Organisational Behavior and Leadership - Assignment Example

Organisational Behaviour Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction Organisational behavior and leadership are very important aspect of management in the contemporary business environment. This is because they help organizations ensure effectiveness and efficiency in the operations. In this analysis, the discussion will address different aspects of organizational behavior and leadership in reference to the case of Housing Industry Association (HIA) in Australia. l. What do you think caused Deborah to react in such a manner towards Melinda? Do you think these reactions were justified? Different factors had prompted the reaction by Deborah towards Melinda. First and foremost, Deborah is of the view that after working for the company for 15 years as opposed to Melinda’s 2 years, she was entitled to the promotion. This is to take the role of the office executive manager. The behavior demonstrated by Deborah was a result of the fear that the new organizational structure was going to threaten her stay in the company and this is especially when she has developed her own behaviors which she is comfortable with. With the promotion of Melinda, Deborah is subject to a new structure something that will not be consistent with her behavior. For instance, it is clear from the work context that Deborah is used to spending more work hours for lunch and in school to pick her children. Now, given the fact that she is no longer in charge, this tendency which is a culture that she has developed over years, would not be workable anymore as limitations will definitely come into play. According to Harris & Kacmar (2006), the organizational effectiveness highly depends on the prevailing organizational structure and behavior both of which are key factors in the performance of any organization. Having worked for two years with Melinda, Deborah was also very much aware that Melinda was going to implement very strict work-related policies which will go against her practice. The behavior demonstrated by Deborah was therefore was the kind of response to try and resist any move to structure the office in such a way that will negatively impact on her life. Further, Deborah was trying to demonstrate her dissatisfaction given the fact that she had worked in the company for longer years without promotion. Finally, there was the element of culture in the office. This can be seen in a case where Deborah was trying to request for preferential treatment from from Melinda as it has been in the past. Looking at the context under which Melinda and Deborah were working in one could easily argue that even though Deborah was not entitled to the reaction demonstrated to Melinda, the organizational policy was not very clear on work practice, employee development and promotion. This is because it is not clear what David, the executive director of HIA had considered before promoting Melinda. This could cause some job dissatisfaction to some of the members of her team. This is because there is no clear policy to follow and which everybody understands. In general therefore, the organization is not in the right footing with regard to dealing job dissatisfaction and employee promotion (Rhodes et al 2005). 2. What could Melinda have done to better resolve this issue with Deborah? From the compan case, no doubt there was a clear conflict between Melinda and Deborah that needed to be resolved through a certain process. According to Bolman & Deal (2008), a conflict refers to a situation where one or more parties consider the other party or parties to be a threat of what they value most. For instance, in the case of HIA, Deborah’s conflict with Melinda is founded on the fact that the culture Deborah was used to be is likely to be a practice in the past. This will deny her an opportunity to behave as she wants. In this case therefore, it was absolutely important for Melinda to consider which decision to take which will neither affect her relationship with the rest of the team members and in particular with Deborah and the organizational performance. A rational decision was highly required in this case. This is because any decision made should maximize the organizational values and the process of achieving its goals and objectives. Since the problem with Deborah is so threatening and could affect even other members of the team by lowering their motivation, there is need for Melinda to dig deeper and establish the source of the conflict. This process of resolving the problem could be aided by the application of the rational decision-making model. By applying this model, Melinda will have been able to establish what the origin of the conflict is and perhaps the best way to handle as the first step. This is important for Melinda as it will have guided her to consider the various options that were available for resolving the stalemate. However, as provided in the case, the fear of Deborah is founded by the fact that Melinda will exercise the powers provided by in her position to undermine her and even dictate what should be done. Power and leadership are two common concepts in the workplace and they exist in a team where the members have different interests. In a situation where power exercised, one party tends to use her capacity to influence the behavior of another person. According to Follet (2005), in most cases power exercised is not in line with the organizational goals objectives which leadership does. Given the situation at hand, Melinda was therefore obligated to explain to every member of her team including Deborah that her responsibility is to help the organization to realize its goals and objectives and that each member is depended on one another. This is important in ensuring that members are free to interact and in the process can easily iron out their differences with ease. 3. ls organizational change more stressful for team members or team leaders? Identify the possible stressors for organizational members experiencing change in the workplace as depicted in the case study. Organisational change is stressful both for the team leaders and the team members. However, stress is more with the team leaders as opposed to the rest of the team members. This is clear from the HIA Company case. For instance despite the fact the Melinda has been promoted she is expected to be in charge of new roles. Setting team policies and getting the team members to agree with her is a big challenge given the different mindset of the team members. In the case, Melinda is expected to deal with divergent opinions, behaviors and personalities which are likely to determine the individual level of job satisfaction and performance. This is the case because to ensure organizational effectiveness, the team leader is expected is expected to nurture those behaviors that are in line with the organizational values, goals and objectives (Harris et al 2005). However, in most cases what is likely to state of events, is poor cooperation and lack of support of the team members. This is what happens when Deborah tries to rally every member of the team against Melinda to portray as someone who is not competent and experienced enough to lead the team. In such a case, Deborah is trying to resist change in order to continue with the normal way of operating that is comfortable for her. From the company case, there are a number of stresses that the members of the organization are experiencing as a result of the change that is taking place. First, the members of the team will work under a new structure with different work policies. This means that the employees will be introduced to new roles which they have to work extra harder in order to understand and get used to. This could probably affect the morale to work and such they will experience a lot of stress in trying to adapt to the new roles. Further, there is also the aspect of time. With the new change, the members of the team were expected to work for longer hours in order to help put everything in order and in line with the new structure. This will also be a stress factor in the sense that the members will have to sacrifice part of their time to do their office work. This is a stress factor in the sense that it will deny them the opportunity to attend to personal life issues such as family and children. This is because of the increased workload in the office (Bisel & Keyton 2007). 4. How might the situation be influenced by organizational for national-level culture? At the national level there are five dimensions of culture in existence as identified by Geert et al (2010). The five dimensions of culture include: individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, time orientation and indulgence. According to Harris et al (2005), a widely travelled individual is likely to come across different cultures, some of which can be adapted and others having no any impact in an individual. Through the process of interacting with other cultures, an individual is able to see issues from a different perspective as opposed to his local culture. In an event this happens with different members of the society, the chances are likely that they will compare the different cultures and form an opinion on what they consider best for them. In an organizational level, this is likely to influence the way individuals lead their teams, values and perspective on different issues. This could be a true case with HIA. This is because in their daily life and interaction with the national culture, there is a high possibility that the national culture and in particular the practice in other organization might have its way into HIA. If this happens, then the employees are more likely to evaluate the national culture in different ways and benchmark it accordingly in a way that it should meet their expectations (Kopelman et al 2008). For instance, at the national the culture might be that time is not of so much essence. If this is the case then, the staff in the organization is more likely to demonstrate the behavior that does not attach so much value as in the case of Deborah. Deborah is one employee who does not care so much about her time at work but perhaps in her personal life and other commitments. This could be an escalated practice across different organizations nationally. In a situation this is the case, then it will be absolutely very difficult for the team leader to instill different behaviors to individuals apart from what is shown in response to time management (Bowen 2008). Another aspect of culture that could be in the national platform and that could have influenced the behavior witnessed in the company, is the aspect individualism. This could be explained by the fact that Deborah wanted to be allowed to continue with her culture of spending part of the office time to attend to personal matters without any interference. This could also beat the element of having a team and a team leader for that matter as every individual would like to be left to do her work independently (Melody et al 2009). Conclusion In this discussion, four questions have been addressed in reference to the case of Housing Industry Association (HIA). First, the issues that trigger negative reactions to leaders of the team have been discussed, ways of solving conflicts, managing change related stress and finally, how the national culture can influence organizational behavior and leadership. In general, what is clear from this analysis is that change management in an organization is a delicate thing that requires careful handling. References Bisel, R. S., & Keyton, J. (2007). Unobtrusive control in a leadership organization: Integrating control and resistance. Western Journal of Communication, 71 (2), 136-159. Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Bowen, S. (2008). Beyond self-assessment: Assessing organizational cultural responsiveness. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 15 (1), 9-15. Follet, M. P. (2005). The giving of orders. In J. M. Shafritz, J. S. Ott, & Y. S. Jang, Classics of Organizational Theory 6th ed., pp. 152-157). 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