The Earlier Organizational Culture within the Bbc Using Handys Cultural Typology - Assignment Example

Organizational Behaviour

Contents

Task 14

a)Analysis of the earlier organizational culture within the BBC using Handy’s cultural typology4

b)Analysis of how culture, power and politics overall have affected the behaviour within the BBC6

Task 27

a)Content and process theories of motivation.7

b)How motivational techniques may have helped to improve the effectiveness in the teams within the BBC.8

c)How improved levels of motivation can help to achieve the organisation’s goals9

Task 310

a)Identification of the different types of teams within BBC10

b)What makes an effective team in the BBC11

Task 415

a)Way to improve team performance and productivity within the BBC15

b)Barriers to effective performance within the BBC16

• Task 1
• Analysis of the earlier organizational culture within the BBC using Handy’s cultural typology

As per the Charles Handy’s cultural typology framework, there are four main types of organizational culture which can be found in organizations across different industries and geographical locations viz. the power culture, the role culture, the task culture and the person or support culture (Fig.1).

Figure 1: Charles Handy's organizational culture model

(Source: Van De and Poole, 2005).

It can be identified by applying this model in the case organization, BBC, that the earlier organizational culture prevailing in BBC can be categorised as a true power culture. In this type of organizational culture, the organizational functions as a spider’s web in which an all-important and authoritative person sits in the centre of the web (Schein, 2014). In case of BBC, the senior management of the company have assumed the role of the all-important spider which is further surrounded by widening circles of influences and inmates. This is evident from the fact that the organization has been much negligent and slow in responding to the issues faced by the general mid-level or lower level employees. Instead the focus and control of the organization have been in the hands of the politically powerful entities within the organizational construct. The reported case of child abuse by two long serving entities in the company highlight the vulnerability of the employees and the lack of organizational morale and ethics in the company. Moreover, the existing fallacies in the organizational management and culture such as pay gaps between male and female employees, high level of gender and racial discrimination, lack of empathy and concern for the wellbeing of the employees, frequent incidences of harassment, bullying and exploitation of the employees are some of the elements which highlight the presence of a highly negligent and dictatorship based management in the BBC. The reviews done into these issues have also brought forth various failings in the organizational culture and management and communication systems prevailing within the BBC. The development of such a system in which management, communication and investigation systems are not properly functional and in which the concerns and problems of the employees are not addressed are the intermittent results of the presence of an inherent power culture within the company( Sathe, 2015). The power culture in the organization has also been responsible for the company attracting mainly power oriented people into the management of the business and high degrees of personal power being vested in the central management system of the same. The other results of the power culture in the BBC can be noted in the facts that high employee turnover has been reported in BBC over the last few years and also a general lack of motivation, involvement and engagement on the part of the employees have been identified.

• Analysis of how culture, power and politics overall have affected the behaviour within the BBC

Power, culture and politics within an organizational setting are found to have profound impacts on the performance and efficiency of an organization (Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 2010). The case organization, BBC seems to have attracted power oriented people into its management position. The company has fostered the growth of a power culture which has been exploitative and negligent towards the needs, requirements and general wellbeing of its employees. Power has remained largely and exclusively vested on the hands of few senior managers who have used the power to get financial and operational control on the company and its people with little or no concern shown towards the improvement of the organization and its employees. However, currently, with the appointment of HR director Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth in 2014, there have been several progressive changes noted in the HR management of BBC. The new HR director has started programs to imbibe a better organizational culture and philosophy within BBC with substantial focus given on the interests and benefits of the employees working at different levels of the business. A cultural revamp in under progress in BBC under the guidance of the newly appointed HR director and his team to ensure that the broadcasting company can function in a sustainable manner for the future. The initiatives taken by the HR team of BBC to demolish the power culture within the company and mode the company towards a task and people, culture is expected to bring visible positive changes in the way the organization and its employees function. Some of the outcomes of this cultural shift have already been prominently seen in BBC with the employees being more eager to come to work, displaying more positive, enthusiastic and motivated behaviours at work, showing considerable levels of ownership and responsibility taking on their own and also by exhibiting an overall eagerness to come to work and give their best in their respective job roles on a daily basis.

• Task 2
• Content and process theories of motivation.

The theories of motivation can be segregated into two broad heads which are content theories and process theories, respectively. The content theories of motivation deal with the individual goals and needs and delves into the ‘what’ aspect of motivation of an individual. The content theories of motivation look into the motivating factors which are intrinsic to human beings and which can sustain, stop or cause behaviours and actions among them. The main focus of all the content theories are on the need and other intrinsic factors which can motivate people. On the other hand, the process theory of motivation is based on the entire process of motivation and delves into the ‘how’ aspect of the occurrence and development of motivation within an individual. The process theories of motivation explore the ways in which the behaviours and decisions are caused stopped or sustained due to the impact of the identified motivational factors. The common process theories of motivation are based on the idea that the factors such as sense of accomplishment, reward factors and preferences influence the level of motivation within a human being (Burrell and Morgan, 2009). The process motivation theories which can be relevant in an organizational context are the reinforcement theory, the expectancy theory, the goal setting theory and the equity theory of motivation.

• How motivational techniques may have helped to improve the effectiveness in the teams within the BBC.

It is important for the HR managers and other managers within an organizational setting to identify what factors can motivate an employee to perform well in his respective job role. Also, it is equally important to identify how these factors can help to motivate an individual. Both the ‘what’ and ‘how’ perspectives of motivation as well as the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of motivation are important to be considered in developing motivation of the workforce. While employing the motivational techniques and theories in the organization, the HR department should essentially consider that motivation has to be developed both on an individual and a team basis within BBC to achieve the organizational human resource based goals (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2013). The Herzberg’s two factor theory and the McClelland’s need for achievement, affiliation and power are two main content theories which can be applicable in the current situation of BBC. The Herzberg’s theory can be applied by developing the motivators such as achievement, recognition, work, advancement and responsibility and controlling the hygiene factors such as company administration and supervision, working conditions and interpersonal relationships. The McClelland’s theory can be applied by trying to arrange the wok conditions and situations in the company for gaining motivational benefits from the employees who have intrinsic high need or achievement. The application of the process theories of motivation can be done with the aim of enhancing employee engagement, motivation, involvement and proactive behaviour. For this purpose, the mangers should be able to properly understand the process of motivation and also identify the factors that cause motivation (Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005). The reinforcement theory of motivation can be employed in BBC with the aim of altering the behaviours and performances of the employees in a positive manner. The system of rewards and recognition can be aptly used for driving extrinsic motivation among the employees. The expectancy model of motivation can be applied by focusing on the likelihood of the getting the desired outcomes from the respective employees and teams through the clear communication of the organizational expectations from its employees. The company can find the equity theory of motivation to be much useful because it can set up rewards, recognition and appraisal programs as ways of making the employees compare their work and rewards with their colleagues and being inspired and motivated to work better for achieving rewards and recognition. Another main theory of motivation which can be effectively implemented by the HR managers in BBC is the goal setting theory in which the company can set achievable goals for the employees. These goals should be SMART goals i.e. specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and time based (Subba, 2012).

• How improved levels of motivation can help to achieve the organisation’s goals

Improved levels of motivation among the employee groups are necessary in order to improve organizational efficiency and performance in BBC. This is because employee motivation within a workplace is a critical driver of performance at the team level, department level as well as at the organizational level (Bandura, 2006). Having employees with low motivation will automatically lead to the employees being lesser engaged in their respective job roles. Employee motivation is also essential to meet the organizational goals through the active employment and optimum use of its most valuable assets which is the human resources. Thus, the management of the company should focus on developing and generating both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among its employees to enable the organization achieve higher levels of performance outcomes and efficiency (Rollinson, 2008). Also, the development of a motivated workforce can enable BBC to improve its employee turnover rate and decrease the employee attrition rate which are essential for reducing wastes in terms of time and expenses (Levi, 2014).

• Task 3
• Identification of the different types of teams within BBC

It is important for a large scale multinational company like BBC to have different types of well managed teams which can cater to different requirements of the business with the ultimate aim of achieving higher capacity, efficiency and performance outcomes. At present there are functional teams, problem solving teams, self-managed team, virtual teams and task forces functioning within the organizational boundaries of BBC. There are a number of functional teams in the company which operate as specific permanent units or departments. These include the operations team the human resource team, the accounting and finance team, the marketing and sales team etc. these teams have clearly defined responsibilities for managing different aspects of the organization (Evans and Lindsay, 2007). A task force team is essential for ensuring that the company has the ability to find solutions for critical issues and for working on specific projects undertaken by BBC. The presence of a self-managed team is necessary within BBC for achieving competitive advantage and high scale efficiency. This is because, the self-managed teams generally consist of individual employees who work together for the purpose of achieving a common goal but is not supervised by any leader. As such, each member of the self-managed team is responsible and accountable for his/her decisions, actions and work performances. This kind of team can be extremely beneficial in a company like BBC because it would not only help the company to foster self-driven performances but would also create the scope for cutting down on team building and management costs (By and Burnes, 2013). Facilitating the functioning of self-managed teams would further help the company to relive the management from team building and human resource management responsibilities thereby enabling the management to focus on other core business activities and functions. The company would also not have to allocate specific managerial resources for building and managing these teams and proactive behaviour, responsibility taking and ownership taking can be propagated among the employee groups (Jex and Britt, 2008).

• What makes an effective team in the BBC

The development of a high performing team is a necessity in the current situation of the case company. Since, a major organizational transformation is taking place in BBC, therefore, the development of effective teams is essential to make the organization capable of transiting smoothly in the new organizational setting (Lawler, 2014). The team development model proposed by Tuckman and Jensen can be applied in the context of building effective teams within BBC. In order to ensure that an effective team is built as well as maintained within the company, the management should start by identifying the motivation factors and devising plans to develop such factors among the employee base. Along with this, the identification of the factors which hinder the development of an efficient team should also be done so that these factors can be negated or reduced (Allen and Rogelberg, 2012). In the process of developing effective teams, the management of BBC should focus on considering the three issues which tend to undermine the performances of teams and their members within an organizational setting. These core issues are identified by Tuckman and Jensen to be process, feelings and content. The issues of feelings and processes need to be adequately addressed in order to build a team which can function as a high performing and self-reliant unit. Thus, the management of BBC and the HRM department needs to address these issues in the preliminary stages of team building so that the teams can reach the most productive and value bearing final stage (Montana and Charnov, 2008). This can be done by referring to the Tuckman and Jensen model of group development (Fig. 2).

Figure 2: Tuckman and Jensen model of group development

(Source: Goetsch and Davis, 2008)

As per this model, there are four stages of team development which are:

• The Forming stage: This phase encompasses the initial orientation period when the team is not fully aware of the objectives and roles. The members are not familiar with each other and the way of functioning of the leaders and team members are not well established. In context of BBC, this phase should involve making the team members and team leaders acquainted with each other and aware of the organizational expectations and objectives from the respective teams.
• The Storming phase: This phase involves a sorting out period in which the member start identifying their roles as active components of the team, feel comfortable in providing inputs and recommendations and start challenging the authority of the team leader if and when required. This phase has high chances of conflict among the team members and the leadership styles of the team leader plays a crucial role in this phase for reducing intra team conflicts and managing clashes.
• The Norming phase: In this stage, the team members start performing as a cohesive unit and use their knowledge and experiences to solve problems in a collaborative way. This phase involves the establishment of procedures for taking decisions, managing conflicts and setting methods for conducting the team projects.
• The Performing phase: This stage is characterised by the team becoming comfortable in displaying collaborative behaviour and harmony, work relationships being worked out and results being produced. The team members typically learn to work together with proper conflict management techniques in place and focus on contributing their resource for achieving the purpose of the team.

BBC should focus on the adoption of this model to develop efficient teams by using a streamlined and properly defined procedure of team or group development within the organizational boundaries. This would not only ensure that highly efficient, performance oriented as well as sustainable teams can be developed and maintained within the organization (Wagner and Hollenbeck, 2010).

• Task 4
• Way to improve team performance and productivity within the BBC

Achieving improvements in team performance and productivity in BBC is a necessity for ensuring sustainable organizational management and functioning in the company. In general, team performance and efficiency can be improved by developing an organizational culture which fosters collaboration, helps develop strong mutually beneficial work relationships, facilitates communication of ideas, information, views and knowledge, provides scope for conflict reduction and management and also provides the employees with a sense of empowerment (Archer and Cameron, 2013). The path goal theory of leadership can be applied in BBC for improving work relationship and team based performances. This theory is aimed at the selection of leadership style or behaviour which best fits the work environment, organizational culture and the employees of a specific company for the achievement of organizational objectives. The main goals which are to be attained through the application of this model is to enhance the motivation, engagement, empowerment, satisfaction and proactive behaviour of the employees so that the human resources can be used in the organization in productive and value generating ways (Quinn and McGrath, 2010). BBC can employ the steps defined in the path gal theory of leadership to employ leadership styles that would enhance employee motivation which would in turn improve the team performances and efficiency. These steps involve the determination of the characteristics of the work environment and the employee preferences and choices, selection of a suitable leadership style and creation or generation of the motivational factors which will motivate the employees to succeed (Fig. 3).

Figure 3: The path goal theory of leadership

(Source: Deal and Kennedy, 2012)

• Barriers to effective performance within the BBC

The main barriers in the way of effective functioning of BBC can be identified to be the presence of a heterogeneous workforce, the lack of high scale human resource management capabilities , lack of managerial involvement, conflict of interest in the inter team as well as the intra team constructs, existing work ethics and organizational culture, lack of motivation and efficacy among the workers, organizational rules and supervisions and lacks in communication among different levels of employees. Other barriers that may be present in the company are the absence of optimal application of available resources, significant gaps prevailing between the goal setting of individual employees and the organization as a whole unit, poor management of time and other resources, absence of clarity in managerial goal setting, insufficient level of managerial involvement, poor communication, lack of clarity of team goals and visions and conflicts of interest between the members of teams (Deming, 2006). BBC should adequately assess the leadership styles and the work environment in order to apply the most suitable leadership style according to the requirements of the respective teams in the organization so that the barriers for organizational and team performance can be mitigated (Handy, 2004). The selection and use of proper leadership styles can also help the organization to lower the defensive barriers which are inherent to the workforce in any organization.