ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR & NATIONAL CULTURE

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:

Is the study of individual behavior and group dynamics in organizations.

Human behavior in organizations is complex.  Reflected in these metaphors:

• The clockwork: idealize it. Logical and rational. It leads to the formal organization, which is the official, legitimate and most visible.
• The snake pit: daily conflict, stress within the organizations. Informal, unofficial, less visible.  Discovered in Hawthorne studies (1920-1930)

Informal (performance) and formal (context) elements, together, form organizations.

Human Behavior has 2 perspectives:

·      Internal: psychological oriented. Thoughts, feelings, needs, experiences, values.

·      External: surrounding external events and environmental forces.

That is why Kurt Lewin said,  “behavior is a function of both the person and the environment”. (1936). Principles of Topological Psychology.

Organizations as OPEN SYSTEMS: interacting internal components (people, structure, technology, tasks), which interact with elements of the environment.

Source: Organizational Behavior. Sin Kit I. Class 2011-1

Change can create opportunities and risks.

•       Too much change, chaos.
•        Too little change, stagnation.

Driving forces and Challenges as well, for managers in changing times:

1.    Globalization.

2.    Workforce diversity

3.    Technological innovation

4.    Demand of ethical behavior at work 

To achieve success, it is necessary to:

• ·      Be Customer Focused! Exceed customer expectations in quality.

Total Quality Management (TQM):  total dedication to continuous improvement and to customers so that the customers’ needs are met and their expectations exceeded.

Six Sigma:  high-performance system to execute business strategy that is customer-driven emphasizes quantitative decision making, prioritizing on saving money.

Learning about organizational behavior includes 3 activities:

1.             Objective Knowledge: results from research and experiments.

2.             Skill development: master the abilities Essentials to successful functioning.

3.             Apply both in real World.

NATIONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

The importance of culture in decision-making process depends on the circumstances and the interests of the person.

Factors that influence Decision Making

Internal:

• ·      CEO’s psychological make up
• ·      Organization strategy, history, culture
• ·      Resources (financial, plant, staff, technology)
• ·      Policies and systems

External:

• ·      Competitors
• ·      Suppliers
• ·      Customers
• ·      Market
• ·      Technology
• ·      Regional, national and international economies and politics.
• ·      Laws and regulations
• ·      Infrastructure (transport, power)
• ·      Trade unions
• ·      Ethics and religion
• ·      Green environment
• ·      Industry interests
• ·      National culture

Culture

Hofstede (1984) defines culture as:

… the collective programming of the

mind which distinguishes the members

of one human group from another…

Culture, in this sense, includes systems

of values; and values are among the

building blocks of culture (p.21).

Is particular to one group: different groups can respond differently to the same situation.

Is learned (passed from one generation to another). The learning is unconscious and in the early years so it is deep-rooted.

It has a system of values that includes beliefs and religion as well.

Characterizes the group and influences the behavior of its members but is not the only one, also by: genetic transmission, family, gender stereotypes, age. Managers should make a generalization of the analysis of these aspects to implement a cultural analysis.

It can be predictable but in unexpected situations, or abnormal psychological status it might have differences.

Cultural diversity brings opportunities (tolerance, cooperation, cross-cultural learning, creativity, innovation) and difficulties (time, costs, communication process, interpersonal conflicts)

Why is managing organizational behavior in changing times, challenging?

Change is challenging in basically two items:

1.    Adapting to change: in general, human behavior in times of change becomes reactive, rigid, and dominant. Individuals are members of organizations, as individuals’ behavior is being disrupted by a non expected situation, with the organizational behavior happens the same thing because one affects the natural rhythm of performance within the organization. When there are cultural differences is important to be tolerant and have the willingness of accept differences in the way of act, think and work.  Managers can’t generalize all the time because individuals have different values, beliefs and all of this influences the behavior of a person. Also, is important to be aware that the world is in constant evolution, and the market conditions can change abruptly. Managers should have plans B for the way the organization is going to face this new circumstances. EXAMPLE: Quality can’t be optimized because customer expectations are always changing, but the organization must continue pursuing this because it becomes a competitive advantage. Change must be seen as positive and if it’s a failure, learn from the mistakes.

2.    The amount of change applied: as I already mentioned, the World is in constant evolution, this is why continues change is required to have a good competitive position. As the document says, too many change leads to chaos, but too little is stagnation. In this globalized time, managers of organizations, might be willing to innovate, to adapt into new markets, to be responsive to ethnic, ethical, religious, gender, demographic and social differences.

REFERENCES:  

Mead, Richard. 2004. International Management: Cross-Cultural Dimensions. London: Blackwell Publishing. Chapter 1.

Nelson, Debra L. and Quick, James Campbell. 2010. Organizational Behavior –Science, the Real World, and You.  South-Western Cengage Learning, Mason, USA. Chapter 1 and 2