It has been observed that when people act, they bring structures and events into existence and set them in action.
As the Enactment Theory suggests, “Individuals and organizations are constantly in the process of self-formation.” This theory can be also seen as a process whereby people achieve continuity and coordination.
Communication research indicates that people generally deny knowing something or refuse to cooperate unless they hear it from their manager or supervisor. This is so even when they actually have heard about it in some other way. They tend to take the “they didn’t tell me” attitude, and actually use the claim of poor communication to sidestep their own personal accountability, or to just continue with their same old ways.
The following are some inappropriate organizational behaviors that business leaders should look into:
- Gossip. Rumors can be incredibly disruptive to a company. A lack of information can get rumors started. Some employees thrive on the admiration of others when they seem to be “in the know.”
- Violence or threatening or abusive behavior. Workplace violence includes threatened or actual abuse and can be verbal or physical.
- Dishonesty and theft. Some employees tend to be so abusive of the company’s hospitality. For example, company cars are being used in family activities.
- The reporting lines are confusing. Amidst the presence of an organizational structure, some communication/ reporting lines are non-existent!
- When a company has been in the business for long, there’s a tendency for communication to “grow over the years”. Sometimes, responsibilities and people have been added and no-one has ever formally reviewed the contribution, structure and its effectiveness of the organization.
- The staffing balance should be reviewed. When staff have come and gone over time, there is a range of skills and resources that need to be assessed; plus job specifications are either out-of-date or don’t exist. Talks of retrenchment exist because employees know that there are job descriptions that are redundant.
- When companies have major changes over the years and also the operational aspects of the organization have been re-focused, there should be somebody with the skill or expertise to help the company through this change management process.