Organizational Behavior

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is the extent to which a leader or CEO is likely to define the structure his or her role and those of employees in search for goal attainment. Consideration is also another important aspect because as a leader, one should praise and highlight the good efforts of employees to reinforce what is expected.

Trait theory can be applied to the situation regarding United because it focuses on personal qualities and characteristics of employees. It relies on employees treating customers with the highest level of respect. In regards to the big five model, it has been found that extraverted leaders are among the most important trait for successful and effective leaders and how they transfer those traits onto their employees. The psychological contract that is explained on page 291 consists of an unwritten agreement that exists between employees and employers and is classified as the unspoken expectations that are expected of individuals. These unspoken expectations consist of superior customer service, showing up to work on time, and abiding by rules and regulations set by the company. United employees should work better on identifying these principles so that they can adhere to those rules and attempt to rebuild their reputation among consumers.

It is apparent that United Airlines possesses an inability to properly resolve conflicts in a timely and efficient manner. This specific situation would be classified as a dysfunctional conflict because of the inefficiency in the handling of the problem. Intragroup conflict occurred because there was a conflict within the organization regarding how to handle the problem and respond to the public. However, there was also intergroup conflict because there was conflict between consumers and United Airline’s upon seeing and hearing about the man being carried off flight 3411 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

There are different stages within the conflict process model that are discussed on page 503 and it begins with the first stage that is labeled as potential opposition or incompatibility. The second stage is classified as cognition and personalization and is where conflict issues tend to be defined and this delineates the possible solutions available. The third stage is classified as the way group members decide to act in a given manner. Stage four is defined as behavior and is important because it consists of the reactions, statements, and actions made by the conflicting party. This is the stage where group members need to decide how they are going to successfully overcome the conflict with a positive outcome. The fifth and final stage is classified as functional outcomes. This means it is important to manage functional and dysfunctional outcomes and successfully manage functional conflicts. If these five stages were followed by United Airlines employees and management, the situation may have ended more positively and not hurt United Airlines reputation among consumers.

4)   What steps should the organization take to solve the problem? How would you recommend that the changes be implemented?

The main problem that United Airlines has encountered was their communication, or lack thereof. This caused a problem with the overbooking of the flight, the removal of a passenger, as well as statements made to the public. As previously mentioned, communication serves five major functions within an organization: management, feedback, emotional sharing, persuasion, and information exchange. This situation with United Airlines proved that they are lacking in all five of these areas.

To solve this problem of communication, they first need to reevaluate the communication process to be sure they have a clear understanding of how it works. When a sender initiates a message, he or she needs to make sure they are using the right channel, noise is minimal, and of course make sure the receiver understands the message as it was intended through feedback. United Airlines CEO, Oscar Munoz, did not use the correct channel when he issued his initial and follow-up statements regarding the situation, he did not clear up any of the noise which caused an uproar in the public who did not receive his messages as he intended and consequently, the stock of the organization took a hit.

Next, United Airlines needs to adopt a better downward form of communication. On page 347 of the book, it is stated that “group leaders and managers use it to assign goals, provide job instructions, explain policies and procedures, point out problems that need attention, and offer feedback.” By using this form of communication, management would be able to implement better policies regarding the overbooking of flights. This is a problem we see too often with all airlines, and rarely does it work out in their favor as we seen here with United. Also, they need to reevaluate how they deal with issues that arise from the overbooking of flights. If somebody were to book a flight, there is obviously somewhere they need to be at a certain time and for most people, no amount of money will incentivize them to want to reschedule their plans. Flight delays are a major inconvenience.

It is recommended that United Airlines re-evaluate the communication process as well as their form of communication. This is a major organizational behavior problem for them that needs to be addressed if they plan to win the public back over. Right now, the community has a lack of trust with this organization and it will take some effort to change that. Changing the way they communicate both within the organization and to the public will be a good start.                                                                                                                                            

5) What potential barriers, obstacles, and challenges might arise in implementing your recommendations?

Any time a company wants to shake policy and procedures up, there are barriers within the organization. This is especially true when a company has a weak culture, as is the case with United Airlines. The biggest potential problem that comes up with this implementation is employee buy-in. You can spend all of the money you can afford on new programs for successful management, but if the people on the ground do not buy-in and take it to heart, then it will fail. In this class and in the textbook, we have discussed the importance of a strong culture. On page 529, the text says, “In a strong culture, the organization’s core values are both intensely held and widely shared.” What this means is that if United Airlines has a strong culture, than implementing any new policies and management