Paper Example. Organizational Behavior and Leadership in the 21st Century

In business and management, organizational behavior is acknowledged as a scientific subject of study that focuses on companies’ performances based on the analysis of their respective human resource behaviors. Particularly, organizational behavior focuses on the structure of groups and individual performances within a firm. Usually, the focus on the individual and group’s performances is a result of the management’s inclination to facilitate the company’s operations through the creation of an efficient production and business environment (Saari & Judge, 2004). Considering the rapid change and growth in the global economy in the twenty-first Century, organizations are constantly assessing and evaluating their operations while working towards the realization of a comprehensive and robust organizational behavior, which is critical to the company’s growth and market relevance. Typically, through organizational behavior, a firm understands how its workforce functions and behaves under a variety of conditions, understand why employees behave as they do, and more importantly, identifies competent ways to motivate its workforce to ensure that it remains productive, thus boosting the company’s overall performance (Saari & Judge, 2004).

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However, while organizational behavior holds a central role in determining the company’s growth, its success depends on the effectiveness of its leadership structure, which is critical to integrating and coordinating diverse organizational functions (SMC, n.d.). An organization through its management should, therefore, ensure that its leadership structure incorporates the full spectrum of values to enhance the actualization of the company’s vision, mission, and set objectives. Also, its leadership structure should be firm enough to foster skills, growth, and competence among its employees (SMC, n.d.). In the twenty-first Century, organizational behavior and leadership are vital elements that have enhanced the company’s productivity, growth, and relevance in their respective scopes of operations.

In the twenty-first Century, organizational behavior and leadership are considered as multidimensional and integrative views of management that are particularly founded on relationships (Aithal & Kumar, 2016). Their incorporation into organizational functions instills some sense of shared purpose, commitment, and aspirations that contributes to the overall company’s performance. Also, integration and coordination of organizational behaviors and leadership in organizational functions enhance the execution of services primarily because it creates a suitable work environment while motivating employees through inclusion, consultation, and appreciation of their involvement in the diverse organizational functions (Saari & Judge, 2004). However, considering the fact that organizations are in a constant state of competition, the company through its management is likely to be overwhelmed by the external pressure, an aspect that could potentially dismantle the company’s micro-environment (Aithal & Kumar, 2016). As a result, the company’s operations would be negatively affected based on the employees’ reaction. Therefore, in the twenty-first century organizations have committed to constantly assess and evaluate their workforce's attitude, behavior, and leadership considering their direct proportionality to the company’s overall performance (Aithal & Kumar, 2016).

In an organizational setup, employees' attitude is vital since it directly reflects their involvement and commitment to their assigned roles, thus determining the overall company’s performance. Essentially, employees’ attitude at work is as a result of how they feel about their involvement in the company’s functions and more importantly, the organization’s leadership and management structures (Aithal & Kumar, 2016). Typically, in inclusive organizational and leadership structures, employees demonstrate their commitment to facilitate the actualization of the company’s set objectives through their involvement in their assigned roles. In other terms, an inclusive organizational and leadership structure promotes a positive attitude amongst the company’s workforce, an aspect that ultimately contributes to employees’ satisfaction (Aithal & Kumar, 2016). Contrary, an organization that adopts an exclusive organization and leadership structure succumbs to the wrath of employees’ negative attitudes.

Usually, the main factors that influence employees’ attitude in an organizational setup are job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The latter refers to the emotional attachment expressed a firm’s workforce towards the company and its functions. The former is acknowledged as the individual feeling towards their occupation (Bireswari, 2013). Usually, job satisfaction and organizational commitment play a major role in determining the employees’ attitude, which then reflects the company’s progress and performance (Bireswari, 2013). Therefore, companies have committed to ensuring that they constantly track their employees’ behaviors and attitude since they are associated with vital outcomes such as performance, turnover, and absenteeism, among others (ERS, n.d.).

Employees motivation is an important factor that companies in the twenty-first Century have embrace to remain productive and relevant to their consumers. Typically, in a difficult economy employee’s motivation remains as the primary component that enhances the firm’s operations. However, a firm, through its management, needs to understand the various aspects that need to be considered to manage employees’ motivation in a difficult economy effectively. In the latter, management of employees’ motivation is categorized as either independent or dependent variable. Some of the independent variables include management styles, employees’ age, employees’ tenure, and employees’ satisfaction. On the other hand, dependent variables include average turnover rate, sales and inventory, and employees’ productivity, among others.

Employees’ Turnover

This is an important aspect that companies consider in managing employees' motivation, particularly in a difficult economy. Usually, companies ensure that they have a low employee turnover rate of the skilled workforce by creating a suitable and favorable work environment. In other terms, an organization should ensure that it addresses and caters to the needs of its skilled workforce by embracing the appropriate management and leadership skills. The management should also enhance the inclusion of workers considering the fact that most of the skilled workforce is old and are inflexible, particularly with technology. Through inclusion, work is shared and simplified across the diverse workforce, an aspect that motivates them while reducing the employees’ turnover rate (ERS, n.d.).

Management Style

This is also an important tool for managing employees' motivation in a difficult economy. Typically, in a difficult time, organizations are motivating employees by ensuring that their management and leadership structures are inclusive. Inclusive management and leadership styles ensure motivating employees since they feel empowered and engaged in the company’s affairs and decision-making processes. The management should also be fair, transparent, and supportive to further promote the level of employees’ job satisfaction (ERS, n.d.). As such, the company experiences reduced turnovers and more productivity.

Employees’ Tenure

Organizations also manage the employees’ motivation in a difficult economy through tenure. Usually, organizations assess the level of employees’ satisfaction through the number of years they have been part of the company. The more the years, the more the worker is satisfied with their job at the company. By assessing the individual cases of employees, the management gets an insight into the motivating factors while establishing a robust way of ensuring that it creates a better work environment for its workers.

Other than the motivation aspects based on the independent and dependent variables, organizations can also manage the employees’ motivation during the difficult economy through job satisfaction, job involvement, leadership behavior, and ultimately a change of the organization’s processes. Job satisfaction is one of the factors that indicate a positive attitude of the workers to their occupation. Through a positive attitude, employees work towards the realization of the company's goals, vision, and mission(D’souza, & Poojary, 2018). Therefore, organization through their respective management should ensure that they promote a positive attitude in the organizational space by addressing the needs of the vast human resource and more importantly, creating a safe space and culture that aligns with the workforce’s needs.

In addition, job involvement plays a major role in motivating employees in their respective positions and occupations. Through their engagement in the organization’s functions and decision-making processes make them feel like they are part of the company, thus assuming their roles in a manner that promotes the production processes. Further, organizations are embracing inclusive leadership behaviors such as encouraging top-down and down-up communication channels that help in ensuring that there is a smooth flow of information in the company (D’souza, & Poojary, 2018). With a smooth communication channel, employees can access the management at ease, thus addressing their issues in a manner that complements their roles and functionality within the organization. Ultimately, to manage employees’ motivation in a difficult economy, organizations are changing their organizational processes to ensure that they complement the organizational functions in a suitable and effective manner. The change of processes is structured and implemented based on the employees’ recommendations to ensure that it facilitates their roles and responsibilities in the organization. Overall, organizational behavior and leadership are critical to the growth of n organization, considering their influence on the workforce’s attitude and productivity. Therefore, organizations, through their respective management and leadership structures should ensure that they embrace sound organizational behaviors and leadership to facilitate the company's functions, profitability, and market relevance.

References

Aithal, P., & Kumar, P. (2016). Organizational Behaviour in the 21st Century – 'Theory A' for Managing People for Performance. Journal Of Business And Management, 18(7), 126-134. doi: 10.9790/487X-180704126134

Bireswari, V. (2013). Organizational Performance with Employee Attitude and Behavior Respect to IT Industry, Bangalore - An Empirical Study. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2210737

D’souza,, Z., & Poojary, S. (2018). “Employee Attitude towards organisational Commitment: A Literature Survey”. Journal Of Business And Management, 20(1), 21-27. doi: 10.9790/487X-2001082127

ERS. Work Attitudes | Organizational Behavior. Retrieved 23 May 2020, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-orgbehavior/chapter/4-2-work-attitudes/

Saari, L., & Judge, T. (2004). Employee attitudes and job satisfaction. Human Resource Management, 43(4), 395-407. doi: 10.1002/hrm.20032

SMC. What is 21st Century Leadership?. Retrieved 23 May 2020, from https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/kalmanovitz-school-of-education/masters/master-of-arts-in-leadership/what-is-21st-century-leadership