Whatever size, scope or location of an organization, the reality is that they

are composed of people. It is this people and the results of their behaviors
that can direct the success or failure of an organization. Therefore, it is vital
for organization to understand those people who work from them. The
study of the organizations and those people who work for them comprises
organizational behavior.
 

Environmental Forces Redesigning Management Practices

Change is the reality of life. Managers must be entrepreneurial on how to
instruct people on what to do and how to do the work. Intelligence, passion,
a strong work ethics, teamwork orientation and a real concern for people
are the qualities required today of an ideal work atmosphere.
Eight major forces have challenged and increasing number of firms to
channel their management talents to attain goals and objectives through
knowledge creativity.

 Power of human resources us the capability to get things completed

in the manner one wants them to be done.
 Globalization is the interconnection among nations in transportation,
distribution, communication and economic networks. The global
economy is now characterized by global competition via networks that
bring together countries, institutions and people. The trading among
nations in terms of goods and services is even faster than the actual
production of goods worldwide. Therefore, investments in people not
only capital investment is highly necessary for survival.
 Multiculturalism (cultural diversity) is a huge assortment of
differences produced by cultural trends like history, characteristics,
economic conditions, personality characteristics, language, norms and
mores.
 Rapidity of change is the rate at which change occurs in technology,
demographics, globalization and new products and services.
 Psychological contract is the unwritten set of expectations of the
employment relationship which details what each party looks forward to
give and receive. The top priorities of top employers are openness,
integrity, providing opportunities and supporting the growth and
development of their employees.
 Technology is the process that transforms raw materials or
intellectual capital into products and services. More than machinery, it
influences the work flow, structure, systems, and philosophy of the
organization to some extent.
 Service economy – the field of service like transportation,
communication, wholesale and retail, finance, insurance, real estate and
government is growing. This growth necessitates high quality
interactions between service providers and customers such as health-
care workers and patients which must be addressed with greater
understanding and appreciation.
 Teamwork – in order to meet their goals, many organizations is
focusing on teamwork. Teamwork provides better approach to quality
goods and services. Strong teamwork makes people engaged and
committed to the goals of the organization.
 

Foundations and Basic Assumptions of OB

An organization is a collection of individuals forming synchronized system
of specialized activities for the rationale of realizing goals over some
extended period of time. On the other hand, organizational behavior is
the field of study concerned with describing, understanding, predicting, and
controlling individual and group human behavior in an organizational setting
where they work. It deals with what people think, feel and do in the
organization.
There are several concepts that revolve around the individual in
organizational behavior.
 
Importance of OB
OB can be beneficial in the following ways:

1. Effectively Confronting- an individual with proactive thinking about

approaching troubles and bottlenecks can work without pressures and
plan ahead in dealing with difficult situations.
2. OB is a science- though OB is probabilistic in nature it is based on
validated facts. Therefore, a person aware of this fact can make
decision based on probability of success.
3. ON enhances conviction- OB can provide confidence in making
things happen. Even in tough situations, a person with OB knowledge
can encourage people better.
4. OB improves perceptual skills- with enhanced self-perception and
perception of others through OB, in terms of personality, attitudes,
transactional analysis, conflict resolution and negotiation, a person can
become successful.
5. OB helps motivate people- a person can use the knowledge in
motivation theory and its application to delegate authority and inspire
people.
6. OB makes better employer-employee relations- OB through conflict
resolution and negotiation can help achieve better industrial relations.
7. OB teaches managers about consumer behavior- OB can be
extended to understanding consumers better. Success in marketing can
be attained through improved relations with suppliers and customers in
the supply chain.
8. OB makes managers expert in people skills- it is expected that
managers must be skillful in dealing with people which could be learned
from OB.
 

Challenges of OB

Human Behavior is not only challenged in the workplace, it will naturally

occur anywhere we go, whatever and whoever we are. Here's a short
animated film "WATCH YOUR FEELINGS" that reflects the importance,
consequences and challenges that we may encounter out of our negative
behavior.  Reflect after watching!‍🏫

👉 Now What? Reflect! and Realize!

 
 

Workplace Diversity

Workplace Diversity Meaning

Diversity is simply differences. Workplace diversity is a characteristic of a
group of people inside the organization where differences exist on one or
more relevant dimensions like gender, age, religion, race, social class,
sexual orientation, personality, functional experience or geographical
background. It is the otherness or those human qualities that are unique
from what the individual owns and outside the groups, to which he belongs,
yet present in other individuals and groups.
 
Dimensions of Workplace Diversity
Primary- outer part
Secondary- inner part   

Benefits of Workplace Diversity

Having a diverse workforce and managing it effectively have the potential
to bring about a number of benefits to organizations. Here are the benefits
of workplace diversity:

1. Higher Creativity in Decision Making- a diverse workforce that feels

comfortable communicating varying perspectives provides a larger pool
of ideas and experiences.
2. Better Understanding and Service of Customers- a company with a
diverse workforce may create products or services that appeal to a
broader customer base.
3. More Satisfied Workforce- when employees feel that they are fairly
treated, they are likely to be more satisfied. On the other hand, when
employees observe that they are being discriminated against, they tend
to be less attached to the company, less satisfied with their jobs, and
feel more stress at work.
4. Higher Stock Prices- companies that do a better job of managing a
diverse workforce are often rewarded in the stock market, signaling,
signaling that investors employ this information to evaluate how well a
company is being managed.
5. Lower Litigation Expenses- companies doing a particularly bad job in
diversity management face costly litigations. When an employee or a
group of employees feel that the company is disobeying laws, they may
file a complaint.
6. Increased Adaptability- organizations making use of a diverse
workforce can convey a greater range of solutions to problems in
service, sourcing, and allocation of resources.
7. Broader Service Range- a diverse collection of skills and experiences
permits a company to offer service to customers on a global basis.
8. Higher Company Performance- as a result of all these potential
benefits, companies that administer diversity more effectively tend to do
better than others.
 

Roadblock to Workplace Diversity

Successful diversity management can be effective through
inclusion. Inclusion can help create high-performing organizations, where
all individuals feel engaged and their contributions toward meeting
organizational goals are respected and valued. In other words, inclusion is
how diversity can be leveraged. However, there are diversity roadblocks
that need to be addressed to avoid the entire diversity and inclusion
agenda being hindered. They are the following:

 Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice is the irrational, inflexible opinion based on limited and
insufficient information and unfair negative attitudes individuals hold about
other people who belong to social or cultural groups different from their
own.
Discrimination is a behavior that results to unequal treatment of individuals
based on group membership. Treatment may vary because of race, age,
gender, social class, sexual orientation, or any number of dimensions of
diversity.
Prejudice and discrimination do not have to be obvious. In the workplace
they could be done in subtle ways attributing discriminatory behavior to
another cause like poor performance.

 Stereotyping
Stereotyping is a generalized set of beliefs about the characteristics of a
group of individuals. People who engaged in stereotyping believed that all
or most members of the group have certain trait characteristics or traits.
Stereotypes are unrealistic, non-factual and most of the times are negative.

 Differences in Social Identity

Social identity is a person’s knowledge that he fits in to a certain social
groups, where fitting into those groups has emotional importance.

 Power Differentials
In the organization, power is not always equally distributed among
individuals and groups. Source of power could be legitimate, coercive,
expert, reward, connection or referent. Without any connection with work
life, people can be awarded or deprived power. Ascribed power is status
and power that is given cultural norms and based on group membership. It
is the societal culture that prescribes who has the power and who does not
have.

 Poor Structural Integration

Poor integration of women and minorities can give several roadblocks to
creating a diverse workplace. Here are the reasons:

1. Poor integration creates power and status differentials which can then
link to gender or race.
2. Poor integration fosters negative stereotypes
3. Poor integration when overall make use of “Exception rule”
4. Poor integration may bring the feeling of being impossible to rise to
the top for most women and minorities.

 Communication Problems
A potential problem occurs when everyone speaks a particular language
fluently and people who are less fluent may no longer contribute to the
conversation. People who speak the same language may exclude the one
who do not speak the language. Many misunderstandings happen due to
language differences.
 

Effectively Creating and Managing Workplace Diversity

What can organizations do to manage diversity more effectively? In this
section, a review of research findings and the best practices from different
companies to create a diverse yet effective workplace is listed. Here’s the
list of suggestions for organizations:

 Build a culture of respecting diversity

 Make managers accountable for diversity
 Diversity training programs
 Review recruitment practices
 Affirmative action programs

1. Simple Elimination of Discrimination. These programs are the least

controversial and are received favorably by employees.
2. Targeted Recruitment. These affirmative action plans involve
ensuring that the candidate pool is diverse. These programs are also
viewed as fair by most employees.
3. Tie-breaker. In these programs, if all other characteristics are equal,
then preference may be given to a minority candidate. In fact, these
programs are not widely used and their use needs to be justified by
organizations.
4.  Preferential Treatment. These programs involve hiring a less qualified
minority candidate. Strong preferential treatment programs are illegal in most
cases.