Organizational Behavior Terminology and Concepts

Organizational behavior is a complex relationship between individuals, groups, the organizational systems and structures. It is a study of how such relationships and systems impacts on the behavior of individuals within an organization. Managers in the organization try to understand the organizational behavior so as to understand how such could impact on the organizational performance. Organizational behavior is therefore narrow in nature since it attempts to use the knowledge of the individuals’ behavior within the organization with an objective of improving the organizational performance and effectiveness (Gareth Morgan, 1999).

According to Gareth Morgan (1999), organizational behavior is the shared values and beliefs among individuals in an organization that affects on the way they interact, performs various organizational task and reacts to the organizational environment. It is the organizational behavior that offers the distinctive characteristic between organizations. According to Gareth Morgan (1999) organizational behavior is the study of the relationships and interactions between individuals groups and various systems in an organization and the utilization of such knowledge to improve the organizational performance for instance through employees’ satisfaction and motivation.

Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is fundamentally the character of the organization. It is the assumptions, values, customs, norms and the tangible symbolic characteristics of an organization and which greatly determines the behavior and actions of the organizational members. Organizational culture varies from one organization to another. Although it may not be documented, the organizational culture is characteristically displayed in all aspects of the organization (Denison, 2004). For instance; it is possible to know the culture of an organization by merely looking at the company logo. It dictates the way individuals goes about their day to day activities in the organizations i.e. the customs and patterns of operations within an organization are entrenched in the organization culture.
The culture of one firm is distinct from that of another. For instance, the culture of a large profit making establishment is different to that of a hospital. Similarly, the culture of a hotel is distinct to that of a university. Just like one can identify the personality of an individual by looking at the physical and behavioral characteristics, the organizational culture can be recognized by looking at the arrangements of the physical amenities, the points of organizational pride, the dressing styles, organization of the meetings, time keeping of members, extra organizational events among others

Diversity
Organization diversity is the term used to refer to the wide range of characteristic and aspects of an organization and that is entrenched in the differences in behavior among the various individuals that constitutes its membership. The organization is a complex system of interaction among members with varying personality, behavior and background as well as physical traits. Diversity in the organization is inevitable as it is impossible to attain uniformity in all aspects of the organization (Gareth Morgan, 1999). Organizational behavior is shaped by the ability of the managers to manage the organizational diversity and direct all the differences to conform to the organizational behavior and culture.

Organizational diversity is embedded in the racial, gender, and sexual differences among individuals at workplace. Since the diversity is natural and inevitable, the management is involved in uniting this diversity and directs all its components towards the achievement of a common organizational purpose. Organizational behavior and culture is therefore as a result of this unification.

Communication
Communication is a complex process via which individuals share their ideas, values and opinions within well established organizational systems. It involves an establishment of a two way system through which information is shared between two parties mainly the sender (encoder) and the recipient (decoder). Just like in any other communication set-up, communication in the organization is carried out using various modes. Business communication therefore involves managers coming up with messages, transmitting them to the employees and other stakeholders as well as the society immediate to the organization and also obtaining feedback from the recipients. Communication cannot be complete until the communicator is able to efficiently get feedback from the recipient. On the same note, effective communication is the ability of the process to get the intended message as accurately as possible to the audience or recipients and channeling back feedback to the sender of the message.

Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency
Organizational Efficiency – this refers to the ease through which an organization or its management is able to mobilize its resources to meet the established mission, objectives and goals. Effectiveness is a depiction of how well the organization is able to optimally allocate its resources, strategies and policy to accomplish the organizational objectives (Gareth, 1999). For instance, the organization can be said to be efficient if it achieves cost minimization and maximum returns (revenues).

Organizational Effectiveness – this is the ability of the available organizational resources and strategies to achieve the company’s mission; vision specific objectives and company’s goals (Gareth, 1999). If such cannot meet such objectives then they can be said to be ineffective. For instance effective marketing strategies are those which are able to maximize the company’s market share.

Organization Learning
Organizational learning is a process by which knowledge (either formal or informal) is passed over from one individual to another within an organizational setup. It is a gradual process that involves close and continuous social; interactions among organizations. Learning is an adaptive process and takes time for individuals to synthesize what they learn as explained in the appellant conditioning theory or the activity theory. It is important for the organization as well as individuals to learn so as to efficiently and effectively adapt to the changes of the business environment and adopt suitable organizational behavior. The organizational culture is also a learnt phenomenon (Argyris & Schon, 2008).

References
Argyris, C. & D. Schon (2008), Organizational Learning: A theory of action perspective, Addison-Wesley, retrieved from
http://www.amazon.com/organizational-learning-adoson wisely-organizational-development.html on May 27, 2009

Denison, D. (2004). Corporate culture and organization effectiveness New York: http://www.Wileycims.ncsu.edu/downloads/Research/71_WDWK_culture.pdf– retrieved on May 27, 2009

Gareth Morgan, (1999), Organizational Theory and Behavior Inc Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 17 Pg 12-17