Organisational Behaviour

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 1 Organizational behavior is the study and application of knowledge of how people and groups of people act in an organization. An organization thrives on the vision set, management philosophies, values and the leadership. The culture of a specific organization determines the type of leadership, communication, group dynamics and human capital. Good leadership is vital for a business to survive in this digital age.

Leadership is about coping with change. Leadership is the ability to influence a group of people towards the achievement of set goals. Effective leadership is owed to initiation where a leader is likely to define the structure of his role and those under him, as well as consideration for all by having mutual trust and respect. Communicating in any organization leads to maximum utilization of opportunities and also serves as an eliminator of all threats that can lead to the failure of an organization. A good communication system leads to improved relationships between the players hence a good working environment is created. In an organization where the working environment is available, the personnel comes together in teams to discuss the organizations goals and also team work is applied in the realization of goals. Human capital is the stock of competences, knowledge, habits and personality attributes. The concept of human capital recognizes that not all the workers in an organization are the same. It is the knowledge that the attributes of each person can be used productively in a commercial context. In the place that is the organization, with human capital and communication to direct the organization, self-assessment is imperative.If done properly can benefit an organization a whole lot more.

Self-evaluation is important to performance appraisal to a company hence very profitable to human capital as well as organization leadership. Self evaluation gives leaders broader perspective. A manager receives better insight into an employee’s performance and their general perceptions and believes regarding a job. Manager’s work closely with their employees but it is not enough to understand all the factors that affect them.

Through self assessments, managers get a closer look at factors that affect employees their performance and their motivation. These evaluations help the employees communicate their needs, strengths and weakness to their leaders’ thus increasing efficiency at the work place. Self evaluation promotes communication in regards to performance. A self assessment is a communication tool that leaders use to spark discussion between them and their employees. An employee provides relevant background information in his assessment which serves as an opportunity for their employer to know them better. Effective organizational management requires communication to flow both ways between the leader and the led. Employees are able to bring to light their priorities, challenges faced and general discussions about performance.

Self evaluations are also beneficial in helping an organization revise their communication ways from top down to a two way dialogue which if includes in the organizations culture can prove very crucial. Self evaluation aids in solving issues before the review meeting. The assessment enables employees to flag their in perception of their performance before the review meeting is held. The self appraisal enables a manger to be ready for the review meeting thus making it easier to have a fruitful discussion and fair performance ratings. The assessment is really important in the review meeting considering a leader can use to assess the employee by either guiding his perception through, or redirecting his assessment. Engaging employees in the managerial process is crucial as it gives one a sense of belonging and responsibility.

The self appraisal is beneficial as it enables participatory management. Good leadership allows participation in major decision making by employees. This active participation is beneficial in engaging both the employee and managers in performance and conclusive review processes and discussions. Diversity means the differences in people(. Some people let diversity get in the way of their relationships in the place of work which in turn affects performance. Successful organizations encourage employees to embrace diversity in the workplace by applying team work in different jobs given to them.

Organizations encourage team work as peoples differences can be used to boost the quality of work. As Abraham Lincoln suggest united we stand, divided we fall, it is a good practice to have oneness in an organization. Sometimes diversity is not an easy situation to deal with. Sometimes individuals have enmity or no relationship at all. This is where diversity management comes in. Diversity sometimes leads to prejudice in a working space. Prejudice is blatant negative stereotyping of some people due to their different way of approaching things.

Prejudice might be due to personal traits and sometimes social learning (Al-amki 2002). In both cases it can be prevented and curbed not to affect business. Prejudice can be reduced through some basic approaches such as persuasive communication, education contact and therapy According to Farley (2000) persuasive communication is any form of communication written, verbal or visual. As studied in organizational behavior, communication is vital in joining different groups of people in achieving the set organizational goal.

Communication therefore becomes fundamental in the reduction of prejudice. Using assertiveness as a way of communicating our needs, wants and desires known to others can be used to reduce or rather eliminate prejudice. Assertiveness is defined as the power we use to make other people aware of our needs, wants and desires (AL-amki2002) Different people express themselves differently hence it’s next to impossible to change people’s level of assertiveness. Communication is used to make sure that two different people with different levels of assertiveness can discuss their opinions and express their points by adjusting their level of assertiveness to meet each others’. For two people who have different views and believes about something, prejudice is likely to crop up. For this to be eliminated one could send out a message with credible sources about the topic in question in an attempt to bring about a change in attitude to the highly prejudiced individuals (Cox & Blake 1991). Though communication is crucial in dealing with diversity and prejudice, sometimes it does not work because highly prejudiced people tend to hold onto their belief and do not like them to be challenged. To ensure communication is effective in solving prejudice, ensure your message is clear and easy to understand and that a highly regarded person conveys the message. Prejudice can also be solved through education.

Education is beneficial in reducing prejudice when it is not in an advanced stage and if personal disorders are not dominant (Farley, 2000). Farley further suggests that if a person is not prejudiced due to social learning, education can be successful in reducing prejudice. The act of imparting knowledge to an individual is in itself good enough a chance to make people as part of the process of change. One of the best methods of solving the issue of prejudice in an organization is through intergroup contact. Intergroup hypothesis suggests that the contact has to be superficial (Farley 2000). If people have casual contact, they should not expect to end prejudice. For prejudice to end, the people involved should be in contact with each other and therefore in the same environment.

The reason why intergroup contact is better than education and communication is because, it is practice, is voluntary and does not involve intermediaries (Cox& Blake1991). It is more of influencing each other to do the right thing. Therapy is also used in an attempt to reduce prejudice when prejudiced people have personality problems. If it is a personality issue, resolve the issue that led to prejudice and then try talking the person into dealing with one’s insecurities without blaming prejudice. According to Farley, people should stop blaming prejudice for all the problems they face. Organizational behaviour studies the actions of people in an organization in relation to achievement of goals. Self appraisal, as discussed in this write up is beneficial to a company that seeks to grow and have a good human capital that relates well with its leadership.

The leadership of an organization must foster good communication to ensure all the personnel participate in the management of the team hence achievement of both personal and organizational goals. The management is also responsible for communicating with its employees to understand diversity hence reducing diversity in the working environment. Stereotyping is a bad vice that can lead to deteriorating working conditions hence reducing efficiency in the place of work. Diversity like all other differences should spark creativity in leaders by allowing them to use the different attributes of every personnel to create a unique organization hence reducing prejudice. In conclusion organizations should embrace self evaluation to improve on appraisal strategies and at the same time reduce prejudice since in this digital era; diverse employees find themselves in the same working place. BIBLIOGRAPHY Al-Lamki S. M. (2002). Orientation: The essential ingredient in cross-cultural management, International Journal of Management, 19, 568. Cox T. H., Blake S (1991). Managing cultural diversity: Implications for organizational competitiveness. Academy of Management Executive, 5, 45-56 Farley S. 2000 Minority studies: reducing prejudice: how achievable? How important? Knippenberg D. V de Dreu C. K. W., Homan A. C. (2004). Work group diversity and group Performance: An integrative model and research agenda. Journal of Applied Psychology,

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