Rationality of Behaviors:

A must-be ingredient for strategic organizational performance

A Hypothesis
Sohailuddin Alavi
Capacity Building and Institutional Development Consultant Karachi, Pakistan || Email. ccroup.pakistan@gmail.com

Dilemma

Many a times work-behaviors fall short of hitting in the Bulls Eye. Put it simply, individuals perform their given tasks, yet results fall below the target. Even more troublesome is the situation when the behaviors become ends in themselves and results are grossly displaced.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Sohailuddin Alavi

Dilemma

The scenario leads to a situation where Authority is perceived as a right to act at ones will and a reflection of position in the hierarchy, instead of it being seen as a resource in discharging the roleresponsibility

3/11/2013

Sohailuddin Alavi

Dilemma

As a consequence behaviors tend to become ritualistic and personal interests replace the organizational rationality

In this hypothesis it is aimed to analyze the dilemma from rather unexplored orientation

3/11/2013

Sohailuddin Alavi

Hypothesis
What causes irrationality to our behaviors

Behaviors are the outcome of interactions between personality makeup, formal work environment and the emergent (informal) relationships Let us analyze the effect of each variable separately

3/11/2013

Sohailuddin Alavi

Hypothesis
What causes irrationality to our behaviors

Personality makeup
Beliefs* and values that are not subjected to empirical assessment, revisiting and validation are the major contributors to ritualistic behaviors Higher valance for and probability of securing a reward** or in other words instrumentality ignites the motivation nevertheless it eclipses the organizational rationality in many situations if not all

* This does not include the religious faith ** Expectancy Theory of Motivation by Victor Vroom of Yale School of Management 1964.
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Hypothesis
What causes irrationality to our behaviors

Formal Environment
Employees are given task list alone, not the expected outcomes (goals) cause behaviors to become irrational

Employees are given operating goals, but have no systemic view of their team (department) goals or overall goals of the organization tend to cause irrationality in behaviors
Employees are given operating goals without benchmarks to measure achievements thereof can also cause irrational behaviors
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Hypothesis
What causes irrationality to our behaviors

Cross Function Hopping

Organizations run dominantly by administrative mindset (Theory X) define management positions as (administrative authorities) with or without regard to functional core competencies. The incumbents consequently, operate as administrators rather than managing the functional process.

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Sohailuddin Alavi

Hypothesis
What causes irrationality to our behaviors
Even more sadly, the incumbents are there to stay for a short period (three years on average) which neither provides them enough opportunity to develop a long term vision or to learn functional core competencies nor the need for it. Instead they articulate there behaviors in a fashion that secures them personal career advantages generally at the cost of organizational effectiveness and employees performance and morale
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Hypothesis
What causes irrationality to our behaviors?

When authority to make decisions and access organizational resources is divorced from role-responsibility, it tends to be interpreted as a prerogative (right) thus can be leveraged for personal gratification, which makes behaviors irrational

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Sohailuddin Alavi

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