Organisational Behaviour (Essay Sample)

A/615/2680: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Student Name Institution Course Instructor Date Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Task 1 – Written Portfolio PAGEREF _Toc100058557 \h 2AC 2.1 Characteristics of Organizational structures PAGEREF _Toc100058558 \h 2Hierarchical or Vertical Organizational Structures PAGEREF _Toc100058559 \h 3Matrix Organizational Structures PAGEREF _Toc100058560 \h 6AC 2.2 How Organizational Culture Impacts Organizational Effectiveness PAGEREF _Toc100058561 \h 7AC 3.1 Impact of Learning on Employee Effectiveness PAGEREF _Toc100058562 \h 9AC 3.2: How Working in teams improves employee effectiveness PAGEREF _Toc100058563 \h 10Extension activities PAGEREF _Toc100058564 \h 113D1: Process and outcomes of change on the effectiveness of employees PAGEREF _Toc100058565 \h 11Task 2- Views on Management Theories PAGEREF _Toc100058566 \h 13AC 1.1: Different Leadership Behaviour Theories PAGEREF _Toc100058567 \h 13AC 1.2: Theories relating to work relationships and interactions PAGEREF _Toc100058568 \h 14Extension activities PAGEREF _Toc100058569 \h 152M1: Relevance of Organizational Culture Theory on Organizational Effectiveness PAGEREF _Toc100058570 \h 15Task 3 – Presentation with accompanying notes PAGEREF _Toc100058571 \h 16AC 4.1: Benefits and Issues of Employees in Organizational Decision Making PAGEREF _Toc100058572 \h 16AC 4.2: Ways of Motivating Employees PAGEREF _Toc100058573 \h 17Extension activities PAGEREF _Toc100058574 \h 184D1: How Coca-Cola Motivates its Employees PAGEREF _Toc100058575 \h 18 Task 1 – Written Portfolio AC 2.1 Characteristics of Organizational structures Every organization whether small or big must put into consideration the manner in which it is structured and designed. In order to operate efficiently and effectively, every company needs a system which is formalized for task completion, communication and arriving at decisions which should match the organizational needs (Alvesson, M., (2012)). Thus, organizational structures are meant to align and relate organizational parts in order to achieve maximum performance. Every chosen structure has an impact on the success of the organization in performing its objectives and strategizing. Before settling on a particular organizational structure, the organizational leadership should have an understanding in regard to the characteristics, limitations and benefits of the various structures in order to frame a course of strategic alignment. Organizational structures define the manner in which work flows within an organization by allowing teams to co-work within their particulate functions in order to manage tasks. Most of the traditional organizational structures are formalized and the employees are usually grouped by function such as operations and finance or product line. There are five key elements which create an organizational structure – chain of command, span of control, delegation, departmentation and job design (Brooks, 2008). Such elements comprise the organizational chart which helps to create the organizational structure. Organizational structures have undergone evolution from rigid, hierarchical, autocratic and vertically integrated structures to others which are relatively networked, empowered, boundary-less designed in a manner to respond fast to the needs of the customer with customized services and products. The strategy of an organization can either be centralization or decentralization which has an influence on organizational structures. Centralization defines the extent to which the authority of decision-making is confined to higher levels of management leading to a pyramidal structure. Decentralization on the other hand explains the extent to which lower levels of the hierarchy have a say in decision making leading to flat organizations. Hierarchical or Vertical Organizational Structures Basically there are two types of vertical organizational structures, that is functional and divisional structures. The functional structure categorizes employees and work depending on specialization. It is a vertically integrated organizational structure characterized by emphasis on standardization and processes for specialized workers in narrow jobs. The functional structure forms departments such as research and development, sales, marketing, HR etc. Every department has got a separate function depending on where it specializes (Vilisov, 2017). For instance, HR professionals are part of the same function and they report to a senior leader of the Human resource office. Such a similar reporting process is similar for different functions such as operations and finance. Employees tend to report directly to managers within their functional zones and the managers in turn report to the chief officer of the firm. In functional structures, the management is centrally coordinated from the top through specialized departments. 0000The functional structure has its pros in that it can develop experts in the respective functional areas, individuals are able to specialize and thus perform only tasks where they are most proficient, and also it forms a logical and easy to implement structure. On the downside, the functional structure has cons such as people are not able to coordinate or communicate effectively because they operate in specialized silos. Also, cross-functional activity is difficult in functional structures and as a result the structure is resistant to change. Decision making occurs at top level of the organization with few shared objectives between functional entities such as purchasing, production, marketing etc. With the centralization of decision-making, functional structures can utilize economies of scale. The Divisional structure also comes under vertical or hierarchically integrated organizational structures. In this case, work and the employees are divided in terms of output where a divisional structure could be divided into another variable such as the region or market. The divisions of the firm take control over their own resources whereby they operate like a company within the bigger organization. Every division can thus have its own marketing, IT, sales, and production teams (Yamazaki, 2013). This works well for large firms and empowers the divisions to be able to make decisions where every person does not have to report to their seniors but only a few executives. Divisional organizational structure depends on the focus of the organization with a few Variations such as market-based divisional structure where the divisions become distinguished by market, customer types or industry. For instance Walmart is a market-based divisional organizational structure where its market is separated into regions and they offer specific items suitable for the market.. There is also the product-based divisional structure where divisions are distinguished in terms in terms of the product line; such an example is Adobe and its creative line of Photoshop, InDesign and illustrator. There is also geographic divisional structure where the divisions are separated by regions where more effective localization and logistics are offered. For instance, when companies have established satellite offices all over a country or the world in order to stay in link with customers. Some pros of divisional structure includes- there is a bigger focus and flexibility on the competency of each division, divisions concentrate on realizing specialized products while utilizing knowledge from similar divisions, there is more coordination and decision-making is also pushed to lower divisions for faster customized decisions. On the downside, some cons exists for the divisional structure, there can be loss of efficiency and duplicated efforts because every division needs its own resources (Fairfield, 2016). Each department has its own units search as R&D, marketing etc which could otherwise interwork and help each other, employees who have similar paths of career do not interact much but they are deployed to different divisions, and at the same time, divisions could be competing for similar companies. Matrix Organizational Structures The matrix structure is a more defined combination of the divisional and functional structures which create a dual-commanding scenario. Subordinates report to two managers who are jointly in charge of the performance of employees. One manager works administratively in functions such as human resource, Finance, IT, marketing or sales while the other manager works in a business unit which is related to geography, customer, service or product. It looks like a grid showing cross-functional teams which form special projects. The design of the matrix encourages open communication among teams and aids the firm to create innovative products. The structure is advantageous in that teams do not need to keep realigning every time to a project (Heorhiadi & Vilhutska, 2019). The matrix creates a functional and a divisional partnership which is able to focus on work than the people. It also aids to lower costs where key personnel is shared. A better sense of balance is realized between cost and completion time. It also offers a good overview of manufactured products. The matrix offers greater visibility, better governance and better control in large organizations. On the downside, matrix structures give unclear responsibilities which could complicate governance. By reporting to multiple managers can be a source of confusion for supervisors and employees (Goś, 2015). The dual chain of command demands cooperation from supervisors in order to determine employee work priorities, performance and assignments. Conflicting demands from leaders could lead to increasing employee stress levels. There is a lot of time spend in meetings. Other organizational structure are the networked structures which remove traditional organizational boundaries with organizational units being flexibly and effectively connecting with everythin...