Organizational Behavior

Introduction

This paper will explain the concepts and terminology of organizational behavior, organizational culture, diversity, communication, organizational learning, and organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Also, this paper will explore these concepts and terms based on personal work experiences at Anthem Insurance Company.

Terminology

* Organizational Behavior: Organizational behavior is the study of individual and group dynamics in an organization setting. (Handy, 1985) Organization behavior is becoming more important in the global economy as people with diverse backgrounds and cultural values have to work together effectively and efficiently.

* Organizational Culture: Organizational Culture refers to the values, beliefs and customs of an organization. Innovative organizations need individuals who are prepared to challenge the status quo - be it groupthink or bureaucracy, and also need procedures to implement new ideas effectively. (Handy, 1985)

* Diversity: Diversity is defined as differences among people in age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and other human differences. (Loden, 1991)

* Communication: The act or fact of communicating; as, communication of smallpox; communication of a secret. (Loden, 1991) Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or nonlinguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes.

* Organizational Learning: Explores ways to design organizations so that they fulfill their function effectively, encourage people to reach their full potential, and, at the same time, help the world to be a better place. (Handy, 1985)

* Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency: Effectiveness is the extent to which planned outcomes, goals, or objectives are achieved as a result of an activity, strategy, intervention or initiative intended to achieve the desired effect, under ordinary circumstances. Efficiency is the ratio of the output to the inputs of any system. An efficient system or person is one who achieves higher levels of performance (outcome, output) relative to the inputs (resources, time, money) consumed. Being effective means achieving organizational goals. Being efficient means achieving goals with little wasted resources. (Effectiveness and Efficiency, 2005)

Concepts Within An Organization

Organizational behavior at Anthem Insurance Company has a lot to be desired. There are many different units within the organization and not one unit is ran with the same organizational behavior. There may be one unit that has high moral, while there are other units that struggle to keep associates to do the workload at hand. Organizational culture needs to be implemented into Anthem Insurance Company to promote a stable environment. While there are many people that look from the outside in and think the company has integrity when it comes to values and beliefs it does not seem that way working within the organization.

Diversity is a key factor to the organization. While the organization feels it must be diverse it seems to forget about the common goal of the company. The common goal is to increase knowledge of health insurance and keep people motivated, healthy, and knowledgeable in the healthcare industry. Members of diverse organizations are skilled at working successfully with people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, of different ages and genders, different ethnic and national cultures, and different life styles. (Schermerhorn, 2005)

Communication is the key to a successful organization. At Anthem Insurance we have to be able to communicate with several different departments to ensure the proper outcome of claims paid or claims that have overpaid. If we did not communicate in an effective manner then our customers would suffer and that is definitely not an option within our organization. It is also imperative that our front-line managers communicate with our upper management to ensure we are doing things that comply with our governmental standards.

Organizational effectiveness and efficiencies are used in organizational