Organisational Behaviour Essay Example for Free

Organisational Behaviour Essay Question One. From the case study, we can learn a lot. It ranges from leadership, management, work ethics, behaviour shaping and changing to the impact of positive and negative reinforcements in organisations. Managing of creative workers, recognition of opportunities and problems, unethical strategies and tactics, team building and networking among others are aspects that can be learned from the case study (Robinsen 2000). We can also learn from the study that Godot applied an autocratic or authoritative style of leadership. He could not listen to any of his workers, he could not open any avenue of communication and consultation with his workers and could not involve the workers in decision making. All he could do was to haul insults at them instead of actively involving them in the day to day running of the restaurant. It is important to treat workers in a good way if any positive results are to be realised (Simons 2003). The first genesis to doing so is to implement ways and methods that would boost the morale of workers. Good leadership and management skills are essential to any organisation. Good work ethics and behaviour should be instilled to the workers so that they can deliver good results with very minimal supervision (Haddock 2001). Abuses and insults are not supposed to be used at the work place as they even tend to scare away sensitive customers and other business people. Leaders and managers should learn new ways and methods of improving workers’ efficiency and results. Organisations that deploy such ways and methods, have proved to stand ahead of others (Wharton 1996). Question Two. There are several negative and positive reinforcements, punishment and extinctions that were used by Godot and the customers in shaping of the employees’ behaviour. Positive reinforcements included the dedication and industriousness of Godot. This is positive in that it helps the workers as they are able to emulate what Godot stands for. Through dedication and hard work, the restaurant was able to stand the test of time. This was an inspiration to the workers. Another positive reinforcement was that of the customers. The customers would appreciate the work done by Diane and compliment her efficient services. This would give her morale to work even harder and efficiently knowing that her services were good. There are also negative reinforcements. They can be seen mainly from Godot’s attitude and way of doing certain things. He was a man prone to emotional outbursts. He could yell and shout at his workers whenever something went wrong or whenever he could not see what he expected of them. This is negative in that it instilled a sense of fear to the workers and always made them nervous (Bringsrud 2004). This makes someone not to perform to the expected standards, His lack of compliment to his workers is also a negative reinforcement (Myers 1997). He did not appreciate anything good but was so quick at condemning and demonising anything he felt was not right. A good employer needs to give credit where it belongs. This is a way of encouraging and giving morale to the workers (Simons 2003). Godot could not see anything good in it. All he could do was merely grunt at Diane even when she said hello or goodbye. Such attributes do not befit a good employer. Punishment was in the form of fining his workers whenever something went wrong. When Diane dropped a plate of bouillabaisse appetiser, she was scorned at and fined a total of $24. 95. This punishment demoralised her to the extend of affecting her performance. Her earnings from tips dropped from a one time top of 23 percent to a meager 15 percent. This was as a result of reducing the pace at which she worked in order to prevent any other incidences from happening. From this, one can easily tell that the punishment imposed on her was too much and she could not risk losing the amount any more. Such a negative reinforcement does not add any value to the business but instead it demoralizes the workers thus reducing the pace of working (Wharton 1996:8). As a result, the customers end up waiting for long and some might give up and leave. This turns out to affect the restaurant adversely. Godot as an employer has various ways of improving or shaping the behaviour of his employees. One of the ways is by introducing packages that are employee friendly and putting in place certain measures that would improve the performance of his employees instead of using ruthless methods such as imposing of huge fines and punishment to the workers. Such methods could include appreciating what the workers do and also ones in a while complimenting the efforts made. Diane would have been appreciated in various ways and by so doing, her morale would have been boosted thus making her work extra hard and as a result winning more customers. Employers need to realise that social responsibility and leadership in organisations and businesses for that matter are very vital aspects (Haddock 2001:475). Workers depend on employers and employers depend on workers too. This is a mutual relationship which should be upheld in all cases. This should be realised by both the parties in order for the business to perform to the expectations. Question Three. The reinforcements and punishment mentioned in question two have both positive and negative impact on Diane’ behaviour. Inasmuch as the punishment imposed on Diane would seem to be on the extreme, it could be viewed as positive in some ways. Being careful at the job place is extremely important. When Diane dropped the plate of appetiser, she was fined heavily by Godot. This made her promise to be more careful than ever before so that she could not get herself in the same mistake again. This instills a sense of discipline and responsibility to the workers (McTagart 2003). The strict nature of Godot, his dedication and industriousness was a lesson for Diane. Her behaviour would be influenced by such reinforcements. She would learn to be dedicated and more independent in future. Her pace of doing things would also improve as she was used to doing tasks at a very fast rate. This obviously is a positive change to her behaviour. On the other hand, Godot’s lack of compliment and appreciation would affect her behaviour too. This will make her feel left out, unwanted and also feel like her services are not worth. If Godot had behaved differently in this case, Diane would have learned from the same and applied it elsewhere. In any organisation, behavioural shaping and change is very important. Every employee should feel like part of the team in order for there to be teamwork and tangible results (Moir 1999). The lack of appreciation and compliment changed Diane’s way and pace of doing the job. It made her slow down thus affecting the job she was doing. The emphasis of Godot on the importance of working as a team is seen as a positive gesture of behavioural shaping. If an employee was hired and he/she did not appreciate the importance of working as a team, he/she would learn from Godot’s vision and his way of doing things, thus shaping ones behaviour (Stuart 2003). Question Four. The effectiveness of hourly pay rates and tips as a way of reinforcing desired behaviours could go either way, that is, it could either be positive or negative depending on the outcome and the intention of the method. Hourly pay rates in most cases is the method that most employees prefer (Hufman 2002:49). This is because one gets paid depending on their efforts. If one inputs more effort in the job he/she is paid more than that who inputs less. The principle ideally is ‘more effort more pay, less effort less pay’. This is not just an advantage to the employees only but also to the employers (Godwin 2001). If an employee does more, the employer also gets more in returns. Hourly pay has proved to be the best way of dealing with both the employers and the employees. One could work for a certain period of time and get doing something else including attending lectures and lessons. This method does not tie someone to one thing. One becomes flexible enough to the extend of even doing more than one job. Tips are also a good way of reinforcing desired results and behaviours (Borer et al 2000). Tips make a worker work extremely fast and with dedication. How much one takes home at the end of the day, week or month depends on the person’s zeal of work. Just like hourly pay, tips benefit both the employee and the employer. For instance, if an employee makes 20 percent of the total amount of money, it definitely goes without saying that the employer must have bagged the 80 percent. It is therefore important that the mode and way of payment as per the contract is obeyed by the two parties involved. Reinforcing of behaviour could be done in different ways, hourly pay rates and tips being one of the ways. Such a method makes the employee work under certain rules and conditions as deemed fit by the employer. Work for three hours, do not break anything, get your pay and tips and leave. This is normally the motto of such methods. Some employees are too careless and lazy to the extend that they do not care about what happens in the event that loses are incurred. The only way to check them and put them on toes in by introducing the hourly pay rates and tips. This is meant to give the employer the opportunity of maximising his/her time at the job place. In the extract, Godot decides to introduce such a method in order to cushion himself against the lazy workers who might think that they can just get to the hotel, work anyhow and get away with it. This is not Godot’s way of working. He believes in workers earning what they worked for. If you work hard you get more. If you just lazy around, you are bound to get very little. Diane had to work hard so that she could save something substantial for her use ones she went back to school. To her, a table waiting job was what she could do instead of just staying at home during summer. She thought that she could make some money and improve on her University life, actually change her diet. Her hard work would fetch her upto 23 percent on tips and $15. 0 per hour. She had set targets that she wanted to meet. Her ability to work fast and efficiently earned her the percentage she had targeted on tips. This plus her hourly pay was enough to take care of her University needs after summer. This method of tips encouraged her to work hard. Had it been a flat rate pay on tips, Diane would not have worked as hard as she did. This meant that Godot also made a lot of money in the process. Fur thermore, Godot spelt out clearly what he wanted for his restaurant. He had a vision for his restaurant and insisted on the importance of working as a team in order to deliver good services to his customers. It is on the basis of this too that Diane decided that she would put in her best to prove how good she could be. Conclusion. From the case study, it is very clear that something has to be done in most organisations regarding work ethics and behaviour. Employers subject their workers to unfavourable working conditions and all they care about is there well being and not that of the workers (Huberman 1994). Workers in such organisations end up persevering such conditions with the aim of just making ends meet in their lives. This could be clearly seen from Diane’s case. She had to persevere for the purposes of making money but did not enjoy working under such conditions. Workers should enjoy doing their work and this can only be made conducive by the input of the employers (Benstin 1995). Organisational behaviour is a topic of discussion that leaves many employers and employees looking for ways and methods of dealing with the issue.