Organizational behavior is defined as actions and attitudes of individuals and groups toward one another and toward the organization as a whole, and its effect on the organization's functioning and performance. During the course of this semester I never thought that I would learn so much about why companies are the way they are because of their behavioral structure. “Behavior is a product of individual, group, and organizational influences and, as such, we draw upon the concepts and theories of Organizational Behavior (OB) to better understand behavioral processes at these levels.” (Boyd, 2011) Organizational behavior consists of management functions, globalization, managing workforce diversity, organizational behavior, culture, diversity, diversity programs, job satisfaction, emotions in the workplace, leadership, leadership styles, motivation, values, ethics, decision making, types of training, sources of stress, and resisting change. There are a few of these topics that I will discuss and research in this essay.
The first topic that I will discuss is motivation in the workplace. Motivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge. It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something. Motivation is in fact essential to creativity. Without motivation, mostly everything would not have been invented. To be an inventor you have to have the passion to want to create anything, and to be creative of course you are motivation by your own talents. If motivation is essential to creativity, how can a manager instill the motivation for creativity in employees at all levels? “Employee motivation has always been a central problem for managers. Unmotivated employees are likely to expand little effort in their jobs, avoid the workplace as much as possible, exit the organization if given the opportunity, and produce low-quality work.” (Amabile, 1996) It is always fairly easy to tell when someone to see that there is little or no motivation in the workplace. For example, a job at McDonald’s maybe a job that is used to make extra money, or for teens to gain experience as far as customer service. When I walk into a fast food restaurant like McDonald’s I can immediately tell whether the workers want to be there or they’re not motivated at all. A motivated worker at McDonald’s uses enthusiasm each and every time they say “Welcome to McDonald’s may I take your order?” motivation at fast food restaurants can also motivate the customers to want to visit more often or choose that particular restaurant over the others. Of the many theories of work motivation, Herzberg’s motivator-hygiene theory has been one of the most influential. This theory divides motivating factors into two categories. “Motivator” factors deal mainly with work itself and the “hygiene” factor has to do with the surroundings. “Motivator factors include such things as responsible work, autonomy in doing the work, and satisfaction arising from accomplishment of difficult tasks.” (Amabile, 1996) Hygiene factors also include pay, security, and working conditions. For someone who is working under poor work condition and little pay, they wouldn’t show as much motivation as someone with excellent work conditions and great pay. These factors determine a person’s motivation in any situation. According to Herzberg, hygiene factors operate primarily as de-motivators if they are insufficient. He suggests that workers are most satisfied and most productive when their jobs are rich in these factors.
Other researchers such as Hackman and Oldham’s model of motivation and job enrichment says jobs can be made more motivating by increasing skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. These features are called intrinsic motivators. “People are intrinsically motivated when they seek enjoyment, interest, satisfaction of curiosity, self-expression, or personal challenge in the work place.” (Amabile, 1996)
Intrinsic motivators have a bound with their work. Now, extrinsic motivators are not so into their jobs. They are not a logically inherent part of work. “Extrinsic motivators include anything coming from an outside source that is intended to control the initiation or performance of the work, like rewards or praise, or any specifications on how the work is done.” (Amabile, 1996)
It is a mistake to think that one type of motivation is optimal for all aspects. Organizational leaders such as managers and supervisors should begin to think of human motivation at work as a complex system where it’s possible to achieve synergy between people and their work environments. Also they should pay very close attention to the different types of motivation as well. We already know much about how to nurture the motivation for creativity, and we are learning more every day.
Another feature in organizational behavior that has caught my attention throughout the semester is culture. Based on someone’s culture is important when granting certain rewards or assigning jobs. One key element in managing organizational behavior is the understanding of the culture to which the workers belong. “Organizational behavior is defined as any pattern of shared basic assumptions a group learns as it solves its problems of external adaption and internal integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid to teach to new members the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.” (Lor, Cultural Diversity in the Workplace, 1994) According to Hofstede, managers tend to see culture as the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one work group from another, the interactive aggregate of common characteristics that influences a work group’s response to its environment. Corporations and organizations are becoming more and more multicultural in nature, not only as a result of the international or global market, but also because employee and client populations are typically comprised of more than one culture.