Bad Mood

There is no doubt that there will be times when we will find ourselves in a bad mood. Sometimes we may know why a funk has descended upon us, and other times, we may have no clue at all. However, even though we all experience such periods, it doesn't mean that we have no recourse for dealing with them. Bad moods are a message we are sending to ourselves. Underneath, we usually find something that is making us uncomfortable… something we need to take action on or shift our energy towards in a more positive direction. Often the very reason we're in a bad mood is that we feel helpless or incapable of dealing with a certain situation. 

If you are having difficulties understanding the root of your bad mood, give yourself some space to express the things about your life that may be bothering or worrying you. Chances are the things that come up will be directly tied to those feelings. The best part about this exercise is that once you pinpoint the source behind your bad mood, you will be in a position to do something constructive about it.

One interesting point about bad moods is that they seem to have a magnetic quality and when we are in one, we seem to attract more negative things our way. That's why some "bad mood" days can seem to spiral even further downhill with problems and annoyances that augment our discontent and frustration. When this happens, I think it's important to do something nice for yourself. Enjoy your favorite beverage or snack, find a funny movie or sitcom to watch on the television, or just go for a walk in the park. By turning your attention to something fun or pleasurable, you can try to break the negative energy and hopefully shift your mood.

Another way to break a bad mood is to go somewhere else. Even if all you do is to get up and go to another part of the office or you switch rooms in your home, it can make an enormous difference. Or getting outside for a few minutes to a calm or natural setting may help to change your mood. Another idea is to get some exercise. Exercise doesn't just build muscle and tone the body, it also helps the brain to release chemicals called endorphins that have a positive effect on our moods.

And when you're in a bad mood don't forget about the people around you. If someone asks, make sure to let him or her know that you are just having a tough day and reassure them that that your mood isn't about them. Sometimes, just telling someone that you are in a bad mood can shift your energy to a better place.

Managing Organizational Change

Organizational change occurs when a company makes a transition from its current state to some desired future state. Managing organizational change is the process of planning and implementing change in organizations in such a way as to minimize employee resistance and cost to the organization while simultaneously maximizing the effectiveness of the change effort. 

Today's business environment requires companies to undergo changes almost constantly if they are to remain competitive. Factors such as globalization of markets and rapidly evolving technology force businesses to respond in order to survive. Such changes may be relatively minor—as in the case of installing a new software program—or quite major—as in the case of refocusing an overall marketing strategy, fighting off a hostile takeover, or transforming a company in the face of persistent foreign competition. 

Organizational change initiatives often arise out of problems faced by a company. In some cases, however, companies change under the impetus of enlightened leaders who first recognize and then exploit new potentials dormant in the organization or its circumstances. Some observers, more soberly, label this a "performance gap" which able management is inspired to close. 

But organizational change is also resisted and—in the opinion of its promoters—fails. The failure may be due to the manner in which change has been visualized, announced, and implemented or because internal resistance to it builds. Employees, in other words, sabotage those changes they view as antithetical to their own interests.

A manager trying to implement a change, no matter how small, should expect to encounter some resistance from within the organization. Resistance to change is normal; people cling to habits and to the status quo. To be sure, managerial actions can minimize or arouse resistance. People must be motivated to shake off old habits. This must take place in stages rather than abruptly so that "managed change" takes on the character of "natural change." In addition to normal inertia, organization change introduces anxieties about the future. If the future after the change comes to be perceived positively, resistance will be less.

Education and communication are therefore key ingredients in minimizing negative reactions. Employees can be informed about both the nature of the change and the logic behind it before it takes place through reports, memos, group presentations, or individual discussions. Another important component of overcoming resistance is inviting employee participation and involvement in both the design and implementation phases of the change effort. Organized forms of facilitation and support can be deployed. Managers can ensure that employees will have the resources to bring the change about; managers can make themselves available to provide explanations and to minimize stress arising in many scores of situations.

Some companies manage to overcome resistance to change through negotiation and rewards. They offer employees concrete incentives to ensure their cooperation. Other companies resort to manipulation, or using subtle tactics such as giving a resistance leader a prominent position in the change effort. A final option is coercion, which involves punishing people who resist or using force to ensure their cooperation. Although this method can be useful when speed is of the essence, it can have lingering negative effects on the company. Of course, no method is appropriate to every situation, and a number of different methods may be combined as needed.

Managing change effectively requires moving the organization from its current state to a future desired state at minimal cost to the organization. Key steps in that process are: 

Understanding the current state of the organization. This involves identifying problems the company faces, assigning a level of importance to each one, and assessing the kinds of changes needed to solve the problems. 

Competently envisioning and laying out the desired future state of the organization. This involves picturing the ideal situation for the company after the change is implemented, conveying this vision clearly to everyone involved in the change effort, and designing a means of transition to the new state. An important part of the transition should be maintaining some sort of stability; some things—such as the company's overall mission or key personnel—should remain constant in the midst of turmoil to help reduce people's anxiety. 

Implementing the change in an orderly manner. This involves managing the transition effectively. It might be helpful to draw up a plan, allocate resources, and appoint a key person to take charge of the change process. The company's leaders should try to generate enthusiasm for the change by sharing their goals and vision and acting as role models. In some cases, it may be useful to try for small victories first in order to pave the way for later successes. 

Change is natural, of course. Proactive management of change to optimize future adaptability is invariably a more creative way of dealing with the dynamisms of industrial transformation than letting them happen willy-nilly. 

Organizational transformation principle

Core Competence of the Organization

The five competence forces that change Organization

How to motivate employees?

Every person has different reasons for working. The reasons for working are as individual as the person. But, we all work because we obtain something that we need from work. The something obtained from work impacts morale, employee motivation, and the quality of life. To create positive employee motivation, treat employees as if they matter - because employees matter. These ideas will help fulfill what people want from work and create employee motivation.

Some people work for personal fulfillment; others work for love of what they do. Others work to accomplish goals and to feel as if they are contributing to something larger than themselves. The bottom line is that we all work for money and for reasons too individual to assign similarities to all workers.

Employees need respect, to be members of the in-crowd, to impact decision making about their jobs, to have the opportunity to grow and develop, and access to reasonable leadership. The following describe what employees want from work: 

• Respect is the fundamental right of every employee in every workplace. If people feel as if they are treated with respect, they usually respond with respect and dignified actions. Part of respect is praise and feedback so people know how they are doing at work. 
• Employees want to feel as if they are members of the in-crowd. This means that they know and have access to information as quickly as anyone else in your workplace. 
• Employees want to learn new skills, develop their capabilities, and grow their knowledge and careers. Making developmental opportunities available to each employee demonstrates your commitment to helping them develop their careers. They appreciate this. 
• Employees want to have an impact on decisions that are made about their jobs. Employee involvement and employee empowerment help to create engaged employees willing to put forth their discretionary energy for the business. 
• Employees do want leadership. They want a sense of being on the right track, going somewhere that has been defined and is important. They like being part of something bigger than themselves. Employees like to know that someone, who is trustworthy, is in charge. 

Motivation at work is a choice employees make. No matter how hard managers try or how supportive company policies are, there is a bottom line for motivating employees. Employees choose to exhibit motivated behavior at work.

Passive-Aggressive Organization

"Everyone Agrees but nothing changes"

Passive-aggressive organizations are friendly places to work: People are congenial, conflict is rare, and consensus is easy to reach. But, at the end of the day, even the best proposals fail to gain traction, and a company can go nowhere so imperturbably that it's easy to pretend everything is fine. Such companies are not necessarily saddled with mulishly passive-aggressive employees. Rather, they are filled with mostly well-intentioned people who are the victims of flawed processes and policies.

Commonly, a growing company's halfhearted or poorly thought-out attempts to decentralize give rise to multiple layers of managers, whose authority for making decisions becomes increasingly unclear. Some managers, as a result, hang back, while others won't own up to the calls they've made, inviting colleagues to second-guess or overturn the decisions. In such organizations, information does not circulate freely, and that makes it difficult for workers to understand the impact of their actions on company performance and for managers to appraise employees' value to the organization correctly. A failure to match incentives to performance accurately stifles initiative, and people do just enough to get by. Breaking free from this pattern is hard; a long history of seeing corporate initiatives ignored and then fade away tends to make people cynical. 

I've experienced passive-aggressive behavior in corporate settings, but it's an entirely different experience depending on your view of the playing field: employee, supply partner or consultant.

At first blush, team members looked to be one big, happy family. No one disagreed during meetings and members never directly discussed concerns or asserted their needs. Instead, they would come at you from behind or attack in pairs like nimble. If I asked the right question in just the right way (and the stars were aligned), I would get the needed answer. If I asked some data and give some deadlines, they will commit that they will give it on time. But when the deadlines comes they will give you many reasons and ask for extension.

Although we successfully launched the project but I'll always remember what the company was leaving on the table by embedding this passive-aggressive behavior into its culture. It doesn't take a math wizard to see how this experience multiplied hundreds of times could negatively impact the business.