Organizational behavior: communication, motivation and organizational change

Organizational behavior refers knowledge assessment and application regarding how individual, people as well as groups within organizations act (Robbins, 2004). This is made possible via the application of a system approach of an organization in question. What this means is that the relationship between an organization and its people gets interpreted from the perspectives of an individual, an organization, and even an entire social system (Baron & Greenberg, 2008).

As can be seen, the concept of organizational behavior is multifaceted, and covers various elements. Nevertheless, it is the intention of this essay to explore the issues of communication, motivation and organizational change, as they relate to organizational behavior. In addition, there are other elements that impacts on organizational behavior, such leadership within an organization, and these shall also be explored.

For purposes of this essay, this writer has sought to include a relevant example of organizational behavior, from the perspective of a small accountancy firm where the writer worked as a volunteer for six months. This is with a view to giving the essay a practical approach of how the issue of communication, motivation and organization change impact on organizations. Ultimately, it is the intention of this essay to provide useful websites and other sources that have exhaustively dwelt on the three critical issues of communication, organizational change and motivation.

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Organization behavior Organization behavior is a term that appears to lay more emphasis on the issues of attitude of employees or management in an organization, the existing interrelationship between on the one hand, the employees and on the other hand, a number of different groups within an organization (Robbins, 2004). This also involves the interaction and association between the management and the employees of an organization. As can be seen, organization behavior is a vital element within an organization.

In terms of defining, the term organization behavior refers to the behavior and attitudes of not just individuals but groups of individuals that may be working at a given company or organization in question (Knoster, Villa & Thousand, 2001). On a border perceptive, organization behavior describes the study directed at the setting of an organization, along with the existing interface between such an organization and the behavior of the humans that are to be found in an organization.

Organization behavior, from the context of a manager, helps them to implement novel ideas, in order that the various teams in an organization may attain success (Kocher, 2006). By way of being acquitted with the various concepts and terms that defines organization behavior, a manager to an organization is then best placed to conquer some of the prevalent challenges that could be facing their organization.

This way, the management of such an organization, in addition to its employee, is better able to adapt to different environments at their place of work. Communication According to Manning (1992), organisational communication may be described as information and instruction exchange, leading to an effective functioning of such an organisation. This also means that the employees of such an organisation often gets informed through a proper channel, in as far as the various organisation developments are concerned.

Not only does effective organisation communication take into account the different types of information, but also the different channels that such a communication may be passed throng, in addition to the various means that an organisation may opt to choose, as a way of passing the desired information (Manning, 1992). Communication may therefore be viewed as more of a social process (Baker, 2002). In the event that the employees of an organization are bale to enjoy an open communication process with their managers, then such employees often feel valued, seeing that the management is ready to listen to their thoughts and problems.

It is only through an open communication process that an organization may be able to generate new ideas. It is important to note that employees of an organization are often armed with valuable ideas that could help an organization attain its goals, but when such employees are not given an avenue through which they can channel their ideas, than they are of no use. With regard to the organization for which this writer had been a volunteer, there were a number of impediments to the communication process in that organization, and this writer did not fail to identify them.

One of these problems was that the supervisor to the various volunteers to this organization, failed to maintain an up-to-date schedule in terms of job allocation. This means that often times, a number of projects to be accomplished would not be ready for the volunteers, meaning that they could not be commenced within the time slotted. Importance of effective communication to a practicing manager For the most part, managers in organization spend a majority of their times communicating, mostly with their junior staff but occasionally, with the management teams of such an organization.

As such, effective communicating in an organization becomes a key factor (Robbins, 2004). It is only through an effective communication channel that such organization processes as planning, leading, organizing, controlling and directing may be achieved. When a manager inculcates good communication skills into the members of their organization, and when they lead by examples, as effective communication, then conflicts in organization shall be seen to reduce (Baker, 2002).

For example, at the volunteer organization that this writer worked for, the shift manager, who was quite eloquent in his communication, always ensured that the position of the organization was relied to his employees. In addition, he encouraged the development of dialogue amongst the employees. As a result, incidences of misunderstanding were usually reduced to a bare minimum and whenever they occurred, they almost always got solved amicably. At the workplace, one of the tasks that proves quite difficult to accomplish is to determine, in the case of a manager, how messages that are conflicting ought to be addressed (Baron & Greenberg, 2008).

Nevertheless, a good manager will heave visualized such a scenario beforehand, meaning that he/she shall always be on the guard throughout their time in an organization to see to it that such situations are contained before they get out of hand, and that the goals and objectives of the organization gets communicated to all the subordinate employees. In addition, a good manager should ensure that such goals and objectives are well understood, then followed by the various employees of such an organization.

If at all an organization is to experience growth and prosperity, there is a need to place emphasis on good communication processes. Effective communication in an organization assists the management of such an organization in arriving at effective decisions (Robbins, 2004). This is because in the absence of accurate and timely information, it becomes a bit hard to formulate any kind of organization decision. Secondly, effective communication is necessary, for the management of an organization to coordinate the various teams, department and groups in such an organization.

For example, effective organization communication ensures that the various departments of an organization, say, production, marketing and administration are aware what each one of them is doing. This way, such an organization may be in a position to arrive at quick and effective decisions, unlike one whereby the communication process is in disarray. Another point worth pondering over is the fact that individual within an organization derive motivation through a communication process, such as when the manager of an organization by way of mouth thanks the various teams in an organization for a job well done (Knoster et al, 2001).

A case in point is the volunteer organization that this writer worked with. Every start of the week, the shift manager would assemble the different teams together, and thank them for what they were able to accomplish the previous week, in addition to his desire to have the tams doing better than the pervious week. Clearly, this is an indication of how effective communication may play a significant role in motivating the employees. While the employees at the volunteer organization never used to draw a salary, they only had their lunch catered for, in addition to a reimbursement of travel allowances, payable at the end of the week.

Nevertheless, money was not the only motivation, as the appreciation by the organization proved to be just as good. Organization change In an organization, significant changes are bound to occur, such as when a company decides to alter its overall success strategy, incorporate extra practice section, or remove others, in addition to a desire for such an organization to change the way in which it has been accomplishing its operations previously. Moreover, organization change could also take place at such a time as when an organization has undergone through a number of operation cycles (Baron & Greenberg, 2008).

For these and more reasons, it is important to appreciate that change is a necessity; if at all organizations are to develop. Again, the issue of communication becomes critical, in a case whereby the organization is undergoing a phase of change. Without effective communication, there might luck coordinated efforts amongst the various departments in an organization, meaning that the employees, for example, may feel that they were never consulted or briefed about a certain event within the organization that may lead to organization change. As such, employees may feel unappreciated.

It is therefore the responsibility of the managers of organizations to communication any change decisions to their employees in a timely manner, to avert possible resistance (Knoster et al, 2001). Furthermore, it is inherent in the jobs of both leader and managers in organizations to ensure that they strive towards the attainment of significant and successful change (Robbins, 2004). Of course, they are leaders and managers that work remarkably well as change drivers in organizations, but there are also those that fail to accomplish changes in a desirable manner.

At this point, it is worth of note that for the attainment of successful changes within an organization, this is not an easy undertaking, as it involves the alteration of the habits of individuals and by extension the behavior of an organization. For a broader comprehension of organization change, in addition to succeeding in the attainment of the same, an agent of change within an organization is required to be broadly conversant with the scope to which the change effort may go.

This also entails a comprehension of the basic structures and systems that are a characteristic of the organization for which such a change is meant to be applied at, not to mention their typical roles and terms (Baron & Greenberg, 2008). Furthermore, it is also a requirement that is organizations are to successfully accomplish change, then the agents of change is such an organization needs to understand the management and leadership of the organization in question.

Motivation Motivation is such a ‘powerful driving force’ within organizations that its status could mean the difference in such an organization, between failure and success (Hebb, 2003). Managers are often called upon to appreciate a need to have their workforce motivated. Motivation could either be internal (for example, an individual’s thoughts) or external (from others). For this reason, all employees may not be motivated in similar ways.

Inspiration has been identified as a vital motivation source (Anderson, & Sinangil, 2001), so that in the absence of inspiration in the kind of work that an employee may be undertaking, it then follows that the motivations levels fro such an employees may also be low. Managers should make it a point to set targets that with the help of their employees, will lead to an enhanced performance of an organization. Managers may also motivate their workforce by the provision of feedback to their employees, in addition to an appreciation of the tasks and activities that such employees accomplishes, as and when it is deemed appropriate.

This is because as a manager, the main responsibility is to get rid of the bottlenecks and problems that your employees could be encountering, with a view to assisting them in succeeding (Koch, 2006). For example, managers could positively motivate their employees by giving the time off, praise by words of mouth, salary increments, or a promotion. At the small organization where this writer worked briefly, the shift manager would often randomly award a day off to those volunteer employees who have exemplary performed their tasks the previous week. In addition, such employees would have their allowances for the day off doubled.

This helped improve performance, as each employee sought to be the best, knowing that they would not only be praised, but also enjoy extra allowances. At other times, bad behavior and performance may not be uncommon in organizations, and these may result in negative results (Anderson, & Sinangil, 2001). Not only are they a handicap to the attainment of set objectives, but they also reflect negatively on the image of an organization. It is therefore the responsibility of a manager to identify such negative behavior, and punish the involved employees.

However, the punishment meted out to the employees should be with a view to correcting the errors committed and not ad a demoralizing factor. Within organizations, managers are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that various activities are accomplished through the employees of such an organization. However, without the proper exercising of motivation to such employees, then the job of a manager may prove to be quite a difficult one, meaning that the objectives ands goals of an organization may not be met (Baron & Greenberg, 2008).

This is because for the accomplishment of tasks and various activities, performance becomes a key element. Performance is often determined in part by motivation, coupled with the ability to accomplish a given task at hand. Whereas the ability to accomplish tasks and therefore improve on performance is based on experience, education as well as training, and therefore its improvement could either be a long or slow process, motivation, on the other hand, could be attained fairly quickly (Baron & Greenberg, 2008).

How fast this may be attained rests with the manager of an organization, through an exploration of the various options that they could apply. There are a number of strategies that managers of organizations may employ to motivate their employees. These includes effective punishment and discipline, positive reinforcement, a fair treatment of the employees, a satisfaction of the needs of the employees, job restructurings, setting of goals related to the job in question, an the establishment of a reward system, on the basis of job performance (Koch, 2006).

In a sense, motivation seeks to manipulate and reduce the gap that exists between the performance of individual and the goals and objective of an organization (Robbins, 2004). For this to happen, managers have to employ the aforementioned strategies, as bait to the employees. As such, motivation could be regarded as an inducement of a people in certain ways towards the attainment of set objectives or goals (Hebb, 2003). Such goals and objectives are often established by the motivator.

Nevertheless, there is a need to ensure that the set objectives and goals are in line with the policies of the organization setting them. In addition, it is important to ensure that the motivational system gets tailored to suit the situation at hand that requires to be addressed, and in accordance with the overall mission of an organization (Anderson & Sinangil, 2001). Leadership, organization behavior and motivation The issue of leadership, from the perspective of organizational behavior, is one that requires to be handled with a lot of seriousness.

This is because changes within organizations often may lead to challenges and conflict, and it is important that the leaders of an organization are ready and capable to handle the daily challenges in organizations (Koch, 2006). As such, leaders need to be armed with resources and strengths to handle change. Besides, leaders require being in possession of leadership qualities, in addition to being inspirational to others. Leadership, from the context of organizational behavior, plays a crucial role in the effective management of work in an organization (Baron & Greenberg, 2008).

Many are the times when leaders in organizations have had to undertake certain tasks with the hope of positively transforming the various groups that work within their organization, in addition to assisting the employees accomplish their activities, as well as facilitate in the assembly of various teams in an organization. By acquainting themselves with the life of an organization, leaders not only increase their confidence, but also their experience, thereby ensuring that they make purposeful decisions.

There is a need for effective and open communication between the employees of an organization and the leaders, seeing that bottlenecks and barriers are very much a part of the organization (Robbins, 2004). As such, leaders are charged with the responsibility of recognizing these, and coming up with strategies that may result in the organization overcoming these. From the perspective of organization behavior, there is more to leadership than reason and logic (Koch, 2006).

To a certain extent, a true leader in an organization should be one who is committed to motivating their people so that they attain the bets, in the process bringing out the best in themselves. Conclusion Organizational behavior refers to the manner in which individual, or groups of individual interact with the organization for which the work for. There are several elements that determine the nature of this relations ship, one of which is the communication process in an organization (Baron & Greenberg, 2008). An effective communication process is necessary for proper tasks and decision making.

In addition, motivation impacts on organization behavior, by way of determining the performance of the employees and by extension, that of the company (Baker, 2002). It is therefore the role of the managers to ensure that employees are properly motivated. Furthermore, organization change shall also affect the organizational behavior of such a company, seeing that change often calls for an alteration of the habit of individuals. A good manager is the one who ensures that there is a balance between all of these elements, in addition to the possession of leadership qualities to steer their organization to greater heights.

References Anderson, N. , & Sinangil, H. K. (2001). Handbook of industrial, work and organizational motivation. London: Sage. Baker, K. A (2002). “Organizational communication”. August 6. Available at: http://209. 85. 229. 132/search? q=cache:_qT36aHm3AMJ:www. au. af. mil/au/awc/awcgate/ doe/benchmark/ch13. pdf. Retrieved March 23, 2009. Baron, R. A. , & Greenberg, J. (2008). Behavior in organizations (9th edition). Pearson New Jersey: Education Inc. Hebb, D. O. (2003). The organization of behavior: a neuropsychological theory. London: Francis and Taylor Knoster, T. , Villa, R.

, & Thousand, J. (2000). A framework for thinking about systems change. In R. Villa & J. Thousand (Eds. ), Restructuring for caring and effective education: piercing the puzzle together. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. Koch, C. (2006). The New Science of Change. CIO Magazine, Sep 15, 2006. Available at: http://www. cio. com/archive/091506/change. html. Retrieved March 23, 2009. Manning, P. (1992). Organizational communication. New Jersey: Aldine Transaction. Robbins, S. P. (2004). Organizational behavior- Concepts, Controversies, Applications. (4th Ed). New York: Prentice Hall.

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