Organization Behavior Management and Organizational Behavior at Europcar Sydney International

My subject Management Organization

Management and Organizational Behavior at Europcar Sydney International

A manager is a person who is responsible to manage the work of his subordinates and ensure an effective running of business operations through planning, leading, organizing, and controlling (Koontz & Weihrich 2010). He may work individually or in teams to accomplish his assigned targets and achieve the organizational goals in a well-organized and efficient way (Saxena 2009). He also leads and motivates the organizational members through different motivational techniques so that they work with commitment and keep themselves directed towards the organization's mission and vision (Silverstein 2007). Being a leader, he is also dedicated with the responsibility of resolving conflicts and issues among his subordinates (Griffin & Moorehead 2012).

This paper presents an analysis of the Management and Organizational Behavior at Europcar Sydney International Counter -- one of the most competitive organizations in the car rental industry of the World (Europcar 2012). The paper answers the three most frequently asked questions on the role of a manager in an organization. The answers are based on an interview from a team leader at Europcar Sydney International while the discussion is made in the light of contemporary Management and Organizational Behavior theories and concepts.

Management AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AT EUROPCAR SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL COUNTER

How does a Manager do planning?

Planning is the most important function of Management (Robbins & Coulter 2006). A manager always has to define a course of action for his each task and responsibility so that he executes it effectively and within the given deadline and available organizational resources (Tripathi & Reddy 2006). As a manager has to do multiple tasks at one time, he must rank them according to their urgency level and significance for the organization (Silverstein 2007). The planning may be done for any time span; short and medium term plans are made more frequently than long-term plans. The manager not only plans his routine tasks but also keeps himself always ready for any urgent targets by the Board (Koontz & Weihrich 2010).

Apart from performing his job responsibilities and striving to achieve assigned targets, a manager always has some personal goals in mind. For example, what position he wants to achieve in the future, what career path he has to choose for professional growth, etc. (Robbins & Coulter 2006). These personal goals keep him motivated and committed towards giving the highest level of performance at the workplace (Silverstein 2007). A manager who plans his career path for the future is better able to explore the available opportunities within the organization and the industry (Saxena 2009).

At Europcar Sydney International, Rakesh Sohun performs a number of tasks for his team as a manager and team leader. He does planning for the routine tasks as well as for emergency targets. Routine tasks are done at their normal pace, but emergency targets may disrupt this routine and put the manager in hard pressures. To encounter this issue, Sohun carefully categorizes all the tasks according to their importance and urgency so that he first completes those tasks that are of utmost importance and cannot be postponed.

He communicates the urgency of each task to his team members and gives them directions on how to do them. To get the tasks done in an effective manner, Sohun assigns them according to the skills and competencies of each team member. It helps in ensure that each task is being done by the right person in the whole team (Griffin & Moorehead 2012). He has adopted a strategy to keep proper notes for all his tasks and responsibilities on each working day. Thus, he always keeps himself updated with the progress he has made in each task in any given point in time. Keeping notes for his tasks also helps him in maintaining a check and balance for his own performance over time. Rakesh Sohun makes plans for different time periods. His short-term plans generally fall within one year time span.

As far as his personal growth is concerned, Rakesh Sohun has his own plans in mind. He wants to become the Manager at Human Resource Department at Europcar Sydney International. To achieve this aim, he always tries to give his best performance at the workplace so that his work is appreciated and the path towards his professional growth gets paved. He carefully supervises the work of his followers and subordinates in order to ensure that they are on the right direction towards a specific...

The nature, complexity, significance, and allocated organizational resources for a goal determine whether the goal should be assigned at the Top, middle, or lower management level (Hill & McShane 2008). However, there are always two things common in every goal. First, the allocated amount of financial resources for a specific goal; and second, the limited time frame within which the responsible staff has to achieve that goal (Koontz & Weihrich 2010).
Once a goal is assigned to a manager, he has to strategize how he will be able to achieve it in the best possible way (Robbins & Coulter 2006). First of all, he breaks up the goal into a number of small goals or targets. Then, he assigns these small targets to all his team members according to their job responsibilities and interests. Afterwards, he gives them directions on how to proceed with the targets and achieve them within the assigned time and financial capital (Hill & McShane 2008).

A manager may also arrange brainstorming sessions for his team members where they can give their opinion and recommendations on the new targets (Robbins, Judge, & Sanghi 2007). Through these brainstorming sessions, the manager may come up with some new idea which was not in his mind before. Moreover, a manager has to regularly check the progress each team member has made since the sub-target was assigned to him (Hill & McShane 2008). It helps the manager in measuring the performance of each team member over time (Hellriegel & Slocum 2007).

There may be some other factors and limitations that may put hurdles in the accomplishment of targets. Therefore, a manager must also keep an eye on the internal and external business environment and make strategies to encounter them before they affect the business operations (Robbins & Coulter 2006). These factors and limitations include lack of adequate staff, non-availability of material, sudden break out of strikes, a change in government behavior, and the like (Saxena 2009). A manager has to carefully analyze their impact on his specific target and strategize to find alternative ways in case he is unable to proceed with the pre-defined roadmap (Daft 2010).

At Europcar Sydney International, managers are assigned individual goals to accomplish within a specific time period. After getting a target or goal assigned, each manager establishes his teams from within the organization to work on that goal and achieve it in an effective and efficient way. The team leader, Sohun gives directions to the team members before they proceed with their sub-targets.

The biggest issue he faces in the achievement of his goals is the training and development of team members before assigning them any new targets. However, he always finds his team members and newly recruited staff cooperative and keen to learn. It makes the whole training and development process easier for him; thus, he achieves his goals in the same way as was expected by the Top Management (Hill & McShane 2008).

How does a manager deal with conflicts and problem solving and motivate team members?

Conflicts and issues are quite common among team members in every type of organization. They may arise due to various reasons including disagreements, professional jealousy, uneven distribution of work, lack of support and cooperation, etc. (Robbins & Coulter 2006). A good manager is the one who is able to handle such situations politely and resolve them in a tactful way (Hill & McShane 2008). First of all, he looks into the matter deeply in order to figure out which party is on the right side and what are the causes of conflict (Saxena 2009). Instead of blaming one party, he shows a neutral behavior so that neither of them feels any type of biasness or favoritism from his side. He tries to make a fair decision on which both the conflicting parties may agree and resume working on their projects or targets (DuBrin 2009). A manager is responsible to ensure a working environment where employees share common beliefs and thoughts, respect the values of cultural diversity, and perform their job responsibilities through collaboration and effective communication with their coworkers (Rose 2004).

Being the leader, a manager has to keep his subordinates motivated and committed towards their job tasks (Robbins & Coulter 2006). He may use different motivational techniques to boost up their performance level and increase the organizational productivity. Performance bonuses, promotion to a higher job position, a 'well-done' note, 'employee of the year'…