Organisational Behavior: News International-News - Assignment Example

? Organisational behaviour Part one: Control Flamholtz (1985) defines organisational control as any attempts by the organisation to increase the probability that individuals and teams in the organisation will behave in a manner that leads to attainment of the organizational objectives and goals. Applied control entails the activities of management that monitor, shape and reward the behaviour of the subordinates. Management control includes all processes used in the organisation to ensure all procedures are adhered to, and organisational goals are accomplished. The control policies should respond to the changing business environment. Our seminar question dealt with analyzing the control activities of News International-News of the world. The organisation was established in 1843 and is the largest selling English Language newspaper in the world. It is a subsidiary company of News International and the chief executive officer is Rebekah Brooks. The organisational behaviour has made the organisation lose its public image due to poor control procedures and numerous complains from the public (Williams, 2011). The control environment encompasses the overall attitudes, awareness and actions of the management regarding the importance of control in the organisation. The management styles, values and organisational culture will provide the platform on which controls in the organisation are operated. The organisation can implement either centralized or decentralized control strategies (Griffin 2012). A centralized control strategy entails a high hierarchy, many formal rules and procedures and standardized policies. On the other hand, decentralized control strategy is characterized by less formal procedures and decentralized decision making. Some of the control strategies include market control, bureaucratic control and clan control. News International relied mainly on gossip in exposing celebrity scandals, and the target market was the younger generation. They used unethical means in obtaining information like hacking mobile phones and stalking the celebrities. The organisation soon attracted a negative image by being nicknamed News of the Screws. Control measures usually focus on the output and behaviour of employees in the organisation. Acceptable behaviours will improve organisational outputs while output controls will maintain the quality of outputs through minimizing errors and customer complaints. The agency theory of control asserts that the “principal will determine the work the agent performs” (Pfister 2009: 23). The agent should act in the best interests of the principal. News of the World was an agent of the shareholders. The management ignored the interests of the shareholders by conducting their business activities in an unethical manner. News of the World experienced a conflict of interest since the journalists were also under pressure to satisfy the needs of the customers thus increasing the market share of the newspaper. The management should have provided the employees with more meaningful jobs and not hacking celebrity phones. The organisational culture should also respect people rights to privacy. The cybernetic model of control is geared at aligning the individual goals with the organisational goals. This is done through efficient resource allocation, performance evaluation and reward systems. Organisations like News of the World should implement performance standards and means of evaluating the employee performance. Punishments and rewards can be utilized to control the behaviour of workers (Lussier 2012). The model of control can be applied to individual employees, working teams and production units in order to control behaviour and attain the organisational goals. According to William Ouchi, control measures can improve the mechanisms through which the behaviour of employees is managed. The market control at News of the World has made employees pursue goals that are inconsistent with the organisational objectives. Employees are also unhappy with the bureaucratic control since they are unwilling to follow the numerous formal rules and procedures in the organisation. The employees cannot perform tasks without instructions while the cost of training employees on the new rules is high. Employees have low morale since they are incapable of exercising their discretion and autonomy in their work. The controls have led to high employee turnover and dissatisfaction with work. The employees are dissatisfied with the output control systems since they have to engage in unethical practices in order to obtain information for publication purposes (Lussier 2012). According to Bureaucratic control theory, organisations should have standardized rules and procedures that are observed by all employees (Singh 2010). These strict rules and procedures will shape the behaviour of employees and outcomes will be predictable. The firms using bureaucratic control lack flexibility and usually follow the routine norms and rules that guide employee behaviour (Harris 2005). Bureaucratic control led to ‘red tape’ at News of the World thus leading to change resistance. More than 4000 people made phone hacking complains against the organisation thus negatively affecting the organization’s public image and perception. This type of control reduced employee’s discretion encouraged impersonality and hindered innovation in News of the World. The management did not address the psychological stress experienced by the employees since most of them displayed feelings of alienation. News of the World should transit from centralized control system that entails many rules and procedures to market oriented view points in controlling behaviour. The company should focus on satisfying the customer and not indulging in celebrity private lives. Due to the uncertainty, the organisation moved to Clan control in order to motivate employees. Teams were allowed to manage their own affairs and shared responsibility for their productivity (Montana and Charnov 2000). Part two: The understanding and knowledge of organisational behaviour theories and research is relevant for management and practitioners. Martin and Fellenz (2010), asserts that understanding of the purpose of organisational culture will influence the leadership styles, the organisational structure and power systems in the organisation. Organisational culture includes the values, beliefs, traditions and language that contribute to achievement of organisational goals (George 2009). Organisational culture unifies the efforts of all subordinates and enhances interpersonal relationships in the organisation (Thompson and Martin 2005). Organisational culture is also influenced by the national culture and includes all shared meanings and symbols in the organisation (Siayadain 2003). The organisational culture will affect the leadership styles and consumer behaviour especially while interacting with outside stakeholders. Goal-setting control process is essential in organisations. Corporate managers should set individual goals that each employee is required to attain in order to meet the overall objectives of the organisation. The departmental heads are also supposed to set goals for each department. Values and norms control measures will also control the behaviour of employees. Modern organisations set goals that require each employee to get rewards for risk taking. For instance, technology companies encourage innovation and risk taking while oil refineries focus on caution through controlling employees’ behavior. The organisation should implement a flexible bureaucratic control system that encourages employees to follow the acceptable rules and procedures. For instance, standardized procedures such as communication with suppliers are essential since the outcomes are predicable. Output controls are essential in regulating the quality of products and the behavior of workers in the organisation. The organisation should have a clan control system. Organisational culture entails the values, norms and beliefs of the workers thus clan control will aid the organisation in developing an internal system of values and norms that should be followed by all employees. A behavioral control system in the organisation is also essential. Behavioral controls unify the efforts of all employees towards attainment of organisational goals. Organisations can manage their culture. Schein proposes three elements of culture that include artifacts, assumptions, values and norms in the organisation. The artifacts are the visible aspects of culture while the assumptions are the shared beliefs that influence the behaviour of the members of an organisation. The values and norms include the unwritten rules of behaviour, standards and social principles that are considered as the acceptable behaviour in a particular organisation. According to cultural web, David Potter provides six elements that determine the organisational culture. The first element includes the organisational structures. This involves the formal and informal hierarchies and authority in the organisation (Brown 1998). Flat organisational structure will contribute to effective communication and formation of working teams in the organisation. The second element includes symbols in the organisation. Symbols will censor and control behaviour. Examples of symbols include formal or informal dress code, physical design of buildings and logos (Alvesson 2010). Behavioral controls are essential in regulating the working hours, the dress code and language used in communicating with the supervisors. Management by Objectives is another powerful control mechanism since the supervisors are able to evaluate the attainment of individual employee goals at each level. Reviews of goal attainment should be done routinely and rewards should be pegged on the goal attainment. Behavioral control will regulate the behaviors of the members of an organisation through the shared norms and beliefs. The artifacts and stories act as powerful agents of controlling the organisational behavior. Set rules and standards will define various consequences for non-compliance with the acceptable organisational behaviour (Reddy 2004). Bureaucratic controls influence the power distance in the organisation and the degree to which individual creativity is encouraged. Outcome controls are essential in the organisation while process oriented controls ensure that rules and procedures are strictly followed in the organisation. Controls in the organisation should be focused on meeting the customer needs and not reducing the costs of production. The controls should also promote team spirit and reduce conflicts in groups since unhealthy competition among teams members will lead to decline in the overall productivity of the organisation (Reddy 2004). The third element entails the stories told in the organisation. Stories will assist new members in learning the organisational culture. Some of the “stories include past events, and heroes who have contributed to the success of the organisation in the past” (Cray and Mallory 1998: 81). The other element of the culture includes the power structures. The power structures determine the leadership styles of the executives and strategic direction of the organisation (Chattopadhyay 1991). The other element is control systems that include quality controls and rewards. Control systems such as rewards and appreciation of excellent job performance motivate employees towards the attainment of the organisational goals (Branine 2009). Ritual and routines such as weekly group meetings and end of the year parties will shape the daily behaviour of employees (Reddy 2004). Organisational culture encourages employee motivation and loyalty towards the organisation. The organisational culture creates the brand image of the organisation and unities diverse workforce (Shaw 2011). The culture will promote healthy interpersonal relationships among employees and enable employees to adhere to the predefined policies and rules in the organisation. A healthy culture will lead to higher customer satisfaction and employee retention (French 2011). It is the duty of management to ensure that the prevailing organisational culture supports the attainment of the goals of the organisation. Part three: Leadership is often linked to a person and actions of the leader. There is also room for followers in leadership. According to Trait theories of leadership, leaders are born and exhibit certain traits. The assumption is that leaders display certain personality characteristics like self-confidence, persistence, problem solving skills and willingness to accept defeat (Stogil, 1948). Stewart (1963) provided another set of traits that include fairness, energy, initiative, emotional stability, foresight and dedication. However, this theory suffers several disadvantages due to generalizations, and insensitivity to leadership context. According to behavioral theories of leadership, leaders are focused on the needs of followers and accomplishment of the goals (Seijts 2006). According to contingency theories, there is no best way to lead and leaders change their leadership style depending on the situation. Some of the factors that leaders may consider include factors affecting the subordinates, organisational culture and level of followers’ motivation (Singh 2010). Charismatic leadership offers room for the followers. The leader will inspire the followers in attaining the objectives. Charismatic leaders focus on motivating the followers through involving them in the vision creation and supporting the followers (Fraedrich and Ferrell 2012). Charismatic leaders will create a comfortable and friendly environment for the followers since the leader is “willing to listen to their ideas and suggestions in decision making” (Brooks 2009: 78). Democratic or participative leadership also enable followers to participate in the decision-making process. The leader encourages creativity thus leading to high job satisfaction and productivity of the followers (Daft 2012). The leader will act as a facilitator by issuing guidelines and sharing information with the aim of solving a particular problem (Fox 2006). People-oriented or relations-oriented leadership is mainly focused on organizing and supporting people in groups. This is a participatory leadership that mainly encourages creative collaboration and teamwork (DuBrin 2011). The leader is friendly and promotes the welfare of all followers. Another style of leadership that allows followers participation is servant leadership. The leader leads with integrity and generosity. Effective leaders will share the mission and vision of the organisation with the subordinates (Western 2008). The leaders display competence and respect their followers. Servant leaders achieve their power through ideals, ethics and values. The servant leaders will lead from behind by letting their teams to accept the recognition of their hard work. Servant leaders aim at “serving their followers rather than imposing decisions” (Cole 2004: 16). Distributed leadership acknowledges informal relationships and recognizes that organisations are knowledge-based. This is a shared leadership that empowers teams to manage their own work activities (Goldsmith 2003)). Followers are able to participate in leadership through open communication channels that enables them to give suggestions during decision making. Charismatic leaders and democratic leaders encourage the formation of teams that constantly engage all followers through meetings or digital communication. Leaders must establish interpersonal relations and rapport with followers that facilitates open dialogue without any fear of reprimand by the supervisors. Leaders also guide, inspire, motivate and promote the followers’ creativity in problem solving (Daft 2012). 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