Challenges Faced in Managing Employee Behaviors
Disucuss about the Challenges faced by Managers in Managing Employee Behaviors and Strategies for Solutions.
Employee behavior is as a result of individual’s thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions especially at the workplace (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011). According to Dowling (2008), an organization is a known interaction between two or more persons. Hence, the general conduct of employees at the workplace has been termed as organizational behavior. Organizational behavior examines the multiple factors that affect the behaviour of individuals and groups in the organization and how the organizations manage their environments (Griffin and Moorhead, 2011. Berg and Chyung (2008) observe that factors like leadership, organizational culture, and the individual goals of the organization influence how employees act and relate to each other. Employee behavior in the workplace is often intricate and difficult to comprehend because each employee has unique characteristics regarding skills, personalities, attitudes, values, and ethics. All these characteristics determine individual and organizational performance. The management is therefore faced with the challenge of meeting the needs of each employee and at the same time to attain organization’s goal.
Managing Globalisation
Globalization has allowed businesses that were initially local to go international (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 2012). Naor, Linderman, and Schroeder (2010) opine that as a result they are forced to manage a global workforce with varying cultural backgrounds, values and work ethics. Consequently, the management is faced with the task of understanding the behavior of the workforce in the firm’s subsidiary organizations. The overall manager is faced with the challenge of first understanding the culture of the personnel in the subsidiary company to effectively adapt his/her management style to their difference (Luthans and Doh, 2018).
Workforce Diversity
Diversity refers to variation in age, gender, race, religion, and culture among others. A diverse workforce is made up of different individuals working with others of varying demographic features in the company (Wrench, 2016). Globalization among other factors has led to the development of diverse workforce in almost all organizations (Anderson, 2008). Additionally, studies have shown that a diverse workforce is more effective and can improve organizational performance, increase competitiveness and provide service quality and quality production (Armstrong et al., 2010; Simons and Rowland, 2011; Herring, 2009). This is because of the synergistic effects of teamwork of a diverse workforce. Therefore, it is imperative that the management become cognizant of these differences and how they can effectively be managed. Malewar and Nair (2013) found out that worker’s discrimination in most organizations is due to lack of understanding because of the diverse characteristics. The current labor market encourages diversity and studies show that successful organizations must continuously embrace a diverse workforce and foster teamwork to realize longevity, development and increased profits (Chrobot-Mason and Aramovich, 2013). Workforce diversity exists in the form of gender, young and old staff, educated and uneducated employees, skilled and unskilled labor among others. Nonetheless, the management is expected to develop a more diverse workforce and at the same time foster teamwork amongst them to increase organizational performance. Patrick and Kumar (2012) reasons that workplace diversity is a challenge for effective management of employee behaviors because employees are already segregated by diversity which also determines their behaviour.
Managing Globalisation
Ethical Behavior
Employees are increasingly involved in moral dilemmas, a situation that has led to the formulation of codes of ethics to guide the personnel through such cases (McShane and Von Glinow, 2013). Managers are tasked with the responsibility of providing a comfortable work environment for all employees; a workplace in which all workers can without a doubt face a situation with least ambiguity on what constitutes right (Valentine et al., 2011). To accomplish this, managers work towards ensuring that employees put the needs of the organization ahead of their interests. According to Johnson (2017) management of ethical behavior becomes a challenge to the administration because an individual’s ethical behaviors are based on factors that are beyond the control of the management. Moreover, the company is to ensure that the employees are not discouraged due to the management style used because this will further reflect on their performance and that of the organization. All companies have the code of work ethics that are always attached to the employment contract so that the potential candidate can be versed with what is expected of him or her. The management is limited to the extent to which they can regulate ones ethical behavior unless in extreme situations which can call for termination (Bishop, 2013).
Understanding Global Differences
The managers must be aware of the multiple factors when going global. Different global settings have different personnel behaviors in terms of attitudes, values, and expectations, etc., which makes it difficult to understand individual behavior in a global context. Global learning encompasses the acquisition of skills, knowledge, and corporate practices and procedures that have assisted international organizations to compete. To accomplish this, the management should initiate exchange programs in which the employees should be taken to successful overseas companies so that they can learn directly of the problems associated with employee behavior and the corresponding solutions that have worked. Similarly, expatriate employees and managers can be involved in seminars on how to manage employee behavior. Such exposure will inspire the employees to put group interests ahead of individual interests and also provide managerial ideas to the managers on how to effectively manage employee behaviors (Colquitt et al., 2011).
Equality in all Work activities
Workforce diversity has been attributed to improved learning through sharing ideas, continuous improvement, creativity and innovation (Armstrong et al., 2010). The management cannot do away with diversity but instead, promote it. To make sure that there is harmony in a diverse workforce, the organization should focus on equality in all its operations so that the minority should not feel separated, but instead they are part of the organization. This can be achieved by allocating tasks, promotions, and rewards equitably. The managers should also interact with the staff who are the minority regarding diversity while evading skirmish and suspicion among the team members. The management should also adopt clear strategies that promote a multicultural and diverse workforce. The formulation of the strategy should incorporate the different employees and should also be sensitive to the needs of various employees and geared towards developing a workplace that fosters their wellbeing (Shen et al., 2009).
Workforce Diversity
Training
Preventive, continuous training can be used as a basis for workers to understand their behavioral expectations and for the managers to be ready to take action in case of any misconduct. The managers should offer first training on conflict resolution and people management. The managers can also incorporate useful teamwork activities aimed at developing a better understanding amongst the employees. Also, teamwork activities make the employees appreciate the effort of other team members and therefore making all members feel equally important. The company can also include civility training for all its workforce, which comprises of business etiquette, cultural awareness, and sensitivity (Shen et al., 2009). Judge et al. (2008) suggest that managers can as well offer workplace personality testing programs to assist the workers to know their personalities and the best work styles that can help them to associate well with others.
Communication
The managers should introduce codes of conduct and work agreements that comprise of the expectations that the staff and managers should carry out themselves professionally and address each other with dignity and respect. Furthermore, the managers should design policies that forbid workplace harassment, discrimination and any other action that might result in intimidation. The procedures should encourage all employees to engage in workplace activities freely. When the expectations concerning employee behavior are communicated to the personnel, they will be able to ascertain the difference between the tolerable and intolerable behaviors (Kaptein and Schwartz, 2008). This will eliminate any form of segregation and assist in effective management of employee behavior.
Discipline
It is common practice that all organizations have a procedure of discipline based on the nature of the offense. Management of employee behavior can be a daunting task, and it requires patience. The manager should apply discipline in situations where it would be more effective than positive reinforcement. However, if there is evidence of continual insubordination and the preliminary efforts of the manager are not active, then the manager should take disciplinary action. The managers should only discipline-specific behaviors and not attitudes because the latter are subjective. Additionally, the behavior should be a direct contradiction of the expected behaviors listed in the job description. The form of discipline will vary depending on the gravity of the mistake and per the outlined discipline procedures of the company (De Schrijver et al., 2010).
Conclusion
Employee behavior management is a difficult task, and yet the managers have to directly but cautiously deal with it. The workforce is the one that runs the organization operations and is critical to the performance of the organization. Furthermore, the performance of the workforce is also influenced by their, and to one another, hence the management of their behavior is imperative. Managers face immense challenges when managing employee behavior because all employees are unique regarding character, values, and ethics. These challenges include workforce diversity, globalization, and ethical actions. This is because the management is brought to the conflict between addressing the individual and separated behaviors of the workforce and meeting the organizational goal. However, multiple strategies can be adapted to minimize or eliminate these challenges. These include understanding global differences, equality in all work activities, training, communication, and disciplin
Ethical Behavior
References
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