Introduction
Studying organizational behavior opens wide horizons in front of those who are planning to manage people taking into consideration the ways they act in the organization. Organizational behavior operates a range of concepts; emotions, moods, team learning, and group dynamics are the basic ones. They help to understand how much organizational behavior entails. Applying my results from the Self-Assessment to the concepts of emotions, moods, team learning, and group dynamics in organizational behavior favored my understanding of these concepts and helped to discover my strengths and weaknesses as a person and a leader.
Emotions in Organizational Behavior
Emotions guide people’s behaviors, reflect how they feel about certain things (Robbins & Judge, 2007, p.5), account for the decisions which people make, and have a direct influence on their social, physiological, and cognitive processes. This is why changing organizational behaviors may often require changing definite emotional patterns. Employers should pay special attention to emotions and recognize their importance for the proper performance of the company.
Those employers who understand this “and attend to keeping their environments emotionally healthy will create less emotional pain and reap more productive work behavior.” (Hartel, Zerbe, & Ashkanasy, 2005, p.1) Understanding the emotions of the employees, the employers will be able to create special organizational behavior patterns which meet the needs of the employees and which contribute to their emotional health.
The ability to control emotions and choose a profession in correspondence with one’s emotional state is crucial for any person. People who tend to experience mostly positive emotions are often regarded as suitable for any jobs; however, one can gain benefits from negative emotions as well, especially when it comes to the choice of profession:
It may be that employees who tend to experience positive emotions will be better suited for work rules that require the expression of positive emotion (e.g., sales clerks, flight attendants). In contrast, employees who tend to experience negative emotions may be better suited for work rules that require the expression of negative emotion (e.g., bill collectors, bouncers). (Morris & Feldman, 1997, p.257)
Owing to the Self-Assessment which I took, I was able to define my level of emotional stability and my tolerance of ambiguity which helped me to better understand the concept of emotions in organizational behavior and organizational behavior theory in action. Thus, the results of the assessment have shown that I have positive emotional stability (I scored 11, which is quite a high score). This means that I am a secure, calm, and enthusiastic person who is emotionally stable and endurable. Such results show that I can easily handle jobs that require emotional stability. According to the assessment, I am also tolerant in handling ambiguity which means that I perceive situations as promising, rather than as threatening, which adds to my emotional stability and balance.
Moods in Organizational Behavior
Moods are often confused with emotions, though these two concepts are absolutely different. While emotions are relatively stable, moods can change. Moods can be defined as “generalized feeling states that are not typically identified with a particular stimulus and not sufficiently intense to interrupt ongoing thought processes.” (Brief & Weiss, 2002, p.279) Just like emotions, moods can influence the job satisfaction of each employee and, correspondingly, the performance of the whole organization. Creating a positive mood at the working place makes people more helpful and cooperative reducing aggressive behaviors and shaping positive ones towards coworkers and customers. (Lynn, 2004, p.9)
Mood can help to predict emotional reactions to different events, which is critical for the self-coach of every employee. The more predictive the self-coach is, the more effectively the employees will be able to work out the methods to diffuse negative situations and to cope with the existing problems. (Lynn, 2004, p.10) Therefore, being able to control moods and create the necessary working atmosphere is extremely important for the organizational behavior of the whole company.
The results of my Self Assessment revealed my level of flexibility, job satisfaction, and locus of control which are inevitably connected with the concept of moods. Locus of control allows understanding alienation or dissatisfaction with work, which often explains low spirits and bad mood. My score here is 6, which means that I have a moderate internal locus of control. I accept blame for my actions quite normally and problems at work do not have a significant impact on my mood, which makes me satisfied with my job (my score in job satisfaction is 90; this means that I have a positive attitude towards my job and low levels of absenteeism and turnover).
I also scored 41 in flexibility, which testifies to the fact that I adjust my behavior to external situational factors; I can control my mood and easily adapt to the new environment. My high self-monitoring makes me ready for any changes and accounts for my being quite open-minded (I scored 8 in open-mindedness).
Team Learning in Organizational Behavior
Team learning occupies an intermediate position between organizational and individual learning. Hawkins 1997 (p.74) keeps to an idea that it “retains some characteristics of both individual learning and organizational learning, yet it can be isolated as a discrete type of learning.” Team learning is even more important when it comes to the introduction of new technologies. The matter is that new technologies themselves require a team for their use (Edmondson, Bohmer, & Pisano, 2001, p.685); moreover, it allows learning from somebody else’s mistakes and promotes cooperation in any organization.
Since I scored 11 in Agreeableness and 6 in Openness to Experience in my Self Assessment (five-factor model of personality), I believe that I am able to practice team learning working for any organization. Such a score in Agreeableness indicates that I am a cooperative person able to defer to others; team learning will be easy for me because I am agreeable. I am quite open to experience and have a wide range of interests; this shows that I will succeed in mastering new technologies with the rest of the team because I am artistically sensitive and intellectual.
Group Dynamics in Organizational Behavior
Group dynamics in any organization helps to trace its overall organizational behavior. Together with individual behavior, group dynamics is the primary concern in the study of organizational behavior. (Nelson & Quick, 2007, p.4) The development of group dynamics led to inventing numerous group training methods which help to increase group effectiveness by means of improving the social interaction skills of the members of the group.
According to Mullins 2007 (p.347), “a central feature of group dynamics is sensitivity training, in which members of a group direct attention to the understanding of their own behavior and perceiving themselves as others see them.” Development of the group dynamics and proper usage of group training methods helps to increase cooperation and improve understanding in the organization, which subsequently leads to better performance of each employee and of the whole organization.
Participating in group training methods may be quite useful for me. The matter is that Self-Assessment let me find out my type of personality; according to Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I am an ENTJ. People belonging to this type are natural leaders; they are powerful and independent in their decision-making. Group training methods will make me more involved in the life of the organization and will help me to implements my skills as a natural leader and develop my creativity. The Self-Assessment has shown that I have a low level of creativity (I scored 1). Taking part in group training will help me to find out methods to promote understanding in an organization, which would demand certain creativity on my part. Such participation will be beneficial for both me and the organization.
Conclusion
Several self-assessments in the Self Assessment which I took helped me to better comprehend the concepts of emotions, moods, team learning, and group dynamics in organizational behavior. Applying the results of my Self Assessment to these concepts showed that I am an emotionally stable person who is tolerant of ambiguity. This means that I can work with customers and that I can endure stress without losing my temper. The assessment also revealed that I am a flexible and open-minded person, which helps me to be in good mood, adapt to the changes, and be almost fully satisfied with my job. I will benefit greatly from team learning and group training methods because they will help me to apply my skills as a natural leader and further understanding and cooperation in the organization.
References
Brief, A.P. & Weiss, H.M. (2002). Organizational Behavior: Affect in the Workplace. Annual Review of Psychology, 279.
Edmondson, A.C., Bohmer, R.M., & Pisano, G.P. (2001). Disrupted Routines: Team Learning and New Technology Implementation in Hospitals. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 685.
Hartel, C.E.J., Zerbe, W.J., & Ashkanasy, N.M. (2005). Emotions in Organizational Behavior. Routledge.
Hawkins, T.R. (1997). The Learning Congregation: A New Vision of Leadership. Westminster John Knox Press.
Lynn, A.B. (2004). The EQ Difference: a Powerful Plan for Putting Emotional Intelligence to Work. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.
Morris, A. & Feldman, D.C. (1997). Managing Emotions in the Workplace. Journal of Managerial Issues, 9, 257.
Mullins, L.J. (2007). Management and Organizational Behaviour. Pearson Education.
Nelson, D.L. & Quick, J.K. (2007). Understanding Organizational Behavior. Cengage Learning EMEA.
Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T. (2007). Organizational Behavior. Prentice Hall.