Work Organization Analysis - Case Study Example

1. Rainbow Design’s work organisation shows that there is an element of insubordination and there is also little cooperation on behalf of the workers involved as there is a tendency to expect some of the tasks to be done by others especially juniors. Laura is a junior content designer and it seems she is being tossed around by the superiors for not properly writing the document on behalf of the clients. It seems she is delegated all the tasks to do on her own by virtue of being a junior in the organisation. In most cases, where there is an element of insubordination, it shows that there is no proper team work actually taking place. Having discussed the requirements of the document, the other team members John and Theresa decided to leave the task of writing the document to be done by Laura alone. In the meeting it seems John is frustrated by the document that has been done by Laura and after some discussions, they agreed on certain amendments to be made on the document. Having done that, they still delegated Laura to work on the amendments on her own. Given this situation, it can be seen that there is no proper willingness to work together as a team where all the members would pull their contributions together towards the attainment of one goal. In an organisation, workers ought to contribute their ideas as well as resources together so as to attain the organisational goal. In this case, it is the responsibility of the team to work together in designing the document on behalf of the client but it seems they are neglecting the task but indeed leaving it to be done by only one person who is a junior in the organisation for that matter. At the end of the day, it is the organisation’s responsibility to make sure that they give the client a satisfactory order since it will suffer the consequences of being discredited by clients in the event that they fail to provide a standard document to the client. It is not Laura who will be blamed but the organisation as a whole. The way they even conduct their meetings show that there is lack of proper cooperation to a certain extent. The last meeting is characterised by jokes and the way John leaves the meeting inexcusably shows that he is not very considerate about what is taking place. It can be seen from the given case study that there is an element of insubordination where the juniors are expected to do much of the tasks within an organisation. Other team members feel that they are not supposed to be doing that task but it is their responsibility together as a team. Such kind of lack of coordination shows that there is lack of cooperation among the members of the team. 2. According to Carrell, R. et al (1995), a team is a group of people working together towards the attainment of one goal. In any organisation, there are employees who are supposed to work together towards the attainment of one goal. Where there is proper team work, there is no such element of saying that I am not supposed to be doing this or simply delegating all the tasks to the subordinates. In a team, all the members are expected to fully cooperate as a way of maximising their effort towards the attainment of the goals of the organisation. According to information obtained online, members of a team may be selected for their complementary skills, not a single commonality. For instance, members of a business team may consist of an accounts manager, a salesman, a company executive and a secretary and each member has a purpose and a function within that team. In most cases, the overall success of the team depends on functions of each member where there are likely chances of attaining great results if there is proper cooperation and there are less likely chances of conflict when people in an organisation are working as a team. According to Stamatis (2001), the concept of team is based on the philosophy of participation. The participation philosophy is based on the notion that, “the vast majority of people can make significant contributions to business and both human and social endeavours if they are provided the opportunity, knowledge, support and reinforcement t do so,” Stamatis (2001:199). In an organisation, members of a team are expected to participate in their tasks so as to increase the chances of success. Structurally, this is a team but the unfortunate part of it is that these people are not cooperative in their business. They expect Laura the junior designer to perform all the tasks instead of pulling their resources together. If they have been working together as a team, there would be little chances of conflict where John is cross that the document is not properly done. They expect one person to do much of the work but it is the team’s responsibility to do that. 3. The problems are emanating from the fact that other team members are not fully participating in the activities of the mentioned organisation. For instance, all the other members have a belief that they are not supposed to do the task of writing the document which belongs to a client. Even after discussing the requirements, they still delegate Laura to write the amendments on her own without helping her sought out the requirements properly. May be by virtue of the fact that they are seniors in the organisation, they think may be it is not their responsibility to cooperate in working together on the document which is for the client. Well, should they fail to produce a standard document, the blame is given on the company not on an individual. The notion of the participation philosophy posits to the effect that two or more heads are better than one. In this case, if other colleagues were willing to pull their ideas together with Laura, there were going to be very few chances of conflict or misunderstanding on what has to be done. Through working together, there will be minimal chances of laying all the blame on an individual as all the team members will know that it is a collective decision that would have been implemented. The problems in this particular case may be a result of the fact that there are no clearly defined tasks that are expected to be played by the individual. Their efforts must compliment each other but it seems the other members are not very willing to play their part but instead look forward to Laura to do all the work on her own even though it is supposed to be the responsibility of the team to work together. 4. In the event that I have taken Amber’s position, I would see to it that there is peace and harmony among all the team members. In this case it seems that there is no proper coordination of the running of the affairs with regards to task performance. I would encourage the team members to work in peace and harmony and to show the willingness to assist each other where there would be need rather than simply looking forward to one person to perform all the work whilst others are not fully participating. In this case, it seems that other members are not quite impressed by the work produced by Laura. If they have been working together, they would not blame anyone but would make a collective decision. I would also need to clearly define the roles expected to be played by each individual as a way of minimising the chances of conflict where by other individuals would argue saying that I am not supposed to do such kind of work. Whilst there are clearly defined roles, there would also be need to encourage maximum participation by all the team members so as to attain the organisational goals. If people are working together in harmony and knowing what they are expected to do, there would be little chances of misunderstanding over what would be expected of them to do. It seems Amber is not leading by example by showing that she is also infuriated by the document produced by Laura. As a team leader, one must not use crude words towards another member. For instance, she says “this is the messiest document I have ever seen.” These are not supposed to be words spoken by a leader so I would try and confront all the team members politely and give them the due respect they deserve. Over and above, it can be seen that the given team is not cordially working together as they just expect to see some of the work being done by one person instead of cooperating. Where there is participation, there are likely chances of success since everyone would be putting more effort towards the attainment of one goal. References Brewster, C. et al (2003), Contemporary issues in human resources management: gaining a competitive advantage, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, NY Carrell, R. et al (1995), Human Resources Management: Global Strategies for managing a diverse workforce, 5th Edition, Prentice Hall, USA. Michael Armstrong (1999), Human Resources Management Practice, 7th Edition, Kogan Page Limited, USA. Leggie, K. (1995). Human resource management: Rhetoric& realities. McMillan, England. What is the difference between a team and a group? http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-team-and-a-group.htm D.H. Stamatis (2001), Six Sigma and Beyond: Foundations of excellence Performance, Retrieved on 28 Apr. 09, From: http://books.google.co.za/books?id=ELzIVrqKPiwC&pg=PA199&lpg=PA199&dq=what+is+a+team%3F&source=bl&ots=qut32DqjSm&sig=T-7VSOy5ZuJXA7ylWL1qb6q7vOM&hl=en&ei=vML2SfC8H6Cltgea04S2Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#PPA199,M1 Walker J.R and Drummond K.E Supervision in the Hospitality Industry, Retrieve on 28 Apr. 09, from: http://books.google.co.za/books?id=vkl1-24f9rIC&pg=PA224&lpg=PA224&dq=what+is+a+team%3F&source=bl&ots=dMNPS3DvLU&sig=6CNIzB7MVQJE7lbm6RdEMHbonjw&hl=en&ei=vML2SfC8H6Cltgea04S2Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5 Read More