Introduction
Organizational behavior can be defined as the study and use of information on how people, persons, and groups of people act in an organization. It interprets people firm associations in terms of all the employees and the organization as a whole. All this is aimed at building better relationships by attaining the employees’ objectives, the firms’ goals, and an effective social system within the firm. Thus organizational behavior takes into account a wide range of areas such as leadership, change, teamwork, and human behavior (MacDonald, 1996). In reality, if an organization has to achieve its objectives as it intends to, then all its employees should be able to coordinate and socialize in a certain efficient manner. These concepts and their effects are as follows.
Motivation
The human resource manager in an organization’s main task is to make the employees get things done. To achieve this all the employees must be highly motivated. In understanding this concept, one first has to understand human personality itself. Human personality study is a prerequisite for efficient employee motivation in an organization. In essence, this is what leads to valuable management and guidance. I.B.M in increasing the output from its employees had to first motivate them to be able to serve it zealously. Employees who are not motivated don’t show any signs of enthusiasm toward their work and this most often than not leads to underperformance. However, a motivated staff feels that it is appreciated and will tirelessly work very hard to uplift the organization. The concept of motivation can be attributed to the fact that it brings into focus how well the job will be performed by the employees which are true may result in a positive or a negative impact on the organization
Motivation acted as an external stimulus or as a positive reinforcement in making these employees be dedicated to their job. Job performance is a result of both personal ability and motivation. One’s ability depends mostly on preparation, familiarity, and education. Upgrading of personal aptitude is sluggish and takes a very long time. This means that the reason why the I.B.M employees were to start performing better was most probably due to motivation which is quick to achieve and less taxing (Clegg & Sparrow, 2007). Employees who are not motivated are extremely easy to be lured to other jobs elsewhere and this is very harmful to an organization especially if the employee was highly trained and very efficient. Getting another person with the same skills and experience may take a very long time and huge sums of money will be lost in the process.
As a result of this, IBM’s productivity rose drastically and was able to conquer new markets and improved on their innovation. Customers got satisfied with the company’s efficiency and this increased the number of sales because of customer loyalty. There were also very low levels of employees complaint and therefore no strikes were experienced at all. Strikes do impact negatively on the employees’ performance and are very expensive and time-wasting. Organizations should therefore heavily motivate their employees to make them work even harder for the achievement of the firm’s objectives in time.
Communication
Communication is the process of conveying information from one person to the other through a medium. This is very important to any organization because its proper usage is as important as not using it well is detrimental. Employees should communicate well with each other just as the organization should communicate with them. In I.B.M information can move in all directions and this is helpful especially in cases of a problem or system breakdown (Brewster & Vernon, 2007). Communication as a concept is as good just as it can be bad. In I.B.M there is a free flow of information between both the employees and the organization. This free flow of information has had both positive and negative influences on the organization. First off the communication between different branches of I.B.M has been able to exchange information and ideas very fast for receiving, recording, and processing orders (Clegg & Sparrow, 2007). Thus customers have been able to have fast and efficient service from I.B.M and this helps much in building on its public image and reputation.
The employees have been able to coordinate and work together for the efficient delivery of service. The firm benefited a lot from this because production levels went to a soaring high due to the smooth cooperation between the different departments and employees. Through the use of electronic mail, the firm can communicate directly to its workforce. This saves time and also aids in the delivery of urgent information. The customers are also able to easily communicate back to the firm on matters relating to the efficiency of its products. Organizations that do not have efficient communication systems end up wasting a lot of before they can attend to a problem.
Communication has also acted as the very tool which leads to the employee strikes in I.B.M. They make use of weblogs to pass information to each other (Sparrow, 2008). Employees through their union passed informed using electronic media to incite their colleagues to strike and it did work although this time against the organization. Rumors spread very fast in such an organization and this can be incredibly detrimental to the firm well being. So communication as a concept of organizational behavior should be handled or rather approached very carefully and within manageable levels for the smooth operation of an organization.
Decision making
Good decision-making is what differentiates a well-performing organization from one that doesn’t. Good decisions will make a firm increase sales by raising production and exploring new markets. A good manager should make proper consultations before making crucial decisions because wrong decisions can be very costly. I.B.M for instance decided to outsource some of its work overseas. This had tremendous results for it because it was now able to hire cheap labor elsewhere. The implication of producing goods cheaply is that the price of the final product will also be below. Low prices lead to higher sales volume because more and more people will now be able to afford your product because of its cost-effectiveness. A human resource manager should recruit the rightful kind of labor characterized by qualifications in the various fields of specialization (Dovidio, 2001). The employees should also be well remunerated and catered for by the organization during times of hardships for example sickness and demise. This kind of bonding between the firm and its staff is what makes I.B.M do well where others have failed. Look at the high employee retention levels and their continued growth and expansion and then there is only one conclusion, that their think tanks are think tanks.
Outsourcing makes products to be delivered in good time to the consumers since they are manufactured locally hence no long-distance transportation which often leads to delays and high costs. Poor decision-making is equally dangerous because it can completely stall the production process. Once this happens, the firm will have to spend money and waste time in bringing back events to their normal operations. Decisions should be timely and have the employees’ interest in mind to avoid employee unrest (Hellmann, 1997). Otherwise, poor decision-making is very costly and is capable of leading a firm into serious situations of economic downfall.
This is a concept that may tend to appear very simple though it is not. Critical decisions such as terms of service, employees’ remuneration, and social schemes should be handled with lots of care. Employees should be consulted at all times to eliminate controversies because their involvement in such forums makes them feel like they are also part of the organization.
Conclusion
A firm’s support rests on the management’s thinking, vision, values, and goals. This is in essence what constitutes the organizational culture which determines the type of leadership, communication, and assemblage go-ahead just within the firm. The employees perceive it as the eminence of work that directs their aptitude for motivation. Their performance, personal satisfaction.individual growth, and development are all determined by how they are handled by the firm. Employee motivation, communication, and good decision-making are all essential ingredients to be utilized appropriately by an organization if it is to achieve its goals. A human resource manager should apply all these for the effective performance of the organization.
Reference
Brewster, C. and Vernon, G. (2007) Global Human Resource Management, 2nd Edition, London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 218pp
Clegg, C, and Sparrow, P.R. (2007) predicting future proficiency supplies: a three-phase tactic, Personnel Review 36 (1): 65-90.
Dovidio, J.F. (2001) motivation and the impact to the employee’s performance Character and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(2), 212-225.
Hellmann, C.M (1997) Job satisfaction and intent to leave the organization. Journal of Social Psychology 137 (5), 677-689.
MacDonald, R. (1996) Labors of love: Voluntary working in a depressed economy. Journal of Social Policy 25 (1), 19-38.
Sparrow, P.R.(ed.) (2008) Handbook of International Human Resource Management. London: Blackwell Publishing.