Reinforcing New Behaviors

Reinforcing New Behaviors

Name:

Institution:

Reinforcing New Behaviors

Organizations have different stakeholders who have different interests. Some of the stakeholders may seem to be in competition with each other, and organizations aim at ensuring they fulfill the needs of all. Organizations that value multiple stakeholders recognize the value and importance of all the people working in the organizations. Such organizations value employees and consider them an important aspect in enabling them realize their goals. Other than the organizations’ employees, other stakeholders within the organizations include customers, owners, suppliers, and managers among others. Each stakeholder has a role to play. Organizations are able to recognize the needs of the different stakeholders, and are able to satisfy them. Such organizations tend to be more adaptive compared to those that value a single stakeholder, as each of them is committed to the needs of the firm.

When organizations show their customers that they appreciate and value them, such customers are willing to maintain their loyalty to the organization. Organizations that value their customers ensure that they treat them well, and make them feel that they are a part of the company. As such, even in the worst of times, such as during an economic crisis, such customers will return to the organization and will prefer doing business with them even if there is stiff competition. Employees are only committed to the organization and realizing its objectives and goals when the firm shows that it values their contribution and it is committed towards realizing their personal goals. Suppliers who feel that the company appreciates them retain their business with their customers, even if the competition offers a better deal. Having multiple stakeholders enables the organization to keep on operating, and realize returns despite challenges in the economy or emergence of new competition (Jahawar & McLaughlin, 2001).

Organizations that value a single stakeholder are not concerned about other people with interests in the organization. Some organizations are only concerned with the stockholders value, and neglect other stakeholders. Such organizations are not able to recognize problems when they appear, and they are not able to deal with impending disasters (Hilman & Keim, 2001). Such organizations are only concerned with satisfying the immediate goals of the stakeholder. For instance, a manager or owner of a company will only be interested in the profits that he or she will incur, and will not consider the needs of his or her employees. Employees in such organizations are not willing to commit, and there tends to be a high turnover. They do not commit to organizations where the management is not sensitive to their needs or who do not care about them. Some of the managers are authoritarian and only care about the power they hold within organizations. They do not know how to communicate effectively, and this can lead to conflict in the organization because of misunderstandings. Employees and other stakeholders in such organizations feel frustrated working under such situations. Since the main goal of the single stakeholder is profitability, the stakeholder will not realize the need of mutual benefits for the organization and the suppliers. Therefore, suppliers will want to take their businesses elsewhere.

Leaders who hold theory Y values assume that people are ambitious and motivated. They assume that people are active and interested in their work. Leaders also assume that everyone is interested in change. The self-sealing value loop will enable the leader to identify moments when he sees his beliefs concerning his employees realized. His attitude is that he has hardworking employees who are committed to the organization. He will interpret any actions from the employees as a way of fulfilling the organizational objectives. Leaders who hold theory Y values tend to think that the employees are driven and that they want larger roles in the organization. Such leaders encourage employees to take new challenges and apply creativity to find solutions to problems.

There is strong empowerment of employees in organizations with theory Y leadership as they are part of the decision making process. Employees participate in the change and planning process because the leaders have a democratic style that recognizes individual contribution. There is a high respect of the opinions and decisions made by the employees. The leaders believe that the employees want to succeed and that they want to do their best. Leaders use open systems and self-managing teams to manage the organizations. They understand the importance of effective communication within the organization, as this ensures that the feedback received is accurate. They apply fairness when dealing with different situations (Goethals et al., 2007).

People apply model 1 theories in difficult situations, which involve making assumptions about people’s behavior. The person does not check the validity of these assumptions, and he tends to express his views without explaining his reasoning. This creates a situation where one may think that the person is not interested in understanding the other person’s perspectives. Leaders using model 1 theory do not necessarily do the actions they purport to believe in, and their words are different from their actions. Although theory Y has many positives, it encourages competition within the workplace as every person wants to be recognized for the contribution that he has made to the organization. The outcome of using this approach is that learning does not take place, and there is self-sealing protection in an effort to avoid negative feedback, such as threats or embarrassment (Cornelius, 2002).

References

Cornelius, N. (2002). Building workplace equality: Ethics, diversity and inclusion. New York: Cengage Learning EMEA

Goethals, R. G., Sorenson, J. G., & Burns, M. J. (2007). Encyclopedia of leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE

Hillman, J. A., & Keim, D. G. (2001). Shareholder value, stakeholder management and social issues: What’s the bottom line? Strategic Management Journal, 22 (2), 125-139

Jahawar, M., & McLaughlin, L. G. (2001). Toward a descriptive stakeholder theory: An organizational life cycle approach. Academic Management Review, 26 (3), 357-414