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Organizational Intervention Essay Introduction There are several aspects of organizational behavior: organization as a system, motivation and effectiveness of organizations, organizational communication, behavioral marketing, organizational changes and personal development. The aim of this paper is to examine two organizations that have used the same contemporary organizational behavior intervention method to address a problem of motivation within their organization. Effective motivation is crucial to the organizations success. In the light of organizational behavior, motivation gives an employee possibility to realize his practical and theoretical experience, professional skills and life values, by working effectively for the companys benefit.
Reward for labor should correspond to invested contribution the worker makes to his company. It is very important to attain a reasonable balance between material and immaterial sides of reward. In other case the worker looses interest to labor and his activity will result into zero profit to his company. Unfortunately, some companies do not take note of development and implementation of programs aimed to enhance the motivation level and employees career growth. Scandinavian Experience Lets examine Swedish company McKinsey and its experience of using contemporary organizational behavior intervention methods to address a problem of motivation within their organization.
According to Christer Furling, the consultant of Swedish agency Swedish Economic and Financial Consultants in International Development, the companies with cyclic structure (where the team of labor collective is created only for the time of accomplishment of a specific task) personnel develops the methods of idea fulfillment, whereas the manager vectors the line of work and explains what he wants to receive in result of operation (Henkoff, 1993). Naturally, the manager has to place high emphasis on the main thing: favorable conditions for team work. Such type of organization is based on three Ps people, purpose and process, whereas classic vertical structure of organization is based on three Ss structure, system and strategy (Walton, 1992). Sweden is well known for its high labor inputs. Working with low-motivated personnel can bring the company extensive material losses. Besides, social package grants Swedish worker 80 % of payment for a sick-list.
The signature of doctor is not obligatory: it is enough to tell the management the reason of absence and quantity of days he will be out of the office. So, no wonder that Swedish businessmen do their best to enhance the level of motivation. According to Furling, vast majority of Swedish companies both concerning the hierarchy of corporate values and the system of motivation of their employees to productive labor, the work team occupies the first place. Such soft and transparent values like friendship, partnership and collective are matters of primary importance. Interesting activity occupies the second place. The feeling that employee is able to control his working activity occupies the third place, correspondingly.
The feeling of self-control makes worker thinking that nobody forces him to work. On contrary, the worker undertakes all efforts to enhance quality of his work. The majority of Swedish top-managers consider combination of professional and private life of their employees as a necessary element of enhancing motivation level. Many of them allow employees working at home.
The companies also use flexible schedule of work. Such schedule is controlled by a group, not by management of the company. It is the teams responsibility to decide whether to grant an employee working at home, or not. Management pays no attention to it, because the entire group is responsible for positive results of their work. In their turn, positive results have impact on volume of bonuses. Again, lets remind that problems of motivation and utilization of various OB intervention methods are very important.
Small companies with 60 - 100 workers have to pay higher salaries to their employees. The typical strategy of these companies is to attract highly qualified professionals by raising the level of wages. However, despite of high salary, such employees are not loyal to the company and often leave for better salary. All these organizational behavior intervention methods are successfully used by Swedish consulting company McKinsey. In addition, McKinsey utilizes a straight system of reward and career advancement. It is important to know that McKinsey employees are getting rewards according to the financial results of operations of the entire company, whereas many other Swedish companies pay wages according to the result of the department production balance.
Top management of McKinsey is guided by the principle: the company needs people who work not for wages but for organization. Employee has to do all his best to bring his company enhanced production, knowledge, experience and creative ideas. McKinsey managers consider that it is difficult to rely solely on stimulating effect of financial reward. The company developed precise rules or employment. They do not try to hire workers with knowledge or necessary experience. First of all, the company is interested in people with dominating personal characteristics.
To be more precise, it means that McKinsey needs leaders, not robots who accomplish task with no questions. No wonder that young workers consider McKinsey as their starting point for a brilliant professional career in consulting sphere. ZyXEL Experience ZyXEL is one of the largest companies in sphere of communications equipment. The problem of motivation is also one of the most important. ZyXEL constantly brings new perfections and improvements in its system of motivation. Its main objective is to increase the interest of employee in results of his labor activity.
ZyXEL uses other methods of influence on organizational behavior of its workers to enhance level of motivation and to decrease the churn rate. The company pays much attention to education. Young employees get education in authorized ZyXEL education centre and get certificates of ZyXEL engineers (ZCSE, ZyXEL Certified System Engineer, ZSS, ZyXEL Security Specialist, etc). ZyXEL Company undertakes all efforts to involve each employee in business process and to reveal employees creative potential. This is completely different approach to deal with organizational behavioral problems. The company lays emphasis on friendly working environment.
Working collective is based on both formal and informal relations (Levering, 1993). Each employee feels himself a full-pledged member of a big family. ZyXEL observes all standards of labor legislation. Employees enjoy a social package that consists of medical insurance, free business lunch, home internet, etc. Besides, the company focuses attention on favorable conditions of work. Offices are equipped by modern means of communications and newest technologies.
As far as ZyXEL is one of the few communication companies all over the world able to offer complete networking solutions, and a leading supplier of broadband internet access devices, it offers to workers installed wireless network technology. According to Zyxel's opinion, it will improve the productivity of employees by permitting them constant access to business system and will encourage them working at home. As far as ZyXEL is an international corporation, the personnel consists of both American and foreign employees. The company offers free courses of English language to all its employees. Additional point for motivation is participation in corporate activity (i.
e. corporate parties, celebrations, picnics, sport competitions, etc). All these corporate undertakings help employees to spend time in friendly ZyXEL family. Such close relations enhance the level of motivation and reduce churn rate. Corporate culture in Zyxel's understanding is not simply a basic motivation factor. It is much more: the way employees communicate with each other, ethics, tact, mutual support and trust.
In contrast to McKinsey, ZyXEL supports no active policy of leadership. Instead, the company tries to utilize the friendly environment of equality, where all people work in one team. ZyXEL bends every effort to personnel education. The management considers that education of employees can improve the level of their motivation. ZyXEL employees develop skills necessary to solve specific tasks of the company and obtain new knowledge necessary both for the companys development in general and for the employees perfection in particular. Such policy of education allows the company to remain one of the giants in communication industry and allows each employee to strive for constant perfection.
Conclusion It is quite difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of both companies and to choose the less or more effective one. Both of them use modern methods of organizational behavior intervention. Both companies undertake all efforts to provide their workers with everything they need. In their turn, employees pay back with devotion to company and increased effectiveness of their work. Problem of motivation is very important.
The experience of ZyXEL and McKinsey show that it is not enough to utilize only one OB intervention method. Practical application of a set of methods is more efficacious and resulting. Both companies understand that traditional system of financial reward is not very effective. The most effective solution lays in creating friendly environment, taking responsibility for further education and promotion, recognizing individual peculiarities of each employee and providing him with recognition of employees importance for organization in general. Bibliography 4 February 2007 < web >. Henkoff, R. "Companies That Train Best. " Fortune (1993): 18.
Levering, R. The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America. Currency, Doubleday, 1993. Walton, S. Made in America: My Story. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
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