Organizational Behavior tools

Part II

2014-06-13

Therefore, it is likely to have more pleasant work environments with managers having
good interpersonal skills, which also makes it easier to recruit and retain qualified personnel.
Organizational behavior helps not only to learn how to act and fit in among the
personnel within an organization, but also to evolve skills of influencing, motivating and
leading in an organization. In the first classes of this course I learned a lot about my personal
abilities which helped me choose my major and the career I want to proceed in. In the remain
classes I had the opportunity to gain competences that showed me the type of organization I
would like to work in. I'm planning to get MBA in accounting and get a job position in a large
company.
There are many concepts of human behavior that allowed me to take this decision of
working in a large company.
To start, Work motivation is defined as the composition of energies that have a
specific direction with a certain degree of intensity in terms of effort that an employee will
dedicate to work. There are different of motivation theories such as Maslow's basic needs of
human beings in a pyramid with five stages: physiological needs, safety, social needs, selfesteem, self-actualization, the need motivates as it is not satisfied. Moreover, for Alderfer
(livelihood needs, sociability, growth) qualifies the hierarchy of needs of Maslow: we can try
to meet several needs at once, a frustrated need can be abandoned .Also, Herzberg identifies
factors of satisfaction (the work itself, responsibility, reporting relationships) and factors of
dissatisfaction (the conditions and organization of work, salary, relationships with colleagues.
. . ).Mac McClelland identifies three basic needs (power, achievement, affiliation) that are
more or less important to different people. All of these theories lead to one conclusion that
work motivations differ from a person to another and they are considered as the reasons that
keeps them working and doing their best in order to achieve their goals. For me, what will

motivate me in my future work is the working conditions, having peaceful and friendly
relations with my coworkers and have the satisfaction of excelling at my job and performing
my tasks efficiently.
Communication concept is defined as a bilateral process of exchange and
understanding of information between two or more individuals or groups. (Exchange:
transmitter transmits to a receiver; understanding: info must have meaning to the receiver).
There is a formal communication network which considers all networks officially established
during the structuring of the organization; its goal is to channel the movement of information
within the company and informal network of communication that allows better coordination
between the various businesses units of the same hierarchical level, or person located at
different levels with no authority link. In order to have effective communication, we need to
avoid misunderstanding, information overload, control our voice tone and body language.
Another important concept is decision making, we want to believe that our decisions
reflect rational organizational behavior. The process of rational decision making involves
choosing criteria, evaluate, examine several solutions and retain the best. In fact, we also
suffer prejudice, bias, not to mention cultural differences. Although, group decision making
can be more helpful due to information sharing, feeling part of the group and employee
accept the decision when they are part of it, it could create problems of conflict, difficulties in
understanding one another. So, we must learn to tolerate each other ideas and give everybody
a chance to participate in decision making. According to emotion-based decision making test,
I tend to use balance of logic and emotion when making decisions. I must work on using facts
and logic more than depending on my intuition.
When it comes to influence is having the ability to affect and guide a group of people
even if this person doesn't have the authority or the power. Employees that can impact others

need to know how to use influence tactics on each person differently. Personally, I have this
ability to influence but I need to develop it more because it would make it easier for me to
work within a group, deliver my ideas to them and convince them with y thoughts.
In an organization the word conflict generally applies to blocking normal mechanisms
of decision-making so that an individual or group has difficulty making the choice of an
action. Conflicts can be described in many ways depending on the actors involved (their
number, age, hierarchical position ...), the reason of conflict (advantage, power ...). Conflict
can be dysfunctional or constructive, there are many sources of conflicts but what matters is
to know how to deal with this conflict. One of the ways is negotiation which is the
management of conflict; it is a solution to reconcile the opposing points of views. I believe
that every member of the organization need to respect and tolerate the ideas of others, also try
to compromise and find a common solution in favor of the organization.
Furthermore, the group is basically a collection of small individuals in situations of
face-to-face that interact to achieve a task or to meet common goals. More homogeneous the
group is, the more people will understand each other, fast decisions taken by a team with
members of types very similar will be more easily and in less time; by against, there is a
greater risk of error, because the points of view will be misrepresented. In my opinion
working as team is more productive than working individually, so within an organization
people have to be able to work with each other on good terms and avoid conflicts. I am
person that prefer working in a group because it gives me the chance to learn more and share
my ideas. In addition, I have a huge understanding of others emotions and I can use this to
work with them efficiently.
An organizational leader is an individual who influences the behavior, attitudes, and
employee performance to achieve organizational goals. Power can be attributed to a person,

which will be placed in a position of authority (formal) or result from specific person
characteristics, unrelated to its hierarchical position (informal). A leader is effective as it
helps employees to work in accordance with organizational objectives and where it gives
them a sense of immediate satisfaction, suggesting the behavior most likely to give him the
desired rewards. I would like to work in a position where I can be a leader because I have the
ability to understand people's emotions, accept different ideas and the diversity of cultures.
Also, with my confidence, the skill to motivate, divide the tasks according to each person's
capacity and the desire to work in a harmony and productive atmosphere.
The organizational structure can be defined as the way the authority is considered
through the relationships of the hierarchy, the way activities are specified and distributed and
yet how communication systems within organizations are established. Organizational
structure should be well defined and anchored in a realistic framework, taking into account
the parameters of the company. The steps of creating an organizational structure are:
* Establish a classification of possible tasks.
* Organizing these tasks in departments with an effective line of communication
between staff and management.
* Determine the type of personnel required to perform each task.
* Establish the function of each task and how it will be linked to income generation
within the company.
It exists many types of organizational structures, however according to the test I
prefer stable, rule-driven, hierarchical, and bureaucratic organizations and would be most
comfortable in a more mechanistic organization. Also, I feel frustrated in an organization that
is flatter, more flexible, and more innovative which is true I have always wanted to work in a
such organization.

Much is said about culture and we begin to realize that a lot of mergers and
acquisitions failed for cultural reasons while on paper, it promised the greatest success. The
culture is what makes each business unique. Two companies can follow the same strategy,
have the same structures, use the same management techniques, however, have their own
culture and that is what may be the cause of success and a failure of one of them. Interest for
an organization to focus on this dimension is firstly to allow a better understanding of their
own culture in order to reorganize the resources of the organization function and thus achieve
optimal overall performance (financial, human, environmental, etc...).The advent of
computers gives birth to a new hybrid culture and the emergence of an artificial person. The
communication technology invades our organizations and thereby changes positively and
negatively the ways of thinking, perception and action with the aim of improving
productivity. So, we must find a balance between the technological dimension and the human
dimension of the organization and to prevent the employee feel more identified with the
organization that makes him sick. I have learned that before engaging with an organization I
need to find out if my personal values, beliefs and goals fit with the organization's.
The course of organizational behavior helped me to figure out the type of organization
I would like to work at which is large company because a promotion in a large company does
not have the same flavor that rise in rank in a small business. Also, big difference in pay,
responsibility and visibility which are considered as important motivations for me.
Additionally, being part of a team who has completed major projects is an invaluable
opportunity for early career, this will help me develop my skills and have more experience.
Plus, I can change job positions more often. Moreover, in a large company there are many
employees with different backgrounds and cultures which will let me apply my competencies
and evolve.