Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Introduction
The study of Organizational behavior related with individual, group of people working to
gather within an organization. It broadly investigates with structure, culture of the
organization, how people adopt and act according to various situations. It covers the core
topics of motivation, leadership behavior and power, interpersonal communication, group
structure and process, learning, attitude development and perception, change process,
conflict, job designs and work stress.
This assignment compares and contrasts organizational behaviours of Cargills Bank PLC
and HNB PLC. Mainly in the areas of organizational structure and culture, organizational and
leadership theories, motivational theories and group behaviours.
Organizational structure determines the manner and extended to which roles, power, and
responsibilities are delegated , controlled and coordinated and how information flows
between levels of management.
Cargills Bank PLC was ceremonially opened on June 2014. On the other hand HNB PLC
started operations during colonial era in 1888. Both are formal organizations based on tall
structures. In both institutions decision making and management are centralized and
divisional.
Both companies are public limited company owned by share holders and controlled on their
behalf by board of directors and mangers.
Both companies have tall company structure. HNB PLC succeed to enhance their branches
all over the country. Since its a large organization the structure is more complex hence
specialization and sub divisions are required. So process of controlling and coordinating
performances and communication between individual become more difficult. But the tasks of
both organizations are similar. Since HNB is one of the oldest company skills and training of
the staff is more competitive than Cargills which is operating only for six months. So Cargills
should improve the skills of their staff by training or recruiting experienced banking
personals. Both institutions use latest technology to handle their operations. HNB carried out
their business over 100 years through various economical conditions,where as Cargills lacks
experience,new comer to the industry.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture a system of shared meanings and common beliefs held by
organizational members that determines in a large degree how they act towards each other.
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Figure 1 Organizational Structure of Cargills Bank PLC (Source - HR Department, Cargills
Bank)
Refer attached file Organizational Structure.docx
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Figure 2 Organizational Structure of HNB PLC(Source - HNB Annual Report 2014)
Refer attached file Organizational Structure.docx
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Factors influencing the culture
Economic condition
Nature of business and tasks
Leadership styles
Policies and practices
Structure
Characteristics of the workforce
Types of culture
According to Robert E. Quinn and Kim S. Cameron at the University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor, there are four types of organizational culture: Clan, Adhocracy, Market, and
Hierarchy.
Clan oriented cultures are family-like, with a focus on mentoring, nurturing, and doing things
together.
Adhocracy oriented cultures are dynamic and entrepreneurial, with a focus on risk-taking,
innovation, and doing things first.
Market oriented cultures are results oriented, with a focus on competition, achievement, and
getting the job done.
Hierarchy oriented cultures are structured and controlled, with a focus on efficiency, stability
and doing things right.
Cargills and HNB use mainly market oriented and hierarchical culture to attain their goals.
Whether its a small or large organization, its structure and culture are the key elements in
an organizations success. Organization should concentrate on these basic aspects to
achieve their goals. Effectiveness of an organization depends on its structure. This structure
is developed by the influences of the culture.
Organizational structure is interrelated with organizational culture and exercise within it.
Organizational culture is related to issues and aspects. On the other hand structure related
to the infrastructure, method and practices within it. All the method and practices help the
culture to operate with competence and consistency. Culture is directly connected to how
organizational structure works. For example - how management works, which particular
duties the supervisors have, how complaints or issues handled by the organization.
Cargills Bank
Vision
To be the most inclusive bank harnessing the spirit of progress in every Sri Lankan.
Mission
We aim to directly engage every customer at their convenience by a unique and far reaching
network, through efficient and innovative technology.
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To facilitate and empower small and medium entrepreneurs, enhance industry standards
through a highly motivated team of innovative bankers.
HNB
Vision
To be the acknowledged leader and chosen partner in providing financial solutions through
inspired people.
Mission
Combining entrepreneurial spirit with empowered people and leading edge technology to
constantly exceed stakeholder expectations.
Organizational goals are apparent in their vision and mission statements. Since Cargills
Bank is a new competitor in the banking sector their main focus is on expanding their
customer base. Also they target at small and medium entrepreneurs. Whereas, HNB is
mainly concerned on corporate businesses and improve their service delivery for existing
customers.
Customer base and number of branches of Cargills Bank is less compared to HNB. So one
would expect a better customer service from Cargills Bank. But with effective and time tested
organizational structure and culture HNB provide good service to customers irrespective of
their customer base.
HNB and Cargills Bank have tall structures communication between frontline management to
the top is not so effective.
Accepting changes in the work culture is the toughest thing to do for an employee. Not all
employees can happily adapt to organizational changes. Employees need time to cope up
with a new culture. The employees must design new strategies, new plan of actions and
policies to meet the new challenges. An employee must change his behavior and thought
process as per the culture.
Personality - Personality is the total pattern of characteristic ways of thinking, feeling and
behaving that constitute the individualss distinctive method of relating to the environment.
Nomothetic approach suggest that personality is more or less fixed and various elements of
personality are same from individual to individual. These are called traits. The idiographic
approach suggest that personality develop through interaction with the environment.
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Perception - A process by which individuals give meaning to their environment by
organizing and interpreting their sensory impressions.
Above said 3 elements are having integral part in the organizational performance. If a
particular goal have given to the group of people each individual having their own ideas to
reach the goal.each of their work to ward for the goal will be different
Conflict
It is any divergence of interests between groups or individuals.
Leadership - Managers and leaders play an important role in influencing the behaviour of
individuals at workplace. It is the responsibility of leaders to set a direction for team
members.
Work Culture - Employees need to feel comfortable at workplace for them to stay positive
and happy. Rules and regulations should be same for everyone. Employees ought to be
encouraged to respect their reporting bosses and follow the code of ethics.
Job Responsibilities - Employees should be asked to do what best they can perform. Do
not overburden employees. Encourage them to upgrade their skills from time to time.
Family and Personal Life - It has been observed that individuals with a troubled
background or problematic family life tend to behave irrationally at workplace. Employees
who have strained relationships with family members like to sit till late at work and spoil the
entire work culture.
Relationship at Work - It is necessary to have friends at the workplace. You need people
around to talk to, discuss and share experiences. It is really not possible to work in isolation.
Considering the two organizations, personality of individuals largely depends on their past
experience, qualifications, peer group etc. Perception and attitudes mainly depend on the
working environment. Since HNB has experienced senior staffs they can easily train new
employees and influence their perception and attitudes. Whereas, Cargills Bank lacks
experienced staff. Ability and aptitude are influenced by the quality of training. Here too HNB
has advantage due to their large staff population compared to Cargills. Also HNB has vast
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experience in managing conflicts and changes. HNB has offered 100,944 classroom training
hours in 2014(Annual Report 2014, HNB)
Pacesetting style is seen in both organizations. Especially when financial targets are
imposed on the staff or the branch.
In most of the operations both banks stick to democratic, coaching and affiliative styles.
Since Cargills Bank is new they also use authoritative style to achieve their visions. For
example when planning out marketing campaigns, ideas of each and every staff member is
considered. Both banks have seminars, workshops and workplace based training for their
staff.
Administrative theory was propounded by Henry Fayol and is based on several principles
of management. In addition, management was considered as a set of planning, organizing,
training, commanding and coordinating functions.
Modern theories are based on the concept that the organization is an adaptive system
which has to adjust to changes in its environment. Modern theories include the systems
approach, the socio-technical approach, and the contingency or situational approach.
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The systems approach considers the organization as a system composed of a set of inter-
related - and thus mutually dependent - sub-systems. Thus the organization consists of
components, linking processes and goals.
The contingency or situational approach recognizes that organizational systems are inter-
related with their environment and that different environments require different organizational
relationships for effective working of the organization.
The two banks strive to adapt to modern theories, mainly contingency theory. The politics
and economy is unstable in Sri Lanka. So they have to adapt to challenging environment
frequently. This is crucial in times of economical crisis.
3.1 Discuss the impact that different leadership style may have
on motivation in organizations in period of change
Great leaders move us. They ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. When we try to
explain why they are so effective, we speak of strategy, vision, or powerful ideas. But the
reality is much more primal: Great leadership works through the emotions (Daniel Goleman,
2016).
Leadership styles are not something to be tried on like so many suits, to see which fits.
Rather, they should be adapted to the particular demands of the situation, the particular
requirements of the people involved and the particular challenges facing the organization
(Guides.wsj.com, 2016).
Daniel Goleman describes six types of leadership (Guides.wsj.com, 2016). The most
important fact is that, most effective leaders can move among these styles, adopting to the
one that meets the need of the moment.
Visionary - This style is most appropriate when an organization needs a new direction. Its
goal is to move people towards a new set of shared dreams. Visionary leaders articulate
where a group is going, but not how it will get there setting people free to innovate,
experiment, take calculated risks, write Mr. Goleman and his coauthors.
Coaching - This one-on-one style focuses on developing individuals, showing them how to
improve their performance, and helping to connect their goals to the goals of the
organization. Coaching works best, Mr. Goleman writes, with employees who show initiative
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and want more professional development. But it can backfire if its perceived as
micromanaging an employee, and undermines his or her self-confidence.
Affiliative - This style emphasizes the importance of team work, and creates harmony in a
group by connecting people to each other. Mr. Goleman argues this approach is particularly
valuable when trying to heighten team harmony, increase morale, improve communication
or repair broken trust in an organization. But he warns against using it alone, since its
emphasis on group praise can allow poor performance to go uncorrected. Employees may
perceive, he writes, that mediocrity is tolerated.
Democratic - This style draws on peoples knowledge and skills, and creates a group
commitment to the resulting goals. It works best when the direction the organization should
take is unclear, and the leader needs to tap the collective wisdom of the group. Mr. Goleman
warns that this consensus-building approach can be disastrous in times of crisis, when
urgent events demand quick decisions.
Pacesetting - In this style, the leader sets high standards for performance. He or she is
obsessive about doing things better and faster, and asks the same of everyone. But Mr.
Goleman warns this style should be used sparingly, because it can undercut morale and
make people feel as if they are failing. Our data shows that, more often than not,
pacesetting poisons the climate, he writes.
Commanding - This is classic model of military style leadership probably the most often
used, but the least often effective. Because it rarely involves praise and frequently employs
criticism, it undercuts morale and job satisfaction. Mr. Goleman argues it is only effective in a
crisis, when an urgent turnaround is needed. Even the modern military has come to
recognize its limited usefulness.
The third theory encourages group work and social interaction to motivate employees in the
workplace. To motivate employees, an organization must move up the pyramid of needs to
ensure all of an employee's needs are met
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.
Successful organizations focus on the top two levels of the pyramid by providing employees
with the necessary recognition and developing opportunities for employees to feel they are
doing valuable work and reaching their potential with the company.
Hawthorne Effect theorizes that employees are more productive when they know their work
is being measured and studied.
John Stacey Adams' Equity Theory argues that employees are motivated when they
perceive their treatment in the workplace to be fair and unmotivated when treatment is
perceived to be unfair. (Small Business - Chron.com, 2016)
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In my point of view giving a clear diagram of the work and the path to be followed to achieve
the same, giving a proper guidance workers will motivate the employees. Performance
related issues should be discussed personally with the particular employee. This should be a
learning opportunity to him/her. Employee should be praised in publicly on their
performance. So they can do more and better. And rewards should be there for their
performance.
1. Talk to employees about what they value. This will provide insights into which of the
seven factors mentioned above might be high on their list.
2. Test a factor on an employee. For example, if it seems that recognition might be
effective, then try using that factor.
3. Check in with employees about their feelings. It's always a good idea to get
feedback from employees. Make sure their reaction to each factor is what's desired.
4. Be on the lookout for signs of de-motivation. It's important to make sure something
isn't being introduced into the work environment that is being counter-productive to
the goal.
Effective groups achieve high levels of task performance, member satisfaction and team
viability. Effective groups offer synergy. With synergy group accomplish more than the total
of the members individual capabilities. This helps organizations to achieve long term high
performances.
Groups are superior to individuals in situations where there are no experts in a particular
problem or task. It is also superior in tasks requiring creativity and innovation.
Formal group is a collection of persons, who came together for achieving a specified goal.
It possesses a systematic structure, in hierarchical form (S. Surbhi, 2015). It can be
permanent or temporary. Permanent work groups are command groups in the organizations
vertical structure. Command group consists of managers and their subordinates. Temporary
work groups are task groups specifically created to solve a problem or perform a a defined
task, such as committees and task forces.
The groups that are created naturally, within the organization, due to social and
psychological forces are known as Informal groups. It can be friendship groups or interest
groups.
Storming it is involves with more or less conflict. In this stage changes will happen in the
objectives, leadership and procedures. Teams members come out with their own ideas. This
encourages disagreement as well as creativity.
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Norming - this is the period the team settles down with the environment. The team will have
agreement about their work sharing, output and group customs. Standards which should be
maintained will be there.
Performing - once the team reaches this stage the group is fully concentrates on its task.
Adjourning - many teams reach this stage eventually, when their work complete.
(Mindtools.com, 2016)
(Hrweb.mit.edu, 2016)
Diversity - Diversity can promote creativity and innovation, and raise awareness of and
respect for differences, which will support effective teamwork. Teams that lack diversity can
find it difficult to solve particular problems; it is much harder to find innovative solutions when
all of the team members think about problems in the same way draw on similar experiences
for support and come to the same conclusions. Diversity can give rise to conflicts which will
be detrimental if not managed properly.
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Team-Building Exercises - Effective teamwork is developed through shared experiences
and practice. Team-building exercises can be targeted to improve particular aspects of team
performance such as communication, problem-solving or creativity.
The use of new technologies can improve and in some cases hinder team functioning. One
of the vital factor for effective team functioning is communication. Thus technologies provide
faster, reliable, secure and easy to use systems of communication.
Latest ways of communication are by emails, mobile phones, social media etc. By these
methods one can easily and quickly transfer data within the group as well as the
organization. Since most of the institutions are connected by broadband network everyone
down the line in the group can receive the information from top management.
Both HNB and Cargills bank use the latest technologies for their service delivery. Every
single branch and ATM is connected in HNB. HNB has the world leading financial systems
to manage their operations. Cargills Bank is striving to adopt systems since they have to
weigh cost against their market. But both banks can improve their team functioning using the
latest technology.
Conclusion
In conclusion both these organizations goals are to provide best banking service to
customers. Both organizations have the basic structure and culture in their working
environments. Thus having very good fundamentals helps to build up their own market.
Cargills Bank should concentrate on expanding their market rather than trying to develop the
system. Both systematic approach and expansion of market should occur synergistically.
Thus study of organizational behavior is a fundamental in developing any business.
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Bibliography
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http://keydifferences.com/difference-between-formal-and-informal-groups.html [Accessed 12
Jan. 2016].
Hrweb.mit.edu, (2016). HR at MIT | Learning & Development | Using the Stages of Team
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[Accessed 23 Jan. 2016].
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