Organisation Behaviour in a University through Four Perspectives - Coursework Example

Organisational Behaviour Name & ID Course Name & Code Instructor’s Name 2nd February 2010 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Power & Politics 3 Conflict & Negotiation 5 Organisational Structure 6 Organisational Culture 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Organisation behaviour is an important field that provides a means in which people, individual group and teams work together. Organisations encompass different persons associated with different personalities. Organisations main aim is to ensure that they achieve requirements that are within vision and mission statements (Agocs, 1997). Thus, organisation behaviour tries to understand what constituent organisations and how such organisations operate. Numerous elements and components are involved in organisation, and thus organisational cultures tend to understand this difference and mitigate on them to ensure misunderstandings are controlled. Organisation behaviour can be used to analyse different environments, which may include an educational setting e.g. university. Thus, the aim of this report is to analyse a university environment within the confines of power and politics, organisational culture, organisational behaviour, and conflicts & negotiations. Power & Politics Power and politics are important factors that shape the way in which university environment occurs. Power can be defined as a capacity that one person has to influence the behaviour of another person and thus forces party B act in accordance with party A’s wishes. This means that dependency in developed between the two entities. Power in a university is aimed at achieving goals. Power is usually used in university environment through gaining upward and lateral influence (Agocs, 1997). Many institutions utilise power, a factor that is associated with classical management views. University environment encourages formal power that is established based on individual’s position in the institution from control of information, from formal author all posed towards conveying the ability to reward or coerce. Power is associated with politics (Manz & Sims, 1987). Political behaviour is usually associated with organisational and individual factors. Some political behaviour that influences individual consideration includes perceived job alternatives that points towards expectations of success. In the case of organisational factors, it brings into consideration performance contracts, promotion opportunities, and reallocation of resources (Jones & Lindley, 1998). Politics and power complements each other and usually directed into achieving goals. University environment and power creates perceptions of organisational politics. When employees and staff realises that politics is evident in university may result in increased turnover, reduced performance, increased anxiety, and decreased job satisfaction. However, defensive behaviours are evident in universities, which include avoiding action, blame and change (Agocs, 1997). Politics and power are important in ensuring that activities and plans should be implemented effectively. Heads of university should have both power and good qualities of leadership balanced with political strategies. Some positions such as head of institution usually are associated with power and the owner of that sit ensures he/she balances the power in their hands (Manz & Sims, 1987). Some seats that are associated with power are dependent on election (election brings into consideration politics because the aspirants must negotiate and campaign). Examples, of such seats/positions are head of department and heads/deans of school. Conflict & Negotiation In any institution, conflict is inherent and thus appropriate measures should be in place that monitors and defines ways in which organisations succeed. Conflict can be defined as a misunderstanding between parties interested (Manz & Sims, 1987). This means conflict because when one party is threatened. Conflict in universities is caused by differences over interpretations of cats, incompatibility of goals, and disagreements that may be based on behavioural expectations. Conflicts that occur in university are usually caused by lack of openness, poor communication and failure to respond to employee needs. Different types of conflict exist, which include process, relationship and task. In university, task conflict usually occurs when there is a misunderstanding over goals and content. Sometimes lack of enough resources and if some goals are not achieved, conflict may result. Relationship conflict usually occurs because there is a difference in interpersonal relationships. This usually occurs when diversity and views of members is not embraced. Process conflict occurs when there is misunderstanding on the way work is done (Jones & Lindley, 1998). Conflicts usually inhibit success of organisation and conflict management should be in place to ensure conflicts are corrected before it adversely affects the way the university environment. Conflict resolution and stimulation techniques should be incorporated in ensuring conflicts are resolved. Some techniques that can be used for conflict resolution includes smoothing, problem solving, avoidance, and compromise to name some (Robbins, 2004). A university has formulated and implemented means in which conflicts can be changed from liabilities to assets. Effectively corrected conflicts increases group performance a medium for problem solving is created, improvement on quality of decisions and creation of environment for self-evaluation and change (Jones & Lindley, 1998). Another strategy that is used t solve conflicts is through negotiations. Negotiation is a means in which parties exchange services and goods through attempting on the exchange rate (Robbins, 2004). The type of negotiation strategy that is used by a university is integrative bargaining. In this case, resources are based on variable amount to be divided interests are either congruent or convergent; motivation is win-win basis, while the duration of relationship is usually long term. Organisational Structure Organisational structure can be defined as hierarchical concept that brings together entities that contribute and collaborate to serve a specific aim. Usually, organisations can be seen as a variant of clustered entities. Organisation can be structured in numerous different styles and ways depending on their ambiance and objectives (Agocs, 1997). This means that the structure defines modes in which it performs and operates. Moreover, organisational structure provides a mean in which responsibilities are allocated for different processes and functions to different entities such as workgroup, department, branch and individual. It means that organisational structure defines how job tasks are grouped, divided and coordinated. Some elements that are associated with university environment include span of control, work specialisation, formalisation, chain of command, departmentalisation, centralisation and decentralisation (Robbins, 2004). Organisational structure brings into consideration work specialisation, and in a university environment different managers and administrators evidence specialisation. For example, tutors and financial administrators accomplish different tasks that illustrate specialisation. Moreover, a university clearly illustrates factors associated with departmentalisation, for example, there are departments for business, for medicine and other distinct educational requirements. A chairperson manages each department while deans manage schools (Manz & Sims, 1987). A university also illustrates chain of command through specific people who are required to fulfil certain tasks. Furthermore, chain of command requires that information and instructions should follow specific channel. Span of control shows the number of subordinates, and this can be understood through analysing the number of departments, and the number of employees within these departments. University has specific means in which they formulate and implement strategies. This means that decision-making is spread throughout the organisation, but the administration should be informed because major decisions can be made. Moreover, centralisation brings into consideration formalisation, and in a university environment, formalisation is a major component. Formalisation is the way in which duties are accomplished through clearly defined framework. A university encourages formalisation because it lays down the means in which discrepancies and misunderstandings are eliminated or taken control (Jones & Lindley, 1998). The model that is employed in most universities is that of mechanistic model. Mechanistic model structure brings into consideration extensive departmentalisation, little information network, high formalisation and centralisation. A university operates in an environment that champions mechanistic model, and this evident in the way departments are formed, duties are allocated, choosing appropriate mechanism that would ensure the most is achieved through maximising minimal resources (Manz & Sims, 1987). Organisational Culture Organisational culture can be defined as the specific collection of norms and values that are shared by groups and individuals in a given organisation and it controls the way that they interact with each other and with organisational stakeholders (Robbins, 2004). This means that it describes the attitudes, values, beliefs, experiences and psychology of people within the organisation. Some characteristics associated with organisational culture include aggressiveness, team orientation, and attention to detail, individual orientation and stability. In a university environment, the culture evidenced is not the same and may be classified as either subcultures or dominant culture (Agocs, 1997). The dominant culture is illustrated by the way management and administration guides the way activities should precede, and this approach is partially shared by instructors and management in the institution. However, the students who try to define themselves based on some environmental conditions such as the degree the students pursue commonly evidence subculture (Ash, 1992). Generally, the roles of culture in a university environment is defining the boundary between the students, administrator and lecturers, it helps members to identify with each other, enhances stability, serves as a control mechanism and sense making and it also facilitates generation of commitment (Agocs, 1997). Even though culture is beneficial, it is associated with numerous liabilities that include barriers to acquisitions and mergers, diversity and change. It is hard to introduce new means in which tasks should be completed because many stakeholders belief on the saying “better the devil you know than the angel you don’t know” (Robbins, 2004). However, through educating organisation members and stakeholders will enable importance of introducing new policies and measures and thus champions diversification, equality and change. Many universities develop because there is a lack of educational requirement in the society or community. For example, some universities begin as business institution while others as medical institutions, when these institutions expand and introduce law courses, the founders of the institution employs and manages staff, and they manipulate the employees embracing the views of founders. Generally, the founders serve as role model of the institution (Jones & Lindley, 1998). This results in cementing organisational culture to the institution. Different strategies are employed to ensure organisational culture is championed through development of the organisation. For example, new employees may have been accustomed to different cultures but when they come to the university fraternity they are supposed to learn how things are been done (Manz & Sims, 1987). This can be possible through socialisation. For example, a new business tutor is employed, other staff members assist this new tutor to be oriented with the institution e.g. lecture halls and offices, complain structures and general means in which tasks can be completed. Thus, the new tutors and employees who come to the institution embrace the culture within the university. Conclusion Organisation behaviour is an important component in understanding how organisations operate. Organisation behaviour in the case of a university can be analysed through four perspectives. One of these perspectives is power and politics that refers to the capacity in which individuals influence the behaviour of other parties. Aim of power is achieving goals and this can be achieved through utilising power and politics. Conflicts and negotiations are inherent in organisations, which means causes and solutions should clearly be understood. Conflicts are usually caused by poor communication, interpersonal misunderstanding, and competition. This can be solved through championing communication and developing a framework that helps solve conflicts. Organisational structure usually refers to hierarchical nature of the university in terms of chain of command, span of control to name some. On the other hand, organisational culture refers to the way n which stakeholders share norms, views and acknowledge each other. Generally, organisation behaviours shape the way organisations operate. References Ash, M.G., 1992. "Cultural Contexts and Scientific Change in Psychology: Kurt Lewin in Iowa." American Psychologist, 47(2), pp. 198-207. Robbins, P. 2004. Organizational Behaviour - Concepts, Controversies, Applications, 4th Ed. New York: Prentice Hall Manz, C. & Sims, H. 1987. Leading Workers to Lead Themselves: The External Leadership of Self-Managing Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 32, pp. 106–28. Jones, R. & Lindley, W. 1998. Issues in the Transition to Teams. Journal of Business and Psychology, 13, pp. 31–40. Agocs, C. 1997. Institutionalized resistance to organizational change: denial, inaction and repression. Journal of Business Ethics, 16(9) pp. 917-93 Read More