A Leaders Behavior in an Organization - Case Study Example

Running Head: Organizational behavior Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: University: Date assignment is due: Organizational behavior In every organization, the central focus is achieving the goals and objectives laid down by the management. This will only be possible if effective management is practiced which in its entirety, calls for an in depth understanding and predicting of employees behavior which is not an easy task. Whenever people interact in any organization, many factors come into play. This is because people have different characteristics and respond to situations differently. In an effort to control, predict, and explain, employees behavior, managers find themselves in a dilemma. A question over ethics suffice; how to control workers behavior in a work setting to ensure that their diverse needs are catered for, and that their satisfaction leads to achieving the set organizational goals and objectives. This, therefore, calls for an in- depth scrutiny of organizational behavior in general. In this paper, we shall delve into how employees behave in a work setting guided by their work preferences, personalities, and learning styles. Leaders are also central in any organization and since they act as vehicles of success; it is essential to look at the role they play in their different managerial and administrative roles in understanding, predicting, and influencing employees’ behaviors. This is a concept most leaders lack and usually find their departments lagging behind in success. A leader’s behavior in an organization can enhance its overall performance, which are organizations performance, as well as an individual performance, satisfaction and commitment. Dunford (1992, p.126) argue that for a leader to understand his workers well, then he should develop a better conceptualization of an organizational life and behavior. In this case, a leader should strive to understand the human and the psychological factors that affect an organization, however, these factors vary because of different personalities. Therefore, it is necessary for a leader to rationalize an organization with a precise set of instructions which will lead to productivity. To begin with, understanding organizational behavior concept as a whole is important. Organizational behavior is the study of application of knowledge groups and individuals act in an organization. Through system approach, organizational behavior interprets people’s relationship in an organization, as a group and individual. This is geared towards building a better relationship through accomplishing organizational, human, and social goals. In an organization, it is difficult for a manager to understand and predict behavior because different personalities exist. These personalities are different in the way they comply to policy and procedure of the organization. For an instant, there are those who are not happy with confrontation and prefer a gradual approach to issues, others take time in decision making ensuring that they weigh all the facts first, and others are in constant confrontation if they realize that their efforts in achieving goals are hindered. These differences often lead to conflict within an organization. Personality clashes between individuals in a work place are common. Although workers may share certain interests, skills and goals, the way they perceive the world around them is not the same. A worker might always feel that his boss does not understand him, or the team leader does not take time to listen to his ideas. This might inhibit the workers performance. Workplace personality conflicts, which are part of our working, are natural and hard to avoid. It is, therefore, imperative to dig deep into its roots and understand its nature so as to make them minimal and productive. In an effort to understand personality, a manager should subject his workers to a personality test in order to establish how they fit and function in work spectrum. It also allows different personality types to get work suitable for them. In this case, a person is assessed, and conclusions about his personality arrived at. For instance, a worker is assessed whether he or she is an introvert or an extrovert, if he or she is thinking or feeling types, whether he takes decisions by sensing or through intuition, or whether his decisions are judgmental or based on perception. These are some of personality tests that can determine and predict behavior. People’s personalities also have a significant impact on the many if not all things they do. Questions have been raised whether personality impact on the overall productivity in a social workplace, and it has been established that job performance depend on the unique facets of individual personality. Personality comes into play because if one is not willing to do a certain job and lacks the interest then the job will not be performed. It should also be noted that the social aspects of any work environment hinder productivity in a work place. Attitude, on the other hand, should not be overlooked when analyzing the behaviors of workers. Attitude can be used in evaluating people, objects or events. The components of attitude include the cognitive, which are the, opinions, beliefs, knowledge or information; the affective which is the emotional or feeling part; the behavioral which entails an intention to behave in a certain way. Attitude and job satisfaction are two components, which are correlated. In fact, job satisfaction is an important attitude that can affect productivity of an organization. There is a need, therefore, for individuals to reconcile inconsistencies between attitudes and behaviors so that they appear rational and consistent. Having looked at how different personalities render it impossible for a manager to understand and predict behavior, we now analyze how and what a manager can employ a manager can in order to understand and predict behavior. In this case, employee motivation and leadership style will be the basis of this argument. Workers rather have a complex combination of beliefs, attitudes and needs which managers ought to understand in order to use them to drive an organization performance. They are also tasked with the responsibility of investigating the impact that individual group and structure have on behavior within an organization. Furthermore, they should focus on improving products, increasing employee job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. They will be more effective only if they look upon their employees as committed, respectable, and creative. In an effort to contain human variability, kannigel (1997, p. 112) attempted to study human behavior using system approach. He studied human characteristics in relation to the physical environment, social environment, and interaction with the other. He found out that for behavior at work to be made stable and predictable for maximum output; then incentives must be provided. It is advisable for managers to find a way of dealing with the emotional needs of the employees at work in order to maximize their productivity. Managers envision the employees’ behavior that they would like to have under their management. This is not easy though because it takes thoughtful planning and time to turn workers into ideal staff that will stand the taste of time even when an organization is facing tough challenges. Among them is hard work and dedication, which develop team spirit and employee behavior that will see the success of a business at a time when other businesses are closing down. The actions that every manager takes in the course of management results in creating a certain and predictable environment that in turn shapes their behaviors. In an effort to shape behavior among the employees, managers have to consider employing a number of strategies. Managers ought to use rewards to reinforce positive behavior. When employees meet your expectation as a manager, reward them using varied means. The rewards must be strictly on merit. Employees tend to engage in behavior which they are positively rewarded and a there is a high probability of repeating that same behavior. In rewarding employees, the manager should consider preference or what a person values rather than rewarding everyone across the board regardless of their preferences, personal differences and what they dislike. There are other rewards that cost an organization nothing but mean a great deal to the employees thus effective in shaping behavior. This serve to show managers that they should be creative in eliciting desired behavior in others. Communication in any field of work is essential. A manager ought to communicate with his people effectively. He should use the power of his position to communicate to his employees what he feels is important by behavior. In a nutshell, a manager sets the model behavior and expectations and good work ethic, standard environment. Managers should see to it that employees know what is expected of them and what to do. For instance, they should train their staff and teach them to solve problems. Training maybe done formally or when the job is ongoing. Creating rules that are necessary in achieving the goals of your company as a team is paramount. These rules may include work load rules, personal interactions, teamwork requirements, acceptable code of dressing, and deadline expectations. These rules will guide the employees to act and comply in accordance with the company’s expectation. Success of a company also comes with the manager seeking and incorporating the ideas of the staff. Taking in their ideas and implementing the sound ones give a sense of ownership of the company to employees and make them have a sense of influence and a sense of community at work. A manager who spends time with the employees gets to know them better by their strengths and weaknesses. It helps them to assigning employees responsibilities that meet their strengths. It also enables them to partner employees who will strengthen each other. Good teamwork is essential in job satisfaction in that workers feel that their services are needed and appreciated if they are part of properly functioning teams. Moreover, they feel a sense of accomplishment. Each team member needs to feel that he or she is contributing to achieving the goals of an organization. If a worker sees or feels that his efforts are belittled and that his workmates are doing more than him, then the team spirit deteriorates and unity is scuttled. This is a situation in which the manager is mandated to come in and assign each member a task that is challenging. We can call such leaders transformational leaders. They possess the proper skill that they use to stimulate, challenge and motivate their subjects. Lim (2004) argues that transformational leaders consist of four constructs: inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, charisma, and individualized consideration. These are the leaders who everyone wants to emulate or have in their team. Transformational leaders make workers feel that they are needed. When a worker feels that he or she is needed, he is certainly going to be satisfied with his work. Transformational leaders in their leadership not only give answers to numerous problems experienced by employees but also act as mentors to them. Transformational leader can be one of the team members who act on behalf of the manager. It is not mandatory that he or she be appointed. H acts only if he or she possesses the traits of such a leader. Transformational leaders contribute a lot to workers’ achievement. For example, when a worker approaches a transformational leader with an issue, the leader does not only help but sees to it that achieve the most with the solution. Transformational leaders are also modest in that when credited direct it to his or her workers. This goes into workers feeling that they are valued which contributes to their confidence due to achievements. Transformational leaders also attempt to improve the overall function of an organization. They do so by using bright individuals to improve the skills of staff members. Transformational leader is aware of common goals of an organization, and by assisting an individual achieve these goals, then he will be assisting the employee to feel appreciated when a goal is achieved. Moreover, a transformational leader in the process boosts the confidence of organizations employees, and this translates into productivity and job satisfaction in a company. We have discussed a number of issues in this essay which range from how personality traits works in work setting, the complex nature of workers beliefs, attitude and behavior and their job satisfaction, transformational leadership as a theory, and how managers model their staff in an effort to maximize productivity. This boils down to whether employees’ behaviors can be predicted and understood. Though it is a fact that employees’ behaviors are not the same and vary significantly, it is upon the managers to employ the right strategies in identifying these behaviors. The arguments in the previous paragraphs clearly demonstrate that although human behavior is complex in nature, managers are able to understand them if only they employ the right leadership skills. In conclusion, my opinion, therefore, remains that of a strong disagreement of the statement that it is not possible for managers to predict and understand their workers behavior since they interact on a daily basis. Managers can predict and understand employees’ behavior, and in turn use these predicted behaviors in their day to day running of an organization. References Arnold, J. (2005). Work psychology - Understanding human behaviour in the workplace, (4th ed.). Essex: Prentice Hall. Bratton, J. (2007). Work and organizational behaviour. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Dunford, R.W. (1992). Organisational behaviour: An organizational analysis perspective. Sydney: Addison-Wesley. Kanigel, R. (1997). The One Best Way, Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency. London: Brown and Co. Francesco, A.M. & Gold, B.A. (2005). International organizational behavior. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson. Lim, B. & Ployhart, R.E. (2004). Transformational leadership: Relations to the five- factor model and team performance in typical and maximum contexts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 610-621. Wood, J., Zeffane, R., Fromholtz, M., Weisner, R. & Creed, A. (2010). Organisational behaviour: Core concepts and applications (2nd ed.). Brisbane: John Wiley and Sons. Read More