Theories Of Organizational Behavior And Implications For Management – A Case Study

Background of Organizational Behavior

Discuss about the Organizational Behavior Of The Employees Of ‘Goodway’.

An organization refers to a body of individuals who perform different tasks as per the requirement of the firm to achieve a common goal. Organizational behavior is directly related to the production, understanding, and control of the behavior of employees in the organizations. It is a well-known fact that the behavior of individuals is different while working in the organizations and their behavior is different while working separately. Thus, organizational behavior is the study of the human behavior in their roles of organizations. It is also concerned with the application of knowledge about the act and behavior of people in the organization. Organizational behavior also acts as a human tool for the benefit of human resources (Iedunote, 2017). It relates broadly to the activity of employees in the organization irrespective of their working fields. Various theories of organizational behavior have been given by different authors in order to understand different stages of organizational behavior. These theories also help to identify the level of control on individual’s behavior and also provide a framework to establish a sound and effective organizational behavior functions. This report will be discussing various theories and their implications for individual’s behavior. This report will brief about a steel mill “Goodway” which is a friendly organization to its employees. The company also provides food for the employees working in it. The report will reflect the management of food service department and the behavior of employees working on different levels in the same department (Study.com, 2018). While discussing the behavior of employees and their impact on organizational performance, theories of organizational behavior are used to describe leadership, motivation, reward system, communication, job stress and group dynamics. This report will also help to understand that how individual deals with different situations while performing duties in the organizations. The employees of “Goodway” face the situation which can occur in any organizations in the day to day activities. This report will focus to identify the main causes of the problem with the employees working in food department so as to provide an overview of the study (Kitchin, 2010).

The news of the resignation of our manager Amir was very shocking to us. Because he used to manage all his responsibilities effectively towards the team members. He was very calm and polite to the team and most importantly, he was carrying a good experience of working in the food department. His experience had been proved very helpful to us in performing day to day activities. Although our new manager, Alaa has been working with our organizations for more than 15 years as the manager of Dining Service Department. His performance was also very good in his department and the employees of his department used to praise him for his managerial activities (Patton, 2018). All of our team members did not have any problem with the new manager except Mohammad, Assistant Department Manager. Because he used to enjoy at the workplace and did not perform his duties well because Amir is the uncle of Mohammad and he used to take advantage of this relationship. On the other hand, Fatima was worried about her promotion because Amir had assured her to promote at the position similar to Mohammad. She was very happy and excited by the news of her promotion but now she was worried that whether Alaa was aware of her performance and she would get promoted or not (Laura, 2012).

Theories of Organizational Behavior

Working as the manager of the food department was not difficult to Alaa. Team members knew the fact that he was a senior employee of the organization having experience of 15 years which was enough to handle the responsibilities of a manager. But it a fact of human behavior that changes are always resisted. So in the case of Alaa, Team members did not like the replacement of their manager and it also had affected their performance for some time (Waters, 2017). They faced some difficulties in managing with Alaa because of the leadership qualities of Alaa and Amir were different. Although Alaa used his all experience to meet the expectations of management as well as his team members. He did not use command style of leadership because this would affect negatively the mind of his team. He used the democratic style of leadership in which he allowed team members to give their opinion on various decisions like the promotion of Fatima, elimination the burden of Sara by changing the designation of Zainab. Alaa tried his best the in dealing with the expectations of his new team (Chumg, Seaton, Cookie, & Ding, 2016). Moreover, Alaa decide that before making any decision he will ask the team members for their opinion as they know better about their duties and work. According to the theory, this step generally help him in understanding and leading their team.

At the initial stage, Alaa was reactive to the problems that were left behind by the Amir. Alaa tried to identify the root of problems which is the most important function of a successful leader. Alaa found the reason behind the unproductive nature of Mohammad. He found that the sense of the power of Amir was the main reason and Mohammad used to think that nobody could point him out for his activities because of his uncle, Amir. Alaa did not react rudely to him and made him understand that in order to achieve success and knowledge he would have to perform the duties and responsibilities assigned to him. Alaa also analyzed the work of Fatima because he was well aware of the fact that Amir has assured Fatima to promote her on the basis of her performance and dedication towards the work. After sorting out all these consequences, Alaa started to follow proactive nature of leadership. He always tried to figure out future consequences from employee’s behavior and activities and took actions prior to eliminate the occurrence of problems (Hyde, Harris, & Boaden, 2013).

A Case Study of ‘Goodway’

At the weekly meeting, Alaa took some important decisions that were encouraged by the half of his team members. Firstly, he promoted Fatima by examining her previous work and performance. He did so because Fatima was the deserving employee and according to Maslow’s need of hierarchy, employees should get recognition for his/her work at the right time otherwise this may result in demotivating employee’s behavior and functions. Fatima was very happy to hear the news of her promotion but at the same time, Mohammad was not happy because Fatima was very hardworking and talented employee and when Fatima would work at the same designation with Mohammad, then he would also have to work accordingly otherwise he would be get noticed. This reflected the proactive nature of leadership that is followed by Alaa.

Another decision Alaa took in the meeting was related to Zainab. He changed the designation of Zainab after discussing with Sara and Mohammad, form the personal secretary of Mohammad to her prior designation of secretory and co-worker of Sara. This decision was appreciated by all the team members except Mohammad. Sara was also happy because her burden of work would get divided as earlier (Alabi & Alabi, 2014). This reflects that the Alaa has done an amazing job when Amir left issues behind. He made use of the trait theory of leadership. According to this theory, the leader makes use of its characteristics to take a successful decision. Alaa is working from 15 years so he had characteristics which made him successful. Core traits which helped him to manage the crises after Amir and to take necessary steps to promote the team include motivation, self-confidence, and knowledge of business, honesty and integrity, emotional maturity and many others.

While performing the duties of a leader, Alaa followed group dynamics with his team members. The team members also supported their new manager. Although Mohammad did not like the promotion of Fatima still he did not oppose to the decision because he held an opinion that deserving employee should be promoted in order to enhance the performance of the team as well as the organization. Similarly, Alaa did not react as a very senior person of the organization. He took sufficient time to understand the nature of team members and their workings and he also did behave very politely to all the members of the team. He did set out an action plan for next 15 days and distributed the responsibilities to all the employees according to their capabilities. One of the main qualities of Alaa that was liked by the team member that he took all decisions after making discussion with all the team members and after considering their opinion.

Implications for Management

The decisions made by the manager Alla for the well-functioning of his team was liked by the majority of members. It is the quality of the leader or manager to establish a sense that success of a team will automatically result in the success of members of that team. This reflects that Alla used Tuckman theory of group dynamics in which the leader divide the role of the team members is distributed by them so that they can work flexible and functional within organization Alaa divided the responsibility among the employees so that they can work effectively. Considering the theory, while taking the decision he involved the employees for whom the decision has been taken. Although one or two team member was not happy with that decision they were also not opposing the decisions because the decision was taken by the mutual consent of employees and leader with the motive to bring improvement in performance of the group. According to the theory, it is a very important function of group dynamics that employees are well capable to accept all the decision that is taken for the purpose of growth of the team (Coleman & Thomas, 2017). Alaa made understand to Mohammad that Mohammad did not have much work to appoint a personal secretary. On the other hand, Sara’s burden was increasing by changing the designation of Zainab. The overall performance of the group would get affected because of this mismanagement (Stein & Cropanzano, 2011).

The main reasons for emerging conflict were two, first one was the activities of Mohammad and his decision of appointing Zainab as her personal secretary, another one was the promotion of Fatima. Because these two reasons could affect the working culture of the whole group. Alaa handled both of these group conflicts very patiently. Since he was known to his team, he could not command them to do anything against to their will because it might create a negative image of Alaa for his team members. He sorted out both the conflicts and other minor issues with the help of his leadership skills and understanding towards transformation leadership theories and experience in managing the team. Transformation leadership theory includes the leaders who work with the subordinates to bring the change that for the betterment of organization just like Alaa. Weekly meeting held by Alla was very effective and created an impact on the mind of team members that as a group they should have worked together for the accomplishment of group objectives instead of working separately for individual’s profit (Curry, et al., 2011). This shows the way through which he is utilizing his skills to bring team member together for the achieving the goals of organization.

Conclusion

Alla played his role of leader very well as compared to Amir. Because Amir could not make all the decisions and consult with the team over all matters. He was burdened by the lending amount of Mohammad’s father so he could not say a single word to one of his team members, which used to result in creating conflicts in the group. But Alla handled the behavior of each group member very well without over emphasizing anyone (Spindler & Anantharaman, 2015).

The outcome of the meeting was positive in terms of understanding the behavior of a new manager and eliminating the conflicts among the team. All the members held an opinion that they could work together efficiently if all of them perform their job responsibilities with the help of each other and with the help and guidance provided by their manager. However, it was not easy to change their mindset in just a meeting but Alla tried his best to motivate them by explaining the advantages of working together and for the growth of the team. The meeting ended with the positive results and no one was disappointed due to the conclusions and decision made by the Alla because he considered the opinions of team members also. He also assured Mohammad that whenever his burden would be increased and there would be need of personal assistant than a personal assistant would be appointed to assist in his work. This made him a little bit satisfied with the decisions taken in the meeting (Forsyth, 2018).

Individual employees of the team had various different perceptions regarding the decisions taken in the meeting. Fatima held an opinion that she should have provided a designation upper to the Mohammad because she was carrying the experience and educational qualities more than him. In such case, it was not acceptable for her to work with a person who is not capable to handle his job position and whose performance was not so effective. On the other hand, Mohammad was feeling insecure by the promotion of Fatima (Hwang & Lin, 2012). He held an opinion that Fatima should not be given the same position as him. Zainab was not ready to change his designation form the secretory of Mohammad because she did not feel any burden while handling this job position. All the team members held their own opinions and perceptions but Alla made them understand about the reason of such decisions and developed a sense of the success of the team and its members. He analyzed all the perceptions of the team members and handles all those perceptions in such a way so that all the employees could work freely without any burden on their minds (Witt & Brockmole, 2012).  

At the end of the meeting, all five members of the team were very well known to their responsibilities to each other as co-workers and towards the organization as an employee. They were able to communicate with each other without facing any difficulty. They held an opinion that group can never be developed without the development of its members. All team members were clear to some extent about the behavior of their new leader. They were a little aware of the leadership techniques and way of handling a team of Alaa. Alaa knows the fact that actions matter a lot to change the perception of the individual team member. Since meetings play an important role while talking about group meetings. In the meeting, members of a team can interconnect with each other in an informal way. This informal interaction can help them while performing their organizational duties. Same situations were with the meeting held by the dining department of ‘Goodway’ (Pitcher, 2015). Moreover, Alaa can evaluate the perception of the person with visual attributes. This will help Alaa in taking further steps for the team. This clearly reflects the implementation of the theory of bold readiness theory which reflects that perception just is covert readiness for action. The meeting was conducted to understand the perception and to take steps after considering those perceptions.

The role play has an amount of missing information about the characters of team members. It has not been cleared that either Amir used to be liked by the team members or not. This is the determining fact that either they all accepted Alla as their new manager happily or forcefully. On the other hand, Amir was not presented at the meeting, while all team members were expecting him to be there. This was also a missing information for all role players, but on the basis of the existence of the group and group dynamics of continuity carried on during the meeting, it can be assumed that all team members made feel comfortable to each other and to their new leader also (Rossi, 2013)..

Salary was the main reason because of which Amir resigned from his job. As per the socio-psychological theory of organizational behavior, in order to improve the performance of employees, it is required that they are paid out according to their work. Employees should be considered as the most important assets of the organization and it is assumed that an organization can grow only when its employees are satisfied with their job responsibilities and pay. In case of ‘Goodway’ mill, although employees were satisfied with their work but the salary of the dining department was very low (DiTullio, 2010). Considering the case study, management of the company did not use to give value to dining department and to the employees working in it. Their salaries were low as compared to the employees of other departments. For example, Fatima was promoted to a senior level and her responsibilities had also increased but her salary was not increased. This could be the reason of dissatisfaction and conflict between Fatima and the management of the company. In order to keep employees happy and work with the organization for a long time, it is required to value their work and talent and pay accordingly. Avoidance of this factor can lead to the resignation of employees of the company (Eshetu, 2015).

According to Alderfer ERG theory of motivation, an employee feels motivated when his existing needs, related needs, and growth needs fulfills form the work he is doing. In the role play, Mohammad was capable to fulfill his existing needs of money but he was feeling unable to fulfill his need for growth. He was expecting more job responsibilities from the job position given to him. But he did not find any challenging task or activity in his work. He was also dissatisfied with the behavior of his manager Amir, because Amir did not trust him enough to assign some challenging work (Motivating factors, 2018). Mohammad wanted to achieve a managerial position with challenging activities but he was not getting the work according to his will. Mohammad got demotivated that he was not capable to get the trust of his manager. Therefore, considering the theory of Alderfer ERG it is very essential for the leader to motivate their employees towards work. And it is a well-known fact that a demotivated employee can never perform with his full capability. Demotivation among employees often leads to decrease in their performance and thus overall performance of the organization also declines (Kenfer & Gilad, 2016).

The senior supervisor Fatima and A-line supervisor Noor, both were not happy with the work and job of Mohammad. They held the view that Mohammad was not a deserving candidate to become an assistant manager. Fatima was not happy because her salary was low as compared to Mohammad for the same work. On the other hand, Noor was unhappy because after working for more than seven years, she was promoted to the role of supervisor and Mohammad was directly appointed as assistant manager without any experience. Also, all the staff members including their manager Amir, were held an opinion that Mohammad did not do anything except passing the time and reading magazines during office hours. This caused dissatisfaction among supervisor that Mohammad was getting the highest salary without doing anything and without and specialization. Equity theory of motivation given by Adam states that positive results and high motivation can only be expected by giving fair treatment to all employees in the organization (Yamsul, Surachman, Salim, & Armanu, 2013).

Adams theory also states that employees also get demotivated when they feel that their total efforts and inputs are less than their rewards and outputs. Sara was also facing the same situation because of shifting of Zainab to another designation. She was overburdened by the extra work of Zainab, at the same salary. That was the only reason why she had thought to leave the organization. According to the theory, an employee can never get motivated if the payment made to him, is not according to work provided by to the organization. This also creates a negative image of the organization to the employee in terms of employee welfare (Jerome, 2013).

Fatima had a feeling that she would have to work as Mohammad’s peer. She was feeling so that she was well aware of the fact that Mohammad did not use to work as per his designation. So she held an opinion that she would have to work more n more to justify his promotion and she would also have to perform the work of Mohammad because she could not give a chance to anyone to point out on her promotion (Theories of Motivation, 2018). Similarly, she also had a thought that her salary would be lower than Mohammad, this could provide more power to Mohammad to command Fatima. In organizational behavior, it is to be said that two persons working at the same position, should perform equal responsibilities and should get equal rewards for their performance. It there is variation in their duties and rewards, then there may be a conflict between the two which may lead to decrease in the performance level of the organization (Lee & Raschke, 2016).

High employee turnover rate is related to the high rate of employees leaving their jobs because of many reasons. Employee turnover rate includes the employees quitting the jobs and also those employees to whom the organization has asked to leave. In case of ‘Goodway’ mill, employee turnover rate was relatively high because the company did not value its human resources. And if employees were not getting value for their work than they were not supposed to work with the company (Ingram, 2018). Another aspect was related to the inappropriate pay scale of employees. As per two-factor theory of Herzberg, employees tend to work for the fulfillment of their basic needs and if these needs are not fulfilled by the work they are doing than they are expected to quit their jobs. A similar situation could be felt with the employees of ‘Goodway’. They were feeling demotivated by the rewards and remuneration provided to them. Lack of employee welfare and salary issue were the main reasons behind high employee turnover of the company (Jabeen, 2011).

Form the above discussion of roleplay it can be concluded that in order to achieve organizational success, team leader and team members should follow the ethics of organizational behavior. A group can never get success without the individual success of each of its members. Similarly, the organization should provide a sound and healthy working conditions so that employees can perform their duties efficiently. The organization should provide equal opportunities to all of its employees. Leaders should always try to motivate their employees by guiding them when needed. It can also be understand after studying the report that organizational behavior is concerned with human nature and behavior while working with different types of people. In order to maintain good interpersonal relations, all the employees should work with the thought of success of their own as well as each other. Theories given by different author should be considered to apply effective control on employees and their activities. Since organization behavioral practices provide direction to the employees and well as to the organization, mismanagement of organizational behavior can lead to dissatisfaction among employees. Employees may get demotivated and this can be resulted into high employee turnover in the organization. The result can be drawn on the basis of above study that organizational behavior helps in achieving organizational objectives by proper management of human resources because human resources are primarily responsible for the performance of the organization.

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