Organizational Behavior and Change: Leadership Strategies

The Current State of Organizational Behavior and Change

While many situations have existed in which the practitioners' field and the field of academicians have failed to agree entirely upon a subject, the gap between the two domains is becoming narrower in terms of organizational behavior issues. The concept of organizational behavior is extremely complex and refers to virtually all aspects of a company's interaction with its stakeholders — customers, staff members, shareholders, the general public, suppliers, and so on. The academic field early on recognized the necessity of creating a favorable working environment and interacting with stakeholders in ways that created more value for the entity. Theoretical emphasis was placed on elements such as the motivation of staff members and the satisfaction of customers.

Yet, within the practitioners' field, the development and implementation of new organizational behavior strategies was not as easily embraced, due to two primary reasons. The first and most important was that changes in organizational behavior would imply additional resource consumption. They would, for instance, require changes in the way the managerial team interacts with subordinates, generating a necessity for training. This would also have been extremely time-consuming, as staff members would have been forced to take time away from their daily tasks and focus on new strategies.

The second reason for practitioners' reluctance in implementing new organizational behavior strategies was the failure of some managers to comprehend the long-term benefits. Most managers recognized the challenges of new organizational behavior strategies and pointed to the fact that, in the short term, the efforts would only lead to reduced levels of productivity and incremental expenditures. They therefore considered that the costs of new organizational behavior strategies outweighed the benefits.

Still, as time went by and more managers recognized the utility of these strategies and their long-term benefits, greater efforts were put into developing and implementing new organizational behavior strategies. Increasing emphasis was placed on the ways in which people interact and work together as members of the same unit. Modern-day managers, following the advice of the academic field, now place greater focus on establishing productive relations with personnel, customers, and suppliers. These changes are also built on the recognition of the role each category of stakeholder plays in the final success of the company.

Suppliers, for instance, provide the company with materials that must be cost-effective and high quality in order to satisfy client needs, while also remaining accessible and affordable. Personnel are responsible for manufacturing products and delivering services, and are therefore directly accountable for customer satisfaction. Customers purchase organizational products and generate revenue sustainability. The recognition of their importance prompted the implementation of new organizational behavior strategies.

Despite the long path taken, modern economic entities are still faced with numerous challenges, and the multiple dimensions of organizational behavior continue to raise difficulties. Probably the most relevant example is the necessity to implement processes of organizational change in order to ensure that the principles of organizational behavior strategy take full effect.

Implementing change is often a tedious process, made even more difficult by factors such as lack of adequate information, limited access to resources, financial constraints, inadequate technology, and poor management. In most cases, change is also difficult to implement because of people's resistance. The reasons people refuse change are numerous and varied, including fear of the unknown and lack of desire to learn new things.

In spite of all the difficulties and impediments raised by the modern-day necessity of implementing organizational behavior through change strategies, they represent a growing imperative. Organizational behavior strategies not only improve a company's long-term profitability, but they also help it survive in an extremely dynamic and competitive environment.

Change promoting new organizational behavior tactics is the solution to hiring and retaining the best-qualified staff members who add more value to the organization — and who, according to Ivancevich and editors, also reduce costs through lower turnover rates — as well as to attracting investors, satisfying and enlarging the customer base, and consolidating a strong position within both national and international markets.

Change Leadership: Two Key Texts Compared

The specialized literature has for decades focused on studying and presenting the concepts, benefits, processes, and limitations of organizational behavior strategies. Another recurrent theme within specialized books and journals has been the necessity to implement change in order to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. A quick review of the specialized literature reveals, however, that it is far from homogenous, with each work addressing a different aspect of organizational behavior and change. Generally speaking, some works focus on the theoretical aspects of organizational behavior, while others emphasize the practical dimension and present various means by which concepts should be implemented within a real organizational context.

Organizational Behavior and Management by John M. Ivancevich, Robert Konopaske, and Michael T. Matteson (2007) is a representative example of the first category, whereas John P. Kotter's Leading Change (1996) belongs to the category of books with a more practical approach. Organizational Behavior and Management is currently in its eighth edition, arguably its most successful. In comparison to previous editions, this eighth edition is approximately 100 pages shorter, making it more accessible to students. Notably, the pages removed from the print edition were not discarded but placed online for further study — a move that itself reflects one of the book's core teachings: integrating technological advancements to better adapt to the changing needs of society.

Organizational Behavior and Management is a broadly theoretical work, with emphasis on the wide field of organizational behavior. Ivancevich, Konopaske, and Matteson focused on creating a work that would serve educational purposes, recognizing the necessity for real-world examples to increase comprehension. The result was the inclusion of several cases and supplementary reading materials to serve as practical applications and to broaden access to the information presented.

One of its many strengths is that it discusses the art of managing people from early historical stages through to the present day, helping readers understand the broader context and implement its teachings across virtually any field in which people work together and are managed — whether in education, organizational settings, public offices, or elsewhere.

Unlike Organizational Behavior and Management, which is theoretical and discusses the management of people from a partly psychological standpoint, Leading Change is more practical. This second book draws on John P. Kotter's quarter-century of experience in the field of organizational behavior. It presents 100 cases of organizations that encountered challenges and implemented various change processes to strengthen their positions and advance their goals. In presenting these situations, Kotter reveals various mistakes and circumstances, ultimately arriving at an eight-step model he believes underlies any successful change strategy. The eight steps are not entirely original to Kotter, however — their roots can be identified in various theoretical works, including Organizational Behavior and Management.

References

Ivancevich, J.M., Konopaske, R., Matteson, M.T. (2007). Organizational Behavior and Management, 8th Edition. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN 9780073405087.

Kotter, J.P. (1996). Leading Change. Harvard Business School Press.