Organizational behavior is characterized by the study of groups and individual performance within an organization. It also examines human behavior within a work environment and evaluates its impact. The concepts in Organizational frame work such as performance, communication, leadership, motivation, job Structure, job satisfaction and team work have become more relevant after correlating each of these with my personal work experience. I also believe that these aspects are essential for an organization to have a healthy work culture.
I kick started my career as a Software Engineering Analyst with Infosys Technologies Limited.
Team Work and Motivation: I was trained in a 2 different technologies for 6 months and assigned to a very challenging project which was outside my domain knowledge. It was very difficult for me to cope-up with the project because the technology and domain were completely new. So I had to stretch after working hours to learn the technology and complete the tasks. We had a big team of 20 members and it was important to complete the tasks on time as there was there was always interdependency while integrating the code. Initially I would be nervous about the team, deadlines and managers but because of the consistent motivation and support from my team leads and managers I was able to excel in my work in due course of time.
Reward System: I was pretty impressed with the reward system at my previous organization, Infosys. Every year based on the annual ratings, we were eligible for annual performance bonuses and quarterly incentives. With a fair evaluation for every role we were highly motivated to perform better and earn appreciation. Since I was platform independent and quick in grasping the new technology that I was assigned to I was conferred with the ‘Prima Award’ for my outstanding contribution and dedication to the project among my group of peers. We also had project success parties, team outings, DJ’s, food festivals, and cultural fests at work to take a break, relax and enjoy the perks of our workplace. This whole idea of performance reward system and multiplexes that contain shops, malls and bowling alleys made our work atmosphere exciting and rewarding.
I was able to correlate my experiences more with the Job characteristics model from Unit 5.
Skill Variety: My job entailed exercising various skills - developing the code keeping business context in mind, applying sound discretion and problem solving skills to optimize the code, collaboration with the team members to reach a common ground to solve challenges. Also, the deliverables had to be presented to the end user in an effective manner. So I got a chance to improve my communication skills too.
Task Identity and Significance: My tasks were well identified during my work experience. They ranged from web development, knowledge transfers to the newly hired team members to communicating the solutions to the client. All these tasks significantly impacted the development and testing stages in the Software Development Life Cycle for the project.
Autonomy: Although there were tasks assigned to the team members at an individual level, we had to unite at the end of the day to solve critical business problems. So the work culture that I experienced was both autonomous and collaborative at the same time. On one hand, individual tasks or the autonomous nature helped me develop a sense of responsibility and ownership at work; I realized the value of working effectively in teams to successfully deliver technology solutions to the business. Feedback: I have been part of the yearly feedback sessions with my managers and have understood that constructive feedback is vital to my growth. I got to know about my strengths and areas of opportunity from my manager's perspective, and felt that it made me work harder and arrive for excellence at work. At a particular instance, I was lauded for my technical skills, and suggested that I take leadership at work. I learned that not only technical skills, but also people skills are vital to one's development and career progression.