Organizational Behavior: Performance Problems, Causes and Effects in a Public Sector Organization

Organizational Behavior: Performance Problems, Causes and Effects in a Public Sector Organization

Abstract

Today’s business world is full of players in any given marketplace, all of whom are competing for an opportunity to provide a product or service in exchange for profits.   Simply stated, successful players are better and more successful at delivering that product or service than the rest, and as such reap benefit from this superior organizational performance.   This success can be stated as “Organizational Performance” and it is often attributed to the organization’s workface – the people.   In terms of the public sector (government), that competition is not necessarily present but organizational performance is equally universal as government organizations also have goals and objectives.   As such, the accomplishment or lack thereof, can also be traced to organizational performance – how government organizations and their workforce accomplish goals and objectives.  This paper aims to address a few organizational performance problems at one of the U.S, federal government department, which were observed and analyzed by me in the span of 3 years.  The government office (part of this case study) exhibited problems associated with its organizational culture, lack of management and leadership and overall failure to provide its employees with adequate support in order to accomplish organizational objectives.  As result of such problems, the organization experienced workforce related problems such as employee disengagement, worker misbehavior, and excessive workforce turnover, all of which resulted in decreased organizational performance and overall inefficient delivery of public services.  In order to rectify these performance problems, this government office and its associated department need to increase focus on leadership training and development, streamline communication from management to its “line” employees and address issues associated with lack of customer support in its culture.  Additionally, the overall organization needs to refocus its approach to management and welfare of its employees to address demographic changes in its workforce.  While these are monumental tasks, which may require changes to federal workface regulations and rules, such changes would result in increased organizational performance and overall better efficiency in providing services to the U.S. taxpayer.  

Keywords: Organizational Behavior, Engagement, Performance, Leadership, Management.

Organizational Behavior: Performance Problems, Causes and Effects in a Public Sector Organization

As a lead consultant on an IT related product integration project with a named U.S. government department (client), I spent 3 years on several client sites where I worked as part of an IT integration team of consultants on a $5.2 million project.  During my tenure as a lead consultant, I was responsible for day to day interaction with the client and ensuring the clients’ needs and requirements translated into project plans as related to the Statement of Work (SOW).  Over the course of 3 years, through daily interactions with client’s low level employees, mid-level managers and government executes, I observed several problems which contributed to low productivity for the client’s field office, resulted in cases of workplace misbehavior and overall increased employee turnover.   As these are categorized as symptoms of bigger and more complex problems there are no likely “quick fixes” to such problems.  However, the government’s office and its corporate headquarters can take some small steps which could help in not only treading the “symptoms” but also address the root cause of the problems.  For purposes of this case study, I will analyze 3 key problems, their root causes and possible solutions.