Organizational Behavior Terminology and Concepts

Organizational Behavior Terminology and Concepts

There are many important factors that are involved and contribute to organizations’ survival and success. Organizational behavior, culture, diversity, communication, business ethics and change management are some of the key concepts which are essential as I list and explain below with some examples from past experiences.

Organizational Behavior

Studying the psychological and sociological behaviors of single and groups of individuals in organizations is a continuous learning process that is constantly changing due to internal and external influences with relationships, ethics, culture and beliefs. Organizations depend on workers to function and survive and the workers need to be happy with their job in order to perform well and accelerate. One example of behavior I observed in an organization I once worked for was how quickly a poor work performer turned into a hard worker after a brief meeting with management. Management observed the situation, assessed what was happening and the problem was corrected. Managers are responsible for their subordinates behaviors and actions and from their observations and assessments, they are able to change and correct the situation when necessary.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is what a company stands for including values, norms, ethics, and expectations from these beliefs. It is also how an organization was raised from birth, in a way, and formed from its past history with the influences and interactions of the people and their attitudes working within over the course of years of existence. According to John Mautner (2006, June), “Having a high-performance culture is crucial.” (p. 19) Moreover, without having a strong culture, an organization is doomed. With my past organizations, I did not realize how much culture really flowed throughout because of great attitudes and excellent communication between all departments with the willingness to work together and assist one another towards one same goal, until now.

Diversity

Diversity in organizations means the various differences in ethnicity, gender, age, beliefs, religion and cultural influences. It is extremely important for organizations to have diversity and display it in today’s society. This was an important belief with my organization that the managers were in charge of planning fun and diverse events almost every month to get everyone involved with the celebrations. Some examples of events involved working mothers meetings and groups, African-American, Asian and Hispanic appreciation picnics as well as having charitable programs to help good causes. A well diverse organization will go far in this well diverse world and is keeping up with an ever-changing environment.

Communication

Communication in organizations is the verbal and written interactions between all levels of employees, management and owners within one region as well as globally where all regions cross communicate with one another. More and more organizations are offering communication skill training classes, as well as the organization I worked for. Without communication there can be no success, only isolation. With all the technology available today involving communication, there is no excuse for lacking information, only miscommunication. Communication is necessary and essential for an organizations survival as well as success.

Business Ethics

Business ethics are standard principles of rules in organizations based on what is right and wrong for orderly human conduct that influence behaviors in individuals and groups. “Ignorance and bias are two conditions that cloud moral awareness.” (Weiss. P. 144). Organizations are responsible for their own actions and must conduct business in morally correct and ethical ways. Integrity is vital when it comes to establishing good clientele. Without actively being ethical and just in all aspects, integrity will be hard to achieve which basically means minimal, if any, business transactions. There is so much competition out in the business world that most organizations should strive to compete with who is more ethical than the other. As a customer, I would not want to support any organization that has unethical values and can only hope that the unethical organizations will be exposed so their business will cease to exist. My organization knew right from wrong and would always conduct business with good ethics. If they did not, I do not believe