Running head M4_ A2 APPLYING OB THEORIES1APPLYING OB THEORIES.docx
- 1. Running head: M4_ A2: APPLYING OB THEORIES 1 APPLYING OB THEORIES 4 Sahar N. Aly B7401 Organizational Behavior Argosy University, Washington DC Dr. James Glenn April, 2015 The paper will discuss an organizational change in management in order to resolve the problem within the organization. The first part of the paper will address different strategies used to maintain successful change and the second part will address how to overcome the resistance of change to achieve the new goals for the benefits of the organization. Problems exist when something unexpected happens and for any organization to function effectively these problems must be resolved. Leaders and supervisors must identify the current situations and try to find out where the problem exists. McNamara (2010) states “Significant organizational change occurs, for example, when an organization changes its overall strategy for success, adds or removes a major section or practice, and/or wants to change the very nature by which it operates. It also occurs when an organization evolves through various life cycles, just like people must successfully evolve through life cycles”. It is the leaders’ role to facilitate changes since it is not an easy process, and be able to assist in the organization’s adoption of opportunities and threats.
- 2. Case study: International Cargo Carrier Co. (IACC). The company is one of the cargo companies in Egypt. Their primary activity is concentrated in Suez and Alexandria ports. It provides shipping services to North America and southern Asia. The company lately was struggling and suffered the worst year in its history due to losses in income and layoffs. The company needed to gain back its image among the cargo business thus change in management, and a transformation was applied. The company today became successful and gained back its position as one of the well-known cargo carrier companies in Egypt. The organizational change was successful because their mission was accomplished. Making sure that packages were delivered on time, improving the information system in order to speed up the orders process, establishing good customer relationships, monitoring shipping orders and loading and unloading of trucks. Different strategies were used to maintain this success and are addressed as follows: • The company’s awareness for urgent change and the recognition of the threats allowed them to make others in the company aware of the need for change. The company was scanning the internal and external environment to identify competitive situations, profits and losses, updated technology, and market trends which was an asset for leaders to communicate with their subordinates. • A new strategy was developed to formulate a vision for the change and applying different strategies to reach new goals and make the change happen. McNamara (2010) states “It is important to know the reason for change, plan for new goals, needs to reach these goals and how to establish good communication and coordination between all parties involved and not individually”. • Transformation needs good communication skills in order to have all parties involved during the change. Erozkan (2013) highlighted that “communication is an understanding of needs and wants by both the sender and receiver, which contributes to
- 3. effective communication and solving problems”. • Individuals become empowered with resources and knowledge. Updating the information technology of the company gave the employees the chance to be on the front lines and help in solving their customers’ problems and thus the good customer relationship was established. The new system gave the employee the chance to make decisions without waiting for their leaders or supervisors that built trust between both parties. • The organization after a short time from the change started to look for creating a bigger change and started on evaluating the previous phase. It started making new adjustments by hiring, promoting, and making more improvements to support the entire change and work on the bigger one. • Leaders and managers in the organization were monitoring the change to make sure that new changes were implemented as required. Changes should be viewed as an integral and permanent part of new changes for the organization and not just a temporary change. Changes are considered to be hard to accept and sometimes employees resist these changes for different reasons such as uncertainty to the need of change, different self-interest, and different vision and goals for the organization. Resistances yet can be overcome by applying the following steps: • Communication; communication makes the need for change clear, and employees know the benefits of the change thus enhance their skills in order to cope with change. • Involvement; it encourages all employees to be engaged in the process, and no one left behind and they become more committed to achieving new goals successfully. • Job satisfaction and rewards; there are two types of job satisfaction; intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Intrinsic job satisfaction is when employees think about the kind of their job and the task that make up the job. Extrinsic job satisfaction is when employees believe the conditions of their employment, such as their workfellows, salaries, and supervisors. • Equity; Adams Equity theory (1965) states “Any perceived
- 4. inequity becomes a motivating state of mind. In other words, people are motivated to behave in ways that restore or maintain equity in situations”. It is also important to consider Adams' Equity Theory factors by considering the balance between the employee’s inputs and outputs. Such as effort, skill, loyalty, hard working, and flexibility concerning the employee’s outputs such as rewards, recognition, responsibility, and job security. • Organizational culture; Schermerhorn (2011) mentions that organizational culture is “The system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members” (p. 348). A high culture and value system mean a real understanding of the rules, policies, procedures, and job duties. Employees and managers within this system have beliefs for what they are doing and its value and thus share information and ideas to reach their goals and for the benefits of their organization. All individuals within the group work together to achieve common goals, and it is the managers and leaders’ role to make these goals clear to reach. • System thinking; the advantages of systems thinking according to Gharajedaghi (2006) are "a specialized language and a set of tools that can be used to address the most stubborn problems in organization and enables us to understand the structures and dynamics of complex systems and designs strategies for greater success". It also can actively influence events and from the surrounding environment rather than mechanically react to environmental changes. Senge (1990) argues that systems thinking simplify life by helping us see the deeper patterns lying behind the event and the details. • Applying Open System; the organizations that are highly engaged with their environments are called open systems organizations. The organization should be characterized by being able to adapt threats and opportunities, and interact with other systems or environments and perform in a more flexible process than those of closed systems, which are inflexible and vague. Constant change and incorporation of the unique personalities of the organization call for the open approach as
- 5. opposed to a closed system approach (Sitkin, Cardinal & Bijlsma-Frankema, 2014). • Use of Power; the use of power is crucial, as mentioned in the textbook “Leadership theory and practice” by Northouse, (2012). Reward power can be applied with an increase in pay, promotion, or assigning an attractive task to subordinates to keep them motivated. Armstrong (2002) indicates “money acts as a motivator because it can contribute directly or indirectly to the satisfaction of many other needs. He points out that not all individuals are motivated by money in the same way and to the same extent”. • Management by Objective (MBO); Maslow states a leader needs to know the needs of those in the organization and how they can work towards achieving those needs to satisfy them. Peter Drucker says the MBO includes cooperation from all levels of employees, to include management, and that employees should be viewed as resources and not costs. MBO is a motivational tool and can be used in any organization, whether a public or private organization. Drucker stated that managerial actions were important to employees, rather than just supervising employees. Implementing MBO within an organization can lead to better communication, an understanding of goals and objectives, and the results of employees. Since the level of knowledge and skills vary from a leader to another, no one ideal leadership style can be applied. Leaders who believe in change are more willing to accept feedback from their subordinates to maintain the best leadership style according to situations. Hersey & Blanchard (1993) Said, “From a teamwork perspective, one of the most important leadership theories is the situational leadership theory.” Leaders/ managers make their decisions according to the situation and chose the suitable approach that work effectively especially if the change is required to achieve the mission of the organization. In conclusion, any change in an organization can create stress
- 6. and uncertainty to the organization’s employees. Management’s efforts during this time should be keeping retained employees motivated and productive during this time of stress. It is difficult when employees feel betrayed by the organization, fear for their jobs, and perceive an uncertain future with the organization (Elmuti et al., 2010; Schermerhorn, 2011; Schillen & Steinke, 2011). Motivational strategies will always vary according to the context of the organization, the culture, and the current motivational system applied. Finally, any organization seeks success and improvement should establish trust among its members as it plays a significant role in an organization's existence and to enhance employees’ motivation. References Armstrong, M. (2002) Employee Reward, Trowbridge, Cromwell Press. Drucker, P. F., Collins, J., Kotler, P., Kouzes, J., Rodin, J., Rangan, V. K., et al., (2008). The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About your Organization, (54). Elmuti, D., Grunewald, J., & Abebe, D. (2010). Consequences of outsourcing strategies on employee quality of work life, attitudes, and performance. JournalofBusiness Strategies, 27(2), 177-203. Erozkan, A. (2013). The effect of communication skills and interpersonal problem solving skills on social self-efficacy. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 13(2), 739-745. Gharajedaghi, J. (2006), Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity, Elsevier, North Holland, NY. Macnamara, J. (2010). Public communication practices in the
- 7. Web 2.0-3.0 mediascape: The case for PRevolution. 7(3). Schermerhorn, J. (2011). Organizational Behavior (12th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Retrieved from https://digitalbookshelf.argosy.edu Senge, P. (1990), The Fifth Discipline, Currency Doubleday, New York, NY. Sitkin, S.B, Cardinal, L.B., Bijlsma-Frankema, K.M. Consequences and antecedents of managerial and employee legitimacy interpretations of control: A natural open system approach. Cambridge University Press. 396-433.