Organisational Behaviour Assignment: Managing Organizations in Global Environment

Question

Task: Purpose:
This individual organisational behaviour assignment is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of OrganisationalBehaviour in a Global context.

1. From Week 7 Pre Recorded Case Study
(a) Describe rational decision making.
(b) Cite 3 reasons for and 3 reasons against rebuilding Greensburg as a “green town.” (6 marks) 2. From week 8 Pre Recorded Case Study
(a) What is horizontal communication
(b) How is the horizontal form of communication more prominent in Intermountain Healthcare

3. From Week 9 Pre Recorded Case Study
(a) Where does Hewitt’s leadership fall on the Managerial Grid discussed in the chapter
(b) What deficiencies or shortcomings would you identify in Hewitt’s leadership

4. From Week 10 Pre Recorded Case Study
(a) Based on this case study, what issues with China-based suppliers require Numi’s managers to use influence and persuasion tactics
(b) How does Numi get suppliers to comply with its policies

5. From Week 11 Pre Recorded Case Study
(a) Does Honest Tea have more of an organic or mechanistic structure
(b) How can you tell (Justify)

Answer

1. Week 7
(a)As per the opinion of Djulbegovicet al., (2018, p.660) undertaken in the present context of organisational behaviour assignment, decision-making in a rational way is a process in which an individual can make choices based on the availability of information, facts and logic. Perkovic and Orquin, (2018, p.40) have demonstrated that the effectiveness and efficiency feasibility of various solutions is generally compared and contrasted by the individuals for the final selection of a specific solution to solve the issue. It has been identified that the accuracy level of the solutions to the problem supported by rational decision-making process is very high as compared to other types of decision-making (Koechlin, 2020, p.5). For making a decision rationally, people should follow the following stages:

Identify and redefine the different problems that must be mitigated
Develop a stakeholder meeting to brainstorm and identify alternative solutions
Evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of all the solutions.
Finally, the most feasible as well as the efficient solution can be selected

(b)The reasons for rebuilding Greensburg as a “green town”
From the analysis of the case study, it has been identified that the majority of the people who live at Greensburg have an emotional connection with the town. Therefore, if the authority can take the decision to rebuild the town as a green town, it is likely that more people can be convinced not to leave the town.

The reasons against rebuilding Greensburg as a “green town”
For developing a green town, the responsible authority in Greensboro will have to collect a huge budget through funding sources. However, in the context of the Tornado and the loss the people have encountered such a huge budget project can generate a negative perspective among people.
The residents of green berg have less knowledge regarding sustainability and green town. Therefore, before the implementation of the project the primary goal of the authority should be educating people regarding the proper application of green towns, otherwise, the implementation can result in failure.

2. Week 8
(a)According to Fominaya, (2016, p.100), communication in organizations can be of four types that are downward, upward, diagonal and horizontal. As per Lee et al., (2017, p. 955), horizontal communication, also termed as lateral communication, involves the flow of information among division units of a department within the similar departmental level of an organizational hierarchy. Vertical organizational communication transmits information among various levels in the organizational hierarchy (Garget al., 2018).

Figure.1: Various types of organisational communication
(Source: DuHadway 2018, p.15)

Some positive sides of horizontal communication include decreased disparity and misinterpretation among various departments across the company. It also helps to improve the overall efficiency and productivity of an organization, besides increasing job satisfaction and motivational levels among the employees (Cho et al., 2018, p.112). With the strong level of horizontal communication the top management of any organization can confront serious challenges and issues to control communication in the bottom level. According to Jiang and Men, (2017, p.240), horizontal communication problems can occur because of lack of motivation, rivalry or involvement of other people regarding members of a company is unwelcomed. Therefore, it can have a bad effect on the environment of organization.

(b)Organizational communication is recognized as a form of horizontal communication in Intermountain Healthcare. Intermountain tries to give importance to good communication as it authorizes towards better care to the patients and cost effectiveness. Intermountain maintained a horizontal communication by arranging clinical programs by which the company protocols and practices are interpreted by all service providers within the organization. The concerned organization utilizes combined methods by putting flyers on bulletin boards, arranging meetings and using the official websites to communicate the organizational goals with the employees. The systematized teaching permits the transfer of relevant information to the patients that arebased on the principle of horizontal communication (Gallo et al., 2016, p.249). A strong horizontal communication between the clinicians and the patients is established after their discharge from the hospital by using systematized brochures that are also delivered to the service providers like physicians and nurses.

3. Week 9
(a)According to Kessler et al., (2017, p.547) managerial grid is a representation of different leadership styles of people. Kessler et al., (2017, p.547) has stated that the managerial grid is a 9*9 grid, which includes 5 distinct leadership styles. The present case study is based on the leadership style used by Steve Hewitt. From the analysis of the leadership style of Hewitt, it can be explained that his leadership style falls within the team management leadership category in the leadership grid. As per the explanation of Roy (2019, p.170) team management leadership style can be defined as the style that can motivate people to have a commitment for the accomplishment of certain tasks.

Fugue.2: Managerial Grid
(Source: Roy 2019, p.170)

(b)The case study based on the leadership style of Steve Hewitt indicates that the leadership style of Hewitt lacks real shortcomings and deficiencies. In the case study, the personality of the leader has been depicted as a big-hearted, strategic, and analytic individual, with a potential to create vision and action plans. From the case study, it has been identified that the leader was much more aware regarding the requirements for making changes in Greensburg. Apart from the positive side of the leader, there are some deficiencies and shortcomings. In the opinion of Péréa and Von Zedtwitz (2018, p.15), a leader should possess enthusiasm for any activity. However, by judging the leadership style of Hewitt, it can be explained that there was a lack of enthusiasm in his leadership approach. The initial approaches of Hewitt were efficient, however, in the later phase of leadership, the leader was identified to become more exposed to the media that created a strong conflict among the workers. In team management leadership excessive connectivity is a major weakness of the leaders. As employees, from different levels, carried out the green project in Greensburg, the duty of the leader was to let the media channels know the contribution of all instead of taking all the media attention toward him.

4. Week 10
(a)In the opinion of Lam et al., (2017, p.49) persuasion and influential tactics can help in the completion of tasks. From the evaluation of the case of Numi, it can be demonstrated that one of the key issues that the company had relating to the china-based suppliers is the inability of the suppliers to comply with sustainable objectives and goals of Numi. Apart from that, it has been also identified that Numi was encountering problems due to the cultural and ethical differences that it had with the China-based suppliers. In the present case, this statement can be said to be relevant. Numi's managers are allowed to apply influence and persuasion tactics because most of its suppliers do not abide by the sustainable goals and thereby, do not follow sustainable practices like fair treatment to the workers, recycling of materials, and reduction of the waste production.
(b)According to Lee et al., (2017, p.218), it has been identified that for making the suppliers reliable to comply with the organisational goals and policies, companies can develop supplier ethics and compliance policies. The organisation Numi organic tea has the goal to enhance the overall sustainability of its supply chain. The effective communication of the company with its suppliers has helped it in applying a two-way communication that resulted in the development of strong relationships
(Rangus and erne, 2019, p.172). Furthermore, the owner of the organisation also arranges frequent meetings with the workers and managers of the factories of the suppliers to ensure that the suppliers are abiding by the companies standards. The frequent factory visits enforce the China-based suppliers in improving the living standard of its staff and improving the practices of waste management. The use of influence tactics by the manager has also helped the company to educate the suppliers regarding the importance of sustainability and maintenance of the living standard of the workers to make the whole supply chain green.

5. Week 11
(a)The organic organisational structure has been recognised to be a flat structure that possesses internal communication and interactions that are horizontal in nature (McFarland et al. 2019). On the contradiction, Marri et al., (2018, p.10), has explained the mechanistic organisational structure to be a structure that is bureaucratic in nature and involves formal and centralised networks. The case study relating to the organisation Honest Tea portrays its organic organisational structure. Honest Tea is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Coca-Cola company which is based in the US and manufactures bottled organic tea. It has been recognised that the structure that the company possesses is not rigid in nature but flexible. Apart from that, the principles of traditional bureaucracy are also not identified from the structural analysis and interrelation between the various levels of the organisation is more like the communication patterns used in the organic organisational structure.

(b)The case study analysis indicates that the company Honest Tea pays major attention to become competitive within the market and make changes in its organisation based on the changes in the external forces. So, the structure of the company, Honest Tea can be explained to be organic in nature as it functions based on the principle of flexibility. The case study analysis has also helped in identifying that the company increases the transparency of its different functions for effective communication with its employees. As per the opinion of Mallénet al., (2016, p.472) increased transparency of organisations depicts the presence of an open communication channel within organisations. As organic companies operate based on open communication channels, Honest Tea can be best explained as an organisation with organic structure. From the case, it is also recognised that the employees within the organisation perform as horizontal clusters. It has been depicted that there is an existence of horizontal communication among employees who perform in the same departmental levels.

References
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