Organisational Behaviour and Workplace Culture

Introduction

Organisational behaviour is the process of developing effective organisational culture, internal politics and policies of the firm in order to develop suitable working environment in the workplace and it is effective for the organisations to lead the group of members at the workplace or the individuals, working in the organisation towards achieving future organisational success through continuous motivation and engagement with all the organisational stakeholders (Bratton, 2015). The study aims at analysing the organisational behaviour in the companies and developing proper understanding about the team building activities and the cultural influence in the organisational workplace which are playing crucial role in achieving future success. The study provides a scope to analyse the organisational behaviour of IBM and Apple Inc., as well as understand the culture and organisational policies and practice to maximise their performance in long run.

Activity 1:

Company overview of IBM

International Business Machines (IBM) is a famous technology company providing high quality hardware, software and cloud based services as well as cognitive computing to the clients across the globe. The organisation is efficient to expand their business across 170 countries, where recently the employees of the organisation is approximately more than 366600 and the diverse workforce who are skilful, talented and innovative are efficient to run the operational activities and serve the customers since 1911 (IBM, 2020a).

There are virtual and also on site employees where the company IBM is efficient to manage the workforce by providing them monetary and non-momentary reward. The employees work in separate places, manage the team another colleagues electronically, create cohesive team and analyse the productive results successfully and the activities further improve engagement with the employees and it help to build string relationship with all the staff at the workplace. the revenue of the company is in the last year was approximately more than $81 billion, where the company is efficient to serve the customers with the hardware and software products as well as innovative services including managed customised services, outsourcing and consulting (IBM, 2020b).

Explaining the effective team and ineffective team behaviour

Team building activities are necessary for all the multinational corporate firms, where the companies try to develop suitable team work for sharing information and experience so that the employees can work efficient by partnership working (King and Lawley, 2016). In this regard, under the effective team behaviour, the information flow is free and open where the employees share the adequate information and experience with each other for improving the performance of the staff. The effective team members are efficient to develop string relationship with other colleagues and senior members by considering respectful and trustworthy behaviour as well as collaborative and supportive practice at the workplace. Under the effective team, the conflicts resolution activities are effective, where every people participate properly and cooperate with each other for mitigating the internal conflicts and thus the internal conflicts and resistance to change among the employees can be tackled with cooperation and collaboration. The atmosphere of the effective team is open and participative where the employees are consensus and committed towards their work and other colleagues. On the other hand, the ineffective team members are not willing to share messages and build power individually. However, the ineffective team members are not able to develop corporate relationship with others and they are competitive, withholding, suspicious and pragmatic at the workplace, which deteriorates the performance of the team members in long run (Rollinson, 2008). In this context, due to personal trait and destructive behaviour of the employees, it becomes difficult to resolve the internal conflicts among the team members and it further hampers the organisational performance. The atmosphere compartmentalised and there is confusion and dissonance where the individuals focus on power.

Hereby, developing effective team is beneficial for IBM to maximise their performance and improve their position in the global technology industry. As per the Tuckman’s Team Development Model, there are five stages, which are forming, storming, and norming, performing and adjourning. Under the forming stage, there is little engagement and unclear purpose and storming stage is related to internal conflicts and power struggle, where the employees fail to cooperate with each other. The norming stage is effective to develop clear roles and responsibilities where the leader tries to share the organisational vision and cooperate with the staff for better cooperation and communication. Performing stage is helpful to focus on achievement and fulfil the vision and purpose. Lastly the adjourning stage is related to completion of the take efficiently with recognition and achievements. The theory is beneficial for analysing the activities in each stage, but it is difficult to identify the ways to improve effective team through this Tuckman’s Team Development Model. The theory is beneficial to influence IBM to develop effective team by sharing clear vision and organisational practice with all the employees. The company aims to develop efficient team by providing proper achievements and rewards and the leader focuses on managing internal conflicts in order to lead the employees towards the success (IBM, 2020c).

As per the Belbin’s Team Roles the nine stages are specialist, shaper, completer, implementer, resource investigator, coordinator, team worker, plant and monitoring evaluation. the stage are effective for developing an effective team at the organisation, where the leaders try to be specialist and plant implementer by monitoring and evaluation so that they can direct the team members and cooperate with them for better performance (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2013). In addition to this, action oriented roles are important, where the leader needs to be shaper, implementer and complete finisher, where it is possible for the leader and the management team of the organisation to execute the plan and motivate the team towards achieving success. Additionally, the people oriented roles are also necessary for being coordinator, team worker and resource investigator, where the leader and the managers aim to lead the team towards success through motivation and encouraging their creativity.

The theory influences the company IBM to develop effective strategy and develop suitable organisational culture with harmony and freedom to work so that the employees can work efficiently and they are interested to cooperate and build strong corporate relationship to perform as a partnership working.

Applying the concept and philosophies of the organisational behaviour

The organisational behaviour is effective for the leader and the managers to lead the employees towards achieving future success and in this regard theories like Path-goal theory, Social Capital theory, and Contingency theory are effective to describe the organisational behaviour. As per the path-goal theory, the leaders are efficient to motivate and encourage the employees at the workplace by monetary and non monetary rewards (LEVI, D., 2014). In this regard, the leaders are supportive, directive, participative and achievement oriented, where the aim of the leaders is to support the workforce and direct them to improve their participation so that the organisational goal can be achieved further. The organisational environment and characteristic of the subordinates are also crucial to develop a suitable leadership style and lead the team successfully. It is effective to influence IBM to develop supportive leadership style and direct the team members in future with proper guidance and training and development program, so that the team members are able to achieve future gal of the firm successfully. The leader of IBM tries to manage the internal conflicts efficiently by providing support and coaching, sharing the clear goal and vision of the firm and enhancing cooperation and communication (IBM, 2020d).

As per the Social Capital theory, the major social capital are reciprocity, participation, citizen power, values and norms, diversity and sense of belonging and creating trust and network so that the team members can work together and develop effective team successfully (Yavuz, 2020). In this regard, the theory of social capital influences IBM to develop suitable leadership and managerial role where the leader and the managers try to develop trustworthy organisational environment, where the employees respect each other and manage diversity in a positive way. arranging the cultural training as well as encouraging participation and non-discrimination policies are effective to manage diversity in positive way and encourage the members to take active part in achieving the organisational success. Developing trust and safety of the employees are also effective strategy of IBM through which it tries to maximise the employee’s values and retain the experienced staff for long run (IBM, 2020c).

Contingency theory is also effective to understand the organisational behaviour and it further influence the multinational corporate firm like IBM to develop efficient organisational culture for managing the workplace successfully. As per the contingency theory, the contingencies are leader members relations, task structure and position power. In this regard, IBM focuses on developing trust and strong corporate relationship with all the staff to manage the onsite and virtual staff across the globe. Additionally, the company tries to develop the leadership style which is people oriented and task oriented. The leader IBM in this regard tries to develop clear roles and responsibilities of each member and share the people oriented tasks where the outcome is preferable to organisational performance, as the employees are encourage at the workplace and they can contribute positively in the organisational performance (IBM, 2020d).

Analysing and evaluating team development theories in the context of organisational behaviour and philosophies in IBM

Hereby, the theories of organisational behaviour are effective to develop appropriate leadership style, which helps the organisation IBM to develop tactics to manage the staff across the world and lead them towards achieving success. IBM mainly focuses on developing people and task oriented leadership style, where the leaders are participative, supportive and directive. the leader of IBM and the management team are efficient o create values for all the staff by giving them monetary rewards, the sense of achievement and managing safety and security of the employees at the workplace. Moreover, the strategies of developing suitable working culture with harmony and freedom, managing transparency and accountability at the workplace further helps to treat all the staff fairly and lead them efficiently towards the organisational success are also for IBM to achieve its aims. The leader also focuses on encouraging the employee’s creativity and innovation and constant support and motivation further helps the staff to develop effective team. IBM focuses on partnership working practice by enhancing cooperation and communication with all the staff which in turn helps to motivate the staff and develop respect and trusts to each other at the workplace (IBM, 2020c). The team development theories of Tuckman and Belbin are also beneficial for the leader of IBM to develop effective team, where the leaders try to be cooperative, plant implementation and shaper as well as coordinator and motivator, where the employees of IBM get proper support from the senior team to perform better. the strategies of motivation and coordination further helps the leader of IBM to develop cooperation and partnership working practice where the team members are contributing positively and manage their conflicts efficiently at the workplace. the organisational philosophies of the organisation IBM is to create values, beliefs and guidelines for the stakeholders to run the business efficiently where the organisational culture of harmony and freedom, managing transparency and accountability as well as continuous performance improvement and motivation are also effective to expand the business efficiently and develop effective team for achieving future organisational success (IBM, 2020d).

Activity 2:

Company overview of Apple Inc

Apple Inc. is another technology company like IBM, which was established in the year of 1976. The tag line of the company is “Think Different”, where the company mainly focuses on innovation and creativity to serve the customers in a unique way. The mission statement of the company is mission statement “To bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services” and the vision is “Different together” (Apple Inc., 2020a).

The company is efficient to generate revenue and maximise profitability, where in the last year, the company’s revenue was approximately more than $267 billion and the total number of employees are 37000, who are efficient to enhance creativity and design innovative products with latest technology. The core value of the company is to honour people who think that they can change the world with their passion and the major beliefs of the company are,

Designing great products

Focusing on innovation and creativity

Simplicity in place of complexity

Controlling the primary technologies behind Apple’s products

The cultures, that the organisation Apple Inc. are “open and accepting culture” and “work hard play hard” and these are the main strategies to manage their employees and maximise the contribution of the efficient staff in deigning the quality products including iPod, iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV, HomePod, and other hardware and software products as well as the other services of the company are Mac App store, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, Apple Pay, Apple Store and Music, icloud and iTunes services (Apple Inc., 2020b).

Impacts of Apple’s culture on the behaviour and performance of the individuals

The organisational culture is one of the effective contributing factors in maximising organisational performance and achieving future organisational success. It is the responsibility of the organisational Apple Inc. to develop suitable culture so that the staff members can contribute positively by improving their performance as per their capabilities and technical skill. The company’s culture is related to “open and accepting culture”, where the organisation focuses on inclusion and diversity, so that the company can encourage cultural diversity and motivate all the embers successfully. It is the major strategy of Apple Inc. to create suitable organisational culture by accepting all the cultures across the globe and Apple Inc. considers the cultural diversity as their greater strength in operating in the marketing by encouraging diversified knowledge and skilled workface. Accepting different culture and creating the values for all the stallholders including the customers, employees, suppliers and distributors are effective strategy to develop suitable culture of Apple. Additionally, the company adopted the strategy of “work hard play hard”, where it helps to encourage the employees and influence them to participate efficiently in the organisational activities. Building the organisational aims and objectives and sharing the mission and visions with the staffs is another strategy to create positive circumstances at the workplace (Apple Inc., 2020c). Additionally, the company focuses on quality of work rather than quantity of work and in this regard, continuous research and development as well as encouraging and supporting employee’s creativity and innovation are effective for Apple to sustain in the business and enhance innovation in designing the new products. Arranging the cultural and technical training is another strategy, which is effective to tackle cultural diversity and develop n effective team as well as it helps to improve the technical skill and knowledge of the employees, so that the staff can contribute with their full potential. Job satisfaction is another component where Apple is efficient to provide safety and security to all the employees, where employment contracts and the other rewards and compensation further motivate the employees to work efficiently and improve the quality of work successfully. The management team of Apple is efficient to maintain transparency and accountability which in turn provides a scope to treat all the employees fairly and improve trust and respect among the employees. Cooperative working practice is another tactic to develop partnership working, where the organisation is efficient to handle the workplace and enhance collaborative learning and working practice, so that he employees can share their views and understanding with each other and perform efficiently by partnership working (Apple Inc., 2020d). The organisational policies and practice are effective for Apple to develop suitable culture and in this regard the compensation and performance related pay is effective to retain the experienced staff. Moreover, the leadership style of Apple is efficient to support and direct the people where the leaders try to empower the staff in the organisational decision making practice and this raise employee’s trust and encourage the staff to show the creativity and innovation to work efficiently. The quality of work and organisational standard further enhance the performance where Apple is efficient to develop the workplace with cooperation and communication. The organisational leader focuses on creating value of the employees by encouraging their creativity as well as giving them proper scope for personal life. The culture “work hard play hard” is effective to encourage the staff to work efficiently as well as manage their work life balance successfully. The internal working atmosphere is positive where each members respect others and the string emotional intelligence and personal trait of the leaders are effective to develop string relationship with the staff and lead them towards achieving future organisational success (Apple Inc., 2020a).

Impacts of motivational theories on Apple’s performance

Employee’s motivation is necessary for the organisations to create values for tm and encourage them to perform better in near future. The Herzberg’s Theory of motivation is effective in this regard to identify the factors to motivate the employees at the organisational workplace. As per the theory of motivation, there are hygienic factors and motivational factors. Under the hygienic factors, there are supervisor quality, wage and salary structure of the firm, working condition, policies and rules, and co-workers relationship are the major factors that are beneficial to encourage the staff successfully. The theory is effective to influence Apple to develop effective strategic planning to motivate the staff. In this context, Apple tries to create values for the employees by providing monetary and non-monetary rewards, where the performance related pay and structured salary and compensations are effective for encouraging the staff at the workplace. Additionally, the company implements the non-discriminatory policies, health and Safety at Workplace 2015 and Equality Act 2010 to create values for the staff and ensure safety and security of working in Apple. The organisation also provides insurance converge and other health care benefits to all the members across the globe and this are also another effective strategy to create values for the employees and motivate them for contributing with their full capabilities (Apple Inc., 2020d).

On the other hand, there are motivational factors such as achievement recognition, responsibility, as well as advancement and personal growth. The CEO of Apple arranges efficient technical training program to improve the scope for personal and professional development of the staff as well as the company tries to maximise the self esteem and sense of achievement among the employees.

The vroom expectancy theory is another effective Process Theories of Motivation, which is beneficial to understand the expectation of the employees and the strategies of the leader to encourage the team members in the workplace. As per the theory, the effort of the employees is mandatory where the employees believe that they perform efficiently to maximise their roles and responsibilities (Thomas, Ambrosini and Hughes, 2019). Additionally, acceptable performance is corresponded with desired rewards where the employees value the reward system of the company. The CEO of the company Apple tries to restructure the salary and introduce the performance related pay for encouraging the employees. Suitable workplace culture as well as organisational policies further increases the expectations of the employees to get rewards and benefits at the workplace. Apple in this regard is efficient to provide safety and security, health benefits, appropriate salary and performance related to pay to motivate the employees successfully.

Influence of organisational behaviour

Organisational behaviour is effective to influence the optional intelligence and soft skill of the managers and other employees, where the activities of the firm and leadership style further motivate the employees to improve emotional intelligence and develop personal trait with respect and integrity to perform efficiently together at the organisational workplace (Gan and Yusof, 2018). In this regard, the Reinforcement Theory and Equity Theory are effective to identify the factors that influence emotional intelligence and soft skill of the managers. As per the Reinforcement Theory, managers praise employees for positive reinforcement where the positive behaviour is followed by positive consequences. The negative reinforcement is when the negative behaviour is followed by removal of negative consequences. Managers also push the employees of there is negative behaviour and consequences. These activities are effective for the mangers to improve soft skill and emotional intelligence to assess the employees and give those rewards and punishment according to their behaviour and emotional intelligence.

The equity theory is also effective, where there should be balance between input and output. The inputs are loyalty, hard work, commitment and trust and the outputs are salary, benefits, recognition and achievement (Archer and Cameron, 2013). In this regard CEO of Apple is efficient to provide recognition and achievement to the employees for creating values for them. The employees of Apple are committed and trustworthy who contribute efficiently to maximise the organisational performance. Additionally, there is fair balance between input and output at Apple, by restructure the salary and benefits through performance related pay, where the employee’s performance are monitored properly to give them incentives and rewards.

Hereby, the Reinforcement Theory and Equity Theory are effective to influence the organisation for restructure and compensation and benefits which in turn influence the emotional intelligence and soft skill of the managers at the company to manage the employees efficiently by giving them rewards as well as punishment depending on their performance and behaviour at the workplace.

Relationship between organisational culture and motivation on the team in Apple Inc and recommendations

The organisational culture and motivational activities are effective for Apple to encourage the employees in long run and the policies and practice are also effective to lead the staff towards achieving success. The monetary and non-monetary rewards are effective to encourage the tam and motivate them to give their full potential in designing and developing the Apple products and services. Moreover, the health and safety as well as fair treatment and managing cultural diversity and inclusion are also effective strategic planning of Apple to create values for all the staff and motivate them to performance better. Hereby, there is positive relationship between the organisational culture of Apple and performance of the firm. Higher motivational activities and suitable working circumstances encourage the employees to utilise the organisational resources and capabilities and contribute positively to maximise the organisational mission and visions statement (Lashinsky, 2009). The organisation also enhances the organisational performance through developing partnership working practice where cooperation and communication are beneficial to hare the information and technical skill with each other and perform as a partnership basis for improving the organisational performance in long run. In this regard, the organisation needs to focus on motivational activities further and developing efficient working environment for the employees to strengthen their employee base by retaining the experienced employees successfully. Apple needs to focus on giving freedom to work and maintaining working flexibility and for this, the organisation needs to provide options to choose working hours to the employees as well as incorporate the holiday list, which is mandatory to create values for the employees. Additionally, yearly bonus needs to be introduced by the organisation to motivate the employees and lead them towards achieving success. Organisational culture plays a crucial role and in this regard workplace activities also matters, the organisation can develop activity area, where the employees can spend some time and relax to balance the work pressure and again contribute with their full potential.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that, both eth reputed technology companies, are efficient to manage their organisational culture and maximise employee’s values by providing monetary and non-monetary rewards. The company needs to develop more activities for the employee by giving them working flexibility and freedom at workplace as well as develop yearly benefits and compensation structure which would be beneficial for the company to retain experienced and technical skilled workforce for maximising the organisational performance in near future.

Reference List

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