Bad Attitude & Diversity Classmates

Order Description

Respond to the two students in 200 words each with 2 references each, John and Kevin, below to their discussion Learning Activities 1 & 2 they answered which is:
Learning Activity #1: Bad attitude
Using Figure 4-2 from chapter 4, assess a coworkers (or your own) attitude that you think is poor. Use the list of factors and explain to us the persons behavior associated with each. For those factors identified as contributing to the bad attitude, conclude as to what you think is necessary for that person to develop job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Learning Activity #2: Cross-cultural diversity
What cross-cultural diversity issues have you observed in a past or current work place, and why is OB relevant to these issues? Include how different attitudes towards life and work, and how varying ethical norms found around the world, influence how business objectives are met. How could OB intervene and enable business objectives of your organization?

The references you must use is the following:

https://fortune.com/best-companies/google

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr022

https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BUS209-1.3.2-OrganizationalCulture.pdf

Organizational Behavior (2014). Washington, D.C.: The Saylor Foundation (chapters 1, 2, 4) Attached

Be sure to cite in paragraph appropriately and reference list at the end. Cite all reference sources using APA format. Use in-text parenthetical citations, for example, (Organizational Behavior, 2014, ch. #, p. #), within your response content, and full citations referenced at end (see Content/Using APA).

Johns Original Post to Learning Activity 1:
People develop work attitudes based on how they interact within their environment and are influenced by their beliefs and feelings (Organizational Behavior, 2014, ch.4, p.4). These attitudes can be positive or negative depending on the persons outlook on that environment and can affect not only themselves, but also others around them. A number of factors within the work environment can contribute to job satisfaction and organizational commitment which can greatly influence a persons general outlook on where they work and with whom they work. The following is an examination of a person who has a generally poor attitude in my work environment (One caveat on this analysis is that I am in the military, and people are sometimes placed in positions because of rank and availability, not necessarily on individual qualifications. Commanders rarely conduct interviews for vacant job positions and the best person for the job is not always the one who is selected to fill the vacancy.):
Poor Attitude: Lack of motivation. In general, this person has displayed a lack of enthusiasm in contributing to individual and group tasks. A person in his position is required to take initiative in the absence of guidance, lead the team he is in charge of, and be a knowledgeable professional who knows how to meet goals and objectives. This person is failing in a number of areas to meet the expectations required of a person in that position.
Personality: This person can be characterized as an introvert, meaning he focuses more on his own thoughts and feelings instead of those around him. I cannot say whether the person is generally happy in life, but I can say that he does display mood swings and is critical of others, which is indicative of discontent (Organizational Behavior, 2014, ch.4, p.7). A more positive outlook at work would help improve the overall environment. Unfortunately, I believe this person is not content with his position and will only be happy when he leaves it.
Person Environment Fit: Again, the person was selected for the position based on rank and availability. The position is one that falls along the standardized career path for people in that particular job field and grooms them for positions of increased responsibility. Their performance is graded annually on individual assessment reports which become a factor for future assignments and promotions. However, if the person is neither seeking advancement or promotion and is not concerned about individual evaluations (as is the case with this particular individual who is preparing for retirement within the next two years), they can become a lame duck and hurt the organization. In these situations, it is difficult to remove the person and their tenure must be waited out until the next qualified individual is given the position. To compensate, this person could rely on the team members who are motivated to be in their position to offset his own negativity.
Job Characteristics: This person has a high growth need and is looking to develop new skills that will be necessary when transitioning from Soldier to civilian. He has reshaped the team to meet the demands of the commander and has delegated more authorities and responsibilities to the team members to allow them to be more creative and innovative when solving problems. This is a positive attribute that Green et al. (2002) said was one of the tools for managing diversity. Specifically, that he has a willingness to change the organization if required. He takes more of a managerial role and is not heavily involved in the details of daily operations.
Psychological Contract: This person is planning to retire in two years and he will be entitled to full benefits after doing so. The contract with the military at this point is that he comes to work when not excused and attempts to meet the goals, objectives, and deadlines established by commanders.
Organizational Justice: The military is rife with policies, rule, and regulations that must be followed. This person does a good job of understanding these requirements and enforcing team members to follow them.
Work Relationships: This person is has developed trust with team members by empowering them to make decisions on their own and has displayed a genuine concern for their health and well-being. He respects the team members and listens to their input, but his laissez-faire leadership style has not developed the strong relationships necessary to be a truly effective and efficient team. Green et al. (2002) said that diversity can increase both competitive advantage and productivity, but a diverse team also needs someone to lead it. This is not the case in my example. Tsai (2011) also said that the interactions between employees and leaders affect communication and collaboration between team members and are related to goal and mission accomplishment. In this particular case, the lack of positive interactions is affecting the teams performance.
Stress: This person has served in the military for over twenty years already and is looking forward to finally separating. A career spanning that long can take a toll on the person and his family. In this case, the person simply wants to complete his remaining service obligation and separate.
Work-Life Balance: This person is looking to break from a long military career and begin a new life as a civilian in a new job. I am unaware of what that position will be, but he is more focused on making the necessary arrangements for that transition instead of the needs of his team and the command.

References
Green, K., Lpez, M., Wysocki, A., Kepner, K., Farnsworth, D., & Clark, J. L. (2002). Diversity in the workplace: Benefits, challenges, and the required managerial tools. EDIS. Retrieved from https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr022
Organizational Behavior. (2014). Retrieved from https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/225184/viewContent/9126859/View
Tsai, Y. (2011). Relationship between organizational culture, leadership behavior and job satisfaction. BMC Health Services Research, 1-9. Retrieved from https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/BUS209-1.3.2-OrganizationalCulture.pdf.

Kevins Original Post to Learning Activity 2:
The largest and most blatant issue that I have seen in a diverse work force is the tendency to segregate. Not intentional segregation by management, but employees segregating themselves. Teams can be built and managers strive to make them diverse and inclusive, knowing that is a benefit to have such a team (Green, Lopez, Wysocki, & Kepner, 2015). Those teams require maintenance, intentional, thoughtful stewarding to stay together. A company can build 3 teams, all balance in their diversity. Two years later they could slowly shift right back to segregated groups. Human being like to be around people similar to them (The Saylor Foundation, 2014), similar in background, outlook, experiences, honestly people with similar culture (Lillis & Guang Tian, 2010). Being around people similar to you makes you feel normal and excepted. At work all the football fans may get together over lunch and talk about it, a shared interest. Over time, the manager who enjoys talking about football may slowly recruit all the football fans toward his team. As this happens he will engage more with those similar to him. Engaging more with those other fans, and less with those who are not fans. Those employees who arent fans and receive less engagement will become less interested and their job satisfaction will drop (Tsai, 2011). That will push away those employees, likely to a manager that share similar interests or back grounds. This is how diversity slowly fades away.
Another issue I see in my work place is the inclusion of women in the workplace. Combat vocations are last vestige of the all-male workplace in the military. They have slowly integrated women thru support jobs like medics and supply, now the women will enter into vocations like Infantry and Armor. This creates various logistical challenges, but the social challenges are far harder to overcome. Many older service members simply avoid the contact as much as possible. It is an interesting shallenge that I am looking forward to see play out before me.
References
Green, K., Lopez, M., Wysocki, A., & Kepner, K. (2015). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, Challenges, and the Required Managerial Tools. Retrieved from University of Florida IFAS Extension: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hr022
Lillis, M. P., & Guang Tian, R. (2010). Cultural Issues in the Business World: An Anthropol. Journal of Social Sciences , 99-112.
The Saylor Foundation. (2014). Organizational Behavior. Washington, DC.: The Saylor Foundation.
Tsai, Y. (2011). Relationship between Organizational Culture,. BMC Health Services Research. Retrieved from https://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/11/98
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