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BA 2700 Organizational Behavior

Instructor: Crystal Kenefic, MBA

February 8, 2011

Concepts of Organizational Behavior

Business is business, but how you operate your business is the key to success. There are many concepts to Organizational Behavior, but three key concepts must exist and continually be improved. Motivation, workplace stress and leadership exist and must continually be evaluated in every work environment. I chose these concepts because of their interaction with each other.
Businesses must know how to motivate their employees. Employees must know who to cope and overcome workplace stress. Leaders must be able to effectively lead their employees. Motivation, workplace stress and leadership are issues that when properly managed can lead to a wonderful work environment for all employees and lead to the success of any company. I am going to examine these key concepts and their interaction with one another in the work place.

Motivation
Motivation has taken on many forms over time and place. In china, motivation is driven by honor and pride. Historically, the Chinese were born into a class that they could not escape and honor meant more than money. In other countries, motivational techniques took on more of a brutal look. Even in the US, our history shows us that motivation could be boiled down to slavery and the will to survive. Although slavery is now history, motivation both positive and negative still exists. Late President John f. Kennedy once said, "If not us, who? If not now, when?" One could say that this could be the motivation behind the US people now. Atkinson’s Theory of Achievement Motivation states that, “the need to achieve is always tempered by another fundamental need, the need to avoid failure.” (Franken) I believe that this is the foremost reason for motivation today. With social laws and human rights activism, negative motivation in the form of physical punishment, for the most part, has gone away. Where the early Romans used pleasure and pain avoidance as a motivator, we now seek acceptance and status. My motivation for an education is strictly self preservation and achievement. In my family there are currently no graduates of a bachelor program and I am motivated to be the first. I have no physical motivational factors. But historically our family has been members of the US military. I have gone through a basic military training program where the threat of physical punishment is always vivid. Currently the military has a rule on physical contact between instructors and trainees, but the threat of physical punishment due to failure was very prevalent. This was, for me, a very strong motivator and was in line with Atkinson’s Theory. But motivation is only a small part of Business today and can be tempered by outside forces such as work stress. Stuart D. Sidle, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of New Haven, states that managers today should use a variety of techniques to attack employee workplace related stress as each individual is different and cannot be helped using the same techniques. (Multiple sources combined) Motivation is critical to the success of any organization. Employees must feel that there is something worth achieving. There are obstacles to everything, such as workplace stress, and it is how you circumvent those obstacles that determine your level of success.

Work place Stress
Workplace stress can come in many forms and effects people differently. Stress is defined as any chemical, physical, or mental change that causes tension. At work, stress can come from being over worked, co-workers, the pressure to perform, or even home. If left alone, stress can have a negative effect on motivation, decrease an otherwise positive attitude and affect your personal life. Physically, stress can cause headaches, joint pain and fatigue leading to missed days at work and higher turnover. Jeffrey V. Johnson PhD stated in a University of Maryland article that, “In the past century, social movements (such as the labor movement) developed to challenge economic and political inequalities. The same kind of social movements are being mobilized today, only now on a global level. These movements for economic and global justice may transform the politics of the 21st century and could improve work organization and working conditions and reduce job stress in both developed and developing countries.” (PhD) His closing arguments are spot on and sum up the argument for employers to start or re-evaluate their current employee support programs. Lincoln Financial Group has a program called StayWell that offers both physical and mental support. StayWell contributor David Anderson PhD stated in an article October 1, 2010, “To ensure the success of this integration and their overall health management strategy, employers need to harness the power of workplace culture to drive employee engagement and health outcomes.” (D. A. PhD) Although an argument does exist that health care costs, $4.65 per hour worked for employers according to the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (Emp10), are higher, the productivity gained from the avoidance of lost hours more than make up for the costs. Motivation and workplace stress and be strong adversaries, but with proper leadership, we can overcome most obstacles.
Leadership
Leadership is defined as the attempt to use influence to motivate individuals to accomplish the same goal. (Gibson) Likert’s Employee-centered and Job-centered Theory resulted in production improvements, but over time, the Job-centered style created pressure that is resisted through absenteeism, turnover, grievance and poor attitudes. (Gibson) This theory may work in some businesses but has its flaws such as a leader that defines the relationships within the group. Without allowing for the individual to define their own position motivations and attitudes can falter. Likert’s Employee-centered theory has more flexibility and allows the individual to define their own leadership behavior and build healthy relationships. Our text contained a great quote by Tannenbaum and Schmidt, “Thus, the successful manager of men can be primarily characterized neither as a strong leader nor as a permissive one. Rather, he is one who maintains a high batting average in accurately assessing the forces that determine what his most appropriate behavior at any given time should be and actually being able to behave accordingly.” (Gibson 321) This is hard to argue, a leader must not be able to lead just themselves but also the group. Likert, Tannenbaum and Schmidt all have one common theory, flexibility.
An effective leader must have the ability to adapt to outside forces. When unforeseen circumstances occur, the effective leader has the trust and respect of his peers to be able to adapt and overcome. At Lincoln Financial Group we had a very ineffective leader. This manager scared his employees, to the point that female employees were afraid to sit and talk to him one on one. He had a very small personal space surrounding him and he believed that others would be comfortable. When he spoke to you, he was always very close up, not in a threatening way, but liked to be in close proximity to the other person. This was not an effective situation. Employees were avoiding him in any way possible and often tried to cut short any individual meetings. Even if the employee was called in for a positive discussion, the employee would try anything to make it as short as possible. This behavior is not only detrimental to the team but is borderline harassment.
Motivation is the engine that drives everything we do. Whether it is eating for nourishment or obtaining a higher education to support your family. There are obstacles to motivation such as workplace stress that can impede motivation, cause behavioral changes and lead to discontent. Effective leadership can help to lessen the effects of workplace stress and allow for the employees to obtain their goals. Companies must incorporate some kind of employee assistance program to lessen the bourdon of workplace stress on their employees. This will only lead to higher production and a better work environment. Studies have shown that the investment in employee assistance programs creates a less stressful workplace and decreases turnover and absenteeism.

Works Cited
Employer Costs for Employee Compensation news release text. 08 12 2010. 07 02 2011 <http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm>.
Franken, Robert E. Human Motivation. Belmont : Broosk/Cole, 1988.
Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, Konopaske. Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2009.
PhD, David Anderson. "Health care reform changes structure, strategy of wellness incentives." Employee Benefit news (2010).
PhD, Jeffrey V Johnson. Job Stress Network. 2004. 07 02 2011 <http://www.workhealth.org/risk/johnson%20article.html>.
Shuart, Spaulding, Poland. "Modeling Complex Systems." Volume 52 of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (2007).