Organizational Behavior

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Prepared by : Ashish Gurung

Submitted to: Sajida Saleem

Date: April 17, 2011

Table of Contents1. Executive Summary.............................................................................................1

2. Organizational culture and structure in NHS........................................................2

2.1. Suggest and compare how you would explain the concept of organisational structure and culture................................................................................................2

2.2. Explain how the relationship between NHS’s structure and culture can impact on the performance of the operations..........................................................3

2.3. Assume and briefly discuss the factors that might influence the behaviour of NHS employees. Consider the magnitude of the organization and the Event while assuming the factors...............................................................................................4

3 Management approaches....................................................................................5

3.1. Discuss and compare different approaches of management and identify current major trends in management theories for two organisations.......................5

4 Approaches of leadership and motivational theories............................................8

4.1. Distinguish between different approaches to the study of leadership and discuss how relevant are they in current business environment..............................8

4.2. Explain different motivational theories and their application within NHS organisation.............................................................................................................9

4.3. What implications do the motivational theories have for the managers?.....11

5 Group task roles and impact of technology in group members of NHS............12

5.1. Distinguish between group task roles, group building and maintenance roles and individual roles. Give examples for each of these.........................................12

5.2. Describe essential characteristics of a successful work group or team. As a manager explain how you would develop effective team relationships, performance and the influences that threaten success.........................................13

5.3. Discuss the impact of technology on a team functioning within the NHS.....14

6. Conclusion.........................................................................................................15

7. References.........................................................................................................16

Organizational Behavior

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Organizational behavior is a field of study that investigates the impact of individuals,

groups and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of

applying such knowledge toward improving an organizations’ effectiveness. OB

specifically focuses on how to improve productivity, reduce abseentism and turnover

and increase employee citizenship and job satisfaction.

Organizational Behavior offers both challenges and opportunities for managers. It

offers specific offers to improve the skills of a manager. OB recognizes the

differences and helps managers in seeing the value of workforce diversity and

practices that may needs to be changed when managing in different locations. It can

further bring an improvement in the quality and employee productivity by showing

managers how to empower their people, design and implement change programs

and help employees to balance work / life conflicts. OB offers managers a guidance

in creating an ethically healthy work climate.


2. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND STRUCTURE IN NHS

2.1. Suggest and compare how you would explain the concept of

organizational structure and culture.

Organizational structure refers to the arrangement of jobs in an organization. In other

words organizational structure defines how jobs are formally divided, grouped and

coordinated. While designing an organizational structure there are six key element

that have to be kept in mind by every managers which are as follows:

Work specialization – refers to the degree to which tasks in the organization

are subdivided into separate jobs

Departmentalization - refers to the basis by which jobs are grouped together

Chain of command – the unbroken line of authority that extends from the top

level of the organization to the lower level

Span of control – the number of subordinates that a supervisor can handle

efficiently

Centralization and Decentralization – degree to which the authority is

concentrated whether at a central point or by all the organizational members.

Formalization – the degree to which jobs are standardized within an

organization

Organization culture – Organizational culture is a system of shared meaning held by

the members of the organization that differentiates it from other organizations.

There are seven characteristics of organization which are as follows:

Innovation and risk taking – the degree to which employees are encouraged

to take risks and be innovative

Attention to detail – the degree to which employees are expected to exhibit

attention to detail

Outcome orientation – the degree to which management focuses on results

People orientation – the degree to which management decisions take into

consideration the effect of outcomes on the members of the organization.

Team orientation – the degree to which work activities are organized around

team or groups

Aggressiveness – the degree to which people are aggressive and competitive


Stability – the degree to which the organizational activities emphasizes on

maintaining the status quo

The above characteristics exist in a continuum from low to high. The organization

culture is pictured by appraising the organization on the basis of the above

characteristics. (Organizational Behavior – Stephen P. Robbins)

2.2. Explain how the relationship between NHS’s structure and culture can

impact on the performance of the operations.

The National Health Service also known as NHS is the publicly funded healthcare

system in England. The NHS provides healthcare to anyone normally resident in

England or any other part of the United Kingdom with most services free at the point

of use for the patient though there are charges associated with eye tests, dental

care, prescriptions, and many aspects of personal care. The NHS also has a formal

constitution which sets out the legal rights and responsibilities of the NHS, its staff,

and users of the service and makes additional non-binding pledges regarding many

key aspects of its operations. (NHS wikipidea)

Talking about the NHS culture it is made up of hundreds of organization each with

their own management boards and budget systems.

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/about/Pages/nhsstructure.aspx

The diagram above shows that NHS structure is divided into two major parts Primary

care and Secondary care. Primary care is the first point of contact for most people

and is delivered by a wide range of independent contractors, including GPs, dentists,

pharmacists and optometrists.


Secondary care also known as acute healthcare can be either elective care or

emergency care. Elective care means planned specialist medical care or surgery,

usually following referral from a primary or community health professional such as a

GP.

The NHS ways of working and its culture bears too many of the hallmarks of the

1940s.The rest of society has moved on but in NHS the old-fashioned demarcations

between staff, restricted opening and operating times, outdated systems,

unnecessarily complex procedures and a lack of training all combine to create a

culture where the convenience of the patient can come a poor second to the

convenience. (Seminar 3. Professor Robert Dingwall, Professor of Sociology,

University of Nottingham. Points for Discussion)

2.3. Assume and briefly discuss the factors that might influence the

behavior of NHS employees. Consider the magnitude of the organization

and the Event while assuming the factors.

Factors that might influence the behavior of the NHS employees can be divided into

internal and external factors. Internal factors include leadership, organizational

structure and the corporate culture. External factors include family life and other

business relationships.

The NHS structure and culture shows that the employees working there are very

closely knitted. This may have a positive as well as negative impact on the behavior

of the employees working there. Positive impact in the sense the employees may

feel that they are tied together and get motivated and work together for the

attainment of goal. Talking about the negative impact, the old fashioned

demarcations within the staffs may create an inconvenience for the patients.

Similarly, external factors i.e family life and relationship with the outsiders also plays

a major role in influencing the behavior of the staffs working in NHS.

(Internal & External Factors That Influence Employee Behavior | eHow.com


3. MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

3.1. Discuss and compare different approaches of management and identify

current major trends in management theories for two organizations.

Management Approaches

Management approaches have been divided as classical management and

management today. Theories of management before refer to classical

management approaches. Classical management approaches includes the

scientific management and administrative management. Scientific management

focuses on increasing productivity. In other words, it focuses on utilizing the

limited labor force. Frederick W Taylor, ‘father of scientific management’ began

first time and motion studies. He developed the efficiency principles. Then, Lillian

and Frank Gilbreth, a husband and wife engineering team further developed work

measurement methods. They have applied efficiency methods to their home and

12 children. Scientific management deals with the job of individual employees

whereas administrative management deals with the organization as a whole. The

14 principles of management by Henry Fayol and the Bureaucratic theory of

authority structure and relations by Max Weber are the theories under the

Administrative approach. The classical approach laid a foundation for

development of other management approaches or theories. But, the approach is

more appropriate for stable and simple organizations.

In Classical management, employees were viewed as tools rather than as

resources so, behavioral management approach were developed. Human

relations and organizational behavior were given importance. But, this approach

had some demerits i.e. the approach failed to predict complex individual

behavior.

After the II world war, Quantitative management techniques were developed to

assist in decision making, planning and controlling. But, mathematical models

cannot fully account for individual behaviors and attitudes in the organization.

Then, the system approach was developed. A system is an interrelated set of

elements functioning as a whole. According to system approach, an organization

is viewed as a system where there is interdependence of the entities within the

system. System approach is very much relevant in today’s complex work setting.


Classical, Behavioral and Quantitative perspectives are considered as universal

perspectives – “One Best Way” Contingency theory also known as situational

approach tells that appropriate managerial behavior in a given situation depends

upon unique elements in that situation.

Major trends in management theories for two organizations

The owner of a cotton mill Robert Owen is credited with being the forerunner of

the modern Human relations school of management. Robert’s ideas stemmed

from his ownership of a cotton mill in where he developed a strong interest in the

welfare of the 400 to 500 child employees. He started a legislative movement to

limit child employment to those over the age of ten while reducing the workday to

10 1/2 hours. In 1813, a pamphlet, ‘New View of Society’ was published by

Robert, where he described his vision of society. He also became active in

improving living conditions of employees through the implementation of

improvements in housing, sanitation, public works and establishing schools for

the children. He strongly believed that character is a product of circumstances

and that environment and early education is critical in forming good character.

The Toyota Company follows the Toyota Production System (TPS). TPS is an

integrated socio-technical system developed by Toyota that comprises its

management philosophy and practices. The TPS organizes manufacturing and

logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and

customers. TPS’s main objectives are to design out overburden (muri) and

inconsistency (mura), and to eliminate waste (muda). The most significant effects

on process value delivery are achieved by designing a process capable of

delivering the required results smoothly; by designing out "mura" (inconsistency).

It is also crucial to ensure that the process is as flexible as necessary without

stress or "muri" (overburden) since this generates "muda" (waste). Finally the

tactical improvements of waste reduction or the elimination of muda are very

valuable. There are seven kinds of muda that are addressed in the TPS which

are as follows:

over-production

motion (of operator or machine)

waiting (of operator or machine)


conveyance

processing itself

inventory (raw material)

correction (rework and scrap)

The elimination of waste has come to dominate the thinking of many when they

look at the effects of the TPS because it is the most familiar of the three to

implement. In the TPS many initiatives are triggered by inconsistency or

overburden reduction which drives out waste without specific focus on its

reduction. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System)


4. APPROAHES OF LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES

4.1. Distinguish between different approaches to the study of leadership and

discuss how relevant are they in current business environment.

Leadership is “the process of influencing an organized group toward accomplishing

its goals. “ - Roach and Behling.

Early Leadership Theories:

1. Trait Theories (1920s-30s)

Research focused on identifying personal characteristics that differentiated

leaders from non-leaders.

Research on the leadership by various researchers identified seven traits

associated with successful leadership:

Drive, the desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self-confidence, intelligence,

job-relevant knowledge, and extraversion.

2. Behavioral Theories

University of Iowa Studies (Kurt Lewin) identified three leadership styles:

o Autocratic style

o Democratic style

o Laissez faire style

Ohio State Studies identified two dimensions of leader behavior:

o Initiating structure: the role of the leader in defining his or her role

and the roles of group members

o Consideration: the leader’s mutual trust and respect for group

members’ ideas and feelings

University of Michigan Studies identified leaders exhibited one of the two

dimensions of behavior:

o Production oriented: emphasizing task accomplishment

o Employee oriented: emphasizing personal relationships


Contingency theories of leadership:

1. The Fiedler Model

Proposes that effective group performance depends upon the proper match

between the leader’s style of interacting with followers and the degree to which

the situation allows the leader to control and influence.

Situational factors in matching leader to the situation:

Leader-member relations

Task structure

Position power

2. Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT)

Leaders must relinquish control over and contact with followers as they become

more competent.

Creates four specific leadership styles incorporating Fiedler’s two leadership

dimensions:

Results:

Telling: high task-low relationship leadership

Selling: high task-high relationship leadership

Participating: low task-high relationship leadership

Delegating: low task-low relationship leadership

Leadership plays a central part in understanding group behavior. In today’s

organization, there is increased use of team works, so as a leader one should

recognize relevant situational factors i.e. task structure of the job, level of group

support, experience, motivation, attitude e.tc and lead the team towards the goal of

the organization.( Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M.and Vohra, N. (2010). Management.

10th Edition. India: Dorling Kindersley)

4.2. Explain different motivational theories and their application within NHS

organization.


Motivation refers to the influencing the people in or outside the organization to get

the desired task done. Usually the managers are the one who motivates the

employee for achieving the company goal as needed. (Organizational Behavior –

Stephen P. Robbins)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs:

Abraham Maslow Need Hierarchy Theory describes that the behavior is

determined by the individual need and the organization should fulfill the lower

needs of the employee first. Maslow has divides the need in 5 categories.

Psychological need

Safety need

Social need

Esteem need

Self actualization need

Theory X and Theory Y:

Douglas McGregor proposed two views of human beings: negative labeled

Theory X and positive labeled Theory Y. According to McGregor, under Theory X,

the assumption that employees dislike work and responsibility so they must be

coerced to perform and under Theory Y, the assumption that employees like to

work and are responsible and these employees must be rewarded.

Two factor theory:

The two factor theory also called motivational hygiene theory was proposed by

Frederick Herzberg. According to Herzberg, there are two factors i.e. Intrinsic

factors are related to job satisfaction whereas Extrinsic factors are related to with

dissatisfaction.

Contemporary theories of leadership includes:

ERG theory:

The Maslow’s theory has been revised and according to the ERG theory there

are three groups of core needs: existence, relatedness and growth.

McClelland’s Theory of needs:


According to McClelland’s theory of needs, achievement, power and affiliation are

three important needs that help explain motivation.

Goal Setting Theory:

The Goal Setting Theory says that specific and difficult goals with feedback lead

to higher performance.

4.3. What implications do the motivational theories have for the managers?

I have presented a number of motivation theories and its application in the above

tasks. As a manager one can follow the given steps while motivating employees in

the organization. The manager should recognize the individual differences i.e.

employees have different needs so the needs of the employees should be treated

differently. This will allow the manager to individualize goals, level of involvement

and rewards to align individual needs. Similarly, as a manager one should make sure

that employees have hard, specific goals as well as feedback on how well they are

faring in pursuit of those goals. Employees should be given a chance to contribute in

number of decision making and rewards should be given to the employees by

equating the inputs they bring to the job.


5. GROUP TASK ROLES AND IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY IN GROUP

MEMBERS OF NHS

5.1. Distinguish between group task roles, group building and maintenance

roles and individual roles. Give examples for each of these.

Task Roles

Team task roles are those roles that members assume, either consciously or

unconsciously, that move the team forward in accomplishing its tasks and

mission. These roles are of vital importance in good team functioning.(

http://www.teambuildinginc.com/tps/020c3.htm)

Task roles can be divided as following:

Initiator

Information seeker

Opinion seeker

Information giver

Opinion giver

Elaborator

Summarizer

Coordinator-Integrator

Orienter

Disagreer

Evaluator-Critic

Energizer

Procedural Technician

Group building refers the process of developing a group. Group building goes

through five stages which is shown in the figure below:


Maintenance roles provide the ‘oil’ for the machinery. They look after the emotional

life of the group, help make it work, consider the needs of individuals. They open up

the channels of communication.

(http://www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/handouts/hand37.htm)

Individual roles refer to role that an employee plays as an individual in an

organization. Organizations are made up of individuals who are brought together so

that they are able to achieve the mission. The organization’s structure will determine

how these individuals are brought together and how they relate to one another. The

success of every organization depends upon each individual working together to

achieve the common goal. (http://www.thecqi.org/Knowledge-Hub/Knowledge-

portal/Interactions-of-organisations-and-people/Role-of-the-individual/)

5.2. Describe essential characteristics of a successful work group or team.

As a manager explain how you would develop effective team

relationships, performance and the influences that threaten success.

Essential characteristics of a successful work group or team are as follows:

(http://www.gotobai.com/pdf/The-six-characteristics-of-a-successful-team.pdf)

Mission

Empowerment

Involvement

Willingness to take risk

Unity

Change


A manager must first recognize that work groups are part of an organization and that

factors such as organizations strategy, authority structure, selection procedures and

reward system provides a favorable and unfavorable climate for a group to operate.

So, managers shouldn’t look any group in isolation. Managers should keep in mind

that a group is likely to be productive when the team members have the essential

skills to do the group tasks. Structural factors like norms control group member

behavior by establishing standards of right and wrong. So, managers can explain the

behaviors of the team members if they know the norms.

A number of structural factors such as role perception, status inequities, size of the

group, group task and cohesiveness show a relationship to performance. As a

manager one must ensure that there is a positive relationship between the structural

factors and the performance of the members in a group.

5.3. Discuss the impact of technology on a team functioning within the NHS.

The increasing use of information technology in district health authorities, and the

changing requirements for information, due to the implementation of the

recommendations of the Steering Group on Health Services Information and the joint

NHS/DHSS groups on performance indicators, have caused districts to review the

management mechanisms necessary for organizing and supporting these new

demands. These developments have been so recent that little is known about how

districts are responding. A short questionnaire was sent to all the district health

authorities in England and Wales to identify whether districts were appointing

information officers and the management arrangements being adopted. The

responses show a wide variation in approaches, which indicates the diversity of

interpretations of the likely impact of information technology upon the health

services. (http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/3/179.full.pdf+html)


6. CONCLUSION

Organizational behavior being the study of the individuals, groups and structure and

their impact in the organization, for the purpose of applying such knowledge in the

real world was truly helpful. The theoretical knowledge only is not enough for the

management students. So the study of NHS and their culture and the impact in the

organization has given the clear picture about our future work life. The study of

leadership and the motivational theories and their implementation in the organization

led us to the knowledge to how we can show such skills in the organization in future.

Organizational Behavior offers both challenges and opportunities As we have gone

through the trends of the organization behavior and the study of NHS was truly

helpful.


7. REFERENCES

i. www.ehow.com/list_6741291_internal-factors-influence-employee-

behavior.html#ixzz1JgD4Cpl2

ii. www.gotobai.com/pdf/The-six-characteristics-of-a-successful-team.pdf

iii. Internal & External Factors That Influence Employee Behavior | eHow.com

iv. http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/3/179.full.pdf+html

v. http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/about/Pages/nhsstructure.aspx

vi. Organizational Behavior – Stephen P. Robbins

vii. Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M.and Vohra, N. (2010). Management. 10th Edition.

India: Dorling Kindersley

viii. www.srds.co.uk/cedtraining/handouts/hand37.htm

ix. www.teambuildinginc.com/tps/020c3.htm

x. www.thecqi.org/Knowledge-Hub/Knowledge-portal/Interactions-of-

organisations-and-people/Role-of-the-individual/

xi. Seminar 3 . Professor Robert Dingwall, Professor of Sociology, University of

Nottingham. Points for Discussion

xii. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System

http://www.bristol-inquiry.org.uk/seminars/brisphase2_seminar3.htm

http://www.thecqi.org/Knowledge-Hub/Knowledge-portal/Interactions-of-organisations-and-people/Role-of-the-individual/

http://www.thecqi.org/Knowledge-Hub/Knowledge-portal/Interactions-of-organisations-and-people/Role-of-the-individual/

http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/7/3/179.full.pdf+html

http://www.ehow.com/list_6741291_internal-factors-influence-employee-behavior.html#ixzz1JgD4Cpl2

http://www.gotobai.com/pdf/The-six-characteristics-of-a-successful-team.pdf



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