BTEC

Organisation and Behaviour

Unit : 3

Task : 1

LO : 1

1.1

Compare and contrast different organizational structure and

Culture

Organizational culture is more of a larger picture, a more general term that refers

to a large umbrella of smaller topics and issues within an organization. The structure

refers to the infrastructure and the various methods and practices within that

infrastructure. That helps an organizational culture run with the efficiency and

consistency which should be the hallmark of any healthy organizational structure,

whether it is in a corporation, sports team, or any other set up that is large enough to

create its own organizational culture.

This makes the structure an integral part of any organizational culture, but also

narrows out a very specific segment of the culture as its own responsibility.

Organizational structure will deal primarily with the set up of the culture. How

management works, which specific responsibilities supervisors have, how a complaint is

passed through the ranks-these are all issues within the organizational culture that are

directly tied to how an organizational structure works. The structure is not limited to

those three examples, but it would certainly include all of them.

Culture basically refers to the norms, values and behavior adopted by the

organizational members during working. When the members of an organization join the

organization they adopt particular culture of an organization. Every organization has

different culture depending upon their working and the nature of their business. From

the culture of organization one can assume the operating environment and working

behavior of employees.

1.2

Relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture

Organizational structure and organizational culture have a dependent relationship with one another. In the business world, management structure determines the behaviors, attitudes, dispositions and ethics that create the work culture. If a company's organizational structure is strictly hierarchical, with decision-making power centralized at the top, the company's culture will likely reflect a lack of freedom and autonomy at the lower levels. If a company's management structure is decentralized, with shared power and authority at all levels, the culture is likely to be more independent, personalized and accountable.

The way a company allocates power and authority determines how employees behave. These choices manifest in a company's organizational structure and organizational culture. Organizational structure is the the way a company arranges its management and lines of authority. It determines roles, responsibilities and the flow of information within the company. Work culture results from those decisions.

Most companies use a hierarchical structure that looks like a pyramid on paper. The chief executive or president sits at the very top of the pyramid. His direct reports, usually the vice-presidents, are on a line under him. Their direct reports are on a line under them. The pyramid stretches outward and downward based on the number of levels of management the company needs to operate according to its objectives.

Upper management uses organizational structure to control who has power and authority in the company. For example, if a company president only wants to deal with the most important decisions and wants to leave the day-to-day decision-making to someone else, the organizational structure would have the president on the top line with the vice-president of operations sitting alone on the second line. This effectively means that the vice-president of operations is the only executive with a direct line to the president, and everyone else reports to him. In this scenario, the vice-president of operations has a great deal of power.

1.3

Factors which influence individual behaviour at work

According to John Ivancevich and Michael Mattson, the major factors that

influence individual differences in behavioral patterns are demographic factors, abilities

and skills, perception, attitudes and personality. Let us discuss them and they are as

follows:-

1. Demographic Factors: The demographic factors are socio economic background,

education, nationality, race, age, sex, etc. Organizations prefer persons that belong to

good socio-economic background, well educated, young etc. as they are believed to be

performing better than the others. The young and dynamic professionals that have good

academic background and effective communication skills are always in great demand.

The study of demographic factors is significant as it helps managers to pick the suitable

candidate for a particular job.

2. Abilities and Skills: The physical capacity of an individual to do something can be

termed as ability. Skill can be defined as the ability to act in a way that allows a person

to perform well. The individual behavior and performance is highly influenced by ability

and skills. A person can perform well in the organization if his abilities and skills are

matched with the job requirement. The managers plays vital role in matching the

abilities and skills of the employees with the particular job requirement.

3. Perception: The cognitive process meant for interpreting the environmental stimuli in

a meaningful way is referred to as perception. Every individual on the basis of his/he

reference can organize and interpret environmental stimuli. There are many factors that

influence the perception of an individual. The study of perception plays important role

for the managers. It is important for mangers to create the favorable work environment

so that employees perceive them in most favorable way. The employees are likely to

perform better if they are going to perceive it in a positive way.

4. Attitude: The factors such as family, society, culture, peers and organizational factors

influence the formation of attitude. The managers in an organization need to study the

variables related to job as to create the work environment in a favorable way that

employees are tempted to form a positive attitude towards their respective jobs. The

employees can perform better in the organization if they form a positive attitude.

5. Personality: Personality can be defined as the study of the characteristics and

distinctive traits of an individual, the inter-relations between them and the way in which

a person responds and adjusts to other people and situations.

(a)

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantage:

Success can be won or lost through company culture, but not everyone knows

how to cultivate it. That’s why we like looking at outliers – the people who are innovating

and taking risks when it comes to culture.

People like Netflix, whose approach to performance management is to weed out all but

the top performers, Google, whose openness and flexibility is designed to encourage

innovation, and Nike, which offers numerous perks to gain a recruiting advantage.

Zappos is another company that attributes its success to culture. As CEO Tony Hsieh

says, “Our whole belief is that if we get the culture right, then most of the other

stuff, like delivering great customer service or building a long-term enduring

brand will just happen naturally on its own.”

Disadvantage:

Customer-focused businesses operate solely on customers' needs and wants, which

can have a negative impact on a company's creativity. When companies are customer-

focused, they may resist coming up with ideas to improve products or create new

products, so they begin to lack innovation. While customers may know what they want,

companies should use research and development to come up with ideas customers

may not think of on their own when surveyed about their needs.

The purpose of running a customer-focused business is to truly focus on creating

products and services that are in your customers' best interest. This includes ensuring

that you provide customer service that helps educate your customers and lead them to

sales. Customer-focused businesses can become self-serving, causing businesses to

indulge in their needs and wants, such as focusing solely on profit, with thoughts of the

customer trailing far behind. To be truly customer-focused, each strategy and idea you

execute should put the customer first.

1.

Traditional hierarchical structure

The world isn’t flat – but maybe your company should be: Businesses without hierarchies may actually perform better. Online retailer Zappos is the latest company to do away with hierarchy. By the end of 2014, CEO Tony Hsieh plans to replace Zappos’ traditional structure with Holacracy, a flatter operating structure with no job titles or managers.

To empower all of its 1500 employees, Zappos will be organized into about 400

different circles in which employees can have multiple roles, creating company-wide

transparency and more personal accountability.

“There is a growing body of evidence that shows organizations with flat structures

outperform those with more traditional hierarchies in most situations,” wrote Tim

Kastelle in the Harvard Business Review.

Flat structures work best when a company’s main point of differentiation is innovation,

said Kastelle. They also work well when teams need to be more nimble to respond to a

rapidly changing environment, and when the organization has a shared purpose, he

added.

The company, now with over 10,000 associates, began when Bill Gore left DuPont in 1958 to start a new business –- and a new style of management.

“He wasn’t simply interested in inventing new materials or selling products, he was bent on creating an entirely new kind of company—one that unleashed and inspired every person in it, one that put as much energy into finding the next big thing as milking the last big thing,” wrote business strategy expert Gary Hamel.

2.

Flatter Structure

Zappos has long been a role model for corporate culture. Entrepreneurs regularly make the pilgrimage to the company's Las Vegas headquarters, to learn about Zappos's commitment to being "a little weird," its over-the-top customer service, and even its policy of offering new hires $2,000 to quit. But according to a new post from Quartz, Zappos is about to implement its most radical policy yet, one that may be more difficult for other managers to emulate. Namely, Zappos is about to get rid of managers, altogether.

According to the post, Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, the originator of the company's commitment to quirkiness, announced at an all-hands meeting in November that the 1,500 employee company would be restructuring into what is known as a "Holacracy," in which there are no job titles and no managers. The term, which originated in 2007, comes from the Greek word "holon," which, writes Quartz's Aimee Groth, "means a whole that’s part of a greater whole." In other words, each part of the group is autonomous, but also reliant on the larger group.

Instead of having managers and subordinates, Zappos will be made up of 400 "circles," or teams of people who work together and take on various roles within those circles. Zappos is a unit of the online giant Amazon.com, which acquired the company in 2009.

The move, writes Groth, is Hsieh's attempt to prevent bureaucracy from infiltrating Zappos, while maintaining a startup culture within what is now, a quite large organization.

As John Bunch, the Zappos employee leading the transition, told Groth, "One of the core principles is people taking personal accountability for their work. It's not leaderless. There are certainly people who hold a bigger scope of purpose for the organization than others. What it does do is distribute leadership into each role."

Task : 2

LO: 2

2.1

Effectivness of different leadership style

Leaders should have the quality and capacity to influence the other people in the

organization. A manager should has the leadershipquality for facing different situational

problem and motivate, control, and decision making process in the organization. There

are various leadership styles followed by the different organization and it has different

theories and approach. There are various leadership theories and leadership

style which are described below:

Autocratic Style Effects:

Also known as authoritarian leadership, autocratic style clearly defines the division

between leaders and workers. Autocratic leaders make decisions with little or no

involvement from employees. These leaders are supremely confident and comfortable

with the decision-making responsibility for company operating and strategic plans.

Although research indicates that autocratic leaders display less creativity than more

contemporary styles, this style still works when fast decisions must be made without

employee involvement. Employees may feel some disconnect with this style.

Participative Leadership Effects:

Also called democratic leadership, this style is usually considered the best option for

most companies. The opposite of autocratic leadership, this style emphasizes that

management offers guidance to its teams and departments while accepting input from

individual staff members. Leaders reserve the right to make final decisions but

encourage feedback, ideas, and suggestions from all employees.

Delegative Leadership Effects:

This style, also called laissez-faire leadership, is typically considered the least effective

option. In stark contrast to the other primary styles, delegative leaders rarely make

decisions, leaving this function up to the group. These leaders seldom offer guidance to

the team and delegate decision-making to trusted team members. While offering few

advantages, this style often creates some disadvantages. Job descriptions and lines of

authority become blurred and confusing. A loss of motivation and positivity often

accompanies the confusion of team members.

Corporate Culture Effects

Also called organizational culture, corporate culture defines "the way we do things."

Leadership styles have strong effects on corporate culture because employees tend to

act in ways that mirror their leaders. Staff also subconsciously wants to please

supervisors and management. Over time, leaders and employees usually become

"comfortable" with each other, which can cause some "culture friction" when new

leaders take over. Every business, regardless of size, has a culture. It can help or hurt

operations, often dependent on the strength and efficiency of leadership.

2.2

The organisational theory that underpins the practice

of management

Organizational theory and management theory is used in many aspects of a working

business. Many people strive to adhere to the theory to help them become better at

their jobs or more successful in life, although this may lead to them having to sacrifice

some of their personal principles in order to succeed. One example of following

organizational theory in the financial sector would be an employee or manager who

wants to know how to achieve goals by having a set structure to follow. In addition,

someone in a human resources sector will have to make decisions through their

working day that will undoubtedly change the structure and practice of a working day of

all other employees in the company. If an individual gets so wrapped up in trying to fit

the mold of what the interpret their role should be in terms of organizational theory, they

may start to neglect others areas of business. In the some way, management theory

may also underpin the personal values of some individuals. For instance, they may

disagree with a particular rule or regulation that has been introduced by the company,

however in order to carry out their job as a manager effectively and professionally, they

need to move away from their principles and execute the job. It is difficult to try to

execute both management and organizational theories as a psychological contract

between the employer and employee still needs to be maintained. This will need to

consider how fairly the company is treating the employee and how ‘fairly’ the employee

is treating the company, i.e. are they actually putting 100 percent effort into their work?

Any changes to the organization or management in a company, is undoubtedly going to

have an effect on all of this.

2.3

The different approaches to management

As mentioned in the earlier sections, management was influenced by various disciplines

like sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, psychology, and even

literature. Due to such multidisciplinary influences, even authors like Harold Koontz

(1961) referred to management as a ‘jungle’. Even then, differences exist in the

classification of approaches. Although one of the ways to classify management

approaches is from the analysis of John G. Hutchinson (1971), which considers the

development of management from five different perspectives, the history of

management can be broadly classified into three groups: (1) the classical approach, (2)

the neo-classical approach, and (3) the modern approach.

The classical approach has conventionally implied traditionally accepted views. This

approach emphasizes organizational efficiency to increase organizational success. It

believes in functional interrelationships, following of certain principles based on

experience, a bureaucratic structure, and a reward-punishment nexus. The classical

school of thought developed in three different directions: the scientific management

approach, the administrative approach, and the bureaucratic approach, which also falls

under the administrative school of thought. The bureaucratic approach was pioneered

by Weber (1920), the scientific management approach by Taylor (1903), and the

concept of administrative theory by Fayol (1949).

Modern management thought combines concepts of the classical school with social

and natural sciences. It basically emerged from systems analysis.

Even though most discussions on the evolution of management thought start with the

classical approach, a brief acknowledgement of the contributions of the pre-classical

theorists is useful to appreciate the process of development in management thought. A

list of the contributions by pre-classical theorists has been provided in below table

Compare and contrast the leadership and management styles of Zappos with its parent company Amazon : Online retailer Zappos has long been known to do things its own way. The customer-service obsessed company calls its executives “monkeys,” has staffers ring cowbells to greet guests, and offers new employees cash to quit as a way to test their loyalty. Zappos vision is clear and simple (though in no way extra-ordinary). Here it is:

One day, 30% of all retail transactions in the US will be online. People will buy from the company with the best service and the best

selection. Zappos.com will be that online store.

Zappos and Robertson are careful to note that while a holacracy may get rid of traditional managers (those who both manage others' work and hold the keys to their career success), there is still structure and employees' work is still watched.

Poor performers, Robertson says, stand out when they don't have enough "roles" to fill their time, or when a group of employees charged with monitoring the company's culture decide they're not a good fit. Since April, Zappos has moved 10 percent of its employees to the new system. Now that it's official, Bunch expects that the rest of the company's employees will transition by the end of 2014. He acknowledges that it could take up to six additional months, though, for people to fully understand its complexity. "There’s no two ways around it — this is a difficult system to grasp. We’re so ingrained in the traditional work paradigm." Of course, quotes taken out of context are always just that - out of context. But, they generally give a window to the soul of the leadership style of a founder or the person who's in charge of an operation. Consider the following quotes attributed to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and then hit me in the comments or in an email reply with your favorite: “Do I need to go down and get the certificate that says I’m CEO of the company to get you to stop challenging me on this?” “Are you trying to take credit for something you had nothing to do with?” “If I hear that idea again, I’m going to have to kill myself.” “We need to apply some human intelligence to this problem.

Task : 3

LO: 3

3.1

The impact of different leadership styles

Leadership goes beyond management. Management involves getting things done using the resources of the organization, and the formal patterns and rules within the organization. Leadership, on the other hand, sometimes involves driving through changes and new initiatives, which may be unpopular in some quarters. It is possible to identify a range of approaches to leading change in an organization, depending on the use of authority by the leader, and the amount of freedom given to subordinates.

The power of the leader is very important in motivating others. There are a

number of sources of power: 1. Personal power is possessed by certain individuals and is sometimes termed 'charismatic' or 'referent' power. Some individuals have tremendous charisma and are able to build up personality cults. 2. Legitimate power is based on people having positions within a structured framework. In a particular culture, power will be delegated to different offices or positions and this will be accepted by members as being legitimate. 3. Expert power is based on the specialized knowledge possessed by certain individuals. It frequently arises where there is complex knowledge that can be gained only through education and training. 4. Political power stems from being supported by a group. To gain political power the leader will need to be able to work with people and social systems to gain support and allegiance from them. Motivational leadership involves striking the right balance between these four sources of power, and using them when appropriate. The culture of an organisation is the pattern of relationships and typical behavior within that organization. It is sometimes referred to as 'the way we do things around here'.

3.2

Application of different motivational theories

There are many factors that motivate people in the workplace. There are many different things that

motivate stress and conflict in the workplace. How a person handles the stress is what will make or

break a working relationship. Intrinsic Motivation Theory, Theory of Scientific Management, and

Motivation-Hygiene Theory give people the initiative and drive to do their job well and to help

relieve stress at the workplace.

Intrinsic Motivation Theory is used by management teams to motivate people with intrinsic rewards.

Under this theory employees desire to do a good job because they are proud of what they are doing,

and want to be a part of something good. For example a Disney Imagineer feels satisfaction when he

or she creates a new ride. The feeling of being a part of something so spectacular motivates him or

her to do a great job.

The Theory of Scientific Management has a different view of workers and what motivates them. This

theory states that workers are motivated by their productivity. Whereas with the Intrinsic Theory

workers are motivation to create a job well done, this theory strives for workers to produce a lot of

product in a specific period of time. Workers are paid more if they produce more. This theory works

best in businesses that require high productivity and mass production, such as automobile

manufacturers. This theory does in time lead to workers who are dissatisfied, because they feel more

like they are machines than people. The Intrinsic theory promotes a happier workplace than the

Scientific Management Theory.

Style More Effective Less Effective

Achievement

Seek: To excel; may avoid both low- and high-risks as a result, in order to

pursue meaningful success.

Work alone or with

other high achievers

Power

Seek: Either personal or institutional power. Either way they want to direct

others, but the institutional power is in service to the institution’s success,

so those with that focus tend to make better managers.

Direct others

The Motivation-Hygiene Theory is similar to the intrinsic theory in that it promotes people taking

pride in something. However, in this theory workers are motivated to take pride in their physical

appearance and hygiene. This theory promotes employee benefits given by how clean a person is.

This theory has not been very successful because it does not promote employee motivation at work.

However, it can help to give an employee more self esteem which does help them to perform better.

The best motivator though is the pride an employee takes in a job well done.

Many different factors motivate people in the workplace. It is important that companies find

successful ways to motivate employees. It is also important that employees find ways to relieve stress

and make the work day more relaxed. All of these things will make for a pleasant and more

productive workplace

Affiliation Seek: Harmonious work relationships, to accept, to be accepted, and to

include others. They can be more comfortable conforming to group norms.

Work in settings with

significant personal

interaction

3.3

The usefullness of motivatioanl theory

Motivation is derived from the word “motive” which means needs, desires, wants or drives within the individuals. Motivation is a process that begins with physiological or psychological urge or requirement. It is a tool that helps to stimulate an action or a drive that is aimed to achieve some goal or incentive.

It is a process of stimulating people into actions that are helpful to accomplish the desired goals. In the work goal context psychological factors stimulating the people’s behavior can be:

Desire for money

Job satisfaction

Team work

Recognition

Success

The most important function of managers and leaders in an organization is to create willingness amongst the employees to perform to the best of their abilities. Thus, it is the role of leaders to arouse interest of employees towards their jobs. The process of motivation consists of three stages which are:

Drive or a felt need.

A stimulus in which needs have to aroused.

When needs are satisfied, the accomplishment of goals.

Therefore, we can say that motivation is a psychological phenomenon which describes that wants and needs of the individual have to be tackled by framing an incentive plan.

In modern society, one of the significant problems for all cultures and organization is to provide jobs for all those who want and are able to work. In fact employee motivation is very popular among the management circles. It is a key factor in arbitrating management style as well as in determining productivity.

Motivation by many writers/authors has been defined as the drive or gear to make people convince in do some actions to achieve certain goals. The drive to do something can be from internal sources or external sources. Moreover we can say that motivation is the available factors that are given to individuals to satisfy their wants wither personal or professional.

(a)

Company culture is something that many corporations take for granted, not realizing

how important it actually is to employee morale, work quality, and overall profits. In

order to build a great company culture, the leaders of the organization need to infuse it

into all areas of the company. In other words, culture is not just a sign on the wall or a

bullet-point list on the company website telling us what they stand for. Zappos.com, led

by CEO Tony Hsieh, has a unique company culture, one that nurtures its workers and

motivates them to provide the best customer service in the industry. Being very

interested in his ideas on how he cultivated Zappos' company culture, I decided to read

Hsieh's latest book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose.

Now, I almost never finish business books; a chapter or two is usually all I can take. But

I eagerly read Hsieh's book from cover to cover.

He provides advice and insight we rarely receive from our most successful business

leaders.

Hsieh's account of his transformation from a Harvard student entrepreneur through his

years as a dot.com wunderkind to the creator of a formidable brand is not unique. But

he deserves a lot of credit for building his first internet company Link Exchange in just

over two and a half years and then selling it to Yahoo! in 1999 for $265m.

Then, as the tech boom burst and Hsieh confronted the dwindling pile of cash left over

from the sale of Link Exchange, his story began to come alive.

One of his most promising startup investments was Zappos.com, a shoe retailer. Just

as disaster struck the company, Hsieh stepped in. Recounting the stress of operating in

survival mode, we get the inside story of how he revived the company, from the

deliberations behind liquidating his assets to fund the company in its darkest days to the

risky decision to seek out an 11th-hour loan.

By the time Zappos was acquired a decade later by Amazon for more than $1.2bn,

Hsieh and his team had built a unique corporate culture dedicated to employee

empowerment and the promise of delivering happiness though satisfied customers and

a valued workforce.

Hsieh focuses on three critical areas that businesses typically fail even to consider in

their strategic plan: culture, training and development, and customer service are at the

heart of his success.

Most business advice books focus on issues like maximizing profitability, ROI, product

innovation, operational efficiency, and beating the competition, so it is a breath of fresh

air that Hsieh barely even acknowledges these topics.

Over time, Zappos' number-one priority, culture, became even more important than their

commitment to customer service. The heart of their success story lies in the

commitment the business made to consciously and intentionally build a culture that

embraces the business's key values. Culture is a tough topic. There are no road maps,

and the path for one business is by definition unique to that particular company. Culture

is a long-term investment. It cannot be regulated by a board of directors.

Zappos annually produces a "Culture Book" that's shared with anyone interested in its

content – from employees to vendors and customers.

If you were to visit the Zappos office, you're likely to find a nap room, a petting zoo, a

makeshift bowling alley, employees doing karaoke, or a popcorn machine dressed up

as a robot. If you happen to visit on "Bald & Blue Day" you'd find employees shaving

each other’s heads.

(b)

There is an employee who is known as the “Goals Coach.” Her responsibilities include meeting with employees and holding them accountable for a personal goal that they want to achieve for 30 days like learning spanish or kickboxing.

They believe in a personal and emotional connection with customers. And the people handling customer service do not use a script for as they say “you can’t script a conversation!” This was my favorite communication take-away.

All merchandise is photographed on a humans, not mannequins. That way the consumer can truly see how the dress looks like as a true size 8.

Every order received is packaged and sent within two hours if the items are in the warehouse which is located in Kentucky, right next to UPS’ main hub.

Staff are encouraged daily to send thank you’s to customers that they want to acknowledge in some way. They can send a card, a cookie basket or flowers to any customer of their choosing. They also can tape a video singing Happy Birthday to a Zappos consumer. Who wouldn’t love that special attention.

Executives do not have flashy titles nor offices and sit in cubicles right between the entire staff. Employees can talk to them at anytime for they don’t have a “closed-door policy.

Since the company is 24/7, they offer food in the cafeteria and drinks non-stop. Also, if you get a bit sleepy and can’t drive home, there’s a room where you can take a nap.

Even though as you walk the floor it appears that people are just having fun and chatting with other workers, but there is work being done. This fun atmosphere motivates others to do the best they can for they love their company.

The benefits are top-notch and Zappos pays all medical monthly dues for the employee. They also offer adoption perks among many others.

(c)

Employees usually respond to bonuses and other financial incentives as a way to

reward great performances.

I saw good responses to perks that weren’t simply financial, such as casual days

at the office, half days, office parties, and social activities outside of the office.

Zappos is a perfect example. Zappos might not offer the most lavish perks for

employees, but Tony is focused on creating a corporate culture that makes employees

happy and builds loyalty.

Task : 4

LO: 4

4.1

The nature of gropus and groups behaviour

Group behavior is the behavior of human groups, from formation to dissolution. Along with many other organisms, human beings tend to group up and engage in cooperative activities. The behaviors of a group can be highly variable, as can the factors that put pressure on the group. Social psychologists study group behavior. Their work contributes to everything from the development of advertising aimed at specific groups to the understanding of how crowds react to dangerous situations.

Groups can vary widely in size and composition. Individuals tend to drift to people with like characteristics, and the composition of a group that arises organically may be more homogeneous. In contrast, a group with enforced membership, like an assigned group of people in a class who must complete a project together, will be more variable. Various activities may facilitate bonding within the group, one reason many organizations use retreats and ice-breaking exercises to get their members to work together.

4.2

Factors that effect on teamwork

The success of teamwork is an integral part of any organization wishing to succeed in the global community. In order for organization to achieve any desired goals it should know its status thus, background and the impact or importance of teamwork in an organization. Teamwork enhances the organization to operate and function to its best ability as well as to understand crucial issues such as factors promoting teamwork success and the disadvantages inhibiting teamwork success.

The most dominant and popular factor promoting teamwork success is inter-group competition meaning is competition among groups in the company for example a group from Limpopo province competing with a group from Gauten. It instill group effectiveness and cooperation because when groups turn to compete with each other members are most likely to conform to the rules and values that a particular team uphold in order to reach effective teamwork.

4.3

Technology impact on Zappos

There's no denying the fact that customer service is important to a small or mid-sized business. The quality of that service will either enhance or degrade customer loyalty to your brand and your business. With the economy in recession, customers have more alternatives than ever. The business that proves to be responsive to customer questions, complaints, or other needs can gain a clear competitive advantage. That's why it's so important to understand how new technologies can help you

anticipate customer needs, tailor business processes to best serve customers, and ultimately improve the efficiency of your business – the latter of which can keep costs down.

Customer Service Technology

There are a few major areas in which technology now is able to help provide key advantages to businesses in engendering customer loyalty by improving customer service:

Websites. Providing areas on your website where customers can answer their own questions or seek answers from others.

E-mail. Using e-mail as a way to improve customer service and more quickly respond to certain needs or help requests.

Communications. Unifying communications so that you know that the customer who left a voice mail also sent an e-mail with the same request a few days ago.

Software. Better managing customer relationships with more sophisticated data-gathering tools, such as customer relationship management software.

(a)

Zappos’s group formation and teamwork

There are three types of task interdependence. Pooled interdependence exists when team members may work independently and simply combine their efforts to create the team’s output. For example, when students meet to divide the section of a research paper and one person simply puts all the sections together to create one paper, the team is using the pooled interdependence model.

Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded.• Pursue Growth and Learning Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit Do More With Less Be Passionate and Determined Be Humble A training team trains employees in each core value. So, every employee hears

the same message, learns the values, and learns the behavior that is expected to live the values every day at work. The trainers are available for training value gaps.

(b)

Impact of technology on teamwork in Zappos

In an effective team culture, the concept of context is addressed. Team members understand why they are participating on the team and how the team fits within their organization. In an effective team culture, team members understand where the work of their team fits in the total context of their organization's strategic plan and success goals.

When the organization culture supports teamwork, team members understand how the strategy of using teams fits in the total context of their organization's strategic plan and success goals. Team members understand why using teams will help their organization attain its business goals. In fact, they understand the context of a team culture so well, they are convinced that teams are the only way their organization will excel.

References:

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