Introduction:
In today’s fast paced business environment, organizations have recognized how crucial organizational behavior is for employee performance and effectiveness. Sounds pretty interesting right? Let us learn more about organizational behavior and how it affects you as a manager.
Organizational behavior encompasses the study of how an individual working in an organization interacts, collaborates, forms a group and behaves. This drastically helps with employee retention, their performance and their effectiveness. It explores the dynamics of work-place via studying motivation, inspiration, effectiveness and thought processes. In this blog, we will delve into the fascinating realm of organizational behavior, understanding its key components, and exploring strategies to foster a positive and productive work environment.
Definition:
Organizational behavior deals with studies on employee behavior regarding interactions, collaborations and group dynamics in an organization and other aspects of individual mindsets including inspiration, thought process and motivation. It looks after how employees with different backgrounds, departments or expertise interact and behave. These academic studies of help in understanding operation dynamics of an organization. This helps to structure a company with an effective resource allocation.
The Hawthorne Effect:
This is the best possible experiment done by a psychologist in 1920 with interesting results. The experiment conducted in the workplace concluded that the employees improved the quality of work simply because they were the subjects of an experiment. There was no change in experiment parameters or stimulus. People started improving their behavior only because they were being studied or evaluated. This is how studies on organizational behaviors are conducted and concluded with fascinating results.
Core components of organizational behavior:
Organizational behavior has to cope up with several factors in order to understand the core of a company. This involves considering different parts or components of it. Let us find out about this
Individuals:
Individuals of a company are the soul of organizational behavior because they are the main element of interaction. Here, individuals are not only referred to as the company employees but also the clients, providers, competitors etc. The way they react and interact with each other is crucial in organizational behavior studies.
Company structure:
It is important to have a well structured company in order to foster an effective work space. The manager depends on employees for the tasks and these employees further depend on labor allocations. These hierarchies need to be well maintained in order to complete the task efficiently. Chaotic structure can lead to misinterpretations, arguments, and lack of supervision.
Technical support:
Technology advancement helps more than expected. Increased cost cutting, more accuracy, more effective and more organized form of work can be presented with the help of these technologies. Organizations advance exponentially via discovery or manufacturing of modern technologies which can be as simple as Excel sheets or as complicated as medical tech-supports like MRI or EEG.
Environment:
Workplace environment matters more than anything as it is directly linked with job satisfaction, employee retention and of course, productivity and effectiveness. Organizations encourage environments like :
– Demand and supply
– Vanquishing rivals and significant increase in allies
– Abiding by norms, guidelines and company policies strictly
Also Read: Conflict Resolution – Effective Strategies from Conflicts to Collaboration
Organizational behavior study methods:
It can be studied through collection of data on work experience of the employees. These can be surveys, graphs or even written feedback. Most common way of data collection is survey using Likert scale. Here each employee is given a set of exactly the same questions and the variety of responses are studied to understand internal and external dynamics. Main objective of these surveys is to predict and interpret the perspectives, point of view, motivation, efficiency and even the difficulties and milestones faced by the employees.
Comparing quantitative data on attitude and perception on a particular subject enables you to understand and academically study the organizational behavior. Data collections on expertise, backgrounds, leadership skills, teamwork skills or any other relevant subjects makes the organizational behavior studies more precise and accurate. In depth case studies are also conducted with various stimulations and parameters in order to predict the attitude, behavior, decision-making and problem solving mindsets of the employees.
Examples of organizational behavior:
Fascinating conclusions of organizational behavior studies often helps in actually predicting future milestones and alternatives to deal with these difficulties. Academic business culture studies can exactly determine how the employee interactions helps or hinders the company effectiveness. Some examples of these organizational behavior studies are:
Personality:
The personality of an individual affects the workplace directly. A positive attitude towards the work with a willingness to learn and advance can really help companies to grow and move mountains. Using organizational behavior, a company can predict the compatibility of the candidates towards the company requirements. This helps with better task allocation and better employee force. This helps the company to hire the best fits for the company who can do a better job with better field experience.
Leadership :
Leadership is the ability to guide the employees in a particular direction, give them relevant suggestions and feedback, and mold their results to meet the shared goals eventually tasting success. Tea work in a company is a no- brainer. But this team has to be supervised properly in order to eliminate all the conflicts and arguments and to reach a mutual conclusion which benefits the company as a whole more than it benefits the individuals.
Power and authority :
A proper hierarchy helps the individual to focus more on the job as all are interdependent in a hierarchical system. Organizational behavior helps to understand the effective and relevant interactions between the employees and higher-ups. These include the way the employees inculcate the feedback given by the manager, following proper instructions given by seniors or passing the messages or allocating tasks to the juniors of the company.
Also Read: Workplace Ethics – An Ultimate Guide
Levels of organizational behavior:
There are three levels of organizational behavior which are differently studied and interpreted.
Individual level –
Individual behavior lies at the core of it, as it directly influences overall performance and organizational outcomes. This category deals with the communications exchange between individuals at the same or different levels of the organization. Here, factors like Personality and Perception, Motivation and Job Satisfaction, Attitudes and Emotions and Perception of Leadership are studied.
Group level –
Groups and teams form the fabric of such behavior. This includes the interactions between different teams or departments who eventually share common objectives. Studies like communication and collaboration, group cohesion and dynamics are studied in this category. decision making and conflict resolution are also a big component of organizational behavior at the group level in order to plant good relations.
Organization level –
This study involves how a company emerges and evolves in the marketplace eventually cornering the market. Interactions between rivals and allies are promoted and studied in this category. This helps to determine the strategic thinking of a company as a whole to advance and succeed. Healthy working environment, decision making skills, communication skills are small yet key components of this category.
Conclusion:
Organizational behavior is a fascinating field that explores and interprets the complexities of individual behavior, group dynamics, and the powerful influence of organizational culture. By understanding and fostering positive organizational behavior, organizations can unleash the full potential of their employees, increase productivity, and achieve long-term success. Investing in the development of individuals, fostering effective teamwork, and cultivating a supportive and values-driven culture are key ingredients for creating a trustworthy and successful organization.
With the right strategies and a commitment to continuous improvement, organizations can unlock the power of organizational behavior and create a workplace where people flourish and contribute their best via relevant presentable inputs and different perspectives.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Organizational behavior explores how individuals and groups behave within an organization and it’s crucial because it helps understand employee motivation, teamwork, and overall workplace dynamics.
It can enhance employee engagement and motivation, leading to increased productivity, effective teamwork, and improved overall performance if the behavior is positive.
Leadership can significantly influence the behavior and attitudes of employees. Good effective leadership fosters a positive organizational culture, enhancing cooperation and innovation among the employees.
Positive organizational behavior does certainly contribute to job satisfaction, which leads to higher employee retention rates. Satisfied employees are more likely to stay and contribute positively to the output of an organization.
Organizational behavior shapes organizational culture as it influences how employees interact, collaborate, and align with the values and norms of an organization, ultimately defining the organization’s culture.