Organizational behaviour
Q1. As a manager in a diverse workplace, discuss the issues you’ll need to address that may be present in today’s organizations concerning the communication process.
Usually, the aspect of having cross-cultural communication skills in a diverse workplace is essential. Workers must have effective and clear communication at their place of work. Co-workers, managers and executives need to have proper communication skills at workplaces for appropriate creation of equal opportunities as well as empowerment and motivation. Every diverse workplace will excel if there is proper communication. People tend to limit diversity to only race and ethnicity when, in the real sense, it is much more than that, that is, religion, sexual orientation, age, geographic location and much more. The increase in diversified workplaces can be challenging, especially when those in charge do not know how to handle communication problems within work premises. Practical communication skills as a leader will require you to step outside of your own comfort zone and norms and consider your ideas and opinions in a wide perspective. Always take time to think of what others will think of your ideas, opinions, what will the team members say? Will they agree or disagree? Whichever the case, this is the first step into solving communication problems within these workplaces.
As a leader, take the next step into creating effective communication at the workplace. Do not let any stereotypes get to you. Stereotypes may at times become offensive, thereby making you frustrated. This might not be the case if you choose to turn a blind eye on this problem. Focus on those individuals you feel are assets to the company. Those that will positively influence the company into productivity. If there are any types of differences in the way the workers relate to each other, use these differences to bring their ideas together and come up with something that will cater to their needs. This will help more in promoting teamwork and employee engagement. It will also create respect and honour in the employee-employee relationship as well as the employer-employee relationship. Also learn to listen to their ideas, issues, complaints and feedback on everything that revolves around the company. This will help shed more light as well as reduce the variances and differences in these diverse workplaces. One thing that most managers or employers do wrong is that they do not know how to correctly choose their words. The words used to an employee can break or make the productivity in the company. Avoid using acronyms, slang, idioms or words that may be confusing to workers. Use common language that the employees use and will be able to easily understand. There should be no language barrier because after all, it is a diverse workplace where there are all kinds of workers, and therefore the best thing a leader can do is to ensure that they use a language that everyone will understand. By doing this, the many communication issues facing these diverse workplaces will have been solved.
Q2. Your employees have suggested that they are given a full afternoon each week to visit art galleries, listen to concerts, read the latest novels or otherwise improve their emotional state and stimulate their creativity. Do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not?
Creativity is key to increasing productivity in workplaces. It is important that every employee is mentally stable when working. It is the duty of every senior manager ensures that the employees are well mentally prepared and ready. An organization that does not allow its employees some time off work to release off the pressure rarely excels. This is because the workers will be tired and fatigued from working. This means that there will be no or zero productivity and creativity. The first step to being creative is mental and emotional stability. Scott Barry Kaufman has laid out the four stages that human beings require in order to be more creative. These steps include preparation, incubation, illumination and verification. With all of this, it is a fact that one will be able to clearly work and bring forth creative ideas.
The request passed on to me by my employees would be guaranteed. For the sake of their mental and emotional state, it would be wise to let them take some time off work occasionally. This, however, should be done strategically to avoid business closure or creating inconveniences to our clients (Ivancevich, John, James). For example, I would come up with a list of all the employees, divide them into groups. These groups will be mixed, that is employees of higher levels and those that are of the lower levels. This will help much when it comes to creating interactions and good relationships. I will then assign each group an afternoon off. This means that there will be no business closure as people go out to release the pressure. There will be workflow, productivity and furthermore creativity which is what we will be aiming at when giving them these free afternoons. These employees are to follow the four steps into being getting creative, as Kaufman explains. They will decide among themselves on what activities to do that afternoon. For example, it would be hard for anyone to become creative if they do not package or bring out their ideas in the right way; verification. Every organization doing this will be able to highly increase their rate of productivity in the company as well as being creative. Creativity is key to attracting and maintaining clients in your business premises.
Q3. As a manager, when considering individual and organizational sources of stress, what are the personal and organizational consequences and costs you will need to take into account? Why?
Work-related stress is something that people have been battling for a long time. It not only affects the health being of the employee but the productivity of organizations as well. If the work demands are too much, it may be hard for employees to cope at work. If not properly handled, it may lead to a lot of multiple complications in the body. Work-related stress can be caused by various reasons, for example, if an employee feels that he is under a lot of pressure for example extended working hours, he might not be able to work or add any value to the company. As a manager, therefore, I would begin by looking into various causes of stress-bearing in mind that what one person sees as stressful, is a challenge to someone else. It is also good to note that whether somebody experiences work-related stress or not, it all depends on the type of work, the pressure as well as the relationships in workplaces. After taking note of what the causes are, I would then work towards ways I can use to help reduce stress to employees.
There are a lot of consequences that come about as a result of work-related stress, both personal; to the employee and employer, and to the organization as well. Personal consequences include poor mental health as well as the physical health; there may be an increase to work-related injuries, therefore, leading to a lot of lost time, there will be a lot of sick leaves, absences thereby lowering the rate of productivity in the organization. There will be less job satisfaction, reduced work engagement and decreased employee health. This will, in turn, increase the running costs that the employer has to face and spend. All of this spending will lower the income, increase the current spending but is not reflected in the income earned. It is, therefore, important that every employee gets to be mentally stable away from all work-related stress.
Q 4: Why, as a global manger, do you need to understand various national cultures?
Global managers are given the duty to run and manage diversified workforces. They, therefore, need to have the necessary knowledge and skills to efficiently manage it. It is also important for them to learn the national cultures as they influence a lot in management practices. For example, cultural practices influence decision making, leadership as wells human resource management practices. Each nation has their cultural practices in which they regard as important and act as rules that govern that nation. Workers working from a global perspective will of course have many differences in terms of language, race, ethnicity, cultural practices among others. It is therefore important for global managers to understand various national cultural practices. This way it will be easier for them to handle this diversity in a better way.
If the management is not aware of these national cultures, it might be hard for them to run the business efficiently or make any profits. Since this is a diversified workplace, there will be employees of all kinds, all with different views, behaviors, traditions and practices which therefore one requires a high level of skilled intelligence to efficiently manage them. It is important for a global manager to learn these national cultures for work to be made easier. Imagine being a global manager in an area where one knows nothing about the national practices. It would be extremely hard for them to manage the workplace let alone making it productive. As a global manager, it will be very important for one to learn and understand these national cultures. Every office setting will highly benefit from doing this, which is, educating global managers on the importance of learning national cultures.
Q 5. Given the demographic trends in the US and globally (age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc.), discuss how you would manage diversity to create
a competitive advantage?
Managing diversity is important, especially here in the United States, it is important as it helps create a competitive advantage in the market (Ravazzani, Silvia). This, however, is determined by how well as a manager, one is able to control and keep in place the demographic trends. If one fails in managing this, then it would be hard for them to manage these geographical trends. To begin with, I would ensure that I prioritize communication. Every employee in the organization should have effective and clear communication. Communications has been mentioned as one way in which companies and businesses grow. It would be correct to say that effective communication in workplaces is one framework that determines the success of every company. This therefore means that if I am able to adequately create room for effective communication, there would be a better workplace for the employees. Being open-minded is another way in which I would manage diversity. This would mean encouraging and recognizing employees that have undergone various experiences, come from different backgrounds and cultures.
Not being able to handle diversity at workplaces would not be a good call to companies. The main thing that companies should look out for when hiring managers is whether they are fit for that position. Are they able to manage the level of diversity in the company? This can easily be determined by asking several questions on what diversity is and how effectively they would manage it. Remember, unmanaged diversity would lead to utter failure of the company. The above mentioned skills are a must have for any manager who wants to properly manage diversity. After all managing diversity in workplaces is not at all hard.
Q 6. Based on the information in the following article, “How to
Manage as a First-Time Boss,” discuss where you see overlaps with the material we
have covered in class over the entire semester. Also, why do you think the author ends
with the statement, ”And that, friend, is where the really tricky part starts?”
Being a manager requires one to be straightforward and keen when it comes to handling employees. It is funny how most employers think that one would learn the management art just by looking at what their seniors have been doing. This is not the case; everyone has their own way of management. What would comfortably work for another manager might not work for another (Guillaume, Yves, et al, pp276-303.). Taking up the role of a manager, especially where one has been working for some time can be quite tricky. For example, if you become a manager, it is common to notice that your friends will lag behind, make up excuses, and want you to hide them when they are absent or want to go out. It is quite challenging and may, therefore, require another better approach rather than having to think that a person is skilled in managerial practices just because they worked there. There are several overlaps that can be seen when it comes to being promoted to a manager (Moorman, Robert, pp845). One, not preparing someone for their promotional job is like handing an air hostess an aeroplane without any training on how to operate it. It is important that one gets training on how they are supposed to handle their new job, what is expected of them and how they are to handle issues. A company should know the importance and supporting their managers for them to get better results. Letting a manager do what they think is right will only drive them into committing even more mistakes, and therefore, it is important that they are properly prepared for what lies ahead of them.
A motivation to one manager might not be a motiation to the other person. Understanding this will help avoid assumptions that most companies make when it comes to managers. Every manager will have their own motivation sources, how they handle things and how they want to run the business. Companies should therefore try and learn more on what drives that particular manager, how they want and will work and to what extent are they willing to help better the current situation in the company. Perfectionism is what tends to break most managers. It is true that most managers will want the employees to overwork themselves, work for long extended hours, and come in on weekends all in the effort of trying to reach perfectionism. This is a huge overlap that managers should try and fix as it will only contribute to the downfall and not in any way to productivity (Hill, Linda, pp48). Also, since this manager has been working there, it is obvious that he or she has made friends. Friends in workplaces may at times not contribute to any productivity in the company. Friends might want the new manager to go an extra mile and do favours for them, give them unnecessary offs and so on. It is therefore important that managers are taught on what they can do to ensure they know what to do in such cases. This will also make it easier for the manager to set the rules and records straight for everyone to follow. The author of the article ends it in, “and that, friend, is where the really tricky part starts”. The author tries to show that being a manager will not only mean that you will set rules and have everyone follow them, but it will also be tricky for you to keep on following up on whether they are doing as said, whether they are doing their part, how serious they are in the business among others. As a manager, one will be required to be extra keen and careful in everything they do in and out of the company. They are the limelight of the companies, and its failure is at most times attributed to the failure of the managers.
Works Cited
Hill, Linda A. “Becoming the boss.” Harvard business review 85.1 (2007): 48.
Ravazzani, Silvia. “Understanding approaches to managing diversity in the workplace.” Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal (2016).
Guillaume, Yves RF, et al. “Harnessing demographic differences in organizations: What moderates the effects of workplace diversity?.” Journal of Organizational Behavior 38.2 (2017): 276-303.
Ivancevich, John M., and James L. Gibson. Organizations: behaviour, structure, processes. Irwin Professional Pub, 2005.
Moorman, Robert H. “Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviours: Do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship?.” Journal of applied psychology 76.6 (1991): 845.