Managing People in Organisations: Styles, Structure, Culture, and Diversity

This report analyses various management and leadership styles and their advantages and disadvantages in terms of their uses in business and for employees and leaders. It also outlines the importance of organisational structure and various types of organisational structure that a company can have. The report then sheds light on the equal employment opportunity law and the benefits of a diversified workforce in the organisation.

Managing People in an
Organisation
(Part 2)

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Analysing various management and leadership styles and their uses in business.......................3
Organisational structure...............................................................................................................5
Organizational culture.................................................................................................................6
Relationship among the organizational structure and culture of The Losch Group....................7
Legal requirement about equal opportunity and benefit of diversity at workplace.....................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In this report we will compare various management and leadership styles and their advantages
and disadvantages in terms of their uses in business and for employees and leaders. The report
will then analyse organisational structure and its types to get a clear understanding for the
same. The report will then highlight the importance of organisational culture and its types and
the relation between organisational structure and culture of The Losch group, which is
company that works in Luxembourgish car secor. The report then shed a light on the equal
employment opportunities law and the benefits that the company gains from diversified
workforce.
MAIN BODY
Analysing various management and leadership styles and their uses in business
Leadership style refers to the behaviours that leaders adopt to influence, motivate and guide its
followers.
There are various management and leadership styles. Some of which are-
 Autocratic leadership
In this style of leadership, the leader is generally a dictator as all the power and decision
making authority is in his hands. The followers do not participate in discussions and
cannot share ideas.
 Advantages: Sudden crisis can be handled on time due to quick decisions and there is
no communication gap related to tasks and decisions among the employees as only
leader takes all the decisions. It is helpful when followers are not skilled enough to
think of ideas.
 Disadvantages: This type of leadership decreases employee morale and increases lack
of trust between leader and followers and hence is rarely effective.
 Democratic leadership

In this type of leadership, followers are free to share ideas and participate in decision
making process(Vasilescu, 2019). Leaders act as guides for the team.
 Advantages: Increase employee morale and productivity. Encourages creative thinking
as ideas flow freely, which leads to better decisions.
 Disadvantages: Discussions on specific topic can lead to confusion about the result and
might lead to communication gap and also lack of co-ordination among the group.
Unskilled members might give poor ideas.
 Transformational leadership
In this, the leader tries to create values and bring out positive changes in the followers
by motivating them with a shared vision of the future.
 Advantages: Leader encourages the followers to be more interactive with others and
create harmony.
 Disadvantages: Leaders might have to go against certain rules and protocols of the
organisation.
 Transactional leadership
In this, leaders reward the followers for good results but can also punish them for bad
jobs. The leaders generally act as supervisors.
 Advantages: The employees become more productive.
 Disadvantages: Leaders focus more on target than creativity and encouragement of
employees.
 Laissez-faire leadership
In this, employees have all authority and power and take their own decisions which
increase their morale. It is also known as delegative leadership style.
 Advantages: Improves co-ordination and interaction between the members and boosts
their morale
 Disadvantages: Might get inappropriate results due to incapability of employees.
 Strategic leadership
Top executives develop vision and tactics for the growth and welfare of the
organisation and play important role in decision making.
 Advantages: Structured pathway is created to decision making that makes target more
clear

 Disadvantages: Structured plans make it rigid and forecasting can lead to inaccurate and
unreliable results.
 Affiliative leadership
In this, the leader pays close attention to the members’ emotional needs.
 Advantages: Employee wellbeing becomes top priority. Leaders can resolve disputes
quickly.
 Disadvantages: Can reduce team productivity and leaders sometimes sight of the
organisational mission.
 Situational leadership
In this, the leader follows one of the four leadership styles that can provide the highest
probability of success in various situations they encounter. The leadership style is
chosen based on the objective to be achieved and the situation and various other
factors(Gandolfi and Stone, 2018.). The four leadership style are – telling leadership
style in which the leader makes the decisions and guides or directs the followers
accordingly; selling leadership style in which the leader makes the decisions but
provides opportunities for discussions to the employees by coaching them and
explaining the importance of the tasks; participating leadership style in which the
leader asks open minded questions to enable the followers to convince them about their
ability to perform better; delegating leadership style is when the follower is fully aware
about his competence and required minimal supervision.
As the employees in The Losch Group are selected very carefully using Skeeled software, so it
can be assumed that they are highly effective and skilled. Hence, a democratic leadership style
can be implemented in the company as the employees are talented and skilled enough in their
fields so they can give better ideas and can help the leaders to invest their time in better and other
important jobs which will ultimately make the leaders as well as employees more efficient and
boost the effectiveness and productivity of the company.
Organisational structure
An organisational structure refers to a structure in which the work flows in the organisation. It
outlines the direction of activities in an organisation to achieve its goals. This includes rules,
responsibilities, job roles, etc. of the organisation and also determines the direction of flow of

information between various levels in the company(Raziq and et.al., 2020). There are several
types of organisational structure, which are-
 Hierarchical structure – In this, the chain of command flows from top to down and all
the employees are supervised.
 Functional structure – In this, the highest level of responsibility is at top and flows
downward. Employees are organized in separate departments according to their skills
and function in the company.
 Horizontal or Flat structure - In this, the companies have few levels between the
employees and top management. It encourages more involvement from the employees
and less supervision.
 Divisional structure – In this, the company is divided into various divisions that control
their own resources and teams for marketing, IT, sales, etc.
 Matrix structure – In this, various teams report to multiple leaders and has cross-
functional teams that are formed to carry out special projects.
 Team-based structure – In this, several employees are clubbed together to form a team
that works together to achieve a common goal along with focusing on their individual
tasks(Aslan, 2021).
 Network structure – In this, independent associations and organisations are arranged
together to form an alliance for the production or rendering services by sharing core
competencies and cost.
Organizational culture
Organizational culture can be defined as a collection of practices, objectives, philosophy,
expectations, values and practices that guides and influences behaviour of the members of the
organisation. It is a collection of all the traits and shred beliefs of the members. It can be seen
in the way objectives are set, tasks are performed and resources are administered to achieve the
objectives by the people. Organisation culture can simply be said as the personality of the
company. Creating a healthy organizational culture can take a lot of time but it play a vital role
in attracting new candidates to the company and keeping the existing employees satisfied(Lee,
Howe and Kreiser, 2019). There are generally four types of organisational culture, which are –
 Clan culture

Clan culture generally follows the ideology of ‘family-like’ where all the employees are
valued irrespective of their level and a proper flow of communication is of utmost
importance.
 Adhocracy culture
Adhocracy culture is generally flexible and constant improvements and innovation are
the top priority. Individuality is valued here as employees are encouraged to have
creative thinking and share new ideas.
 Market culture
Market culture focuses on being ahead of the competition and has profit as the top
priority. Their success highly depends on innovation and hence new and improved
products are constantly introduced.
 Hierarchy culture
Hierarchy culture generally has a set level of authority and a clear chain of command.
They have established procedures for doing things which reduces the risks and
improves stability.
Relationship among the organizational structure and culture of The Losch Group
It will be fair to say that The Losch Group’s structure is a framework and outline of the culture
that is to be adopted in the organisation, while The Losch Group’s culture decides and frames
the company’s structure. In general, the structure is designed in a way so that it can firmly exist
within the organisation’s culture and help the culture to work efficiently to achieve success. An
organisation has to decide on the type of structure and culture that could be clubbed together to
achieve the organizational objectives and goals. Understanding the organizational culture as
well as structure well can only help the members to take effective and right decisions. All the
activities and process in The Losch group has to planned and executed keeping in mind the
structure and culture of the organisation as only then will be able to succeed in the long run.
Legal requirement about equal opportunity and benefit of diversity at workplace
Equality means ensuring equal opportunities for everyone and eliminating discrimination on the
basis of caste, colour or race in the workplace. This does not necessarily mean everyone should
get the same treatment in all aspects but rather they get treated fairly(Allen, 2020). Equal

Opportunity for employment (EE) is a law that states that everyone has equal rights and way to
go for a job based on merit without discriminating on aspects like gender, race, etc. It does not
guarantee the hiring of underrepresented groups. The company may face lawsuits, fines in case
of non-compliance with the equal employment opportunity law and regulations. However, there
are some exceptions that can be given on specific jobs because of its nature that might be
allowed due to some protected characteristics. These exceptions are called bona fide
qualifications. Another special case for specific protected characteristics is affirmative action that
is taken to ensure diversity and proactive pursuit of gender in the organisation. The advantages of
Equal Employment Opportunity are that it improves overall recruitment process by establishing
an open and transparent recruitment, it also allows employees to interact with each other without
discrimination and hence promotes engagement of employees by opening a friendly culture,
motivated employees work to the best of their ability and hiring of efficient workers improves
customer interaction and satisfaction.
Diversity at workplace refers to the various differences among the individuals and employees of
the organisation in terms of their race, gender, caste, nationality, physical and mental conditions,
educational qualifications and all other distinct differences among people(Tamunomiebi and
Onah, 2019). In today’s interconnected global market, a multicultural and diverse workplace has
several advantages. The major benefits of a workplace diversity are-
 Enhances productivity – The diversity of talent provides a broad variety of skills,
perspective and experiences that allows more and better ideas and processes which
increases the productivity of the organisation. Diversified employees provide better
solution to problems.
 Increases creativity and innovation – It increases creativity as people from various
cultures and qualifications work together as they have different perspectives to different
problems and this provides better ideas and innovation in the company.
 Good brand image and reputation – Employers and companies are perceived better
when they have diverse workplace(Roberson, 2019). Potential employees prefer
companies who have a healthy working environment and who treat their employees
fairly.
 Increase in marketing opportunities – Good brand image and reputation promotes the
business and increases the marketplace awareness providing a diverse client base.

 Improved cultural awareness and respect – Interacting with people from various
cultures create a sense of awareness and respect for all the cultures among the
employees.
CONCLUSION
The report analysed various management and leadership styles and techniques along with their
uses in the business and suggested the best suitable style for The Losch Group. It also outlined
the importance of organisational structure and various types of organisational structure that a
company can have. It then outlined the various types of organisational culture and its
importance for the company. The relationship among the organisational structure and culture of
The Losch Group was also evaluated. The report then shed light on the equal employment
opportunity law and the benefits of a diversified workforce in the organisation.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Allen, D., 2020. An Evaluation of the Mechanisms Designed to Promote Substantive Equality
in the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic). Melb. UL Rev., 44, p.459. individualism and
collectivism. International Small Business Journal. 37(2). pp.125-152.
Aslan, M., 2021. Organisational structure revisited. Business & Management Studies: An
International Journal. 9(1). pp.282-294.
Gandolfi, F. and Stone, S., 2018. Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership. Journal
of Management Research. 18(4). pp.261-269.
Lee, Y., Howe, M. and Kreiser, P. M., 2019. Organisational culture and entrepreneurial
orientation: An orthogonal perspective of individualism and collectivism. International
Small Business Journal. 37(2). pp.125-152.
Raziq, M. M. and et.al., 2020. Organisational structure and project success: The mediating role
of knowledge sharing. Journal of Information & Knowledge Management. 19(02).
p.2050007.
Roberson, Q. M., 2019. Diversity in the workplace: A review, synthesis, and future research
agenda. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. 6.
pp.69-88.
Tamunomiebi, M. D. and Onah, G. O., 2019. Organizational citizenship behaviour: A critical
review of its development in a diversity driven workplace. The Strategic Journal of
Business & Change Management. 6(1). pp.41-60.
Vasilescu, M., 2019. Leadership styles and theories in an effective management
activity. Annals-Economy Series. 4. pp.47-52.