Organizational behavior at Merrill Lynch

Organizational behavior at Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is a branch of the bank of America that is involved in Wealth management. The firm is located in Manhattan, New York and it is involved in management of client’s assets, which are valued at over $2.2 Trillion in 2017. Merrill Lynch is one of the biggest asset management firms in the US with over 15000 staff members who are mainly financial advisors and managers. The history of the firma dates back to 1914 when Charles Merrill and Edmund Lynch joined hands to start one of the first wealth management firms in America. Winthrop Smith later joined them in 1916 and over the years, the firm has grown rapidly to become one of the most successful and financially stable asset management firms in the world.

The firm employs professionals from all over America and even the rest of the world. As part of the organizational behavior, the type of culture embraced by Merrill Lynch is the salad bowl culture. Salad bowl culture is as a culture whereby there is a mixture of people from different cultures and backgrounds all working together to achieve a certain goal. Just like in a fruit salad where each fruit introduces a unique flavor and taste, the salad bowl culture ensures that inputs from people from different cultures are infused into the management structure of the company. At the end of the day, people from each culture have a role to play and this ensures that the firm runs smoothly by bringing onboard the views as well as inputs from individuals from divergent cultures.

Globally there is a mix of multifarious cultures in the work place dynamic, which results in people from different ethnic origins working together and interacting on a daily basis. The situation is not different at Merrill Lynch were there a staff member from different cultures. Statistic released in 2005 by United States Bureau of Labor revealed that Blacks and Hispanics are less likely to hold management positions but this has not been the situation a Merrill Lynch where people from all cultures have equal opportunities according to their strengths as well as qualifications.

The salad bowl culture has had a positive impact on the firm since in encourages cohesion of people from different cultures and this build infusion and tolerance in the work place (Setiloane, 2016). Apart from that, the culture encourages input from people who come from divergent backgrounds and this brings about inclusion of new ideas and ways of doing things at the work place. This leads to innovation, which has been a key propeller in the growth of the firm.

The mode of communication at Merrill Lynch is a combination of both spoken (verbal) and written. Verbal communication at Merrill Lynch is through meetings that which are held regularly in various departments to communicate different issues. Presentation and lectures are also common at the firm and the mode of communication in such forums in mostly verbal. The firm’s clients attend regular workshops at the firm where they are trained on management of their assets and this is achieved through verbal communication during the workshop. During the normal working hours, it is common for staff to have conversations that may be personal or work related. During such conversations, the mode of communication is verbal where the participants speak to each other in order to get the message across to their recipient. In any business or firm verbal communication is important to the success of the venture since it enables fast and reliable communication. At Merrill Lynch, there are employees from different ages, cultures and even races. The firm has therefore created a foundation for verbal communication and this has the impact of enabling each person within the firm understands what others are communicating to them.

Written communication is also an important part of everyday communication at Merrill Lynch. This type of communication includes any type of message that uses written words to communicate.  This mode of communication is the most effective and important means to convey messages in a business or work place setting. One of the advantages of written communication is that it allows effective communication of the message to the intended target and apart from that after sending the message proof of communication is retained which is important in the workplace. There is also need of personal contact when sending a written message as one can pass the intended message over email instead of speaking to the recipient face to face. The most common means of written communication commonly used at Merrill Lynch are memos, bulletins, employee manuals, letters, reports and emails.

The nature of authority at Merrill Lynch is multifaceted since it incorporates three approaches, which are, Line authority, staff authority and functional authority. Authority in the work place is the character of communication through which individuals concerning the actions that need to be taken within the system accept orders (Mailath et al., 2017).  Line authority is the most basic authority in any organization. It reflects on the relationships between superiors and subordinates within the system. This authority consists of the right to make decisions and give orders to subordinates concerning actions taken within the work place. Staff authority involves the right to assist or advice those who are in possession of the line authority as well as other staff. Functional authority on the other hand consists of the right to give orders within a section of the organization and it covers only specific task areas.

At Merrill Lynch, those who possess the line authority are the managers within the firm. They have the right to give orders concerning actions taken within the work place to their subordinates. Staff authority exists within the firm whereby staff member can advice their superiors concerning specific decisions. This is common where particular staff members’ have unique capabilities or experience that is helpful to the management in decision-making or implementation of certain tasks. Functional authority is whereby an employee is tasked to supervise their colleagues in the implementation of a specific task. All these types of authority have been incorporated in the day to day functioning of the firm, which has resulted in smooth running of the firms operations.

Merrill Lynch as business firm employs a range of motivational techniques in order to boost the performance of their staff. The firm employs both intrinsic and extrinsic motivational strategies in order to obtain maximum performance from their employees. Intrinsic motivation simply means that the stimulus motivating an individual comes from within. There are a range of intrinsic factors that are employed at Merrill Lynch and this are aimed at empowering the employees to perform specific tasks because the results of the completing the task are according to the individual’s belief system or the results full fill a certain desire within the individual and hence the employee attaches importance to the task. The end result of such motivation is that the task is accomplished successfully due to the importance attached to it. Deep rooted systems within employees have the highest intrinsic motivation in an individual. Some of the intrinsic motivational strategies employed at Merrill Lynch include acceptance where the staff are made to feel that they together with their decisions are accepted by the firm as well as by their co-workers.

Curiosity is another important intrinsic motivation strategy applied at the firm whereby the staffs are made to feel that they are in the know of important issues affecting the firm. Honor as a motivational technique is applied in the firm whereby the employees are made to understand that they need to obey the rules of the firm in order remain ethical. Employees at the firm are given a level of independence which makes them feel unique thus promoting their performance. Order is another way used to motivate employees at the firm and this stems from the basic fact that all types of workers need to understand the importance of being organized. Social contact and status are also intrinsic motivational factors that are in use at Merrill Lynch in order to boost staff morale and performance. Social interaction is very important at the firm whereby staffs are encouraged to interact with each other in order to foster unity as well as smooth flow of operations. Social status arises as a result of social interaction and this status arises from the desire to feel important which exists in t all human beings.

Merrill Lynch also employs a range of extrinsic motivational strategies in order to get maximum productivity from their staff members. Extrinsic motivation basically means that the motivating stimuli comes from outside the in the individual. The desire to perform as specific task is controlled by an outside force.  Even though the motivation comes from outside, the result of the task being performed will still be rewarded to the individual employee who performs that task. Some of the extrinsic motivation strategies employed at the firm include awards to the employee of the month, benefit packages such as retirement benefits, yearly bonuses to employees, and organized activities such as workshops and seminars which are aimed at fostering employee motivation as well as bolstering the relationships between the staff members within the firm. By having over 15000 employees it is easy for staff at Merrill Lynch to feel like they work with strangers everyday hence the firm regularly organizes events that are meant boost employee interpersonal relationships.

There are a range of emotional quotient elements embraced by Merrill Lynch in order to cultivate the right kind of leadership skills in their staff. The firm recognizes that the ability to perceptively be in tune with personal emotions and having sound situational awareness are powerful tools that are important in leadership. Employees at the firm are encouraged to know, understand and respond to emotions, overcome stress and be aware of how their words and actions affect others staff members within the firm.

The firm fosters the emotional quotient of their employees by encouraging five key elements. One of the most important elements in bolstering of emotional quotient is self-awareness whereby staff members at the firm are required to recognize their own emotions, strengths and weaknesses, drivers and values and understanding their impact to other staff members.  Staffs at the firm are also encouraged to have self-regulation which in other words can be described as discipline. A disciplined staff member is one who controls or directs his or her disruptive emotions and adapts to changing circumstances in order to keep the team heading in the right direction (Hillier, 2016).

Empathy and compassion are elements of emotional quotient cultivated at Merrill Lynch. Empathy is whereby employees are able to put themselves in the shoes of others and understand how other may feel or react to certain situations. Empathy, on the other hand is the capacity to openly feel compassion for others. Relationship management is an element of emotional quotient embraced in the firm and this is by encouraging employees to build and maintain healthy relationships which are essential in the ability to gain higher emotional intelligence. Lastly, effective communication is encouraged at Merrill Lynch and this boost productivity. The firm recognizes that misunderstandings and lack of communication are the root cause of problems causing the failure of any business and in order to avoid this, effective communication is encouraged at Merrill Lynch.

Merrill Lynch has embraced both teleworking and virtual offices as virtual elements in order to boost employee productivity. Teleworking is the use of computers and telecommunications in order to reduce or replace work related travelling. At the firm it is common for meetings to be held through video conferencing and this reduces the travelling costs for staff members as well as saving valuable time. Business at the firm is commonly handled through virtual offices whereby staff can work from any location by using technology such as laptops, cell phones and the internet. This provides significant savings in terms of reduction in the renting of office space and it also provides flexibility as compared to the more traditional way of renting office space.

References

Setiloane, K. T. (2016). Beyond the melting pot and salad bowl views of cultural diversity: advancing cultural diversity education of nutrition educators. Journal of nutrition education and behavior, 48(9), 664-668.

Mailath, G. J., Morris, S., & Postlewaite, A. (2017). Laws and authority. Research in Economics, 71(1), 32-42.

Hillier, V. (2016). Workplace violence: moving toward restorative practices as an alternative to traditional progressive discipline at Canada Post Calgary.