Organisations and Behaviour Assignment 1

Unit OutcomesOutcome Evidence for the Internal Verification First attempt Re-work Understand the relationship between organisational structure and culture LO1 compare and contrast dif

BTEC HND IN BUSINESS

(MANAGEMENT) ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

I, _ Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh _ hereby confirm that this assignment is my own work and not copied

or plagiarized from any source I have referenced the sources from which information is obtained by

me for this assignment.

21 November, 2012 _ Signature Date

Unit Outcomes

Outcome Evidence for the

Internal Verification

First attempt

Re-work

Understand

the

relationship

between

organisational

structure and

culture

LO1

compare and contrast different organisational structures and culture

1.1

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

1.2

discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work

1.3

Understand

different

approaches to

management

and

leadership

LO2

compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles

in different organisations

2.1

explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management

2.2

evaluate the different approaches to management used by different organisations

2.3

Outcome Evidence for the

Internal Verification

First attempt

Re-work

Assignment

( ) Well-structured; Reference is done properly / should be done (if any)

Overall, you’ve

Areas for improvement:

ASSESSOR SIGNATURE DATE / /

NAME:

(Oral feedback was also provided)

STUDENT SIGNATURE DATE / /

NAME :

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

VERIFIED YES NO

DATE :

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ORGANIZATIONS STRUCTURE, CULTURE

Prepared for:

Lecturer, Mr John Andre Organization and Behaviors Banking Academy, Hanoi BTEC HND in Business (Finance)

Prepared by:

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh - Snow - F05A

Registration No ITPF05-014

No of words: 2704 Submission date: 20 November, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 6

CONTENTS 7

I Understand the relationship between organisational structure and culture 7

1.1 Compare and contrast different organizational structures and culture 7

1.2 Explain how the relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture can impact on the performance of the business 9

1.3 Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work 12

II Understand different approaches to management and leadership 13

2.1 Compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organisations 13

2.2 Explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management 14

2.3 Evaluate the different approaches to management used by different organisations .15 CONCLUSION 16

REFERENCES 17

Study about organization and behavior helps learner understand about individual and group behavior in organizations and their application in managing behavior in the workplace The structure and culture of an organization are the key factors which contribute to the motivation of the workforce at all levels of the organization This assignment will explore the links between the structure and the culture of organizations and the way that these influence the behavior of the workplace through the analysis of two companies: Microsoft and Hewlett Packard

Microsoft is a publicly traded company producing and selling software programs In

2010, it was ranked as 36th on Fortune 500’s annual rankings of America’s companies Hewlett Packard is also one of the leading technology companies, operating in many countries in over the world

This report based on many resources on internet, books to illustrate the factors affect

to the operation of the business such as: organizational structure and culture, and motivational theories

I Understand the relationship between organisational structure and culture

1.1 Compare and contrast different organizational structures and culture

a Organizational structure

Structure is a very important part of any organization, whether it’s big or small Organization structure relate to the way that an organization arranges staffs and jobs logically in order to help companies perform effectively and met its stated objectives (Scott, n.d.) There are many forms of organizations, however, flat and tall structure is considered as core structure of the company

Microsoft and Hewlett Packard also have flat structure “A flat organization is one

which, in relation to its size, has a small number of hierarchical This implies a wide

span of control” (BPP, 2004).

According to Charles Hill and Gareth Jones (2008, p.217) “With its 30,000 employees and five hierarchical levels, Microsoft has a relatively flat structure” It has a broad pyramid shape, wide span of control with fewer levels between the top of the pyramid and the bottom of the pyramid with Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft), the executive management staff forming the top of the pyramid and many employees forming the bottom of the pyramid

Figure 1: Microsoft’s Organizational Structure

With HP, Hurd (CEO of HP) “has flattened HP’s 14 layers of management to have more executive vice presidents reporting directly to the CEO Business units will have more autonomy to execute their plans combined with increased accountability for their results” [ CITATION Git09 \l 1033 ] Therefore, nowadays HP has flat structure

Figure 2: Hewlett Packard’s Organizational Structure

b Organizational Culture

There are many ways to define culture and also many ways to understand organization culture Culture (in the sense of organization “climate”) is the collective self-image and style of the organization, its shared values and beliefs, norms and symbols (BPP Learning Media, 2010, p.102)

Organizational culture of Microsoft and HP has some same features For example,

they also decentralize authority, empower to employees, in other words, it is individual culture However, two companies also some different characteristics Microsoft’s organizational culture is fear and non-innovative whereas HP’s one is innovative.

 Similarities

Both two companies also have individual’s own motivation strategy They treated their employees as members of a family, trust and respect each other Their employees are empowered and are allowed to make their own decisions and speak out their ideas regardless of age or degree

 Differences

Eichenwald said: “Microsoft Company whose innovations had to often been lackluster or weak” In contrast, according to Kevin C.Desouza (2007) “HP is a company that recognized the value of innovation throughout the organization HP focuses on all aspects of innovation: product and service innovation; innovation in business models; cultural and organizational innovation”

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

The relationship between organization’s structure and culture impact on the performance

of the business directly “Organization structure impacts workplace culture through controlling, coordinating and motivating employees to work together to accomplish

company goals and objectives” (Thornton, 2012) One of the most important features in

relationship between organizational structure and culture is that it gives clear picture to the employees about their limitations and responsibilities and so not to concern about the issues that are beyond their scope of expectation this will help employees to work more efficiently An effective coalition between organization structure and culture gets people closer to achieve organizational end goals more efficiently” This proves that structure is

an integral part of any organizational culture

The relationship between organization’s structure and culture impact on the performance

of the business directly It can be assessed as one of factors decides that whether the company will succeed or fail in the competitive market We can evaluate relationship between organizational culture and structure through technical analysis in stock charts According to istockchart, “A stock chart is a graphical representation of stocks price over a set period of time” If the company has good relationship between organizational culture and structure, they will perform well increase revenue, profitability  increase stock prices In contrast, stock prices will decrease significantly

 Microsoft

- Structure: Flat

- Culture: Fear, individual, non-innovative

Figure 3: Stock prices of MSFT

This is line chart which expressed the stock price of MSFT from 2003 to 2012 As can

be seen, the stock prices of MSFT fluctuated significantly between 15 and 37 millions Starting with an unstable trend, the stock prices increased to the highest point of 37 millions in 2008 However, it decreased dramatically to the lowest point in 2009 From

2010 to 2012, stock prices saw a slightly and quite a stable in the years after This proves that MSFT does not combine effectively between organizational culture and structure

 Hewlett Packard

- Structure: Flat

- Culture: individual, innovative

Figure 4: Stock prices of HP

Similar to MSFT, HP also had a strongly fluctuations from 2003 to 2012 Starting with a dramatically increase to the highest point about 55 millions in 2008, however, it saw a significant drop in 2009 with only 25 millions Then there was a significant increase between 2010 and 2011 with 55 millions, highest compared to all years, followed by a dramatically drop in the last years This proves HP also does not strong combination between organizational structure and culture

Figure 5: Comparison of stock prices of HP and Microsoft

In general, HP and MSFT also do not succeed in building good relationship between organizational structure and culture Therefore, their business operation is not stable among years However, as can be seen, HP still has more outstanding features than MSFT such as innovative culture As a result, stock prices of HP are higher than MSFT

1.3 Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work

The behaviour of employees is difficult to predict because each individual behaves differently in different situations and with different people Employees’ behaviour influence on the operation of the business directly so manager need understand why they behave as they do to change their behaviour in such a way as to increase their contribution to organizational goals There are five factors influence individual behaviour at work:

 Personality

 Perception

 Attitude

 Ability and Aptitude

 Conflict, Stress and Change

We will explain some factors to understand in detail about its effects of individual

a Ability

At Microsoft, human being is factor decide whether success or failure of business operation They have a key role because these people can grasp the situation better, catch up how to work more effectively at work, thus saving time and money for the company Therefore, Microsoft is interested in employees’ ability To recruit talent for Microsoft, HR by David Pritchard director takes more responsibility of applying the most effective measure to recruit and train talent people (Chu, 2011) The selection is carried out under a variety of forms For a leading company like Microsoft, they look for people who are the best in the famous universities and achieve award in competitions about knowledge In order to check their ability directly, after selecting thousands of records, the candidates have to undergo an interview Pritchard used to say: “When hiring people with average ability, it is preparing for the end of the Microsoft” Therefore, the qualification examination is held fairly Besides, Microsoft also choose people who without a master's degree but they have performed well in work In short, to do work at Microsoft, they must

be intelligent, always know dedicate their talent for the company; they will be paid for what they have contributed to the company

b Attitude

Attitude of all member of Microsoft company together and attitude of employees with company is positive The good relationship among member of company is the most important factor to assess the development of the company Employees who are treats with respect, they will have positive attitude in protect company’s assets and participate in company activities Microsoft creates for them an environment where people are treated fairly and feel comfortable to help them reduce pressure of the information technology industry (janvier, 2009)

II Understand different approaches to management and leadership

2.1 Compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organisations

Steve Ballmer is a transformational leader It is expressed through passion and

enthusiasm about what he does He believes is “universally applicable to anybody who wants to be a leader” is passion “You have got to love what are doing” (Anon, 2007).At Microsoft’s company meeting, he shouted: “I love this company” He is also

an autocratic leader He always thinks that what he do is right He can do anything to

motivate employees meet objectives which he proposes It is can be said that

Ballmer’s leadership style is negative Peter Skyte, national officer at Amicus said:

“A cutting-edge company like Microsoft should be encourage staff rather than trying

to motivate them through a culture of fear” Furthermore, a group of disgruntled senior Microsoft executives have been discussing ways to oust CEO Steve Ballmer, according to a report from Peter Lauria of the Daily Beast The conspirators are upset both about Microsoft’s stagnant share price and his autocratic leadership style (Spak, 2010) By most measures under his leadership Microsoft’s standing in the tech world has deteriorated, not strengthened (Johnny, 2012) As a consequence of this leadership style, Microsoft’s revenues have more than doubled since Ballmer took over in 2000, but itsshare price has fallen from $48.93 to $25.12 over the same period anyway (Anon, 2010)

b Leadership style of Meg Whitman and effectiveness

Meg Whitman used to be CEO of eBay before becoming CEO of Hewlett Packard so

she has much experience in management Her leadership style is supportive and participative Firstly, Whitman builds strong relationships with employees by

supporting treats them with care and respect (Terry, 2011) Secondly, she always listens and lets her employee’s voice there say in meetings and important decisions

within the company (Terry, 2011) Although her leadership style is very positive;

however, with global economic crisis as well as the ineffective combination between organizational structure and culture, its effectiveness on HP is negligible To specify,

HP still does not remarkable in financial situation For the full year fiscal 2012, net revenue of $120.4 billion was down 5% from the prior-year period and down 4% when adjusted for the effects of currency (HP, 2012)

2.2 Explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management

a Scientific management (Taylor’s theory):