Understanding Organizational Behaviour By Conducting An Interview With A Manager

The purpose of this research is to understand the importance of the organization behaviour by interviewing a manager from a company. In order to do so, I choose MWSC, and did a face to face to interview with the audit manager of MWSC. From this research, you will get the information about the manager and the company.

This research is divided in to two sectionThe first section is “General OB section” and it is divided into 3 questions. From these 3 questions you will be able to understand the importance of learning Organizational behaviour at an early age and how it will affect the work life and personal life. From this interview, I’ve also learned why the audit manager of MWSC likes to be a manager and what he like least about being a manager.

And the second section is the “Focus section” and it is divided in to 12 questions. From this you will be able to understand the importance of organizational behaviour to a manager and how its effect his motivation and his staffs in order to increase productivity of works and allow the organization to achieve higher levels of output. Also, you will be able to understand how he treats his subordinates and handle the conflicts.

Manager / Company Information

This research is to understand Organizational Behaviour by conducting an interview with a manager, therefore for this research I have chosen to interview a manager of MWSC (Male water and sewerage company). MWSC Established on the 1st of April 1995, Male’ Water and Sewerage Company, head quartered at Ameenee Magu, Male’, Republic of Maldives. Mr. Moosa Naseem, is the Audit Manager (In charge of the Internal Audit Department) of MWSC. He has a degree in Accounting and Finance from Griffith University. He is also an ISO lead auditor, after completing and successfully passing the ISO 9001:2015 lead auditors test. He also studied Business Studies from HELP University College in Malaysia. Also, He has previously worked in MIFCO as the Accounts Manager and briefly as the HR Manager. He reports to the audit committee of MWSC and he has 4 subordinates under him. As the Audit Manager Mr. Moosa Naseem is responsible for conducting audits to check the internal controls of the company as per the audit charter approved by the audit committee.

General OB section

Have you ever taken a course in organizational behaviour (OB)?

Yes, I’ve learnt about organizational behaviour while doing my Bachelor’s Degree. The most I remember about the course is that it teaches us how to have a good culture in our work life, how to be more ethical, and work in the company in the most efficient way, which is good for the company.

Do you think all college students, regardless of their major, should take a course in OB?

Yes, it is very important for all the college students of all the fields to take a course in OB. The reason for this is that in a country like Maldives, lots of people after coming to the office instead of doing their work on time, they spend a lot of time doing other personal works such as going for coffees, taking long breaks etc. If Organizational behaviour is taught to the people at a young age, they will be taught early in life to be disciplined and be much more ethical in life, by improving their personal as well as their office life. Thus, we can have better functioning offices, which will not only benefit the offices, but also the nation as a whole. These behaviours can help the people to help boost their career later in life as well.

What do you like the most about being a manager? What do you like the least about being a manager? Why?

The most I like about being a manager is that I get to lead a team, and see that team work as a group. I’ve worked as a manager since my last company. Even after being at the top, I always keeps a good connection with my staff, I treat them as my equals, help them in decision making. I finalize everything in our department with a group meeting where everyone gets to talk about their ideas and visions which helps me and my department to take the best action by pooling everyone's visions in whatever work we do. Likewise, I can work as a mentor by giving the advices from my experiences, and also assist my staff in boosting their career goals.

The audit department has to contact other departments for doing work. One of the main jobs of the audit department is to report the mistakes, deviations of works done by other departments. This gives the audit department staff a bad reputation from other departments. Even though we are friends with staff from other departments, when it comes to work, they feel unpleasant.

Focus Section

Why motivation is important to a manager?

Motivation is very important to a manager, so that he/she will try to achieve the departments/company goals to the best while being satisfied with the work. For example, in our department, we always prepare an audit plan/scope during the beginning of the year. This is made by the department in a way that the 99 percent of the areas of the company will be audited during the year. This can be achieved only if the manager himself is motivated to do his job.

Tell me about a time when your team had a significant goal and or deadline for a project. How did you go about accomplishing it?

Once, on the last day of the week (that is, Thursday) around 3 years back, our MD instructed us to close a particular department as some unusual activities where going on and not to let anyone from that department to enter the department without our/MDs authority. Since, the next day had been the weekend, and not to let the company stop its operations by closing a whole department we were told to complete the whole during the weekend. As I have mentioned that I always keep a close connection between my employees, they were fully focused and worked as a team to finish the whole audit as instructed by our MD on the deadline. I believe that I was able to accomplish it smoothly, as I have always been able to keep my staff fully satisfied and motivated about their job.

What types of decisions are the most difficult for you to make?

The most difficult type of decisions is to give warning to poor performing employees. That is, in my professional career, I’ve always met different kind of people and I have always wanted to be their mentor, motivate them and to help them achieve their career goals. However, I’ve found certain people who even after are given so many advices about being punctual, and focused on the job being careless and having to give them advices and warning letters are the most difficult decisions that I get to make.

In what areas would you like to further develop yourself?

I’ve been working in the audit field for several years now. I’ve done a number of audits during this period. I attend trainings conducted by several International Audit bodies such as the International Institute of Internal Auditors every year. Recently, I have become an ISO lead auditor to lead, ISO 9001:2015 QMS audits. Likewise, I am interested in developing myself by becoming members of more such organizations so that I get to lead more kinds of audits in the future.

Describe the toughest decision you have ever had to make at work?

Some of the most difficult decisions that I’ve had to work were when I was in the HR in my previous company. I used to get notices from the top management to transfer staff to other islands which sometimes was against the company policy and procedures.

Are you tracking employee perceptions throughout the change?

Yes, I do. It is very important to keep a trace on employee perception by the managers, as the work done by the staff keep on changing. Especially in my case, the Internal Audit Department has to keep on auditing different areas of the company and we conduct different kinds of audits throughout the year. So, it is always very important to keep a check on how my employees view what they find through the audits. This is done every day on a morning brief.

Tell me about a time when you had to fire someone. What were the circumstances? What did you do?

So far in my career, even though I have had to send warning letters to my employees for their performance, I have never had to fire anyone. As I always find advantages in each person and assign them to their most suitable position.

How do you handle conflict between team members?

Like I’ve mentioned that we have a morning briefing in which we discuss about our daily work, what we have done and what we are yet to do. Additionally, in this meeting I get to learn about the morality of my staff, how they feel about the other staff. Plus, each of my staff have different works assigned to them, which means in an audit each staff is to audit a particular subject, and everyone has been instructed to discuss with others what they feel about their findings. Apart from these discussions, I also have informed all my staff to come up with their findings during the afternoon every day. I get to discuss with the staff in these short discussions in case if there is any conflict between my team members. And I talk to the staff individually to sort the conflicts.

How do you handle your mistakes in the workplace?

Usually, if I make a mistake in my workplace, I admit as soon as I find about it. Then, I analyse from where the mistake happened, correct the mistake and try myself to never repeat those mistakes in the future. As our company is an ISO company, it is necessary to keep written procedures and guidelines for whatever we do in our work. In case if any of the mistakes is due to a weakness or missing point in these written processes or guidelines, we always update them so that me and my staff make as little mistakes as possible.

How would you describe the most important contributions of a manager in the workplace?

The most important contributions of a manager in a work place is to listen to what his subordinates have to say. The manager has to be his subordinates’ mentor and should always focus on developing his staff so that they do a good job for him. The manager should always let their subordinates talk first about a work, or in a meeting and in case if anything is missing, he may add those missing points. He should always let his subordinates do the job for him, so that they develop themselves, and give them his tips and ideas from his experience. He should also be able to monitor his subordinates work and see that his department does contribute to the best of the company.

How do you manage stress among your team members?

Always in my professional career. I have fully given freedom to my staff, to take breaks they want, if they have something personal to attend they are easily released. I have always given my staff full freedom to do whatever they like to do. Unless they keep me updated with their works and finish them all in time. And again, being an ISO certified company, we have set up key targets to each work in such a way that is beneficial to the company as well as it can be realistically achieved by my department in the most efficient and convenient way. And thus, our works get done at less stress and at the right time.

Do you consider yourself a risk taker or do you like to play it safe?

I take risks in implementing something, analyse them as much as possible and implement them in the safest way possible after thorough analysis.

To create an effective work environment, it is required to have creative skilled staff. In order to create the creative skilled staffs, the manager plays a big role, by motivating his employees, giving them freedom, teaching them how to make a good decision and handling their conflicts.

I learnt from the interview, as a manager with Organisational Behaviour training, Mr. Moosa naseem knows how to keep a good culture within his department, and to keep his staff motivated, and get the best possible results from his staff’s works. With his experience, he always gets his staff finish their work before the deadline.

After the interview I found that motivation is very important to a manager so that he can do his duty as best as he can which will keep his staff motivated as well. As a manager, he always kept a close connection between his employees to accomplish the goals. He has always been able to keep his staffs fully satisfied and motivated about their job. For him the most difficult type of decisions is to give warning to poor performing employees.

It is very important to keep a trace on employee perception by the managers, as the work done by the staff keep on changing. I found that Mr. Moosa naseem and his subordinates discuss their working progress in the morning briefing at the coffee table and listening their ideas, also he respects their thoughts and beliefs. the best thing he do is to talk to the staff individually in order to sort the conflicts.

From the interview I found that he always gives his staffs full freedom to do whatever they like to do. Unless they keep him updated with their works and finish them all in time. In this way he manages work stress among the subordinates. The audit manager is a very friendly person and keeps the connection with staffs of other departments as well. One of the main responsibilities of the internal audit department is to report the mistakes, deviations of works done by other departments. So, when it comes to audit other departments, sometimes he doesn’t get enough support from other departments. Therefore, it is very hard to finish the reports on time. So, I believe that if OB training is given to all the departments when it comes to audit works the other staffs may give more support to the audit department as they will know that they are doing their duty. This is because organizational behaviour is responsible to create a good culture within the organization.

Suggestion

sThe Management of the MWSC can arrange yearly trainings on organizational behaviour to improve their internal culture. It will also benefit inter departmental relationships, by which as the manager has mentioned that sometimes the internal audit staff get a negative reputation for their job. With OB training, the company can create a mindset on its staffs that it is the duty of the internal audit department and they will be much more professional and positive with such trainings.

The Management of MWSC can give all the departments a MEMO to provide the information needed to the internal audit department this will help to complete the auditor’s job well. And other departments will know in what area or things they have to improve to do their job well.

The company can give recognition letters to the best performing employees so that they will get motivated and will keep on performing at their best. It is also good to give immediate feedback as it is a way to share opinions and find solutions. One of the best ways to keep employees motivated about their work is to celebrate each and every thing achieved by the company with the staff. This will help them feel valued and thus keep them feel as if they are being cared by the managers.

Conclusion

Organizational behaviour is very important to a company, in order to create a friendly culture. Likewise, the company will have very motivated staffs, this will benefit the organization as the staffs will work efficiently to achieve their goals.