Role of Individual in Organizations free essay sample

Role of Individual in organizations The individuals play an important role in the functioning of the organization. The members of an organization must be induced, coerced or forced to participate in it. People participate in the organizations when they are going to gain something out of them. For example the desire for remuneration in cash or kind, prestige, the desire to show the skills already acquired etc represent some of the motives of the people in participating in organizations. People tend to identify themselves with the organization in which they participate. There is a close affinity between people’s motives on the one hand and their identification with the organization on the other. The degree of their identification with the organization depends on the nature and intensity of the motives for participating in them. The individual’s identification with the organization is stronger if a number of individual needs are satisfied in it, the organization goals are perceived as shared, the prestige of the organization is perceived to be the greater, there is greater frequency of interaction in the organization and there is less competition within the organization. The individual motives play an important role in the fulfilment of organization goals. People cannot work in organization without any motives, purposes or thinking. They do not work in an automatically or mechanically or in impulsive manner. The success of an organization depends not only on the proper coordination and cooperation of its members but also on the cooperation of others. The others must also be made to contribute to the smooth functioning of the organization. The success of a library depends on its readers etc. Ilies link the five factor model of personality in the workplace to the individual and overall satisfaction in the workplace. The â€Å"Big Five† personality traits; extraversion (assertiveness), agreeableness (cooperative), conscientiousness (dependable), emotional stability (self-confident), and openness to experience (curious), make up the basic framework as a model of behaviour in the workplace. Judge and Ilies performed extensive research at the universities of Florida and Iowa finding all the correlations these five factors have on the overall job satisfaction of a given professional environment. Although the control factors, methods, and results that Judge and Ilies came up with were impressive, there are many more studies that have produced varying results. [edit]Social Perception Perception is used every day. Perception is how we, as individuals, asses situations. A burning stove top is perceived to be hot. Traffic is perceived to be speeding up or slowing down. People are perceived to be friendly or threatening. Yet when it comes to perceiving people, there are many more perceptions that are made. These social settings and environments are what make up social perception. The same settings can be applied to a smaller scale. This scale can be school, family, or the work force. The work setting can be one of many challenging social perceptions. From the job interview, to leaving the company, and everything in between, employers are evaluating their employee’s job performances, and employees are not only assessing one another, but their employer as well. Perhaps the most important part of social perception is the first meeting of a person, or the first impression. When two people meet for the first time, an instant anchor is dropped. This is a mental anchor that gives a brief, and very general, view of the new individual. Clothes that are worn, the way the hair is combed, the way the person stands or sits, all create the impression a person gets when they are met for the first time. From this impression, an individual makes instant reactions to whether the person is friendly, outspoken, quite, etc. It allows one to make a brief judgment on the personality of an individual. This is necessary in order to be able to interact with people. Although a first impression does not provide an in depth characterization of an individual, it does allow one to be able to initially interact with them. This process allows employers in a job interview to make quick decisions that will either be positive or negative for both the employer and the employee. Mentally the decision is made in the first few moments of contact. As time goes on the employer can justify further, with continuous questions, that the interviewee will be good for the company, or if they employer needs to search for a new candidates. First impressions can be slowly swayed over time. It is not easy to change someone’s first impression, nor is it ever changed much. The anchor can only be pulled in one direction or another so far, and after much effort, in this case continuous interactions. Familiarity is the only way to obtain the truest sense of who a person really is. By learning the personality and tendencies of a person, one can better understand that person’s behaviors and actions. [edit]Personality Each individual has their own unique personality. This personality can show how a person behaves and reacts to certain situations. There are many different factors to consider when determining personality, like environment settings and heredity traits. A person’s personality can also have an effect on self-esteem, which is an individual’s general feeling of self-worth, as well as self-monitoring, the ability to base behavior on social cues. Different theories are used today to help measure a person’s personality such as trait theory, psychodynamic theory, humanistic theory, and integrative approach. In measuring self-esteem, Rosenbergs Self-Esteem Scale can be used to help measure the trait self-esteem of individuals in a given environment or situation. This will help determine who could have high or low self-esteem and what caused them to have it. â€Å"†¦persons low in self-esteem are less likely to make effective use of self-protection strategies, we hypothesized that this strategy of deflecting the threat involved in upward comparison would be used primarily by persons who are characteristically high in self-esteem. (Musssweiler, Gabriel, Bodenhausen, 2000) According to the social comparison research by Mussweiler, Gabriel, and Bodenhausen, the majority of the individuals tested used the gender and ethnicity to either separate themselves from another or to use this factor to help them achieve a higher self esteem, or it could have the opposite effect of putting down one’s own self-worth. The overall outcome in all situations is that people will develop different methods to block out unpleasant feelings of being outperformed, the experience of inferiority. [edit]Application of Personality Theory in Organizations: The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator Instrument As a follow up to Carl Jung’s theory that every individual is fundamentally different, the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator Instrument, the MBTI, measures an individual’s personality preferences in a variety of organizational settings, including: team building, management, decision making, leadership, career counselling, and many more. The MBTI examines four dichotomies: Extroversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. Each dichotomy has an explanation about the characteristics associated with each type. The MBTI is based on the Jungian theory of personality; meaning, it can be used in all populations, including non-clinical settings. Meyers and Briggs, authors of the MBTI, used Jung’s theory to predict people’s patterns of behavior. â€Å"Because the results of the MBTI are subject to a variety of environmental influences, such as work tasks and organizational climates and values, interpretations have to be treated with caution and individually verified† (Michael, 2003). Many people use the MBTI test in a rigid fashion causing the results to be an inaccurate assessment of people’s personalities. If the weaknesses of the test were considered, and people would use the test with caution, adjustments can be made to determine an accurate assessment of any changes in an individual’s behavior. [edit]Attribution in Organizations and Managerial Implications: Using Personality, Perception, and Attribution at Work The attribution theory explains how individuals pinpoint the causes of their own behavior and that of other people. There are two sources of â€Å"power† that human beings believe are responsible for the outcome of their own actions. One source is internal; we normally relate success and elements under our control as an internal attribution. The second source is external: we normally relate failure and elements out of our control as an external attribution. Success in the workplace can simultaneously alternate between internal and external. You might have been prepared and researched for a project and believed your success was internal. On the other hand, you may believe you were lucky to have done such a great job on a project, attributing your success to external forces. Perception of internal and external forces has resulted in the fundamental attribution error. The fundamental attribution error occurs when one views the bad behavior of others as internal and their own bad behavior as external. It is much more difficult for others to see the external forces surrounding the individual conducting the bad behavior, where as, it is clear to the individual conducting the bad behavior, to relate their own behavior to their surrounding forces. Managers who acknowledge the personality differences between themselves and other employees can begin to appreciate those personality differences and create a more effective communication environment. The role of the Management is to move an organization towards its purposes or goals by assigning activities those organization members perform. If Management ensures that all the activities are designed effectively, the production of each individual worker will contribute to the attainment of the organizational goals. Management strives to encourage individual activity that will lead to reaching organizational goals and to discourage individual activity that will hinder the accomplishment of the organization objectives. There is no idea more important than managing the fulfilment of the organizational goals and objectives. The meaning of the Management is given by its goals and objectives. All managers, must have a single minded focus on the fulfillment of the organizational goals. The Key Roles of Leadership These apply as much to a class teacher as to the Principal and B. O. T. ChairpersonThe Principal is the head learner! He/she models the way. Leadership is not an issue of personality  but one of providing direction, a sense of future! Some one once said:  There are three important requirements for a Quality School: Leadership! Leadership! and Leadership! Leaders have attitude   they have a point of view they challenge current expectations. They adapt never adopt every thing is judged according to the school shared beliefs (the Vision) . They say no they control their change agenda! Leadership is all about purpose. Purpose creates consensus, commitment and collegiality. Management is about maintenance. Both are required but Leadership is the key to developing a shared VisionLeaders focus on what is important   makes it explicit what the school is to achieve. They limit and focus innovations believing in doing a few things well Quality not quantity Leaders provide clarity and a sense of shared destiny and in turn a sense of security and hope. Clarity reduces overload complexity and in turn develops empowerment and decision making. They spread optimism   they manage the heart and they say thanks (and often get little in return). They model the way set the example by living their values. Leaders communicate! Communicate! and communicate! what is importantLeaders always expect the best   they believe and expect everyone to continually improve. They are optimists. They enable others to act by clarifying expectations and by building trust They treat people with empathy   apply the Golden Rule at all times By providing clear agreed expectations  they provide paradoxically a safe environment to take risks. All learners, to be trusted, need to Know: Why? What? How? and When? Leaders ensure that all understand  what criteria they have to live up to how success is to be judged   They hold people accountable to agreed commitments   even when it would be easier to ignore. Leaders have to show moral toughness. They must see conflict as an opportunity to focus on what is important. Leaders give recognition to those who show initiative or appropriate behaviour   they build on the strengths the school has. They continually provide feedback and encourage sharing. They must support those who need help the most   and provide whatever help is required. They must be seen as trustworthy   must live up to their own beliefs; practice what they preach! The role of Culture in an Organisation -With the World Cup upon us, words like ‘team spirit’, ‘gees’, ‘attitude’, ‘motivation’ and ‘passion’ are often heard. The general consensus is that a happy team with great team spirit is often a winning team. In fact, team spirit is often the only differentiator between two teams. In my mind, it is no different in the business world. Team spirit is derived from the culture in a team or organisation. The competitive business world is like a war zone. Companies are trying to outsmart each other all the time, in order to gain sustainable competitive advantages. Most often, business leaders focus on strategies around product design and innovation, service delivery, or price to find the competitive edge. Brand positioning and advertising in focused distribution channels, and innovative ways of establishing sales opportunities, are other popular battle grounds. Far too seldom, however, the role and potential value of a strong corporate culture (or ‘team spirit’) is recognised as an integral part of a successful arsenal. In my view, a strong corporate culture not only lends itself to a competitive advantage, but the fact that it is particularly difficult to copy gives it its immense sustainability. The logic is very simple: happy people perform better. The aim, therefore, is to create a work environment where people are happy. The challenge, however, is how to achieve that. In my experience, the starting point is to build a culture around a set of core values, not rules. Given the immense diversity of our rainbow nation, the next challenge is to find core values that are common to all religions, languages and ethnic backgrounds. If successful, this then has the added advantage of galvanising the troops into a strong, loyal unit. Once the set of core values have been discovered, the next challenge is to get individual ‘buy in’ from every member of the team, and once that is achieved, to keep it alive and strong. It is important that everyone understands that there is no hierarchy when it comes to values, and the only way to ensure that it remains a powerful force is if every single team member accepts accountability to act as a co-custodian of the values driven culture. At MiWay, we build our culture around four simple values, namely freedom, attitude, energy and accountability. As CEO, I spend two hours with every new intake of staff, which happens every month, to ensure they become co-custodians of our values. Our management team ensures that all communication to staff is done in the context of the four values. Lastly, we have a weekly floating trophy, a samurai sword that goes to the individual who set the best example of living up to the values in the preceding week. At the end of the year, we have different ways of honouring and rewarding all the weekly winners. The passion and excitement surrounding the nomination process, and the prestige associated with receiving the award, leave me in no doubt our values driven culture is well and alive and giving us a sustainable competitive advantage in the market.