Discussion on Organizational Behavior Theories

Question

Task: The purpose of this essay is to get you to prepare for the Organisational Behaviour group assignment (Assessment 3).
Your task is to analyse two (2) key organisational behaviour theories, concepts or frameworks you intend to use in your group assignment. You may pick any theory, concept or framework covered in MGT5OBR Organisational Behaviour, either from the same or different modules. (If you are unsure, please discuss with your workshop facilitator).
This assignment requires you to do research. Your task is to draw on organisational behaviour theory to critically analyse your chosen theories, concepts or frameworks.
You need to analyse you chosen theories, concepts or frameworks in the context of organisational behaviour. Think along the lines of how these concepts may be used to help people and organisations achieve high performance levels and help ensure all organisation members achieve satisfaction from their task contributions and work experience.
You need to:
1. Introduce. Briefly describe the two (2) CHOSEN theories, concepts or frameworks and your planned consideration/use of them in the context of the Assessment 3 Group Assignment. Also outline how you have structured the essay.
2. Analyse and critically examine your first CHOSEN concept, theory or framework. Consider the pros and cons in order to come to a supported assessment and conclusion. Explain and clarify using concrete examples. Use organisational behaviour concepts, theory and frameworks in addressing this section.
3. Analyse and critically examine your second CHOSEN concept, theory or framework. Consider the pros and cons in order to come to a supported assessment and conclusion. Explain and clarify using concrete examples. Use organisational behaviour concepts, theory and frameworks in addressing this section.
4. Connect your two (2) CHOSEN concepts, theories or frameworks. Discuss the linkages you see between your CHOOSEN concepts. Explain and clarify your position with the use concrete examples. For example, if expectancy theory is your first CHOSEN concept and job satisfaction is your second CHOSEN concept, then how would expectancy theory help reduce the problems created by job dissatisfaction? Would job satisfaction help increase an employee’s willingness to perform and, if so, which attitudes would be the most influential?).
5. Conclude the discussion. Summarise key points made in the essay.
6. Provide a reference list. You need to use the APA 6th Referencing style.
As a general guide, section 2, section 3, and section 4 should be roughly equal in word count. The introduction and conclusion should each be approximately 10% of the length of the paper.

Answer

Introduction
The present study is focused on exploring the various organizational behavior theories in a detailed manner. Organizations operating in the same industry are not necessarily similar. The difference exists because of difference in behavior of people. Every human behavior is based on different set of needs. Subsequently, for every individual the need stands at a different pedestal of significance. Since need and its intensity of relevance differ from one person to another thus the source of motivation and its extent is neither ubiquitous nor unanimous. Behavior is a function of personality, environment and tasks given. If the task allocated is not according to the competencies then there are high chances of employee quitting or being stressed.

What are the different organizational behavior theories and concepts and provide reason for selection of the concept?
Though there are ample organizational behavior theories and concepts under the subject of Organizational Behavior such as that of learning, attitude, job satisfaction, stress, group formation, team, etc. for the present study a contrast is drawn between two popular organizational behavior theories of motivation. The concepts are chosen because motivation of an individual determines their strength to overcome limitations and explore invisible potential and opportunities.

Difference of motives is a reason for variation in models of motivation. Motivation is a word which emanates from ‘movere’ or to move. It is the inner drive and a force within an individual that gets their desires and ambitions fulfilled. Motivation stems from two sources: internal and external. Self-motivation is the most powerful of all the motivation sources. It is the willpower that is the greatest wealth that builds all other wealth of materialistic achievements. Innate needs and acquired needs are the two sets of powerful internal sources that provoke a person for achievement drive. To satiate ego needs one may go to any extent.

For the purpose of the assignment two organizational behavior theories: Maslow’s Need Hierarchy theory of motivation and James Stacey’s theory of equity of motivation are selected for discussion. There are two fold reasons for these two organizational behavior theories to be selected because both belong to the same topic and theme of discussion and secondly though of same genre are but both have varied connotations. Further motivation level of employee determines the extent and pace of success of an organization.

Introduction theory 1 - Maslow’s Need Hierarchy
This is one of the organizational behavior theories which enfold both the sources of motivation: internal and external. The motivation to do a task gives confidence and determination in the work delivery. It gives direction to the work. Motivation when is intrinsic that is emanating from the need such as self- approval can build lasting results. The need to self-explore and delivers performances with quality has just one source that is motivation. Inequity can cause frustration. When disparity cannot be reported it creates depression. For motivation to prevail it is essential to both equate and create distinction.

Motivation of an employee is a key criterion of the competitive advantage of the firm. It bestows innumerable advantages such as self-exploration, dispelling of self-doubts, helps in structuring goals and planning to reward achievement of goals. It helps to increase market share of the firm by ensuring employees are working out of passion and not compulsion. Motivation helps in seeking solutions to pressing problems. It helps secure and project adequate amount of self-efficacy which is reflected. Though organizations feel equipped with machines, manpower and money but the lack of motivation can be a reason for decline of any firm.

An employee feels motivated due to the intense need for change. The tension of being stuck at the same place and struggling to move out is most frustrating and depletes the most positive source of energy for any person. This struggle which is voluntary and self-dictated is a strong component of motivation. Further reduction in self-motivation is caused due to dissatisfaction of an individual from the people, task or situations around them. Needs and desires when either suspended or half met can lead to demotivation. Motivation occurs as a powerful tool for a positive revenge to all the failures when one decides to succeed over unsuccessful attempts and seek to finish unaccomplished tasks. Motivation is useful to increase the desire to move ahead and to protect self-respect. In the interjected form of motivation, it helps to gain social approval and strengthen reputation of a person and their related firms if any. The market strength and popularity of an organization is based on the set of high motivation and goal planning by the employees and management. It is employees only who execute the strategies and implement the policies and procedures.

Theory 1- Analysis
Chen et al. (2015) reported through their study in regards to the organizational behavior theories that satisfaction of psycho-social needs is a top priority for any individual to be motivated to perform given tasks. Organizations need to be highly creative and intelligent for serving needs and expectations of its customers. Both motivation and satisfaction of an individual is determined by the cultural and social factors. For instance, Japanese are committed to their work and scheduled time delivery. Calculative in their approach of managing their project, relation and time they are meticulous in planning and executing the tasks. Provision of job security in this scenario shall prove useful to them whereby the risk of commitment is maintained with the commensurate loyalty reward of tenure completion. Motivation has an implicit characteristic that is it makes a person anxious and excited most of the times. Thus, in order to stabilize this characteristic, job security is provided as a feature of creating job loyalty. Also, as a corollary those with high motivation achieve more and become more confident, thus job hopping can be a natural offshoot. In order to retain the talent, the feature of job security helps in adding the expertise and experience tank of the organization.

Mc Leod (2018) reported in regards to the organizational behavior theories that five tier model of Maslow’s need hierarchy in contrast to James Stacey’s equity theory. The research conveyed a contrast of behavior determination based on need level.

Rudolph (2016) brought to attention that motivation is required not only at workplace but in the entire lifespan. Motivation is required for self goals accomplishment. It is only when professional goals are personalized then only they are achieved with higher conviction, determination and perseverance. Rudolph et al. (2018) recommended motivation as an essential leadership tool. This generation of today which survives more on digital landscape and almost all has leadership quality and power emanates from personal belief of capability with the requirement to prove oneself. High level of motivation becomes a visible sign of leading better life with high potential and scope of achievements. Rudolph and Zacher (2017) remarked that those with high motivation have a broader bandwidth of work life span. Retirement plans are either proactively drawn by those who are highly motivated as they work more during their active years of career. Due to high levels of motivation they spend time learning and doing extra career boosting courses that helps to enhance their expertise and knowledge into handling wider job profiles. High level of motivation enables the scope of increasing job portfolio. A person with high level of motivation has the capability of increasing organizational relevance.

Introduction theory 2 - James Stacey’s Equity Theory
Stone (2015) visualized future of human resources department as hazy and organizational growth jeopardized without the essence of motivation. According to the organizational behavior theories, it is essential for effective team formation and work performance to have a strong cohesion into building a workforce. Consideration of all as equal is a necessary prerequisite for team formation. Thielgen et al. (2015) reported through their research that those with high level of motivation perform more thereby deriving greater job satisfaction. Consideration of all as one and equal boosts confidence of a person. Truxillo et al. (2015) mentioned motivated employees as an aiding tool helping those at the workplace into achieving their work goals and schedules as they are able to do their jobs with expertise. They supported equity theory.

Theory 2- Analysis
Kukreja (2019) through the survey reported that motivation of employees makes organizations effective and efficient. It drives employees’ decision to stay in the organization not on compulsion but by choice basis. Equity theory is one of the organizational behavior theories which is supported for the employees in service sector because the work is based on human interaction of all types of demographic variables. Organizations that are leading in present times and aspiring and ambitious to grow further need to consider their employees as customers and sell them jobs the way they sell products to customers. This will make them feel valued and loyal. When employees consider themselves as partial owners of the organizations they contribute willingly and participate with more responsibility and accountability for the allocated and upcoming projects. HR managers need to do nothing except motivating its employees because it is one such nodal point that helps to achieve all the other crucial tasks and missions.

Knowledge management systems are maintained for continuous enrichment through people who are not afraid to do tasks and don’t feel shy to fail. Encouragement of learning through failures is the most sought-after essential personality trait better known as resilience. The cultural context of society also informs on family structures. Happy families breed contented individuals who become employees with wisdom and maturity. Family support decides on the capability and ease of job execution and job satisfaction. the higher the feasibility of the job execution, the more the motivation to perform and grow. Haier (2017) in its book reported motivation as a neuroscience of intelligence. Organizations of today require creative problem-solving approach which requires talent of design thinking and critical analysis. Those not motivated to perform and excel will stay buried in the same mould of orthodox thinking.

Contrast of the two organizational behavior theories: Maslow’s need hierarchy and James Stacey’s Equity Theory
Maslow’s needs theory of motivation is known for compartmentalization of needs into a five-tier model. James Stacey theory of equity purports all humans to have the same need of being equal. The range of Maslow’s needs varies from physiological to social and then psychological while equity theory builds unanimous treatment of all with zero distinction. Maslow reported classification of needs into different relevance hierarchy according to ascending order. One of the basic premises of the model is that needs can be ranked. The same thread runs into the organizational behavior theories where needs are common for all but the contrast is that equity theory has just one perspective of psychological needs of treatment with fairness and social acceptance. Maslow’s needs have multiple perspectives. Maslow’s need hierarchical model is a comprehensive need structure.

Neither can needs be classified nor can be structured in a pyramid format such as that of Maslow’s need hierarchical structure. Theoretically this structure is helpful into enhancing conceptual clarity, however, but in reality needs can be horizontal not only vertical where one leads to another.

Subsequently, consideration of all humans as same can be considered as a social theory. This is because it is a basic requirement of justice that all to be treated as similar and on an equal ground. However, in reality, compassion for physically challenged or mentally upset can violate the organizational climate. Further, there are no legal implications if Maslow’s need hierarchy is not followed just behavioral errors and aberrations could be the result whereas if there is a weak implementation of the concept of equity, it may result as a case of workplace inequity causing legal compliance issues. Implementation of one of the organizational behavior theories cannot be applicable for permanence. Every theory has its limited scope and relevance. If an employee is fairly treated at their organization that does not mean that other organizational behavior theories of motivation will lose their significance. A consideration and treatment of all employees in parallelism shall mean practice of EEO (law of Equal Employment Opportunity) and not offering any scope of motivation. In fact, once the equal treatment is given the need to prove oneself will be diminished or shall lie dormant.

Conclusion:
Not all human needs can be satisfied. It is advisable to keep certain needs suspended of satisfaction so that their scope of motivation is structured. Managers need stimulants to get the work done and the insatiate desires would inspire organizational behavior theories of getting the work done. Although Maslow’s need hierarchy is the most comprehensive model of motivation of an individual based on needs yet the validity of the model is yet to be explored for its relevance in present times where concepts and practices of diversity inclusion is becoming a mandate and concept of all employees as significant humans need to be relooked. Motivation comes from both internal and external sources. Thus, one of the organizational behavior theories in its scalability cannot be sacrificed for the other. Most of the times, money motivates an individual to a large extent. Organizations then need to prioritize and customize compensation plans on a pro rata basis than operating on a ‘one size fits all approach’ basis.

References
Chen, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Beyers, W., Boone, L., Deci, E.L., Deeder, J.,Lens, W., Matos, L., Mouratidis, A., Ryan, R.M., Sheldon, K., Soenens, B., Petegem, S.V., Verstuyf, J., organizational behavior theories (2015), ‘Psychological need satisfaction and desire for need satisfaction across four cultures’, Motiv. Emot. 39 (2), pp. 216-236

Haier, R., (2017), ‘The Neuroscience of Intelligence’, Cambridge University Press

Karwowski, M., Dul, J., Gralewski, J., Jauk, E., Jankowska, D., Gajda, A., et al. (2016), ‘Is creativity without intelligence possible? A necessary condition analysis’, Intelligence, Cambridge, UK, 57, pp. 105-117

Kukreja J. (2019), ‘Lean organizations lead with internal marketing’, Asia Pacific Journal of Research, 1, (CII), pp. 7-12

McLeod, S. A. (2018, May 21). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Nguyen L. (2017), ‘The Impact of Employees Motivation on Organizational Effectiveness’, University of Applied Sciences

Rudolph, C. W. (2016), ‘Lifespan developmental perspectives on working: A literature review of motivational theories’, Work, Aging, and Retirement, 2(2), 130–158

Rudolph, C. W., Rauvola, R. S., & Zacher, H. (2018), ‘Leadership and generations at work: A critical review’, The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 44–57

Rudolph, C. W., & Zacher, H. (2017), ‘Considering generations from a lifespan developmental perspective’, Work, Aging and Retirement, 3(2),113–129

Stone, D. L., & Deadrick, D. L. (2015), ‘Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management’, organizational behavior theories Human Resource Management Review, 25(2), 139–145

Thielgen, M. M., Krumm, S., Rauschenbach, C., & Hertel, G. (2015), ‘Older but wiser: Age moderates congruency effects between implicit and explicit motives on job satisfaction’, Motivation and Emotion, 39(2), 182–200

Truxillo, D. M., Cadiz, D. M., & Hammer, L. B. (2015), ‘Supporting the ageing workforce: A review and recommendations for workplace intervention research’, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2(1), 351–381