Tesco Plc Company - Organization Behavior - Case Study Example

Organization Behaviour Course: Tutor: Institution: City: Date ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOUR A Case Study of Tesco plc. Company Organization Behavior Introduction Organization behavior is the study of the behavior of those working within and outside an organization considering its effect on the organizational performance and effectiveness. It entails understanding, predicting, and controlling of peoples’ behavior within a company. The way people working within an organization behave depend on the structure which consists of technological, leadership and management, organizational and the culture adopted. As companies progress and grow, a lot of changes have to be incorporated in order to enhance the performance and effectiveness of an organization. Considering the case of Tesco plc. Company, a lot of organization changes have been adopted for the overall performance. Though most of these have contributed to the overall success of the company, certain structural and cultural aspect deployed by the company have led to deterioration in its performance (Mullins 2010). Tesco plc. Company was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen. At the time of its founding, the company specialized in the production and supply of food grocery. As we speak today, the company has undergone a lot of organizational, technological and structural changes it is today dealing with books, clothing, electronic, furniture, petrol, and telecom and finance services. It is one of the largest company dealing in food grocery and number four in the world according to the food store companies ranking. Though started in the United Kingdom, it is currently operating in more than fourteen countries in the world. Due to its large size, the type of organization structure and culture become very complex as it involves dealing with different groups of people with diverse cultures (Datamonitor (Firm) 2000). Influence of Organization Structure One of the way to consider the behavior of people working within Tesco plc. Company involve considering its organization structure and culture. Organization structure is the way power, rights and duties are aligned and assigned to different individuals within the company. It affects how people within a given company interact with each other. It determine how roles, responsibilities and power are allocated, controlled and coordinated within the organization. This entails the flow of information between different levels of management within the company (Pugh and Hickson 2007). Tesco plc. Company deploys the use of tall organization structure. Tesco plc. Employees are closely monitored and supervised since each manager is responsible for a small number of employees. This is because of its large size, and the central kind of management cannot be used to effectively perform. The high position managers have to delegate duties to those below them to supervise and monitors. Though flat organization structure is the best for company success, its use is limited by the size of the company. Most large companies such as Tesco Plc. Company in go for tall organization structure. In the case of tall organization structure as observed in Tesco plc. Company, responsibilities of managers and management structure is well defined and clear with structure which is remote to change and internalized (Mullins 2010). There is a lot of demonstration of power and role culture with the key decision being made by those in the high position. The success of each manager and employer can easily be recognized and as such, the process of promoting and rewarding them is very easier. However, there is a lot of loss of market share that Tesco plc. Company has experienced a lot of underperformance and ineffectiveness due to its tall structure. The employees in this system of management are closely monitored since each manager is accorded a few employees to manage and as such, they feel less motivated (Mullins 2010). Furthermore, the tall structure of management presents weak culture to the organization. Decision making is made by the top management. In fact, the most disadvantage and drawback of tall organization structure relative to flat organization structure is its ineffective decision making process. The major decisions are made by the top managers and the responsibilities of implementation given to lower level managers and supervisors. This is because, in tall structure, there is a narrow span of control with the employees more empowered to carry out the decision made by the high-level managers. The employees in most cases rely on the instructions and rules given to them by the managers. Because of the tall structure, company face a lot of problem in adapting the new changes and any attempt to adopt the change receive a lot of resistance from the employees who feel they are not involved in making key decisions. The structure of management in Tesco Company is internally focused and lack market opportunities. In companies where the flat structure of organizations deployed, workers feel motivated and support external focus and are out to adopt any market opportunities within the company (Pugh and Hickson 2007. Inability to Identify Employees’ Strength Sometimes, the organization is affected by behavior of its employees when the job’s roles and responsibilities speculated to them at the time of recruitment by the organization conflicts with delegated of duties, responsibilities, and initiatives. At Tesco plc. Company, anyone who is passionate, striving, determined and devoted to work is considered no matter the roles and duties the individual is going to perform. Tesco belief in their training and program which they provide to help their employees to work towards achieving the company’s goals. This however does not consider the talent the employee bring with him to the company which results in lack of creativity and innovativeness. Furthermore, the culture brought about by the tall organization structure make its employees to be less inclined to teamwork. It is the perception of the management in Tesco Company that every employee is obliged to their task by the norms and responsibility bestowed on them. All the creative and innovative idea in Tesco Company are discussed at the top management (Brooks 2009). Tesco plc. Company as such deploy the use of theory X of McGregor. This theory always believes that an average person is always lazy and have dislikes for work and therefore must be directed. However, the result of this is lack of motivation for employees making the consumers to move to competitors. In the case where a person is assigned to different nature of job and occupation other than that which he has a passion for, there is a lot of frustration and lack of motivation observed. This comes with a lot of stress to the employees. In fact, the supervision mode presented by the tall structure make employees not to make decisions on their own. Organization culture is the main cause of stress for the employees. Identifying employee’s abilities and assigning them the appropriate job and responsibilities is key towards ensuring productivity of a company. This should be done throughout the time of employment and not just the time of employment as witnessed in Tesco plc. Company (Brooks 2009). Leadership Style Deployed Leadership styles on the other hand have played significant role on the behavior of people working within the Tesco plc. Company. Leadership styles involve how the authority is used, how those given the responsibility of being leaders relate with others, and how leaders communicates. Leadership is part of the job which involves assessing how the individual is able to demonstrate enthusiastic behavior to its followers. A good leader has the ability to influence and communicate with those he perceive to be his followers. Leadership can be assessed by how directing and supporting he is to the people. Among the leadership styles deployed as suggested by Kelvin Lewin include autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. In autocratic style leadership, employees are given strict rules to follow through one-way communication. Democratic style on the other hand is liberal in monitoring employees. There is a lot of belief in the people’s ability to carry out certain tasks in democratic leadership style (Sadler 2003). Tesco plc. Company is tall structure company with power and rule culture being used in its operation. Due to power and rule culture it uses, there is a lot of autocratic leadership style involved in the management. This is because the major business of Tesco plc. Company is supplier driven, and the employees within the company are made to do the roles and task with a lot of confinement. There is development of the level of people involved in the company and a need for a sense of direction. This poses a lot of risk for the company in terms of its overall performance. This is because, autocratic style leadership only deals with the end users and any minor factor can influence them to seek for other suppliers. This culture has been integrated into the company and it became very difficult to change. This kind of leadership does not provide room to react to different threats presented by different circumstances. So far, Tesco plc. Company has failed to grow in China and America due to this kind of leadership it deploys in its structure. Furthermore, the company has recorded a negative growth rate of 1% in the United Kingdom (Sadler 2003). Recommendation Different approaches can be used to ensure that employees are satisfied. According to management theory, a lot of emphases are given to unity of commands, span control and use of scientific management. Using the scientific management approach, the organizational department is seen as part of the larger organization. It should be known that, activities carried out in any part of the organization affect the overall function of the organization. For the employees to be productive, there needs need to be satisfied. Deploying the contingency view, different style should be used to address different situation presented within the organization (Pugh and Hickson 2007) As such, the best management approach for Tesco plc. Company is the classical one since it uses tall structure organization. It seems Tesco plc. Company does not consider the fact that if individual needs of the employees are not satisfied, they will feel demotivated and underperform. To achieve motivation of workers and to do away with the demotivation within the organization, the Tesco Company should have talent management responsible for matching the employees taken with tasks which they are recruited for. Provision of guidance and support for the employees should be done to enable the employees to achieve their full potential. This involves improving the environment of work and adopting more positive management leadership style (Sadler 2003) Bibliography Brooks, I. 2009. Organisational behaviour: Individuals, groups and organisation. Harlow, England: Prentice Hall/Financial Times. Datamonitor (Firm). 2000. Tesco PLC. New York, NY: Datamonitor. Mullins, L. J. 2010. Management and organisational behaviour. Harlow: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Pugh, D. S., & Hickson, D. J. 2007. Great writers on organizations. Aldershot, England: Ashgate. Sadler, P. 2003. Leadership. London: Kogan Page Ltd. Read More