Organizational Behavior

An organization is simply made up of different elements (employees) with different functions (jobs) that all contribute to the whole function of the business (the company). The success of an organization is based upon how well the employees (the elements) come together to perform their functions. This paper will define Organizational Behavior, Organizational Culture, Diversity, Communication, Change Management, and Ethics, followed by a few examples of how they are applied in the work environment.

Organizational Behavior is defined as “the study of humans and group behavior within an organizational settings” (BNET), Studying the behaviors of a an organization’s employee’s is vital to the success of an organization and entails regular analysis of their employees personalities, their relationships with one another, the productivity, performance, commitment, job satisfaction of their employees, and the intensity of organizational commitment and business relations. An organizations leadership influences organizational behavior, the management styles within the business and its corporate culture. The final outcomes are performance, individual satisfaction, and personal growth and development. All these elements combine to build the model or framework that the organization operates from. An example of Organizational Behavior within my current company is every six months our human resources department conducts a survey taken by every employee in the company. There the employee is asked a series of questions that pertain to their feelings about their jobs, departments, their management and the company as a whole. These surveys are then published with the results as well as an announcement from our CEO stating the findings and the direction the company will take to improve any areas of concern. Letting the employee know that his/her voice is being heard eventually uplifting company wide moral.

Edgar Schein, a well known theorist stated that “organizational culture, A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein 373-374). The people within a company depend on culture as it gives them stability, security, understanding, and the ability to respond to a given situation. They depend on beliefs, customs, knowledge, and practices that influence their behavior and they are able to adapt to their surroundings and work with one another in different situations and scenarios.

Diversity in the workplace refers to a variety of different people within an organization. Diversity includes race, age, personality, ethnicity, gender, educational background, organizational function, cognitive style, and tenure among others. Diversity causes employees to get to know and work with one another and it exposes them to different perspectives of one another, and influences employee relations. Most organizations embrace a diverse working environment and are always expanding their resources to manage diversity in the workplace, increasing effective communication and adaptation to constant changing cultural environments. A company may benefit from having a diverse workforce, providing a larger collection of ideas and experiences within the company that are used to gather business tactics and meet customer’s expectations for the better of the company.

Communication is simply the interaction among people working together to achieve common goals. People are able to relate to each and work together through communication. In order for an organization to be effective and successful there must be a huge emphasis on communication and employee relations, which are important and vital to a successful workflow. In a work environment the purpose of good communication is to ensure that the production of work is consistent and employees are able to communicate to different levels of management as needed.

Ethics is the practice of ethical behavior within a company. It encompasses a professional conduct standard. An organizations code of ethics is a publishing of the companies moral beliefs and values that the company feel is important and is a mirror of the company’s over