Organisational Behaviour at ABC Hotels: A Comprehensive Report

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Organisational Behaviour at ABC Hotels
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................8
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................14
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................17
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................22
Appendix........................................................................................................................................25
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Introduction
Organisational behaviour involves an observation of employee behaviour towards their work and
colleagues. It explains how these behaviour patterns affect an organisation. Results obtained
from these studies are used for operating businesses more productively. Under this study,
organisational behaviour at ABC Hotels will be analysed. It is a newly evolving chain of four-
star hotels based in United Kingdom. Aspects such as culture, politics and power and their effect
on organisational behaviour will be explained. An analysis of different content and motivational
theories will follow. Differences between an effective and ineffective team will be laid down.
Application of concepts and philosophies of behaviour within an organisation will be
demonstrated.
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Task 1
Analyse how an organisation’s culture, politics and power influence individual and team
behaviour and performance.
Introduction
Effect politics and power on behaviour of employees, both individually and in groups in context
to ABC hotels will be discussed. Influence of culture on employees will be analysed by
considering ‘Hofstede’s Dimension of Culture theory’.
a) Definition of organisational culture
A definite set of beliefs, values and psychological assumptions that effect expectations,
philosophies and experiences of employees is known as organisational culture (Babnik et al.,
2014). It is the basic connection between members of organisation, which are based on shared
attitudes, goals and customs. Sometimes, it is referred to as ‘corporate culture’.
b) Geert Hofstede’s Dimension of Culture theory and its influence on behaviour at ABC
Hotels
Geert Hofstede, a social psychologist and professor, developed a framework for analysing
cultural differences between employees based on six dimensions (Ganescu et al., 2014).
Figure 1: Geert Hofstede’s Dimension of Culture theory
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(Source: Corporate Finance Institute, 2019)
Effect of these dimensions on business can be used to improve communications and efficiency
within the organisation. Influence of these dimensions on behaviour at ABC Hotels is
Positive Influence:-
Both high and low Power Index is experienced at ABC Hotel. The day supervisor maintains
autocracy and sets certain rules, which are followed strictly. This gives effective results as tasks
are organised. Night supervisor, on the other hand, believes in democracy and listens to
employees’ needs before distributing tasks. This gives employees a sense of job satisfaction and
increases their efficiency. ABC hotel aims to value their employees and motivate them, which
will help in focusing on Long-Orientation of the organisation.
Negative Influence:-
Power Index dimension influences negatively to behaviour as well. Employees working in day
shift get dissatisfied by their job as their needs are not heard while those working in night shift
might misuse this same power. Low Uncertainty Avoidance Index of organisation leads to
recruitment of unqualified workers with lack of training. Employees waste their time doing
repetitious and boring jobs without any interest. This creates a behaviour pattern where rules and
regulation are taken casually with no regard of respect.
c) Definition of organisational politics and power and its influence on individual and team
behaviour
Organisational Politics: - Often known as ‘Office Politics’, these are various activities taken up
by the employees to increase one’s status and power in an organisation. Various debates based
on beliefs, principles and governance styles are done to gain political power. A strong political
hierarchy in an organisation leads to improved productivity and efficiency. Politics has both
positive and negative effect on employees.
Effect on Individual Behaviour:-
Politics provides authority to single person at every step of the hierarchy. This keeps the focus on
goals and aims single-mindedly, avoiding too much variation. Employees get a chance of self-
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improvement, as they cannot ignore negative situations. This scenario is seen in ABC Hotel
where employees in the day shift need to perform tasks of all kinds. ‘Survival of the fittest’ is
best learned when dealing with work politics. Politics also influences employee to work hard and
reach to higher level of hierarchy. This increases overall productivity of the organisation (Eldor,
2017).
It becomes difficult for an employee to face nasty and unethical politics individually. Mental
distress, job dissatisfaction and lack of trust are some negative results experienced by the
employees. De-motivated employees lose interest in work and attend office only for the pay
cheque. Most often, employees change their job when stress becomes intolerable such as in ABC
Hotel where people drift to next available job when job satisfaction is not met.
Effect on Team Behaviour:-
It becomes easier for employees to tackle office politics as a team compared to an individual
employee (Brennan and Enns, 2015). This promotes teamwork among employees as their
collective voice can be raised and forced to be heard. Mental stress experienced by employees is
handled effectively when working in a team. This improves level of communication and forms
good employee relations within the organisation. This is observed ABC Hotels, which sub-
groups of staff have been created naturally based on their cultural background.
Individuals working in team can get tempted to gain power through politics. This causes a
disruption in team. Other members of team start lacking trust on each other and unethical means
are used to undermine each other’s work. The co-ordinated team turns into an unhealthy space of
competition. Overall degradation of work quality is observed with a decline in the loyalty level.
Organisational Power: - Power in an organisation is defined as the degree of influence that an
individual has over other members within the system (Burrell and Morgan, 2017). In order hand,
politics people with power do not have the authority but the ability to have an influence. Every
individual has some amount of power. Most times, power comes from title of the employee or
his or her knowledge and expertise. Other times power grows from relationship with those in
superior position or special access to certain resources. Having a strong personality also helps in
gaining some level of power.
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Effect on Individual Behaviour:-
Leaders with power such as managers tend to increase total power of the organisation (Tedeschi
et al., 2017). More opportunities for sub-ordinates are gathered for promotion from time to time.
Positive behaviour of a powerful individual is witnessed when employee’s talents are
appreciated. Better working conditions are provided and a sense of self-development is infused
into the staff. For example in ABC Hotel, the night supervisor has the power to change
conditions of working for workers in order to enforce job satisfaction.
When an individual gains power, it tends to turn the person into an egomaniac. He or she
becomes self-centred and ignore the needs and requirements of other members. The day
supervisor in ABC Hotel maintains strict rules and enjoys credit for work done by workers. This
results in dissatisfaction.
Effect on Team Behaviour:-
An effective member of a team with power can increase efficiency of all the members. Power
can be used to provide resources, which reduce workload. Supervisors of ABC Hotels can bring
add new resources which will help workers to finish their work easily, such as, addition of better
cleaning machinery in hotels. Loyalty and healthy connections cultivates between employees. On
the other hand, leaders with power may use it to enjoy benefits without any care of other
members of team. Some people overload other members with work while enjoying free time
themselves.
Conclusion
Employees of different organisations experience different cultures, politics and power. These
have both positive and negative aspects, which affect the behaviour of employees. Behaviour
patterns of employees should be recognised and necessary changes should be made in order to
achieve harmony and peace at work.
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Task 2
Evaluate how content and process theories of motivation and motivational techniques
enable effective achievement of goals in an organisational context.
a) An explanation of what content and process theories
Workers in an organisation need frequent motivation to achieve goals (Herzberg, 2017). A drive
for working hard is to be inculcated. Content and Process theories answers the ‘what’ and ‘how’
questions of motivation.
Content Theories: - These theories target the ‘what’ questions, that is, what motivates people
(Zhao et al., 2016). Factors that cause or stop certain behaviours in people are looked upon in
these. Two important theories under this are
1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: - Maslow’s theory explains that employee needs can be
arranged in a hierarchy (Cherry, 2014). Lower levels of this hierarchy consist of basic needs such
as food, water, shelter and others. As higher levels are reached, needs that are more luxurious are
added. When needs of the current level are satisfied, desire for needs of the next higher level
emerges.
2. Herzberg’s two-factor theory: - This theory considers factors, which enhance job satisfaction
(Motivation), and those, which causes dissatisfaction (Hygiene) (Alshmemri et al., 2017).
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Figure 2: Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory
(Source: Lo et al., 2016)
Motivating involves factors such as achievement, advancement, growth and recognition.
Hygiene, on the other hand, involves factors such as salary, work conditions, employee relations
and others.
Process Theories: - These answer the ‘how’ questions, that is, how people are motivated. Two
processes theories that cause or stop motivation in employees are
1. Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory: - It is observed that employees tend to behave repeatedly in
a certain way that results in being rewarded, whereas, punishing results tend to reduce same
behaviour patterns (Skinner, 2014). An example of positive reinforcement is promotion while
that of punishment is suspension.
2. Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: This explains how different individuals prefer to choose from
variable activities (Parijat and Bagga, 2014).
Figure 3: Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
(Source: businesstopia.net, 2019)
Three factors associated with this theory are expectancy, instrumentality, and valence.
Expectancy is a belief that shows how effort results in higher achievement. Second factor depicts
the relationship between activity and goals. Third factor valence is the extent to which an
individual gives importance to rewards.
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b) An evaluation of how content and process theories of motivation enable effective
achievement of goals at ABC Hotels. By this, you have to say advantages and disadvantages
of these theories in relation to the scenario
Content and Process theories of Motivation can be used to achieve goals effectively at ABC
Hotels. Both of these theories have certain advantages and disadvantages.
Theories Advantages Disadvantages
Content:-
Factors that motivate
workers of ABC Hotels
are
 Flexible Working
Hours
 Better Salary
 Employee
Relations
 Responsibility
 Work Conditions
Maslow’s
Hierarchy of
Needs
 Timely
promotion
motivates
employees to
put more effort.
 Affordable
housing
availability
provided by
ABC Hotels
motivated
employees to
achieve more.
 Low salary
offered at ABC
Hotels de-
motivates
workers to put
extra effort.
Herzberg’s two-
factor theory
 Appreciation of
work induces
job satisfaction
in employees.
 Needs of the
employees are
heard by the
night supervisor.
 Cultural
differences
have created
sub-groups
among
employees.
This results in
weak peer
relationships.
 Day supervisor
does not allow
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flexibility in
work.
Process:-
Processes that will help
in achieving motivation
are
 Rewards for
better behaviour
 Equality in
distribution of
rewards
 Punishment on
showing negative
attitude
Skinner’s
Reinforcement
Theory
 Workers can be
motivated by
rewarding when
positive attitude
towards work is
shown such as
punctuality.
 There are no
punishments
for employees
when
misconduct is
observed.
Vroom’s
expectancy
Theory
 Distribution of
tasks done
according to
capability gives
hope to
employees that
performance can
be improved
with less effort.
 Equality
maintained in
reward
distribution
makes workers
value it and
hence put more
effort.
 Absence of
training does
not connect
employees to
meet goals of
the
organisation.
Table 1: Advantages and Disadvantages of Motivation Theories at ABC Hotels
c) The implications of motivational theory as reflected upon management and leadership
within ABC Hotels
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Motivational theories have certain implications that can be reflected upon work environment at
ABC Hotels.
Implications reflected upon management:-
Management department at ABC Hotels can provide basic needs to its employees to motivate
them. For example, availability of lockers for keeping personal belongings, regular payments and
healthy work environment can be provided to employees. Workers tend to work efficiently when
targets are mentioned clearly. The management can conduct orientation programs to discuss
goals and objectives of the organisation. Employees could be provided with an assurance of job
security. This is done by signing contracts formally and offering various pension strategies.
Management can set an efficient framework of performance evaluation based on complete
transparency and impartiality (Herzberg, 2017). Timely appraisals motivate employees to put in
extra effort. Feedbacks about work conditions collected from employees provide them with a
sense of empowerment.
Implications reflected upon leadership:-
Employees perform well in their work when efficient leaders assist them (Archer and Cameron,
2013). Tasks assigned to workers can be done in an organised way by supervisors at ABC Hotels
to motivate them as workload is balanced. Reference for timely promotion of worthy workers by
leaders tends to improve quality of work. Impartiality shown towards employees based on factors
such as gender, cultural background or personal relations gives a sense of being valued.
Employees get assured that effort will lead to good performance with a proper reward. Leaders
can motivate employees through monthly outings or lunch to reduce boredom. Tasks assigned to
workers in teams consisting of people from different cultures promote better peer relationships
(Levi, 2015). Leaders themselves can maintain a professional persona with employees of the
hotel. This encourages employees to be more competent and skilful.
Tutor Witness Statement:-
Participation in a management meeting consisting of four members was done. Planning notes
with various questions were prepared. Discussion involved providing views on Process and
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