Summary of Articles
What Is The Moderating Role Psychological Empowerment?
Organizational behavior (OB) is a concept that involves the ways by which people within an organization interact with each other. OB is studied by almost every organization in the contemporary world to gain an advantage over other companies. A study on the ways individuals behave in an organization influences many aspects of that organization including motivation, leadership, performance, structure of the job and communication amongst others. In this assignment, three different articles on organizational behavior shall be discussed that highlight various aspects of it.
The assignment will first provide a detailed summary of the articles chosen followed by focusing on the key ideas mentioned. The next section will encompass the analysis of the three articles. The analysis shall include the arguments presented by the authors in the article followed by counter arguments from other authors and individual viewpoint as well. In the succeeding sections, recommendations for management in an organization on the ways to implement OB will be given. The articles chosen for the said assignment include Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Innovative Behavior: The moderating role of psychological empowerment by Pieterse et al. (2010). The second article is titled Decision Making in Organizations by Lunenburg (2011) and the third article is by Lord et al. (2017) titled Leadership in Applied Psychology: Three Waves of Theory and Research.
The first article that is authored by Pieterse et al. (2014) focuses on innovative behavior in an organization and the role of psychological empowerment in ensuring innovative behavior. The article talks about the two styles of leadership – transformational and transactional – that are influenced by innovative behavior implementations. The authors included the findings of a study conducted by them to estimate the influence of innovative behavior on the two leadership styles. The study revealed that transformational leadership demonstrates a positive connection with innovative behavior whereas transactional leadership shows a negative relationship (Lunenburg, 2011). They also note that transformational leadership demonstrates positive relationship only in circumstances when psychological empowerment is on the higher side. Transactional leadership on the other hand, demonstrates negativity when the same conditions are applied to it. Concept of innovative behavior refers to a multi-stage process of identifying issues, generating ideas and implementing those with support. The article clearly connects the two concepts of leadership and innovative behavior. It states that transformational leadership is entirely based on creating innovative things and hence innovating behavior would have positive impact on it. The authors found that innovative behavior is damaging to transactional leadership because the followers with a higher rate of psychological empowerment start to feel controlled and dominated (Pieterse et al., 2010)
Analysis of Articles
The second article authored by Fred Lunenburg has as its focus, the decision-making process within organizations (Lunenburg, 2011). The author presents certain techniques with which organizations could counter the dysfunctions that arise from decision-making within groups. Lunenburg mentions the techniques such as brainstorming, Delphi technique, devil’s advocacy, nominal group technique and dialectical inquiry. At the beginning, the author provides systematic explanation of all the terms especially the key theoretical concept, which is decision-making. According to the author, group decision-making means the involvement of all members in the process of making decisions for the organization (Lunenburg, 2011). The author then makes the readers aware of the various degrees at which decision-making takes place. The first degree is the consultative decision making where the leader consults with the group prior to making any decision. The second degree is the democratic decision-making where the group is entrusted with the authority to make the decision. The final one is the consensus decision-making where the leader shares the issues with the entire group and they marketing the decision collaboratively. In the later parts of the article, the author elaborates on the types of techniques to deal with dysfunctions that sometimes arise in an organization (Lunenburg, 2011).
The third article is centered on the topic of leadership and the theories and researches that were carried out throughout the decade. The chief concept of this article is leadership and its consequent researches in applied psychology. The authors mention the three waves of research and theory that was entirely dedicated to leadership (Lord et al., 2017). The first wave, according to the authors, commenced during the post Second World Era and continued until 1961. This era witnessed scholars producing works that highlighted the role of leadership in different fields. The second wave that roughly began during the late 1960s and continued until the late 1980s saw scholars shifting their focus to gender roles in leadership. This gave rise to the social cognitive theories. Finally, the third wave – from 1999 to 2007 – witnessed the introduction of concepts like leadership styles, LMX, teamwork and leadership and so on. To the authors, it is fascinating to witness the future direction of leadership and organizational behavior and the impact it will have on organizations. The article mainly aimed at analyzing the studies that were done on leadership from the perspective of psychology (Lord et al., 2017).
The articles that have been identified will be analyzed in this section of the paper. This analysis is very much helpful for determining the essential things in the organizational decision making and the culture that the organizations should follow. It is a very important issue that the important decisions in the modern day organizations are not taken by a single person or the leader. Rather these decisions are taken by the teams and the core committees for the benefits of the organization. Most of the organizational managers have identified that the decision making process is one of the most difficult processes in the organizations. It is very clear from the perspective of the managers that all the employees should be able to communicate through all the departments and they should contribute their opinions in all the relevant decision making processes.
Recommendations for Management
One of the most important terms used in this article named Decision Making in Organizations is group decision making (Lunenburg, 2011). The employees should get divided in several groups and they should take the decisions jointly. The skills should be developed among the employees so they make a thorough analysis of all the issues about the internal and external environments. This will be very effective for them to consult with the other members of the group. The group decision making is surely very much efficient than the individual decision making process. It is because all the group members have proper knowledge about the ways the final decisions can be taken (Lunenburg, 2011). This is why they look to focus on the various issues and risks that are associated with the situations. The group can take the final decision after evaluating certain issues. The final decision will be much effective if it comes from the group decision making. All the group members will then agree to this decision. The cultural diversity is considered to be one of the barriers for the group decision making in the organizations (Lunenburg, 2011).
The second article here is the Leadership in Applied Psychology: Three Waves of Theory and Research (Lord et al., 2017). The focus is on the various issues related to leadership around the world. The traits of leadership depend on different issues. The impact of proper leadership is multifarious across the organizations. The behavior of the leaders is very important for deciding the ways the organizations should go (Lord et al., 2017). The psychology of the leaders will have to be kept in mind because the leaders always tend to inspire the employees in the most ways. The leaders will have to coordinate with the other employees so they can take the decisions together. The role of the leaders is to inspire the employees and lead them to achieve the organizational targets (Lord et al., 2017).
The employees should always work together and this should be very motivational. The more the leaders will motivate the employees, the more they will contribute positively. The leaders must follow the various leadership techniques so they can provide the motivation to the employees. The employees in the organizations must have good interpersonal relationship. This will lead to better understanding for the employees about their proper job roles and responsibilities. The leaders are also responsible for developing the progressive personalities among the employees (Lord et al., 2017). The three waves relating to leadership have been dealt with in this section. These are leadership behavior and follower attitudes, extensions and limitations of leadership style approaches and finally an expanding focus for leadership. The important leadership theories have been discussed in this section. The successful leaders always follow the transformational leadership. The leaders must show their charisma to transpire the common knowledge of the employees. If the leaders can motivate the employees positively they will give their best efforts to give the organization with the best productivity (Lord et al., 2017). The transformational leaders always motivate and teach them the value of the social identities within the society. One of the most noted theories in this context is the leader-member exchange theory. This theory demonstrates the relationship between the leaders and members of the group and how they exchange their ideas to get the best results for the organization and create a long lasting impression on the minds of both.
The third article is the Transformational and transactional leadership and innovative behavior: The moderating role of psychological empowerment (Pieterse et al., 2010). The leadership psychology has been very important for the organizational leaders in the most ways. It is the role of the leaders to motivate the employees through proper behavior. The employees should be able to display an innovative behavior that will cater to the development of the organization in the best ways (Pieterse et al., 2010) The business environment in the contemporary times is continuously changing. This is why the global business leaders will have to adjust to all these changes. This will be helpful for them to train the employees to adapt to these changes. If the leaders are innovative, this will have a huge impact on the way the employees will behave. The behavior of all of the employees is very much influential for the success of the organization (Pieterse et al., 2010) The transformational leadership is one of the most followed leadership styles in the globe. The leaders have to sacrifice the self-gain and act as the role model for all the organizations. The employees look to innovate through the transformational leadership of their managers. The transactional leadership reflects on the individual development of the employees following the growth rate of the organizations. However, the transactional leadership does not engage its ideas with the innovative behavior of the employees rather it stresses on their self-interests.
After analyzing the three articles, it is evident that group decision-making, transformational leadership and leadership theories and research are important in organizational behavior research.
- Managers should form groups within the organization that are given the responsibility to make important decisions like promoting a service or product, recruiting and retaining employees and so on.
- Organizations should conduct surveys of employees at regular intervals to identify the limitations and work upon it.
- Further, it is also recommended that organizations should choose leaders that are capable of adjusting to changing situations and motivating employees.
- Leaders should also realize the various potential of their subordinates and then utilize those within specific areas to ensure maximum results.
Conclusion
With an analysis of the three articles, it can be stated that the common theme in all the three was the evolution of organizational behavior and leadership theories. The articles provided deep insights into the organizational elements that are key determinants of success. Another thing to note in the three articles was the importance given to psychological effectiveness in ensuring high level of proficiency within organizations. While the article authored by Pieterse et al. (2010) and Lord et al. (2017) talked specifically about leaderships, role of psychology and the findings of earlier researches on the topic, the article by Lunenburg (2011) majorly relied on decision-making in organizations. The main aim of the essay was to analyze critically the theoretical concepts present in all the three articles by comparing and contrasting those. The essay provided a brief overview of the articles and then proceeded on to giving analyzing the points mentioned. The points mentioned in the articles are very essential for modern leaders to apply in their organizational functions to make it efficient. The recommendations provided in the essay point to the agreement of the writer of the essay with the points elaborated in the articles. It must be added that the essay has been limited to the evaluation of the three mentioned articles and no further researches on what other scholars had to say about the concepts were performed. Therefore, the essay does not claim to provide concrete evidence of the effectiveness of the suggestions and recommendations provided by the authors of the three articles. Further research in this area is suggested.
References
Lord, R. G., Day, D. V., Zaccaro, S. J., Avolio, B. J., & Eagly, A. H. (2017). Leadership in applied psychology: Three waves of theory and research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), 434.
Lunenburg, F. C. (2011). Decision making in organizations. International journal of management, business, and administration, 15(1), 1-9.
Pieterse, A. N., Van Knippenberg, D., Schippers, M., & Stam, D. (2010). Transformational and transactional leadership and innovative behavior: The moderating role of psychological empowerment. Journal of organizational behavior, 31(4), 609-623.
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