Organisational Behaviour and Leadership Effectiveness at Dr. Martens

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Organisational Behavior
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................3
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
Task 4.............................................................................................................................................13
Reference List................................................................................................................................18
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Introduction
Organisational behaviour is referred to the study of the way through which employees within the
organisation interact as a group. The regulatory behaviour related studies help the business
organisations to create an effective organisation, through shaping the practice of the
organisational employees. The basic idea of the survey related to corporate behaviour is to utilise
and execute a scientific approach applied to the management of the workers. In one hand, the
regulatory behaviour is significantly shaping the employees' behaviour within the organisation;
on the other hand, the organisational behaviour is being influenced or affected by several internal
and external factors (Miner, 2015). For instance, it is noteworthy that the organisational culture,
dynamics and structure significantly contribute to shaping the employee's performance as well as
behaviour within the organisation. Besides, power and politics also play a crucial role in shaping
the organisational culture and response of the employees. Further, the part of leaders and
managers are inevitable in this context, which will also be demonstrated in the report.
Considering this, the following section has focused upon the case scenario of Dr Martens case
study. The organisation is a shoe manufacturer with a significant heritage, since the Second
World War, to punk and psychobilly subcultures of the 1970s and 1980s. Currently, the
organisation has opened a newly established office in Camden Lock, which is being managed by
Verwoert. She is helping the drive the sustained and rapid expansion of the brand at a global
level. Within the last few years, the organisation experienced significant success. In this context,
the following report will demonstrate how the management of organisational behaviour helped
the managers and leaders to lead the business towards remarkable success.
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Task 1
a) Identify and discuss Dr Marten's recently defined organisational culture, using Handy's
cultural typology (1986), or an alternative academic model. To what extent do you think
these behaviours and beliefs have to affect led the organisation's ability to turnaround its
business?
The report focused upon the case scenario of the business expansion for Dr Marten's shoe
business. The business has been established since the Second World War, and it has gained
significant success, which is ensuring that the company is effectively managing the
organisational behaviour. However, several factors have influenced business and corporate
behaviour. In this context, it is noteworthy that the practices and beliefs along with the culture of
the organisation have changed the organisation's ability to turnaround its business successfully
and effectively (Luthans et al., 2015).
In regards to the influence of organisational culture, the Handy's typology of corporate culture
has been explored here, which will help to understand the influence upon organisational
behaviour. According to the typology of organisational culture, there are four types of
organisational culture, including the "power culture, role culture, task culture and person
culture". The power culture is used when the power is held by the topmost individuals or
individuals positioned in the central region in the organisational hierarchy, whose influence is
spread across the organisation. It is a strong culture and usually does not prefer organisational
change. This type of culture enables bureaucracy in the organisation. On the other hand, the role
culture indicates that the organisation is based on rules and all the staffs know their roles and
responsibility very well. Usually, a role culture influences the organisation to be built in a tall
organisational structure. This organisational culture tends to be strongly hierarchical and very
bureaucratic (Lazaroiu, 2015). The task culture indicates that the organisational teams are
developed for addressing specific tasks, indicating that the power within the team is shifting
based on the mix of team members as well as the status of the task. Usually, the matrix
organisational structure follows such a culture with no single power source. Finally, the person
culture is followed when individuals view themselves as unique and superior within the
organisation, where power lies in each group or individuals.
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Analysing the case study of Dr Martens, it has been revealed that the organisation is following
the task culture currently, which is indicating that the organisation is enabling the teamwork and
participation of the fellow employees in accomplishing the entire task. It has been revealed by
Verwoert that in the new organisational structural framework, they are not having values in the
business, as she believes that values are highly personal and it hinders individuality of
employees. Further, it has also been revealed from the scenario that the employees are taking an
active part in the organisational processes. Verrwoert revealed that there are two key things
crucial to be considered in the business, i.e. product and people. It is indicating that employees
are highly valued within the organisation, who are aware of their roles and responsibilities,
indicating the task culture (Miner, 2015). As power is distributed through the organisation at
every level, functional organisational structure is promoted here, instead of depending upon the
hierarchical bureaucracy in the organisational structure.
With the changed view and attributes related to organisational culture and structure in Dr
Martens shoe factory, it has been revealed that the beliefs and behaviour of the employees have
significantly changed, which further influenced the organisation towards success. The framework
for beliefs and behaviour has been identified from the scenario, where four aspects have been
highlighted, which has made the organisation unique from others and assisting in leading
towards success. These aspects are "creative, fearless, resilient and rebellious". On the other
hand, the fundamentals of the framework include the "good integrity"; "high standards
professionals, who are pushing things forward, while being valued in the organization"; "being
passionate to meet the goals"; and "being effective team players, while looking for and playing to
each others' strength to be committed towards the responsibilities" (O'Neill et al., 2016).
Therefore, it is ensured that the organisation is highly focusing upon employee's wellbeing; as a
result, these attributes related to the belief and behaviours raised in the newly introduced
organisational culture are turning the organisation towards enormous success.
b) Explain how power and political behaviour has influenced individual and team
behaviour and performance, whilst undergoing recent structural changes in Dr Martens.
Please refer to relevant theories to support the points you make here.
It has been revealed from the case scenario of Dr Martens that recently the organisation has
changed organisational structure and culture. In this context, it is noteworthy that the power and
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political behaviour of the leaders have significantly influenced the staffs' as well as the team's
behaviour within the team. In this context, following the French and Raven's power types model,
it has been revealed that there are five types of powers, including "legitimate, reward, expert,
referent and coercive". Another type has been introduced later, which is informational. In the
case scenario of Dr Martens, it has been revealed that the leader Verwoert is mainly showing the
expert, informational and legitimate power roles. These are indicating that power is distributed
equally through the organisation (Bolman and Deal, 2017). These types of power enable
employees to be regarded highly in the organisation, thereby enhancing their satisfaction and
commitment towards the organisation.
Currently, from the case study, it has been revealed that employees are highly valued within the
organisation. They are eliminating any kinds of discrimination or biasness towards the
employees. With the introduction of the structural changes in the organisation, the
responsibilities increased for the regional directors for ensuring that the staffs and fully
supported, while focusing upon the expansion of the business. The teamwork culture has been
embedded within the organisation. As a result of the cultural and structural change in the
business, the communication in the organisation has been improved. Several internal and
external communication means like the internal newspaper has been launched, a bespoke app has
been installed for ensuring effective communication within the organization, which is
continuously ensuring that the employees are aware of their responsibilities and contributing
continuously to the organizational success, by making the organizational values and practices
unique from others (Bolman and Deal, 2017).
While considering the political behaviour of the leaders and staffs, it has been revealed that
political participation was democratic, within the organisation, which significantly influenced the
organisational outcomes and performance of the staffs. The conventional political behaviour of
the leader Verwoert was evident as she uttered that she is not enabling the values within the
organisational system. It is because she believes that imposing values upon the 1300 people
would hinder their individuality and could hinder the employees to be committed and passionate
towards the organisational objectives although the leader faced the challenge while relocating the
office to London, as they did not have the scope for relocating all the staffs at once. However, no
biasness or negligence has been shown as the autocratic political behaviour; instead, the leaders
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attempted to incorporate strong and transparent communication means to ensure that the
employees did not feel any trouble to fulfil their commitment.
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Task 2
Bearing in mind no single motivation theory explains all aspects of people's motives or lack
of motives, evaluates how certain aspects of different motivational theories helped Dr
Martens during its restructuring and relocation to London, the same time it decided to
define its culture.
Motivation is a crucial part of every business, which helps the organisation to motivate the staffs
towards high commitment and improved performance. It is considered one of the critical skill
that a leader or manager should possess, to ensure that he or she can lead the fellows in the right
direction. To understand how effectively leaders in Dr Martens have motivated the staffs while
restructuring the business culture and relocating it to London, some fundamental motivational
theories could be explored.
The Maslow's hierarchy of needs is one of the most used evidence-based motivational theory.
According to this theory, the motivational needs of the employees are placed in a hierarchical
framework. Once the needs of the other level are met, the employees are motivated to meet their
next level of motivational need. The five stages of motivational needs include "basic or
physiological needs, the safety needs, social needs, self – esteem needs and self – actualisation
needs" (Allen et al., 2016). It has been revealed from the existing framework that while
implementing the change in organisational structure, culture and location, the leaders have
continuously motivated the employees in Dr Martens shoe factory. From the framework for
beliefs and behaviours, the features like "integrity and professionals" are indicating that their
basic physiological needs are being met. The scenario revealed that the organisation has
developed from 500 to 1300 people with all basic and advanced facilities. During relocation, it
was not possible to accommodate all staffs at once. To mitigate the issue and eliminate
negligence towards employees, advanced internal communication channel was established to
meet their needs.
Further, to meet the safety needs, it has been revealed that while undergoing the structural
change, the responsibility of the regional directors was increased to ensure that staffs felt fully
supported during expansion, indicating that their safety needs have met. Further, regarding social
needs, it has been revealed from the "believe and behaviour framework" that the new framework
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has identified one key aspect as being an effective team player, indicating effective socialisation.
Further, the implementation of an internal communication tool again proved that the social needs
were met during transfer (O'Neill et al., 2016). Further, regarding the self – esteem needs, the
scenario revealed that the new cultural framework ensured an active role of employees in the
organisational process, indicating that they are highly valued in the organisation. Finally,
regarding the self – actualisation needs, it has been revealed from "believe and behaviour
framework" that they are "resilient, creative e and fearless", indicating that the employees are
getting space to prove their potential in the organisation.
Another essential motivational theory is the Herzberg two factor theories, which has identified
two types of factors determines whether the employee would be motivated or demotivated in the
organisation, which are the motivators and hygiene factors. Meeting the hygiene factors is
necessary for eliminating dissatisfaction; whereas, meeting the motivators is crucial to satisfying
or motivating staffs. To eliminate dissatisfaction of employees during the change in Dr, Martens,
the leaders ensured supportive and adequate supervision, created a work environment where
everyone is respected, ensured effective teamwork and thereby indicating a strong relationship
with colleagues and seniors (Bolman and Deal, 2017). On the other hand, motivators have also
been included in the contexts, for motivating the employees. For instance, the new framework
ensured that every employee is aware of their responsibility and meeting those passionately. The
performance of employees has been influenced by several means while enabling them to take
part in organisational processes; thereby indicating their high motivation during the change
implementation.
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Task 3
Explain what makes a capable team in Dr Martens. You should refer to an appropriate
theory such as Tuckman and Jensen's Model of Team development or Belbin's team roles
in your answer
Dr Martin is a boot manufacturing company, which has been originated in the 1970 era. The
founder of Dr Marten's was Klaus Martens and established in the year 1970. Verwoert joined the
company in the year 2013 when the organisation was still a family business only has 8
employees. She made a target in helping the organisation acquire the top position, and therefore
help them is scattering their business in other regions of the country and outside of their
geographical boundaries(Barrick et al.,2015). Verwoert wanted to make the organisation more
ethical and, motivate the employees to understand the term of being individualistic and
understand other people's values and opinions to make the team more energetic, motivated and
driven to their goals and objectives. As employees are the primary stakeholders of any,
understanding the views and opinions of the employees and catering to the needs and demands of
the employees can make the team work more efficiently and in return make them help the
organisation develop into a competitive company( Katzenbach and Smith,2015).
According to Tuckman's Theory, the model emphasises the Leadership style and Team building.
Dr Bruce Tuckman developed the model in the year 1965 in his book named the Forming
Storming Norming Performing Model. He updated the model in the year 1970s.The theory also
emphasises the understanding of the team building ways and the ways they can motivate
employee behaviour.
Forming
These are the necessary stage when the employees are dependent on the leaders for their
development. Therefore, this time the leader should be very communicative and understanding.
Storming
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These are the position where all the employees compete with others to gain comfortable and
influential positions. These are the time the employees can improve themselves and develop
themselves through competition.\
Norming
The situations come to normal when the employee accommodates within the changes and started
taking their tasks collectively and work in team effectively improving their communication and
connection skills.
Performing
The stages are to perform and reach their chalked out goals and objectives to reach the desired
position of their company and in return making their career development. The teamwork
improves with a more strategic approach and decisive power.
Figure 1: The Tuckman’s Theory Model
Source: (mindtools.com, 2019)
To make a capable team, there are numerous things, which should be kept in mind.They are as
follows:
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 The team members should have emotional balance and should be passionate and
empathetic towards their co-workers
 Everyone opinions and values should be acknowledged(Crane and Matten,2016)
 Work together and thrive together to acquire the company‘s goals and objectives in a
short period
 Should have some recreational activities together to build up more connection among the
team members
 The communication and understanding should be the strongest and intact among the
employees as well as the higher officials
 Lastly, a good leader to guide them in achieving their goals and solve issues amongst
them
Dr Martens follows the same concept along with other initiatives, which are mainly suitable for
the company, and at the end beneficial to the type of business, Dr Martens have. They are as
follows:
 The employee number was decidedly less at the beginning, Verwoert came with the
strategy, to make it more competitive and expands its business out of their geographical
boundaries. The company has managed to make more than thirteen hundred employees
and has promoted in developing a more ethical and valuable environment where the
employees would work more passionately and empathetically with each other promoting
better teamwork for achieving much more fruitful results out of their chalked out goals
and objectives.
 She implemented new, models and strategies, which would promote the compelling style
of teamwork and leadership(Daft, 2015)
 At the end of the year 2016, Dr Marten's acquired six additional workshops and branches
if their boot manufacturing companies and more than 80 employees working in these
branches.
 The organisation objectives had two main priorities they were produced and the people
working to develop the product along with the organisation.
 The parallel goes the company went through strategic approaches and changes in the
structure to match with the latest trends of the competitive market. The structural changes
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