11. Organisational behaviour and culture

Question 1

What is Organisational behaviour?

Answer 1

The activities and interactions of people in organisations

- Organisations do not behave, only the people on them

Question 2

Why do we look at Organisational behaviour?

Answer 2

The study of organisational behaviour ultimately looks at the people side of the organisation and does so in order to address how we can manage employees by looking at, and understanding why people act as they do in organisations.

Question 3

What does organisational behaviour affect for those in the organisation?

Answer 3

Effectiveness as an organisation
Quality of working life
Dilemmas - How to reconcile inconsistency between individual needs and aspirations vs the collective purpose of the organisation

Question 4

How can organisational behaviour form?

Answer 4

Through individuals, groups, structure and management processes

Due to PESTLE factors, organisations do not work in a vacuum, they are influenced by the wider context

Question 5

What is PESTLE?

Answer 5

External factors/situations/trends inpacting on the internal organisation

Political 
Economic
Social
Technological - Not what we have but what is available to us
Legal
Environmental

Question 6

What benefit can we get from analysing and researching organisational behaviour?

Answer 6

An understanding of why things happen the way they do, what purpose they serve. How the context and environment has formed the behaviours

Question 7

Why, as Business analyst do I need to understand Organisational behaviour?

Answer 7

In order to look at ways of improving a business and achieving greater effectiveness
Understanding the why something is the way it is and how best to improve upon that standing

Question 8

What is the BBS and what is it used for

Answer 8

Balanced Business Scorecard
Used for defining Organisational effectiveness

Uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to assess performance e.g. stakeholder value, employee development

Question 9

What is the BBS used for?

Answer 9

The balanced business scorecard identifies and determines impact of strategy change upon the whole business, if change is needed to achieve a goal and who is affected?

Question 10

When might we use the BBS?

Answer 10

When trying to evaluate the impact of a proposed change upon an organisation

Question 11

What are the benefits of using the BBS to evaluate impact on an Organisation?

Answer 11

Promotes business planning
Focus on future planning
Balances past financial performance and success with perspectives for future success
- Finance perspective balanced with
Customer, process, learning and growth

Question 12

What is in the centre of the BBS

Answer 12

Vision and strategy

Surrounded by;
Customer - “To achieve our vision how should we appear to our customers?”
Financial - “To succeed financially how should we appear to our shareholders?”
Internal business processes - “To satisfy our shareholders and customers what business processes must we excel at?”
Learning and growth - “To achieve our vision and execute our processes, how will we sustain our ability to change and improve?”

Question 13

What do Deal and Kennedy identify as the 4 organisational types?

(Companies can be one type or a mixture)

Answer 13

Word hard Play hard - Fast feedback speed, Low degree of risk
Process culture - Low feedback speed, low degree of risk
Tough guy macho culture - fast feedback speed, high degree of risk
Bet-Your-company culture - Low feedback speed, high degree of risk

Question 14

What type of organisation is Fast feedback and reward speed and low risk?

Answer 14

Work hard play hard

e.g. sales, restaurants

Question 15

What type of organisation is Fast feedback and reward speed and high risk?

Answer 15

Tough guy macho culture

“show me the money!”
e.g. police, surgeons, sports, entertainment, advertising

Question 16

What type of organisation is slow feedback and reward speed and high risk?

Answer 16

Bet-Your-company

High geared companies
e.g. aircraft manufacturers, oil and gas companies

Question 17

What type of organisation is slow feedback and reward speed and low risk?

Answer 17

Process culture

e.g. banks, insurance companies

Question 18

What 4 organisational culture types did Handy identify

Answer 18

Power, role, task and person culture

Question 19

What is a Power culture

Answer 19

Few people with high power, “we are doing this” approach
e.g. small company run by the owner

Few rules, little bureaucracy

Question 20

What is a role culture

Answer 20

By the book bureaucracy

Emphasise the importance of rules, procedures, role expectations and job descriptions

Clearly delegated authority within defined structures

Question 21

What is a task culture

Answer 21

Job or project-orientated

Tasks specified at the top with teams formed to solve problems

Power derived from expertise

e.g. client-focused agencies, marketing

Question 22

What is a person culture

Answer 22

Focus on individuals

Exist for the benefit of their members and may include a ‘star performer’

e.g. small start-up IT firms, architect patnerships

Question 23

What do we use POPIT for?

Answer 23

To get a holistic view of an organisation

Question 24

What are International cultures?

Answer 24

An external culture influencing on a business, i.e. ones nations culture

Question 25

What is social orientation in terms of a national culture

Answer 25

relative importance of the interests of the individual vs the interests of the group i.e. France, Scandinavia

Question 26

What is power orientation in terms of a national culture

Answer 26

Power orientation refers to the beliefs that people in a culture hold about the appropriateness of power and authority differences in hierarchies such as business organizations.

i.e. North Korea, USA

Question 27

What are the 7 characteristics of the cultural web?

Answer 27

The over-riding paradigm

• Stories
• Rituals and values
• Symbols
• Organisational structure
• Control systems
• Power structures

All of these affect the culture, e.g. when you join a new organisation you often adapt to their culture and change the way you act to suit

Question 28

What is the Paradigm of an organisation reflected in?

Answer 28

Their mission statement

What it is for and why is exists

Question 29

What are stories, rituals and symbols in terms of the cultural web?

Answer 29

Stories - Past events and personalities
Rituals, values and routines - Daily actions of individuals seen as acceptable behaviour within the organisation
Symbols - Visual representation of culture e.g. Logos, uniforms, the premises

Question 30

What are organisational structures, control systems and power structures in terms of the cultural web?

Answer 30

Organisational structures - How an organisation is managed and controlled, including the informal lines of power and influence
Control systems - How an organisation is controlled by policies, procedures and lines of communication
Power structures - Pockets of power within an organisation, where decisions, operations and strategic direction is made

Question 31

What is the use of the cultural web?

Answer 31

provides at approach for looking at and changing your organization’s culture. Using it, you can expose cultural assumptions and practices, and set to work aligning organizational elements with one another, and with your strategy.