Organizational Behavior

Organizational Business

In today's high demanding world it is important for employees to understand the framework of their company. For an employee to be truly successful, they must have an understanding of organizational behavior, culture and diversity, communication, effectiveness and efficiency, and learning.

Organizational behavior (OB) could be defined as the study that investigates the impact of individual and group dynamics in an organizational setting (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005). "OB is a knowledge base that helps people work together to improve the performance of organizations"(Schermerhorn et al.). In his article "The Company of the Future" Robert Reich explains some of the OB trends that I have experienced while working for The Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG). These trends include: commitment to ethical behavior, importance of human capital, and emphasis on teamwork. PBG follows strict guidelines for ethical behavior. PBG understands that their employees are their greatest assets and places a premium on knowledge. Today organizations "are less vertical and more horizontal in focus; driven by complex environments and customer demands, work is increasingly team-based with a focus on peer contributions" (Schermerhorn et al.). Organizational behavior is increasingly emphasized in today's global economy, as people with diverse backgrounds and cultural values have to work together.

Organizational culture "is the system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within an organization and guides the behavior of its members"(Schermerhorn et al., 2005). Two essential functions of organizational culture are external adaptation and internal integrations. External adaptation involves reaching goals and tasks, methods used to achieve goals, and ways of coping with success and defeat. Through team members shared experiences, they develop common notions to guide though their day-to-day activities (Schermerhorn et al.). At PBG we share sales experiences with other team members in hope to follow are goal and belief to defeat Coke. Internal integration "deals with the creation of a collective identity and with finding ways of matching methods of working and living together"(Schermerhorn et al.). Three important aspects of working together are deciding who is a member and who is not, developing an informal understanding of both acceptable and unacceptable behavior, and separating friends from enemies (Schermerhorn et al.). In today's global economy internal integration will face more difficult obstacles with a more diverse workforce.

In today's global market companies are placing more of an emphasis on diversity. Diversity being, "the presence of individual differences based on gender, race and ethnicity, age, able-bodied ness, and sexual orientation"(Schermerhorn et al., 2005). Recent demographics have shown that in America we are becoming more diverse, and with the addition of a more global economy a diverse workforce has become a necessity. A diverse workforce brings cultural ideas together to compete with the global marketplace. Currently at PBG we have set a goal to become as diverse as the communities we serve. Becoming more diverse as a company will allow PBG to communicate with customers and consumers needs quicker and more accurately.

Communication is simply the process of sending and receiving messages. "Great organizations are built on an extraordinary willingness of managers to communicate" (Schermerhorn et al., 2005). With today's technological advances, business communication has become more effective. A company's traditional communication channels are meetings, letters, memos, and telephone. The new technological channels are e-mail and videoconference meetings. These new channels allow companies to communicate with associates around the world within seconds. Organizations information flows though formal and informal channels of communication (Schermerhorn et al.). Formal channels of communication follow the levels of organizational hierarchy. Formal channels communicate policy, procedures, and official announcements. In contrast informal communication works against the vertical chains of