Project Leadership, Teams and Behaviours: RGU Report Analysis

This report analyzes project leadership, team dynamics, and organizational behavior within the context of the House of Botanicals, a beverage company expanding into international markets. It explores organizational behavior issues such as motivation, particularly concerning expatriate employees in culturally diverse environments like France and Saudi Arabia, and the impact of organizational culture on expansion strategies. The report also examines leadership's role in building effective teams, considering the challenges of differing cultural norms and legal restrictions, such as those related to alcohol in Saudi Arabia. It provides recommendations for addressing these challenges, emphasizing the importance of tailored motivational strategies, adaptable organizational cultures, and the development of strong leadership skills to foster successful team building and navigate the complexities of international business expansion.

Project leadership, teams and
behaviors

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Organisational behaviour issues............................................................................................................2
Motivation.........................................................................................................................................2
Organisational culture........................................................................................................................4
Leadership taking into consideration building an effective team......................................................5
Recommendation on dealing with challenges...................................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Expansion has become one of the major strategies for the companies in the global markets.
This has increased the number of revenue sources for a company which is critical for gaining
competitive advantage over the rivals. Many businesses are continuing with their risk taking
approach and expanding in those countries also where the markets are not developed for their
products (Nielsen, Taris and Cox, 2010). House of Botanicals is also following similar type
of approach to increase their market share as they are expanding in the markets where there is
no alcohol culture or say it is illegal like Saudi Arabia. At the same time they are also
expanding in the nations like France which is having good alcohol culture and consumption is
on the higher side. Overseas expansion and the decision to invest have to be made on the
basis of the possible challenges that will be faced by the company in both the nation
especially related to organisational behaviour context. This report will focus on different
organisational behaviours issues like motivation, changes in the organisational culture and
leadership considerations in building effective teams. In the last section of the report
recommendation about the way to address the potential challenges has been provided.
Organisational behaviour issues
There are different types of issues faced by the organisation and these issues have impact on
the expansion of the company. Some of the issues that are faced by this organisation are:
Motivation
In today’s time motivation plays a critical role in the development of individuals and also has
the role in the encouraging the employees to perform better (Morgeson, et al 2013). It is very
likely that people will not be able to perform as expected by the company in the external
markets if motivation is on the lower side. This becomes a major issue in the case of
expatriate that will work in France and Saudi Arab. Since employees are from different
cultural backgrounds hence they need to be culturally motivated by making policies that suits
their culture also. The major challenge in regards to motivation is that even after monetary
and non-monetary incentives an organisation is not able to motivate its employees especially
the ones that are from different cultural backgrounds (Guest, 2011).

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In France higher incentive culture is there and hence if the people will not get higher
incentives there are a greater chance that they may fail to meet the performance and
efficiency related parameters. On the other hand in Saudi Arab there is a very different
culture prevailing when compared with UK and hence employees need to be provided with
cultural training along with the fact that Saudi Arab’s exchange rate is very high hence
company has to pay very high to their employees. Both of this can be a challenge to the
company’s expenses but if not given it will raise question marks on the motivation of the
employees. Motivational theories such as Maslow Theory suggest that there is hierarchy of
needs and it should be fulfilled in an appropriate manner so that challenges related to
motivation can be reduced. From employee’s perspective it is also the fact that in expansion
managers will have to move to some other country and since they will have to face challenges
related to difference in culture hence it will have impact on their motivation (Hausknecht and
Trevor, 2011).
At the time of expansion it is seen that many of the employees within the firm are looking for
opportunities in the new nations and in this regards the role of management will be to ensure
that only those employees will be sent to the new countries that are willing to. For finding
these people proper research needs to be done especially at the managerial levels so that
organisational behaviour can be understood and on the basis of this they will be able to make
their plans about HRM in an effective manner (Azorín and Cameron, 2010). Since Alcohol is
banned in Saudi Arab hence employees might get demotivated about whether they will be
able to do business in an appropriate manner or not. For Saudi Arab a very different kind of
plan has to be made where the company’s employees will not deal directly with the
customers rather they will deal with the restaurants and other vendors that sells the products
hence motivating the employees in such countries to do business is very difficult. This is also
true in terms of the fact that not many employees will like to go as an expatriate to work in
such a country and motivating their subordinates to achieve the desired goals gets further
difficult for them.
In the time when most of the companies are unable to achieve ethical business model and
zero-waste policies in the alcohol industry, this company has been able to achieve it much
before. This can motivate employees to work with them. Since their raw materials are mostly
sourced locally hence they will be able to attach them with the local culture. It is always seen
that when local resources are used in the organisation, there is higher chance employees
remain motivated (Grant, 2014).

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Organisational culture
It is not only that nation’s culture will have impact on the expansion process and idea of the
company but it is the organisational culture that has impact on the expansion. Organisational
culture is also having impact on the motivation of people. This can be understood in terms of
the fact that in the time when companies are moving from one nation to another they will
have to adjust their organisational culture according to the nation and hence it will have
impact on the people as the people who are used to work in a particular type of environment
will not feel comfortable when the organisational culture changes (Liesch, Welch and
Buckley, 2014). The first aspect of the organisational culture can be seen in the areas like
organisational structure. Since more numbers of international subsidiaries will be added to
the company’s structure hence the processes will change and accordingly they will have to
manage the coordination between different subsidiaries. Problems between different units or
subsidiaries in different parts of the world arise due to improper management of operations at
individual SBUs.
In the time when expansion is done by the company changes are also made in terms of
communicational framework where a broader communicational network has to be built
within the firm that connects all its subsidiaries at the global levels. A better
communicational culture has to be built within the firm so that all its international
subsidiaries are managed in the in an appropriate manner and no units remains misinformed
(Alder, et al 2016). All the changes in the organisation could be done effectively only when
organisational culture is taken into consideration appropriately. The issues such as conflict
resolution mechanism have to be built in the firm in an effective manner. Since after
expansion people that will be associated with the firm will be from different parts of the
world having different cultures hence there is higher chances of conflicts between the people
arise and due to this management will have to design conflict resolving mechanism where the
focus should be on inter-cultural management of conflict. The problem will not be bigger in
the case of France because it is having almost similar culture like UK but the challenges
related to conflicts will be bigger in the case of Saudi Arab. Since Alcohol is banned in the
Saudi Arab hence a very different kind of policies has to be made within Saudi Arabian unit
for which organisational culture has to be defined in a different manner where there should be
more cultural touch of the Saudi Arabia. Plans and policies related to the rewards also needs
to be made according to the local culture and in this regards the firm will have to take the
help of local employees (Casillas and Moreno-Menéndez, 2014).

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Changes will also have to be brought in the appraisal and reward system where more focus
will be given on the fact that what is the local appraisal and reward policy. Organisational
culture like decision making process is also needed to be changed i.e. in some nations more
focus is given on collective decision making especially in Britain but in the nations like Saudi
Arabia the major focus will be on the individual decision making process where only the
leaders are involved in the decision making process. Since employee engagement patterns
also differ from nation to nation hence it is critical for the management to have a plan for the
implementation of employee engagement process (Phipps, et al 2013). In France the
employee engagement patterns can be seen in almost all the small and big companies. Due to
this company might not face such problem however in the case of Saudi Arabia this problem
can be much bigger as the lower level employees will mostly be from the Asian countries. As
this company had a record of maintaining ethical business in a better manner which will
automatically help them in reducing the chances of damage to their image. House of
Botanicals is an emerging retailer in different parts of the world hence managing ethics could
help them in making their mark in the industry. The major issue in this is that both the nations
have different culture hence the organisational behaviour policies have to be designed
according to that country.
Leadership taking into consideration building an effective team
In the time when the leadership is playing a bigger role in the success of the organisation
most of the firms are planning to improve the leadership skills of the individuals. This is not
only because leadership will allow the organisation to do business but it is also because
leadership enhances the chances of building an effective team (Hornstein, 2015). Since the
challenges in the management are increasing hence leadership has to improve the way in
which they are dealing with the skills in the time when the management has to ensure that
they have a plan for developing the effective team. By building a leadership skills within the
individuals it will be easier for them to play their roles effectively and in this regards the way
in which they are conducting themselves changes. This helps in making effective teams and
is also critical for reducing the chances of conflicts which is a major concern for the company
in the development and management of teams (Amabile, 2012).
In both France and Saudi Arabia there is a need of improving the way in which teams are
formed. However the challenge gets bigger in the case of Saudi Arab as Alcohol is illegal in
the nation hence they need to make sure that they have a plan for making of the teams. Since

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in the making of effective teams individual plays a greater role hence it is necessary that
leadership skills are built within the individuals (Stock, Boyer and Harmon, 2010). As ethics
has been their major strength of the company hence it has been essential for the management
to look at the aspects like leadership development. Leadership development is also critical to
deal with the local level challenges especially the ones that are related to strategic affairs.
Training has to be given in this regards and ensure that the leadership goals that a company
aims to achieve is achieved by them in an appropriate manner.
Leadership will ensure that they are able to guide and work with their fellows in a better
manner. In the Saudi Arab this can be a major factor when it comes to managing the work
process. With the increment in the leadership skills one can improve in the areas such as
stakeholder’s management (Jackson, et al 2011). For an organisation that aims to become
leader in the market will need to have employees that is having better leadership skills. In the
international situations are changing at much faster rate hence developing leadership is also a
challenge as people will be unaware about the problems that changes at much faster speed. It
is also a challenge for the management to improve the structure of the organisation as
leadership can be effective only if the organisational structure is present in an appropriate
manner.
In the France and United Arab people will want leaders that are from their culture as it is
necessary for making better coordination between the people. There are people from different
parts of the world in both France and Saudi Arab hence it is critical for the employees to have
leadership skills where they know how to take people from all the culture with them. This
behaviour starts with the team that is made within the firm and hence an effective team
culture has to be built within the firm so that everyone helps the other in their leadership
development (Vom Brocke and Rosemann, 2010).
Leadership also needs to be developed in the areas like people’s management i.e. the way in
which they are dealing with the stakeholders. For an organisation that is able to have a clear
idea about the way in which they will have to move, this is a very effective skill that is
required. Both these things play a major role in the development of effective teams and also
have the role in the effective management of process (MacKenzie, Podsakoff and Podsakoff,
2011). In the Saudi Arab where the consumers are not directly connected with the company,
this becomes a major factor for achieving success.

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Recommendation on dealing with challenges
It is recommended that for motivation organisation needs to use various theories of
motivation especially the Maslow Hierarchy of needs. This is a critical theory that will help
the organisation to understand the demands of the employees and hence they can fulfil it. It is
also critical that people’s engagement in the decision making is increased especially in the
France. In the rewards and appraisal policy there must be increase in the participation of the
people which will ensure that no employee remains dissatisfied (Jones, 2013). Transparency
should be the key in these processes. Leadership needs to ensure that they have a
performance management system that is unbiased and in deciding the performance
parameters on which their performance will be evaluated (Elamin and Tlaiss, 2015). It is also
recommended that leadership provides additional support to the employees in Saudi Arab in
order to avoid any kind of ethical mismanagement which can lead to huge losses to the
company.
In the case of change in organisational culture it is recommended that in both the new units of
the company, there must be organisational culture of the parent unit only. However the local
culture needs to be respected in the organisational culture (Avey, Wernsing and Palanski,
2012). It is recommended that there must be development of team culture in both the units
and the upper management should the part of it so that any change in the culture can be dealt
in a proper manner.
It is also recommended that for the leadership development there must be understanding of
the capabilities of the people and accordingly management can have leadership development
program which will ensure that leadership is developed at every level of the organisational
structure (Edvardsson, Tronvoll and Gruber, 2011). Since the leadership skills start from the
team hence a team based approach needs to be used where more focus needs to be given on
development of small and big teams within the firm and hence developing coordination
among the people.
Overall it is recommended that top management needs to give more freedom to the people in
today’s time so that they can do their work in their own manner. However a strict policy
needs to be developed so that any unethical circumstances could be avoided (Awadh and
Wan Ismail, 2012).

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Conclusion
From the above based report it can be concluded that House of Botanicals is aiming to
expand in the nations like Saudi Arab and France which is having a very different culture
from UK. This will create organisational behaviour issues such as lack of motivation among
the people as in Saudi Arab there is ban on the Alcohol. It will also create issues like people
will have to face the change in organisational structure which has impact on the
organisational culture. In leadership development the challenges such as understanding gap
arises.

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