Organizational Behavior & Theory

The assignment delves into various theories within organizational behavior. It covers Social Exchange Theory, examining the give-and-take dynamics in workplace relationships. The role of Learning Agility and Career Variety in identifying high-potential employees is also discussed. Further exploration includes Transformational Leadership's impact on organizational performance through learning and innovation. Additionally, the assignment touches upon Mintzberg's framework for understanding organizational structure and highlights the importance of employee motivation for organizational effectiveness.

ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
Document Information
Unit Description ATHE Assignment Answers/ Year:2017
Unit Subject Organization Behavior
Unit Reference Unit A/615/2680
ATHE Learner Name Samer Ellaham
ATHE Learner ID 19488
Task 1
1.1 Analysis of Different Organizational Structures
Different organizations have different structures that are based on their
objectives and culture. The structure of any organization would be the
determinant of the way of the operations and the performances. Structures
permit the responsibilities that are necessary for different processes and
functions to be plainly allocated to different employees and departments.
The most common forms of organizational structures are: flat, tall,
hierarchical, centralized and decentralized (Naqshbandi and Kaur 2013).
1.1.1 Flat Structure:
A flat organizational structure contains fewer levels of management between
the executive level and the front-line employees. The premises behind the
flat organizational structure would be of empowering employees by means of
them being turned into a bigger part of the decision-making process. This
type of organizational structure displays good communication amongst the
top management people and the employees, a good working spirit, lesser
bureaucracy, easier decision making and fewer management levels
(Lunenberg 2012). Toyota is an organizational example of flat structure, which has adopted
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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this approach, and gained profits. Toyota had completely given up micromanaging its
employees.
1.1.2 Tall Structure:
A tall organizational structure contains several levels of management and
supervision. A long chain of command runs from the top of the organization
to the bottom of it. The span of control is narrow, with a clearer management
structure having clearer and distinct function in each layer. Coca Cola has
tall organizational structure, it is managed by vertical hierarchy in which
decision-making are made by upper level, while decisions related to daily
operation are made by line manager who is in medium level.
The tall structure of organization consists of various levels of hierarchy with
multiple managers playing the roles of controlling and managing the
employees and staffs. It is kind of complex, because of which, it takes more
time to respond to the changes. The various levels of management within
this organizational structure develop certain rules, regulations and laws that
are needed to be followed by the lower level employees. The communication
process is managed quite easily, though the decisions made take lots of
time. Because of the involvement of multiple managers and supervisors, the
costs of managing the business operations are more and due to this, it
creates certain complexities as well (Alvesson 2012). Examples of tall
organizational structure could be IBM, Wal-Mart that followed this kind of
structure because of its large size as well as various departments consisting
of managers.
1.1.3 Hierarchical Structure
Inside the hierarchical structure of an organization, power and accountability
would be clearly quantified and allotted to the individuals in accordance to
their standing and position inside the hierarchy. British Gas is an example of
organization having hierarchical structure.
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
1.1.4 Centralized and Decentralized Structure
Centralized organizational structures have reliance only on a single individual
for making decisions and providing directions for the organization. On the
other hand, decentralized organizational structures most of the time contain
individuals who are accountable for taking different business decisions and
the running of business (Pekgun, Griffin and Keskinocak 2016). Microsoft is a
centralized organization, whereas Tesco has a decentralized structure.
Craigslist and Facebook are examples of organizations having both.
A proper organizational culture helps in managing shared values and beliefs
to make people understand their roles and responsibilities and even
understand how the organization functions.
1.2 Influence of Organizational Culture on Organizational
effectiveness
Organizational culture is considered by many as a factor that requires
getting investigated from the perspective of organizational life. For
accomplishing the objective of organizational performance level in the
present competitive workplace, assessment of the degree of influence of the
factors regarding this are getting more and more concentrated on by both
academicians and practitioners. Organizational environment as being
considered as a determining effect getting complex on the stratagem that
enables the achievement of organizational level could play out a vital role in
the association between organizational culture and organizational efficiency.
The types of organizational culture have some relation with some
organizational efficiency dimensions. In this association, the stability and
variability of both the external and internal organizational environment and
the values of the top managers have a moderating role to play. If
commitment, possession of norms and values as per the organization, can be
seen from the side of the employee, an increase in performance for
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
achieving the organizational goals can be seen (Hatch and Cunliffe 2013;
Powell and DiMaggio 2012).
The satisfaction of customers can lead to attraction as well as retention of
more customers, furthermore allow them to make decisions and reduce the
chances of risks associated with the organization. To make loyal customers
and influence their buying behaviors, it is important to provide rewards and
other benefits through the usage of loyalty cards while making any
purchases (Benn, Dunphy and Griffiths 2014). The loyalty cards are designed
to target various market segments to whom the rewards shall be provided
and ensure that they can be benefited somehow while making the next
purchase through use of the loyalty cards. The organization must understand
the needs and requirements of the customers and provide the benefits and
rewards according to that, which would create customer satisfaction, attract
as well as retain the new and existing customers respectively (Büschgens,
Bausch and Balkin 2013).
1.3 Impact of Learning on the Effectiveness of Employees
A workforce that is engaged possesses the required skills, expertise and
knowledge that is vital for any kind of organization who is looking for
achieving high level of business success. In the present business scenario,
learning and development has become an important mean of keeping
employees engaged for maintaining the competitive advantage. Training and
teaching employees is focused on imparting the skills that are required for
doing this effectively. Flourishing organizations depend on their people for
performing constantly well. This could be achieved only if the employees feel
motivated and engaged. Proper knowledge in employees can help them
nurture their talents and assisting them in learning new things and improving
their performance eventually. Most employees want to feel like they are
being productive and contributing something for their organization. Learning
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
and development offers an option of addressing all the different human
needs and largely improves employee engagement.
The learning and development would be possible by training and
developmental sessions provided to the employees by the organization,
which could not only facilitate the process of communication but would also
result in making the employees skilled enough to reach the business goals
and objectives by moving in the right direction. Using advanced technology
during the learning process could increase the scopes and effectiveness of
the training and developmental programs provided to the employees
(Bolman and Deal 2017). Technological influence could be created by
electronic learning via web based training, use of mobile technologies such
as I-pad and managing simulations as well. Virtual reality could provide
simulated training for making employees skilled and knowledgeable and
improve the learning process for the employees within the organization. The
technological advancements could also support the growth and development
of personal and professional career of the employees with ease and
effectiveness (Carter et al. 2013).
Companies who are investing in their people via learning and development
processes are also seen in a more favorable light by the employees than
those in the company who don’t. Linking objectives with the learning process
would help make the work effective for managers. If conducted efficiently,
learning and development would be able to be the means of motivation and
engagement with employees like never before (Cherian and Jacob 2013;
Dries, Vantilborgh and Pepermans 2012).
1.4 Impact of Teamwork on Employee Effectiveness
Working in teams encourages employees into contributing to the
organization as much as possible in their capacity for reaching some
common goals. Working in teams makes sure of timely delivery of work, as
employees working in teams are more reliable, confident, proactive and
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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efficient. Teamwork increases the efficiency of employee, which ultimately
benefits the organization and yielding of higher profits. Teamwork leads to
the appropriate delegation of responsibilities in accordance with the
expertise, knowledge and skills sets of the employees. If the employees get
the option of contributing as per their specialization and experience, then
targets would be achieved more easily. Individuals who are working in teams
have the option of interacting, discussing and brainstorming ideas for
reaching any unique solution and also gaining from one another’s expertise.
Work tales much lesser time when people having similar knowledge working
in unison. Encouraging morning meetings at the office helps as the
employees can come and meeting together on a common platform with their
team leaders for planning their entire day. It is important that managers as
well as the team members are aware of what the other team members are
up to. It is impossible for people in working alone. Most of the problems
evaporate if the employees get the option of voicing their concerns and
discussing with their co-workers and supervisors (Farh, Seo and Tesluk
2012).
There are various benefits of working as a team within the business
organizations. First of all, it is easy to create a good culture and working
environment and there are more scopes and opportunities to accomplish a
task quickly and at the same time, focus on the enhancement of production
level. The roles and responsibilities of the team members would be shared
equally among themselves and tasks should be matched according to their
skills and knowledge level. Team working could help people to communicate
with each other effectively and even keep the goals and objectives clear and
focused on (Cherian and Jacob 2013). Team working could also be possible
by providing them with training and developmental sessions and furthermore
enhance their skills to understand their roles while working as a team. All
these approaches could help in improving the team performance and
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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manage consistency in performances of the various team members (Cook et
al. 2013).
In spite of the benefits, there are few drawbacks as well such as mismatch of
opinions of the various team members, which may create conflicts and
misunderstandings. Every member might not feel mutually considerable due
to difference in opinions, which could create further complexities and lack of
decision-making ability too. Lack of participation of team members,
ineffective group thinking ability, ineffective leadership of the team leader
could also be other issues associated with the team working within
organization. Team members also do not share adequate information,
because of which, sometimes it becomes difficult to accomplish the project
properly (Hatch and Cunliffe 2013). Lack of transparency is another issue
faced while working as a team.
The Chinese company:” Huawei” is one of the successful examples in
implementing “team work” aspect within workforce structure in a way of
approaching employees to achieve company’s goalswith collaboration and
dedication mode and successfully reflected this concept as one of core
values in company’s culture.
Teamwork could develop a diversified work culture and become the
organizational norm by ensuring that any sort of discrimination is prevented.
The leaders make the employees informed about the goals and objectives
that are needed to be achieved and create scopes for making the employees
interact with each other and determine the benefits of working as a team.
The performance management system is also useful for focusing on the
value of teamwork and this will be possible by integrating the 360-degree
feedback within the system. Feedbacks of employees should be taken for
making necessary changes and improvements and make sure that the
business outcomes are achieved (Hogg 2016). The employees must follow
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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the laws, rules and regulations of the company, which could also give rise to
a healthy culture where people could work in coordination and as a unit.
Extension Activities:
1.5 Impact of Leadership Behaviors on Organizations
Leadership has direct causal and effect relationship with the organizations
and their success. Leaders are the one who manage the employee
motivation, culture and change toleration. They are the ones shaping
institutional strategies that include their execution and efficiency.
Leadership behavior allows the leader or manager of the organization to
develop tone properly by creating policies and guidelines through
maintenance of business values and mission. The policies and guidelines
could help in identifying the weak performing employees and replace them
with skilled workers. Organizational performances depend on the appropriate
behaviors of the leaders and, so it is important to make sure that the leaders
keep the employees motivated and consider their feedbacks and responses
while making any decisions. This would make them feel valued for the
organization and furthermore encourage them to perform to their potential,
thereby improving the business performance and derive positive outcomes
(Laloux 2014). One example could be how leadership impacted on the
business performance at Tesco. Tesco followed the democratic leadership
style for making sure that the responses and opinions of the employees were
considered while making business decisions. The leadership qualities helped
in managing the staffs properly and made sure that that it a good culture
and working environment were maintained for fulfilling the needs and
preferences of employees too. This resulted in employee satisfaction and
improvement in morale, finally resulted in keeping the staffs motivated
through good leadership skills.
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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Leaders have the capacity of influencing everyone around them for reaping
the maximum benefits possible from the resources of the organizations,
which includes both the most crucial and the most expensive ones - the
people. The present leadership theories define leadership on the basis of
traits and the influence and power that is used for the achievement of the
organizational objectives. Based on the different leadership traits, leaders
might be classified into autocratic, democratic, bureaucratic or charismatic
types. Autocratic leaders are mostly people who have the responsibility of
leadership thrust upon them and they have the capability of irreparably
damaging the organization with no shared vision and no motivation.
Bureaucratic leaders depend only on policies for meeting their organizational
goals. They are most relaxed in relying with any stated policy for convincing
their followers in getting on board. Democratic leaders get most frustrated
with the large effort that is necessary for building consensus and they have
the potential for weak execution and poor decision making. Charismatic
leaders are the most successful leaders, having vision, personality for
motivating to follow that vision for execution (Manzoor 2012; García-Morales,
Jiménez-Barrionuevo and Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez 2012).
1.6 Impact of Change on Employee’s Effectiveness
Impact of change on the employees can be categorized into several factors.
It is reasonable that employees are expected to be reacting as the process of
change is involved with the transition from known to unknown. When
employees start reacting it is crucial that distinguishing is carried out
amongst the different symptoms of reactions and the reasons behind them.
The most key factors that influence employee’s reaction to change are
communication, employee contribution in decision making and employee
emotion and cognition.
The contingency theory proposed by Fiedler allows the leaders to change according to situations
through making sure that consistency is maintained while focusing on the nature of task, the
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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behaviors and personality of the leader and nature of group that the leader manages.The
contingency theory allows for managing the organizational operations and makes decisions,
furthermore ensure that the actions undertaken are contingent. It could also allow the leader to
act according to the situation and apply the own leadership styles for ensuring successful
business operations and processes management (Levi 2015).
The participative theory is similar to the democratic leadership style where the employees’
opinions and responses are considered while making any decisions in business. It supports the
modern management procedures and is hierarchical in nature. It is a managerial style that obtains
the inputs of people working there and provides output in the form of decisions made
(Lunenburg 2012).
Research has shown that employee acceptance and resistance to change
are concrete milestones that is attainable, and once that is done it remains
so. These milestones can be reached in the change initiative by means of
completing the goals allotted. Change is difficult for employees, creating
havoc for the bottom line of the organization. Change in its broad reach can
bring high stress levels for the employees, including lack of timely
communication and perceived injustices. Companies get the option of cutting
on salaries and benefits when they bring in change for saving cost. However,
this makes the employee look out for job somewhere else. Motivation levels
go down, with decrease in job performance and company loyalty.
Organizational changes ask for huge restructuring, which ultimately changes
the lives of the employees (Carter et al. 2013).
Task 2
2.1 Leadership Behavior Theories
Behavior is the extent of exercises and attributes made by animals, systems,
or reenacted components in combination with their condition, which
consolidates interchange structures or life conforms to and also the physical
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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condition. Behavioral Theory of Leadership is a leadership theory that
considers the observable movements and responses of leaders and
aficionados in a given condition. Behavioral theories concentrate on how
leaders act and admit that leaders can be made, rather than made-up and
productive leadership trusts upon recognizable, learnable behavior.
Behavioral theories of leadership are designated such in light of the way that
they concentrate on the examination of exact behaviors of a leader. For
behavioral researchers, a leader behavior is the best pointer of his leadership
impacts and appropriately, is the best element of his or her leadership
achievement. These theories concentrate on what leaders truly do instead of
on their qualities. Unmistakable cases of behavior are observed and
requested as 'styles of leadership'. This domain has likely dragged in most
thought from sharpening managers (Miner 2015).
The contingency leadership theory allows for managing and leading an
organization and make decisions by keeping the actions contingent
according to the internal and external situation. The great man theory
involves the greatest men who are skilled and knowledgeable and has the
necessary charisma, wisdom and intelligence to gain power and authority
over the subordinates and manage the business functioning properly. The
participative theory allows for engaging the employees together and
allowing them to discuss and share their views and opinions that could be
valuable for the organization as well as during the making of business
decisions (Cook et al. 2013).
Yet many research studies could be ordered under the title of the behavioral
approach, the Ohio State studies, the Michigan studies, and the studies by
Blake and Mouton are unequivocally illustrative of the musings in this
approach. By looking of these social affairs of studies, we can draw a perfect
photograph of the key thoughts and consequences of the style/behavioral
approach to manage leadership. Of these the two Key Studies in behavioral
theory at the University of Michigan and the Ohio State University twisted up
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obviously eminent in the exceptional period of leadership ask about. These
studies recognized two key behavioral groupings - presentation toward
undertaking and presentation toward people.
2.1.1 Michigan Leadership Studies
Michigan Leadership Studies is a behavioral Leadership Theory that shows
the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan guided
exploratory studies to perceive styles of leader behavior that outcomes in
advanced execution and gratification of a get-together. The estimation of
Michigan Leadership Studies lies in the examination of two leadership styles
—task and delegate organized styles. In its place of binding to traits of
leaders, they focused on the behavior of leaders. It enhances the understanding of
leadership, but there is still supporting to be gained for the implications (Gregoire and Arendt
2014). Example of an organization that follows these kind of leadership styles is Intel. Under
Andy Grove, Intel was much organized and remained cool under pressure emotional towards
situations at the same time. The organized structure of the organisation and its proper
management of business operations and processes helped in smooth business functioning. The
leadership qualities and the calmness f the leader also enabled him to guide the employees in the
right direction and kept them motivated to perform efficiently too (Hogg 2016).
2.1.2 Ohio State Leadership Studies
Ohio State Leadership Studies is Behavioral Leadership Theory. Course of
action of studies on leadership was done by the Ohio State University in
1945 to recognize distinguishable behaviors of leaders as an alternative of
concentrating on their separate traits. Ohio State Leadership Studies
exhibited that beginning structure and thought are two specific estimations
and not absolutely disconnected. A low score on one doesn't necessitate a
high score on the other. Thought is the all-inclusive community presentation
and beginning structure is the errand presentation. The Ohio State studies
were coordinated around an indistinct time from the Michigan Leadership
Studies, which also recognized as fundamental the accentuation on task and
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
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people. It broadened the scope of leadership research, but it fails in
associating the behaviors of leaders with outcomes (Northouse 2015).
Example of an organization that follows these kind of leadership styles is
Coca Cola. Coca Cola makes sure their employees get the chance of learning
and developing their own leadership skills.
2.2 Theories Related to Work Relationships and
interactions.
Interpersonal relationship insinuates a strong relationship among individuals
with practically identical tastes, desires and premiums in life. It is
fundamental for individuals to share a sound relationship with each other for
snappier movement of consequences and in addition for a helpful vibe at the
workplace.
2.2.1Social Exchange Theory
Social Exchange Theory was proposed by George Casper Homans in the year
1958. According to Social Exchange Theory "give and take" shapes the
preface of all relations however their degrees may change as per the energy
of the relationship.
In a relationship, every individual has wants from his/her accessory. A
relationship without wants is futile. According to Social Exchange theory
estimations and feelings have to be reacted for a compelling and tried and
true relationship. Relationships cannot ever be uneven. An individual puts his
chance and imperativeness in relationships exactly when he gets something
consequently (Cook et al. 2013). It is often seen that employees working at
IBM are not praised or recognized for their good performances. To overcome
this kind of issue, social exchange theory is effective, and it can enable
employee recognition program for understanding their hard work and
provide them rewards and benefits for that. This has created a stir within the
workplace and allowed the managers and leaders of the organization to fulfill
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the employees’ needs and ensure that good relationships are maintained
thereafter (Büschgens, Bausch and Balkin 2013).
2.2.2Uncertainty Reductions Theory
Based on the Uncertainty Reductions Theory, it is important for clearing up
the association between individuals who don't have any associate with each
other much or have been outsiders.
As showed by Uncertainty Reductions Theory, two cloud individuals meeting
all of a sudden affair assorted stages to weaken the level of powerlessness
among them and come nearer to each other. Outsiders must grant well to
know each other better and discover their similitude level (Hogg 2016).
When two employees come from two different organizations, it would be
difficult to manage coordination between them though sometimes, with
proper communication, it could be easy for them to work as a unit and
ensure recognizing own self easily and accomplish the business objectives
together.
Extension Activities:
2.3Organizational Culture Theory in Developing
Organizational Effectiveness
Organizational culture provides a detail analysis and assumptions of shared
suppositions, qualities and various stages through which individuals gain
experience for overcoming the issues related to management of
relationships. The various aspects of cultural changes are accelerated for
ensuring motivation of human beings and ensuring that it can represent an
integrated elegance and maintain consistency across various disciplines
within the organization. There is another culture theory named as the
Hofstede cultural dimension theory that includes the power distance,
individualism vs collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity vs
femininity (Bolman and Deal 2017).
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1. Entry Stage
The entry stage is depicted by two individuals attempting to see each other
better.
Each one attempts to find the other person's understanding, relatives,
informational ability, interests, recreation exercises and so forth.
Each one divulges his/her inclinations to reinforce the bond and take the
relationship to the accompanying level.
2. Personal Stage
In the second stage or the personal stage, individuals attempt to discover
more about their associate's perspective and feelings.
Individuals attempt to get some answers concerning the other person's
morals, qualities, conduct and nature with everything taken into account.
Individuals who are never again untouchables take in additional about each
other's personality traits in the personal stage.
3. The Exit Stage
The Personal Stage picks the fate of the relationship. Individuals pleasing in
each other's association go into whole deal duties i.e. either officially get
hooked or stay together till the finish of time.
Not every relationships blossom into social unions. Individuals fail to fathom
and modify with each other choose to shared feelings that show people what
is legitimate and wrong behavior. These qualities influence delegate
behavior and moreover organizational execution. Culture is, all things
considered, intangible to individuals likewise as the sea is imperceptible to
the fish swimming in it. Regardless of the way that it impacts all specialist
behaviors, considering, and behavioral cases, individuals tend to twist up
recognizably more aware of their affiliation's culture when they have the
opportunity to balance it with various affiliations. The dealing with limit
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incorporates settling on and realizing organizational layout decisions. The
culture of the affiliation is solidly associated with organizational arrangement
(Cummings and Worley 2014).
An affiliation's culture may be one of its most grounded assets or its most
prominent commitment. Without a doubt, it has been battled that affiliations
that have an exceptional and hard to-impersonate culture welcome a high
ground. Culture, or shared regards inside the affiliation, may be related to
extended specialist execution. Examiners found a relationship between
organizational cultures and laborer execution, with respect to advance
pointers, for instance, wages, sales volume, market share, and stock costs
provoking affirmation of the affiliations objective. Meanwhile, it is basic to
have a culture that fits with the solicitations of the association's condition. To
the extent that shared regards are fitting for the association being alluded
to, delegate execution may benefit by culture. Despite having repercussions
for delegate execution, organizational culture is a fruitful control instrument
overseeing specialist behavior. Culture is an all the more powerful technique
for controlling and supervising agent behaviors than organizational rules and
bearings. The ability to understand and affect organizational culture is a
basic thing for managers to have in their tool compartment when they are
finishing their controlling limit and also their dealing with ability to enhance
laborer execution and propel the affirmation of the organizational
destinations (Alvesson 2012).
The various cultural dimensions of Hofstede model are power distance index,
individualism vs collectivism, uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity vs
femininity and long-term vs short term orientation. The power distance index
enabled the staffs to get accustomed with the culture and accept that the
power had not been distributed equally. The individualism vs collectivism
dimension helped in making the staffs work in coordination and in groups for
preventing conflicts and maintain a good culture within the workplace.
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uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity vs femininity and long-term vs
short term orientation
The uncertainty avoidance index enabled the community to tolerate the
issues and clear doubts for ensuring that the rules, regulations and
guidelines were followed properly. The masculinity vs femininity enabled the
members of the organizations and community to achieve heroic abilities and
cooperate with others by keeping separate distance between the male and
female values and ethics. The long-term vs short term orientation could
allow for understanding the past consequences and prepare for necessary
plans to become successful in the present as well as the future.
Task 3
Some of the benefits of involving employees in organizational decision
making are:
 Helps employees gain professional and personal stake
 Makes employees valued for the organisation and they could feel
interested to perform more potentially
 Increase in responsibility means the employees will be able to manage
their roles easily and ensure that the positive business outcomes are
achieved.
 They feel a strong relationship and have greater roles and
responsibilities to make decisions in business
 Commitment gives productivity
 Expands employee skills through deliverance of good quality training
programs that can also make them enough skilled to handle any
situations with ease and effectiveness.
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 The motivation level and morale of employees also increase while the
manager or leader has enough time to contribute to the organizational
success
 Improves employee engagement, which can drive the performance of
the company as well as enhance the organizational productivity
 Betters employee morale
 Bad relationships between management and employees are reduced
 Betters job satisfaction when the workers would be provided with
enough benefits and their needs and requirements would be met as
well. This would keep them motivated and encouraged to perform to
their potential.
 Saves money and time on outsourcing
 Presents company with long-term assistance
 Helps employee offer insightful knowledge to the company through
providing of training and developmental sessions to them for the
enhancement of their skills, knowledge and expertise
 Opportunity of voicing opinions
 Encourages positive teamwork by promoting teamwork and
collaboration between the employees and managers for facilitating the
process of manufacturing and production
 Opens interaction with co-workers
Some of the issues of involving employees in organizational decision making
are:
 Risk of blurring distinction between management and employees
 Loss of disciplined structure
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 Inconsistent decision making
 Hard time monitoring employees
 Not enough communication – Lack of communication results because
of differences in culture, belonging from different backgrounds,
language differences, etc. Due to this, string bonds are not formed,
which further hampers the communication between the management
and employees
Different ways to motivate employees are:
 Making sure that communication process is managed properly
 Provide good examples
 Empowering employees – Managers must make them believe that they
have trust in the employees and even communicate a clear vision to
focus on the business goals and objectives. Motivation could be done
by proving them with rewards, benefits and encouraging self-
improvement for obtaining their best in terms of performance and
improve the business effectiveness (Lunenburg 2012).
 Offering good opportunities for advancement
 Providing incentives
Ways in which different motivation theories help employees:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Inside this theory, the motivational factors
impact what employees aspire for.
Herzberg’s Hygiene model: This model helps in the elimination of
dissatisfaction factors and even creating situations for job satisfaction.
Victor Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: According to this theory, motivation is
dependent on the employee’s needs of an outcome.
How Apple motivates their employees:
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
Apple leads its employees by example. They are always offering their
employees with various tasks and make sure that they remain engaged to
provide their opinions and even make decisions properly.
Apple only hires people who are willing to go through the entire process.
They are even known for showing employees the right way. Inside the
organization, culture is made up as the journey progresses so that everyone
can adjust accordingly. New recruits get the most motivational lift from day
one. There are a wide range of incentives and benefits for employees so that
they get huge amount of job satisfaction. Task goals are set for providing
employees with directions.
Extension activities
Analyse how motivational theory can inform employee motivation
There are various motivational theories like the Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs theory and Herzberg hygiene model. The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
theory allowed creating reasoning and feeling among the individual at
different motivational levels, starting from the psychological needs to self-
actualization needs. The various needs at levels include psychological needs,
safety needs, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization needs. The
motivational factors influence what the person actually needs. If a person is
struggling to get a god job or finding it difficult to accomplish a task within
the organisation, then motivation will be to enhance his skills and knowledge
for accomplishing the goals and objectives with ease. One cannot reach the
above levels without fulfilling the needs at the lower levels. By interpreting
the theory, it can be understood that in case a manager of an organisation
like Apple demands for fulfilling the self-actualization needs and develop the
potential of employees, then he can provide them with proper training
sessions. The employees could also be provided with either monetary or non-
monetary rewards for keeping them motivated and focused on the
achievement of business goals and objectives with ease. The employers or
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
HR manager at Apple could also structure the entry-level positions for
keeping the employees motivation and make them perform above their
expectations, furthermore drive the sales and increase profit level for the
company too.
Evaluate how a named organisation motivates its employees
The business organisation Samsung has used the Performance
appraisal technique to evaluate the performances of employees and made
sure that their strengths and weaknesses are assessed and reviewed
properly. The employees of Samsung were provided with regular feedbacks
regarding their mistakes and areas of improvements, which resolved the
performance related issues as a whole. This further helped in making
necessary changes and improvements through providing of training sessions
for enhancing their skills, knowledge and expertise level. The employees who
performed much better than the actual expectations of the HR manager or
leader were praised. They were even provided with rewards like mementos
and additional monetary benefits too for keeping them motivated. The
employees were engaged during orientation sessions and even their
responses and opinions were considered before making any business
decisions. This made them believe that they had been valued and kept
performing to their potential for bringing the best outcomes in the future.
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
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ATHE - Unit A/615/2680: Organization Behavior- Assignment Answer-Student: Samer
Ellaham /ID:19488
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