The Theory of Motivation in Organizational Behavior - Essay Example

Introduction Organizational behavior has a direct effect on the productivity of employees and on the effectiveness of theorganization. The Various aspects that tend to improve employee productivity include proper organizational behavior and motivation. Motivation exists in different categories and involves a number of theories including the self-efficacy theory. On the other hand, Leadership in organization has various attributes including the influence of extroversion that yields positive effects on leadership. Effective organization strategy is imperative in realization of increased productivity and focused leadership. Which is more useful to managers, theory or case studies on organization behavior? A case study on organization behavior is more useful to managers. Organizational behavior is an area of study thatcovers and evaluates the implications of groups, individuals and structures have on behavior within the concerned organization (Robbins and Judge 10). Organization behavior makes it possible to apply the acquired knowledge toward making the organization more effective. Since organization behavior only deals with a distinct area of profession with a similar pool of knowledge, it equips the manager with an appropriate platform of evaluating and improving the organization’s conditions. The manager is able to identify adequately the various factors that are the determinants of behavior in most organizations. The determinants are actually three and they include individual employees, groups and the general structure of the organization in question. The manager should be conversant with these factors such that he or she is aware of the merits and demerits in that are as a result of these factors on the effectiveness of the organization. Elaborate analysis and monitoring of these determinants is thereby vital for effective management control. It is necessary to discuss the determinants in detail for deeper and elaborate understanding. The first determinant that is of utmost importance to the manager as far as effectiveness in the organization is concerned with understanding individual employees. Employees constitute the most vital organ in an organization since the organizational activities revolve around them. It is important for a manager to exercise control in the regulation of employee behavior by laying down the necessary guidelines. Individual employee behavior and habits have a direct impact on the performance of the organization. For instance, if the employees are enthusiastic in executing their duties in the organization, performance will be of good quality and consequently effectiveness is improved. On the contrary, negative attributes of individual behaviors adversely affect an organization’s performance. In the end, such behavior can compromise management operations thus there is need for the management to look in to such matters and develop parameters to resolve them.Such behavior may include being absent from work, lateness for work and poor employee performance (Robbins and Judge 10). This is a major concern for the management and a very important aspect for the manager to note. The second determinant of an organization’s effectiveness under organization behavior is the structure of the organization. Organization structure refers to how the various compartments and sectors of an organization are laid out (Robbins and Judge 502). The structure also includes the coordination of various resources of the organization like communication systems. The management has the say when it comes to developing an organizational structure and they may also involve the employees in the process. It is important for the management to come up with a workable organizational layout if the performance of the organization is to be upheld. A poor organizational structure would result in poor coordination between the various sectors of the organization thus slowing down operations. What follows the poor coordination is poor performance of the organization and the managing authority will have a hard time trying to keep operations running. The case studies on organization behavior also bring out the aspect of motivation which is an important tool for tailoring individual employee behavior by exposing them to enticing and lucrative undertakings. The undertakings may include training, salary increment and promotion of employees to higher positions in the organization. A manager should have proper knowledge on how to motivate employees in a bid to make them more productive. The aspect of the theories cannot be subjected to exclusion since it is also important to a manager though not extensively. The theory of motivation plays a major role in building enthusiasm among employees causing them to be more productive as they will put more effort and better experience in their work. Are leaders born or made? In accordance with the book, leaders are not born, they are made. It is so because for an individual to become a good leader, he or she has to go through life and gain a number of life skills. The skills they gather and how they interact with the environment governs their level of responsibility and good leadership (Robbins and Judge 370). Extroversion and introversion are the major aspects of leadership that are being addressed in the book. An individual can only become an extrovert oran introvert after being born. An extrovert is social and interacts freely with others. Such an individual possesses the most important leadership characteristics and can be an effective leader. Extroversion enables a person to interact actively with various groups of people and improves the individual’s dominance in-group discussions on various issues. A leader should also be ready to interact with his or her subjects and other groups that have similar objectives. The potential leader is able to obtain relevant and useful information from such interactions and such information can help the person improve his or her leadership status. In as much as extroversion is a vital aspect of leadership, leaders are advised not to be too assertive. High level of assertion makes a leader less effective and may alter the credibility of the decisions they make. As an individual grows in leadership, other factors that affect the quality of leadership set in. Examples include emotional stability, open mindedness and conscience. Emotional stability is a vital trait for leader as he or she should not let undesirable emotions like anger affect their leadership. Leaders should have a sober mind at all times and should address issues at hand intellectually without allowing personal emotions to influence the way they handle leadership issues. A person cannot develop such emotional stability at birth but it is something that involves overtime learning. An individual learns to exercise self-control as time goes and with time, they can adequately control their emotions and therefore become better leaders who are not vulnerable to emotions and ill feelings (Robbins and Judge 370). Another leadership aspect learnt as one grows is conscientiousness. This leadership characteristic enables an individual to act more vigilantly and carefully and in this way execute tasks well and in an orderly manner. The trait is necessary in leadership because leaders have important responsibilities that require careful and vigilant approaches in their implementation. If a leader is not careful and makes avoidable mistakes, the subjects will consequently suffer from such errors whose avoidance is possible if a high level of vigilance is exercised. In addition, a leader can employ a number of approaches of approaches in leadership that in this case includes authentic, charismatic and transformational leadership (Robbins and Judge 368). Authentic leadership calls for establishment of a good and ambient relationship between the leader and the followers in a bid to make the leadership legitimate. Transformational leadership aims at pioneering positive changes among the subjects. Charismatic leadership on the other hand entails a leader being able to gunner support due to his or her good personality without exercising external authority. None of these aspects of leadership can be acquired naturally by birth, an individual has to learn and develop them.Leaders are thus made and not born The motivation theory that is more useful in motivating high tech organization employees The theory of motivation that outlines the most useful way to motivate employees in high tech organizations is the Self-Efficacy Theory. The Self-Efficacy theory bases its provisions on a person having a personal belief that he or she possesses the capability of accomplishing particular tasks (Robbins and Judge 216). An individual’s confidence as far as success is concerned is greater if the individual has a high self-efficacy. In contrast, individuals with low self-efficacy are likely to give up easily because their confidence is low but the ones with a higher self-efficacy will face up to the challenge. The self-efficacy theory is vital for use in high tech organizations because of the complexities relating to the operations in such organizations. The complexities require employees to be able to continue with their operations despite the various difficulties that they may face in the course of executing their duties. Self-efficacy builds up the employees’ self-belief and as a result there are able to stand up to the challenges they face. The theory goes a long way in improving employee performance since it causes them to work even harder in a bid to eliminate the difficulties they face. A good example of a high tech organization is an organization under the motor industry. Working with engine systems can be stressful and difficult. Employees, especially new ones may find it difficult to adopt in such conditions and may consider moving to simpler jobs in other organizations. Application of the self-efficacy theory may give such employees a boost and give them the thrill they need to continue trying to adapt to the prevailing working conditions. If the theory application is successful, the challenges the employees face will fuel their want to learn more and solve problems just as they emerge. As a result, the performance of the employees is improved. An industry that largely relies on information technology may also face various technological glitches. Computers make data processing easier and fast but they have their limitations. System failure is a major problem in Information Technology organizations. Solving this problem is quite hectic and requires a great deal of patience that some workers may not have. The problem may demoralize some employees since system failures may lead to loss of information and retrieval of such information may be necessary. The self-efficacy theory may serve as a remedy to employee demoralization. Applying this theory may boost the morale of the employees and this may even make them develop an interest in finding a permanent solution to the problem. Conclusion In conclusion, managers in organizations should base their operations on organization behavior rather than theory. Some theories may not have been put to proper scrutiny and may not yield the results that the managers desire. On the other hand, leadership is an attribute that an individual develops during his or her lifetime and one is not born with it. Acquisition of leadership qualities is possible when one applies the various aspects of leadership like extroversion. Lastly, the self-efficacy motivation theory is the most appropriate for use in high tech organizations because of its problem solving approach. Work Cited Robbins, Stephen P and Judge, Timothy A. Organizational Behavior: 16th Edition. New York: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print. Read More