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Nguyen Viet Phong F05-173

BTEC HND IN BUSINESS (MANAGEMENT)

ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

OB Assignment 1 Oct 2012 1

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NAME OF STUDENT Nguyn Vit Phong

REGISTRATION NO. F05-173

UNIT TITLE Organisations and Behaviour

ASSIGNMENT TITLE Microsoft

ASSIGNMENT NO 1 of 2 (individual report)

NAME OF ASSESSOR Mr. John Andre

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

I, __________________________ hereby confirm that this assignment is my own work and notcopied or plagiarized from any source. I have referenced the sources from which information isobtained by me for this assignment.

________________________________ _________________________

Signature Date

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FOR OFFICIAL USE (Course Administrator)

Assignment Received By: Date:


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Unit Outcomes

OutcomeEvidence forthe criteria

Feedback Assessors decisionInternalVerification

Firstattempt

Re-work

Understandthe

relationshipbetween

organisationalstructure and

culture

LO1

compare andcontrast different

organisationalstructures and

culture

1.1

explain how therelationshipbetween an

organisationsstructure andculture can

impact on theperformance ofthe business

1.2

discuss thefactors which

influenceindividual

behaviour atwork

1.3

Understanddifferent

approaches tomanagement

andleadership

LO2

compare theeffectiveness of

differentleadership styles

in different

organisations

2.1

explain howorganisational

theory underpinsthe practice ofmanagement

2.2

evaluate thedifferent

approaches tomanagement

used by differentorganisations

2.3

Merit grades awarded M1 M2 M3

Distinction grades awarded D1 D2 D3

Assignment

( ) Well-structured; Reference is done properly / should be done (if any)


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OutcomeEvidence forthe criteria

Feedback Assessors decisionInternalVerification

Firstattempt

Re-work

Overall, youve

Areas for improvement:

ASSESSOR SIGNATURE DATE / /

NAME:.........................................................................................

(Oral feedback was also provided)

STUDENT SIGNATURE DATE / /

NAME :..............................................................................

FOR INTERNAL USE ONLYVERIFIED YES NO

DATE : ...........................................................................

VERIFIED BY : ...........................................................................

NAME : ...........................................................................

Organization and Behaviour Report


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Prepared for: Mr John Andre

Prepared by: Nguyn Vit PhongID: F05-173

Number of words: 2950

Course: Organisations and Behaviour

Banking Academy, Hanoi

BTEC HND in Business

Submit date: 21thNovember, 2012

Table of contents

Table of Contents


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Introduction

For the purpose of research on the subject "Organization andBehavior", I conducted some research this exercise to show myunderstanding of "Organization and Behavior. The content of thisexercise is to determine the organizational structure and culture of thetwo companies as well as how they affect business performance of thecompany Microsoft and British Petroleum. Through reading on the internetand from the prestigious economic newspaper, I have to use some quotes

to clarify the issue. Then, this exercise also shows the factors that affectindividual behavior in the workplace and the effectiveness of differentleadership styles on different companies with organizational theory todraw a picture overall different approach to the management of twodifferent companies.


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1.1 Compare and contrast different organisational structures andculture:1.1a Compare and contrast in organisational structures:

Microsoft, with the information I found at microsoft.com (2012),

Microsoft is a public limited company, managing more than 94,000

employees, owns more than 18 subsidiaries and operating in 25 countries.

They work in areas such as Computer software, Online services and Video

games.Microsoft has only 11 people in the board of directors and 17

senior leaders and manages eight business divisions and divides the work

by function and product. From the information above, I can see that

Microsoft has a relatively flat anddecentralized structure. Indeed, Charles

Hill and Gareth Jones (2008) also confirm this. Because of that, Microsoft is

also decentralized.Steve Ballmer - most senior CEO, permission for his

subordinates some of the decisions that suit with their ability.

In British Petroleum, they employ approximately 83,400 people

(including 14,600 service station staff) in more than 80 countries .The


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board is responsible for the direction and oversight of BP on behalf of

shareholders. It comprised the chairman, nine non-executive directors

together with the group chief executive; the chief financial officer and the

chief executive of BPs Refining and Marketing segment (BP Annual Report

2011, p.31). According to BP.com, BP has 15 members in broad of

directors, 13 people in executive management team and management of 3 main

department of the company, which is Upstream, Downstream and BP Alternative

Energy. From this it can be seen, BP also has a flat and decentralized structure.

BP and Microsoft have the same organizational structure, they are flat and

Wide span of control. This allows for information transmission as well as the

decisions are faster, the company's activities become more flexible and members

can link closely together. This structure really useful for group work and the workbecomes more effective.

Microsoft British Petroleum Flat

Decentralized

Wide span of control

Flat

Decentralized

Wide span of control

1.1a Compare and contrast in organisational culture:Microsoft's culture affected when Steve became CEO, and it is

affected by two factors tasks and roles. The foundation of this culture is

hard work and a desire to succeed. People work hard, because they

believe that Microsoft adds value to the end user (Mark, 2011). Leaders

in Microsoft want its employees to work with the highest performance and

compete with their colleagues, rather than rival companies.

Moreover, they want to keep the creativity of the company for the product

and focus on revenue. Microsoft may have 'lost a decade' of market

domination, as Vanity Fair says, but don't count the software giant out

(Gillmor, 2012). Yes, Microsoft is losing its position as a technology kings,

because they are forgotten and innovation and instead by pressure.

In contrast to Microsoft, BP has a different culture for their

employees. Because specific work of the majority of employees in BP is


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very dangerous, they work with chemicals or drilling on the ocean, so the

most important thing is the safety.And at work, BP always appreciated the

creativity of each employee. The whole culture at BP glorified the people

who worked in difficult places -- the geologists and the scientists and the

explorers(Fitzgerald, 2011). However, BP employees are always placed

in the working state very seriously since the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of

Mexico, they are not allowed to make the same mistake. Mr. Dudley said.

Weve now had this incident: we need to accelerate that change in the

culture inside the company(2010). So, BP's organizational culture, which I

considered quite innovative, safe and respectful

Microsoft British Petroleum Tasks

Roles

Pressure

Non-innovative

Innovative

Safe

Respectful

1.2 Explain how the relationship between an organisationsstructure and culture can impact on the performance of the

business:1.2.1 MicrosoftThe revenue of them in 2011 is $69.94 billion, the net income is

$23.15 billion, and the share price is $26.66 per one (Marketwatch.com,

2012). However, sales are showing signs of decline in recent years.

Reason which explanation for this? As seen above, with a flat structure

and wide span of control, Microsoft has chosen to divide power for their

employees, which makes the business decisions become more active, was

supposed to help them better growth. However, their cultural broke it. It

creates an atmosphere of tension between the employees as well as with

their superiors, suppressed creativity and innovative ideas from everyone.

As a result, recently, Microsoft cannot make a breakthrough product, and

they cause boredom to customers.

1.2.2 British PetroleumBP has a major crisis when the company for the occurrence of an

accident and caused the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. However, with his

efforts, BP is gradually regain its position in the market with revenue of $


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375,517 million in 2011 (BP.com, 2011).Like Microsoft, they also have a

flat structure and wide span of control. But cultures of BP quite good, their

staff are encouraged to create innovation for the company. Their

innovative in petrochemical technology has reached certain success.

Besides, with a pressure from the accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010,

BP employees are working in state care and effort to fix their mistakes.

BP's leaders want to change the image of the company after. Mr. Dudley

says the oil spill has been a "wake-up call" for his company(abc.net.au,

2010).

1.3 Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour atwork:

Individual behaviour refers to how individual behaves at workplaces;

behaviour is influenced by attitude, personality, perception, conflict,

ability and aptitude... This also refers to the combination of responses to

internal and external stimuli. So, without understanding behaviour will

lead to result in conflict and frustration. The following are some factors

that may affect individual behaviour at work:

Ability and Aptitude: abilities means things people can do or good

at- largely believed to be inherited and aptitudes mean the capacity

to learn and develop abilities of skill (BPP Profession Education, OB,

p.127, 2010). With Microsoft, right from employer, if a person is

capable, talented in the field of the company, he will be taken to a

place where he can do what he can do best. When everyone in the

company to do their tasks, make sure the company will be

successful. And Microsoft's current success is a testament to that.

Conflict: is any personal divergence of interests between groups or

individuals (BPP Professional Education, p.130, 2010). Conflict

arises because of a disagreement. In an organization, conflicts

between people in the company are normal and many people think

its not good. Although, some types of conflict are helpful and

encouraged to improve decision. The advantages of conflict are with

conflict people can have a new solution for a problem and this can

be helpful when to have good idea. Also conflict can encourage


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people to think deeper and clear to proof they are valid. However,

when conflict is high and long-term, stress is consequence.

According to Microsoft, conflicts often happened to them when they

need to argue for a new product or an important decision and it is

always under control before becoming negative.

Perception: is the psychological process by which stimuli or

incoming sensory data are selected and organised into patterns

which are meaningful to the individual. Perception includes the

senses, and its help people decode the information from the

surrounding environment. The way and the process discover

environment is not the same target and situation so each people will

have own distinctive view. Perception is cognitive process andappears whenever stimulate the senses. Both employees and

managers should be aware of possible good to be able to perform

his job. Such as Microsoft, Steve Ballmer has a good perception and

talent in predicting the change trend of the world and organizes and

directs the business to do what he wants to achieve good business

results.

In summary, there are many factors influence individual behaviourat work. Because every individual can affect the organization, so these

factors also affect the activities of the organization. Managers need to

know how to control their individual behaviour and of the employees to be

able to high efficiency work.

2.1 Compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles indifferent organisations:2.1.1. Steve Ballmer, the CEO of MicrosoftSteven A. Ballmer is CEO of Microsoft Corporation; But seems he is

not fit for the CEO of a technology company like Microsoft. Since he took

over the position of CEO in 2000, Microsoft seems to be going down.

Microsoft peaked at $60/share in 2000, just as Mr. Ballmer took the reins.

By 2002 it had fallen into the $20s, and has only rarely made it back to itscurrent low $30s value (Adam, 2012). In my personal opinion, I think that


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Steve's leadership style has caused this. Due to the capacity of him is

business, so his interest is only in sales. So he's not interested or not fully

capable to help Microsoft create breakthrough products such as the time

of the Bill. Steve almost drove Microsoft to the business, rather than a

company specializing in technology development. Meanwhile, Microsoft is

only interested in sales, marketing, advertising forgetting what customers

expect, which is the top of technology. Moreover, Steve Ballmer is also a

leader who is willing to stand up and hear the feedback of his audience

and monitor the needs of them closely (Carter, n.d). As coming from the

business side, Ballmer does not know how to interact well with the

technical person, but to some extent, he stills can inspire these people by

his bubbly characteristic as he defined himself. However, the leadershipstyle of Ballmer is also strongly influenced by his behavior. He is well-

known for using his gross exaggeration to judge the competitors business

plan as well as running Microsoft. It can be seen more than once that

Ballmer has had a disrespectful evaluation for the competitors. It can be

seen that Balmer is Coercive leader.

2.1.2. Robert Dudley, the CEO of British PetroleumRobert (Bob) Dudley became Group Chief Executive of BP p.l.c on 1

October 2010. Anyone can see that Bob qualified and worthy as CEO of BP.

And BP's board also sees that. They select the Bob and hope he can help

BP rose after the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.According to

an article, the BP board decided to Bob for this important position because

Bob was born and grew up side coast Mississippi, where experienced

heavy influence from carpet caused by the BP oil spill. Perhaps because of

compassion for where I grew up that Bob tried our best to remedy the oil

spill. Chairman of the board of BP is really smart when making this

decision, because, with Bob this becomes a personal matter. And Bob

really do this well, BP reports profit even after upping oil spill cost to $40B,

and get a good image in the eyes of customers

(neworleanscitybusiness.com). Perhaps this responsibility has much

impact on Bob's leadership style throughout the years so he is always

enhanced the safety criteria to staff; Bob apply safety criteria to the

company to ensure there will not be any accidents. Moreover, the most

attention of him, over the years is training human resources highly


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specialized to BP, Bob also encourages its employees to use up all their

creative abilities to give the optimal solution for the production as well as

to overcome the consequences of the accident. So, can be said his

leadership style is Coaching.

2.2 Explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management:

Classical administration: theory was initiated by Henri Fayol

(1841-1925). His idea of all organization could be structured and managed

according to certain rational principle which means the structure of the

organization. (BPP Professional Education, 2010). Besides Fayol, the

sociologist Max Weber (1947) developed the idea of bureaucracy. This

theory is similar to Fayol in its concern with hierarchy but also have a new

idea to secure administration is to design procedure to reduce individualinitiative. This theory helps the manager analysis his experience to

improve the performance efficiency in line. However, the biggest

drawback is the organization loss out on an important source of energy

and creativity. (BPP Professional Education, 2010)

Scientific management: F.W. Taylor (1856-1917), a father of

scientific management, recognized and defined scientific management in

the early 1900s. Scientific management focuses on the process of workingand the best work method is possible to perform. And then, motivation is

needs concept that managers should do. It is useful to get workers

working more efficient, soon increase the volume of productivity.

Has an overview of BP's business, as well as the structure and

culture of their organization, we can see Scientific management

organizations theory is being applied to this company. Because of the

particularity work on BP's oil and gas industry should work be split up inseveral steps to leadership can manage them in a scientific way.

According to BP.com, the whole of BP is divided into three main parts,

which is: Upstream is finding, producing and transporting oil and gas to

market, Downstream is converting crude oil into useful products and

marketing them around the world, BP Alternative Energy is investing in

the low-carbon energy sources of the future. Based on that, the leaders of

BP are divided into independent and parts management, information aswell as their decision to switch quickly. Moreover, when a parts having


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problems, it does not affect the other parts or other processes of the

company.

2.3 Evaluate the different approaches to management used by

different organisations:The human relations approach: Elton Mayo (1975) is the inventor

of this approach. The human relations approach emphasized the

importance of human attitudes, values and relationships in an

organization (BPP Professional Education, 20010). The earlier models not

account for emotional impact of work. This theory helps to satisfy and

motivate employees to improve productivity. However, this theory only

mentioned the way to encourage employees but without money this

theory is not adequate.

The system approach: this system approach was initiative by

General Systems Theory in the 1930s but was developed at the Tavistock

Institute of Human Relations in the 1950s. This theory can be defined as

an entity which consists of interdependent parts. Besides there is a

theory named the socio-technological system developed by Trist and

Bamforth (1951), emphasized on three sub-systems: structure,

technological system and social system. (BPP Professional Education,

2010)

Contingency approach: this theory organization as a reaction to

the idea that there are universal principles for designing organizations,

motivating staff, etc. Moreover there are three basic demands that have

to best fit: tasks, people and environment. (BPP Professional Education,

2010).This theory made the most of effectiveness in encouraging

manager which situation they need to manage and how to manage them

approximately

Microsoft British PetroleumSystem approach Contingency approach

According to the culture and structure in organization, Microsoft use

scientific management as the approach to management the organization.

In order to maintain the development of new system, Microsoft uses this


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approach to be stricter in management to manage the employees. Many

employees of Microsoft have quit because of this issue. Furthermore,

when Microsoft apply this scientific management, the employees do not

feel comfortable to work because the boss decides everything. However, it

may cause a stressful environment at workplace for employees. Microsoft

just focus on working, they do not care about the personal life of

employees much. Therefore, the employees do not feel really want to

work in the company and are not willing to work for the company in long-

term.

Unlike Microsoft which is scientific approach, BP is having a

Contingency approach. With this theory, its all depending on the internal

factors like people and task; and external factors: environment.


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Conclusion

After studying and evaluating various aspects of the two

organizations, I can conclude that, BP and Microsoft get results

commensurate with their business strategy. BP with their good

relationship in the culture, structure, and leadership in the right direction

to develop and expand their business. While Microsoft, mistakes in

business strategy as well as false leadership, they are losing their faith

fame and respect from society.


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References

1. Abc.net.au (2012)BP's new boss vows 'change of culture' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting

Corporation). [online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-07-27/bps-new-boss-vows-

change-of-culture/921750 [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

2. Beyourfuture.net (2011) Work Culture at Microsoft | Be Your Future. [online] Available at:

http://www.beyourfuture.net/2011/05/27/work-culture-at-microsoft-3/ [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

3. Bp.com (2012)BP Global | BP. [online] Available at: http://bp.com [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

4. Clark, A. (2010)New BP boss Bob Dudley 'doesn't need to fake his empathy for the Gulf coast'.

[online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/27/bob-dudley-deep-south-profile [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

5. Community.seattletimes.nwsource.com (2012)Business & Technology | Microsoft CEO wants

company to broaden its reach, burnish its reputation | Seattle Times Newspaper. [online] Available

at: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20030224&slug=microsoft24

[Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

6. Forbes (2012) Oops! Five CEOs Who Should Have Already Been Fired (Cisco, GE, WalMart,

Sears, Microsoft) - Forbes. [online] Available at:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/05/12/oops-5-ceos-that-should-have-already-

been-fired-cisco-ge-walmart-sears-microsoft/3/ [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

7. Friedman, M. (2010)Robert Dudley, BPs New CEO | TIME.com. [online] Available at:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/07/27/robert-dudley-bps-new-ceo/ [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

8. Microsoft.com (2012)Microsoft Home Page | Devices and Services. [online] Available at:

http://microsoft.com [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

9. Microsoft.com (2010) Steve Ballmer: Chief Executive Officer. [online] Available at:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/exec/steve/default.aspx [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

10. New Orleans CityBusiness (2010)BP reports profit even after upping oil spill cost to B | New

Orleans CityBusiness. [online] Available at:


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http://neworleanscitybusiness.com/blog/2010/11/02/bp-reports-profit-even-after-upping-oil-spill-

cost-to-40b/ [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

11. Reed, S. (2010) Why Robert Dudley's BP Could Be Even Riskier. [online] Available at:

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2010-07-27/why-robert-dudleys-bp-could-be-even-riskier


12. Sohoa.vnexpress.net (2012)Doanh s bn Xbox gim 48% - S Ha VnExpress. [online]

Available at: http://sohoa.vnexpress.net/tin-tuc/san-pham/do-choi-so/doanh-so-ban-xbox-giam-48-

1499420.html [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

13. the Guardian (2012)Microsoft needs to get back to the future of innovation. [online] Available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jul/12/microsoft-back-future-innovation


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