Essay Example on Behavioral Theories and the Processes Involved

Given that this company is result-oriented, managing employees’ behavior is a top priority with the application of appropriate behavioral theories. Two-factor and expectancy theories are the most suitable for hiring new employees. Two-factor theory is a motivation approach by Frederick Herzberg, which involves asking individuals about aspects that satisfies them in a workplace environment as well as those that lead to job dissatisfaction (Bauer & Erdogan, 2016). This theory applies to the first process of onboard induction, which takes six months for new employees to work under the manager. The candidate interviewed demonstrates that he is extremely interested in learning and growing professionally; hence working under supervision is necessary. This theory highlights hygienic factors such as supervision, working conditions, safety, salary, and company policies. Motivational factors of the theory, such as recognition and increased responsibilities, also affect employees’ satisfaction and therefore making the theory more appropriate.

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Expectancy theory is the second applicable theory in this company to facilitate a conducive working environment for the new employee. According to Bauer and Erdogan (2016), the Expectancy theory is a process-based theory created by Victor Vroom, which states that individuals are motivated to put more or less effort into performance by evaluating the anticipated outcomes. This theory's three questions concern the effects of effort on performance, the performance outcomes, and the rewards that accompany high performance. This theory fits in the second process that involves placing the new employee in a group to work with other employees. It is at this stage the employee’s performance is monitored by comparing it with group members. The candidate says that he has experience in working in teams, having led several project teams in a previous job, and therefore applying the expectancy theory will enable the company to assess his value.

Anticipated Outcomes

Taking new employees through the two processes of six months of onboard induction and allocating them in teams has several outcomes on different levels of the organization. Bauer and Erdogan (2016) state that there are three levels in an organization: individual, the group, and the organization. Under these three levels, it is expected that employees’ attitudes towards work should be positive, particularly in the six months onboard training under the manager. The manager is in a position to understand the weakness of the employee as well as clarifying issues that the new employee finds challenging to handle. Therefore, such efforts create a favorable working environment that satisfies the employee and make him more committed to delivering his best. At the individual level, employees become motivated when their performance meets the set targets that align with the company mission and vision, boosting self-esteem and the desire to work harder.

The Group level involves the overall outcomes of individuals working as a team or in groups. There are expected changes in workplace behaviors as the new employee joins the team, given that he was working in a different field but is now compelled to adopt the norms of the team members. Bauer and Erdogan (2016) conclude that despite the expected better customer services, this level in most cases faces counterproductive behaviors as members try to get used to one another hence may slow down productivity for a while. This scenario is mostly experienced in the first two group forming stages where a new member displays some percentage of anxiety, wondering if they can fit in the team. Additionally, members become more argumentative in defending their opinions and views based on personal performance targets, and sometimes it leads to conflicts of interest. It is also expected that the efforts of the new employee will improve the overall image and productivity of the organization.

Proposal

Motivation Interventions for the New Staff and Groups

The productivity of workers extensively correlates with motivation because the absence of motivation discourages employees from actualizing their full potential. Therefore the manager must employ several interventions to motivate employees in this company while considering current trends in organizational behavior management. To effectively implement the Two-factor theory, the manager should concentrate on factors that promote a positive attitude in the new employee and alleviate any unhealthy work environment. The first intervention is to engage the employee through open and friendly communication (Bauer et al., 2016). Through dialogue, the new employee opens up on areas that he finds difficulties; hence the manager can direct the employee on the right paths. Malik and Ravinder (2017) emphasize that besides engaging employees, managers should also design the jobs that fit employee capabilities. Additionally, they should sharpen the technical know-how of the employee, which is a contemporary approach.

The manager can also motivate the team at the stage of applying expectancy theory in several ways. Team empowerment is an essential contemporary motivation approach where managers allow team members to make decisions and perform their duties with minimal restrictions (Bauer et al., 2016). Notably, by limiting the idea of dictating jobs, employees feel motivated to do their jobs based on their satisfaction and discretion, hence focusing on achieving persona targets, resulting in increased overall performance. Adoption of performance appraisals is another motivation approach where the manager interacts with employees, evaluates their performance, and gives feedback on progress. This approach, most times, precedes financial rewards to best performers. Through this approach, each group member rates their efforts, performance, and goal achievement, and hence everybody strives to meet organization expectations.

Limitations, Risks, and Ethical Considerations of Applying Behavior Theories

Applying the Two- factor Theory in decision making is limited by some factors such as fearful employees or ignorant employees. According to Bauer et al. (2016), some employees fear to speak on unhygienic workplace factors to secure their jobs; hence little information available for evaluation. Another limitation of this theory is that it is more focused on employees’ job satisfaction. It ignores productivity, which makes it risky as low productivity slows down the rate of achieving organizational goals. From an ethical perspective, it is worth noting that the two-factor theory of motivation fails to consider that people view things differently. Therefore relying on views of one person to decide undermines the welfare of other employees at the workplace. However, this theory creates a good culture of openness in an organization, which helps in conflict resolution among employees; consequently, the genuine expression of unpleasant factors contributes to better performance.

Three are also several limitations, risks, and ethical concerns associated with the application of expectancy theory in decision-making. Although this theory is praised as being realistic and straightforward, it affects the productivity of employees with low expectations because some employees do not believe in the link between efforts and performance due to low esteem (Bauer et al., 2016). This form of thinking, therefore, limits the universal application of the theory. Another limitation of the theory is that some employees may not know the rewards associated with high performance hence performing below full potential. This theory is also risky as it can lead to high employee turnover for those who miss rewards by failing to hit targets. Ethically, this theory creates unfair competition among team members as each one struggles to get the top financial compensation while making poor performers feel inferior.

Open System and Organizational Performance

Recommending interventions affects the performance of an organization tremendously. For instance, recommending a motivational approach, such as a reward for high performance drives employees to work extremely harder to get the reward. Similarly, there is a unique aspect of organizational management known as an open system. By definition, an open system is a management system in which an organization exchanges information with the external environment, such as other firms in the same industry, to renew policies for growth (Authenticity Consulting, 2020). Through the open system, an organization can evaluate its performance and market competitiveness because it contains vital components of any system, such as inputs, processes, and outputs. Notably, besides the external environment, other important aspects of open systems include boundaries and arquifinality. This system plays a significant role in monitoring an organization's performance because managers use external feedback to make internal adjustments on the processes to identify gaps that derail the achievement of set goals.

In this case, the external environment refers to factors that directly or directly influence the organization, but the organization has no direct control over them. The factors include economic, political, Societal, and technological factors. According to Authenticity Consulting (2020), healthy organizations using open systems focus on conducting environmental research, which gives insight into the existing market gaps that require improvement. Through information exchange, organizations equip workers with the necessary skills and knowledge and values that consequently boost the performance from short-term to long-term outcomes.

References

Authenticity Consulting, LLC. ( 2020). Long-Lasting Solution in Professional and Organizational Development. https://www.authenticityconsulting.com/

Bauer, T. N., & Erdogan, B. (2016). Organizational Behavior; Version 2.0.Boston Academic Publishing,inc.,d.b.a FlatWorld

Malik, R., & Ravinder, K. A. U. R. (2017). Emerging Trends in Organizational Behavior: A Perspective. International Journal of Research in IT and Management, 7(2), 10-20. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=emerging+trends+in+organizational+behavior+management+&btnG=