Empowering Teams - Case Study Example

Organisational behaviour Organisational behaviour regards to the behaviours and attitudes of various individuals and groups within organisations. It is very essential to the competitiveness and success of the organisation, as the management practices in organisations are based on organisation behaviour. It is also directly linked to the performance of the corporate and its success. The main factor that makes organisations differ is the workforce and those organisations that are most successful are able to manage their employees effectively. Teams in an organisation are recognised as useful machines employed in the achievement of organisations goals due to their characteristics that have a great influence in the organisation’s performance. With a synergy mix of different individuals with different skills, teamwork will always play an important role in working towards the organisation’s goals. Motivation of employees through team work will lead to high productivity and optimization of the different talents of the employees and resources. As they participate fully in decision making, effective teams will always result to making of effective decisions in the organisation (Wageman 1997). With the increase in globalisation, there is a need for people to interact from diverse cultures, background and beliefs as has never been expected before. Currently, people are part of the global economy as competition is coming from different continents. This calls for diversity in the organisations for them to be more open to changes and enhance creativity. This makes the capitalizing and maximizing of the diversity in the places of work to be a very essential issue in current management. Firms require laying their focus on diversity and learn to be totally inclusive organisations as diversity has a great potential of increasing the competitive advantages and productivity. If well managed, diversity will be viewed as a double edged sword (Chatman& Spataro 2005). This report involves management and development of effective teams and productive management of culture diversity in a retail business in Australia. Retail business organisational chart EXPECTED ACTUAL DIFFERENCE EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK Jayne & Dipboye (2004) found out that teamwork emphasis will promote a better relationship within the department and will also promote identity within the organisation that can move beyond differences that are surface level. In case of a retail business, teamwork emphasis will lead to effective conduction of the business activities. Bettenhausen (1991) states that, one way to overcome the employee resistance is through teambuilding which tends to improve the performance of the business through improved communication. In this case, retail business team building generates commitment among the workgroups. Nahavandi & Aranda (1994) found out that if the teams in an organisation are forced to make acceptable solution, the innovation in the business will be reduced. In a retail business lack of trust on empowered teams to make decisions will affect making the final decisions. Carr (1992) found out that for a successful implementation of teams, there is a need for extension of values that are existing. In retail business, it is essential to put into consideration the culture and the climate of the organisation. Carr (1992) also observed that, the firm should provide clear goals to provide the direction for the teams. This enhanced in retail business through increase in the market share. Brower (1995) stated that successful teams require authority in decision making for but it should be handed over on gradual basis so that the team members will not be overwhelmed in the authority that is newly acquired. Carr (1992) also found out that, the success of teamwork relies on effective leadership and leaders in a team should not control work but work as coaches in managing the teams. In retail business, effective communication and leadership are very essential especially in achievement of organisation goals. According to IRS (1995) a successful teamwork requires training of if not all, the team leaders. In a retail business, there is a need to learn new skills such as budgeting, public relations and effective communication. Robbins (1998) found out that, for successful operation of the teams, the members must have access to resources. In retail business; resources provision requires responsibility in team members and trust in the part of business management. Brower (1995) found that, for successful teams, there is need for the support from top management levels. Thus, in retail, the top management needs to initiate changes in various fields such as marketing instead of initiation from lower levels. Margulies & Kleiner (1995) stated that individual rewards will undermine the teamwork effectiveness and it should be rewarded to employees as a team’s success. In retail, ideas that show profitable and successful results should lead to rewarding of the entire team. The management is able to emphasize teamwork especially in sales and marketing department which is sensitive to the success of the business. Team building is not addressed as the employee resistance is not addressed as employees are not working well with colleagues who are not familiar. The teams are empowered in such as way that they are trusted in making major decisions within the business. Successful implementation of teams is fostered by consideration of organisation culture as an extension value. The business has provided clear goals in such a way that the team is innovative enough due presence of freedom in working out the best way to achieve the main goals of the business. The business gives the teams authority to make decisions but in a controlled manner to ensure innovativeness. In the business, although there is effective communication the leadership of teamwork involves control of work. The success of the team is enhanced through training of members in various courses such as computing, marketing, public relations, conflict resolution, and training members to take new responsibilities. The team has access to essential resources such as money, technology, equipment and time. The business ensures success of teams by making sure that the management takes the first position in case of making changes in marketing such as marketing mix. The success due to innovation is rewarded to the winning team instead of certain individuals to prevent striving for goals that are based on individual performance. There is no different but there is little emphasis in some departments that do not face the customers directly. Effective teamwork is not enhanced as teambuilding is lacking. There is no difference as innovation is enhanced through trusted and empowered teams. There is no difference in successful implementation of teams No difference on clear objectives There is no difference in provision of decision making authority. There is difference as leadership in the business is enhanced through control of work instead of coaching. No difference in training and development of the team. No difference in provision of resources to the team. There is no difference in organisational support of the team. No difference in success team rewards but this more concentrated in sales and marketing department as it is involve direct contact with the customers. CULTURE DIVERSITY Chatman & Spataro (2005) found out that, organisations which put emphasis on collectivism in their environment of working get more benefits in comparison with those organisations that encourage individualism. Hofstede (1980) found out that countries can be categorised as being high or low in individualism, masculinity, power distance and uncertainty avoidance. Hofstede found out that national culture will impact the management of diversity by two dimensions which are individualism and power distance. In retail business, culture involvement in management of diversity in the workplace is strongest in countries with high collectivism and low power distance. The business is putting more emphasis on collectivism and it is enjoying the benefits of cultural diversity. Through promotion of the style of management that accepts differences that are unique in individuals, working towards an environment without communication barriers and providing opportunities for growth and development at all levels. The business has strong management of culture diversity as its location in Australia is has low power distance. No differences except for some departments where some members find it difficult to work with unfamiliar members in new teams. No difference in culture involvement. Recommendations There are various things that the business will need to do in order to maximize the diversity benefits and be able to integrate a workforce that is diverse in a successful manner. First, there is a need to frame the initiative on management of diversity which will serve as an opportunity for learning and integration. Framing of initiatives on diversity in a way that will highlight previous discrimination and conflicts can lead to negative effects on the ability of the business to manage the workforce diversity successfully. Putting emphasis on integration and learning perspective will have an effect that is motivating for both employees and management thus, ensuring long-term success. Secondly, the firm should ensure commitment and accountability for senior management as their demonstration in workplace commitment hold the top management and employees accountable. This ensures successful implementation of policies for on diversity and teamwork within the business, thus, increasing its productivity. Third, there should also be articulation of the importance of diversity in the overall business functioning with more consideration on the benefit of new strategy of diversity to the business. Fourth, the business should emphasise that value of teamwork and diversity to every employee as there would be a popularising effect on employees that are not in target when one demographic group is targeted (Harvey et al 1998). Thus, each employee should be valued in a way that they will work in achievement of the organisational goals. Fifth, there should be more emphasis on team solidarity as this will encourage exercises in team building and facilitate integration and communication of activities of work and creation of pride in the business and various teams. Finally, the business should evaluate of the effectiveness of management of diversity through metrics that are established. The management should identify metric that will be used in evaluation of effectiveness of programs for cultural diversity with periodic monitoring (Miner 2002). Involvement in culture is essential in management in management of diversity in place of work. A culture that encourages involvement of employees and creation of a sense of responsibility and ownership will be important in diversity management in the workplace. It is suggested that employees feeling of being empowered and developed but not only who contribute to the organisational diversity is the key foe effective management of diversity in the workplace. With consideration and incorporation of culture in management of diversity it will serve as an avenue for all employees’ perception for achieving positive outcomes in diversity in the workplace. The perception of strong relationship in management of diversity will identify the culture of an organisation as a potential moderator of relationship between performance and diversity. It is recommended that the culture of the organisation should be related with the performance of the organisation as research has found out that there is a relationship between the culture of the organisation, performance of the firm, and also satisfaction of the customers and organisation culture. It is also concluded that where there is strong cultural involvement in various departments in organisations, the management of the workplace diversity effective. Effectiveness in diversity management is also perceived in countries with low power distance and collectivistic (Chatman & Spataro 2005). Conclusion Implementation and supporting of teams in any organisation requires occurrence of considerable changes in organisational needs in addition of consideration of various issues. These changes will affect the team members only but also the organisational structure, the roles of managers, culture, social relationships, work process and methods. Due to the scope and depth of various changes, teams’ implementation involves a lengthy process that also presents a lot of challenges. Various organisations that implement teams usually do not have any plans to revert the previous organisation structures. Despite various challenges, the teams end up providing a lot of benefits in the business in the long term. References Brower, M.J. 1995, Empowering Teams: What, Why and How, Empowerment in Organisations, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 13-25. Bettenhausen, K.L. 1991, Five Years of Group Research: What Have We Learned and What Needs to be Addressed, Journal of Management, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 345-381. Carr, C. 1992, Planning Priorities for Empowered Teams, Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 13, no. 5, p. 43-47. Chatman, J. A. & Spataro, S. E. 2005. Using self-categorization theory to understand relational demography-based variations in people’s responsiveness to organizational culture. Academy of Management Journal, 48, 321-331. Harvey, S., Millett, B. & Smith, D. 1998. Developing Successful Teams in Organisations, Australian Journal of Management & Organisational Behaviour, 1(1), 1-8. Hofstede, G. 1980. Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills: Sage. Jayne, M. E. A., & Dipboye, R. L. 2004. Leveraging diversity to improve business performance: Research findings and recommendations for organizations. Human Resource Management, 43, 409-424. Miner, J. B. 2002, Organizational Behaviour: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nahavandi, A. & Aranda, E. 1994, Restructuring Teams for the Re-engineering Organisation’, Academy of Management Executive, vol. 8. No. 4, pp. 58-68. Robbins, S.P. 1998, Organisational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies, Applications, Prentice Hall, New York. Wageman, R., 1997, Critical Success Factors for Creating Superb Self-managing Teams, Organisational Dynamics, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 49-60. Read More