Management of Organizations - Assignment Example

Management of Organizations Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Question 1 There are various factors that drive the attitude, motivation and behavior of Ellen, Bill and Eric the marketing team. These factors include the promotional policies (Mintzberg 2004). The most privileged to be promoted after the new investor in the company is Ellen the new marketing director of Glazers Lawn Solution. She was just a mere assistant in the marketing department but later was appointed the marketing director. In this regard, she is the most motivated employees. Job satisfaction also influences the behavior of the three. Ellen is satisfied with the job and that is why she is behaving positively in the development of the strategies of marketing. On the other hand Bill is not satisfied with his job because he expected that he will take the position of the marketing director which was given to Ellen. This forced him to have some negative attitudes towards Ellen as she was her junior employee thus he could not feel good taking instructions from her. Another factor that influences the behavior, attitude and motivation of the three marketing members is the organizational structure. The structure dictates that there is hierarchy in management and it is expected that all employees under a certain rank will obey the head of that rank (Smith & Fingar 2002). However Bill seemed to engage more with the Japanese investor during the meeting and that is why Ellen and Eric the technical staff felt bad as much argument were directed towards Bill the marketing deputy director. These led to negative attitude towards Bill because he was not heading the meeting but seemed to transact many discussions in the meeting. Question 2 One of the factors that influenced the behavior of the original marketing director Bo Cannon was the organizational culture. There was hierarchy in the organization and all employees were expected to follow the hierarchy (Lagun & Johan 2005). Bob Cannon had the powers to lead the marketing department and he had the authority to guide all other employees in the same department. Although he might have not been competent in terms of skills, he led the marketing team of the organization and was helped by his deputy Bill. He developed negative attitude towards other employees in the same department because he was superior and thought that nobody will take his position until the new investor came in and she felt threatened and that is why he had to leave the organization because he was not doing enough for the organization. Another factor that influenced the behavior and attitude of the former marketing director is the performance management. The former director did not at any time motivate its employees because he had an attitude that employees are supposed to work and with or without motivation (Sharp & Patrick 2008). This attitude was because he lacked management skills like the need for motivation and ways of motivating the employees. Therefore, Bob Cannon had negative attitude towards motivation of employees as maybe he thought it could be expensive or he was less concerned with the performance of the organization. Leadership style in the organization also influenced the behavior of Bob Cannon. The management of the organization did not put emphasis on the importance of teamwork in the organization (Tracy & Paul 2011). Having known this, the former marketing director Bob Cannon also extended that behavior to his department and that is why he did not encourage teamwork in his department of marketing as the director. If the top management had encouraged teamwork, then even Bob could have encouraged teamwork in his department therefore he behaved negatively towards teamwork because of the top management policies. Question 3 Mike Lynch could have followed the trans-theoretical model to change when he was restructuring and developing the organization as a team based organization. The trans-theoretical model is a model applied to change the behavior of individuals in an organization (Abraham et al 2006). This theory incorporates some other policies from other theories for example policy making factors hence becoming trans-theoretical model. According to this model, Mike Lynch could have followed the following steps when instituting change in the organization. The first stage is the pre-contemplation stage. This is the stage where Mike could think the risks which are associated with the current behaviors in the organization or the organizational culture. The various classes of individuals in the organization present their views and the risks associated with the behaviors in the organization (Steven 2010). In this case study, Mike Lynch could have tried to understand the business risks associated with the organization which is not team based. The next stage is the contemplation stage. This is the stage where Mike Lynch could have developed the desire to instill change in the organization. This is where he weighs the pros and cons of changing the organization into team based organization. The investor makes a decision to change the organization from the traditional approach into team based organization. Third stage is the preparation stage. This is the stage where the investor decides to make change in the organization. Mike Lynch could have developed the plan of action and the strategies for implementing the change in the organization. He could inform all the relevant parties to be involved in the change hence gain their commitment. There is the action stage. This is the stage where the investor implements the planned change in the organization. After preparing fully for the change, the real change is now implemented and all the parties are expected to take part in the implementation process. Finally, there is follow up to know if the change plan is succeeding or not. This will be measured if the organization changed its traditional attitude towards change to team based organization. Question 4 The marketing team might be unwilling to have a drink with Ellen after work as they used to do because they think that it is not right to interact with your boss freely. Some other team members like Bill were not free to have a drink with Ellen because she was just a junior employee who had been promoted to a marketing director and therefore he felt that his efforts in the organization were fruitless. Also the staff members were not used to having drinks with the former marketing director and therefore they thought that she is a superior person to have a drink with. This attitude is not justified and Ellen should be worrying about it. This is because the marketing team used to discuss issues affecting their department during drinks but now if they refuse to have a drink with the new marketing director Ellen and therefore there will be no teamwork in the organization because the employees will not share information with their superiors. Much of the information was shared during breaks for drinks and Ellen used to discuss various issues with other employees. Now that the organization is changing to team based organization, it will be hard to implement the change because there will be less forums where the employees can meet to share ideas. Therefore, Ellen should find a way to have drinks with her marketing team. Question 5 National cultural differences could impact greatly in the discussions between the parties. In the first place, national cultures are influenced by their legal systems. The different teams had different legal backgrounds and that is why it was difficult to assimilate one culture into another (Vicky 2011). It is difficult to set a neutral ground for parties who have various legal backgrounds. This led to difficulties in agreeing on the terms and conditions of taking over between Ellen and her team and Mr. Hayashi and his team. Another effect of the national cultural differences is the language communications. The two parties came from different language origins and therefore it was difficult to understand one another because one clause in one country can mean a different thing in a different country (Mélanie 2012). This led to difficult in communicating between the two parties thus could not reach a consensus. Another effect of national cultural differences is lack of respect of differences and working together. Always there are differences between nationals and this could extend to businesses (Vicky 2011). This led to difficulty in harmonizing the goals and objectives of the negotiation as one party regarded itself superior than the other party. Finally, national cultural differences lead to lack of trust among parties. Ellen and her team as well as Hayashi did not trust one another during their negotiations (Vicky 2011). Because of this mistrust, it was difficult to reach a consensus because each party wanted an assurance that whatever which is being discussed could be implemented. That is why it was difficult to reach an agreement at the first meeting. Questions 6 The action plan for Ellen should include the following steps. The first step is to know where the department is going towards to and what it wants to achieve. The she should be specific in terms of objectives of what she wants to achieve, next is to create measureable milestones which will act as a guide for the marketing director to know what has been achieved and what is to be achieved (Lowe & Leiringer 2005). Then next step is to break down the tasks into simpler tasks which can be delegated to other marketing team like advertisement. After the break down of the marketing strategies, there is need to put time frames with which each assignment is to be achieved. The last step of the action plan is to implement the strategy and conduct follow up to ensure the implementation is on the right path and if not make some adjustments to improve on the strategies being used. (a)In order for Ellen to solve differences with Eric and Bill, she should invite them for a friendly meeting and try to explain the need of working together as a team towards achieving the organizational goals. Also, she should delegate management responsibilities to them so that they can feel part of the management of the marketing department (Lowe & Leiringer 2005). (b)With the rest of the marketing team, Ellen should develop a friendly atmosphere by encouraging free interactions and sharing of ideas during drinks. She will also need to motivate them by developing their skills through training and also practicing performance management and this will encourage them to work together as a team. (c)Finally, Ellen should select qualified team with technical skills to help her and Bill together with Eric in the negotiations. She should also not negotiate with a fixed mind but give some concessions so that they will come into an agreement with the Hayashi team. References Abraham, M. Robert, B & Agus, S 2006, Positive Externalities of Organization Culture: The Social Integration of Working Adults with Learning Disabilities, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Lowe, D. J & Leiringer, R 2005, Commercial management in project-based Organizations, Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 3- 67. Laguna, M & Johan, M 2005, Business Process Modeling, Simulation, and Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Mintzberg, H 2004, Managers, not MBAs: a hard look at the soft practice of managing And management development, London, Berrett-Koehler. Mélanie, H 2012, Organizational Commitment in Acquisitions, Harvard, Cornell University Press. Smith, H & Fingar, P 2002, Business Process Management: The Third Wave, London, Meghan-Kiffer Press. Sharp, A & Patrick, M 2008, Workflow Modeling: Tools for Process Improvement And Application Development, 2nd ed. Norwood, MA: Artech House Publishing. Steven, B 2010, Planning Strategically, Designing Architecturally: A Framework For Digital Library Services, Artech House Publishing. Tracy, S & Paul, D 2011, The Inherent Challenges of Knowledge Transfer Across Countries And Cultures, Oxford, Oxford University Press Vicky, D 2011, Developing an Organizational Culture where Social Justice and Collaboration Runs Alongside Widening Participation, London, Cornell University Press. Read More