Final Entry: Broad Topics

Our world today is dominated by large organizations; they can greatly influence the economy, politics, and society as a whole. Under law, corporations are separate legal entities that function as a human being: they pay taxes, they can be sued, and they even have a social security number. It is easy to see why people think of companies like General Electric or Exxon Mobil as these independent corporate behemoths rather than thinking about their lifeblood: the people that work there. This course has taught us that organizations are more than the product they produce or a bottom-line sales figure, it has taught us to think about the people of an organization when considering how they succeed and fail. In summary, these are ways we believe people affect every major topic we have discussed with respect to organizations:

• Motivation and Meaning – managers/employees need to be properly motivated to be effective, and a great way to do that is to employ tactics that make employees feel that they are doing meaningful work and contributing positively to the organization
• Learning and Feedback – members of an organization need to be told whether or not they are doing a good job; this is constructive and will lead to more success and a higher quality of work
• Culture and Socialization – organizational culture should be identified as it is very important to its functioning and image; the organization should employ members that fit with the culture and make assimilating into the culture easy for those that may be different but still have a lot to offer
•  Mentoring and Social Networks – mentors are very important as they can provide guidance and create a sense of membership for another member; social networks are very important in achieving one’s end game as they can be very beneficial in disseminating a message or communicating the existence of opportunities
• Positive and Negative Interpersonal Relationships at Work – when people work in stressful atmospheres, which are often found at work, there are bound to be bad relationships that will form; the organization should commit effort and resources to solving disputes before they affect the achievement of goals and objectives
• Teams and Trust – teams are much easier to work in when everyone understand their responsibilities and trust that each member will do quality work and contribute equally
• Power and Politics – organizations are very hierarchical, so it is natural for people to seek power as that often comes with higher pay; however, this gives rise to politics, which are essential to individual success but definitely come with a fine line should not be crossed
•  Conflict and Communication – conflict will arise in organizations for the simple fact that people have very different opinions and feel that they are correct; organizations must seek to resolve conflict through communication between the members involved before the conflict hurts the organization
• Negotiation – people involved in a negotiation must understand their positions relative to each other before diving into a negotiation or it will just turn into an argument; there are ways to effectively negotiate and achieve one’s ends and these methods usually lead to respect between parties as well
•  Managing Change – the fact that change can be scary is a fact of life; it is up to management and leaders to not assume that people are consciously resisting change and make the change process as smooth as possible by understanding the people they work with
• Crisis Management – many organizations will experience crisis in their lives; the best organizations have people that are trained to deal with these tough times and people that can react quickly to crises and develop courses of action

In conclusion, we must remember that organizations are just collections of people, which is why some succeed and some fail; it is all about the talent and types of people and organization employs.