It is important for every manager of any particular organization to effectively identify and manage the various factors that may influence positive behaviors and conducts of employees within the organization. The manager is responsible for formulation, development and implementation of various strategies, policies and programs that may influence the behaviors of employees of the organization towards the attainment of organizational goals and objectives.
In my opinion, this process entails development of various skills that would persuade or manipulate behaviors and conducts of individuals as well as influencing the courses of actions taken by the employees. The manager thus requires well developed skills to impact desirable organizational behaviors within the organization.
The development of appropriate skills for organizational behavior implies adequate analysis of beliefs and values of the employees and the organization as well as implementation of various policies that would assist in improving the performance and productivity of the employees and overall performance of the entire organization. Effective management of organizational behavior would thus result into effective and efficient realization of organizational goals and objectives (McShane & Von, 2010).Moreover, the skills developed should focus on the goals and objectives that the organization aims at achieving. Such skills should be in line with the mission and vision of the organization.
Therefore, I would argue the manager must identify various areas in which he or she would require additional enhancement and development. Discussed below are the major areas that as a manager, I would like to explore further for development and better understanding in the context of organizational behavior.
Within the workplace, it is absolutely critical that certain skills are improved in order to make the organization more efficient and effective. While there are numerous skills that can always be improved upon, there are five in particular that should be specifically focused on. The first improvement area that I believe I need to work on deals with motivation. Management has a crucial role in motivating the workers underneath this position. Without motivation, production and efficiency can lag. I believe this is one of my deficiencies because I do not always inspire and motivate people to the extent that is really possible. Along with motivation, teamwork is a second improvement area that I would like to focus on because I have really never worked exceptionally well with others. In this aspect, I always like to be in charge and ensure that projects are run my way simply because I do not trust others to do it. As a result, I believe improving my teamwork skills would be helpful for my development, specifically relating to organizational behavior.
Thirdly, teams and creative problem solving is another skill that can use some improvement because I do not always come up with the best methods to overcome problems, especially within a team setting. In addition, leadership is a fourth improvement area that I should focus on because I do not always know the best ways to manage people in an effective manner. Lastly, ethics and power is my other improvement area because I feel there are many situations that can occur in a management position that are sometimes ambiguous and do not always have a clear right or wrong answer. As a result, my five improvement areas are motivation, teamwork, teams and creative problem solving, leadership, and ethics and power, which I am desperately looking to significantly improve.
Motivation
Motivation refers to the process of influencing and controlling the behavior of an individual towards a given direction (Hammer & Champy, 2008). It is the process of inducing desirable behavior in an individual by providing factors such as rewards, cash payments and recognition to influence the drive and desire to achieve something in another person. In my opinion, to motivate a person is to influence him or her to do the things that u desire. It entails increasing the desire to do things in another individual.
As a manger, I would be responsible for empowerment of employees to make sound decisions and take responsibilities and accountabilities for the outcomes of their actions. Motivation also would involve provision of support services to enable employees to effectively meet their work targets. In addition, motivation entails rewarding employees with outstanding performance within the organization, either through monetary rewards such as increased salary and bonuses or non-monetary rewards such as promotions, certificates and vocational trips.
In my opinion, motivation of employees is crucial because it generates and fire up the desire to achieve goals and objectives. Well motivated employees will often work hard and exhibit high levels of performance.
According to Agile Career Development, motivation has become increasingly important in the corporate structure. In order to maximize motivation among employees, there are several types of motivators that can be used regularly. For example, recognition is one form motivation that can be beneficial in making employees eager to perform well within the company. This recognition can be as simple as having an “employee of the month” award with little perks and benefits (Agile Career Development, 2009). However recognition is used within the company, it undoubtedly helps to propel motivation, which can never be too much.
Furthermore, other motivators include providing the chance for advancement and growth within the company. When there are many opportunities available for this type of advancement, this makes workers more motivated to work harder. This also adds an element of competition among workers who are competing for select spots in the company. The end result is that workers are competing against each other by improving their work to the best of their abilities. Thus, motivation is very present when advancement and growth are utilized. With advancement and growth can come increased salaries along with better job security (Agile Career Development, 2009). These are definitely important aspects of advancement and growth. By human nature, workers need a reason to worker harder and expend more time and energy. Through using advancement and growth within the company, this becomes a better way to motivate the majority of the workforce (Agile Career Development, 2009).
In addition, according to Accel-Team, there are a few basic strategies that can be implemented to improve worker motivation. Creating motivation within the work environment is crucial as it does improve the workforce. In order to accomplish this lofty goal, both positive and negative reinforcement can be used. Positive reinforcement is coupled with establishing high expectations within the working environment (Accel-Team, 2010). When positive reinforcement is used, this means there are rewards and benefits for employees that perform extraordinarily well. At the same time, those whose performances are lacking and are under par will not reap the same rewards. However, when using negative reinforcement, employees are disciplined and punished when they do not perform well (Accel-Team, 2010). This can have both its advantages and disadvantages depending on the extent to which it is used. For example, a working environment that routinely uses negative reinforcement can motivate workers to be doing their jobs well at all times (Accel-Team, 2010). However, it can also motivate employees just enough to do the minimum amount of work required. Companies looking for extraordinary performances by their employees may prefer to use positive reinforcement because this system of rewards and benefits can motivate people much more (Accel-Team, 2010).
There are other ways to instill motivation within the working environment as well. According to Life Success, providing consistent feedback and dialogue with employees is very important simply because this shows that management cares deeply about their work and contributions to the company (Life Success, 2010). With valuable and important feedback, employees will feel more motivated to increase their contribution and maximize their performance. However, Life Success suggests that before feedback is given, the goals and vision for them have to be clearly established. For instance, the mission of the organization and how that particular worker is to meet and align their work with the mission should be outlined (Life Success, 2010). Clear directions are essential, which really help to enable the workers to see the end goal and objective of their work.
There should also be consistent collaboration between employees as well as the supervisors. This is the best method for making a work environment the most productive and efficient possible. Furthermore, Life Success also suggests that good working relationships among all workers are needed (Life Success, 2010). According to this website, this will promote motivation within the working environment because it provides workers with the opportunity to share and consult their ideas with one another (Life Success, 2010). With feedback from their co-workers along with new ideas, this is a recipe for success.
From these three sources specifically relating to motivation in the workplace, a plan can be implemented to best improve motivation (Agile Career Development, 2009). Specifically, motivation can be increased in the working environment through using primarily positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement outweighs the benefits of negative reinforcement simply because it stimulates interest in the external rewards (Agile Career Development, 2009). Instead of creating a negative environment that is not always conducive to the best working performance, integrating positive reinforcement through higher salaries and opportunities for advancement. This appears to one of the most effective methods for creating motivation in the workplace, which is routinely deficient.
In addition, the plan to increase motivation will also include extending the relationship between the supervisor and the employee. This will include providing feedback on a regular basis to guide the employees to maximizing their performance. There should also be an increased dialogue between supervisors and employees in order to display that every contribution is truly valued within the workplace (Life Success, 2010). When employees feel that their contributions are valued, this will increase their work performance and ultimately benefit the company for the better. Ultimately, this plan will be effective for generating motivation in the work environment.
Teamwork
Effective team management is crucial and indispensable for working together towards attainment of organization goals and objectives. In my opinion, teamwork and proper management and coordination of duties and responsibilities amongst the team members facilitates high productivity. Teamwork also enables employees of the organization to quickly respond to changes and dynamisms within the workplace, for example, through teamwork, it easy to implement a new technology such as management information system (MIS) or development of new products.
Teamwork also motivates employees to work harder because duties and responsibilities are shared amongst them thus reduced workloads. Through teamwork, various innovative ideas are generated by different members of the team (Carter, 2011). This is because teams are usually composed of people from different professional backgrounds with diverse experiences and expertise. Consequently, a huge pool of useful ideas and business opportunities that may help the organization in achieving success is generated.
In my view, I would develop my teamwork management skills so that I would effectively build strong and intact teams within the organization. Strong team management skills often facilitate working together. This helps in improving effectiveness and efficiency of performance of employees. Moreover, teamwork encourages communication and personal interactions between the employees, thus increased chances of realizing organizational goals. For effective team management, I would build adequate trust as well as creating open and clear communication channels between the employees.
However, the greatest challenge would be creation of an attractive team that provides conducive working environment for all employees. Furthermore, since teams are made up of people from diversified backgrounds, such as cultural, economic and educational background, development of teamwork management skills would assist me in deal with issues relating to team management. In my opinion, working together as a team would help in building on the strengths and improving on the weaknesses of each team member.
Teams are undoubtedly important to any organization. Instead of having individuals working separately, individuals are now coming together within working environments. According to Pathways to Higher Education, there are three different types of tasks that teams have to accomplish. The first is production tasks which involves making something (Pathways to Higher Education, n.d.). Teams might have a project such as devising a fiscal plan for a company. The main idea behind the production task is that something is being made or devised. The second type of task that teams might be involved in deals with generating ideas (Pathways to Higher Education, n.d.). These tasks often are more creative and involve more abstract thinking. A prime example of this would be brainstorming an innovative idea to improve an aspect of a company. The third type is problem-solving tasks which involve devising plans for future actions and decisions (Pathways to Higher Education, n.d.). These can be often the most difficult types of teams depending on the problem that is currently be dealt with. As a result, teams must be ready to work together depending on the types of tasks that need to be accomplished. Teams should be willing to work together without having one team member being more active or vocal than the other.
Along with this source, Mark Chatfield’s website states that self-managed teams have also become very popular in working environments. With self-managed teams, all team members are in charge of themselves. They do not have a designated team leader or supervisor (Chatfield, n.d.). While this provides the team members with more freedom in the way that they perform their tasks, it also means that they have to take full responsibility for their success or failure. In addition, the team equally shares responsibility for the entire tasks. This means that every team member must work with each other and be dependent upon the other team members that they will employ their full effort into a task or project. Another part of this may involve a team member taking a leadership role (Chatfield, n.d.). Although this leader does not have the same obligations or responsibilities as a true manager, this rotation of leadership gives everyone the opportunity to help direct the task being worked upon by the team. Self-managed teams can be produce excellent results. When self-managed teams perform well, this undoubtedly will increase job satisfaction along with their self-esteem. Yet, this website cautions that although there are many benefits to self-managed teams, there are drawbacks if the self-managed team is not highly competent. It is not always the case that self-managed teams are the most competent and productive (Chatfield, n.d.). Consequently, companies should be somewhat wary for employing self-managed teams before fully incorporating this into the work environment.
According to Article Base, teams should carefully be devised. There should first be a contract that creates rules, goals, roles, and expectations (Article Base, 2009). This makes sure that every team member understands their obligation and responsibility to the team. There should be no surprises by any team member if all of the rules, goals, roles, and expectations have been properly laid out. It may be necessary for a team contract to be signed by all of the team members and subsequently have copies be distributed to the entire team. This holds team members responsible in case of any problem that may arise when working together as a team. Team rules can be as simple as everyone must provide input at all stages of the project or that every team member must complete his or her work in a timely manner (Article Base, 2009). With this established contract, team members are aware of their expectations as well as their group members. Due to this contract, this will prevent several problems from occurring because the contract clearly sets out what each team member must do.
One of the main reasons that teams fail is because people are unaware of their responsibilities. However, with a team contract, everyone is constantly informed as to their job as a team member. The norms that the contract establishes such as making sure that everything is typed as opposed to hand-written will be important to keeping the team together. Everything should be standardized in order to ensure that no matter task or project that is being undertaken by the team, everyone will be on board with their expectations.
From these sources, my plan from improving teamwork is to incorporate self-managed teams as much as possible. Workers should be already competent in their respective areas since they have been hired in the company. As a result, using self-managed teams will allow people to be more independent and at the same time more responsible for their work (Chatfield, n.d.). Self-managed teams give them the opportunity to feel valuable to their job and even make contributions that are extremely worthwhile (Chatfield, n.d.). Employers do not have to be worried about micromanaging their employees because in a self-managed team, the team members are all managing themselves as well as themselves. Furthermore, groups should be formed for problem-solving tasks since teams are usually successful in devising an important solution. With more team members working on the problem together, this makes it more likely that a sound plan will be devised by the team members.
Teams and Creative Problem Solving
Team building should encourage cooperation in finding solutions to various problems faced by the organization. Team members would generate various creative solutions to the numerous problems and challenges faced by the organization. This would help in quick decision making and problem solving, hence increased performance and accomplishment of organizational goals. Johns Gary asserts that effective teams require strong interpersonal relationships and interactions (2011).
Teamwork also assists in exploration of alternatives and business opportunities that may be available to the organization. Through teamwork, efforts are gathered together towards achievement of the organizational goals.
Furthermore, effective teamwork facilitates inspiration of employees as well as provision of suitable basis for brainstorming; hence employees can come up with various ways of tackling merging problems and challenges within the organization.
Teams and creative problem solving is an important skill that many workers need to improve because several are inexperienced in this particular area. When more people are involved in deciding on how to solve a problem, team members will all be dedicated to finding an appropriate solution. Furthermore, when there is more than just one person in the team, there will be more ideas spreading around and will likely lead to a better solution. With more heads involved in trying to solve the problem, this will inevitably create a better solution because team members can bring their variety of perspectives to the table. These are some of the benefits of utilizing creative problem solving with team members.
According to PSYSR, when teams are involved in problem solving, it is absolutely crucial not to engage in groupthink. By definition, groupthink is when teams make incorrect decisions due to group pressures due to “mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment” (PSYSR, n.d.). As a result, teams when engaging in creative problem solving need to be aware that they do not engage in this process. Signs of group think include stereotyped views of out-groups, self-censorship, and direct pressure on dissenters. It is important that during a problem when a team is assigned to devise a solution that every team member is able to share their ideas and perspectives (PSYSR, n.d.). In order to reach a quality solution, group pressures need to be eradicated from the team. If these pressures are not eliminated, this can cause an array of problems and lead to less creative solutions. These symptoms should be carefully monitored to ensure that groupthink does not occur within the work environment.
In addition, groupthink can be prevented from occurring by having a team member take on the role of a critical evaluator. This means that the critical evaluator will try to challenge and take a critical approach to any proposed solutions to a problem that any team member may suggest (PSYSR, n.d.). This role, akin to devil’s advocate, will be crucial to avoiding groupthink in an effective manner. Also, any leader in a team should try not to vocalize any of their preferences because this could sway other team members in one direction. Every team member should have the opportunity to state their proposed solutions, which again will be a great way to stop group think from occurring (PSYSR, n.d.).
Another effective way for teams to engage in effective problem solving in a creative manner is to first devise an effective plan (Flat World Knowledge, 2011). This plan does not have to extremely specific, but enough that there is guidance involved. It can also keep the team on task and establish deadlines to devise creative solutions to the problem. Furthermore, there should be a backup solution for more creative solutions. It is important that whenever teams engage in creative problem solving that they have an adequate backup plan in the unlikely event that an issue arises. The team should also critically examine this proposed solution and list any of the deficiencies and weaknesses that can be identified at this particular time.
Once again, when a comprehensive list has been devised, the team should be ready to include as many solid ideas and solutions as possible (Flat World Knowledge, 2011). Once the number of solutions has been devised by the team, they should be assorted according to how effective they will be for the current problem that they are fixed upon (Flat World Knowledge, 2011). After this, it is necessary to revise the solutions to correct any issues that could impede the solution from being effective (Flat World Knowledge, 2011).
The third source, BNET, advocates for organizational creativity (Silverthorne, 2010). First it is always important to have a team that is composed a variety of different members. These members should be as diverse as possible in order to ensure that the team can come up with the most creative solutions possible (Silverthorne, 2010). Within this team, sometimes not having a leader can be the most important part because team members will not be constrained by any leaders. When there are leaders or supervisors within the team setting, this can pose an obstacle to team members. Some members may feel daunted while others may try to get on the good side of the leader (Silverthorne, 2010). This displays how having no leader on a team while engaging in creative problem solving can be crucial. There should also be specific time available for each team member to work independently. This provides members time to think for themselves. However, it is just as important for the team members to reconvene and share these ideas in order to solve the current problem. This will facilitate creative problem solving for the teams and will likely result in an effective solution.
From these three sources, an effective plan can be devised to ensure that teams engage in creative problem solving. First, the work environment should be established in that groupthink does not occur. If any symptoms of groupthink are present, this should alarm all team members and ultimately result in the team being reorganized to fix this issue (PSYSR, n.d.). Second, teams should be established with no leaders to allow members to come up with creative solutions. Team members should not be impeded in their thinking or development of new and creative ideas (Silverthorne, 2010). Thirdly, the plan should include a diverse makeup of team members. Team members should not be homogenous because this would not lead to any creative decisions if everyone thinks alike (Flat World Knowledge, 2011). As a result, team members need to be heterogeneous and come from different backgrounds. Ultimately, this plan will be most effective in creating an adequate solution.
Other Areas for Skills Development
In addition to the above mentioned areas, I would also develop my skill in areas such as time management, effective communication and organizational cultures. In my view, proper time management would help managers in establishing and implementing organizational goals and objectives within the most appropriate time schedules. Time is a scarce and important resource that requires proper management. Similarly, effective communication is also equally vital in achievement of organizational goals. Communication refers to the exchange of useful information between two or more parties that is vital for decision making processes. For communication to be effective, various techniques and methods, media and channels should be used. Moreover, effective communication entails timely delivery of the message to the intended recipient so as to enhance its usefulness in decisional making processes.
From my part, it is important to improve communication between the manager and the employees. This requires deployment of clear and open communication channels within the organization. For effective communication between the manager and the employees, the manager must fully understand the fundamental factors that may influence the behaviors of employees, for example, the emotional needs of the employees, psychological status and reactions exhibited by every employee within the organization. I would further argue that improving effective communication would help in sharing information and ideas that are vital for the success of the organization, for instance, generation of innovative technological advancements. Effective communication also helps in building strong interpersonal relationships within the organization. Consequently, team working is facilitated.
Last but not least, development of skills in organization cultures would help a manger in understanding the norms or values of the organization. A comprehensive understanding of such norms is critical in management of operations of the organization, for instance, knowledge of values of the organization may assist the manager in effective execution of corporate social responsibility programs.
Summary
In conclusion, motivation, teamwork, teams and creative problem solving, leadership, and ethics and power are five improvement areas that I believe can be refined. There are many sources available that provide ample amounts of information concerning better and proper ways to improve in these areas. Improvement in these specific areas will definitely make the work environment more productive, efficient, effective, and ethical. Such outcomes will ultimately be better for everyone involved within the organizational structure from the employees to employer to even the customers. As a result, this will increase the optimal results desired by the organization.
In very short summary, this plan calls for increasing motivation through the use of positive reinforcement. This will make employees be rewarded and subsequently more motivated. In addition, a democratic form of leadership where leaders readily consult their team is the most effective style for leaders to use. Democracy typically works best in a work environment because everyone is able to provide their input. There should also be the occasional use of self-managed teams, which will allow people to be more independent and at the same time more responsible for their work. Along with this improvement, the plan should include a diverse makeup of team members. This will spur more creativity and new ideas when teams are working together. The final component of this plan is to implement ethical programs into the work setting. From this comprehensive plan, the organizational structure will be greatly improved now and into the future.
I would argue that it is important for organizational managers to acquire sufficient development skills in organizational behavior so that they may improve the productivity of their employees. This would also help managers of organizations in acquiring self growth and developments skills that can assist them in effective execution of managerial functions.