ORGL 615: Organizational Behavior and Theory
Professor: Dr. Dennis Conners
Taken: Spring 2023
Description: Organizations are necessary but complex “beasts.” They exist for the simple reason that groups of people can accomplish more than individuals working alone. At the same time, there is complexity in such collective social action, and organizational life is often marked by a number of recurring and difficult problems. While there is some consensus about the problems of participating in modern organizations, such as the possibility of worker frustration and alienation in large systems; the difficulties in utilizing the human resources available; the problems in walking the fine line between necessary specialization, coordination, and bureaucratic red tape; and so on, little agreement exists about how to solve the problems. Organizational hierarchies, Management by Objective (MBO), quality circles, company songs, sensitivity training, job redesign, employee training programs, and shop-floor quality-of-work life efforts are a sampling of the many ways in which organizational theorists and participants have attempted to tame the unruly beast. Implicit in each of the solutions is a particular perspective on organizational life and a focus on organizational structures, human relationships, team processes, or organizational culture.
Reflection: Culture is key. It is critical that leadership set the tone for how the business will run, including norms, expectations, but also more intrinsic thoughts such as culture and values. By providing ownership, key staff will feel valued. Employees are likely to stay at companies that offer them a place to add intrinsic value. Empowering employee ownership and identifying areas of input/output will highlight areas of improvement as well as foster the initiative to make upgrades to existing processes. Diversity of thought to drive work efforts can only benefit a company and highlight areas where unintentional bias is impacting workstreams. Streamlining communication and authority will bring clarity to existing procedures and processes as well as aid in the identification of areas of potential improvement. This class was challenging as culture is a more difficult indicator to measure and looking into system journals was difficult but I could understand the importance of quantifying reinforcing and balancing actions.
