Emotions and stress work-related attitudes
Emotions and attitudes at a workplace are key driving forces in shaping an individual’s values and beliefs about the team or organisation that he is working with. Feelings of stress and dissatisfaction have the potential to exercise an influence on behaviours at work. Research indicates the time and again that individuals within one’s own inner circle are in a better position to understand and acknowledge the work-related emotions. The association between emotions, attitudes and behaviour are to be analysed in depth for understanding their implications in work life. The main forms of emotions that an individual within the organisational context develops are fear, anger, love, joy, surprise and sadness (Greenberg, 2011).
The author gives an example of how emotions are directly associated with organisational outcomes. For instance, if a co-worker delivers the morning tea at one’s desk in an unexpected manner, the experience is pleasant, leading to feelings of disclosure and happiness. Research has found that positive feelings coming up from any pleasant work experience inspires one to engage in any work that was not pre-planned. Often, such activities have been linked to enhanced productivity or quality of work. On the other hand, if one is unfairly treated by the manager, the feelings experienced are anger and dissatisfaction. This would lead to withdrawal from work. In other cases, the stress related to conflicts with one co-worker might drive an individual to act mean towards others. Over a longer period of time, emotions in the workplace influence the job satisfaction of the concerned person (Wan et al., 2014).
The sustained profitability of the organisation is influenced by the employee’s organisational commitment and satisfaction level. Employees are to be perceived as the most valuable resources of any organisation, big or small. Job satisfaction is known to enhance the motivation as well as performance, and bring a reduction in turnover and absenteeism. Satisfaction can be defined as the attitude of the employee about the job and the firm in which he works. Organisational commitment, on the other hand, determines the psychological attachment of the individual to the concerned organisation. Three different forms of organisational commitment have been discussed in literature; normative, continuance and affective (Greenberg, 2011).
There is a direct correlation with the received benefits, salary, promotion, recognition, management and co-worker support, working condition, job security, nature of work and demographic characteristics. If an organisation aims at increasing the job satisfaction level of the employees and motivate them to remain committed towards the same organisation, managers need to focus on the above mentioned factors in the first place. The feelings of satisfaction inspire actions and attitudes that can impede or benefit others in the same organisation, at similar or different hierarchical level (Wood et al., 2016). An employee’s job satisfaction and commitment towards organisation is dependent on the leadership style of the managers. Leadership plays a critical role in driving a positive influence on the employees. Through affective leadership and social interaction, managers can motivate employees for achieving the set goals of the organisation. It is considered as the ability of an organisation to motivate, influence and enable employees to contribute towards the success of the organisation (Mowday et al., 2013).
Job satisfaction and Organizational commitment motivation in organizations
‘Team efforts make it happen’ is a common notion circulating within organisations across the globe. Team work and group dynamics have been pointed out to successfully transform the way in which an organisation moves towards its goals. Drawing from the sociology domain, a group or team is defined as two or more individuals interacting with each other who share common goals and collective norms, and have the same mission within the organisational context (Levi, 2015).
Communication within groups is imperative to ensure that the team is functioning optimally. A climate of open, transparent and honest communication is pivotal for adequate exchange of information and ideas between individuals. Communication is the platform based on which strong cooperation and helping behaviour can be established. It is noteworthy that without such cooperation, it is not possible to work in a group and achieve common goals. Managers are to encourage and ensure open discussion between individuals in a group so that creative and novice ideas come forward. Putting forward of information from people who are open to criticism leads to teams that are more productive (Salas et al., 2015). If mangers are argumentative and dictatorial, communication might not be that much effective as desired. Teams that are dysfunctional lead to problems and managers can face challenges in fulfilling the goals. Lastly, team conflicts can be solved with open communication, and this deserves special mention since conflicts persisting over a long period of time disrupt the organisation (Greenberg, 2011).
Interpersonal behaviour and relationships within an organisation are referred to the strong relationship among the individuals who work together for achieving the goals of the organisation. Employees who work together are to share a bond with each other for putting their best feet forward and delivering the best. It is crucial for individuals to be straightforward and truthful with each other if a healthy interpersonal relationship is to be maintained. A positive ambience can be promoted in the workplace if individuals show positive interpersonal behaviour (Robbins et al., 2013).
Employees are required to be cordial to each other. An individual who is spending the majority of the day time in an organisation is not is a position to work in an isolated ambience. Since humans are not machines, sharing of ideas and thoughts are inevitable. Interpersonal relationships arise out of this need, and all employees would agree that such relationships influence their behaviour at work to a great extent. It is argued that particular events arising out of interpersonal relationships, occurring in the workplace, lead to different kinds of emotions and it is evident that people with different mindset feel diverse emotions (Wood et al., 2016). Decision making process within the organisational context is guided by such relationships and attitudes. While a person maintaining a cordial relation with the manger would take up a decision beneficial for the organisation. On the other hand, an employee in conflict with the manger would show an attitude and exert decisions that might be disadvantageous for the organisation (Greenberg, 2011).
Group dynamics and work teams communication in organizations
Cooperation and trust are the two most important qualities that need to be ensured in any business organization. Cooperation among the employees is essential in order to ensure the successful working among the employees. Moreover, cooperation is essential in order to fulfil the organizational goals successfully. Interpersonal communication is essential for cooperation among the employees, thus ensuring success of the organization (Greenberg, 2011). However, cooperation might receive implementation challenge with interpersonal conflict and distrust. Another major challenge is the competition among the employees. The competition is a major operational barrier that restricts cooperation among the employees (Greenberg, 2011). Since the employees tend to compete with each other in order to gain a favourable position in the business organization, hence cooperation might not be implemented successfully, in order to remain ahead in competition. Moreover, inter-team conflicts are also a major cause that restricts cooperation among the employees (Greenberg, 2011). If a team member is against the goal that is set by the business organization, then the organizational goals might not be fulfilled successfully. When a team member does not cooperate successfully, the other members also refrain from cooperating with them. This is known as the reciprocity principle. This is a major barrier to cooperation, that is essential for any successful organization. Cultural diversity is also a major barrier to cooperation. The differences in the culture, among the employees is a challenge for cooperation, thus resulting in lack of cooperation among the employees (Greenberg, 2011).
Moreover, conflicts are a common part of any organization. however, it is important, that the conflicts are resolves as soon as possible. Extension of the conflicts will result in the diversion from the goals that are set by the team. In order to resolve the conflicts, it is important that the differences of opinions are respected and the resolved through discussion only (Greenberg, 2011). The sooner the conflicts are resolves, the better it is for the business organization, as well as for the team. Trust is also essential. Lack of trust is not desirable at any workplace (Greenberg, 2011). Trust among the employees will result in healthy work environment and diligent working and cooperation among the employees. Thus, it is important to ensure that a healthy and positive organizational culture is maintained among the employees, in order to assist in successful working of the organization.
Creativity and innovation has a key role to play in the business organization. Creativity and innovation has a major impact in enhancing the business goals and working of the organization. The organizational structure is important for any organization. Most of the organizations follow the tall organizational structure or the flat organizational structure (Greenberg, 2011). In the tall organizational structure, there are a number of hierarchy that is maintained among the lower level and top-level employees. This structure is beneficial for large organizations and it facilitates the effective management of the employees. However, for small to medium sized organizations, the flat structure is beneficial, since the intermediate levels are less in number and the communication is much open (Greenberg, 2011). Thus, it is important that the organizational culture be chosen according to the size of the organization. The organizational design is also important for the successful working of the business organization.
Organizational change is common in any organization. however, in order to implement the change successfully, it is important that the changes are managed successfully. Organizational changes might be faced with resistance from the employees, as they might not be prepared to accept the change (Greenberg, 2011). However, the employees need to be convinced about the benefits that the change will bring to the company, along with ensuring the benefits of the employees. Change management is important in order to ensure successful organizational change. Change management might include introduction of new technologies (Greenberg, 2011). However, the employees tend to resist, if they are not competent enough to work in the introduced technology (Benn, Dunphy & Griffiths, 2014). Thus, it is important that the organization pertain the necessary training to the employees, thus making them competent enough (Greenberg, 2011). Thus, change management is a major challenge for the employees as well as the organization. Changes are inevitable. Hence, they need to be accepted and welcomed with a positive outlook (Greenberg, 2011). However, changes that might not have immediate benefits have to be accepted for the long-term benefits that the changes are likely to provide, resulting in success of the business organization.
References
Benn, S., Dunphy, D., & Griffiths, A. (2014). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.
Greenberg, J. (2011). Behavior in organizations (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Levi, D. (2015). Group dynamics for teams. Sage Publications.
Mowday, R. T., Porter, L. W., & Steers, R. M. (2013). Employee—organization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic press.
Robbins, S., Judge, T. A., Millett, B., & Boyle, M. (2013). Organisational behaviour: Pearson Higher Education AU.
Salas, E., Shuffler, M. L., Thayer, A. L., Bedwell, W. L., & Lazzara, E. H. (2015). Understanding and improving teamwork in organizations: A scientifically based practical guide. Human Resource Management, 54(4), 599-622.
Wan, H. C., Downey, L. A., & Stough, C. (2014). Understanding non-work presenteeism: Relationships between emotional intelligence, boredom, procrastination and job stress. Personality and Individual Differences, 65, 86-90.
Wood, J. M., Zeffane, R. M., Fromholtz, M., Wiesner, R., Morrison, R., Factor, A., … & Osborn, R. N. (2016). Organisational behaviour: Core concepts and applications. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.