The Importance of Organizational Behaviour - Literature review Example

ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR Introduction An organization is made up of various elements, all of which must be well coordinated in order to ensure effective running of activities. According to Harris & Hartman (2001), an organization can be viewed from the systems perspective, in which it comprises an environment, the main system, an open boundary, inputs, outputs, the climate, various subsystems and the management processes and activities (p.4). All these elements must be harmonized to ensure that they are focused towards the organization’s set goals and objectives. In an organization, people perform various activities under complex systems. The study of organizational behaviour encompasses how people within organizations behave, whether individually or in groups, and how the organizations function (due to this behaviour), in terms of their processes and structure (Armstrong 2006, p.237). For this reason, an understanding of the various organizational processes as well as skills and analysis of patterns of organizational behaviour are paramount. With the aforementioned as background information, this paper is focused on evaluating organizational behaviour using the fire and rescue services as a case study. The paper provides a balance or learned theory as well as case material. It examines the organizational context by studying the relationships between organizational structures and external environmental factors. An analysis of the role of individuals and teams within organizations with specific reference to learning, communication, perception, motivation, group formation and structure and team work is also given. This is followed by an explanation of how roles are defined in organizations and how they are affected by organizational design, structure, culture and strategy. Further, the paper presents an assessment of organizational development by explaining organizational change, culture and conflict. Finally, an appraisal of organizational management is done by an examination of decision-making, conflict, power and politics. Organizational behaviour issues Organization structure can be regarded as the most tangible aspect of managing an organization. It has a purpose reality that can be drawn, photographed or even mapped. Particular structures institutionalize the incentives and constraints to action, from which the designer can control and direct the behaviour of those who are willing to follow the stipulations of the structure (Murray, Poole & Jones 2005, p.6). The organization structure therefore determines the organizational behaviour in many ways. Since organization behaviour stems from individuals and the structure under which they are operating, it is important to understand the characteristics of the individual in order to have an idea on how to manage them. According to Armstrong (2006), so as to manage people effectively, it is worthwhile to understand the factors that affect how they work or behave at work. This implies taking into consideration the fundamental characteristics of people as will be discussed this paper as mentioned next. First is individual differences; for instance, different people have different capabilities, levels of intelligence, personality, culture, background, race and gender. Second is attitudes; there are different causes and manifestations of attitudes among individuals. The third point is influences on behaviour – different people have different personalities and attitudes. Fourth is the attribution theory – according this theory, people make different judgments about other people. People’s behaviour can also be looked at in terms of orientation, that is, the different approaches they adopt to carry out their duties and roles – the parts people play in carrying out the tasks they are assigned (Martinko, 1995). Based on the aforementioned attributes of people, this paper will evaluate how staff in the fire and rescue services coordinate their functions. But first is an outline of the tasks involved in the fire and rescue service and how the people carrying them out to ensure effective service delivery to the public. Outline of the fire and rescue service of the United Kingdom Organizations are complex structures and this is true even for the fire and rescue service. In the UK fir and rescue service, there are three command groups to deal with the disasters and these include Gold command (mentioned above), Silver command and bronze command. The Gold command performs strategic functions, the silver command performs tactical functions, and the bronze command is the operational level. Therefore, all these groups have to be coordinated to ensure that the disaster is put under control. The operational group, that is Bronze, has to be on ground and coordinate its activities with those of the Silver and Gold commands as well as the government departments. This is the level of management that offers immediate hands-on work at the site or sites of emergency or in any affected area(s) (Cabinet Office 2001, p.18). The operations of the various command categories are shown in figure 1. Figure 1: Various level of the command structure and their roles at the scene of an emergency. Source: Cabinet Office (2001, p.18) The command structure is founded on six basic principles, which include anticipation of the disaster, continuity, preparedness to deal with the anticipated occurrences, integration of various response strategies, cooperation among the various players involved in the response, and communication (HM Government, Emergency Response 2005, p.7). It cannot be gainsaid that all the three organs of the command structure need to be well coordinated in facilitate the efficiency of the fire and rescue service. This requires well coordinated behaviour aimed at achieving the sensitive goal of providing rescue even in the most difficult of conditions. According to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) (2009), one of the key factors that determine the success of emergency services provided by the fire and rescue service is for the personnel involved from each of the services to comprehend the cultures, capabilities, and working practices of the related services. This must be highlighted through habitual training and exercising events (p.22). There is no doubt again that all these factors rely on effective organizational behaviour. Relationships between internal organizational structures and external environmental factors Internal goals stand for the organization’s concerns with respect to improving its strength and ability. Internal goals are also referred to as “organizational” and “organizational maintenance” goals and represent the operative goals of the organization (Schutt 1986, p.24). These goals express the needs that did not exist prior to the organization’s emergence, and are therefore embedded in the organization itself rather than in its environment. Whereas external goals vary broadly between various organizations, internal goals are in their nature widely similar between organizations. The processes of maintaining or enhancing of leader and staff salaries, expanding the existing physical facilities, improving recruitment procedures, and ensuring better communication within the organization are all elements internal goals (Schutt 1986, p.24). Earlier in this paper the idea of the systems perspective on organization was mentioned. The dimension builds on the fact that any given organization is in constant interaction with many environments, that is, social, economic, political, cultural and technical. In addition, the organization must be able to adapt to environmental change. Along this line, some theorists have suggested that there is mutual influence between and their environments; others have observed the influence to be unidirectional, with the organizational structure and the processes being determined by the environment (Hutchison, p.485). Another aspect of the systems perspective is that organizations are made up of interrelated subsystems that must be integrated so as to achieve the organization’s goals while also meeting the environment standards. In addition, in contrast to the rational viewpoint, the systems perspective has the standpoint that there are many dissimilar ways, rather than one most excellent way, to attain the same goals. This is based on the notion that a system can attain its goals using as many approaches, a phenomenon referred to as equifinality (Hutchison, p.485). In the fire and rescue service, there are many interactions between the internal factors and the environment. Staff have to participate in complex and demanding activities including structural collapse rescue, rope rescue, confined space rescue, vehicle and machinery rescue, water rescue, and so forth. All these areas, along with the requirements of incident response planning, safety, operational and personal protective equipment, need to be well coordinated so as to ensure that the fire and rescue is effective in delivering the essential rescue services (Cote 2003, p. 256). Role of individuals and teams within organizations Miner (2006) defines organization roles as being made up of certain recurrent activities within the total, consistent patterns that yield the organizational output. In particular, roles are the activities that exist within a single subsystem and single office. The fire and rescue service for instance has the role to respond to emergency situations and offer rescue services. Within the work setting, individuals are surrounded by others including their superiors and subordinates, who function as role senders to them. If the roles are not well coordinated, there is a likelihood of ambiguity arising leading failure to attain set targets and objectives. Role ambiguity may arise due to lack of role-related information or communication that is not well done to convey such information (Miner 2006). The author also argues that both individuals and teams are likely to function well under certain conditions. One is that the more activities contained within a role, the more it is likely to be varied and therefore satisfying. This in turn translates to better coordination, learning and motivation. The second point is that the more interrole coordination an organization needs, the better the achievement of the coordination at all level of the organization. This means that organization that perform well arte those that actively coordinate their activities. Teams, whether virtual or real, rely on the attributes of individuals. Thus, the inherent differences among the individuals must be understood. Teams have to be well coordinated in order to play the roles of a leader, analyst, worker/doer, implementer and enabling manager (Hutchison 2003). For instance, the command structure of the UK fire ands rescue service clearly defines the roles of the Gold, Silver and Bronze commands with respect to attending to an emergency situation. The various teams operate such that their activities enhance communication, and their structure enables effective division of labour or roles. Nevertheless, Griffin and Moorhead (2009) note that implementing teams in organizations is not easy since it takes a lot of tedious work, training, time, and patience. This means that in order for the fire and rescue service to be proficient, it must invest in the aforementioned aspects. How roles are defined in organizations and how they are affected by organizational design, structure, culture and strategy The process of defining roles is preceded by a pilot design to evaluate the impact of particular decisions on the organization. This gives the designers or definers an opportunity to find out what can work and what cannot; as well as the impact of the same on the design and structure of the organization. By doing so, the management is also able to evaluate the impact of certain decisions on the organization culture and strategy. In the UK fire service, the Gold, Solver and Bronze commands have well defined operations in strategic, tactical and operational capacities, which enhance efficiency and better service delivery. In addition, this creates a good organization culture since the roles of various individuals and teams are well defined. Assessment of organizational development Whether assessment of organizational development is really important is a critical question. From one side the process deepens stakeholder insight into the organization in terms of it weaknesses, strengths, performance and motivation. But from another perspective, it may be a source of retardation as the various players in the organization play blame games. Organization assessment highlights two important points. First, could it be the best way to achieving organizational development. Sometimes yes, sometimes not. The second point is about validity. Since the purpose of assessment is to achieve development, validity may be of less concern with respect to evaluation of accountability (Lusthaus 2002). In the fire and rescue service, assessment is attained through training, drill exercises, response to real emergency situations. But as such it may not be possible to evaluate the other core aspects of the organization such as organization culture and conflict management, which require constant interaction of individuals and teams. Appraisal of organizational management Successful fire rescue education begins with good decisions made by manages in the fire and rescue service. Decision making is based on a number of issues such as what problems need to be addressed, the strategy to be used to address the problem, the target audience, the strategy change, whether incidences of fire are in the decline and so forth (Cote 2003, p.45 ). According to Lusthaus (2002) effective organization decisions are made by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each step so as to enhance coordination as well as proper management of activities (p.18). Since things such as budgetary allocations to the fire service may be politically motivated, it is appropriate to have a clear plan that separates organizational issues from politics of the day. Conclusion Organizations such as the fire and rescue service are complex systems that need critical attention in management. Organizational behaviour is about dealing with individuals and teams and determines the success of the organizations. In order to achieve this, the inherent differences between individuals must be understood so that they can be integrated into teams. Such processes are important in decision making by organizations to ensure better service delivery and general operational efficiency. List of references Armstrong, M 2006, A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (10th edition), Kogan Page Publishers, London. Cabinet Office 2001, Dealing with Disaster (Revised Third Edition), Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies Secretariat. Cote, A E 2003, Organizing for Fire and Rescue Services, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, London. Griffin, R W & Moorhead, G 2009, Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations (9th edition), Cengage Learning, New York. Harris, O J & Hartman S J 2001, Organizational Behaviour (2nd edition), Routledge, New York. HM Government 2005, Emergency response and recovery: Non statutory guidance to complement Emergency Preparedness, Library and information Centre, Easingwold. Hutchison, E D 2003, Dimensions of Human Behaviour: Person and Environment (2nd edition), SAGE, London. Lusthaus, C (ed) 2002, Organizational Assessment: A Framework for Improving Performance IDRC, New York. Martinko, M J 1995, Attribution Theory: An Organizational Perspective, CRC Press, New York. Miner, J B 2006, Organizational Behaviour 2: Essential Theories of Process and Structure, Volume 2, M.E. Sharpe, London. Murray, P, Poole, D & Jones, G 2005, Contemporary Issues in Management and Organizational Behaviour, Thomson Learning Nelson, London. National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) 2009, Guidance on multi-agency interoperability, National Policing Improvement Agency and the Association of Chief Police Officers, Bedfordshire. Schutt, RK 1986, Organization in a Changing Environment: Unionization of Welfare Employees, SUNY Press, London. Read More