Organizational Behaviour Report: Auckland Law Firm Case Study Analysis

This report examines the organizational behaviour of a law firm, Cheetham and Wynne, focusing on a transition to an open-plan office. It analyzes employee resistance to change, the effectiveness of leadership in minimizing this resistance, and the communication barriers present within the firm. The report identifies sources of power, influence tactics, and their impact on employees. It also discusses potential solutions to overcome communication issues and improve overall organizational performance. The case study highlights issues such as lack of communication, resistance to change, and the impact of leadership styles on employee satisfaction and productivity, offering insights into effective management strategies.

Running Head: Organizational Behaviour
Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behaviour 1
Executive Summary
A law firm was started by Owen Cheetham and Jack Wynne in 1976 in Downtown, Auckland.
They were the partners of this firm and along with them; a number of lawyers were also working
in the organization. This law firm was known for commercial law cases, banking, insurance as
well as finance related cases. Organization was not having the big or attractive office and most of
the functionalities of the office were used to be performed in the club or in the golf course which
was the favourite place for both the partners after the office hours and especially on Friday. After
a certain period of time, both partner’s children joined the law firm with the view to enhance the
organization’s growth through spreading the firm’s area of function. Mark Cheetham and Cathy
Wynne joined the firm and they were also classmates at university same as their fathers were.
Under this firm, Cathy Wynne was the first female lawyer and with the introduction of these two
young lawyers in the firm, organizational functional area gets diversified and now firm’s
operational areas were internet, software and mobile companies along with the areas in which the
old partners of the firm was operating. Within some time, number of employees increased to 30
from 14. In this figure, another two young lawyers were hired as Anand Moodley and Pauline
Herata and their special functional areas were environmental issues and Maori businesses and
community organizations respectively.

Organizational Behaviour 2
Table of Contents
1.0....................................................................................................................................................3
a. Identify the reasons for employees resisting the change to an open-plan office approach......3
b. Explain what the partners might have done better to have minimised the resistance..............4
2.......................................................................................................................................................5
a. Analyse the barriers to communication (‘noise’) that appear to exist in the law firm.............5
b. Discuss how they could be overcome......................................................................................6
3.......................................................................................................................................................7
a. Discuss the sources of power the partners and others appear to have and the impact of this
may have on other employees......................................................................................................7
b. What influence tactics have been used by some of the partners and employees and how
effective might they have been?...................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

Organizational Behaviour 3
1.0
a. Identify the reasons for employees resisting the change to an open-plan office approach.
With the introduction of the new members in the organizational workplace, both the young
partners of the firm decided to change the office and for the same, they somehow managed to
convince their fathers for changing the office. The location of the new office building was
opposite the harbour. The design of the new office was open-plan and for the same, they emailed
the employees of the firm with the following reasons for which the office was shifted:
 The new office is designed in the open-plan design which will enhance the opportunities
for the employees as well as teamwork activities will also be enhanced. Along with this,
new office will be more flexible as compared to the old office premises’. This is due to
lack of space available in the old office in relevance with the updated size of the
organization.
 The open-plan office situated opposite the harbour will result in the economical use of
space. Apart from the economical use of the space available in the new office building,
new office building also saves the future costs which were going to be incurred for
constructing the old office’s building in relevance with the increasing size of the
organization.
 Saving of furniture cost is another major factor of shifting in the new office building.
 In the new office building, appropriate rooms are available which could be used for the
office meetings, conferences, etc. Apart from this, the employees will also feel
comfortable and connected because they will work side-by-side.
 The new office building is quite attractive in comparison with the old office’s premises as
it consists of attractive interiors; the walls of the office were painted with pastel colours.
Along with this, combination of modern paintings and glass top desks provides a unique
image to the office.
 New office building has adequate arrangement in relation with the employee’s relaxation
as for this; bean bags, magazines, and books are kept. Kitchen space is also arranged for
the refreshment of employees. All these facilities have created the attractive, convenient
workplace for the employees.

Organizational Behaviour 4
 Arrangement of these facilities have creates a social interactive working place for the
employees and the young partners have allocated the separate desks to each employee in
order to reduce the chances of disputes with regards to the seats.
 Irrelevant with the old office, Cheetham and Wynne of the firm have got the separate
cabins in the corner of the new office and with the introduction of new staff members,
burden from their shoulders have also been transferred to the young partners. Cathy and
Mark have also attained their places in the workplace in order to maintain the staff and
help them in any scenario.

Organizational Behaviour 5
b. Explain what the partners might have done better to have minimised the resistance.
Generally, it is seen that employees resist accepting the change adopted by the top level
management in the workplace as they feel scared in relevance with their positions. They feel
scared that they would be able to cope up with the change adopted by the management of the
organization or not. As per the current scenario, young partners who also are the children of the
old partners have changed the whole picture of the law firm. The old law firm was used to be of
14 stable members but now 30 people are working in the same firm but at a different place. In
the new office, 17 lawyers are working including the 4 partners, 5 legal executives; they were
hired for performing debt collection, property transfer, etc. kind of activities. Apart from this, 6
secretaries, one receptionist, and an accountant are the part of the law firm now. Young partners
i.e. Cathy and the Mark has adopted various changes within the workplace and in order to reduce
the resistance of change from the existing employees, following steps were taken:
 They provided adequate facilities to the employees which remove the factor of
disturbance present in the old office premises such as they provide attractive and open-
plan design of the office in which separate desk will going to be provided to the
employees. This will lead to the enhancement in the privacy of the employees.
 New office’s building is opposite to the harbour which provides a great view of the
employees from their sitting area only.
 Organization’s functional areas were limited before expansion but after appointment of
the new and professional lawyers, organizational functional areas will be increased. As
prior to this, organization was dealing in the banking, finance, etc. related issues but after
the appointment of two young partners in the firm, they both were capable enough to deal
with the trending issues related with the internet, mobile and software companies. With
the enhancement in the functional areas, organization will be capable enough to enhance
its revenues, profitability, etc.
 Anand and Pauline have the great potential to turn the firm’s success ratio and their
expertise areas are environmental issues and Maori and community-related issues
respectively. Apart from these two potential elements of the organization, young partners
convinced their fathers and other existing employees of the organization in relevance
with the change by explaining them the opportunities which will be generated by the

Organizational Behaviour 6
effect of large team members. Senior positions will be generated and on those positions,
the prior right will be of the existing employees only.
 Apart from the benefits like kitchen area, restroom in which games, magazines, beanbags
will be kept in order to refresh from the burden of the work.

Organizational Behaviour 7
2.
a. Analyse the barriers to communication (‘noise’) that appear to exist in the law firm.
As per the senior partners of the law firm, law business is quite serious business and disturbance
and practicing funny activities could lead to the disturbance in the performance of the
organization. But Cathy allowed them to have the loaf and chat on their desks only. After
providing various rooms which could be used for the lunch or for other purposes but employees
are having their meals on their desks only which are unethical as per the policies of the
organization. Apart from this, Cathy has influenced the employees to communicate with each
other to build social interaction which is a positive step towards the teamwork. But in the law
firm, candidates need to maintain concentration on their businesses only in order to perform the
assigned work in an adequate manner. Noises from the other employees’ conversations within
the workplace could lead to the disturbance to the other employees who are seriously working
and require silence from their surroundings but noise is not letting them concentrate on urgent or
crucial tasks.
Conversations on the personal phones should not be allowed in the office premises but Cathy and
Mark had allowed them to do so. Still, some have complained that they cannot talk within the
office premises on their mobile phones because everybody listens to it and due to this, their
privacy gets disturbed. While some experienced lawyers had complained that they are not able to
discuss the case details with their clients due to taking phone calls within the meeting rooms are
also not possible every time.
Apart from this, major factor present within the workplace is lack of communication between the
young partners and the other staff members. It was observed that some staff members are quite
unhappy as they were promised that their increments will be done as per their performances. But
after performing in an adequate manner, their salaries were not increased as per the expectations
of the employees. Anna Ivannova is the member of paralegal staff of the law firm and she was
unhappy with the rewards she got after performing up to mark. Apart from this, lack of
transparency in the working procedures is another major factor which leads to the
communication barrier in the organization. Mr. Wynne, who was handling the firm’s

Organizational Behaviour 8
functionalities along with the Cathy, was not performing his functions in an appropriate manner
which results in generating disturbances in the organizational workplace.

Organizational Behaviour 9
b. Discuss how they could be overcome.
Communication barriers are the reasons for reducing organization’s performance and in order to
enhance the organization’s performance and to attain the desired goals and the objectives,
appropriate steps must be taken for reducing those barriers. Following are some of the techniques
which could be used for reducing the impact of barriers to communication from the
organizational workplace:
 Introducing effective communication techniques: Introduction of the effective
communication helps the organization to reduce the disputes at their initial stages only.
The speciality of this technique will be, any employee could convey his/her message to
the top level management without any barrier in between. Management needs to be active
enough to resolve the issues arising between the employees of the organization and the
issues with the management. Existing issues such as increment of the employees were not
done as per their expectations and in order to reduce those expectations, appropriate
incentives and reward programs must be introduced for resolving these types of issues
within the workplace (Bakkar & Schaufeli, 2008).
Being a reputed law firm, organization needs to take appropriate steps in order to reduce
the meaningless issues. An internal communication system must be introduced through
which lawyers of the firm and the other employees could convey their messages on that
system only. That system would be chat software and appropriate controlling measures
needs to be adopted in order to remove the chances of misuse of the system (Altman,
Valenzi & Hodgetts, 2013).
 Employee’s participation: Employees should be invited in the decision-making process
of the organization. This builds positive image in the employees' mind towards the
organization and it motivates them to perform in an adequate manner (Wagner &
Hollenbeck, 2014).
 Motivational techniques: These techniques are very effective and efficient enough to
turnaround the organizational performance. If employees will be awarded as per the
efforts made in regards to the organization’s activities, this will boost up the employee’s
confidence and with very ease, organization will be able to attain its desired goals and the
objectives.

Organizational Behaviour 10
3.
a. Discuss the sources of power the partners and others appear to have and the impact of
this may have on other employees.
Following are the sources of power with partners of law firm:
 Expert Power: It is the power which comes from life experiences and through the
professional courses. Generally, their source is life experiences. As per this scenario,
young partners and the old partners have the adequate knowledge in relevance with the
laws and regulations and they all have their expertise areas. If any employee of the
organization will not perform as per the standards set up by them, expert has the adequate
power to warn them or they can also terminate them from the firm (Robbins & Judge,
2013).
 Impact over employee: Employee could learn from the expert’s knowledge and this will
help them to understand the standard of work, organization requires. This will also
influence the employees to perform in such a manner which could match the criteria set
up by the experts. This will lead to enhancement of the employees' performance (Pinder,
2014).
 Positional power: This type of power is quite similar to the expert’s power. The topmost
position of an organization has the adequate amount of power which could affect the
employee. In the scenario of law firm, all the four partners have equal share in the firm
and they all have equal powers and they are the only people available at the topmost
positions of the firm. Hence, if any partner wants to terminate any employee, all partners
need to show their consent to make this decision effective (Nag, 2012).
 Impact over employee: Employees needs to adopt and practise all those policies, rules
and regulations provided by the management of the organization. Crossing those barriers
made and the practising any unethical activity within the workplace could force the
organizational effective position to take certain harsh decision in the interest of
organization. Hence, guidelines given by the organization should not be crossed and
overruled by the employees (Miner, 2015).
 Reward Power: Any of the four partners could reward any employee on their special
performances. Policies should be made in relation to this technique in relation to avoid

Organizational Behaviour 11
issues which are currently faced by the organization. Through this power, partners can
influence an employee in terms of improving their performances
(Managementstudyguide, 2017).
 Impact over employee: Getting rewarded for the good performance could motivate the
employee, while organization has the adequate power to deduct a certain amount of
salary on the bad performance of an employee (Luthans, Luthans & Luthans, 2015).

Organizational Behaviour 12
b. What influence tactics have been used by some of the partners and employees and how
effective might they have been?
Young partners of the organization have impressed their fathers because the organization’s
performance has been increased rapidly. For the same they have used various tactics, some of
them are:
 Mark and Cathy have provided big and attractive office to the existing employees and the
newly appointed employees to develop positive image in relevance with the organization.
 Along with this, they have also taken care of the employees' comfort, refreshment and
workplace areas.
 Mark and Cathy have appointed Pauline by replaying her debts which were taken by her
for education. This has developed a positive image in Pauline’s mind towards the
organization. This will also influence her to put adequate efforts so that organization
could be able to attain its desired goals and the targets.
 The accountant appointed by them was through one of the tactics under which John, the
accountant of the law firm was promised that his MBA's fees will be paid by the
organization.
Apart from this, lot of tactics have been used by the young partners in order to increase the
organizational performance but some of those were effective while some lead to various issues
within the workplace.

Organizational Behaviour 13
References
Altman, S., Valenzi, E. and Hodgetts, R.M., 2013. Organizational behavior: Theory and
practice. Elsevier.
Bakkar, A.B. & Schaufeli, W.B., 2008, Positive organizational behavior: Engaged employees
in flourishing organizations, Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 147-154.
Luthans, F., Luthans, B.C. and Luthans, K.W., 2015. Organizational behavior: An evidence-
based approach. IAP.
Managementstudyguide, 2017, Role of attitudes in employee relationship, Assessed on 29th
August 2017, http://www.managementstudyguide.com/role-of-attitude-in-employee-
relationship.htm.
Miner, J.B., 2015. Organizational behavior 1: Essential theories of motivation and
leadership. Routledge.
Nag, A, 2012, Significance of positive attitude in the workplace, Assessed on 11th October
2017, http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning-design/positive-attitude-at-workplace.
Nelson, D.L., & Quick, J.C., 2011, Organizational behavior 7th ed. Mason, OH: Cengage
Learning.
Pinder, C.C., 2014. Work motivation in organizational behavior. Psychology Press.
Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T.A., 2013. Organizational Behavior Global. Pearson.
Wagner III, J.A. and Hollenbeck, J.R., 2014. Organizational behavior: Securing competitive
advantage. Routledge.