Organizational Behavior Forces

Organizational Behavior Forces

Organizational Behavior, the study of individuals and groups in organizations, is affected by many factors, both internal, and external. Every organization is affected differently by a variety of these forces. Some of the forces that influence organizational behavior include restructuring, the organizations mission, fiscal policies, competition, the economy, customer demands, and globalization.

Knowledge Systems and Research

Knowledge Systems and Research (KS&R), an international market research company with an office in Syracuse, NY, is affected primarily by competition, the economy, and customer demands. These three forces have a drastic effect on how KS&R operates, from the process of collecting data, to how much data can be collected.

Competition

Different market research companies have different methods of collecting data. With technology constantly improving, market research has come a long way from interviewers walking through malls asking shoppers to take a survey. With the introduction of e-mail, several companies have begun to utilize the internet to perform surveys, and collect the data their clients wish to obtain. While this format is effective, it allows room for bias, and leaves room for confusion, as the human element is eliminated, and survey takers are left to decipher the questions themselves. E-mail surveys have also become unreliable because of "spam-filters," and not everybody checks their e-mail daily.

Knowledge Systems and Research is aware of the difficulties derived from internet based surveys, and has decided to stay with a more traditional method; conducting surveys over the telephone. The telephone allows the company to obtain data more quickly than an e-mail, because people are more likely to answer the phone than to check their e-mail and take a survey. It retains the human element of market research, and allows conversations to be recorded, so any obscure data can be pin-pointed, and the thought process to the response is able to be evaluated. Competitors may utilize technology, but KS&R's decision to eschew e-mail as a platform of production has bolstered the company's ability to obtain accurate data in a short period of time.

The Economy

The economy today is difficult. Many people are in debt, are working several jobs, and are wondering how they will maintain what little they have left. This makes market research difficult. Often times, people will not answer their phones to take a survey, because they owe money to the companies that are paying for the research, or they are too busy with life to take the time to complete a survey. Although times are tough, Knowledge Systems and Research is still able to meet customer demands, though time expectancies are expected to vary. To push employees to work harder, and faster, KS&R offers incentives for completing surveys when a deadline is closing in.

Customer Demands

Customers expect KS&R to collect specified data, which is gathered through a series of questions. The more data a company is looking to obtain, the more questions