Unit 3 Organisational Behaviour Assignment – ASDA & British Airways

Unit 3 Organisational Behaviour Assignment – ASDA & British Airways

Introduction

Organisational culture constitutes the common values, fundamental principles, beliefs and rules that exists within an organisation and shared by all the members. The culture is formed by the evolution of the traditions and history of the organisation. The culture determines behaviour and the attitude of people within the organisation. This culture is responsible for determining the style of leadership and the structure of the organisation.  Organisational behaviour is gaining lots of importance and stress recently as it helps managing people in the organisation. The behaviour is directly linked to the culture and the structure of the organisation. Satisfied employees are the ones who retain themselves in the firm for long term. Inappropriate culture and inefficient leadership style leads to high turnovers. This Unit 3 Organisational Behaviour Assignment ASDA & British Airways is a study of the organisational structure, culture, and behaviour and leadership style. Two of the giants of the UK business industries namely ASDA of the grocery chain and the British Airways of the airline business have been taken as an example in this report to help create a clear understanding taking the examples of successful businesses.

Task 1: Understanding the relationship between organisational structure and culture

1.1 Comparing and contrasting the organisation structure and culture of ASDA PLC to that of British airlines.

Organisational culture of the British Airways

As the British airways operate both in the sky (in the flights) as well as ground, it has two different cultures owing to the differences in area of operation. So we can say this company has adopted contrasting cultures to gain competitive advantage. The culture of the flight crew of this organization is customer centric and very hospitable. Whereas, the ground staffs has a competitive and strategic culture. British Airways has the Transactional Leadership style as this company lays focus on the clarification and the implementation of goals, the operations and their results and objectives. Here people get performance based rewards, these results in motivated workforce. The leadership style is very good and helps to achieve employee motivation and their participation which ultimately leads to organizational stability. BA also has a supportive nature of leadership in contrast to the style which existed earlier. Employees here are empowered by training and motivation. It gives authority to people to participate in the decision making process. (Airways, 2009)

Organisational Structure of British Airways

BA has a flat organisational structure. Smaller number of management exists in the company who have broad span of control. The business is customer centric and so as a result they have adopted divisional strucure. The division of tasks and responsibilities leads to a clear understanding of roles and responsilities.

Organizational culture of Ads

Asda also like British Airways is customer oriented organization. Asda focuses on the thought process and the demands of its customers a lot. It surveys customer’s opinion by its program ‘Your voice’. The organizational culture of Asda preaches that there should be fairness and mutual respect in the workplace; they aim at providing growth opportunity to everybody. Leadership in Asda is aims in implementing techniques to bring about the above agendas that is fairness, growth opportunities etc. They believe that little things that leaders do motivate and matter a lot.

Organizational Structure of Asda

ASDA has a hierarchical organizational structure like BA there is few people who at the top management controlling the state of affairs of wider span below. The structure of ASDA has seven layers each of these layers have six chains of commands. This high division sometimes leads to distortion of the commands as it reaches the lower levels. CEO has 6 subordinates directly over his control. The CEO is the person sending messages to all levels of management.

Task 2: Understand different approaches to management and leadership

2.1- Compare the effectiveness of the leadership styles used by the CEO in ASDA to that used by British airways CEO.

The leadership styles used by the CEO in ASDA

Andy Clarke took over as the new CEO of ASDA in the year 2010. Andy realised that the existing style of leadership in the firm was just oriented on tasks and profit figures and it was not motivating for the employees or focus on achievement of superior customer service. Andy then developed a new framework for the leadership in ASDA by mapping the requirements to attain the goals and objectives of the firm. The new framework had an agenda for five years. ASDA by this mapping aimed at seeing leadership with a broader picture and not just limiting leadership as a task of people management. ASDA developed under the current CEO, three themes which were oriented at leadership to manage people, leadership for winning and leading with passion. ASDA is operating to achieve certain values and principles determined by the top management under the current leadership. (Crush, 2011)

The leadership styles used by the CEO in British Airways

Willie Walsch became the CEO of BA in the year 2005. He has proved to have an efficient leadership style by survivng lots of hardships in the company including economic and industrial unstability, high levels of competition from the Virgin group etc.

Walsch is very efficient and instrumental in bringing about the needful changes in the organisation that can be either decreasing the number of managers, increasing the efficiency of the workforce including engineers, the baggage handling crew, and flight staffs. He is the man behind saving BA from getting bankrupt and has even solved many conflicts and disputes within the organisation. He is very efficient when dealing with the trade union.He adopts a very simple leadership style that is very transparent, very honest and open.He is instrumental in bringing about many mergers and acquisition.

ASDA and BA are one of the world leaders of grocery chain and airline business respectively.The world class position is maintained by the effective leadership styles of their CEO. Andy Clarke has a broad vision and use complex techniques to attain the goals and objectives of the firm.However Walsch the CEO of BA has a simple process of leadrship without any complex management process that is simple and open. Walsh has an efficient management technique that keeps evolving as the need or situation arises but in contrast to this Clarke has a style that anticipates all the problems which are mapped for a tenure of 5 years and actions are taken in accordance to it.

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2.2. Identify any organizational theory practiced at ASDA and Explain how Organizational theory underpins the practice of management

Organisational theories help in understanding the organisation’s relationship to its environment. These theories tell us about the behaviour within the organisation, the style of leadership, human resource development etc.

The following organisational theories are formed;

Weber's bureaucracy theory

This theory suggests that;

• Pre-implemented (written) Rules form the controlling element
• Supervision in organization is brought by hierarchical system
• Training and supervision is necessary to manage workforce
• Full working capacity is requires at the time of office establishment (Weber, (n.d))

Rational system perspective

This theory talks about;

• Specifying goals
• Having a formal structure

Scientific Management:

• Oriented towards increasing the output or the productivity by investing minimum inputs by;
• Proper division of work
• Having workers that are trained scientifically
• Scientific responsibility division
• Checking the quality of work and the timely efficiency

Analysis of ASDA;

An analysis of the management style of the ASDA CEO, Andy Clarke clarifies that the organizational theories practices in ASDA are,

• Rational System and
• Scientific Management

This can be deduced as Andy has developed a new method of mapping the goals and objectives against ways to meet them. The company has a formalized structure of command where information is formally passed from the top to all different levels. These are the features of Rational System. The three themes of ASDA that are employee oriented that is a feature of Scientific Management. ASDA lays lots of stress in training and educating its employees.

2.3– Evaluating the different approaches to management used by ASDA to that used by British Airways

Role of a manager are;

• Leading
• Planning
• Organizing
• deterring the staffing requirements

Manager’s uses different kinds of approaches to perform these functions the approaches can be;

• Approach of passive management or listening actively
• Approaches using high level of control also known as steering approach
• Capacity building approach

ASDA has no fixed approach style and it is very participative involving employees. Employees can report to their buddies and also to the line managers. ASDA sometimes follows the capacity building approach as it relies on external factors to excel performances. ASDA engages its employees in many collective activities and maps problems to their solutions for a fixed tenure. BA follows steering management as it has specific guidelines and design of functioning. Projects are planned very intensively in BA. Planning is an important part of BA Management. Tasks are evaluated and reported.

Task 3: Understanding the ways of using motivational theories in organisations

3.1- What types of changes could ASDA engage in? Discuss the impact that different leadership styles may have on motivation of ASDA’s staff in periods of changes

ASDA has found an efficient leader in its current CEO Andy Clarke. The leadership in this company has led to its market leadership in grocery industry. It gives stress to little things that make lots of differences in the life of the employees. Andy focuses on;

• Providing equal opportunity of growth and promotion
• Mangers should care about the all-round wellbeing of the employee
• There should be a feeling of mutual respect amongst all the employees

Leadership style is oriented to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding. During changes in the organisation , managers at ASDA need to act as self starters directing other staff. Participative approach is best for ASDA during changes as it will enable to involve employees and make them aware of the state of affairs and let them put forward their views and opinions. Approach of working in teams for dealing with changes is also relevant to tackle situations as there will be better snchronisation of skill sets in teams.

3.2- Compare the application of different motivational theories.  Which theory is most applicable and why?

There are different factors responsible for motivational theories an individual. There are easy withdrawals to the process or state of being motivated, Organization need to prepare a constant action plan to keep the staff motivated at all times. Maslow and Herzberg had the view that human beings act in order to achieve their needs or outcomes that they desire.

According to Victor and Locke the motivating factors for humans are not their personal needs but the targets given to them and expectations that the firm has.

According to Maslow’s theory;

• It is necessary for the employees to fulfil their needs of basic or lower levels before targeting needs of the higher level
• A satisfied need is not a motivational force , the employee aims to satisfy need of higher level (Green, 2000)

Herzberg stated two elementary needs

• The environmental factor also known as hygiene factors – these prohibits the occurrence of dissatisfaction at the job
• Motivational factors – motivating employees in the place of work

According to Porter and Lawler human beings have certain expectations embedded in their mind and act accordingly. They feel that a certain task or behaviour will lead to the achievement of a certain outcome and behave accordingly. This theory of expectancy

The components of this theory are;

• Expectancy or EP – The employee expects that his behaviour or doings will bring about a certain Desirable performance
• Instrumentality  or P- R – The EO will lead to reward or an outcome that is desired
• R or valence – Means that the instrumentality is valued by the employee

According to Locke employees can be motivated and their performance can be high if they are given particular objectives to attain. It is important to provide feedback to their employees so that they are motivated with positive feedbacks and understand where they lack.

Assumptions of McGregor’s theory;

• Theory X – Humans always dislike their work and they try to avoid it.
• Theory Y – Management has the assumption that employees are motivated and control over themselves (Sahin, 2012)

This study has highlighted the fact that the management at ASDA practices the theory “Y” of McGregor. This organisation caters to the needs of the employees and manages them with a positive attitude. The employees are empowered and informed by series of trainings and they can persue higher education to attain greater roles and responsilbilities and remain motivated.ASDA does not believes in the theory X.

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

Motivation is instrumental in encouraging employees to work to their maximum potential both individually and in teams. The theories of motivating can be used by the mangers to assess their employees and apply the suitable theory in order to satisfy the needs of the employees and help them, remain motivated and perform better. The motivational theory scan is used by the managers as a tool set bars of achievement for the employees that can be challenging to them and encouraging performing better.

Mangers need to have leadership qualities and be the person whom the staff can look up to. These theories are the ground work to make the managers aware how simple things matter a lot in the firm such as encouraging the culture of calling everybody by their first names including managers, inquiring about the health of employees make them feel a part of the family. These theories also let the managers to understand that motivational factors are subject to individual preferences and are not the same for all.

Relevance of Hertzberg’s theory to managers;

Out of the many motivational theories few can be applied to an organization. Hertzberg theory has been applied successfully in much organization. This theory classifies satisfaction at job and the motivating for employees into groups such as Motivating Factors and Hygiene Factors. Factors of motivation determine 6 factors in the job namely;

• Achievement
• Recognition
• Work
• Responsibility
• Advancement
• Growth possibilities (Riley, 2005)

Managers at ASDA can use this theory to discover which amongst the above six factors motivates ASDA employes the most.Implementing this theory might enable ASDA managers. Managers can understand that not only the job content but other factors are essential to keep the mnorale of the employees high.

Task4: Understanding the mechanisms for effective team work development in organisations

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

When more than two people work and communicate to achieve a purpose, they can be called as the members of a group. ASDA encourages working in groups or teams as the synchronization of abilities and qualification of people help the firm to achieve its objectives efficiently and faster. Types of group formations that may happen in ASDA;

According to their purpose:  The members of ASDA forms group to work towards achieving a common goal or task. Such as, the customer service team forming a group in ASDA to give superlative customer service. The members operate in an operative manner and are dependent on each other as there is a proper division of labour.The nature of interaction amongst group members can be explained on the basis of the following three ways in ASDA;

• Normative – Determines how activities need to be carried out and how the group is supposed to be managed
• By certain techniques including team building, self-management and role plays
• By the internal group nature

In ASDA grouping can be done either formally or informally.

• Formal groups are formed by the company and are the basis of the organization’s structure.

In the formal group formation of ASDA, people of a particular department are grouped together to form a team and work together to achieve their end goal. Example will be the finance department, the customer service department and the marketing department.

• Informal Groups are formed by ASDA staffs having common interests.
• Formal group formed for the interest of the company

These can be

• Group formed as a result of friendship
• For common interests

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Conclusion

The management must never overlook the importance of understanding the organizational behaviour, as an organization that understands the behaviour of the employees can relate to the factors that motivates them and help them perform better and un tap their hidden potential. Technology has made working scenario in organizations revolutionized and communication within the organization quite easy. If managers understand the force of employee motivating and act accordingly the employees can feel a sense of belongingness with the firm and enhance service delivery and output.

Bibliography

Airways, B. (2009). The way we run our business. British Airways.
ASDA. (2014). ASDA Green Room - Get great colleague offers with the Everyone Benefits website. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from ASDA news and info web site: http://greenroom.asda.com/news-and-info/everyone-benefits-website
ASDA. (2014). Jobs at ASDA and George - Everything you need and more when you want it. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from ASDA stores Web site: http://www.asda.jobs/stores/hourly-paid-roles-in-stores/training-benefits/
Business Case Studies. (2014). Organizational Structure of Asda- Organisational Culture. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from Business Case Studies Web site: Business Case Studies/organisational-culture.html#axzz3A9c3ZQJU
CEO DOSSIERS. (2014). Willie Walsch. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from World of CEO Dossiers: http://www.worldofceos.com/dossiers/willie-walsh
Crush, P. (2011, July 05). Leadership: The bland leading the bland? Time to get radical - ASDA case study. Retrieved August 12, 2014, from HR magazine Web site: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hr/features/1019726/leadership-the-bland-leading-bland-time-radical
Green, C. D. (2000). A Theory of Human Motivation A.H Maslow 1943. Retrieved August 13, 2014, from Classics in the History of Psychology: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm
Oliver, R. (1974). Expectancy Theory Predictions of Salesmen’s Performance. Journal of Marketing Research 11, 243-252.
Patton, D., & Higgs, M. (2010). Shared Leadership and Leadership withinn new technology based firms.

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