Organizational Behavior Trends

Organizations today often encourage change to better work environment. However, these changes often cause unwanted results which were unexpected. This leads us to observe organizational behavior in hope of minimizing unwanted negative result. What is organizational behavior and why is it important for companies to understand it? Organizational behavior is the study of behavior and attitudes of individual and groups in organizations. These behaviors impact how employees action and reactions. By understanding how organizational behavior impact companies and what values it brings to companies, will allow managers to be much more effective. There are many factors involve organizational behavior such as ethics and stress. Both the ethics and stress impact how individual or group behave within organization.
Business ethics defines how a company integrates a core values such as honesty, trust and fairness into policies, practices, process and procedure. Businesses also have many on going trainings for their employees to ensure all employees are following policies and procedures. Some time even good managers commit unethical act because they do not carefully think through. All companies have policies that are supposed to help managers make right decision. Even than sometime managers gives in to what they perceive to be the pressure, for example, when boss tells them “Achieve specific sale, period,” In my opinion, those managers will do every thing they can to achieve specific sale, even if they have to break their own beliefs. This action is not acceptable. These actions are unethical. It is manager’s obligation to do what is right, just and fair.
Since Enron corporate scandal, the ethic in business world has taken more attention. All businesses are reviewing their process, procedure, and ethical policies to ensure all employees are making right decisions. Companies are paying more attention to their actions. They are also performing internal audits to ensure managers are not taking any unethical action. Many big companies are hiring auditor from outside addition to its internal audits. This allows them monitor activities effectively and to ensure business is operating to its policies.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was signed into law July 30, 2002. The law followed a series of very high profile scandals, such as Enron and WorldCom. The act introduced highly significant legislative changes to financial practices and corporate government regulation for companies with traded securities in the United States. This act requires businesses to review all there process and procedure to ensure that they are in compliance with Sarbanes Oxley act. Due to this Sarbanes Oxley Act, all organizations had SOX plan implemented where all departments, such was operation, purchasing, sales, human resource, receiving and legal, were required to go though their own departmental process and procedure. Once the process and procedure were reviewed, a process flow map was to be created and ensure proper controls were in place and to make sure that the organization is in compliance with SOX.
ABB Inc, where I work has ethic code policies which set some legal standards and provide guidance for internal rules and regulation. ABB is constantly utilizing its global present and effectively using its resources around the world for support in developing and strengthening its ethics programs. Many successful companies such as ABB have built ethical values and goals into their mission and vision statements. This helps managers and employees understand that values and ethical standards are important to company’s day-to-day operation and management planning.
Legal standard covers almost all aspect of company’s operation. Companies have strict guidelines for how all employees should comply with all legal standards. In United States, all companies must compile with U.S. laws. If for some reason, employee does not follow the laws than Federal Sentencing Guidelines is used to influence how U.S. laws should respond to misconduct of such employees.
Another trend in organization is stress. Stress plays big role in everyone’s life, business or personal. Stress is part of our life. Stress is basically tension or pressure that creates discomfort. “Stress is tension from extraordinary demands, constraints, or opportunities.” (page 371). Stressors are many varieties of things that cause stress. There are two types of stressors. Work stressor and Life stressor. Work stressor is basically things that involve creating stress due to work. Life stressor is things that create stress at home. Both of these types of stressors impact have positive and negative behavior. Positive are known as constructive stress and negative are known is distructive stress. Stress has great deal of impact on our health. Some of the known illnesses are stroke, heart attack, ulcers and depression. Recent advancement in technology also creates stress. Example, use of email has increase tremendously. Almost in every business, use of email play big role. Email has created good source of communication which is fast and reliable. In way, this could be positive or overwhelming or rather stressful for those who are receiving email more that ones capability to handle workload.
In Conclusion, Organizational behavior represents the behavior approach to management. Organizational behavior is how individual or group act and react to constant changing situation. Some factors within Organizational behavior are ethics and stress. These factors together make up portion of the organizational behavior. By understanding organization behavior, company can be more effective toward its mission, value and goal to be successful.

References
Organizational Behavior (9th ed.) J.R. Schermerhorn, Jr., J.G. Hunt, & R.N. Osborn Wiley, 2005 Hoboken, NJ
T.S. Bateman, S.A. Snell (2007). Management: The New Competitive Landscape (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin