Challenges and Opportunities of Organisational Behaviour – OB
Challenges and Opportunities of organisational behaviour in most companies include overcoming cultural and ethnic differences. It improves productivity, by hiring of employees who fit the organizational culture or who can improve it. It assigns employees to the task and helps in finding the proper level of life balance. Organisational behaviour challenges are increasing day by day.
Organizational behaviour is the culture of the organization, which includes how employees interact with each other. This also includes how employees feel about the company.
Organizational behaviour is the analysis of human dynamics within an organization. It helps HR managers and business leaders to understand the relationship between them and their employees. In addition, it tells a lot about the interaction between employees at the same level. Although organizational behaviour varies from one organization to another, its nature has important implications.
In the present time, managers have to deal with various contemporary challenges and opportunities of organisational behaviour to use OB concepts and improve productivity. Some of the challenges and opportunities of organisational behaviour are listed below.
Challenges and opportunities of organisational behaviour can be completely understood with the help of the following points.
- Globalization of Business
- Changed Employee Expectations
- Workforce Diversity
- Increasing Quality Consciousness
- Ethical Issues at Work
- Improving employee’s skills
- Changing Profiles of Employees and Customers
- Assisting employees to balance labour-life conflicts
- Improving customer service
1) Globalisation of Business
Globalization is a continuous process in which all the countries of the world are interconnected economically, politically and culturally with each other. In this process, global communication increases at all possible levels and there is a tendency for both homogeneity and regionalism in the world. It indeed has the most visible effects at the economic level, but it is equally effective at other levels.
While the positive effect of globalization was gradually reaching the dimension of world citizens by transforming the whole world into a global village, in its negative effect, it seems to be taking the whole world into a neo-imperialist era.
With globalization, the world has become a global village. Organizations are adopting a local and global approach. Organizations are now following a whole new strategy, which is global yet local in nature, with globalization.
Organisational behaviour is leading organizations on the way to a new world where there are minimal barriers to trade and investment and the national economy is becoming intensely connected with each other.
Telecommunication and transportation technologies have brought countries closer, and have given rise to an interdependent economic system where even the minutest change in one domain directly affects the others around the world. This entire process is called globalization.
Navigating Globalization
For effective working of the organization, the managers have to understand the local cultures and behaviours to adapt their managerial styles. They need to understand the differences in cultures and accordingly change their working style to run the organization and resolve problems effectively. Hence, managers have to face both opportunities and challenges due to globalization.
The process of economic integration is happening at a faster pace and more companies are trying to make it happen. Startups and organizations buy raw materials, services, technology, and resources from companies that offer high-quality, low-cost goods and services. In this scenario, the most important component is human resources. It is difficult to acquire the requisite experience due to the high competition for expertise, which is in short supply. Globalization has opened up opportunities but has also led to the failure of local businesses, and different impacts on cultural ethics, values, customers, etc.
It has both positive and negative effects. Organizations are undergoing changes. They might start with a new strategy such as a streaming strategy. This could involve downsizing. Many global companies are looking to hire cost-conscious mechanics who are looking to set up shop in foreign countries. One of the interesting things to think about in this process is the transformation of skills and technology. And with a new perspective on how to market.
At the moment, globalization poses the following challenges:
- Adopting new technology.
- Organizational change and restructuring.
- Downsizing and its impact on human behaviour. etc.
Globalization poses the following opportunities for companies:
- Businesses offer low-cost advantages by competing in the global market.
- New career perspective.
- Transformation of skills and technology.
- Positive changes in attitudes of different people from different countries etc.
- New investment opportunities
2) Workforce Diversity
Workforce diversity refers to the composition of representatives of an organization in terms of gender, language, age, ethnic origin, marital status, education, etc.
Managing such diversity is indeed a challenge for HRM professionals. There are important implications for workforce diversity management.
Managers need to treat each group of workers equally and change their approach to each group of workers to encourage creativity, improve productivity, reduce labour turnover and avoid discrimination of any kind.
Another challenge that organizations are facing today is an adjustment to people coming from different backgrounds, countries, cultures, genders, races, and ethnicities. These also include the physically disabled, gays and lesbians, and elderly people. This is called workforce diversity. The issue is relevant all over the world be it in Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, the U.S., or any other country. The reason behind this is the global demographics of the employed population. Diversity has emerged as an issue because most groups in the workforce are not represented equally.
In Nepal, they not only value and celebrate diversity, but they also have been diverse in their society. Nepalese people are said to practice “synergic pluralism,” referring to how diverse religious and ethnic groups coming from outside have been made welcome and have been accepted.
Coping with diversity is a matter of concern for managers because of two reasons:
(i) Managers must learn how to encourage a diversified workforce.
(ii) A manager must learn how to talk to employees coming from different languages.
Work Diversity can the ability become a competitive advantage in the following ways:
(i) Diversity can often become a competitive advantage by improving decision making and team performance on complex tasks.
(ii) Sometimes, it can be required for a workforce to provide better customer service to customers in the global marketplace.
(iii) Workforce diversity can encourage greater diversity in teams but can be difficult concerning communication, team dynamics, and conflict.
(iv) Managing Diversity can increase creativity and innovation in an organisation.
3) Changed Employee Expectations
Employee expectations and attitudes have also changed along with the modifications in workforce demographics. Nowadays employees provide less or no cost to the old-fashioned temptations for example job security, housing, appealing remuneration, etc. Today’s employees put a question to empowerment and want to have a similarity in status with the management.
Companies are now forced to address environmental concerns because of the pressure, workers put on their employers. Employees were concerned about how their organizations viewed their productivity while working from home. They lack confidence and worry that their boss might view them as unfit for their role if they can’t do their job with an immediate response to a specific email. This is a stressor and it’s a big concern for them.
Leaders will need to redefine new metrics for both employers and employees to assess the pace of work and productivity in a virtual setting. Leaders should focus on output, and less on the misleading small signals they might be getting. Remote working is new for everyone and employees are unsure how their employers perceive productivity.
The most important factor in employment today understands the needs and emotions of the employees, and it should be high emotional intelligence and empathy. Practising things such as remembering birthdays or being emotionally responsive to people’s needs often stems from outside the workplace.
Little things like anniversaries and milestones will go a long way towards keeping employees emotionally fulfilled. Empathy is a key metric in regard to employers, so a manager needs to have a good understanding of these issues and needs to make them think of it as being a reputable company.
4) Increasing Quality Consciousness
The quality of a product or service is measured by the extent to which customers or users believe it surpasses their needs and expectations. With the increase in competition, both from local organizations and from foreign organizations, the quality of products or services has gained much importance.
Practices like Six Sigma Standard, Total Quality Management, Kaizen, and Quality Certification have gained momentum. Due to this, the organizations have to modify their functioning. Introducing the new work conditions involves changes in employees’ work and how they feel about accepting those changes. Managers‘ job is to ensure that employees must accept the change wholeheartedly because it is for their betterment.
5) Ethical Issues at Work
Ethics is what an individual or group believes, holds and is accountable to its community. Ethical issues are problems that require individuals, organizations, or groups to choose those actions that are right and ethical and discard those wrong. If all the choices are wrong or illegal, then the least wrong choice is chosen. People running organizations must be held accountable for their actions; hence, they prefer to fulfil their duties towards their customers and provide them maximum satisfaction.
It is truly said that a dissatisfied customer can definitely hurt a company, something which the company cannot afford. While corporate organizations utilize all facilities accessible in society for their growth, they require to reciprocate by doing something for the societies they exist and benefit from. This requirement is mirrored in the conception of corporate social responsibilities.
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a company’s commitment to functioning in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable manner while recognizing the interest of its stakeholders, adding employees, government, investors, customers, commercial partners, local communities, and society.
The challenges and opportunities for organisational behaviour for managers are to promote ethical organizational behaviour and culture such that employees do not put their individual interests ahead of organizational interests. Personal interest is an aspect of teamwork, and managers often have to guide groups towards group interest over personal interest.
6) Improving employee skills
Environmental changes, technical changes, and structural changes have made the business to adapt the changes at a faster speed. With the change in environment, technology, demand, and expectations of consumers employees are required to adapt to these changes by improving their skills and talents for better results because without accepting these changes employees would not be able to achieve their targets in time.
An organization can improve the skills of its employees through little effort and by showing basic common courtesy in their business dealings, avoiding complaining, use of humour, listening carefully, and being polite.
7) Changing Profiles of Employees and Customers
According to recent reports, there are some drastic changes in the number of people joining organizations and the people benefiting from the services of an organization.
Employees and customers have more options available to them because of the innovation from companies. Highly demanding tasks and expected methods are becoming more commonplace in organizations.
The best and the brightest people are looking to find organizations that will fasten their personal growth and help them feel empowered with a sense of ownership so that they feel they have a sense of ownership both psychologically and physically.
Expectations and values are changing across the board. The ideal type of individual can take on assignments that everyone else has quite some time for. The changing profiles of employees and customers have opened and closed opportunities, while also providing threats to organizational behaviour.
8) Assisting employees in balancing labour-life conflicts
Employees complain that work and non-work are becoming blurred, creating personal conflicts and stress. Recently, employers are asking their employees to work for longer hours, and studies suggest that employees want jobs that give them better flexibility so they can better manage their work-life conflicts.
Employers should try to help employees achieve work-life balance to attract and keep the most capable and motivated employees.
9) Improving customer service
Many organizations have failed because their employees failed to please customers. Management needs to create a customer-responsive culture. Organisational behaviour can help managers create cultures in which employees are friendly, accessible, knowledgeable and prompt in responding to customer needs, and willing to do what’s necessary to please the customer.
Employees treating customers is one of the challenges of organizational behaviour in management. Companies need to develop a customer-centric culture that will make it easier for employees to respond to customer needs.
Customer service is important, and people are looking for good service from knowledgeable people, who act friendly and experienced. When businesses try to build an online community with their customer base, they need to embed those elements in their content.
What challenges and opportunities of ob does managing in a global economy pose?
Managing in a global economy constitutes many challenges and opportunities for organisational behaviour. For our purposes, a very important thought is how behavioural processes vary across cultural and national boundaries. Values, norms, and beliefs differ among cultures, and these shape patterns of work-related behaviour of the workers to a great extent.
They also affect the nature of the supervisory relationships, decision-making styles and processes, and organizational configurations. Group and intergroup processes, responses to exertion, and the nature of political behaviour also differ between cultures.
Thus, globalisation has posed both challenges and opportunities for managers. Global managers must work to understand the local culture and the behavioural forces that affect human resources to manage the employees more effectively. Even if the global manager is working in his own country, he might have to manage employees who are from different cultures or countries.
Therefore, the manager will have to learn to adapt his management style to deal effectively with such workers. Similarly, one has to master the art of interacting with bosses and friends belonging to different cultures.
Challenges and Opportunities of Organisational Behaviour
Organizational behaviour is the analysis of human dynamics within an organization. It helps HR professionals and business leaders to understand the relationship between them and their employees. In addition, it tells a lot about the interaction between employees at the same level. Although organizational behaviour varies from one organization to another, its nature has important implications.
Organizational behaviour is the culture of the organization, which includes how employees interact with each other. This also includes how employees feel about the company. Challenges and opportunities for organisational behaviour in most companies include overcoming cultural and ethnic differences, improving productivity, hiring employees who fit the organizational culture or who can improve it, and assigning employees to the task which helps in finding the proper level of life balance.
Exploring Challenges and Strategies in Organisational Behaviour
One of the primary challenges of organisational behaviour is overcoming cultural and ethnic diversity among employees. Because different employees have different beliefs, opinions, and ways of doing things, these differences can make it challenging for employees to work together.
Some organizations offer diversity training courses or workshops to help address these issues. This is to point out how the diversity of an organization really makes for the various benefits that each employee brings to the table.
One of the other challenges of organisational behaviour is to motivate employees as a way of improving activity. One of the ways to improve productivity within an organization is to empower employees. When organizations and businesses empower their employees, it gives them a sense of loyalty to the company because they feel they are part of the business’s success.
A third of the challenges of organisational behaviour is in selecting the right employees for the organisation. Hiring the right employees for the organization is not only about finding people with the skills and knowledge the position requires but also about employees who fit into the organizational culture or help improve employee relations can do.
Examples:
For example, it can be motivating to employees if top management is not open to progressive ideas and actions that can move the business forward. Hiring a progressive and forward-thinking executive manager also has the experience and knowledge, which can help employees to give a fresh perspective to the company.
Another main challenge of organizational behaviour is knowing how to run a production company but also showing your employees that it cares about them as well. In other words, it’s about helping employees find the right work-life balance.
For example, a company that offers an on-site day-care centre as an employee benefit or at a low cost as a way to show the company that it cares about its employees professionally and personally. This allows employees to contribute to organizational behaviour and culture positively.
Challenges
Challenges in organisational behaviour are enormous and rapidly changing for improving productivity and achieving business goals. Organizational behaviour is based on a company’s aspirations, ethical principles and goals. It supports the nature of the organization and the direction it takes. Most importantly, it is a significant predictor of a company’s potential for success.
Ineffective or incorrect organizational behaviour can completely damage a company’s competitiveness. The main challenge posed by organizational behaviour is improvement. If a company is affected by ineffective leadership, poor work ethics or lack of employee motivation, it is bold enough to change this scenario.
Another important complexity in the study of challenges and opportunities of organisational behaviour is determining where the problems lie and how to fix them. Issues can vary in degree and severity, so the success of the approach depends on the strategy.
Opportunities
Organizational behaviour is a medium that provides significant opportunities for change. Once a company is identified and analyzed, problem areas can be worked out. Moreover, this analysis may reveal unknown improvement opportunities for already strong aspects.
For example, an organization with excellent sales results may offer new rewards or incentive packages for its salespeople to further boost production.
Alternatively, if the sales performance of the same company is unsatisfactory, management may assess its leadership or introduce new training programs to address each employee’s weaknesses and then proceed with incentives as performance increases.
Basis
Leadership is the catalyst for successful or unsuccessful behaviour models. There is no universally effective model. An autocratic leadership style means direct control over workers. He emphasizes submission and obedience. Unfortunately, this can affect productivity if the leadership is too controlling or not aware of the needs of the employees.
The custodial model is aimed at financial benefits for the organization and for its employees, who, in turn, work with the company for security, such as good pay and benefits. The supportive leadership style aims for encouragement and affection. Employees are appreciated and recognized for their good performance.
And finally, the collegiate leadership approach is based on teamwork. Employees work with management instead of them. They have more autonomy, as they are expected to manage their own behaviour and professional ethics.