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Sample Essay on Organizational Behavior

An organization is an entity of people arranged and managed in order to pursue joint goals. Behavior is described as an array of activities and bearings made by entities and organisms, living or artificial in tune with its or their habitat or environment. Considering that organizations comprise of people, then the interaction between the two aspects; organization and behavior tends to be interrelated with either prevailing at particular points.

Take for example in a company like Apple Inc., which creates a ground breaking electronic devices. The company’s founder and former chief executive officer Steve Jobs, through his creative and an initiative characteristic he influenced the company’s culture and values to focus on creativity and initiative. This organizational culture influenced the individual behaviors of future employees to date, encouraging them to think creatively and be initiative to the extent that competitors are poaching Apple employees in a bid to import the behaviors in order to change their organization’s culture and structure.

An organization’s structure encompasses how it allocates duties, coordinates, and supervises the same towards achieving set goals. Organizational culture is what meaning people attach to the organizational values, their actions, and the visions of the company. This is a collective entity that is created by the organization’s staff.

Types of structures include functional, divisional, and matrix structures. Functional structure divides departments according to the function they play. That is marketing, production, human resource, departments, etc. This structure works especially for small organizations. The divisional structure works best for large multinationals. This allows the company to decentralize decisions to states and regions. The matrix structure employs both functional and divisional structures. The only problem with this structure is that it causes power overlap which results in sluggishness.

Main cultures followed organizations include: normal, pragmatic, and Academy cultures. The normal culture is that where rules are set, and staff members have to adhere to them. In the pragmatic culture, the organization is focused on the customers while the academy culture focuses on training its staff and giving tasks according to academic background of the staff.
Sometimes organizations opt to change their structures or even culture to enhance performance. The reasons for this change include changes in the market, political, and legal environment. Other reasons could change in business ownership or the adoption of new leadership by the organization. Culture in many organizations is not distinct; it is a mixture of the above and other cultures.

The Nokia Corporation

This Finland-based organization has existed for about 145 years. By 1990s, the corporation had risen to be the world’s leader in the mobile phone business. The corporation has adopted a horizontal structure with departments whose roles are well defined. The departments include the devices department (develops the handsets), service department (deals with the internet, music, games etc in Nokia phones), the corporate development department (deals with future prospects of the corporation), and the NAVTEQ department (deals with developing of navigation maps on Nokia phones).

The Nokia culture has been people oriented. The brand is in about 115 states and uses the tagline “Nokia, connecting people”. The company involves its staff in its activities and upholds innovation and diversity. The company culture stipulates that at the end of the day, the corporation should remain “human”. This describes a matrix kind of structure and a sort of pragmatic culture. The company has been on the top of the mobile production game which means that the culture and structure are effective.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company like The Nokia Corporation is a very old company and has passed the test of time. The Coca-Cola Company has after that grown to become one of the world’s most known companies. It leads in the soft drinks industry, and its main competitor is Pepsi. The company survived even the world war among very few companies that managed to overcome the war. The company has a culture that is encompassed in seven values. The values include leadership, integrity, passion, diversity, quality, collaboration, and accountability. The company is also people-oriented. It promises to refresh the world (in body, mind and spirit), inspire optimistic moments as well as make a difference through the creation of value.

The Coca-Cola Company emphasis on diversity, talent and innovativeness among its staff. In the 90s, the company adopted a new organizational structure. The company decentralized to obtain a design where each country had an independent management. The decentralization went further to regions in these countries where each region adopted an independent management. This way, regional management could make decisions without interference from above. This made the company very flexible and effective as people on the ground who had first-hand information were making the decisions. This is a divisional structure and a sort of prismatic culture as well.

Indeed, there is a great connection between a company’s culture, structure, and its performance. The structure touches on the flexibility of the organization. Culture touches on the organization’s ability to develop innovations that will counter competition. Both of these elements contribute directly to performance of an organization. Both The Coca-Cola Company and The Nokia Corporation are market leaders in their respective fields.

However, Nokia’s structure and culture had almost brought the corporation down to its knees in 2011. While this had been happening, The Coca-Cola Company was thriving as usual. A study on this phenomenon will show that the performances reflected on the structures and cultures of these companies. In the recent past, Nokia had faced competition from other handsets producers such as Motorola and Samsung where they had dominated for quite some time. Nokia had developed handsets that it could sell to all types of consumers; high-income earners and the lowest income earners. Its competition closed in on them and obviously something had to be done fast.

Before Nokia could deal with this threat, things turned rather sour for the corporation. The mobile market had been hit by a wave of smartphones. The producers of these phones were and still are Nokia’s competitors. They had innovated the smartphones using the Android technology that the world over had embraced as soon as they were launched leaving Nokia without a substantial market share. Nokia resulted into the production of some brands that could not match the competition. These handsets included the N97 and the Nokia Asha, which was no match for the Apple, HTTC, and Samsung smartphones. Apparently, while Nokia was still engrossed in hardware development, the competitors had already given Nokia a run for their money with much more superior software.

What followed showed Nokia’s lack of flexibility and innovativeness. It was clear by this point that the game had changed but Nokia instead of acting quickly to make amends continued with business as usual. The company is still feeling the effects of this although it was more devastating in the beginning when the corporation made losses for three straight quarters. The decision making at the corporation was the company’s undoing. Bureaucracy was so serious an issue that decisions seemed to counsel out.

Evidently it was time for a change. For the first time in 145 years, Nokia got a CEO, who was not Finnish. It is this CEO, Stephen Elop, who sealed the deal with Microsoft to help the Nokia Corporation produce Windows smartphones. Nokia has already started moving in the right direction. The company produced the first Windows smartphones in the world; the Nokia Lumia series. This move in a very short time saw Nokia reduce the losses and eventually making some little profits.

Elop did not just make an innovative decision on behalf of Nokia; he also changed Nokia’s structure. The company came to have two distinct departments; mobile phones and smart devices. Each department deals with its accounts and marketing. This focus on the market that had turned to smart devices has seen the company’s turnaround from its previous sorry state. The company is still to perform as good as expected. Nokia has been the leader in its field but is not anywhere near the top producers of smart phones. This shows a great deal of lacks of innovations and complacency.

Coca Cola’s culture and structure have changed and seen the company survive even the worst of business times. Coca-Cola a company that termed the world war as a blessing in disguise. The company’s management resulted in giving free drinks to the Allied fighters in the war which saw the company penetrates into new markets and with great consumer loyalty. The company also changed its management structure rapidly enough to overcome the Asian financial crisis. The crisis that had swept India, Malaysia, and Korea saw the company move deeper into these markets after making innovative acquisitions of bottlers and mergers.

In 1985, the company was under serious competition from Pepsi, which resulted into the company making carbonated drinks. This product met a lot of criticism from the onset. Immediately, the company went back to the old product but after rebranding it. On top of that, the company rolled out some products that addressed health issues. Eventually, Coca-Cola remained on top of the game. Coca-Cola has always managed to change its structure accordingly.

It does this strategically by ensuring each region addresses its specific concerns. The structure allows the company to avoid sluggishness in making important decisions. No wonder Coca-Cola has become almost invincible in the carbonated drinks field. While the companies have changed their structure, they have refrained from changing the culture. Nokia changed its culture when it changed its line of business from a normal business to a mobile phones provider. Apparently, structure is easy to change but culture is not. The ability to change accordingly is the difference between Nokia’s losses and Coca cola’s profits.

Ethics

The process of decision-making is a very vital aspect of everybody that has been bestowed some responsibility in any organization. Everyone in a certain profession, therefore, is bound to be faced with a situation which requires that he or her base the decision on some laid down guidelines. Every organization has an obligation to develop and avail the guidelines on which the employees should look upon when carrying out their responsibilities. These guidelines ensure that a certain behavior is observed and when faced with several options, it helps the employee to choose a certain action over the other regardless of the attractiveness of the others, Bredeson (2012). The result is what is commonly referred to as ethical behavior among the employees.

Ethical behavior has a lot of importance to any organization that upholds them at a workplace. The level of adherence to the ethics laid down directly influences the performance of a certain organization or individual. The code of conduct which is commonly referred to as ethics is formulated by some bodies which have authority over the certain type of organizations. For instance, businesses will be regulated by national or regional boards mandated with the responsibility. Nurses will get their ethics from the national nursing board and so forth. These ethics provide an environment conducive for excelling of all concerned including the employees, customers, investors, shareholders and other stakeholders.

Good ethics is supposed to address several key areas. The first one is the behavior of the concerned people. Behavioral guidelines should address topics such as work attire, language, and harassment. Though these might not seem very important, they are keys to continued success of any organization seeking to excel in any field. They also provide the employees with a legal basis onto which to seek redress in the event of harassment, Evans (2001). Failure to comply with these codes is mainly dealt with by issuance of warning letters and can be a basis for dismissal.

Ethics instill the high degree of integrity if followed to the letter. Integrity in a workplace is such an important tool to develop trust between the employees, their employers, customers and other stakeholders. Ethics requires the workers to always make the right decision whether it concerns an organization’s operation or any other decision that might bring harm or good influence to the organization. The integrity issue coupled with the behavioral aspect requires certain conduct to be observed even when one is not in the workplace. This works to institute the much needed respect in the corporate world. For instance, a teacher or an engineer has to conduct him or herself in a certain manner even when not in the workplace failure to which the respect accorded to him, or her recedes and this also applies to the profession or organization he represents.

Workplace ethics ensures that accountability is maintained in the workplace. Teamwork is also addressed, and commitment by those involved is increased. Productivity is also increased among the employees. The values instilled by the ethics make the employees feel strongly bound to their values and this in turn will make them demonstrate the feelings of this attachment to the values through increased productivity and teamwork. They will also be greatly motivated as they will feel attached to the values instilled by the ethics.

Public image is very important for any for-profit organization. A good public image can make a difference between profit and loss making in the organizations. A good public image tends to attract customers who will have first developed trust in your organization due to the good public image. To build this good public image, the most effective tool is ethics. An organization with well laid down ethics and whose workers adhere to the ethical guidelines is bound to have a very good public image. This will translate into increased profit and hence revenue.

Safeguarding of an organization’s assets is a very important in ensuring continued growth of an organization. Without proper ethics in place, employees tend to steal from the organization. This might be the director in terms of other organizational resources such as work time. Clearly instituted, ethics prevent this scenario by making the employees feel responsible for safeguarding of the assets in their disposal. They also form a basis for the employees to follow when in the decision-making processes.

For example, Engineer’s code of ethics development has taken a lot of time before they were fully developed. Several incidences triggered the concerned people to think of an importance of formulation of a code of ethics for engineers. The most famous ones include collapsing of a bridge in early 1920s and a molasses plant both in the United States of America. The engineers at the time and other concerned people in authority felt that there was the need for the safety of the ordinary folk using the creations of the engineers to be protected. The engineers in their view were supposed to be accountable to the people they render their services to, Greer (2007). This they argued would encourage honesty, impartiality, integrity, equity and fairness to all they extend their services to. The result will be protection of health, welfare and safety of the public. However unlike in another profession the engineer’s code of conduct is more technically inclined as is the profession.

References

Nahavandi, B. Denhardt, Janet V. Denhardt, Maria P. Aristigueta. (1990) Organizational Behavior. SAGE: New York
Bredeson, D. & Goree, K. (2012). Ethics in the workplace. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning.
Evans, D. (2001). Supervisory management : principles and practice. London: Continuum.
Greer, C. & Plunkett, W. (2007). Supervisory management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Greer, C. (1995). Strategy and human resources : a general managerial perspective. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Adler, N. & Gundersen, A. (2008). International dimensions of organizational behavior. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western.
Parikh, M. & Gupta, R. (2010). Organisational Behaviour. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education Pte. Ltd.
Jackson, N. & Carter, P. (2007). Rethinking organisational behavior : a poststructuralist framework. Harlow, England New York: Prentice Hall/Financial Times.

Systems Approach to Organizational Design Sample Essay & Outline

Introduction

Organizational design can be defined as the creation of roles and process that facilitate formal reporting structures in an organization. These roles are created through the establishment of protocols and systems whose sole responsibility is to facilitate this reporting and feedback process. The main purpose of organizational development is to realize increased prosperity and growth within an organization. By having in place systems that ensure reporting and feedback is accurate and fast, then the organization in question has the opportunity to realize its goals and visions (Daft & Weick, 1984, p. 287). These systems that are employed in organizational design are geared at increasing efficiency and productivity in any organization and, in turn, help the organization to realize its goals and core qualities through the provision of high quality and reliable services.

Üsdiken & Pasadeos (1995, p. 515) posits that the core importance of systems in organizational design is realized once business processes are introduced. The need to facilitate proper business and ensure efficient transaction processes calls for the use of systems in the design of the organization. The absence of these systems renders an organization prone to errors and loopholes that can easily result in reduced efficiency and anarchy at the work place. These systems that are used provide a form of infrastructure to the business.

This infrastructure acts as a framework which guides and facilitates efficient business processes and activities in the said organization (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983, p. 370). This is important for a couple of reasons. First, it ensures stability in the business. This stability comes from the fact that there is a concrete system that guides any business processes involved in the daily affairs at the work place. Secondly, this framework holds the business together, preventing the onset of work place anarchy.


Key Factors
In adopting a systems approach to organizational design, a number of factors need to be properly considered in the designing of the system.
Strategy


In developing the system strategy, developers must consider the vision, governance and competitive advantage. This allows the developers to come up with a system that is capable of steering an organization towards its goals efficiently and in a relatively easy fashion. In addition to this, the business is guaranteed of good governance due to the checks and balances that keep it on track (Lado & Wilson, 1994, p. 701). Lastly, this system allows a business to position itself strategically to ensure that it competes fairly with its competition. Properly designed systems also allow the business to develop a strong competitive advantage based on its daily running.

Structure

Structure, like in any other activity, is essential in any business. It provides a clear framework that governs the operation of the organization. In structure, power and authority protocols, information flow and organizational roles are considered. The system is designed to facilitate easy management and protocol affairs that make the business process simple and effective (Jarillo, 1988, p. 38). It also fosters efficient flow of communication within the organization which allows management to make decisions faster and more efficiently. Needless to say, this encompasses the incorporation of organizational roles.

Human Resource Management

The human resource is the most valuable asset of any organization. The ability to control this workforce to facilitate productivity and efficiency in any organization is a pivotal point in determining success. Ensuring that the processes of hiring and learning are not only smooth but also effective will result in improved performance and productivity in the organization. Another vital process in any organization is that of feedback (Levy & Ellis, 2006). Having a system that facilitates fast and productive feedback is a building block to success. This is because it will allow faulty areas to be quickly corrected, hence ensuring increased productivity.

Business Processes and Lateral Links

This encompasses the networks, processes, teams and integrative roles of the organization. Crafting a system that regulates and manages all these factors allows for a smooth and efficient organization with minimal hitches in terms of process management and oversight. Having smooth running networks guarantees efficiency in the organization. Grouping employees into teams makes it easier to manage them and therefore dissipate information and directives. Levy & Ellis (2006) argues that managing processes and integrative roles of employees avoids overlaps in jurisdiction and responsibility in the organization, hence avoiding unnecessary conflict that dents the productivity of the organization. Ultimately, this translates into increased profits and productivity.

Reward Systems

Establishing a reward system is vital for any organization. This is because virtually every employee in any organization wants to feel appreciated and wanted. This forces many organizations to develop systems that analyze the productivity and efficiency levels of an organization’s employees to reward them according to their efforts. This system of rewards serves as a crucial motivation for many employees, making them work better and more efficiently (Miles et.al., 1978, p. 558). As a result of this motivation, the employees increase the profit margins of the organization. Due to the rigors involved in determining the rewards every employee is entitled to, it is necessary to have in place a system that collects employee data and analyzes it to come up with the necessary rewards an employee is entitled to.


Forms of Systems Approach

Functional Systems Approach


This kind of systems approach to organizational design is programmed to realize a particular end. Due to this characteristic, they are often employed in sectors where the organization in question wishes to realize a particular end in a certain sector. Because of this need to realize a particular end, functional systems end up being responsible for developing standards in an organization. According to Pierce & Delbecq, (1977, p. 38) since every organization is keen to achieve standards and qualities that are aligned to their core visions and goals, functional systems prove to be extremely helpful in this feat.

By having functional systems manage policies, procedures and plans of the organization, it is likely to improve the likelihood of realizing these goals. Having systems that are, say aimed at realizing a certain productivity goal means the organization is likely to realize that goal. This is because the components that will facilitate the realization of this goal are controlled by the system, hence leaving little room for error and human laxity to derail the process.

A great example of such a system is a financial management system. This system will steer the organization into realizing its financial goals. By providing consistency in standard and service delivery, the organization is more likely to prosper. In such systems, the cause and effect of any action is direct and easily traceable (Pierce & Delbecq, 1977, p. 35). The process-level oriented nature of such systems makes it easy to trace the causes and effects of any action, hence making management of the organization easier. Such information is applied in determining Key Performance Areas (KPAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). This information can be used to manage, reward, and ultimately improve performance.


Methodologies for Improvement.

A number of methodologies can be employed to improve a functional systems approach.

System Audits.


Having ISO standard system audits carried out by independent parties is a surefire way to improve this system. This is because an outside party is more likely to spot any loopholes and faults that may exist in the system (Daft & Weick, 1984, p. 285). This will allow the organization to enact changes to remedy these faults, and ensure that the organization is back on the right track to realizing success.
Integrated Process Improvement Models.

Making use of process improvement models can also be a way of improving a functional system. This is because such models will facilitate smoother organizational and business processes, as compared to the functional system as it is (Pierce & Delbecq, 1977, p. 39). This allows the organization to run smoothly and efficiently. Capability maturity models such as CMMI can be helpful in realizing this.
Customer Relationship Health and Satisfaction.

A satisfied customer base is priceless to any organization looking to prosper. In this light, improving customer satisfaction in an organization is likely to reduce the need for a rigorous functional system (Miles et.al., 1978, p. 556). This is because the processes over which the system monitors have been reduced. An example of this is in service blueprinting.
Process Activity ‘waste’ Reduction.

Evaluating the main causes of slow working speed and reworking can be essential to determining the right cause of action to take insofar as improving the functional system is concerned. Analyzing the main avenues responsible for this, and developing solutions can help to improve the functional system of the organization in its entirety (Becker & Gerhart, 1996, p. 801). This ultimately translates into increased efficiency and productivity at the workplace.

Structural Systems Approach

This specific approach is geared at planning improvements in the decision making process of any organization. It is a no-brainer that the decisions made by the management concerning the organization bear the greatest weight on the course and state of the organization. Should the management make bad decisions, years of hard work could go down the drain dragging the organization many years behind its current position (Jarillo, 1988, p. 35). In order to avoid the likelihood of such scenarios, proper management decisions must be made. In as much as the managerial staff may be wise, there exists a high need for systems that will facilitate the discernment process to screen out negative decisions and foster positive decisions instead.

This approach is designed to look beneath and beyond the surface of the organization, thereby enabling the management to address the real cause of the problem, and not the symptoms of the problem itself. This prevents the management from going around in circles trying to solve the effects of an underlying problem, and instead solve the root cause of the problem. The non-linear nature of this system allows it to analyze the underlying patterns in relationships to determine the most appropriate decision making processes (Miles et.al., 1978, p. 550). It is also noteworthy that this approach has proved essential to fixing recurring problems in an organization. BY analyzing the repetitive patterns of recurring problems, this approach is capable to providing a solution to the problem. The solution of this problem proves essential to the organization by eliminating delays caused by the recurring problems, hence increasing efficiency and work output. This translates into improved efficiency and productivity.

Methodologies for Improvement.

According to Lado & Wilson, (1994, p. 706) like any other system, this approach can also be improved to facilitate a smoother organization that makes better decisions. These improvement suggestions are aimed at improving management decision making and planning.
Archetypal Behavior.

This improvement method is aimed at improving decision making through the use of system dynamics (Jarillo, 1988, p. 36). Through the study of decision patterns in the organizations, and particularly in the top brass of the organization, this method is able to analyze the dynamics involved in the decision making processes and provide a better alternative that will ultimately make decision making a much simpler process with better results. The ability to identify the common patterns in decision making processes allows this method to improve the decision making abilities of the system.

Social value Networks.

This approach is hinged on understand the social dynamics involved at the workplace. This methodology makes keen use of employee and group data that is collected by the organization. By carrying out a deep analysis of the value that these different networks at the work place have on the organization is at the heart of improving this system. This data allows the organization to monitor and determine the value of the contributions of different groups and employees to the organization (Becker & Gerhart, 1996, p. 800). Based on this, the management can then make informed and better decisions regarding its groups and employees.

Viable Systems Model (VSM).

Competition is inevitable in the world of business, and the world as a whole. As a result of this, every company needs to be well suited to ‘out-compete’ its competition, and in the process ensure survival in the world of business. This allows the organization to remain relevant in its field (Meyer, Tsui, & Hinings, 1993, p. 1180). Through this methodology, an organization is assessed and the results explain how the organization needs to be designed to survive in a dynamic and changing world. Based on this information, the necessary processes can be started to ensure that the organization is restructured to ensure that it is capable of surviving and remaining relevant in its field of expertise.

Interpretive Systems Approach

Unlike the structural and functional approaches, this approach has pluralistic perspectives. Rather than have one perspective, this approach combines a number of perspectives to create a perspective that is representative of its stakeholders. This system is contrary to the tangible, observable and objective characteristics of structural and functional systems (Pierce & Delbecq, 1977, p. 32). This pluralistic perspective allows this approach to handle a wide array of complex and often messy problems or situations. As a result, this system looks at both the human designed systems and the social systems of the organization. Key areas that this approach delves into are the systems of work (for human designed systems) and the workplace relationships (for social systems).

In this light, this approach fosters proper analysis of prevailing employee and management attitudes and behaviors. By getting the exact standpoint of these two groups in terms of behavior and attitude, the system can then facilitate proper organizational design. Because of this, this approach facilitates full stakeholder involvement in so far as resolving differences that affect performance is concerned. Due to this, the approach is able to bypass any stumbling blocks to efficiency and performance, especially where the differences arise from conflicts within the organization (Daft & Weick, 1984, p. 289). This helps the management to improve the performance of the organization, and as a result foster increased productivity and efficiency.

Methodologies for Improvement

In this approach, a number of methodologies bear the potential to improve the system.

Strategic Options Development Analysis (SODA).

Planning and policy sit at the core of success in any organization. As a result, it is necessary that these two factors be very supportive to realizing the goals and visions of the organization. Having well designed policies that are geared at improving the stature and position of the organization is compulsory, and this methodology facilitates this process (Becker & Gerhart, 1996, p. 799). By enabling clear policy resolution within the organization, the likelihood of success is increased. In addition to policy, this methodology also greatly improves the planning of the organization by incorporating all stakeholders’ views.

Interactive Planning Methodology.

Developing a clear plan that facilitates interactive planning within the organization helps in the formulation of effective policy (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1983, p. 375). Incorporating all the stakeholders in the planning process results in an all-inclusive interactive plan. This plan is often better than one in which all stakeholders are not concerned.

Social Systems Design.

In this methodology, a social system that pays close attention to the social relations at the workplace. This approach is geared at improving the relationships between the different stakeholders and staff (Meyer, Tsui, & Hinings, 1993, p. 1184). This will result in a more integrated workforce that is working efficiently to realize a particular goal.

Human Activity Systems (HAS).

To improve the overall organizational performance, this methodology is applied in various sectors of the organization. By focusing on human activity within the organization, this methodology can be applied to drive performance and excellence within the organization (Meyer, Tsui, & Hinings, 1993, p. 1187). Seeing that productivity and profit are both central to any organization, driving performance is the only way to be sure that profit, productivity and efficiency goals in an organization will be realized.

Conclusion

Organizational design is an essential component of any organization looking to realize success in today’s ultra-competitive world. It is no prerequisite, but it is essential that organizations employ a systems approach insofar as organizational design is concerned. Many of the concepts applied in the systems approach to organizational design are realistic and are based on management of human resource. The ability to manage human resource, and provide a suitable environment in which the human workforce can operate is key to maximizing efficiency.

However, it is also noteworthy that some of these approaches seem to be more of theoretical than practical in modern day organizational scenarios (Pierce & Delbecq, 1977, p. 32). The fact that some of these approaches are susceptible to error and fallibility is also a point that must be acknowledged. Nonetheless, there are quite a number of approaches that have the potential to work effectively. To guarantee positive results, it is prudent that these approaches, whichever one an organization chooses to employ, are taken with a solid back-up plan.

Theoretical cases cannot always be credited as being 100 percent full proof. For this reason, any professional looking to steer their organization to financial success should ensure that they proceed with caution insofar as these approaches are concerned. In terms of personal development, I would employ some of these systems in personal ventures to test their workability in the small scale before recommending them for use on a large scale. Seeing that they are indeed capable of increasing the efficiency of systems in an organization, then it is only right that these approaches are accepted alongside their shortcomings (Meyer, Tsui, & Hinings, 1993, p. 1189). Anyone willing to reap the benefits of a systems approach to organizational design must be willing to face any potential consequences, especially when the approaches are not executed well.

References

Becker, B., & Gerhart, B. (1996). The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects. Academy of management journal, 39(4), 779-801.
Daft, R. L., & Weick, K. E. (1984). Toward a model of organizations as interpretation systems. Academy of management review, 9(2), 284-295.
Jarillo, J. C. (1988). On strategic networks. Strategic management journal, 9(1), 31-41.
Lado, A. A., & Wilson, M. C. (1994). Human resource systems and sustained competitive advantage: A competency-based perspective. Academy of management review, 19(4), 699-727.
Levy, Y., & Ellis, T. J. (2006). A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review in Support of Information Systems Research. Informing Science, 9.
Meyer, A. D., Tsui, A. S., & Hinings, C. R. (1993). Configurational approaches to organizational analysis. Academy of Management Journal, 36(6), 1175-1195.
Miles, R. E., Snow, C. C., Meyer, A. D., & Coleman, H. J. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure, and process. Academy of management review, 3(3), 546-562.
Pierce, J. L., & Delbecq, A. L. (1977). Organization structure, individual attitudes and innovation. Academy of management review, 2(1), 27-37.
Quinn, R. E., & Rohrbaugh, J. (1983). A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: towards a competing values approach to organizational analysis. Management science, 29(3), 363- 377.
Üsdiken, B., & Pasadeos, Y. (1995). Organizational analysis in North America and Europe: A comparison of co-citation networks. Organization Studies, 16(3), 503-526.

Organizational Behavior Sample Essay and Outline

Organizational behavior involves the study of behavior of individuals within the firm. It describes the relationship between organizational operations and human behavior. Therefore, it is the study of behavior of individuals and work groups within the firm. This paper involves an analysis of a case study dealing with concepts of organizational behavior. Briefly the paper addresses the case of apple incorporation. The company is struggling with its large workforce, which lacks motivation, suffers from stress, conflict, and ineffective leadership

Apple incorporation is an international firm dealing with technological services and sale of electronic gadgets such as mobile phones. Its headquarters is in California with distribution stores all over the world. The company maintains over 70 000 permanent employees and over 3000 temporary employees. This creates a very challenging task for the human resource department.

The company is struggling to satisfy its huge work force and maintain its enormous market share. To start with, the firm lacks enough motivational programs for their employees and customers. Although Apple employees enjoy fair salary, cash bonuses, promotions and salary increment, the rewards are not based on merit hence fails to motivate workers. Secondly, the company lacks properly established stress management programs. Job insecurity, unfair work deadlines, unfair work share, unprofessional employee-supervisor relationship and inadequate assistance while performing technical tasks produce stress. Thirdly, the firm does not manage employees’ conflict adequately. Although the organization provides communication mechanism where subordinates can report complaints, response to these complains is unsatisfactory. Lastly, the organization provides one of the best leadership styles in the world. John Sculley, the current Chief executive officer of the company applies the democratic style of leadership. However, the company is too large and hence the style does not work effectively. For instance, the style requires involvement of subordinates in decision making process. Though this is encouraged, the size of the firm make the strategy less effective.

Organizational challenge Sample Essay

In the corporate world, organizations and their respective clients are facing various challenges. Apparently, most of these challenges originate from internal factors implemented by organizations and as well changes in personal interests among the clients (Reichman, 2014). Despite these challenges posing strong negative effects on the relationships between organizations and their clients, according to business psychology, there are methods and measures essential in controlling the overall impact on the organization (Balzac, 2014). The discussion below aims at evaluating a common challenge facing organizations in the modern society. It anticipates at developing a comprehensive evaluation of the challenge, thereby enacting a strong psychological solution applicable while responding to the challenge (Toch, 2014).

Technology is a common virtue in organization nowadays. Most organizations normally face the challenge of equalizing the technology knowledge among its teams and as well developing effective platforms that are consumer friendly. In the modern corporate world, organizations have strong responsibilities of ensuring that they maintain latest technology implementations in the quest of maintaining their quality of performance (Reichman, 2014).

Modern technology in organizations is crucial as it promotes effective production methods and as well promotes effective managerial processes. Therefore, managers have an obligation of ensuring that they effectively maintain a high technology level in their organizations.

Often, equalizing technological knowledge and the level of technology is a common challenge in these organizations (Toch, 2014). In most cases, incompetence to implemented technology systems in organizations fuel the challenge of equalizing the skill levels. On the other hand, external relations with the clients may experience as well some negative effects when clients have a poor adaptability to technology changes.

As a solution to these organizations, training is essential. Through these training programs, team members and as well clients gain the opportunities of increasing their familiarization with the implemented systems and use in organizations (Balzac, 2014). Organizational psychology, an important aspect of relation management, may have a strong impact and role in maintaining strong positive attitude and adaptability to technology. Organizations need to evaluate their client and employee’s level of technology competence prior to implementing these changes in their firms.

References
Reichman, W. (2014). Industrial and organizational psychology help the vulnerable: Serving the underserved.
Balzac, S. (2014). Organizational psychology for managers.
Toch, H. (2014). Organizational change through individual empowerment: Applying social psychology in prisons and policing.