University Assignment: MGT5OBR Organisational Behaviour Theory Essay

This essay analyzes two key organisational behaviour theories: Tuckman's team development model and the rational decision-making theory, exploring their application in enhancing business performance and efficiency. The introduction outlines the essay's structure and introduces the theories, emphasizing their relevance to decision-making and teamwork. The first section delves into Tuckman's model, detailing the forming, storming, norming, and performing stages of team development and how leadership impacts team dynamics. The second section examines the rational decision-making theory, outlining the stages of problem definition, alternative selection, and implementation. The essay links these theories, highlighting how employee skill development and effective decision-making contribute to improved organizational outcomes. The essay concludes by summarizing the interconnectedness of these theories and their significance in achieving organizational goals. The essay also includes diagrams to illustrate the concepts.

Running head: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Organisational behaviour
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the first chosen theory.............................................................................................3
Analysis of the second chosen theory........................................................................................5
Link between the two concepts and theories..............................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the behaviours of organizations considering
the application of various theories related to decision making and team working. Not only is
it essential to understand the behaviours of employees, but also the development of
workplace protocols, which has been aimed at increasing the productivity along with
improved business performance and efficiency too. The theories are associated with the
process of decision making and also for working as team, which not only enhances the level
of engagement of employees, but also analyses the different aspects such as gender, internal
and external influences along with employees behaviours that are responsible for influencing
the process of decision making effectively too. The two theories that are chosen as part of the
decision making process and team working are Tuckman’s theory and Rational decision
making theory, which influences the business performance and also has allowed for
improving the revenue generation capability and attaining competitive advantage too (Beal
III, Stavros & Cole, 2013). The Tuckman’s theory of team development or building is based
on the forming, storming, norming and performing. This kind of theory combines the various
team building elements and activities that are responsible for making a team achieve the
desired sets of goals and objectives with much ease and effectiveness. The Rational decision
making theory, on the other hand, will assist in finding a solution to the problem, furthermore
determine the most suitable outcomes along with determining a logical choice that shall be
responsible for meeting the terms and conditions of logical consistency and deductive
completeness (Xerri & Brunetto, 2013). The analysis of these two theories will be done in the
next sections in a detailed manner to determine how both can be linked together to improve
the business performance and efficiency.

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Analysis of the first chosen theory
The maintenance of a good organisational structure is important for the successful
management of interaction between team memebrs and also facilitating authority and power
while the leadership aspects have helped in the building and development of team along with
supporting effective teamwork, collaboration and maintenance of a positive work culture.
The team inputs are provided for the composition of team and to enable development and
growth of skills and knowledge among the team members to achieve the desired sets of goals
and objectives effectively too (Muogbo, 2013). Though focus has been on the development of
small teams, the priority should be on maintaining a diverse team consisting of team
memebrs from different backgrounds and cultures. The Tuckman’s model or theory of team
development includes various stages such as the forming, which manages orientation of
business activities, storming, i.e., to resolve the conflicts, norming, performing and finally
adjourning, which allows for dissolution of activities (Maduenyi et al., 2015).
According to Seck & Helton (2014), the Tuckman’s team building or development
theory is aimed at managing behaviours among the team members and at the same time,
facilitate the scopes and opportunities for developing maturity and enhanced ability of the
entire team. This could also strengthen the relationships between the team members and at
the same time, allow the leader to adopt a different style of leadership for the purpose of
mentoring, coaching as well as develop a new team capable of performing to the potential
within the workplace (Seck & Helton, 2014). The freedom and authority managed by the
leader towards the team should also be responsible for making them feel motivated and
encouraged, furthermore, enable the team members to go through the stages of forming,
storming, norming and performing. Haines (2014) also stated that the theory or model when
applied within the organisation, could enable the team to grow, develop and undertake
challenges with time and at the same time, find out relevant solutions to tackle the problems

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and deliver the best possible outcomes all throughout. Not only does the growth and
development of team is essential, but also it is vital for the team members to accept a
supportive leadership and manage clear communication process to manage cohesiveness and
trust. This should also improve the technical and interpersonal skills of the team memebrs
and establish positive team norms all throughout to encourage the employees of the
organisation to conduct business activities ethically and with dedication and commitment
(Katou, 2015).
The forming stage enables assembling the team and allocating the tasks so that the
team members can behave independently though depending much upon the leader and
managerial roles. The team members are associated with trusting each other and facilitating
the communication process to share or exchange important information all throughout. The
leaders are responsible for clarifying the vision and mission statement along with defining the
roles, responsibilities of the team members, goals and about the external relationships too
(Raes et al., 2015).
The second stage, i.e., storming has allowed for making decisions by the team
members, which further assisted in establishing themselves for tacking challenges. The stage
might give rise to power struggles, though the team needs to focus on the goals and prevent
getting avoided by mental or relationship issues arising due to conflicts. This is one of the
most vital stages that can create conflicts among the team members, though making sure to
improve the leadership aspects for the sake of resolving the own set of problems with much
ease and effectiveness.
The norming stage should enable the leader to focus on the growth and development
of team members, furthermore manage good working practices based on the rules, regulations
and values followed. The team members acquire trust and learn to adopt great responsibilities

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required to facilitate innovation and creativity within the organisation (Meeussen, Delvaux &
Phalet, 2014).
The performing stage sets a platform for the team members who have acquired the
relevant skills and knowledge to make decisions based on the criteria set by the leader or
manager of the organisation. It has also been helpful for maintaining high level of autonomy,
furthermore resolve conflicts and misunderstandings among the team members along with
better delegation of tasks to the team members, There is lesser need of leadership
involvement and no more assistance is required, as the employees have already been capable
of managing interpersonal relationship skills and performing to their potential as well.
Though there are several benefits, still team working can often be complex and the
major drawbacks based on the model, are depending on others while performing a certain
task, conflicts and misunderstandings caused due to differences in opinions and views and
delays. To train the employees, a huge amount of time as well as money is required, which
often results in degraded business performance and lack of revenue generation too.
Figure: Tuckman’s theory of team development (Meeussen, Delvaux & Phalet, 2014)

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Analysis of the second chosen theory
The Rational Decision making behavioural theory is mostly applied to the managers
and leaders of the companies to ensure proper management of strategic decisions that can
benefit the organisational functioning. The decisions are made according to the information
acquired, based on the model, which also ensures that the information must be reliable,
authentic and appropriate. According to the model or theory, the stages of the model include
defining the problem at first, selecting the best decision making process, development of
alternatives, selecting the best alternative, implementing the choice that has been made and
finally managing evaluation of selected choices required to enhance the efficiency of decision
making process (Baumann et al., 2014). The second concept of Rational decision making
enables making logical and appropriate decisions for the benefit of the business. Rather than
the inclusion of intuition and subjectivity, the organisations like Woolworths, for example,
has used the objective data and information, logical concepts and appropriate logic to find out
a best alternative for resolving the issues and ensure making effective decisions in business as
well.
As stated by French (2014), the Rational decision making model is an integral
component of decision making process that not only helps in finding the problem and its
causes, but also allows for determining the issues within the strategy required to make
effective decisions in business. The next stage enabled brainstorming the best solutions
required to resolve the issue or problem (French, 2014). For example, in case a company
wants to increase the traffic towards a company website, more email interactions ad
communication via social media platforms are essential for enhancing the level of traffic,
furthermore ensure creating awareness among a whole lot of people with much ease and
effectiveness. Crossan et al. (2013) stated about the essentiality of setting success standards
and failure standards too for finding the best solution and, furthermore remain focused on

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finding relevant solutions to the problems much conveniently (Crossan et al., 2013). The next
stage should enable selecting the right solution and making the best decisions required to
succeed in business management.
Figure: Rational decision making model or theory (Sen, 2017)
In spite of the benefits, there are few negatives as well such as careful consideration
of appropriate and genuine data and information is required and the rational decision making
is also time consuming. This often hinders the ability to make decisions quickly, which also
plays a major role in deriving success for the company. The theory or model is best suitable
to be applied for the long term goals’ achievement and while making operational decisions
effectively as well (Sen, 2017).
Link between the two concepts and theories
Though these theories are based on some different aspects, i.e., the decision making
and team building and working, still it has a proper link that has been established. It could be
seen that with the development and growth of employees in terms of skills, knowledge and

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expertise, there has been effectiveness in making decisions and improving the business
functioning too. While the Tuckman’s theory of team development focused on the growth
and development of skills among the team members, it has also enabled them to attain the
ability to making decisions that sound effective and noteworthy considering the business
outcomes to be achieved in the future (Nancarrow et al., 2013).
Based on the application of Tuckman’s theory or model of team building and
development, the employees should pass through the norming, forming, storming and
performing stages by engaging in training and development programs. This could not only
improve their ability to commit themselves fully towards the achievement of organisational
goals, but would even facilitate the process of decision making with much ease and
efficiency. The stages of the model should enhance the skills and allow for delegating the
right roles to the individuals, furthermore, share or exchange information among themselves
to make a collective decision, furthermore, get the team members together and improve the
process of communication (Salas et al., 2017). The communication of vital team decisions
has also helped in gabbing the scopes and opportunities, furthermore encourage team
members to provide their useful inputs required to make effective decisions in business.
While the leadership plays a major part in the development of team and team
members, it has also helped in encouraging ad keeping the team members, which is essential
for making them perform to their potential. Arranging training sessions for them and
providing them with significant scopes and opportunities could further assist in enhancing the
level of satisfaction among the staffs and often made them feel valued to the organization.
This has resulted in improving their potential knowledge and learning capacity, which should
assist in effective decision making as well as for deriving the best of business outcomes
efficiently too (Kaner, 2014). This is how, the development of employees achieved through
the application of Tuckman’s model or they has raised the level of interest and developed

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their skills and knowledge to make effective business decisions, which are considered as
critical to the success of the organization.
Conclusion
The report demonstrated about the two different kinds of theories related to the
organisational behaviour including the Tuckman’s theory and Rational decision making
theory. The norming, storming, forming and performing stages enabled the development and
growth of employees, which further helped them to attain good skills and knowledge and
made sure to make decisions effectively too. From various evidences, it could be understood
that the leadership also played a major role in keeping the staffs motivated, encouraged,
furthermore developed their learning capability and knowledge to improve the process of
decision making too.

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References
Baumann, D. J., Fluke, J. D., Dalgleish, L., & Kern, H. (2014). The decision making
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resistance to change on organisational citizenship behavior. SA Journal of Industrial
Psychology, 39(2), 01-11.
Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., & Seijts, G. (2013). In search of virtue: The role of virtues, values
and character strengths in ethical decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(4),
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French, S. (2014). Decision analysis. Wiley StatsRef: Statistics Reference Online.
Haines, R. (2014). Group development in virtual teams: An experimental
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Kaner, S. (2014). Facilitator's guide to participatory decision-making. John Wiley & Sons.
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structure on Organisational performance.
Meeussen, L., Delvaux, E., & Phalet, K. (2014). Becoming a group: Value convergence and
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Muogbo, U. S. (2013). The impact of employee motivation on organisational performance (a
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