Organizational Structure: Tall and Narrow vs. Tall and Flat
The organizations, especially the business organization must arrange different regulations to manage the operation effectively. Well-structured organizations find an easy way to manage the entire organizational operation with increasing profitability. The organizations, which have effectively managed the operations applying motivational strategies and leadership style, have been successful in reaching the goals. Another significant fact is that quality of leadership determines employee performance. Thus, the organizational behaviour reflects on leadership, employee engagement and organizational performance. The current report demonstrates how organizational structure and culture influences their operation of City College and Enterprise Car Rental. The report starts with providing a discussion on organizational culture
1. a) Comparing and contrasting different organizational structure and culture for City College and Enterprise Car Rental
The organizational structure determines how the job tasks are formally divided into grouped as well as coordinated. The organizations are complex and adopting a business system to make the best of use of people as the significant as well as essential resources; particularly in today’s competitive environment. As put forward by Cummings and Worley (2014), the organizational structure determines the organizational performance.
In this structure, the manager could deal with five to and eight sub co-ordinates. It is much easier to deal with the less number of people. As the number of people is less, employees get the opportunities to enhance communication. As put forward by Shaughnessy (2013), the supervision remains strong in tall and narrow structure and the employees can communicate with the CEO or the leader of the company. Large, complex organization often requires a taller hierarchy. In addition, a tall structure results in one long chain of command, which is quite similar to the military.
In a flat organizational structure, one top manager is there who is usually the owner or the CEO of the company, supervising the handful of other employees with equal level of the authority (West 2014). On the other side, in a tall organizational structure, different layers of authority are there between the CEO and the low-level employees. For stance, an entry level-employee could report to a supervisor who reports to a manager or directors. The other authority may report to the vice president, who eventually reports to the top management. Moreover, in a flat organization structure, the employees they may have direct influence on the organization despite knowing the fact that they do not have room for the advancement. Conversely, in tall organizations, though there are many management layers, the employees could feel frustrated at their relative lack of influence at lower level within the organization.
Figure 1: Tall vs. Flat structure
(Source: West 2014)
The characteristics of these two different organizational structures indicate, City College and Enterprise Rent- a car could implement the tall structure, as the task varieties and the responsibilities are larger. Nevertheless, by applying a tall structure, as there are many layers of management, the tasks of each department is effectively dealt by the authority of that department. Hence, Cameron and Whetten (2013) argued that in a tall structure, the communication is not appropriate, which means a gap remain in a top to down level of management. Therefore, any incident at lower management level takes a lot of time to be conveyed to the higher level of authorities.
Long and Short Chain of Commands
Chain of commands is a hierarchy of authority where the personnel at the top of the organizations direct as well as control the activities of the staff below them (Slaikeuand Hasson 2012). For example, the small business like the City College with long chain of command communicates the suggestions to the manager directly beneath them, who repeats the process to the next manager in the chain of command unless the instructions reach the employees at the bottom of the chain. In addition to this, a manager in the chain of command has more authority as well as decision-making power than a manager at a lower level possesses. Therefore, any process at the bottom level is time-consuming. On the other side, short chain of command demonstrates how the individuals are linked together. The individuals could see their positions in the company.
Organizational culture: Among different culture, the role culture is completely popular in present days. In this culture, the work is assigned to each employee in accordance with the specialization of that worker. It could help to increase productivity of the organizations. Therefore, in a large organization like Enterprise Rent-a Car, the role culture plays a big role, as there are many departments developed in Enterprise. Each department clearly understands their job roles. However, Shahzad et al. (2012) commented that role culture has some restrictions such as the employees start feeling monotonous by doing the similar job. For example, if the specialists take leaves, the firm might bear the loss because of the knowledge to other employees.
b) Explaining the relationship between an organization’s structure and culture and its effect on the organization
Organizational structure and organizational culture have a dependent relationship with one another. Dauber, Fink and Yolles (2012) commented that in the business environment, the management structure determines the behaviours, attitudes, dispositions as well as ethics that create the work culture. For example, if an organizational structure is tall with the decision –making power at the top, the organizational culture could reflect a lack of freedom as well as autonomy at the bottom level. Furthermore, if an organization’s management structure is decentralized with shared power as well as authority at all levels, the culture may be more dependent, personalized and accountable. The way a company allocates power and the authority determines how employees behave. Therefore, these choices manifest in an organizational structure as well as the organizational structure. As put forward by Shahzad et al. (2012, the organizational structure is the way a firm arrange its management lines of authority. It could help the firms to determine the roles, responsibilities and the flow of information within the organization.
The case study indicates that the organizational structure of City College is not widely hierarchical compared to other large organizations. The operational functions are divided into three departments namely teaching department, human resource and administrative department. As the organization has limited number of staff, the control and supervisions are become easy to maintain in City College. In fact, the intensive supervision in each department is maintained in City College, which results in high quality of services or educations. As there are only three departments involved in the organizations, the structure of City College easily determines the behaviour and attitude of the employees. The current flat organizational structure of City College could affect the operation. For example, if the human resource department of the firm does not communicate to the administrative department, the workflow may be affected. There should be a proper way of communication among the departments.
Organizational Culture: Role Culture
The case study implies that Enterprise Rent-A car is one of the leading car service providers with more than 75,000 employees and many departments. The organization has maintained a proper tall organizational structure. Although, the organizational structure is comparatively large, the firm has specialized the task based on the type department. Enterprise Rent maintains a hierarchy of authorities. For example, a general manager at Enterprise leads a regional group of City Managers. Likewise, the city managers are the leaders of the front-line management employees. The culture of the firm contributes to the organizational profits because each department maintains vertical communication as well as formal reporting system.
c) Evaluating different factors that might influence the way individuals behave at work
Some significant factors in the organizations such as leadership, work culture, communication, job responsibilities, and relationship at work, employee benefits and others could largely influence the behaviour of employees at work. It is essential responsibility of the leaders to set a director for team members. It is identified that in many cases, the employees do not feel like going to work when they have strict bosses. The leader needs to be a strong source of inspiration for the subordinates. Likewise, the employees need to feel comfortable at the workplace to stay happy and positive. The workplace rules and regulations should be equal for all employees. The employees should be motivated to respect their senior or bosses and follow the code of ethics. As put forward by Chadwick and Raver (2015), the transparency at all levels is essential. Likewise, another significant factor is the job security. Hence, the leader should stand by their team during the crisis. On the contrary, Manzoor (2012) emphasised on the employee necessary benefits that could largely influence employee behaviour. This means the employees should be provided with the appraisal benefits, remuneration and flexible work hours and others. If the employees are provided with such benefits, they could be encouraged to perform more effectively.
As Enterprise Rent- a Car is the largest organization with many management layers, different factors embedded with the culture and structure of the firm influencing the behaviour of employees. For example, Enterprise developed an “open door policy”, which allows everybody within the organizations to interact with the senior manager directly. This encourage the employee to feel valued at the workplace. If they face issue related to the work, they get a solution from the manager before the issue could hamper their performance. Although, the organization follows an autocratic leadership style, the each decision taken by the leader is conveyed to the employees and the employees have to work based on the decision. However, the employee opinions are not considered in the decision-making process. The employees are instructed to follow company’s guidelines when they have to deliver good customer service. However, the guidelines should be changed to deal with the customers as the needs and demands of the customers change with time.
The case study indicates that organizational culture of City College is quite similar to the theory Y of the McGregor, where the employees are expected to perform better and become responsible. It is identified in the case study that leadership style at City College is quite similar to democratic style. For example, employees in the organization are encouraged to come up with the good ideas; so those ideas can be discussed and implemented. This means when the organizations need to take business decisions, the employees are involved in the decision-making (L?z?roiu 2015). The employees feel motivated and concerned about the organizational growth, as each employee of the firm knows all organizational strategies. They take the responsibility of their department and deliver the services needed.
2.a) Comparing the effectiveness of different leadership styles and considering how each style would impact on City College and Enterprise Rent Car
Relationship between Structure, Culture, and Organizational Performance
As put forward by Renko et al. (2015), the leaders should have the quality as well as the capacity to influence the other employees in the organizations. A manager must possess the quality of dealing different situational problems and taking the measure decisions effective for the organization.
As put forward by Appelbaum et al. (2015), autocratic leadership style also known as the authoritarian leadership. This leadership style clearly defines the divisions between the leaders and the workers. The autocratic leader makes the decision with little or no involvement from the employees. The leaders who follow the principles of autocratic leadership style are highly confident and comfortable with the decision-making responsibility for the organization. In many cases, the employees are observed to be feeling disconnected with the style. However, autocratic leadership style at City College will not be effective as, it is a small organization compared to Enterprise Rent. City College expects its employees to bring new ideas, which means the firm indulge the full engagement of employees. Conversely, Enterprise Rent could implement such leadership style as the firm has several departments and small branches run by general managers. Thus, to run the operation of each branch successfully, the leaders who have the ability to make comprehensive decisions and lead the operation towards the goals.
Figure 2: Different leadership style
(Source: Appelbaum et al. 2015)
This leadership style is usually known as the democratic leadership style. The style is mostly used in the organizations. The style emphasises that management should provide the guidance to its team and department at the time of accepting input from the individuals or employees (Deichmann and Stam 2015). The leaders hold the right to take the eventual decision but encourage feedback, ideas and suggestions of all the workers. This leadership style could be effective for both City College and Enterprise-Rent-A car. The teachers and other staff at City College are appreciated when they bring new ideas for the development of the organization. Likewise, Enterprise-Rent could also implement this leadership to motivate their employees with the ethics and principles of democratic leaders. However, as Enterprise is a large organization, the leaders should positively provide the guidance to all or departments.
Delegative leadership style- This leadership style is also known as the laissez-faire leadership style (Holten and Brenner 2015). The delegative leaders are observed to be making decisions and leaving the functions up to the team. The delegative leaders hardly provide guidance to the team. If the organization Enterprise-Rent implements this leadership style, the job description as well as the lines of authority might become blurred and confusing. The team members might feel the lack of motivation. Employee performance in the organization might be affected. On the other side, City College would also not be appropriate choice for delegative leadership style as at City College employee involvement in the management decision is high considered.
b) Explaining how organisational theory is linked to the style of management which is most likely to be practised in the two organisations.
Organizational classical theory- The organizational classical theory represents the merger of scientific management, bureaucratic theory as well as administrative theory (Shafritz, Ott and Jang 2015). Frederick Taylor developed the scientific management theory, which largely focuses on developing clear lines of authority as well as control. Likewise, bureaucratic theory has stressed on the need for a hierarchical structure of power. The theory effectively identified the significance of division of labour and specialization. In addition, a set of rules and regulations embedded with the hierarchy structure to insure stability and uniformity.
Factors Influencing Behavior at Work
The principles of organizational theory are quite similar to autocratic management style, where the superiors do not consider the ideas and suggestions of the subordinates. The workers are widely dependent on their leaders and they do not have the liberty to take the decisions. These principles should be implemented at Enterprise Rent where the employees need proper guidance to deliver good customer services. As the branch managers are responsible for general regional branch operation, they have to follow the lines of control. The principles of organizational classical theory determine the control and lines of authority of leaders of each department. The employees in such style of management tend to adhere to the guidelines as well as the policies developed by their leaders.
Contingency theory- The contingency theory guides the organizations to fir their environment. The significance of giving managers the authority to make the decisions over their domain is highly considered in a highly volatile industry (Nilsen 2015). In City College, the departments are divided into three different categories. The head of each department should be given the authority to take the decisions over that particular domain.
c) Explain the theory that both City and Enterprise have adopted. Evaluating the different approaches used by City College and Enterprise
Management theory at City College- The case study indicates that City College implements the democratic management style to gain control over its operation. Although, the college has divided the departments in three different categories and the authority given to the head of each department, the employee views, ideas and suggestions are always welcome and implemented.
Management theory at Enterprise Rent- The organization is one of the largest car service providers that has many branches with separate managers. The regional managers run the operation at each branch and those managers are given the authority to take decision of their own branch. The general workers are partially involved in the management decision. This culture implies that organization follow autocratic management style to maintain a positive workflow throughout the organization.
Evaluating the approaches used by both organizations- City College has three different departments namely teaching department, Human resource department and administrative department. However, the employees at each department are encouraged to bring in new ideas and suggestions. The organization developed the culture of giving the managers at all levels the authority to make decisions of the respective decisions. In addition, the management are free to make the decision contingent on the present situation. On the other side, Enterprise Rent due to its large size, authorities are divided into different departments. For example, the general manager at the Enterprise leads the regional group of city managers. Thereafter, the city manager runs the front-line management workers. Thus, any decision taken by regional officer is conveyed to the City managers. The city managers convey the message to front-line workers. This approach is quite similar to Classical approach of management, which implies the accepted views. The classical approach focuses on the organizational efficiency to maximize organizational success.
d) Discussing the impact that different leadership styles are likely to have on the behaviour of staff at City College and Enterprise.
The discussion provided above implies that three major leadership style namely autocratic, delegative and participative leadership style. The autocratic leadership style is mostly implemented in the large organizations, where the organizational policies are formed based on organizational policies developed by superiors (Deichmann and Stam 2015). However, the employees lack of motivation in autocratic style. As the result, the employees might not feel valued and recognized. Hence, the employees are entirely dependent on their seniors or the managers. Although, Enterprise Rent A develops this autocratic management style, the firm maintain an “open door” policy where the employees are encouraged to escalate their issues to the managers. This culture helps the employees to resolve any issue at the workplace. Therefore, the autocratic leadership style might not be ineffective for the company. Nevertheless, it is identified that the firm is in the need of skilled leaders and managers for the new branch. So, the relationship with the new leader with existing employees might not be effective with autocratic style.
Leadership Styles and Management Theories
The City College is one of the growing organizations providing the higher education for many subjects. Though the firm provides different courses, the number of staff is limited. The firm welcomes the opinions of the employees for the growth of the firm. However, if the organizations implement autocratic management style, the firm might lose the employees’ intentional effort for the development, which could hamper the quality of education service they provide.
e) Comparing the application of the different motivational theories that City College and Enterprise might adopt (AC 3.2)
Application of McGregor Theory- Theory X developed by McGregor indicates that employees are naturally unmotivated as well as dislike working. This could encourage an authoritarian style of management. In McGregor theory, the rules and principles are very strict where the employees do not like the work as well as tries to escape it whenever needed (L?z?roiu 2015). For example, the leader of the firm could threaten the employees for their poor performance. The leaders do not encourage or appreciate any employee for their achievement. The leader is only concerned about the work and production. The employees lack motivation and they fear of losing the job positions.
Theory Y- Many organizations are observed to be using theory Y techniques. The theory Y implies that managers should create as well as encourage a work environment, which could provide opportunities to employees to take initiatives as well as self-direction. As put forward by Shields et al. (2015), the employees should be given the opportunities to contribute to organizational well-being. Thus, in the recent time, many large and small organizations are observed to be relying on theory Y.
If Enterprise Rent implements the theory X, the firm might have to deal with the issues like employee turnover as this theory motivates encourage the use of tight control as well as supervision. The employees at Enterprise Rent could be reluctant to the organizational change and to such tight control. The employee might not observe innovation in the organization. Alternatively, the City College could observe a more severe consequence as the firm is comparatively small than Enterprise Rent. The number of staff at City College is limited, which does not need tight control and supervision. The firm is on the initial stage, where the employees need motivation about their achievement, growth and career opportunities. The firm might not be able to meet their desire goals if the employees lack motivation.
f) Evaluating how the management of both City College and Enterprise’s workforce could apply these motivation theories and practices
In order to apply McGregor theory X, the employees should be designated with specialized work. Thus, they should conduct the task in a repetitive way. This theory should be applied on Enterprise Rent and the leaders or City managers need to control every part of the work that employees do. The leaders need to provide guidance throughout the operation. The theory is relevant and it has its place in large-scale operation as well as unskilled production (Mostafa, Gould?Williams and Bottomley 2015). This means some employees are there for whom the leaders need to be strict to those employees. Unlike, theory X, theory Y needs is found to be useful for both large and small organizations. City College could choose McGregor theory Y for the organizational development and growth. The leaders should be reliable to their employees, which the leaders should trust employees’ skill, knowledge and abilities. For instance, heads or the organizational bodies should encourage the staff who are running the operation of teaching department. The employees should be appreciated based on the performance they deliver; this increases their level of motivation.
Motivation Theories and Practices
The implementation of theory Y will certain benefit City College in the form of high-developed educational services. The teacher who provides the services would be more concerned and responsible about their work and duties. If the teachers take the responsibility of their individual work, City College will grow in size and gain the ability of recruiting more students.
g) Explaining the nature of groups and group behaviour within the workforces of City College and Enterprise (AC 4.1)
As mentioned by Shahzad et al. (2012), defined group as “any collection of people who perceive themselves to be a group. Hence, Dauber, Fink and Yolles (2012) also commented that a group is defined as the two or more people who are interacting with one another in such a manner that each individual influences and is influenced by each other individual. The case study indicates that employees at City College effectively perform as the group to deliver the desired outcome.
The group work is maintained at Enterprise Rent-Car should implements the formal group units. The formal groups are the units developed by the management as the aspect of an organizational structure. Thus, the formal group at Enterprise falls under the organizational structure developed by the firm itself. For example, the front-line management employees work under the City Manager, which means a group of front-line employees have to be worked under one City Manager of Enterprise.
On the other side, employees also work in a formal group following the instructions provided by the heads of the respective department. For example, the employee of human resource department works under one supervisor of HR department. Likewise, the employees of other departments have to work under their respective manager or supervisor.
h) Using the case study, identifying the various factors that could make a team effective
An intact organizational structure always proves to be effective for the organization (Cummings and Worley 2014).The case study indicates that Enterprise runs its entire operation dividing the work functions and responsibilities into many small branches. To look after each small branch, skilled manager is employed to the branch. The branch manager holds the responsibility of running the operation successfully. Therefore, it can be mentioned that this intact organizational structure is an effective factor for the success of Enterprise Rent-A Car. Likewise, the practice of Enterprise Service Quality Index to measure the quality of service is another significant factor for the success of the effective team.
Based on the measurement done, the heads of the teams implement the measures to enhance and maintain the quality of service. In addition, the “open door” policy developed by Andy Taylor encourages the employees to work with responsibility as their needs and issues are directly taken care of the managers. The employees are loyal to their teams as whenever a new branch opens, the employees find the growth opportunities. On the other side, division of departments at City College helps the employees to become concerned about their work as the individuals who have knowledge about that particular function handle departments. For example, City College employs the individual to HR department who is experienced in managing people.
Factors that threaten the success of the team
- Autocratic leadership style at Enterprise Rent slower the decision making process as the decision made by higher authorities takes time to be conveyed to the low level of management.
- Both of the organization do not have any employee appraisal systems for the performance of employees which could negatively affect organizational productivity
i) Explaining the role of technology in the success of a business
The technology plays a big role in gaining the success of the business. The implementation of technology facilitates the communication throughout the organization (Patton 2014). For instance, email is one of the early drivers of the internet providing a simple as well as inexpensive way of communication. In addition to this, for inventory management, technology stands as the pathway of deriving solution. For example, when Enterprise needs to manage the inventory, the firm should maintain sufficient stock to fulfil the demands without investing more than require. The inventory management system is connected to the point of sale (POS). The POS system that ensures that each time an item is sold, one of the items is removed from the inventory count (Cummings and Worley 2014). The implementation of such technology facilitates the workflow and reduces the time.
Team Effectiveness and Threats
Evaluating the impact of technology on the performance of City College and Enterprise
With the help of developed technology, Enterprise Rent will gain a control over the organizational communication from top to bottom level of authority. For example, the decision taken by City for a particular task will be conveyed to GM of regional office through email. In addition, the manager needs to supervise the performance of the employees; they need to implement the software that carries the track of employee performance of each month.
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