Organizational Behavior Theories and Practices in Contemporary Workplace

This report aims at discussing five selected topics which were learned during weeks five to twelve. The purpose of preparing this paper is to integrate diverse organizational behavior (OB) theories and practices to apply them in problem-solving and enhance critical thinking abilities.

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Introduction
This report aims at discussing five selected topics which were learned during
weeks five to twelve. The purpose of preparing this paper is to integrate diverse
organizational behavior (OB) theories and practices to apply them in problem-solving
and enhance critical thinking abilities. This paper will focus majorly upon motivation,
group behaviour and the team at work, leadership, conflict and negotiation and
culture to demonstrate how these concepts are used in the contemporary workplace.
This paper will use credible sources for analyzing the concepts to develop an
alternative OB approach in the workplace.
Motivation
Most of the employers in contemporary organizations desire their employees
to be motivated and effectively perform their work but hardly comprehends what
motivates human beings. According to Dobre (2013), “motivation is an internal drive
to satisfy an unsatisfied need and to achieve a certain goal" (p. 54). In most of the
countries like Europe and the UK, companies make great investments to create
interest among employees alongside implementing various motivation theories to
keep the employees motivated and perform expectedly. Among all, the most
commonly used OB theories are Herzberg's two-factor theory, Aristotle seven cause
and Maslow's needs hierarchy as each of the theories relates human factors that are
needed by employees to be motivated in the workplace. Since every individual
belongs to different stages in life, management strategies require adopting different
motivation techniques to motivate their employees (Shoraj & Llaci, 2015). Integrating
theory into practice not only helps in investigating and describing how employees
can be motivated but also helps in influencing employees to remain self-motivated
and perform effectively.
According to Shoraj & Llaci (2015), there are two types of motivation that
impact employee performance in the workplace: financial and non-financial.
Motivating employees financially includes means like promotions, incentives,
bonuses and paid leave. Non-financial motives include motivational gains like
rewards, performance feedback, social recognition, etc which creates a positive
influence on employees' motivation. Furthermore, increased motivation in employees
results in job satisfaction as both of them are often closely connected in
organizational behaviour context in which job satisfaction is considered as an
emotive consequence resulting due to the accomplishment of duties. Accordingly,
job satisfaction can be associated with employee motivation, cooperation,
engagement and work performance that makes it necessary for companies to keep
motivating their staff for increased organizational productivity. Motivation through
influential leadership control is also considered as a motivating factor which signifies
that gaining employees trust and making them follow is very important to motivate
them for completing tasks appropriately (Dobre, 2013).

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Group behaviour and the team at work
In contemporary workplaces and community, people are focussing more upon
achieving occupational goals and purposes in the workplace rather than focussing
more upon the teamwork concept. Remarkably, in spite group behaviour is
measured as an indispensable device in management systems, it is ignored by most
of the employees as well as the employers that have led most of the workplace face
deficit in organizational productivity and poor performances. According to Sanyal &
Hisam (2018), creating the teams at work is the only way which can help
organizations accomplish efficient and quality economic growth under a controlled
supervisor. Many companies does not like to hire such individuals who are unavle to
work with teams for achieving task outputs or solve conflicts which proves the
significance behind group behavior as a necessary skill in OB context. Effective
intragroup collaboration and leadership are becoming increasingly significant since
the workplace are becoming more information-sensitive and complex than before,
thereby making teamwork a valuable asset (Sohmen, 2013).
From the case study read in week 7, it can be assumed that few trends that
influence success or failure of team-based projects depends upon the moment
teams are introduced in the workplace. In this sense, it can be said that building
strong and effective groups require long-standing techniques such as stages in team
development, the role of individual members, size, norms, cohesiveness, and
statuses. Teams can also be developed following effective team development
strategy like forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Such guiding
principles help teams develop regulations to guide and regulates member behaviour,
however, any inequity seen in statuses leads to frustration and inadequate
performance. Size of team specifies the intensity of the project requirements while
cohesiveness influences the team's productivity based on norms developed for team
performance (Lunenburg & Lunenburg, 2015).
Leadership
Effective leadership is regarded as one of the essential components in
organization’s that help them sustain business processes in spite of facing issues
caused by changing business dynamics. According to Hao & Yazdanifard (2015)
influential leaders are those who take charge and control business operations
whereas good leaders are ones who set optimistic objectives and business goals
while steering operational procedures towards goals through efficient strategies.
Other than this, good leaders also influence employees by motivating and inspiring
them through positive organizational cultures and various employee benefits
programs like compensation, rewards, and recognition. In literature, the definition of
leadership entails various terms such as behavior, traits, role, relationship and
administrative work pattern of the leaders (Aalateeg, 2017).
Among all, trait theory in leadership has gained many criticisms lately as a
trait approach places no importance between leaders-follower relationship. Without
followership, leadership becomes meaningless and if trait theory were still valid, it
could arise a situation in which individuals will exhibit extroversion,
conscientiousness, and open-mindedness. Or else, it can be questioned, why would
a group of individuals follow a person who displays a multitude of traits which are
commonly believed to be negative concerning leadership (Aalateeg, 2017).

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Alternatively, behavior theory in leadership has gained much significance recently as
behavior theory considers the extent to which organizational leader establishes
mutual trust and relationship with the groups. Establishing such dimensions creates
an association between leaders and followers through with two-way communication,
participation and human relations approach. Furthermore, making a behavioral
assessment of leaders can help organizations in making an appropriate selection of
their leaders who can further be developed through effective training and education.
For instance, training provided on international strategies, inter-culture relationships,
and communication (Hao & Yazdanifard, 2015).
Conflict and negotiations
Conflicts are an inseparable part of organizations and results in negative
consequences within workplaces. It is considered as a discord state that is caused
because of perceived or intentional oppositions thriving for power, needs, and
interest between authority and politics. Disputes arising due to it normally impacts
revenues and its division system alongside disturbing organizational peace due to
jurisdictional disagreements. However, some of the people take it as an opportunity
for individual growth by utilizing the best of their abilities during conflict situations.
Such people find conflicts necessary and upright as conflicts stimulate innovative
thinking if managed properly. Lack of conflicts in action and thoughts can reflect work
monotony and conflicts allow examination of the necessary course of action and
thinking (Omisore & Abiodun, 2014).
Conflict negotiations, on the other hand, reveals some serious intractable
dimension within the workplace that can potentially lead to grievance bargaining
scenarios one after the other. The fundamental dilemma occurring due to
negotiations is the extent to which negotiators trust each other. Therefore, the
negotiator usually gathers information in the first place and determines how much or
when the party is required to pay or whether they are deceitful in misinterpreting true
positions, introducing new spurious data and distorting relevant facts and figures.
Additionally, the trustworthiness of any of the two or more parties involved can
change over time as per arising situations or if the negotiations are coming to an end
based on the negotiation proceeding results. Therefore, Nwinyokpugi (2015)
suggests that every party involved in negotiations must demonstrate sound ethical
grounds based on trust so that commitment horizon increases and expected
outcomes of negotiations are realized by both the parties. Whether the negotiation
process is calculus-based trust or identification-based trust, enabling rewards must
be made evident alongside dictating the degree of commitment and acceptance to
negotiation within organizations (Nwinyokpugi, 2015).
Culture
Cultures in an organization are referred to as a set of norms, belief, values,
and attitude that impacts organizational behavior. Aktaú, Cicek, & Kiyak (2011)
defined organizational culture as “Common perceptions which are held by the
members of an organization; a system of common meaning” (p. 1561). Cameron
Quinn developed Competing Values Framework which is considered as one of the
most extensively used and influential models in organizational culture study. The

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CVF model demonstrates whether an organization has a prime focus upon internal
or external sources and whether it endeavors to have individuality, stability or
flexibility and control. This model emphasis on six core dimensions within the cultural
sphere and four dominant cultures: clan, adhocracy, market and hierarchy that
creates an association between workplace culture and efficacy.
Organizational culture comprises integrated contexts of all the essential
enterprise factors such as interpersonal skills, motivation, leadership style, conflict
management, structure training, and HRM practices. A strong culture proves to be a
common factor within successful companies that values cultural priorities rather
focusing upon individuals and organizational goals only. Moreover, successful
company's leaders live their culture each day and communicates with the outer world
by demonstrating strong cultural identity grounded upon ethical, moral and socially
responsible strategies. However, to ascertain that organizations are been nurtured
positively, abiding positive culture through effective leadership approach is essential
so that a positive tone of work comprising ethical stances is levied upon
organizational members. Otherwise which, ineffective culture can adversely bring
down organizational leadership and performance through disengaged staff, poor
customer relationship, reduced profits and high labor turnover ratio, thereby
negatively impacting the bottom line (Ibidunni & Agboola, 2013).

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References
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Aktaú, E., Çiçek, I. & Kiyak, M., 2011. The Effect Of Organizational Culture On
Organizational Efficiency: The Moderating Role Of Organizational Environment and
CEO Values. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 24, p. 1560–1573.
Dobre, O.-I., 2013. Employee motivation and organizational performance. Review of
Applied Socio-Economic Research, 5(1), pp. 53-60.
Hao, M. J. & Yazdanifard, R., 2015. How Effective Leadership Can Facilitate Change
in Organizations through Improvement and Innovation. Global Journal of
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Ibidunni, S. & Agboola, M., 2013. Organizational Culture: Creating, Changing,
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Lunenburg, F. C. & Lunenburg, M. R., 2015. Developing High Performance Teams:
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Nwinyokpugi, P. N., 2015. Managing Parties’ Conflicts in Negotiation: The Trust-
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Omisore, B. O. & Abiodun, A. R., 2014. Organizational Conflicts: Causes, Effects,
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Sanyal, S. & Hisam, M. W., 2018. The Impact of Teamwork on Work Performance of
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Shoraj, D. & Llaci, S., 2015. Motivation and Its Impact on Organizational
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