Organization Study
Background Information
The American Red Cross is the humanitarian organization of the nation that focuses on addressing emergency and disaster cases happening in United Sates. The organization offers services in various areas namely domestic disaster relief, comforting military members and their families, offering communication services regarding emergencies and provision blood products. Besides, the organization also strives to provide education training on health and disaster preparedness (International Herald Tribune n.p). The organization has its headquarters in Washington D.C. This paper focuses on analyzing how the president and CEO of American Red Cross, Gail McGovern utilizes the key elements of organizational behavior.
The manager exhibits various personality traits in leading the organization. Firstly, she is honesty in the carrying out the leadership roles in the organizations. She encourages open communication among all the members of the organization to foster honesty. On the other hand, she is very hard working since she always meets her deadlines as expected. Furthermore, she is respectful which is evident in the way she handles her employees with a lot of caution and respect. Nonetheless, she trusts the members of the organization very much and supports them in whatever they everything they do. On the other hand, her Myers-Briggs personality type is commander because she is very strong-willed, courageous and creative in her decision making. She exercises her power through making concrete decisions after allowing the other members to air out their views.
Motivation
The most common motivation theory that the CEO of American Red Cross Organization uses is the Alderfer’s ERG theory which focuses on three aspects of motivation. These aspects defined by this motivational theory include growth needs whose focus is on realizing the potential of the workers and improving their competence through training. The second aspect addressed by this theory is relatedness needs through which the manager strives to ensure that all her members have health relations with each other. Finally, the manager is also concerned with existence needs of the members of the organization through which she is ever concerned with their well-being at all times (Bradt n.p).
The manager is motivated by the way the members of the organization are dedicated to providing service to the American community in the times of emergencies. On the other hand, the employees are motivated by the training services offered by the organization as it enhances their knowledge and skills. Besides, they are also motivated by the commitment by the management to ensure their well-being in the organization. Finally, they are motivated by the open communication present in the organization that assists them in handling all the matters of the organization without any problem.
Stress
The common source of stress faced by the manager is the sudden emergence of disasters of a high magnitude that require close attention from the members of the organization (Justin and Jesse n.p). An outstanding example is the 9/11 terrorist attack in the U.S. that led to the loss of many lives. The manager solves this stress through the use of her management knowledge and skills as well as support from other members of the organization. On the other hand, fatigue is the most common source of stress that faces the employees of organization especially during the time of addressing emergencies and disasters. However, the manager assists the employees to overcome the stress by giving them time to rest after a tedious work.
Decision Making
The manager makes various decisions for the organization. Some of these decisions include policy, strategic and operational decisions. The manager uses a participatory decision-making style whereby she involves other managers and the subordinates to air out their views. She uses this style to promote democracy in the organization that enhances creativity and innovativeness within the organization. The employees are involved in the decision-making process of the organization.
Team Dynamics
Disaster action team is one team that is present in the organization. This is the team whose work is to respond immediately to the disaster that hit the members of the nation. These are the member groups that take the initiative of visiting the area of emergency or disaster and try to arrest such disasters. The team members are very committed, dedicated and cooperative.
Volunteer team this are the members who assist the organization during disasters and emergencies without any need of receiving compensation from the organization. They work for the organization with an aim of assisting it to overcome any serious emergencies that face the people of America. In fact, the large percentage of the organization’s members is the volunteers (Drabczyk 13).
Team Building
The manager builds trust in the organization teams through various ways. Firstly, she leads by example focusing much on making the members of the organization understand that she trust them very much in whatever they do for the organization. Besides, she always communicates open and allows her members also to communicate openly about any issues affecting the organization. In such a way she can build trust for the members. Furthermore, she ensures that all discussions with the members of the organization are free from biases and lament on trust (Drabczyk 10). Through the trust existing among the members, the member of the organization feels free to cooperate and unite. This assists them in working together towards a common goal (Bradt n.p).
Communication
The organization has a two-way communication implying that the communication starts from the CEO then trickles down to the other subordinates through their supervisors. The chairman of the organization with other top officials of the organization sit down and come up with plans then such plans are communicated to the supervisors who ensure their implementation. On the other hand, the subordinates also communicate to the top management through their supervisors. This is to mean that they provide feedback concerning the plan implementation progress and any other matter that they feel the management need to address.
The organization utilizes both verbal and written communication. Both communications are very common and are also very efficient. However, the written communication which takes for of emails, memos and messages is the most effective form of the organization. This is because employees can get a clear way on what is required by the management, and if they do not understand it well, they can refer. The written communication is further strengthened by word of mouth communication that arise from the supervisors wishing to remind and emphasize on what the subordinates need to do to foster the success of the organization.
Distance is the one barrier to communication that affects the communication in the organization. Sometimes disasters occur in areas where the communication with the required team becomes very difficult within the organization. The provision of services under such conditions thus becomes very difficult for the employees in the field. Additionally, language is another barrier common in the organization. This is common with the volunteers, partners, and sponsors of the organization. Such people may come from different cultures where English is not the first language thus leading to a communication barrier.
Power
There are two common sources of power evident in the American Red Cross organization. Firstly, is the referent power which refers to that power that a leader has due to the respect and trust earned from his or her followers. It is true that the organizational employees have a great respect and trust to their CEO. This is because the deem her to be also understanding and respectful to them. The CEO listens to the views of the employees and handles any problems that arise among her workers. This is one thing that has encouraged the employees of the organization to have great respect for her. Besides, the CEO focuses on providing the employees with a conducive working environment whereby they are free to exercise their energies and talents making them have much honor for her leadership (Clare 133).
On the other hand, reward power is also a common power within the organization. This is the power through which a leader rewards or punishes his or her employees depending on the compliance with the organizational provisions. Reward power is very common in the organization, and it is used in most cases to motivate the employees for attaining the goals of the organization. It is a motivation to the employees which encourages them to work very hard for the success of the organization. The management of the organization uses various ways to reward its employees. For instance, it uses promotions as one way of recognizing efforts of an employee based on job merits. The organization also provides other forms of rewards to its members as a way of appreciating their efforts towards goals attainment. In fact, such leadership has been very key in improving the services of the employees.
Conflict and Negotiation
American Red Cross Organization focuses on addressing the conflicts of their community members thus they do not have serious conflicts within the organization. However, the organization suffers from the normal forms of conflicts such as interpersonal, supervisor vs. employee and poor communication. Such conflicts are addressed using negotiations.
Leadership
The manager applies Democratic leadership skills in her leadership. This implies that she allows all the members of the organization to take part in the decision-making the process of the organization. This is to mean that each employee has a say in the decision-making. She allows power to trickle down to the subordinates. Through the same leadership skill, the manager allows the subordinates to give feedback on the implementation proceedings of organizations goals and policies.
The leadership style is effective for the organization because it acts a motivation to the employees. Democratic leadership style applied by the manager in American Red Cross organization makes the employees feel appreciated thus able to work hard towards attaining the goals of the organization. The leadership style also promotes collaboration among the employees due to effective communication. The style has also promoted cooperation and teamwork among the members thus enhancing productivity. It has also played a great role in fostering customer service thus making the organizational services quality and effective in service the American community.
Works Cited
Bradt, George. “Red Cross Disaster Services- A lesson in Motivation.” PrimeGenesis. 2 Feb. 2011. Web. http://www.primegenesis.com/blog/2011/02/red-cross-disaster-services-a- lesson-in-motivation/
Clare, Donald Alan. Organizational Power Influence and Control in a Philippine Community Development Organization. 1965. Print.
Drabczyk, Anne. “American Red Cross Academy: Team-Building and Leadership Development.” Journal of Social Change. Walden University, (2009): (3), 1-14. Web. http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=jsc
Justin, Elliott and Jesse, Eisinger.. “ The Red Cross Secret Disaster.” ProPublica. 29 Oct. 2014. Web. https://www.propublica.org/article/the-red-cross-secret-disaster
International Herald Tribune. “1915: Goal of American Red Cross.” The New Yolk Times. 27 Nov. 2015. Web. http://iht-retrospective.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/1915-goal-of- americanredcross/?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FAmerican%20Red%20Cross&actio n=click&contentCollection=timestopics®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version= latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=collection&_r=0
