In summary, culture should be intentional shaped to suit the organizational structure employed by the management because they’re both connected. An unorganized leverage between the structure and the culture would reason employees to feel undervalued and complicated. Having an unorganized weak labor force influences the business to not achieve objectives and reach definite loss. Adopting the best fit structure and culture affects the internal performance which would influence the overall success for the organization.
1.(d)
According to John Ivancevich and Michael Mattson, “the major factors that influence individual differences in behavioral patterns are demographic factors, abilities and skills, , attitudes and personality. “
Personality is influenced by many factors including: Experience, family, society, situation, culture and religion. A combination of particular traits that are different between individuals, they are signified by: carefulness, determination to pursue goals in life, level of assertiveness, reaction to stress and pressure, agreeableness, outlook towards others, and natural reactions. These factors determine what kind of personality an individual possesses and that is reflected in his/her work behavior. For example, someone who is active, motivated by his goals and open to experience can be described as an extrovert, and an extrovert cannot be a call center agent or do a routine job. Understanding employees by studying their personality traits through observation, training, and exposure is important to allocate employees accordingly because that will determine their work behavior and accomplishment.
Another important factor that influences the individuals’ behavior at work is the ability and skill. The ability and skills can be defined as the physical or mental capacity of an individual to perform the job in the most efficient and effective way. The manager should match the employee’s ability and skill with the job requirement in order to achieve the task given. If an employee isn’t equipped with the proper skills or ability, then his behavior or attitude would be negative.
Attitude is the inclination to agree or disagree to certain situations, jobs, management and etc. This psychological empowerment is affected by many factors such as culture, family, peers and work issues. Managers need to study the variables related to job as to create the work environment in a favorable way that employees are tempted to form a positive attitude.
The final factor that helps influence the individual behavior at work is the perception. According to Mullins (2005 p.1060) “the dynamic and complex way in which individuals select information (stimuli) from the environment, interpret and translate it so that a meaning is assigned which will result in a pattern of behavior or thought. This cognitive process differs from one individual to the other because people have different views and perceive things differently.” It is important that managers have clear communication means so that all employees perceive the task appropriately. For example, if a director asked a team of engineers to perform a quality check after finalizing project X, a specific engineer might perceive this command in a negative way being that the director does not trust his work and that translation would be reflected in his work behavior.
In conclusion, I recommend department managers to intensely study the individual’s personality, perception, attitude and skills; because the behavior of each individual is formed from many factors and aspects. There are many ways to closely study the individual behavior; it could be done by observation, training, and behavior tests.
Task 2
2.(a)
Enterprise Rent-a-Car exercises different leadership styles to achieve goals. Enterprise managers inspire employees to take the initiative in making the right decisions while assuring that no major rules are broken and that all the employees are on the same path to achieve a high level of customer service. One of the leadership styles applied in Enterprise is the “Laissez-faire” which according to THE BROWN BOOK is “the leader that has little direct input; leaves subordinates to make decisions.” Within Enterprise, employees have the freedom to make immediate decisions independently without referring to the management but within broad limits; that leadership style proved to be affective since the organisation constantly achieves objectives.
In Emaar Properties (previous employer), my manager empowered an autocratic leadership style. The leadership traits of an autocratic leader is one who makes decisions on his own and communicates with staff in a form of orders, staff are told the decision and they carry on the tasks. Emaar’s organisational culture can be described as a ‘power culture’. The management was dealing with us in such a way that made me feel like a working machine with no say in the operations, and that was a de-motivation. An autocratic leader can be described as an achiever manager because the task was getting done in the highest quality.
In periods of change, a Laissez-faire leadership would be more stable than an autocratic leadership. The leadership trait that best explain the manager that employs the Lassez-faire theory is a magician and transformational leader because the manager-employee relationship is open and strong which makes them a team. Each employee has a unique style and skill that cannot be replaced, and every employee would constantly achieve to foster the trust and keep the loyal connection between both sides. Both the management and employees would work hard together to overcome periods of change since thriving and achieving is the motivation here.
In Emaar, employees are trained and programmed to do certain jobs that do not require much skills, which means employees can be easily replaced with others that do the same task, e.g.: Emaar released 300 employees (including me) by the end of 2010 for financial reasons and in the first quarter of 2011 the company employed over 150 employees. There is no employee-management relationship and in times of change this can cause de-motivation for employees because of no job security. A democratic leadership style would best fit Emaar, a manager that is an opportunist, a magician and at the same time a diplomat. I know mistakes in detailed organizations might lead to a disasters but I am also sure some opinions given by my colleagues were very considerable. The organizational theory exercised in Emaar is a ‘product-based structure’ and ‘power culture’ which supports managers becoming autocratic and communicate with their team in a form of orders.
In summary, during periods of change, employees need a magician, a diplomat and a transformational leader to manage the team to overcome any obstacles. Such a leader depends on his loyal relationship and trust with his employees to overcome obstacles.
2.(b)
Managing and leading a team is a hard task but determines the success of the organization. I metaphorically compared a successful organization to a Formula 1 car; the wheels that move the vehicle forward are the employees, the steering wheel that formulate the transformation of the employees/wheels is trust and loyalty, the petrol poured inside the engine is motivation, the strength of the vehicle depends totally on the internal structure exactly like organizations, and the driver is the manager that drives the team/firm towards success in the modern race.
Managers in different organizations have different theories to relate to. In Emaar, managers exercised the scientific management theory in operation. The scientific management theory or Taylorism (Fredrick Winslow Taylor 1856-1917) is "matching people to the task and supervising, rewarding and punishing them according to their performance. The job of management was to plan and control the work." (Crainer 1996). The organizational theory adopted in Emaar underpins the Taylorism management practice employed in our department because: (1) the top management /board members practice a ‘systems approach’ which means they are not involved with the daily operation, the final output is their concern. (2) The structure of the company is product based and the product/service is the main objective of each department. (3) Our department’s culture is the ‘power culture’. The structure, culture and management pressure supports a Taylorism management style only
I am against Taylorism because, when an organization hires an employee, they place many job requirements and shortlist candidates to choose the right one. Putting all these candidates together and imposing a scientific management theory on them means deploying their inner potential that might be beneficial to the company. I suggest multinational organizations like Emaar should impose the human-relations approach to build an employee-management relationship or a contingency approach; sticking to one forceful style has one outcome which is degraded employees that will find the first opportunity to leave. Having a connection between the management and its employees would create a strong bond; motivated employees could come up with creative suggestions that might benefit the organization.
The contingency approach can be altered by the management to fit the business environment, conditions faced by the organization, operational hazards, objectives, and the structure of the task. Hamptons Real Estate (a previous employer), implemented the contingency approach. Every department manager had a different approach according to the objectives set for his/her department. E.g. the sales manager emphasized on employee relationship because sales needs positive employees, the finance manager emphasized on task because documents were piling and the task needs to be accomplished. This showed a great success in the form of: tasks being accomplished, people always motivated and pleased with their managers, and a positive environment.
Task 3
3.(a)
Motivation is the process that explains an individual’s enthusiasm and intensity which is defined through persistent effort towards reaching the set goal or aim.The motivation process is triggered by the realization of an extrinsic or intrinsic need, and that power becomes stronger once the employee is desperately in need to satisfy that goal/need. Abraham Maslow (1954) pointed the hierarchy of human needs and believed that employees would not be motivated unless their needs are set and met in a hierarchy order. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is based on two groupings: defiance and growth needs.
The deficiency needs include:
1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.
2) Safety: job security.
3) Social: connect with colleagues/ management.
4) Esteem: to achieve and gain recognition.
Each lower need has to be met before progressing to the next higher level. And once each level is satisfied then an individual is no longer motivated by it and moves on.
Mr. Ankur Bansal, head of client service centre at Hamptons RE, believes that psychological and safety needs should be met by every company in order to assure that an employee is motivated to come to work each day to fulfil those needs. I can related to that by saying, Emaar properties did not have me pass the safety level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I was always worried about loosing my job and that affected my performance. I was de-motivated and constantly looking for a job outside because neither the company nor my manager offered the basic motivational level of job security.
According to Maslow the growth needs include: Cognitive: To understand, to know and to explore; Self- Actualization: to realize one’s true potential and find self fulfilment.
Self-actualized employees are ones who satisfied all their defiance needs and lead a perfect career, they can be characterized as 1) ability to have peak experiences; 2) Applying maximum skill to save fulfil his role 3) being problem-focused; 4) the ability to grow and achieve personal goals.5) becoming self-transcendent.
Mr. Bansal has over 8 years of management experience and regarding incentives and motivation he said: “In order to achieve more or apply more potential in a job, managers should constantly create incentives, monetary and non-monetary rewards. Career growth is one of the most important motivational aspects that affects the performance of an employee. Managers should always keep their employees motivated by placing indicators or job standards and grading performance individually for an opportunity for successful employees to grow within the company.”
When questioning his methods he responded: “The Human Resource made sure that the salary and the environment that you’re getting are enough to fulfill your psychological, safety, and social level on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. But my task was to keep building your esteem and keep you motivated since you already passed the previous levels. Promotions and bonuses are all given at timely bases to assure that an employee is constantly motivated by an incentive. When an employee reaches the self actualization level he starts feeling superior to the company; this is why incentives are given at different intervals throughout the year. In general, Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is a theory that translated the motivational aspect of every employee, and it is really important for each manager to understand and practice the levels properly to keep his team motivated to excel.
Being my direct manager, he used to constantly grade us on weekly, monthly, and yearly bases, the KPI (key product indicator) indentifies the amount of bonuses we receive and career growth is always given to the employee with the highest performance. Mr. Ankur applied the Cognitive approach to manage our department, he emphasized on the element of people more than task or environment. He believed that if you focus on people and learn where each one falls on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and if you motivate them enough they will complete the task in the best manner and they would keep a friendly enthusiastic environment especially if competition was one of the elements.
Another motivational theory that highlights job satisfaction for any individual is the Herzberg’s two-factor theory. Frederick Herzberg separated his theory into two different factors. The intrinsic factors are related to an individual’s job satisfaction, while the extrinsic factors are related to dissatisfaction. Job satisfaction depends on two determinants: The hygiene factors (working conditions) and motivators (recognition).
*Figure 3
Both hygiene and motivators factors should be provided to an adequate level to ensure a satisfied motivated workforce. The graph below helps explain the connection between hygiene and motivators and their relevance to job satisfaction or dissatisfaction.
Source: Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review. An exhibit from One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? by Frederick Herzberg, September–October 1987. Copyright © 1987 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College: All rights reserved.
In comparison, the hygiene factors on Herzberg’s theory equate the safety and security needs on Maslow’s theory, and the motivators being the needs that push employees to a higher performance could equate self-actualization on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Herzberg’s two–factor theory is useful to any manager who is concerned with the reasons that affect his team’s performance. If Mr. Ankur Bansal was satisfied with the hygiene factors that are covered by the company and did not pay attention to the motivators, then I would not thrive and work to my full potential. The human resource department assures that the job security, salary, and supervision are provided; while as, Mr. Ankur assures the recognition, achievement, growth, monetary and non-monetary incentives are set standards for individuals to reach.
I recommend managers to constantly assure that the motivational factors are set and in practice for employees to perform. If motivators did not exist in Hamptons, I would come everyday to work complete my task and leave; but the motivators were the factors that kept me working harder.
Task 4
4. (a)
The word “team” can be given to a group of people that assemble together for any purpose given. "A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable." (Katzenbach and Smith, 1993). A group can be formal or informal but in both cases they can be described as a collection of individuals who work with shared information but contributions and responsibilities are assigned individually. Within an organization, a formal group may meet to discuss the project at hand and the work may be broken into individual tasks so that each member can work independently on their assigned task. Members may meet to discuss progress, they may reconvene to bring the individual contributions together for completion of the project and then eventually they will disband. A team contains the same elements as a group but also includes mutual accountability, interdependence and complementary skills with common goals and purposes. Whereas a group may accomplish a task with members working independently a team develops a synergy among the different skills, knowledge and viewpoints of its members. Another difference could be, a formal group has a leader with a managerial role who makes all the decisions, by contrast, and teams share the managerial position by either rotating leaders or sharing the leadership. Working in teams should produce a synergistic effect where various team members analyze a problem from multiple viewpoints and provide each other with shared information and insight in order to reach solutions.
For example, during my training days with Emaar Properties I took a trip to the Burj Khalifa site before its inauguration. I realized that the main reason this tower was a success is the evident team work. Engineers were divided into teams and each team was in charge of a specific project (construction, wind testing and etc.). There were around 360,000 employees divided into teams and working on the site. On the other hand, a perfect example of an informal group is a group of tourists. A travel agency collects tourists and designs a holiday package; every tourist on board has a specific reason for his/her trip, but they’re all considered in one group. The only connection between the tourists in the package created by the travel agency, but each one has a different task.
4.(b)
Teams are put together to achieve objectives by contributing member’s expertise and knowledge. Teamwork is based on trust, cooperation, and support; therefore all team members should have a common objective. Selecting team members is a crucial phase in team building, it is important that the members have a range of traits that together build an effective team. A factor that can prevent team development is not choosing the right people for the right tasks, or selecting a member that lacks to develop a team.
After selecting members, it is important that the team arranges meetings and workshops to help build a team approach. The team building approach means that during meetings members share objectives, build positive communication and relationship skills, contribute fully, identify team rewards for supportive behaviors, and develop both team confidence and problem solving skills. A factor that could prevent the team from developing, is failing to adopt a team building spirit.
Another aspect that contributes to the success of a team is team roles. These roles can be identified as job roles or purpose of the individual. Based on a research conducted over 200 teams, (1981) identified nine management styles that are labeled as team roles: coordinator, resource investigator, team worker, shaper, company worker/ implementer, completer finisher, plant, evaluator and . It is important that the team is balanced and the right person is chosen for the role, failing to do so may lead to failure. If the team included too many “completers” and lacked “plant roles” then the team would have many employees that complete the task but lack employees that come up with tasks.
Selecting team members, identifying roles and team building are all considered in the forming stage of a team. There are many conflicts that can arise in this stage, these conflicts can prevent the team development and they should be solved before progressing.
According to Tuckman and Jensen (1997), the next phase of team development is storming. Storming is when the team starts exchanging ideas and reaching agreements. There are many disagreements that may happen at this stage but it is important that everything is clear and set before progressing, because if any member held grudges his performance throughout the task would be below standards. When everything is set, the team can start norming; Norming is when a team starts sharing ideas in cohesiveness, and collaborative work begins. This leads us to the final stage of performance, where the whole team focuses on the task.
Technology is a modern approach that simplifies communication within a team. Many companies are depending on virtual teams to support international trade and globalization. If a team is built with strong routes of common shared objectives then technology such as internet, mobile devices, instant chatting and programming can be affective forms of leading and communicating with a worldwide virtual team. Today, technology is vital for teamwork, e.g. the managing director at Hamptons was able to have weekly meetings with the Hamptons Oman team that is operating abroad, he used to discuss the reports and assign tasks through a web video camera. Without that the MD wouldn’t be able to communicate with his team effectively which may lead to a team crash.
Another example is that all sales staff at Hamptons used to locate each other through GPRS and communicate before deciding which agent takes the customer for orientation easing communication and teamwork.
I was previously employed at Hamptons Real Estate Dubai branch; the company consisted of around 200 employees in Dubai and 50 employees in Abu Dhabi branch. Abu Dhabi team scored sales that were below the assigned target. Abu Dhabi was divided geographically between agents and some agents were selling properties in other agents’ designated areas, and that created a clash. It is proven in this case that the Abu Dhabi team are competing individually to earn the highest sales record and commission. In my opinion, the solution in this case is within the team itself. It is evident that the sales manager is creating a rivalry between agents for a competition to happen, and the competition here is bringing the team to a definite lose. The sales manager designation should be revoked and the leadership should be divided between the whole team, the roles should be balanced equally to make every individual feel motivated. Since the commission is the main motivational aspect in this case, then i recommend re-designing the commission of every sale to make it 50% to the team and 50% to the agent himself; this would encourage teamwork.
In conclusion, during the forming, storming and norming stages, problems may arise that affect the performance of the team; some issues might even bring the team to an end. If all members work together to overcome obstacles then the team would be an epic. This commitment would create a team identity and loyalty, in parallel, the high performance would create a multi-disciplinary team that is ready to develop with set team dynamics.
References:
Emaar Properties, Hamptons Real Estate, ContinentAd are all companies I previously worked with. The reference of these companies is used to relate a personal experience to the course material; I have no intentions to criticize in any direct or indirect way. I am honored to have been part of such multinational organizations that proved success throughout the years. I consider the experience I gained throughout my employment duration in every company, a valuable journey that helped me nourish my skills and overcome my obstacles.
*Figure 1: Google Images. 2011. Google Images. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed October 13 2011].
*Figure 2: Google Images. 2011. Google Images. [ONLINE] Available at: . [Accessed October 13 2011].
*Figure 3: Picture taken from RDI course material Unit 3 (Motivation and leadership): Figure 3.04 - Herzberg's two factor theory
Mullins, L. J., 2005, Management and OrganisationalBehaviour, Seventh Edition, Financial Times, Prentice Hall
Kotter, John. 1992 Corporate Culture and Performance, Free Press; (April 7, 1992)
Katzenbach, J.R. & Smith, D.K. (1993). The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-performance Organization. Boston: Harvard Business School.
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RDI coursework material – Module 3 (Organizations Behavior) Unit 4 – Teams (Page 3)
Ankur Bansal Meeting.
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Jams G.Hunt, 2002. Organizational Behavior - 2002 publication. 7th Edition Edition. John WilrySons Inc,2002.RDI
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RDI coursework material; Module 3 (Organizations Behavior) Unit 1- Unit 2- Unit 3- Unit 4
Ankur Bansal Meeting.
