Organisation and behaviour - Essay Example

? ORGANIZATION AND BEHAVIOUR ……………………….. College…………………….. ………………… Words-count- 2994 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Organizational Structure 3 Organizational Structure and Culture and its impacts on Performance 6 Factors affecting individual behaviour at Work 8 Leadership and effectiveness of various Styles 9 Leadership 9 Different Styles of Leadership 10 Organizational Theory 12 Management and Different Approaches to Management 13 Conclusion 14 References 15 Introduction Organizations, including both business and non-business, comprise of people, process, system and technology. The ultimate success of the organization is greatly depending on how it manages, coordinates and controls its people, process and technology. Various organizational theories and concepts provide fundamental basis for understanding, explaining and predicting the behaviour of people in an organization or its functioning in order to help managers in effectively utilizing the resources and enhancing greater effectiveness for the organizational success. Progressive organizations in today’s dynamic business environment look at its structure, people, leadership and organizational design and thus act very differently from those of past years. This paper presents a brief research on organizational theories related to the structure and design of the organization in relation to two different organizations, namely Sainsbury and Waitrose. This paper analyzes factors that affect the structure and culture and individual behaviour at workplace environments. The second part of the paper explains leadership styles and describes organizational theory and management approaches. Organizational Structure Robbins and Judge (2011, p. 488) described that an organizational structure is a structure in which job tasks are formally divided, grouped and coordinated. It relates to the division of labour as well the as the patterns of coordination, communication, workflow and formal power among the people for directing organizational activities (McShane and Von Glinow, 2004, p. 446). In order to recognize the patterns of the organizational structure, managers need to address six basic elements, they are work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, formalization and centralization or decentralization. Organizational structure is a formal relationship and use of people in the organization where different jobs are related in some structural way in order their works to be effectively managed. Organizations greatly differ from one to the other based on the structure they follow in the relationship among the jobs pattern. Different types of organizations on the basis of structure are functional, divisional, geographic, market, matrix etc. Functional Organization is one in which people are grouped on the basis of their common skills and expertise. Functional structure is the basis of horizontal differentiation. An organization is required to group tasks in to functions in order to increase the effectiveness and to achieve the organizational goals (Jones, 2004, p. 160- 161). In the functional form of organizational structure, people with common skills are assembled to a functional group and therefore they get opportunity to learn from another and become specialized in problem solving or performing a task etc. A product division structure in one in which there is a centralized set of support to function the service needs of number of different product lines. Food processing company or furniture makers follow this structure. If the company produces wide range of complex products, the organization may follow multidivisional structure in which support functions are placed in self-contained divisions. If the organization is operating in wide area, it may follow geographic divisional structure in which divisions are carried out according to the requirements of different locations that the organization operates. When the company grows in to national level, it may spread in to different regions of the country and it thus will have to adjust its structure to align its core competencies according to the needs of customers in different regions. In contrary, if the organization has to adjust its people according to the functional needs and activities with the needs of different customers segments in the market, it is termed as market structure. In recent years, most companies are in search for better and faster ways to develop products and thus to respond to customers needs. This has led companies to adopt matrix structure in which people and resources are grouped in to two ways- by function and by product, simultaneously (Jones, 2004, p. 106 – 184). Comparing and Contrasting of the structures of H. J. Heinz and IBM H.J Heinz is a US based company, headquartered in Pennsylvania, is very famous for iconic brands on six continents. It provides delicious, convenient and nutritious food in around 200 countries. In around 50 of these countries, H.J Heinz enjoys the number on or second position in market share (About Heinz, 2011). IBM, acronym for International Business Machine, is a US based information technology company that manufactures and markets computer and electronic products and services. It employs more than 4,36,000 employees throughout the world (Yahoo Finance, 2011). H.J Heinz follows product division structure of organization because it found it to be convenient to control the production of different foods within the same manufacturing unit. The company ha created separate production divisions to produce frozen vegetable, frozen entrees, canned soups, baked items etc. It has helped the company increase the horizontal differentiation within its organizational structure (Jones, 2004, p. 169). In contrary, IBM follows multidivisional structure, even though they have different operating sections. At IBM, support functions are placed in self-contained division. The organizational structure of IBM has two innovations that helps the company overcome the control problems that is experienced by the company while it grows (Jones, 2004, p. 170). In the structure of IBM, each division is independent and self-contained in contrary from that of the structure of H. J Heinz. Organizational Structure and Culture and its impacts on Performance An organizational structure, as mentioned earlier, is a formal relationship and use of people in the organization, that determine the placement of power and authority within the organization (Newstrom and Davis, 2004, p. 6). Policies regarding the organizational structure normally fall in to basic six segments such as departmentalization, specialization, formalization, chain of command, centralization and decentralization. As these are some of the critically important aspects to successfully managing an organization, it can be understood that structure largely impacts the organizational performance. Organizational structure is largely influencing the performance and success of an organization, because people are the most valuable and powerful assets in the organization and an effectively designed structure is basically an important element to managing the human capital. Organizational structure impacts the performance positively for the following reasons: Division of labour increases productivity of employees because practice makes perfect, Specialization increases high performance working of the organization because specialized employees are more skilled and experienced in performing the task assigned to them, Centralization and decentralization have been found to increase employee satisfaction in doing the jobs. Organizational Culture is a system of shared values, organizational activities and people’s beliefs that are developed within the organization to influence its members to guiding and shaping their behaviour (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2005, p. 436). Organizational culture is considered to be the DNA of the organization since it is not only invisible to our eyes but also a powerful template that is likely to shape all the functions of the organization. It is basically a pattern of shared values, assumptions and beliefs that are the right ways of thinking and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization (McShane and Von Glinow (2004, p. 476). A strong organizational culture happens in an organizational setting where its people hold dominant values. A strong culture and its values are long lasting as they impact the organization positively. As shown in the figure below, a strong culture increases the organizational performance especially when the culture-contents are appropriate and right for the environment of the organization. According to McShane and Von Glinow (2004, p. 482), it cannot be generalized that either strong or weaker culture is rights or best-fit for a particular firm, but rather, the right culture is one that best-fits the organizational environment. It is highly important that the management should work harder in formulating, designing and developing a specific and right culture for the organization since it is one of the most precious things that an organization has. Ogbonna and Harris (1998, p. 274) are of the strong opinion that high performance working and achieving organizational goals such as competitive advantage are largely depending on the organizational culture. Organizational culture can significant impact the performance in the ways following: As employees know about the culture, they will be bale to understand both the history as well as current business strategies of the firm, Organizational culture fosters organizational commitment from the employees, Culture can be used as a control mechanism that can lead behaviors towards desired behaviors, and There are sub-cultures that are found to have related to greater effectiveness and productivity (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2007, p. 432). Factors affecting individual behaviour at Work How various factors affect employee behaviour at their workplace and how this in turn impact the organizational performance is perhaps on of the most critical thoughts for the management. People’s behaviour at work and their attitudes towards their workplace can be greatly influenced by many factors such as motivation, ability, workplace atmosphere, reward and recognition, teamwork, collaboration, knowledge sharing and organizational learning etc. For example, the behaviour of an employee can be influenced by the motivation where the employer may offers monetary or non-monetary incentives in order to make him more satisfied with the outcomes and thus to increase the potential as well as productivity of the employee. People in the organization can be motivated by rewards, recognition, decentralization, power, leadership roles, promotion etc. People inherently like financial remuneration and it is widely accepted that employees in any organization are found to be attracted to earning more and therefore they can be motivated by increased monetary benefits. Similarly, they like to be rewarded, recognized for their works, higher positions, higher status etc. Hence, employees can more or less be motivated by facilitating rewards, recognition, promotion, leadership roles, higher status etc and this will in turn influence their behaviour towards high performing and high productivity at workplace. According to Austin and Claassen (2008), team work is the ability of people working in an organization to work together and use their knowledge as well as expertise in cooperation by assessing the individual skills of members with greater trust and good communication among them. Team work has been found to increase employee performance as employees’ behaviour will be influenced to work harder with others. Another example is knowledge share and organizational learning in the workplace, because these result in increasing the knowledge of employees and this in turn influence their behaviour to perform their job tasks effectively. As Rothwell and Sterns (2008) asserted, people’s behaviour can be impacted by organizational and team-learning processes by fostering interaction among various levels of people with varying educational and professional qualifications and skills. Leadership and effectiveness of various Styles Leadership Leadership is a highly-valued personal skill and professional ability whereby an individual influences others to make them do what he wants them to do. Leadership is defined as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2009, p. 3). A leader is one who guides the behaviour of others towards attaining the individual or organizational goals. Leadership influences the behaviour of the subordinates to behave in a particular way and also to follow instructions that are given by the leader to them. From the above illustration, it can be listed that leadership is 1) a process, 2) it involves influencing of others, 3) it occurs in a group of people, and 4) it involves common goal. Leadership is a process of guiding the behaviour, attitude, personality and individual characteristics of others towards organizational objectives. Leadership is a process that involves a number of different types of acts (Wart, 2007, p. 23) such as influence, leading, guiding, instructing, suggesting, advising etc. No great and successful leader is born with all the qualities and abilities that made him great leader, and similarly, no great leader is made with all the required abilities and skills, but rather, a great and successful leader is both born and made. Many of the successful leaders have got leadership abilities even without any training and education, but his life experiences made him leader. Different Styles of Leadership Many researchers and experts in the field of leadership have developed various styles of leadership by observing, studying and analyzing the leadership qualities and their levels of influences on subordinates among various leaders. Major styles of leadership are transformational, charismatic, situational, transactional etc. Charismatic Leadership According to Buelens, Kreitner and Kinicki (2002, p. 464), charismatic leadership emphasizes symbolic leader behaviour, visionary and inspiration messages, appealing to ideological values, non-verbal communication and intellectual simulation to the followers by the leader. Charismatic leadership is the ability of a leader who has got his skill, authority and ability through some unknown and god-given gift to him. His leadership quality, authority and abilities therefore seem to be divine (Sashkin and Sashkin, 2003, p. 56). Charismatic leaders make an emotional impact on subordinates as they appeal both of their hearts and minds (Daft, 2007). Transformational Leadership Robbins and Judge (2011, p. 390) stated that transformational leaders inspired their followers to transcend their self-interest for the benefits of the organization and these leaders posses an extra ordinary effect on their followers. Daft and Lane (2009,p. 424) pointed that transformational leadership is quite similar to charismatic, but transformational leadership is distinguished by the ability to develop innovative ideas and bring changes in the organization, mainly through identifying the specific as well as common needs of the followers. Transformational leaders help their subordinates solve issues in newer strategies and encourage them question the general status quo. A transformational leader will be a very good visionary who attempts to inspire his subordinates and injects enthusiasm in them to get them in to doing what he likes them to do. Out of various leadership styles, transformational leadership is best style because it has been found to influence the followers more than other leadership styles do. Transformational leadership has been found to have four dimensions, namely charisma, inspiration, intellectual simulation and individualized consideration (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2005, p. 257) and therefore it is the best method of leadership. Transactional Leadership Transactional leaders focus on interpersonal interactions between managers and employees (Buelens, Kreitner and Kinicki, 2002, p. 464). Transactional leaders are those who clarify the leadership roles and assess the task-related requirements of their followers, help them understand them and provide them rewards in order to help them meet social as well as other relevant needs. (Daft and Lane, 2009, p. 424). Participative leaders: Participative leaders attempt to involve and participate in decision making and other functional roles. They work with others to accomplish the common goals. Situational Leaders: Situational leaders are those who act appropriately according to the situation. They find different strategies and methods in acting and guiding others in different situations. Organizational Theory Organizational theory describes relationship between various organizational factors such as people, behaviour, process, program, system, technology etc. Organizational theory illustrates underlying causes and effects that are evident in the organization and then explain which specific effect might be caused by some circumstances (Daub, 2009, p. 83). Organizational theory has recently emerged to be a framework for understanding complex situations and behaviour patterns in an organization. Organizational theory is closely related to organizational structure, culture, design and change because organizational theory underpins how the organization can be structured based on the job tasks, how its culture is developed based on the people shared values and how it is designed based on its internal factors. Organizational theory underpins the different practices of management, because various organizational theories that are developed by human resources experts are related to various management functions. Theories related to the behaviour of people at work will be useful for the management to deal with behavioural issues at workplace. Various organizational theories help management identify and recognize issues related to organizational structure, culture, design and other major areas. For example, IBM is has its own organizational set up, and its management follows theories and concepts that are developed by the Organizational Behavior experts. Management and Different Approaches to Management Management is simply getting things done through others. In broad term, management is a scientific and systematic process that involves various functions such as planning, coordination, direction, supervising, controlling etc in order to get people do things that the manager wants them to do. In the management process, the manager is involved in guiding the people to wards helping the organization achieve its goals. Management is thus a goal oriented process and it is helping the firm achieve its goals. There are various approaches to management. these approaches are 1) traditional approach to management, 2) the behavioural approach to management, 3) the quantitative approach, 4) contemporary approach etc. In the traditional approach, emphasis is given on finding methods for managing the work. the major traditional methods are bureaucratic approach, scientific approach and administrative approach. In the behavioral approach, the emphasis is given on understanding human behaviour in the organization. Human relation approach is the man component. In the quantitative approach, quantitative techniques are used to aid decision making. Operation management is an example for this. Quality approach, system approach and contingency approaches are the contemporary approach to management that represent innovation in the approach to organizational management. Both IBM and H.J Heinz are following behavioral approach to management because its organizational structure shows that they maintain human relations in the organization and the relation is well structured. Conclusion This piece of research paper explained the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of organizational structure, organizational culture, their impacts on organizational performance, leadership, management and various approaches to management. The organizational structures of two different companies, namely IBM and H.J Heinz are compared and contrasted with a view to understand how the structures and cultures are different from firm to firm. This paper suggests that transformational leadership is most effective style of the leadership because it encompasses charismatic power and it can bring changes to the organization. Transformational leadership involves charisma, inspiration, intellectual simulation and individualized consideration and therefore it is best leadership style for an organization to make positive changes within it. References Austin M.J and Claassen J (2008), Knowledge Management: Implications for Human Service Organizations, The Haworth Press, Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com Buelens, R, Kreitner, A and Kinicki, M, 2002, Organizational Behaviour, Second Edition, The McGraw Hill Companies, Daft, R. 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