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    BTEC HND IN BUSINESS (MANAGEMENT)

    ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

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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

    [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

    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

    [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012].

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