This is a solution of HND College Organisations Behaviour Assignment in which we discuss specific organization’s vision, mission, objectives, core values, goals and most important behaviour in organization.

Question - 1

Define the word organization culture and the various types of culture that are available to an organization stating advantages and disadvantages of each of them. Identify and describe the different types of organizational structures and cultures and compare and contrast including an argument for and against the structures of City College and Enterprise.

Answer – 1

            Organizational culture refers to sum total of an organization’s vision statement, mission, objectives, core values, goals, beliefs, rituals, practices, language followed, symbols, habits, assumptions of individuals and the kind of organisations and  behaviour in which individuals engage. Organizational culture basically defines the correct type of behaviour for individuals in an organization. Different organizations have different organizational culture.

            Different professors, psychologists, scientists, etc have classified organization culture in different ways but the two most commonly known classifications are –

The most widely accepted classification was done by Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn in the year 1999. They broadly classified organization culture into four types –

Type	Definition	Advantage	Disadvantage
Clan	In this type of organizational culture, there is a very friendly atmosphere in the organizational. The members of top management serve as father figures to other staff members. More focus is given on mentoring, nurturing and development of individual employees. In this case, people believe in collective output and therefore do things together.	·         Such organizational culture helps in professional as well as personal growth of individuals at the same time (due to emphasis on mentoring) ·         Such organizations have low employee turnover rate.	·         In such organizations it is difficult to track performance of individual employee. ·         Since the level of competition in such organizations is very less or absent, at times the overall productivity of such organization sis very less.
Adhocracy	Here the leaders motivate their employees to think different. In other words, here idea generation or innovation is encouraged and appreciated. The leaders try out to bring forwards the entrepreneurial skills of their staff members (Raquel Sanz-Valle, 2011, pp 56). In this case, more emphasis is given to doing the things first.	·         Such organizations foster innovation which adds to organization’s success. ·         Since the emphasis is on ‘doing things right’, it leads to less wastage of resources or low overall production cost.	·         Such an organization may pose a lot of pressure on employees to come up with new ideas (might lead to stress).
Hierarchy	Here the organizations have a more structured or orientated approach. In this case the members of top management act as coordinators. In other words, mantra of such organizations is to do things right in a stable and efficient manner.	·         Production of more standardized ads and services.	·         Employees in such a organizational culture may not be able to put their best foot forward since innovation, idea generation are not given that much importance here.
Market	Here there is a lot of competition in the workplace. All the staff members focus more on their performance and achievement. Moreover, the most important aspect of such organizations is to get the right work done.	·         Such organizational culture leads to increased productivity and therefore more profitability.	·         Employees due to intense competition may not be able to work properly in teams.

The second classification was done by Hofstede in the year 1980. He stated that there are five cultural dimensions that shape behaviour of individuals in an organization. They are –

• Power distance
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Individualism vs. collectivism
• MasculinityVs Femininity
• Long- Versus Short-Term Orientation

Organizations have different organizational structures depending upon the kind of company it is and the kind of objectives it has to fulfil. Organizational structures are widely divided into three categories –

• Functional – Here all the activities within the organization are divided into categories and are handled separately by different departments like sales, marketing, human resource, etc. Here there is a hierarchy and who has to report to who is very clear.
• Divisional – Such type of structure is adopted by an organization whose operations are spread over a very big geographical region. Here individuals in different geographical region are free to take their own decisions.
• Matrix – It is a hybrid of functional and divisional organizational structures that combines the advantages of the two structures. Here though the individuals in different divisions or geographical regions are free to make independent decisions, however they are supposed to report some of the tasks assigned to a central authority (Blyton, 1992, pp 58).

City college has a ‘Functional organizational structure’ where all the activities within the college are divided into three categories and are handled by three different departments – Teaching operation (imparting knowledge to students), Human resource department (it is engaged in a number of activities like recruitment, selection, training and development of staff members. Moreover, it ensures higher level of employee involvement, engagement and satisfaction) and Administration (maintains all the paper work, deals with fee collection and other administrative issue).

      Enterprise has a ‘Matrix structure’, i.e., the organization possess certain elements of both functional as well as divisional structure. For example – city managers are allowed to take decision according to customer requirements in their city but they are supposed to report some of the tasks or are answerable to the enterprise general manager. Moreover, the company has an ‘Adhocracy’ organizational culture where the employees are encouraged to come up with new idea. The organization trains and develops its employees so that they learn to become better leaders.

Question – 2

Explain the relationship between an organization’s structure and culture and the effects that both culture and structure has on an organization’s performance. Citing examples from the case study identify and examine in detail, the effects that both culture and structure has on the performance of City College.

Answer – 2

            Organizational structure and organizational culture are derived from each other or in other words are highly dependent on each other. An organizational structure frames the kind of behaviour that individuals have in an organization, their attitude, assumptions, etc; which in turn gives birth to the kind of culture the organization has. For example, if an organization has a tall or vertical structure then the organizational culture will surely be more hierarchical. Moreover, the culture would be a sign of autocratic style of leadership and the employees at lower levels would lack freedom or would have no say in any decision making process (Martínez-García, 2011, pp 540).

            Both the organization structure as well as the culture determines the overall organizational performance. For example, it is believed that organizations that have a wide structure are more preferred by employees since the employees are given more freedom in such organizations, they feel valuable to be a part of the decision making process in these organizations and therefore they stay associated with these organizations for a very long time. This in turn increases the overall profitability of the organizations (saves recruitment, selection, training and development cost).

            In case of City College, the organization has a functional structure where each department specializes in certain activities. Due to this structure the individual output of each department is satisfactory and therefore the college is well known among the masses. For example the teaching department concentrates only on the teaching part – how to improve the teaching methods, what to teach, when to teach, etc; the human resource department takes steps to ensure selection of right candidates, provision of appropriate training to them, employee wellbeing, etc; the marketing department concentrates on methods to increase the popularity of the college, etc.

            Furthermore, in case of ‘Enterprise’, the organization has a matrix structure. Depending upon the situation the leaders act as democratic or autocratic leaders. On one hand, autocratic leadership style helps to put in place certain policies that are very much required for organizational success (for example - use of techniques to reduce waste or improve carbon footprint) and on the other hand, democratic leadership style promotes idea generation, it makes the employees feel valuable and motivated (by fulfilling their five basic human needs according to ‘Maslow Hierarchy of Needs’). Motivated employees work harder and deliver their 100 percent to the organization, thereby increasing the overall organizational performance(Kelvin Yu, 2004, pp 342).

Question – 3

Define the word behaviour and identify the various factors that might influence the way individuals behave at work. Using different examples from the case studies, discuss what you would identify as the influencing factors in the way City College behave

Answer – 3

            Behaviour refers to the various kinds of actions or expressions that humans display in a particular kind of physical environment or in a particular situation.

There are various kinds of factors that influence or have a deep impact on the behaviour of individuals at workplace –

• Leadership behaviour – Leaders can be democratic or autocratic, i.e., either they can be participative and let the employees be a part of the decision making process or can simple take decisions on their own and ask the employees to abide by the same respectively. In the former case, the employees feel more associated with the organization and therefore have more positive orientation than in the latter case.
• Level of Job satisfaction – If the management make efforts to fulfil the needs of their employees apart from achieving organizational goals, the employees feel more motivated to work harder and deliver their best to the organization (motivation theory proposed by Abraham Maslow).
• Personality characteristics –Certain actions of individuals are a result of the kind of personality they have. It may be due to the physical environment in which they have been brought up or due to genetic reasons.
• Perception of organizational justice – The management must ensure that it is just in all forms and value each individual equally (i.e., it is not biased towards any employee) else it results in frustration, depression as well as demonization and the performance of the individual decreases.

In the case of City College, the human resource department takes adequate steps to ensure high level of job satisfaction among its employees by providing them with proper training and encouraging them to come forward with new ideas. Moreover, while selection of staff members they make sure that the person possesses the skill sets (personality characteristics) that is I sync with its core values. In short the influencing factors in this case would be - Personality characteristics and employee job satisfaction.

      In the case of Enterprise, ‘employee development’ is among one of the key objectives of the organization which leaves a positive impression in the minds of its employee and they feel satisfied and motivated. Moreover, by implementing programs and policies like ‘open door’, the organization makes sure that it considers all its employees on equal level (positive perception of organization justice). Furthermore, depending upon the situation or business requirements, the management follows democratic or autocratic leadership style. More involvement of employees in the decision making process makes fulfil their need for self esteem and self actualization and they achieve higher level of job satisfaction. In addition to this, Enterprise at the time of selection hires employees that have good and suitable leadership qualities so that it helps in better management. In short the influencing factors in this case would be – Leadership style, Personality characteristics, perception of organizational justice and employee job satisfaction (Lund, 2003, pp 220).

Question – 4

Taking the case studies to support your discussion, compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in the two different organizations. Explain the various approaches to management and leadership theories and their relationships to the way organizations are managed and their importance.

Answer – 4

City College follows a ‘Transactional’ leadership style. The college has established certain objectives and has formulated some corporate core values. It expects its employees to achieve these objectives and follow its core corporate values.

            Enterprise follows a combination of Transformation, Democratic and Autocratic leadership style.

• Transformation – The management pays a lot of attention to direct communication (open door policy). Moreover, emphasis is given on fulfilling all the basic needs of the employees including their two higher levels of basic human needs – self esteem and self actualization. This motivates the employees to deliver their best to the organization. Furthermore, the management itself is involved deeply in fulfillment of the objectives of the organization. In addition to this, the management gives emphasis to team work (Stacks, 2013, pp 172).
• Democratic – The organization involves its employees in the decision making process. Moreover, it motivates its employees to think different and come up with new ideas.
• Autocratic –The management takes up important decisions of the organization on its own in cases where the decision is of utmost importance and no other choice is available in front of the management.

Different types of leadership (management) theories -

• Great Man Theory – According to this theory leaders are born, they cannot be created. The theory supports the thought that there are certain inherent characteristics that makes a man a leader. These characteristics cannot be developed but have to be present in the person right from his or her birth. The theory also states that natural born leaders possess qualities like charisma, self confidence, intelligence, better future visibility and people skills.
• Trait Theory – It is somewhat similar to ‘Great Man theory’ since t also believes that presence of certain characteristics makes a person a leader, for example - charisma, self confidence, intelligence, courage, etc. However, unlike the “great man theory’, this theory does not state that leaders cannot be made.
• Contingency Theory – This theory states that no leadership style can be followed in all kinds of situations and that managers need to take up different styles with respect to different environmental variables.
• Situational Theory – This theory states that managers must adopt different leadership styles in different situations (leadership style is dependent on situational variables).
• Behavioural Theory – This theory is opposite to the ‘great man theory’ and proposes that leaders are made and are not born. It states that it is the actions of people that make them leaders and not their inner qualities.
• Participative Theory- It states that a true leader is the ones that encourages its employees or staff members to participate in the decision making process of the company.
• Management Theory – It is also known as the transactional theory. This theory considers employee motivation and supervision of management for achievement of objectives as the main functions of any organization. Moreover, the theory supports the system of rewards and punishment.
• Relationship Theory – According to this theory, cordial and healthy relationship between the top management and the employees is of utmost importance. The leaders in this case have high ethical and moral standards.

These theories have a lot of significance. They help an organization to choose the kind of leadership style it wants to adopt. Moreover, it also helps to understand the underlying factors behind the various leadership styles. For example, ‘situational theory and contingency theory’ helps to understand why different leadership styles are adopted by an organization under different situations. ‘Trait Theory’ highlights the important characteristics that must be present in a leader whereas ‘Behaviour Theory’ explains the behavioural characteristics that leaders must display and organisations behaviour. ‘Relationship Theory’ helps to understand the importance of relationship building with the employees and the logic behind the fact that most of the organizations nowadays have started investing heavily on welfare of their employees (M.K. Barua, et al, 2012. pp 352).

Question – 5

From your understanding of the different approaches to management and leadership theories, explain which of these theories you think that both City and Enterprise have adopted. Evaluate the different approaches used by the City College and Enterprise. You may include examples from other organizations to support your evaluation.

Answer – 5

            Different types of leadership theories can be related to the case of City College and Enterprise –

• Contingency and Situational Theory –According to contingency theory, no leadership style can be claimed to be the best solution in all kinds of situations. Situational theory sates that leadership style can be democratic or autocratic depending upon the kind of situation the organization is facing. These theories can be seen to be true in case of Enterprise.
• Management theory or Transactional theory – The theory gives emphasis to motivating employees to achieve the organizational goals. This theory is true in case of City College.
• Relationship Theory – The theory states that employees get motivated to work harder and deliver their 100 percent output when there exists a cordial relationship between the leaders or management and the employees. This is seen to be true in both the cases – City College and Enterprise.
• Participative Theory – The theory states that ideal leaders encourage employee involvement in the decision making process. This can be seen to work in the case of Enterprise (Park, 1996, pp 14).

for more help in HND College Organisations Behaviour Assignment, order us now

Contact us

Get assignment help from full time dedicated experts of BTEC HND & HNC assignments.  

Call us: +44 - 7497 786 317

Email: help@hndassignme=nts.co.uk