Question

Discuss the factors that influence the behaviour of individuals in an organization

Answer 1

Every individual in an organization has a unique set of behavior and hence it is necessary to determine them in order to maintain a positive organizational culture. There are three major factors that influence the behavior of an individual in an organization. They are:

• Individual factors: The individual factors refer to the personal attributes that a person has gained through life. It includes values, attitude, personal goals, etc., The more information a person has on a subject, the better decision the individual takes. Many people believe that doing unethical work is not a good way to sustain or develop in the organization whereas some people having poor values does not consider such things leading them to take an unethical decision in their workplace. For example, an insurance agent can convince a customer by elaborating the customer the true returns he or she might get. The agent can also choose to achieve his target by deceiving the customer and making fake promises and proposals.
• Opportunity factors: Opportunity factors refers to the amount of freedom that a person is given to behave ethically in an organization. It includes the rules, policies, etc., that are framed in an organization to control the behavior of their employees. Other factors like leadership, existing organizational culture makes a difference that might even change the individual’s behavior over a period of time. For example, if poor leadership may allow the subordinates to behave unethically whereas good leadership makes the subordinates positively motivated towards their work.
• Social Factors: Social factors refer to the impact of the surrounding environment that includes Cultural norms, coworkers, etc. For example, If a person with good ethical behavior joins a new organization having poor culture, the person might not fit in that makes him dissatisfied with his job. On the other hand, if a person with unethical behavior joins a new organization having a good culture, the individual is likely to change his behavior based on the new organization or might leave the organization.

Managing the organizational behavior is a challenging matter these days since it is pretty demanding to focus on improving individual or group performance within an organization structure when a manager have to concern about every employee’s personality, cultural background, and psychological status in order to come out with strategies and tactics that may be applicable to the organization to develop optimal results. Innovation and creativity may play a highly important role in this issue because of the variables involved in the decision-making process in order to be able to relate employees with the organizational goals. Since theories and studies will never be enough to satisfy organizational needs, it is required to follow the empirical methodology to realize what are the flaws and strengths of the employees in the organization and how to get the maximum benefit from it.