Organizational behavior: concepts and applications

Organizational Behavior and Change

The current state of organizational behavior and change

While many situations have existed in which the practitioners' field and the field of the academicians have failed to agree entirely upon a subject, the gap between the two domains is becoming narrower in terms of organizational behavior issues. The concept of organizational behavior is extremely complex and refers to virtually all aspects of the company's interaction with its stakeholders -- customers, staff members, share owners, the general public, purveyors and so on. The academic field has early on recognized the necessity of creating a favorable working environment and interacting with the stakeholders in a means that created more value to the entity. Theoretical emphasis would be placed on elements such as the motivation of the staff members or the satisfaction of the customers.

Yet, within the practitioners' field, the development and implementation of new organizational behavior strategies was not as easily embraced, due to two primary reasons. The first and foremost important one was that the changes in organizational behavior would imply additional resource consumption. They would for instance require changes in the way the managerial team interacts with the subalterns and would have as such generated a necessity for training. Then, it would have been extremely time consuming as the staff members would have been forced to take time away from their daily chores and focus on the new strategies.

The second reason as to the reticence of practitioners in the implementation of new organizational behavior strategies was that of the failure of some managers to comprehend the long-term benefits. Most managers recognized the challenges of new organizational behavior strategies and pointed out to the fact that, in the short-term, the efforts would only lead to reduced levels of productivity and incremental expenditures. And they as such considered that the costs of new organizational behavior strategies outweighed the benefits.

Still, as time went by and more managers recognized the utility of the strategies and their long-term benefits, more efforts were put into the development and implementation of new organizational behavior strategies. Incremental emphasis was beginning to be placed on the means in which the people interact and work together as members of the same unit. Modern day managers, at the advice of the academic field, now place a greater accent on establishing fruitful relations with the personnel members, the customers or the purveyors. These changes are also constructed on the recognition of the role each category of stakeholders plays in the final success of the company.

The suppliers are for instance the ones who provide the company with commodities, which have to be cost effective and high quality in order to satisfy the needs of the clients, but they should also be accessible and affordable. The personnel members are the ones who manufacture the items and/or deliver the services, and are as such directly responsible for customer satisfaction. The customers are the ones who purchase the organizational items and generate revenue sustainability. The recognition of their importance then prompted the implementation of new organizational behavior strategies.

Despite the long path taken, modern day economic entities are still faced with numerous challenges and the multiple dimensions of organizational behavior continue to raise difficulties. Probably the most relevant example in this sense is constituted by the necessity to implement several processes of organizational change in order to ensure that the principles of organizational behavior strategy take full effect.

Implementing change is often a tedious process and the work can be made even more difficult through aspects such as lack of adequate information, limited access to information, financial resources, commodities, technologies or any other type of resources, as well as inadequacy of management. Also, in most cases, change is difficult to implement and take effect due to the reticence of the people. The reasons which make people refuse change are numerous and various, including elements such as fear of the unknown or the lack of desire to learn new things.

In spite of all the difficulties and the impediments raised by the modern day necessity of implementing processes of organizational behavior through change strategies, fact remains that they represent a growing necessity. Not only that organizational behavior strategies improve the company's long terms profitability rates, but they also help it survive in this extremely dynamic and competitive environment.

Change promoting new organizational behavior tactics is the solution to hiring and retaining the best qualified staff members who add more value to the organization (and which, according to Ivancevich and editors, also reduce costs through the low turnover rate); to attracting the wealthiest investors; to satisfying and enlarging the customer base and to overcoming the competition and consolidating a strong position within the national and international market.

2. Change Leadership and Organizational Behavior and Management

The specialized literature has for decades been focused on studying and presenting the concepts, benefits, processes and limitations of organizational behavior strategies. Also, another recurrent element within the specialized books and journals has been that of the necessity to implement change in order to survive in this more and more competitive environment. Yet, what can be observed through a quick look at the specialized literature is that it is far from homogenous, and that each book deals with a different aspect of organizational behavior and change. Generally speaking, while some works focus on the more theoretical aspect of organizational behavior, others emphasize on the more practical dimension and present various means in which the concepts should be implemented within a real organizational context.

Organizational Behavior and Management by John M. Ivancevich, Robert Konopaske and Michael T. Matteson (2007) is a representative example of the first category of books; whereas John P. Kotter's Leading Change (1996) is part of the books with a more practical approach to organizational behavior. Organizational Behavior and Management is currently at the eighth edition, probably the most successful edition so far. In comparison to the previous editions, this eighth one is about 100 pages shorter, meaning that it is more easily read by the student. An interesting feature is that the pages which have been removed from the book have not been entirely forgotten, but they have been placed online for further study. In other words, the editing team just did one of the things they preached -- they included the technological advancements to better adapt to the changing needs of the society.

Organizational Behavior and Management is a generally theoretical work, with emphasis on the large field of organizational behavior. Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson however focused on creating a work that would serve educational purposes, meaning then that they recognized the necessity for exemplification in order to increase the ease of comprehension. The end result was that of the inclusion of several cases and reading materials, to serve the purpose of applications and further increase the access to the information presented in the work

One of its many benefits is that it discusses the art of managing people from early stages through today, meaning as such that it not only helps the reader comprehend the greater context, but it also helps him implement the teachings regardless of the field in which he activates. In other words, Organizational Behavior and Management is a valuable piece of reading, offering useful insight and teachings on the management of people, which can be implemented either in an educational context, within an organizational scene, in public offices, or virtually in any field where people work together and are managed.

Unlike Organizational Behavior and Management, which is rather theoretical and even discusses the management of people and organizations from a psychological standpoint, Leading Change is more practical. This second book draws on the quarter of century experience of author John P. Kotter in the field of organizational behavior. It presents 100 cases of economic agents that encountered challenges and implemented various processes of change to enhance their positions and increase their chances of achieving their overall goals. In the process of presenting the situations, Kotter reveals the various mistakes and circumstances, to eventually come to a point in which he is able to forward an eight step model he believes to sit at the basis of a successful change strategy. The eight steps are not however the original creation of Kotter, since their roots can be identified in various theoretical works, including Organizational Behavior and Management.

3. The Eight Stages

The eight stage process reveals eight different steps that should be implemented by organizational leaders in order to ensure that their change strategy retrieves the desired outcomes. In the identification of the eight stages, Kotter commences at the macroeconomic characteristics which impose the necessity for change, and then continues by identifying the reasons as to why numerous change processes fail to retrieve the results for which they were initially intended. The author identifies eight pivotal mistakes, in the form of the following:

Error #1: Enforcing a sentiment that the current state of being is adequate and desirable, without promoting the desire for change and improvement

Error #2: Being unable to create a guiding environment

Error #3: Inadequately understanding the vision and its role

Error #4: Inadequately communicating the organizational vision

Error #5: Allowing intermittences that block the new vision

Error #6: The inability to create short-term wins

Error #7: Being precipitated in declaring that the company has succeeded, and last

Error #8: Not integrating change as a constant in the organizational process (Kotter)

All of these elements are under one form or the other presented in Organizational Behavior and Management, with the specification that they are not presented to the reader in the same form and context. Yet, they do exist and can once again be said that the eight stage process has its roots in the theories enounced by John M. Ivancevich, Robert Konopaske and Michael T. Matteson. Throughout the book for instance, the three authors discuss organizational behavior aspects such as communications or conflict, which could easily interfere with the change process. To take one step forward however, the editing team also argues that conflict -- which, from the standpoint of Kotter, can be generated by various internal matters such as lack of adequate communications, the inconsistencies in the working environment and so on -- "may have either positive or negative consequences for the organization, depending upon how much exists and how it is managed" (Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson, 2008). Conflict could be good for change through its ability to promote diverse and even opposed opinions, to stimulate the mind, to create competition in the workplace and to create a more dynamic and open environment.

Based on the eight errors identified as sources of change strategy failure, Kotter moves on to pinpointing the eight solutions, organized under the generic name of the eight stage process for successful change strategy implementation. They are as follows:

Stage #1: Creating a sense of urgency, in the meaning of reducing the sense of complacency

The sense of urgency basically refers to the necessity of presenting the change in a means that it seems absolutely necessary for the future survival of the entity. Additionally, it is required that the change endeavor be forwarded as pressing and pivotal, creating as such the sense that without the change, the company might encounter difficulties. Such an approach would motivate people to renounce the feelings of complacency and to become more involved and loyal to the change process.

Stage #2: Creating the guiding coalition and the environment in which people flourish, learn form each other and develop both professionally as well as personally

This stage is pivotal not only in implementing change, as Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson point out, but in the overall approach to employees. It is necessary to create an environment which cherishes the value of the staff members, and in which the managerial team offers a model of behavior. The role of the guiding team is that of offering an example of how change should be embraced and how it should be implemented. Additionally, another important role of the team is that of promoting change in a means that the employees understand the benefits the change would have directly upon them, such as better technical support and reduced workloads.

Stage #3: Developing a vision and an organizational strategy

The vision of an entity is one of the most important components of organizational behavior and it represents a recurrent motif in both Kotter and well as Ivancevich, Konopaske and Matteson's books. The scope of the vision is that of establishing a goal towards which the company and its employees strive; the vision of creating a better workplace, a better world or a more prosperous community. And in most cases, if this vision is enforced by a palpable and applicable strategy, people are likely to intensify their efforts to reach the visionary goals.

Stage #4: Communicating the vision to the personnel members

This stage is the continuation of the vision development, and it is constructed on the beliefs that once people become familiar with the vision of somehow improving the world, they will be more committed to the change strategy.

Stage #5: Empowering the employees

Empowering the organizational staff members is a recurrent dimension of human resource management and organizational behavior. More recently, it has been also recognized for its role to support the implementation of change processes. Employee empowerment is a strong incentive by proving the trust the company has in its staff members. The general outcome is that of increased loyalty on the part of the employee to the overall company, but also to its objectives.