Introduction to Organisations and Management - Assignment Example

?Introduction A comparison of two companies based on various organizational and management theories, is presented in this paper. The organizational culture, approach to management, the mechanism of working of teams and organizational structure of both the companies is judged and various practices are identified as good or bad based on the theories of organization and management. Organization is defined as ‘a social arrangement of achieving controlled performance in pursuit of collective goals’ (Buchanan and Hczynski, 2010) so an organization is an arrangement of people for the accomplishment of a specific purpose. Each and every organization has some identified goals and objectives which are unique and distinct and for reaching those goals and set targets people from various backgrounds and with diverse technical expertise work collectively following a definite structure. The various inputs in an organization includes human efforts in the form of workforce, financial inputs in the form of investments, informational inputs in the form of ideas and material inputs in the form of a structure and various equipment for the working of the staff. Utilizing these four inputs an organization is supposed to generate two major outputs, the first one is achievement of the set goals and targets which include production of quality products, provision of quality services and betterment of environment. The second output is the employee satisfaction. While working ‘employees develop a psychological contract with the organization which is based on expectations from each other, the managers and the organization’ (Schein, 1965). The expectations are always based on a feeling that the employee himself is contributing towards the success of the organization so he ‘considers himself entitled to enjoy the benefits of success’ (Armstrong, 2001). PESTLE Analysis The working of an organization directly depends on the political, economic, sociocultural, technological, legal and economic environment outside the organization. PESTLE analysis is a very useful technique to analyze the environment outside the organization. Analyzing the above mentioned aspects of environment outside the organization help to predict the environmental turbulence which directly affects the organization. Since both the companies, Watsons Engine Components and H & M Consulting are operating in a global scenario therefore both are dealing with a complex dynamic external environment with large number of dissimilar external factors changing frequently. Political Factors: The political factors in case of both the organizations are same because both operate in a multinational scenario but H & M Consulting, being a large organization operating in different regions of the world have to adjust to various changing scenarios according the political situation of the region and therefore the managers in H & M Consulting encourage a flexible behavior and flexible approach to providing solutions to problems. While the organizational structure and approach at Watsons is rigid and conservative because it does not have to adapt to various political scenarios. This has created internal politics in Watsons while H & M Consulting is free from any kind of internal politics. Social Factors: Watsons is least affected by social factors because it is least concerned about the impacts of the organization on society, while various external social factors like the preference of technological advanced companies will reduce the customers of Watsons in near future. On the other hand the customers are very much satisfied with services offered by H & M Consulting because they have proper CSR programs, have incorporated technological advancement in their organization and are concerned about their repute in the society. Technological Aspects: The technology is advancing every other day but Watsons is not willing to incorporate latest technologies in its assembly line partly because of financial constraints and partly due to lack of initiative. As a result the company has a very so manufacturing process and products lack efficiency and quality. H & M Consulting is equipped with highly advanced facilities with the best and highly qualified technical staff; it also holds employee development programs to ensure the technological advancement of the organization. Legal Factors: The governments in various countries are changing laws and legislation is being done to ensure maximum use of technology and research for sustainable development. In such a scenario Watsons is soon going to suffer and lose orders while H & M Consulting has incorporated technology and is well prepared for a sustainable growth to comply with all legal bindings. Environmental Factors: With an overall increase in pollution levels and the threat of global warming, companies like Watsons are very less likely to get orders with their old and inefficient equipment and plants. H & M Consulting on the other hand has devised strategies to reduce its carbon footprint and encourages environment friendly suppliers and is therefore very likely to grow in a scenario in which people are more concerned about environmental sustainability than economic benefits. The organizational structure, execution strategies, management and leadership styles and team patterns are decided on the basis of the above mentioned factors and only those organizations grow which take these factors into consideration. Organizational Culture Various definitions of organizational culture have been presented according because organizational culture is a phenomenon which depends upon the perception of an individual or a group of individuals. It is defined as ‘a system of shared meaning held by members that distinguishes the organization from other organizations’ (Robbins, 2005). According to Martin and Fellenz organizational culture is a set of shared assumptions, beliefs, values, procedures that has an influence on the behavior and thinking approach of the members of an organization. It is continuously passed on and ratified by the new members in an organization. So organizational culture is essentially a set of ideas, beliefs and understandings shared by a group of people working together to create an interactive and productive environment. And these beliefs and values are transferred to the new members of the organization. The organizational culture is directly related to the ability of an organization to create a learning environment in which the employees can grow and develop new skills. A good organizational culture acts as a binding force to keep all the individuals in an organization together. Considering the above mentioned characteristics of organizational culture, the culture prevalent at Watsons is by no means considered as productive and supportive to the employees. A few examples as mentioned depicts that the moral and ethical values of some staff members are not safeguarded by the culture leading to harassment at workplace. While the organizational culture at H & M Consulting is productive and the leaders and managers have defined a mission statement based on a set of values which binds the employees to follow certain guidelines to ensure a harmonious environment for everyone. These values define a dominant culture in H & M Consulting however since it is a large multinational organization, certain subcultures prevail but H & M Consulting has successfully established an organizational culture which provides a healthy and productive environment to individuals from various different ethnical backgrounds to work together for a common objective i.e. the growth and development of each and every individual working in the organization and ensuring high levels of satisfaction for the customers. Schein’s three levels of culture describe clearly the basis of organizational cultures. The prevailing practices, conservative approach in case of Watsons and technological advancement in case of H & M Consulting are the artifact of the organizational cultures of the two organizations. The values and beliefs are in accordance with the artifacts for both the organizations. The organizational culture at H & M Consulting encourages employees to take risks being creative respecting the authorities and other staff and coordinating with colleagues to grow and play their part in organizational success. While a prevailing destructive organizational culture at Watsons in which unions have politicized the running of the company fails to create a culture in which the employees can grow and develop themselves with the growth of the company. The unions are based on department levels and the union leaders not the managers take the big decisions of the organization. As a result the employees have affiliated themselves to departments rather than owning the organization as a whole. Judging by these facts the organizational culture at H & M Consulting is a good example of strong culture in which the core values are intensely and widely shared and serves as guidelines for the staff members and the employees (Robbins, 2005). While the prevalent culture at Watsons is an example of weak culture in which the organizational core values are not held high and the employees have a very little agreement about the execution of tasks and working of the organization as a whole (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). It can be termed as a fragmented culture in which employees think and act differently and have a little liking towards their coworkers while H & M Consulting has a networked culture in which members are friendly to each other but are independent to some degree to think and act in their own specific way, this is to ensure innovation and creativity while working on projects. Organizational Structure Organizational structure is defined as the formal configuration, of relationships, that coordinates and controls the organizational activities by defining a mechanism for dividing, supervising and coordinating the work through entitling responsibilities to individuals in various divisions and departments (Bratton and Gold, 2010). The organizational structures are meant to create an environment in which the individuals can utilize their skills and abilities to the fullest for the success of the organization. Organizational structure creates a proper framework in which the responsibilities and duties of each and every individual are defined which ensures smooth working of the organization. Another advantage of organizational structure is defining a mechanism which facilitates monitoring of the staff by managers who can give rewards according to the performance of the individuals. Analyzing the organizational structure of the organization on a very basic level one can easily judge that the organizational structure at Watsons is centralized in which all the decisions are taken by the managers and the staff depends upon managers for interdepartmental communication, therefore they always have to wait for instructions from the managers which delays the provision of services and products to the customers. The organizational structure at H & M Consulting is decentralized giving a fair degree of freedom to the staff members in decision making and communication. A deeper analysis depicts that the organizational structure at Watsons is functional type in which the workers and staff is divided into groups and departments based on their skills and technical expertise. The workers of a particular department do not have the skills to take any other kind of work as a result some departments have more work to do while others have a large amount of work to do which means unequal distribution of work among the workers increasing the stress levels at workplace. Moreover the employees affiliate themselves to particular departments and do not communicate with other departments as a result there is no skill development among the workers; lack of coordination results in delays in delivery of projects and poor quality. The organizational structure at H & M Consulting is dual authority or matrix type of structure in which teams are made according to the requirement of the projects and a specific project is assigned to a particular team. These teams are multidisciplinary and ensure better coordination and high degree of innovation. The structure can also be termed as boundaryless organizational structure because H & M Consulting is a large multinational organization and have to act like a virtual organization in some scenarios when services are to be provided in various areas of the world which are far away from the head office, H & M Consulting is always willing to use technological advances in communication. The flexible working environment at H & M ensures organic management system because the working environment is diverse and the tasks are redefined very frequently. Watsons follow the classical management theory which is based on functional division of work and hierarchical relationships with a mechanistic management system which rigid and have very less room for change and technology incorporation with individuals having specialized skills and abilities and the control of the organizational affairs lies completely with the authorities. Leadership and Motivation ‘Leadership is the process of influencing people towards achievement of organizational goals’ (Naylor, 2004). The most important duty of a leader and a manager is to motivate his staff and workers to work hard for making the organization a success. This motivation can be provided through appreciation and recognition, development and growth opportunities and by giving rewards in the form of monetary bonuses. H & M Consulting provides opportunity to all the staff members and workers in the organization to assume the lead role in a project by allowing them to take decisions while working on projects. While at Watsons the staff members only wait for the instructions from the managers and do not have a share in decision making therefore there is a lack of initiative among the workers. Enthusiastic and passionate employees like Ahmed Khan who try to assume the lead role and try to follow an innovative approach are not encouraged by the authorities. The leaders are supposed to motivate the staff and workers but the managers at Watsons lack this motivation themselves and are never interested in the growth and development of the company and prefer to blame each other for the deteriorating situation of the company. The leadership crisis has allowed the leaders of the unions to become strong and influence the decision of the organization. The leaders at H & M Consulting are highly qualified, experienced and possess an enthusiastic approach towards their job. The CEO at H & M Consulting believes in motivating the staff by empowering them and by channelizing the benefits of the organizational success towards the staff members in the form of employee’s development programs and rewards. The employees are provided with extrinsic as well as intrinsic motivation by creating a sense of achievement among them and assigning them challenging tasks which require a creative approach to problem solving. The mechanism of work and organizational structure at H & M Consulting fulfills Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. The employees are empowered and engaged in the organizational activities which create high levels of commitment towards the assigned tasks and the workers feel satisfied on the success of the organization. Teams and Teamworking A group of people with full set of complementary skills to complete a task, job or project is known as a team. The formation of teams with proper coordination among members, proper composition and sufficient technical abilities and skills is essential for the success of a project and the organization as a whole. The creation of teams in an organization creates a bond between the staff members and workers who interact with each other and work collectively for achieving a common goal. Since Watsons approach to organization and management is highly conservative the concept of teams is absent in the company where the individuals have been divided into departments and perform same kind of jobs and do not interact with each other to transfer skills and share knowledge. As a result informal groups and unions are established with no positive effect on the organization and reduce the productivity of the organization. The approach of team formation at H & M Consulting is very productive as the teams formed are self-managed to a large degree. The teams are formed at the start of a project and the composition and size of the team is according to the requirement of the project. The teams are disbanded after the completion of the project and in this way informal groups and unions are not formed. The teams are cross-functional and are composed of diverse individuals with different technical expertise and skills. While interacting with each other the workers and staff members can explore new possibilities and learn various different skills form their team mates. This creates an innovative and productive environment in which the organization and the workers both grow and develop at the same time. Conclusion The comparison of both the companies reveal that the organizational and management approach at H & M Consulting are very productive as compared to those at Watsons and the former is more likely to survive in the changing global scenario and high competition. The major problem with Watsons is their reluctance to incorporate new approaches and technologies in their organization while H & M Consulting is highly concerned about the changing market trends and values the satisfaction of its customers and gives weight age to social causes believing in sustainable development. 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