Organisational Behaviour Three Subject Areas And Reflection

Organisational behavior is an academic and a new discipline, which is concerned with the prediction, description, understanding, and managing human behavior in the environmnet within the organisation. It is mostly concerned on how individuals are related and involved in groups and it shows how leadership is implemented in a function of an organisation. In response to the dynamic workforce in which today’s businesses operate points how it is effected in an organisational setting. (Sharp,2011)

I have chosen three subject areas, which are from my own point of view, the most important for assesing the behaviour in the organisation.

Personality, intelligence and aptitude

Personality has been defined as : consisting of established characteristics which interpret an individuals’ behaviour in a certain way. (Mullins,2005)

Knowing the personalities is very important in the working environment. On its base managers have an idea how people may behave in particular situations. Origins of personality is mostly situated into genetic (family), social (living), cultural (culture) and situational environment (adapting and changing situation).(Mullins,2005)

Idiographic theory of personality shows the understanding, uniqueness and development of individuals, while the nomothetic theory points at the collection of a group data.

The psychodynamic (S.Freud), interpersonal (Kelly) and humanistic (Rogers) theories fit into the idiographic theories, and into nomothetic belong trait (Cattell), type (Jung, Eysenck) the Big Five (Costa and McRae) theories.

The psychodynamic explanation by S. Freud refers to the theory of a human behaviour. It describes how a person changes at each stage of life by three structures; ”Id”is an instinctive part of self, goverened by instincts and basic drives including a human’s sexual drive.

” Superego” is a belief of the self and the center of ethics and ideas. Both are in conflict which leads into simple change in behavior and personality traits. ” Ego” is a part of a humans personality, consisted from the decision making process and rational/logical thinking.

Kelly explains the relationship between persons and Roger’s theory deals with a human behaviour. (Mullins,2005)

This subject area along with Learning Styles gave me an opportunity to see how people may think and react in current situations. The base for it, is to see or hear the person and then there is an ability to gain the understanding of this personality.

From Freud’s theory I learnt, that peoples’ whole relation is within the external world, and it is based on their true personality which is needed not to be over emphasized. The performance and contribution has many things to do with the development of personality.

As for example I could point at people who designs the advertisements. They are experts at how people think and often they come up with advertisements which helps to sell their products.

I enjoyed this subject and even if I am not good a psychologist at all, it gave me a wide view about principles how managers/leaders have to react in an organisation. In my opinion it is very important to know this area, which gives me an opportunity to listen to people, and then paint a picture about them, to know what i could possibly expect from them.

Motivation

Motivation is the main driving force for people to achieve goals in order to fulfill some needs or expectations and it is present in every life function. Specific behaviour or actions can be caused by any cause or impulse, by enthusiasm or interest. Activated behaviour mostly involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces. Everyday life shows why a person does something as it does. (Mullins,2005)

Intrinsic/psychological motivation refers to internal factors which occur when people do something out of pleasure, importance, or desire and the result is the satisfaction a person gains.. External /tangible factors are included in extrinsic motivation and this compels the person to do something for money, wages, bonuses. (Cherry,2010)

Scientific Management, represented by F. W. Taylor, pointed to humans as being lazy, so the growth of productivity could be achieved by pushing the employees, through the pressure, standardization of tools, methods and conditions of work. Elton Mayo’s theory of Hawthorne Studies/effect is known as a psychological factor of the worker’s/employee’s motivation social and business operations, therefore they should not be considered as part of a machine, but as intelligent beings.

Maslow’s content theory; Hierarchy of Needs, is based on the human’s needs and McClelland’s Theory of Needs, describes four main motives, which are related to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. (McKenna,2006))

Motivation helps people to gain a positive perspective with the power to change their attitudes and it also manages their own development and helps others with theirs.

After understanding the personalities of people/employees, there is a need to find a way on how to motivate them, that is why I have chosen this subject area as a second.

I understand that motivation is something, what inspires people, what are their hopes, passions, desires, with the satisfied achieving goals and results.

Personally I learnt and I think that motivation can be changed from moment to moment, from day to day, from year to year. I believe that people are driven by what matters the most to them at a particular time.

Sometimes motivation can lead to demotivation which can be caused by their place of work, sometimes by personal problems, or by cultural differences.

Money is the most common factor of motivation for people but in a few cases people would be more satisfied to get less money with work where they are satisfied and motivated. It all depends on individuals.

I could say, that I incline to both of them; be motivated by money, and also by the working place. Mostly I have inclined into the Elton Mayo’s theory, where I could find the satisfaction and motivation for myself, how to be motivated and how to motivate the others. In the future

I would like to be motivated from my workplace and people, but I would also like to rise as a motivator for the people around me.

I found the interest, enthusiasm and motivation in the environmental conditions which the tutor created while this subject area was given.

Organisational culture

Cultures surround us and they are deeply seated. Development and process in an organisation that cannot be understood without considering culture as the primary source of a resistance to a change. The necessity is to observe and understand the norms, values, beliefs and traditions of each individual.

Edgard Schein has pointed on culture in the three levels; basic assumptions and values (the core of culture consisted by the basic underlying assumptions and values), values and beliefs (conscious strategies, goals, philosophies of the organisation), artifacts and creations (tangible or verbally identified elements in organisation). (Unknown)

In an organisation is usually one dominant culture, and it consists from many subcultures. The stregth of it determines how difficult or easy it is to know/how to behave within the organisation. The cultural direction tries to influence a direction to culture, therefore cultural pervasivness is mainly focused on what is expected and needed. The strenght points are mostly on socialisation people to do things in a certain way. (Mullins,2010)

Peters and Waterman, In a Search of Excellence, showed the essential message within the organisation and its culture, also the importance of people, customers and action.

Deal and Kennedy explain two dimensions which are related to activities and the level of the risk with the speed of the feedback, therefore Goffee and Jones’s theory explains two dimenstions of Matrix; sociability and solidarity. The possibility of changing the culture was described by Silwerzeig and Allen. (Mullins,2010)

Roger Harrison explained culture by four different organisational structures, Hierarchy structure (Role), Matrix structure (Task), Web structure (Athena), Scatter structure (Existential). Charles Handy, on a base of a Harrisons’ model, made a picture of an organisational culture described by characteristics of Greek Gods; Zeus (Club Culture), Apollo (Role Culture), Athena (Task Culture) and Dionysus (Existential Culture).

I understood the culture as the third most important factor within the organisation (first and second mentioned early). I learnt that the organisational culture is essential and necessary to understand, because usually it is made up of the combined life experiences and the background that each employee brings to the organisation.  

In my opinion an organisation should be focused on its working environment, especially the relationships between employees and how things can be done within this environment.

I understood that people within the organisation are the most valuable asset and

the organisation should be focused on building and sustaining these assets to make a solid, long-lasting and successful organization.

In the future I would love to apply my knowledge and experiences in the environment, which surrounds me and poeople around me for now but also in the future.

I believe that even it is quiet difficult to find understanding sometimes with people, it is still possible to make them satisfied and happy.

I have found the importance of this subject and with the tutors’enthusiasm which made me enthusiastic about it as well, therefore I did enjoy all of the subjects and sessions. The most important for me is to know people and their behaviour, to motivate them and to know how it works in different organisations within the culture environment.

As far as I know, the other subject areas are also important to understand but from all three subject areas, which I mentioned above I gained the experiences and examples (also experiences from my working environment but I did not notice them before).

Also good/bad managers should learn about the organisational behaviour to ensure that they can get the most out of their employees and keep them happy at the same time. This is what I have learnt and this is what I would like to apply into my life.