Month: June 2020

Cross culture in the business world refers to a company’s efforts to ensure that its people interact effectively with professionals from backgrounds different from their own. Like the adjective cross-cultural, it implies a recognition of national, regional, and ethnic differences in manners and methods and a desire to bridge them.

A field of study, cross-cultural communication, has emerged to define and understand the many ways the different peoples of the world communicate with each other verbally and non-verbally.

The concept of cross culture is becoming critically important with the globalization of businesses. Many companies that seek to expand the markets for their products devote substantial resources to training employees on how to communicate and interact effectively with those from other cultures.

For example, when employees of an international company transfer to another country, they need to master the cross culture. They must not only learn the language but adapt to its social norms.

Today, cross culture education is considered imperative for employees acting in managerial capacities abroad. Failure to effectively communicate with subordinates or understand their actions can lead to cascading problems within the business.

The Disadvantages of Cross Culture

Every culture shapes how the most minute social, societal, and professional behaviors are interpreted, and that inevitably carries over into business. Some cultures view the association between a manager and a subordinate as a symbiotic relationship. In others, the manager is expected to rule as a bureaucrat.

 In some cultures, casual touching is common, while in others it would be viewed as disrespectful or worse.

Cross culture extends to body language, physical contact, and perceptions of personal space. In cultures that adhere to strict religious standards, interactions between members of the opposite sex, even in the business sphere, may be complicated.

Body language such as hand gestures may be frowned upon or, worse yet, may have meanings that were entirely unintended. In some cultures, casual touching is common, while in others it is viewed as rude, disrespectful, or worse.

Examples of Cross Culture

Accepting a business card from a Japanese businessperson is not a casual action. The person presenting the card will bow and present it with both hands. The recipient takes it with both hands, indicating respect.

In China, giving a direct “yes” or “no” answer, or demanding one of anyone else, is considered very rude. Meetings are for talking things over, not announcing decisions.

In Mexico, business is done primarily among friends and family. Visiting business people often seek an introduction through an intermediary with local connections.

Cross Cultural Competencies

Cross-cultural competencies refers to the knowledge, skills, and affect/motivation that enable individuals to adapt effectively in cross-cultural environment. Reference US Army document

Cross-cultural motivation

You are curious about new surroundings and cultures and actively seek out learning opportunities. You demonstrate cross-cultural motivation when you:

• Welcome the opportunity to learn more about the geography and culture of your work term city, region and country
• Take initiative to explore your environment
• Actively network with people from different cultures
• Take interest in current events in your work term country
• Engage with people in your employer organization and community

Cross-cultural knowledge

You have a good understanding of different cultures and apply this knowledge in your daily life. You demonstrate cross-cultural knowledge when you:

• Recognize and respect cultural diversity
• Learn appropriate, effective ways to communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds
• Know how to be diplomatic and sensitive to the dynamics of a cross-cultural workplace
• Understand how to communicate with people who speak or write a different language
• Know how to be adept in a new environment
• Understand ways to cope with constant change

The culture of a company influences the moral judgment of employees and stakeholders. Companies that work to create a strong ethical culture motivate everyone to speak and act with honesty and integrity. Companies that portray strong ethics attract customers to their products and services.

Customers are happy and confident in knowing they’re dealing with an honest company. Ethical companies also retain the bulk of their employees for the long-term which reduces costs associated with turnover. Investors have peace of mind when they invest in companies that display good ethics because they feel assured that their funds are protected. Good ethics keep share prices high and protect businesses from takeovers.

Creating an ethical organizational culture is possible for any company by taking the following 5 steps:

1. Top Management Leads Ethics by Example

One of the most noticeable ways that companies can demonstrate their commitment to creating an ethical organizational culture is to ensure that top managers and leaders lead by example. Employees look to the behavior of top management as an example of the type of behavior that the company finds acceptable in the workplace. Actions speak louder than words, so when top executives display ethical behavior, it sends a positive message to employees. Senior leaders need to be mindful of the fact that they’re being watched and be sure to practice what they preach.

Research backs up the notion of leading by example. Stanford psychologist, Al Bandura is known for his research on observational learning. Bandura’s stages of observational learning are:

• Attention
• Retention
• Reproduction
• Motivation

The stages suggest that people pay attention to the behavior of others and retain thoughts about it. Then they reproduce the behavior. After repeated times of having a good experience with behavior, people are motivated to repeat it.

2. Communicate Clear Expectations of Good Ethics

Companies that create and disseminate an official code of ethics send a clear message of the expectations for their employees. A code of ethics or code of conduct clearly outlines the organization’s primary values and ethical rules that they expect everyone to follow. The code should indicate that it applies to attire, attitudes, and behavior. Cultural norms and expectations are also inferred and are easily detected by observing the environment.

While it’s good to have a written record of the code of ethics, means nothing if top management fails to model ethical behavior. Employees are observant. They take note of whether the company is adhering to the ethical principles that it set or whether they are merely paying lip service.

3. Offer Formal Ethics Training

A formal ethics training program sends a strong message about a company’s ethical stance. Seminars, workshops, and other ethical training programs reinforce the organization’s standards of conduct and clarify the types of behaviors that the company deems permissible or out of bounds. Situational examples help to address how to handle possible ethical dilemmas. Workshops can help employees to work on their problem-solving skills. Trainings may include consultations from peers or mentors.

4. Reinforce Behavior You Want, and Don’t Reinforce Behavior You Don’t Want

Corporate culture always begins at the top. Managers should be evaluated on their ethical behavior as part of their annual performance appraisals. Their appraisals should include specific questions about how their decisions measure up against the code of ethics. Top executives should also be evaluated on the means they take to achieve their ethical goals as well as how the means lead to the ends.

Once again, research supports ethical principles. The principle of operant conditioning, by B.F. Skinner, represents that it’s possible to reinforce the behavior you want to see in others. The principle of operant conditioning also shows that companies shouldn’t reinforce behavior they don’t want to see in others.

People who act ethically should be noticeably rewarded for their behavior and those who fail to act and behave ethically should have consequences for unethical behavior. Rather than fire good employees who demonstrate a single ethics violation, the company may choose to provide correct feedback for the behavior along with a short probationary period. Correction should be conducted in the spirit of collaboration and education rather than punishment or chastisement.

This step should encourage companies to offer their employees opportunities for rewards, recognition, and social reinforcements. Rewards and recognition should be thoughtfully considered taking care to deliver it with attention to detail to avoid unintended consequences.

5. Provide Protection for Employees

Most employees will want to do the right thing especially if they work for a company that has high moral and ethical standards. It can be difficult for anyone to report unethical behavior that they witness in other people at the company. Shy or introverted employees may find it particularly challenging to report unethical behavior. Almost anyone would feel intimidated if they felt the need to report the unethical behavior of one of their superiors or someone in a senior management position.

There are several ways that companies can assure their employees that they can safely report unethical behavior without fear of losing their jobs or getting some sort of punishment or consequence. An objective third party such as an ethics counselor, ethics officer, ombudsman, or ethics consultant can be helpful in these situations. An ombudsman can get the tools and resources to help with a consultation or investigation of a complaint about ethical behavior.

Using Technology to Support Creating an Ethical Organizational Culture

In the best-case scenario, your company will never have to deal with an infraction of your Code of Ethics policy. Unfortunately, that’s not the reality for many companies. Here’s where it pays to take a modern approach to creating an ethical organizational culture. BoardEffect offers the perfect electronic platform for securely storing your code of conduct policies, reports, investigations, and the outcome of investigative results.  It provides a secure, confidential online space where a team can investigate, communicate, and collaborate about ethical reports that have the potential to harm the company’s reputation. In the event that an incident takes a legal turn, attorneys have quick access to the company’s code and all other documentation regarding the incident. The board administrator has the ability to limit the users who can participate in such discussions.

Organizational behavior is the study of both group and individual performance and action within an enterprise. This field of study scans human behavior in the working atmosphere.

It determines its effect on job structure, performance, communication, motivation, leadership, decision making abilities etc. The way an individual behaves and behavior as a group have two perspectives internal and external.

Behavior Analysis at Different Levels

Behavior as an individual or in a group is always analyzed by everyone in the organization. It is analyzed at three different levels:

• Individual level of analysis
• Group level of analysis
• Organizational level of analysis

1. Individual Level of Analysis

Organizational behavior, at this level of analysis massively draws upon psychology, engineering, and medicine. At the individual level of analysis, organizational behavior includes the study of learning, perception, creativity, motivation, and personality.

In addition, it also includes the study of turnover, task performance and evaluation, coordinated behavior, deviant work behavior, ethics, and cognition.

For example − Ram joins a company as an intern and is very open to learning new things but as time passes and he gets promoted his attitude towards his interns becomes rude. This is a fine example of individual level of analysis.

2. Group Level of Analysis

Organizational behavior, at this level of analysis, draws upon the sociological and socio-psychological discipline. At the group level of analysis, organizational behavior includes the study of group gesture, intra-group and intergroup dispute and attachment.

It is further extended to the study of leadership, power, norms, interpersonal communication, networks, and roles.

An example of this level of analysis: Board of directors of company X decide to give bonus to their workers as they have really worked hard on a certain project.

3. Organizational Level of Analysis

Organizational behavior, at this level of analysis draws upon sociology and political science. At this level of analysis, organizational behavior includes the study of organizational culture, structure, cultural diversity, inter-organizational cooperation and coordination.

It further includes the study of dispute, change, technology, and external environmental forces. Some other fields of study that adds to the interest of organizational behavior are ergonomics, statistics, and psychometrics.

To have a clear understanding on the topic and avoid any kind of confusion let’s look at an example at different levels and try to analyze it.

Individual Behavior

Individual behavior can be defined as a mix of responses to external and internal stimuli. It is the way a person reacts in different situations and the way someone expresses different emotions like anger, happiness, love, etc.

To get a brief idea about the individual behavior let us learn about the individual behavior framework and other key elements related to it.

Individual Behavior Framework

On the basis of these elements, psychologist Kurt Lewin stated the Field theory and outlined the behavior framework. This psychological theory studies the patterns of interaction between an individual and the environment. The theory is expressed using the formula

B = F(P,E)

where, B: Behavior, F: Behavior Function, P: Person, and E: Environment around the person.

Say for example, a well payed person who loses his job in recession may behave differently when unemployed.

Causes of Individual Behavior

Certain individual characteristics are responsible for the way a person behaves in daily life situations as well as reacts to any emergency situations. These characteristics are categorized as:

(a) Inherited Characteristics

The features individuals acquire from their parents or from our forefathers are the inherited characteristics. In other words, the gifted features an individual possesses by birth is considered as inherited characteristics.

Following features are considered as inherited characteristics:

• Color of a person’s eye
• Religion/Race of a person
• Shape of the nose
• Shape of earlobes

(b) Learned Characteristics

Nobody learns everything by birth. First our school is our home, then our society followed by our educational institutions. The characteristics an individual acquires by observing, practicing and learning from others and the surroundings is known as learned characteristics.

It consists of the following features:

• Perception: Result of different senses like feeling, hearing etc.
• Values: Influences perception of a situation, decision making process.
• Personality: Patterns of thinking, feeling, understanding and behaving.
• Attitude: Positive or negative attitude like expressing one’s thought.

Factors Influencing Individual Behavior

The way an individual addresses a situation single-handedly or say in a group is influenced by many factors. The key factors influencing an individual’s attitude in personal as well as social life are:

• Abilities
• Gender
• Race and culture
• Attribution
• Perception
• Attitude

Group Behavior

A group can be defined as two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve particular objectives. A group behavior can be stated as a course of action a group takes as a family. For example: Strike.

Types of Groups

There are two types of groups individuals form. They are formal groups and informal groups. Let us know about these groups.

1. Formal Groups

These are the type of work groups created by the organization and have designated work assignments and rooted tasks. The behavior of such groups is directed toward achieving organizational goals.

Formal groups can be further classified into two sub-groups:

• Command Group: It is a group consisting of individuals who report directly to the manager.
• Interest Group: It is a group formed by individuals working together to achieve a specific objective.

2. Informal Groups

These groups are formed with friendships and common interests.

These can be further classified into two sub-groups:

• Task group: Those working together to finish a job or task is known as a task group.
• Friendship group: Those brought together because of their shared interests or common characteristics is known as friendship group.

For example: A group of workers working on a project and reporting to the same manager is considered as command group, while a group of friends chilling out together is considered as an interest group or say members of a club.

Group Roles

The concept of roles is applicable to all employees within an organization as well as to their life outside the organization. A role is a set of expected behavior patterns attributed to the one who occupies the position demanded by the social unit.

Individuals play multiple roles at the same time. Employees attempt to understand what kind of behavior is expected from them. An individual when presented by divergent role expectations experiences role conflict.

Group Behavior: Example

Let us understand group behavior with the help of an example.

To work on a specific project, we make a group of four members: Rohit, Raj, Sid, and Rahul. It is not possible for anyone of them to complete the project individually, as it may be time-consuming as well as not all the members as individuals have mastered the skills required to complete the project. This indicates the need to come together as a group.

Moving ahead, now let us specify their roles. Rohit is the initiator as he proposes the idea of the project. Raj collects all the information and resources required for the project and becomes the informer. Sid is the clarifier as he interprets the data and saves refined information, while Rahul is the summarizer as he concludes the result of project stating what is to be achieved by the end of the project. These are the task-oriented roles.

When a group of people come together and present their ideas there is a fair chance of collision. Rohit tries to resolve all the disagreements and disputes in the first place and acts as a harmonizer, Sid makes sure that everybody is giving their full support and effort in the project and acts as a gate keeper, Raj is the one encouraging everyone and motivating them when they fail to try harder to complete the project and is the encourager, and Rahul tests the project at each stage and examines the major decision to be made and is acts as the consensus tester. These are the relationship-oriented roles of each member.

Individually each of them have different tasks to fulfill. Rohit tries to be the group leader and impose his ideas on others and we consider him as the dominator, Rahul is always up with excuses to avoid the task given to him and acts as a voider, Raj is the one who opposes everything but is never up with some new idea and becomes the blocker and Sid takes part in every group activity in a non-productive way and becomes the cavalier.

Models are the techniques which help us to understand complex things and ideas in a clear manner.

Models are frameworks or possible explanations why do people behave as they do at work. There are so many models as many are organizations. Varying results across the organizations are substantially caused by differences in the models of organizational behaviour. All the models of organizational behaviour are broadly classified into four types: autocratic, custodial, supportive and collegial. We discuss these four models beginning with the autocratic. O.B. is the study of human behaviour in organizations, the interface between human behaviour and the organization and the organization itself. The following figures shows, this interrelationship clearly.

The Autocratic Model

The basis of this model is power with a managerial orientation of authority. The employees in turn are oriented towards obedience and dependence on the boss. The employee need that is met is subsistence. The performance result is minimal.

In case of an autocratic model, the managerial orientation is doctorial. The managers exercise their commands over employees. The managers give orders and the employees have to obey the orders. Thus, the employees orientation towards the managers/bosses is obedience. Under autocratic conditions, employees give higher performance either because of their achievement drive or their personal liking to the boss or because of some other factor.

Evidences such as the industrial civilization of the United States and organizational crises do suggest that the autocratic model produced results. However, its principal weakness is its high human cost. The combination of emerging knowledge about the needs of the employees and ever changing societal values and norms suggested managers to adopt alternative and better ways to manage people at work. This gave genesis to the second type of models or organizational behaviour.

The Custodial Model

The basis of this model is economic resources with a managerial orientation of money. The employees in turn are oriented towards security and benefits and dependence on the organization. The employee need that is met is security. The performance result is passive cooperation.

While studying the employees, the managers realized and recognized that although the employees managed under autocratic style do not talk back to their boss they certainly think back about the system. Such employees filled with frustration and aggression vent them on their co-workers, families and neighbors. This made the managers think how to develop better employee satisfaction and security. It was realized that this can be done by dispelling employees’ insecurities, frustration and aggression. This called for introduction of welfare programmers to satisfy security needs of employees. Provision for an on site day-care centre for quality child care is an example of welfare programme meant for employees. Welfare programmes lead to employee dependence on the organization. Stating more accurately, employees having dependence on organization may not afford to quit even there seem greener pastures around. The welfare programmes for employees started by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi are worth citing in this context, IGNOU, in the beginning provided its employees facilities like house-lease facility, subsidized transport facility, day-time child care centre in the campus, etc. These made employees dependent on IGNOU which, in turn, became custodian of its employees.

The basis of this model is partnership with a managerial orientation of teamwork. The employees in turn are oriented towards responsible behavior and self-discipline.

Although the custodian approach brings security and satisfaction, it suffers from certain flaws also. Employees produce anywhere near their capacities. They are also not motivated to increase their capacities of which they are capable. Though the employees are satisfied, still they do not feel motivated or fulfilled in their work they do. This is in conformity with the research finding that the happy employees are not necessarily most productive employees. Consequently managers and researchers started to address yet another question. “Is there better approach/way to manage people?” The quest for a better way provided a foundation for evolvement to the supportive type of model of organizational behaviour.

The Supportive Model

The basis of this model is leadership with a managerial orientation of support. The employees in turn are oriented towards job performance and participation. The employee need that is met is status and recognition. The performance result is awakened drives.

The supportive model is founded on leadership, not on money or authority. In fact, it is the managerial leadership style that provides an atmosphere to help employees grow and accomplish their tasks successfully. The managers recognize that the workers are not by nature passive and disinterested to organizational needs, but they are made so by an inappropriate leadership style. The managers believe that given due and appropriate changes, the workers become ready to share responsibility, develop a drive to contribute their mite and improve themselves. Thus, under supportive approach, the management’s orientation is to support the employee’s job performance for meeting both organizational and individual goals.

However, the supportive model of organizational behaviour is found more useful and effective in developed nations and less effective in developing nations like ours because of employee’s more awakening in the former and less one in the latter nations.

The Collegial Model

The collegial model is an extension of the supportive model. As the literal meaning of the work ‘college’ means a group of persons having the common purpose, the collegial model relates to a team work/concept. The basic foundation of the collegial model lies on management’s building a feeling of partnership with employee. Under collegial approach, employees feel needed and useful. They consider managers as joint contributors to organizational success rather than as bosses.

Its greatest benefit is that the employee becomes self-discipline. Feeling responsible backed by self-discipline creates a feeling of team work just like what the members of a football team feel. The research studies report that compared to traditional management model, the more open, participative, collegial managerial approach produced improved results in situations where it is appropriate.

Although there are four separate models, almost no organization operates exclusively in one. There will usually be a predominate one, with one or more areas overlapping in the other models.

The first model, autocratic, had its roots in the industrial revolution. The managers of this type of organization operate out of McGregor’s Theory X. The next three models begin to build on McGregor’s Theory Y. They have each evolved over a period of time and there is no one “best” model. The collegial model should not be thought as the last or best model, but the beginning of a new model or paradigm.

Now, the sum and substances of these four models of organizational behaviour are summarized in Table.

Interpretation of Different Models : Various conclusions may be drawn from the study of different models as follows :

(i) As soon as the understanding of human behaviour develops or social conditions change, the model is bound to change. No one model is best for all times.

(ii) Models or organizational behaviour are related to hierarchy of human needs. As society advances on the need hierarchy, new models are developed to serve the higher order needs that is paramount at that time.

(iii) Present tendency towards more democratic models of organizational behaviour will continue to develop for long run.

(iv) Different models will remain in use though new model predominates as most appropriate for general use at any given time as task conditions differ from time to time and organization to organization.

Fig. A-B-Cs of Orgnizational Behaviour Modification

Challenges and Opportunities for Organizational Behaviour

• The Creation of a Global Village
• Adapting to Different People
• Improving Quality and Productivity
• Improving People’s Skills
• Management Control to Empowerment
• Stability to Flexibility
• Improving Ethical Behavior

Environmental Challenges: Globalization, Information Technology, Total Quality, Diversity and Ethics are like comparative advantage of labor in the market. Like Nokia Finland recruits employees from India, China, BMW and Mercedes build their cars outside their native places like their plants are mainly in South Africa. Another opportunity is through increased foreign assignments. Challenges like workforce diversity, cross cultural leadership, decision making, communication, dual career couple, stimulating innovation and change in the organization.

It is important to upgrade various types of technical and managerial skills to remain competitive in business environment, to manage workforce diversity and to implement ways of improving ethical behaviour within the organization at all levels.

The managers are posed with many challenges and opportunities to use “Organizational Behavior” concepts to enhance the overall effectiveness of individuals, groups and organization.

Some of the issues which need support from behavioural science and other interdisciplinary fields to offer creditable solutions are:

Improving People’s Skills

The employees and executives are really in need of a boost up to be equipped with the required skills relevant to the technological changes, structural changes, environmental changes which are accelerated at a fast pace. In absence of the fastback possession, the targeted goals can’t be achieved in time.

Main skills on focus are

Managerial skills which include listening, motivating, planning, organizing, leading, problem solving, decision making.

Technical skills.

To enhance these skills seminars, training and development session, career development programmes, induction and socialization and many more tools and techniques are adopted.

Designing an effective performance appraisal system with built-in training modules to help lower level cadres to upgrade their skill sets (conceptual, relational etc.) would be a remarkable.

Improving Quality and Productivity

Quality is a parameter which makes a product or service best or worst for the customers and users. It is a measure of expectation. A student expects the pen, she/he just bought, to write. The failure of the pen to write will express the failure of the product to meet the customer’s expectation.

“Deming” defined quality as a predictable degree of uniformity and dependability at low cost and suited to the market.

The key dimensions of quality are:

1. Performance

Primary/Perceptual characteristics of a product as signal, coverage, display quality etc. which are visible.

2. Features

Secondary characteristics, added features such as alarm clock added in mobile phones.

3. Conformance

To meet specifications according to industry standards.

4. Reliability

Probability of a product’s failure within a specific period of time.

5. Durability

Measure of product’s life having both economic and technical dimensions.

6. Services

Resolution of problems and complaints.

7. Response

Human-Human interface, such as courtesy of the dealer.

8. Aesthetics

Sensory characteristics such as exterior finish.

9. Reputation

Past performance and other intangibles such as being awarded rank first.

Managers confront the challenges of fulfilling the specific requirements of a customer. Implementing total quality management and re-engineering products to improve productivity and quality.

Responding to Globalization

With mostly market driven business, whenever the demand exists irrespective of distance, location, climatic conditions, the business operations are expanded to gain their market share and remain top ranked. Making maximum use of mass communication, internet, faster transportation, products and services are spreading across nations.

Example of such globalization is “more than 95% of Nokia cell phones are being sold outside of their home country Finland”.

Globalization affects a manager in

• A manager has to manage a diversified workforce that is likely to have very different needs, aspirations and attitudes from the ones that they are used to manage in their home country.
• Understanding culture of local people in order to adapt appropriate management style for the success the operations. It is important for the manager to show tolerance to sensitivity to various individual in the workforce.

Empowering People

The main concern is to delegate power and responsibility to lower level workforce and assigning more freedom to make choices about their schedules, operations, procedures and method of solving their work related problems.

The implementation of empowerment concept brings around reshaping of relationship between the manager and the employees where the manager works as a coach, advisor, sponsor, facilitator and a guide.

The manager must learn how to give up control and employees must learn how to take responsibility for their work and make better decision. This in many cases brings change in leadership style.

Coping with Temporariness

The product life cycles are slimming up and thus the methods of operations are improving and fashions are changing very fast. This rapid changing era brings a temporariness feel among the organization’s environment. The very long periods of stability is lost in the recent years due to competitiveness in providing better experience.

Actual jobs that workers perform are in a permanent state of flux so they need to upgrade their knowledge and skill sets.

Stimulating Innovation and Change

Today’s successful organizations must foster innovation and be proficient in the art of change, else they will become extinct in due course of time and vanish from business. Flexibility needs to be maintained at all times along with continually improving their quality and handle constant competition. The managers need to stimulate employee’s creativity and tolerance for change.

Emergence of E-Organization

Some important aspects that need to be discussed here are:

(i) E-Commerce

This refers to the business operations involving electronic mode of transactions encompassing presenting products on websites and filling order. Online shopping is a point of focus for media.

(ii) E-Business

It refers to the full breadth of activities included in a successful Internet-based enterprise. E-Commerce is a subset of e-business which includes developing strategies for running Internet-based companies, creating integrated supply chains, collaborating with partners to electronically coordinate design and production, identifying a different kind of leader to run a ‘virtual’ business, finding skilled people to build and operate intranets and websites and running the administrative side.

(iii) Growth rate of e-business

The application of internet operations are initially covers a small part of the business. A popular application of e-business is merely using the internet to better manage an ongoing business. E-business applications are also helping in improving communications with internal and external stakeholders and to better perform traditional business functions.

This is even becoming a government concern to use it for providing utility services through internet.

Improving Ethical Behaviour

The complexity of business operations is forcing workforce to face ethical dilemmas, where they are required to define right and wrong conduct in order to complete their assigned activities. The ground rules governing the constituents of good ethical behaviour has not been clearly defined. Blurring out of differentiation between right things from wrong behaviour becomes a dent in an organization.

The managers must evolve code of ethics to guide employees through ethical dilemmas. Organizing workshops, seminars, training programs help improving behavior of employees.

It is the duty of every individual to keep the climate within an organization healthy in terms of ethics and principals and maintain minimal degree of ambiguity

In the 1920s, Elton Mayo, an Australian-born psychologist and organizational theorist, began his research on the behavior of people in groups and how it affects individuals in the workplace, known as the Hawthorne studies.

At the time, Taylorism, or the application of science in the workplace to improve productivity, viewed individuals as machines that could work in unethical or unrealistic environments. Mayo, in contrast, popularized the idea of the “social person,” meaning organizations should treat people as individuals not machines with individual needs.

The human relations management theory is a researched belief that people desire to be part of a supportive team that facilitates development and growth. Therefore, if employees receive special attention and are encouraged to participate, they perceive their work as having significance and are motivated to be more productive, resulting in high-quality work.

Merriam-Webster defines “human relations” as the “study of human problems arising from organizational and interpersonal relations (as an industry).” That definition has translated to a business approach focused on supporting employees in their career development and agency at work in addition to running a profitable company.

A human relations-centric approach to management and business requires a special skill set on the part of employers and managers. To effectively carry out a human relations-focused workplace culture, five skills are essential.

The 5 human relations skills

While managers must have a vast array of skills, these five, in particular, are essential to successful human relations.

1. Communication

Open lines of communication are essential to any workplace, but this is especially vital for leaders practicing human relations management. Effective communication helps ensure that all employees not only are on the same page, but also feel motivated and valued in their work. This refers to in-person conversations as well as written communication such as emails and social media.

As a leader, you should be able to adapt your language to various situations, such as by modifying your word choice and formality for high-level executives versus the customer base. One useful communication technique is mirroring the other person’s approach people are more likely to respond well to those similar to them. Finding your common interests with them and matching their tone of voice or physical stance are great ways to subtly connect with your conversational partner.

2. Conflict resolution

Managing individuals with differing personality types, worldviews and goals can make universal agreement incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Therefore, you must be comfortable and well versed in conflict resolution. You will help your team work together in a civil manner even if they don’t agree with each other on all points to ensure the work gets done in a timely manner.

When dissent arises, you must be able to take individual perspectives into account and make each person feel heard and understood. Once you’ve synthesized the presented information, you must work with all parties to come up with a solution where everyone feels comfortable moving forward. While it’s impossible to make everyone happy 100% of the time, good conflict resolution skills can maintain or restore team harmony in the face of disagreement.

3. Multitasking

Managers face countless tasks, questions and issues to solve on a daily basis. They are responsible for not only themselves, but the success of their team, which means time spent checking in with their team and ensuring things are moving smoothly.

A good leader must be able to manage multiple, often competing priorities at once, without missing deadlines. Another important aspect of multitasking is flexibility; as a manager, you must adapt to policy or workplace changes that affect your employees’ daily workflow.

4. Negotiation

Whether there’s an employment offer to navigate, an agreement to establish between stakeholders and the company, or just opposing viewpoints to manage, negotiation happens regularly in the workplace. Strong negotiation skills are key to keeping the peace between two parties while reaching an agreement where all parties are satisfied. Effective communication techniques such as mirroring and adapting your language to your audience can also be useful in negotiations.

5. Organization

Organization is one of the most important human relations skills, as it impacts all other areas of work. You must keep your physical workspace, as well as your workflow process, highly organized. This is especially important when you’re filing paperwork or employee records, because everything must be completed correctly and on time. Staying organized is also a key part of time management and an efficient workflow.

As a leader, you must work efficiently and manage your time appropriately, especially when tackling multiple and often time-sensitive priorities, which is only possible when there is an organized process.

The skills of communication, conflict resolution, multitasking, negotiation and organization are all vital to human relations. Leaders who possess or develop these skills are well on their way to successfully implementing human relations management practices.

Popular human relations management theories

These are some of the human relations management theory basics:

• Individual attention and recognition align with the human relations theory.
• Many management theorists support the motivational theory, which ties in to the human relations theory.
• Studies support the importance of human relations in business.

The results of Mayo’s Hawthorne studies showed that relationships are the most influential factor in productivity. The researchers realized productivity increased due to relationships and supportive groups where each employee’s work had a significant effect on the team output. As a side result, the attention the workers received from the researchers increased their motivation and productivity, in an example of what is now known as the Hawthorne effect.

How motivational theory fits with human relations in management?

After the Hawthorne studies, Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor revealed how the motivational theory ties in with theories of human relations. Maslow suggested that five basic needs (physiological, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization) are motivating factors in an employee’s work values, because the employee is motivated to ensure the most important of these individual needs are met. McGregor supported motivational beliefs by recognizing that employees contribute more to the organization if they feel responsible and valued.

Remember, human relations falls under the umbrella of human resources; therefore, the human resources theory is different from the human relations management theory.

The bottom-line results of human relations management theories

The result of the studies regarding human relations in the workplace show that people want to feel a sense of belonging and significance while being treated with value and respect. If you treat an employee with that value and respect, their individual productivity and quality will increase to support the organizational team.

Now more than ever, businesses rely on information control, whether running the infrastructure’s hardware or directing facts and figures to the right personnel at the right time. Managers must direct information and control messages in a variety of settings using a wide assortment of tools. Well-managed communication enables staff to stay connected and keeps a company operating effectively in the marketplace.

Communication on our organization is challenging! There are so many individuals we must communicate with from the very beginning through to implementation and evaluation and they all want to be communicated with differently! Additionally, our communications vary depending on the role we have on the project, the stage of the project that we are in, and with whom we are communicating. Regardless of your role on the project you must learn to communicate effectively to be successful.

While there are many paths we can take in discussing communications on projects, this paper will discuss best practices for engaging stakeholders early on and continuing to communicate and engage stakeholders and others throughout the project lifecycle. Additionally, given that many of our projects these days have a virtual component and likely we are working with individuals from across the globe our communications are becoming even more complex and challenging. The use of technology enables for more effective communications in such situations along with an understanding of cultural differences and their impact on how we process communications received.

Communications Systems

People use laptops, net books and smart phones to send and receive voice, text, and video anytime, anywhere. Executives charged with managing communications must keep up with communications technology, not to buy the latest iteration, but to ensure staff can focus on interacting and pooling resources to get work done. Managers must determine which combination works easily and transparently, with enough flexibility to adapt to changes or growth in the corporation. For example, email serves to quickly convey bits of information and act as an electronic paper trial, but neither can handle overly complex messages nor replace the rapid exchange of meaning accomplished through face-to-face interaction accomplished with video conferencing or even by telephone.

One-to-one Communications

Managers frequently impart information on an individual basis, from formal interviews to hallway chats. To connect person to person, managers must receive messages as clearly as they send them. When sharing ideas, managers cannot only state the desired action, but offer expected results or benefits to motivate the employee into executing the task. Managers must listen intently, noting voice tone and body language to pick up the entire signal. Managers also can draw out information with open-ended, neutral questions that force staff beyond nodding yes or saying no without making them feel defensive, by asking “what makes you feel that way?” or “how did you reach that conclusion?”

Small Group Discussions

Managers can facilitate productive meetings by achieving objectives in a minimal amount of minimizing time. The manager acting as moderator can prepare participants for a meeting by distributing an agenda with the objective clearly delineated. She also can assign tasks, such as potential solutions to problems or project progress reports, to ensure participants contribute during the meeting. While in the meeting, she can foster a safe atmosphere by clearly presenting ideas, focusing on the objective rather than on individuals, encouraging participants to open up and offer honest opinions, and ensuring everyone understands the ideas presented to the group.

Presentation

Whether training employees, delivering a sales pitch, or presenting results to stakeholders, managers control the presented message by carefully crafting the address. He prepares the message by asking the time-honored reporter’s questions of who the audience is, what they need to hear, how best to deliver the address, when and where the address takes place, and why they need the information in the presentation. The he over-prepares, developing a firm grasp not only of individual facts but of the overall context and how it impacts the audience. This allows him to focus on connecting with the audience, rather than worrying about forgetting specific lines. When using visual aids, such as a PowerPoint presentation, he can streamline the notes or bullet points by thinking about phrases or news headlines rather than sentences, then enforcing what’s on the screen with spoken statements.

Written Communication

From staff emails to major ad campaigns, managers’ messages fall flat if no one notices them. As people become more bombarded with information, they will filter out a greater percentage to focus on what they feel is most relevant to them. Managers must understand what motivates their audiences in order to persuade people to move in the direction leaders want them to go, whether starting a new initiative or purchasing a new product. They can craft effective messages if they follow the acronym AIDA: Attract attention by building a word picture; hold their Interest in the subject by adding relevant information; appeal to their Desire by getting beyond facts or attributes to the underlying benefits that will fulfill wants or needs; and clearly describe the Action to take, including how, where and when the action should take place.

Generally speaking, time management is how we use the time we have to reach our goals or finish the tasks we’ve been assigned to efficiently.

“Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.”

Time management strategies help you handle work you’ve been assigned to within the time you have.

Working as a project manager, you may be assigned to a different number of tasks each iteration. You need to plan, manage and track your team’s work, too.

Time Management Strategies are:

1. Plan your work ahead

Knowing what you want to accomplish in a specified timeframe already sets you up for success, study reveals.

In his paper “The Impact of Planning on Project Success”, Pedro Serrador from University of Toronto points to a correlation between planning and project success. Based on the literature review, Serrador found that project success is closely linked to both project and cost efficiency. It means that quality planning can not only increase the chance that the project will be completed successfully, but it will also be cost-effective.

Planning your daily tasks may be as simple as creating a to-do list consisting of must-haves and want-to-haves. When planning for several projects, though, having a high-level project plan will improve visibility of requirements across different assignments, but also help to establish goals and requirements for each project.

2. Set clear priorities

Sometimes a list of things you need to do may seem overwhelming. To make it manageable, it’s better to divide your to-do list into smaller chunks. Setting clear priorities will help you order your tasks according to their importance, urgency and effort needed to accomplish them.

To distinguish important and urgent tasks from your to-do list, you may use the Eisenhower Matrix. It’s a productivity tool with a clear focus of organizing your tasks into four categories:

• Important and urgent: These are the tasks you should do first
• Important but not urgent: Tasks you can schedule to do later
• Not important but urgent: If possible, you may delegate these tasks
• Not important and not urgent: You can skip tasks falling into this category

What’s great about the Eisenhower Matrix is that you may create it on-the-go with just a pen and paper to quickly prioritize your assignments.

3. Focus on one task at a time

While some praise multitasking, it appears to make more harm than good. According to the article on perils of multitasking published on Entrepreneur, doing several tasks at once is ineffective and inefficient. As human brain needs time to switch from one task to another, trying to do too many things create a lag time, when we’re actually not being as productive as we might want to be.

Instead, try to focus on one task at a time and complete it, and after that switch to another one. This way, especially if you give yourself at least few minutes of rest between assignments, the transition is smooth and your brain is ready to take on a new task.

One of techniques you may use is a Pomodoro Technique. It splits the work into shorter, 25 minutes long sessions, with a rest breaks between them. It’s a proven way to increase productivity, as it’s easier to force yourself to focus on a single task. Plus, you won’t end up worn out, and remain productive for a longer time.

The name, coming from an Italian word for a tomato, was inspired by the kitchen timer. Today, there are devices you can use designed specifically for this technique, counting the exact 25 minutes you should devote to work.

4. Minimize interruptions

This one can be tricky, as according to PMI 90% of PM’s work is communication, but sometimes you do tasks that require deep focus and minimizing interruptions. It may be working on a project documentation or creating a report.

Say you’re using a Pomodoro Technique. In order to use it effectively, you need to cut out any possible distractions, so you can remain deeply focused on a task for 25 minutes.

Interruptions you need to get rid off may come from emails, calls, colleagues or chat conversations. It may be tempting to check your inbox every once in a while, get involved in an office small talk or hang out with your team on a chat. But truth is, it kills your productivity.

Here’s what you can do instead:

• If you worry about missing an important emails, set yourself a dedicated time when you’ll check your inbox. Every other time is dedicated to the assigned tasks.
• Tell your teammates not to disturb you when you use headphones. At the same time, you may listen to music that helps you concentrate (or to some white noise, if you prefer).
• Snooze notifications and put your phone out of sight to avoid checking it compulsively.

Distractions are what drives us away from work. Minimize them and you’ll see how easier it is for you to focus on completing a task.

5. Set yourself shorter deadlines

Ever felt like the more time you have for a given task, the bigger the chance that you’ll procrastinate instead of using that time to get things done earlier? This tendency to put work aside, called the Parkinson’s Law, has been first explained in the Economist article back in 1955.

Parkinson stated that “the work expands as to fill the time available for its completion”. Thus, if you have more time to finish a task than you actually need, the chances are you won’t do it any quicker.

What you can do about that, is actually setting yourself shorter deadlines. If you will still struggle to force yourself to finish a task faster, ask someone from your team to review your work at a certain date, so you now have to do the work in order to show them results.

6. Learn to delegate

No man is an island. Chances are that there are people at your organization with skills and time to help you deliver some of the tasks you struggle with, or simply don’t have time for.

As you’ve seen already while completing the Eisenhower Matrix, it’s actually advised to find the tasks you can delegate, so you can focus on more important and urgent ones.

To spot available team members with skills needed for a specific task, use resource allocation tool. In Teamdeck, for example, you may quickly filter all employees by their role and view their bookings and availability in a simple calendar view.

Delegating work you may actually show your employees that you value their input. Empower them to make decisions and, if needed, limit yourself to supervise them. This way you not only have less on your plate, but let your subordinates grow professionally, too.

7. Learn to say no

Knowing your limits when it comes to the amount of work you’re able to finish in a given timeframe is very important to not only deliver what you’ve committed to. It also helps to avoid work-related stress and, eventually, feeling burnt out.

Saying no to your supervisor, manager or even boss may be intimidating, but there are ways to do it politely and assertively:-

• Give a reason: Explain what other important tasks you’re doing at the moment and how taking on new ones will affect them.
• Let them prioritize: If you already have lots on your plate and your supervisor asks you to take on another one, present them with your list of priorities. Let them decide whether the task they’re asking you to do have a higher priority, or not.
• Don’t lie: Fake excuses are not a good way to deal with requests. Be open about why you’re not able to do something at the moment.
• Ask if the task may be postponed: Lots of time the initial date someone asks you to deliver a task is not it’s definite due-date. Show them that if it’s possible to schedule new task for later, it would be possible for you to take it on.

As you don’t want to be viewed as the one who refuses to work, showing why you can’t take on more tasks or negotiating over deadlines may help you to reduce the number of new assignments.

8. Summarize each day

Keeping daily summaries of your work helps you to discover where you did well, and what remains to be done.

At the end of each day, take a look at your list and check the tasks you’ve completed. Seeing what you’ve managed to accomplish is a great way to get motivated for the next day.

Learning organizational is the process of creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge within an organization. An organization improves over time as it gains experience. From this experience, it is able to create knowledge. This knowledge is broad, covering any topic that could better an organization. Examples may include ways to increase production efficiency or to develop beneficial investor relations. Knowledge is created at four different units: individual, group, organizational, and inter organizational.

The most common way to measure organizational learning is a learning curve. Learning curves are a relationship showing how as an organization produces more of a product or service, it increases its productivity, efficiency, reliability and/or quality of production with diminishing returns. Learning curves vary due to organizational learning rates. Organizational learning rates are affected by individual proficiency, improvements in an organization’s technology, and improvements in the structures, routines and methods of coordination.

Learning organizations develop as a result of the pressures facing modern organizations; this enables them to remain competitive in the business environment.

Benefits of Learning Organization

• Maintaining levels of innovation and remaining competitive.
• Improved efficiency.
• Having the knowledge to better link resources to customer needs.
• Improving quality of outputs at all levels.
• Improving corporate image by becoming more people oriented.
• Increasing the pace of change within the organization.
• Strengthening sense of community in the organization.
• Improving long term decision making.
• Improving knowledge sharing.

Characteristics of Learning Organization

1. Systems thinking

The idea of the learning organization developed from a body of work called systems thinking. This is a conceptual framework that allows people to study businesses as bounded objects. Learning organizations use this method of thinking when assessing their company and have information systems that measure the performance of the organization as a whole and of its various components. Systems thinking states that all the characteristics must be apparent at once in an organization for it to be a learning organization. If some of these characteristics are missing then the organization will fall short of its goal.

2. Personal mastery

The commitment by an individual to the process of learning is known as personal mastery. There is a competitive advantage for an organization whose workforce can learn more quickly than the workforce of other organizations. Learning is considered to be more than just acquiring information; it is expanding the ability to be more productive by learning how to apply our skills to our work in the most valuable way. Personal mastery appears also in a spiritual way as, for example, clarification of focus, personal vision and ability to see and interpret reality objectively. Individual learning is acquired through staff training, development and continuous self-improvement; however, learning cannot be forced upon an individual who is not receptive to learning. Research shows that most learning in the workplace is incidental, rather than the product of formal training, therefore it is important to develop a culture where personal mastery is practiced in daily life. A learning organization has been described as the sum of individual learning, but there must be mechanisms for individual learning to be transferred into organizational learning. Personal mastery makes possible many positive outcomes such as individual performance, self-efficacy, self-motivation, sense of responsibility, commitment, patience and focus on relevant matters as well as work-life balance and well-being.

3. Mental Models

Assumptions and generalizations held by individuals and organizations are called mental models. Personal mental models describe what people can or cannot detect. Due to selective observation, mental models might limit peoples’ observations. To become a learning organization, these models must be identified and challenged. Individuals tend to espouse theories, which are what they intend to follow, and theories-in-use, which are what they actually do. Similarly, organizations tend to have ‘memories’ which preserve certain behaviours, norms and values. In creating a learning environment it is important to replace confrontational attitudes with an open culture that promotes inquiry and trust. To achieve this, the learning organization needs mechanisms for locating and assessing organizational theories of action.

4. Shared vision

The development of a shared vision is important in motivating the staff to learn, as it creates a common identity that provides focus and energy for learning. The most successful visions build on the individual visions of the employees at all levels of the organization, thus the creation of a shared vision can be hindered by traditional structures where the company vision is imposed from above. Therefore, learning organizations tend to have flat, decentralized organizational structures.

5. Team learning

The accumulation of individual learning constitutes team learning. The benefit of team or shared learning is that staff grow more quickly and the problem solving capacity of the organization is improved through better access to knowledge and expertise. Learning organizations have structures that facilitate team learning with features such as boundary crossing and openness. In team meetings members can learn better from each other by concentrating on listening, avoiding interruption, being interested in and responding. As a result of development, people don’t have to hide or overlook their disagreements. By those they make their collective understanding richer. Team learning is at its best: The ability to think insightfully about complex issues, the ability to take innovative, coordinated action and the ability to create a network that will allow other teams to take action as well. Team’s focus is on transferring both quiet and explicit information across the group and creating an environment where creativity can flourish. Team learn how to think together. Team learning is process of adapting and developing the team capacity to create the results that its members really want. Team learning requires individuals to engage in dialogue and discussion; therefore team members must develop open communication, shared meaning, and shared understanding. Learning organizations typically have excellent knowledge management structures, allowing creation, acquisition, dissemination, and implementation of this knowledge in the organization.

Organizational Learning Theory: The Three Types of Learning

Argrys and Schon (1996) identify three levels of learning which may be present in the organization:

Single loop learning: Consists of one feedback loop when strategy is modified in response to an unexpected result (error correction). E.g. when sales are down, marketing managers inquire into the cause, and tweak the strategy to try to bring sales back on track.

• Double loop learning: Learning that results in a change in theory-in-use. The values, strategies, and assumptions that govern action are changed to create a more efficient environment. In the above example, managers might rethink the entire marketing or sales process so that there will be no (or fewer) such fluctuations in the future.
• Deutero learning: Learning about improving the learning system itself. This is composed of structural and behavioral components which determine how learning takes place. Essentially deuterolearning is therefore “learning how to learn.”

This can be closely linked to Senge’s concept of the learning organization, particularly in regards to improving learning processes and understanding/modifying mental models.

Effective learning must therefore include all three, continuously improving the organization at all levels. However, while any organization will employ single loop learning, double loop and particularly deutero learning are a far greater challenge.

Motivated and disciplined employees are often the result of punishment or reward. A workplace is collective place of various individuals with different personality types. Some individuals might perform better under good rewards whereas, the others might perform better to a fear of punishment.

In workplace, the manager attempts to motivate staffs, promote them in the workplace by promising rewards. Likewise, they warn the staffs about the pain of punishments as well.

A boss or manager always wants his/her employees to do better and ideally the best. Managers get confused whether to punish or reward the staffs for the times they get things right.

Rewarding good performance and punishing problematic or undesired behaviors are the basis terms of motivation in any organizations. However, companies over time have found that rewards often reinforces positive behavior and motivate repetition. Likewise, punishment temporarily motivates compliance, but often leads to lower morale and less productivity in long run.

A workplace has a collection of different personality types, some of which respond to incentives while others respond to a fear of punishment. A good manager understands the dynamics of individual employees and creates an environment that recognizes exceptional performance. He or she will also take note of substandard performance and deal with it in an appropriate manner. While many incentives are geared toward earnings, also consider incentives for non-sales staffers.

Rewards

Rewarding behaviors draw the attention to the fact that an employee accomplished something or acted in a certain way that the company or the manager desires.

Rewarding the employees with promotions, and positive feedback is an effective way to motivate them.

For instance, an employee works in the company for the reward of an attractive monthly salary. Till the time it is very valuable for him/her, he/she will continue to strive for productivity and optimize performance to achieve maximum rewards.

There are certainly more than one way to do something right. But, when employees get rewarded, they don’t wonder what to do next time. It means that he/she can repeat or do the same thing again and again. Rewards somehow limits the employee’s ability to think in a creative manner and get better solutions of a problem.

For example, your company may develop a policy of rewarding employees every year based on a regularly scheduled annual review. The problem arises when the employees become conditioned to work hard prior to the reviews only.

An incentive is a promise of a reward that can be attained by achieving a certain outcome. Incentives are often used to generate sales, encourage timely project completion or maintenance of a budget. Rewards may be given to individuals or be dependent on collaborative group performance. You may have ongoing incentives. It is also common to have incentives to reach bi-annual and annual goals. To be effective, incentives must be worthwhile, clearly defined and attainable.

Types of Rewards

Savvy managers ask their employees what kinds of rewards will motivate them and accordingly tailor incentive plans. Some staffers prefer cash rewards, while others appreciate paid time off, flexible scheduling or deep discounts on the purchase of the company’s products and services. Rewards can be based on the size of the company’s budget. For example, a large company might host an annual cruise if staffers collectively reach a corporate goal, whereas a smaller business might distribute gourmet coffee gift cards to top performers at the end of each month.

Punishments

Punishment in the workplace includes nagging an employee to complete the given tasks, making threats or hovering, verbal or written reprimands, pay cuts, demotions or suspensions for the work.

Punishment can be demotivating and mental torture for the employees as well. No matter how hard they work, if they still get negative feedback from their bosses or supervisors, they might lose the enthusiasm to work.

In most of the cases, people tempt to think “You have learned a lesson” means you got certain type of punishment. People often turn the word lesson into a negative term called punishment.

If punishment is applied before all of the facts are accounted for, then employees will develop a sense of rebellion in response to punishment rather than seeing it as a warning to a particular activity.

However, punishment is not inherently bad either. It is a concept that implies the application of values. Generally in workplace, some team members or individuals might find public recognition or rewards for something they have done. But for some being recognized in front of their peers might not be as cheerful as it sounds.

Sometimes, making mistakes can also be a better part of learning. If you have a good boss or a manager, he/she might teach or explain you not to make the same mistakes again.

Likewise, sometimes you make have to work extra hours as a result of your punishment. At that time, you get opportunity to learn lot more than the employees getting the rewards couldn’t. Everything is not about winning, sometimes it is also about learning.

Workplace punishment is more accurately defined as “disciplinary action.” To be effective, employees must have a clear understanding of workplace policies and guidelines so that they are aware of the penalty for breaching rules or failing to meet performance standards. If employees are unfamiliar with what constitutes a violation of company rules, it can be difficult to enforce standards or take disciplinary measures without facing backlash. Have a written policy that details expectations and the resulting intervention and action that’s taken if rules are violated.

Conclusion

In every workplace there may occur some behaviors that simply is unacceptable. Some of the examples could be failure of safety equipment, sexual harassment or abusive behavior that we deem are unacceptable. In these sort of cases, we cannot have a workplace without the existence of threat of punishments.

Rewards as well as punishments can both be rendered useless if the timing is bad or extremely worth when the timing is good. It totally depends on the kind of rewards or punishment. For both the employees and the manager or the boss, you need to be able to critically analyses the situations and decide what can be better.

Employee Termination

Termination of employment refers to the end of an employee’s work with a company. An employee may be terminated from a job of their own free will or following a decision made by the employer.

An employee who is not actively working because of an illness, leave of absence, or temporary layoff is still considered employed if the relationship with the employer has not been terminated formally with a notice of termination.

Termination of employment is an employee’s departure from a job and the end of an employee’s duration with an employer. Termination may be voluntary on the employee’s part, or it may be at the hands of the employer, often in the form of dismissal (firing) or a layoff. Dismissal or firing is usually thought to be the fault of the employee, whereas a layoff is usually done for business reasons (for instance a business slowdown or an economic downturn) outside the employee’s performance.

Firing carries a stigma in many cultures, and may hinder the jobseeker’s chances of finding new employment, particularly if they have been terminated from a previous job. Jobseekers sometimes do not mention jobs from which they were fired on their resumes; accordingly, unexplained gaps in employment, and refusal or failure to contact previous employers are often regarded as “red flags”.

How Voluntary Termination Works?

An employee may voluntarily terminate their employment with a company. An employee who decides to terminate employment with a company usually does so when they find a better job with another company, retire from the labor force, resign to start their own business, or take a break from working.

Voluntary termination of employment could also be a result of constructive dismissal, also called constructive discharge. This means that the employee left the company because they had no other choice. They could have been working under significant duress and difficult working conditions at the employer—which could include a too-low salary, harassment, a new work location that is farther than the employee can reasonably commute, increased work hours, and so forth.

A forced discharge of an employee, whereby they are given an ultimatum to quit or be fired, also falls under constructive dismissal. In these cases, if the employee can prove that the employer’s actions during the worker’s tenure with the company were unlawful, they may be entitled to some form of compensation or benefits.

An employee who voluntarily leaves an employer may be required to give advance notice to the employer, either verbally or in written form. Most industries usually require a two-week advance notice of an employee’s termination. In some cases, the employee gives notice at the time that they terminate, or they give no notice at all, such as when an employee abandons the job or fails to return to work.

How Involuntary Termination Works?

Involuntary termination of employment occurs when an employer lays off, dismisses, or fires an employee.

(i) Layoffs and downsizing

Companies decide to lay off workers or downsize their organizations to lower their operating costs, restructure their organizations, or because they no longer need an employee’s skill set. In a layoff, employees are usually let go through no fault of their own, unlike workers who are fired.

(ii) Getting fired

An employee is usually fired from a job as a result of unsatisfactory work performance, poor behavior or attitude that does not fit with the corporation’s culture, or unethical conduct that violates the company’s policies. According to at-will employment laws recognized in some states, a company may dismiss without warning any employee who is performing poorly or violating some form of the company’s rules. In fact, the company does not need to give a reason for the employee’s termination.

(iii) Illegal dismissals

Although employment-at-will contracts do not require an employer to warn or give a reason for a dismissal, an employer cannot fire a worker for certain reasons. An employee who refuses to work more than the hours specified in the contract who takes a leave of absence, reports an incident or a person to the Human Resources department, or whistleblows to industry regulators cannot be fired for these reasons. An employer who discharges an employee for exercising their legal rights has done so unlawfully and may be liable for wrongful termination in the courts.

Other illegal dismissals occur when an employer lets an employee go for discriminatory reasons such as religion, race, age, gender, disability, or nationality. An employer who has been found guilty of wrongful termination may be required to compensate the wronged employee and/or reinstate them into the company.

(iv) Termination for cause

Other than at-will conditions of employment, an employer could fire an employee for a specific cause. A termination-for-cause clause may require the employer to put the employee on an improvement schedule, of 60 or 90 days, during which the employee is expected to improve their work ethic. If the employee has not improved by the end of the probationary period, they could be terminated for cause and dismissed with prejudice.

In some cases, an employer may dismiss an employee without prejudice. This indicates that the employee was let go for reasons other than incompetence, insubordination, or misconduct in the workplace. In such situations, the employee may be rehired for a similar job in the future.

Termination Compensation

In most cases where an employee who has worked with a given company for at least three months and has their employment involuntarily terminated, the employer may provide them with a notice of termination and/or termination pay (or severance pay). A company that offers severance does so following an agreement made privately with the employee or because severance is specified in its employee handbook.

 Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a company is not mandated to provide severance packages.

Also, employers are not required by federal law to give the terminated employee a final paycheck immediately. However, state laws may operate differently in this regard and may mandate that the employer must not only immediately provide the affected employee with a final paycheck, but also include accrued and unused vacation days.

Special Considerations: the Coronavirus

As of April 2020, millions of workers have been laid off as businesses struggle with government-ordered stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic. Some companies have furloughed workers, a move that is meant to be a temporary arrangement until the company can reopen. The CARES Act makes unemployment compensation available not just to those who have been laid off, but to furloughed employees as well as part-time workers, freelancers, independent contractors, and the self-employed—workers not usually eligible for unemployment benefits.

Employee Layoff

A less severe form of involuntary termination is often referred to as a layoff (also redundancy or being made redundant in British English). A layoff is usually not strictly related to personal performance, but instead due to economic cycles or the company’s need to restructure itself, the firm itself going out of business or a change in the function of the employer (for example, a certain type of product or service is no longer offered by the company and therefore jobs related to that product or service are no longer needed). One type of layoff is the aggressive layoff; in such a situation, the employee is laid off, but not replaced as the job is eliminated.

In an economy based on at-will employment, such as that of the United States, a large proportion of workers may be laid off at some time in their life, and often for reasons unrelated to performance or ethics. Employment termination can also result from a probational period, in which both the employee and the employer reach an agreement that the employer is allowed to lay off the employee if the probational period is not satisfied.

Often, layoffs occur as a result of “downsizing“, “reduction in force“ or “redundancy“. These are not technically classified as firings; laid-off employees’ positions are terminated and not refilled, because either the company wishes to reduce its size or operations or otherwise lacks the economic stability to retain the position. In some cases, a laid-off employee may eventually be offered their old position again by their respective company, though by this time they may have found a new job.

Some companies resort to attrition (voluntary redundancy) as a means to reduce their workforce. Under such a plan, no employees are forced to leave their jobs. However, those who do depart voluntarily are not replaced. Additionally, employees are given the option to resign in exchange for a fixed amount of money, frequently a few years of their salary. Such plans have been carried out by the United States Federal Government under President Bill Clinton during the 1990s, and by the Ford Motor Company in 2005.

However, “layoff” may be specifically addressed and defined differently in the articles of a contract in the case of unionised work.