Current economic form

Challenges and opportunities faced by organizational behavior

---------------------------. As long as you look at the great changes taking place in the organization at present, it is easier to accept this view. For example, typical employees are getting older, and more and more women and non-whites appear in the workplace; Corporate restructuring and cost reduction have seriously weakened the bond of loyalty, which once closely linked employers and employees in history; Global competition requires employees to become more flexible and learn to adapt to the rapidly changing and constantly innovating environment.

in short, today, there are many challenges and opportunities for managers to use the concept of organizational behavior. In this section, we will review some key problems faced by managers. Organizational behavior can provide answers to these problems, at least some meaningful enlightenment.

improve quality and productivity

Tom Rossi runs a difficult business. He manages a light bulb factory of GeneralElectric in Mattcon, Illinois. His enterprise is facing fierce competition from American, European, Japanese and even China manufacturers. In order to survive, he had to cut expenses, increase productivity and improve quality. He succeeded. From 1988 to 1993, the annual productivity of Matong bulb factory increased by about 8% on average. Through continuous improvement, simplification of production process and reduction of costs, General Electric's bulb factory in Matong became a vibrant and profitable factory.

More and more managers are facing the challenges faced by Tom Rossi. They have to improve the productivity of the organization, product quality and service. In order to improve quality and productivity, many managers carry out total quality management and enterprise reorganization, and these programs require employees to participate extensively.

in this book, we will discuss total qualitymanagement (TQM) in many places, as shown in table 1-2. Total quality management is a kind of management philosophy, which keeps customers satisfied permanently by constantly improving all organizational processes. Total quality management is of great significance to organizational behavior, because it requires employees to rethink their work and participate more in work decision-making.

what is total quality management

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2. It is TQM's commitment to focus on continuous improvement and never be satisfied. "Very good" is not enough, the quality will always be improved.

3. Improve the quality of every job in the organization. TQM uses a broad definition of quality. It is not only related to the final product, but also related to how to organize transportation, how to respond quickly to customer complaints, how to answer the phone politely and so on.

4. accuracy measurement TQM uses statistical technical variables to measure every key variable in organizational work, and then compares it with standards and benchmarks to find problems, trace the root causes of problems and eliminate the causes of problems.

5. Empowering employees TQM includes employees in the process of improvement. In TQM scheme, work teams are widely used as authorization means to find and solve problems.

-----------. In essence, this is exactly the idea of reengneenng. It requires managers to rethink such a question: if it is a fresh start, how should the work be done? How should the organizational structure be set up? In order to illustrate the concept of reengineering, let's examine the example of the manufacturer of lower roller skates.

Its products are basically shoes with wheels. Typical roller skates are leather uppers with shoelaces fixed on a steel plate with four wooden wheels under it. If our manufacturer can adopt an idea of continuous innovation and improvement, he will seek continuous value-added by improving products. For example, he may consider adding a hook to the upper part of the leather upper to improve the speed of the strap; Or change the quality of the leather used to improve the comfort; Or use ball bearings to make the wheels smoother. Now, we are all familiar with the first-line skates, which represent the direction of the reorganization of roller skates, and its purpose is to produce a skating tool to improve the skating speed, flexibility and controllability. The ball piece achieved this goal through a completely different shoe sample. The upper part of this kind of shoes is made of treated plastic, and the shoelaces are replaced by clips that are easy to operate. Four wheels, originally made in pairs of two, are now replaced by four or six plastic wheels arranged in a line, which makes skating more popular.

The products of reengineering don't look like traditional roller skates, but they are widely welcomed all over the world. Of course, the previous products have become history. First-line skates are a revolution in roller skating.

Our view is that current managers must understand that any effort to improve quality and productivity can not be successful without the participation of employees. Employees will no longer just be the main force to implement the change, but will more and more actively participate in the formulation process of the change plan. Organizational behavior will provide important enlightenment for managers to deal with these changes.

improving interpersonal skills

at the beginning of this chapter, we showed the importance of interpersonal skills to the effectiveness of management. We said, "This book is written to help modern managers and future managers develop these interpersonal skills".

As you read this book, we will constantly provide new concepts and theories, which will help you understand and predict people's behavior at work. In addition, you will also gain some insights on specific interpersonal skills, which can be used in your work. For example, you will learn how to be an effective listener; Appropriate ways to provide feedback; How to authorize; How to create an effective team. Moreover, you will have the opportunity to complete some exercises. These connections will help you to have a deeper understanding of your own behavior and others' behavior, and provide you with practical opportunities to improve your interpersonal skills.

Managing workforce diversity

One of the most important and extensive challenges facing American organizations at present is how to adapt to all kinds of people. The term we use to describe this challenge is workforce diversity.

work force diversity means that the composition of organizations is becoming more and more diverse in terms of gender, race and nationality. This term includes all kinds of people. In addition to the increasingly obvious groups, such as women, African Americans, Latin Americans and Asian Americans, it also includes people with physical defects, such as homosexuals and the elderly.

We are used to describing organizations from the viewpoint of melting pot, which assumes that different people will be assimilated more or less automatically in organizations.

But now we realize that employees will not put aside their cultural values and lifestyle preferences at work. Therefore, the challenge for organizations is to adapt themselves to all kinds of people by clarifying different lifestyles, family needs and work styles. The assumption of melting pot has been replaced by recognizing and valuing differences.

didn't the previous organization include members from different groups? Of course not. However, it used to be only a small part of the workforce, and this problem was often ignored by big companies. The original assumption is that these few people will try to participate in the majority and be assimilated. In the early 198s, most of the workforce were white men, who worked full-time and had to support their unemployed wives and school children. Today, such employees have become a minority. At present, 45% of the American workforce is women, and ethnic minorities and immigrants account for 22%. Huixi Company is a good example. Among HP employees, 19% are ethnic minorities and 4% are women. The factory of Digital Equipment Corp． in Boston provides us with some scenarios of the future. The factory's 35 employees, including men and women from 44 countries, speak 19 languages. When the factory publishes documents, it needs to be printed in English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Creole in Haiti.

the diversification of labor force is of great significance to management practice. Managers need to change their business philosophy, from treating employees as the same person to acknowledging differences and responding to differences in a way that can ensure employee stability and improve productivity. At the same time, there should be no discrimination. If properly managed, diversification will improve the creativity and innovative spirit of the organization and improve the quality of decision-making by encouraging different views. If not properly managed, there may be high turnover rate, communication difficulties and more interpersonal conflicts.

responding to globalization

management is no longer limited by national boundaries. Burger King is owned by British companies, McDonald's sells hamburgers in Moscow, and Exxon is nominally an American company, but nearly 75% of its operating income comes from regions and countries outside the United States. Toyota's cars are produced in Kentucky, General Motors' cars are produced in Brazil, and Ford (which owns part of Mazda's shares) sends senior managers from Detroit to Japan to help Mazda manage the production process.

These examples show that the world has become a global village. Accordingly, managers must become able to work with people from different cultures.

globalization affects managers' interpersonal skills in at least two ways. First of all, if you are a manager, it is more and more likely to find that you have to undertake foreign work tasks. You may want to work in your employer's branch or joint venture abroad. Once there, you have to manage a group of new employees whose needs, hobbies and attitudes are completely different from those you manage in China. Secondly, even in your own country, you may find that your bosses, colleagues and subordinates are people born and raised in different ages. What can motivate you may not work for them. Your communication style may be straightforward and open, and they may find it uncomfortable or even a threat. This tells us that if you want to deal with these people effectively, you must understand their culture, find out how culture has shaped these people, and learn to adapt your management style to these differences. In the next chapter, we will provide some frameworks to understand the cultural differences between ethnic groups. In the process of discussing the concepts and theories of organizational behavior, this book will focus on how cultural differences require managers to adjust their practices.

Authorization

Pick up any current business management magazine and you will see articles about adjusting or reshaping the relationship between managers and the managed. You will find that managers are called coaches, mentors, sponsors and supporters. In many organizations, employees become deputies or assistants. The role boundaries between managers and workers become blurred. Decision-making has been pushed to the operational level, where workers can freely choose work schedules and procedures to solve work-related problems. In the 198s, managers encouraged employees to participate in the work decision-making process. Today, managers go further. They allow employees to have complete control over their work. Without a boss, a self-management team basically operated by workers became the fashion in the 199s.

what happened shows that managers are empowering employees. They put the responsibility of their employees to finish the work on their own. In doing so, managers need to learn how to give up control, and employees need to learn how to take responsibility for their work and how to make appropriate decisions. In the later chapters of this book, we will discuss how empowerment changes leadership style, authority relationship, work design and organizational structure design.

Stimulate innovation and change

What happened to the "giants" such as w．T． Grant, Kimberly's and Eastern Airlines? Why are other "giants" like General Motors, Sears, Westing-house, Boeing and AT&T? T) Carry out a cost-cutting plan and lay off employees on a large scale? This is to avoid bankruptcy.

Today's successful organizations must encourage innovation and master the art of change, otherwise, they will become bankrupt candidates. Victory will belong to organizations that maintain their flexibility, constantly improve their quality, and win the competition in the market by constantly innovating products and services. Because managers mistakenly believe that they can maintain the business operation as long as they stick to the original practice,

as a result, Domino pizza chain stores handed over thousands of business halls to others. On the contrary, Fox TV insists on constant innovation. Through creative programs such as "The Simpsons" and "Beverly Hills 921", they have successfully won most viewers under the age of 25 from their powerful TV network competitors.

employees in an organization can be the driving force of innovation and change, or they can be the main stumbling block. The task of management is to stimulate employees' creativity and tolerance for change. Organizational behavior can provide us with rich viewpoints and techniques to help us achieve these goals.

dealing with "temporality"

in fact, managers have been paying attention to change. The difference is the time interval for implementing changes. In the past, it was enough to introduce major change projects once or twice every 1 years. Now it's different. Change has become a regular activity of managers. The concept of continuous improvement means constant change.

In the past, management was characterized by long-term stability accompanied by occasional short-term changes. Today, the situation is just the opposite. Long-term continuous changes are accompanied by short-term stability. The world that managers and employees face today is a permanent "temporary". The actual work that workers are engaged in is in permanent change.

Therefore, workers need to constantly update their knowledge and skills to meet the new needs.