Relationship between organizational structure and culture

Requirement

Understand the relationship between organizational structure and culture.
1.1 
As an international company, Syngenta operates through a matrix structure. Compare and contrast two other organisational structures and culture that Syngenta can apply as an international company. 
Guidelines:    
Student should attempt to compare and contrast two organisation structures and culture by considering the following:

i)Consider two of the following structures: Functional, product-based, geographically based, multi-functional and multi-divisional structures
ii)Consider two of the following cultures: power culture, role culture, task culture, person culture; cultural norms and symbols; values and beliefs

1.2
Explain how the relationship between structure and culture can impact the performance of Syngenta.
Guidelines: 
Students will have to refer to their answer in 1.1 and explain how the relationship between their two chosen structures and cultures can impact on performance in terms of the:
i) Decision making
ii) Task processes 
iii) Teamwork
iv) Communication

1.3
Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at Syngenta.
Guidelines: 
Students should discuss any four from the list below:
1. Personality
2. Perception
3. Attitude
4. Conflict, Stress and Change
5. Ability and aptitude
D1
Based on your answer provided in 1.3,critically evaluate on how Syngenta can minimise the impact of conflict, stress and change and justify valid conclusions on the importance of minimising conflict, stress and change within its structure.
Guidelines: 
Students should consider the following:
i)    Definition of conflict, Stress and change.
ii)    Symptoms and causes of conflict, Stress and change
iii)    How to tackle conflict, stress and change.
iv)    Conclude with valid justifications on the importance of minimising conflict, stress and change.
v)    Use appropriate Harvard Referencing technique and reliable academic source to answer this criterion.

Task 2: Essay (Approximately 1000 words)
L.O.2    Understand different approaches to management and leadership.
2.1 
As of 2014, Syngenta's main competitors are Monsanto Company, BASF, Dow Agro Sciences, Bayer Crop Science and DuPont Pioneer.
Compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in Syngenta and a company of your own choice 
Guidelines:
Students should compare any two of the following:
1. Autocratic leadership 
2. Democratic leadership 
3. Laissez-faire leadership 
4. Transactional leadership 
5. Bureaucratic leadership
2.2
Explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management at  Syngenta
Guidelines: 
Students should explain any two of the following:
1. Scientific management;
2. Classical administration
3. Bureaucracy
4. Human relations approach 
5. Systems approach
6. Contingency approach
2.3
Evaluate the different approaches to management used by Syngenta and a company of your own choice 
Guidelines: Students should consider  two of the following in the context of 
1. Scientific management 
2. Classical administration
3. Bureaucracy
4. Human relations approach 
5. Systems approach
6. Contingency approach.    

Solution

Organization and Behaviour

Understand the relationship between organisational structure and culture.
1.    Organisational structure is a structure of roles and responsibilities in an organisation it is about the place of a person in the organisation and how the work operates. There are many organisational structures a company can choose from. In the given case the organisational structure being followed by Syngenta is matrix structure. Matrix organisational structure is a combination of both functional and divisional organisational structure. In a functional structured organisation, the organization is divided into functions. For example: In a functional structure you would find departments such as sales department or financial department. The issue with this type of structure is that the departments have very less coordination among themselves. This is due to the fact that they are operating as separate entities for most of the time and when they are asked to collaborate it becomes an issue hard to handle(Berger, 2002). The other common structure is the divisional structure. This structure is for the companies like Syngenta as it meant for organisation which are large in size and require divisions in different countries for operations. Syngenta follows a structure which is a mixture of both of these structures as it is available in many countries thus divisional and it is also having functional departments.

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The organisational structure can be defined in other terms as well. In the last section we talked about how the structure in terms of functions and section works the other way is to look at how the work flow works. In the given case it is not mentioned which type of structure is followed by Syngenta. The structure that can be or might as well being followed by Syngenta is the role structure in this all the employees are described on the basis of the work that they do. Each and every employee is assigned with a job and this helps large organisations in assigning the tasks without any sorts of duplications. This structure is not successful for small organisations as they might have to work on more than one thing at a time(Ashton, 2004). On the other hand Task structure sound very similar to that of role structure in which there are teams to take care of works. The teams are assigned to jobs and they are responsible for the same. This ensures that the job is done well as many people are working on the same. Syngenta can adopt either of these two or both of them they can assign the big assignments to the team whereas small operations work can be done by single entities.

Since the company is operating at matrix structure both the issues that are there in the functional and divisional level will impact the organisation. The biggest challenge that the organisation might face is the conflict of authority. Since the company is having divisions with their respective heads and also the functional heads them all is basically having similar objectives and have the same level in terms of management level. This makes implement the authoritative system in the organisation difficult. In order to avoid these issues the organisation can look forward to implementing a power culture. This will make a fine line in the authoritative powers of employees and will cause a clear power structure. This will help in making efficient decisions as one has more power than the other. At the same time they should also make sure that the people with power always listens to their employees. Because if they don’t it will cause the most common problem with the power culture and that is wrong decisions being taken as the employees take the decision themselves.

2.    As discussed in the previous sections the organisational structure being followed in the organisation is basically matrix type but we are a little unsure about the leadership structure.
It is very well mentioned that the company works on motivating the employees to work their best and expects them to give their fullest(Yukl, 1999). From the above information it can be derived that the structure at Syngenta is transformational in nature. Transformational leadership is one in which the organisations managers shows high level of communication to achieve their organisational goals. As the name suggests the transformational structure means that the leads shows high level of adaptability and encouragement and the main goal of each and every manager is to achieve the organisational goal. The other structure being followed by the competition is the democratic leadership style. It is the most common leadership style being followed as it encourages the managers to take input from all the associated persons in the organisation but the right to take the final decision is in the hand of the manager itself.
The approaches to leadership in the both examples are not efficient. In case of transformational leadership the structure may seem efficient as it is very adaptable as is working towards achieving the organisational goal but the issue is that it is very difficult to implement and talking about perfection is not even possible in context of this(Offermann, 1998). And the issue with democratic the suggestions may help but the final decision is still in the hand of a single person. This will ensure the decision-making to be fast but the compromise is in the efficiency. As the person may not listen to them.
The leadership in the organisation builds basis to the human relations approach being followed at the organisation. As the main objective of the management is to make sure that the work being done is for the organisational goal and the human resources are the first preference of the company. In human relations approach the main concern of the organisation is the employees working in the organisation. They are mainly concerned about the happiness of the employees and intern expects them to give their best. The other management that is shown in the company is the scientific management. As the industry this company operating in is agriculture industry. All the jobs and responsibility’s has to be done by the given time and with the given precision. Scientific management means that all the jobs and responsibilities of the employees are calculated and are towards achieving the organisational goal. Since both of the management systems are to achieve the organisational goal they are highly associated with the industry as well as the company.
Syngenta is operating in the agriculture business and it will be injustice to the industry if we talk about a company in agriculture business and not mention the systems approach. System approach is the one which looks at the possible factor that can influence profitability of the business in two terms external and internal factors. In case of agriculture all the factors which are systematic in nature are external and the unsystematic are the internal factors.
The business being manages by the company is in the efficient form. But from the discussion and analysis done in the above section it can be seen that the system approach is inevitable in the business and the other management approach that the company should adopt is the democratic approach with good managers at the decision making approach. And along with assigning the job they should also make sure that the decisions made are taking into consideration the opinions of all.

3.Motivation in the employees is what takes a company ahead and helps it in achieving its organisational goals and a company should always make sure that the employees are highly motivated.
Many management theories talks about the motivation in the employees and suggests ways to achieve the same. In Syngenta the motivation theory being in place is to appreciate by appraisal or by rewards. Appraisal and rewards is great motivator and there is no doubt in the same.  There are many motivational theories that ensure employees are motivated in achieving the organisational goal. One of the most common theories is the theory given by Maslow(Beck). Maslow says the he lower needs of the organisation and employees needs the most attention and priority. This is very obvious to listen but in context of the organisation they fail to recognise it. He says that when a person is starving he should not be worrying about the colour of the cloth he needs to wear. The lowest needs of the employees as well as the organisation should be addressed first and only then the organisation should opt for conspicuous consumption.The above chart gives a basic hierarchy of needs of a person. The lower needs the most priority and the upper needs to be satisfied in the end.

The other theory of relevance here is the Cognitive Evaluation theory. According to Cognitive Evaluation theory there are two types of motivators: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivators are directly associated with the job a person is doing and comes from the level of performance a person has delivered. The most common of these are Achievement and responsibility. On the other hand extrinsic motivators are the one which comes from a person’s environment and is controlled by others such as salary and promotion. An organisation should work to make their employees intrinsically motivated as such employees are doing the job for their own happiness because they like the same and are not expecting anything else from it. On the other hand extrinsically motivated persons are those who get motivated by not something that they have done but by something which is not in their control. This causes a problem to the organisation as they cannot provide the extrinsic motivation to all but they can provide the intrinsic which is difficult but hard to achieve.

Syngenta should go for providing a mix of both of motivation to their employees as Maslow says they should make sure that each and every basic need of their employees is being fulfilled. This will help in creating a positive perception of the company in the eyes of the employees and they will feel that the company cares for them and is always there for their betterment. And also they will work hard to make sure that the companies status is increased and they provide other services which were not later possible to provide as in such cases the company may get too much involved in providing the basic need to the employees that some who doesn’t have any issues in the lower need gets pissed off as he/she is not being offered anything. And while achieving that they should motivate the employees to enjoy their work while motivating them intrinsically they can create a perception in the employees that they can achieve whatever that they can just by doing the work that they should. The combination of these two will help Syngenta to achieve the organisation structure success that the company is thriving to achieve.

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4.    An organisation, in order to achieve an objective, divides their employees into groups.

These groups can be formal as well as informal. The formal groups are the one which are made by the organisation for a job whereas informal groups are made by the people themselves as per their liking. In the organisation under consideration the formal groups may be a group to conduct a particular research or anything else and informal may be a group created by person them seeking help from others. Formal groups are mainly well managed and are created by management hence large in size whereas, in case of informal groups they are not very well managed as they are created by persons and they tend to be very small in size. The main identification of a person or status as we may say in a formal group is by the position allotted to him whereas; in case of informal group it is the person itself.

A company should not ignore the existence of informal behaviour as this is the source of most of the communication happening in the organisation. They cannot be controlled by the organisation but that doesn’t mean that the organisation should ignore them(Miner).Almost all the work done at the core business level of Syngenta are done in groups so it is important to make sure that the groups are being managed properly in the organisation. There are many factors that affect efficient teamwork within the organisation. Some of these are Group size and Group synergy. 

Group size matters a lot as if the group is very large the communication between the team mates will be difficult and so will be the allocation on work. So, while deciding a work that is to be given to a person it should be make sure that the size is according to the nature of the work and also the team responsibilities are clearly explained. 
Synergy is basically one plus one equals more or less than two. This is a term which is used the most in the world of finance. While creating teams it is not just the person and the other person that are doing the job some time or might as well most of the time when a group works together they are able to leverage the ability of other persons and are able to do the job very efficiently. The synergy can also be negative as if the persons are not at all compatible with each other and are just put into a team without thinking.
The company we are talking about is basically a research and development company and when we are talking about research and development the most important factor is the technology. Technology is ever changing and is at its peak now. The impact of change in technology cannot be ignored and is inevitable in case of Syngenta. Any change in the field of technology will impact the organisation and it may cause a drastic change the team work. The company should always make sure that all of its employees are equipped with the latest technology and are familiar.

In the above section we clearly explained the various types of groups and the factors that can influence their performance. A company like this should take this seriously and apart from managing the formal groups it should make sure that the informal groups are being managed well by the organisation. Technology may be a very large point of expanse for the company but it is also the point from where the company is generating its revenue. So they should be careful in this context as well.

Bibliography

  • Ashton, D. N. (2004). The impact of organisational structure and practices on learning in the workplace. International journal of training and development, , 43-53.

  • Beck, R. C. (n.d.). Motivation: Theories And Principles. earson Education India.

  • Berger, A. N. (2002). Berger, A. N., & Udell, G. F. (2002). Small business credit availability and relationship lending: The importance of bank organisational structure. The economic journal, 112(477), F32-F53. The economic journal, 112(477), F32-F53., 50-62.

  • Miner, J. B. (n.d.). Miner, J. B. (1994). Role motivation theories. Miner, John B. Role motivation theories. Psychology Press,.

  • Offermann, L. R. (1998). Implicit leadership theories: Content, structure, and generalizability. The Leadership Quarterly, , 23-98.

  • Yukl, G. (1999). An evaluation of conceptual weaknesses in transformational and charismatic leadership theories. The leadership quarterly,, 285-305.

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