This solution of HND College Organizations and Behaviour Assignment describes the how college management can be more improved. It is theoritical analysis of organizational management

Introduction

Organizational behaviour is the study of the conduct of individuals and groups within organizations. The behaviour of employees depends on the size and type of the organization and the employee behaviour has an impact on the efficiency of the organization. The different elements of organization behaviour include team work, leadership style and communication within the organization. The report analyses the various aspects related to the culture of the organization, the behaviour of the employees, leadership styles and the strategies adopted by City College after the acquisition of Abbey College by City College.

LO 1 Understand the relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture

LO 1.1 Compare and contrast different organisational structures and cultures

Organizational structure is the way in which a company arranges its management and lines of authority. It determines the roles, responsibilities and flow of information within the company. The work culture is a result of these decisions. The organizational structure determines the behaviours, attitudes and ethics of the organisation which help to create the work culture of the organisation (Hersey & Blanchard, 1969). Both Organizational structure and culture have a significant impact on organization performance and provide a competitive advantage to the organisation. If the organizational structure is hierarchical with decision-making power centralized at the top, there will be a lack of freedom and autonomy at the lower levels in the organisation.

If the structure is decentralized with shared power and authority the culture is likely to be more independent, personalized and accountable. The employees love their job and are more passionate about their work. The employees are motivated to perform their roles to the best of their abilities and this creates a positive environment in the organisation.

LO 1.2 Explain how the relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture can impact on the performance of the business

The whole hierarchy at City College should be people centric so as to ensure employee involvement. The college should introduce reward policies for the employees to keep them motivated. This also helps to improve the efficiency and productivity of work at the college and increase the profits. The attitude of the organisation towards its employees reflects by the way the organisation treats its customers. Hence City College should treat both the employees as well as the students in welcoming manner. Even after the acquisition, there should be a friendly environment in the college. The employees of Abbey College should be made to feel comfortable. The college should try and take advantage of the hybrid culture. It is important to have a mutually understanding employee force, in order to deliver the organisational goals and create a family like culture.

 A people oriented structure in the organisation can help to create a friendly environment in an organisation which keeps the employees motivated and hence increase the efficiency of the workers and the profitability of the organisation. The way the students at the college will be treated will be a direct reflection of the way the management at City College treats the employees. This can help to increase the brand image of the College and will deliver satisfied customers by the College. (Syptak, Marsland & Ulmer, 1999).

LO 1.3 Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work

The factors which influence organizational behaviour depend on the circumstances and the situation. There are many types of factors that influence the employee behaviour at work place. Main among them being personality, perceptions, ethnic origin, gender national culture motivation, ability and intelligence, physique etc. They have been explained below:

• Personality: Personality includes the way of thinking, feeling and behaving by an individual. The personality characteristics of employees include independence, self-control, conscientiousness and agreeableness. The type of work allotted to an employee depends on the personality traits of the employee. A person who does not have patience and understanding cannot become a good teacher at a college.
• Perception: Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to the environment. Perceptions are so much ingrained in human minds that they are sometimes impossible to remove and shape into the reality.
• Attitudes are the most important in individual behaviour. The attitude of an employee towards his work can make or break his career. The attitude at work includes the approach towards work, colleagues, management and environment. If you have a positive attitude with others it brings happiness and also increases work efficiency. The work environment is cordial and cooperative. But if you have negative attitude, it may lead to fights and affect the performance at work.
• Ability and Aptitude: Ability is what an individual can do and aptitude is the ability to learn new things. Ability and aptitude of employees are an important part of the organisational culture as they reflect the behaviour of the employees.

Hence it is important for the management of City College to understand the individual behaviour of the employees of City College and Abbey College. This helps to understand the employee reactions and manage them efficiently. The understanding the career aspirations of the employees will help in employee retention.

LO 2 Understand different approaches to management and leadership

LO 2.1 Compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organisations

Leadership in an organisation determines the overall performance and image of the company. He should strive towards effectively managing the organisation resources, efficiently resolving crucial matters, and communicating with the entire organisation. Leaders are also responsible for managing the knowledge which is present within the employee pool. The responsibilities of an ideal leader are to disperse the intellectual assets of the organisations efficiently in order to foster more innovations and encourage the new idea generation. There are different styles of leadership. They have been explained below:

• Transformational: In this leadership style communication plays a very important part for the management to achieve organizational goals. The senior managers always motivate the employees through different means and contests and also improve efficiency by communication and creating high visibility for employees performing well. This leads to increased productivity as all the employees are involved in the team.
• Participative: This kind of leadership style is also called democratic leadership. The employees are a part of the decision making process and hence are highly motivated and satisfied. In this style the leaders always face challenges when companies need to make any decision in a short span of time. A lot of time is also wasted in taking the opinion of the employees.
• Autocratic: This is the extreme form of transactional leadership where the centre of the powers is with the leaders. There is little scope for the employees to make suggestions even if they are in the benefit of the organisation. Though this method is very efficient with quick decision making, it sees a lot of resentment from the employees
• Transactional: Leaders, managers and team members set predefined goals together, and employees agree to follow the direction and leadership of the manager to accomplish those goals. The roles and responsibilities of all the employees are well defined and the team members are appraised on the basis of their performance. But there is little the employees can do on their own to improve the job satisfaction.
• Laissez-faire: In this kind of leadership, the leaders give complete freedom to their teams to do their work and set their own deadlines. The leaders provide resources and advice to the team if required but are not directly involved. This leads to a high level of satisfaction and increased productivity. But it may affect the efficiency if the people are not self-driven.
• People-oriented leadership: In people oriented leadership, leaders are focused on organizing, supporting, and developing the people of their teams. This type of leadership focuses on encouraging good teamwork and creative collaboration.
• Task-oriented leadership: In task oriented leadership the focus is majorly on getting the job done. It is similar to autocratic style of leadership.
• Charismatic leadership: This style is similar to transformational leadership as the leaders are energetic in motivating the employees to perform their best.

The different leadership style that maybe recommended to Mr Wakefield for the college is a transformational and a participative leadership style. These styles of leadership help in lifting the employee morale and also help to increase the efficiency of the employees and the profitability at the company. This also allows in a better understanding of the problems of the employees at the ground level as the department managers are involved in decision making who interact with these employees on a regular basis.

LO 2.2 Explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management

An organisation is a social arrangement of individuals so that they perform in a controlled environment to pursue a collective set of goals. Organizational theory and management theory are sometimes used in conjunction or sometimes they underpin each other in certain aspects of a working business. Many people strive to stick to the theory to help them achieve better results in their jobs or to be successful in life, although this may sometimes lead them to compromise on some of their principles in order to succeed. For example an employee in the marketing sector may use faulty means to perform well and sale their products whereas in the technological sector the values and ethics are kept in high regard and are of utmost importance to the client as well as business.

In some cases it can so happen the organization encourages new product development as a role but the management is not in a position to invest more on new product development which leads to confusion in the minds of employees whether to stick by the organizational change in order to pursue their own interests. The theory of the organisation is a guiding tool for the management. The type of leadership style followed by the management and the main motivation tools followed at an organisation is decided by the organisational theory.

These policies adopted by the management can help to increase the efficiency of the employees and the overall profitability and market share of the business. All this is basically governed by the organisational theory. (Aiken & Hage, 1968).

LO 2.3 Evaluate the different approaches to management used by different organisations

There are many theories for managing and developing an organisation. The same has been discussed below:

• Scientific approach: The scientific approach was given by Frederick. W Taylor. It is based on the concept of planning of work to achieve efficiency, standardization, specialization and simplification. The approach to increase productivity is through mutual trust between the management and workers. According to this theory the employees of an organisation should be scientifically selected, trained and developed. It provides detailed instructions for monitoring the work of each worker. Taylor proposed four principles of scientific management:

• Bureaucratic Approach: This approach was given by Webber. The Bureaucratic approach considers the organization to be part of a broader society. This approach is considered rigid, empire building, impersonal and self-perpetuating. The theory is based on division of labour with uniform rules and regulations for the organisation. There is clear cut hierarchy and chain of command in the organisation. Webber proposed five elements of this approach:
• Contingency or Situational Approach: According to this approach organizational systems are inter-related and also interdependent with their environment. The different business environment require different organizational relationships for effective working of the organization. It is based on the belief that there cannot be universal rules or laws that are applicable under all situations.
• Human Relations Approach: The human relations approach expects to combine both psychology and sociology with management. The employees of an organization can be motivated to develop a team and work in an effective manner to fulfil their needs (Martin & Jones, 1997). There are some principles of Human Relations Approach. These are:
• Workers are humans not machines, so they should not be treated like machines
• Organizations must provide effective communication from the manager or superiors.
• Workers want to work freely without any direct supervision.
• Behavioural Approach: This theory was given by Hawthorne and focused on the fact that in addition to economic views of motivation, social relations can also be an additional motivating factor to increase efficiency of workers.

Different management approaches may be followed at the City College at different situations for managing the situation. There cannot be one single approach which is customized for the organisation to meet all the situations. The leader needs to improvise basis the situation and that’s the reason the contingency and situational approach is more viable in todays’ moderns times in any organization.

LO 3 Understand ways of using motivational theories in organisations

LO 3.1 Discuss the impact that different leadership styles may have on motivation in organisations in periods of change

The different theories of motivation are described below.

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need’s theory: Maslow’s theory defines a hierarchy of human needs that stated that the lower needs must be met before an individual can strive to meet the higher needs. Maslow divided the human needs in the form of a pyramid with the lower level needs at the base and the high level needs at the top. This theory is based on the fact that only after satisfying the lower level needs a human being strives to fulfil his high level need. It cannot happen a human being is striving to fulfil his esteem need without fulfilling his safety or physiological need. (Hall & Nougaim, 1968)

• Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: According to this theory an individual tends to act in a certain way and with an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome which is favourable for the individual. It provides an explanation of why individuals choose one option over others. This theory is best described as a process theory.

Motivation is a process of selecting choices from amongst the alternative forms of voluntary activities and this is particularly controlled by the individual. The individual makes these choices based on the estimates of how well expected results of a given behaviour are going to match with the desired results. Motivation is also defined as

• McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y: The McGregor theory describes two contrasting models of workforce motivation; Theory X and Theory Y. These theories present the perceptions managers have to control their teams. In Theory X, the management assumes that the employees are lazy and will avoid work whenever they can. As a result of this, management believes that workers need to be supervised and comprehensive systems of controls should be developed to keep a check on them. In Theory Y, the management assumes that the employees are ambitious and self-motivated and exercise good amount of self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties. They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but in their respective organizations their talents are underutilized. If given the proper conditions and enabling forces the employees can definitely excel in their field (Fullan & Ballew, 2001).

LO 3.2 Compare the application of different motivational theories within the workplace

The leadership theories which may be suitable for the City College are the Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs theory. City College needs to provide the employees with the physiological needs first in the form of basic amenities including drinking water, clean food and ample sleep, etc. The safety needs for the employees may include safety in the college and training facilities to fight emergencies situations. The social needs can include appropriate team  HND assignment and right communication within the employees. The employees may also be provided with rewards and recognitions in order to fulfil their esteem needs. In terms of self-actualization needs, City College can provide sufficient opportunities to grow to the employees within the organisation.

LO 3.3 Evaluate the usefulness of a motivation theory for managers

Mr Wakefield may also adopt the Vroom’s theory by inculcating a motivation culture among its employees by outlining the rewards and appreciation which are linked with the potential and performance. The employees get inspired to excel at their work and they get confidence from the feedback. Good employees are rewarded in order to stimulate their performance

LO 4 Understand mechanisms for developing effective teamwork in organisations

LO 4.1 Explain the nature of groups and group behaviour within organisations

Two kinds of groups may be formed in an organization. These are:

1. Formal Groups: These groups are supported by organizations to support the organisation in different kinds of work. The main formal groups are:

• Departments
• Teams
• Units
• Divisions

In formal groups the staff tends to take ownership of responsibility and starts performing well in order to set an example in front of his peers.

2. Informal Groups: These are groups not created within the organization and they do not serve any organizational purpose. The informal groups include

• Friendship Groups
• Interest Groups
• Support Groups

The informal groups give some sort of recreation time to employees to rejuvenate themselves after work. The peer interaction at can also help in resolving conflicts.

The managerial staff at the College would be more involved in the mission, goals and objectives of the College. They have a broader perspective about the policies and procedures being adopted and govern the overall operations of the college. The intellectual staff on the other hand primarily focuses on the teaching aids and modules to be implemented (Bolino & Turnley, 2003).

LO 4.2 Discuss factors that may promote or inhibit the development of effective teamwork in organisations within a given organisation

An effective team needs to be cohesive as a unit and needs to be well informed about the tasks at hand on each and every member. Apart from this, certain other factors also contribute to effective teamwork. They are:

There are certain factors that inhibit effective team work. These are: -

LO 4.3 Evaluate the impact of technology on team functioning

The use of new and improved technologies can help to improve effective team functioning in an organization. As technology is always evolving and in order to function effectively the teams must be kept up-to date with the same. Also knowledge base of the teams should continuously be enhanced. The latest Technologies that have improved team functions are:

• computers
• e-mail
• mobile phones
• internet

Computers allow team members to do multitasking and communicate effectively and laptops provide this facility anytime and anywhere. They are lighter, portable and powerful and have a longer battery life. They are a very effective way of communicating apart from smart phones and other devices. The computers help to store data and are also used by the students as the professors of the college to make presentations and assignments.

E-mail is a mode of instant communication with a large number of people at the same time in an effective manner, especially when they are not all present at the same place at the same time.  However managing the emails and tracking the data through mails may be tedious task. The facility of email is often used by the teachers to give assignments to the students.

Mobile phones: They allow teams to communicate even when team members are not in office or otherwise unavailable. They are useful when multiple team mates are required to be on call at the same time through the conferencing facility. Sometimes, having an access to team members at all times can hinder team functioning as it sometimes intrudes their private space which is suffocating at times. Smart Phones today such as iPhone etc. are enabled with 3G data allow team members to work and communicate freely when in the field or with clients.

Conclusion

The organisation structure and culture is very important in playing role in impacting the functions and perceptions of employees. Personal development of employees and those of the leaders play crucial role in deciding the overall organisational image. Behaviour based problems within the workforce must be resolved by the efficient way of management, otherwise the results can be negative for the company. The leadership quality and motivation style affect the employee efficiency. The various aspects of organizational behavior have been evaluated by using the example of Abbey College and City College.

References

Aiken, M., & Hage, J. 1968. “Organizational interdependence and intra-organizational structure.” American sociological review, 912-930. Bolino, M. C., & Turnley, W. H. 2003. Going the extra mile: “Cultivating and managing employee citizenship behaviour. The Academy of Management Executive,” 17(3), 60-71. Hall, D. T., & Nougaim, K. E. 1968. “An examination of Maslow's need hierarchy in an organizational setting”. Organizational behaviour and human performance,” 3(1), 12-35. Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H., 1969. “Management of organizational behaviour (pp. 34-5).” Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

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