Organisational Behaviour And Open System Approach For Supporting Quality Supervision

The Organisational Environment and Open System Approach

Describe about the Organisational Behaviour for Supporting Quality Supervision.

The essay is about changing in an organization and how the application of the Open Systems Perspective affects the organisational change and readiness. Currently, the word change is the most used word in an organization. It is considered to be the most challenging process to execute by any organisation. The change means a process through which something becomes different from earlier. It is believed that changes are done for the development of the society. In the fast moving environment, every organisation is looking for changes.  It is required for any organisation to compete with their competitors (1). Without modification, an organisation fails to recognise customers’ needs and loose loyal customers. In the present scenario of globalisation and internationalisation, every organisation feels the need for changes to accept the technological advancement. Therefore, the organisation desires for change. The term change becomes a norm in times of upheaval. Every organisation accepts changes when it seems necessary to them. Additionally, the organisational environment is changing as a global standard. To make changes in the organisation, the managers have worked effectively for managing change in the organisation (2). They must identify the need for change and understand the relationship between change in an organisation and its culture. Change can be regarding the technological change, behavioural changes of an employee, change for customer needs, economic changes, and access the growth opportunities by applying changes in the organisation (3). But the most important aspect of organisational change is behavioural changes of the employees of an organisation.

An organisation is a system of production. It interacts with the external environment for the development of the culture of the organisation. Regarding the organisational change, open systems play a major role (4). Before analysing the importance of an open system in organisational changes, it is important to know what an open system is. The definition of an open system is that it is a system which exchanges feedback regularly with its external environment (5). The organisations should be well structured to deal with unique problems and accommodate various opportunities. Environment influences open systems regarding the specific environment or general environment. The particular situation means those with whom the organisation interacts (6). They are the network of suppliers, government agencies, distributors, and competitors of the organisation. The general environment includes some influences some geographic area in which an organisation does their operations (7). These are cultural values of the organisation, economic conditions, legal or political climate of the organisation, and educational quality of the workforce of the organisation.

The Components of Open Systems

The components of open systems are inputs, behaviour, technology, processes, outputs, structure, and culture.

Inputs: Raw materials, money, manpower, resources, and equipment.

Outputs: Products, services, and ideas

Behaviour of organisation and process: Establish patterns of interactions between individuals and team

Technology: Tools, equipment and techniques

Environment:external environment of the organisation

Structure: relation between individuals, team and management

Culture: shared values, beliefs and norms

The task of a healthy open system includes some steps. At first, it exchanges feedback with their environment. Then it does feedback analysis. After the analysis of feedback is done, it maintains adjustment of the internal system to achieve the goal of the system (3). Finally, it transmits necessary information back to the environment. The term open system showcases that all organisations are unique regarding their unique environment. The effectiveness of an organisation depends on the ability to adapt the changes in the environment and how they can use their system resources in the changing process (8). An open system model helps an organisation to diagnose the problems that affect the growth of the organisation. It directs an organisation by which way they can implement required changes (8). An open system usually promotes effective solutions for problems by clarification of the issue. It provides regular feedback which helps to understand the employees’ response after or before any change. It creates a better way for interpersonal communication. An open system assesses the feasibility of change in an organisation and chooses appropriate interventions (9). It helps the OD practitioner and their clients to decide the steps for adaptation of changes which will be adapted by the clients. It helps the organisation in enhancing the organisational effectiveness.

In organisational behaviour, one of the important models is MARS model. MARS model is based on individual response. This model elaborates the individual behaviour as the result of internal and external factors combined (7). An individual’s behaviour is a part of the organisational change. As said in the introduction that changes are done regarding behavioural change of an employee, this theory will be helpful to understand the benefits of theory. MARS is an acronym for Individual Motivation, Abilities, Role Perception and Situational Factors (6). These are considered as the four major factors in determining the behaviour of an individual. It is shown in the model that these four factors have the mixed effect on the performance of an individual (10). If any element becomes weak, the overall performance of the individual will decrease. 

MARS Model

Motivation

Motivation is the internal force that impacts the intensity and direction of a person’s deliberate behaviour choice. It consists of direction, strength and persistence. In an organisation, a team leader or changing agents motivate individuals for adopting change (6).

Ability

Ability is the skills or capabilities that are needed to complete a task. It includes aptitude, skills, and core competencies. For an example, an employee completes his work before the deadline(1).

Role Perceptions

Role perceptions are the concepts of the employees regarding a job. It includes job speciation, job description, and duties & responsibilities of the job. For an example, an IT programmer writes the code and tester checks it.

Situational Factors

Situational factors are the environmental conditions. It includes time-bound, work facilities, culture, etc. e.g. an employee works in night shifts (7).

There is one critical theory of Kurt Lewin’s change model regarding the change in the organization. Kurt Lewin introduced a three-step model. It defines the organisational changes involving a move from one static phase to another static phase (3). This type is also considered as the Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze model. This model helps the managers or the change agents of the company in creating a framework for the implementation a change effort. This process is always very sensitive (9). The change process must be faultless. The change agents or the manager who uses the three step change model follow three steps while using the method. These are:

They make fundamental changes while introducing changes in the organisation

They should decrease any disruption of the change structure’s operation

The managers or the change agents must be sure that the change is adopted by the clients permanently.

Unfreeze

This is the step one. It creates right conditions for occurring changes. People sometimes resist change. This action moves people who resist changes from the frozen stage to unfrozen stage or the stage where they accept changes (3).

Change

In this step, the people accept changes as they can understand the needs for change. This stage involves the psychological transformation of the individuals. The primary objective of the change step is to get individuals to the change state and keep them there(9).

Refreeze

Refreeze is the last step of Kurt Lewin’s three step model. The main objective of the stage is to achieve refreeze means reestablishment of new changes and elevated comfort levels of the individuals by providing the individuals with the safe, familiar environment(4). 

Conclusion

Motivation

Change is inevitable. It cannot be ignored. Every organisation should adapt change to compete with the present trends of globalisation. Technological changes are also seen in the current market scenario. Besides any organisation needs to adopt changes to compete with their rivals. An organisation who cannot adapt change fails to identify the changing demands of the customer. As a result, they lose their loyal customers. Change is vital for every organisation as it allows the employees to learn new skills, gather knowledge, explore upcoming opportunities and implement creativity in the workplace (10). It results from ultimate benefits for the organisation by applying innovative ideas. The open system approach has the great impact on organisational change. It helps the organisation by providing feedback on the regular basis. It is helpful in interpersonal communication within the organisation (2). Open system model recognises the probability of change in an organisation. OD change agents and the practitioner can understand the needs of the clients and choose correct steps for change adaptation. Therefore it can be said that an open system model enlarges the organisational effectiveness. MARS model is another important part of an organization. It is based on the behaviour of the individuals. An individual’s behaviour is a part of the organisational change. Internal and external factors combine in this section (7). The Kurt Lewin’s Model of change defines three steps of the change process. This analysis shows how change is made in the organisation and in which stage the employees resist change. So it can be concluded that the application of the Open Systems Perspective affects the organisational change.

References

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