Factors That Impacted Individual Conduct of Staff in The Case Study
The views of employees and reaction to changes play an important role in the success of a business that is anticipating to cut down on costs and achieve success. Every individual acquires and maintain behaviors differently based on their past experiences, expectations and expectancies. They therefore set their goals themselves which direct their behavior.
Human behavior can be learned from observation and through modeling observations of others to form ideas on how a new behavior is performed. In the same way, PLC is of a social nature; its concept connects the right to adult learning theory. According to bandura (1997), observing behavior of peers can allow an efficient and safer way of acquiring complex skills and behaviors as compared to learning through trial and error. According to the social cognitive theory, people respond to circumstances based on their experience with similar issues. This theory, therefore, postulates that behavior is never permanent but can be altered through learning new experiences (Miller, 2018). Anger as a result of change is a behavior and a reaction to an obstacle in one’s surrounding, and therefore it is not excluded from change. In the case, when the staff learnt about the changes, they were annoyed and seemingly angry through the utterance stated in the case. This theory suggests that reactions of people results from changes within an environment as a response and therefore exposure to new environments. Nevertheless, it is important to note that reactions to a situation does not necessarily result from environmental factors but can also be attributed to personal experiences and conditions in life. Most theorists, however, accept the fact that environment plays a crucial role in contributing to the reactions and suggest that they can be controlled significantly through behavior modification.
According to schulz, Khazian and Zaleski, (2008), information dissemination is one of the most commonly used method of promoting conservation. The organization had a motive for changing behavior of their employees which was aimed at energy consumption. In the beginning, the changes were only rumored and the staff shared their feelings about them and some ignored them probably because they have conditioned their mind to believe things from reliable sources. The reason why they got annoyed would be as a result of lack of enough information. According to the case study, most staff members including the technicians had their won concerns about the changes that were suggested. After careful one on one briefing, most of the staff had accepted the changes. They made some few negotiations that made them feel like they have been considered and listened to during decision making bringing about a feeling of personal accomplishment.
Human behavior is often predictable. The company was facing competition and it as a result, it had to cut its budget and reorganize. When the senior staff met, they decided to cut down on the number of staff in the offices by 5%. They anticipated that the senior staff would rather retire than relocate to another place since they had established their lives in Edinburg. This behavior was predictable and therefore, the managers would only have to ask them to relocate in order to indirectly force them to retire and achieve the much-desired number of employees.
Nonetheless, passing along information on social norms, environment through induction and training of staff is often associated with a better response to environmental sustainability. This pattern can be attributed to the occasional learning that affect human behavior. Observational studies showed that, spreading a message about a specific topic showed a positive increase in embracing the idea (Collins et al., 2018). An incentive that was given to the drivers for reducing oil consumption went a long way to tuning and conditioning their behavior to be efficient drivers. The trainings facilitated efficient transfer of skills from the training situation to work environment and this would ultimately lead to success in application of these skills. Nonetheless, if the trainings are able to share the same concerns over environment crisis with the staff, they may be able to change their behavior (Cecco, 2019).
These theorists base their proposition on factors that coerce how an individual reacts to an occasion or a given situation on hand. The theory is based on three factors which are attributed to the way a person perceives themselves, the surrounding and the role their current situation is likely to play to determine their future. This theory also makes an individual forget about their reality resulting to misconceptions on how an individual responds to various situations (Thomlison, 2017). For instance, the company staff came together to watch films on environmental sustainability and also monthly meetings where they watched films on the same. This became an emotional ritual for them and a part of relationship building where the response might have been friendship and trust among colleagues and this would help the business run better. This might also bring about collaboration amongst staff and the management. This is because, there is a great environment that has been created by the organization where people learn to believe in the same thing and in each other. This brings about efficiency and conformity in the company (Erhardt, Heckscher and Martin-Rios, 2017).
In addition to that, personal believes also affect performance and responses (Bandura, 1988). They also influence the choices they make, like retiring to avoid relocation and the effort that they will put in what they will do and this is what led others to negotiate in order to ensure that they will be able to persevere in the face of the changes. The staff already had grown accustomed to how they perform their tasks and when they were told about the changes like working from home, their system was shaken and they had self-doubts and envisioned all the things that could go wrong of they are distracted at home and they are not able to fully focus on their work. Such scenarios undermine their performance and the personal concept is put into test whereby, they will have to cope with the new environmental demands. however, when one believes in self, their lifestyle behavior will change to accommodate the new lifestyle and adapt better to the workplace setting (Persson et al., 2013).
The approaches in social cognitive theory are founded on the fact that individual cognitions play a crucial part in the formulation and the safeguarding of behavioral and emotional reactions of the different situations in social life. Reactions to various occurrences in life determine how an individual respond to various circumstances. The theory has been employed by many businesses to examine the reactions of their employees and also to decide the best course of action to take when thinking about making major changes on the company. The application of the above methods makes some fundamental assumptions. One of the assumptions is that cognitive procedure and content are available, but this requires some level of training and practice.
Additionally, our thoughts must mediate to respond to various situations which sometimes can be right and false in other instances. Furthermore, cognitions are assumed to be flexible as to be changed into more realistic and rational manner. In the argument for social cognitive theory, the staff seem to respond to respond to training and also, they trust information when it is from reliable sources before responding to the situation. When the staff have a one on one meeting and all their concerns are addressed, they are more willing to cooperate and they even conclude that the plan may be a success.
However, believes that the staff will act as expected is not always true, there may be senior staff who would choose to relocate rather than retire. The choices of the customers will depend on their needs and goals. The company may also end up being less efficient when they effect the work at home program because not all employees may be disciplined enough to work as they should in a different environment. The concerns of the employee’s ought t have been given more consideration since they have a better idea of self than any other person could predict using a theory.
In summary, factors which have been attributed to be the most significant causative agents are the environment and how individuals perceive themselves in the present and the future. Every person is different and their approach to changes or issues depend on their environment, personal affiliations and their conditioned behavior. however, this can be influenced and changed by the culture of the organization, incentives and also through training and development which the organization has invested in and made it easier for them to see through their agenda.
Bibliography
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