaction to them where the participation and engagement rates would lower. The dissatisfaction would lead the children to be demotivated and result in attrition and negative impact as they compare the input to output and how their peers are treated.
Christian Worldview Perspective on Organization Behavior
From a biblical perceptive, JJs Development Centers organizational behavior in motivation was a bit out of context. According to JJs Development Center organizational behavior, it has demonstrated that needs are either learned, expressed, or for utilization. When an individuals needs are expressed through aesthetic or social ego, they behave to fulfill their desire. That means one will meet their need without analyzing the approach one uses. For instance, it does not consider if the approach might emotionally or psychologically hurt another as long as the desire is fulfilled. Despite the knowledge that needs can never be fully satisfied (McCleskey & Ruddell, 2020). It suppresses the Christian belief that they must live in the world without acquiring secular beliefs or desiring material gains. For instance, the self-actualization concept that motivates employees in the Maslow hierarchy of needs is against Christian belief (McCleskey & Ruddell, 2020). Romans 12: 3 states that individuals should not think of themselves higher than they ought but think soberly. It defeats the purpose of motivation on organizational behavior, as one arch is to be motivated for performance and achievement, desire for power, and need for affiliation.
In addition, they are motivated by worldly needs such as food, shelter, and water, which is a different view. The bible in Philippians 4:11-19 states that God will supply every need. By doing this, the employees try and create their satisfaction without Christ as they want to be better on their own (McCleskey & Ruddell, 2020). Moreover, Christianity seeks growth through the work of the Holy Spirit. It contrasts with how the employees have been trying to grow by using a motivation to enhance performance.
Additionally, employees trying to impress the management through performances in the self-managed teams tend to hide their weaknesses and shortcomings. It is often acquired dishonestly, and it binds them to what others might think of them, which results in flattery and manipulation to ensure good relationship management (McCleskey & Ruddell, 2020). For instance, one might involve manipulating to acquire the easier task of writing assignments rather than monitoring the kids in the playground. This type of behavior prevents one from living the life that God has called upon us to live. Such behavior is also dangerous to an organization as it is associated with pride, impression, and fear, which affects its performance in the long run (McCleskey & Ruddell, 2020). The behavior is against 1st Corinthians 93:19-23 that states one needs to build bridges of commonality with others which is all good without giving up Christian standards. Also, Christians believe that they should trust God and not other people. Initiating good performance and creating a job design such as job enlargement with the aim of career advancement defeats the Christian belief.
Moreover, employees using self-managed teams beat the Christian perceptive of the authority. In a biblical worldview, power is different from authority; power speaks on ability while authority is for permission. According to Romans 13, authority comes from God, who has ordained the authority to leaders. In our case, the person ordained is the management team who gives out responsibilities. Although, the self-managed team divides the job and handles what the manager has allocated. By disregarding the managers duties, they rebel against Gods law.
However, JJs Development Center behavior organization aligned with the biblical perceptive regarding job performance. Based on the employees performance, they mainly worked to acquire satisfaction, objective, intrinsic, and extrinsic outcome. It means that the employees are more than money-oriented as they had other reasons such as seeing the children learn skills and be knowledgeable. According to the Christianity view, employees need to balance their unselfish concerns, such as profits, and also treat others with dignity and relatively (Sparks & Kamgaing, 2019). Looking at Adams responsibilities, the first thing God made Adam do is to work for his benefit as God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. When the employees perform their duties to empower and satisfy the children, they acquire an intrinsic outcome, and it cannot be classified as a selfish concern.
Henceforth, the employers satisfaction and outcomes are oriented to helping others better themselves. JJs Development Center employees focus on helping others with love which has enhanced transforming the environment by using the glory of God to serve others. The organizational behavior from the employees mainly comes out as serving the children, which expresses as a higher calling. Some of these children come from the Mississippi Department of Human Services and do not have families. Accommodating them and ensuring they receive a quality education glorifies God (Sparks & Kamgaing, 2019). The act in a Christian perspective can be associated with generosity, doing what is right, initiating Gods helpfulness, the blessedness of giving, and helping the weak. God commands that Christians care for the wear, which is a powerful way to show Gods care. For instance, in Leviticus 23: 55, support him wholeheartedly when the brother can not maintain himself.
Recommendations
JJs Development Center illustrated good organizational behavior concepts within motivation. However, I recommend that the firm undertake goal-setting research. According to Ivancevich, Matteson, and Konopaske (2018), when goal setting is applied, the employees increase interest since the technique enhances performance. For this reason, the JJs Development Center should set some goals that will enable the employee to accomplish through their actions and behaviors. Therefore, I recommend that the organization focus on job relationships since the management is not involved closely with the employees. It will impact the interpersonal relationship and give the workplace more coordination.
Conclusion
In conclusion, JJs Development Center has demonstrated an excellent organizational behavior concept. It provided an opportunity to learn and apply the course works concepts and principles. The concepts within the organization that were easy to apply were motivation theory and job design. In job design, the firm used job enlargement to motivate employees to handle the responsibilities. It makes them develop their careers in experience and acquire opportunities in promotion, which is a motivational impact. It was also illustrated by the self-managed team that benefitted performance by providing the desired outcome and job rotation that helped alleviate the exhaustion and monotony that the employees might be experiencing, which increased performance. Also, the center demonstrated job design through job performance outcomes, intrinsic and extrinsic, behavioral, and objective outcomes that provided satisfaction. In addition, the center applied the motivation theory such as expectancy theory, equity theory, Maslows need hierarchy, and the McClelland learning needs theory that impacted the employees performance.
References
Ahmad, M., Khan, A., & Arshad, M. (2021). Major theories of job satisfaction and their use in the field of librarianship. Library Philosophy & Practice.
Alias, N. E., Othman, R., Hamid, L. A., Salwey, N. S., Romaiha, N. R., Samad, K. A., & Masdek, N. R. N. (2018). Managing job design: The roles of job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment on job satisfaction. Journal of Economic & Management Perspectives, 12(1), 397-401.
Ivancevich, J. M., Konopaske, R., & Matteson, M. T. (2018). Organizational behavior and management. McGraw-Hill.
Kovach, M. (2018). A review of classical motivation theories: A study understanding the value of locus of control in Higher Education. Journal of interdisciplinary studies in education, 7(1), 34-53. Web.
Marczak, E., & Yawson, R. M. (2021). Understanding the theories and interventions of motivation in organization development. Responsible Management: Opportunities and Challenges. Proceedings of 58th Annual Conference of the Eastern Academy of Management. Virtual.
McCleskey, J. A., & Ruddell, L. (2020). Taking a step backMaslows theory of motivation: A Christian critical perspective. Journal of Biblical Integration in Business, 23(1).
Sparks, W. L., & Kamgaing, A. (2019). Actualized leadership: A faith-based perspective on human motivation and leadership styles. International Journal of Social Science and Business, 4(1).
Tarifin, A. (2018). Motivation and Management: Flexibility of the implementation of motivation theories in pesantren context. HIKMATUNA, 4(1), 145-168.