Introduction
In today’s highly competitive business environment where shops are being opened, and different firms and groups come together to form organizations, companies have to strive to maintain their competitive edge otherwise they lose the market share if not completely decimated from the market. To a great extent, the success of organizations is determined by relations within the organizations and with customers. Thus, such seemingly minute aspects like how the boss relates to junior staff, for instance, through communication is not only important but has a bearing on organization success (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008) . Organizational behavior relates to the human and structural aspects of an organization. The human behavioral aspects have to do with how people relate to each other within an organization. Structures, on the other hand, influence behavior and, therefore, form an important aspect of the business (Warner, 1994) . It is through structures that a clear line of command develops and limits to interactions are set, and all of these have a far-reaching effect on the organization. For instance, if junior employees are constantly required to refer to seniors before taking action, this has a sizable impact on their problem-solving capabilities. Additionally, problem-solving is affected by whether workers are adequately aware of their roles within the organization. Riverbed Technology is an information company headquartered in San Francisco that is involved in the production of software and hardware products like edge computing, application performance management and network performance monitoring. Started in 2002 as NBT technology, the company changed its name in 2003 to Riverbed Technology. In this regard, this paper analyzes organizational behavior in relation to the Riverbed Technology. As such, aspects such as the type of culture, modes of communication within the company, the exercise of authority and motivation among others are elaborately scrutinized.
Type of Culture
The company, just like most Silicon Valley startups, is deemed by many entering the industry as the ideal employer, especially in terms of employee satisfaction and loyalty. This is partly due to the kind of culture the business had developed. Culture is one of the key determinants of organizational behavior. Watkins argues that culture is a form of protection that results from the evolution of situation pressures (2013). It serves the purpose of preventing wrong people or things from penetrating the organization in the first place. In this sense, culture works like the immune system of a human person that prevents bacteria and viruses from damaging the body. The challenge is that organizational immune systems may deter attacks that bring much-needed change, with serious implications for integrating persons into the organization. Of course, organizational culture does not exist on an island of its own; it is enormously shaped by the culture of the society within which it lives.
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In broad terms, there are three identifiable types of organizational culture, dualism, pluralism, and Salad and Bowl. Dualism refers to a culture that has two main elements. It is the interplay of these two that determines whether or not a culture is successful and, therefore, able to engender organizational goals. Pluralism refers to where an organization has numerous cultural identities, and people strive to retain their own culture within the organization. Salad Bowl culture, on the other hand, refers to where a multiplicity of cultures exists in an organization with people working and coordinating beyond cultural limits (Bakker & Schaufeli, 2008) . In many ways , therefore, a salad bowl culture works to unify staff beyond cultural lines. It is especially recommended in transnational contexts or where companies are tapping into international expertise.
The culture at Riverbed technology is salad bowl through and through. Thanks to the ideals of the company’s founders Jerry Kennelly and Steve Mccanne, the company has absorbed staff with little consideration of their cultural background. It is also plausible, however, that the founders are well aware of the innovation promise that comes with having diverse cultures in the realm of information technology (Watkins, 2013) . Employees are paid equal remuneration relative to their positions, and the elevation criteria are based on clearly stipulated standards that put everyone on the same pedestal. In other words, the company is a highly meritocratic system. Nevertheless, it is the work environment that is most emblematic of this salad bowl culture. The environment is amicable, and employees can approach each other at will. Office space, which is the most visible indicator of rank in most organizations today, is at Riverbed technology not awarded on the basis of rank. In fact, with only a few exceptions based on need, the company has an open space layout that hardly recognizes rank. The result is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish junior from senior employees. The remarkable consequence of this approach is promoting unfettered interaction between employees beyond seniority and cultural boundaries. Teamwork has been significantly enhanced by this hierarchy flat structure, and it is here that many innovative ideas have been born.
At a time when a salad bowl culture has been criticized for cultural insensitivity, Riverbed technology seems to have been able to tap into its benefits while lowering the costs. The company has been performing well as indicated by its ability to meet annual targets for three consecutive years and the recent acquisitions it has engaged in. Additionally, most employees at the company report being satisfied with their work, a fact best evidenced by the low employee turnover. The company itself has attributed its success to the input of its employees. Nonetheless, at the core of this input is a culture that encourages vibrant participation, disagreements, and teamwork. Teamwork is especially important at Riverbed Technology. It is hardly the case for employees to engage in solo projects; most are group initiatives with most past breakthroughs being associated with groups as opposed to individuals. Unlike in divided companies where employees work to outdo each other, at Riverbed, groups work towards commonly determined goals. The company nonetheless has a credit system whereby credit accumulation serves as the basis of elevation. In so doing, the company fosters individual initiative while cutting on aspects of negative competition.
Modes of communication
The modes of communication adopted in an organization are vital in determining attainment of set goals. They influence knowledge transfer and the sense of clarity that employees have about their work (Husain, 2013) . Communication systems may also serve to demoralize or stimulate employees. Therefore, different organizations pick the modes of communication that best serve their interests and align with their structural makeup. Verbal and non-verbal modes of communication are most popular, with the intention being the conveyance of information from one point to another. However, beyond the organization, effective communication with customers and stakeholders outside the organization is also essential and could serve as an important branding tool.
Communication at Riverbed Technology is largely verbal. Since there is no emphasis on seniority and cultural differences, barriers to communication are few. The fact that most of the company’s office space is open space-with no enclosed offices and doors to knock serves to further tear down barriers. Unlike in organizations that require messengers and intermediaries in the course of communication and thus running the risk of distortion, much of the communication at Riverbed Technology can be termed as first hand. Given that the company attributes its rise in the industry to effective and efficient communication systems, it is possible that its structure was purposely made to reduce unreliable communication. The informality that characterizes the work environment means that employees are free to express themselves and raise issues with more accomplished workers. This mode of communication has been correlated with the tradition of swift knowledge transfer within the company. Equally important is the relationships such communication has fostered. Hearty conversations and bitter disagreements have led to many employees forming close and meaningful working relationships.
As might be expected of a technology company, digital conversations are extremely rampant. Thus, the more formal communications are sent through email and the company’s own communication network, a local area network connects the machines in the building. Even with such an elaborate communication system, there is no requirement that specific means must be used. Situational consideration is largely what determines appropriate means. Part of the purpose of communication is to resolve disputes, address challenges, and dispose pending issues. In Riverbed Technology, these issues are handled through coming together and discussing them at length. It is only on the rare occasion of sensitive company matters that indoor meetings are held, and resolutions conveyed. However, even in such instance, an effort is made to incorporate employee opinion in the policy measures adopted. Failures by employees often do not attract penalties, but rather, a concerted effort to help the individual improve. This is typically done through being assigned a mentor of the person’s choosing. Closed door communication, however, takes place on the rare occasion that the employee has to be laid off. What is most important to underscore about the nature of communication at Riverbed Technology is that it is largely bottom up, which produces a host of benefits.
Nature of Authority
Effective exercise of authority is considered an important aspect of organizational management. However, the authority has to be exercised contextually. While some cultures are notorious with the firm exercise of authority, others tend to eschew the presence of an overall figure directing affairs. The effective exercise of authority can bring order and pull a decaying company from collapse. Much, therefore, depends on how authority is exercised and how it is seen to be exercised. Bolton and Dewatripont (2011) identify four aspects of authority. First, is the authority to initiate projects and get subordinates to work towards the realization of the objectives of the project. Second is the authority to exact obedience, which relates to the substantive capacity of the manager to get subordinates to execute decisions. The third is the authority to ratify and approve actions and lastly the authority to monitor subordinates and reward them for their abilities and good performance.
Chief executive officers are vested with the power to exercise authority and shoulder the blame associated with its misuse. The potential for the transformative effect of effective exercise of authority cannot be gainsaid. Apple, for instance, was a company teetering on the brink of collapse before Steve Jobs took over. In just over a decade, Apple had transformed itself from a technological backwater into one of the leading technology companies in the world.
The flat organizational structure at Riverbed Technology has meant that authority is organized in a similar manner. No roaming supervisor tries to establish what employees are involved in or whether they are delivering. With regard to work, most of the authority is left up to the employee. Nevertheless, such leeway assumes a degree of accountability and responsibility. This explains why Riverbed Technology has a rigorous recruitment process that absorbs high competent personnel. By allowing employees significant space with respect to their work, monotony is reduced and overall productivity per worker considerably increased (Bolton & Dewatripont, 2011) . It also creates room for innovation and allows for expansion of knowledge horizons.
For mega projects, delegation often takes place through the various departmental heads. These heads, nonetheless, have no major status than their juniors and try as much as possible to allow unmonitored implementation. In this seemingly anarchic state, deadlines are met well before they lapse and often with a streak of innovation. Employees, rather than feeling policed, feel loved, trusted, and encouraged to continue to deliver their best. The company’s management model suggests that fear is not conducive for production. Employees who are free to think and attend to tasks at their capacity are likely to be more productive than those coerced to meet deadlines and produce a certain quality of work. Therefore, there is something worthy adopting from this model relative to prevailing models that underscore hierarchical modeling of organizations. In other words, companies that rely on the creativity of their employees for survival ought not to structure their organizations like the military where hierarchy and authority are emphasized. This is likely to hinder the flow of knowledge and curtail entrepreneurial rigor.
Motivation
The value of motivation has been well recognized for a while now in managerial science. Abraham Maslow contended that people have a hierarchy of needs that need to be satisfied, characterizing them as physiological, safety, belonging and esteem, love and self-actualizing. Lower needs, the scholar submitted, ought to be satisfied before addressing higher needs. Skinner thought that positive reinforcement by managers engenders positive outcomes while negative reinforcement engenders negative results. Frederick Herzberg, expanding on these theories, argued that motivation factors have to do with the job such as achievement, recognition, and positive feelings. Hygienic factors such as benefits, pay and supervisor were, according to him, likely to produce negative work feelings (Bergström, 2016) . These arguments have formed the basis of the conception of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation refers to the form of motivation where people engage in an activity because they love it and, therefore, do not require supervision or awards. Extrinsic motivation, by contrast, refers to doing something due to the desire to avoid a punishment or to attain reward (A.zafer, 2015) . As such, the ends are more significant than the process itself. Addressing both forms of motivation today has become the tool for solving many organizational challenges like low productivity, high employee turnover, and burnout.
At Riverbed Technology, attempts have been made to respond to both motivational aspects. On the extrinsic side, the company offers annual bonuses pegged on performance and has awards mostly based on the innovativeness of each employee. Besides individual awards, group awards are common, especially for those that contribute the most to meeting annual targets. Groups often win annual trips that they can be joined in by their family members. The beautiful working space with magnificent lawns certainly adds to the extrinsic demands. Exhaustion is often beaten through taking walks on the beautiful lawns that seem to repel the at times harsh San Francisco weather (Rune, Nicholas, & Paoli, 2007) . The company’s medical cover is genera lly much more generous than those offered by other San Francisco companies whether within or outside the tech industry.
The company has invested more heavily in ensuring that employees are intrinsically motivated. A deliberate attempt is made to ensure workers enjoy their work by limiting superfluous deadline requirement and supervision. As has already been underscored, the authority has been deemphasized making employees feel they are the bosses of their work applying their standards to their work. It would appear there is a thrill that is attributable to taking decisions and seeing their outcomes unfold. The close friendship ties that are developed in the course of work serve to challenge each other and offer a robust support system. Few employees want to leave to work in other companies given the close social ties they have already established at Riverbed Technology. It is instructive that a good number of employees who leave for outside assignments to other companies often find their way back.
Emotional Quotient
Daniel Goleman contends that emotional intelligence is one of the chief factors influencing organizational success. In his assessment, it is more crucial a factor than say intelligence quotient. As this recognition has become more popular, organizations are increasingly concerned about the levels of emotional intelligence amongst their employees (Giorgi, 2013) . It is now standard for emotional intelligence to be used as a parameter for assessing employee competence and the capacity of top management. It is considered more important in certain departments of an organization like customer service, resource planning, job profiling, and worker recruitment. Within these contexts, emotional intelligence or quotient can be understood as the capacity to identify, analyze, and manage other people’s feelings in an organization (Giorgi, 2013)
The importance of emotional intelligence in an organization like Riverbed Technology cannot be gainsaid. Each department or group is crucially important to the success of the whole and, therefore, important to ensure they are working harmoniously. In an organization where interactions are quite intense and people have different cultural backgrounds, it is important to remain awake to their sensitivities and identify when they are undergoing emotional difficulties. The workplace can offer an important social and emotional support system for people to recover to traumatizing experiences. In this respect, the workplace ought not to become a source of emotional stress. Given that people live in a world where they cannot dodge external pressure, having a robust organizational method of addressing emotional issues becomes crucial.
At the elementary level, emotional intelligence at Riverbed is fostered through conversations about it. It is widely acknowledged in the company that one need not be brilliant to succeed so long as he or she can get along with others. It has become the unsaid philosophy of Riverbed Technology that working with others is key. This has made almost every worker joining the firm eager to get along with others and, therefore, people have developed unique ways of doing it. In virtually all cases, these unique techniques entail a degree of emotional intelligence. Beyond this, weekly information sent to employees contains advice on emerging issues that employees need to be aware of. Quite often, topics relating to emotional intelligence figure prominently.
The most important purveyor of emotional intelligence in Riverbed technology, however, is the management and senior staff. The way they treat employees even in disciplinary cases leaves no doubt as to their emotional intelligence. They express displeasure in subtle and gentle ways and only when it becomes extremely necessary are they candid. Even in such scenarios, an attempt is made to talk issues out before decisions are arrived at. This magnanimity, which seems to be acquired over time, has a trickle-down effect on the rest of the company. In brief, the demonstration effect seems to play a significant role in inculcating emotional intelligence. Nonetheless, emotional intelligence is a recurring theme during the annual training forums that the company organizes.
Virtual Technology
Riverbed technology, being a leading innovator in informational technology, has embraced virtual technology extensively. As was earlier noted, a considerable amount of the communication takes place through online platforms. It is, in fact, a prerequisite that before joining the company, one is versed with these communication systems. It is commonplace at Riverbed Technology for workers to work from home through its servers, which increases productivity and lowers time wastage.
Conclusion
As it has been demonstrated in this paper Riverbed Technology organizational behavior is dependent on a number of factors crucial to its success. Particularly, the firm owes its success to an inclusive culture, proper communication systems, good motivation of workers and fostering emotional intelligence. All these factors combine to produce the ingenious innovations it has made in the past and thus maintaining its market leadership.
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