MGMT2000 Case Study: ASACURA International and Organizational Behavior

This case study analyzes the organizational behavior of ASACURA International, an international insurance company, focusing on issues such as improper decision-making, inappropriate use of power, destructive conflicts, and demotivation of new recruits. The analysis examines the challenges fac...Read More

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT
Human Resource Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
The importance of the organizational behaviour in the modern day business world is
observed to be significant. With a precise focus on the dynamics of the current business
market, it is petty evident that the intensity in the business operations amongst the various
business organizations is in increasing in a notable manner. This is pretty evident with the
application of the different strategies from the part of the senior management of the
organizations in promoting their business in a more efficient manner than the competitor
organizations. One of the major actor that is influential in the increment of the intensity of the
level of the competition in the modern business is observed to be the entry of the increasing
number of new organizations. Considering the significant threat of the new entries, the
importance of the organizational behaviour is observed be pretty prominent. In order to
identify the impact of the organizational behaviour, it is important to understand the meaning
of the concept. The conceptual definition of the organizational behaviour terms it to be a
study of the human behaviour inside the organizational settings. According to the research,
the organizational behaviour is the elaboration of the human behaviour that a particular
individual exhibits in the effective management of the operational activities within their
roles1.
According to the research, the revitalization of the organizational theory and the
development of a better conceptualization of the organizational life are the prime objectives
of the senior management of the organizations in establishing the better organizational
behaviour2. In a nut shell, the concept of the organizational behaviour is observed to be
focused on the description of the ways in which the individuals interact inside the
1 Huczynski, Andrzej, David A. Buchanan, and Andrzej A. Huczynski. Organizational behaviour. London:
Pearson, 2013.
2 Wilson, Fiona M. Organizational behaviour and work: a critical introduction. Oxford university press, 2018.

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organizations. According to the research, the success of the organizations in the establishment
of the improved organizational behaviour helps the organizations in the improvement of the
effectiveness of the business operations of the organizations3. According to the research, the
dissection of the overall concept of the organizational behaviour was pretty evident with the
formation of the areas such as the improvement of the job performances, increment in the
level of job satisfaction, promotion of the innovative ideas and creative thinking along with
encouraging the leadership4. In order to make sure that the organization behaviour is suitable
for the progress of the organizations, the management of the organizations are observed to
recommend specified actions to the employees and the relevant stakeholders for the
mentioned activities. Hence the importance of the organizational behaviour is pretty
prominent for the modern business organizations.
The paper is focused in the elaboration of the various aspects of the organizational
behaviour of an international insurance company named as ASACURA International. The
paper analyses the mentioned case to identify the organizational behaviour issue that was
present in the mentioned case. With an accurate identification of the business problem, the
paper analyses the issue to identify the relevant stakeholders and the operations of them that
led to the formation of the issue. While elaborating the case, the paper provides a significant
discussion regarding the Tuckman’s team development theory. With the effective
understanding of the case, the paper provides suitable recommendations to the senior
management of the organization in the effective management of the identified issue.
Concept of organization and dependent variables:
3 Barry, Michael, and Adrian Wilkinson. "Pro‐social or pro‐management? A critique of the conception of
employee voice as a pro‐social behaviour within organizational behaviour." British Journal of Industrial
Relations 54, no. 2 (2016): 261-284.
4 Aithal, P. Sreeramana, and P. M. Kumar. "Organizational behaviour in 21st century–'Theory A'for managing
people for performance." IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) 18, no. 7 (2016): 126-134.

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As the main objective is to analyse the case on the basis of the basis of the theories of
employee motivation, application of the power, influence on the employees of the
organizations, conflict along with the decision making, it is important to understand the
meaning of the mentioned concepts.
Considering the concept of the employee motivation, it is pretty evident that the
modern business industry is notably influenced with the impact of the motivation and that is
pretty evident with the increasing level of urgency amongst the senior management of the
organizations in the formation of the rewarding policy that has the potential to attract and
motivate the employees of the organizations. The concept of the employee motivation clearly
portrays it to be the means of the providing additional benefits to the employees in
influencing them towards the competition of their operational activities with the improved
amount of quality and quantity. According to the research, the emotions or the moods of the
employees is considered to be one of the prime obstacle for them in the achievement of the
better efficiency and quality and under such situation, it is important for the managers of the
organization to influence the thought process of the employees so that the managers prepare
the employees well for the achievement of the growth and improvement in their operations5.
According to the research, the managers of the organizations are responsible for the
accurate identification of the needs of the employees as that have the potential to aware them
regarding the target and type of the rewards that will be suitable for motivating the employees
for the desired improvement in their operations6. Several researchers are observed to
comment on the suitability of the rewards being one of the top most priority for the success of
the organizations in their attempt of motivating the employees. With a precise focus on the
5 Totterdell, P. A., and Karen Niven. Workplace moods and emotions: A review of research. Createspace
Independent Publishing, 2014.
6 Dobre, Ovidiu-Iliuta. "Employee motivation and organizational performance." Review of applied socio-
economic research 5, no. 1 (2013).

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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the diversification of the needs of the employees was pretty
evident with the formation of the five stages for the effective elaboration of the needs of the
employees. The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was observed to be divided into five different
stages in the form of the physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and
self-actualisation. The importance of the identification of the suitability of the rewards is
pretty evident with the restructuring of the Maslow’s model for the formation of the
framework of ERG theory. Apart from this, Herzberg’s theory clearly describes the impact
and the necessity of the motivator and the hygiene factors for motivating the employees. On
the other hand, McClelland’s theory is significant in stating the importance of the need for
achievement, need for power and need for affiliation for the improvement of the
performances of the employees through motivating them.
The decision making is observed to be one of the crucial aspect of the business for the
modern organizations. The concept of the decision making terms it to be a conscious process
of the section of the best suited options from a pool of options. The success of the decision
making is observed to be dependent on the capability of the managers in selecting the most
appropriate solution for an identified problem and the achievement of the desired
improvement with the application of the identified solution. With rational choice decision
process, the first priority in the decision making is the identification of the problem,
development of the decision process, accumulation of the possible options, verification of the
options regarding the merit of the solutions, identification of the most suitable solution,
implementation of the identified solution along with the evaluation of the progress.
Conflict is a major concern for majority of the modern organizations. However, many
of the researchers of the modern business world are observed to comment on the occurrence
of two types of conflicts. According to the research, the formation of destructive conflict is a

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major concern for majority of the modern organizations7. According to the research, the
formation of the conflict amongst the employees of the organizations lead to the creation of
the confusion amongst the employees which has the potential to affect the team performances
of the employees8. Other than this, the impact of the conflict in the creation of the confusion
has a significantly detrimental effect on the performances of the employees in terms of
quality and quantity. According to the research, the success of the constructive conflict in the
improvement of the individual performances and the overall firm performances was visible
with the fact that many of the organizations are observed to conduct brainstorming sessions
or creative thinking sessions for the identification of the new ideas that have the potential to
help the organizations in the improvement of their decision making9. Hence the formation of
the constructive conflict becomes essential for the organizations in the development of the
better decisions ad along with that, the initiative for the brainstorming sessions or the creative
thinking sessions play a crucial role for the organizations in the improvement of the
involvement of the employees with the organizations.
Application of the power and influence is observed to have greater significance in the
modern business context as that have the potential to improve the business activities of the
organizations. From the definition of power, it is pretty evident that it is the capacity of an
organization, person or a team for influencing others. From the theory of French and Raven,
it is visible that there is five sources of power in the form of the legitimate, reward, coercive,
expert and referent power. The application of the mentioned sources of power has different
conditions and situations and under such situations the valuation in the parameters of the
situations indicate suitability of the application of a particular form of power. According to
7 Rahim, M. Afzalur. Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge, 2017.
8 Rahim, M. Afzalur. Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge, 2017.
9 Asal, Victor, and Jonathan Wilkenfeld. "Ethnic Conflict: An Organization Perspective." Penn St. JL & Int'l
Aff. 2 (2013): 91.

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the research, the negative aspect of power is visible with the application of the power from
the part of the management of the organizations in many of the cases forces the employees of
the organizations in the unethical business operations10. Hence the application of the power in
many of the cases affects the moral values of the employees.
Case:
Considering the incident of ASACURA International, it can be said that the case is a
classic example of improper decision making, inappropriate application of power, formation
of the destructive conflict and demotivating the new recruitments. The mentioned
organization was one of the prestigious organizations of the world and has a significant
reputation being one of the efficient employer across the globe and that was pretty evident
with the recruitment of more than 20000 number of employees. Julie, a graduate with a
bachelor degree in Management, got placed in the mentioned organization in one of the
position of the International Human Resources team of the organization. One of the main
influential factor for Julie in her placement to the mentioned team of ASACURA
International was the scope of working in several projects of the mentioned organization with
the considerable amount of responsibility.
At the early stages of her time at the organization, Julie was pretty happy with the
team and the amount of knowledge that the members of the team hold. As the other members
of the team operated for a longer period of time together, they were able to establish a strong
bond. Julie was looking for the opportunity to show her skills and she got one with the project
for recruiting under graduate management students. Julie was observed to be considerably
excited with the opportunity and that was pretty evident with her recommendation for
selecting her university which was able to introduce a global focus along with a specialized
10 Alvesson, Mats. Communication, power and organization. Vol. 72. Walter de Gruyter, 2013.

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actuarial team. However, the proposal was observed to be dismissed by Tonia Gill with the
comments that the mentioned organization has great connection with their selected three
universities and they prefer to recruit individuals from those universities only owing to the
excellent contact that they had with those universities. Apart from this, Julie was seriously
passionate regarding the planning of the events. She was able to formulate presentations for
the students with the perfect idea of what connect well to the students. This influenced Julie
to have a thought of adding videos and music for connecting with the target audience in a
better manner. However, Tonia rejected the process of preparing the presentation with the
claim that the GM was familiar to the existing format of the presentation and it will be
unprofessional to expect that the GM will be able to adapt the new style of presentation with
less than two weeks.
Apart from this, Harry Main was observed to ask Julie to adapt to the existing style of
the team which will possibly restrict Julie from sharing any sort ideas that have the potential
to develop and increase the effectiveness of the teams. Harry advised Julie to integrate more
to the team as they expect to have a cohesive consensus inside the team going forward. In
addition to this, the threats of Harry to Enrique regarding the early leaves of Enrique was
observed to frustrate Julie in a notable manner and that was pretty evident with her
communication with Joshua regarding the audacity of Harry in commenting the dos and
don’ts for Julie. Along with this, Julie was observed to be pretty much concerned with the
threats of Harry and the inappropriate application of the power and influence from the part of
Harry.
Team Development:
Considering the Tuckman’s team development theory, the concept of team
development is divided into five different parts in the form of the forming, storming,

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norming, performing and adjourning11. In accordance to the theory, the forming stage
represents the space where the members of the team gathers and a team forms. Considering
the mentioned case, during the forming stage, Julie was observed to be pretty happy with her
team. Julie as a member of the new team, also experienced the storming stage, where she was
able to share the information regarding her university so that the team selects the individuals
from her recommended university as well. However, the norming and performing stage was
absent in the case as the other members of the teams were observed to turn down her proposal
of selecting the recommended university along with the new presentation which has the
potential to connect well to the target audience12.
The other members of the team were not observed to resolve the differences that they
had with Julie with effective communication and respect towards the proposal of Julie rather,
they were observed to advise to stick to the existing policy and listen to them for the
management of the operational activities as they had considerable amount of experience in
operating these sorts of activities. Other than this, the performances of the team was observed
to be affected due to the lack in consideration of Julie’s comments by the other team
members and that was one of the main factor that led to the incapability of the team in
improving the performances of the teams. Considering the punctuated equilibrium model of
team development, the performances of the team was observed to be affected at the mid stage
where the accumulation of the effective ideas for the improved decision making was
restricted with the application of the excessive power and influence from the part of the other
11 Perry Jr, Emmett E., Dennis F. Karney, and Daniel G. Spencer. "Team establishment of self-managed work
teams: a model from the field." Team Performance Management: An International Journal 19, no. 1/2 (2013):
87-108.
12 Turaga, Revathi. "Building trust in teams: A leader's role." IUP Journal of Soft Skills 7, no. 2 (2013): 13.

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members of the teams13. This not only affected the scope of contribution from the part of Julie
but also restricted the effectiveness of overall performances of the teams.
The undue application of the power and the influence from the part of Harry that he
acquired from working in the organization for a prolonged period of time and from the
establishment of the network of connections within the organization was observed to be one
of the main actors that disappointed Julie and that was pretty evident with her communication
with Joshua. The application of excessive influence of Harry in almost every decisions of the
organization somewhat affects the effectiveness of the decision making inside the
organization and restricts the participation of the other members of the organization in the
decision making inside the organizations. Hence the involvement of the other members of the
organization is significantly affected inside the organization.
Recommendations:
With a precise focus on the declining organizational behaviour inside the organization
which is pretty evident with the application of the undue power and influence from the part of
Harry, it is recommended for the senior management of the organization to make sure that
none of the unauthorised individuals have the power and scope to communicate with the
other members of the organizations. In addition to this, the organization requires to form of a
code of ethics along with the code of business conduct for the employees which will make
sure that the inappropriate communication and the undue application of the power and
influence from the part of a section of the senior employees is restricted. The senior
management of the organization is in need to be strict with the implementation of both the
formed code of conduct with the formation of the provisions for penalizing the individuals
that violates the codes.
13 Bergman, Shawn M., Erika E. Small, Jacqueline Z. Bergman, and Jessica J. Bowling. "Leadership Emergence
and Group Development: A Longitudinal Examination of Project Teams." Journal of Organizational
Psychology 14, no. 1 (2014).

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One of the major issue inside the organization is the absence of the freedom in the
decision making and that is pretty evident with the dismissal of the recommendation of Julie
regarding the selection of her own university. Apart from that, the way in which Julie’s
recommendations regarding the inclusion of the video and the music for increasing the
effectiveness of the presentation got dismissed, it is understandable that the other members of
the team lack the sense of creative thinking in a notable manner. Considering this, it is
recommended for the senior management of the organization that they communicate the
necessity of the involving each and every members in the decision making process. As the
organization is continuously striving for the better results, it is evident that there will not be
any absolute way of dealing. With a precise focus on the changing dynamics of the market
and the demands of the industry, the importance of the creative thinking and innovation for
the selection of the a number of solutions instead of the best or the correct solutions is seen to
be notably high for the managers of the organizations. Considering that, the managers of the
organization are expected to make sure that each of the employees of the different teams of
the organizations participate in the creative thinking for the selection of a pool of the suitable
solutions.
In addition to this, the managers of the organization need to make sure that the leaders
of the different teams take the initiative of recognizing the contribution of the good
performers of the organization in terms of the quality of the services, quantity of the services
and along with the contribution with the ideas as that will be crucial in motivating the
employees for the achievement of the improved operations inside the organization.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be said that the organization is seen to suffer from the
inappropriate organizational behaviour of a section of the employees. In addition to this, the

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inappropriate application of the power and the influence from the part of the senior members
of the organization is seen to be a major concern for the organization and is playing a crucial
part in dissatisfying the new employees of the organization. Under such situation, the senior
management of the organization needs to come up with the code of ethics and business
conduct for making sure that the detrimental impact of the power is minimized. The
organization needs to promote the new ideas of the employees and in such case, the
incorporation of the practices of the creative thinking requires to be the top most priority for
the organization.

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References:
Aithal, P. Sreeramana, and P. M. Kumar. "Organizational behaviour in 21st century–'Theory
A'for managing people for performance." IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-
JBM) 18, no. 7 (2016): 126-134.
Alvesson, Mats. Communication, power and organization. Vol. 72. Walter de Gruyter, 2013.
Asal, Victor, and Jonathan Wilkenfeld. "Ethnic Conflict: An Organization Perspective." Penn
St. JL & Int'l Aff. 2 (2013): 91.
Barry, Michael, and Adrian Wilkinson. "Pro‐social or pro‐management? A critique of the
conception of employee voice as a pro‐social behaviour within organizational behaviour."
British Journal of Industrial Relations 54, no. 2 (2016): 261-284.
Bergman, Shawn M., Erika E. Small, Jacqueline Z. Bergman, and Jessica J. Bowling.
"Leadership Emergence and Group Development: A Longitudinal Examination of Project
Teams." Journal of Organizational Psychology 14, no. 1 (2014).
Dobre, Ovidiu-Iliuta. "Employee motivation and organizational performance." Review of
applied socio-economic research 5, no. 1 (2013).
Huczynski, Andrzej, David A. Buchanan, and Andrzej A. Huczynski. Organizational
behaviour. London: Pearson, 2013.
Perry Jr, Emmett E., Dennis F. Karney, and Daniel G. Spencer. "Team establishment of self-
managed work teams: a model from the field." Team Performance Management: An
International Journal 19, no. 1/2 (2013): 87-108.
Rahim, M. Afzalur. Managing conflict in organizations. Routledge, 2017.

13HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGMENT
Totterdell, P. A., and Karen Niven. Workplace moods and emotions: A review of research.
Createspace Independent Publishing, 2014.
Turaga, Revathi. "Building trust in teams: A leader's role." IUP Journal of Soft Skills 7, no. 2
(2013): 13.
Wilson, Fiona M. Organizational behaviour and work: a critical introduction. Oxford
university press, 2018.