Organisational Behaviour in an Engineering Company - Case Study Example

Organisational Behaviour in an Engineering Company Chronological Timeline Background Ronald Arnott started an engineering company in 1989 and recruited an old friend, David Dobson as Project Manager. Five years later, he recruited a material purchaser and slowly increased his shopfloor staff. Ronald’s style of leadership involved communicating and discussing assignments and monitoring the quality of the output. He worked closely with his staff and was appreciative of good work. He was clear in laying down responsibilities and expectations and used job descriptions to reduce ambiguity. The team has felt fulfilled about performance when working with Ronald as brought out by the statement that they worked well as a team, ‘especially under Ronald Arnott.’ In 2009, Ronald retired and Christine took over as managing Director. The company had gone through rough weather with an impact on profits though there had been no reduction of staff. Markets had stagnated and certain conditions had reduced the need for new grain silos: Drought and poor harvest years Global financial crisis and currency meltdown Protectionist trade policies in the primary industry Christine’s vision was one of economic survival through expansion and diversification based on the existing competencies of the company. Existing resources may be made available for diversification projects without an increase in the outlay of the company. The objective of this report is to provide Christine with a framework to involve her staff in her vision for the company and garner their support and benefit from organizational experience. Context and issues Christine: Uses network to support vision of expansion and recruits Philip for new projects Open to opportunities to support vision and recognizes an opportunity to produce curved beams with no extra outlay Maintains a clear distinction in the role for Philip and David but does not give cognizance to Dobson’s experience when working out the pay parity Absence of two-way communication with managers and staff – she has called for two meetings and explained the criticality of the project and attempted motivate the staff with a pay raise Feels good about her announcements and believes that her declaration will help the project to run smoothly An understanding of Christine from the standpoint of Maslow’s model brings out the fact that she is keen to prove her capabilities. Recognition from colleagues and her peer group, she is keen to show her individual ability to manage new important projects without consulting employees who can add value to her decisions. She tries to get involved in projects that will bring her into the limelight and feed her need for prestige and status. She is at the Ego stage of the hierarchy. This is the reason she prefers to take independent decisions and shares information on a piecemeal basis. She has adopted a Directive style of leadership with the expectation that output will be produced on the strength of her communication. She derives power from her status of leader and expects staff behavior to mold itself on the strength of monetary incentives that she introduces to enthuse the staff. Dobson Does not see the need for diversification and sees no intrinsic benefit of steel beams as against fabricating silos Refers to job description that states they were ‘employed to manufacture grain silos’ Shows signs of emotional turmoil about his compensation and the proposed pay raise Conscious of the age and experience gap between him and Philip and the treatment of compensation parity There has been a shared sense of pride in the objective of the company. This is brought out by, Dobson’s statement of pride in producing silos for farmers of the country. Dobson is upset that nobody asked about his willingness to manage a new challenge since he is used to being involved in key decisions about the company. Dobson is conscious of his seniority and is used to being consulted as brought out in the comment about his age and experience with the company. Dobson is aware of his acceptance with the erstwhile Managing Director and the staff in the company. He has earned recognition and is reputed as being clear in his instructions for the designers to come up with high quality output. From the standpoint of Maslow’s Hierarchy, Dobson is at the stage of Self-actualization. He will be responsive to new opportunities that are demanding, challenging and excite his creative capabilities. He expects to be involved in new projects from the start. Staff: The staff at the shop-floor is closely knit. This is brought out by the series of events that delayed the new project. The material purchaser delayed, the designer chose to work on lower priority assignment and finally the first beam was useless. The staff is used to Dobson’s style of communicating and getting work done. Dobson’s effectiveness is brought out by the statement that ‘David always makes himself understood’. The staff is capable of coming out with good quality output on the strength of internal communication. The new approach brought up with Christine’s arrival has not been understood by them, in large part because Dobson has not understood the objective. Since the employees work closely with Dobson, his understanding and acceptance is essential for the success of an assignment. Recommendations for Christine Leadership style Directive leadership is an approach that involves centralized decision making and task orientation. When the team required detailed instructions, the directive approach is effective. This approach assumes lesser subordinate capability. Christine will benefit by changing her approach from Directive to Participative and realizing the strength of the capabilities of the staff. Christine is advised to use a more collaborative approach with her managers and involve them in her vision for the company. In keeping with House’s path-goal theory, leadership should be viewed as a role to facilitate staff to reach goals. The leader is responsible for providing information, resources and any support that is required to complete the task. The theory considers the four leadership styles that may be utilized in conjunction with employee and work characteristics. The employees are highly skilled with long experience to support them. They have liked working with the earlier Managing Director and have been happy to be part of the organizational goals. They are capable of adding value to discussions and guiding dialogues on the strength of expertise. The project calls for non-routine tasks and skilled intervention from the managers. A participative approach that values the inputs of the employees is relevant in this context. The approach invites discussion on decisions and paths to achieve goals. The use of the Participative approach will also lead to a higher understanding of Dobson’s capabilities and allow for an appropriate pay differential between Dobson and Philip. Change management Christine’s ideas and initiative are commendable though she needs to consider the existing staff and the background of a more informal working relationship with her father. Her father’s participative approach has led to clarity in the exchange of ideas and expectations and led to high quality output whereas her approach is not yielding the same result. Christine may consider the 4D model of appreciative inquiry along with her managers, specifically Dobson with who she can work individually, in the following steps: The staff has worked together for a long period, internal relationships and positive feelings and hopes are important themes. Christine will gather a sense of the areas of organizational value that has kept the staff motivated. The next stage of dreaming is a process of exploration of further avenues that can be considered within the organizational context. This process involves the rewriting of the company’s objective with the involvement of key colleagues. The next stages of design and destiny allow for a meaningful dialogue between Christine and her managers and staff to move the dream to reality. Managing Dobson and the staff After Christine has gone through the first two stages she can suitably dialogue with him to moving beyond known projects to those of greater complexity and challenge. Dobson will show openness to the changes once he is involved from the start, as he used to be with Ronald. His involvement and propagation will lead to better cooperation from the rest of the managers and staff. His direction and communication will lead to improved quality and productivity. The approaches mentioned above allow for the success of the project and enable Christine to fulfill her need for recognition within the organization and in the business world. Appendix 1 4 D model of Appreciative Inquiry Source: http://www.icvet.tafensw.edu.au/ezine/year_2007/may_jun/images/appreciative_enquiry_clip_image002.jpg Appendix 2 Path goal theory Source: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/houses-path-goal-theory.htm Appendix 3 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Source: http://www.ruralhealth.utas.edu.au/comm-lead/leadership/maslow-diagram.htm Bibliography Hunt, James G. (2004). Organizational Behavior. Wiley. Koontz, Harold & Weihrich, Heinz (2006). Essentials of Management. Tata Mc-Graw Hill. Cooperrider, David L. Whitney, Diana, Stavros, Jacqueline M. & Fry, Ronald (2008). Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of Change. Berrett – Koehler. Read More