Organizational behavior affects all aspects of a corporate system. It affects organizational culture, leadership and management, and power and politics within an organization. It suffices to state that organizational behavior directly influences the productivity and efficiency of a company. Moonjoo (2017) argues that the type of behavior adopted by employees will either assure the fulfilment and achievement of the goals set or not. On the same note, organizational behavior affects the strategy that is to be implemented by the employees. This essay acts as a personal development portfolio that shows a personal interaction with the three stated factors about organizational behavior. The portfolio looks into three main aspects that relate heavily to organizational behavior. The three elements as asserted are corporate culture, leadership and management, and power and politics.
During the organizational behavior course, the broadness of the concepts of organizational culture, leadership and management, and power and politics stood out. As per the requirement of the assignment, only the most relevant aspects of the three concepts will be discussed in this personal development portfolio. In regards to organizational culture, one issue that stood out was the impact of decentralization on organizational behavior. Moonjoo (2017) argues that many companies in this day and age have adopted a decentralized system. This means that such companies are managed at lower levels. Thus, to some extent, you can find that each department is run independently.
Ellinas, Allan, and Johansson (2017) argue that for the decentralized system to work, organizational culture has to be streamlined. The argument behind this premise is that each department in an organization has to fully understand and take up organizational culture to encourage a predictable and confirmed way of doing things. In so doing, management in different departments will have an easier way of making decisions. It is important to note that due to globalization, many companies have become international. Streamlined and fully adopted organizational culture makes it easier for the management of such companies to keep in line with the standards of their headquarters.
The impact of having a well-developed and well-understood organizational culture will have a trickle-down effect. Employees will become more motivated as they will fully embrace the said culture. Ellinas et al. (2017) explain that for organizational culture to act as a catalyst for employee motivation, the employees have to be actively involved in the culture. Therefore, the management has to use employee representatives that will then choose a specific culture that will help the company attain its goals. With this in mind, the concept of leadership becomes more practice-oriented as opposed to theory-oriented.
The most interesting thing from the leadership and management discussions held in class was the trait theories of leadership. Indeed, there has been a lot of debate on the difference between leadership and management. One can state that the theory categorically highlights these differences. The trait theories of leadership state that personal characteristics in a leader are more significant compared to experience and management skills. The premise suggests that to be a leader, one must possess specific attributes. Ellinas et al. (2017) argue that characteristics such as empathy, respect, open-mindedness, assertiveness, and fairness are desirable in a leader. It suffices to point out that the said attributes affect the organizational culture in question.
In regards to power and politics, one can argue that the most interesting aspect of the class discussions was the role of dependence. The term refers to having control over another person or entity. However, one can argue that there are two types of dependence, which are whole and interlinked. In an ideal system, each part depends on the other. The same can be said of a perfect organizational system. Each department should rely on the other for the whole system to work. Towards this end, therefore, the concept of dependence in organizational behavior should not be associated with power over another (Kentikelenis & Seabrooke, 2017). Instead, dependence should be related to interlinked relationships between all departments in a company. Ideally, such interlinkage should be well-pronounced through the organizational culture. Negative company politics will be averted with the right system in place. Important to note, whereas one cannot avoid some form of politics in the workplace, one can avoid adverse situations brought on by the differences between the employees.
The three concepts of organizational culture, leadership and management, and power and politics will have an impact on my future career. So far, I have not had any experience that allows the application of the three concepts. However, I believe that the ideas will be crucial in several ways in my future career. First, I have to be comfortable with the organizational culture of the company. It is important to note that some of the characteristics I will look for in any organizational culture are innovation, sustainability, teamwork, and aggressiveness. From what I have learned, I intend to fully participate in the creation of a comprehensive organizational culture in my future job. If I get a leadership position, I will also concentrate more on personal traits as highlighted by the trait theories of leadership. I will champion an interlinkage between departments as opposed to dependency on one department.
Towards this end, there are several things I will do to improve a company’s organizational culture, help them use a more effective leadership style, and decrease the negative impacts of organizational politics. In regards to organizational culture, I would start by embracing transparency. Transparency is essential to making employees and managers alike, comfortable. Additionally, transparency leads to other desirable characteristics of an ideal organizational culture. It will lead to the appreciation of work done, confidence, and teamwork. On the same breath, I will also support and enhance professional and robust coworker relationships. Reliable and professional relationships in the workplace will lead to the cultivation of a desirable working environment. In turn, employees will be at their best regarding performance. Communication is also critical in cultivating the right organizational culture. A flexible communication system should be adopted to allow for easier decision making as well.
Leadership and management styles will be affected by the changing organizational culture. Thus, I will enhance personal and interpersonal relationships between managers and employees. Managers will also be trained on how to use the identified personal traits to motivate and encourage employees. In the same breath, the same positive relationships and enjoyable working environment will reduce negative company politics. Employees will not only be motivated to work harder, but they will also look forward to working together. A bit of competition will be perceived as a healthy part of the work. Thus, employees will celebrate their success together.
Despite all this, it is important to note that some ethical and cultural issues have to be considered when dealing with concepts such as organizational culture, power and politics, and leadership. For instance, organizational culture, power and politics, and leadership should be considerate of individual ethics. Individual ethics refer to personal characteristics that the employees have. It is impossible to have all those attributes in mind when developing organizational culture. Due to this, it is crucial to have all employees air their opinions on some of the things they can and cannot do in regards to organizational behavior. The data collected can then be used to develop the right guidelines for the organizational culture. Further, the instructions should be reviewed by the employees to ensure they agree and own the process. It is also crucial to consider societal culture when discussing organizational culture, power and politics, and leadership. This is especially the case for regional and international companies.
In conclusion, several elements affect organizational behavior. Three of these crucial elements are organizational culture, power and politics, and leadership. For a company to be successful, the management has to ensure the three factors are in sync. Organizational culture ideally affects both leadership and management, and power and politics. Personally, the concept of a decentralized system in organizational culture is very interesting. Through the decentralized system, power will be well divided, thus, lowering the chances of negative politics in the company. Also, through the decentralized system, leadership will be more about positive relationships than personal bias. The concepts learned in class will be useful to me shortly. I intend to apply the concepts learned to any job position I hold in the future.
References
Ellinas, C., Allan, N., & Johansson, A. (2017). Dynamics of organizational culture: Individual beliefs vs. social conformity. Plos ONE, 12(6), 1-20.
Kentikelenis, A. E., & Seabrooke, L. (2017). The politics of world polity: Script-writing in international organizations. American Sociological Review, 82(5), 1065-1092.
Moonjoo, K. (2017). Effects of team diversity, transformational leadership, and perceived organizational support on team-learning behavior. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 45(8), 1255-1270.