The most successful business leaders are those who are constantly looking for new ways and strategies to improve performance, not just by increasing employee productivity, but also by improving their workplace experience and job satisfaction. This can be accomplished by learning how employees interact with one another and with management, as well as what motivates them. One method is to investigate the interrelationships between individual employees, teams, and management to determine what distinguishes the most effective workers. This is essentially the essence of organizational behavior.
What is Organizational Behavior?
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Every company has an internal culture that is distinct from the rest of the world. Each employee brings not only a skill set but also a personality with its own set of values and beliefs, which will influence how they interact in workgroups, with coworkers, and with management. The multidisciplinary study of employee interactions and organizational processes with the goal of making organizations more efficient and cohesive is known as organizational behavior (OB).
Researchers in the field of Organizational Behavior have discovered that scientific approaches to personnel management can be used to bring out the best in employees and improve an organization's overall success. Organizational Behavior studies have been aided by researchers from the disciplines of psychology, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, political science, and economics.
Organizational behavior models come in all shapes and sizes.
For decades, organizational behavior has been studied, yielding a plethora of theories and models for effective organizational management. A popular framework for thinking about organizational behavior is comprised of the five organizational behavior models listed below:
- Autocratic: Autocratic organizational behavior models accurately depict historical workplaces, particularly those during the Industrial Revolution. An autocratic model is based on power and authority, requires employee obedience, and relies on the boss for guidance. Jobs in the autocratic model may provide their employees with nothing more than a paycheck.
- Custodial: Custodial organizational behavior models are one in which the organization provides a sense of security and care to its employees, for example, through a comprehensive benefits package. The custodial model aims to provide incentives and financial resources that encourage organizational loyalty.
- Supportive model: This is based on leadership motivating and inspiring employees. It assumes that employees are self-motivated, as opposed to the autocratic model. So a manager's job is to support an employee's talents, interests, and goals to help foster motivation. This is built on the assumption that employees will take the initiative and improve their performance with the right support.
- Collegial Model: Unlike the first two organizational behavior models, the collegial model recognizes the importance of social factors in employee satisfaction. These organizational behavior models are based on the concept of colleagues working as a team and cultivating a sense of partnership. Power is shared within the organization, and it may have a flattened hierarchy with no direct top-down direction.
- System: Instilling passion and commitment to the organization's goals is emphasized in these organizational behavior models. The idea is that by providing employees with a high level of meaning at work, they will achieve higher levels of satisfaction and performance. Managers are expected to be compassionate and caring toward their direct reports while also fostering a positive work environment under this system.
What Factors Affect Organizational Behavior?
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Hundreds of factors can have an impact on organizational behavior. For instance, one of the first OB studies looked into how lighting affects productivity (in the process, the researchers discovered workers responded more to social factors than environmental ones). However, influential factors can be classified into a few broad categories:
- Social: Leadership styles, personality traits of coworkers, group dynamics, relationships, etc.
- Environment: lighting, aesthetics, office/desk layout, and so on.
- Structure: Employee hierarchy, departmental organizational structure within business units, etc.
- Resources: Information, tools, and technology.
- Workflow management, reporting structures, project management styles, and so on.
What is the Importance of Organizational Behavior?
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As the preceding points indicate, organizational behavior is crucial for businesses. It is so intertwined with so many aspects of a company—its environment, functionality, structure, and culture, to name a few—that it's no surprise that business leaders pay close attention to it. It can be beneficial as a resource because it can help predict changes in behavior and actions within the company. Organizational behavior can make a world of difference for those in administrative roles in business by allowing you to get ahead of a problem before it wreaks havoc on your bottom line. That extra insight can help in productivity and keep things running smoothly.
Implementing and monitoring organizational behavior in a business is about more than just improving your company's operations. When used wisely, organizational behavior can bring about various benefits in many cases. Some advantages may include:
1. Control Over Influences
Everything that can impact a business, both positively and negatively, depends on how, when, and where it is presented concerning daily operations. To make matters worse, most of these influences are beyond the company’s control and its employees. Anything that can reduce the flow of these influences and their effects is usually beneficial to an organization because it gives the business some degree of control. Organizational behavior establishes the ground rules for how various influences can interact. It also enables management to identify what influences are coming in and where they are coming from. Recognizing some of these influences for what they are is difficult if no one is paying attention to them to begin with. Once a company is aware of the factors that influence it, it can prevent or deter harmful influences from entering. Similarly, they can do what they can to attract positive influences when and where they are required.
2. Provide Structure and Uniformity
While employers and business owners want to encourage employee diversity and individuality, some uniformity is required for success. Organizational behavior frequently enables the establishment and maintenance of the structural parameters under which the business operates. Even the most diverse group cannot function properly if there is no level base to work from. Without that necessary dose of structural uniformity, it is all too easy for things to devolve into chaos and nothing to get done. All of the elements of a business are kept in place by a delicate balancing act; skew the balance, and one element can overshadow the others. While this may be beneficial in small doses for specific aspects, it can cause instability. A well-established and healthy organizational behavior provides a framework for all individual employees to work within and a sense of order for the business. It is also far more accessible for a business or organization to grow once it has a solid foundation on which to build.
3. Motivation and Morale
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Organizational behavior enables a company's leaders and managers to better understand what motivates their employees and provides motivation for them. When employees have a reason for doing their work other than a paycheck, they are more likely to put in more effort and care. This can improve the final product's quality and the overall morale of the staff, resulting in a better working environment. Businesses that take care of and treat their employees well are ingrained in organizational behavior and can help maintain the concept’s order that the concept provides. According to studies, employees treated better by their employers are happier and less likely to become ill or be negatively affected by excessive stress. They will also follow the rules better and are less likely to lash out at management. The working conditions have significantly improved, and the interactions among all staff members have become much friendlier. Better working conditions lead to happier employees, and happy employees often lead to a more productive business.
4. Improved Communication
Communication is essential for the efficient operation of any organization. Those at all levels of the organization must know what goes on to complete a task as a group. Miscommunications or incorrect information can cause production delays, accidents, or even affect the quality of the product produced by the company. If team members are told that they are supposed to meet at different times and/or in the wrong place to work on a work assignment, the time spent getting everyone back on track or waiting for people to show up could have been used for actual work. As previously stated, the framework provided by organizational behavior typically determines how information flows within the business from person to person. Business leaders who have established organizational behavior are often actively monitoring its impact on their company and the flow of communication. Comparisons of the flow before and after organizational behavior typically show improvement. It also makes it much easier for those leaders to identify communication issues before they become too serious.
Introducing Strikingly
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Conclusion
Running a business is one of the most challenging tasks you will ever face. It's not going to be easy. You must keep an eye on various elements that either contribute to or hinder your business's success. Organizational behavior is the most crucial factor in the growth of any business. You can ensure proper organizational behavior and achieve the pinnacle of success for your company by taking actionable steps. This article should have helped you understand the role of organizational behavior in business success.
