Greetings, I am pleased to introduce you to my blog site, which aims to provide a comprehensive research perspective focused on essential workplace topics such as personal development, team building, management and leadership, diversity, and much more. These topics are vital in driving organizational success in the public and private sectors.
Organizational Behavior (OB) is the field of study that examines human behavior in corporate settings, exploring the interface between human behavior and the organization. My blog draws insights from this discipline to help today's organizations navigate the increasingly complex nature of the modern workplace.
With over 40 years of experience serving as a Gulf War Veteran and Senior Army Warrant Officer in logistics and a retired Department of the Army civilian, human have witnessed firsthand how human behavior is ever-changing, sometimes by the minute. Furthermore, embracing diversity can profoundly impact an organization, leading to greater creativity, efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity. Ultimately, these factors contribute to the happiness of stakeholders - the American people.
In the 21st century, organizations must find ways to harness the creativity of their diverse workforces to remain competitive. This involves generating ideas, enhancing social skills, and appreciating other cultures and traditions. Organizations that invest in their employees and practice diversity will benefit from the most significant workforce in the world: the American Worker.
Join me as we explore the fascinating world of OB together and discover valuable insights that can help you advance your career and achieve long-term success in the workplace.
Millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1997, have become the focus of many demographic studies. Because they range in age from 18-34, millennials are studied for their impact on spending habits, shopping experiences, and business and employment (Pew, 2015). They’re a huge part of the workforce but are also the generation most likely to eschew the traditional workplace in favor of starting their own businesses, investing in startups, and working from home rather than in a traditional office setting.
They’re also amazingly tech savvy and can help older companies and corporation integrate into society’s existing tech environment. Not like older generations such as the baby boomers, millennials never knew a time period without computers, cell phones or the internet, technology was always present in their lives, it’s in their DNA (Marston, 2007).
1. Integrate Flexibility
Most millennials view strict adherence to a 9-5, in-office work schedule as outdated. Just as they thrive in casual work environments, they often prefer work hours and work locations that are less rigid than in previous generations. Consider allowing millennial employees to telecommute, freelance, trade shifts, and shorten work weeks. The goal, after all, is to get the job done, and allowing these employees to exercise flexibility might produce surprisingly consistent productivity.
2. Integrate Coaching & Collaboration
Millennials typically prefer not to work in a setting where they’re micromanaged. When employers guide and direct, yet leave room for personal development and self-management, millennials respond more favorably. Like 9-5 corporations of past generations, today’s companies want to reap the greatest productivity from their employees. Encouraging creativity, input, and team building will reap mutually beneficial results and allow millennials to feel valued.
3. Integrate Their Lifestyle
While devoted to their jobs and careers, Millennials hold a firm belief in a work-life balance. They thrive in companies that offer flexibility, paid time off, personal days, family leave, and emergency leave. Involvement in family activities and lifestyle and community events is important to them. They look for companies that allow employees to foster a well-rounded life and have time for friends, family and social events.
4. Integrate Growth Practices
Millennials appreciate opportunities to advance their careers – they may even look for opportunities to buy into the companies that employ them. They prefer careers with an upward trajectory to ones that remain stagnant with little to no possibility of growth or advancement. Instead, they have a greater interest in a company they can grow with or grow into.
5. Integrate Company Culture
The millennial generation isn’t always as matter-of-fact about accepting the existing climate of their workplace as previous generations. They look for clearly defined company cultures and principles. When those principles are clearly integrated into their work environment and into the products and services they offer, this generation will thrive. Rather than a faceless, personality-less corporation, this generation of employees prefers a business with a social conscience that has an impact on its community and on society.
Successfully incorporating millennials into your business means preparing them for today and for tomorrow. When they learn to lift as they climb, your company gets the best Generation Y (Millennials) have to offer, while simultaneously preparing Generation Z for the future. At the same time, they’re learning best practices from Baby Boomers and creating a generationally diverse workforce. That constitutes a win-win for everyone.
Marston, Cam (2007) Motivating the “What’s in it for me?” Workforce: manage across the generational divide and increase profits. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &Son
What makes an individual employee feel satisfied on the job? What makes an employee increase in productivity and creativity? It’s called Empowerment. The employee becomes satisfied in the workplace when they are empowered and given the opportunity to have ownership over their projects and careers. When you empower an individual employee, you, the manager, relinquish control over the situation. Empowerment allows the individual control over their own fate. Empowerment gives an individual control over not only their work assignments, projects or assigned tasking, but it gives control over their destiny.
When employers delegate authority and responsibility over to their employees, this not only increases job enrichment, along with job satisfaction and the decreased turnover within the organization, but it develops the individual employee for future jobs within the organization. This assures that the organization maintains its competitive edge amongst their industry (Lepak & Gowan, 2016).
When reflecting on my own experience as a team leader, I emphasize to each member to have a sense of ownership when it comes to their assigned work- in other words, become responsible for the task you were given. This ownership gives the team member a sense of empowerment, making their part in whatever project or task essential and it puts them on notice to achieve beyond expectations.
As a leader, I follow five principles that empower my team members;
Trust in individuals- Each member of the team has talents and abilities. When joined with other talented individuals, you have collective abilities and knowledge that can accomplish results in their own ways. Give them the autonomy to take charge of the situation or task. Have faith in your people.
Equip individuals with the necessary tools of success- give them the latitude to connect with others within the company and outside the company such as vendors, customer and potential future customers.
Acknowledge achievements- My organization has monthly gatherings for hail and farewells, but also to recognize the professional achievements of teams and individuals.
Decentralize Decision Making –As a team leader, my supervisor gives me the latitude in charting the course for my team. I also encourage my members to collaborate not only with each other, but with other teams within the organization. This assures individual growth, encourages creativity, and increases productivity and job satisfaction within the individual and the collective team.
Encourages Collaboration – The workplace should be viewed as a collective and cooperative effort and not an environment of hard labor at the hands of the task master. As mentioned, my team work with other teams within the organization, being isolated and forbidden to speak with others inhibits growth and creativity for individuals and the organization. Remember, one does not succeed alone.
To conclude, empowerment of individuals assures individual success and organizational success. This translates into the organization as a whole having a competitive advantage amongst its industry. This also enhances the workplace culture within the organization. Remember whatever leadership role you play in the organization, if you allow people the opportunity to be creative and become responsible for themselves, they will grow and make your job easy. As Leaders, think of yourself as a servant and not the task Master.
Reference:
Lepak. D & Gowan, M. (2016). Human Resource Management: Managing Employees for Competitive Advantage (2nd ed). Chicago Business Press
If you work in an office for a small or large organization, you will notice managers, supervisors, and even your co-workers engaging in time-wasting activities during the day. Typical examples of such activities are talking around the water cooler spreading office gossip or sitting in non-productive meetings. These non-productive, time-wasting activities are common in the workplace. This paper’s objective is to help you to identify time-wasting behaviors and what to do about them, based on information gathered through observations in the workplace and recent research articles on the topic. In particular, the paper identifies three areas of non-productivity: preoccupation and not focused on the task at hand, attending useless meetings, and time-consuming communication unrelated to office business. The paper also identifies the time frames during which time-wasting activities occur.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 7
Keywords: Time wasters, Time Management, Workplace, Frivolous meetings, Boring, Preoccupation, Productivity
Darden, Derrick C., Time Wasting Activities within the Workplace (Don’t Be Apart of Them) (June 25, 2015). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2623378
