53125 HRM& D in a Global Context Assignment Sample
1. Evaluate how the organisation you have selected compares in organisational design terms (structure, way of organising work with traditional and more contemporary academic theories and ideas (of organisational design)
Traditional form of organizations is very prevalent and authentic in today’s contemporary world as well. These kinds of organization are well structured and they follow a particular flow of power through hierarchy. There is existence of ranking system and a strict managerial format is followed in order to control the operations and the fundamentals of the organization. Organizations and the management believe that this is the most sustainable and stable form of conducting business in a global platform. According to them, the employees need guidance and they are delegated with stipulated amount of work as well as responsibilities. These organizations do not focus on the cognitive as well as behavioural growth of the employees but they are more inclined towards achieving the organizational goals that are pre-decided by the management of the company (Koohborfardhaghighi and Altmann, 2017).
Since the traditional form of organizations are most based on working according to the hierarchy, the structure of these organizations is mostly like a pyramid, where in the top position is the CEO or the president of the company who is also considered to the be head of the organization. All major decisions and implementations are conducted with the permission of the CEO or the president. This level is followed by the second one which consists of the managers, both middle as well as lower level of managers. These managers are responsible to delegate the decision taken by the top management in a precise manner and get the job done by the employees that belong to the lowest level of the pyramid. The employees are not allowed and they are restricted from taking any decisions, whatsoever. There are functional and divisional form of organization that follow the traditional organizational structure to achieve the organizational goals (Altman, 2016).
The company, “Morning Star” that is indulged in producing, processing and packaging of tomatoes belong to the modern era and follows a contemporary form of organizational structure. This company is based in California, USA and was started in the year 1970 by Chris Rufer. The company started as a small one but today, they have a global player only by dealing in tomatoes and the products based on tomatoes. 40 percent of the national market is supplied with tomato variant products by Morning Star. The company has not only succeeded in the growing tomatoes and becoming a supplier of the same but it has also become a leading example in implementing changes as well as adding the modern terms of conducting business in the organization. The production processes have bene modernized, the global tomato industry is being studied, the tomato research is being conducted and appreciated by the company. The company has not only grasped the growth perspective in terms of technology and research but has also become sustainable and laid cost-effective methods of conducting operations in the organization throughout the years (Tomato Processing and Packing Company – Morning Star Co, 2021).
It is quite eccentric to understand the fact that a company with 600 permanent employees does not have any formal management system intervening the working conditions or delegating any work to the employees. This is the new form of contemporary business structure where employees are given sole responsibility for their conduct and take decision based on their understanding in order to achieve the organizational goals. Gino et al., (2013) has provided that Morning Star has a Chief People Officer named Paul Green, but employees and people at Morning Star call hm colleague rather than any official. The study also presents that there is not hierarchy or flow of power in the organization instead it is all about the colleagues making decision and running the operations in the organization. The colleagues are responsible for planning, staffing, organizing, controlling and directing their own work and operations. Morning Star has been able to develop strategies and tools that would help the colleagues to maintain their activities with the required support over time. The company has been diligent in maintaining one thing in their structure to successfully implement the contemporary business structure. The existence of peer reviews and peer accountability. It is important that colleagues are able to make conversations and correct the wrong that has been committed by taking accountability and addressing the peer reviews. The structure mainly follows the rule of making employees accountable and pay them compensation for their own performance also be responsible for their peers to take accountability. The structure is maintained as such for the reason that the employees understand their growth perspective themselves and evaluate the performance on a daily basis through enhancing the growth of the organization as well (Hamel, 2011).
2. Discuss the potential strengths and weaknesses of this form of organisation and design
The advantages and disadvantages of self-managed organization- Morning Star (Tomato Plant)
Advantages:
Better performance: In an organization that is self-managed and free of any management that takes decisions for the employees, the performance of the employees become more effective as well as efficient in all spheres. Employees take ownership of their work and they manage their work based on their own time schedule that would align with the organizational objectives. The process of decision-making is in the hands of the employees which makes it convenient for the employees to conduct the tasks without any unnecessary interference from the management or the senior manager at any time (Power and Waddell, 2004).
The employees at Morning Star are also privileged to take work on their own and take decisions regarding their part of the jobs without any hindrance being created by any management at all. This increases the urge to work efficient in the employees. Also, it instils in the employees a sense of trust from the owner of the company.
Lower Absenteeism: With minimum supervision, there is more enthusiasm from the employees to indulge in work. They not only tend to complete their jobs but they also appreciate and enjoy their work which eventually leads to employees attending the premises every day and lowering the percentage of absenteeism in the organization. This also relates to the fact that the employee turnover rates are very low and insignificant in such organizations. At Morning Star, the employees have been working for very long years and they have stayed in the company because of the unconventional way of conducting business operations. It has also given them a sense of individuality and discipline to conduct their work in a way that they feel would be most productive (Yeatts, et al., 2004).
Disciplined Workforce: In organizations like Morning Star, like the owner depicts in the podcast, that when the employee can take decisions for their lives and maintain a certain level of discipline to conduct their daily duties, they could imply the same in the workplace as well (Jones, 2015). The employees tend to maintain regular work schedules and become more fluent with the time management as they continue their journey in the organization. This also reflects in their daily lives as well. It is evident that the employees understand their schedule better than any person from a management team. They will be able to assort and allot work to themselves based on their capabilities and deliver their commitment on time due to their reputation and the cohesiveness in the organization. Although there is no management, the peer accountability and the reviews tend to make the employees more disciplined towards the work and their operations because it important that the employees align their functions based on the organizations’ commitment on the global scale (Guenole, et al., 2017).
Disadvantages:
No single point of accountability: It is current to mention this as the drawback. Although Morning Star has been very efficiently managing the accountability factor but there can be circumstances that fall under contingency. The conflicts the organization might arise due to the independence of each and every employee in the organization. In traditional form of organizations, the managers of a particular team are held responsible for any drawbacks from the team or one person is held responsible for incompletion of organizational objective, but in self-managed contemporary organization, this is not the case. The employees might find it difficult to ascertain the exact issue and they might also not be able to resolve the same through taking the peer reviews in acknowledgement.
Limited Context: In contemporary self-managed organizations, it is not viable or consistent enough for the employees to become creative or make suggestions to the other regarding their work operations and conduct at times. These tend to become the limitations or drawbacks of self-managed organization where they are conducting their jobs on a regular basis with a flexible management processes of their own but there is factor of redundancy in such organization. Morning Star has been a contradicting example to this since the organization and its team has been able to present the best progress with the passage of time (Hennekam and Bennett, 2017).
Overwhelmed Judgement: The lack of a hierarchy and the informal management of the working environment, where the employees are easily intended to become emotionally close to each and treat each other like a family, the judgement in required circumstances become difficult and overwhelmed at the same time. The personal relationships become a factor to acknowledge when hard decisions are to be made. At Morning Star, up until now, there have not been any such registered cases but it is quite possible since some of the employees have been working in the company for more than fifteen years (Hu, et al., 2019).
3. Analyse how culture operates and potentially contributes to the success of your selected organisation
Zak (2017) in his book has mentioned about the trust factor in the cultures of organizations like the Morning Star Tomato Plant. These organizations are dependent of the type of leadership they want to create in the culture and instil in their employees. It is explained that managing people in such organizations is more of art rather than that of a task of science. Managing people in self-managed organizations to attain the greatest number of gains through the workforce in the organization is the agenda through the application of flexibility in the organization. The culture of trust is the most powerful in terms of organizations in the contemporary world and the global platform. The culture of trust between the employees and the owner of the company along with the management that is not treated is as s strict hierarchy are the most successfully enhanced organizations globally.
The culture at Morning Star Tomato Plant is explained explicitly by Doug Kirkpatrick, who has been involved with the organization for a very long time, represented by the following features of the organization:
- The right Mind-set: The two major principles that have been explained to become the pillars in a self-managed organization are that people must conduct voluntary interactions rather than forced ones and people should respect the commitments that they make. This is one of the ways that the organizations instil in the employees the right mid set to work in self-managed organizations. The employees at self-managed organizations like Morning Star need to understand this principle is the one that will work in the favour of them as well as the growth of the organization. The company is not perfect but it strives to become one along with the ideal principles. According to the first principle, the most important aspects is that each and every employee has equal rights and that nobody could force another employee to do something. The second principle is mentioned in the context that every employee is responsible for their own conduct and takes accountability of their commitments.
- A collective mission statement: organizations these days have one mission to accomplish that is laid down for all the employees to align with and achieve. But at the Morning Star Tomato Plant, there is a collection of mission statements. The company’s overall mission statement is aligned with each department in its own ways. Later, the employees in each department create mission for themselves in accordance with the mission of the previous two heads. This provides the employees with a clear vision as to what is their role in the organization. Employees recognize their jobs and responsibilities and find mission for themselves which results in their growth with more emphasis that that of the organization. Having said that, it is also implied that the mission of the individual also changes with the change in the organization.
- The colleague letter of understanding: This is a unique feature of the culture at the Morning Star Tomato Plant. The employees fill this document with their commitments to the organizations as well as to the employees or colleagues that would be affected by the commitments made by the employee signing the document. This allows the employees to fulfil their roles and responsibilities in a defined manner and also brings more accountability to that has been agreed upon.
- Conflict Resolution methods: The technique used at the Morning Star Tomato plant is very effective as well as seems to be very modern. Wherever there is a conflict between the employees at the organization, they are expected to solve it themselves. There are no managers where they could address to and make complaints about each other. The employees that are in conflict need to talk to each and find resolution to the problems. If the conflict still persists, a third person would intervene and give their judgement. If there is still no resolution to the conflict, a panel is created where there are people with diverse perspectives and they try to resolve the issues through their opinions in order to find a common ground. If the conflict among the employees still remains the same, the owner of the organization intervenes and his decision is considered to be last judgement that the employees confine to.
- Leadership: For self-managed organization top survive in the global platform with no hierarchy system of management, it is extremely vital that the employees trust their leader completely. Chris Rufer has been a guidance to the employees as well as a loyal leader to them. The employees have been dependent on his decision making and trust his methods to help the employee’s growth in the right direction has created the productive Morning Star organization (Corporate Rebels, 2018).
This kind of culture at the organization where the employees are empowered to understand their own mission, their commitment to the organization as well as their colleagues, and the resolving a conflict within themselves is creating an example in the contemporary business world. The success of Morning Star for so long has been established with the vision that the leader keeps and the trust that the employees have on their leader.
4. Discuss your view (supported by the academic literature) of Peter Day’s statement at the end of the podcast that: ‘most of us are probably imprinted with the idea of hierarchies, and departments, and being told what to do, and without them many of us may well get lost.’
“Most of us are probably imprinted with the idea of hierarchies, and departments, and being told what to do, and without them many of us many as well get lost.”
This sentence is partially correct and partially incorrect. Yes, it is true that most of us are imprinted with the idea of being guided by hierarchy as a successful road map but the fact that we might get lost without their existence is not completely true in the current career growth perspectives. Most of the organizations in the current times have realized the fact that letting employees remain self-managed and take responsibility of their work, would only create more productivity and willingness to complete the work. The organizations have realized for a fact that the perceived organizations support is now very crucial for the employees as well as the organization as well, in attaining the best results and achieve the organizational objectives in the best ways. Self-managed organizations without any hierarchy have been proven to impact the psychological empowerment of the employees and enhance the effective commitment the employees have towards the organizations (Yogalakshmi and Suganthi, 2020).
Hierarchy had been an essential part of the organizational structure for a very long time but the unconventional employees and the thirst to excel in various field with the advent of innovation and creativity is restricted when there is a hierarchy in the organization that the employees need to follow. There are researches that provide as the evidence to the fact that the communication and the concentration of the employees enhance and increase when they work in self-managed organization rather than being controlled by the hierarchy or a team of senior managers. The two important factors are also considered in establishing the evidence. The quality and the quantity of work; the employees that are controlled by the hierarchy team of managers tend to work only in the professional capabilities and within the time bound situation but when the employees are in self-manged organization, there working hours increase due to their interest and the passion for their work. The fact that employees can experiment as well as produce work that they find would benefit the company in the long run could be accepted and appreciated keep them motivated enough to produce quality work in quantity amount (Palvalin, et al., 2017).
The Peter’s Day statement is actually a method to verify the leadership in organizations as well. It provides a theory that has been existing and prevalent in the contemporary world only because people tend to believe that they need someone to levy authoritative control over them or monitor their responsibilities in a particular designation. But this is not the case anymore. The leadership changes in the organization and the growth of entrepreneurship have also turned the tables for the employees in the self-managed organizations. It is the potential of the leader to understand what motivates their employees in the best way to the right direction, in order to achieve the organization objectives as well as the trust and loyalty of the employees in the organization. The engagement of the leaders in laying down the foundations of a self-managed organization is vital in every perspective. The employees look up to the leader with their trust and loyalty and expect the leader to give them the opportunity to grow and thrive in their workplaces. Leaders give the employees the right opportunities to measure the potential in the best possible ways (Fernández-Aráoz, et al., 2017).
The fact that young minds are very vulnerable as well as experimental, the employees in the current times, find it motivating to conduct their jobs without any intervention from the management or the managers in the organization. The employees expect to polish their talent and the potential by being creative and innovative in the workplaces.
References
Altman, R., 2016. HR Organizational Structure–Past, Present, and Future. Workforce Solutions Review, 7(4), pp.13-5.
Fernández-Aráoz, C., Roscoe, A. and Aramaki, K., 2017. Turning potential into success: The missing link in leadership development. Harvard Business Review, 95(6), pp.86-93.
Gino, F., Staats, B.R., Hall, B.J. and Chang, T.Y., 2013. The morning star company: Self-management at work. Harvard Business School Case, pp.914-013.
Guenole, N., Ferrar, J. and Feinzig, S., 2017. The power of people: Learn how successful organizations use workforce analytics to improve business performance. FT Press.
Hamel, G., 2011. The world‟ s most creatively managed company. Harvard Business Review, South Asia.
Hennekam, S. and Bennett, D., 2017. Creative industries work across multiple contexts: common themes and challenges. Personnel Review.
Hu, J., Zhang, Z., Jiang, K. and Chen, W., 2019. Getting ahead, getting along, and getting prosocial: Examining extraversion facets, peer reactions, and leadership emergence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(11), p.1369.
Jones, R., 2015. Companies without Managers. [podcast] In Business. Available at: <https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b066zvyh> [Accessed 19 June 2021].
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Palvalin, M., van der Voordt, T. and Jylhä, T., 2017. The impact of workplaces and self-management practices on the productivity of knowledge workers. Journal of Facilities Management.
Pim, 2018. Morning Star’s Success Story: No Bosses, No Titles, No Structural Hierarchy. [online] Corporate Rebels. Available at: <https://corporate-rebels.com/morning-star/> [Accessed 19 June 2021].
Power, J. and Waddell, D., 2004. The link between self‐managed work teams and learning organisations using performance indicators. The Learning Organization.
Tomato Processing and Packing Company – Morning Star Co. 2021. Tomato Processing and Packing Company – Morning Star Tomatoes. [online] Available at: <https://www.morningstarco.com/> [Accessed 19 June 2021].
Yeatts, D.E., Cready, C., Ray, B., DeWitt, A. and Queen, C., 2004. Self-managed work teams in nursing homes: Implementing and empowering nurse aide teams. The Gerontologist, 44(2), pp.256-261.
Yogalakshmi, J.A. and Suganthi, L., 2020. Impact of perceived organizational support and psychological empowerment on affective commitment: Mediation role of individual career self-management. Current Psychology, 39(3), pp.885-899.
Zak, P., 2017. Trust factor: The science of creating high-performance companies. Amacom.
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