Organizational behavior
Organizational behavior is an instrument that carefully monitors the actions of human beings within an organization since most of the core jobs within companies involve the efforts of human beings. Performance and productivity within an organization are usually determined by certain factors that are deemed crucial, for instance, job satisfaction, employee management, and labor turnover rates among others. Thus, it is important to explore these factors since they similarly influence the organizational structure, design, and ultimate value. Appropriate organizational behavior is directly proportional to management behavior, which portrays the actions of the top management within an organization (Walonick, 2007). Moreover, several theories have been put forward that govern the behavior within the organization, together with some famous concepts. The performance of every employee within an organization should be carefully evaluated in connection with some of these proposed theories to measure the extent of their effectiveness. Among the theories are classical theories, neo-classical theories, management, and contingency theories, while concepts that influence the organizational behavior include the bureaucratic, organizational concepts, etc (Carroll, 2004).
To effectively understand organizational behavior about several theories and concepts, I interviewed a manager of an organization. Thus, this is an interview paper written to discuss the findings of the interview, which I conducted. I selected the development manager, Hamed Al Falasi who works with the Nakheel in Dubai, UAE Company as my respondent. I had a set of questions relating to organizational behavior. Therefore, the contents of the paper will provide an insight into his general background and responsibilities. Additionally, it will provide an insight on issues regarding employee management. This entails things like employee motivation, Manager’s leadership, as well as an insight of how the manager ensures appropriate ethical accountability within his organization as well as how ethics are managed within the company herein discussed.
General Background and Responsibilities
The general background of an individual working for a particular company portrays the duration that he has worked for it, the position held, the value he attaches to the company, what he likes and dislikes about the company, as well as the position he holds. Managers within an organization play a key role in management decisions to influence the importance of organizational theories and concepts (Robbins, (2009).
I interviewed Hamed Al Falasi on February 05, 2011, who works in a managerial position as the development manager at Nakheel in Dubai, UAE. The company is famous and widely known for its prosperity over the years for its continued success, to an extent of motivating its workers to enjoy working for over eight hours a day. He seemed happy about his position and the company’s pace of growth and development, having worked with it for the last ten years. The response I obtained signifies that stagnancy is not a characteristic of the company since workers who currently hold positions in these organizations are promoted regularly, a factor that contributes to their motivation to work to their best. The development manager happened to have worked for ten years since he joined the Nakheel Company as an employee. However, he did not start working as a development manager immediately after joining it, for it took him four years to be promoted to the above position. This was a sign of a hardworking and diligent person since four years is quite a short time for one to be promoted to a higher position in many other companies. It was also significant to learn that he had maintained the position for six years, a fact that made me think of that company as one that practices employee satisfaction policies (Ranganayakulu, 2005).
The development manager plays a key role in issues regarding the company’s development and improvement. First, he is entrusted with the development department, where he keeps the main responsibilities by ensuring that all of them are on time. He is also charged with the responsibility to forecast the expected future of the company, and from his response, the role is quite challenging since one must work within time limits, and needs intensive research (Weber, 1947). The organization of the department was also his main role, including supervising departmental employees, laying strategic plans, and making strategic decisions. Moreover, he has to cope with the distinct opinions given by others in the organization concerning different issues. This displays the management concept, which emphasizes the managerial positions in an organization. This concept requires that managers play key roles within an organization to ensure smooth progress and continued productivity. He is an example since he understands that management requires also coping with other decisions that are made by the organization, and not only following his own decisions (NIH, 2004).
On the other hand, it is evident from the response that a manager is a results-oriented person even as he works for the organization. He expressed his enthusiasm for employee growth in the company as part of what he liked in the organization. The responsibilities charged with him are also his delight since he anticipated handling them with a lot of caution to add value and productivity to the company. This characteristic rhymes with the organizational theory that governs organizational behavior (Khan, 2005). This theory suggests that the progress and growth of a company depend on the management approaches and methods in a company, a responsibility that entirely lies in the hands of the managers, who are the major decision-makers. Thus, managers are required to have a heart for all employees’ growth, as well as the value for the company they work for. The respondent also finds other tasks to be challenging as he expressed his dislike for the company. First, the fact that he is a manager makes him accountable for many problems that are caused by other employees. He disliked this since whenever the employees he supervised caused any mistakes, he is always answerable before they can be called to answer, something, which he considered as a source of a poor reputation for the company. It was also evident from his response that he hates his reputation being ruined as well as the value of the company being at risk (Miner, 2007).
Frederick Taylor (cited in Walonick, 2007) put forward the theory of scientific management theory in 1917, which values four principles. It values one taking his responsibilities positively, performing each task to his best, the assignment of every employee the right task as well as the issue of employee supervision. The respondent well enjoys doing the work as well as doing the supervision of the other employees of the department. This is evident since he has held the position for the last six years, which portrays his fitness for the above position. Therefore, it is possible that the company would be in a good position to be productive when other factors like job satisfaction and participation are emphasized by the company (Karash, 2002).
Managing Employees
Employees are the key assets within any organization. Productivity and performance are determined by how well the top management can control employees to improve job satisfaction and reduce labor turnover, which is the main source of value decline within a company. The development manager responded positively to the questions regarding employee management. First, his argument was by the Neoclassical Organization Theory, which considers the working conditions of the employees (Saiyadain, 2003). For employees who do not accomplish their assignments on time, it was evident that the mistake had to be carefully presented, discussed by the relevant personnel, and evaluated. The punishment for a mistake must be proportional to its level of occurrence as he concluded. About rewarding the employees, it does not always happen, but there are bonuses and email appraisals from colleagues for those workers who perform extraordinarily well outside their required tasks. This brings out the concept of participation where every worker is involved in such a scenario to motivate all to work harder. The scientific management theory supports the idea of punishments and rewards, thus the manager’s deeds are in line with this theory. It was clear from his response that a very big gap exists between all level workers, in that, though the midlevel employees have easy access to the managers, it was not easy to access the executives (Harris and Hartman, 2001).
The administrative theory seems to have taken pre-eminence from the response of the manager since the decision-making process only involves the senior management to avoid misinterpretations on the company’s values and requirements. The company, according to the manager is keen on employing trained personnel. Thus, every type of training is valued and conducted within the organization. They utilize class training regularly to emphasize rules and regulations (Tosi, and Mero, 2003). Moreover, they also incorporate special departmental training, for instance, the communications department that deals with direct communications with the clientele of the company. The reward and punishment system advocated for by the systems theory is utilized to motivate the respondent’s organization. Alternatively, assignment of distinct tasks in groups or individually is done to motivate all to work harder and to become results-oriented, both for their benefit and for the benefit of the company. However, the company attaches a high value to its employees and is out to reduce labor turnover, which at most times is the cause of low productivity. Labor turnover would easily be reduced by evaluating all employees and their conditions regularly (Griffin and Moorhead 2009).
The findings of the evaluation determine the kind of changes that should be made, and those that are deemed to work best to promote employee satisfaction, as well as add value to the company. Organizations are out to employ all-rounded people who can perform more than one task. Moreover, he responded that they also wish to employ people that have gained prior experience, though this would not be supported by the integration theory, which supports that all be given opportunities to prove their ability. However, it is crucial to mention that not all can fit in the job market since a particular level of education is required. The classical management theory that has been considered for a long time by organizational management concerns the working environment of employees within an organization (Falkenberg, 2004).
Furthermore, the respondent advocated for teamwork so that employees can perform their tasks well. A teamwork environment provides a suitable ground for employee motivation and commitment. Moreover, healthy competition is considered vital between the employees, since it promotes productivity as all try to become the best, but should be taken care of by the management for effectiveness (Scott, 2007). Another important aspect of an organization is giving back to the immediate community. This idea was supported by the organizational theory, which suggests that a community is very important especially when it comes to an organization’s valuation. Thus, the respondent supports the fact that the company does its best to give back to the community (Champoux, 2010).
Conclusion
Organizational behavior plays a key role in the productivity and performance of an organization. The findings of the interview gave an insight into organizational behavior within the selected company, and by the selected respondent who was very willing to do so. However, his background was very appealing, having worked in a management position for six years. Additionally, the way he carried out the management role and supervisory roles imply a correspondence with the scientific management theory (Walonick, 2007). Moreover, the fact that important decisions are made by senior management corresponds to the management theory as well as the contingency theory. Furthermore, they practice employee motivation by the reward and punishment method that was discussed by Taylor in the management theory. Nevertheless, the fact that middle-level employees are not involved in the making of crucial decisions is not by organizational management theory which finds it worth that all be involved in making vital decisions since they may have excellent ideas. Moreover, the huge gap that exists between the middle level and the executives should be bridged, since it can be a source of low productivity within the organization. Nevertheless, the objective of the paper was met since we were able to understand the organizational behavior of Nakheel Company in Dubai, UAE.
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