Assignment Brief

Purpose of this assignment

The purpose of this assignment it to enable students to demonstrate their understanding of the influence of culture, politics and power upon the behaviour of individuals across a variety of organisations.

Evidence

The assignment is divided into 2 parts:

Part 1 Organisational culture, politics and power & Motivating teams and individuals

Part 2 Effective cooperation within teams and concepts and theories of organisational behaviour

Scenario

Case Study - Changing Times at the BBC

The BBC has been undergoing significant change in the past few years leading to an independent review in 2016 which found that there were some "serious failings in the BBC's culture and its systems of communication, management and investigation" (Smith, 2016:32) at the time, with concerns around bullying and harassment or staff complaints not being listened to. Aside from this there have also been criticisms about the pay/gender gap between staff.

The organization had a new Director General in 2015 who has spearheaded, via the HR department, large scale re- organisation, leading to the development of a culture which now sees people "coming to work wanting to do the best they can" (Hughes-D'Aeth, 2017). Read the article in Appendices 1 and 2 and then carry out your own research on the subject and on the BBC, to answer the following questions.

Part 1

LO1: Analyse the influence of culture, politics and power on the behaviour of others in an organisational context
LO2: Evaluate how to motivate individuals and teams to achieve a goal

Task 1

How have the following affected behaviour of staff within the BBC in the recent past and today?:
- Organisational culture
- Power and political behaviour of managers

Tips: Your answer must refer to the case study and Smith Review (2016) findings and must also apply appropriate theories: Organisational culture e.g. Handy's typology, Hofstede's work, Deal and Kennedy; Power
e.g. French and Raven's power types; Political behaviour of managers e.g. Chanlat's characteristics of such behaviour. Consider the more negative aspects of what happened in the past at the BBC and how behaviour and culture has changed, on the whole, for the better now, you may wish to refer to the BBCs values for further evidence (see Appendix 2).

Task 1 will award you P1

To achieve merit (M1):

You will need to build on your answer to P1 by critically analysing how the culture, politics and power of an organisation can influence individual and team behaviour and performance

Task 2
a) It is important for the BBC to get the best out of its employees, both in an individual and a team capacity. Explain how content and process theories of motivation can help to achieve this.

Tips: You should avoid describing a theory or model - look at what the model/theory involves and make the link between this and individual and team effectiveness. You must refer to at least one content and one process theory in your answer.

b) How will improved levels of motivation within the BBC help to achieve its organisational goals?

Task 2(a) and (b) will award you P2

To achieve merit (M2):
You will need to build on your answer to P2 by critically evaluating how to influence the behaviour of others through the effective application of behavioural motivational theories, concepts and models.

To achieve distinction (D1):
You will need to build on your answer to P1 and P2 by critically evaluating the relationship between culture, politics, power and motivation that enables teams and organisations to succeed providing justified recommendations.

Part 2

LO3: Demonstrate an understanding of how to cooperate effectively with others
LO4: Apply concepts and philosophies of organisational behaviour to a given business situation

Task 3
a) Identify and explain the different types of teams (you must include functional, problem solving and project and virtual teams), within the BBC and why having different types of teams is important.
b) Explain what makes an effective team in the BBC. In answering this question you should relate to appropriate theory such as Tuckman and Jensen's model of team development and/or Belbin's teamroles.

Task 3 (a) and (b) will award you P3

To achieve merit (M3):
You will need to build on your answer to P3 by analysing relevant team and group development theories to support the development of dynamic cooperation.

Task 4
a) Using an appropriate organisational concept/theory (such as path-goal theory) suggest how team performance and productivity could be improved within the BBC.
b) What have been the main barriers to effective performance within the BBC?

You must use appropriate academic sources to support your answer, along with references to the material within the case study.

Task 4 (a) and (b) will award you P4

To achieve merit (M4):

You will need to build on your answer to P4 by exploring and evaluating how concepts and philosophies of OB inform and influence behavior in both positive and negative way.

To achieve distinction (D2):
You will need to build on your answer to P3 and P4 by critically analysing and evaluating the relevance of team development theories in context of organisational behaviour concepts and philosophies that influence behaviour in the work place.

Attachment:- OB.rar