Analysis of People Management in Organizations: Structure and Culture

This report delves into the critical aspects of managing people within organizations, emphasizing the interplay between organizational structure, culture, and employee performance. It begins by examining the fundamental concepts of organizational structure, including the functional or bureaucratic structure, and the role of organizational culture in shaping employee behavior and motivation. The report then explores the advantages and disadvantages of both structure and culture, with a specific focus on Intercontinental Hotels as a case study, analyzing their role culture within a functional structure. Furthermore, it presents comparative models of organizational structure, such as the Postmodern and Flexible firm structure and the Virtual organization, evaluating their merits and demerits. The report advocates for the Postmodern and Flexible firm structure for Intercontinental Hotels, highlighting its suitability for a multinational hospitality company. The report also discusses the influence of organizational structure on company culture and concludes by emphasizing the importance of leadership and employee motivation in enhancing productivity, as well as providing recommendations for effective people management strategies.

Managing People in
Organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
Structure of organisation and its advantages and disadvantages............................................3
Culture of organisation and its advantages and disadvantages..............................................7
Comparative model of organisational structure.....................................................................8
Merits and demerits of discussed comparative models..........................................................9
Criteria chosen in the favour of proposed comparative model...............................................9
Influences organisational structure have over the culture of the company..........................10
Recommendation..................................................................................................................10
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................11
Development of leadership and employee motivation for enhancing productivity of an
individual or employees.......................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Employees or people which are associated with the company and working within it are
key resource of organisation. Personnel are the individuals who execute all the plans and
strategies made by managers in order to attain all predetermined objectives and earn profits.
Managing the staff or workforce is a very crucial task which needs to be performed by the
managers. In order to make employees work with their full potential they need to be motivated,
which is another role managers plays. Leader have this responsibility of motivating workforce in
positive manner for making them work accordingly and appropriately (Dowding and Barr, 2018).
This report is based on managing the people in organisation, the structure and culture which is
being followed by the company are the main elements which influences the behaviour of people
working in entity. These different structure and culture by which company operates have their
advantages and disadvantages which are discussed below in report as it affects the company.
Moreover, comparative models are also highlighted and one of the favourable model is suggested
for the company. For this assignment, Intercontinental Hotels are chosen in order to seek
knowledge about the culture and structure they follow and how well workforce is being managed
by the leaders. Intercontinental Hotels, was established in 2003 which is a British multinational
service provider operating in hospitality industry.
PART 1
Structure of organisation and its advantages and disadvantages
Organisational structure is a system highlighting the way and manner in which
company will run and all people are directed according to the structure followed by the company.
Every company follow different structure according to their roles and responsibilities and in
accordance with the nature of the entity. Organisational culture defines all the activities and tasks
which needs to be performed in order to reach to the ultimate aims and organisational goals. It is
basically works as the foundation for every company (Sainger, 2019). There are number of
organisational structure present in the marketplace which are as follows:
Functional or Bureaucratic organisational structure- This is the most commonly used
and one of the oldest organisational structure which companies are using. Functional structure
divides the company and its workforce on the basis of their skills and specialisations. Various

departments are made and in each unit several experts are allotted in accordance with their
talents and areas in which they have expertise.
Intercontinental Hotels, follow functional structure in which the employees are divided
according to their specialisations. There is just one CEO, who takes decisions and make plans for
all the hotel units present in different locations or in different geographical area.
Advantages of functional structure: Specialisations- The most beneficial factor of functional structure is that the employees
are grouped according to their skills and specialisations, ensuring more accountability
and competence of departments (Hurst, Leberman and Edwards, 2018). Different
functional levels are present in structure of Intercontinental Hotels, which enables
employees to work more efficiently and plays with their potential and performing in
appropriate manner earning best results and outcomes in favour of the organisation.
 Productivity- Functional structure enables the company to be more productive and
increase the speed of operations. This is because all employees are working at place and
in departments in which they are best and holds utmost knowledge. For instance, sales
executives are making plans for making sales and increasing the number of visitors of
Intercontinental Hotels, on the other hand once sales is done and guests visits the hotel
then the duty of front office executives and house-keeping team begins. Therefore, all
experts are doing their job and performing their tasks in which they are having potential
skills.
Disadvantages of functional structure:
 Lack of coordination- Functional structure have different departments and each unit do
not require any assistance or involves no input from other functional units. This factor
results in lack of communication and which moves to lack of coordination of departments
and in the environment of Intercontinental Hotels (Klikauer, 2018).
 Weakening of common bonds- As people are divided into small groups in relation with
their expertise and talents this will reduce the flow of communication of one team
members to other. This lack of communication will result in lower development of
relationships of staff with one another. The lack of communication and weakening of
bonds will affect the operations of Intercontinental Hotel and can lead to development of
great conflicts and misunderstandings amongst the organisation.

Illustration 1: IHG (Intercontinental Hotel Group) Organizational Chart, 2017

(Source: IHG (Intercontinental Hotel Group) Organizational Chart, 2017)
Culture of organisation and its advantages and disadvantages
Organisational culture refers to the expectations, experiences, philosophy and values of
company, these factors works as guide or directive for the workforce and people associated with
the organisation. The culture of every company will defines the behaviour of their workforce and
also, enables managers to motivate staff (Cheng, 2018). Organisational culture is expressed in
inner working of company, interactions with the outside parties and future expectations. The
culture of entity is also based on the beliefs, customs, rules (written or unwritten) and regulations
which is developed by top level management on behalf of company. Organisational culture is
broadly classified into four types, Role culture, Task culture, Power Culture and Person culture.
Intercontinental Hotels, has Role culture in their organisation as they have functional structure.
Role culture of Intercontinental Hotels
Role culture is a business management concept of managing people and structure of
company. In role culture the employees of Intercontinental Hotels are assigned specific duties
and roles according to their expertise and knowledge. This culture is followed and developed in
Intercontinental Hotels because the organisation is using functional structure to run its
operations. There are several departments present in Intercontinental Hotels which are divided
and employees are assigned according to their specialisations. Here, in role culture individuals
are well informed and have clarity of their job, report to their superiors and concentrates on
accuracy of task and value the efficiency of employees. Role culture is basically followed as it
focuses on the efficiency of personnel, stability and also on the performances of the jobs by the
staff members.
Advantages of role culture:
 Clarity of job- The employees of functional units have clarity in mind about their tasks
and duties which they needed to perform (Beckford, 2019). This clarity is provided by the
superiors or managers of each functional units present in structure of Intercontinental
Hotels.
Disadvantages of role culture:
 No room for development- The jobs which are assigned to personnel of specific team are
so tight that they do not get any change to explore new opportunities for developing more

and new skills. This factor demotivates staff and impacts on their performance which
directly have impacts on the operation of the Intercontinental Hotels.
Comparative model of organisational structure
Organisational structure refers to a systematic framework which companies adopt and use
for running its operations in an appropriate manner as discussed in above section (Danese,
Molinaro and Romano, 2018). There are several models and structure existing in marketplace
and developed by various researchers for effective and smooth running of entity. Few
organisational structure are discussed below:
The Postmodern and Flexible firm structure
This structure divides the workforce into two broad categories, core group and peripheral
group. The core group consist people and individuals of full-time primary workers, these are
internal to the company and possesses high level of expertise personnel replacing them is very
difficult. Peripheral group consist secondary employees, holding less knowledge and skills also,
not enough experienced. These employees can be appointed easily on short notice and on very
low cost in case of urgency. This structure provides three kind of flexibility to the company
which are as under: Functional Flexibility is related with high skilled and core group employees, as it gives
management to relocate staff from one department to another in accordance with their
skills. This element allows functional flexibility to the company and provides skill
developing opportunities to employees (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen and Olander, 2019). Numerical Flexibility is generally applies to and in used context of peripheral workforce
as it relates with the number of personnel available to the company. Numerical flexibility
means that the company can match their labour needs according to the time they require
them on contract basis.
 Financial Flexibility states the ability to adjust the price of staff according to the
demands and supply factor and the needs of the entity. This also, relates to and in
accordance with the peripheral group of labour force.
The Virtual organisation
This is new type of organisation having unique structure, it is also known as digital,
networking or modular organisation. A virtual organisation is a network cooperation which is
developed by Information communication technology (ICT). It is developed with flexibility and

in accordance with meeting the needs and wants of dynamic market. The ICT helps in
coordinating the activities and managing the staff, their skills and resources. All actions are
maintained by superiors and coordination is developed by using computer network links. This
form of business organisation and structure usage is increasing day by day.
Merits and demerits of discussed comparative models
Advantage of Postmodern and Flexible firm structure:
This model is specifically used and beneficial for the organisation having higher
managerial and operations activities. This model provides flexibility to company and ability to
manage its labour force according to the finances and resources allocated in the company and
also helps in maintaining the finances. Organisations can also attain competitive advantage in
marketplace from other competitors.
Disadvantages of Postmodern and Flexible firm structure:
This model is of proactive nature which possesses some degree of risks over the entity.
The productivity can be hindered if predictions are wrong and based on them organisation
reduces staff needlessly. Therefore, this model should be presented in organisation at all time but
practised and implemented only when needed (Chen and Wang, 2018).
Advantages of The Virtual organisation:
Most beneficial factor of the virtual organisation is the cost involved in it is very low, it
helps in reducing the overhead costs and even significant decrease can be seen in all operating
costs. It also enables company to manage staff effectively as they are satisfied and motivated to
perform with their best potential.
Disadvantages of The Virtual organisation:
The virtual organisation model can only be used in flat organisation as it is developed for
those kind of company. Also, it removes all boundaries and make it vague which is a risky
feature and brings drawbacks towards the company.
Criteria chosen in the favour of proposed comparative model
Intercontinental Hotels is a multinational organisation which is serving its services in
hospitality industry and dealing in worldwide locations. The company has various hotels around
the globe in several countries which is why for them the Postmodern and Flexible firm
structure is more suitable and beneficial. The model will provide flexibility to the management
of Intercontinental Hotels, as they can easily appoint labour at the time of requirement, also by

keeping all costs in budget and managing finances. For instance, any event is taking place in one
of the hotels of Intercontinental group and they require staff urgently and by keeping this model
and applying it appropriately company can hire staff at the time when they recognize needs.
Also, finances can be managed as these employees hired on contract basis and wages are being
paid to them according to their work hours.
Influences organisational structure have over the culture of the company
Organisation structure as discussed in earlier section has great influence on the culture of
the company. Intercontinental Hotels, follow functional structure which enables employees to
work in the department of their specialisations and expertise. The structure is a system by which
company is running and if wrong or inappropriate structure is applied than it will provide
negative results to entity. The employees will get demotivated, lack of coordination and
cooperation will develops in the environment of Intercontinental Hotels and company can even
move towards loses and eventually towards closing. All these factors will influence the culture of
the company by which they are operating employees are demotivated, hence they stop working
with their full potential and this will result in increasing number of dissatisfied customers. Role
culture is developed in Intercontinental Hotels and roles are not being fulfilled by staff ultimately
affecting the culture.
Recommendation
The Intercontinental Hotels is using functional structure and following role culture in
their organisation for running its operations smoothly and earning profits, but from the above
discussion of some other organisational models and structure it is recommended to company that
they can make effective use of Post modern and flexible firm structure at the time of
emergencies. Moreover, some demerits are also attached to functional structure and to mitigate
their effects managers can take some measures. They should conduct regular meetings with staff
for clearing their problems and by doing so it becomes easy to develop good relations with the
workforce. Along with their employees gets chance to build relationships with one another which
enables them to coordinate their work develop a healthy working environment.

PART 2
Development of leadership and employee motivation for enhancing productivity of an individual
or employees
Leadership is a practice and role performed by the managers of organisation for
managing workforce and running the operations in order to attain organisational goals in an
efficient and effective manner. Leaders have various role which they need to perform and all
those actions comes under leadership (Burton and Kellaway, 2018). The leadership styles
adopted by managers or superiors imposes huge impacts on the performance and management of
manpower. There are several leadership styles which leaders practice in organisations such as
Directive, Supportive, Participative and Achievement. These are some leadership style which
exist in marketplace and as HR manager of Intercontinental Hotels I most commonly use
Directive and Supportive style.
 In directive leadership style the leaders give directions to their team members in relation
with the work they want them to do. This style of leadership is used by HR managers of
Intercontinental Hotels, for giving clarity of job to any new employee who is recently
appointed. Also, when the team is required to do an entirely new job in which they do not
hold any knowledge or expertise.
 Supportive leadership style refers to the behaviour of mangers towards their employees,
here leaders provides full support to their team members. By using this style I make work
pleasant for my teams and show concerns for them. I supports my staff, represents them
in front of higher management and other functional departments. This is a very effective
manner of managing staff, by maintaining close relations with them and motivating them
to work with their full potential.
Motivation is a necessary factor which encourage individuals to give their best and
perform duties with their full potential. As HR manager of Intercontinental Hotels I am
responsible for motivating and encouraging the workforce. Employee motivation is very
important and essential task I need to do, so that all workers are willingly and potentially give
their 100% to the organisation and manpower can be used effectively (Iyamu and Mkhomazi,
2018). The leadership styles adopted by me for managing staff have to be effective enough. As
Intercontinental Hotels leaders I have to direct and guide staff, give them clarity of their task and
support them on all levels. These actions which are undertaken by the HR manager motivates

personnel and make them work with their full potential in accordance with obtaining all goals of
Intercontinental Hotels and bringing better profit units by making enough sales.
CONCLUSION
The above report is based on the managing the people in organisation and influences
organisational culture and structures have over the management process or activities undertaken
by leaders. It can be concluded that structure and cultures possesses huge impacts on the
operations of entity and even in its management. Personnel are the key resource of every
organisation, it is role of leader to motivate them and encourage them in positive manner so that
they work with their full potential and increase productive of its operations. Therefore, various
leadership styles are used for making staff work as expected and attaining all goals of
organisation.

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