Organisational Behaviour: A Case Study of A David & Co Ltd

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Organisational Behaviour
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Company Overview.........................................................................................................................3
LO1 Analyse the influence of culture, politics and power on the behaviour of others in an
organisational context......................................................................................................................4
LO2 Evaluate how to motivate individuals and teams to achieve a goal........................................7
LO3 Demonstrate an understanding of how to cooperate effectively with others........................10
LO4 Apply concepts and philosophies of organisational behaviour to a given business situation
.......................................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
Reference List................................................................................................................................19
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Introduction
Organisation behaviour is the process of analysing the behaviour of employees in the workplace
or an organisation. It is essential as it can influence the business operations of the employees, the
brand image of the organisation as well as the internal environment of the company. A David &
Co Ltd is the organisation chosen for understanding organisational behaviour. The assignment
analyses the impact of power, politics and cultures on the behaviour of the employees. It further
discusses theories that can be used to motivate teams and individuals. The study helps in
understanding the way in which employees can cooperate effectively in the organisation by using
different philosophies and concepts.
Company Overview
A David & Co Ltd is a medium-sized organisation developed by Arthur David in 1962 that
provides distribution and production of fruit. The product portfolio of the organisation comprises
of baked food, ready prepared products, exotic produce, vegetables and fresh fruits. The
company offers services to government organisations, nursing homes, schools, contract caterers,
restaurants, hotels etc. (Bloomberg.com, 2019). The company aims to provide great products to
ensure better customer experience by using the best raw materials and processes to develop their
products. The company commits to respect, teamwork, excellence, quality and customer service
to ensure the development of the business (arthurdavid.co.uk, 2019).
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LO1 Analyse the influence of culture, politics and power on the behaviour of others in an
organisational context
The organisational behaviour of an organisation has the potential to influence the behaviour of
the employees as well as their performance. It will consequently affect the productivity and
performance of the organisation in the industry. The manners in which the power, politics and
culture can influence organisational behaviour are discussed below:
Influence of culture
Every organisation has a defined work culture that allows the workforce to function according to
predetermined patterns. This culture can be classified into person, task, role and power and the
different employees are segregated as per these classifications. The employees of A David & CO
Ltd are allotted tasks as per their role in the organisation. Their role creates a power struggle
among the employees as the senior employees have more power and authority in comparison to
subordinate employees.
Business organisations should be culturally aware as it can help in enhancing the organisation
behaviour. Cultural awareness influences the perspectives of the employees working in the
organisation as it makes them more aware of different cultures and makes them respect the
difference. This helps in boosting the morale of the employees and building an inclusive work
environment. It will make the organisation aware of the legal ramifications and cultural policies
that prevent the organisation from any kind of discrimination. A David & CO Ltd maintains an
all-inclusive work environment ensuring there is no discrimination against employees belonging
to a different culture.
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension helps in understanding the cultural difference in an
organisation by applying six dimensions such as indulgence versus restraint, long term versus
short-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity versus femininity, individualism
versus collectivism and power distance index (Taras et al., 2012). Individualism versus
collectivism refers to the relationship that employees have with other staff of the organisation.
The workforce of A David & CO Ltd has low IDV as their employees maintain a harmonious
and healthy relationship with each other. PDI is the measure of inequality that operates among
the organisations irrespective of power. In the case of A David & CO Ltd, there is high PDI
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among the employees, and they understand their position and role in the company to operate
accordingly.
Masculinity versus femininity reflects the gender gap functions in the organisation, and the
management of the company ensures that there is an absence of any gender gap
(arthurdavid.co.uk, 2019). Uncertainty avoidance index reflects the capacity of the employees to
handle anxiety, and A David & CO Ltd maintains a low UAI resulting in an inclusive and open
organisational environment. The management of the company tries to strike a balance between
restraint and indulgence but leans more towards indulgence to ensure employees work
effectively for the organisation. The company falls in the long-term orientation as it allows them
to adopt a pragmatic approach towards the organisation.
Globalisation has resulted in the progress of many technologies and business sectors leading to
the development of society. Digital technology is a product of globalisation that has shaped and
influenced organisational culture largely. Digital technology has helped in improving the work
culture at A David & CO Ltd as it has facilitated better communication, better performance of
different tasks, management of tasks and activities leading to harmonious coexistence of the
employees under a hierarchical structure. Digital technology has resulted in the development of
business, which encouraged the employees to improve their performance in positive work culture
(Forbes.com, 2019).
Network theory is a framework that can be used by business organisations to analyse their
organisational culture and the manner in which employees interact with each other. The
management of A David & CO Ltd can adopt the framework for an analysis of their
organisational culture to determine areas that require development and strategise ways to attain
the improvements. On the other hand, systems theory can be employed by the company to
analyse a section of the company and understand the psychology of the employees functioning in
the company (Dickson et al., 2012). A combination of the network and system framework will
allow the organisation to improve their organisational culture and build better relationship among
the employees. The management of the company can use organisational psychology to identify
the problems faced by the employees in the organisation and develop ways to solve those
problems to enhance the standard of life. It will help A David & CO Ltd in reflecting their
employees that the management cares about them and adopting measures to improve their life.
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This will influence the employees to improve their performance in the organisation, which will
consequently result in enhancing the productivity of the company in the industry.
Influence of politics
Organisational politics can make the work culture of an organisation negative as it seeks to fulfil
agendas that will benefit an individual or a group of individuals without considering the impact
of those agendas on the rest of the workforce. Organisational politics can be used through
networking to implement structural, decisional, personal and organisational change in the
company so that personal interests and agendas are attained (Lawrence and Lee, 2013). A David
& CO Ltd ensures that no workplace politics is operating in the organisation as it can benefit
some at the cost of other employees. Negative and dysfunctional political can also incur losses
for the organisation as a whole. The management of the organisation keeps a check on negative
politics within the organisation while ensuring that some of the politics is used for the benefit of
the organisation as well as the employees. Positive politics can be used to influence the
employees regarding different aspects of the business that will benefit the organisation (hbr.org,
2017).
Influence of power
Power is a tool that is often used in organisations to influence the organisational culture, which
can be positive for negative for the organisation. The senior authorities of A David & CO Ltd use
power to influence the subordinate employees and build a relationship in the organisation. Power
is used so commonly that it soon becomes embedded in the organisational structure. Negative
power makes the executives of the company consider the employees as their property while
positive use of power acts as a catalyst in the development of the business (Elsmore, 2017). The
leaders and managers of business organisations can use different bases of power such as referent,
coercive, expert, reward, legitimate and multidimensional to influence the workforce of the
organisation. A David & CO Ltd should use a combination of reward, expert and legitimate
power to improve the productivity and performance of the organisation. It will help the
management in adopting measures and steps that will ensure the attainment of organisational
objectives and goals. It will consequently lead to the enhancement of the organisational culture
and development of the business.
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LO2 Evaluate how to motivate individuals and teams to achieve a goal
The employees of organisations face different phases of high and low in their performance that
can directly influence their motivation. The management of business organisations should ensure
that they adopt different theories and model for motivating their employees so that they function
efficiently and the productivity of the organisation is not affected. A David & CO Ltd should use
a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to keep their employees motivated. Extrinsic
motivation will make the employees perform to avoid punishment or attain some rewards from
the management. On the other hand, intrinsic motivation will encourage them to improve their
performance to gain personal rewards. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation will allow the
organisation to improve the organisational culture as well as the performance of the employees.
There are different theories of motivations can also be used for the motivating and encouraging
the workforce. The various theories can be classified under content and process theories. The
content theory does not aid in identifying and understanding the cause of motivation while
process theories explain how employees can be motivated and the process that will be
appropriate for the process (Wood et al., 2012). The theories that fall in the category of the
content theory are Herzberg’s two-factor theory, McClelland’s achievement, Alderfer’s ERG
theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs while process theory includes Locke’s goal setting
theory, Adam’s equity theory, Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory and Skinner’s reinforcement
theory. A David & CO Ltd should use theories such as Herzberg’s two-factor theory and Victor
Vroom’s expectancy theory to encourage and motivate their employees to enhance the
performance of the employees for the benefit of the organisation. These theories are discussed in
detail below:
Herzberg’s two-factor theory: Frederick Herzberg developed the theory that classifies different
factors into the category of motivational and hygiene that can be used to enhance the
performance of the employees functioning in the organisation. Motivational factors comprise of
the elements such as growth, advancement, responsibility, recognition, work, achievement etc
that are the cause of providing job satisfaction to the employees while hygiene factors consists of
elements like security, status, salary, working conditions, interpersonal relations, supervision,
company administration, policies etc. causing dissatisfaction among the employees. The
bifurcation allows the management of the organisation to understand the factors on which they
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should focus to motivate the employees (Yusoff et al., 2013). A business organisation makes
efforts to reduce the hygiene factors operating in the organisation while increasing motivational
factors. A David & CO Ltd will have to understand the factors that cause satisfaction and
dissatisfaction among their employees so that they can take measures to reduce the hygiene
factors and enhance motivational factors to motivate their employees and increase their
productivity.
Victor Vroom’s expectancy theory: Victor Vroom developed the theory on the notion that
employees focus on increasing their efforts for the accomplishment of tasks and activities when
they are aware of the relationship between their efforts, performance and result they will receive
from it. The cognitive process of the theory reflects three key constructs of motivation such as
instrumentality, expectancy and valence (Parijat and Bagga, 2014). This theory will allow A
David & Co Ltd to make their employees aware of the rewards they will achieve when they
invest more efforts in performing the various tasks and activities of the organisation. It will
create a process of recognising the efforts of the employees and set benchmarks for them. This
will encourage them to work effectively so that they can get different rewards from the company.
The company should determine beforehand the rewards that the employees will get for their
efforts because if the employees are aware of the rewards, then it will be motivating for them to
improve their performance.
Emotional intelligence is the process of monitoring the emotions of others as well as on oneself
so that different emotions can be labelled appropriately. It is used to guide the behaviour and
thinking of individuals and influence others. Emotional intelligence can be used in an
organisation to develop a bond with the colleagues and empathise with them (Ryback, 2012). It
allows employees to help each other by connecting with them emotionally and providing
solutions to them. A David & CO Ltd should adopt measures to understand the emotional
intelligence of their employees so that they can help them with their professional as well as
personal problems. This will reduce their worries and problems due to which they will be able to
perform better in the organisation (arthurdavid.co.uk, 2019).
It is essential for teams and managers of A David & CO Ltd to possess some soft skills such as
networking, trustworthiness, critical thinking, delegation, listening, leadership, communication
etc. as it will enable the employees to function effectively for the organisation and lead to the
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attainment of the objectives and goals. It can also be used to influence the emotional intelligence
of their employees and encourage them to enhance their performance. The employees can also
build relationships and bond with other employees, which will help in developing the
organisational culture of the company. It will result in better conflict resolving ability among the
employees and lead to better team performance as it will increase the ability to perform under
pressure.
The managers of A David & CO Ltd can also adopt the different approach to leadership such as
relationship leadership theory, task leadership theory etc. for guiding their employees. Task
leadership theory allows the leader of the organisation to motivate the employees by
accomplishing the various tasks. Different plans and strategies are developed to ensure better
management and performance of the employees (Robbins et al., 2013). On the other hand,
relationship leadership is based on the relationship and interactions between managers and
employees. It makes the leader act as the mentor of the subordinate employees. A David & CO
Ltd can use a combined approach of both the theories to lead efficient and productive teams and
employees. It will allow the managers to accomplish the tasks as per schedule by clearly
specifying the role of the employees. It will also enable the managers and leaders of the company
to develop a better organisational culture by developing a bond with the employees to encourage
and motivate them.
The psychodynamic approach to behaviour analysis is a method that can be employed by the
leaders of an organisation to understand the behaviour of the employees. It acknowledges that
there are different drivers of motivation and interaction pattern for different employees. The
leaders of A David & CO Ltd will have to analyse and understand the different drivers and
pattern of motivation and interaction respectively so that it can be employed to enhance the
behaviour of the employees. It will help in improving the work culture of the organisation that
will positively influence the performance of the employees leading to the development of the
employees.
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LO3 Demonstrate an understanding of how to cooperate effectively with others
The workforce of an organisation is always divided into different teams for better management
and accomplishment of tasks and activities as per their expertise. The workforce of A David &
CO Ltd comprises of different teams such as operations, management, accounts, field sales and
customer excellence. The different types of team that operate in an organisation are discussed
below:
Problem-solving team: These teams are formed for a temporary period for solving a particular
issue as they are invested with the responsibility of providing effective solutions for problems so
that the company can overcome obstacles and move ahead. The team is dissolved when the
obstacle is removed. Technology has facilitated the functioning of these teams as they can gather
data and understand the effectiveness of the solutions.
Project team: The members of this team belong to different departments of the organisation that
has been formed to develop plans for various events of the organisation. The team is resolved
after the accomplishment of the event, but it can be formed again as per the need. Technology
helps these teams in networking so that they can plan appropriately for the event and get access
to correct resources (Henttonen et al., 2013).
Functional team: These teams comprise of members belonging to the same department with
varying responsibilities. They are permanent, and the manager monitors the activities of the team
members. Technology has helped in developing virtual teams that help in managing the business
of the company at different locations (Carlström and Ekman, 2012).
The difference between team and group are listed below:
Point of Comparison Team Group
Definition A collection of a person with a
collective identity that joins
together to attain a goal
It is a gathering of individuals
who function together to
accomplish a task
Members Interdependent Independent
Work product Collective Individual
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Leadership More than one leader One leader
Table 1: Comparison between the team and group
(Source: created by the learner).
The model of Tuckman’s Team Development can be used by A David & CO Ltd to ensure the
development of the individual as well as the team as a whole that will lead to the development of
the business. The model comprises of five stages that are discussed below:
Forming: It is the initial stage of the model when the teams are formed, and the members are
polite and positive as they are unaware of the tasks and activities. The leader should play a
significant role in this stage as it can lead to positive development among the individual parts of
the team.
Storming: This stage creates a storm in the team, as there is conflict among the team members
due to varying working patterns. It can create a negative impact on the team members if the tasks
and activities are not managed appropriately.
Norming: The stage resolves the conflicts among the team members, respect the leader and
appreciate the strengths of the various team members. It encourages individuals to improve their
performance as they are appraised (Berlin et al., 2012).
Performing: This stage results in the achievement of the organisational goal by using the
predetermined processes and structure. It helps the leader in developing the team and delegates
the work appropriately.
Adjourning: It is applicable for project teams and problem-solving teams that are dissolved after
the completion of the task.
Belbin’s typology for managing effective teams and considering the roles and skills
required for effective teams
According to Belbin, every individual exhibits a pattern of conduct and behaviour, which
becomes a characteristic of that person. The relationship of that individual with other people
facilitates the progress or growth of the team. As per Dr Meredith Belbin team, role is, "A
tendency to behave, contribute and interrelate with others in a particular way."
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As per Belbin, there are nine team roles, which play a key role in driving the team towards
success, namely:
Plant: The one who is creative and devises out ways to solve a problem are termed as a plant in a
team.
Resource Investigator: The person in a team who encourages the team to start the project by
making connections and networks are termed as resource investigator (Senaratne, and
Gunawardane, 2015).
Coordinator: The person in a team who allocates the tasks among the team members and
clarifies the decisions that are made so that the team members can focus on their tasks properly
are termed as coordinator.
Shaper: The individual in a team who encourages and motivates the team members such that it
can achieve its goals and objectives as well as makes sure that the team is driven towards success
are termed as a shaper.
Monitor Evaluator: A monitor evaluator is responsible for assessing the performance of the
team and actively takes part in problem-solving activities.
Team worker: A team worker in teams is responsible for resolving any kind of conflicts that may
arise among the team members and ensures that the team members can understand each other
properly.
Implementer: An implementer in a team takes suggestions from the team members and executes
it positively.
Completer Finisher: A completer finisher makes sure that the task done by the team is as per the
standard and double-checks the task that has been finished by the team members (Omar et al.,
20160.
Specialist: A specialist in a team is the one who is very knowledgeable and imparts that
knowledge among the team members.
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