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Organizational Analysis
Introduction
Tech Cocktail Ltd is an event organization and media company for technology enthusiasts and entrepreneurs. The organization focuses on the provision of local technology and software products to large scale firms. The paper will, therefore, provide an organizational analysis of the company based on the interview performed with the employees from different company’s departments.
Interview Summary
To effectively obtain the organization analysis, an interview was conducted, which covered the general aspect of the organization. The interview was submitted to 15 employees, each selected from the different departments within the organization. The interviewees were asked questions that focused on major domains, such as the organization's culture, power and political structure, and the motivational aspect of the organization.
Major Findings
The major findings from the interview can be summarized based on the various domains in which the questions were asked.
Leadership and Motivation
The interviewees managed to reveal the various motivational practices that the organization's leadership management has put in place to ensure that the staff members do not become demoralized in the process of performing their duties and in the process of improving the overall positive performance of the company. Some of the motivational practices widely mentioned include promotion, annual salary increase, and down-bottom style of communication within the organization, and provision of resources to ensure different tasks are completed effectively. Regarding personal motivation, majority of the participant claimed that developing a positive attitude towards their job is their main motivational factor.
Power and Political Structure
The interviewees had different views on the aspect of politics within the organization. While most employees state that politics distracts them from focusing on their objectives, others feel that it is a common aspect and very necessary for any executive success. In respect to power within the organization, most interviewees revealed that the different domains have been used positively towards ensuring organizational success. The few interviewees who had previously faced disciplinary actions felt that the misuse of power had made them develop a negative attitude towards the organization's authority.
Company culture and strength
The interviewees mainly dwelled on the aspect of sharing strong value within the organization where every employee believes in the production of the high-quality product as the main culture governing the organization. The participants further mentioned various aspects, such as good customer relation, good marketing strategies, and well-established internal communication as the main strengths of the company.
Overall, the information obtained from the interview was sufficient enough to provide the general analysis of the organization. Further, the questions and answers were well-documented and kept for further references.
Leadership and Motivational Theories
The aspect of leadership and motivation is one of the driving forces behind Tech Cocktail Ltd growth as one of the most successful business enterprise in the market. Most scholars have described leadership as an aspect of creating a way for individuals to contribute towards making an extraordinary thing to occur (Kini & Hobson, 2002). According to the scholars, good leaders strive towards making their followers act and help them in realizing their potential to accomplish higher objectives. The leadership theories that Tech Cocktail Ltd uses include:
Functional Theory
The theory argues that the primary responsibility of any leader is to observe and access the needs of their followers and to make sure that the needs are sufficiently met (Kini & Hobson, 2002). A range of scholarly studies have indicated that there are five main functions that a good leader must perform. The functions include environmental monitoring, organizing activities for subordinates, coaching and training of subordinate, follower’s motivation, and group participation.
Environmental Theory
The theory argues that good leaders use self-awareness and psychology to foster environments that are self-sustaining and where members of the organization strive to bring the best out of each other (Kini & Hobson, 2002). The leaders establish a culture that excites and motivates their followers to complete a given task not out of will but for group benefit. Environmental leaders strive to create a setting within the organization where group members are empowered to support each other, instead of supporting the whole group.
Motivation
Motivation can be viewed as a set of external or internal forces that makes people to select a particular behavior out of the several alternatives behaviors available to them. In any organizational setup, an employee’s level of performance is mostly influenced by ability, environment, and motivation (Kini & Hobson, 2002). Motivation is further important as it is the primary determinant of organizational performance. Most organizations tend to use the organizational reward mechanism or system where the performance of employees is evaluated, defined, and rewarded (Kini & Hobson, 2002). Therefore, the primary purpose of any organization that gives a reward for performance is to influence the behavior of the employee and motivate them towards achieving their set objectives. There are multiple forms of theories that have been implemented to aid in giving an explanation as to how employees are motivated and to provide relevant suggestion on how motivation within a workplace can be increased.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
In case where the driving force behind motivation seems to be based on the existence of unsatisfied needs, then it is important for an organization's manager to assess and understand which of the given needs are of high priority to an individual employee. Therefore, Maslow developed a motivational model where needs that are of low levels, such as safety and psychological requirements, are satisfied first before needs of higher levels, such as self-actualization, are met (Kini & Hobson,2002).
The theory argues that a need that has been satisfied no longer motivates and, therefore, the need for the next level within the hierarchy takes place (Kini & Hobson, 2002). Most organizations that are successful tend to focus on the two uppermost levels of the pyramid through the provision of employees with the much-needed recognition and creating opportunities so that to feel the value of their work and help them attain their potential within the organization.
Equity Theory
According to the current theory, employees of a given organization tend to be motivated when they perceive the kind of treatment they receive at the workplace to be fair, while they become demoralized while they perceive the treatment to be unfair (Kini & Hobson, 2002). In an organization, air treatment will involve giving employees necessary recognition for their work, rewards, and creating the opportunity for advancement. Favoritism towards particular employees or employees may lead to demotivation within the organization.
The theories correspond to the response obtained from the interview conducted. Regarding leadership, the majority of the responses were mainly based on leadership issue, which ensures that the needs of the employees are met, and creates an environment that excites and motivates them to work effectively. Most of the participants want the management to meet their top most needs and offer equitable treatment within the organization where all the employees are given equal and fair treatment that is in line with the two motivation theories.
Organizational Practices
Organizational practices can be defined as actions or behaviors of organization members. The practices are mostly located outside the core organizational culture. They create the behaviors or actions that are used to convert the organizational ideals to action meant to maintain the culture. Some of the practices include:
Strategic Planning
Planning is the most important practice within Tech Cocktail Ltd when considering the long term benefits. The practice helps the organization towards risk minimization, while at the same time maximizing returns. The practice of strategic planning within Tech Cocktail Ltd requires strong leadership effects since it involves inputs from all the employees in an organization. Planning involves monitoring the overall environment of the organization, organizing activities and motivating the entire staff towards achieving the strategy in line with the given leadership theories.
Training and Development
The aspect of training and development is another practice that is essential for the organization. Employees often have personal career objectives and provision of training to advance their career development is one of the motivational practices they need. The practice is one of the motivational aspects that Tech Cocktail Ltd manager often considers as being of the highest priority to the employees. The organizational practice is in line with Maslow hierarchical theory which requires the manager to assess and understand which needs are of high priority to the company’s employees. The main need of any employee within an organization is to achieve self-actualization which is obtained through the practice of training.
The practices have so far been successful regarding motivating and improving the performance of the company. Strategic planning, in particular, has enabled the company to have an insightful penetration into core markets and given direction to the company regarding setting the goals and objectives. At the same time, training has ensured the company received the best personnel to run various technical areas of the organization (Kini & Hobson, 2002). The company should, therefore, ensure they maintain the practices.
Power and Political Structure
Most organizations perform their operations through the act of distributing authority while providing the possibility for the power to be exercised. Power can be defined as the ability that an individual possesses to influence another person. There are various sources of power in an organization that include the power of reward, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, and the expert power. On the other hand, politics within an organization is the act of using the available influence and power within the company (Rao, Morrill &Zald, 2000). Politics and power play a major role within Tech Cocktail Ltd, from governing of decision- making to the interaction between companies. The impact of power on any company depends on whether the workers use negative or positive power to insert influence on others within the workplace. Politics, on the other hand, has a direct influence on those who wield power and in most cases determines whether the culture of Tech Cocktail Ltd as an organization encourages productivity.
Running of the Organization
Tech Cocktail Ltd Company as an organization is governed by the Board of Directors. The Board members are accountable and responsible for the organization's policies and derive its powers from the company’s article of incorporation. The operations of the Board are coordinated by the Board's chairperson with the help of sub-committees chairpersons formed to perform different operations within the organization. The other levels of the company are run by an administration that is formed of employees whose responsibility is to oversee the performance of all programs. The administration comprises of the executive director and the office personnel who are responsible for daily operations of the company.
Leadership Style
Leadership styles have an effect on the company as they establish a corporate culture that affects the organization and the overall performance. According to the findings from the interviewee’s feedbacks, the company has two leadership styles present.
Participative Leadership Style
Most of the interviewees felt that the lowermost leadership level of the company has practiced the participative style of leadership. In this style, the management guides members of the team and accepts external input from other staff members (Rao, Morrill &Zald, 2000). Even though they reserve the right to making final decisions, they encourage overall participation through suggestions and ideas from all workers.
Autocratic Leadership Style
There are few of interviewed people who felt that the company’s top management practices the autocratic style of leadership. The employee’s response was based on the fact that most of the decisions involving the company were made without their involvement or contribution that is a common trait associated with present leadership style.
Power Distribution
Based on the majority of the response, the governing power of the company has been effectively distributed to the lowest level of the company’s administration. The shareholders, who are the company’s owners, elect the Board of Directors and delegate the overall management power to them after which the Board appoints the manager who becomes in charge of the company’s daily operation. The manager then appoints different departmental heads and delegates them power and duties to oversee the departments. Within each department there are committees where chairpersons are appointed by the departmental heads.
Structure
An organization can be established in a given way to achieve certain goals. The structure further determines how the powers, responsibilities, and power are controlled, assigned and coordinated, and how information moves between different hierarchical management levels (Rao, Morrill &Zald, 2000). According to the company’s structure, it can be considered vertical structure, since power emanates from the top to the bottom levels. There is a chain of command, and the uppermost level of the command has the most powers that, in this case, belongs to the Board of Directors.
Competitive Advantage
Regarding development priorities, the company has embarked on building and establishing organizational capabilities that include lean operations and development of leadership. Other aspects include strategic planning for future markets and integration of modern technology into the company. The factors improve the organization regarding market rating and production of high-quality products, which gives them a competitive position over the same products in the same market (Rao, Morrill &Zald, 2000). Good leadership and lean operations further portray the business as a good investment ground over other companies.
Organizations Culture
Culture refers to the unique personality trait of a given organization. Therefore, organizational culture is defined as a given system of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions, which governs the behaviors of people within an organization (Kim & Yu, 2004).
Characteristics of Organizational Culture
Innovation
Through the culture of innovation, the company encourages the workers to innovate and take risks when performing their duties.
Detail Attention
The cultural characteristic requires the employees to concentrate on performing their given task with high degree of accuracy (Kim & Yu, 2004). The company expects the workers to perform their duties with precision.
Teamwork
The company concentrates more on organizing duties around teams and not individual employees. Through such aspect, the company enhances the positive relationship with the managers and between coworkers themselves.
The cultures correspond to the company’s main goal that is to maintain high market standard through the production of quality products. Aspects, such as innovation, bring new ideas to the company while accuracy and precision ensure the products produced are of high quality, while teamwork creates a good environment through which work can be done effectively. Therefore, the culture of the company should be maintained and not changed.
Organizations Strength and Behavior
Organization strength can be viewed as the tool the company uses to counter the imminent threat and seize the available opportunities. On the other hand, organizational behavior can be defined as the study of individual or group activity or performance within a given organization (Kim & Yu, 2004). One of the organization strength is its marketing ability. The company has established a well-functioning distribution channels that makes it possible to deliver products to the consumers at a quick rate. The aspect of research and development is a strength that the company possesses, as it enables the business to monitor and assess its external environments. The factor has contributed positively towards ensuring that the company adopts modern technology and innovations within the market (Kim & Yu, 2004). One of the organization behaviors commonly stressed within the company is the act of encouraging the best instead of concentrating much on discouraging the worst. Employees are encouraged to engage in positive talks all the time. However, the behavior has its negative aspect in that the employees who criticize the given policies are in danger of losing their jobs as revealed by the most response from the interview.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to note that the core aspect of any functioning of the organization is based on the fact how well the leadership is established. Other factors include the type of motivation provided towards ensuring production increase, the power and politics of the organization and finally on the cultures that form the foundation of the organizational practices. The response obtained from the interview provided the required information to support the claims, hence providing a productive organizational analysis of Tech Cocktail Company.
