Social Processes and Behavioral Issues Essay Example

paradigm.

Then around mid-sixties, there was a shift to the post-industrial paradigm. The individual and collective paradigm of a vast majority of the Indian public is even now based on the agrarian mindset and future managers will have a big task of changing that to meet the challenges of emerging information-based society, there will be need to align employees behavior with the changing paradigm.

On work organizations, for example in India, the arrangement was that work was performed as a social obligation, and caste systems symbolized differences in occupations. Work organizations are now embedded in social systems and cultural values. I today’s context; there is also another paradigm shift we call Smart Work which is now emerging and is being driven by extreme changes in approaches to work, work cultures, business architectures, premises, decision making, communications, and collaboration. Smart Work is an act of production performed independent of time and place. In its ultimate form, the “office” no longer exists and traditional work conventions such as work hours are irrelevant. Smart Work is results-oriented(Boorsman, 2011)

On the social structure, the mind of Indians are on hierarchical structuring of persons and relationships and this goes up to organizations where superiors are expected to be caring, loving, protective in their relationship with the subordinates. For example people expect a Program Manager to love and protect employees under him.

On dependency syndrome, the Indian children from infancy have a feeling of depending on those superior or older to them and this goes to organizations too where subordinates look for continuous guidance and directing, there is no autonomy in performing work activities and the relationships

between subordinates and superiors could either be loving or sour. For example, it is a tendency of employees to depend on their superiors for direction and guidance on what to do at work. This is now changing, there is autonomy through empowerment. Organizations today are undergoing a substantial paradigm shift and replacing control techniques such as authorization, approval, and review with empowerment, trust, and accountability. The latest concept is the liberation of employees by giving them enough autonomy and a share in the business.

On cultural dimensions, the Indian culture ranked very high on Power Distance, Collectivism, Masculinity, and Long term orientation and relatively weak in Uncertainty Avoidance. Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which people tolerate ambiguous situations and the degree to which they try to avoid these situations. On collectivism Indian culture places emphasis on high degree of in-group orientation, on power distance, the culture accepts and considers the superior's power as legitimate. On masculinity, Indian culture has little concern for others and interest in improving the quality of life at work. Indian culture is primarily characterized by long-term orientation in terms of centuries leading to permanency in relationships and continued association with the organization.

On Managing Diversity, the Indian workforce is becoming more diverse with regards to gender, age, education, ethnicity, social cultural background, physical ability (disability) and family status such as dual career relationship, these days India represents a composite culture of diversity and plurality of ethnic groups, languages, religious faith and regions with distinct local traditions.

On Gender Issues, there has been change in the values, rituals, and assumptions prevalent in male-dominated culture to allow access by

female managers and employees with different interests. Females employees need to be treated equally as partners. The male-dominated culture need to change accordingly.

Society today is witnessing an ongoing paradigm shift in gender relations, where it has gone beyond the male breadwinner/ female homemaker post-war family. Dramatic changes have taken place in the workforce and enormous progress has been made in policy. www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/gender-equality-in-modern-times/) On Knowledge Workers there has been the replacement of manual workers with knowledge workers and this is linked to advancement in information technology. For example, most offices used to produce documents by hand or using type writers and now it is done using computers.

There has been a paradigm shift from IT for specialists to IT for masses; Government controlling infrustrature and technology to government facilitating infrastructure and technology. Computers have made the task of search and scan much lighter and speedier. Positive knowledge is part of this paradigm shift A good example of a paradigm shift in the business world would be the transfer of the influence and power of computer manufacturers that came with the invention of the personal computer or “PC.” Prior to the invention of the PC, larger, well-established computer manufacturers produced bulky, expensive computers which had to be run via a mainframe to a computer terminal.

There are several factors of organizational relevance and they include Employability, changeability, social tension, of people, Democratisation of Work Process, Empowerment, Service Orientation, Changing Expectations of Stakeholders

Employability refers to a person's capability for gaining and maintaining employment, For individuals, employability depends on the knowledge, skills, and abilities they possess, the way they present those assets to

employers, and the context( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employability ). For organizations development of employability will become a primary area of concern. The emphasis will be on increasing the employability of people rather than providing them the security of employment. Changeability is a factor of organizational relevance. Changeability is the quality of being changeable; having a marked tendency to change.

)Changeability refers to the ability of systems to be changed in line with the pressures and challenges of global competition. There is need to shift the focus from change initiation and management to increasing changeability which may involve a fundamental transformation in mindsets and mental models of various stakeholders, competency enhancement, capacity building, and systematic orientation.( IGNOU MBA Study Material on Social Processes and Behaviour Issues Unit 2)

Social Tension is another factor of organizational relevance. Employees operate in an environment of social tension and there is need for them to learn to work in that environment. This calls for continous self-renewal to find creative resolutions of these social tensions. (IGNOU MBA Study Material on Social Processes and Behaviour issues)

Democratization of the Work Process is another factor of organizational relevance. The work process needs to be democratized whereby management through command and control would need to be replaced by consensus and commitment. The organisation endeavors to inculcate and encourage self-regulation and adjustment at individual and group levels reinforced by group norms.

Empowerment is another factor of organizational relevance. As employees get empowered in organizations they would be in better positions to control the processes and the the organization’s input. Generating commitment among the employees will be a necessary condition enabling them to become self-directed

and self-controlled. organizations today are undergoing a substantial paradigm shift and replacing control techniques such as authorization, approval, and review with empowerment, trust, and accountability. The latest concept is the liberation of employees by giving them enough autonomy and a share in the business.

Service Orientation is yet another factor of organization relevance. Nowadays, Customers have a lot of access to information on goods and services which gives them large freedom of choice, therefore for organizations to survive there is need to maintain relationships for sustained growth of customer base, and long-term commitment as a strategic business partner.

Changing Expectations of Stakeholders is also a factor of organizational relevance. Organizations exist due to support from various environmental components such as socio-cultural; politico-legal; economic; and ecological. The organization really needs support from both internal stakeholders and external stakeholders as such their expectations must be met.

This essay has discussed the paradigm shift of work culture and the related issues in the present-day context. A brief description of the factors of organization relevance has also been given. This was done by defining paradigm and paradigm shift. Then discussing the paradigm shift of work culture and the related issues in the present day context including work culture; social structure; dependency syndrome; cultural dimension; managing diversity; gender issues and knowledge workers. Thereafter a brief description of factors of organization relevance was given and these included employability; changeability; social tension; democratization of work process; empowerment; service orientation and changing expectations of stakeholders.