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Running head: MOL 522E: COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY

MOL 522E: Course Analysis Summary


Jo Marie Harter
Medaille College

Authors Note
This paper was prepared on April 23, 2015 for MOL 522E taught by Kevin Palmer.

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The Organizational Development and Behavior course has influenced my own thinking
and perspectives in regards to leadership and the roles that leaders play within organizations.
The self-assessment tools have been beneficial in gaining insight into my own leadership style
and how I interact and lead teams. Examining the characteristics of influential leaders has
helped to open my eyes to the traits that I hope to someday bestow upon the teams of which I
supervise. Understanding organizational design has also been helpful in gaining knowledge of
the structures and influences within organizations.
This course has helped me to further understand employee commitment in the workplace.
Several factors can impact commitment, but committed employees perform more highly in their
job, are flexible, and have better attendance and longer tenure than those who are not committed.
Leaders can foster employee commitment by communicating the organizational goals and
mission, creating a sense of community and promoting and fostering professional development.
We explored several theories of management and examined how they are applicable in
organizations today. These theories included the scientific management theory which matched
the employee with their job capabilities, the administrative theory which focused on managing
tasks, as well the human relations theory which focused on the attitudes and feelings of
organizational functioning taking into account employee morale and participation. Theory X and
Theory Y examined inherent employee motivation, with polar opposite perspectives of
employees being lazy or hard working respectively. It is helpful for leaders to have a basic
understanding of the management theories, but ultimately, must incorporate the factors from each
theory that is the best fit for the organization. Each organization and leader are inherently
different, reinforcing the importance of finding the appropriate management method for the
situation.

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Personality plays a significant role in how leaders lead and employees are led.
Completing the DiSC assessment helped me to gain insight into my own personality and
behavior styles when working with others. It helped to raised my awareness of my own
strengths and weaknesses and as well as gain an understanding of how I interact with others.
Examining employee motivation and completing the ESCI-U assessment provided
valuable feedback regarding my current behavior and relationships in the workplace. It provided
essential feedback regarding areas of strengths and weaknesses within my current work teams.
This has helped raise my awareness of my own behaviors and changes I need to make to help
employees become more self-motivated in their work. Setting goals, sharing visions, fostering
autonomy and creating a positive culture can also help promote motivation. Examining the
various motivational theories helped to provide a greater understanding of the various
approaches of managing employee motivation.
The exercises regarding ethics were an interesting way to gain different perspectives on
ethical vs. unethical behavior in the workplace. Unethical behavior and have a significant
negative impact on organizations ranging from revenue loss to dishonorable reputations in the
community. Setting clear expectations and having checks and balances within organizations is
imperative to reinforcing ethical behavior. There are many ethical frameworks from which
people can operate, which pay a part in our moral reasoning and decision making. Having a
greater understanding of the various frameworks including utilitarian, individual rights principle,
justice principle, caring principle, and environmentalism, provide a background into what can
influence our ethical (or unethical) decisions.
Work stress can be a detriment to many organizations. Stress can lead to higher rates of
absenteeism, poor work performance, decreased job satisfaction, drug and alcohol use, and

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various types of physical illness. Leaders play an important role in helping employees manage
stress. Some factors that can help reduce work related stress are effective communication,
support for home/work life, connectedness amongst co-workers, maintaining job consistency,
and encouraging non-work related activities outside of work. Our organization has a wellness
committee which organizes events for staff to help promote a sense of team and community.
There are also several opportunities to partake in free exercise and wellness programs throughout
the organization.
Assertive communication and active listening are also important techniques for leaders to
embrace. Learning to communicate assertively can eliminate ambiguity and lets others know
how you feel without placing blame. Active listening allows employees to feel heard and
supported by managers. Understanding the various barriers and distortions to communication
was helpful and thought provoking. Requesting clarification and providing feedback can help
reduce any miscommunication.
This course also stressed the importance of understanding, developing and fostering
teamwork. Learning more about team dynamics and how these dynamics impact a teams ability
to function encouraged me to look at the dynamics within my own work teams. Group norms
and cultural differences also play an important role in team dynamics. It is important for leaders
to have an awareness of the norms and to support and help maneuver the cultural differences
within teams.
It is important for leaders to learn effective problem solving skills within organizations.
Problem solving requires communication, conflict management, creativity and commitment to
solutions. There are four problem solving stages that include situation analysis, problem
analysis, solution analysis, and implementation analysis.

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Managing creativity is another important skill for leaders. Creativity in the workplace
can lead to innovative ideas, improved performance and sustainability for organizations.
Creative people are risk takers that can help push the organization to new levels. Leaders can
foster creativity by giving employees what they need to do their job and allowing them the
autonomy to do it.
Recognizing the sources of conflict is a useful skill for leaders. Some causes of conflict
include differences in values, beliefs, goals, education, and expectations. There are many
approaches to conflict resolution. There are five strategic interventions for managing conflict
which include competing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising, and collaborating. There
are also significant cultural differences where culture is concerned. Gaining perspectives on
different cultures and their impact on conflict is also important for leaders, as cultural differences
must be considered when managing conflict.
Diversity issues are prevalent in many organizations today and go well beyond cultural
and ethnic values. Organizations must become more proactive when managing diversity,
providing training and education to address bias, fear, and ignorance. Diversity issues can
include age, sex, religion, culture, and sexual orientation.
High performing organizations recognize the benefits of empowering employees. These
benefits include a higher work performance, creativity, and commitment. Organizations can
promote empowerment by soliciting input from employees, teaching employees to make sound
decisions, encouraging self-exploration, providing autonomy, and coaching. Coaching can help
employees strive to improve their own work performance and maintain positive relationships.
Five types of coaching include tutoring, counseling, mentoring, confronting, and high
performance coaching.

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Managing change can also be a challenge for leaders. Learning to manage change,
reduce resistance and help organizations to be change ready can be a big feat for leaders.
Essential components of the change process are: determining the need for change, forming a
guiding coalition, developing a shared vision, creating a tentative plan, analyzing potential
resistance and obtaining participation, establishing an implementation plan, and communicating,
implementing and evaluating change.
Many of the leadership practices covered in this course were familiar to me, however,
learning the theories and specific skills associated with the theories was very beneficial. I have
increased my own knowledge and skills of understanding behavior, problem solving, decision
making, conflict resolution, and change management. These are skills that I will utilize in my
current and future role as a leader. The team exercises were helpful in looking at differing views
of the same problem and allowed us to work through differences of opinion and come to a
consensus, putting some of the practical skills of the course into action.
Overall, this course has been very beneficial to my growth as a leader. It has increased
my awareness of the many components that impact organizations and stressed the importance of
learning to manage these factors. It has provided the basic skills and techniques to manage a
variety of situations and understand the importance of a leaders influence within organizations.
Thank you!

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References
Osland, J., Kolb, D., Rubin, I., & Turner, M. (2007). Organizational Behavior: An Experiential
Approach. Upsaddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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