Organisations and Behaviour for Business - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theOrganisations and Behaviourfor Business Environment. Answer: Introduction Organisational culture is a reflection of the attitude, beliefs and shared values which governs the workforce behaviour in an organisation(Wiewiora, 2013). The attitude of a whole society also reflects in the way work is done in an organisation. In certain organisations people work in teams and their attitude is to cooperate(Stanford, 2011). On the other hand, in certain other organisations personal development governs organisational culture. Organisation Man is a book written by William Whyte which gives an insight into the corporate culture of the mid twentieth century(Eldridge Crombie, 2013). The book gives many insights about the changes which take place in organisational culture over the years. Relevance of The Organisation Man in the wake of changing business environment The organisation Man was written by William Whytein 1956(Whyte, 2013). The book addresses the organisational culture in American large organisations like IBM and Ford in the mid twentieth century(Whyte, 2013). Mid twentieth century was an era of large scale economic and job growth in America(Douglas Douglas, 2010). According to this book, this situation led to shift is corporate culture which saw an increase of organisational culture of collectivism. To elaborate further, it can be observed from the book that in mid twentieth century, the notion that individual talent can lead to growth was being replaced by the notion that all issues could be solved by organisational or group thinking(Whyte, 2013). According to William Whyte,the employees of the organisations believed in group thinking, hence they were loyal, dedicated and considered their talents as an attribute which was to be used for the service of the group or organisation(Whyte, 2013). In this background the aim of this essay is to understand the relevance of the organisation man concept in todays business world. Business world has seen many changes from the time of publication of this book in mid twentieth century(Mohin, 2012). In more than sixty years, work culture has completely changed. According to various thinkers of management , the current era of business is no longer an era of the employee who melts into a group and becomes a part of it; giving his lifelong talent and service to the group with utmost dedication and obedience(Petrakis, 2014). Therefore, business culture has definitely changed through the years. According to William Whyte, corporate America was looking at a corporate culture where employees were not overly brilliant but just obeyed the organisational goals and did as they were told(Eldridge Crombie, 2013). In other words, they lived a disciplined, rule oriented business life style without giving any importance to personal talents and individual growth(Blackford, 2012). According to Whytes book, corporate America had become culturally stuck in group behaviour and all members of the organisation believed that group or organisational growth meant the growth of all employees(Whyte, 2013). However, in todays business world talent and knowledge is given more importance(Johnson, 2014). Those individuals rise to higher level management who have exceptional talent and a drive for individual achievement. In continuation to the above argument, it has also been observed that recruiters from large organisational like Google and Apple hire those management graduates who are highly skilled and have knowledge in the area(Thompson, 2013). Hence, it can be said that, organisations give more importance to personal talent(Douglas Douglas, 2010). Organisations have realised that personal growth of the employees will lead to organisational growth and not the other way round as William Whytehas mentioned in his book more than sixty years ago. Considering the changes in the business world pertaining to rapid growth in IT infrastructure, outsourcing, job hopping and growth in small business enterprises, concept of new organisation man is being propounded by some thinkers(Drucker, 1988). Business houses now understand and appreciate the talent of their employees. The belief that people will work in groups to achieve predetermined goals without applying their own ideas is long gone(Laloux, 2014). Firms do not expect lifelong loyalty from employees as they understand that talented employees work for an organisation as a choice(Blackford, 2012). Therefore, personal talent has taken precedence over group problem solving of the business world of the twentieth century. Business world in Whytes times was more predictable(Blackford, 2012). Production was managed in a certain way and profits could be envisioned to large extent. Therefore, it suited corporate America to be monotonous in their business conduct(Eldridge Crombie, 2013). People could work in groups in the same organisations for years because methods of work did not change. Technological progress was there but it was not revolutionary and fast paced(Mohin, 2012). Therefore, group culture was seen in organisations and people used to be dedicated to one organisation for a life time. However, rapid and revolutionary changes in technology changed the business pattern and made it more talent and individual oriented(Blackford, 2012). Hence, it can be deduced that changing business scenario lead to a shift in thinking of employees and management. The generation in the mid twentieth century had come out of a difficult war and tough economic depression(Eldridge Crombie, 2013). Therefore, their aim was to seek prosperity and stability. Consequently, business in that era was focused on survival through dedicated service to an organisation(Eldridge Crombie, 2013). Due to the need for stability there was no attempt by the people to focus on personal talents. People submerged individual ambition(Drucker, 1988). Organisational conformity became way of life for that generation. The needs of the present generation have changed from need to survive to need excel.(Blackford, 2012) This is because this generation is a product of a more prosperous and stable society. They do not have the baggage of war and depression behind them. Hence, this generation of today is not interested in submerging their talents. They are focused on personal accomplishments and individual career growth(Mohin, 2012). Joining large fortune 500 companies for a life time for stability is no longer the aim of this generation(Stanford, 2011). Due to changes in global business culture, individual contribution is again becoming an important part of business function. In the present business scenario Whytes Organisation Man seems irrelevant. However, it holds certain business and cultural lessons for the current business and society(Blackford, 2012). It narrates a tale of a corporate culture where businesss aimed at being big. However, in todays scenario if a company aim at becoming a large conglomerate without paying attention to knowledge pool among its workforce, it will become ineffective(Johnson, 2014). This is because there would be many other organisations that would be looking at snatching the talent of this organisation(Laloux, 2014). Therefore, William Whytes book Organisation Man gives an insight into the changing dynamics of business culture. As this book gives comprehension about culture and gives an interesting basis to research on cultural change, it cannot be called completely irrelevant. Conclusion Organisation Man concept has been rendered irrelevant due to business culture changing towards individual talent and personal career growth. However, the book gives a good understanding of the manner in which business culture has changed and how the thinking of workforce has undergone a paradigm shift. References Blackford, M. G., 2012. The Rise of Modern Business: Great Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, and China. North Carolina: university of north carolina Press Books. Douglas, H. Douglas, C., 2010. Cultural Strategy: Using Innovative Ideologies to Build Breakthrough Brands. Oxford: OUP. Drucker, P. F., 1988. The Coming of the New Organization. Harward Business Review. Eldridge Crombie, 2013. A Sociology of Organisations (RLE: Organizations. New York: Routledge. Johnson, M., 2014. Winning The War for Talent: How to Attract and Keep the People to Make the Biggest Difference to Your Bottom Lin. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons. Laloux, F., 2014. Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage in Human Consciousness. St, Millis: Nelson Parker. Mohin, T. J., 2012. Changing Business from the Inside Out: A Treehugger's Guide to Working in Corporations. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Petrakis, P. E., 2014. Culture, Growth and Economic Policy. New York: Springer Science Business Media. Stanford, N., 2011. Corporate Culture: Getting It Right. Melbourne: John Wiley Sons. Thompson, V., 2013. Find (and Keep) Top Talent for Your Business (Collection). New Jersy: FT Press. Whyte, W. H., 2013. The Organization Man. Reprint ed. Pennsylvani: University of Pennsylvania Press. Wiewiora, A., 2013. Organizational culture and willingness to share knowledge: A competing values perspective in Australian context. International Journal of Project Management, 31(8), pp. 1163-1174.