Student Answer Sheet & Malpractices Pledge

General Info

Level 7 Extended
Qualification Name &Level Diploma in Strategic Student Name Yusuf
Management Hacsehelahmed
Organizational
Unit Name & Code Behavior Student ID L7111
D/650/5363

Semester ID Summer 2024 Instructor Name Ms. Shifaa

Submission ☒ First Submission ☐ Re-assessment

Malpractices Pledge According to the Assessment Scenario Sheet

☒ I declare that I will uphold academic integrity principles and avoid malpractice,
including cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, and collusion. I commit to presenting my work
honestly and responsibly, and to respecting the intellectual property of others. I
understand that any breach of this pledge may result in disciplinary actions.

Signature

Student Name
Yusuf Hacsehelahmed

Date 27/09/2024

Signature
 ATHE Level 7 Extended Diploma in Strategic
Management
(Core Qualification), 610/2088/6

Unit 4 Organizational Behavior

D/650/5363

Unit 4: Organizational Behavior Semester Assignment

Assignment Scenario
You have recently applied for a senior leadership position in a large retail organization.
Following shortlisting, you have successfully progressed to the next stage and have been
asked to submit a written report which will help the selection panel to establish your
understanding of current strategic leadership thinking.

Task (1)

AC 2.1, An analysis of how different organizational structures impact the

effectiveness of an organization.

There are many common types of organizational structures, which play a very
important role in identifying how companies operate and achieve their objectives. These
different organizational structures might have great impacts on the effectiveness of any
organization in different ways.

Let us explain some of those types and start with:

(1) Hierarchical Structure:

The hierarchical organizational

structure is the pyramid-shaped
organizational chart that represents the
way the organizational operations are
managed. Hierarchies mainly relate to
the system or organization that has
many levels from bottom to top.
(Miller, 2023)

The hierarchical structure is considered one of the most famous types of

organizational structures. It is an old and traditional type of structure. In this structure,
any issues or reports are shared from the bottom up, whereas commands, decisions, and
data normally come from the top down.

Any company with a hierarchical organizational structure is built up like a

hierarchy or vertical structure. In other words, the department head is at the top of the
pyramid, followed by normal managers, then the regular employees are at the bottom of
the pyramid. Who reports to the other is clearly defined under this type of organizational
structure.

Let us take an example of an organization that has 100 employees. We will find
that normal employees report to their supervisors, who in turn report to the chief
executive officer. Then, the chief executive officer, who has the greatest authority in the
organization, makes his own decisions and gives his commands to the supervisors who
will share them with the rest of the normal employees.

The Impact of Hierarchical Structure on Organizational Effectiveness

The hierarchical structure has a lot of benefits and advantages. Organizations with
hierarchical structures could increase productivity because everyone knows their own
role and what to do, whether they are at the top or at the bottom of the pyramid.
Employees in a hierarchical organization could specialize in a specific field due to the
several departments within it.

However, the mutual communication between the top (C-suite) and the bottom
(regular employees) could be slow and it may take a lot of time. This reduces the ability
of the organization to respond immediately to changes.
(2) Flat or Horizontal Structure:

Flat organizational structure is an

organizational model with relatively
few or no levels of middle
management between the executives
and the frontline employees. Its goal is
to have as little hierarchy as possible.
(nibusinessinfo.co.uk, n.d.)

The flat organizational structure has many benefits and advantages including the
increasing responsibility for every member of the team inside the organization. Unlike
the hierarchical structure, this type of organizational structure provides better
communication between the authority (c-suite) and the employees within the
organization. That is because it eliminates any kind of unnecessary middle management
layers.

This type of organizational structure is generally used by small organizations or

startups, but recently big organizations have also implemented this type of structure.

The Impact of Flat Structure on Organizational Effectiveness

The flat structure has many advantages such as; providing direct communication
between the top authority and normal employees, making faster decisions, and reducing
routine issues. In this structure, employees have the power to make decisions. There is no
need for middle-level management. As a result of this, the organization will save a lot
money on wages that could be used for something else. Employees in this type of
structure are satisfied and motivated.
(3) Matrix Structure:

Matrix structure: An
organizational structure that
creates dual lines of authority
and combines functional and
product departmentalization.
(Robbins et al., 2017)

The matrix organizational structure is a mixture of many different types of

structures. In this type of organizational structure, employees have two reporting lines.
The first one is for their project manager and the second one is for the functional
manager. It is completely different from the flat or horizontal structure.

We have three different kinds of matrix organizational structures. Each one of them
gives a different authority to the project manager.

1- Weak matrix: In this matrix, the manager of the project has the least degree of
power to make decisions compared to the other kinds of matrix. When the
authority of the project manager is weak over the project, the matrix will be weak
because the head of the department controls the schedules, budgets, and timelines
of the project. There is one way to prevent communication from losing its way in
the weak matrix is to create a communication plan.

2- Strong matrix: Unlike the weak matrix, the matter here is completely different.
The head of the department has less authority, and the project manager has most
of the power to make decisions. Since the project manager has complete control
over the project, this creates a strong organizational structure. In the strong
matrix, the head of the department can only supervise the project without
intervening or making any decisions.
 3- Balanced matrix: In the balanced matrix, there is a balance of authority. Both the
department head and the project manager have the same power and authority. In
this way, the mutual communication will be free and open within the organization
and the employees report to both of them.

The Impact of Matrix Structure on Organizational Effectiveness

The greatest benefit of the matrix structure maybe that it mixes competent
employees from distinct departments. Thus, an organization can make the most of its
available resources instead of recruiting outside talents. By making use of various
expertise and experiences, an organization can flexibly respond to changing situations.
On the other hand, matrix structure has some drawbacks. For example, many reporting
lines may cause misunderstandings and ambiguity among staff members. This might
affect the productivity of the organization as well as the effectiveness. Added to that,
waiting for approvals from the managers might cause decision-making processes to slow
down.

AC 2.2, An explanation of how organizational culture can impact organizational

effectiveness.

Organizational culture is one of the most commonly recognized factors that

influence an organization’s success. Culture plays a big role on whether companies
succeed or fail. Culture affects every aspect of the organization such as decision-making
processes and employees’ behaviors or attitudes. Culture compose the character of the
organization because it reflects the actions of leaders. Organization’s culture helps in
facilitating the achievement of performance targets, organizational goals, and even
recruiting and retention processes.

Organizational Culture:

Generally speaking, organizational culture refers to all of a company's attitudes,

values, and beliefs as well as how they affect how its personnel behave. Culture has an
impact on how people perceive an organization, which includes how a supplier or
customer feels about doing business with it. Now, we shall turn to the types of
organizational cultures commonly found in organizations. There are four widely known
types as following:

 Market culture: Driven by competition, results, and achievement of

organizational goals. In addition, it values performance and focuses on external
competitiveness/financial success.
 Clan culture: A culture focuses on teams, collaboration, a feeling of family, or
community within the firm or the organization. In such a culture, the employees
feel closely woven and supported.
 Adhocracy culture: This too is a quite dynamic culture. It focuses on creativity
to keep up with the changing environments.
 Hierarchical culture: This is highly formal in terms of structure, observance of
rules and procedures. Organizations, which fall in this category mark boundaries
of various roles, decisions, made from top, and effectiveness of operations is
focused upon.

The organizational culture might have a big influence on the whole effectiveness of
any organization, which is the measure of how efficiently the organization achieves its
plans and goals. Hofstede’s concept of cultural dimensions offers a helpful lens through
which we can explain and analyze the relationship between organizational structure and
organizational effectiveness.

Hofstede’s Six Cultural Dimensions:

 Power Distance: It is about how much employees anticipate and accept an

unequal power structure.
 Masculinity vs. Femininity: It is about the division of gender-specific emotional
responsibilities and roles between men and women.
 Individualism vs. Collectivism: simply speaking, cultures that value
individualism prioritize individuals over groups, while cultures that value
collectivism prioritize the group over the individual.
  Uncertainty Avoidance: It is about a society’s tolerance for erratic and
unstructured situations, which shapes cultural norms, traditions, business
operations, and behavior among people.
 Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation: The future is the main focus of long-
term orientation, whereas the present or the past are prioritized above the future in
short-term orientation.
 Indulgence vs. Restraints: The degree to which society permits the unrestricted
satisfaction of fundamental human desires related to living and having fun is
known as indulgence. And the degree to which a society suppresses human
desires and controls them through rigid social norms is known as restraints.

The organizational culture might affect the organizational effectiveness either in a

positive way or in a negative way. When the organization’s culture is aligned with its
values and goals, it can inspire employees to collaborate in an effective way toward the
common goal. This collaboration may lead to creativity, productivity, and customer
satisfaction. For example, a food company with a culture that prioritizes creativity and
collaboration (high individualism – low power distance) might be able to create services
and sell food products quicker than the other competitive companies. So, here, the culture
of the food company had a significant positive impact on the company’s effectiveness.

Conversely, when the organization’s culture is not aligned with its values and
goals, it may create ambiguity, confusion, lack of communication & focus among
employees, and inability to change.

In conclusion, the effectiveness of an organization could be largely affected by its

culture. When understanding the cultural dimensions of an organization and aligning
them with the goals, employees could be able to cultivate a suitable culture that helps
them enhance the productivity of the organization.

AC 3.2, An assessment of the impact of learning on the effectiveness of employees.

One of the most important factors that can have a big impact on how effective
employees are in an organization is learning.
 The conditions for inputs to learning are clear, but the process is incomplete
without making sense of what outputs constitute that learning has taken place. “At the
core, learning is a process that results in a change in knowledge or behavior as a result of
experience. Understanding what it takes to get that knowledge in and out (or promote
behavioral change of a specific kind) can help optimize learning.” (What is learning?
2019, February 28)

Simply speaking, the more we learn about our job the more we realize that we are
getting experienced. So, the main function of learning is to impact organizational and
individual learning for the purpose of improving effectiveness. In other words, learning is
responsible for any activities and actions that would facilitate acquiring knowledge and
changing attitudes, behaviors, and skills.

Technical and Experiential Knowledge and Learning

Technical knowledge is the information and abilities, unique to a specific job, that
enables employees to do their duties efficiently. Employees’ effectiveness might be
increased in this respect by ongoing learning and skill development in many ways:

 Ability to adapt: technical knowledge and learning enable employees to stay

updated and adapt to new tools and procedures. This allows the organization to
be more flexible and competitive when technology changes.
 Ability to solve problems: stronger technical knowledge gives employees the
ability to identify and solve problems, find the resources of problems, and put
effective solutions in place, which in turn improve the organizational
effectiveness.

Experiential knowledge: It could be described like obtaining practical experience by the

interaction of employees with each other. This kind of learning may have a lot of
impacts:

 Ability to collaborate: skilled employees can train and teach their knowledge to
their colleagues, creating a cooperative learning environment that boosts the
effectiveness of the employees.
  Ability to make decisions: employees with a wider range of experience and
experiential knowledge can make tailored, well-informed decisions that take into
consideration the intricate details of certain conditions, resulting in greater
success for the organization.

The Role of Technology in Learning

Within the organization, technology is very important in improving experiential learning,

as well as technical learning. There are many examples on the role of technology in
learning such as:

 Online Training Channels: employees can acquire job-specific skills and

knowledge by accessing a variety of interactive and flexible training courses via
online platforms.
 Artificial Intelligence (AI): new technologies have the ability to customize
training courses, detect skill gaps, and provide solutions that have been developed
to help improve the employees’ effectiveness.

AC 3.3, An analysis of the benefits of and challenges of involving employees in team

decision-making

One of the effects on an organization’s overall effectiveness is to let its employees

participate in decision-making processes and organizations might increase their
performance when they adopt a collaborative culture and make use of the shared
knowledge, ideas, skills, and viewpoints of their staff. Some believe that involving
employees in team decision-making is a time-consuming process. However, we have
heard the saying (two heads are better than one) which means by involving employees in
decision-making we get into a goldmine of ideas, skills, solutions, and experiences.

Every organization faces problems and by involving employees in making

decisions we bring in a diversity of perspectives to deal with these problems. Because
more heads means more ideas and potential solutions, which in turn leads to better
problem solving and business growth.
Involving Employees in Team Decision-Making (Benefits)

 Learning: Employees can learn from their co-workers, share their experience,
and acquire new skills.
 Productivity: You may free up the management team’s time to focus on other
projects, which in turn leads to increased productivity across the management
team.
 Engagement: Involvement in decision-making processes increases employees’
empowerment, value, and commitment to the success of the organization. This
may increase dedication and boost the employees’ morale and job satisfaction,
which might result in higher productivity as well as free time.

For example, let us suppose that we have a restaurant. We want to involve our
employees (like waiters and cashiers) in the decision-making process about adding new
dishes/meals to the menu. Since they interact with customers every day and know their
preferences, they suggest a Shawarma sandwich with a lot of mayonnaise and without
any drop of ketchup. So, by involving waiters and cashiers in decision-making, they will
feel valued, empowered, and satisfied in their jobs due because their ideas were useful.

Collective decision-making challenges

It is very necessary to take into account both the benefits and challenges of
involving employees in team decision-making. In spite of all the benefits that we have
mentioned above, organizations that restrict staff involvement in team decision-making
may have their justifications. Here are some challenges such as:

 Slower Team Decision-Making: Requesting employees’ involvement takes a lot

of time and it may be a time-consuming process. In large organizations with many
layers of employee representatives, the decision-making process takes a longer
time.
 Management Resistance: People in management and administrative roles may
resist the idea of engaging team member in the decision making process. On the
other hand, individual employees may resist changes in their organizations. This
 happens when employees think that their ideas were not taken into consideration,
or valued, or if the change in question has negative or adverse impacts on them.

Extension activities (Merit)

AC 2M1, An evaluation of the relevance of organizational culture theory in

developing organizational effectiveness.

Attitudes, practices, and behaviors form the common culture of an organization,

which has a wide-scale influence on how personnel interact internally and externally,
make decisions, and perform their roles and responsibilities. By understanding the
types/theories of organizational culture, we may have a greater awareness of how it
affects, improves, and develops organizational effectiveness.

Types of Organizational Culture

Market Culture: Results-oriented; trying to hold leadership in the market by means of

competing and achieving.

Hierarchy Culture: It focuses on architecture and structure as its core to keep stability
and audited performance.

Adhocracy Culture: This pertains to fast development and change, increasing creativity
and adaptability.

Clan Culture: Family-like environment produces teamwork spirits and development of

the staff.

Organizational culture has big results for an organization in terms of things like
staff motivation and productivity. Culture has an impact on choices, decision-making
processes, and organizational effectiveness. It creates the ways of control that the
organization utilizes formally by either facilitating or stopping specific methods of
communication.
 We have also other relevant cultural theories like Schein’s Model and Hofstede’s six
cultural dimensions. These concepts allow for a significant comprehension and focused
development for organizational culture and effectiveness.

The complicated nature of organizational culture theory and the difficulties of

analyzing and changing complex cultural elements make it difficult to apply. In addition,
significant consideration must be given to creating a balance between organizational
strategies and cultural development while also valuing diversity.

Task (2)

AC 1.1, Evaluate different theories relating to leadership behavior

We define leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a

vision or set of goals. But not all leaders are managers, nor are all managers leaders. Just
because an organization provides its managers with certain formal rights is no assurance
they will lead effectively. Leaders can emerge from within a group as well as by formal
appointment. Organizations need strong leadership and strong management for optimal
effectiveness. We need leaders to challenge the status quo, create visions of the future,
and inspire organizational members to achieve the visions. (Robbins et al., 2017)

1- Trait Theory of Leadership (The Great Man Theory):

The primary focus of trait theorists is on evaluating characteristics & traits, which
are characterized by deeply rooted habits of behavior, cognition, and emotion. According
to the Great Man Theory, someone could step up to take on leadership roles in response
to a crisis or great event.

The main idea of the Great Man Theory is that leaders are not made or developed;
they are born like leaders. Simply speaking, very few people have the traits and attributes
needed to be successful leaders and achieve greatness through the hand of God. Great
historical personalities including Napoleon, Sudam Hussein, George Washington, Adolf
Hitler, Che Guevara, and Winston Churchill were frequently used as examples. Staying
away from politics and whether some of them were good or not, it was thought that these
personalities were born leaders, with specific traits that allowed them to lead others.

The trait theory subsequently emerged from the Great Man theory. According to
the trait theory, leaders can be born or made in the sense that the traits of strong leaders
could be inherited or obtained by learning, training, and experience. The goal was to
determine the ideal qualities that create a great leader, with an emphasis on examining the
physical, psychological, and social attributes of leaders.

One of the strengths of trait theory is that it helps us in determining the great
characteristics of potential leaders. However, this theory fails to consider how leadership
may develop or how different events impact leadership, which is considered one of the
weaknesses.

2- Behavioral Theory of Leadership:

Based on the idea that certain behaviors may be acquired to ensure effective
leadership, behavioral theory, which emerged from the trait theory, argues that leaders
are primarily made and not born. Generally speaking, the behavioral theory overlooks the
circumstances and surroundings of the leader in favor of emphasizing the behavior of the
leader rather than their traits or attributes.

One of the strengths of behavioral theory is that it illustrates the ability to learn and
develop the skills of leadership. It provides managers and leaders a clear guidance on
what to do. However, behavioral theory has also some weaknesses, because it ignores the
impacts of attributes and human qualities and focuses on observable behaviors.

3- Situational/Contingent Theory of Leadership:

The situational theory of leadership places more emphasis on leadership in specific

situations than it does on the traits or behaviors of managers and leaders. This suggests
that leaders need to be able to evaluate the environment in which they work and then
determine the best suitable solution that will match the situation. This method is referred
to as the contingency theory of leadership as the ideal approach is dependent on the
situation.
 This theory supports the idea that there is no one ideal set of traits or behaviors for
leadership and at the same time it puts a big emphasis on the significance of situation in
successful leadership. The situational theory’s emphasis on the leadership context is
considered one of the main strengths. On the other hand, its intricacy and the absence of
clear guidelines is considered one of its weaknesses.

To sum up, each one of these theories provides valuable ideas, but at the same time
has some limitations. Good leaders could make use of these theories by combining ideas
from all of them. By examining these theories, leaders might be able to improve and
develop an effective, great, and well-built leadership methodology that matches all
situations.

AC 1.2, Analyze factors influencing leadership behavior in the workplace

Leadership is a dynamic journey influenced by a myriad of internal and external

factors. Understanding how leaders adapt to external changes while aligning internal
strategies with external goals is essential for driving growth, fostering a positive work
culture, and achieving long-term success. It must be kept in mind that not all Leadership
styles are the same, as there are certain Factors Affecting Leadership styles. (The
Knowledge Academy n.d.-b)

The Internal Factors That Have Impacts on Leadership:

An organization's internal influences shape the many leadership philosophies that

are prevalent there. These elements, which are connected to the internal workings and
organizational culture, influence how CEOs and managers lead their teams. Let us talk
about a few of them:

Values of the Organization: Outstanding leaders always strive to imbue these ideals into
their leadership styles. They even make an effort to boost contentment and morale among
their working staff.

The Organizational Culture: Encouraging employees and opening new lines of free
communication with them create a collaborative organizational culture. Conversely,
when leaders or managers do not listen to their employees and do not give them the
chance to participate in decision-making processes, this leads to a hierarchical style of
leadership.

The External Factors That Have Impacts on Leadership:

The external factors that have impacts on leadership behavior are various and
diverse. Let us deal with some of them:

Technology Advancement: Technology may cause a rapid and substantial change in

leadership. Leaders need to adapt their approaches to leadership in order to assist
organizations in embracing technology. The creation of new, innovative techniques that
improve operations could be made achievable by development and research.

Competitive Landscape: A leader’s main goal here is to maintain the organization’s

competitiveness. In order to accomplish this, leaders should modify their leadership style
in response to a multitude of constantly changing external leadership factors. This
provides the leadership type for the specific situation and period.

Extension Activities

AC 1M1, Analyze how different leadership behaviors impact on organizations.

One of the most complicated and hard topics is leadership. It has been thoroughly
researched over time and is now more important than ever in the increasingly
interconnected world of today. So let us see together how different leadership theories
can affect organizations.
(1) The Impact of Situational/Contingent Theory

According to the situational theory of leadership, a leader's efficacy is determined

by the circumstances surrounding them. To put it another way, everything depends on
how well a person's leadership style suits the circumstances. According to this theory, a
person may succeed admirably as a leader in one circumstance but fall short in another.
Therefore, great leaders could change their leadership style according to the situation that
they are dealing with. This change or let us say adaptation enables leaders to deal with
and address many different situations and find the right solution for every single
challenge.

For example, a manager in a restaurant may give the new chefs some guidance
while at the same time letting the other experienced and skilled chefs do whatever they
want. So, the manager tries to shape his leadership types to align with the skillfulness of
his employees according to the situation.

(2) The Impact Participative Theory

The leadership that asks for feedback from all employees of the organization is
commonly referred to as participative leadership. Usually before making decisions or
implementing new actions, the team manager asks for some ideas and feedback from
their team members. The leader may also ask their team members to participate in
decision-making processes and share new ideas among team members.

Communication and interaction are very crucial in successful participative

leadership. To make a logical, efficient, and right decision, the team members need to
have access to all of the data and information that the leader has. The primary goal of the
participative leadership style is to create a sense of value in individuals. Better employee
performance and increased productivity are often the results of strong morale and
motivated participation from team members.

For example, when a manager in a restaurant gives a chance to his employees

(waiters & cashiers) to participate in the decision-making process about suggesting or
adding new dishes to the menu, they will feel valued, empowered, satisfied, and
motivated. Since waiters and cashiers work in the frontline and interact with customers,
they know what customers prefer and like. This of course will increase the organization’s
productivity and employees’ performance.

(3) The Impact of Behavioral Theory

The theory of behavioral leadership is a management concept that assesses leaders

according to the behaviors they exhibit in their workplace. According to the supporters of
this style of leadership, developing a specific set of behaviors is all that is required to be a
successful leader.

The behavioral theory of leadership, which emerged from the trait theory, claims
that leaders are simply formed and made, not born. This theory emphasizes the view that
by embracing beneficial habits and behaviors and placing them into action at work, all
leaders could advance, grow, and learn.

For example, when a manager in a restaurant applies this type of leadership

theory, he might see the different behaviors of waiters. When one of the waiters is doing
well in dealing with customers and serving them with a smiling face, this increases the
productivity of the restaurant due to the good behavior he has shown. The manager
should give him some tips to encourage the other waiters to follow the same behavior.

Task (3)

{PowerPoint Presentation}
References:

1- Miller, K. (2023, October 17). Thorough description of Hierarchical

Organizational Structure. Crowjack.
https://crowjack.com/blog/strategy/organizational-structures/hierarchical
2- Flat organisational structure | nibusinessinfo.co.uk. (n.d.). NI Business Info.
https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/flat-organisational-structure
3- Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A., Campbell, T., Campbell, T. T. (2017). Organizationa
l Behaviour. United Kingdom: Pearson.
4- Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A., Campbell, T., Campbell, T. T. (2017).
Organizational Behaviour. United Kingdom: Pearson.
5- What Is Learning? (2019, February 28). Voices.
https://voices.berkeley.edu/instructors/what-
learning#:~:text=At%20the%20core%2C%20learning%20is,kind)%20can%20hel
p%20optimize%20learning.
6- TheKnowledgeAcademy. (n.d.-b). What are the Factors Affecting Leadership|| A
Brief Guide? https://www.theknowledgeacademy.com/blog/factors-affecting-
leadership/