Introduction
Organizational behavior is a broad and interdisciplinary area in management, which relies on the research and ideas of many other disciplines which explain human interaction and behavior.
Such disciplines include psychology, sociology, industrial psychology, social psychology, anthropology and communication (MacGinins, n.d). The focus of organizational behavior is the study of organizational; design, management and effectiveness (Martin, 2005).
Organizational behavior therefore involves the interdependences and interrelationships of various topics like motivation, emotions, change process, culture, power and control, ethics, management and leadership, job design and technology, organizational structure, conflict and politics, stress in groups and individuals, learning, and communication which involves decision making and negotiations.
Managers must therefore understand the relationships between all these topics, and see how they can strike a balance, to ensure that there is a conducive environment for the progress and survival of the organization (Martin, 2005).
In this assignment, I will explore organizational behavior by the use of the case study of RR Feeds, Inc., which is a large feed processing plant located in North Dakota. I will identify the challenges, conduct an in depth analysis and provide recommendations to the Management team.
Discussion
Challenges facing RR Feeds, Inc
One challenge facing the organization is that of economic down turn, which brings in the problems of financial instability for the company because it makes less profit as the expenses remain constant. This made the organization lay off some of the employees and cut spending, so as to survive.
The other challenge is that of change of employees’ attitude towards the organization. The employees no longer feel obliged to commit themselves to the organization, and that is why they are ready to do as little as they can for the organization.
The employees’ morale in working is greatly reduced due to lack of or poor motivation for them to dedicate their efforts to the organization. The management is faced with the challenge of enabling the organization to survive under the economic down turn, as they safeguard the welfare of the employees. This is a challenge of change management.
In depth analysis
The problems facing the organization can be attributed to change management. The organization has had a good history in its relationships with the employees and it’s clients for a long time. It usually gave bonuses to employees, and committed a lot of resources in various activities of the organization.
The employees were very satisfied and they had a very positive attitude towards the organization. The levels of the employee commitment, motivation and morale were high before the economic down turn.
With the onset of the economic down turn, which is a universal economic catastrophe, the organization was faced with the challenge of maintaining the status quo, in terms of giving bonuses to employees, and spending in organization activities. This made the employees change their attitudes and perceptions towards the management of the organization.
The fact that some employees were laid off did not go down well with some employees, who sensed something fishy in the management of the organization. Their perception was that the laying off of some of them was aimed at victimizing them for their reduced morale in their work at the company.
The key problem for the organization is how to effect and manage change within the organization, which is necessary for its survival. When change happens within an organization, each individual reacts differently whereby some embrace the change while others do not. … However, the organization must survive despite the challenges.
When the management started laying off some employees, cutting on spending and bonuses, it did so as a reaction to the external forces to the organization. The employees on the other side reacted to the change by reducing their commitment to the organization due to lowered motivation.
Recommendations to the Management
Organizational change is always a challenge to many managers because they are faced with the challenge of maintaining the status quo for the organization in terms of employee satisfaction on one hand and retaining the organizational performance and output on the other.
Mr. Nates idea of redesigning the jobs for the employees is one way of initiating the desired change to deal with the prevailing situation. This is because the jobs would be redesigned to enable one employee handle various tasks which were being handled by the laid off staff. However, the management will need to train the remaining staff on the extra fields or dockets, so that they may be able to discharge the duties effectively.
The idea of reexamining the performance evaluation program and aligning it to the current organizational situation is aimed at bringing some changes in the manner in which employees are compensated for their labor. Chances are that the manager may come up with a contract performance system of working, in which employees are given some targets to meet, then get paid depending on how they meet those targets…..
This is different from the normal payment in which employees are paid after the end of each month without any targets set for them. The idea is good because it would ensure that the company divides its workload to the number of employees and attach some time frames under which those targets must be met, and then pay the employees depending on how they meet the targets.
This can increase productivity and flexibility in the organization, because each employee will work hard to see that he or she meets the targets, so as to receive the payment. It would increase flexibility because each employee would set his or her own work plan, and develop a time table to accomplish the tasks.
The employees may work hard to meet the set targets within a short time, so as to spare some time to engage in other income generating activities so as to supplement what they earn at the company (Martin, & Fellenz, 2010).
Regarding the stress levels and new employee behavior of low commitment to the company, the management should use Lewin’s three phases of change management namely unfreezing, transition and refreezing of behavior.
During the unfreezing stage, the management should prepare the employees for the change through talking to them about the prevailing economic situations and how it is affecting the company, and therefore the need for the company to adapt and align itself to the prevailing economic situation in order for it to survive and remain in business.
The management should then use push and pull strategies to prepare the employees for the change, which is implemented during the transition phase. At the refreezing phase, the management should refreeze the newly acquired behavior in line with the new work environment. This would make the employees satisfied and restore their confidence, loyalty and commitment to the organization (Lewin, 2011).
Conclusion
Organizational behavior is a very crucial field in management which is very broad in nature. Managers need to understand organizational behavior in order for them to be able to be able to deal with the dynamic nature of organizational environment, which keeps at changing. Organizational behavior entails interaction between the organization and the employees.
One major challenge for organizations is how to deal with change, like the one which faced RR Feeds, Inc due to the economic down turn. In such cases, managers should borrow Lewin’s three phase strategy of dealing with change namely unfreezing, transition and refreezing of behavior, so as to align the employees’ behavior with the prevailing organizational environment (Lewin, 2011).
References
Lewin, K.(2011). Lewin’s Freeze Phases. Web.
MacGinins, S.K. (n.d). Organizational Behavior and Management Thinking. Web.
Martin, J. (2005). 3rd ed. Organizational Behavior and Management. Andover SP10 5BE: Cengage Learning EMEA.
Martin,J., & Fellenz, M.(2010). 4th ed. Organizational Behavior & Management. Andover SP10 5BE: Cengage Learning EMEA.