Griffith College Management Concepts: Laurate Plantation Case Report

This report analyzes the management issues at Laurate Plantation, focusing on the negative impact of poor organizational culture on company performance. The report identifies issues like excessive waste, employee commitment, and hierarchical structures. It then explores the application of scenario planning and participatory planning theories to address these challenges. The critical discussion evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each theory, supported by relevant journal articles. The report recommends improving communication, implementing reward systems, and addressing employee developmental needs. Ultimately, the report concludes with a call for the establishment of effective communication, an attractive rewarding policy, and the formation of effective teams to improve the organizational culture and overall performance of Laurate Plantation.

Running head: MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS
Management Concepts
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Management Issue Discussion:..................................................................................................2
Critical Discussion:....................................................................................................................4
Recommendations:.....................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................7
References:.................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
The paper elaborates regarding one of the crucial issue that is seen to affect the
organizational performances of Laurate Plantation in the form of the poor organizational
culture. The organization is observed to face the impact of the issue in a significant manner
and that is pretty evident with the decline in the performances of the organization which led
to a series of sacking in the company as well. The company was facing the issues such as the
increased wastages, excessive number of employees, less involved or committed employees.
Along with that, the organization was seen to face the impact of the old colonial and
hierarchical cultural which restricted it from the much desired improvement in the
performance and apart from that, absence of appropriate exchange of the information across
the employees of the organization were see to be absolute reflection of the inappropriate
organizational culture of the organization (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). Hence it is pretty
evident that the mentioned management issue has the potential to affect the performances of
the organization in the long run and with a precise focus on the productivity and the
profitability of the organization, this can impose major detrimental impact. The paper
provides a brief description of the issue and along with that, mentions the models and theories
such as performance measurement, effective communication, the participative management
with the application of participatory planning theory and the scenario planning theory. The
paper will focus on the effective communication, appropriate solving of the developmental
needs of the employees and formation of the appropriate teams as a solution to the identified
management issue.
Management Issue Discussion:
With a precise focus on the increasing number of organizations facing the heat of the
inappropriate performances and are forced to suspend their work as a result of the significant

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financial crisis, it becomes important to evaluate the importance of the issue. With a precise
focus on the business performances of the selected organization, it is pretty evident that the
inappropriate organizational culture is a major threat for the effective management of the
operational activities of the organization. However, with a detailed research, it is pretty clear
that the decline in the organizational culture was leading to a series of management issues.
The company was unable to manage the excessive wastage owing to the absence of the
appropriate technology and that had the potential of affecting the financial stability of the
selected organization.
On the other hand, the workforce was having excessive number of employees and the
employees were observed to be partially committed towards their work. In addition to this,
the impact of the hierarchical structure of the organization was seen to be a major restriction
for the selected organization in the improvement of the performances of the employees. Apart
from this, the inappropriate exchange of the information across employees of the organization
was observed to create significant amount of challenges in the effective management of the
operations of the organization. Considering the consequences of the issues, it is pretty evident
that the above mentioned management issues have the potential of affecting the business of
the selected organization in the aspect of the revenue and profit of the selected organization
(Barbera, 2014). As the main objective of the management of any organization is to make
sure that the financial viability of the organization and the growth continues to improve, the
impact of the poor organizational culture is in need to be managed with higher level of
priority.
Hence it is pretty evident that the issue of the poor organizational culture needs to be
further researched for the effective identification of the factors that have the potential to lead
the organization to a more severe condition (Alvesson & Sveningsson, 2015). There are
series of modern organizations that have been the victim of the issue such as Amazon,

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Walmart, Goldman Sachs and RadioShack (Walmart.com, 2019). The decline in the
performances of the employees owing to the poor organizational culture is pretty evident in
the above mentioned organizations. Amazon is seen to suffer immensely due to the
ineffective communication and on the other hand, Walmart is facing the lack of involvement
of the employees of the organization owing to the issue of improper organizational culture
resulted from the absence of proper pay (Walmart.com, 2019).
Critical Discussion:
Scenario Planning Theory
Considering the condition of the company, it is pretty evident that the formation of the
scenarios for the improvement and the implementation of the sequential steps for the
effective management of the improvement are much required. Amer, Daim and Jetter, (2013)
are able to comment on the success of the scenario planning theory in the effective
improvement of the organizational culture of the modern organizations, while claiming one
of the positive aspect of the theory in the form of the success of the theory in the
identification of the issues in the organizations. Stewart, French and Rios (2013) elaborated
that the implementation of the theory focuses on the effective identification of the issues
inside the organization which makes it easier for the managerial position holders inside the
organization in executing their operations. In addition to this, Ramírez and Selin (2014) also
claimed that the effectiveness of the theory lies in the capability of the theory in the proper
identification of the factors and the driving forces that have the potential to affect the
performances and the organizational culture of the organizations.
Apart from this, French and Rios (2013) claimed that the ranking of the influential
factors and the driving forces plays a crucial role in the formation of the list of priority for the
organizations so that the decision makers of the organization be able to build the scenarios

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that would effectively meet the desired improvement. On the other hand, Amer, Daim and
Jetter, (2013) highlighted the scope of ambiguity as one of the negative aspect in the
implementation of the scenario planning theory. With the formation of the scenarios and the
development of the scenario details, many of the organizations are observed to find it difficult
to manage the barriers. With a precise look at the theory, it is visible that the theory has the
scope for the implementation, however, Ramírez and Selin (2014) argued that the theory is
unable to figure out any sort of consideration for the barriers of implementation. Generally
the changes in the organizational context incorporate considerable amount of barriers from
the various stakeholders of the organizations and the impact of the barriers is in need to be
neutralized for conducting sustainable business. However, the theory is facing the absence
any sort of precise scope for the effective management of the barriers inside the
organizations.
Participatory Planning Theory:
In the given context, the participatory planning has great significance and that is
pretty evident with the urge of Mr Danison in empowering his employees. Considering the
conceptual definition of the participatory planning theory, it enables the companies the much
required chance to integrate the workforce in a more efficient manner. One of the positive
aspect of the mentioned theory is observed to be the transfer of power to the employees
regarding the decision making inside the organizations. Fainstein and DeFilippis (2015)
highlighted one of the crucial aspect of the participatory planning with a precise focus on the
decision making inside the organizations while claiming that the freedom amongst the
employees for taking the decisions regarding their operational activities has the potential to
increase their involvement towards the organizations. The increment in the involvement of
the employees towards their organisations improves the accountability and the credibility of
their operations and along with that, it helps the organizations to reach newer heights in terms

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of the productivity and the quality. Legacy (2017) added that the participatory planning has
the potential to avoid the scope of dissatisfying the employees with the excessive work
pressure as with the implementation of the participatory planning from the part of the
management of the organizations, the employees have the possibility of formulating their
operations on their own.
On the other hand, Schirch (2013) argued one of the crucial and impactful negative
aspect of the mentioned theory while highlighting the fact that the implementation of the
participatory planning inside the organization has the potential to affect the efficiency of the
decision making and that becomes a major issue for the line managers. In addition to this
point, Legacy (2017) expressed that the transfer of authority from the part of the management
to the employees of the organization has the general tendency of consuming increased
amount of time for the formation of the decisions which in majority of the cases, kills the
urgency of the formation of the decisions inside the organization. One of the major reason of
the excessive consumption of the time in the decision making process is the diversity of the
workforce and variety of the ideas and opinions of the employees belonging to different
background and culture.
The organization under the new manager Mr Danison introduced the new technology
for the effective management of the wastages and along with that, with the instalment of the
new machinery, techniques and the process in the organization, however, the employees
inside the organization were observed to be restricted in the providing quality work owing to
the lack of knowledge of managing the technology and the new process.
Recommendations:
From the literature, it is pretty evident that the establishment of the effective
communication has the potential to meet the concerns such as the inappropriate flow of

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information. Along with that, the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory portrays the need of
motivation for the employees and considering that, Mr Danison is expected to introduce an
attractive reward plan which includes both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for the employees
who will perform efficiently with the new process and technology. The formation of an
effective pay structure and rewarding policy will effectively set the benchmark for the entire
workforce and that will make it easier for the management to shorten up the workforce and
still be able to retain the best suited candidates. The success with the proper formation of pay
structure in accordance to the industry standards is pretty evident with the case of Walmart.
Apart from this, the senior management of the organization is expected to evaluate and
identify the developmental needs of the employees and in accordance that, they are expected
to formulate the training and developmental activities for meeting the developmental needs of
the employees as that will be significantly helpful for the employees to manage the new
technology and the new process.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be said that the selected organization, Laurate Plantation
is significantly affected with the organizational culture and that is pretty evident with the
range of above mentioned incidents that went against the sustainable business operations of
the selected organization. However, the inappropriate culture of the selected organization can
be managed in an efficient manner with the actions such as the establishment of the effective
communication amongst the employees, formation of an effective and attractive rewarding
policy and through the appropriate formation of the teams inside the organization.

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References:
Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2015). Changing organizational culture: Cultural change
work in progress. Routledge.
Amer, M., Daim, T. U., & Jetter, A. (2013). A review of scenario planning. Futures, 46, 23-
40.
Barbera, K. M. (2014). The Oxford handbook of organizational climate and culture. Oxford
University Press.
Fainstein, S. S., & DeFilippis, J. (Eds.). (2015). Readings in planning theory. John Wiley &
Sons.
Holmberg, C., Caro, J., & Sobis, I. (2018). Job satisfaction among Swedish mental health
nursing personnel: Revisiting the two‐factor theory. International journal of mental
health nursing, 27(2), 581-592.
Legacy, C. (2017). Is there a crisis of participatory planning?. Planning theory, 16(4), 425-
442.
Raes, E., Kyndt, E., Decuyper, S., Van den Bossche, P., & Dochy, F. (2015). An exploratory
study of group development and team learning. Human Resource Development
Quarterly, 26(1), 5-30.
Ramírez, R., & Selin, C. (2014). Plausibility and probability in scenario planning. Foresight,
16(1), 54-74.
Schirch, L. (2013). Conflict Assessment and Peacebuilding Planning: A Strategic,
Participatory, Systems-Based Handbook on Human Security. Center for Justice &
Peacebuilding Eastern Mennonite University. Retrieved from https://styluspub.

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presswarehouse. com/resrcs/chapters/1565495799_1stChap. pdf (accessed: 17.01.
2018).
Stewart, T. J., French, S., & Rios, J. (2013). Integrating multicriteria decision analysis and
scenario planning—Review and extension. Omega, 41(4), 679-688.
Walmart.com (2019) | Save Money. Live Better. Retrieved from https://www.walmart.com/