Unit 3 Organisations and Behaviour Assignment Solution

Unit 3 Organisations and Behaviour Assignment Solution

Introduction

Organization structure plays a very important role in the success of any organization. The organization structure basically defines how the tasks, roles, responsibilities, supervision have been structured. It also defines the hierarchical structure of the company, its departments and divisions, its employees, their tasks, etc.  Organizations need to have this structure so that everything should be organized and defined so that there should be a proper way the business operates. In big organizations this organization structure is very big and small in small scale industries. The organization structure is very well responsible for the performance of the organization. Organization culture is equally responsible for the performance of the company (Wahba, 1976). Organization culture mainly consists of the way people behave in a company, their practices, their beliefs, their habits, etc. The organizational culture plays a very important role to maintain a healthy environment in a company can flourish properly

TASK 1

LO1 Understand the relationship between organizational structure and culture

P1.1- Compare and contrast the organization structure and culture of ASDA PLC to that of British airlines

An organization structure is a way that is used by the organizations to present the management hierarchy. It defines that way how the information flows in the organization. It is a blueprint of how the organisation and behaviour is arranged. Based on the orientation decided at the institutional level, organization structures can be of 4 types.

• Function based: The function based organization are those where the organization is divided based on functional departments.
• Product based:Product based organizations are those which divides the organization based on products.
• Geographical based: These are the organization whose structure is divided based on the geography in which it is located
• Multifunctional based:Multifunctional structure are those which is divided on multiple layers where the first layer of division is based on products and then each product based division is divided based on functional structure. So this is a combination of function and product based organization structure.

On one hand we have flat organizations’ structures where there is quick decision making, managerial personnel’s are easily approachable, and the communication reaches out to everyone in a faster way. On the other hand we have the bureaucratic organizations where the hierarchy is too big and the decision making taken a lot time. There is a gap between the top management and the shop floor labour (Porter, 2012). There is well defined job for everyone in a bureaucratic organization where people are restricted to a particular area and division. Let us understand this with the help of examples. Here we will compare and contrast the organization structure and culture of ASDA PLC to that of British airlines. ASDA PLC has a bureaucratic organization structure whereas the he structure of the British Airways is much flat as compared to the structure of the ASDA PLC. The hierarchical levels in British Airways are much less as compared to that to ASDA PLC. As there is a flat structure in British Airways the communication is very fast and robust, people have the opportunity to perform various tasks, and there are not too many levels of reporting whereas in the ASDA PLC the bureaucratic organization structure leads to too many reporting levels, slow decision making, communication gap, etc. There are many advantages also of having a bureaucratic organization structure; the work is done in an organized way. People know their roles very well and all the projects have a definite life cycle to follow. This makes it easy for them to perform their tasks.  On the other hand in a flat structure the resources are fully utilized as they perform various roles. They have much more decision making power. In the flat structure lot of employees report to a single manager which increases the managerial jobs of the managers. The ASDA PLC has a more hierarchical structure, where the number of layers between the top management and the shop floor labour. It becomes difficult for particular information to reach the right person at the right time as this takes a lot of time as compared the flat structure. Every person has to report to multiple people at multiple levels so it’s too time consuming.

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P1.2- Explain how the relationship between ASDA’s structure and culture impacts on its performance.

Here we can see the ASDA’s structure as per a study in 2013.

As we have discussed there exist a close relationship between the organization structure and the organization culture. This relationship has a deep impact in the performance of the organization. In a bureaucratic structure like that of ASDA PLC people don’t feel so empowered. They have defined roles and are restricted to a particular division. The company having so many hierarchies makes people to report at multiple levels. The decision making becomes slow. It is difficult for one to know that what is happening in another department or division or at the senior management level. Here are some good impacts also of having such a structure and culture. The culture of the ASDA PLC is such that the employees and the customers are satisfied and the culture is very welcoming for them. The culture has taken a complete turnover over the years from the time it was started. The company has merged with Wal-Mart has since then the culture has changed. The culture of the company ASDA PLC has been most responsible for the success of the company. People are satisfied with the way of working where everything is organized (Chatman, 1994). The culture of the company is such that it has always taken steps to keep its employees satisfied and motivated by organizing many training sessions, giving the employees opportunity to grow in the organization itself. This helps the company to make their employee out their total efforts in their work and improve the performance of the company.

P1.3- Discuss the factors which influence the behaviour of ASDA’s employees at work giving relevant examples.

There are many factors which influence the behaviour of employees in an organization. This mainly depends how the employees are treated in an organization and whether what they want from the company is being fulfilled by the company or not. Also the organization culture and the organization structure also impact the behaviour of the employee in the organization (Javidan, 2004). The behaviour of the employees also depends on their level of motivation in the organization. The extent to which the needs of the employees have been addressed in the organization shapes up the behaviour of the employees. There are many factors and practices which are followed in the ASDA PLC which has influenced the behaviour of the employees of the company. According to a research there are many factors which have influenced the behaviour of the ASDA PLC’s employees. It is found that the ASDA PLC working environment is very fair. The employees get better opportunities in the organization to grow. The employees respect each other in ASDA which creates a healthy working environment for the employees to work. People feel proud to work with ASDA PLC and they are satisfied with the company and hence put their full efforts for meeting the objectives of the company.

TASK 3

LO3 Understand the ways of using motivational theories in organizations

P3.1 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

There are many things which ASDA plans for its employees and there is scope of many changes in the organization for betterment. As we have already seen that there were many leaders who led the organization ASDA and showed different leadership styles. Each of them brought new changes and reforms along with them and tried to improve the performance of the organization. There is different impact of different leadership styles on the motivation of the ASDA staff in periods of changes. As we have discussed that there are mainly 4 types of leadership styles and these leadership styles may have different impacts on the motivation of the organization’s employees. These leadership styles are: authoritarian leadership, participative leadership, transformational leadership or Laissez-Faire style of leadership. The authoritative style of leadership will lead to demotivation in some cases where people do not have the habit of always being told what to do and how to do. Many of the employees already enjoy he freedom to do things in their style and in their own way so if the leadership style changes to authoritative, the employee may become demotivated. On the other hand participative style of leadership is highly appreciated by most of the employees where employees are involved in the decision making activities. These make the employees feel empowered and recognized as an important part of the organization. This motivates the employees to a high level. The Laissez-Faire style of leadership is when the employees are let free to do their work as per their choice (Kirkman, 1997). Here complete freedom is given to the employees to work according to their choice. This is motivational for the employees to have the freedom at work bu8t sometimes hampers the work as the employees may not complete the work properly in time if not properly monitored. Also the leader sets an example for the others to do the work properly and if the leader is inspirational for the employees the employees feel motivated. The leaders attend sessions with their employees to motivate them through their speech, sessions, awards and rewards, etc.

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?

Different motivational theories can be applied on the employees of ASDA to understand their motivational levels. These different motivational theories can also be compared with each other with special reference to ASDA’s employees as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Vroom expectancy theories and McGregor’s theory X and y. Letusdiscuss them in brief.   
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Maslow’s hierarchy can be briefed as a theory where the needs of an individual are presented in a hierarchical manner giving different priorities to each of them. Let us understand this with the help of a diagram.

There are different levels in this Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
The psychological needs: The psychological needs of employees are the basic needs of the employees. There are the first and foremost needs. These are the basic necessity of the employees. Hunger, thirst, etc. are some examples. ASDA PLC fulfils these needs of the employees. Next is the safety needs. After the basic psychological needs are fulfilled, next necessity of the employees is to ensure they are safe while doing their work. ASDA PLC makes sure that they provide the first aid, ambulance service, safety of women etc. to their employees. After that belongingness and love needs is next level of need of the employees which is known as social needs. Every individual has a social need to be fulfilled. In an organization this can be fulfilled by communicating with the colleagues. This is done by ASDA by keeping employees in teams and organizing team building activities. Next is the cognitive need of the employees that is to know, understand, and explore. The self-esteem needs of the employees can be fulfilled by recognizing good work of the employees in terms of appreciation and awards/rewards, etc. Next are the aesthetic needs like symmetry, order and beauty and last one, the Self-Actualization needs. This is related to self-fulfilment, satisfaction. This is done by ASDA PLC by giving better opportunities to the employees in the organization to grow.
Vroom expectance theory: Vrooms expectance theory defines the behaviour of the employees depending on the motivation of the employees (Van, 1996). There are 3 stages of this theory which can be pictorially represented as shown below. These 3 stages are
Valence: the desire of the employees for a reward
Expectancy: the amount of hard work the employee expects to put for that reward.
Instrumentality: The belief that the reward will be achieved.

Here as we can see the first stage is where it has to be determined whether the efforts put will lead to high performance. ASDA PLC gives this confidence to their employees. Next will the performance lead to outcomes? This can be made sure by taking precious examples. And lastly if proper work is done in a direction it will surely bring out expected results.
McGregor’s theory X and Y demonstrates the contrasting models of motivation of the employees of any organization (Kopelman, 2008): Let us pictorially represent this as follows:

Here theory X constitutes of the leadership style of authoritarian nature which is already discussed earlier. This will lead to depressed culture and demotivation among the employees. On the other hand the Y constitutes of the practice of liberating and developmental control and giving freedom to the employees to work in their own fashion. ASDA PLC follows the Y style of management.
Here we can see that all the motivational theories are applicable to the ASDA organization but according to me the most suitable is the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as it accomplishes all the need of the employees and keep them satisfied.

P3.3- 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?

The motivational theories which we have defined above are very useful for the managers. This really helps to understand that which factors maintains the motivation level of the employees. They can easily figure out that what are the needs of the employees and how those needs can be fulfilled. This will really help the managers to keep the employees motivated and increase their performance levels (Pettigrew, 1979). Apart from the theories which we have discussed earlier there is another theory named as the Hertzberg’s motivation theory. The pictorial representation of the theory is as shown below:

The Hertzberg’s motivation theory is defines as the a  two factor theory which describes those certain factors which makes the employees motivated and other set of factors which if not present make the employees dissatisfied (Gawel, 1997). If these factors are present then the employees are not dissatisfied but not motivated which means these two set of factors are completely different. Similar is the case if the other set of factors which is not present will not make the employees dissatisfied but if present will keep the employees motivated. For example the hygiene factors and the motivator factors respectively.

Conclusion

We can conclude the above paper by stating that there are many factors which affect the performance of the organizations like organization structure, organization culture, leadership style, motivational theories, organization theory, team work, technology, etc. All these factors needs to be clubbed together properly in an organization. The relationship between the organization culture and organization structure have a high impact on the performance. The managers should properly make use of the available motivational theories to take full advantage to keep their employees motivated which will further improve the performanceof the organization.The employees should always be motivated to perform better, they should be provided with best facilities and opportunities to grow. The employees should always be encouraged to perform in groups and teams. They should be encouraged to remain updated with the latest technologies and should be given proper training for them. Hence, these factors should always be kept on the priority list for the managers to make the organization come out with flying colours.

References

Porter, K., Smith, P., &Fagg, R. (2012). Leadership and management for HR Hanges, Wahba, M. A., &Bridwell, L. G. (1976). Maslow reconsidered: A review of research on the need hierarchy theory. Organizational behaviour and human performance, 15(2), 212-240.
Van Eerde, W., & Thierry, H. (1996). Vroom's expectancy models and work-related criteria: A meta-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 81(5), 575.
P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P. W., & Gupta, V. (2004). Culture, leadership, and organizations (pp. 9-28). R. J. House (Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.