Task 1- Organizational structures and cultures
Organizational structure
Organizational structure can be defined as the way by which we decide how the jobs or tasks will be assigned to the employees of the organization and how it will be coordinated. The employee will report to which senior manager can be finalized through the structure of the organization (Burstein, 1991). There are six main elements of organization structure:
- Work specialization
- Departmentalization
- Chain of command
- Span of control
- Centralization & decentralization
- Formalization
We will discuss all different types of structures and will try to find out which structure is present in creative PR Company.
Hierarchical structures - Most common way which is used by major companies is the hierarchical structure. Reporting levels are described in this type and structure and it also defines the status and designation of the employees in the structure.
Description - In this structure at the top there will be a single person and under him there will be few persons reporting to him and each of these people will also have some people reporting to them directly. After three years Williams and Brown in the Creative PR Company tried to get this type of culture to make the work more organized (Katz, 1978). All four members have their own teams and projects and they make the transition from one project to another more organized.
Advantages of hierarchical structures - It makes the structure more organized. Roles and responsibilities are well defined. Employees will have directing reporting lines. There will be no confusion in assigning work to the team members. It creates more team building skills among the team members.
Disadvantages or limitations of hierarchical structures - There is less opportunity of going into other projects and learn more. There will be no co-operation between the employees of two projects and company will not be able to use the capabilities of one employee in other project. There are very less chances for low level employees to interact with the type executives of the organization.
Flat structures
Removing all the middle levels from the hierarchy structure creates the flat structure. Creative PR Company had flat structure in the starting of its operations and after that it shifted to more organized hierarchical structure.
Advantages of flat structures - There will be better communication. Employees are more motivated as we saw in the Creative PR case also that in the first two years employees were having fun while working in the company. There was better flexibility for the workforce. It leads to better team spirit. It also helps in easier and quick decision making.
Disadvantages or limitations of flat structures - There is more than one manager for an employee and it leads to the confusion and sometimes decisions can get stuck. It is difficult to handle this type of structure in larger organizations and it usually works in smaller organizations with less number of employees.
Organizational culture
Values, visions, norms, working language in the organization, beliefs and habits of the employees form the organization culture. Behavior of human beings towards each other also represents the culture of the organization (Schein,2006).
There are four major types of organizational culture
- Clan
- Adhocracy
- Market
- Hierarchy
Clan organizational culture - In this type of culture employees are like one family. They are very much attached to each other and help each other. Creative PR had this culture in the initial years and it has great advantages for the employees. It leads to more employee satisfaction. Employees are multi skilled and they help each other in growing and they focus on doing things together.
Adhocracy Organizational Structure - In this type of structure the company focuses on risk taking and innovations. Employees are given flexibility to think out of the box and come up with some new ideas. The environment is very dynamic and entrepreneurial. The major advantage of this culture is that employee gets more opportunities to develop and utilize his skills for the development of both employee and the employer.
Market oriented organizational structure - In this culture the company focuses on the results. It motivates employee to beat the competition. Managers just want the employee to finish the job. This structure reduces employee satisfaction and there are no fun activities in the organization. There are Very few chances for employee skills development. Creative PR didn’t have this structure under two sets of directors.
Hierarchy oriented organizational culture - This culture is related to hierarchy organizational structure. It is more organized and controlled. There are reporting managers for team members. It focuses on efficiency and stability. Creative PR had this structure which made it financially successful in the market. We have already discussed its advantages and limitations.
The organization structures which were present in Creative PR were hierarchical and flat structures and the culture which were present there were Clan and Hierarchical.
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Task 2 – Management or Leadership Styles
We will discuss different types of management styles in organizations and then we will see in which category we can fit both set of directors of Creative PR.
Types of Management styles:
Directive - It is also called as coercive leadership style. In this type managers or leaders just give their command and they want employees to follow what they say. Managers very closely control the employees. In this human resource management becomes key thing. There is very less freedom for employees in this type of structure (Peterson, 1997). Managers motivate employees by threatening them.
Authoritative - It is also called as visionary style and the primary objective of this type of style is to provide long term direction. Managers want employees to understand the vision of the organization and work towards it. Managers are firm and fair also in this style. Managers motivate employees by persuasion and giving them correct feedback on their performance.
Affiliative - The objective of this structure is to create harmony between the employees and the employer and it also leads to more cordial relationship between the employees. In this style leaders always want their employees to be happy and which leads to more motivation. Managers give first preference to the employees and then to task.
Participative - It is also called as democratic style and it builds commitment and consensus between the employees. Employees get more freedom and they can give their inputs without hesitation. Employees can contribute in decision making. Managers motivate employees by rewarding their efforts (Sosik, 2000).
Pacesetting - The objective of this style is to complete tasks with high standards of excellence. Managers take most of the responsibilities and set an example for his team members. It is effective when employees are highly motivated. Managers motivate employees by setting high standards in the work quality and encourage employees to work according to those standards.
Coaching - It helps in developing long term professionalism in the employees. Mangers find out the strengths in his team members and encourage them to develop their strengths and improve the performance. This type of style works when employees want to develop their skills and they are self-motivated.
Williams and Brown’s style of Management
The style of management which Williams and Brown’s adopted in the organization after 2 years was very much similar to Authoritative management style. They wanted everything to be more organized. Roles and responsibilities of the employees should be defined clearly. There were dedicated teams for one project and transfer from one project to another became more formal. They reduced the flexibility of the employees and made them more disciplined. They adopted hierarchical organizational structure and introduced managerial layers. Powers were given to the managers. Managers used to report both of them and all the other employees used to report their managers. It reduced the wastage of time by the employees. Roles and responsibilities of the employees and the managers were very clear in their management style. Delegation of work also became more organized. Managers used to delegate work to the employees. Managers had good control on their team members. It improved the efficiency of the employees and the company was financially successful even after the exit of Sinclair and Foster. Employees and managers who were married were happy with this type of system because there was specific time for work and they didn’t have to stretch for work till night. It also reduced the confusions and work was happening in more routine way and it also reduced the work pressure from both the directors.
Sinclair and Foster’s style of Management
The management style which was used by Sinclair and Foster in their new organization was blend of Participative and Affiliative management style. Managing and Developing People manner is the way by which they can show leadership skills. Employees had more freedom and flexibility. They could stay out of the office for longer period of time and could work in the night. It was good for bachelors. Employees were satisfied with this type of managerial structure. Managers gave employees freedom of thinking out of the box and come up with new ideas. There was more cordial relationship between the managers and the employees and the Sinclair and Foster had direct control on the employees. The company was successful and it had good brand image in terms of innovation and creativity. Both Sinclair and Foster used to delegate tasks to the workforce and the organization was more customer-centered. Employees were self-motivated and they knew their roles and responsibilities. They used to even party with the clients. But this type of style sometimes create confusion as there is no restriction on the employees and employees are not aware of the exact duties and sometimes one employee used to work for two managers and some employees were just free lancers. In this type of style we are not able to use the resources efficiently.
Task 3- Motivational theories
The characteristic which helps in achieving the goals and objectives is called motivation. It is like a force which pushes us to work hard. We get the strength from an energy which encourages us to move forward and even in the situations when everything is against us. We stay focused to our goals and work very hard to achieve them. In an organization motivation is very important for the organization’s success. Employees should get some benefits or incentives from the organization’s success which will motivate them and they will work with their 100 percent potential to achieve the goals.
Some of the motivational theories are as follows:
- Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- Herzberg’s motivator- hygiene theory
- Alderfer’s ERG theory
- McClelland’s three needs theory
I will discuss the first two theories which are the most important theories of motivation and will try to apply these theories in Creative PR Company.
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Everyone has hierarchy of their needs which is ranging from lower to higher and when lower need is satisfied people go for the next step in the hierarchy. According to Maslow individual does not feel the higher need unless he is able to satisfy the current need (Simons, 1987).
The five stages of Maslow’s theory of motivation are:
- Self-actualization
- Esteem needs
- Social needs
- Safety needs
- Psychological needs
Psychological needs come first and self-actualization comes at last.
Application of Maslow’s theory in Creative PR Company
I will discuss all the steps of this theory considering the employees and owners of this Company.
Psychological motivation-Employees and all the four owners are able to satisfy their psychological need in the Creative PR Company and also in the new organization Set up by Sinclair and Foster. They are getting enough lunch breaks and salaries by which they are able to buy the essential needs of life
Safety needs- All of them are secure also in terms of job security. Work environment is also not threatening. There is no threat of losing job in the organization set up by Sinclair and Foster but in Creative PR after the change in organization structure and culture there is some threat of losing job if employee doesn’t perform and work in discipline.
Social needs- The companies are performing well financially well and employees and managers are earning enough to satisfy their social needs. Social needs include luxuries of life like car, laptop, bungalow etc. Williams and Brown initially faced a problem and they weren’t getting enough time to spend with their families but after the change their problem got solved.
Esteem motivators- Getting recognition in front of everyone in the organization increases the reputation of the employee which comes under esteem needs. Both the organizations need to set proper feedback or performance evaluation systems to satisfy this need of the employees.
Self-Actualization- Getting challenging projects in which employee is able to use his creativity and innovative ideas to come up with something out of the box. In the new organization employees are given proper time to work on their creativity.
It has limitations like it says people satisfy one need at a time but there is very few evidence for this and people might want to satisfy all the needs at a time.
Herzberg’s motivation-Hygiene theory
This theory gives us the factors in the organization which are responsible for satisfaction and dissatisfaction of an employee. Some of the motivational factors for satisfaction are achievement, recognition, growth, responsibility etc. And some of the factors which can be responsible for dissatisfaction are company policies, work conditions, salary, relationship with boss and employees etc. These factors are also called as hygiene factors (Herzberg, 2005).
Application of Herzberg’s theory in Creative PR Company
As we studied in the case that there are few hygiene factors in the organization which can lead to dissatisfaction. For e.g. employees are getting good salaries and their relationships with the managers and the team members is also very fine. But the organization needs to work on the motivational factors which are not there in the organization. The company has to proper system in the organization in which employee should know the growth opportunities. Employee should be aware of the responsibilities and by giving recognition and incentive to the employees company can increase the motivational factors. Williams and Brown’s new model of organization structure is providing more motivational factors.
Some people believe that the factor which is motivational for one employee can be the factor which leads to dissatisfaction for the other employee. This is one of the biggest limitations of this theory.
Task 4- Team and Team building theories
A small group of people with different abilities who work together to achieve a common goal is called team. Al the members of a team are interdependent and everyone has different roles and responsibilities. The objective of the team is to achieve cohesiveness.
The process in which we form, grow, and improve the skills and knowledge of the team members and make the team more effective is called team building.
Application of team building in Creative PR Company
Belbin’s team theory
According to Belbin there are nine team roles and he categorized them into three groups.
- Action orientated
- People oriented
- Thought oriented
Action oriented people comprises of three types of people which are shapers, implementers and finishers. There are the people who do the implementation of the job. All the low level staff of the Creative PR Company comes under this category. They are building blocks of the company so the company should keep them motivated to get better quality of the products or services (Prichard, 1999).
People oriented people are coordinators, team workers and reinforce investors. They focus on team building and innovation. Sinclair and Foster’s team has these types of employees who focus on innovation. They focus on good relationship between the team members. In PR Creative people oriented team members are enough to make the team stronger and to create the healthy environment in the team.
Thought oriented employees are evaluators and specialists. The senior team members usually play this role. In Creative PR all the four founders played this role before the split. They used to monitor and make strategic plans for the team and the organization. They critically find out the pros and cons of different strategies.
In Creative PR we have good mix of these types of team members which is the major reason for the company’s success. Three types of team players give balance top the ream.
Theory X and Theory Y
This theory was given by Douglas McGregor. He was a lecturer in Harvard University.
This theory gives the two opposing style to build teams in the organization. Theory X is traditional in terms of direction and control and theory Y the team members are self-motivated towards the goals of the organization and they know that by achieving organizations goals they will be able to achieve their own goals (McGregor, 1960).
Theory X - According to the theory X employees do not like their job and they need to be continuously supervised in work. It also believes in threatening and directing employees to achieve the organization’s goals. All the responsibility comes on the leader on the team. There is no relationship building in the team members and the team members do not take the full responsibility of the outcome. Employees are unambitious and the motivational force for them is job security.
This theory is traditional and it does not exist in the Creative PR Company. Before the split the employees had flexibility and freedom. There was no direct supervision and there was very good relationship between the team members. They used to party together and even the clients were happy with this type of structure. Even after the split Williams and Brown did not used theory X and maintained cordial relationship with the employees. I totally oppose theory X and it cannot lead to team building.
Theory Y - According to theory y employees are self-motivated and ambitious and there is cordial relationship between the leader and team members which leads to better team building in the organization.
Creative PR Company before and after the split followed this theory to build a team. Threat was not the motivational factor but recognition, achievements and incentives were the factors which used to motivate team members to perform well and work in co-ordination with the other team members. Team members used to help each other. Employees were multi-skilled and they were helping each other.
Hence theory X should not be used for team building but theory Y and Belbin’s theory will be better options for Creative PR Company.
References
Burstein, P. 1991. Policy domains: Organization, culture, and policy outcomes. Annual Review of Sociology, 327-350. Herzberg, F. 2005. Motivation-hygiene theory. chair in human resources at the State University of New York–Buffalo and was faculty director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership there. Previously he was Research Professor of Management at Georgia State University. He has written over fifty books and over 135 other publications., 61. Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. 1978. The social psychology of organizations. McGregor, D. (1960). Theory X and theory Y. Organization theory, 358-374. Prichard, J. S., & Stanton, N. A. 1999. Testing Belbin’s team role theory of effective groups. Journal of Management Development, 18(8), 652-665. Schein, E. H. 2006. Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 356). Wiley. com. Simons, J. A., Irwin, D. B., & Drinnien, B. A. 1987. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Retrieved October, 9, 2009. Sosik, J. J., & Godshalk, V. M. 2000. Leadership styles, mentoring functions received, and job?related stress: a conceptual model and preliminary study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21(4), 365-390. Peterson, R. S. (1997). A directive leadership style in group decision making can be both virtue and vice: Evidence from elite and experimental groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(5), 1107.If you need more help in HND Organizational Structure Assignment click on order now.
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