Thames Valley University

Organisational behaviour

Final Reflective Report

To: Sheila McCallum From: A graduate student Date: 13th of January 2010
First of all, in order to introduce to the report, I would like to tell you and briefly explain to you the meaning of which of the organisational behaviour (OB) issues I have identified. I have identified motivation, groups and teams and leadership OB issues. Motivation in simple terms is the will to perform, it is basically the incentive or the encouragement to perform or do a specific task. Groups and teams basically refer to as working in groups or performing a task in team, it is a major feature of organisational life and most activities of the organisation require at least some degree of co-ordination through the operations of groups and team working. In order to explain leadership, I would only like to repeat what Barron and Greenberg quoted in 1990, the process whereby on individual influences other group members towards the attainment of defined group, or organisational goals. There are many competing theories which attempt to explain the nature of motivation. These theories may be at least partially true and help to explain the behaviour of certain people at certain times. But we will only be discussing two of many theories of motivation and those are Herzbergs two factor theory and Maslows hierarchy of needs theory. The two-factor theory basically suggests that the prospect of receiving intrinsic rewards will be more likely to motivate individuals. On the other hand, the hierarchy of needs theory expresses the view that human needs are inexhaustible; as one set of needs is satisfied another arises in its place, he interpreted that a person could be motivated if his five main needs (physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, self-actualisation) are fulfilled. As an employee I had experienced that many of the staffs who were working with me had problems with the management and they were demotivated by the fact that there work was not appreciated by the management, although they were highly paid staff and they even used to get non-monitory benefits. This particular experience reflect the two-factor theory of Herzberg that receiving intrinsic rewards is

more likely to motivate the individual rather than improved salary or improved working conditions, which are likely to be advantageous on short term but would have small effect on sustained motivation in the workplace. When I was at my school age, I was very egoistic and wanted everyone praise me for my studies which motivated me to work hard and get known to everyone as the best student, which reflects the esteem needs from Maslows theory. So, in order to give some last words about motivation, I would like to say that there does not appear to be one universally applicable theory of motivation as motivation is a complex, dynamic and culture-bound concept. Clearly, what motivates people differ between individuals; however, my past experiences have made me understand the concept of motivation in a better way. In order to explain the groups and teams issue of OB I have selected Bruce W Tuckmans theory, it described the four stages of group development (Forming, storming, norming and performing) and suggested that a group should experience all of the four stages before they can achieve maximum effectiveness. So, to understand this theory I would like to explain all of the stages briefly: Forming: Individual behaviour is driven by a desire to be accepted by the others, and avoid controversy or conflict. Serious issues and feelings are avoided, and people focus on being busy with routines, such as team organisation, who does what, when to meet, etc. But individuals are also gathering information and impressions - about each other, and about the scope of the task and how to approach it. This is a comfortable stage to be in, but the avoidance of conflict and threat means that not much actually gets done. Storming: Individuals in the group can only remain nice to each other for so long, as important issues start to be addressed. Some people's patience will break early, and minor confrontations will arise that are quickly dealt with or glossed over. These may relate to the work of the group itself, or to roles and responsibilities within the group. To deal with the conflict, individuals may feel they are winning or losing battles, and will look for structural clarity and rules to prevent the conflict persisting. Norming: Having had their arguments, they now understand each other better, and can appreciate each other's skills and experience. Individuals listen to each other, appreciate and support each other, and are

prepared to change pre-conceived views. However, individuals have had to work hard to attain this stage, and may resist any pressure to change especially from the outside - for fear that the group will break up, or revert to a storm. Performing: Not all groups reach this stage, characterised by a state of interdependence and flexibility. Everyone knows each other well enough to be able to work together, and trusts each other enough to allow independent activity. Roles and responsibilities change according to need in an almost seamless way. Group identity, loyalty and morale are all high, and everyone is equally task-orientated and people-orientated. This high degree of comfort means that all the energy of the group can be directed towards the task(s) in hand. So, in order to explain this issue and relate this theory to my own personal experience, I would like to share my experience of the group poster presentation. At the first week for group poster presentation we created our group as we knew each other and started to discuss the case that was provided to us, at that time we were at forming stage. As our discussion extended our conflicts about the ideas came in front and most of our ideas were conflicting with each others ideas, we came to the storming stage at that time. So, we all used to discuss and tried to convince other group members about the point that we outline but it didnt work so well, however, we always used to agree on a common idea but were not really used to happy about it and no one appreciated each others work, by this time we should have been in the norming stage but were not completely in that stage. However, we decided to perform the group poster presentation but we were not in the performing stage of the theory, as our group was not flexible and not everyone was taskoriented. So, we performed the presentation but it was not as good as was expected by me and our group was broken up after the presentation. To conclude the groups and team issue of OB I would only like to say that we are in Aronsons (1992) words, social animals and often need interaction, but to work as a team we should be task-oriented and appreciative and we should know how to accept our faults. Finally, coming towards leadership, the theory that I have selected to explain leadership is transformational leadership approach which was introduce by James Macgregor Burns (1978) and it is defined as a leadership approach in which leaders creates valuable and positive change in the followers. Going further, in this leadership approach the leader enhances the motivation, morale and performance of his follower group. I had personally experienced leadership when I was the school cricket team captain and was the only one

who was appreciated for his performance because the players in the school team were not very good but we won many of the matches played against the rest of the schools. However, I might have been a good player of cricket but was never a good leader as I was never able to understand the team members and could never get the best out of them. I used to think that I am the boss and whatever I say the team members should follow it, but it actually demotivated them and I was never able to enhance the performance of the team. So, in order to conclude I would just like to say that leadership is much more than managing tasks and delivering orders to other members. In order to be a true leader, one must be able to bring out the best of their subordinates. Moreover, I would like to add what James Kouzes and Barry Posner, both of whom are best-selling authors in the area of leadership, believed that there are seven essential elements to leading through emotions. Those seven elements are to set clear goals, expect the best, pay attention, personalize recognition, tell the story, celebrate together, and set the example.

References
Brooks, Ian (2005) Organisational behaviour: individuals, groups and organisation. 3rd ed. Pearson Education. Rollinson, Derek (2004) Organisational behaviour and analysis: an integrated approach. 3rd ed. Pearson Education. J. Mullins, Laurie (2006) Essentials of Organisational Behaviour. Pearson Education. Kondalkar, V.G. (2007) Organisational Behaviour. New Age International. Collins, David (1998) Organisational change. Routledge.