Running head: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

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1a) Leadership traits important in an organizational culture

Leaders are often faced witha lot of frustrations and stress in their leadership positions.

They therefore need to have some particular traits to manage an organization and ensure its

continued prosperity. One of the leadership traits that assist in enhancing a

positiveorganizational culture is mission and vision (Puccioet. al, 2010). The latter entails

creating a crystal clear picture of what the organization should achieve. Visions are

communicated via mission statements. Thence, a leader should spend lots of time developing the

mission and vision of an organization as they are paramount in running the organization. A

common mission brings all the employees of an organization together and helps promote unity.

This stems from the fact that all are working towards a particular goal which enhances a

positiveorganizational culture.

Most of the leaders have plenty of self motivation. Leaders that are not self motivated

struggle to keep an organization runningwhich is a peril to not only the culture of the

organization but also the profits and losses in accounts books. A self motivated leader has

personal goals that keep him/her on toes. It is very hard to get motivation from someone else

once you are leader and therefore rewarding yourself once you achieve something is crucial for

self motivation. These kinds of leaders ensure that an organization runs effectively which is to

the larger benefit of the organization. It is definitely a leadership trait that involves alot of self

grooming to attain but by far most an imperative trait for continued business growth. Hence, self

motivation should be a requirement for any leader if he/she wants to run a successful enterprise.

The other trait that a leader should possessfor the betterment of an organization is

positivity and optimism. Scholars say that positivity is contagious and remarkable leaders have
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an overflow of positivity. A positive mindset gives leaders ease of work and also acts as a spring

of ideas and inspiration. Being contagious, the other employees tap positivity and it spreads

throughout the entire organization enhancing a positiveorganizational culture. Therefore

positivity is a critical trait that can move an organization towards garnering the stipulated goals

and objectives.

Leaders on the other hand should also be emotionally stable. It is a character trait that

enables them to deal with the many strenuous activities or operations that are undertaken in an

organization. For instance, leaders have to solve disputes amongst themselves and the employees.

They also have to ensure that the organization is running in the appropriate direction and there

are minimal shortcomings. All these combined make it very hard for a leader to manage an

organization if he/she is not emotionally stable. If a leader fails to have this character trait, it is

easy for him or her to be caught off guard and incidences of extreme pressure and depression

occur. Notably, emotional stability can be argued to be an embodiment of good leadership skills

and traits as the work entails lots of work and pressure which can emotionally destabilize a

leader. It is therefore an important trait as it assists the leader to make decisive solutions that are

required for the organization to run. Also, it helps other employees to have faith in the leadership

of the organization as a shaky leadership is detrimental for the organizational culture.

Another leadership trait that a leader should have is self confidence. Based on real life

examples, most of the leaders e.g. the CEOs are full of confidence when making presentations or

addressing the public and the employees. With self confidence, a leader can manage to pass

across information to other employees and potential client. Self confident leaders also get

respect and can manage to convince people or employees to act as appropriate. As a trait, it also

helps to persuade others into reaching the same goal.Without self confidence, a leader will have
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difficulties in addressing the employees or the board members and other crucial departments in

an organization. This trait is also contagious as employees will also try to emulate their leaders

and exercise the same hence promoting a positive organizational culture.

Decisiveness is another trait that a leader in an organization should be proud to have.

Leaders are supposed to make thousands of decisions every day and furthermore, they are also

required to solve disputes. It can also be noted that decision making is for the leaders in an

organization and therefore they should be the best in this. These traits requires one to be of sober

mind as any shrewd decision can plunge the organization into deep trouble.Wisdom which is a

natural gift is something else of importance when making decisions. The latter requires one to

make the right decisions that will bring a positive outcome. Continued proper decision-making in

an organization requires the leaders to be very smart as without fruitful decisions, the

organizational culture will be poisoned. Leaders should also be enthusiastic and passionate about

their work. The above mentioned traits instill a culture of hard work in an organization and help

the entire organization to work towards a common goal (Shcoemaker, et. al, 2013). It is

imperative for the leaders to stay motivated and also encourage the other employees to be

passionate about their work. These two enhance a positive work environment which results into

a good organizational culture that can be copied and practiced as the business grows.

2a) Organizational politics and impact on organizations performance.

Organizational politics is a term that explains the human interactions in an organization

that involve authority and power.Lazy employees usually use negative politics to secure their

position in an organization or workplace. Employees that like playing politics do it merely to

gain attention, limelight and recognition from the leaders. Politics does not work for an
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organization as it entails irrational behavior that employees sail on to get added advantages from

the seniors. These advantages are beyond limits as they are not appropriate in an organization

and the individuals that work to gain them do not deserve them. Politics in workplace is

something dangerous and its end results are alot of frustrations and negativity in an organization.

Politics lead to various impacts in an organization and one of them is poor productivity in

the entire organization. When one starts to engage in politics, there are alot of activities or

operations that come to a stand still. These activities or operations affect the entire organization

as there are some steps or processes that are spoiled. Individuals that involve themselves in

politics forget work and concentrate on unfruitful politics. These employees spend most of their

time back biting and leg pulling. They therefore spend alot of time working against other

employees (Vigoda-Gadot, 2010). Politics in the end do not yield anything for an organization as

set goals are not achieved. This stems from the fact that these employees do not have enough

time allocated fortheir work as they do not concentrate on it. In the process, the entire

organization is affected and profits are lowered which is not something to be taken lightly.

Hence, such employees affect the operation of the organization engaging in negative politics.

Another thing that politics affects is concentration as individuals engaging themselves in

politics do not have enough time to do their work. These employees spend most of their time in

vining up with tactics to ensure that they affect the other employees they are in competition with.

Someone in politics does not have focus at work since he or she is thinking about something else.

These lack of concentration results into poor performance which not only affect an individual but

also affects the performance of the entire organization.

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When individuals start engaging in politics, the ambience at work place is spoiled. These

results into a negative working environment which is not healthy for progress. Furthermore,

politics ruins work relationship as the one playing politics attracts alot of hate from other

employees. In some of the occurrences, fights occur and sometimes they can be gross to the

extent of injuries and death. Peace at workplace is important as it encourages a smooth

workflow for the progress of the entire organization. If this can not be attained, then what politics

yields is a failing organization if not remedied can result into the downfall of the business.

If not controlled, politics affects employees' attitude as it brings negative energy in an

organization. It also goes further to also negatively impact serious and hardworking employees

something that results to the utmost crumbling of the whole organization. When an organization

has internal politics, it is very hard for the employees to give their all at work. Most of the lose

concentration and do not focus on what they are supposed to do. A political organization does

not encourage positivity and on the other demotivates other employees. As a result, some of the

employees look for work somewhere else or resign hoping to get employment in a more

politically stable organization. When all these start, there are alot of things that are affected and

can cause a company to fall.

Demotivation is bound to occur in a political organization. A lazy employee gains

unrequired favor from their bosses which can result into demotivating the other performers. It is

normal for discussions to take place in an organization as they are required to assess employee

performance. They also help in coming up with the goals and objectives of the business. These

are amongst the many opportunitiesthat politically orientated individuals look for to tarnish the

names and image of their rivals. As a result, hardworking employees get demotivated because

they do not get the rewards and incentives they deserve. Political individuals in an organization
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are rewarded and given leadership positions that they do not deserve which is bad for the entire

organization (Kacmar et.al, 2011). Not only does it cause demotivationbut also leads to

inappropriate crowning which is not healthy for the operations and activities of the business.

Politics increases stress in workplace as everyone is against that one person who is

engaging in bad politics. When there is bad politics in an organization, communication channels

are highly affected. This stems from the fact that some employees may feel it’s inappropriate to

share information with their enemies who tarnish their names andpull their legs when they are

not around. Such is a bad impact as without proper communications in anorganization, there is a

likelihood of distorted information which can affect a lot of operations in the business.

Moreover, when people do not talk at work, the stress levels pile up. Human beings need to talk

as a way of relieving stress and if this does not occur, some of the employees find themselves

with ailments like mental health and high blood pressure. This is one of the negative effects of

politics and so far it can be seeing that politics yields more harm than good in an organization.

Wrong information is something that cannot miss in a political organization. People

involving themselves in politics manipulate information and data to their desired effect. Hence,

leaders are not fedwith the right information and picture of what is happening at the grassroots of

the organization. A political organization gives credit to unworthy and unqualified individuals

and yet the real winners are left to fight for themselves and their rights.
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References

Puccio, G. J., Mance, M., & Murdock, M. C. (2010). Creative leadership: Skills that drive

change. Sage Publications.

Kacmar, K. M., Bachrach, D. G., Harris, K. J., &Zivnuska, S. (2011). Fostering good citizenship

through ethical leadership: Exploring the moderating role of gender and organizational

politics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(3), 633.

Schoemaker, P. J., Krupp, S., & Howland, S. (2013). Strategic leadership: The essential skills.

Harvard business review, 91(1), 131-134.

Vigoda‐Gadot, E., &Meisler, G. (2010). Emotions in management and the management of

emotions: The impact of emotional intelligence and organizational politics on public

sector employees. Public Administration Review, 70(1), 72-86.