Organizational Behavior Report: Teamwork, Technology, and Change

This report delves into key aspects of organizational behavior, contrasting effective and ineffective team characteristics, and assessing the impact of technology on team dynamics. It explores the development and role of virtual teams, along with different organizational structures. The report then applies these concepts to a real-world scenario, analyzing team failures. Furthermore, it examines the Path-Goal theory of leadership, outlining its components and application. It concludes by addressing resistance to organizational change, providing insights into the reasons behind it and practical applications. The analysis includes references to relevant literature and provides a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.

Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Organizational Behavior
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Table of Contents
P3.....................................................................................................................................................2
Theories:..........................................................................................................................................2
An effective team as opposed to in effective team......................................................................2
Impact of technology on organizational team.............................................................................4
Role of virtual team development and networking......................................................................4
Organizational structures.............................................................................................................4
Application......................................................................................................................................5
P4.....................................................................................................................................................5
Path Goal theory..........................................................................................................................5
Resistance to organizational change............................................................................................6
Application......................................................................................................................................6
Reference List..................................................................................................................................7

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P3
Theories:
An effective team as opposed to in effective team
The mere presence of work teams or groups in an organization does not make a
successful team or group, effectiveness of a group is essential to make it successful (Robbins and
Judge 2013). There are certain factors that make an organizational team either successful or
unsuccessful.
Factors that improve effectiveness of teamwork
The following factors may be considered essential to improve the effectiveness of an
organizational team:
 Clear performance goals- The group has set clear performance goals not only for itself
but has also translated these performance goals into well-defined landmark against which
it assesses itself;
 Informal and relaxed working environment- the organizational environment should be
comfortable and relaxed. The environment must be such that employees must express
their thoughts freely and without any reluctance and clarify such thoughts as well;
 Effective Communication- the members must participate in group activities and
discussions, making necessary contributions to the team. They must be patient enough to
listen and learn from the other team members;
 Respecting diversity- team diversity depicts uniqueness of each individual in the team and
does not only include age, race, sex, religion but additional personality traits as well. The
difference in the cultural diversity may affect team performance and interactions
primarily due to miscommunication, which may arise relating to gender, cultural, race
and disabilities.
 Criticism is received positively- any criticism is received positively with the assurance to
rectify the mistakes or errors;

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 Disagreement is perceived positively- Disagreements must be resolved instead of
suppressing or overriding it by undertaking premature group action. The dissenters are
not viewed as dominators of the group but that they have a different opinion. In case of
disagreements that cannot be resolved should be dealt with differently without letting it
hinder its efforts.
The following are some factors that hinder an effectiveness of work teams or groups in an
organization:
 Disorganization- this is one of the most significant reason behind reduction in
effectiveness of a team. The members often disagree with the leader or amongst
themselves with respect to the tasks assigned or difference of opinion regarding carrying
out the tasks (Pinder 2014). There may be certain confusion regarding the standards for
quality or expectations, which may lead to indifference among the team members or
between the members and the team leader, thus, exhibiting lack of responsibilities,
leading to disorganization.
 Lack of knowledge- the team members often lack knowledge and skills that is required to
perform their assigned tasks and responsibilities.
 No Self-Analysis- the organization often fail to monitor their processes and realize
inefficiency of their process while effective teams assess their efficiency to identify their
faults, which enables the organization to rectify their faults and make improvements.
 Lack of communication- there is an absence of effective communication amongst the
members of the team owing to the difference in cultural diversity of the members or lack
of relaxed working environment. The workers feel reluctant to communicate their issues
to the team leaders or actively participate in any organizational activities.
 Lack of unity- the absence of cohesion and unity amongst the members of a team often
leads to disagreement resulting in disorganization. The team may not be clearly informed
about the team goals which may drift the individual member in performing their
individual tasks and projects, without having regard to the effort put in by others to
achieve company goals.
 Disrespect towards members- due to cultural difference or difference in opinions, the
members often fail to respect the other team members which is essential to develop a

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feeling of united. It is important for a team to show interest and encourage their team
members in exploring ideas and o-operate with each other to become a successful team.
Impact of technology on organizational team
The advancement in technologies brings with it challenges for managers in all
professional fields. In the contemporary era, the relationship between people and technology has
become increasingly visible (DuBrin 2013). In the modern day, the organizations are
incorporates new technologies to gain frame over others in terms of services and productivity.
The managers of an organization are obligated to provide adequate training to the employees to
make them aware of the new skills and techniques required to deal with the advanced
technologies integrated by the respective organizations. The employees must be competent to
adapt to changes in their work-styles and such change should be made simple to make it easier
for the employees and the management to adopt and implement the same (Langer 2017).
Role of virtual team development and networking
A virtual team may be defined as a group of people who interact with each other through
interdependent tasks guided by a common objective. Virtual teamwork is beneficial for an
organization as it enables an organization to achieve more than it is possible for individual to
achieve (Northouse 2015). It enhances flexibility in striking balance between professional and
personal life. It is cost-effective and facilitates quick information gathering. The significant role
played by virtual team is to provide an opportunity to physically challenged people to work in a
non-traditional environment and allow the team members to widen their career opportunities by
working across cultures on various tasks and projects.
Organizational structures
 Functional structure- it helps to deliver clear task assignments that is easy to explain to
the employees, customers and suppliers while facilitating in resolving issues through
effective communication.
 Divisional structure- it aims at combating issues that are associated with geographic or
product diversity as each division responds to specific requirements of its product or
market strategy.

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 Matrix structure- It introduces multiple authorities and responsibilities to ensure
flexibility by forming new project teams, optimum utilization of resources and
encourages cross-functional cooperation.
Application
On the facts here, the failure of the team attributes to the following factors. Firstly, the
members of the team failed to communicate with each other, which became the biggest
impediment to make it successful. Secondly, the members further did not exhibit any respect
towards the other members of the team and since the team consisted members who belonged to
different cultural background, it was essential for them to respect the cultural diversity of the
team members (Miner 2015).
Thirdly, the team members revealed information that was confidential to the team. This
exhibits lack of unity amongst the members of the team, which is fundamental for a team to
achieve its objectives. Lastly, the conduct of the receptionist shows lack of adequate knowledge
and skill to perform his/her assigned responsibilities. It is the responsibility of a receptionist, to
deal with the customers politely and patient.
P4
Path Goal theory
It takes into consideration the impact of a leader’s conduct on job satisfaction, effectiveness and
motivation of workers. It identifies the following four leadership behaviors:
 Achievement-oriented behavior- it focuses on encouraging to performing well by setting
goals that acts as challenge for the employees. Supervisors motivate the employees in
meeting their performance objectives.
 Directive path-goal clarifying Behavior- it aims at reducing ambiguity in the job
functions by specifying the employees the expectations with respect to task performance.
The employees are specifically informed about the policies, rules of the organization.
 Supportive leader behavior- the primary responsibility of a supportive leader behavior is
to support psychological well being of the subordinate.

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 Participative Leader Behavior- it involves consultation with the employees with respect
to performance of job requirements and encourages participation of sub-ordinates in the
decision-making process.
Resistance to organizational change
The organizations frequently undergoes change due to change in customer, technology
and markets as well due to changes in social, political pressure and in the demographic traits
(Morton and Weinstein 2015). An organizational change involves shift in the movement from
present stage to some future and preferred stage. Resistance to change takes place when the
change incorporated within the organization is incomprehensible or misinterpreted. Under such
circumstances, manager plays the role to clarify the changes to the employees.
Resistance of changes occurs on the following grounds:
 When the employees dislike the change;
 The change is perceived as unnecessary;
 the change is not comprehensible to the employees;
 the employees perceive the change to have adverse effect on their interests;
 the employees are not certain about the impact of the organizational changes;
Application
According to the given scenario, the receptionist indulged into a fight with the customer
over the payment mode chosen by the customer. It lacks the application of the path legal theories
which requires the management to clearly specify to the employees about the rules, policies and
procedures of the company and to ensure that the employee is abiding by such rules and
procedures (Nimmo and Clapham 2016).
The team failed to motivate the members to perform their assigned tasks because of
which it failed to carry out its activities and failed as a team. The members should have been
informed about the significance of maintaining information related to the team as confidential. It
is essential to motivate employees so that they perform well and live up to the expectations of the
employers. Although there were no exhibitions of resistance, but the conduct of the group
members does exhibit lack of motivation and unity amongst themselves.

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Reference List
Bateh, J., Castaneda, M.E. and Farah, J.E., 2013. Employee resistance to organizational
change. International Journal of Management & Information Systems (Online), 17(2), p.113.
DuBrin, A.J., 2013. Fundamentals of organizational behavior: An applied perspective. Elsevier.
Gilson, L.L., Maynard, M.T., Jones Young, N.C., Vartiainen, M. and Hakonen, M., 2015. Virtual
teams research: 10 years, 10 themes, and 10 opportunities. Journal of Management, 41(5),
pp.1313-1337.
Langer, A.M., 2017. Information Technology and Organizational Learning: Managing
Behavioral Change in the Digital Age. CRC Press.
Luthans, F., Luthans, B.C. and Luthans, K.W., 2015. Organizational behavior: An evidence-
based approach. IAP.
Miner, J.B., 2015. Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership.
Routledge.
Morton, L.H. and Weinstein, J., 2015. Teamwork.
Nimmo, G.R. and Clapham, M.C., 2016. Staff Training and Development. In Handbook of
Intensive care: Organization and Management (pp. 87-105).
Northouse, P.G., 2015. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Pinder, C.C., 2014. Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press.
Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T., 2013. Organizational behavior.
Ybema, S.B., Thomas, R. and Hardy, C., 2016. Organizational change and resistance: An
identity perspective. The SAGE Handbook of Resistance, p.386.