Social Media Afford An Governance Workplace -Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Social Media Afford An Governance Workplace? Answer: Introduction Organizational behavior is simply the study of behavior of individuals in a team setting. How members of an organization behave with each other largely goes to define the culture at that particular organization (Alvesson, 2015). Immense efforts are put in to study this behavior and put that knowledge for the betterment and growth of the organization. It is a detailed subject and aims to understand, predict and eventually manage human behavior in various organizations. Human resource experts consistently strive to maintain a productive culture in their firms. And organizational culture is extremely important for the employees. A culture that encourages transparent communication, innovation, team work and hard work can motivate employees to work better towards the main goal of the firm (Hogan, 2014). Whereas a culture that encourages self-growth, vague communication and unfair rewards and practices can foster demotivation in employees eventually leading to failure in achieving the goal s of the company (Helms Mills, 2017). In this report we will be discussing a case of the company BM Global Services Manila or GSM which has just witnessed a major office and cultural shift in the organization. The case addresses three important questions regarding recommended dimensions of organizational culture, motivational theories and leadership styles which are answered below. Case Summary The case throws light on the growth and success achieved by BM Global Services Manila (GSM) in a span of a short while. Baker McKenzie is one of the top five law firms by revenue as well as headcount. GSM is Baker McKenzies largest insourcing facility employing over 900 people from across the globe whose job is to provide support to 77 Baker McKenzie offices spread over 47 countries around the world. The year 2000 begins with opening an office in Philippines which will be the firms 14th office in Asia Pacific. The growth of the company was commendable and by 2014, from a crew of 5 document processors, GSMs business units occupied several floors across 4 different buildings. This fast pace of growth left little time to plan offices. In the year 2015, GSM went through a major change with an idea to bring about a change in the office space as well as in organizational culture followed by GSM. Project Convergence was introduced and started with an aim to change the office land and culture. The project commenced by building a new office for the employees and designed by the employees. The major changes in the new structure included: Getting rid of biometrics: this was done to instill a sense of trust in employees and ensuring that their performance is measured by results rather than minutes spent in the office (Rao, S. 2013). Reinvented in house leadership: Offering lesser leadership more and encouraging employees to manage and take responsibility for their own work was done to motivate employees to track their own performance and work in accordance with it. Exerted constant feedback: 360 degree reviews were conducted in order to keep the employees on their toes and help them be aware of their performance. This helped in motivating employees when they lacked and guiding them upon ways to perform better (Lazaroiu, 2015). Rating free performance evaluation: This system was brought into practice to make the performance evaluation much healthier. Every employee was now only competing with himself and no ranks were given. This ensured that people are only concerned with their own performance and are working towards improving them. This helps as bad performers dont feel demeaned and insulted and good performers do not become lazy knowing that they are doing better. New channels of communication: Newsletters, Town halls, leaders forums, coffee talks and employee hotlines were installed and in place to encourage more communication among employees and create a sense of transparency in the organization (Marsick, 2015). Furniture: Seats were now configured to encourage impromptu meetings with clients and team meetings. This was done to encourage and instil team work among the employees. This created an open plan structure which enforced free communication among teams. This was not just a change in the office structure or office policies, this brought about a change in the mindset of employees. This ensured their organizational behavior changed and worked for the betterment of the firm. Transparency, integrity, accountability, trust and collaboration were the values stressed upon this new setting at GSM. This new office hence infused a new life in the organization and has yet been efficient in building a more positive and productive organizational culture. Dimensions of Organizational Culture Organizational culture predominantly includes a system of shared values, beliefs and assumptions that define how people behave in an organization (O Reilly, 2014). This culture is very important and shapes the future of the organization. There are various dimensions to the organizations culture. A combination of these different dimensions create the culture in an organization and it is very important to note that no cultural combination can work for every organization (Alvesson, 2015). The given case has paid attention to, changed and promoted the following dimensions in order to attain the culture that currently exists at GSM. Level of decentralization: Decentralization is the amount of decision making authority given to people of the organization. In a centralized organization the right to make decisions and formulate strategies lies with one person or team at the center. While in a decentralized organization, this responsibility shifts to all the employees of the organization (Mahmood, 2014). GSM has been promoting a decentralized organizational culture where employees are trusted and given authority to make their own decision. Leadership roles have been minimized so that employees are responsible for their own performance and can take charge of the responsibilities given to them. This instills a sense of ownership in the employees and helps them remain motivated and loyal to the firm (Appu, 2015). Transparent governance: GSM has also been actively involved in governing transparent procedures, meetings, reviews etc. Their furniture is meant to include impromptu meetings with clients and within teams. They have adopted an open plan, no one is given any cubicles to sit and yet every employee is able to focus on his work. The management is always willing to help and they too have adopted an open door policy. This cultural change helps employees remain more informed about the organization with which they work and this in turn instils a sense of ownership and motivates them to work harder (Vaast, 2013). Open communication: GSM employees believe in open communication. There have been an introduction of newsletters, town halls, coffee talks, leaders forum and employee hotlines. This is done to promote open communication. When employees communicate freely with one another, it is easier for them to work together in teams. Grievances are addressed properly and a team spirit is developed leaving no scope for miscommunication. Open communication also helps in letting employees know exactly what is expected from them (Kim, 2013). This makes sure that the employee is clear and can deliver as per expectations. Lastly, open communication also helps in creating the office environment more relaxed, people do no fear to voice their opinions and this makes them more confident and accountable. Individual autonomy: Individual autonomy is the best way to show an employee that the firm trusts them. This means giving an employee the freedom to decide the roles he should perform and take decisions for himself. Every employee is given the idea to perform without any pressure. This autonomy prepares employees and increases their productivity (Siegrist, 2016). It helps employees take responsibility for their actions. Many times employees dont work under pressure. Individual autonomy solves that problem and helps employees take their own decision and responsibility for their actions and performance in the organization. This also builds a level of trust in the minds of employee for the employer and with increased trust, everyone aims to work harder towards the shared goal. Outcome oriented: A firm can be outcome oriented or process oriented. Outcome oriented organization believes that ends justify the means whereas a process oriented firm throws light on the process rather than the outcome. GSMs culture is that of outcome orientation. This is a more result oriented approach. And it is adopted when employers when trust in their employees and dont feel the need to check every move that they make (Fiske, 2013). As long as employees are helping the firm win cases, it does not matter how they do it. This is why GSM removed biometrics from their office because they realized that employees productivity is best measure by his outcomes and results and not by the number of hours he or she spent in the office. This makes employees more responsible. This also helps to provide employees with a work life balance and this is one of the biggest motivation factors for the employee. People Oriented: People oriented organizations value their human resource as one of their biggest assets. GSM has adopted this structure and ensured that their employees are valued, trusted and cared for. They have provided employees with a relaxed work environment where they can come and go at their own will as long as they are delivering results. Employees are also given open feedbacks so that they can improvise and better their performance. They have worked hard in letting employees know that they are valued by removing leadership roles and giving them their own responsibilities. This is one of the ore difficult tasks for a company to accomplish. This increases employee loyalty and makes them work towards achieving common goals for the organization. Participation: Encouraging participation is very important in every organization. It is a way of involving everyone to take decisions and instilling a sense of ownership and team work. This is very important as employees work together through better communication channels and stay motivated. If employees are not allowed to participate in team decisions, it can lead to a level of frustration in their minds as they will feel that they are not trusted or they are not competent enough (Martinez, 2017). To remedy that, allowing employees to participate, helps them feel more connected to the organization and they become more dedicated towards accomplishing goals. This also makes communication more transparent and clear and helps to avoid any misunderstandings as they might exist. Motivational Theories Maslows hierarchy of needs: This is the most well-known theory of motivation used in various organizations in order to motivate employees. This theory throws light on various needs of an individual. Maslow has hierarchically classified all the needs of human beings (Lester, 2013). There are five important aspects to human needs as given below. Maslow suggests that the physiological needs of humans take precedence over all other needs. Once the need for water, warmth and rest is fulfilled, an individual aims to acquire a sense of safety and security in his life. Post that the need for relationships, friends and a social life comes into the picture which provides an individual with a feeling of belongingness. Over that comes individuals needs for a feeling of accomplishment also known as esteem needs. These are at last followed by self-actualization and self-transcendence (Cao, 2013). In an organization, GSM has focused on satisfying all these needs of their employees. Employees physiological needs are satisfied by the salary that they receive. Safety and security needs are satisfied by providing job security to employees. A relaxed culture of open communication in the office and team work within the organization helps employees fulfill their belonging and love needs. Rewards, appreciation followed by a 360 degree feedback of the employees provide them with a sense of accomplishment hence fulfilling their Esteem needs. Lastly, providing employees with the freedom to make their own decisions and holding them accountable for their actions helps employees fulfil Self-actualization needs. McClellands need theory: Also known as Need theory identifies that individuals have three needs, and they can remain motivated if these needs are continuously fulfilled. McClelland justifies that every individual has these three needs irrespective of their age, caste, gender, location or creed (McClelland, 2015). These three include need for Achievement, Need for Affiliation and Need for Power: The organization GSM has actively worked towards fulfilling these three needs of its employees. The employees remain motivated and try to work harder once these three needs are predominantly fulfilled in an organization. Need for Achievement: By giving employees the responsibility of their own work and giving consistent feedbacks has helped fulfill the need for achievement. Employees remain motivated once they feel a sense of accomplishment. All the employees at GSM are working to fulfill goals and tasks. The environment at office motivates them to work harder and achieve goals and this fulfills their need to achieve (McClelland, 2013). Since GSMs culture is very goal oriented and not process oriented, it becomes increasingly important for employees to accomplish their tasks and achieve their target. Need for Power: This need for power helps employees feel powerful and in control. This power can be levied over other people or on oneself (Holmes, 2015). Especially in the law industry, employees of GSM are winning cases every day and this instils in them a sense of power over other. Besides this, reducing leadership roles at GSM, provides employees a sense of power as compared to the earlier culture where they were reporting to supervisors and their time spent in office was checked. At GSM, the need for a leader-follower relationship and influencing power over others is NOT fulfilled. The company is promoting more team work and open culture. A few more leadership positions for experienced employees should be created to fulfill this need. Need for Affiliation: This need comes with a desire to establish and maintain good and positive relationships with those around us. It throws light on establishing a good social circle and is accompanied by a need to be accepted in a group (Thrasher, 2015). At GSM, team meetings and behavior is highly propagated. New communications channels that have been introduced like coffee talks, employee hot lines, town halls and team meetings are all encouraging employees every day by involving them in a team and helping them fulfil the need for affiliation in their lives. Even the furniture and seating arrangement at GSM is built with the aim to conduct impromptu meetings so that people can work together, achieve together and instil a sense of team work. Herzbergs Motivational theory: Herzberg established a theory of motivation by understanding exactly what are the factors that keep individuals satisfied in an organization and what keeps them dissatisfied. He called these satisfiers, motivators while he called the latter maintenance or hygiene (Miner, 2015). What organizations must aim to accomplish is changing these hygiene factors into motivation factors and involving more and more motivators in their work place. Herzberg's Motivational and hygiene factor All these factors and dimensions depend on a simple thing, organizational culture (Band, 2016). By changing the organizational culture at GSM, the firm has successfully accomplished more motivators than hygiene in their firm. These factors are accomplished by GSM in the following ways: Work place environment: By making the work place environment relaxed and friendlier, employees are motivated to work there. The environment instills a team work and this in turn makes employees work together towards a common goal. This work place environment is extremely critical for employee motivation as an average employee spends most of his day at work. An unfriendly and strict work environment can lead to demotivation in employees. Constructive feedback: Every employee needs feedbacks to improvise, learn and grow in an organization. GSM employees have focused on constructive feedback and hence employees feel more motivated to work. They are exactly aware of their performance at all times and can strive to improve according the feedbacks that they receive. If employees are not given feedbacks, they cannot know exactly where they are going wrong and this in turn will impact the employees morale and the organizations productivity (Bok, 2016). Achievement: GSM is a goal oriented organization rather than process oriented. This focus on the accomplishment of a final goal helps employees feel a sense of achievement every time they accomplish a task. This sense of achievement is not just accepted by promoted at GSM. Achievement drives employees and it is a major source of motivation, if employees dont feel they have achieved something, they will soon lose the zeal to work. Growth: Leadership roles have been removed and constructive feedback is given to every employee along with a sense of responsibility to perform their tasks. This leads to an individuals growth and development not just in an organizational space but in life. And this is a very important source of motivation for employees. Responsibility: when employees are given responsibility, it shows that the organization trusts them to perform their tasks. This motivates employees to live up to the expectations that the firm holds of him and hence leads to better and improved performance. If employees are not given responsibility, they start feeling demotivated and incompetent. Trust: By removing the biometric system of attendance at GSM, the organization has established a new level of trust in its employees. GSM has made employees know that they can use their time judiciously and the company trusts them. This is a motivating factor for employees as now they feel responsible for delivering their targets. This trust is very crucial between manager and employee and also between team members (Seo, 2016). Lack of trust can lead to a sense of frustration, incompetency and will eventually adversely impact the employees performance In the long run. Leadership Styles Leadership styles are an important part of every organization and are an important aspect in defining the culture of an organization. There are various styles of leadership and no style is best suited for every organizations. Most of the traits of a leader are owing to his personality and that is why selection of a leader in any organization is a critically important task (Bryman, 2013). GSM is going to immense changes at the moment. Their office as well as organizational culture have seen tremendous changes from before and this is why it is believed that a transformational leadership style is best suited for the organization at the moment. Transformational Leadership: In this leadership styles, leader joins hands with subordinates and works to identify key areas in the organization that needs to be changed. Usually when any company is going through major structural, cultural, or geographical changes, transformational leadership style is the best way to go forward. This leadership style involves the team working together to identify needed changes from the organization and they together decide upon a vision and work to accomplish it (McClesky, 2014). Transformational leadership A transformational leader has the following qualities. How can these qualities help in GSMs organizational structure is defined below: A Clear vision: A transformational leader has a clear vision about the organization. This includes both long term and short term visions. When an organization is going through changes like these it is imperative that the leader has a strong vision for the firm that can be shared with employees. Courage: A transformational leader must have the courage to take on new challenges. In the changing atmosphere at GSM, it is crucial that the leader is not resistant to change but is rather willing to take up new challenges. Self-Motivation: This is an important aspect because members of the organization look up to leaders for motivation and positive energy, if a leader is self-motivated, that motivation will automatically get inflicted upon the followers and inspire them to work harder (Elliot, 2017). Inspiration: In the changing office culture, it is possible that employees may find it difficult to adjust to the new environment. This is where the role of the leader and his ability to inspire his followers comes into picture. If the leader is able to inspire his followers through behavior or communications, then it is a huge advantage for the organization. People Management: Not just a transformational leader but in every leadership style, it is very important that the leader knows its people well and consistently aims to inspire them. A transformational leader encourages one on one conversations, understands the needs of the employees, gives them constructive feedback and in turn helps them in their personal growth (Baruch, 2017). This will eventually lead to better performance and organizations growth at large. Participation: A transformational leader encourages participation at a strategic level from all the employees of the organization rather than taking standalone decisions. This inspires and motivates employees as they feel a sense of ownership towards the organization and work harder towards achieving company goals. References: Alvesson, M., Sveningsson, S. (2015).Changing organizational culture: Cultural change work in progress. Routledge. Appu, A. V., Sia, S. K., Sahoo, B. C. (2015). Creativity at Workplace: Proposing Some Contributors.International Journal of Innovative Research and Development,4(5). Band, G., Shah, N. V., Sriram, R., Appliances, E. (2016). Herzberg Two Factor Theory among the Management Faculty in Nagpur City. InInternational Conference on Management and Information Systems September(Vol. 23, p. 24). Baruch, Y., Gregoriou, A. (2017, January). The impact of people management: Employees satisfaction role in predicting financial performance. InAcademy of Management Proceedings(Vol. 2017, No. 1, p. 10557). Academy of Management. Bok, H. G., Jaarsma, D. A., Spruijt, A., Van Beukelen, P., Van Der Vleuten, C. P., Teunissen, P. W. (2016). Feedback-giving behaviour in performance evaluations during clinical clerkships.Medical teacher,38(1), 88-95. Bryman, A. (Ed.). (2013).Leadership and organizations. Routledge. Cao, H., Jiang, J., Oh, L. B., Li, H., Liao, X., Chen, Z. (2013). A Maslow's hierarchy of needs analysis of social networking services continuance.Journal of Service Management,24(2), 170-190. Elliot, A. J., Dweck, C. S., Yeager, D. S. (Eds.). (2017).Handbook of Competence and Motivation: Theory and Application. Guilford Publications. Fiske, S. T., Taylor, S. E. (2013).Social cognition: From brains to culture. Sage. Helms Mills, J. C., Mills, A. J. (2017). Rules, Sensemaking, Formative Contexts, and Discourse in the Gendering of Organizational Culture?. InInsights and Research on the Study of Gender and Intersectionality in International Airline Cultures(pp. 49-69). Emerald Publishing Limited. Hogan, S. J., Coote, L. V. (2014). Organizational culture, innovation, and performance: A test of Schein's model.Journal of Business Research,67(8), 1609-1621. Holmes, J., Stubbe, M. (2015).Power and politeness in the workplace: A sociolinguistic analysis of talk at work. Routledge. Kim, J., de Dear, R. (2013). Workspace satisfaction: The privacy-communication trade-off in open-plan offices.Journal of Environmental Psychology,36, 18-26. Lazaroiu, G. (2015). Work Motivation and Organizational Behavior.Contemporary Readings in Law and Social Justice,7(2), 66. Lester, D. (2013). Measuring Maslow's hierarchy of needs.Psychological Reports,113(1), 15-17. Mahmood, K., Ilyas, M., Rehman, C. A. (2014). Impact of Knowledge Management and Decentralization on Supply Chain Performance: A Study of Automobile Sector of Pakistan.International Journal of Operations and Logistics Management,3(2), 124-139. Marsick, V. J., Watkins, K. (2015).Informal and Incidental Learning in the Workplace (Routledge Revivals). Routledge. Martnez, M. L., Loyola, L. I., Cumsille, P. (2017). Quality of Participation in Youth Organizations: Relationships with Identity and Sense of Sociopolitical Control.Youth Society,49(7), 968-993. McClelland, D. C. (2013). That urge to achieve.Readings and Exercises in Organizational Behavior, 70. McClelland, D. C. (2015). Achievement motivation theory.Organizational behavior,1, 46-60. McClesky, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development.Journal of Business Studies Quarterly,5(4), 117. Miner, J. B. (2015).Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. Routledge. OReilly III, C. A., Caldwell, D. F., Chatman, J. A., Doerr, B. (2014). The promise and problems of organizational culture: CEO personality, culture, and firm performance.Group Organization Management,39(6), 595-625. Rao, S., Satoa, K. J. (2013). An attendance monitoring system using biometrics authentication.International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering,3(4). Seo, H. M., Kim, M. C., Chang, K., Kim, T. (2016). Influence of Interpersonal Trust on Innovative Behaviour of Service Workers: Mediating Effects of Knowledge Sharing.International Journal of Innovation Management,20(02), 1650026. Siegrist, J. (2016). Stress in the workplace.The New Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology, 268. Thrasher, G. R., Zabel, K., Wynne, K., Baltes, B. B. (2015). The importance of workplace motives in understanding workfamily issues for older workers.Work, Aging and Retirement,2(1), 1-11. Vaast, E., Kaganer, E. (2013). Social media affordances and governance in the workplace: An examination of organizational policies.Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication,19(1), 78-101.