Assignment 2 group report BUSM 2301 organisational analysis

Assignment 2 - Group Report
BUSM 2301 - Organisational Analysis

Lecturer: Ms. Do Thi Ha Lan

List of team members:

Location: RMIT Vietnam, HN

Le Thu Phuong
s3870274

Class group number: 1
Team number: 2
Total word count: 3,000
(Excluding: Cover page, Table of Contents, Reference List & Appendix)

Pham Chau Anh
s3818771
Samiksha Mathur
s3818378
Tran Duy Hai Long
s3836444


TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………...................................................... Page

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1.1. The global mining company’s current performance & problems ……………………………………….... Page

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1.2. Orientation toward the report’s purpose and content ………………………………………....................... Page

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2. PROBLEM STATEMENT …………………………………………………………...................................... Page

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2.1. The organizational culture problem………………………………………………………………………....

Page

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2.2. The organizational communication flow problem…………………………………………………………. Page

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3. LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………….......................................... Page

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3.1. Concept of Organizational Culture……………………………………………………………....................... Page

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3.2. Organisational Culture in the Post-Acquisition Process...…………………………………...…………... Page

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3.3. Organizational Culture in Organizational Communication …….…………………………....………….. Page

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Page

4. SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT AND PROPOSAL ……………………………………….………….

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4.1. Process model …………………………………………………………………………………….……….….. Page

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4.2. Implementation of the process model …………………………………………………………...….….……. Page

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5. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………….….….….... Page

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5.1. Strength & weakness of solution drawing Functionalist & Social Relativist paradigms ……………... Page

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5.2. How do these paradigms help? ……………………………………………………………....…....…....…... Page

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5.3. How do they hinder? ……………………………………………………………....…....…....…...……..……. Page

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5.4. Consequences of drawing form two paradigms? …………………………………………………………. Page

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5.5. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………....…....…....…...……..……..……..…. Page

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6. REFERENCE LIST ………………………………………………………………………………..……..…… Page

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7. APPENDIX: GROUP REFLECTION ………………………………………………………..……..…… Page

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8. CONTRIBUTION FORM ………………………………………………………..……..………………….... Page

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1.

INTRODUCTION
1.1.

The global mining company’s current performance & problems

Our client is a global mining company which locates their head office in Australia
with numerous operations across the globe, consisting of sites in Latin America, Alaska,
The Congo, Asia and four mines in Australia.
In recent years, the company has faced significant growth due to acquisitions with
a number of companies that operate in various phases of development. However, the
post-acquisition process has resulted in two main problems: organizational culture
problem and organizational cross-communication flow problem. These problems will be
further discussed in the problem statement part.

1.2. Orientation toward the report’s purpose and content
The purpose of this report is to analyze the various functions of the mining
company, and to construct a proposed process model that is compatible with the
operation’s framework in order to address the two main problems outlined above.
Furthermore, this report will explicitly draw the two perspectives of Functionalism and
Social Relativism in regards to the mining company.

2.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

2.1. The organizational culture problem
Current problems that the mining company is facing are largely due to the conflict
of organizational culture affecting the company’s management of post-acquisition

processes. Especially when the mining company is merging and acquiring multinational
firms, ignorance towards these parties’ cultural values results in resistance to the existing
organizational culture of the company (Porvari 2014). While acquired firms have already
possessed their own organisational culture, the mining company’s deterministic belief
that their existing culture values are unaltered by that of acquired firms creates an
unrealistic expectation that acquired firms have to find their own ways to adapt to the
acquirer’s organizational culture (Hanson et al. 2011). Rogue planning efforts from each
acquired firms derives from such passive post-acquisition processes and stray the whole
organization further away from reaching a common management system (Vasilaki &
O’Regan 2008).
The synergy of organizational culture is further challenged by the authoritarian
leadership style that exists in the mining company. Such culture of compliance cultivates
centralized decision-making which, especially during the period of post-acquisition,
causes shareholder activism (Saylor Academy 2012). Since centralized decision-making is
in favor of the mining company’s top management team (TMT) in Melbourne, it creates
an organizational culture that lacks collaboration and innovation from acquired
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companies (Fagaly 2018). Consequently, employees of acquired firms do not feel
connected to the conceptualized goals of top management and resist cultural changes
(Grankvist, Kollberg & Persson 2004). Furthermore, authoritarian leadership lacks
control over the implementation of their decisions, which results in inability to drive the
economy of scale (Corporate Finance Institute 2020).

2.2.

The organizational cross-communication flow problem

Since the mining company has numerous operations across the globe alongside

acquisitions with a number of companies that operate in various phases of development,
the mining company faces the challenge of cross-cultural communication flow mainly
because of cultural differences derived by rogue planning efforts of TMT during
post-acquisition processes. Cultural difference is a factor that alters the employee
communication style and the communication process in an organization, where “the
greater the cultural differences, the more likely barriers to communication and
misunderstanding become” (Cheng and Seeger 2012). Studies reveal that organizations
with cultural differences have different leadership styles (Ralston et al., 1993), different
human resource practices (Schuler 1998) and different decision-making strategies
(Cushman et al., 1985).
Besides, Kitching (1967) claims that actions and behaviours of TMT plays an
important role in post-acquisition performance of an organization. Buono and Bowditch
(1989) highlight that TMT often fails to transfer adequate knowledge about the goals and
purpose of acquisitions due to lack of effective communication arised by cultural
differences between the members of the acquiring and the acquired organization and it
also states that TMT often fails to build shared understanding regarding the strategic
goals as a whole. Consequently , Mohrman and Cohen (1994) argues that when TMT
builds a shared understanding of the strategic goals within various operations of an
organization, it leads to effective communication between TMT with all stakeholders,
easy cross-cultural communication flow for TMT, plus clear goal and role clarity for
employees. Thus, it is necessary for the mining company’s TMT to have frequent
effective communication with each acquired firm to reduce the consequences of cultural
differences as their TMT fails to transfer adequate knowledge due to lack of effective
communication arised by cultural differences and fails to build shared vision among
members of the acquiring and the acquired organization due to differences in leadership
styles, human resources practices and decision-making strategies.

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3.

LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1. Concept of Organizational Culture
According to Daniel and Metcalf (2001), organizational culture is shaped by
voluntaristic ways of how people within the organization perceive and react to their
internal and external environment. Consequently, organizational culture determines
values, beliefs, and the overall work system of the organization (Kotter & Heskett 1947).
Groysberg et al. (2018) and Hirschheim & Klein (1989) pointed out that the
organization’s leaders are directly responsible for the deterministic structure of
organizational culture ; hence, leaders need to be sensitive, awared, and proactive toward
managing the equilibrium of the organizational culture. With effective leadership and
organisational structure, the creation of strong culture can drive organizational goals and
objectives (Groysberg et al. 2018); in the case of the mining company, are the abilities to
leverage communication and scale of economy.
3.2. Organizational Culture in Post-Acquisition Process
Differences in organizational culture are one of the obstacles in the integration process
during the post-acquisition period. Especially when faced with an authoritarian
leadership style, the bureaucratic organizational structure and centralized
decision-making process that the top management team determined will further
challenge a harmonized integration process to take place. Daniel Rottig (2008) found that
such lack of collaborative organizational culture is the key reason leading to failures of
cross border merger and acquisition. Centralized organizational authority makes it
difficult for top managers to manage acquired firms’ rogue planning efforts, which often
result in improper acculturation approaches that retard the integration process (Shah
2019).
Though adapting a functionalist leadership culture, the mining company lacks positivism
epistemology to anticipate cultural clashes that can happen with cross-border merger and
acquisition. This is why the mining company should try to adopt a social relativism

approach in their post-acquisition integration process. Solutions that a decentralized
decision making process can provide will create a more effective leadership style transformational - that can resolve issues with shareholder activism (Fagaly 2018).
3.3.

Organizational Culture in Organizational Knowledge Sharing

According to Jian and Hanling (2009), knowledge sharing is the most important
part of knowledge management. Within organizations, knowledge sharing is a complex
process that is weighed by value and driven by factors like culture and communication
(Calderon et al., 2015). Kim (2007) claims that culture influences the way knowledge is
created, shared and used. When applying knowledge-based strategies, organizations
underestimate the challenge of cultural differences, the key part of knowledge sharing.

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Thus, organizations must concentrate on having more informed TMT that can handle
cultural differences as knowledge sharing depends on it (Calderon et al., 2015).
Hirschheim & Klein (1989) pointed out that social interaction creates unique
experiential knowledge for individuals in organizations where experiences are always
changing and not necessarily same for every individual, meaning that in this case, due to
the unique and idiosyncratic nature of different cross-cultural barriers, it does not allow
TMT in the mining company to handle certain conflicts by applying universal laws which
refers to social relativism.

4.

SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT & PROPOSAL
4.1.

Process model

Figure 1. Process Model

4.2.

Implementation of the process model

Regarding the problem that has been identified above, the conflict of
organizational culture, causing cross-cultural communication in the company among its
functions and employees. In particular, communication has been severely ignored in the
organisation, allowing only a small number of individuals to gain a limited amount of
experience, resulting in poor job performance as sales workers lack expertise in
addressing the same problems and a lack of involvement. Furthermore, as the

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communication problem occurs, the company's learning environment would not plan to
provide resources for cultivating learning-oriented principles. Amburgey et. Al (1990)
claimed that restructuring the organization may be risky, yet once it has been made and
implemented properly, it increases the company’s wellbeing. Thus, it is critical that the
paper seeks to restructure the organisation of the mining company as a more appropriate
working network.
Based on the above analysis, it is necessary to follow the functionality working
process of the KSP by emphasizing the “people'' element on some of the related
departments. This means that increasing employee engagement here is paramount. More
specific, enhancing employee participation, according to Becerra-fernandez and
Sabherwal (2010), necessitates the organization focusing on both formal and implicit
information sharing amongst departments. The recommendation for tacit information is

focused on the socialization subprocess, which creates an atmosphere for the employee to
communicate thier knowledge to the other. As a result, the employee's engagement will
rise. Thus, “Employee Navigation '' is created to serve only a specific purpose: to guide
employees in a unified direction by caring and finding interest among employees, as a
result, employee morale, loyalty, happiness, and work engagement improve.
(Mahalakshmi, RR & Uthayasuriyan, K 2015).
According to Figure 1, the collaboration in Business Strategy, Organizational
Structure and Employee Navigation would resolve the identified problem. In specific
practice, after planning to merge new companies, Planning and Meeting will confirm the
change in organizational structure, hence, with help from Manage Workforce Availability
and Cultural Awareness and Heritage would be used as the backbone of this process,
along with “Employee Navigation”, Induction and Training would have the ability to
ensure. Due to the merger of many small companies, the Cultural Awareness function will
take care of clearly defining the culture of the new company type, and then come up with
a consensus of what is suitable and what is not for the whole organization, before the
procedure is merged into a unified block. By providing a clear direction and a specific
guide from the Employee Navigation, it will have the direct effect on the Induction and
Training process, thus it is important to give employees this supporting service whenever
facing issues. Going through these functions each time the mining company wants to
expand business (by merging subsidiaries) would ensure a unity, company culture is
present right from the start.
Following the establishment of the fundamental bond, establishing a high-quality
workplace experience for workers aids in the improvement of both physical and mental
health. Constantly reviewing the process is critical for the organizational structure, since
employees act as a network within departments, which increases organizational morale
and teamwork in the mining industry and helps increase productivity and output.

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5.

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
5.1.

Strength & weakness of solution drawing Functionalist & Social
Relativist paradigms

As revealed from the problem statement part, Functionalism is considered as the
obstacle to organizational performance. On the other hand, it also contributes to making
the organization go astray. However, the company background is based on the concept of
social regulation which triggers the fact that Functionalism still remains as the
locomotive of the entire organization. Overall, the system of this mining company is
illustrated to be complicated with manifold different sites, Functionalism impartially
detects as well as analyzes the other part to sustain its stability. Furthermore,
Functionalism is involved in the procedure of delivering obvious information from the
top managers to the workers (Becerra-fernandez & Sabherwal 2010). Hence, this makes
the solutions drawn from Functionalism become much more related to retaining the
organization structure, particular order, amendment while serving the directions and
offering any policies. In terms of limitation, Functionalism appears to have sole focus on
the whole progress rather than the connection among employees. This highly puts a
ceiling on their creativity and freewill which threaten the property of the system.
Along with those based on Functionalism, solutions drawn from Social Relativism
urge the idea of sharing the information between others without any boundaries to
enhance social engagements. Workers are believed to attain freedom of interacting with
each other, sharing knowledge to foster at work. Also, the barrier between employees and
managers also unravels which creates a more efficient collaboration among departments,
gives support or counsel for each other during harsh situations. All of those create a
working culture without any absolute rule, or view. Nevertheless, over sharing could
lead to a harm to the organization since information could be spoiled to the business’s

competitors and managers will have to confront hurdles in directing others
(Beccerra-fernandez & Sabherwal 2010).

5.2.

How do these paradigms help?

When performing the organizational analysis, two paradigms are used to define
the corporate nature and a grid in employee and manager perspectives. They examine and
evaluate the organizational motivations, actions, and atmosphere on a theoretical
basis (Hirschheim 1989). Each model, in particular, provides an unique perspective on
the business environment. For example, thanks to nomothetic approach in Functionalism,
business could be easier to measure efficiency of the company’s structure. Organizations
may utilize any of those variables as a methodology to influence people’s mindsets and
acquire a long-term plan to keep and expand one organization (Hirschheim 1989).

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Furthermore, paradigms may help in the collection of information about the problems and
the understanding of how to achieve them (Hirschheim 1989). Managers, therefore, can
recognise the issues and the measures to obtain the appropriate information to use in order
to be fully aware of the situation.

5.3.

How do they hinder?

Despite the fact that they seem to be rational and systematic, these paradigms are
still theoretical material for referencing and analytical methods for dealing with its

problems, especially when it comes to the ability to effectively respond to radical
changes. On the other hand, it can be unreliable when used in a practical situation since it
is dependent on a variety of circumstances, most notably human communication and
practices. To strengthen the previous statement, organizational communication is one of
the initial factors influencing the quality of decision making by the top of managers
(Tourish & Hargie 2004). Otherwise, in a more globalized world, it may often overlook the
power of top managers, affecting the overall hierarchy, as rapid workforce growth may
generate obstacles and adversities in managerial efficiency (Longenecker, Neubert & Fink
2007). Furthermore, while the environment generated by the organization is negatively
criticized in the problem statement for being unmotivated for workers to improve their
skills and their learning, the mining company has been operating so far that often
allowing any alterations will carry over several new, drastic results that directly affect the
entire organization.

5.4.

Consequences of drawing form two paradigms?

Overall, Functionalism and Social Relativism both reveal scenarios in both
objective and subjective views. These are, however, just one side of a larger grid that
only signifies the order or regulation part. As a result, the suggested solutions might be
insufficient. It could be identified as unrealistic as it only attempted to fix the issues as if
the company’s disordered situations did not exist. The reason for this is because the
confrontation does not always thwart organization. In other words, conflict and
collaborative work is a strong connection with each other (Carsten & Michele 2007).
Thus, it is observed that conflict in the workplace is unavoidable. Paying more attention
to two more paradigms (Radical Structure & Neohumanism) could be needed to ascertain
new solutions as well as effectively tackle issues from broader perspectives.

5.5.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned, the company's key problems stem directly from a lack
of management, and the company's organizational structure (OS) is the primary issue that
leads to a slew of other issues. In order to address the issues raised in this study, we have
identified solutions for the company, as well as developing a new process model,
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highlighting the strengths and disadvantages of each approach, and demonstrating how to
adapt Functionalist and Social Relativist paradigms to work best for the company's needs.

6.

REFERENCE LIST

Calderón, B., Roberto, J., Jiménez, D., Luis, P., Supervisor and Nair, S. (n.d.).
Organisational Culture Characteristics that Influence Knowledge Sharing A Case Study
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organizational process-es, 9, 114-133.
Daniel, TA & Metcalf, GS 2001, Management of People in Mergers and Acquisitions,
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Culture,
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Following a Merger Case Studies of Arla Foods and Stora Enso, Lulea University of
Technology,
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Hanson, T, Falck, K, Schweizer, R & 11, S 2011, The aftermath of acquisitions:
challenges after an acquisition, University of Gothenburg - School of Business,
Economics and Law,.
Jian, Y., & Hanling, L. (2009). Psychological Capital as Mediator in Relationship among
Organizational Socialization, Knowledge Integration and Sharing. In Management and
Service Science. 2009 International Conference on Management and Service Science (pp.
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Kim, E. (2007). An Integrative Literature Review of Knowledge Sharing through Cultural
Lenses. Online Submission, pp. 1-8
Makhlouk, H & Shevchuk, O 2008, The importance and the influence of the corporate
culture in a merger and acquisition context, Baltic Business School, May,.
Porvari, T 2014, ‘Challenges To Organizational Culture In Merger And Acquisition
Situations’, Bachelor’s Thesis, Turku University of Applied Science.

Ralston, D. A., Gustafson, D. J., Mainiero, L., & Umstot, D. (1993). Strategies of upward
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Tourish, D & Hargie, O 2004, Key issues in organizational communication, Routledge,
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XMA Header Image

7.

APPENDIX: GROUP REFLECTION
1. How do you see the approach of the guest speaker related to organizational
restructuring and change? Which paradigm(s) do you think relevant based on
the guest lecturer? How did the guest lecture influence your solution
development?

Due to the guest speaker, our group could have clear understanding the process of
Deloitte’s Organizational Design. It is indicated that to come up with any decision or
changes, they have to pass through a whole host of steps due to the huge impact of every
tiny change. Based on overall performance of the company, we could see that there are 5
elements that are directly related to Functionalism since objectivism is revealed in every
label, diagram, and chart. Besides, OD and D3 method (decide, design, and deliver) is
also applied in the company’s organizational structure by consultant to estimate the
overall performance of the company and end up with the best solution that the company
called for. Moreover, the fixed concepts and structure of analyzing are strongly link to
functionalist’s viewpoint since it illustrates the order and disciplines that should be
utilized in every case in any business. Plus, due to the flexibility in the application, these
approaches could be regarded as the general frame which is the main credence of
Functionalism.

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2. Did the group tend to be accepting of different perspectives? Did the group
actively encourage multiple perspectives? How so, and what effect did this have
on the functioning of the group and the quality of its work?
There were not many gaps between the participants' views at the start of the assignment's
working process. However, after spending time reading numerous academic sources and
attempting to discuss the core issues and how to solve them during the working process,
each team member began to have differing perspectives on how to provide the
organization with the best solutions. As team members began exploring how and why
they have different ways of thinking about the same business, the level of teamwork
improved. Our team leader was the one who gathered all of the data, explained it to
everyone, and tried to make the best of any situation. We were able to discover each team
member's optimistic insights and combine them in order to provide the best way of
understanding the challenges that the organization is facing and finding the best ideas for
the company by doing so. We will have a greater understanding of the company's
challenges and we have different viewpoints from and team members.

3. What were some of the challenges associated with reconciling different points
of view? How did the group handle these challenges?
There are challenges when our team reconciles differences in a cohesive vision because
each member has a diverse background and personality, which directly affects how they
address the problem, as they have many different perspectives. Although we started this
assignment quite early, the early progress was not really clear, slow to say, I determined
that the most difficult challenge at first were the conflicting opinions of some people to
take part in the structure of the document and, above all, solving the problems posed by
this company. However, once the problem had been resolved, practical coordination had
gone smoothly as soon as we found a common voice by organizing meetings in person.

During these meetings, it is important that we try to understand and find perspectives
which have as much as possible in common when dealing with the problems encountered
by the company. In this way we can unite the thoughts of all the members of the
community in a unity. While it took a lot of effort and time to reach the final agreement,
our plans and strategies were very realistic. As soon as there is consent in the direction of
the assignment, everything has become much easier. The most important thing here is that
members must be able to listen and understand someone else's point of view during work
on a project.

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4. Did a particular perspective dominate, and what effect did this have on the
group and the quality of the work?
Our community concludes that there is not a coherent approach in a single model, but
rather to merge the two to address the pros and cons of all views. We agree with more
than one view that a "social relativism" perspective addresses the problems faced by this
mining company. Because we believe that the decentralized architecture, as well as the
promotion of employees' voices and opinions, is the work environment we want. This can
affect how a business works, good or bad, depends a lot on how the managers run that
company. Therefore, the decision to choose a model when addressing the problem is
vitally important, since each problem can be solved in different models will have different
results, it is up to us to define the culture. Where the company goes and how beneficial is
it when applying the models to provide results that best match the overall vision. In sum,
when a point of view dominates, there will be a crisis, and we will have to change our
perspective and find challenges and solutions.
5. How did group members' disciplinary backgrounds affect their input into this
assignment and the overall result?
In terms of teamwork’s background, others have already managed a small squad, the team
on various scales. Thus, after completing the task, they have a certain level of skilled

expertise. Each contribution is immensely useful in terms of designing the assignment
and sharing valuable knowledge with others. Besides, despite not having previously
participated in a real-life management method, they have suggested critical thinking and
analytical skills from the knowledge that is obtained from the class or observed from
books. About teamwork, when working on this assignment, we assigned the right job to
the right individual in order to accomplish a single shared objective which has the ability
to maximize their potential, skills, and experience to carry out their roles. From the
beginning, the feedback encountered some issues. For example, their ia a conclusion may
be too comprehensive while the other remained abstract in terms of ideas and structures.
To address the situation, we determined that the participants would collaborate in order to
share ideas and concur to work under the same rubric that the team has already formed.
To the end, our paper is defined as a cohesive and well-organized collection of various
points of view.
6. Did the theory on functionalism and social relativism influence the way the
group worked? Did you apply this theory to your own group processes, in order
to produce the required work?
The philosophy of functionalism and social relativism influenced the way our group
interacted during the writing process. For example, in the very beginning of the
assignment, we did take an analytical view of information. Knowledge is viewed as an

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entity that can be stored, transmitted, and manipulated by all participants utilizing and
maintaining a shared annotated bibliography. More essentially, each member of the group
will gain the knowledge required to complete their assigned task by accessing the data
and information that included in the annotated bibliography which includes the title,
issue, answer, writers functions relevant to the query, keywords of the characteristic,
relation, description, etc for peer-reviewed journal articles. Following that, after everyone
has gained the requisite knowledge by reading the mentioned peer-reviewed journal

papers, group discussion, and interaction, we finally develop a logical framework for our
paper. Furthermore, in order to complete the necessary work we implemented Social
Relativism theory to our group presentation. Our community, in particular, harnesses a
decentralized framework to encourage information sharing among team members,
primarily through the use of two communication channels which are Messenger and
Canvas. On the other hand, data, knowledge and information are effectively exchanged
horizontally rather than top-down. As a result, our community has developed a sense of
mutual understanding.

8. CONTRIBUTION FORM
Given name

Family name

Student ID

Contribution

Signature

Thu Phuong

Le

s3870274

25%

Phuong Le

Chau Anh

Pham

s3818771

25%

Anh Pham

Samiksha

Mathur

s3818378

25%

Samiksha
Mathur

Hai Long

Tran Duy

s38386444

25%

Long Tran

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