Operations Management Research Trends

This assignment delves into the current trends and advancements in operations management research. It analyzes various aspects, including supply chain management, inter-organizational controls, organizational competencies, risk management processes, and the impact of culture on leadership. Students are required to synthesize information from academic journals, online publications, and other relevant sources to present a comprehensive understanding of the evolving field of operations management research.

Organization
Behavior

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 & 1.2 Relationship between organization structure and culture............................................3
1.3 Leadership styles and their impact on employee behavior....................................................4
1.3 Impact of other factors on individual behavior......................................................................5
2.2 Impact of organizational theory on working practices..........................................................5
TASK 2 ...........................................................................................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
4.1 Mechanism for developing team work..................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Organization behavior is a process of studying the effect of teams, individuals and
structures on the behavior of employees within organization. Further, it helps in studying the
performance of group and individuals within a business enterprise. In the present report, various
aspects of organizational behavior have been studied. To facilitate the study, charted
management institute has been selected (Glanz, Rimer and Viswanath, 2008). It is Consultancy
Company of UK that is providing services to 90000 individuals and 450 business members. The
main objective of CMI is to promote leadership and management excellence. The report
highlights different approaches of management and leadership. Thereafter, implications of
motivational theories and relationship between organization structure and culture have been
explained.
TASK 1
1.1 & 1.2 Relationship between organization structure and culture
Organization structure defines the hierarchy within organization which further helps in
defining distribution of work, coordination and management of work that help in attaining the
organizational goals. Thereafter, organization culture refers to shared values, beliefs and
perception which regulate the behavior of people within firm. Therefore, organization structure
and culture are interdependent on each other. For instance, if an organization structure of
company is purely hierarchical and decision taking power is concentrated at the top level than
culture of company will show lack of freedom at lower levels. Likewise, if organization structure
is decentralized and if decision making power is shared at all levels then culture will reflect the
freedom and independence at all levels (Jianhua, Yue and Xianwen, 2009).
Further, in CMI, the organization structure is decentralized. However, the major strategic
decisions are taken by the top level executives only. By adopting the divisional structure, entire
work is assigned to employees as well as freedom is provided to them so that work and
organizational structure will be closely related to each other. Further, there are different
departments that are working in CMI such as, recruitment, marketing department, finance etc.
Thereafter, strong culture prevails in company and employees are allowed to share their ideas,
experiences and opinions. Therefore, role culture prevails within CMI which means that the
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entire organization is divided into various functions and each individual within a function is
assigned with a specific role. Relatively, there is another organization, Boston Consulting group
of UK that provides consulting services. The organization structure of BCG is autocratic
structure where decision making power is centralized. Thereafter, BCG is working under the
power culture which states the dominance of top level executives and centralization of decision
making power.
Further, the structure and culture have strong influence on the performance of both
organizations. In CMI, there is divisional organizational structure therefore, the employees are
well aware of their roles and responsibilities. Further, departments are interlinked with each
other. Thereafter, it also leads to proper coordination and cooperation among different
departments. In addition to this aspect, the divisional structure results into proper communication
among various employees at different levels. This facilitates a strong interpersonal relationship
and healthy work environment (Organization structure and culture, 2015). Thereafter, the role
culture provides benefit in specialization as individual performs specific function and assists in
increasing the productivity of CMI. Hence, the combination of structure and culture of
organization help in motivating the employees of CMI to achieve business goals. On the
contrary, in BCG, there is line organization structure and decision making power is centralized.
Therefore, there is lack of motivation among employees as they play no role in decision making
process of company. However, it enables the fast decision making but overloads the main
person. Further, the power culture within BCG results in lack of confusion and conflicts among
members during emergency.
1.3 Leadership styles and their impact on employee behavior
The leadership style plays an important role in guiding the behavior of individuals within
organization and in getting work done from them. In CMI, there is participative leadership style
which means that organizational members participate in decision making process of
organization. This also enhances the creative thinking ability of employees. Further, it facilitates
changes within organization as members in participative leadership style easily accept the
changes (Leadership theories and style, 2009). Further, in BCG, there is autocratic leadership
style where all the major decisions are taken by the manager solely without taking input of other
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members. This facilitates faster decision making within company and enables close supervision
by the manager on employees and other processes. However, it leads to lack of motivation and
low morale among employees. This further hampers the creative thinking ability of employees
and they mostly resist the change. Thereafter, there is high employee turnover within BCG.
1.3 Impact of other factors on individual behavior
Leadership style helps in guiding and motivating employees of organization. However,
there are other factors also that influence the behavior such as work environment and
empowerment. Eventually, these factors are majorly dependent upon the leadership style. For
instance, democratic leadership style enables employees to put their creative ideas in front of
management. This further enhances the coordination and communication among management
and employees. Further, it develops a healthy work environment and high satisfaction among
members (Adler and Gundersen, 2007). Positive and healthy work environment helps in
retaining competent employees within company. Thereafter, autocratic leadership style creates
an inflexible and negative environment. It suppresses the creative ability of members and
employees are low motivated and dissatisfied within organization. Further, the employee
empowerment refers to giving more responsibilities to employees. This increases the
productivity and efficiency of employee within firm. Along with that, it also enhances the job
satisfaction level among employees and help in retaining the skilled staff within company.
2.2 Impact of organizational theory on working practices.
The organizational theory has a positive impact on the working practices of company.
The organizational theory boosts the productivity and profitability of business enterprise. There
are two major types of organizational theories, that is, Henri Fayol and Taylor. According to
Henri Fayol, there are 14 management principles that act as guide and regulate the behavior of
manager. They further help in better management and increased productivity of organization.
These principles assist the manager to interact with employees in a positive manner. Thereafter,
Taylor theory states that there is a scientific way of performing things within organization. It
further involves four major principles which state that organization should continuously develop
new innovative techniques. In addition to this, manager should ensure harmony and cooperation
in the organization. Hence, all the aspects help in increasing the efficiency of employees of CMI.
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Therefore, it can be concluded that organizational theory is an important business tool that
improves the performance of members and influence the working practices of company as well.
TASK 2
IN PPT
M1 The relationship between leadership styles and factors that motivate employees in the
context of CMI
Leadership style can be used by management of CMI to influence employees to use new
technology without resisting change. With the help of motivation, managers can induce
employees to work beyond their potential and assist in enhancing the productivity and
profitability of company (Leadership theories and style, 2009). Therefore, leadership have direct
impact on the performance of employee. In this respect, leader can take assistance of Maslow
theory. With the help of participative leadership, manger can identify the motivation needs of its
employees.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs
As per this theory, the needs of individual are arranged in hierarchical order which states
that employee can be motivated through its unsatisfied needs. There are major five types of
needs, physiological, safety, social, esteem and self actualization. They are further explained as
follows: Physiological: They are the basic needs of individual that must be fulfilled first. It
involves needs like, food, shelter, clothing that are necessity for an individual. Safety needs: These needs provide individual protection against economic or social loss.
Therefore, employee working in CMI requires health security through, insurance, job
security, pension etc. Social needs: It involve love and belonging needs of individual that are also important for
reducing absenteeism and turnover issues in CMI. To fulfill social needs of employees
social gatherings can be organized by management, social groups can be formed by
members (Brady, Davies and Hobday, 2006). Esteem needs: It refers to need of self respect to that individual is valued and accepted by
others. To fulfill the esteem needs of employees, CMI give recognition, awards to best
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performing employees. Individuals are given authority, responsibility and liberty to
perform different functions.
 Self actualization needs:It refers to need of individual to realize its full potential. With
the help of career growth, using innovative processes individual can fulfill its
actualization needs (Brady, Davies and Hobday, 2006).
M2 The impact of organizational culture on leadership style
The organization culture determines the leadership style that can be adopted within
company. The management make sure that there is minimal status barrier between employee and
employer. In addition to this, there must be positive culture that help in retaining maximum
number of employees. However, to facilitate this there is strong communication between
management and employee (Impact of culture on leadership, 2015). Considering, all this aspect
manager can use participative leadership style. As per this style, leaders can participate in
business decision-making process by giving their suggestions, ideas, opinions and expressing
their problems etc. This further help in making effective use of creative thinking of employees in
business. Thereafter, it help in retaining competent and skilled employees as they feel they are
valued in CMI and their opinions play important role. Thereafter, culture showcase how different
activities are performed within organization. By considering this leader can determine the mode
of influencing employees to perform different task and duties.
D1 Three factors used in motivating employees and qualities of modern manager
Different tactics are adopted by the manager of CMI to motivate its employees to give
their best performance that help in attaining the overall goals of company. Broadly, there are
three factors that should be considered while motivating individual,
 Reward system: To motivate employees within company, manager can focus on reward
system adopted within the organization. Therefore, high performing employees can be
positively motivated by increasing the pay, job responsibility, bonus or recognition. On
the contrary, under performing or undisciplined employees can be motivated by giving
punishment like, fines, demotion etc (Adler and Gundersen, 2007).
 Leadership style: The selection of right leadership style results into enhanced motivation
within organization. By using participative leadership style, manager can increase the
involvement of employees. The hidden talent and potential of individual can be identified
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by management (Factors of motivation. 2016). Therefore, manager can motivate
employees to give their creative ideas, suggestions etc. This will build sense of belonging
within employees and they will feel valued within CMI.
 Organization climate: It refers to work surroundings where individual is required to
perform different functions and duties. The positive working climate, strong interaction
and participation in decision making help in building affirmative attitude among
individual towards work and motivate in giving best performance.
TASK 3
4.1 Mechanism for developing team work
It has been identified that the company is planning to launch new technology within CMI.
The implementation of new technology is critical step for organization therefore it is important
for CMI to involve different groups and individuals (Hallikas and et.al., 2004). The participation
of employee in decision of implementing new technology will help in reaching at consensus
decisions. Therefore, it becomes more crucial for company to ensure employee engagement in
this respect.
Group refers to collection of more than one individual who work together for common
purpose. The group assist company in attaining the organizational goal effectively and
efficiently. The nature of group is determined on the basis of effectiveness, synergy, social
loafing and situational behavior of group (Brady, Davies and Hobday, 2006).
The effectiveness within group help in attaining the task within the allotted time frame. Working
in group increases the satisfaction among members as they work unitedly towards accomplishing
the organizational goals. Thereafter, group enables synergy therefore the capability and strength
of groups is far more than the individuals capability. The benefit of synergy is that help CMI to
increase the quality of work and ensure effective performance of different task. Further, social
loafing states that the work burden on individual is less when he works in group therefore
individual put less effort when working in group (Voss, Tsikriktsis and Frohlich, 2002).
However, the negative aspect of social loafing is that some individual transfer the burden on
other individuals which creates performance problem. The nature of group can be determined on
the basis of actions taken by group in different situations. In addition to this aspect, it involves
social facilitation which means that its human propensity to perform better on those tasks that
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they are perfect on doing. However, there are certain situations in which groups are more
suitable than working individually. For instance, the situation where creativity is required and
problem can be shared by division of work.
However, there are two types of group; formal and informal. Formal groups are made by
the organizational structure to complete a particular task. Therefore, formal groups are structured
and for med deliberately by management of organization. However, the size of formal groups is
generally large. The main objective of creating formal groups is to fulfill the professional needs
of organization (Tan, 2001). For example, formal group is made to launch new product in
market. Thereafter, informal group are formed unintentionally by the individuals who share
common interests, opinions etc. Therefore, informal groups are created by employees themselves
to fulfill their social and personal needs. Such type of groups are unstructured and involves
informal communication. Furthermore, both these formal and informal groups play an important
role in the functioning of CMI. The company can make formal group for developing new
technology and implementing same within CMI. This will further help in implementing change.
Thereafter, informal groups can be created by management to fulfill those needs which are not
met by formal lines of authority. This will enhance the social satisfaction, sense of belonging
within members (Cherbakov and et. al., 2005).
With the rapid change in technology, there is consistent change in tools and techniques
used in company. These technology have vital impact on the performance of group and its
members. This further changed the working style of organization. For example, earlier face to
face interviews were held within organization but now there is trend of conducting telephonic
interview or video conferencing (Mouritsen, Hansen and Hansen, 2001). This further reduces
the cost of recruitment and selection process. Thereafter, there is rapid development in
technology that is used within company such as use of mobile technology. The members of
organization are in direct contact with the help of mobile technology which helps in building
interpersonal relationship. Therefore, it also facilitate the development of informal groups within
company. Thereafter, with the help of mobile technology information can be availed instantly
from person situated at distant. Therefore, mobile technology is very important for exchanging
information, ideas and knowledge (Croxton and et. al., 2001).
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Furthermore, video conferencing is new technique that help in exchanging the still
images and text between distant areas. It is important approach used to facilitate distant face to
face meeting possible. It involves use of telecommunication technique that permit more than one
locations to exchange information simultaneously both ways by video and audio transmissions.
The consultancy firm can avail best advantage of video conferencing. It can gives consultancy
advice to wide range of individuals located around the globe. The video will help in
understanding that client is understanding the message or not (Benefits of video conferencing ,
2015). The advantage of video conferencing is it will minimize the travel expenses of both the
parties; personnel of CMI and client. Thereafter, it help in saving the time of traveling so it is
cost effective method. The video conferencing will help in sharing presentations, data and other
video-audio records.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that organizational behavior is important
approach that helps management in understanding the behavior of different individuals and
groups present within CMI. It further help in understanding the organizations culture and
structure effectively. Therefore, the decentralized and role culture ensure smooth functioning of
organization. It can also be concluded that motivation and leadership play an important role in
inspiring and guiding people to work towards fulfillment of organizational goals. The Maslow
theory help in understanding the unsatisfied needs of individual and taking effective steps to
fulfill them. Likewise, human relation approach is important tool used to understand the behavior
of human. Therefore, by working in team the members of CMI can easily achieve the goals of
business enterprise and contribute to organizations success.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Adler, N. J. and Gundersen, A., 2007. International dimensions of organizational behavior.
Cengage Learning.
Brady, T., Davies, A and Hobday, M., 2006. Charting a path toward integrated solutions. MIT
Sloan Management Review . 47(3). pp. 39-48.
Cherbakov, L. and et. al., 2005. Impact of service orientation at the business level. IBM Systems
Journal. 44(4). pp . 653-668.
Croxton, K. L. and et. al., 2001. The supply chain management processes. International Journal
of Logistics Management, The. 12(2). pp. 13-36.
Glanz, K., Rimer, B. K. and Viswanath, K., 2008. Health behavior and health education:
theory, research, and practice. John Wiley and Sons.
Hallikas, J., and et.al., 2004. Risk management processes in supplier networks. International
Journal of Production Economics. 90(1). pp. 47-58.
Jacobs, F. R. and Bendoly, E., 2003. Enterprise resource planning: developments and directions
for operations management research. European Journal of Operational Research,
146(2). pp .233-240.
Jianhua, H., Yue, C. and Xianwen, W., 2009. Evolution of Research Fronts in Organization
Behavior through Information Visualization [J]. Journal of the China Society for
Scientific and Technical Information. 3. pp. 016.
Mouritsen, J., Hansen, A. and Hansen, C. Ø., 2001. Inter-organizational controls and
organizational competencies: episodes around target cost management/functional
analysis and open book accounting. Management Accounting Research. 12(2). pp .
221-244.
Tan, K. C., 2001. A framework of supply chain management literature. European Journal of
Purchasing & Supply Management. 7(1). pp . 39-48.
Voss, C., Tsikriktsis, N. and Frohlich, M. 2002. Case research in operations management.
International journal of operations and production management, 22(2), pp . 195-
219.
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Online
Benefits of video conferencing . 2015. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.videonationsltd.co.uk/advantages-of-video-conferencing/>
[Accessed on 28th November 2015].
Leadership theories and style. 2009. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.etsu.edu/ahsc/documents/Leadership_Theories.pdf> [Accessed on
25th November 2015].
Organization structure and culture. 2015. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0013-3264/2013/0013-32641398035J.pdf>.
[Accessed on 25th November 2015].
Factors of motivation. 2016. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.amanet.org/training/articles/The-Four-Factors-of-Motivation.aspx>.
[Accessed on 16th February, 2016].
Impact of culture on leadership. 2015. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.martinbauer.com/Articles/How-Culture-Affects-Leadership>.
[Accessed on 16th February, 2016].
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