Management and Organizational Behavior Activities

Question: Discuss about the Management and Organizational Behavior Activities. Answer: Introduction Organizational behavior is the way in which employees of an organization behave within a group. Effective organizational behavior can maximize the output of individual team members of organization (Leana and Meuris 2015). This study will identify the problem mentioned in the case study for Philippine Daily Inquirer. It is a well-known newspaper readership and most wide read newspaper in Philippine (inquirer.net 2016). The study will highlight the organizational culture and subculture of the organization. Apart from that, the study will also describe the centralization, departmentalization, team development and leadership of the organization. Problem Identification List of symptoms for problems Tough competition with online news Employee resistance to embrace change Less cooperation between old employees and new employees Ineffective leadership style Philippine Daily Inquirer was the most profitable and leading newspaper readership for decades from the year 2001 (inquirer.net 2016). The exceptional hard-hitting approach of journalism had made loyal readers for the newspapers. However, as the time went by, more and more advanced mobile gadgets and computers had launched and people started to access more crispy news on their gadgets by only having internet. Readers became able to access more updated news from anywhere they want. It was the prime root cause for problem for the organization. On the hand, the newspaper organization was not able to provide updated information, as they were unable to incorporate 24 hours news cycle (Lewis and Usher 2013). People started to read news online, as they provide news as soon as it occurred. In such situation, Philippine Daily Inquirer started to lag behind due to its not so updated information (Karimi and Walter 2016). Apart from that, in case of news website design, the employees of the orga nization were resistant to change. Due to the micro-management style of the Letty (editor-in-chief), the employees became un-cooperative among each other. It was a hindrance towards the new changes of news website design. Analysis Organizational Culture and sub-culture Though Philippine Daily Inquirer was full of loyal and excellent journalists for delivering news, they often not got good organizational culture in their workplace. First, the editor-in-chief Letty was unable to manage her employees, due her constant late arrival in the office. Letty used to follow micro-management leadership style in directing the employees of the organization. The editors always deferred to the instruction and judgment of Letty. According to Charles Handys organizational culture theory, the organization used to follow power culture (Glisson 2015). The leaders used to take all the decisions for the organization and the employees did not get any scope to interfere in decision-making process. Apart from that, the leaders removed the autonomy and transferred the accountability away from the editors. It ultimately lowered down the morale of the employees and hampered the work progress of the organization (Hogan and Coote 2014). The leadership style of the organization w as autocratic in nature. The employees were to follow the strict order and dictation of the leaders. Apart from that, a lack of cooperation had been found among the old employees and new employees in regards to their work process and skills. Reason for resistance to change It had been found that most of the conservative employees were resistant to embrace the new changes of Philippine Daily Inquirer. One of the most important reasons of resistance to change was fear of unknown. The employees of the organization were mostly acquainted with traditional approach of printing the news in the paper (Pieterse, Canils and Homan 2012). While, the organization launched its own website, it became a completely new concept to the employees about which they were unaware. The lethargy to learn new things made them to be resistance in adopting this change. Apart from that, the probability of huge work pressure and long working time due to incorporation of 24 hours news cycle were the other reasons for employee resistance towards changes (Fugate, Prussia and Kinicki 2012). Furthermore, a lack of mistrust between the management and employees can also be drawn for the employee resistance of the organization. Level of centralization and its effects According to Lanaj et al. (2013), centralization in an organization can be defined as hierarchy in decision-making process, where only top management takes organizational decisions. Philippine Daily Inquirer followed strict centralization structure in their organization. The editor-in-chief Letty was the only person to take critical decision about the organization. No news went on the front page of the newspaper without the scrutiny and guidance of Letty. Only competent journalists used to report to her. Oftentimes, she overruled much the decision taken by junior editors before her entrance in office. It ultimately delayed the newspaper process and distribution of newspaper (Glisson 2015). In this way, the high level of centralization process enabled the competitors, especially the web-based newspaper organization to publish news much earlier. Thus, the organization began to lose competence in the competition level. Apart from that, constant overruling and lack of scope to be involve d in organizational decision-making process had ultimately decreased the enthusiasm level of the employees. They became less willing to work hard for the new changes of the organization. Current Departmentalization Approach It had been found that, in the beginning, all the employees used to work in one large room. It denotes that the organization did not follow such departmentalization approach. The departmentalization approach of Philippine Daily Inquirer was highly centralized, where only management was responsible for taking important decision of the organization (Hogan and Coote 2014). The coordination between the management and employees was very less and thus, many queries of the employees remain unresolved. It ultimately hampered the work process of the newspaper production and delivering process. However, with an intension to compete with the web-based news making organizations, Philippine Daily Inquirer had formed independent web-focused group. However, it such case also, lack of cooperation had been found between new employee group and old employee group. Old employee group started to see new employee as their rivals. This lack of cooperation often led to employee confliction that slowed down the work progress level of the organization (Karimi and Walter 2016). It also decreased the quality of new contents of the organization. Team Development Stage According to team development theory of Tuckman, developing a team takes time and the team members often go through specific stages for being a part of united team. As per this theory, an efficient team is formed through five stages namely forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Chapman and Fitzgerald 2015). In forming stage, the members usually remain polite and anxious about the work to understand it properly. In storming stage, team members start to go beyond the boundaries set in forming stage. This stage starts with confliction among the team members regarding working style and role of leadership (Pelegrini Morita and Marie Burns 2014). People may feel overwhelmed by the work pressure and confliction may arise regarding the work skills. In norming stage, members start to understand each other and become an unity. In performing stage, ultimate work is performed having a common goal of the organization. Lastly, in adjourning stage, the team is disbanded after comple ting a specific project. The editorial group of Philippine Daily Inquirer is considered to be in storming stage, as there is a huge confliction between the old employees and new employees (Chapman and Fitzgerald 2015). The new employees had more knowledge about the internet than old employees had. Therefore, the old employees started to see them as their rivals regarding the working style and work skills. It is the high indication of the editorial group to be in storming stage. Affects of Lettys leadership style and behavior in Inquirers change process Letty is the editor-in-chief of Philippine Daily Inquirer and she used to follow micro-management leadership style in managing the employees. Now news content is published the front page of the newspaper with her guidance and scrutiny (Renko et al. 2015). She did not allow the employees in organizational decision-making process. Therefore, the employees were unaware about the rationality new web designing for online news. This unawareness had made them to be resistant towards new changes incorporated in the organization (Fugate, Prussia and Kinicki 2012). Apart from that, Letty often overruled the decision of the employees. She never provided value to the junior employees, which minimized their interest in changing with new changed procedure of the organization. Recommendation Sandys dos towards changing organizational culture Sandy should change the leadership style of the organization. Instead of initiating micro-management leadership style, she should initiate transformational leadership style for managing employees. The leaders should be supportive in nature instead of overruling the decision of employees. The CEO should smoothly convey the exact rationality of the new changed process to the employees so that they can be interested in it. Apart from that, the employees would be highly interested to adopt the new changes, when they would be allowed in organizational decision-making process. Furthermore, according to democratic leadership theory, Sandy should develop an effective and cooperative team by effective leadership style. Sandy should initiate training session for the old employees, who have lack of technical knowledge needed for operating websites in making online news. 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