Unlocking Human Behavior-Organizational Performance Link - Essay Sample

Introduction

In our introduction, organizational behavior involves studying human behavior in an organizational setup. The idea entails the relationship between people's behavior and the firm, and the and institution itself. Through the study of human behavior in an organization, the managers can understand, control and predict the behaviors of their employees to better improve the performance of the organizations they run.

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For us to understand the relationship that exists between human behavior and the performance of an organization, we must know the important aspects that affect the behavior of the organization. There exist key aspects in and out of the organization that defines the behavior of humans in an organization. The elements that have an impact on organizational behavior include; the structure of the organization, the people working for the organization, the technology used to run the organization and, the external environment.

In an operational organization, the organization structured in a way that the roles, duties, powers, and responsibilities of every employee are defined to avoid confusion and duplication. For every organization, there must be people who work in the institution and those that the organization is established to serve. The employees constitute "the internal social system" (Lowe and Locke, 2008) of the company while the customers constitute the external social system. The employees and the customers consist of either individuals or people in groups. How the people interact with each other and with other aspects of the organization affects the performance of the organization. For the work of the people to be easy in an organization, technology must get implanted. The technology comprises of tools, equipment, methods and any other resource that improves the efficiency of work. Any organization operates in a setting with an external environment. These are the external forces that affect the business either directly or indirectly. They may be technological, political, social-cultural, geographical and legal forces.

In this section of our presentation, we shall consider the organizational behavior of the Bank of America about human behavior and what best should the firm do to improve its performance. The Bank of America is an American financial corporation that deals with finances and investments in an outside the USA (Bank of America, 2019) It has branches in London, Newyork, Toronto, Hongkong and other parts of the world. Recently, the bank suffered a decline in its stock price to a tune of 32% (FXStreet, 2019). This behavior got attributed to several issues of the key to being human behavior.

The Bank of America might have suffered a decline in its stock price because of the diversity of its employees. Being a multinational company that offers its services across the globe, the company has employed workers from different parts of the world. These employees come with different cultural backgrounds, races, ages and sexual orientations. Therefore, this diversity has proved to be a challenge to the managers in the institution on how to handle every employee without negatively affecting the operations of the company.

Additionally, the financial corporation has a complex organizational structure that manifests a management challenge to the managers. With subsidiaries in different parts of the world, the top management has had difficulty in having direct contact with every employee while it is necessary for feedback collection.

Unethical behavior in the business firm contributes to performance. With the coming of smartphones, most employees will always be on their phones even when serving the customers. This unethical behavior has contributed to the negative perception of the customers on the bank's employees. Some employees also serve their interests instead of the interests of the company which makes it hard for the multinational to achieves its objectives.

As a multinational corporation, the financial firm has had to face the challenge of globalization response. Most multinationals grew from local business enterprises into their current state. Because of the globalization, managers have faced the challenge of dealing and managing of personnel from different countries and may be different pieces of training. Thus, managers have been founding it hard to understand the organizational behavior of employees of the company working in its various subsidiaries in other parts of the world (Bizfluent, 2019)

Moreover, there exist conflicts between the employees which at times turn out to be violent. Conflicts occur in scenarios where interests vary (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2019). The number of employees in an institution is proportionate to the number of conflicts that arise (Scribd, 2019). For instance, the Bank of America has very many employees and therefore, the possibility of conflicts arising is high. Many employees in a firm mean many interactions of people. As people interact, they may disagree over some things because each one of them holds a different opinion on the subject in question. Employees and management can also agree over the terms and conditions of service. The disagreements might arise from the demands of a salary increment, job promotion, and the general welfare of the workers. The management should take the issues raised by employees seriously and sensitively.

Nonetheless, the corporation has had to deal with dissenting voices of employees and customers who resist changes. Recently, the bank has tightened its "rules for free checking" (Wiener-Bronner, 2019) Many of the banks' customers were unhappy with the move, and they proceed to petition the bank against the rules. In a rejoinder, the bank said that the core checking was of great value.

However, the bank and other organizations should lay down structures and policies to improve their performance. One of the plans the companies should put in practice is by clearly spelling out the values and visions of the company to the employees. When new workers join the organization, what influences their behavior is the culture of the organization. Human beings are naturally social beings. Hence, they struggle to fit into the environment they get subjected to them. An organization which allows its employees to give their opinions without fearing reprisal build confidence when expressing their ideas that might be beneficial to the organization. On the other hand, an organization which does not give space for employees to speak up, then the workers will keep their opinions. Therefore, clarifying the values and vision of the firm has a positive change in human organization, thus good performance.

The organizations must also find the right people for their jobs during recruitment. When conducting interviews, the recruiting agencies should look for people who share the same visions with the organizations. They must consider hiring people with knowledge, skills, values, and competencies relevant to the goals and objectives of the organization. The agencies must equally put into account the academic qualifications and experiences of those interviewed with great emphasis on the areas relevant to the objectives of the institution.

Secondly, the reward systems should be improved. Paying salaries to employees might not be enough motivation for them to give out their best service. Salaries might be the reason for them to be showing up for daily work and not the reason for them to get dedicated to their work. Organizational behavior shows that workers need other elements of motivation other than a fat salary. Most employees would feel motivated if only they can establish a direct link between their efforts in work and the rewards given to them. However, these rewards should be "fair and equitable" (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2019). The statement implies that best-performing employees should be rewarded accordingly without favor. The organization must also set realistic goals which shall be achievable to the employees. The rewards might be in the form of money, recognition or any material reward.

Companies must consider "habits that foster sustainability in the organization." (Energy.gov, 2019) Any unethical behavior in the organization should get eliminated before it becomes a disease. Rewarding a positive behavior leads to positive outcomes, and it becomes a habit. For sustainability, the creation of a new working environment should be on the changes in the organization and not primarily on an individual. Setting goals for employees in an organization increases their intentions to change.

Again, companies should set up good policies to respond to change management. For companies to survive in the competitive business environment, they must initiate strategies for meeting their customer's demands, changing markets and how they approach technical issues. For it to succeed and be effective, companies must consider organizational behavior. It is because employees find difficulty in swiping to new things and adapting to them. Before any changes become introduced into the firm, all stakeholders should get consulted, and their opinions considered and accommodated. That will prevent any opposition once the changes get introduced into the operation of the company. Managers have the responsibility to set standards for changes to occur smoothly. Resistant voices b sought and their opinions accommodated in the changes.

Organizations should encourage creativity and innovation through informed risk-taking mechanisms. The success of risk-taking adventures depends on the organization's attitude and perception about it. An institution that takes risks positively allows its managers and employees to make risky decisions comfortably without fear. Companies that have vibrant communication channels empower their workers to make informed decisions now that they understand the context of their workplace. Thus, institutions should create a free space for informed decision making to better their performances.

However, organizational behavior has shortcomings. It cannot address the deficiencies created by our improper planning, poor controls and, reckless organizing. It is a small system which operates in a bigger social system.

Also, organizational behavior cannot eliminate frustrations and neither can it abolish conflicts in the organization (iEduNote.com, 2019). The only thing it can do is reducing the levels. It is just a way of addressing the challenges in the organizations but not completely solving them.

Another shortcoming associated with organizational behavior is that applying it to the entire reality might be a challenge. We can discuss it separately as a subject but its application a whole is a problem. For instance, improving organizational behavior cannot address and solve unemployment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is very important to cultivate a healthy organizational behavior for optimum performance of the organization. As we have seen in the case of the American Bank, some behaviors harm the operations of the business. Studying organizational change give the managers more understanding of the organization and they can use the information they acquire to run the organization effectively. However, if the challenges arising from organizational behavior get addressed with well down strategies, the performance of the organization goes up. It is therefore important to improve the welfare of workers to build great organizational behavior.

Works Cited

Lowe, A. and Locke, J. (2008). Enterprise resource planning and the post bureaucratic organization. Information Technology & People, 21(4), pp.375-400.

Bank of America. (2019). Bank of America Reports Q4-15 Net Income of $3.3B, EPS of $0.28 | Bank of America. [online] Available at: https://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/press-releases/corporate-an...