The Major Forces Influencing Human Behavior at Work

The Major Forces Influencing Human Behavior at Work

Human capital is the most valuable resource an organization can ever have. It is through this capital that a company can transform ideas and other resources into products and services that can increase profitability while serving the firm’s purpose. As opposed to machines, however, human beings experience emotions and feelings, which in turn affect their behavior. This fact makes it necessary for organizations to identify the factors that influence employee behavior encouraging those that elicit positive reactions while eliminating those that do not. This essay discusses six major forces that influence employee behavior at work and provides recommendations to increase employee awareness.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture refers to the underlying values, beliefs, assumptions, and other means of interaction that adds to the psychological and social environment of an organization. According to Diamantidis and Chatzoglou (2019), it is the means through which individuals in a workplace develop meaning and stability, and it affects employee behavior and motivation (p.171). Culture varies from one company to another and at the same time, differs significantly from an individual’s culture to another. A negative organizational culture results in low motivation, employee fraud, and engagement in other unwanted behavior. This effort will equally impact an employee’s productivity reducing the organization’s performance in both the short and long run. The management should, therefore, find ways to encourage positive cultures, such as open communication and encouraging diversity. A recommendation towards promoting a positive organizational culture would be to promote innovation, allowing the employees to develop novel methods of doing things. This approach will motivate them towards organizational tasks since they feel like part of the organization’s decision process.

Supervisory Management Influence

Supervisory management is the act of managing and overseeing employees. Organizations depend on this aspect to organize human resources into units that can help achieve organizational objectives. Mainly, the units help guide employees through tasks, offer rewards or punishments to foster cooperation and articulate organizational goals. However, the emphasis is placed on managers’ supervisory behavior since it can increase or lower morale, attitudes, communication, and performance (Diamantidis & Chatzoglou, 2019, p.171). A manager who is loud and abrasive may inspire such attributes among employees. Relationships at the workplace can, therefore, become hindered. Also, micro-management equally demotivates skilled employees, hence reducing their efficiency.

Proper communication channels and strategies are therefore recommended, especially those that show respect and dignity to the employees’ position and views. Employee autonomy is also significant to some extent. Hence, managers are encouraged to give employees room to perform tasks on their own and grow while guiding them on the bigger organizational vision instead.

Workplace Diversity

The third factor that influences employee behavior is workplace diversity, which is the understanding and acceptance of the different individual characteristics that individuals possess. These include ethnicity, gender, race, and ideologies that individuals may hold. As Martin (2014) denotes, an organization that embraces diversity tends to benefit through increased performance since collaboration and communication between members is enhanced (p.90). However, stereotypes and bias may hinder effective interaction, especially among different ethnicities and genders, based on how employees view those who are different from them. For instance, gender bias against women may see men get better positions in a company or vice versa. Also, biases result in harassment of members of the opposite gender or different ethnicities. This situation lowers the performance of the affected employees. Organizations must be on the lookout and discourage stereotypes from guiding organizational decisions. Firms are encouraged to foster a corporate culture that does not tolerate harassment and should also assess risk factors associated with harassment to establish mitigation strategies.

Work Group Influence

The work environment consists of individuals who typically exist in groups within an organization. However, the success or failure of such groups depends on several factors, which include group structure, resources, and processes, among others. Group structure deals with roles and group size, whereas processes handle aspects such as communication, the decision-making processes, and power dynamics. As a consequence, positive group behavior positively influences the behavior of an individual at the workplace. Negative team behavior, as well as the feelings of being sidelined, encourage negative behavior, and may lower output while increasing employee turnover. It is recommended that team leaders be at the forefront of reinforcing positive group behavior since members emulate the leader’s actions. As no group is conflict proof, it is necessary to encourage sound problem solving strategies.

Personal Characteristics and Family Influence

Away from the workplace, employees have a social support system that includes family and friends. Equally, each person is born different, and the experiences that life offers before joining the workforce shapes personal characteristics (Mathur & Gupta, 2012, p.48). In essence, an individual brings all these characteristics and family influence on the workplace, which may positively or negatively influence workplace behavior. For instance, openness as a personality trait makes an employee curious, creative, and open to new ideas. Introversion, on the other hand, may see an individual keep to themselves even when they do have solutions to specific problems. Not all personality traits are suitable for the firm (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2012, p.71). However, as long a personality trait does not negatively influence workplace behavior, the organization should not force change on an individual. Conversely, the organization can establish an environment that encourages participation and personality molding encouraging the growth of desirable traits.

Job Satisfaction

Finally, Job satisfaction refers to the feeling of fulfillment that an employ derives from their work, and like other factors, positively or negatively influences workplace behavior. Job satisfaction affects an employee’s level of commitment to the organization, absenteeism, and job turnover rate. Individuals who lack satisfaction in the work they do are more likely to be absent, or take organizational duties lightly, impacting performance in the process. On the other hand, satisfied employees will show high motivation and wholly engage themselves with corporate responsibilities to help meet organizational goals (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2012, p.113). Therefore, an organization should determine the satisfaction levels of employees and initiate mitigation strategies if it is low or nonexistent. Periodic surveys can help understand employee grievances. Organizations can conduct training and retraining, as well as incentive programs for improvement and job enrichment to increase satisfaction. When employees feel their skills match job tasks, and if they are rewarded appropriately, they will embrace behavior that helps reach organizational objectives.

Conclusion

Workplace behavior directly determines an individual’s output levels, consequently affecting the organization’s output. As such, it becomes necessary to establish the significant forces influencing employee behavior at work, which can help with creating solutions to put employee behavior back on track. This essay has analyzed six significant factors which include: Organizational Culture, supervisory management, job satisfaction, diversity, workgroup influence, and personal and family influence. Summarily, they address the organizational, social, and individual factors that determine behavior, with all calling for respect, dignity, and fairness. Each element then provides a different approach to shaping employee behavior.

References

Carpenter, M., Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012). Personality, Attitudes, and Work Behaviors. In

1. Carpenter, T. Bauer, & B. Erdogan, Management Principles (pp. 63-120). Boston: Flat World Knowledge.

Diamantidis, A. D., & Chatzoglou, P. (2019). Factors affecting employee performance: an

empirical approach. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management,   68(1), 171-193.

Martin, G. C. (2014). The Effects Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace. Journal of Diversity

Management, 9(2), 89-93.

Mathur, S. K., & Gupta, S. (2012). Outside Factors Influencing Behavior of Employees in

Organizations. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 2(1), 48-   51.