Organizational Behavior and Culture

One of my favorite classes in library school was regarding the culture and unique behavior within an organization. I have always had an interest in personalities and their categories. We all have an innate desire to know more about ourselves, how we tick and why. This undoubtedly motivated Jung, Briggs, Myers and others to delve into the world of the mind and how each one is different in some ways and the same in others.

So when you take a small collection of people and put them into an organization, their cumulative personality combination creates the personality or culture of a given organization. And every time one person leaves or arrives, it all shifts a little. We don’t always stop to think that our characteristics or personalities or even styles of leadership impact the rest of those around us whether in the workplace or any other group.

Case in point:
This recently was brought to mind when talking to a co-worker who has been struggling with stress and its effects on that person. She was able to identify three areas where stress had come from. One of them was the workplace.

At the beginning of the school year we were unexpectedly given the recorded course materials for several classes. These are used by our Non-Traditional Studies (NTS) department for students who check out the c.d.’s or tapes for a particular course. (It’s kinda like a correspondence course in an audio format.)

This was probably bad timing, in retrospect. They needed to be cataloged and readied in time for the beginning of the new year. This was probably partly my fault for agreeing to the change. Students were already requesting various titles. It was a scramble. Parts were missing; and courses were found stored in various places. There was not a complete list. School was starting soon.

This was just as new books were coming in, including textbooks which really needed to be available just as quickly as our student workers could get them out. We were not even fully staffed at this point; applicants were being interviewed, hired and trained. Supplies weren’t even fully stocked. You get the picture-not quite chaos but crazy.

Having been down this road before, I knew that the beginning of every school year is always a little chaotic. But you have to go with the flow, take one day at a time and deal with it as it comes. Worrying about it doesn’t help or change anything. You do what you can, go home, get your rest, and come back the next day, picking up where you left off. Now if you haven’t done your best that’s another story. But if you have – don’t sweat it.

However, not everyone takes that approach to their job, including my friend. She was stewing over getting the “NTS” dumped in our laps just as we were in the process of getting underway for the new year. I understood her stress but I did not successfully communicate to her that I understood her situation or validated her feelings regarding the situation. I knew where she was coming from. But I also knew that everything would work out in time. On the other hand, she did not feel like I ‘heard’ what she was saying. Thus in the end my actions (or lack thereof) had in part contributed to her stressful situation and how she was able to handle them (or not).

As mentioned this wasn’t the whole situation. There were two other situations in her life that also were contributing factors to her mental state. But my actions did have an effect on her. This in turn impacted her job performance – missed days, difficulty in concentration, or the mood she was in on a given day. Fortunately, I have had some of the same experiences she has been having, but from a different source. This allowed me to be understanding of what she's been going through. Consequently I have given her wide berth, in how she wants to deal with it. Already she is improving and over the last few months we have also talked about it a little bit more each time. This has also helped her work through the stress, which in turn helps her, period.

But it hit me today, as I walked across the parking lot to get my lunch – that – my actions had contributed to her health. How often does it become obvious to us that what we do affects someone else? Probably not often enough. Yet this domino affect could probably be traced – like the rings on the surface of water when an object is dropped into a body of water. It keeps reaching out further and further until it finally has covered the entire surface of that “organization”.

Thus the behavior of one affects the behavior of all in an organization, a community, a nation …and dare I say the world?