Unit 3 Organisation and Behaviour Assignment - British Airways

Unit 3 Organisation and Behaviour Assignment - British Airways

Introduction

Human staff or employees in the organizations are considered as one of the most important resources in today’s time. Organizations tries to keep the employees happy and satisfied as employees’ happiness and satisfaction will be reflected in customer’s satisfaction and ultimately it will help in achieving long term and short term goals and objectives of the organization. Managing the resources is very important in the organization and for this organizations are having proper human resource department to take care of needs and issues related to human resources. Other responsibilities of human resource management includes managing their salaries, appraisal, work life balance etc. recruitment and training is one of the other important tasks performed by human resource depart in an organization (Price, 2011). One of the most important topics or subjects in human resource department is organization behaviour. It helps in studying the conduct of individuals and groups in the organization. It also includes organizations structure and culture. Employees’ behaviour and motivation depends a lot on type of structure and culture he is working. Various organizations’ structure, culture and their impacts on employees’ performance will be discussed in this report. Organization’s efficiency depends on employees’ performance and behaviour. Some of the major aspects involved in organization behaviour are:

• Team work
• Type of leadership style followed by the managers
• Type of communication channels used to communicate with various types of employees
• Type of motivation techniques used
• Impact of technology on team work

All the above mentioned aspects will be discussed by taking example of tow organization which is ASDA PLC and British Airways. Organization behaviour and its various aspects will be compared in both the organizations. Leadership styles, culture and structure used by the leaders in both the organizations will be studied in this report. Various motivational theories used by the organizations will also be studied.

Task 3: Understand ways of using motivational theories in organizations

P3.1 what type of changes could ASDA have engaged in? Discuss the impact that different leadership styles may have on motivation of ASDA’s staff in periods of changes

As discussed above various leadership styles followed by the organization in various situations but employee motivation and satisfaction was always given importance. Competition in the market is huge so skills and competencies of the employees need to be developed continuously. ASDA tries to transform its employees to cope up with the demand in the market. Leadership styles followed by the managers in ASDA had severe impacts on employees’ performance and motivation. Skills and competencies of the employees can be developed by using transformational leadership style. It will not only improve organization’s future but employees’ career will also see a growth. ASDA has also used democratic leadership style which empowers the employees. Employees have to fulfil their roles and responsibilities in their own way. They need not take senior’s approval before taking any decision. It saves lots of time as decisions can be taken in lesser time. Employees get freedom from any king of pressure in the organization. It also helps in developing new ideas and innovative strategies for the development of the organization. If leader understands personal and professional needs of his employees it helps in achieving employee satisfaction and confidence (Jung, 1999). Leader can be responsible for type work culture present in the organization. He can make the environment light and health by being friendly and amicable to all of his team members. Leader also encourages team work which is very important to achieve a common goal.

P3.2. Compare the application of different motivational theories with special reference to ASDA’s employees as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Vroom expectancy theories and McGregor’s theory X and y -----.  Which theory is most applicable and why?

The three motivational theories which can be used in ASDA to motivate employees are:

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
• McGregor’s theory X and Y

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: This theory says that there are five stages of needs depending upon person’s current level. After fulfilling one level person aims to achieve the next level. Five levels are:

1. Psychological Needs
2. Security Needs
3. Social Needs
4. Esteem Needs
5. Self-Actualization Needs

Psychological needs include basic needs i.e. food, water, clothes etc. After psychological needs person wants security in his job. Individual also wants to be recognized in his society by having luxury items like car, home etc. Rewards and recognitions also come under social needs (Hagerty, 1999). ASDA tries to find out the present level of employees and find their required needs and tries to fulfil them. It encourages them to perform better to reach to the next level.
Vroom’s Expectancy theory: This theory can also be used for motivating employees in ASDA PLC. According to this theory rewards, awards and recognitions should be given to the employees for better performance. This theory also explains that performance of the organization is directly proportional to the effort spent by its employees.

McGregor’s theory of X and Y: In theory X managers play a very important role as employees are not self-motivated to work so they need close supervision to perform better and towards the organization’s goals.
In case of theory Y employees are aware of their duties and responsibilities. They don’t need close supervision and hence they should be empowered to take decisions on their own. Theory y is obviously better as compared to theory X.

P3.3. Evaluate the usefulness of a motivational theory for managers. How could a theory like Hertzberg’s motivational theory be useful and relevant to the managers of ASDA? 

There is one more very important motivational theory which can be used to motivate employees to excel in the organization. The theory is Hertzberg’s motivational theory. There are two sides of this theory. One side says that there are some factors in the organization which leads employee satisfaction and there are some factors absence of which can lead to employee dissatisfaction (Gawel, 1997). Responsibility, awards, growth etc. are some of the factors which lead to satisfaction and these are also called as motivators. Factors leading to dissatisfaction are also called as hygiene factors. It includes Rules and regulations in the organization, salary, supervision, work conditions and security at workplace. Implementing Hertzberg’s theory in ASDA PLC will have lots of benefits. ASDA will understand the importance of recognizing and praising someone’s excellent performance. Employees will be given awards and rewards. Importance of salary needs to be understood by ASDA PLC. Employees should get appropriate salary according to market trends and according to their roles and responsibilities. There should be any discrimination. Hertzberg’s theory will help in providing all the basic facilities such as health and safety. It has been noticed that managers work very closely with the staff members in ASDA’s stores which make employees very conscious. Hence employees should be given freedom to work according their own style to get rid of one of the hygiene factors i.e. supervision.

Task 4: Understand mechanisms for developing effective teamwork in organizations

P4.1. Explain the nature of the various groups that may exist among ASDA’s staff and how they may influence the behaviour of staff

Employees in an organization have to work in teams and hence groups’ formation is obvious thing. People get along with each other for breakfast, lunch and other fun activities. It leads to formation of groups. Formal and informal are two major types of groups found in the organization and these groups influence the behaviour of staff in large way. Formal groups are made by the organization for organization’s need. For example people working in a same project are one team with common goals and objectives. Everyone has their own roles and responsibilities in the team (Goodman, 1987). They are led by one team lead that is responsible for creating health environment in the team. Entire organization depends upon these formal groups. Results produced by one team will surely impact organization’s financial performance. Team building skills are mandatory in the employees. Leader should be able to motivate and encourage the employees. Employees with different skills, competencies and backgrounds work together in groups for a common goal. Other type is informal groups i.e. friends or people who sits around you but are in other official team. Every employee needs to have informal group to spend his office time refreshingly. In informal groups employees can share their issues and feel relaxed. Informal groups also organize various fun activities.

P4.2. Discuss the factors that may promote or inhibit the development of effective teamwork among the employees of ASDA PLC

As discussed team work is very important for the rise or fall of the organization. It is not easy for a single employee to make customer satisfied single handed but support from other employees or team members is very much required. There are various factors which can promote or inhibit the team work in ASDA PLC. Most important thing is type of leadership style followed by the team lead. Team lead should be motivating and he should follow democratic or transformational leadership style for the personal and professional development of the employees. Diversity in a team is also very important. It helps in improving the skills as people from different skills and competencies come together. Team players also get to know about various cultures, religions etc. Diversification can also lead to discrimination which needs to be taken care by the organization or leader very seriously. Other important factor is type of communication channels used in the team. Employees should be able to disseminate the clear and correct information to their team members for further action.

P4.3. Evaluate the impact of technology on team functioning within ASDA PLC

Accurate and timely information sharing is very important in a team to move forward towards your goals and objectives. Everyone should get correct data to take their actions. Technology plays a very important role in proper functioning of a team also in accurate information sharing. Emails help in sending out written messages to your team members. Chatting software like communicator, Lync etc. helps in having written communication with any of your team members at any point of time. Technology also helps in having very effective team meetings. Projectors can be used for presentations which makes clear understanding of the topic needs to be discussed. Live meeting can be done in ASDA PLC (Kirkman, 2004). Store managers from various locations can have live video meeting. They don’t need to go to one place. It saves lots of time and money. Implementing CCTV cameras is another benefit of technology. It helps in reducing cases of stealing in the store. Walmart merging strategy also helped ASDA in using technology properly as it implemented software named Information system division. All the employees should have emails on the organization’s domain name. Website or online business has also become need of the hour today.

Conclusion

ASDA PLC and British Airways helped a lot in understanding various human resource management or organizational behaviour concepts. ASDA has hierarchical organization structure and British Airways has flat organization structure. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is followed by ASDA PLC to motivate employees. Report also discussed various leadership styles which can be used in various situations. Leadership styles of CEOs of both the organizations were different in different situations. Team work is very important and technology plays an important role in proper functioning of a team.

References

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Foels, R., Driskell, J. E., Mullen, B., & Salas, E. 2000. The effects of democratic leadership on group member satisfactionan integration. Small Group Research, 31(6), 676-701.
Gawel, J. E. 1997. Herzberg's Theory of Motivation and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. ERIC/AE Digest.
Goodman, P. S., Ravlin, E. C., & Schminke, M. 1987. Understanding groups in organizations.
Hagerty, M. R. 1999. Testing Maslow's hierarchy of needs: National quality-of-life across time. Social Indicators Research, 46(3), 249-271.
Jung, D. I., & Avolio, B. J. 1999. Effects of leadership style and followers' cultural orientation on performance in group and individual task conditions. Academy of management journal, 42(2), 208-218.
Kirkman, B. L., Rosen, B., Tesluk, P. E., & Gibson, C. B. 2004. The impact of team empowerment on virtual team performance: The moderating role of face-to-face interaction. Academy of Management Journal, 47(2), 175-192.
Price, A. 2011. Human resource management. Cengage Learning.

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