Damanpreet Singh
Professor Valenzuela
MGMT 3000.60
December 6, 2018
Reflection Paper
For a business to grow and be successful, the management needs to have a certain set of skills that will help them achieve the optimal level of performance from their employees. In the past, companies focused exclusively on the results that the employees provided but not on how those results were accomplished. In the business world today, Managers and employers have to more conscious of their employees and have to be more considerate of factors that can affect the success of the of their business. Managers have to incorporate the concept of Organizational Behavior to effectively manage their employees and predict any conflicts that might arise in their group or team. If an employer is able to understand what and how to properly motivate their employee, they can expect definite success and the highest level of performance. There are several skills that that are crucial to the success of a business and which a good manager or employer must be aware of. These skills include, how to motivate their employees, how to be a good leader, how to effectively resolve conflicts in the workplace and they should be able to support and guide their employees through difficult situations. Without careful and concise use of these organizational behavior skills within a business, it will quickly loose revenue which will lead to the failure of the business.
Motivation is one of the most important skills for an effective manager or employer to have in their tenure. Motivation is the process through which an employee turns their human capital into actions that result in performance which is important to the achievement of organizational goals. Today, Motivation and Culture are very important to exercise in an organization with Organizational Behavior because it has become very common to encourage team approach to solve difficult tasks or projects. In the book Organizational Behavior by Michael A. Hitt et al, the authors talk about the three content theories of motivation, the Hierarchy of Needs theory, the ERG theory, and the theory of Achievement, Affiliation, and Power. The content motivation theory that I resonate the most with David McClelland’s theory of Achievement, Affiliation and Power. The need for achievement is very common in the workplace. Achievement can be in a form of something big like a pay raise or promotion or something small like an extra 10 minute on a break. Employees want to complete these goals to receive some positive feedback from their employers. The need for affiliation is also very common where I work. Some of the employees want to be affiliated with the majority of the other employees. They gain more satisfaction when the majority likes the individual. This builds strong relationships and makes the working experience more enjoyable. The need for power usually comes in the form of leadership such as manager or supervisors. At my work, there is a manager who is very influential to the other employees and other managers. She shows each employee how to properly do their jobs and is always there to assist when we need help. She also shows great customer service, and everyone wants to be like her when they get into a position of power. Professionals like my manager don’t have to do a lot to motivate an employee, but merely the gesture for motivation is enough. Having personal goals and incentives can also be great motivators for employees to perform well in the workplace. The most important goal for most people is money and that has been a big contributor of motivation in the workplace. When there are rewards tied to the performance, employees can be encouraged to work harder. At my last job we would get incentives for selling retail credit cards and when we were getting close to our goal the reward was increased and everyone worked extra hard to sell those credit cards and even the people who never sold one were also motivated to sell them. Doesn’t matter what form motivation is presented in but it can substantially increase the performance of employees in the workplace.
Communication is also vital to the effective operation of a business. If there is clear and concise communication between management and the employees, there can be lower chances of failure or conflicts. Communication is such an important part of a manager’s job that managers spend anywhere between 50 to 90 percent of their work time communicating. Given the importance of communication, it is disconcerting that a lot of managers find communication to be a challenging task. Based on the chapter, there are several individual and organizational barriers that restrict communication between associates. I have experienced several of these barriers both in the workplace and at school such as information overload, time pressures, and cross-cultural barriers, differing perceptions, and poor listening skills. Peoples’ perception is the most common and one of the most difficult barriers to overcome. Everyone in the workplace has certain beliefs and a certain way they view everything in the world and usually don’t agree with their coworkers. Another big and also common barrier I’ve seen in the workplace is information overload. Employees are often flooded with a lot of information and a little to no time to absorb the given information which causes them to feel frustrated. Time pressure is also a barrier that affects the performance of the employees because the time deadlines in the workplace can be very overwhelming at times and they make it very hard for people to stay on task and focused. But by implementing methods such as regulating information flow and timing and encourage feedback related to understanding. I believe these are effective because by regulating information flow we can eliminate the stress on employees and have them finish one task at time rather than assigning several at once and confusing them. Encouraging feedback is also crucial because when we receive feedback, we can better understand what we need to improve upon and what we are doing well and both negative and positive feedback can encourage a person’s behavior in the workplace.
Leadership is vital in an effective operation of an organization. A good leader has to demonstrate a crucial balance between people and technical issues of that organization. There are two main types of leaders, Transactional and Transformational. Transactional leadership is based on exchange between the followers and leaders, while Transformational leadership involves motivating the followers to do more than expected so that they can grow and increase their self-confident. I have had a transformational leader in the workplace and I believe I learned a lot from him. He was my manager and he always motivated me to work harder and show everyone that I can do any given job effectively. He was always very charismatic because he wanted us to do better, so he was always setting a good example for us. He always was open to hearing our suggestions about the job and everything we had to say because he wanted to teach us to think for ourselves and find ways to do any task faster and effectively. He had always motivated us to overcome our weaknesses and succeed. An individual can be a successful leader when they can teach and guide someone through doing a task and motivate them to do their best. A leader should be able to be motivated themselves in order to motivate others.
When individuals enter an organization, they bring with them their own unique experiences, perceptions, and ways of behaving. Learning and Human Capital complement each other in the workplace and are very necessary to keep a business operating effectively. The skills, knowledge and the general attributes of the people working in an organization are known as the human capital and are very crucial to the operation of an organization. Individuals change their behavior and learn from their experiences and mistakes. Strategies such as positive reinforcement could help an employee adapt better to the organization. There are also several problems associated in a person’s perception that are pervasive in my workspace are Stereotyping and projecting. Stereotyping is the problem that I encounter the most because people assume that because I look a certain way that I will be good at a certain task that I probably have no idea how to do. It is the assumption that many people have about a group that leads to stereotyping. Projecting is also common because many people assume that because we are the same ethnicity that I might share their interests or their beliefs.
Many aspects of work and organizational policies can cause stress for management and employees. Although not all stress is bad stress, much of it is dysfunctional and costly to the organization in terms of lost human capital, lower productivity and occasionally in money. Given the prevalence of stress in the workplace and the high direct and indirect costs of stress at work, it should be a priority for top executives. In the book, the authors talk about two main types of workplace stress, demand-control model and effort-reward imbalance model. The model of workplace stress that applies to me is the Effort-reward imbalance model. This model applies to me because in all of the jobs I have worked so far in my life have required me to work hard and there was no reward for it but the salary. The amount of effort required to do the job is very high and I am constantly under stress. Although there are several techniques to relieve stress, I lean towards exercising. I believe it is one of the best and easiest stress relievers for any individual because exercising can be just taking a stroll outside to take your mind off of work. I go to the gym and workout for an hour and that helps me forget all about the stress even for a small period of time, but it helps me get through the stress.
Managing conflicts and power are important to the success of an organization. Most strategic leaders must deal with conflict while making decisions. Although some of the conflicts can be functional, which can be beneficial to the organization’s goals, but much of the conflicts that occur in an organization are dysfunctional. I have experienced all of these types of conflict at my workplace and at school. I experience procedural conflict the most in the workplace because people don’t always do work the way it is supposed to be done. This conflict is also very common at school because people often have conflict while determining how a group project, for example, should be done and how it is done. In my opinion, procedural conflict is dysfunctional conflict because when there’s less work going on and more arguments, little work is getting done. Because there is often more than one way of doing a task and it is not necessary that everyone follows a single way. Every organization must have strategies implemented to prevent or at least contain any conflicts that might arise. Such conflicts can be resolved through negotiations or through the use of power. The two conflict styles (responses) that portray me the most are compromising and competing. I do not like to have conflict with anyone whether it’s in the workplace or at school but if there is no way to avoid it, I will try to work with the person so that we can eliminate the conflict. Sometimes it is really hard to compromise when the other party might be difficult so in situations like that I go on the offense and compete to support my position in the conflict. The strategies that the organization has in place to prevent or control conflicts can determine which direction it will take because sometimes small conflicts can bring the whole organization down.
In conclusion, the concept of Organizational Behavior must be incorporated in a business to effectively manage the employees and motivate them to ensure definite success and the highest level of performance. Without careful and concise use of these organizational behavior skills, the business will quickly loose revenue which will lead to the failure of the business. Factors such as employee motivation, stress management, proper communication, strong leadership and conflict management can help secure a business’s future and can lead to success of both the employer and the employee.