Self Checkout Systems - Essay Example

?Organisations and Behaviours Table of Contents Task 4 Question 1 4 Question 2 6 Question 3 7 Task 2 7 Question 2 7 Task 3 9 Question 3 9Question 3.2 10 Question 3.3 11 Task 4 12 Question 4.1 12 Question 4.2 12 Question 4.3 14 Task 5 15 Question 5.1 15 Question 5.2 16 Question 5.3 16 References 18 Task 1 Question 1.1 Diagram of Structure Types of Structure and Description Flat organisational structure- In this type of organisational structure, there exist only few level that intervene between the personnel and managers of an organisation. In this sort of structure, employees are involved in the decision-making procedure of the organisations. Types of Business that use this Structure This kind of structure can be effective in large scale business where lots of making effective decisions is generally involved. Divisional organisational structure- This type of structure is also termed as ‘product structure’. In this sort of structure, each and every function of the organisations is spread into their various divisions. This type of organisational structure is mainly incorporated by business of both smaller and larger scale. Functional Organisational Structure- This is a simple organisational structure that is being widely implemented all over. In this structure, the employees of companies are differentiated to perform specialised tasks. Can be effective in the operation of big business where are there are various sections of employees. Source: (Daft, 2010) Question 1.2 It has been apparently observed that the organizational structure as well as culture is quite different from that of Ford Motor Company and Google Inc. In this similar concern, Google is known to maintain an informal culture within the organisation. On the other hand, the organization culture and structure of Ford has been viewed to be quite disciplined as well as strict. Google incorporates flat organisational structure wherein its entire workforce has the freedom to put their observation and ideas in front of the management of the company regarding making any valuable decisions. Conversely, Ford has been noted to incorporate divisional form of organisational structure with an enormous gap between the top designated officers of the company and its staff. Furthermore, the organisational culture of Google is quite informal in which there does not lay any sort of restriction for its employees regarding dress code and other behavioural aspects. There are no set rules and regulations accessible in Google for the employees that they must follow. On the other hand, the organisational culture of Ford is quite disciplined and governed by certain rules and regulations. Employees need to behave in accordance with the norms and values of the organisation (Jones Education, 2013; Daft, 2010; Ha, 2008). However, there lay certain similarities in the organisational cultures of both the company. It has been noted that Google maintains an innovative culture in their workplace and seeks maximum creativity from its employees. Similarly, Ford also desire to maintain innovative culture in the organisation. Furthermore, the organisational structure of Google enables maximum involvement of the employees in making any sort of decision. In relation to this, the organisational structure of Ford also allows its employees to make greater participation in the decision-making procedure (Jones Education, 2013; Daft, 2010; Ha, 2008). Question 1.3 It can be stated from a broader perspective that the organisational culture as well as structure is directly related with the performance of the same in the long-run. In the similar context, the organisational structure and culture of Ford have maximum impact on the performance of the company. It has been noted that the organisational structure of the company is divisional and every task of the company is divided into separate jobs. This enables the task to be completed in specified period of time and ultimately increase the productivity of the company by a significant level. Furthermore, this particular aspect also increases the skills of the workers or employees as they repeatedly perform the same task. These reduce the probable chances of error and ultimately increase the chances of better performance of the company. Similarly, the culture of the organisation which allows the employees to participate in decision-making procedure eventually motivates them to be engaged with the operations of the company and work towards accomplishment of the organisational goals. Thus, from the aforesaid discussion, it can be stated that organisational culture and structure directly impose significant impact upon the performance of Ford by a greater level (Ha, 2008). Task 2 Question 2.1 To Mr. John Siddall John Siddal (Printers) Ltd Sir, Thank you for selecting as a consultant to look at the aspect of change management of your company. The following significant aspects would ultimately deliver a view to you depicting the effects concerning organisational culture might have on your employees’ behaviour. In this regard, it has been noted that your organisation can be considered as a small organization due to the engagement of minimum figure of personnel. It can be assumed that all these employees are quite aware about the organisational policies. As the company is a small one, its structure is quite simple and transparent. The culture of the organization is quite trouble-free and simple. However, it has been apparently observed in previous discussions that the performance of any company is directly related to its culture. In this context, the organizational culture of Siddall has seen to have noticeable impact on the behaviour of its employees. Since the number of staffs is too small, the decision-making procedure of the company must include their ideas and views. Furthermore, it has been understood that only efficient employee can deliver positive results. In this regard, the owner of the company would need to maintain a sort of organizational culture that continuously encourages the employees to work towards the accomplishment of the organizational goals. Moreover the owner of the company will need to provide liberty for the employees to perform their own work. In precise, it can be affirmed that the organizational culture of the company would perform a major part in shaping the behaviour of the employees towards the positive performance of the company (Gray & et. al, 2003). Regards, Task 3 Question 3.1 Situational management style is regarded as one of the most commonly implemented management approaches all over. In such style of management, managers take decisions or make strategies in accordance with the needs of a current situation. It has been noted that this management style is widely used in recent times with the motive of complying with the changing needs of the customers. In regard to Tesco, it is known that the company is quite big and have its operations in various regions throughout the globe. The company needs to change its style of management and leadership in accordance with the changing market condition. The company is seen to have a situational approach towards managing its operations. The main aim of the company is to fulfil the requirements of its clients. So, in order to attain this particular need, the company will have to make situational decisions. On the other hand, it has been recognised that the company also at times implements the bureaucratic approach of management in its operations. The reason depicted behind this aspect of its operations is that there is a big workforce of the company which it needs to manage properly. In this perspective, the company incorporates the bureaucratic style in order to ensure that all its employees work effectively towards the attainment of organisational targets. However, from the above analysis, it can be concluded that situational management approach of the company is more effective than that of the bureaucratic approach as it enables the company to acquire maximum satisfaction of the customers (The Times 100, 2013). Bureaucratic approach is a strict approach which deals with numerous effective rules and regulation. In local authority, there lays several people involved in the decision- making procedure as well as the operations of the organisations. The workforce of such local authority can be regarded as quite casual in their behaviour along with approach resulting in negatively impacting the performance of such organisations. So, a leader possessing bureaucratic style of leadership will be affective to govern or lead the employees towards generating effective performance. However, in similar sort of organisations, Taylor’s scientific management approach might not have much impact. This approach intends to increase the productivity of the organisation by motivating them through increased wages or salary. This aspect will hardly work in a local authority organisation where there are pertains huge figure of people involved with minimum number of people to supervise the work of the employees. So, a leader with bureaucratic style will be much effective as compared to Taylor’s scientific management theory as employees can be supervised and influenced to work well (The Times 100, 2013; Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2003). Question 3.2 It can be analyzed from the above discussion that Tesco could use both the situational as well as the bureaucratic style of management or leadership quite effectively. However, there are also certain other forms of leadership that might show similar effectiveness for the company i.e. Tesco. In this regard, the democratic style of leadership can be taken into concern. In democratic leadership, leaders seek participation of the entire group in the procedure of decision-making. Through this approach, the companies belonging to this modern day context can support its employees to share their ideas and opinion which might prove vital in conducting efficient operations within the company. Moreover, this particular approach will certainly enable its employees and other members to become more engaged with the organization resulting in effective performance of the employees and leading towards creating positive performance of the companies. In this similar context, Tesco can also implement this form of leadership style in their operations and ensure maximum level of success (The Times 100, 2013). However, the results of such styles might not be the same when the companies performs their respective operational functions in a different manner The leadership approach that is incorporated by Michael in Tesco might not produce the same results as in case when used in local authority. This can be justified with reference to the fact that bureaucratic leadership styles is effective in big companies where there lays the involvement of numerous people as well as. In case of job of any local authority, there are various higher authorities responsible for making effective decisions. So, in such situations Michael could not attain much success from incorporating a democratic style of leadership (Daft, 2008). Question 3.3 From the analysis of both the aforesaid questions, it has been learnt that all the leadership styles have their own set of impacts on determining the performance of a company. In this regard, Tesco is viewed to be a well reputed organisation and always seek to provide best product as well as services to the customers. In this regard, its employees will need to perform a major role. Thus, in order to encourage the employees to work for the accomplishment of the organizational goals, the company initially needs to involve them in the procedure of decision-making and make them feel as they are an important part of the company. This can be done with the incorporation of democratic style of leadership (Daft, 2008). Furthermore, in a local authority, supervising the employees is quite vital. So, it will be appropriate for any local authority to incorporate the task-oriented leadership style in their operations. As in public sectors, leaders do not get much involved with team members, it will be effective to use task oriented leadership approach for any local authority (Daft, 2008). Task 4 Question 4.1 It can be observed that Michael likes to incorporate the democratic leadership approach in the local Tesco stores. This type of leadership style is found to be quite encouraging for employees to contribute in decision making of companies which in turn motivates them towards working effectively. This approach of Michael of engaging employees in decision-making can impose positive impacts upon motivating its staffs. However, this approach of Michael could get affected if the company cut the branch budget by more than 50%. This will in turn reduce the salary of the employees in that particular branch. This aspect will tend to have negative impact on the motivation of the employees as monetary loss directly hurts determination of people by a certain degree (Daft, 2008). Question 4.2 Motivation is quite vital in order to develop the performance of the employees. In order to motivate employees and staffs to the greatest extent, different companies adopt as well as execute several tools and techniques. There are also certain theories regarding motivation that are considered quite vital. Taylor’s motivation theory is among them. According to this motivational theory, workers will be paid in accordance with the amount of work which they perform. This will motivate them to perform better leading towards increased productivity. Furthermore Maslow’s theory of motivation is also quite vital in modern day scenario. This theory mainly focuses upon determining the human needs that encourage them to work. According to Maslow, the basic needs of people should be fulfilled in order to motivate them to work for the welfare of the company. It has been noted that Tesco implements both the aforesaid theories. The company is aware of the fact that in order to enhance its growth, efficient staffs would be required who would be working hard for the betterment of the company. The company appreciates its employees for their hard work and rewards them through delivering monetary or other form of compensation. In precise, the company pays in accordance with the amount of work that the employees perform for the company. This aspect coincided with the Taylor’s theory of motivation which portrays that employees should be paid in accordance for the amount of work which they perform. This encourages the employees to work more resulting in gaining greater productivity. So, it can be stated that Tesco employed Taylor’s theory in motivating its employees (Tesco, n.d.). Tesco has been greatly concerned about the needs and wants of its employees. The company wants its employees to be satisfied and in turn work effectively for the betterment of the company. So, in this regard, the company motivates its employees by fulfilling all the basic needs of the employees in terms of providing significant monetary benefits encouraging them to work well for effective performance of the company. This aspect depicts that the Tesco is also implementing Maslow’s theory of motivation quite effectively (Tesco, n.d.). It has been noted that Maslow’s theory is quite effective for managers in modern day scenario. Being a business or strategic leader, it is quite vital to motivate and encourage the employees to work effectively for accomplishing the predetermined objectives of the organisation. In this regard, Maslow’s theory of motivation can be quite helpful for the managers or the leaders. This is owing to the reason that it helps them to encourage and influence employees towards achieving maximum productivity so that desired organizational performance can be attained. Thus, the significance of Maslow’s theory for managers in the modern day scenario can be effectively measured by considering this valuable aspect (Tesco, n.d.). Question 4.3 It can be understand that the situation of Michael is quite critical. The employees that work under the leadership of Michael will get de-motivated by the fact that the budget of the store is reduced by 50%. This will in turn impose negative impact on the attitude of the employees towards their work which will eventually affect the performance of the Tesco store as well as the company. In this regard, Michael needs to motivate his employees with the incorporation of certain strategy and motivational theory. There are several theories of motivation that can be effective for the leaders like Michael to incorporate and influence employees toward performing effective work. However in relation to the case of Michael, Taylor’s theory of motivation can be taken into concern for generating positive results. With the assistance of this theory of motivation, Michael can encourage his employees towards yielding maximum productivity and earning maximum remuneration. This will certainly enhance the performance of Tesco store and will influence the company to increase its budget (Tesco, n.d.). Task 5 Question 5.1 It can be noted that there are several forms of groups that operate in any organisation. They are divided into formal and informal groups. Formal groups are systematic groups that is managed in order to realize the goals of the organisations. This particular group has been viewed to be quite crucial for effective functioning of the organisations. Contextually, informal group is a type of group that is spontaneous and works only for particular projects or tasks. This group is also quite vital for different organisations and are used to perform particular tasks that are considered complex. In this regard, Tesco is seen to be integrating both the forms of groups in its operations. The company maintains a group that works towards gaining maximum customer contentment and loyalty. The company have such groups in all of its stores. These groups are permanent and thus be called formal groups for the company. In these groups, all the members of Tesco are quite efficient and provide maximum efforts towards accomplishing organisational targets. On the other hand, it has been viewed that the company also maintain groups that are formed for performing particular task which are often acknowledged as temporary or informal group. These groups are formed in accordance with the needs of the organisations and can be separated after the tasks are completed. The members of such groups perform task with maximum dedication but they at times does not succeed in building positive relationship between them. Every individual or member in the team has its own attitude and behaviour. As they work on temporary basis, it becomes hard for them to form themselves as a complete team in a short span of time. It has been observed that these groups are developed in order to meet situational demands and needs of the customers as well as the market (Chevalier, 2007; Tesco, n.d.). Question 5.2 Factors That Promote The Development Of Effective Team Work Factors That Inhibit The Development Of Effective Team Work Communication Absence of Trust Leadership Conflict between the members Team building Process Ineffective Leadership In Tesco, teamwork is considered to be quite crucial which impose significant impact upon the performance of the company at large. The company must need to establish an open and transparent communication so that its team could understand the needs and goals of the organization. Moreover, Tesco should also need to select the team members that have the potential to guide the team towards accomplishment of the task or organizational goals. Apart from this, the process of team building should also be quite systematic so that the team formed as a result should be capable of performing the tasks for which they are being selected. These factors will eventually develop the teamwork and will eventually lead to generate positive results. However, there are certain negative aspects that need to be considered for ensuring better performance of the team. In this regard, Tesco must ensure that the team members trust each other and there is no conflict between them. Negligence of such aspect will eventually affect the performance of the team as well as the company altogether (Scribd, 2013.). Question 5.3 Self Checkout systems are the latest development in retailing industry. It is a process through which customers will be able to scan the product without the help of any staff. This new system has changed the way of functioning of staffs particularly in retail stores. As customers do their own billing and pay by their own, there is no need of any cashier resulting in minimising the operational costs by a certain degree. It has been apparently observed in this similar background that the system concerning Self Checkout enhance customer’s experience and release workload of employees by a considerable level. This particular functioning of Self Checkout systems would eventually motivate the employees and most vitally would raise the standard in which a team functions within a specific organisation (Krafft & Mantrala, 2010). References Chevalier, R., 2007. Improving Workplace Performance. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Daft, 2010. Organizational Theory and Design. Cengage Learning EMEA. Daft, R. L., 2008. The Leadership Experience + Infotrac. Cengage Learning. Gray, J. H. & et. al., 2003. Size Matters: Organisational Culture in Small, Medium, and Large Australian Organisations. Monash University, pp. 1-15. Ha, S. M., 2008. Ford Motor Company: Sustainability. Report. [Online] Available at: http://irps.ucsd.edu/assets/033/10579.pdf [Accessed May 11, 2013]. Jones Education, 2013. Organizational Culture. Home. [Online] Available at: http://courses.jonesinternational.edu/private/jiu/media/assets/978-1-4533-0090-9_Carpenter/978-1-4533-0090-9.carpenter.chapter.08.pdf [Accessed May 11, 2013]. Krafft, M. & Mantrala, M. K., 2010. Retailing in the 21st Century: Current and Future Trends. Springer. Scribd, 2013. Teamwork. Documents. [Online] Available at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/13414011/TEAMWORK [Accessed May 11, 2013]. Tesco, No Date. Motivational Theory in Practice at Tesco. Business Case Studies, pp. 1-2. The Times 100, 2013. Developing Appropriate Leadership Styles. Home. [Online] Available at: http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tesco/developing-appropriate-leadership-styles/introduction.html#axzz2StMpedS8 [Accessed May 11, 2013]. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S., 2003. Human nature and organization theory: on the economic approach to institutional organization (Google eBook). Edward Elgar Publishing. Read More