Organisational Behaviour and People Management: Aldi Case Study

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Organisational Behaviour and the Management of People
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Definition of selected topics.......................................................................................................4
Explanation of two theories for selected topic...........................................................................6
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
Reference List..........................................................................................................................14
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Introduction
Managing the employees within the workplace is considered important for the development
of the organisation and meeting with the objectives. The study helps to understand the ways
in which the implementation and application of theories in the workplace could yield better
outcomes and enhance their operations for the better. Besides this, the study looks to gather
evidence with the use of relevant theories that could be applied in the workplace for ensuring
the overall profitability and productivity of the organisation. For the completion of the study,
three different topics will be selected. Management thoughts and practices, leadership, and
managing change will be discussed in the course of the study and their relationship with
organisational behaviour will be analysed. The later part of the study will be done with the
application of theories in the workplace of Aldi that is one of the leading retail companies in
the United Kingdom.
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Definition of selected topics
Management Thoughts and Practices
In the words of Pfeffer (2014), management can be defined as the method deployed to get
things done, with the aid of available resources in the workplace. The managers are
responsible for ensuring that they are able to implement management practices and manage
their employees in an efficient manner.
On the other hand, Donate and de Pablo (2015) opined that management can be said to be the
way in which the higher authorities of the organisation are able to meet with the requirements
of the workplace and enhance their business outcomes. With the aid of proper management,
the organisation is able to ensure that employees are being managed in the right manner.
Leadership
According to Northouse (2018), leadership is the process of leading the employees in the
workplace. Leaders are responsible for ensuring that the employees are being able to perform
their tasks in an authentic manner. This assists them to achieve the business objectives
precisely.
However, Antonakis and Day (2017) stated that leadership allows the employees to ensure
that they are on the right track and performing their tasks accordingly. Leaders should have
all the required capabilities in the workplace that will help them to overcome the challenges.
Having the right qualities and skills allows the leaders to enhance their performance in the
workplace.
Managing Change
As opined by Dawson and Andriopoulos (2014), the process of change management deals
with the techniques and tools that are used in the workplace that helps to achieve the desired
business results. Because of effective change management in the workplace, the employees
are able to function in a flexible manner and accomplish their assigned tasks.
On the other hand, Hickman and Silva (2018), said that change management could be
regarded as the process of implementing change in the workplace by altering the process of
their business operations. The main reason for managing change in the workplace is that it
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focuses on the application of important strategies that helps them to develop their service and
product quality in the market.
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Explanation of two theories for selected topic
Behavioural Management Theory
This important theory is considered relevant for understanding the behaviour of the
employees within the premises of the workplace. In the words of Davis et al. (2015),
understanding the employee behaviour is important because it allows the organisation to
increase their productivity and profitability in the market. Besides this, they are able to
measure the performance of the employees in the workplace and keep them aligned to the
organisational requirements.
On the other hand, in the opinion of Booth (2015), the application of behavioural
management theory in the workplace has allowed them to know about the performance of the
employees in the workplace and they will be able to perform their tasks in a precise manner.
It was observed that the implementation of behavioural theory of management resulted in
increase efficiency of the employees. Besides this, the management was able to monitor the
performance of the employees and provide them with regular feedbacks. This assists them to
rectify their mistakes and enable to perform in a better manner.
Scientific Management Theory
According to the opinion of Waring (2016), the scientific theory of management is used for
understanding the factors for motivation of employees in the workplace. The theory states
that money is one of the key factors that permit the employees to perform their tasks in a
better manner. It is important for the management of the organisation to ensure that they are
paying the employees in a proper manner and this will help them to manage the employees
efficiently.
However, as opined by Shafritz (2015), if employees are receiving their payment in the right
manner, they stay motivated in the workplace. This is a driving factor for the development of
their performance in the workplace. The management should focus on studying the
techniques that are needed to perform a specific job in the workplace. Besides this, they
should focus on training the employees in such a manner that they become capable of using
advanced technologies in the workplace. It is important to have a better relationship between
the employees and the employer. This will allow the employers to understand the needs of the
employees and function in an authentic manner.
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Situational Theory
According to Kim and Krishna (2014), leaders select their styles based on the intensity of the
situation. The theory states that any particular style could be based on the requirements of the
situation. The decision-making process might require different types of leadership styles and
techniques and it allows the leaders to analyse the situation in a better manner.
However, in the words of Wikström (2014), leaders tend to select their leadership in terms of
benefitting the organisation in a better manner. This allows them to manage their employees
in an authentic manner. As a result, they are able to overcome the challenges faced in the
workplace.
Contingency Theory
As opined by Mikes and Kaplan (2014), the contingency theory of leadership states that a
single style of leadership cannot be suitable for every purpose in the workplace. With the aid
of this, the leaders are able to develop their qualities of managing and leading people in the
workplace by analysing their behaviour.
According to Otley (2016), the application of this particular theory in the workplace allows
the leaders to maintain a proper balance amongst the organisational requirements and the
employee behaviour. This permits them to manage the employees in the right manner and
increase the efficiency of the workplace.
Lewin’s Change Management Model
In the words of Cummings et al. (2016), the model is effective and essential for
understanding the organisational changes in the workplace. With the help of this, the
managers and leaders are able to tale all the necessary measures that will assist them to
ensure that the employees are working according to the changes in the workplace. The model
has three different stages namely unfreeze, change, and refreeze. The first stage ideally deals
with the preparations taken for addressing the changes in the workplace. The preparation will
allow the higher authorities of the organisation to ensure that they are being able to ensure
that the employees are not being resistant in terms of accepting change. The second stage
deals with the implementation of change in the workplace (Worley and Mohrman, 2014).
This is time consuming, as employees take time to embrace changes and work accordingly.
The final stage refreezes the changes and the organisation is able to gain their stability in
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terms of the business operations. As a result, it becomes easier for the organisation to ensure
that the employees are performing their regular functions and completing the tasks that have
been assigned to them.
Kotter’s Change Management Theory
The effective of this theory can be analysed in the way it allows the organisations to manage
change in an effective manner. As opined by Hayes (2018), the theory deals with eight
different stages that could be applied in the workplace for managing change in a better
manner. Increase urgency, build the team, get the vision correct, communicate, get things
moving, focus on short-term goals, do not give up, and incorporate change are the eight
different stages of the theory. The increase of urgency allows the management to know about
the reasons for implementing changes in the workplace. As a result, they focus on building
teams of skills employees in the workplace. The team is developed for implementing changes
in the workplace and ensuring that the employees are functioning in accordance to the
changes. Change can be implemented successfully only if the organisational vision has been
developed clearly. Besides this, the management should communicate with the employees in
an effective manner to make them aware of the changes that could take place. As a result,
they have to get started with the prospects of change management, as it will benefit the
organisation in numerous ways.
The leaders and managers of the organisation should be capable of understanding the short
terms goals in the workplace, as these will help them to achieve bigger goals easily. The
management authority should have persistence in the way they conduct their business. This
will allow them to ensure that change is being incorporated in the workplace in the right
manner (Burke, 2017). As a result, they are able to make sure that their company is operating
in the best way possible.
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Justification of theories with evidence
Organisational behaviour plays a key role in managing the human resources of any
organisation. Organisational behaviour is beneficial for studying complex nature of human
being and identifying reasons and impacts of such behaviour. Organisational behaviour
influences the decision-making process of the managers and leaders. Leaders and managers
of an organisation play a key role in the development of organisational behaviour.
ALDI is one of the largest supermarkets in Britain, which has over 10000 stores in 20
countries. The organisation employs around 32000 employees in UK. Leaders of this
organisation have been able to manage its employee base by using their leadership traits and
skills (aldi.co.uk, 2019). This has been observed that the leaders and managers of this
organisation have used contingency and behavioural management theories for managing its
human resources. This has been observed that UK profits of ALDI have been dropped for
third successive year. This grocery chain has reported a 17% fall in profits in December 2016
(theguardian.com, 2017). Management of the company has found out that the fall was caused
by random investments in new stores for future growth. Former chief executive officer of this
organisation, Matthew Barnes reaccelerated sales of this company by using his effective
leadership skills. The leader developed situational leadership theories for gaining their
position back. Situational leadership theory refers to four styles of leadership such as
coaching, directing, delegating, and supporting (thegrocer.co.uk, 2018).
The Leader has encouraged employees to perform allocated tasks properly so that the
productivity of organisation can be boosted. Barnes has changed his leadership style based on
the situations and assessed the steps that should be taken for handling such challenges. It is
stated that most important roles of leaders are to bring innovation to the organisation.
Matthew Barnes has reinvented the discount formats of ALDI, which helped to attract more
customers. Employees of this organisation conducted a consumer listening exercise with the
direction of Matthew Barnes. This exercise helped to increase line numbers of this
organisation by 50%. Barnes tried to research the behaviour of British consumers so that they
can be able to modify products according to the demand and introduce new products in
market. As a result, revenues of this company were boosted by £1.29 billion pound in 2017
(aldi.co.uk, 2019). In this way, the leaders applied situational leadership for achieving better
growth.
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Managers of this organisation has played major role in developing strategies and choosing
business models. Mangers have planned and controlled employee performance efficiently for
obtaining better results. ALDI has a decentralised organisational structure where managers
of lower level also have the power of making decisions (You and Barry, 2016).
Figure 1: Decentralisation organisational structure
(Source: You and Barry, 2016)
This has been beneficial for making contingent decision and managing risks. This has been
observed that the managers of this organisation have used behavioural management theory.
Employees are the backbones of an organisation. Employees need to be managed properly
otherwise, the organisational growth can be affected. Managers of this organisation have used
reward powers and incentives for boosting employee morale and performance level.
Behavioural theory of management refers to the motivation conflict and group dynamics in
an organisation. Tuckmans group dynamics is used in this organisation. Tuckman’s group
development includes five stages such as forming, storming, norming, performing and
adjourning. This model is a framework of team productivity. In first stage of dynamics, a
working team is formed with employees from different area of specialisation. In second and
third stages, employees learn to co-operate with each other (Friebel et al., 2017). Managers
for understanding employee behaviour used Behavioural management theory.
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Figure 2: Tuckman’s group dynamics
(Source: Friebel et al., 2017)
However, conflicts may arise in theses stages due to dissimilar opinion of employees. Finally,
employees can be able to co-operate with each other and start working in the last stage of
group dynamics. The managers of ALDI have divided responsibilities of task completion to
several working groups. The managers for team development followed this group dynamics
model. Managers have motivated their employees and supported them so that they can be
able to gain employee satisfaction. In this way, they have been able to develop quality of
work and increase performance level of employees. Managers of this organisation have
efficiently ensured that the toxic reasons of conflicts are being identified and avoided
immediately. Teamwork is beneficial for developing better quality of work and modifying
working environment. It was stated by the employees that working environment of ALDI is
horrible, which has affected its brand image previously (Weber, 2018).
Mangers and leaders have effectively resolved these issues by building strong connection
with employees and listening to them carefully. They have monitored activities of employees
and identified chances of conflicts. They have managed conflicts effectively and motivated
them to work together. In this way, better quality of products and service could be achieved.
ALDI has achieved fifth place in the supermarket chain of UK based on their product and
service quality.
This has been observed that the competition in UK retail market has been increased recently.
One of the biggest competitors of ALDI is Tesco, which has launched new budget venture
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Jacks. This new venture is affecting sales of ALDI negatively. The decentralised structure of
ALDI allowed managers and leaders to make decision on price cutting strategy. This has
helped to overcome sudden challenges. Leaders have followed situational leadership style for
directing employees towards success. The management have also found that the stores need
to be run 24/7 to cope up with increasing demands of customers (aldi.co.uk, 2019). Managers
have made decision on such objectives and allocated duties to employees efficiently for
acquiring better results.
In this way, managers have participated in the organisational development. ALDI has a
strong organisational culture, which is focused on the co-operative leadership of employees.
ALDI’s culture helps to focus on developing people towards a common goal (Weber, 2018).
The beliefs, principles, and ideologies contribute to the organisational culture. The
organisational culture of ALDI has been beneficial for controlling employee behaviour.
Leaders have decided the ways that should be followed by employees for interaction in the
workplace. In this way, conflicts have been managed efficiently and discrimination could be
avoided. Effective leadership and management were helpful for promoting the brand image
and directing employees towards success.
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