An assignment on Organization and Its

Management

Executive summary
Organization structure and culture are one of the two important factors behind the success of
every firm. Organization structure defines the activities like coordination and supervision,
resource allocation and directs those toward the aim of the organization. Individuals see the
overall environment of the firm through the organizational structure.
Leadership styles can influence the individuals behaviors in the workplace. There are various
types of leadership styles out there in the real world. There are other factors besides leadership
styles like workplace environment and empowerment that affects the individual of the employees
of a firm. Workplace environment is regarded as one of the most critical factors that have a
significant impact on the individual behavior.
Good leadership styles motivate employees and drive them to fulfill the individual goals which
help to attain the broad goals of the firm. On the other hand, negative leadership style like
command leadership can motivate employees negatively and employee satisfaction is less that
can create some real problem for the firm.

Table of Contents
Task 1........................................................................................ 6
1.1

Comparing and contrasting organizational structure and culture........6

1.2

Effects of structures and cultures on the firms performance..............6

2.1

Leadership styles and individual behavior...........................................7

2.2

Other factors influencing individual behavior......................................7

Task 3........................................................................................ 9
Conclusion.................................................................................. 12
References.................................................................................13
Appendix.................................................................................... 16

Introduction
Organization structure and culture are one of the two important factors behind the success of
every firm. Organization structure defines the activities like coordination and supervision,
resource allocation and directs those toward the aim of the organization. Individuals see the
overall environment of the firm through the organizational structure.

Task 1
1.1 Comparing and contrasting organizational structure and culture
Organization structure and culture are one of the two important factors behind the success of
every firm. Organization structure defines the activities like coordination and supervision,
resource allocation and directs those toward the aim of the organization (Pugh and Hickson,
1976). Individuals see the overall environment of the firm through the organizational structure.
Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional management institution which follows
committee organizational structure. It has a committee like Finance and Audit committee,
Regulation Compliance Committee, Remuneration committee, Nomination committee etc. It has
a rich organizational culture that exhibits the way through which tasks are done in the firm by
influencing the group as well as individual behavior of the firm. CMIs organization culture is
defined by the organizational structure, leadership and management style and behavior of the
employees.
McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm which provides advices to the
governments, institutions and major businesses. Unlike CMI, it follows functional organizational
structure. Its organizational culture is also dictated by its organizational structure, employee
behavior. McKinsey & Companys culture is closely dominated by task culture where various
teams are constructed to take important decisions and solve problems where experts hold powers
(Mckinsey.com, 2015).
1.2 Effects of structures and cultures on the firms performance
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Each firms success largely depends on the wisely selection of the firm structure and an
establishment of a good culture (Burnes, 2009). Those two work as a backbone of any firm
(Pugh and Hickson, 1976). CMIs committee structure differentiates it from other structure of the
firm from where it can gain some competitive advantage. Organizational structure and culture of
CMI explain the shortcomings of the firm, provides the motivation of knowing each other which
enhances the possibility of the future growth of the firm and current performance. Its excellent
cultures are helping it achieving higher growth in terms of the member base in recent years while
2015 is the year in which highest of the member base is seen in a single year. On the other hand,
McKinsey & Companys much of the success is attributed to its organizational cultures as well as
structure. It has an excellent work environment within which employee interaction is well and
employee satisfaction is high which helps the firm to enhance its performance (Mckinsey.com).
2.1 Leadership styles and individual behavior
Leadership styles can influence the individuals behaviors in the workplace. There are various
types of leadership styles out there in the real world. In the business world there are some
important leadership styles which are discussed below:
1) Visionary: When a firm needs a different direction, this type is the most appropriate.
Visionary managers move towards a complete new set of shared objectives. The
behaviors of the employees are influenced by this. Employees tend to innovative, take
well defined risks and motivated to experiment (Adair, 2002).
2) Coaching: Developing the individuals is the main focus here. It includes improving the
efficiency of the employees, develop their performance and connect their goals with the
broad goals of the firms. People are determined to build self confidence here (Fineman
and Sims, 2010).
3) Affiliative: Team work and harmony between employees are emphasized here.
Employees are motivated to increase their morale, rebuilt broken trust, enhance the
efficiency of the communication in this type of environment.
4) Democratic: Knowledge and skills are drowning in this style and combined commitment
is created here (Adair, 2002). When there is an uncertainty regarding the future of the
firm, the employees of the firm perform well.

5) Commanding: It is otherwise called as autocratic leadership style or military style. it is

the most widely used and least effective style of leadership out there where employees
are dissatisfied and suffer from low morale.
2.2 Other factors influencing individual behavior
There are other factors besides leadership styles like workplace environment and
empowerment that affects the individual of the employees of a firm. Workplace environment
is regarded as one of the most critical factors that have a significant impact on the individual
behavior. Workplace environment includes surroundings of the workplace, geographical
location, employment place, air quality, noise employment benefits such as free child care,
enough parking etc. A good environment creates positive impressions on the behavior of the
employees and enhances the overall performance of the firms and vice versa (Fineman and
Sims, 2010).
Empowerment means sharing of the valuable information, power, and rewards with the
workforce of the firm so that the employees of the firm can take valuable decisions and
enhance their performances. Empowerment of the employees helps the firms by enhancing
the overall performance of the each individual (Linstead and Lilley, 2009).
Good leadership styles motivate employees and drive them to fulfill the individual goals
which help to attain the broad goals of the firm. On the other hand, negative leadership style
like command leadership can motivate employees negatively and employee satisfaction is
less that can create some real problem for the firm (Henry, 2011).
Douglas McGregors XY theory of motivation is discussed below to back some argument
stated before. Theory X assumes that people are reluctant to work and are less inclined to
perform well. So to attain goals of the firm, employees are subject to strict supervision,
penalties and external rewards. But this is a kind of a leadership which may have negative
effect on the employees performance.
On the other hand, Theory Y assumes there are employees who are happy and motivated to
work and which create job satisfactions and innovation. This can be related to good
leadership style which enhances the overall performance of the firms.
Bonus, promotion and recognition are three of the many factors used in motivating
employees. Each of the factors is more or less effective based on certain circumstances.
Qualities of the modern managers are must to thrive in the todays competitive world
(Pettigrew and Fanton, 2012). Some indispensable qualities of modern managers are:
1) Following from the front
2) Understanding technology
3) Leading by example
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4) Embracing vulnerability
5) Belief in Sharing

Task 3
With the advancement of technology to keep pace with the competitors and to retain current
efficiency, productivity and performance in any sort of businessirrespective to itsindustry,
company concentrates on incorporating technologies in their decision making and management
activities. As a business practice and effective way to attain desired goal company divides their
core goal into different sub-goals which have been accomplished by team works as a result of
which company deploys resources and designs mechanisms so that effective team work can be
ensured (Peslak and Stanton, 2013). This work demonstrates group and groups behavior in an
organization along with the types of groups and the manner in which they function in an
organization along with the evaluation of modern day technology and their impact on team
functioning within the organization.
In general words, a group is a combination of people having a common intention towards an
accomplishment of something. According to Heath and Luff (2010) a group is actually a mass of
two or more people who share a common view and can have influence on each other. In modern
business organization and technological advancement, managing a group is a key to achieve
success. The argument of Maginn (2014) defines the nature of a group with relation to an
organizational atmosphere from certain viewpoints as a common set of values (the group
meaning), necessary means in maintaining the group (available group resources), maintaining
transparency throughout the group work (integrity) and a synchronization of all these in
achieving the targeted goal (goal achievement). In forming and managing a group, two general
forms of groups can be identified as the formal group and the informal group (Olson and Olson,
2012). Following figure shows the formality continuum groups within an organization:

Figure 1: Types of Group

Source: (Wang, et al, 2015)
While formal group is a common concern in business arena as created by any superior authority
for a certain period with a certain goal, an informal group is also a commonly seen phenomenon
where loyalty upon someone in a working sphere paves the way in forming an unofficial group
in attaining a common goal. While a formal group works with a clear and stated module under
certain rules, an informal group can be formed and work without any prior commitment or rules.
If the modern business organizations are being seen from a close viewpoint, it can be seen that
there are new technologies which are actually augmenting the performance of teamwork recently.
To be specific, the communication technology is playing a significant role in maintaining the
team performance up to the mark. West (2012) stated in an article that the advancement in
communicational technologies has soothed the way of doing business in a combined approach
ignoring the geographical barriers. For an effective and sound group or team work proper means
of communication is essential and technology enables the group or team ember to work beyond
place and time. Effective communication is essential to strengthen team performance and Gibson
and Cohen (2013) suggested that to facilitate team work and individual participation and to
enhance their contribution and efficiency different technologies are adopted to facilitate effective
communication among the team members.
According to Hackman (2010) while working as a team effective communication is the must
because it assists manager to let the individual know what organization expects from them and to
what extent they need to exert their effort while attaining organizations objective and mobile
and video conferencing technology enables manager to direct, coordinate, monitor and control
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their team or groups members performance beyond place and time. On the other hand
Cartwright and Zander (2011) stated that with the advancement of technology it is possible nowa-days to build and manage virtual team which is efficient use of organizational resources. Team
work is the synchronization of innovation, development, evaluation, progress, growth and
management and in every step technology facilitates manager to manage and direct team
activities of an organization properly.
In a study Wallace (2014) showed that technology used for team and group management
decreases project management cost and time and it benefitted organization by allowing them to
accumulate team member from diverse schedule and time which is an effective way to reduce
group and team management cost. Technology for team and group work in an organization
enhances team members performance and ensures group dynamics and synchronized technology
enhances collaboration among the team members which is essential to attain desired
organizational objective (Levine, 2012). Among the widely used technology for managing team
and group members activities while achieving desired goal videoconferencing, cloud
computing, webinar, portable documentation and formation, teleconferencing etc. are important
which provides efficiency to organizational operation and sometimes can become a source of
distinction and competitive advantage for the company.
Technology facilitates informative and quick decision making which is essential for obtaining
desired business objective irrespective of the industry. Belbin (2010) stated that technology
reduces employee affiliation and cooperation from coworkers, which adversely affect employee
outcome and productivity. But Olson and Olson (2012)opposed that through proper coordination
and by creating bridge between geographically diverge team member technology enables the
company manager to operate and function properly while directing team member to attain
desired company objectives. Technology for team and group work management helps to build
interdisciplinary team which contribute and exert its best effort while attaining desired company
objectives and proper synchronization between team member and technology fosters desired
operational goal achievement.
Company deploys resources significantly to develop technological infrastructure while
developing mechanisms for creating effective team members. Technology facilitates team and
group work through its effective communication medium, information system and technology to
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make informative decision and mechanism to operate beyond place and time through virtual
team operation. All of these strengthen companys productivity, efficiency and assist company to
attain cost effectiveness and competitive advantage over the competitors. As a result of which
prudent manager emphasize more on technology while monitoring, coordinating, controlling and
supervising team members activities.

Conclusion
To be successful, any firm must carefully handle organizational structure, cultures, leadership
and motivational factors upon which much of the firms successes are dependent.

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Appendix

Source: Chartered Management Institute Annual Report, 2015

Figure: Committee structure of CMI

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Source: McKinsey & Company Annual Report, 2013

Figure: Organizational structure of CMI McKinsey & Company

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